Even though I've mentionned it before, I'll mention it in another way again: my writing style could be considered atypic.
In general, the characters are at the mercy of the writing style, and to some extent, the author's voice (not to be confused with the character's voice), but for me it's the opposite: The writing style is at the mercy of the characters.
Why have I chose this style ? For two reasons.
The first reason is pretty simple: to distinguish myself somewhat. While I do not believe to be the only one who thought of using such style, it's not widely used.
The second reason is because it make sense to me, especially in a book series based on Point Of View Characters, in which each chapter is written from the exclusive point of view of a character, with its thoughts, feelings, flash-backs and the like. I wanted to go even further, so I added things like exclusive figures of speech, specific writing structure, but also specific wording in relation to the character, replete with overall and contextual symbolism.
How does that translate for my books ?
In Discovery: Anvil, The character is extremely reflective, but thoughtful, also related to his occupation as an scientist, hence the abundance of thought speech. I used the Antonomasia figure of speech, which is basically using a proper noun as a common noun, or the opposite. Later on, there's a First person section (the book is in third person limited viewpoint). Specific words relating to ice are recurrent throughrout the novella, and snails are part of the overall symbolism representing Anvil. There's more, but I wanted you to get an understanding of what you're going to get from my work.
In my upcoming novella/novelette, titled Discovery: Tiki, the character is a teenager, so her speech will be much more informal. Furthermore, it will not feature any thought tags at all, them being integrated within the narrative. It will also feature exclusive figures of speech.
Another novella/novelette, which will be the last one comprisng the book Discovery, will feature a middle-aged man written entirely in first person viewpoint.
So when you'll have all four viewpoint characters, you'll be able to perceive very different approach to writing, even different ways of narrating the story throughout the entire D.Sea Scrolls Series. So if you find my style strange, know that it was done in purpose. I want you to truly experience in a vicarious way the way a character sees the world, with their words and their experience, butressed with figures of speech that reflects who they are.
I remember an editor of mine basically saying this: "You are mixing literary tropes within the thriller genre, but you need to ask yourself how much are you willing to let your potential readers out of their comfort zone ?"
Let me then ask you, my readers, a question:
Within the thriller genre, how much are you willing to read of your comfort zone?
mercredi 6 janvier 2016
mardi 5 janvier 2016
The Year 2016
First of all, happy new year, everyone. I hope all of you enjoyed your holidays just as much as I did. I hope 2016 will be a year of health, learning, wisdom, and success in everything you'll undertake.
2015 was a decisive year for me. 2015 saw the release of my first novella. 2015 saw the birth of me as a self-published writer. 2015 increased my writing knowledge tenfold. 2015 brought me health, wisdom, and insight over previous events. For that, I'll always be thankful to what 2015 gave me. (it also marks the 30th anniversary of Back To The Future, and their second episode, released in 1989, depicted what could the world be in 2015. They got a lot of things right ...)
With 2015 behind us, what will 2016 bring to me ? The same things 2015 brought me, I hope. but 2016 will be my first year as a self-published writer. It means more work will come to the fore, it also means the beginning of my career as a novelist. 2016 will start to tell me if I can make it in this ardous world. I gave myself 3 years to make a decent living as a writer (around 36000K a year). If I fail by late 2018, I'll go back to my studies,but first, I'll try to be a traditionally published writer.
As you can see, 2016 will determine 1/3 of my future. That's how important that year is. Learning more about the craft, about myself, and a tiny bit of luck will determine if I got what it takes to make it.
2015 was a decisive year for me. 2015 saw the release of my first novella. 2015 saw the birth of me as a self-published writer. 2015 increased my writing knowledge tenfold. 2015 brought me health, wisdom, and insight over previous events. For that, I'll always be thankful to what 2015 gave me. (it also marks the 30th anniversary of Back To The Future, and their second episode, released in 1989, depicted what could the world be in 2015. They got a lot of things right ...)
With 2015 behind us, what will 2016 bring to me ? The same things 2015 brought me, I hope. but 2016 will be my first year as a self-published writer. It means more work will come to the fore, it also means the beginning of my career as a novelist. 2016 will start to tell me if I can make it in this ardous world. I gave myself 3 years to make a decent living as a writer (around 36000K a year). If I fail by late 2018, I'll go back to my studies,but first, I'll try to be a traditionally published writer.
