As much as I think J. A. Konrath is kind of a massive jerk, there is no denying the man has made a crapton of money off his eBooks. As one of the early adapter of the Kindle market, he worked hard, got his name out there, wrote quality thrillers (and wrote consistently) and is now reaping massive amounts of rewards from it. Like I've said, I certainly respect him and it's totally awesome that he's pioneering this new way to write books, and the numbers can't be ignored (I'm just saying he has a tendency to be...blunt about his opinions).
My only beef with the whole "eBook Revolution" is the successful people still have a tendency to ignore the thousands of eBook writers (good writers, mind) that still sell next to no copies. It's easy to say "I'm successful, and look, here are two more people that are successful! So clearly this is the best option for everybody!" but what about all the other people who were taking it totally seriously, working on getting their name out there, and still didn't see more than a hint of success? It's easy to dismiss them as "oh, they didn't try hard enough" but the fact of the matter is that luck is still part of the equation. Just as it is with traditional publishing, luck on being accepted and selling a novel (and it doing well) is still prevalent in the eBook world. The only difference (and one of the appeals of eBooks, if you are the kind of person who likes this) is that your failures are completely your own in the eBook sense. With traditional publishing, you first have to gain approval of an agent, then approval of an editor, then (often times) that editor's boss, and then once it's out there you have to gain approval of the readers. The eBook scheme skips directly to the readers, but also puts all the work squarely on the author's shoulders. Also, not having a physical product can decrease the amount of exposure (a book will be on a bookstore shelf, even if it is hidden away in the back). You can't really schedule signings for an eBook (unless everybody brings their Kindles).
Granted, I know lots of the responsibility of representation still falls on the author when he/she is published by a publishing house, but at least you have a hint of a leg up.
Anyway, the point of this is how I personally will apply this to my business model. I've already put Paradise Seekers out and squarely fallen in the 98% of Kindle publishers: I didn't even make enough to pay off my cover artist. Steelgods is currently seeing the most success with agents and editors of all my work so far (I'd like to think it's a better book, but honestly I'm thinking its the query that's improved), but the looming stormcloud of impending rejection still hovers overhead. Also, unlike Paradise Seekers, Steelgods actually has a second book finished (and a third, fourth, fifth, and sixth plotted), so if Steelgods falls off the bus, it's taking the rest of the series with it (unless it gets a total re-structure and re-submission in the future).
The fact of the matter is that I write really fast (don't use this last month as an example; it has been on/off with regard to word count). Both Steelgods were single-month projects, and I intend to keep it that way with the rest of the series. Death's Aria, which was unfortunately positioned on the same month as Christmas and New Years, will be finished in two months at the very most. Paradise Seekers was also a one-month project, though I will admit it was more of an experiment than a "greatest hit" of what I've written.
If all the Kindle market needed to be successful was a blitz of book-flooding, I could probably pull that off. I've decided to design my own covers from here on out (I know Photoshop and Illustrator as well as the next person, and there are plenty of free public images just waiting to have a boatload of effects filters thrown over them) should I take the Kindle route, to cut back on costs. I'm still not sold on that being my main source of publishing (or if I'm even going to go back to Kindle publishing), but it's interesting considering it.
That's it for now. Merry Christmas and all that, and have a good 2012. Maybe I'll make a New Years Resolution post. Maybe not.
Showing posts with label Paradise Seekers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Paradise Seekers. Show all posts
Variant, Death's Aria, Gears, and Young Adult
on Saturday, November 12, 2011
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| Go buy this book. |
First off, thanks to all of you who participated in Larry Corria's Book Bomb of Robison Wells' Variant. Everything went CRAZY on Tuesday. Basically Robinson got laid off from his job because he has panic attacks, which left him unemployed. The spark Larry started exploded into a huge Twitter thing, bumping the book from ~#6000 on the amazon listing to freaking #55. Yeah, it beat out the freaking Hunger Games boxed set. The only thing above it in both Sci-Fi and Fantasy YA was the individual Hunger Games books and the new/last Eragon book. They sold so many copies they bought all of Amazon's stock for all versions (except Kindle, obviously). It was awesome.
I actually picked up the Kindle version, and so far it's a really good book! It reminds me a lot of The Maze Runner meets...something else. There's lots of paintball in the book. But it's a fun YA read that I'd recommend to anybody, especially considering it's only $10 (and your money goes to a good cause).
Anyway, reading Variant made me think a lot about the young adult genre, especially since I'm switching gears (pun intended?) and writing another one instead of an epic fantasy. There were a few things about writing young adult I really enjoy, which is probably why I keep finding myself coming back to it.
- The books tend to move a lot quicker, with less descriptions and more dialogue.
- As a whole, the majority of the characters tend to be in the same age group (adolescents; 12-25), which sort of makes them easier to write. They also tend to play off each other a lot more...excitably? than other genres.
- Young Adult books get right to the point, which is usually one major key theme that drives the whole book. In The Hunger Games it was...the Hunger Games themselves (which is why I think the third book was so weak). In Harry Potter it was the wizard idea and then Hogwarts (again, why the last book didn't seem as strong to me). The Maze Runner was about the maze, I Am Not a Serial Killer is about hunting demonic serial killers. They tend to pick an exciting topic and stick with it, which both keeps the focus and makes it easy to follow.
- Romance and crazy emotions. Teenagers honestly aren't a volatile as most people make them out to be (it's a stereotype that they'll never break; adults actually have nearly as many mood swings as teenagers do, we just aren't as loud about it), but it is a time of life where you have tons of options, you are getting control of your life, and you don't like having that sense of independence taken away. It makes for very proactive characters, which helps drive the story. We adults like to sit around and have meetings.
- Secretly, lots of people still wish they were teenagers, though they'll never admit it. It's subconscious, and honestly I think it's why many adults read YA novels. We miss the constant excitement, the romance and the wildness. We miss having open futures; after a certain point things get set in stone and put into routine. It's a form of rose-tinted wish-fulfillment: we don't remember the awful parts of high school, but we'll certain idealize that time of life. Which makes for both an enjoyable read and write.
- My first book was very much actually Young Adult, even though it wasn't intended to be. Honestly, the vast majority of what I write is probably closer to YA than adult. I have adult ADD, and I started writing books because I felt a lot of books were too slow, so I set out to write something I'd enjoy reading. That principle has still applied, which means most of what I churn out is at least paced like a YA novel. In retrospect, maybe I should just write thrillers or something (hey, Jim Butcher made it work with the Dresden Files).
The point is that I'm really enjoying writing Death's Aria, and even though I'm only a small bit into it I'm enjoying reading it too. I'm actually doing a quick re-read of The Gears of Anbar just because I'm in a YA mood right now, and I'm surprised how much I enjoy it. Not in a "tooting my own horn" way, but in a "why don't I read more YA?" way. There's a reason this is a big market right now.
Granted, I'm also fully aware of the pitfall of writing something adult and branding it as YA when, in truth, it's probably an adult novel. While I'll completely agree the third John Cleaver book (I Don't Want to Kill You) sits squarely in YA with following the basic conventions, the second book (Mr. Monster) really...doesn't. I don't want to force genre tropes onto anybody, but YA books have a sort of flow and reoccurring themes that adult novels miss (perhaps the biggest being the fact there is nearly always a love interest, and their relationships usually pan out in the same structure: gradual, but not gradual enough for an adult book).
Rambling. I think the point of this is I like writing YA, and I'm debating how much that will be my main focus. I'm also writing Death's Aria because of the recent Writing Excuses on expanding your genre. Death's Aria is well set in urban fantasy (though not the whole "chicks kicking butt" thing, which I honestly can't stand), which is a genre I haven't tackled. It's still YA, so it isn't like I'm branching out into supernatural romance or anything way out there, but it's still something different. And I'm enjoying it.
Anyway, this is a long blog post because I'm at work on a Saturday instead of writing or playing Skyrim. So thanks for humoring me if you read this whole thing. If you just skimmed it to the end: SHAME ON YOU! But if you skimmed it to go back to playing Skyrim, I suppose that's totally fair.
Editing: When a Character Changes
on Wednesday, October 19, 2011
I finished my overall edits for Steelgods yesterday, after about a month and a half. I'm going to go back through it again just to be certain I didn't totally ruin anything, but first I'm going to blab about something that came to mind during my editing process.
For those who already know, I can find editing difficult at times. Not editing sentences or even scenes, to be honest; those are easy. The edits that are the hardest for me, I've found, are character edits. You know, where that one guy you really liked when you were writing the first draft just isn't working, so you have to either completely change or cut him. Or that guy you still like, but everybody in your alpha reader group said you'd better change him or they'll burn your manuscript. Those edits.
And what is surprising is that, for me, this is really hard.
This is probably more of a personal issue than anything, but I tend to get particularly attached to my characters. Plot? A little, but not enough to know when it needs to be changed. Scenes? Those are easily malleable. Setting? If the story dictates it be tweaked, I will willingly oblige. But when it comes down to my characters, I get stuck in a quagmire. What is it that makes changing a character's personality so difficult? Even if I know full well it is for the better?
Take for example, Cevan, our viewpoint character in Steelgods. In the first book, my idea of Cevan was he was a spoiled little twit with lots of potential. His viewpoint was meant to be endearing in a way a puppy is: always trying his hardest, but he's a puppy so he can't exactly save the world. Cevan made a lot of really, really stupid mistakes in the first draft, but I felt that was a part of his character. It was who he was, and in a series about massive character growth, Cevan had to start pretty low in order to become the "Destroyer of the World."
The problem is, while this works good in theory, in execution it can be aggravating. With the exception of George R. R. Martin fans, readers tend to get really pissed off when their favorite characters (especially a viewpoint character in a first-person viewpoint) makes really, really awful decisions. While Cevan isn't a total moron, he came close at times, making decisions any rational person wouldn't make. His incompetence, while helping to show how much he improved by the end of the book, was more of a literary crutch than an actual character trait.
So now we have new Cevan. He still makes stupid decisions. He still makes rather glaring errors. However, he isn't convinced he's stupid. He still manages to react to situations rather than being a passive observer. His improvement is still obvious, but he now has things he's good at to counterbalance his fallacies. He may be awful at swordfighting and generally being brave, but at least he's extremely determined and can...sing?
