Matthew McAndrew's Blog
November 24, 2018
"Headshot: A Thriller" Giveaway!
https://www.amazon.com/ga/p/5cfcfe64c...
November 18, 2018
“Endgame” Film and Writing Update
Ah, home at last!
Hey everyone, it’s been several months since I posted anything, but I have a valid excuse I thought I’d share. I’ve set novel writing projects aside for most of the year to pour all my time, thought and energy into “Endgame”, a fan film I wrote, directed, produced, choreographed and built the set for, as well as acted in, together with my friends from Abundant House Films and 841 Films. I had a blast making this film and am very thankful to have had such a supportive team come alongside me to make vision into reality. So, without further ado, here’s “Endgame”, my entry into the yearly Lightsaber Choreography Competition:
“Endgame” placed 2nd in three categories: Performance, Editing and Theme, as well as 4th place overall out of 27 entries.
Now for an update on future novels!
I hope by now I’ve made it common knowledge that a “Headshot” sequel is in the works, entitled “Killjoy”. I am 60,000 words into written notes. Yes, you read that correctly: 60,000 words worth of JUST NOTES. This includes outlines, scenes, bits of dialogue, comments on character arcs, etc.
Last I checked, “Killjoy” involves 50 characters, roughly 30 of which will have their own developed plotlines and character development arcs. So, essentially, I’m cramming the equivalent of 2-3 seasons worth of TV series into one book.
Which is why I’ve been calling “Headshot” ‘the first chapter of a much larger story’. “Killjoy” was originally going to be more of a lighthearted romp back into the world of Chase, Dean and Nate, but it’s become something so much bigger than that. Expect to see the familiar elements–action, mystery, sassy humor, romance, and sprinklings (more like bucket loads) of existential themes–among the list of things to look forward to. Also look forward to meeting many new characters, both heroes and villains, as well as seeing plenty of callbacks to the original book.
One last thing: please be patient and understand that a story this size will take time to write in a way that does it justice. I am standing on the brink of finally being able to set aside notes and start writing in earnest, which will be the fastest part of the process, so just hang in there and I’ll continue to keep you posted on my progress!
Thanks for reading!
-Matthew
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January 31, 2018
The “Headshot” Mixtape
Let’s talk about music for a minute, okay? Hope you’re prepared for this conversation.
First things first, a little backstory: I grew up in a musical family. By that I don’t mean we were the Von Trapp family, but we all love music, and each of us has some kind of experience with it. My parents both sang in church for years. My siblings and I have all at least dabbled in one or more instruments, including the flute, violin, guitar, drums, and, of course, the piano. Every big homeschooled family needs one of them thangs. We all know it to be true. Don’t know why it’s a thing, it just is.
There has always been a piano in our house, for as long as I can remember. I played it regularly from eight years old to around age fourteen, before dropping my lessons, as my mid-level of interest didn’t warrant continuing to pay tuition. That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy it or that I don’t “feel it” sometimes when I play even now. I’ve been told I play emotionally–which seems pretty legit, since that’s also how I write–but I was never intent on becoming the next Beethoven. If anyone fits that description in our family, it’s my oldest sister, Ashley, who still plays like a boss and just recently started getting into playing jazz, something I wouldn’t even consider attempting at this point, though it is an awesome form of music (La La Land, anyone?). In any case, music has been an integral part of my life from the beginning, and so naturally, it’s influence has spread to my writing…increasingly so over the years.
Ask any writer or author–or really any kind of artist–out there, and they’ll probably tell you that listening to music is a way of life for them…a daily necessity nearly as essential as breathing. That’s some seriously hyperbolic wordage (as is “hyperbolic”), I know, but you get the point. Music and art go hand in hand…especially when it comes to stories.
Soundtracks exist to augment the emotion and tone of a movie, but the same concept applies for an author’s secret stash of inspirational story music. Sure, readers can’t hear the same music in their heads that the writer does (unless the song is named or mentioned in some way), but they will most likely feel the difference between scenes written under the influence of music, and those written without it. Hopefully, though…if it’s done right, they’ll see that as a good thing. Music is supposed to be a tool in a writer’s arsenal, not a trump card.
We writers gotta be careful with that “writing under the influence” thing. I personally don’t often write under the influence of music, because I’ve been guilty of allowing the oh-so-epic music to turn a scene that should be subtle and cool into a scene that screams “CAPES! SOLILOQUY! BETRAYAL! TRAGEDY! DRAMA! OH, THE HUMANITY!”
Yeah, been guilty of that a lot…so, if I do write ‘under the influence’, I’m always careful to go back and check over what I’ve written to see if I cranked the epicness or the melodrama up too high or not. I’ve gotten better at keeping my wits about me even when the music gets to that one part that sends chills down the spine, but it still pays to make sure I didn’t go overboard. Melodrama is a dire temptation in my writing life, which is why I have people like my youngest sister around to laugh at what I write and tell me to tone it down…like, a lot.
Thusly, the bulk of my music listening is done whenever I’m going about daily tasks. Sometimes specific tasks have specific songs or albums attached to them…for instance, when I mow the lawn, I’m almost always tuning into American Authors…it’s kind of a tradition now–dunno why. Most of the time, though, I listen to songs specific to my mood and imagine, in detail, potential story moments that could coincide with the music. I get ideas like that all the time, because that’s my intent. Listening to music without the intent of gleaning some kind of inspiration from it is just entertainment.
It’s for that reason that I have many music playlists dedicated solely to a certain story or even a specific character. “Headshot” was no exception. I collected a bunch of different songs while writing the book for varying reasons; some because of the lyrics, some for the melody, some for the lolz…but all of them were inspiring in some form or another, which is why, now that “Headshot” is available to the world, I wanted to go ahead and share this other behind-the-scenes aspect with everyone.
Beware: the road ahead is fraught with perilous spoilers. If you haven’t yet read “Headshot” (what the heck are you doing here?), stop now. Ye have been warned…
The playlist link: https://open.spotify.com/user/lk795bxsb3vz6uv1ec3hogrh9/playlist/2LX1YPQvAgaRmHuwp7hpIg
“Time To Pretend” (MGMT)
Like many other people, I’m sure, the first time I heard this song was from one of the trailers for Spiderman: Homecoming, so it’s a more recent addition to the mixtape. I don’t like the lyrics to the song at all, but from the first time I heard the music itself, I loved it. It just sounds so…dorky. Exactly the kind of thing I was looking for in a “Headshot” track. A story about three goofy high-school buddies? Yeah, it needs at least one awkward, dorky-sounding song to go with it.
