In Search of Momentum

Personally, it has been a good month or so,

     I have done very little writing or editing though.  To be honest, I have been enjoying the freedom of just going home, putting me feet up and turning my mind off.  It has been a while since I was able to do this and I have been taking full advantage.  The downside to this, is my writing time and editing has suffered for it.

     That isn't to say I've been completely idle.  I have been focusing on what directions I want to shift with my writing.  The Dragon's Apprentice is working through an edit with the help of Grammerly.  Thought I would give it a spin.  Grimmack is going through... an expansion is the best I can call it.  I want to work on my world building in that book.  That means I will be working to add a map to the front, which may take a bit, and then I will be working on details and events in the chapters to bring the world further to life.  I am not planning on changing the story, I like the story and think it works well, I am more interested in the threads that hold the story together.

     My marketing has changed as well.  I am going to mock up a cover and put Grimmack on Amazon when I am happy with it.  Grimmack's books are going to be about the right length etc.. that I think I can put 2-3 books out a year on Amazon with little issue, if I can keep my focus.  Dragon's apprentice is going to take the place of Grimmack as far as what I try to traditionally market.  And yes, I want to keep trying to play both.

    I have put Grimmack out there enough, I am content to self publish.  Mr. Brady Frost added me to a great group on Facebook that is all about self-publishing and it has whetted my interest in that direction.  That being said, I have never been an eggs in one basket type person and I will continue to explore different options.

     Grimmack, has about nine story lines right now that I have documented that I can work on. Dragon's Apprentice will be a Trilogy.  Under a Broken Moon will be a stand alone, for the moment but it has potential moving forward.  That one I haven't decided where to market, but it is so early in it's lifespan that I am more worried about giving it all the bones it needs to walk.

    That means nothing if I can't focus.  Between doing new house searches, planning for my daughter to go to DC for her History Day competition and everything else, my focus has not been on my writing like it should be.  I am hoping to remedy that soon.

    I am hoping by next month, I will be announcing my release date for Grimmack the Goblin on Amazon... Mwha ha ha.



    How is ya'll writing going?

Ben Marble

If you would like to support Ben Marble and his unnatural obsession with the Ewok resistance, consider buying on of his short stories at Amazon.com

Beauty and The Beast.

The original Disney is one of my favorite animated features they have ever done.  That's right, this dude likes what is essentially a chick flick.

       Let's start with an update.  Honestly, not much to update.  I am re-evaluation a bit on Grimmack.  I want to do a couple more edits after much better eyes than my own caught some issues I missed.  On three passes.  But editing is one of my weaker suits, and I know I need to flex my muscles there and get some better discipline.  This will be a great practice for me.  I know I want to better my world building if I can in that story as well.  Thus I need to draw out a map, and have someone with a better hand finesse it for me.  This my be one of my daughters I call upon for this.

     My other stories are still floating and waiting.  I have a couple weeks of school and then I am going to probably take a break until fall.  This means I will have time to write and edit some more, and probably play a little bit of WOW that I have been neglecting.  (Hey I get some other me time too)  I am hoping by this summer to have something at least published on Amazon that is full Length.  That might be Grimmack.  That might be the Dragon's apprentice.  Who knows?  It might be something else I have been tapping at here and there...... 

     On to the Movie Review now.

    I am going to start by saying, if you have seen the original Disney animated you have essentially seen this movie.  They don't really deviate from that film very much, and when they do, it is for moments that actually round out and build the characters better.  This is a great example of deciding not to reinvent the wheel to make a movie.  Disney knows the original works and works well and they banked on that.  So, with that being said, should you pony up and see it in the theater?

    I say yes.  The movie is gorgeous and it deserves a big screen to be viewed on at least once.  I won't say there weren't parts that annoyed me because it was obvious they had been thrown in for 3-D audiences, but overall I think this will lose some of its grandeur if seen for the first time on a television.

   The characters are great as well.  Emma Watson was a great pick for Belle.  The Beast manages to start as looming and threatening then manages to turn it around in a believable fashion.  Maurice gets more depth, and Gaston is actually a bigger Jerk in here.  LeFou is fantastic and I could go on and on.  Needless to say, I would happily go view this again.

    I will admit it, I teared up a few times, even though I knew what was coming.

    Oh, and they fixed the common sense problem of a twelve-year old boy getting cursed for not allowing a stranger into his castle.  I'm not counting that as spoiler because it's the first five minutes of the movie.

    Overall I really have no criticism of this movie.  It is well shot, well acted, and I enjoyed it from open to close.

     Now here is where I might include spoilers after this point.  However, I'm not sure there will be many.  I try to do an exercise where I tell you what I would have done differently in the movie, and that may including spoiling etc... so I can fully explain myself.  So if you don't like Spoilers, don't read on.

