What I Have Learned Through E-Publishing

You never realize what you have learned until you actually learn it.

I have been publishing ebooks for over a year now, and I am pleased with the results. But I have discovered something that should be mentioned.

Quit reading stuff on the internet.

I do not mean stop surfing or researching or clicking on those pictures you should not be clicking on, but I mean stop reading about e-publishing and what people think about it. Quit clicking on blogs where it is the subject of discussion, or web sites, or forums, or what-have-you. There is nothing to learn there. You will only find three things (and it is always the same three things):

1) The Cheerleaders. These are the folks who are carrying the flaming log against the wall of the castle. They are believers! "There is no God but Konrath, and Hocking is his prophet."

2) The Nay-sayers. This group is usually made up of out-of-print mid-listers, critics, and folks in "the industry" who think self-pubbers should be thrown into a pit of lions, stabbed, and then shot (we're hard to kill) because we are somehow cheapening the Sacred Written Word that only a select few are allowed to write. "There is no God but the Publisher, and the Editor is his prophet." (Where the Agent falls in that chant I leave to your imagination.)

3) The Wait-and-See Gang. This group thinks electronic self-pubbing is interesting but they are not sure it will last and they want to hang out with both sides so they stay on the fence. "There may be a God, but we need more evidence."

The self-publishing debate has been repeating itself since it began. After the first day, the arguments did not change. Nothing more can be said that has not been said already, but that does not stop folks from continuing to scream about it because they think they can change somebody's mind.

If you are trying to learn more about the business of self-publishing, that is a different story. There are plenty of forums where you can pick up information to help you find readers, and those sites are valuable indeed, but eventually it all sounds the same, too, and all you want to do is say fuhgetaboutit and get back to work on your next book. Which is what you should be doing anyway.

So my mid-year new-year resolution (I just made that up!) is to quit reading about self-pubbing and do more self-pubbing. Watch this space for details--three new titles are on the way.

Amen.

Revisions, revisions

I love revisions, yes I do!  I love revision, how ‘bout you?

I think revising material is my favorite part of writing a new manuscript, especially one that has been so well outlined that the basic foundation is solidly in place.  When that happens, revisions are a matter of playing in the house you have built from scratch, and seeing what improvements you can make along the way.

The current example of this is The Rogue Gentleman, a story featuring an international adventurer who rights wrongs wherever he finds them, which I will release as an e-book this summer.  I am so excited about this story and the characters that I am going to immediately start a sequel.  In fact, while planning the sequel, a line about a character inspired yet another sequel, so you can expect many adventures for the Rogue and his band of merry marauders.

Anyway… I have been going over the book and, from my notes, am making various changes.  This manuscript needs a lot of work, really.  It was written under a cloud of personal turbulence which has, thankfully, settled down.  This manuscript is all action and the story, but the detail that makes such stories come alive is missing.  What I am doing is fleshing out scenes with descriptions, adding character back story where appropriate, and chipping away the stuff that does not work.  And this is where the fun comes in.  Further research on a police character, for example, allowed me to include bits of physical detail and family history not present in the original draft, and I am now sorry that this particular policeman is only in the book for a short time.  I would certainly love to have him take part in more of the action, but forcing him to do so would not work.  So out he goes after the first act.  He can always come back in a sequel…or his own book.

I was reading a Frederick Forsyth novel this week called Avenger and it’s a crackling good read if you have not had the pleasure, and one thing Forsyth does very well is give detailed histories of his characters.  I have been afraid to do that, because such detail, I always believed, bogs down the narrative and never really, to my mind, made much of a difference.  Not so with Forsyth’s style, which means the practitioners who led me to my earlier opinion were not very good at that portion of their craft.  I have emulated the Forsyth Way as best as I could, careful to keep it short, and I must say the result is fantastic.  The characters feel stronger to me than they had previously, and by keeping the bits spread out, a little here and a little there, I think, at the risk of being redundant, that the information really strengthens the whole show.  This is a good thing.  If I feel the characters are stronger surely readers will, too.

