Steven Lochran's Blog, page 5

“Vanguard Prime: Wild Card” Cover Revealed

For those of you who missed it, the cover for Vanguard Prime: Wild Card (aka Vanguard Prime Book 2) was revealed at Inside a Dog, including a behind-the-scenes peek at what goes into producing the artwork for a book jacket. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get Inside a Dog’s blog system to link to a high-res version of the image, so I thought I’d post it here for you to see in all its glory (click for high-res).

You can see a few new characters surrounding the Knight of Wands and Goldrush, but I’ll save details about them for the future. In the meantime, head over to Inside a Dog to see the creation of this image step-by-step!

Can’t Keep a Good Dog Down

It feels like these days I’m simply posting updates on what I’ve been writing about on Inside a Dog. Probably because that’s all I’ve been doing. My residency there will be wrapping up this week, with the very next post to be of great interest to Vanguard Prime readers…especially those who want to learn more about Wild Card (aka Vanguard Prime Book 2, for those people out there googling those terms!).

In the meantime, you can read my argument on how Boredom = Excitement, get some tips on writing dialogue, learn what a Tomato Surprise is and find out what music to listen to when looking for inspiration.

‘Til next time.

Shark Bait

Readers of Vanguard Prime: Goldrush and anyone interested in the manuscript submission process may want to check out my latest Inside a Dog blog post where I go through the cover letter and the plot synopsis that was included in my submission to Penguin. If I’d known about Query Shark at the time, I would no doubt have worded things completely differently. But everything worked out, so why fuss over it now?

We’ll be getting the keys to our new home next week. Right now, our house looks more like a warehouse full of half-packed boxes than a place that people live in. And at least half of those boxes are full of books. There’s definitely something to be said for e-books.

Dogs and Solitaire

I’m still blogging at Inside a Dog, and covering topics that I’ve been wanting to write about for ages. One is a list of links that includes Ian Irvine’s post on The Truth About Publishing. As I mention in my post, the article pulls no punches but the comprehensive information it offers was invaluable to me when I was looking to get published.

I’ve also explained what a Chekhov’s Gun is and extolled the virtues of mining old material for new ideas. Hopefully I’m not getting too preachy. I like to think I’m simply passing on some of the things I’ve learned along the way.

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The last two weeks I’ve been busily working away on the edit for Vanguard Prime: Wild Card. My editor and I are scrutinizing every sentence to make sure that each one works, and that they add up to make a satisfying (and logical) story. Of all the new characters in it, I’m most excited to introduce you guys to Solitaire. I can’t wait ’til you get the chance to meet her.

And with that tease of what’s to come, I’ll sign off for now.

Win Stuff!

Another Monday, another new post for Inside a Dog.

I originally intended on interviewing Samantha for this blog, but when the opportunity with Inside a Dog came up I knew that it’d be the perfect venue for a Q&A with an editor. Like I mentioned in the post, I’m hoping my next Q&A will be with someone in the sales department of a publishing company (and a children’s publisher, to be specific), so if there are any questions you might have make sure to let me know!

And one major thing that I keep forgetting to mention…you can win a signed copy of Vanguard Prime: Goldrush! For details, just click here. Entries close at the end of November.

 

You Gotta Fight For Your Right To Fanfic

A new Inside a Dog post is up, in which I make a confession about the fanfiction I’ve written in the past. It’s all true. I regret nothing.

I definitely think fanfic can help a young writer develop their skills. The impulse is to then offer a warning about not getting too stuck or over-focused on it, like parents telling a child not to watch too much television. But I think only a writer can judge for themselves when they’re ready to try new things. In other words, don’t let other people get you down over what you like to do with your time (so long as it’s safe and legal, he adds a hasty disclaimer).

In theory, I’m all for Vanguard Prime fanfiction if/when it happens. I don’t know if I’d actually read it, though. I wouldn’t want to come across someone’s story that had a similar idea as one I had planned, because then I’d feel like I couldn’t use it myself. But if you read a book of mine and feel the urge to tell a story of your own using the same characters, don’t let me stop you.

Unless you try to make money off it. Then my publisher will be forced to destroy you.

And on that cheery note…

I Wanna Be Your Dog (Apologies to Iggy Pop)

Last week, I posted about the fact that I would possibly be guest blogging on another website. Well, that possibility has become a reality. For the month of November, I’m going to be Inside a Dog‘s resident author, blogging three times a week. Needles to say, I’m very excited about the opportunity. And if you’ve come here after reading one of my Inside a Dog blog posts, let me take this chance to say ‘Welcome!’

 

I’m going to be blogging a lot about the craft of writing, as well as offering some insights into the publishing industry. You’ll be able to follow all my posts on the Residence page, the first of which is entitled ‘The Opposite of No’. I nearly called it ‘The Power of Yes’, or some variation thereof, but decided that that made me sound like, well…a bit of an idiot.

 

Now, this may mean that my blogging here slacks off, but my aim will be to keep to my weekly(ish) schedule. Of course, this’ll be especially challenging because I just received the edited manuscript for Vanguard Prime: Wild Card, with two weeks to complete my rewrites and get it back to the editor. Not that I’m complaining, mind you! I’ll be reserving the complaints for a later blog post, when I’ve completely run out of constructive things to write about and just want to vent some steam.

