E.A. Copen's Blog, page 5

On the Shoulders of Giants

I was chatting someone the other day who had asked for a little help developing something she was working on in her fantasy story. A few minutes into the conversation, I began to list books in the same genre she was writing and suggesting she read a few to get a feel for genre conventions, reader expectations, and just generally get a good foundation to build her ideas on. Her response? “Oh, I don’t want to READ fantasy. I wouldn’t want it to influence my writing.”Stop the presses. Authors be...

Author Spotlight: Al McDermid

As part of each month's exploration of genres, I seek out an author in that genre and ask them some interview questions. This month's genre is weird west. You can read about it in my last posthere.Al McDermid is the author of a serial weird west,And Hell Followed With Her. Stick around and I'll tell you how you can get the first episode for free until Wednesday, January 11th 2017.Interview:Q)Hi there and thanks for joining me today! First off, tell us about yourself. What do you like to do wh...

What the Heck is Weird West?

Weird West even has it's own music. Check out Drink with the Living Dead by Ghoultown in the video below.Every time I bring up Beasts of Babylon, I get asked, “What’s weird west?” It’s actually a little harder to define than a lot of other genres. While fantasy calls to mind specific elements like magic, swords, and questing, and sci-fi reminds you of spaceships and FTL travel, weird west can actually be a lot of different things.At it’s heart, weird west is a combination of the traditional w...

2016 In Review

2016 was the year I jumped into the publishing world head first. I had no real social media presence, no plan, no experience, and no idea what I was doing. Surprisingly, it all seems to have worked out for me, but it’s not for lack of trying to fail.This year, I wrote 560,000 words.I published 2 novels and a novella.I wrote 4 novels and a novella.I sold 418 books, 20 of them paperbacks.I made my first $1,000 as an author.These are small milestones compared to what some authors can boast. Howe...

Why Aren't Monsters Scary Anymore?

Ah, the good old days when Nosferatu had people passing out because it was too frightening and people shrieked in terror at the idea of the Wolfman. Back when monsters were monsters and men were too. What changed? How do we make monsters scary again?The easy, go-to explanation is over-saturation. For a while, you couldn’t go anywhere without running into a zombie movie. Werewolves and vampires are everywhere now, too, and even some of the lesser known monsters are surging in popularity. It us...

A History of Werewolves

For today, let’s talk about history. Specifically, I want to talk about werewolf history and the evolution of werewolves from scary monsters to love interests. This is part 1 of a series of articles on werewolves. You can find links to the rest as they release at the bottom of this page.Werewolves date back thousands of years in myth. One of the oldest has to do with King Lyacon of Arcadia who appears in Greek myth. Lyacon had what we’d call today a crisis of faith. He didn’t believe Zeus was...

So, What is a Way Anyway? (And why is it dangerous?)

Why write about one world when you can write about infinite worlds? That’s one of the things I’ve always loved about fantasy and urban fantasy in particular. While most urban fantasy is grounded firmly on Earth, the stories can also take you to other realms with a little magic.I am, of course, talking about Ways.I was first introduced to Ways when I read the Dresden Files where they function as a sort of tunnel between Chicago and other places in the world. There, they’re a sort of magical fa...

2017 Plans

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, which means I’m looking forward to next year. One of the hardest things I’ve had to learn as a self-published author is time management. I thought I was pretty good at it until I decided to self-publish. Turns out, not so much. I’m getting better as time goes along.I thought I’d share with you some of my plans for next year. A lot of self-publishing authors out there right now are pumping out books every 30 days. While that works for them, it doesn...

Meeting the Wolf

See that handsome fella up there? No, no. The four-legged one! His name is Lucien and he’s a gray wolf! I had the pleasure of attending an educational event at my local library where Ironwood Wolves of Columbus, Ohio brought him down as an ambassador wolf.Ambassador wolves are tame and have some dog in their lineage (because the state of Ohio says they must). They are part of Ironwood Wolves’ educational outreach program, which seeks to educate the public and raise awareness about wolves and...

How to Write a Book Review

[image error]If you’re new to the world of books and reviews, leaving one on Amazon might be a little intimidating. What do you write? What if you can’t werdz?! This guide is for you.First of all, there is no magic formula for writing book reviews. You can say whatever you want. Nobody’s going to stop you. The author isn’t going to swoop in and scrutinize your grammar. Most of us are just tickled that you bothered with a review at all. We don’t care about capitalization or pesky commas, at least not when...