Posts Tagged ‘National Novel Writing Month’

I’m Trying Traditional Publishing Again

Posted: November 21, 2016 in Living and Life, Writing
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An author’s career is never a linear progression. It will often twist and turn and even take detours on occasion. It’s like driving through the American Appalachian mountains from Ohio to New York that way.

Similarly, my own writing career has not been linear in its progression. Back in college, as some of you may remember, I had trouble breaking into the traditional publishing scene. I couldn’t find an agent, and I was getting frustrated. Some friends of mine online had found some success self-publishing, so I went that route. And that’s kind of been my route since 2012 or so.

The problem is, self-publishing hasn’t gone the way I expected. I did it in the first place so that I could reach readers faster. And four books later, while I have reached readers, I haven’t reached as many readers as I would like. And while writers write to get stories out of our heads and onto the pages, and as a labor of love, writers publish because they want to share their stories with as many people as possible.

Now, one could argue that I just have to give it time, and the cosmos will make things work out. But if I’ve learned one thing in this business (and I’ve learned many things over the many years of writing), it’s that you have to try new things. And if one thing doesn’t work out, then to keep going at it just isn’t an option. In fact, that’s one definition of insanity. So, I have to try doing something different.

And I think that now is a really great time for me to try the traditional route again. Over four years, several college courses, reading works by a variety of excellent authors (and a few bad ones), and tons and tons of practice, I’m a much better novelist than I was. I think it could go well for me.

At the moment I’ve sent a few query letters out for Reborn City, which is my strongest work, and which I think, in the wake of the American presidential election, might go over well with agents. It’s a story set in a world very similar to what ours seems to be coming to, but with a bit more hope mixed in. If that doesn’t go well, I’ve got a million ideas, plenty of time to write, and a paying job to tide me over until I hit something that works.

Hey, if I can survive a nearly year-long job search and land a great job with an excellent organization, I can surely do this, maybe even over several years.

And if I’m lucky enough to get a contract with an agent and a publishing company, I might still self-publish from time to time. There are plenty of authors who do that. They’re called hybrid authors, and they usually self-publish when a story they wrote and really liked isn’t really what the publisher tends to go for. Heck, I think His Royal Scariness, Stephen King does this from time to time. Or maybe just the once.

In the meantime, I hope you continue to support me as a person and as a writer. And if you want to read one of my books, I’d be so happy if you did. It would certainly make my day.

Wish me luck, my Followers of Fear, as I set out on this latest fork in the road that is my writing career.

NaNoWriMo update: As of this weekend, I’m over ten-thousand words on Full Circle. And my God, it’s coming along great. True, it’s the usual quality of first drafts,  but I think FC really shows how much I’ve progressed as a writer from Reborn City. I can’t wait to see what people think of it when they read it.

 

Review: American Horror Story Roanoke

Posted: November 17, 2016 in Review, Scary Stuff
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Well, I finally watched the season finale of American Horror Story: Roanoke (the horrors of having no TV, right?), and I’m keeping up my tradition of reviewing the season as a whole. And I have to say, this is probably AHS‘s best season yet (though it probably won’t replace Hotel as my favorite season).

So if you didn’t know, Roanoke is about a young couple who move into a colonial house that is actually haunted by the ghosts of the Lost Colony of Roanoke. It’s told in the form of reality TV shows, with the last episode being mostly a compilation of news reports, crime specials, and interviews. I said in my review of the first episode that I thought the season had an eerie beginning, and that it was an interesting hook for the season that’s supposed to begin tying up all the connections between seasons.

Well, interesting quickly evolved into awesome. There is not a moment in Roanoke where it gets boring or you want to look away. It keeps you guessing, with twists in the plot, a constantly creepy and strange atmosphere, and characters that keep revealing hidden depths. I also really enjoyed how the majority of the season was told in the form of reality shows. It’s often said that reality shows are more show than reality, and you really feel that in this season, with the truth being up for debate throughout most of the show (I think we can say it’s the main theme for this season). Not only that, but it’s taking genres that feel tired and done to death, like found footage and crime reality, and puts a new spin on them through the strange world of AHS. And there’s a lot more I loved about this season, but I don’t want to spoil it for people who are still catching up (hit me up in the comments for in-depth discussions).

