Phil Giunta's Blog, page 16

Book Review: The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler

I began reading The Writer’s Journey in April 2019, then put it aside for a few years when I became busy with several short story projects, a new novel, and a few harrowing life changes. When I picked up The Writer’s Journey again in late May 2021, I started from page one again and found Vogler’s interpretation and application of Joseph Campbell’s analysis of mythology useful. I approached it in much the same way I approach outlining my novels and short stories. It is a roadmap, not a strict rule book and even Vogler admits this. When developing any story, there are many avenues a writer can take and crafting the story is an organic process. Often while writing, I will have an epiphany that takes the story in an even better direction than what I had originally outlined.

Vogler’s guide is no different. I know other reviewers accuse Vogler of diluting or cheapening Campbell’s work. I’ve heard other writers at conventions and conferences deride The Hero’s Journey as an obsolete model that no longer has a place in modern storytelling. To each their own. I enjoyed The Writer’s Journey and found Vogler’s voice and style easy to follow. Even after three novels and over 20 short stories in my young writing career, I never stop learning and will keep this book close at hand as I work through the latest revision of my next novel.

About This Writing Stuff…

This week, Ken Miyamoto encourages us to define our characters via their actions using Mad Max, Wall-E, and There Will be Blood as examples.

Dianne Pearce covers various ways to promote our books and help others do the same while Penny Sansevieri offers marketing strategies for a book series. Sarah Stewart Taylor delves into the emotional roller coaster of the writing life and Rob Eagar reviews recent changes on Amazon that affect authors.

All that and a little more. Enjoy!

Getting Away With Murder: A 5-Point Plan On How To Kill A Character by Christopher Luke Dean

Defining a Character Through Action: Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior by Ken Miyamoto

Defining a Character Through Action: Wall-E by Ken Miyamoto

Defining a Character Through Action: There Will Be Blood by Ken Miyamoto

10 Amazon Changes Authors Need to Know About by Rob Eagar

What is Kindle Vella? An In-Depth Explanation by Chris Fried

How to Sell Your Book – Part I by Dianne Pearce

How to Sell Your Book – Part II: Finish Your Damn Novel and What About Flash Fiction? by Dianne Pearce

How to Sell Your Book – Part III: Pay It Forward by Dianne Pearce

How to Make the Most of a Writing Hour by Ramona DeFelice Long

3 Quick Fixes for Your Dialogue by Jessica Strawser

5 Simple Marketing Strategies for Your Book Series by Penny Sansevieri

The Parts They Don’t Tell You by Sarah Stewart Taylor

How to Juggle More Than One Manuscript by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb

 

 

 

About This Writing Stuff…

This week, Anne R. Allen urges us to promote our books regionally while Jodie Renner provides a rundown on loglines, taglines, and back cover copy.

Donald Maass and Joslyn Chase pick up the pace while Kathryn Craft helps our scenes become better oriented by asking the three (or five!) W’s.  Kelsey Allagood and Mckenzie Cassidy offer tips on self-care for creatives.

Over at Mythcreants, Oren Ashkenanzi shows us how to identify troubled throughlines while Chris Winkle helps us polish our prose.

All that and a little more. Enjoy!

The Inherent Nature of Story Structure by Jim Dempsey

Want to Be a Bigger Fish? Try a Smaller Pond. Regional Fiction Sells! by Anne R. Allen

You Are Doing it Completely Wrong and You Are Doomed to Fail! by Philip Athans

How to *Easily* Publish on Apple Books by Gary Rodgers

Hook Your Readers with a Compelling Storyline, Tagline, and Back Cover Copy by Jodie Renner

The Three W’s of Scene Orientation by Kathryn Craft

On Pacing: Faster Than the Speed of Thought by Donald Maass

Story Pacing: 4 Techniques That Help Manage Your Plot’s Timeline by Joslyn Chase

Writing While Languishing: How to Be Creative When You’re Feeling ‘Blah’ by Kelsey Allagood

Six Signs of a Weak Throughline by Oren Ashkenazi

Five Simple Ways to Make Your Prose Easier to Read by Chris Winkle

Preserving Your Creativity with Self-Care by Mckenzie Cassidy

What I’ve Done and What’s in the Works…

It’s been too long since I wrote a blog post that wasn’t merely a catalog of interesting articles about writing and publishing.

We’re over the midway point of 2021 and while this year has been nowhere near as miserable as its predecessor, the past six and a half months have served up generous portions of stress and change. I lost two dear friends, turned 50, started a new full-time job, and finished a few home renovations and landscaping projects.