     I'm going to start by saying, I really am having a hard time picking anything to truly criticize in this movie.  Very little annoyed me, the things that did were still semi-necessary to the movie.

     One thing I would have adjusted is the wolves.  They made them look CGI'd up, extra big and extra fierce.  Why?  Either make them normal wolves, maybe slight CGI to make them look like they are starving and willing to go after people, or confirm the curse is the reason they are bigger or more feral.  Part of this, is I just hate misrepresentation of animals to the point where they don't act like an animal.  And without CGI/Extra big looking stuff, a pack of wolves chasing after someone is more than scary enough.  I felt that this made them even less scary.

     Gaston remains a one sided villain.  He works for the story, and he is supposed to be the supremely arrogant jerk that he is.  If you are going to take time to flesh out characters however, take a few moments to make him more rounded.  Give him a moment where after LeFou leaves him he walks into a cottage where he shows genuine care for his mother, dropping the macho for a second. only then his mother reacts in a way that is blistering and show why he feels he needs to be such a tool.  Yes, I want a touch of sympathy for the villain.  I want a little part of you to care when he meets his end.  At least LeFou has a decent story arc in this film, where you actually like the little weasel.

     That is about all I can think of that I might have done, and to be honest, my choices could be wrong, as always opinion is subjective.

-Ben

If you would like to support Ben Marble and his support of wolves off of steroids, consider purchasing one of his short stories at Amazon.com.
     

A Great Silence.

Yes it's been a while.

    I will admit, my writing has suffered recently.  Between starting the new job, school, studying for my Security+ (which I passed, thank you very much) My writing has been put  a little to the side.  I am presently, for the record sitting as follows.

    Grimmack- Farming to Agents, due to lack of positive response so far I am thinking about hitting it with another round of edits.  I am happy with where it is, sitting at 50k words which is about right for a book for adolescents, but I might be able to make the world pop and throw more detail in.  One of the demons I wrestle with when I write is detail.  I am actually one of those that is sparse in there writing and I end up adding such stuff in later.

     Dragon's Apprentice- I want to do one more quick edit through this, and then I will start farming it out as well.  My only hesitation is that if it does get picked up, I will have to return to this world after a bit of an absence.  That is a personal worry though, as I am still constantly stuck with ideas about this story in my head, and I know where I want to go with the next two books.

      Under a Broken Moon- I am about two thirds done with this book, and about ready to finish writing it up.  It is kind of irritating that I've stopped at a point where the action for the final confrontation is about to happen.  This story is unique for me, because though I have ideas for continuations, it is in my heart, only a self contained book.  I may write some continuations some time, but when I finish it, I will be done with Elias, Jill, and Jaiden for some time.

     I am debating dredging up my oldest book I finished, "Son of the Vampire" (I wrote it before Twilight was a thing so chill) and working on editing it as well.  This would be to A. See if I can change the story to fit Jaiden as we know him in "Under a Broken Moon" and B. to see if I can make that story into something from the broken mess it is.  It was my first attempt at writing and it shows throughout the story.  That being said, I still love the ideas behind the story, and where I was going to go with it, and that might be tied into where I take the story of Broken Moon forward eventually.  We will see.

    Other than that, I have officially graduated for DATC, which is a large personal achievement for me.  I am going to do the whole graduation ceremony and everything, (I didn't go to my High School one, as I graduated late so this will be a new experience for me) and I am going to be looking at going to WGU after I do Project+ and Cloud Based Administrator classes, above my graduation.

     My family has the goal to find and move into a bigger house some time this summer.  So, right now we are looking at getting my present residence, and it's fourteen years of wear and tear fixed along with the slow process of starting to dejunk.  This is going to be an interesting experience I feel, as the only time I have moved, has been at the beginning of my marriage when we didn't have nearly as much stuff.  I am going to learn some lessons here I think.

     The big question is, how are things going with ya'll?  How is your writing going and what are your challenges.

Ben Marble

If you would like to support Ben Marble and his pack of Discotheque penguins, consider purchasing one of his short stories at Amazon.com.



 

Stereotypes and Opinion on Millenials

I'm going to tread some ground I normally avoid in this one.

    So, as you are aware one of the worse things that you can do in writing is to unintentionally lean on stereotypes in your writing.  Not only do you do a disservice to your own story, but you can demean another group of people, whether it be religion, orientation, race, or any other division of group you can assign to folks.

     The confusing part is that there are times when using stereotypes work or re-enforce you story.  Grimmack, the book I'm currently marketing to agents leans on several stereotypes intentionally.  I wanted the traditional fantasy from a different point of view, so I didn't stray too far from traditional wizard, knights, and elf types we are used to.  This is so my main character can make observations and even poke fun at the traditional archetypes we tend to cling to.

