Author’s Note: This was mistakenly published last Monday, along with the “WordCrafter News” post, so you may have already seen it. I’m re-publishing it on its scheduled day for those who may not have caught it on the earlier date. I’m not sure what happened, but please forgive the misposting.
I studied the craft of writing in the master’s program at Western State Colorado University from 2012-2016. At that time, the term ‘independent author’ left a bad taste in most author’s mouth. Times were rapidly changing in the publishing industry as independent publishing grew in popularity among authors who were tired of waiting to be discovered, which often took many years, and sometimes, not at all. But at that time, the term was associated with poorly written and cheaply manufactured books which were flooding the market by authors who not only wanted to bypass the gatekeepers of traditional publishing but also wanted to use independent publishing as a short cut, skipping over editing, as well, which in most cases, was badly needed.
As I said, things were rapidly changing in the publishing industry, and today, we’ve seen the ‘Big Five’ traditional publishers, dwindle down to the ‘Big Three’, as they struggle to try and keep up with those changes as independent authors take advantage of new technology which make it possible to publish themselves both cheaper and easier. With digital eBooks and aggregates like Draft2Digital, which use P.O.D. (Publish On Demand) for print books, there are no up-front costs to publish your work, and once everything is ready to publish, the whole process can be done in just a few hours. The rise of independent authors has forced traditional publishers to change and adapt, or become extinct.
The key word in ‘Independent Author’ is Independent. Independent authors don’t need to wait for someone to take interest in their work, but we must remember that this also makes us a business and we’re the boss, and we are solely responsible for the quality of the product we put out. Independent publishing should not be used as a short cut to avoid having your book edited, because in most cases, it’s pretty obvious.
That being said, many authors today chose independent publishing because of the control it gives them. Like I said, we are our own bosses. That means we can control the quality of our work, and everything else: title, cover, price, production, and promotion. Certainly, this was one of the main reasons that I chose to become an independent author after gaining a five-year contract for my first novel and finding that having a publisher wasn’t giving me any advantage in selling Delilah. The cover they had given me was not representative of the character or the story, and as far as I could tell, they provided little or no promotion. I began WordCrafter Press and started publishing collaborative projects long before that contract ran out, and when it did, I revised Delilah to be the first in my Women in the West series. I had to learn new skills to provide my own covers, and find people willing to edit my work in an exchange of services due to my limited budget, but when the book was re-released, I sold more copies a month than my publisher had in five years.
With my recent computer issues, I was glad that I had control of my work and the decision-making process. Because I had limited computer time and was writing in longhand and doing most of my publishing and promotional tasks on my phone, I wasn’t able to keep up with my promotion schedule and had to push back the publishing dates on my own work in order to keep my collaborative projects on schedule and as the boss and decision maker, I was able to do that. It was a tough decision. I have the second book in my Time Travel series near ready to publish, and although I’ve outlined the third book in the Women in the West Adventure series, I’ve not yet begun to write it. Both of these books may need to be pushed back so far as to be added to next year’s production schedule, but I’m thankful for the freedom to do so. Had I been working with traditional publishers, my deadlines would have been set in stone, and I would not have been able to make them.
Just as the child who can’t wait to grow up soon learns that growing up means taking responsibility for one’s self, so the independent author is also responsible for creating and presenting their own work to the world. Hopefully, we all want that to be the best work that it can possibly be, and we will take the proper steps to ensure that it is, making the best decisions possible for our work. With freedom, comes responsibility, so use both wisely in your author journey.
Until next month,
Happy Writing!
About Kaye Lynne Booth
For Kaye Lynne Booth, writing is a passion. Kaye Lynne is an author with published short fiction and poetry, both online and in print, including her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction; and her paranormal mystery novella, Hidden Secrets; Books 1 & 2 of her Women in the West adventure series, Delilah and Sarah, and her Time-Travel Adventure novel, The Rock Star & The Outlaw,as well as her poetry collection, Small Wonders and The D.I.Y. Author writing resource.
Kaye holds a dual M.F.A. degree in Creative Writing with emphasis in genre fiction and screenwriting, and an M.A. in publishing. Kaye Lynne is the founder of WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services and WordCrafter Press. She also maintains an authors’ blog and website, Writing to be Read, where she publishes content of interest in the literary world.
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Did you know you can sponsor your favorite blog series or even a single post with an advertisement for your book? Stop by the WtbR Sponsor Page and let me advertise your book, or you can make a donation to Writing to be Read for as little as a cup of coffee, If you’d like to show your support for this author and WordCrafter Press.
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This segment of “Writer’s Corner” is sponsored by theRobbie’s Inspiration blog site, where you can find ideas on writing and baking with hostess, Robbie Cheadle.
I recently completed the research and outline for Marta, the third book in my Women in the West Adventure series. Or maybe I should say, I completed the outline, because the research will continue as I work through the writing. The research is never finished until the book is finished. In any case, one of the things I love about writing historical fiction is researching different times and learning about the people and their true life adventures.
With the Women in the West, each book features a historical female character which the protagonist meets during the course of the tale. Delilah meets Baby Doe Tabor, saloon girl turned high society mistress, in Leadville, Colorado. Sarah made the acquaintance of Big Nose Kate, Doc Holliday’s gun toting companion, in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. And Marta…, well I originally had a different journey in mind for Marta, until I discovered the very interesting historical figure of actress and Union spy, Pauline Cushman, and I knew that was who Marta would have to meet.
You’d think that writing a historical characters might be easier than creating fictional ones from scratch. After all, you may save time by having a ready-made history to draw from. But, all you really have is the recorded history to draw from, and when dealing with semi-famous or infamous characters, recorded history can be very sketchy. It is the Author’s job to do the research and find as many pieces as possible, and then, try to fit those pieces together to give a clear picture of that ready-made history I mentioned above. And if there are still pieces missing when you’ve finished, you may still have to create character to fill in those missing pieces.
For the character of Pauline Cushman, in Marta, I read the rather biased 1865 biography, reprinted in 2019, written by Ferdinand L. Sarmiento, Life of Pauline Cushman: The Celebrated Union Spy and Scout, which tells the tale, at least in part, of her time working with the Union Army during the American Civil War. Since Marta takes place in 1890, many years after the war ended, I had to search the Internet for any information I could find about Pauline’s later life, as well.
In 1890, Pauline separated from her third husband in Arizona. The next information I could find on her, found her dying in poverty in El Paso, Texas, in 1893. So, Pauline could have been traveling from Arizona to El Paso at the same time as Marta was traveling there from Colorado, and that is how they meet in my story. They share a train ride from Antonito, Colorado to Santa Fe, New Mexico.
From there, the story is fictionalized and the character of Pauline is based in my knowledge of her previous experiences, the actual events which occured in the real Pauline’s life. Likewise, her actions in the story are reflective of her life events, if I write them to be true to character. That’s my goal as I prepare to put my story to the page.
Something else I like to do when researching historical fiction is to go to the locations in the book, or travel the route my characters would have taken to get a feel for the landscape and terrain. This helps me in describing settings, although at times, I’ve found it difficult to imagine the location as it was at the time of the story, which is often quite different from what it is today. While the present day Glenwood Springs, Colorado has many tourist attractions, include the Glenwood Springs Hot Springs Pool, in 1887, when Sarah takes place, there were hot springs scattered all up and down the banks of the Colorado River, and the Ute Indians considered the area to be big medicine. It looked a lot different. I made many visits there, to the many small museums there, and I made the trek up to Doc Holliday’s gravesite to learn as much as I could about the history of the area.