“Free Fallin'” (Tom Petty)
I picked this one because it had that nostalgic feel to it that I was trying to emulate in “Headshot”. I mean, come on, the story revolves around a teenage skater dude’s first serious relationship with a girl…a girl who’s more mature than he is, and who causes him to change for the better before disappearing forever. The lyrics and tone of Free Fallin’ capture that young-adult summer romance feeling in a good way, to me. Plus, you know…it’s Tom Petty we’re talking about here…
“Back In Black” (AC/DC)
Nate’s signature song. Whenever I think of Nate, I think of skateboards, trucks, Troy Bolton hair, and an astounding obliviousness to many, many things. That combination, set against the hard rock of AC/DC, always makes me smile, because honestly, Nate may like to think of himself as a bad boy, but we all know that at the end of the day, he’s just a big softie…a good ol’ Georgia boy who likes to have fun with his friends. He inherited that last trait from his creator, as with his love for AC/DC.
“Somebody To You” (The Vamps, Demi Lovato)
This is a fun one. You can’t write a story about three teenage dudes without listening to at least one boy band for inspiration. Love how upbeat and light this song is…it goes well with the happier, summer portions of “Headshot”. The lyrics also pretty well capture Nate’s progression from being a guy who only cared about having fun to a guy who makes valiant attempts to become the best person he can be for the girl he cares about. I think a lot of dudes can relate to that transition period–those who can’t were either never carefree in the first place or never left that stage—hence my reason for betting that the first of said groups is in the majority.
“Beautiful” (Ben Rector)
This one actually still makes me sad. Whenever I listen to it, I always picture a grown-up Nate looking back on his teenage years, remembering the good times, the bad times, and especially the many summer days he spent daydreaming about a particular girl who died along with his childhood. Eesh. Hits me in the feels.
“Hey Princess” (Allstar Weekend)
Yikes! The cringe is strong with this song, but I love it! Again, nothing particularly inspirational about the lyrics, it’s just got that right sound of dorkiness to it that fits the bro trio of “Headshot” so well. I first heard the song from a definitely-not-cheesy-at-all Disney movie called Geek Charming, which is probably the main reason I find myself smiling and inwardly cringing every time it plays.
“One Thing” (One Direction)
More boy band inspiration. 1D is a guilty pleasure of mine. Some people love ’em way too much, some people hate ’em (several of my friends included)…me, I take the middle ground. I like some of their songs, but definitely not all of them…and I definitely feel that same inward cringe with some of their tracks. Nate is the kind of guy who I can see having a secret obsession with 1D that he would never tell anyone about. Who knows, he might even have a 1D poster tucked into his closet somewhere. Wouldn’t put it past him.
“Kiss You” (One Direction)
This song is made up of all the classic elements of every teenage guy’s first major crush: nervous energy, twitterpation, puppy eyes, and copious amounts of sheer stupidity. Dear female population: please forget our teenage years ever happened. Please.
“Live While We’re Young” (One Direction)
I connect this song to two things: one, the scene from “Headshot” where Nate and all his friends are driving the truck to his home near golden hour, and two, an actual memory that inspired it. The first time I remember hearing this song was on the way home from a fun day my siblings and I spent hanging out with our lifelong friends, the Johnsons, at their house. Twas a typically beautiful sunny day in Cumming, GA, and as we were driving across a bridge over Lake Lanier, my older sister had this song playing. I had my window open with my arm hanging out into the wind.
Upbeat, fun music playing, a great view of the lake while going home from a good time with friends…it was a good moment, one of many such moments in my life. I’m a man of simple pleasures. It’s the little things, like reaching an arm out an open car window on a bright summer day, that make me slow down and just enjoy living for a minute.
“My House” (Flo Rida)
The only song in this list that inspired an entire scene without me even trying to think about it. I must’ve been in a good mood at the time I got inspired by this one, because it resulted in me writing one of my favorite happy scenes in the book…the whole sequence where Nate and his friends just get to hang out and be kids for a minute…right before tragedy hits. This song was so perfect that I actually had Chase play the song in the scene, so that my readers would have a better chance of feeling the same fun atmosphere I felt, provided they’d heard the song before.
“Iris” (Goo Goo Dolls)
Anyone else get super nostalgic listening to late 90s-early 2000s music? Cuz I do. but then, I’m a 90s kid, so there’s that. This song is just one of many examples. Gah, every time it starts playing, I instantly get hit by a feels train. Not only does it take me back to my childhood, but it’s also a perfect fit for the section of “Headshot” taking place after Nate’s father dies. Grief can be an excuse to give up if you let it, and that’s exactly what Nate does in Chapter Six.
Of course, his initial grief is legitimate…he just suddenly lost his dad! On top of that, his mom goes into depression, leaving him to be not just the ‘man of the house’…but also the breadwinner for his family. And this right at the time when he was beginning to feel hopeful for his future and discover purposefulness in his life. It’s a rough time in Nate’s life, and of course, it makes sense that he would have difficulty regaining himself in it all…but giving up on one’s future…that’s a more serious matter than just trying to regain your equilibrium. Hence the struggle of Chapter Six. The sad lyrics and tone of “Iris” are just right for Nate’s dark period of self-isolation.
“Shattered” (Trading Yesterday)
Pretty much the same notes as “Iris” has…this song has the same nostalgic feeling to me personally, and the lyrics in places fit Nate’s hard times after his father’s death…particularly the part where it says “I’ve lost who I am”.
I’m twenty-one. I haven’t really been around all that long. But that part in “Headshot” where Nate says he feels like he’s trying to draw water from a dry well (in reference to his struggle to feel happy like he used to)? I’ve felt that. More than once. This song captures that feeling very well, in my opinion. Plus, it also makes me think of the bit where Janis confronts him on his quitting attitude toward life and his blaming it on his father’s death.
“The Fighter” (Gym Class Heroes)
This one is a bit of an extra, as it isn’t among my favorites for inspiration, but I don’t know…pieces of it fit “Headshot” well–particularly Nate’s story. I can see him looking back at his life much later on with this song playing as a montage for his memories. Even though the song artist seems to be going for an empowering song, the chorus is unique in that, even though it’s meant to be empowering, it sounds chill. It’s a different approach to an empowerment track, and I like that.
