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

Best Author Goals

By

I read a ton about writing. I take in quite a bit when it comes to the best and most viable options for turning my fledgling series into a full blown powerhouse. But not every option is right for me and it shouldn’t be for you either.

Author goals range from a desire to craft a novel from start to finish all the way to becoming the next JK Rowling. Yours should be just that – YOURS.

Writing for Bucks

Yeah, I’m leading with this one. Some people still believe this is possible, to launch a single book and watch the money train back into their driveway. Done and done.

Not likely.

Beginning the process this way dooms you from Chapter One. I know there are many people out there telling you differently. I’ve read their blogs, listened to their podcasts.

These are the guys that discuss niche writing. Finding a small but heavily searched topic PRIOR to developing a story in order to tune into a specific audience FIRST. If you can locate a topic that sings to you and you have a story in mind, I’d be all about this method of writing.

But what about those people out there churning out product in areas they care nothing about? It shows in the writing. It does. Doing this turns the act of writing from a creative endeavor to a business plan. Full blown.

Having a business plan is a great thing but when it becomes the central tenet of your process you may as well build the cubicle walls in your house and start looking around for who stole your red stapler.

author goals
Pssst… ask this guy first!

True Author Goals

By true, I mean those that are in tune with who you are as a person. Rather than looking outward – money, popularity, fame – my feeling is author goals should – and work best when they do – come from within.

I love reading about authors finding their story and what inspired them. I never want to read about someone who found a profitable market and planted a flag as their “origin story.” LAME.

Be it romance or post-apocalyptic, the author’s connection to the subject pours through the writing. It can’t be helped. But those that work from the dollar sign back to the creative aren’t committed to the reader. They’re committed to the end result, that monthly check from Amazon.

My Author Goals

I’d love to be a bestseller, I’d love to have rabid fans who NEED the next installment of Greystone today not tomorrow.

But I start with a simple author goal and one that guides me in my process.

What story do I want to tell? What story do I want to read?

When it came to Greystone, it was my love of myth combined with the detective elements that brought me to the keyboard. A novel I wrote in 2014 – that needs a massive amount of editing – dealt with henchmen teaming up to start a consulting business. It was the humor of the main character – and the challenge of a first person narrative – that kept me working on the piece month after month.

A series I am currently developing and revising for next year centers around my love of The X-Files (a series frequently mentioned on this blog). Another comes from a simple question I asked myself about the legal thriller genre and how I would approach one having ZERO knowledge of courtroom policy and procedure. But learning was part of the challenge and my unique spin on it part of the fun and that’s how the series was born.

All from my curiosity. Not looking at searches on Amazon or trolling the bestseller list.

But what about the $$$?

Yes, there is a need for profit, a sense of accomplishment when you can sell a gajillion copies of the latest diet crave book or yet another self-help book or the next “Writer’s Guide to the Question Mark” book. I’m sure one or two of the authors behind them are absolutely IN LOVE with the question mark or how to fit quinoa in every fudging meal for the rest of your life. (NEVER!)

I doubt every author on the subject is though. I bet a dozen or two have a great sci-fi military novel lodged in their brain but are afraid of the middling sales compared to a less crowded, more profitable niche.

Being afraid, worrying about selling the book before it’s hatched mentality is an epic fail and one that should never trip you up. Tell YOUR story, the one that keeps you up at night. The one that forces you into the freezing basement in the middle of winter wearing a hat and gloves to churn out pages.

That’s where the fun is in writing and the fun behind it makes the best author goal.

Thanks for reading.

Writing Update – July 24, 2017

By

Writing Update!

I worry sometimes – okay, ALL THE TIME – about these updates. I worry that one day there won’t be one to share, that the well will run dry and I’ll be stuck rehashing old stories over and over again with nothing new.

And then there’s THIS WRITING UPDATE!

