For fans of The Night Angel Trilogy and fantasy author Brent Weeks
Questions for Brent about Me
Can I write fanfiction/fanart/a graphic novel/a Wikipedia entry?
Wiki-If someone wanted to start an online wiki, I would be fully in favor of that. Heck, I know that George R. R. Martin has said he uses the wiki that people have set up of his world, just to keep his own facts straight. BUT, I know that I can't start or maintain such a thing. I'm stretched too thin as is.
Fanfiction-Um, I don't have an official policy on off-site links, so here's the new official policy: off-site links are cool as long as they're cool. In other words, you're fine. Just please link back to the forum for the convenience of people who visit from here to there.
Of course, if we get tons of irritating marketers posting links, we might make an official policy, but for the time being, we'll go with less restrictions. Sound good?
Fanart-Send them my way
Graphic Novel-I'd love to see graphic novels of the Night Angel Trilogy. I can easily see the first book as a graphic novel, though I think it becomes more difficult as the trilogy progresses to keep track of all the story lines in a graphic novel format.
I did have one company contact me and ask me to send them the trilogy... But they haven't even read the trilogy yet to see if they even like it. So odds are still very very dim. (And I won't be more specific than that. In fact, I don't even know if I should have said that much.)
Tell you what, you guys get all your friends to buy the books and make them best-sellers, and I guarantee I'll have graphic novel guys knocking down my door. :)
Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?
Short version: Read tons. Then write. Finish things because you want to learn to write the ending. If anything you write is boring--make it interesting for YOU, then it will be interesting for readers. Only write if you HAVE TO. It's really a terrible way to get rich. It's almost insanely difficult to get published. The best figures I could find on the internet (where figures are always accurate and reliable, right?) was that your chances of getting published by a reputable book publishing company (once you have finished your novel) are either 3 in 10,000 or 1 in 25,000. The average published novelist in the US makes roughly $10,000/year. (8k Euros, 7k pounds) So you should write for the love, not the possible paycheck. If it's what you're made to do, don't let anything stop you. Tenacity is a requirement. Thick skin is a must... most people won't like your book, even if it's great.
Write what you'd like to read. Go big or go home.
My wife read most of my drafts. A few friends read more finished drafts. I tried a couple of writing groups, but due to my schedule and personality and speed of writing, it didn't work very well for me. (I was writing full time on a novel, so every month I'd show up with another 20k words... which wouldn't make sense unless the whole group had read the previous 100k words. Everyone else would come in with 5k words every third month, so I didn't feel it was fair to ask them to read my stuff every time, but if they didn't keep up, their advice couldn't be as helpful.)
How I kept myself motivated and more advice for aspiring writers will have to wait for another post.
Oh, one thing I definitely should recommend is a book by Donald Maass (now my agent, but I knew I wanted him to be my agent AFTER I read the book): Writing the Breakout Novel. It's full of awesome advice. I frequently re-read it and have quotes from it pasted to my wall.
It's a bit of an organic process for me. I start by coming up with cool scenes, snippets of dialogue, action sequences, ideas I think would be cool, pieces of how a character might be a bad ass, some notes on cultures, and so forth. I do this for a while, then ideas glom together for me. I pick some high points, how the story might end, how some of those cool sequences might logically progress. Then I play with it, a lot. Then I start writing. A lot of the character stuff comes together as I write--and the imaginary bounds of the world get pushed back. Then, even as I'm writing, I do more outlining, making sure I'm progressing toward the ultimate goals, trying to find more interesting ways to get there or make sure that things that I think the characters would do will actually lead us there.
For me, there's a lot of push and pull between strong structure and following what the characters would do. A guy like Stephen King is totally an organic writer. It works for him and his readers, but it's too chaotic for me. I need to see where I'm going and at least a few steps out into the darkness.
