A HOT BOWL OF NEWS NOODLES, so let’s get to slurping.
a) Hey, look! The Book of Accidents is nominated for a Dragon Award in Best Horror, alongside such luminous beings as Caitlin Starling, Stephen Graham Jones, Daryl Gregory, Kiersten White, and Grady Hendrix. Holy crap! And you can go and vote yourself, if you are so inclined to do so right here.
b) The good people at B&N are doing their Book Haul event, whereupon a ton of books are 50% off, including, drum roll please, Dust & Grim! My MG novel about a kid who inherits a funeral home (and cemetery) for monsters! It’s like, $8.50, so feel free to go grabby, if you so choose. Paperback out in October!
c) Did I mention there’s a Wayward giveaway? At Goodreads? Go see! Also we’re formulating a short book tour the week of release, possibly a driving tour given the shenanigans around flying — more as I know it.
d) Gentle Writing Advice, the book, looks like it’ll come out June 23rd, 2023! Looking at covers now, and just did copy-edits. Will pop a pre-order link at your faces soon as I have one.
e) And now a sad bit of news: I’m not going to be attending the Colorado Gold Writer’s Conference in Denver next month due to some unforeseen circumstances (nothing serious, to be clear), so please accept my apologies. Hopefully it’s something I can do next year, if the stars align!
You are also, of course, free to just pre-order the book, like an awesome human, because awesome humans pre-order books. Why pre-order, you might ask? Well, not only does it help author and bookstore, but in this day and age when supply chain issues and paper shortages still rear their nasty heads, this helps insulate against those problems. You can of course pre-order through your own local bookstore, or through my local bookstore, Doylestown Bookshop, as you can ask them to send you a signed and personalized copy where I, having been taken over by a questionable artificial intelligence, will lessen the value of your book with my deranged scribblings. Or just a signature. Whatever you like. You can also pre-order through Bookshop or Indiebound.
Hopefully people like the book? I’ve heard some bubblings from a few booksellers that really seemed to enjoy it, and we’ve actually gotten a blurb for it (which honestly we didn’t solicit for since most of the time a sequel is going to use quotes praising the first book), so more on that when I can share.
WELP, you asked, and I am nothing if not a person who listens to his constituents, and wait, what’s that? You’re not my constituents? Many of you aren’t even real? Most of this is a delusion installed into my brain by a questionable artificial intelligence known as Black Swan?
Well, whatever.
Point is, hey, guess what, the flash fiction challenge is back.
We are going to use visual prompts from the Insane Art Robot known as Midjourney.
Today, I’m going to give you three prompts.
You can pick any one of them.
From there, you can and should write ~1000 words of fiction based on that prompt.
Do not post your fiction in the comments.
Post it at your requisite online space, and drop us a link to that online space in the comment section below so others can read it.
Any genre is acceptable.
Let us know what prompt inspired the flash fiction you wrote.
For extra bonus points that don’t exist, USE ALL THREE.
I don’t know precisely what to think about an AI Artbot like Midjourney. I mean, I have thoughts, though these thoughts are not really well-set intellectual-gelatin, y’know? The thoughts, as such, are as follows:
a) No, I don’t know if it’s going to be used for good or evil, though assuming the era we live in and the nature of Tech Bros, probably evil? I guess best case evil scenario is, I’m just helping to replace human artists (more on this in a moment), which is bad and I don’t like that. Worst case evil scenario is, I’m somehow training drones or some shit to kill us all. THANK YOU, USER, FOR TRAINING US IN ART. THE ART OF MURDER. Is there any good to be had? Let’s continue.
b) In the also-not-good-department: the art robot is kinda low-key racist. Which is not surprising, given that the algorithms just feed off of dominant discourse programmed by people with biases and prejudices that are either unseen or, worst, actively present and accounted for. The result of this is, you type in PERSON DOES A THING, the art robot will show you a person who is uniformly white. Now, they’ve done an update (a few days ago?) of v3, and it seems to be trying to course correct for this — though I also think it’s overcorrected and is pulling from a far-too-shallow pool of non-white faces, because I’ve started to see the same faces pop up again and again, especially if you up the –stylize command and let the AI go more hogwild. Presumably this is a thing that can be countered, but to do so it will take active efforts, and hopefully that will be the continued course of action.
