Research #newbook

Time for another look behind the scenes of “Once Upon a Time in the Swamp.” These are promotional posts, but all the authors out their might get a kick out of how this story came about. Today, the topic is research.

Every author has to do research. I write some pretty weird stuff and I still have to do research. I swear, if the government ever looks at my search history, they’re going to haul me away. Here are some of the things I dove into for this story:

• How to make black powder. (The original gunpowder.)

• What exotic species are loose in Florida. (My book needed even more.)

• How to make soap.

• How to make buckskin.

• How far are various points in the American South from each other, and how many days would it take by oxcart.

• Non exotic species in the American South, including the venomous ones. (So many fire ants. Makes me shudder to think about it.)

• Voodoo visage known as Papa Legba, and what he likes.

• PTSD dreams.

• Naming conventions for nuclear submarines.

• How to make a pipe organ.

• Knife throwing, and fighting.

• Plants, both native and exotic.

Not everything here made it into the book with any depth. Some was just for my knowledge, but you authors out there know what I’m talking about. For those of you who are readers, I hope I’m whetting your appetites.

I’m also a pretty visual guy. There is an entire Post Apocalyptic esthetic. I really only dove deep on this with Mari, but glanced off it for a few other characters. What I did here was create a Pinterest Board to help me. If any of you would like to check this out, here is the link https://pin.it/61mEyC1

Writing is a labor of love for all who do it. We research, create environments for everything to happen in, then try to piece it all together in a way the reader won’t notice all the work that went into it.

I hope I’m encouraging some of you to take a chance on Mari’s story. I think it’s a good one, and that you’re going to have some fun. Any help you can offer to spread the word is appreciated. I’ll also include a link in case I’ve tempted you.

Blurb: Mari and her husband opted for a simple life as farmers. It’s been decades since the world tore itself apart, pitting neighbor against neighbor and family against each other. They were happy in this re-emerging world, until disaster struck.

Mari sets out on a solo quest to avenge the deaths of her family and loss of everything she holds dear. She’s ill equipped for the task, but seems to have time on her hands. Time alone in the wilderness to deal with her personal demons along the way.

She is helped by a few sympathetic elders and a couple of animal companions with lessons Mari can use if she pays attention. Can Mari find justice for her family?

Set in a post apocalyptic, Gulf Coast world, this is a story for fans of the old Spaghetti Westerns.

Get your copy right here https://mybook.to/OnceUponTimeSwamp

Story Challenges

Word count was minimal today. Less than 1000 words. I like challenging myself, and this is posing plenty of those.

My characters, Jenny and her son, went on a little road trip. This was feasibly to help with his college report, but it was to the site of the last cattle mutilation they are aware of.

Note: I’ve already changed the son’s name three times. I need to stick with it and possibly do a word search later if something clicks.

Jenny explored the idea this could be related to the Green River Killer, but this thought passed fairly quickly.

I also fell down a research rabbit hole. Geology and radioactive materials. There was a uranium mine in Eastern Washington, but I don’t have a great reason to visit there. There is also one reactor and I mentioned that in passing.

What I need to do is work up a shadowy group to follow and intimidate during whatever Jenny is getting into. I know about what I want, but it hasn’t formed fully in my mind.

I resisted finding one of the biggest clues today. It’s too soon in the story for that. I’ll probably intro the sourpuss old mentor Jenny needs to see this all the right way.

Not a real productive day, but I had a nice conversation with Mom, and Old What’s Her Face and I got to enjoy a nice Sunday Breakfast.

Just to keep things interesting, let’s have another Pinterest Board. This one is a subset of cars https://pin.it/3KgN7w1 Maybe you need one of these for something you’re writing.

Blech!!

I’ve spent the the last two days sick. Seems like some kind of head cold. At this point, whatever I might have accomplished over the weekend could be on hold.

I feel bad, because I have plenty of tasks at the office, but just couldn’t get there.

I have a new book to read and might have to limit my activities to that. Hopefully, I’ll be fine when it’s time to return to work on Tuesday.

No telling how I’ll feel tomorrow, so I have no plan at all.

In other news, I’ve always liked cars. I typically use them to define character for those who populate my books. Long term readers will remember Clovis’s GTO, or Ray’s bagger Harley, among others. It’s always nice to have a source to pull from. This is my cars Pinterest Board https://pin.it/4TpJxxR Maybe it will inspire something you’re writing.

Back on the editing effort

I spent several hours this morning going over a chapter of one book before switching to another. I wound up with one chapter that required some serious rewording here and there. I’ll need to give this process another good shift, but I’m making some real progress.

