Category: General

AUTHOR’S TIP: Playing The Waiting Game

Published on by Bryan

I think one of the hardest parts of being a writer is the waiting. You wait to hear back on submissions, wait to hear back from beta readers, wait for checks to arrive, wait for books to arrive, etc. And if you’re anything like me, waiting is probably not your forté. So what do you do to get through it?

Here’s a few suggestions:

1) Keep multiple projects going. Once you send out the latest manuscript to your betas or a slush pile, get to work on the next one. Okay, you can allow yourselves one evening to celebrate your satisfaction, but, after that, back to work. After all, even if this one gets accepted, careers don’t happen on one submission. You have to keep building your business.

2) Regard it as a business. All too often I meet writers who talk as if their writing is a hobby, yet act as if acceptance or rejection is something their life depends on. I have few friends whose hobbies are so important to them. If you’re that invested, it’s not a hobby, so stop pretending it is and treat it like a business. Work on your craft, including writing classes, reading a lot, studying what other writers do and how they describe their own craft and struggles. Set up a database for you submissions and your income and expenses. Treat it like the business you want it to be.

3) Blog about it. That’s what I’m doing and it’s therapeutic. There are lots of people going through the same thing and sharing with each other is an encouragement and learning experience.

4) Remind yourself that finishing and submitting your work puts you a step ahead of many others. Lots of people say they are writers or want to be, but only those who actually write, complete it and submit it have the chance to actually make it as professionals.

5) Offer Reader Incentives. This one won’t work with the markets you submit to, but it might work with your beta readers. Of course, it all depends on your budget. But think about running little contests with your betas for the person with the most helpful notes, the quickest response time, etc. You can offer everything from gift certificates for a cup of Starbucks to writing lessons or services. It might be a way to keep your betas motivated. After all, if they’re not writers, they probably don’t realize how hard the waiting is or how important their input is to your success.

Everyone’s situation is unique, so I’m sure you can think of better ideas than I can. See what you can come up with to make the wait time pass more quickly. Whatever works for you might not work for me. The point is to use the time to further your career, instead of regarding it as holding you back.

Good luck with your writing.

For what it’s worth…

Write Tip: Making Perfect Bound Arcs With Create Space

Published on by Bryan1 Comment

After almost a year, nine drafts, two independent editors, a series of beta readers, two critique groups, and a few rejections, I was tired of looking at the word file that was my novel’s manuscript. I still believed in the story and characters and felt good about my writing though. Both the professional editors I’d worked with and the betas had raved at about, as had my crit group members. I’d polished and polished. But still had not achieved what I wanted — holding the finished book in my hand.

Then I remembered the process I’d used to self-publish my short story collection using Create Space. If you format the cover and book interior yourself, there’s no set up cost. And if you don’t click “Submit For Publishing,” Create Space never releases the book to Amazon or stores. This could be the perfect way to get to that next phase, I thought.

I went through the manuscript again and polished it some more, addressing a few issues I discovered with the main character’s arc, polishing and tightening words and sentences and making sure it was ready. Then I sent it out to two betas for corrections and final notes.

After their notes came back, I implemented them into the manuscript, made a copy of the Word file and started reformatting the copy to meet Create Space’s instructions for the interior of a 6×9 trade paperback. Locating a free temporary cover image off the web, I trimmed that down and used Photoshop to fit it into Create Space’s cover template. Then I sent both files off to a friend who was experienced with Photoshop to double check and polish.

When they were ready, I sent them to Create Space for file approval.

Up to this point my total cost: zero. Much cheaper than print cartridges and paper reams would be.

A day or two later, after Create Space approved the files (which took a couple of tries with the cover because Create Space’s instructions aren’t any more understandable than anyone else’s), I ordered a copy for proofing.

Looking it over, I made a few changes, resubmitted the files, and, a week later, had another proof.

What a great feeling it was to finally hold the book I’d dreamed up 25 years before in my hand looking like a real book. Oh sure, I still had to find a publisher, but at least I knew it would look good that way, and reading the paperback was much easier than reading a backlit .doc file.