The final chapter begins…

That’s right. I’ve been plotting and outlining for months. Every scrap of dialogue baked into this beast has been scrutinized and revised to death. The script is in hand and the Scrivener file is formatted.

Time to write the last book of Greystone (for now…)

I’ve said for some time there is a specific break in the series. Once the whole of the narrative was broken into three pieces, however I’ve come to realize it is more like halves. Book Five will be the end of Greystone’s First Cycle or the first half of the series.

There is a reason for it. There are things that happen in the book, threads resolved that lead to a moment of closure in some cases. It gives us all a moment to breathe before diving into the next epic – and yes, it will be EPIC.

Character’s fall. Trust is broken. Darkness surrounds everything.

And a circle closes around Soriya and Loren.

There is a lot at stake with this final chapter. More than the emotional core of the series, more than these character’s and the baggage they’ve carried for four books, but Portents itself. Every warning, every thread, is in here. Not every answer but some BIG ONES for sure.

It’s going to be a crazy, blockbuster style ending.

The Medusa Coin

The proofs arrived this week! There is nothing better than holding the finished product after slaving over a computer screen for six months.

I’m diving into it next week to make sure everything is buttoned up. Those of you on my Advance Team are hopefully doing the same!

Physical copies will be available on the release date of September 12th. I wish there was a way to do pre-orders but it does not seem possible with the current system in place at Createspace (Amazon) and Ingram Spark (Don’t get me started with these guys…)

You can, however, pre-order the e-book of The Medusa Coin RIGHT NOW.

Amazon   Nook   Kobo   iBooks   Smashwords

That way, when you wake up on September 12th and are debating whether or not to read the back of your cereal box for the 50th time – don’t deny it – or turn on your e-reader, the choice is an easy one!

Reading

I wish I had more to share this week. Not much reading going on as I crank up the drafting phase of the final book.

I have been reading a ton of comics with my four year old. Our current fascination is Tiny Titans, which is AWESOME. Art and Franco are an amazing team and inject wonderful humor into each issue of the book. My kid loves it and actually knows who Trigon and the Fearsome Five are, so AW YEAH, Tiny Titans!

Bookbub or Bust

I recently signed up for this one and can’t believe the response we’ve been able to garner already. Enter now for a chance to win a $350 gift card to Amazon. Yes, you read that correctly. To enter, all you have to do is follow any given author on Bookbub.

I didn’t realize how important this site was for authors. As a reader I get an e-mail from Bookbub daily noting all the incredibly discounted titles available for purchase. Multiple genres. Even free books.

And for authors? The more followers, the more Bookbub notices the author and the better the chances of being featured on their site. So I’m all for that! Help me and my fellow authors out and get a chance to win big with this promo! Ends July 31st!

Another awesome promo coming your way on Thursday.

Thanks for reading.

Fun Writing Exercises

By

Writing a series of books can be one of the most exciting and challenging projects. Finding the connections and carrying them to fruition is fulfilling on an incredible level. But it can also be a slog.

A series can include a number of books of varying lengths plus editing, marketing, publishing and all the other fun activities in the mix. Years can disappear in the blink of an eye.

So what can you do to stay in the moment? To stay fresh and feeling jazzed about sitting down at the keyboard to work on your epic?

How about some fun writing exercises?

Writing exercises – a necessary distraction.

Living in a single world can be constraining. You can feel boxed in, limited in what you can do, in the type of stories you are able to tell. There are rules with any series and being constricting by them while working on a multi-year project can take some of the fun away from the work.

So why not step away every once in awhile?

I do it. I have to and most of the time I don’t even realize I’m doing it. It will come in a dream or while I’m doodling outlines for blog posts…(I mean working diligently at all times… definitely not doodling…)

I’ll remember an idea from years ago and run with it for an hour or two to see where it leads. Usually it goes nowhere. A couple notes here or there. A character sketch or three. Some plot points but nothing coherent.

And then back to work.