The other problem with Cevan in the first draft was he was an empty shell, much like Sam in Paradise Seekers. I'll make no excuses for that: our viewpoint in Paradise Seekers is not very well developed. He fell into "Cevan-syndrome," which basically means he was there to advance the plot, and not to actually be a well developed character in the book. This was something I hoped to remedy after a billion drafts, but it never reached the point I'd hoped. He's halfway there, but doesn't quite reach a point where you care about him.
This has also been changed in the new Steelgods to fix Cevan. As I changed his reactions, that also means it changed how he thought about the situations he was put into. Cevan is (this is not really a spoiler) thought to be the Destroyer of the World but a malevolent group of magicians/lunatics called the Peacemakers. As an added bonus, the Peacemaker's counterpart, The Gears of Anbar, also want Cevan for some reason. So he basically is going to run his whole life, safe nowhere, until he gets captured and killed. Great life, huh?
Well, first draft Cevan never really addressed the stresses that would come with that kind of thing. Well, he does, but it's near the end of the novel. He just never reacted appropriately to situations, which made him both unbelievable, an unreliable narrator (even though the book is technically first-person omniscient), and unsympathetic.
All of these issues were (mostly) resolved in The Gears of Anbar, which is how I knew how messed up Cevan in Steelgods was. The juxtaposition of these two characters was in such contract I couldn't help but see all the problems.
What was the point of all this? Um...what was I talking about before? Oh, right, why it's hard.
So all these edits sound like worthwhile things to Cevan's character, right? I also had to make substantial changes to his stepsiblings, Devent and Rosemary, to make it so they actually had motives and personalities and the reader actually cared about them. The problem was, I've read Steelgods 1 probably 5-6 times since I wrote it. I re-read my novels frequently, picking them apart without actually using a red pen (I read them on my Kindle), digging through them in attempts to identify flaws to address when I begin later projects. This is a good technique, and I stand by it, but it has one fatal flaw: I get really connected to my rough drafts. Even with all their problems, this is the way I now see my characters. So when I go in to change them, I feel like I'm killing somebody I know.
This is a problem.
I swear this had a point, but I totally forgot it. So we'll go with whatever I think up first, which is: changing characters is hard, probably the most difficult part of editing for me. It's amplified by the fact I discovery write the majority of my characters, so they really need to be fixed since usually every character's personality in the first 3-4 chapters is completely off from who they are in the rest of the novel. Still, reaching that distance required from a story is something I need to work on, at least for characters.
Anybody else have this problem? Are character edits harder for you, or other forms of edits? Or are you editing fiends and everything is really easy?
For those who already know, I can find editing difficult at times. Not editing sentences or even scenes, to be honest; those are easy. The edits that are the hardest for me, I've found, are character edits. You know, where that one guy you really liked when you were writing the first draft just isn't working, so you have to either completely change or cut him. Or that guy you still like, but everybody in your alpha reader group said you'd better change him or they'll burn your manuscript. Those edits.
And what is surprising is that, for me, this is really hard.
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| Before? |
Take for example, Cevan, our viewpoint character in Steelgods. In the first book, my idea of Cevan was he was a spoiled little twit with lots of potential. His viewpoint was meant to be endearing in a way a puppy is: always trying his hardest, but he's a puppy so he can't exactly save the world. Cevan made a lot of really, really stupid mistakes in the first draft, but I felt that was a part of his character. It was who he was, and in a series about massive character growth, Cevan had to start pretty low in order to become the "Destroyer of the World."
The problem is, while this works good in theory, in execution it can be aggravating. With the exception of George R. R. Martin fans, readers tend to get really pissed off when their favorite characters (especially a viewpoint character in a first-person viewpoint) makes really, really awful decisions. While Cevan isn't a total moron, he came close at times, making decisions any rational person wouldn't make. His incompetence, while helping to show how much he improved by the end of the book, was more of a literary crutch than an actual character trait.
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| AFTER?! |
So now we have new Cevan. He still makes stupid decisions. He still makes rather glaring errors. However, he isn't convinced he's stupid. He still manages to react to situations rather than being a passive observer. His improvement is still obvious, but he now has things he's good at to counterbalance his fallacies. He may be awful at swordfighting and generally being brave, but at least he's extremely determined and can...sing?
The other problem with Cevan in the first draft was he was an empty shell, much like Sam in Paradise Seekers. I'll make no excuses for that: our viewpoint in Paradise Seekers is not very well developed. He fell into "Cevan-syndrome," which basically means he was there to advance the plot, and not to actually be a well developed character in the book. This was something I hoped to remedy after a billion drafts, but it never reached the point I'd hoped. He's halfway there, but doesn't quite reach a point where you care about him.
This has also been changed in the new Steelgods to fix Cevan. As I changed his reactions, that also means it changed how he thought about the situations he was put into. Cevan is (this is not really a spoiler) thought to be the Destroyer of the World but a malevolent group of magicians/lunatics called the Peacemakers. As an added bonus, the Peacemaker's counterpart, The Gears of Anbar, also want Cevan for some reason. So he basically is going to run his whole life, safe nowhere, until he gets captured and killed. Great life, huh?
Well, first draft Cevan never really addressed the stresses that would come with that kind of thing. Well, he does, but it's near the end of the novel. He just never reacted appropriately to situations, which made him both unbelievable, an unreliable narrator (even though the book is technically first-person omniscient), and unsympathetic.
All of these issues were (mostly) resolved in The Gears of Anbar, which is how I knew how messed up Cevan in Steelgods was. The juxtaposition of these two characters was in such contract I couldn't help but see all the problems.
What was the point of all this? Um...what was I talking about before? Oh, right, why it's hard.
So all these edits sound like worthwhile things to Cevan's character, right? I also had to make substantial changes to his stepsiblings, Devent and Rosemary, to make it so they actually had motives and personalities and the reader actually cared about them. The problem was, I've read Steelgods 1 probably 5-6 times since I wrote it. I re-read my novels frequently, picking them apart without actually using a red pen (I read them on my Kindle), digging through them in attempts to identify flaws to address when I begin later projects. This is a good technique, and I stand by it, but it has one fatal flaw: I get really connected to my rough drafts. Even with all their problems, this is the way I now see my characters. So when I go in to change them, I feel like I'm killing somebody I know.
This is a problem.
I swear this had a point, but I totally forgot it. So we'll go with whatever I think up first, which is: changing characters is hard, probably the most difficult part of editing for me. It's amplified by the fact I discovery write the majority of my characters, so they really need to be fixed since usually every character's personality in the first 3-4 chapters is completely off from who they are in the rest of the novel. Still, reaching that distance required from a story is something I need to work on, at least for characters.
Anybody else have this problem? Are character edits harder for you, or other forms of edits? Or are you editing fiends and everything is really easy?
Terry Pratchett is pretty awesome
on Thursday, October 13, 2011
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| This cover doesn't really fit the book, but whatever. |
So far I've read Going Postal and Small Gods, and am almost done with Mort (which is my favorite so far). Mort was an earlier book than the other two and I can sort of tell: Small Gods was a very biting satire of religion (and I'd think Catholicism, though I'm not going to make any assumption) but isn't very high on the "jokes per page" quota. Mort, on the other hand, a story of Mort who becomes the apprentice to Death, is consistently goofy and is throwing jokes out left and right. If I had to prefer a style, I'd say I like Mort better, though Small Gods made me THINK more than Mort did.
Going Postal was straight up weird. I don't know what else to say about it.
This isn't the first time I've tried Pratchett, to be completely honest. I got about 50% of the way through Good Omens, which is him and Neil Gaiman doing their thing. I honestly thought it read more like a Neil Gaiman book than a Pratchett book, though maybe they switched off chapters/characters because stuff frequently goes from weird to somber to weirdly somber as we bounce around viewpoints. I enjoyed the book a lot, but when it started focusing on characters I didn't care about at all (the witch-hunter) I sort of lost interest. I should pick it back up.
Granted I had the same problem with American Gods, so maybe it's Gaiman's fault. Though I can't fault the man for being extremely clever, which he most certainly is. He and Pratchett seem like a really odd mix, though.
Point being: check these books out. They are very entertaining. The best part is they are fast and light (unlike A Song of Ice and Fire, which I am stuck on the fourth books of) and I can finish them in a few days if I'm quick.
This is where I'm supposed to put notable quotes, but I can't think of any offhand. Needless to say, any book where Death quits his job and finds more job satisfaction in being a chef in a backwater restaurant is 10/10 in my book.
In personal writing news, Steelgods 1 is finally near finished after nearly a month and a half of pain and whining. Once it's finished I'll start submitting, while I write my next book.
And as a special bonus for all those who bought Paradise Seekers on the Kindle and liked the Steelgods snippit: since the odds of me posting it on Kindle are substantially lower than when I first put Paradise Seekers up (though I'm still keeping my options open), if you'd like a free, maybe-badly-formatted Kindle copy of the third draft of Steelgods just shoot me an email or a comment (or a Facebook harassment). I figured I'd reward you for being nice and buying my book. :) Though if I do sell it YOU'D BETTER BUY THE HARDCOVER. :P
I'm getting excited to write again - anything at this point, I'm going crazy - so expect some more exciting posts hopefully soon. In the meantime, go read some Pratchett.
The Gears of Anbar - And so it begins
on Monday, August 1, 2011
After a short respite, I have started on Gears of Anbar. I must say, even only taking a break from writing for a little past a week, I was already beginning to feel like something was missing from my life. I felt like I wasn't accomplishing anything, even when I was massively editing Effulgent Corruption and having just finished a book longer than my past three combined.
I suppose this is a sign I should be a writer, hmm? If even one day passes and I haven't written I begin to feel off. I'll take that as a good thing.
To my amazing surprise I actually wrote 3.4k today. It's mostly dialogue, which is both for the reader's benefit (having just started a new book in the series) and my own. Gears is a darker book than Steelgods. While in the first Cevan's plight was certainly bleak, it was done in a way that it came off as less serious than it actually was. Not so in Gears, which takes place a year after the first one. Cevan's situation has gotten far worse, with both Gears and Peacemakers (or Peacemasters, based on the snippet at the end of the Kindle version of Paradise Seekers) hunting him voraciously. While this book will certainly have the humor of the first book, it's going to be a bit darker. I'm trying to get into that mood, and this chapter reflects that.
