Who Is Favo Carr?

One of the questions I get asked a fair bit is who or what inspired the characters I've written. To be fair, I've a different answer for each character - in many cases, the ways the characters were inspired were as varied as the characters themselves, and many of them are actually amalgams from a cast of sources. But in light of the current and soon to be birthed "Steel & Sky", I thought a bit of background on Favo Carr might be

appreciated.

He came originally from two characters: one in Final Fantasy XII and one in Star Wars: Balthier and Han Solo. Kind of an adorable but cocky scoundrel. Well dressed. Polite. Charming. And a bit filthy. I always hear his voice sounding a fair bit like Jude Law, but lately, he's been looking more and more like Tom Hiddleston (with sun-bleached hair). Stop your swooning, ladies. This lad's not spoken for, but good lord does he have more issues than Rolling Stone. Though, if you like that sort of thing, go right ahead.

We first meet him, briefly, in the Chronicles of Aesirium, book one: Reaper's Return. He's a villain, of sorts. An elegant thug. A miscreant and a coin-operated criminal whose main interactions with our heroes is to be hunting down a mysterious object called the Morrow Stone.

I had a few plans for the man - he was fun, he was my favorite mix of naughty, but, really, he wasn't the Big Bad from the books and I'd considered him more of a red herring than anything. But then a funny thing happened. I started to genuinely like the character. He loved to talk, but had a style of verbal waltzing that I found charming. The man could talk his way out of most issues, but, as it turned out, he didn't mind occasionally getting his hands dirty. Form and function.

He's an odd mix of street smarts, book-learned magic and good old-fashioned practical experience. He can pick the antennae off a flea at thirty meters with his trusty Mark IV SpellShot, and that isn't even the least of the tricks he keeps up his sleeves. It goes mostly unmentioned in the books, but he's a fine dancer and even considered a future on the stage, but he lost interest in drama when he discovered that you didn't get to keep the costumes.

Oh, and all that practice with the rapier? A bit of refinement and it works even better in real life.

It was some point around book four where my editor sat me down in a sort of intervention and asked me, "okay, I have to know: are you ever going to kill him? It's like he's freaking immortal or something. Nobody is that lucky." And thus the legend of the Immortal Favo Carr was born.

I shouldn't think it too great a spoiler to reveal that he is also one of the main characters in my newest series, "Tales of the Dead Man", and we meet him right around the beginning of "Steel & Sky". Though just how he comes to be a part of this great new adventure....well, you'll have to read it and find out. Trust me, compared to the things that get laid out in this next series, mentioning that Favo is in the books is the LEAST spoilerish thing I could tell you. Well, maybe I could mention that it takes place in Aerthos, as well. And there just may be a few other cameos here and there. But I'm not telling.

Oh, and on a little behind the scenes note: whenever I'm writing Favo's scenes, I play the Sherlock Holmes or Pacific Rim soundtracks. It seems to make him walk with a bit more swagger in his step. Go figure.

Steampunk, Undefined

Had a wonderful time once again at this past month's SteamCon event in Seattle, Washington. The panels went nicely - mostly focusing on writing and self-publishing - got to spend time with some good friends and even made a goodly quantity of new ones. Scores as a win, I say.

Sometimes it's easy to forget, when you spend so much time in a particular genre - whether it be fiction, society, fandom, music or whatnot - about a few different perceptions that tend to go on. There is the perception among people outside of your genre about the people inside the genre, as well as the perceptions held by people inside the genre about others inside the genre as well as about those people outside the genre.

From the outside in, this generally gets expressed simply by one of two common questions I get asked:
"What's going on here?" and "What is Steampunk?"

The first question is mostly overheard at Steampunk events - I typically dress more or less how I normally do, plus or minus a vest or clever glasses, so innocent bystanders usually guess I'm a reliable source of insider information. They also guess that I'm not going to give them an answer in essay form (I leave that for the blogs).

But the second question I hear as often from people who know very little about Steampunk as I do from people who LOVE Steampunk.

Now, if you don't know much about Steampunk, it's a reasonable question to ask, right? (There was that episode of Castle where everyone was wearing top hats, right?) Any time a segment of subculture strikes popular attention - punk, goth, hipster, geek, whatever - there's naturally some curiosity about it. And that's a good thing. Steampunk isn't a religion or a cult, so nobody's looking to proselytize or corral in new members.

But it's when I hear it asked from other Steampunk fans that I grow concerned. Not because it's betraying some lack of Steampunkery or whatnot, but because oftentimes I smell a trap. Much in the same way the Comic Book fandom - and Geekdom in general - has been experiencing self-defining growing pains, Steampunk seems to be feeling the itch as well. But let's call it what it is: this is adolescence.

One of the primary characteristics of adolescence (which means, by the way, literally, "growing up") is self-definition. Figuring out who you are, and coming to grips with that. Self-confidence, self-identity, self-esteem. It's kind of self interested, really. And we find that same element in nearly every organization - it's been present in religions, political parties, and it's not by itself a bad thing. It's just a thing.

