My Mutant Methods… In Writing

I am continuously reevaluating my writing plans and process.  It is constantly changing (or mutating), as I learn about what is and isn’t working, not from what other indies are saying on forums, but from my own experiences.  So here’s some of what’s developing right now:

cover of Uncanny X-Men #14

Coming at everything as a short story, meaning I have to start in the middle (which you should always do anyway), move fast, and keep the plot idea fairly simple.  My latest two superhero stories both started out as short ones in my mind (like 5,000 each).  Hungry Gods turned into a novel at 55,000 and Invasion (first draft done now) is a big novella at 31,000. 

How does that happen?  I start writing with an idea of what the story is about and who the characters are, but I don’t outline anything.  I probably know some of the main scenes and plot points, but I don’t chart it all out ahead of time.  I can’t.  I don’t know what’s going to develop until we get there.  My “outlining” runs only two or three chapters ahead of where I am.  

Starting in the middle (en media res, if I remember correctly from my literature classes) means finding a point where the story has already been running and you’re already knee deep in the action.  This is usually recommended by gurus and authors for any story. With that in mind, Hungry Gods actually started out in the helicopter, which is now chapter 4.  After it turned into a full-blown novel, I decided to go back and add what are now the first 3 chapters to set it up a bit more. At that point, I figured, why not?  Invasion starts on board a space station with an alien attack already underway.  In both of these I knew what the main story was about, I just underestimated how long it would take to run its course.  After I was about 15,000 words into HG and was still just getting started, I knew it was going to be a novel. 

My current writing process (which I endeavor to stick with, despite the urge toward perfectionism) involves only three drafts. 

The first is obviously writing the thing.  This is an exploratory journey where even I don’t know what’s going to happen or who my characters will develop into. 

The second (which I am about to embark upon as I write this with Invasion) is going back to the beginning and fixing the things I left undone and updating old stuff with the new vision for the story.  Since Draft One is largely exploratory, things change throughout the course of the writing process.  Now that I’m done with the story, I know more about the heroes and what’s going to happen, so I need to go back and make sure everything is consistent throughout.  Names may change, colors may change, I might have left blank spots for me to fill later with research, like foreign words, names of places, an element from the periodic table, etc.  So that’s Draft Two: go through to update, correct, and fill in blanks. 

Then I send that draft off to a hired editor/proofreader, and when it comes back I only address the specific line edits and suggestions they have made, deciding if I agree or not and fixing them.  That’s Draft Three. 

Then it’s time to publish or submit that puppy and move on to the next story.  I am, of course, as insecure as any writer and I want to go over it a hundred times to make sure everything is perfect.  Even a second pair of eyes can miss things, after all.  But that’s just not worth the time and effort.  Three drafts is reasonable.  There will be mistakes.  You can read a professionally published book that’s several years old and STILL find mistakes.  That’s human.  And my time is better spent writing new material than going over the same one over and over again.  Between rereading and submitting to agents and publishers, it took me YEARS to finally get Tarnish published, and it’s a very long one at 130,000 words.  Most commercial novels are about 80,000 and a short novel is only 40,000 words—so Tarnish is like 2-3 novels in length.  That’s a lot to revise six times!  And even now, there are mistakes, but I have to live with them.  I have to move forward.

Marketing is another big time sink that just doesn’t seem worth it to me.  To spend precious time and money on advertising that maybe three people will respond to…  Just not worth it.  And even if it does generate some sales and bring in some readers, what good does it do if I only have one or two books for them to buy?  One five or six dollar sale doesn’t pay for the resources I put into getting that sale.  Without a series or two in full swing or a decent selection for readers to hop to next, marketing is pretty much pointless. 

So for right now, until I have half a million words in print (and yes, I’m counting, and about half way there now) there’s very little point to marketing my wares.  I’ll continue to do minimal, easy things, but that’s about it. 

In fact, I’m not even going to bother with Read and Review efforts anymore.  In my experience, only about 25% of the free books I give away results in reviews.  More of them probably end up on pirate sites than result in anything I intended. 

