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.

Nailing my Priorities

Guess who’s back, back again!

     So, it has been a little bit.  Time for an update folks.

     Grimmack has passed through edit number three and has now been pushed to a publisher’s inbox whom I won’t name.  I have some hopes here, as I think my story is very fun and solid.  The final product was just north of 50k words which is on the low end of young adolescent to teens which is where I’m aiming this story.  That being said I feel it is something that appeals to older readers as well.  According to the website I should get a response between Thanksgiving and Christmas time.  I was surprised actually as I know that Tor (not the one I submitted this too) has about a six month turn around on a response.

     Now, honestly I am bracing myself for a rejection letter while hoping for an acceptance.  I do believe my story is good, but it is up to someone whom I have never met who digs through these manuscripts to decide if it is something they want to publish. They hopefully will love my story, but they may decide they don’t.  Or they may decide it’s not a fit for their publisher, or… well there are many “ors.”  I have done what I can for now within my sphere of control, for now I have put the story to the side as I wait for judgement.  I also am looking for plan B, C, and so on for if this publisher rejects my story.  Because it doesn’t fit one place doesn’t mean it won’t fit anywhere.

      I have been a little distant from my writing otherwise.  I have been cramming the last few weeks for my Network+ certification and thankfully I have passed.  Now I am on to learning Security Fundamentals and then Security+.  For now, I can take a small breath, but a new test will be on me soon.

     So, what am I working on then?  Well, I am still writing Grimmack 2 on the side.  I also am going to be working on editing “The dragon’s apprentice” which is the other book I have finished that needs some love.  That one I have had on the back burner for a while for a variety of reasons, but I have finally figured out a few things I want to do to fix the story, and while it might mean sacrificing a few darlings, I am looking forward to getting it to a point where I can submit it.

     Oh, and there is this little November thing called NaNoWriMo I am hoping to do again this year.  If you haven’t done it before, you should.  It is a fun challenge for aspiring writers.

      Otherwise life is moving on.  I am continuing in school, working on watching for ways to advance myself in my new chosen career path.  Yes, I want to write for a living, but until I get to that point I do need to pay the bills.

      So, there you have it.  A lot of fun, and work to getting to where I want to be.

      Because, let’s be honest, this is all about priorities.  If I don’t prioritize my writing, then all I am doing is talking.  That doesn’t help anyone, least of all myself.

Ben Marble

If you want to support Ben Marble you can buy his short stories at Amazon.com

Elias Returns.

Another short going up soon.

     That is right, my third short starting Elias will be coming out on Kindle/Amazon.com soon.  I have a little more tweaking to do with it and I will be putting it up.  This was written as a quick break from the world of Grimmack which is also coming along nicely.  I just need to figure out a name for it...

     I have some goals I am trying to achieve in my third edit of Grimmack.  The first is tightening up the language and prose so it reads more smoothly and professionally.  I want to add a touch more world building and detail, two things I know I'm sparse at when writing.

      Life is busy.  I have been working on my Network+ certification and I’m a couple weeks away from taking the test.  Kids have started school again, and we have been stumbling over ourselves to make sure all the million and a half forms sent home by teachers to be signed are attended to.  My work schedule is also shifting, which means my school schedule is shifting.  Good times.

     My goals are still before me.  I am working on my outline for the story I want to write for NaNoWriMo this year.  When November 1^st hits, I want to be ready to meet it head on.  I am poking at agents and soon a couple of publishers on Grimmack’s behalf.  If I don’t have him published traditionally by mid-summer next year, I will instead look at doing self-publication through Amazon. 

     I still have “The Dragon’s Apprentice” to finish editing as well.  My daughter really liked that story and keeps pushing me to get it done.   It will also look at traditional publishing before I consider self-publishing.  I am more than aware of my own limitations, and I know time wise I’m not In a position to market myself if I do self-publication.

     Otherwise, I have no issue with self-publication.  As a matter of fact, with the way trends are turning and media is sliding towards the electronic devices that rule us, I think self-publication will give some traditional publishing a run for its money in the near future. 

     That being said I know a lot of people are hesitant to touch anything self-published and with good reason.  There are some really big steaming piles of crap out there.  But there are also diamonds hiding in the self-published field.  I can think of a couple of authors who self-published first.

