Alexander M. Zoltai's Blog, page 230
May 3, 2011
How I Had To Change Myself In Order To Write My Book…
Eleven years ago, I was 54 years old and just beginning, finally, to mature.
I'd been seriously studying the issue of Global Peace for about twelve years.
I hadn't quite got the principles from my head to my heart…
I saw a Tweet the other day that said: If the author doesn't cry, the reader doesn't cry.
Eleven years ago, I did, in fact, start letting myself cry more…
In the post, Publishing Day Thoughts…, I gave a timeline for all the major writerly events that led up to my publishing Notes from An Alien yesterday; but, the deeply emotional transformations I made on that path, the psychological and mental growth that the feelings led to, and the application of Principles of Peace in my daily life weren't in that post…
It's one thing to have a Theme burning in your heart and tantalizing your mind; it's quite another state of affairs
to live through the changes necessary to turn that Theme into a Plot alive with Characters who live the story.
I had to become, in essence, the characters I would eventually meet once I hand my hands on the plot. I began meeting my characters about a year ago. They were all aliens living in a star-system twelve light-years from Earth.
Acutely appropriate for a guy who'd usually felt like an alien himself :-)
Most importantly, I had to use what I'd learned of resignation and sacrifice during ten years of growing up and make a place in my mind and heart for Sena Quaren, the "co-author" of the book.
I think an author has to have a submissive ego to truly let their characters come alive. If the ego can't get out of the way long enough for the author to form a relationship with their characters, the book will either never get written or be written in a hackneyed and stilted style.
Until eleven years ago, I'd been living a hackneyed and stilted life. Even though there were eruptions of authenticity over the years, I was more amorphous than substantial, more tentative than responsible, more dream-like than imaginative.
I salute the pain suffered in that crucible of preparation. I see it all as a worthy discipline–my paying of long-deferred dues…
So, all-told, I've been studying and learning how to live Peace for 23 years and all that effort has reached a culmination in a rather slim book–dense with promise, pregnant with its successor, facing a World of greed and war and holding aloft a banner with words uttered by one of its characters, Morna: "Patience is our weapon of choice."
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Tagged: alien, characters, Earth, emotional pain, growing up, Notes from An Alien, novel, plot
May 2, 2011
"Notes from An Alien" Is Published !!!
Yes, I was impregnated by my Muse about 18 months ago, have been through some arduous labor for a number of months, and yesterday, at 12:05:02, I gave birth to a beautiful baby book :-)
Now, I must carefully nurture my baby book–make sure I feed it the right mix of reviews and interviews–give it a chance to be exposed to the education of discussions in the virtual world, Second Life, and in the online Forum I've prepared–to let folks know its Character and what it can add to their knowledge about how to take a civilization from greed and war to enduring Peace…
I also have to start thinking about cozying-up to my Muse so she can help me give birth to this book's sibling, Stories from Angi.
By the way, the Forum has a section for folks to discuss what they'd like to see in the stories in the second book; but then, someone has to read the first book to recommend what they want in the second book…
That reddish link at the top of the right side-panel will lead you to my other site where you can buy Notes from An Alien, or get a free copy emailed to you, or read it online :-)
Time to put my baby book to bed for the night.
If you leave any comments, try to be as quiet as you can………………………
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Tagged: book, free book, muse, Notes from An Alien, publishing, Second Life, self-publishing, virtual world
Publishing Day Thoughts…
Eleven years ago: I was given a Theme for a book. Wrote some of the opening scenes.
Nine years ago: the Theme changed its Plot-potential. Did extensive research and outlining.
Six years ago: the Theme changes Plot-potential again. Wrote a few pages.
Eighteen months ago: I finally have the right Plot ideas for the Theme.
One year ago: I had a scene-by-scene outline written. I began the story's promotion in the virtual world, Second Life.
Eleven months ago: I began the actual writing.
Eight months ago: I had a full first draft. Did some major revising.
Four months ago: the manuscript was back from the Editor.
