All Things Writing

Welcome to Bryan the Writer's podcast on All Things Writing. Today, I have a treat for you. Today's episode is an interview I did with one of my favorite authors in the world, Mr. Eric Lahti.

In this episode we talk about 

• When he got started in martial arts
• When did he start tying in martial arts to his writing
• What makes for good tactical fighting scenes
• What makes for bad fighting scenes
• The role of humor in writing and what is the perfect balance between realism and fictional accounts of fighting
• What are his favorite fighting scenes

If you want to know more about Eric, and his work, check him out at his website at http://ericlahti.com/

Or his Amazon page at https://www.amazon.com/Eric-Lahti/e/B00HUWZM2M

Thinking about starting your own podcast? Hit up the following link to find the best way to get your show up and running from a group just as passionate about podcasting as I am. https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=909964

Thank you for listening. Consider supporting an indie author by signing up to Patreon today. After you sign up, I will send you the book of your choice.

We writers are not immune to the trouble time can cause.

It used to be that years ago we spent a ton of time writing things down on calendars or writing things down in day planners, but those fell victim to the ascension of the smart phone and laptops. 

Ask yourself this critical question. What time of day do you best write? I know it seems like it wouldn’t matter. I had the same feeling myself. I mean, really why would it matter when I am putting pen to paper? Well, it does.

I work best in the morning. My real no-go times are around 2:30-4:30. That two hour time period, I am likely to stare at my computer screen and get nothing done. That is not to say I am actually that productive later in the evening. As a matter of fact, I really have a hard time doing any work on my current work in progress at night.

The afternoons seem to be a sweet spot for writing podcast scripts. And yes, I do write a script. If you ever decide to do a podcast, I just want to reinforce the importance of a script. Unless it is an interview segment, but even those must have a script as well, so you let the interviewee know what questions you are going to ask before you ask them.

After dinner, around 7:00, it’s editing time. I am not sure why it is, but I have a better go at editing in the evening than I do during the day. I have tried to do it first thing in the morning, but it is an utter and complete failure. So, editing is an evening activity for me.

Thinking about starting your own podcast? Hit up the following link to find the best way to get your show up and running from a group just as passionate about podcasting as I am. https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=909964

And we are back. Now I know that there are few things which scare me more than the idea of having to schedule something. My friend and award-winning author, C.J. Ellison, actually puts together a whole series of planners which help people keep their writing straight. If you are a planner, then these things are for you. Check them out, they are amazing. I am going to leave a link in the show notes for more information.

https://www.facebook.com/PlotYourWork/

Now, I secretly envy her organizational skills, don’t tell her that. I can’t do that kind of organizing thing generally speaking. I like my hap-hazard style. However, there are some things that I absolutely need to schedule.

Next is the all-mighty sub-op. A sub-op is a submission opportunity. When you see a submission opportunity, put it on your calendar right away. The last thing you want to do is see something you are really jazzed about then forget to hit the submit button on your e-mail.

Do your homework when you first see it come up. Publishers put together a list of things they want to see when they post something like this. So, save yourself, and them, some additional steps and make sure you are putting it in the correct format. This is critical. Most publishers will literally hit the delete key if they see anything not sent in the right format. 

Also, take time to look at what they have already published and try to write in such a way which will appeal to them. If they say no ghosts, then no ghosts. If they want only stories about lesbian goldfish who want

Thank you for listening. Consider supporting an indie author by signing up to Patreon today. After you sign up, I will send you the book of your choice.

Welcome to the 4th of July!

This weekend, most of you will be out and about enjoying the warm weather here in the United States. So, I am going to keep things simple. A reading of The Embersville  Demon. That short story was published in an anthology entitled Bizarre: 14 Horror Stories. If you like the story, why not pick up a copy for yourself? Just follow this link.

https://www.amazon.com/Bizarre-Stories-Dane-T-Hatchell-ebook/dp/B07ZG7NSM3

Thinking about starting your own podcast? Hit up the following link to find the best way to get your show up and running from a group just as passionate about podcasting as I am. https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=909964

Until then, enjoy the holiday weekend.

