HF Novel Update - 9/26/17

Monster day today.

After deciding to scrap PLOT DEVELOPMENT yesterday, I was freed up to get on with the story. I managed to write my way through two set pieces and am now halfway through the 2nd act of the story. Our hero has made some mistakes and has grown, and I just gave him his first mini-victory.

Now the story gets really interesting. We meet new characters and the overwhelming force of the enemy is closing in. Hero has to assume a larger and larger role among the people he's protecting, and I'm chomping at the bit to get to his Cave Moment, where he confronts a mythical monster. All of this is leading me to the end, which I can almost see now. I don't have all the details yet, but I can feel the general way to get there.

Here are the numbers:

Drafting: 6 hours
Daily Word Count: 9,007
Total Word Count: 56,007

HF Novel Update - 9/23/17

The stars must have been in alignment yesterday ... or something.

Because it's the weekend and I have no specific time carved out for work, I did not give myself a word count goal yesterday (and won't today either). But I managed to write periodically throughout the day. It helped that the kids entertained themselves for two different long blocks of time. That doesn't always happen.

I've ended up building a lot of momentum with this story and now I'm trying to use that to my advantage. Nearing the halfway point of the novel, I've only got four or five major turns in the story left to figure out. A lot still has to happen, but the pacing of the book so far feels right so I can see this coming in around 90k. So far, I haven't been plagued by any big problems with the plot or characters. I will round them all out a little bit more during the editing because by then I'll understand the whole story much better.

Anyway, here are the updates for yesterday:

Pre-Production: 1 hour (while at the playground with the kiddies, I thought a lot about the scenes I wanted to write)
Drafting: 5 hours
Daily Word Count: 6,998
Total Word Count: 37,371

HF Novel Update - 9/22/17

Had a really productive day today and now am too tired to blog in detail about it.

September 22nd

Pre-Production: 0
Drafting: 6 hours
Daily Word Count: 10,135
Total Word Count: 30, 273

What slowed me down today? Nothing. If I had more time to write, I could have gotten more done. I'm well into the 2nd act of this story now. The hero has crossed the threshold. It will be difficult to get in a lot of words this weekend as I plan to spend my time with the fam. I would love to be at 40k come Monday, but that's probably not realistic. I'll take whatever I can get this weekend and then hit the ground running next week. Not sure I'll have any updates tomorrow or Sunday.

***

In other exciting news, The Dead Girl reached #26 on the free list for all Amazon today. Very excited about that. It switches back to paid tomorrow. I'm hoping readers like it and pre-order book 2 in that series.

Interview with JD Franx - Author of Fantasy Bestseller, The Legacy

JD Franx, indie author of #1 best-selling fantasy novel TheLegacy, was kind enough to take time out of his busy publishing schedule to answer a few questions about his writing, editing, and marketing process. Below is a Q&A with yours truly.

I urge you to check out The Legacy. It launched back in October and at the time of this writing, it sits at #2,000 on Amazon. Anybody who has indie-published before through 'Zon knows this is quite an achievement!

EVAN RONAN: Can you describe your writing process? I’m asking this question very literally. Where do you go?

JD FRANX: I normally write at our kitchen table, and sometimes in the summer I write outside while at our bistro set.

EVAN: What’s around you?

JD: Lol. Everything I need. Maps, notebooks of hand written information on Talohna and several flash drives of more information. Talohna's a big world with thousands of years of history. Oh, and naturally either a cup of coffee or a glass of diet Pepsi.

EVAN: Certain time of day?

JD: That depends on how I feel. I like writing in the morning, usually between 9-12, but when it's possible I do write in the afternoon. I rarely write at night, unless it's really late and I can't sleep-after midnight.

EVAN: What do you think about?

JD: When I'm writing I rarely think about anything, I very rarely listen to music and I try to just let the story flow.

EVAN: When you write, do you see the scene playing out in your head?

