Nevermind

As you may or may not have noticed, I have re-added my Kindle store above. And if you click it, you'll see that all of my stories are available again. Why did I do this? Because I done goofed.

After doing some research, I have found that the majority of markets (paying and not) do not want reprints. So, my idea of shopping those stories around was ill-conceived from the beginning. I could have saved myself the trouble by researching first, before jumping the gun and unpublishing (and I'm sure there are a few of you nodding and thinking "I could have told you so"). Ah well, lesson learned, I suppose.

So, I have re-published everything. And, aside from the collection of the three stories, I have set them all at $.99 each. Will I publish anything else there? I dunno. Maybe sequels to the stuff that is already there, if I get them written. Otherwise, anything new will be shopped around as much as possible to actual markets.

This whole thing did revive an idea I have kicked around for years: starting my own magazine. Many years ago, when I was a fresh-faced young man with absolutely no writing experience, I had this weird idea of starting my own fiction magazine. I wanted to revive the old idea of the pulp fiction magazines that had given Robert E. Howard a place for his voice. Apparently I was about twenty years too soon with this idea.

Well, nowadays a new print magazine probably wouldn't be very successful (unless it was POD), and even an eZine would probably struggle. There's a lot of them out there, so the competition is fierce. Add to that the fact that I wouldn't be able to afford to pay for the stories...well, you can imagine the difficulties. Still, it's a fun exercise in imagination.

Of course there is the idea of an independent gaming magazine. One of the bloggers I follow is putting out one that has a lot of info about a game setting that sounds pretty cool. And that got me to thinking about that.

Eh, I think I'll just stick to working on the long fiction projects I have in mind, and maybe some shorts as they come to me.

Details, details, details

In my latest (or rather, current) fiction project, I have a document that I am calling a “series bible.” It’s where I have begun noting as many details as come to mind for the story. I have one-paragraph descriptions of each of my main protagonists, including physical descriptions, modes of dress, and personal quirks. I also have a description of the setting, including details about races and worlds and such (it’s the Science Fantasy story I have mentioned before).

And after all of that, I started writing a paragraph outline for the story (where each chapter gets a 3-4 sentence paragraph). I’ve gotten about ten chapters detailed in. They’ll probably be short chapters, generally, which I think helps the story move along faster. There’s something about reading thirty pages before getting to a chapter break that makes the book feel sluggish. I’m sure it’s a psychological thing, but I find when I read books that do that, I mentally say “I would have put a chapter break there.”

Anyways, I got to a point where I suddenly had to step back and ask “Why is that happening?” Specifically, why did the villain do that thing? And that’s when it suddenly occurred to me that I had not written much from the villain’s point of view. In all of the chapters I had outlined, only one detailed specific actions on the villain’s part. And that was only as a set up for the heroes to come in to his plot.

And this revelation made me realize that I didn’t really even know who my villain was! Now that I look back, this seems like a pretty stupid mistake. Why would I detail only one side of the cast? So, I spent a good chunk of time writing two pages about the main villain, his motivations, and detailing the main plot point. This was awesome, as it made me do some real thinking about plot and story structure, and how all of the various elements that I had included because they sounded cool are tied together.

You know, I may able to do this whole “book” thing after all!

Step back and breathe

My class is done. Three days early, even. My essay was actually pretty easy to write. Three pages in about three hours. I wish I could get that kind of output from my fiction-writing. Hrm, there’s an interesting tactic. “Assign” myself a chapter or portion of a story, with a deadline and everything. Something to think about.

For now, I am taking a breath, so to speak. My next term starts on February 3rd. So, I have just over a week with no academic obligations. Whatever shall I do?

Write more, for certain. It’s not a lot of time, but it should be enough to finish the outline for the Sci-Fan book. Maybe even start some of the narrative. This one brings me to some familiar territory, but with a slightly different take. Basically, it involves a strong female character, much like the few I have done in some of my short stories. But this one is a bit more “masculine” in nature, according to modern standards. So, my quandary will be how to make her a strong, somewhat masculine woman, without making her a “man with tits.” Of course, it helps that she is an Orc, so there will be some racial leeway for the reader there.

I’m also going to step away from the xBox and Netflix a bit, and read more. I want to finish this L’Amour book (it’s getting pretty interesting now), at the very least. I really wish I read faster. But, I don’t. Which is probably why I shy away from doorstopper novels. It’s such an investment of time that I invariably forget plot points as I work my way through them. Fortunately, my “to read” shelves have a ton of shorter, one-shot novels. Including about 80 unread Mack Bolan novels, should the mood strike me.

