Category Archives: Life as a writer

The Author Exploitation Business

Reblogged from David Gaughran:

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Writing is a glamorous occupation - at least from the outside. Popular depictions of our profession tend to leave out all the other stuff that comes with the territory: carpal tunnel syndrome, liver failure, penury, and madness.

Okay, okay, I jest. I love being a writer. Sharing stories with the world and getting paid for it is bloody brilliant. It's a dream job, and like any profession with a horde of neophytes seeking to break in, there are plenty of sharks waiting to chew them to bits.

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Thought for the day: Money flows toward the author, not the publisher. Don't forget it.

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Filed under Indie Publishing, Life as a writer

Letting go and moving on

Letting go of people you love is difficult, um, er, that should say characters you love, yes, they’re not really people, right? No. Of course not.  Sheesh.

Only some days they certainly seem so. No really, the last 30 years of my life have been devoted – from 25% to 150% of the time – to a cast of characters I dreamed up and then wrote about in an epic story called Guardians of the Word.

And then I published those stories and discovered that other people felt the same way. They love these characters. They got into their heads, Became part of their lives, part of the story, invested time, money and energy into how they would turn out, which is of course, is something I can sympathies with completely. They love Dynan. They ADORE Dain. They like everyone else and care what sort of problems they could have, even off the page. Continue reading

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Filed under Epic Fantasy, Life as a writer, writing

To Hope Eternal

The White Tree of Gondor

The White Tree of Gondor

The Lord of the Rings is a book about hope, among other things like good conquering evil. Aragorn’s elvish name is Estel, which means…hope. In the movie, the blossom on the White Tree of Gondor is a symbol of hope that help is on the way. The Horns of the Rohirrim sound at the moment of dawn, in the darkest hour, giving hope to the beleaguered city. There are a number of stories that include that same universal theme, like Star Wars, which was even re-titled A New Hope, after the prequel came out. Of course, the two happen to be a pair of my absolute favorite stories. Continue reading

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Filed under Epic Fantasy, Guardians of the Word, Life as a writer