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Author: Tabby

Interview with Fantasy Author Anna Tizard

I have another fellow author and contributor to the short story anthology, Midwinter Magic & Mayhem! Anna Tizard is a truly unique author that you will love getting to know. Be sure to check out Midwinter Magic & Mayhem for only 99¢ and enjoy some comfy reading for a chilly night. Be sure to also check out Anna’s books and podcast, which are linked throughout the interview.

Please welcome Anna Tizard, fellow fantasy author and contributor to our short story compilation, Midwinter Magic & Mayhem! Thanks for giving me the opportunity to interview you today. Can you introduce yourself and what you write to my readers?

Hi Tabitha, and thank you for having me!

I write weird, highly imaginative speculative fiction and dreampunk. For me, the whole point of stories is to take readers on a journey they’ve never been on before. Writing a story is magical – you’re literally creating and imparting to someone an experience they wouldn’t otherwise have. But to make these experiences resonate, they must explore situations which, even if they’re completely impossible, are in some way psychologically true.

A lot of my writing is inspired by the theories of the twentieth-century psychologist, Carl Jung, although I never set out intending to draw on these ideas; they tend to emerge of their own accord, taking on new, fantastical forms.

Stories are a way to tap into our unconscious minds, both when writing and reading. I think this is how we find and create experiences that really affect us and stay with us: they reach something deeper inside us.

You have a very unique method for writing new stories. Tell us about it!

Yes – “unique” is the word! I use the surrealist word game of Exquisite Corpse to come up with story ideas. The game randomizes word entries from different people to generate bizarre sentences that follow this structure: “The described noun did something with/to/ for the described noun”.

In fact, I play the game “live” on my podcast, Brainstoryum, brainstorming story ideas by scrambling words my listeners have sent to me through www.annatizard.com/play! It’s hilarious – I laugh quite a lot on the show – but once you start digging beyond your initial impression of these weird word combinations, you find how suggestive they are of situations and characters. Often they can be quite haunting.

Where did you come up with that idea, and how did it lead to your books?

I discovered the game when I was working in a call centre, bored but glad to be working with a great mix of people. At first we played Consequences (where you co-create a short story, with each player writing a different segment on a piece of paper and folding it so the next person can’t see what’s come before). Through a French-Spanish colleague (and an internet search) I learned that the French surrealists in the 1920s transformed Consequences into an even weirder game where you co-create a single sentence.

It was actually years after that initial discovery that I started experimenting with stories from the game results in earnest, and I got hooked!

“The empty danger” was a weird word combination that felt like a puzzle: what could be both dangerous and empty, or intangible? Along came the pandemic and I had my answer: fear itself. The novella explores the question of what happens when (pretty much) the whole world is feeling the same thing at once – but based on entirely fantastical interpretation of what fear might look like (evil goblin-like creatures beyond the clouds. Oh, and they also stink!).

My next book was inspired by an entire Exquisite Corpse result: “The lofty portrait of my grandmother rapidly salivated at the estranged stairwell” (and yes, you will probably have to read that sentence twice!). This sparked a story about an artist whose dying grandmother’s portrait comes alive after her death – so is she really dead? The plot has some really weird twists, again based on the idea that our minds are all connected. “I For Immortality” won the Imadjinn Award for Best Literary Fiction Novel in 2022.

So far I’ve written at least twenty short stories based on different Exquisite Corpses (Overcast in Midwinter Magic & Mayhem being one example). While many of these are yet to be published, one story, The Midnight Ship, became such a collaborative project since I invited my podcast listeners to give me feedback on the first draft, that I decided to publish this as a stand-alone, perma-free e-book. (Download here: https://BookHip.com/BLRGGCX.)

What is the silliest or funniest word combination you’ve had to work with?

Oh my goodness, there are so many… Two that spring to mind are: “The humungous vampire angrily washed the engorged cheese” and “The crispy pumpkin vaingloriously ached for the attentions of the narcotic slipper”. Another, more recent example is: “The loving horizon passed through the TSA Checkpoint with the galloping pickle.” I mean, come on! Talk about a writing challenge.

