I cannot tell you how much I love the idea of making a book trailer. Aside from being an author, my greatest dream is being an actor. Furthermore, I know lots of actors, so conscripting some talent wouldn't be hard. Ditto for a lot of the other talent - costumes, props, film editing, etc - that goes into making a film clip of any length. The budget may be tight, but I bet I can get it done.
Even if I can't get a full-on filming done, a voice-only book trailer is also a possibility. While the next story of the Wandering Tale ripens for awhile, that's what I've been doing; writing the script for both a film and pure audio version of the teaser. It's both great fun and very challenging. I discovered when writing the original synopsis and queries and summaries for my book that it's damned hard to just condense 160k words into less than five hundred. The summary you can find in this post is one of the better ones I managed to write, and I'm still not particularly happy with it. It's yet another skill that the indie author needs to hone, but all-too-often isn't warned about until the time comes to use it.
Either way, writing a teaser script is fun. It isn't my first foray into script-writing, at least, and being a performer myself I have some sense of what can and will sound good when actually given voice. That's another fun aspect - I've been playing around with Audacity and my mic, recording the most dramatic lines over and over and adjusting the pitch and what not. It's amazing how much cooler these things sound when you bring the audio down a couple octaves. Deep voices are one way to hack the human perception of coolness, I'm sure.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Monday, April 9, 2012
The Giant of Tidesmouth
For anyone who is interesting and/or keeping track: I've finished the next story in the Wandering Tale, titled The Giant of the Tidesmouth. This one is more action-heavy than the previous tales, and the violence is a bit more explicit and center-stage. This is an exception and not the rule. I enjoy writing a good fight, but the Wandering Tale was and is not meant as a gore-fest, nor will it become so.
I still need to do the edits, and in order to do that properly I need to leave the first draft on a digital shelf for a time. My usual time frame for that is at least two weeks (preferably a month) of not looking at the story itself, but I'll be condensing that this time in light of the fact that I am behind schedule. I aim to have the story published in about a week.
I still need to do the edits, and in order to do that properly I need to leave the first draft on a digital shelf for a time. My usual time frame for that is at least two weeks (preferably a month) of not looking at the story itself, but I'll be condensing that this time in light of the fact that I am behind schedule. I aim to have the story published in about a week.
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Seduced by the Indie Scene
I think I've made up my mind.
I've been studying the publishing industry for years - since high school - because I decided I wanted to be an author. I think I know quite a bit about it. Over the last few years though, it has been changing rapidly. The things I learned when I first started looking at the whole business are beginning to erode.
All in all, I'd rather be on the cutting edge of the new wave than crashing into the beach with the old one.
In other words, I've decided to focus my energy on self-publishing for now. I've got a small list of maybe ten agents I still want to query. After I receive their rejections (just going with the odds, there) I'm done chasing that traditional route. Thus, chances are that I will be publishing my first novel sometime around June-July (by my current timetable). It's a big decision, but to be honest I'm just happy to have made it.
I've been studying the publishing industry for years - since high school - because I decided I wanted to be an author. I think I know quite a bit about it. Over the last few years though, it has been changing rapidly. The things I learned when I first started looking at the whole business are beginning to erode.
All in all, I'd rather be on the cutting edge of the new wave than crashing into the beach with the old one.
In other words, I've decided to focus my energy on self-publishing for now. I've got a small list of maybe ten agents I still want to query. After I receive their rejections (just going with the odds, there) I'm done chasing that traditional route. Thus, chances are that I will be publishing my first novel sometime around June-July (by my current timetable). It's a big decision, but to be honest I'm just happy to have made it.
My first novel is titled Twixt Heaven and Hell. It's epic fantasy focusing on the years just after Angels and Demons make contact with the mortal world. Here's one of the query letters I've been sending out to agents:
When the wizard Darius and his elite soldiers, the Gryphons, come across a devastated village deep within their own lands, they do not hesitate to pursue the enemy soldiers who had slaughtered their people. Before they are caught, the murderers disappear in a night of fire – leaving only ash in their wake. The power of the Enemy had grown.
