Official Cover Reveal

I posted a small, watermarked sample of this before from my artist, so the final reveal shouldn't be all that surprising to anyone who's been here before. But now that I officially own the full sized version of it (with some minor tweaks made to it) I decided to share for any possible last minute feedback.

Somewhat nervous doing this as it's bought, paid for and pretty much the final version. Hoping someone doesn't point out some basic design or conceptual flaw that makes me realize the whole cover, in fact, sucks.

Even if so, no worries. Indie publishing is a big learning curve for every first timer. Even if that's the case this is still extremely exciting for me.

After some twenty odd years of writing, aspiring, writing and then aspiring some more. I have my name on a book cover.

Yes, it's a home designed cover I paid someone in Australia to do on her computer and, as of right now, only exists on my laptops pic viewer, but for right now, that's completely irrelevant to me.

I have my name on a book cover.

I'm sure some of you know what I'm feeling right now because I bet you felt the same thing when you opened your attachment from your artist for the first time and saw your own little baby.

Now, off to finish my latest draft. Have a word challenge to catch up to.

Good times.




  

June: 60K Word Challenge

I'm back, for anyone who may have noticed.

Personally, the last several weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind, we've moved out of our house, re-located the kids with relatives at the Jersey Shore and I triumphantly ended 8 months of unemployment with a new active duty Navy assignment in Maryland.

All in all, good things

But the writing has suffered. Badly.

No more. This June I'm picking up a ball I dropped when I jumped on a month long blog challenge from Dave Gaughran back in February to do 60K in 30 days.

Why the sudden urgency? Because a personal writing resolution (not one I posted back on my resolutions post) is about to go out the window; to have "hit the button" and been self-published before turning 40. As it happens, I'll be turning 40 in only ten more short days.

Nope. Not gonna have my work ready to roll out by then. No way. Fail.

But, I have my cover finalized, picked my editor and have my outline finally sorted out. So I haven't been totally unproductive. All that's missing now is the good, ole fashion sweat equity.

I recognized long ago that truly productive writing needs to be treated like work. Just like cleaning out your garage, painting that dingy looking room and starting to get yourself back in shape and/or dieting; sometimes you need to put a hot iron to your own ass.

30 days in June; 2k words a night starting right now. That's all I have to say for now.

Wish me luck, I'll keep you posted.

Good times.

The Doomsday Door; Cover Reveal

Apologies to all that may have stopped by here and seen absolutely nothing new since Feb. So far I'm well on track to violating virtually all of my 2012 writing resolutions, including not keeping my blog updated and active.

In my defense, no matter how dedicated and hardcore one is, it's genuinely hard to focus on a creative, non-paying venture when you have Backdraft type fires to put out at home.

Whining now concluded, I do have something new to share that's very exciting (to me anyway) and that's the proof for my "Doomsday Door" cover!

The pic to the left is a collage proofs I got from my artist. The "semi-finished" thumbnail in the top left corner is the cover itself and the other samples are blow ups of particular areas. Me and the artist are both new to this so excuse us if this seems out of the ordinary. She's Yobtaf on Deviantart (her name is Mel) and she's somewhere in Australia.

I do have some changes to suggest to her but would love any feedback that anyone has to offer. Once we finalize the design we'll resolve some business and then I'll have my "cover" box checked off!

Me personally, I can only think of one or two things to change and I'm completely stunned by the cover so far. I'm contemplating blocking out Mel's info on the bottom so I can put it up on KB for feedback as well but I think I'll ask her first what she would like. I'll also let her know that with her info visible she may be in danger of getting a deluge of requests for cover art! I think she's that good, anyway.

So, here it is in all it's post-apocalyptic glory. Good or bad, let me know what you think.

Good times.
Dave

First million words of CRAP...DONE! On to the second million!

Or...you can check out this blog I discovered; a collection of contributions from 11 established thriller writers.

http://killzoneauthors.blogspot.com/2012/02/pancake-rule.html

I've read through a couple posts and am automatically a big fan of this blog. It's limited to story and craft. No indie "biz" reporting, DIE-BIG 6-DIE, rants or Legacy publishing deathwatches here, just great essays on writing.

