Brandon Zenner's Blog, page 4
July 10, 2016
Yes, it came from a dream …
***Warning, contains small Spoilers for The Experiment of Dreams.***
In February, 2014, two major events transpired that changed my life and direction. The first, and most important, was the birth of my daughter. The second, was about two weeks after my little girl was born, when I published The Experiment of Dreams.
For obvious reasons, that time in my life was chaotic. Leading up to my daughter’s birth, back when I had a bit more free time, I had written two manuscripts. The first one was titled, Chaos, and the second was titled Lucid. Chaos was my first book, begun when I was about twenty eight, but first conceived back when I was sixteen … it really took me a long time to get those words on the paper. When I finally took the plunge, and hammered out all 155,000 words, or about 550 pages, I sat back and read my masterpiece … and it stunk. It had not turned out the way that I wanted, not in the least. As I despaired about what to do, and the work that would be involved to transform the manuscript into something legible, I decided to take a more in-depth look into an idea that I had only just come up with. It was from a dream, or what I could remember from the dream. The only scenes that stuck in my memory was seeing a man, maybe mid-twenties, standing in a brick-walled apartment, looking at a painting hanging on the wall of a cabin in the woods. Although I can’t remember if there was any backstory in the dream, I did immediately feel this person’s emotions and life history. He was troubled, depressed, and in danger. The other fragment of the dream that I could remember was seeing a person wearing a trench coat enter the man’s apartment late at night, and approach the poor man while he was in the pits of insanity. Yes, some things changed from the dream to the paper. I could feel this sinister man’s intent, and his wanting, needing, to eliminate this person … only, when he approached the body, skinny as could be, the man was already dead. I saw flashes of what the man had hallucinated moments before he died, and they were beautiful. In his mind, he thought he was back with the lost love of his life, but in reality, he was slowly dying of dehydration and starvation. He had gone completely mad. I began to wake up at this point, but made a conscious effort to remember what I could, and let my semi-conscious mind continue to add to the story. I saw two doctors at the door to the man’s apartment, talking to him about a secretive experiment. When I woke up, I jotted down some notes, and wrote out a few opening chapters longhand. I wasn’t sure yet if the story was going to be a short story, novella, or a novel, but I knew that I had something worth hanging on to. So, back to Chaos. I put it aside, and started playing around with Lucid. As the chapters began to unfold, and the characters came to life, it began to feel like I was not writing the pages at all, but rather, they were just coming to me, unfolding as they would. It was like watching a movie in my head, and it was awesome. The final result was a little different than the dream, but the depth of the characters remained the same. The other characters, not in the dream, came about as the story progressed.
When I finished Lucid and sent it out to be edited, I sat back down and gave Choas another shot. I didn’t look at my first manuscript, but rather started from scratch … and it was the most enjoyable experience of my life. I missed those characters more than I realized.
Flashforward, and the rough draft of Choas is done, and I’ve finished editing Lucid. My daughter is born, my life gets hectic, and I promise myself that I will no longer be working on two books at once (no, I don’t keep that promise). Lucid gets changed to The Experiment of Dreams, and I take a look at Amazon’s Kindle program. I’m just playing around with it to see how it works, and I click the next button … and it goes live. I didn’t realize that I had hit submit. I panic, but my wife calms me down, and urges me to keep the book live. At the time, I didn’t even have a cover, the book needed one last polish/proofread, and I had no idea what I was getting into. Quickly, I made a cover for the time being, and sent it out to be proofread. I knew that not many, or no one at all, would buy the book right away, since I had told absolutely no one other than my wife that I had even written a book, let alone two. It came as quite a shock to most people, especially my parents, who also didn’t know that I had been writing for some time, and had been published once (a really short poem-thingy) when I was nineteen.
At the time, it seemed to take a century, but in reality it only took a few weeks until I had a professionally made cover, and the book had been polished and formatted. Luckily, not many copies of that first edition went out, but unfortunately, a few did. My top review, although three stars and not a one star review, clearly talks about spelling errors, and there is no way that I can change it, even though the book is now complete. Live and learn. And learn I have, because I will never make those mistakes again.
Now, two years later, I have spent countless hours learning what it takes to be an independent author. Chaos has been renamed, The After War, and as of today (literally, an hour ago), it is done. After publishing two novels, I am finally about to publish my first. More on that to come, including the cover reveal and prelaunch date. It’s coming up, very soon.
Well, that’s all for now. Thanks for reading.
-Brandon Zenner
July 6, 2016
Blah, blah, blah, blah … blog.
Two years after publishing my first novel, I have finally started a blog. Why? Well, for a few reasons.
1) It gives me an opportunity to explain some behind the scenes information on my novels and short stories. My hope with this blog is to share information on characters, settings, my writing process, and maybe some personal stuff along the way.
2) In all honesty, I keep being told that I should do it, and I’m finally going to heed the words of people smarter than myself.
In the posts to come, I am going to share some background information on my novels, starting with my first, The Experiment of Dreams. I’ll be telling you how I came up with some of the ideas, and where the whole concept came from. And along the way, maybe I’ll let you in on some inside information. Like, for instance, did you know that The Experiment of Dreams was not actually the first novel I had written? It was my second, but it was the first one published. My first novel will be released soon (well, it’s now my third published novel, but you get the idea …).
All of this and more, including the cover reveal for my new novel, will be released here, in my brand new, oh-so-shinny, blog … stay tuned.
May 12, 2016
Here's your chance to get Whiskey Devils for free.
March 8, 2016
Audiobook Giveway
Here is the link: https://m.facebook.com/UndergroundBoo...
March 5, 2016
Help me win a contest, and enter one of your own.
https://www.facebook.com/UndergroundB...
***Update: I'm increasing the amount of audiobooks to give away. Please help me out, and I may just have a few more audiobooks available.
February 29, 2016
Permanently Free Short Story
Amazon, as well as just about every ebook platform, will now feature my short story, The Basement Vault, for free—forever! Please feel free to spread the word.
The Basement Vault is a quick, pulp-noir read. I hope you enjoy it.
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/The-Basement-Va...
Barnes & Nobles: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-b...
January 15, 2016
My New Novel has been Released
Amazon: http://amzn.to/1NbHM3k
Whiskey Devils
January 12, 2016
Whiskey Devils is Released
Here's a quick synopsis:
A twisting, turning thriller. Evan Powers has become the new manager in Nick Grady’s well-established marijuana growing operation. Led by his roommate and best friend, little has changed in Nick’s secretive business since the late ‘60s, which is just the way the aging hippie would like it to remain. However, Nick’s complex past comes full circle, thrusting Evan in a scramble to decipher the truth behind the enigmatic lives of the people he holds dear. Deep in the woods, demons will be unleashed.
Check it out here on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1RkexTA
And here on Goodreads:
Whiskey Devils
January 6, 2016
The Experiment of Dreams is 70% off, right now.
http://amzn.to/1TEu7ax
December 14, 2015
Signed First Edition Giveaway, and Free Bonus eBook
**Nominate my new release, Whiskey Devils, in Amazon's new program, Kindle Scout, and Amazon will send you the book for Free if it is published. The more votes, the better the chance Whiskey Devils has at a contract. All you need is an Amazon account, and 30 seconds of time. Your vote 'will' make a difference.
Read the preview, nominate Whiskey Devils, get it for free:
https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/2LQV...
**Sign up on Goodreads to win a Signed First Edition Paperback of The Experiment of Dreams. Drawing ends January 6th, at midnight:
https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sh...
The Experiment of Dreams
Come on everyone—get my books for free!
All the best,
Brandon Zenner