     You know, Christopher Paolini and Larry Correia.  Both have written great books, and if I remember right, both were self-publishing before they were picked up by traditional.

     That is my update for now.   Working on writing, working on not just claiming to be an author, but to put myself in the headspace where I can consider myself an author which is probably just the difference between author and aspiring author; Confidence. 

Until next time,

Ben Marble

Grimmack 1.1 done.

Grimmack the Goblin is done, roughly.

     So that means that I am doing a quick run through this draft, and then it will be on to Alpha readers. Ah, that step where I beg people for feedback so that I might get an idea of what to work on and what is working and not working.  This is the interesting part.

     I have already gotten some feedback because I had the advantage of having a co-worker I sent each chapter to as I finished it.  My goal, (and it was achieved a bit) was to have him laughing here and there behind me at the very serious book that is Grimmack the Goblin.

    Really this book is very much a poke at fantasy genres.  It is silly, the main character telling the story is sarcastic, and a bit of a coward.  This book, unlike other was not a slog in parts to write because I had fun the whole time.  If I manage to do anything with this story, I think I have a few more Grimmack stories in me as well.  Like I said, it was absolute fun to write, and I look forward to doing the next one.

     The amazing thing was that this story is much brighter and more fun than anything I have written before.

     Here comes my challenge.  Right now the book is sitting at about 43,000 words.  I'm adding a bit in this edit, but to hit the "standard" length of a YA or younger book I am looking at moving that count up to 50k-75k words.  So, part of what I will be looking for from Alpha readers is "what is this story missing?" "What would you like to see more of."  part of the problem with this also being that there are some arcs I would like to make a whole story out of.  I'm fairly certain that if you read the story you will know which ones.

      So here it is, anyone who is interested in giving me some honest feedback, let me know.  I do not want anyone to feel obligated to read this, but if you are interested I will happily send you a copy to read through.

      I want to state:  I am not looking for an editor, or someone to judge the prose, though if by all means something in my writing style bugs you, let me know.  What I am looking at is people to read this story, and give my an opinion.

      Opinions like, "I think this story would be better if..." or "I think this character needs more development...."  or even "I love this part where..."

     If you tell me I am no Brandon Sanderson, I will be like, "umm... Not trying to write a Sanderson."

    So, anyone who wants to volunteer let me know.  I will keep posting about this story as it progresses.  My hope is to be marketing it in a few weeks.  If from the point where I start marketing it, and six month pass then I will probably look at self publishing instead.  However, I want to try the traditional route first.

Good reading and great adventures,
Ben Marble

Grimmack is coming.

It's been a while.

     I'll be honest, sometimes I feel I neglect this blog just because time is not my friend.  Between school and work I haven't had a lot of time.  However, a couple of good things have come from this. 

     My new job gives me some writing freedom when I don't have homework, and we aren't busy.  It's been sporadic but helpful.  I've gotten some more editing on The Dragon's Apprentice done, finished a short story ("A Fey Deal") and now I'm working on another book.

     Grimmack is the story of a goblin illegally taught magic whose world gets upended.  His master is accused of practicing black magic, and the fallout pulls him out of the safety of his studies into the big wide world of humans.  You know, the big folk who somehow don't understand how the world is supposed to work.

     I'm having fun with this one.  It's a bit of adventure story versus thumbing my nose at a few fantasy tropes.  It's not intended to be a long book, as I'm thinking of young junior high age children for my target demographic, but when I finish I plan on being a little over 50,000 words.  I was originally planning on publishing this book through Amazon and going the self-published route, but I think before I do that I want to see if I can find an agent to try and go traditional.

     I'm also hoping that doing a smaller project like this will help me get my editing brain to the point where I can finish "The dragon's apprentice."  I want to do that trilogy as well, and might jump back and forth.  Grimmak promises to be an open ended story, that I can keep going on as long as I find ideas and situations.  However I feel it will have a more limited audience.  I have an overall story arc for Grimmack in mind, but It will be a long time before he realized it.

    Other than that, I'm progressing in school. I have my A+ certification and am diving straight into my Network+ certification.  Then I have Security+, Administers, and Project+.  Seems a long way to go.

    Kids are great and out of school for summer.  Keeping me busy of course.

    That is pretty much what I have for now, other than buy my new short story, A Fey Deal on Amazon and Kindle if you would like to support me.  I appreciate any reviews, good or bad, people drop on my work as well.

