Bye Bye Blog: The Re-post

I posted this a couple of days ago on my other blog, Roger Eschbacher Books, and wanted to see if anyone here had any thoughts or comments. Feedback (especially if it's not related to baseball) appreciated. ;c)

And now, the re-post:

I launched this Roger Eschbacher Books blog a few years back with the intention of having a landing spot specifically for the readers of my books (as opposed to The Novel Project, my blog primarily aimed at other authors).

BUT...

Anyone who's been following Roger Eschbacher Books knows I haven't been very good about updating this blog at all. In fact, I've been terrible! So, unless there are any strenuous objections of the "you moron, here's what you should really do" variety, I'm thinking it might be time to consolidate the platform and put this old and neglected horse out to pasture.

A couple of options I'm considering...

• Renaming "The Novel Project" and calling it "Roger Eschbacher Books." The Novel Project was the name I came up with to chronicle the march toward completion and publication of my first NaNoWriMo project that was to eventually become Dragonfriend. Since that book is completed and published, well...
• Getting a new URL for the "new" blog (to replace http://thenovelproject.blogspot.com/)
• Focusing all of my blogging energies on the revamped site -- retaining The Novel Project's author-centric bent but tossing in some reader focused material, too.
• Retaining the sillyroger url but have it "silently" point to the new and improved blog (or should I just chuck this domain name altogether? For some reason, I'm loathe to dump it but I think that might just be sentimentality at play as I'm not sure its all that good for my current "brand." I've had it for over ten years but came up with sillyroger when my focus was primarily on picture books for the 4-8 year old crowd, not middle-grade fantasy novels).

I know this is all inside baseball stuff of interest (maybe) only to other authors, but I'd love to hear everyone's feedback/suggestions on what I should do as I'm not one hundred percent sure about which path I should take. Thanks!

Fantabulous Indie Book Sale 12/15-12/18

Hey folks! Some iAi author pals of mine are running a special holiday promotion where you can get six great books for one great price ($.99 each!). Click on this link to find out more about each title including where you can go to purchase them as gifts for all of those special someones in your life.

Guest Post: Author Vanna Smythe Talks Revision

Please welcome fantasy author Vanna Smythe as she shares her thoughts on the revision process.

The Revision Part of My Writing Process
By Vanna Smythe

Roger has been kind enough to offer me a guest post spot on his blog today. He asked me to write on the topic of my writing process. Since I just finished the final revision of my second novel Decision Maker (Anniversary of the Veil, Book 2), I thought I’d share with you my revision methods.

First, let me say that I am a seat-of-the-pants writer, meaning I don’t have a great love for outlines and planning before I start writing.  In fact, what I would do with stories and novels before I started writing this one is just jot down a few notes on who my main characters are, what the world is, and what the conflict is, then I’d start writing. And rarely look at the outline again. In other words, I’m very good at sticking to a plotline, not veering off my intended storyline, or characterization.  I’m also very good at writing a complete first draft in a month or less.

I am, however, really bad at revision.

I had my first novel, Protector (Anniversary of the Veil, Book 1) written for over a year, before I finally started revising. It took me another year and a half to get it ready for publication.  But I’m happy to say that Decision Maker only took me 6 months to complete, and here is the revision process I worked through to get there:

1) First I read through the first draft and analyze my worldbuilding, characterization, plotline development, and so on. I note down all the places where more information, or better development is needed, but I don’t fix anything on the manuscript yet.

2) After this, I outline each chapter I want to keep, and also write down all the ones that are still missing.  I try to make this outline as brief and concise as possible, and have it contain fixes for all the problems I uncovered in Step 1.  Character motivation, shocking developments in the story, worldbuilding expansions all go into this outline.

3) Then, based on the outline, I start to rewrite the book chapter by chapter.

4) After the second draft is done, I send it off to my beta readers for feedback.  At the same time, I also read through it again, just noting down all the things I still have to change.  Once I get the reader comments back, I start the final revision. After I finish each chapter, I have my computer voice Alex (I’m on a Mac) read the text back to me.  Having someone, even a computer voice read your book to you is an awesome editing tool. It helps you spot typos, but also shows you, which sentences need to be rewritten for better readability.

5) The final step is another read-through using my computer’s text-to-speech program. During this step, I’m only concentrating on the flow of language, punctuation, word choices,...

So that’s how I revise nowadays.  I hope my process has given you some ideas.

Vanna Smythe

Vanna Smythe - Fantasy Author

Website: www.vannasmythe.com

Twitter: @Vanna_Smythe

Facebook: www.facebook.com/VannaSmytheAuthor

Protector (Anniversary of the Veil, Book 1): http://amzn.to/xLusPP

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Thanks, Vanna! I'm more of an outliner than a "pantser" (allowing myself to deviate from the outline when I make discoveries along the way) but I know a lot of folks do it your way and I appreciate you taking the time to share your revision process with us. 

