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Video: Editors Editing Excerpts (Live On-Air)

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Fixing Rural Internet: Received OTR Mobile Hardware

I received my Netgear hotspot device from OTR Mobile earlier today. My CenturyLink service is still running at 843Kbps, about half of what I’m supposed to get (paying for 1.5Mbps, or 1500Kbps.)

I opened the box for the Netgear Nighthawk LTE device and it already had the SIM card installed. Even though it was a certified refurbished unit it looked brand new. I installed the battery and I let it charge for an hour.

To activate my service I had to go to their website and use the chat feature to give the tech my account number. After about a five minute wait until I was at the top of the queue, the tech activated my service in about fifteen seconds. He told me I needed to give it up to an hour to start working.

Five minutes later I gave it a shot and it registered and connected with no issues. I switched out one of my laptops to the new wifi connection and ran a test using Google’s free speed test. Right off the bat, with only two bars of service, my download speed jumped by over a factor of ten. The AT&T tower is further away than the Verizon tower, so I’m hoping the cell booster with the focused Yagi antenna will give me a solid five bars out of five. I’m using the new connection to post this and uploading the speed test image took seconds instead of minutes.

So far, if you read the description of my service on the image, my connection is now fast enough to stream HD video. That’s one of my goals for this project accomplished, plus the download speed is fast enough to make large file downloads like PhotoShop .PS cover files quick enough where I can’t go brew a 20oz mug of coffee and snag a doughnut.

My next step is to mow the side of the house, dump some insecticide to get rid of the ants and ticks (tiny obnoxious seed ticks, yuck!), and then install a J-pole and the antenna, making sure to get it pointed at the correct tower. After that’s accomplished I need to run the antenna wire through the wall and into the house to the cell booster amplifier, which has to be mounted on the wall.

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Solving Poor Internet Access for Rural Area

Like many folks who live in the middle of nowhere, I was stuck with limited options for broadband Internet access. In this case, “limited” meant none at all based on the FTC’s definition of 25Mbps.

I could go with satellite access, which was expensive, exceptionally buggy, and has customer service ratings that rival Comcast in a race to the bottom. The other option is CenturyLink DSL. I went with that one. It was far cheaper than satellite but I was limited to a maximum of 1.5Mbps. I’ve never seen 1.5, even though I’ve tuned my modem so it can run at 1.7Mbps. Normal service runs around 0.8Mbps, which is roughly a bit over dial-up speeds. A quarter of the time it drops to 0.12Mbps, or 120Kbps, because CenturyLink refuses to upgrade the ancient equipment on my local stinger.

Now, 0.8Mbps is good enough for the lowest resolution streaming from Netflix and Amazon Prime, with an occasional burp as it re-buffers…usually at an important point of the show I’m watching.

The problem for me is that I need to stream better resolution (for my sanity) and, as an author, I need to do some online work like setting up and maintaining websites, transferring documents and images to publishers, and even getting on video podcasts.

That last item is the straw that made me figure out how to get better service.

This is going to be a blog series as I walk through and document setting up equipment.

In the past I used Verizon Home Wireless, which allowed 22Mbps service. If you do some digging around you’ll find some horror stories. I also suffered through using Verizon, including one month where my bill had an extra $180 tacked on even though I was traveling. Apparently I used up my data allotment without actually using the Internet, plus my modem was unplugged because I didn’t want it to get damaged by lightning when I was traveling. They couldn’t explain how this was possible but they threatened me until I paid it and cancelled service, which they charged me another $250 in fees.

TL;DR for Verizon: Don’t use them unless you hate having money in your bank account.

Eventually I discovered OTR Mobile, which gives you unlimited, unthrottled 4G LTE data for $60/month over AT&T’s network. They had a lot of good reviews. I went ahead and ordered a refurbished wireless hotspot for $296 (which comes with the first month of service), including $16 for two-day FedEx shipping.

They noted that the hotspot I ordered was on backorder until May 29, 2019, so I was fine with that. It didn’t ship until today, June 4th, so I got on the chat on their website and they reimbursed my $16 shipping charges. OK, good customer service so far.

I only get one to two bars of service on my cellphone out here in the boonies, so I also researched and ordered a SureCall wireless booster system. It acts like a relay tower and should give me five bars of service plus a 70+db boost in signal with the built in amplifier. Toss in an external Yagi antenna (very focused) and I should get an exceptional connection to the nearest tower, which is over eight miles away.

