News – updates on books, events, appearances, etc.

  • Awful Intent: sheep block busted

    SheepOnTheRoadSometimes the writing flows. And sometimes you get to the chapter you’ve sketched and realize you’re stuck until you get the sheep off the road.

    You had no idea they were going to be there, but there they are, bringing you to a halt.

    For me, this means I have got to do a lot more thinking to make the scene work realistically. Or work at all.

    That was chapter 13.

    It stopped me dead in my tracks. Some folks say to write on, get the first draft done, but that isn’t how my brain works.

    Besides, I tried that strategy with my first draft of Curse. I ignored the little Spideysense warnings I had about a fundamental situation and wrote on. I ended up with a big old honking manuscript that had to be rewritten from almost the beginning because everything from about 1/3rd the way through had taken the wrong trajectory. So instead of taking 10 hours to figure it out and fix it, I spent 300-400 rewriting.

    That’s called stupid writing.

    So for the last ten writing sessions I was researching and thinking and researching. And when I finally had a sketch based on how things actually work, I went back into flow and wrote the chapter without much trouble at all.

    Huzzah.

    Chapter 14 looks like it will be quick and easy. Some sneaking, some fighting, and a big discovery of a plot turn.

  • |

    Lesson 8 finished

    If you write poopy-slow like me, you will finish 500-700 words of your draft in an hour. Let’s see what that means for various novel sizes.

    • 25,000 words: 50 hours
    • 50,000 words: 100 hours
    • 75,000 words: 150 hours
    • 100,000 words: 200 hours
    • 200,000 words: 400 hours

    And those requirements don’t count time you might need to spend re-imagining a piece or researching some gap in your knowledge or figuring out some knotty bit you couldn’t see was problematic when you first set out. A novel can be a big project and stretch over a few weeks, especially when you don’t have eight hours a day to write.

    In this lesson, you will learn that you need to treat the draft like what it is–a project–and use basic project management techniques to help you get the work done.

  • Listen to Loose in the Wires for free

    far-fetched-fables-logo

    Far-Fetched Fables has released the audio version of “Loose in the Wires.” The narrator, Eric Luke, did a great job. This story was so fun to write. If you haven’t read it yet, go give it a listen. It’s free. You’ll also be able to hear the flash fiction piece, “Older, Wiser, Time Traveler” by M. Bennardo, narrated by Rish Outfield. The podcast is the perfect size of a commute.

     

  • It’s Far-fetched Fables who is doing Loose in the Wires

    It appears I got the wrong District of Wonders podcast for Loose in the Wires. It’s not Starship Sofa. It’s Far-fetched Fables who will be producing it.

    far-fetched-fables-cover-500x647

    Mark Zanfardino writes:

    I’m the audio engineer for Far Fetched Fables (http://farfetchedfables.com). “Loose in the Wires” will be run on Far Fetched Fables – a District of Wonders podcast – episode 44 on February 17, 2015. I’ve just finished listening to the audio production and it sounds fantastic!

    Thank you John Brown for letting us run this fun story!

    I can’t wait to hear what they’ve done with this.

  • New business cards

    Devon Dorrity, who helped me put together my covers, just helped me put together some business cards. I’m pretty excited about them. I’m biased, but I think they look awesome.

    Servant

    John-Brown-Servant-Business-Card

    Curse

    John-Brown-Curse-Business-Card

    Raveler

    John-Brown-Raveler-Business-Card-Front

    You can see here a mockup of how they’ll look. That bit on the back is the Blacksword Books logo.

    John-Brown-Raveler-Business-Card-Mockup

    I’m not sure about the one for Bad Penny. Devon liked it. Any opinions?

    John-Brown-Bad-Penny-Business-Card-Mockup