“History” (One Direction)
The last 1D song of the list. Just imagine the song is about a group of bros and boom, you get where I’m coming from. If “Headshot” were a movie, I like to think this would be one of the credits songs if not the main one that plays right at the end of the film. It’s a tossup between this one and the others below…
“Masterpiece” (Andy Grammer)
Another potential credits song. Definitely my favorite Andy Grammer song. The lyrics are so good–unlike several of his other songs, the words actually have some meaning. More importantly, that meaning matches up with one of “Headshot”‘s main themes…the theme of life having purpose and meaning…of having both fun and meaning in abundance for those who look for it. Put simply, this song makes me happy.
“Saturn” (Sleeping At Last)
If “Headshot” were a film, this would be the final song to play as the credits end, and the other two songs above would have to fight for first place in the song lineup. “Saturn” doesn’t even have lyrics until over two minutes into the song, but man, those lyrics pack a punch! Again, they align perfectly with the themes of “Headshot”…of not only finding purpose in life, but being grateful you have it at all. Though Nate would never think in eloquent lines like the lyrics sung here, I definitely can see him feeling these things toward Janis.
“With shortness of breath, you explained the infinite…how rare and beautiful it is to even exist.”
If that’s not masterful songwriting, I don’t know what is.
So, with that, I’ll go ahead and end this post. Hope you’ve enjoyed getting another peek into the making of “Headshot”. I enjoy sharing my creative process and will be continuing to do so as much as possible, so thanks for reading! Looking forward to sharing more soon.
Matthew
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January 19, 2018
"Headshot" Giveaway!
December 22, 2017
The Hidden Easter Eggs of “Headshot”
Considering how much work goes into making a book, it’s only natural that the author should get to have some fun with it sometimes, too, right? Of course, right.
I love those moments of fun. Most of the time, writing, to me, is just the means of getting a story out of my head and on paper. Sure, the process of growing in the skills needed to sharpen descriptions, craft intriguing dialogue and build suspense is a challenge I enjoy facing off against, but at the end of the day, that doesn’t compare to the joy I get from just coming up with the story. Telling the story of one character doing a million things in the attempt to achieve one goal, over and over and over again. That’s fun–and when you get to throw in a few little details for those more attentive readers to spot, it just enhances that fun.
Thus it was that I decided to throw several hidden Easter eggs into the world of Headshot. So, since I’m good with lists, I’ll go ahead and punch one out here to show every one of those little Easter eggs and explain why they exist.
Easter Egg #0: Headshot
I wouldn’t even call this an Easter egg, as it’s so obvious. All FPS gamers know the term “Headshot”, despite the fact that it hasn’t been accepted as a real word in the English language…yet. Since the book starts out with three teenage boys who just want to play Halo, I thought it’d be fitting to make the title of the book something gamers would appreciate.
Easter Egg #1: The Cabin
Lemme tell you a story about a cool guy I once knew, who happened to be my great-grandpa.
Once upon a time, a wise and benevolent old man–my great-grandpa Lewis–actually gifted my parents with an acre of land that became three and a half after his death. Great-grandpa gave my parents the land before I was even born. It is one of the most rocky properties in all of North Georgia. Trying to get anything to grow there, other than oak, pine and hickory trees, was tough. Can’t tell you how many times my mom tried and failed to produce fresh tomatoes on that land, but that’s getting off-topic.
Anyway, this wise and benevolent great-grandpa had one caveat in his gift: he had long since built a cabin on the hill above the one upon which our house was to sit. This cabin was his man-cave–his escape, I guess, and his only caveat in giving so generously; he wanted to still have the freedom to stop by his man-cave every once in a while.
What I remember really well is how great-grandpa would sometimes stay overnight at his cabin, and in the mornings, my older sister and I would don whatever crazy costume was in that day and rush outside to battle imaginary wolves on our way up the hill to see great-grandpa. He had this nasty habit of spoiling us, you see…he did this by often inviting us into his cabin and indulging us in pleasant chatter, our very own happy meal toys, cheap cookies, and delicious Hawaiian Punch.
On the rare occasion he wanted to sleep late, he would kindly leave a happy meal toy out on his doorstep for each of us. Being the ungrateful and demanding little millennial turds we were, however, we once walked right into his cabin anyway, thinking to steal into his kitchen and gorge upon the creamy innards of decimated cookies and Hawaiian Punch, which was, to us, a passionate sin in the form of a blood-red wine reserved only for those mischief-makers brazen enough to drink of its holy sweetness.
Having opened the door silently (loudly), we stepped quietly (like bulls in a china shop) inside. Great-grandpa’s bed was right there in the front room, and lying there, seemingly dead to the world, was he. Cautiously (recklessly), we crept (stamped) into the house, believing our stealth skills were too great for even this wise and benevolent old man to sense our presence.
Never were we so wrong, in all our years of ninja-level sneaking (which both of us could only count on one hand).
Just as we took another step, the ground shook (the bed creaked), the walls rattled with the groaning of a giant (great-grandpa breathed), and the air exploded with the scream of an enraged god that has caught tricksters filching from his treasure trove.
“BOO!” The enraged god roared (shouted with a smile).
Together, my sister and I jumped out of our skins, but were quickly relieved when great-grandpa just laughed, got up and led us into the kitchen, in spite of us interrupting his sleep.
Those are some of my fondest early memories. I was too young to fully grasp what had happened when great-grandpa passed away, but I missed him afterward.
Within another year or two, my dad, who was in the printing business at the time, bought his own presses and moved them into the abandoned cabin, leaving pretty much everything else untouched. I swear, the utensils great-grandpa used, his old coats, the random junk he collected, the pictures on the walls…they were all still there a decade later when my family decided to move to Washington state.
Anyway, that cabin became a bizarre mixture of functional independent print shop and old man’s man cave. It also held a layer of creepy mystery for us kids, as it was ancient, spider, mouse and wasp-infested, and abandoned by its deceased owner. We almost never hung out inside it alone, and to this day, whenever my subconscious is trying to make me feel isolated and/or scared in a dream, it always summons up images of that cabin and me being in it by myself at night.
Beyond the fact that the general design of the cabin’s structure is directly copied into my book, that feeling of creepiness in an old, cluttered, vacant cabin is what I enjoyed passing on to the first chapter of Headshot…or at least I hope I conveyed that feeling well. You tell me.
Easter Egg #2: Lewis Lake Road
Another fun fact about my great-grandpa Lewis: he was given the chance to have the road we lived on named after himself, but he turned it down. I don’t really know what made him do that…maybe he felt it would be vain or something, I don’t have a clue…but in any case, since I wasn’t going to use the real name of the road we lived on, I called it “Lewis Lake Road” instead, in honor of him.