JD: I wouldn't say so, not really anyway.

EVAN: Hear the people speaking?

JD: Not when writing, no. When I'm not writing, yes.

EVAN: Or is the writing process more a gut feeling, where you know it’s working or not working by how your body is reacting to what you’re doing?

JD: As strange as it sounds, I don't worry about whether it's working until later drafts of the manuscript.

EVAN: How do you come up with ideas?

JD: I hate this question, lol. I've been asked it a hundred times or more and it's one I can't answer. The story is just there.

(I hate that question too, JD!)

EVAN: Do you outline or fly by the seat of your pants?

JD: This question I love, lol. I am purely a panster writer for every first draft I write, though I do tweak and adjust the story in subsequent drafts. I rarely plot ahead, though there are scenes that jump into my head that have to be written down immediately or they're all I think about. I've never had writer's block, so I look at it like this: I often wonder if us writers (or maybe just panster writers) have a 'connection' to the worlds we write. I never have a problem writing, except for motivation some days, lol. I sit down to write and the story is always just there, as if I'm tapped into another reality and this reality is showing me what is happening there in Talohna. I've heard other pansters say the same, so who knows?

EVAN: How do you create characters?

JD: Like the stories, they're just there. Though there are times when certain characters are 'louder' than others so I have to sometimes write their scenes first.

EVAN: Do you have to see, or hear, or feel, or all three before you start writing them?

JD: I do at times see hear or feel what I write, but I don't need to in order to write.

EVAN: Or do they come out organically as you’re writing?

JD: Most of my characters develop organically, though this one aspect I'm trying to improve upon. I have a lot of respect for authors whose characters come alive on the page and I believe I have a long ways to go before I'm happy with my own, if that's ever even possible, lol.

EVAN: Do you consciously think of theme while you’re planning the book, or while you’re writing the book, or does theme happen on its own?

JD: I do not. I have no ulterior themes hidden within, so any kind of religious or political, or any statement for that matter that does pop up is purely unintentional. My only plan or desire is to write a high fantasy world and characters that readers will enjoy.

EVAN: Do you model other authors? As you’re writing, do you say: “I want this book to be like XXX and YYY”?

JD: No. I do have my own favourite authors, like R.A. Salvatore or Tolkien, but I hope to keep my world and writing as unique as possible. Because I don't plot or plan ahead, there's no desire to emulate others, at least not consciously, lol.

EVAN: As you mention on your Author Page and from what reader reviews have indicated, The Legacy turns some tropes on their proverbial heads. I really admire when authors do this, because it shows they’re not afraid to experiment and give readers something new. Being that daring takes guts.

So … how did you strike a balance between satisfying reader expectations of the genre, while also subverting the genre as well?

JD: Personally I love all the old fantasy tropes. My two favourite will always be the portal fantasy and hero's journey tropes. But they have been done to death so I did consciously try to do something different during the revision stages. Most portal fantasy stories have the hero being hidden away in another realm/reality/world in order to hide him/her from the big bad. Instead I flipped the trope and used it to hide the big bad in a different world when he was born—in order to save Talohna from a prophesied apocalypse. As for the hero's journey quest, I often find in other books that the hero is perfect at everything(of which I also love) whether magic, sword-fighting, or whatever they happen to need at the time. In Talohna, it doesn't work that way and Kael spends most of his time screwing up these things and getting into trouble because of it, lol.

EVAN: What tropes were you willing to play with, and what tropes did you hold sacred?

JD: I'm willing to play with any trope that serves the plot or that creates something different, something readers haven't seen. That's what makes for a great story in my opinion—show readers something fresh. For Talohna I wanted to reassert what vampires and werewolves are to me. I grew up on Bram Stoker's Dracula and Lost Boys vampires—predatory killers. And on The Howling and Silver Bullet werewolves—massive beasts that stalked their prey on two legs and were often conscious of what they were doing. Today's beasts have been seriously neutered based on my childhood experiences, though I have to admit that hasn't prevented some incredible stories from being written. These creatures will just always hold a different meaning to me.