It also is going to be longer. I'm trying my hardest to write YA not Epic Wordy Fantasy here, and I don't know how well I'm doing. I guess we'll find out soon enough.
This will also be, like Steelgods, a big fat discovery write. Effulgent Corruption, while I found things out along the way, was a massive example of me planning and piecing everything together. Seriously, that book is complicated, but I made sure nothing was there "just because" or as a result of leftover discovery writing: everything had a place, even little things. Gears is more me having a basic idea of a story and seeing how I get there and what happens (which is also what happened in Steelgods). It's mostly a fun write for me because it's both easy (I don't have to worry much about it being good) and hard (I want it to be good, deep down, and going purely off discovery writing is a challenge). I also don't worry about it and just plow through as fast as humanly possible (I want this book done by the end of August), and since it isn't 353k I know it'll be done quick.
I'm also being less of a whiner about Kindle, and I'm reconsidering putting Steelgods up, probably for free. I will first attempt to sell this thing the "original style" (aka query letters, wee.), but if it fails I see no harm in putting it up. It also would give me a chance to redeem myself for the formatting monstrosity that was Paradise Seekers (though, Joe, I think I might have sent you a bad copy or something), and since I'm less attached to this story (I really wanted to sell Paradise Seekers, so the fact nobody bit still sort of irks me) putting it up won't be such a personal dilemma. Plus, I think it's a fun ride, and having more books up on the Kindle store certainly couldn't hurt.
Speaking of Paradise Seekers, Amazon won't make it free even though I harass them about how it's free on Smashwords. I'm just going to keep spamming them until they figure it out, I guess. I honestly have no problem giving it away, minus the whole "perception of value" thing. I love the book, but I also want more people to read it. Truthfully, that means more to me than the money. I do this because I love telling stories and I love the craft. Would I love to make a living off it? Absolutely. Do I know if Kindle is going to do that for me? Maybe, but for now I'm skeptical, and in that regard I'd rather take pleasure in simply knowing more people are reading it rather than trying to pay off my cover art.
Which is really the whole thing. I don't want to downplay myself, but I wrote Paradise Seekers in less than a month. Honestly, the most frustrating work wasn't writing it or even editing it, it was the stupid task of formatting it. I love writing, I love editing, but a month's work isn't hard to just hand out. And as I mentioned at the start, I write to fill a void in myself. Maybe that gives me a warped perception of value, but if this is something I churned out fast and published myself, I see no problem with you reading it for free. Honestly, reading reviews that praise it (or even just review it) actually mean more to me than earning the 35 cents or whatever they threw down to buy a copy. You read something I wrote and actually finished it, and even went so far to say you liked it. That's praise enough.
Not to go far off a tangent, but that's also how I felt when I used to make indie games. I actually made quite a few back in the day, and never made one red cent off it. But it didn't matter. I had fun doing it, I had fun listening to feedback, and that was enough.
That being said, after spending seven months writing Effulgent Corruption (and probably seven more before the dumb thing is its "final" state), there is no way I'm giving that away for free (unless you want to alpha read, hint hint). In the perception of value thing, this monster is up there. Paradise Seekers, Steelgods, and even Harbinger were more for my own enjoyment, but Effulgent Corruption was a massive amount of sleepless nights, long walks to clear my mind, and stress. So yeah, if you thought I didn't value my work, here's the counter argument.
And holy balls did I get off on a tangent.
The point is, maybe I'm jaded because Paradise Seekers didn't sell. Maybe I'm jaded because my online group (most of which came from that indie community) didn't do jack crap to support me when I needed them most. I'm over it. I'm going to keep writing some damn entertaining books, and I'm going to keep letting you read them. That's it, end of story, QED, ~fin, whatever. I can get rejected by traditional publishing and by Kindle publishing, but I don't give two freaking craps. I'm going to keep flooding you with my mind vomit until you've had enough, and then I'll keep going.
I half expected corny, dramatic music to play when I was typing that. Imagine it narrated by Tom Hanks, that's who I'd have read that scene.
Anyway. Gears is go, I'm still writing, and that's that.
Before the quote, here's a "Personal news moment!" (because you haven't gotten in my head enough this post)
- My crown chipped. After a minor war, I convinced my dentist he should replace it for free. Thank goodness, now I can finally sleep at night.
- I won a Soundgarden Rock Band pack, valued at $10. Go me.
- I also won the grand prize in another Rock Band online thing, that netted me $20 in xbox bux and about $60 in indie games off Steam. Yes, I'm really lucky.
So I'm actually in a pretty good mood, despite this post. Anyway, here's some stuff I wrote today from the new, emo Steelgods book.
I suppose this is a sign I should be a writer, hmm? If even one day passes and I haven't written I begin to feel off. I'll take that as a good thing.
To my amazing surprise I actually wrote 3.4k today. It's mostly dialogue, which is both for the reader's benefit (having just started a new book in the series) and my own. Gears is a darker book than Steelgods. While in the first Cevan's plight was certainly bleak, it was done in a way that it came off as less serious than it actually was. Not so in Gears, which takes place a year after the first one. Cevan's situation has gotten far worse, with both Gears and Peacemakers (or Peacemasters, based on the snippet at the end of the Kindle version of Paradise Seekers) hunting him voraciously. While this book will certainly have the humor of the first book, it's going to be a bit darker. I'm trying to get into that mood, and this chapter reflects that.
It also is going to be longer. I'm trying my hardest to write YA not Epic Wordy Fantasy here, and I don't know how well I'm doing. I guess we'll find out soon enough.
This will also be, like Steelgods, a big fat discovery write. Effulgent Corruption, while I found things out along the way, was a massive example of me planning and piecing everything together. Seriously, that book is complicated, but I made sure nothing was there "just because" or as a result of leftover discovery writing: everything had a place, even little things. Gears is more me having a basic idea of a story and seeing how I get there and what happens (which is also what happened in Steelgods). It's mostly a fun write for me because it's both easy (I don't have to worry much about it being good) and hard (I want it to be good, deep down, and going purely off discovery writing is a challenge). I also don't worry about it and just plow through as fast as humanly possible (I want this book done by the end of August), and since it isn't 353k I know it'll be done quick.
I'm also being less of a whiner about Kindle, and I'm reconsidering putting Steelgods up, probably for free. I will first attempt to sell this thing the "original style" (aka query letters, wee.), but if it fails I see no harm in putting it up. It also would give me a chance to redeem myself for the formatting monstrosity that was Paradise Seekers (though, Joe, I think I might have sent you a bad copy or something), and since I'm less attached to this story (I really wanted to sell Paradise Seekers, so the fact nobody bit still sort of irks me) putting it up won't be such a personal dilemma. Plus, I think it's a fun ride, and having more books up on the Kindle store certainly couldn't hurt.
Speaking of Paradise Seekers, Amazon won't make it free even though I harass them about how it's free on Smashwords. I'm just going to keep spamming them until they figure it out, I guess. I honestly have no problem giving it away, minus the whole "perception of value" thing. I love the book, but I also want more people to read it. Truthfully, that means more to me than the money. I do this because I love telling stories and I love the craft. Would I love to make a living off it? Absolutely. Do I know if Kindle is going to do that for me? Maybe, but for now I'm skeptical, and in that regard I'd rather take pleasure in simply knowing more people are reading it rather than trying to pay off my cover art.
Which is really the whole thing. I don't want to downplay myself, but I wrote Paradise Seekers in less than a month. Honestly, the most frustrating work wasn't writing it or even editing it, it was the stupid task of formatting it. I love writing, I love editing, but a month's work isn't hard to just hand out. And as I mentioned at the start, I write to fill a void in myself. Maybe that gives me a warped perception of value, but if this is something I churned out fast and published myself, I see no problem with you reading it for free. Honestly, reading reviews that praise it (or even just review it) actually mean more to me than earning the 35 cents or whatever they threw down to buy a copy. You read something I wrote and actually finished it, and even went so far to say you liked it. That's praise enough.
Not to go far off a tangent, but that's also how I felt when I used to make indie games. I actually made quite a few back in the day, and never made one red cent off it. But it didn't matter. I had fun doing it, I had fun listening to feedback, and that was enough.
That being said, after spending seven months writing Effulgent Corruption (and probably seven more before the dumb thing is its "final" state), there is no way I'm giving that away for free (unless you want to alpha read, hint hint). In the perception of value thing, this monster is up there. Paradise Seekers, Steelgods, and even Harbinger were more for my own enjoyment, but Effulgent Corruption was a massive amount of sleepless nights, long walks to clear my mind, and stress. So yeah, if you thought I didn't value my work, here's the counter argument.
And holy balls did I get off on a tangent.
The point is, maybe I'm jaded because Paradise Seekers didn't sell. Maybe I'm jaded because my online group (most of which came from that indie community) didn't do jack crap to support me when I needed them most. I'm over it. I'm going to keep writing some damn entertaining books, and I'm going to keep letting you read them. That's it, end of story, QED, ~fin, whatever. I can get rejected by traditional publishing and by Kindle publishing, but I don't give two freaking craps. I'm going to keep flooding you with my mind vomit until you've had enough, and then I'll keep going.
I half expected corny, dramatic music to play when I was typing that. Imagine it narrated by Tom Hanks, that's who I'd have read that scene.
Anyway. Gears is go, I'm still writing, and that's that.
Before the quote, here's a "Personal news moment!" (because you haven't gotten in my head enough this post)
- My crown chipped. After a minor war, I convinced my dentist he should replace it for free. Thank goodness, now I can finally sleep at night.
- I won a Soundgarden Rock Band pack, valued at $10. Go me.
- I also won the grand prize in another Rock Band online thing, that netted me $20 in xbox bux and about $60 in indie games off Steam. Yes, I'm really lucky.
So I'm actually in a pretty good mood, despite this post. Anyway, here's some stuff I wrote today from the new, emo Steelgods book.
