R.J. Batla's Blog, page 2
August 6, 2018
What is a Stretch Goal?
With a crowdfunding site like Kickstarter, once you set your initial goal, it’s an all or nothing deal – the project either gets funded or not, and if not, the creator doesn’t receive any funds.
I’m hoping that doesn’t happen to Death Cloud, but it is always a risk.
That being said, and in order to entice people to share the Kickstarter and continue to promote it, they allow what are called stretch goals. Once funding reaches these levels, new rewards are unlocked for everyone (usually, depending on how it is structured).
Basically, it’s an enticement and reward for the project getting more and more funding!
And in the case of Death Cloud, I got some incredible stretch goals lined up. Many of my author friends have offered their stories to be included in the stretch goals – meaning if we hit certain levels, everyone gets an e-book copy of some amazing books by some amazing authors!
PLUS – if we hit two other stretch goals, we go ahead and fund books 3 and 4 in the Senturians of Terraunum series NOW, and everyone who contributed to the Kickstarter will get those when they come out, before they are released to the public!
Below are some pictures of the stretch goals, check them out, and tell me which ones you are most excited about! (always note that they are subject to change before the Kickstarter goes live)
The Kickstarter is going live on August 16, 10 days away.
Be ready, because there will be some contests for sharing the posts.
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July 23, 2018
The Rewards, oh the Rewards!
Leading up to the Kickstarter launch for Death Cloud (August 16, if you didn’t remember), I’m doing a series of blog and social posts to both educate and excite people. So this one is about the rewards to the reader/supporter – and is probably one of the coolest aspects of Kickstarter.
While Kickstarter provides the creator (in this case, me) the funds to make their product or service a reality, by far the best part is that we are able to provide some incredible rewards to those who pledge at various levels.
Obviously, the higher pledge, the higher your rewards. They start small, with $1, for those who just want to support, and go up to $1,500, for which you get some incredible perks. There are also a variety of levels in between there. Below is an example of some of the rewards I’ll be offering, which include: electronic copies of the book, physical copies of the book, SIGNED copies of the book, bookmarks, stickers, posters, maps, all my other books… And you’ll be able to get them all BEFORE the public does!
*Note – these aren’t 100% finalized, so they are subject to change. Got to CYA lol.
**Note on a Note – These are not all the rewards levels, there are several more to choose from. Some are also limited in quantity…
PLUS – some of the rewards give you a chance to work with me to actually contribute TO THE WRITING of the book. This includes helping me to name characters and places, all the way up to potentially writing a story with me!
[image error] [image error] [image error] [image error] [image error] [image error]If you have any questions, shoot me an email or message me on Facebook!
July 16, 2018
Death Cloud Kickstarter kickoff – it’s coming!
Why Kickstarter? Why Self Pub?
Mainly, to get you the best quality book as fast as possible.
This is Book 2 in the series, so it will be published. However, I want to put it out faster and more polished, while giving people some awesome rewards – hence Kickstarter!
As for self publishing, in a word-control. I write on the side (meaning outside my day job and family obligations), so I want to be able to put a book out as soon as I can without waiting for a publisher. I want to be able to tell the story I want on my schedule, and not have to hit a certain deadline. I can put books out as fast as I can, yet delay the deadline if needed because of life.
So really they go hand in hand!
For those of you who don’t know what Kickstarter is, maybe you have heard the term “crowdfunding.” Basically, you can back a “project”, and you help the creator realize their dream. In return, you get awesome rewards, depending on what level you back then at.
FYI-I’m working on my rewards, and they will be awesome! Everything from just the E-book, the paperback, all of my paperbacks, and even tiers where you get to design a character with me! Plus cool swag and some Kickstarter exclusives!
Another cool thing about Kickstarter is the stretch goals. Which means even more rewards for everyone the higher the funding level reached!
August 16th people. Also expect a few more blog posts from me close to and during he Kickstarter.
I sincerely hope you check it out when I “kick it off”! Haha! There will be some awesome rewards.
July 3, 2018
The tribe, er, the Coalition, has spoken!
What in the world is going on with RJ?