But it’s so fascinating to get feedback from my listeners because they can come up with whole new ways of looking at these things. For example, one author (Frasier Armitage) suggested that “The Loving Horizon” might be a valuable painting which someone is trying to smuggle through customs by hiding it under the less well-regarded piece, “The Galloping Pickle”! Incredible. Hats off to my listeners!

In Midwinter Magic & Mayhem, your story, “Overcast”, deals with some unnatural cold in the summertime. It also involves a clever word play with the title. Can you tell us about how your followers’ submissions inspired the story?

It’s funny you should ask about my followers’ submissions: When I first received the invitation to write for this anthology, I hunted around for an Exquisite Corpse that would fit the wintry theme. When I couldn’t find anything, I asked my listeners and readers to send me wintry words for the game, hoping that these would combine into the perfect Exquisite Corpse to inspire a story! But inspiration doesn’t work like that. As the original surrealists knew, the spark of an idea comes from the unconscious mind and one way to “get at” this is through randomness, and by not trying to control things.

So after going round in circles on this (and experimentally trying to break my own “rules” for finding inspiration!) I settled on a sentence that had some resonance for me, though not with an obvious winter theme:

“The long-tailed mystic learned the secrets of the overcast gargoyle.”

The word “overcast” was my way in to a weather-based kind of magic, and gradually the rest of the story took shape. The concept of winter actually being inside the protagonist came to me quite late in the drafting process. (I’m a discovery writer, and often I don’t know how everything’s going to fit together until quite far in to the first draft.)

The word play that occurs with the title (I don’t want to give this away to anyone who hasn’t read the story yet!) literally sprang into my mind at random while I was quite far into the second draft – there’s no way I could have worked that out consciously or in advance. This is what I love about being a discovery writer. Not only do my stories tap into the deeper parts of the mind, but the process itself is a way of delving into these unknown spaces inside me – and I get to turn them into entertainment!

Many readers come to my site to read my series on conlanging. Though you aren’t making up a new language, you are playing with words we know and use everyday. How has this opened up your creativity, if it has done so?

Trying to create stories from Exquisite Corpse game results is really challenging, but it’s become a vital regular exercise for my imagination (as well as extremely fun!). Since I began the podcast, I’m finding it quicker and easier to come up with new ideas. The imagination is like a muscle: you never know what you can achieve until you push yourself that bit further.

Brainstorming story ideas on the spot for the podcast also enables me to share this process with so many other authors (or aspiring authors) who, like me, have no clue where this is going to take their creativity.

Some people might find it a weird and scary prospect: allowing complete randomness to guide what I write next. It is scary, every time I sit down to play the game! But it’s given me confidence in what my imagination can do. It’s also given me the most unique, unexpected ideas I would never have otherwise dreamed of.

Do you have any upcoming releases or works-in-progress you’d like to tell us about?

I have several works in progress at the moment, either in early drafts or busy percolating. I like to switch between projects so some stories can “rest” while I work on others, and come back to them afresh. It’s a messy process but it works for me!

I’m looking forward to the spring or summer 2023 release of a new dreampunk anthology I’ve contributed to, entitled Somniscope (Fractured Mirror Publishing, edited by Cliff Jones Jr,). Broadly speaking, dreampunk is a fantasy and scifi subgenre which explores the mind and different states of consciousness – right up my street! My story is called The Secret Undoing and it’s about an auditor for the government who comes across some dodgy figures in the accounts. Having notified his manager, he is then forced to “forget” this incriminating piece of information. A dream clinician guides him through a meditation into the deeper layers of his unconscious mind so he can literally “bury” the unwanted memory. It’s as weird as it sounds!

Any parting thoughts you’d like to share?

