Guest Post: How I Suffer for my Art: Historical Research

Update: Charity Rowell-Stansbury over on On My Kindle just featured my book on her blog - you can check it out and her comments here.

Today I have a guest author on the blog, discussing his approach to research. Author of historical fiction, A.J. Sefton is no stranger to the task of sifting through fact, and transforming those nuggets into stories. 

Dressing up, getting drunk, shooting arrows, hawking and playing games. I love my job.

Research is one of the best things about writing historical fiction. As a former history teacher, I know all about primary and secondary sources and how to use them for best effect. Reading is essential, but not always reliable. The Dark Ages is my chosen period and herein lies the problem.  The primary sources are so old it's a huge task just trying to decipher the language and then another job deciding what exactly the writers mean by these strange words. I can read Anglo-Saxon - or Old English -  but it is quite a long winded process and, guess what, I nearly always agree with the online translators.

So, I am armed with the facts from the period, I'm ready to write my story. Only, I'm not. How can I know what it feels like to wear a metal helmet in battle? Or to shoot arrows? This means more research. Reading about people who have experienced it, using my imagination. No, not enough.

I need hands-on research.

It is the twenty-first century and so I can never really know what it was like for those poor folk in the Dark Ages. But I have tried on the strange clothes and attended battle re-enactments just to hear the sounds and smell the scents. I think I actually have feared death on occasion, too. I have trained in archery (won a medal, let me tell you!) even though I have opted for the very modern recurve bow as the longbow is just too difficult. Other games, like chess and knucklebones, are a piece of cake.

Falconry was necessary for Teon, (available to buy now) as a golden eagle is a major part of the story. You can see the wonderful bird of prey on the cover (above). I loved the experience of handling the birds and getting close to them, looking into those beautiful eyes and being afraid of them. Yes, I was. Hunting in the National Forest in the Midlands, UK, is illegal so that's as far as that went. But it was a vital start.

The easiest bit of research is eating and drinking. I find the odd recipe now and again and try it out for myself. Usually my cooking turns out quite well. Next is mead. Essential research. Gulfyrian, one of my major characters in Gulfyrian and Teon, collected honey and made mead. I haven't gone as far as making it (yet) but drinking it...sweet and heady...that's another story.

Yes, I love my job. Have I already said that? Well, I'll say it again.

Bio:

Author of dark tales from the Dark Ages historical fiction. Former History teacher,  fledgling archer, fantastic doodler. Married with a daughter, Amanda, and a cat. There is always a cat.

A.J. Sefton was born in Wallasey, Merseyside in the UK and now lives in Burton-upon-Trent in Staffordshire, which is in the former kingdom of Mercia.
Other writing includes numerous articles on such diverse topics as football, gardening and a monthly column in Cat World magazine. 

"I specialise in the Dark Ages because there is so much that is unknown. That makes it ripe for a writer's imagination.

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Thanks so much A.J.! If you enjoy these posts, would you consider sharing them with your networks? I post an author interview every Wednesday, and other writing-adjacent thoughts periodically. You can join me on Twitter, Facebook or Google+. 

How I Write: Authors on Their Writing Process - Nik Krasno

Today's interview is with a Russian author - Nik Krasno, who writes novels about Russian oligarchs.

Hi Nik and welcome to Creativity@Work. Thanks for sharing your writing process with us.

1.         When did you first start writing?

I started about 2.5 years ago... On the first book Rise of an Oligarch we were working together with my friend and co-author. He was doing most of the actual writing (2/3 or 3/4 even), while I was providing most of the content and ideas. Towards the end, I'd gained enough confidence to write some scenes, pieces and chapters myself... So much confidence, that the 2nd book Mortal Showdown, I'd written on my own -:)

2.         What are your books about? Are you self / traditionally published or hybrid?

Oligarch series describes the story of a fictional Ukrainian oligarch (a tycoon with considerable political influence) from his early childhood as a poor Soviet kid to a mighty billionaire and his showdown with powerful enemies that are apt to destroy and assassinate him. Probably something like Godfather Ukrainian style -:). The series also follows short but turbulent history of a young state - Ukraine, which became independent in the aftermath of the USSR's dissolution. The first book is more of a political thriller mixed with historical fiction, while the second - is a hard-boiled action thriller.

I'm self-published, while my friend and co-author on the first book is a trad-published author of his non-fiction books and indie on fiction with me.    

3.         What's your writing process like? Do you outline? Do you write by hand / type / dictate?

I need to have an idea, a basic story to try to write it. Yes, I outline, but then again it happened quite a few times when new ideas, scenes events popped-up in the course of writing and generally I'm not that meticulous about following the initial layout. I type my work on the computer and send it by e-mail to myself pretty frequently, to have this additional option for recovery, if the computer fails...

4.         What's your editing process?

As I'm not a native English-speaker, so I'm hiring editors and do at least a couple of iterations before the book goes live. And even then, sometimes I discover some typos afterwards.

5.         Who or what inspires you? Where / how do you get your book ideas?

The real life events, I guess. Who would ever think that Russians and Ukrainians would turn weapons on each other? No one, never, not even in a nightmare. Yet it happens.

