Hey folks!
This year is busy! I've made a plan on my publishing schedule for the first half (H1) which I'd like to share with you (both for accountability and to keep you in the loop! Heh.)
There won't be any new stories published until March as far as the schedule is planned out.
In March we will have one novella (at least). A few of you will have heard of this before (especially if you follow me on Twitter or regularly check my blog)
The Torn Planet is set to be published on the 2nd of March 2019.
I am also working on a story called Heart of Askelion which is brand new and deals with the premise of lovers separated by time BUT not in a cheesy way. These two guys are true soldiers (knights actually) born into two different worlds (times) who only get to know each other when one of them (called Lorne Lionheart at this point) is sent to the other's (Captain Ash's) time to retrieve a catalyst that started a rupture in time which has now gone out of hand and is causing them to be overrun by an age-old race of warriors.
The tentative publishing date of this will probably be around May. But that's not certain yet. It depends largely on how my bigger project (Hourglass) is going by then.
The fourth project is another WIP currently in the editing stage. The working title is Mimicry and you can find more information on it by clicking on this LINK. There are also details about beta-reading opportunities in this post if you're so inclined!
This is of course only what's planned for the first half of the year. The second half is still a bit shadowy in my mind but once it sorts itself out there will be an update!
I hope this was informative and you're excited to hear more about all the projects soon!
Cheers!
WriteBot.
Showing posts with label short stories. Show all posts
Showing posts with label short stories. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 9, 2019
Tuesday, January 8, 2019
Do you like magic?
Hey everyone!
I'm currently in the midst of HARD EDITS. They're really hard. I've been fiddling around with this particular project so long it's... not that fun any more to say the least.
But you know what is fun?
MAGIC!
It's actually great fun... and even better when you can visit the unique magic of many different worlds. This can be done in one of my anthologies - Worlds of Magic.
This short story contains the following stories:
Seafarer (How did the princess fall in love with the pirate queen?)
Lucy and the Magician (A lonely young girl's acquaintance with a magician leads to many gifts of friendship)
Catching Fireflies (A young kelpie has to convince his prey to join him in the depths of the lake. At the bottom, the prey's dangerous task will be revealed)
The Hungry Worlds (A thief steals a sword, but in exchange, she tries to save the village she stole it from from a danger that encompasses more than one world)
Into the Still Places (Two races who've been at war for aeons. A rogue soldier. Two princes intent on saving their worlds. They will have to work together to save their citizens)
The Path of Lost Souls (In a world far from our own, one becomes an adult by completing the Path of Lost Souls. It's one young man's turn to prove himself, even though his half-brother will sabotage his journey)
More than half of Worlds of Magic's stories happen off-world (in worlds that aren't our own). Lucy and the Magician and Catching Fireflies alone are set in the real world although it has been enhanced with... strange kinds of magic.
Half of Worlds of Magic's stories can also be read to children! Worlds of Magic provides three amazing bedtime stories and six exciting stories of adventure and strange worlds for the day.
Are you excited yet? Do you want to be taken to six magical worlds? If you have a subscription to Kindle Unlimited you can now read Worlds of Magic for free. If not... $2.99 will buy me a whole box of tea for the next two weeks! :)
And if you leave a review once you're done reading it? Well that'll just make my whole month!
Cheers!
WriteBot.
I'm currently in the midst of HARD EDITS. They're really hard. I've been fiddling around with this particular project so long it's... not that fun any more to say the least.
But you know what is fun?
MAGIC!
It's actually great fun... and even better when you can visit the unique magic of many different worlds. This can be done in one of my anthologies - Worlds of Magic.
This short story contains the following stories:
Seafarer (How did the princess fall in love with the pirate queen?)
Lucy and the Magician (A lonely young girl's acquaintance with a magician leads to many gifts of friendship)
Catching Fireflies (A young kelpie has to convince his prey to join him in the depths of the lake. At the bottom, the prey's dangerous task will be revealed)
The Hungry Worlds (A thief steals a sword, but in exchange, she tries to save the village she stole it from from a danger that encompasses more than one world)
Into the Still Places (Two races who've been at war for aeons. A rogue soldier. Two princes intent on saving their worlds. They will have to work together to save their citizens)
The Path of Lost Souls (In a world far from our own, one becomes an adult by completing the Path of Lost Souls. It's one young man's turn to prove himself, even though his half-brother will sabotage his journey)
More than half of Worlds of Magic's stories happen off-world (in worlds that aren't our own). Lucy and the Magician and Catching Fireflies alone are set in the real world although it has been enhanced with... strange kinds of magic.
