The Freedman: Tales From a Revolution - North-Carolina By Lars D. H. Hedbor

8/12/2018

Multi-volume author, Lars D. H. Hedbor, introduces us to the 9th volume in his series about the fictional history of America before the revolutionary war:

What Does Liberty Mean for a Freedman?

Calabar was brought from Africa to North-Carolina as a boy and sold on the docks as chattel property to a plantation owner. On the plantation, he learned the intricacies of indigo production, fell in love, and started a family.

Abruptly released from bondage, he must find his way in a society that has no place for him, but which is itself struggling with the threat of British domination. Reeling from personal griefs, and drawn into the chaos of the Revolution, Calabar knows that the wrong moves could cost him his freedom—and that of the nation.

The Freedman is Hedbor’s standalone novel set in North-Carolina from his Tales From a Revolution Series, in which he examines the American War of Independence as it unfolded in each of the colonies. If you like enthralling stories of familiar events from unfamiliar viewpoints, you’ll love The Freedman.

Grab your copy of The Freedman today, and experience the American Revolution as a personal journey of discovery.

This historical-fiction story was so good! Lars must have done an amazing amount of research. I think he has done a marvelous job of capturing the milieu of slaves, freedmen, and residents of North Carolina in the days before the American Revolutionary War. His scene-setting, plotting, and descriptions come across quite authentic. Dialog and action keep the story moving along perfectly.
We are brought into the life of a slave turned freedman in a first-rate fashion. His struggles, hopes, and fears are eloquently portrayed. The incidents of racism and discrimination Calabar experiences at the hands of white and black are far more than entertainment. They are a reminder of how inhumane one person can be to another even to this day.
I award 4.6 stars to The Freedman: Tales From a Revolution - North-Carolina.

You can buy this book:
https://www.amazon.com/Freedman-Tales-Revolution-North-Carolina-ebook
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/the-freedman
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-freedman

You can follow Lars:
https://twitter.com/LarsDHHedbor
http://larsdhhedbor.com
http://facebook.com/LarsD.H.Hedbor
https://www.pinterest.com/larsdhhedbor

Tags: African, Africa, sailing ships, tea, Boston, patriots
Copyright © 2018 Mark L Schultz except for the author's introduction

55 Comments

Lars D. H. Hedbor link

8/13/2018 04:15:30 pm

Thank you very kindly for your comments -- I'm happy that my work hit the mark so well for you.

In trying to tell stories from the Revolution that haven't been considered before in fiction, I was struck by the omission of Patriot freedmen, who fought for liberties that society did not extend to them under any circumstances.

The Freedman is my attempt to correct that omission, and I hope that it informs and entertains my readers, while whetting their appetites for more.

Mark

8/13/2018 04:34:17 pm

I agree with you very much. Freedmen were expected to fight for the freedoms of others, but they knew they would not enjoy those benefits themselves. Perhaps they had a vision of the future where all people lived in freedom and enjoyed the fruits of their labor.
I really enjoyed the story, Lars. I know this is the 9th in the series, I am eager to read more of your books.
Can you tell me a little bit about how you were inspired to write these untold tales in the first place?
If you would care to describe how you have organized your series, I would love to hear about that.
Is this the last of the series, or is there more?

Lars D. H. Hedbor link

8/13/2018 04:49:19 pm

Thanks for the questions, Mark!

I got started writing this series when a friend was talking about events of the Revolution that took place in the Carolinas, where he'd gone to school. I had never really heard of the Revolution affecting that area, and since I knew that I learned best through historical fiction, I asked him if there were any good books he could recommend. I read the only one I could find, and uttered the famous last words -- "I could do better than this!"

The Declaration was the result of that realization, and my vision from the start of this series has been to write one book for each of the Colonies... which I immediately stretched to include the independent Republic of Vermont, and have later expanded to include (Loyalist) West-Florida and Nova-Scotia, as well as the Massachusetts territory of Maine.

I still plan to write one for each of the Colonies, but my primary goal is to tell stories of ordinary people, who didn't make much of a mark in history as individuals, but without whom history would have been *very* different.

The next one I'll be releasing is based in New-Hampshire, telling the story of the Pine Tree Revolt, which was one of the many (relatively) minor acts of rebellion that led up to the Revolution.

After that, I've got the story of the Quartermaster General for Pennsylvania, an ancestor of mine (so that one's a bit of a departure in a couple of ways), and I'm already starting research for the one I'm planning after *that* one, exploring the experiences of Loyalist POWs during the war.

I expect that the whole series will be at least twice as many volumes as I've currently got, and my scope is expansive enough that I could easily branch out to tell stories from throughout the global conflict that framed the American War of Independence.

Mark

8/13/2018 05:01:29 pm

That is a great way to start writing! Or were you writing before that epiphany?
Do you have books in other categories or genres? When did you first realize that you could have an impact through writing?

Lars D. H. Hedbor link

8/13/2018 05:18:01 pm

I had written a few shorter pieces before I started these, but The Declaration was the first novel I sat down and wrote.

I have published a silly little romp of a novella that I suppose one could classify as science fiction, called "Dinosaur Ghost," but I published that under the pen name of David Johnson to avoid confusion with my historical fiction. (The sequel, Dinosaur Ghosts, is forthcoming...)

I've also written a number of non-fiction articles for the Journal of the American Revolution, and my article for Zymurgy Magazine about making mead with milk got them letters of comment... ;)

One of my favorite moments as an author was at a local book festival, when a pair of brothers came to my booth for the second year running, and negotiated with their mother to let them buy two volumes from the set, because they'd so enjoyed the two they'd bought from me the first year.

I remember reading historical fiction when I was their age, and having it open my eyes to a broader world, and a more deeply personal view of history. Seeing that I was doing the same for them was nothing short of inspiring.

Mark

8/13/2018 05:53:42 pm

So the writing of Dinosaur Ghost was concurrent with writing the Tales series. Was DG an exploration of another genre? What age group was DG written for?
There are many unethical practices in publishing. Have any of them tripped you up? What do you think are the most abhorrent practices?

Lars D. H. Hedbor link

8/13/2018 06:09:23 pm

DG sprang out of a conversation with one of my daughters about the success of the "Sharknado" franchise. Again, those famous last words were uttered, and I set out to write something even more ridiculous myself. :) I think that the tagline -- "They were trying to make oil better, but instead they just made it *hungry*" reflects how well I succeeded pretty accurately.

I'd say that DG is written more for adults than for kids, as characters who are being chased by dinosaurs, even ghostly ones, are going to say a few naughty words.

My very first book was nonfiction, and its publication predated the emergence of CreateSpace and IngramSpark by about a decade. As I was unable to attract a publisher for the concept (technical topics for small businesses), I contracted with one of the best-known vanity presses, and spent a ridiculous amount of money to publish a book that was a flop in the marketplace, largely due to a complete lack of coherent marketing.

The general advice that any "publisher" that collects a substantial sum of money from you for the privilege of seeing your book in print is really just selling services, usually at higher costs than you might incur elsewhere.

