A gorgeous morning for a leisurely stroll. I talked about yesterday’s successes.
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Great news on the dedicated time put in yesterday! I wonder if your focus will be on the time put in working or on the results. I would think that feeling good about putting the time in without distractions and sufficient breaks would be the way to go. Chances are you won’t get that 2,000 words each time. Doing this at the standup/walking desk is giving you double points on this! Great idea and smart to back off a bit on the first day. That encourages me to work that whole standup thing into my routine.
‘s/GeorgeOrwell/HGWells/’ 😉
What? Did I say HG Wells for 1984?
And yes, the stand up is working. At least so far. I got another 2500 words today. Standing was easier, but I still had to knock off before I’d done the entire three hours.
Went into the descriptions of the books by BG on amazon. Hesitated because they sounded to be about folks I would not like and definitely could not admire. Guess I am a goody two shoes, but it is a little off putting. I may get a sample. I could be wrong. Just a thought.
Hm. That’s interesting, mem. Thanks for that.
You say that Brand Gamblin’s stuff is more commercially oriented – but honestly, perhaps that’s the problem? The explosive growth of e-books suggests that there are a HUGE number of people who are NOT looking for the things the big publishers pushed, who established what “commercially oriented” is.
It’s a part of why I found the second three Share novels not as engaging as the first three, especially Owner’s Share. It’s kinda like you’re getting captured by the System, instead of writing what you want to write. The fights in Ravenwood didn’t feel nearly as forced.
“The Danny” – a short story collection – is the book you were missing.
That’s interesting feedback, Tara.
Of all the books, Ravenwood follows the standard three act structure the most, while the Share books have nothing approaching it.
And yes, The Danny was the one I missed. I always forget it because I’m not into shorts (and Brand writes them a lot).
For what it’s worth, as I listen to “South Coast” again, I’m feeling like it might be one of your best works. Can’t quite put my finger on why, but something about it really stands out. I think it might be the quality of the characters, or the mystical aspects (shrugs), don’t know.
I keep forgetting about that. I wonder if it’s the parallel stories that curl around each other until they meet at the end.
South Coast takes a lot of hits for “they’re fishermen? How can they not know?” The theme of “we do what we’ve always done” — traditions run deep — seems to fall flat for some listeners.
But thanks for that insight.
I’m surprised about the grumbles, because I’ve seen the exact same thing with farmers. Do things the same way for enough years, and it seems like people lose the imagination/energy to look at different ways of doing things.
I’m right with you on that, Chong Go. I liked South Coast best of all of them so far. I think for me it is the mystical nature–something deep that grabs me.
I really need to listen to that one again!
Indeed. Paranormal romances are some of the biggest sellers in the indies, I think – and yet Silhouette and Harlequin tried several times to start lines for them and had problems. Part of the problem, I’m fairly convinced, is that they tried to force their formula to work with the paranormal – and it doesn’t work, quite.
I keep forgetting South Coast as well – while desperately waiting for Cape Grace. I too had some problems with the fishers not realizing the sea mounts were fishable, and that other crops besides the fish themselves could be taken. I *would* have said the idea of taking sustainably, rather than maximizing each run, except current fishers are being very slow about learning that one – and even the loggers are having issues figuring it out, and they started it!
Say, over on Podiobooks – have you tried the Eleanor & Gurt stories, by Michael J. Parry?
Those look good, thanks!
As for the sea mounts — the problem wasn’t that they didn’t know they were fishable. They didn’t look to see if they were there. It was undoubtedly in the original survey and the satellite imagery showed it, but they never thought to look. When you’re busy catching everything in sight — and it works for a few decades, you really don’t think much about “oh, ya. out there in the middle of nowhere there’s more stuff we could do” until you’re pressed to look
I have and I loved the Spiral Tattoo. I haven’t seen the new one yet,
I read Spiral Tattoo rather than listening and loved it. Michael Perry is on my definitely read list. I’m waiting for the print version of his second novel in the series. I didn’t realize it was finished in podiobook format.
I don’t know that it’s the three-act structure is what I’m talking about – but the fights themselves. I’ve never done a really good job of understanding “plot” and how it relates to “theme”.
Plot is “the stuff that happens–the sequence of events.” Most story telling in the modern era uses a basic three-act structure. Act 1 is the introduction and set up. It ends with an action that commits the actors in the story to moving on. They can’t go back after that point. Act II is the main story where the plot unfolds. This is typically where the main character tries and either fails, or in success discovers there’s another goal they didn’t know about. The transition to the final showdown — the big finish — is what marks the beginning of Act III. All the plot strands left open need to be settled in that act. The last bit of Act III should be a resolution, something that tells the reader “you can go home now.”
Theme is the overarching idea that a work explores. One of the themes in Ravenwood is that you never get old enough to stop asking the question “What will I do for the rest of my life?” One of the themes in South Coast is “Habit creates an inertia that is difficult to overcome” — or perhaps — “Stable systems cannot be changed. They need to be made unstable first.”
I did the fights in Ravenwood before the Owner’s Share one. There are few physical confrontations in the Golden Age universe up to now – at least “on the page.” That’s on purpose because I think most of us never see one. I know I haven’t seen a fist fight since grade school. The Ravenwood battles are actually part of the make up of the world, so they evolved more naturally. The fight in Owner’s Share was supposed to be surreal, out of place — much in the way that any foreign action would appear somehow unreal. Now, I may not have done it well, but so far, you’re describing the feeling that I think I was going for.
I liked the big “fight” in Double Share where the bad guys sort of beat themselves up. Evil contains its own undoing in that fight.
Glad to hear your writing went well. You sound really energized.
As for the Brand thing, I do think that one thing that has helped few of the Podiobooks crowd is having a series. Maybe it’s easier for people to forget you when you have standalones and a smaller social media presence? They listen to one standalone but then they don’t hear about your next book. With a series, even if you don’t have a big presence, they know there are more books coming so they keep an eye out.
Perhaps that’s just my desire for many hidden institute books talking though 🙂
He’s working on the sequel to THI and – in typical fashion – he’s developing about 70 plot lines which he’ll massage down to 12. 🙂
And you’re right about the series. That’s something I’ve been telling him for years — literally. He’s beginning to come around.
Excellent! I look forward to it. I really love THI. See… now I’ll be making sure to keep an eye on his website 🙂
Glad things are working out. As far as Brand’s books. My first thought was “oh, to bad they’re all stand alone novels…” I like the occasional stand alone work but I feel more drawn to a work if I know that there are a few more to follow. As reader I think we invest ourselves in the characters and worlds that are built and at some level are predisposed to go for the books we know have the potential to keep us in the world they build and the character that inhabit it. That and we’re a lazy bunch and if we liked book one in a long series then we’ve got a ready made reading list of good stuff!