And while we’re on the subject of faorite things, I think my favorite episode was the last episode, which focuses on Lee Harris, my favorite character. The episode was just so much more than wrapping up loose ends, and it had such a twist in the last ten minutes that I truly loved. And Lee was such a complex character. She was trying so desperately to hang onto the only good thing left in her life, and

There were a couple of things that could’ve been improved upon, of course. This was the season that was supposed to tie things up, but it only offered a few explanations on the origins of a few characters and ideas. We didn’t get that full explanation of how the interconnected world of AHS we’d been hoping for, though maybe that’s for later seasons. Then again, it’s the speculating that’s the most fun, so maybe there’s wisdom in keeping things hidden for a while longer. I also thought that the character played by Taissa Farmiga, everybody’s favorite character from seasons one and three, and the two characters with her during the ninth episode, was shoehorned in. They were almost unnecessary. You could’ve told the rest of that episode without those characters, I’m sure.

But all in all, I truly enjoyed this season, which earns a solid 4.4 out of 5. It’s creepy, inventive, and you’ll want to see it from start to finish all in one go. I’m looking forward to Season 7.

And speaking of Season 7, we’ve already been given a teaser from Twitter about what we can expect next year:

What could it mean? I’ve heard some discussion that it might be cruise themed, as there was a model ship in the season finale that the camera spent quite a bit of time on. It’s possible that they may do a season inspired by that nightmare cruise ship fiasco from a few years ago, which would be cool. Still, I wouldn’t take this teaser too seriously. Roanoke was given a ton of false teasers before the first episode, so it could be a red herring. Which means I can still hope for an Orphanage or Academy season. Maybe with Adina Porter, Lee Harris’s actress, and Lady Gaga as teachers with tons of secrets? PLEEEEEEASE!!!!

What did you think of AHS: Roanoke? What was your favorite part of the season?

What are you hoping for Season 7? Who would you like to see come back?

NaNoWriMo update: At the moment, I’m just under eight-thousand words. Yeah, not good for sixteen days in, but what can I say? I only have so much time to write! Still, I like how Full Circle is coming along so far. It’s the normal quality of a first draft, but it’s a good basis for a great final novel in a trilogy. So even if I’m going very slowly through the draft, I think it’ll be a great story when I finally do finish it. Wish me luck!

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire

Posted: November 5, 2016 in Living and Life, Writing
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Last night, I went to a dinner for young Jewish professionals in Columbus, the kind where one can socialize with other members of the tribe in the same age group while enjoying a kosher meal and an open bar. I love these dinners when they’re held: you can see people you know or have never met before, have conversations with similar threads about a thousand times over, forget most of what’s said, and still have a good time, all while enjoying a kosher meal. And, on occasion, I meet people who are interested in reading my books, so I make sure to have the latest business card with me when I do go to these things.

At last night’s dinner though, I had an interesting encounter that I feel like blogging about, if only to get it out of my system. While walking around between conversations, I ran into a guy I was acquainted with, who we’ll call “Eric,” a friend of a friend I knew in high school. The first time I’d met Eric had been at one of these dinners, and he’d seemed pretty impressed when I’d mentioned I was a published author I ‘d given him my card then, and had hoped that he would maybe check out one of my books and let me know what he thought.

To my surprise, pretty quickly Eric told me he read my books, and enjoyed them, had said I was talented and had an amazing style. I was flattered…for a second. But there was just something that felt…a little off. The amount of enthusiasm, the look in his eyes, the body language. I asked if he would consider writing a review for one of my books online, and he said he would, he totally would. Again, the way Eric said “totally” and the way he moved his body while he said it, like he was trying to distract me with the movement of his arms, just seemed off. Finally I asked him to name one of the books he’d read and enjoyed. As I half-expected, he couldn’t name a single one. At that point, I just gave him a card and moved on.

