Jeff Miller's Blog, page 3
October 27, 2016
Sometimes real life imitates art.
Sometimes real life imitates art.
October 21, 2016
Borderline Insanity
October 5, 2016
Borderline Insanity on Sale
Amazon is running a sale. For October only, you can buy the Kindle version of Borderline Insanity for only $1.99! Crazy, right? Or at least borderline crazy? Maybe even borderline insane? (Get it? Because the book is called Borderline Insanity?)
September 9, 2016
In writing book three, I have to balance the plot of the novel...
In writing book three, I have to balance the plot of the novel with Dagny’s overall character arc for there series. To that end, I’m using charts to remind me of things I have to service in the story. My biggest chart outlines the plot of the book, connecting all of the crimes and characters in the book. (I won’t share that one. ) The chart above shows the relationships I have to build or develop for Dagny. Each of these relationships will change during the course of the story—some in small way, some in big.
August 10, 2016
Why did you decide to have your main character be an anorexic? You seem to know an awful lot about the disease.
When I wrote my first outline for The Bubble Gum Thief, Dagny’s character was flat and uninteresting. In my experience, if someone seems flat and uninteresting, it usually means that I don't them very well. I started to think more deeply about what someone like Dagny would be like, and how she might be struggling beneath her surface. Thriller novels are populated with protagonists burdened by substance abuse, or gambling issues, or problems with authority. There’s also a lot of manic-pixie depiction of women going on these days. None of that seemed to be Dagny. If anything, she was highly-disciplined and incredibly focused.
I began thinking about women I knew who excelled at school and work, and who were driven to achieve. More than one I knew were dealing with eating disorders. It struck me that these issues are far more prevalent than most people realize. People don’t talk about anorexia because it makes a lot of people uncomfortable. Some think that eating disorders are a phase that girls go through in high school, but I was seeing it women in older women. I felt that the issue was underexplored, and that there would be merit to exploring it. It was highly presumptuous of me to think I could tackle the subject, so I spent a few months reading medical studies and personal memoirs about it to make sure that I thought I could do it justice. I also drew upon personal observation of and discussion with friends. Dagny’s eating habits, her obsessive running … these are things I’ve seen firsthand.
Usually, a book about a person suffering from an eating disorder is about the disorder. That’s actually a pretty unfair way to explore the disorder. Anorexia may be a part of someone’s life, but it isn’t the whole of their life. Dagny Gray struggles with anorexia, but it doesn’t define her. I hope I’ve done her justice.
July 12, 2016
Autographed Book Giveaway
Do you want a copy of my book that has been ruined by my messy scribble. I’m giving away five autographed copies on Goodreads. You can enter here:
Goodreads Book Giveaway
by Jeff Miller
Giveaway ends July 26, 2016.
See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.
July 9, 2016
Speaking about character emotions with much better authors at...
Speaking about character emotions with much better authors at Thrillerfest.
July 5, 2016
The Book is Out
Borderline Insanity came out today. It’s out because of the help of friends and family and fans who read drafts of the book and gave me helpful comments, and because of the dedication of my wonderful publisher, Thomas & Mercer, who also sent me this today:
If you read Borderline Insanity, please let me know what you think of it, good or bad. If you think I blew it with the second book, that can help me with the third.
And if you happen to like Borderline Insanity, please spread the word. There’s no marketing budget for books that aren’t written by James Patterson, so authors rely upon their readers to publicize their work. Maybe write a review on Amazon or Goodreads, mention it to friends on Facebook, tweet about it, blog about it, Tumblr some thoughts about it, Instagram a picture yourself reading the book, pin it to your Pinterest, do whatever Snapchat is to it, ask your library to carry it, suggest it to your bookclub, or just tell people about it in actual conversation. You would be surprised how much these kinds of things can help.
July 3, 2016
Two Days Away
Borderline Insanity comes out in two days. It’s been in the works for a long time. Here’s how long:
On June 23, 2010, I presented the general notion of the book to my writers’ group, and solicited ideas about the nature of the villain.On October 11, 2011, I submitted a draft of the prologue to the group for critique.
I spent most of 2012 working on edits for The Bubble Gum Thief, which came out on December 4, 2012.
As of June 21, 2013, I had written 80,000 words of the first draft of Borderline Insanity.
By April 2014, I had written 108,000 words of Borderline Insanity, and was nearly done with the story.
I spent the rest of 2014 finishing the first draft, and then rewriting it several times.
On December 16, 2014, I asked friends and fans of The Bubble Gum Thief to serve as beta readers to give me feedback on Borderline Insanity.
I spent most of 2015 revising the book with the benefit of feedback from my beta readers and my agent.
We sold the book in the Fall of 2015. I worked with a developmental editor in November 2015 through early January 2016 to tighten the story.
Early this year I worked with copy editors and proofreaders to prepare the manuscript for print. A graphic designer worked on the cover. The talented Angela Dawe recorded the audiobook. I collaborated with my editor on marketing copy for the book.
And now, on July 5th, 2016, it’s out. Just a little more than 6 years after I had the general notion of what the book should be.
When I came up with the idea for Borderline Insanity, our first son was a year old. Now he’s seven and he has a brother who is four. I wish I could write faster, but it’s hard with two small kids, a full time job, a house to fix, soccer to coach.
I’ve outlined two-thirds of the next Dagny Gray book. I have no idea when it will be done.
June 26, 2016
I received print and audio copies of Borderline Insanity....
I received print and audio copies of Borderline Insanity. Available to everyone on July 5.
