David Danforth

News and Tips

Battling the self-doubts…

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Greetings!

Well, I’m one full week in from my launch of Minutemen:  World When We Live, and so far, it’s been a better launch than my first book in the series.  Things have gone pretty much like I was told through those I’ve learned from–through podcasts and classes.  One great side-effect of launching a book in a series is the uptick of downloads in the previous books in that series.  When I read that might happen, at first I thought, “no way.  The sales of that first book have run their course, haven’t they?”

But this past week, sales for the first book have gone through the roof, approaching 2000 copies, and making Minutemen #1 in its category in Amazon (for a brief time, but still…) and is still having 20 -30 downloads per day.  This is awesome, but ultimately disappointing if no one writes a review after they’ve finished reading, or, perhaps more important, no one says, “Wow!  I need to see how this continues.” And picks up the new book after they finish the first one.  This brings up the subject of my post, because in a couple weeks, I’m going to get a measurement of just how good (or not so good) my writing is.

I get a few comments from folks how lucky I would be if I’m able to turn my writing into something I can do full time–providing enough financial return to support my family.  “Because then you can quit work and just not work for the rest of your life.”

Except that writing is work.  Forget everything else that goes along with this for a moment:  The preparation of ads to promote the book, the scheduling of your book with services like Freebooksy or BookBub to coincide with your book launch, informing your fans the book is out–and before that, going through multiple drafts to edit the book, designing or commissioning a cover–set all that aside for a moment.  The singular act of writing, writing a story or book, is work.  It could drain you.  Daily.

So when all that is done, and you set it out into the world, it’s only natural to think “is it good enough?  Will people enjoy it?”  And then you look at authors like Stephen King, Dan Brown, John Grisham, and you think, “well, no way I’m as good as they are.  What the heck am I doing?”

What are you doing?

You’re writing.  You’re working.  And like everyone else, you just want to make sure you’re doing a good job.

On the Eve of a Book Launch…

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Greetings!

I’ll make this week’s post quick, as I’m scrambling to launch Minutemen:  World When We Live, the second book in my Guardians of Time series.  So, since this subject has completely invaded my mind, let’s talk about it for a bit…

First off, I’m fighting a bit of guilt, as I promised I would have this book out by Spring, which officially ended six weeks ago.  I was right on schedule until life got in the way the beginning of this year.  Supporting my family with health issues took up most of my time the first quarter of 2017.

Writing I have nailed pretty well, but juggling and multitasking?  I’m still learning.  Along with my novel, I’m also releasing a short story collection, set in the Minutemen universe that readers can get for free (if you are interested, just click the “subscribe to my newsletter” link at the top of this page, and you can get the collection for FREE!  Honest, I wouldn’t lie.) and counting that, I finished two works of fiction in a year.  In 2018 I plan to finish three, if you’re keeping score.

I’m also learning the intricacies of the marketing side of publishing, and all of the moving parts required to launch a book.  This is my second time doing it.  My hope is to get faster at it.

As for Minutemen:  World When We Live, the final revision of the cover should be in my hands in just a few days, I just received comments from my last beta reader reporting back to me (everyone loved it–especially the third act.  That’s a good sign!) and my promoting/advertising strategy is ready to go for a launch next Friday!

Until launch day,

David.

Where do you get your ideas?

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Greetings!

I thought I’d kick off the writing tips blog posts with the most basic topic I can think of (and one of the most popular questions I hear as an author):  where you get story ideas from.  Now, for some of you, this is a no-brainer.  You’ve already got this handled.  And to those people, I say, AWESOME!  I promise I’ll get into more detailed subjects as time goes by.

The fact remains, however, that the question of where to get ideas for a short story or novel is one of the most popular I hear at convention panels, on talk shows, and like I said, a lot of people ask me.  It’s like the answer is some big mystery.  It really isn’t.  Allow me to demystify it for you.

Before I go on, I’ll state my usual caveat with writing.  Everyone has a different process.  Everyone.  If you ask one hundred different writers what their writing process is like, you will get one hundred different answers, from beginning to end.  I can just tell you what my writing process is, and in the end–really–it’s what works for you that will make you the best writer you can be.

All right, with that out of the way–story ideas.  Let’s go with the low-hanging fruit first:

  • News, magazine, online articles:  If you haven’t yet warmed up to the idea that you’ll be doing a lot of reading, you better start.  There’s daily bits in the news that make for GREAT story ideas.  Heck, with what’s going on in our American government right now, you can probably find something every hour to write about.

