When is the next book coming out? What's it about?
How did you get started writing?
Where do you get your ideas?
Can I send you my stories or ideas?
How do I get published?
Why does it take so long for your books to come out?
Can I write fanfic or create a game based on your novels?
Can I adapt a screenplay based on your novels?
How do you know stuff about horses?
What about the book "Mirror of the Moon"?
I would like to play the leading role in the Green Rider movie - can you help me get it?

     First Rider's Call, the second installment of the Green Rider series, is now available. So, when will book #3 be published? Book 3 is tentatively scheduled for 11/2007. In other words, the date could change, or it may not. Stay tuned!

     From a very young age I loved to read, and that love of reading evolved into a love of writing. Through my school years, I received enough encouragement from teachers that I grew confident enough of my writing to stick with it. In the fourth grade, I began an undersea fantasy novel, but was embarrassed by it by seventh grade, and tore it up. During my teen years, I tried another fantasy novel, and this one I took to completion. It will never see publication, but it's at the root of the Green Rider story, and gave me the confidence that I could complete a long work. As time passed, I published some nonfiction, but received only rejections for fantasy short stories. I tired of the short story rejections, and so returned to my true love: novel writing, and began writing what eventually became known as Green Rider, my first published piece of fiction. It's a process that took many years, but I used that time to hone my craft and learn a little bit about the world.

     Unfortunately there is no mail order catalog that sells ideas. Then again, a mail order catalog of ideas probably wouldn't do too well because ideas are everywhere free for the taking. Ideas are born in the slant of late summer sun on evergreens, or in an overheard conversation. They could be as simple as a person's gesture, or as complex as a dream. Input is everywhere, but it's up to the imagination to sift it all and discard unneeded information and details, or to hold it all in reserve when a need arises during the writing process. Somehow the brains of writers know how to process information and ideas in a way that helps build stories. Most authors have more ideas than they know what to do with.

     Please don't. I'll send them back to you unread. Why? Well, there are several issues at work here.

Time: I have my own stuff to write - that's my job - and it generally leaves me little time to focus on someone else's work.

I'm not an editor: I can't help you if you are looking to get your work published. Only an editor can make the crucial decision as to whether or not your work is publishable. I have no influence in any editor's decision-making process, which is based on many things, including business. Also, editing requires a different set of skills than writing, which I do not possess.

Legal issues: My reading of unpublished work/ideas could lead to legal entanglements everyone would rather avoid. I don't wish to be accused of "stealing" your work should anything similar pop up in mine. This has happened to other authors, and I'd rather avoid the situation.

Advice: If you are simply in need of feedback on your work before submitting it to an editor, seek out a writing workshop/class, or acquaintances/friends whose opinions you value, and who can provide you with specific feedback. Even published authors - myself included - rely on the feedback of discerning friends before turning in manuscripts to their editors.

     There is no magic formula, and entire books have been written about the subject, but here are some general guidelines:

Story: Write the best possible story you can; get it as clean and final and polished as possible.

Business: Publishing is a business, and it would serve you well to learn something about it if you are determined to break in. Your story or novel is a product you are trying to sell. Figure out which publishers are most likely to be interested in your particular type of work. Look at your bookshelves - does one publisher dominate over another? Each publisher has editors with particular tastes. Some might prefer romantic fantasy over heroic epics, for instance. Target your publisher/agent appropriately.

Professionalism: Since publishing is a business, present yourself as professionally as possible. No manuscripts written in crayon! Your query letters and correspondence should be as highly polished as your manuscript.

Agent or publisher?: You can sell either way, but more and more, many publishers prefer to see agented works. Most major publishers have websites with guidelines telling you how you should submit your work. There are market guidebooks out there as well, listing publishers and agents.

Publishing Resources: Check out the Links page for writing and publishing resources on the web.

     The publishing process seems to be a mysterious world to many, and there is little understanding of why books don't emerge instantaneously from author's manuscript to book form on bookstore shelves. Here is a run down of the process of creating a book (which may vary from publisher to publisher):

     The author must first write a publishable manuscript. Some authors take longer than others. Sometimes a story will turn out to be a lot more pages than the author anticipates, thus taking more time to create than planned for. Sometimes life intereferes. People get sick, people die, financial catastrophes occur, etc. Authors are human, and therefore subject to the vagaries of life that afflict all other people, which can affect writing output.

     When the manuscript finally leaves the author's hands and finds its way to its publisher's office, the editor has to fit reading the manuscript into her schedule. Since an editor usually has several authors she oversees, as well as numerous other duties, it can be months before she gets to read said manuscript. (Plus, she's human, too.)

