Podcast
Writing Action
The first action scene I wrote was not good. Plain and simple. It was supposed to be a calm opening, that built tension up as one character searched for another in a museum, which led to a fisticuffs ending. Yeah, Read more
Podcast
Countdown to Launch
Just a few more tweaks, another pass by the editor to make sure those tweaks didn’t ruin everything (fingers crossed), adjustments to the cover art, and then, finally then, I’ll be ready to publish. Holy smokes. Of course it’s not Read more
Writing
My Writing Process and Learnings
My first novel is almost out. I’m wrapping up some final tweaks, it’ll go to the editor for one last review to make sure I didn’t introduce any errors, then it’s time for the big push; marketing, advertising, reviews and Read more
Podcast
Setting & Description
I recently looked back at early drafts of HOST for fun and to see my progress as a writer. One thing that stood out to me was my settings and descriptions of various elements. They were…terrible? Non-existent? Not important? All Read more
Podcast
Story v Plot
Is there a difference? Spoilers: yes, there is. To put it simply, plot is the events that occur, where story is the change that occurs with the characters. Their arc, lesson learned, or heart of the story as a whole. Read more
Podcast
Letting Go of Your Artistic Masterpiece
My first novel, HOST, is done. Of course, I still have pre-publishing steps to do, marketing, and promotion to work through, but the book, the story itself, is done. It starts, middles, and ends. It’s been through multiple beta readers, Read more
Podcast
Building Characters
One of the many lessons I learned while writing my first novel, HOST, is put the effort up front into your characters motivations and goals. If you can distill them down to a single sentence, hell a single word, it’ll Read more
Podcast
Genre Expectations
It took me a bit to figure out exactly what genre my book would land in. At first, I thought it’d be sci-fi, it had elements of science fiction so that’s it, right? Then I leaned into the sub-genre of Read more
Podcast
From a Certain Point of View
POV – what a chaotic mess it can be. My first draft of HOST was in first-person. It was terrible. I had no clue what I was doing. I understood what POV was but in practice I clearly had no Read more
Podcast
Copy / Line Edit Process
Having gone through the entire editing process from development to copy to proofread with my novel, it seemed like a no-brainer topic for Writer Syndrome to chat about. My writing pal, buddy, friend, amigo, Tim Letteney and I sat down Read more