     The other thing to worry about with Stereotypes is focusing on the latest fad or movement.  The way we write and re-act to many group have changed over the years and is likely to continue to do so.  What might have been funny or fine to write about in the past changes as our society does.  Virtually everyone has watched a movie or read a book and afterwards said, "They couldn't do that nowadays," and often they are right.  If you don't believe me, go watch "Blazing Saddles," and imagine how people would re-act if that was released for the first time in theaters today.

     And this brings me to millenials, the most complained about group of our time, those lazy good for nothing children, and young adults with no values.  I am sure, that Hippies, Gen-Xers, or any other group coming of age never had such criticisms... Oh wait, I'm pretty sure they did.

     To be honest, I spent a large part of my adult life working with teenagers, many of which were in this age group.  I myself depending on which "group" identifier you read end up at the end of Gen X, if that matters to anyone.  I have a very definite opinion on millenials.  And it follows here...

    Millenials, like many groups before them, do not truly exist.  Neither do Gen-Xers etc, etc, etc.  There are societal trends of clothing, music, and some arbitrary factors like that common to people in certain age groups, but no one can be defined by any such label, though admittedly some grab onto and wear such labels proudly.

     After spending several years training and working with teenagers, these dirty millenials, I can tell you that when it comes to work ethics, focus, feelings of entitlement, that I ran into a somewhat similar ratio of adults we hired who were older than me with the similar issues.  Generally, if you give someone a chance and set and expectation they will meet it.  This is true for those who are sixteen, those who are twenty-one, and those who are sixty-two.  For those who don't meet it, they are spread throughout not just the young twenty-somethings.

    Adam ruins everything even gave a great twenty minute talk on this very subject.  He was talking about how to market to millenials, and the honest answer was "duh'" they are people.  Treat them like people, not a group.  And that is what I would argue you should do in your writing.  His video, which was one of my triggers for my many agreements with him, is millenials don't exist...

    What is your opinion on such things? Am I totally off my rocker? Should I deny that named generations exist? I mean, it is cool in our culture to label people so.  And if it's cool...

Thank you, and I look forward to any discussion on this,

Ben Marble.

    If you want to support Ben Marble and his attempts at training the world's first muskrat bobsledding team, consider buying on of his short stories at Amazon.com.

 

   

New Years Goals and Resolutions.

I am not a big fan of New Years Goals.

     It is not that I think it is bad to make goals and resolutions for yourself, but I think it should be an ongoing process throughout the year that you can look at as needed.  We all live this messy little thing called life, which means from time to time plans have to be adjusted or changed.  At times we all have the big eyes syndrome where we take on more than we can chew.

     So, for this year I am going to restate my goals that I am working on.  I am presently working on Marketing Grimmack a little, (I could be better) I have one more full edit of "The Dragon's Apprentice" to do. (I plan on having it ready in the next month or so.) and I want to finish the story I am working on (Demon Skies is my working title) by June.

     As far as school goes, I want to be done with my certifications at DATC.  I graduate sometime this month as long as I pass my CompTIA security+ but I plan on getting my Project+, Cloud based Administrators, Linux and Cisco certifications.  All in all that means almost a year longer than I originally planned.  After that I will be looking at my Bachelor's degree in Computer Science with a focus on Network administration.  My goal is to get that by the time I am 40, which gives me two years.  If I don't beat that I intend to be close.

    With my family I will have all new fun challenges.  My oldest will be learning to drive this year.  If I wasn't getting grey hair yet, that will do it.  I would like to go camping sometime this summer.  I haven't really been in years but once, and it would be nice to expand my children's experience a little more.  There are a lot of nice places out here in Utah, several that I went to as a child and it would be nice to give my children a bit more outdoor experience.

    That is pretty much my list of things I am looking at.  For some of you it might seem simple, for some it might look like a lot.  I have said it before, life is about priorities.  You have to keep them straight if you want to accomplish your goals.  Right now my main focus is education and bettering my situation.  (My career change and current job is a big step, but I don't want to become complacent.)

     How is your new year looking?  Have you set any goals for new projects or writing?  What about your personal life?  Expanding your personal experience can only benefit the words you type out or scribble down on paper.  What do you plan on doing different or better?

    And most of all, how are you going to enjoy your new year?

Happy 2017 everybody.
Ben Marble

If you would like to support Ben Marble and his desire to construct a wild snowman habitat, consider purchasing one of his short stories at Amazon.com.  Including his newest short, "The Trap."

   

And a Merry Christmas to Your Family!

I am at peace with myself.  And yes, I have RENT playing in my head.

    I am honestly not writing like I want to be, but I am writing.  I have plans to finish the project I'm on, then move over to Grimmack 2.  Somewhere in there I am going to do my final edit on "The Dragon's Apprentice" book one, and start marketing it as well.  The time frame for all of this? Soon.

