Sunday, March 3, 2013

The Dark Tree

One of the things I decided to do in Shadow Spinner is to never deal directly with the evil. Which is not to say that there's not plenty of evil, because there is, but you don't ever experience it directly from the bad guy. You never see through the eyes of the Man with No Eyes (because, well, he doesn't have any, so that would just be weird). What this means in the story is that any time I needed to have a chapter from the perspective of the Man with No Eyes, you get that chapter from the perspective of his victim. I really rather like how all of this turns out.

Except, well, then there's chapter 16... Chapter 16 is different, because it needed to be between the Man with No Eyes and an ever bigger evil. I started out writing it from the perspective of the bigger evil because I was trying to hold to my rule of not having anything from the perspective of the Man with No Eyes. It just didn't work. You see, in the contest between evil and an even bigger evil, evil is the victim.

I like how "The Dark Tree" turned out, and it allows for some interesting insights. One day, maybe, I'll write the story of the Man with No Eyes and how he came to be, but, for now, you will have to be satisfied with "The Dark Tree."
"Part Sixteen: The Dark Tree" is FREE! today, Monday, March 4 and tomorrow Tuesday, March 5. Make sure you drop by and pick it up!

Also FREE! today only:
"Part Fifteen: Food of the Garden"
"Part Fourteen: Anger and Laughter"
"Part Thirteen: The Clearing"
"Part Nine: The Shadow of the Tree"
"Part Eight: The Cold and the Dark"
"Part Seven: The Moth and the Shadow"
"Part Six: The Man with No Eyes"
"Part Three: The Bedroom"
"Part Two: The Kitchen Table"
"Part One: The Tunnel"
That's 11 FREE! parts out of 16! And that's not all!
Also, for FREE!, get the story that started it all:
"The Evil That Men Do"

And that's still not all! You can also pick up for FREE!, today, Charter Shorts! My creative writing kids are currently hard at work on Charter Shorts 2, so don't miss a chance to get this first one for FREE!

And that's about all I have for today. But that's a lot of FREE! stuff, so I don't feel bad.

14 comments:

  1. Got my copy. And POV's from the bad guy is tricky. I did it in a novel once (of course, unfinished) and decided to use him as an re-occurring POV up until he became un=redeemable. Once that happened I stayed away from him.

    Although, my always being working on Fantasy novel has POV switch to a bad guy a few times. So I guess I've done it more than I realized.

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  2. That is a lot of free.
    I couldn't write from the position of the bad guy. I'm just not wired to think that evil I guess.

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  3. I think I wound up cutting most of the scenes from the Black Dragoon's perspective in the first Scarlet Knight story. Which was too bad, but really at times it gave away too much of the plot. Sometimes it's best to let readers find these things out along with the hero.

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  4. Snagged it. Also, I don't know if I could write from a villain's perspective. I would think the main thing to remember is that they're flawed and have their problems, but they aren't just being evil for no reason. You don't want to turn him/her into a cartoonish caricature with maniacal laughter who's looking to conquer the world just because they can.

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  5. I downloaded my copy this morning!

    I occasionally write from my villains' POV. It's fun.

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  6. You know, I almost never give much thought to whose point of view I'm writing from. I've never actually thought about writing it from the villain's point of view.

    That might be kind of interesting.

    Isn't that like "Breaking Bad," maybe?

    Anyway, I downloaded this part, too, and will get to it as soon as I can. Now I'm going to look for the january post you mentioned on Lit.

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  7. You know, I almost never give much thought to whose point of view I'm writing from. I've never actually thought about writing it from the villain's point of view.

    That might be kind of interesting.

    Isn't that like "Breaking Bad," maybe?

    Anyway, I downloaded this part, too, and will get to it as soon as I can. Now I'm going to look for the january post you mentioned on Lit.

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  8. The Dark Tree sounds Old World, born with the earth, kind of evil. And, wow, all sixteen are available!

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  9. Rusty: I think Rowling made me think about it because of her tricks with giving us Voldemort's POV. Those were always interesting.

    Alex: Well, that's why I don't actually write from his POV.

    PT: There's no giving away of the plot in my glimpses from the other side.

    ABftS: Actually, I'm kind of looking forward to what you think of 16.

    M.J.: What I liked about part 16 is seeing what the Man with No Eyes is scared of.

    Briane: I don't think so. I hope not.
    I've kind of always wanted to write a novel from the bad guy's POV. Kind of like Megamind except that the bad guy stays a bad guy.

    Michael: I hope that it is.

    L.G.: More like Pre-World.
    All 16 are available, but only 11 of them are free.

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  10. You're a generous guy, Andrew! Choosing the right POV can be a tricky business. I grapple with it on a daily basis now.

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  11. You are sure giving away a lot of freebies. However, I am still waiting for the complete story.

    JO ON FOOD, MY TRAVELS AND A SCENT OF CHOCOLATE

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  12. Jo: Hopefully, that will be soon. See tomorrow's post, though, for a tiny bit more about that.

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