Intrepid Earth: Series Summaries in 50 Words

In the last year, I've been leaning more and more towards the independent self-publishing route. Even so, I took away a lesson from researching the traditional publishing methods. In order to catch an agent's or editor's attention and stand out from the slush pile, a perfectly-crafted query letter has to hook them with the plot. These query letters must be short and sweet, which often means boiling down your entire book to just a sentence or two.

This proved difficult. After working on my characters and worlds and stories for years and years, it's easy to get lost in all the plots, side plots and lessons. There's so much that I want a reader to experience! How on earth would summarizing an entire book with just a few lines possible do the story justice? How on earth could that ever seem interesting?

I started paying attention to movie summaries on the guide channels and Netflix and whatnot. These stories were also given limited real-estate with which to hook the viewers' attention. I started paying attention to what made me want to watch one film over another. Strangely, the short summaries did not always seem accurate in retrospect. It wasn't that they were far off; it's that there was no way to adequately sum up the plot.

Summing up the plot isn't the goal with the query teaser, and it isn't my goal in providing you with them. The goal, rather, is to give you an idea of what to expect as far as a general theme. Keep in mind that I've left most of these stories open to expansion. I'd already like to write a trilogy based off Yamini's adventures, and possibly a spin off featuring her guildmaster, Soliessen, as the main character. There's a ton of lore to explore.

Below are the "teaser" summaries that I might use if I were to write a query letter for each book and submit them to an agent. Which sounds most interesting to you, and why? Would you read them out of order so that you could skip to your favorite character's story first? Who deserves to have their story explored in more detail?

Book 1: Of Avatars and Elementals

Toughened outlaws and a peaceful forest dweller defend their homelands from otherworldly monsters while resisting the urge to kill each other. Humanity's last hopes lie in mana, a once-abundant alien mineral capable of unlocking powerful elemental magic, and the mysterious hermit Avatar who's not entirely convinced humanity deserves saving.

Book 2: Of Shadow and Dissonance

Eager to restore justice to a corrupt empire, Yamini joins an elite guild of adolescent assassins under the supervision of a mysterious woman. With the aid of her shadowspirit companion, Yamini becomes a favored student . . . until she refuses to kill the one politician who can bring balance to the territories.

Book 3: Of Wind and Vigilance

Devastated by the disappearance of his younger sister, Marik Keingel enlists in the military to seek revenge. Trained under Delenthias Epson, the most decorated commander in history, Marik soon discovers that he is the subject of a biological experiment . . . and that the war between territories is not what it seems.

Book 4: Of Water and Malice

Xearo and Aeria retire their weapons and take to exploring their roles of mage and shaman in the peaceful, hidden town of Orphalese. But things take a turn for the worse when DeBrei, the water elemental-turned-demigod, threatens to destroy the city--and the planet--with a great flood.

Book 5: Of Earth and Resilience

Aeria returns to a healing Rhevise to help Yamini and Councilman Turnbase restore the capitol to the Peacemaker's vision without Xearo's knowledge. She begins to fall for a strangely familiar man who seems to know her darkest secrets . . . only to find that he is ultimately out for Aeria's unborn twins.

Book 6: Of Fire and Vigor

Stirred by visions of killing his family brought on by his confrontation with the water elemental, unruly Xearo Ta'Lorence wreaks havoc through Rhevise to track down Yamini and sate his fury. As his destructive spree intensifies, Xearo understands that the only way to free himself is to embrace his enemies.

Book 7: Of Light and Glass

Finding a new vessel in the glass monument Xearo constructed, Avatar's spirit of light travels through time solving mysteries, preventing disasters and righting wrongs. His final vision leads him to a restored Rhevise where an anonymous figure works to assemble the world's remaining mana shards. And the surviving elementals themselves.

On Love in Fiction

I realize that most popular works of fiction these days are imbued with romantic themes to accompany whatever story the author chooses to tell. And rightfully so! Love (or the desire for it, at any rate) is a relatively universal quality. Following a heartless character is difficult, but following one during his or her reckless pursuit of another human being? We can often relate to that. And in doing so, we come to care for these characters even more. Under the proper circumstances.