Three months ago: the manuscript was approved by a special Review Office.
Since three months ago: about 18 small changes were made in the manuscript.
Please note: since a year ago, I've been involved in a constant effort to promote the book through various means. If you really want to know more about all that, check out these past posts on various aspects of my promotion trail (which, by the way, will not by any means end with today's official publishing act [more on that act tomorrow]):
Do Pre-Publication Promotion And Sanity Go Together ?
A Virtual World, A Writer's Mind, And Serious Business That's Always Fun!
Publishing Progress ~ the Highs and the Lows…
Self-Publishing Can Be Just As Creative As Writing
Can An Angel Be A 51-year-old Guy from Colorado?
Now, I'm off to do the actual publishing ( 14 days early :-)
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Tagged: book, Notes from An Alien, plot, promotion, publishing, Second Life, self-publishing, theme
April 30, 2011
This Writer's Summation of The Royal Wedding…
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Tagged: flower girl, frowning bridesmaid, frowning flower girl, Grace Van Cutsem, Kate Middleton, Prince William, royal wedding, wedding
April 28, 2011
The Fiction Game
Is fiction just a game authors play with readers?
Let's look at some of the root meanings of "fiction" and "game":
Fiction: something invented; a fashioning or feigning; to shape, form, devise; to knead, form out of clay
Game: joy, fun, amusement; participation, communion; people together
Seems like fiction, with its ability to invent ways, that can be fun, to bring people together, to shape and form situations that can induce communion, readers empathizing with characters, can actually be a valid and valuable game to play…
Awhile back, I wrote a post called, World Crises And Fiction Writers ~ Can They Help Humanity?, which is worth looking at, especially for all the comments readers made.
In that post I was exploring the idea that fiction can be used to "enlighten" the reader about social/global issues; not to preach but to present, not to moralize but to model, not to solve but to impel creative response.
Today, I watched an amazing video about a teacher who created a World Peace Game for his fourth graders. The game is a fiction but the children take it very seriously; and, they resolve issues that most adults find baffling.
For all you writers out there, I think this video could also give you some creative ideas for how to simulate a story…
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Tagged: children, fiction, game, humanity, John Hunter, peace, war, World Peace Game
April 27, 2011
Reading Helps Writing & Writing Helps Reading
Take these words, "reading helps writing", stick them into Google, and guess what you get?
Well, first, various places to visit that talk about reading helping people writer better.
Interesting thing is, though, there are just about as many places that talk about writing helping you read better.
I almost wanted to think that Google Search had attained self-consciousness and was trying to help me with this post :-)
I dropped that idea as well as the urge to start reading some of the offered results…
See, my Muse will sometimes invade my well-ordered conscious mind and order me to do various things; like not looking for links to recommend about the title of this post.
So, what did my Muse recommend?
"Just tell 'em what you think, Alex."
Hmmm…
Reading helps you write better, but only if you read well-written books.
Writing helps you read better, but only if your writing is somewhat decent.
Reading helps you write better because it can stretch your expectations about what writing really is.
Writing helps you read better because the struggle to put thoughts and feelings into words increases your appreciation that what you're reading had to be carefully constructed by the author.
Reading helps you write better because writing helps you read better.
Writing helps you read better because reading helps you write better.
Those last two sentences may seem rather nonsensical or you might think they have some mystical meaning hidden in them.
I hope you read them both a couple more times–do it out loud, too–and let me know what happened in your mind as the words swirled around………
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Tagged: reading, reading and writing, reading appreciation, Reading Helps Writing, writing, writing and reading, writing appreciation, Writing Helps Reading
April 26, 2011
Book Bloggers ~ Just for The Love of It :-)
Book Bloggers do it all for love.
Building an Author Platform? Check out our last post (just scroll down a bit) but also check out the people called Book Bloggers.