Have a sure-fire revision tip or technique? I, for one, am always open to learning better ways to do things. Feel free to enlighten us in the comments.

The Next Big Thing: Giantkiller

Author pal Scott Bury, tagged me for The Next Big Thing blog hop and while I must admit I’m not normally a fan of this sort of thing, it sounded like fun (and he can be very persuasive). As Scott puts it:

"The idea behind the Next Big Thing is to answer a set list of questions about your work in progress, then tag five more authors to do the same thing."

I haven't figured out who I'm going to tag yet (hint hint -- if you'd like to do this for your upcoming novel, let me know), but here are some answers about my Next Big Thing:

What is the working title of your book?

Giantkiller: Leonard the Great, Book Two

Where did the idea come from for the book?

Giantkiller is the sequel to Dragonfriend, the first book in what I hope will be a three book series. After I’d finished Dragonfriend, I knew I wanted Leonard’s story to continue so I started thinking about what the next installment would be like. I’d been mulling over possible storylines for several months when it came to me from an unexpected source. In my garden I have a small “sculpture” of a stone cast in the shape of a man’s head. The idea popped into my mind that it “looked like a giant’s head.”  Next, the name “Boulderhead” showed up along with a tidal wave of story ideas.

What genre does your book fall under?

Middle-grade fantasy adventure with an Arthurian twist.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Hmm, not sure. If pushed, I’d say the young leads would probably be unknowns while the adult roles would probably be played by a lot of the same folks who showed up in the Harry Potter/LOTR/Hobbit films.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

When his beloved is snatched by raiding Giants, Leonard sets off to rescue Maid Glennys before a gruesome fate befalls her.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

Self-published.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

I wrote the first fifty thousand words of Giantkiller as my 2010 NaNoWriMo project. Life events such as the demands of my day job (I’m an animation writer) and no small amount of laziness conspired to keep me from completing the first draft until September of this year. It now weighs in at a hefty eighty-eight thousand words.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

There’s a lot of action in this book and a story that (I hope) moves along nicely without being overly complicated – everyday people behaving heroically, some authentic peril, great monsters, and a bit of humor. That being said, I hope my readers would think Giantkiller compares favorably with Riordan’s Percy Jackson series and Nancy Farmer’s Sea of Trolls books.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

I’ve always been a voracious reader and I think even from a very young age, I knew I was going to be a writer and, hopefully an author, too. Until you actually give it a try, the thought of writing a novel can be very intimidating. I’d think, “I should write a novel,” then get all flummoxed about where and how to start and quickly run away from the idea. Then in 2007 I heard about the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and everything clicked into place. I was still nervous, but found that a deadline (50k words in the month of November) was just the motivation I needed to finally get off my butt and get started. The result of that first effort was Dragonfriend. So, to answer the question, I guess it was the “what” of NaNoWriMo that inspired me.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

It will be reasonably priced.

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Scott Bury’s Bones of the Earth is a gritty and exciting fantasy read. To learn more about it, check out his blog, Written Words.

Dragonfriend: B.R.A.G. Medallion Honoree

This past week I was contacted by the fine folks at the "Book Readers Appreciation Group" and told that Dragonfriend had been selected as an honoree for their B.R.A.G. Medallion. I'd submitted the book for consideration back in July and then promptly forgotten about it (a mental health trick I try to employ as often as possible -- if I forget about these things, then I don't obsess about these things). Imagine my delight when they contacted me to let me know my book had been chosen for their list.

One of the nice things about this group is that it's made up of "a large group of readers, both individuals and members of book clubs, located throughout the United States, Canada, and the European Union" -- in other words, they're an organization of "real" readers. From their website:

"The single most important criterion that we ask our readers to use in judging a book is whether or not they would recommend it to their best friend."

 I very much like the idea that Dragonfriend is considered worthy of such a recommendation. Thanks, B.R.A.G.!

This Time I Am the One Being Interviewed

Author Scott Bury interviews me and fellow iAi member Gary Henry about our writing styles. I call mine "cinematic" while Gary describes his thusly:

"I like to think of my writing style as “snappy” — using active voice and vivid verbs to the best of my ability. I try to vary sentence length and incorporate colorful description."

Wait a minute. I like "snappy," too. Head on over to the Guild of Dreams and check out the full post (and insert "snappy" everywhere I use "cinematic").

