Episode 63 – Stupid Reviewer Tricks

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Dave chats about our writing collaboration and our process of working together on a novella.

Dave talks about his new online project with Greig Beck and Sean Ellis - http://www.thrillercentral.org

Alan talks about the Dark Fiction news and review site he set up with Felicity Dowker and Andrew McKiernan - http://www.thirteenoclock.com.au

 Dave gets to talking about how many writers are lacking in a links page on their site. Alan talks about his links page and how he also has a page of links to good markets for writers. Those pages are here:

http://www.alanbaxteronline.com/links/

http://www.alanbaxteronline.com/markets-writers/

Dave goes on to talk about a great review he got for Buccaneer, and why it was such a great review.

This leads us to talk about the nature of when your work is ready for publication or for sending to publishers.

Promo- The Roundtable Podcast

We then talk about stupid reviewer tricks and when the pure gold this is a reader review turns out to be a problem.

This is the blog post Alan talks about writing after the insane “Whispernet” review: http://www.alanbaxteronline.com/idiot-reviews/

Here’s the website of terrible reviews: http://leasthelpful.com/

Here’s the review of Slaughterhouse Five that Alan read out: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/19/dumbest-book-reviews_n_1610332.html#s1111698&title=SlaughterhouseFive_by_Kurt

And another site you may enjoy: http://best-review-ever.blogspot.com/

After we have a good laugh at the expense of several terrible reviews, we chat about what makes a good review, and how easy it is.

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ThrillerCast 062- Humor and Heroes with Jim Bernheimer

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(Apologies again for the sound issues at the start. We really need technology to catch up to our country lifestyles!)

 We start the show talking about nudity and the current Australian heatwave. This leads us, in a terrible segue, to the Simon & Schuster self-publishing situation.

We talk about the difference between self-publishing, assisted self-publishing and vanity publishing.

More about the Simon & Schuster/Author Solutions situation

We go on to talk a bit about the changes to Amazon’s KDP Select program. (Hint – we don’t like it.)

Dave goes on to discuss some speculation going around about Amazon in a conspiracy with big publishers.

Then we talk to Jim Bernheimer.

Jim talks about his work and what he’s written so far.

Jim chats about his latest release and his ideas for future projects. He talks about his crazy ideas and what he tries to do with them.

We ask about Jim’s work with Lee Harvey Oswald as a character.

Jim’s work has been compared to Jim Butcher, but it turns out there’s not much love there from any of us.

Jim talks about his book, Confessions Of A D-List Supervillain. He discusses story structure and extending shorter works into longer works.

We talk about Spirals Of Destiny and Jim talks about his start writing Harry Potter fan fiction.

Jim talks about making characters sound different.

We ask Jim about his work in so many different genres and where he might go next.

Then we ask Jim for his best advice for writers.

The Y-Writer software Jim mentions can be found here: http://www.spacejock.com/yWriter5.html

Find Jim at http://www.jimbernheimer.com/

Episode 61 – The Chuck Wendig Interview

This week, we discuss juggling projects, then Alan chats with author Chuck Wendig.

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Dave asks Alan about his new authorly tattoo. You can see it here: http://www.alanbaxteronline.com/authorly-tattoo/

Alan goes on to talk about the second draft of his current novel-in-progres.

We go on to talk a bit about our collaborative horror/dark thriller novella.

Dave talks about his other new collaboration with Ryan Span, a new David Debord fantasy novella.

This leads Dave to talk about the problems of having too many ideas boiling away and too many projects on the go. How do we choose what to work on?

This leads us to discuss how much we need to commit to series over standalone projects and what we owe readers for the investment of their time.

Dave talks about the contrast in his current reading between the Wheel Of Time series and Jack Reacher books. This leads to a discussion about the style variations in the writing of those books.

Alan can’t help mentioning how much he dislikes the Wheel Of Time series.

And we can’t help ranting about Tom Cruise as Reacher again.

Then we cut to Alan flying solo in an interview with incorrigible penmonkey, Chuck Wendig.

We start off with Chuck talking about his early career and how he started out as a writer.

We chat about Chuck’s prodigious blog output and how he manages to fit it all in.

We talk about why Chuck chose the number 25 for his famous Lists and about how writers enjoy sitting alone in a cave.

Chuck talks about how he broke out as a novel writer and the potency of social media.

Alan asks Chuck to define what it means to be a New Pulp writer, which leads us to talk about writing what we want to write without trying to fit any particular genre.

