Zachary Rawlins's Blog, page 2

You Make Me Love Charity

I guess I should have stayed a bit more abreast of changes in Amazon Kindle store policy, 'cause while I was busy writing a free short story for fans of The Central Series, they changed their policies to disallow free books. Lame!

I was pretty much finished with the story, and quite liked it, too. Double lame!

This leaves me with three options:

-Charge 99 cents for what was supposed to be a free promo/reward for fans...

-Incorporate what I have already written into an introduction for The Far Shores, and move directly on to the third book...

-Increase the length to novella, and make it an awkward sort of Central Series book 2.5.

I should mention that I am aware of Smashwords and such, but at the moment, I simply don't have time to try and set up on yet another platform, just so I can give away a free story. Too much logistics, too much time away from actually writing.

I am not a huge fan of any of these options, as I just wanted to do a free short story e book via Kindle. At this point, my editor feels like the whole idea is shot, and I should just take what I have written and reshape it into an intro for the third book, which is coming along nicely, and go for a release in early 2013 for The Far Shores, and I am somewhat inclined to agree, as I am a bit frustrated with the current situation.

However, I know that some folks were really looking forward to it, and would resent the delay, even if the third book was book longer and arrived sooner, and would prefer that I release it separately. As my readers are all totally awesome, I would like to make everyone happy. But that, obviously, will not happen.

So if you have a vote, go ahead and let me know (here, on the Facebook page for 'The Central Series', or at spook_nine@yahoo.com). Who knows, you might help me make up my mind.

Grumble...

The More You Know

I get a fairly large number of complaints that I am 'like a ghost' on the Internets. They have a point.

Part of that might have something to do with preferring to be anonymous, or it could have something to do with the fact that I spent the last several years as a founding member of a rather prominent West Coast UE crew, and that isn't the kind of hobby you want your name associated with, unless you like talking to cops.

But I digress.

If you would like to know a little bit more about me, how I write, and my feelings on a certain totally vile vegetable, then you can check it here:

http://schooloftheages.webs.com/apps/...

Back to work. New stuff soon!

Inertia Creeping

I've seen some of the final illustrations and the new cover for the forthcoming super-deluxe-bonus version of Paranoid Magical Thinking, and they are awesome.

The Night Market is off for proofing and cover design right now.

And for the first time in quite a while, I'm working in the world of The Central Series again, and rather enjoying it. At this point, those kids are like old friends of mine. As of this morning, the short story, Nothing Special Happened Today, is one-third complete, and racing right along. I know it isn't a new Central Series novel (that's still a ways off, sorry...), but it will be quite a bit longer than your average short story (the max is usually set at 7,500 words - where as what I am releasing will be north of 20,000), and free, so there is that.

Nice to have things moving again.

Appy-polly-loggies

Sorry for my long absence. I have a bunch of things to tell you about, and a bunch of books to review, but I will have to leave both of those things for another day.

You see, I've been writing. Rather productively, actually. I will have a number of new things for all of you before October, including a Central Series short story (free), a new and super-enhanced version of Paranoid Magical Thinking (free to those who already own it), better edits of The Academy and The Anathema, a brand new short story series, and finally, my latest 'Cthulhu Noir' light novel - The Night Market.

So, hopefully, you will forgive my long absence and relative silence, in return for lots of new stuff. That's a good deal, right?

More news to come shortly!

Despite my best efforts, I still don't have an orbital mind control laser...

Progress on a number of fronts here, which is why I have been a little quiet.

Edits on The Academy went live, and the text is improved. Any further typos or errors, let me know, and I will continue to update.

Just uploaded the new text for The Anathema, so a couple hundreds typos and glitches should be corrected by midweek, whenever it goes live.

Finished a revised and extended version of my own personal favorite book o' mine, Paranoid Magical Thinking. I'm waiting on new cover art from Poppy & Dahlia Design, and a few other little things, and then that will be live too. If you already bought it, you will get the new edition for free.

The new book is almost finished, has a title, and is about to move on to my editors. Depending on how long it takes to get that edited, and to acquire a cover, it should probably go out in June. I will announce the title, and publish an excerpt, here, in the next week or so.

The Central Series short stories are coming along nicely, and that will come out later this summer. Should be fun, because I will get to spend some time with a few characters who normal play peripheral roles.

Finally, The Far Shores, the next Central Series novel, is about halfway done. I will turn my attention to it fully at the end of the summer - but editing a 150,000 word document takes time, so that one is still a ways off.

So, yeah, things are busy - busy and good. Cheers!

Slight Delay & Unforseen Changes

I've finished the edits on the two Central Series novels, but a rather capable editor offered to give the new versions a quick pass through before publication, so they will go up this weekend, as opposed to last.

Thanks for your patience - hopefully, the new versions will help alleviate some of the editing issues that have bothered some folks.

In other news, my attempt to write a young adult novel failed in spectacular fashion. Now, I don't mean the book failed - I actually think it is really good, and about 60% completed. It's just not going to be appropriate for an audience whose parents still double-check what they are reading. I tried, but it just feels so unnatural.

