Posted in Writing, tagged creative writing, Fallen Cloud Saga, Harlan Ellison, Lincoln, milk in the icebox, novel writing, Stephen King, Writing, writing techniques, writing tips on 14 Sep 2012| Leave a Comment »
“I did not, in the course of my response to the matter in April, 1861, consider within the limits of credibility that these heretofore stalwart men—many of whom were well-known to me—could be anything but misguided or deceived by the machinations of others. I did not and could not conceive of the authors of such actions as reasoning, civilized members of an otherwise flourishing country.”
Abraham Lincoln, A War Remembered, 1875
See what I did there?
Posted in Fallen Cloud Saga, Writing, tagged blogging, books, creative writing, editing, Fallen Cloud Saga, Libya, novel writing, publishing, quiet living, Writing on 13 Sep 2012| Leave a Comment »
There were several topics in my head this morning, all vying for attention.
Yesterday was a bad day—personally, nationally, internationally—and the opinions, the frustrations, the anger built until, about 9PM, the dreaded pall of futility and depression began to creep upon me. How to battle not only the news of terrible events, but the rash and unwise reactions that predominated the blogosphere? After so many years, after so many trials, have we learned nothing?
I tried to shake it and turned back to my work prepping The Year the Cloud Fell for re-release. Editing—even a quick review edit like I’m giving these books—may seem like an odd method for lifting one’s mood, but it paid off, for out of the blackness of my mood, there came a warm and friendly light. (more…)
Posted in Culture, Movies, Writing, tagged Abigail Gibbs, books, creative writing, harper collins, HarperCollins, novel writing, novels, publishing, self-publishing, Snooki, Twilight, Writing on 12 Sep 2012| Leave a Comment »
Yesterday, several of my writerly-feeds went nuclear after The Huffington Post reported that Abigail Gibbs was awarded a six-figure contract for her first novel. Every writer I know decried the state of writing when a newbie author would get such a deal for what was essentially (their words) “glorified fan fiction.”
First, nothing in the article leads me to believe that this is fan fiction. Though “inspired” by the Twilight series, there is nothing in the article that says she’s used characters from the series (a hallmark of fan fiction). Sure, she posted articles on Wattpad, but that doesn’t make it fan fiction, so, let’s drop that label, shall we? (more…)
Posted in Fallen Cloud Saga, Writing, tagged books, Corporate America, creative writing, Fallen Cloud Saga, FC:V, novel writing, novels, publishing, self-publishing, Writing, writing tips on 09 Sep 2012| Leave a Comment »
Now hear this!
In the past, people have asked me: Do you get to pick your own title for your books?
Such was the case for two of my books, and I now have the chance to fix at least one of them.
Posted in Fallen Cloud Saga, Low Tech, Writing, tagged amazon, Beneath a Wounded Sky, books, creative writing, ebooks, editing, Fallen Cloud Saga, FC:V, Kindle, low-tech solutions, novel writing, publishing, self-publishing, small business, Writing, writing tips on 07 Sep 2012| Leave a Comment »
I heard back from Fairwood Press, yesterday. As publisher of Dreams of the Desert Wind (my genre-mashup of speculative fiction, thriller, and corporate espionage), I wanted to give them the “right of first refusal” on the new FC:V. The good news is that Fairwood is doing very well; the bad news is that their docket is filled for 2013, and they couldn’t entertain this title until 2014.
That’s too long a wait. So, I’m moving ahead; Beneath a Wounded Sky will be published by Mouse Road Press (i.e., me) as part of a full, five-book release of The Fallen Cloud Saga.
Which means that everything is now on my plate. Including cover art.
I have an advantage here. I don’t care if this project makes money. In fact, I assume it won’t. So, if I have covers that don’t tick all the boxes on the marketing strategy checklist, no worries. But I do want to have good-looking covers.
However, I do not want to have the standard-style, heavy-detail, photo-realistic cover of men and machines that you see on almost every alternate history title on the shelf. I want something different.
I’m thinking: minimalist.
There’s a new meme out there. Do a Google search on “minimalist movie poster” and you’ll see what I mean. These are evocative but very stylized images. Most of them play on a previous knowledge of the movie, but they needn’t. They’re eye-catching, they’re clean and easy to understand, and they tell a little story all on their own.
So, I’m reaching out to some of my friends who have graphic art experience, to get their input on the process. I already have concept art for each of the five covers. Three of them are pretty much final product, in fact (yes, I was working on this ahead of time, having predicted the Fairwood response).
These covers will be unusual, setting them apart from the standard cover art for the genre. They will have a uniform “look and feel” to them, identifying them as a set. And since I won’t have to use any stock photo images (bonus), they will also be completely free of royalty costs.
I’m not an artist—I’m saving that learning curve for my retirement—but I understand the basics of design. With some educated guidance, I hope I can come up with a set of covers that will do my series proud.
k
Posted in Fallen Cloud Saga, Writing, tagged amazon, Beneath a Wounded Sky, creative writing, ebooks, Fallen Cloud Saga, FC:V, Kindle, novel writing, novels, publishing, self-publishing, Writing, writing tips on 06 Sep 2012| 2 Comments »
The goal of almost every writer is to be published by a big publishing firm. These big publishing houses pretty much had a lock on the whole shebang until about 20 years ago, when small and on-demand presses started popping up. Then, when e-publishing started to take off, authors had even more options open to them.
But, for most of us, the Yellow Brick Road still leads to Oz, and all those other venues are just waypoints for which we must “settle” if we can’t get all the way to the Big Publishing House.
I’ve hit pretty much every stop on the Yellow Brick Road. Under normal circumstances, I’d be taking my new novel down as far down that road as possible, but FC:V is a bit of an edge case. (more…)
Posted in Fallen Cloud Saga, Writing, tagged Beneath a Wounded Sky, books, creative writing, Fallen Cloud Saga, FC:V, novel writing, novels, Writing, writing techniques, writing tips on 05 Sep 2012| Leave a Comment »
First Reader has come back with comments on Beneath a Wounded Sky (FC:V).
Overall, response was very good. Really good. “I miss them already,” was the comment after the last page.
But, there was room for improvement. Here’s the sort of thing First Reader found:
Now, all the changes have been considered and fixed. The new version is off to a select group of Second Readers. I expect to hear back from them in a couple of weeks.
Meanwhile, I get to think about what to do next? Agent/Publisher (which could take—literally—years)? Self-publication (which would reap little, monetarily)?
k
Kurt R.A. Giambastiani 