So my marketing plan is reduced to the following:

   1. Write more books.

   2. Ensure my books have covers, blurbs and pricing that reflects the professional level of their contents.

   3. Write more books.   

*

 

That’s me getting my current writing methodologies out into the world, as much for my own purposes as for you to read them.  They’ll continue to develop (or mutate). 

If anyone out there has any comments or strong feelings, I’d be glad to “hear” them.  Thanks for reading.

Writing 2015: March Recap

This weekend has been April, but it's worth noting before I get on with reporting my March numbers that I wrote 9,200 words this weekend.  That's some astounding, eye-opening stuff for me!  I didn't know I could accomplish so much in such a short amount of time.  These three days have torn down barriers that my own pessimism and doubts had built and maintained since forever.  I poured 7,900 of those words into finishing the first draft of my novella "Invasion", which completed at about 31,000 total.  This will be the feature tale in triple-feature Dreams of Flying, which I hope to have published in the next month.

Now on with my monthly writing progress.  To get the scoop on this series of posts, check out my 2015 News Years Resolutions post and the January post here.  Otherwise, the rest of these monthly reports will be truncated to the stats alone, as below.

General Goal: 12,000 words per month (derived from 3,000 per week average)

* First Quarter, 2015: 39,550 words (exceeds quarterly goal of 36,000 words)

March:  - 11,500 words  (5400 on Invasion, 5600 on Ghosts of Chaucer)
               - (This is technically just below my monthly goal.  But the week that I did no writing at all was the same that I logged about 65 hours in with the Navy and moved my family from one house to another on my days off, so I'm okay with this total.)
               - 5400 of those words went into Invasion, and 5600 started a new novelette called Ghosts of Chaucer. This distraction I then put on hold so I could finish Invasion.
               - republished Puppet Theatre as a free preview of both the IDC and IDCU series
             
February:  - 15,400 words (9550 words on the novella Invasion)
                    - redesigned my blog
                    - submitted stories to magazines
                    - ebooks of Hungry Gods also sold very nearly every day during this month

January:  - 12,650 words (8550 words on the novella Invasion)
                  - published The Prince and the Darkness
                  - published Hungry Gods
                  - Hungry Gods release sold well beyond my goal, had a nice halo effect that reached pretty much all my other books, and all the accumulated sales were spread across SIX different countries!

Warhammer Fantasy Battle 25th Edition: WFB vs 40K

I was flipping through my 8^th edition WFB hardcover (you know, the one that weighs as many pounds as it costs), just for inspiration, and I thought again about how I’d like to play that game but…  I just don’t care that much for it.  WFB and 40K are two very different animals, and have traditionally been so for specific reasons (like those who play them like them that way), although it sounds like the 9^th edition Fantasy game will be closer and closer to 40K, which I actually would prefer.

I’ve heard it said that WFB players like those aspects of the game that make it different from 40K and that’s one reason why they like it.  Some of those reasons are as I will annotate below, which happen to be the very reasons I don’t care for it. 

When I said “25^th Edition” in the title, that’s me just saying that this is the way I’d like to see the game evolve.  See, I’d like to play in the fantasy realm, wielding swords and magic and big bad monsters—I like fantasy stuff almost as much as sci-fi stuff.  I’m a nerd of many colors.  But there are things about the fantasy game mechanics I don’t like.  If I were to be invited to tweak the game for it’s 25^th edition (just to pick an outrageous number), here’s a few changes I’d make:

1.  The Math.  There’s just way too much math in Fantasy for me.  Don’t get me wrong, I like math okay, but I don’t want to have to crunch so many numbers when I’m trying to enjoy a game that’s supposed to be action packed.  I like the streamlined 40K system in regard to this.  WFB has chart upon chart of all the factors you need to consider.  Now there is merit to armor penetration modifiers (which 40K used to have too, back in the day), and some of the other numbers being factored in, but…  it’s just too much.  Trying to figure out who won a round of combat takes a calculator, and that’s just not fun. 