As you can see, 2016 will determine 1/3 of my future. That's how important that year is. Learning more about the craft, about myself, and a tiny bit of luck will determine if I got what it takes to make it.
dimanche 27 décembre 2015
The novella Discovery : Anvil is available now!
As the title said: here's the surprise.
Yes, it's finally here, and yes, you can purchase it on Amazon and smashwords.
For smashwords though, toogle adult content on and type dsea, that should do the trick.
Now here's the cover description:
The Lord Anvil De Peyrehorade is preoccupied. A young, up-and-coming scientist of his degree cannot afford to be preoccupied by the foolishness of his employer, who gave away his priceless pico-technology research to a representant of another company without his knowledge !
However, Anvil was lucky. Lucky enough to spot the white-haired man who took his vials, and followed him to a complex of warehouses away from everything he ever knew.
But when Anvil infiltrated the warehouse to find the whereabouts of the mysterious man, he discovered a world he never knew existed, a world threatening to discover the darkness behind his greatest work, darkness he wanted no one to know. Will he be able to get his research back, or be swallowed by the darkness surrounding these warehouses as well ?
I hope that pumped you up. The next novelette (or novella, depending on the length) should be available by the end of march or april 2016. By summer 2016, you will be able to enjoy the first novel of the D. Sea Scrolls series as a whole, aptly named Discovery.
Why did I break up the book in four ?
Well, because of time constraints. The work was taking me too long to finish, so I had to make a choice. Mind you, this one will actually give you some work to chew on in a reasonable period of time, instead of waiting god knows when the next book will come out. It was for the best, and I hope you'll understand. I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I wrote it for you, readers ! Below, here's a picture of the novella. Cool huh? Have a nice read !
Unlimited
Yes, it's finally here, and yes, you can purchase it on Amazon and smashwords.
For smashwords though, toogle adult content on and type dsea, that should do the trick.
Now here's the cover description:
The Lord Anvil De Peyrehorade is preoccupied. A young, up-and-coming scientist of his degree cannot afford to be preoccupied by the foolishness of his employer, who gave away his priceless pico-technology research to a representant of another company without his knowledge !
However, Anvil was lucky. Lucky enough to spot the white-haired man who took his vials, and followed him to a complex of warehouses away from everything he ever knew.
But when Anvil infiltrated the warehouse to find the whereabouts of the mysterious man, he discovered a world he never knew existed, a world threatening to discover the darkness behind his greatest work, darkness he wanted no one to know. Will he be able to get his research back, or be swallowed by the darkness surrounding these warehouses as well ?
I hope that pumped you up. The next novelette (or novella, depending on the length) should be available by the end of march or april 2016. By summer 2016, you will be able to enjoy the first novel of the D. Sea Scrolls series as a whole, aptly named Discovery.
Why did I break up the book in four ?
Well, because of time constraints. The work was taking me too long to finish, so I had to make a choice. Mind you, this one will actually give you some work to chew on in a reasonable period of time, instead of waiting god knows when the next book will come out. It was for the best, and I hope you'll understand. I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I wrote it for you, readers ! Below, here's a picture of the novella. Cool huh? Have a nice read !
Unlimited
I'm Back !
Hey people, Merry Christmas and happy holidays !
I wasn't able to update my blog for the simple and good reason that I didn't have my access codes anymore ! I only got them recently ,and through happenstance as I browse through someone else blog. I was able to retrieve them, thank GOD !
Now I'll be able to update more regularly. Next up, a surprise.
By the way, I plan to make an op-ed on recent events and Gamergate.
Stay tuned for all that!
Unlimited
I wasn't able to update my blog for the simple and good reason that I didn't have my access codes anymore ! I only got them recently ,and through happenstance as I browse through someone else blog. I was able to retrieve them, thank GOD !
Now I'll be able to update more regularly. Next up, a surprise.
By the way, I plan to make an op-ed on recent events and Gamergate.
Stay tuned for all that!