Since I never submitted for publishing, Create Space never released the book for sale so no one except me and Create Space even know it exists. I sent a few copies to faithful betas and a couple of reviewers and then submitted to small presses.

Now I am awaiting word from two who are interested in bidding for it. Altogether a very useful tool for getting professional looking book copies inexpensively. Total cost per ARC: $7.50 + shipping.

For what it’s worth…

Review: Ken Scholes’ Antiphon

Published on by Bryan1 Comment

http://torforge.wordpress.com/2010/07/19/antiphon-receives-a-starred-review-in-publishers-weekly/

When I discovered Ken Scholes’ Lamentation, it was on a TOR ad inside the front cover of an issue of The Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy last fall. Being a man of faith, the title immediately caught my eye. But it was when I saw Orson Scott Card’s recommendation that I knew I had to read it. Card wrote: “This is the golden age of fantasy, with a dozen masters doing their best work. Then along comes Ken Scholes, with his amazing clarity, power, and invention, and shows us all how it’s done.” That was enough for me. I love Card’s books, loved Scholes’ title, so I ordered the book.

What a delight awaited me. I devoured Lamentation in just over a week, reading it as fast as my eyes and mind could handle. Scholes’ books are rich, full of emotion, detail, mystery, and questions which often await answers even when the book is done. It’s a lot to process, so sometimes it may take the reader’s mind a while to wrap around it and move along. Sometimes this can make the pace feel slow or the page count seem slight, but as you persevere, you’ll find yourself more and more compelled, reading faster and faster until a lightning burst at the end.

After Lamentation, I quickly ordered Canticle and read it almost as quickly. The second in a series of five books which comprise The Psalms Of Isaak, Canticle expanded on both the characters and themes of Lamentation, taking the plot and suspense to new heights.

The gist of the story is that of survivors of a holocaust, the destruction of a city. Their society already survived a cataclysm in what is now the Charred Wastes on the edge of their current home, the Named Lands, but now they face yet another in their midst.

With the destruction of the city, a library containing the treasure of all their known knowledge was destroyed. So now, having discovered metal men who helped store the libraries knowledge and carry it in their memories, the king of a northern territory known as the Ninefold Forests is assembling a new library as the data in the metal men’s memories is transcribed bit by bit into new books.

In the meanwhile, the ancient political machinations of others have set in motion new conflicts–conflicts between the surviving territories and their leaders, conflicts in philosophy, and conflicts in how to solve the issues they all now face.

Antiphon, which releases from TOR on September 14th, continues the saga of those people. Unlike many authors, Scholes doesn’t overwhelm us with details of his world. He gives us just enough to paint a picture, then lets the rest unfold naturally through dialogue and the characters’ thoughts. Full of action, multiple storylines which intersect and separate again, and full of surprising new twists and turns with every chapter, each of these books builds on the others, taking us deeper and deeper into understanding, while at the same time leading us deeper and deeper toward a sense of impending doom and major confrontation.

This is epic fantasy at its finest and truly a must read for every fantasy fan. From the drama of relationships and romances to the clash of religious views and philosophies, Scholes has built a complex, diverse world populated with real people who have something to teach as well as learn.

If you haven’t read these books, you’re missing out, and I highly recommend adding them to your reading list. With each release, I wait with more and more anticipation for the next book. Why can’t Ken Scholes just write faster? I ask myself, and you will too once you’ve discovered the amazing story and world that is The Palms of Isaak.

Ignorance On Parade

Published on by Bryan

I had a semi-known author tweet me back about a question with the following: “I think if u r a Republican 2day, given the state of rhetoric coming from your party, then by definition, yes. You’re a bigot.” Ayelet Waldman, author of Red Hook Road and Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes is someone I followed because I saw an interesting interview with her where she spoke about the balance between work and motherhood. I thought she’d be interesting. Needless to say, after this ignorant statement I don’t follow her any more. I think it’s just a completely ignorant thing to say.

We have a two party system in this country. By virtue of that, to get any sense of having a voice, most Americans line themselves with one party or the other. Because polls have consistently shown, however, that the majority of Americans categorize themselves as political moderates, that means a lot of Americans are siding with parties they are not 100% in agreement with.