Don't get me wrong, I have truly loved some YA fiction. It is the constraints that the writer has to operate under - basically, pretending people don't have sex or swear - seem so unnatural to me. I liked The Hunger Games, but the entire time I was reading it, I couldn't help but think how much better it could have been if it wasn't a YA book. Obviously, that's just my opinion, and not a widely held one. The only conclusion I can draw is that I am simply not cut out for it as a writer.

Anyway, back to work. I will have something new for you guys this spring, and then The Central Series short stories (for which I still need a title) this summer. Take care!

Updated Versions of The Central Series Books

Slowed only slightly by my useless right shoulder, new versions of both The Academy and The Anathema will be uploaded over the weekend, and should be live on Amazon by early Monday. While there will be no story changes - you don't have to reread anything - there are literally hundreds of grammatical and typo corrections. I will also be creating epub versions to sell for the Nook - so if you have been waiting for that release, thank you for your patience. You should be in business next week.

I wanted to thank all the people who have emailed me corrections - I appreciate it very much, it is a huge help. Editing my books has become more of an ongoing process than I had hoped, but I think these new versions (fourth and third, respectively) will eliminate most of the worst mistakes.

If there was a mistake or a typo in any of my books - Central Series or otherwise - it's not too late to get it corrected! Just send me enough of the surrounding text so that I can find the error, and I will take care of it. Please try and contact me before Friday so it can be included in this update - my email is spook_nine@yahoo.com.

After this is done, I'm back to writing. The Central Series short story collection is coming together nicely, and should be ready for release this summer. Also, I have a new, totally secret, theoretically appropriate for young adults project in the works that should be out before the end of the year, if all goes well.

How I Write Novels, Part Two

This time, I would like to focus on some of the tricks I use to complete novels. Last time, I discussed general methods that I use to write, whereas this time I would like to share some of the more quirky methods that I use to get through difficult points in the writing process.

Soundtracks

The credit for this idea belongs to a mangaka (manga creator) that I took some online drawing lessons from a few years ago. One of the more interesting things that he talked about had nothing to do with drawing - it was technique he used to inspire himself when he felt short on good ideas, or lacked the desire to write. In order to have a ready-made source inspiration, he created soundtracks for his book, so if he got stuck, he could play the music that he associated with the work.

I liked this idea a great deal - partly because I always work with music on. But, for me, I needed something a bit more specific - something like theme songs for every character in The Central Series, for example. That way, when I was working on a scene featuring Eerie, or Alice Gallow, or whomever, and I got stuck, I could simply play the song I had associated with the character.

Just for fun, here is my playlist for The Academy:

Overall Novel - Fever Ray, Fever Ray

Alex Warner - Arcade Fire, The Suburbs

Eerie - Electrocute, On The Beat

Alice Gallow - Darkthrone, Too Old, Too Cold

Anastasia Martynova - Jucifer, Queen B

Mitsuru Aoki - Queen Adreena, Kitty Collar Tight

Margot Feld - Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Warrior

Rebecca Levy - Stiff Little Fingers, 78 rpm

Emily Muir - Cat Power, Maybe Not

Not that the song lyrics necessarily have a specific relationship with the character, but something about the overall feel and tone of the music inspires thoughts of the character for me. This is one of my favorite ways to move beyond a point in the novel were I am struggling.

As an interesting (to me, anyway) side note, most of those songs changed completely for The Anathema.

Endless Interrogations of Friends and Loved Ones

Virtually every conversation in The Central Series is based on something that happened to me, something that I overheard, or something that happened to one of my friends or my wife. In cases were there was no solid basis from my personal experience to base an interaction on, I would attempt to find someone I knew who had traits in common with the character involved, and ask their opinion.

My wife really should get partial credit for The Central Series, because she answered a thousands questions about her own experiences as a teenage girl, romance, gossip, and all that chick stuff. She went over every female character, the statements they made, and the actions they took, in order to make sure they were consistent with reality and a female point of view.

Most of my friends and associates suffered similarly, though to less of an extreme. The people I know are a resource, and I shamelessly mine them for useful material, opinions and thoughts to help with the writing process, and to make sure viewpoints that I am not personal familiar with are authentically depicted.

Voices

My wife suspects that some of the outrage over my grammar comes from Alex and Rebecca's habitual mutilation of the English language. I tend to agree with her, at least in part.

When I realized that I was going to be using one main character as a general focal point for a series of books hundreds of thousands of words in length, I knew I would need to feel confident and natural using his voice. Being that I was still fairly new at this, I took a convenient and effective shortcut: I made the characters voice similar to my own.

Not that I am a sullen, self-absorbed teenager - not any more - but rather that Alex and I both come from a similar part of southern California, and we talk like it. Even in foreign countries, it generally only takes a few minutes for people to identify my point of origin, because of the distinctive slang and accent that goes with it. Both Rebecca and Alex have this same origin, meaning I could use either of their voices with total confidence in their authenticity.