2. Hordes vs Heroes.  In 40K, the squads are generally no bigger than 10 figures, sometimes really big units get to be 20 or more models, but that’s uncommon.  And in 40K, it seems like any one model can end up being the hero of the battle.  That last surviving Space Marine Scout may just defy the odds and come out on top more than the Dice Gods should allow, and end up winning the game practically on his own.  In Fantasy, 90% of your models are nameless nobodies who are there just to die.  You don’t have a unit of guys, you have a block of fodder.  Ranks upon ranks of them. In fact, the rules are set-up so that massive units of nobodies is the best way to go.  And the differences between “basic” units and “elite” units is only like 1 or 2 stat points and having a great sword instead of a regular sword.  They’re the same damn thing, so what’s the point?  There’s all just the same worthless fodder, but this one’s blue and that one’s green.  It seems to me that 40K has more variety of units and that each has a better developed role with its own special moves.  It seems to me that one block of troops is pretty much the same as the next big block of troops.

I have two issues with this: (1) As I said, having 40 nobodies who all run away because of one scary monster or bad roll is just…  Well, sucky.  I’d rather have 10 potential heroes than 40 fodder troops any day.  (2) the real world cost of building such an army is just terrible.  We don’t need to revisit GW pricing here, but how the hell are we supposed to afford such a force?  It’d take decades to build up that kind of army.

Now I now this is one of those things people love about Fantasy.  This harkens to the Tolkien-esque armies in The Hobbit and TLotR, blocks of amassed orcs and elves crashing into each other, forces so huge that the dust of their marching blots out the sun.  I know that’s the effect it was build for originally, to go back to the source material (let’s face it, WFB was originally a direct rip-off of LotR).  And that’s great if you like that.  But in the 25^th edition, I’d like to prune it back a bit. 

So I’ll stop the comparison/gripe there.  Two main factors to adjust for my 25^th edition: Math/Extraneous Rules and Blocks of Fodder.  Some ways I’d do that:

1.  The easiest way (which rumors indicate may be kind of happening now anyway) is to play Fantasy more like a Warbands game.  There are special rule sets out there, like Mordheim, that go that way.  I think if I wanted to play Fantasy that way right now (and could find a friend or two to go along with me), I’d just play games of like 500 points and do away with the minimum requirements on unit size and army basics.  So you don’t need to have 80+ Core troops as the cornerstone of your force.  You might choose to have a unit or two of core troops, but they might only be 5 or 10 models in size.

2.  Emphasize characters and heroes.  This would also play into a way to reduce the mindless masses rules and the likelihood of a route.  I’m imagining a small subset of rules for promoting one rank and file model in your unit to be a minor hero or leader.  He or she has access to more gear and better ability to rally your units.  (I know we kind of have that now, but I think they’re just higher value fodder at this point.)

3.  Doing away with block formations and making everyone more mobile, like skirmishing formations.  Maybe we still use trays or whatever, but the models are staggered on them and not necessarily formed up in rigid ranks and files.  This would also do away with all the rules about ranks and whatnot, making combat easier and not necessarily encouraging us to spend more money on masses of models. 

4.  Reign in point values.  I notice that in the newer army books, character model point values are ridiculous.  One core elf with a bow is only 8 points, but the noble who’s stats are barely better costs 10 to 20 times as much, and that’s without gear and with no special rules to make him cool.  What the hell for?!  And what fun is that?  But rather than having to rewrite all the army books, maybe we just set a separate points budget for buying heroes and lords for our mini-forces.  For example, maybe you have 500 points to spend on them, and 500 to spend on everything else too.  Two separate budgets set to scale for getting the cool characters you want without making them the sole models in your warband. 

Okay, I guess that;s enough rambling on this topic for today.  I guess I got it out of my system. 

The bottom line is, I’d like to play a great Fantasy battle game, but not on the huge army scale and not when it requires a calculator.  (And not when it has even more than 40,000 rules!) I’d like to make a small force with these guys on foot, those scouts, a few models on horseback, a monster and a wizard, all them with some individual character and potential, and none of them forced to march shoulder to shoulder.  Is that too much to ask?

(Please excuse any errors in this one -- as it's after midnight, I'm not revising, I'm just posting this sucker.)