I, for example, who helped vote Bill Clinton into office as a young Democrat in college (I deeply regret his second term, although I do think he accomplished a lot in his first term — good or bad is up to you), later came to find my opinions are now more in line with Republicans. But that doesn’t mean the party speaks for me. I strongly disagree with Republicans on gun control, for example, which I favor. I strongly disagree with them on environmental issues: I believe humans have harmed the environment and need to take steps to repair and prevent damage in the future. I disagree with spending less on education and more on defense. However, I find more of the Democrats’ platform with which I disagree. So I vote Republican much of the time. In order to play some role in which candidates are chosen, I therefore must register Republican. But how does that make me a bigot if some idiot in the Republican hierarchy says bigoted things?

This author is taking false equivalency to a new low here. And the fact she’s known makes it all the more disgusting because she is potentially misleading people who might actually think because she’s known she knows more than they do and not think things through for themselves. And she’s just one of many celebrities choosing to spout hateful things in condemnation of other things they consider hateful. But while doing this, they themselves encourage hate against a group of people they lump together as a stereotype without really knowing they all belong there.

This is what makes me sick about politics today. It’s what’s tearing our country apart further under a President who claimed he would reunite the country. The sad part is His administration is doing as much to put this ignorant, false rhetoric out there as anyone in the GOP.

If anyone truly wants to reunite our country they need to stop spouting misleading hyped-up, prejudicial statements and recognize our country is composed of individuals of great diversity. That should surprise no one in a country where individualism has become our highest value. It’s almost as if the political parties are trying to widen the divide to make people less individual and more aligned with their point of view. It’s easier to count your enemies that way, I guess.

I don’t know about you, but I never want to be that predictable. And I think it would be to the great detriment of our country if everyone else did, too. In fact, I’d say it’s downright un-American. Freedom of speech, after all, is one of our most cherished and protected individual rights. The hive mentality the parties are encouraging will be far from individual. It will not encourage free speech. It may eventually lead to the type of censorship where anyone speaking outside the party line is arrested, etc. Sounds to me a lot more like Russia than America.

For what it’s worth…

Busyness

Published on by Bryan

I haven’t written more than 1000 words in a month. Shocking considering how productive I had been before that. But between editing a friend’s novel, critiquing for my group which I was way behind on and still am, moving, job interviews and other responsibilities, I just have not been able to focus enough to sit down. I also started this month as a reviewer for Tangent Online, so busyness is my life.

My goal though is to get Sandman‘s first draft finished by mid-September or at least in time for World Fantasy at the end of October. I’ll start on it tomorrow, though I’ve been away long enough, it will probably take some reading time to get back into. In the meantime, I have had time to think about some things I haven’t resolved and did come up with a good reveal for the ending which will help push it into the sequel and explain unanswered questions from throughout.

I also have my SF novel The Worker Prince being read by three small presses. Hopefully one of them will pick it up. It should be the first of a series. I have at least three in mind and the second is already partially outlined.

I also have ideas for a novella or two and some short stories. I did revise and get my WOTF losing entry back on the market, and a friend who just went through Clarion is looking at it as well. But I have others awaiting revisions as well, and I need to get back on these and revise them and get them sent back out.

In the meantime, I am putting together an anthology with some pretty cool people and hope to find a publisher for it. More on that later.

I am hoping the editing, proofing and critiquing, especially of the short stories, will help me learn my craft better. It will also help me make use of magazines I have subscribed to for a year now and never been good about reading cover to cover. I need to change that and this motivates me to push forward. My first assignment for Tangent was Asimov’s August issue and I am now working on Analog’s November issue while awaiting the Mike Resnick collection Blasphemy.

I am enjoying it so far and have discovered some amazing stories. More on this later as well, but you can find my Asimov’s review at www.tangentonline.com.

For what it’s worth.

Climate Change

Published on by Bryan

I have never discriminated against or hated anyone in my life intentionally. Despite my life long religious views, I have always interpreted them and applied them with compassion. For example, I once served at a camp with gay students. When the students found out I was Christian, I got persecuted as a gay basher just because of it. Even though I’d never treated them different than any other students, they refused to accept anything but total agreement with them.

