Don’s Comments (group member since Apr 15, 2011)

Don’s comments from the Q&A with Don A. Martinez group.

We now have a Tumblr Ask blog relating to this book. Posters may ask questions of any hero character in the book via this blog: it's a chance for you, the reader, to interact with the book on a personal level!

Check it out, and look for the coded messages!
http://hiddeninplainsightranch.tumblr...

Discussions here about Book 3 of the Phantom Squadron series, The Insurgent's Journal, including any questions about how the New Empire could possibly exist.

I know a couple of folks out there have been reading this one, so I'd like to open the floor up to you and allow you to voice any questions or concerns you may have about the book, the story, the characters, anything at all. Bend my ear until it turns red!

Belated announcement: Print copies of Dinétah Dragon have been reduced in retail price, now at $10.99. This will filter down to all outlets selling the book.

Belated announcement: Print copies of The Advance Guard version 2.0 have been reduced in retail price to $9.99.

Post in here to ask questions about the expansion of Desert Coyote Productions, including questions for our new authors:

Patty Wiseman
Jeannie Barber

(Updated when new authors come in)

Announcement: Dinétah Dragon is now available as an electronic download from Goodreads and Kindle, and forthcoming will be a Nook version. All three electronic versions share the same price tag, $6.50 US.

Announcement: The Advance Guard is now available in electronic format through Goodreads. In addition, the Kindle version has been upgraded to Version 2.0, and it will be forthcoming from Nook. All three digital versions are the same price, $6.50 US.

Announcement: Forthcoming around Memorial Day will be a new giveaway, this time for copies of Version 2.0 of The Advance Guard.

Keep an eye out!

Reproducing an FAQ from DCP's website (desertcoyote.weebly.com) about Dinétah Dragon. Hopefully it will encourage some more discussion here.

Q: When was the novel written?
A: During the month of November 2010, as part of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). The entire novel was written start-to-finish in 26 days.

Q: Why write about a Navajo woman?
A: My wife grew up in Arizona, and although she is not Navajo she is highly knowledgeable about them, particularly their customs and culture. She counts Canyon de Chelly in northern Arizona as one of her favorite places to visit: I’ve seen the place myself and have to agree. Canyon de Chelly plays a vital role in the novel.

Q: What is the inspiration for Ariel Sharpe?
A: Ariel has evolved for a long period of time, from a superhero character I created at age 14 who had the power to grow into a dragon. That part has stayed consistent. I initially created Ariel in 2001 for a screenplay I wrote, having been inspired by news coverage of the 9/11 attacks combined with a longstanding anime fandom and an interest in Tom Clancy. The screenplay’s story is covered in the novel, over the course of four chapters.

Q: Why make fantasy characters into government agents?
A: It seemed like an unusual idea. Many properties have tried it, such as the original X-Factor comic book, by placing heroic characters with unusual powers into government-sponsored groups. Most times you see it in video games, and the concept is used quite a bit in many Japanese properties. I thought to myself, if the UN or the Japanese government would be willing to sponsor things like this then why wouldn’t the United States? It only took a brief leap to turn them into a Black Ops unit, because you know the government wouldn’t want the public knowing they existed.

Q: What made you pick the types of fantasy characters you chose?
A: In the base group from the screenplay, I wanted to play with fantasy archetypes, both longstanding and modern, and try to twist them on their heads. If you think about the most obvious things you have in fantasy novels, what are three types of characters? Knights, dragons, and wizards. They have been the gold standard of fantasy for centuries. I also wanted to tip the hat to modern fantasy, and thus came about the fourth character, the ever-present anime cat-girl. As I developed the property more and thought about other characters, and additionally as I started studying more world mythology, I found other characters that would be interesting to see in a modern setting, such as Hindu gods and Japanese fox-demons (called kitsune).

Q: Ariel’s story is told to us as a memoir. Why did you choose to do this?
A: I am a sucker for a good memoir, particularly those written by women. Two of my favorites are Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior and Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, because of the complexity of the stories, the way the authors have tried to overcome their own particular hardships, and the fantastic imagery that is presented over the course of their stories. More than that, though, hearing the stories through the author’s voice made them feel authentic. When Kingston places herself into the Mulan legend, the way she writes it makes you believe that she is Mulan, despite the incidents only taking place, really, in her mind. I wanted a similar feel, so that despite the fantasy events taking place it still feels like a real story, and Ariel still feels like a real person.

Q: Why is reality so important to you, a fantasy author?
A: Too many times, fantasy characters turn into caricatures. How many “perfect” fantasy archetype characters have you seen, looking like they were ripped from the late pages of Tolkien? I like my fantasy characters to be flawed, to be tortured and tormented. I preferred characters such as Ben Holiday in Terry Brooks’s Magic Kingdom of Landover series, trying to learn to be the monarch of the fairy kingdom he bought out of the catalog; or Richard Rahl in Terry Goodkind’s Sword of Truth series, learning as he goes what it means to have his role and making mistakes along the way. Those characters feel real. More than anything, I wanted Ariel to feel that real as well, so her life has its warts and her personality has its flaws.

