Once again, I have found a great reason to talk to people. Simply put, I get great new ideas and opportunities from simple conversation. There have been library visits, convention appearances, award nominations, marketing and promotion opportunities and so many other things that never would have happened if I hadn’t stopped to talk with someone. Take some past examples: Interviewing folks for Get Published has resulted in book contracts. Tweets and then follow-up conversations has resulted in an Anthology (A Method to the Madness: A Guide to the Super Evil). Tweets and then follow-up conversations has resulted in a Steampunk novel (Jack Kane and the Statue of Liberty, co-written with JR Murdock). Facebook posts and then follow-up conversations resulted in Action […]
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I Have a New Short Story Coming Out on Every Photo Tells
By the title, you can probably guess that there will be some pimping going on in this post. You would be right, but that isn’t the sole purpose of the post. The good folks at Every Photo Tells have a very interesting premise for their short story podcast. Every month they post a new photo on the site as inspiration for all us writers. Authors are encouraged to write a story (between 1,000 and 5,000 words) based on the picture and send it in. If the story is accepted, they do an edit and podcast it. I’ve been meaning to do this for some time but always managed to miss the deadline. This past month I finally wrote a story and sent […]
Read moreStory Ideas
With NaNoWriMo fast approaching, I wanted to talk about the process where I develop my own ideas into stories. For the purpose of this I will use a sample idea and work it through. Coming up with a story idea This is the single easiest part of the story for me. I get story ideas from everywhere all the time. From television, movies, other books, going for walks and hearing the news. The commonly held belief among “Experts” is that there are no new idea. Just new ways to execute them. Whether that’s true or not I don’t know. I just know that I get these cool story ideas running through my head and I can’t wait to start writing. […]
Read moreLet Your Mind Wander
The subconscious mind is an amazing thing. Have you ever been in the situation where you were trying to remember someone’s name or a word and a few minutes after you’ve given up, it pops into your mind? Happens to me all the time. I’ve noticed that my writing is being done subconsciously too at times. I get my characters in a bind and I can’t think of a good, logical way to get them out of it. I walk and I think and I try different things but nothing works. Then, out of the blue, an idea hits me that is so freaking awesome I wonder why I never thought of it sooner. In the past I thought it […]
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