     Once the editor has edited, the author begins revising the manuscript. Meanwhile, other things start to happen. The artist is contacted to prepare the cover art, and the editor has to shoehorn the book into the publisher's schedule, taking into account what month is best to bring out a particular title (some months are better than others), what books are already scheduled (they don't want to lump all their books into one month - that would be foolish), and how long it will take for the book to go through production. The book may be introduced to sales representatives at sales conferences, and the manuscript turned into an uncorrected reading copy to obtain publicity quotes for the cover from other authors.

     After the author finishes revisions and sends the manuscript back to the editor, the editor once again has to fit a reading of it into her schedule (more months may pass). The editor may or may not have further suggestions for the author. From here, the manuscript is sent to copyediting.

     The copyeditor line edits the manuscript and proofs for such things as grammatical mistakes and continuity errors - a tedious process. Once this is done? Some publishers send the copyedited manuscript back to the author to look over. My publisher sends it directly to the printer so page proofs can be made.

     Meanwhile, a designer has been putting together the cover art with title and cover copy (the text on the cover that summarizes the book), while someone else designs the "look" of the interior pages, including typeface. Once the page proofs are printed up, copies are sent to proofers, including the author. This is the last chance to catch any major goofs and typos.

     Once the corrected page proofs are collected from the various proofers, the corrections are consolidated to one master copy, which is sent to the printer. The printer fixes the mistakes (hopefully), and eventually begins printing out pages. The pages will then be bound and sent to a warehouse.

     Meanwhile, the publicist has been doing publicity type things, such as ensuring that advance reading copies go to various book review venues. Newly made books sit in boxes in the warehouse, waiting to be shipped out to bookstores. Once at the bookstore, it is up to the booksellers to put them on the shelves for you to see.

     And hopefully, during the production phase, the author has been busily, ahem, working on the next book, so the process can begin anew.

     The quick answer is no. The long answer? Still no, and here's why: While it's flattering that people like my stuff well enough to carry on the experience by creating fanfic or games based on it, and while much of it is in innocent fun, I endanger my copyright - my right to own my creations - by allowing others to use my characters and world. If I release my right to my own copyright, then anyone can use my stuff, including for paid commercial use by unscrupulous persons. If others profit off my work in this way, then there is no reason for me to continue writing. I'll have to earn a living doing something else, which would be sad because I love writing.

     Don't be deceived by fanfic websites that offer disclaimers and credit the original authors. Their disclaimers are more an admission of guilt that what they're doing is illegal.

     I encourage anyone with the creative urge to write fanfic and create games to think about creating their own worlds and stories instead - this can be even more fun than playing in someone else's world, because you make up the rules. Besides, you never know where your original work might lead, like to publication!

     If you have a legitimate query about licensing the right to use any of my material to create games or anything else, please contact me through my publisher [DAW Books] and I will pass on your query to my agent.

     If you have a legitimate offer to make to obtain the right to do so, then you know you must contact my agent. Contact me through my publisher [DAW Books], and I will pass on your query to my agent. Otherwise, the information above applies here, too.

     When I was a kid, not only did I read every horse book and magazine I could get my hands on, but I also spent a lot of time around horses. I earned riding lessons by working at a stable (cleaning tack, mucking stalls, throwing around hay bales, etc.). I even earned a dollar or two hotwalking horses during polo matches, and one year, I had the care of a big gelding named Fox that I had to condition for the hunt season. I rode primarily English hunt seat, and dabbled in dressage. I didn't really care about what style of riding I participated in, I just wanted to be around horses. I haven't been involved with horses much since those long ago days, but if I have questions pertaining to horses in my stories, I know who to call on.

     "Mirror of the Moon" is First Rider's Call. In other words, FRC's working title was "Mirror of the Moon". During the editing phase of the book, my editor and I agreed that FRC would be a more appropriate title. So, don't go looking for "Mirror of the Moon" -- you won't find it!

     Whoa, li'l doggies! First of all, no offers have been made by any motion picture studios to adapt any of my books into movies. Secondly, in the unlikely advent that a movie is made based on my novels, I probably would have no say in the casting. Once I sign over the rights to a film company to adapt the book into a movie, the film is in the hands of the filmmaker, not the author. In order to obtain a role in the film, one would have to take the normal route of auditioning (whatever process it entails, of which I know nothing about). Since the motion picture studio will foot the bill for the movie, it only makes sense that its casting director -- not me -- chooses who will get paid to act in said movie.

     Needless to say, this is getting ahead of ourselves. The chances of a fantasy novel being made into a movie, even a bestselling fantasy novel, is close to nil. What about Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings, you ask? These novels are beyond bestseller status -- they are phenomenons, which have ready-made audiences vast enough worldwide on which film companies are willing to take a financial risk.

     That said, I am honored people think the Green Rider series provides interesting movie fodder. On my behalf, it is a pleasure to create books for readers who enjoy the experience of the story unfolding in their minds like a movie. For me, even the best book-adapted movie cannot surpass the experience of reading a good story.