Sunday, July 28, 2013

Cover Reveal for Defiance!


Rewritten IV: Defiance



Laenyn became a Keshaan to protect her family--even at the cost of someone else's. But six years later, the fearless eyes of the woman she put to death still burn in her memory.

The ruin spread by her choice to obey haunts her. War and vengeance chase her in the night.

Obedience left blood on her hands; only defiance will wash them clean.

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Characterization: Show vs Tell

I actually learned the danger of telling versus showing when reading, long before I ever started writing. Early on in the book The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman, the reader encounters this paragraph:
“Half a dozen brats turned with expressions of derision, and Lyra threw her cigarette down, recognizing the cue for a fight. Everyone's daemon instantly became warlike: each child was accompanied by fangs, or claws, or bristling fur, and Pantalaimon, contemptuous of the limited imaginations of these gyptian daemons, became a dragon the size of a deer hound.”
Which is very much in line with the Lyra we get to know throughout the book. Incredibly clever, quick-witted, a skilled liar, and highly imaginative--or so I thought.
“It wasn’t Lyra’s way to brood; she was a sanguine and practical child, and besides, she wasn’t imaginative. No one with much imagination would have thought seriously that it was possible to [spoiler redacted]; or, having thought it, an imaginative child would immediately have come up with several ways in which it was impossible. Being a practiced liar doesn’t mean you have a powerful imagination. Many good liars have no imagination at all; it’s that which gives their lies such wide-eyed conviction.”
I recall reading that first sentence several times, getting increasingly angry, and finally setting down the book. I wanted to shake the author and tell him that he was wrong about Lyra! She was imaginative and bright and brave all at once. She could be practical while having a keen imagination, and an imagination can counteract the bald logic that sometimes gets in the way of hope and action. I felt so angry that I didn't pick up the book for several days, and I still cringe when I read that paragraph.

Of course, as an author, I'd like to believe that I understand my characters better than anyone. But statements like that--telling as opposed to showing--can undermine a great deal of the characterization readers have inferred from your books. This is, of course, just my opinion; I've met plenty of people who agreed that Lyra was unimaginative. But I would have liked to make up my own mind about that, rather than having the author tell me what I should be taking away from the story.

I was in elementary school at the time, and I still felt that strongly about it, so I don't think children's or YA fiction should be any different in that regard.

Without a doubt, I am not perfect about avoiding telling. But I try to keep it as much out of my novels as I can. Showing what a character does is much more powerful. It's difficult to bite my tongue when characters make false assumptions, but all real people make those mistakes. It's part of why life can get so messy. I just hope that intent comes through for readers.

(Note: I've been feeling a bit better off and on lately, but I apologize if this entry is a bit incoherent. I probably ought to get a little more sleep, haha.)

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Genres

This is an issue I've struggled with quite a bit while publishing. How do I categorize my Qol books? (For the purposes of this post, I'll be focusing on Fallacy, but Veracity and Evasion pose similar problems.)

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Snowflaking

I recently decided to try out snowflaking--a writing process that runs rather counter to my typical strategies. Usually I start off with a concept, loosely outline it, then watch my characters bulldoze through my plans and make something far more interesting. On the plus side, my stories end up surprising me quite often, keeping me engaged, and developing naturally and organically. However, this method has a fair number of problems, as well: unanticipated plot holes, a great deal of rewriting (approximately four beginning-to-end drafts before hitting the final copy), and sometimes losing the story entirely, which results in more abandoned projects than I'd like.

So I'm trying out snowflaking! If you don't want to read the full summary at the link above, here's a short explanation: You start with your story in a nutshell--a single sentence explaining the concept. Then you turn that sentence into a paragraph, then each sentence in that paragraph into a paragraph of its own, until you have a fully-formed sketch of a story. (At which point you get to flesh it out and turn it into a proper novel.)

So I've been hammering out a concept for a superhero novel. Examples of my progress are under the cut:

Monday, June 10, 2013

The Unmaking collection is now available on the Kindle!


Unmaking is now available as a collection for $4.99!