I picked up the SureCall on eBay (here’s the link, and the seller was excellent). I also got another flat-panel antenna for my house to prevent oscillation between the input and output of the amplifier (link on eBay). Total investment is $413.25 for the cell booster portion of this project.

Yes, it’s expensive and I had to save up for the project but reliable, reasonably fast Internet service is important for me. I put up with ramen and hot dogs, and can now make them rather tasty if I do say so myself.

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Guy Goes to the Races

Thanks to the Skip Barber Racing School and VetTix, I had the chance to ride along with a race car driver around Gateway Motorsports Park in St. Louis, Missouri. It was a combination of tight turns similar to Formula 1 events plus the long straightaways and high-banked turns of a NASCAR race. I recorded the event so others could appreciate the ride. What it doesn’t show is the incredible acceleration of the race-ready Ford Mustangs that Skip Barber Racing School uses plus the g-forces as you go around the tight turns.

Because I’m not very flexible and I’m pretty large they had to have several folks jam me into the seat. My fat head got stuck in the door until they crammed it in. I ended up having to take my helmet off to get out.

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World Building Tools for Authors and Game Masters

Science fiction and fantasy rely heavily on placing the reader in a world that envelopes them like a warm blanket. That blanket might be a comforting hug from Hermione or the backblast of covering fire from a Gauss gun. It’s the responsibility of the author to craft a world that follows its own rules and is layered with fascinating details that draw us in the further we go along.

Lucky for us (or unfortunately for us, depending on how easily you can be sucked into a procrastinating black hole of interesting and fun points of data) there are lots of tools that can help an author to flesh out a complete world, from a medieval tavern to an unexplored star system that is scientifically accurate.

What follows is an eclectic list of some tools I’ve used on occasion or have heard other authors mention in a positive light. I would recommend you poke through and see what interests you and go from there. Don’t dive in and spend all of your writing time playing with your new toys. Also, some items cost real-world money, which I’ve tried to point out. I would suggest trying one at a time to see which tools have what you need instead of splurging on all of them at once…unless you’re rich. In that case, please buy a million copies of my books.

General

https://www.worldanvil.com/ (Free) Free to monthly/annual membership. Geared towards authors and RPG gamemasters. Has a huge amount of tools available and is well regarded.

https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/ (Free) Reddit’s Wordbuilding resources. For a list of convenient resources look here: https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/wiki/reading_list

Fantasy Worldbuilding Questions By Patricia C. Wrede (Free) Hosted by SFWA, this is a nice black hole you can get buried in. It covers plenty of questions folks don’t consider when building a world like economics and ethics.

http://kittyspace.org/leviathan0.html (Free) Kitty Chandler gives Patricia a run for her money when it comes to things to consider when constructing a world. This is another wormhole-infested land where your time will disappear faster than free dollar bills. To make things even more tempting…

Belinda Crawford went ahead and assembled a giant Scrivener file and a template for free based on Kitty’s Worldbuilding Leviathan.

http://www.web-writer.net/fantasy/days/ (Free) Someone thought it would be cool to do a NaNoWriMo-style 30-days of worldbuilding hell, so this is the place to go to focus on one item a day for a month.

https://onestopforwriters.com/ (Free + Paid) They have a very limited free plan, but it may be worth nine bucks for all of the additional thesaurus and generators they offer.

Odd Niches

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HomePage (Free) Wonder what a trope involves? This is the place to check. There are more tropes than you can fit into one novel. I dare you.

http://lexicity.com/ (Free) Dealing with ancient languages? Why not include some realism by using them correctly.

http://nimblesnotebook.tumblr.com/post/57170994691/myths-creatures-and-folklore (Free) Looking to add some myths and legends? Here’s some interesting ideas for you to build upon.

Generators

https://megacosm.morgajel.net/ (Free) Interesting generators when you’re stuck on something (curses, a character, a place). Useful to get over writer’s block and occasionally funny.

https://www.seventhsanctum.com/ (Free) Steve Savage put together a wide selection of generators from Power Princess to Technology to Writing.

http://www.generatorland.com/ (Free) Got an idea for a generator? Make your own and post it here for free. There are plenty of writing related versions available as well as pirate name generators and Guy Fieri menu item generators.

https://www.namegenerator.biz/ (Free) Need a name for that janitor who gives the hero a clue? Here is a collection of name generators for things from Twitter to science fiction.

http://donjon.bin.sh/ (Free) Impressive old-school generator system that can generate a complete tavern, including rumors and complete list of inhabitants in seconds. More into science fiction? Try the SF Random Generator and get ten different ideas for a cyberpunk job or the star system generator.

http://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/ (Free) Need a name? They have 1,200 generators available. Watch out for carpal tunnel from clicking your mouse too often.

https://www.mithrilandmages.com/ (Free) I like that they have names for old west writers. Plenty of generators, from businesses to crimes someone committed to what a city block looks like.