Now, granted, the roots of Steampunk have been around for years - you can effectively track it back to the Victorian era itself - but it's been reformed in the age of rebellion, of the redefinition of history, and it's been turned into a social structure, a fashion statement, a cultural resistance born straight out of the fires of DIY and a love of old world elegance.

When I wrote the Chronicles of Aesirium, I'll admit that my first goal was not to write a series of Steampunk books - the industrial age simply worked as the most ideal backdrop for the world I was creating, and it felt like the best place to insert my story. I wasn't trying to write the definitive Steampunk book - nor would I have ever wanted to. If anything, they're somewhere in the middle between "it has a gear on it" and "STEAMPUNK!", which is where I would generally want to be.

The new series - "Tales of the Dead Man" - is even less so. The first book, "Steel and Sky", involves two differing cultures, tech and natural magic. The tech world has a steam-powered science, but I wanted to take it out of pure victorianism and do something different with it. Also, I've written 6 borderline steampunk books, I wanted to introduce some new developmental elements into the new books - but the spirit of steampunk, as I see it, is still there.

And that's the part of Steampunk's adolescence that I enjoy so much. The elegant way in which we do it ourselves, embracing that most industrious spirit of adventure.

Chronicles of Aesirium update!

It's a big day for mid-process project changes. I shall now gently put "The Old Bones" back onto the back burner while I make some big preparations for something potentially even bigger. I'm gonna need three/four artists, a videographer, a couple of actors, a musician/songwriter, a six pack of Mike's Hard Lemonade, a fantasy playlist for my iPod, and enough people to push a Kickstarter campaign all the way through to completion. And, of course, all of you, my friends - - - I can't do this without all of you.

"Do what?", you ask?

Why, how about a whole new Aesirium trilogy?

Yep, that's right. It  just hit me today, that while I'm very excited about the prospects of the Old Bones as a series, I'm really just not done with Rom and her friends, and their world of Aerthos. There are so many stories there, left untold. From the final (?) adventures of Favo Carr, to the new dramatic tales of Grindel and Prama, plus the lost legends of Force, Inertia, Artifice and Ian. Plus, there are more tales still, beyond and through the Blink, the old foundations of Aesirium, the Sky People, and more!

But first, there are more things even just associated with the stories of Rom herself, including an expansion of the world you already know. Maps and paintings of the characters themselves, including Mulligan, Rickets and Yu; an arcana of the main characters as Tarot cards - - you might have wanted an idea of what Cousins' deck looks like - - well, that's a new project I'm developing. I've also had a lot of requests for Mully, Yu and Rickets as plush animals; I'll be working on that soon, too.

All of this will be leading up to the next series, but I haven't decided yet which, exactly. Both stories are roughed out; look for a poll to hit my Facebook page soon - - make your wishes known, friends of Aesirium! The Favo Carr stories and the Grindel & Prama stories will all be coming out eventually, but whose do you want to see first? Ooooh, decisions, decisions!

Don't let it be said I am a cruel creator - - I want to give you what you want to read - at least, well, I'll let you choose from a small list, but that's something, isn't it?

Talk to you soon!

~ - ~ - ~

Ren Cummins is an author who currently lives in the Pacific Northwest. In addition to writing, he is an accomplished artist and musician, cat herder and professional nerdist. His second novel, "The Morrow Stone", was nominated for "Steampunk Book of the Year" in 2011. He is co-founder of Talaria Press, an independent publisher that focuses on alternate publishing models and low-overhead project management.

"Reaper's Return" is book one of a completed 7-book series of young adult steampunk fantasy tales, about Romany, an 11 year old orphan girl in Oldtown-Against-the-Wall, who discovers that sometimes, death is just the beginning of your life's adventure. It is a 65,000-word novel, written for ages 12 and up. All 6 novels and an additional anthology are available as both ebooks for Kindle and in paperback format through Amazon.

For more information about the books and the author, please see the author's website at www.talariapress.com

Lovers by Moonlight

I wanted to post this over here, as well as over on Facebook - though I don't do a lot of advertising (perhaps I should more?), this seemed as good a time as any to buck the trend.

A good friend of mine released her first novel this week, and it's really pretty excellent. She's self-published, like me, so she's missing the huge publisher advertising machine, so I thought I'd lend a hand.

Her name is Sage Arroway, and her novel is called "Apollo Rising", the first of a series of werewolf novels. They mix a pretty solid werewolf genre into paranormal romance, and she did a great job blending them, like chocolate and peanut butter.

Anyway, she's also doing a contest over on her Facebook page, so even if you're not curious enough to pick up a copy of her book yet, it's worth taking the chance on some free stuff, no?

The book has only been out a few days but is already getting some nice attention - - but I'd be a lousy friend if I didn't help spread the word. Go - check it out, and enjoy the read!

Self-Pub...12 things to consider

I get this question a lot - "Ren, I'm writing a book, but I don't know if I should self-publish or hold out for being published..."

I usually cobble together some sort of answer based on what I know of them, or we just chat about the pros and cons about both paths, but I came across Rachel Thompson's "12 Most Relevant Reasons You Should Self-Publish", which nicely wraps it all up in a lovely bow. So here it is, sharing it from me to you.

