Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Weekly Rants: December 19, 2012

Greeting Fellow Readers! Welcome to another of random ranting. Christmas is around the corner and the New Year is a jump away.

[On Thoughts on Writing...]

I hope you all enjoyed my 'Thoughts on Writing' here on these rants. I do have a lot on my mind about writing and I will continue to share them as I continue onward. I will spread them out over a couple weeks so that I won't pile on too much in short time and keep interest up. Plus there is so much to writing, there are plenty to talk about. Some controversial, some may come off as BS to you, and maybe a different insight from what you normally hear.

But I do want to stress one important thing, what I say on 'Thoughts on Writing' are not word of law. It's just my thoughts of what I have learned so far. After all, if learn new things in writing, it may change what I originally thought before, and if I learn something new in writing from, like techniques or voicing, then that too could change my outlook.

Seriously, I don't mind if you readers respond on Facebook with rebuttals and criticisms. Who knows I could learn something from you guys and it might make my writing and storytelling all the more stronger, fun, and awesome. Contrary to what humanity thinks, we all are still learning whether we have college degrees or not. There is always room to learn something.

[Arcana Magi Universe]

I'm hoping I am not overwhelming all of you with 'Arcana Magi'. I do have other stories outside of this on tap, but I'm looking to keep them focused on Kindle and not Fictionaut. For those of you who want to see more 'Arcana Magi' I will be posting a new story in around February/March. Most likely I will write 'Arcana Magi Pure Vol.3' to synch up with Memorial. And maybe I will write another story in another universe to spread out the variety.

[Kindle]

Speaking of Kindle. I want to continue De x Maquina and Chain + Fate. I also have more Geolyth Lore stories to write. I pretty much have a lot to write really. I'm not sure if I can get all of them out for 2013. There's just so much going on, but I want to write this up and get them on Kindle. Just stay tuned and hang tight. I'll get it all sorted out and you will have new adventures.

---

Okay, next week is the start of the holidays so I'll be taking the next 2 weeks off. No 'NEWS and NOTES' and No 'Weekly Rants'. On January 7, 2013, I'll set up the next list of stories to come out for the year, and on Wednesday the 8th, I'll return with the Weekly Rants and new 'Thoughts on Writing'.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Until 2013...

See ya.

Monday, December 17, 2012

NEWS and NOTES: December 17, 2012

Greetings Fellow Readers. Welcome to another edition of 'NEWS and NOTES'.

NEWS:

- Coming soon to Fictionaut - More 'Arcana Magi'

Dates and series to be announced.

- This Holiday season on Kindle: Free 'Shell' Days. Get your chance to add 'Shell' to your booklist for FREE on these following days.

This Friday, December 21, 2012 on Kindle: FREE 'Shell' Friday. Tis the season to get reading. Download a free copy of 'Shell' for your Kindle devices this week.

Make sure to grab a copy for you and your book reading family and friends.

- Wednesday's between 8:00 PM EST and 9:00 PM EST on Blogspot - The Weekly Rants. Check out info, thoughts, and behind the scenes look on all writings and project by H-M Brown.

** Dates and times are subject to change pending any scheduling conflicts.

NOTES:

-Well I'm in the Holiday break. It will be awhile before I figure out what to do next for 'Arcana Magi' so stay tuned for the dates.

That's all for NEWS and NOTES today.

Until next time,
See ya.

Friday, December 14, 2012

NEWS and NOTES: December 14, 2012

Greetings Fellow Readers. Welcome to another edition of 'NEWS and NOTES'. This is final day of 'Arcana Magi 2012' Season. I hope you've all enjoyed the latest adventures. It was fun writing for all of you and am very glad to have entertained all of you. I look forward to writing more 'Arcana Magi' in 2013. Please stay tuned for future NEWS and release dates.


NEWS:

- Now on Fictionaut - 'Arcana Magi Pure Vol. 2 Chapter 5'

The Mukado are attacking and Mayumi has to stand back before she could fight.

Click on the sidebar link to find out.

- This Holiday season on Kindle: Free 'Shell' Days. Get your chance to add 'Shell' to your booklist for FREE on these following days.

Today on Kindle: FREE 'Shell' Friday. Tis the season to get reading. Download a free copy of 'Shell' for your Kindle devices this week.

Future 'Free Shell Fridays' dates:

Friday - December 21, 2012

Make sure to grab a copy for you and your book reading family and friends.

- Wednesday's between 8:00 PM EST and 9:00 PM EST on Blogspot - The Weekly Rants. Check out info, thoughts, and behind the scenes look on all writings and project by H-M Brown.

** Dates and times are subject to change pending any scheduling conflicts.

NOTES:

- No NOTES Today

That's all for NEWS and NOTES today.

Until next time,
See ya.

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Weekly Rants: December 12, 2012



Greetings Fellow Readers! Welcome to another round of random ranting. This week is the final week on my 'Thoughts on Writing' Facebook posts. I hope my thoughts back in early 2012 were insightful and helpful. Also today I am going to address 'Arcana Magi Universe'.

Thoughts on Writing
[Writing Experimentation: 

       One of the things I'll start with is my use of the " and ' in Arcana Magi Memorial Vol.1 and a few others. One of the things I thought when I wrote dialog was how sentences would go something like this; "What about me?" She said. "I want to come to." and the quotations looked more like finishing a dialog rather than continuing. So I tried this; "What about me?' She said. 'I want to come to." The single quotation had a more soft pause rather than an abrupt end, denoting more dialog and a consistent flow when reading characters statements.

        It was interesting at first. That was until I came across two problems. One, was that sometimes I had to write a narrative beyond the phrase 'She said.' and could sometime go for more than two lines. Even though it gave the denotation that there was more dialog, it came off as looking off and inconsistent. Two, contractions in the follow up dialog; "What a minute?' She said. 'Isn't that wrong?" Having two ' in such short spaces started throwing me off during writing, especially it's. While it made for an interesting experiment, I went back to using " for the beginning and end of all dialog as seen in last years 'Arcana Magi' and 'Beyond Logic'.

        Another experiment became very logical. Using ***. Ever since I started writing on Fictionaut, the problem I had was always that page sandbox where all my writing get copy pasted in. It would be an endless wall of text with no breaks. Since this the internet and not a paperback trade, I've learn that reading would be difficult. I tried to look for different ways to remedy that from writing small for each chapter, which disrupted my writing pace to separating every line, which is not very presentable.

         That's when I started using this *** at the end of each scenario. I felt this would help reader take their time reading the story with being overwhelmed by a endless wall of text. This also actually helped me improve my writing and gave me a new technique to approach with each chapter. I know use *** for each scene in my stories, treating each scene as it own sub-chapter. This allows me to attempt a beginning, middle, and end in between each *** while maintaining the overall story. It helped me really work in the plot and sub-plot seamlessly, and it helped me transition from scene to scene avoiding writing needless words showing characters travel from point a to point b. Most importantly, *** made sure something was always happening in the story with each scene.

         Lastly, one of the things I tried was writing narrative without dialog. As I have explained in part 1, the reason why I left out dialog in First Person writing was because the narrator is talking to you directly and we don't say "He is going to the bathroom" John said in real conversation. But what about third person. As you may have noticed, starting with 'Arcana Magi' I dedicated an entire chapter telling a story without dialog. I'm not sure how it worked for the reader, but I thought it would be interesting to try. I applied this in my 'Duality of Horror' short 'Feral' given who the protagonist was.

          I found writing this way is very interesting and will continue to write this way without dialog in Third Person, from time to time. I understand the need for dialog, because of character development and connecting with personality, but I believe if done right, no dialog writing can be just as effective as dialog itself. If done right.

Final Thoughts: 
    
          So that's pretty much what I to say about writing. It is a wonderful experience as I have said many times. I will keep experimenting in writing. There will be many pratfalls with the successes as try different things, but this is something I won't give up on. Now that I have Kindle Publishing along side Fictionaut posting, I have plenty of options on where to write and allow me to approach each work professionally. There are a lot more stories to come, and I thank you all for accompanying me for the ride.]

 Arcana Magi Universe:

So we've reached the last chapter of 'Arcana Magi Universe' 2012 season. A lot than last year's, but I had fun writing them and I hope you had fun reading the adventure. Which begs the question 'Where to go from here?' Well, this would be the part where I would wait until October next year to start 2013 season, giving everyone a chance to read everything 'Arcana Magi', but having seen the traffic every week this year, and especially last year, I feel I'm losing the audience when October comes around due to a year long wait. So I decided that I will write up another 'Arcana Magi' story sometime between February and March. When I don't know so stay tuned. I will be using the Christmas and January break to sort everything out.