Planets & Star Systems

http://fast-times.eldacur.com/StarGen/RunStarGen.html (Free) StarGen is ugly as sin, reminding me of my GeoCities days, but as an online tool it can give you some exceptional scientifically accurate star systems that can support life. Great for those interstellar Browncoats folks who fly under the radar.

http://www.world-builders.org/ (Free) From the Charter College of Education, California State University in Los Angeles comes this science-based educational site that can help you with geology and what creatures populated our planet. This can assist you should you have a ship land on a primordial rocky planet in the Goldilocks zone.

http://universesandbox.com ($24.95) Universe Sandbox 2 allows you to modify solar systems like ours to see what would happen. Running out of room on Earth? Double the size!

Maps

https://www.cartographersguild.com/ (Free) The first stop for inspiration should be The Cartographer’s Guild. This is a gathering place for all things that map enthusiasts love, from fantasy to science fiction to real maps from ancient times to contemporary. Like paintings, there are some that will take your breath away.

https://www.profantasy.com/default.asp ($99 – $620) This map generator ain’t cheap, but you get what you pay for. The maps go far beyond the usual pretty bumps for mountains and Tolkienesque trees. The images are excellent and professional quality.

http://www.nbos.com/products/mapper/mapper.htm ($34.95) Fractal Mapper 8 now includes Fractal Mapper Explorer. You can create everything from continents to starship deckplans.

  3D Worlds & Visual Landscapes

https://www.daz3d.com/bryce-7-pro ($19.95, has add-ons available) You can make beautiful landscapes to look at and explore, or create one with fractals and use it as a reference point for describing what your characters see as they explore that new planet.

https://www.daz3d.com/ (Free, has paid and free add-ons available) Since Bryce is related to Daz3D, I’ll mention that it’s free for download and use. It’s similar to Poser, and quite useful if you want to make realistic book covers using CGI. They do make their money by selling add-ons like space ships and figures. It has quite a learning curve, and you should seriously consider whether you should be rendering pretty pictures or writing words.

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Master of Fine Arts

This Saturday, December 15, 2018, I get to walk across the stage to receive my Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing. It’s been an interesting journey, and not where I thought I’d be after a 35 year career in the technology, avionics, and IT fields.

Just goes to show that you’re never too old to learn new tricks.

I have a lot of stuff scheduled to come out so far in 2019:

2 Steampunk stories

2 Western stories

1 Nonfiction article

1 erotic romance novella (either my name or pseud.)

1 paranormal novella

3 science fiction novellas (trilogy)

1 horror short story collection

(Plus other stuff under pseudonyms.)

I have other things I’m working on, such as a Weird Western collaboration with Sean Jones and another cyberpunk novel.

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About the Fictorians

The Fictorians, a writer-centric blog that was publishing material of interest to authors every weekday, has been in a bit of a holding pattern until January 2019. They’re looking for established authors who have attended Superstars Writing Seminars to join and participate with a blog post every four to six weeks. There are only a few left who wish to continue the site (with over a thousand posts, some of which have a few thousand hits.)

If it does go under, it was a good run. I had a habit of reposting my Fictorians stuff here after a month or so, so most of my blogs are on this website. I would sign up for specific dates every year and write all of my blog posts in a few days. Most of my work was written in January, but because I’m a prolific writer I would also fill in when someone missed a date or there was an opening in the middle of the week. After a while this gets to be an issue, especially with my writing schedule.

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2018 Scribe Awards Results

On Friday, July 20, 2018, the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers (iamtw.org) announced the winners of the Scribe Awards, the professional organization’s annual “best of” list at San Diego Comic-Con.

A novel I co-wrote with Peter Wacks and Josh Vogt, Solar Singularity, was a finalist in the Original Speculative Fiction category. Alas, we didn’t win this time. It was an honor to be nominated in the first place, but getting beat out for the award in my category by this year’s Faust Award recipient, (the equivalent of IAMTW’s Grandmaster Award), Greg Cox, how can one be disappointed. Just being on the finalist list with this year’s Grandmaster was more than expected.