Half of Worlds of Magic's stories can also be read to children! Worlds of Magic provides three amazing bedtime stories and six exciting stories of adventure and strange worlds for the day.
Are you excited yet? Do you want to be taken to six magical worlds? If you have a subscription to Kindle Unlimited you can now read Worlds of Magic for free. If not... $2.99 will buy me a whole box of tea for the next two weeks! :)
And if you leave a review once you're done reading it? Well that'll just make my whole month!
Cheers!
WriteBot.
Wednesday, December 12, 2018
KDP Select and Planning Progress
Hey folks
Today's post will be a short notice.
The first (and most relevant) news is this:
A few of my books will be going up on KDP Select from today until the next three months!
The novels and short stories/story collections participating will be:
Elegy of the Stars
Warlike
Xenos
Worlds of Magic
Plus the stand-alone short stories:
Iana
The Hungry Worlds
Catching Fireflies
What does this mean for you? It means you can read my books for free if you have a KDP Select subscription (which you should!)! Check them out in my author profile here: https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B01H703DRC
Why did I decide to do it?
I love it when people read my stories and I love to share! KDP Select is a great opportunity to find more readers in any genre but especially science fiction. It also gives readers the chance to read something new and cool for free.
Do take this limited opportunity to familiarize yourself with my stories!
The second piece of news is that I'll be doing a short hiatus from posting every day. I'll be visiting family in Austria (my home country) and have decided not to take my PC with me. As much as I love everyone on here I do need a break from the internet.
Instead I'll be taking my Kindle and spending all my time reading the last few John Wyndham books I haven't gotten to yet! I'm currently about 70% into The Secret People.
Another important (and cool!) piece of information: I finished another short story today. This one is called Heart of Askelion. It's a love story at heart (strangely enough considering those are not usually my jam). Then again... I recently finished another (called A Thousand Frontiers) which is also a love story...
Anyway. All that has to happen is for them to be edited. Heart of Askelion is currently 15k words long and will be complete at about 20-25k. It lacks some details as of yet and will probably need a few more scenes.
A Thousand Frontiers is complete at 3.5k words. This one will likely not get over more than 5k.
Once they have been edited I'll upload a few glimpses and scenes of it for you to sample! I really think they are great.
All right. I'll chat again next week Tuesday! Until then, have a great time!
WriteBot.
Today's post will be a short notice.
The first (and most relevant) news is this:
A few of my books will be going up on KDP Select from today until the next three months!
The novels and short stories/story collections participating will be:
Elegy of the Stars
Warlike
Xenos
Worlds of Magic
Plus the stand-alone short stories:
Iana
The Hungry Worlds
Catching Fireflies
What does this mean for you? It means you can read my books for free if you have a KDP Select subscription (which you should!)! Check them out in my author profile here: https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B01H703DRC
Why did I decide to do it?
I love it when people read my stories and I love to share! KDP Select is a great opportunity to find more readers in any genre but especially science fiction. It also gives readers the chance to read something new and cool for free.
Do take this limited opportunity to familiarize yourself with my stories!
The second piece of news is that I'll be doing a short hiatus from posting every day. I'll be visiting family in Austria (my home country) and have decided not to take my PC with me. As much as I love everyone on here I do need a break from the internet.
Instead I'll be taking my Kindle and spending all my time reading the last few John Wyndham books I haven't gotten to yet! I'm currently about 70% into The Secret People.
Another important (and cool!) piece of information: I finished another short story today. This one is called Heart of Askelion. It's a love story at heart (strangely enough considering those are not usually my jam). Then again... I recently finished another (called A Thousand Frontiers) which is also a love story...
Anyway. All that has to happen is for them to be edited. Heart of Askelion is currently 15k words long and will be complete at about 20-25k. It lacks some details as of yet and will probably need a few more scenes.
A Thousand Frontiers is complete at 3.5k words. This one will likely not get over more than 5k.
Once they have been edited I'll upload a few glimpses and scenes of it for you to sample! I really think they are great.
All right. I'll chat again next week Tuesday! Until then, have a great time!
WriteBot.
Friday, December 7, 2018
Xenos and Worlds of Magic ONLINE!
Hey guys!
The two short stories collections I've been talking about recently have been published today! They are Xenos and Worlds of Magic.