There are a lot of reasons why people don’t read my books. I’m not still very well-known, my books cost money and aren’t available at a lot of libraries, some people don”t like to read, some people don’t care for the genres I tend to write in, busy lives, they lose my card, or a number of other reasons. If Eric had said any of those from the beginning, I would’ve been cool with it. I’ve dealt with close family and friends who haven’t read Video Rage yet. I’m not happy about it, but I accept it because I know that I can’t control other people’s lives or what they do in their lives. But outright lying? I’m just not cool with that.

I put a lot of work into the stories I write. Yes, they’re mostly a labor of love (or a reason to get them out of my head and onto the page so it’s a bit less cluttered up there), but I want others to enjoy them as well. And Eric may have felt guilty that he said he’d check them out the last time we’d spoke and that he hadn’t, but lying about it, especially when it’s so obvious, doesn’t help. For one thing, it gets my hopes up needlessly that I’ve touched another person with my work before causing those hopes to plummet into my shoes. For another, lying about reading a book (let alone four) is one of the easiest to debunk. I debunked it in a single sentence! And that just make things awkward.

I guess what I’m trying to say here is, if you haven’t read a book, just say so. Don’t try to lie about it. We authors are used to it, and most of us aren’t sensitive enough that we throw hissy fits when we find out you didn’t read our books. And if you do read our books, thank you. We hope you enjoy them, and let us know if you did.

NaNoWriMo update: Five days in, and I’m a bit over twenty-four hundred words into Full Circle. I haven’t had that much time to write since Thursday, so this is the most I’ve been able to get. Still, the fact that I made it this far in the first week is still pretty nice. Hopefully I’ll get a bit farther along tonight. Wish me luck!

Reborn City: Three Year Anniversary, Full Circle, and NaNoWriMo

Posted: November 1, 2016 in Living and Life, Novel, Reflections, Writing
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Reborn City, my first published novel

Reborn City, my first published novel

One hot summer day eight years ago, a young high schooler was walking home from the library with the plan to stop by Dairy Queen and grab some ice cream. While he was walking, he was listening to a new CD he’d picked up from the library, the soundtrack to a movie he really liked. And while he listened to the first track, a rock/hip-hop style song called “Stoopid Ass,” he found himself thinking of another movie he’d seen recently and really enjoyed, Freedom Writers. He loved that movie, about how gangsters were inspired by a teacher to be more than what they and others thought they could be. The high schooler thought about how the song he was listening to might have fit well on the soundtrack for that movie as well. And then, very casually, he thought to himself, “I should write a gangster story.”

And like that, ideas started exploding like fireworks in his head. He began thinking of ways to make it more unique compared to other gangster stories, where to set it, what sort of characters there should be. He spent the rest of the afternoon thinking of his new story and what kind of story it could become. The very next spring, he started writing it, making a few notes in a notebook before creating an outline on a laptop in his mother’s basement, which was his usual writing space in those days. Over two years, he wrote and wrote, until about a month before he graduated high school, he finished his new novel, Reborn City, a story about street gangs in a dystopian future and the trials they face while trying to find a life better than the ones they’re currently living in.

In college, he edited and edited, and had a friend help him make sure he missed nothing with the final draft. Because he wasn’t having that much luck finding an agent or a publisher, he took advantage of the growing self-publishing industry, and published Reborn City on November 1st, 2013. Some months later he finished writing the sequel, Video Rage, which he’d begun writing over the previous summer, and which he published in June 2016, the day after he moved into a new apartment to be closer to a new job. And today, on November 1st, 2016, he’s going to start the final novel in the Reborn City series, Full Circle.

Video Rage, the second book in the RC series.

Video Rage, the second book in the RC series.

Switching to first person, I’m very excited that I’m finally at this juncture at this series. The Reborn City series has been a labor of love for so long, about seven or eight years worth of sweat, blood and tears. And it’s been worth it. A lot of people–some of whom are not related to me and obligated to read my books, surprisingly–have discovered the series and enjoyed reading it. Nobody’s told me yet that the series has changed their lives (I hear that’s rare anyway), but they’ve told me how they identified with the characters, or how imaginative the world of the story is. And one person told me that some of the themes in the book–racism, Islamapohobia, terrorism, urban violence, etc.–make the series pretty relevant to today’s problems, which I feel is quite the compliment.

