A.J. Maguire

Tag: AJMaguire

  • Self-Publishing

    After much deliberation, research, waffling, and picking the brains of several writers I know I have decided to try this self-publishing thing. This is not meant in any way to snub or look poorly upon the small presses who have so graciously published me over the last few years. Wings ePress and Double Dragon Publishing have both treated me very well and I’ve learned a lot about publishing as a business through them.

    And in fact, any and all works that I feel fit those two houses I will submit accordingly. (Yes, Trenna fans, this means Usurper will more than likely be coming out through Wings ePress next year. I have it scheduled for a clean-sweep editing pass and then Wings can decide whether or not they want to continue the series.)

    Why am I self-publishing my next novel?

    Several reasons.

    1) Creative Control

    Basically, I want control of this book and all its sequels. I want to be able to make novella’s on a whim — because I have several mapped out in this universe — and to let the series stretch from four books to seven. (Maybe, I’m still on the fence about that.)

    2) Price Control

    Because … sweet holy bananas on toast, people! Nearly twenty bucks for a print copy of my stuff? Even I don’t want to pay that.

    Plus, you know, this way I can do the sorts of things I’ve wanted to do since first getting published. Things like — Hey! For the month of November all proceeds go to the Office of Letters and Light!

    Which is something I currently can’t do.

    3) Schedule Control

    … Cause it’s nice to know exactly when I can do a cover reveal or book release party. Since I’ll be in charge of the galleys and what have you, I’ll be able to send out ARC copies with little to no fuss.

    (You know, this post is beginning to make me look like a control freak.)

    4) Audio Stuff

    Right now I don’t have the right to produce any of my books in audio form, but I’ve always wanted to. This way I can. (Likely several months after the print copies come out cause … you know … WORK.)

    5) Because It Scares Me

    When push comes to shove, I don’t like it when something scares me. In fact, I tend to get all sassy and confront said fear with bare fists and teeth.

    Which I suppose is exactly what I’m doing.

    So!

    Tapped is currently out on submission with an agency — has been for several weeks now, but it hasn’t passed the point of no return for a response yet. While I wait for its rejection letter — let’s be realistic here — I will be formatting and cleaning up the manuscript (yet again) to make the ARC copies.

    I have chosen Tuesday, January 13th as the tentative release date of this novel.

    … and now that I’ve written that down I might be panicking a little.

  • Prepping for NaNo!

    Woo! NaNoWriMo is right around the corner! For those of you who STILL don’t know what NaNoWriMo is, go HERE and check them out because they will overload you with pure awesome!

    I have been all sorts of excited for this year’s NaNoWriMo because it’s the first year I won’t be in school. Which means it’s the first year in a long time where I can actually participate rather than quasi-participate in accordance ajmaguire-ResidualHaunting-COVERwith homework schedule and what have you.

    (To those of you following along with Residual Haunting, don’t worry! I have an 11 week buffer so the novel will continue to be posted as scheduled until its completion.)

    All year long I’ve stared at November on my calendar and wondered just which novel I would work on for my month of play. At first I said I would re-write Primal into my 1920’s investigator-runs-into-dragons idea but as the date drew closer I became more and more obsessed with my Civil War/Western, The Abolitionist.

    And then I thought I would use the month to be a NaNo Rebel and complete a project rather than begin a new one.

    For realz, it’s a mess in my head most days. I’ve got so many plots and characters and novels mapped out it’s a miracle I’m still sane. 

    Here we are midway through October and I’ve changed my mind again. But this time I’ve committed to the project by actually placing it in my NaNo profile. So!

    I’ll be writing Dead Weight in November.

    I only wrote a little of this novel back when I originally completed Tapped but I’m scrapping all of that and starting fresh. This is primarily because a lot of that original draft has to change to accommodate changes made during the edit of Tapped.

    Note to self: Never start a sequel until the edits are complete on the first novel.

    I considered putting the blurby thingy up here in celebration of the upcoming project but I fear it would give spoilers to the yet-to-be-published Tapped, which would sort of be like shooting myself in the foot. Instead I will leave you with a vague idea of what the novel will touch on.

    Hopefully Spoiler-Free Blurby Thing

    A call for help draws the crew of the Zephyr to Saturn and directly into the path of the Consulate. When the ship is damaged they (because I can’t tell you WHO survives the first book, now can I?) are forced to dock with an abandoned station deep inside Saturn’s atmosphere. But there’s more to this station than meets the eye (Oh, shut up, I know it’s cliche. It’s hard to be vague and enticing all at once) and the crew soon learn that the station isn’t quite as abandoned as they’d originally assumed.