A collection of 20 micro short stories and 1 novella spanning from the creation of the universe to its unmaking. Retold creation myths and ancient legends, urban fantasy with fantastic creatures, and post-apocalyptic fairy tale remixes are connected in a loose daisy chain that circumnavigates multiple time lines and settings.
From the world’s creation and past its destruction, they persist.
Includes the following:
Creation Myth: Weaving
Retold Myths: The Box (Pandora’s Box), Moon’s Child (Artemis), Still Waters (Narcissus), The Undertaker (Charon), Unseen (Psyche and Cupid), From Dust (Pygmalion and Galatea), Stolen (Hades and Persephone)
Urban Fantasy: Summer Pool (Mermaids), Unbidden (Unicorns), Ill-begotten (Succubi), Cove Song (Sirens), The Nausea of Displacement (Magical Objects), Mundane (The Sight), Awakening (Vanishing)
Post-Apocalyptic Fairy Tales: Home Before Nightfall (Cinderella), Marred (The Ugly Duckling), Fractured Glass (The Snow Queen), Confined (Rapunzel), Mutation (Beauty and the Beast)
Post-Apocalyptic Lesbian Adventure Novella: Chasing Shadows
This collection contains all other Unmaking bundles (Cyclical [$0.99], Unlikely Places [$0.99], Through the Cracks [$0.99], Ill-Fitting [$0.99], Fallen Towers [$2.99]) as well as the novella, Chasing Shadows [$2.99]. It features full-color covers for all stories. Buying the series as a collection gives readers a 50% discount as well as access to bonus material.

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Veracity now available!


The ebook version of Veracity is now available via Amazon! Go take a look!

***

Lies protect Haven. There are only so many ways to hide--trickery and deceit are her only options. Each time she finds a new family, she knows it will only be a matter of time before she's found out. 

Only one truth has lasted throughout her life: There is no home for someone like her.

She's running out of hiding places.

Monday, February 25, 2013

Works in Progress

I've been hard at work writing and editing over the last few weeks. Here's where I currently stand:

  • Rewritten II: Veracity has been edited through chapter 15. I'm waiting on the editor to finish it; I'll then give it one last proofread before publication. (Estimating that'll be in late March at the soonest.)
  • Rewritten III: Evasion has been fully written and needs only to be edited. 
  • Rewritten IV: Defiance has been fully written and needs only to be edited. It also needs a cover (which I've commissioned).
  • Return the Sea has been edited and formatted. It needs one last proofread before publication.
  • The Great Ships has been edited and formatted. It needs one last proofread before publication.
  • Cyclical is approaching the final stages of editing. It needs to be read aloud, formatted, and proofread one last time before publication.
  • Unlikely Places is approaching the final stages of editing. It needs to be read aloud, formatted, and proofread one last time before publication.
  • Through the Cracks is approaching the final stages of editing. It needs to be read aloud, formatted, and proofread one last time before publication.
  • Ill-Fitting is approaching the final stages of editing. It needs one scene to be rewritten, then it needs to be read aloud in its entirety, formatted, and proofread one last time before publication.
  • Shattered is approaching the final stages of editing. It needs three scenes to be rewritten, then it needs to be read aloud in its entirety, formatted, and proofread one last time before publication. If I'm dissatisfied with the quality of the stories, I may scrap the bundle and offer the solid story as a stand-alone.
  • Fallen Towers is approaching the final stages of editing. It needs to be read aloud, formatted, and proofread one last time before publication.
  • The Wastes has hit the two-thirds mark. 
  • Unmaking is nearly complete; I'm deciding whether to include a few, final short stories.
  • Delving I: Control has hit the halfway point and been planned in detail from start to finish.
  • Delving II: Alter has been planned in detail from start to finish.
  • Delving III: Delete has been planned in detail from start to finish.
  • Fox Train has hit the halfway point and been planned in detail from start to finish.
  • Hitsuzen has been planned in detail from start to finish.
  • Fall Together Like Clockwork has been planned in detail from start to finish.
  • The Squeeze has been planned in detail from start to finish.
  • About 60 short stories have been planned for various Qol characters, depending upon demand. 
  • Rough outlines for 5 alternate POV novels exist for Qol books.
As you can see, I've been a very busy bee the last few months! Unless otherwise noted, all of the above have cover drafts, though some need to be finalized. I have a lot of works in progress, but I've been updating my dropbox for backers on a daily basis--I'm always getting something done. I'm sorry for the delay thus far, but hopefully I'll begin releasing more stories very soon!

Also, I've contacted all backers who got back to me with bonus material and the like, so I think I'm managing fairly well on that front!

Thank you all so much for your support,
Morgan Bauman

Friday, February 15, 2013

KickStarter, Planning, and Confidence.

So my KickStarter was a roaring success! I'm immensely pleased with the results, and have been doing my very best to get rewards and bonuses out to backers immediately. Of course, I don't have final drafts just yet, but I should have those ready by the time the covers are done, at least. Hopefully it won't be too long before all of my stories are available!