Xenos is a science fiction work including such sub-genres as cosmic horror, first contact, weird events, and post-apocalyptic fiction. Some of them (as implied by cosmic 'horror') are actually very creepy. These are namely Of One Mind, which deals with the effects of tampering with humans minds, set between half a century and a century in the future of our own world, and Moonfarer, which is pure cosmic horror (and scared me the most while writing it).
Another story in the anthology is Immortal (A creature of a different world seeks a new body to inhabit on Earth). This one is one of my favourites because of its concept and because the alien main character is not the kind to just obtain a body by any means necessary. He goes about it much like a job interview instead.
Xenos also includes an older (but very popular) story called 2115. 2115's blurb: As alien spaceships descend on Earth, a worn-out soldier, a drug-addicted medic, and a little girl have to fight for their survival.
The Epilogue to Xenos is Eye in the Sky. I think it fits the cosmic horror theme quite well.
Worlds of Magic on the other hand is entirely different. It's half stories you'd read to children before bedtime - Lucy and the Magician, Catching Fireflies, Seafarer - and half fantasy for a more mature audience (but nothing graphic!) - The Hungry Worlds, Into the Still Places, The Path of Lost Souls -. These are gentle and adventurous stories. They excite through the adventure imagery they build and make you feel good because of the themes explored. The themes are friendship, love, and working together despite the odds. This by the way goes for both halves of the anthology!
The first story in Worlds of Magic is Seafarer. This is a pirate story with strange magics and a slightly wry way of telling it. The premise of this story went: How did the princess fall in love with the pirate? I had in mind the pirate would be a guy. But she wasn't. I had a lot of fun writing the pirate queen Aaea and the more modest (although not really) princess Isolde's father the King. They make a great comical pairing between the two of them.
Lucy and the Magician is another story (the second story in the anthology) very close to my heart. It took me a while to finish and it's fairly long but very complete in a way. While editing this story, the ending came around (I changed the first draft's ending) and it just fit. It's a story about gifts - and primarily the gift of friendship.
The other stories are Catching Fireflies (You've heard a lot about this one! It's the story that got me my first review back in September!) about a kelpie trying to seduce a girl to join him in the depths of his lake - with a twist. The girl - his prey - has a task to complete under the waves that only a human can do. And it's dangerous.
In the other half of the anthology you'll find the stories more geared towards adults (themes as well as rating of scenes. These stories are a tiny bit more bloody and serious in a mature way than the three above). The Hungry Worlds is a thief's guilty journey into a deep forest to save the village she stole from last. Into the Still Places portrays a war between two races of different worlds in which neither of them wants to give way yet both have to if they are to save their realms. The sixth story, The Path of Lost Souls, is probably the most adult-serious of the whole book. It's more grave than all the others combined (although still not graphic).
Want to give it a try? It's out on Amazon! (PS: don't mind the missing covers. I have faith in KDP that they'll update them eventually!)
Xenos: (creepy science fiction!) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07L6KHNB9
Worlds of Magic: (magic adventure stories!) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07L6KQM28
Have a good night/day! WriteBot.
The two short stories collections I've been talking about recently have been published today! They are Xenos and Worlds of Magic.
Xenos is a science fiction work including such sub-genres as cosmic horror, first contact, weird events, and post-apocalyptic fiction. Some of them (as implied by cosmic 'horror') are actually very creepy. These are namely Of One Mind, which deals with the effects of tampering with humans minds, set between half a century and a century in the future of our own world, and Moonfarer, which is pure cosmic horror (and scared me the most while writing it).
Another story in the anthology is Immortal (A creature of a different world seeks a new body to inhabit on Earth). This one is one of my favourites because of its concept and because the alien main character is not the kind to just obtain a body by any means necessary. He goes about it much like a job interview instead.
Xenos also includes an older (but very popular) story called 2115. 2115's blurb: As alien spaceships descend on Earth, a worn-out soldier, a drug-addicted medic, and a little girl have to fight for their survival.
The Epilogue to Xenos is Eye in the Sky. I think it fits the cosmic horror theme quite well.
The first story in Worlds of Magic is Seafarer. This is a pirate story with strange magics and a slightly wry way of telling it. The premise of this story went: How did the princess fall in love with the pirate? I had in mind the pirate would be a guy. But she wasn't. I had a lot of fun writing the pirate queen Aaea and the more modest (although not really) princess Isolde's father the King. They make a great comical pairing between the two of them.
