Vincent Morrone

A Bakers Dozen questions for Jim Melvin, author of Forged in Death, book one of the Death Wizard Chronicles. 

1)    First off Jim, tell us about your book, Forged in Death. What’s it about and why should we read it?

The Death Wizard Chronicles is a sexy, action-packed six-book epic fantasy series. Book One (Forged In Death) is now available, and Book Two (Chained by Fear) is available by pre-order and will be released on Nov. 28. The other four books are already written and ready to go, so readers of the series won’t have three-year waits between books like they do with some fantasy authors we know (wink, wink).

Forged In Death is not for children and teenagers — or the faint of heart. But if you like graphic fantasy that is bursting with excitement yet still has a lot going on between the lines, I think you’ll love my series.

In a groundbreaking paradox, the Death Wizard, a champion of good, derives his power from a source traditionally seen as negative — death. His nemesis, an evil sorcerer, derives his power from the sun, the benevolent source of all life. Their struggle to control the fate of the planet Triken will take your breath away.

In an original twist never before seen in this genre, the Death Wizard is able to enter the realm of death during a “temporary suicide.” Through intense concentration, he stops his heartbeat and feeds on death energy, which provides him with an array of magical powers.

The series also is a love triangle involving two desperate characters attempting to come together despite the machinations of an all-powerful psychopath with incestuous cravings.

Graphic and action-packed, spanning a millennium of turmoil, The DW Chronicles carries readers on a journey they will never forget.

2)   When did you first get the idea behind the Death Wizard Chronicles?

I wrote my first novel when I was 21 years old and Jimmy Carter was president. And I know Vince that Jimmy was your favorite all-time president.
Anyway, Sarah’s Curse was an artsy murder mystery bursting with passion and intensity. I shopped it around to various publishers and got no bites, but I wasn’t particularly concerned at the time. It’s usually the second or third novel that hits it big, right? So I went about the business of writing my second book.

At this point in my life, I was in love with J.R.R. Tolkien (and still am), so I decided that my second novel would be a high fantasy. My roiling imagination gave birth to a character named Torg, and he was to be king of a band of desert warriors called Tugars. I made up these names just because they sounded cool.

Needless to say, I was full of zest and excitement—but not necessarily of worldliness or maturity. Over the next several years, every time I sat down to write about Torg I’d get a few pages in and then hit a wall. Each time, my excuse was that I was just too busy. I already was married, raising a family, and working a challenging job at a big newspaper. That’s a lot for any young person to handle, right?

Years turned into decades. As I said, I wrote my first novel at 21. It wasn’t until age 45 that I wrote my second one. And my how things had changed over the course of that time. George Bush now was president, for one thing. I was remarried and had five daughters, the youngest three of whom were adopted from Cambodia. But most importantly, at least as far as my writing career was concerned, I finally had developed the worldiness and maturity to bring Torg and the Tugars to life at the level of quality they deserved. After almost 25 years of starts and stops, The Death Wizard Chronicles was born for real. I wrote the first page of Book 1 in September 2004. Almost 700,000 words later, I wrote the last word of Book 6 in late 2007.

3)   Clearly, Forged in Death is the beginning of a series. Do you have the follow up books planned out in advance?

All six books are written, edited and ready to go. Well, edited by me. Only books 1 and 2 have been edited by my publisher. Bell Bridge Books. So there’s still some work to be done.

4)   Why did you decide to do the short story, Torg’s First Death, which has just been released?

Torg’s First Death was a product of the editing process I mentioned above. My editor at Bell Bridge Books felt that Book 1 had too much back story. It wasn’t that she didn’t like the back story, it was just that she felt that it slowed things down too much. So when I removed the back story, I decided to rewrite it into three separate “tales” that could be used as promotional devices. There are two other stories coming out in the relatively near future: The Black Fortress and Rise of the Sun God.

5)   What can we look forward to in the next installment Book Two- Chained by Fear (now available for preorder from Amazon.)

Book 2 (Chained By Fear) is now available for pre-order with an official release date of Nov. 28, 2012. Books 3-6 will be coming out every few months after that, and as I said in an earlier question, all six books are already written. So as you might guess, I know what happens in the end.

6)   When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

When I was a junior in high school, I boldly decided that I wanted to become a best-selling novelist, and I went around telling everyone I knew that I was going to make $75-million. Keep in mind this was the mid-1970s, so that’s probably around $300-million if you figure in 21st-century inflation.

