David R. Michael's Blog, page 45
November 2, 2010
Nano Day 2
Today's Words: 2017
Month to Date: 4032
Another solid day's work. I'm happy. I feel like I'm stretching myself some with this story, and that's good.
I'm still exploring the main character and coming up with secondary characters. Also exploring the setting a bit, trying to get a feel for how to describe everything. In short, I'm still finding my voice for this novel. Which isn't surprising. I only had the original idea last week.
I'm thinking for future novels I'm going to do more "exploratory writing" before tackling the novel itself. That is, writing short stories or vignettes to experiment with the character, setting or "gimmick" at the heart of the book. I did this for The Summoning Fire, though not on purpose, and for Horse Girl and even the novella I still need to edit. In all of those cases, it helped a lot.
For this novel, the exploratory writing is happening "on the job".
Go Nano!
-David
November 1, 2010
The Summoning Fire Giveaway!
FREE Trade Paperback of The Summoning Fire Giveaway (on GoodReads) ends in 3 days! (midnight on 5 November)
Click Here to Enter to a Recive a FREE Trade Paperback Copy of THE SUMMONING FIRE!
All Reese Howard has left is pain–and a pump-action shotgun. Sam is dead. The Old Man killed her right in front of Reese, a blood sacrifice to fuel his latest powerplay in Hell on Earth. Reese hopes the Old Man made a mistake, leaving her alive and armed. But she doubts it. He knows she's coming. The bastard has to know. Whatever. Reese plans to make him pay. And she plans to die trying.
Click Here to Enter to a Recive a FREE Trade Paperback Copy of THE SUMMONING FIRE!
-David
Nano Day 1
Today's Words: 2015
Month to Date: 2015
A good, quick start.
I make no warranty as to the fitness or applicability of the words written, but they are words written.
Unlike previous years, I'm going to make an effort to write *every* day this month. And I'm going to target 2000 words each day. It'd be quite cool to hit 60K words for the month *and* finish the novel (which I'm planning to be about 60K words).
The Nano Web page is being very slow today (predictably). I'll post my count there as soon as I can.
-David
Writing Progress Report
Writing progress report for the week starting Monday, October 25, 2010.
Writing Project
Words
Monday
"Selene" brainstorming.
Tuesday
Nanowrimo brainstorming.
Wednesday
Nanowrimo brainstorming.
Thursday
Nanowrimo brainstorming.
Edited "Baptism" one last time.
Friday
Nanowrimo brainstorming.
Saturday
Nanowrimo brainstorming.
Sunday
Nanowrimo brainstorming.
Total
Marketing/Submission
Monday
Announced the release of Serene Morning & Other Tales to Guns & Magic, Facebook, KindleBoards & MobileReads.
The Summoning Fire listed on Spalding's Racket.
Tuesday
Wednesday
Sent "Afterimage" to first readers.
Thursday
Uploaded "Baptism" to AmazonDTP.
Uploaded "Baptism" to Smashwords.
Friday
Submitted a giveaway of TSF on GoodReads for next week.
Saturday
Sunday
Reading List
Draculas by J.A. Konrath, Blake Crouch, Jack Kilborn, and F. Paul Wilson.
October 29, 2010
NaNoWriMo 2010
I've spent most of this week brainstorming the novel I'm going to write for Nanowrimo 2010.
I hadn't planned on participating in Nano this year. I mean, I already signed up, as I always do, but I wasn't going to write anything for Nano. I was going to keep writing stories like I have been and posting my word count accumulated throughout the month, but that was it.
Then, this past Monday, while trying to brainstorm another short story, I decided I didn't want to write another short story. Not for a few weeks anyway. Maybe a month. Maybe two months. I wanted to write something longer. I didn't know what that would be, but I wanted to give it a shot.
And, hey, look, Nanowrimo starts next Monday.
So I've spent Tuesday through today brainstorming a Nano novel. Just now I think I got a good handle on what I'm going to do. There's still some prep work I need to do (like, you know, naming characters), but I can see, in my head, where I want to go now.
