Updates, Excerpts, and Explanations
First, to business. An updated Chapter 1 excerpt for Red Awakening is available on my website. Stop by and check it out, and by all means, provide feedback. I had intended to finish up the final scene this week, but the current project on my day job is under a tight deadline this week, so all energy is focused there.
I received an email this week from Smashwords about a new feature they were offering - author interviews. They provide a series of questions and authors get to pick the ones they want to answer and the results are posted on the author's Smashwords page. One of the questions was why did you decide to become an indie writer. Like many writers who have chosen this path, there are a number of factors that entered into that decision. For myself, it boiled down to writing on my own terms. My brother is a screenwriter, and I've seen what happens to his scripts when the studio heads get hold of them. Everyone has to mark it, and before you know it, the story is unrecognizable by the writer.
I don’t want anyone else rewriting my words. I know what I mean and where I’m coming from, and no matter what anyone else might think they know better about, I’m the only one who has lived inside these characters’ heads. I’m the only one who really KNOWS what they meant.
Another question concerned genre, and why I chose the one I did. Aside from wanting to write what I want to read, I think it comes down freedom. Fantasy, particularly urban fantasy, gives me the freedom to create my own boundaries and invent my own rules. I think of the craziest ways my character can get out of a given crisis, and then I mold my mythos around that capability. The action may be based in a world identifiable to my readers, but then I take them away from that world, to a place where magic still exists. And I believe that strikes a chord with people because there isn’t enough true magic in our lives any more. Science and technology have provided indisputable proof that much of what we once believed was magic can be scientifically explained. But mankind NEEDS magic. We need to believe there’s more out there than the tangible boundaries of the world as observed by our five senses. Even those who claim to be skeptics can’t deny getting a rush of excitement when something beyond our understanding occurs.
I'm in the middle of reading the latest Bill the Vampire book (Holier Than Thou) by Rick Gualtieri, and I have to say these books just get funnier and funnier. If you haven't checked them out, do so. It's a nice change of pace for me after having been immersed in hardcore, kickass demon fighting for the past few months (both reading and writing).
Change is happening around Casa Church these days, and chief among them for me are my efforts to sell my beloved Maggie. For those who don't know, Maggie is my sweet 2006 M3 coupe, a car I lusted after for years. I thought I would never let her go, but I've come to realize that if I want to devote my energy to my biggest love--writing--I have to make some sacrifices. A sports car like that requires a certain amount of discretionary income to maintain, and working for that income requires more time than I am now willing to devote. It boils down to I'd rather write than drive. So Maggie will go bye-bye, to be replaced by a more rationally suited mode of transportation, and while I will miss her, I can console myself that the sacrifice has been made for a worthwhile cause.
Why I Write What I Write
I received an email this week from Smashwords about a new feature they were offering - author interviews. They provide a series of questions and authors get to pick the ones they want to answer and the results are posted on the author's Smashwords page. One of the questions was why did you decide to become an indie writer. Like many writers who have chosen this path, there are a number of factors that entered into that decision. For myself, it boiled down to writing on my own terms. My brother is a screenwriter, and I've seen what happens to his scripts when the studio heads get hold of them. Everyone has to mark it, and before you know it, the story is unrecognizable by the writer.
I don’t want anyone else rewriting my words. I know what I mean and where I’m coming from, and no matter what anyone else might think they know better about, I’m the only one who has lived inside these characters’ heads. I’m the only one who really KNOWS what they meant.
Another question concerned genre, and why I chose the one I did. Aside from wanting to write what I want to read, I think it comes down freedom. Fantasy, particularly urban fantasy, gives me the freedom to create my own boundaries and invent my own rules. I think of the craziest ways my character can get out of a given crisis, and then I mold my mythos around that capability. The action may be based in a world identifiable to my readers, but then I take them away from that world, to a place where magic still exists. And I believe that strikes a chord with people because there isn’t enough true magic in our lives any more. Science and technology have provided indisputable proof that much of what we once believed was magic can be scientifically explained. But mankind NEEDS magic. We need to believe there’s more out there than the tangible boundaries of the world as observed by our five senses. Even those who claim to be skeptics can’t deny getting a rush of excitement when something beyond our understanding occurs.
Odds and Ends
Since I've been trying to concentrate my creative efforts into my novels of late to meet my self-imposed deadlines, blogging has become a hit or miss affair. Some things I would like to comment on, however.I'm in the middle of reading the latest Bill the Vampire book (Holier Than Thou) by Rick Gualtieri, and I have to say these books just get funnier and funnier. If you haven't checked them out, do so. It's a nice change of pace for me after having been immersed in hardcore, kickass demon fighting for the past few months (both reading and writing).
Change is happening around Casa Church these days, and chief among them for me are my efforts to sell my beloved Maggie. For those who don't know, Maggie is my sweet 2006 M3 coupe, a car I lusted after for years. I thought I would never let her go, but I've come to realize that if I want to devote my energy to my biggest love--writing--I have to make some sacrifices. A sports car like that requires a certain amount of discretionary income to maintain, and working for that income requires more time than I am now willing to devote. It boils down to I'd rather write than drive. So Maggie will go bye-bye, to be replaced by a more rationally suited mode of transportation, and while I will miss her, I can console myself that the sacrifice has been made for a worthwhile cause.
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