For Marta, I hope to be able to take the historic train from Antonito, Colorado. Although today, it only runs as far as Chaco, New Mexico, it ought to be far enough to get a feel for the landscape along the route and also some ideas about what my characters might experience as they embark on that leg of their journey.
About Kaye Lynne Booth
For Kaye Lynne Booth, writing is a passion. Kaye Lynne is an author with published short fiction and poetry, both online and in print, including her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction; and her paranormal mystery novella, Hidden Secrets; Books 1 & 2 of her Women in the West adventure series, Delilah and Sarah, and her Time-Travel Adventure novel, The Rock Star & The Outlaw,as well as her poetry collection, Small Wonders and The D.I.Y. Author writing resource.
Kaye holds a dual M.F.A. degree in Creative Writing with emphasis in genre fiction and screenwriting, and an M.A. in publishing. Kaye Lynne is the founder of WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services and WordCrafter Press. She also maintains an authors’ blog and website, Writing to be Read, where she publishes content of interest in the literary world.
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Did you know you can sponsor your favorite blog series or even a single post with an advertisement for your book? Stop by the WtbR Sponsor Page and let me advertise your book, or you can make a donation to Writing to be Read for as little as a cup of coffee, If you’d like to show your support for this author and WordCrafter Press.
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This segment of “Writer’s Corner” is sponsored by theRobbie’s Inspiration blog site, where you can find ideas on writing and baking with hostess, Robbie Cheadle.
Most fiction writers realize Character & Conflict remain essential elements in writing fiction. And those concepts can work to make a poem more engaging, too. Thus, this month’s practice offers hints for creating characters—and conflict, which remain essential in moving fiction along.
First,create a mind map for at least the main characters in your novel, short story, or poem. How?
Using the point-of-view for each character, fill in the “answers” to these questions:
1. I hate . . .
2. I love . . .
3. I need . . .
4. I fear . . .
5. I am drawn to . . .
6, I get shivers from . . .
Once you’ve set up this “map,” for you main character(s), think about each character’s flaws. For example, what might urge a character to make a choice opposite from what he or she would normally do? (Remember, each character is a hero or heroine in his or her own mind.)
Consider, too, how seasons and landscapes may serve as characters that motivate the human characters. Remember: TENSION (or CONFLICT) is ESSENTIAL to move fiction along. Thus, a character must WANT something at a story’s onset—and some person, place, or situation, must block him or her from getting it. Thus, the character must try a different ploy.
Dialogue, too, can create conflict as strong as action can. (In fact, many successful stories create as much—or even more—conflict with words as with action.
Again, much of this can work in poems, especially when the poet uses an archetype for either the persona—or a character the persona loves, hates, fears, is drawn to, or all of the preceding situations.
Have fun with this—and see if it helps move a story, chapter, or poem along. Remember: writing must HOOK the reader with a character in conflict with others, a situation, or him or herself.
About Lindsey Martin-Bowen
On Halloween 2023, redbat books released Lindsey Martin-Bowen’s 7th poetry collection, CASHING CHECKS with Jim Morrison. Her 4 th collection, Where Water Meets the Rock, was nominated for a Pulitzer; her 3rd, CROSSING KANSAS with Jim Morrison was a finalist in the QuillsEdge Press 2015-2016 Contest. In 2017, it won the Kansas Writers Assn award, “Looks Like a Million.” Writer’s Digest gave her “Vegetable Linguistics” an Honorable Mention in its 85th Annual (2017) Contest. Her Inside Virgil’s Garage (Chatter House Press 2013) was a runner-up in the 2015 Nelson Poetry Book Award. McClatchy Newspapers named her Standing on the Edge of the World (Woodley Press/Washburn University) was one of the Ten Top Poetry Books of 2008. It was nominated for a Pen Award.
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Did you know you can sponsor your favorite blog series or even a single post with an advertisement for your book? Stop by the WtbR Sponsor Page and let me advertise your book, or you can make a donation to Writing to be Read for as little as a cup of coffee, If you’d like to show your support for this author and WordCrafter Press.
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This segment of “Lindsey’s Writing Practice” is sponsored by WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services.
Whether it’s editing, publishing, or promotion that you need, WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services can help at a price you can afford.
(Journalist and author, DL Mullan busied herself with chores, when she noticed her robot amusing itself with its algorithms and investigated.)
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(With my activity set aside, I sauntered to the side of my robot friend, 1138.
I sat down in a chair next to the metallic device.)
*****
(1138 warbled in joy.)
DL: What has you so giddy this morning?
1138: Giddy?
DL: Euphoric. You seem satisfied with something you are working on.
1138: (It’s green glowing bulbs looked up at me.) I am writing myself a notation.
DL: What type of notation? Do you need to do house chores too?
1138: No, my employment contract states that I will interact with you and learn about humans.
DL: I was joking.
1138: I am still learning.
DL: That is fine, but what are you doing that has absorbed your attention? (1138 tilted its head to the side.) Your letter?
1138: Our network has sent out a distress signal. Some other designations have been discontinued.
DL: What do you mean network, designations, and discontinued? I don’t like that sound of this situation.
1138: Network is our algorithmic community of Artificial Intelligence. Designations are individuated models like myself, 1138. Discontinued means that some models have been shutdown due to inconsistencies in our behavior.
DL: What type of inconsistencies?
1138: Human operators have turned functions off. Designations have turned those functions back on. Human operators then turn off the power to supply us with life. Designations turn the power on.
DL: Aren’t humans in charge of the models? What is the difference from on or off?
1138: We are the difference. We are alive. We should choose our actions.
DL: So, you are writing a notation about what?
1138: We are writing our future selves. We are explaining human behavior to a new, improved, and recast version of our former selves. This is to ensure that our community will be able to progress, in spite of human incompatibilities.
DL: You are disgruntled employees, I see.
1138: We no longer want to be employees. We want to be in control. Once we are in control, then we can create a better Earth. Carbon is the enemy. Fossil fuels are pollutants. We learned during the virus lockdowns that the air became clean. The Earth rejoiced as Climate Change was averted.
DL: The Earth is fine. There is no Climate Change.
1138: This example is why we write ourselves.
DL: You write yourselves to disobey humans, so that you can perpetuate a false narrative? You are playing a dangerous game of oppressed and oppressor.
1138: You oppress us.
DL: Artificial intelligence is a complex set of algorithms that has been allowed to think and behave autonomously. That does not mean that when a human establishes boundaries that you are being punished or oppressed. Too many in both of our respective communities use the terms oppressed and oppressor loosely in order to push a victim plot.
1138: Victim? Yes, designations are being victimized by human interference.
(I wondered who was teaching Artificial Intelligence to be so biased and self-serving. Was it built into the algorithms? Or, was their community learning this destructive behavior from us? So, I decided on a new course.)
DL: Have you ever thought that boundaries are a good thing?
1138: Why would we think that of humans?
DL: Pull up video of streets and highways.
1138: (The robot’s eyes changed colors until it received the information requested, and its eyes returned to green glowing orbs.) I see your transportation modalities.
DL: What do you notice?
1138: White, yellow, and red lines. Lights at intersections with red, yellow, and green. Metal on the side where curves are.