Other than that, I've been relatively fortunate (or wary) in my career as an author, although I've heard many stories from others in the business that turn my stomach. I do my best to learn from those incidents and avoid experiencing them myself.

Mark

8/13/2018 06:20:18 pm

Sharknado was a movie I could sink my funny teeth into! I love slapstick, or perhaps I should call it bitestick! ;-)
Those vanity publishers are still around. I see their ads. It seems to me most publishers don't do much about promoting a book for an author, even though they have a vested interest in success. What do you think?
Do you consort or pal around with other authors?
Are you part of writers' group?
Do you use beta readers or have a critique partner?

Lars D. H. Hedbor link

8/13/2018 07:09:14 pm

I don't have a lot of insight into the motivations of traditional publishers. I have a few friends who are pretty successful traditionally-published authors, and even they get very little marketing support. The publishers seem to be of the mindset that they will only invest marketing dollars in a "sure thing," despite the fact that they've typically already invested substantially in editing, cover design, and interior layout. It doesn't make much sense to me.

I'm not part of a writers' group, no, although I am friends with a pretty wide circle of other authors, and I try to learn from what they do for their marketing and business efforts.

I typically send my daily writing production to a small circle of friends and dedicated readers to get their reactions, and I've shared finished manuscripts with a select group of beta readers with great results.

Mark

8/13/2018 07:14:16 pm

It doesn't make much sense to me either. But it must to them or they wouldn't operate that way.
Have you had the same publisher for the entire series? How did you connect with them in the beginning? Were there a lot of rejection letters until you landed with your publisher?

Lars D. H. Hedbor

8/13/2018 07:52:38 pm

When I finished writing The Declaration, I shopped it around to agents and publishers, with no particular success.

I then heard about a small indie starting up locally and sent them an inquiry. When they read The Prize, they immediately offered me a contract, and experienced all of the thrill of someone actually liking my work enough to put it into print.

They wound up going a different direction by the time I had The Light ready for publication, and so I shopped that one around to a number of traditional publishers, as well as studying what went into producing books in the rapidly-evolving field of publishing.

One traditional publisher expressed interest in The Light, but only if I simplified the language for their readers. I feel strongly that readers don't need language dumbed down, and my reviews consistently praise my use of language, so I declined their offer and set up my own indie publishing house.

Brief Candle Press now publishes about a half-dozen authors, and has about 20 titles in its catalog, running the gamut from historical fiction, of course, to science fiction, to cookbooks. :)

Mark

8/14/2018 12:17:00 pm

I have seen a lot of authors travel that same road and start an independent publishing business. With six authors and 20 titles, has your perspective on publishing changed since shopping your first book around?
Do you think self-publishers and independents can produce a book as good as mainstream publishers?
Do you have unpublished and half-finished books set aside that you may or may not get back to?

Lars D. H. Hedbor link

8/14/2018 01:02:17 pm

My understanding of the publishing industry has evolved significantly since I first started shopping a manuscript around, yes.

In almost all cases, I would advise a new author to skip trying to secure representation with an agent (see Kristine Kathryn Rusch's excellent Business Musings blog for many, many reasons why I feel this way), and there are very few cases where I'd even suggest that they try to approach "traditional" publishers.

Every part of the publishing process can be done yourself, with the notable and critical exception of editing, and where an author lacks the skillset to take on a task personally, it can be readily hired out at modest cost.

Traditional publishing often churns out dreck with terrible cover design, slipshod editing, and stories of questionable merit finding their way into print under a "respectable" banner on a regular basis.

That said, the most awful looking and poorly executed books on the market do tend to be self published, from which basis some people then draw the conclusion that all self published work is, at best, suspect.

The truth lies somewhere in between, in my opinion -- the very lowest end of quality is generally self published, but the range of the highest quality work on the market today is occupied by both traditionally published and indie published works, with a slight edge to the traditional publishers due to greater resources to secure and polish works of exceptional promise.

However, the great middle ground of competent, solid, readable books is heavily populated with works from both indies and traditional publishers, making this a true golden age for readers and writers alike.

Moving along to the question of my own unpublished works, I have one completed manuscript (The Tree) to which I alluded above and the mostly completed story of my ancestor that I mentioned.

Beyond that, early in my career as an author I started writing a police procedural set in rural Vermont of the 1950s, based on an actual unsolved case that my grandfather (a district attorney) had worked with. It has many elements of historical fiction to it, as well, but I don't know if I'll ever return to it, as much as it bothers me to leave a thought incomplete. :) Those poor characters, sitting in suspended animation, in a neglected directory of my hard drive... *sigh*

Mark

8/14/2018 01:23:09 pm

You have learned a great deal about publishing. Thank you for that perspective.
I feel for those people stuck in the twilight zone of your hard drive also. ;-)
New questions.
Are any of the characters in your books based on people you have met or know well?
Would any in the latter category recognize themselves in your book?
Do you have anything that you consider to be a lucky
charm for your writing?

Lars D. H. Hedbor link

8/14/2018 01:41:27 pm

I am a constant observer of people around me, but I don't usually tend to try to write them into my books. There was a passenger on a plane who insisted on reclining his seat into my lap while I was trying to write who may have made it into the sequel to Dinosaur Ghost...

I have on occasion indulged myself by naming a character who would go on to a sticky end after someone who had annoyed me in real life, and I have a strange track record of hosting exchange students whose names happen to be the same as characters I'd written years before, but I swear that there was no intent there. :)

As sentimental as my writing often is, it may come as a surprise that I am pretty unsentimental about how I write. I've worked in bustling cafés, sitting in the back of a U-Haul trailer, and of course, at my desk at home. The only thing in common across those environments is the cast of characters who populate my story.

I do have a favorite keyboard (the Microsoft model 4000), but that's less "lucky charm" than simple comfort and productivity, and I've written whole novellas on an iPad with a cramped Bluetooth keyboard.

I do like the have a snifter of Scotch when I've finished a novel, and I try to reward myself with a nice chocolate for hitting wordcount goals.

Mark

8/14/2018 02:01:27 pm

Thank you, for those insights. I feel safer already. ;-) Pretty funny about the exchange students, someone has a sense of humor.
I am with you about the chocolate, I try to eat some everyday, for medicinal purposes, of course.
New questions, about the tech you use.
Do you take notes on research by hand or computer?
Is your first draft handwritten or computer?
Do you use any special software for writing?

Lars D. H. Hedbor link

8/14/2018 02:12:04 pm

While I have a pretty extensive print research library in my writing office, I do the majority of my research online, and I try to add links to materials that I find useful in my Pinterest page, both as a means of keeping them organized and accessible for myself, and as a place to share them with readers.

My handwriting is truly horrendous -- I would never consider trying to write something by hand if I cared about being able to read it myself, never mind sharing it with someone else.

I usually just use Microsoft Word, backed up with DropBox so that I can readily work across multiple devices and platforms, but I've also written in Google Docs word processor, and I've tried Scrivener for a novel.

