I was chatting with an author friend and we were comparing notes about writing the second book in a series. He talked about the pressure he is feeling while writing the next book in the series. As we were comparing notes, I realized that we both have been experiencing the same things even though our genres are quite different – he is writing Science Fiction and I am writing YA Adventure. So what exactly are these pressures that we are feeling? Well let me list them in no particular order. I’ve got to make the second book better than the first. You might think this silly because if that is a pressure with each book in a series, eventually you […]
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Make Them Work for It
I realized yesterday that I hadn’t spoken about the craft of writing for a while when I ran up against something I learned while revising Mik Murdoch, Boy Superhero. So, with that timely event, I thought it might prove interesting to talk about characters. Specifically about making your characters work for their victories. One of the mistakes I made when writing Mik Murdoch was I often made things too easy for him. I would throw a problem at him and, knowing how I wanted it to turn out, Mik would get to the resolution with little trouble or effort. I don’t know about you, but when I succeed at something, it is usually through a series of trial-and-error type events. My editor, […]
Read moreGet Published Episode 110 – Ed Robertson Talks Self-Publishing and What Book Rankings Mean
I don’t know about you, but I have always wondered about the book rankings that show up on Book sites like Kobo and Amazon. What does it really mean if a book has a ranking of 60,000? On today’s show, I talk to someone who has had some luck deciphering what those rankings truly mean. We also talk about his experiences in self-publishing and the strategies he has seen and used to be successful. I also talk about conventions since, as this episode drops, I will be at Balticon in Hunt Valley, Maryland. I talk about what you as a convention goer should be doing while attending the various conventions, both literary and other out there. That’s today’s episode. I […]
Read moreEvil Strikes Again!
I suppose I should have suspected that Amazon was somehow controlled by the Evil organizations of the world. But I didn’t and, looking back, I realize how naive I have truly been. What am I talking about? Well, let me try and jolt your memory a little. A little while ago, a friend of mine put a post up on this site. That friend was Mik Murdoch, Boy Superhero. The resulting backlash from the Super Villain community was extreme. My family and I were taken from our home and held captive in a secret underwater volcano lair by the villain Lord Aquarius. I managed to escape with my family, but the entire ordeal has left us frightened and shaken. I […]
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