Easter Egg #3: McJohn’s Inn
Once again, I came up with my own name for the imaginary hotel Chase, Nate and Dean stay in. “McJohns” is a mashup of my family name, “McAndrew” and our friends’ (The same friends who helped inspire this book) family name “Johnson”.
Easter Egg #4: Room 343
The hotel room Nate, Chase and Dean stay in is numbered 343, a reference to 343 Studios, who are currently head of developing the Halo games. I felt that, since the story starts out with the main trio playing Halo, there ought to be plenty of nods to it, especially since it’s my favorite game franchise and the one my friends and I spent countless hours playing in our teen years.
Easter Egg #5: The Skate Park
Once again, this is one that took a lot of imagination on my part and thus a good dose of bending reality to fit the story. “King’s Park”–the park where Nate meets Janis for the first time–doesn’t exist except in my mind. I had a specific vision for how I needed the park to look to suit my story’s needs, and that’s what came out on paper. The real King’s Park…as in, the one that provided me the base story inspiration, is actually called Fowler Park, and it’s in Cumming, not Gainesville. It has (or at least had, when I was there) a walking/biking trail and a pretty cool skate area that the Johnson family and mine visited on a few hot days during the summer of 2012. No, we did not meet any Janises, fall on our butts in the skating bowl, or romantically play guitar together under leafy green boughs. Didn’t happen. But we did have some adventures, and that’s just as good.
Easter Egg #6: Nicholas Sparks
In a scene where Janis and Nate discuss her sickness, Janis tells Nate “don’t go all Nicholas Sparks on me.” This was my way of letting the reader know I was conscious of other similar stories that feature cancer as an important element. As a reader, myself, I like to know the author is aware of his surroundings and actually taking time to assure me I can trust him and the direction of the story. It lets me know that in some way or another, small or big, this story will be different.
I’ve never personally read any of Nicholas Sparks’ works, but I have (unfortunately) seen A Walk To Remember. When I was developing Janis’ character, she initially didn’t have any real reason for her self-ordained mission to expose a terrorist threat, beyond that she was just good with computers, a bit of a daredevil and…I don’t know…maybe bored? It just didn’t work.
When I had the idea of her days being numbered by cancer, my first thought was “But that sounds like A Walk To Remember…”. My second, thought, though, was “eh, whatever. Nicholas Sparks doesn’t get to trademark cancer itself for his novels.”. Unfortunately, cancer happens. It’s a life-threatening disease with diverse variants and no definite cure, so it can potentially number the patient’s days. It’s a horrible reality, but great for conflict in fiction–which is why it’s everywhere in romances.
Putting a clock on Janis’ life made her quest make sense to me, as she was suddenly able to let go of a lot of the worries healthy people have. Instead of trying to beat cancer itself, she embraced it and allowed it to change her outlook on life, making her treasure her precious remaining moments and throw caution to the wind. Whether that outlook is right or wrong is something I wanted to leave open for debate, but either way, it’s an interesting character motivation…at least to me.
Easter Egg #7: The Last Halo References
And finally:
In the last chapter of the book, Nate explains that it’s been 117 days since they found Janis in the cabin. This is a reference to Spartan-117, Masterchief, the main character of the Halo franchise.
Next, I threw in the numbers of Nate, Chase and Dean’s lockers, just for kicks. All three numbers (686, 032 and 049) are the numbers of Forerunner Monitors in Halo; Ebullient Prism, Mendicant Bias and Abject Testament, respectively.
Again, I just felt it was appropriate to nod at the book’s simple beginnings again before punching out the words the end. I hope a lot of gamers will read the book and enjoy catching some of the references I put in there specifically for them. Maybe in the future I’ll branch out from Halo references and be a bit more inclusive of those crazy people who like COD better (kidding…sorta)…but since this book drew heavily from my nostalgic growing up years, Halo was the one I gave myself permission to nerd about.
So, thanks for reading this post! Hopefully you enjoyed getting a little more behind the scenes info about Headshot, and if you did, I would suggest sticking around for more such fun facts and trivia, as even this lengthy blog post can’t cover all that went into each individual scene in the story.
Looking forward to sharing more again soon!
Merry Christmas y’all!
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August 21, 2017
The Making of “Headshot”
-The Inspiration
Anyone else out there have a problem with just setting things aside unfinished?
Those of you who do will understand why I had to write this book.
I’ll back up and start again at the beginning.
December 2011. Two teenage dudes are chatting on the phone. Dude #1 (that’s me–I’m always #1) was told Dude #2 wanted to make an action movie. Being of the born-for-drama type, Dude #1 is of course intrigued by the idea. Curious, he asks Dude #2 what the story of said action movie would be.
Dude #2 provides brief, vague answers about the plot…something about a dead girl in the woods and some assassins.
Despite being enthusiastic about filming a murder story, Dude #1 is confused by the lack of details. Why is the girl dead? Why is she found in the woods? Who specifically killed her? Why? What did she do? Who are these ‘assassins’? Why do they exist? What is their goal? Are they a full-blown organization or simply a small group of killers? Why didn’t they better dispose of the body?
Dude #2 has no answers.
Bruh.
Being, as you know, of the born-for-drama type, and seeing the plight of his comrade’s film plot, Dude #1 takes it upon himself to begin filling in the blanks. The assassins will now be an organization of hitmen. The dead girl will now be the victim of knowing too much about these killers. And in the midst of it all will be three teenage boys, caught at the scene of crime. On the run, the boys will take on a daring quest for the truth despite great danger to themselves.
At least, that was the general idea.
Picture it: weeks later, six friends, all in their early-mid teens, are hanging out on the rockiest property Gainesville has to offer. The teens are split into two equal groups of three boys and three girls each. With cheap camcorder in hand, they set off to film this epic no-budget, no-script, no-plan movie.
They get three scenes in. They call it a day.
To be fair, it was a decent try. We even got into doing some makeup on the ‘corpse’ (one of our friends, who loved laying in dirt for an hour with white and red paste caked on her face). But the point is, the film was never finished.
It was around this time in life that I was beginning to understand that a ‘good try’ amounts to nothing without a finished work to show for your efforts. Growing up with an energetic older sister who jumped from project to project, I’d gotten used to leaving the things we collaborated on in the dust days, hours or sometimes minutes after starting them.
