Can a man write from a woman’s point of view?
Gosh, I sure hope so! I am, after all, currently writing a series of books from the point of view of a thirteen-year-old girl.
Now, she’s also Japanese, living in Japan.
In the sixteenth century.
I’m an American man living in twenty-first-century California.
Continue reading Writing from another point of viewAs an author of young adult books, I’ve been asked many times about the authors who had the greatest impact on me. I’ll often start by mentioning Maurice Sendak, which people assume is a joke, but isn’t.
Next, I’ll mention Ursula K. Le Guin, the late author of science fiction and fantasy.
Continue reading Ursula K Le Guin — GrandmasterSo, hi.
I owe you an apology.
I had promised — and confidently expected — to finish and release Bright Eyes, book #2 in the Seasons of the Sword series, in 2018.
What happened? Continue reading Character Mutiny: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Bright Eyes
Kee Sun is one of my favorite characters, and I’m not alone. I get asked about the Korean cook a lot — especially about his accent. I recently was asked a question over on Goodreads:
Hi David – enjoyed Risuko and will be adding my review soon. Curious about the Korean cook and the odd way he speaks. Is that on purpose to indicate he might have some type of accent? Also, is there any particular reason for him not being Japanese? Perhaps I missed something 🙂 — Steve
Great question! Continue reading What’s with Kee Sun’s accent?
I’ve always been a writer. But for most of my life, I have also been an actor. As a matter of fact for many years, I was a classically trained professional stage and screen performer.
That meant I had to learn how to use a sword.
I took classes in stage combat, but I also joined my college fencing club, picking up the saber (which was the closest thing to the kind of sword fighting I had already learned as an actor).* Continue reading Twelfth Night: Training Kunoichi, Pt. 2
I spent last night training a kunoichi.
My wife Maura is directing a production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night at her school. As often happens, I’m helping out, working with the actors on the language and teaching them combat. It’s fun to break out the scansion and fencing I learned as a young actor.
The students enjoy it too — though I’ll admit they prefer the sword fighting to the verse. Continue reading On Training Kunoichi
We’re excited to tell you that “Silk & Service,” one of David Kudler’s Risuko prequel stories, was chosen for inclusion in That Moment When: An Anthology of Young Adult Fiction. Not only is the book is available now in both print and ebook form, but the ebook is FREE for a limited time!
ORDER FROM AMAZON | ORDER FROM ANOTHER BOOKSELLER Continue reading That Moment When: Risuko prequel in YA anthology
I went to see Ghostbusters last night with my wife and my daughter Julia. As we were driving home, we were talking about how funny the movie was, and Julia brought up how much grumbling there had been among her friends — particularly among her male friends — about the fact that the leads were cast as women.
That got me thinking about gender roles, and (not surprisingly) about Risuko.
Here’s how my thinking went: gender difference exists. Vive la difference, and all of that. (I’m not even going to get into issues of gender fluidity or sexuality here — it’s a complicated enough issue looked at through a binary lens. Sorry.) It exists, but in art and entertainment, does it matter? Continue reading Ghostbusters, Risuko, and when gender matters
When I first began working on my novel Risuko: A Kunoichi Tale, my daughters were both young, and they were both voracious readers. Which, not surprisingly, I am as well. And so we happily read a lot of books together — both pleasure books and books assigned by their teachers.
Now, most of the books Sasha and Julia brought home from school were wonderful. But I noticed pretty early on that a lot of the “historical fiction” was way heavier on the historical than the story.
Again, some of the books were great. The Witch of Blackbird Pond? Crispin: Cross of Lead? Number the Stars? Terrific.
But a lot of the others were… less so.
I found myself looking at the books that my daughters and I found compelling and realized that, first and foremost, they were great stories — that they had lot more in common with the magic in the fantasy books that we all enjoyed together (Harry Potter, Artemis Fowl, Tamara Pierce’s Tortall books) than a history text.
And so, as I thought about what style I wanted to take on when I began writing Risuko, I decided that I was going to write my historical novel as if it were a fantasy. Continue reading The Magic of History
