C.B. McCullough's Blog, page 4

The Writer’s Road

“Some, dreading that awareness of how they do what they do would cripple their spontaneity, never study the craft. Instead, they march along in a lockstep of unconscious habit, thinking it’s instinct. Their dreams of creating unique works of power and wonder are seldom, if ever, realized. They put in long, tough days, for no matter how it’s taken, the writer’s road is never smooth, and because they have a gift, from time to time their efforts draw applause, but in their secret selves they know they’re just taking talent for a walk…  Write every day, line by line, page by page, hour by hour… Do this despite fear. For above all else, beyond imagination and skill, what the world asks of you is courage, courage to risk rejection, ridicule and failure. As you follow the quest for stories told with meaning and beauty, study thoughtfully but write boldly.”

- Robert Mckee, Story (1997)

Brainchildren: Science Fiction, Epic Fantasy, Mystery and More

The Fallen Odyssey – an epic fantasy adventure.

Available in paperback and ebook
The Fallen Aeneid – the sequel to The Fallen Odyssey.

Available in paperback and ebook
The Path Less Traveled – a preview of The Fallen Odyssey.

Available in ebook and multiple formats
Sing Oh Muse – a preview of The Fallen Aeneid.

Available in ebook and multiple formats
The Night Also Rises – a science-fiction/noir mystery novel.

Available in paperback and ebook

 

Writers: Do You Believe In Your Talent?

You’re a writer.  You’ve worked hard.  You’ve read the “How to Write” books, the “How to Get Published” books, and everything in between.  You’ve sacrificed your time and energy, toiling away for hundreds, even thousands of hours on a story, book or project, until its prose is soaked like a sponge with your own blood, sweat and tears.

Now, for the big questions.  Was it worth it?  Do you believe in your own talent?  Does your writing deserve to be all that it can be?

Greetings, writers!  Hello to all you accomplished novelists, aspiring beginners and hopeful dreamers alike.  My name is C.B. McCullough.  I’m an author, former archaeological technician and unashamed nerd with a passion for stories.  A year ago, I took the leap I had been preparing for all my life: I quit my job and dove headlong into the world of full-time writing.

People thought I was crazy.  People thought I was irresponsible.  People thought it was just a phase.  But somehow, I’m still here and loving every minute of it.

In the year since that leap, I’ve spent lots of quality time in the freelance writing and self-publishing arenas.  I’ve learned a thing or two about the needs and challenges facing storytellers longing to see their words come to life.  And so, I began offering budget-friendly services to fellow writers as a freelance editor, proofreader and consultant with a focus on self-published works.

Services offered:

Proofreading
Content Editing
Copyediting
Ghostwriting
Self-Publishing Consultations

In addition to self-publishing three of my own novels in the past year, I used to work for an asset management company as a full-time sales writer.  I’ve completed freelance projects ranging from ghostwriting an older gentleman’s family history/memoirs to editing a local pastor’s self-help/spiritual nonfiction book, and working for clients online via Odesk.

Sometimes you need affordable editing.  Sometimes you need a rewrite that won’t break the bank.  And sometimes all you need is an unbiased pair of eyeballs to give things a cost-effective second look.  I work for fixed rates and flat fees—rather than charging by the word or by the hour.  I’m not aiming to get rich here; what I want is to help you achieve your dreams.

If you believe in your own talent, contact me today, and together we’ll make your writing all that it can be.

- Corey (C.B.) McCullough

mcculloughwrites@gmail.com

cbmccullough.wordpress.com

twitter.com/CBmccwrites

 

Enter the name of your project below and a brief description, and receive a quote.

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Turning Reality Into Fantasy: Birds of Terror

During his voyage to the Galapagos Islands in 1831, Charles Darwin observed and classified finch species.  The varying attributes and behaviors of these birds led Darwin to conclude that it was not by mere serendipity that each was so well-suited to its environment and lifestyle.  A narrow, sharp beak gave one species the advantage over another for boring through hollow wood; a strong, rounded beak was better for cracking into hard nuts.

Now imagine a bird with a beak that could crack a human skull.

In this continuing series exploring the fantasy fiction genre, I delve into one of the most horrifying creatures to ever walk real-life planet Earth—and how it came to be a denizen of my new book, The Fallen Aeneid.

Elephant Birds
Check out the feet on Aepyornis compared to the modern ostrich! Dinosaur? Pretty close…!

As far into the present as the 17th century, the Aepyornithidae family—known affectionally as the “elephant birds”—lived on the island of Madagascar.  These flightless, ostrich-like giants would have been a formidable sight to explorers and local populations alike, reportedly laying eggs over thirteen inches long and three feet in circumference.

The largest of the Aepyornithids, Aepyornis maximus, weighed 880 pounds and stood over ten feet tall (for those of you keeping track at home, that’s a full two feet taller than Big Bird.)  Incredible to think it only went extinct 1000 years ago—not long before the Crusades!  Still, these creatures were probably relatively nonaggressive and wouldn’t have been much of a threat to humans.  The same cannot be said of the creatures below.   Hitchcock’s got nothing on these things.

