GUEST AUTHOR: Rowena Cory Daniells

Fantasy author, Rowena Cory Daniells, has been involved in speculative fiction since 1976 when she and a friend set up a small press publishing house.

Since then she's run a bookshop, a graphic arts studio, established her own business R&D Studios, sold nearly 30 children's books, and two fantasy trilogies.

She's a member of the Romance Writers of Australia, has served on several management committees (RWA, the Queensland Writers Center, the Brisbane Writers' Festival, the Aurealis Awards) and was one of the founders of Fantastic Queensland and the VISION writing group. Currently, she's an associate lecturer at Qantm College.

Rowena's book, THE KING'S BASTARD (Bk 1 of KING ROLEN'S KIN trilogy) has just been nominated for a David Gemmel Legend Award for Fantasy. And the cover has been nominated for a Ravenheart Award (for best cover).

Please welcome Rowena as she guest blogs about a topic close to her heart... 

RESONANCE
What’s the movie term ‘Resonance’ got to do with writing?

When you talk about how a movie resonates with you, you mean the way the characters linger in your mind after the movie finishes. You mean the way the music keeps playing in your head. Maybe you can’t stop thinking about the place where the movie was set. Maybe there was one line that encapsulated the theme of the movie and you keep hearing that line.

That’s what Resonance is, something that resonates with you.

As a writer, I develop a Resonance File for the different series I’m working on.  Being a visual person rather than aural, it won’t necessarily have music in it, but I will know the kind of music the characters listen to in my invented secondary world. Some of my friends who write have told me they create play lists and have the music going in the background while they write. I’ve never gone that far.

But I must confess that I vary my desktop picture depending on which series I’m writing. While I was working on the KING ROLEN'S KIN trilogy, I had a snowy scene on my desk top. Yes, you guessed it most of the KING ROLEN'S KIN trilogy was set in winter. I also wanted a Medieval Russian feel for the series, so I described the castles as having domes and towers.

But there’s more than the setting in my resonance file. (See here for a glimpse of my KRK Resonance File). It also includes my research. In fact my resonance file starts long before the book’s first words are ever written. I’m always watching documentaries and reading books about historical events and how different societies operate. So, long before I know what I’m going to use it for, I’m collecting details that will help make my world richer.

I must have been eleven when I read an account of someone who was caught out in a snow storm. They saved their children’s lives by building a snow cave. So, when I came to write KING ROLEN'S KIN, everyone built snow caves while travelling overnight during winter.

When writing fantasy we authors invent a secondary world and we need to keep the locations of towns and rivers etc straight in our heads, so we come up with maps. The way a land is shaped, shapes the people. Feudal Japan with its small areas of fertile land, spread over four main islands led to constant warring for resources. This is part of the motivation that drives the warlords in KING ROLEN'S KIN.  (For my KRK maps see here).

And lastly, there is the feel I wanted to create for my world and its people. When ever I sat down to write I needed to be in the right frame of mind to slip back into those characters. When people read my books, I wanted the characters to resonate with them, so that they would think about Piro, Fyn and Byren after the book was finished.

Currently, I’m working on The Outcast Chronicles. When ever I think about this series I have a strong sense of the Byzantine empire of the twelfth century, richly decorative, beautiful and complex, coupled with dark intrigue. 

Do you keep a Resonance File? What do you put in it? Are you visual or aural?

Thanks for visiting my blog today, Rowena!

KING ROLEN'S KIN trilogy

 Now for the extra special bit! Rowena is generously giving away a sign copy of the KING ROLEN'S KIN trilogy (above). Just answer this question:

What is your favourite secondary world and why?

Make sure you answer in the comments section by 8pm, Sat.12th February 2011, and the winner of the give-away will be announced on Sun.13th February 2011. This giveaway is open to all - local & international.

Rowena's other books:

The T'En Trilogy

Check out Rowena's website for more information. She also a regularly posts over at Ripping Ozzie Reads, a Aussie spec.fiction blog.