Q: Are you worried about comparisons to other books written from the first-person?
A: Not particularly, because I feel mine stands out. This isn’t a teenage girl’s diary like Twilight, or a crazy story that sounds like it was made up by a ten-year-old: it’s the memoir of a mature woman, a wife and mother who just so happens to be this fantasy novel character and have this ability to turn into a dragon.

Q: What is unique about your dragon?
A: It’s not a dragon that lives in a cave, or one that particularly likes to consume people. Ariel’s dragon is the same as she is, unsure about herself and just wanting to do the right thing. The fact that she also holds deep love for a knight, rather than the typical animosity, also sets her apart.

Q: What exactly does dinétah mean, anyway?
A: Dinétah (pronounced DEE-nay-taw)is a Navajo word which has a double meaning: it literally translates to “of the (Navajo) people,” but it can also be used to reference the traditional Navajo homeland. In the title I’m using it in the literal sense, so that the title literally means “dragon of the people.” This title seemed appropriate not only because of Ariel’s heritage but also because of the pride she takes in that heritage.

Q: What kind of world do you write about?
A: The world of the novel is not far removed from the one we exist in right now. History is pretty much the same, except that one of my hero characters, the Guardsman, has influenced every major Western war in one form or another. The modern U.S. is no different. Much of what takes place, though, are events which happen beneath the surface.

Q: There is one character that is probably guaranteed to cause controversy, and that is the evangelist Alastair Abaster. Where did he come from, and why is he so significantly featured?
A: Alastair is a mesh of many evangelists of the ‘80s and in the modern day. I created him because he allowed me to show my opinion on religious fanaticism of any kind. Alastair is an example of how anyone can be corrupted by power: at the start of the novel he’s a voice of reason in the church, but by the end he’s become so influential and wealthy because of his position that it’s very easy for him to fall into the trap he does.

Q: Is this a statement about religion?
A: Absolutely not. Alastair is a statement about those individuals who would use religion to prey on the gullible. I cannot state enough how much these types of people disgust me: the fact that so many are in positions of religious power makes it twenty-fold worse. Thus, Alastair is everything I dislike about every preacher who claims to be a healer, or who claims to talk to God directly, or who claims that he’s the only way to salvation. The eventual fate Alastair faces is suitable to the nature of his crimes against spirituality.

Q: You appear to have also placed yourself into the novel, in the role of the ever-present “transcriber” who interjects his own observations. Why do this?
A: The transcriber is the link between the ordinary reader and the extraordinary character. I/he is there because the book called for a frame story, to explain the circumstances surrounding the interview taking place. There also needed to be a sense of urgency, that there was a reason for this story to come out.

Q: What inspired the character of the transcriber?
A: To a certain extent, he’s partly inspired by the Wikileaks controversy, however his exposure of the Black Ops unit and Ariel’s involvement with it is not done out of a sense of anti-government indignance. Rather, he chooses to pursue the story because of an idealized concept of the nation he holds, and as it unfolds over the course of the interview because he finds himself empathizing with Ariel, and eventually wanting to defend her and her team from a public which both despises and does not understand the team.

Q: Did you intend for the frame story to portray the Sharpe family as being so normally domestic?
A: I did. With the exception of the daughter being able to fly, I wanted the Sharpes to be enjoying a relatively normal, peaceful life after the conclusion of their adventures. This would sharply (no pun intended) contrast to the extreme nature of said adventures, and give perspective for what exactly the team had been fighting for all along.

It takes a bit of finagling to make it work. I try to get my academic work done quickly (it helps that I read very fast and find errors even faster), so that I have more time to devote to writing, promotion, etc. The semester schedules also help, because they tend to give me fairly decent chunks of time where all I need to do is write to stay productive. Unless I have summer classes to teach, I get most of the summer to write: I don't count Christmas, as I usually have family commitments or a vacation to meet during that time.

The best suggestion I have, if you want to try to work writing around your schedule, is to do it the way I did it when I first started writing: devote some time to the craft when you want to relax after your work day. If you do it this way, writing becomes an enjoyable task rather than a chore. I'm at the point now where writing becomes almost meditation for me.

Thanks for the question!

In this thread, I'll answer any questions about balancing being a working, self-published writer and a working college professor.

I am a specialist in studying mythic storytelling, so if you have any questions about myth or folkloric elements that appear in any literature/film/media, post them here and I'll attempt to give an answer.

Questions here should pertain to our most recent release, Dinétah Dragon. Especially if you're entered in the giveaway and are curious about anything in the book, ask it here.

Post any questions you may have in regards to the first DCP offering, The Advance Guard.

Put forth your questions regarding my self-publishing endeavor, Desert Coyote Productions (a.k.a. DCP).