Welcome to the New Year!
Hello all, it has been awhile! At least since I posted anything here. If you are a regular visitor to this site, you know that for the most part it has always just been a hub. All my posts have always been over on Story Arcs (the tab up there next to news). That’s going to change going forward. First, an explanation. I am an author, I published my first book Sorcerer Rising Aug. 12, 2013. I did it myself, self publishing through KDP. When I started Story Arcs I didn’t really know what I wanted to do with it but it quickly became a collection of publishing information, both as a way to seek info from the WordPress verse but also so I could help those looking for info themselves. As that continue, and because I just can’t keep quiet about things I enjoy, it also began to include…
Sorcerer Rising is Live!
You know, I made this news page and then failed to announce that…. That’s partly because I have the blog. I’ve been writing all about Sorcerer Rising over there. If you want more info, behind the scenes, or any of my other rantings either click that tab that says blog or click here. Also, if you are interested in checking out Sorcerer Rising, it is on Amazon for 2.99.
Editing, Covered in Editing, With a Side of Editing
Sunday night I finished editing the 44th page of my weekend goal. I didn’t do double or a hundred like I hoped, but I got my planned goal taken care of and I was satisfied. I have 113 of my 308 pages completed, with a month and a half left to get the rest done. At 44 pages a weekend and 10 on a day during the week, that will take about three and a half weeks, ending in July, with two weeks for a final run through. Honestly, I want more time to do a final line by line spelling/grammar check, as well as formatting for publication. I know I’m underestimating that by tenfold and will need every ounce of time I can muster up to complete it. (I just used tenfold and muster in the same sentence. Remind me to discuss Naomi Novik’s His Majesty’s Dragon and how…
The First Chapter
Anne R. Allen put a post a few a week or so back (I am so glad to be caught up on Feedly now…) that discusses what all should be involved in a first chapter. The moment I saw it, I groaned. Here we go, something else to tear everything I think I know to ribbons. But I read it, because this was a new blog I added to my reader, and I nee to get a feel for it, and much as I didn’t want to admit it, these types of posts are important. Nothing is concrete, but the thing about being a new writer, one who hasn’t written for anyone I wasn’t related or married to, is not having the ability to gauge what is concrete and what is quicksand. I think I know my stuff, but who knows what that will mean to readers? And the first sentence, paragragh,…
Violence In Fantasy
Adam Callaway at A Dribble of Ink has a great article that dissects violence, particularly in relation to fantasy. He makes some great points (especially using BioShock 3 where the violence there is ridiculous). The entire time I read it, I was trying to think of novels I loved that didn’t employ violence. I have a few, but none of them are fantasy. And it got me thinking about my own story. In the first novel, Sorcerer Rising, I have a good bit of violence. I think of it as action, but really, that’s how we as a society put a nicer label on violence. That’s not really a problem for me, I’ve always handled that rather well and I think it has a point. Virgil isn’t dark or an anti-hero, but his reaction to horrible things is to throw a whole bunch of horrible right back at it. Very rarely…