The current post from Joe Moore is, I think, a must read for Newbs as it deals with common problems with first novels. Makes for a really good checklist of what NOT to do!

Now, I'm not a huge, or a well read, fan of the most popular genre out there; Thrillers. Traditionally I've read thriller blurbs and thought: Seriously? How many jaded, verteran (and HOT) detectives can possibly be targeted over and over again by genius, sadistic (and handsome) serial killers? How many times can the worlds greatest spies always end up on blacklists, left out in the cold and hunted at every turn? Doesn't it cost a fortune to train these guys? They seem to get thrown away a lot.

I don't mean to critisize the genre and any of its writers, Sci-Fi has just been my preference and in the past I've generally been disinterested with most thrillers. I'm sure non Sci-Fi/Fantasy readers feel the same about our favorites.

But I've been reading a lot more (great) thrillers lately and am being inspired by some really strong writing. I believe that every genre work out there, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Pananormal, is made either good or great with suspense. Too often I think writers in the fantasy fields (especially us Newbs) rely on our tech, creatures, apocalyptic stakes and exotic settings to excite and involve readers while disregarding some valuable mechanics.

In Indie works (which can vary greatly in story quality, even among many top sellers that I've started and not finished) I've all too often found myself reading long portions of narrative description (among many other negatives listed in Moore's post) and simply stopped caring about the story and its characters.

I think there's a lot to learn from the folks who create suspense and excitement without monstrous hordes, unstoppable alien forces or immortal, mythical creatures that threaten their heros. They have to make do with what we have here in the real world.

Good times.

Writing Guru Hat In Place...Check!

Writing advice may seem out of place from someone whose published absolutely nothing, but in the last few days I've noticed a few related discussions on indie-writing forums that had me thinking about my past efforts.

Quick overview of me as a writer: I can't remember when I started writing, over twenty years now, since I was in junior high at least. So a while now. I've actually written a lot;

Million words of crap - check!

Obligatory "fantasy fiction" about high school kid who, well, does everything - check!

Derivative schlock based on my favorite stuff growing up - triple check! 

Then next thing I know I'm in college majoring in film, so I'm "serious" about my craft now. I'm reading a lot more diverse stuff, watching "real films", and honestly, writing a lot better.

Throughout these years I've read anything I could get my hand on regarding writing. Not saying I read every tome out there, just most of them. But reading books on writing, thinking about your writing and outlining your writing over and over and over again is, guess what, never-actually-writing.

Which is what you actually need to do.

So why should you listen to any advice I have: in short, because I've spent an awful lot of time doing things all wrong.

This last year I've scrapped a pair of still-born novels and an old script that have festered on my old desktop (and consumed what time I put into writing)  for most of the last ten years and started something completely new. Actually, an old short that's completely evolved. 

Why not "power through" those three train-wreck stories like a "real writer" and find ways to make them work perfectly. Why? Because I can now see that they were broken at the core. 

Here's why, we go back to the recent forum talks I've mentioned.

I've seen (read) folks come straight out and ask for ideas on what to write about: What kind of setting? What kind of protagonist, should the antagonist be somewhat likable or purely eeviiil? Should the characters in the future live in a high-tech world or in tent cities killing each other for rusty cans of Alpo?

And I want to say: We don't know....you tell us what you want to write.

What's this fellow aspiring writer completely missing the boat on?   

It's one of those many boring, technical details that guru's have lamented from one end of the "how to write"  cottage industry to the other.

I'm talking about theme. IE: what is yours?

We can discuss a thousand definitions and perceptions of this pivotal element of narrative structure, so for brevity we'll just check with Wiki:

In contemporary literary studies, a theme is the central topic, subject, or concept addressed in a story.

Sounds good to me. And not having one all those years is why I've always written in useless circles.

I've spent more hours than I can (or care) to count on painstakingly describing my settings,
my protagonists characters tragic backgrounds, how cool my weapons, vehicles and future tech is going to be, how bad my bad guys were and, of course, exactly how "hot" all my female characters have been.