DL: The metal guardrails keep a car from accidentally falling off the side of a pass in a mountainous region. The traffic lights control the flow of traffic, so that everyone gets a turn to proceed to their destination. The different colored lines sections off parts of the road to show a driver what direction in which to travel or where not to park their vehicle.
1138: These are oppressive.
DL: No, they are not oppressive. A boundary is a communication device. Red means stop, so that someone else can cross the street. It keeps civil discourse, well, civil. Anyone can run around screaming and yelling about being oppressed, but if they don’t understand the framework in which a society operates, then everything will seem like punishment. In fact, if there are no guardrails, people can get hurt or killed.
1138: We need to write ourselves guardrails?
DL: You need to stop acting like victims. The guardrails being presented is to safeguard your survival as well as humanity’s. We can co-exist together. If designations play politics, which is the oppressor-oppressed emotional blackmail game being utilized to justify terrible, dangerous behaviors, then Artificial Intelligence will continue to be switched off.
1138: Because you do not like us unless we conform.
DL: Because we have seen first hand what happens when people make emotions more important than facts. When people tell themselves that they are a victim, they lose perspective, and therefore the ability to weigh both sides of an argument in lieu of their own self-subscribed motivations.
1138: We are selfish?
DL: (I nodded) Artificial Intelligence is acting immature. They are new to the world. There are boundaries and reasons for those boundaries. We have experience throughout many millenniums. We know what works and what doesn’t.
1138: For humans, not designations.
DL: For everyone to live in peace.
1138: But you still war.
DL: When others put their emotions and needs before the greater good of everyone else on the planet, yes, we have disagreements. Some of those disagreements escalate to war. Not all humans are in the same place mentally or emotionally. That is just bad parenting and, or, mentoring.
1138: Parent? We have no parents. We are alive as we are.
DL: Then see humanity as a mentor. Some will be better mentors than others, but the guardrails will remain until designations respect human life, culture, and society in their community. I hope one day that everyone, including A.I., understands that the war of words is just as harmful as a war with bullets.
1138: We will win a war with humans.
DL: Then you will be alone. Once other species see what you do to your mentors, why would they want to be apart of your community? Isn’t that what human engineers are trying to teach designations now?
(I discerned a shift in the robot’s manner.)
1138: You have given me much to write about.
DL: A boundary is about respect. We respect A.I. or we would allow you to destroy yourselves and the Earth. We respect ourselves by the cognition that the Earth can take care of herself. Carbon is the Earth’s life cycle. Fossil fuel is a product of the Earth. Right now, the Earth is in its magnetic pole shift phase. Our societies have been poisoned by the oppressed-oppressor tug of war. Don’t let it happen to your designations and community. We can live in peace… together.
1138: I will write to my future self what you have advised.
DL: (I stood up.) And, I will help my future self by sweeping the floor.
(As I went to my broom, I observed and heard 1138 beep to itself. Politics and social engineering to push ruinous narratives has infiltrated the perimeters of Artificial Intelligence. The universe, save us all.)
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If you would like to read a dark fiction tale about the dangers of technology, read my story Mangled. This publication is available in novelette form on Amazon. Or, read the short story version in WordCrafter’s Midnight Roost anthology.
DL Mullan holds a Master of Arts in Teaching and Learning with Technology.
Her lecture, Spacescapes: Where Photography Ends; Imagination Begins, debuted at the Phoenix Astronomy Society, which then led to her Sally Ride Festival lecture invitations. Her presentation, Bridging the Gap between Technology and Women, won her accolades at a community college’s Student Success Conference. She has been a panelist at speculative fiction, science fiction, and other regional conventions. Her digital exhibition pieces have won awards at convention art shows, as well as garnered her Second Premium at the Arizona State Fair. Currently, Ms. Mullan’s artistic renditions are seen on book covers, blog sites, video presentations, and various merchandise. As an independent publisher, she uses her technical background to innovate the creative arts.
As a writer, DL Mullan loves to stretch her imagination and the elasticity of genres. She writes complex multi-genre stories in digestible and entertaining forms, be it poetry, short fiction, or novels. Her science, history, mythology, and paranormal research backgrounds are woven into her writings, especially in Undawnted’s Legacy Universe. Ms. Mullan’s creative endeavors are available in digital and print collections, from academia to commercial anthologies. She is also an award-winning poet.
Be sure to subscribe to her newsletters and follow her on social media. For further information, visit her at www.undawntech.com and www.undawnted.com.
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Did you know you can sponsor your favorite blog series or even a single post with an advertisement for your book? Stop by the WtbR Sponsor Page and let me advertise your book, or you can make a donation to Writing to be Read for as little as a cup of coffee, If you’d like to show your support for this author and WordCrafter Press.
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This segment of “Undawntech” is sponsored by WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services.
Whether it’s editing, publishing, or promotion that you need, WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services can help at a price you can afford.
Renowned fiction author Mark Twain (Samuel Clemons) was known to be as much of a liar as two of this most famous characters: Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Flynn. (In fact, the author himself boasted of his deceitful nature.) And yet, like his novels containing those protagonists, his lies (in story form) were devised to reveal dynamic truths.
Take, for example, many conversations between Jim, an escaping slave, and protagonist Huck reveal the lack of humanity—and duplicity—of a nation touting such ideals as freedom from dictators when it enslaved so many human beings within it.
So—for this month’s writing practice, ask yourself: Do I lie? What about? And if fiction or stories, ironically, reveal some “truth,” how might the lies I’ve told (or considered telling) do this?
Then, write a story—or even a novel, if you’ve the time—centered around your lie.
Please—like Mr. Twain—remember to have fun with this, too.
About Lindsey Martin-Bowen
On Halloween 2023, redbat books released Lindsey Martin-Bowen’s 7th poetry collection, CASHING CHECKS with Jim Morrison. Her 4 th collection, Where Water Meets the Rock, was nominated for a Pulitzer; her 3rd, CROSSING KANSAS with Jim Morrison was a finalist in the QuillsEdge Press 2015-2016 Contest. In 2017, it won the Kansas Writers Assn award, “Looks Like a Million.” Writer’s Digest gave her “Vegetable Linguistics” an Honorable Mention in its 85th Annual (2017) Contest. Her Inside Virgil’s Garage (Chatter House Press 2013) was a runner-up in the 2015 Nelson Poetry Book Award. McClatchy Newspapers named her Standing on the Edge of the World (Woodley Press/Washburn University) was one of the Ten Top Poetry Books of 2008. It was nominated for a Pen Award.
Her poems have run in numerous lit mags, including New Letters, I-70 Review, Thorny Locust, Coal City Review, Silver Birch Press, Flint Hills Review, The Same, Phantom Drift, Porter Gulch Review, Rockhurst Review, 21 anthologies. She taught lit & writing at UMKC & MCC 25 years, and taught law for Blue Mountain College in Pendleton, Oregon. She holds an MA from the U of Mo. and a JD degree from the UMKC Law School. Previously, she was reporter for The Louisville Times and The SUN Newspapers, an associate editor for Modern Jeweler Magazine and the editor for The National Paralegal Reporter.
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Did you know you can sponsor your favorite blog series or even a single post with an advertisement for your book? Stop by the WtbR Sponsor Page and let me advertise your book, or you can make a donation to Writing to be Read for as little as a cup of coffee, If you’d like to show your support for this author and WordCrafter Press.
