Character Interview: Master Sergeant Roman Andrei Krikoryan

So I recently heard about a really interesting blogfest, where the goal is to blog about the characters in your story, as well as have a little fun with flash fiction.  The prizes look pretty good, too: a couple of free books and a manuscript critique, from a couple of up-and-coming editors. Not bad…but the… Continue reading Character Interview: Master Sergeant Roman Andrei Krikoryan

Getting back into things

Sorry I haven’t posted much lately; I just got back to Massachusetts from a cross-country train trip (after spending Christmas between Utah and Texas), and I’m still getting situated here at my parents’ house.  If all goes well, I’ll be leaving by the end of the month to teach English in Georgia; worst case scenario,… Continue reading Getting back into things

Trope Tuesday: Xanatos Speed Chess

Well, I can’t say any of this mess was part of my original plan, but it’s all working out so beautifully that I can’t complain. Tarvek, Girl Genius. The Xanatos Gambit is when a character plans out a scheme such that all possible outcomes (including abject failure) ultimately benefit that character.  Named after David Xanatos… Continue reading Trope Tuesday: Xanatos Speed Chess

Merry Christmas from Texas!

Merry Christmas y’all! I’m down here in Texas, spending the holidays with family; it was either Texas with my sister’s family, or Massachusetts with my parents, and we all agreed that the weather was better down south. My brother-in-law and I drove down here from Provo, and it was a fun little road trip!  We… Continue reading Merry Christmas from Texas!

Climbing the 10k mountain

I recently read an amazing blog post by Rachel Aaron, in which she explains how she went from writing about 2k words per day (about what I’m doing) to routinely breaking 10k. This is something I really want to do with my own writing.  As I noted a couple of weeks ago, I need to… Continue reading Climbing the 10k mountain

Heart of the Nebula 2.0 is finished!

That’s right: the second draft of Heart of the Nebula, direct sequel to Bringing Stella Home, is now finished.  Here are the stats: words: 90,081 chapters: 20 ms pages: 426 start date: 7 Nov 2011 end date: 4 Dec 2011 And the word splash: This was just a quick draft to fix some of the… Continue reading Heart of the Nebula 2.0 is finished!

Star Wanderers 0.2 is finished!

That’s right; I just finished the second draft of the beginning of Star Wanderers, the novel that came out of nowhere like a surprise baby.  I’m sending it out to my alpha readers now, so I can get some feedback before submitting it to Writers of the Future.  If I know you in real life… Continue reading Star Wanderers 0.2 is finished!

Soundtrack for an untitled book

I’ve got this great idea for a novel, with a rough plot outline, an awesome ending, setting and characters all worked out, even the soundtrack–but no title. I enjoy making soundtracks for my novels, but this is the first time I’ve made one before writing the first draft.  Usually, my first drafts are so all over the… Continue reading Soundtrack for an untitled book

Fighting for a Homeland

For the past few weeks, I’ve been brainstorming ideas for my next big novel project.  One of the ways I’ve been doing this is to by trawling tvtropes and putting together a mashup of the story tropes I’d like to play with. By far, the one that’s struck me the most is Fighting for a Homeland.… Continue reading Fighting for a Homeland

Desert Stars 3.0 is finished!

That’s right; after almost exactly two months of writing, the third draft of Desert Stars is now complete! This is the first draft where I feel that things are truly coming together the way they should be, where the story is transforming into something that not only works, but is actually fairly awesome. I’m probably… Continue reading Desert Stars 3.0 is finished!