Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Monday, September 13, 2010
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Break Time is Over
In early August I completed the first draft of Part II after thirteen months. During the break I read two excellent fiction books: The Searchers by Alan LeMay and Troy: Lord of the Silver Bow by David Gemmell. The most time-consuming thing has been laying the ground work for my Author’s Platform. During this time, I’ve been jotting notes in my little notebook about Part III and the book as a whole. I have one more project to complete before I start writing Part III: I need to read Part I and II back to back, it’s 402 pages. I need things fresh in my mind before I lead a 50,000 word charge into the climax of Part III.
When I finish writing Part III, I’m thinking I’ll rewrite the whole book having all things in mind as I go through it. I’ll set the whole book next to my computer and place my fingers on the keys and type it out again, adding and subtracting, buffing and shining until the end. This will be like having the 30,000 ft view at that point, I’ll finally have a grasp of the scope and depth of the book’s entirety that I have dreamed of having. I can foreshadow better, say things better, hint at themes, and solidify the premise so that every character, chapter, paragraph and word rings with authenticity.
This will also help me finally write an excellent synopsis and what the book world calls a “book trailer” …next time you’re in the book store read the back of the book, that’s ‘the hook’ …and that’s what I need to write to draw in the readers out there in the net world that I’ll be reaching with my Platform.
I have not lost one ounce of passion since I started three years ago, but that doesn’t mean I’m not intimidated by the goals I’ve set and grappling with this epic saga. I’ve had to revise things a bit. Realistically, I don’t think I can be finished until Spring of 2011.
Some time around then, I’ll begin to reveal more about the characters and story by putting up a more detailed back of the book snippet.
When I finish writing Part III, I’m thinking I’ll rewrite the whole book having all things in mind as I go through it. I’ll set the whole book next to my computer and place my fingers on the keys and type it out again, adding and subtracting, buffing and shining until the end. This will be like having the 30,000 ft view at that point, I’ll finally have a grasp of the scope and depth of the book’s entirety that I have dreamed of having. I can foreshadow better, say things better, hint at themes, and solidify the premise so that every character, chapter, paragraph and word rings with authenticity.
This will also help me finally write an excellent synopsis and what the book world calls a “book trailer” …next time you’re in the book store read the back of the book, that’s ‘the hook’ …and that’s what I need to write to draw in the readers out there in the net world that I’ll be reaching with my Platform.
I have not lost one ounce of passion since I started three years ago, but that doesn’t mean I’m not intimidated by the goals I’ve set and grappling with this epic saga. I’ve had to revise things a bit. Realistically, I don’t think I can be finished until Spring of 2011.
Some time around then, I’ll begin to reveal more about the characters and story by putting up a more detailed back of the book snippet.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Thursday, August 12, 2010
The Blog and Platform Will Evolve
(Regarding my WordPress Blog)
I know there’s not much traffic here, yet. That’s probably a good thing. I’m not at all pleased with the look and feel right now and I’m still a bit befuddled with the learning curve on WordPress. I’ve maintained a blog for several years elsewhere. That blog format is more user friendly by viture of not having the buffet of awesomeness that is WordPress. So, it’ll take a while for me to get this WordPress house in order to the level I want and need it to be.
I’m thinking, for now, that this blog will be the hub of my writer’s platform. It appears that reaching out from hear can be done, at least adequately, on a large scale. I hope to have a dedicated website someday. It’s still in it’s infancy here: www.creedofkings.com …I may even change the url eventually.
This morning I created the Official A. R. Travis Channel on youtube: www.youtube.com/artravistube. I put up an old video called: Creed of Kings Part I : The Making Of. It’s too long but not horrible. I have more videos to put up, but that’s tomorrow. All the videos so far are mainly for my amusement but they also give an idea for the setting of my book.
In the ongoing quest for making a strong writer’s platform, I created a Twitter account, a yahoo pulse, a Gravatar, Facebook Alton Ray Travis–FB won’t allow periods or I would make it A. R. Travis. I also updated an old MySpace account that needs lots of work. I’ll probably make a LiveJournal and Xanga blogs, and others, connecting them all together creating a vast matrix.
I hope someday to have a Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Lulu, Apple, and Border links sprinkled throughout my platform.
I know there’s not much traffic here, yet. That’s probably a good thing. I’m not at all pleased with the look and feel right now and I’m still a bit befuddled with the learning curve on WordPress. I’ve maintained a blog for several years elsewhere. That blog format is more user friendly by viture of not having the buffet of awesomeness that is WordPress. So, it’ll take a while for me to get this WordPress house in order to the level I want and need it to be.
I’m thinking, for now, that this blog will be the hub of my writer’s platform. It appears that reaching out from hear can be done, at least adequately, on a large scale. I hope to have a dedicated website someday. It’s still in it’s infancy here: www.creedofkings.com …I may even change the url eventually.
This morning I created the Official A. R. Travis Channel on youtube: www.youtube.com/artravistube. I put up an old video called: Creed of Kings Part I : The Making Of. It’s too long but not horrible. I have more videos to put up, but that’s tomorrow. All the videos so far are mainly for my amusement but they also give an idea for the setting of my book.
In the ongoing quest for making a strong writer’s platform, I created a Twitter account, a yahoo pulse, a Gravatar, Facebook Alton Ray Travis–FB won’t allow periods or I would make it A. R. Travis. I also updated an old MySpace account that needs lots of work. I’ll probably make a LiveJournal and Xanga blogs, and others, connecting them all together creating a vast matrix.
I hope someday to have a Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Lulu, Apple, and Border links sprinkled throughout my platform.
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