Free Fiction Preview and Another Prison Break from Amazon

Just a quick note on new re-releases:

Puppet Theatre is out again, this time including not only the fun, 60's-Batman-esque short story "Puppet Theatre", but also the first four chapters of Hungry Gods.  You can find this ebook FREE just about everywhere except Amazon ('cause they don't play free without strings attached).  Here's a few links where you can find it now.  You might also find it elsewhere soon enough, as it spreads even further to where good ebooks are sold (and given away):

Barnes & Noble

Smashwords

Kobo

My gritty, coming-of-age, fantasy novel Tarnish is once again free from the Kindle Select pact that I'd signed in blood.  Which means you don't have to get it from Amazon anymore, you can find it just about anywhere else you buy books or ebooks too.  And the audiobook is well over halfway done, richly told by a master of voices, Todd Menesses.  (Click his name for a link to his own website.)  Here's a few links for Tarnish, too, though you'll find it at some more locales as news of its freedom spreads throughout the land:

Barnes & Noble

Smashwords

Apple iBooks

Series Reveal: New Identity Crisis Super Hero Universe

Series Reveal: IDC versus IDCU

Because there’s too much superheroic adventure for just one series!

The IDENTITY CRISIS series centers on events and characters surrounding the Phenomenal Five, past, present, and future.  This will consist of at least the original IDC Trilogy.  (Did you catch that at least in there…?)

Hungry Gods:  Third-string superhero Spitball is recruited by the Army to save a small Midwestern town from the zombie apocalypse.

The IDENTITY CRISIS UNIVERSE is a free-flowing series of individual stories and novels peripheral the IDC storyline, featuring heroes and villains across the breadth of time and space within this rich spandex-sporting universe.  Some tales will interconnect like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, while other will be completely free-standing stories in their own right.  In the IDCU, the possibilities are endless!

Dreams of Flying:  Three tales exploring the past, present, and future of the Identity Crisis Universe.

“Invasion” – A trio of heroes go into space in a preemptive strike against an alien attack.

“Puppet Theatre” – A different kind of vigilante fights for justice from his recliner. 

“Dreams of Flying” – A grocery store manager has special gifts and fantastic ambitions, but his first encounter with real thugs teaches him a life lesson.

Both series may expand beyond all boundaries in the years to come.  So strap on your capes, adjust your goggles, and enjoy the ride!

2016 UPDATE: The info in this post is now dated.  Dreams of Flying has been taken down and will return in 2017 with a few new stories.  I pulled Invasion out and made it its own stand-alone book.  The ending that developed naturally through story evolution demanded another book. It will eventually be the first in a series of three.  (And as I am still a slave to the 50+ hour-a-week day job, "eventually" cannot be yet defined.)

Writing in 2015: February Recap

It is my intention to set my writing career on an upward course this year, as mentioned in my 2015 News Years Resolutions post.  So as part of my accountability and tracking toward this goal, I have been keeping better stats on my progress.  This helps motivate me to strive for better scores and to show my progress in the long term.  Of course, this is 99% for myself; most of you who may happen to be reading this won't especially care.  But some of my fellow indie writers may take an interest or find some inspiration for building their own efforts and careers.  These monthly posts will be cumulative and largely repeating of the same intro/premise with new numbers toward the end.  The December post will, therefore, be a nice picture of the entire year.

To read the full deal on these monthly posts, including how I count words and how I set my goals, you can read the January post here.  Otherwise, the rest of these monthly reports will be truncated to the stats alone, as below.

General Goal: 12,000 words per month (derived from 3,000 per week average)

February:  15,400 words (9550 words on the novella Invasion)
                    redesigned my blog
                    submitted stories to magazines
                    ebooks of Hungry Gods also sold very nearly every day during this month

January:  12,650 words (8550 words on the novella Invasion)
                  published The Prince and the Darkness
                  published Hungry Gods
                  Hungry Gods release sold well beyond my goal, had a nice halo effect that reached pretty much all my other books, and all the accumulated sales were spread across SIX different countries!