-Bryan the Writer

Thank you for listening. Consider supporting an indie author by signing up to Patreon today. After you sign up, I will send you the book of your choice.

Thank you for joining me on this hot and sticky June day. I think our temps are supposed to be into the 90s. Offda, as my ancestors might say. I want to send a quick shout out to my listeners out there. For those of you who have hit follow and look forward to my show it is greatly appreciated. You guys are making this show an actual thing and I really appreciate it.

If you like this show and want to see me continue on what I call my epic journey, please consider a small donation to show you care. Clink the link at the top of the page and it will take you to a paypal link which you can show your appreciation. Any little bit helps and it will allow me to upgrade my gear. I am serious, tips are greatly appreciated. I need new headphones.

I don’t care what your art is, it can get stressful. Take your fingers off the keys once in a while. Life happens and it is alright to give yourself a break from time to time.

Take a walk around the block, grab a lemonade, pet the dog, do something else for a little while. I love writing, but even I run into issues from time to time when I need to just walk away. 

Set firm boundaries with your family so they understand that this is your time to write and you are not to be disturbed. 

Celebrate those victories when they happen! Celebrate the little things because there will be periods in your writing careers where nothing seems to happen from time to time.

What is it that drives me bonkers in books?

I partially stole this idea from Youtuber Jenna Moreci who does some excellent videos on writing. If you have not checked her out, I would suggest you hop on over and take a look. I’ll throw a link to her page on Youtube in the show notes. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCS_fcv9kBpDN4WWrfcbCrgw

#1 Don't drone on about scenes. A big part of your job, as an author, is to ensure your story is well paced.Things should move along a at clip that is appropriate to the genre you are writing in. Extraneous descriptions will hurt that pacing. Sometimes a tree is just a tree.

#2 The next thing that drives me up the ever loving wall is when authors constantly describe things to you over and over again. If there is a cabin in the woods where the souls of the damned are forced to live, please do not go over that fact over and over again.

#3 Get to that hook in the first page or two. If you don’t get me at that point, then you aren’t going to. I will put your book down.

#4 I don’t want to see physical issues with the book. Don’t use a font that no one has ever heard of because you want to be edgy or something.

Book Review: The book is entitled Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens. Now, I know some of you may be rolling your eyes at me right now, but I want to point out that I spend most of my time reading horror novels, so don’t judge me for not having read this yet.

If you are someone who has not read the book, well, I can tell you to get on it. I am thrilled to throw my whole recommendation behind this book. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Check it out here: https://www.amazon.com/Where-Crawdads-Sing-Delia-Owens/dp/0735219095

Thinking about starting your own podcast? Hit up the following link to find the best way to get your show up and running from a group just as passionate about podcasting as I am. https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=909964

Thank you for listening. Consider supporting an indie author by signing up to Patreon today. After you sign up, I will send you the book of your choice.

Welcome to the show. This week we are going to talk about why you should not restrict yourself to just one genre. 

#1 You should never stop learning new ways to say the same thing. 

Our alphabet is made up of just twenty-six different characters. However, those characters build an army of words that can say just about anything.

Here’s the thing. You can rewrite many a sentence a gazillion different ways and say the same thing. Authors will do this, and you need to pay attention. Think about the simple sentence, The cat is black. Okay, simple right. But what about the cat? Is it a Main Coon? Is it an American Shorthair? What about an all black Siamese? Black is also a word you can work with. Onyx, black as the depths of hell. Dark as night. Black as if all the light in the world would flee from its presence. You can do a million things with this simple sentence.

#2 Language changes. 

I don’t care if you are writing in French, English, Germany, or Martian. We don’t speak in old English anymore and you shouldn’t write that way. 

I love the classics. You want a trip, read the original French to English translation of Alexandre Dumas’s classic, Three Musketeers. I, for one, loved it. Hard to read though. It takes considerable time to work your way through the text. Once you hit the rhythm though, and look a few things up, you can have an amazing experience. 

#3 Learn what is selling and get a feel for why they are selling.

