NANO UPDATE

Wyetgerd's Ax is up to 72K. I wanted to finish the first draft before month's end, but that ain't happening. I started NANO a week late, Thanksgiving week was basically a wash, and administrative issues have eaten up more of my time recently than planned.

Still, I've gotten 72K. With a big day today, I might stretch that to 80K for the month of November which is nothing to scoff at. I'm at the 75% mark and can see the rest of the book, so it's just a matter of sitting down and getting it all out as quickly as possible. Wyetgerd's Ax will end up around the 100K mark which is a good length for this kind of book. As always, I'm thinking about a sequel.

I'm going to switch gears in December. There is a thriller I'd like to write and I'd like to begin The Bastard's Gambit as well. We'll see. Right now I have to focus on closing out this project so it doesn't bleed too much into December.

Quick NANO update and COMING SOON ...

Wyetgerd's Ax is up to 55,392 words. I'm not as far as I'd like to be but I have circumstances to blame for that. Not only did I forget my girls have early dismissal from school this week, but the little one was home sick yesterday too. Ah well. Life happens. No point in getting upset. As Galeran would have said: expect only what happens.

I think I can finish the first draft of Wyetgerd's Ax in a week's time. I'll need a couple big days to do that, and I'll need to stay up late too, but it's doable. These are first world problems, after all.

I've talked a lot about Wyetgerd's Ax on this blog without sharing any details. So I thought I'd drop the blurb here. But before I do that, allow me to talk about blurbing.

I used to write the blurb at the end of the process, after I'd written the book. I found it (and still do) incredibly difficult to distill a 100k word manuscript into an exciting 250 word book description that is supposed to entice readers. Inevitably, the inner dialog while trying to create a blurb went like this:

I need to introduce the hero and all the major characters, and oh yeah, I need a reader to understand the world too ... oh, and what about the royal hierarchy and nobility and their religions ... oh wait, magic is important too ... and oh shit, this guy shows up halfway through but he's really instrumental in ... and oh yeah! There's going to be a sequel so I better set this up too--

As you can surmise, my blurbs tended to be bloated and unintriguing precisely because I knew too much about the story and what happened before the story and what happened after the story. A blurb is supposed to only reveal the key details, it's supposed to hook fans of the genre, it's supposed to be a little mysterious, and it's supposed to give readers only a general sense of what to expect from the story.

Fortunately, I learned a trick from more experienced authors. Now I write my blurb first, before I even start the book. It's ridiculously easier this way. I even take it to the extreme and write the blurb before the outline.

When I do it this way, I still only have a general sense of the story, which is perfect because I can only think in terms of the bigger plot and character arcs. Good guy, something big happens, bad guys, good guys and bad guys will face off. Easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy.

Once I do finish the story, I usually have to tweak the blurb but I'm always surprised by how little it has to change. I might have to emphasize THIS instead of THAT, or perhaps MAJOR DEVELOPMENT fell by the wayside and SOMETHING ELSE HAPPENED INSTEAD. That's okay. It's always easier to tweak an existing blurb that's 80% on point than summarize this monstrous book in a few words.

Anyway, here's the blurb I wrote for Wyetgerd's Ax before I outlined the story ...

After his father dies, Wisag loses his way. Running up gambling debts he cannot repay, killing men in drunken tavern fights, Wisag, once a young man so full of promise, now wanders the country under an assumed name, desperate to stay one step ahead of those he’s wronged.

One night, while sharing a drink with a childhood friend in a tavern, an old, battle-scarred soldier mocks Wisag. Brooking no insults, Wisag challenges the other to a fight. But the man he challenges isn’t just some old soldier. He’s a legend. And, when challenged, this old warrior only fights to the death.

When Wisag wakes the next morning, his whole life has changed. For now he carries Wyetgerd’s Ax.

Soon everyone looks to Wisag, either with a challenge, or a request for help. Wisag never wanted to be a hero. He was happy to live a life of no consequence, drinking, gambling, and whoring his way to an early death, but now a new path has opened to him.