There are some authors who say they just make up their stories based on a slapdash outline and never have to revise; I think that that is promotional mumbo-jumbo.  I wrote that way for 15 years while I was learning, thinking I was a hot shot, only to be told that everything I wrote fell flat.  I started outlining, giving characters more attention, adding details and descriptions and arcs, and the resulting improvement showed me that was the way to go.  Perhaps you have had a similar experience.  If not, give it a try.  I think you will like it.  I may not be as cool as those other guys, but who cares?

This is not my first experience with the Joy of Revision; I added a substantial portion to my recent effort, Show No Mercy, which had the same effect.  At the time I wondered, as I do with every book, if I can pull it off again, but my effort on The Rogue Gentleman says yes indeed.  Does every writer think that? 

I cannot wait to release this book!  Or the next one!  I hope you like it, too.

New King Story Shows Why You Should Not Listen to Critics

As a follow-up to my Alligator Skin Required post, check out the latest from Stephen King at The Atlantic. Read the comments at the end of the story, and then convince yourself that you should listen to every critic you hear from. In the end you will know that the only thing you can do is write your story the best you can, and your way.

Alligator Skin Required

Tough reviews and less-than-stellar reader feedback are par for the course when you're scribbling and making your scribbles available, and you either need a thick skin or you need to keep your scribbles in a drawer. How do I know this? Trust me, I know this.

Take my most recent novel, Show No Mercy. It's a spy story and a departure from my earlier crime novel efforts (all three books are available at the left) and has sold OK--just OK. (So far.) The other two books, my short story set and an action story both of which borrow heavily from the Black Mask school of crime fiction, have sold much better. When I try to specifically promote Show No Mercy, readers buy the other two instead. It makes one want to scream, but at least I have sales.

So where does the thick skin comes in? Example: Some may say the characterizations in Show No Mercy are a little thin; I say, I don't have enough feedback to agree. My editor didn't think there was a problem, so there are two who say there's a problem and one who doesn't. It's not exactly a push, but I have a reason to doubt the second critic because he's my father and he hasn't finished the book yet. I told him to finish the book before he committed to his remarks.

So, thick skin, and stick to your guns. I worked hard on making sure the characters had some life. Perhaps it was too subtle, but I thought it was layered pretty well. This is like the most recent James Bond film, Quantum of Solace, in some ways. There are those who think the movie is unintelligible rubbish and those who cheered at the end and watched it two or three times to enjoy the nuggets of prime storytelling that made us want to try the same thing. Why? Those of us who cheered finally had a James Bond movie that made us think and pay attention to what we were being shown rather than just have everything spoon fed to us. With all due respect to the Bond producers, as I've been a fan for ages, you can check your brain at the door when you turn on a 007 flick. Perhaps that's what the audience wants, but there are those of us who want a little more meat, too. Unfortunatnely the complainers were pretty loud so the next Bond movie will be as brainless as all the others. And I'll go watch that one, too. Maybe that's the case with Show No Mercy; perhaps it is not. I have no trouble sticking to my guns but there's no sense trying to fight an avalanche. Right now we hear rumbles but there is no reason to run.

I flat out refuse to spoon feed my audience. I think readers are smarter than that. Newspapers may be written at a fifth grade reading level, but that doesn't mean I have to do the same thing.

In the end, it's all in a day's work, and nothing is going in a drawer. Don't miss out on the important thing: people are reading my work (or your work) and feel strongly enough about it to make a comment. Mission accomplished!

First Person Singular with Narcissistic Tendencies

I have been busy lately punching up an old manuscript called Bullet for One, a revenge tale featuring private eye John Coburn going after the killer of a friend. It's an unashamed I, the Jury riff and when you see it, you will know what I mean. The reason the edit has taken so long and has been so time consuming is that I wrote this book back in 1999, and I have learned a ton in the last ten years, so much so that what I am seeing in the script is nothing but overwritten whale vomit. But I think, deep down, underneath all those extra and unnecessary and redundant words (see what I mean?) is a really good story worth exposing.