This one does occasionally backfire on me though; I will be the first to admit. If I know something has become insanely popular, I try to read it if I have time. It helps me keep a pulse on what people like and what is trending. Sometimes I can catch trends before they blow up into something so big that everyone gets lost in the whirlwind of books coming out.

For example, there was an adult book which came out a few years ago which I read because I was curious what the hype was about. To be honest, it was not my cup of tea, but it gave what I was looking for. Right now I am reading a book which became super popular really fast. I have to say that this time, it was worth the hype. 

#4 What trends you want to follow and which ones you definitely don’t. I am not a big fan of following trends. But I can see in the short stories and what is happening on television what is likely going to be big in the near future and I am going to write that direction. I am certainly not suggesting that you write young adult if you are primarily a romance novelist. But I would take note of what is trending in the YA world right now and use it to inform my story lines since that may be the next big thing. 

#5 My last reason is simple. Reading is fun.

It should not be work. Never forget why you got into writing in the first place. If you are anything like me, you enjoy a good book.

Please don’t mistake my advice for telling you not to read in your chosen field. Yes, if you are into police procedurals, read them. If you are into Rom-zom-coms, well then, read them. But I am not sure how many romantic zombie comedies you are going to find. But, good luck. If you are into horror, delve into horror. 

Ever thought about starting your own podcast?

Thinking about starting your own podcast? Hit up the following link to find the best way to get your show up and running from a group just as passionate about podcasting as I am. https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=909964 

Thank you for listening. Consider supporting an indie author by signing up to Patreon today. After you sign up, I will send you the book of your choice.

Statement on Racism and Rioting
I am 100% against racism in any form. It is a cancer which belittles us all and hurts us as a society. Racism in all its forms needs to be called out from the darkness and pointed at until we banish this disease from our landscape. I am also 100% against rioting. Anger should never find an outlet by burning and looting businesses. Who does that harm? A minimum wage worker who is struggling to make ends meet and now has no job since it has been reduced to ashes? A small business owner who has a hard enough time keeping enough customers coming in to cover their costs?

Treating each other as categories rather than people is everything that is wrong today. Republican, Democrat, black, white, and a million other things which partially define us will never overcome the largest thing that unites us. We are all human beings and will find more unity in mutual understanding than categorized hate.

A Review: Payable on Death
Now, onto less weighty matters. I read a book written by a friend of mine and I fell in love with it. The book is called “Payable on Death” and was written by Rachel Rawlings. 

I can highly recommend this book for people who love a good paranormal thriller. There is enough darkness to make it fun for the die-hard horror fan like me and enough intrigue to keep the ordinary reader reading. Check Rachel out at her website at https://rachelrawlings.com/ or at her Amazon author site which is 

Writing those hard to write characters

Sympathy is the relationship between two people where when something happens to one, it effects the other. Whereas empathy is the capacity to feel feelings as if you were someone. The difference between these two is important. If you want to make sure your writing is not as dull as a box of rocks, you must have a healthy dose of empathy. But, here is the good news, you already have it.

I want you to start off by thinking of the character Dracula. Yes, the blood sucking vampire of old who is the antithesis of a dark character. The thing to keep in mind about our friend Dracula is that the good Count was, before turning vampire, someone’s son, brother, maybe father, maybe he was a grandfather. My point is that someone loved him at some point and now … well, he turned.

We are all born in the same manner, naked and wet. We look like reptiles and that can’t be helped. So, what of it? Well, you have to consider that even the worst, most lothesome person on the planet was also born that same way.

When I go to write a character that I don’t particularly care for, a serial killer for example, I do my best to introduce a hint of humanity in their character to make sure that connection is real. I do like a good morally ambiguous character so if I can get you to reconsider a vitriolic hatred for the bad guy, I am pleased with myself.

The reality is that no person on planet earth is either all bad, or all good. The nicest person you have ever met probably did something bad for their own good even if it was something minor. Even the most evil of us are not pure evil.

Remember that when you are hammering out your characters. Yes, drip them in evil, but don’t forget to inject them with some humanity as well. This is critical if you are going to make your character believable.