I'll have more to say about the novel after I've hammered out a few more details. All I'm willing to say now is that I'm trying something kinda new: horror-humor. Or humorous horror. Or Lovecraft Lite. Right now, the ideas I have seem like a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to spending time with them.
I'm hoping to finish the novel's first draft in November, but even if I don't, I plan to finish the novel. Unlike, say, my Nano 2007 effort (may it rest in peaceful pieces).
Also unlike past years, I won't be posting my Nano novel to the blog as I write it. Or, at least, I'm not planning to right now. I could change my mind come next week. I might post some excerpts and passages that I find amusing.
-David
October 28, 2010
"Indie" is not a Genre
Sure, Hollywood marketing and PR would like you to think "indie film" is a specific genre, but it's just not true. Most often, the only common factor between two indie films is the size of the budget (or the lack of one).
I love indie film. Even the really ridiculous indie efforts, like "Jesus Christ, Vampire Hunter" (available on Netflix; if you like bad movies, you'll love this one).
A lot of indie film is horror of some sort, because it used to be a great way to get a film noticed and launch a career (or two). Ask Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell (I love the "Evil Dead" movies too).
Kevin Smith's indie effort, "Clerks", was a subversive masterpiece that managed to be modern, edgy and not horror.
There is nothing in common between "Evil Dead" and "Clerks".
In the realm of books, "indie" is even more meaningless–though there do seem to be a lot of fantasy and vampire books released by indies. Browse the authors at a place like KindleBoards and you see: science fiction, romance, paranormal romance, horror, vampires (of course), and fantasy (duh), just to name a few.
"Indie" is a distribution method. Not a sub-category of fiction (or anything else).
-David
October 26, 2010
"Indie" is not a Brand
Just wanted to say that.
Sometimes people latch onto "indie" and think that it represents something beyond an adjective describing a lack of connection to the mainstream distribution channels.
It doesn't.
Anyone can call themselves an "indie" of any sort they choose: author, filmmaker, musician, etc. There's no rules. No guild. No association. No dues to pay. And only the very loosest of communities.
"Indie" just means you're doing it (whatever "it" is) on your own. Which is gutsy and laudable. But it's not a brand.
-David
October 25, 2010
Serene Morning & Other Tales of a Little Girl – Now Available
A small collection of flash fiction and short short stories inspired by a little girl.
The Puppets Take a Bath – Three year old Serene put down her spoon and her right hand became a puppet. With her fingers together and her thumb working as the lower jaw and tongue, the puppet could talk…
Trikes and Aliens – The little girl walked up to Rala and stood there, watching him as he repaired his zip-about…
Plus 4 more!
Serene Morning & Other Tales of a Little Girl
Now available in trade paperback and ebook!
Serene Morning & Other Tales Edition
Price
Trade paperback (Amazon)
$6.99
Kindle edition (Amazon)
$0.99
Ebook (Smashwords)
$0.99
Writing Progress Report
Writing progress report for the week starting Monday, October 18, 2010.
Writing Project
Words
Monday
"Evanescent"
1510
Tuesday
"Evanescent"
874
Wednesday
Thursday
"Evanescent"
1502
Friday
"Evanescent" (first draft complete)
Edited "Baptism", tested Serenity Software's "Editor" for proofreading and copyediting.
1449
Saturday
Formatted Horse Girl for POD.
Sunday
Finished formatting Horse Girl for POD (pending cover art).
Total
5336
Marketing/Submission
Monday
Posted "The Dragon Hunts" to the blog.
Leslie Wright at Blogcritics gives The Summoning Fire 4 stars.
Sent review requests to thenewpodlerreviews, rambles, novelcritic.
Tuesday
Wednesday
Posted "Trikes and Aliens" to the blog.
Uploaded Serene Morning to Smashwords.
Uploaded Serene Morning to AmazonDTP.
Sent review requests to bookseriesreviews.
Thursday
Sent review requests to caramellunacy, alexiasbooksandsuch, bittenbybooks.
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
"Until Death Do Us Part" appeared on Zombiepalooza.
Reading List