Darius rushes back to the mighty city of Bastion to warn his leaders. However, the High Council - 'wisest' of the wizards in Bastion - are more concerned with keeping Darius in line than in fighting the war. They constantly seek to check him with orders that keep him out of trouble. Fortunately, Darius has never been one to let orders get in his way.
So... does that sound like something you'd like to read, or should I change my mind again?As the War grows ever more destructive. Darius must prevail not only against his own leaders but also against the machinations of the enemy warlord Mertoris Traigan - a former soldier whose cruel brilliance has given him control over a society dominated by sorcerers and Demons. Darius must tread a careful path between disobedience and betrayal as he seeks to unravel the secret of the Enemy's new power, enlisting the help of Angels and men alike. For though Angel and Demon may be doomed to strive against each other for all eternity, Darius dreams of a future without the War. Darius dreams of a day when his people need no longer give their lives to the ancient conflict, or suffer at the hands of their enemy.
Darius dreams of victory - and of peace.
Monday, April 2, 2012
Persistance and (im)Patience
Some authors are very vocal about turning their back on traditional publishing. JA Konrath is almost iconic in this sense. Here is a man who has slogged through the mud of the old process, as it were. He went through the whole Published Hero's Journey: The Call to Agents, the Endless Refusal of those calls, the Supernatural Persistence (wrote multiple novels before he was published), Eventual Representation, Continued Rejection (by publishers, this time!), and finally the triumph of netting that big author advance and becoming the real deal.
... and now he's advising people not to do all that, but to self-publish instead. Okay, I don't actually remember if that's what he is advising - I only remember that that is what HE is doing. Has stated he will never attempt to traditionally publish again, because he makes more money as a self-published author.
Interesting.
Now, I'm sure there are still advantages to going the traditional route, even if they all amount to one basic thing: An air of legitimacy. Your work has passed muster with the people who make their living in 'the biz' and that gives you bragging rights.
There is, of course, a fine distinction to be made. Being published by a traditional publishing house means that somebody, somewhere, thought your work would sell.
That doesn't necessarily mean it's good. I'm sure we can all think of some examples.
Without getting too far into what separates the 'successful' from the 'good' (A strong case could be made, I'm sure, that they are really one and the same!) let me just state the point as it pertains to me: Just because something wasn't accepted by the agents and publishers doesn't mean it wasn't good. It means they didn't think they could make enough money off it to justify the work.
Independent publishing changes that. You don't need teams of people. ePublishing, even more so. Now we can publish books with an overhead of precisely nil. Zero. Donut. That means that even modest sales are profit.
There remains, though, that issue of validation. Sure, I can go it alone. Stop chasing the traditional route. Dedicate all my writerly energy to self-publishing. It'd be easier in the short term, certainly. There will remain, though, a question lurking in the back of my brain:
Am I self publishing because I think it is a viable route and better in the long run - or because the traditional industry rejected my first attempts?
After all, I am no JA Konrath. I have been submitting one novel - my first novel. Plenty of other folks did that, got rejected, and wrote their second novel. Then the third, and fourth, and so on until they were published (I will live forever or die trying!).
Then again, if the self-ePublishing option had existed back then, would they still have done the same?
... and now he's advising people not to do all that, but to self-publish instead. Okay, I don't actually remember if that's what he is advising - I only remember that that is what HE is doing. Has stated he will never attempt to traditionally publish again, because he makes more money as a self-published author.
Interesting.
Now, I'm sure there are still advantages to going the traditional route, even if they all amount to one basic thing: An air of legitimacy. Your work has passed muster with the people who make their living in 'the biz' and that gives you bragging rights.
There is, of course, a fine distinction to be made. Being published by a traditional publishing house means that somebody, somewhere, thought your work would sell.
That doesn't necessarily mean it's good. I'm sure we can all think of some examples.
Without getting too far into what separates the 'successful' from the 'good' (A strong case could be made, I'm sure, that they are really one and the same!) let me just state the point as it pertains to me: Just because something wasn't accepted by the agents and publishers doesn't mean it wasn't good. It means they didn't think they could make enough money off it to justify the work.