Unlimited
lundi 6 avril 2015
The Wheel Of Time : Thoughts on A Memory Of Light Ebook Controversy
I know it's been over two years since the last Wheel Of Time book was released, and I'm not even a fan of this series ( I read about 20 % of the first book then dropped it) but I follow Mr. Sanderson work ( I only read a chunk of Elantris so far but I like his advice and Writing Excuses). But what compelled me to write this post was the reason why the E-book version was delayed as opposed to the original harcover release in January 2013 ( The e-book version was relased on April 2013 if I recall). Apparently Mr. Sanderson said that the reason was that because Ms. Macdougal ( Robert Jordan's widow, the original author of the Wheel Of Time series who passed away in 2007, leaving Mr. Sanderson to finish the last three books in the series) wanted the last book to open number-one at the New York times Best-seller list, in order to "protect" the legacy of her husband, and thought that timing the hardcover release with the E-book could get in the way of that. Controversy arose from the fact that people couldn't read the E-book on it's release day, along with what a lot considered a shallow reasoning for a delay.
To me, the readers were sacrificed to the benefit of a long deceased individual "supposed" wish ( Hell I don't think it was, we'll never know). Does this incident tell us that the industry care much more about rankings than reader satisfaction ? I don't think so, but their actions are pretty much telling. I get that they have to make money and shit, no one dispute that, but preventing readers from reading your work in their desired format is also a way for them to distrust the system even more, and a way for indie authors like me to say " Hey, look at legacy publishing! Screwing us over for their little interests over the majority ! Should we continue to send out our manuscripts if they're going to treat our audiences this way? yada yada..."
Personally, I thank legacy publishing for everything they've done to litterature in general, but I guess they have to understand than in the coming years, they may have to take a bit of the back-seat in order to be far more relevant in the future, and selling for a fee their expertise instead of taking our rights away for a bunch of decades. Right now, they're fine, but in 15 - 20 years? It's really going to be interesting to see how the landscape of the publishing will shape up in 2035. Some mentalities will be shown the door, but are they going to take it, or be forced to ?
To me, the readers were sacrificed to the benefit of a long deceased individual "supposed" wish ( Hell I don't think it was, we'll never know). Does this incident tell us that the industry care much more about rankings than reader satisfaction ? I don't think so, but their actions are pretty much telling. I get that they have to make money and shit, no one dispute that, but preventing readers from reading your work in their desired format is also a way for them to distrust the system even more, and a way for indie authors like me to say " Hey, look at legacy publishing! Screwing us over for their little interests over the majority ! Should we continue to send out our manuscripts if they're going to treat our audiences this way? yada yada..."
Personally, I thank legacy publishing for everything they've done to litterature in general, but I guess they have to understand than in the coming years, they may have to take a bit of the back-seat in order to be far more relevant in the future, and selling for a fee their expertise instead of taking our rights away for a bunch of decades. Right now, they're fine, but in 15 - 20 years? It's really going to be interesting to see how the landscape of the publishing will shape up in 2035. Some mentalities will be shown the door, but are they going to take it, or be forced to ?
mardi 10 mars 2015
On Charlie-Hebdo
The Charlie-hebdo attacks in my homeland France shattered us all. I can only hope that the departed souls may rest in peace, and my heart goes to the families of the deceased. That being said, I am saddened to say that this tragedy can be attributed in part to the country itself. Why?
Because of their tolerant philosophy. I'm christian, and I'm a firm supporter of religions all around the world. However, when the republic stance on religion is supposed to be secularist, how come there's jew and catholic's schools all around the country ? When a country fails to maintain it's ground and its values, it falls prey to others. That's one of the many reasons why Mr. Zemmour latest book The French Suicide found a lot of success nationwide.
The over-fraternity France has shown over those past years is starting to showcase its failings. Being tolerant is great, granting freedom as well, but when a country lacks the wisdom to balance the two, it fails. It's the duty of the leaders of a house to make sure that the rules set within said house are respected, for without order there can only be chaos. A firm country based on solid and unbendable foundations can last for millenia, not a brittle one based on patchwork foundations gleaned from whatever country they came from without any deep understanding of how it works and if it'll work within a foreign structure. When you give the opportunity to other cultures to flourish without limits, don't be surprised that their traditions will eventually come to blows with your own, even supplanting them. And the more influence they gain, the greater you'll see their warts and weaknesses harming your country, instead of their virtues, because we human beings tend to over-focus on the negative side of things. Balance is and will remain the key to preserving the identity of a country.
The muslims are also to blame in these attacks. Why?
