In the aftermath of the earthquake Hawk and Zach Callahan get a surprise: their lodge has been appointed a long-term shelter for those who’s homes were destroyed. In the midst of it all, the aliens reveal themselves to Zach and Sasha’s families, but for [...]]]> Yep, there is a new story in the Salmon Run series!

In the aftermath of the earthquake Hawk and Zach Callahan get a surprise: their lodge has been appointed a long-term shelter for those who’s homes were destroyed. In the midst of it all, the aliens reveal themselves to Zach and Sasha’s families, but for a specific reason.

They need the help of the humans to identify a potential threat… in Bermuda.

According to Uncle George’s will, a trip to Bermuda could cost the Callahans their lodge. Unless they can make the entire town believe they never left Salmon Run in the first place.

A stand-alone 36500 word Alaskan science fiction novella in the Salmon Run series.

The ebook has been up at Amazon and Barnes & Noble for the last several days, but only tonight was I able to get it up on Smashwords. Over the next few weeks it will filter to other retailers, such as Apple, Kobo, Sony, and Diesel.

Here is a list of the retailers where the new release is currently available:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Smashwords

Omnilit

Drive Thru Fiction

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And so much fun!

One big plus to the Indie movement is the ability to write what you love instead of writing to editorial or marketing department demands. This means the readers are [...]]]> The Indie Author. So many challenges, so much to learn. So much to watch out for, so much to take responsibility for.

And so much fun!

One big plus to the Indie movement is the ability to write what you love instead of writing to editorial or marketing department demands. This means the readers are finally getting the variety of novels they have been craving for years but that traditional publishing has failed to give them.

However, with this comes responsibility. A responsibility we, as authors, have always had: TO WRITE!

Find those words. It’s time for the storyteller in you to go into overdrive. You now have an avenue into which to release your work, but first the work must be created.

One way to create new product for your digital bookshelf is to join in various writing challenges. One of the biggest around is “National Novel Writing Month.” Every year authors from around the world join in a challenge to write at least 50,000 words in 30 days in the month of November.

For those of you who love math, that’s an average of 1667 words per day.

And, for those of us who are jumping into Indie Publishing as a business, we already are trying for regular word output, right? Is 1667 words that far above your current goal?

It doesn’t matter if it is. NaNoWriMo is loved (and hated) for many reasons. One of the big things I love about it is the creative energy of joining in on a big challenge with a lot of fellow authors. Wow, what a rush. I can do things I might have trouble doing at other times by myself, such as high wordcounts.

Or, how about the deadline? So much time to get so many words. Of course, those like me have goals higher than 50k, but the deadline is still there. How many drafts can you finish?

This year is the first year I’ll be participating in Nano while also in the publishing business. In a way it hasn’t affected how I view and want to use Nano, but in other ways it has. I have several goals:

1. Have a LOT of fun.
2. Tell a few great stories.
3. Produce several first drafts for eventual publication.

I now have several series published, with more in mind. That means a lot of stories and characters to continue. Using Nano I can nail those new stories and get first drafts finished and ready for revising in 2012. Series typically sell better once 3 or more books are published in them. The more the better. It means a reader who finds and likes the series can go ahead and sink their teeth into sequels without having to wait on the author producing more.

Using Nano to produce is a win-win for me on the Indie side, and a win-win for the readers.

Included in the Nano project list is a new series, which I’m working to outline the first four stories in. Doing something new is important to me, as it will keep this Nano fresh and fun. It won’t be only about previously started series. It will also be about new!

It’s time to do the serious brainstorming. Time to get out the outlines and virtual corkboards and index cards of Scrivener. Time to discover new adventures.

I can hardly wait.

Other Nano News: I’m not the only one gearing up. Lazette Gifford, is the author or the wonderful ebook “Nano for the New and Insane,” a venerable Nano guide that has helped many writers succeed in the Nano challenge of achieving 50,000 words in 30 days. For 2011 she has newly edited the ebook and added several new sections. It’s available for free download in multiple ebook formats at Smashwords.

Lazette’s latest blog post: Zette’s Take: Why Nano?

__________________________

J.A. Marlow

Welcome to Salmon Run, Alaska! A place of wild animals, wild land, and wild inhabitants…oh, and native legends come alive and an inter-planetary alien conflict at their backdoor.

Zach Callahan and his father, Hawk, arrive in Alaska to begin a new life. Anxious to arrive at the lodge crazy Uncle George left them, they find the first challenge is just getting to Salmon Run.

While still in Cordova, an old prospector declares the two greenhorns unprepared for the realities of an Alaskan winter. Sasha, a young native girl, attaches herself to Zach, much to his disgust. A failed sled-dog won’t leave Hawk alone, giving rise to an old phobia. They think they have it made once they get to the Solar Express, the unique train that will take them through a dark road-less wilderness to their new home.

