Nick Hayden - - Page 4 ::

Fan Art!

By Nick Hayden
August 30, 2013

If you know me, you know I’m not artistic. In fact, I’m notoriously imprecise and vague when someone who is artistic asks me specifics about my characters. I’m not a visual writer.

However, I love the fact there are so many people in this wide world who enjoy the visual arts.

As a special treat this Friday, I wanted to share with you some sketches drawn by reader Jarod Marchand. (Yes, he happens to be Nathan’s brother.)

Enjoy one reader’s rendering of the characters of Children of the Wells!

Bron

Calea

Jaysynn

General Dracon

Nyasha

August 30, 2013 - Tags: fan art, Nick Hayden, The Fall of the House of Kyzer, The Select's Bodyguard Posted in: Blogs

Children of the Wells, I’m really excited about the stories we have written and those planned for the future. I love the characters and the world and certain surprises we have waiting. But, like the rest of the writers and editors, this is not my only project.

Two weeks ago, we shared an episode of Nathan Marchand’s vlog, which he puts out about twice a month. This week I’d like to share a bit of what I’m doing outside of Children of the Wells–which is more writing, mainly fantasy. (Surprise!)

Actually, the big news right now is the publication of a new book, The Unremarkable Squire. Here’s the back cover copy:

A squire’s oath is to be of service… but to whom?

In the kingdom of Basileon, an unremarkable and emotionally detached young man named Obed Kainos is about to stumble into adventure—quite against his will. When the knights of the realm gather in a quest to search for the lost Armor of Arkelon, Obed is chosen at random to replace Sir Lance Valentino’s recently deceased squire. But while trying to perform his menial tasks faithfully, the young squire becomes entangled in the plots of mages, thieves, and kings.

And that’s just his first week on the job.

Unfortunately for Obed, his indifference cannot save him from his new oath. For despite his enigmatic personality (or perhaps because of it), he manages to attract a band of misfits to his cause— the ugly, the arrogant, the clumsy, and the cowardly—putting the legendary armor within the grasp of one who never wanted anything at all.

If you read The Select’s Bodyguard, this is different. It’s more light-hearted and set in a vaguely Arthurian world. But, if you like great characters (as we do here at Children of the Wells), I think you’ll find more than a few in The Unremarkable Squire.

And, in the tradition of serialized fiction, you can try the first four chapters for free. If you like it, it’s available on Amazon in both print and as an ebook.

And now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

August 23, 2013 - Tags: Nick Hayden, other projects Posted in: Blogs

Free Ebook – Share the Adventure!

By Nick Hayden
June 28, 2013

We’re excited to have The Fall of the House of Kyzer up and running and The Doctor’s Assistant in the wings, ready to premiere early July. But maybe you haven’t read our first story, The Select’s Bodyguard. Or maybe you have a friend you’d like to share it with. Well, we’ve finally got out ebook version ready for download!

By entering your email below, you get a zip file with a .mobi, .epub, and PDF version of The Select’s Bodyguard so that you can read it on the device of your choice.

It’s free! Download it for yourself! Send it to a friend! Help spread the adventure! It’s just getting started.

[download file=”/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/The-Selects-Bodyguard.zip” title=”The Select’s Bodyguard”]

June 28, 2013 - Tags: ebook, Nick Hayden, The Select's Bodyguard Posted in: Blogs

Welcome Our Newest Writer!

Laura Fischer, our newest author

by Nick Hayden
June 18, 2013

The start of summer has made real life crazy for our writers, but we’ve just about got all the kinks worked out for the next batch of stories.