I’ve always felt that stories are full of unlikely yet resonant connections. This is what the original surrealists were exploring by randomizing words and juxtaposing ill-fitting images: they wanted to go beyond the conscious order and the automatic assumptions we make, and to reach for something deeper than the obvious or surface reality. By placing situations and characters together that don’t fit perfectly, or are deliberately misaligned, we find the basis for a striking, original idea.

Everyone knows that stories are about conflict. But not everyone realises how much you can discover by digging into mismatched, conflicting ideas or themes, and using them to uproot new ways of exploring universal themes. This is really at the heart of what I do.

This is also why I’m always encouraging Brainstoryum listeners to join in, and to write in if they’ve been inspired to write a story. The possibilities are literally limitless.

Like Einstein said, “Creativity is intelligence having fun”.

Thank you so much, Anna! It was a pleasure to interview you. You can find out more about Anna at her website, www.annatizard.com. You can also subscribe to her email list and get TWO free stories!

The Hidden Goddess Is Here!

At last, the big day has arrived! Four books down, and one more to go. I hope you enjoy this exciting, action-packed penultimate installment of The Warriors of Bhrea.

The hardcover is unfortunately not quite ready, but it should be in the next couple weeks. Keep an eye for it if that’s the format you prefer! Otherwise, the ebook and paperback are available now, including on Kindle Unlimited. And if you haven’t read the first three books, they are on sale for 99¢ each! Check out the whole series HERE.

The enemy has played their hand, and now chaos reigns.

Though separated by worlds and kingdoms, Lauren Strauss and her companions have a united goal: take down Astrin and her villainous cohort. New allies are found, secrets are revealed, and most of all, deep bonds are formed even amidst the shadow of destruction looming over an entire world. But will it be enough to stop an ancient goddess bent on doing whatever it takes to raise an empire from the ashes?

It is easy to give in to despair…but hope remains, however small. Lauren and her friends must either place all their meager hope in chasing rumors of a hidden goddess—or they must rely solely on themselves to defeat a great and powerful evil.

A Short Story Collection to Welcome Winter!

Between writing The Hidden Goddess and editing The Lost King’s audiobook, I’ve had the honor of writing a short story for a fantasy anthology, Midwinter Magic & Mayhem.

In it are stories from various fantasy authors, with stories ranging from spooky to romantic to wholesome. Whatever mood you’re in this fall and winter, these stories are sure to accommodate!

My own short story, “Sins of the Father”, features Val from his childhood. If you have read my Warriors of Bhrea series, you will see a few familiar characters—all set in the ethereal, eerie, and wintry Detma Forest.

If you haven’t read my series yet, not to worry! You don’t have to read the series to understand the short story. It can be read completely on its own.

And, you will get to enjoy stories from other excellent authors, such as E. P. Stavs, Anna Tizard, Frances Evelyn, and more!

Well, what are you waiting for?! Grab some hot chocolate, tea, or apple cider, and then grab your copy of Midwinter Magic Mayhem today for only 99¢!

The Warriors of Bhrea: The Hidden Goddess Cover Reveal!

I’m so excited to have another announcement so quickly! Book 4 of The Warriors of Bhrea series is set to come out in October–probably October 15, but it could get delayed a couple weeks if the need arises.

In the meantime, you can enjoy this beautiful cover done by the amazing Kiarou! You can check out his (and his partner in crime, moui’s) webcomic HERE. You won’t regret it–it’s a very well done comic!

Now, without further ado, here is the cover for The Hidden Goddess!

If you haven’t read the first three books yet, be sure to check them out:

The Lost King Audiobook is Available! (Finally)

If you love audiobooks and prefer that format for consuming books, today is your lucky day! After 3/4 of a year recording and editing, The Warriors of Bhrea: The Lost King is now on Audible (and iTunes soon)!

If you already own the ebook, you can add the audio version for just $7.47!

I hope you enjoy! I had a blast recording the story how I imagine it, including the accents, the emotion in the dialogue and prose, all of it. And, I believe it came out to a wonderfully-sounding product in the end.

Get your copy today!

