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| "Wicked Paints" short (cover by EmJayArt.com) |
With the release of "Crimson Shadow: Noir", book
#1 in my vamp-goth psycho-thriller series, and several short stories that tie
into the series ("Wicked Paints, "Magic Murderer", and the
soon-to-debut "Just Another Night" [June 15th]), I thought
I'd take the time to better acquaint everybody with the series as well as give
a "behind-the-scenes" look at what's gone into creating the Crimson
Shadow world.
But first, for those who aren't already familiar with the premise of the book:
"Xander
Stryker wants to die.
Ever since
witnessing his mother's murder at the hands of his abusive stepfather when he
was a boy, he has spent every day trying to reach that goal. But every night he's
denied the death he craves.
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| Book #1, "Noir" (cover by Para Graphic) |
Continue on with
his wretched life or begin a new one as the vampire he was always meant to be.
Unfortunately,
the supernatural world can be just as unforgiving and brutal as any other and
Xander's choice is met with disastrous consequences. Now, with the chaos of the
new world pressing down on him, his past reemerges and once again threatens to
crush him. Will Xander be able to use his new strength to conquer his fears, or
will he succumb to his own bloody darkness...
... and allow it
to finally destroy him."
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| Get to know The Literary Dark Prince |
It was then that Xander
Stryker--a boy who, like me, was self-destructive and tortured, but found a way
above it all and into something so much greater than he could've ever
imagined--was created.
At that time, there was no plan
for the project outside of "traveling" with Xander and his journey
into a world of vampires and finding the strength to fight not only those that
would try to do him harm, but his own desires to harm himself. For me, there was
no plan--no future--outside of telling Xander's story, and I was certain that
the moment I finished the piece that I would leave it as my last effort before
ending my life.
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| Learn more about To Write Love On Her Arms (the suicide & self-harm prevention movement that sees a donation for every copy of "Noir" sold) |
But then Xander did something I'd
never expected him to do…
He saved my life.
Somehow,
in writing a story of a character who was supposed to encompass everything I
could never be, I discovered strength and purpose. To add to my surprise,
others--who had begun to notice a dramatic change in my mood and behavior and
demanded to see what was bringing about that change--found Xander's tale (the
tale that would later become the first book in the Crimson Shadow series,
"Noir") worked just as well to give them strength and hope; encouraging
others who had been suicidal to find their own means of overcoming their
personal breeds of darkness. Seeing that this character's growth had such potential,
I focused less on what the stories could do for me and more about what they
could do for others. Over the years (five in total to polish the first book) I
decided that I had found my calling and set my dreams on becoming an author so
that I could entertain and enlighten the world (effectively deciding to shift
from a nobody who wanted to die to somebody who wanted to provide the world
with an enthusiastic storyteller).
As Xander grew more-and-more
aware of the world of vampires--a world that I wanted to be laced throughout
modern-day human society so tightly that readers would genuinely believe that
they, too, could experience it if they turned down the right (or wrong) dark
alley. My obsessive research, as it turned out, allowed for me to build and
modify on a myriad of legends to create something that mirrored the classic lore
while, at the same time, shining the light on the many myths in a way that
readers had never before seen them.
The process of creating/modifying
legendary "monsters" to create fresh and compelling creatures for my
writing proved to be one of the most challenging and time-consuming tasks I
could take on. So that others have an understanding of just how broad and
complex the paranormal world stretches: I have studied global and cultural
mythology for two years before starting to write Xander's story and, since
then, have continued my studies (that's 12 years' worth of research--nearly
half my entire life).
So
far, for the universe that all of my writing has taken place in, there are more
than four species of vampires (one of which has three different types) and a
breed of shape-shifter that encompasses werewolves, werebears, werecats (any
anthropomorphic "were"-creature you can imagine) called
"theriomorphs" ("therio-"
being a Latin root for "beast") or "therions", for short.
Other creatures (like the elf/fairy-like "anaprieks", the bat-like
"Gerlins", and many more) were included, as well, so that the world
of non-humans--known as "mythos"--would be just as diverse and broad
as the one we already know and see every day.
Being a fan of action/adventure
films, comics, and Japanese anime/manga, I'd always seen the superhuman
abilities of vampires, werewolves, and other such beings as a means of creating
truly epic and (often literally) ground-breaking encounters and, of course,
battles. If a being is strong enough to leap 30 feet into the air, punch
through walls, move faster than bullets, or move anything and everything with
their minds, then it stood to reason that a fight between such beings would be
a true visual marvel. Now, because I've always had a cinematic mind (I'd
dreamed of being a filmmaker at one time in my life), I've always written in a
manner that I hoped would instill an image in the reader's mind that was not
unlike the fluid visuals of watching a movie (and, with such elaborate visuals
to work with, I had my work cut out for me).