Congratulations to all of the winners and finalists! The winners are in bold letters.

Short Story

(TIE) “Banana Republic” by Jonathan Maberry

(TIE) “Ganbatte” by Keith DeCandido

“Murderers´ Row” by John Jackson Miller

“Pacing Place” by Bob Mayer

“Rear Guard” by Sarah Stegall

“Storm Blood” by Peter Wacks and David Boop (Congrats to both of you on the finalist nomination!)

Adapted Speculative and General

Doctor Who: The Pirate Planet by James Goss

Resident Evil: The Final Chapter by Tim Waggoner

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets by Christie Golden

Kong Skull Island by Tim Lebbon

Original Speculative

The Librarians and the Mother Goose Chase by Greg Cox

Solar Singularity by Peter J. Wacks, Guy Anthony De Marco, and Josh Vogt

Halo: Legacy of Onyx by Matt Forbeck

Star Wars Battlefront II: Inferno Squad by Christie Golden

Star Trek Discovery: Desperate Hours by David Mack

Supernatural: The Usual Sacrifices by Yvonne Navarro

Original General

Don Pendleton´s The Executioner Fatal Prescription by Michael A. Black

The Will to Kill by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins

Robert B. Parker´s The Hangman´s Sonnet A Jesse Stone Novel by Reed Farrel Coleman

YA Original

Star Wars Adventures in Wild Space – The Cold by Cavan Scott

Warriors Three: Godhood´s End by Keith R. A. DeCandido

X-Files Origins: Devil´s Advocate by Jonathan Maberry

Audio

Doctor Who: Across the Darkened City by David Bartlett

Doctor Who: Cold Vengeance by Matt Fitton

Warhammer 40,000: Agent of the Throne, Blood and Lies by John French

Torchwood: Cascade by Scott Handcock

Torchwood: The Dying Room by Lizzie Hopley

International Association of Media Tie-In Writers 2017 Faust Award

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Angels & Heroes Comicon

The inaugural Angels & Heroes Comicon took place on April 28, 2018 in Greenbrier, Arkansas. I was their Author Guest and Tonya was a featured cosplayer and author.

They have one of the best taglines for a charity-based con:

I fight cancer. What’s your superpower?

The charity had many events lined up during Cosplay Con last year, also known as Con Con and “Where’s Malcolm?” Con. The organizer wandered off with all the funds raised, so they decided to hold their own this year. While it was a single-day event, Tonya and I had a lot of fun. Their entire volunteer staff went out of their way to be helpful, including stopping by several times to bring us bottled water or to ask if we needed anything. Brandy, the queen cat herder, must have had several clones made because wherever we looked, there she was helping someone.

The highlight was a solemn event where the entire convention came to a standstill to honor those children who had passed away recently from cancer. Brandy read off each name, her voice wavering with emotion yet loud and strong for those who are still needing some strength to persevere.

The venue was easy to find and comfortable, and security was handled by a squad of Harley-Davidson motorcyclists who were friendly and even helped to carry some of our boxes of books.

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Review: Fullmetal Alchemist (Live-Action Movie)

Fullmetal Alchemist, the Netflix flick. Quick reaction and some minorish spoilerish items ahoy:

  Nowhere near as good as the original or Brotherhood, but that’s to be expected when squishing an anime from 50+ episodes down to a ~2hr movie. Folks who are not familiar with the anime will probably think it’s fine, but there’s a lot of major chopping that had to happen (and none of it came from Barry the Chopper, good old Number 66.) Couple that with some rather plot hole riddled ending material and you get an OK flick.

  Standouts for me included the character of Maes Hughes, probably the closest to the original anime as played by actor Ryûta Satô, and the character Lust, as played by actress Yasuko Matsuyuki. Kudos for having Lust being played by someone who was older than most of the other characters (she’s 45). That additional gravitas really pulled her together for me.

  The special effects ranged from fantastic (Al’s armor was spot-on) to the laughably awful. Those goofy zombified creatures that fell from the roof at the end looked like they ran out of funds and had to rush it out the door, especially when they hit the floor and looked like jello in rubber socks. That one big eyeball they had was so fake that I felt it was like they made a thousand Mad-Eye Moody clones.

  Ryosuke Yamada, who played the lead character Edward Elric, did fine with the exception of the prolific Pavel Chekov-like screaming. I understand there’s a difference between the English dub and original Japanese in anime, and since this is a subtitled Japanese movie I did expect the culture and acting to skew that direction. Sometimes I think Japanese folks need to let out a primal scream or two, so I wouldn’t begrudge them the opportunity.