Ever thought about starting your own podcast?
Thinking about starting your own podcast? Hit up the following link to find the best way to get your sho

Thank you for listening. Consider supporting an indie author by signing up to Patreon today. After you sign up, I will send you the book of your choice.

Questions feature on this week’s podcast.

Q1: I know that you are a cross genre writer, like me, so I think one great place to start this conversation would be maybe talking a little bit about why you decided to augment your writing style. What made you decide, you know, I think I want to try something else for a while?

Q2: What was the hardest part you found about writing something other than young adult?

Q3: Okay, you know the companion question was coming. What was the easiest part about writing something other than YA?

Q4: I know that sometimes I am surprised by my reaction to writing something completely different. For example, when I write the Dean Cordaine novellas, it fascinated me how easily it was for me to slip into the clothes of this misanthrope who is essentially a terrible person. I found myself understanding his point of view. Not sympathizing, but simply understanding how and why he is the way he is. Did you have a similar experience?

Q5: The Wielders series is set in a female dominated world. What was the driving factor that put your world into that frame?

Q6: Who was your most challenging character to write in that series?

Q7: Who were your biggest literary influences growing up and who are they now?

Want to know more about Patrick? Check him out at his Amazon Site. You can also find out more about him at his website.

Thinking about starting your own podcast? Hit up the following link to find the best way to get your show up and running from a group just as passionate about podcasting as I am. https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=909964

Thank you for listening. Consider supporting an indie author by signing up to Patreon today. After you sign up, I will send you the book of your choice.

Impostor Syndrome: Defined by the oxford dictionary as the persistent inability to believe that one's success is deserved or has been legitimately achieved as a result of one's own efforts or skills.

There is always a small person in the back of your mind who does everything in their power to talk you out of your own success. As a writer you will reason it away. You will blame play the success on your editor, your graphic artist, the insanity of people who came to see you.

Procrastination: Every author has a moment when their current project feels like that. I know I will, at some point in my current project convince myself it is no good and should be abandoned. But I don’t. 

I recently posted something on Facebook to the effect of having a runner’s high after writing, and it turns out, you do actually get one. A study from 2016 by Centennial College pointed to a likely release of endorphins after a good writing session.  

Being Introverted: It can be really hard to come out of people’s shells. If it were only about writing books, then it would sound like a perfect thing for introverts. However, there is the whole business side of things. You have to go out and talk to people, meet readers, talk at conventions, and all kinds of other things that require you to people. 

Taking on Too Much: For writers it is far worse than just that since on the back end we have things like editing, graphic arts, and then prospects for a series. As was perfectly stated, it is all the practical stuff after writing which is a time suck and we would love nothing more than to not have to do it. 

How do we keep ourselves from doing too many things? Focus on the thing you are passionate about. if you need to go off and  indulge your muse for a day or two, that is okay, but come back and finish! 

Overthink Everything: Spending most of the time writing a book under the misguided impression that it is a waste of time. We continue out of spite and I do this too. I convince myself that I have to finish this project.

At the end we go back and review what we have written to realize that it's not as bad as we think. Yes, sometimes we work ourselves into corners and are not entirely sure how to get ourselves out of it. But we do. And when we do, that magic happens, and it all works itself out right.

The ‘Day Job’ and Accepting What You Can't Change: Most writers have a day job. That is reality in the indie world and unless you are a retiree who doesn’t have a day job or you are independently wealthy, you are stuck in two worlds. 

Balance is important and that means making sure you don’t do so much that you wear yourself out. Yes, sometimes it will mean staying your hand and not submitting a short for a submission opportunity. It may mean you put in more hours on Monday so you can take off early on Friday to make it to the writing convention you want to go to.

https://indieauthorsupportanddiscussion.com/

To check out the study from 2016, CLICK HERE.

Ruth Coulson, Grace Hudson, Theresa Jacobs, Eric Lahti, Cherime MacFarlane, Max Power

Thank you for listening. Consider supporting an indie author by signing up to Patreon today. After you sign up, I will send you the book of your choice.

