Antonio Roberts's Blog, page 8

How to conquer Sagging-Middle Syndrome

So I’m slowly finding out that middles are hard, and apparently I’m not alone. In fact, it seems most writers seem to stop at the middle of a book and give up. Muddling through sagging-middle syndrome is hard.

At the start, we sprint out the gate on our projects with exuberant enthusiasm and start strongly. We pick up speed and think how this book is the greatest thing we’ve ever written. Then suddenly we slowly lose momentum. It begs that nagging question of what now.

The middle doesn’t...

How to Muddle Through the Middle

So I’m slowly finding out that middles are hard, and apparently I’m not alone. In fact, it seems most writers seem to stop at the middle of a book and give up.

At the start, we sprint out the gate on our projects with exuberant enthusiasm and start strongly. We pick up speed and think how this book is the greatest thing we’ve ever written. Then suddenly we slowly lose momentum. There’s that nagging question of what now.

The middle doesn’t feel right. Either it’s slow and meandering, or pe...

July Author Update

Hey guys,

I  just wanted to give a brief update on some news.

Contests

I received the results of the Short Fiction Break Contest. Sadly, I didn’t even place in shortlisting, but I’m glad one story at  I rooted for from the start won an honorable mention.

A huge shout to Jordy Hines and a fellow Active Alumni writer Carole Wolfe on their stories. Be sure to check out the final winner and others here.

So that’s one off the list. I’m still waiting for the judges’ feedback.

Changing gears, SPFBO#6 i...

The Veldt Part One: A New Short Story Preview

Hey guys,

So I thought for this post I wanted to bring something more entertaining. I felt most of my posts might not have been as fun as I’d have liked, and I wanted to give you guys something to read while my books are still coming down the pike.

Hopefully, it won’t be too much longer. Hello Future Me on YouTube had an excellent video on pacing to help with my middle-grade fantasy. The next entry in the Vestige Saga has picked up steam as well.

Book One will be 99 cents tomorrow. So i...

Contests, contests, contests

Hey Guys,

So I’d thought I’d catch you all up on the news.

Contest updates

The Summer Writer Contest winners have still yet to be announced. Hopefully, in a few weeks, we’ll have a winner. The reader’s choice was awarded to the lucky Bisan Mourad for “Till the Last Breath.”  Let me know what you guys think of his story in the comments. I have mixed feelings. To spare you the rant, I’ll let you make your own opinions.

I’m still crossing my fingers that my story will stand out, but I can’t hold my...

My First Editorial Review

Hey guys,

So in case you didn’t see my post yesterday, I received an amazing editorial review from the amazing people at Manybooks.com.

I was blown away from such high praise.

Previously they interviewed me on Vestige: Rise of the Pureblood which you can read in this post here.

Enjoy!

Antonio

The post My First Editorial Review appeared first on Antonio Roberts.

I Published A Short Story!

Hey guys,

As I mentioned in a previous post, I entered in the 2020 Summer Writing Contest on Short Fiction Break.

I’m feeling a little nervous about this, but excited too. This is great publicity. Check out my entry here.

The judges are deliberating on their votes at the moment, but in the meantime, you can vote for the Reader’s Choice Award. All you have to do is click on the green button.

A few other fellow authors in my circle on Active Alumni Writers also published some stories a...

D&D Out of Context- 40 of My Favorite Quotes

So after being a Dungeon Master for a year now I thought it would be funny to share some of my favorite quotes of why I love this game, and how it’s difficult to explain.

Without further ado, the following is D&D out of context-

Number One

“Paladin NPC- “Sir, why do you hang around such company as this?”

 Barbarian Dragonborn pivots with eyes bulging. “What! What do you mean?”

NPC- “Well, I’m no detective, but you brought a goat inside the inn, sir.”

Barbarian- “Him! He’s a GOD...

Status Update & YouTube Sneak Preview

Hey guys,

I just wanted to give an update before the month was out, and preview for those that have been keeping up to date.

Anthem of Ink

So the fourteenth, I got an interview, and I’m currently awaiting a response for an editorial review. And if you read that interview, you would know I’m contemplating a YouTube channel. I named it Anthem of Ink since most of my stories start as pen and paper in composition books. It also sounds cool, so there’s that. lol.

My goal is to provide something meani...

Write What You Know? Does it Work?

Hey guys, so the following is a rough draft script for an Anthem of Ink YouTube video. Let me know if you’d be interested in more like this. Enjoy!

Hey Guys,

My name is Antonio. I’m an indie fantasy author and I’d like to talk about the worst writing advice that I’ve ever received.

Beginning this video I plan to tackle all the common writing advice and tell you, in my opinion, does it work.

When I was starting in my author career, I found there was a lot of advice out there, but not much with su...