Independent publishing changes that. You don't need teams of people. ePublishing, even more so. Now we can publish books with an overhead of precisely nil. Zero. Donut. That means that even modest sales are profit.
There remains, though, that issue of validation. Sure, I can go it alone. Stop chasing the traditional route. Dedicate all my writerly energy to self-publishing. It'd be easier in the short term, certainly. There will remain, though, a question lurking in the back of my brain:
Am I self publishing because I think it is a viable route and better in the long run - or because the traditional industry rejected my first attempts?
After all, I am no JA Konrath. I have been submitting one novel - my first novel. Plenty of other folks did that, got rejected, and wrote their second novel. Then the third, and fourth, and so on until they were published (I will live forever or die trying!).
Then again, if the self-ePublishing option had existed back then, would they still have done the same?
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Professional = Deadlines
The Giant of Tidesmouth won't be out on time. "On time" was supposed to be by the end of the month, and the story itself may well be finished by then, but in a completely unedited state. Unlike Three Fingers of Death, which required fairly little editing, I suspect Giant is going to need a heavy hand on the cleaver.
Not that I suspect anyone is waiting for the next Wandering Tale story with baited breath. Nobody will notice if it doesn't arrive on time or get on my case about it. The fact is, the only one setting these deadlines is myself. I'm trying to work my way into the life of a professional fiction writer, and I damn well know that it will help to act the part even before I'm there. Thus, the deadlines, and the desire to hold myself to them.
It's funny - the first time I decided to write something seriously was due to my hatred of deadlines. I wrote a story when I was in second grade, for school, but it was due before I could make it really good (to my seven-year-old mind). I tried again in third grade, and it got a lot longer. Then I had an epiphany: Why bother writing it for school?
I worked on the 'full version' of that story for years. Until I was twelve or thirteen, I think. I abandoned it after realizing that I'd come up with the plot when I was eight, and it was just as derivative and self-insertion heavy as you could imagine. Still, it was a beginning. All without a deadline.
Of course, the reason I was writing it for years without any end in sight is partially because there was no deadline. No deadline means no pressure, and no pressure means it will likely never get done. I will endlessly tinker with a story long after the point when it should have been done, even if I finished the first version ages ago. "Stories are never finished - only abandoned," as the saying goes.
I also know that even a self-published professional author needs to be producing new things if he wants to stay a professional author, and so I thought it a good idea to get into the habit of writing on a deadline more. Sadly, the fact is that because it brings me scant little income (so far...) writing has to be one of the first things that gets pushed aside when other responsibilities await. These last couple of months have been thick with them.
I promise myself, though - or rather, threaten myself - that come summer, I will be keeping to my deadlines. Or else I won't get any dessert.
Not that I suspect anyone is waiting for the next Wandering Tale story with baited breath. Nobody will notice if it doesn't arrive on time or get on my case about it. The fact is, the only one setting these deadlines is myself. I'm trying to work my way into the life of a professional fiction writer, and I damn well know that it will help to act the part even before I'm there. Thus, the deadlines, and the desire to hold myself to them.
It's funny - the first time I decided to write something seriously was due to my hatred of deadlines. I wrote a story when I was in second grade, for school, but it was due before I could make it really good (to my seven-year-old mind). I tried again in third grade, and it got a lot longer. Then I had an epiphany: Why bother writing it for school?
I worked on the 'full version' of that story for years. Until I was twelve or thirteen, I think. I abandoned it after realizing that I'd come up with the plot when I was eight, and it was just as derivative and self-insertion heavy as you could imagine. Still, it was a beginning. All without a deadline.
Of course, the reason I was writing it for years without any end in sight is partially because there was no deadline. No deadline means no pressure, and no pressure means it will likely never get done. I will endlessly tinker with a story long after the point when it should have been done, even if I finished the first version ages ago. "Stories are never finished - only abandoned," as the saying goes.
I also know that even a self-published professional author needs to be producing new things if he wants to stay a professional author, and so I thought it a good idea to get into the habit of writing on a deadline more. Sadly, the fact is that because it brings me scant little income (so far...) writing has to be one of the first things that gets pushed aside when other responsibilities await. These last couple of months have been thick with them.