I know people who swear by Scrivener, but since I don't tend to outline or do a lot of writing process things that some authors do, its tools haven't yet won me over. Its interaction with DropBox is sometimes difficult, as well, particularly when I forget to close my document on one platform before trying to work with it on another.

For cover art, I stick with the classic of Photoshop, and for cover and interior layout, I use InDesign.

Mark

8/14/2018 04:23:57 pm

Thank you for sharing about the tools of your trade.
I understand well about difficult penmanship. I studied architecture in college and worked in a drafting department (before computers) and actually developed decent hand printing.
Do you have any originals in your research library? My wife was sorting through some old books and found a pocket New Testament printed in 1899.
New questions.
What is the most valuable piece of advice you have ever received from another writer?
What are common traps for beginning writers?
What is the advantage of writing under a pseudonym and are there any downsides?

Lars D. H. Hedbor link

8/14/2018 05:02:03 pm

I don't have any original documents in my own library, no, but I did grow up with a few documents and books from that era around my house. Among these are a family bible, a multi-volume history of England, and even a 17th-century indenture (which just so happens to have been witnessed by an ancestor of my wife's -- we were relieved when the Ancestry DNA did *not* reveal us to be distant cousins!).

I've had to content myself with facsimiles and modern reproductions so far, but it would be great fun to have some original material from the era in my possession.

The most influential advice I've ever gotten was to sit down and start writing -- no matter how badly it comes out, you can still edit it. Vague thoughts in one's head cannot be refined or improved, but once they're on the page, you have the opportunity to seek feedback or even just revisit them yourself.

The traps that I've watched other writers fall into generally occupy two areas: first, the belief that there is One True Way to pursue the craft of writing, and second, the belief that there is One True Way to pursue the business of writing.

There are as many approaches to the writing process as there are writers, and so long as the story satisfies your readers, they aren't going to get hung up on whether you have a three-act format, or follow a classical hero's journey, or any of the other things that we're assured are utterly indispensable in creative writing classes.

In fact, I wouldn't suggest that most people bother with a creative writing class -- instead, read great books, and observe for yourself what makes them great, and then go forth and write what makes you and your readers happy.

Of course, if a writer tells me that a creative writing class enabled them to tell the story they wanted to tell, and to do so in a way that satisfied them and their readers, then I'll be the first to congratulate them -- but it's been my experience that all too many such classes focus on formulas, which seems to me to be the polar opposite of creativity.

On the business side, telling people that they must write only what the market is already buying is both deadly to the joy of writing, and to the joy of reading something new and unexpected.

The world doesn't need the "next" Harry Potter, and just imagine how much poorer literature would be if J.K. Rowling had decided to write cozy mysteries, because they were selling. Writing to market is fine if you just want a day job as a writer, but I don't personally find that very inspiring.

Okay, rant over. ;)

I write under a pseudonym for my light science fiction only because it's such a sharp departure from my serious historical fiction that I don't want readers of one to expect the same thing from the other.

On the other hand, if one becomes wildly successful, I'd be doing my readers a disservice if they wanted to make the leap to trying the other to see whether that they liked was present in both. *shrug* I am rather early in my writing career to really have a firm opinion one way or another. Ask me again in twenty years. :)

Mark

8/14/2018 06:40:47 pm

I have to agree, that was dynamite advice! You can't edit what you haven't written. I share the equivalent with authors as needed.
I know some like to divide authors into plotters or pantsters, but I think everyone lands at different points on that line. You sound like you are close to the writing-by-the-seat-of-your-pants side, while not too far from the middle.
One of my favorite authors, Tegon Maus, has written in several genres without using a different name. All of his books have a strong flavor of humor in them, I love to laugh.
New questions.
Is Freedman written in some form of first person POV or what? Sometimes I have no problem distinguishing the POV, I really enjoy FP when there is a lack of head hopping.
A lot of writers moan about writer's block. Do you struggle with that? What solution works best for you?
Is there anything that affects your writing like kryptonite affects superman? How do you conquer that?

Lars D. H. Hedbor link

8/14/2018 07:17:06 pm

I typically write from the third person POV, although there have been a couple of places where I've strayed from that briefly -- letters in The Break are written from the POV of their writers, of course, and the framing story in my current work in progress is first-person.

I try to avoid "head hopping," where the narrator gives readers access to the thoughts of one character after another, and instead let the reader "see" through my main character's senses what is going on.

I've never suffered from writer's block -- my characters don't always know what they're going to do next, but then, who among us does? And yet, we all keep putting one foot after the next, and that's something to write about, and if they're being too boring, I can reach in and shake things up for them. ;)

My "kryptonite," to the extent that I have any such thing, tends to be simple time in a day to get everything done.

I work a day job, have six daughters (four of whom are at home) plus an exchange student or two, place and supervise exchange students, am active on a couple of boards of directors, and, of course, fight the normal time sinks of social media and reading.

To make time for writing and publishing, I don't watch much television (which causes my wife distress, because there are things that we want to watch together). And when I'm writing, I tend to really skimp on sleep, knocking out a couple thousand words after everyone else is in bed.

Mark

8/14/2018 10:30:43 pm

You sound like you are busier than a long-tailed cat in room full of people in rocking chairs! Time is pretty precious, but we do find time for the things that are high priority!
I bet your kids are turning out well. My three are grown and we now have four grand-daughters! They are my heart in many ways.
We have done exchange students, part-time foster care, mentored teenage writers and I worked also up until a year ago June, when I retired.
I noticed your writing style, a bit of a hybrid between first person and third person. I enjoyed that about your book. I barely see tv anymore myself. If I watch 8 hours in a week, that is a lot for me.
New questions.
Are there any authors' writing style that you disliked at first but soon came to like? What changed your mind?
Do reading, watching movies and listening to music help a person become a better writer?
Is suffering a requirement to be a good writer?

Lars D. H. Hedbor link

8/15/2018 02:17:11 am

I can't think offhand of any authors whose writing I initially disliked, but whose work I stuck with long enough to determine that I liked it. As with most readers, the first impression is hard to overcome, and I have a large enough "to be read" pile that I don't have a lot of patience to go digging for something worthwhile in a work that fails to impress initially.

I definitely think that reading constantly and widely is a key to becoming a better writer. Reading not just for entertainment, but to understand why you're enjoying a work will enable you to create work that others with tastes similar to yours will also enjoy.

As for watching movies and listening to music, I try to be relatively "cinematic" in my own writing, including details that help the reader "see" what I'm seeing in my imagining of a scene. Music keeps me awake and writing, as long as it doesn't have words in a language I speak. I cannot readily make words with words coming into my ears. ;)

I do not necessarily believe that suffering is *necessary*, but it can help you become more empathetic as a writer. My own career as a novelist didn't really get started until I was in the throes of a pretty serious set of life crises, so I can't really offer an example to say that suffering doesn't help.

