Lou Paduano | Urban Fantasy Novels | Sci-Fi Crime Series

Writing Update – April 12, 2018

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Welcome back to the show that never ends!!! I promised myself a quiet March after the launch of Pathways in the Dark, especially with every member of my household celebrating birthdays in a three week span.

I always break my promises when it comes to easing off on the writing.

Instead, I launched into my next series with reckless abandon.

Writing Update

I love school vacations. It is my bread and butter when it comes to productivity. Having my lovely wife home last week gave me the opportunity to jump head first into the first book in a new series.

42,002 words in 7 days.

It’s called The Clearing and it is coming your way in June 2019.

The first in a series of novella type serials, The Clearing is the first of six “episodes” which will make up the first season.

I have a LONG way to go before I feel comfortable throwing more details your way but, holy crap, am I excited about this!

A Circle of Shadows

The next and final installment in the Greystone series (for now…) is heading to my lovely and talented editor at Kristen Corrects Inc this month. So this week I am hunkered down making sure the latest draft is up to snuff and presentable.

I do not want to disappoint on this one. The pressure is on but from what I’ve heard in terms of feedback from my very early readers I think I managed to stick the landing. More on this next week.

Buffalo Comicon – April 15th!!!

Stop and pay me a visit this Sunday between 10am and 5pm!! Bring your paperback to be signed or pick one up at the show!

Can’t wait to see you there! Order your ticket today!

Reading Update

Blood Rites by Jim Butcher – Absolutely love this series. Book Six in The Dresden Files and every time I finish one I want to pounce on the next installment. This book was no exception. Butcher throws a ton at you in the beginning but always manages to juggle the seemingly disparate plotlines with ease. The world he’s developed has grown so much since the first two books. Can’t wait to see what happens next.

When Did You See Her Last? by Lemony Snicket – I have never read a Lemony Snicket novel, though I confess I am loving the current Netflix series based on A Series of Unfortunate Events. Reading this book I couldn’t help but hear Patrick Warburton’s narration in the back of my mind, edging me further and further into the bizarre mystery unfolding in the pages. A dazzling array of characters, each with their own quirks on display for the reader.

A fast read and an enjoyable one to boot.

Cliffhangers – Story Technique or Story Cheat?

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I’ve run into a wall with this one. I’ve seen arguments on both sides and am wondering where the line in the sand is when it comes to cliffhangers.

I love cliffhangers. I love the feeling that there is a larger story in play or something still to unfold. To me, they are the perfect way to drive readers to the next issue of a comic book, the best way to ensure they “tune in” to the start of the next episode of their favorite television show.

But do book readers enjoy them?

Losing the whole story.

I’ve spoken to dozens of readers on this issue. That there is something they are missing and therefore the experience of reading a book is not complete because of a cliffhanger. Readers mention this issue in their reviews of serialized fiction, the sense that they were cheated by an incomplete plot and forced to read the next installment because of this technique.

But isn’t that what authors want you to do? Read their next book? Find a way to put you back in the world you’ve just visited as easily as possible? What better way than to leave you hanging, unable to know whether a character lives or dies? Or how a situation turns out for your main leads until the next book?

It’s the ultimate tension builder and one used by many industries as the means to keep readers coming back for more.

But is it a cheat?

Not a complete story. That is the feeling of some readers and they would not be wrong in that assessment. A cliffhanger demands an answer, usually in the form of another book – one would hope… So the reader is now forced to buy something else on top of the book they have just read.

So where does the author draw the line? What gives the reader a satisfying and complete experience but also compels them forward to the next installment? What allows the author to tell larger stories in the midst of the installment based series without the power of a cliffhanger?

These are the questions that keep me up at night.

A happy compromise.

I love installment based series. Episodic storytelling. I like to know there is more on the way, a larger story in the telling. What I don’t enjoy is patchwork novels. A piece of a puzzle without any connective tissue with the hopes you’ll stick around for the rest. The first part of a larger novel that was broken up into two or ten pieces that forces you to buy them all to see how things play out.