5th Edition D&D: Jedi Knight

Daemana is here!  But first, read this little update...

This blog entry has been revamped to fall into line with the newest version of itself.  This change follows in the wake of my new Fifth Edition Creative Companion available from the Dungeon Masters' Guild, which you can get to by clicking here.  

From the DMG, you can download the 45 page PDF file for a measly $1.99.  Here's the description:

Fantasy author J. D. Brink first discovered Dungeons & Dragons more thirty years ago.  Finally, with the advent of the Dungeon Masters’ Guild, he can now share some of his own game innovations with fellow players of the world’s greatest roleplaying game.  

Contained herein are more than 40 pages featuring custom game rules, a new experience point system, and 16 new feats for players.  But that’s not all. 

A Cthulhu warlock, steampunk mage, Shinto samurai, and rogue spymaster: these are just 4 of 10 characters created from new takes on existing classes, complete with detailed backstories and decision descriptions.  Ten characters meant to provide players and DMs with new inspiration for developing their own worlds and the heroes to save them.     

What's in the book started here on the blog as a creative exercise in character creation for the 5th edition of D&D.   

I also used to have some cooler, more specific images for the blog, but they weren't acquired by strictly legal means.  (Turns out Google is not a magical copyright-granting fairy.  Don't exactly own the rights to use "Jedi" either...)  So sorry, the images are gone.  But you have a good imagination, right?

So using the creation guidelines outlined in the book (which includes a bonus feat for everyone), I made up some PCs both for my own inspiration and for yours.  Hopefully they'll give you some new ideas for your own game.

*****

DAEMANA FIREHEART, KNIGHT OF THE OBSIDIAN ROSE

“My preference is peace.  My purpose is justice.  And, unfortunately for you, my art is death.”

  

Fighter (5)

Alignment: LG

STR	13	+1
INT	16	+3
WIS	15	+2
DEX	16	+3
CON	13	+1
CHAR	16	+3

HP:  55

AC:  15 

PROF:  +3

SAVES:  STR (+4) CON (+4)

INIT:  +6

RACE:  Tiefling

* Char +2, Int +1

* Darkvision

* Hellish Resistance

* Infernal Legacy

* Languages: Common, Infernal

BACKGROUND:  Acolyte

* Reputation of the Order

* Carpenter’s tools

* Language: Draconic

FIGHTER:

* Fighting style: Dueling

* Action Surge

* Second Wind

* Extra Attack

* Martial Archetype: Eldritch Knight

-- Bonded weapons: Rapier, Sickle

-- Spells

SKILLS:

* Insight (+5)

* Arcana (+6)

* Athletics (+4)

* Acrobatics (+6)

* Bonus Languages: Dwarvish, Giant, Goblin

FEATS:

* Weapon Focus: Rapier

* Martial Adept

 -- 1D6 superiority die

 -- Save DC (14)

 -- Maneuvers: Parry, Reposte

SPELLS:

* Spell Save DC (14)  Spell Attack Mod (+6)

* Spell slots: 1st (3)

* Known Cantrips: Thaumaturgy, Bladeward, Magehand

* Known Spells

-- 1^st Level: Witchbolt, Charm Person, False Life, Protection vs Evil & Good

* Infernal Legacy Spells: Hellish Rebuke, Darkness

GEAR:

* Chain shirt, heavy cloak, traveling clothes

* Rapier, sickle, 5 darts

* Explorer’s pack, only as much money as she needs to get by

  

STORY NOTES:

Thirteen years ago, a tiefling girl was running for her life.  She and her parents had been traveling and happened into the wrong human city.  Her parents were there killed by a lynch mob prejudiced against her people, widely feared for their demonic traits.  The young girl—ten-year-old Daemana—scarcely had time to process her family’s death before her survival instincts drove her to flee for her own life.  She stumbled down an alley, around a corner, and smack into a cloaked man.  The girl bounced off the man and landed on her rear end.

The man Daemana had run into drew a polished rapier from his belt.      

Overwhelmed with fear and confusion, the tiefling girl closed her eyes and prepared for death.

