Lasers Dragons And Keyboards

We're delighted to have contemporary fantasy author K.M. (aka Kessie) Carroll on our show this week! After we discuss the heat in Arizona (where Kessie lives), and Aaron gives Liberty a really hard time, we actually get down to the business of the day.

In this episode...

• The Spacetime Legacy, Kessie's contemporary fantasy series, and her wish to see it in a Manga form.
• The origins of her series
• Sacrificial cars
• Superstition Mountains (super creepy stories!)
• Arizona Vortexes
• Classic Batman show from the 1960s...and her kids' likely reaction to watching the show. (Hilarity ensues.)
• Kessie's Doctor (Who)
• Writing with 5 kids (great advice for ALL of us parents.)
• Scrivener for iOS
• Discussing Jim Butcher (some of it got cut...if our listeners could be flies on the walls during our intermissions!)

Links:

• K.M. Carroll
• The Spacetime Legacy
• Magic Weaver (latest in her series)
• Diana Wynne Jones (Howl's Moving Castle)
• Sara Prineas
• Elizabeth Goudge
• Jim Butcher (Dresden Files)
• Larry Correia (Monster Hunter's International)
• Domino Finn (Black Magic Outlaw)
• Heartstriker Series by Rachel Aaron
• Take Off Your Pants by Libbie Hawker
• Bookzio
• Story Cartel
• Mark Dawson's Self-Publishing Formula
• The Merlin Conspiracy by Diana Wynne Jones

On this episode we spoke with Patrick Carr, author of the Staff and Sword Series, about his venture into the Darkwater Saga and the Shock of Night.

A trilogy of trilogies awaits!

In these episodes, Patrick keeps us laughing. Also, you'll never believe how accident prone Patrick is!

All of us wax nostalgic at some point...you'd think we're old or something!

In Episode 30

• Character-driven fantasy, and how he accomplishes this in his plotting process.
• Patrick and his disagreeable muse.
• Planning for a series long-term + happy circumstance
• Re-doing books from scratch...under deadline
• Carrying around your books and your characters in your head all the time.
• Patrick's advice: be a merciless critic where your writing is concerned.
• Patrick's methods for attacking writer's block
• Candy bar in a cup drinks at Starbucks at Christmas
• Patrick shares some of his techniques for making perfect fudge (yes, seriously)
• Patrick and Liberty discuss rigor mortis...and gross Aaron out
• Traditional marketing advice from Patrick's agent, Steve Laube. The phrase "literary Amway guy" comes into play.
• Patrick's funny experiences of being an author

Links:

Patrick Carr The Darkwater Saga The Shock of Night Home Improvement Steve Laube (Patrick's agent!) David Eddings (The Belgariad) Steven R. Donaldson (The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant) Robert Ludlum Brandon Sanderson C. S. Lewis (Screwtape Letters; The Space Trilogy) Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series The Magician by Raymond Feist

On this episode we spoke with Patrick Carr, author of the Staff and Sword Series, about his venture into the Darkwater Saga and the Shock of Night.

A trilogy of trilogies awaits!

In these episodes, Patrick keeps us laughing. Also, you'll never believe how accident prone Patrick is!

All of us wax nostalgic at some point...you'd think we're old or something!

In Episode 29

• Odd character traits with Patrick's main character. (How does sleep walking and murders correlate?)
• Writing with an unreliable protagonist.
• Hating your writing while you're writing.
• Juggling. Emergency room visits! We manage to gross Aaron out. How Patrick uses his own accidents to inform his books.
• How to recast your books from one setting to another when your editor and agent tell you to.
• Fencing stories! Some engineering talk, which is totally fascinating.
• Googling has some interesting answers...including how dogs see.
• We get off into old time radio and radio broadcasts in general because of Patrick's answer to the superhero question.
• You will NEVER guess Patrick's answer to his Captain. Never, never, never!
• Patrick's looking forward to teaching a class at Realm Makers!

Links:

Patrick Carr The Darkwater Saga The Shock of Night Home Improvement. Steve Laube (Patrick's agent!) David Eddings (The Belgariad) Steven R. Donaldson (The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant) Robert Ludlum Brandon Sanderson C. S. Lewis (Screwtape Letters; The Space Trilogy) Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series The Magician by Raymond Feist

Mike Duran, author of The Ghost Box and Saint Death, novels in the Reagan Moon para-noir series, joins us in Episodes 27 & 28 this week. We had a blast talking to him. Sometimes funny, sometimes very serious, Mike is a former pastor and he definitely keeps us on our toes throughout both episodes.

