Jason Pratt - Author Guest Post

I would like to welcome Jason Pratt, author of Cry of Justice, to Cafe of Dreams today! Jason has taken the time to write a delightful post to share with us - with more to come in the future at additional blogs and sites! Thank you, so much, Jason, for stopping by! Everyone, please be sure to stop back by Cafe of Dreams on Thurs. Feb. 26th, for my review of Cry of Justice!

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I've been having fun recently answering Parker and Stoddard's "Fantasy Novelist's Exam", the full question-list of which can be found at http://www.rinkworks.com/fnovel/

So, since I have another three articles to write before my tour is over, I decided to split up the questions and answers between them. I'll cross-post comments linking to the other sets of answers in due time.

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1.) “Does nothing happen in the first fifty pages?” -- a whole introductory novella happens in the first 47 pages, with at least two different kinds of action sequence (maybe three if you count a tense deer hunt), and tons of plotting around three main protagonists, plus a bunch of introduction-to-the-world information. I’ve had people complain that the first 50 pages are _too_ dense, in fact...

2.) “Is your main character a young farmhand with mysterious parentage?” -- plenty of characters with mysterious pasts, but no young farmhands or even characters with mysterious parentage per se. (One character is literally named ‘cowherd’, but he’s an experienced early middle-aged adult and other characters realize he’s using an alias of some kind for some reason. In a backhanded way he’s my nod to this fantasy trope; but he isn’t even one of the three main protagonists.)

3.) “Is your main character the heir to the throne but doesn't know it?” -- the woman who is arguably the main protagonist, Portunista, wants to be a queen, and does eventually become an Empress (her first scene reveals this); but she’s an ambitious and not terribly naïve sort, who certainly doesn’t start off heir to the throne. (Not in the way that she’s thinking anyway; and when she starts to get an idea otherwise, she rather resents it!)

4.) “Is your story about a young character who comes of age, gains great power, and defeats the supreme badguy?” -- all the protags have been around a little while (some of them longer than others). Portunista certainly matures and gains great power, but she’s already “of age” when the story starts, and there is no Ultimate Bad Guy for her to defeat. (On the contrary, from the perspective of her main storyline she herself could easily become some kind of major villain...!)

5.) “Is your story about a quest for a magical artifact that will save the world?” -- not remotely, though I do have some fun playing with this trope during the story (including in the color description for the dustjacket: what _is_ “the most dangerous of treasures”?)

6.) “How about one that will destroy it?” -- the Preface Author seems to be saying that Mikon is doomed, and that his power is what destroyed it (for which he takes responsibility). But no artifact seems to be in view. (And, to spoil a bit, what I have in mind doesn’t involve a magical artifact per se.)

7.) “Does your story revolve around an ancient prophecy about ‘The One’ who will save the world and everybody and all the forces of good?” -- There's a judge who's supposed to show up, but not to save the world and everybody and all the forces of good. (In fact, the guy currently trying to claim that title is more of a fascist dictator than anything.)

8.) “Does your novel contain a character whose sole purpose is to show up at random plot points and dispense information?” -- nope. (Though to be fair, those characters typically show up at very _non_-random times. {g} But I don’t have one of those characters either.)

9.) “Does your novel contain a character that is really a god in disguise?” -- whether I said yes or no, I’d be spoiling the story somehow. I can say that cosmic entities do show up more-or-less ‘in disguise’ as bad-guys, but that’s probably a different kind of genre stereotype. {g}

10.) “Is the evil supreme badguy secretly the father of your main character?” -- as if I’d spoil this... oh, heck with it: no. {g!}

11.) “Is the king of your world a kindly king duped by an evil magician?” -- no king of the world at all, and no active rulers show up in CoJ or are even referenced so far as I recall. Looking around the nation map, I can’t think of any rulers who are being duped by evil magicians yet. (Heck, most of the magi are dead at the start of the book!--the survivors are only apprentices.)

12.) “Does ‘a forgetful wizard’ describe any of the characters in your novel?” -- Fizban does not exist in this dojo. {g} (Cool though he is in Dragonlance. Whether readers take this to also be an answer to question 9, is their own inference to make.)

