Jonathan Moeller's Blog, page 87

DRAGONSKULL: CURSE OF THE ORCS rough draft finished!

I am pleased to report that DRAGONSKULL: CURSE OF THE ORCS is finished!

Next up is THE FIRST SIEGE, a short story that will take place between the events of SWORD OF THE SQUIRE and SHIELD OF THE KNIGHT. Newsletter subscribers will get the short story for free when CURSE OF THE ORCS comes out.

I have to take all of next week off from writing to do some Real Life stuff, so CURSE OF THE ORCS should be out in the first half of June if all goes well.

Meanwhile, let’s have a look at the cover image!

-JM

COVERING FIRE now on all stores

COVERING FIRE, the second Cormac Rogan mystery book, was originally on Amazon only. However, I am pleased to report that it is now at all stores! You can get it at Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, Amazon CA, Amazon AU, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, Google Play, Smashwords, and Payhip.

AVENGING FIRE, the first book on the series, is still exclusive to Amazon until June 23rd. But it’s only $0.99 USD until then at Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, Amazon CA, and Amazon AU.

An unexplained suicide. An accidental death. Neither are what they seem.

Private investigator Cormac Rogan just wants to keep his head down and work his way out of debt. But when a wealthy widow offers to hire Mac to investigate her husband’s suicide, the money is too good to say no.

The widow is the only one who believes her husband didn’t kill himself.

But Mac thinks she might be right.

And the undetected killer is willing to kill many more people to remain undetected, starting with Mac…

-JM

The Pulp Writer Show, Episode 120: Using Dialogue To Create Distinct Characters

In this week’s episode, we’ll talk about using dialogue to create distinctive characters in fiction.

I also talk about buying an Xbox and answering reader questions.

THE PULP WRITER SHOW will return with new episodes in June 2022.

As always, you can listen to the show on Libsyn, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Amazon Music.

-JM

DRAGONSKULL: CURSE OF THE ORCS updates

I’m now on Chapter 15 of 20 of DRAGONSKULL: CURSE OF THE ORCS, which puts me at just about 75% of the way through.

Hopefully if all goes well I can wrap up the rough draft by the end of the week, though we’ll see how things play out.

Also, CLOAK OF SPEARS is now at the 4,000 word mark. Once CURSE OF THE ORCS is done, that will be my main focus.

-JM

DRAGONSKULL: CURSE OF THE ORCS progress update

I am now on Chapter 14 of 20 of DRAGONSKULL: CURSE OF THE ORCS. It feels like I have about another 20,000 words to go, so hopefully I can get there by the end of this week. A lot of Real Life stuff to do, though.

Meanwhile, I am pleased to report that I have listened to the first 6 audio proof chapters of FROSTBORN: THE SHADOW PRISON, as excellently narrated by Brad Wills. Very soon the FROSTBORN saga will finally be complete in audiobook!

-JM

A gratifying review

I confess I rather liked this review of the audiobook of DRAGONTIARNA: KNIGHTS & THIEVES:

I have to admit that I don’t think THE RIFTWAR CYCLE was an influence on DRAGONTIARNA. I read the original RIFTWAR books like twenty years ago, and while I liked them, I don’t think they were an influence on me. Conan the Barbarian, Tolkien, David Gemmell, and various computer RPGs were a bigger influence on FROSTBORN/SEVENFOLD SWORD/DRAGONTIARNA than RIFTWAR.

That said, this kind of review is my favorite. It also demonstrates the value of having the first book in the series free and the second one cheap, because it gives you a lot of time to reel people in.

A couple of times I have seen reviews pop up on the GHOSTS and CLOAK GAMES that go in this sequence:

First Caina book: “I didn’t really like this, but it was free.”

Second Caina book: “I didn’t really like the first book, but the 2nd one was $0.99 and I don’t want to make the effort to find a new author right now.”

(Pause of two or three months.)

Twenty-third Caina book: “I keep buying these WHAT IS WRONG WITH MEEEEEEEEEEEEE?!?”

