new paradigms for new stories

Something I was pondering last night. I’d love to hear your thoughts on it.

I’d like to evolve my writing model a bit, for the project I’m hoping to start in 2012.

I started out with 100% free releases on the web (Sailor Nothing, Unreal Estate), which was fun, but definitely rooted in the “fanfic / amateur” mentality. Of course, that was also in the era in which the only way to get a book in print was to beg a big publishing house to pay you the slightest bit of attention and maybe, just MAYBE give you a contract which you barely see a dime from.

Then came anachronauts, and with it, the viability of the self-publishing era. So, I split my work 90%/10%, with 90% for free and 10% as retail bonus material. It worked reasonably well, I sold some books, and I got to do it on my terms. But I’d like to see how much further I can push this while remaining independent.

My current thinking is a 10%/80%/10% split. Here’s how it’d break down.

10% FREE SAMPLE CHAPTER(s): Anybody can walk up to the web page and read the first chapter or two of each book, which gets them hooked and interested.

80% REST OF THE MAIN STORY FOR REGISTERED PREREADERS: Here’s where most of you could come in. Joe Q. Webdude would not see this part of the story — but anybody who’s been following my work for awhile can register to be an official prereader, getting access to the complete plotline for each book. This would be free of charge, with the assumption that if you’ve been following me enough to find these words on my blog, odds are you’ll be interested in leaving feedback and helping me grow as a writer. Likely, I’d allow a “friends and family” alloitment (5?) per registered prereader, to let them in through the green door as well. (Folks in as “friends and family” couldn’t in turn invite more friends and family, to keep it from chaining forever.)

The blog itself where I collect prereader feedback would be open for all to read — not much I can do about that. But, it wouldn’t really make any sense to someone who wasn’t in the Prereader Club, so I don’t think it’s classified intelligence or anything worth guarding jealously. The STORIES, those I can guard.

10% RETAIL EXCLUSIVE BONUS SHORT STORY: Like anachronauts, I’d keep a bonus chapter (external to the main plotline, but deeply related) as retail-only. For the super deluxe experience, prereaders would still want to order the books… which would include 100% of the material, and would be available in paper, ebook, or donation-gift formats that suit any device you happen to prefer.

I think I’m at the stage in my writing where I should stop giving away the cow for free with the milk, but I can be very generous with allowing backstage access to the cow for selected dairy farmers. … that is a silly analogy. But, you get my point. All you’d need to do to enjoy the Secret Cow Show is fill out a short form and drop me an email. And I can trust you guys on the honor system not to spread your login/passwords around.

WHY NOT KICKSTARTER OR OTHER CROWD FUNDING? Well, my expenses just aren’t high enough to justify it, and I couldn’t do reward tiers with physical books in them without monkeying around in Amazon with varying shipping costs and more weirdness. About all I could fund would be purchasing an ISBN, hiring a fanartist to do character profiles, and… um… that’s about it. I don’t think this is a good match for that.

WHY NOT SEEK A TRADITIONAL PUBLISHER? Partly because I value my independent spirit, partly because I can’t be arsed to go through all the rigamarole of agents and solicitations and whatnot, partly because I doubt any of them would care, partly because I fear rejection. I’d rather stay in control and forge my own path. It won’t lead to megabucks but it’ll enable me to run the show however I please, including allowing prereaders at all.

…

So, what do you think? Good compromise? Points you disagree with? Suggestions for how best to handle it?

BTW, this would probably not be for the “postmortem” project. I still dig that idea but I don’t think it’s what I want to write right now. I’m still kicking around ideas for what project I’d apply this to.

sf04 final

Yep, done. Proofread, spellchecked, et cetera.

Not much to say beyond that; I didn’t enact any serious changes, nothing worth note. I shuffled some words around to make a few sentences flow better. I did emphasize up front why Carrie didn’t eavesdrop on the people at the O’Dare farm (it was mentioned at the end of the scene, but redundancy can’t hurt there). Nothing major.

Still, it takes a full evening of work to proofread one of these chapters — and this was one of the shorter ones. The next one is considerably longer and will take more time. But after that, it’s bonus chapter time, and then the book. Keep your eyes peeled. … that is a terrifying mental image, isn’t it. Eye peeling. Shudder.

not dead

Sorry for the quiet, folks. I’ve been going through a lot of rough personal stuff lately, as I detailed a post or two down, which kinda ate the first half of 2012. What was supposed to be a short vacation from writing has become an extended leave of absence due to illness.

The problems aren’t totally gone, but I’ve adjusted to them. I’m anticipating getting the Stars Fall book out soon. All that’s left is final edits on sf04 and sf05, then writing the bonus chapter. Granted, that’s a large chunk of ‘all that’s left’ but it could be worse, yanno?

Thanks for your patience. It’s been a rough road.

diskinect

I can’t summarize this in social media, so a blogpost it is.

PAX and some friends convinced me to go ahead and get a Kinect. Even if I personally can’t play a lot of the games due to my dwarfism, it’s going to be THE hit toy of family vacations and such. I hope.

I was having serious trouble getting it to see my hands properly until we ductaped it to the top of the TV instead of standing it at the base, so now I can finally post my thoughts on various games. And I can include EMOTICONS to deeply express my feelings!

Fruit Ninja :|
Terrible menus (your shilouette doesn’t give you a good idea of what you’re slashing) but the game itself carries over just fine from iPhone. My limited range of motion means few combos, but whatever.

Diabolical Pitch >:(
Download demo. Play tutorial. Third move the game tries to teach me flat out does not work. Delete demo.