EVAN: What I’m most impressed with is how successfully The Legacy launched. This is your first book, so presumably you had no readership, no mailing list, in other words, people weren’t lining up to grab their copy. And yet, The Legacy blasted up the charts when it came out. What did you do to create such a successful launch?

JD: Good question. I have worked extremely hard the last three years to build a small but loyal reader audience. I don't do the Facebook or Twitter 'like for like ladders' and instead I've tried to follow and earn follows from readers honestly interested in my series. It helped.

EVAN: How did you get the word out about this book ahead of time?

JD: Besides what I mentioned above, not much else. I didn't have the resources ahead of time, instead I focused on the release.

EVAN: How did you build reader anticipation prior to launch?

JD: Again, with the exception of my Facebook author page and Twitter, very little.

EVAN: What other steps did you take so to give yourself the best possible chance of a really successful release?

JD: I did spend a bit of money for ads during release week, which helped get me to #1 in Amazon's smaller categories and from there it just continued to climb until it hit #1 on the bigger lists. Kindle Unlimited also helped a lot, especially with reviews and visibility. Readers are a lot more willing to take a chance on a new author when they can read it for free through their Prime subscription. I think KU is a great tool for new authors, if you're willing to monitor it and report any abnormalities.

EVAN: As a corollary to that, the next thing I’m really impressed with is how “sticky” The Legacy is. It currently sits at #2,000 on Amazon and it’s been out for over three months! So … following your launch, what have you done in terms of marketing, if anything?

JD: The Legacy is selling and being read through KU very steadily so my rank and #1 positions now pretty much rely on how other authors are doing, lol. I've been bouncing around from between the 300s-1200s overall since the middle of December. Facebook ads have been my greatest investment. I tried other services and they help a bit, where as my Facebooks often pay for themselves in a matter of days.

EVAN: What actions have you taken to keep the book sticky?

JD: My ads and word of mouth now, along with the willingness to talk and engage with fans and readers at every opportunity, I think.

EVAN: Aside from writing a great book, what other factors do you think contributed to your success?

JD: Besides those I've mentioned earlier, I have no idea. Maybe luck or the cover, maybe it is the story itself—The Legacy has 115 reviews in only 3 months, most are 4 and 5 stars. Or perhaps it's the willingness and ability to spend money on ads. A combination of all the above maybe? Who knows? I guess we'll see how well the following books do, lol. Maybe then I'll have a better idea of what works for sure.

EVAN: And last, but not least, who created that cover? It’s kick-ass!

JD: All my covers are done by a friend, artist Joel Lagerwall. He's an amazing artist and a great guy. I sincerely hope I can have him do all my covers for this series.

***

Thanks again to JD for taking the time to answer some questions and provide insight into his process. It's working for him, as his sales/borrows on Amazon show. Keep up the great work, JD!

Release Day and More Updates

OtherWorld is available for purchase or borrow now on Amazon!

I've blogged about this book a couple times now so I won't belabor any previous points. But I will take this opportunity to reiterate how excited I am!

Thrillers are my favorite genre so The Unearthed books are in my wheelhouse. I also love historical fiction, so again, the Tomahawk & Saber series is a genre I have a pretty good grasp of. (As a reader, and hopefully as a writer...)

But YA is a different animal. I didn't read much YA growing up, making the leap pretty early on to adult mysteries and thrillers when I began reading in earnest. Looking back now, I've read more YA books as an adult in the last few years than I did as a kid.

I love the genre and the "challenges" of writing in it. I'm looking forward to reader feedback on this book.

UPDATES

Hard at work on (too many) several projects, as always. Nate Green and I are wrapping up the edits on Through the Narrows, book 2 in the Tomahawk & Saber series.