As much as I want to step back from working on RPG material, I still find myself tinkering with the few things I have written. My most recent jaunt is an update of sorts for the old Marvel Super Heroes RPG from TSR (thank you Scott Oden for the wonderful gift of your old yellow boxed set!). Right now, it’s basically a playable game of about 20 pages. The focus has been moved from dice-rolling to narrative judgment calls, by both the players and the Referee. Anyways, I talk more about that kind of stuff on my gaming blog.

Speaking of super heroes, I find myself filling those short periods of not knowing what to watch, and not being able to work on anything else, with watching cartoons on Netflix. Right now I am working through the Ultimate Spider-Man series. It’s pretty fun. It draws (obviously) from the Ultimate Universe, so a lot of the characters are different than what I am used to from the comics. But the new takes are pretty cool. It’s a good super hero show, but with a touch of goofy kiddy-show thrown in for laughs (Peter Parker often breaks the fourth wall, and talks to the camera, ala Deadpool). Highly recommended for some fun breaks from more “serious” fare.

And finally, I am looking at some health and fitness changes. Right now I am concentrating on developing better eating habits, since exercise is difficult at best in a crowded house when it’s so cold outside. Once it warms up, I will be buying some cheap, makeshift exercise equipment (since my barbell and dumbells were stolen from my back porch a few months ago). I also plan to buy a punching bag stand. A friend gave me his old 90-lb bag, but I now have nowhere to hang it. Would love to have something to beat the crap out of. Since, ya know, they frown on doing that to your co-workers and kids.

Odds & Ends Talk

Not much going on lately. I’m in finals week, so I have until Sunday night to write an essay for my class on the Byzantine Empire. Then it’s a week off of school before I dig into the Middle Ages. So far, without even turning in my final, I have a C in the class. Technically, I can’t fail. Although a C gets me an academic warning (I’ve only gotten one in Grad School). So, even though I will put my best effort into it, I can relax a bit as the pressure is not so great.

In other news, as if I didn’t have enough to read already, Fight Card has an anthology out today for $1.99 at Amazon. Iron Head & Other Stories is a collection of fight stories by some pretty big names in the new pulp world. Aside from the regulars who already contribute to the awesome series of novellas, one story in this anthology is by my close, personal friend (and by “close, personal friend” I mean we communicate through Facebook, and I follow his blog), that scholar of all things Robert E. Howard, and Wannabe Gorilla Grodd, Mark Finn. I’ll be buying this soon. And you should do the same. It’s for a good cause. Plus, it’s fight fiction. That should be reason enough.

Speaking of anthologies, I always hear my writer friends talking about how they were invited to contribute to one. I’ve been invited to a couple that sadly didn’t pan out. I can’t wait until I get “famous” enough to be invited to one by an actual publisher. Not that I don’t appreciate Scott’s invites. I really do. Both times it has inspired me to produce some really good writing. So, that’s pretty cool.

What am I reading? Well, I just finished The Burning Hills, and I was going to pick up a fantasy novel next. But, I found myself still on my Western kick. So, I sifted through my book shelf, and found my small stash of L’Amours. I took out one entitled Lando (Sackett, not Calrissian). It’s pretty good, though a bit wordy, but not in the Kanye West sense. It’s in first person, and the narrator, Lando, kind of goes off on tangents. Not nearly as bad as Tolkien or Clancy, but noticeable. Still, I’m liking the story, and I’m eagerly anticipating the action that the blurb promises (boxing in a Mexican prison).

I’ve managed to watch a few movies that I missed recently, as well as some new DTV actioners. Skyfall was awesome. Very different than previous Bond films, very gritty, and very cerebral. And the end just wraps it up with a fanboy bow.

Olympus Has Fallen delivers exactly what a “Die Hard Clone” should. Good action, evil villains, and a hero you can cheer for. Oh, and quippy one-liners. Gerard Butler: Man-crush confirmed.

Ninja II – Shadow of a Tear cements Scott Adkins as one of my favorite actors. He’s got good acting chops and a really strong screen presence. Especially when he is kicking the shit out of people. Highly recommended popcorn viewing with heart and soul. Plus, this one has Kane Kosugi. You know, the son of Sho Kosugi? If you don’t know that name…why are we even friends?

And that’s about it for today. See ya!

The State of Things

Well, I finished my research paper on Friday, despite being distracted by some family drama. I reviewed it for formatting and errors on Saturday, then sent it along to my prof. I had a brief bout of anxiety over possible plagiarism charges. When I find a source that describes what I need, I tend to copy the text, paste it into my word doc, then edit it for content (taking out what I don’t need, and adding in bits that I found elsewhere), and then re-wording it to fit my writing and make it say what I want it to say. Sometimes I worry that I don’t change enough.