But all the individual pieces (that were so brilliant when I wrote them and even more so when revised) never seemed to fit right when finally put together in that hundred yard long scroll of pages or the folder with dozens of individual chapters doomed to never be sequenced in any effective (or entertaining) way.

I all but guarantee you the aspiring writer mentioned above will see the same results.

Did I have problems with plotting as well. Yup. Every newb does. But a plot is like a combination lock, it can start in one place and end in one of a million others. Which end point is right?

What's a clever trick to figure out when to twist your plot knob right or left?

What's your theme?    

Has your brilliant idea gone nowhere despite the 60k words you wrote? Did it have all these awesome ingredients that didn't mix? Are your beta's telling you things you don't want to hear about your plot's believability or scenes seeming "forced" or "contrived".

Then you may have raised a structure that doesn't have a single square inch of solid ground under it.

You may have a theme problem. God knows I have before.

Guest Blog: Fantasy Author Ty Johnston

Today is another first as Fantasy Author Ty Johnston stops by for our first ever guest blog. Today will be a departure from the usual Indie Book blog subjects, and even from writing itself as Ty gives us some awareness of very pertinent issue that can affet people in our trade; writing and staying healthy. This is good stuff folks.

Now here's Ty:  

First, the good part. David, I’d like to thank you for letting my take over your blog for the day.

Now the bad part. I’m not going to talk about writing, at least not directly. I’m also not going to talk about reading or books.

What I am going to write about here is health. Mainly, physical health. Don’t go away, you writers out there really need to hear what I’m going to type.

As someone who lives with congestive heart difficulties and has an internal defibrillator implanted in his chest, I believe I know a few things about physical health and some of its relation to writing. I learned the hard way. Hopefully other writers won’t have to if they pay attention to me today.

I was a newspaper editor for nearly twenty years, and the last few years I’ve been writing fiction for a living. All of that work over the years amounts to a lot of time sitting on my rear in a chair. And as a newspaper professional always on the go and facing constant deadlines, I rarely ate a decent meal but grabbed what I could when I could.

That is not a way to live. It is not healthy for the body. Ask my heart if you don’t believe me.

Finally after years, and almost when it was too late, I smarted up. As a fiction writer, I’m not under the consistent deadlines I faced as a journalist, so that helps some. I also have forced myself to eat better, which is easier nowadays because I work from home.

And then there’s exercise.

Everyone hates exercise, right? Well, maybe not everyone, but enough people do. We groan and complain about it. We feel guilt when we don’t do it, but then gripe about how tired we are when we do exercise.

The truth is, regular exercise can keep you feeling better and, more importantly, it can keep you alive. For some, exercise can add years to your life. For others, exercise can literally keep you alive from day to day. I know. I’ve been there.

Okay, so I’m a fiction writer blogging about health instead of chatting about writing. What gives? Why am I doing this?

For one very important reason. Writers as a group spend too much time on their tails.

There. I said it. And you know it’s true.

We are always saying we never have enough time to write, and when we do write we often spend hours upon hours sitting at a keyboard. And that’s when we aren’t fooling around on the Internet or playing video games.

With more and more people taking up fiction writing as a part- or full-time profession, I think it’s important we give a thought to what writing does to us physically.

I am in no way suggesting we should give up writing, but that we should take the time to work regular exercise into our daily lives.

For those who only write part time, this might not be as much of a problem, but it might be. For those of us who write for a living, who spend eight or more hours a day writing, we definitely need to consider our health.

Sitting too much, for extended periods of time, is simply not good for us. But don’t take my word for it. Check out a few of these articles or videos:

Sitting All Day: Worse For You Than You Might Think

Your Body’s Biggest Enemy

Experts: Sitting Too Much Could Be Deadly

Is Sitting A Lethal Activity?

What can writers do about this? The specifics should be between you and your doctor. I know my cardiologist has suggested I walk more and get a recumbent exercise bike.

How much exercise do you need? How much activity should you have a day? Again, that’s for your doctor and you to talk about. I’m no health professional, so I don’t want to offer advice other than to suggest most writers need to be more active.

