Aaron N. Hall's Blog, page 8

Your boy’s TOP 5 FAVORITE BOOKS of ALL TIME (Fiction)

I am a writer. Writers write. It’s a writer’s right to write. Writers rightfully write and I am right to write to delight… right?

Writers also read.

Stephen King’s Golden Rule, as mentioned in his seminal volume On Writing, admonishes writers to read as much as they write–which should be a lot. Admittedly, I’m not great about reading a lot. With the exception of reading the holy writ every morning before I go to work, I try to create reading time with moderate success. It’s usually before ...

My Top 3 Halloween Movies and Why

I should be a big fan of Halloween, considering its impact on me. The season is one of the ingredients that got me into fiction writing because in Utah, every elementary school kid is required to write a brief Halloween story every October.

But to be perfectly honest, I’m not a very big Halloween person. I’ve never gotten hyped over the concept of celebrating monsters and demons. Dressing up in costume feels like a chore. On most Halloween nights, I end up sitting in front of the TV watching ...

Rise of Skywalker Farted On My Soul

It’s been almost a year since we experienced Rise of Skywalker. I love Star Wars, but I’ll be the first to say that Star Wars has let us down a time or two. We talk about the prequels and the lackluster spinoff(s), but there’s a whole bunch to unpack. There are plenty of lackluster video games–some recently made by greedy developers. Some books and merchandise are kind of lame. And why don’t we talk more about the train wreck that is the Star Wars Holiday Special?!

Yeesh.

However, the gran...

Star Wars vs. Lord of the Rings

Purged progress: First revision, 92%

I’m right in the middle of the final battle. Seriously, this first revision has been a great chance to tighten up a lot of aspects of Purged, and it’s shaping into something really special. When this book is done, I’m confident that this will be my best work yet–a more than worthy successor to Foreordained. With any luck, it could be published by the end of the year!

But that’s not what you’re really here for, is it?

Sign up for free samples of my bo...

Cat Reviews, Vol. 1

Purged progress: First revision, 38%

The first revision for Purged is going well. Moving right along. Characters and conflicts and tension are getting tightened up. But that’s not really what you’re here for, is it?

In last week’s writing update, I had a picture of a studious cat in the header image. A friend of mine clicked on the post and read it, but jokingly reprimanded me for the article’s actual lack of cats.

Today, I recompense for my sin.

I posted on Facebook asking my friend...

Writer’s Log #11 – First revision and current reads

Purged progress: First revision, 31%

Purged is coming right along! It’s getting tightened up! The characters are becoming more fleshed out! The pacing is getting smoother! The description is more vivid and direct! Huzzah! Rejoice! Have a pint! Or a glass of milk or whatever. I don’t know what you like.

I’ve been taking at least an hour every evening to dive into Purged for revisions. I usually manage to go through a chapter a day at this rate. It varies, though. In some instances I find a ...

Writer’s Log #10 – IT HAS BEGUN

Revisions for Purged are under way. Finally.

Yikes. I’ve got a lot to catch up on here. I’ve always strived to write on my blog every week, and for the last few weeks I’ve failed miserably. I hope all my readers (all three of you) will forgive me for my absence.

First off, I’m almost a month into my new job as a marketing strategist at a local company. I’ve been learning a ton. Through this role, I’m getting in-depth looks at effective online marketing and I plan on transferring those skil...

Writer’s Log #9 – Stories that make us uncomfortable

Everyone loves a happy story, right? Sure, but that’s not always what’s necessary.

I didn’t work much at all on Foreordained this week. I know. I slacked again. This has been my first week at my new job, so there’s been some adjusting going on. I made it a goal to wake up early so I could do an hour of writing before I went to work each day, but after this week I can assure everyone reading this article that course of action will not be taken. Waking up sucks. Until I’ve had a shower and some...

Writer’s Log #8 – Meh.

Real talk: I haven’t done a lot of writing stuff this week.

Lately I’ve been rereading Foreordained, preparing myself to dive into the second draft of Purged. I’ve rediscovered some important plot devices that will be fun to make connections to, and I’ve already handed the first draft to a fan for beta reading. He’s loving it so far, but the book still needs a lot of work. I’ve found that rereading Foreordained is slow going because, hey, going over your earliest work can feel tedious. But al...

Writer’s Log #7 – Revisiting Foreordained

I’ve been spending this last week rereading Foreordained to get me ready for writing the second draft of Purged.

It’s been over six years since Foreordained hit the marketplace. Overall, it’s been very positively received, aside from two or three disgruntled readers on Goodreads. It was my first book, and even as I read it now, I noticed that I did a lot of good with it. I always kept enough going on to bait readers into reading just one more chapter. The characters are great. I established ...