    And there you have it! That’s what I’ll be working on in November.

    Unless I change my mind again.

    Which is entirely possible.

  • Attack of the Plot Bunnies!

    So I was sick for a couple days and I spent a great deal of time in a medicine-induced semi-coma on my sofa. One would assume my brain would have been numbed by the medicine and therefore incapable of creativity, but I fear that wasn’t the case. In fact, I think there’s something in NyQuil that slams my muse into overdrive.

    Muse: What do you mean you’re too sick to be at the computer? (insert maniacal laughter here) Look at all my shiny, pretty ideas! Don’t they make you want to leap out of bed and start hammering away at the keyboard?

    Me: My head is going to explode …

    Muse: … From all my awesome new idea’s, amIright? Don’t answer that. I know I’m right. Now … are you getting all of this?

    Me: mmmph!

    … Ahem.

    The truly irritating part of this ambush of plot bunnies (remember, plot bunnies are fuzzy story ideas that attack when you least expect them) is that none of them … NONE of them … have any bearing on the current project. Residual Haunting is coming along nicely in spite of my furlough into NyQuil and all things ill. Chapter Three will be up as scheduled tomorrow morning.

    These plot bunnies are in reference to Dead Weight, the sequel to Tapped. And yes, they’re awesome. And yes, I can’t wait to start work on it. In fact … I’m so excited to start work on it that I might bump it into my NaNoWriMo slot. Which would totally alter my already altered writing schedule and everything but … you know … half the fun of NaNoWriMo is to work on something you’ve been excited to work on.

    Oh! And NaNoWriMo is all prepped and ready for November! For those who are gearing up to participate this year … You’re all awesome and I’m right there with you! For those of you who don’t know what this is, go visit the site! It’s amazing!

  • Vulgarity

    When friends ask where they can pick up one of my novels I always have to preface the conversation with; “I apologize in advance for the language.”

    This is because most of these friends are asking around the pot-luck table at church or something and I feel a need to cushion them from the reality of what I’ve written. I don’t want to shock them or make them feel uncomfortable, so I figure it’s best they know walking into the book that there will be some rough language.

    So why don’t I exclude vulgar language from my novels?

    Easy … because it’s not realistic.

    Let’s face it, we all know curse words. Some of us even pride ourselves in new and creative ways to utilize expletives. I had a Drill Sergeant in the Army who knew how to insert four letter words inside other four letter words — a feat that requires no small amount of talent, I assure you — and who woke us all in the early morning by flicking on the light switch and shouting; “Get the f**#* out of bed.”

    Charming, I know. But also quite effective.

    Cursing seems to be a staple of adult life. There are very few of us who can say they’ve never, ever used a curse word in their lives so it is unrealistic to exclude such language in fiction. That said, there is a difference between using said words naturally, and using them for shock factor.

    I’m just going to go ahead and admit that if I feel the words on the page are there deliberately to shock me, I’m putting the book down.

    Yes, I’m offended by that, but not because of the words themselves. I’m offended because the author thinks that’s the only way to get my attention.

    Trust me, there are better ways to shock and awe your audience.

    Cover Art by Chris Howard
    Cover Art by Chris Howard

    Residual Haunting (which just posted Chapter 2 this morning) has some swear words in it. Mostly there’s slang (frigging and freaking and all variations thereof) but the vulgar words are in there and I’m sure people will notice.

    Authors have to tread a fine line between keeping true to character voice and trying not to offend their readers. It’s awkward — especially around the pot-luck table — but I’ve noticed that every time I apologize in advance, my friends just chuckle and shrug.

    They get it.

    They live here too.

  • Writing Spooky Stuff

    Residual Haunting may be my first quasi-ghost story/science fiction attempt but it’s not the first time I’ve ever used a ghost. In fact, my first published novel, Sedition, featured a ghost that popped up every now and then. And Witch-Born had that boy, Baldemor Delgora, who haunted the shores of Witch-Eater Lake.

    So I think it’s safe to say that I like using the paranormal in my work. Residual Haunting just ajmaguire-ResidualHaunting-COVERhappens to be the first book that centers on such things.

