Jonathan Moeller's Blog, page 296

Reader Question Day #81 – Word Count & Aleister Crowley

I had a bunch of questions about the nuts & bolts of writing on Facebook this week, so I thought I would answer them all here.

PDR asks concerning GHOST IN THE SURGE:

How often are you able to produce such a story?

Diligence, mostly.

When I’m writing something new, I try to hit between 3,000 to 4,000 new words a day. I don’t always make it – I have a lot of very random responsibilities that sometimes creep up unexpectedly, and often life just happens. But some days everything goes right and I do more. It tends to balance out, in the end.

I do most of it over my lunch hour at my day job and at night. It helps that I don’t watch a lot of television – I’ve noticed that compared to many of my contemporaries, I do not watch a great deal of TV (the downside of this is that a lot of social small talk goes right over my head, since I don’t usually know who got into bed with whom on GLEE last night or whatever). Additionally, I pay no attention to sports, and someone once pointed out to me that the amount of time I spend writing is roughly equivalent to the amount of time most American men of my age and background put into watching professional sports and managing their fantasy football teams.

(Not that I have anything against professional sports, but I just don’t pay attention to them.)

So it’s like anything else – effort over time gradually adds up to results. It does help to train yourself to write in small bursts when you can grab the time (I have actually written sections in Evernote on my phone and copied and pasted them into the document later), rather than demanding uninterrupted two or three hour blocks for your writing sessions.

TSM asks:

Would you prefer to have your books traditionally published?

No. Which is funny, because I spent a lot of time trying to get traditionally published. I had wanted to be a writer since I was a kid, but by 2010, I was pretty disillusioned with publishing in general, and had decided to stop writing novels after CHILD OF THE GHOSTS. Why did I make this decision? I am pleased to report that I have nothing else in common with Aleister Crowley, but his experience when he decided not to become a competitive chess player was similar to mine with traditional publishing:

“I had been to St. Petersburg to learn Russian for the Diplomatic Service in the long vacation of 1897, and on my way back broke the journey in Berlin to attend the Chess Congress. But I had hardly entered the room where the masters were playing when I was seized with what may justly be described as a mystical experience. I seemed to be looking on at the tournament from outside myself. I saw the masters — one, shabby, snuffy and blear-eyed; another, in badly fitting would-be respectable shoddy suit; a third, a mere parody of humanity, and so on for the rest. These were the people to whose ranks I was seeking admission. “There, but for the grace of God, goes Aleister Crowley,” I exclaimed to myself with disgust, and there and then I registered a vow never to play another serious game of chess.”

(There are many traditionally published writers I respect, but I wouldn’t want to be them.)

So in 2010, I thought CHILD OF THE GHOSTS was the last novel I would write. Then ebooks came along and changed things.

Could my mind be changed about traditional publishing? Yes, by a very large sum of money. But that’s not going to happen, because the dynamics of book publishing have changed.

Print books are not going away by any means, but ebooks are replacing mass market paperbacks as the format of choice for regular readers. So most new books will be ebooks. And when it comes to the publication of ebooks, there is literally nothing – nothing – that a publisher can do for an ebook than I cannot do myself more cheaply, efficiently, and effectively.

I think a lot of writers crave traditional publication because they crave approval, crave a Gold Star from Teacher, and I have no interest in that. (Life, as many straight-A students are disappointed to learn, is nothing like school.) Or to put it another way – a stranger buying one of my books for $2.99 or $3.99 is a vastly superior kind of approval than an editor or an agent asking for a complete manuscript.

TSM also asks:

Do you consider other self-published authors to be competition or rivals?

Neither. The fact is a truly voracious reader can consume far, far more books than I or any other writer can produce in a year. Books are not a form of vendor lock-in, where because someone buys a Ford means they won’t buy a Toyota. Books are not a zero-sum game, and just because someone read my book doesn’t mean they won’t go and read a book written by someone else. The proof of this is the Also Purchased bar on a book’s Amazon page – a casual look at the “Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought” section on GHOST IN THE SURGE revealed fifteen different writers before I stopped counting.

And who knows? Someone scrolling through my “Also Boughts” might take a chance on a new writer and discover they liked his book – and the same thing might happen to one of my books on someone else’s “Also Bought” page.

-JM

Elves and Dwarves and Orcs

Since I started writing FROSTBORN, the books occasionally come in for a bit of criticism since they are epic fantasy with elves and dwarves and orcs and some of the other trappings of traditional fantasy. This was quite deliberate on my part, since I always wanted to write a big epic fantasy with elves and dwarves and orcs, but never had the chance until now.

But I think this post is a better answer to it. Key quote:

This constant replenishing of the reading public means nothing ever grows old. It means your stories will be out there to be rediscovered over and over again. And it means we have to stop worrying about genres being “tapped out.”

I think what really happens is that agents and editors get weary of the same stories. They just decide one day that they’ve seen enough of this theme or setting, and it’s time to move on. They chatter on about this at conventions, and so it becomes self-fulfilled prophecy. Meanwhile, a new reader is being born. Someone else just turned to the last page. The process is still happening, still happening. These people are going to want new books to read. Whether that agent thinks those books are needed or not, I’m going to write them.

