Oh my Gods guys, I found a writing game and it looks shiny! I shall be playing this, I assure you. Check it out.
Author: Ethan Kincaid
Ethan Kincaid was born in 1985 in Ontario, Canada. He graduated from Carleton University in Ottawa with a degree in Linguistics and a minor in Japanese Language. After finishing his education, he settled down there with his wife Kaitlyn and became a full-time writer. In 2011, he moved to Montreal and discovered its vibrant writing culture.
In 2015, Ethan moved to Helsinki, Finland with his wife; he works as a creative craftsman and part time author. The greatest joy in his life lies in helping others find venues for their own personal expression.
Sacrificing Plot for Political Correctness
You know how you’ve always heard the advice that you should keep writing to the end of the manuscript before you even think of editing? Before you delete anything? It’s lovely advice when it works. Sometimes, though, it doesn’t. Writing the sequel to The Broken Prophecy has turned out to be just such an instance.
I stopped writing A Hollow Vengeance halfway through because I just wasn’t feeling it. After some exploration and the advice of my marvellous, patient, and very astute peers, I realized that it wasn’t working because I started writing it from a place of guilt. That’s right. I felt guilty for having focused so much on Damon in the first book. I worried that I hadn’t done enough for Phoenix.
The first draft of Blood of Midnight featured Phoenix as a character who was introduced halfway through the book and ended up just being the main character’s love interest. Thank the Gods that I didn’t stop there and instead took my time to learn more about character development, plot, cliché, and the frustrating lack of good female protagonists in fantasy and fiction in general. I committed to having a fully fleshed out character who could stand on her own, who was three-dimensional, had a personality, goals, hopes, fears, and is just generally not a sock puppet or a cardboard cut-out of a person. Continue reading “Sacrificing Plot for Political Correctness”
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Ten Rules for Query Letters – By MAGGIE STIEFVATER
I stumbled across this post recently while browsing Maggie’s site and thought perhaps some of y’all who are interested in traditional publishing might like to take advantage of her advice.
I completely forgot to post about queries yesterday, after I promised. I realize this makes me a Bad Person and you have my permission to throw Virtual Tomatoes at me now.
Okay, that’s enough.
Here are my thoughts on query letters. Because it’s early and I’ve only had one cup of tea, we’re gonna go with numbers to organize things, because good holy pete, there is nothing like a numbered list to add order to a blog post. So.
1. People overthink queries. Okay, so they are the only thing that an agent or editor might ever see of your work. So they have to embody everything about your personality and your books personality in a single page. So you will get absolutely nowhere if your queries suck, no matter if you’ve written the Great American Novel. Still, people overthink them. And this is why. Because…
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Zen Art VS Realism
A little Friday funny for y’all that I created with my wee Zen garden.
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A Lil’ Something About Writers’ Block
Everybody gets it now and then and we all have that special place of loathing in our hearts for when our muse just won’t cooperate. I wrote a wee ditty about one such frustrating moment and I’d like to share it with y’all.
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What to Study to Become a Writer
I stumbled upon this lovely article by Maggie Stiefvater. It is a common misconception that you have to go through a creative writing program of some sort in school in order to become an author. Well, this isn’t your typical profession and it likely won’t be reached in a typical fashion. But don’t take my word for it; she says it much more eloquently.
A Proper Education
Today, I’m going to answer a question I get asked a lot. Well, I’m going to combine a few variations of it into one blog post. This is the question(s):
1 – “Did you go to school for Creative Writing?”
2 – “Do you have to have a degree in writing to get published?”
3 – “Have you taken classes in writing?”
4 – “Will you be my mentor?”
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They’re Heeeeere
Woo! I ordered a small stock of my Blood of Midnight: The Broken Prophecy paperbacks from Createspace so I can sell them locally. I hadn’t even taken them out of the box yet and a friend told me to bring one to her house so she could buy it. It seems that most people are still very much attached to the paper-and-ink format of books despite the wonders of ebooks. I sell many more paperbacks than I do electronic copies even though the ebook retails for only 3.00CAD.