Just to recap events on the writing front, the first quarter was marvelous. In January, my story, “Where It’s Needed Most,” was published in the Mindful Writers anthology, Love on the Edge, by Year of the Book Press. For some unexplained reason, the anthology briefly went missing from Amazon in June but was quickly re-released using Ingram Spark.  Proceeds from the anthology benefit Allegheny Children’s Initiative-Partners For Quality, Inc.  As a sample, you can read my story for free on Wattpad.

In that same month, my South Korean ghost story, “Before She’s Gone Forever,” was accepted by Gravelight Press for the next volume of their Halloween Party anthology series to be published in September. More details on that soon.

Another of my ghost stories, “Bottom of the Hour,” reached the quaterfinals in the Screencraft Cinematic Short Story Competition and to this day remains in the top 35% of discoverable works on Coverfly.  “Bottom of the Hour” was originally published in A Plague of Shadows (Smart Rhino Publications, October 2018).

March saw the publication of Meanwhile in the Middle of Eternity, the final book in the Middle of Eternity anthology series that I created and edited for Firebringer Press. It’s available in all formats except for Kindle, which has been delayed but should be out eventually. In keeping with tradition, three of my stories were included. You can read two of them for free here on my website: “Take a Cue from the Canine” and “So Hungry…” The third is a Finnish fantasy tale called “The Forest for the Trees.”

Also in March, the Greater Lehigh Valley Writers Group released their latest biennial anthology, Writes of Passage. First in that book is “Help Me Rise,” my tale of a female rock star and recovering alcoholic who struggles to resurrect her career following the death of her husband. It’s the first of two general, or “mainstream,” fiction stories I wrote this year.

The second was “Where Do I Begin?” in which a middle-aged man moves to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware to start a new life only to be tormented by voices from his past. This story was submitted to the annual Rehoboth Beach Reads short story contest, sponsored by Cat & Mouse Press and Browseabout Books. The theme this year is Beach Secrets and the winners will be revealed during the first week of August. Stay tuned!

Speaking of (writing of?) Rehoboth Beach, on July 1, I submitted a detective story, set in that town, to Hawkshaw Press for their 2022 anthology, Hardboiled and Loaded with Sin. They accepted the story within two days! If you’re a writer of detective noir tales and 40 years of age or older, check them out. The deadline for submissions is December 31, 2021.

Of course, no writer’s life would be complete without rejections and I received about a half dozen of them this year. There’s an old adage in this business—if you’re not getting rejections, you’re not submitting enough. I’m shopping around two SF adventure stories and a dark horror tale while working on draft three of a science fiction novel.

That about sums it up for the first half of 2021. I’m immensely grateful for the successes and hopeful about the future. Later this year, I plan to submit several short stories, and one of my novels, to various contests. I’ll post details in the months to come.

Enjoy the rest of summer and stay safe.

 

About This Writing Stuff…

This week, Deb Caletti offers reliable tips on unreliable narrators while Chris Winkle explains the importance of planning character arcs. Emma Lombard and Carol Van Den Hende discuss developing a marketing plan and creating an author brand, respectively.

At the Write Practive, Jeff Elkins provides six critical steps to creating a good villain and J.D. Edwin gets back to basics with four foundational skills for writing fiction.

Claire Armitstead delves into the growing theme of climate fiction (cli-fi) and if you’re struggling to write the perfect ending to your novel, the folks at NaNoWriMo might be of help.

All that and a little more. Enjoy!

8 Tips to Writing Unreliable Narrators by Deb Caletti

How to Develop a Marketing and Promotion Plan as an Indie Author by Emma Lombard

Don’t Cheat Your Reader by Mae Clair

Keeping it Real—or Not: Fact and Fiction in the Novel by Carol Goodman

Planning Character Arcs by Chris Winkle

How Twitter Can Ruin a Life by Emily VanDerWerff

Stories to Save the World: The New Wave of Climate Fiction by Claire Armitstead

Selling Foreign Book Rights – How Authors Generate International Income by Matt Knight

How to Write Good Fiction: 4 Foundational Skills and How to Build Them by J.D. Edwin

How to Write a Villain – 6 Scenes Your Story Needs by Jeff Elkins

8 Mistakes to Avoid While Writing the Perfect Ending to Your Novel from the NaNoWriMo Blog

The Myth of Quality vs Quantity in Publishing by Kristina Adams (podcast)

What is Author Brand and How to Craft Yours by Carol Van Den Hende

My (Virtual) Shore Leave Schedule

Shore Leave SF Convention will be virtual again this year using a combination of Zoom, Discord, and GatherTown.

Below are the panels in which I’m scheduled to participate. Hope to see you there!