Buster Reads Dragonfriend (aka "I Am Reasonably Certain This Was Photoshopped")

Book Review: Flenn's Folly, Graham the Gargoyle 2

Graham's younger sister Flenn feature's prominently in this satisfying sequel to author Brian Clopper's equally excellent "Graham the Gargoyle."

When Blord, the village jerk, catches her using a spell scroll to go to places she shouldn't go, things get sticky for this smart little gargoyle who finds she has to lie to protect herself and her brave older brother from the harsh punishment that would surely come if word of her traveling got back to the village council.

Meanwhile, Graham and Flenn also find themselves fighting both the extinction of a few isolated magical races (including their own!) due to a "lack of belief," and a dark and sinister force lurking in the woods around their village and the village of Graham's best friend, Ot the Troll.

Told with plenty of heart and good humor, Flenn's Folly is a delightful tale that will easily entertain middle grade readers with its exciting action and  fun exploration of the fascinating mythological creatures that people the fantastical world of Cascade. Recommended.

Busy Busy Busy

Clackety-clack

This has been a great week in terms of work and writing-related by-products. In addition to turning in a fun outline for my next Littlest Pet Shop script, I was able to swing by a certain place to pick up my assignment for the sooper-seekrit new project that I've been praying/hoping to be a part of. A non-disclosure agreement prevents me from telling you anything about it at this time (insert "but I'd have to kill you" joke here or, more accurately, a "they would have to kill me" joke), but let's just say it would be an awesome show to work on and I'll share details when I'm allowed to do so.

To give you an idea of how excited I was to be at the certain place, I hugged the producer of the show -- twice -- and I'm not much of a hugger at all. Fortunately, she's a friend and seemed to accept the hugs in the spirit they were intended.

As a bonus, I got a lot of work done on Giantkiller -- reorganizing it from a prologue and seventeen chapters of disturbingly uneven length (the shortest being 917 words and the longest being 14,058) to a prologue and thirty much more balanced chapters.

So, as stated, a great week. Go busy-ness!

Day Job News: Littlest Pet Shop Premieres in November!

While there are no curmudgeonly dragons or mischievous wizards to be found on Littlest Pet Shop, I'm pleased to report that the show I've been writing on for almost a year is going to start airing next month on The Hub TV Network. In addition to the hyper-adorable character designs, there's some smart and, imho, funny writing attached, too.

What's the show about? From the press release:

“Littlest Pet Shop” follows Blythe Baxter and her father as they move into a Big City apartment above the Littlest Pet Shop – an amazing day-camp for pets of all kinds including a doggie diva, dancing gecko and sweet, adorable panda.  Her real adventure begins when she discovers that she alone can miraculously understand and talk to all of the pets.  She joins them on fantastical adventures that include uproarious song-and-dance sequences featuring all-new original music."

Sounds fun to me! Littlest Pet Shop, or LPS as we showbiz insiders call it, is a hoot to write for and I'm hoping the viewers will get a kick out of it, too. I'll post more details as they become available. Here's the promo:

A Take (or two) on Author Rank

SF author John Scalzi has an interesting take on the new Amazon author rankings. He kicks off his post by stating:

"Amazon has started ranking authors by total sales via Amazon, updated hourly. This is certain to make a whole bunch of authors begin to freak out as they constantly refresh their Amazon author pages to see where they stand in the rankings..."

The "freak out" part is where I have a problem with Amazon's new set up. Personally, I think if a writer pays too much attention to all of this ranking business it can be counter-productive, quite literally. When a higher portion of creative energy goes into promotion and its accompanying worries over actual writing, then there's something wrong with the equation. Does that mean an author, specifically an indie or self published one, shouldn't do any promotion at all for his or her books? No, of course not. But there has to be a balance and I think some folks are more worried about, as Scalzi puts it, "gaming the system" for their current books, than the much more important challenge of writing new books.

Other than a pathetically low-key social media presence, my not too terribly complicated marketing/sales plan is to write books that readers want to read. Yup, that's the plan in its entirety. Hopefully, I'll write enough books that I can build up a decent backlist. With a decent backlist and enough readers reading my books, there's an outside chance that I'll be able to earn a living as an author (which is, no matter what you hear, the ultimate goal for any author). I don't care what my author ranking is (no I haven't looked) and I'm pretty gosh-darned sure that I never will care.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. Please let me know what you think about Amazon's new round of rank-o-mania in the comments.

Guest Post: Author Cynthia Ravinski Talks Emotobooks

I think the concept of "Emotobooks" is an interesting one. Check out Cynthia's guest post on the subject and let us know what you think about this new medium in the comments. Take it away, Cynthia!

