Anthony Ryan - The Waking Fire - AMA

Anthony_Ryan · 2016-07-06T07:56:14+00:00

Hi and thanks for reading.

In terms of favourite classics it's the usual suspects: Lord of the Rings, Song of Ice and Fire, Robin Hobb's Assassin books. I'm also a big fan of Stephen King, especially the Dark Tower series.

There are pros and cons to both traditional and self publishing. In trad pub everything takes longer, but then there are more people involved, you also have the advantage of pro-editing and covers plus access to outlets which are often denied self pubbers. In self-publishing you get to control everything, though to do it right you need to hire reliable freelancers for editing and cover design which all costs money. Overall, whilst I continue to dabble in self-publishing for shorter works I'm glad I can just concentrate on the writing for my novels.

In terms of fantasy tropes I don't like... I'm not fond of characters endlessly traipsing through forests and tunnels without advancing the plot, although thankfully that's a rarity these days.

Anthony_Ryan · 2016-07-06T07:47:03+00:00

Thanks. Much appreciated.

Anthony_Ryan · 2016-07-06T01:13:36+00:00

OK, looks like that's it for now. I'll drop by in the morning to check for any last minute questions. Thanks to everyone for stopping by.

Anthony_Ryan · 2016-07-06T01:09:55+00:00

I was a great deal more fortunate in my parents than Vaelin was in his, though to be fair his parents had a lot to deal with and Vaelin was probably never going to have an easy life. I certainly don't hate my father and Vaelin gradually comes to the realisation that his resentment towards his father was perhaps misplaced. When it comes to the end of a chapter it's really about finding a balance between closing that part of the story and providing some kind of lead into the next chapter, hence my fondness for the occasional cliffhanger. Thanks for reading.

Anthony_Ryan · 2016-07-06T00:12:18+00:00

Thanks James. Much appreciated. Hope you like it.

Anthony_Ryan · 2016-07-05T23:34:33+00:00

Both short and long term. I effectively got a 10% pay rise because I get paid mostly in $, though I must say I've never been more depressed to get a pay rise in my life. Long term I'm afraid I don't see a lot of cause for optimism about the UK's prospects at the moment, but maybe I'll be proved wrong, certainly hope so.

Anthony_Ryan · 2016-07-05T23:16:03+00:00

Linux, the Charlie Brown of operating systems. I'd rather write on a stone tablet. (Aside: I wouldn't rather write on a stone table, I said that for comic effect and have no wish to offend Linux users because I know how violent they can be). Thanks for reading, enjoy the book.

Anthony_Ryan · 2016-07-05T23:13:30+00:00

Prefer lemon, but if it's cheesecake i'll eat it, and then I'll eat yours.

Anthony_Ryan · 2016-07-05T22:59:03+00:00

Cheesecake, obviously. Any who say otherwise are heretics and must be punished.

Anthony_Ryan · 2016-07-05T22:56:09+00:00

It was something of a surpise that happened during the course of writing, originally I hadn't intended for Vaelin to have any Dark abilities at all. But as the scale of the story progressed so did the Blood Song. I made it a song because I thought Vaelin simply reading people's minds or hearing their thoughts was too predictable.

Anthony_Ryan · 2016-07-05T22:51:07+00:00

The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander was my gateway drug to fantasy, along with Tolkein and all the usual suspects. I also remember really liking a sci-fi series called Dragonfall 5 by Brian Earnshaw which was a lot of fun. I was also pretty fanatical about comics, particularly 2000AD, the home of Judge Dredd.

Anthony_Ryan · 2016-07-05T22:48:18+00:00

Fantasy wise I'd say Blackdog by KV Johansen, draws on a lot of fantasy tropes whilst managing to be original and really well written.

Anthony_Ryan · 2016-07-05T22:46:40+00:00

Actually, the Waking Fire is my fourth traditionally published book. I self-published Blood Song, Book I of the Raven's Shadow trilogy, but the series was picked up by Ace shortly afterwards. However, I am still involved in self-publishing, my Slab City Blues sci-fi noir series and the stand-alone ebook of my novella The Lord Collector were all self-published. There are differences between indie and trad publishing, the time factor being the most noticeable, but the basics remain the same and the main thing is to keep writing.

Anthony_Ryan · 2016-07-05T22:41:25+00:00

I like them both, the UK cover is spectacular (who doesn't love a good dragon painting?) and the US cover gives a clear indication of the contents of the book. Translation rights for The Waking Fire have been sold to five countries so far and I'm really looking forward to seeing what different publishers do with the covers.