I am also thinking about compiling some of the 'Arcana Magi' stories together for Kindle release, making it convenient for anybody interested in not sitting in front of their computer to read an endless wall of text. Doing this may also bring a quick edit to polish up the stories. Again I have not decided anything in stone yet, I'm not even sure which 'Arcana Magi' to continue with. I still need to write new Original stories for Kindle exclusively and continue current brands I started earlier this year like 'Beyond Logic', 'Chain + Fate', and 'De x Maquina'.

Basically I want 2013 to be a big year between Fictionaut and Kindle, but it's going to take time. Writin' ain't easy. ;)

Next Week I'll have something for 'Thoughts on Writing' so I'll see you all then.

Until Next Time...
See ya.

Monday, December 10, 2012

NEWS and NOTES: December 10, 2012

Greetings Fellow Readers. Well this is last week for 'Arcana Magi 2012 Season'. 2 exciting stories and lots of characters developed. I hope you all had fun. Stay tuned though for further announcements.

Welcome to another edition of 'NEWS and NOTES'.

NEWS:

- This Friday, December 14, 2012 at 8:00 PM EST - 'Arcana Magi Pure Vol. 5 Chapter 5'

The Mukado are attacking and Mayumi has to stand back before she could fight.

Catch it this Friday on Fictionaut.

- This Holiday season on Kindle: Free 'Shell' Days. Get your chance to add 'Shell' to your booklist for FREE on these following days.

This Friday on Kindle December 14, 2012: FREE 'Shell'. Tis the season to get reading. Download a free copy of 'Shell' for your Kindle devices this week.

Future 'Frees Shell' dates:

Friday - December 21, 2012

Make sure to grab a copy for you and your book reading family and friends.

- Wednesday's between 8:00 PM EST and 9:00 PM EST on Blogspot - The Weekly Rants. Check out info, thoughts, and behind the scenes look on all writings and project by H-M Brown.

** Dates and times are subject to change pending any scheduling conflicts.

NOTES:

- No NOTES Today

That's all for NEWS and NOTES today.

Until next time,
See ya.

Friday, December 7, 2012

NEWS and NOTES: December 7, 2012

Greetings Fellow Readers.

Welcome to another edition of 'NEWS and NOTES'.

NEWS:


- Now on Fictionaut - 'Arcana Magi Pure Vol. 2 - Chapter 4'

Mayumi meets with the Karasu Clan and learns about their history.

Click on the Sidebar link to check it out.

- 'Arcana Magi Pure Vol. 2' schedule:


Friday, December 14, 2012 at 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 5**


- This Holiday season on Kindle: Free 'Shell' Days. Get your chance to add 'Shell' to your booklist for FREE on these following days.

Today on Kindle: FREE 'Shell'. Tis the season to get reading. Download a free copy of 'Shell' for your Kindle devices this week.

Future 'Frees Shell' dates:

Friday - December 14, 2012
Friday - December 21, 2012

Make sure to grab a copy for you and your book reading family and friends.


- Wednesday's between 8:00 PM EST and 9:00 PM EST on Blogspot - The Weekly Rants. Check out info, thoughts, and behind the scenes look on all writings and project by H-M Brown.

** Dates and times are subject to change pending any scheduling conflicts.

NOTES:


- No NOTES Today

That's all for NEWS and NOTES today.

Until next time,
See ya.

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Weekly Rants: December 5, 2012

Greetings Fellow Readers! Welcome to another round of random ranting. This week once again sees another session of 'Thoughts on Writing: The Facebook Posts'. I will be posting up Foreshadowing and what I thought of it back then.

Thoughts on Writing:



[On Foreshadowing: 

       Basically Foreshadowing are hints, actions, or dialog that pretty much give clues that something big could happen later in the story. Its goal is to get readers more into the story and to continue onward to see what will next. It is a pretty common technique many writers use, but it is something that I have found not touched on in many books on writing. However, it is a double edged sword. Bad foreshadowing would result in giving away the big reveal and you lose your readers. Good foreshadowing will result in a satisfied reader who will want to see the story through to the end.

        Now, executing foreshadow is fairly easy. Usually it happens during the first draft, without realizing it. This occurred to me when I wrote one of my earlier unpublished novels. When I started second drafting it, I noticed a lot of foreshadowing and during the re-write, I tempered it so the story would come out crisp and clean. Now on the other hand, if you attempt to foreshadow by manually, to use a lesser term, you have to prepare your scenes in advance. All scenes the foreshadow involves and the scenes in between that don't involve it. After all you have to connect the dots between the foreshadow scenes leading up to the big reveal. Or else what you write won't make sense and could result in red herrings.

        And red herrings is the one thing you do not want to write too much of. You can get away with it like say, if you have two characters and one is guilty instead of the other. But if you have nothing but an endless slew of red herrings, it will turn the reader off because you're pulling them by the nose.

        For me, I love foreshadowing. To write scenes and situations in such a subtle manner that draws intrigue upon the reader, is the best tool I have in writing arsenal. It makes my stories strong and keeps me my readers in the game. To make them want more. I have tried to foreshadow at will through 'Arcana Magi Memorial Vol. 1' and I am hoping that it was executed well. I had everything involved with foreshadowing laid out and prepared. As for my other works, I'm confident that the foreshadow I found during the second draft was well tempered to not kill the story and brought a level of enjoyment to all of you. I would definitely recommend all you writers out to try it out at will and contrast to foreshadowing you tempered in the second draft to see the differences in your writing. It's a good way to know how well you're doing.]

So that is the Facebook version of my thoughts on Foreshadowing. Next week will be my thoughts on my Writing Experimentation to close out the Thoughts on Writing Facebook posts. I do have a lot on my mind regarding 'Arcana Magi Universe' and Kindle. Nothing is set in stone yet, but I may need to shake things up if I want to secure a good healthy future in Fiction Writing. When the time comes I will address the entire situation.

Until Next Time...

See ya.

Monday, December 3, 2012

NEWS and NOTE: December 03, 2012

Greetings Fellow Readers.

Welcome to another edition of 'NEWS and NOTES'.

NEWS:


- This Friday, December 7, 2012 at 8:00 PM EST on Fictionaut - 'Arcana Magi Pure Vol. 2 - Chapter 3'

Mayumi meets with the Karasu Clan and learns about their history.

Click on the Sidebar link to check it out.

- 'Arcana Magi Pure Vol. 2' schedule:


Friday, December 14, 2012 at 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 5**


- This Holiday season on Kindle: Free 'Shell' Days. Get your chance to add 'Shell' to your booklist for FREE on these following days.

This Friday on Kindle: FREE 'Shell'. Tis the season to get reading. Download a free copy of 'Shell' for your Kiindle devices this week.

Future 'Frees Shell' dates:

Friday - December 14, 2012
Friday - December 21, 2012

Make sure to grab a copy for you and your book reading family and friends.


- Wednesday's between 8:00 PM EST and 9:00 PM EST on Blogspot - The Weekly Rants. Check out info, thoughts, and behind the scenes look on all writings and project by H-M Brown.

** Dates and times are subject to change pending any scheduling conflicts.

NOTES:


- No NOTES Today

That's all for NEWS and NOTES today.

Until next time,
See ya.

Friday, November 30, 2012

NEWS and NOTES: November 30, 2012

Greetings Fellow Readers.

Welcome to another edition of 'NEWS and NOTES'.

NEWS:


- Now on Fictionaut - 'Arcana Magi Pure Vol. 2 - Chapter 3'

Mayumi learns of the Clans decision in dealing with Emi and the Mukado, but she is not alone.

Click on the Sidebar link to check it out.

- 'Arcana Magi Pure Vol. 2' schedule:

Friday, December 7, 2012 at 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 4**
Friday, December 14, 2012 at 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 5**


- This Holiday season on Kindle: Free 'Shell' Days. Get your chance to add 'Shell' to your booklist for FREE on these following days.


Friday - December 7, 2012
Friday - December 14, 2012
Friday - December 21, 2012

Make sure to grab a copy for you and your book reading family and friends.


- Wednesday's between 8:00 PM EST and 9:00 PM EST on Blogspot - The Weekly Rants. Check out info, thoughts, and behind the scenes look on all writings and project by H-M Brown.

** Dates and times are subject to change pending any scheduling conflicts.

NOTES:


- No NOTES Today

That's all for NEWS and NOTES today.

Until next time,
See ya.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Weekly Rants: November 28, 2012




Greetings Fellow Readers! Welcome to another round of random ranting. This week is Part 3 of my Thoughts on Writing Facebook posts. This is the second half on my thoughts on 'Show, Don't Tell'. I really did have a lot on my mind regarding this. So let us continue. Also forgive the font sizes, Word is pretty weird when copy and pasting.