Thank you,

Ben

Discussing alpha readers.

So, I had a unique experience this week.

     I am working on a short story that will soon be up on Kindle.  This one will bridge my other two shorts "The Choice," and "The Black Oak" and create a connection between them, while continuing Elias' story.  I'm very happy with this piece so far and I am enjoying having time between phone calls at work to devote myself more to my writing.  I look forward to getting some long awaited editing done once I get a pass for my laptop, and I hope to do NaNoWriMo again this year.

    To get feedback I let two of my new co-workers read through the short.  It's not a long piece, at the moment sitting at about 5.5k words and it's meant to be quick and to the point.  I made a point of actually not digging into details that weren't pertinent to the story.  And happily I got two levels of feedback.

    The first reader said he rather enjoyed it, pointed out a few punctuation issues I might need to work on but pretty much left me at that.  I enjoy getting the feedback and the praise and happily discussed my other two shorts a little with him, and he may pick them up on his Kindle  (If not, I'm not worried about it.)

    The second reader immediately started discussing very technical aspects of the fey, as they are part of my story, pushing about whether my demon was the christian version, more elemental, etc... etc...  He went into naming schemes, base roots of these different aspects and pulled things a lot deeper than I had an intent to go.  I found that fantastic but heavy feeling.

    I bring this up because these are both two kinds of Alpha readers you may get, and they both have great points, and bad ones.

   First of all, remember the first person you are writing for is you.  If you aren't enjoying it, question why and fix it.  Feedback is great, but measure it against your vision of the story.  Take everything you hear and consider it, but don't get married to any one idea someone else gives you.

    The first Alpha reader was great, but I didn't get anything constructive from him.  I am glad he enjoyed the story, but I was hoping i could at least get an answer to "was there anything that felt out of place, or glaringly inaccurate" Instead I got a warm response, and that's good but it doesn't help me improve.

    The second Alpha went the opposite direction and I was getting information overload.  While he had some great mentions and ideas I may add and use, a lot of the information he thought I needed at the end of the day does not fit my vision or the feel of the story I am working on.  I am not looking at giving people a deep discussion on the Seelie/Unseelie courts or spending a long time defining my demon at this point.  That is beyond the scope of the story I want to tell.  Some of the information is important and likely to be added, but if I double my word count just to go into tangents I'm really not treading the path I want.

    The point is, remember when you get feedback to balance it.  Look for good feedback but don't worry about taking it all.  I will probably share with both again in the future.  I will also be better prepared on how to elicit feedback, or temper it from each now that I know what to expect.

    The best alpha reader I have had to date, and I have to give him credit, is Brady Frost.  On the first book I finished for NaNoWriMo he gave me incredible feedback.  That book is still being changed and edited, and I'm hoping someday to mail him a signed copy so he can see all I did to it. He gave me great feedback, didn't push too much information, and spent a lot of time making great notes.  Part of the reason I want to finish that book and publish it, is because of his contribution to it.

    That is all I have for the moment.  If you have opinions or comments, as always share bellow.  Feel free to tell me I'm full of it, or add to the conversation.

Ben Marble.

It's been a long couple weeks.

I am going to try and revise this blog.  It has seen some dust, but I need to work on myself a bit more.

      I am sitting at home tonight, tired with an arthritic knee just going over Facebook for the day.  What turned out as a quick quip from me became productive due to the magic of one Brady Frost.

   Instead of quipping back Brady linked me a great article to read. So You Want to Be A Writer... And since I was commenting on my lack of time whilst lost in the internet, you know wasting time it was a great moment to read this.
   
    Once again another author hits it home with there is only one way to be a successful writer.  WORK.  Yup, there it is.  There is a lot of other good information in here as well, but as I've been very neglectful of this basic tenant lately it's the one thing I need to turn my focus too.  The advice of actually haven't to work at this has been given to me by Brady of course.  And Larry Correia, and Brandon Sanderson, and Dan Wells, and, and, and.

     As a matter of fact I have yet to read a book on writing, or hear advice from an author that doesn't have that basic bit to it.  So that is my next goal.  I am not going to tackle it all at once, but I am going to start to work more writing and editing into my schedule.  I am going to make a point of unplugging at this time as well, since one of my biggest problems is losing myself as soon as a notification pops up etc...