Chuck talks about the inspiration for the character of Miriam, and this leads us to talk about the nature of gender in fiction. Where do writers fit in the gender debate, what are the obligations for men writing female characters and so on?

Chuck talks about future Miriam books, the next being Cormorant in late 2013, and a new book called The Blue Blazes coming out soon. We get a bit of a sneak preview about both.

We go on to talk about the nature of the hybrid author, and Chuck discusses his reasons for self-publishing some works while seeking traditional deals for others.

Chuck offers some great advice on when people should or shouldn’t self-publish.

Chuck talks about what he’s working on now and how he manages his time and deadlines.

We finish with Chuck offering his single most important seed of advice for writers.
Finish your shit!

Chuck is on Twitter @ChuckWendig

Find his website at www.terribleminds.com

Episode 60 - Greig Beck Interview

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We start by lamenting the silly season and its idiocy.

We go on to talk about our current writing and Alan celebrates having written “The End” on the first draft of his latest novel.

Dave talks about his new release, “Buccaneer”, which is going great guns on Amazon, including taking the #1 spot on the Men’s Adventure chart.

We then have a chat with Greig Beck.

Greig talks a bit about his early life and influences.

We talk about the joys of dog ownership.

Greig goes on to talk about a mysterious discovery in the ice that led him to writing his first book.

We ask Greig what he thinks makes for good leading characters.

Greig talks about his latest book, Black Mountain.

Greig talks about some fascinating research subjects he’s explored.

We talk about what creatures might be out there that we simply never see…

Alan asks Greig about convention appearances.

We ask Greig what his favourite books are.

Greig gives his best advice for writers.

Find Greig online at:

http://www.greigbeck.com/

Here’s the Lazarus Taxon Greig mentioned:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lazarus_taxon

Episode 59 – A Show About Nothing

Really, in this show we just crap on about pretty much nothing.

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Dave talks about finishing the latest Dane Maddock adventure and starting the next.

Alan talks about finishing a big project and doing other things before the next big project.

Alan talks about drawing close to the finish of the novel he’s currently working on, and how some things turn out to be bigger than expected.

We go on to talk about the importance of editing in the second draft to chop out all the extraneous wordage.

This leads us to talk about how to avoid passive writing.

We then talk about where we’re headed next with future projects.

Episode 58- Neil Gaiman's Rules for Writing

Dave and Alan discuss Neil Gaiman's "8 Rules for Writing."

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 Dave's latest, Buccaneer, is out, and Alan is wrapping up his work in-progress.

The writer's high of the last few chapters of a manuscript.

The emotional ups-and-downs of writing.

 Alan was invited to contribute an article to the Hugo-winning site, SFSignal.

Why Alan has an issue with NaNoWriMo

Promo- SecondWorld by Jeremy Robinson


Neil Gaiman's "Rules for Writing"

Why the best rules for writing aren't hard-and-fast rules for writing.

Alan's post on the subject


New release- Ragnarok by Jeremy Robinson and Kane Gilmour.

Episode 57 - Navigating the Perilous Amazon

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We talk about what’s happening in our writing life, which leads us to talk at some length about that old planner vs pantser debate. David has discovered he really doesn’t like planning.

Alan is a pantser too, but both of us have various ways to organise and plan what is happening in the book we’re working on. Alan talks about his spreadsheet timeline method.

Alan talks about how his plans can change in the process of writing them and how he likes to allow that and not be restricted by a strong outline.

David talks about characters leading the story and staying in control of what’s happening.

David talks about some new releases he’s excited about, including his latest Dane Maddock book, Buccaneer.

There’s also a new Gryphonwood horror anthology out now for 99c - https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/248571

Alan and Dave talk about Dave’s story in the new anthology, and how the process of Alan beta-reading the story changed it for the better.

This leads us to talk about the structure and writing process of a short story.

Alan talks about his story in the Dark Places 2 anthology, “The Seven Garages Of Kevin Simpson”.

We go on talk at length about Amazon and some of the things happening at the moment.

We start with the case of Amazon wiping a customer’s Kindle while she slept.

We talk about the nature of the rental agreement which is a Kindle purchase.

We go on to talk about the latest Amazon reviewing debacle where Amazon have been removing “competitive” reviews.

Here’s the blog post Alan read from: http://killzoneauthors.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/et-tu-amazon.html#.UKGO_YZSljc

These things highlight Amazon’s model and how it’s flawed.

We move on, strangely, to talk briefly about Arnold Schwarzenegger’s announcement to make a new Conan film.

Alan talks about the horror of The Expendables 2. What a terrible movie.