[On Show, Don't Tell - Part 2

    The way I see it, in narrative writing, Show and Tell should co-exist. I look at them as two polar extremes and there is a middle ground to them. Show in narrative writing is as much a double edged sword as Telling is. Too much showing and readers burn out. Showing can also lead to redundant writing repeating the same thing over and over again. I have noticed this in some of my writings. I wonder if you have as well. Showing results in readers either skip pages that could be important or quit because the writing is not getting to the point. This is where Telling should be applied.

     Telling should be used to get to the point of what your saying to the reader. Quick, brief, and moving forward. However too much Telling will turn off the readers as well. Either by way of making readers feel stupid because you point out the obvious, or cheapen a dynamic moment that would have otherwise been more impactful to the story. So this brings the question, how does one Show and Tell in narrative writing?

     Honestly, I don't know. It's because we have our own style of writing, a comfort zone that we are accustomed too. In a sense, I believe that each of us writers will know when to Show and when to Tell. It's usually happens when we start second drafting our work. We'll know what has more impact and what needs to move along. We'll just know it when we see it. Now what about teaching Show, Don't Tell? To tell a narrative writer that Showing is the only thing to do in writing is wrong. It's not the same as Comic Books and Movies, that is where Show, Don't Tell should be applied.

      To say Show, Don't Tell in narrative writing is basically saying "reject Telling, Showing is the only and absolute thing". And the last I checked we narrative fiction writers are Storytellers not Storyshowers. We are telling a story through text to words. We can't show what we describe in our words. The readers have to interpret and imagine it on their own. No two readers, imagine the same character, no matter how much we show. What we should say to future narrative writers is to Show and Tell. A good balance of Show and Tell will give readers a beautiful world Shown at consistent pace Told.

      Let me sum it up like this, if you Tell a reader "John hopped into the car." The reader knows what a car is and can imagine it. It also helps move the story along. If you Show a reader "John jumped into the red car, with its leather interior and clean glass. The smell of new wafted in his nose. The softness of the cushions relaxed his muscles." There better be a reason for showing all of that later in the story, be it character development or plot development, because if it was just to "Show" the car due to Show, Don't Tell, you just wrote needless words.]

So ends my thoughts on 'Show, Don't Tell'. Next week we're going to revisit Foreshadowing again with the Facebook version. A good chance to see how all of those thoughts changed from then to now, even though it is a short time.

Thank you for joining me this week. Look forward to seeing you next week.

Until next time...
See ya.  

Monday, November 26, 2012

NEWS and NOTES: November 26, 2012

Greetings Fellow Readers.

Welcome to another edition of 'NEWS and NOTES'. Did you all get your FREE copy of 'Shell' on Kindle? Let the holiday Season begin!

NEWS:


- This Friday, November 30, 2012 at 8:00 PM EST - 'Arcana Magi Pure Vol. 2 - Chapter 3

Mayumi learns of the Clans decision in dealing with Emi and the Mukado, but she is not alone.

Check it out this Friday on Fictionaut.

- 'Arcana Magi Pure Vol. 2' schedule:

Friday, December 7, 2012 at 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 4**
Friday, December 14, 2012 at 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 5**


- This Holiday season on Kindle: Free 'Shell' Days. Get your chance to add 'Shell' to your booklist for FREE on these following days.


Friday - December 7, 2012
Friday - December 14, 2012
Friday - December 21, 2012

Make sure to grab a copy for you and your book reading family and friends.


- Wednesday's between 8:00 PM EST and 9:00 PM EST on Blogspot - The Weekly Rants. Check out info, thoughts, and behind the scenes look on all writings and project by H-M Brown.

** Dates and times are subject to change pending any scheduling conflicts.

NOTES:


- No NOTES Today

That's all for NEWS and NOTES today.

Until next time,
See ya.

Friday, November 23, 2012

NEWS and NOTES: November, 23, 2012

Greetings Fellow Readers.

Welcome to another edition of 'NEWS and NOTES'.

NEWS:


- Released now on Fictionaut:  'Arcana Magi Pure Vol. 2 - Chapter 2'

Click on the sidebar link to check it out.

- 'Arcana Magi Pure Vol. 2' schedule:


Friday, November 30, 2012 ay 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 3**
Friday, December 7, 2012 ay 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 4**
Friday, December 14, 2012 ay 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 5**


Today on Kindle: Free 'Shell' Day on Black Friday.

Pick up your Free copy of 'Shell' to kick up the Holiday season. Only on Kindle.
 
- This Holiday season on Kindle: Free 'Shell' Days. Get your chance to add 'Shell' to your booklist for FREE on these following days.


Friday - December 7, 2012
Friday - December 14, 2012
Friday - December 21, 2012

Make sure to grab a copy for you and your book reading family and friends.


- Wednesday's between 8:00 PM EST and 9:00 PM EST on Blogspot - The Weekly Rants. Check out info, thoughts, and behind the scenes look on all writings and project by H-M Brown.

** Dates and times are subject to change pending any scheduling conflicts.

NOTES:


- No NOTES Today

That's all for NEWS and NOTES today.

Until next time,
See ya.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Weekly Rants: November 21, 2012

Greetings Fellow Readers! Welcome to another round of random rants. Today is part two of my thoughts on writing from earlier this year on Facebook. Today I am posting up Show Don't Tell.There are 10 posts total so I am breaking them into 2 Parts. Part 1 is today and next week will be Part 2. So shall we begin.

[On Show, Don't Tell - Part 1

     I spent a good week thinking about what to say for this topic, because I know this is something that is taught by professors in schools. It is something many writers stress over and over, and some editors expect. And for the most part I do agree about Show, Don't Tell... when used in Comics Books, Movies, Television, and Stage, but not in Narrative Writing and here's why...

    Comic Books, Movies, TV, and Stage has visual illustrations. Something for us to see with our own eyes. For a character or narrator to tell us what we are actually seeing, makes zero sense and really takes the audience out of the story. So yes, Show, Don't Tell in these mediums should be applied without question. So why not Narrative Writing?

    Because there are no physical illustrations to show what our words in text says. Our words in our stories are supposed to trigger our readers mind to develop visual illustrations in their own minds. Our readers interpret what we wrote in text into their own imaginations. However, the human mind can only take so much input from our text that to Show can burn them out. This is what I learned when I first introduced Arcana Magi Zero Vol.1 in Fictionaut 2009.

     If you read the opening paragraphs, there is a lot of Show. Stretching for a long time. I received a comment a reader in Fictionaut who said that once they got to the transformation part, they quit reading. I looked over it and realized that I showed way too much creating a wall of details that was overwhelming. This was because I heeded the advice of Show, Don't Tell. I also recognized this in 'Chain + Fate' when I was final drafting it before releasing it. I detailed way too much of the characters traveling from the park to the train station.

      It was overwhelming and unneeded. It didn't serve the plot whatsoever. I remembered the first advice given in Strunk and White's Elements of Style, 'Omit Needless Words'. That's what I found Show in narrative writing to be. Needless words. That's not to say Telling is any better. After as I have stated last week, my stories may come off as a laundry list and that is due to Telling sometimes.]


So that is first five posts, next will be the conclusion of Show Don't Tell, then in two weeks will be On Foreshadowing.

Well, thank you for joining me this week. You all enjoy a Happy Thanksgiving in America. And don't forget to pick up your free Copy of 'Shell' This Friday on Kindle.

Until Next Time...
See ya.

Monday, November 19, 2012

NEWS and NOTES: November 19, 2012

Greetings Fellow Readers.

Welcome to another edition of 'NEWS and NOTES'.

NEWS:


- This Friday at 8:00PM EST on Fictionaut:  'Arcana Magi Pure Vol. 2 - Chapter 2'

The Mukado is gaining followers with Emi as their priestess, leaving Mayumi and the Kitsune at a loss of what to do next.

Check it out this Friday.

- 'Arcana Magi Pure Vol. 2' schedule:


Friday, November 30, 2012 ay 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 3**
Friday, December 7, 2012 ay 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 4**
Friday, December 14, 2012 ay 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 5**


This Friday on Kindle: Free 'Shell' Day on Black Friday.

Pick up your Free copy of 'Shell' to kick up the Holiday season. Only on Kindle.
 
- This Holiday season on Kindle: Free 'Shell' Days. Get your chance to add 'Shell' to your booklist for FREE on these following days.



Friday - December 7, 2012
Friday - December 14, 2012
Friday - December 21, 2012

Make sure to grab a copy for you and your book reading family and friends.


- Wednesday's between 8:00 PM EST and 9:00 PM EST on Blogspot - The Weekly Rants. Check out info, thoughts, and behind the scenes look on all writings and project by H-M Brown.

