Kickstarter for 5 short stories in the Brymlight world is live and on its way! Reward tiers to fit everyone’s pocketbook and reading style – yes, we have ebook *and* printed versions. Higher tiers add some fun art options. Premium tiers are there for someone interested in more unique experiences, like story dedication and livestreams.
Both Chris from LoreSmyth and I will be monitoring the comments and fielding questions throughout the campaign – come join the fun!
My first, introductory call with Paul (my editor) went great. Total transparency here, I have never worked with an editor that would be taking a more technical look at my writing. I have alpha readers, and I have greatly appreciated their feedback, but this feels like a whole other level for me. In amongst geeking out on various things that we are, well… geeked about, we got to talking about writing and “voice.”
Before going any further – I have to say: I’m really excited about this project! (bet you can’t tell)
One of the things we discussed was Voice and the use of colloquialisms. As an editor, this can make it hard for Paul to sort out whether I meant something to be grammatically incorrect as a colloquialism, or whether it’s just grammatically incorrect.
Stepping back for a second, its pretty cool looking at my writing through the eyes of someone else, an editor that is interested in preserving my writing style but also in cleaning up it and making it better.
We came up with a couple of basic rules (that I will also have to keep in mind as well!)
Grounders (lower social classes) generally walk on characters, will speak pretty heavily in slang and colloquialisms. Main characters, will be better spoken, but may slip into colloquialism when speaking with other grounders. Narrative voice will be the same. Highborn upper classes will be more formal. I have read stories with slangy narrative voice and it just gets annoying pretty quickly.
Official revival of my long neglected blog… because through happenstance, luck, karma, and long odds, I have stumbled into a small independent publisher who would like to publish my steampunk stories!!!
Where we stand right now:
In all my excitement about my story Forgotten Memories in the “Hunting Ghosts: Thrilling Tales of Paranormal Investigation,” (Now available in paperback!!!) I began to realize just how long I have been interested in the paranormal. I remember begging my mom to buy me a book about ghosts – yes, back then it was books, no Internet…
There was one picture in that book that to this day still gives me the heebeejeebees: the floating brick at Borley Rectory. Enjoy.
The cover to “Hunting Ghosts: Thrilling Tales of Paranormal Investigation” in which my story Forgotten Memories appears has been posted. Ok – now I am getting excited.
Forgotten Memories is one of several stories I wrote as world building for “The West Wind.” It is Weird West tale set in Johnson City, one of the main locations featured in the book, with Rachel and Clarence West playing walk-on parts. Unlike the book, however, I get to have some fun with the paranormal – ghost hunting obviously. The story centers around “Joe” who wakes up in the Marbury Sanitarium with no recollection of his past or how he arrived there. As the story unfolds, he begins to suspect that his circumstance is somehow related to a recent horrific riverboat accident. His journey of self (re)discovery nearly becomes a descent into madness as he struggles to uncover the truth about his past.
Here is the cover! More info over at the Facebook page of “Hunting Ghosts: Thrilling Tales of Paranormal Investigation.”
Is it just me, or is it harder to start writing than to keep writing….
Anyways, I tackled a revision of the first chapter in a new book I am calling Due West. It hadn’t survived my writing group, oft referred to as my writing “therapy” group for, well, obvious reasons. No one could get past the name of my new protagonist: Edward Percival Alford, known to his friends as “EP” and the whole premise, I felt upon reflection, was trite. Even worse, it received the most damning criticism of “not feeling dangerous enough.” Spot on if I do say so myself.
Welcome to the stage: Samuel Alford (nicknamed “Guy”) and a significantly more dangerous and thrilling opening to… Due West.
Hello lonely blog follower, Facebook friends, and even Twitter account holders who made the ill advised action of following my never so frequent updates. You can be thankful at least that I am not filling your mailboxes and feeds with endless posts. Focused posting. That’s good enough for me… when I get around to it that is.
Despite numerous heartfelt attempts, I have decided that I am completely incapable of generating any enthusiasm for rewriting “The West Wind ” (at least presently) I am therefore pursuing what I believe to be the only sensible course of action… Start writing a new book! If there is a rule that I need to finish rewriting the previous before starting anew, like some sort of literary lima beans before desert, I am afraid I am guilty of its violation.
“Due West” picks up roughly a year following the conclusion of “The West Wind.” Rachel West returns as a principle POV character, as does my favorite troubled and unstable heir Eli Hardy. For my third POV I am introducing a new character, the inimitable inspector Edward Percival Alford sent by the American Colonial government to investigate the extraordinary events of the previous story. The setting remains the same – the Steampunk Western alternate world of the early 1900s.
Scrivener files created, timeline drawing template opened, let the plotting begin!
Finished revising and resubmitting “The Curse of Knuckles Gap” a SteamPunk western horror (weird west) tale. It had received a couple of polite rejections in its original form so I took some feedback and reworked it. I think it is a much stronger story as a result. My insight here: having someone else read your work helps find the things that you think are there but never really left your head and made it to the page.
D.W. Beyer 