Proof II The Sequel

I've experienced a lot during this journey as a writer. I've watched the dream die only to be reborn. A legion of helpers have carried me each step. I've gone in different directions and return to the starting point more times than I'd like to think of.

But I've never held my own story in my hands. I don't mean a print out, bound or loose, I mean a gloss covered BOOK.

My first proof arrived in the mail last Friday, right before I headed off to the critique group no less. I shared it with them, then my adoring wife who shouted with excitement! After that we took it to family and showed it off. I even carried it to Wal-Mart to show people I knew. I also compared it to other books on the shelf to see A) What Annabelle would look like next to the likes of Percy, Harry and the rest and B) To compare the text size to see if mine was indeed too small.

Thanks to the help of my wife, daughter and the crit group, I found various things that needed to change. Over the extended weekend I made those changes and resubmitted it.

Tomorrow I'll send for another proof. Once Dark Threats passes the proof stage, it'll be ready for people to order soft copies right from Amazon!

Passing friendship to others...

A big THANK YOU to Krista for giving me this award...

The Liebster Blog award! "Liebster, for those of you who are not Nightcrawler or cannot speak German, means "friend" and is aimed at those who have fewer than 200 followers. Yes, that is me. But we'll get more. I swear it!

At any rate, here are the rules...

- Link back to the person who gave you the award.


- Pick five other people to give the award to and notify them on their blog.

- Post the award on your blog.

- Bask in the camaraderie of the most supportive people on the internet—other writers.

- And best of all—have bloggity fun and spread the love.

1st I want to say something about Krista. She's always warm and supportive and I'm grateful she takes the time to post a reply. It means a lot when us struggling writers get replies to our posts. I try to do the same.

The winners are...

My wife and strong defender for those with ADHD, Janeen

Katie

Nicole

Laura

Melanie

Proof!

I ordered my proof! What does that mean? It means that I ordered the pre-printable version of my soft cover book from Create Space. Once I review it and OK it for distribution, everyone will be able to buy a soft copy of Night Children: Dark Threats!

Can't wait till it arrives!

Here is the cover before I added the price on it.

The Blog is a-changin'

I'm sure some of you have noticed but I'm slowly improving this blog. I've had it since '06. I started it right after I finished the rough draft for my first book. I didn't realise back then how much learning I had coming.
I'm still far from perfect and I look forward to much more education coming my way.

Anyway, watch this space. I've added info pages about the books, the characters and so on. The store is up (soon to have print on demand books). I'm planning out a place for some small games, maps and so on.

It was difficult choosing a color scheme for the blog. I really wanted to keep it black with white text. After all, this is a vampire adventure series. But ultimately I decided to go with a off-white with black text. After all, you need to be able to read it!

So... more changes coming. Watch this space!

I won an award for the blog!

I got a blog award!

I received a Brilliant Writer Blog Award from Author and artist Deirdra Eden-Coppel.
You can find her blog here. A great place to visit and learn so much about the crazy world of writing and publishing.

Thanks Deirdra!

I'm in the local paper!

Reporter Emma Penrod did a story on my hometown's local e-published authors. I'm going to scan the article and post it because it's not on their website.

I spoke heavily about e-publishing and why I do it. In the interview I mentioned by book's title (Night Children: Dark Threats) and where it could be found (Amazon) but there was no mention of that.

At any rate it's a start. Now to find my way into other papers and such.


UPDATE...

Here is the article.

BOOK REVIEW: Night Children : Dark Threats

Night Children: Dark Threats by Scott Bryan


My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Would it be wrong to say I love this book? Yes, I’m biased because I’m the author, but I can’t stop reading or writing her stories. I have to tell them, share them, and get them out into the world.


As the author I’ve fully aware this story isn’t perfect, but I believe it’ll entertain.


Give it a shot!






View all my reviews

BOOK REVIEW : Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan

The Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan


My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Just finished! I loved it! I can really like being in the heads of Carter and Sadie. I enjoy reading their adventures. Riordan is always fresh and an inspiration to me as a writer. There are surprises and very fun characters. Some twists in the story throw you for a loop. A+




View all my reviews

I'm published on Amazon!

Now you can find DARK THREATS on Amazon for the Kindle or just online reading.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005E59LOC

Come check it out!

My cover for Dark Threats

Let it be noted:
ADAM DILLER IS AN ART GOD.

http://www.adamdiller.net/portfolio/

I'M PUBLISHED ON SMASHWORDS!

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/75648

Come see! Come buy! Come enjoy the beginning of the Night Children Series!

Good bye Harry

In 2001 I knew two movies were coming to theatres. Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. Continuing with my goal to read the books before I saw the movie, I checked out Harry Potter book 1 from the local library.
I was swept up into the story and had to have more. I went back to the library and grabbed the next and the next. I read four books before that 1st movie came out. Back then I was the only one in the family to know these characters for who they were. I couldn't get enough. My favorite was Hermione.
The decade continued, bringing midnight parties at Wal-Mart while we waited for new books, followed by my even later night reading sessions. All the while wondering how each scene would translate into a movie.
Now I know. And I'm so very glad I do. I could go on for hours, sharing my opinions of Daniel Radcliff, Emma Watson and so on. I could spoil your brains out on the movie and how it compares to the book. I wont. Those things will be elsewhere I'm sure.
What I will say is I feel a milestone has happened. After 7 books and 8 movies, this era has ended. I'll always miss it but the great thing about books and movies is we can always revisit them.