Will it become something down the line? Hopefully. But for now it is enough to work through the thoughts – and keep COPIOUS NOTES (ALWAYS!) – and then buckle down to the draft, edit, marketing you’re actually meant to be working on.

Writing Prompts

What happens when I’m feeling burned out and don’t have the lightning strike on another series, script, project, etc.?

I find one.

This is a fun exercise. If you’ve ever done any screenwriting you’re probably aware of the need for spec scripts. These are scripts based on a currently or previously popular television programs.

They are also an interesting challenge and a way to stretch your writing muscles. Any chance to step out of the box created by a long running project and rejuvenate those creative juices is a welcome one.

Take a favorite show. Any show you love.

Write down every trope about the show. Characters. Overarching plot points. Find the inherent rules of the show.

An example is Phineas and Ferb (don’t judge me…)

There are rules within the show. Three separate plots are built in each show. A Phineas and Ferb plot involving some crazy invention. A Perry plot handling the maniacal Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s latest scheme to take over the tri-state area. And a Candace plot to rat out her brothers’ wacky adventure of the day.

Each one may appear separate at first but they all have to come together at the end.

Rules are rules. You have them in your own work and each show follows suit. Learning them and then working within them is a challenge.

In The X-Files there is the obligatory cold opening before the credits where the threat shows up and claims a victim. There is also the dubious, open-ended closing of the episode showing the audience that nothing is ever truly solved with the show.

If you look deeper into the show’s formula you start to see the pattern.

Learn the rules, and then you can stretch them and see what works for you and why.

Other mediums.

Television is only one avenue to take. Don’t feel limited to it.

Personally, I turn to comic books (shocker, I know) for a way to distract from my work on Greystone. Once or twice a month, when I’m feeling slightly burned out Soriya and Loren’s adventures I take a day to play in a different sandbox.

Lately, I’ve been on a DC Comics trip. I’ll take a character like Superman, or a team like the Legion of Super-Heroes, and sketch out what I feel are the strengths and weakness of the book/current direction. From there I might dig into their history and see where they’ve been. Where was the book the strongest in the character’s history and why?

I ask enough questions until I can see a pattern, or at least the start of what makes the property work or connect with the audience.

Then I come up with ten to fifteen ideas of my own. Building arcs, growing tales, using these characters.

Some evolve into full blown scripts, some get scratched at the outline phase.

But the exercise is the key.

Benefits of writing exercises

They are necessary. Living with one story can feel too confining and can make you resent the incredible journey you’re undertaking. Rather than allow that to happen, step back.

Take a day and write anything else. Play in a different world, even if nothing comes of it.

Then get back to work.

Thanks for reading.

A Writing Discipline

By

There are moments when I forget that writing is a long game. Months can be wrapped up in the editing process or trying to find a market for the work you’ve spent every waking moment putting together. In the midst of all the other tasks that go into the business side of writing what happens to the actual writing?

Balancing the craft with the real world.

Every step of the process is important. There’s no getting around it. (Much as I would like to.) Unless we’re pulling in major publishing contracts and everything is handled by much smarter people than us we have to accept the fact that sometimes writing takes a back seat.

The real world wins out. If we don’t spend the right amount of time editing our work suffers and readers don’t enjoy it. If we don’t market our book, find ways to promote our precious creation, then no one will ever see it.

Reality dictates that we need to break out of our shell and speak to the work you’ve already finished. Self-promotion is, well, not my strong suit and I can imagine it is the same for quite a few of us wordsmiths out there. But spreading the word to others, keeping the Twitter feed updated with the latest and greatest, helps in the long game of making writing a full time gig.

Constant Distractions

writing disciplineI have had the same task on my weekly To-Do list for the last month. It isn’t a tough task. A simple self-edit that shouldn’t be plaguing me the way it has been.

Why haven’t I done it? Because I distract myself with the dozen other things that come with my job. Last month I launched The Greystone Saga Volume One, a digital collection of the first two books in the Greystone series. Books I’ve already written, edited, published.