That said, the writing doesn't stop when you get to the end of the book. I've discovered character motivation inconsistencies that didn't make sense when I got to the end of a book. I couldn't figure out how to fix it... until I realized the two characters had been in love with each other for years. Once I figured that out, everything dropped into place. I thought it would take a long time to fix, and really, I barely had to change a dozen lines, and then it all fit beautifully. I usually don't believe the Michaelangelo line that "David was already in the marble, I just had to cut away the excess stone." But that one time, it was like I knew what I was doing without knowing what I was doing. Most of the time, it's just hard work.
I usually don't go into how I work like this, because every author works differently, and honestly, knowing how I work probably won't help you. You just have to experiment and find out what works for you. Sorry there's no formula, but pretending that there is one actually makes it harder for you to find out what fits your quirks.
How can I get a signed copy? UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Wiki-If someone wanted to start an online wiki, I would be fully in favor of that. Heck, I know that George R. R. Martin has said he uses the wiki that people have set up of his world, just to keep his own facts straight. BUT, I know that I can't start or maintain such a thing. I'm stretched too thin as is.
Fanfiction-Um, I don't have an official policy on off-site links, so here's the new official policy: off-site links are cool as long as they're cool. In other words, you're fine. Just please link back to the forum for the convenience of people who visit from here to there.
Of course, if we get tons of irritating marketers posting links, we might make an official policy, but for the time being, we'll go with less restrictions. Sound good?
Fanart-Send them my way
Graphic Novel-I'd love to see graphic novels of the Night Angel Trilogy. I can easily see the first book as a graphic novel, though I think it becomes more difficult as the trilogy progresses to keep track of all the story lines in a graphic novel format.
I did have one company contact me and ask me to send them the trilogy... But they haven't even read the trilogy yet to see if they even like it. So odds are still very very dim. (And I won't be more specific than that. In fact, I don't even know if I should have said that much.)
Tell you what, you guys get all your friends to buy the books and make them best-sellers, and I guarantee I'll have graphic novel guys knocking down my door. :)
Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?
Short version: Read tons. Then write. Finish things because you want to learn to write the ending. If anything you write is boring--make it interesting for YOU, then it will be interesting for readers. Only write if you HAVE TO. It's really a terrible way to get rich. It's almost insanely difficult to get published. The best figures I could find on the internet (where figures are always accurate and reliable, right?) was that your chances of getting published by a reputable book publishing company (once you have finished your novel) are either 3 in 10,000 or 1 in 25,000. The average published novelist in the US makes roughly $10,000/year. (8k Euros, 7k pounds) So you should write for the love, not the possible paycheck. If it's what you're made to do, don't let anything stop you. Tenacity is a requirement. Thick skin is a must... most people won't like your book, even if it's great.
Write what you'd like to read. Go big or go home.
My wife read most of my drafts. A few friends read more finished drafts. I tried a couple of writing groups, but due to my schedule and personality and speed of writing, it didn't work very well for me. (I was writing full time on a novel, so every month I'd show up with another 20k words... which wouldn't make sense unless the whole group had read the previous 100k words. Everyone else would come in with 5k words every third month, so I didn't feel it was fair to ask them to read my stuff every time, but if they didn't keep up, their advice couldn't be as helpful.)
How I kept myself motivated and more advice for aspiring writers will have to wait for another post.
Oh, one thing I definitely should recommend is a book by Donald Maass (now my agent, but I knew I wanted him to be my agent AFTER I read the book): Writing the Breakout Novel. It's full of awesome advice. I frequently re-read it and have quotes from it pasted to my wall.
It's a bit of an organic process for me. I start by coming up with cool scenes, snippets of dialogue, action sequences, ideas I think would be cool, pieces of how a character might be a bad ass, some notes on cultures, and so forth. I do this for a while, then ideas glom together for me. I pick some high points, how the story might end, how some of those cool sequences might logically progress. Then I play with it, a lot. Then I start writing. A lot of the character stuff comes together as I write--and the imaginary bounds of the world get pushed back. Then, even as I'm writing, I do more outlining, making sure I'm progressing toward the ultimate goals, trying to find more interesting ways to get there or make sure that things that I think the characters would do will actually lead us there.