Good bye Harry, thanks for the wonderful decade of memories. See you around sometime.

At last: a cover!

I'm so excited I have to post this from my phone. Last night I got a wonderful surprise! The magnifisent Adam Diller sent me the cover for NIGHT CHILDREN : DARK THREATS.

It's amazing! It's like she's real! 

Since the launch is very soon, I'll save it for then but watch this space!

New titles!

More Big news!


I’ve decided to change the title of my Annabelle books. In keeping with my upcoming eBook launch and the fact that “Book One” is now Books one and two, I’ve re-titled almost everything.

See, when I was writing this book I turned to Rowling for inspiration on a title. She had “Harry Potter and the…” for every title so I picked “Annabelle and Roland…” for my titles. It was easy and told the reader who the protags were.

Since I’m in charge of this whole launch, it rises and falls based entirely on me. This has made me rethink a lot of things and cleared my brain quite a bit.

Boiling things down to their basic core, this entire series really is about the life of vampire children or “night children”. So without further ado, the new titles planned are…

NIGHT CHILDREN: DARK THREATS (Brief looks into Annabelle’s adventures, a short story)

NIGHT CHILDREN: DARK BIRTH (How two children from England became vampires in Colonial America)

NIGHT CHILDREN: DARK TRIALS (The vampire children face werewolves, vampires a vampire hunter and the Salem Witch Trials, as well as a confrontation with Dominic, the vampire lord who killed their parents)

All three will be published soon on Smashwords, the Nook and the Kindle.

Meanwhile I’ll be taking the next installments (DARK SEAS AND SHADOWS) and breaking it into two as well as running it through the critique group when we restart this fall.

Watch this space!

NEWS FLASH!

Big News!


I found a way! A hidden door that opens up a word of chances and choices! Yes, it’s true, Annabelle and her word will be published!

See, I discovered, while traditional publishing won’t look at vampires, online publishing will. I can publish my novels on Smashwords, the Kindle and even the Nook. Things will start out slow but that’s the norm for publishing anyway.

I’ve only wanted one thing; to get Annabelle’s story out there. I’ve discovered through my journey that I actually need to see how it ends, too. But if I can share her tale with others, all the better. Through online publishing I can do this.

This year I wrote a collection of short scenes, all tied together as a short story. I was going to take a break from Ann and focus on Myths and Multi-Mart, but the online publishing bug hit me. I wrote this new Annabelle short story, pushed it through a great critique group and now I’m just waiting for a cover from the amazing Adam Diller.

I was going to launch it mid-July but might have to hold back a bit. Regardless, it’s coming!

As for my novel, it’s been broken in half and set up for the next two online books as well. I’ve re-titled everything and I’m experiencing a rebirth of sorts as a writer.

More to come!

Here Comes Peter Cotton Tail

Originally posted on 4/4/10 for the


Charge of the Write Brigade.


Well, it’s April and with that statement we should see flowers blooming and baby livestock running. It’s true in my town those small horses and cows are falling over themselves. But the flowers are scared.


I live in Utah and Mother Nature never understands a simple thing like seasons. The last few days we’ve been pelted by snow. It’s freezing at night and scorching during noon. Ah well.

Another sign of the first weeks of April is Easter. I won’t wax religious here. That’s not what this blog is for and besides, it’s not my style. I will say that Eater is about living again. Spring is about rebirth, too.

So, how to tie this season into a topic about writing? Simple. Editing.

We come up with these great ideas and eventually write them down. We create these rough drafts and are so proud of our babies. But unless we want them to simply live forever on our hard drives, we want to share them. Some of us want to get them published.

Problem is, they’re not ready. All sorts of imperfections run rampant through them. Things like improper POV shifts, telling far more than showing and even problems in story flow and continuity. Face it writers, our babies aren’t as “cute” as we thought.

The only help available is to find fresh readers to look it over and be honest. After the proper blood bath they create with their red pens, our poor child has fallen into the dirt. All it’s blood oozing on the pavement.

What to do? We pick it up and begin to apply edits. We fix the POV, we unpack scenes to show instead of tell things. We cut and change and fix.

In other words, our baby is reborn. This resurrection of word will happen multiple times. It’s where I live as a writer at this very moment. Like the butterfly from the caterpillar, something far better comes forth.

So have a good Easter, writers, and don’t be afraid of the edits.

Writing is Eternal

Originally posted on 5/2/10 for the Last one!


Charge of the Write Brigade.


The other night I was walking my dogs. I’ve got three. They’re big and strong and one of them seems to suffer from ADHD mixed with Speed. Nevertheless they’re good dogs and mind me pretty well. Being rowdy, I like to walk them at night.