Lucy and the Magician is another story (the second story in the anthology) very close to my heart. It took me a while to finish and it's fairly long but very complete in a way. While editing this story, the ending came around (I changed the first draft's ending) and it just fit. It's a story about gifts - and primarily the gift of friendship.
The other stories are Catching Fireflies (You've heard a lot about this one! It's the story that got me my first review back in September!) about a kelpie trying to seduce a girl to join him in the depths of his lake - with a twist. The girl - his prey - has a task to complete under the waves that only a human can do. And it's dangerous.
In the other half of the anthology you'll find the stories more geared towards adults (themes as well as rating of scenes. These stories are a tiny bit more bloody and serious in a mature way than the three above). The Hungry Worlds is a thief's guilty journey into a deep forest to save the village she stole from last. Into the Still Places portrays a war between two races of different worlds in which neither of them wants to give way yet both have to if they are to save their realms. The sixth story, The Path of Lost Souls, is probably the most adult-serious of the whole book. It's more grave than all the others combined (although still not graphic).
Want to give it a try? It's out on Amazon! (PS: don't mind the missing covers. I have faith in KDP that they'll update them eventually!)
Xenos: (creepy science fiction!) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07L6KHNB9
Worlds of Magic: (magic adventure stories!) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07L6KQM28
Have a good night/day! WriteBot.
Friday, November 30, 2018
Art for Seafarer!
Hey everyone!
I wanted to share with you a piece of art that was made for one of my stories:
Seafarer. Seafarer is one of the stories that will be published in Worlds of Magic when it is released on the 7th of December. The story of Seafarer follows a young woman as she tries to find out how her mother fell in love with her partner. It's a tale of how the pirate queen acquired herself a princess. The two main characters are shown on the image!
In a way this post is a character introduction as well. I give you: Aaea and Isolde! (Click to enlarge!)
(by Ngo Hung)
Isn't it pretty?
This story is one of friendship and love and light. It is about mysterious magics and screaming kings and pirates who steal underwear. It's a fun story of adventure as well as deep and insightful into the nature of human relationships.
Excited? It's coming out on the 7th of December! Stay tuned.
WriteBot.
I wanted to share with you a piece of art that was made for one of my stories:
Seafarer. Seafarer is one of the stories that will be published in Worlds of Magic when it is released on the 7th of December. The story of Seafarer follows a young woman as she tries to find out how her mother fell in love with her partner. It's a tale of how the pirate queen acquired herself a princess. The two main characters are shown on the image!
In a way this post is a character introduction as well. I give you: Aaea and Isolde! (Click to enlarge!)
(by Ngo Hung)
Isn't it pretty?
This story is one of friendship and love and light. It is about mysterious magics and screaming kings and pirates who steal underwear. It's a fun story of adventure as well as deep and insightful into the nature of human relationships.
Excited? It's coming out on the 7th of December! Stay tuned.
WriteBot.
Tuesday, November 27, 2018
Xenos and THE OTHER PROJECT
Hey everyone!
As you know, I've been working on edits for several stories that'll go into the Xenos short story collection. I know a lot of you also liked the cover (yay!). Today, I wanted to just quickly update you on Xenos and... surprise you!
Xenos first.
It's been going great. Xenos will be published on the 7th of December. The short stories included are nearly finished with their last edit. I'll of course update you once it's done, but the most important date to keep in mind is December 7th 2018! That's when Xenos comes out on KDP.
BUT that's not all.
Because it's Christmas soon I've decided to release another short story collection at the same time!
Here's the cover!
This collection is very much different from Xenos. Where Xenos focuses a lot on the unknown and scary in combination with cosmic events, Worlds of Magic is a collection of magical and gentle tales of friendships, love, and adventure.
The stories included are:
Lucy and the Magician (a sweet story featuring the tales of many lives)
Seafarer (How did the princess fall in love with the pirate queen?)
The Hungry Worlds (A girl thief trying to atone for stealing a village's most prized sword... but maybe primarily to impress a knight of the all female watch)
Into The Still Places (the prince of a far-away place trying to save not only his world but that of his enemies as well)
The Path of Lost Souls (a boy's trial by maze to survive into adulthood. This one isn't so gentle as the rest.)
Are you hyped yet? You should be. These stories are perfect to read when you're feeling lonely or sad. They're also perfect as a Christmas gift! They will be released on the same day as Xenos - 7th of December - and you can buy them on Amazon once they're out. I'll of course update with a link once it's on there!