The path of Wyetgerd.

And Wisag will be tested sooner than he thinks. When he sets out on a simple rescue mission to pay off a debt, Wisag finds himself immersed in a much larger conflict, one that reaches from the Thultac Mountains in the west to the warm climes of the far south, where the King sits his throne uneasily.

As he walks his new path, the legendary warrior Skodan will go with him, showing him the ways of Wyetgard. And Wisag will learn the hardest lesson of all: evil will triumph if the good do nothing.

Wisag gained fame by killing a legend. He will become a legend by defying a king.

Wyetgerd’s Ax is epic heroic fantasy at its best. From Brian O’Rourke, author of The Bastard’s Refuge. 

The Prodigal Girl is done

Greg Owen #3, The Prodigal Girl, is done. It's available for pre-order right now and releases one week from today, November 24th.

If you haven't, ahem, had an opportunity to meet my latest character, Greg Owen, here's your chance. These books are fast and fun, just as character-driven as they are plot-driven. People have told me they're actually funny too. I do try. Below are some passages that readers have written me about.

SOME BAD LANGUAGE BELOW (you've been warned)

Let’s get this out of the way.

My name’s Greg Owen.

At least two of these three things are true—I’m:

Tall.

Dark.

And handsome.

It takes forty-five minutes to reach Johnsonville and then another five to find the state penitentiary. It’s a little after noon now, so I call the pool hall just to make sure Wally and Roy haven’t burnt the place down.

“Greg Owen’s Den of Inequity,” somebody answers.

“Who the hell’s this?”

“Oh, hey, Greg. It’s Bernie.”

Of course Bernie, the freeloader with about eighteen tabs all across town, manages to show up the one day of the year I go with the honor system. 

I head back in, my head swimming. Becca and I share a nice dinner with good conversation, but I can’t stop thinking about Denise and Nick and the past and how Denise and I are falling right back into our old patterns of behavior. I’m the guy she comes to when she has a problem. She’s the girl for whom I inhabit that weird intra-space between friend and more than friend.

But hey—

That doesn’t stop me from inviting Becca back to my place.

Let’s get this out of the way—

My name’s Greg Owen, and there are three kinds of people in this world:

Those who are good at math.

And those who aren’t.

“You know, Greg,” Bernie begins, taking a break from his book, “boys and girls mature much more quickly these days than—”

“Shut the fuck up,” I say.

Bernie shuts the fuck up.

“Hey, guys,” I call out. “This is Lucy Hale, soon to be an Olympic athlete.”

Roy and Wally put down their cues and meet us at the register. Bernie’s jaw is still slack, his mouth wide open. He is in awe of this woman.

“Hi,” Lucy says, a touch shy.

“This is Roy and this is Wally.” I gesture at the two. “They fight like they’re married. But don’t let that fool you. They actually love each other.”

They smile and shake Lucy’s hand.

Roy says, “Greg has a lot of faults.”

“Gee, thanks, Roy.”

Roy continues, “But being oblivious isn’t one of them. You’re in good hands here.”

Wally nods. “He doesn’t eat well, or dress well, and his businesses leave a lot to be desired, but Greg is a good guy.”

“Stop selling me, guys,” I say, laughing.

Roy and Wally keep up with the jabber, so much so that Lucy is in stitches. Bernie’s mouth is still open, like a Venus fly trap.

“And this is Bernie,” I say. “He’s hard at work on a novel.”

Lucy smiles and offers her hand. “Nice to meet you.”

Her physique and pretty smile have robbed Bernie of the power of speech. Miracles do happen. Completely flustered, he shakes her hand.

Before his gaping mouth and wide eyes get even weirder, I say, “Hey, Bernie, could you get Lucy a bottled water?”

“Red or white?” he asks, and we laugh at this. Bernie hasn’t even realized what he’s said.