In fact, I have a lot of stories in the works. I'm currently 151 pages into the first book of the sequel series that follows the Rewritten arc; at least two more books will follow it. In fact, I've split the sequel series into two series, so there may be three arcs altogether. I'm also aiming to write short stories mapping the lives of over seventy Qol characters from beginning to end, though these won't be available until after the novels are released to avoid spoilers. If people are interested, I would also like to write some of the novels from the perspectives of other characters to offer a different view of the events. Beyond these, I'm currently using a program called Aeon Timeline to organize all of the character stories; once all of the books are published, I'll make that file available for free.

So Qol is getting a lot of attention at the moment. Between six and ten more novels, seventy-some-odd character shorts, as many as six alternate perspective novels, and a timeline spanning over a hundred years are all in the works.

I've also been working on a series of novellas set in an alternate, steampunk version of the Meiji Restoration in Japan. Backers of my first KickStarter got to preview the first story of the set, but all subsequent stories will be fifteen chapters long--between 15,000 and 45,000 words (60 - 180 pages) total, depending on the story. I have them plotted out in detail, and I hope to have them written and edited by the end of the year. The working titles for these stories are: The Great Ships (short story), Hitsuzen, Sadame, Fox Train, The Squeeze, and Fall Together Like Clockwork. If these are successful, I may write even more of them--after all, I did over a thousand pages of research to get as accurate of information as possible for these!

I also have a collection of assorted short stories tentatively called Unmaking in the works. 90% of them have been written and edited as of right now; I plan to release them in bundles of three or four for $0.99 and then as a collection with all six or seven bundles (totalling about twenty stories) for $2.99. They're primarily retellings of old myths, fairy tales, and so forth, only placed in a range of settings from the creation of the universe to a post-apocalyptic wasteland. They should start coming out in the next several weeks, with any luck.

So, in summary, I have the following planned for release in 2013 and 2014:
  • 6 Qol novels
  • 70 Qol character short stories
  • 6 bundles of other short stories (~20 stories altogether)
  • 6 steampunk novellas
  • Total: currently estimating about 4000 book-sized pages. (May total anywhere from 2500 to 6000 pages, though, depending on numerous factors.)
Many of these are already written, and almost all of the others are planned in great detail, so I think that this may be doable. If I work as quickly as I did during November, I may have all of these written, edited, formatted, the and published with covers designed by yours truly by mid-2014 or sooner. Unless, of course, it turns out that a planned story is a total flop on the page--not all ideas pan out in the actual execution, after all.

The main setback that I've experienced thus far, though, is my own lack of confidence in myself. I struggle with marketing my stories, and I worry that people won't enjoy my books, even if I do. Though I understand that all authors encounter this particular predicament, I'm still figuring out how to overcome my nerves and actually hit the publish button. After all, a story is never really done. A point just comes when you're "editing sideways," as my friend, Hildred Billings, once put it. I may or may not be approaching that point on many of the stories in my queue.

But it's tough for me to identify that point with anything approaching confidence, as I want the books to be perfect. There's no such thing as perfection, of course, which lets me put off putting myself out there for indefinite amounts of time. I'm working on that right now, though--you'll all get to see when I hit that point, because I'll suddenly inundate all of you with several novels, short stories, and novellas all at once, most likely. Here's hoping that day will come soon!

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me!

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

GoodReads Giveaway! (Begins Jan 18)

 

GoodReads Giveaway!

(Jan 18 - Feb 6)

Rewritten I: Fallacy AND Rewritten II: Veracity

SIGNED ADVANCE/PROOF COPY OF VERACITY to celebrate this KickStarter! (Winner may choose either a proof or final copy of Rewritten I: Fallacy. The copy will be signed.)

* FALLACY *

A scientist mad with grief; a mother trying to escape guilt; a little girl's worst nightmare; a mistake with unforeseen consequences.

What if your life--your world--your memories--were a lie?

Keep your head down. They're listening.

* VERACITY *

Lies protect Haven. There are only so many ways to hide--trickery and deceit are her only options. Each time she finds a new family, she knows it will only be a matter of time before she's found out.

Only one truth has lasted throughout her life: there is no home for someone like her.

She's running out of hiding places.

*

Rewritten I: Fallacy will be available as a free ebook via Amazon from February 2 to February 4.

*

Though Veracity is not scheduled for release until June, the winner of this giveaway will receive the first proof copy of Veracity (estimated March 2013).

***

Enter the giveaway here!

Thursday, January 3, 2013

New KickStarter



Everyone has their own motivation; everyone has a reason to obscure the truth. Fallacy set the mysteries in motion. In Veracity, the deceptions begin to truly unravel and unveil the truth; by the end of Defiance, each character finds the answers they need.

Complete the series and resolve the remaining mysteries.
***

Now that I've wrapped up everything with my old KickStarter, I'm launching a new one! Check it out!