For me, there's a lot of push and pull between strong structure and following what the characters would do. A guy like Stephen King is totally an organic writer. It works for him and his readers, but it's too chaotic for me. I need to see where I'm going and at least a few steps out into the darkness.
That said, the writing doesn't stop when you get to the end of the book. I've discovered character motivation inconsistencies that didn't make sense when I got to the end of a book. I couldn't figure out how to fix it... until I realized the two characters had been in love with each other for years. Once I figured that out, everything dropped into place. I thought it would take a long time to fix, and really, I barely had to change a dozen lines, and then it all fit beautifully. I usually don't believe the Michaelangelo line that "David was already in the marble, I just had to cut away the excess stone." But that one time, it was like I knew what I was doing without knowing what I was doing. Most of the time, it's just hard work.
I usually don't go into how I work like this, because every author works differently, and honestly, knowing how I work probably won't help you. You just have to experiment and find out what works for you. Sorry there's no formula, but pretending that there is one actually makes it harder for you to find out what fits your quirks.
How can I get a signed copy? UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Judge on -
RE Do you have advice for aspiring writers? - Awesome, I bought that book (Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass) a couple of weeks ago. I still haven't read it, as I have been reading others like How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy by Orson Scott Card etc, I think I almost bought every relevant how to write novel in Borders over the last few weeks... However, I will now have to put it on the top of the pile as the next book to read.
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Permalink Reply by Noctis on -
How can we send fan art to you, Mr. Weeks?
I have been doing some Night Angels drawing mostly about Durzo and Kylar, and I use a sketchy style like most Japanese artists do, I think it's because I grew up learning from mangaka. I've been curious about how I would go about sending you some of the fan art/drawings I have done.
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Permalink Reply by Brent Weeks on -
If you want to send me fan art, you can either post it on your page here on Ning (and drop me a line so I know to come looking--I'm very involved here, but I do miss stuff), or you can email it to brent.a.weeks@gmail.com. Also, please let me know if it's okay if I re-post it here on Ning. (I will always give artists the credit, etcetera, I just think cool art is made to be shared.)
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Permalink Reply by Noctis on
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Thank you! I will get my sketchpad and start scanning the pictures and send them your way.
By the way, you can do with them as you like after all, they're inspired from your work. So, technically they're like yours, I just have fun drawing them and adding my own style of art to the characters.
My first drawing was the covers for the three books.
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Permalink Reply by ashley on -
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4868589/1/Cult_of_The_Night found this while surfing fanfiction.net
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Permalink Reply by Noctis on
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Well, since I haven't gotten around to scanning what art I've done on the Night Angels trilogy, thank you Mr. Weeks for letting me do fan art of your characters. I will be using my digital tablet to draw more and post them up as soon as possible. Also, since I have to get used to the tablet and difference between drawing on a tablet and paper, you will still receive the art, sketchy or sloppy for you to see and choose which to keep for your website. You may keep every single art I do, since the characters are yours and I'm merely using them to do my own art.
Once again, thank you.
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Permalink Reply by Brent Weeks on
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Cool, I look forward to seeing it!
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Permalink Reply by ROBERT on -
Brent im writng a trilogy is orbit books a good place to go to get it published when there finished?
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Permalink Reply by Brent Weeks on
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Yes, absolutely. Of course, when you write a book you don't really choose. Short form: you get an agent, they shop it around. Usually, if anyone at all puts in an offer, you take it. Of course, you can try to sell it to certain places first, but you're really a beggar when you start out in this business.
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Permalink Reply by Keith Griffin on -
As I type I have just finished the second book of the trilogy, and I'm already staring at the third book sitting beside my bed, temptation! If I read it now though, I wont have anything to read of the same quality after that! Write more Brent!!!! :)
Anyway, just a quick question. Have you ever read anything by David Gemmel, or more importantly, the Druss the Legend novels? Just wondering!
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Permalink Reply by Keith Griffin on
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What did you think mate? Cant say Ive read them all, but cant stop reading "Legend".
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