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Author Craft / Re: Anyone here dealt with Pro Se Press?
« on: May 19, 2014, 11:24:33 PM »
How long have they been around?
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Author Craft / Re: Anyone here dealt with Pro Se Press?
« on: May 19, 2014, 04:27:08 PM »
I suggest checking out "Preditors and Editors" and "Writer Beware," they do a pretty good job of compiling problem-houses & agents.
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Author Craft / Re: Character Development - Chicken or Egg Approach
« on: May 18, 2014, 11:32:02 PM »
I tweaked the layout a little to make it easier to read... Not sure I'm fit to teach a workshop, just pointing out how my own process varies. My characters are the boss of me. They even talk their way out of the Red Shirt by convincing me they have great stand-alone stories of their own, and that *other* character looks sooooo good in red...
In any case, thanks for the kind words! Gotta warn you, Shai and Zeddie only appear briefly in The Terror of Twelvety Town. Shai's scenes are brief, and Zeddie's are brief, but critical. (She gets to do my Conan-style grand ass whupping.) Kadien doesn't appear in that one, but he has a lot of screen time in the next novella, Valorous Daughter.
In any case, thanks for the kind words! Gotta warn you, Shai and Zeddie only appear briefly in The Terror of Twelvety Town. Shai's scenes are brief, and Zeddie's are brief, but critical. (She gets to do my Conan-style grand ass whupping.) Kadien doesn't appear in that one, but he has a lot of screen time in the next novella, Valorous Daughter.
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Author Craft / Re: Arting Harder at the Pen Monkey Toiling Pit (Celebrate Them Pages Pt III)
« on: May 12, 2014, 10:20:29 PM »
Editing. Forever editing. But Valorous Daughter is pretty much ready to go, just waiting for the cover art. Been doing clean ups and revisions of the actual novel, A Kiss for Damocles, and I've expanded a few scenes. That counts as writing, doesn't it? Please... someone tell me that counts...
(Yeah, I'm going crazy wanting to start the next book, but I gotta get this one out the door first or I'll never, ever quite editing.)
(Yeah, I'm going crazy wanting to start the next book, but I gotta get this one out the door first or I'll never, ever quite editing.)
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Author Craft / Re: Tools for Writers
« on: May 12, 2014, 10:06:13 PM »
It was like 30 bucks when I got it, might be up to 40. Pretty compact and efficient program. Dropbox is free.
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Author Craft / Re: Tools for Writers
« on: May 11, 2014, 12:27:38 AM »I read this post a while back, and I can't tell you how much it helped me. I'd only worked on short stories before, and wanted to work on a book. Doing it with MSWord was looking like a headache, so I came here to see what others used. I checked out Scrivener, used it for the trial period, and have been hooked ever since.
I'm still working on the book, and Scrivener (for the PC) has been a tremendous help. I love the layout, and the way the manuscript works, it makes everything easy. I've got character templates set up, and the story broken into different acts/folders with a new text page for each chapter.
If anyone is just getting started, I'd recommend taking a look at Scrivener. It's probably not for everyone, but I'm fairly disorganized, and its helped keep me going.
I've been preaching gospel on Scrivener to everyone I know on facebook. Seriously... that program has saved me soooo much grief, between backing up every 5 seconds and letting me instantly compile a manuscript into kindle, nook, or any other format... can't recommend it enough.
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Author Craft / Re: Character Development - Chicken or Egg Approach
« on: May 11, 2014, 12:25:21 AM »
We need a button for "All of the above." Seriously... I'll often think I have the character fleshed out, locked down tight and solid. But as I write the character's dialogue, sometimes they'll spin off in a different direction. Not just in terms of personality, but even in physical description. For example, First Rider Kadien Jess started out like
As he got more lines, I kept hearing Michael Clarke Duncan reading them and my mental image shifted to
By the time the first draft was complete, Kadien Jess had settled into
Now, his basic personality and role in the story didn't change, but the voice and the mental image that came with it evolved through the course of the books.
Other characters have stayed exactly the way I first envisioned them; they haven't changed in the slightest.