 

There may be gifs involved.

Of School Visits, Interviews, and Songbirds…

As I mentioned in my last post, I was invited to speak to a group of Year 5 & 6 students at Brunswick North Primary last week. I knew I was in good company when it turned out the kids were already well-versed in comic books. Not only did the name tags on their desks feature each student’s favourite comic book character, there was also a lending library of old comics available to the class (as donated by their teacher Travis). One girl blindsided me with how awesome she was when she told me her favourite superhero was Songbird.

There’s not many kids who know who Songbird is.

All the kids expressed a lot of enthusiasm for reading and writing, and provided me with a lot of insightful questions to answer. The artists in the class were interested to hear about the process behind designing a book cover, as related by a guy who’s only passingly familiar with the details of that himself (though I think I bluffed my way through pretty well). Unfortunately, the time passed far more quickly than I’d have liked, and after signing a few books and posters I was waving goodbye.

 

I’ll be bundling together a collection of comics to donate to the class’s library to say thanks to Travis and all the kids for their hospitality and the opportunity to speak to them. And thanks also have to go to Natasha at Book Bonding in Niddrie for arranging everything! If you get the chance, you should definitely drop in and see the shop. Natasha’s great and really knows her stuff…though I’d be surprised if she also knew who Songbird was.

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In addition to fielding questions in a classroom, I also spent some time last week being interviewed by Stephanie Campisi for her blog Read in a Single Sitting. We covered a lot of ground in the interview, ranging from what makes a strong female character to the appeal of action books for young readers. If you’re interested, you can read the interview here, and when you’re done with me waxing lyrical I heartily recommend checking out the rest of the site. You’ll find that Stephanie is a far more interesting and productive blogger than I could ever hope to be.

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…speaking of which! I don’t know how much I can say at this stage, but it looks like I’ll be writing a series of guest posts over on another prominent blog in the very near future. More details will follow when final confirmation comes through, but I’m hoping to blog about all the aspects of writing that I mean to cover here and never quite get around to.

 

Too busy making multiple references to Songbird, I guess.

Armageddon Out of Here

This week I’ll be giving a talk at a primary school in Melbourne, where I’ll be discussing the path that brought me to publication, as well as hopefully fielding some questions from the students. I’ve given other talks to support the release of Vanguard Prime: Goldrush, but this’ll be my first school visit. I’m only slightly nervous.

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Something else I did this week was go to the Armageddon pop culture convention that took place over the weekend. Though I didn’t attend as an author, I was there in a vaguely official capacity as I’d volunteered to help out on a stand that my fiancé was working at. I’ve wanted to go to a comic convention ever since I was a kid but never had…until now.

 

I have to admit, the experience was a little overwhelming. There was so much to see that I didn’t really know what direction to go in, and though I intended to get photos of all the awesome cosplayers I found myself a little…well, shy…at the prospect of asking. So instead of asking, I took the socially awkward route of simply taking photos of inanimate objects that couldn’t object. Those objects included…

 

The DeLorean from Back to the Future Part III…

 

…A TARDIS (with some random dude standing in front of it)…

 

…toys…

…and Shadow the Hedgehog hanging out with Chewbacca, as observed from a distance.

That last one might not have been inanimate, but I doubt either of them will object (side note: “Chewbacca” isn’t included in WordPress’s spellchecker. That just seems wrong. Isn’t the Internet built on blogging about Star Wars?).

 

I have to admit, the thought occurred to me that it would be cool to see a Vanguard Prime cosplayer or two. And if/when that happens, you better believe I’ll get some proper photos taken. The people in them may even know I’m taking them and everything!

 

 

 

Kick Out The (Vanguard Prime) Jams

After yesterday’s post on the music that inspired Vanguard Prime: Goldrush, it occurred to me that there was not one but two songs that I should have mentioned in my list. Instead of having contributed to the creation of VP, however, they were instead inspired by the book.

You see, before Goldrush was published I had some early conversations with Penguin’s marketing department about the potential of putting together a book trailer. While that didn’t eventuate (at least not for the first book), the discussion about it was enough to get my creative juices flowing and I sat down with some mixing software to produce a piece of music that would serve as the Vanguard Prime theme song.

Be nothing short of an obsessive geek, I ended up putting together two songs. Now, I’m by no means a musician, so I’ll happily admit that both these tracks are pretty rough around the edges. That said, I’m still fond of them. In fact, my favourite of the two would have to be the track I called ‘Power Up!’

 

Of course, that’s not to discount the first song I put together when trying to come up with a Vanguard Prime theme, which I called ‘Gods & Overmen’ (incidentally, that was one of my original suggestions for the title of Goldrush).

 

You may agree that it lacks the energy of the first song, but I like to think it has a certain grandeur to it. Of course, that may just be how it sounds to me. Perhaps time and perspective will convince me how misguided I was in not only producing these two songs, but also in uploading them to the internet. 

That said, I have to admit that the teenager-who-wanted-to-be-a-rockstar inside of me is pleased to have had the chance to finally make a little music. Of course, if I end up quitting writing to pursue a self-produced hip hop career…

…even if it’s for a mockumentary…

…you have my permission to quietly take me aside and advise me against it. I might not want to hear it but I’ll thank you in the long run.

‘Til next time.