    I am going to start by doing a once a week post on this blog.  It might get moved soon, but for now here it is.

    To close out I want to give a bit of remembrance to a fellow writer who passed away last week on Friday.  Zachary Hill was a good guy, and I'm sad to say I came late into his life a was just getting to know him.  Larry Coreia puts it better than I. In memory of Zach Hill.  Please if you have time too, buy one of his books such as Sins of Prometheus.  There is also a link in Larry's post if you would like to donate to his young Widow.  I won't lie that despite now knowing him well, Zach's death has hit me a little hard.  He was the same age, had a lot of similar interests, and felt in a lot of way similar to myself.  You can also find his page at http://minimumwagehistorian.com/.  I know it's a little late, but get to know the greatness that has passed from this world.

I promise I will have a lot less links in my next post.   I'm going to go write now for a couple of hours and do that... umm... work thing.

Ben

Farming Approval

We all crave approval.  Even the crazy cat lady wants the approval of her furry minions.

     We all want to be recognized.  Liked by our co-workers, and employees.  Loved by our friends and family.  Seen by our fellow man as someone who is good at what they do, or even might be.  This is a normal trait of the human condition.  There are a few exceptions here, but I'm speaking to the non-sociopathic members of society here.

     There is always the advice that you should seek no approval from anyone but yourself.  That you should find peace with in yourself and stay true to the path that makes you the happiest possible.  Anything else is unnecessary and leads you down the path of emotional dependence on others.  Apparently being emotionally zen and separate it the optimal state.  See sociopath comment above.

      In reality we all live in a world where we interact with other (hopefully) like-minded beings and if you are not caring towards how they think about you, you run the risk of being that jerk at work.  This is very true if you find yourself not caring about them.  Let's be honest here.

    Everyone wants to give and receive approval.  It's part of being who we are... Even the introvert likes to poke their head out of the next they have built for themselves and contribute when they can.

     So when it comes to writing, the question is, what kind of approval are you looking for?  Are you just writing to make yourself happy so you can stick the story/blog/paper in a folder and feel warm fuzzies that it is sitting there?  Then in all likely hood it doesn't matter.  But if you want to get published and make a living at this insanity then opinions and approval matter.  This is where you find the balance.

     I am working through the re-write edit of my book over a year later still.  Honestly a big part of this is my hesitation to dive in mixed with my severe dislike of editing. This is I think the biggest bane of most prospective authors.  It's easy to write and get your story down.  Hacking and fixing it for hours on end? That is work. I digress though...

    Through this process you seek feedback.  This is essentially the approval part of your muse.  You want the people who read your work to be amazed and excited.  Blown away by your inner genius who is clawing to get out of each of your fingers as they type the letters out.  More often then not, when we get the feedback we end up with something more valuable.  The truth.

     This doesn't mean that there isn't any approval there.  It just means that what we get is sometimes what we need over  a glowing review.  Let's be honest, if you have major issues in your book it's more helpful to get a list of things to be fixed then a glowing review.  Though glowing review are nice.

So, where do you look for approval? How important is it for you to be recognized for your work?


Ben Marble.

On Feeling Discouraged.

Let's be honest.

     You can hear again and again the struggles of writers as they tried to get published.  From J.K. Rowling living in a car and being a single mom, to Brandon Sanderson having written four or five book before being published.  Stephen King talks about not being able to afford "the pink stuff" (amoxacillin) for his sick child in his book "On Writing."  There are plenty of stories of "this author struggled to make it" to varying degrees.

      The problem is, despite the stories it's hard to look at the author in question and not see where they are know.

      Now I am sure we can find plenty of authors who also didn't have a hard time getting published.  We just don't hear about them because what is interesting about "I wrote a book, sent it in and they loved it?"  I would highly guess these authors are in the minority as the vast majority rack up rejection letter after rejection letter.  I think part of the passage of becoming a known author is working hard despite rejection and moving forward.

      This is the advice I'm sure you've heard again and again.  Keep working, keep writing.  You have to write over a million words before your writing is up to snuff.  You need to hone your craft, you need to keep submitting, you need, you need, you need.