And tonight after work, I’ll be starting the final book, Full Circle. Honestly, I’m a little surprised that I’ve made it so far. Even after Video Rage came out, I kind of felt towards Full Circle like George Washington and Benjamin Franklin probably thought about the end of the millennium: it’ll happen, but it’s so far away, why even bother thinking about it?  And now I’m about to start work on it, on the same day I published the first book in the series. Boy, did it creep up on me.

You know, in a strange way, I feel like I’ve come full circle, just like this book’s title. When I published the first book, I felt like I was starting something really big, even if the book never sold a million copies or was well-reviewed. And now that I’m starting the final book, it feels like I’m starting the beginning of the end of something, in more ways than one. It’s really exciting, and I can’t wait to see where it brings me.

So, what can readers expect from the last book? Well, I’ll keep the spoilers away for readers who haven’t read the books yet and might want to, but I’ve got some fun stuff planned for Full Circle. For example:

  • I’ve got a great line-up of antagonists. I always knew for the final book, I wanted bad guys like nothing seen before in the series. And I’ve come up with those villains. As a group, they’re called the Navagraha, which is a Hindu form of astrology revolving around seven gods and two demons, and they’re going to push the main characters in ways they’ve never been pushed before. You’ll also get to see an old foe of the main characters, Jason Price, transformed in ways that make him even more evil than he was before. I’m going to have fun exploring his character in this new role for him.
  • New revelations and challenges. In addition to the Navagraha and the challenges those guys pose, the main characters will have to deal with some changes that they never saw coming. Our male lead Rip will learn things about his past, a past that he thought was lost to him. And Iori will find herself in an unimaginable position, and what she decides to do once there will affect her in so many different ways. Not to mention, finding herself in this position brings about new choices for the main characters, new paths they can take on the road of life that they thought closed to them.
    I know, sounds very vague. But I’ve been setting some of these things up since as far back as the first book, and I’m looking forward to writing them. When you, dear Followers, read them, I hope you find them just as enjoyable.
  • I’ll be doing my best George RR Martin impression. By that, I mean I’ll be killing off a lot of characters, including ones that readers may really like and be attached to (you thought that I was going to have lots of politics and gratuitous sex, didn’t you? Nope, not that kind of series). I really don’t want to kill off some of these characters, but I feel like it’s best for the story if I do. So get your tissues ready. I’m wielding an executioner’s axe with my laptop, and it’s about to rain heads.

That’s all for now. As it’s National Novel Writing Month, I don’t know if I’ll be very active on the blog this month. You know, trying to get as much of fifty-thousand words in a month written as possible. But I hope you’ll still continue to support me as I work hard to finish this series and bring the final book to you guys. In the meantime, if you would like to check out Reborn City and Video Rage, I’ll post the links below. If you end up getting a copy, and you like what you read, please let me know what you. Positive or negative, I love feedback from readers on my work, and I would love yours.

Until next time, my Followers of Fear!

Reborn City: Available from Amazon, Createspace, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Smashwords, and Kobo

Video Rage: Available from Amazon, Kindle, Createspace, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Smashwords, and Kobo

The “First Day, First Paragraph” Tag

Posted: November 1, 2016 in Living and Life, Novel, Writing
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first-day-first-paragraph-tag

So I’m doing this again. I created this tag, and I’m hoping that I can really make it take off. In order to do that, I need to do it a few more times in order to see if I get results. Hence round two.

So, let’s reiterate. Once you’ve been tagged for “First Day, First Paragraph” tag, you have to do the following:

  1. Publish your own post on the first day of the month.
  2. Use the graphic above
  3. Thank and link back to the person who tagged you.
  4. Explain the rules like I’m doing now.
  5. Post the first paragraph of a story you’ve written, are writing, or plan to write someday.
  6. Ask your readers for feedback.
  7. Finally, tag someone to do the post next month (for example, if you do the tag on the first of August, the person you tag has to do it on the first of September), and comment on one of their posts to let them know the good news.

