The ending of “The Empty City” has long bothered me. It’s just, well, a stretch. Too fast. Too unbelievable. Really, not that good.

And while I thought about what to do about it, I realized something else: I just don’t like the whole story. Of course, it’s my first fiction work, and I accept the fact that very few people are good at something the first time they do it publicly. But the story just has a few too many holes in it and its sci-fi elements are just a bit too campy.

So I’ve unpublished it from Amazon and Smashwords, with one big intent: starting over. The protagonists will stay, but the story they’ll be in will be a little better. And I’m combining in elements from “At a Distance,” the as-yet-unpublished sequel to the now-unpublished “The Empty City,” and another story I just came up with.

I’m just starting writing the reboot, so it’ll be a while before I publish it.

And to the one person who bought “The Empty City:” Thanks for your purchase, and I hope it wasn’t too disappointing.

Comments (0) Mar 31 2010

I guess it’s been a little while since I blogged, huh? Well, part of it is the holidays and some other busyness in my other life, so I haven’t had a whole lot of time to sit down and write or edit.

But, I just completed a day and a half of writing (yes, even as midnight struck this morning), and I’ve finished the first draft of the sequel to “The Empty City,” which, at least for now, I’m calling “New World.” I also got a start on the next story, still untitled, that goes back to the personal kind of story that I’ve been trying with “Salazar.”

And, speaking of that story, I haven’t gotten a whole lot of work done on the editing process. I’ve always had trouble editing my own work, but hopefully I’ll get “Salazar” done within the next couple of weeks.

Comments (0) Jan 01 2010

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

I didn’t plan “Salazar” out the way most writers would, I guess. It’s part of my writing style: I come up with a vague idea of the story and just work towards it.

The plan was to write a short story, maybe 5,000 words or so, to accompany “The Empty City.” It’s similar in theme and the two stories are designed to weave together at one point, but TEC was supposed to be the main story.

And, without revealing too much, I knew of five (now six) major plot points. Let’s call them A, B, C, D, E and F.

Now, seven chapters and 5,785 words in, I just got to point D (which, by the way, is the shared point with TEC), and points E and F I know are going to be complicated. I still need to finish my rewrite of TEC, which has already lengthened that story, so I’m looking at a thicker book than I anticipated. (Not necessarily a bad thing, since longer books aren’t that much more expensive to print.)

Plus, I’m facing a favorite-child dilemma: I’m liking “Salazar” a lot more than TEC. It could be because it’s a much more personal story (TEC is about, well, a city, and “Salazar” is about, well, a person), but it’s still a much different theme than I see Section 51 taking. (Heck, “Salazar” is barely sci-fi; I never planned on introducing the sci-fi elements until E and F, and so far, it’s a simple realistic drama. Or whatever the literary term is.)

Another couple of days, and I’ll probably have the first draft of “Salazar” done, and judging by my complete lack of self-doubt on it, it shouldn’t take too long to revise. I don’t think it’s going to be long enough to offer in print, but I’m leaning towards releasing it as a low-price e-book while I wrap up TEC, and still bundling the two together. Maybe under the title “Section 51 Origins.”

And I know I promised an excerpt, but I do have a couple of copyright concerns regarding that. I think I’ll wait until I’m all done and I’ve submitted the story to the Copyright Office before I post it. (Either way, it should be available on the e-book retailers I’m looking at.)

Comments (0) Nov 10 2009