She lists most of the very considerations I thought about - many of which I was doing without even realizing what I was doing. Kinda wish I'd come across wisdom like this 2 years ago....but then, given so many of the changes to the industry, I guess it wouldn't have been so relevant then.

And who knows how relevant it'll be in two years more. Exciting times, regardless.

Anyway, without any further ado, go take a look at her list. Awesome material. Enjoy!


http://12most.com/2012/07/18/reasons-you-should-self-publish/

More fun with Wren Emerson! (part 2)

Continued from part one:

 

 

The Metro Coffee shop is just getting going as we walk in. Wren knows the guy at the door, so they point us towards a side booth where we can chat and still people-watch. Atlanta becomes much more interesting than I recall with every passing moment. I’ve always said, the quality of the tour is dependent upon the quality of the guide. Plus, the Metro has free Wi Fi, which always earns points in my book. Bless you, wondrous deliverers of the free Y. Makes me happy, it does.

 

We nab a pair of beverages thanks to a chipper employee, and get back into the conversation. With all the (REDACTED) material behind us, we look into Wren’s professional experience as an author.

 

Me: Aside from your talent, your cleverness and humor, what would you say has been the biggest benefit to being a relatively new author?

 

Wren: The only advantage I have the ability to make some pretty awful mistakes. I'm not kidding. I've managed to sabotage myself in a ton of different ways. That's a post in itself but the TL;DR version is that mistakes aren't career breaking as long as you learn something from them and avoid doing the same thing in the future. I've squandered some pretty amazing opportunities (it would make you cry) but I've learned so much and you can bet that 2012 is going to be an amazing year for me because I won't be making those mistakes again.

 

Me: I’m fond of saying that every mistake is a challenge to find new ways to screw up, so it sounds like we’re both looking in the same basic direction. What are your next big plans, with respect to writing? Do you have a specific goal you're working towards? A plan to getting there?

 

Wren: My primary goal is to earn a living income from writing. I've done it something like 3 months out of the last 9, just enough to keep me following the carrot on the stick. I love writing and I've learned not to take it personally if something I write isn't appealing to readers. I have enough ideas that I'm not afraid to try a different series or even an entirely different genre. Being flexible is what's going to ensure I meet my goals.

 

Me: (at this point, the music cranks up a bit, but I’m making my “do go on” face, so she gets the hint.)

 

Wren: Oh, ha, guess I touched on that a little bit already. Ok, here's the dirty dirty details… I published I Wish in May 2011. I don't think I've ever earned more than $75 on it in a month across all stores. I have theories about that is and I'm happy to share them if you'd like me to write a guest post on the subject at some point in the future, but the bottom line is that as Wren Emerson until last month I had exactly 1 title and that was I Wish.

 

I started to experiment around July with writing erotica under a pen name. The first couple of months were unbelievable. I made ~$2500 those first couple of months with zero promotional effort on my part. Cha-ching! Bills paid. We moved cross country and I got caught up in real life. I had an amazing time, but due to the nature of how we're paid, I didn't start to realize that there was a problem for months. For something like four months I didn't write a thing. I mean I was getting paid for stories I wrote months ago, right?

 

Eh, not so much. But I wouldn't know it because I stopped checking my numbers. By the time I realized that things were in a decline, I was screwed. It appears that my niche market has been saturated and it's time to change up my strategy. Which would be awesome except, I won't see my efforts rewarded now for another 60 days.

 

And as for the 3rd month I've been able to pay my bills? That's right now, baby. I posted a few short stories as Wren at the end of January and they've sold a combined total of 115-ish across 5 titles this month on Amazon (that's like $40) so there's a tank of gas. The bulk of my income has been from I Wish. I enrolled it in the KDP select program and it went free the weekend of the 4th and was downloaded 16k times over two days. It hit #5 overall and #1 on a couple of different subcategories. That translated into a metric assload of paid sales. I can't say for sure how many because Amazon really dropped the ball on accounting that stuff this month, but I earned $2k in the first week after it went paid.

 

Did it last, you wonder? Of course not. I'm selling about 5 books a day now (so about $525 a month), but that's a damn sight better than the 23 I sold on Amazon in January, right? I anticipate that by the time I have the rest of the series posted and do a real marketing push, I might be paying the bills on a regular basis and that makes me really happy.

 

Me: “If you find a way to get paid to do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.” Those are really pretty good numbers – a very good milestone for anyone looking to write for a living. But of course, it can’t all be grindstone, you have to relax sometime. When you do have time to read, what's your favorite genre?

 

Wren: I adore reading short horror anthologies. I especially love zombies, apocalyptic, and dystopian fiction. And of course paranormal/urban fantasy. If I feel like I need a good cry, I will pick up any romance novel. It doesn't matter what kind, I will be openly weeping by page 5 guaranteed.

 

Me: What are you reading right now?

 

Wren: Oh gosh, let me see what's on my Kindle… Scott Nicholson, Belinda Frisch, David H. Fears, J. Sterling, Charlotte Abel, and Shannon Mayer. A little eclectic, but I'm looking forward to all of them.

