My Writing Process - Part 5 - Now I Am Done, What's Next?

Alright, so I am done the editing part, just what in the hell comes after that?  There is quite a lot actually, and sometimes it is very challenging.  Once I do the final check over of the book 10 pages at a time with my software I use, which catches global issues, now comes the time to literally rip all the coding out of the word files and replace it with the stuff in the templates (Lulu as has templates that can be downloaded and used so that the settings are correct).  In preparing the final file, I go to the task of copying stuff out of the original file, put it into word pad so I can do some simple stuff, then back into word.  Normally this gets rids of all of the encoding issues.
But you also have to go through and line up the chapter headings to be on the same line, font size, bold or not, italics, one or two lines etc after the heading.  It is the small shit here that we get into.
Of course, it gets more involved with ebooks, as each chapter has to be set up as a heading 1 (you've seen those in word) and in 2013 I have had to alter the template for that.
This is just the text.  In the past few weeks I have been re-creating the covers for my books, and that involves using high resolution photoshop files to do the work, where in each file, I zoom into the pixel level to line things up, and it is funny how you can find you are off by an entire line of pixels.  And for me right now, making cover pages is all done on the computer as I cannot get my art skills up well enough.
I know that this all sounds short, but in the end, it can be the part of the process that takes the longest.

So you want to write - advice for young authors

Well, after a rough day at work and some gin and tonic, there is nothing better than to sit down and write, doesn't matter if it is an entry in my blog as this is, a short story, part of a novel, or just something silly like the toilet gnome.  This is what I do, and what you would do as a young author will probably be much different.  I am writing this tonight because during the last two cons I was at, I ran into a lot of young authors who were trying, but weren't sure how to do it effectively.
I started writing because I finally convinced myself that I could do it other than in the science world, and that is normally the biggest hurdle.  Having ideas, whether they float around your head for awhile, or you base it on dreams, that is normally the easier part.  It is getting it onto paper as it was when I wrote my first stuff, or now, onto a computer screen.
There are many places out there that can help you, and one of them is Nanowrimo.  Nanowrimo is something I have participated in for a few years now, and the short version is this:  you sign to write 50 000 words in the 30 days of November.  That comes down to 1667 words per day.  You don't have to hit that target everyday, you can go over, under or whatever, and if you don't write that many words in November, you at least tried.  It is a commitment.
Many young authors believe that you need to write that perfect draft the first time.  Hell no, not even close.  I often go through over 6 edits on my material, in part because the first draft gets the key points across, then as I edit, I add in the details that fill out the scenes.  Final edit for me is normally done running my stuff through software to check it for certain things such as spelling consistency, cliches, over use of words and so on.
The environment you work in is also important as it can affect your concentration.  Sometimes it is that you need the exact same environment, i.e. your room, desk, music.  For me it is environmental factors as I can write in front of the TV, at my desk on a different computer, with or without my usual gin and tonic or scotch, or even outside.  You need to discover where you are most functional for this.  And of course time of day is another factor, some of my best writing happens in the middle of the night.
One last thing I suggest, is try to find other people out there, not necessarily your friends around you, but around the country. When I started writing, I was lucky enough to meet many people out there who I am still in touch with after 16 years.  And many of us are now published.  It will often be these people that will give you support more than anything.  And I will do a shout out to all of you out there from the group I started in.
So my best suggestion for all of you is this:  find out what works and keep asking questions of those of us who are there.  I know I wish I had.

I wrote on one of these once......a long time ago.

The Trouble with Media Today

The writers in media today are fucking morons, and that is being quite nice to them.  In the past week, the idiots over in the middle east have been doing the good old beheading trick, and like lambs to the slaughter, the idiot media people have rushed to publish all this shit that is going on, which leads to the world actually supporting these assholes who are doing this beheading.
A long time ago in life, I learned that it is often best to ignore people who decide they want to be bullies, as often that takes away their power.  As more and more media sites (hey CNN, you are one of the worst, but then when dealing with the dunderheads you are, we really can't expect more) publish images, even just before the actual act of beheading occurs, we are just feeding into what these killers want:  that everyone is looking at the video and doing their usual Oh my god, look at what they did, which at that point, just enables these idiots further.
Case in point, yes they have more people that are going to be beheaded, and yes it is newsworthy, but for crying out loud you morons, learn some goddamned discretion about reporting this.  It of course doesn't help that the so-called world superpower the US is sitting around with its thumbs up it collective asses, crying foul but not doing anything. C'mon Obama, send in the Seals and Rangers and hunt these idiots into extinction. 
But let's make this clear folks:  everything you click on a story to read about any of the beheadings, are just supporting the terrorists.  So do the world a favor and say no to clicking on these stories and teach the media morons with the single digit IQs to stop supporting terrorism.

