This story beautifully captured two things for me: depression and dissatisfaction with the futility of life. The main character, Quentin Coldwater, lives a lifestyle that he thinks will make him happy, but doesn’t. Drugs and sleeping around don’t bring him fulfillment, they only make him more miserable. One scene perfectly encapsulates this realization that hisContinue reading “Book Review: The Magicians by Lev Grossman, 4.9 Stars”
Category Archives: Publishing
Book Review: Stranger of Tempest by Tom Lloyd 4.5 Stars
2 words: MAGE GUNS Stranger of Tempest is an epic fantasy with a heavy dose of… modernish warfare? (due to guns). The mage-guns use element-based ammo forged by mages, who have been coerced into service by various religious military orders (think Knights Templars or other crusade-era religious armies). The protagonist, a middle-aged war veteran, isContinue reading “Book Review: Stranger of Tempest by Tom Lloyd 4.5 Stars”
Book Review: Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson – 5 stars
Warbreaker is a wonderful stand-alone epic fantasy. There are 4 main POV’s, two sister princesses (one refined, one irreverent), a god returned from the dead, and a mysterious vagabond with a talking sword and a mysterious agenda. Brandon Sanderson does an excellent job building out his characters, who all sound unique and have their ownContinue reading “Book Review: Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson – 5 stars”
How to discipline your creative brain
In short, rid yourself of the mindset that you have a Creative Brain and an Analytical Brain. Create a new mindset where you have 1 brain: A well-trained, well-practiced, and highly-disciplined Creative Brain.
Wait, after 25 drafts of a query, I have to write a synopsis too?
So, I’m here trying to write a synopsis for my novel to send with my submission packet. Yow my brain hurts! After writing 25 drafts of my query, I’m pretty sick of my story. Not that it’s a bad story, but after trying to describe it so many times it just feels like it’s aboutContinue reading “Wait, after 25 drafts of a query, I have to write a synopsis too?”
False progress activities (Getting nowhere, but working so hard!)
One thing we do when working towards a goal is something I will now coin “False Progress Activities.” This is when we want to procrastinate the hard part of a goal (e.g. actually writing the darn query letter) and we instead focus on tasks that help, that are far easier, but give little progress. For example,Continue reading “False progress activities (Getting nowhere, but working so hard!)”
How do I find the right editor or agent?
So I’ve been searching for agents and editors, and sheesh this process is hard! First, I bought “2016 Novel and Short Story Writer’s Market” and “2016 Guide to Literary Agents.” Then I went through the publishers and agencies that represented fantasy and I highlighted which ones I thought might be good (because they didn’t explicitlyContinue reading “How do I find the right editor or agent?”
Thomas Fawkes 