The same night a massive display of the Aurora Borealis lights up the sky.

The Solar Express shuts down, stranding its passengers in the middle of nowhere. Hidden beneath the snow and ice, and under the path of the rescuers, an alien spaceship also feels the effects of the light show.

Cut off from the rescuers and trapped inside the spaceship, Zach and Sasha must ally themselves with a pair of aliens before either the malfunctioning security systems or the native Alaskan wildlife kills them.

A 37800 word stand-alone Novella in the Salmon Run series.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords

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Yeah, I know. Don’t [...]]]>

Hmm, isn’t it interesting that the first 4 things listed above, constantly cited as the absolutely bare necessities for a successful Indie ebook, are the things that an author going through traditional channels typically has NO control over at all?

Yeah, I know. Don’t go on that rant again.

I have a confession to make. So far the posts concerning this experiment has focused on the development of the Salmon Run series, specifically the first book. The posts concerning development aren’t even close to completion, and yet, I need to move on.

Why?

Because not only is the first draft of the first novella completed, the first THREE are completed. And they were completed in July of 2010.

So, let’s skip forward a bit to the actual writing process. (I’ll see about completing the other posts in the series later)

Getting great ideas, worldbuilding (or universe building), and planning are all fine and good, but if an author can’t finish the actual writing then they are only fun diversions. A lot of writers have trouble with the actual writing and finishing projects. There are a variety of reasons why this happens, but I want to talk about one technique for getting past all the hang-ups and excuses:

A deadline.

I had a self-imposed deadline for launching the first book of this series. I also knew that the last half of 2010 was going to be insane. And wow, was I right about that.

Which meant I needed to get the first draft finished as soon as possible so I could fit in the revision process where and when I could. Stress can have a huge impact on creativity, and I needed a good way to move past it. To get the words down. To finish that important first draft.

Which brings up one of the “National Novel Writing Month“-inspired groups. This one is in the month of July called “July Novel Writing Month” or JulNoWriMo for short. It is the same type of challenge: 50,000 words in 31 days.

I already had a deadline for the completed and revised manuscript, and JulNoWriMo gave me a good deadline for one step in that direction: the first draft.

So, during the month of June I plotted and planned like crazy. When July 1st came along I had the first three outlines ready to go. Along with hundreds of other writers I hit the keys and hit them hard.

Having the deadline helped me put other worries and concerns out of my head, allowing me to focus only on the words using the support and creative energy of everyone else working on the same challenge at the same time.

That is one of the great things about this type of challenge. You aren’t alone in writing like crazy. Others are doing it with you and at the same time as you.

The above paragraph is important for a lot of writer. Writing is an isolating activity. That isolation can become overwhelming at times. Doing something with a group can give a person the strength and focus to do things they might not otherwise be able to do.

With all that creative energy and informal support from so many other authors during that month, I knew I would win.

And I did.

At the seven day mark book 1 was finished. Book 2 finished ten days later. Before the month was out, book 3 was finished.

There is something exhilarating about reading “The End” of a first draft. While first drafts are not usually very pretty, at least the bare bones of the story are down. As long as there are words, there can be a revision to polish things up. There are no more blank pages. Words have conquered the white spaces.

Long live the words!

This illustrates something important for goal making and goal keeping. Having the final goal is all well and good, but it doesn’t do much good unless there are smaller goals along the way that help you get to the final goal. Having smaller goals along the way can help a person feel like they are making real headway, that they are succeeding. Writing a book can be a long process. Reaching a mid-point milestone can help keep an author from getting disheartened at the slow progress.

Deadlines and mini-deadlines can be a writer’s best friend. A way to motivate an author to take the smaller steps needed to finish a project and reach the ultimate goal.

First draft word counts:

Night of the Aurora (Book 1): 26560
Alien Winter (Book 2): 26399
The Singing Lakes (Book 3): 25533

_______________________________
“The E-Book Experiment” chronicles the business and creative side of an experiment with the business opportunities new technology and creative outlets now afford content producers. Will it fail? Will it succeed? The only way to know is to approach it with a solid plan and try. No regrets!

I hope the details of this journey will be a help to other authors. As the process proceeds to selling the final products I will also share hard data that might be useful in the decision making process of other authors who recognize that only they can take charge of their careers. For a listing of all the posts in this series, please click here.

If you find this information useful or interesting, please encourage others to come on by and visit.

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Also titled: The Science Fiction Barbarians at the Gate

I’ve been staying silent on some of the recent conversations. Oh dear. Why do I [...]]]> This is a post I recently sent to a science fiction mailing list. A post I fully expect to be skewered for, but it was too much to stay silent about.

