Feeding the e-Beast: will the eBook revolution overwhelm authors? #writing #reading

Posted on May 23, 2012 by

I just read a very interesting article published in the Christian Science Monitor. It was actually published almost a week ago, but I was so busy I had to save it for later. I’m glad I came back to it.

Like feeding the Sarlacc popcorn. There’s just not enough

The article, entitled How fast can they write? E-books push writer productivity, written by Husna Haq, gives some pretty surprising examples of how the appetite for digital content is pushing writers to produce at never before seen levels. Where once an author who published once per year was considered impressive, we live in a world where some well known authors are publishing two or more novels per year. James Patterson wrote or co-wrote 12 novels last year, and plans on writing 13 next year.

There are two sides of this that are immediately striking. The first, partially alluded to in the article, is what drives this demand: the people want to read. For aspiring authors, this desire, fueled by easy access to quality ebooks, is in turn creating exciting opportunities. Of course, it’s up to us to create content readers want to buy.

The second is what this demand might do to the quality of novels being churned out so quickly. Can even talented authors maintain quality when publishing so much so quickly? And take that a step farther for indie authors: for those who are trying to write tons of content, but eschew professional editing, what does that do to the name of the author?

Points to ponder. But I think we should take the positive lesson from this article. There’s  a market out there that wants to read. So now we need to make sure we’re delivering content to help fill that need.

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The Accidental Astronomer: Watching the Eclipse from the Fringe

Posted on May 21, 2012 by

My neighbor called me up yesterday afternoon. “I’m setting up my telescope to watch the eclipse. Want to come?”

If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you probably know that I routinely repost/tweet images from NASA. I think of them as science fiction writing prompts. I’m a passionate (but passive) astronomy fan, and I was just speaking with my wife earlier that morning about how it would be nice to see the eclipse somehow. But not only did I not have the right equipment, I’m located in Ohio. I wasn’t all that sure what I’d be able to see anyway. So when my neighbor offered me a chance to tag along, I jumped at it. And besides that, I thought I could mentally record the experience for a future story.

We found a site pretty quickly, at the north end of a small airfield. We got to work immediately setting up the telescope. And by “we” I mean Roger, my neighbor. I contributed by 1) tightening one lug nut, and 2) trying not to break the approximately $8000 worth of equipment.

One highlight was when, as Roger prepared to calibrate the telescope, he looked at this digital display on the control pad. He squinted and said “I need to get my sunshield.” Sounded pretty cool to me. Here’s the picture:

You laymen might have called it a “t-shirt.” Shows what you know.

The setup took about twenty minutes, and soon the telescope was tracking the sun.

Tracking the Sun

We had estimated the eclipse to begin (for Ohio viewers) at about 2015 (8:15pm for you non-stargazing types). At 8:20…there was nothing. The sun was rapidly sinking toward the treeline. Just when we had accepted the fact that we were only going to get to see a pleasant sunset the moon’s shadow began to creep across the lower part of the sun.

I hope to get a copy of the photos that my neighbor took of the actual event, but in the mean time, this is what I saw displayed on the computer screen. That was pretty much all we got, as far east as we were.

Not exactly a ring of fire, but still pretty cool.

It was after the sun finally set that we started looking at some planets, and a few stars. I contributed a little more here, by whipping out my Droid and pulling up Google Sky, which let me help ID a few celestial bodies.

All in all, it was a blast. Now the only thing keeping me from trying to convince my wife to let me buy a few thousand dollars worth of equipment for myself is the knowledge of the time this would rob from my writing.

At least I got to play for a few hours.

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Meet amazingly gifted #photographer Frank Schillinger @grindmaster #ebook #writing

Posted on May 20, 2012 by

I’d like to introduce you all to Frank Schillinger, an extremely talented photographer who hails from Germany that I met through blogging. Frank has a breathtaking portfolio, and is looking to expand his presence into the world of book/eBook covers and design. He’s actually done some cover work for bands in the past! I’ll give a few example of his work here, but you’ll definitely want to check out his website Frank Schillinger Photography.

Owned and copyright by Frank Schillinger

Over the past year and a half or so of interacting with people through the world of social media, I’ve had the great fortune in meeting a lot of talented artists. The vast majority of these, as you’d expect, are writers. I can’t tell you how lucky and honored I am to have met so many outstanding authors.