So how about a compromise? A complete story that can leave a lingering question or two for the reader with the hopes it will be answered in future stories. An “A” plot that has a beginning, middle and end while also engaging the reader with a potential “B” and “C” plot that plays out in the background over multiple stories.

The reader comes first and as I plot away on my next series, I’m curious to know what you think about cliffhangers? Are they a dirty, rotten ploy to scam some bucks from you? Or does it keep you on the edge of your seat, excited for the next book in the series?

I’d love to hear your thoughts. E-mail me at lou@loupaduano.com.

Are Shorter Novels the Future?

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This is a debate I hear quite a bit. Most of which occurs in my own head but let’s pretend it also relates to the wide world of book trends. Are shorter novels the way of the future? Is it a cheat for modern day writers to get their books out there faster and with more frequency? Or does the book buying public want shorter works with their attention so divided in a media enriched world?

Check out Amazon…

Do you ever look at the page count before clicking purchase on a book? I do. I don’t know why. If the book sounds great and has terrific reviews I’m going to buy it anyway. But I like to know how long it is.

There is a trend lately for shorter novels. Instead of seeing 300 pages or more for each book published, take a closer look and you’ll see the average book on the digital stands falls much shorter. Does this invalidate the author in any way? No. Of course not. The story takes what the story takes.

However, the better question becomes — what does the reader want from their story?

Less time available to read?

My wife reads for 15 minutes every night before bed. That’s on a good day. It takes her months to read a full-length novel. When asked how her reading experience is going there is little to discuss, because the intake is hampered by the lack of time available.

I did notice, though, that when she reads on her Kindle there tended to be a shorter reading span for books. She found a series of assassin books she absolutely loved and pounded through in a matter of weeks instead of the typical months long endeavor.

Their page length? About 200 pages per book.

Is this the future of reading for the public? Maybe. And maybe it’s a good thing.

Shorter book = less investment

With as much media overflowing from every corner of the world, with streaming services cropping up daily, books have to fight for time. A shorter book, one that sounds entertaining or enthralls a potential reader might pull that person in easier than a book clocking in at 400 to 600 pages. A nice, light weekend read might be just what someone needs to unwind rather than War and Peace or Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire…

The argument doesn’t take away from longer works. Stories dictate their length, not artificial page counts decided prior to writing.

Is this the future for books? That’s the great thing about books. It takes all kinds to make a readership. Long, short, series or standalone, all have merit and all are deserving of our attention.

Right now, though, the shorter works seem to be in demand and I find that fascinating…

What do you think? Do you prefer a shorter read to entertain you for a couple hours or do you want to fall into a world for days on end?

Serialized Fiction

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Serial fiction has been a staple of the medium for centuries. Weekly installments captured a reader’s attention and kept them coming back to the newsstands for the next chapter. From Charles Dickens to Arthur Conan Doyle, some of the greatest fiction writers of all time offered their masterpieces piecemeal to the public.

Serialized fiction today…

There is a growing trend in the digital book market to split books into installments. Three parts or ten, these serial novels give the reader a small taste of the greater whole. But does it offer a satisfying read?

Benefits exist for this model. An author can surely capitalize more on one book broken down into multiple parts rather than sell only one product on the digital stands. They are able to charge less, though make more in the long run with the full narrative split between chapters.

This model also allows an author to be a perpetual publisher, constantly launching a new product to the market for their readers to lap up. Readers are constantly looking for their next book and staggering the full story in an installment model keeps them coming back. There is always another pre-order, always another chapter to offer until the story is done, keeping them locked on the series rather than stray while it takes six to ten months for another full-length novel to be produced and launched.

How to make it a better experience for readers?

That’s the key, isn’t it? Rather than make them feel obligated to get the next chapter in order to complete the story, maybe the solution is a more episodic nature.

Taking a page from television, each piece of the serial should tell a full-length story within its pages but continue driving the overarching narrative forward to draw readers to the next chapter. They don’t have to be 90,000 word chapters but enough to satisfy the casual reader as well as the devout follower.