Dance Central :/
13 seconds into the easiest song in the game and I can immediately tell this game is completely impossible for me to play. I can’t step side to side or swing my elbows the way it wants me to. Still, I got this one for parties more than for me.

Rhythm Party 8D
I feel kinda dirty for this, but… I LOVE this game. It’s a really dodgy Samba de Amigo clone by Konami, low budget, terrible music, very weird nonstandard Kinect UI, but… it senses my motions perfectly. I can full combo songs, since it can tell I have a limited range of motion and doesn’t put the targets halfway across the room. It’s a lot of fun and I’m glad there’s ONE dance game I can play and play well!

The Gunstringer :D
Works VERY well! I guess because it only focuses on your arms, it detects my motions quite precisely and aside from dual-pistol moments, I’m decently good at it. Bravo! It did scare my sister off though (“You mean I have to do two different things with two different hands at the same time?!”). I guess being used to dual analog stick style console games works in my favor.

Child of Eden :P
Hands down the WORST motion controls of the bunch. It barely detects where my hands are at any given time (hence, “hands down,” you see what I did there haw haw) and as a result, it’s completely unplayable. BUT… unlike other unplayable games, this one also works fine with a control pad. Score!

Overall :)
Kinect is not really made for me, and it shows. There’s just too much stuff which relies on a full sized human body with gangly limbs and full range of motion. That said… depending on how well the game is crafted and how the controls are set up, there’s enough here that works well to justify it. And for everything else, there’s fun for friends.

in which our hero has issues

It’s been awhile since we talked. In fact it’s been awhile since I talked about anything other than writing projects, honestly. So, I felt the need to summarize the question of “Yo, WTF happened to you lately, man?” Those of you following my Twitter/G+/Facebook feeds already know the basics. Here’s the complete compendium.

So. For the last few weeks, I’d been struggling with occasional anxiety incidents.

I mean, I’ve always had some background anxiety — am I using my time effectively, am I living up to my obligations, am I doing what I should be doing, am I making mistakes with my life, all the usual worries and manias of someone who’s been high strung since birth. And for years, I’ve dealt with it to varying degrees of effectiveness and varying degrees of silence. I’d like to think it wasn’t all that bad, really, since I still had plenty of fun in life and success and such. I’ve endured okay.

But a month ago, I started having a handful of outright and genuine panic attacks — like not getting enough sleep, or not being able to fall asleep, my mind racing. It was messing with my life to an new and unacceptable degree beyond being mere background anxiety. So finally I said Screw it, I am going to do what my family’s wanted me to do and get professional help. I’ll end up feeling better, right?

To start with I saw Doc-A, who gave me a scrip for Unspecified Drug 1 and Unspecified Drug 2. (I am not going to go into details. It’s risky enough I’m just talking about it online.) And in taking that step, getting some real science going, that felt good — I was finally going to feel totally and completely normal!

Except… for the next two weeks on UD1 and UD2, I had a perpetual rolling chain combo of complete mental breakdowns that would last half a day long. Stuck on the couch, freaking out, depressed, etc. I was doing WORSE than I was before UD1/UD2. In fact, it was the worst I’ve ever been in my entire life, I kid you not. I’ve had SPINAL SURGERY and had less emotional distress from that experience. (“Scalpels slashing through my ribcage? Whatevs.”) Even before I went to Doc-A, I was maybe 15% of the wreck I was now that I was on the drugs that were supposed to be making me better.

After further consideration by Doc-B, it was apparent that UD1 was not reacting well with my chemistry, inducing the perpetual doom state. And as we found out when things continued to not improve, UD2 was ALSO not reacting well with me. So, Doc-B adjusted things, and now I’ve got UD3 — a single purpose tool drug. Logically its technique makes a hell of a lot more sense than UD1 and UD2 did. I need to get UD1/UD2 purged from my system, which is gonna take a few days, but… I have some confidence about not being a gibbering madman going into the future, at least.

I’d never have gotten through this week and a half of disaster if not for my friends and family… and the well wishes on Facebook and Twitter. The long chats with friends who have gone through similar in their lives. I am confident that going into the future, I can recover from this nadir. It’s gonna be a little rough on the way up, but with their help and support, it will work out.

(Oh, and, uh, I’ll have Stars Fall finished at some point. This is a very roundabout way of saying I’ve been a wee bit distracted, I suppose.)

I’d like to think that I did the right thing, seeking professional help for this long term problem. Even if the short term was a flat out disaster. And as this year goes on, I want to improve, I want to write again, and I want to feel better about things.

sf03 final (making good time)

Now that’s what I can progress — a finalized sf03.

I didn’t find any major plot holes this time around. I did however address two major concerns readers had in their feedback, which I’ll talk about behind the Read More link, as they are spoileryiffic.

sf02 final (finally)

And about freaking time.

I’ve been amazingly lazy on this. It’s the same problem that plagued the end days of Unreal Estate — when I finish a story, it feels FINISHED in my head, even if it’s still in “draft.” I have a lot of trouble getting back into the mindset to dig into a work and do an editorial pass, which is an involved process of re-reading and tweaking the text. But, it’s a thing that needs doing… and I’m intent on doing as much of it as I can before next week’s video game extravaganza hits (Mass Effect 3 and COH I22, notably).

And it’s a good thing I did, too. Because I made some serious bungles in sf02, and put in some changes to better reflect what came after. Here’s a rundown on what you need to know. Click the More link for a complete rundown (spoilery if you haven’t finished Stars Fall).