And that was and is completely fine, if your goal is to have fun. My sister is a fun person. She initiates fun group activities like you wouldn’t believe. Fun is kinda her thing. Making movies, for her, had always been a way to initiate something fun with friends, so regardless of whether we finished the project or not, it was a success in her eyes. Being the younger brother, I’d always gone along with that because, again, it was fun. But I’d also noticed I tended to take the projects more seriously than my sister and the rest of the group.
I had written scripts for our movies before, as I’d noticed how our movies turned out silly because they were completely unscripted. Not to say my scripts weren’t silly, but they generally at least had a beginning, middle and end. That was because, the minute someone mentioned a story idea to me, my mind raced ahead with ideas for what it could be.
This was the first time I started to wonder about what that meant, though. Why did I think that way? Why did I get this burst of creative energy every time someone so much as hinted at a story idea? I’d never taken it seriously. But after that attempt at a movie, I started to wonder. I started to consider, too, why all these unfinished projects bugged me.
About two years later, my family left our home state to move across country. The first year in our new home, I really missed GA. The Southern accents (still miss that), the redneck logic, the colorful local history, the deep roots my extended family had put down there…it had always meant something to me. That, and we had left behind our friends’ family. They were planning on moving up after us, of course, but there was a whole year before that actually happened.
At one point during that year, I got a bit nostalgic. I went through our old home-made movies, one being our unfinished ‘action movie’. Then, boom. Once again, I was struck by the potential the story had. Despite all the cheesy acting, the plot problems, the lame makeup and the lack of a middle and ending, I liked the idea, and I wanted to see it through.
-The Writing Process
So I whipped out the ol’ notebook and started putting together an outline for a manuscript titled ‘Headshot’. I sketched out the key plot points, put them all in order, and then, within days, I was sitting on my laptop, writing. Within another month or so, the first rough draft was finished. I showed it to my sister, who promptly teared up at a certain scene. I thought “ok. wasn’t expecting that. Maybe this story really does have potential.”
And that was the horrible (I mean, first) draft. 35k words. All present-tense. Mostly action and dialogue. It was so close to being considered a novel, it was a little nauseating. But I couldn’t think of anything more to add to it. So I edited it as best I could, sent it off to a writing contest, and got a reply not long after. I didn’t win the contest, but the judges were fond of the manuscript, giving me high marks on the dialogue, characters, narration and the exploration of point of view.
I took these marks as a big success even though I didn’t win. Then, it now being summer of 2015, I set Headshot aside. I felt it was still missing something, but I didn’t know what, even after getting feedback from several friends and family members. I had another project going at the time that I was ready to give some attention to , and since Headshot was now ‘finished’, I felt justified in moving on.
For the bulk of the year, I focused on my other project–co-directing, writing for, choreographing and acting in a short action film. Near the end of 2015, after the short film was released to the whimsical world of Youtube, I was inspired for another fiction story that I began pouring Hamiltonian amounts of time and energy into.
Headshot was left behind for the whole of 2016, with me periodically opening the document and looking over the manuscript, curious about what it needed. Mostly, though, I was thinking about it as a whole–where I’d done right, where I could do better. I was growing as a writer at the time, so some ideas were starting to brew under the surface.
Another year later, my other project’s horrible (first) draft–a full-length fantasy novel–was finished, and once again I felt like a free man, enjoying a needed break.
Early 2017, my younger sister and I were both eagerly looking forward to the release of an anime movie called Koe No Katachi (A Silent Voice). We had both enjoyed seeing the art from it, and since I’m always on the prowl for intriguing and/or inspiring art, I was starting to look for clips from the movie on Youtube. Instead, I found a music video someone had put together, basically summing up the film.
And instantly, a light bulb moment.
The idea of a cute high-school romance combined with feelsy music was what triggered my sudden revelation about what was missing from Headshot.
One of my biggest pet peeves about fiction is when authors kill off characters with the intention of producing ‘feels’, without actually doing the work of developing said characters. But that was exactly what I’d done with Headshot. The horrible (first) draft had all the elements I wanted–humor, peril, hope, despair, sadness–but there was still something missing.
Sure, I put a lot of work into having the main character, Nate, struggle with his own grief, but I had left out something crucial: the audience. Yeah, maybe we as readers (as an author, I consider myself a reader of my own books, as well) could have seen that Nate was struggling, and we had a grasp of what caused his grief…but we didn’t feel it, because we didn’t know Janis, or what her relationship with Nate really looked like, or even how they met. We didn’t know what Janis meant to Nate, because we hadn’t seen them together.
I started furiously writing out new ideas. Scenarios I never would’ve thought up without inspiration came to mind, and I tapped them out on my laptop keyboard. I felt like a detective, digging for details on Nate and Janis’ relationship, and the more I discovered, the more I felt sad about Janis’ death, myself. Because now I was enjoying seeing her with Nate, and I wanted them both to be happy. Crazy how paternal you can feel about imaginary people, but it’s true.
Flash forward a few months. The newest draft of Headshot is finished. Roughly 62k words, exceeding minimum novel length by 22k.
-The Pre-Publishing Process
I started looking for a proofreader. I’d never hired anyone before, but I liked the idea of finding someone through Upwork.com. I spent the extra money to attract more skilled proofreaders, then pored over the many proposals that flooded in. Sure, there were still some people who said things like ‘yes i great proofreader plz hire me plz’, had no listed experience, references, etc., and those were instantly disqualified.
But then there was Jake. Sterling background, perfect success rate, lots of experience, an impressive portfolio, and plenty of great reviews. Basically, he’s the Crest toothpaste commercial guy of Upwork’s proofreaders. Though I’ve never met him in person, I’m pretty sure when he grins, his teeth sparkle and there’s a faint yet heavenly dinging sound in the distance.
Anyway, he was exactly what I was looking for in a proofreader–someone with proven skill who I could easily communicate with. He was also very blunt, to the point that his critiques on my manuscript left me laughing out loud at the points he made. A whole host of tiny problems with Headshot were fixed because of him, making the story way more cohesive and plausible. When it comes to making a story realistic, the devil’s in the details, and Jake was really good with those.
Because I stepped out and did something I’d never done before, my book was now spotless, and the rest was in my hands. Since I had long-since chosen to self-publish through Amazon’s Createspace, I still had to format the book, get an ISBN, purchase a title font, and most importantly, put together a cover design.
My plan had been to use 99designs.com to find someone to design my cover the way I wanted it, but due to the costliness of that ($800+, a price I was willing to pay for a good enough cover), my family advised me to let a friend take a whack at it.