The Garbage Wagon seemed the least of our worries, what with the whole town burning. “We can’t stay,” I said, carefully rubbing my temples with my palms, making sure the Tips didn’t touch my flesh. “The Peacemakers-“
“Are undoubtedly on their way; yes,” Devent grumbled. “Quick, to the forest. They send their scouts first, but I’m certain a towering plume of town-sized fire should be signal enough for the whole Peacemaker armada to come for our blood.”
“Not your blood,” I bit my lip. “Mine.”
Devent was quiet, and he gave me an odd look. Rosemary looked at me with sympathy and a touch of sadness, but I could see in her eyes she wasn’t going to argue my point.
They came because they think I’m the Destroyer of the World, my headache left, and in my mind I could easily see the fires ravaging what remained of the lovely town of Red Graphite. They kill and murder and ruin everything, all because of me. And they’ll never stop, never, until I’m dead.
- The Gears of Anbar
Oh, and here's where the "Steelgods" word was inspired from. Yes, I get a lot of ideas from music ("Paradise Seeker" is a line from Escapist, by Nightwish). Sue me.
Oh, and here's where the "Steelgods" word was inspired from. Yes, I get a lot of ideas from music ("Paradise Seeker" is a line from Escapist, by Nightwish). Sue me.
Effulgent Corruption is edited, setting it down for now.
on Friday, July 29, 2011
I did a quick breeze-through of the final two parts, mostly doing spelling and obvious grammar problems, and I'm calling this good. Minus submitting to writing group (where the comments will be noted but not yet implemented), I'm not messing too much with Effulgent Corruption until after WorldCON at least.
There are still a few things left to do that I might tinker with. Before each chapter is a cute little quote about a specific god (one per part), but I got sick of writing them around part 3 so after that it just says "insert quote here." I wanted them to actually tie with in the current story but did an awful job at it (it was supposed to also be a cheap way to provide back story without too much expository dialogue during the actual book), so they haven't been done. That's going to require me writing them all completely separate from the actual book in attempt to make it so they don't suck, but we'll see. For now, I'm leaving them as "insert quote here." Deal with it.
Re-reading it I already have specific ideas for things that might actually require substantial edits. In terms of plot development, I'm fairly content with Drake's and Ciara's parts, minus minor tweaks. Rook's takes a significant turn in his second bit (Part 6) which I don't feel is foreshadowed enough before. Also his engagements with Grax are entertaining but also border on repetitive; cutting a hefty chunk of them will help the pacing. By the end of the novel I've better solidified their relationship to what I want, but it is a tad shaky early on. That's probably going to be the biggest edit (minus, of course, what alpha readers contribute) and I'm not exactly looking forward to it.
All that aside, ALPHA READERS. If you really want to read a 350k rough draft, I am more than willing to send it to you. It'll be a major "no details required" review, where I really only want a specific plot critique and ideas on what scenes do and don't work. No line edits, nothing too major. Just read through it and give me a hefty review. I honestly probably only need a couple of these, so if you are a voracious reader and don't mind reading something dark and depressing, let me know. I can provide any format, including Kindle or ePub.
Speaking of Kindle, I hesitate to talk about Paradise Seekers. My constant internet harassment of bloggers and forums has slowed as I tried to finish Effulgent Corruption, and as a turn the sales have gone from "mediocre" to "awful." I'm now considering making it free and saying "eff it" to Kindle publishing for now, but we'll see. It's also a tad harrowing to realize people you've known online for 10+ years (of which I have a plethora) won't throw down $1 to buy something to support you, or to help promote you. Those who have supported me: I really really appreciate it, and by no means wish to sound ungrateful. You are awesome and I wish you all the success you can get.
The point of this is that I did epublishing to "test the waters," and so far haven't been very impressed. Perhaps if I put more out on there it would help, but most people chuck short stories up there, and I can't write a good short story worth beans. I'm going to resume (or rather, return to my normal goals) pursuing traditional publishing means for now, but should things change I'll reconsider epublishing. Point being, you aren't going to see Steelgods 1 on there anytime soon. Sorry.
Speaking of Steelgods, since Effulgent Corruption is no longer wasting my time, I'm going to haul through Gears of Anbar now because I can (warmdown writing). I haven't fully decided on my next project following that, but we'll see what happens.
In the tradition of posting youtube videos, here's something Chuck threw in my direction. Yes, I still love Game of Thrones. No, I haven't gotten around to finishing the book yet. Derp.
There are still a few things left to do that I might tinker with. Before each chapter is a cute little quote about a specific god (one per part), but I got sick of writing them around part 3 so after that it just says "insert quote here." I wanted them to actually tie with in the current story but did an awful job at it (it was supposed to also be a cheap way to provide back story without too much expository dialogue during the actual book), so they haven't been done. That's going to require me writing them all completely separate from the actual book in attempt to make it so they don't suck, but we'll see. For now, I'm leaving them as "insert quote here." Deal with it.
Re-reading it I already have specific ideas for things that might actually require substantial edits. In terms of plot development, I'm fairly content with Drake's and Ciara's parts, minus minor tweaks. Rook's takes a significant turn in his second bit (Part 6) which I don't feel is foreshadowed enough before. Also his engagements with Grax are entertaining but also border on repetitive; cutting a hefty chunk of them will help the pacing. By the end of the novel I've better solidified their relationship to what I want, but it is a tad shaky early on. That's probably going to be the biggest edit (minus, of course, what alpha readers contribute) and I'm not exactly looking forward to it.
All that aside, ALPHA READERS. If you really want to read a 350k rough draft, I am more than willing to send it to you. It'll be a major "no details required" review, where I really only want a specific plot critique and ideas on what scenes do and don't work. No line edits, nothing too major. Just read through it and give me a hefty review. I honestly probably only need a couple of these, so if you are a voracious reader and don't mind reading something dark and depressing, let me know. I can provide any format, including Kindle or ePub.
Speaking of Kindle, I hesitate to talk about Paradise Seekers. My constant internet harassment of bloggers and forums has slowed as I tried to finish Effulgent Corruption, and as a turn the sales have gone from "mediocre" to "awful." I'm now considering making it free and saying "eff it" to Kindle publishing for now, but we'll see. It's also a tad harrowing to realize people you've known online for 10+ years (of which I have a plethora) won't throw down $1 to buy something to support you, or to help promote you. Those who have supported me: I really really appreciate it, and by no means wish to sound ungrateful. You are awesome and I wish you all the success you can get.
The point of this is that I did epublishing to "test the waters," and so far haven't been very impressed. Perhaps if I put more out on there it would help, but most people chuck short stories up there, and I can't write a good short story worth beans. I'm going to resume (or rather, return to my normal goals) pursuing traditional publishing means for now, but should things change I'll reconsider epublishing. Point being, you aren't going to see Steelgods 1 on there anytime soon. Sorry.
Speaking of Steelgods, since Effulgent Corruption is no longer wasting my time, I'm going to haul through Gears of Anbar now because I can (warmdown writing). I haven't fully decided on my next project following that, but we'll see what happens.
In the tradition of posting youtube videos, here's something Chuck threw in my direction. Yes, I still love Game of Thrones. No, I haven't gotten around to finishing the book yet. Derp.
Effulgent Corruption, ePubbing, Writing Group 3.5, word count explosion
on Friday, June 3, 2011
Churned out a decent 4k on Effulgent Corruption yesterday. Part Four is, at last, drawing to its close. It's about 1/2 - 2/3 the length of the other parts, which I feel is because I'm not bloating it down with unnecessary descriptions. As stated before, the editing of parts 1-3 is going to be something of legend.
Paradise Seekers is doing well on the epubbing scene. Sales are reasonably slow, as to be expected, but as an experiment it's been fun. It's forced me out of my "I write and that's it" shell and made me network, advertise, and sell myself. Even if I don't choose to continue using ePublishing as the primary method to distribute my work (I'm still shooting for the traditional route), I feel the experience has helped me significantly. Realizing your sales are almost entirely in your hands (at least the start-up) is good motivation to get out there and talk about yourself.
It's also garnered quite a few very nice reviews. Thanks to everyone who reviewed it so far; it's been helpful both to get the word out as well as helped me as a writer take advice. I really mean it: thanks a ton. (and if I promised you reviews, don't worry: they are coming. I'm just not an exceptionally fast reader :/)
My goal (as stated) is to finish Part Four by Sunday evening at the latest. I bet you are all tired of hearing about my goals. WELL, TOO BAD. I also have to brainstorm Part Five, because I have basics but nothing solid.
I will be "article swapping" with Joe Vasicek regarding how we develop characters (or something of that sort). He'll be writing regarding character development in sci-fi, while I'll be tossing my opinion on the fantasy end. Considering the reason I started writing is I read a chunk of fantasy and thought "these have cool worlds and stories, but why don't I give two craps about the characters?" this should be a fun write and hopefully an interesting read. I've always considered character development the single most important point of a story. Books that stagnate on plot can still be enjoyable if the characters are interesting enough. If that point falls into place, the rest will rise to meet it.
More later. That's a taste, a "teaser" if you will of what will undoubtedly be the greatest article you've ever read. So...get ready for it and hit up Joe's blog when it goes live.
We also are reinstating Writing Group, which I have dubbed version 3.5. It's basically the same group we had during Spring with the fat cut (minus Adam, who is never fat.). It consists of Derek, Jason, and Chuck this time around, and should be entertaining. Go summer writing. Also, if you live in Provo (or the Utah area and have Skype and a computer with a microphone) you can be part of this action if you REALLY want to. I'm not making promises at this point, but we might be able to squeeze one more person in.
That's it from this end. Keep it real, keep on writing.
Paradise Seekers is doing well on the epubbing scene. Sales are reasonably slow, as to be expected, but as an experiment it's been fun. It's forced me out of my "I write and that's it" shell and made me network, advertise, and sell myself. Even if I don't choose to continue using ePublishing as the primary method to distribute my work (I'm still shooting for the traditional route), I feel the experience has helped me significantly. Realizing your sales are almost entirely in your hands (at least the start-up) is good motivation to get out there and talk about yourself.
It's also garnered quite a few very nice reviews. Thanks to everyone who reviewed it so far; it's been helpful both to get the word out as well as helped me as a writer take advice. I really mean it: thanks a ton. (and if I promised you reviews, don't worry: they are coming. I'm just not an exceptionally fast reader :/)
My goal (as stated) is to finish Part Four by Sunday evening at the latest. I bet you are all tired of hearing about my goals. WELL, TOO BAD. I also have to brainstorm Part Five, because I have basics but nothing solid.
