I meant to send this update out last week, but I am forgetful.  First off the edit I decided to do on Magus is going to take longer than my original estimate, because it always takes longer than the original estimate(I suspect all my fellow writers will understand that).  As I’m looking over I’m finding not just the matter of a few descriptions which could have been more clear in their wording, but also a few bits of dialogue that with some minor tweaking can be much better displays of the characters’ personalities.  Its still minor changes, but also one’s which will only make the book stronger.  Unfortunately its also the kind of changes which require I go over the entire book word by word.

Now on to the slightly more detailed explanation of my plans for Magus.  First I’ll start with what I had intended for Magus when I started writing it: for it to be released in a serialized fashion, basically a sequential release of short stories which each told their own story and part of a larger story.  This was started years ago and at the time I looked around and decided that while there are obviously still magazines that include short stories, that serialization had faded to a point of near non-existence so my plan wouldn’t work.  As a result I hadn’t looked into it in the years since, but after my first campaign ended I was contacted by a website asking if I wanted to serialize through them.  I decided to wait on that since I knew I wanted to give an Inkshares campaign one more shot, but it did cause me to go on a bout of new research into serialization options and the resulting discovery that a decent number of them had popped up in the time since I abandoned the idea.

So, stage 1 of my Magus plan is to go the serialization route.  Since most of the terms for such sites understandably state that the book cannot currently be available elsewhere in a digital format or free online that means I will be taking down the chapters I have posted here as well as those on Goodreads and Wattpad.  Starting next Tuesday I’ll take down one posted excerpt every other day.  This will begin with the first excerpt (chapters 1-3) and continue sequentially from there so if you want to get a free read of any of the chapters that’s the timetable you’re looking at.  Once that and the current edit is done then I’ll start submitting to some sites I have in mind.  I would most like to get Magus on either Serialteller or Channillo (you can actually read the work of another author who started funding on Inkshares and then moved to serialization, Rebekka S Leber, here on Chanillo), so hopefully that will work out.

I do still want to one day get a print run of Magus out there, so stage 2 of the plan occurs concurrently with stage 1 as I scrape together funds to get the book into the condition I want it to be physically both from an editorial perspective and interior artwork-wise.  My current idea for a serialization outline would have it running about a year, maybe a year and a month, so I hope to have gotten everything to where it needs to be by the end of that time, finances allowing.  If I’m still running short on financing I may consider running a Kickstarter to make up the difference closer to that time, but I would prefer to avoid crowdfunding if possible.

Also part of stage 2 is a continued effort to get my name out there and attention to Magus via a more active posting on my own and others’ blogs.  A general idea of attracting readers through actually writing basically.  I know full well that it will be a difficult task since I’m only one small voice in a very crowded field.  Try and I may fail, but don’t try and I will always fail.  Just gotta forge ahead and hope I can make the smart choices at the right times.

Since I will need to save up as much money as possible, that also means that I’ll soon have to stop almost all non-essential spending.  This unfortunately also means the backing of funding books on Inkshares, a freeze that I’m delaying until 1/1/2017.  I still want to do what I can to help others meet their funding goals though, so I’m going to try to do my best to keep my eyes open and spread the word about those books I really want to see published via recommending/sharing/reviewing and so on.  If you have a book you want to see get funded, whether its your own or someone else’s, still feel free to point it out to me.

Finally, stage 3 is actually getting that print run done and out into the hands of people who want to read it.  I have no doubt this will be even more daunting than stages 1 & 2, but I’m just too stubborn to not try.  Its also pointless to talk in more detail on this until the time draws nearer and I have a more clear idea of the strategies I’ll employ.  For now my main focus is on stages 1 & 2, with only light planning/brainstorming for stage 3.

Of course once these three stages are completed its far from over, since I’ll need to repeat some version of these stages for each book I try to put out whether its one of the many in the Exile series or one of my other projects.  I do hope that one day I can build a following large enough to reliably fund and release via Inkshares, but I have a lot of platform building to do before that day is here.

