Jung

I've bought and read quite a few books the past few months and I plan to list them in an upcoming post. I must say, those that say that indie books are bad aren't looking hard enough. These horrible books some complain about I haven't encountered. The books I've read a really good. That will be in an upcoming post!

Reading folk tales and legends is fun research. I even decided to dig out my copy of The Portable Jung paperback for more inspiration. I've found that Carl Jung has written fascinating work that is insightful into unconscious motivations for what people do and respectful of ancient stories and folktales and the importance they play in human life. Interesting stuff!

What makes me stop reading a book

I was on one of my favorite forums, again, reading info and gleaning what I could and I ran across a thread asking authors a question: what's a turn off in another author's book? I didn't answer the thread but I read through it and after seeing the various answers, I suppose that I'm more lenient than some people are when it comes to what is acceptable and what isn't. I can put up with typos and errors as long as they aren't on every single page of the book and if the story is good I can overlook such things unless they are absolutely outrageous mistakes.

However, there are two things that I find unforgivable - terrible covers and despicable characters. The covers for my own books with the exception of The Winter Wolves (a beautiful cover done by Claudia McKinney) aren't what you would call top notch work, but I think they are decently designed. I can and will overlook covers done in PowerPoint if they are designed decently and the writing looks good. The story is ultimately what is important.

Once I get to the story, there is one unforgivable sin that an author can commit and earn my undying disdain - loathsome characters. I cannot stand a story full of unpleasant, despicable unsympathetic characters who never redeem themselves. If I'm going to read a book and spend time in that "world" then I need to be able to sympathise with a character in the story. I need to understand and identify in some way with his POV or relate to him in some way. Don't get it twisted! I don't need a book full of big, fluffy bunnies but you've got to give me something to work with! A protagonist who is vicious or brutish, awful in every way, and a cast of characters who are hateful or bad with no redeemable qualities whatsoever is a book that I will set aside and I will NEVER pick up any other book from that author again.

To be honest, it's been many years since I've read a book like this and I've seen far more films with this issue than books. Luckily, the vast majority of authors out there don't write stories completely devoid of sympathetic characters. There is always at least one character that has some human qualities that I can latch on to so there's a good chance that I will go through life and rarely have to deal with a book full of characters that make me want to strangle them and the author who wrote it!

Research

Well, I've got another big break now that I've just finished a new book. I love that feeling of just beginning a book and just finishing the book. Each time I feel that something important is taking place.

I went to the library this past weekend and I checked out a number of books on various African, Russian and Finnish folklore. So I'm doing a bit of research for my next two books in the Secret Doorway Tales series. Some form of the Aziza - African pygmy-like fairies, some form of the ogress Baba-yaga of Russian folklore and the legend of Sadko will show themselves as influences in the next two books. In fact, the Aziza in the form of Zi, the little black male sprite in the series has already shown up in the stories. Dragons will also make an appearance. I love dragons! Also, something of the Wild Hunt of western European folklore will make an appearance too. I've got many things planned and it's exciting just thinking about it!

The fifth book will incorporate the Peer Gynt legend in some small way. In fact, the title will be called The Mountain King. There will be a mountain hall and trolls involved! I even have the title for the sixth and last book but I won't reveal it right now.

The most difficult part will be incorporating the importance of dreams into this next book since the two fairies who rule the twin moons deal in dreams. I'll work it out!

PS: The Winter Wolves is now available for purchase on Amazon.com!