I'm still here!

Well, I haven't been very good at posting on this blog lately, that's for sure. But I'm still here, still writing, and still excited about The Craftmaster being released later this summer. In the meantime, I will be posting more, following the editing process and talking about my current project. Thanks to those of you who still follow the blog.

Manuscript Finished!

I am very happy to announce the completion of my latest manuscript! This has been my first foray into the realm of science-fiction and writing in the first person, but I'm sure it won't be the last for either. And, while I have ideas for a title, I still don't have even a final working one. Why is it that coming up with a title can be harder than writing the book itself?
Okay, break time is over, now on to the next one!

May Extension

I think it's time to give an update on my April goals, which I will admit did not go as planned. Somewhere along the line, I forgot to figure in finals and moving from part-time to full-time employment. I did get about 30k words written, but that's not what I was aiming for. Things are slowing down a bit now, so I'm giving myself a two-week extension to finish the rest of my book. My apologies to those who were hoping to be Alpha readers by now. The book, still untitled, is going very well.

The Craftmaster

In a world where wealth and social status are everything, Tomlan Kor has little chance of ever making a difference. Then his talents are discovered by the Crafter's Guild, and he is taken from his family and thrown into a world of wealth and privilege, centered on his ability to create magical objects.
Tom soon learns that privilege comes at a high price, and he must fight corruption and lies at every corner while struggling to maintain his own humanity. But Tom will have to rise above the plots and intrigues to face the man responsible not only for the death of his family, but decades of cruelty hiding behind a mask of power.

Please let me know what you think. Also, it shouldn't be too long before Valor has me up on their website, so feel free to check in on that as well. Happy writing and reading, everyone!

Setbacks

I don't know about anyone else, but I've always had a hard time writing when I'm not feeling well. The last few days haven't been good for my goal for that very reason. But I did manage to get at least a few pages done every day, and I'm feeling a lot better now. I'm planning on finishing Chapter Fifteen today, along with an outline of the rest of the book. It may seem strange to many of you that I don't have that outline done already, but this is a system that's worked really well for me. When I write the beginning of a book, I like to go without anything other than my general setting and character ideas and a general idea of where I want the book to go. Each chapter can go beyond my original thoughts and events can go in different directions than I planned. This is where I get a lot of my sub-plots and character development, and my stories end up a lot better for it. Halfway through, though, everything changes. I need to make an outline and follow it, though I still give myself a little leeway, so that I can make it to the end the way I want to and without running too long. Making a book longer is easy, but getting everything you want into a limited number of words can be pretty difficult.
Once I get the halfway-point outline finished, the book itself usually doesn't take much time to finish either. Hopefully that will be the case this time too.
Tomorrow, I will be posting the blurb for the Craftmaster, so check back!

Nicely Flawed Characters

The word count for the day so far is only a thousand, but I'm going to keep going once I'm done with this post. I have to say, I'm getting more excited about this latest project with every chapter I write.
One comment asked me to say something about character flaws, a topic near and dear to my heart since it's something I've struggled with over the three books I've finished. On one hand, if you make a character with too many flaws or flaws that are too major, they make weak and poor heroes. If you don't give them enough flaws or no flaws at all, the reader can't relate to them. My favorite characters tend to start with more flaws and overcome some of them through the course of the story. Character growth is always better than a character that starts great and stays great. At the same time, great characters can start great, have a major fall, and slowly redeem themselves.
Secondary characters are a different story altogether. You can get away with a lot more flaws in really interesting combinations. In the book I'm writing right now, one of my secondary characters makes no apology for any of his flaws and ends up being one of the most endearing characters in the story. He has problems and he doesn't care. He just wouldn't make a good hero.
Please feel free to add anything you'd like to what I've written, and feel free to disagree. A number of very talented authors just began following, and the rest of you are great readers, so I know there's a lot I can learn from all of you!


A note on my new author photo. This photo was taken by Erin Summerill, a very talented author and photographer who can work miracles with her camera. If you're in the Utah Valley area and you want some fabulous pictures taken, you really can't do better. You can contact her at www.erinsummerillphotography.com.

Great so far...

I kept my goal for today. I finished chapter thirteen of my current work in progress, about 2300 words. Another dozen chapters or so should finish this book and then I can start giving it to a few select alpha-readers.

This is my first foray into the exciting world of science fiction and I've also been writing it in the first person, another thing I'd never done. It's been a learning experience so far, but very exciting at the same time. I feel the first-person makes it really easy to get to know the main character. Everything is in his voice, and his personality comes out right away. At the same time, I'm pretty much limited to writing from one person's point of view. I've had to be really careful writing the secondary characters to make sure the reader can get to know them as well, and I think I've improved a lot because of the experience.

Thanks for the continued comments, and feel free to ask questions. I'll saw something about character flaws tomorrow, Nathan, but you'll never pin me down on what my favorite books are. There's just too much to choose from.

My fortune cookie at the Chinese restaurant was good today: "You have a flair for adding a fanciful dimension to any story."