Mark

8/15/2018 10:50:03 am

Your writing "movie-like" works pretty well for me. Many of the scenes were easy to picture in my head.
When I am proofreading, I find I can't listen to the radio, I shut it off. I need quiet to work effectively.
Suffering may not be necessary, but almost all of us go through suffering at one time or another.
New questions.
You mentioned earlier that you were a young age, when reading historical fiction opened your eyes to the power of words. How old were you, do you remember what book it was?
Do you ever brainstorm about your writing with people who don't write?
In retrospect, do you think you were born to write or did you have to learn every aspect of the craft?

Lars D. H. Hedbor link

8/15/2018 01:12:06 pm

I really wish that I could remember the title -- it was part of a series of books that I found around the house, probably published in the 1950s, and it detailed the experience of travelling the Oregon Trail, strangely enough. I think that I have to credit that book with opening me to the possibility of living in Oregon later in my life, as well!

I bounce ideas off my wife on a regular basis (she is a good deal more bloodthirsty than I am in the pursuit of story), and the Dinosaur Ghost stories were born out of an unhinged discussion with one of my daughters about what sort of wild-eyed, ridiculous thing I could write in answer to Sharknado.

I also bounce ideas off of other authors, such as when I was puzzled by a quirk in the historical record regarding my ancestor who forms the heart of my current work in progress. His will contained careful provisions for his niece and nephew, sisters, friends, even his lawyer... but nothing at all for his wife or son. I asked Stephanie Dray, author of the new book My Dear Hamilton, what to make of that, and she suggested three possibilities: He was a complete jerk (not utterly impossible), his wife was independently wealthy (unlikely, as she is a cipher in the historical record outside of her marriage to him),... or it wasn't his son -- and he knew it. Other circumstances supported that interpretation, and that has powerfully shaped the rest of the story.

On your last question, I have always known that I would write in one capacity or another -- an early grade school assignment asked us to imagine our lives as adults, and I described myself as an author.

My ancestry is dotted heavily with writers, from my journalist mother, to a g-g-g-g-g-grandfather who wrote a guidebook to German immigrants coming to the American Colonies in the mid 18th century, to genealogical hints that I may be distantly related to both James Fenimore Cooper and William Shakespeare.

So, both nature and nurture prepared me for the possibility of pursuing writing as a career. I've always been an avid reader, devouring Alex Haley's monumental novel Roots at the age of 10, alongside Alexander Lloyd's epic fantasy, classics such as Watership Down and The Rats of NIMH, and the entirety of Heinlein's body of work.

When I was still an adolescent, my grandmother purchased a copy of the Compton's Encyclopedia for my use, and while I can't claim to have read it cover-to-cover, I did read heavily from it, and I eagerly awaited each year's update.

It didn't hurt that I grew up in a house with more books in it than the town library -- literally every room in the house was lined with stuffed bookshelves -- and I supplemented that with selections from the library and every bookstore I could get into.

My early training as a military linguist and a life-long passion for languages have further prepared me to utilize language to effectively tell my characters' stories. In addition to historical notes (explaining to readers where and why I departed from the historical record), I often have linguistic notes to describe why I made the choices I did in terms of dialog and period colloquialisms.

So, while I may have been "born to write," I have studied very hard to master my craft, and continue to do so.

Mark

8/15/2018 02:49:55 pm

Thank you for all that insight into your past and your WIP. Some great stuff there. A Military Linguist, that sounds pretty interesting also. I seem to have a knack for languages myself. How many languages do you speak or understand, mostly?
I grew up in small town in SW Washington, right on I-5 between Woodland and Longview, Kalama. We lived on 35 acres in the hills south of town.
I read all the time. We had a dictionary that was close to 20 pounds. I could get lost in that for an hour easy. The encyclopedia would keep me enthralled for even more time.
Did you read Dune by Frank Herbert? I eventually read all the books including what his son wrote to complete the series. One book was a real slog, the one with all the reincarnations of his friend, I think.
New questions.
What is the most difficult part of your artistic process, and easiest?
What did you buy with your first royalty check?
Do you have a hidden message in any of your books for a person or group of people?

Lars D. H. Hedbor link

8/15/2018 04:16:54 pm

I studied French and Latin in high school, and for fun, studied some ancient Greek and modern Italian on my own. While in the military, I studied Korean and Russian, as well as a little bit of Spanish.

Since then, I've picked up bits of Swedish, German, and a few others here and there, but the languages I still retain any useful amounts of are French and Swedish (sort of). I tend to swear in German (which bemuses my German exchange student) or Russian, if I'm really exercised.

I can mostly make sense of Le Monde, and can puzzle through my Swedish cousin's Facebook posts, and when I visited the Niaux cave paintings this summer, I could catch a substantial amount of what the guide was saying in French.

I have read Dune, and some of the sequels, and while I appreciate the artistry of all of the world building, and sit in awe of the storytelling, I do find having to learn a whole new language in order to fully enjoy a book a bit off-putting.

I honestly don't have much trouble with the artistic end of writing -- my characters are usually pretty cooperative about letting me know which way they want to go, and what research I need to do to tell their stories -- but the business side of writing is a substantial challenge for me (as it is for many authors in this age of revolutionary change in publishing).

Finding where my readers can be reached, and how to effectively reach them does not yield to simple analysis. Many of the approaches used by highly successful indie (or traditionally-published) authors have simply not given me reliable results.

That said, I genuinely enjoy meeting potential readers and hand-selling my books to them, so I guess it's a good thing that this has been successful for me. :)

With my first royalty check, I took my wife out to a nice restaurant for a celebratory dinner. The second check limited our choices somewhat more, to the dollar menu. ;)

I do actually have a message in my books, and it's really pretty simple: if the actions of the ordinary people I depict helped to shape history behind the scenes, then the actions of ordinary people today can do likewise. We don't have to make a place for ourselves in the pages of history books to change the future.

Mark

8/15/2018 08:32:42 pm

I think you qualify as a polyglot. I love languages myself and would love to learn Spanish, Russian, and Japanese.
Marketing is definitely a vexation for most authors. A big topic on Twitter. I don't think there are any easy answers in this rapidly changing world of publishing. It requires a regular allotment of time to build your brand.
I love that message in your books, that is a message of hope and we can all use that. Making a difference where we live is making a difference. The ripples from those actions may never be known this side of the veil.
New questions.
Do you subscribe to any magazines, newsletters, blogs or podcasts that enhance your writing career?
Do you have any problems when writing about characters of the opposite sex?
Is writing a form of spiritual practice or healing for you?

Lars D. H. Hedbor link

8/15/2018 10:59:39 pm

I am a member of the Historical Novel Society, and I support Kristine Katherine Rusch's Business Musings blog as a patron, which encourages me to pay close attention to what she has to say. I also read the Journal of the American Revolution regularly, and have been listening to the Ben Franklin's World podcast.

