Bryan Young's Blog, page 10

Other Writers Are Not Your Enemy

As much as you might think otherwise, you're not actually in competition with other writers.

I know sometimes that might seem counter-intuitive, but there's nothing that says you're in a rivalry with other writers vying for shelf-space. Or for a publishing deal. Or for column-inches in a print publication.

You shouldn't do anything but try to lift up other writers as best you can. It does no harm to be kind and help as much as you can. It doesn't matter if they're getting the gigs you want. Be...

The Aeronaut and Escape Vector - Signed Pre-Orders

As many of you are aware, my collection of short stories, Escape Vector, and my new novel, The Aeronaut, are both coming next month.

Escape Vector is a dozen stories of science fiction, all of them space opera, and it's a collection I couldn't be more proud of.

The Aeronaut is a literary steampunk tale that I've poured my heart and soul into and tells the tale of Robert Preston. Preston is an American expatriate who joined the French Aeronautic Corps during World War I. Through his adventures o...

The Aeronaut and my NYCC Schedule

First, the biggest news this week: My latest novel, The Aeronaut, is now available for pre-order in digital formats and will be released in digital and print on November 11, 2015 to commemorate the end of World War I.

It's being published by Silence in the Library Publishing.

Please click this link and pre-order!

Here's the back cover text:

The Aeronaut is a tense story, full of action, espionage, and romance, set in an alternate version of World War I. Computational machinery has allowed both si...

The Surprising Ease of Consistency

I've challenged myself to writing every day.

My writing schedule used to give me weekends off. Or when I didn't feel like it. Or whenever I felt like I was too busy for writing. In recent years I've given myself a day off here and there, but always at least one day off a week.

But the more I looked around at successful writers, people who were making a living at it full time, the more I realized that when they said "write every day," what they really meant wasn't "write every business day," or...

Escape Vector, The Aeronaut, and Salt Lake Comic Con

I'm pleased to announce that my collection of space opera short stories, Escape Vector, will be available for purchase at Salt Lake Comic Con. You can order it now from Amazon and have me sign it at the show (link here) or snag it from me there. Digital versions will be available shortly.


I'm incredibly proud of this collection, and I think it's a great cross section of the space opera shorts I've been publishing over the last few years in other publications and a host of new stuff that I'm co...

Warren Murphy and the importance of mentors...

I learned late last week that Warren Murphy passed away.

Some of you might not be familiar with the work of Warren, and that's kind of a shame.

He's the guy who created and wrote much of the The Destroyer series, which was incredibly influential on me as a kid. For those who don't know, the series starred Remo Williams and Chiun, both masters of Sinanju and assassins working for the American government and their super-secret agency CURE.

They were part of the wave of "Men's Adventure" books from...

Challenging Yourself (and my Dragon Con schedule)

This week, I want to talk a little bit about pushing yourself and challenging yourself. 

It's something I'm a big believer in. I think if you're in a situation where you're writing the same kind of thing over and over and over again, you're not going to be growing as a writer in any meaningful way. I'm the sort of person who needs everything to be at least a little bit difficult or I feel like I'm doing it wrong.

I think the best way to learn is to make mistakes and you can't do that if yo...

My Writing Process

Earlier this week, Chuck Wendig, author of the upcoming Star Wars: Aftermath, wrote a post about his writing process and challenged other writers to share theirs, so I thought that would make a perfect post for this week.

I'm the sort of writer who works really well with a consistent routine and something to always work on. My routine has been something I've slowly been coming to over the years and I really like where I'm at because it's allowed me to create a tremendous and, I think, quality...

The Importance of Staying Focused.

When you're writing, it's easy for me to get distracted.

I'm not just talking about the Internet and family and work and everything else that can come up while you're at your notebook and keyboard, although that's also a danger for distraction.

I'm talking about with other stories.

I'm currently 30k words into my new novel. It's a fantasy epic and I'm probably not even a third of the way through the book. I know there's a lot of hard work coming to get it finished and there's a lot of words I'm...

Avoiding Cliches

When I'm working on my first drafts, sometimes it's easier for me to choose a cliched description and keep going. It's natural. These are the things that come to mind first and when you're writing a couple of thousand words in a sitting, they're not going to all be gold.
It's a note I get back from all of my earliest readers, "Take out the red pen and get rid of the cliches."

In fact, that might have been my favorite note from one of my favorite authors after he'd read one of my books. Warren M...