Beacuse they do not seem to question their religion (the same point could be said of any other religion at large). When such tragedy occurs around the world, they're the first to say, " We condemn these action which do not represent the Qu'ran, etc." with the tacit behavior of "We've done nothing wrong, so what we do is basically right." which is angering. I think that's probably one of the reasons why the anti-muslim sentiment is gaining momentum every day. You condemn, yet find almost nothing to improve, and that's the kind of behavior that prevent people from evolving in general. We love to please ourselves with our lives without asking if we can become better individuals tomorrow. For example, showing evolution would be to wonder why do they have to pray five times a day. Do they absolutely need to do so ? Is it an absolute requirement to communicate with Allah ? To demonstrate our gratitude ? You may think that it's personal, and by praying five times we are effectively doing nothing wrong, in fine, but that's what people don't realize that that's when problems arise. The Islamists in a way, think the same way. People in general don't think of themselves as antagonists. They think that they're doing the right thing, so they're right, therefore there's basically nothing to improve ! See how similar actions can lead to very different paths...
The muslims and the islamists use the same book as reference, but with differents interpretations, some adding their twists in to better their preaching, the same way Christians do as well. But people nowadays are turning away from religion not only because of the advances in technology, but because their preachers aren't necessarily better than them. So why should they follow them, Especially when they contradict themselves or behave hypocritically ?
The deeper problem stems from what religion has to offer. They offer a lot of complicated dogmas which people can't seem to understand the utility. To some extent, people can dig spirituality, but when it makes at least some kind of sense. but can people make any sense of a catholic priest having to renounce children in order to serve god ? for what gain ? And if so, then what would that make of the rest of us ? sinners, in the eyes of god, and sub-par servants, since we didn't take an oath of abstinence ? Having any children is an advantage in heaven ? Does it have to be so male-dominated as well? Is that what God commanded us to do, despite Jesus-Christ liking children himself ? These are few of the questions the general populace is wondering around the subject, and we, religious folks, are kinda failing to provide accurate answers to those questions.
Lastly, humanity is obviously to blame for that. Why?
Because of our lack of wisdom. What bothers me the most is that people live a good chunk of their lives without really thinking about being a wiser person, and worst, not even looking for ways to become wiser. The result ? Older people with the philosophy of a teenager (or worse, a child) without any spiritual depth whatsoever. People want to remain physically young, which makes sense considering their priorities. Priorities. Priorities defines us and shapes our evolution, or devolution. I don't mean to judge, but at the very least, we should accept that beacuse of our society lack of internal and spiritual depth we can't prevent such tragedies to occur, or at least, lessen their occurrence. When we have a lot of weak-minded human beings who are seduced into an seemingly unending djihad, what does our society do against it ? I believe that we know a lot of solutions to our problems, but we don't really want to make the sacrifices required to solve them (especially around freedom), which is why we, as a whole, aren't progressing as fast as we could.
These were my short two cents, but if we don't want to better ourselves, that's our choice, but we sometimes forget that we must assume its consequences as well.
Because of their tolerant philosophy. I'm christian, and I'm a firm supporter of religions all around the world. However, when the republic stance on religion is supposed to be secularist, how come there's jew and catholic's schools all around the country ? When a country fails to maintain it's ground and its values, it falls prey to others. That's one of the many reasons why Mr. Zemmour latest book The French Suicide found a lot of success nationwide.
The over-fraternity France has shown over those past years is starting to showcase its failings. Being tolerant is great, granting freedom as well, but when a country lacks the wisdom to balance the two, it fails. It's the duty of the leaders of a house to make sure that the rules set within said house are respected, for without order there can only be chaos. A firm country based on solid and unbendable foundations can last for millenia, not a brittle one based on patchwork foundations gleaned from whatever country they came from without any deep understanding of how it works and if it'll work within a foreign structure. When you give the opportunity to other cultures to flourish without limits, don't be surprised that their traditions will eventually come to blows with your own, even supplanting them. And the more influence they gain, the greater you'll see their warts and weaknesses harming your country, instead of their virtues, because we human beings tend to over-focus on the negative side of things. Balance is and will remain the key to preserving the identity of a country.
The muslims are also to blame in these attacks. Why?