      Sometimes "you need" is a daunting path to look down.  It's even longer when you realize that even if you do get a book deal and published you still have another roll of the dice on whether or not people will buy your book, or if it will flop.  There is every chance you will work your butt off, sacrifice time with family, and  lose thousands of hours just to find out that your newly published book doesn't sell.

      Dan Wells ("I Am Not a Serial Killer") posted a chart a couple month ago on how much published authors make.  The reality of this chart is that about 1% of published authors make over six figures.  Most make very little.  (I tried to find the chart and couldn't) He had a chart for self published authors as well and the figures were about as encouraging.  No one should become a published author in the hopes of being rich.  In most cases it's a supplementary hobby.

      I will make the argument that the charts may not have taken into account that I suspect most authors who get published write one book and quit.  Or finish their trilogy and when it's not a break away give up.  I highly suspect that 1% of authors sitting on larger incomes are people who just kept writing.  Book, after book they ignored the fact that sales weren't amazing or that they didn't seem to be gaining traction.  Then one day they realized they had grown a larger fan base, their books continued to be discovered and suddenly they were making money.  This is suspect is the normal way being manage a career from writing.  I think the very rare ones are those who write a book, or series and suddenly get discovered and are thrown into the lime-light.

      Discouragement is normal.  You need to have your downs to feel your ups.  You need to have bad experiences to have the good.  You will have good moments.  Even your first rejection letter can be a good moment, you have to choose to make it so.

      In the end you have two choices.  Let discouragement win, throw in the towel, and walk away, or stand straight and keep on writing through the frustration.

The pen is in your hand.

Ben.

Introductions are in order.

I am an aspiring writer.

Badly done cover before I changed the name the first time.

      I prefer to use that phrase rather then "I'm a writer," or "I'm and aspiring author."  Why? Well it's simple with me.

      I am a writer who is unpublished and still honing his craft.  I have finished the second book that I have written so far and am fighting myself into editing the little beastie.  Some authors have issues sitting down and writing consistently.  My nemesis happens to be the editing table as it were.

      You sit down, look at the work you have already done and you know it's not good enough so you change the words, fix the errors, and look for issues that aren't working.  This is where my first book died.  I may revisit it eventually, but for now I consider the story broken to the point where I would just have to rewrite the book from page one on.  Now that may not be the worst prospect, but I would rather take what I have put down on paper and rework it then start from proverbial scratch.

      The book I am working right now is presently titled "The Dark Below,"  I am debating taking the name back to "The Dragon's Apprentice."  It's a little urban fantasy that I realize after I wrote it really doesn't hold to much "urbaness" at all.  Most of it is spent in what might be considered fantasy type settings.  As it is, I like the book and the story and I am looking forward to having the writing reworked to the point where I can start marketing the book out to different agents/publishers.

     My goal is to have a new book written edited and finished every six months eventually.  Right now I'm still working the Book I did for NaNoWriMo back in November, so I've let myself get way behind schedule.  Part of this, is as it is the first book I want to actually market I have been farming some feedback before I go into crazy editing mode.  The other part is that I hate editing so as long as I have an excuse to put it off.....

       I am going to start working on being productive anyway.  I am prepping the outline etc... for book 2 of this trilogy and also working a side project.  I need to make sure I am still writing consistently however, with my job I don't have the luxury of being able to say I will write at time A consistently.  My schedule changes and fluxuates so my goals need to be set at places like, I will write 10,000 words this week.  I find I have a hard time writing daily, but when I do sit down I normally can bang out 3-5 thousand words.  There was one Saturday during NaNoWriMo where I knocked out 12,000 words in one day where I just marathon wrote.

      I will tie this up with my favorites list, and influences.  The books I suggest you, and everyone reads are as follows.

Robin Hobb.  The Farseer Trilogy.  (The rest of her books are fantastic, but this trilogy I love more then most.)
Robert Jordan.  The Wheel of time.  (I was reading it where there were only four or five books in the series"
Brandon Sanderson. Mistborn series, and Way of King Series.  (He also wrapped up Wheel of time)
Jim Butcher.  The Dresden Files.  (Simply amazing.  He uses the same formula for every book and it's so good it doesn't feel like it.)
Kim Harrison. The Hollows Series. (Another great Urban Fantasy)

     And my list goes on from there.  I will probably look back and realize that I missed several I would have wanted to mention.

Next time I will have an actual subject to discuss.  I will be past the introduction stage.

Ben.