I will be "article swapping" with Joe Vasicek regarding how we develop characters (or something of that sort). He'll be writing regarding character development in sci-fi, while I'll be tossing my opinion on the fantasy end. Considering the reason I started writing is I read a chunk of fantasy and thought "these have cool worlds and stories, but why don't I give two craps about the characters?" this should be a fun write and hopefully an interesting read. I've always considered character development the single most important point of a story. Books that stagnate on plot can still be enjoyable if the characters are interesting enough. If that point falls into place, the rest will rise to meet it.
More later. That's a taste, a "teaser" if you will of what will undoubtedly be the greatest article you've ever read. So...get ready for it and hit up Joe's blog when it goes live.
We also are reinstating Writing Group, which I have dubbed version 3.5. It's basically the same group we had during Spring with the fat cut (minus Adam, who is never fat.). It consists of Derek, Jason, and Chuck this time around, and should be entertaining. Go summer writing. Also, if you live in Provo (or the Utah area and have Skype and a computer with a microphone) you can be part of this action if you REALLY want to. I'm not making promises at this point, but we might be able to squeeze one more person in.
That's it from this end. Keep it real, keep on writing.
The Kindle Wars Continue
on Saturday, May 28, 2011
So either our Kindles refuse to download an updated version of Paradise Seekers, or it lied and didn't actually update, because I can only pull the old (unfixed) version from Amazon.
Odd thing is I changed the description and that went through, so I assumed the fixed copy is also in (this isn't the typo fixing one, just the format one. The typo fix will probably get shoved out sometime this week).
I'm going to ASSUME this is my Kindle being dumb and not Amazon not updating, but I can never know for sure.
I learned my lesson though: make sure the book is 100% perfectly formatted before sending it up, because hassling with it after the fact sucks.
In more interesting news, I went to CONduit, met a lot of authors I knew and new ones as well, had a lot of great conversations and generally learned a lot. It was quite fun, and I'll probably blab more about it later.
Odd thing is I changed the description and that went through, so I assumed the fixed copy is also in (this isn't the typo fixing one, just the format one. The typo fix will probably get shoved out sometime this week).
I'm going to ASSUME this is my Kindle being dumb and not Amazon not updating, but I can never know for sure.
I learned my lesson though: make sure the book is 100% perfectly formatted before sending it up, because hassling with it after the fact sucks.
In more interesting news, I went to CONduit, met a lot of authors I knew and new ones as well, had a lot of great conversations and generally learned a lot. It was quite fun, and I'll probably blab more about it later.
Paradise Seekers and Effulgent Corruption - Now with 90% less whining
on Friday, May 27, 2011
So the last post was a bit...obnoxious, so I'm remedying it with this fantastic one.
Except I have little to say.
Paradise Seekers aka The eBook Revolution now has a glorious five reviews, and only two of them are from writing group (hey, nobody said that was against the rules!). If you bought the book or were an alpha reader, please review it! And my offer still stands to any other indie authors (or authors in general): if you review my book, I'll buy and review yours. Even if you didn't buy mine but pirated it, so long as you write a review the deal still holds. I'm just that generous.
But if you did pirate it, you are a cheap jerkface because it was freaking 99 cents. Just sayin'.
Effulgent Corruption is going well, if slowly. I finally got some writing done (Persona 4 and stressful work has been taking a chunk out of my motivation, as well as trying to get the word about Paradise Seekers out) and I am really liking the direction the novel is going. I realized this is probably the longest I've spent on a novel since my first, which again is motivation to get the dumb thing finished.
I'd estimate part 4 is half way finished already. As I said before, these ending parts are going to go fast, which means I'm going to have to substantially trim the earlier ones. In either case, I'm really enjoying watch pieces come together, especially since stuff you learned from the other characters directly and indirectly apply to what is going on here. Educating the reader in one situation, then testing their education in another. I really dig this when I'm reading books, and it's been a downright blast to do it in my own work.
After EC, as I mentioned, I'm going to Gears of Anbar to wind down. I'm also considering what to do with Steelgods. It needs an edit, but beyond that I'm torn between throwing it up on Amazon as soon as possible (having a large register of novels on there would almost certainly help with publicity), or actually submit it for traditional publishing. While it isn't the strongest of my novels I really enjoy the story (especially since it's my first fully-plotted series) and would like to at least give it the change for traditional publishing. We'll see how that goes.
I also am going to need an edited/sharable version of Effulgent Corruption by August for WorldCon, so that's another goal for the near-future. Man, I am not a huge fan of editing. But I'll do it anyway!
Back to Paradise Seekers, if you happen to review it and post it on your blog, again I'll return the favor. I don't require much to be happy, and having people read my books makes me happy. Also, doughnuts. Those make me happy too.
That's all from me today. Going to try and blaze through Part 4 this week. Hopefully CONduit motivates me.
Except I have little to say.
Paradise Seekers aka The eBook Revolution now has a glorious five reviews, and only two of them are from writing group (hey, nobody said that was against the rules!). If you bought the book or were an alpha reader, please review it! And my offer still stands to any other indie authors (or authors in general): if you review my book, I'll buy and review yours. Even if you didn't buy mine but pirated it, so long as you write a review the deal still holds. I'm just that generous.
But if you did pirate it, you are a cheap jerkface because it was freaking 99 cents. Just sayin'.
Effulgent Corruption is going well, if slowly. I finally got some writing done (Persona 4 and stressful work has been taking a chunk out of my motivation, as well as trying to get the word about Paradise Seekers out) and I am really liking the direction the novel is going. I realized this is probably the longest I've spent on a novel since my first, which again is motivation to get the dumb thing finished.
I'd estimate part 4 is half way finished already. As I said before, these ending parts are going to go fast, which means I'm going to have to substantially trim the earlier ones. In either case, I'm really enjoying watch pieces come together, especially since stuff you learned from the other characters directly and indirectly apply to what is going on here. Educating the reader in one situation, then testing their education in another. I really dig this when I'm reading books, and it's been a downright blast to do it in my own work.
After EC, as I mentioned, I'm going to Gears of Anbar to wind down. I'm also considering what to do with Steelgods. It needs an edit, but beyond that I'm torn between throwing it up on Amazon as soon as possible (having a large register of novels on there would almost certainly help with publicity), or actually submit it for traditional publishing. While it isn't the strongest of my novels I really enjoy the story (especially since it's my first fully-plotted series) and would like to at least give it the change for traditional publishing. We'll see how that goes.
I also am going to need an edited/sharable version of Effulgent Corruption by August for WorldCon, so that's another goal for the near-future. Man, I am not a huge fan of editing. But I'll do it anyway!
Back to Paradise Seekers, if you happen to review it and post it on your blog, again I'll return the favor. I don't require much to be happy, and having people read my books makes me happy. Also, doughnuts. Those make me happy too.
That's all from me today. Going to try and blaze through Part 4 this week. Hopefully CONduit motivates me.
Amazon formatting can suck it.
on Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Warning: I'm mad.
Since I'm mad I'm going to try to be as polite as possible. But the point I'm trying to make is amazon's built-in converter for publishing on their site BLOWS and drove me up a wall.
Here is the timeline of what happened:
1. Book went up. I thought everything was fine.
2. Heard paragraphs were messed up. Bought my own book (amazon wouldn't give me a free copy of my own book?), checked formatting: yep, screwed up.
3. Tried to do it the easy way. Went into word and literally deleted every word on the page that had the three-paragraph indenting issue and rewrote it by hand. Still didn't fix it.
4. Tried putting it on Windows version of Word and converting it there. Didn't fix it.
5. Tried converting it to HTML and uploading it. This fixed the paragraphing issues, but for some reason on converting it to HTML Word decided I didn't need page breaks anymore.
6. Went into the raw HTML. Learned Word's conversion to HTML is literally the exact opposite of "optimized." Found a huge, indiscernable mess so I couldn't put in page breaks. Not to mention it underlined EVERYTHING in red because even though it was in HTML view the program wasn't smart enough to realize html tags probably aren't "misspelled."
7. Found the tag o n the amazon site. Tried to find Word's messy version of page-breaks in their bastardization of HTML but couldn't find it. Well, I did, but it wouldn't let me find-replace because apparantly 8 gb of ram isn't enough for Word for Mac: It must take it ALL, ALL THE TIME and therefore chugs like a broken steam train when trying to do anything in raw code.
8. Got the genius idea of putting the pagebreak code (the mbp thing) in the original document so I'd have an easier thing to find replace. Oh silly Nathan, you so crazy.
9. Turns out it turns a single word into about six lines of code. Really. But luckily I was still able to find everything and replace it with the right code. Everything seemed a-ok.
10. Tried to upload. Amazon rejected it. Cursing happened.
11. Resaved the document and it decided to work this time. Checked and now the cover image on the main page isn't centered. But hey, the page breaks are there! I swear Amazon is just playing with me now.
12. Said "EFF YOU AMAZON" and left the thing not centered. It'll take 2-3 days before the updated version is on the site. But hey, it's fixed.
So that was my evening. This was instead of writing Effulgent Corruption. I'm still confused why the page-breaks didn't make it over to html when everything else did. Whatever. I also never had these issues (the indenting) when I'd send emails to my free kindle email converter, only when I decided to try and publish. WHY IS THIS AMAZON HUH?
But hey, at least Amazon is on the ball. It's been two days and the Nook version still isn't up. So you have that.
Enough whining out of me. It's fixed, go get it in a couple days. Those who have read it, please write reviews. Thanks for listening to my obnoxious rant.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to gowrite Effulgent Corruption bed.
Since I'm mad I'm going to try to be as polite as possible. But the point I'm trying to make is amazon's built-in converter for publishing on their site BLOWS and drove me up a wall.
Here is the timeline of what happened:
1. Book went up. I thought everything was fine.
2. Heard paragraphs were messed up. Bought my own book (amazon wouldn't give me a free copy of my own book?), checked formatting: yep, screwed up.
3. Tried to do it the easy way. Went into word and literally deleted every word on the page that had the three-paragraph indenting issue and rewrote it by hand. Still didn't fix it.