    I’m not sure why I have this attraction to these spooky, unsettling, and often tragic themes, but I do. In my defense, William Shakespeare loved using them too. Macbeth and Hamlet are just two that I can name without having to do any research.

    Granted, his culture and time period was very superstitious so it’s really no surprise that ghosts were used to help facilitate a story line.

    Still, it’s a grand tradition. Writing creepy things, telling ghost stories or anything that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand on end, is rooted into our culture. I mean, Stephen King is like the poster boy for all things that go bump in the night.

    We all know him regardless of whether or not we’ve read him before. In fact, some people avoid reading any Stephen King precisely because they don’t want to be scared out of their wits.

    I know I did for a while. (Oh, come on. If the clown from It didn’t scare you, you’ve lost your mind.)

    In any case, I believe I am in good company writing spooky stuff. Even if I don’t intend to enter the horror genre itself, there’s still plenty of room for the supernatural to find its way into my work.

  • Residual Haunting is now Live

    Cover Art by Chris Howard
    Cover Art by Chris Howard

    Welcome to October!

    As promised, Residual Haunting — my first ghost/semi-horror/paranormal story — has found its way onto Wattpad and its own Story Blog. (Take a moment to admire Chris Howard’s amazing artwork on the cover! I absolutely love it!)

    Now then …

    Why am I posting a draft of this novel online for free?

    It seems like a silly thing for an author, who wants to make money on telling stories, to post their work before any real editing can come of it (thus subjecting any Readers who dare to take the trip to a rough ride of possible typos and awkward wording) and to do so for free.

    Well, there are a couple of reasons.

    First, Residual Haunting is a grand experiment for me. It’s an exercise in whether or not I can write something completely on the computer (normally I hand write everything first) and I know I’m going to learn quite a bit in the process. (Honestly, I already have but we’ll get to that later.)

    If by some chance my experience with Residual Haunting can somehow aid a fellow writer then I would like to share it. Thus, we find the serialization process begun. I’ll go through a focused dissection of the experience when we’ve reached the end.

    Second, I love the history of serializations in general. I got to play Beth in “Little Women” when I was in high school so the concept of serializing stories gives me fond memories. (If you remember, Jo had her stories serialized in the paper.)

    And Third, it’s fun.

    No, really. It’s fun. I had a blast with Persona last year and promised myself that I would do it again once I found a suitable book (one not on contract and focused on learning something about the craft) and Residual Haunting fits that bill.

    So! If you like the paranormal and are adventurous enough to embark on this journey with me then welcome to the experiment! Follow the links above to find the story in your preferred format (Wattpad or Blog) and let’s get started!

  • Research as a Writer

    Writers are really life-long scholars. Sure, we get to play around in fiction and make up rules in our fantasy worlds sometimes, but when push comes to shove we are constantly having to “Google” one thing or another. Whether we’re researching words (Hello, online Thesaurus) or we need to find out just how far away Pluto is from Earth (NASA has a really cool site for that) the research of a writer never seems to be done.

    With each book comes a new set of questions, new things we need to know to make the novel believable because the last thing we want to do is insult our readers.

    Science Fiction authors find themselves having to explain gravity on a ship. Historical Fiction authors need to know their time period well enough to keep readers rooted in the story. Crime writers need to know police procedure and proper investigative techniques. And the list goes on.

    The bottom line is, if you’re a writer then you’re a researcher too. There’s just no getting around this work.

    Now, I’ve heard horror stories of authors who get lost in the library, researching so much that they never actually start to write the story. When I started my first historical fiction (Persona) I was seriously afraid of this happening.

    I absolutely love history. It would have been easy for me to get sucked into all the facts and true stories about what happened in WWII and I knew it. So I made a list of rules for myself before I started the project and, because I’m about to start my second historical fiction (The Abolitionist) in November, I thought I would share those rules today.

    1) Write the Character First

    Before I did any research I had to have my main character firmly in my sights. With Persona this was Megan Crossweathers, and I wrote the entire first chapter before I began researching. Now, I did have to go back and edit that chapter quite a bit after I’d done my research, but that first chapter helped me ask very specific questions for my research.

    Example: After writing that first chapter I knew I had Megan on a boat that was about to sink. So I researched boats that sank until I found the S.S. Ceramic (No, really, that’s its name) which sank right about where I needed it to and had only one reported survivor. 