The best sign involves Lizzie and the hat. These are short novels by design. I feel like their brand of humor works best in small doses. I completely finished this pass on their story. That leaves me to bounce back and forth between the other two books.

I still have additional passes I want to make, but this version is the hardest one and I’ll be happy to get it finished.

I really need to be thinking about cover art, but we’re constantly broke in this era. I’ll have to earmark funds to get that done. I’d like to publish “Once Upon a Time in the Swamp” sometime before summer. There have been a ton of releases lately and I know of more coming soon. Just have to jump in when I’m ready and let the fates decide.

I want to keep sharing some of my Pinterest boards with you. These are great references for me when looking for something for specific stories. This board is mostly just a bit of whimsy. I shared one of the big ones last time.

While there was a wagon like this waaaaay back in my book, Panama, I haven’t written anything like it since. This board makes me want to take a slow vacation somewhere, and maybe drag Stevie Nicks along for the ride. https://pin.it/1xzBVZw

Maybe you’ll find something to inspire one of your stories.

A bit more work

I’m still editing. It’s mostly boring work, but I am seeing things that need repair. I find editing tedious, and that means it doesn’t make good blog fodder either. I’ll suffice to say all three manuscripts are up to chapter 11, then leave it there.

Today, I used my headphone with some YouTube playlists. I really like this option, but the advertisements are a nightmare. There are probably some without ads, but I haven’t been lucky enough to find them. I have one that’s instrumental blues, one that’s called samurai warrior music, and one I’ve been saving. It’s all the spaghetti western music by Ennio Morricone. I’m open to hints as to where I can find ad-free versions of long playlists. I don’t mind one up front, or even the occasional peppering. One (in the middle) of every song is too much.

One thing I never mention is that I research constantly. Some things make it to my storyboards, others are simply notes to tuck away.

I learned something about LIDAR. This is kind of like radar, but it’s been used to discover lost civilizations in the rain forest and other places. I have a story way in the future that will need this information.

I need a name for a group of celebrity ghost hunters. They’re going to be obstacles for Lizzie and the hat sometime this Spring. I’m having no luck, but the best I came up with is The Four Clairs. (Meaning Clairvoyance, clairaudience, clairsentience, and claircognizance.) I’m not thrilled with it, but might run with it.

Technetium is another discovery. It’s a radioactive, rare earth, material. I doubt it’s truly dangerous, but I can still write it that way. My idea involves aliens, and it’s way in the future. This one only has a sheet of notes. There isn’t even a storyboard yet, but I think there will be. I like the ideas I’m getting for this one.

I’ve also been looking up images of Alfred E. Neuman. It’s for a gag in one of the upcoming hat stories. Even some of the humor needs a bit of research.

Maybe this is one of my secrets. I have things developing all the time. Some of them will never get there. When I’m ready for a project, I usually have something pretty close to jump on.

I haven’t shared a Pinterest Board for a while, and some of you seem to enjoy them. I create these things for inspiration. Sometimes I return to them for ideas about creatures, settings, characters, and more. Not usually for main characters, but supporting things. Let’s go for one of the big ones today. This is my Fantasy Board https://pin.it/1JYU7Vm

Ugh! Editing

I got to the writing cabin kind of late today. Old What’s Her Face and I usually have Sunday breakfast at home, and it’s one of my favorite parts of the week. Nothing too fancy, just really nice.

It’s also the day I call my Mother and I dedicated an hour to that.

Drafting new material is my favorite part of the job. I love the process of coming up with new characters and having them interact. Today, I had to grit my teeth and start editing.

I walked into the cabin’s living room which serves as the public-facing office.

A talking yak debated something with a talking hat. A retired leg-man was discussing the breakdown of modern society with a Chinese monk woman who carried a huge guandao.

Lisa Burton, the robot girl was in a dither trying to get root monsters down from the antler chandelier.

Percy, the Space Chimp pointed a hairy finger from across the room. “I got a bone to pick with you.”

I slammed the door, and returned to my vehicle. “Nope.”

I returned home and parked myself in a spare room we use for an office. The old Mac opened the AutoCrit website just fine, and I was able to upload my manuscript. However, it never highlighted a damned thing.

It feels great to produce a perfect draft, but I never have and something was wrong. I wanted to use my iPad to make the actual edits.

The site works perfectly on the iPad, and my dreams of a perfect MS were shot down.

I wound up using the split-screen feature and the iPad for everything. This isn’t particularly easy, because the text is so small in split screen. Clicking on AutoCrit’s suggestions is a little more touchy at this small size, too.

I admit to chickening out on the big stuff and worked on The Hat story because of its size. I managed to fix all of my typical mistakes. Mostly missing punctuation. I seem to miss a lot of question marks when I draft.