4. Tried putting it on Windows version of Word and converting it there. Didn't fix it.
5. Tried converting it to HTML and uploading it. This fixed the paragraphing issues, but for some reason on converting it to HTML Word decided I didn't need page breaks anymore.
6. Went into the raw HTML. Learned Word's conversion to HTML is literally the exact opposite of "optimized." Found a huge, indiscernable mess so I couldn't put in page breaks. Not to mention it underlined EVERYTHING in red because even though it was in HTML view the program wasn't smart enough to realize html tags probably aren't "misspelled."
7. Found the tag
8. Got the genius idea of putting the pagebreak code (the mbp thing) in the original document so I'd have an easier thing to find replace. Oh silly Nathan, you so crazy.
9. Turns out it turns a single word into about six lines of code. Really. But luckily I was still able to find everything and replace it with the right code. Everything seemed a-ok.
10. Tried to upload. Amazon rejected it. Cursing happened.
11. Resaved the document and it decided to work this time. Checked and now the cover image on the main page isn't centered. But hey, the page breaks are there! I swear Amazon is just playing with me now.
12. Said "EFF YOU AMAZON" and left the thing not centered. It'll take 2-3 days before the updated version is on the site. But hey, it's fixed.
So that was my evening. This was instead of writing Effulgent Corruption. I'm still confused why the page-breaks didn't make it over to html when everything else did. Whatever. I also never had these issues (the indenting) when I'd send emails to my free kindle email converter, only when I decided to try and publish. WHY IS THIS AMAZON HUH?
But hey, at least Amazon is on the ball. It's been two days and the Nook version still isn't up. So you have that.
Enough whining out of me. It's fixed, go get it in a couple days. Those who have read it, please write reviews. Thanks for listening to my obnoxious rant.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go
Possible format change and Smashwords
on Tuesday, May 24, 2011
First off, you can get Paradise Seekers on Smashwords now. Lucky you. They have every file format known to man, so if you really want a PDF version for some reason (or the "Palm Pilot eBook" file format) then you are set.
Second, I'm considering a layout change for this blog so as to better link Paradise Seekers on the side, as well as provide more noticeable space for book updates. But if you read it on Google Reader (like I do) then this doesn't really matter.
That's about it from me. Time to write some more EC.
Second, I'm considering a layout change for this blog so as to better link Paradise Seekers on the side, as well as provide more noticeable space for book updates. But if you read it on Google Reader (like I do) then this doesn't really matter.
That's about it from me. Time to write some more EC.
BUY THIS CRAP
Hey, look, what's that? Is it...could it be?
ITS FREAKING PARADISE SEEKERS EBOOK.
YAY!
Now go buy/review it!
Also if you are following @TheUselessGod, you can retweet my obnoxiously boring message for a chance to win a free copy. You know, if $1 is out of your budget. ;)
Paradise Seekers eBook - Up Tonight for Reals!
Yeah I forgot it takes ~24 hours for an ebook to process before getting thrown up on Amazon/B&N. My bad.
Funny story: I fought with converter programs and formatting for weeks with this thing, culminating to me going onto my Windows side of my Mac Mini in order to download specific programs to convert my .doc to .mobi. It didn't work.
Then I read the actual upload instructions on Amazon and you can just throw a .doc on there. Guess what? It uploaded, converted perfectly, and was good to go. My weeks of work were for nothing.
DUR.
Though I did get an .epub copy, which was helpful considering b&n's online converter is kind of awful.
I also wrote a fair amount in Effulgent Corruption. The realization the last book I finished was Steelgods back on the last day of September is motivating me. That's way too far back. Granted, I've done extensive editing since then (and written over 200k since January), but that isn't helping my case.
Point being: I'm going to work hard to finish Effulgent Corruption ASAP. I'll then probably take a two week break and then unwind by writing The Gears of Anbar. Steelgods still needs editing, but I'll burn that bridge when it is absolutely necessary.
Also, on pricing...I'm considering pushing Paradise Seekers up to the $3 price point after it's been out a few months (we'll see how sales go). The reason is:
- It's a full book. Most $.99 things on the Kindle store are short stories (like 3-6k words). PS rolls in at about 70k words, with a 5k Steelgods "bonus" at the end.
- You get 35% royalties if it is under $3. If it is $3 or over you get 75% (minus a 15 cent "distribution" fee). For those not math inclined, I have to sell six copies of the $.99 Paradise Seekers to equate the profit of one $3 sale.
- The reason it's $0.99 is I don't care about money. If I sell ~100 copies I'll pay off the cover art (now you all know how much I paid for it) so I'll pull even on this experiment. I'm giving you a book that is worth more than 99 cents for cheap because I am all artsy and consider people actually reading it profit enough. Yes, I'm just that self-sacrificing. Also I'm very humble.
- However, if it starts selling a lot, then it might magically become about money. I like money. I also like being able to buy expensive toys (with the money). Which is when I'd bump up the price.
- I also am hoping it is a "gateway drug" for future books, which is why the first of Steelgods is tacked on the back. I'm only charging the $.99 because 1. It shows I still think the book is worth something; lots of free ebooks are just total crap because their authors know they are just experiments. 2. I need to pay off that cover art. :P
As you can see, I'm trying to be casual about this, but I'd still appreciate it if you bought and reviewed the book. And if you like it, promo it! Review it! I'd be extremely thankful, and if you link me the review I'll post it on here and be sure to review your stuff when it comes out (or if it is already out). Or I'll get my wife to review it, because she reads about 200x faster than I. Point being: You'll get a review.
That's enough from me, now you are all up in my head. Here's a bit from EC to prove I'm still writing it.
Funny story: I fought with converter programs and formatting for weeks with this thing, culminating to me going onto my Windows side of my Mac Mini in order to download specific programs to convert my .doc to .mobi. It didn't work.
Then I read the actual upload instructions on Amazon and you can just throw a .doc on there. Guess what? It uploaded, converted perfectly, and was good to go. My weeks of work were for nothing.
DUR.
Though I did get an .epub copy, which was helpful considering b&n's online converter is kind of awful.
I also wrote a fair amount in Effulgent Corruption. The realization the last book I finished was Steelgods back on the last day of September is motivating me. That's way too far back. Granted, I've done extensive editing since then (and written over 200k since January), but that isn't helping my case.
Point being: I'm going to work hard to finish Effulgent Corruption ASAP. I'll then probably take a two week break and then unwind by writing The Gears of Anbar. Steelgods still needs editing, but I'll burn that bridge when it is absolutely necessary.
Also, on pricing...I'm considering pushing Paradise Seekers up to the $3 price point after it's been out a few months (we'll see how sales go). The reason is:
- It's a full book. Most $.99 things on the Kindle store are short stories (like 3-6k words). PS rolls in at about 70k words, with a 5k Steelgods "bonus" at the end.
- You get 35% royalties if it is under $3. If it is $3 or over you get 75% (minus a 15 cent "distribution" fee). For those not math inclined, I have to sell six copies of the $.99 Paradise Seekers to equate the profit of one $3 sale.
- The reason it's $0.99 is I don't care about money. If I sell ~100 copies I'll pay off the cover art (now you all know how much I paid for it) so I'll pull even on this experiment. I'm giving you a book that is worth more than 99 cents for cheap because I am all artsy and consider people actually reading it profit enough. Yes, I'm just that self-sacrificing. Also I'm very humble.
- However, if it starts selling a lot, then it might magically become about money. I like money. I also like being able to buy expensive toys (with the money). Which is when I'd bump up the price.
- I also am hoping it is a "gateway drug" for future books, which is why the first of Steelgods is tacked on the back. I'm only charging the $.99 because 1. It shows I still think the book is worth something; lots of free ebooks are just total crap because their authors know they are just experiments. 2. I need to pay off that cover art. :P
As you can see, I'm trying to be casual about this, but I'd still appreciate it if you bought and reviewed the book. And if you like it, promo it! Review it! I'd be extremely thankful, and if you link me the review I'll post it on here and be sure to review your stuff when it comes out (or if it is already out). Or I'll get my wife to review it, because she reads about 200x faster than I. Point being: You'll get a review.
That's enough from me, now you are all up in my head. Here's a bit from EC to prove I'm still writing it.
Drake stared for a long moment. It had been years since he’d killed a man, and as he had strangled the life from *SPOILER* his mind had been awash with thoughts. Now, as Drake saw the still form before him, Drake thought he could hear screams. Battle cries, the clash of steel on steel and blades slicing through flesh. The crush of bone, the wailings of the wounded, the barks of commanders and the heat of Touched fire.
“You need not know those things, dear husband,” Marline’s voice was soothing. The memories ceased abruptly, like a dam blocking a small stream. Drake put his hands to his temples, a headache surging and resolving within a minute.
“What…” He tried to think back on the memories of battle, of death and leadership. It was fuzzy and empty, like so many others.
“It is not important now, my love,” Marline whispered gently. “Quickly, you must free your bonds and arm yourself before the Zealots react.”
Paradise Seekers eBook - Up tonight!
on Monday, May 23, 2011
I have a cover image, I put together what will (probably) be the final cover last night, and so tonight I'm going to finish formatting it and submit it to Amazon and Barnes and Noble for ebook publication.
Yay!
If you are reading this blog, you should totally buy it! It'll be freaking 99 cents for a full YA book, and you'll be supporting me and helping me tobuy more videogames get food and money and get published "for realsies."
Also, again, if you could write a review that would be extremely helpful. Though if you read it and think it should get like...one star...you could talk to me before posting it (I'm not saying you shouldn't, I'm saying I'd like to know why straight from the source, heh).
Here's a teaser of the cover. You can click it to enlarge.
Yay!
If you are reading this blog, you should totally buy it! It'll be freaking 99 cents for a full YA book, and you'll be supporting me and helping me to
Also, again, if you could write a review that would be extremely helpful. Though if you read it and think it should get like...one star...you could talk to me before posting it (I'm not saying you shouldn't, I'm saying I'd like to know why straight from the source, heh).
Here's a teaser of the cover. You can click it to enlarge.
Expect a more exciting, link-filled update tonight!
Also I'm still writing Effulgent Corruption. Now that this whole Paradise Seekers fiasco is over I can return to doing it full force. So that's good.