Me: Okay, I’ve been trying to avoid asking, but clearly I have little to no conversational restraint. So, I'll just ask - - Horror Erotica? How did that happen?

 

Wren: I met a guy on Twitter (it sort of sounds like a cautionary story, huh?) and he asked if anyone was willing to write stories for a project he was working on. He writes erotic horror and I gave it a read. It didn't seem too scary, so I decided that that's what I'd try to write, too. Perchance to Dream and Real Vampires Don't Sparkle were the result of that. It really gave me a lot of confidence in my abilities since I'd never written anything in either the erotic or horror genre before.

Me: Erotica is a tough genre to write in, if you have plans to write in any other genre. Do you agree or disagree?

 

Wren: I haven't really had any issues with it so far. It's not hard to start a pen name. I will say that I've encountered some negative opinions of what I write, but they were from other writers, not the readers. Actually, the readers have always been really excited about what I write.

 

I would just offer this advice: if you want to cross genre boundaries, make sure that what you are publishing is clearly laid out in the description. I would feel so bad if one of my WoD fans bought Real Vampires Don't Sparkle and expected it to be child friendly.

Me: It’s definitely a challenge to manage it all, but there have been so many authors who’ve done so, and quite successfully. What's another genre you'd like to cross erotica with?

 

Wren: I think there's always room for the erotic in just about anything you write except things meant for kids. As humans sex is a huge part of our identities. It's something that we should be celebrating and enjoying. I've actually been thinking about writing an erotic comedy. I've got too much on my plate to tackle it now, but someday...

Me: That would be awesome, actually. Let me know when you do get that one written! So, you’ve been epublishing a while, now - how do you think the present state of epublishing affects the overall publishing industry? Do you think it's a good thing or a bad thing?

 

Wren: I love the opportunities that indie publishing offers. I would never have written I Wish if I hadn't discovered that I could upload it directly to Amazon myself. I have never had any desire to jump through the flaming hoops that the traditional publishers hold up. It's a vetting process sure, but one that I don't think is necessary. Readers should be deciding for themselves what they want to read. And thanks to epublishing, now they can.

Me: I totally agree. I blogged recently about this concept of “literary gatekeepers”…I think I was pretty specific as to my opinion on it. *grin* Where do you think we'll be, publishing-wise, in the next 5 years? where do you hope we'll be?

 

Wren: I'm not an expert on the industry by any means so I'm not going to make any predictions, but I hope that we'll see more readers than ever using ereaders. I hope that schools start issuing them to students the way that some districts issue laptops. I hope that more authors realize that they create the content and that they don't need a traditional publisher to validate their worth with terrible contracts.

Me: Where do you think you’ll be in five years? Where do you hope you'll be?

 

Wren: I'll still be writing stories because I'll never run out of ideas that I want to explore. I just hope that I'm writing them from beside my pool while cabana boys fan me with palm fronds.

 

Me: Don’t forget the grapes! Everyone always forgets the grapes. So, here’s a classic chestnut from the Generic Questions vault: If you weren't a writer, what would you be?

 

Wren: That's tough to say. I've been a full time mom pretty much my entire adult life. I'd undoubtedly still be doing that right now since The Littlest Minion isn't in school yet, but I'd have some tough choices to make in September when he starts.

Me: What's next for Wren?

 

Wren: I had a pretty good run in 2011, but the plan for 2012 is to come at it even harder. To take all the things I've learned in the past and improve on it. My goal (possibly unattainable) is to write the 4 novels and 20-ish short stories that I have planned for this year so far. I'm also working on setting up workshops for high school kids at area schools that deal with indie publishing in general and world building in specific. It's a big heaping plate full of dreams, I'll admit, but I've got an enormous appetite for it.

 

Me: Obviously you don’t spend all your time writing, though. What do you do to relax?

 

Wren: In no particular order, I love to read, create mixed media collage and work in art journals, play video games (specifically RPGs), travel, take tons of photos with my iPhone, and go carousing with my sisters on the Soul City Sirens roller derby team.

 

Me: (I’m pretty sure my eyes bugged out here, because she nearly spit out a mouthful of coke. I apologize and we dab up the mess, and I promise her that we’re going to have to talk about Roller Derby stuff later. Another interview, I promise. Maybe a whole other one for video games, too. Dang. We could keep these up for a while!)  All right, deep breath, we're through the worst of it. Okay, now: Lightning Round time, just to make sure I’ve covered all the bases!  Ready?

Wren: Ready!

Me: What did your last tweet say?

 

Wren: Smart money is something to do with any combination of zombies, herpes, or badgers. Possibly #vaginamarketing or my boobs? I don't know. That's all I ever talk about.

 

Me: I don’t want to suggest that I’ve ever noticed that. But I’ll state for the record that your answer doesn’t entirely shock me. Um, favorite website to waste time at?

 

Wren: Reddit. I want my life back.

Me: Comfort food?

 

Wren: I love taco burgers from Taco Hut. Unfortunately I can only get those in Kansas or Oklahoma and I'm in Georgia. #1stworldproblems

Me: Guilty Pleasure:

 

Wren: 80s and 90s YA horror books. I buy them whenever I see them second hand. I just can't get enough.