First, I’d like to introduce Laura Fischer, who’s joining us as both an author and copy editor. I’ve known Laura since college, and all of us at Children of the Wells are excited to have her on board. We’re just finishing up the edits on her novel, The Doctor’s Assistant, the sequel to The Select’s Bodyguard. Stay tuned for coming early July. (more…)

June 18, 2013 - Tags: announcements, Nick Hayden, The Doctor's Assistant Posted in: Blogs

Breaking the Wheel

By Nick Hayden
June 7, 2013

I still hear that voice, faint but constant. I force the door to the next room open, the hinges protesting. The floor above is visible. Two more dead, and one alive beneath the rubble. Grigor. He likes tea. That’s all I can remember of him at the moment, all that sticks. He stares up at the third-floor ceiling. His legs are pinned beneath a cabinet. He’s cut somehow; I see blood pooled beneath his lower body. His lips are moving, and sometimes they make noise. I come to him.

“Do you know where Calea Lisan is?”

He stares at me, confused. Suddenly, his hand is at my neck, fumbling for my collar.

“I had a dream,” he says. “I knew I would die this way.”

* * *

I read this passage during one of my last edits of The Select’s Bodyguard, and for the life of me I couldn’t remember why I wrote it this way. This throwaway character had a dream about his death? There was a story there, somewhere. (This is how I write, with random details I can come back and unpack later if I want.) (more…)

June 8, 2013 - Tags: creative process, Nick Hayden, The Select's Bodyguard, The Wheel Is Broken Posted in: Blogs

Now What?

So, The Select’s Bodyguard is over. Now what?

First, let me assure you we have a lot planned, and we’re scurrying behind the scenes to get it all ready.

Second, let me take a moment to explain a bit more of our conception of Children of the Wells.

We conceived Children of the Wells not as a series, but as a world, and we envisioned our stories, such as The Select’s Bodyguard, not as complete novels, but as episodes. We were inspired by shared universes such as the Star Wars novels and Marvel comics to create a space where characters can have separate storylines that still affect one another. And we were inspired by serialized TV (for examples, see my last blog) to craft our stories as novellas that act in many ways as episodes. Each has a complete emotional arc but clearly transitions into the next novel. (more…)

June 4, 2013 - Tags: inspiration, Nick Hayden, schedule, The Doctor's Assistant, The Fall of the House of Kyzer, The Select's Bodyguard, Wheel Is Broken Posted in: Blogs

The Sea of Stories

Not mentioned below, though it should be.

By Nick Hayden
May 17, 2013

There’s this poem by Walt Whitman, “There Was A Child Went Forth,” that I studied in high school. The point of the poem is that everything one experiences become part of who one is.

Inspiration for a writer is much the same. Where do I get my ideas? From everywhere.

In previous blogs we’ve discussed some influences that went into our magic system and our cities. We also like to use the blogs so that you can get to know us and we can get to know you. So I thought I’d share some of the influences in my writing, not just for Children of the Wells, but in general. (more…)

May 17, 2013 - Tags: books, influences, Nick Hayden Posted in: Blogs

And Then What?

Nick Hayden

By Nick Hayden
April 19, 2013

Shock. Disaster. The world ending.

And then what?

That was the primary question I had when I started writing The Select’s Bodyguard. In our world-building meetings, we had created the event that demolishes much of Jalseion. But that’s not story. That’s setting. What was the story?

Bron and Calea are the story.

I won’t try to recount how exactly the two came about. (Well, it’s not the first time I’ve written an initially unlikable, domineering woman, oddly enough. Or a somewhat, what shall we say, “single-minded” man.) In any case, from the beginning they were intertwined, two powerful personalities rotating around each other like binary stars.

The duality of Bron and Calea, in fact, structures the entire novel–the way the chapters jump in time and perspective and tense.

You’ve just started to uncover the details of their relationship with one another. Hopefully you’ve started to love them or hate them or feel something about them. Because, in the end, as much as I love Jalseion and the various aspects of the world, this story is about them.

But they’re fictional. You, dear reader, are not. (I hope.) What questions do you have? What would you like to hear about in these weekly blogs? About the world? The art of creation? Why that fellow Rodion’s name reminds you, somehow, of Greedo from Star Wars?

You’re behind the scenes with the author. What intrigues you?

I mean, besides my handsome face and charming wit, of course.

April 19, 2013 - Tags: creative process, Nick Hayden, The Select's Bodyguard Posted in: Blogs