The Brainstorm Podcast with fantasy author Clifton Hill is about writing, genre fiction and moral quandries.

In episode 11, it's time for a good ole-fashioned rant about being a picky reader, and why I stop reading a lot of books.

I get stuck on this need for the right balance of character and plot. We always need strong characters. That's largely how we connect with a book through our shared human experience. It's also why series do so well, when they follow some of the same characters around that we have gotten to know so well. But for me, I don't want my story to become subsumed by this wandering experience in the life of a character with little appearance of plot giving structure. I certainly don't want the character to change who they are because of plot restrictions, create awkward illogical rationale for why someone is doing something...just because the plot dictates. And a major fantasy novel by an indie writer did just that for me. Let's examine.

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#plot #character #story

The Brainstorm Podcast with fantasy author Clifton Hill is about writing, genre fiction and moral quandries.

In episode 10, we discuss my thoughts on Marvel's Infinity War, and why it had a major story flaw. I was invested as a kid in the Marvel universe, by collecting multiple comic book series that still sit in boxes stored away growing dust to this day. I also lament the slow progression of Kip the Quick book 2.

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Learn more about Clifton's Fantasy Novels: www.CliftonH.com
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/cliftonhill
Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=3644751

The Brainstorm Podcast with fantasy author Clifton Hill is about writing, genre fiction and moral quandries.

In Episode 9, I read a chapter of my fantasy adventure novel, Kip the Quick, as Kip does research and sets out to pull together his team for the heist that started it all. And I tell of how the ideafor Kip the Quick came in Texas: the crazy storms there inspiring me to a fantasy world where the orphan and rascal, Kip, was a witty thief that talked nearly as fast as he stole. Book 2 is coming soon, and the books are part of a planned trilogy.

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Learn more about Clifton's Fantasy Novels: www.CliftonH.com
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/cliftonhill
Support me on Patreon: www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=3644751

In Episode 8, we do an anaylsis of Stephen King's Drawing of the Three, Book 2 of the Dark Tower series.

Epic and Fantasy, but not Epic Fantasy, King's series is an intriguing divergence from many others. I very much enjoyed this unconventional fantasy novel, and the audio book version was superb.

A question for the writer's and super readers: King leaves many questions unanswered. How does he get away with it? I have my thoughts, but I want to hear yours.

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Learn more about Clifton's Fantasy Novels: www.CliftonH.com
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/cliftonhill
Support me on Patreon: www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=3644751

The Brainstorm Podcast with fantasy author Clifton Hill is about writing, genre fiction and moral quandries.

The Brainstorm Podcast with fantasy author Clifton Hill is about writing, genre fiction and moral quandries.

In Episode 7, join me as I ponder how to choose a system of peerage for the world of Kip the Quick. While you can take example from the real world, maybe you don't want a Duke, Baron, Count, Viscount, and so on. Maybe you want it a little more simple...like Game of Thrones.

That's right. Ole Georgie kept it simple in Westeros: outside of the "Warden" title and that of the King, he spent his time on complexity on pretty much everything else.

As an aside: You'll once again hear me reference Kip's Return, and how great the progress was going at 99k words. Well that was 2016, and while it is finally done and in the hands of my copyeditor, the book ended up a LOT bigger.

So, what peerage system did you pick for your fantasy story and why?

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Learn more about Clifton's Fantasy Novels: www.CliftonH.com
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/cliftonhill
Support me on Patreon: www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=3644751

The Brainstorm Podcast with fantasy author Clifton Hill is about writing, genre fiction and moral quandries.

In Episode 6, it's time to dive into a Writer's Analysis of the different types of Point of View, called POV, and how I use 2 different types in Kip's Return, the sequel to Kip the Quick, when most books only use one.

I also disect a literary tool that JK Rowling uses fabulously well in the Harry Potter books, it keeps her books "relatively" lean, keeps the story moving and is something I really want to incorporate more for my own books. I don't know what you would call it in writing, perhaps "Tell" not "Show", but there's more to it than just using the "Tell Technique", and for that reason we'll simply call it the Hollywood Montage. (Until someone tells me I'm stupid.)

** Subscribe to the newsletter to get my free e-books: https://eepurl.com/SVhLr **

Learn more about Clifton's Fantasy Novels: www.CliftonH.com
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/cliftonhill
Support me on Patreon: www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=3644751

The Brainstorm Podcast with fantasy author Clifton Hill is about writing, genre fiction and moral quandries.

Subscribe to the newsletter to get my free e-books: https://eepurl.com/SVhLr

In Episode 4 I talk about FINALLY starting to watching the Game of Thrones. After being a fan of the books for years, anxiously checking Martin's blog on a weekly basis for months and then years looking for that fateful update on the next book, I was pleased to seethat the HBO series is not just well done, but off to an excellent start.

