Event news

I just wanted to give you some updates of some upcoming events. I will be at Joseph-Beth Booksellers Cleveland in Legacy Village in Lyndurst, Ohio on August 9th at 1:00. The bookstore is also hosting a family fun day. It is going to be a great time! Hope you can come.

I will also be at Barnes & Noble at Easton Town Center in Columbus, Ohio on August 16 at 2:00. I will be signing copies of Byron Carmichael Book One. Hope that you will come out for this event too.

I have more events in the planning stages too! Plus there is the possibility of some big news too, but that will have to wait. I will keep you up to date as to what is happening.

Hope to see you in Cleveland or Columbus over the next few weeks!

J. Eric King

Outline VS on the fly part 2

So I had to scrap my first story. I was sad. I sulked for a few days, felt the pain of loss of 450 pages, and I morned the passing of a few characters I knew I was about to lose. But I also knew that the difference between a published writer and an unpublished writer was the former is willing to rewrite, and rewrite again if it is necessary.

So I turned to an outline method and asked good friend and big time reader to help with through a brainstorming session. I laid the basic plot of the story out and then we began tossing ideas back and forth. Ideas were flying. Those ideas sparked more ideas and those more ideas began to give me visions of specific scenes I wanted to write.

What this did was give me a basic map of where I wanted to go. The outline is basically just that; a map. It can be as detailed as a road or street atlas or it can be as broad as a view from space. I preferred a map or outline that just gave me the major cities or scenes that I wanted to hit along the course of my journey or story.

This allowed me to keep my mind open to the creative visions that are produced during a writing session, but at the same time it gave me direction in my storytelling. I knew the direction that each scene would take me and where the next scene needed to go. By the end of the story, I was left with a tight story in which all of my mystery trials and loops and twists and turns all came back on the one path.

So what is your method? Outline or on the fly?

J. Eric King

Outline vs On the fly

As I have said earlier, I want to post more of my thoughts and opinions about writing. One topic that comes up a lot and one that I have made a direct reversal in opinion has to do with writing while using an outline or writing the story ‘on the fly’ or as it comes to you.

In my first three novels, I used the ‘on the fly method’. I had the story idea and the general plot of the story in my mind as I wrote the stories, but I didn't know where the story was heading. It may sound like a set up for writers block, but it actually works for the most part. As you allow your mind to settle in deep into your story, it is amazing how the story can flow, telling itself, and how great ideas are spontaneously born. Then, mysteriously, the story comes together in the end, and as you look back, you are amazed at how well all the tangents flow back together to close the novel.

I was a fan of this method and preached that it was the best avenue for bringing the best out of the creative mind.

But that all changed when I wrote Byron Carmichael Book One. This book was to be a mystery novel; my first of this genre. I had big visions and a big story, and I set out just like before, diving right to my creative mind.

But my mental canvas became too big. I had too many characters that I wanted to develop. I had too large of a setting that I wanted to explore. I had too much story that I wanted to tell in just one novel. I reached nearly 450 typed pages when I realized that my story was too many, too large, and too much. I was nowhere near reaching the end of the story. I could not rein in all the wild tangents to close my story, and in a mystery, every tangent must lead you home; somehow.

So I scrapped it.

Come back in a few days and check out my thoughts on using the outline method and how it saved my story.

Update

It's been a while since I posted; I know. May was a great month. Byron Carmichael Book One was featured on Flamingnet.com, we had a great promotional contest, book sales increased, and we had our first book signing. It's been busy!

The book signing was great! We purchased a new display booth and some new posters to make it special for everyone. The managers and staff at the Barnes & Noble Pickerington, Ohio store were wonderful. They let us set up next to the front door where we greeting everyone who walked in, offering them some candy and a free bookmark.

I am in the process of planning out a summer tour of sorts in Ohio. I will keep you posted with the dates and locations. If anyone has any suggestions of a bookstore that may be interested in hosting an event with us please feel free to suggest them by posting a comment.


I will be posting more of my thoughts on writing soon!


J. Eric King

Winners of the Byron Carmichael Promotinal Contest

Hello. The Byron Carmichael Promotional Contest was a great success! We had a great turn out and the top three winners came up with the answer to the final question within seconds of each other. All three winners have agreed to be recognized.

First prize went to Sarah B. from McAlester, OK. Sarah answered the final question first and will receive the new iPod Nano and a copy of Byron Carmicahel Book One.

Second prize went to Lynn B. from Klamath Falls, OR. Lynn answered the final question second and with in only 7 seconds of the first answer. Lynn will receive the amazon.com gift card and a copy of Byron Carmichael Book One.

Third prize went to Becky O. from Shippensburg, PA. Becky answered the final question third and only one second from the second place answer. Becky will receive a copy of Byron Carmichael Book One.

I wanted to thank Flamingnet.com for featuring my book and for promoting our contest to all of the members of their newsletter. And thanks to all the guys who worked so hard on the website. Thanks for getting the bugs out when we desperately needed them out. Hope everyone will join me again when we have our next promotion!


J. Eric King
www.byroncarmichael.com

May Promotion

I am pleased to announce the May is Byron Carmichael Month Promotion. Byron Carmichael will be featured on the review website flamingnet.com.

Please come and join us for some fun, some free books, and some great prizes through our contest. Above is the flyer describing the events.

Modern author

This past weekend I did something that I thought would never be possible. I created a web page. In today's world of knowledge at your finger tips there is also a phenomenon of author at your finger tips. Today, a fan has a great chance to logging onto a popular Internet community or author blog and find themselves just a few key strokes away from their favorite author.

The days of growing piles of fan mail have turned into expanding files of inbox.

How has this changed the responsibilities or the duties of the modern author? I don't consider myself to be the typical author or more precisely the traditional author, but I have my share of duties in my attempt to stay in touch with my readers.

I've created six profiles on separate online communities that I maintain; some more than others. I've created this blog site that I am trying desperately to keep up to date. And my latest creation as I have mentioned is the creation of my website for Byron Carmichael Book One and the contest that I will be announcing shortly. My desire for all this, is so that I can offer my readers the most insight to my writing, my publishing, my story, my characters, and to an extent I am comfortable with, to me.

This responsibility to the modern author seems to be an increasing mode to marketing and publicity. I come from a scientific and technical educational background which has been a benefit. But a question arises. What is in store for the future author? How technological savvy will he or she have to be to reach the fans reading the books? And where will the balance of time fall between staying connected with readers and writing the stories that those readers are longing to hear?