I have the free version of AutoCrit, so I don’t have all of its amazing features. Still helpful with spelling and punctuation. I had one word spelled wrong about five times. At least I was consistent.

That hat story moves into the TBR editing pile. I think I’ll take on the swamp story in the morning. I dread this stuff, but it must be done.

It’s been a while since I shared a Pinterest Board. This is a good one for all authors. Sometimes we all need location and setting. Check it out and let me know what you think https://pin.it/3ILyqyc

This one has markets, catacombs, a street of birdcages, public gardens and more.

Blood everywhere today

I’ve been writing a little for the last four days. I haven’t really tried to keep a word count for a couple of days, but it’s substantial.

Today, Mari caught up with the people that murdered her entire family, and left her for dead back in the swamp. She’s been through hell getting to this point, so I didn’t spare the details of what it’s like.

There were seven men opposing her, but at least she got to deal with them in chunks. This section is gory, bloody, and painful.

I figure if she could hang in there for this, maybe readers were deserving a payoff, too. There is plenty of blood, shit, and snot to go around in this section.

Part of me is already thinking of toning it down, but I decided to write this post before I did something stupid. Even a month from now, if I figure it’s going to offend someone’s sensibilities I can make a change. No sense ruining it this afternoon.

I ended it with Mari surrendering to the local sheriff and looking forward to her hanging. The other side is where her family is now. I need to keep that mindset for tomorrow’s writing session.

I think it turned out well, but I have other things that need tending. I have some Story Empire posts to schedule, and I need to write out my business plan for next year.

Since slacking off for a couple of weeks we haven’t had a Pinterest board to check out. This is almost like a notebook for me. This one is tough for me to share. I call it The One I May Never Write. It’s been on my mind again, but I need something special to make it one of my stories. Witch doctors come to mind, but it still needs reasoning and thought behind it. Check it out and let me know what you think. https://pin.it/7zOWWN2

Crisis of Confidence

I never got to write at all last weekend. We never had a drop of rain from May to October, and when we finally did, the skylights decided to leak.

This led to getting on a contractor’s list, and waiting our turn. The house is over twenty years old, so we decided to replace the roof and skylights rather than make repairs. It was time.

They started last Friday and had about six guys on the job. Two elected to work Saturday, but didn’t finish. It snowed Sunday, and that killed Monday. I had to take Tuesday off, because they needed inside. Somehow they’d lost one of the roof vents. I get it, they removed the part, slung the underlayment and lost track of it. That all got sorted out and the job was finished on Wednesday.

It snowed again Thursday, so I’m grateful, and the roof looks awesome.

I managed to add somewhere around a thousand words to my WIP, but my mind has other things going on.

I tried to fill this with a bit of storyboarding. I have one idea that’s going to require magic and artifacts and putting them in the right order to make a discovery. A storyboard is needed. My brain is still focused elsewhere.

I’m going to write about it here. Maybe it will get some of these thoughts out of my head. Maybe it will help me reach some conclusions.

I typically do a yearly wrap up post, followed by a new year business plan. It’s time to be thinking about this, but my thoughts aren’t good.

Both of my 2022 publications performed dismally. Reviews seem to be down, too, and I’m trying to draw some conclusions. Add a few of what I call drive-by one-star ratings, and I may never sell another copy again. You know the types, they never bought the book, never read it, but drop a one-star rating, because it amuses them. Amazon is so picky about reviews, and heaven help you if a family member gives you one, but some random stranger who never read the story gets to destroy your rating and they leave that up.

It’s hard to draw conclusions here. I was getting a majority of five-star reviews three years ago, but not now. I’ve either gotten worse at this, or I’ve worn out my welcome. Don’t know how else to take this.

It’s possible that people are sick of Lizzie and the hat. There are millions of choices out there, so I understand.

I listened to my first dramatic podcast recently. Something to fill the commute time with. It was pretty bad with pregnant pauses and poor dialog, but the story was so compelling I’m going to listen to season two next. Tells me that small foibles aren’t enough to put someone off. There’s also a book, but I wasn’t going to pay $16 for an ebook. Price does matter at some arbitrary point.

Giving up isn’t an option for me. I love writing and will always do it. Publishing, on the other hand could be on the chopping block. I already feel like most of my readers are there because of me and not any deep interest in the story or my creativity. My readers mean a lot to me.

I also need to assess my membership at Story Empire. I’m the guy who watches the stats and most of my posts perform well. I struggle to come up with fresh content over there, and now I’m wondering why anyone would pay attention to a guy who can’t get his own books out of the cellar.