In high school, I carried my bible to classes, didn’t drink or smoke, and didn’t party or chase girls to “get laid.” I was treated like an outcast as well.

These were my first exposures to being persecuted and discriminated against for who I am and what I believe, and because of them, I have been careful not to do the same to others.

Yet here I find myself discriminated against because I am Christian and conservative. Words like “haters,” “Bigots,” “fundamentalist wackos,” etc. are bandied about. I am reviled and disrespected. And yet, those doing it don’t even recognize that it’s wrong. My beliefs are offensive so it’s okay. I wonder what they’d do if they saw someone mocking a Downs Syndrome child at the supermarket or shouting racial epitats in a white hood.

The climate of the country has changed for the worst, and the Left is creating an environment of persecution, hate and intolerance against the Right that they say is intolerant.

This is not what our country was meant to be, and it’s not going to create a civil, peaceful society. It needs to change. Conservatives need to be sure of how they express themselves, too. There are bigots on both sides, haters. I’m just tired of being lumped in with them because we share some beliefs.

Land of the free, home of the brave, free speech reigns — not any more.

For what it’s worth…

My love story with Story

Published on by Bryan

Recently my buddy Ken Scholes blogged about the impact his favorite movies had on him and I realized I should probably do the same. Because movies and TV have hugely impacted not only how I tell stories but the kinds of stories I like and the fact I even have and want to tell stories.

You may or may not know I went to film school at Cal State Fullerton and graduated in 1992. I then spent four years working for a documentary film company and shopping spec scripts and screenplays. I did have one in development with producer Phil Nemy at Disney once, but nothing came of it for various reasons.

My whole love of scifi came from movies. I will never forget the time my cousin David said “We’re going to this movie, and you’ve just got to see it! I’ve already seen it like ten times.” Ten times seemed like an excessive amount of times to see a movie to me at age 8, but David was 9 and wiser, so I said “Sure. What’s it called?” “Star Wars!” “Star Wars?” Sounded kinda stupid to my 8 year old brain. But it blew my socks off. In fact, the battle on the rebel ship with black vested, blue shirted rebels fighting the evil white stormtroopers remains one of my all time favorite movie scenes. And of course, I loved the robots’ banter in the midst of it. The hero story of the awkward young kid who wanted more than life on a farm resonated with this kid from small town Kansas, and the adventure of life “out there” in the amazing world of the stars captured my imagination. Also, the battles, characters, aliens, etc. were so well done. It was real and popped off the screen for me.

After seeing “Star Wars,” which I have now seen way more than 10 times and David has seen several thousand times (I never caught up though I am surely close to 900 by now), I fell in love with the art of movies, story telling and science fiction. I began devouring scifi books as fast as I could read them. The first “Star Wars” tie-in, “Splinter Of A Mind’s Eye” by Alan Dean Foster made me an Alan Dean Foster fan and remains one of my favorite scifi novels.

But other movies influenced me too. “Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan” was powerful. In part, this was no doubt due to the fact it was so rewarding after the punishment of sitting through “Star Trek: The Motion Picture.” What was Roddenberry thinking? If anyone was in love with his own creation, it was Roddenberry. That movie proves it. I heard him speak once and he was “Star Treks” biggest fan, not that it didn’t have great qualities. But I loved the mix of humor, action, and drama in Khan, and the way they built on the series and the previously established relationships between characters to take it to a new level. Great space action, too. Plus the cameo by Ike Eisenmann of “Witch Mountain” (movies I’d loved from Disney) as Scotty’s nephew was cool.

“Wizard of Oz” was powerful for us. We saw it on TV regularly, but also replayed in theatres and various sequels in animation and live action. It was powerful story telling and characterization, and I’d always been a music fan so I loved that aspect as well.

I have never been a football fan. So my life changed one Super Bowl Sunday when my dad let us watch “The Hobbit,” an animated movie, instead of the Cowboys v. whomever. I loved “The Hobbit,” animation, songs and all. What a great storytelling, and after that I devoured the book and then the “Lord of The Rings” trilogy.

