S.E. Ellis's Blog

Closer to the Finish Line

I recently finished formatting the manuscript of Hestia the Wolfrunner.  I am now working through cover creation and then it’s time to order proofs!  I am hoping to have the book published before summer, but we shall see.  This long journey has shown me it’s dangerous to give dates without solid knowledge behind them.  My crystal ball is broken, but I remain hopeful.

The first draft of the second Hestia novel

I’m so happy!  Last night I finished the first draft of my second Hestia novel!  The process was exhausting, but I’m happy I’ve reached that first milestone.

I enjoy learning more about writing and the different guidelines, rules, tips, tricks, genres, formats, etc.  For this novel I decided it would be fun to flesh things out a bit more and taking a cue from the “Epic Fantasy” genre, I decided I would give the secondary characters their own story arcs.  This was great fun, and given how colorful some of the characters are (Lupin and Diana) it was very natural to let them get some more time on the page.

That, combined with the main story arc, ended up making a larger book.  Just over 140,000 words.  While that’s on the low-end for adult Epic Fantasy, it’s over three times the size for the typical MG novel.  This begs the question, “Who is my audience?”  While I wrote specifically for middle-school aged children, the best, most enthusiastic reviews I’ve received came from a 17 year old and a 60 year old.  Ultimately, what will weigh heaviest in my decision is, “What will put this book into the hands of the most readers?”

But that’s a decision I can kick down the road for now.  I still have the long process of going through the various phases of editing, creating covers, formatting and trying to get the book uploaded for purchase without the Amazon gremlins wreaking havoc…

Just after sunset from Rollins Pass, Winter Park, CO

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My writing process

I’ve been asked this question a few times so I thought I would write a post about it.  I believe that I am horribly disorganized by nature, and because of this I have to work extra hard to organize projects that I am going to be spending any serious amount of time and effort on.

Regarding writing specifically, what usually happens is that I will be on one of my walks, or possibly driving, and an idea will pop into my head.  The seed for a novel.  I’ll continue walking and let the idea form and play-out in my mind and sit back and watch where it goes.  After it reaches a certain point, and my life circumstances are right for taking on a new novel in earnest, I will write out scenes (by character) on 3″x5″ cards.  Once I’ve written out all the scenes (that I can think of at that time), I will purchase some “butcher paper” (it’s sold under different names) and cover my entire kitchen table with it.  (You may have seen the picture on my Instagram.)  Using the huge piece of butcher paper I will make a graph with the characters as one axis and story beats as the other.  I’ll then fill-in each “square” of the graph.  This has been helpful/surprising to me because it forces me to think of where & what other characters are doing that may not be along the main story arc.  Once I’ve filled that out, I may repeat the process using different story-beat structures to see if anything surprising pops-out.  Using this “plot outline”, I will then write a “scene summary” in a notebook, noting the characters, location, sensory queues, motivations, conflicts, emotional direction, and descriptions.

Making sure I am stocked with plenty of Red Bull and playing my heavy metal Spotify playlist at 125db, I will take the chronologically organized (for the most part) notebook, sit my butt down every day (at least I try) and write the novel in Scrivener.

If there’s interest I may write a follow-up post sharing my process and opinions on drafts, editing, readers and soliciting feedback.

105,000 words so far…

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Want your book signed?

I wanted to let everyone in Denver and the surrounding area (basically everything from Boulder to Colorado Springs) that if they purchased my book and would like me to sign it, please contact me!  I am more than happy to visit and sign my book.  After my visit to Littleton Academy last month, I learned that some students had later purchased my book and expressed interest in having me sign them this summer, so I thought I would let everyone know that it’s certainly an option.

The best way to contact me directly is to email me:  seellis.author@gmail.com

Author Visit at Littleton Academy

It was so much fun speaking to the 5-8 grades at Littleton Academy this morning! I presented in the gym, and it was a bit daunting to look out and see half the school sitting in front of me. But they had my laptop & projector ready, and brought my big Hestia the Dreamwalker banner. The students were great and asked some really good questions.

I need to contact other local elementary schools so I can do more author visits next year. They’re so much fun!

Thank you so much to the principal of Littleton Academy, Shelly Russell and the third grade English teacher Mrs. Graziano (who coordinated this) for inviting me to speak at the school!

I have lowered the sale price!

In celebration of my upcoming author visit, I have lowered the price of the paperback from $14.99 to $11.99.  You may be surprised to learn that given the length and size of the book, Createspace would not let me price the book at $10.99 or lower!  My motivation behind writing has always been to simply get my book in front of as many eyes so that as many people can read and enjoy it as possible.  My hope is that in lowering the price I’ve made it easier for people to make the decision to purchase my book.

An Author Visit

I am happy to announce that I will be doing another author visit!  This time I will be speaking with students on May 21st.  I can’t wait!  I am very hopeful that I will receive a good reception as my book was literally written with this age group (5th – 8th grade) in mind.  While I’ve been happy that adults and younger children have both enjoyed my book I am curious to see how my book resonates with it’s target audience.

And while we’re on the topic of author visits.  I’m very proud of my book, but when I visited the elementary school I spent the entire time speaking with the kids about imagination, reading books, journaling, discipline, perseverance, etc.  I thought that was the entire point of an author visit:  to reiterate and reinforce what the teacher has been instructing the children.  I was invited because I was to speak about these topics because they’re central to the pursuit of writing, not necessarily selling my book.

 

another author visit

I am happy to announce that I will be doing another author visit!  This time I will be speaking with students on May 21st.  I can’t wait!  Speaking with children is so much more rewarding and enjoyable than speaking with adults.

I’m in a constant state of surprise as I navigate my way through the world of authoring books and learn how things actually work, and what is considered “normal”.  What was conveyed to me (albeit secondhand) about the typical experience with authors for author visits as this particular elementary school shocked me.  Apparently most authors will loan a (single) copy of their book to the school for the students and teacher to share.  The author then tells the school that the students have to purchase at least 30 copies (or whatever the size of the class is) of their book in total before they’ll schedule a time to do an author visit.  I don’t know about everyone else, but I find that just disgusting.  I understand how incredibly difficult it is to sell books as an indie author, but requiring that students purchase X amount of books before you’ll even schedule a visit?!?

And while we’re on the topic of author visits.  Apparently I’m the only author that doesn’t use their time with students hyping their own book and telling the kids they should buy it.  Again, I just find that disgusting.  I’m very proud of my book, but when I visited the elementary school I spent the entire time speaking with the kids about imagination, reading books, journaling, discipline, perseverance, etc.  To me, I thought that was the whole point of an author visit:  to reiterate what the teacher had been instructing the children.  I was invited because I was to speak about these topics because they’re central to the pursuit of writing, not to hawk books like a used car salesman.