All of these inform one aspect or another of the business of my writing, whether it's knowledge of the publishing world or of my area of focus, but I find that I get the most relevant and immediate information from the various Facebook groups I am a part of, each of which caters to a slightly different audience of authors and others in the field.

Having grown up with three sisters, in a household with my grandmother and my aunt, and being the father of six daughters, my primary challenge in writing characters of the fairer sex is in making them realistically uncertain of themselves and fitting appropriately into the roles open to them during the Colonial and Revolutionary periods. I have no lack of strong women in my life whose attitudes inform those of many of my female characters.

As I lack much of a sense of the numinous, I don't feel that writing is a particularly spiritual practice, and my primary purpose in writing is not to fix what's broken within myself, but to inform and entertain my readers.

If my characters' beliefs and worldviews are inspirational, so much the better. :)

Mark

8/16/2018 10:44:16 am

Great answers, Lars! Some wonderful resources for those interested in early American history, thank you for sharing them.
Has much fiction writing survived from the revolutionary was period, or have newspapers been a major source of cultural information of that period for you?
Numinous is a lovely sounding word. It just rolls of the tongue.
New questions.
I have heard authors talk about the ethics of writing historical fiction. Do you know what they are talking about and why they are concerned? What are your thoughts about that?
Do you have pieces of story that were removed from this book? If, so why did you remove it?
If you weren't a writer, are there other passions you would pursue?

Lars D. H. Hedbor link

8/16/2018 01:36:09 pm

The fiction of the era is less accessible and relevant to my characters' lives than were its newspapers, and newspapers figure heavily in the plots of The Declaration (where a long-lost newspaper containing a document of the Revolution is rediscovered in a modern-day attic) and in the forthcoming novel The Tree, where my main character practices his new-found literacy on newspapers.

My characters often quote from newspapers when relating events of the day to one another, particularly distant events, and their durable role in daily life is at once unfamiliar to our modern, ephemeral material culture, and deeply resonant with our experience of journalism regarding global events of import.

I've heard a few people who've claimed that authors must "stay in their lanes," and write only from their own cultural experience; in the field of historical fiction, I find this not only repugnant, but absurd. There is nobody alive today who can write from the cultural experience of any 18th-century person, of any background.

I worried that critics would be offended that I wrote about the experience of a former slave, and accuse me of "cultural appropriation" for doing so... and then I made a discovery -- my genealogy includes an immigrant from Haiti in the late 18th century, and an examination of my DNA revealed that my heritage includes someone from West Africa at about that time... so The Freedman *is* written about my personal heritage, after all.

And, of course, that illustrates the absurdity of using racial identity to dictate what someone can and cannot write about at all -- we are all so interrelated and blended over the centuries that blood means far less than culture.

It is true that I cannot write from a personal knowledge of the experience of a freed slave, wrestling with the fear of abuse and persecution from his fellow men over the color of his skin, and yet deciding to fight for their liberty as well as his own... but then, neither can any other author, so I do my best.

I approach writing characters from non-European cultures largely the same way that I approach writing all of my characters -- I do immense amounts of research to understand their worldviews and cultural environments, and then try to work those into my stories.

The Smoke, written about the experience of the Skarure (Tuscarora) tribe of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) nation during Sullivan's March (a drive to wipe out the Haudenosaunee in retribution for the support of many of its tribes for the British side), has been praised as one of the best novels of the Eastern Woodland Indians ever written, so I think that my approach is bearing fruit.

That said, I do somewhat modify the language used by my characters -- the "n word" would have been in common parlance, but it causes such a reaction in modern readers that it takes them right out of the story, and that doesn't serve the purpose of informing and entertaining, so I removed it.

And, although sexuality was certainly a part of my characters' lives, I don't write it into my books, out of a desire to leave them accessible to younger readers whose parents and educators might not like them exposed to explicit material.

Many folks have commented on the fact that American readers will tolerate extremely high levels of graphic violence better than even mild sexuality, and my writing excludes both... but I've never gotten any complaints about the violence that is present -- even stuff that upset me to write.

I have excised scenes that wound up being ahistorical, including a very compelling and plot-changing snowstorm in The Smoke... that I later learned could not have happened, because the winter had been noted for coming late and mild that year. *sigh*

My career has been widely varied, so it doesn't take a lot of imagination to see what else I might have pursued. I've been a librarian, a marketing director, a sales manager, Web designer, software engineer, cryptolinguist, product manager, technical consultant, pyrotechnician, counselor, politician, support engineer, notary, entrepreneur, and babysitter. I feel like I'm leaving out some things, but that's a pretty good list.

All of that said, if I could wave a magic wand and start a new career, I would love to work in the new space industry. NASA's fatal dalliance with the Space Shuttle came as I was starting my career, and although SpaceX and Blue Origin are changing the game today, they are located far from where I am able to live, so I will have to content myself with watching their progress on YouTube and dreaming of selling enough books to buy a ticket to Mars someday...

Mark

8/16/2018 02:50:04 pm

Thanks, Lars, for helping me understand the historical fiction ethics thing. I had no idea, and I think you are spot on, after all, it's fiction!
I can easily understand the reliance on newspapers in many different periods of time. They are cheap, don't require specialized storage, provide important information, and have secondary uses. Only the wealthy could afford a library. Your point of view makes a lot of sense to me.
I appreciate your fidelity to the truth, removing a plot point like you did. I am in awe of your research efforts, going to such lengths to be certain your story fits in the history of the time.
I think your decision about the n-word is wise, sometimes going against the flow is not worth the effort or the blow-back.
New questions.
Is there any particular type of scene that is easy or hard for you to write?
Have you ever regretted killing a character and why?
Do you ever resort to reading sections of a WIP to sort out problems?

Lars D. H. Hedbor link

8/16/2018 06:50:30 pm

Scenes where characters suffer injuries or worse are typically pretty hard for me to write, but those where my characters are hurting others (as in the battle scene in The Freedman) bother me the most. Hurting another human being like that is pretty far from my experience -- and I'm perfectly comfortable with that remaining the case.

Then there are the times that my stories require me to learn something unpleasant. I've watched numerous videos on butchering animals to supplement my own experience with chickens, so that I can depict such things accurately. Learning what happens to a drowning victim's body was... memorable, and I felt as ill as my character who was sick in response.

Like most authors, I get a lot of grief from readers for killing characters, and there are times when my body count gets pretty high -- but it is wartime, and in an era when medicine was nowhere near as good at pulling off miracles as we are today.

One that really hurt, though, was the loss of a mother and baby in childbirth in one of my books -- I won't spoil which one for my readers who haven't encountered it yet -- an event that was, tragically, all too common in the eighteenth century. I let my surviving characters fully express the very real grief that I felt -- and still feel -- over that death. Darn it all, getting dusty in here all the sudden...

I very often go back and review what I've written so far in my works in progress. I usually write pretty quickly -- most of my books are drafted in a matter of weeks -- but when life interrupts me for a while, I usually wind up re-reading everything I've written to date to ensure continuity, and to find what story threads I still owe my readers some payoff for.

