I'm going to create a new blog on blogspot that reflects my author branding and focus on that. I'm going to actually shut this one down. I don't spend enough time on anime or gaming to warrant it and frankly, not many people look at it anyway so no loss.
Thanks to anyone who stopped by. I'll post the new blog here for a while before I delete this page once I set it up.
Friday, December 20, 2013
Monday, December 9, 2013
I keep forgetting I *have* this blog. I'm going to convert it to synchronize it with my wordpress site over at http://bhbranham.wordpress.com
I should clean up my Google+ account, too as well. There's really no point anymore in compartmentalizing my "Vexx" life from my "Brad" life. More people know me as Vexx than as Brad but with all the forced transparency of the various social media coupled with my "I don't care if you know my hobbies" attitude - so it goes ;)
"It Really IS Rocket Science" adventure series news:
Volume One is percolating along on the shelves. Everyone likes the cover with Elisanth. I plan to use her on the third volume again. She evokes a pretty decent version of Glycerin, the lead guitarist.
Volume Two is in final edits. I'm hoping to use "Mamiko" for the cover of this volume. She has the appearance of a real-life version of the character Tsika, the bass guitar player, in the story.
Volume Three rough drafts are almost complete.
The marketing takes up quite a bit of time, 50% or better of available. Most of that is 'start up' and figuring out what actually matters - which social media, which channels, etc.
I should clean up my Google+ account, too as well. There's really no point anymore in compartmentalizing my "Vexx" life from my "Brad" life. More people know me as Vexx than as Brad but with all the forced transparency of the various social media coupled with my "I don't care if you know my hobbies" attitude - so it goes ;)
"It Really IS Rocket Science" adventure series news:
Volume One is percolating along on the shelves. Everyone likes the cover with Elisanth. I plan to use her on the third volume again. She evokes a pretty decent version of Glycerin, the lead guitarist.
Volume Two is in final edits. I'm hoping to use "Mamiko" for the cover of this volume. She has the appearance of a real-life version of the character Tsika, the bass guitar player, in the story.
Volume Three rough drafts are almost complete.
The marketing takes up quite a bit of time, 50% or better of available. Most of that is 'start up' and figuring out what actually matters - which social media, which channels, etc.
Thursday, August 15, 2013
Several author moments
1) Attended an author festival, met with several indie publishers, traded notes with several published authors. Picked up useful data on self-marketing, etc.
2) Went to a seminar hosted by the Northwest Writers and Publishers Association on e-publishing and leveraging social media tools. Tricks and tips of handling the various channels a writer has access to these days. Got a chance to pitch my book, was happy at the response (I seem to be hitting a niche in story content without much competition currently - and not because it isn't liked, just no one seems to have thought of it.)
About halfway through volume 3 rough drafting ... I'm rollercoasting a little bit. Very funny and very dark ... but I feel like that's really how it goes sometimes. I did pull back and separate out a few events because it was turning into a perfect storm of oblivion and doom.
Part of me wishes I could put some of this earlier in the storyline but it just doesn't fit there. The feedback I've gotten on volume 1 is really good but the problems will require some careful tweaking. Probably the biggest epiphany is that I had written the story too much from an Eastern literature perspective for the average Western reader. Readers familiar with anime and manga were having no problems whereas non-anime types were "Oh my god, this is drowning in pathos and why are these people so needy?" I was taking tropes of the culture and playing around with them - satire, inversion, subversion, etc. but I forgot to tune it for Western sensibility. I think I can balance it out, but yeah, some dialog changes at the least.
I don't want to drive people away before they finish the first volume. The second volume seems to be really cool to most people so I want them to get there ;)
The third volume rough draft is very cool as well but I think it needs more upbeat moments to balance some seriously downer events and epiphanies. Things to do.
And ... I'm still no where on illustrations. I feel really strongly I need at least internal illustrations, more than just book jacket pics. Looking at DAZ still but that's a black hole of nickel and diming if one isn't careful.
Lots to do this month and it is already half over. Yipes.
1) Attended an author festival, met with several indie publishers, traded notes with several published authors. Picked up useful data on self-marketing, etc.
2) Went to a seminar hosted by the Northwest Writers and Publishers Association on e-publishing and leveraging social media tools. Tricks and tips of handling the various channels a writer has access to these days. Got a chance to pitch my book, was happy at the response (I seem to be hitting a niche in story content without much competition currently - and not because it isn't liked, just no one seems to have thought of it.)
About halfway through volume 3 rough drafting ... I'm rollercoasting a little bit. Very funny and very dark ... but I feel like that's really how it goes sometimes. I did pull back and separate out a few events because it was turning into a perfect storm of oblivion and doom.
Part of me wishes I could put some of this earlier in the storyline but it just doesn't fit there. The feedback I've gotten on volume 1 is really good but the problems will require some careful tweaking. Probably the biggest epiphany is that I had written the story too much from an Eastern literature perspective for the average Western reader. Readers familiar with anime and manga were having no problems whereas non-anime types were "Oh my god, this is drowning in pathos and why are these people so needy?" I was taking tropes of the culture and playing around with them - satire, inversion, subversion, etc. but I forgot to tune it for Western sensibility. I think I can balance it out, but yeah, some dialog changes at the least.
I don't want to drive people away before they finish the first volume. The second volume seems to be really cool to most people so I want them to get there ;)
The third volume rough draft is very cool as well but I think it needs more upbeat moments to balance some seriously downer events and epiphanies. Things to do.
And ... I'm still no where on illustrations. I feel really strongly I need at least internal illustrations, more than just book jacket pics. Looking at DAZ still but that's a black hole of nickel and diming if one isn't careful.
Lots to do this month and it is already half over. Yipes.
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Volume three of the light novel series is underway now, several chapters into it.
My rewrite of volume one is getting good feedback - planning to publish this for sure now. Still not finding an artist so I've started looking at DAZ and other 3d char gen tools. I still flip back and forth between a cartoony/anime style versus a realistic style for the illustrations.
As for the literature, the more I write the better I get. The main obstacle I encounter now is starting new story arcs, the old blank page problem. I have an outline but coming up with original "daily life inbetween" stuff can require a lot of brainstorming. I'll pick up ideas in the oddest places (shopping, restaurants, etc).
On the gaming front, I'm just done with MMOs for a while -- a new project called Wildstar has my attention mostly because of the humor and the cartoony art style. Seems to be a nice collection of 'best practices'.
Also, purchased Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas on a Steam sale. I'm more a high fantasy RPG fan but this is proving quite entertaining with all the sci-fi/horror/fantasy cultural references, puns, and gags.
My rewrite of volume one is getting good feedback - planning to publish this for sure now. Still not finding an artist so I've started looking at DAZ and other 3d char gen tools. I still flip back and forth between a cartoony/anime style versus a realistic style for the illustrations.
As for the literature, the more I write the better I get. The main obstacle I encounter now is starting new story arcs, the old blank page problem. I have an outline but coming up with original "daily life inbetween" stuff can require a lot of brainstorming. I'll pick up ideas in the oddest places (shopping, restaurants, etc).
On the gaming front, I'm just done with MMOs for a while -- a new project called Wildstar has my attention mostly because of the humor and the cartoony art style. Seems to be a nice collection of 'best practices'.
Also, purchased Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas on a Steam sale. I'm more a high fantasy RPG fan but this is proving quite entertaining with all the sci-fi/horror/fantasy cultural references, puns, and gags.
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