 

Me: Last thing you watched on TV (Hulu or Netflix counts) that you'd recommend:

 

Wren: How I Met Your Mother- I'd give up writing novels forever if they'd let me write for that show.

 

Me: Favorite Halloween Costume:

 

Wren: I was Snooki this year. It was pretty cheap to put together, but gave me endless hours of entertainment. I should post pics on FB or something.

 

Me: iPad, Nook or Kindle?

 

Wren: I have an iPhone rather than an iPad, but I own them all. I do prefer the Kindle over the Nook though.

 

Me: Top 5 items on your bucket list:

 

Wren: I'm not sure anybody will still respect me, but for the sake of honesty here goes (in random order):

 

1. Meet Seth Green 
2. See something I've written made into a movie (either a book that's been adapted or a screenplay I've written) 
3. Dry hump a transvestite. I don't care to explain this one other than to say it's important to me
4. Visit all the Ripley's Believe it or not museums in the continental US
5. Own a segway

 

 Me: Well, I still respect you. Though, to be honest, I’m pretty easy.

 

We both laughed at that, and then we chatted about all sorts of things that may or may not have been directly related to that one time I accidentally hung out with Seth Green at a show for The Church and a lot of other silly conversational threads I’m sure you wouldn’t be interested in right now anyway.

 

Eventually, we wandered back to the parking lot and our wonderful afternoon and evening of conversation had to come to an end. But fear not, loyal readers, I’m sure you’ll be treated to further adventures of the Ren and Wren show, whenever our literary worlds collide. I’ve promised her a tour of Seattle, hopefully airfare will become reasonable.

 

Also, next time, Seth’s invited. You hear me, Scott Evil?

 

Yeah, I know, he hates that. Sorry, man.

 

Thanks to Wren Emerson for being such a delightful conversationalist and hostess, and thanks to you for reading along - be sure to help support this wonderful (and just between us, incredibly funny) author by going here and indulging appropriately.

 

 

More WWWren:

website/blog: www.wrenemerson.com/blog

amazon page: http://www.amazon.com/Wren-Emerson/e/B0050Z3980
twitter: @wrenem

Facebook- personal: http://www.facebook.com/wrenem

fan page: http://www.facebook.com/wrenemerson

QA with Wren Emerson! (Part 1)

I forgot how warm it gets in Georgia. It’s been a while since I was back, but oh, how the humidity embraced me like an old friend. You know, one of those old friends with no concept of personal space.  l missed the thunderstorms. Wow. Lightning for days. But hey, I’m not here to discuss the weather, am I? No ma’am. I’m here to have a chat with my new favorite internet sensation, author Wren Emerson.

She was kind enough to tear herself away from writing (though I’m pretty sure she tweeted several times while I wasn’t paying attention, but that doesn’t really count) to sit down with me across a pair of oh-my-god-delicious nachos at Nacho Mama’s in downtown Augusta. She tossed them back with a coke, but since I had nowhere else to be, I ordered up a margarita. I would’ve gone with the Guinness, but the Margarita won the coin toss.

Once the noms slow to a steady enough rhythm, we make small talk. Seth Green dominates the early parts of the conversation.

She admits to finding a strong connection to Janeane Garofalo’s character in The Truth About Cats and Dogs, which breaks the ice almost instantly. “I AM the under-appreciated friend with the snarky sense of humor,” she says evenly. I find it impossible to argue the point, because I am already a fan of both Wren and Janeane. This is going to be a nice chat.

The conversation also touches briefly on music, where I learn that she began her music collection by picking up “Regulators” by Warren G and “Crazy Sexy Cool” by TLC. I try to get her to show off her TLC dance moves, but she gives me a look that chills my spine and I politely withdraw the request. Damn this margarita.

Her youth found her in Kansas – the sort of Midwest environment which can be an undeniably fertile ground for the creative sorts of people. Nothing like tornadoes and being landlocked to make you seek out other worlds, I suppose. What, specifically, did it teach her? “I would say that I learned a lot about loyalty and being true to your roots. I'm still friends with a lot of the people I went to school with. If I ever made it "Twilight big", I really don't think that would change anything. I'm married to a man that I've known since I was 13. Even if I forgot my humility, he'd be there to ground me and remind me that I'm still the same gawky, awkward girl inside that I was in middle school.”

And in Wren’s case, family also played a major part in setting her on the path to writing.  “I remember my maternal grandmother reading nursery rhymes from my set of Childcraft books while I acted them out,” she recalls. “Old Mother Hubbard was a favorite. That crazy dog was always up to some shenanigans.” 

So how did you transfer from reading stories to actually telling them? Did you always want to be a writer?

She laughed at that, so I braced myself for an epic journey. I wasn’t disappointed.

“At different points in early childhood I have wanted to be president, a professional football player, and a science teacher. Around 6th grade I finally figured out that I wanted to be an author. I started writing stories (awful) and wrote articles for a family newspaper (moderately bad). Around high school I started to carry around a spiral bound notebook and constantly worked on a high fantasy story that was heavily influenced by the Dragonlance series and my involvement in table top RPGs.”