Published on November 1st? Check. Used the graphic above? Check. Thank and link back to the person who tagged you? I’ll pass, because I’m the one behind this tag, and I talk to myself too much already. Explaining the rules? Kind of doing that right now.

As for the first paragraph from a story (potential, WIP, or already written), I’ve got a special one for today. It’s November 1st, which has a special meaning for me. Three years ago, I published my first novel, Reborn City, a science-fiction novel about street gangs in a dystopian future. Today, as part of National Novel Writing Month, I’m starting work on the final book in the series, Full Circle. So, I figured it was just right to post the first paragraph from Reborn City here. Enjoy:

Zahara and her family had decided to eat out at a restaurant in North Reborn that served kosher meat, the closest they could get to halāl. “I know it’s for Jews mostly, but it’s a very nice place and the Jews were very nice to us in New York.” Zahara’s father, Emir Bakur had said when he’d suggested it. “They know they don’t have to fear Muslims anymore. And the Chaplinsky family in 4F was nice enough, right?”

Reborn City, my first published novel

Reborn City, my first published novel

Thoughts? Comments? Let’s discuss.

And finally, let’s tag someone! I mentioned last month that there were two people I really wanted to tag for this thing, and I had to choose. Now it’s time to choose the person who didn’t get it last month. Joleene Naylor, you’ve been tagged for “First Day, First Paragraph.” On December 1st, you have to do the tag. Have fun!

That’s all for this post. Make sure to check out the post for Reborn City‘s three-year publication anniversary and my plans for Full Circle after you finish this. See you there!

“Car Chasers”: First Draft Finished

Posted: October 26, 2016 in Novelette, short story, Writing
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Hey, Followers of Fear! Long time no see! I’ve been busy trying to get a short story done before November 1st. And tonight, I managed to do it. Car Chasers is a short story that centers around a Fast & Furious-esque race held in a forest where ghosts chase the racers. Yeah, it’s a pretty out there concept, isn’t it? And I think it might make a great movie, even without Vin Diesel in a starring role.

I liked writing this story for a number of reasons. Along with a fun concept, it focused on a particular incident with these races, told through the point of view of an unreliable narrator. Normally, the unreliable narrators I encounter in fiction are jackasses (the main characters of Gone Girl and Patrick Bateman from American Psycho, for example), but the narrator in this story is actually telling it trying to put a good spin on a friend of his, which is different from my normal experience. I also put a few people I know in the story in varying capacities (you’re welcome, Pat Bertram and Melissa Mendel), and named the bad guy of this story after a certain person I dislike a lot right now. Yeah, I’m sadistic that way. It’s fun.

So when can you read this story? Well, it’s a first draft, and it’s going to need a lot of work. For one thing, there are some places in the story that could be fixed or trimmed down. As the story is a bit over ten-thousand words, and therefore technically a novelette, I might want to really trim it down if I want to get it into a magazine. If that doesn’t happen, I can see this in my upcoming collection of short stories, Teenage Wasteland. The characters are at the right age, so it’s a good choice for the collection.

In the meantime though, November is just around the corner. And for novelists, that means one thing: National Novel Writing Month. I’ve got the final Reborn City novel to write, and after that, I’m devoting all my time to getting that novel and Teenage Wasteland out as soon as possible.

Well, that’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I’ll see you guys with a couple of posts on November 1st, when I’ll be doing another “First Day, First Paragraph” Tag, and talking about Reborn City and the final novel, Full Circle. Have a happy Halloween, guys. See you soon!

Full Circle: Outline Completed

Posted: September 11, 2016 in Living and Life, Novel, Writing
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So earlier today, I completed the first draft of Full Circle, the sequel to Video Rage and the final book in the Reborn City series. I’m super excited to have finally reached the point where I’m ready to work on the final book in the trilogy, and I cannot wait for November to start so I can start on Full Circle.

Okay, I can wait, because October is one of my favorite months of the year. Still, very exciting.