Since the second FROSTBORN book sold its 1,000th copy in December, I think it is fair to say that at least some people want an epic fantasy with elves and dwarves and orcs. And that I’d better get cracking on writing more of them.

-JM

a review of THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG

Now that GHOST IN THE SURGE is done, and I’m almost done with the rough draft of FROSTBORN: THE UNDYING WIZARD, I finally went to see THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG. It was a thoroughly entertaining sword-and-sorcery film with lots of action and adventure.

That said, I heard a rumor that THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG was in fact based on THE HOBBIT by J.R.R. Tolkien, but after seeing the film, I can confidently say that rumor has no basis in fact whatsoever.

-JM

free fiction Tuesday – THE FALL OF KYRACE

This week’s Free Fiction Tuesday story is from the world of THE GHOSTS series. THE FALL OF KYRACE tells the start of the centuries-long enmity between the city of New Kyre and Caina’s Empire. Links below!

Available at Amazon, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, and Amazon Canada.

Rykon is a stormdancer of Kyrace, a proud warrior of his city. Yet the vast armies of the Empire of Nighmar assail Kyrace’s walls, and soon Rykon’s home will fall to the enemy.

And unless Rykon fights with all his valor and strength, the woman he loves will fall beneath a traitor’s sword…

on to FROSTBORN: THE UNDYING WIZARD

Now that GHOST IN THE SURGE is out, it’s time to move onto the next project, specifically the third book in the FROSTBORN series, FROSTBORN: THE UNDYING WIZARD.

And I have some good news on that front. Because of my schedule in December, I had a big chunk of time to work on FROSTBORN: THE UNDYING WIZARD, so I put it to use. I’m currently on Chapter 20 of 24, and if all goes well I hope to wrap up the rough draft in the coming week.

-JM

Reader Question Day #80 – all about GHOST IN THE SURGE

Reader Question Day #80: all about GHOST IN THE SURGE

Since GHOST IN THE SURGE came out a few days ago, it is only appropriate that all the questions this week are about the book! Note that there are no spoilers in this post, though I cannot vouch for any resultant comments.

LS asks:

What happened to the ghostsilver spear from CHILD OF THE GHOSTS, and why hasn’t Caina used it again?

That spear will actually turn up again in GHOST IN THE SURGE. After CHILD OF THE GHOSTS, Halfdan took it for safekeeping. The reason he did that is because ghostsilver is incredibly rare. If it wasn’t, the Ghosts would probably start mass-producing ghostsilver-tipped crossbow bolts and keep the magi in line that way.

But the spear will be back in GHOST IN THE SURGE.

LNC asks:

Will GHOST IN THE SURGE be the last book in the series?

Well, I’ve already ordered the cover art for the next the GHOSTS book, so no.

Seriously, the next book will be called GHOST IN THE COWL, and I’m going to start writing it in February. While GHOST IN THE SURGE is not a cliffhanger by any means, it would nonetheless be a jerky place to end the series, certainly.

NM asks:

When exactly will GHOST IN THE SURGE be available for iTunes & Kobo?

Soon, I hope. Basically, to get a book into iTunes, there are these steps:

1.) Upload the book to Smashwords.

2.) Have the book approved for Smashwords’ Premium Catalog.

3.) Have the book appear in iTunes the next time Smashwords uploads the updated version of its Premium Catalog to iTunes.

So step one is done. Hopefully Steps 2 and 3 won’t take too much longer. Usually about one to two weeks.

Kobo is opening up to new books again this weekend, so if all goes well GHOST IN THE SURGE should be available there in a few days.

-JM

GHOST IN THE SURGE now available!

I am pleased to report that GHOST IN THE SURGE, the ninth book in THE GHOSTS series, is now available!

You can get it at Amazon, Amazon UK, Amazon Germany, Amazon Canada, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords. (It will be available on Kobo next week, and on iTunes later in January.)

Click here to read a sample chapter from GHOST IN THE SURGE.

-JM

the last post of 2013

I would like to thank everyone for waiting patiently for GHOST IN THE SURGE, which took longer than I expected. December is just a complicated month. And it seems to get more complicated every year, doesn’t it?

But we should have some good news on that front very soon now.

-JM

writing goals for 2014

Yesterday, I discussed my writing goals for 2013, and how many of them I met. Today, I will list my writing goals for 2014.

Of course, it is important to say that these are things I would like to do in 2014, if unexpected events do not get in the way. Who can say what the future holds? But if my health holds, the rain falls on time, and the creek doesn’t rise, there are the things, the Lord willing, I would like to do in 2014.

In order of priority:

-At least two or three more THE GHOSTS books.

-At least two or three more FROSTBORN books.

-Return to DEMONSOULED. I’ve been bashing my head against the wall for a year trying to figure out what to do next, but I think I have it at last. More on that later.

-Return to THE THIRD SOUL.