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| "Magic Murderer" CS short (cover by EmJayArt.com) |
Despite all the challenges
associated with it, however, I found that building a whole new world to house
my creations proved to be more fun than I'd ever expected. Because of the
"rules" that I'd set in Xander's world, I had to research outside of
what I was used to (psychology, philosophy, religion, biology, etc…) in order
to make the creatures and their abilities believable. For the blood-drinking
vampires, for example, I had the pleasure of interviewing a dentist to learn
more about how the classic fangs that we all know and love would work in the
real world and any biological traits that would come along with them. Magical
practices and paralleling beliefs from different views were taken into
consideration in order to fabricate a breed of spellcasting that ultimately
defined every creature I'd created. More than anything else, though, was the
realm of physics and how these glorious creatures would be capable of achieving
their extraordinary abilities.
Though a lot of that effort may
not be blatantly obvious in the writings, all of that time and research was not
spent in vain. For a writer to be confident in their work, and, as a result,
have their readers believe and accept what's being "fed" to them,
there has to be a sense of continuity and believability (so that they can fully
immerse themselves in their entertainment, audiences rely on a concrete
understanding of what is "fact" when approaching a book, movie,
comic, etc…). Research and development is, in many ways, one of the most
important things for a writer to do when creating a new world (second only to
following through with a project and seeing it to the end).
In preparing this blog post, I
decided to open the floor (so to speak) to a few readers who had questions that
I felt were worth publically answering. If you have any questions that aren't
answered here, feel free to post them and I'll do my best to answer without
spoiling any future elements in the series:
1) Xander
Stryker has a lot of challenges in his life, while you were writing his story
did you have a hard time writing certain parts?
~One
of the reasons book #1 took five years to complete (at least three years longer
than ANY other piece I've written since) was because a great deal of scenes and
emotions that I depicted were dangerously close to personal events that I was
forced to step away from the project time-and-time-again to avoid slipping into
depression (on several occasions, however, stepping back didn't help and, more
than once, I suffered from minor breakdowns).
2) Being
this story from a personal perspective, were there certain characters who you
found had a lot of traits from special/important people in your life?
~Absolutely!
When approaching the process of developing the characters for the book I would
often consider what I needed from that character (what purpose they held in the
piece) and determined a fitting personality that would drive that purpose. A
lot of the time, the personalities that I "programmed" these
characters with was similar to one-or-more actual people in my life (some
characters, like Estella, for example, were combinations of several people--in
that case my fiancé and her determination and kindness mixed with the
soft-hearted nature of my mother to create a strong and capable character who
detested violence and killing). Other characters were a little more vague/less
literal and were built more around a TYPE of personality rather than a specific
person's personality (I'd always defined Marcus as the big brother/drill sergeant-type).
3) We
are briefly introduced to the character Estella; will she play a more important
role in future books perhaps?
~Yes.
At risk of going into too much detail and spoiling future books I can assure
you that Estella's character will become VERY relevant/integral to the series.
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| Look for the next CS Kindle short, "Just Another Night" on June 15th (art by EmJayArt.com) |
4) From
his suicidal tendencies and depression and rage issues, do you think Xander
will fully be able to control his emotions and become the legend he was
destined for?
~One
of Xander's greatest strengths (as well as one of his greatest weaknesses) IS
his self-destructive tendencies and his anger. It's said that the worst kind of
opponent is one who doesn't fear death, and it's the truth; if somebody doesn't
care about protecting themselves and is focused SOLELY on destroying their enemy,
then being shot or stabbed isn't a concern so long as they can eradicate them
before bleeding to death
However,
while Xander's emotions--like anybody else's--have a tendency to become their
own hurdles, he's never beyond a point of seeing that his perception/approach
needs to change for both his and his loved ones' benefit. For this reason,
while he'll probably never be a Buddhist master of all things Zen, Xander will
inevitably rise to meet the challenges he's faced with.
5) Xander
is both a sang AND an auric from what we’ve gathered; does he prefer blood
drinking or psychic energy for feeding? If sang, does he have limits to which
he feeds from with blood and if auric, do certain “emotions” taste better than
others?
~Xander,
as a human, grew up with a lot of darkness and suffering in his mind and, as a
result, is somewhat reluctant to enter the minds of others (after all, why
invite somebody else's emotional baggage into your life if you've already got
too much of your own?) and typically prefers to drink blood if given the
option. However, this reluctance doesn't keep him from doing what has to be done,
and if he needs to unveil a hidden thought to solve a mystery or psychically
drain somebody to get the strength he needs, he will do so in the blink of an
eye.
As
for limitations on whose neck he tears into: like any law-abiding mythos in the
series, he makes a conscious effort not to feed on humans to avoid the
complications that missing persons and piled corpses tend to arise. For the
most part, sang vampires can sustain themselves on any sort of blood, and it's
usually easier and safer to get this from animals and sources that store animal
blood from slaughterhouses. However, the bagged stuff is to a vampire what
freeze-dried rations are to a human; while it serves the intended purpose, it's
rarely satisfying and never enjoyable. Like anything else, though, if he gets
hungry enough, then ANYTHING with blood in it is an appetizing morsel.