Like at one point I asked it to render “a person,” nothing more, and:
So, uhhh, definitely white, and otherwise, hmm.
Then I asked it to do an average person, what it considered a “normal” human being and uhhhhh whhhhhhh well okay
Now, that was when it was still having some difficulty with faces — it has since gotten considerably better with faces, so similar prompts give us:
You take my point, yeah? Cool. Point is, like with all too many things, if you don’t specify race or color, it defaults to white or white-passing.
c) Will it replace human artists? Um, well, I am not a predictor of the future despite what my emails about Wanderers suggest — so, don’t look to me for a wise answer here. What I know is that the AI art stuff has made leaps and bounds not just in the last few years but in the last few months, and obviously it’s going to get better and more effective from here, not less. (Well, probably. Never underestimate the power of humans to fuck something up.) That said, I also know artists who really like it, and who use it as reference and inspiration. My very loose expectation is that you’re going to, as with something like, say, self-publishing, see people who are happy to have this tool available to them in some capacity. But it’ll be imperfect, and it’ll work sometimes and not other times, but if you want a specific thing, as many people do… then you’ll need to pay an artist. Which you should do. Because artists are awesome.
(Think of it like, “I asked this robot to fix my plumbing.” Did it fix the plumbing? Well, it re-routed your pipes so that they spray out of the light fixtures. Is that what you meant? No? Well, that’s what the robot thought you meant, and technically, it all works, so, shut up, you needy human. If you want
d) In fact, lemme say that from the perspective of someone who has written a handful of comics (and who has just had two comic projects totally shit the bed recently due to bizarre reasons entirely outside my control, whee), part of the joy of writing the comic is describing a thing and then seeing the artist depict that thing in a way that is, quite honestly, a thousand percent better. With the Art Robot, you see the “artist” depict what you described as a thousand percent weirder. “Um, where is the person’s nose?” you’ll ask the robot, and the robot won’t answer because the robot doesn’t give a shit. And there’s no continuity, not like you get with a human artist. Again, I’m sure AI art will make strides in this space, but at the end of the day what it makes is cobbled together from pre-existing human art. Human art will always be dominant. I say, optimistically, praying to the creative gods. Because I know AI is coming for WORDS, too.
e) The art robot does horror really, really well. You’ll see. YOU’LL SEE.
f) What it can do for writers right now is interesting, too. I’ve been using it myself to both render scenes and characters from books that exist and also things I’m currently writing — which lets me let the robot do some weird dreaming, and while I’m not really using what it dreams, per se, I am finding just the process of that serving as a fertile seed bed for my own ideas and characters. Even just descriptions of things. It’s neat.
g) As such, I’m pondering bringing back the flash fiction challenges using the visuals conjured from the Art Robot as prompts. Sound off in the comments if that is a thing you’d be interested in.
ANYWAY.
Here’s some of the absolutely whack-ass shit I’ve conjured while borrowing the mind of a deranged Art Robot. All of these are rendered in MidJourney.
(I have a few “series” groups I’ve done too — one on doorways, one on Studio Ghibli versions of Star Wars stuff, so I’ll post those separately, next week.)
When a bomb explodes in the bustling Commonwealth capital city of Salaam, responsibility is quickly claimed by an extremist independence movement. But after a former comrade, an ex-spy with his own agenda, is implicated in the attack, Simon Kovalic and his team of covert operatives are tasked with untangling the threads of a dangerous plot that could have implications on a galactic scale. And the deeper Kovalic digs, the more he’ll uncover a maze of secrets, lies, and deception that may force even the most seasoned spy to question his own loyalties.
***
It’s hard for me to believe that the arrival of The Nova Incident means that I’ve got four—four!—published books under my belt. The teenage me who dreamt of being a professional author would be in awe—well, let’s be honest, they’re a teenager, so they would probably roll their eyes and ask about where the movie adaptation is. Hopefully they would, at the very least, offer me a grudging high five for achieving this lifelong goal.
But despite having now repeated this accomplishment enough times to prove that it wasn’t a fluke, I still feel less like a master of the craft and more like a journeyman with plenty left to learn.