Do you have a creative child? Do you work with creative children? Join me and my special guest, educator Peter Kroneman, while we discuss creativity and what it takes to foster it in children. Or, just as importantly, how not to be a barrier to it. 

In this issue we will discuss the following questions (and tons more):

• As an educator, what would you say you see as signs of creativity in your kids?
• How do you foster that creativity or, in the interest of ensuring progress in your class, how do you maybe sideline that creativity so you can get some work done?
• Are kids more apt to be creative than adults? Why do you think so? 
• What are the barriers to creativity we throw in front of our kids?
• What is the best way to foster that creativity into things like writing, or arts in general?

These questions and tons of others are explored in this episode. Mr. Kroneman also mentions a particular TED talk in his discussion which he highly encourages people interested in the topic to listen to. It is by Sir Ken Robinson, entitled Do Schools Kill Creativity?

As always, you can find more information out about Bryan the Writer at www.bryannowak.com or you can check out my Amazon Author page.

Thank you for joining us and if you like what you heard, remember to subscribe so you can find out when the next podcast is uploaded.

-Bryan the Writer

Thinking about starting your own podcast? Hit up the following link to find the best way to get your show up and running from a group just as passionate about podcasting as I am. https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=909964

Thank you for listening. Consider supporting an indie author by signing up to Patreon today. After you sign up, I will send you the book of your choice.

Show Notes for Episode 8:

This week, I thought it might be fun to talk a little about books I love. However, as I started working out the script for this week, I realized I was really telling you more about the writers I enjoy reading. So, here, for your listening pleasure are five authors which I totally love and am pretty sure you will love too.

Eric Lahti: Well, I am a huge fan of those awesome stories which are really just a roller coaster ride. I am not kidding when I say I couldn’t put this book down. It held me in its grips and refused to let me go. I was so delighted to find the entire series was this way. The action is consistent throughout and the fighting scenes are so incredibly well done, you can visualize the fighting with absolutely no prompting at all. Amazing ride from start to finish and his other books are just as amazing, btw! Check Eric out at http://ericlahti.com/

Katherine McIntyre: Author of the Take to the Skies series which consists of three books, An Airship Named Desire, A Tale of Two Airships, and The Airship Also Rises. Another book series which grabs you by the nose and pulls you through. Battle scenes which will quench a pirate’s thirst for battle. There is some romance which is handled works for both guys and gals. Don’t be scared off by a little kissing, gents. There is plenty of guns and sword fighting in world where nothing ever seems to go right. Check Katherine out at https://www.amazon.com/Katherine-McIntyre/e/B00J8U4VNU

D.B. Corey: It's not just about the action, although there is plenty, it is getting the feel of the characters push and pull. Filled wit tons of struggle, great fighting scenes, it’s a great story built on amazing characters, which those of you who have followed me for a while know, is kind of my thing. Check D.B. out at https://www.dbcorey.com/

Ronald Malfi: I think the first book I ever read of his was Little Girls. Ronald amazing is that the story line flows in an almost episodic melody. Each chapter feels like a story unto itself and that is a hard thing to master. He does such an amazing job of painting his antagonists in a way that they don’t seem threatening, but you can also tell, something ain’t quite right. And that is where the magic and the mastery of Ronald Malfi is at it’s best. Check Ronald out at http://ronmalfi.com/

Stephen King (one book in particular): Tons of people out there who want to be writers, are working to become better writers, and maybe even want to just learn about how writers do what they do for their own curiosity. 

The next book I am going to recommend is On Writing, and every serious writer I know has read it at least once. I personally have read it three times. 

The first half of the book is about his life and how he came to be who he is. The second half of the book really does have to do with things he learned from his career. These are observations and life lessons which are specific to writers.

All I will say is that if you are serious about writing, you need to pick up a copy of this book and read it carefully. There are lots of things you can learn from it.

You can find it here, https://www.amazon.com/Writing-King-Stephen-Paperback/dp/B00NYI71B6

-Bryan the Writer

Thinking about starting your own podcast? Hit up the following link

Thank you for listening. Consider supporting an indie author by signing up to Patreon today. After you sign up, I will send you the book of your choice.