Monthly Archives: November 2015

Branding/Platform

Finished NaNo last week. I think the story is solid to actually do something with. Maybe I’ll fix it up and send it out, but I’m not in a hurry to do so.

So what I’ve been doing since then is working again on Brothers of the Zodiac. I finally put together a timeline for each of the Brothers and their lives, I also found a Hymn to Ishtar and I’m using that instead of the Descent of Inanna to the Underworld ad the introductory pieces. I’m still using astrological terms for their story titles.

I have to work on a platform, getting together a mailing list for when Homecoming comes out, and also when the next book comes out. I’m writing under a pseudonym, Jake Logan, because guys have a better chance of actually getting books sold than girls. Maybe if I write a boy/girl romance or some such, I’ll use my real name, but for the sci-fi/fantasy stories it’s better if I pretend to be a guy. However, if it takes off, I’m screwed.

Not to complain about that!

My audience is male, mostly gay male. I plan on using Jake Logan as an m/m erotica/romance writer too. I know that some women read m/m romance, but I shouldn’t put my name on it because then I’m not “authentic”. Heck, I’m not authentic with a pseudonym, either, now that I think about it.

But the object here is to sell books, and I’m trying to think of the best way to market them. If it means I need to be a man, then so be it. (Should I be a transgendered male?)

I’m going to be setting up a website for Jake and a mailing list and blog for him. Hopefully the book comes out and I get tons of readers! I doubt it, but it’s good to dream.

Nanowrimo prep

usually I walk into national novel writing month facing a blank page. This time I had a plan.

I had an idea for a novel three weeks before NaNoWriMo was set to start. It is based on some brainstorming for two words that I got through Storymatic, a game that consists of cards with the character and action. In this case it was

  • fashion designer
  • an historical reenactment gone awry

after brainstorming, I came up with the character of an ex-Army Ranger, older, retired, who likes rocking the cradle by going out with younger men. This Army guy had a want to be a fashion designer ex-boyfriend. During a World War II reenactment, a murder occurs in the ex-boyfriend was arrested. Army ranger guy feels bad and decides to help the guy out.

However I didn’t think that that would be enough to carry a novel. I outlined the main plot. Then I came up with two subplots: a runaway niece, and a matchmaker.  I got some index cards and wrote out the outline for the main story, then wrote out the subplot stories and interspersed them with the main plot.

That took all of a day.

I still had a little over 2 weeks to figure this out.  So I sat down and did character freewrites whenever I had a chance for the main characters: Protagonist, antagonist, the niece, the matchmaker, the ex-boyfriend.  I also answered detailed questions for the protagonist and the antagonist.

When I started NaNoWriMo, I did 10K words on the first day.  Mind you, I dictated it, but I walked in with a generally clear idea of what to say and how to say it.  Of course, I’m a pantser at heart, so I’ve gone off the outline a couple of times.

Right now, I’m at almost 41K words.  I’m at the climax, and I’m not sure if I can milk it for another 10K words, so I can see myself going back and doing text walls of description.