I promise myself, though - or rather, threaten myself - that come summer, I will be keeping to my deadlines. Or else I won't get any dessert.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
A Watched Pot...
Maybe it is just a sign that I watch my book download stats far, far too closely (though from what I can gather, this is true of damn near all self-published authors, even the really successful ones) but I've noticed that I haven't sold anything since Saturday!
And here I thought the luck o' the Irish would help me out, being half Irish and all. Hmph!
In other news, I seem to be trying to write both the next two entries of The Wandering Tale at the same time. I keep needing to pry the later story out of the current one. Must... stick... to the point... of the series...
And here I thought the luck o' the Irish would help me out, being half Irish and all. Hmph!
In other news, I seem to be trying to write both the next two entries of The Wandering Tale at the same time. I keep needing to pry the later story out of the current one. Must... stick... to the point... of the series...
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Lessons from the Roundtable Podcast
I was recently a guest writer on The Roundtable Podcast's second episode. I was 'pitching' the idea for a science fiction book, and the idea is that they match me up with a veteran writer who, along with the two hosts of the podcast itself, will help me refine the initial idea into a superior form.
I met one of the hosts, Dave Robison, through the Mythic Scribes forums. He read some of the work I had put up and has been very generous with his support and advice, especially in all things podcasting (which I intend to follow up with as soon as spring - and leisure time - rolls around).
I'll be touching on the following points in this followup:
-My Preparation/Performance
-The Suggestions of the Roundtable
-Additional Thoughts on the Process
My Performance:
I think that my pitch, in hindsight, was poor. Sadly I could not have devoted much more time to it when this was recorded. I was bringing up too many technicalities and 'neat' details when I should have been dealing more with larger points of the story and leave the details out - or bring them up later when they are more pertinent.
After that, I think I improved. I've always been open to sincerely-offered criticism and am a member of a regular online workshop.
The Suggestions:
Overall, very insightful and helpful. It was especially useful that Nathan Lowell and I think about story telling in rather different ways. For interest, one topic that came up early and often was the concern over theme. As I mentioned in the podcast, I don't do themes - not consciously, at least. I do not write a story with the intent of pushing a theme or a moral. Some of them will certainly emerge (that is probably inevitable) and if there is a good one I might try to polish it a bit.
However, because of the way I feel about the interpretation of fiction (and all art, for that matter) I don't usually bother trying to clarify my interpretation of my own stories. Fiction can be both a lens and a mirror, but it is up to the reader to determine which it will be at any given point.
A couple more subjects that came up:
Early Story/Impact of Galactic Civilization - As to the possibility of taking the Avatar route, nah. Done too famously and too recently. Plus, I definitely want to stick with the idea of a resource-poor planet retarding the tech development of Proto's species. The idea of social conquest (or pollution, as it was put in the podcast) is very much attractive to me, though. The impact of high technology on the various clans is something I'll be putting a great deal more thought into.
All Aliens? - I think we were tripped up by my casual use of the term. I of course did not mean to suggest that my characters were utterly alien. I simply meant that they were not of the species homo sapiens. There shouldn't be any problem creating a sympathetic character of another species, as we've seen in countless sci-fi and fantasy stories.
Why is the Spaceport there? - Upon more reflection, this isn't as important a question as I was starting to think it might be. Certainly, there needs to be a reason, but beyond certain parameters (not heavily used, not there for mining extraction) I think it can remain up in the air for awhile longer.
One Book? - Possibly the most important thing I was reminded of in the podcast! Thank you Nathan! In my hurry to tell the story about the Big Dumb Neat Event (Proto's transformation) I was ignoring the fact that I have a lot of background that I need to explore. My readers need to be comfortable with both Proto as a character and the rest of the (fictional) universe before I can go turning it on its head. I'm now thinking the first book might cover an arc that ends after Proto becomes a merc, but not too far after. There is also still the possibility of a first book dealing entirely with Proto on his home planet, in exile. Won't know until I write it!