Also, some brief fun talking about another sci-fi, fantasy, genre fiction podcast called Functional Nerds, run by Patrick Hester and John Anealio...or at least it was. I've been a bit out of touch of late and it looks like John Anealio had to step away. I'll miss you John. Hope you're well.

Fun mentioned links:
- George R.R. Martin is not your bitch: https://johnanealio.bandcamp.com/track/george-r-r-martin-is-not-your-bitch Song inspired by Neil Gaiman's infamous quote.
- Functional Nerds podcast: www.functionalnerds.com

Learn more about Clifton's Fantasy Novels: www.CliftonH.com
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/cliftonhill
Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=3644751

The Brainstorm Podcast with fantasy author Clifton Hill is about writing, genre fiction and moral quandries.

Subscribe to the newsletter to get my free e-books: https://eepurl.com/SVhLr

In Episode 3, it's time to geek out over Thor Ragnarok. Yes, I know, not new, but I watched it again recently, and this podcast was originally recorded in 2018. You know you love the movie, relive the fun and adventure with me.

MAJOR SPOILERS!!! But hey, we're well past the statue of limitations here.

If Thor is the God of Thunder, is Hella the Goddess of Blades?

Has anyone noticed that I called this the "Clifton Journal" at first? Just winging it, shooting from the hip, what can I say.

Learn more about Clifton's Fantasy Novels: www.CliftonH.com
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/cliftonhill
Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=3644751

The Brainstorm Podcast with fantasy author Clifton Hill is about writing, genre fiction and moral quandries.

Subscribe to the newsletter to get my free e-books: https://eepurl.com/SVhLr

Every author I've met starts their journey to learn the craft of writing with a story. These stories are their "Golden Ideas", often these ideas are too large, too ambitious and take too long. Learn the craft of writing faster, by writing short. Short stories let you experience the trial and error of creating a full story/character arc much faster. And doing so helps you learn the full writing process and valuable life lessons (I would dare say) much faster than sticking with writing a full length novel as your first piece of work.

It is a lesson I learned the hard way.

Short stories mentioned that are enjoyable reads and good examples of what can be achieved in the short form:
Erik Wecks' Eighty-Three is an inventive story of time travel. Time travel in a way that I haven't seen before. Available in the Anthology: The Time Travel Chronicles, with multiple other authors. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B016XIY2EC

Touchstone by Sonia Orin Lyris. I read it for free on the Baen Books website, but they must have changed the formatting at some point because now it looks atrocious. Story is awesome, so just change the size of your browser (if on a desktop, phone is probably fine.) https://www.baen.com/touchstone. You can also buy the story here for your device: https://lyris.org/book/touchstone/

Learn more about Clifton's Fantasy Novels: www.CliftonH.com
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/cliftonhill
Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=3644751

The Brainstorm Podcast with fantasy author Clifton Hill is about writing, genre fiction and moral quandries.

Episode 1 talks about writing progress on the sequel to Kip the Quick, Kip's Return with a discussion of some of the challenges along the way.

Subscribe to the newsletter to get free e-books: https://eepurl.com/SVhLr
Learn more about Clifton's Fantasy Novels: www.CliftonH.com
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/cliftonhill
Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=3644751

The Brainstorm Podcast with fantasy author Clifton Hill is about writing, genre fiction and moral quandries.

Subscribe to the newsletter to get my free e-books: https://eepurl.com/SVhLr

Hi, I'm Clifton Hill, Fantasy Author, artist, and web developer. For this episode 0, I want to tell you a little about myself and of what you can expect from the podcast.

I'm an indie author, but what is an indie author? Some would say an indie author is someone that is self-published, but takes what they do more seriously. I've been published since 2014 with 5 books focused on fantasy. I started out in epic fantasy, that's always been my favorite genre in fantasy with the likes of Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and so on.

The podcast will focus on:
⦁ Genre fiction - reviews/analysis; books, but also movies and TV
⦁ Book reviewer for multiple notable sites, including some that are now long dead, and slightly buried. I've reviewed SF Signal, Grasping for the Wind, SFF World
⦁ I like to analyze what I like in a book, what I don't, and why
⦁ Writing tips, break down methods - what works and doesn't
⦁ Sometimes marketing,
⦁ Moral quandries
⦁ fiction is great for looking at life from a different perspective, stepping outside the normal framework of our preconceptions and being able to think with fresh, unbiased eyes. I don't want to just talk about books and media, I want to go deeper. Let's analyze the connections and wisdom we can find within fiction to real life.
⦁ sci-fi and fantasy stories are often of the What-If? And can serve as cautionary tales and opportunities to explore what might otherwise remain the unknown.

Learn more about Clifton's Fantasy Novels: www.CliftonH.com
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/cliftonhill
Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=3644751