But then it opens a whole can of “What’s the difference between plagiarism and citing other peoples’ research anyway?” It’s a complex issue, and one I hate even thinking about. In my opinion, plagiarism isn’t nearly the crime people make it out to be, as long as you are citing your sources. But, then again, I don’t work in academia, I just take classes. And I think this whole idea detracts from the main focus of taking classes. You know, to learn stuff.

Anyways, now that that’s done and over, I have to get caught up on my weekly posts. Then next week is my Final essay exam. And then it’s a week off from school! Which reminds me, I need to register for my next class soon.

Been doing some reading as I can lately. A few weeks ago, Charles Gramlich mentioned on his blog some books he likes, and one was a Louis L’Amour book. I decided I really needed to read more westerns, and since I respect Charles’ opinion on such things, I figured I would get that one. Well, I couldn’t find a copy at the book store. But, being the book-o-phile I am, I couldn’t walk out empty-handed. So, I bought a different L’Amour western, The Burning Hills (which was apparently made into a movie in 1956). It’s a slim 150 pages of a good, old-fashioned chase through the desert with interesting characters. I’m enjoying it a lot, though sometimes I get confused about who each character is. But, that’s probably more due to my reading habits than the book itself. Suffice it to say, I’m looking forward to seeing how the whole drama plays out.

Also been reading some graphic novels. Lately I have been obsessed with the Marvel character known as U.S.Agent. So, this weekend I got a collection from the Siege storyline featuring the Mighty Avengers, who had U.S.Agent in their roster at the time. Well, he wasn’t that big a player, but the story was good. And now I want to get all of the other Siege collections, so I can get the full story. Fortunately my local library has an extensive Graphic Novel section.

Haven’t been doing any fiction writing lately, but I have plans to get going on that soon. Still going to focus on long-form for now. Starting with a science-fantasy book that should be fun. More on that later.

Closing up Shop

No, not this blog. My Kindle store. As I mentioned in passing in a previous post, I was considering un-publishing my fiction from Kindle and submitting them to paying markets. Well, I have now decided to move forward with this idea.

To that end, I will be taking the stories down at the end of this weekend. I’ll go through each one, do some edits and revisions, and maybe flesh some of them out a bit. Then I’ll start shopping them around to paying markets. It’s time for me to put on my big-boy underwear and try to make it as a “real” writer.

At least until I’m a household name.

I know that some of my stories have left people hanging, and that there is more to be told about the characters. My plan is to continue those stories in one way or another. Most likely, I will expand on the stories and try to work them out to be novel-length. The stories about Gortek and Pekra will most likely get a few more short story sequels that, when read all together, tell a complete narrative. I’ll shop that around as well, but they may end up in a self-published anthology down the road. Who knows?

The bottom line is, I have a hard time taking myself seriously, because I haven’t taken writing seriously. That needs to change. And it looks like 2014 is the year I will do it.

Anyways, if you have been on the fence about buying any of my Kindles, now’s the time to get them. After Sunday, January 5th, they won’t be available there anymore.

First!

Yesterday I sat down to do a "last blog" for 2013, but I just wasn't feeling it.  This morning I come here to find that most of my friends did do theirs, and now I feel like a slacker.  So, instead I am going to do a first blog post of the year .

2014 is going to be great!  That's the closest to making a resolution I am going to get.  How am I going to make it great?  Well, I plan to concentrate on writing some more, and that will focus mainly on longer fiction projects.  I really want to know what it feels like to write a book-length work to completion.

My focus at first will be a science-fantasy project that struck a chord with me, and demands some follow-through.  I have a basic plot, and am working on a outline.  I have several pages of notes, with more expansion needed to really fill the world out.

To that end, I probably won't be self-publishing any short stories this year, unless I write something that just won't fit anywhere.  And on that note, I am considering un-publishing my stories from Kindle, polishing them up, and marketing them to publications that accept reprints.  Not sure how that will work out, but it's an idea.

I will probably write less RPG-related stuff, unless something truly amazing comes along (like if some company asks me to write something).  I don't get to play as much as I'd like, and the stuff I do get to play is someone else's work, so what's the point?  I liked the feeling I got when others bought and used my stuff last year, but it was fleeting, and served as just a distraction.  Though I am thinking about shopping a couple of things I have written around to see if a company would buy them.

I'm also going to (try to) buy less books, and read more of what I own.  I have shelves of good stuff to read, and I really need to get on them.

I won't finish school this year, but by the end, I will be very close.  What happens after that is anyone's guess right now.

Many pieces will be falling into place on the financial front, so maybe 2014 won't be so stressful come bill-paying time.  We still won't be able to buy a house until 2015, but in the meantime we can get things in order.

All in all, 2014 promises to be a better year than 2013.  And for that, I am glad.