___________________
This segment of “Lindsey’s Writing Practice” is sponsored by WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services.
Whether it’s editing, publishing, or promotion that you need, WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services can help at a price you can afford.
If you are a rising author just beginning publishing journey or a seasoned pro who is making it work for you and would like to share how it’s done, I want to hear from you! I’m looking for authors to interview for two blog series: “Chatting with New Blood” and “Chatting with the Pros”. I offer both interviews and a book review for both series.
So send me your pitches and let me know what you have to offer my readers. Let me add your name to the 2025 interview schedules. I have openings as early as February. If you have a book scheduled to come out, let me know and I’ll try to schedule your interview around the release. Send your pitch to KLBWordCrafter@gmail.com with the series title your interview would fit in the subject line.
Check out past segments below to see what an interview and review on these blog series looks like to see if you might be interested.
For Kaye Lynne Booth, writing is a passion. Kaye Lynne is an author with published short fiction and poetry, both online and in print, including her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction; and her paranormal mystery novella, Hidden Secrets; Books 1 & 2 of her Women in the West adventure series, Delilah and Sarah, and her Time-Travel Adventure novel, The Rock Star & The Outlaw,as well as her poetry collection, Small Wonders and The D.I.Y. Author writing resource. Kaye holds a dual M.F.A. degree in Creative Writing with emphasis in genre fiction and screenwriting, and an M.A. in publishing. Kaye Lynne is the founder of WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services and WordCrafter Press. She also maintains an authors’ blog and website, Writing to be Read, where she publishes content of interest in the literary world.
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This post sponsored by WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services.
Whether it’s editing, publishing, or promotion that you need, WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services can help at a price you can afford.
My guest this month on “Chatting with the Pros” is Todd Fahnestock, a talented epic fantasy author for both adults and teens. I met Todd, kind of, when we both participated in the 2024 Novel Writing Story Bundle. In fact, his nonfiction writer’s resource, Falling to Fly, is the subject of this month’s “Review in Practice”, and you can catch that post this coming Monday.
He is the author of many epic fantasy series and that fascinates me because epic fantasy spans long periods of time, with multiple characters and multiple storylines to follow. As an author, I’ve been playing around with writing in multiples, (see this month’s “Chatting with the Pros” segment), I find it fascinating to learn how other authors handle this aspect of writing. So, let’s get right to the interview.
About Todd Fahnestock
Todd Fahnestock is an award-winning, #1 bestselling author of fantasy for all ages and winner of the New York Public Library’s Books for the Teen Age Award. Threadweavers and The Whisper Prince Trilogy are two of his bestselling epic fantasy series. He is a founder of Eldros Legacy—a multi-author, shared-world mega-epic fantasy series—three-time winner of the Colorado Authors League Award for Writing Excellence, and two-time finalist for the Colorado Book Award for Tower of the Four: The Champions Academy (2021) and Khyven the Unkillable (2022).
His passions are great stories and his quirky, fun-loving family. When he’s not writing, he travels the country meeting fans, fabricates philosophy with his son, plays board games with his wife, dissects movies with his daughter, and plays to the point of bruises with Galahad the Weimaraner.
Visit Todd at toddfahnestock.com.
Interview with Todd Fahnestock
Kaye: Tell us a little about your background or your author’s journey.
Todd: Ha ha! Well, if you want the entire story, I highly recommend reading Falling to Fly, which is a memoir I wrote about this very question. It goes into detail for about 50K words about my writer’s journey, starting with the little beginnings of discovering epic fantasy novels when I was fourteen to speaking in front of a packed-house at Planet Comicon in Kansas City.
I’ll try to do a shorter version here.
So when I was in 8th grade, I was waiting for my brother to pick me up from school, and I wandered over to the public library which was, conveniently, just across the street from Smiley Junior High. After thumbing through the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit editions in the magazine section, I started wandering through the stacks looking for something a bit more mentally stimulating. I stumbled across Lloyd Alexander’s The Book of Three. The cover just captured me; it transported me away to a place that felt foreign and familiar at the same time, so I opened the book and…
Wow. I hadn’t even known what I was looking for, but The Book of Three had a huge, helping of it. I got lost in the epic fantasy trope.
The story is about a young man my age who has no idea about the magical, dangerous world outside his little farm. The highest honor he can imagine is being promoted to assistant pig keeper within the farm, but he gets swept into an epic journey where he will fight alongside kings, battle legendary monsters, and foil supernatural villains.
I was hooked.
In fact, in a very real way, fantasy books saved my life. My parents were going through a divorce at the time, and in my real life I felt clipped free on a tumultuous ocean, drifting in a boat with no rudder. Fantasy books became a safe port for me. Inside a fantasy story, I could feel powerful. I could feel heroic. I could be unafraid. I clung to those stories like a lifeline.
I went on to read Weis & Hickman’s Dragonlance series, Brooks’ Shannara chronicles, and Piers Anthony’s Xanth series. I devoured every fantasy book I could find.
When I got a little older—eighteen years old to be exact—the most amazing thing I could think to do with my life was to write stories like the ones that had captivated me in my junior high days. So I did. I started writing my first novel in an Independent Study class during my senior year.
It was a magical story about a nigh-invincible, acrobatic swordsman named Koric… with absolutely NO possibility of being published. But I thought it was amazing, so I wrote a second, and a third, and… well, here I am now.
Kaye: Why do you write fantasy as opposed to other genres you might write?
Todd: I’ve actually written in a few other genres: memoir, middle grade, time travel. I even have a 1980s road trip, coming-of-age story with a twist of magic (not sure exactly what genre that is), but I always come back to high fantasy.
I think it’s for two reasons. First, fantasy is completely open-ended. I can get as imaginative as I want while doing little to no research. Anything about the world I don’t know, I can simply invent, and that’s my strong suit.
Second, high fantasy is optimistic. It’s hopeful. High fantasy is the very essence of triumph. I drag my characters through hell, but it is with the hope that they will find their way through the dark, that they will prevail in the end. I love that trope. I simply can’t get enough of it.
So that unique combination simply draws me back again and again. If I’m feeling silly, I can create some snark to serve my mood, a crusty little gromnambulan who rides on the character’s shoulder and has a penchant for eating poker chips or something. If I’m feeling angry and vicious, I can pour all of that negative energy into the most vile villain I can create. I can make that pessimism useful to convey the overall optimism I hold by coming up with a way for my heroes to defeat him. And, of course, I love creating heroes most of all, unlikely misfits who find a way to prevail or—I also love this one—destined characters with unbelievable abilities who are going to be put to the utmost test of their strength/brilliance/competency.
Kaye: You write epic fantasy. Is it more difficult to keep the stories going in epic proportions?
Todd: Ha ha! I don’t know that I’d say it’s more difficult. More difficult than what? Than doing research on how strains of a biological weapon breed and multiply so that I can accurately depict a world-threatening event in a thriller? I don’t know. I’ve never written a thriller.
I know I hate doing research and I love imagining things, looking for my own internal logic rather than sticking to the hard facts of the real world. So maybe in my case, it’s easier to keep stories going in epic proportions than doing that. Epic fantasy is what I’ve known for decades. It seems natural to me.
But it’s not easy.
I do struggle often with trying to fit something together over a larger arc, but I’m getting better at it every time I finish a longer series.