I caught “Planet of The Apes” as a TV movie presentation and just loved it. It really fascinated me as an image of the future. The animation of apes was pretty cool too for the time.

I loved action movies, especially “Lethal Weapon 2” and “Die Hard” for their mix of comedy, action and character in telling fun, fast paced stories.

“Green Card” was brilliant because it was made by Peter Weir, whose “Witness” and “Dead Poets Society” had so powerfully touched me. I loved the cross cultural aspect of “Green Card,” and no surprise, the prominence of music also played into it.

“Notting Hill” moved me because it’s such great story telling and well acted. I loved the humorous touches and surprises which kept it from being cliche and the prominence of books, too.

“Gandhi” amazed me. It was long and slow, yes, but so powerful as a story and character study and well acted with powerful messages.

“Chariots of Fire” also was powerful even though I struggled to understand all the British accents and found the crossed storylines confusing at times. I just loved the passion of the characters for their sport and especially how Eric Liddell stayed passionate about God in the midst of it.

My movie list could probably go on forever, so these are the ones that pop out at the moment as having significance at their time for particular storytelling styles and ways of moving me. I’m sure I’ll think of more later.

For what it’s worth…

An Open Letter To My Fellow Christians

Published on by Bryan

Dear brothers and sisters,

As I run into people like Anne Rice alienated by the small minded antics of many so-called believers, I now find myself dismayed by the outcry of believers against this Muslim center in New York. It’s two blocks from Ground Zero, not on Ground Zero, and I don’t get the moral outrage. After all, this is not an Al Queda training center. Al Queda, as a reminder, are Muslim extremists responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Muslims, on the other hand, are often kind, gentle people with strong faith who abhor those who commit terror in the name of their religion just as I abhor terror committed by abortion clinic bombers in the name of Christianity.

Why is it immoral for such people to build a faith center near Ground Zero? They may want to lead the way to healing by seeking to show that Muslims are not extremists and that Muslims care about the victims. Many Muslims themselves died in the 9/11 attacks. Unless the particular group building the center can be specifically tied to terrorists, we cannot rightfully object. The same freedom of religion which we cherish also applies to them, and by the same logic, any Christian churches near abortion clinics should also be banned.

Freedom of speech and religion must be universally applied or they are at risk for being limited for everyone, not just your personal chosen few. And Christ is about love and compassion, not hatred and discrimination.

So I don’t get this outrage. And I am offended by the ignorance behind it. No wonder Christians are being so often vilified today. We cannot use our own anger or religion as an excuse to be irrational and immoral ourselves in falsely accusing and persecuting others. It is giving Christianity in general and Jesus Christ specifically a bad name, and I hope we can all agree that’s the last thing we’d want to do.

It is time we lead the way back with love and compassion toward healing for our country. I am as angry as anyone with Obama, the most unqualified man in history, being president. I don’t like the left’s anti-Christian rhetoric. BUT firing back the same rhetoric and ignorance is not productive. It just instigates more of the same. If we truly want to be heard and want our country to change, we must change. We must do better than our opponents. We must listen and love even when it goes against our nature. It’s what Christ calls us to do. It’s what He himself did on the cross when He died for us.

It’s what must happen if we ever hope to see change.

For what it’s worth…

An Open Letter To Anne Rice & Those Wounded By The Church

Published on by Bryan

As I read your statements about leaving Christianity, I see people who have been hurt by the church as you have. I have been in ministry for almost 20 years and have been hurt by the church every year of that. I recognize that it’s the fallible, sinful people who cause the pain though, not the institution. The institution is as imperfect as the people who form it, but that doesn’t make the institution broken or invaluable.

God calls us to fellowship and tells us he brings blessings through it. It’s not about a mega church or small church model. It’s about a regular gathering to fellowship, pray together, worship and hear God’s voice. Now, you can do parts off this alone. I do it all the time. And the bible supports this. But it also calls us to fellowship because the church has many parts like a body, and the leg cannot function without a foot, and the hand cannot function without fingers. We don’t always know where our place is within that body, but we do know that we belong. Even though we may not always feel like it. If all the people who had issues with the church believed this and stayed to work from the inside to change it, the world of Christianity would be a different place.