I was hesitant to do that. Oh boy. ‘Uh, yeah, I got my friend to do my cover for me. Durhur.’ Can you scream ‘self-published author’ any louder? I thought. Though my friend has mad computer design skillz, I hadn’t seen him do anything as specific as a book cover before–plus, I had my own lack of knowledge to deal with, so I had been aiming to connect with a pro. I didn’t want to spend time going back and forth with my friend on a cover that was just so-so because we didn’t have a clue what we were doing. I wanted to know that I was going to get a quality design for the book I’d spent so much time and energy on. Perfectly reasonable, but I decided to put away those doubts and at least give my friend a shot.
For those of you who don’t know my friend, allow me to give you a brief intro. I’ll call him Jojo–not because that’s his name (it’s Josiah), but because it’s funny, and I call him that all the time.
Jojo is a funny guy. He’s also crazy talented. He once designed a functioning mini-game revolving around shooting waves of mannequins falling from the sky in a few short hours, all while pre-production for a short film was going on around him. Pre-production isn’t his favorite thing, but get him on set or in post-production and he’s a wizard. 3D modeling? Rotoscoping? VFX? But of course. Need foley or any other kind of audio? No prob! Lighting advice? He’s on it. Choreography input? Sure thing! Need a shot of a character driving a car? Heck yes! He’ll willingly strap himself to the front of the car, camera rig in his hands, and ride down the road on the edge of a trailer. Don’t have time to set up a jib and need him to sit on your shoulders to film a specific shot? Lol wut? Sure.
You get the idea. Jojo’s a cool dude. Capable and reliable. So when I asked if he’d try putting together a cover design for me, I wasn’t surprised when he was more than willing to take a stab at it. I gave him specific instructions about what I was looking for in terms of color, style, image, positioning, etc., then let him loose. Within about three hours, he’d done something I had not expected: he’d made a design I liked even better than what I’d envisioned. My first response was an out loud ‘whoa.’
I had been looking for a minimal yet eye-catching cover, lots of red, black and white. I’d also wanted texture, but had been expecting something tacky-looking to meet me when I asked for that. Instead, I got all of the things I’d asked for in a way I hadn’t expected. The texture looked perfect. I never even bothered having him try a different color because the first was exactly what I was hoping for (and here’s the funny part: Jojo is colorblind. Red is hard for him to distinguish from other colors).
And my favorite part? The bullet centerpiece. This will sound goofy, but I’d originally imagined an image of a real, brass bullet on the cover, but Jojo did something much better and more in-line with the rest of my vision–he made the bullet a silhouette with a gleam and a shadow. And for bonus points, he found and modified the perfect font to use for the title.
I was very excited. Not much surprises me, but Jojo’s work did, because it had exceeded my expectations, and even though we spent a week or two talking over countless tiny changes and edits, it was all a fun process (coming from the person who wasn’t doing the work). I enjoyed going back and forth, troubleshooting and figuring out dimensions, bleed margins, trim sizes, and all the other little details involved.
Before the job was even done, Jojo told me to forget about the money I’d set aside to pay him with. By the time this post is published, I’ll have tried again to tell him to shut up and take my money, so whether he does that or not will have to remain a mystery to you. Mwahaha.
-Building the Website
All that was left after having acquired my ISBN, formatting my book, finishing the cover, numbering all its pages, etc., was building this site, then I would be able to hit the ‘publish’ button. That makes it sound like building a site isn’t a lot of work, but that’s not true at all. I just have plenty of help. A few days prior to my self-set publishing deadline (cutting it close, I know), I got together with two of my friends who are savvy with WordPress and site hosting. They helped me get set up to where I could start playing with themes and site design on my own. I went home, sketched out my layout idea, then got moving on writing site content.
The next day, I visited another friend, Michelle. She’s a master of branding, site design and self-marketing. I sat down at her table and had her throw information at me so that I knew what my next specific steps were. By the time I left, I felt way more encouraged not just about my site, but about publishing in general. Encouraging people is Michelle’s thing, and she does it well.
Now it was all up to me. I started working on my site’s theme and design, getting it to look roughly like I wanted. There were still some things that I couldn’t do on my own, namely, the header. Again I turned to my tech savvy friends, who were able to get me started, then had Jojo design the header logo for me. From there, all that was left were a few tweaks which we took care of within a few hours.
From there, all that was left was going to Createspace and hitting ‘Publish’. The final step.
-Hitting ‘Publish’
I stood paralyzed, my finger hovering over my laptop’s touch pad. Could I really do this? Could I really publish a book? Could I open myself to the world and the Pandora’s Box of criticisms and death threats therein? Could I subject myself to the ridicule of society? What if my book was really horrible–what if it was hated? What if–
Just kidding. None of that actually happened. I’ve never clicked a button so fast in my life. I’ve been like a pregnant woman for the last year, feeling like I’ve been lugging this monstrously overdue baby around. It’s high time it saw the light of day. Will this kid be the kind of kid that gets teased and bullied out in the world? Will it be the kid that walks around, feeling invisible to everyone? Or will it grow into a well-known and respected youth?
Psh, I dunno. I’m just over here, distracted, trying to imagine my book as a human being that fits my own metaphors. But regardless, it all comes down to me now–me, and the village of people who’ve helped me get this far.
Next stop: Marketing.
The post The Making of “Headshot” appeared first on .
The Making of “Headshot”
-The Inspiration
Anyone else out there have a problem with just setting things aside unfinished?
Those of you who do will understand why I had to write this book.
I’ll back up and start again at the beginning.
December 2011. Two teenage dudes are chatting on the phone. Dude #1 (that’s me–I’m always #1) was told Dude #2 wanted to make an action movie. Being of the born-for-drama type, Dude #1 is of course intrigued by the idea. Curious, he asks Dude #2 what the story of said action movie would be.
Dude #2 provides brief, vague answers about the plot…something about a dead girl in the woods and some assassins.
Despite being enthusiastic about filming a murder story, Dude #1 is confused by the lack of details. Why is the girl dead? Why is she found in the woods? Who specifically killed her? Why? What did she do? Who are these ‘assassins’? Why do they exist? What is their goal? Are they a full-blown organization or simply a small group of killers? Why didn’t they better dispose of the body?
Dude #2 has no answers.
Bruh.