It shouldn’t have been too difficult to put out in the world, right?

That is where “Marketing Man” comes into play. There are social media posts to write and publish at different times. There are newsletter swaps with my ever growing circle of writer compatriots to spread the word about the release. On top of that are the other promotional opportunities to get the book in front of as many eyeballs as possible.

Lots of scheduling, lots of planning, all of which ends up sucking time away from the work.

So how do we KEEP WRITING?

Writing Discipline

My work day is split between an hour in the afternoon (NAP TIME, WOOHOO!) and an hour at night. Weekends are my bread and butter in terms of productivity. So I created a schedule to keep writing at the forefront.

The small windows are built for marketing and promotional jobs. This blog, for one, falls into the category. It allows me to stretch my writing muscles but in small enough increments that I accomplish something before my kiddos wake or before I crash (way too early for someone my age but oh well…)

Weekends have become my writing haven. Eight to ten hours of non-stop plotting, scripting and drafting. It takes a bit to get back into the swing of things and it isn’t ideal for the creative process, but it is what I have to work with at the moment.

Taking a break…

Someone recently told me to take some time off and rest up after a few bouts of the fantastic summer cold that knocks me down annually. I told them I couldn’t, wouldn’t.

There is a fear of stopping, of walking away before the work is finished. Most don’t understand it. There are words in my head and if I don’t get them on the page they might never line up the same way again. That scares the holy hell out of me. What if I miss something? What if I forget that perfect first sentence or that closing moment of perfection to sum up the entire series?

These are real concerns running through the back of my mind. On top of the actual writing and the editing and the publishing and the marketing.

A writing discipline comes from DOING THE WORK. Yes, there will be off days but we don’t get breaks like most do. We can’t afford them when there are too many stories left to tell, too many incredible tales yet to weave for you to read.

Final thoughts…

Use the time available to you. Make the most of it. Every second of it. Pound away at that keyboard and make it happen.

Then do it again tomorrow.

Make something great.

And thanks for reading.

Resurrectionists Commentary Part 3

By

We’ve made it to the last author commentary for the Tales from Portents collection at last! My hope with these author commentaries is to offer insight into the decisions made in putting the project together and the challenges therein. It’s also fun to point out the little Easter eggs throughout.

So, the final SPOILER WARNING is in effect!

The Founder

In the original version of Resurrectionists there was a clear villain in the form of the Founder.  He had dubiousFounder intentions and the mystery behind his identity was very much in play.

Then I thought better.

Is there a villain in Resurrectionists? Not really. Using this crucial component of the Greystone series as more a morality tale for Loren and Soriya than a battle between good and evil strengthened the emotional core of the story.

The face of the Founder

The first and second draft held the same premise: at the climax of the story, the Founder was arrested and unmasked for the city to see.

The aftermath chapters centered on his story before diving into Loren’s suspension and subsequent leave of absence. In essence, all character growth, the heart of the story being told was blocked by the need to explain who and what the Founder truly was.

It didn’t work.

It was awkward and it raised more questions than it answered. And it sure as hell took some of the juice away from the pain Loren was going through after the debacle.

Pulling away from Loren in this moment as well as from Soriya as she watches him leave at the end of the story, would have undercut the strength of these scenes, and the reason the story existed in the first place.

The unmasking also put more emphasis on explaining how the resurrections occurred as well. That was something I wanted ambiguous. The less said the better. Spelling out the mystical, defining every aspect of a supernatural or faith-based element in the narrative is never for the benefit of the story or the reader.

Leaving those questions, allowing the reader to make their own judgement engages the audience more. Or it frustrates the hell out of them. (Definitely not my intention…)

The other benefit of leaving the Founder in the wind with his mask and motivations intact?

Founder’s Day

FounderIt leaves things open for a kick-ass sequel.