For many years I had been sharing my time between family in Israel and business mostly in former Soviet republics, virtually living on the plane between Middle East and Eastern Europe.

Witnessing the meteoric rise of a small number of individuals from modest citizens to mighty billionaires, I felt I could create an interesting and revealing story based on the Wild West enrichment scenario. In the fictional plot of Oligarch series I combine real and imaginary events with some 'lawyers' folklore' and known corruption and criminal schemes customary for Ukraine and other former USSR republics. I also give some fictional interpretation of the glorious and simultaneously tragic events of 2013 uprising in Ukraine resulting in ousting of the president, ensuing Russian aggression in Crimea and tensions and war in the Eastern regions of Ukraine. The imaginary characters are designed to reflect a real behavior and mentality and provide decent entertainment for the readers.

I watched with interest movies based on Bill Gates' and Mark Zuckerberg's biographies describing their path to wealth and glory. Although they were truly amazing, in my personal opinion the rise of their Eastern billionaire peers is just a little more thrilling and unorthodox.

6.         When in the day do you usually write? For how long?

I'm self-employed, so it makes it a bit easier to combine my writing with other stuff and to allocate sufficient time to writing in between work and other tasks. When writing a book I tend to have between 1 and 2K written words daily, although the writing may be spread unevenly along the day.

7.         Do you now, or did you ever have any day jobs? Did they add to or detract from your writing?

Sure, my writing causes more spending than income, since as an indie I need to invest in editing and cover design, while I didn't see these expenses return, so I continue with my legal practice as an independent legal practitioner and hope that one day I won't view writing as an expensive hobby -:) My practice as a commercial lawyer saves me a lot of research since my work gives me access to intricacies of various fields and industries, sometimes from a negative aspect of problems, set-ups and frauds, which fictional analogues I can use in my thriller stories.

8.         How much research do you do? What kind?

If I write about things, places, notions or other stuff I don't have my own knowledge and they are not purely imaginative, I read available info in the public domain, because I certainly do not want to write something ludicrous, when I don't mean it. On the other hand, I try to stick in my writing to the themes I do have some knowledge about, so I would need to supplement it rather than learn anew.

9.         How much marketing do you do? Which platforms are you most active on? 

My marketing is low-key really. I haven't done any paid marketing yet, but I might try it someday. I haunt Goodreads pretty much, try to get some interest and reviews from bloggers, do the interviews, when opportunities arise. I'm mostly on Goodreads, where I participate frequently in debates and other communications and where I try to develop and make interesting a group that I've founded - 'Enrichment, Tycoons and Oligarchs'.

10.       What project are you working on now?

I'm at the pre-publication stage with the third installment, which should conclude Oligarch series, at least for the time being, and it has a little surprise in it.

Michael tops Forbes billionaire's list only to find out that those, who really dominate the global economy, rule illicitly and stay away from the public eye. He needs to confront the ancient cabal in order to survive and to save his country... 

For good or bad, it should be a transgressive, radical, uncompromising, grotesque, action-packed and philosophical read.

Bio:
Nik Krasno is one of those writers who never thought he would end up authoring a book. He just knew that he had a story that apparently waited for the right moment to break out.

Krasno was born in Kiev, USSR (Ukraine). Seeing the enormous Soviet Empire crumbling around him as a teenager, Nik immigrated to Israel, where he became a lawyer and after the Big Bang of the USSR returned to already independent Ukraine as an Israeli citizen. For many years Nik had been sharing his time between family in Israel and work and business mostly in former Soviet republics, virtually living on the plane between Middle East and Eastern Europe.

Witnessing the meteoric rise of a small number of individuals from modest citizens to mighty billionaires, Nik felt compelled to expose to the world the unique phenomenon taking place in this less familiar part of the globe. In the fictional plot of his Oligarch series he combines real and imaginary events with some 'lawyers' folklore' and known corruption and criminal schemes customary for Ukraine and other former USSR republics. The author also shares some insight into the glorious and simultaneously tragic events of 2013 uprising in Ukraine resulting in ousting of the president, ensuing Russian aggression in Crimea and tensions and war in the Eastern regions of Ukraine. The imaginary characters are designed to reflect real behavior and mentality and provide decent entertainment for the readers.

Remember movies based on Bill Gates' and Mark Zuckerberg's biographies describing their path to wealth and glory? Although they were truly amazing, Nik thinks the rise of their eastern billionaire peers is just a little more thrilling and unorthodox.

Besides writing the series, Nik currently resides and works as an independent legal practitioner in Israel.

Facebook | Linkedin | Goodreads | Amazon Author Page | Smashwords

Most Recent Novel: Mortal Showdown

Mortal Showdown is an action packed thriller sending the reader on a kaleidoscopic race through violence, sex, scamming and anti-scamming, political upheaval and murder. 

Michael (Misha) – a Ukrainian oligarch who was rapidly climbing the Forbes rich list, wakes from a coma caused by an assassination attempt and realizes that he's in the thick of a multilayered attack on him and his business empire. Making things even worse - among his numerous adversaries is one of Russia’s most influential strongmen. From rich and powerful, Michael very quickly becomes a fugitive, struggling for survival. Counting on his wits and a handful of loyal associates, he searches for a way to even the score with each of his adversaries and to save his country from the Russian bear’s grasp. 