Now to just get the rest of the books produced…😅

Conlanging 101: How to Create a Language, Part 7

And we’re back! In this post, we will continue discussing creating a writing system for your conlang, diving into a few more practical details to help you plan and design a writing system that fits your language. For previous posts on constructing a language, click here!

Types of Writing Systems

Omniglot has a ton of information about writing systems and languages, so check it out if you are interested. I’m just going to briefly describe the different types:

Consonant alphabets: consonants have their own letters, and vowels may be indicated by consonant letters or by diacritics (Arabic, Hebrew).

Alphabets: letters represent vowels and consonants. Each letter might have only one sound, or a letter might represent a set of sounds (English, Russian, Georgian).

Syllabic alphabets: symbols represent a syllable–a consonant and inherent vowel. The vowel might be modified by diacritics, or have its own symbol if it’s the start of a word (Hindi, Nepali).

Syllabaries: the symbols represent a syllable–usually a consonant and a vowel (Japanese, Cherokee).

Logographic: a symbol represents the meaning and the sound. They might resemble the things they represent, or they might be an abstract representation (Chinese, Egyptian hieroglyphs).

Getting some familiarity with different types of writing systems is extremely helpful for creating your own. Would you prefer an alphabet-based system for ease? Or are you going all out in creating a complex, logographic system? Take a look at Omniglot for excellent sources of inspiration, whether from the real world or another conlang.

Applying Some Basic Principles

So, after you get an idea of what kind of writing system fits your language, it’s time to start experimenting with design. This part is one of the most fun! All you need is a piece of paper and pencil, or you can use a drawing tablet if you have one.

Graph paper might be helpful for those who like lots of visual organization, but it’s not necessary. Here are some simple sketches of possible characters or letters in a writing system:

This is a great opportunity to play around with lines, curves, circles, squares, dots, and squiggles. Perhaps you want an alphabet that is composed of straight lines–try making combinations of lines and different angles. Maybe you want a more flowy script–sometimes just letting your hand go free with the curves will lead to some interesting ideas. I also sketched some characters in a more square configuration, as well as some more circular shapes (generally). Combining several of these elements will create a more complex system, if that is what you are looking for.

Korvet’s Alphabet

Korvet uses an alphabet, read from left to right. After some time of experimenting with different shapes, I came up with this:

I wanted there to be a more flowy element to the written language, something that could flow and fit together as it is written. Keep in mind that it took me a long time to perfect my ideas–this was NOT the starting product. So, remember to have patience with your own process.

You can see how I build upon certain elements. For example, when converting the basic vowels to dipthongs or making variations, I took the original letter and added/changed a different element to indicate a change in sound. The letter for /a/ loses its dot and gains a line to make the dipthong /ai/.

Here is a sentence written in Korvet:

The beautiful woman cries for her lost lover.

Some Considerations for Creating a Writing System

There a few things I recommend considering, should it be relevant to your particular conlang.

First, consider its history. If your world follows roughly the same progression in written language systems, the first media for writing would likely be stone, clay, wood, or bones. This will limit how some languages can be written. If it’s carved in stone, it probably cannot have many curves. Straight lines will be much more practical unless there is a high level of specialty involved (such as a scribe class that is paid to carve complex characters). If the writing system is painted on a surface, that allows for more curves and complexity. Using other simple shapes like wedges could also be practical (think Sumerian cuneiform). Then, as time goes on and media like paper or vellum develop, scripts can evolve with those advances.

Second, think about how practical it is to write these languages quickly. When you are writing, are you focusing on creating every letter or character perfectly? Probably not. Languages frequently develop ways to make writing more practical, such as cursive or shorthand. Consider how your language might reflect that.

Third, keep in mind the direction of reading and writing you want. English and Korvet are read from left to right, top to bottom, in rows of text. However, traditional Chinese is read from right to left, top to bottom, in columns.

