A number of people have asked for it, and I’m now happy to announce I’ve posted the opening chapters to SERVANT OF A DARK GOD in the Novels section of my site.
Read!
Enjoy!
And then come back to beg for more.
Today is a fine US holiday. And so I took the day off to write. I just added over 6,000 words to the final big battle climax of my novel. And what a climax it is. It’s almost 50,000 words long. I still have another 5-10k to go.
Folks, this is longer than a lot of short novels.
I guess it would be more accurate to say I’m writing act 3. The book will probably exceed 200k words. So 60k isn’t too long for the final act.
I will now sigh in contentment.
*sighs*
I’m enjoying the heck out of writing this.
At the same time, I’m hoping to figure out how to make book three in this epic fantasy series shorter so I can get the story out to readers in a more timely manner. I might be able to write two normal sized novels instead of one monster. I will think hard about it.
In the meantime, I hope to wrap this rewrite of act 3 up over the next few days. And then it’s just line and copy edits.
I’ve decided to tentatively call the first book in my Frank Shaw series “Bad Penny.” This is the thriller I’ve been talking about. It’s a working title, so it may change.
As for progress, I’m close to 14,000 words. Huzzah! And I’m having a blast writing it. Every day I look forward to my writing time.
For those curious, the book takes place in Rock Springs, Wyoming. The plot will move it across eastern part of the state and then down into Colorado.
Frank Moses Shaw, ex-con . . .
Ah, folks. I’m just loving it.
I’m also generating options for a pen name. Althought I know there’s overlap between readers of epic fantasy and thrillers (hey, look at me!), I still think the genres are too different to try to spread a brand name across both. I read about Tess Gerritsen, who started in romance, using the same name for her thrillers, which is all I think she writes now. She reports that she had a number of the thriller readers pick up her romances and vice versa, and then get frustrated because her brand meant one thing to them, but they got another.
If I was writing thrillerish SF, like Card’s Ender’s Game, or thrillerish fantasy, like Correia’s Monster Hunter, then maybe the stretch wouldn’t be so far. For those of you who are thriller readers, I’ll be posting some possible names in the near future. I’d like your reactions on the options, so keep a look out.
As for CURSE OF A DARK GOD, no word yet from ye Editors. I’m expecting a reply March or April. Yeah, I turned it into my agent end of November. She submitted it to Tor in December. No, I don’t like these lead times any better than you do. But it is what it is. My job is to produce. My target this year is two novels–DARK GOD’S GLORY (book 3 in the series) and BAD PENNY. My stretch goal is to finish the working outline for the second Frank Shaw book (already have the premise) and actually start on it before the end of the year. We’ll see what happens.
Just a reminder. Larry and I will be in the Phoenix area this week on book tour. If you’re available, we’d love to see you Thursday night at the Poisoned Pen or earlier that day at the informal Barnes & Noble meet-n-greet!
| Thursday, November 19 3 pm – 5 pm |
Meet public, discuss book, signing. This is informal, just chatting in the cafe–Brown & Correia | Mesa, AZ | Barnes & Noble Dana Park Village Square 1758 South Val Vista Drive Mesa, AZ 85204 (480) 545-8507 |
| Thursday, November 19 7 pm – 9 pm |
Meet public, discuss book, signing–Brown & Correia | Scottsdale, AZ | The Poisoned Pen 4014 N Goldwater Blvd. Suite 101 Scottsdale, AZ 85251 (480) 947-2974 |
Carrie Hinkel-Gill at Moonlight, Lace and Mayhem has been interviewing me. It’s been thought-provoking and fun and is presented in four weekly installments. Check it out: http://mlmfantasy.blogspot.com/
I have been making progress on my next novel. Today, I revised the second draft up to the climax. Tomorrow, I get into it. It’s going to be an awesome battle with lots of heroics. Can’t wait. You’ll notice the progress meter. I thought the book would be 35k. A quickie. But it’s probably going to end up at 60k. Almost twice as long, but still the shortest novel I’ve ever written.