7)   How long have you been writing fiction?

In terms of writing fiction, I’ve only really been doing it for about 10 years — 1 year when I was 21 and nine more years starting in 2004. Otherwise, I dabbled here and there over the course of my life, but dabbling would be a kind way to put it.

8)   Tell us about your journey to get The Death Wizard Chronicles published? Did you face many rejection letters? Did you go through an agent?

Gawd, I could write a book just about this. Here’s the condensed version. I originally finished book 1 of my series (then titled The Pit) in January 2005 and I began sending out queries. I was lucky enough to immediately acquire an agent, who began to shop it to the big houses. Meanwhile, I continued to write the rest of the series. I remember carrying my cell phone with me everywhere I went that January, convinced I’d be getting “the call” at any moment. But days turned into weeks which turned into months. And the rejections started coming. Most were complimentary and worded nicely, but the bottom line was the majors were taking in very few newbies. Early in 2007, a mid-sized Canadian publisher called Rain made an offer, and I jumped on it against my agent’s advice. Rain published the first four books bang-bang-bang-bang, and the series started to gain momentum. But then … boom! Rain went out of business. So the search for a new publisher was on. My agent and I eventually parted ways, amicably, and I found my new publisher with the help of a fellow novelist named Chris Stevenson, whom I’ll forever owe a huge favor for his unselfish help. The ultimate happy ending occurred when Bell Bridge Books offered me a contract in 2011 and agreed to reprint books 1-4 and print books 5-6 for the first time. I could not be more thrilled!

9)   What were some of your influences as a writer?

I grew up on the waterfront (Tampa Bay, Fla.) and was lucky in that about ten other boys my age lived on the same street. We hung out morning, noon, and night and played all the usual sports that young boys adore. But we also were obsessed with fantastical games involving super powers and super heroes. Rather than “grow out of it,” my love for magic and monsters stayed with me into adulthood. When I first discovered The Lord of the Rings in the mid-1970s, I became hooked to magical fantasy for life — and the more magic the better.

As far as being influenced by other authors, Tolkien wins hands-down. I have read The Lord of the Rings at least 20 times. But in terms of content, my writing is closer to Steven Erikson’s or Stephen Donaldson’s than Tolkien’s. We’re not talking Harry Potter here. My series is not for young adults. It contains graphic violence and sexual situations. I pull no punches. If it were made into six movies (I wish!), the movies would be R-rated. All that said, without the inspiration of Tolkien, my series wouldn’t exist. To me, he is an unparalleled genius.

 10) Talk about how you write? Do you sit alone someplace? Listen to music?

When I was writing the series, I wrote seven days a week from about 8 p.m. to midnight. I rarely missed a day; probably no more than 20 days during an entire year. I’m not the type who needs absolute quiet or music. I can write when it’s noisy and things are happening around me. I become so focused, you could pound a drum behind me and I probably wouldn’t even notice.

11)  Do you outline your work or wing it? If you outline, how detailed does your outline get?

I don’t outline, but I do keep a detailed timeline of events which sort of becomes an outline that is finished when the book is finished, as opposed to being finished before the book is begun, if that makes sense. Also, I try to spend about an hour each day — before I write — thinking about what I’m going to write that day. And I repeat it over and over in my head until I’ve sort of memorized it. I also keep a log — where I jot down notes and ideas — that is separate from the timeline.

 12) Do you ever get writer’s block and if so, how do you cope with it?

I have to be honest and say that I have never had writer’s block in my life. It’s just never happened to me. I’m very much of a get-things done person, whether I’m writing or mowing the yard, and this helps me in my writing. I’m not the type that can pour out 10,000 words in a single sitting, but when I’m writing a first draft, I usually average about 1,500 words a day, which translates to about 45,000 words a month.

13) What advice would you give to aspiring writers on how to complete a work and how to get it published?

Write from the heart. Pull no punches. Don’t try to guess what readers want to read. Write what you want to write, and then let the chips fall where they may. Write with passion about large issues. And cry real hard when you’re finally finished. Then, do your best to get an agent, and work hard every day at getting published. Even then, there’ll be no guarantees. But at least you’ll be able to look yourself in the mirror and know that you’ve given it your best shot.