C.C. Hogan - Author

What is the difference between a mythical creature and any other invented creature?

This deep philosophical problem is possibly more important to the reader and the author than either might necessary realise. It might govern whether the creature can walk or not, can talk or not or even just survive.

I have realised that every time my characters wander into a tavern or inn that the first thing they ask is what is there to eat.

Now this probably says a lot more about me than it does about them, but I have also begun to think that perhaps the taverns that I invent are the ones I myself would like to visit.

It is pretty common for any of us to be accused of taking life too seriously sometimes. Well the same can be true or our stories and especially our characters. Sometimes people can be just plain silly and that applies whether they are a little girl, a teenage bloke, a mass murderer or a Methodist. All right, maybe not always the last one, but most people, okay?

The question for the author is are they brave enough to allow their characters to be people?

There are two sorts of dragon in fiction, broadly speaking; dumb beasts that screech and have an orc sitting on top of them and eat princesses and ones with interesting senses of humour voiced by such luminaries as Sean Connery and Sir John Hurt.

But if a dragon is an intelligent, well spoken and such literate fellow, why would they be running around in the nude and living in damp nasty caves?

I love getting under the skin of a character for the first time, seeing how they think, how they react, what private thoughts they have, even where they are ticklish. I know Fantasy is meant to be about huge magical explosions, dark, mysterious thoughts, and rooms lit only with candle light and strange blue auras, but actually, I am far more interested in how the people wrapped up in the world think when they cut their finger, go for a piss, see a girl/boy/dragon that they fancy, or celebrate the big five-oh-oh!

Onenote has been part of Microsoft Office for years, but now it is available free as a download.

I am writing a huge fantasy saga at the moment and Onenote has been the perfect tool for planning everything about my novels and keeping my head together

I am currently in the middle of my attempt at fantasy. Actually I am over half a million words into it and going strong.

But it does beg the question of whether my own fantasy world is somehow better than the real world. Quite worrying, indeed.

A while ago Amazon launched Author Central, a simple resource where an author can upload a profile that is attached to any books they may have published.

I have created a profile for myself on both the dot com and UK site (It appears you have to create these individually) which was a fairly painless operation.

Right, sit up! Just going to get this bloggy thingy sorted out and ready for presentation and thingies.

Just need to work out how to use it with a typewriter and we are off!

With any luck.....