I wanted to stop by and let everyone know of some changes that are going on in the podcast. Considering that you’ve probably realized this isn’t a usual podcast post, I’ll talk about the most obvious change. We’re going to start taking two weeks between the stories we tell. We’re going to do this for a number of reasons, but mostly it’s for me to have time to plot and the like. It takes me a bit to come up with a new story after the last one ends, I spend a few days working out all the problems and kinks. I would love to be able to make writing my full time job, but sadly that is not the case, not yet anyway!

So, now for the first week following the end of a story, we’ll be posting the story in full as usual. Then, the week after that, I’m going to post about what the next story will be, and use that post as the link on the front page of the site where I track percentages. That way you guys have an idea of what will be coming! So without any further delay, let’s talk about next week’s story!

Because of Alice in Wonderland coming back into our lives, I’ve been thinking a lot about making a story in a fantastical world of nonsense. It’s had me thinking in nonsense a lot, which is quite fun, if I do say so myself (and I do). So next Tuesday we will begin part one of Adventures Through The Window,  a fun twist of Lewis Carroll’s titles.

In this story, young James feels like he is just another face in a large school until a mysterious substitute teacher takes an interest in him. Despite his cautious nature, James can’t help his curiosity when he happens to see the man walk through a large glass window on his way home from school one day! Unable to stop himself, James finds himself following his new teacher into a world unlike anything he’s ever experienced. To get back out again, James must not only find his way, but find himself as well.

Samantha made this from scratch!

Well I attempted to write this yesterday, you know, on my birthday, but things kept coming up. It was a great day! For me, birthdays are what New Years is to others. It’s a time to look at what you’ve accomplished this year, and using what you’ve learned to make the next year better. This year, it was mostly about writing for me.

I realized that I haven’t done a writing update in awhile while I was thinking about what this coming year will mean to me as a writer. I’ve gotten behind on it. First of all, The Forest Awakens jumped up to 100% on my editing goal. It’s pretty good, grammatically speaking. The rejections I’ve gotten from agents have made me look at it under a new microscope though. They all like my writing, they all like the story idea, but they all also said they didn’t connect with the main character enough.

I’ve more or less come to the inevitable question that most writers probably go through. My assassin book has been sitting at about 20% completed on the backburner while I edited TFA, and now I have to decide if I want to work on the changes to my YA novel that agents have suggested, or if I want to put it aside for now and finish my new book?

Currently I’m leaning toward another draft of The Forest Awakens. It would be a big draft, basically rewriting many parts of it, although most of the current material doesn’t need to be cut, just have more added to it. We shall see over the next couple days, while I have a podcast to finish anyway.

Happy (now late) Birthday to meeeee!

Since part 4 of Founded in Battle finished up the story last week, we’re releasing the full story this week as usual. If you’re joining us for the first time, this is a great chance to see what we’re all about. FiB was an attempt to take a closer look at a typical fantasy hero party that is setting out on their grand adventure. Each week was told through another viewpoint exploring what brought these people together for this journey. It was fun getting to explore the different characters and their motivations to travel with the others.

Make sure to join us next week for the start of story #6, I have some interesting ideas for it. As always, I hope you enjoy the story!

Right Click to download the full MP3! (33:33)

Bioshock had one of the most interesting fantasy settings I’ve seen in a very long time; they took it even farther in the sequel. If you aren’t familiar with the series, Bioshock takes place in an underwater city called Rapture. It was a civilization not held to the rules of the surface world. The game’s focus is primarily on genetic research. Rapture had no rules stopping scientists from whatever they pleased.

I use “was” and “had” on purpose, the Rapture in the game takes place after the city, and her people, have begun breaking down. Genetic mutants rule the city now, with a little manipulating of course.  That’s what Bioshock does best, after all, the manipulating leaders who are always more than a little crazy.

The sequel has a new twist to it, now you are one of the Big Daddy’s from the previous game. With it comes some nice upgrades. Now you can dual wield your plasmids and your weapons. This was the first really great improvement over the last game. The second I found came with the hacking system. It’s simpler, and less repetitive, but it will also get your pulse racing a little bit when you mess up, and it’s much easier to mess up now.

The biggest improvement is the new creative strategy scenarios. In Bioshock 2 you really get to set up your battles much better than in the first. On top of that, you have a whole new set of weapons that will set many different sorts of traps for your enemies to walk through. You can really lay out where people will come from by looking around, and then plan your battles accordingly.  It’s fantastic.