These other two are more general personality traits, but, stay with me here:

  • Be observant:  Always look around and be aware of your surroundings.  You never know what you might see that will spark an idea for a story.  The next novel I’m working on, Lights, came about from something I saw on a BART car (that’s Bay Area Rapid Transit, for those who live outside of the Bay Area).  It wasn’t just what I saw, though, it was the demeanor of my fellow passengers in the car.  It was like we were all sharing this beautiful secret we got to hide from how ugly and cruel the real world can be.  Now, that was the seed of the novel.  That’s how it starts–with the idea.  When you read Lights (hoping to launch at the end of the year) you’ll find little of that initial idea.  That’s because I did the next thing on the list…
  • Always ask, “What if?”:  Ask it, ask it, then ask it again.  Keep asking “what if” and it will lead you to great places and fill out the bones of your novel.  I wrote a short story once, the idea for which I got while waiting for my wife to finish shopping in Hobby Lobby.  I was waiting, hanging around the picture frames aisles, when I noticed a large alcove that, from my view, was completely empty.  That set my mind going:  What if that area was used to sell something not on the floor?  What would that be?  Well, what if it was a place to come and ask for transport to anywhere in the universe?  Who would be the customer?  Not human beings.  What if a human being stumbled on to it?  And so on…

Certainly, there are more resources to get story ideas from, but these are my three, and they’ve served me well for many years.  I hope if you struggle with finding ideas, you can use these and, after a while, finding ideas will be second nature for you.

Until next week!

David.

SDCC

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Greetings!

The San Diego Comic Con officially begins today (for those lucky folks who scored a ticket to Preview Night, festivities actually started last night.  Time was, including Preview Night with your four day pass was pretty easy, but we’ll get to that), and before you get excited that by mentioning that, perhaps I’m in line right now, waiting for that popular cast to appear in Hall H…no.  Not even close to the convention center.  About six hundred miles north of it, actually.

I have been to twelve conventions.  From ’89 – ’96 (eight times), and ’06 – ’09 (four times).  I bring up the years specifically because, as anyone who has been to San Diego Comic Con (or SDCC for short) for a good length of time can tell you, they represent two very different times in SDCC’s existence:

  • Before the Hollywood Invasion
  • After the Hollywood Invasion

Before Hollywood realized what a marketing goldmine SDCC was, back in the late eighties/early nineties, average attendance to the Con hovered around twenty to twenty-five thousand people.  Currently, it stands at more than one hundred, fifty thousand.  If you’ve never been, I would suggest going once for the experience.  It’s true that there is nothing like it, at least in the U.S.  The addition of the Hollywood element to SDCC has brought many things to the table, both good and bad, depending on who you ask.  The Dealer Floor is the largest I’ve ever seen, and you can still see the celebrities you love in excellent panels.  My last year going, I was lucky enough to catch Grant Morrison and Stan Lee have a conversation (yep, that was a panel), and Zach Snyder providing real time commentary on a screening of the Watchmen blu-ray release, and broadcasting over the world.

At the same convention, however, I was almost crushed by a wild mob four times.  And if you think I’m exaggerating for dramatic effect, I was literally moving with the crowd, but my feet weren’t touching the ground!  Once was for trying to get an autograph from a celebrity–I forget who.  The other times were for trying to score some free swag.  The last time was waiting with a crowd during the last hour of the convention.  I was at the Marvel booth, and they had a section of the booth roped off, and the wild crowd were behind the ropes.  A woman pressed so hard up against my back, I’m sure her cup size got reduced by one after the giveaway was all over.

Crazy.  Insane.  Dangerous.

I’m waiting for the news feeds to report a fatal accident occurring at the Con one of these years.  I’ve heard in recent years that the Con has utilized more of the city than when I went.  There are events going on at a dozen downtown locations, not just the convention center.

If this is your first time going, these rules still hold true:

  • Get in line for a panel a few hours early, even if you think the panel will be under-attended.  There is no such thing, anymore at SDCC.  EVERY panel has a mile-long line attached to it.
  • Make sure everyone in your party has there phone on just in case you need to text them your location.  You will lose your group in a second if you’re not paying attention.
  • Wear comfortable shoes.  You will be taking frequent long walks between panels, walking the dealer floor, etc.
  • Get right with the fact that you will not be able to see everything SDCC has to offer.  Make a plan and make sure your group knows what it is.

If you are going.  Good luck and have a ton of fun!

 

The Journey Begins…

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Greetings!

Thinking about what to write for a “blog” is not very easy for me.  I have no problems coming up with ideas that are not true, writing about scenes that are not real.  Back before we had the electronic tools we enjoy today, I hated to write letters–my parents had to bribe me to write thank you letters to my friends and relatives each year for birthday and Christmas presents.  So, in trying to think of something, of course I came up with two tracks of thought.  This page will be about writing tips and other writing news that comes up I think you might find interesting.  It’s a page that will hopefully appeal to fellow writers.

Now, a couple of housekeeping notes:

  • My aim is to write a post once a week, alternating between general subjects I just want to spout off about, and writing tips you might find useful.  If I’m feeling extra gabby, I might do more than one a week, but I don’t want to hand out false promises.
  • If you want to ask me anything about my posts, or anything in general, please leave your question in the comments, and I will answer it.

See you next week for a post…on some subject.  Not quite sure what it will be yet.  It’ll be a nice surprise!

David.