It’s okay. Everything will be fine. Just stop struggling, relax, and subscribe to my newsletter. You’ll get a free Caina book!

By the way, have I mentioned that FROSTBORN: THE GRAY KNIGHT, SEVENFOLD SWORD: CHAMPION, CHILD OF THE GHOSTS, CLOAK GAMES: THIEF TRAP, and SILENT ORDER: IRON HAND are all free on the various ebook stores?

And if you’re an Audible member, you can listen to DRAGONTIARNA: KNIGHTS & THIEVES for free.

-JM

The Pulp Writer Show, Episode 119: Picking Categories For Your Book On Amazon

In this week’s episode, we discuss how to pick appropriate categories for your book on Amazon and the other bookstores. I also talk about THE BATMAN movie, and answer reader questions and comments.

As always, you can listen to the show on Libsyn, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Amazon Music.

-JM

DRAGONSKULL: CURSE OF THE ORCS progress update

Starting the week at 40,000 words of DRAGONSKULL: CURSE OF THE ORCS. Let’s see if I can get to 65,000 by the end of Friday!

-JM

Writing Distinctive Dialogue

Scott asks:

“A question on making dialog for individual characters unique to them. It is very common for all characters to sound so homogeneous that attribution is the only way to know one speaker from another. Awkward accents aside, what are some techniques that help separate social classes and regions in speech?”

Accents aren’t a great way to differentiate characters in books. (That’s different in audiobooks, of course.) Varying sentence structure and length and vocabulary are better.

Like, a teenager girl might talk in long complicated sentences that usually reference the opinions of her friends, while an elderly farmer might speak in laconic sentence fragments. A professor might have more complex sentence structure with greater vocabulary, while a human resources professional might talk entirely in business jargon. (“I’m reaching out today to touch base on performance evaluations…”) An actor or a stand-up comic or a performer might talk entirely in emotive-based language (“I feel that” or “My feeling is that”) while a doctor or an accountant might be more clinical in their speech. Police officers and members of the military will often have their own jargon with a lot of acronyms that can be impenetrable to outsiders or people unfamiliar with the culture.

Profanity is a tricky one. It is a very easy way to distinguish speech patterns among characters, but profanity often rubs readers the wrong way. I had someone complain that Nadia says “goddamn” a lot in the CLOAK MAGE books, and the truth is I dial down her profanity. I think that if Nadia existed in Real Life, every third word would be a profanity once she got ticked off.

It’s also important to remember that people rarely give direct answers in conversation and frequently go off on tangents.

For that matter, the subtext of a conversation is often more important that the actual words that are actually being said.

Like, for example, imagine a detective is investigating a murder in a bank lobby, and asks five witnesses where they found the body. The way that the five witnesses talk can provide insight into their character. In this example, we’ll have Tanya, a teenage girl, Braden, a teenage boy, Rick, an imperious bank executive, Janet, a candidate for state senator, and Robert, an elderly farmer:

Tanya the teenage girl: “Like, I came inside, because I needed to withdraw some cash and the stupid ATM wasn’t working, like, again, and OH MY GOD this dead guy was just on the floor in the middle of the bank, so I texted Zoey, and Zoey was like we need to get this on Facebook Live like, right now, but then Zoey’s mom heard what was happening and she told me to call the police, so I called 911 and the guy was like ‘what’s your emergency’, and I’m like, ‘dude, there’s a dead guy on the floor…’”

Braden the teenage boy: (Mumbles, looks at floor) “People started screaming. I saw this guy on the floor. He was like, dead. (Checks his phone) Can I go now?”

Rick the Bank Executive: “I heard a commotion in the lobby, and I got up to see what was happening, and the dead body was on the floor. I want to assure you that Mutual Fidelity Credit Banking takes all criminal matters very seriously and cooperates with the authorities to the fullest extent of the law. However, any further questions will need to be referred to our corporate counsel, and I’m afraid I have several other meetings scheduled this afternoon. Good day, officer.”