You can see some of the images I’ve been gathering for this on Pinterest.
The thing that’s eluding me at this point is the name of the series itself.
Apply to take the next Novel Writers Academy course: How to Create Story Ideas That Beg To Be Written.
At the end of the six weeks you will be a story idea machine.
I will be working with only a small set of people. And so you need to apply to get in.
The deadline for applications is midnight, December 11th. So contact me now to get the application instructions.
A cracking good story idea requires five critical elements.
Until you have all five, you’ll struggle to plot. You’ll write a few scenes and run out of gas. You’ll feel like the story just isn’t going anywhere.
And that’s because it isn’t. It can’t. A story isn’t a story without all five elements.
However, once you develop these five things, your story will suddenly roar to life. There are a few other elements that are important as well, but these five things form the core of the story setup.
In this course you’re not going to merely learn about all of those story elements. You’re going to go deep and learn what can only be learned by actually doing the work and developing story idea after story idea with personal one-on-one feedback from someone who knows what they’re doing.
When you finish, you won’t just know story theory. You will be a story idea machine. And you will be that because you have put in the work. The right work.
Again, this is not a course full of lectures and videos. This is a course where you’re going to work. And develop the insights and skills that only come from doing the work.
You’re actually going to:
It’s going to:
You are going to learn how to develop killer story ideas on purpose instead of on accident. Which means you’ll be able to do again and again. Reliably. Like clockwork.
The focus of the class is not on learning about story, although you will do that. The majority of your time will be spent on developing stories.
You can’t become a carpenter by watching videos and reading books about it.
You have to get out on the work site, cut wood, and pound nails. You have to make the mistakes all beginning carpenters make, get feedback, and improve.
The same goes for writing.
And you’re going to work in this class. You develop 21 story setups. In fact, you develop more because the 21 are just the ones you turn into me. And with each one your skills, insights, and abilities grow.
In the beginning, your setups will be bare bones. By the end, they’ll be fully developed setups that beg to be written. Setups you can use to immediately write the first draft of your novel, whether that’s in outline or chapter form.
Here’s what you do each week.
Week 1.
Week 2.
Week 3.
Week 4.
Week 5.
Week 6.
In this class you develop story idea after story idea after story idea. You are going to be marinated in the work of developing characters, THOMs, goals, obstacles, settings, casts, and more. And because of that, each week will not only bring an explosion of insights, but new skills and abilities.
Every week you get two private, one-on-one, live sessions with me where you get encouragement and feedback on what you’ve developed. And you’ll have access to a private Facebook group where you can apply the principles to brainstorm even MORE ideas for each other’s stories.
At first you might feel a bit shy and worried about your ideas and abilities. But you’ll soon get over that. By the end of the course you’ll be one of those people that can generate terrific ideas easily. And you’ll be able to do that because you will have put in the work to become a different writer.
Hours of one-on-one instruction from a professional editor or author costs thousands of dollars. An MFA program can cost $25,000 to $30,000 or more!
But this course won’t cost anywhere close to that.
Plus you’re going to learn things here you’ll never get in an MFA program (I know. I was accepted into a top-ranked program).
The cost of this course is $799. And I personally guarantee your results. You’ll be totally oh-my-gosh-I’m-so-happy-I-took-that-class satisfied, or I’ll give you your money back. No questions asked.
Now’s your chance to stop spinning your wheels. I can’t tell you how much I wish I’d had something like this when I’d started:
When you finish, you will be a story idea machine.
You won’t know plotting. That’s a different course and set of skills. You won’t know how to write chapters. But you’ll know how to create the engine that powers all the rest of that. You’ll know how to create the core that makes awesome plots and chapters possible.
If you want to take this course, click the button below and contact me. I will tell you exactly how to apply.
I’m not going to be able to accept everyone who wants to take the class. I have a very strict limit on the number of students I can work with. So you need to get your application in before the deadline of midnight, December 11th.
Don’t wait!
Contact me now to get application instructions.