That's all about Xenos and Worlds of Magic.
Another update (that doesn't strictly need to be discussed but will discussed anyway): I've been watching The Man in the High Castle (Amazon Prime series) for the last few weeks. At this point I'm almost done with season three and severely disappointed. The first two seasons were great. It all made sense (mostly). But with season three the writers have just failed in their mission to keep watchers hooked. The tension and excitement of the first and second seasons just isn't there. Why? Because the writers failed to raise the stakes after season two. How? I'll explain more in my post about this very topic tomorrow! It's a great case study in what NOT to do when you're writing a series.
For now, good night/day! WriteBot.
As you know, I've been working on edits for several stories that'll go into the Xenos short story collection. I know a lot of you also liked the cover (yay!). Today, I wanted to just quickly update you on Xenos and... surprise you!
Xenos first.
It's been going great. Xenos will be published on the 7th of December. The short stories included are nearly finished with their last edit. I'll of course update you once it's done, but the most important date to keep in mind is December 7th 2018! That's when Xenos comes out on KDP.
BUT that's not all.
Because it's Christmas soon I've decided to release another short story collection at the same time!
Here's the cover!
The stories included are:
Lucy and the Magician (a sweet story featuring the tales of many lives)
Seafarer (How did the princess fall in love with the pirate queen?)
The Hungry Worlds (A girl thief trying to atone for stealing a village's most prized sword... but maybe primarily to impress a knight of the all female watch)
Into The Still Places (the prince of a far-away place trying to save not only his world but that of his enemies as well)
The Path of Lost Souls (a boy's trial by maze to survive into adulthood. This one isn't so gentle as the rest.)
Are you hyped yet? You should be. These stories are perfect to read when you're feeling lonely or sad. They're also perfect as a Christmas gift! They will be released on the same day as Xenos - 7th of December - and you can buy them on Amazon once they're out. I'll of course update with a link once it's on there!
That's all about Xenos and Worlds of Magic.
Another update (that doesn't strictly need to be discussed but will discussed anyway): I've been watching The Man in the High Castle (Amazon Prime series) for the last few weeks. At this point I'm almost done with season three and severely disappointed. The first two seasons were great. It all made sense (mostly). But with season three the writers have just failed in their mission to keep watchers hooked. The tension and excitement of the first and second seasons just isn't there. Why? Because the writers failed to raise the stakes after season two. How? I'll explain more in my post about this very topic tomorrow! It's a great case study in what NOT to do when you're writing a series.
For now, good night/day! WriteBot.
Wednesday, November 21, 2018
Cover Reveal: Xenos
Hey everyone!
This post will be pretty short as it's late and I'm stressed because I have to go to the mouth hygienist again tomorrow. It will be painful and unpleasant so please forgive my lapse. I promise there will be more informative posts again from tomorrow onwards!
All right.
Let's see about that cover!
I promised the reveal would happen in my post two days ago about my current WIP. Xenos is almost finished (only one more story to edit this week!) and will be out on the 7th of December.
Today I wanted to show you the actual cover!
This is how it looks! I'm quite pleased. The idea was that there's spaceships/missiles coming down on a city at sunrise. It's all quite mysterious (just like the anthology itself).
Do you like it? Please comment! I'd love to know what you think!
Also: keep the date in mind! December 7th the anthology will be out! It will contain several short stories at the price of one! The stories include themes in the areas of:
ALIENS
first contact
weird as heck science experiments
ALIENS
cosmic horror
ALIENS
If you like Lovecraft's works... check out Xenos! It's the best in cosmic horror you can get these days!
WriteBot needs to sleep and try not to have nightmares about the mouth hygienist... WriteBot will see you again tomorrow!
This post will be pretty short as it's late and I'm stressed because I have to go to the mouth hygienist again tomorrow. It will be painful and unpleasant so please forgive my lapse. I promise there will be more informative posts again from tomorrow onwards!
All right.
Let's see about that cover!
I promised the reveal would happen in my post two days ago about my current WIP. Xenos is almost finished (only one more story to edit this week!) and will be out on the 7th of December.
Today I wanted to show you the actual cover!
This is how it looks! I'm quite pleased. The idea was that there's spaceships/missiles coming down on a city at sunrise. It's all quite mysterious (just like the anthology itself).
Do you like it? Please comment! I'd love to know what you think!