Janet the state senate candidate: “The thoughts and prayers of my family and I are with the victim’s family in this terrible time. This tragedy only further proves that the policies of my opponent are actively harmful for the most marginalized communities in our state. When I am your state senator, I will proudly stand for all communities. (Pause) Is that the victim’s parents? I need to get a picture with them for my Twitter.”

Robert the Elderly Farmer: “Came in. Fella was on the floor. Poor bastard looked like he’d been shot in the head. Checked his pulse anyway, and then called the cops.”

As you can see, all five characters talk in different ways, which provides insights into their characters.

-JM

Writing Distinctive Dialog

Scott asks:

“A question on making dialog for individual characters unique to them. It is very common for all characters to sound so homogeneous that attribution is the only way to know one speaker from another. Awkward accents aside, what are some techniques that help separate social classes and regions in speech?”

Accents aren’t a great way to differentiate characters in books. (That’s different in audiobooks, of course.) Varying sentence structure and length and vocabulary are better.

Like, a teenager girl might talk in long complicated sentences that usually reference the opinions of her friends, while an elderly farmer might speak in laconic sentence fragments. A professor might have more complex sentence structure with greater vocabulary, while a human resources professional might talk entirely in business jargon. (“I’m reaching out today to touch base on performance evaluations…”) An actor or a stand-up comic or a performer might talk entirely in emotive-based language (“I feel that” or “My feeling is that”) while a doctor or an accountant might be more clinical in their speech. Police officers and members of the military will often have their own jargon with a lot of acronyms that can be impenetrable to outsiders or people unfamiliar with the culture.

Profanity is a tricky one. It is a very easy way to distinguish speech patterns among characters, but profanity often rubs readers the wrong way. I had someone complain that Nadia says “goddamn” a lot in the CLOAK MAGE books, and the truth is I dial down her profanity. I think that if Nadia existed in Real Life, every third word would be a profanity once she got ticked off.

It’s also important to remember that people rarely give direct answers in conversation and frequently go off on tangents.

For that matter, the subtext of a conversation is often more important that the actual words that are actually being said.

Like, for example, imagine a detective is investigating a murder in a bank lobby, and asks five witnesses where they found the body. The way that the five witnesses talk can provide insight into their character. In this example, we’ll have Tanya, a teenage girl, Braden, a teenage boy, Rick, an imperious bank executive, Janet, a candidate for state senator, and Robert, an elderly farmer:

Tanya the teenage girl: “Like, I came inside, because I needed to withdraw some cash and the stupid ATM wasn’t working, like, again, and OH MY GOD this dead guy was just on the floor in the middle of the bank, so I texted Zoey, and Zoey was like we need to get this on Facebook Live like, right now, but then Zoey’s mom heard what was happening and she told me to call the police, so I called 911 and the guy was like ‘what’s your emergency’, and I’m like, ‘dude, there’s a dead guy on the floor…’”

Braden the teenage boy: (Mumbles, looks at floor) “People started screaming. I saw this guy on the floor. He was like, dead. (Checks his phone) Can I go now?”

Rick the Bank Executive: “I heard a commotion in the lobby, and I got up to see what was happening, and the dead body was on the floor. I want to assure you that Mutual Fidelity Credit Banking takes all criminal matters very seriously and cooperates with the authorities to the fullest extent of the law. However, any further questions will need to be referred to our corporate counsel, and I’m afraid I have several other meetings scheduled this afternoon. Good day, officer.”

Janet the state senate candidate: “The thoughts and prayers of my family and I are with the victim’s family in this terrible time. This tragedy only further proves that the policies of my opponent are actively harmful for the most marginalized communities in our state. When I am your state senator, I will proudly stand for all communities. (Pause) Is that the victim’s parents? I need to get a picture with them for my Twitter.”

Robert the Elderly Farmer: “Came in. Fella was on the floor. Poor bastard looked like he’d been shot in the head. Checked his pulse anyway, and then called the cops.”

As you can see, all five characters talk in different ways, which provides insights into their characters.

-JM