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

  • Bad Penny Update – 2 Chapters to Go

    ByJohn Brown

    I just typed the last words of the climax!  The last 15,000 words have been a blast to write.  Heck, the whole thing has been fun. 

    If you look at the progress meter, you’ll see I’m at 83,384 words.  It’s weird writing something this “short.” I figure I’ll end up around 90,000 words.  I did some analysis of the size of some other thrillers.  You can see it below. It’s not super rigorous, but BAD PENNY falls well within the range.

    AUTHOR AVERAGE WORDS BOOKS
    Dean Koontz 93,500 2
    Harlen Coben 130,500 2
    JA Konrath 77,667 3
    James Lee Burke 153,000 1
    John Grisham 148,000 1
    Ken Follett 140,000 1
    Lee Child 149,000 4
    Michael Connelly 145,000 1
    Ridley Pearson 114,000 1
    Robert Crais 80,667 3

    The average of all those books is 117,000.

    So I have about two more chapters to go.  I’d finish them next week, but we’re taking some vacation for the 4th.  This means I expect to type “The End” in the second week of July. Then I’ll set it aside for a few weeks, revise it, and send it out to first readers, including my agent.  Here are the characters:

    • Frank Shaw – Ex-con trying to go straight
    • Sam Cartwright – Friendly neighborhood Mormon who’s trying to make Frank feel welcome
    • Dan Meese – A man with snakes in his soul, Frank’s former cellmate
    • Tony Shaw – Frank’s nephew and hacker
    • Carmen Escobar – The woman found tied up in the trunk of Dan’s car
    • Pinto Correia – Bearded gun nut and Sam’s go-to guy
    • Jesus Goroza – Zombie for a drug cartel & Dan’s employer

    I really think folks are going to enjoy this one.

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    Ender’s World: Fresh Perspectives on the SF Classic Ender’s Game

    ByJohn Brown

    Smart Pop publishes smart, fresh, and engaging articles on the best of pop culture TV, books, and film, with a particular focus on science fiction and fantasy television and literature.

    You want to hear what Scott Westerfield (Uglies, Pretties, etc.) has to say about Buffy?  Go to Smart Pop.

    What about Orson Card’s thoughts on Joss Whedon’s Firefly universe? Smart Pop.

    What about the venerable Lawrence Block on Robert B. Parker’s Spenser series? Um, Smart Pop.

    Strange.  Do you see a pattern emerging? 

    Whether it’s Mad Men, House, Hunger Games, George Martin’s epic fantasies, Halo, True Blood, or Alias, Smart Pop gathers together New York Times bestselling authors, television writers, psychologists, philosophers, and others–folks who love of pop culture and have something worth sharing about it–and asks them to share their insights.   

    Recently, they’ve been putting together just such a collection on Ender’s Game.  It’s called Ender’s World: Fresh Perspectives on the SF Classic Ender’s Game. It’s coming out February 2013.  You can read more about it here.

    I’m announcing this now because The Man was fortunate enough to be invited to contribute.  I love Ender’s Game.  LOVE IT.  How cool is it that I get to write about it in an anthology edited by the folks at Smart Pop and Card himself? And then get to read what everyone else has to say, including military strategists Colonel Tom Ruby and Captain John Schmitt.  As well as the little bits they’ll include on things like why the battle room is the shape it is and why they were recruiting kids.

    But I’m also announcing this because in addition to the essays all we Ender-lovers get to write, Smart Pop is also going to include a series of Q&As with Scott Card, and they are currently soliciting the question from readers. FROM YOU. Right now.

    You ever wonder about a character or part of the setting or event in Ender’s Game?  Ever wanted to know what inspired Card? Ever wanted to ask any question at all about Ender’s Game?  Now’s your chance. Just submit you question here: http://www.smartpopbooks.com/ask-orson-scott-card-a-question-about-enders-game/

    You can see questions already submitted at Smart Pop’s Tumblr.

    From a writer’s pov, I have to tell you that the folks at Smart Pop have been nothing but enjoyable and insightful to work with. I’m looking forward to this book!

  • Servant of a Dark God in Italian!

    ByJohn Brown

    For all you Italian speakers, SERVANT OF A DARK GOD was published in Italy by Gruppo Editoriale Armenia for the 2011 holiday season. Here’s the cover.

     

    Don’t mess with the man in black!

    If you speak Italian, here’s the publisher’s page for it: http://www.armenia.it/libri/984/Fantasy/I-classici-del-fantasy/Servo-di-un-Dio-oscuro.html

    Do you know how cool it is to think somebody in Italy is reading about Hunger and Sugar and the gang?

    Viva Italia!

  • Bad Penny: two big sequences left plus list of pen names

    ByJohn Brown

    For those of you watching, I’m past the 65% point on Bad Penny. I’ve set the target at 90,000 words, but, of course, I don’t know if that’s exactly how long it will be. I have two big sequences left, one of which is the climax. My stats so far:

    • Pre-draft development hours: about 50
    • Draft 1 hours: about 90
    • Total hours: 140
    • Words (draft 1): 59,009 
    • Words per draft hour: about 650

    I’ve spent time thinking that I haven’t recorded–time on walks or driving. And time doing research. So this is understated, but it’s probably accurate enough. The good news is that I’m writing this draft slightly faster than I did the first draft of my last novel.

    Now look at those numbers again. If I was doing this full time, it would have taken a week, maybe two do finish the pre-draft development.  Then another two or three weeks to get to this point.  Dang, how nice would that be! Once I finish, I’ll let it sit for a month. Then I’ll revise.  Then I’ll give it to my expert beta readers. Then I’ll revise again and send it out for sale.

    As for pen names, here’s what I selected out of a finalist list of about 200 names:

    1. John Blackburn
    2. John Crawford
    3. John Clawson
    4. John Holland
    5. John Holloway
    6. John Lee
    7. John Nash
    8. John Walker

    Which will it be?

  • Bad Penny – working title

    ByJohn Brown

    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.