    2) Know What You Need

    I’m pointing to the first rule up there “Know your character” again because if you know your character and the story you’re meaning to tell then you won’t get lost in a sea of information as you’re writing. As much fun as it is to learn about history (or science or crime or whatever your passion is) there’s only so much that’s actually going to be useful.

    So, you need to know what you need.

    Example: During my recent editing of Tapped I found my characters walking on Pluto. (The dwarf planet, not the Disney character or the Roman god of the Underworld.) In order to do that I needed to know the climate of the dwarf planet (which is very, very cold by the way) and the terrain and … you get it. 

    Generally speaking, you come up with these questions as you write which brings me to my third and final rule …

    3) Keep Writing 

    Many things constitute as research in my book. Preparing for The Abolitionist, I’ve begun watching movies centered on the Civil War (just watched Gettysburg this weekend) and gathered documentaries which I will slowly begin to consume. These help me two-fold because documentaries let me get my learning on (I totally love The History Channel) while also seeing the styles (hair, clothing, weaponry) right in front of me.

    Here’s the thing …

    All that information is useless unless I have someplace to put it. And I’ll never find a place to put it unless I’m still writing.

    So for every hour I spend watching a documentary, I have to spend an hour writing too. Sometimes I start the day writing and then watch a documentary, other times I watch first and then write. Either way, I’m researching as I go.

    Disclaimer

    I’m one of those bizarre hybrid writers who can never start a novel with an outline. The first dozen chapters are what I like to call “cause and effect” writing, which presents the character and a particular problem and then watching said character try to resolve that particular problem. But I can’t finish a novel without an outline either.

    By the middle of the book I have a firm enough grasp on the character, theme, and plot of the novel that I can write a sketchy outline to help me reach the end. I call this “Muse Central” because I go about a week or so where I don’t write anything on the novel itself, but instead let my Muse take control to write the outline.

    These are just my rules. It’s not a “one size fits all” thing here.

    Authors who like to have an outline from the get-go probably won’t benefit here. Discovery writers (writers who don’t use an outline) might.

    Maybe.

    I don’t know. I’m really just winging it here. These are rules that helped me and on the off chance that they might help someone else, I decided to share them. Writing is a craft, after all, and no one way is going to work for everybody.

  • Clearing Off the Cork-board

    Early Thursday afternoon — on my lunch break, no less — I was able to type “The End” on Tapped. This was my most extensive round of edits. I solicited an editor to help me develop the story and couldn’t be happier with the results. Gabriel Fitzpatrick helped me see the strengths and the weaknesses in the manuscript and it is now totally awesome. 

    Ahem.

    Well, after a lot of blood, sweat, and tears it’s really quite a lot better than it was.

    In a week I’ll probably hate it, but I’ve come to expect the roller-coaster that is the author’s psyche. One week I love it, the next week it’s dribble not worth looking at.

    Whatever.

    This week it’s awesome and I have happily cleared off my cork-board, making way for the next project. All of the 3×5 cards with plot notes, sketched outlines, and character questions have been tossed into recycling. It is now a blank bit of brown cork with festively colored push-pins just waiting to be used again.

    ajmaguire-ResidualHaunting-COVER
    Cover art done by the amazing Chris Howard!

    And what is that next project?

    Residual Haunting!

    The original plan was to serialize Residual Haunting through the summer because I had so much fun bringing Persona into life that way. (Why yes, Persona has seen an editor and I will begin brushing it up in January. I’ll be completely changing the ending since the editor sorta … uh … hated it. No, I mean it, he HATED it.)

    AJMaguire-PersonaCover-1280h
    Remember Persona? It’s cover art was done by Chris Howard!

    Anyway … Residual Haunting is in a sorry state of incomplete and since it is another one of my experiments in genre/POV/and all things the craft of writing, it meets my arbitrary qualifications for serialization.

    So! Starting October 1st, 2014 I will be posting a chapter a week on Wattpad  — because Wattpad is awesome and I totally love it —  and on a story blog of its own — because I like to accommodate people who either do not use or do not understand how to use the Wattpad site.

    This is FREE! Yes, absolutely free. I will post links to each site (Wattpad and Blog) every time a new chapter goes up. Just like Persona, this is a draft and it is subject to massive amounts of change. Also like Persona, after its completion it will be removed while it undergoes said change.

    What does that mean?