Reborn City, the first book in the RC series

Reborn City, the first book in the RC series

So, if you don’t know what the hell I’m talking about, the Reborn City series is a science-fiction trilogy I started writing back in high school. The first book, Reborn City, was published in November 2013, and the second book, Video Rage, was released in June of this year. The series follows a super-powered street gang in the titular city, and their connection with the shadowy organization that rules over it. The series contains themes of prejudice and intolerance, gang violence, drug addiction, and, most importantly, overcoming what others think of you and what you think of yourself.

I’ve been working on this trilogy since 2009, so it’ll be good to get it done. As to when it’ll be done, I’m not sure. I’ve planned thirty-three chapters in total, which is between the number in Reborn City and the number in Video Rage. Of course, the number of chapters is never a good indicator of how long it’ll be in total, or of how long it’ll take to write. It’s especially hard to gauge when this is the first time I’ll be writing a full-length novel while working a full-time job.

Anyone have a way to divide me into two people so one guy can write and the other can go to work? Anyone? Bueller?

Well, at least I’ve established a writing routine that works for me at the moment. Yeah, that thing I was doing with trying to get 250 words written every writing session? It works very well for me. When I start out, I think to myself, “Just get 250 done, and you can be done.” However, around 150 or 200 words, I’m already deep into the story , and I don’t want to stop if I can help it. And if I can make that work for just the outline of FC, I think it’ll work just as well for the actual novel.

And speaking of which, I plan to start writing Full Circle in November for National Novel Writing Month (I don’t expect to get anywhere near fifty-thousand words, but I can try to get some words in and see how far I go). In the meantime, I have a book I plan to read as soon as possible for research purposes, and I have short stories for Teenage Wasteland that I want to work on, so I’ll be doing those for a while. Have to keep myself busy, right?

Video Rage, the second book in the RC series.

Video Rage, the second book in the RC series.

Well, that’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. If I have any updates, I’ll let you know. In the meantime, don’t expect much from me besides the review of the first episode of season six of American Horror Story (what’s the theme?! Somebody tell us!!!) until October 1st, when I have something big planned.

And if you would like to read Reborn City or Video Rage, I’ll include the links below to purchase a copy. And if you like what you read, please let me know. Positive or negative, I love feedback from readers, and I’m always happy to hear what you have to say.

Until next time.

Reborn City:Amazon, Createspace, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Smashwords, and Kobo

Video Rage: Amazon, Kindle, Createspace, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Smashwords, and Kobo

Big News on the Reborn City series

Posted: July 1, 2016 in Living and Life, Novel, Progress Report, Writing
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Reborn City and Video Rage, side by side.

Reborn City and Video Rage, side by side.

So it’s been a month since Video Rage, the sequel to Reborn City and the second book in the Reborn City series, came out. And I’m happy to say that it’s doing not too badly. In fact, some of the copies that have been sold have been bought by people other than me or my family. That’s a new one, LOL (in all seriousness though, a lot of copies have been sold. And I think my parents and my sister are the only people in my family who have copies besides me, so that says something). I think an author friend or two have been reading the books. And even Reborn City has had an uptick in sales, which I think says some good things.

And even better, I already have one review, which I encourage you to check out.

So with that in mind, I’ve got a few announcements I hope you’ll take the time to read. I’m certainly excited about them:

1. Some price changes on the e-books. I’ve expressed my regrets on this subject before, but I only have so much control over the price of the paperbacks (otherwise each paperback would be between eight and ten dollars, so they’d be a bit more affordable). However, I have plenty of control over the e-books, and I’m glad to say that I’m doing something different with the e-books of Reborn City and Video Rage that I’ve been wanting to try for quite some time.

VR CS front cover

Previously, all my e-books, with the exception of The Quiet Game, have retailed at $2.99. However, from now on, on all the platforms, the e-book of Reborn City will be $0.99, and the e-book of Video Rage will be $1.99. I’m hoping that this will make it a bit easier for people to get their hands on the books and enjoy them. I’ve heard from other authors who have used this method and have had very good results from this, but I’ve never had the chance to try this until now. And now that the opportunity has arrived, I thought I’d give it a try, see what happens.