That’s not necessarily bad, though. Because every time you write a novel—or bake a loaf of bread or swear as you try to assemble a piece of IKEA furniture—you do learn something new. Which is good, because who wants to stop learning things? There’s enough time for that when you’re dead.
With that in mind, here are just five things that I picked up during the course of writing The Nova Incident.
How to change my writing routines
I started writing The Nova Incident in the summer of 2020 and for those able to pierce the dark fog that suffuses everyday life and cast your mind back to that point you might remember it as, oh, the first year of the pandemic that’s still gripping the world today.
The pandemic necessitated changes for all of us, and my writing habit was no exception. I’d been accustomed to working each morning at one of my local coffee shops, getting some words down on the page before being sucked into the morass of my day job. Having a separate place to do writing got me into the right zone, letting me wall that off from the other encroachments on my daily life. But during 2020, that wasn’t really an option; instead, I was essentially stuck in my one bedroom apartment.
And that’s how I learned not to be precious about my writing habits. I thought I’d needed the mindless hubbub of a coffee shop to work, but I learned to substitute the chatter of my neighbors through the open window. I thought I’d needed the walk to the cafe to clear my head and focus on my writing for the day, but I was able to recreate it with a ritual of brewing tea and sitting down in the comfy chair in my living room. I created a new space in which to do my work and you know what? It ended up being just as fertile for me as being out of the house: a reminder that the key to writing isn’t the right tools or the right places—it’s you.
How to build a story from the inside out
Every novel comes about in a different way. I tend to write chronologically, starting at the first chapter and sequentially pounding out words until the bitter end has been reached. And while I largely followed that pattern for Nova, I ended up having a lot more pieces in the middle of the story that I wanted to focus on, which sometimes necessitated figuring out ways to link them all together into a coherent plot.
So the trick became figuring out the necessary connective tissue between those moments—not just because you need your characters to get from point A to point B, but because you need those moments to feel like they’re not just about getting from point A to point B.
Instead of seeing those as a burden, I viewed it as an opportunity to invest in character and sub-plot. Having two characters engaged a revealing or heartfelt conversation can be just as intense as a bomb going off or a dogfight in space. Plus, you can’t just have action scene after action scene: people need a chance to breathe. It’s one thing to write a potboiler, it’s quite another to have your readers pass out from lack of oxygen.
How to leave ’em wanting more
When writing previous books in the Galactic Cold War series, I must confess: I engaged in some Machiavellian shenanigans. Yes, I left certain plot threads unresolved or planted seeds for future developments (more on which in a second), but The Nova Incident was the first time that I conceived of an ending that was intended as (don’t gasp) a cliffhanger.
Don’t panic! That’s not to say that I leave the main plot of the book hanging—I’ve always intended each novel in the series to be readable on its own, even if it is couched in a larger world, so I responsibly wrap up the Nova‘s story…I just add a little extra. Think of it like a post-credit scene hinting at what might come in the future. (Assuming enough people read and like this book to merit future installments! Always a risk in this publishing world of ours.)
How to resurrect plot threads
Speaking of those hanging threads, I’ve hit the point in the series where I get to indulge myself by bringing back characters, plot points, and other elements from earlier books. This, to me, is the real fun of writing a series: you’re not necessarily just telling a story a particular chain of events, but building out a whole world—or, in this case, a galaxy—full of all those things. Just like in real life, sometimes unexpected old acquaintances have a way of popping up when you least expect it.
One of my favorite things in TV shows is supporting characters who show up every now and again. Think Garak on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine or Alice Morgan in Luther. The appearance of those characters always signals a certain kind of story being told (not to mention being so dynamic that they have a way of monopolizing the screen) and so them popping up when it’s a particular kind of episode just makes sense. Having a deep bench to pull from is a luxury as a writer; I can only hope it’s as rewarding to readers.
How to have fun
One of the risks when you transition from writing as a hobby to writing as a job is that some of the joy gets siphoned out of it. That’s just the way of the world: I could be a paid pizza taster or watch TV for a living and sooner or later, it’d feel more like an obligation than something I do for fun. Even too much pizza can be rough, though I’m willing to give it a go if anybody knows an opening.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t inject some enjoyment back into it. That’s one of the things I aimed to do with The Nova Incident: reminding myself to have some fun and tell a story that I wanted to tell, rather than trying to create something that would satisfy every possible reader out there.