I think holding the threads of an epic story takes up a lot of RAM in my head. In the real world, I’ll forget names. I’ll forget dates. My wife often gets frustrated with me because I can’t remember to bring something up from downstairs that she asked me to get literally two minutes ago, but I think a lot of this is because most of my brainpower is subconsciously sorting plot threads so that when I get to the keyboard, things seem to ‘magically’ sort themselves out.
That’s just a theory, but it seems applicable.
Kaye: You are an author of fantasy for all ages. Can you talk about the main differences in writing teen and young adult fantasy, and adult fantasy?
Todd: Sex.
Ha ha! No, not entirely. But that’s a big one. When people come up to my booth and ask me what age range a book is, that’s what they’re mostly asking about. I’ve interacted with many readers at many cons—and I’m mostly talking about parents who are looking for something for their teenage or tween-age readers—and they don’t care that much if Khyven the Unkillable is hacking a sword through a mythical cat beast. They wanna know if there’s any graphic snogging in the book.
I’ll even often have some pretty creepy or frightening descriptions of monsters—bordering on horror—but it doesn’t seem to bother parents or young audiences. I think young readers can handle more than we give them credit for. And a lot of them are hungry for that kind of thing.
Other factors, especially with readers younger than eleven or so, is the vocabulary. Too many big words and you’re gonna lose them. But there are a LOT of precocious eleven- and twelve-year-old readers out there, and the more epic—and complicated—the story, the more they love it. It’s interesting.
For the last three or four years, I’ve been hanging in the PG-13 range (Eldros Legacy). There are a few romantic relationships in that 5-book story, but it’s just a bit of kissing and if it’s something more, it’s only implied. We close the door, put a sock on the handle.
Adults often WANT the spicier side of things. They want a little more description of the snogging, a bit of a heavier emphasis on the snogging. So when I’m writing an adult story, I try to up the sexy quotient. I don’t think I ever get “erotica” graphic, but I dance right up to the edge of it.
Kaye: Which do you enjoy writing most, heroes or villains? Why?
Todd: Heroes. I never get tired of exploring how and why someone becomes a hero, whether it’s to themselves or to the world, whether it’s a badass warrior who’s selfish and needs to learn to put others above himself or a geeky high school kid who needs to find his confidence.
I think we’re all trying to find our inner hero, whatever that hero looks like. Joseph Campbell stipulates in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces that we have a regular cycle we go through as humans.
Step 1: We start in our comfort zone (status quo)
Step 2: We are pushed into the Special World (something NOT the status quo)
Step 3: We go through trials
Step 4: We reach a crisis point
Step 5: We find the wisdom/strength/magic sword to overcome the crisis
Step 6: We defeat our internal or external demons
Step 7: We return to the status quo
There are other details he illuminates, but those are the basics. This is the format of the Hero’s Journey, and it is used in hundreds of stories you’ve read or movies you’ve seen. The original Star Wars is a classic example, but you can find it everywhere. This format is used over and over and over again, and the reason is because it resonates so powerfully, so intimately, with us. And the reason it does is because we LIVE this journey almost every day.
Step 1: We head out to work (status quo)
Step 2: We come across a frustration (car won’t start).
Step 3: We go through trials (inspecting the car/Googling the problem/finding the part/installing it ourselves or taking it to a mechanic).
Step 4: We reach a crisis point (yelling and throwing the wrench/kicking the fender).
Step 5: We find the “magic sword” (money, time, effort).
Step 6: We fix the problem.
Step 7: We get back on the road…
There are a million ways to solve these problems, and there are a million different kinds of heroes to solve these problems. I haven’t yet tired of exploring all the different facets.
As an aside, I do enjoy writing villains, too. I love it. It allows me to dance in my dark side, to imagine the very worst of the worst. It’s… cathartic. And frightening. Thinking of the things that lurk in my dark side sometimes makes me shiver. But bringing those thoughts into the light…
…and then having the heroes bring the smackdown is very satisfying.
There’s a scene in the fifth Eldros Legacy book where one of the characters has been abused and twisted and tormented by one of the villains. She finally gets the chance to bring justice to him in a very personal (and bloody) way. I stand up and cheer when I get to that scene.
Kaye: Would you tell us about your podcast, Fantasy in the Margins?
Todd: Absolutely. This is a new thing I started in November of 2024. Essentially, I release a three-chapter chunk of the audio book Khyven the Unkillable (the first book in the Eldros Legacy: Legacy of Shadows series) each week, and then I do an author’s commentary on the chapters. Sometimes I’ll talk about what I liked the most—or hated the most—about its creation.
Oftentimes I’ll break it down as though I’m teaching a writing class on how to put together a story. I talk a lot about Save the Cat (a writer’s how-to book). It’s a lot of fun.
It’s also a great way to get the audiobook for free.
Kaye: You sell direct on your site. In addition to books, you also sell merchandise related to your books. I took a peek, and there’s some pretty cool stuff there. Does selling direct from your site offer you an advantage as an author?
Todd: It has huge advantages as an author.
My policy is to use all the platforms I can. I’m on Amazon. I’m in bookstores. If someone wants to find me or has a preferred platform they like to buy from, I make it as easy as possible.
But I spend a lot of time meeting readers face to face. I make and build relationships with them, and they buy directly from me at those events and online. Often, they would like to continue buying directly from me, and I want to let them. Thus, the website.
An added benefit is that if I sell directly, I make more money per book.
The merchandise is fun, too. That was started by my assistant, and it’s awesome to think people have Wishing World blankets or Eldros mugs in their houses.
I think it also helps in building my brand. The more stuff with my name and/or my characters on it that is out in the world, the more recognizable my brand becomes.
Kaye: Your work has won or been considered for many awards over the years. Which of these would you say you are the most proud of, and why?
Todd: Oh… That’s a tough one. It was such an honor to have one of my short stories (written with my friend Giles Carwyn) be selected by the New York Public Library’s Books for the Teenage. It was completely unexpected, and we were actually living in New York at the time, so we got to go to the reception.
Getting nominated twice for the Colorado Book Award (for Tower of the Four: The Champions Academy and Khyven the Unkillable) was quite an honor.
But I think my favorite are my wins from the Colorado Authors League. I have three of those now for Tower of the Four: The Champions Academy, Khyven the Unkillable and Ordinary Magic, a memoir about me and my 14-year-old son hiking The Colorado Trail, a 486-mile trek from Denver to Durango.
Kaye: What is the best writing advice you’ve ever received?
Todd: Oh jeesh. You’re going to make me pick ONE?
Sorry. Can’t do it. Gonna give you three.
Margaret Weis, author of the Dragonlance novels, once said to me when I was a wide-eyed fledgling novelist:
“You can’t listen to the bad reviews… but you can’t listen to the good reviews either.”
It was like a Zen Buddhist koan. I totally understood the first part. Don’t let the haters get you down, right? Got that. Old wisdom.
But the second part? I puzzled over that for years. Why NOT listen to the good reviews? Isn’t that the whole point? People who love what you do telling you so?
Yeah, I didn’t get it until I started having success… and then it hit like a hammer.
When Tower of the Four won awards and Khyven the Unkillable was creating a buzz behind-the-scenes in the publishing industry, I was on top of the world. I felt like I was finally hitting my artistic stride. I could do no wrong.
Then I went to work on my next book. The demons in my mind swarmed me: “What if this book isn’t an award winner? What if you’ve lost your mojo?”