The way to change it though is not to make it more like the world, but make it more like Christ. Christ suffered more than any of us can even conceive or will ever experience, but he never gave up on the sinful creatures He was sent to save nor the broken church which was to become His bride.

Arguing that none of the denominations are in the Bible is pointless. Denominations are man’s doing, not God’s. And I believe they grieve the heart of God because we have so separated ourselves from each other that we fail to recognize we really have a lot more in common than different. Instead, we start looking at each other like the enemy. And that divides us further and creates pain and anger which distract us from our focus on Christlike living and Christlike compassion to our world.

Compassion is the heart of Christ and yet the church today often fails to show any evidence of it. We’re hardly compassionate to our own families, let alone needy strangers. That grieves God as well. Humans have to categorize everything because our hearts are competitive. It really comes out of deep seated insecurity which makes us want to feel we are okay by putting others down. But in the process, we fail to follow the humility of a Savior King who became a servant.

The church is not perfect. It’s broken. But the fact that you see that makes you invaluable to healing her. The people who are blind to the issues will never make a difference Those who see it and have powerful voices, like Anne Rice, are in a position to push for much needed change. And I urge you to consider the ministry possibilities that offers for you to serve both Christ and the church. Even though you will have to be humble to ignore your discomfort, and even though you will have to love on people who don’t love back or don’t often deserve it.

The church needs you, and you need the church. Only together can we all grow together to be more like the Master.

I hope you will continue to seek His will and wisdom in this, and I hope you will consider how your service to your fellow believers can serve Christ. We need loud voices of change, and though they may seem to fall on deaf ears, they will never go unheard.

Respectfully,

Bryan

Cultural Numbness: Since When Did It Become Funny To Joke About Rape?

Published on by Bryan

Had a friend whom I really like a respect who couldn’t get why I didn’t think the FB link to a YouTube video of a rape news report set to song wasn’t funny. For one thing, my mother was date raped, which is how I was conceived, and as happy as I am to be here, I don’t think rape itself is funny. For another, it makes fun of the whole ghetto culture, and while I do think some people may choose to live in that culture, a lot of people are stuck there. I found the idea of mocking it, especially alongside a rape news story, racist. And that makes me sad.

Since when did we become so culturally numb that it’s funny to joke about rape? There’s absolutely nothing funny I can think of about rape or poverty or lower class living and low levels of education. Most people I know who have experienced any of these things first hand find no humor in it. I know of no lower class, uneducated, poor person I’ve met who doesn’t wish their life was anything but those things. I know of no rape victim whom I’ve ever heard say they’re glad they were raped.

For a long time, I have seen our culture moving toward culture numbness on the violence. A lot of this is related to graphic depictions in television and movies, which is ironic given that so many Hollywood liberals are pro-gun control and complain about violence. Video games have contributed as well. I see my friends’ young kids playing with guns all the time as if what they are depicting is no big deal. Even the parents scarcely seem to notice. Gun proponents would argue “it’s the people not the guns,” but I argue, laws are made to protect people from ignorant/irresponsible other people. Which is why I am pro-gun control. And don’t give me the crap about the constitution either. Bazookas and assault weapons didn’t exist when it was written and the Founding Fathers could never fathom the possibilities available in weapons today. Their goal was to prevent tyrannical governments from violating the citizens’ rights, not to allow every homeowner to possess weapons capable of blowing up the neighborhood or shooting through four nearby houses simultaneously in the name of home defense.

My objection to rap music, besides the lack of musicality, are lyrics which glorify crime and killing. Shooting cops, raping women, robbing banks — rappers glorify these things all too often.

We are becoming more and more numb to things which once appalled us as a society, and perhaps that’s why those who argue for the return to traditional values with clear definitions of right and wrong are vilified. We don’t see those things as wrong any more and don’t want any one to remind us how ignorant and numb we’ve become.

Yet gun violence, killing, robbery, rape, abuse, racism — these things remain unfunny. They are tragic, disgusting, and horrifying. If they ever become less, we become less for that thinking. And I think we’ve sunken far enough as a culture. It’s time to come back up.

For what it’s worth…