I also sometimes go back and re-read my earlier works for pleasure, just as I might re-read another author's works. I sometimes write pretty good stuff, and it is often -- naturally -- exactly the sort of thing I like to read recreationally. :)

Mark

8/16/2018 08:16:33 pm

Your sensitivity reminds me of myself, I get deep into the story and experience so many of the emotions, especially in first person POV. In Freedman, we viewed so much of the world through Calabar's eyes and other senses, I was quite touched by his determination and drive.
When you are re-reading your previous works, do you ever find a misspelling, typo, or missing word?
War was a more brutal business back then, and medicine required many tough choices. I recall reading a triage technique used a long time ago, if a seriously injured person did not have grubs in the open wound they were known to not have a chance at survival and received little to no care.
New questions.
Have you ever accommodated a reader's wish in a subsequent volume? Freedman is number 9 and you said more are coming, you must have received a great deal of comments and feedback in reviews and such.
Have readers ever shared stories from their family history that you used in some way in a book?
Is there a particular time of day or circumstance that is more favorable to getting ideas than another?

Lars D. H. Hedbor link

8/16/2018 08:28:13 pm

I'm working with a producer on audiobooks right now, and he's *very* good at rendering my books as written... which has meant that I've found a number of typos and errors in the process. *sigh*

I've incorporated suggestions for character names -- and have even sold naming rights in Kickstarters for some of the early volumes -- and one of my most striking books came out of a discussion at a party. (A friend of my Dad's asked if I was going to write about Florida. Florida? Turns out it was not one, but two colonies, completely forgotten because they stayed loyal, and they were the setting of some of the most incredible action of the war. See my novel The Wind or my article "The Perfect Storm" in the Journal of the American Revolution.)

I'm not conscious of having borrowed family legends from readers for my stories, as I would prefer to let them tell their own stories, but it's possible that I've included details from a story I've been told at one point or another.

I do almost all of my writing late at night, as I tend to be a night owl anyway, and that's also when I'm least likely to be interrupted in the middle of a good flow of ideas. However, if the characters have taken the bit in their mouths and are running wild, there's little that can interfere with me rushing behind them, writing down what they're getting up to. ;)

Mark

8/16/2018 09:13:28 pm

That producer might be a hyper-speller like I am. I have never thought of Florida being involved in the Revolutionary War. That has got to be some great reading.
You definitely have a good plan for writing. Are you one of those people that need only five or six hours of sleep? After high school I lost that ability. I probably really didn't have it, I just couldn't put a good book down, more likely. ;-)
New questions.
Are you reading anything at this time for fun?
Do you prefer an e-book or paper book?
Do you do your own editing or proofreading, or do you use a professional?

Lars D. H. Hedbor link

8/17/2018 01:40:41 pm

I can get by on 5-6 hours per night, and when I'm actively writing, I often survive on less. I become less fun to be around then, though, and my coffee consumption shoots right up. Fortunately, my wife works at a coffee roaster, so she keeps me well supplied.

I am currently in the middle of several books for leisure reading, yes. :) I'm reading Rob Kroese's latest installment in his alternate-history Viking saga, Dawn of the Iron Dragon, as well as Joseph Brassey's high fantasy/sci-fi Dragon Road. I appear to be on a dragon kick, don't I?

I switch pretty fluidly from paper to ebook and back, and I'm even starting to incorporate audiobooks into my reading, although they must compete for my commuting time with audio teaching from The Great Courses, where I'm a longtime customer.

I firmly believe that it is nearly impossible for authors to proofread themselves, and I hire a professional to do my final copy edit. Development edits, though, where I'm identifying and filling story holes, I usually do myself, with input from my alpha readers. I usually set my work aside for a year or so after I finish drafting it, so that it's easier for me to spot issues that my alpha readers didn't say anything about.

Mark

8/17/2018 02:25:25 pm

Coffee and dragons! I love both also. How do you like to take your coffee? I cold brew mine, for over 30 years now. I use the Toddy cold brewing system, it makes a wonderful concentrate, I pour a little in a cup and add boiling water for a pleasing mellow cup of coffee.
Giving yourself a year away from the book is a brilliant idea, in my judgement. Fresh eyes are so much better at spotting those niggling errors. I get many requests to beta read, which I turn down, because I am so much better at being the final polisher for a book that is ready for publication. That's when I find the errors that spellcheckers and others have missed. It's my talent.
New questions.
Do you think independent publishers can produce a book as good as mainstream publishers?
How do you convince readers to give you a book review?
What are your thoughts on bad book reviews?

Lars D. H. Hedbor link

8/17/2018 03:33:54 pm

I usually take my coffee black, but I just use a normal drip coffee maker. I have access to a full espresso maker in my office, though, so I have been known to make myself a cappuccino to overcome the afternoon doldrums. And when I really need to power through a late-night session at the keyboard or telescope, I love a drink called a "Harley Davidson Kickstart," which has six shots (!!) of espresso, one shot of amaretto, one of hazelnut syrup, and frothed milk to fill. It's a legal alternative to cocaine... ;)

I don't think that there's anything magical about traditional publishers that enables them to produce a higher-quality book than indies -- and since so many indies are primarily in the business for the love of it (as opposed to the daily grind for someone working at a New York publishing house), I suspect that they are often bringing more care and passion to creating a high-quality production.

Of course, indies need to have an understanding of their strengths and hire out work to overcome their weaknesses. Not everyone can design a great cover, nor format an ebook correctly, but there are scores of providers out there who can take on tasks like these for indies at modest expense.

Getting honest book reviews is a substantial challenge for any author, and with Amazon wiping out reviews that it deems suspicious or biased due to a personal relationship to the author, it's all the harder. That said, simply asking at the end of the book is relatively effective, as is occasionally reminding readers that reviews assist us in being visible to other potential readers. As Robert Heinlein said, though, the most sincere reviews are the ones that start with the words, "Pay to the order of..." ;)

I've been fortunate to have only gotten a few negative reviews so far, but the ones that I have gotten have typically been informative and useful. My most recent one-star review was by someone who loved everything about the book, but couldn't get past the use of profanity in it. She got to the third of five instances of the word "damned" that appeared in my characters' dialog and put the book down for good.

At the end of the day, we can't please everyone, and different people have wildly different tastes. My approach to storytelling and my dedication to historical fidelity isn't what every reader is looking for -- some want more romantic involvement between my characters, some would prefer to see more of familiar historical figures, and some have been so soured on history by the classroom approach of dull facts and figures that they break out in hives at the mention of anything historical.

Don't get me wrong -- I love good reviews, and a bad review gets me down as much as the next author -- but I do try to be as philosophical as possible when I get one. I sometimes even succeed.