The same pitfalls exist, however, as any series. How to make the third book to a series as easy to enter as the first? Or even the fifteenth as the first? It’s not an easy task. Maybe it isn’t even warranted any longer, now that readers are able to go back and download the first book with the click of a button instead of scrounging through old paperback bins at the flea market.

What’s coming in 2019?

Yeah, there’s a reason I’ve been thinking about this argument. Next year I’m launching a new series, one with an episodic structure and a rapid fire launch schedule. There are quite a few different directions I’ve toyed with, different tactics to use and how best to make them work within the structure of the series.

Serialized fiction, episodic story-telling, I believe is the future of the medium. What do you think?

Thanks for reading.

Writing Update – March 15, 2018

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It’s been a light month for me so far. Lots of good distractions, however, I’ve persisted in getting a small jump on next year’s big project.

Writing Update

Next year’s project turns from the novel approach to a more episodic nature. There is some of that in Greystone, threads weaving throughout the series, but for this next endeavor I’ve tried to really tighten up the narrative so that each piece provides a full story yet propels the overall arc forward to the following chapter in rapid fire delivery.

Will it work? I hope so!

To dive in, I’ve outlined the six episodes that will comprise the inaugural “season” of the series. First, I plotted them separately then began to filter in the connective tissue that ties everything together and leaves readers wanting a second season.

Tons more prep work involved before getting to the down and dirty part of writing, however, I’m enjoying exploring this new world and the possibilities it provides.

Convention Season!

That’s right! Convention season is upon us and I am taking part in my first one ever one month from today!

The Buffalo Comicon is Sunday, April 15, 2018 from 10 am until 5 pm at the Buffalo Niagara Marriott at 1240 Millersport Highway, Amherst NY 14221!

I will be there with books galore and am happy to sign your edition with my signature flair. Please tell me if sarcasm is unnecessary or if it is preferred. (I’ll do whatever I want anyway…)

The Buffalo show is the first convention I ever attended as a kid and is a great place to pick some cool books and meet some incredible folks. Very much looking forward to seeing you there!

Reading

I won’t bore you with the X-Men reading I’ve been binging on this time around. (1986 was a great year for mutant books… just saying.)

I’m hoping to finish off my winter reading list next week and will be sharing my thoughts next update!

Big Picture Pitfalls

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If you’ve been following along with me the last few weeks you know I am currently mired in plotting my next series of books. I absolutely love this part of the process. A clean slate with nothing to tempt you, no requirements for where the series has to land, nothing to stop you on any creative level.

Except yourself.

Big Picture Mechanics = Stalling Out

Plotting is great. Planning ahead for where a story can go (not always where it WILL go) opens doors. There are benefits to this but also a number of pitfalls.

Too many possibilities – Where do you go when you don’t have any road in front of you? Without the proper foundation, in this case, character arcs, antagonist, setting, and more, you tend to float rather than run with the ball. Too many open doors during this part of the process can lead to no answers.

Not enough rules – Rules center everything. They put your story firmly in the world where they belong so you can form somewhat important aspects like structure, genre, and more into the narrative. Without rules our stories tend to flop between realms at the whim of our creativity rather than the skill of our technique.

Focus breeds answers.

I’m not talking about gulping down six cups of coffee and then hoping for the mysteries of the universe to unfold before your eyes. That only happened once as far as I know…

No, I mean focus like a laser through the big picture right to the core of the story you want to tell. Pull out aspects you WANT to be there and weigh them against decisions that NEED to be there.

Take a week with all your notes and pull them together through the different lenses. Character based. Threat based. Theme. Genre.

Take the first step.

Don’t dawdle in the planning stage. Allowing the big picture to be the only window into your new project is a surefire way to keep it as a dream instead of a reality.

Instead, use those notes – refine that focus – and take the first step toward an actual outline. Even if it is just a single sentence for each narrative beat. There is no right or wrong here.

Don’t let fear of making the wrong choice stymie what might be your best project.

Push them aside and get to work.

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