The mob of savage pursuers rounded the corner in search of their prey and came face to face with the man and his rapier.  He offered them a chance to turn around and go home.  None of them took it.  Though he was outnumbered eight to one, the cloaked man dispatched six of them before the last two decided that their hatred wasn’t worth dying for. 

The cloaked man took Daemana under his wing and, after two months of traveling, delivered the girl to the monastery that had raised him.  The Order of the Obsidian Rose was an organization shrouded in mystery, though rumor of their quest for perfection and justice was widely known in that quarter of the world.  The young orphan was taken in and made an acolyte of the Order.  By virtue of her passionate and sometimes wild nature, the girl became known as Daemana Fireheart. 

For nine years, Daemana lived and studied within the monastery.  She became a monk and knight of the Obsidian Rose; indeed, she became one of the most noble and powerful of their small number.  The Order emphasizes perfect control and purity through physical and psychological means.  The tenements include justice and respect for all, no matter race, status, or creed.  A knight’s first priority is non-violence, but when this is not possible, it is their duty to be the most powerful violent force involved in any conflict.  They are as the wind or the flame: in peace, to barely exist at all; but when required, to become an irresistible force that consumes all who refuse their grace and mercy.  Inwardly, this is achieved by perfecting one’s own mind and body.  Outwardly, this is evident by their mastery of the rapier and control over the winds of magic.  The knights’ focus on mastering their own skill is so great, in fact, that they refrain from carrying or using any magic items.

Nine years of training is the First Phase of the Rose.  Daemana Fireheart then began the Second Phase of the Rose: to spread mercy and justice everywhere fate takes her.  And when she feels the time is right, she will enter the Third Phase of the Rose and return to the monastery to train the next generation of knights, until death takes her.

GAME NOTES:

My general goal with these character creation exercises was to make non-typical D&D heroes.  I also like to blend genres and in looking at the Eldritch Knight path of the fighter, I started assembling in my mind what that might look like.  The image I had quickly resembled a certain order of knights from a galaxy far, far away.  I also found that this order favored mastery of a single weapon, and so the Japanese Kensai came to mind.  I melded these ideas together into something I think works as a cool character concept.

I also got incredibly lucky with rolling out the stats.  I’m usually cool with having some 8s or 10s to balance things out into a realistic character, but the Dice Gods were smiling on me this day.  And ironically, the scores I cared about least for her were the iconic Fighter abilities of Strength and Constitution.  Saves in INT and DEX would really be a better fit for this gal, but…  Whatcha gunna do?

The monk-like focus for this monastery was not unarmed martial arts, but mastery of a single weapon.   And which is more graceful for a lady or gentleman than the rapier?  To supplement the perfection of that art, I selected Dueling as his fighting style and took my feat Weapon Focus, as well as Martial Adept for his 4^th level feat.  (Thus getting a sliver of the Fighter’s Battle Master archetype too.)  And these special maneuvers are tailored to the rapier: parry and reposte. 

You might also notice that I altered the Acolyte background to fit my needs, swapping the Arcana skill for Religion.  In this monastic order, magic is taught over gods.  I also renamed “Shelter the Faithful” and “Reputation of the Order.”  The plater and DM could figure how and when to make this work.  I also figured that with her high INT (and my bonus languages rule) she didn’t need two more languages, so I gave her one and a tool proficiency—monks would learn a skill and have to maintain their own monastery after all.

Racially, I wanted to not go human again (as I usually do go human), and figured having a race with innate magical abilities would mesh well with this.  I also figured having the hated outsider would work well.  (Worked for Drizzt, right?)

Viva La Revolucion! Again!

When 2014 was new, we had a “Fugitive Fiction Revolution” during which we made changes of attitude and updated some policies.  I’m feeling the need for another yearly reassessment of where this publishing venture is going and how to adjust course as an author to make my journey toward freedom a shorter one.  So those thoughts are swirling around right now, and while I may not enumerate them for all to read here, I’ll be working on that behind the scenes.  One change is quite obvious right now, though, if you’ve been reading this blog at all lately: I changed the look of this blog.  Again.