Well, I can’t argue. I like the feel and smell of a book in my hands as much as the next guy though if I’m travelling, it’s Kobo or no-go. Readers want what they want and I’m happy to provide.
I had a wonderful 30th birthday celebration. The house was packed with friends playing with Lego, eating pizza and candy, doodling in colouring books, and of course getting in touch with our inner child via alcohol. I like to take the opportunity to have fun and be silly on my birthday. We call them “kidless kid parties” in which we bring together the things that remind us of our youth and forget about responsibility for awhile.
I’d like to share one of the lovely presents I got from my friend Jocelyn.
This is a custom-made notebook just for me with a dragon eye on the front and my name on the spine. I didn’t know she had such a talent! It’s so cool. She even gave a tutorial afterwards on how to make one of our own. Soon, the Bonavista Writers’ Circle is going to be all blinged out with our own personal writing books. If this doesn’t inspire me to get writing, I don’t know what will.
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Looking Back on 2014 with Poetry
Just a quick scribble here to say “Hi!” and remind y’all that the Review and Renew Writing Challenge is still ongoing over at Jill Jepson’s site. Daily exercises delivered to your inbox to energize your new year of writing.
I puked up a “poem” for the writing prompt and thought I’d share it with you.
Gears
My year of writing was like rusted gears. Still moving, still grinding away, still propelling this busted machine forward, but screaming and flaking and smoking all the way. Exhausted. In need of repair. In need of replacement parts. In need of a break. In need of a new roadmap to tell me where the fuck I’m going. Fuel. Sweet holy fuck I need fuel and better shit than what I’m burning. I got a warning signal flashing and pinging away but I can’t figure out what’s broken. Keep stalling and skidding out of control and I pray to the traffic lights and guard rails that I don’t crash cause I’m fairly sure these airbags don’t work.
I didn’t lose my train of thought. I know exactly where the fuck it is. It jumped track and rolled over into my field of dreams, crushing innocent bystanders. It’s up to the maintenance crew now to put it back together and give ‘er a push so I can get going again. I can’t do this by myself; I’m a terrible mechanic.
Some days, I need a jump-start and some days I need a goddam tow. But I can’t stop ’cause parking is too expensive here. I need a real repair, not a fucking MacGyver. This wreck isn’t gonna be fixed by hanging a new air-freshener on the dash.
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So, My Book Got Pirated
Yes, you read that right. My ebook, Blood of Midnight: The Broken Prophecy, which is available for only three dollars, got pirated by General EBooks. Not just once, but twice. For the Smashwords/Barnes & Noble version and again for the Kobo version. If it hadn’t been for a post on the NaNoWriMo Facebook community, it probably would have been ages before I found out about it.
I’m not alone in this either. There are many other ebooks that have been offered up for free download without consultation with the authors. If you have been a victim as well, you should take a moment to read Has Your eBook Been Pirated?, an article by Molly Greene on what to do to protect yourself.
As for me, I’m still reeling from this. I attract very little attention. I’m not in-your-face with my advertising. I don’t regularly google myself or my work. I guess I’m the kind of person who (naively) thinks that if my book is good enough it will be discovered and enjoyed. I priced my book as low as possible while still making a very small profit (about a dollar a book), knowing how it feels to love books but have very little income.
Look, if you absolutely can’t afford my book but desperately want to read it, message me and explain your situation and we can work something out. I’m human too. I won’t be a jerk to you.
If you are an author, especially an indie author, or you know anyone else who is, please let them know about this so they can have a chance to protect their property.
EDIT: A friend of mine also linked me to the SFWA Information Centre where you can find lots of helpful info including templates for DMCA Takedown notices. It’s a site geared toward sci-fi and fantasy writers but the info is applicable to any writer. You don’t have to be fluent in legalese. There is help out there for you.
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The Effects of Bloodloss
A writer friend of mine found this handy-dandy post about what happens to a person as they lose increasing amounts. Thanks Scarlet!
Clicky clicky for the blooooood…
Hey This IS My Job 