** Dates and times are subject to change pending any scheduling conflicts.

NOTES:


- No NOTES Today

That's all for NEWS and NOTES today.

Until next time,
See ya.

Friday, November 16, 2012

NEWS and NOTES: November 16, 2012

Greetings Fellow Readers.

Welcome to another edition of 'NEWS and NOTES'. Wasn't 'Arcana Magi Memorial Vol. 3' exciting? Well there is more 'Arcana Magi' on it's way this week. Check it out.

NEWS:


- Now on Fictionaut:  'Arcana Magi Pure Vol. 2 - Chapter 1'

1 Month has passed since Mayumi and Emi awoke to their new found powers, and now the Kitsune and Inu clans are preparing a big battle against the Mukado clan to save Emi and protect the city, before the other clans finish the job themselves.

Click on the Sidebar linke to check it out on Fictionaut.

- 'Arcana Magi Pure Vol. 2' schedule:

Friday, November 23, 2012 ay 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 2**
Friday, November 30, 2012 ay 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 3**
Friday, December 7, 2012 ay 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 4**
Friday, December 14, 2012 ay 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 5**


- This Holiday season on Kindle: Free 'Shell' Days. Get your chance to add 'Shell' to your booklist for FREE on these following days.


Black Friday - November 23, 2012
Friday - December 7, 2012
Friday - December 14, 2012
Friday - December 21, 2012

Make sure to grab a copy for you and your book reading family and friends.


- Wednesday's between 8:00 PM EST and 9:00 PM EST on Blogspot - The Weekly Rants. Check out info, thoughts, and behind the scenes look on all writings and project by H-M Brown.

** Dates and times are subject to change pending any scheduling conflicts.

NOTES:


- No NOTES Today

That's all for NEWS and NOTES today.

Until next time,
See ya.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Weekly Rants: November 14, 2012

Greeting Fellow Readers! Welcome to another of random ranting. As promised today I will be posting up my 'Thoughts on Writing' from my Facebook page that I wrote over the Spring. If you wish to follow on Facebook just head on over to 'The Written Works of H-M Brown', by clicking on the link on the sidebar of this page. Don't hesitate to share your thoughts and criticisms, especially the criticisms, the harsher the better.

So without any more interruptions here is the first set of my 'Thoughts on Writing'.

[ Writing Style: 

    Let's start here. One of the things I have difficulty with is writing style. Everyone points this out, but I don't know if there is a distinct way of "seeing" it. For me what I read and what my brain processes into imagination is all I really get. I never take into account what a writing style looks like. So when I was told in Fictionaut my writing was all action. I took a long look and realized it was true. I never really thought of that as my writing style since I only wrote what I thought of and visualized in my head.

     It's also something that I use to and cannot break out of. So in a way action prose has become sort of my fingerprint as noted in writing books what writing styles are. Of course one of the drawbacks to my writing, a friend of mine pointed out, was that my writing come off as laundry list. So I try to write sentences that at least give off a poetic feel, or use sentences like "as though a bird had its wings broken" when referencing a situation or character. At least this way I feel I can avoid the laundry list situation.

      Another thing I learned strangely enough in the book "On Writing Well" which deals with writing non-fiction. In Chapter 10 the author discussed the use of contractions. What are good and what are bad. However in my third person narrative prose I found myself getting caught in the stigma of the contractions I used, particularly its, it's, and it's. I also found it overwhelming using contractions in narrative when I have it in dialogue as well. So I made the decision to not use contractions in narrative and let the dialogue carry it.

      I found it a little easier for me at least to throw off the context of what I am writing in third person. However, since first person is one overly long dialogue in narrative form and has the voice of the protagonist, cutting the contractions there are not a wise idea. It gives the narrator character. Which brings me to the next part.

     First Person. A lot of First Person stories do have dialogue from other characters in the parenthesis form. But I found myself not using it to be much easier. To me it felt unusual in writing, to place the parenthesis dialogue separately. Let me put it like this, we I talk to people in person, I don't say; "He was just hear." John said. I say, John told me that he was hear a second ago. That's how we talk to each other and that's what the narrator is doing. He is talking to you the reader about what he say and he experience. That is why I don't use dialogue sentences in my first person stories.

      First person is kind of an intimate experience. Something the narrator has to say to you because it is important for you to know, or else why would the narrator bother talking to you about his problem? I felt I had to treat the first person fiction as such. The narrator is talking, not me. I'm sure it is quite unusual to write that, but it just seems right for me to write that way.

      Well that's all I got to say about my writing style. It may not be spectacular, but it does feel right with me and is in my comfort zone. I look forward to improving this style and make it even more tighter, and more enjoyable then ever before. So Part 2 will be next week. Thanks for joining me. Until next time... see ya. ]

So ends Part 1 one of my Facebook postings on writing. Next week I will post up Part 2, most likely in 2 parts because I wrote 10 posts in there on Show, Don't Tell. Then in Part 3 I did discuss about Foreshadowing, to stack against what I thought of it then with I wrote a month ago. And the final Part 4 was on Writing Experimentation. Basically the different ways I wrote my stories and the approaches I took.

I thank you all for joining me and I look to seeing you all next week.

Until Next Time...

See Ya.

Monday, November 12, 2012

NEWS and NOTES: November 12, 2012

Greetings Fellow Readers.

Welcome to another edition of 'NEWS and NOTES'. Wasn't 'Arcana Magi Memorial Vol. 3' exciting? Well there is more 'Arcana Magi' on it's way this week. Check it out.

NEWS:


- This Friday November 16, 2012 at 8:00 PM EST** on Fictionaut:  'Arcana Magi Pure Vol. 2 - Chapter 1'

1 Month has passed since Mayumi and Emi awoke to their new found powers, and now the Kitsune and Inu clans are preparing a big battle against the Mukado clan to save Emi and protect the city, before the other clans finish the job themselves.

Check it out this Friday on Fictionaut.

- 'Arcana Magi Pure Vol. 2' schedule:

Friday, November 23, 2012 ay 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 2**
Friday, November 30, 2012 ay 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 3**
Friday, December 7, 2012 ay 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 4**
Friday, December 14, 2012 ay 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 5**


- This Holiday season on Kindle: Free 'Shell' Days. Get your chance to add 'Shell' to your booklist for FREE on these following days.


Black Friday - November 23, 2012
Friday - December 7, 2012
Friday - December 14, 2012
Friday - December 21, 2012

Make sure to grab a copy for you and your book reading family and friends.


- Wednesday's between 8:00 PM EST and 9:00 PM EST on Blogspot - The Weekly Rants. Check out info, thoughts, and behind the scenes look on all writings and project by H-M Brown.

** Dates and times are subject to change pending any scheduling conflicts.

NOTES:


- No NOTES Today

That's all for NEWS and NOTES today.

Until next time,
See ya.

Friday, November 9, 2012

NEWS and NOTES: November 9, 2012

Greetings Fellow Readers.

Welcome to another edition of 'NEWS and NOTES'.

NEWS:


- This Friday November 9, 2012 at 8:00 PM EST** on Fictionaut:  'Arcana Magi Memorial Vol. 3 - Chapter 5'

Sora is taking her steps toward recovery, but what decisions is she going to make?

Check it out this Friday on Fictionaut.


- Starting Friday, November 16, 2012** on Fictionaut: 'Arcana Magi Pure Vol. 2'

Mayumi and Emi are back, and they're about to learn what their new found life will bring.

Friday, November 16, 2012 ay 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 1**
Friday, November 23, 2012 ay 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 2**
Friday, November 30, 2012 ay 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 3**
Friday, December 7, 2012 ay 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 4**
Friday, December 14, 2012 ay 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 5**


- This Holiday season on Kindle: Free 'Shell' Days. Get your chance to add 'Shell' to your booklist for FREE on these following days.


Black Friday - November 23, 2012
Friday - December 7, 2012
Friday - December 14, 2012
Friday - December 21, 2012

Make sure to grab a copy for you and your book reading family and friends.


- Wednesday's between 8:00 PM EST and 9:00 PM EST on Blogspot - The Weekly Rants. Check out info, thoughts, and behind the scenes look on all writings and project by H-M Brown.

** Dates and times are subject to change pending any scheduling conflicts.

NOTES:


- No NOTES Today

That's all for NEWS and NOTES today.

Until next time,
See ya.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Weekly Rants: November 7, 2012

Greetings Fellow Readers! Welcome to another round of random rants.

This has been one hell of a week between the hurricane and tonight's nor'easter. There is a lot of snow outside. So far there are no blackouts so everything is good to go.