  I was pleasantly surprised by the filming on location in Italy. It did bring a nice aesthetic from the anime along with a Steampunk feel to the movie.

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WhimsyCon 2018

Updated schedule for WhimsyCon on March 2-4. Should be a lot of fun and I hope to see you there in Denver, Colorado!

Creativity Roundtable Fri Mar 2 8:00:pm – 8:50:pm What drives creative people, inspires us, keeps us going when the muse has gone out for pizza and left us sitting at our desks…alone…in the dark. Artists, writers, actors, musicians or just becoming one, come join us. Chaz Kemp, Guy Anthony De Marco, Peri Charlifu, Sarah Menzel

Games and Fandom Tie Ins Sat Mar 3 10:00:am – 10:50:am More and more people are doing Kickstarters to fund the next brilliant game idea. Discuss game and module design, game mechanics, GMing, and media tie-in writing. Bill , Guy Anthony De Marco, Mason J. Torall, Paul Lell

Writing Jobs That Aren’t Writing Fiction Sat Mar 3 11:00:am – 11:50:am Learn about growing fields of writing outside of writing fiction that will grow your skills as a writer and pay above minimum wage. Guy Anthony De Marco, Sandra Wheeler, Thomas A Fowler

Self/Indie Publishing (Print and eBook) Sat Mar 3 1:00:pm – 1:50:pm So many options! How do authors self publish and/or work with independent presses? How to make it happen, in physical form and electronically Carol Hightshoe, Carol Van Natta, Guy Anthony De Marco, James A. Hunter

What-if Writer’s Sandbox Sat Mar 3 3:00:pm – 3:50:pm Historical Watersheds and “What-if” questions are one of the biggest jumping off points for a good Historical Fiction story. Come talk with writers and historians, and get some context for your latest idea, or maybe get some new ones! Guy Anthony De Marco, Kerry Major

Is It True You Always Have Story Ideas? Sat Mar 3 4:00:pm – 4:50:pm Panelists quickly come up with a story based on the audience’s suggestions. Guy Anthony De Marco, Ian Brazee-Cannon, James A. Hunter, Sam Knight

Author Mega Autograph Session Sat Mar 3 7:00:pm – 7:50:pm Many of our authors will be available to sell their books, provide autographs, and visit with fans. A.M. Burns, Aaron Michael Ritchey, Carol Van Natta, Carolyn Kay, Guy Anthony De Marco, Ian Brazee-Cannon, Lou J Berger, Mason J. Torall, Mike Cervantes, Milton J Davis, Paul Lell, Shullamuth Ballinger, Thomas A Fowler, Tonya L. De Marco, Veronica R. Calisto, Vivian Caethe

Ethics and Art Sun Mar 4 10:00:am – 10:50:am How do ethics affect the artist? Talk about different ideas and situation, including pricing, copyright, stealing ideas, borrowing themes, payment, taxes, and how we treat each other! Aria Fawn, Guy Anthony De Marco, Sarah Menzel

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Shifting Your Goals

January, the traditional month where folks set some goals and a week later forget them, is only weeks away. Writers, however, tend to try to reach some lofty goals for a while longer, probably spurred on by the lingering caffeine high from NaNoWriMo.

Here’s the thing — goals should not be set in concrete. I know there are a lot of folks who would disagree with that, but hear me out.

As life and Internet surfing goes on, all of us are like information sponges. We learn new things all the time. That data and information is the foundation of our goal setting process. The problem is that the foundation is built on a giant pile of Jell-O, probably butterscotch because this is my article and I set the flavors.

Things change, sometimes on an hourly basis. A good example is the sudden shutdown of Cohesion Press back in November 2017. As far as anyone knew, they were doing great. Their business had expanded to offset printing instead of print-on-demand, and their novels could be found in brick and mortar bookstores. Their author stable was pretty deep with some decent talented horror writers.

Now, if one of my goals was to get published by Cohesion by the end of the year, and I had been polishing the manuscript to the point where I was about to click the submission button, what then? My goal is impossible. Should I just delete the Word document and try to find another publisher and write a new novel for them? Of course not.

My goals have to change with the new information. Cohesion is dead, rest in peace. At least they were up front and are working openly with their authors, returning the rights and figuring out what to do with those print runs sitting in their garages. My goal may shift to finding a good home for a novel that I spent months on. New data, new goals.