Phorusrhacids: Terror Birds

Feast your eyes on the “terror birds”, namely, Titanis walleri.  This member of the extinct Phorusrhacidae family was an 8-foot-tall carnivore that terrorized Florida and areas of South America from 4.9 to 1.8 million years ago.

Not only was T. walleri carnivorous, but it weighed only 330 pounds—relatively lightweight for its size—meaning it was a swift runner.  Modern estimates have placed its running speed as high as 40 miles per hour.  The average horse gallops at about 30.

Unless there’s a bazooka in that briefcase, dude is screwed.
The Titanbird

“Justin’s eyes went wide. The animal stood on two, giant hind legs and was a good three feet taller than Ahlund. No feathers or wings; just dark hide and arms with tiny, claw-tipped fingers. Its neck was muscular and lean. The head was mostly beak—a rounded mass of bone the size of a blue-ribbon pumpkin. Justin had seen finches on nature documentaries use their beaks to crack open hard seeds, and it occurred to him that this animal could do that with about three coconuts at once. But when that beak suddenly opened, emitting a baritone hoot that echoed into the trees, it revealed sharp points of jagged cartilage like fangs. This thing was no bird; it was closer to a dinosaur.”

-  from The Fallen Aeneid by C.B. McCullough

With borrowed elements from the real-world elephant birds and terror birds of Earth’s prehistoric past, the “titanbird” was born into the world of The Fallen Aeneid (the sequel to the epic fantasy novel, The Fallen Odyssey).  The protagonist of our story encounters this fearsome combination of terror bird and dinosaur within the deep, tropical jungles of an alternate world.  It was a lot of fun to write these scenes, and I sincerely hope you like the result in The Fallen Aeneid, available in ebook and paperback right now!

Read long and prosper.

- CB

Turning Reality Into Fantasy: A Wild Example

Download A Free Novel by C.B. McCullough

I Quit My Job For This – Lessons Not Learned

Fellow writers: looking for an editor/proofreader?  Contact me!

Digital Plotting: 4 Steps To Visually Track Story, Plot And Character Arcs in Fiction

Body hunched and head bowed, hammering the keys, breaking the stream of words only long enough to grab the mug and gulp down coffee that’s been cold for hours: the writer at work, delving into territories unknown.

We’ve romanticized the art of fiction to almost spiritual levels.  To hear some people talk about it, you’d think simply sitting down to a day of work was a vision quest.  Writing can be cathartic, but the destination is not the journey.  Like anything else of quality, the good stuff can be broken down into quantitative data – and I’m not talking about word count, either.  I’m talking about using the following 4 steps to visually track plots and character arcs in fiction.

1. Define “It”

What is “It”, exactly?  Personally, when I write, It comes to mean, roughly, “everything the story is, and nothing that it isn’t.”

2. Arrange It

Once you’ve defined “It”, it’s time to do something with it.  Fiction may be abstract, even ethereal at times, but it’s still data.  And all data can be represented digitally by being reduced to its parts.

Create a list of every plot, subplot, character arc and otherwise within your story, and arrange them in a spreadsheet, or however you see fit.

SIDE NOTE:  If mapping out everything going on in your story feels too ambitious for you, then just imagine what a reader is going to feel like trying to digest it all.  If you don’t even know what’s going on inside your head, don’t ask it of a reader.

3. Track It

Here’s where it gets fun (is that the right word?).  Determine whether your plots/subplots/arcs adhere to the classic pyramid of Exposition, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action and Resolution, and then determine exactly where and when each step takes place.

You know; this old chestnut.

 

Granted, not every plot may fall within/upon the neat and orderly distribution of Freytag’s pyramid of dramatic structure.  Maybe you defy such constraints, or you might even have more of an anti-plot in the works.  Regardless, the forced focus required of you to bend your story to fit the pyramid may yield unexpected results.

Each column in the photo below represents the 5 elements of Freytag’s pyramid (with an additional “Intro” column thrown in for good measure).  Each row is a different plot, subplot or character arc within the story, with numbers to represent the location where/when the event(s) take place.

The numbers represent: (Part).(Chapter), with /// indicating a location not yet determined. Differing cell shades indicate shifts in point of view, and each red wedge marks a comment, my own personal note of what exactly occurs to spur the story forward, and why.
4. Weed It

Tracking a story as I’ve done above can lead to several conclusions.  You may realize you need to spend more time fleshing out the rising action of one of your subplots.  Or, you may find that a character arc you thought was solid turned out utterly anticlimactic.  Even more distressing: you might realize a subplot you spent thousands of words detailing ultimately fizzles out, unfulfilled.

Now is your chance to remedy it!  Add and subtract accordingly.  If this is your first draft, it likely contained a lot of extraneous material, and it can be heartbreaking to chop out thousands of words – words you thought were important at the time.  There’s a reason they call it “murdering your darlings”.

