Tag Archives: brutal light

fussin’

Posted by Gary W. Olson on

I’m about done (for now, anyway) with my latest rounds of fussing over this website (GaryWOlson.com, for those of you reading this entry from the RSS feed or NetworkedBlogs or what have you, instead of the actual blog). The primary change was a change of template — while I liked the old one, I decided I needed a three-column setup, and that template was fixed at two columns. The one I have now needed a bit of modification (cutting down the way oversized top image, brightening up the text font so it would not get lost against the grey background, assorted other nit-fixing), but I think it’s ready to go.

I also changed my mind about creating a whole separate site to promote Brutal Light. On paper it sounds good, but I was imagining five or six books down the line how much maintainance I’d be doing on my six or seven websites — updating the Joomla installations, fixing broken modules, etc. So I’m setting it up so it’ll be within this site instead (another reason for changing to a template that gives me more display options), right about… here.

Outside of that, the book trailer for Brutal Light is coming along really well, and should be ready to be unveiled in October. I’m glad to be getting that done, as it means I can get to mapping out all the other promotey stuff I need to do between now and December 1st. And those two short stories I mentioned a couple weeks ago? Submitted. Productive Gary is productive!

The only thing I haven’t done yet is get back to outlining. Which will happen… soon. Yes.

The ants come marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah…

Posted by Gary W. Olson on

Yes, yes, I know. I skipped my federally mandated Update last week. I was away in strange, Internet-challenged lands (known here as “The Thumb”). Then I came back, and went away again. And again.

It hasn’t all been sunshine and toad-licking, though. I’ve been hacking away at a short story to be submitted to an anthology, which has taken much longer than I expected to settle into acceptable form. But it’s finally (almost) there, and it will be winging its way onward soon. I also polished up an older short work, Fabulous Beasts, and submitted it to a magazine. So, appendages crossed and all that.

I’ve also been working on the book trailer for Brutal Light. I’ve got the images picked out and arranged, and am trying to make a final choice on the music. Have to say, I’m having a lot of fun with Windows Live MovieMaker…

And if that wasn’t enough, I’m working on a website specifically centered around Brutal Light. This main GaryWOlson.com site will have all the info, of course, but as my career progresses, my new stuff will always displace the old, and I’d like to have a site hanging about where Brutal Light will always be front and center.

Then there’s the outline for the sequel I’m really really trying to get back to…

Scheming into 2011 (Part Deux)

Posted by Gary W. Olson on

Back in January 2011, I posted this blog entry on my plans for the first half of 2011. They were, in summary:

– Submit Brutal Light to another publisher
– Submit True Places to another publisher
– Submit Onyx Fire to a publisher
– Outline my next novel (either Minions or the sequel to Brutal Light) and get started on writing it
– Write a new short story
– Rework an old short story into saleable form
– Submit my short story Fabulous Beasts to a publisher
– Worldbuild for an as-yet-unnamed dark fantasy/sf environment

Now that six months has passed, I thought I’d revisit this and see how I did. First and foremost, of course, I did submit Brutal Light to another publisher, and they accepted it for publication. This of course made my brain spin, and threw me onto a new track altogether for writing plans. (Well, that and some personal circumstances that have nothing to do with this.)

While I did manage to submit Onyx Fire to a publisher, I never got around to sending True Places anywhere. In fact, I’ve decided to shelve True Places entirely for the time being. There’s just too much I’m dissatisfied with in it, beginning with how it’s about a third longer than it needs to be. One of these days I’ll take it off the rack and retool it, but not now.

I have started outlining the sequel to Brutal Light (tentatively titled Starless Midnight), much as I said I would. I started the ‘new short story’ indicated above, but have not yet gotten far with it, and I’ve neither retooled the old short story, nor have I submitted Fabulous Beasts anywhere.

Why not? Well, aside from my personal circumstances and being thrown for a happy loop by having Brutal Light accepted for publication, I’ve been at work learning the business end of writing. I’ve expanded and polished the material on this website. I’ve taken a seminar on self-promotion for writers (the publisher does some, but other bits fall to me) and outlined some rough plans for what to do as publication day (12/1/11) approaches. I’ve expanded my contacts on the various social media platforms (and yes, I’m gonna be on Google Ploosh, very soon now). I’ve cut or modified some things I had going on that threatened to compete with what precious time I have available to write. In short, I’ve been at work re-orienting my head from being a writer hoping to get his book published the first time to a writer aiming to get published again and again.

That said, I’m ready to list some tentative goals for the second half of 2011:

– Editing Brutal Light into its final form for publication–once I have an editor assigned to my book, this will be my top priority until it’s done
– Finish outlining Starless Midnight, then write and write and write and write…
– Finish two new short stories – one the story I started back in January, the other a new one for a recently announced anthology
– Submit Onyx Fire to another publisher (should the one that has it now reject it)
– Continue networking and making publicity plans for Brutal Light, and then following through on those plans (something that will take more of my time as December approaches)

I’m looking forward to an amazing (and hectic) second half of the year!

30 Days of Writing #28: Written a Character with Disabilities?

Posted by Gary W. Olson on

28) Have you ever written a character with physical or mental disabilities? Describe them, and if there’s nothing major to speak of, tell us a few smaller ones.

One of my characters in Brutal Light, Lia Mardalos, is physically blind. She is, however, able to get around due to her advanced precognitive abilities, which in viewing short-term possible future paths let her see what is before her (and in the long-term, where she needs to go and what she needs to do to achieve her aims). She’s entirely viewed by others during the course of the novel, so her internal thoughts and ways of relating to the world are, as of now, unrevealed. This may change with my next book, tentatively titled Starless Midnight.

30 Days of Writing #26-27: Art and Appearances?

Posted by Gary W. Olson on

26) Let’s talk art! Do you draw your characters? Do others draw them? Pick one of your OCs and post your favorite picture of him!

I did one drawing of a couple of my Superguy characters, and another of them has been painted by an artist friend of mine, but I know not where the former picture has gone, and would have to get permission, dig out, and scan the latter. And none of my Brutal Light characters have yet been drawn, though I hope to change that between now and December. So… no pics, sorry.

27) Along similar lines, do appearances play a big role in your stories? Tell us about them, or if not, how you go about designing your characters.

In Brutal Light, they do… in the sense that one character’s self-image, both physical and psychological, is a driving force for the story. I don’t put a lot of work into ‘designing’ characters before writing them, beyond establishing some basics. I like to return to the initial description and revise it to better fit the personality that emerges during the writing process.