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  • Information Diet

    information

    Information Diet:

    One of the things we’ve been reviewing around here is our intake of information from our interaction with the Web.

    I’m old-fashioned and struggle with everything having to be on a screen–whether for work or play–so to help myself, I’ve entered Mostly Broadcast Mode when it comes to social media. This has cut down on the chatter and done wonders for my mental health. I also get my news directly from the source via a few news apps I have on my computer phone. Other sources of incoming data come from a good old-fashioned newspaper focusing on local news. For websites, I have an app on the computer phone called Read (which I discuss here) and it’s a way to log the websites and blogs I regularly visit and be notified when a new post shows up. Most of them I can read directly on the Read app, which then eliminates the urge to surf the Web.

    The idea here is to stay informed while also watching my Web time so I can spend more time making things for you guys.

    Yes, the irony of having a blog (on a screen) and a webcomic (on a screen) and a YouTube channel (on a screen) doesn’t escape me. I’m just doing my best to adjust to the Digital Frontier as best I can after having taken some time away from it.

    I’m finding the older I get, the harder I find change, but I also realize I need to embrace change to some degree in order for this whole multimedia A.P. Fuchs experiment to work.

    Like I’ve been saying lately, one thing at a time.

    Onward.


  • On Those Hidden Readers

    Recently, I’ve been giving some special thought to my hidden readers, the people who buy my books and/or read my blog and/or watch my YouTube channel but don’t say anything or make themselves known in any way. They’re the readers I’ll never know about other than through the number of books sold or the number of times a post is read or a video is watched. If you’re one of those people, know that I do think about you and do appreciate you spending your time and money on me. You are considered every bit as important to my little operation of heroes and monsters as the people I do know about.

    You are not unnoticed and you are valued and you are one of the reasons I try and do my best with everything I create.

    Today, you are visible. Tomorrow, you will be, too. You were yesterday along with other times in the past, and you will be as the Timeline of All Things unfolds.

    Thank you.


  • Curating my Own Internet: Read Blog Feed Reader

    Read Blog Feed Reader A.P. Fuchs

    This past weekend I spent some time taking a page out of Warren Ellis’s playbook by downloading a blog feed reader called Read in an effort of curating my own Internet. I loaded into it all the blogs I follow. Now it will notify me of new blog entries from these sources. Since I’m 99.9% off the social feeds for the winter (except for the odd post here and there, usually about my cooking), this makes things easier for me and saves me time checking in on websites.

    The goal is to make my pocket computer’s Internet nice and streamlined in a season of life where I need things streamlined. There are a lot of moving parts going on, both professionally and personally, and it’s time to cut out the clutter and keep things simple. Self-imposed boundaries can be healthy and this is one of the good ones.

    Speaking of which, and this idea is at the consideration stage at the moment, I’m thinking about going dark next week so I can ensure the release schedule is maintained. Pursuant to this blog entry here, I tire out quicker than most because of the after effects of being ill so any spare energy I can save and funnel into my projects is a good thing. I’ll keep you posted.

    Back to Read.

    So far, so good. Saves clicking around or fumbling through my computerized telephone’s browser.

    Here is the link should you wish to add this blog, Canister X (the Realm of Heroes and Monsters), to your feed reader, if you have one.

    Lastly, tomorrow on Patreon airs the next chapter of Gigantigator Death Machine, my ongoing serial novel about a group of young adults hunted by something huge and deadly, with all the creature-feature fun that goes with it. Go here to get caught up and get ready for the new installment.

    Thanks.

    Hope the week pans out well for everybody.


  • On Ten Books

    Every writer loves to read, so here are ten of my favorite books in no particular order and, yes, there’s even a kids one in there, too.

    There are others, but this is enough for now.

    1) Dreamcatcher by Stephen King
    2) Batman: Knightfall by Dennis O’Neil
    3) Stone of Tears by Terry Goodkind
    4) Voice of the Fire by Alan Moore
    5) The Chamber by John Grisham
    6) The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
    7) The Long Walk by Richard Bachman
    8) George’s Marvelous Medicine by Roald Dahl
    9) The Death and Life of Superman by Roger Stern
    10) Batman: No Man’s Land by Greg Rucka

    I’m sure there’ll be another list in the future.


  • My Writing Process – Don’t Really Have One

    My Writing Process – Don’t Really Have One

    APF Desk 010417 writing process

    For some reason I’ve recently been giving a lot of thought to my writing process and I came to the conclusion I don’t really have one. At least, not in the conventional sense when someone thinks about how an author writes a book. Usually it involves notions of slaving away over the words, crafting each sentence to perfection, doing rewrite after rewrite, line editing, copy editing, proofing and so forth.

    None of that applies to me. Not in that sort of depth, anyway.