Chop mercilessly.  Trim the fat.  Weed the garden.  You are guaranteed to find a leaner and stronger product beneath.  Write long and prosper.

- CB

The data and images in this article come from my personal notes for the novel  The Fallen Odyssey by C.B. McCullough.

Nerds Do It Better: Why Nerd Culture Cultivates a Better Understanding of Story

Turning Reality Into Fantasy: A Horse of a Different Color

I Was a Weird Kid – Confessions From The Curly-Haired Boy In The Overalls

 

Editing for Ebooks – What Do You Think?

My name is C.B. McCullough, and I’m an author.  I began my professional writing career as a ghostwriter shortly after college.  After a couple of years spent in the workforce (with writing on the side) I dove headlong into self-publishing.

That was over a year ago, and I still remember my shock, when I began pricing editing services for my 170,000-word debut novel.  With all the ease and affordability of self-publishing, I was amazed to find costs skyrocketing right out of the realm of reason and into the stratosphere of wishful thinking.

And so, I’m sending out a tentative inquiry.  Self-publishing is an amazing tool.  With it, every aspiring writer with internet access and a dream has the opportunity to have his or her story heard.  I would

love you help you tell yours.  So if I were to begin an editing service, specializing in affordable editing for self-published ebooks, would anyone out there be interested?

I love writing, I love reading, and I love stories.  As an author, I know: sometimes you don’t need a pro to catch your split infinitives or rearrange your work in a top-to-bottom rewrite.  Sometimes all you need is a second pair of eyes to help spot what you may have missed.

Please let me know what you think.  For any writers out there interested, leave a comment or contact me.

PS: I’m between projects right now, so first come, first serve.  I’d love to help you with your work.

Write long and prosper.

- CB

A Perpetual Challenge

“Writing is something that you can never do as well as it can be done. It is a perpetual challenge and it is more difficult than anything else that I have ever done – so I do it.”

- Ernest Hemingway, 1935, Selected Letters

 

Stuff That’s Free

Sunshine, air, and, for a very limited time, the debut epic fantasy novel by C.B. McCullough.

Now, I’m not a big believer in free giveaways, which is why The Fallen Odyssey has never been free before.  But right now, in celebration of the release of its brand spanking new sequel, The Fallen Aeneid, you can download the book that started it all for $0.00!  528 pages of epic fantasy goodness, right at your fingertips.

The Fallen Odyssey in paperback – $16.99

The Fallen Odyssey on Kindle – $0.00

The Fallen Aeneid - $4.99

Sing Oh Muse (Part 1 of The Fallen Aeneid) – $0.00

Happy reading!

- CB

NEW RELEASE – “The Fallen Aeneid” by C.B. McCullough

Now available!  The Fallen Aeneid, the much-anticipated sequel to C.B. McCullough’s debut novel, The Fallen Odyssey (2013).  The Fallen Aeneid will take readers to new corners of the epic fantasy world that has captured the imaginations of readers of all ages.

Justin Holmes returns to the Oikoumene to discover that something unexplainable happened in his absence.  Will he take up his sword again in the fight against evil, or has the enemy already won?

A shadowed past.  An ancient secret.  A new enemy.  And a horrifying betrayal.

A new journey begins!  Available now for $4.99.  And if you haven’t read the original yet, it is currently available for $0.00, for a very limited time!

Grandma Ebo’s Take On The Fallen Odyssey

Grandma Ebo: “Where did you get all those ideas?”

Me: “Oh, just stuff I daydreamed. Things in my head.”

Grandma Ebo: “Well, I’m glad you got it all out of there.”

Wise words from Ebo, my great-grandmother, who just turned 100 years old!  She read every word of The Fallen Odyssey and is waiting for the sequel, The Fallen Aeneid, to arrive tomorrow!

In celebration of this new sequel, the book that started it all, The Fallen Odyssey, is available for a very limited time, for free.  For the first time ever, purchase the full epic fantasy novel from Amazon for $0.00!  Tell ‘em Ebo sent you.

The Fallen Odyssey

When seventeen-year-old Justin Holmes wakes from a strange, amnesic slumber, he finds himself in an unknown land, far from his rural Pennsylvania hometown. With no memory of how he came to be in this world of vast grasslands, sky-scraping mountains and double moons, he can but cling for dear life to his only allies: an illusive old hermit, and a cold-blooded, duplicitous mercenary.

When unwillingly recruited to help rescue a kidnapped princess, Justin is whisked off into the wild on an otherworldly adventure, all while struggling to learn what twist of fate has landed him in this strange, alternate dimension. He can only hope that within the wilderness of this fantasy world can be found some clue that will lead him home.

Questions and mysteries abound, as Justin is pulled deeper and deeper down the proverbial rabbit hole, far from anything and everything he has ever known. But lurking in the shadows of this fantasy realm is something darker and far more sinister than kidnappers; an ancient, demonic evil, that while threatening the peace of an entire world, may also hold the key to Justin’s gateway home, and the end of his FALLEN ODYSSEY…