- 'Arcana Magi Memorial'

So this brings me the good news, Chapter 5 will be up an running this Friday on Fictionaut as planned. I apologize for the one week delay, I know many of you have been waiting to finish this story and moving on to 'Pure'. I know I am.

I have been thinking for awhile about whether next year, like around February, if I should go full time with 'Memorial'. I really do like this story out of all the 'Arcana Magi' stories and I feel the potential in the premise as well as the episodic method. But at the same time, I'm wondering is enough is enough with the whole girl with magic powers theme. I do want to write about other characters of other ages not just teenagers. Not that this is a bad thing, but I do need increase my range in writing and not be a one trick pony. You've seen my other works. The other reason of thinking of going full time is because the yearly thing is really dragging out the series, and I know I lost a good chunk of audience from last year, because the momentum stopped. At least concentrate on 'Memorial' and lead up to October's 'Arcana Magi 2013' season. I don't know, but I do like 'Memorial' and I want to continue it full time while working on Kindle. It's a very rough balancing act for sure, but I'll figure it out, and balance the schedule out.

- 'Writer's Thoughts'

I will be doing the next edition, next week with the Facebook Archives I wrote over the summer. Some of the things that I covered were, First-person Writing, Show Don't Tell, and more. Probably one more. Nevertheless, I will post them in increments as planned starting next Wednesday when everything is nice and stable here in the real world.

So that is all I got on my mind this week. Tune in this Friday for Chapter 5 of 'Arcana Magi Memorial' and enjoy the conclusion.

Until Next Time...

See ya.

Monday, November 5, 2012

NEWS and NOTES: November 5, 2012

Greetings Fellow Readers.

Welcome to another edition of 'NEWS and NOTES'. Check out the 'NOTES' below regarding this week's schedule.

NEWS:


- This Friday November 9, 2012 at 8:00 PM EST** on Fictionaut:  'Arcana Magi Memorial Vol. 3 - Chapter 5'

Sora is taking her steps toward recovery, but what decisions is she going to make?

Check it out this Friday on Fictionaut.

'Arcana Magi Memorial' Dates:

Friday, November 2, 2012 at 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 5**

- Starting Friday, November 16, 2012** on Fictionaut: 'Arcana Magi Pure Vol. 2'

Mayumi and Emi are back, and they're about to learn what their new found life will bring.

Friday, November 16, 2012 ay 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 1**
Friday, November 23, 2012 ay 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 2**
Friday, November 30, 2012 ay 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 3**
Friday, December 7, 2012 ay 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 4**
Friday, December 14, 2012 ay 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 5**


- This Holiday season on Kindle: Free 'Shell' Days. Get your chance to add 'Shell' to your booklist for FREE on these following days.


Black Friday - November 23, 2012
Friday - December 7, 2012
Friday - December 14, 2012
Friday - December 21, 2012

Make sure to grab a copy for you and your book reading family and friends.


- Wednesday's between 8:00 PM EST and 9:00 PM EST on Blogspot - The Weekly Rants. Check out info, thoughts, and behind the scenes look on all writings and project by H-M Brown.

** Dates and times are subject to change pending any scheduling conflicts.

NOTES:

- First I hope everyone is safe and well post Hurricane, my prayers go out to everyone hardest hit in the region. as for my end it was rough here on my end but I came out very fine, just a downed tree, a blackout, and light flooding. Unfortunately, there is supposed to be a Nor'easter coming this Wednesday with snow and potentially a blackout since the power grid is still in the recovery phase. So the question posed to me is, should I delay again? The answer is, I'll wait and see.

     This Wednesday, If I don't get blackout, I will run the Weekly Rants, but I may delay my posting of 'Writer's Thoughts Facebook Archives' until next week. It will be during these Rants that I will give the final word on whether 'Arcana Magi Memorial Vol.3 Chapter 5' will continue as planned, or delayed to next week. But it will be posted as planned and 'Pure' will be posted as planned, even though I tried to avoid the Holiday season. My only concern is that I do get blackout on Wednesday, when the Nor'easter arrives and I won't get to post up then as planned, so I got fingers crossed.

That's all for NEWS and NOTES today.

Until next time,
See ya.

Monday, October 29, 2012

NEWS and NOTES: October 29, 2012

Greetings Fellow Readers.

Welcome to another edition of 'NEWS and NOTES'. Happy Hurricane Day ! ;) all joking aside, I have some very sad NEWS to bring up.

NEWS:

Due to the hurricane, 'Arcana Magi Memorial Vol. 3' Chapter 5 will be pushed to Friday November 9, which in turn pushes 'Arcana Magi Pure Vol. 2' to November 16, and there will be no Weekly Rants this week.

However, 'Shell' will still be free this Halloween as planned, everything is set, so get your copy this Wednesday.

- Friday November 9, 2012 at 8:00 PM EST** on Fictionaut:  'Arcana Magi Memorial Vol. 3 - Chapter 4'

Sora struggles to fight back and Azure is about to do something unthinkable to save her.

Check it out this Friday.

'Arcana Magi Memorial' Dates:

Friday, November 2, 2012 at 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 5**

- Starting Friday, November 16, 2012** on Fictionaut: 'Arcana Magi Pure Vol. 2'

Mayumi and Emi are back, and they're about to learn what their new found life will bring.

Friday, November 16, 2012 ay 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 1**
Friday, November 23, 2012 ay 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 2**
Friday, November 30, 2012 ay 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 3**
Friday, December 7, 2012 ay 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 4**
Friday, December 14, 2012 ay 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 5**

- October 31, 2012 on Kindle: 'Shell' Free Halloween Day.

Get your copy of 'Shell' for free on Kindle and learn about the horror that is to come later in 'The Geolyth Equation' as featured on 'Duality of Horror'

- This Holiday season on Kindle: Free 'Shell' Days. Get your chance to add 'Shell' to your booklist for FREE on these following days.


Black Friday - November 23, 2012
Friday - December 7, 2012
Friday - December 14, 2012
Friday - December 21, 2012

Make sure to grab a copy for you and your book reading family and friends.


- Wednesday's between 8:00 PM EST and 9:00 PM EST on Blogspot - The Weekly Rants. Check out info, thoughts, and behind the scenes look on all writings and project by H-M Brown.

** Dates and times are subject to change pending any scheduling conflicts.

NOTES:

- No NOTES Today.

That's all for NEWS and NOTES today.

Until next time,
See ya.

Friday, October 26, 2012

NEWS and NOTES: October 26, 2012

Greetings Fellow Readers.

Welcome to another edition of 'NEWS and NOTES'.

NEWS:

- This Friday at 8:00 PM EST** on Fictionaut:  'Arcana Magi Memorial Vol. 3 - Chapter 4'

Sora struggles to fight back and Azure is about to do something unthinkable to save her.

Check it out this Friday.

'Arcana Magi Memorial' Dates:

Friday, November 2, 2012 at 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 5**

- Starting Friday, November 9, 2012** on Fictionaut: 'Arcana Magi Pure Vol. 2'

Mayumi and Emi are back, and they're about to learn what their new found life will bring.

Friday, November 9, 2012 ay 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 1**
Friday, November 16, 2012 ay 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 2**
Friday, November 23, 2012 ay 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 3**
Friday, November 30, 2012 ay 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 4**
Friday, December 7, 2012 ay 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 5**

- October 31, 2012 on Kindle: 'Shell' Free Halloween Day.

Get your copy of 'Shell' for free on Kindle and learn about the horror that is to come later in 'The Geolyth Equation' as featured on 'Duality of Horror'

- This Holiday season on Kindle: Free 'Shell' Days. Get your chance to add 'Shell' to your booklist for FREE on these following days.


Black Friday - November 23, 2012
Friday - December 7, 2012
Friday - December 14, 2012
Friday - December 21, 2012

Make sure to grab a copy for you and your book reading family and friends.


- Wednesday's between 8:00 PM EST and 9:00 PM EST on Blogspot - The Weekly Rants. Check out info, thoughts, and behind the scenes look on all writings and project by H-M Brown.

** Dates and times are subject to change pending any scheduling conflicts.

NOTES:

- No NOTES Today.

That's all for NEWS and NOTES today.

Until next time,
See ya.

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Weekly Rants: October 24, 2012

Greetings Fellow Readers! Welcome to another round of random rants. This is going to be a short rant tonight.

-On 'Arcana Magi Memorial'-

I notice that my narrative writing is overwhelmed by character dialog. It isn't very well balanced even for character development. I am hoping though that the character interactions is strong enough to compensate the lack of narrative. Heck, I'm hoping that they are all well developed after this. But Volume 3, should end I guess you could say the character arc, establishing Azure, Sora and Ciel, their background and who they are. Volume 4 next year will see the trio on nice little adventure. No reason I shouldn't go that direction especially establishing some protagonists in these 3 Volumes, that I can revisit and expand on.