FanExpo 2014 in Toronto

Hi all I've been mostly quiet the past 4 days because I was at FanExpo in Toronto with Ellie Di Julio.   FanExpo was quite the experience from move in until move out.  The first day I unloaded at the loading dock, a monstrosity of a tunnel that traversed 8 storeys underground to a fully enclosed docking area that said if the alarm goes off, better fucking run.  Good old car and truck exhaust.
The setup was pretty quick and easy, and then it was 4 days of trying to sell books.  I did fine, breaking even by the end of it. But as many of the veteran exhibitors pointed out, people just weren't buying this year.  I certainly did come home with less stock though.
The people themselves were very interesting at FanExpo, and often I hear of them referred to as nerds.  Sure there are some there that fit the stereotype, but in seeing the costumes I saw, you could see many put many hours into making the costumes, and the skills behind what they did create are amazing to say the least.  As a scientist in real life, I often do not get to interact with people in thid environment, but I was quite impressed by the costumes.  And many of these people are normal like the rest of us (that is, if you can define normal).  In many ways, the Big Bang Theory has missed the boat on this culture and well I can tell you, not one of those characters on that show would ever be hired on as faculty anywhere, and if they did, the door would be hitting their asses on the way out in a matter of months.  It makes me want to review whether or not I should watch the Big Bang Theory, but then many shows really do not depict scientists quite right either.
In terms of exhibitors around us, we had the best neighbours two rookies at this could ever have. We all had a lot of fun, especially on Saturday as it was pretty much batten down the hatches and don't leave the booth. We were all trading food back and forth, cooling our drinks in one of the coolers that one of the others brought.  I am going to give a shout out to the neighbors, so here goes.
Captain Sam Engstrom held the fort down at the end booth.  She is an artist and illustrator, and her art really did blow me away.  There is a picture she had that I never got a chance to get a copy, so I hope to run into her soon and see if she will do a trade.  Sam was always happy, willing to trade her items for cards (she went home with a good many!!).
Then there was Kurtis Cooper, who was with Altered Earth, which I believe is the name of his series.  Him and his friends were just awesome, and he even let me steel some electrons from him to charge my phone (by the way Kurtis, I saw the reference BoJangles on TV, the one about the three piles of shit, laughed my head off).
Next to Ellie and I was Catherinette Rings, a jeweler who hand makes steam punk jewellery.  It is well made, I even bought a piece for my wife.  There were other exhibitors doing steam punk stuff, but it was all the cheap, import shit that just falls apart.  If you want quality steampunk jewellery, then check him out.  Daniel was a ball as well, with a sense of humour that is in my neighborhood.  Both he and his wife, Catherine, are from Montreal.
Highlights of the show:  I got to tell someone that Darth Vader would shit his pants if he took on my guys, another exhibitor who bought my book on the first day came back all excited about what I wrote.  I was stunned to say the least, to see someone so enthusiastic about what I have written.  I just hope future volumes do not disappoint. 
Finally, this one is for you Kurtis, I told you about a show that you can only watch one episode at a time, otherwise you get a headache.  Here it is man.

Link to video

And finally, but not least at all, a grand thanks to another author who is really great to work with, Ellie Di Julio.  You are an awesome person to share a booth with.  And I cannot forget Megan Fair for helping both of us whenever she can, whether it was passing out cards or standing at our booth attracting visitors. 

Click on the video link and you will understand...maybe

You Know You Are an Author When....

You know you are an author when......
You wake up in the middle of the night, write down your dream, then 2 weeks later look at it and wonder was I drinking that voodoo gin because your protagonist is called the Turd Burglar.