Another problem I have discovered is the issue writing in the first-person has caused. The narrator is "I" this and "I" that and, boy, it sounds like he sure has narcissistic tendencies. It's all about him! There's too much "I" going on and my next edit will attempt to reshuffle lines so that "I did this, I did that, I did it again" doesn't happen so much. But it has made me wonder... if that how first person books are, just because? If so I have never noticed. I think this requires that I run through some of the more popular private eye books to compare. I will, possibly, learn one way or another, and I think that will be great (see what I mean?).

It has been fun looking at how the younger me, myself, and I used to write, and it's wonderful to see how much I, myself, and me have learned. Perhaps we and me are in the right place after all. Don't you think?

Buy This Anthology or We Start Killing Puppies

Here is a project I am excited to tell you about, a new anthology featuring one of my stories, and the stories of many others who are up-and-coming writers to watch. Let me turn this over to editor Derek J. Canyon, himself a terrific storyteller, for the formal announcement:

I pleased to announce that the science fiction and fantasy short story anthology, Twelve Worlds, is now available for $2.99 on Amazon.com. Buy it here!

TwelveWorlds contains 14 short stories by new and aspiring authors.  Genres include my own gritty cyberpunk as well as epic fantasy, romantic fantasy, paranormal detective mystery, star-faring scifi, and more. There’s around 80,000 words total, so that’s a great deal for $2.99.

Author royalties for Twelve Worlds will be donated to Reading is Fundamental, the nation’s largest nonprofit children’s literacy charity.

My own contribution to the anthology is called The Price of Vengeance. It tells the story of Maggie, a woman with nothing to lose who goes after the genetically engineered dwarf who killed her entire gang. Yes, she’s hunting Noose, the protagonist of Dead Dwarves Don’t Dance. I think fans of Noose will really like this story, because it provides insight into and points of view of secondary and tertiary characters from my cyberpunk novel. If you want to read this short story, you’ll have to buy Twelve Worlds. It’s the only place you can get The Price of Vengeance!

Here’s a full list of the stories in this anthology:

By a Whisker by Kevin O. McLaughlin (3500 words): Someone is siphoning magical energy from the powerful ley nexus at Northshield University in this urban fantasy. Ryan goes to investigate, and gets help from an unexpected quarter.

The Accidental Muse by Amy Rose Davis (6200 words): A girl with no memory, a grieving widower, and a sweet-natured boy with strange power live a quiet life in their sheltered Keep until the night a traveling musician arrives at the door. The power of the musician's harp threatens to destroy their family unless one of them can stop it. A tale of gods, muses, mysterious spirits, and the power of love.

The Price of Vengeance by Derek J. Canyon (7400 words): In 22nd century Atlanta, Maggie hunts the genetically-engineered dwarf who killed her entire gang.

Insomnomancer by JE Medrick (3400 words): Witness life through the eyes of a predator. Kyle Hall, barely remarkable in a world of gray faces, is targeted by a very specialized hunter. To the target, it is night after sleepless night. To the Insomnomancer - a game of points and hungry satisfaction.

Thump by NB Kelly (4650 words): When a hitchhiker becomes part of an impromptu road trip, peace is the last thing that two young men will get out of it.

Iron in Shadow by Edward L. Cote (14900 words): The best thief in Rithmoor, the City of Dark Water, goes by the name Slip. He takes on a promising job, but it gets more complicated and dangerous the more he learns about what exactly it is he must do. To avoid certain death at the hands of the Great Magus Dibian, he must risk the wrath of the world's hardest people.

Together They Die by Brian Drake (3220 words): A former cop helps a ghost solve her murder.

Incubators by Manley Peterson (3200 words): Lost in space, three astronauts struggle to accept their fate aboard a crippled ship. Could a last-minute rescue be all they hoped for?

Cube by Coral Russell (4150 words): Luke's family isn't perfect, but they're worth saving. How far would you go to save your family?

The Star-Eater by K Gorman (6000 words): Karin wakes up one day on her starship, realizing her sister has been killed--but not before her sister cursed the murderer. Now she's got a man to kill. And her boss is starting to suspect that she's a little more than human...

Man-Maker by BC Woods (8050 words): A young boy in a society based entirely around defending itself against zombie-like demons refuses a sacred rite of passage.