It has been far too long since I have written a blog post, so I decided today was the day, despite everything else I’ve got going on.
I recently sent out a survey to my email subscribers (thank you to all those who responded), and got some interesting feedback on what everyone wanted.
Two emails per month instead of one.
More books (trust me, I am going as fast as I can on this one! J), More blog posts (hence this post), and more social media interaction (I’m posting is much as I can on that one, but I’ll try for more).
So in light of all of that, I’m going to try to give everyone more in general.
So for my first blog post in the post – survey era, I’m going to give everyone an update on what I’ve got going on.
Writing
In my world of writing, I’m furiously trying to finish Death Cloud and get it to the editor. I’m HOPING for an October release (I know it has been too long, but I want to put out the best product possible), and to hit that I need to get the book to my editor by the Fourth of July.
After I get that off to the editor, I will write another Edgewalker book and get it published ASAP.
Depending on how much time I have after that, I will either write yet another Edgewalker story or get to work on the next Origins story, which I already have outlined.
So I’m a little ambitious, but I’ll try to do the best I can to get all the stories out as fast as I can. I greatly appreciate and am overwhelmed by the amount of encouragement and support you readers give me, and I want to send a big, THANK YOU!
Kickstarter
Another question in my survey was asking about Kickstarter, and how much interest there was from my audience. The results split into thirds – one who would for sure be interested, one who didn’t know what Kickstarter was but was interested, and the last who wasn’t interested.
Based off those results, and my research, I have decided to do a Kickstarter for Death Cloud! This will provide valuable resources to get the book published in an efficient and timely manner, while allowing me to do more with the book and series at the same time, if the goals are met.
More info to come, but expect the kickoff around 31 July.
Podcast
I am having an absolute blast with the podcast! The Guildies are awesome, we have a lot of fun each episode interacting with the audience, and from everything I hear people really are enjoying the show.
We will continue to have great episodes moving forward, and the amount of work involved is manageable so that we can continue to move forward with show.
We are super excited every episode we do, and thank you for allowing us to do it!
That’s it for now, hopefully I’ll have another one next week. Until then, keep on being awesome!
April 4, 2018
Welcome to the Kickass Readers Podcast
Welcome Intro Episode!
This is a short welcome video to explain our channel. It includes our fun little intro and outro videos (that we use for the podcast versions of the videos) and what you can expect from each video.
March 26, 2018
Long Sword – Weapon of the Week
Long Sword
[image error]By Rama – Own work, CC BY-SA 2.0 fr, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
For our podcast, Joshua and I are each doing a weapon of the week. To add more detail to it, and to make the content go longer for everyone, I’m going to attempt to do a blog post every time I do a new weapon.
And this week, the weapon I chose was the longsword.
From my era of people (those of us in the middle part of their lives), the most recognizable version of the longsword was from the move Braveheart. The big one that ol’ Mel wielded is the Scotish version, called a claymore, who’s name is the ‘English’ version of the Gaelic word claidheamh mòr meaning “great sword”
The longsword, while in general does have a long blade, was not characterized as such. What distinguished the sword was that it was wielded with two hands as opposed to just one.
Generally a slashing weapon, as with all things pointy, it did have a… point… and could be used for stabbing.
It’s high time was the late medieval and Renaissance periods (approximately 1350 to 1550), with early and late use reaching into the 13th and 17th centuries.
And you can imagine how intimidating a big freaking sword was on the battlefield.
But alas, with all thing awesome, it wouldn’t last.
Plate armor would be its downfall – it would deflect those devastating slashes.
Not wanting to put such an awe inspiring and devastating weapon to waste, people developed the technique called, ‘half-swording’ – where you would hold the sword by the hilt and in the middle of the blade, where you had more control and you increased the accuracy and strength of your thrusts.
And, you could either penetrate that plate armor, or get around it to the vulnerable soft spots in all armor.
You could even turn the whole sword around and use the dang thing backwards, using the crossguard and hilt as a club/mace type weapon.
Eventually, by around the 16th century, the swords had largely ceased to be a major weapon, but were used ceremonially.