Finishing it up
on Saturday, May 21, 2011
Paradise Seekers is edited; just waiting on cover art now that is being worked on. I'll be sure and let you all know once it's good to go.
I also have been working on Effulgent Corruption, but I've been so busy this past week it's been a tad slow, to say the least. The good part is that Pat 4 will be substantially faster than the previous parts; I'm streamlining it so it'll be done quicker.
Aside from that not much is going down. It's the rapture in an hour, and I'll be at work. Oh well.
Oh, Paradise Seekers will be put on both the Kindle and Nook store, so if you are so inclined you can purchase it from either. Again, it'll be $0.99 on both.
I also have been working on Effulgent Corruption, but I've been so busy this past week it's been a tad slow, to say the least. The good part is that Pat 4 will be substantially faster than the previous parts; I'm streamlining it so it'll be done quicker.
Aside from that not much is going down. It's the rapture in an hour, and I'll be at work. Oh well.
Oh, Paradise Seekers will be put on both the Kindle and Nook store, so if you are so inclined you can purchase it from either. Again, it'll be $0.99 on both.
Paradise Seekers - Edits complete, on to formatting and cover art
on Tuesday, May 17, 2011
I must admit, I'm a bit excited for this.
I've got the edits done. Now I'm just trying to reach my artist (who is a busy man, so it is understandable) and figure out conversion. I also wrote a small amount in Effulgent Corruption, more of a token effort really. I was actually doing well but I had to leave to go to a broomball thing, and then I was so exhausted after I didn't get more written.
At least the edits are done.
My current goal (which kind of depends on my artist) is to have this thing out by Saturday at the latest. I'm also considering printing out cards with whatever art I get to pass out at Conduit, but we'll see if that actually happens.
I'm also close to finally beating Persona 3 after sinking over 50 hours in that dumb game. Just in time for Persona 4, which I bought as a reward for finishing Part 3/Paradise Seeker's edit. Yes, I reward myself by getting things that suck away my free time. I'm not the brightest.
Anyway...again, those who had review copies earlier I would appreciate a review. I would also appreciate it if you would purchase it (and maybe even re-read it) before review; it has seen substantial changes from the original draft, changes for the better. Though this previous edit wasn't as...extensive as the submission edit was, I did catch a plethora of sentence structure errors that should increase the flow of the novel substantially. I also cut down on words during the slower parts to keep the pace a bit faster.
Overall? I still hate editing, but having put this thing aside for a long period of time (It's been nearly a year since I wrote the first draft) has helped my editing a lot. After the submission draft I was convinced it was the worst thing anyone had ever written in the history of writing, and I couldn't understand why I was wasting my time submitting it when it was so awful. I'm a bit more optimistic about it now. I won't say its the best thing I've written, but it certainly is up there.
That's all from me. Expect some ebooking up here shortly! I'm also trying to figure out how to publish on B&N's Nook site, but they keep it so well hidden/buried I can't seem to find it. That or I'm blind, one or the other. I'll have to try a bit harder (and learn to convert things to ePub instead of Mobi...that will be a blast).
I've got the edits done. Now I'm just trying to reach my artist (who is a busy man, so it is understandable) and figure out conversion. I also wrote a small amount in Effulgent Corruption, more of a token effort really. I was actually doing well but I had to leave to go to a broomball thing, and then I was so exhausted after I didn't get more written.
At least the edits are done.
My current goal (which kind of depends on my artist) is to have this thing out by Saturday at the latest. I'm also considering printing out cards with whatever art I get to pass out at Conduit, but we'll see if that actually happens.
I'm also close to finally beating Persona 3 after sinking over 50 hours in that dumb game. Just in time for Persona 4, which I bought as a reward for finishing Part 3/Paradise Seeker's edit. Yes, I reward myself by getting things that suck away my free time. I'm not the brightest.
Anyway...again, those who had review copies earlier I would appreciate a review. I would also appreciate it if you would purchase it (and maybe even re-read it) before review; it has seen substantial changes from the original draft, changes for the better. Though this previous edit wasn't as...extensive as the submission edit was, I did catch a plethora of sentence structure errors that should increase the flow of the novel substantially. I also cut down on words during the slower parts to keep the pace a bit faster.
Overall? I still hate editing, but having put this thing aside for a long period of time (It's been nearly a year since I wrote the first draft) has helped my editing a lot. After the submission draft I was convinced it was the worst thing anyone had ever written in the history of writing, and I couldn't understand why I was wasting my time submitting it when it was so awful. I'm a bit more optimistic about it now. I won't say its the best thing I've written, but it certainly is up there.
That's all from me. Expect some ebooking up here shortly! I'm also trying to figure out how to publish on B&N's Nook site, but they keep it so well hidden/buried I can't seem to find it. That or I'm blind, one or the other. I'll have to try a bit harder (and learn to convert things to ePub instead of Mobi...that will be a blast).
Paradise Seekers - That is one sexy table of contents
on Monday, May 16, 2011
Seriously, it's lookin good.
My edits are almost all done. Bec is doing a quick run-through for minor edits, then I'll go in and fix them. I still have to figure out how to make the damn paragraphs indent (cursing was necessary; this is driving me NUTS), but aside from that it's pretty much good.
Minus me getting my artist to draw the cover. I told him I had to think about it; it looks like I'm going to go for it. At worst I'll have a cool fanart picture, right?
Now that editing is (nearly) over, I'm heading back to Effulgent Corruption for a burning blitzkrieg of writing. Wee.
More later.
My edits are almost all done. Bec is doing a quick run-through for minor edits, then I'll go in and fix them. I still have to figure out how to make the damn paragraphs indent (cursing was necessary; this is driving me NUTS), but aside from that it's pretty much good.
Minus me getting my artist to draw the cover. I told him I had to think about it; it looks like I'm going to go for it. At worst I'll have a cool fanart picture, right?
Now that editing is (nearly) over, I'm heading back to Effulgent Corruption for a burning blitzkrieg of writing. Wee.
More later.
Blogger is back, and so am I
on Friday, May 13, 2011
3k-ish yesterday. Totally, 100% unplanned scene. I thought it went ok, don't know if it'll make it through a final edit. Moving this section/part pretty fast as I want this to get done.
I have a few key news items to address. Man, I sound like a boring person when I said that.
Twitter
I now have dumb twitter. It isn't exciting, but it gives me something to do at work. I'm TheUselessGod (or Nathan Major) since for some reason I think Where Gods and Mortals Dance is still a good book despite re-reading it and only getting angry.
I will be talking about everything and nothing and crap and magic and all that goodness. So follow me and prepare to not care about anything I say.
Paradise Seekers vs Kindle
I'm going to (more than likely) throw Paradise Seekers up on the Kindle store after a final edit. I am not cashing all my chips in on this right now; I still fully intend to pursue traditional publishing with my adult fiction (and probably YA fiction).
However, I see this as an opportunity to test the waters, so to speak. I consider Paradise Seekers possibly my most "accessible" novel at this point, meaning it will find the broadest audience. It's also the most revised. If I were to put it up I'd do basic advertising here and among the other web circles I'm a part of.
Again, I'm not completely sold on the whole eBook frenzy a bunch of people (mostly indie authors) are getting themselves worked up about, but I do feel it is worth at least experimenting with. I might also put the Steelgods series up there should Paradise Seekers prove successful; considering I can write YA books in a month it would be easy to churn them out.
Also, if you have a Kindle, it would certainly be appreciated (once it comes out) if you, dear reader, would purchase a copy and review it on Amazon. Believe it or not, having a review (or more importantly, at least 10 for the double digit thing) is a huge deal on Amazon. It will be priced at a very reasonable $0.99 for a full length YA novel, so you are getting a good deal, ya? And if you have eBooks up I could return the favor. :)
Effulgent Corruption
Uh...not much to report. Still writing daily, no matter what. I even worked until 9 last night and still wrote (until 2 in the morning so now I'm dead tired, but still...got it done). I still think this is the best book I've ever written (even though it isn't done) and fully intend to finish it by the end of June at the latest. I'm also considering a "cooldown" of editing Steelgods and also writing the second Steelgods in the two months following. I'll then decide where to go from there.
Well, that's it from me. Thanks for reading, follow me on twitter, support my eBook fiasco, and we'll get along just fine. If you have eBooks for sale and I somehow missed it on your blog, throw up a link in the comments and I'll be sure to go buy a couple. Just know $0.99 is my most tempting price point (and if you give me a free review copy I'll give you a guaranteed five stars! Just kidding. Maybe.).
I have a few key news items to address. Man, I sound like a boring person when I said that.
I now have dumb twitter. It isn't exciting, but it gives me something to do at work. I'm TheUselessGod (or Nathan Major) since for some reason I think Where Gods and Mortals Dance is still a good book despite re-reading it and only getting angry.
I will be talking about everything and nothing and crap and magic and all that goodness. So follow me and prepare to not care about anything I say.
Paradise Seekers vs Kindle
I'm going to (more than likely) throw Paradise Seekers up on the Kindle store after a final edit. I am not cashing all my chips in on this right now; I still fully intend to pursue traditional publishing with my adult fiction (and probably YA fiction).
However, I see this as an opportunity to test the waters, so to speak. I consider Paradise Seekers possibly my most "accessible" novel at this point, meaning it will find the broadest audience. It's also the most revised. If I were to put it up I'd do basic advertising here and among the other web circles I'm a part of.
Again, I'm not completely sold on the whole eBook frenzy a bunch of people (mostly indie authors) are getting themselves worked up about, but I do feel it is worth at least experimenting with. I might also put the Steelgods series up there should Paradise Seekers prove successful; considering I can write YA books in a month it would be easy to churn them out.
Also, if you have a Kindle, it would certainly be appreciated (once it comes out) if you, dear reader, would purchase a copy and review it on Amazon. Believe it or not, having a review (or more importantly, at least 10 for the double digit thing) is a huge deal on Amazon. It will be priced at a very reasonable $0.99 for a full length YA novel, so you are getting a good deal, ya? And if you have eBooks up I could return the favor. :)
Effulgent Corruption
Uh...not much to report. Still writing daily, no matter what. I even worked until 9 last night and still wrote (until 2 in the morning so now I'm dead tired, but still...got it done). I still think this is the best book I've ever written (even though it isn't done) and fully intend to finish it by the end of June at the latest. I'm also considering a "cooldown" of editing Steelgods and also writing the second Steelgods in the two months following. I'll then decide where to go from there.