So if you’ve wanted to read my science-fiction novels on your Kindle or Kobo or whatever but price has been a problem, I hope this helps.

2. The final book in the series will be my NaNoWriMo project this year. I know I said I was going to do a ghost story as my project for National Novel Writing Month, but I changed my mind for two reasons. One was that I wanted a bit more time for me to figure out the best way to tell this particular ghost story (I don’t normally write ghost stories, and I want to get it somewhat right when I do the first draft). The other is that I don’t want three more years to pass before I get out the next book in the series. Unless you’re writing Harry Potter, I don’t think that’s a good gap between books if you can help it. So I’m putting the final book ahead of the queue, with the hope that maybe I can get out maybe ten or twenty-thousand words this winter (I doubt with my schedule I’ll get close to fifty-thousand, though I can certainly try. And I got thirty-thousand of Snake written out back in the day, so who knows?).

I’ve actually done a little work already on the third book, which I intend to call Full Circle (my newest tag). I’ve come up with a bunch of new characters, including the villain(s) of the new book (if you haven’t read VR yet, I do give hints on who that might be, so go check it out so you can start theorizing), and written out the first couple chapters on an early draft of an outline. I also know some of the events that will come later, and I’ll be doing some research later this year so I can get some aspects of Islam right (it’s amazing how often Zahara’s religion comes up in the story).

Get excited, because this is probably my most ambitious novel yet, especially with all I have planned with this story.

RC cover

3. The Reborn City audio book is going to take some more time to bring about. Back in November, I said the audio book was on the way and I had a narrator. And since then, I really haven’t had any updates on this. Well, that’s because of embarrassment. You see, my narrator and I had to dissolve our contract due to some problems on both our ends. Since then, I’ve been trying to find a new narrator, and I may have one, but it depends on her schedule when she finishes her current projects early next month. I didn’t say anything because…well, who wants to admit that the audio book they were so enthusiastic about and which they were saying was going to be done as soon as possible is having technical difficulties?

I do still hope to have a Reborn City audio book out someday (and Snake, I’m working on that as well), though it may take a bit more time. Hopefully though, they will happen, and those among you who enjoy audio books will be able to enjoy them.

 

That’s all for now, Followers of Fear. Shabbat is coming in, so I have to get ready for that. You all have a wonderful weekend, and I hope I can check in at some point soon. In the meantime, the links for both books are below. Make sure to check them out if you’re interested. And if you do decide to read them, please do me a favor and leave a review so I know what you thought. Positive or negative, I love feedback, and it makes me a better writer too.

Until next time, then!

Reborn City: Amazon, Createspace, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Smashwords, and Kobo

Video Rage: Amazon, Kindle, Createspace, Barnes & Noble, iBooks,Smashwords, and Kobo

I’m Back in the Swing of Things

Posted: June 5, 2016 in Reflections, Writing
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A screenshot of "A Project in Western Ideals."

A screenshot of “A Project in Western Ideals.”

Life’s been going very good for me. I moved into my new apartment (the kitchen’s still a work-in-progress and I still need to take out all the boxes to the dumpsters behind the parking lot, but I’m working on it), I put out a new book (and so far, I think it’s doing well), my birthday’s coming up (yay me!), and I start my new job a week from Monday (I’m planning on making a very good impression). And to top it all off, I’m editing again!

Yeah, remember when I was like, “I’ve just finished a novel and I just don’t feel like doing any work?” Well, a couple days ago I started doing something I hadn’t done in about a month or so: editing. To be specific, I began editing “A Project in Western Ideals”, the short story I wrote last summer about a girl being turned into a human Barbie doll. As of last night, I’mabout three-fourths of the way through the story, though an ending that satisfies me still alludes me (you’d think after having an ending with witchcraft, and then two endings involving an alien-like organism, I’d find something that worked! Apparently not). I’m going to try to finish the story tonight, though I’ll need an ending that works. I wonder if I change the beginning…

Anyway, after that I plan to get right back into my novel-as-a-thesis, Rose. As you well know, I started on the third draft of that story a couple of months ago, after almost a year of not working on that story (I was busy in-between drafts). but I couldn’t get through the first chapter before I had to work on Video Rage again. Now that that’s out and I’m out of the funk that settled over me after I completed the final draft of VR, I’m looking forward to getting back into that book and doing all the work that needs to be done. A lot needs to be changed, and quite a bit needs to be added, but I think I’m up to it.