Aside from that, also working on my crime fiction collaboration (The Board) with Jann Gott as well as an unplanned novel that pushed, elbowed, jostled all the other works in progress out of the way to cut in line in my subconscious. Love how that's going, more to come soon.

And last but not least, the Kwahlah series has snuck up on me again. For those of you that don't know about it, check out the prequel short story, E, I put out last year. It gives a good sense of what the serial will be like. I've been putting that off for awhile but for whatever reason (some would call it The Muse), it's back on my mind and now I'm chomping at the bit to get going there.

We shall see....

Living By Fear

Not too long ago (five months, actually) I blogged about the middle-grade/YA book I was dying to write for my daughters. In my head this story had to be perfect. It was for my girls and it was my way of empowering kids to think for themselves and harness their imagination to do great things. Very quickly, this story had become more than just a story. It had become a statement, it would serve as a lasting testament of my undying and fierce love for my daughters, it had a message and a point.

It had become important.

At the time I had an outline and half a draft and was chugging along. But because the story had gotten so big in my mind, that not-so-little voice of doubt started to poison my thinking. Who was I to write this book? I hadn't done anything like this before. At that point I'd written paranormal thrillers, comedy shorts, and a zombie short story series. The paranormal books were doing okay, but nothing else had taken off. This book, on the other hand, was for a completely different audience in a new genre and it had a message.

Fear crippled me. Fear made me rationalize putting the book aside "until I was a better writer."

After all, the story was important. And I was, by no means, an important writer. No way did I have the chops.

So I put it away.

I worked on other stories and kept putting out new material, but the book for my daughters was never far from my mind. Soon enough, impatience took over.

When would I be good enough to write this book?

Not yet, I told myself, thinking up more excuses, more rationalizations, and more reasons to do something else.

***

I was in the bookstore a couple months ago, just browsing the YA section for inspiration. Every book I picked up sounded great, all these authors had put out stories with fresh premises and interesting characters and...again, I couldn't write a book like that.

Could I?

I probably spent two hours in the store that day, wandering the aisles and reading the cover copy on literally dozens of books. I love to see what other authors are doing, not to copy them, but to get inspired to do my own thing.

I left the store with a bunch of books that day and many more ideas for stories, but one thing I noticed was that nobody else had written a book like the one that was floating around in my head.

But I wasn't good enough to write that book.

***

We've evolved to live by fear. I get why. For probably 98% of our existence as a species we had to worry about our literal survival on a daily basis. Compared to the rest of the animal kingdom, we're slow and not very strong. It's only natural that our evolution would be linked somewhat to fear.

I've lived by fear more than I care to admit. Fear is good when you're lost in a bad neighborhood and it tells you not to go down that dark alley. Fear isn't so good, though, in many other situations. It absolutely sucks when you have a passion to do something that few make a living at.

Like writing.

Fear made me go to graduate school so I could get a good job. You know, the kind of job that would lead to a well-paying career in a respected field. Didn't matter I had no interest in doing that kind of work. I let fear talk me right into doing the "sensible" thing.

Three months into the job, I was miserable.

But fear made me stay for another two years.

***

It's hard not to live by fear. We're wired to. The safe and the known and the comfortable all conspire to keep us in the status quo. Because it's easier and everything is under control. Right?

Wrong.

Control is a complete and utter illusion. That job you love? It might be gone in six months. Your company could merge with another organization and voila, you're redundant. Your boss, who you got along with so well for many years, could leave and be replaced by somebody that just doesn't like you. The laws governing the work you're doing might change, making your job unnecessary. New technology might be developed that makes your work obsolete.

And on and on.

Said another way, we're at risk no matter what we do so living by fear does not necessarily put us in a better place.

***

That's a lesson that I have relearn from time to time: living by fear does not insulate us from risk.

And I realized, after that day at the bookstore, that fear was keeping me from writing this book. All the other stories I'd written or were working on, I'd been thinking of those as safe. But like I said, there is no such thing as safe. Paranormal thrillers could fall out of fashion tomorrow and my modest sales on The Unearthed series could take a nosedive. And if that was the case, why the hell not try something new?