Me: Ah, yes, Dragonlance. I was always in camp Tasslehoff, personally. (I pause here and consider getting my full geek on, but I show restraint.) So, literary-wise, what happened next?

Wren: “When I was about 12 years old I got my hands on a copy of Stephen King's It. I don't think my family even realized what I was reading. I spent all summer reading and rereading it. It captured my imagination in a way that other books hadn't. I think it was the fact that for half the book the main protagonists were my age, but it wasn't written in a way that made the kids seem stupid, which most of the stuff I was reading that was geared to YA did.

“It was that connection to the characters that made me want to do that myself. I'm not saying I'm the next Stephen King, but I hope that I've been successful in writing a book with a YA protagonist that doesn't make the teens reading it feel as though I'm talking down to them.”

 Me: That’s incredibly important, I agree! I could always tell when authors weren’t taking me seriously as a reader. Ugh. Annoying. (as an aside, I still can't finish "It". I'm such a wuss with that book.) So where are you at now in your resolve? How do you feel about where you’re at as an author?

Wren: I view writing as an activity that's both personally fulfilling, but also a viable career. I've luckily never been a position where I've had to compromise my artistic urges due external pressure. I went directly into indie publishing so I've never had anyone tell me that what I'm doing is wrong and I should change it all. The things I want to write are commercially viable so it's not a choice between my art and my mortgage either. I'm very fortunate.

Me: There’s definitely a tradeoff about being the first one to land on an alien planet like self-publishing. It’s still pretty early in its development, so most people are still working out what works and what doesn’t. Hats off to you at figuring it out so soon!  So, how do you get yourself ready to write? 

Wren: I make very elaborate outlines before I start any long work of fiction. With short stories I will write several paragraphs of summary, but with a novel I have a scene by scene background of every single event that needs to happen and since I write in series, I also know what's coming up in future books too.

Once I have my outline (which I make based on notes that I create using a software for Mac called Curio), I start writing. I have a set in stone word goal for every day and I use a spreadsheet to make sure that I'm keeping on track. I've been writing lately in a program called MacJournal. It's been great for short stories so we'll see how it holds up to writing a novel.

And that's my process. Pretty simple, really. I always listen to music while I write. I don't really hear it, but I can't seem to write without it.

Me: Oh, I’m the same way - gotta have a playlist going, or my brain just doesn’t know what to do. How often do you write; how long do you usually spend at a time? 

Wren: I try to write every day, but I don't always make my goal. If I could improve only one aspect of my writing it would be my self discipline. You can pick up everything else you need to know with enough practice.

When I write I set a timer and work in blocks of 50 minutes. When the timer goes off, I take a 10 minute break and that's when I get to check Facebook or answer emails. Ideally, because I think of writing as my job, I try to spend at least 5 hours a day on writing. Eventually, I'd like to work my way up to spending a full 8 hours a day.

Me: And that’s where it does truly become a full-time job, but it’s like they say, you find a way to get paid at what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life.  What's your favorite genre to write in - if you have a favorite one, that is?

Wren: Right now I'm really drawn to paranormal/urban fantasy concepts. I'm very much a dreamer. I want to live in a world where magic exists and the man you love might surprise you one day by turning into a wolf. Even in the horror I've been writing there is an element of the fantastic. I have a short list of projects to tackle in the upcoming months and every single one of them has a supernatural spin on them.

Me: Now, one thing I noticed about you, your books tend to span multiple genres - do you find this to be a natural part of your storytelling process, or is it by design?

Wren: I get these really compelling ideas for stories. I can't limit it to just one kind of idea so I write whatever speaks to me at the moment. That's why I love the short story format. I can explore ideas that I normally wouldn't want to work with because there's not much risk. I'm only committed for a few days as opposed to months spent working on a novel.

Me: I can totally appreciate the way you seem to approach your writing; it’s hard not to admire someone for grabbing the stories they want to tell and just making it work under their own steam. And speaking of that sort of DIY approach to publishing, your books are currently published through Lakehouse Press. Could you talk about how that came about? 

Wren: Lakehouse Press is a venture that my friend Courtney Cole and I started last year when we were both publishing our debut titles. At this point it's just a two man operation, but we've discussed the idea of setting up some sort of structure for helping other new indies who would rather have someone else tackle the business end of things so they can focus on writing.

Me: Very nice. So, there you are, creating a press and putting out your first novel. Let's talk about "I Wish" - - when did that story begin for you? Where did the inspiration come from, and how long did you spend developing and writing it? 

Wren: I feel like I could say writing I Wish took 2 years or that it took 2 weeks and both are true. The original idea was something I started playing with a couple of years ago. It's based on my paternal grandmother. She was very much the matriarch of our family. She was a hard woman. I never doubted that she loved me, but she was not a milk and cookies kind of lady.

It wasn't a stretch to imagine what would happen if you got a whole town full of ladies like grandma together. Of course, they are heavily fictionalized versions of grandma. I swear, she's actually a really sweet lady once you get to know her.