Lastly, the concepts I have covered here assume a human or humanoid writer that has hands with five digits. If you are creating a world filled with nonhuman species, you could have a lot of fun coming up with ways to adapt their writing to their two-fingered hands, tentacles, claws…whatever you can imagine! For example, in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, the dragon language is written with large claws and reflects that. In Arrival, the aliens use tentacles and ink blots to write.

Skyrim’s dragon language
Arrival’s ink blot language

Wrapping Up

I hope you find some of these basic ideas for creating a writing system helpful. As you develop your conlang, you might find your writing system inspires changes in your phonology or syntax, or vice versa! It is not a linear progression to create a language, so keep that in mind.

Though I don’t feature the writing systems themselves in The Warriors of Bhrea, my books feature a few conlangs of my own creation! Check out my books here.

It’s Finally Here: Book 3 Release Day!

Merry Christmas, everybody! I hope all is well in your corner of the world during this holiday season.

I am more than stoked to announce the release of my third book, The Warriors of Bhrea: The God of Forgotten Things!

It is now available in ebook, paperback, and hardcover formats.

If you haven’t read the series, you can get the first book for free today and tomorrow (25th and 26th), and the second book for $.99! The sale will last until Monday, so get your copies for a great price while you can!

Without any further ado…enjoy the third installment of The Warriors of Bhrea series, The God of Forgotten Things!

If you were desperate enough, would you trust a cursed god, the god of forgotten things?

View the full series HERE.

Have a wonderful, fulfilling, and relaxing Christmas!

Conlanging 101: How to Create a Language, Part 6

I’m back, and I have a couple friends here to join us this time! The next step of conlanging we will cover is creating a writing system. Check out this page to see all the previous posts on creating a language. They have a lot of great info and resources!

Creating a Writing System: An Interview with Two Webcomic Artists

I have with me artists/writers Kiarou and moui. They are co-creators of the web comic Messenger to Gevurah, a beautifully illustrated story with its own fleshed-out worldbuilding, including an amazing writing system! Before we launch into writing systems, here is some amazing art from their comic. Please do check out their work–you won’t regret it! You can find multiple formats and places to read their comic here.

“𝑀𝑒𝑒𝑡 𝐾𝑙𝑎𝑢𝑑𝑒, 𝑎 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑏𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦’𝑠 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠. 𝐵𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑟𝑝ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑏𝑖𝑟𝑡ℎ 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑛 𝑎𝑡 𝑎 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑔𝑒, 𝐺𝑒𝑣𝑢𝑟𝑎ℎ 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑜𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑛. 𝐻𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟, 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑛 𝑒𝑦𝑒, ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑 𝑐𝑟𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑖𝑚.”

Now tell us a bit about the writing system! What inspired it (if anything) and what are its characteristics?

moui & Kiarou: We knew right off the back that language and writing would be important themes in our story. However we definitely didn’t want to keep everything in English, simply for immersion sake. Since the world of Messenger To Gevurah is a pure fantasy, it just seemed appropriate to immerse that world even more with its own language and writing system.

When first creating your world, what things did you consider when it came to the language/writing system? How did those considerations change as you got deeper into writing the story, if they did change?

Kiarou: The funny thing is, I’m actually not very gifted in languages. It’s always been an area I struggled with in school. We knew that there was a certain aesthetic that we wanted to go with, but the system itself had to be simple. So we made it a simple phonetic translation system, where the symbols simply stand for sounds that can be phonetically translated into English! It’s not that’s complex and easy for me to keep straight.

Practically speaking, how did you go about designing the writing system?

moui & Kiarou: The aesthetics of the visual style of the writing system was actually built backwards from the logo design. We had an idea for what the series logo should look like: The title MESSENGER TO GEVURAH, but then have a subtitle of the series in a different language. Almost like in Japanese animations where they will have the English title with the Kanji title underneath it. Well, we definitely didn’t want Kanji or any other real world language, so we made up our own. We worked with the logo to see what visually looked good as a logo.