Also: keep the date in mind! December 7th the anthology will be out! It will contain several short stories at the price of one! The stories include themes in the areas of:
ALIENS
first contact
weird as heck science experiments
ALIENS
cosmic horror
ALIENS
If you like Lovecraft's works... check out Xenos! It's the best in cosmic horror you can get these days!
WriteBot needs to sleep and try not to have nightmares about the mouth hygienist... WriteBot will see you again tomorrow!
Saturday, November 10, 2018
Progress!
Hey everyone!
It's Saturday so here's another post!
I just completed the second-to-last short story edit on my to-do list. Here we go:
Over the last two days this means I've done a lot! I've edited three short stories in the range of 2.5k - 7k words (Out of the Depths, Immortal, Of One Mind). I still feel almost as new! Good to go! I can't wait for tomorrow when I'm going to do Catching Fireflies and (if possible) Eye in the Sky.
I also can't wait to publish my Anthologies. The first one will likely be Worlds of Magic (It has a title! Yey! This is the book of magical stories I had on my 10X list!) and it's really great. It's an amazing adventure (I'm biased) and you should all read it!
On the other side of the coin that is World of Magic, which is pleasant and magical, there is Of One Mind. This actually took me a while because it's so... disturbing really. It's almost up there with Lovecraft (although it's human-made and not cosmic horror) and it will really give you the creeps when you read it. I love it, and I'm disturbed by it, and it draws upon all these lovely emotions I wanted to pull in readers. In one word, it's creepy!
If you like creepy experiments in abandoned biolabs, this is for you!
All right. It's time to actually go outside (haven't done that in two days) and face the world!
WriteBot out. I'll update you once Worlds of Magic is out! (And earlier with more posts on theme and goal-setting, of course!)
Have a good evening! Bleep-Bloop!
It's Saturday so here's another post!
I just completed the second-to-last short story edit on my to-do list. Here we go:
- editing the fairy tale Catching Fireflies.
editing Of One Mindediting Immortal (yes, this is a new item!)- editing Eye in the Sky
Over the last two days this means I've done a lot! I've edited three short stories in the range of 2.5k - 7k words (Out of the Depths, Immortal, Of One Mind). I still feel almost as new! Good to go! I can't wait for tomorrow when I'm going to do Catching Fireflies and (if possible) Eye in the Sky.
I also can't wait to publish my Anthologies. The first one will likely be Worlds of Magic (It has a title! Yey! This is the book of magical stories I had on my 10X list!) and it's really great. It's an amazing adventure (I'm biased) and you should all read it!
On the other side of the coin that is World of Magic, which is pleasant and magical, there is Of One Mind. This actually took me a while because it's so... disturbing really. It's almost up there with Lovecraft (although it's human-made and not cosmic horror) and it will really give you the creeps when you read it. I love it, and I'm disturbed by it, and it draws upon all these lovely emotions I wanted to pull in readers. In one word, it's creepy!
If you like creepy experiments in abandoned biolabs, this is for you!
All right. It's time to actually go outside (haven't done that in two days) and face the world!
WriteBot out. I'll update you once Worlds of Magic is out! (And earlier with more posts on theme and goal-setting, of course!)
Have a good evening! Bleep-Bloop!
Thursday, December 21, 2017
A long hiatus... but I have good news!
I know I haven't posted in a while. I'm sorry. I'll be trying to post more but I didn't want to spam y'all with useless posts. If I have nothing to say I'd rather shut up most of the time. (Unless it's an argument I need to win!!!!)
Anyway! I wanted to take the time to list some accomplishments before the new years starts and you're all welcome to participate/tell me about yours! (PS: this blog will turn more informal than it has been.)
So.
What have I done this year?
1. I've finished the third draft of my post-apocalyptic dinosaur and cyborg book. This is great news because it means only one more draft and it's done! I'll be sending it out to agents (and publishers in some cases) and hope someone takes it! My beta reader has also been very positive about this book so that makes me double happy.
2. I wrote about three short stories. I've sent one to the New Yorker because it applies to the real world (strangely enough) and is about a popular current topic (children's privacy on the internet/especially concerning pictures). I'm pretty sure they won't want it but hey! Worth a try anyway. I'll probably be putting it into a collection on amazon soon. It's called KIDNAPPING SKY.
3. I have three wonderful covers on three of my short stories! I love them and they're done by the very talented Hannah Hilton (link to follow shortly).