Also titled: The Science Fiction Barbarians at the Gate

I’ve been staying silent on some of the recent conversations. Oh dear. Why do I get the feeling that I will be a horribly hated author in this group?

Because I like a ‘sense of wonder’ and I’m not about to let things like “make all aliens inexplicably alien so they are “realistic’ ” or “completely nonhuman” get in the way of a good story (Um, there should be SOME way for the reader to connect, and typically that reader is human. Ergo, some human connection needs to be made). Because I’m not going to limit the technology and possibilities to only the things thought of as possible today. Because I want to explore, either through reading or writing, the more positive possibilities out there and not constantly the dark underbelly of existence.

I love adventure. I love a “Sense of Wonder”, which to me means a sense of fun along with all the other definitions. I love good characters that are the focus of the story, watching the impact on their lives with extraordinary circumstances, technology, or alien contact. I love having fun with other worlds, environments, and aliens. I love to write and read entertaining accessible prose.

In otherwords, give me a story. A good story. A story where I CARE what happens to the characters and don’t want them all dead just to get it all over with.

I freely admit I write soft science fiction because so much of hard science fiction bores me, and I do not find it entertaining. I read to be entertained. I don’t think this is something to be ashamed of.

Kristine Kathryn Rusch in articles such as here and here talks about many of the feelings I have towards science fiction, but articulates them much better. (I also like some of what Beth Meacham has to say towards the bottom of the page here.)

I won’t repeat what she said other than two very important paragraphs in the last link:

But I’m a barbarian. Of the 1,417 original books published in sf last years, I read ten of them. Six of those books were short story collections. Two of them I wrote. The other two were novels by people whose sf I’d read before and liked. Of the remaining 1,407 books, I probably handled 750 of them and replaced them on the shelf. Honestly, most of the 750 novels I put back looked like work.

I read fiction for entertainment, relaxation, and enjoyment. If I want to work, I read the history, literary essays, biography, science, and legal books that grace my shelves.

She refers to people who want science fiction that is entertaining and enjoyable without having to ‘work’ at reading it as “the Barbarians at the Gate.”

I’m writing the kind of science fiction I haven’t been able to find in years because apparently the traditional publishing buyers of SF have dictated on behalf of the readers that the readership has moved on. Only, they are wrong. Not all of us have moved on. The traditional publishers of SF left me in the dust with only old classics to read and the occasional new book that slipped through.

By the way, the publishing game has changed. Read up on it, it’s really interesting. Traditional publishing doesn’t always make good BUSINESS SENSE anymore. And I’m approaching this like a business person who is taking charge of their writing career, not a helpless ‘artist’ that doesn’t have a lick of business sense and has to be taken care of. That means writing a good book, having it edited and proofed, the whole bit. And heck, if I have to do all or most of the marketing anyway, I want a lot more than the typical 6-15% royalties (depending on hardcover or mass paperback).

Am I going to be an indie-publisher? You bet. Because there are other readers out there like me that have been forgotten. Sure, it might be a small niche and it might be hard to find them at first, but it will be a niche I will greatly enjoy providing reading material for. And who knows, I might find a bigger readership than expected.

I also don’t need traditional publishers ‘validating’ the kinds of stories they have ignored for years. Their form of ‘validation’ has proved useless to me as a science fiction reader. Not having the traditional type of validation doesn’t make me any less of an author than one who does.

So, does the above mean I’m about to be skewered? Probably, but there are other readers like me who understand this is “fiction.” As in, stories to entertain and enjoy. I talk to them all the time. We’re tired of being attacked for liking what we like, which is escapism entertainment. Of not being provided for when we want to spend the money on entertaining good reads.

So, I’ll go shut up now and continue writing. Writing with a “Sense of Wonder” and consider myself what Kristine calls “The Barbarians at the Gate.”

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The Subplot list has been patiently waiting its turn, and now it’s rarin’ to go!

The Subplots are the smaller bits of Spice that make books so [...]]]> I’ve now sorted through the list of Main Plots. While this is a huge step towards organizing the series, there is still a lot more work to do.

The Subplot list has been patiently waiting its turn, and now it’s rarin’ to go!

The Subplots are the smaller bits of Spice that make books so enjoyable. I didn’t want the series, characters, locations or the conflicts to be static. The spreadsheet is a great place to map all of this out.

Like the other plots, each of the Subplots are named. They can be the name of the character, a romantic relationship (or triangle), the location, whatever is needed.

For example: the changing seasons and the weather in the “Salmon Run” series will have a direct affect on many of the plots. So, one line was named “Weather/Seasons”. If a season, a change in season, or weather had any impact on a particular story, a description of how it affected the book went on that line.

The same with a main character. If during different books they changed, had a personal upheaval, had a conflict with someone in particular, it would go on a line all by itself. The line would be titled by that main character name.

