Sneak Peak: Veil of a Warrior

I’m itching to release my book, Veil of a Warrior. It is done, for all intents and purposes—except for some minor things like a proper glossary, layout design, book cover and maybe an edit or two that I do last minute.

This puts me into an interesting frame of mind where the business side of me says to, “Wait for release,” and the writer side of me says, “Screw that!”

That said, I’ve decided to give a free chapter of my book each week to newsletter subscribers until release. Sign on up: http://eepurl.com/SVhLr

(Writer wins? Maybe. My business side closed the office door and shut the blinds.)

What can I say? I’m impatient to start sharing the world and the characters I’ve created. I’ve labored on this for seven years, growing and evolving as a person, a husband, a father and a writer. I’ve moved cross-country…twice. I’ve been laid off once, had two kids (my wife helped), read some good books, met some awesome people and grown in my world-view.

More Lightsabers? Yes, Please.

By now it is probably common knowledge, but talk of the new Star Wars movies coming out has me intrigued.

Haven't heard? Late 2015 will be VII, then I hear the others will follow, one each year. Don't go onto YouTube and do what I did, though. There are no trailers or teasers. Anything marked "Official" is just pulling your leg and wasting your time. Unless, you want to watch some pretty CG from the Knights of the Old Republic,

Rocking Your Marketing w/ RSP

I’m no business person, but I think I understand the fundamentals, and I know I have a lot of work ahead. I may write because of the love of the story and because it pulls me down a fantastic path that I must follow. But, what I really want to do with this creation is share it with others. That is when the book will live and breathe on its own and THAT is when the true magic happens.

Sales are ancillary, a fringe benefit. But then, I have a LOT of books I want to write, so, validating that time expenditure needs to happen…one day.

So, how in the world do I tell the world about Veil of a Warrior? And how do I make them care?

Short Story Progress

I'm working on the short stories that come before Hammerblood, Book 1. I *think* I found all my notes… They were a LITTLE scattered.

At times, I have to curse the muse that can wait no better than a hungry 2 year old with a good view of pizza—leaving me to record my thoughts like a mad man on any available surface or device.

Retrieving them later is like unearthing a dinosaur fossil, broken and scattered.

Self-Publish: An Argument Realized

At a seminar on the business of writing, held by the local and talented Erik Wecks, we went over the traditional model of publishing and self-publishing. Erik touched on the timeline for each method and the benefits. I wanted to pick his brain a little more, like the hungry little zombie I am, but time was short. In all, it was a fun discourse, and I recommend anyone in the Portland area to check out any future seminars by Mr. Wecks. I know I plan to.

Self-pub in mind, I picked up the ole historical binoculars and spied backward to 2011 and my original post about self-publishing Hammerblood.

(Amusing tidbit: I mentioned publishing a book in 2014—what a coincidence!)

The 4 Aspects of Engaging Characters - A Writing Excuses Dissection

Do you listen to Writing Excuses? If you do, good. If you don't: For Shame! That's right, I'm giving you the evil eye.

Writing Excuses is a great resource for writers, lovers of genre fiction and for many others of refined taste that only have 15 minutes and a busy schedule. I've listened to every episode of their nine seasons and recently Brandon and the team threw down a great tool for character development.

The basic premise is this: Your character not working? Do you and your readers not feel engaged with the character. Disinterested? Well, perhaps we need to look at how the character is structured and how they interact within the confines of the story.

Brandon suggests there are 3 aspects, or prongs (as he calls them) to creating an engaging character:
Sympathy - Are they a good person? Can you relate to the character, or sympathize? Frodo doesn't want to take on the burden of the ring, he feels inadequate for the task, and yet he does it anyway. We feel the impact of that decision and it pulls us into the story. (It also plays on Proactivity, but I think we mostly sympathize with this undertaking.)

A Clifton Primer on Titles of Address and Rank

Have you ever wondered when you should capitalize titles or rank? I have. In fact, I’ve practically lost sleep over it.

In my story I have generals and lieutenants, a captain-protector, a guard-captain and made up titles to boot. While steeped in the writing flurry I passed them by with nary a wink. But, as I came to final, these little demons began to claw and howl.

And because you really need my opinion on this matter, I'm going to share my conclusion. This is not fact, it is my opinion, and entirely subjective based on you, your genre and your style.

I’ve seen contradicting advice online for when to capitalize and when not. (I know. Weird, right?) In general it seemed fairly consistent to leave them lowercase when not attached to a name and when not in direct address. “Hello, Lieutenant, have you seen Commander Poopypants? Looks like sarge is up to it again.” But then I got some mixed advice and went astray.