So I picked up where I left off on the book for my daughters.

***

Fast-forward two months and I'm stoked to say I finished it.

OtherWorld is available for PREORDER ON AMAZON right now. I'll continue to polish the manuscript up until the big release, but I can say that I'm really happy with how it turned out. If I had waited another few years so I could grow as a writer, would it have been better? Maybe. Or maybe I would have never written it. I'll never know ;-) Like they say, the best time to do anything is right now, so rather than wait around and see, I just said what the hell and got to writing.

OtherWorld is totally unlike anything else I've done and, since it's YA, there's none of the cynicism that's usually present in my other stuff. It made me feel like a kid again writing it. It was a joy to work on. And to think, fear had almost robbed me of that experience.

To be clear, I'm not saying I'm a courageous person for having written a book. There are many braver acts in this world and much more important things people do. The wider point is: we let fear infect our lives, sometimes without even realizing it. I'd done that with this book. Fear has a way of disguising itself and pretending to be your friend. Fear put on a smile and told me to wait, wait to write this one, wait till you're better, just wait...

Will readers like the book? I have no idea. I've talked before about how authors are the worst judges of their own work. What I think is my strong suit (dialogue), some readers have pointed to as my weakness.

C'est la vie.

I'm okay with not knowing what to expect in terms of sales for two reasons. First, I stopped letting fear get in the way and just wrote the d***ed book. Some might not see that as a victory, but to me that's a win. Because next time I stretch myself to write outside my usual genres, it'll be a little easier. And second, we always live with uncertainty whether we realize it or not. Living by fear doesn't protect you from risk, it only gives you an inflated sense of security. Like the man says, if you're not failing, you're not trying. I'll be okay with failing here.

I'll also be happy if I succeed too ;-)

OtherWorld will be released on August 14th.

My Middle Grade WIP...

No title yet, but this one's about a ten year old girl named Nina who likes to ask that most daunting question: why.

As a matter of fact, she asks it so many times she actually exhausts her limited supply of whys. When that happens, time freezes and her fantastic journey begins. She meets Badger, one of the Askers that no longer exists in reality, who prepares her for the ominous Measurers...a strange race of half-men that keep an accounting of everything to ensure people do enough. To them she must answer. From them she must take back humanity's sense of wonder.

***

Right now the plan is to write this middle grade fantasy and my other one, OtherWorld, under my name. But I've been toying with the idea of a pen name to avoid brand confusion. I don't want my paranormal thriller readers buying this book thinking it's going to be like the other ones. I also don't want potential middle-grade readers to avoid this book because I write what sound like horror stories (they aren't, not really, but that's another story). When I finish we shall see. Like so many other things, it will probably be a so-called game-time decision ;-)

2015 Production Schedule

They say it's good to have goals. So here are mine. I hope to release these books in 2015:

Solo Projects:

• OtherWorld
• MG Fantasy (have an idea but no title)
• The Skim (noir)
• The Dream Machine (Unearthed #6)
• The Missing (Unearthed #7)
• The 8th Man (new sci-fi, mystery series)

Tomahawk & Saber series with Nate Green:

• Language of the Bear
• Through the Narrows
• #3

Looking this over, I realize this production schedule is totally unrealistic. But I'd rather try to do too much instead of not enough. Better to always be pushing.

It's going to be an interesting 2015...

FREE TODAY AND TOMORROW

GET E FOR FREE TODAY AND TOMORROW

E will be FREE on Thursday and Friday

Grab your free copy later this week.

Of if you can't wait till then, E is only a dollar here.

First review of E is up!

Big thank you to Joshua Gerber for posting the first review of E!

E is a short story prequel to the upcoming fantasy serial I'm working on, Kwahlah. The first season of Kwahlah will be out early next year.