Zeddie has pretty much always been
and since the character concept was conceived, Shaifennen Roehe's always been
Pretty distinctive look and feel for each of those characters, but some of them have evolved and morphed from something so far from the original mental image that physically they have no resemblance to the original, and while retaining the core personality, the mannerisms and voice have changed. Others are solid and concrete. About the only change Shaifennen has seen is the thing she does with her hair. (She thinks it makes her less short.)
I find it all quite confusing.
As he got more lines, I kept hearing Michael Clarke Duncan reading them and my mental image shifted to
By the time the first draft was complete, Kadien Jess had settled into
Now, his basic personality and role in the story didn't change, but the voice and the mental image that came with it evolved through the course of the books.
Other characters have stayed exactly the way I first envisioned them; they haven't changed in the slightest.
Zeddie has pretty much always been
and since the character concept was conceived, Shaifennen Roehe's always been
Pretty distinctive look and feel for each of those characters, but some of them have evolved and morphed from something so far from the original mental image that physically they have no resemblance to the original, and while retaining the core personality, the mannerisms and voice have changed. Others are solid and concrete. About the only change Shaifennen has seen is the thing she does with her hair. (She thinks it makes her less short.)
I find it all quite confusing.
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Author Craft / Re: Arting Harder at the Pen Monkey Toiling Pit (Celebrate Them Pages Pt III)
« on: March 12, 2014, 09:57:20 PM »
My artist's bunged-up shoulder's finally mending up, so she'll be finishing the cover for Valorous Daughter fairly soon. That novella's about ready to go to e-press. In the meantime, I'm polishing up the novel A Kiss For Damocles and shuffling my meager collection of short stories from slush pile to slush pile.
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Author Craft / Re: Bad Guys
« on: February 01, 2014, 02:57:35 AM »
Something that's always fun is to take a character like Aral Vorkosigan or Simon Illyan... and put them on the other side.
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Author Craft / Re: Arting Harder at the Pen Monkey Toiling Pit (Celebrate Them Pages Pt III)
« on: January 31, 2014, 02:03:11 AM »
It will gleam the purest gold, like Mark Twain's tears.
The part of the draft is stuff I wrote over 100,000 words ago... I'm spotting a good many flaws and problems I didn't realize were flaws and problems at the time. Tense, telling, and some chunks of exposition that can be cut entirely. It's coming together though. Kind of like returning to a model kit you gave up on as a kid. Suddenly how to do it right makes sense.
The part of the draft is stuff I wrote over 100,000 words ago... I'm spotting a good many flaws and problems I didn't realize were flaws and problems at the time. Tense, telling, and some chunks of exposition that can be cut entirely. It's coming together though. Kind of like returning to a model kit you gave up on as a kid. Suddenly how to do it right makes sense.
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Author Craft / Re: Arting Harder at the Pen Monkey Toiling Pit (Celebrate Them Pages Pt III)
« on: January 31, 2014, 01:51:07 AM »
No choice though... A lot of unnecessary and redundant exposition in that first chapter... gotta dig the polish out of the turd.
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Author Craft / Re: Arting Harder at the Pen Monkey Toiling Pit (Celebrate Them Pages Pt III)
« on: January 31, 2014, 12:23:37 AM »For some reason the thread was locked before I could up in the (55k - Falon II) for yesterday!
Plus, what's up with the new name PG?!
I'll post again later today after I've got some words pounded out. This sequel won't write itself.
The Deposed King
Had an attack of Dread Whimsy. It's all the editing. Makes my thinking parts gooey.
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Author Craft / Re: Arting Harder at the Pen Monkey Toiling Pit (Celebrate Them Pages Pt III)
« on: January 31, 2014, 12:22:24 AM »probably won't have anything to post here until tomorrow, i just wanted to say I like your title.
All part of the service!
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Author Craft / Arting Harder at the Pen Monkey Toiling Pit (Celebrate Them Pages Pt III)
« on: January 30, 2014, 07:40:43 PM »
Part 3 of "Celebrate the pages you've written.
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Author Craft / Re: Bad Guys
« on: January 24, 2014, 02:01:46 AM »
And then there's that creepy S.O.B. from "No Country For Old Men"...