I’ve known many an old timer who makes beautiful things, but really doesn’t have a place for them. Old men still whittle, and grannies keep knitting afghans, even though they’ll never wind up at Christie’s Auction house or in the Louvre.

Going wide, and trying to make everything free has limited merit. Amazon is still where all the action is, and Kindle Unlimited is only available if the work is exclusive, so I’m torn on this.

Blog tours used to be my bread and butter, but those failed, too. I know why, and it’s hard to change. It’s complicated. I sold more books by announcing the publication here, than I sold on the subsequent tours. Maybe I’ll blog about new publications, then forget about them. Birds and turtles leave the nest and are on their own. More turtles hatch in a year than I can publish books, though.

The financial difference between selling 500 copies and 5 copies is negligible. Neither situation is going to pay for a week of groceries.

If I stop doing a lot of promo, I don’t really need Lisa Burton anymore. I love commissioning her art, but it was all for promo purposes. That offers some savings, and it matters. She’d probably look good in post apocalyptic armor, or floating around at zero-G with Percy the space chimp, but to what end?

We’re in a phase of getting everything ready to start living on a fixed income. There are a few years left, but that promo money could be directed to paying things off, and doing deferred maintenance on our house.

I need to figure out what I’m going to do moving forward. While it would be nice for my year end posts, that’s not an absolute requirement either.

I’ve been sharing Pinterest boards and people seem to be enjoying them. This one is about promotion, but it’s not my promotion. I call this one Friend’s Books. Check it out https://pin.it/QrAhbO1

My new normal

I started kind of late today. I wanted to write and had a fun scene in mind. It required me to have Mari do something nice for a kid, then make it dark and dismal right after.

I’ve probably been under a rock somewhere, but recently saw the term PTSD dreams. These sound kind of like what Mari is going through, but I won’t use that term in the story. If I don’t have it absolutely right, I could inadvertently offend someone going through this issue.

Mari will continue to have her dreams, but I’m not putting a name on them. This time it got weirder than they have previously, and her dead son made an appearance.

I’ve put her in a strange position of discovering some good in the world, but getting sucked down by her own past at the same time.

Her life now involves one gigantic ox, who she doesn’t exactly love, but has grown to respect. There’s also a coonhound pup at that gangly stage where she’s all legs and enthusiasm, and Mari loves her dearly.

I need to milk this for some emotion between her own suicidal quest and concern for her animals after she’s gone. Must remember to do that.

As far as the word metrics go, it came to 2000 words today. That sounds wonderful until you realize it’s also 2000 words for the week.

I no longer have a flex day I can dedicate to writing, so this is my new normal. Things will slow down, but I can still push out something every year.

My Pinterest boards have been getting some wonderful comments, so I’m going to keep sharing them. Today, I’m going to share one that is a subset of locations. I call it “Decay.” https://pin.it/E5d3QUa

Pecking away at the keyboard.

It seems like progress in the writing game just involves planting yourself before the keyboard and chipping away at the outline; written or mental. That’s how I approached my day.

Once Upon a Time in the Swamp is as much about the post apocalyptic world as anything else. I’ve had some fairly grim sequences, and decided to make this stretch a little happier.

Mari came to a city that seems to have accepted their world, and life is much nicer here than anyplace she’s been so far. She’s been in a dark place, and this will give her something to think about as she continues her travels and the hunt for those who killed her loved ones.

She might even have fleeting thoughts about what might happen after her quest ends. This section was kind of a nice respite, but I won’t let her make too many long term plans. Her quest is a life or death kind of thing, so she’ll turn dark again fairly soon. This usually happens when she’s alone once more.

I chose a place called Spanish Fort, Alabama for the town that’s moved on from the historical disasters. Mobile won’t be quite as nice after she leaves.

I’m at around 47,000 words now, and added about 2500 today. Might even get a few more tomorrow.

Old What’s Her Face has to work tomorrow, and we had a nice breakfast before I sequestered myself away. Not exactly date night, but it was great.

It’s time to think about what I need as I approach that arbitrary 80,000 word target. We can learn more about the world, but she needs another fresh clue about the men she’s chasing. Eventually, she has to catch up to them, and this story is going to require a longer denouement phase. I don’t have a hard plan for the number of words, but it’s on my mind now.

I’ve been sharing Pinterest boards and have gotten some good comments about them. These were all made at ten minutes per night over a long period of time. I don’t use the app like everyone else. My boards are all writing related, and are more like a visual notebook or inspiration board. This one is called Magical Gadgets, Mad Science. https://pin.it/3peGbLC

Let me know what you think. Almost anything can be a magical gadget, but it’s nice to have a reference and that’s what I’m building. Is there something here that might fit into one of your stories?