-Thoughts on Writing-

Sorry no Thoughts on Writing this week. What I want to do next week, is copy and paste some of the thoughts I wrote on writing over the summer on Facebook. I want to bring them all over to here in more unified and easy to read pages. I will try to stretch it out for a few weeks.

- Yeah this was pretty much all I have to rant about for this week. I look forward to sharing my thought on writing next week.

Until next time...

See ya.

Monday, October 22, 2012

NEWS and NOTES: October 22, 2012

Greetings Fellow Readers.

Welcome to another edition of 'NEWS and NOTES'.

NEWS:

- This Friday at 8:00 PM EST** on Fictionaut:  'Arcana Magi Memorial Vol. 3 - Chapter 4'

Sora and Azure are about to learn the truth from the mysterious intruder.

Check it out this Friday.

'Arcana Magi Memorial' Dates:

Friday, November 2, 2012 at 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 5**

- Starting Friday, November 9, 2012** on Fictionaut: 'Arcana Magi Pure Vol. 2'

Mayumi and Emi are back, and they're about to learn what their new found life will bring.

Friday, November 9, 2012 ay 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 1**
Friday, November 16, 2012 ay 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 2**
Friday, November 23, 2012 ay 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 3**
Friday, November 30, 2012 ay 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 4**
Friday, December 7, 2012 ay 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 5**

- October 31, 2012 on Kindle: 'Shell' Free Halloween Day.

Get your copy of 'Shell' for free on Kindle and learn about the horror that is to come in 'The Geolyth Equatio' as featured on 'Duality of Horror'

- This Holiday season on Kindle: Free 'Shell' Days. Get your chance to add 'Shell' to your booklist for FREE on these following days.


Black Friday - November 23, 2012
Friday - December 7, 2012
Friday - December 14, 2012
Friday - December 21, 2012

Make sure to grab a copy for you and your book reading family and friends.


- Wednesday's between 8:00 PM EST and 9:00 PM EST on Blogspot - The Weekly Rants. Check out info, thoughts, and behind the scenes look on all writings and project by H-M Brown

** Dates and times are subject to change pending any scheduling conflicts.

NOTES:

- No NOTES Today.

That's all for NEWS and NOTES today.

Until next time,
See ya.

Friday, October 19, 2012

NEWS and NOTES: October 19, 2012

Greetings Fellow Readers.

Welcome to another edition of 'NEWS and NOTES'. It's story night. get ready for another exciting adventure.

NEWS:

- Tonight on Fictionaut:  'Arcana Magi Memorial Vol. 3 - Chapter 3'

As Sora's problems continues, Azure talks to Ciel about herself and Sora.

Click on the Sidebar link to check it out.

'Arcana Magi Memorial' Dates:


Friday, October 26, 2012 at 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 4**
Friday, November 2, 2012 at 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 5**

'Arcana Magi Pure Vol. 2' - Starting Friday, November 9, 2012**

- This Holiday season on Kindle: Free 'Shell' Days. Get your chance to add 'Shell' to your booklist for FREE on these following days.

Halloween - October 31, 2012
Black Friday - November 23, 2012
Friday - December 7, 2012
Friday - December 14, 2012
Friday - December 21, 2012

Make sure to grab a copy for you and your book reading family and friends.


- Wednesday's between 8:00 PM EST and 9:00 PM EST on Blogspot - The Weekly Rants. Check out info, thoughts, and behind the scenes look on all writings and project by H-M Brown

** Dates and times are subject to change pending any scheduling conflicts.

NOTES:

- No NOTES Today.

That's all for NEWS and NOTES today.

Until next time,
See ya.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Weekly Rants: October 17, 2012

Greetings Fellow Readers! Welcome to another of weekly ranting. Are you enjoying 'Arcana Magi Memorial Vol. 3'? Good... good... Well I got one quick thing to talk about so let's get started.


-The Writer's Thoughts-

'Using ***'

Many of you may have noticed in recent works and those published on Kindle that I am using *** in between paragraphs creating a separation. Well this was born out of posting stories on Fictionaut. You see one of the problems I had writing there is that I write very big stories, not very short stories. You may have noticed the Flash Fiction set at around 500 to 700 words is normal practice there. It's not exactly my style because I like to write, a lot. What ended up happening was that writings would come off as an overwhelming wall of text with no page breaks to it. So as I tried to figure a way to make things easier, I ended up using this *** in between paragraphs. Eventually the web designers of Fictionaut made *** automatically separate the text further, which was a good thing.

So what does this have to with writing?

Well I learned that I could actually make my writing stronger using *** to separate scenes within a chapter. It's now becoming a standard form of writing for me. You see each chapter is now broken up into scenes where I can focus on 1 setting, play it out with beginning, middle and end, then use *** to separate the paragraphs and go into another scene. Each scene is like a mini-story within the story itself. It's self contained, creates pacing, and gives the reader and ease to take their time and take a break. Each scene will vary in length though I try to keep them at a one page minimum to allow development and growth of both story and character. I really like this method I am doing because it also eases my mind when I want to type and not feel blocked or stunted when I try to write.

Also it make it easy to change scenes between characters and be in other characters point of view. Their thoughts and actions added to the over all situation.

Keep in mind that this 'Scene Writing Method' has to do something. Something has to be happening in this scene and not be irrelevant to story. Their must be a purpose and not padded. I also feel it shouldn't serve as a platform to creating a centralize and separate B Plot irrelevant to the story. Unlike Screenplays, there are no time constraints, and you could fully flesh out the stories main plot, and its relevant sub-plot without skipping a beat.

I look forward to expanding this technique and make my stories more exciting and enjoyable for all readers out there.

So this concludes my latest rant. I thank you all for listening. Please join me on Facebook at 'The Written Works of H-M Brown'. The link is right there in the sidebar at the bottom where you can share your thoughts and post up up your comments.

Until next time...

See ya!

Monday, October 15, 2012

NEWS and NOTES: October 15, 2012

Greetings Fellow Readers.

Welcome to another edition of 'NEWS and NOTES'. New York Comic Con is over and I can't wait for next year, but for now, there is more stories to tell this week.

NEWS:

- This Friday at 8:00 PM EST on Fictionaut:  'Arcana Magi Memorial Vol. 3 - Chapter 3'

As Sora's problems continues, Azure talks to Ciel about herself and Sora.

Click on the Sidebar link to check it out.

'Arcana Magi Memorial' Dates:


Friday, October 26, 2012 at 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 4**
Friday, November 2, 2012 at 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 5**

'Arcana Magi Pure Vol. 2' - Starting Friday, November 9, 2012**

- This Holiday season on Kindle: Free 'Shell' Days. Get your chance to add 'Shell' to your booklist for FREE on these following days.

Halloween - October 31, 2012
Black Friday - November 23, 2012
Friday - December 7, 2012
Friday - December 14, 2012
Friday - December 21, 2012

Make sure to grab a copy for you and your book reading family and friends.


- Wednesday's between 8:00 PM EST and 9:00 PM EST on Blogspot - The Weekly Rants. Check out info, thoughts, and behind the scenes look on all writings and project by H-M Brown

** Dates and times are subject to change pending any scheduling conflicts.

NOTES:

- No NOTES Today.

That's all for NEWS and NOTES today.

Until next time,
See ya.

Thursday, October 11, 2012

NEWS and NOTES: October 11, 2012

Greetings Fellow Readers.

Welcome to another edition of 'NEWS and NOTES'. It's posting day. Get ready for more exciting stuff.

NEWS:

- Tonight on Fictionaut:  'Arcana Magi Memorial Vol. 3 - Chapter 2'

Sora tells Azure what she wanted to say, but that isn't the only situation she is about to face.

Click on the Sidebar link to check it out.

'Arcana Magi Memorial' Dates:

Friday, October 19, 2012 at 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 3**
Friday, October 26, 2012 at 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 4**
Friday, November 2, 2012 at 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 5**

'Arcana Magi Pure Vol. 2' - Starting Friday, November 9, 2012**

- This Holiday season on Kindle: Free 'Shell' Days. Get your chance to add 'Shell' to your booklist for FREE on these following days.

Halloween - October 31, 2012
Black Friday - November 23, 2012
Friday - December 7, 2012
Friday - December 14, 2012
Friday - December 21, 2012

Make sure to grab a copy for you and your book reading family and friends.

- Tomorrow and all weekend long: I will be roaming the halls of New York Comic Con once again. If you want to say Hi, don't hesitate to wave if you see me.

