C. Brennecke liked an update for An Unattractive Vampire

Greetings Readers, Followers, Human Beings, and Advertising Algorithms,

I promised you this day would come. You didn't believe me. I didn't believe me. But it's here at last...

 

That's right! I finally figured out how to work the internet. No more free AOL homepages and half-hearted Tumblrs for me. www.jimmcdoniel.com is a thing. A thing that both exists and works. Go there now and behold the wonder and glory of me copy and pasting pictures onto Squarespace. Marvel at my ability to link you back here to Inkshares. Thrill as you view my Twitter account while not on Twitter. Ooooo. Aaaaah.

In other news, the Sword and Laser contest two is wrapping up this week. On Friday at noon (West Coast time, two o'clock here) three more authors will receive the full publishing treatment and one will join G. Derek Adams, J.F. Dubeau, and myself in the Sword and Laser collection. There are plenty of good books in the mix with plenty of time to make the jump so please, consider visiting the contest page and checking a few out like:

For dystopic cyberpunk, click Deus Hex Machina.
For epic demonic fantasy, click Bones of the Past.
For sci-fi action/adventure, click The Amaranth Chronicles: Deviant Rising.

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    C. Brennecke liked an update for She Is the End

    My campaign is over!



    IN PRODUCTION!

    Now... I just need to make sure my book is the best book ever to book, don't I?

    SO! Most of the manuscript is done, but there are some rather... wobbly parts. January and February are going to be hardcore #amwriting months, and I'm aiming to be done with my final, FINAL edits by February 29th. Leap Day!

    Thank you so much, everyone who has helped me get through this campaign.

    Thank you to the other half of my heart, Alex, without whom I'd be adrift.

    Thank you to John Robin and Joe Terzieva, who have helped me keep my head on straight through all the craziness.

    Thank you to Matt Kaye, Avalon Radys, Jeremy Thomas, and Thad Woodman at Inkshares, who have been so supportive and encouraging.

    Thank you, my readers. You are taking a chance on me, and I'm not going to let you down.
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      C. Brennecke liked a comment in the forum thread, How do you prepare a story?
      I'm enjoying the answers. If you know any other writers not mentioned that might want to give input, mention them in.
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      People who have liked this comment in the forum thread, How do you prepare a story?

        C. Brennecke liked a comment in the forum thread, How do you prepare a story?
        I start with the basic shape of the story, some major signposts I want to hit, a grab bag of characters and then I go exploring. I generally have a couple of sticky notes floating around  and a sheet of graph paper with a list of concepts, events, ideas - connected by intersecting lines - more of a thought-map then a real outline. Beyond that it's limited 'pantsing' until I get a workable draft. I don't know about you guys, but my best ideas are in my fingers not my brain. AMOD exists within an established framework and history of my fiction, so there are a lot of limits and rules to what can and cannot happen that aren't immediately apparent. But within that there's plenty of room for weird cul de sacs of plot, fight scenes and such.

        I'm actually loitering on the entry point of a new novel that doesn't take place in that framework and its surprising how exciting and terrifying it is.


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          C. Brennecke followed Asteroid Made of Dragons
          Asteroid Made of Dragons
          A preposterous fantasy crisis with resolutions remarkable and losses lamentable. May contain minotaur tea parties.
          C. Brennecke liked a comment in the forum thread, How do you prepare a story?
          Hah, I'm a disaster. 

          I just start writing. No planning. I generally have an idea of a really cool scene, and then I write it. More stuff comes to mind and I write that, too. Lots of writing, lots of thinking. 

          I usually know the basic story I want to write - the barest of bare bones of story beats - but the story will change dramatically based on what happens spontaneously as I write. It is fun and sometimes frustrating, since I'll do things like write... let me see... 4K words in one direction, and then realize that the story would  be better if the entire situation changed and I have to cut all that. I do that a lot.

          I do a ton of planning around characters, though - early on I made a diagram with all five main characters and forced myself to come up with two things each pairing had in common, and two reasons for them to hate each other. Then I made sure to create a relationship arc for each pairing. Nothing happens in my book that doesn't affect the characters/their relationships, and I tried really hard to make every single step of progress in the book happen because of the nature of my characters and their decisions/actions.

          In my defense, if I didn't just let myself write, I don't think I'd be able to come up with the most fun stuff. (Maybe I would, though?) I'm going to try to do a detailed outline for the second book before I write too much of it, in the hopes that I'll avoid writing in the wrong direction so often the next time around. 
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            C. Brennecke liked a comment in the forum thread, Soft Launch Invitation Thread
            This is great! Thanks for the invite, @Thaddeus Woodman!

            My first thought is that it'd be great to have a reply/quote feature, but it isn't a must-have feature or anything. Looking forward to keeping the conversations on the platform! Goodreads is great for some things, but I'd much rather talk about Inkshares projects right here :)
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              C. Brennecke liked a comment in the forum thread, The Topic Brainstorm Costume Party!
              I like it. I also want to see more reader involvement. I've received many pre-orders from other writers because of my interactions with them. I would like to see if that can spread further into the reader community.
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                C. Brennecke liked a comment in the forum thread, See which threads have new posts
                Seeing which threads have new posts is helpful for administrators to see what might need to be reviewed. Helpful for readers who want to jump back into a conversation.
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                  C. Brennecke liked a comment in the forum thread, Deus Hex Machina
                  I'm really hungry for Deus Hex Machina to make it in the Sword & Laser contest. I know we have the JOHN'S LIST, but how about a little JOE'S LIST this time? Does anyone have an audience they can reach out to get more support on this book? I've sent some Twitter and Facebook posts, but I don't think they brought any returns.

                  I feel like there is a richness to the world of Deus Hex Machina I'd like to explore and I feel like it should be something shared to a wider audience.

                  @John Robin @A.C. Weston @JF Dubeau @G. Derek Adams 

                  @Amanda Orneck 
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