Beacuse they do not seem to question their religion (the same point could be said of any other religion at large). When such tragedy occurs around the world, they're the first to say, " We condemn these action which do not represent the Qu'ran, etc." with the tacit behavior of "We've done nothing wrong, so what we do is basically right." which is angering. I think that's probably one of the reasons why the anti-muslim sentiment is gaining momentum every day. You condemn, yet find almost nothing to improve, and that's the kind of behavior that prevent people from evolving in general. We love to please ourselves with our lives without asking if we can become better individuals tomorrow. For example, showing evolution would be to wonder why do they have to pray five times a day. Do they absolutely need to do so ? Is it an absolute requirement to communicate with Allah ? To demonstrate our gratitude ? You may think that it's personal, and by praying five times we are effectively doing nothing wrong, in fine, but that's what people don't realize that that's when problems arise. The Islamists in a way, think the same way. People in general don't think of themselves as antagonists. They think that they're doing the right thing, so they're right, therefore there's basically nothing to improve ! See how similar actions can lead to very different paths...
The muslims and the islamists use the same book as reference, but with differents interpretations, some adding their twists in to better their preaching, the same way Christians do as well. But people nowadays are turning away from religion not only because of the advances in technology, but because their preachers aren't necessarily better than them. So why should they follow them, Especially when they contradict themselves or behave hypocritically ?
The deeper problem stems from what religion has to offer. They offer a lot of complicated dogmas which people can't seem to understand the utility. To some extent, people can dig spirituality, but when it makes at least some kind of sense. but can people make any sense of a catholic priest having to renounce children in order to serve god ? for what gain ? And if so, then what would that make of the rest of us ? sinners, in the eyes of god, and sub-par servants, since we didn't take an oath of abstinence ? Having any children is an advantage in heaven ? Does it have to be so male-dominated as well? Is that what God commanded us to do, despite Jesus-Christ liking children himself ? These are few of the questions the general populace is wondering around the subject, and we, religious folks, are kinda failing to provide accurate answers to those questions.
Lastly, humanity is obviously to blame for that. Why?
Because of our lack of wisdom. What bothers me the most is that people live a good chunk of their lives without really thinking about being a wiser person, and worst, not even looking for ways to become wiser. The result ? Older people with the philosophy of a teenager (or worse, a child) without any spiritual depth whatsoever. People want to remain physically young, which makes sense considering their priorities. Priorities. Priorities defines us and shapes our evolution, or devolution. I don't mean to judge, but at the very least, we should accept that beacuse of our society lack of internal and spiritual depth we can't prevent such tragedies to occur, or at least, lessen their occurrence. When we have a lot of weak-minded human beings who are seduced into an seemingly unending djihad, what does our society do against it ? I believe that we know a lot of solutions to our problems, but we don't really want to make the sacrifices required to solve them (especially around freedom), which is why we, as a whole, aren't progressing as fast as we could.
These were my short two cents, but if we don't want to better ourselves, that's our choice, but we sometimes forget that we must assume its consequences as well.
samedi 7 mars 2015
The D. Sea Scrolls Series
What's the D. Sea Scrolls ? Well, in a nutshell, that's the series I'm working on right now. I intend to deliver the first book in mid 2015 (hopefully).
The D. Sea Scrolls is a paranormal thriller series, peppered with some classical myths and legends turned around their head.
The story's simple: for millennia, people have contested, fought, and died for the D. Sea Scrolls.
What are they? They're powerful scrolls that enable an individual to receive, for a set period of time, super-human abilities like enhanced strength, durability, or even the power to kill or incapacitate your foes. They can give you more powers, but I'll let the story reveal them for you.
What's D. Sea ? Well, D. stands for a type of Scroll. You see, all Scrolls starts with the letter D. in the english language. One of them is called Dire. So its full name would be "The Dire Sea Scroll". A Dire Sea Scroll can grant better durability, or enhance the strength of a being, or even something non-sentient like a table, for exemple. However it come with a price: if someone grants you power through the Scroll, the caster' going to gradually weaken the more he/she uses it. Sea stands for sea, I guess (lol), but it's there because the Scrolls were made from sea components.
What's in a Scroll? The story will tell you more about that.
How many types of Scrolls there are? Great question, pal. I don't know... maybe one?
Where can we find these Scrolls? Around the world, buried in the sea or in the ground, in museums, in the pockets of rich and influential folks, etc. But believe me, some folks saw a scroll without ever knowing what it really was and some organizations want to keep it that way. After all, the fewer the people are aware of it, the better, right? That's why regular folks like you and I aren't even aware of their existence!
There's way more to the Scrolls, but the book series will tell you much more than I can. Throw away your conceptions about myths and legends, because you'll see them in a new light. A light you never saw before but was right in front of you...
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