That’s right. Coming December 5, 2017, Founder’s Day will be coming your way.

FOR FREE.

On the eve of the Founder’s Day Celebration in the heart of Portents, someone is murdering city officials and dressing them up in a signature black robe and cloak.

What does it have to do with the Church of the Second Coming? And will Loren be able to find the killer or will the entire city of Portents be at risk?

The seeds are planted for the end of the first cycle of the Greystone series in this tale!

The End.

That brings us to the end of the commentary for Tales from Portents. I hoped you enjoyed this insight into the insanity I bring to all my work. The constant battles. The thoughts behind even the most miniscule of details. Everything is important and it is all to make the reading experience the best possible.

I hope you agree.

Thanks for reading!

Resurrectionists Commentary Part 2

By

We’ve almost made it to the last author commentary for the Tales from Portents collection! One more after this, promise! My hope with these author commentaries is to offer insight into the decisions made in putting the project together and the challenges therein. It’s also fun to point out the little Easter eggs throughout. (I love that crap.)

Spoiler Warning is in effect!

Pulling threads together…

This is one of the most difficult tasks of a writer. I am constantly tweaking, pulling, and praying that at the end of the day the threads connect and make sense.

As well as satisfy both the casual fan and the avid reader.

For Resurrectionists, the task before me was to take the small nuggets left throughout Signs of Portents and build a compelling narrative to explain some of them.

Not all of them.

A good friend continues to complain about the lack of answers. Don’t worry. They are coming. Soon.

So I had goals set before sitting down to plot.

Roadmaps help.

They do. Sometimes I wonder where the hell I would be without my OneNote app. I have so many little tidbits and thoughts stretched across dozens of pages.

Having goals is only a start though. There has to be a narrative behind the events or there is no reason, no drive for the characters. Who wants to read that?

Coming up with a story that allowed the threads of Robert Standish, Loren’s suspension and his fallout from Soriya was where the challenge came in for Resurrectionists.

Knowing Loren was as helpful as the map.

Beth remains central to the character’s motivations and offered me a starting point. What would make Loren stop using his brain and follow his heart, act out emotionally instead of rationally?

The chance to bring Beth back.

Bringing faith into it.

I’m a huge fan of Supernatural. I won’t deny it. Those damn Winchesters have stolen twelve years from me and I still tune in as often as possible to watch their misadventures.

Especially the seasons centered on the conflict between angels and demons.

I’ve always been fascinated by religious lore. In fact, you’ll be seeing much more of it in a few years (yes, years…) and it is going to ROCK.

But for the purposes of this tale, I wanted to play with Loren’s faith. His beliefs. And how it relates to the characters in Portents.

Using resurrection as a tool, an instrument behind the narrative, spoke to where the character was at this point in the series. I needed Loren to fall. I needed his mistake to be grave, at least in his own eyes.

Would Soriya have easily forgiven his actions? Would Ruiz?

Of course.

But Loren wouldn’t. And that was the important part. Loren needed this break. He needed to walk away.

Until Signs of Portents brings him back.

Tying it together.

Goals are great. Plot devices or threads offer a writer an entrance into the story. But it isn’t enough.

Using Resurrectionists to answer questions would have fallen flat without tying it to Loren’s arc as a character. Taking those threads, that constant guilt at his mistakes, and then showing what he’s been trying to deal with after the events of this story offers that much more impact.

Every story since this one has given me that opportunity and it is something I’ve been grateful to learn while constructing this series.

Character trumps all. Defining moments only work when they sprout from the character. All the threads, all the maps, all the goals in the world don’t mean anything without a tie to principal players in the narrative.

Coming July 10th:

The last commentary on this collection!!

The face of the Founder… AND A SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!

Thanks for reading.

Disclaimer: Links throughout this site may be affiliate links. All commission earned through these links go to Eleven Ten Publishing to produce more books for your reading pleasure.

You can view our privacy policy here.

Recent Posts