Owned and copyright by Frank Schillinger

However, when I created my first blog, Sojourner Mountain, I had a heavy photography emphasis. The idea was to use interesting photos to inspire writing. I began following a lot of photography tumblrs, and that’s how I came across Frank. Not only did he produce simply amazing photography, he turned out to be a friendly, encouraging guy. When I self-published my first book, The Prince of Graves, he was among the first to congratulate me.

Recently, as I was perusing some of Frank’s work, I thought “I need to see if I can purchase some of this work for eBook cover art.” See, I’m working on a compilation of horror/fantasy/maybe scifi short stories, and some of his photos are perfect for the cover I’m imagining. So I was thrilled to get a message from Frank a couple of weeks ago that said he was, in fact, looking to expand into this area.

No matter the genre you write, you’ll be doing yourself a favor by checking out Frank’s website and gallery. He understands the challenges that artists face, so if you have questions about collaboration or buying some of his work, drop him a note. You can follow him on Google+ and Twitter @grindmaster.

You can see all of Frank’s work at Frank-Schillinger.com .

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Now this is embarrassing: the lightening that would have struck twice #writing #editing

Posted on May 15, 2012 by

You don’t know the definition of “lightening?” Um, go ask someone else.

I published a blog update shortly after the beta readers for The Prince of Graves had finished their work. The article, Lightening Strikes and Hoards, described how my beta readers had found some pretty bone-headed grammar mistakes. One of the most egregious was that I constantly used the word “lightening” instead of “lightning.”

I was thinking up a blog topic today, and my mind wandered back to those humiliating oversights. I thought I’d write a short piece on the similarities of words, and how they can creep into your WIP. To intro the piece, I was going to start with the definitions of “lightning” and “lightening.”

This is the embarrassing part. Maybe I shouldn’t even admit this, but I honestly had no idea the definition of “lightening” as a noun. So let’s take a look. What I wanted:

Lightning: noun. a brilliant electric spark discharge in the atmosphere, occurring within a thundercloud, between clouds, or between a cloud and the ground.

What I wrote, and would have published, if my beta readers hadn’t saved me:

Lightening: noun Medicine/Medical . the descent of the uterus into the pelvic cavity, occurring toward the end of pregnancy, changing the contour of the abdomen and facilitating breathing by lessening pressure under the diaphragm.

So this line from The Prince of Graves would have had a very different visual effect, for those who happened to know their medical terminology:

Frey turned back to regard the black clouds moving his way, now crowned with [lightening].

Thank you Beta Readers.

WEL

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Bringing a sword (and a ghost) to a gun fight. Is genre-hopping a good idea?

Posted on May 13, 2012 by

Over the past few weeks I’ve been re-reading and re-editing my first manuscript, Chasing

What would Sean suggest?

After Vanity. As you may recall, Vanity is a crime-humor story (the prologue is linked above in the main menu bar).

In addition, I’ve been spending what precious extra seconds I have on two other projects: first, jotting down plot points for SHADOWS AND BONES, the first installment in my fantasy series The Desolation War Saga. The other is a series of short stories. I recently published a short story on Smashwords, The Perishing Land, an apocalyptic horror tale. Currently, I have two other short stories that can be described as horror that I hope to finish writing/editing over the next few weeks.

So to summarize, I’m working on a humor novel, a fantasy novel, and a collection of horror stories. I’m enjoying the writing, but it got me thinking about some advice I read a while back when I first started writing: should an author stick to one genre? I’ve read arguments saying yes and no.

Continue reading →

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#FlashFriday The Last Prince #flashfiction

Posted on May 11, 2012 by

This short piece of fiction was inspired by the image you see here. It’s a close up of a painting I stumbled across in the Louvre, in Paris. I took an extreme close up of one portion of this painting, the name of which, and the name of the artist who painted it, I completely failed to document.

The Prophet, the King, and the Prince

I put this photo up as a writing prompt earlier in 2011, and decided to write something to go along with it. I then promptly (ha!) forgot about it. Then, in Sept of last year, I stumbled across it again as I was writing Shadows and Bones. This piece of flash fiction then worked its way into that story, and the result was The Prince of Graves. This scene didn’t actually make it into the novella, but the characters do (although the prince in Graves has blond hair).

* * * * *

The prophet thrust the ancient flask to within a hand’s breadth of his King’s face.  Rage flashed behind the sovereign’s eyes, and his countenance remained severe and stormy.

“This is your reward!” the prophet declared. “Blood and loss!”  The King reached out and took the ornate vessel, and silently regarded it.  He then looked down on his youngest son, who remained kneeling.  His armor was battered, and blood could be seen oozing from between the iron links on his left arm.

“Speak,” said the King. The prophet stepped back, and the surviving prince stood.