As Christian writers...hope has to be a pretty big factor in our writing. ~Mike Duran

In Episode 28, Stand On Your Head:

Our Plotting vs Pantsing question sends us down a hilarious rabbit trail, before Mike helps us get back on track. Then he talks about his own paranoia as a writer. Mike shares how he figures out what book to write next.

We discuss the learning curve of Scrivener, but also the benefits, too. (Hint: we all use Scrivener and LOVE it.)

Mike compares the editing process to a visit to a dentist, and while it's a gross comparison in a way, it has a lot of merit. Had us in stitches! :)

Writer's block, or the lack thereof. Mike's solutions for feeling inspirationally dry are tremendously helpful (and is a technique I've used myself!) Mike starts waxing philosophical about writer's inspirational...and it gets deep (in a good way.)

Mike recommends not eating or drinking during writing, and also uses a standing desk. He believes he writes better when he's standing.

What characteristic does Mike share with his son? (Hint: it kind of grosses Aaron out!) And yeah, we went there. Mike compares his marketing practices to corpses about to be autopsied. (He's kidding.)

Through giggles, we manage to get in some deep theological discussion. Which, if you've read Mike's blog, shouldn't surprise you at all. When we start discussing theology in tandem with physics and the reality of time, it gets deep. Truly a fascinating discussion.

Listen to Episode 27

Links:

Mike Duran The Ghost Box Saint Death Peace Like a River (Leif Enger) Moby Dick Dante Twilight Zone Dean Koontz's Odd Thomas Series Dean Koontz's Frankenstein Tosca Lee's Demon Realm Makers Ex Machina (motion picture) Drawing On the Right Side of Your Brain Eternity in Their Heart The Creator and the Cosmos

Mike Duran, author of The Ghost Box and Saint Death, novels in the Reagan Moon para-noir series, joins us in Episodes 27 & 28 this week. We had a blast talking to him. Sometimes funny, sometimes very serious, Mike is a former pastor and he definitely keeps us on our toes throughout both episodes.

As Christian writers...hope has to be a pretty big factor in our writing. ~Mike Duran

In Episode 27:

Mike shares about his unlikely background, which includes going from dabbling in the occult to being a pastor. We're pretty sure it informs Reagan Moon's stories, which are definitely fun reads, but they may not be for all our listeners. Mike describes Reagan in a bit of a...colorful...manner. ;)

We discuss paranormal stuff...and Mike suggests that a lot of that may exist more than people realize. You may or may not agree, but it's still a fascinating discussion.

So, what you're saying is that life is a little more like Hot Topic than we want to admit? ~Aaron DeMott

Why Los Angeles needed to be the setting for the Reagan Moon books...I think when you hear his reasoning, it'll make perfect sense.

The background for Saint Death is really a fascinating discussion, and some of it has been in the news in the last few months (I vaguely remember hearing about it.) Mike describes a research trip he and his wife did in the process of writing this book. It's interesting, to say the least.

Mike's answer to our superhero question raises a few eyebrows. But given his background, it makes perfect sense.

Gremlins! (And not the movie!) The true origins of ghost boxes (who knew?)! Some moderately gross stuff (that may make some of our listeners squeamish!)

Mike's "what's up next" is definitely something to look forward to if you're a writer interested in horror and/or writing from a faith perspective and what the parameters are for that.

Links:

Mike Duran The Ghost Box Saint Death Peace Like a River (Leif Enger) Moby Dick Dante Twilight Zone Dean Koontz's Odd Thomas Series Dean Koontz's Frankenstein Tosca Lee's Demon Realm Makers

Due to some last minute circumstances, we had our guest for our normal recording session reschedule on us, so what's a podcast to do? Well, we filled it with discussing some aspects of the writing life! Sorry to our reader-only listeners, this one is mostly focused on writing. But we do take a few bunny trails that our readers may enjoy!

Aaron & Josh have some helpful marriage advice for all the guys out there, some of it coming from The Red Green Show.

Then we get into the meat of the podcast. All three of us share what our "normal" lives look like, and then how we balance in our writing time.

We were taking listener questions during this episode, and someone asked us how long it takes for us to WRITE our first drafts. I (Liberty) kind of took over the show at that point for a while before giving the guys a chance to share.

First draft: Say it. Second draft: Say what you mean. Third draft: Say it well. ~Sean Platt

We do talk editing at length (and I think we need to do an editing episode--any freelance editors want to come on and talk editing exclusively?) And we also talk about goals with our careers.