I did really, really like that “magazine” layout.  I liked the look, I loved that there were images everywhere that made it easy to browse recent posts and pick out something that interested you.  That was great. 

The big drawback—and the main reason for the change back to the old style—was that I couldn’t insert a column of images or links along the side.  As an author, I feel like having all my attractive book covers displayed for your perusal is important.  The “magazine” style had a hidden column that only appeared if you activated it, and then it only showed a small black box that would link to somewhere if you clicked it.  

Not as useful.  I really wish I could combine the two styles, but I didn’t see that as an option.  I might be able to do that with another site provider, but that would mean uprooting and moving all my stuff, as well as having all my links and printed materials out there not going where they’re supposed to anymore, which would suck.  I’m already facing that with a box full of bookmarks that bear the old website that Google allowed to vanish out from under me because they wouldn’t respond to my calls for help, so…  

Frustrating. 

Another factor of my 2015 Revolution is a reduction in cyber-time spent doing…  well, pretty much everything.  I only recently got onto Twitter and I've been trying to “build my platform” and network and meet other fine writers that way, but again…  That’s time NOT WRITING.  So those of you on Twitter, please don’t feel offended if I don’t follow-back or seem to pay a lot of attention there, because, well, I’m doing more productive things with my limited free time.  (Note that if you send me a direct message, though, I will respond in relatively short order.)  

I also spent some time, and will spend more, updating the Fugitive Fiction website.  Click here to check it out, especially if you’re interested in ordering paperback books, and especially if you’re a bookstore or interested in ordering multiple Fugitive Fiction paperbacks.  You’ll find good rates there.  

(Please note, though, that it isn’t worth the resources required to make that “bookstore” there fully functional at this time, so if you want to order any, do use the Contact Form and we’ll get back to you and make it happen.)

Okay, I guess that’s all I have to say on this topic for now. 

OH WAIT!  It’s worth noting (or tooting, as in my own horn) that ever since Hungry Gods released there has only been one day thus far that I haven’t sold books, which is very exciting!

And speaking of that kind of encouragement, I need to get back to work on “Invasion”.  It’ll be the longest story in Dreams of Flying, which will be a collection of four or five in the Identity Crisis series, shedding a little light on some of the backgrounds hinted at in Hungry Gods.  Planning to publish around June of this year, if all goes according to plan.

Okay, that’s it.  Thanks for reading!   

Two-For-One, Dark Fantasy Double Feature

A quick word on a two-for-one, double feature deal.  The Prince and the Darkness offers both of my darker fiction pieces from 2013 at one fantastically low price!  You can buy this combined ebook volume for only $3.99, vice paying $2.99 each for A Long Walk Down a Dark Alley and The Prince of Luster and Decay individually.  That’s a total of five stories of dark fantasy, crime-noir, black magic, and vampiric beauties for only four bucks! 

Here’s some links to some of your favorite retailers where you can buy it right now.  It may also be available at some of your other favorite places.  Look for it and let me know if it is, I’d love to hear about it!

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Smashwords

Kobo

Apple iBooks

Blio

Justice League: Flashpoint Paradox

I just watched this 81 minute animated movie and was so surprised by it that I felt compelled to give it a quick review.

Okay, I actually fell asleep the first time with my son lying on top of me, then I woke up and watched it again when he was in bed, but that's not commentary on it being boring.  Quite the contrary!

I had considered renting this before, but seeing it was Flash-based, I thought, "Nah, Flash stinks."  He's quick but boring, his rogues gallery is lame, he is lame.  (Just never got into that character, as you can tell.)  But what I do really like to see is alternate universes and DC Elseworlds, new takes on familiar characters and timelines.  And that's what Flashpoint is all about.  Between the Flash and his enemy the Reverse Flash (see, told ya: lame!), the timeline itself gets distorted and the resulting reality is a very dark one.  This movie is actually ultra-violent with a lot of death in it (almost more than I'd expect on a PG-13 rating).  The characters are fundamentally different from the norm.  For example, there's a war raging between the Atlanteans and the Amazons that's already destroyed most of Europe!  This movie/story not only makes Flash not seem so lame, but even makes Aquaman into a bad ass.  (I often refer to him as Aqua-Pud, another character I' like to see made cool, but he just never gets there.)  The whole thing is apocalyptic in scale and is almost an hour and half of gritty, guilty fun.

