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January 15, 2015
“‘Every book is a miracle,’ Bill said. ‘Every book represents a moment when someone sat quietly — and that quiet is part of the miracle, make no mistake — and tried to tell us the rest of the story.” – The Tender Bar, by J. R. Moehringer Much ink has been spilled about how our attention spans are shrinking. There are so many things happening, and so many distractions—the thinking goes—we can’t focus anymore. How is the noble book supposed to...
November 17, 2014
When I look at the other fantasy novels at Amazon or other bookstores, I’m filled with hope. Not because they’re bad, but because what I’ve written is different. What I noticed today had to do with tone. So many English-language fantasy novels are so serious, but not mine. Its tone is notably lighter. I like banter, I like adventure, and I like to occasionally laugh while I read a book! So that’s what I wrote. There are serious scenes too, but it’s deeply rooted...
November 6, 2014
“Don’t you think that that’s why we ended up here [on TV]? It takes a slight delusion … to believe that what I have to say is worthy of people sitting there and paying money to listen to.” “That seems natural to me.” “It does to me too, but I don’t think it seems natural to everybody else.” -Jason Segel and Stephen Colbert, The Colbert Report, 9-9-14 I’ve always thought it was the height of arrogance to want to write. Who am I...
September 4, 2014
September is going to be a busy month. Rather than sitting around, writing about anime, preparing the season preview, and finishing my book, I’m going to try to do all of those really fast, because Stilts is going on vacation! I’ve got two overseas trips planned, one for work (blegh), and one for fun (yay!). If any of you happen to be in Munich at the end of the month, and you happen to see a ridiculously tall blond man at Oktoberfest yammering about something nerdy...
July 16, 2014
“…pick none. That’s the work that’s worth doing.” –Seth Godin What this tells me is that I’m doing work that’s worth doing right now. Writing this book has been neither fast, nor easy, nor is it guaranteed to succeed. What else this tells me is that as soon as my writing is any of those things, I need to reach further. Especially easy. If it gets too easy, I’m not pushing myself hard enough to tell even better stories than I...
July 11, 2014
To me, there are distinct differences between these three titles, and when I will allow myself to use them. To become an author, you must sell something you’ve written. If you’re a traditionally published author, that means selling a book to a publisher. For independently published (read: self-pub) authors like me, it’s the first time you sell a book to someone who isn’t a friend or family. If I’ve never spoken to you in person and you are the first one to buy...
June 19, 2014
The last nine posts (including this one) were all written in a single afternoon. I was only able to do this because I had all the subjects ready to go. To me, idea generation is best done all the time. It should be a constant process, a part of your brain that is always on the lookout for good ideas. Whether for a book or a blog or anything else, you should always been on the lookout for things you can...
June 12, 2014
I love reading what great authors have to say about the craft. It’s often revelatory, and Neil Gaiman is one of my favorites. So here they are – Neil Gaiman’s Eight Rules of Writing: Write Put one word after another. Find the right word, put it down. Finish what you’re writing. Whatever you have to do to finish it, finish it. Put it aside. Read it pretending you’ve never read it before. Show it to friends whose opinion you respect and who...
June 5, 2014
When I first started getting serious about writing, I was reading a lot of Terry Pratchett, so it was to him which I first turned to for advice. I dug up an old interview, and from that I learned three useful pieces of advice. Here they are, as I remembered them: Read a lot. Use a word processor (it makes everything mutable). Write a lot, every day. I’ve since seen more advice from Terry, but those were what I took from that first transcript. Of...
May 23, 2014
I look forward to being ashamed of my first book. Not because I think it will be bad. I’m ridiculously proud I’ve what I’ve done so far, and will be even more so when it’s ready for you all to read. It’s because I’ve read many a writer’s first book, and then their later books, and I know how vast the difference can be. I will be ashamed of my first book when I have written ten, and when they’re far better than the one...