Frank M. Anderson's Writing

Tag: Author

  • Civil War #7 – Chapter 22 – The Storm Breaks

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    The gauntlet was in ruins. Steam hissed from shattered pipes. Fire licked the edges of the arena, casting flickering light across metal wreckage. Broken pistons groaned and buckled, their movements spasmodic, no longer part of a controlled machine but instead the death throes of something massive and unthinking. Ash ran. Every breath tore through his…

  • Civil War #7 – Chapter 21 – The Shortcut

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    Ash stood still in the silence that followed his last breath in the pit. His chest rose and fell, steam curling from his mouth in the cold air. All around him, the crowd held their breath. Somewhere above, announcers were scrambling for new scripts. The show was changing, and not how they’d written it. He…

  • Civil War #7 – Chapter 20 – The Cost of Power

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    The pit was silent but for the slow mechanical whine of the drone hovering above. Ash and Mouse stood opposite one another, the circle of light narrowing around them like a spotlight pulled from some ancient play. Ash wiped blood from his nose and squared his stance. “You really believe in all this now?” Mouse…

  • Civil War #7 – Chapter 19 – Fire and Flesh

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    The crowd had gone quiet, their bloodlust momentarily stilled by Ash’s defiance. He stood at the edge of the platform, staring at the gauntlet, his jaw set, arms trembling. “I’m not playing your game,” he muttered. The Director stepped closer, his voice calm and almost paternal. “Of course you are, Ash. You’ve been playing it…

  • Civil War #7 – Chapter 18 – Ash’s Shame

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    The room was dim, washed in the pale flicker of a screen looping Ember’s performance. Over and over, Ash watched her sing—watched the object sail through the air and strike her in the chest, watched her crumple to the ground. The crowd laughed. The hosts chuckled, their voices slick with mockery. Ash sat frozen. His…

  • Civil War #7 – Chapter 16 & 17 

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    Ember’s voice filled the room and disappeared.  No echo. No feedback. No warmth.  She’d been singing for hours, guided only by blinking lights—green for pitch, red for error. The chamber was circular, sterile, humming like the inside of a sealed vault. It reminded her of the kind of room you went into when something needed…

  • Civil War #7 – Chapter Fifteen – Ember in Bloom 

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    The room smelled like citrus and glass.  Ember sat in a soft reclining chair—far softer than anything she’d ever used in the commune. The fabric adjusted to her posture with each shift, and above her, an ambient light moved like a simulated sun, casting her in perfect tones.  A styling robot moved around her in…

  • Civil War #7 – Chapter 12 to 14 

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    Chapter 12 Ash couldn’t sleep.  The dorm was too quiet, the kind of stillness that felt artificial—like the whole commune was holding its breath. The hum of the central systems, usually a comforting white noise, now sounded like the pulse of a watchful eye.  He slid out of bed and slipped his boots on quietly.…

  • Civil War #7 – Chapters 10 and 11

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    Chapter Ten – Return to the Silence  Ash rode back to the commune in silence.  The transport hummed along a raised magline, flanked by sheer fencing and floodlights that turned the outside world into silhouettes and haze. A single enforcer sat at the front of the cabin, motionless behind a dark visor. Ash’s wrists were…

  • Civil War #7 – Chapter Nine – The Lie Between Us

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    Ash woke to a sharp, antiseptic brightness. The lights above him buzzed faintly, their sterile blue glow bouncing off metallic walls. Something cold clamped around his wrists and ankles. His mouth was dry. His body ached. He was on a table. And he was not alone. White-coated medical techs moved around him, masked and silent.…

  • Civil War #7 Chapter Seven – Broadcast

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    Ash stood behind the gate to the arena, heart pounding, as the lights dimmed and the screen flared to life again. The crowd stirred with anticipation, their voices buzzing with speculation and mockery. “Coming up next in the Arena of Merit—a story of justice, order, and defiance. This is no ordinary match. This is a…

  • Civil War #7 – Chapter 5 & 6

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    Chapter Five – The Table  The drone docked in eerie silence. Ash barely had time to get his footing before the hatch opened to reveal a corridor of polished chrome and matte black walls, humming faintly with power. He helped steady Mouse as two enforcers flanked them, gesturing wordlessly toward the end of the hall. …

  • Civil War #7 – Chapters 2 to 4

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    Chapter Two – Morning Lessons  The next morning began like every other—buzzing lights flickered on with a soft chime, signaling the start of communal check-in. Ash stood in the back row of the common room, half-awake, arms crossed.  The residents, pleebs and upwardly mobile alike, stood at attention beneath the ever-watching eye of the home’s…

