Tomas’s Comments (group member since Aug 22, 2020)

Tomas’s comments from the Gathering Of Dedicated Scribblers group.

Yep, I'm wondering if anything from my own journey could be useful to someone...

Well, I did complete my debut a while ago...
If there's someone in this group who likes coming-of-age fantasy, feel free to have a look. It's down to $0.99 on Amazon US and GBP 0.99 on Amazon UK until 28th December (included).

Andres, let me know if this message should be adjusted or if that's not the intended purpose, I'll fix things as soon as I can.

EDIT:
Paperback link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B091GP3BLV
Kindle e-book link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08L1ZJZ94

Since the time is coming (well, depending on your timezone, I guess), I wish you all Merry Christmas, some chill time with your family, and lots of writing ideas in the new year.
Keep going, you got this :)

I write in 3rd person focused (or what's the term) but keep sliding into omniscient... I guess I want to show what many characters think but don't always stay in the right head...

Yeah, it's just a pitiful attempt to have you contact them. I guess the point is that if you contact them, their reply (which will likely try to sell overpriced services) can't be considered spam, since you asked for it.

1. Favorite color?
Blue, closely followed by green.
2. Mountains or beach?
Mountains.
3. Romance or gore?
Romance.
4. Savory or sweet?
Leaning more towards sweet.
5. Magic or realism?
Magic.
6. Favorite season?
All of them.
7. Favorite element? (Fire, Water, etc)
Life, if you count it as one. Otherwise, earth.
8. As you are about to head into battle, what would your last meal be?
No idea, but something light that wouldn't have me fight on a heavy stomach.
9. Lucky number or sign?
I... honestly don't think I have one.
10. Favorite movie?
Equilibrium, probably.
11. Favorite Video game?
A tough one - if I went by childhood memories, GTA2 would take that place. If I went by total time played, World of Warcraft - for which I'd say Legion was the best time.
12. If you could ban one trope from all future books, what would it be?
Love triangles.
13. Unpopular movie/game/book opinion?
Terminator 3 wasn't that bad.
14. If you could have ANY animal for a pet, what would it be?
A dragon. Bear if we're talking real animals.
15. What author, DOA, do you most wish you could meet?
Beta team, assemble! Yep, any of my beta swaps. I guess I'm cheating as half of them aren't published yet.
16. Favorite book?
The competitors: Ordination, Dragon Fate and An Empire of Ashes. Ordination for its story, Dragon fate for its characters, and Empire of Ashes for how well it dealt with quite heavy topics.
17. What's your favorite subgenre?
Epic fantasy
18. What is one thing you like doing besides reading/listening to books?
Hiking

Interesting information. However, I'd point out that even for wide authors, it's always better to go direct with Amazon even if they use a platform for the other retailers. To Select or not is a question where the answer depends on the genre and length of each book a lot. This change probably makes it worth for wide authors to also go direct with BN rather than to use a platfrom, which may not reflect those changes.

By the way, do you have any link to the source material?

I had a dream yesterday that someone had bought my book.

Simple dreams, right?

I've always looked up to the people who take part with respect. To try writing a whole book - even if just the first draft - in one month...
I know that 50k in a month is doable - my biggest "sprint" was 40k words in a week - but I'm also the type who probably won't go below 100k with what I consider a full-length story. Thus, I won't take part this year, and probably not for a few years, until I have a bit more specific concept for one of my prequel ideas that may be a rough match for the 50k length.

So, to cut my blabbering, good luck to everyone who takes part - you rock!

Well, it's THAT time of year again? I guess so... I haven't tried that challenge myself yet, because my writing so far is a long-time project. I may consider it for one of the prequels, which will be shorter, a few years into the future.

On a slightly different note, this weekend will mark one year of me being an author, yay!

Evelyn wrote: "I'm at 50k words, by tomorrow I hope to write "The END" on Book 2!"

Yay! Don't forget to reward yourself with some at least small treat :)

Well, thanks for your support, it means a lot :)

Evelyn wrote: "I cant even imagine being 10-15 book ideas ahead. I tend to do one or two ideas at a time, and follow them through before brainstorming new ones. But that's just me...You guys are killing it!"

It's not like I'd have that many ideas, I just have 15 years' worth of ideas for my main project. At this point, 6 years and 3 months in, I have one book complete and two in the works, that'll make the trilogy I started with. Finishing those will likely take 3-4 years. After that, three ideas for side-stories (prequels) in the same project that will take two books (two of the ideas were merged into one). After that, possible continuation a couple of years after the main story. If I did all of that, I guess I'm looking at the late 2030s.
So, no, I don't go for new ideas before finishing the ones I have, it just takes me so long to exhaust what I started with.

So, I haven't made it to the finals. There goes my chance for glory...

On a more serious note, I saw it as "worth a shot" expecting nothing, and I've seen a bigger name eliminated. Guess I'll have to try and make an impact the hard way, once I'm finished with the trilogy.

Good luck to those who'll apply next year.

Andres wrote: "Tomas and I will likely continue writing until we are old men."

At this point, I have ideas for only 10-15 years. But I find writing fun, so maybe I'll come up with something.

Andres wrote: "I hope everyone had a good weekend. We went camping and it poured on us for several hours."

Well, my hiking trip was much better when it comes to weather. I've had one writing-specific idea based on the feedback I received in the last batch.

I plan to look at Rachel's story this weekend.

Rachel wrote: "What is KDP?"

KDP is Amazon's self-publishing platform - the thing used to self-publish on Amazon if you don't go through a distributor.

On a slightly different note: Amazon had launched beta for hardcovers via KDP. Unfortunately, limited to 550 pages.

I've promised her to have a look as well but I'm swamped with finishing something for the hiking club, so it'll take a few days before I'm ready to jump in...

My current beta is going on at quite a high pace, so at this point, I think I'd be looking at your turn in November or so, if that's okay with you.