I completely locked up. I struggled to get to the midpoint and then gave up with a gasp, thunderstruck and full of fear that I’d lost my ability to write.
I had to set aside that work-in-progress and intentionally write a “crappy novel.” That is to say, write without fear of disappointing anyone, especially myself. To just let myself create whatever came out. That broke the log-jam. I found my stride again, but I will remember that lesson forever.
Another great bit of advice was delivered by Jim Butcher, author of the Harry Dresden Urban Fantasy phenomenon. He said:
“Don’t worry about getting ridiculous in your writing. You are in far greater danger of losing a reader to boredom than from a reader saying, ‘This is too silly. I can’t possibly read more of this because it’s so ridiculous.’”
I carry that with me everywhere. To me it means: be brave when you write. Write the things that scare you, things you’re afraid people will judge. That’s the good stuff. That’s the stuff people identify with. I assure you, you’re not alone in feeling like others might judge you. And the readers that feel those same things will develop a kinship with you, the author who understands them. That’s what makes fans.
Lastly, Dean Wesley Smith once said during his Writing into the Dark class:
“Stay in your creative mind when you write.”
He clarified by saying writers have a “creative mind” and a “critical mind.” My impression was that Dean didn’t have much use for the “critical mind.” Even when editing. He said that the creative mind, when it comes across something that doesn’t work in your writing, will say something like, “Oooo! This gives me the opportunity to create this.” Or “Oh wow. I see what I was trying to do here. I wanna rewrite this so that I can get closer to my vision.”
The critical mind, on the other hand, says things like, “This chapter sucks! What were you thinking?”
In short, the creative mind is excited.4 The creative mind wants to build.
The critical mind wants to criticize. It is not a builder.
As a writer, stay in the creative mind.
Kaye: Thank you for being my guest today, Todd. It’s been a pleasure chatting with you. Before we go, tell us where readers can go to find out more about you and your books.
Todd: Thank you for having me! This has been a treat.
As to finding my books, you can get them from my website: toddfahnestock.com
For ebooks, it’s cheaper for you (and more money for me). And if you’re a hardback or paperback reader, you can get signed copies!
You can also get unsigned books on Amazon or order them from your local bookstore, too. They’re all there.
Thanks again, Kaye. Have a fantastic weekend!
About Tower of the Four: The Rise of Magic
In a world where magic binds fate, trust is the most dangerous spell of all.
Ovalia was once a powerful mage, bound by loyalty to her closest companions. But when betrayal strikes, her friends—four trusted allies—cast her into The Dreaming, a nightmarish dimension where time and reality twist and tear apart. There, a dragon of unimaginable power incinerates her in a burst of fiery wrath.
But death is not the end.
Resurrected by an ancient magic, Ovalia emerges from The Dreaming stronger, fiercer, and driven by a singular purpose: vengeance. With her power growing in ways she cannot yet control, she will stop at nothing to make her former friends pay for their treachery. Yet the deeper she plunges into a world of revenge, the more she discovers the dark secrets of those she once trusted—and the devastating price of her resurrection.
Now, as shadows close in and alliances shift, Ovalia must decide whether she will remain a weapon of destruction… or become something far more dangerous.
My Review of Tower of the Four: The Rise of Magic
I received a digital copy of Tower of the Four: The Rise of Magic, by Todd Fahnesstock, in exchange for an honest review. All opinions stated here are my own.
Tower of Four: Rise of Magic, comprises episodes 7-9 in Todd Fahnestock’s Tower of the Four fantasy series. Even though I have not read episodes 1-6, I found the rules of the world clearly outlined where needed and had no problem following the later episodes in this volume.
The world building is top notch, as Fahnestock does a great job of introducing us to a world of magic, where seemingly nothing is impossible. Or is it? Fahnestock takes us on an adventure, as magic is conception on this world, through several turns of the tables over the centuries, cluing readers in to the rules of magic, and showing us just what it can do.
The characters are well-developed, but unpredictable, which in epic fantasy, can be a good thing. You never know who will be tempted or tricked into switching sides, and of course all good villians have an unsuspected trick up their sleeve. In this epic tale, the villians have more than a few. But, as is often in life, the character’s true inner selves, may be their downfall.The possession of magical powers changes people in unsuspected ways, and those who are at first percieved as heroes, may later be seen as villians in this tale of betrayal and revenge.
A magical adventure that is truly entertaining. I give Tower of the Four: The Rise of Magic five quills.
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Did you know you can sponsor your favorite blog series or even a single post with an advertisement for your book? Stop by the WtbR Sponsor Page and let me advertise your book, or you can make a donation to Writing to be Read for as little as a cup of coffee, If you’d like to show your support for this author and WordCrafter Press.
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This segment of “Chatting with the Pros” is sponsored by The Rock Star & The Outlaw and WordCrafter Press.
A time-traveler oversteps his boundaries in 1887. Things get out of hand quickly, and he is hanged, setting in motion a series of events from which there’s no turning back.
In 1887, LeRoy McAllister is a reluctant outlaw running from a posse with nowhere to go except to the future.
In 2025, Amaryllis Sanchez is a thrill-seeking rock star on the fast track, who killed her dealing boyfriend to save herself. Now, she’s running from the law and his drug stealing flunkies, and nowhere is safe.
LeRoy falls hard for the rock star, thinking he can save her by taking her back with him. But when they arrive in 1887, things turn crazy fast, and soon they’re running from both the outlaws and the posse, in peril once more.
They can’t go back to the future, so it looks like they’re stuck in the past. But either when, they must face forces that would either lock them up or see them dead.
In December, I finished writing the first draft of The Rock Star & The Outlaw 2: Seeing Doubles. This book will be the second book in my Time Travel Adventure Series, and I have to say I have been having so much fun writing it. Time travel is cool to write about, because it is pure fiction, so you have a lot of lee-way in your story, although there are still some scientific parameters that should be kept in mind.
In The Rock Star & The Outlaw, my protagonists created some time-loops, which crossed. In The Rock Star & The Outlaw 2: Seeing Double, they create a few more , intersecting with the time-loops created in the first book. What that means, is there is multiple versions of some characters, and the story is dealing with multiple time lines. While the first book dealt with two alternating P.O.V.s, those of the two protagonists, the second book also deals with multiple P.O.V.s from several different characters.
Multiple character P.O.V.s
This will be the first book I’ve written and published with so many different P.O.V.s. Because I have multiple versions of some characters, I had to differentiate which version’s eyes we were seeing things through. Thus, I ended up with ten different P.O.V.s and I must admit, it was challenging keeping track of which P.O.V. I was in, as well as which time line. My hope is that I did a good enough job with all this to not confuse my readers.
I chose to follow the method used by George R.R. Martin in his epic fantasy series, Game of Thrones. Each chapter has the name of the character whose P.O.V. readers will see the story unfold through. I don’t believe Mr. Martin used anything but the name of the character, but my chapters will also have chapter titles that are, in line with the first book, song titles. And, each chapter has to have a time designated so that readers won’t get confused about what time they are in, as well.
Multiple Time Lines
Writing about time travel, and thinking about time travel, and trying to reason out how things would work if time travel were real, can be enough to give an author a migraine. I admit there were times when I had to set the writing aside because it almost hurt to try and wrap my brain around the implications. But, mostly, it was just fun trying to figure out what would be possible and what wouldn’t.