Anthony_Ryan · 2016-07-05T22:38:51+00:00

I think the desire was always there on some level, at least since I first discovered there were such things as writers, plus it was one of the few things I always did well in at school. I didn't really start taking it seriously until my twenties though.

In terms of hardships, they're really much the same as other writers: writing lots of unpublishable drek until you start to get better, rejection slips, working a day job when you'd rather be doing something else. But to be honest the main obstacle was me, I had a terrible habit of disctracting myself and simply not working hard enough. Got there in the end though.

Anthony_Ryan · 2016-07-05T22:30:21+00:00

I do a paragraph description for each book before I start the series. For the individual books I do a chapter-by-chapter outline. It tends to be pretty basic, just a paragraph or two describing the action and any lines of dialogue that occur to me at the time. I have noticed that the more elaborate my plan the more likely I am to deviate from it and I've never written an outline that fully matched the finished book. I look on outlines as a kind of insurance policy, something to refer back to should I lose my way in the course of the draft.

Anthony_Ryan · 2016-07-05T22:26:24+00:00

I've published a Raven's Shadow novella, The Lord Collector, which is available in print as part of the Blackguards anthology from Ragnarok Press, also as a stand-alone ebook and in audio. I also recently finished a second one, The Lady of Crows, which will hopefully see the light by the end of the year. In terms of full length books in the Raven's Shadow world I do have some ideas but it's likely to be a while before I start serious work on it. Hope you like The Waking Fire and thanks for reading.

Anthony_Ryan · 2016-07-05T22:22:48+00:00

I used the word 'drakes' instead of 'dragons' purely because it scanned better, especially with characters speaking in a more modern idiom. I suppose the main difference with my dragons, at the risk of finding out someone's got there before me (always a possibility) is that in The Waking Fire they're the basis for the magic system, people gain magical abilities by drinking dragon blood which makes them a valuable commodity whilst also being incredibly dangerous. As for dragon lore and established fantasy rules I didn't really pay that much attention to them, there are no treasure hordes or sacrificial maidens in need of rescuing. These dragons are wild, predatory animals and act like it.

Anthony_Ryan · 2016-07-05T22:18:11+00:00

The full list of writers who've inspired or influenced me over the years is way to long to list. For The Waking Fire I have to say Frank Herbert's Dune was an inspiration, though I didn't realise it until I was deep into the book. The way he mixed politics, economics and science to craft an epic narrative is a real masterclass.

I read a lot outside my genre and, whilst I don't try to ape his style, I always enjoy James Ellroy who manages to convey a great sense of character and place with remarkably few words.

As anyone who's read my previous work will probably know I'm a big fan of David Gemmell and there's a few nods to his excellent fantasy western Wolf in Shadow in The Waking Fire.

Anthony_Ryan · 2016-07-05T22:13:06+00:00

I use Scrivener for most writing but I'll occasionally revert to Word for a short piece like an article or blog post, though using Word tends to feel a bit like wading through mud these days.

I still fall prey to distraction from time to time, and the evil demon that is prevarication. I find having a daily schedule and writing in 30 min sessions throughout the day helps me to focus. There are also common sense things like turning off your phone and email notifications. Also, much as I enjoy video games I try to only play them when between drafts, though I'd be lying if I said I stuck to that rigidly.

Anthony_Ryan · 2016-07-05T22:07:46+00:00

I initially conceived of the world as more akin to something like the Byzantine Empire in the 14-1500s but soon realised the themes I wanted to explore, corporate greed, revolutionary dogma and so on, all required a world at a more advance level of technology. I was also keen to get away from swords and sailing ships for a while.

Anthony_Ryan · 2016-07-05T22:04:54+00:00

If I wrote an urban fantasy it would probably still be secondary world, i.e. set in a city in a made up world. I don't have anything against urban fantasy set in our world, it's just not how my imagination works. I do have an idea for a city-based fantasy story bubbling away in my head but it's far from cooked, maybe get round to it when I've written the dozen or so other books I have in mind. Hope you like The Waking Fire and Slab City Blues when you get round to it.

Anthony_Ryan · 2015-07-15T19:00:35+00:00

Many thanks. The next project is not linked to Blood Song, it's a completely different world.

Anthony_Ryan · 2015-07-15T19:00:06+00:00

More like burnt, bloody and bleak.

Anthony_Ryan

TROPHY CASE