This happens across the entire industry, and it is imperative to keep up as best as you can. Shift your goals when you have some new information. If the sparkly vampire genre suddenly takes a dive, adjust your goals and maybe write a sparkling zombie tale. Zombie strippers! (Note: Been done and there’s even a graphic novel series. Really.)

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Solar Singularity Pre-Order

This made my weekend…

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Canadians Exporting Toxic Waste

The black ooze flows south,

mugs filled with cheap crap coffee

not from Tim Horton’s.

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Defense Against the Dark Arts - Writer's Block Edition

Help! I’m Stuck at 10K Words!

First of all, don’t panic. Ten thousand words is nothing to sneeze at and you’re well on your way towards a complete novel. In fact, congratulations are in order.

Normally when my brain stops sending typing instructions to my fingertips it’s because there is something it’s still working on. Some piece of information is missing like what comes next or what should the main character do now that she’s up to her neck in quicksand.

Here are some techniques I use to get through “writer’s block”:

Time Travel

Pick a different chapter of your novel and start writing. If your protagonist is in quicksand now, you know she’ll get out somehow and get to the town of Quadloon because she has to confront Prince Evilson. Feel free to leave her hanging (don’t worry, she won’t mind) and just jump to where she walks into Quadloon. Continue the story from that point. Eventually your brain will come up with some fantastic bridge between the two points and you can go back and fill that section in.

Dimension Travel

Can’t figure out anything that is supposed to happen to your hapless characters without getting her out of that quicksand? Are you a dedicated pantser and have to let the characters dictate what happens next? That’s certainly one of the perils of not planning anything out at all.

There’s nothing in the rules that says you have to work on one novel at a time. If you had another idea for a novel in your head, go ahead and start writing that one. It would be best if it was a different genre, but work with what your brain hands you. Even if you get stuck at ten thousand words with the second novel, you can start three more and hit your 50K goal. Perfectly legal and valid to do so! The idea is to get you in the habit of writing.

Form Travel

You can always switch out to writing short stories during NaNoWriMo. Indeed, ending up with ten 5K stories should up your odds to getting one or more published after a bit of polish. Even getting half a novel and five or six short stories should add up to your goal.

If you’re a student and you’re going to have a research paper due in December, get to work on it now and kill two birds with one stone. Turn something in early and shock your instructor and have it count for your output. That’s a win-win!

    About the Author:

Guy Anthony De Marco is a disabled US Navy veteran speculative fiction author; a Graphic Novel Bram Stoker Award® nominee; winner of the HWA Silver Hammer Award; a prolific short story and flash fiction crafter; a novelist; an invisible man with superhero powers; a game writer (Sojourner Tales modules, Interface Zero 2.0 core team, third-party D&D modules); and a coffee addict. One of these is false.

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Writing Short Articles for NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo is a great time to build up a collection of short articles that you can schedule during the next year. It’s a reasonable method to build up your word count while simultaneously getting more blog posts.

Since my blog is about writing in general, I like to include how-to articles and other subjects useful to authors. My target for each post is around 500 words.

The first thing I have to come up with is a subject I haven’t written about. Lucky for me, I have a lot of folks who ask interesting questions. Many times I can get an entire blog post out of a single question. I also glean ideas from industry news and the regular mainstream media. The secret is to get an idea that you can cover in a short article without glossing over things or beating a dead horse.

Once I have an idea, I try to come up with two or three major points about that subject. For example:

NaNoWriMo for Beginners

1. Sign up on the website. 2. How to come up with an idea for a book or novella. 3. Writing until the cows come home (on November 30th.)

Conclusion

That took me all of two minutes. If it looks a bit familiar, it’s the method most US grade schools teach their English students when it comes to writing a paper. You can come up with ideas on subjects that you’re familiar with. If you like flowers, teach us what the colors of roses represent. If you like trucks, tell us why the 7.3 liter diesel engine was the best ever made. Start out with what you know, then begin to explore areas that you need to research. That will help you with worldbuilding and give your readers some variety.

  About the Author:

Guy Anthony De Marco is a disabled US Navy veteran speculative fiction author; a Graphic Novel Bram Stoker Award® nominee; winner of the HWA Silver Hammer Award; a prolific short story and flash fiction crafter; a novelist; an invisible man with superhero powers; a game writer (Sojourner Tales modules, Interface Zero 2.0 core team, third-party D&D modules); and a coffee addict. One of these is false.