And then there are the Big Sisters. These are just crazy. They are, at the very least, much  faster and stronger than you are. You know when you’re going to have to fight them though, so again you can plan ahead and setup some defenses. If you like the strategy of a good shooter you’ll like this, it’s not your every day run-and-gun, it takes some thought. This game is definitely worth checking out.

Thanks for joining us for the thrilling conclusion of Founded In Battle! Morine accepts her place as part of the crowd as the four are thrust into the first battle of their journey, to protect Sandall itself! Just as an aside, this is by far my favorite thing I’ve ever written. I hope you all agree! Next week will be the whole story, so we’ll see you in two weeks for a brand new story! Have any ideas for one? Now’s a good time to tell them!

As always, thanks for listening!

Hurray! I’m happy to finally announce the release of our of Tuesday Night Stories homepage! You can follow that link or you may have noticed it was now in the menu above as well. We currently have 4 full-length stories that you can listen to and download, and Founded In Battle will be added in full soon. In addition, I’ve decided to add the text to each story for those that like to follow along, and those who prefer to read a story instead.

As I’ve done more and more research of this insane industry that is publishing, I’ve discovered, quite by accident, that I’ve done pretty much everything people suggest. I can’t recall where I read it but there is this quote I like. The only difference between a writer and a published writer is persistence, or something close to that. This is seen nowhere more than in the arts. So many writers spend their whole lives hoping what they have to say will be worth reading by others. That, of course, requires talent, agents, publishers, an audience, etc, etc.

It could be said that I’m on the “right path” to publishing a book. That could mean nothing of course, but if you look at the writer checklist (didn’t know there was one? Muahaha welcome to the crazy) then the argument could be made that if I stick with it I’m bound to sell a book. Let’s examine then, shall we?

1. Write a book – Indeed, this is an important step toward publishing. You could add plotting, creating characters, and all that if you’d like, but this is more or less the start. You have a finished book, what to do with it? This was the first thing I got right. Woo!

2. Set aside said book – My book was terrible. I loved it, don’t get me wrong, it was a great feeling to read it. But it was terrible and I put it away in a folder (where it’s still sitting). Hurray, I completed step two.

3. Writer another book using skills learned the first time – I happened to have another story to tell. You know, it was one of those “What a GREAT idea!” moments. Well skipping all the juicy bits, I wrote another book. I was on the right track and didn’t even know it at the time.

4. Edit, edit, edit, then get someone better to edit – I have the supreme pleasure, and the slight terror, of having a wife that is far better at editing than I am. After 4 drafts there was no page of my manuscript that didn’t have marks from top to bottom. You don’t need to research publishing to guess this step is important!

5. Discriminate against agents and test the waters – Yup, you heard me. Choose your top 10 agents then send your query to 5 others. Or better yet, attend a conference and try those agents first (which is what I did). You keep your top 10 list, you’ll see why in a second.

Send out those first 5 queries, wait patiently for your rejections, and hope for some tidbits as to why. My responses were dead on (that’s why they’re agents). “The prose is good and you do a fine job setting the scene (always take the compliments where you get them!), but I felt a bit removed from your main character, Colby.” That’s a direct quote from one, the others said the same, but not as clear. One good, detailed response out of 5 is GOOD luck. Now you know what’s missing and you know what these agent’s were looking for. Fix these things, then fix up your query to show other agents that you’re strong in that area (note: that’s show NOT tell). Most agents want at least a few pages. Make them stronger.

6. Write another book and keep submitting – Here is where you wait, and show your persistence. Almost every single published author has stories of rejections. Your book very well may not find an agent. Maybe the market isn’t ready for it. Maybe it’s not very good. Maybe you just aren’t ready for it. Write because you want to tell stories and each book you write will be better than the last. Patience and Persistence.

What do you think, agree or disagree? I’ve found it to be pretty accurate in the fantasy genre.

Good evening, all! Tonight’s episode moves to the High Lady Keilly. The day of attack has finally come and she must bring everyone together to fight in unity. The truth behind her plans serves as good of strategy as any. Listen on and see if Keilly can ready the good people of Sandall to fight!

As a side note, today I fixed a problem somebody mentioned with the iTunes podcast feed. The problem is resolved and the feed is working again, sorry about that! Click here if you have iTunes and want to see our podcast listing. There is also a link to it on the blog sidebar.

As always, I hope you enjoy the story!