You have that short story you tell everyone it exists, but you never, ever let it see the light of day, then when you die, someone finds it in a file and publishes it as the long lost story.

You realize that Big Foot Porn is making more money than your novels and you consider for even the briefest second of writing Yeti Porn crossed with the Chupacabra

You have a 3 week writing session with a friend and when you're done you have a novel, but don't remember the 40 bottles of wine you drank, despite the empties looking at you.

Your boss or former boss is a Peeping Tom in one of your dreams and you declare there has to be a story in there; or that you dream your boss can save the world and you know better, but still write a story about it.

You have more vices than Keith Richards, but still are not mummified or preserved or whatever the fuck happened to him.

You write a story involving Big Foot like creatures involving your protagonists, but you promise it will never see the light of day.

You send a file to your editor and both of you miss the fact that there is an entire chapter missing, but can't put your finger on it as to what the problem is.

You hate garden gnomes so much you write something about one that has a magical plunger that can unplug your ass and see nothing wrong with this.

You write a sequel to the above involving faeries and think it is normal and are more willing to publish that than the goddamned big foot story.

You find that you do not function until that third shot of scotch, then the whole world is at your fingertips.

You realize that George Lucas has a fucking time machine and won't share it as Star Wars happened a long time ago......

You are watching a TV show for the season and easily deconstruct the writing to the point that you know when someone gets pregnant so that they can all write lower quality shit.

You are watching the A-team and realize it follows a formula to the minute and can predict when they first piss off the bad guys to the point they are locked in the shop with all the tools they need to make their shit.

You realize that no one can be as dumb as the bad guys in the A-team.

I am sure there is a story here between these three, hell do you even know who these three are?

So Why Am I Working on 2 Book Series at Once?

Well truth be told, there are really 5 series on the go for the time being, but 3 of them I won't take time to publish in for quite some time.  The two that I am concentrating on are of course Anthology of the Guardians, and the Triumvirate Chronicles.  So let's take a look at these a little bit.
The Triumvirate Chronicles was the first series I starting writing years ago, as for at least by that time, I had had these ideas going around in my heard for at least 10 years, if not more.  You all know this.  But as I was writing Triumvirate and editing it, I came up with the idea that my antagonists should be immortals too, but much older, and their story lost to history,  I examined what turned John Zabin into Canes.  And it is from there that Anthology of the Guardians was born.  Now let's be frank here, at the time of writing it, John Zabin was just that, but then came the so-called comic book names as my friend Trevor would say.  It was then that I fully realized I was writing about Canes and his origins, putting the whole story into one framework.  The Anthology of the Guardians series is meant to be, for the time being, a series of standalone stories, that is you miss one, it doesn't matter.  Now will there ever be a full out series for it, yes, there are plans, but not right now.
As for the Triumvirate Chronicles, it is what it appears to be, a book series.  I know that trilogies are popular because you don't have to wait forever to get to the end of the series (I will try to have a fairly good pace on releasing it), but it just wouldn't fit into a damned trilogy.  So it sits where it is currently at 8 books.  I cannot make it any smaller.  But in having immortals of different ages, it left the door open to other stories that well, are written.  Details of these stories are revealed in the Historian's Notes in many cases.  So you do get a flavor of them.  Now there are two other series, but they shall remain secret for now, I can't give all of you everything now can I?

Couldn't find a good infinity symbol for immortality, so this will do!!

 

What am I Watching on DVD Right Now?

