Writing Notes for Tales of the Seven Dogs Novella

I’m happy to report that Flames Rising featured a preview of Tales of the Seven Dogs Society, my soon-to-be-released novella that I’ll be selling in less than two weeks at GenCon: Indy.

In 1969, Jericho Usher disappeared without a trace, never explaining the otherworldly nature of the annex. Jericho Usher spent his lifetime investigating anomalous phenomena, and it was his intention that others take up his work once he was gone. To facilitate this, Jericho left behind very detailed instructions for assembling a society of investigators. Terrance honored his friend’s intent, overseeing the creation of the Seven Dogs Society, recruiting those who fit the exacting instructions left behind by Jericho Usher.

You may remember that I had written a series of posts about writing game fiction; this post focuses on a behind-the-scenes look at my novella.

Design Notes

One of the advantages to writing fiction for the Aletheia setting, is that I had written for the game. Since I was already familiar with the role of the characters, it was a lot easier to imagine what kind of a story I was going to write. Instead of writing an action/adventure tale, I chose to write a story that alluded to the game’s metaplot.
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August 2, 2008
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The Myths And Realities Of Writing For The Screen and Stage

Today’s guest blog post is brought to you by Joe Filippone–an experienced playwright and screenwriter. Joe has a unique perspective on writing for the screen and stage, and helps dispel some of the myths surrounding this lucrative form of writing. I’m happy to feature this fact-filled guest post about the forms of playwriting and screenwriting and what you can do to see your play or movie come to life.

Playwriting vs. Screenwriting

Everyone seems to think two of the easiest ways to break into the writing world are playwriting and screenwriting. After all, those are the two easiest realms of the writing world to break into. All you need to write is dialog and a few meager stage directions or camera angles that no one cares about anyway right? You don’t need to worry about character development, writing what the character is thinking or filling the page with vivid descriptions of the environment because the audience will see it right? And you don’t need to worry about making it novel length. A play is maybe eighty pages at the most. One can easily get it written over a weekend, mail it to some theatres and just rake in the royalties. Right? Wrong. Writing for actors is one of the hardest, difficult aspects to break into. Here’s why.
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August 1, 2008
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Like the Dark? Meet me for a Dream Date in Indy and get Swag

I’m making a list and checking it twice — no, it’s not Christmas in July. As I mentioned before, we’re getting ready for GenCon Indy. Part of our packing efforts is to design two horrific packages for people who love the things that go bump in the night. One is a horror-themed silent auction package that includes everything you need for a dark and dreary evening; the other is a dream date.

Dream Date Auction – Flames Rising

Come to the ENnie awards at Gen Con and don’t sit with the plebes! Get a seat in the reserved seating for nominated publishers and hang out with the crew from Flames Rising.

This auction is for a “dream date” with Matt M McElroy and Monica Valentinelli for the 2008 ENnie Awards, Friday August 15th. Join them as they find out if FlamesRising.com wins an ENnie!

Also included in this auction is a Flames Rising t-shirt, coffee mug and poster. We also have a signed copy of the Tales of the Seven Dogs Society fiction collection from Abstract Nova, a horror music CD from Nox Arcana and a few other dark surprises…

This auction is for a sit-down event being held at Gen Con in Indianapolis on the night of Friday, August 15th. The prize must be claimed in person at Gen Con by coming to the ENnies booth in the dealer hall at Gen Con on Thursday or Friday during the dealer hall hours. If for any reason the winner of this auction cannot attend, they may choose to have a person substitute for them. If no approved substitute is sent, the dream date may be re-auctioned or re-sold at Gen Con.

Bid on the Dream Date Auction

If you’re more interested in something a little lighter or more magical, don’t forget to bid on your favorite publisher’s dream date. I hear that the White Wolf dream date is truly–a dream. Last year, we sat with the guys from Evil Hat Productions and their dream date; we all had a lot of fun!

July 30, 2008
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Who I’ll be Hanging Out With at GenCon: Indy

This year at GenCon: Indianapolis 2008 I’ll be supporting publisher Abstract Nova Entertainment at Booth #2115. I’ve worked on several of the products we’ll be offering at the booth including Nuomenon, Exquisite Replicas, Aletheia and a novella featured in the Tales of the Seven Dogs Society.

As project manager for Flames Rising, I’ll be attending the Diana Jones Awards, the ENnie Awards, and hanging out with a lot of my friends including author and editor James Lowder. Here are some of the folk who will be there:

Game designer and novelist Ari Marmell who has done work for Wizards of the Coast and White Wolf will be there. The lovely freelancer and novelistJess Hartley will be speaking (potentially) on two panels and will be at the ENnie awards to see whether or not Changeling: the Dreaming has won any awards. Changeling, nominated for several awards, is a storytelling game of beautiful madness. Full-time artist, author and game designer Aaron Acevedo will be splitting his time between the Talisman Studios booth and the art show. Flames Rising is proud to feature Aaron’s work as part of a silent auction to fund the ENnie awards.

In addition to finding Matt Machell hanging around the Play Collective or Chad Underkoffler at the IPR booth, Industry Insider Guest of Honor Matt Forbeck will be signing autographs, presenting on panels, and having fun. I hope to meet Michael A. Stackpole this year and run into Jean Rabe once again.

GenCon typically has about 45,000 people in attendance; this year there will be events commemorating Gary Gygax, the release of 4E for Wizards of the Coast, and much more! If you’re going, please stop by the booth and say “Hello” or set up a time where we can chat. This is a whirlwind event that goes by very quickly and takes a lot of time and energy. If you’ve never had the chance to go, it’s definitely the experience of a lifetime.

This year I will not be speaking on panels due to time and scheduling constraints. I’m already working on next year’s presentation, but I hope to see you this year!

July 28, 2008
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Helping a Reporter Out has Never Been Easier through HARO

Do you ever find yourself in that situation where you’re working on an article and you need to get a hold of an authoritative resource? Have you searched endlessly in the search engines for what you need only to be sorely disappointed with the results? And what happens when you do find a resource? Now you have to take an extra step and contact them which–depending upon how quick their turnaround is you might miss your deadline.

Started through a Facebook group by PR guru Peter Shankman, HARO is a great solution to your “need for resources” woes. I’ve used HARO for this blog, an upcoming five day marathon of articles about the most common questions I hear from writers. Up until that point, I found it very difficult to get agents to respond to me, but through HARO I got so many responses I’m still sifting through them!

One of the reasons why I like the group so much, is because of the way that Peter manages this free service. He’s transparent, he’s real, and he advocates “being nice.” Just this morning, he mentioned to subscribers to do one nice thing every day in his introduction which is part blog, part “welcome to the community.”

This morning I thought of you, my readers, because there was a call for “Diet, Health and Cookbook Authors.” If you fit the bill, please contact me and I will be happy to send you the listing.
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July 24, 2008
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