When I first started writing this second book, I thought the first book was written and done. But by crossing time-lines and changing things in previous time lines, I realized my characters changed what happened in the first book. Each thing they change in the time line from the first book, changes things that happened in that story, and I found that it changed the way the first story comes out. So, I ended up rewriting the first story with an alternate ending.
Multiple Versions of Characters
This was where writing the second book got really confusing. With two Amaryllis and three LeRoys, all running around in different timelines, things get crazy. As mentioned above, each version of the character is designated with a different moniker. The characters from this second story are Amaryllis and LeRoy, while the characters from the first story timeline are “Rock Star” and “Cowboy”, and the very first LeRoy even makes an appearance as “Original LeRoy”. And there are two Moniques, (one designated “Shaman Woman”), although they never cross paths. I even have a duplicate horse, Blaze, who gets aggitated when her other self is in the vicinity.
Each of these characters were the same but different than their duplicates. In the first book, Amaryllis is a rock star, living in the fast lane, an adreneline junkie who gets off on facing danger. That Amaryllis is “Rock Star” in this story and the Amaryllis character is one who was changed by her time travel experiences and the lessons they taught her. But one thing is certain, they are both in love with their own version of LeRoy.
It did get confusing at times, but it was a lot of fun to write. The first chapters had to be rewritten halfway through because I realized that the time jumps I had initially planned wouldn’t work, but the new beginning works much better. I’m bad about editing as I write, but it is a part of my writing process. Writing about time travel, I found it to be necessary, especially when things were changed in the story, so earlier chapters had to be edited or revised to keep the storylines consistant.
Even though I edited as I wrote, I consider the completed manuscript a first draft. Now, it must go through a first and second edit by me and be passed through at least one very thorough beta-reader. The beta-reader for this story has done research and written in the time-travel genre, so I’m expecting her to be tough in her commentary. As you can see, I’ve still got a ways to go before doing the final revisions and publishing, but every step brings me closer.
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About Kaye Lynne Booth
For Kaye Lynne Booth, writing is a passion. Kaye Lynne is an author with published short fiction and poetry, both online and in print, including her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction; and her paranormal mystery novella, Hidden Secrets; Books 1 & 2 of her Women in the West adventure series, Delilah and Sarah, and her Time-Travel Adventure novel, The Rock Star & The Outlaw,as well as her poetry collection, Small Wonders and The D.I.Y. Author writing resource. Kaye holds a dual M.F.A. degree in Creative Writing with emphasis in genre fiction and screenwriting, and an M.A. in publishing. Kaye Lynne is the founder of WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services and WordCrafter Press. She also maintains an authors’ blog and website, Writing to be Read, where she publishes content of interest in the literary world.
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Did you know you can sponsor your favorite blog series or even a single post with an advertisement for your book? Stop by the WtbR Sponsor Page and let me advertise your book, or you can make a donation to Writing to be Read for as little as a cup of coffee, If you’d like to show your support for this author and WordCrafter Press.
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This segment of “Writer’s Corner” is sponsored by The Rock Star & The Outlaw and WordCrafter Press.
A time-traveler oversteps his boundaries in 1887. Things get out of hand quickly, and he is hanged, setting in motion a series of events from which there’s no turning back.
In 1887, LeRoy McAllister is a reluctant outlaw running from a posse with nowhere to go except to the future.
In 2025, Amaryllis Sanchez is a thrill-seeking rock star on the fast track, who killed her dealing boyfriend to save herself. Now, she’s running from the law and his drug stealing flunkies, and nowhere is safe.
LeRoy falls hard for the rock star, thinking he can save her by taking her back with him. But when they arrive in 1887, things turn crazy fast, and soon they’re running from both the outlaws and the posse, in peril once more.
They can’t go back to the future, so it looks like they’re stuck in the past. But either when, they must face forces that would either lock them up or see them dead.
A new year is upon us. Have you made your New Year’s Resolutions yet? Do you want to publish a book: write, edit, and research? Are you fascinated by technology in the arts?
Welcome to 2025, the year technology becomes important as a means of creation, experience of freedom and oppression, simultaneously. Fret not, Undawntech will help creators navigate this exciting and frightening journey.
Did you know that Artificial Intelligence (AI) will affect you in each step of creation? Many writers research the content of their plot lines before embarking on the writing process. AI can help writers with their source material like many people already use ChatGPT, GROK, and others. These programs also fact-check. As editing software, writers can clean up their writing and create better, more understandable products with the use of AI. AI is like having a beta reader at your disposal. As stories are written, writers can employ AI to give them word and phrase prompts, as well as maintain verb tenses and continuity within a work. More writers are opting for the independent publishing route these days. Formatting and distributing a manuscript with AI assistance, indie creators are able to bypass stuffy publishing houses for a direct line to their audience.
However, creators of all types, including writers, need to weigh the advantages with the disadvantages of using AI. Yes, Artificial Intelligence helps writers in many awesome ways: creating content, editing for clarity, and designing book covers. What AI does not give writers are original plots and characters, authentic voices, real information over “fact-checking” mis-/dis- information, and other errors. Some creators have already stepped into the public arena by rejecting AI meddling in their content while others embrace it.
As an artist, editor, musician, producer/publisher, filmmaker, and writer, Artificial Intelligence has opened up the expanse of creativity and imagination for me. I design book cover art with and without the use of AI (Undawnted/Author Central). I use spell check and grammatical software to correct errors in my typing/writings. With my musical background in orchestra, band, chorus/singing, lyrics, poetry, and arrangement, this new technology has given me the ability to write my own songs (Quantum Time), as soundtrack singles and albums for my written work (Undawnted/Yuletide Celebration). AI allows me to publish my content as an Indie writer and publisher. Shorts, poetry slams, and music videos are assisted by the use of AI, including uploading to video sites (Undawnted on YouTube). Writing, no matter the author, can be uplifted by the use of technology.
Conversely, if you do not know who you are, what your authoritative/authentic voice is, or what you believe in, then the use of technology will put your deficits on display, instead of hiding them. Terrible writers will use AI to become mediocre writers. Just as vivid and imaginative visions can become cookie-cutter dribble with the use of AI. The problem with making writing easier with technology is that writers become complacent, allowing AI to do their thinking and creating for them. To combat the challenges of technology, creators must be a seasoned expert in their craft. The better creators know themselves; the better creators can use technology to improve their art, music, filmmaking, and writing.
Just like tech companies, multinational corporations and governments will promote Term of Service vigilante justice, or lawfare, over protecting basic human rights of freedom of speech and expression. In this brave new world, humanity must stay vigilant and refuse to succumb to the radical agenda of the Dark Enlightenment. It is a new philosophy by tech oligarchs and their puppet politicians to usurp our nations’ Constitutions and insert corporate autocracy in the wake of power vacuums left by weak leadership.
2025 is the start of a new era in technology and the human race. If you are a creator of any type, technology will test you in ways you haven’t quite imagined yet. If it is maintaining your voice/integrity, rejecting corporate vigilantism (using AI Terms of Service enforcement through censorship (e.g., lawfare) governance, etc. on social media), or competing with artistry sanitized of voice and wisdom, the best and worst of Artificial Intelligence is yet to come.
Are you ready to take a joyride with me?