I don't think this I am cheating by doing this, any more than Ian Rankin is for setting his stories in Scotland. It did, however, make the book easier to write, since I can hear Alex's voice in my head very naturally.

That's it for this time. Next, I will discuss the particulars of my experience with self-publishing. Cheers!

The Noctural Library

I had the opportunity to write a guest post for the Urban Fantasy/YA oriented literature blog, The Nocturnal Library. I choose to share the story of how and why I became a self-published author. You can check it out here:

http://thenocturnallibrary.blogspot.c...

I'm a regular reader of the site myself, and have discovered (and been forewarned to avoid) several interesting books there, and both the people who run the blog and the readers are both nice and passionate bibliophiles of the best kind. I recommend paying The Nocturnal Library a visit. Cheers!

How I Write Novels, Part One

Outside of story related inquiries, the most frequent request I receive is for advice on how to write a novel. Honestly, I have no idea how most people go about the process, and what works seems to be different for everyone, but I am happy to share my methods.

Outline!

The Academy was the first novel I published, not the first one I wrote. I actually made two failed attempts before that, and both helped me learn a great deal about how to write something as long and involved as a novel.

On my first attempt, I literally just sat down and started writing, based on whatever I wanted to write about, not worrying about scripting, writing in order, or anything like that. I wrote almost two hundred pages before I realized that all I had done was two hundred pages worth of setting. That was not a happy moment.

My second attempt failed due to a number of bizarre artistic decisions I made before I started, but that's another story.

The main difference with The Academy that allowed me to finish it successfully? Something I learned in junior high. An outline.

I use super detailed outlines - I start with a paragraph or two synopsis of the overall plot arc for the book, and then do a chapter by chapter break down, listing all of the events, characters, scenes, concepts, and plot movement that must take place within the chapter. I will also use a few words to 'tag' the chapter, so I can keep track of the overall flow for the reader, making sure that appropriate amounts of romance, humor and action are present, carefully arranged through out the text.

I know most writers don't bother with anything this complicated, but for me, it's the only way to keep track of the many factors that go into a successful novel.

The Beginning Actually is a Pretty Good Place to Start

Some of the writers that I know personally like to write their books in no particular order, writing whatever scene is the most interesting to them at the moment, and then arranging and filling in the blanks later. I simply cannot work this way. I will write all the fun stuff, then never fill in the gaps with the grunt work - setting, lengthy descriptions, etc.

I start from the start. The first word I write is the first word in my book, and I finish with the last. While I will make major changes in the editing process, sometimes cutting or adding whole sections in revision, initially I just plug on through. I don't let myself skip a section because it is difficult, or because I don't feel like writing it that day.

When I write something I don't like that much, I often highlight it and then leave it in place, to be fixed in the editing phase, once the novel is completed. My philosophy is that even a bad chapter is a completed chapter, and every completed chapter is one step closer to a finished novel. Who cares if the dialog in one chapter is awful, or the lighting or the weather is inconsistent? That can all be fixed later, and it is much easier for me to work with bad text than no text at all.

One Idea is Not Enough

Not for me, anyway. When I get stuck on a difficult place in a novel, one of the best things I can do is briefly switch to writing something else, until I get a good flow going, then return to the original text refreshed. I always have more than one project in production, and often as many as four or five.

Why? Any number of reasons. Some of them might fail - I have written twice as many novels as I actually published. Some of them might not attract a good public response. You never know what will please readers, so I find it best to work with as many ideas, in as many different genres and formats as you can.

If you are always working on 'your novel', the project often becomes monumental and difficult to finish. It puts too much pressure on the idea, the book, and the writer, in my opinion. It is better, for me at least, to have a constantly expanding repertoire and toolbox. It isn't as if painters only work with one color, or in one style, for their entire careers.

Plus, you might be a truly great romance author and never know it, if you never write anything other than detective fiction. If you have the inclination, why not indulge yourself?

Write What You Read

Simple, right? This one eluded me for years, and almost ruined my writing career.

I spent more than a decade writing highly technical, extremely experimental poetry - I even got a degree in it. Some of it got published, and some people liked it quite a bit.

But not me. Because I don't really read that kind of stuff.

When I'm reading for fun, I read comic books, science fiction, nonfiction, manga, fantasy - not exactly high literature. But when I put pen to paper, I tried to create art, instead of something I would enjoy. The two aren't mutually exclusive, of course, but if you don't enjoy the art you are making, then what is the point? And if you enjoy what you are doing, why worry about the artistic validity?

If you aren't happy writing - if you wouldn't rather sit down and write for hours, rather than watch TV, read, or play video games - then it will be very difficult to complete a novel. I certainly couldn't do it if I didn't love the process. But I could only get to a place where I actually wanted to write as a recreational activity when my subject matter was entertaining to me.

None of this, of course, is meant to be definitive. There are probably as many different ways to write as their are writers, and any method that gets results is valid. But I would urge any of you thinking about writing a novel of your own to start the process by trying to entertain yourself. Cheers!