Alan Rinzler of The Book Deal had this to say about Book Bloggers:
"Book bloggers love to read books and to recommend them to their own followers. There are scores of avid bloggers in every genre, out there reviewing thousands of books and interviewing hundreds of authors every year. They do this for pleasure, and are a very diverse crowd: some are book people in their day jobs, some are stay-at-home moms and dads, some are students."
In fact, BookExpo America, in May, will be followed by the Book Blogger Convention.
There's also a custom Google search tool to help you find Book Bloggers.
As Rinzler summed up in his post:
"Marketing yourself to book bloggers is not for everyone. It takes time and energy you might prefer to spend writing, or cultivating other gardens. But it's definitely one of the most powerful new ways to get your work in the hands of readers available today."
In my run-up to publication in May, I've contacted about 60 of these wonderful folks. I'll more than likely be contacting a lot more of them :-)
Have you talked to a friendly Book Blogger lately?
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Tagged: Alan Rinzler, author platform, Blogger, book blog, book blogger, Book Blogger Convention, book promotion, BookExpo America
The Author's Platform ~ Community of Interest
Every day, over 2,000 books are published.
There's no way around it. Authors need a platform–a place to stand above the crowd and get peoples' attention.
If you self-publish and don't already have a congregation of admirers, there is no other way to sell books than to build a platform.
Well, I suppose, if you had the money and the time, you could have a boat-load of books printed, pack 'em in a van, and drive all over the place meeting people and convincing them they need to buy your book. Technically, that's still building a platform, even if it means erecting it in one place, preaching to the masses, packing it up, and moving it to another place :-)
Even respected agents like Rachelle Gardner can make a case for traditionally published authors needing to build their own platform. Here's a quote from her post, The Dreaded Author Platform :
"…I almost wanted to announce that I'd no longer accept queries from anyone who doesn't already have a good solid head start on a platform. (I won't draw such a clear line in the sand, but consider yourself informed.)"
The consensus opinion about when to start building a platform is well before the book is written.
Obviously, if you don't have books already published, all you've got for building materials is yourself.
So, assume for a moment you have a great idea for a book, you think you can write it, and you want to build a platform.
The most rational opinion I've found for how to do it is to start a blog. Write about yourself. Write your opinions about writing, itself. Offer to interview published authors on the blog. Offer to interview authors who have yet to be published. You may want to guest post on others' blogs and have them guest post on yours.
Study how to increase traffic to a blog.
After that, you may want to (many people say you must) begin linking to your blog on Facebook and Twitter. Many folks point out that being genuinely social and helpful in these social media spaces is critical–you can't just go running around and constantly shouting about how great your book is. I agree, but it takes time to find the people who really matter to you.
Facebook and Twitter are, to me, two varieties of wild parties. You arrive and start talking to people. Most of them want to promote their own project. Sometimes you find people you can establish a mutually beneficial relationship with. Still, there a a ton of people and, again, it takes time to find the right ones.
There are other ways to build an author platform. Personally, I have no time for anything but what I've just indicated as a well-respected way to build a platform.
Well, no time except for my giving away as many copies of the manuscript of my book as I can. If this sounds completely ridiculous, check out the link to Cory Doctorow's ideas in my last post…
If you're a budding author and decide to blog a platform for yourself, I can't recommend a better site for learning how to shape a blog for maximum effect than Copyblogger!
Show what's with that phrase in the title of this post: Community of Interest?
Well, one of the principles I try to follow in my life is: to achieve anything of lasting value, a person needs to work with a community of like-minded people. Whether they're called friends, followers, fans, or associates, they are the key to establishing a project on solid ground.
To me, building an author platform and building a community of interest are the same thing.
