{"id":4868,"date":"2015-11-01T12:16:30","date_gmt":"2015-11-01T17:16:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/?p=4868"},"modified":"2015-11-01T12:16:30","modified_gmt":"2015-11-01T17:16:30","slug":"on-what-my-writing-isnt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/general\/on-what-my-writing-isnt\/","title":{"rendered":"on What my writing Isn’t"},"content":{"rendered":"

Someone on Twitter was kind enough to send me a comment via DM about her reasons for deciding not<\/strong><\/span> to read my work. \u00a0 Essentially this post encapsulates her comment and my reply, which she entirely motivated.<\/p>\n

Beltamar’s War<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, and the series it begins, is the work in question. \u00a0 As there isn’t a genre whose description correctly defines precisely what Malmaxa is about I was forced to choose the closest mismatch, which is “Fantasy”.\u00a0 So, am I saying my work isn’t Fantasy<\/em>?\u00a0 Yes, I’m saying precisely that – Malmaxa is not Fantasy<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 Unfortunately, to grasp what Malmaxa is you’ll have to read it for yourself. And no, that isn’t an artfully designed sales pitch – read the reviews<\/a> to see how others perceive my work.<\/p>\n

In order to let me to reciprocate, I use a free program called CrowdFire<\/a> to monitor who follows and unfollows me on Twitter.\u00a0 One of CrowdFire’s features is the ability to send a message to new followers.\u00a0 Please note this welcome message is the sole method of automation I use on Twitter<\/a>, everything else is manually me.<\/p>\n

And with the preamble done, back to meat of this post.<\/p>\n

My CrowdFire greeting message, as it was during this conversation:-<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Welcome! If I’m not on your TL, I soon will be:)<\/em>
\n Meanwhile, read real reviews<\/em>
\n http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B0054RFWU2<\/em><\/a>
\n & try it if it appeals. -via @crowdfire<\/em>“<\/p>\n

The DM comment.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Excellent reviews. I’m afraid they didn’t change my mind. In fact, they reaffirmed that fantasy’s not for me. One review mentioned it read like a mystery. That appeals, but I think it would lose to a far out world and a cast of characters with odd names and powers. I don’t enjoy many movies of this genre either. Sorry, I’m sure it’s wonderful for the right person. Your writing is phenomenal. I’m impressed and intimidated. I love to read for enjoyment and I think your book would require more from me than I have to give. You’ll do well, my friend. You’ve produced a first rate novel. I hope you won’t unfollow me because I’d like to stay connected.<\/em>”<\/p>\n

My Reply.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think you should reconsider.\u00a0 I use Fantasy as a means to place people in situations within which they can suspend disbelief and allow their minds to consider fundamental questions of the nature of right, wrong, and human motivation from a viewpoint other than their own.\u00a0 My work isn’t about fireballs, obvious evil, ultimate good, and supernatural beings – it is about human relationships, their incredibly complex interactions, and the obscure little things that make us do the seemingly inexplicable things we do.<\/p>\n

I encourage you to read the free sample, which includes the first couple of chapters of the book before you dismiss my work as mere fantasy. To that end, here is a link to it on my blog – you can read it on your web browser of choice.\u00a0 http:\/\/<\/span>cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/sample<\/span>s\/malmaxa\/beltamars-war\/<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u2026<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

As to unfollowing you because you choose not to… well that is simply not who I am \ud83d\ude42\u00a0 Who am I?\u00a0 I am a character in my own book, but interestingly enough I’m not the character my own family firmly believe I am.\u00a0 They think I am Jalgar, but Jalgar is actually a representation of my Godfather<\/a>, and my pseudonym.\u00a0 Yes, the names may at first glance seem unusual, but there is meaning behind every one, and those who choose to investigate them will discover most exist in our own time.\u00a0 For example the apparent villain’s name is Adelmar, you might be interested to look it up on the Internet:)}<\/p>\n

Regardless of whether you decide to read further or not, thank you so much for taking the time to reply.\u00a0 I truly appreciate how valuable our time is, indeed I am saddened so few of us do.\u00a0 Thank you for spending a little of yours on me.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Someone on Twitter was kind enough to send me a comment via DM about her reasons for deciding not to read my work. \u00a0 Essentially this post encapsulates her comment and my reply, which she entirely motivated. Beltamar’s War, and the series it begins, is the work in question. \u00a0 As there isn’t a genre […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[44,244],"class_list":["post-4868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-beltamars-war","tag-malmaxa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4868\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}