Being, as you know, of the born-for-drama type, and seeing the plight of his comrade’s film plot, Dude #1 takes it upon himself to begin filling in the blanks. The assassins will now be an organization of hitmen. The dead girl will now be the victim of knowing too much about these killers. And in the midst of it all will be three teenage boys, caught at the scene of crime. On the run, the boys will take on a daring quest for the truth despite great danger to themselves.
At least, that was the general idea.
Picture it: weeks later, six friends, all in their early-mid teens, are hanging out on the rockiest property Gainesville has to offer. The teens are split into two equal groups of three boys and three girls each. With cheap camcorder in hand, they set off to film this epic no-budget, no-script, no-plan movie.
They get three scenes in. They call it a day.
To be fair, it was a decent try. We even got into doing some makeup on the ‘corpse’ (one of our friends, who loved laying in dirt for an hour with white and red paste caked on her face). But the point is, the film was never finished.
It was around this time in life that I was beginning to understand that a ‘good try’ amounts to nothing without a finished work to show for your efforts. Growing up with an energetic older sister who jumped from project to project, I’d gotten used to leaving the things we collaborated on in the dust days, hours or sometimes minutes after starting them.
And that was and is completely fine, if your goal is to have fun. My sister is a fun person. She initiates fun group activities like you wouldn’t believe. Fun is kinda her thing. Making movies, for her, had always been a way to initiate something fun with friends, so regardless of whether we finished the project or not, it was a success in her eyes. Being the younger brother, I’d always gone along with that because, again, it was fun. But I’d also noticed I tended to take the projects more seriously than my sister and the rest of the group.
I had written scripts for our movies before, as I’d noticed how our movies turned out silly because they were completely unscripted. Not to say my scripts weren’t silly, but they generally at least had a beginning, middle and end. That was because, the minute someone mentioned a story idea to me, my mind raced ahead with ideas for what it could be.
This was the first time I started to wonder about what that meant, though. Why did I think that way? Why did I get this burst of creative energy every time someone so much as hinted at a story idea? I’d never taken it seriously. But after that attempt at a movie, I started to wonder. I started to consider, too, why all these unfinished projects bugged me.
About two years later, my family left our home state to move across country. The first year in our new home, I really missed GA. The Southern accents (still miss that), the redneck logic, the colorful local history, the deep roots my extended family had put down there…it had always meant something to me. That, and we had left behind our friends’ family. They were planning on moving up after us, of course, but there was a whole year before that actually happened.
At one point during that year, I got a bit nostalgic. I went through our old home-made movies, one being our unfinished ‘action movie’. Then, boom. Once again, I was struck by the potential the story had. Despite all the cheesy acting, the plot problems, the lame makeup and the lack of a middle and ending, I liked the idea, and I wanted to see it through.
-The Writing Process
So I whipped out the ol’ notebook and started putting together an outline for a manuscript titled ‘Headshot’. I sketched out the key plot points, put them all in order, and then, within days, I was sitting on my laptop, writing. Within another month or so, the first rough draft was finished. I showed it to my sister, who promptly teared up at a certain scene. I thought “ok. wasn’t expecting that. Maybe this story really does have potential.”
And that was the horrible (I mean, first) draft. 35k words. All present-tense. Mostly action and dialogue. It was so close to being considered a novel, it was a little nauseating. But I couldn’t think of anything more to add to it. So I edited it as best I could, sent it off to a writing contest, and got a reply not long after. I didn’t win the contest, but the judges were fond of the manuscript, giving me high marks on the dialogue, characters, narration and the exploration of point of view.
I took these marks as a big success even though I didn’t win. Then, it now being summer of 2015, I set Headshot aside. I felt it was still missing something, but I didn’t know what, even after getting feedback from several friends and family members. I had another project going at the time that I was ready to give some attention to , and since Headshot was now ‘finished’, I felt justified in moving on.
For the bulk of the year, I focused on my other project–co-directing, writing for, choreographing and acting in a short action film. Near the end of 2015, after the short film was released to the whimsical world of Youtube, I was inspired for another fiction story that I began pouring Hamiltonian amounts of time and energy into.
Headshot was left behind for the whole of 2016, with me periodically opening the document and looking over the manuscript, curious about what it needed. Mostly, though, I was thinking about it as a whole–where I’d done right, where I could do better. I was growing as a writer at the time, so some ideas were starting to brew under the surface.
Another year later, my other project’s horrible (first) draft–a full-length fantasy novel–was finished, and once again I felt like a free man, enjoying a needed break.
Early 2017, my younger sister and I were both eagerly looking forward to the release of an anime movie called Koe No Katachi (A Silent Voice). We had both enjoyed seeing the art from it, and since I’m always on the prowl for intriguing and/or inspiring art, I was starting to look for clips from the movie on Youtube. Instead, I found a music video someone had put together, basically summing up the film.
And instantly, a light bulb moment.
The idea of a cute high-school romance combined with feelsy music was what triggered my sudden revelation about what was missing from Headshot.
One of my biggest pet peeves about fiction is when authors kill off characters with the intention of producing ‘feels’, without actually doing the work of developing said characters. But that was exactly what I’d done with Headshot. The horrible (first) draft had all the elements I wanted–humor, peril, hope, despair, sadness–but there was still something missing.
Sure, I put a lot of work into having the main character, Nate, struggle with his own grief, but I had left out something crucial: the audience. Yeah, maybe we as readers (as an author, I consider myself a reader of my own books, as well) could have seen that Nate was struggling, and we had a grasp of what caused his grief…but we didn’t feel it, because we didn’t know Janis, or what her relationship with Nate really looked like, or even how they met. We didn’t know what Janis meant to Nate, because we hadn’t seen them together.
I started furiously writing out new ideas. Scenarios I never would’ve thought up without inspiration came to mind, and I tapped them out on my laptop keyboard. I felt like a detective, digging for details on Nate and Janis’ relationship, and the more I discovered, the more I felt sad about Janis’ death, myself. Because now I was enjoying seeing her with Nate, and I wanted them both to be happy. Crazy how paternal you can feel about imaginary people, but it’s true.
Flash forward a few months. The newest draft of Headshot is finished. Roughly 62k words, exceeding minimum novel length by 22k.
-The Pre-Publishing Process
I started looking for a proofreader. I’d never hired anyone before, but I liked the idea of finding someone through Upwork.com. I spent the extra money to attract more skilled proofreaders, then pored over the many proposals that flooded in. Sure, there were still some people who said things like ‘yes i great proofreader plz hire me plz’, had no listed experience, references, etc., and those were instantly disqualified.