I particularly liked what the Scottish did – wearing their longswords instead of sabres in the English army, to show their ‘strenght’ and a connection to their ancestory.
The largest claymore on record; known as fuilteach-mhuirt, weighs 10 kilograms and measures 2.24 metres in length. It is believed to have been wielded by a member of Clan Maxwell circa the 15th century. The sword is currently in the possession of the National War Museum in Edinburgh, Scotland.
All in all, a devastating weapon, and one that would strike fear in your enemies.
You can see a lot more here, and the subsequent links will take you down the rabbit hole.
March 7, 2018
Idea Generation
Where do you get your ideas?
I get that question quite a bit. If you’ve read my author blurb, you’ve seen this:
His books reflect influences from novels, comic books, manga, and other cartoons/media, and he joys in blending in these elements in his books.
And that’s true – where my influences have come from.
But we’re talking ideas. Ideas are everywhere. It can be anything. Literally. From something your kids say, to somebody you see that looks kinda squirrelly while you’re on ay run, to someone who cut you off on your commute to work.
Anything in your daily life can generate an idea.
With regards the fantasy, the key that I’ve found is to take those little occurances and make them extraordinary. That guy who cut you off? Well maybe he was a goblin who just had an issue with a pixie who’d double-crossed him on a deal for some moon nectar and had to flee the scene.
See what I mean?
Or maybe when your kid says you they want a dog, maybe when you actually picked it up it was a shapeshifting Martian creature who’d escaped his old owner’s ship while he was vacationing in your little town.
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It could happen.
The key to ideas is writing them down and having a place to store them (I use Evernote, word documents, and spreadsheets). Then you have them, and you can always refer back to them, pull out an old idea, and put it in a great new book.
Another thing that has helped me, is silent time. Sounds counter intuitive, but your brain needs that ‘reset’ or ‘refresh’ to get really creative.
Ever come up with a great idea in the shower? That’s cause your brain has had time to catalog what you’ve learned/been thinking about, and now you can connect the dots easier when your doing a ‘non thinking’ activity. Something where you’re on autopilot. Like a shower!
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Maybe a bit more shower than I’m meaning…
I’ve been reading a lot of blog posts and hear some podcasts on the value of meditation, or even not true meditation, but just being quiet where you don’t have the thousands of distractions that is our modern life right now. They have said, and I have also found, that when you quiet your mind and your surroundings is when you get some of the best ideas.
For me, it may not be and idea for a whole book or story, but for a scene in the book I’m writing. Or how my magic system would work (maybe how it would break). Or where in the world would a goblin who’d been double-crossed by a pixie be going in such a hurry?
If you’re still stuck, or want to have some fun and stretch your skills, there is a ton of resources online for ideas.
Some are writing prompts, others are story ideas that give you a place to start, or random name generators – all kinds of those things that can help get your juices flowing.
A fun exercise is to find one of those writing prompt sites (or Google it, or go on Pinterest), and find a prompt that jumps out at you. If you need more of a push, pick the third one you see, whatever it is.
Then write a story about it.
Doesn’t have to be long/good or anything you’ll publish.
But it will make you a better writer. You’ll be thinking better and more creatively.
Don’t think much at all actually, just write. And see where that character goes. Aim for short, maybe 500-1000 words. And have fun!
So be on the lookout for ideas. Everywhere!
Next post: Outlining. My favorite!
February 1, 2018
Review of Windsworn: Gryphon Riders Book One (Gryphon Riders Trilogy 1) by Derek Alan Siddoway
9 out of 10 Stars
Note on my ratings: I rate mostly on entertainment value, readability, and if I liked the story, characters, setting, and the flow of the book. A book I absolutely can’t put down gets 10/10.
Category: Teen & Young Adult Epic Fantasy/Sword and Sorcery. Mythical Creatures.
From the book description: Fans of Eragon, Harry Potter and the Dragonriders of Pern will love this fast-paced coming of age fantasy, set in a world of majestic gryphons and ancient magic.
This is the first book of the series, and I was hooked, captivated from the first page.