“Lord, my brothers are dead.  The northern army is decimated. Yet, I’ve pulled together two phalanx of riders.  At your command, we’ll ride to meet the enemy, and delay them if only a short time.”

The prophet strode to the north window, and pointed to the ghastly clouds that infected the horizon.  “To the north is only death.  Your arrogance has left you with one heir only.”

The King closed his eyes for a moment.  When he opened them, they were as hard and resolved as the iron of his throne.

“You will ride to the north and meet the enemy.  You will not delay them. You will defeat them, or you will not come back.” The prophet laughed a disgusted, disdainful laugh.  The Last Price stood.

“Yes, Lord.”

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The #Fantasy Geography Quiz, part 2!

Posted on April 22, 2012 by

After a week intermission, the second part of the Fantasy Geography Quiz is out! Thank

East Maladine at the time of The Prince of Graves

you all who have played so far! And if you missed the first one, here’s the link:

Fantasy Geography Quiz part 1.

The rules are the same: All you have to do to play is answer the questions below, and “like” or comment on this post. If you don’t hit the “like” or comment I have no way of tying your answers to you. Actually, I encourage you to comment AND like, because this should be a fun dynamic. You can use any and all resources (including Google and Wikipedia). I would like to know if you happen to know the answers to these, or if you had to do some research. Full disclosure: I had to do a little research.

The prizes: two players will win their choice of an eBook or paperback version of The Prince of Graves novella. One winner will win the same, plus a Sojourner Mountain coffee

So, let’s get to the quiz!

Continue reading →

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On #reading as you’re #writing: Do some authors influence you too much?

Posted on April 20, 2012 by

You’ve heard the advice over and over again. Stephen King said it best: “If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have time to write.” I subscribe wholeheartedly to this, although a couple of years ago I believed the opposite.

As an untested writer of fiction, I was concerned that if I read too much fiction – particularly fantasy and sci-fi – that I would subconsciously mimic the authors I had recently read. I was also afraid I would forget that someone had used a name or a convention, and I would accidentally use something that another author had planted in my head.

Today I feel much more confident in my own written voice. I feel like I learn from reading other authors, and the risks of inadvertent plagiarism or parroting are minimal. But I was intrigued to learn that NPR had just broadcast an interview with a Canadian columnist, Crawford Kilian, where he warns new writers to beware certain writings of a few well known authors, such as Ayn Rand. Why? Because “their readable styles look so easy that they might seduce a young writer into imitating them.”

Very interesting, I thought. The article (posted below) made me wonder if there were some writers that were so seductive to me. At one time I would have said Stephen King, but I’ve since come to recognize the brilliance in his style (even with his less accomplished work). On his list is The Lord of the Rings. I don’t think I necessarily agree with that, as early on the mature complexity becomes evident. I think Kilian’s point is more applicable to The Hobbit, with its disarming, almost fairy tale storytelling voice.

Check out the article, and let me know what you think!

W.E.

From Kerouac To Rand, ‘Harmful’ Reads For Writers

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I’m featured tomorrow at Literary Word of the Day. Please come check it out!

Posted on April 16, 2012 by

I wanted to let everyone know that The Literary Word of the Day, a Facebook page that “talks authors, books, and word games” contacted me last week, asking if I would do a “cyber interview” for their site. I can tell you it was humbling, and of course I jumped at the opportunity. So they provided some questions, I answered, and they will be featuring me on their page tomorrow. They even made this cool image to promote the interview:

So please come on out tomorrow, leave a comment, and let me know you were there. Give the site a “like” too, if you like what you see.

Link:

https://www.facebook.com/Literacy.Word.of.the.Day

Thank you all for the generous support. It is incredibly humbling.

W.E.

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Check out my apocalyptic horror short story The Perishing Land #writing

Posted on April 15, 2012 by

The Perishing Land, a horror short story

I wrote this short story, sort of apocalyptic horror tale, over a year ago, and I was so proud of it that I tried to submit it to a number of magazines. None of them panned out, so I mothballed it for while as I continued writing Chasing After Vanity, Shadows and Bones, and The Prince of Graves.

Now, after getting some experience under my belt with self-publishing, I’ve decided to release The Perishing Land through Smashwords for free. I’m hoping to broaden awareness of my work by doing this, so I’m excited that I might be able to attract some new readers. This will probably migrate to Amazon and Barnes and Noble as well, but I don’t think I can make them free there.

So please follow the link and take a free look at some of my earliest writing. Let me know what you think!

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