Some of our favorite resources come up (see our short links list below!) Fight scenes are a lengthy part of the discussion.

And we cover some of the quirky questions we ask our guests. :) Aaron and Liberty disagree about the quality of Star Trek: Voyager (which we're pretty sure is going to be a topic that comes up again...and again...and again...) Discussion about the merit of time-travel episodes may or may not happen.

Tune in to hear which books we think should be turned into movies and/or TV shows.

Links

Writing Fight Scenes by Rayne Hall Anne McCafferey's Pern Series Codex Alera by Jim Butcher Dresden Files by Jim Butcher Dresden Files (TV series) Wheel of Time J.D. Robb's In Death series Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey The Martian by Andy Weir (book) The Martian (movie)

We had the pleasure of having Tosca join us on this episode of LD&K. In between ramblings by the hosts we got to hear how much Tosca loves car chases. And fashion. A donkey race may have been spoken of as well. Believe it or not, that all ties in to her latest book Progeny, due to drop in stores on May 24th!

Stick through the whole thing to hear Tosca's views on naming favorite authors - and to get some good Audible recommendations!

In Episode 25 (AKA the FOOD episode):

• Plotsing, and how Tosca handles plotting. Hint: she references looking at her plot from 30,000 feet is way different than when you're "boots on the ground".
• Tosca discusses techniques to overcome writer's block, even though she doesn't get it very often.
• Tosca imparts a ton of wisdom.

Tosca Lee MYST Call of Duty Shazam/Isis Power Hour Thundarr the Barbarian Marion Zimmer Bradley Thomas Locke Ronie Kendig Ted Dekker Frank Peretti Ben Wolf Robert Lipaluro The 5th Wave Six of Crows Red Rising Legend Big Magic

We had the pleasure of having Tosca join us on this episode of LD&K. In between ramblings by the hosts we got to hear how much Tosca loves car chases. And fashion. A donkey race may have been spoken of as well. Believe it or not, that all ties in to her latest book Progeny, due to drop in stores on May 24th!

Stick through the whole thing to hear Tosca's views on naming favorite authors - and to get some good Audible recommendations!

In Episode 24:

We discuss Tosca's hidden love of fashion, her past as a gamer, and how Biblical fiction doesn't have car chases.

There is some 'fun' discussion about Count & Countess Bathoroy and their torture techniques.

Liberty and Tosca come to an agreement on who the best Star Trek Captain is.

Tosca LeeThe Progeny MYST Call of Duty Shazam/Isis Power Hour Thundarr the Barbarian Marion Zimmer Bradley Thomas Locke Ronie Kendig Ted Dekker Frank Peretti Ben Wolf Robert Lipaluro The 5th Wave Six of Crows Red Rising Legend Big Magic

Supernatural gifts, demons, and martial arts - oh my!

In our two segments with Amy Brock McNew, Aaron manages to break Amy before we barely even get started. Which is totally epic.

Amy, for those of you not in the know, is the author of REBIRTH, which debuts May 24th. She is an interesting character (and one you may be hearing more from in the near future!)

• We are Josh-less in this part!
• The myriad of places that Amy's notes end up during her plotsing process.
• Her unbelievable production rate during NaNoWriMo
• Her crazy Scrivener/note card hybrid organizing process.
• Paydays, yellow Starbursts, Jelly Bellies, and all the other goodies in Amy's desk.
• Vampiric blood (you have to listen to hear how this figures in).
• How Pinterest figures in to her relating to her readers.
• How her background in journalism led to her being surprised by the author culture.
• Where her heart is and what she wants to do in the future where that is concerned.

Supernatural gifts, demons, and martial arts - oh my!

In our two segments with Amy Brock McNew, Aaron manages to break Amy before we barely even get started. Which is totally epic.

Amy, for those of you not in the know, is the author of REBIRTH, which debuts May 24th. She is an interesting character (and one you may be hearing more from in the near future!)

In Episode 22:

• Why Amy wrote REBIRTH, which sounds a lot like many other authors' reasons for writing their books.
• The cathartic background of REBIRTH for Amy.
• Amy teases the sequel, RECONCILIATION, in her description of her favorite character in the book. (There's popcorn involved!) And it makes all of us want to read Rebirth.
• Crazy looks from the neighbors (this story is totally worth the entire interview)
• Some of the freaky things that Amy ran across in the course of research, and how off so much of it was.