11/15/17 Update - NANOWRIMO 2017

I blogged daily about my progress in The Bastard's Refuge. I haven't been doing that with Wyetgerd's Ax, mainly because I don't have many new things to say about the process. I'm plugging along at a good clip. As of last night when I stopped working, Wyetgerd's Ax was up to 49,581 words. The manuscript has reached the halfway point, and I know what the 3 or 4 major turns left in the story are. That book will be done before the end of the month, then I'll switch gears to another psy thriller.

I started NANOWRIMO late this month and will end up taking 3 days off during it to finish editing The Prodigal Girl. After 8 days, I've written almost 50k words. I'm very happy with that considering I'm also trying to edit another book in a very different genre at the same time.

The universe within Wyetgerd's Ax keeps getting bigger and bigger. I have an idea for a prequel now, which will be a shorter work that I (maybe) give away for free as part of my mailing list. That one is tentatively titled Skodan's Blade and I'm chomping at the bit to write that book. But first things first - you always have to finish the thing you're working on. If you stop before it's done and go onto something else, the odds of you completing the first project drop drastically.

I call it the artistic cliff.

I'll keep updating, just not on a daily basis. And hey, if you haven't signed up yet, you can still get the free preview of The Bastard's Refuge over on Instafreebie.

11/9/17 and 11/10/17 Updates

In the last two days, I've written ~12,000 words. Total word count is 19,634.

I was trying to get to 20k last night but just got too tired. People have asked me what the secret is, and like with all magic tricks, the secret is kind of a let-down once you know what it is.

Finishing a book simply comes down to making the time. Ass in chair. The more your ass is in that chair, the more you write. Sounds too simple to be true, right? But that's how it works. Some days I'm more productive in 2 hours than I am in 4 hours, but for the most part, the more I'm in front of the computer, the more I will get done.

There have been days where I feel like I have nothing left to say, but still I sit down in front of the computer. If nothing comes, I think about the story in general. My mind usually drifts to the 3 or 4 really big scenes I've already planned for, and I grow excited and want to get back to work so I can get to those scenes. Sometimes all I have to do is ask myself how I can make the next part of the book the most exciting chapter ever. I resist the urge to put the laptop away or turn on the TV. Eventually I start writing and once I start, it's easier to keep going than it is to stop.

Wyetgerd's Ax is coming along nicely. The hero has "accepted" the call to adventure (right now he's doing it for the wrong reasons) and his decision will get him involved in a much larger conflict. From there, his problems escalate and, somewhere along the way, he truly accepts the call to adventure.  This change of character from reckless, self-destructive youth to young man willing to stand up against evil was one of the things that drew me to the story. The other was the initial hook.

The more I think about it, maybe that's all I need to get excited about an idea. A strong hook and a character that develops over the course of the story.

Sounds too simple to be true, right?

***

Thanks to everybody who downloaded The Stalked Girl during the promotion on Thursday. I hope you all dig it. Please make sure to tell 10,000 of your closest friends about the Greg Owen series.

11/8/17 Update

My first day of NANOWRIMO was yesterday and I logged 7,807 words in Wyetgerd's Ax, my latest heroic fantasy. Since I'm just starting out this novel, I was very happy with yesterday's production. I'd love to get 10k today, but I am transitioning into the 2nd act of the story which sometimes is difficult. We shall see.

***

If you haven't read the first four chapters of The Bastard's Refuge yet, hop on over to Instafreebie. If you're into heroic fantasy, this book is right up your alley.

NANOWRIMO 2017

NANOWRIMO is upon us. If you've never heard of that, it's the time of year where many writers try to crank out an entire book in one month. 

I'm game ;-)

I finished the first draft of The Prodigal Girl (Greg Owen #3) yesterday. That book drops very soon on Amazon.

I'll divide my time this month editing TPG and working on a new heroic fantasy novel. This one is (tentatively) called WYETGERD'S AX. It has series potential, but I'm not getting ahead of myself. I'm focused solely on making it into the best book I can and telling a complete story.

So that's the plan for NANOWRIMO 2017. Edit and release TPG. Get a first draft of WYETGERD'S AX done, which I think will be between 90k and 100k words.