When I heard about indie publishing I decided right then I'd finally found a reason to give up my excuses. I was going to write a novel, dammit, and I knew I already have a great idea. I hadn't done anything with it beyond the world building. So I spent a week populating my town with characters, determining the "rules" of the world and the magic they use there, and writing an outline. I was so enthused that it's all I thought about from the minute I woke up until I went to sleep (usually hours after I went to bed because my brain just wouldn't shut down).

When I started writing I Wish, I had a word goal that I met every day. And I wrote every single day, even weekends. I finished it around 2 weeks. I think it was 16 days, but I'd have to check my blog to be sure. Of course, it was less than 50k words and I later went in and added 12k more words, but the core of that story was done in days. This is why I'm such a huge fan of working from an outline. Once you've determined the story, it becomes a matter of putting words on the page.

Me: Wow! That’s pretty impressive! Please tell my readers a little something about the book, beyond the description over on Amazon and the Lakehouse Press website.

Wren: I Wish is Thistle Nettlebottom's story. It's told in first person point of view with a generous helping of snark and sarcasm. She feels like the only sane girl in one strange situation after another. She grows up on the road with a dysfunctional family unit: her emotionally detached mother, her cold (and oftentimes cruel) grandmother, and Shep, who is part body guard, part personal driver.

They go to a town named Desire where she's evidently from, but she has no memories of it. The people there are weird. The women seem to hate her on sight and the men are all a little too eager to get to know her. She thinks her life is wrecked when her grandmother tells her that they are going to stick around, but that's nothing compared to how she feels when she finds out that she, like everyone else in Desire, is an actual broomstick-riding,  cat-having, drop-a-house-on-her-head, genuine witch. That's a bad day for anyone, but add in a tough choice between sweet and sexy Evan or dark and broody Ben and the fact that someone wants her dead and you can understand why Thistle is rethinking her wish to finally have a place to settle down.

Me: It's been online for close to a year, now, and seems to be doing very well - - what are your plans for a follow-up novel?

Wren: I Wish is the first book in the Witches of Desire trilogy. Book 2, Your Word is My Bond has an anticipated release date of April 2012 and Book 3, Reality Bender, is scheduled for June or July.

Me: Can’t wait! What are your other projects in the works?

Wren: I have been working on a series of short stories that delve into the backstories of some of my favorite characters from the WoD universe. Those will be coming out in the coming weeks. I have plans to write a series of short stories about a "zombie" apocalypse that is heavily inspired by the movie 28 Days Later and the comic book series Crossed, but there are no plans to expand that past short stories at this time. As for novel length works? I have plans for a new urban fantasy series based in the world I used in the Witches of Desire books. I'd like to see that ready around August of 2012, but no promises.

Me: You had me at Zombies. We’ll talk about that when the recorder’s off, yes?

Wren: *smiles conspiratorially*

The interior of Nacho Mama’s started getting a bit crazy about this time – small wonder why this place is so popular, I can’t even remember eating my nachos, and yet they’re GONE – so we decide to wander over to the Metro, which Wren assures me is a pretty cool coffee shop. I can never turn down cool coffee shops, so I’m in. This also gives me a chance to turn off the recorder so Wren and I can talk about zombies. And I know you wish you got to hear all of that, but you’re going to have to wait.

To be continued!

The Great Debate

Okay, I should probably post a little explanation, here.

Self Pub v. Trad Pub.

Good lord, it's a bit of a sticky wicket, eh wot? Like something out of Braveheart or Mad Max or some such. So let me, pray, clarify something here, with a delightful series of numbered bullet points. Or is that bulleted number points? Eh. Whatever.

1) I, yes, am a self-published author.
2) I have many friends who are both self-published and traditionally published authors.
3) I do not hate traditional publishing Publishers.
4) I do not hate Literary Agents.
5) I do not hate money.
6) I do not live at home with my parents. (I don't really know why I have to clarify this, but, hey, might as well)

I really tend to be somewhere around the moderate middle in this big debate - really, I tend to go with whichever side is not trying to insist that their opinion is the only one that matters. The truth is, there's a big bold brave new world in publishing, and what used to work CAN work, but it's no longer the ONLY way it can work. There are more ways to publish effectively, which means there are more authors publishing. That means more books, end of story. This means that there are more good books and more bad books. But also, because there are so many more books, I recognize that this means each individual book may just get less people buying them. I hereby acknowledge that this can be scary.

But publishing companies don't seem to be acknowledging this effectively. Raising prices on books is the second-most antiquated form of trying to boost revenue, and it's rarely effective. In fact, behind the number one most antiquated form of trying to boost revenue (layoffs), it's really pretty much the OPPOSITE of boosting your revenue.

And if you don't think this is a real thing, have you already forgotten the problem with CDs? You know, CDs, those small plastic discs that used to be how you bought music? Or maybe you forgot about DAT tapes?  cassette tapes? Records? 8-tracks? Wax tubes? Betamax? Laser disc? Oh, and you know I could go on and on, here. Don't make me whip out my mad crazy video game historical knowledge. I'll do it, I will.