Saturday, July 10

12PM – Our Words Unmasked. Given COVID-19, are people still writing stories where characters walk around unmasked, shake hands, hug, and so on? Do you have to include the pandemic in your work, going forward? How does that even work? Participants: Phil Giunta, Greg Cox, Andrew Hiller, Laura Ware, Christopher D. Ochs.

2PM – Plotting vs. Pantsing? Or Plantsing? Find out which of our authors outline, which ones make it up as they go, and which are somewhere in between. Participants: Phil Giunta, Christopher D. Abbott, Heather E. Hutsell, Greg Cox, John Coffren, Aaron Rosenberg (moderator).

3PM – Writing in “Interesting Times.” Our authors talk about how they’ve managed to keep going, stay focused, and continue writing despite the events of the past year. Participants: Phil Giunta, Andrew Hiller, Jenifer Rosenberg, Jim Johnson, Paul Kupperberg, Russ Colchamiro (moderator).

5PM – Beta Readers and Critique Groups. Authors discuss how inviting readers to their early drafts shape—or reshape—their narratives, transforming works in progress into polished works of fiction. Participants: Kelli Fitzpatrick, Phil Giunta, Joshua Palmatier, Andrew Hiller, Rigel Ailur, Russ Colchamiro (moderator).

6PM – Firebringer Press Presents. Join the authors of Firebringer Press as they celebrate the release of Meanwhile in the Middle of Eternity, the third volume in their anthology series of SF, Fantasy, and Paranormal tales. Participants: Phil Giunta, Christopher D. Ochs, Diane Baron, Steven H. Wilson (moderator).

 

Sunday, July 11

12PM – Author Role Models. We all look up to someone, especially in our chosen field. Which authors do our guests look up to, and why? Participants: Phil Giunta, Heather E. Hutsell, Scott Pearson, Michael Jan Friedman, Amy Imhoff, Kevin Dilmore (moderator).

6PM – Memorial for Sandy Zier-Teitler.

 

About This Writing Stuff…

This week, Paula Munier offers advice on transitioning from writing nonfiction to fiction while Anne R. Allen reminds us that self-publishing is serious business. Anne’s article has a few points in common with Sue Coletta’s tips on maintaining etiquette in the writing community.

TD Storm discusses the pros and cons of using filtering language, Alison Flood delves into the effects of cancel culture in publishing, and Kathryn Craft explains how we can increase tension in our stories through the eyes of an observer.

Oh, I almost forgot—Hanna Mary McKinnon provides tips on crafting characters with amnesia.

All that and much more. Enjoy!

How to Write About Amnesia by Hanna Mary McKinnon

Your Nonfiction is Showing by Paula Munier

Self-Publishing is a Business: Don’t Treat it Like a Childish Game by Anne R. Allen

To Filter or Not to Filter by TD Storm

What is DRC and How to Make it Work for You by IndieReader

Writing Community Etiquette by Sue Coletta

Six Ways to Add Stakes to a Mystery by Chris Winkle

Publishing’s Debate over Cancel Culture by Alison Flood

Managing a Motif by Dave King

Heighten Tension with a Watcher by Kathryn Craft

Character Description: 6 Tips from Stephen King’s Memoir by David Safford

Bringing a Character to Life by Barbara Linn Probst

The Unintended Consequences of a Lack of Setting by Amanda Patterson

 

 

 

Into That Good Night

It’s taken me a week to write this blog post. I could blame that on a few recent disruptions in my life, but the truth is that I needed time to gather my thoughts, which have been muddled in a torrent of emotions as of late.

In the first week of June, I lost two wonderful friends within days of each other.

On June 2, I received word that Sandy Zier-Teitler had died at the age of 67 after a series of health complications.

I met Sandy at the Farpoint SF convention over 20 years ago, but her history in fandom dates back much further. She was a legend in the Maryland convention scene, having worked for ClipperCon, OktoberTrek, and Farpoint. She was also a writer and editor for the Star Trek fanzine Mind Meld.

My friendship with Sandy solidified when I started publishing with Firebringer Press, owned by friend, fellow writer, and Farpoint co-founder, Steven H. Wilson. Sandy was the line editor on my novels and was always enthusiastic to read my next story. Hers was one of the most encouraging and effusive voices in my writing career. I’m grateful to have been her friend.

On June 6, one of the most adorable, intelligent, and vibrant young women I ever met lost her battle with a rare form of cancer at the age of 25.

My wife and I met Jessica Headlee through SF fandom and got to know her when she and our friend Ethan Wilson began dating around 2014 or so.  Jess became a ubiquitous presence in the Maryland SF convention scene, volunteering at Balticon, Farpoint, and Shore Leave where she was often seen dressed as the Shore Leave mascot (the giant rabbit from the original Star Trek episode from which con derives its name).