Sometimes I don’t get started until rather late but I like it that way because it’s just us and the night. No pestering pedestrians to gawk at the stranger and his pooches as they pass people’s lawns (don’t worry, I do clean up after them).

During these walks I have an opportunity to clear my head and think on things. One such night I stopped by my wife’s late grandmother’s house and pondered life’s brief stint. Right after as I continued down the path I noticed the beautiful moon and considered when the next group of people would stroll its surface. That’s when something occurred to me.



Think for a moment of some writers of old. Kipling, Twain, Longfellow, Dickens and Stevenson.





Their work still exists. They’re dead but their work is still with us. Every book you pick up, regardless of your feeling for the author, those words were first created by people from long ago. Faces that smiled and cried in the Victorian era. Feet that walked the market places of ancient Greece. Hands that toiled Colonial soil. Minds that were inspired to share stories, ideas, concepts from lives we can no longer fathom, minds long dust, whose children are long dust. Their words are still with us.

Have you looked up at the moon and thought that one day, long after the politics of today have changed a hundred fold, we might step on that ivory surface again? Sure, not us, but people. People with our words tucked in their computer chips. Fun reading while they wait for their lunar test results. Just like those authors of old, will our words last long after everything we know has changed?

Will what you write now, what you edit for the thirty-seventh time, will it be loved by children centuries from now? Will souls thrill, cry or laugh at those very words you wrote today?

Why not? Shelly, Hawthorne, Shakespeare, and the rest are still with us. Sure, they’re all worm food, but their minds still entertain and show us new ways of thinking.






Why wouldn’t yours do the same?

So next time you struggle with that painful critique or review, think on the generations of people who could gain from the finished draft. Those men and women of old had nothing more than you. They had a drive, an idea and the gumption to learn and do what they must to get their words out into the world.

Why can’t we do the same?


----

Jack Roberts lives in a small town in the western US. He’s married with four children and six pets. As the scribe of Annabelle and Roland, he chronicles the vampires many adventures through the last three hundred years. Along with their YA fantasy stories, he also has plans for more fantasy and some Sci Fi.Check out Annabelle and Roland, The Site.

Pacing

Originally posted on 4/18/10 for the


Charge of the Write Brigade.


Pacing


I never even realized it was a problem. When I came up with Annabelle, I simply sat down and started to write. The story wrote itself. What that means is that the characters traveled the paths they wanted and as each story idea presented itself, I wrote it. Obstacles were resolved and a conclusion finally happened.

Boy was I green. I feel for those first beta readers. I knew stories needed beginnings, middles and ends but what I didn’t realize is the journey needed to be tighter.

As writers, we get caught up in our worlds. We want to spend all day with our muses. We’d be happy sitting at a kitchen table with them, chatting away. But that’s not interesting to our readers.

People want to read stories that keep them entranced. We as writers want the same things. Recently a professional editor taught me a few things on this subject. I can’t profess to be an expert and when I get my manuscript back, I’m sure they’ll still be pacing issues to work on. Regardless, I did learn some very valuable lessons.

I had a beginning and followed it with the main threat and a turn around event that set the story agenda. But afterwards my story went from event to event. Sure, there were threats and the main characters learned things, but the big bad guy didn’t constantly threaten them. He seemed to be ok with leaving them to stir and stew.

Shouldn’t he have a vested interest in them? Why isn’t he trying to kill them more? Or at the very least, why aren’t his servants doing more to further his goals? It may be fun to see vampire children learn to be bats, but what if there’s a time limit to learn before the big bad returns to kill them?

There were plenty of fun scenes that I originally showed. Things that even helped the characters grow. But these scenes had no bearing in the story I wanted to tell this time. If they don’t add to the general story, cut and paste it into a new file and tuck it away for later. Tell them this story.

Create a Novel Elevator Pitch, create an outline from it, and then sit down with your novel and remove anything that doesn’t contribute to the story goals. Keep in mind that as the story continues, your events should add to your goals.

What is this story about? Where do I want my characters to be by them end? What conflicts will there be and how can they ramp up the story? How can these events or new events keep the readers invested and help my characters to grow?

Take a good look at your story structure and you’ll make a better novel.

Ok, direction not quite changed

I was planning on taking a year long break from Annabelle but Editor Jennifer told me about the wide world of publishing on the Kindle. I decided to look into it and this does seem like an amazing opportunity.

So I wrote a short story about Annabelle and Roland set in modern day. I'm going to polish it with the help of my critique group and get it ready for the Kindle. Then I'll shop around for cover artists and ready the book. After I put it up, I'll return to my break and Myths.

Wish me luck.

Top Five Misconceptions about Writing: A Keynote Address from Rick Riordan

Top Five Misconceptions about Writing: A Keynote Address from Rick Riordan

Two quotes from this I love...


"You have to find the story you must tell – the story so important to you personally that you have no choice but to write it." & "I would have written it whether it was published or not."


This is why I stick with... Annabelle, folks. This is why I endure the pain, struggle and disapointment. This is also what I feel for Myths.See More