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What is the criteria for an author/work to be considered for the Literary Compass?
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Welcome
If one is looking for Literature, you don't need to go far on deviantART. There is a large community of writers and a plethora of work to peruse. Featuring genres such as fantasy, mystery, horror, and romance, one would be hard-pressed to find an area not covered. However, due to the nature of the site, shorter works tend to get more focus. It's easier to quickly read a poem or a short story, and thus many of the feature articles on dA showcase those works. However, there are many novelists and serial writers among the mix, oftentimes fighting an uphill battle to have their works seen and appreciated. With that in mind, I have started an article to spotlight some of those artists and their literary-worlds. The works covered in this feature will exclusively be long-form fiction such as novels, trilogies, etc., or fiction serials.
Current Stop - Deliverance
Our first stop on our Literary journey is Ciereth, a rich world created by Brittany Comeaux (*Bri-Cx) and featured in the novel, "Deliverance."
What better way to find out what a book is about than reading the back cover. Grab the virtual paperback and flip it over to see what Deliverance is about...
"On a cold winter night, the kingdom of Daldussa invaded Cierith, a peaceful and prosperous kingdom. The king of Daldussa, Bogdan, murdered the king and queen of Cierith while their young daughter watched in horror. He then proclaimed himself the dictator of the conquered land.
Ten years later, the princess of Cierith, now under the alias "Crystal," is the leader of a rebel group called Deliverance, and she uses her magic to fight Bogdan's tyranny. She has many friends and allies who help her, and she even recruits Blaze, King Bogdan's only son. The prince had been cast aside by his cruel father, and so he sets out for revenge.
Now they must all fight for their lives to find justice and protect everything they hold dear, including each other."
"Hearts are for the weak. I have never felt the need to carry such a burden." -Bogdan
Excerpts
Of course, the best way to learn about a Literary World is to visit it yourself. Here are some excerpts from Deliverance to help whet your appetite.
Prologue ~ Deliverance Sample
PROLOGUE
The lingering odor of arid smoke filled the dawn air. A once peaceful and prosperous village now lay in piles of ash after a brutal attack carried out the previous night by soldiers in red and gray armored uniforms. Daldussa was their kingdom and the village they destroyed was in Cierith, which was a kingdom that lie to the east of Daldussa. Only three nights before, Daldussa took over the capital city of Cierith, Cartigo and the invading king sent out his troops to take the rest of the land. This village would be one of the first of many that suffered at the hands of the greedy king of Da
Chapter 1 ~ Deliverance SampleCrystal awoke with a start from a troubling dream that had been reoccurring every night for several weeks. In the dream, she always saw an enormous shadow and a blood red glow in the sky. Every night the terrifying creature wreaked havoc on the land, brutally killing everyone in its path.
The part that frightened Crystal the most was that the shadow seemed to look directly into her eyes. Its eyes were blood red like the sky, and when she looked back at them, it seemed that the cold whisper of death whispered her name. The dream always ended with a red beam shooting straight into the sky, causing the earth to shake violently.
Crystal cam
Deliverance Art
Literary Universes are worlds created out of words on pages, but many authors now expand beyond that. Creating or commissioning art of their characters and settings is a way to help enrich the reading experience for their fans, as well as help inspire the creators themselves. We asked the author to pick out three of her favorite pieces and tell us why they are so special to her.
1. I really like the way their facial expressions came out, especially Blaze's. I like the way his hair came out too
. And this was one of my favorite quotes of his. I actually had this written down on an index card and I was waiting for the right moment in the story to use it.2. This was my first time experimenting with textures and also the first time I used a filter to make a lighting effect from the fireplace. I really like the way I captured the mood as well.
3. I worked for a good while on this one. This was mainly to show all of the heroes side by side and introduce character bios, but I also use this as reference when drawing characters together. You can see height comparison, but I also use this for outfit and color reference.
"By the time I realized I even had a heart at all, it already belonged to you." -Blaze
Interview
The second-best way to learn about a literary work is to talk to the author. *Bri-Cx was nice enough to sit down for a Q&A about the novel and her other works.
Please introduce yourself.Well, my name is Brittany, I am 23, married, and live in Louisiana. I just finished my first novel, Deliverance, and I am planning on having a good writing career. I currently work at my local Gamestop store.
How long have you been writing?I wrote my first story in 6th grade when I was 11. I enjoyed story-telling so much that I never stopped. I actually came up with the names, Crystal and Blaze, when I was 12-13! Eventually I found a use for them.
Tell us a little about your novel/series?Deliverance is set in a Western European style kingdom called Cierith. Crystal, the heroine, is the princess of this kingdom. She was born as Princess Amelia Atteberry, but after her home was invaded by King Bogdan of Daldussa, she was forced to flee and change her name. Daldussa, I might add, is loosely based off of Eastern European culture and Victorian culture.
When/How did you come up with the idea of your novel/series?This was actually a side project with my husband that wasn't meant to be anything serious, sort of like an RP. I mainly used it as a practice story, but it slowly started to grow on me. My husband didn't really want to do anything else with it, so I continued it alone and, after several changes and tweaks, the story started to come to life.
Who are your two favorite characters and why? (Yes, I know picking only two is hard.)OOOOH God, that's not fair, haha. Well I would have to say it's a tie between Crystal and Gavril. Though Blaze is very close, I relate more to Crystal and Gavril. The main thing I like about Crystal is her compassion for her friends. She has high morals in a dark world and does whatever it takes to find justice. Gavril is someone I can relate to because of his drive to protect those he cares about. He lays his life down and does whatever it takes to protect what is precious to him.