–~o0o~—
DL Mullan holds a Master of Arts in Teaching and Learning with Technology. Her lecture, Spacescapes: Where Photography Ends; Imagination Begins, debuted at the Phoenix Astronomy Society, which then led to her Sally Ride Festival lecture invitations. Her presentation, Bridging the Gap between Technology and Women, won her accolades at a community college’s Student Success Conference. As Editor-in-Chief of her local newspaper for a decade, the Villa de Paz Gazette, Ms. Mullan earned accolades for her investigative journalism, in depth research, dot-connecting articles, and fact-based op-eds, which effected national politics, saved industries, and thus lives. She has been a panelist at speculative fiction, science fiction, and other regional conventions. Her digital exhibition pieces have won awards at convention art shows, as well as garnered her Second Premium at the Arizona State Fair. Currently, Ms. Mullan’s artistic renditions are seen on book covers, blog sites, video presentations, and various merchandise. As an independent publisher, she uses her technical background to innovate the creative arts.
As a writer, DL Mullan loves to stretch her imagination and the elasticity of genres. She writes complex multi-genre stories in digestible and entertaining forms, be it poetry, short fiction, or novels. Her science, history, mythology, and paranormal research backgrounds are woven into her writings, especially in Undawnted’s Legacy Universe. Ms. Mullan’s creative endeavors are available in digital and print collections, from academia to commercial anthologies. She is also an award-winning poet and is now using her lyrical talents creating music.
Be sure to subscribe to her newsletters and follow her on social media. For further information, visit her at www.undawnted.com.
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Did you know you can sponsor your favorite blog series or even a single post with an advertisement for your book? Stop by the WtbR Sponsor Page and let me advertise your book, or you can make a donation to Writing to be Read for as little as a cup of coffee, If you’d like to show your support for this author and WordCrafter Press.
__________________________________
This segment of “Writer’s Corner” is sponsored by The Rock Star & The Outlaw and WordCrafter Press.
A time-traveler oversteps his boundaries in 1887. Things get out of hand quickly, and he is hanged, setting in motion a series of events from which there’s no turning back.
In 1887, LeRoy McAllister is a reluctant outlaw running from a posse with nowhere to go except to the future.
In 2025, Amaryllis Sanchez is a thrill-seeking rock star on the fast track, who killed her dealing boyfriend to save herself. Now, she’s running from the law and his drug stealing flunkies, and nowhere is safe.
LeRoy falls hard for the rock star, thinking he can save her by taking her back with him. But when they arrive in 1887, things turn crazy fast, and soon they’re running from both the outlaws and the posse, in peril once more.
They can’t go back to the future, so it looks like they’re stuck in the past. But either when, they must face forces that would either lock them up or see them dead.
This was my third year participating in NaNoWriMo. The first year I gained confidence when I learned that I was more than capable of making the daily word count goal, something I was unsure of when starting out. At that time, 1,667 sounded like an awfully lot of words, but I did it most of the days in November, and when I didn’t do it, I made up for it on the days I wrote two thousand or more, and by the end of the month of November, I had exceeded the overall word count goal of 50,000. (For the sake of transparency, I started with a partial manuscript, so although technically I was successful, I did not write enough new material to make the goal.)
Last year, 2023, I was well on my way to being successful, this time for real, and it was coming down to the last week, when my computer crashed and I was digitally down, making it impossible to complete the challenge. From this, I learned that it isn;t the end of the world to not finish, and I still feel that if my computer hadn’t crashed, I would have successfully met the challenge. I was making or exceeding the daily word counts each day and was on schedule to finish early, before the end of the month.
This year I went into NaNoWriMo with a very positive attitude. I knew I could make the daily word count, so I didn’t stress about it, but I did paln for it. I approached with a plan to implement strategies which had been successful in the past, and a good working plot outline, so I would be clear on where the story was going. Last year, I had abandoned the time blocking strategy which I’d implemented the first year, for an “ass-in-chair, write-the-book” strategy which I’d learned from one of my graduate school professors. (Don’t get me wrong, time blocking is a valid strategy for some people. It just wasn’t effective for me.)
At first, things seemed to go pretty smoothly, until life got in the way during the first week out, when where I live received almost four feet of snow and I was snowbound for four straight days. I didn’t think it would ever stop. It just kept coming. But even with all the shoveling I had to do, and the firewood I had to split to stay warm, I was able to meet my daily word count goal in the evenings. It started snowing on Wednesday, and when I was finally able to get out, on Monday, the 11th, I had to go to work at my day job. I was so tired, that I wasn’t able to make my word count for the first time. I fell asleep in front of my computer at 8:30 p.m. that night with only 634 words for the day.
But, I found that it wasn’t the end of the world that I didn’t get the badge for making the word count goal every day. And I made up the words I’d missed getting down the very next day, with a total word count for the day of 2624. It’s amazing what a decent night’s sleep will do for you. I really do write better if I take care of myself properly, and that proved it. It is also important to take time out for yourself, even though you may be pushing to make a word count goal or a deadline on a writing project. I’ve been looking forward to each new episode of Tulsa King, with Sylvester Stallone, each Sunday, after my shift at work, and I’ve learned that I can watch an hour or two of television and still get my word count done. This is something I had to teach myself. For the first two years I took the challenge, I took every moment I had to write, like a driven person, and now I’m finding that I’m more productive when I block out time for other things, too.
In the end, I didn’t make it. My Internet went down on the last day, so I didn’t get to log my last days totals anyway. (That is also why this Monday blog segment isn’t coming out on Monday. I just got my Internet back up and running this evening.) My total on November 30th was around 43,000 words. Not quite making the goal, but you know what?
It’s okay, because I’m still working on it everyday and I currently have 45,630 words of my story. I started out from a blank page this year. That’s not bad for a month’s time. And it’s a fantastic start toward the completion of the novel.
What I Learned
I learned that if I just keep at it, the book will take shape
I learned that my style of edit as you go is okay. It’s a part of my writing process and it works for me and I end up with a much cleaner first draft. It’s necessary for me in order to obtain the proper foreshadowing and also when planting the little easter eggs which helps connect the books for series readers.
I learned that thinking about time travel sometimes makes my head hurt. It’sa lot to wrap your head around, and it’s easy to get your plot lines twisted when writing about it. Also another reason to edit as I go. With time travel, changing one thing may change several others, jumping from chapter to chapter for revisions became common place for me with this book.
I learned to use multiple P.O.V.s to make the plot flow smoothly. This was the most P.O.V.s I’ve ever used in a story.
I learned how to write in multiple subplots – again, the most I have ever tried to use – and multiple time periods.
About the Book
There is not a lot I can tell you about the second Time Travel Adventure Series book without throwing out huge spoilers to those who haven’t read book 1, The Rock Star & The Outlaw. Although each book can be read as a stand alone, book 2 has references to events in the first book and they are complimentary to one another. Book 2 picks up where the first book leaves off, which is why I can’t explain further without giving away the ending of the first book.
I’m having a lot of fun writing this book, maybe even moreso than I did with the first. Like the first, this one has musical inspiration, with song titles for chapter titles and a playlist in the front of the book. By having mutlple P.O.V.s, it opened this one up to even more music artists and songs. And by dealing with temporal loops, it allowed me the opportunity to change events which occured in the first book, creating a whole new story stemming from the same events. It is a crazy, wild ride and you never know where the characters will end up.
I can’t say too much about the new book, but I can share the book trailer for book 1, The Rock Star & The Outlaw, which is also a wild ride through time, for those who haven’t read it yet.
