Saturday, May 27, 2006

Three Steps Forward...

Two Steps back.

I wrote approximately 1200 more words over the last three nights. Getting over my hump of stressing over the impact of the climax of the novel and just finishing it, knowing I'm going to go back and edit it anyway.

I got some feedback from my father in law on what his first reading of everything up to chapter 40. He pointed out the same thing that my friend Scott said, which is that the novel gets slow for a few chapters early on. It's a mystery, so the main characters are out meeting people that could be involved in the murder, but I needed an action sequence to break up these chapters.

I figured out how to handle this... I'm adding a "hunting" event that will bring another chance for Arames (the main character) to interact with Father Jorrus, an undead hunter intent on discovering a vampire he believes is hiding in Avedon Hill.

It will be good, but it's another 2,000-3,000 words that I'll have to add. Considering I want to cut around 30,000 words of this novel before I'm done, I'm going to have some issues later on.

Labels:

Sunday, May 21, 2006

Purge-writing and a new comic strip

I locked myself in my office last night in an attempt to write without editing, regurgitating words onto page until I finished the last two chapters of the first draft. It didn't quite work out (konked out just after midnight, 1,200 words later).

Tonight I'm going to do the same thing. It'll be a good night for it (Desperate Housewives will be on the big t.v., and I'm not interested in that at all. :) ).

We got another fun item completed over at the Four Ugly Monsters website. Our first comic strip based on the "Four Ugly Monsters." It's called FUM:Stripped, and it pays homage to one of our favorite TV shows, Southpark. Apologies in advance to anyone that has ever done a real comic strip :)

Labels:

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Back in the Saddle (sort of)

Recovery time completed (mostly). Spent time during lunch today working on copy for my 'teaser' podcast.

With no background in radio or music or any other recording industry, I need to learn how to record my own voice, how to edit my narrative, how to mix in music, etc. I also need to determine if my current computer setup will be sufficient to produce a podcast novel with the production value I’ve heard in other podiobooks, especially those from Podiobooks.com.

After I finish this post I will spend another hour or so working on chapter 41 of the novel.

Labels:

Saturday, May 13, 2006

Murder at Avedon Hill Podiocast - Teaser

This post is simply a placeholder for now. I am working on a teaser for the upcoming podiobook that will be released at the same time as the print version of the novel. I'm creating the .rss feed for this, a prerequisite for obtaining access to the podsafe music network.

More to come... soon.

Labels:

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

5/9 Update - Music Search 'Catch-22'

Diary of a Self-Published Author Word Count

14,401 / 60,000 (24.9%)


Murder at Avedon Hill

135,098 / 100,000 (135.1%)


Had to watch House tonight. Wrote for an hour or so afterwards.

Trying to learn how to do the .xml feed for my future podcast. Working with a 'catch-22' of a system at music.podshow.com. The Podsafe Music Network allows people to download royalty-free music that can be used within podcasts (for a small fee and I assume a follow-up communication with the music owner to seal the deal). I don't have a podcast yet, but I want to start collecting music that I will use as loops within my planned podiobook. The problem is you cannot register at the site until you have an existing feed for a podcast. :(

The workaround is to set up a dummy feed, which is what I am doing now. Anybody that has music, medieval mood music, mystery music, etc., please let me know!

I'll be out a few days. I've got some elective surgery Thursday... no more babies for me :) I still hope to write some this weekend though as I sit on my fat duff recovering.

Labels:

Monday, May 08, 2006

5/8 Update - 'Brave Men' Run Review

Diary of a Self-Published Author Word Count

14,401 / 60,000 (24.9%)


Murder at Avedon Hill

134,948 / 100,000 (134.9%)


Thought I'd add my word count for my How-To book / Diary that I'm writing while I'm working through the process of publishing my first novel.

Just finished the Brave Men Run podiocast. Great job by Matthew Wayne Selznick. I posted a review of the podiobook / novel on Amazon. It goes as follows:

A Great Visit to a 'brave new world'

You don't see many examples of "super-hero" stories in novel form (unless you are speaking of graphic novels, of course). But 'Brave Men Run' begins its existence in a non-graphic form, both written and as an audiobook (actually, the better term is podiobook in this case). I could definitely see 'Brave Men Run' as a graphic novel, but for now I am very happy to have experienced it in its current form.

As with most good novels, when you peel back the layers of 'Brave Men Run' you find more depth. On the surface it is a coming of age novel. The main character endures high-school during an alternate-Earth Reagan era. He falls in love and is transformed by the events that take place around him.

'Brave Men Run' is also an origin story, in comic-book terms. It introduces what character William Donner calls 'The Sovereign,' similar to the 'mutants' of X-Men stories. The twist here is that the story is told through the eyes of main character Nate Charters, a boy with definite differences that has no idea if he is one of these 'Sovereign' that have announced themselves to the world.

The tone of the story is that of an outsider seeking normalcy in an 80s world. But if being a misfit in high school wasn't enough, this 'Sovereign Declaration' produces a new form of alienation for Nate Charters.

'Brave Men Run' has been called "The Breakfast Club meets the X-Men", and "Spiderman as directed by John Hughes." The 80s feel is realistic across the board, and the voice the author gives to Nate Charters (especially in the podiobook) is on the mark. Children of the 80s will enjoy the references, comic book readers will enjoy the references to the 'silver age' of comics, and the story is enjoyable to boot.

If you are unsure about purchasing the book, please take some time to listen to the free podiobook version that you can obtain from the author's website or through I-Tunes. As stated before, the voice of Matthew Wayne Selznick is perfect for the main character, and the production value of the podiobook is great for those that are hesitant to try this form of media.

A strong recommendation for this book and its companion podiobook!

Labels:

Thursday, May 04, 2006

Word Count and Work Shops

Murder at Avedon Hill Word Count
134,798 / 100,000
(134.8%)

I decided to take a page from Mur Lafferty and add a word count for my novel here. You'll notice that my word count is higher than I really want it to be. I will be doing my best once the first draft is finally done to pare it down to 100,000 words. If I don't succeed, I'll be okay. It's simple economics though-- the more words you have, the more expensive the book will be to print.

I joined the "I Should Be Writing" Writer's Workshop, moderated by Mur Lafferty. I'm posting Roh-Kin out there for people to review. Hopefully I can get some good feedback on the short story.

Labels: ,

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Dedicating Time

I'm setting aside two to three hours a night to write now. I've got to finish this first draft. Argh.

In case you missed it, I love podcasts. Mur Lafferty is my new hero.

Podcasts:

I Should be Writing
GeekFu Action Grip

I pulled my blog into my main website using a floating frame. I normally hate frames, but this one page looks cool and is integrated into my full site very well. Let me know if you think differently.

Labels: ,