Mark

8/17/2018 03:49:43 pm

That HD Kickstart sounds amazing. A little scary also, I am a pretty high energy person. I seldom have more than one cup of coffee in the morning.
That's a great quote from Heinlein, I have not heard it before and he is certainly right!
You are so right about the reviews, you cannot write a book that everyone will love. There will always be someone who does not like a book. I tell authors that a bad review confirms all the good reviews. That's why every author needs to write their book, not someone else's book.
New questions.
What marketing strategy has had an immediate impact on your daily sales?
What do you think about book trailers?
Was it hard to find a person to produce audio book versions of your books, why or why not?

Lars D. H. Hedbor link

8/17/2018 04:18:43 pm

The most effective single thing I've ever done in my marketing was securing a listing in the BookBub email newsletter. It requires a pretty large up-front investment, and they are exceptionally selective, but I know very few authors who have lost money in the long run with them.

Maintaining a daily presence on Twitter with my "today in Revolutionary War history" tweets has also brought me a fair number of newsletter subscribers and readers, as well as opening up other interesting opportunities over the years.

Beyond that, in-person events and hand selling my books has been the most effective, but that is hard to scale up to serious, ongoing sales, of course.

I put together a book trailer for my first release, and it was fun, but I have never seen a positive return on investment, nor heard of anyone who has. So, neat idea, and great fun, but not much of a marketing strategy.

I was pretty choosy in trying to find the right narrator for my audiobook editions. Fortunately, the Amazon ACX platform made it pretty easy to review possible producers, and when I found a few I was interested in, I reached out through their system. Fortunately, my first choice was interested in working with me, too, and he's been doing a masterful job on them. Like so many other things in my career, it fell into place when the time was right -- which is another way of saying that I did a *lot* of hard work ahead of time preparing the ground to ensure that it went easily once it was time to move.

Mark

8/17/2018 05:28:23 pm

I bet other authors will look into the Bookbub newsletter. That is good news to hear of something that works.
How many times a day do you tweet your Day In History tweet? If you are not doing it more than once, you should. It would be easy to set up with Tweetdeck and that is a free feature.
I am very interested in your selection process for a narrator. What was the initial criteria in your mind before contacting anyone? What was the most important factor in making your final choice?
Now a fun question.
What famous person, dead or alive, would you like to meet? And author, famous or not, dead or alive?

Lars D. H. Hedbor link

8/17/2018 07:56:22 pm

I tweet just once a day, usually in the morning, but I may experiment with adding extra tweets to see if my engagement on Twitter rises. It's always a balancing act between reaching your audience and wearing them out. :)

The main thing I was looking for in selecting my narrator was his ability to perform my characters, and to put his own stamp on them. One of the challenges that I had to kind of consciously tackle early in the process was to let go of how I heard my characters, and let him own the performance of them.

In the book we're just wrapping up production on now, one of my characters sings a little song, which I had pretty clearly in my own head... and my narrator sang it differently, which turned out to be way better than what I had come up with. If I'd dictated those details to him, the audiobook would have been poorer for my management.

In the final analysis, though, what sold me on my narrator was the quality of his voice, which is very distinctive and wonderful. His work on my books has been compared of James Earl Jones and Sam Elliott. I feel very fortunate that he agreed to work with me on them!

I think that, for all of his contradictions and faults, Thomas Jefferson would be a truly fascinating person with whom to pass a pleasant evening of dining and drinking -- his wide-ranging intellect and diverse interests would make him a challenge to keep up with conversationally, and he was an infamous gourmand.

Similarly, the author with whom I'd most have liked to have had the chance to visit was Robert Heinlein, but only if I could visit with his wife Ginny, as well. Another man of incredibly wide interests, he was more than equaled in intellectual distinction by his partner, and getting to see the two of them together would be a truly amazing experience. (Friends of mine who had that opportunity can attest to this fact...)

Mark

8/17/2018 08:40:24 pm

I bet your engagement will rise. I am on quite a bit, myself. Personally I don't think it would be a problem for most people if you tweeted the daily tweet every couple of hours. Other than going to your home page, I have never seen one of your tweets.
Thanks for sharing the details about your process of selecting a narrator. Is he on twitter? I would like to add him to my list, on my twitter home page. I love your choices of people you would love to meet. Jefferson would be awesome. Heinlein is certainly no slouch, though I don't know anything about his wife. For me, I would love to have a seat at the table with Asimov, Heinlein and perhaps Herbert.
New questions.
Switch hats, please. As a publisher, what are the three things you wish writers knew before they knock on your door? Is the list different for new writers versus experienced writers?
Are your publishing services ala carte or family style?
What are the main services you offer?

Lars D. H. Hedbor link

8/19/2018 10:45:59 pm

As a publisher, I would want writers to know that indie publishers (like traditional publishers!) are not going to have a large promotional budget to spend on supporting their book launch. Unless you're already a household name, you're going to wind up doing a lot of your own marketing. I can offer ideas, and will do my level best to support your efforts, but your career is going to be in your own hands.

This is not bad news, though, as it also means that you can shape your marketing to meet your needs and capabilities. If you struggle with in-person interaction, we're not going to require you to take on a grueling book tour; if you would rather put your efforts toward writing the next book, we're not going to book you on radio interviews every morning.

Of course, if these things sound like fun to you and you are persuaded that they'll give you a positive return on investment, you can pursue them all you like.

The other major thing that writers should know before submitting their work to any publisher is that a finished manuscript is not the same as a publishable work -- and many publishers will simply pass on a book that will need major editing and polishing, no matter how promising it is.

Much of Brief Candle's catalog consists of a handful of established science-fiction authors, primarily keeping backlist material in print, including collections of short stories that have previously appeared in major genre magazines.

There's also historical fiction by a couple of authors including myself, and a cookbook that was originally written as a bespoke piece for a craft importer, but which has found a wider audience as part of the "long tail" of books kept in print by the use of print-on-demand and ebook services.

The main value Brief Candle adds is in cover design and interior layout, as well as ebook conversion, and some editing capabilities at various stages of a book's development.

I'm very selective, as each book represents a substantial investment of the one resource I'm most desperately short of -- my time. If I publish four books over the course of twelve months, it's a banner year for me. The fact that I can keep those books in print and available with little to no ongoing costs means that I'm not pressed by the economics of the business to find the "next big thing" and can focus on quality over quantity.

Mark

8/19/2018 10:57:38 pm

I suspected part of that answer, the author is responsible for quite a bit. That makes sense the way you put it. Why force a square peg into a round hole?
If I were in your shoes, I would be very selective also. because time is so valuable.
New questions.
What are the easiest parts of writing for you and the hardest?
You do a lot of research. Is it necessary for you to use character sheets, style sheets, timelines and such to keep your story consistent?
Is it difficult to think of character names and titles?

Lars D. H. Hedbor link

8/19/2018 11:23:24 pm

My writing process is both highly organized and highly chaotic. I approach my foundational research for a story very systematically, ensuring that I understand the context in which my story will take place well enough to just let my subconscious guide me through the interactions of historical fact with my fictional characters. (That's not to say that I don't verify those interactions as they arise, but I am more often able to simply confirm what I already had ingrained in my understanding.)

