Tag: Novel
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Civil War #7 – Chapter 12 to 14
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.…
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Civil War #7 – Chapters 10 and 11
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…
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Civil War #7 – Chapter Nine – The Lie Between Us
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.…
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Civil War #7 Chapter Seven – Broadcast
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…
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Civil War #7 – Chapter 5 & 6
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. …
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Civil War #7 – Chapters 2 to 4
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…
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`Civil War #7 – Chapter One: Ash and Ember`
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…
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How to Try to Write a Novel
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…
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Bad News and Good News in the New Year.
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…
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Empire is getting edited for entry to the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award 2013 contest!
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…
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On teaching and my protagonist.
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…
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On Killing Characters.
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…
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It’s quiet… Too quiet.
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…
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Back from vacation with my first reader feedback!
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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…
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On endings.
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…
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While you wait.
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…
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85% Done!
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…
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The Empire, Nevada Playlist
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…
Frank M. Anderson's Writing 