Sunday, August 28, 2011

Can't Stop The Signal

Back from a few days' vacation and back on the writing horse. Going to try to finish the short story tonight and start the next novel (not the next Weaver book. A new idea occurred to me and tickled me so much that I feel I HAVE to write it. Weaver part 2 will be next after that, I promise. :) )

Sunday, August 21, 2011

The Pace-maker

So, several of you have contacted me to offer your commentary on Weaver. I have found all of it very helpful, but this entry is to address one particular piece of criticism. Several of you have told me that, while enjoying the novel overall, you felt that the pacing of it was off somehow. My response to which is:

You're right.

The pacing is off. This is a function of me adapting to a new method of storytelling. Up until now, I've told stories in what I call "serial short" format -- with a bunch of short stories serving as "episodes" in larger overarching plotlines. So, basically, much more similar to the way a TV show might do things. This is my first real experience in doing things in a novel format, and you folks are right that I haven't gotten the pacing down yet.

Having said that? Stay with me. If you like the other aspects of what I do -- the characters and relationships and scene-setting and suspense and dialogue -- then hold on a little longer. I wasn't perfect as a GM when I started doing that, nor at making serial fiction when I started doing that. But one thing I am good at is learning from my mistakes. Like the stories themselves, my writing style is a work in progress.

But there are good things on the horizon. :)

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Weaver and what's next

So, Weaver has been live for about 1.5 weeks now. This means that my first few buyers have had some time to read, digest, and contemplate.

As such, John Abramowitz would like to ask you to share your thoughts on his novel. John Abramowitz has been telling stories in some form for quite some time now, but they've mostly been either RPGs or serial fiction. A novel is a completely different beast, and writing one has taught John Abramowitz that it poses some unique challenges. So, let him know how he's holding up.

(John Abramowitz also cringes at referring to himself in the third person this much. He apologizes for seeming pretentious, and promises that once Google is good and starts picking up his blog, he will stop.)

John Abramowitz would also like you to know that he is hard at work on the next thing. Not the next Weaver novel yet -- he wants to let the outline for that simmer a bit more in his head so he can flesh out some of the details before he starts writing. Instead, John Abramowitz is at work on a short story called The Antlerbury  Tales. It would be finished already, but John Abramowitz has been deluged with legal work lately. John Abramowitz finds this relieving because it means he can pay his rent, but it has left him with little time to write.

As it is, John Abramowitz thinks you should expect to see it go live in 2-3 more weeks.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Weaver update

I will be uploading it as soon as the cover image is done,  it should be available for your reading pleasure on Thursday or Friday. :)

Monday, August 8, 2011

Yes yes, without the oops. That-a-way!

So, my blog has been about as sleepy as I've been lately. In the hopes of spicing things up, I've decided to put a little information about myself here:

John Abramowitz was born and raised in Texas, and educated in Iowa.

John Abramowitz, therefore, likes both barbecue and corn, to keep on good terms with both of his home states.

John Abramowitz is a unique combination of an egalitarian idealist and a Southern gentleman.

John Abramowitz is a mild-mannered lawyer by day and wild party boy writer by night.

John Abramowitz made this blog to promote his writing projects, starting with his forthcoming science fiction novel, Weaver.

John Abramowitz thinks that the only parts of that last sentence that were true are that he is a lawyer and writer.

John Abramowitz spends altogether too much time watching campy science fiction and fantasy television.

John Abramowitz feels silly talking about himself in the third person this way, as it suggests a pretentious quality that he normally eschews.

John Abramowitz fears that the number of big words in that last sentence do nothing to dispel the impression that he is pretentious.

John Abramowitz doesn't want to admit that he may or may not be writing this post for the sole purpose of getting hits on Google.

John Abramowitz will admit, however, that he got the idea to do the post this way from his good buddy Geoff.

John Abramowitz hopes to one day be a Big Damn Hero

And, finally,

John Abramowitz gives massive points to anyone who got the reference above.


Saturday, August 6, 2011

Weaver!

So, I'm John Abramowitz, like the thing at the side says.

This post is mostly to announce the imminent publication of my first novel, a science-fiction thriller called Weaver. I'm going the e-publishing route and it should appear on Amazon.com (and probably some other places) on Tuesday or Wednesday of this week. (That's the 9th or 10th of August, folks.) But so as not to be boring (or blatantly opportunistic), I thought I'd include some fun facts about myself, too. That's what first entries are all about, right? Right.

Q: How tall are you really?
A: I am six feet, seven and 1/2 inches tall.

Q: Do you play basketball?
A: No, no I do not. However, if I had a nickel for every time someone asked if I did, I could give away my stories for free.

I do, however, have one hobby based on my height -- namely, using the heads of people about a foot shorter than me as arm rests. This includes my mother and my girlfriend (much to their displeasure).

Q: Why "On The Bird"?
A: It's a World of Warcraft reference, actually. I started playing the game about six years ago as a sort of sanity saver during law school (because lord knows every law student needs one!), and back before there were flying mounts, the only way to get anywhere was through gryphon flights. These flights insisted on taking you past every stop on the way from Point A to Point B, and so they could get extremely long, especially when you were flying from one end of a continent to another.

A person on such a flight was referred to as being "on the bird," and so I named my blog that in parody of my hatred of long World of Warcraft gryphon flights.

Q: What made you decide to write a book?

A: Partly, the fact that the economy sucks.

But I've also been a fantasy nerd for most of my life. I went through my Star Wars phase, then my Ender's Game phase, then I devoured all three of the Star Trek spinoffs (Enterprise does NOT count), and for the last few years I've been obsessively watching Joss Whedon shows over and over. (Binge Whedoning?)

After all of this passive observing of other people's storytelling, I decided to do some of my own by running roleplaying games -- especially World of Darkness and Big Eyes, Small Mouth. It took a while to get good, but I discovered that I was a halfway decent plotter. The epiphany came when, on several occasions, I would use plot points in my RPGs and then, shortly thereafter, they would appear in shows I watch! (The most notable example being Fringe, where this happened several times. Great show, by the way, I highly recommend it.)

So that was when I realized that maybe I was good enough at making fiction to play in the big leagues.

To sum up, it was some combination of experience, ego, and the economy.

Q: Any advice for our viewers at home?
A: Yes. Make the Bad Horse gleeful, or he'll make you his mare.