BookView Review

Welcome to BookView Interview, a conversation series where BookView talks to authors.

Recently, we interviewed Bryan Cole about his writing and his latest novel, Futility of Defense, the second volume in the Paladin’s Journey series, a fast-paced, gripping, and impeccably plotted epic fantasy. (Read the review here.)

How often do you base your characters on real people?

To an extent, every character is based on someone I know, or at least aspects of them. A great example would be talking about Sheana, Dahlia, and Verbena, who are all just different facets of the same person. Dahlia’s private nature, Verbena’s towering intellect, Sheana’s bravery – just different facets taken from someone I love and translated onto the page. However, there needs to be some variance, since people in the real world rarely involve themselves in life-or-death struggles (certainly nobody I know!). This shift in mindset, combined with personal power that can at times be on-par with entire battalions of modern infantry will necessarily have an impact on who they are. I take these facts, and imagine everything I can about them, with what I know of the real person underpinning it.

What kind of research do you do, and how long do you spend researching before beginning a book?

I am a student of history (read: I’m a huge nerd) and have loved learning about history all my life. From thrilling tales of battles in World War 2 to the rise and fall of the Roman Empire to the long history of Japan, there are fascinating tales that I find compelling and interesting. Reading those cannot also help but lead to questions about culture, weapons and warfare, and related historical events. With that underpinning, I’d say I started with little to no research before starting to write. However, when I hit a subject that I didn’t know about (the use of pells as a training tool, the nautical terms used when managing a renaissance sailing vessel, and so on) I stopped writing and looked up countless descriptions of the subject, sometimes taking obscure parts of it and normalizing it, other times rejecting it and coming up with something entirely new.

What’s the most difficult thing about writing a novel?

For me, it was keeping the desired end-point in mind as I progressed through the story. There were many re-writes for Futility of Defense because the characters had their own ideas about what they’d do in a particular scene, which altered subsequent scenes. Coming up with events to keep the story moving toward where I wanted it to end without having the characters act inconsistently from prior depictions is always challenging, and in many cases caused the end the shift in context. During two of the rewrites, it shifted very dramatically!

What are common traps for aspiring writers?

There are any number of common pitfalls I could mention – don’t tell, show, being a good example. Instead of stating how a character feels, show it through expression or other avenues. When Krell meets Darvin in book 2, Krell becomes angry – and readers should understand this because his brow furrows and his face flushes red, not because I say Krell became angry. Those sorts of traps are discussed in multiple places, and there are any number of great resources I could recommend. The one that I think I haven’t seen discussed as much is knowing how the story is going to end, and guiding the characters and scenes toward that end-point. This is also true for a series spanning multiple books, like A Paladin’s Journey. I know precisely how the series will end and what happens to the survivors. However, each book needs to be a self-contained story as well. You can’t write one story and chop it into three pieces and sell it as a trilogy – you need to have complete story arcs in each book individually as well as across the series. Spending time thinking about how things are going to end is vital, and perhaps overlooked. Finally, I would say the most common trap is underestimating how difficult marketing is going to be.

How often you read?

Nonstop. I am always reading something – news and events, fantasy books, technology journals, software documentation, RPG rulebooks, the back of cereal boxes – anything with words, I’m going to read. My structured reading involves looking for books that are doing something different with either magic systems or tropes, to see if I can find aspects of the worlds being crafted that inspire me to create something new myself. I will say that since I published Beginning of Arrogance – after going through the editing process with a professional editor – my reading has changed, as I now analyze every sentence and paragraph looking at the structure of it and judging the quality of the writing against my own subjective standards. As good as Beginning of Arrogance is being received, I can see how I have improved with Futility of Defense.

Do you read your book reviews? Do they please you or annoy you? Do you think you can learn a lot from reading criticism about your work?

First thing’s first, a message for authors: It is never okay to comment on your reviews. Good or bad, a review is not for you, they are for other readers. A review represents someone’s personal experience with your book, and no matter what they felt about it they are sharing their personal opinion. This is not to say you cannot REPORT a review if it contains inappropriate language or personal attacks – the review should be about the book, not about you, but you don’t report the review to the reviewer, you report it to the site hosting the review, and that’s the end of it. And only if it is deliberately offensive toward you or otherwise hateful to people or groups of people. A review can absolutely trash your book and express total hatred toward it. All this to say yes, I read every single review I receive. I’m very grateful that people took the time to write a review – it’s probably the most difficult part of the author process, just getting feedback from people in the real world. I’m fortunate that most of my reviews are very positive, but even the negative ones could contain some useful information that I can take in to try to become a better author. Much as I might like to engage with reviewers and talk with them about why they did not like parts or all of my books, that is up to them to reach out to me to start that conversation, not the other way around.

Do you Google yourself?

Nope! If I do, I just come up with content from my professional career in enterprise software for the most part. I’m optimistic that might change in the future when I become a world-famous author (dare to dream!), but for now, I’m content

How hard is it to establish and maintain a career in fiction writing?

