Head Trip

I'm unboxing 3 new books this week! "The Ocean at the End of the Lane" by Neil Gaiman, "Theft of Swords" by Michael J. Sullivan and "The Hazel Wood" by Melissa Albert.

Updates on Tomorrow City, Outlining, World-building, and a dose of Inspiration for the Creative Process. Happy Wednesday everyone!

I'm excited about this episode. I tried my best to lay out my theory about self-aware stories - why I love them so much, why they're so powerful, why they hit harder than regular stories. I'm sure I'm the first person to ever compare/contrast Vonnegut and Rothfuss. Enjoy!

(1:10) Escapism of Fantasy worlds (7:23) #1 Sample Reading from Tomorrow City (11:03) #2 Sample Reading from Tomorrow City (18:00) #3 Sample Reading from Tomorrow City (24:55) Hello from the Magic Tavern - new favorite podcast (30:00) Michael J. Sullivan and the Riyria Chronicles and how I love fantasy worlds presented in podcast form

Jackson (0:00) Sings a Bob Dylan song because he feels like it (2:30) Breaks down "Art of Travel" by Alain De Botton (8:20) talks Vincent Van Gogh's artistic perspective and artistic habits (12:59) Telling the Truth. How to be creative when you feel like you're not original (18:40) How the creative process is linked to Self-worth and Insecurity (22:50) Upcoming Summer Vacation (25:50) Bob Dylan and the bootleg albums (31:40) How to be a true artist without selling out (35:50) John Muir and Yosemite (41:50) Charles Bukowski and the problem of poets (46:50) looking forward to sharing a few paragraphs of Tomorrow City!

Jackson talks about (0:00) The Metaphysical nature of Wednesdays, Creativity and Innocence (16:07) Story Talk - My struggle flip-flopping between epic fantasy and urban fantasy (17:05) Jim Butcher's Dresden Files and and Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe stories (22:20) Epic Fantasy, Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones (25:55) Harry Potter and the Epic Fantasy arc of hero vs villain (29:45) Fantastic Beasts, spinoffs and sequels (32:28) The solution I came up, marrying epic fantasy and urban fantasy (34:55) My two favorite TV series, "Mad Dogs" and "Life" and how they have both inspired my Tomorrow City story.

Jackson talks about (3:40) Reading from Steven Pressfield's "War of Art", (10:15) Letting the market narrow your options (16:00) Michael La Ronn and the Top Ten Fantasy Tropes! (21:22) Covers, Genre, Reader Expectations (23:20) Evaluating MT own novel idea based on these UF tropes (37:00) My story takes place in Korea, how "on the nose" should I be about this?

This week, Jackson is talking (0:00) Learning your flaws as a creative artist (6:30) Character-driven stories and how to have an active protagonist (13:20) "Breaking Bad" case study (24:00) Chris Fox and the Write to Market principles (31:00) Browsing amazon, Urban and Paranormal Fantasy (33:00) First Impressions: Praise for "A Discovery of Witches" and the All Souls Trilogy (39:40) First Impression: Critique of Harley Merlin and the Secret Coven by Bella Forrest.

Jackson is talking (0:00) Crutching with Coffee (8:35) Goodbyes to family and orange sunsets (10:40) Protecting your golden hour of art (15:20) Trying to take a big world building project and zoom into the specifics (17:10) How JK Rowling used Harry to introduce us to the wizarding world (20:50) Shawn Coyne and Tim Grahl and documenting the process (24:25) K.M. Weiland on Setups and Payoffs and Foreshadowing (30:00) 1st impressions of Neil Gaiman and American Gods (33:33) the Ending is always hidden in the Beginning (35:20) Workshopping the first Tomorrow City story - details of the current project.

(0:00) My brother Garrison joins the show for a very special episode! We talk (3:55) Finding your tribe on the internet (10:45) The "lost podcast" conundrum and the loss of time (12:42) My deep down ego-driven reasons for creating things - AKA, the pursuit of immortality! (24:37) Game of Thrones talk, Stannis and Melisandre! (31:25) Garrison's gateway drug, Harry Potter (33:45) The amazing Lyra and her Golden Compass, and finally (44:40) Garrison gives me an idea for my next novel. Enjoy!