    I am not setting a finite goal or anything at the moment, and I am O.K. with that.  I have been consistently writing and editing and I will continue to do so.  My progress bar is not set to an artificial timer and that is the way I feel it should be right now.  There is simply too much up in the air between my new job and everything else right now.  I know I don't have a consistent hour a day, or time during the week to write and that is fine, I am still making progress.

    Now I know, someone reading this is screaming about clear goals in a timely manner.  And they are right.  When you want to achieve something that is generally the best way to do it.  However, right now in the middle of the holidays working a new job and going to school I just don't have a consistent time frame I can work on writing.  So I will do it a little here, and a little there, and if I get published and start making money I will re-evaluate how I do my writing.

   In all honesty, I don't see this pattern changing soon since even if I get published tomorrow, I probably won't be making enough money to warrant a significant difference.

    I am an adult, and I am choosing the choices that feed my family over writing.  Most people do.  I would love to think that I might change this someday, but in all honesty most authors don't make a significant income from what they do, at least not for a long while.  While I believe in making sacrifices for your art, for me they have to be sacrifices you can live with.  I have duties before stroking my writing ego in ways that take away from other things that are priorities in my life.

    I will be clear, there is no shame in trying to write on non-specific terms, as long as you are trying to write.  Think about you story in your head on your lunch break if you can't write there.  There are thousands of prospective writers out there.  In five years of trying, most of them will have given up because they cannot live up to an unrealistic view of what they see as a "real author."  Then thousands more will take the place of those who have given up.

    In my heart it's those who keep trying to learn and advance that eventually succeed 99% of the time.  I plan on trying for the foreseeable future.  If fifteen years from now I'm in my fifties and I haven't sold a big book or done anything other than selling a few self published stories I will be happy and I can live with that.  I would be lying if I didn't say there wasn't a part of me that wants to explode as the next big author, but in reality even with a successful writing career that is unlikely to happen.  If I don't temper my expectations around that I will be dooming myself to fail.

     For now I am loving my new job.  My co-workers and boss support me.  I feel I have the opportunity to create and impact and grow.  If I play my cards right I will be happy working for this company for the long haul.

     My family is not without conflict and problems at time, but no one's family is perfect.  With me at the head I would hardly expect mine to be.  But we love and respect each other, and we work together in the end, what more can you ask for?

    School is going well too.  I have a longer road than I had first planned on, and I still hope to graduate by the time I'm forty.  That may not happen, but as long as I'm moving forward and learning I am enjoying it still.

    I will still ask, how is everyone else's writing coming this holiday season?

Merry Christmas,
Ben Marble

To support Ben Marble and his journeys on his big red sleigh consider purchasing one of his short stories at Amazon.com.

Defeated by NaNoWriMo

I am at a turning point.

     So, between job changes, outside stress, and school I got to chapter 10 of my book for NaNoWriMo this year.  That is about half way to 50k if you would like to know.  Short of the mark, but I got some work and some outlining done.  I'm happy with where this story is heading, and I plan on getting it finished and editing it still.  I would love to have it up on Amazon in a couple of months, but we will see what happens.

     How was everyone else's NaNoWriMo this year?  Did anyone finish? What did you struggle with?  How could it have gone better, and more importantly how can you plan it better for next year?  All questions that are worth asking.

    This story I am telling is the continuation of Elias' story.  It is the modern culmination of what I was building to in my short stories up on Amazon.com for you kindle and ebook reading delight.  It is the story of a man facing down his literal demon, and living with his mental demons at the same time.  I have re purposed a couple of other characters including Jaiden Knight, my half-vampire and Jill Silver, a Werewolf without a pack to help round out my characters.  I have a lot of work to go, but I am enjoying the direction I am heading.  At the end of the day, this is a story that has been brewing in my head for the better part of a decade, and I am finally giving it shape.

    I am now into my second week working at inContact.  I know I am looking at things through new hire eyes, but I am excited about the job and the future it may give me.  Opportunities exist here for upward advancement, and my bosses are very supportive of my goals, be they school or otherwise.  My co-workers are great and the environment in comfortable.  I am hoping this is a job I am at for a long time and that I can grow as the company does befitting us both.

    As far as writing advice this time, I don't have much other than find a specific time to write.  I am going to find an hour or two a week that is devoted to nothing but writing and editing.  That is not a lot, but right now that is all I am going to be able to manage.  As with anything, you might have more, or less time than this.  Plan accordingly to your needs, not someone else's.  Not everyone can write for hours everyday without sacrificing too much of what they need to give to their family, jobs, or even themselves.  We all need de-stress time, and while writing can work for this, at times it definitely won't.

    That is it for my update right now.  How is everyone else doing?

Ben Marble.

   If you would like to support Ben Marble and his fear of flatbread, consider buying one of his short stories at Amazon.com.