Jessica also joined us in Rehoboth Beach for our summer vacations with the Wilson family every July. She was a marine biologist with a passion for saving our environment.  Jess and Ethan were married on the beach in Rehoboth in October 2019.

In June 2018, I drove down to Maryland to help the Wilsons with landscaping and yard cleanup at Steve’s parents’ house.

There was a point when I took a break and stepped into the kitchen. I was alone and my thoughts drifted to whatever problems were plaguing my life at the time and exacerbating my depression. At that moment, Jess happened to walk in and observe the despondent expression on my face. She said, “Oh my God, Phil! It can’t be that bad!”

She snapped me out of my dark reverie and for the rest of the day, I realized that it can never be that bad when you’re surrounded by friends who care. Of all the memories I have of Jessica, this is the one I will cherish the most.

About This Writing Stuff…

It has been three weeks since my last blog post. How the hell did that happen? Well, I’ve been stretched thin as of late with my FT job, a few expensive home renovations, health problems, managing eBay auctions (the time has come to downsize), and yes, writing projects.

I have a short story in progress for a contest, the second draft of my SF novel awaits my attention after that, and I’m waiting to hear back from two small presses on short stories I submitted to them. I’m also scheduling a book signing or two for a speculative fiction anthology I just released with a group of fantastic writers and I’m reviewing a presentation on self-editing that I wll be giving to a local writers group on Monday evening (24 May).

However, the fact that I’ve been neglecting my blog has been gnawing at me, so here we go!

This week, Steve Hooley reviews several sites for serialized fiction, including Kindle Vella, while Jodie Renner discusses close and deep third person POV.

Mary Alice Monroe and KL Burd use fiction to raise awareness of environmental issues and social issues, respectively, while Philip Athans offers advice on blending SF, fantasy, and horror. James Scott Bell provides tips on increasing productivity, Terry Odell delves into crafting character descriptions, and Kathryn Craft wages war against the lame apology.

All that and much more. Enjoy!

Serialized Fiction and Vella – What Do You Think? by Steve Hooley

Tips for Deepening the POV in Your Fiction by Jodie Renner

Weaving Real-Life Environmental Issues into Your Fictional World by Mary Alice Monroe

Fantasy and/or Science Fiction and/or Horror by Philip Athans

The Five Things You Need When Writing a Mystery Novel by Melodie Campbell

6 Practical Business Tips for Authors to Market Their Story of Success by Taylor Payne

7 Tips for Producing More Words by James Scott Bell

Character Descriptions Part I by Terry Odell

Character Descriptions Part II by Terry Odell

Why Bookshop.org is Not the Savior the Book World Needs by Ellen Peirson Hagger

The Magic Number by Todd Sattersten

Legal Protection for Fictional Characters by Matt Knight

Kick Your Story Up a Notch by Knowing Your Character’s Conflict Style by Kelsey Allagood

Unapologetic Characterization by Kathryn Craft

Incorporating Social Issues Into Your Manuscript by KL Burd

 

Book Review: The Lavalite World by Philip Jose Farmer

On an artificial world created by the immortal Lord Urthona, the landscape is forever shifting. Mountains crumble into plains, flesh-eating trees roam the surface, chunks of the planet are ejected into orbit as temporary moons only to fall back and crash into the surface. It is on this world that Earthman Paul Janus Finnegan—known as Kickaha among other aliases—and his companion, the Lady Anana, find themselves stranded with the devious Urthona, Red Orc, and their human henchman, McKay. Somewhere on this vexing planet floats Urthona’s palace and the means for finding a gateway to another world. Before Kickaha and Anana can find it, however, they must survive the treachery of the other three—not to mention the dangerous plants, animals, and natives.

In this fifth and penultimate volume in his Word of Tiers series, Farmer provides enough detail about previous events involving the characters that you don’t need to read the previous books to enjoy The Lavalite World. However, what this story fails to mention is that the series began with a character named Robert Wolff also known as Jadawin, one of the immortals lords. Thus, to grasp the full scope and breadth of the World of Tiers, it is advisable to begin with book one, The Maker of Universes.

I can’t help but to compare Farmer’s World of Tiers to Jack Vance’s Planet of Adventure series or to some of Farmer’s other works such as The Stone God Awakens, The Green Odyssey, or even Riverworld. In all cases, a human finds himself (by whatever means) in a strange world and in order to escape, must venture across the planet, battling dangerous tribes, animals, and the environment along the way, all while earning the companionship of a beautiful woman and making a few unlikely allies. There is nothing wrong in these comparisons and each story puts its own spin on that basic premise, making every one a rip-roaring adventure.