Kickstarter Update: New Reward: Pledge and Get a Speaking Role in The Katniss Chronicles!
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- Category: General Writing Thoughts
- Published on Friday, 17 August 2012 17:13
- Written by Super User
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The team behind the hit audio drama The Katniss Chronicles has come on board the Kickstarter campaign for The Odds: Book One of the Deadblast Trilogy.
The Rules of Xiang
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- Category: General Writing Thoughts
- Published on Tuesday, 14 August 2012 17:16
- Written by Super User
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I’ve always been fascinated with chess.
Kickstarter Update! New Reward: Original Artwork by Tess Fowler and Based on The Odds
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- Category: General Writing Thoughts
- Published on Friday, 10 August 2012 00:00
- Written by Super User
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Eminent comic-book artist Tess Fowler has come on board for The Odds Kickstarter campaign!
General Writing Thoughts: NaNoWriMo
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- Category: General Writing Thoughts
- Published on Wednesday, 08 August 2012 06:13
- Written by Super User
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When I tell people I write novels, I get a few common responses. One of them is, “Are you going to participate in NaNoWriMo?”
My answer is always “no,” and I want to explain why.
Alternate Book Trailer #1
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- Category: General Writing Thoughts
- Published on Tuesday, 07 August 2012 17:53
- Written by Super User
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If anyone's curious, I'm going to upload some of the alternate cuts for the book trailer.
Influences: Miller's Crossing
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- Category: Influences
- Published on Tuesday, 07 August 2012 00:00
- Written by Super User
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I'm... I'm... I'm just a grifter, Tom. I'm... I'm... I'm... I'm... I'm an nobody! But I'll tell you what, I never crossed a friend, Tom. I never killed anybody, I never crossed a friend, nor you, I'll bet. We're not like those animals! This is not us! Th... th... this is some hop dream! It's a dream, Tommy! I'm praying to you! I can't die! I can't die... out here in the woods, like a dumb animal! In the woods, LIKE A DUMB ANIMAL! Like a dumb animal! I can't... I can't... I CAN'T DIE OUT HERE IN THE WOODS!... like a dumb animal. I can't... die!”
The Kickstarter is Live!
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- Category: General Writing Thoughts
- Published on Monday, 06 August 2012 15:41
- Written by Super User
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The Kickstarter is live!
Influences: John Irving
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- Category: Influences
- Published on Monday, 16 July 2012 07:18
- Written by Super User
- Hits: 694
John Irving gives me the courage to be weird.
For an adult who writes novels, I spent my high school years largely baffled by literature. Don’t get me wrong – I got good grades in my English classes, but it wasn’t until I was well into my senior year of high school that I really got excited about literature and fiction writing. I also started what would become my first novel during that time. When it came to the analysis and appreciation of books, something finally clicked.
I credit John Irving for a lot of that.
General Writing Thoughts: Darkhorse Characters
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- Category: General Writing Thoughts
- Published on Saturday, 14 July 2012 19:18
- Written by Super User
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Pell Yannick, a darkhorse character from my novel The Odds.
Darkhorse characters. You invite ‘em in for one scene, and they hang around the whole book. I love them. Let me explain:
Influences: Richard Adams and Watership Down
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- Category: Influences
- Published on Sunday, 10 June 2012 17:51
- Written by Super User
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It might seem unusual to list Richard Adams as an influence, seeing as how I’ve only read one of his books – but what a book.
For the uninitiated, Watership Down is The Aeneid in the animal kingdom. When the incursion of an industrial development forces a tribe of rabbits from their home, they must set out to find a new one. Along the way, they have a series of breathtaking adventures across the English countryside, all of it against the backdrop of Adams’ brilliant world-building.
Yes, world-building. Even though it takes place on modern-day earth, Watership Down stands as one of the best pieces of speculative fiction I’ve ever read. Adams invents an entire culture, vocabulary, social-structure and – most wonderfully – a mythology for his rabbits.
General Writing Thoughts: The Medill Maxims
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- Category: General Writing Thoughts
- Published on Friday, 08 June 2012 22:02
- Written by Super User
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Basic Writing was supposed to strike fear into my heart. Instead, it brought the world into relief.
When I attended Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, the school’s curriculum required all freshmen to take a class called Basic Writing. Known as a weed-out course, the class was reputed to be one of the most challenging at Medill. And it was challenging, but it was challenging in the best way possible – you had too much fun to realize how hard you were working.
Influences: Andrew Vachss
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- Category: Influences
- Published on Sunday, 27 May 2012 16:51
- Written by Super User
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Photo: Mike Anderson / RedDoorStudio.com
Through the novels of Andrew Vachss, I’ve learned a new meanings for brother, sister, mother, father, and most important — family.
Influences: Barry Unsworth
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- Category: Influences
- Published on Sunday, 03 June 2012 02:03
- Written by Super User
- Hits: 606
I’ve read seven novels by Barry Unsworth, and with each book, I feel like I’ve met a different novelist.
Influences: Neal Stephenson
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- Category: Influences
- Published on Friday, 25 May 2012 13:49
- Written by Super User
- Hits: 675
After reading the first few hundred pages of Neal Stephenson’s Cryptonomicon, my friend Jordan Byrne asked me what I thought of it. Despite the novel’s incredible scope and dazzling prose, I only said these four words in response:
“It’s filled with joy.”
There are specific elements of Stephenson’s writing that I aspire to emulate in my own, but more than anything else, I try to write with the same joy that he does. Let me explain:
