Linton Bowers

Author: Linton

  • Novel Publish Project

    lintonheadshot-243x300This means I’ll be talking about my writing process, what I learn from self publishing, and what I learn about marketing on a weekly basis. I call it the Novel Publish Project. Lets get started with week one.

    Current word count is 22,497 words. My plan and hope- this is where the inexperience kicks in -is that this book is at a minimum of 75,000 words. What I have done so far today is to consolidate chapters making them around 3,000 words each. This took me from 22 chapters of various lengths down to 9 chapters. The reason I did this is to make the chapters a more reader friendly length. Something I learned from an author on one of the podcasts I frequent. The 3000 word length chapter was given a little more import when a friend of mine said he wrote his chapters that length for the same reasons. While I was consolidating I noticed that the 3000 word chunks worked well together and may have made the chapters stronger . We will have to wait for editing to see for sure if the chapters work as they are now.

    Another benefit from this is getting familiar with the story. I have taken a good long while off from writing because of some recent life changes. All of it good, so have no fear about that, but it was time consuming. I am a little concerned about finding the characters voice again and maintaining the continuity of the story after almost a month away from it. Again, if I fail in this it will have to be fixed during editing.

    The last thing I want to touch on for now is my schedule. Before, when I was on the road, I would get off from work eat and then get on my computer. Time would be spent writing, on social media, watching movies or shows, and reading. Now that I am coming home to the family everyday I want to be sure to spend time with them as well as getting some words down. I plan to get some words written on my lunch breaks, but like before the duration and time of said breaks fluctuates. Lunch breaks are too chaotic to count on for getting words written on a daily basis. Writing at home will have to happen. This is something I will be discussing with my wife so we can work out an acceptable schedule.

    Well, I’ve gone on for long enough. These posts will be short so a good majority of the time I have can be spent on writing story. Look for another update next week. I’ll be talking about how difficult or easy it was to slip back into the story and into my P.O.V. (point of view) character.

    Till then I bid you farewell.

  • A Final Act of Cruelty

    I have the pleasure of doing a brief interview with Edward Lorn regarding his IndiGoGo campaing, A final Act of Cruelty.

    Edward, all this Indiegogo goodness came about as the result of some recent medical issues. How are you feeling now?

     

    Yep, this is my fourth back surgery in nine years. I’m doing as well as can be expected. I’m on some pretty powerful pain medication, so I spend more time in Fantasyland than ever before. Luckily, the pain is under control, but I’m still having some nerve damage issues. Loss of feeling in my big toe, my right hip and knee, and I probably will never be able to drive a conventional vehicle again. I might have to buy one of those nifty vans with the hand controls on the steering wheel. Cruisin’ USA, baby!

     

    WOW! I’m sorry to hear that. I hope your recovery continues to go well. Lets get to the topic at hand, Cruelty. Where did the idea come from for the cherub faced killer, Cruelty?

     

    I’ve always been terrified of dolls, so I suppose it was a bit of trying to tackle my own fears. But I wanted something different. The horror world doesn’t need another Chuckie. I figured, since I’m a big guy who’s terrified of a child’s plaything, why not make one giant child’s plaything. Thusly, my 600 pound baby doll was born.

     

    I understand that all or most of your fiction takes place in the Lornverse (not sure if you call it that) how does this story fit into your world?

     

    Well, eventually, all roads lead back to Bay’s End, but this go around, we’re taking a detour. Cruelty is more of a very loose sequel to Dastardly Bastard, or maybe my apology to fans for not explaining more about where the Bastard came from. By the end of Cruelty, all will be explained, and hopefully the (what did you call it?) the “Lornverse” (I like that, by the way) will become a little clearer.

     

    Awesome. I was wondering how and why all the other characters in Cruelty fit in, and it seems I will get my answer. You’ve mentioned before that Cruelty is your “slasher” story. This makes me wonder if we’ll be seeing much more of Cruelty after the second half of this story is finished. Can we the reader look forward to Cruelty 2, 3, 4, and Cruelty in space?

     

    Every good slasher has gone to space, (Leprechaun, Critters, Jason, and Pinhead) so I don’t see why not. I say we need to petition to get Mike Myers and Freddy up there real soon. As for Cruel Dog, I don’t know if we’ll be seeing more of him, per se, and readers will understand why when the series returns with A Final Act of Cruelty. I will say this, the final five episodes will involve origins and endings, but Cruelty’s been around for ninety years (according to the timeline of the book) so maybe… prequels?

     

    Since the end is in sight, what’s next for you after Cruelty?

     

    Fog Warning (a novella) will be close on A Final Act of Cruelty’s heels, as will a new short story collection entitled Others & Oddities, then I’ll be jumping back into a project that I’ve been working on with author Jeff Brackett; that one’s called Chucklers. We’re looking at a trilogy, maybe more, depending on how well the series does. At the moment, the second Larry Laughlin book, Pennies for the Damned, is in editing, so you should see that one this year as well, then Corpses for the Grinder some time in 2015. Sheesh… I’m outta breath.

     

    Thank you for taking a moment to entertain some questions.