Here they are:
also following shortly with amazon link
4. I've also read 30 books of my 53 book goal! I'd hoped to do more but am not terribly disappointed. 30 is good. 52 would be better but I did my best and it just wasn't possible. I'll try again in the New Year! :)
That's it from me folks. How about you?
PS: Merry Christmas! It's only three more days!
Anyway! I wanted to take the time to list some accomplishments before the new years starts and you're all welcome to participate/tell me about yours! (PS: this blog will turn more informal than it has been.)
So.
What have I done this year?
1. I've finished the third draft of my post-apocalyptic dinosaur and cyborg book. This is great news because it means only one more draft and it's done! I'll be sending it out to agents (and publishers in some cases) and hope someone takes it! My beta reader has also been very positive about this book so that makes me double happy.
2. I wrote about three short stories. I've sent one to the New Yorker because it applies to the real world (strangely enough) and is about a popular current topic (children's privacy on the internet/especially concerning pictures). I'm pretty sure they won't want it but hey! Worth a try anyway. I'll probably be putting it into a collection on amazon soon. It's called KIDNAPPING SKY.
3. I have three wonderful covers on three of my short stories! I love them and they're done by the very talented Hannah Hilton (link to follow shortly).
Here they are:
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| On Amazon! |
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| On Amazon! |
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| On Amazon! |
4. I've also read 30 books of my 53 book goal! I'd hoped to do more but am not terribly disappointed. 30 is good. 52 would be better but I did my best and it just wasn't possible. I'll try again in the New Year! :)
That's it from me folks. How about you?
PS: Merry Christmas! It's only three more days!
Wednesday, August 17, 2016
(Bonus-ish post!) Novels VS Short Stories
Hello there!
This week's (second! Bonus-ish?) post will be about short stories and their advantage over novels/why they're good writing practice.
Here we go!
I recently planned an epic fantasy story/novel. It was good enough in the planning: cool characters, an intricate plot, a cool setting somewhere between fantasy and sci-fi... etc. But when it came to writing it I got to 40k words... and then realized it didn't work. 9/10 of the characters were zzzZzZz and the plot was tedious in itself. I deleted a lot of words (~34k)... and turned it into a short story instead. It works much better now though it still isn't done yet. The point is: the idea I was trying to convey didn't need three main characters and 5 supporting characters each. It didn't need three main plot threads (which were extremely annoying and tedious to come up with and way too intricate to ever make sense) and a million locations all over the map.
This leads me to my next point:
Do you know the main reason why short stories are so beautiful? (which is also why most people - especially authors - don't take them as seriously?)
* they're short.
This means you can focus on one (or max two) ideas to develop and you don't have to derp around endlessly trying to decide what the best scene for every of your plot thread (say: redemption or revenge or... any of these pesky 'themes' you hear so much about) would be. You can focus on one issue...
*and in many ways this is harder.
Writing good short stories is really hard. I'll give you my own as an example. I write about a short story a week... but not all of them are good and I don't have the patience to edit most of them. This means they're kind of... forgotten easily. The real good ones are usually shorts from one or other 'big project' I'm working on.
So why are short stories so hard?
a) they're short (yes. I've said this already. Let's go back to that first * for a bit.)
*You don't have as much space to develop an idea.
*You don't have any second chances to re-introduce characters and their motivations if they don't entirely work in the first scene scene. The introduction must be done neatly and can't contradict itself as much as a novel protagonist's personality and goals might.
*You have to be precise - very precise... and did I mention coherent? Everything you say and everything cool detail of worldbuilding or character-building or... otherwise needs to be relevant to the story.
b) they're not taken as seriously as longer works -such as novels (but this is only relevant if you care about making money/publishing them)
Why are they not taken as seriously as novels? I think - and this is purely my opinion without much research behind it - this is because they are HARD. They are hard to write and they're (often) difficult to understand (though if the author has ANY idea at all what they're doing they should be clearer than a novel.). They're hard to write because they're so condensed. There's no space to make a mistake as in a 90k novel. They're a lot like film scripts in that way.
Then why are short stories so great?
*they force you to focus
*they're great practice (whether it's about character development, setting, motivation, or goals in general). They're the singlemost great medium in which you can really learn how to write a great book and to make your writing excellent. They force you to sharpen your prose and your style and (most importantly) your thoughts. You can't waste a single word when you're writing a short story. And you'll learn what every scene's purpose is in detail.
*they're easy and quick to read whenever (whether you're traveling to work or getting bored of playing video games...)
