The Realms of a Fantastical Mind

Yes, I know you are as excited as I am!  No I'm not talking about almost to the end of NaNoWriMo, though I hope some of you have won, if not.  You're almost to the end! You can do it!!! Ok so it's Friday, and you all know that Friday means Blog Ring of Power Time!!!! Let's get to it with Jason Jack Miller on Deck. As always, this is a five part blog, make sure to check out the others Part 1 at the wonderful T.W. site Part 2, oh wait you're here, read this before you go on. Part 3 is with the fabulous Sandra Part 4 is hanging with the amazing Dean Part 5 is with our leader, the awesome Terri Ok ok, so let's get to it. Jason Jack Miller hails from Fayette County, Pennsylvania, as in, "Circus freaks, temptation and the Fayette County Fair," made famous by The Clarks in the song, "Cigarette." He is a writer, photographer and musician. An outdoor travel guide he co-authored with his wife in 2006 jumpstarted his freelancing career; ...

I think the first thing that comes to mind on this is... "All Hale George R.R. Martin!" Okay, maybe not everyone feels that way.  I've only read his first book and was wowed by it.  There is so much depth, so much to every banner, every household.  So much that I didn't think of... back to the drawing board. When writing fiction there are some basic backgrounds that need to be established. The Main Character.  Where did they come from?  How did they get to be the way they are at the beginning of the book?  What effects them the most positively and negatively? The Supporting Characters.  Again, where did they come from? How did they get to be the way they are at the beginning of the book? What effects them the most positively and negatively? The Land around them.  Yup even the land needs a history.  When writing Urban stories things are easier because the history was already made.  We know about what has happened in Bo...

We need our computer, some paper and pens, or some nifty software so that we can organize the craziness of our books. With all these things, our greatest tools may be overlooked. What are they you ask... go ahead ask. I'll tell you what they are (IMHO) Critique partners, Beta readers, and Editors. Yes, your greatest tools as a writer are those people who take time out of their lives to hack and slash your baby into little red filled pages of suffering.  They are the reason we writers need to have thicker skin than a killer whale. They are also the reason why the successful author's books get read, and read and read over again. It's common knowledge that as a writer we get so involved with our babies, so much care taken to make every word choice perfect, that we don't see the blaring black holes in our plot, or the grossly overused metaphor that needs to go. We need those extra set of eyes to point out the flaws. So what is the difference between ...

This is part 2 of the 5 part series on this blog. To find out more about this go to Dean C. Rich's blog The Write Time for more Terri Bruce on Indie Publishing A publisher is rated "not recommended" by Preditors and Editors—doesn't that mean they are a vanity press? The insinuation that vanity presses are somehow a scam is somewhat old-fashioned and I’d like to see it go out of use all together. A vanity press is one where the author pays to have his/her work produced. In essence, self-publishing is vanity publishing. The term comes from the idea that these types of publishers will take anyone who can pay the fee (which is true), and, by extension, that authors published this way are of lesser quality (which is not necessarily true). I’m going to keep my fingers and toes out of the debate about whether or not self-publishing and “vanity pressed” pubbed authors are “real” authors or not. But I will say this: “vanity publishing” can be a perfectly reasonable ...

Part 1 Researching Publishers: Do you need an Agent? This week it has been decided, with the help of my fellow Blog Ring of Power host Dean C. Rich, to give you a series on Indie Publishing in the eyes of our BRoP creator Terri Bruce.  Between Dean's blog The Write Time and right here on the Realms of a Fantastical Mind we will talk about Publishers.  Let's  dispel  some myths shall we.  Take it away Terri. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of Publishing  by Terri Bruce I am thrilled to be here today to talk about navigating the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of publishing. Many, many wonderful people helped me on my road to publication—sharing information, resources, and their experience—and I jumped at the chance to do the same when Emily and Dean offered me the opportunity. With so many indie presses, conflicting information, and scam artists out there, Dean and Emily asked me to stop by and talk about what...

 Welcome T.W. Fendley! T.W. has been hosting the Blog Ring of Power with me for several months. In that time we've become good friends over the web.  I was excited when she told me about what she was planning. So, with the joined effort of many others we have come together to bring all of you her Book Party!  T.W. Fendley writes historical fantasy and science fiction with a Mesoamerican twist for adults and young adults. Her debut historical fantasy novel, ZERO TIME, was voted Best Science Fiction/Fantasy Novel in the 2011 P&E Readers Poll. Her short stories took second place in the 2011 Writers' Digest Horror Competition and won the 9th NASFiC 2007 contest. Teresa belongs to the St. Louis Writer's Guild, the Missouri Writers' Guild, SCBWI and Broad Universe. BOOK BLURB: As Zero Time nears, only Keihla Benton can save two worlds from the powers of Darkness. But first she must unlock the secrets of Machu Picchu and her own past. When Philadelphia science writ...