Hi Roger, many thanks for letting me post on the Novel Project today. And I’ve got just that for you. My story, Lingering in the Woods is an Emotobook. And that is a new medium of fiction published by Grit CityPublications to be available for ereaders of all sorts.

The idea of Emotobooks as a literary form lodged in my mind and haunted me for days after I’d first heard of it. Using abstract imagery to enhance the reading experience engages multiple areas of the brain, which appeals to my vivid sense of color and shape. Louis Sullivan, an American architect, put it perfectly, “form ever follows function.” Emotobooks have a unique style and structure. They are all fast-paced, imagery-heavy short stories or serial novels containing abstract, emotionally provocative illustrations to depict what characters feel during peak moments of tension. These expressionistic elements provide both a cerebral and visual stimulation, which enhances the experience. 

Lingering in the Woods was not always an Emotobook though. I had written it and let it sit in a drawer for a couple of years by the time I heard about Emotobooks. Its fast pace and image-filled narrative seemed to me a perfect fit for this new form. Also the publisher is looking for all forms of fiction, including all the genres. So the fact that Lingering in the Woods is a fantasy also fit perfectly.

When the editors accepted it I was thrilled. I’d get to be a part of the Emotobook revolution. The first thing they did was comb through my story to find the best locations for the abstract images that are unique Emotobooks. At this point they brought on the artist that would create the imagery; see this sneak peak from inside Lingering in the Woods:

When they sent their editorial notes back I reviewed and worked with their suggestions to improve the balance of pace and intensity. When I’d returned the final copy, the editor formatted it for the different ebook retailers it would be going to. It is available at Amazon, iBooks and all major ebook retailers.

Grit City Publications is a very different type of publisher. It’s more like an indie collaborative--a little like the folks who come together for this Magic Appreciation Tour a few times a year. The publisher requires all authors who publish Emotobooks support each other through social networking. The catalogue is always growing, so the support base is as well.

Recent advances in technology brought us a good way to read the electronic book. Emotobooks have brought a new way to enjoy ebooks.

If you try an Emotobook and love it, visit the Grit City page to request an autograph card from the creators.

This post concludes my September Magic Appreciation Blog Tour. My previous stop was an interview at the Importance of the Impossible with A.E. Marling.

Cynthia Ravinski

Cynthia Ravinski writes Emotobooks, among other things. From her coastal northern setting she finagles language into stories. She’s been an athlete, a co-pilot, and a world traveler. She’s basked in the light of great poets, and has been educated to high degrees at UMaine Farmington and Seton Hill University. To say she is obsessed with drinking tea is an understatement.

Find Cynthia Ravinski at her Blog www.cynthiaravinski.com

On facebook: http://www.facebook.com/CynthiaRavinskiAuthor

And twitter @CynthiaRavinski

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Thanks, Cynthia!

Dragonfriend Signed Copies Available -- In Canada!

For all of my Ottawa, Ontario friends there will be signed copies of Dragonfriend available NEXT Saturday (9/29) at the Gaia Java Company.

Author pal Scott Bury has graciously allowed me to piggyback onto his signing for "The Bones of the Earth" (I sent some signed copies to him). His epic fantasy is quite good so I recommend picking up a copy of that, too!

Check out this link for details.

Book Review: Urchin King

Paul, the quintessential street urchin, has spent the last nine years of his life barely eking out an existence in the back alleys and public squares of the town of Wynburgh -- completely unaware of his secret heritage. All of this changes when he's roped into an elaborate scheme that has him taking the place of the sweet, yet mentally challenged heir to the throne. Placed squarely in the path of a conniving wizard and an evil necromancer, Paul has to use all of his street smarts to outwit them and save the members of the royal family he has come to love.

Author Katharina Gerlach successfully combines an easy to read writing style with some first-rate storytelling in this appealing fantasy novel for young adults. Even though the set up, at first, seems to be similar to Twain’s The Prince and the Pauper, the similarity ends once you get past the “pair of princes who ‘coincidentally’ resemble each other.” Urchin King is a completely original story that stands on its own and is a lot of fun. Recommended.

Giveaway Winner! (and other news)

A hearty congratulations to Angie Forney, winner of my Goodreads book giveaway. A signed copy of Dragonfriend will be heading Angie's way later this week!

In the meantime, work continues on Giantkiller, sequel to Dragonfriend. Even though I had to take a break to finish up a draft of a 'Littlest Pet Shop' script (animated half-hour to air on The Hub -- psst! It's going to be really funny) and generate some premises for two other shows (prayers and/or positive vibes welcome!) I'm almost at the end of the second to last chapter. Yes, I'd say I've officially entered the "light at the end of the tunnel" phase of the program. Updates to come!