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.

 

   

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.

Two Separate Paths: Looking at R. Brady Frost.

Why I find it fascinating to follow R. Brady Frost.

     Yes, I'm calling out a fellow writer whom I have known since High School.  To be fair, several years passed before we reconnected via Facebook, and I have seen his physical present since we were both young and skinny.  Well, he still looks kinda skinny.  We have however, had several moments of correspondence. Read each others work, and traded opinions here and there.

      We both have a lot in common.  We are both fathers who are tackling family, jobs, and other such things.  We both work in IT, (though he is well established, and I'm up and coming as I'm still in school.)  We also both face challenges on a weekly basis on getting our writing done as one would figure from the things mentioned above.

     There are differences too.  Brady is focused more on a Sci-fi path with his current work on Clorophyllium 9: A Final Hope.  And his short stories are more inspiration based than mine.  Well, he does have the zombie one, but his focus is in different areas, that are still fiction based, than I generally pursue.  I tend to focus more on fantasy, urban fantasy, and horror.  His attention to small detail in writing is something I would love to develop and emulate as I find myself often skipping the little stuff and having to add it in later.  I know he has mainly discovery written, while I like to outline.

     The biggest difference I see is that Brady seems focused on being self-published, while I am looking towards trying to be traditionally published.  Now, I say that fully realizing that I have short stories that I have written and put up on amazon.com.  For my book though, my full stories, I plan on trying to pursue traditional publication.  Brady has always (and I could be wrong) seemed focused on self publication.

     Now, there is nothing wrong with either path.  My pull towards traditional publishing comes from the lack of desire to have to work hard on marketing myself at this point.  I also am not sure about how to market myself beyond growing an internet presence and putting up the odd short story to hope I garner some attention.

     Brady has a great website rbradyfrost.com.  He has a podcast he has been working on at hunting the muse.  And is often a lot more present on social media that I manage to be.  His podcast has writing prompts on a weekly basis, and they are great for getting you to think about different ideas. He is constantly working on his writing and even has a book, COMA: The Cataclysm on his website so people can read and actively give him feedback.

     I compare that to the fact I tried to start a Facebook page for prospective writers, and it fizzled after a couple months.  I have wanted to podcast about things myself, but have never really sat down and banged out what I would need to do one.  I don't even know what platform I would go for, as writing is not the only think I would like to discuss.

    So why do I follow Brady and make comparisons? Well I will tell you.

    It fascinates me to see what he is able to accomplish with his time.  It gives me a standard to compare myself to, that is more realistic than looking at a published author such as Larry Correia or Jim Butcher.  Those folks are published and established.  With Brady I can watch him develop and achieve success form the ground up.  It makes him more relate-able to me.  Of course it helps that I remember him from when we were younger as well.

    I also watch, because as he finds success I can learn from it.  I already know I'm not great at sitting down and writing daily.  Though I do put out a good weekly word count.  I am constantly developing my stories in my head as I go through out my day, and I have goals I am starting to set and meet better than I ever have.

    So fellow authors, who do you watch and learn from?  Who are those you look up to that may not be already published big name authors, and why?  How do you learn from these folks?  How does that fit into your goals?

Ben Marble

Please drop by and visit R. Brady Frost at his website rbradyfrost.com and/or check out his podcast at hunting the muse.  You can also find his short stories at Amazon.com for your kindle or e-book reader.

As always, if you would like to support my clubbing of select baby seals, you can always purchase on of my short stories at Amazon.com as well.