Somewhere between “extremely hard” and “devastatingly impossible” I would say. With the rise of self-publishing and the explosion of books, getting attention from your target audience is increasingly difficult. I’m very fortunate that I have a professional career that pays the bills and leaves enough left over to fund my effort to write and publish books. Between the marketing efforts and being in a sea of competitors, creating a career in fiction writing is one of the most difficult challenges I’ve ever undertaken.

How many rewrites did you do for this book?

I’d say there were three major rewrites for Futility of Defense. The overall scope and context of the story changed sharply as I began crafting the story, though the starting points and the ending points remained largely the same. The journey to get there… well, if you read the first sort-of draft I completed you wouldn’t recognize it as Futility of Defense at all!

What’s next for you?

Onward to book 3, where our protagonists deal with their actions and outcomes of books 1 and 2, and the consequences of them really start to catch up to them. While still early in the writing process, the intention here is that they’ve outgrown Watford and are venturing out into the broader – and much more dangerous – world at large. While I know exactly how book 3 is going to end I as yet have no idea how the characters are going to get there!

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Excerpt from Futility of Defense:

Olgar looked at Krell sadly. “Sorry, my boy, no sword practice today. It’s the shovel for you and I.” Krell looked at him blankly. “There’s a score of graves to dig, and a service for the fallen to be had.” He let out a belch and waved absently at Krell as he started hobbling down the road toward the temple.

Krell watched him go. Krell grew up on an island alone for years. When a ship finally found him, his rescuers sank, and he drifted for days on the open ocean. Eventually, another ship found him and dropped him in Watford. Olgar had been there at the docks when he put ashore. Only later did Krell realize how rare it was for him to make the trip down the hill. The slope of the path made walking on his peg worse.

Olgar was certain that ReckNor had guided his hand, and he had taken in Krell immediately. After a few weeks of teaching Krell about ReckNor, it became obvious to both of them that ReckNor spoke directly to Krell. That he was a paladin.

That changed the teaching, certainly. Olgar moved away from temple ceremonies and management, to weapons, armor, battlefield tactics, and magic. There was so much Krell didn’t know, but he learned everything Olgar was willing to teach.

Besides, the grace of ReckNor flowed into him like a river, and healing was among the many gifts he received. For others as well as himself. Krell leaned his head back and closed his eyes. He felt the morning sun on his skin and was content.

Then a shadow fell over him. “What are you smiling about, Krell? Happy that the sea devils only killed a dozen people?” said Tristan, his voice instantly fouling Krell’s mood.

Krell opened one eye and looked up at him. He shook his head. “It’s a little frustrating how handsome you are with that magnificent scar on your face, Tristan.”

“Don’t, Krell,” said Tristan, his tone warning. “You know I’m still angry about it.”

Krell sighed. The first time they met a sea devil, it was enormous, and nearly killed all of them. It had slashed its claws across Tristan’s face. Krell healed the wound, but ReckNor interceded, only doing a partial healing.

It left a scar that started at Tristan’s temple and ended on his cheek next to his nose. Fortunately, the claw had skipped right over his eye. It made Tristan look dangerous, competent, and mysterious. Krell could never have a scar like that. ReckNor’s power healed his wounds before any scars could form.

“Many people would give a lot for a scar like that, Tristan. Earned in battle against the sea devils. I’m surprised you don’t play it up more.”

“You’re changing the subject, Krell!”

“You haven’t told me what the subject is, Tristan!”

They spent a moment glaring at one another. Krell heard a girlish giggle from the doorway next to him. He looked up and saw Sheana, leaning against the doorframe and smiling at him.

“You two fight like cats! All hissing and batting at one another with soft paws, but no actual wounds!” She giggled again, her eyes sparkling in the sunshine.

Her red hair was in an elaborate braid, and her face and clothes were immaculately clean. Verbena’s work, no doubt. Krell looked down at his breastplate and sighed. Drenched in green blood that had taken on an offensive aroma and scored with marks left by claws and teeth, it would take hours to clean.

“I’m no cat, Sheana, I’m a lion!” said Tristan, puffing up his chest. Sheana looked at him for a moment, then burst into laughter and went back inside.

Krell smiled. The sound of her laughter always cheered him up. Krell shook his head and turned to Tristan. “What can I do for you this fine morning, Tristan?”

“Karaback wants to see you,” he said. Krell frowned slightly, looking up at him, then nodded. He rose to his feet and retrieved his shield, loosening the strap and throwing it over his shoulder.

People were moving around town as the sun came up, but the pall of smoke dampened the spirits of everyone. Whenever Krell met someone’s gaze, they gave a brief bow, smiling back at him.

Tristan eyed him warily. “Just like that? I figured you’d argue with me first.”

Krell shook his head. “Not today. I saw you use magic to slay a dozen at once. I want to find out why Karaback wasn’t in the fight with us. He wasn’t anywhere. That means he was probably in his tower.”

He met Tristan’s eyes. “People died because he didn’t fight. I want to speak to him more than he wants to speak to me.”