    My first book, A Stranger Dead, and from what I recall, involved a lot of that: slaving away over each word. Being a first book and first effort, that’s how I thought book writing was done. And, hey, if that’s how you write your books, by all means, whatever works, right?

    But for me, I’ve been following the same writing process for at least a decade. It’s bare-bones simple, and doesn’t require a lot of brain power other than the first draft, and even then, I’m not exhausting my mental energy to the point of being brain dead after a writing session.

    Though there are exceptions, this is typically how I write a book:

    – A title or basic premise comes to me

    – I let it stew in the back of my head so my subconscious can work things out without me consciously thinking about them

    – The first line of the story comes to mind

    – I get to work on the first draft

    On the first draft:

    I’ve only outlined a book once, and that book is still in process as of this writing. I will also be outlining another book to finish it off because it involves time travel and I got myself into a possible paradoxical mess with the thing so I need to iron out the details so it’s paradox-free (something that’s very important when writing time travel stories). Other than that, I simply write a book as it comes to me, scene by scene, sentence by sentence, word by word. I don’t think about what I’m writing. I just write it as I see it in my head and that’s it. I’ve written enough books over the years to know the golden rule that every word needs to serve the story, so I don’t have to worry about scenes being cut later because they’re just fluff.

    And that’s it. I write the story start to finish and do not edit as I go along.

    Sometimes I know how it’s going to end, sometimes I don’t. Sometimes when I do know how it’s going to end—and since I let the story tell itself—that ending either doesn’t happen or doesn’t happen how I originally envisioned it. But whatever. I let the story do the talking, not me.

    After the first draft is done, I run a spellcheck and print it out.

    I leave the book alone for a while, sometimes a week, sometimes a month, then get to work on the second draft.

    On the second draft:

    By leaving the book alone, I had a chance to mentally distance myself from it before going at it with fresh eyes.

    You see, you write and read at different speeds, so while taking my pen to my first draft, I read it at a reader’s rate and am able to smooth out choppy sentences or catch words I repeat—every writer has a go-to word or phrase in their first draft—and make sure story continuity lines up. It’s this latter point that always astonishes me: the way your subconscious keeps track of everything between writing sessions and keeps the story in order. I might add a sentence or two or delete a couple redundancies. Nothing fancy.

    I then type up my second draft edits and print the book out again for draft three.

    On the third draft:

    This is the polish draft, and after having done a solid clean-up on it in draft two, this draft is a way to catch anything I missed the first time and do a spit shine on it. Seldom are any substantial changes made. Again, it’s done at reader’s rate so I just read along and tweak things here and there.

    These changes are typed up and the book goes off to my editor.

    I wait for the editor to do what I pay him for then get the book back from him.

    On the editor’s draft:

    At this point I’m already getting sick of my own story after having been through it three times, so all I do during this phase is go through my editor’s edits and only his edits. I agree with 95% of them; the remaining 5% are usually matters of taste and preference and not actual errors.

    My editor’s work is now complete. He gets paid, and all he has to do is await his editor’s copy in the mail when it’s ready.

    I take the editor’s draft and do a three-quarter format on the book.

    On the partially-formatted book:

    The book is now resembling what the reader will eventually see in terms of layout and trim size. Chapter headings are decorated and basic front and back matter are put in place. The only thing that’s really missing are the headers and footers.

    I print it out.

    Since I consider my editor’s draft draft number four, this partially-formatted book is my fifth and final draft in which I go through it and catch anything my editor or I might’ve missed. What’s helpful about this stage is the new layout of the book. There are less words per line at a 6 x 9” trim size than your standard 8.5 x 11” piece of paper. Things read differently and any error seems to jump out all the clearer.

    These mistakes are fixed and are typed into the computer.

    I then go on to finish the book with its final bells and whistles.

    On the bells and whistles:

    These include adding the headers and footers, the title cards and any ad matter in the back.

    At this stage, it’s just an issue of making sure all the formatting is in place, and the book itself is done.

    Paperback formatting is always done first, then the various eBook formatting required for the different platforms comes after.

    On the off-chance I catch a mistake while formatting, I then have to sort through the different files and make the change in each. It’s annoying and a pain but has to be done.

    Then that’s it. It’s off to press.

    Of course, during the preliminary format I get my page count thus can create my cover, but that’s not the topic of this post.

    But that’s my process. Five total drafts, four of which are mine.

    A long time ago a writer friend gave me the greatest bit of publishing advice I’ve ever received. I’ve repeated it a bunch of times to writers in all sorts of forums and venues over the years, and it’s this: it’s only a book. And that’s how I treat my novels: they’re only books. That’s all they are. They’re stories. They’re fantasies. They’re entertainment. Like I always say, kingdoms won’t rise and fall based on something I’ve written so I’m long past the stage of obsessing over my stories.

    I just write the damn thing, clean it up, then share it with you.

    That’s the writing process, if you want to call it that.

    That’s it. Thank you. Good night.