Additional Thoughts:
A suggestion to other guest writers: I think the best criteria for the story ideas you bring to the Roundtable are ones that you have serious reservations with, but plenty of ideas for. Dave and Brion are both very creative people, and the veterans they're lining up are top-notch as well. Let them help you smooth out those issues. Furthermore, let them help you consolidate all those ideas into an actual storyline - that seemed to be the way Episode 2 went. All in all, I think this is the best of my story ideas I could have brought to them. I'm glad I picked it.
My voice: I sounded like a dork, but oh well. :) Nobody likes the sound of their voice on a recording...
There are no doubt other things I forgot, but this post is getting too long as it is. Thank you David, Brion, and Nathan for your help and your support!
I met one of the hosts, Dave Robison, through the Mythic Scribes forums. He read some of the work I had put up and has been very generous with his support and advice, especially in all things podcasting (which I intend to follow up with as soon as spring - and leisure time - rolls around).
I'll be touching on the following points in this followup:
-My Preparation/Performance
-The Suggestions of the Roundtable
-Additional Thoughts on the Process
My Performance:
I think that my pitch, in hindsight, was poor. Sadly I could not have devoted much more time to it when this was recorded. I was bringing up too many technicalities and 'neat' details when I should have been dealing more with larger points of the story and leave the details out - or bring them up later when they are more pertinent.
After that, I think I improved. I've always been open to sincerely-offered criticism and am a member of a regular online workshop.
The Suggestions:
Overall, very insightful and helpful. It was especially useful that Nathan Lowell and I think about story telling in rather different ways. For interest, one topic that came up early and often was the concern over theme. As I mentioned in the podcast, I don't do themes - not consciously, at least. I do not write a story with the intent of pushing a theme or a moral. Some of them will certainly emerge (that is probably inevitable) and if there is a good one I might try to polish it a bit.
However, because of the way I feel about the interpretation of fiction (and all art, for that matter) I don't usually bother trying to clarify my interpretation of my own stories. Fiction can be both a lens and a mirror, but it is up to the reader to determine which it will be at any given point.
A couple more subjects that came up:
Early Story/Impact of Galactic Civilization - As to the possibility of taking the Avatar route, nah. Done too famously and too recently. Plus, I definitely want to stick with the idea of a resource-poor planet retarding the tech development of Proto's species. The idea of social conquest (or pollution, as it was put in the podcast) is very much attractive to me, though. The impact of high technology on the various clans is something I'll be putting a great deal more thought into.
All Aliens? - I think we were tripped up by my casual use of the term. I of course did not mean to suggest that my characters were utterly alien. I simply meant that they were not of the species homo sapiens. There shouldn't be any problem creating a sympathetic character of another species, as we've seen in countless sci-fi and fantasy stories.
Why is the Spaceport there? - Upon more reflection, this isn't as important a question as I was starting to think it might be. Certainly, there needs to be a reason, but beyond certain parameters (not heavily used, not there for mining extraction) I think it can remain up in the air for awhile longer.
One Book? - Possibly the most important thing I was reminded of in the podcast! Thank you Nathan! In my hurry to tell the story about the Big Dumb Neat Event (Proto's transformation) I was ignoring the fact that I have a lot of background that I need to explore. My readers need to be comfortable with both Proto as a character and the rest of the (fictional) universe before I can go turning it on its head. I'm now thinking the first book might cover an arc that ends after Proto becomes a merc, but not too far after. There is also still the possibility of a first book dealing entirely with Proto on his home planet, in exile. Won't know until I write it!
Additional Thoughts:
A suggestion to other guest writers: I think the best criteria for the story ideas you bring to the Roundtable are ones that you have serious reservations with, but plenty of ideas for. Dave and Brion are both very creative people, and the veterans they're lining up are top-notch as well. Let them help you smooth out those issues. Furthermore, let them help you consolidate all those ideas into an actual storyline - that seemed to be the way Episode 2 went. All in all, I think this is the best of my story ideas I could have brought to them. I'm glad I picked it.
My voice: I sounded like a dork, but oh well. :) Nobody likes the sound of their voice on a recording...
There are no doubt other things I forgot, but this post is getting too long as it is. Thank you David, Brion, and Nathan for your help and your support!
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