The author takes the popular ‘dragon riders’ theme and changes it to gryphon in an exciting fashion.
Following the life of a smith’s apprentice Eva (who of course is much more than she seems), through the book you get to grow with her as she develops into a full blown Gryphon rider.
The author does a great job of developing the characters and making you care what happens to them, with lots of twists and turns along the way, keeping you guessing and wanting to turn the page.
It is a great coming of age fantasy novel.
Lots of great action, mystery, and – the best part – they ride gryphons!
I’ve read the whole series (all of which are out now), and they do not disappoint.
I recommend all three books.
November 2, 2017
The Writing Process of R.J. Batla
I’m starting a new blog series on my writing process. This series will give you some insight on how I go about writing and publishing all my books, for anyone that is curious or wanting to write and publish a book of their own.
It will also help me with my writing process, as I will actually put the process down on paper.
Right now it’s about 15 blog posts long, with quite a bit of detail that I want to add to each one.
Starting Off
The first thing I decide is what I’m going to be writing: is this in a current series, or a completely new one? The process will be different, as there is a lot more set up with a new series. Is this the first book in a series? Is it the second book? Is it a short story? Full-length novel? All these factors will affect how the entire writing process goes, so before I set down to really work on something, I want to have an idea on what story/type of book I want to write.
Genre: typically I write in fantasy, but I’ve also been working on urban fantasy. These two are similar but different. Genre will determine the type of book and everything that goes with it – meaning an epic fantasy book may be longer because you need more world building vs. a book set in the ‘real’ world.
Timeline
This will be partially a function of the length of the book/story I’m writing. In general it takes around six months to get a book out and fully published, give or take a month or two. For me anyway. Knowing that, I try to set out my timeline on getting all my steps in the right order and at the right time to make the book a success. Since this is a part-time thing for me, all these timelines are adjustable, but it helps to have everything on paper so I know what I need to do when, or at least what I need to do next.
When To Write
The best time to write is different for everyone. The main goal is to set aside some time, be it in the morning, at lunch, or at night, and testing need to see what time works best for you and your schedule.
For me, I do a combination of all depending on the day, but mostly it’s at night after the rest of the family has gone to sleep.
Another tool I found is dictation – it really speeds up my writing and I have found that I like to take a walk and dictate a story. It really helps my thinking and I can keep ideas flowing while also getting exercise.
How To Write
This kinda goes with when to write, as when you write my determine how you have to write. Most people nowadays will type on the computer, but it can be just as valuable to write with a pen and paper to get your ideas out, especially the brainstorming or outline phase. You can always transfer it to the computer later.
As I just said, dictation is also another avenue the people can use. I found a valuable, but it does take some getting used to.
Computer Programs For Writing
There are a lot of different articles out there that talk about which writing program is the best, but there are really three that stick out: Google Docs, Word, and Scrivener.
Lots of different people use each of these programs, and there are advantages and disadvantages to all three.
For me, I just stick with good old Microsoft Word. I haven’t played much with Google Docs, but I did purchase Scrivener and try to use it. It is a GREAT tool for writers, as is software that is built specifically for writers. That being said, and everyone who use the programs as is, there is a definite learning curve associated with the program. For me, that was a big stickler, and I did not have patience to learn the new program, so I stuck with word and have been “making it work” for me.
That’s all for today!
Next In Series:
Idea generation and Outlining
Keep it real, but keep it fun!
R.J. Batla
August 23, 2017
Review of Dragon’s Fire by Tiger Hebert
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10/10 Stars
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Epic story, great world, amazing book!
What a great book!
I particularly like that the orcs are good guys for a change.
The cast of characters, different peoples, and the way they interact are all intricately woven together in a masterful story arc that combines action, adventure, and of course a world in peril.
The evil creatures are nasty, and the bad men are equally evil, yet relatable and the reason they are bad makes sense.
How the author weaves the Redemptive story through a fantasy world is very well done.
Each of the characters and peoples grow or change through the coarse of the book, and it is brought to a great ending while getting you excited to for the next installment.
I highly recommend this book for anyone!
This is a Christian Fantasy book.
