Writer Senses

Image courtesy of Pixabay.com. On June 16, 2018, the League of Utah Writers (LUW) held its Summer Writers Symposium at the University of Utah. The symposium covered a broad spectrum of topics from the value of poetry to the agenting vs. independent publishing debate. I had two main takeaways from the event. #1 Success at Self-Publishing Means Sustained Hard Work (…And Probably Isn’t for Me) Indie romance author Cami Checketts led a session titled: “Self-Publishing: Is It Right for You?” She provided some practical advice about different marketing sites ( Bookbub ) and the importance of sharing success and building a friendly community of co-writers and “cheerleaders.” Before taking the self-publishing path, Ms. Checketts had a literary agent and was traditionally published, but found consistent success challenging and traditional pathways restrictive. She was also not a fan of the publisher’s sizable cut . The main takeaway of Checketts’s talk for me was that self-publis...

After gaining some killer advice at the Chicago Writing Workshop 2016 , I cut up the first Ark novel, An Autumn Veil , into the first two  Ark novels: A Flood of Silence (previously: A Steel Horizon )   and An Autumn Veil . Book 3, A Labyrinth of Smoke , is still in the works, and book 2 has been undergoing restructuring now that it's standing on its own two feet. I've also been working on book 2.5: Goddess from the Machine . Though properly a spin-off of the larger Ark saga, GftM features a plot and characters with touch points to AFoS and AAV, especially its protagonist and one other major character. It provides a fleshed-out background story for ALoS. Beta readers have already expressed appreciation of the characters and plot. GftM is different than anything I've written. Originally a character study of an important, tangential character from AAV, the histories of the characters of the original short quickly overtook the narrative, ultimately demanding a more matu...

In accordance with my first formal rejection for the ARK books , which, FYI, makes me a real author, I'm taking seriously the advice to not pitch a work exceeding 125,000 words in length. (One veteran speculative fiction agent said bluntly in panel at the Chicago Writing Workshop back in May, "I've never sold a sci-fi/fantasy book longer than 140,000 words.") FYI: I attended the crap out of that conference. The So-So News: I didn't feel like I was finished with An Autumn Veil after the first act, which is why I kept writing and revising for six years. But if I wanna sell, I've gotta play ball. Other So-So News: This means I have to break An Autumn Veil into two books, one 97k, words in length, the other 107k words in length. Book two will be called An Autumn Veil . Book one will now be called A Steel Horizon . Also, prologues are no longer "in vogue," and the same veteran agent who's never sold a book over 140k words recommended cuttin...

Do you like Avatar: The Last Airbender ? Do you like great villains? Do you like Princess Azula of the Fire Nation? You can read about why Azula is one of the best villains in any story in the 21st century thus far in my newest article on Geekdomhouse.com, available here . Comment, share, and link! D

My article A Theology of Christian Geekdom  has been acquired by Canadian Christian geek zine Geekdom House . You can check it out here . I'm goin' north for the winter. D

I'm happy to report that reviews for the Quantum Fall of Thaddeus Archibald DuBois are overwhelmingly positive. Here's one of my favorites from episode 1, Peter Pan Complexes for the 21st-Century Man : I had the opportunity to read a draft of the story prior to publication, and just finished reading the finished product moments ago. QUANTUM FALL is a first-person present narrative, with the author as its main protagonist, and it involves time travel. Normally, this combination of elements would cause me grave concern, and in fact it did despite Mr. Martin's reputation. I confess, I was terrified by this prospect of first-person-present-autobiographical-time-travel-fiction. I am extremely pleased to report to you, potential readers, that my fears were not only unfounded, I found myself a tremendous fan of the book even before I was done reading the acknowledgements. (Sorry, I couldn't resist.) Daniel Rodrigues-Martin is a capable and witty author--clearly ...

It'll be six years in November since I began An Autumn Veil . I'm going through my final edits. Hopefully, the next people who edit this manuscript will be professional agents and editors. Here's the final chapter listing. Prologue: The Prose Of Photius , Record 1: The Burning Night ACT I: LYING AWAKE 1: The Autumn Garden 2: Midnight 3: Ghosts of Chimon-Jing 4: The Trainman 5: The Conclave 6: What Friends Are For 7: Helmsman's Folly 8: The Merchant Arcade 9: A Special Place in Hell 10: We Should Be Sleeping 11: If The Stars Are Willing 12: Broken Promises 13: The Only Life I've Ever Known 14: A Well To Draw From 15: What Tomorrow Holds 16: A Lovely Day 17: Revelations 18: City On The Winds 19: Storm Clouds 20: Event Horizon 21: To Reap A Whirlwind 22: Falling 23: The Heavens Remained Silent ACT II: SOUL SLEEP Interlude: The Prose Of Photius,  Record 2: The Rain Of Ash 24: Awakenings 25: Prison Cell(s) 26: The Voice On The Other Side 27: ...