13.) “How about ‘a powerful but slow and kind-hearted warrior’?” -- the group’s tank is powerful and kind-hearted, but not slow thinking or stupid.

14.) “How about ‘a wise, mystical sage who refuses to give away plot details for his own personal, mysterious reasons’?” -- the narrator refuses to give away some plot details for his own mysterious reasons, but he doesn’t have the kind of personality people think of as ‘a wise, mystical sage’. Ditto, in a different way, for Jian. The only character who actually _is_ a “wise sage” isn’t very mystical, and spends his time digging up and revealing plot details, not hiding them!

15.) “Do the female characters in your novel spend a lot of time worrying about how they look, especially when the male main character is around?” -- two or three very brief things along this line from Portunista; which annoy her when she realizes she’s doing it.

16.) “Do any of your female characters exist solely to be captured and rescued?” -- can't think of any who do!

17.) “Do any of your female characters exist solely to embody feminist ideals?” -- ditto.

18.) “Would ‘a clumsy cooking wench more comfortable with a frying pan than a sword’ aptly describe any of your female characters?” -- Tika stays with Fizban over in the Dragonlance Saga.

19.) “Would ‘a fearless warrioress more comfortable with a sword than a frying pan’ aptly describe any of your female characters?” -- none of those in CoJ either! (The only female warrior in CoJ is an unnamed sergeant who gets a couple of lines in passing, doing her job. I have no idea whether she’s comfortable with a frying pan or not.)

20.) “Is any character in your novel best described as ‘a dour dwarf’?” -- The only character I can think of as ‘dour’ is certainly not a dwarf (and is frankly a kind of antagonist). Nor are dwarves in the novel. Nor is there any indication anywhere that they exist. (Nor do I have any plans to introduce them later, btw; though I'm keeping my options open.)

21.) “How about ‘a half-elf torn between his human and elven heritage’?” -- no elves at all so far, half-human or otherwise. There’s an angsty elite killer torn by his heritage, but not quite in this fashion.

22.) “Did you make the elves and the dwarves great friends, just to be different?” -- heh! No elves or dwarves. (_Are_ there any great-friend elf and dwarf societies in fantasy novels at all, much moreso enough of them in novels to be considered a stereotype of their own now!? And does the Silmarilion count as "doing it just to be different"?!)

23.) “Does everybody under four feet tall exist solely for comic relief?” -- no one under four feet tall. The two shorter characters do tend to be comic relief in their own distinct ways, but they sure exist for a lot more than that in the plot.

24.) “Do you think that the only two uses for ships are fishing and piracy?” -- no ships yet in the story, and the only remotely distant reference to them so far has to do with mercantile industry.

25.) “Do you not know when the hay baler was invented?” -- no hay yet in the series. (And yes, when hay eventually shows up later, it’s in roles or piles, not mechanical bales.)

26.) “Did you draw a map for your novel which includes places named things like ‘The Blasted Lands’ or ‘The Forest of Fear’ or ‘The Desert of Desolation’ or absolutely anything ‘of Doom’?” -- no map published yet (which, to be honest, has been a bit of a handicap for some reader); and nothing on my private map has anything named like that. Absolutely nothing named “of Doom” in the story. A “Doom of Bricks” is briefly referenced in CoJ, but in a totally obscure way by someone avowedly insane. (It was also an in-joke by a friend of mine who wanted me to put the phrase into the story somewhere...)

Future answers to the questionnaire to be posted elsewhere later this month!

Jason Pratt

Bittersea Publications

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What an excellent post - very informative and fun!!! I look forward to seeing what other questions and answers lay ahead!

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Win Prizes!

CRY OF JUSTICE VIRTUAL BLOG TOUR '09 will officially begin on February 2 and end on February 27. You can visit Jason's blog stops at http://www.virtualbooktours.wordpress.com/ in February to find out more about this great book and talented author!

As a special promotion for all our authors, Pump Up Your Book Promotion is giving away a FREE virtual book tour to a published author or a $50 Amazon gift certificate to those not published who comments on our authors' blog stops. More prizes will be announced as they become available.