Justin Bell's Blog, page 10

Jessica Jones – Literary Magic, but is it right for TV?

So as an avid Marvel Comics (and thus Marvel Studios) fan, I excitedly jumped into Jessica Jones the day it was released through Netflix on November 20th. Somehow, even with real life and two kids, I managed to plow through all 13 episodes over the weekend, and came away satisfied.

Well, relatively satisfied.

I’m a writer, so even when it comes to television I try to look at things from a writer’s perspective, and if Jessica Jones were a novel, I think it would have been truly fantastic. It has the ebbs and flows of a novel, very strong characters, a solid (if somewhat predictable) plot, and several twists and turns.

But does that make it a great TV show?

I found myself wondering this as I was plodding through episodes 5 – 8, which were good, but not great, an unfortunate blip on the radar of what was a really captivating series up until that point. In those particular episodes it seemed as if the writers were trying to establish a new status quo, while in nearly every episode changing the status quo. It was really bizarre, and part of it made me wonder if the series was a bit too “chopped up” into 60 minute bite sized chunks.

Even on Netflix where you can plow through a 13 episode season over a weekend they still make television decisions where certain elements need to be wrapped up by the end of that mythical 60 minute endpoint. It felt like, as a result of that, some of the dynamic between Killgrave and Jessica Jones was spotty at best in the middle part of the series. I’m trying not to get into spoiler territory, but it’s obvious that the writers were trying to give a sense of forced co-existence with the two characters, yet it felt like they couldn’t quite figure out how they should co-exist. And the result is a series that bogged down somewhat in the middle, and clearly showed that the main heroine ultimately made a number of wrong choices that cost people their lives.

I think in the context of a novel, where these things can be told in a much more fluid state this could have been immensely successful and powerful. However, as the TV show went on, those 60 minute breaks felt a bit too jarring, especially as the writers tried to move on to the next stage of the story.

That’s not to say the series wasn’t good. It was really great, actually. Looking at the full 13 episode run as a whole, it’s an incredibly satisfying film noir look at an underrated corner of the Marvel Universe, and I found myself extremely attached to the characters and their stories. the Killgrave/Jessica Jones dynamic wasn’t perfect and left me a bit cold in some places, but ultimately it was a great series. Not perfect, but great.

But, hey, they can’t all be Daredevil, right?

Check out Jessica Jones on Netflix and decide for yourself!

It’s the writing, stupid

Over the past several weeks I’ve been fighting this intense internal battle. Throughout my life, I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to achieve certain amounts of success in life. I have a great wife, fantastic kids, a nice house, and make a decent living at my day job. No, my day job isn’t my dream job, and isn’t something I want to do for the rest of my life, but it pays the bills and gives me and the family some opportunities we might not otherwise have.

Back in 2013 I embarked on this new journey…this journey as a writer. The first novel came fast and furious, and about a year later I had an assembled, edited, and prepared manuscript. Something I was exceptionally proud of and something I wanted everyone to share in.

So began the agent query process. As I said, I feel very fortunate for the opportunities I’ve had, and all told, I have a good life. No complaints. But this was a new goal. Something new I desperately wanted to achieve.

And the rejections started coming in. In fact, those rejections haven’t stopped yet. Along with my novel, I’ve submitted several short stories to anthologies, all in the hopes of clinging to that mythical ledge of “published author”.

In August of this year, I gave up the agent queries (for the most part) and plunged head first into self publishing, creating my own publishing company and taking that manuscript I was so proud of to the world! And the world returned in kind.

My fortunate life extends to a very generous and gregarious circle of friends who I am exceptionally thankful for. To date, I’ve sold several copies of my novel, and I feel fairly certain 90% of them went to good friends who are supporting me through this, and I’m so thankful for that. But the widespread interest simply isn’t there. At this point I have four Kindle Worlds G.I. Joe themed novels (which interestingly are doing pretty darn well, sales wise) and my own novel, The Fog of Dreams, which is, well…kinda just dragging along there.

So the doubt begins to take hold, and the frustration rises. I am so certain that if folks would give my novel a chance they would enjoy it. I’m an avid reader as well as writer, of course, and no bullshit, I strongly believe my novel is good. Really good. The trick is, convincing others of that.