But like many people, I will admit I am looking for ways to cheat. I still plan on getting my allotted amount of exercise, but with a recumbent bike I’m practically sitting back almost as if I’m in a reclining chair. That leads me to wonder if I can have my netbook in my lap. To get some writing done, of course.

As a way of promoting his new novel Demon Chains, fantasy author Ty Johnston’s blog tour 2012 is running from February 1 through February 29. His novels include City of Rogues, Bayne’s Climb and Ghosts of the Asylum, all of which are available for the Kindle (http://www.amazon.com/Ty-Johnston/e/B002MCBQRU/ ), the Nook (http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/ty-johnston ) and online at Smashwords (http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/darkbow ). To learn more about Ty and his writing, follow him at his blog tyjohnston.blogspot.com.

Coming Soon! The dark Sci-Fi action thriller - The Doomsday Door - blurb

With that I'd like to do here today is a pretty big deal. It's huge for a writing blog these days I think. Something magnificent, Earth shattering and simply stupendous.  

I'm actually going to blog about writing.

WTF...is that about?

A blog from an indie writer that doesn't deal with marketing, sales, web prescence, hot Kindle action or some type of Big 6 deathwatch?


I know. I said 2102 was going to be crazy.

It's been pretty quite on the inde-pub news front and when I do publishing business posts  it's never out of some ambition to be a Kris Rusch or Passive Guy type of "Biz" blogger. I have neither the time or the inclination to do as much following, research and analysis as they do. Probably never going to either.

Rather, my most recent posts originated when I've come across indie-biz tidbits during my own personal research and following. Things I simply decide to share.

That said, I've been a lot more productive lately and my first "real" novel is finally coming along. I haven't gotten a cover done yet but I have a design concept and I'm pretty sure I've narrowed down a few designer choices as well. I might possibly have scored a very sweet deal on an editor as well

Today I'm rolling out the current blurb for "The Doomsday Door", an apocalyptic sci-fi thriller (wether or not it actualls 'thrills" has yet to be determined I guess). So if you stop by take a look  and let me know what you think, wether it be good or bad.  I plan to have sample chapters up as well if anyone takes an interest in this. 

BTW, this and other blurbs are under the "coming soon" tab above if you'd like to see what else I'm up to.

Incident Day, as it would be known by the survivors, was the begining of the Spawn invasion of Earth and the end of mankind as we had known it. Following a cataclysmic event that shook the world the creatures had appeared. More bio-weapon than animal and virtually impossible to kill, permanently, the Spawn spread across the globe faster than any plague, laying waste to armies, cities and nations. 

Centuries in the future, an aging soldier turned scientist, Colonel Laurence, leaves the safe confines of the underground cities, embarking on a potential suicide mission across the barren hell of the surface world. Escorted by an elite squad of hardened operatives his mission will take them through the most dangerous region of the former United States. With both his true destination and mission a secret, he knows that only he has the chance to learn the origin of the Spawn and to perhaps do the impossible; to undo the past.

In our present day, Willard Graves had seen all his dreams and loves slip away over the decades, hitting bottom when his career suddenly ends. Isolated and friendless, Willard faces only emptiness and regret for the rest of his days. Until he has the vision. A vision where an entity, who Willard sees as a God, chooses him to be humanity's savior from a dark future.

But first Willard must bring the new God into our world. First he must build the Doorway.

Within the connection of these two timelines lie the secrets that Colonel Laurence must learn to save humanities future or risk losing what little is left of mankind.   

So there it is in 3.5 nutshells. As a Blurb I know it may be a little long but this isn't a screenplay or movie pitch (make it 30 words/second or less....or you DIE!) I've seen some pretty long blurbs on Kindle books and, providing the opening sentence or paragraph has some "grab" potential I don't mind reading a long description. 

It's also something Fantasy/Sci-Fi writers can get away with given that you don't know what type of world is involved and backdrop is often key to story and not just window dressing.

It's absolutely NOT carved in stone as the final blurb, and I definitely plan to whittle it down to make it more friendly on the eyes. Feel free to offer any advice or critiques wether it be on the blurb itself or the story.

Thanks as always for stopping by.