Okay, for working on my own for Section 51, I have quite a bit going on:

• Novel 1 (“The Empty City”) – now on a second revision/rewrite
• Short Story 1 (“Salazar”) – on a bit of a break before editing
• Novel 2 (unnamed) – a few chapters into the first writing
• Music – a few GarageBand songs written as a bit of inspiration, plus some new background music for the TEC ad I showed you earlier
• This blog

And that doesn’t count the “Salazar” ad I’m starting to think about or the cover art I still need to design.

I don’t really mind the fact I have so much going on with Section 51, since it allows me to be creative in several different avenues, but it certainly makes it a bit harder to get the next draft of TEC done.

On the plus side, I’ve added to the length. Earlier, I mentioned I was worried about the story being around 9,000 words, making it an awfully short novel. Now, with quite a bit of revision still to go, I’m up to more than 15,000 words, and the story is more colorful. And when you add in the 8,500 words of “Salazar,” I think the first book will be pretty satisfying.

Comments (0) Nov 16 2009

Well, I’m one giant step closer to releasing “Salazar.” I’ve finished the first draft — 8,000 words or so — and my carefully selected group of test readers are going over it.

I’ve also looked at a couple of distribution channels for the story. I don’t think I’ll make it available on its own in print format, since it’ll just be too short to be worth it, but I definitely plan on printing it with The Empty City. I’ll probably offer it up on a couple of the different e-bookstores around for probably around $2 or $3, but I haven’t set anything in stone yet. No matter what, though, I’ll have links to wherever I publish on the main Section 51 site.

Part of my dilemma is DRM. I’m a bit paranoid about piracy, but I’m also looking at the fact that practically every musical group has DRM-free content on iTunes or AmazonMP3, and they’re not doing too poorly for themselves.

I definitely got over the favorite child syndrome I mentioned earlier after reading the first few chapters again. I still think it’s pretty good, but I needed to rework the first chapters some. I’m tempering my nervousness with the realization that I’m always self-conscious about my writing, so if it is good, my test readers should clear up a lot of that doubt. Plus, I know I’m not going for The Greatest Story Ever Written, but instead a good plot and interesting characters. “Salazar” is all about defining who the title character is is and where he comes from, and I think it’s a fascinating story.

Comments (0) Nov 13 2009

Here’s the new ad I promised last night:

The music is by Kevin MacLeod, but I’m thinking about swapping it out for something of my own later. I just couldn’t make a good score in GarageBand.

Comments (0) Nov 07 2009

I finished a second draft of the book a week ago, adding a couple of characters and a subplot, and now I’m working on the third draft. By third draft, I mean that I’m taking each chapter and rewriting it.

So why rewrite, you ask? Tone, mostly. This week, I wrote a short story I’d like to include at the end of the book, and I’m really quite happy with it. But it made me realize I was putting in too many jokes into the main novel, which I figured were too much of a distraction from the main story, which is rather dramatic.

I also realized that the ending seemed a bit abrupt, so I’m sprinkling in a few references to what was going to be a big secret. Plus, part of my business model – sequels – would be hard to implement if I kept that a secret.

In that vein, I’ve renamed the book “Section 51: The Empty City.” The original name, “Emptiness,” was just kind of lame, and Section 51 was the name of the series I’ve had since the beginning. (Since before the beginning, in fact.) I’ve owned www.section51hq.com for a month or so for this. (The more obvious domain, without the “HQ”, is owned by a cybersquatter. Grr.)

But what is Section 51, you ask? You’ll just have to wait for the answer.

In other news, I’ve been working on a new ad for the series. I’ve redone the main character using the excellent Michael 4 character from DAZ3D.com, so the ad I have would need to be reworked a bit anyway. Plus, I’ve moved the setting from a fictional city (which I had needed to use when the project was an animated series) to Albuquerque (a much more believable locale for the story), so the buildings are inaccurate. And, since I’m planning to publish in early 2010, the “SUMMER 2011″ graphic was inaccurate anyway. The ad isn’t ready quite yet – I still need to add in music and tweak the animation – but when it is, I’ll have it on the front page of this site.

And I have a few ideas for some viral advertising that came straight out of rewriting Chapter 3. (I kind of fantasize that this is going to be one of the coolest marketing campaigns ever for a self-published book.)

Comments (0) Nov 07 2009

I just received the first “Emptiness” T-shirt to be printed:

Overall, I’m pretty happy, although being the nervous Nellie I am, I’m considering re-uploading the image with black behind the color so you don’t get the white fringe on the inside. (The white lines on the outside are intentional.)

It’s still for sale at Zazzle. Read More

Comments (0) Sep 24 2009