Tonight is the conclusion of Adventures Through The Window! I’ve had a lot of fun with this story. The idea of bringing sense to a world of nonsense turned out a lot different than I originally thought it would. TJ’s been a good protagonist, but I’m already working on the next hero to tell us a tale. I’m feeling really good about the notes I have so far. It’s going to be nice to get back into a more adult, high fantasy story.

As always, thanks for joining us.

In last week’s post TJ learned that not all great deeds are followed by cheers and thanks. His latest companion didn’t even say a word to him about it. Now he must once again figure out who he’s traveling with, and if the cat knows Jester. TJ’s come to enjoy his time through the window, and he’s eager to discover what more there is in store for him.

There’s a special 4th of July treat that we managed to sneak in there for you guys. I hope everyone had a fun and safe holiday! As always, we hope you enjoy the story.

We’re back tonight with the real part six of Adventures Through the Window. I hope everyone enjoyed last week’s comedic break. I told David he really needs to try his hand at another, so he may be back at some point. In tonight’s episode TJ finds a feast has been prepared for his awakening. Fun as it all may seem, his suspicions grow as his memories begin to return. Just what are Ambrissia’s intentions, why is he so special in her eyes?

Need to catch up? You can peruse our latest posts, or you can read the story here if you prefer.

As always, thanks for joining us tonight. We hope you’re enjoying the story.

I never thought that I would really get into writing serialized fiction, my wife still can’t understand how I do it. I’ve always been a plotter, writing detailed outlines and world building a lot for my stories. I even write detailed notes about chapters before I write them. Suffice it to say, very little is just made up as I go through writing a novel.

Podcasting has offered me that completely different path though. Because I really don’t spend much time plotting out these stories, they just evolve from week to week based on things that happened, and where they might lead from there. It has been a wonderful experience to me as a writer. My skill has increased drastically since this all began. My confidence has as well.

It’s something I think all you writers should try at some point.

It has taught me to edit – If you really want to see your mistakes, read your stories out loud. Every little mistake will scream at you when you hear it. If you really, really want to see, have someone else read it aloud. David has taught me not to send him bad drafts!

It has taught me to adapt – I can’t count the number of times I felt the story was trapped and had to find a way out.

It has shown me characters – It’s the characters that drive these stories every week. Never before have I felt so confident about getting into the mind of a protagonist.

It has shown me limits – One of the first rules we decided on for TNS was that no story would last more than 9 episodes. I’ve learned that each episode really has to drive toward that necessary conclusion, there aren’t episodes to waste.

Has anyone else had experience with this? What have you thought about it?

We all know we’re doomed to re-live the mistakes we don’t learn from history, but for writers, history becomes so much more interesting. The mind of an artist often works differently than others. When we learn about the military battles that ended wars, we’re also figuring out how things might have gone different. While most people read about the back room deals that make and break nations, we look at the personality types in the room, and wonder how history might have changed had their backgrounds gone just a little different.

History has a great deal for us to build upon while we work out our plots and characterization. It offers endless settings, and hundreds of other details that don’t have to come from scratch. After all, nobody wants to reinvent the wheel.  There are civilizations all through time for the choosing: ones from forests, from deserts, from mountains. There are mysterious languages we still haven’t deciphered, calendars more accurate than what we use today, centuries old structures crafted based on advanced astronomical calculations. And for each of these things there are hundreds of “what ifs” we can ask.

For a writer, history doesn’t have to be accurate to be interesting. All those possible paths can lead us to another interesting story, another fun novel to write. We can drastically change history by giving a father to a leader who never knew his, a best friend to a woman who knew only hate and judgment. In some cases, the less accurate the better. To us history is just a large set building blocks waiting to be made and broken apart again.

Isn’t imagination great?

We have a special treat tonight! My nephew has come to stay with us this week and has successfully kept me on my toes. On top of that, my boss at work went and ventured off to Alaska for a couple weeks (lucky!). So, basically, this means tonight’s podcast episode is brought to you by our talented narrator David. He decided to take a wild stab at how Adventures Through The Window might end. I haven’t laughed so hard in a good while. You guys are going to love this. Next week we will return to the regularly scheduled story.

As always, David hopes you enjoy this story. To be fair though, I have threatened him with medieval torture should nobody enjoy tonight’s comedic break. So he has reason to hope. Want to spare David some pain? Then leave a comment showing your support!

I’ve just started reading The Forest Awakens once again, preparing myself for its first real rewrite. I wrote a while back that based on reactions, both from agents and friends, I figured out areas the book was lacking. What I’ve noticed is that there is a difference between reading for enjoyment and to prepare for a new draft. I thought I’d share a few of the things I look for.

• Watch dialogue closely to make sure nobody is saying things that don’t make sense.
• Be honest about which parts seem slow to you, what can you do to liven them up?
• Prepare to scrap! I’m scrapping all of chapter one.
• Find places that are description driven instead of character driven. (keep consistent, whichever you are going for)
• Writing for pre-teen or teen? Make sure kids will connect with your protagonists. This is something I’m going to be paying a lot of attention to, people tend to think I wrote it more for adults.
• Make sure no names are too similar, same for locations, ages, etc.
• Also make sure places and people don’t change names in the middle!

Those are some of the things I pay the most attention to. Feel free to add your own if you’d like! I’ve enjoyed getting to read my book on my new kindle. It’s very fitting in a way that this is the first book I’m reading on it.

Another Tuesday is upon us! Unfortunately I had to work most of the day, and most of the night really, but I did get it in before midnight! Sorry about the delay, folks.

In the last part, TJ lost consciousness in the forest. He wakes in a tall tower being waited on hand and foot. Is his rescuer and host someone he can trust, or just another inhabitant of this strange world looking to trick or use him? I could actually call this part 5 1/2. I had to break what I wanted into two parts for the sake of length. I hope you all will forgive me!

As always, I hope you enjoy the story.