Daddy Issues by John G. Hartness (4200 words): Vampires, voodoo, zombies and gold-diggers, it's all in a day's work for the boys at Black Knight Investigations. Vampire Private Investigators Jimmy Black and Greg Knightwood are called in to dispose of a zombie in the library, but there's always more than meets the eye where these detectives are concerned. Takes place before the events in Hard Day's Knight.

BONUS STORIES!

Weird and Wondeful by Tony Lavely (6000 words): Mailira and Marelsa together bring an old Scottish folk tale to life for a young musician.

The Light Stream by Jaylin Baer (3060 words): The transition between waking and sleeping, dreaded by some and enjoyed by others, becomes something altogether different for a very select few. Discover one woman's journey into the Light Stream.

So, if want to read new stories from 14 talented new authors, you should definitely buy this ebook! Who knows, you might find a new author that you really enjoy!

After reading it, don’t forget to write up a review on Amazon. It really helps sales.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004WT7OSQ/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=derjcan-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B004WT7OSQ

Measure Me for a Halo; or, Every Man His Own Simon Templar

I have just finished reading The Saint and Mr. Teal, three chronicles in the life of Simon Templar written by the amazing Leslie Charteris. Once again Charteris amazes me with his use of the English language. I have never been so delightedly entertained by a writer’s work—the humor, the adventure, the biting satire of the political “mother hens” of the day (in fact, despite this book having been written in the ‘30s, you could easily apply Charteris’s comments to today—in the United States, at least—where they would fit our own “mother hens” perfectly, those dreadful fellows who seem to think that they know how to live our lives better than we do and spend their days trying to protect us from ourselves because they really do know best and if the unwashed and the Godly would just accept their counsel life would be so much better). Ahem. Charteris really does get one going…

To the book!  The three adventures featured in The Saint and Mr. Teal are rip-roaring yarns that make you laugh, smile, and, as I said, marvel at how Charteris uses words, like nobody has before or since (though, perhaps, P.G. Wodehouse could challenge the title—stiff upper lip, Jeeves!). I found myself unable to stop reading. In fact, I am glad that I have even more Saintly adventures to read as I recently discovered a gold mine of Charteris novels at a used bookshop in San Jose that I had never visited before. You can bet I will skip over whichever novel I had planned to read next and go straight to the next Saint book.

I do not possess the skill with language or satire that Charteris developed, though perhaps I could given enough time, but I will tell you that when I go back to my own manuscripts I bring a focus and discipline to the writing that seems stronger than before, because I now know how much better I can be.

The last time I wrote about Simon Templar, I was reading The Saint in New York, which has great sequences in it. I did not care for the book overall, because it had less comedy, and the action was more in line with what we American chaps tend to write. This is not to say it was bad, but I was expecting something different. The great revelation at the end, when the Major Villain comes to life, has been repeatedly used by writers of less skill than Charteris that I—and you—have read over the years, so when it finally happened  I was not surprised. And that disappointed me. Such is life.

And then there is the character of Simon Templar himself. With Templar, Charteris created a character you want to read about over and over again. He does not get boring. Templar’s moral code and dedication to his cause is so strong that you cannot turn away. You want to be there with him, taking on the ungodly in pursuit of boodle or pure justice. He is such a finely drawn character and you want him to be real. You want him to be out there somewhere with gal pal Patricia Holm and you hope that one day you cross paths and get to take part in an adventure, even if only for a moment, so you can relive your Saintly association during your golden years and know that there is a man out there who will not compromise himself. There is far too much compromise today. There are no more Alpha Males, or good ones, anyway, and Templar is a good one.

Oh, well. It is a silly day dream, really. But there are far worse ways to spend one’s time, and I do not apologize for saying so.

The next question is, which Saint book do I read next? Perhaps I will set the books out on the floor, close my eyes, and pick the first one my hand touches. Regardless of which one I pick, I know I will be entertained.

There is talk about a new television series or a movie featuring The Saint, but I do not hold out much hope. Roger Moore, when he played the character, played it well, but nobody can capture the True Saint (I will not mention the radio show, despite the great Vincent Price who played the role, as it too falls far short of the books). I wish the production well and maybe I will be surprised. I sure hope so. The world needs Simon Templar now more than ever.