Category: my novel’s progress

  • Traption now available for pre-order

    Traption now available for pre-order

    You can never go home again. Unless someone is forcing you. Bandonn FarPacer just wants to enjoy his vacation on the paradise moon Figuola. But mysterious robotic beings are spying on him and his friends everywhere they go. What are they? And why do they look so familiar to him? Andrew M. Friday My new…

  • Should I Use Kindle Create? Barnes & Noble Press?

    Should I Use Kindle Create? Barnes & Noble Press?

    Some quick tips on using Kindle Create and Barnes and Noble Press: I am about to release my novella Traption and I have been preparing it in Kindle Create. So the question is: should you Kindle Create to get your books on Amazon.com? Do I have to use Kindle Create or Barnes and Noble Press?…

  • Friday’s Findings: Sketching Out a Scene

    Friday’s Findings: Sketching Out a Scene

    Even though I am at the part of the revision process where I’m going through each scene one at a time, I decided to jump back up to looking at the story as a whole. I did this to add just one scene. But before I wrote a rough draft of the scene, I made…

  • Writing Experiment: Personality Test For Characters

    Writing Experiment: Personality Test For Characters

    Kieren Westwood runs a writing channel on YouTube. Recently, he revealed he used the 16 Personalities website, and took the personality test. But he didn’t take it as himself. He took it as if he were one of his characters. He recommended doing this for a simple analysis of a character’s personality. I’ve been thinking…

  • Friday’s Findings: A Little Off the Top

    Friday’s Findings: A Little Off the Top

    Currently, I am working on my novella, Traption. I practice taking a little off the top at the beginning of each scene. I learned this concept from Jessica Brody’s Writing Mastery Academy course on revision. She recommends going through each scene to determine whether or not the scene begins at the “correct” place. She recommends…

  • Friday’s Findings: A Sci-fi Podcast Recommendation

    Friday’s Findings: A Sci-fi Podcast Recommendation

    I’ve discovered a new podcast and I love it because it reviews science fiction novels. It’s called Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time. Two guys named Brent and Cody discuss the things they like and didn’t like about well known sci-fi books from over the years. It’s fairly new, so there are enough…

  • Friday’s Findings: Doing a Scene Audit

    Friday’s Findings: Doing a Scene Audit

    I’ve been on vacation this week and while I haven’t gotten as much reading done as I would have liked, I have gotten a LOT done on my novella, Traption. I’ve spent this week going through each scene, one by one and asking myself the following questions: Does this scene have a goal?What are the…

  • Writers: Let’s Take Action

    Writers: Let’s Take Action

    How can you reveal truths through your storytelling? How can you say what needs to be said through your fiction? How can recent events in the news be reflected in your writing?

  • Silas House and Where He Finds Inspiration

    Silas House and Where He Finds Inspiration

    In a post from last week, I discussed weaving in backstory to avoid infodumps. Coincidentally, the day I posted it on this blog, I attended the Speed Art Museum that evening where Kentucky author Silas House spoke on the subject. One thing he said stuck out to me: “I believe there’s a very thing veil…