- Wednesday's between 8:00 PM EST and 9:00 PM EST on Blogspot - The Weekly Rants. Check out info, thoughts, and behind the scenes look on all writings and project by H-M Brown

** Dates and times are subject to change pending any scheduling conflicts.

NOTES:

- No NOTES Today.

That's all for NEWS and NOTES today.

Until next time,
See ya.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Weekly Rants: October 10, 2012

Greetings Fellow Readers! Welcome to another of random ranting. This week I will be continuing my discussion on Foreshadowing.

- Foreshadowing Part 2 -

Okay we got the basic idea of how Foreshadowing works in storytelling, now how does one use it? Well technically from my personal writing experience, it works two ways...

Naturally and Artificially

There is a difference that you the writer will realize when putting words to paper. It is very quite obvious.

When it is done Naturally, you would not realize the Foreshadow until your 2nd draft, when you read through the story to look for the good stuff and bad stuff to remove. You'll spot the connection of what a character said or what the narrative conveyed later in the story that actually works. Naturally is not bad, it just happens through no fault of your own and is not bad writing. It's when you start making decision on what to do with that will determine good writing or bad writing. You might surprise yourself at how effective it was executed, or you may find it to be too soon to point out. They can be hard decisions to make because you want your story to work, or they can be easy decisions because you can see the obvious flaw in the Foreshadow. This is where you would find yourself more a surgeon than a writer because sometimes, removing a sentence or dialog could change the entire context and complexity of your story and what you wanted to convey to your reader is lost. Sometimes it may work.

When Foreshadowing is done Artificially, it's usually premeditated, to use a strong. You the writer KNOWS what you want in your story and what you want to Foreshadow because you believe it can impact the story and draw the reader in. Unlike Naturally where you had no plans, here you have to be savvy, know what your talking, and understand the direction your going. Foreshadowing is a double edged sword, you are giving a clue, through narrative or dialog, of what could be later in the story. This is where you have to be at your utmost subtle. Foreshadowing could cause you to lead your reader by the nose or you could mislead them with a red herring. You have treat Artificial Foreshadowing like souffle.

Outside of Natural Foreshadow, what is the best way to approach Artificial Foreshadow? For starters be subtle. Use symbolism in narrative, or have a character see something ordinary like a dog playing ball with a kid and his single father. When using dialog, just have a character make an off the cuff joke, or point out something common knowledge.

On a final note, Foreshadowing is a very powerful tool in writing. There is I believe an art to Foreshadowing, because when done right, the story can become very poetic and very poignant. The scenes, characters and situations that Foreshadowing affects can become very memorable, and even classic. Like an artist who has to carefully place that one streak of color to give the painting its meaning, Foreshadowing has to be placed in certain parts of your story to give what your saying some meaning, and it truly will look like a work of art. However, it can also be your downfall as a writer if used poorly or at the wrong time. You can lose the trust of your reader. Your story can become predictable and very obvious that nothing your narrative or dialog does will keep the readers interested.

Well this concludes my thoughts on Foreshadowing. It is a remarkable tool of writing and should not be overlook in fiction storytelling.

I thank you all for joining.

Until Next Time...
See ya

Monday, October 8, 2012

NEWS and NOTES: October 8, 2012

Greetings Fellow Readers.

Welcome to another edition of 'NEWS and NOTES'. How about that first chapter? Dramatic eh? Well get ready for more this week.

NEWS:

- This Thursday at 8:00 PM EST on Fictionaut:  'Arcana Magi Memorial Vol. 3 - Chapter 2'

Sora tells Azure what she wanted to say, but that isn't the only situation she is about to face.

Check it out this Thursday on Fictionaut.

'Arcana Magi Memorial' Dates:

Friday, October 19, 2012 at 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 3**
Friday, October 26, 2012 at 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 4**
Friday, November 2, 2012 at 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 5**

'Arcana Magi Pure Vol. 2' - Starting Friday, November 9, 2012**

- This Holiday season on Kindle: Free 'Shell' Days. Get your chance to add 'Shell' to your booklist for FREE on these following days.

Halloween - October 31, 2012
Black Friday - November 23, 2012
Friday - December 7, 2012
Friday - December 14, 2012
Friday - December 21, 2012

Make sure to grab a copy for you and your book reading family and friends.

- This Weekend from October 12 - 14: I will be roaming the halls of New York Comic Con once again. If you want to say Hi, don't hesitate to wave if you see me.

- Wednesday's between 8:00 PM EST and 9:00 PM EST on Blogspot - The Weekly Rants. Check out info, thoughts, and behind the scenes look on all writings and project by H-M Brown

** Dates and times are subject to change pending any scheduling conflicts.

NOTES:

- No NOTES Today.

That's all for NEWS and NOTES today.

Until next time,
See ya.

Friday, October 5, 2012

NEWS and NOTES: October 5, 2012

Greetings Fellow Readers.

Welcome to another edition of 'NEWS and NOTES'.

NEWS:

- Now posted on Fictionaut:  'Arcana Magi Memorial Vol. 3 - Chapter 1'

Sora has decided to tell Azure something she had been keeping from her since the day they met, but she was about learn something from Azure that she never imagined and it's just the start.

Click on the sidebar link to check it out.

'Arcana Magi Memorial' Dates:
Thursday, October 11, 2012 at 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 2**
Friday, October 19, 2012 at 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 3**
Friday, October 26, 2012 at 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 4**
Friday, November 2, 2012 at 8:00 PM EST - Chapter 5**

'Arcana Magi Pure Vol. 2' - Starting Friday, November 9, 2012**

- This Holiday season on Kindle: Free 'Shell' Days. Get your chance to add 'Shell' to your booklist for FREE on these following days.

Halloween - October 31, 2012
Black Friday - November 23, 2012
Friday - December 7, 2012
Friday - December 14, 2012
Friday - December 21, 2012

Make sure to grab a copy for you and your book reading family and friends.

- This October 12 - 14: I will be roaming the halls of New York Comic Con once again. If you want to say Hi, don't hesitate to wave if you see me.

- Wednesday's between 8:00 PM EST and 9:00 PM EST on Blogspot - The Weekly Rants. Check out info, thoughts, and behind the scenes look on all writings and project by H-M Brown

** Dates and times are subject to change pending any scheduling conflicts.

NOTES:

- No NOTES Today.

That's all for NEWS and NOTES today.

Until next time,
See ya.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Weekly Rants: October 3, 2012

Greetings Fellow Readers! Welcome to another of random ranting. Tonight I want to talk more about writing. I would like to talk about Foreshadowing.

-On Foreshadowing-

This is actually something I love and culminated from and unpublished work I made a decade ago that got my attention. One of the things that have disappointed me is that I have not found much essays, books on writing, or any talk about this. I found some brief blogs about it, but nothing comprehensive. Nothing talking about the technique or applying that technique in writing. And it's such a shame because this is a very powerful tool to have in your disposal and it really is fun for both writer and reader.

IF... DONE... RIGHT...

Let's start with the basic question. What is Foreshadowing?

The general consensus among writers is simply throwing in subtle hints or clues that predicts an event that will happen later in the story but are easily dismissed or guessed by the reader.

A good example is Jaws. When Hooper, Quint, and Brody prepared to go out to sea to fight the shark. There were scuba tanks loading up and Quint says: "Yeah, that's real fine expensive gear you brought out here, Mr. Hooper. 'Course I don't know what that bastard shark's gonna do with it, might eat it I suppose." Now keep in mind that during this scene, Quint said this as joke, a mockery of sorts. Nobody was to think about this, the audience or the characters in the story. It was just a conversation of three men getting ready to fight a shark. And low and behold at the end... at scuba tank is in Jaws mouth and guess what Brody did?

This actually a fine example of doing good Foreshadowing. The hint was placed in a casual conversation, and dropped in as joke from character to another. Very subtle.

Now mind you that, and to be fair, not everyone in the audience or readers for that matter, are dedicating their reading time looking for these hints and clues. Their just trying to enjoy the movie or story and that's all right. There also times when it could look like an overreach because writers didn't see the foreshadow they made or even sought to make a foreshadow. It can happen.

However, writer this is something that should be learned and understood by writers, because a really good foreshadow are the ones that casual readers and casual audiences will pick up, get the idea, and then get hit with hammer of shock. Just look the Sixth Sense.

Next week I will continue my thoughts on Foreshadowing and get into the meat of how this thing ticks. Hopefully what I say will make some sense.


Until next time...
See ya.

Monday, October 1, 2012

NEWS and NOTES: October 1, 2012

Greetings Fellow Readers.

Welcome to another edition of 'NEWS and NOTES'.  This is a big week. Are you all excited?

NEWS:

- This Friday, October 5, 2012** on Fictionaut:  'Arcana Magi Memorial Vol. 3 - Chapter 1'

Sora has decided to tell Azure something she had been keeping from her since the day they met, but she was about learn something from Azure that she never imagined and it's just the start.