But then there was Jake. Sterling background, perfect success rate, lots of experience, an impressive portfolio, and plenty of great reviews. Basically, he’s the Crest toothpaste commercial guy of Upwork’s proofreaders. Though I’ve never met him in person, I’m pretty sure when he grins, his teeth sparkle and there’s a faint yet heavenly dinging sound in the distance.
Anyway, he was exactly what I was looking for in a proofreader–someone with proven skill who I could easily communicate with. He was also very blunt, to the point that his critiques on my manuscript left me laughing out loud at the points he made. A whole host of tiny problems with Headshot were fixed because of him, making the story way more cohesive and plausible. When it comes to making a story realistic, the devil’s in the details, and Jake was really good with those.
Because I stepped out and did something I’d never done before, my book was now spotless, and the rest was in my hands. Since I had long-since chosen to self-publish through Amazon’s Createspace, I still had to format the book, get an ISBN, purchase a title font, and most importantly, put together a cover design.
My plan had been to use 99designs.com to find someone to design my cover the way I wanted it, but due to the costliness of that ($800+, a price I was willing to pay for a good enough cover), my family advised me to let a friend take a whack at it.
I was hesitant to do that. Oh boy. ‘Uh, yeah, I got my friend to do my cover for me. Durhur.’ Can you scream ‘self-published author’ any louder? I thought. Though my friend has mad computer design skillz, I hadn’t seen him do anything as specific as a book cover before–plus, I had my own lack of knowledge to deal with, so I had been aiming to connect with a pro. I didn’t want to spend time going back and forth with my friend on a cover that was just so-so because we didn’t have a clue what we were doing. I wanted to know that I was going to get a quality design for the book I’d spent so much time and energy on. Perfectly reasonable, but I decided to put away those doubts and at least give my friend a shot.
For those of you who don’t know my friend, allow me to give you a brief intro. I’ll call him Jojo–not because that’s his name (it’s Josiah), but because it’s funny, and I call him that all the time.
Jojo is a funny guy. He’s also crazy talented. He once designed a functioning mini-game revolving around shooting waves of mannequins falling from the sky in a few short hours, all while pre-production for a short film was going on around him. Pre-production isn’t his favorite thing, but get him on set or in post-production and he’s a wizard. 3D modeling? Rotoscoping? VFX? But of course. Need foley or any other kind of audio? No prob! Lighting advice? He’s on it. Choreography input? Sure thing! Need a shot of a character driving a car? Heck yes! He’ll willingly strap himself to the front of the car, camera rig in his hands, and ride down the road on the edge of a trailer. Don’t have time to set up a jib and need him to sit on your shoulders to film a specific shot? Lol wut? Sure.
You get the idea. Jojo’s a cool dude. Capable and reliable. So when I asked if he’d try putting together a cover design for me, I wasn’t surprised when he was more than willing to take a stab at it. I gave him specific instructions about what I was looking for in terms of color, style, image, positioning, etc., then let him loose. Within about three hours, he’d done something I had not expected: he’d made a design I liked even better than what I’d envisioned. My first response was an out loud ‘whoa.’
I had been looking for a minimal yet eye-catching cover, lots of red, black and white. I’d also wanted texture, but had been expecting something tacky-looking to meet me when I asked for that. Instead, I got all of the things I’d asked for in a way I hadn’t expected. The texture looked perfect. I never even bothered having him try a different color because the first was exactly what I was hoping for (and here’s the funny part: Jojo is colorblind. Red is hard for him to distinguish from other colors).
And my favorite part? The bullet centerpiece. This will sound goofy, but I’d originally imagined an image of a real, brass bullet on the cover, but Jojo did something much better and more in-line with the rest of my vision–he made the bullet a silhouette with a gleam and a shadow. And for bonus points, he found and modified the perfect font to use for the title.
I was very excited. Not much surprises me, but Jojo’s work did, because it had exceeded my expectations, and even though we spent a week or two talking over countless tiny changes and edits, it was all a fun process (coming from the person who wasn’t doing the work). I enjoyed going back and forth, troubleshooting and figuring out dimensions, bleed margins, trim sizes, and all the other little details involved.
Before the job was even done, Jojo told me to forget about the money I’d set aside to pay him with. By the time this post is published, I’ll have tried again to tell him to shut up and take my money, so whether he does that or not will have to remain a mystery to you. Mwahaha.
-Building the Website
All that was left after having acquired my ISBN, formatting my book, finishing the cover, numbering all its pages, etc., was building this site, then I would be able to hit the ‘publish’ button. That makes it sound like building a site isn’t a lot of work, but that’s not true at all. I just have plenty of help. A few days prior to my self-set publishing deadline (cutting it close, I know), I got together with two of my friends who are savvy with WordPress and site hosting. They helped me get set up to where I could start playing with themes and site design on my own. I went home, sketched out my layout idea, then got moving on writing site content.
The next day, I visited another friend, Michelle. She’s a master of branding, site design and self-marketing. I sat down at her table and had her throw information at me so that I knew what my next specific steps were. By the time I left, I felt way more encouraged not just about my site, but about publishing in general. Encouraging people is Michelle’s thing, and she does it well.
Now it was all up to me. I started working on my site’s theme and design, getting it to look roughly like I wanted. There were still some things that I couldn’t do on my own, namely, the header. Again I turned to my tech savvy friends, who were able to get me started, then had Jojo design the header logo for me. From there, all that was left were a few tweaks which we took care of within a few hours.
From there, all that was left was going to Createspace and hitting ‘Publish’. The final step.
-Hitting ‘Publish’
I stood paralyzed, my finger hovering over my laptop’s touch pad. Could I really do this? Could I really publish a book? Could I open myself to the world and the Pandora’s Box of criticisms and death threats therein? Could I subject myself to the ridicule of society? What if my book was really horrible–what if it was hated? What if–
Just kidding. None of that actually happened. I’ve never clicked a button so fast in my life. I’ve been like a pregnant woman for the last year, feeling like I’ve been lugging this monstrously overdue baby around. It’s high time it saw the light of day. Will this kid be the kind of kid that gets teased and bullied out in the world? Will it be the kid that walks around, feeling invisible to everyone? Or will it grow into a well-known and respected youth?
Psh, I dunno. I’m just over here, distracted, trying to imagine my book as a human being that fits my own metaphors. But regardless, it all comes down to me now–me, and the village of people who’ve helped me get this far.
Next stop: Marketing.
The post The Making of “Headshot” appeared first on .