In order to have the slightest chance in a face-off with his prime nemesis, Michael needs to attack head on, undertaking the greatest risk of his entire life. Unfortunately, the dangerous mission goes wrong from the very beginning...

Mortal Showdown: Amazon US | Amazon UK

Rise of an Oligarch: Amazon US | Amazon UK

If you enjoy these posts, would you consider sharing them with your networks? I post an author interview every Wednesday, and other writing-adjacent thoughts periodically. You can join me on Twitter, Facebook or Google+. 

How To Know If You Are In A Creative Rut

As creative professionals, we assume that our biggest problem, will probably be that we are taking too many risks. The risk of not having financial security. The risk of doing work that makes people uncomfortable. The risk of not investing enough in marketing ourselves and our work. You may even think that being in a rut could never happen to you.

The funny thing about human beings is that we are incredible at adapting to our environment. We start off in a new situation, we are nervous, maybe scared, then we figure things out. Slowly the new situation becomes comfortable, we get the hang of it, and before we know it, we are in a rut. Actually, doing research for my most recent book, I learned how this really works in our brain. When we are doing something new, learning a new skill, adapting to a new environment, our brains need a way to create a shortcut, a way to remember and execute the actions we need to easily. So each time we do something new, maybe play a certain tune on the piano, or give a speech, we strengthen the white matter or myelin in our brains for that action (see the excellent The Talent Code) for a thorough explanation of this phenomenon. The more we strengthen the myelin, the easier it gets to play that particular tune or give that particular speech. 

So let's say the first few months or year of creating custom social media banners for clients, or designing infographics, you are challenging yourself, coming up with new ideas, really pushing the boundaries of your own skill set. Then, you start to get into a groove. Your work is appreciated, the checks keep coming in, and you are confident about your abilities. At this point you are feeling good. And the work is piling up, you don’t have time to look around, to see what is missing, what you are not doing.

But the problem you see is, that you might be in a rut, and you don’t even realize it. 

I was reading Shonda Rhimes' excellent memoir Year of Yes, and in the book, she talks about how although her creative career was going brilliantly, in every other aspect of her life, she was stuck in a rut. She was afraid of trying new things, of saying yes to new opportunities, from the fear of messing it up, or being vulnerable. I recognized myself in that description - I had become afraid to try anything new, to venture outside my comfort zone. The only difference is, that I was doing this in my creative life.

I have written 6 books so far, and all of them have been very different from each other. I haven’t just been doing the same thing over and over. So why do I think I haven’t taken the risks? Because I was afraid to write something that revealed more of myself, that meant I would have to be vulnerable. I wrote from my head, but not my heart. To some extent, in my most recent book, I did tap into beliefs that are really deeply held, and I think that’s why this book has been far better received than my previous ones. But I still haven’t really been able to take a risk and really share more of the real me. 

Not everyone gets creatively stuck in the same ways. For some people it could be that without realizing it, they have stopped trying to venture into different aspects of their field, and just keep doing the work that is safe and pays the bills. For others, it might mean that they are stuck reading the same books, meeting the same people, watching the same TV shows, and are not cultivating any new experiences. For some, it could even be something as simple as being unexcited about their work, being bored and wishing for something external to excite them again.

If you feel like you’re falling out of love with your work, or your life, sometimes all you need is a simple shift in perspective. In Rhimes’ memoir, she explains that her shift came when she realized that she simply needed to start saying yes to things, even or especially when, they scared her. For me, recently a shift in perspective happened when I decided to simply try things that I was interested in, without demanding that I do them brilliantly or that they were immediately successful. 

One of the results of this decision was that I finally started to do interviews of authors on my blog, something that I was really interested in doing, but avoided earlier for fear of adding to my workload and taking away from my book writing. Yes, it is a lot of work. But reaching out to so many different authors, I am learning a lot, and the whole process has been a blast. 

So if you are doing creative work of some kind, and feel like you have got into a rut, try to do something that you have always wanted to and haven’t either had the courage to do or made the time. Start a side project that has no commercial value. Do something that is just for you. Alternatively, mix up your creative inputs. Join a group where you are likely to meet totally different people. Read books in a genre you never considered before - maybe read non-fiction if you only fiction or the other way around. Ask friends for recommendations for good podcasts or shows that wouldn’t usually come up on your radar. Take an online course.

All of this is time-consuming and disruptive to your normal routine. And that is kind of the point. We are busy, more than ever, and there is a never-ending list of things to get done. But at the end of the day, what each of us really wants, is to do something inspiring, to leave a legacy, to touch someone, even just one person. In order to do this, we need to expand ourselves, get out of our own head and do something unexpected. We need to have what Zen Buddhists call “beginner’s mind”, where you look at something from a fresh perspective, when you are open to learning and to the possibility...of life. 

If you enjoy these posts, would you consider sharing them with your networks? I post an author interview every Wednesday, and other writing-adjacent thoughts periodically. You can join me on Twitter, Facebook or Google+.