Original doodle for the logo
Digital refinement
New concept
Finalized concept

Once we had our logo finalized, we made the rest of the alphabet to fit with the symbols used in the logo. Since the setting of MtG was a city that is strong, inflexible and imposing, we wanted a written language that reflected those qualities. We referenced various languages like Latin and Hebrew as a visual motif guide on how to get an alphabet to look cohesive.

Original lettering guide sketch

Did anything surprise you about creating a writing system? If so, what?

moui & Kiarou: An unintended benefit of having a made up written language was how much easier it made drawing some panels! In some scenes where there is a book with a large amount of text whose content is unimportant, it’s easier to just mash a bunch of symbols together rather than having to type something out. And it looks much better than just drawing squiggly lines as a shorthand.

What advice would you give to a new conlanger who wants to create a writing system to supplement their conlang?

moui & Kiarou: Think about the people and culture that use this written language and try to get that language to reflect the culture at large. Is the culture a complex web of hierarchies and systems? Then make the language complex and difficult, so that not every layman in that society could pick it up. Is this culture free thinking? Then a visual style that blends words together or is flexible in the scripts is a great direction to go. Even if the language doesn’t make 100% sense from a philology perspective, the visual information you can subconsciously give your audience is invaluable.

What has been the most fun or rewarding thing about developing your comic and its setting?

moui: It’s been so interesting seeing how the art style has changed over the years. Since it takes us a very long time to complete a chapter, there is a clear visual development from the first chapter of Volume 1 to the last. It’s kind of cool to see how seamless it happens, but then when you contrast the first page with the last, it’s like “wow, I’ve really improved!”. It’s exciting to wonder how the art will look after several volumes are completed!

Any final thoughts regarding designing a writing system, and worldbuilding/conlanging in general?

moui & Kiarou: Be as simple or as complex as you like, I think the important thing with these type of things is how it functions as a component in the story and in your world building! It’s very easy for us fantasy writers to get caught up in the world building process, but it’s always good to step back every once in a while and ask “what function does this serve and am I getting the most out of it?” If you keep the practical function of these story components in mind, then you will find all sorts of creative and efficient ways to incorporating language into your story!

As you can see, lots of great and practical information to get inspiration from! A big thanks to Kiarou and moui for coming over to my little corner of the internet to talking about creating a writing system. Again, check out Messenger to Gevurah… If you like manga, webcomics, art, or just a plain ol’ good story, check this hidden gem out here!

Next Time

In my next installment of this series, I will go into some more detail on writing systems and resources to draw upon as you create your own. Stay tuned for that, and check out my books on Amazon while you’re at it! They include the conlang Korvet and are epic stories to boot.

The Lost King Audiobook – Character Voice Samples!

As some of you know, I’ve begun producing an audiobook version of The Warriors of Bhrea: The Lost King (on sale for 99 cents by the way).

I’ve got a microphone, a studio set up, and for the past couple weeks, I’ve been practicing getting settings right and getting familiar with the process of recording. Very soon, I will begin recording The Lost King chapters.

In the meantime, I’ve been honing different character voices and accents. Here are some sample lines from different characters in The Lost King. I’d love to hear what you think! I want to ensure the voices are entertaining and understandable, so I am eager for feedback. 😀

Hope you enjoy, and again, let me know what you think!

Book 3 Cover Reveal! (And a Fantastic Book Sale)

I am ecstatic to announce the release of my third book, The Warriors of Bhrea: The God of Forgotten Things. Let’s cut to the chase and show you the AWESOME cover, done by Kiarou (check out his stuff here!)

Isn’t…it…AMAZING???

And it’s coming to Amazon on December 25, 2021. That’s right, my Christmas present to you is the next book of my series.

In the mean time, if you haven’t read the first two books, FEAR NOT! Today and tomorrow (Oct. 16 & 17), the first book is free, and the second book is only 99 cents. That’s two full length novels for a dollar. A sweet deal, if you ask me. Click HERE to grab your copies!

Stay tuned for more updates, including some exciting things I have planned for showcasing what I’m planning with The Lost King‘s audiobook!