Tagline/Elevator Pitch:
A faceless, nameless assassin. A forgotten past. The Hunter of Voramis--a killer devoid of morals, or something else altogether? (Blade of the Destroyer--dark fantasy with a look at the underside of human nature)
Book Blurb:
The Last Bucelarii (Book 1): Blade of the Destroyer
The Hunter of Voramis is the perfect assassin: ruthless, unrelenting, immortal. Yet he is haunted by lost memories, bonded to a cursed dagger that feeds him power yet denies him peace of mind. Within him rages an unquenchable need for blood and death.
When he accepts a contract to avenge the stolen innocence of a girl, the Hunter becomes the prey. The death of a seemingly random target sends him hurtling toward destruction, yet could his path also lead to the truth of his buried past?
Book Info:
Title: The Last Bucelarii (Book 1): Blade of the Destroyer
Author: Andy Peloquin
Official Launch Date: August 21st, 2015
Publication Date: July 11th, 2015
Paperback Price: $15.99
Digital Price: $3.99
Pages: 298
ISBN: 1515038955
Buy Links:
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Blade-Destroyer-Last-Bucelarii-Book-ebook/dp/B012EI9M4A/
Amazon Paperback: http://www.amazon.com/Blade-Destroyer-Last-Bucelarii-Book/dp/1515038955/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25269614-blade-of-the-destroyer
=================================
The Importance of Realism in Fantasy
When I first sat down to write a fantasy novel, I decided, "I'm going to make this as far out and awesome as possible. Because I'm writing a totally unrealistic world filled with magic and weird races, there's no reason that I need to be realistic at all."
Boy was I wrong! Over the course of my (admittedly short) career as a fiction writer, I've come to a
simple realization: people want things to be as realistic as possible.
How is this possible, especially given that fantasy is so…well…fantastic? Easy: they want people they can relate to, with problems they can recognize and understand.
When I wrote the first draft of my latest novel The Last Bucelarii (Book 1): Blade of the Destroyer, the main character--the Hunter--was a bad-ass half-demon assassin with ZERO flaws. He always killed his target, and the closest he came to failure was letting someone smarter than him manipulate him.
Awesome, right? Who doesn't love a bad-ass assassin?
But when I sent that book out to real life readers, they all said one thing: "There's nothing relatable
about him. There's no reason for me to like him, and no reason for me to care what happens to him."
Intriguing thought, isn't it? So what did I do? I gave him weaknesses, flaws, and things that made him as human as a half-demon creature could be. I made him fail, as many times as necessary, because that made his eventual success even more important.
This is just a small example, but it drives the point home: to make a book GREAT, there has to be
something people can relate to.
I'll list a few of the things that make my favorite novels great:
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch -- It's all about the friendship between the two main
characters, and the shit they'll endure for each other.
The Stormlight Archives by Brandon Sanderson -- It's all about human characters doing human things in a fantasy world. The same human failures, mistakes, and desires that we can easily recognize.
The Riyria Chronicles by Michael J. Sullivan -- Once again, friendship between two unlikely characters, and the strength of that friendship.
Simple stuff, right? Each of these books is filled with magic, fantastic creatures, and elements you'd
never find in real life. But they are solidly grounded in real life--the real life of being human, making
mistakes, failing, and trying to right your wrongs.
So, my advice to you is this: go way out into left field with your creation, but make it relatable. I don't care if you're writing a story about unicorn-snatching space pirate leprechauns--give your readers something they can identify with. Make it all about the characters, and build the plot AROUND them.
That is what will bond your readers to your characters, and what will make them come back time and
again!
Andy Peloquin
Professional Freelance Writer
No comments:
Post a Comment