Feel free to contact me for any reason, though especially if you have any advice/tips/tricks for me as I prepare to forge ahead.  As always, thanks for your time and support, and keep reading and enjoying!

Earlier this year, despite some solid success, I let the Inkshares funding campaign for Mission 51 end without asking for an extension for two reasons: I wanted to focus on the writing and not on the campaigning, and I wanted to submit Mission 51 to Hollywood’s Launch Pad Competition 2016. I have to admit I was a bit disappointed it didn’t make it to the finalist group, but today I received some very strong encouragement!

I received the formal Feedback Notes from Launch Pad, essentially an opinion about my submitted sample from an industry judge. Let me give you a few excerpts from the report:

"This is a knockout premise, and those are very rare."

"The fact that Mat’s story... is an immigrant story, takes this premise from being a great high concept to being a great high concept with real emotional subtext, and one that has resonance with our modern world today."

"The pages here consistently communicate the story clearly, with great momentum, and a very palpable sense of empathy for ALL the characters... This is a great read, and a very capable execution of a highly evocative premise. This project has tremendous potential."

"The quality of the writing here, not just on the conceptual level, but also in terms of the story in these pages and the writing of that story, is uniformly strong. The dialogue’s good too, voice specific and smart in its use of subtext."

"This project feels like it has strong potential for either a TV or feature adaptation, and stands on its own as a great read as a manuscript."

Well isn’t that just awesome!!! I am greatly encouraged that I am on the right track!

Looking forward to the next suitable Inkshares contest so I can jump in and try again. I really want you to read the story!

Peace, and Happy Thanksgiving!

👽

Yesterday was... well yesterday was yesterday and that’s all I’ll say on that.

Only 6 days left in the campaign, and only one more update after this one (not counting a post campaign update).  So if you’ve been holding off on preordering don’t delay much longer or you’ll miss your chance.  Thanks goes out to everyone who has supported me this far, and here’s hoping we can manage to get at least 187 more orders in 6 days.

I was going to continue sharing bits of background on my world and its peoples/creatures with this update, but a few days ago one of my fellow contributors to the Too Many Controllers anthology, Brian Guthrie brought up something more important.  There has already been an update sent out from the TMC page, but in the off chance that any of you reading this Exile, Magus update don’t also follow TMC I want to share it here as well.

Just an update for you about an event some of the Inkvengers will participate in this Fall.

BLUF: Support the Inkvengers as we raise money for the hospital that saved the lives of people close to us. Go to Extra Life to find out more.

This weekend, gamers around the world will come together for 24 (25 with the time change) hours of gaming raising money for children. The event is Extra Life and all the money the gamers raise goes to support Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals across the US. The event has raised $22 million up to this point, over $8 million last year alone.

This event is particularly close to the Inkvengers’ hearts.  We all know people who have been in a children’s hospital, many in our own family.  Brian Guthrie’s niece was born into Providence of Alaska at 26 weeks. They helped keep her in the womb as long as possible, safely delivered her, and saved her life during her 72 day stay in the NICU. She’s now a happy, bubbling kid full of life thanks to that hospital. All of the funds he raises go to Providence of Alaska.  To give you an idea of the need, the bed his niece lived in for those 72 days costs almost $10,000 to replace.  In 5 years, Brian has only managed to raise $4300.  The need is great.

Many, many more gamers have similar stories about the hospitals they support. In fact, the entire event was inspired by Victoria Enmon, a little girl diagnosed with cancer that wanted to do something for the other kids around her that were more sick. You can learn more about her story in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHSZ_82wiJg . Warning: tissues should be nearby.

So, what can you do? Well, you can join in and support a hospital. Learn more at Extra Life. But, if you’d rather just support a gamer, you can go to that site and find someone also doing this.  Some of the Inkvengers will be participating during the main event this Saturday, others on another day.  You can find Brian and Amanda Orneck by searching for their names on the event page or you can support their team.  They are on a team called the Pixel Sharks, which is spread out across the world, mostly current or former military service-members wanting to help others.  And don’t worry if you can’t donate right away.  You have until the end of the month to help.