  • `Civil War #7 – Chapter One: Ash and Ember`

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in ,

    Civil War #7 – Chapter One: Ash and Ember  The artificial sun glared down on the commune, casting clean shadows over fields too orderly to be natural. The scent of synthetic wheat mingled with the low hum of the harvest drones drifting overhead. Ash wiped the sweat from his brow with a dirt-streaked hand and…

  • How to Try to Write a Novel

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    No, this isn’t a blog post on the ins and outs of writing a novel and publishing it. This is, however, a post on preparing yourself to attempt writing a novel and setting yourself up with a story you can actually write about until completing. I will post more on the process of writing and…

  • Bad News and Good News in the New Year.

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    Lets get the bad news over with first- Empire won’t be ready for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. The good news? I’m giving myself time to make it the quality it deserves to be! I continue to be amazed at the improvements made as I work on it. I don’t want to submit something that…

  • Empire is getting edited for entry to the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award 2013 contest!

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    I know I haven’t posted here in a loooooonnnggg time. It’s pretty hard work trying to teach a new subject at a new school. Editing a novel on top of that was simply impossible for a while. This is my formal observation year, so teaching has to be priority number one. The good news? Things…

  • On teaching and my protagonist.

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    I love being a teacher. Being a middle school teacher is an especially wonderful thing. Let’s face it- middle school stinks. It’s an awkward time for everyone. Guiding children through middle school, however, is a wonderful thing.We all have disastrous memories of some part of our middle school experience. Maybe you experienced truly struggling to…

  • On Killing Characters.

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in ,

    There are many types of death for a character in a literary work, but by far the worst is where the cease to exist completely. I have had to provide that most depressing of deaths for a few characters over the last week. While they were all good people who I liked, they were either…

  • It’s quiet… Too quiet.

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in ,

    Yes, I know you haven’t seen a ton posted here lately. I just want to assure you that things are moving forward. School starts tomorrow, so I have had to wade back into my day job as a middle school teacher. I am getting ready to start editing Empire, I am just waiting for two…

  • Back from vacation with my first reader feedback!

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in , , , , , , , , ,

    I just returned from a week of fun and sun with my wife’s family. It was the best beach trip I have had with them, and was very restive as well. One thing I did not do, however, was work on the novel very much. I printed up a copy of it and took it…

  • On beginnings.

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in ,

    I did it! The first draft of Empire is done! I printed up the first four chapters first to start editing them, and I am already extremely happy with the improvements being made. Part of me regrets even sharing what parts I did now. The book will truly be ten times better by the time…

  • On endings.

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in ,

    I’m about to write the last few paragraphs of my first draft. It’s got me feeling very emotional, even though I’m turning around and re-tooling the whole first five chapters next week. Despite that work looming ahead of me, I will still have a book that is readable from start to finish, even if it…

  • On editing and fear.

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    Editing terrifies me. When I wrote in college, editing always took my work and twisted it into something it wasn’t at first. I began to think of editing as the process of bastardizing a work until it was ground beef, rather than the filet it was when it existed in my head. Putting words onto…

  • History and happiness: My writing story

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in ,

    I could have done it on Friday, but I decided to leave meeting my word count goal for today, and I just did it! I decided a few months into the school year this year to set forth writing my first novel. This is a dream I have had since I was a kid and…

  • While you wait.

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    It will be a while until I release any more from the novel. I have a lot of work to do to get the bits I did release up to snuff, and want to get it nice and sparkly before anyone sees more of it. In other words, I won’t release more of the book…

  • 85% Done!

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in ,

    42640 / 50000 words. 85% done!   The story is really cruising on now. I am getting closer to having a complete tale, and I find that vastly exciting. There are sections I am hugely proud of. I know that going back to edit will be a ton of work, but I am getting more…

  • Updated my story on Worthy of Publishing.

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in ,

    I added to more chapters to what I posted of Empire on Worthy of Publishing. These five chapters make up the first act. The more I have realized this, the more I have also realized that I need to beef this section up. I am very happy with the end. The middle is coming out…

  • Empire Moves, Slowly But Surely.

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    I have been driving my Facebook pals crazy with almost daily short updates on the progress I am making. So far, I am blowing my 5 pages a day goal out of the water. But, more importantly, I am happy with what I have. Things have changed a bit from the planning stages to what…

  • The Empire, Nevada Playlist

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    When I started forming the idea for this novel, I wanted to find music that set the tone I wanted for the book. I was looking for songs that had a lithe quality, but with a hint of darkness around their borders. I worked on finding the right combination for a few hours, and have…