My point there is that technology affects change. It creates it. Inspires it. Look at how you're READING MY WORDS. I just wrote these, moments ago, by pushing a bunch of buttons on a plastic keypad THOUSANDS OF MILES AWAY FROM YOU, and there you are, reading it. ON A COMPUTER. Or a cell phone. Or an iPad. Whatever. The point is, this sort of thing, while now commonplace for our children, was science fiction when we were children, and yet here it is. With that ability to communicate, opportunities arise for us to produce and create in ways that had been previously unavailable. With those opportunities, change happens. It simply does. Can't shove the genie back in the bottle. Stop trying.

And, look, my favorite analogy to all of this is the arrival of the automobile. Did people just stop riding horses forever? No. A lot of people did, yes. But that's because the world expanded as our reach grew. Some people moved with it, some didn't. Does this mean horse riding is bad? Of course not. I myself LOVE horses. But if I'm going to the store, I'm going to take my car, because I can't fit that many groceries into a saddlebag.

Change is good. Opportunities are good. Options are fantastic. But we need to stop using a lot of words like "right" and "wrong", because those just become too argumentative to be helpful. Also, people need to just chill out on trying to make this sweeping declaratives and stop using words like "best" and "worst" and "only" and "always" and "never." Many ways to get there, folks. What might work for one might not work for another. It's chaos theory. Look into it. Trust me.

Look, I understand that chaos is scary stuff. It's uncertain, and that casts a lot of things into doubt - in times like this, a lot of people will cling to the only things they know and close their eyes, cursing the darkness. I'm just trying to say, cool off a bit, take a breath, take a pill or watch some reruns or play some video games or whatever it is you need to do to relax and slow your roll. It's gonna be fine, you'll see.

So, say it with me: It's going to be all right.

Because it will. Totes.

Brand New!

Okay, it probably says something about me that I don't want to admit by the fact that it's more than a week into the new year (2012 - I need to get used to writing that, don't I?) before I actually blog about the new year. That's like getting a birthmark when you're 17.

But in my defense, it's been a grand and utterly, nonsensically, spectacularly crazy year already. Wee daughter's (okay, no longer quite so wee) birthday aside, it's been a packing up and moving on kind of year so far. Like 2011 was a 12 month frat party, but now the parents are pulling up into the driveway and if we don't get the empty bong pulled out of the fireplace and pick up the 3,491 red plastic party cups, my brother and I are gonna be grounded for a month.

And Mom, Dad? If you're reading this, I swear to god that never happened.

So, as I was saying before I literally interrupted myself, 2012 is going to be a lot of fun, if the past 9 days are any indication. Let's take an assessment:

The entire Chronicles of Aesirium are published and available online in first edition copies. Check.
Paperback and ebook: Check check. Oh, and before I go on, if you're an Amazon Prime member, you really ought to hop on over there and pick up a copy of book one: Reaper's Return. It's Free. Yes, seriously. Freebies. You go on over, click it and start the download while we finish up here. It's cool, I'll wait.

In fact, between them, the pair of "Middle Age" books and some other anthologies penned under a different author name, I'm now sitting at over a dozen books. That was more than my really generous goal for 2011.

My day job is my day job, and I've signed a code of conduct agreement indicating that I cannot say anything bad regarding my employer. It is a point of some interest that I don't consider the fact that I SIGNED A CODE OF CONDUCT AGREEMENT INDICATING THAT I CANNOT SAY ANYTHING BAD REGARDING MY EMPLOYER a bad thing. I'm weird, whatcha gonna do.But then again, I don't have anything really bad to say about them. They're a big company, they do big company things, it's hardly newsworthy. Besides, they put up with my shenanigans, and that alone should warrant a second look at that whole Nobel Peace Prize thing.

I did a few public appearances last year, did some interviews (in and out), and really fell in love with so many of my fellow steampunkers. It's just a great bunch of industrial and loveable freaks of nature. My kind of peeps. I have a few more things set up this year, such as having a table at the Emerald City ComiCon in the end of March. I'd love it if you could show up. It's right here in downtown Seattle, and I'll be there with the best Editor in this section of the known universe, as well as my two fellow authors from Talaria Press. Oh, the fun that will be had! Can you dig it, poppet?

But that's not all! I'm working on some Really Fun Things, many of which are going to have to remain somewhat secretish until they're coming up on my publishing deadline. But the hints I can give you about the two main projects are that one involves happy thoughts, and the other has truck with demons in the pacific northwest.

Oh, and I've been doing a lot of hobnobbing with Amazon - cos, you know, I'm, like, awesome or something - but seriously, I'm taking this whole process of being an entrepreneur much more seriously. Because, really, one must.

So on that stream, I'm going to start posting observations I've had about the self-pub world - ebooks and the printed medium. There will likely be examples of the music industry thrown in as well (because oh have I got some tales for you!), and, if we're both lucky, there might even be some teeny kernels of wisdom to take away from it. In fact, I'll guarantee it.


Okay, no, I can't guarantee anything.  But it'll be fun. Feel free to toss me questions if you have them; I see no reason why I need to yammer off into your vision holes without taking the occasional question from the audience.

Audience?

Yes, I just called you an audience. Applause is totally optional. Just saying.


Okay, that's quite enough out of my fingertips for one evening. Thanks for checking in with me, and I'll see ya 'round the campfire, boys and girls.