What’s one of the best compliments you’ve gotten on the novel/series?Well I recently received a review from a professional book critic that compared my work to Lord of the Rings and Chronicles of Narnia and she gave the work 4 out of 5 stars, so I guess that would count as one of my best compliments!
What would you estimate the readership of the work has been/is?Somewhere between 30-40 people. I am still trying to get the word out.
Just for fun, if you could pick an actor or actress to pay the lead protagonist and antagonist, who would you choose?I actually have an actor meme filled out on deviantART: [link]
I picked Emma Watson to be Crystal and Ian McShane to be Bogdan.
Emma is a fantastic actress and she looks just like Crystal! I could get past the fact that she has brown eyes instead of green just because she is so right for the role. Ian won me over with his voiceover in Kung Fu Panda. He has the rough and intimidating voice that Bogdan has, so I think he would be perfect!
Aside from this novel/series, what are some of the other works you’ve done (if any)?I haven't published anything else, but I am currently developing a story called Half-Breed.
What’s your favorite part of the writing process?I like to develop characters above all else. I always talk about them like they are real people because this will make them more believable and real to me and therefore, to others. Sometimes I will say things like, "I bet Gavril would hate that," or, "Blaze will get a kick out of this," so that I can almost feel like I know the characters personally. I love coming up with backgrounds the most, though. This is because I can shape a character's personality to match the background and thus making them more believable yet!
What are your goals for the series/novel?I know it's a long shot, but I would LOVE to be able to collaborate with movie producers on a motion picture for Deliverance. It is my biggest dream to see my work come to life and to see the actors in that meme on the cast list.
Final words?I hope that you enjoy my book as much as I have loved creating it!
"Brute strength is overrated. With the right skills, a doe can defeat a lion!" -Crystal
Want More?
To learn more about Deliverance, be sure to check out *Bri-Cx's page, as well as the dA group #Deliverance-Art. You can also visit the Facebook page here.
You can purchase digital copies of the book on Kindle through Amazon.com here. Print versions are available at Createspace here, as well as by print-on-demand at your local Barnes & Noble store.
More Compass?
You can view past editions of the series here ---> [link]If you would like to recommend a novel or series to be considered for Literary Compass, please drop me a note. A series or novel must have a deviantART base , be fairly established, have supporting art, and offer some 2-3 excerpts/literary pieces for reading. You MAY self-suggest your own work.
Guidelines and FAQ for the series can be found here ---> [link]
Credits
Commissioned journal CSS and map background created by `GillianIvy Coding modified and formatted by `Ravenswd Art featured in article courtesy of *Bri-CxIf you would like to recommend a novel or series to be considered for Literary Compass, please drop me a note. A series or novel must have a deviantART base , be fairly established, have supporting art, and offer some 2-3 excerpts for reading.
Great job, Mirz.
Do you have any more specific guidelines about "supporting art" when suggesting things to feature? It's definitely not the first thing I think about when considering good literature, though it is a nice bonus. There's at least one thing I might like to suggest (once I'm done reading it myself!) but I have a feeling that if a lack of excerpts doesn't disqualify it, a lack of art probably will.
A dA hub was vital. Many of these series have offline sites and just link to it from dA. That's well and good, but this is a dA article and many people don't want to go off-site, and I respect that. So, that was first and foremost requirement.
An excerpt is obvious. Again, some people want to force readers to go to their site to read. I think they should have the option of getting a first taste here and then deciding.
The choice to have art was aesthetic. Whether we like it or not as writers, the main allure of this site is the visual art. People are drawn-in by pictures. It makes the article look prettier and gives the reader a rounded look at the literary piece. So, I felt it was important to have that inclusion in some form. Also, having art for the series was also another filtering criteria.
That said, I am not going to be an art-snob. I'm not looking for a certain quality. Hand-drawn art, sketches, photo-manips, etc. are very acceptable. As long as it portrays the series, then I believe it's good to showcase. Also (and I probably should add this), the author should have a cover image, as if it were a book. Though, honestly, that could be a text cover done in Photoshop.
Anyhow, thank you for your kind words. I hope the series takes off. As a novelist myself, I know the struggle of trying to get your works seen, so I hope this will help some of the great series here on dA.
As for the links, I leave that up to the authors to provide me with. But I'll see about adding the UK one.
One further question, though. With the excerpts, would it be acceptable for them to be posted specifically for your series of articles? I've noticed people just promoting their books in journals, and based on the comments it seems as though they have a following here (even if the book's just on Amazon). Assuming the author is an active deviant and ticks all the other boxes, would it be acceptable to suggest their work on the understanding that they post some excerpts if featured (or get them to post excerpts before making the suggestion)? It seems as though it really depends on whether you want works that are merely available on dA (so, as you say, people don't have to leave the site to have a read), or those that are already well established here.
To a lesser extent I wonder the same thing about the supporting art, but it doesn't seem like such an issue. I expect that if people have it, they'll already have posted it (unless it's, say, illustrations included only in the complete book).
In any case, I've checked the particular book I was thinking of and I don't think it's got everything you're looking for. I'll keep an eye out for things to suggest, though!
And, I actually will be featuring a few series that are established but don't have completed novels. WIPs, yes, but still fleshed out and with a substantial following. So that is something to keep in mind when viewing a work as "established."
I am pretty much of the mind that if an author wants to post art here exclusively for the series, that's fine. They don't have to house their whole body of work here. Part of the reason I started this series is that I, too, have a fiction serial. Our main hub is off-site, but we have a substantial portion (about 90%) of our work also hosted here on dA.
Thank you for your support. If you are in question about a suggestion, send it my way and I'll be happy to look at it. It doesn't hurt, and the worst I will say is that it doesn't fit.
Thank you for posting,