Villains Are Made, Not Born – by J.M. Robison

Nat Russo Characterization, Guest Posts 1 Comment

Today at Erindor Press, I’m happy to bring you a guest post by J.M. Robison. It’s a great take on how to bring more depth to your villain’s personality and how to avoid some of the pitfalls well-known authors have fallen into. 

Enjoy!

– Nat

Walter White from Breaking Bad

The inspiration for this blog post comes from The Wizard’s First Rule by Terry Goodkind. It came about at the part where character X is kidnapped by Mistress A. Mistress A declares she will “train” X by inflicting massive pain upon him. Like any logical person, X asks her,“And what is the purpose of my training, Mistress A?”

To which she replies: “To teach you the meaning of pain. To teach you that your life is no longer yours, that it is mine, and I can do anything I want with it. Anything. I can hurt you in any way I want, for as long as I want, and no one is going to help you but me. I’m going to teach you that every moment you have without pain is a moment only I can grant you. You are going to learn to do as I say without question, without hesitation, no matter what it is. You are going to learn to beg for anything you get.” To which she also says, “I enjoy it when a man makes it hard.”

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Black Magic on Black Friday!

Nat Russo Books, Giveaway, Holiday, Promotions 6 Comments

Hi friends!

I really need your help this coming weekend. I promise it’ll be easy. All you have to do is mention me to someone.

But first, I hope everyone in the USA is enjoying their Thanksgiving holiday! For those of you who reside elsewhere, you may have heard of this crazy American thing called “Black Friday.” It usually involves braving violent crowds and idiots who can’t park.

[Who am I kidding…that’s a normal Sunday at Walmart!]

This is where you come in. I need your help to spread the word about Necromancer Awakening and Necromancer Falling. The first will be more than 75% off on Friday, the latter is somewhere around 40%, and I’ll be listing The Road To Dar Rodon as completely free.

I’d like to make a personal appeal to you. Most of you who frequent this blog have already read my work. If you found any of these books entertaining, please take a moment to tell someone about them, and let them know that this coming weekend (starting Friday) will be a great time to pick them up. Prices will be returning to normal on Monday the 28th. (I think Necromancer Falling returns to normal on Saturday because of some strange KDP enrollment date issue…stupid Amazon.)

But most importantly, THANK YOU for sticking with me as long as you have and for making all of this possible.

Happy Thanksgiving!
Nat

Map of the Three Kingdoms

Nat Russo Art, Maps, Necromancer, World Creation Leave a Comment

I was reminded this morning by a post on Twitter that I’ve yet to make a map of the Three Kingdoms widely available. The reason is I will be having an artist professionally render my hand-drawn scribblings in the near future, perhaps before (or around the time of) the publication of book 3, Necromancer Ascending.

But why wait? So, here’s a rendering that I made a long time ago in Campaign Cartographer 3 (absolutely INCREDIBLE software!). My apologies to Campaign Cartographer 3. I’m like a toddler using Photoshop to draw stick figures.

Oh, and you should be able to click on the image to enlargificate it. That’s not a word…but it should be. 😀

The Three Kingdoms

Books set in the Erindor universe:

Necromancer Awakening

The Road to Dar Rodon

Necromancer Falling

 

 

Erindor Press is Now SSL Certified!

Nat Russo News 2 Comments

That’s right! Erindor Press now has its very own SSL site certificate! You should see a green lock icon in your address bar (in Chrome. I’m not sure how other browsers represent SSL connectivity).

SSL Certificate Activated

What does this mean for you? Without getting into the technical details, it means browsing around on Erindorpress.com just got a LOT more private. So, click away! Enjoy the content!

Common Writing Myths

Nat Russo Art, Basics, Opinion, Writing 22 Comments

There are very few objective truths about writing. I think there are some (you’ll typically suck at first, a strong noun/verb is better than a weak noun/verb with a qualifier, remove needless words, etc). But most of these “objective truths” are little more than common writing myths.
Common Writing Myths
 
There are a host of suppositions masquerading as axioms:
– Show don’t tell
– Writers must write every day
– Writers can’t not write
– Never use an adverb
– Writing can’t be taught
 
And so many more…

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My Experience With Amazon Giveaways

Nat Russo Marketing, Opinion, Platform, Promotions 23 Comments

Amazon recently added a new tool they call “Amazon Giveaways” to our marketing toolbox. Using Amazon Giveaways, the book publisher can purchase an arbitrary number of copies of their book and have Amazon distribute them “free” to people who participate in the giveaway.

Amazon Giveaways

I’m not going to spend much time on “how to” in this article. There are a lot of resources out there that will get you started with Amazon Giveaways (including the wonderful resource written by my friend and fellow author Nicholas Rossis: How To Set Up An Amazon Giveaway). Instead, I’d like to talk about my experience and lessons learned after running two separate Amazon giveaways of the same title, Necromancer Awakening.

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Necromancer Falling Hits 3 Bestseller Lists in UK

Nat Russo Books, Necromancer, News, Publishing, Releases 4 Comments

I woke up to some amazing news this morning. In less than 24 hours since publication, Necromancer Falling has hit 3 Amazon bestseller lists in the UK, and two “Hot New Releases” lists overall! Thank you all so much for the overwhelming outpouring of support you’ve all shown. This is truly mindblowing!

In the US:

#22 in Hot New Releases for Metaphysical Fantasy

#35 in Hot New Releases for New Adult & College

In the UK:

#65 on the Metaphysical and Visionary Fantasy Bestsellers list (both “Books” and “Kindle Store”…which I don’t understand since there’s no paperback yet, but I’ll take it!)

#72 on the Low Fantasy Bestsellers list.

Thank you all so much!

Necromancer Falling hits Bestseller Lists

 

Necromancer Falling: Chapter 1

Nat Russo Necromancer, Writing Leave a Comment

Necromancer Falling, the sequel to the 2014 #1 fantasy bestseller Necromancer Awakening, is almost upon us! Just as I did with Necromancer Awakening, I’ve decided to post chapter 1 of Necromancer Falling here on the blog to whet your appetite.

If you like what you see (I sure hope you do!), you don’t have much longer to wait. Necromancer Falling, in its entirety, will be in your hands by the end of this month! 

[Update: 5/30/2016 – Necromancer Falling is now available on Amazon!]

***SPOILER ALERT*** If you haven’t read Necromancer Awakening yet, you’ll regret reading this chapter if you hate spoilers.

BookCover_Kindle_WORKING-COPY

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