    It means it will only be up for a limited time after the final chapter has been posted. If you follow along week by week you have nothing to worry about. If you wait until it’s all up there, you’ll only have three months to read it before I remove it from the public eye.

    And now I’ll leave you with a blurb telling you what Residual Haunting is all about. 

    Follow Doctors Jared Foster and Cal Murphy as the infamous Residual Haunting Museum is hijacked by ghosts, a witiko, and a girl named Rachel who is trying very hard to retire from all things supernatural.

    As Cal works hard to decipher his newest “Print” — or ghost — things inside the museum start to go haywire; the ghosts inside their exhibits disappear, power fluctuates and threatens to poison them all with the gases used to maintain each exhibit, and Cal finds himself doing the impossible by speaking to a ghost. But there’s far more going on than the mystery of just one ghost and the closer Cal comes to understanding how this woman died, the closer he comes to the real danger hunting them all inside the museum.  

  • Nearing “The End”

    By the close of this week I will have finished the edits on Tapped. I started this book two years ago for Camp NaNoWriMo and sent its second draft to a wonderful editor by the name of Gabriel Fitzpatrick. (Authors, if you ever see him advertising to do some work, take him up on it. He’s professional and he’ll infuse you with the belief that your book can conquer the world when it’s finished.)

    My original deadline for completing these edits was the beginning of May, but I was still in school and things got a trifle crazy and an avocado bested me during a salad-making contest.

    Yes, I’m talking about stabbing myself in the hand. And I’ll say it again — I really do know how to core an avocado. I was just in a hurry and wasn’t paying enough attention.

    Still, the damage done to my hand in that escapade was extensive enough to make typing (a core element of the writing craft) really frigging hard, thus throwing my deadline back even further.

    But I am not one to go quietly into the night.

    Which is why the draft will be complete this week.

    I’m not sure if I’m the only one who has this problem but sometimes, particularly in the last week of a novel, I want to finish so badly that I actually have to coach myself to slow down. So this week is all about taking my time to get it right. These last two chapters include a space battle where the ship we’ve been traveling on for several hundred pages now finally gets to show us what she’s capable of, and resolution moments for a couple of subplots.

    And if I don’t get both of them right then the entire book is a wash.

    So here’s me, rolling up my sleeves and preparing for the week-long plunge into all things “climax” and “conclusion.” I’ll see you all on the other side.

  • How to Write a Dude

    Devon Barlow is a headstrong young man nearing his twenty-first birthday. He’s highly intelligent, very physically active (he goes spelunking on Pluto, how cool is that?) and he has a strong suspicion that his parents might just be pirates. Save for brief forays on Mars or Earth during the holiday seasons, Devon has lived the bulk of his life on board Zephyr, a hauler-class space ship. 

    I am a thirty-something single mother who reads too much and spends an embarrassing amount of time on video games. (Hey, games help keep my creative brain fresh and stuff. Don’t judge.)

    So how does a thirty-something single mother find the “voice” of a twenty-year-old boy in order to believably display his character on the page?

    Well … I read a lot. 

    I did say I read too much, didn’t I?

    In this case I deliberately hunted for books with young male points of view (really not that hard to do, you can find them in just about every book you pick up) and I studied them. I looked at what they thought or felt or did differently from how I might have reacted in any given situation and I jotted it down in a notepad. 

    I also talked to guy friends. If there was a situation happening on Zephyr in the book that could be easily translated into day-to-day life, I would nudge a guy and ask; “Hey, when you were twenty what would you have done if …”

    Disclaimer: These friends know I am an author. They find it highly amusing when I quiz them about what it’s like to be a dude and are more than happy to help out. However … most of them still think I’m crazy so … do this at your own peril. 

    That said, Devon Barlow might be a twenty-year-old young man but he is also a human being. He may think and feel differently from me but that does not mean I cannot relate to him. (Except for the pirate thing. I never suspected my parents of being pirates.)

    Fiction is the place where we can mind-meld with the world around us. It helps us understand people precisely because we find ourselves relating to characters vastly different from us. It teaches us to look at the core motivation in people because we know that, male or female, that motivation is what’s going to define them as a person.

    So!

    How to write a dude when you’re a girl?

    1) Read. (You should be doing this anyway if you’re a writer.)

    2) Observe and/or ask your guy counterparts.

    3) Find the core motivation.

    … and if anyone else has tricks to writing the opposite gender I’m happy to hear them. I’m sure I missed a few.