Author: authorrowland

Are you a Fantasy fan?

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orbs

So I am trying to post to my Royal Road account every week.  This time out I put up a chapter from a new one I am working on.  It’s action, medieval style.  Here is the direct link: Fallen Stars II – Chapter 2

Or you can always just use the link at the top of the page to go to my profile page and see all the stuff I am tossing up there.  Be aware though that this is a first draft, so there might be some rough edges.  That is what I am planning on using Royal Road for.  Just to toss out ideas, like I did with the Magical Permutations chapter, which is pretty much just a premise.

I will also put up short stories and other things that I have dabbled with.  The goal is to post at least once a week just to get a flavor or what i can do out there.  it is also a good source for interaction and comments on my stuff, you know to let me know how bad it sucks.

The kicker for this weeks piece is that it is chapter 2 in something I am working on that is a sequel to a book I’ve already finished, well that I have written.  It is by no means finished.  I still have to go back through it and then have it edited.  If it moves along I might even put it out there before I finish releasing the City State Trilogy…..   Which I must say I am trying to spice up book II.  I might have to put something about funny little hats in it too…. (inside joke).

I still have that contest going too for another week to win a signed copy, YES A REAL BOOK!!, of Remnant.  Just follow me on Book Face or the Tweeter and insult me here.  Then I will toss all those names in a hat or something and pick one.  I guess if you follow me on Amazon as well I can do that.  Cause why not?  It’s not like there are thousands of fans yet.

Hey I am getting better at the writing thing, I promise.  I am not promising that it will reach the levels of prose of the masters though.  So don’t get your hopes too high.

Random stuff

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magic

Today I thought I would toss out my latest thing.  My Royal Road account is linked at the top of the main page.  I though i would promote a big in this blog, because I am going to start posting more there besides some short stories.  I just put up a chapter for an idea i had.  It was more of a concept piece for something I might do more work on when I am caught up on other projects.  It would be kind of cool though to get feedback and thoughts on something before I go head first into it.

Basically, what if Magic, or something that enabled it to exist in our world was unleashed?  I had been dabbling with the idea for a while and trying to figure out how to make it work.  I decided that a portal to another dimension was opened as the result of an experiment.  No one noticed though.  A foreign particle started to creep into our world.  It didn’t effect anything though.  It did however, enable some people to be able to wield it in a manner that emulates magic.  There is a lot more and feel free to go read it and leave some notes.

On the other fronts, this is for my one avid reader, HI MOM!!!  I am working on a Time Travel book.  I have seen a lot of nostalgia in books and movies, so I decided to take a crack at it.  Now I have a Time Traveling Geek amassing collectibles from when they came out.  There is a lot more to it than that, but it is enough of a teaser to peek interest. That one started good but I stopped at 130 pages.  Trying to figure out where I want to go in history and mess around got kind of hard after that long.  It’s just a matter of research before I get back to that.

I also had a book on the back burner that I hadn’t looked at in over six months.  So long i forgot where I was in it.  I just finished editing what I have so far and am back to work on that.  I was 170 pages, 49k words, into it when I stopped.  My plan is to try and have that one done by the end of the month.   It looks like this one will easily have a sequel, if not two.  Great another trilogy.    This one will be easier though.  It’s science heavy and I had to do some research and then make it palatable for the reader.  A lot harder than one would think.

The point is that it might be a slower read than I wanted.  But the sequel will be much faster paced and exciting.  It had to be done, because between character development and backstory on the science stuff I was pretty far in.  Unless you like books the size of War & Peace I recommend breaking it up.  I like smaller tomes myself.  450 pages is where I like to top out when reading.  I suppose if you are hooked on an E-Reader cool, go big.  But I am a fan of real books.

I do like my kindle, but I have habits I like.  And trying to lie in bed at night holding a book over 400 pages is a bit cumbersome.  So I take my tastes into account when I think length of my tales.  Just think, someday they might be good!

I think I have rambled on enough for today, so go forth and have fun.

The Review is in?

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I mean I knew it wouldn’t take off like gangbusters.  There is a lot of content out there.  The key is to at least out something out there.  But I have moved a couple of copies of the things and here we are now.  I am not disappointed, I am actually good with the slow pace, granted it has only been like 4 days.  But 5 copies sold and some KU interest.   And you know what? That is fine.  But I did get a 4 star, and no it’s not from a family member.  To be honest I was thinking I would get a 2 or at best 3, so YEA!!!!!!  This was for reasons listed in the review.  Editing is expensive and I am bias to my own work.  But someday you might get a cleaned up version of Remnant…… one can hope.

It all comes down to if someone is willing to put it out there.  Do you know someone who likes to say they have a better idea? A better story? A better thing for a thing?  We have all heard people say they could think of something better, or that they had an idea when they see a device on TV or in the store.  The difference between them and the maker of that “thing”?  The other person actually did it.

I learned this lesson a long time ago when I was dabbling in game design.  I was an avid board gamer and always heard people that I played with, “I could do better than this.”  And I always though, well why don’t you then.  I wasn’t one to say I could do better, at least not a lot.  But one day I decided to try.  It took a while, I tried the big expansive games and all that jazz.  None of them came to fruition, but I finally made a little card game that was fun.

I even self-published it over on a POD site called thegamecrafter.com.  It is a cool place.  I even sold a few copies of that one, a whole 9 at the time of this writing.  But it has been available for almost two years.  So I knew going into the writing game what to expect.  The whole point here is though is that I did it, I put my money where my mouth is and did what so many others say they can do but never actually do.

You don’t know if you will be the next James Patterson or Shakespeare, but if you don’t even put your stuff out there you will know you won’t be for sure.  The attempt should not be made to succeed alone, in that sense I mean to sell 100,000 copies and get a movie deal.  The attempt should be for yourself, to show that you are capable.  Heck I would even say to put something out there before you even make a page.  Nothing elaborate, a short story, some poems, etc.

This will give people an idea of what you are capable of, and a back catalog in case you do hit it big.  So I will trudge forward with what I do and maybe someday I will have a decent hit, and if so it should also drive up sales of my old stock.  But I am publishing because, why not?  I like to write, I write for myself anyway, so why not put it out there and see how it does in the wild?  If I just wanted it to sit on a hard drive and be the topic of family gatherings then sure keep it to yourself, but if you are one of those people that think they can do better than what you see out there, then prove it, even if just to yourself.

Hey it’s live!

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So my book dropped on Kindle today, I had a few pre-orders so I guess I am a professional author now WOOT!!!  It is also on Kindle Unlimited so go read it there.

Kindle Version here!

Print Version here.

For KU ASIN: B07DKSC9DS, if that helps.

Hard to believe the amount of work that you have to put in to get one of these things out.  One would think the actual writing would be the hardest part, but nope.  It’s learning how to do everything, get the word out and all of that stuff.  Not to mention the editing, the rewrites, and more editing.

The writing was the easy part, at least the first draft.  It just kind of flowed out and manifested itself onto paper or screen, pick your medium.  I type it all out on computer, but after each chapter I print it cause I like to red pen when I edit.  Then I back it up in like five different places because you never want to lose something that you have put so much work into.

Looking for reviews as well, so feel free to go to the links above and tell everyone what you think.  I still have the contest going as well on the site, any followers on my social media will have a chance to win a signed proof copy I have at the end of June.  Read my previous blog post for all the details.

But go forth and read and enjoy!!!