I often keep strange hours, in part because my cat is 18.5 years old (old enough to vote but they won't register her, damn electrons people, but she can drink next year) and that my bunny is awake starting at 3 am in the morning.  That means pretty much my day starts at 3 am, and sometime sends at 1 am the following morning.  Yeah well, I know how to power nap so to speak.
So while my rabbit is out or I am waiting to feed my cat or give her antibiotcs (often I don't measure time in minutes or seconds for this, but episodes of TV shows I am watching on DVD).  Let me say that I really prefer to watch TV as seasons of DVDs because you get so much more out of it.  I would've never been able to watch Lost if not being able to watch episodes back to back and season to season.
So when I am upstairs, I am watching these days China Beach.  For those not alive in the late 80s, after Platoon came out, it generated interest in the war of the forgotten heroes as I refer to it (I find it so sad that so many vets were never welcomed home from Vietnam), two shows came out, Tour of Duty (one I have seen) and China Beach.  China Beach is about what goes on at a military hospital in Vietnam during the height of the US involvement and is based on a true story.  The gist is that there is nurse, Colleen McMurphy, and it is about her and the people there, their struggles, their love interests, and the general toll of the war on people.  In the first show, it is the end of her tour, but due to getting so used to being in the war, decided to stay for another tour because she felt she couldn't leave.  The one really good episode is where she got to go home and had to decide to desert or go back.  Many shows have tried to cover this war well, as have movies, but this one in particular was written in a way such that you feel what the characters are feeling. I often come away being somewhat down, but it gives me an insight into the toll of war and what it does to both that are strong characters and ones that struggle more.  It gives me a bit more realism to my characters when I put them in difficult situations (for instance, making an immortal face his mortality and coming death).  Overall I would recommend it, and until recently you could only buy the entire series as one set, but now the first 3 seasons are out individually and the fourth set for release on late september.
Now when I do have the little red bunny out for his running, I am watching none other than Hawaii Five-O, not the new one, but the original with Jack Lord (and his hair of course).  Yes it started in 1968 and ended in 1980, and you are probably wondering how it hold up.  In my opinion, it holds up really well.  Yes the cars and style of filming can now be considered cheesy, but shit, having watched to almost the end of season 7, it has one of the highest body counts I have ever seen in a cop show ever, even compared to modern shows like NYPD Blue.  Of 24 episodes in a season, there is at least a 75% chance a bad guy gets killed.  Also, McGarret was no non-sense type of guy, and sometimes there are some disconnects with stuff in the plots of the episodes once and awhile, but hey, not even modern shows are perfect.  Give this a try if you haven't yet, go out and get the first season.

You can read it!!

 

Time to Unveil Part 2: Genesis

So as many of you have known for a bit, I've been working on new cover art.  Well finally, here is the new cover art for Genesis.  For this one, I took the idea of having a pink background (not many books have an actual pink background) and using a dark blood red for the lettering.  As these people were modified, I have included the 4 nucleotides that are found in all of our DNA, with figures over topf of them.  And finally as they are immortal, the infinity sign to fill some space.  It is quite a different design, but one I feel comfortable with in that it almost goes back to classic sci-fi  Many of you had seen the design for Desperation, the original one, but I had printed a special convection version of Genesis in the 6x9 format, but now it is available in the trade paperback version, the size everyone wants.   
So without further adieu, here is the new cover for Genesis, compared to the old one.

 

Here's the new cover and below is the old cover!!

Time to Unveil, Drum Roll Please.......

This week has been quite exciting for me writing wise as I have managed to finally get the new cover art onto Desperation.  The cover art for the remaining books will remain quite the same throughout the series, with a degradation of the main focus in the covers.
Designing this was somewhat fun let me say.  First of all, I decided to use LuLu's one page cover designer, which basically gives you a bunch of numbers and the option to load up a single file, in different formats such as pdf, jpg and png.  Good thing that I have Photoshop at my finger tips.  So in reading the directions for the numbers, I figure out the total size of the page (keep in mind, they report it in inches and pixels), and start designing my cover unit by unit.  The width of the back and front was gleaned from the position of the spine. Cue breaking the pocket book down into 3 sections, the front, back and spine, each one a photoshop file saved, and then converted into a high resolution jpg and then plopped onto the one page canvas, zooming in and blowing up to see individual pixels so that the alignment could be done to the pixel.  In photoshop format, with the layers and such, it doesn't take long to generate a file that can be over a gigabyte in size.  The funny part is this:  when you save it to submit it, the dpi is so small, that it converts to a jpg no more than 3 megabytes.
So in the end, I am now left with my new coverpage for Desperation, and of course I had to make it three times over for the different formats of the book that will be available.  So the inspiration for the cover came from the immortals in my series, and it kind of goes back to more classic covers, which I like.  So without further preamble, here it is, the new cover:

This is it!!!