-In 2012 I wrote 530,000 words, and in 2013 I wrote 863,000 new words. So in 2014, I’d like to see if I can push that up to one million words. This might not be doable, but I shall like to try. (Of course, reaching the first four goals will help with this. Synergy!)

-A tech book. I didn’t write any new tech books in 2013, but I would like to do one. My new website, Computer Beginner’s Guides, should help with that.

-16 books available in print by the holidays of 2014. I’ve found it’s best not to think of them as “print books”, but as “holiday gift editions”. So, I hope to have 16 of my books available as “holiday gift editions” by the holidays of 2014.

-I’m hoping to get another book in the Top 100 for Epic Fantasy, since GHOST IN THE FLAMES & GHOST IN THE BLOOD made it into the Top 100 on Thanksgiving Day.

-I hope to reach 1,000 total subscribers for my New Release Newsletter. Subscribe here!

-Have more books available on Google Play. I’ve heard rumblings that Google Play is growing as a market for ebooks, which makes sense, as there are something like a billion Android phones floating around out there. I’ve held off on it, since Google has a habit of randomly cutting ebook prices, but the situation appears to have improved. Right now two of my nonfiction books – THE WINDOWS COMMAND LINE BEGINNER’S GUIDE and THE LINUX COMMAND LINE BEGINNER’S GUIDE are available on Google Play, and if I like how they perform, I’ll start adding more of the fiction books.

So those are the writing goals I hope to reach in 2014. Have a Happy New Year!

-JM

Did I reach 2013′s writing goals?

Last year, I wrote a post laying out my writing goals for 2013. Did I reach them? Let’s take a look!

-Finish the DEMONSOULED series. I’m in the final phases of SOUL OF SKULLS, which should come out in January or February. After that, there’s one book left to write – SOUL OF SWORDS. Hopefully I can get that done sometime in the summer.

Success! SOUL OF SWORDS came out in June.

-Continue THE GHOSTS series. As soon as I finish SOUL OF SKULLS, it’s time to start the  next GHOSTS book, GHOST IN THE FORGE. I’d like to have that done by the end of April, after which I want to start SOUL of SWORDS.

Success! GHOST IN THE FORGE came out at the end of February.

-Start a new series. After I finish SOUL OF SWORDS, I would like to write the first book in a new series. More thoughts on that later.

Success! There are now three books in my new FROSTBORN series: FROSTBORN: THE FIRST QUEST, FROSTBORN: THE GRAY KNIGHT, and FROSTBORN: THE EIGHTFOLD KNIFE.

 -Do a novel in THE THIRD SOUL series. I’ve been at a loss on how to continue the series, but the other night (while on the treadmill, appropriately enough) an idea came to me. I haven’t been able to figure out how to continue Rachaelis’s and Corthain’s character arcs. So the answer is to do a novel with new characters in the same setting, which would then link up with Rachaelis’s and Corthain’s plotline in the next installment. More information on this to come.

-Sort of halfway. I did THE OUTLAW ADEPT, THE BLACK PALADIN, and THE TOMB OF BALIGANT, but I had already written THE BLACK PALADIN and THE TOMB OF BALIGANT years ago, and THE OUTLAW ADEPT was a novella, so it doesn’t really count. I thought about doing a THE THIRD SOUL book at the end of the year, but I decided to work on GHOST IN THE SURGE instead. (To be fair, a lot more people were asking for the next THE GHOSTS book). Perhaps I’ll be able to come back to THE THIRD SOUL in 2014.

 -Another GHOSTS book after GHOST IN THE FORGE. I’ll probably write that in in fall of 2013, and I haven’t decided on a title yet. I’m not sure what’s going to happen in that book, since I have to write GHOST IN THE FORGE first.

Definite success! Not only did I write GHOST IN THE ASHES, I also wrote GHOST IN THE MASK and GHOST IN THE SURGE.

-Expand into paper books. It occurred to me in December that I had missed an opportunity by not having paper books available. People don’t buy ebooks as gifts. They buy ebooks for themselves. They do, however, buy paper books as gifts. So by 2013′s holiday season, I wanted to have at least some of my novels available in paper form. Consequently, I’ve been teaching myself CreateSpace. I suspect like ebook formatting, the first one is the hardest, and after that it’s easier because you have a template from which to work.

Success! I had a goal of having six paper books available by the holiday season of 2013,  and I wound up with eight.

-More short stories. I used to write a lot of short fiction, but it’s fallen by the wayside in the last few years. But my book series take place in this big rambling fictional universes, and there’s a lot of room for short stories in them. So if there’s time, I’d like to do some $0.99 short stories in the DEMONSOULED, THE GHOSTS, and THE THIRD SOUL settings.

Success! In 2013 I wrote the short stories THE WANDERING KNIGHT, THE TOURNAMENT KNIGHT, GHOST ARIA, GHOST CLAWS, GHOST OMENS, and GHOST UNDYING.

-Additional tech books. But probably not until the second half of 2012, since I want to focus on fiction until SOUL OF SWORDS is done.

Didn’t happen – there just wasn’t time.

Tomorrow I’ll write out what I hope to accomplish with writing in 2014.

-JM