Well, that's it from me. Thanks for reading, follow me on twitter, support my eBook fiasco, and we'll get along just fine. If you have eBooks for sale and I somehow missed it on your blog, throw up a link in the comments and I'll be sure to go buy a couple. Just know $0.99 is my most tempting price point (and if you give me a free review copy I'll give you a guaranteed five stars! Just kidding. Maybe.).
10,000 words in three days = not bad.
on Thursday, March 17, 2011
I wrote a ton yesterday, finishing up the "interlude" that I needed to add. It was huge. Much too huge. Editing: I choose you!
I don't have much more to say. I am considering sending some of my YA books (Paradise Seekers, Steelgods) to a smaller publishing house, such as the local Shadow Mountain. It at least would be a rewarding experience, and we'll see where it goes. I still fully intend to continue writing and attempting to market adult books to both agents and the "Big Six," but for now I have a large collection of YA books (including a potential series) that I wouldn't mind seeing some recognition.
Not much more else to say. Work is going well but is busy, but it IS helping motivate me to write in the evenings. I'm feeling relatively confident, but we'll see how long that lasts once I'm on the phones by myself.
Picking up Wise Man's Fear again, with intention of finishing it. It's such a well written book; I'm loving it to death. Even if one could argue the plot itself moves a bit slow, the wonderful narrator and fantastic prose make it easy to read. I wish I could write this good.
To prove I can't, I have an extra long quote for you. This is the end of a chapter that is about three chapters from the end of part 2.
Also, for the record, EC is ~111k right now. If each part is the same length, that would mean the final product would be 333k. That would be both amazing and horrifying, so I'm shooting to make the other parts shorter.
Quote:
I don't have much more to say. I am considering sending some of my YA books (Paradise Seekers, Steelgods) to a smaller publishing house, such as the local Shadow Mountain. It at least would be a rewarding experience, and we'll see where it goes. I still fully intend to continue writing and attempting to market adult books to both agents and the "Big Six," but for now I have a large collection of YA books (including a potential series) that I wouldn't mind seeing some recognition.
Not much more else to say. Work is going well but is busy, but it IS helping motivate me to write in the evenings. I'm feeling relatively confident, but we'll see how long that lasts once I'm on the phones by myself.
Picking up Wise Man's Fear again, with intention of finishing it. It's such a well written book; I'm loving it to death. Even if one could argue the plot itself moves a bit slow, the wonderful narrator and fantastic prose make it easy to read. I wish I could write this good.
To prove I can't, I have an extra long quote for you. This is the end of a chapter that is about three chapters from the end of part 2.
Also, for the record, EC is ~111k right now. If each part is the same length, that would mean the final product would be 333k. That would be both amazing and horrifying, so I'm shooting to make the other parts shorter.
Quote:
Ciara was silent, the rain falling harder. Lightning and a blast of thunder accented the already dreary scene, the sound rolling across the valley and causing the leaves on the trees to tremble. Still, she stared at Thomas.
And for that moment she believed him. As she looked across his set jaw, his determined eyes and rain-soaked hair, Ciara saw someone else. The impish bookworm she knew was gone, the boy replaced by a man. A man refined by impossible circumstances. A man accepting unbelievable realities and still pressing forward.
The man she had always loved.
She reached forward and touched his chin, the emerging beard poking through the thin gloves. She turned Thomas’ face towards hers, staring deep into his dark eyes.
“Thomas,” she whispered, refusing to break the gaze. “Tell me we can do this.”
Thomas’ lip curled ever so slightly to a smile, and his eyes softened. “I won’t say we can. I’ll say we will.”
Ciara was swept up in his sudden embrace, strong arms holding her tightly as she pressed against his rain-drenched shirt. Despite the assault of confusing emotions Ciara still did not cry, her fear and worry slowly melting away, pooling under her like the rainwater. Thomas held her to him for a long moment, head still high, hair slicked back from the rain.
At last the separated, and when they did Ciara saw a smile – a real one – etched across Thomas’ face.
“I think,” he said, “that maybe we can do this after all.”
Ciara pressed a finger to his lips, indicating he be silent. “I won’t say we can,” she smiled wide, “I’ll say we will.”
Effulgent Corruption: Back in Black
on Monday, March 14, 2011
A little over 2k today, I'm back in the groove. A few things of note that don't really matter to anybody reading but I'm going to say them anyway because then I'll remember.
- I'm going to have to go back and add a chapter (and add a bit on the front of another chapter) between two others to make the second part flow better. I don't want to make this dumb thing any longer (it's already huge), but it cheapens a rather dramatic scene to not have proper build up, so I'm going to go back and add build-up. You won't even know it happened and that it's all artificially added after the fact. So ha!
- I beat Pokemon White. So I should have a vast increase in productivity. Theoretically.
- Part 2 is almost done. I'm guessing I have three to four chapters total left (including the one I left out). I'll probably go back and add that chapter tomorrow, then close out the part on Wednesday. I'm guessing it'll end at about 120k, making part 2 around 50k. I've said it a billion times but here I go again: this book is going to be huge.
- On that note, I'm already considering what exactly to trim and what to keep. Editing Paradise Seekers was good for me because it taught me that sometimes it is necessary to rewrite entire sections or cut entire chunks of book. The other major edit my books need is the "loose ends" edit. Often I mention things that I intend to bring up later, but since I discovery write the item didn't stick so it just...is there. Paradise Seekers is full of them, and Steelgods STILL has one that drives me crazy that I missed in editing (calling a non-Graffiting hand an "off hand" at the beginning of the book and NEVER USING THE TERM AGAIN EVER). Anyway, the point of all this is that I'll be both cleaning up and trimming.
- On THAT note, the part that I currently think needs the most revising is actually the part my writing group just finished. All I've submitted thus far was rewrites/reedits of what I wrote back in July when I first attempted this thing. Because of this, I've found the prose can be strong but the actual pacing doesn't match the rest of the book. It's slower than the YA, but not THAT slow and exposition heavy. I'm going to attempt (after finishing) another re-edit, and if it still doesn't work I may just scrap it all and rewrite it all dry (much like I did for the first 3 chapters of Paradise Seekers).
- Despite this [Effulgent Corruption] being huge, I still feel like I'm rushing through it. Drake's first part ends a bit too fast for my liking (though in a re-read I may consider otherwise), and Ciara's is just racing like wildfire. I'm sure I'll hear the other end from the readers ("It's too long!"), but I can't shake the nagging feeling there should be more stuff happening before the part's climax/conclusion. Ah well, pacing. I'll figure it out.
- I'm scared to set a goal, but I think I will anyway: End of April I'll need to be in part five at the latest. Part six is the last part, so I want this done by end of May. If I'm super amazing I'll be done by end April, then I'll have a month off (where I'll probably edit and submit Steelgods) before doing a June binge write (just like Paradise Seekers was last year).
I'm glad to be writing again. I also have a feeling my job (which I am taking calls for the first time tomorrow, then actually doing the job next Monday) will allow for a decent amount of free time. I've already decided that I'm going to write at least 1k at work a day, and try to devote all down-time writing as well. We'll see how much I can actually get done.
That's it from me. Time to go critique some writing group stuff.
- I'm going to have to go back and add a chapter (and add a bit on the front of another chapter) between two others to make the second part flow better. I don't want to make this dumb thing any longer (it's already huge), but it cheapens a rather dramatic scene to not have proper build up, so I'm going to go back and add build-up. You won't even know it happened and that it's all artificially added after the fact. So ha!
- I beat Pokemon White. So I should have a vast increase in productivity. Theoretically.
- Part 2 is almost done. I'm guessing I have three to four chapters total left (including the one I left out). I'll probably go back and add that chapter tomorrow, then close out the part on Wednesday. I'm guessing it'll end at about 120k, making part 2 around 50k. I've said it a billion times but here I go again: this book is going to be huge.
- On that note, I'm already considering what exactly to trim and what to keep. Editing Paradise Seekers was good for me because it taught me that sometimes it is necessary to rewrite entire sections or cut entire chunks of book. The other major edit my books need is the "loose ends" edit. Often I mention things that I intend to bring up later, but since I discovery write the item didn't stick so it just...is there. Paradise Seekers is full of them, and Steelgods STILL has one that drives me crazy that I missed in editing (calling a non-Graffiting hand an "off hand" at the beginning of the book and NEVER USING THE TERM AGAIN EVER). Anyway, the point of all this is that I'll be both cleaning up and trimming.
- On THAT note, the part that I currently think needs the most revising is actually the part my writing group just finished. All I've submitted thus far was rewrites/reedits of what I wrote back in July when I first attempted this thing. Because of this, I've found the prose can be strong but the actual pacing doesn't match the rest of the book. It's slower than the YA, but not THAT slow and exposition heavy. I'm going to attempt (after finishing) another re-edit, and if it still doesn't work I may just scrap it all and rewrite it all dry (much like I did for the first 3 chapters of Paradise Seekers).
- Despite this [Effulgent Corruption] being huge, I still feel like I'm rushing through it. Drake's first part ends a bit too fast for my liking (though in a re-read I may consider otherwise), and Ciara's is just racing like wildfire. I'm sure I'll hear the other end from the readers ("It's too long!"), but I can't shake the nagging feeling there should be more stuff happening before the part's climax/conclusion. Ah well, pacing. I'll figure it out.
- I'm scared to set a goal, but I think I will anyway: End of April I'll need to be in part five at the latest. Part six is the last part, so I want this done by end of May. If I'm super amazing I'll be done by end April, then I'll have a month off (where I'll probably edit and submit Steelgods) before doing a June binge write (just like Paradise Seekers was last year).
I'm glad to be writing again. I also have a feeling my job (which I am taking calls for the first time tomorrow, then actually doing the job next Monday) will allow for a decent amount of free time. I've already decided that I'm going to write at least 1k at work a day, and try to devote all down-time writing as well. We'll see how much I can actually get done.
That's it from me. Time to go critique some writing group stuff.
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