But I realized something. I realized that I didn’t pick up my virtual pen and start writing because I want to make money at it (though that would be nice, of course). I started writing because I had stories to tell, and I wanted to tell them. That has not changed. In fact, I wager that feeling is stronger than ever now, and I think part of my frustration lies in the fact that I’m trying to tell these stories and more people aren’t listening.

But the joy is in the telling. After taking a few weeks off, last night I dipped back into Book Two of Operation: Harvest, and rekindled some love. The first draft is done and I’m mostly in the second revision polish stages now before getting it off to the editor. And for those two hours last night while I was digging through my manuscript, I forgot all about the sales numbers of The Fog of Dreams, and the relative silence beyond my circle of incredible friends. I forgot it all and put the keys to the keyboard because I still have stories to tell, and even if nobody is hanging around to listen to them, I’m still going to tell them.

I am a writer, after all.

J.K. Rowling’s 10 Rules of Success

Okay this proved to be more powerful than I thought it might be when I first clicked on it.  Obviously geared towards writing, but could be directed towards nearly every endeavor.  Great stuff.

The beauty of NanoWriMo

I’ve been doing a lot of my writing this month (and indeed, this whole year) in Google Docs on my Chromebook, which has been working relatively well for me.  Because of that, I haven’t closely tracked my word count (Google Docs requires you to go to Tools > Word Count to check instead of the constant reminder).

I swore I wouldn’t specifically check until I hit a milestone in my third novel, and I did late last week.  So in the interest of NanoWriMo, I checked the word count…  67,900!  That was a nice surprise.

Typically I don’t get real hung up on word count (unless there’s a specific requirement for my submission) I just fly by the seat of my pants.  The Fog of Dreams ended up around 104,000, and Loose Strands (book 2) has a first draft count of around 110,000.  Not because I was trying to achieve some particular standard, that’s just kind of how it worked out.

In fact the entire first draft of the Fog of Dreams was written during NaNoWriMo 2013.

If you’re a writer, I encourage you to write all year round.  But there’s nothing wrong with using a month as a specific goal to propel yourself forward.  The fact that I’ve written almost 70,000 words in a 15 day period tells me that it works for me!

The Fog of Dreams – Rocketing up the Charts!

Wow!  To say I had a nice morning surprise when I woke up today would be an understatement.  A flurry of activity on The Fog of Dreams during the Kindle Countdown event has surged the novel up to the TOP FIFTEEN sales in the Werewolves category on Amazon!

I can’t thank everyone enough for their support, but I’d love to see this thing climb even higher.  The book is on Kindle Countdown for .99 only for EIGHT MORE HOURS.  Grab it before the price jumps back up, this is your best shot!

Thank you all and let’s keep this hype train moving.

The Fog of Dreams – Kindle Countdown Deal is on

Halloween is coming, it’s time for trick or treat! Hopefully a price drop on The Fog of Dreams is considered a treat.

We’ve kicked off a Kindle Countdown deal this week leading up to Halloween where we’ve dropped prices on the Kindle format of Fog of Dreams down to .99 for a limited period of time!

For those of you unfamiliar with the Kindle Countdown, the .99 price WILL NOT LAST LONG. If you’ve been even remotely tempted to kick the tires on my first original novel, now is your chance.

Click the banner below to grab your copy before the price goes up again!

Interview about The Fog of Dreams on The Full Force podcast

Good friends of mine from the UK did me the kindness of having me on their Full Force podcast to talk about my new novel, The Fog of Dreams.  It was a great conversation about the writing and character building process that I hope folks will check out…

…and then buy the actual book.  

Check out the Full Force podcast for the interview, either at Podbean, or via the embedded player below.

If the book sounds like your cup of tea, you can buy it on Amazon.com.

Blindspot on NBC a pleasant surprise for this writer

Television has evolved greatly in the past several years, much of it for the better.  The dawn of the Netflix generation and the powerhouse cable TV hour long dramas has enhanced was television has been able to provide a hundred times or more, but unfortunately that upward trend has (to some) left typical network TV in the dust.

From my perspective, it’s been difficult, if not impossible, to find decent network TV to compliment the powerhouse cable and Netflix dramas.  Person of Interest is something that should…well… interest me.  But I tried six episodes and never went back.  It certainly was an entertaining hour of television, but compared to the hard hitting gut-punches of Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, and many others, it just felt a little too…well, ‘safe’.  I look at nearly all network TV that way.  If it doesn’t have a link to comics (like Agents of SHIELD, Arrow, The Flash, or the upcoming Supergirl…I like to pretend Gotham doesn’t exist) I have a hard time staying interested.