The writing space in my new apartment. Pretty sweet, huh?

The writing space in my new apartment. Pretty sweet, huh?

You know, I think writing is a lot like every other skill or profession: there are times when you are in love with it, and times when you just don’t want to deal with it. There are times when you are amazing at it, where everything you write is worthy of publication and awards, and times when everything you write is dreck. I had my phase, where I just couldn’t write anything besides a blog post. But now it’s over, and I’m ready to start something new. Maybe that’s because so many new things are happening in my life. I moved into a new apartment, complete with my own little writing space (you can see it on the right). I’m starting a new job a week from tomorrow. And my birthday is coming up later this week, among other things. Basically, with so much energy of the new in me and around me, how can that funk not be lifted?

So expect a bunch of updates on the writing life in the weeks and months to come. I’m going to definitely try and get Rose done before it’s time to get ready for National Novel Writing Month. Wish me luck in the meantime, my Followers of Fear. I’m definitely going to need a little bit of luck in the weeks and months to come.

Prepping to Work on “Rose” Again

Posted: March 21, 2016 in Novel, Reflections, Writing
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So I finished that outline for that new novel I plan to write for NaNoWriMo later this year. First draft of the outline, anyway. I probably will revisit it again before November, make some more tweaks and possibly add a scene or two. It’s a ghost story, and since ghost stories tend to involve the protagonist or protagonists being affected on a very personal level by the spirits involved, often by exacerbating personal problems as well as actually haunting the people involved (ghosts and ghost stories are very intimate that way, I’ve noticed), I’ll want to make sure that that’s done right in this story before I write it.

Now that that’s taken care of, I’m finally getting around to working on Rose, the novel I wrote as a thesis for my senior year of college. If you’re unfamiliar with that novel, it’s about a woman with amnesia who finds herself trapped in the home of a man who says he’s her boyfriend, her body going through astounding changes which this man says was to save her life. I started writing it in September 2014, went back a couple weeks later to rework the entire story because the direction I was going in at first just wasn’t right for the story I wanted to tell, and finished the first draft in January 2015. Not too long afterwards I did a second draft that I finished around April, and I haven’t touched it since.

So yeah, it’s been nearly a year since I worked on that novel. But between working and living in Germany, writing some original short stories and editing Video Rage twice and giving Laura Horn a much-needed second draft, can you blame me?

Okay, I might have also been a bit hesitant to approach Rose again. During my thesis defense at the end of my senior year, my advisor told me that if I were to get Rose up to the level worthy of getting it published, I would have to do quite a lot of work on it. And not just grammar and spelling, though that was mostly okay. I had to work in new scenes, space out some others, rework a couple of characters, and change a bunch of stuff in the beginning of the book. Add to that the normal work of editing, and I’ve got one hell of a third draft ahead of me. It’s a bit intimidating, almost like starting a new novel and facing a blank page asking for sixty-thousand plus words.

Yeah, the horror writer’s scared of his own creation. Make fun of him and the irony. Go ahead, get it out of your system.

But you know what? I think I’m up for the task. I took Laura Horn, which I was sure would need an entire rewrite, and the worst that it came to was a few tossed chapters and one major plot point subtly changed to better reflect actual circumstances. If I can tackle that (and LH was a much longer book, by the way), I think I can tackle Rose.

And not only that, but with this being the third draft, I think once this is one I can send it to n editor for a final look-over before I get ready to publish the book. So if we’re lucky, I could have Rose ready for publication by the end of the year. Wouldn’t that be great?

So I’m going to get two articles out of the way, and then I’m going to get straight onto Rose (unless I get the notes back on VR, in which case editing that takes precedence). Wish me luck, my Followers of Fear. I’m going to be very busy these next couple of months (though that is kind of my life in general).

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