One could argue that any great story worth telling involves some elements of love. If this is indeed the case, why not implement a love arc in every story written? As an author, would it not help place your story that much closer to being one of the greats? Would it not instantly gain that much more of an audience and thus produce more sales? Probably. So then why is love, a crucial hook and determining factor for a novel's success, something I downplay in my own writing? The answer, much like love itself, is simple . . . and it is not.

I have thought long and hard on love in fiction, its uses, advantages and drawbacks. One of my best friends, perhaps the most die-hard fan of love and hopeless romantic to a fault, often laments my methods. While I can understand his disappointment by taking a look at my own life, I also have to consider a broader perspective of the world itself. There are many great stories to tell right here, in present day, on our own planet--none of which involve romance. Heroic deeds are committed daily by perfectly average people for reasons other than love, reasons like altruism, stupidity, misguided pride, or simply because it is their job. When we read about these heroes in the paper or see them interviewed on the evening news, rarely will he or she say, "I went through this incredibly courageous act in the name of love!" It just does not happen, and that probably plays a part in why fiction is ridden with romantic heroes.

Taking a slightly less realistic perspective, consider all the fictitious heroes who are driven by love. Perhaps more often than it grants determination or motivation, love in many ways hinders their abilities. Desire for their object of affection serves as a distraction, spawns faulty and reckless logic, and gives the antagonist an obscene amount of emotional leverage. These sorts of elements pave the way to overly generic conflicts. And conclusions. Plots and endings become predictable to the point that our capacity to care about the hero's fate becomes stifled because we have already guessed it! Simply put, in my opinion, a character so intensely driven by love in any genre other than romance is a character equipped with more weaknesses than strengths.

This is not to say that I admonish love in literature completely, for it is nevertheless a vital part of our humanity. Failing to incorporate it at all would be akin to committing an ultimate literary blasphemy and do most works a grave injustice! I embrace love and the humanity it bestows upon fictitious characters, but I choose to remain subtle in doing so:

• Xearo's love for Aeria is strong enough to redeem his soul from eternal darkness and grant humanity a final chance to right itself, yet he never breathes a word of it to her. He pushes his emotions aside, for love takes a back seat to defending his homeworld, allowing himself to focus without distraction.
• Yamini comes to care a great deal for Henrik, the one guildmate who shows her compassion, but in being so young and inexperienced she constantly dismisses her feelings. Her love for a mere boy is easily overshadowed by her dedication to her work and her cause, and its positive aura is negated by a lifetime of dissonance.
• Jadera slowly falls for Tristan, her benefactor and Soulcrafter. But due to circumstances, the two must work together to dethrone the master of dreams before plans of a worldwide spiritual domination can take hold. By the time their mutual affections become realized, irreparable tragedy has already befallen the star-crossed couple.

These are three of my biggest characters, and in all cases life wins out over love. One might say that I take an unfortunate, cynical and subdued approach to love in fiction. But in that regard, have I not also taken a small step toward realism? My characters feel as we feel, and are thus similarly denied or else forced to relegate their feelings to a degree of lesser importance in order to tackle whatever adversity their respective universes throw at them. We often find ourselves at a crossroads of sorts where we must decide between emotional pursuits and dire circumstances; why should they get off easy?

As authors, we govern the choices of our characters in order to tell a story. And share a piece of ourselves. Many authors take a very whimsical approach to romance, commonly making it both the conflict and the resolution in a "love conquers all" motif. My hardly revolutionary philosophy is to show that love, while an interesting dynamic between characters, does not always cut it, and that when the consequences of life push hard enough, it must sometimes be disregarded altogether for the greater good. Fate chooses who is worthy, and she chooses who is not. Like a delicate flower, love is not meant to bloom eternal in all places. Or within all people, for that matter.

My characters and myself . . . we are no exception.