So, needless to say, Blindspot, while intriguing, didn’t have me very hopeful.  An amnesic super soldier, a conspiracy riddled mystery that’s so mysterious that it’s written in permanent tattoo ink all over the main character’s body.

That being said, it features Jaimie Alexander and Sullivan Stapleton, a pair of actors whose work I’ve enjoyed in Thor and Strike Back respectively.

I’m happy to report that, for the first hour anyway, it’s a step above what I’m used to.  Crisp writing, great production values, some suspenseful action.  So far, so good.  The pilot episode was over before I grew bored, and I feel genuinely intrigued about the unfolding mystery.  Good stuff, and it feels in the wheelhouse of my own novel work as well.

Now time will tell if this becomes another Person of Interest or Blacklist (another show that I should enjoy, but for some reason do not) or one of the countless cable or Netflix dramas that have really captured my attention these days.

Blindspot airs on NBC Mondays at 10pm.

Five Star Reviews coming in for The Fog of Dreams

It’s been on Amazon for a while now, and the reviews are starting to come in for The Fog of Dreams, and so far so good!

So far Book One of the Operation: Harvest series has a Five Star rating with some great commentary!

“‘The Fog of Dreams’ was a surprisingly good read and really showcased the story-telling ability of author Justin Bell. Bell, known primarily for his use of already defined characters from the GI Joe universe, impresses the reader with a number of different characters that are well-developed and have personality that you can easily imagine in your mind’s eye. Even the ancillary characters give off their own ‘feel’ when reading through the story.”

The reader goes on to say that there is no “fluff” in the book and there’s plenty of action.  It reads like a movie playing in the reader’s mind.

A second review says much the same.

“This is book is an interesting mashup of styles – intrigue (ala Dan Brown), sci-fi (ala Timothy Zahn), and military action drama (ala Tom Clancy), and somehow it works, probably in no small part due to Bell’s excellent characters, all of whom seem like real and flawed individuals, doing things real and flawed people do. Even though this book is part one of a series, Bell manages to tell a complete story, while just as nicely leaves some unresolved issues for future volumes…”

Capturing a good, full story in the first book while leaving some loose threads for the next volumes.

To say we’re excited about the reaction to The Fog of Dreams is a drastic understatement.  As thrilled as we were to bring the book to the masses, we’re even more thrilled at the early response and feedback.

Keep it coming!  Check out The Fog of Dreams on Amazon and if you like it please consider leaving a review.

Thank you!!

Wer – A “Werewolf” Influence in Urban Fantasy

To be fair, nearly every werewolf tale told in the last thirty years could probably be considered “urban fantasy” by its loosest definition.  Many of them take place in the modern world and involve the creature’s impact on modern society.

Wer, a 2013 film directed by William Brent Bell takes the concept a few steps further.  As part of my work with The Fog of Dreams, I’ve been trying to catch up on some lycranthropy films I may have missed, and Wer was one of them.

It’s an interesting take on the mythology, using the existence of a particular disease which can create physical deformity and unusual hair growth as a spring board to more “realistic” werewolf tale.  Ultimately, that’s what drew my attention.  I tried to use those same elements with the creature in The Fog of Dreams initially, taking some of the werewolf tropes and applying them to the main character, using lunar cycles or genetics as reasons why.

Ultimately I withdrew from trying to match Strickland up too much with more familiar elements of werewolf mythology, as I felt they were holding me back from the story I wanted to tell…but in Wer they handle it really nicely.  There are some scenes in Wer that really remind me of how I view the genetic experiments from Operation: Harvest in a real world situation.  There’s a major conflict with a French SWAT team in the middle of the film which feels very much along my thought process, as well as a scene towards the end where the main character in Wer drops to all fours and runs.  Very cool visual elements, and very similar to how I think my experiments exist within a “real world” frame of reference.

In the end, Wer feels like a gripping horror film which handles werewolfism in a slightly different but still entertaining way.  I enjoyed it and like how it dovetails with my own universe slightly.

If you’re a fan of werewolf stories or films, check it out.  It’s a small indy film, I believe, I didn’t know it existed until I really sought some out.  It’s worth a look.