EXAMPLE:

NOTE: In place of “Subplot #1″, type in the character name/description of the subplot. To help organize them you can color-code them.

Column 1:

Book #

Book Description

Main Plot #1

Main Plot #2

Main Plot #3

Subplot #1

Subplot #2

Subplot #3

The bigger picture became clearer. The characters started to feel like real people, as the pattern of ebb and flow of their lives became clear. The seasons changed. Life moved on.

More gaps in both Book Descriptions and Main Plot/Multi-Book Plot rows were filled in. Each addition fed on the other additions, sparking more ideas. I found I had to insert book columns, combine books, or move events around.

Gaps

The planning stage is all about the brainstorming and foundation laying to the book/series. At the least they are annoying. At the most they can stop the planning cold in its tracks. But, they can be key to learning more about the story and finding out the hidden depths. Just as nature abhors a vacuum, so does a Muse. Especially one that is OCD.

“A blank space? Oh no! I must fill it! Thinkthinkthink…”

Great, more ideas.

And each step gave the series even more life. The books filled out. A column of Subplots inspired book descriptions.

Keeping in mind that these are novellas, if I felt there was too much happening in one book, I could space out the progression of plots a little more. As everything was in the planning stage, there was a lot of flexibility in what happened when. Novellas were brought forward, others were pushed backwards. Entire new novellas appeared out of nowhere…

The surprising thing was that I had a lot more story fodder than I initially thought. So much so that I had basic ideas for eight books at the start of the organizing. As the organizing continued, that inched forward to 10, then to 12, then to 14.

So much for worrying about having enough Novella ideas.

This may sound too methodical, but with all the ideas the Muse was spewing out, I had to have some way to see how each idea was going to affect not only the story, but also the individual books themselves and the other Main Plots and Subplots. What happened in one book would inspire consequences that had to occur in the next book or the book after that. What one character did in one book would inspire a conflict a bit later. Repercussions grew out of all of it.

And it was inspiring. Greatly inspiring.

An Example:

I had the main idea for the first book and a hazy one for the second. By putting all that I knew in a spreadsheet, and then plotting across the columns how each Main Plot and Subplot progressed, I suddenly had a lot happening in each book. And a scene inspired by one point inspired a flash of insight on how that scene might set off one of the other points, or lead into another scene focusing on one of the other points.

Entire scenes and storylines started to appear.

Part way through the process the plot of the second book became clear. The Book description was refined.

The plot of the third book, which had been even more hazy, appeared out of nowhere. I went from one good book idea almost ready to outline to three good book ideas. Novellas 1-3 were just waiting to be outlined and written.

Wow, and all from organizing the ideas. It just goes to show how the planning and organizing stage can be a huge inspiration in itself.

By this point I was rarin’ to write. However, more needed to come first, to set the series on a strong solid foundation.

Having the series spreadsheet readily available is helpful not only for quick reference during the rest of the planning, but also during the writing. Wonderful surprising things happen while writing first drafts, some of them inspiring entire new ideas and character development. With the spreadsheet I have one place to go to fit those new pieces in. As I continue to write the series, I can see at a glance what I have done before. The series spreadsheet already is, and will continue to be, a valuable resource.

Here is a sample spreadsheet in case anyone wants to use it as a base for their own planning. It is formatted in Open Office. I hope it’s helpful!

Series_Planning_Template

_______________________________

“The E-Book Experiment” chronicles the business and creative side of an experiment with the business opportunities new technology and creative outlets now afford content producers. Will it fail? Will it succeed? The only way to know is to approach it with a solid plan and try. No regrets!

I hope the details of this journey will be a help to other authors. As the process proceeds to selling the final products I will also share hard data that might be useful in the decision making process of other authors who recognize that only they can take charge of their careers. For a listing of all the posts in this series, please click here.

If you find this information useful or interesting, please encourage others to come on by and visit.

PHP Freelancer

For the first Nano ever I was not able to complete a first draft of a novel. While I did get 81753 words, part of that was a revision (yes, I was a bit of a Nano rebel this [...]]]> And this was a hard one this year. A word of advice: Don’t move during Nano.

For the first Nano ever I was not able to complete a first draft of a novel. While I did get 81753 words, part of that was a revision (yes, I was a bit of a Nano rebel this year). The one book I was writing from scratch, “Lost Garden of Dreams”, now sits at 54k. I estimate it still needs about another 20,000 words to finish it up.

I don’t like having an unfinished first draft sitting there. Since 2007 I’ve finished everything I’ve started. Strangely, I think it’s bothering me more than if I hadn’t achieved 50k for Nano.

Want to take a guess at what I’ll be working on in December? Hehe.

I hope Nano went better for everyone else this year. And any new words is a good thing! I just need to keep reminding myself of that!

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