Earlier, I said I have no time for anything but blogging and giving away copies of my manuscript. Actually, I was ignoring the time I use from the "extra" hours I have each day, those hours called free-time, when I venture into the virtual world, Second, Life, and participate in my community of interest on Book Island…
I would love to hear your opinions/experiences/questions on this topic in our comments section :-)
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Tagged: author platform, book promotion, Cory Doctorow, Facebook, publishing, Rachelle Gardner, self-publishing, Twitter 
April 25, 2011
Writer, Agent, Publisher ~ Changing Hats…
If you've been following this blog, you know I'm soon going to be self-publishing a book (get a free copy with that link in the side-panel:-)
I'm using FastPencil, who in a way are the "publishers" but only to the extent that they format/print and distribute the book. I'll have print and e-book editions for sale on the FastPencil site as well as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and the iPad. Plus, the book will be listed with Ingram which means libraries and bookstores can order it. All that for $200…
I'm still the Publisher, though, because I retain all rights, I promote and market the book, and I supplied the editor.
I was my own agent. I got the idea for the book, wrote it, and convinced myself, after shopping around the publishing/facilitation companies, to sign a contract with FastPencil.
There are advantages to my wearing all these hats. There are also a few "disadvantages". See the post, "Traditional VS Self Publishing ~ Some Thoughts…", for my views on the pros and cons.
Even though the book will be for sale starting May 16th, I'll still be offering manuscripts for free. If that sounds insane, check out this article from Forbes by Cory Doctorow. Here's a snippet:
"When my first novel, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, was published by Tor Books in January 2003, I also put the entire electronic text of the novel on the Internet under a Creative Commons License that encouraged my readers to copy it far and wide. Within a day, there were 30,000 downloads from my site (and those downloaders were in turn free to make more copies). Three years and six printings later, more than 700,000 copies of the book have been downloaded from my site. The book's been translated into more languages than I can keep track of, key concepts from it have been adopted for software projects and there are two competing fan audio adaptations online."
Wild, eh?
The one thing that keeps me sane in changing hats so often and staying on top of a to-do list that grows longer faster than I can shorten it is the book itself.
It's alive. It talks to me–has been since well before I sat down to write it. I feel about as close to a mother as any man can get. This is my Baby. I'll do whatever it takes to make sure she's born safely and raised to hold her head high in the chaotic world of books………
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Tagged: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Cory Doctorow, E-book, FastPencil, Ingram, iPad, self-publish
April 22, 2011
Global Issues ~ Notes from an Alien
I spend a significant amount of time in a virtual world, Second Life. I'm the Events Manager for a place called Book Island and I've been having live readings every Thursday of chapters from my soon-to-be-published book, Notes from An Alien (get a free copy with the link over there in the side-panel).
Well, I finished reading the chapters and will be changing the format of my weekly event next Thursday, the 28th of April.
We'll be having consultations about the various issues the book raises.
On a recent read-through of the manuscript, to assure myself that I actually had a final manuscript, I made a listing of the major issues.
If this is your first exposure to what my book is about, here's my elevator-pitch:
Notes from An Alien is a Documentary Novel about an alien civilization's rise from
greed, corruption, and war to enduring peace.
If you're not the kind of person who can appreciate having a discussion in a virtual world, I also have a forum where the issues raised in the book can be discussed.
Here's a listing (by no means complete) of various issues the novel raises, along with the chapters having significant action related to the issue:
Corporate Greed – 1, 2
Corporate Control of Populace – 1, 2, 4
Religious Wars – 1, 2, 3
Prophetic Predictions – 1, 3, 5
War-Just/Unjust – 1, 10
Constant Expansion As A Solution – 1, 2, 11
Non-Religious Religions – 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 13
Military Control of Populations – 2
Rational Religion – 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 11
Corporate Ecological Damage – 2, 4, 5
Material Realm/Spiritual Realm – 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 12, 13, 19
Science and Faith – 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 15
Spiritual Practice – 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11
Costs of War – 3, 4, 5, 10, 11
Governance – 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14
Oneness of All People – 6, 7, 8, 14, 16, 19
Economic Issues – 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13
Altruism and Sacrifice – 7, 9, 11, 17
True Peace – 11, 12, 17, 18, 19
I'm sure I'll learn one heck of a lot about how to facilitate discussions and keep them from turning into arguments :-)
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Tagged: alien, crisis, global issues, humanity, Notes from An Alien, religion, science, war