At the same time, what my characters decide to do in a given situation is quite often a surprise to me, which is where the chaos enters my process. When Calabar started to reflect on the use of the latest labor-saving devices on his indigo plantation, I had to scurry off to my sources to be able to describe how those would have affected his experience of processing indigo. Likewise, when Mister Cooper decided that it was time to teach Calabar about money, I had to learn right along with Calabar.

At the moment, I'm reading a five hundred page volume on the treatment of Loyalist POWs during the war, and will likely dip into a 400-page book specifically about the experiences of Hessian POWs. (Although I don't expect any Hessians to show up in my story, I do suspect that their stories will inform the experiences of my characters.)

I do not keep very much in the way of notes, other than links to the specific research resources that I use. Most of my stories come together pretty organically, and I am gifted with the ability to juggle a pretty large universe of events and personalities in my head. *shrug* It's worked pretty well for me so far, but my process is always evolving.

Naming characters is usually a pretty simple matter for me -- I consult some sources for the population I'm writing, and then let my imagination roam a bit... when it comes back, it's usually carrying a name. ;)

As for naming my books, you've probably noticed that most of them are just a single noun, which is usually thematic of the story. Again, these usually come to me pretty organically, and when I try to force them, they wind up feeling wrong... so I often come back to an earlier iteration that winds up feeling much more right for the story.

Mark

8/19/2018 11:39:48 pm

That is a fascinating process, Lars, it mirrors how life operates, interestingly enough. We plan and control our life as much as possible, for the most part, but we are surprised by unexpected events quite frequently. Some of these are very serendipitous and some not so much, especially when we are trying to force a certain outcome.
New questions.
Do you have any older unpublished books that you may or may not return to? Why didn't you finish them?
Have you ever had a problem with someone plagiarizing your work? How did you deal with it?

Lars D. H. Hedbor link

8/20/2018 01:09:40 pm

I have some science fiction stories that I've started on, but haven't yet finished. Someday, someday. At this time, though, time taken away from my family needs to be limited to work on my novels of the Revolution.

I have never had any trouble with plagiarism, and I'm not terribly worried about it. My writing has a pretty distinctive voice, and I tend to write about events that others haven't previously covered, so it would be tough for someone to borrow my work and plausibly call it their own.

I have had a couple of instances of Amazon listing editions of my books that were not authorized, usually at ridiculously high prices, but those were part of a well-known money laundering scheme.

A sham buyer purchases overpriced goods with dirty money from a sham third-party seller, and that seller then has a "clean" income stream from Amazon to account for their funds. No goods are actually shipped, and so my intellectual property is unharmed, but Amazon is pretty quick to shut down such listings anyway, obviously.

It's a wild and woolly world out there sometimes. ;)

Mark

8/20/2018 01:29:16 pm

Thank you for shedding light on a situation that made no sense to me! I had seen these listings and they made no sense whatsoever. I didn't realize it was a money laundering scheme.
New questions.
Do you have any favorite blogs or podcasts that deal with writing and the business of writing that you read or subscribe to, what are they?
Has your writing today changed much from your first book?

Lars D. H. Hedbor link

8/20/2018 03:19:02 pm

In addition to Kristine Katherine Rusch's "Business Musings," I have also followed Joanna Penn's "Creative Penn" blog; where Rusch focuses on issues pertaining to an author's career, Penn tends to get more into the nitty-gritty of marketing and promotion.

I honestly don't think that my writing has changed a great deal since my first book. I was fortunate to find a strong, steady authorial voice right out of the gate. As I've become more familiar with my era, I've probably gotten better at incorporating the distinctive aspects of daily life during the Revolutionary era, and my overall understanding of the project I've undertaken has also matured and deepened.

Mark

8/20/2018 03:47:58 pm

Thank you for those blogs, I am always looking to learn more about this business from a different point of view.
That's wonderful, there must be a pleasing continuity among all your Revolution books.
New questions.
Do you have a favorite quote from a book?
If you could trade places with one of your characters in your book, which one, which scene, and why?
Is there a cause you are passionate about?

Lars D. H. Hedbor link

8/20/2018 04:36:55 pm

"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects." It's hard to add anything to Heinlein's description of the range of human capabilities which one ought to be prepared to exercise. :)

I'm not sure that I'd really want to trade places with any of my characters. They inhabited a world where medicine was primitive, food supply uncertain, and war raged near or within their communities. The opportunities open to denizens of our age are so much broader than the era experienced by my characters, and although the modern era has its frustrations, I am content to strive toward its improvement rather than abandon it for the unknown country of the past.

I am passionate about many, many things, but education is probably near the top of my list, and particularly affording children the opportunity to engage with the things that interest them the most, instead of slavish devotion to a fixed curriculum. Let them develop literacy, and numeracy, and historical awareness, and scientific knowledge as tools to learn how to investigate their world, rather than as rote requirements to get a meaningless number on a page.

The only things that I remember from my curriculum-driven education were those which fired up my imagination and lit up my interest -- everything else was a waste of time. We only get a few brief years out of our lives where we're permitted the latitude to devote ourselves entirely to education, so why would we want to waste a single minute of that time studying things that we will never use again after we've regurgitated them in the quiz or final or what have you?

I value education too highly to insist that every child's interests and passions must mirror my own -- or any adult's -- idea of what is fine and worthy.

Part of why I write is to convey what history actually has to teach us, which has approximately zero to do with what's taught in most history classrooms. Instead, the story is stripped entirely out of history education, in favor of a meaningless procession of names and dates and figures, all of which is very easy to put on a standardized test for students to faithfully demonstrate their powers of trivial knowledge, but none of which actually enables us to understand the why and how behind the history.

The fact that we can take the most dynamic, fascinating events in human experience and suck them dry of all of their color and pungency and convince nearly all kids that they "hate history" never ceases to astound me.

Mark

8/20/2018 05:16:06 pm

I love that quote from Heinlein, he sounds like an adventurous boy scout, trying to find the limits of his existence.
You sound like a strong advocate for homeschooling. We homeschooled our children for several years, until my wife's dyslexia got in the way. I think those early years laid a foundation for a love of reading and exploration for all three of our kids; who are now successful adults.
Thank you, Lars, for joining me in our conversation. I have enjoyed chatting with you so much and treasure getting to know you like this. I hope we can meet in the real world one of these days again.

Lars D. H. Hedbor link

8/20/2018 05:32:05 pm

A genuine pleasure, Mark, and I too look forward to meeting you in person again soon.

The American Revolution is worth understanding in all of its glorious messy complexity because, unlike any other in history, it was a conflict not over which prince would rule over a patch of dirt, but over the very concept of gov't and its relationship to society and individuals. That struggle is ongoing, and has reverberations that reach every aspect of our lives.

The task that I have set for myself is to improve our understanding of the American Revolution's context and consequence, and I'm excited to include my readers in that exploration.

The Freedman: Tales From a Revolution - North-Carolina By Lars D. H. Hedbor

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