In summary, this one made me reconsider my biases against some long-standing DC heroes.  It takes place in the New 52 Universe, so Cyborg and Captain Marvel (is he even called that anymore?) are in there too (another old man gripe I'll save for another time) and are used in new and exciting ways.  The animation has a definite Anime style to it, to the point where some characters are so muscled that you expect their tiny heads to pop off, but it still looks and moves great.  If I were to offer a tagline, I guess it'd be this: Ultra-Violent Bad-Assery in the DC Universe.  I plan to read the source material now as well.

Okay, "gotta run."

Writing in 2015: January Recap

It is my intention to set my writing career on an upward course this year, as mentioned in my 2015 News Years Resolutions post.  So as part of my accountability and tracking toward this goal, I have been keeping better stats on my progress.  This helps motivate me to strive for better scores and to show my progress in the long term.  Of course, this is 99% for myself; most of you who may happen to be reading this won't especially care.  But some of my fellow indie writers may take an interest or find some inspiration for building their own efforts and careers.  These monthly posts will be cumulative and largely repeating of the same intro/premise with new numbers toward the end.  The December post will, therefore, be a nice picture of the entire year.

My basic metric for measurement and progress is word count.  By setting goals and expectations, this makes me strive to write more words and thus produce more stories and books.  I also keep track of all other writing-related activities, such as workshops, marketing, submissions, and working to fulfill the Kickstarter rewards for my generous supporters.  Although I record those things in my charting, I won't be reporting all that stuff here on my blog.  My monthly reports here will recap my word count and publishing, as well as misc goals accomplished.

I set my word count goal based on a formula suggested by Dean Wesley Smith: Determine what would be your ideal production (writing) rate, and then cut it in half.  Sounds kind of harsh to cut that clean in half, but I have found it to be a very realistic adjustment.

For me, ideal would be 1000 words a day.  Seven days a week is super-ideal, but more realistic and acceptable is assuming there'd be one day I would take off and just not get to writing, so I'm going with this:

   -- (1000 words) x (6 days a week) x 1/2 = 3,000 words per week.
   -- (3000 words per week) x (4 weeks) = 12,000 words per month. 

Admittedly, this is not an incredibly ambitious goal.  But given my "real" life, this is doable.  I hope to exceed it, but if I can just make this cut I'll be pretty happy.

How I'll count words: This is somewhat arbitrary stuff, but for my own obsessive-compulsive reasons, I want to lay out some ground rules.  New words, of course, are the most important ones, but I also don't want to discount some of the other necessary work that I spend my limited time on; to do so would be kind of unfair to myself.  So new words count at full weight, especially in writing new stories/novels.  But it's also necessary to spend time on my second and third drafts.  The second is a lot of work in fixing from beginning to end before sending it off for proofreading/editing.  The third is not a lot of work, basically combing the proofer/editor's notes and making line edits.  So second draft work will count as half; so if I revise a 5000 word story, I'll count that as 2500 words worth of real work.  Third drafts will count at one quarter; so the 8800 words story I fixed tonight only counts as 2200 words, because I was mostly just addressing specific issues.

In summary:
   -- New Words/1st Draft is 1:1  (full weight)
   -- 2nd Draft Revision Work is 1:2  (half weight)
   -- 3rd Draft Line Editing is 1:4  (quarter weight)

...Okay, anyone still give a damn about any of this boring shit other than me? 

So now the monthly benchmarks:

January:  12,650 words (8550 words on the novella Invasion) 
                  published The Prince and the Darkness
                  published Hungry Gods
                  Hungry Gods release sold well beyond my goal, had a nice halo effect that reached pretty much all my other books, and all the accumulated sales were spread across SIX different countries!

A hell of a nice month for me, and the start of a good year to come!