Seven things you don’t know about Moxie’s Problems
The
original Moxie story was a short story that I couldn't sell. I loved
Moxie’s character and I was determined to put her into her own novel.
I
was half-way through Moxie’s Problems when I put it on the side to
write a series of non-fiction books called Self-publishing Guides. I did
that because I got angry at all the misinformation floating around the
internet on self-publishing.
I was able to return to
the Moxie novel fairly easily because I always develop a series of
mind-maps for my novels before I start to write the first draft. I had
maps for the major characters, the plots and subplots and a third which
is a graphical synopsis. These mind-maps allowed me to get back into
the novel very quickly.
Some of the adventures in the
novel, especially for King Artie were originally short stories I wrote a
long time ago, but were never published. The Dogs of War and the Isolde
adventure are two such short stores. The initial football game between
the Knights and the Saxons was a short story I sold four or five times.
Originally, the novel was set in a fantasy land and
Moxie was a dwarf. Her three knightly companions were a dwarf, an elf
and a human. The fantasy setting conflicted with my plan to use Camelot
as a backdrop so I had to change it.
The Camelot
background bothered me for a while. The problem was my story bashed
against the traditional Camelot legends and not in a small way. My
Camelot was radically different and I felt it would annoy reads who
hoped for a retelling of the traditional legends. My solution to this
problem came with a sprinkling of scifi dust. Once I realized my
Camelot took place in a parallel universe, I had my justification and it
even encouraged me to develop more non-traditional aspects of Camelot.
One
character I really enjoyed writing about was Tristan. In the story he
is Camelot’s Bard and the world’s worst poet. I wrote a number of
doggerel poems for him. I also made him a schizophrenic. His warrior
self and his poet self are in a constant battle for supremacy of his
mind. His poet self wants to soothe enemies with words, while his
warrior self wants to attack audiences with his sword.
Do you enjoy untypical coming-of-age stories? Well, you won’t find one more untypical that Moxie’s Problem. Moxie is an obnoxious, teen-age princess who has never been outsider her father’s castle. Until now. The real world is quite different and she struggles to come to grips with reality. The story take space against a backdrop of Camelot. But it isn’t the Camelot of legends. It’s Camelot in a parallel universe. So, all bets are off!
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