*they contain a single important thought that can be absorbed in a very short time and (if the story is well-written) will subconsciously tell you something about humanity (pesky theme cropping up yet again!) or some other issue (also theme) that you didn't know before.
*they're perfect if you don't have a lot of time to read (which makes them highly accessible to many many people... if only they gave it a chance)
Does this make sense? I hope you know more about why short stories are so great now!
However... there is a caveat. I have to give you a little warning about short stories: while they're great to learn the craft (you can learn ANY aspect through writing short stories... except perhaps how to write long projects) they're not as desirable as novels. This has many reasons (which are listed on many other websites) and I'm not going to go into it. Bottom line? Novels are easier to sell than short stories if you're in it for the money/the publishability of your projects.
I hope this helped and you learned something from this post! Have a relaxing second half of the week!
J.M.
This week's (second! Bonus-ish?) post will be about short stories and their advantage over novels/why they're good writing practice.
Here we go!
I recently planned an epic fantasy story/novel. It was good enough in the planning: cool characters, an intricate plot, a cool setting somewhere between fantasy and sci-fi... etc. But when it came to writing it I got to 40k words... and then realized it didn't work. 9/10 of the characters were zzzZzZz and the plot was tedious in itself. I deleted a lot of words (~34k)... and turned it into a short story instead. It works much better now though it still isn't done yet. The point is: the idea I was trying to convey didn't need three main characters and 5 supporting characters each. It didn't need three main plot threads (which were extremely annoying and tedious to come up with and way too intricate to ever make sense) and a million locations all over the map.
This leads me to my next point:
Do you know the main reason why short stories are so beautiful? (which is also why most people - especially authors - don't take them as seriously?)
* they're short.
This means you can focus on one (or max two) ideas to develop and you don't have to derp around endlessly trying to decide what the best scene for every of your plot thread (say: redemption or revenge or... any of these pesky 'themes' you hear so much about) would be. You can focus on one issue...
*and in many ways this is harder.
Writing good short stories is really hard. I'll give you my own as an example. I write about a short story a week... but not all of them are good and I don't have the patience to edit most of them. This means they're kind of... forgotten easily. The real good ones are usually shorts from one or other 'big project' I'm working on.
So why are short stories so hard?
a) they're short (yes. I've said this already. Let's go back to that first * for a bit.)
*You don't have as much space to develop an idea.
*You don't have any second chances to re-introduce characters and their motivations if they don't entirely work in the first scene scene. The introduction must be done neatly and can't contradict itself as much as a novel protagonist's personality and goals might.
*You have to be precise - very precise... and did I mention coherent? Everything you say and everything cool detail of worldbuilding or character-building or... otherwise needs to be relevant to the story.
b) they're not taken as seriously as longer works -such as novels (but this is only relevant if you care about making money/publishing them)
Why are they not taken as seriously as novels? I think - and this is purely my opinion without much research behind it - this is because they are HARD. They are hard to write and they're (often) difficult to understand (though if the author has ANY idea at all what they're doing they should be clearer than a novel.). They're hard to write because they're so condensed. There's no space to make a mistake as in a 90k novel. They're a lot like film scripts in that way.
Then why are short stories so great?
*they force you to focus
*they're great practice (whether it's about character development, setting, motivation, or goals in general). They're the singlemost great medium in which you can really learn how to write a great book and to make your writing excellent. They force you to sharpen your prose and your style and (most importantly) your thoughts. You can't waste a single word when you're writing a short story. And you'll learn what every scene's purpose is in detail.
*they're easy and quick to read whenever (whether you're traveling to work or getting bored of playing video games...)
*they contain a single important thought that can be absorbed in a very short time and (if the story is well-written) will subconsciously tell you something about humanity (pesky theme cropping up yet again!) or some other issue (also theme) that you didn't know before.
*they're perfect if you don't have a lot of time to read (which makes them highly accessible to many many people... if only they gave it a chance)
Does this make sense? I hope you know more about why short stories are so great now!
However... there is a caveat. I have to give you a little warning about short stories: while they're great to learn the craft (you can learn ANY aspect through writing short stories... except perhaps how to write long projects) they're not as desirable as novels. This has many reasons (which are listed on many other websites) and I'm not going to go into it. Bottom line? Novels are easier to sell than short stories if you're in it for the money/the publishability of your projects.
I hope this helped and you learned something from this post! Have a relaxing second half of the week!
J.M.
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