Thursday, October 11, 2012 - Chapter 2**
Friday, October 19, 2012 - Chapter 3**
Friday, October 26, 2012 - Chapter 4**
Friday, November 2, 2012 - Chapter 5**

'Arcana Magi Pure Vol. 2' - Starting Friday, November 9, 2012**

- This Holiday season on Kindle: Free 'Shell' Days. Get your chance to add 'Shell' to your booklist for FREE on these following days.

Halloween - October 31, 2012
Black Friday - November 23, 2012
Friday - December 7, 2012
Friday - December 14, 2012
Friday - December 21, 2012

Make sure to grab a copy for you and your book reading family and friends.

- This October 12 - 14: I will be roaming the halls of New York Comic Con once again. If you want to say Hi, don't hesitate to wave if you see me.

- Wednesday's between 8:00 PM EST and 9:00 PM EST on Blogspot - The Weekly Rants. Check out info, thoughts, and behind the scenes look on all writings and project by H-M Brown

** Dates are subject to change pending any scheduling conflicts.

NOTES:

- No NOTES Today.

That's all for NEWS and NOTES today.

Until next time,
See ya.

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Weekly Rants: September 26, 2012

Greetings Fellow Readers! Welcome to another round of Weekly Rants. 'Arcana Magi Universe 2012' Season is around the corner and so is New York Comic-Con.

'Shell' on Kindle: So I got good news, Kindle Direct did reset my free promotional days back to 5, wish it would be more. Which means I am going to set up a schedule on next weeks 'NEWS and NOTES' so you will all be ready scoop up a free copy of 'Shell' on Kindle. And make sure you get yourself a copy of 'Duality of Horror' so you can read 'The Geolyth Equation'. Plus Halloween is right around the corner.

About last weeks rants: I kind of made a little error to correct, I did write a little backstory on Sora, and I stress the word little. I really did gloss it over in a few sentences but it happened at the end so Sora still was static either way. However, in Volume 3 I am exploring Sora's story and man will it be big. Bigger than I had expected. I really like the direction I am taking Azure, Sora and Ciel and I am confident that the series will get even more stronger after this Volume.

Future plans on Weekly Rants: I really liked that I wrote a a bit on my thoughts on writing, and I decided I will continue to do so in future installments of Weekly Rants. Just share my thoughts on writing and so on. It really is fun and I look forward to sharing those thoughts with all of you.

Well that's all for now on the Weekly Rants. This was very brief because I'm really focused on writing and I am very axious to share my stories next week. Thank you all for stopping by.

Until next time...

See ya.

Monday, September 24, 2012

NEWS and NOTES: September 24, 2012

Greetings Fellow Readers.

Welcome to another edition of 'NEWS and NOTES'.

NEWS:


- Coming this October on Fictionaut: 'Arcana Magi Universe' 2012 Season**.

'Arcana Magi Memorial Vol. 3' Schedule -

Friday, October 5, 2012:

Sora has decided to tell Azure something she had been keeping from her, but she was about learn something from Azure that will she never imagine.

Thursday, October 11, 2012
Friday, October 19, 2012
Friday, October 26, 2012
Friday, November 2, 2012

'Arcana Magi Pure Vol. 2' - Starting Friday, November 9, 2012**

This October 12 - 14: I will be roaming the halls of New York Comic Con once again. If you want to say Hi, don't hesitate wave if you see me.

Wednesday's between 8:00 PM EST and 9:00 PM EST on Blogspot - The Weekly Rants. Check out info, thoughts, and behind the scenes look on all writings and project by H-M Brown

** Dates are subject to change pending any scheduling conflicts.

NOTES:

- No NOTES Today.

That's all for NEWS and NOTES today.

Until next time,
See ya.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Weekly Rants: September 19, 2012

Greetings Fellow readers! Welcome to another round of random rants. It's pretty much a slow week, but I had something in mind in past 24 hours as I wandered the internet, and figure that maybe I should share these thoughts.

NOTE: What I am about to share is not an absolute word nor intended to be educational. I neither have any form of college degree in philosophy, or creative writing, or anything else for that matter. All my statements are based on my personal experience so far in writing, and if what I say has a source, it will be duly noted and credited. Keep in mind that I have only have conviction in two things in the field of creative writing, Communication and Foreshadowing. Everything else I talk about are subjected to change as I gain more experience through constant writing of new stories and research of the sources that my works could be influenced or based on, like technology or medicine. Why I am writing this if I have this much crutch on my shoulders. It's because I am a writer and I have lot on my mind to write about... If that makes any sense. So on to my rant.


-Characters-

So as I have mentioned before, I had something in my mind. Characters. You see when I outlined 'Arcana Magi Memorial Vol. 3' in preparation for a first draft, something hit me. Something that bugged me. You see, I want to make Volume 3 about Sora because I haven't explored her character yet and I really messed up adding in Ciel as new character without giving my readers a chance to get to know Sora. I found this be a bad writing error on my part and thankfully given the way 'Memorial' is written, I knew I could make this up as early as possible before getting into the meat of this series. Of course I started asking myself regarding the plot, what should happen to Sora? See Sora was made into a Static Character. Basically what this means is that she is set on this single line with no room to grow or develop. This stems from the fact that, A) she has no backstory, a big mistake for an important character to the protagonist, and B) there is no motivation established for her to be in this story.

Let's look at Azure and Ciel.

Azure has motivation, unlocking the power of the Circle of Four Elements. Wants, to harness this Circle of Four Elements. Needs, to not die at the hands of the poison from the unstable mana. Mission, to protect the Mana she possess from external threats.

Ciel's motivation is to live a stable life. Wants her Blood Circle to be protected. Needs to harness the power of the Blood Circle due to its power.

Now I look at Sora. Motivation... I don't know. Wants... I don't know. Needs... I don't know.

Yet her back story is that, she is Azure's best since Azure arrived at Memorial Academy and she summons Golems.

Azure's back story is that she stole the Circle of Four Elements, has to see a doctor to purify her mana, and she barely knows the four mysterious creatures that punished her for stealing their Circle.

Ciel's backstory is that her parents are diplomats, her brother is loyal to her mother, and her mother tried to marry her off to advance social status.

So basically the point I am trying to make is simply, don't create a character you're not going to use. Now I have the benefit of writing 5 Chapter stories so I am capable of recovering from this error with Volume 3. In fact if any of you new writers out there, doing this kind of method of writing, particularly on the internet, and you realized after a couple of short stories that one of your characters is static, make a short story around that character. The earlier the better.

Now where did this thinking come from. Well I'll point to show I have been watching that got me thinking about Character usage. The show called Phi-Brain. It is currently airing on Crunchyroll.com and Hulu. It is a story of teen prodigies who solve overly elaborate puzzles that will kill people who fail. What caught my attention was the character Nonoha. Unlike all the other characters and protagonist, she does not solve puzzles. Its because she is not a prodigy. However, it was established in the first episode. THE very first episode, that she has the ability of total recall. When she something, like say a map, she remembers it in detail down to the last letter. For team of puzzle solving prodigies, this is actually a very good ability to have on their team.

And that ability was used only once. And this series is 2 seasons in.

On top of that, we barely have any back story. Sure she may have some depth to her character, but its static. She barely grows and when there is an chance for her to grow, it either is forgotten the next episode or belittled by the other characters. Her purpose there is irrelevant.

So staring at Sora, I realized she has an ability that is very useful, but how did she build the golems, when did she build golems, why did she build the golems, why is she at the academy? I went two volumes never establishing such things, and I found myself a bad writer as a result.

This is where I came to the conclusion...

Every character has a purpose, even the crowd.

I don't know how many characters I either neglected or ignored throughout my years of writing, but I feel not establishing a character like Sora is a big mistake. I am offering readers to invest their time in Azure and Ciel, and I should offer Sora as well. She is important to Azure in so many as I have established in Volume 1 and should be explored.

Now logically writers cannot cover every character at once, and that character will be static no matter what. I feel that is wrong a mindset and bad writing. You bring a character in, we must know about that characters, or else it is a waste of story space that could be used on other characters that are more interesting. Even if by chance that one character is just gonna end up being nothing but action fodder fro the rest of the story, give the character purpose and a back story. In fact it only takes one or two lines of summary, action, or showing to establish this character and give readers an understanding that this person is part of this story and not a waste.

Wasted characters are bad.

I think I am repeating myself or going all over the place, so I will end my rant here.

Thank you all for listening to my rant. I hope this give you all insight into what I have learned in writing. I'll be back next week for another round of rants.

Until next time...
See ya.