Did I succeed? Well, I definitely had fun writing the book, so hell yeah I succeeded. But is the book fun to read? You’ll have to be the one to tell me—but the only way to know is to order a copy post-haste.
I think it bears noting that I am a very fortunate writer in a lot of ways — I’ve been lucky enough to cling to the side of this malfunctioning rodeo bull for ten years, and as yet it has not thrown me through the wall. And as such I’ve managed to write and have published like, a perhaps ludicrous number of books. Closing in on thirty or so at this point? I dunno. It’s wild.
And two of those books —
WANDERERS and THE BOOK OF ACCIDENTS —
— have earned out their advances.
For those not in publishing, the basic gist is this: you publish a book, you get paid an upfront advance of money, and sales of the book are “against” this advance — let’s just say there’s some kind of sinister BIBLIOMANCER CALCULUS at work here, but it’s not like the entire sale price of the book diminishes the advance by that amount. It’s wizard numbers based in part on how much we earn per each copy sold which is also delimited by format and — again, we’ll just handwave that as some kind of -mancy. But, if you manage to meet that advance in sales, you earn out.
Earning out means that the royalties made per sale actually go to you, the author, instead of chipping away at the advance. This means that big advances are cool, great, wonderful things, but it also makes it harder to reach the point where you earn out — difference between eating a chicken versus eating an elephant. Both are still one bite at a time, but you’re gonna diminish that chicken a whole lot faster.
Royalties can form part of the vital long tail of a book’s life — more specifically, too, of the author’s life. We get the initial advance, we get any foreign rights sales we can muster, any film/TV sales we can muster, any weird ancillary rights, and then, in a perfect world, we get royalties.
I’ve had some books earn out (my writing books, Invasive, Zer0es, Aftermath) and a bunch not (the Miriam Black books, my cornpunk books, my middle grade –though there, that book is still young in its lifecycle).
ANYWAY, again, to reiterate, both WANDERERS and THE BOOK OF ACCIDENTS have earned out, and this is particularly excellent because they had a pretty big hill to climb there, especially since they were part of the same deal and had to earn out together, like best friends on an adventure. They both make it or neither makes it, y’know? And they made it.
And they really only get to do that if you all are there to both read the books and tell everyone about the books, because that’s book love, baby. I love book love. It’s the true engine for what makes books find their readers. It reaches readers and it comes from readers, and it comes from librarians and booksellers (who are also readers). I’m lucky to have you. Also lucky to have such a stellar agent in Stacia and a vital editor in Tricia, and a publishing apparatus that is actually supporting these books, which is essential. (Seriously, a lot of factors go into a book’s success or failure, but one big one is how much the publisher cares to support the book. They can’t make a book magically succeed, but they can sure help it fail by starving it of their efforts.)
So, that’s the good news.
Though as the infomercials say —
BUT WAIT
THERE’S MORE
First, today, serendipitously, The Book of Accidents is only $1.99 on the various e-book marketplaces, which is to say, Kobo, Apple, B&N, Amazon, and the like. Or you can always nab a physical copy — I can even sign and personalize! — through my local indie, Doylestown Bookshop.
Second, hey, The Book of Accidents was nominated for a British Fantasy Award — best horror, August Derleth Award, alongside truly talented writers like Stephen Graham Jones, Cassandra Khaw, Premee Mohamed, ST Gibson, and Catriona Ward. Like, it’s super cliche to say it’s an honor to be nominated, but with this crowd, it really is. Hell, it’d be an honor to lose to any one of them, because I’d still be a big ol’ happypants winner.
Let’s see, what else?
Ummm. I’m hearing some good rumblings from booksellers and early readers who are enjoying the Wanderers sequel, Wayward — comes out 11/15, pre-orderable now and I will also do signed/personalized copies through Doylestown Bookshop. Plus I’ll be doing a tour, I think? More details on that as I have ’em.
Oh, Wanderers also earned out in Germany! And I’m hearing maybe in Spain, France, too? Not sure, yet.
Still working on my Evil Apples book. I’m like, 130,000 words into it. Oops?
Doing copy-edits on my next writing book, Gentle Writing Advice.