In
the end, any sort of feeding (blood or psychic) is a means of keeping up his
strength and/or healing from any injuries he's sustained. For this reason, he
doesn't "prefer" any blood-type or emotion over another, as long as
it does what it's supposed to do.
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| MEET THE CRIMSON SHADOW CREW!! |
6) Xander
meets a lot of characters in book 1; out of all the characters you’ve
introduced (Marcus, Stan, Estella, and The Gamer) which was your favorite to
write about and which was your least?
~All
of the characters I made are enjoyable in their own right, but, in the end, it
was how those characters interacted with Xander--the way dialogue flows between
them or how they behave around one-another--that defined my enjoyment of
depicting them. With dialogue, I'm a big fan of the abrasive back-and-forths
(they have a more natural feel and also allow for both tension and humor
depending on the situation). With Marcus, I wanted a character who would become
something like a big brother to Xander--knowledgeable and accommodating, but
sarcastic and condescending at the same time--and, because of Xander's tendency
to react quickly to his emotions, I loved having Marcus tease and poke at
Xander. Because Stan was always somebody Xander got along with and respected
there was always a sense of admiration and a drive to impress for Xander, and I
liked how naturally he and Stan "meshed" on that level (to compare
how Xander interacts with Stan-versus-Marcus would be comparing two cars
driving headlong into one another-versus-driving side-by-side on a clear
street). Amongst all the characters, however, Estella is the only one that
genuinely calms and relaxes Xander and the only one you noticeably see him
working to impress/make happy (in many ways I wanted to make Xander an abrasive
jerk to just about anybody he encountered EXCEPT Estella). As for The Gamer…
well, he's The Gamer; he's a fat, obnoxious, disgusting slob that everyone
(including Xander) hates to admit is charming in his own rights (in large part
because, despite knowing so much about magic and the world of mythos, he's
NEVER bored with it, and it's very hard to genuinely hate somebody who's so
damn excited about everything).
If
I have to choose a favorite, I'd have to say that Estella's charms on Xander
have always been the most peaceful and heart-warming for me to write while he
and Marcus have actually succeeded in making me laugh WHILE writing them (so
Estella wins, but Marcus is a very close second). For my LEAST favorite… well,
I never enjoyed writing scenes with Kyle (but, then again, I was never supposed
to).
7) Marcus is hilarious! Xander and him seem to click easily. Will we get to see more of Xander and him in action?
~Absolutely!
Readers
who like Marcus will be glad to see him in several of the short stories that
are being released over the next couple of months; the two doing what they do
best: killing things. In many ways Xander is still in training, and Marcus is
never above using a job as a means of instilling a vampiric lesson (think
Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker from Star Wars).
8) You
introduce The Gamer and he shows Xander a replica pair of pistols that are
similar to the bad-ass Yin & Yang revolvers…Xander doesn’t seem too happy
about it. Do you think he’ll ever be able to cope and possibly use that set in
the future?
~If
Xander has taught us nothing else, it's that EVERYTHING exists for some reason
;-)
9) So,
we know you have a book 2 coming out soon…what can we look for in that release?
~Book
#2 will answer some open-ended questions from book #1 and provide some
unsettling closure therein. Readers can also look forward to a FAR more
confident Xander who's more excited about killing others than himself and a
great deal more (*ahem*) growth between him and Estella. Book #2 will also
bring readers deeper into the Crimson Shadow universe and introduce a great
many more creatures as well as spotlighting the therions, which were never
touched-down upon in very much detail in "Noir". There will be
gnarliness--supernatural & acrobatic fight-sequences that will make fans of
action flicks, video games, and Japanese anime squirm with excitement--and
plot-twists and romance and heartbreak and blood.
Oh
yes, there WILL be blood!
10) Finally, how many books do you plan for the
Crimson Shadow series? Do you have them all planned out?
~So
far, as I have it planned, there will be seven books in total for the Crimson
Shadow series (all of them planned out in some form or another) that center on
Xander Stryker and his legacy (there's no exact number on how many short
stories will coincide with the series, but there will certainly be more than a
dozen). Past that, however, there is ANOTHER series that will spin-off from the
CS series and feature a character with close ties to Xander (that series is
estimated at about five books).
There you have it! Book #1
of the Crimson Shadow series and the chaos and insanity behind it's literary
conception in a nutshell. I hope that this has helped to provide some illumination (partial as it may be) to
the series and the character of Xander Stryker as well as enticing you to learn
more. The journey in creating and following in Xander Stryker's growing vampire
legacy is far from finished for me, and for all you wonderful readers it has
only just begun.
I hope that you'll join both
myself, The Literary Dark Prince, and the ever-growing group of fellow readers
known as The Legion in exploring the depths of the world of Crimson Shadow and
all the other stories that have come into being from it. You can find
"Crimson Shadow: Noir" (available in both paperback and Kindle
formats) and all of the available CS-themed Kindle shorts on Amazon HERE!
Rock out, live on, & welcome
to The Legion!
~Nathan Squiers
~Nathan Squiers
Rock On Bro!
ReplyDeleteCan't wait for more Xander!! Crush On Crimson Shadow!!
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