Beck Stewart - Author

[beckstewart-blog1]

Where have I been?

After having so much trouble with trying to post a very long and very image heavy blog post several months ago, I gave up with tumblr as a blog page for that particular post and moved myself over to wordpress instead. I’ve had so much better luck there than I could ever hope with tumblr, so it’s become my permanent blog space.

If you are still interested in hearing about Bloody Notes, my steampunk Jack the Ripper novel that is in the process of  being published, you can catch me over there.

https://beckstewartauthor.wordpress.com/

[beckstewart-blog1]

Success and Depression

As I try my best to finish the Christmas dress for Vanessa to use in my cover art, I can't help but worry how worth it all this will be. I guess I'm a bit of a Debby Downer. I'm always tough on myself because I've never been that successful at anything I've done. I'd explain a little more in detail what I mean, but that is just depressing. It's mostly that I compare myself to my friends, who are all a lot more successful than I have ever imagined I could be. And so I always end up building up hope, because if they can, I can, right? But I have no idea how. I try. I guess I don't do things that well. After this last weekend, attending Mile Hi Con with my boyfriend and a friend to sell their books, my hopes have dropped drastically. A lot of authors didn't sell very well that weekend, but a lot of staff and normal vendors said it was unusually slow. Normally they do the convention a couple weeks prior, but the venue was booked up and this last weekend was the only available one. I've come to understand the problem was that it was Halloween weekend and everyone was doing other things that weekend, such as parties or things to celebrate the season, not attending cons. But even so, trying to talk people up on the books that were being sold at our table (even the guy we were sharing a table with).. was hard. It's hard for me to talk to people as it is, I have a little bit of social anxiety and am just really shy in general. Despite growing up with my mom, who did marketing for a big name fast food restaurant in our area, I don't know how to market. Marketing for food and a book are two totally different things. Plus, mom had all the contacts she needed to do posters and things like that. I only just these last couple months found out how to get professional looking business cards. I get hits on my pages after handing them out, but I'm not getting very many, if any, likes. I try to interact with my followers, but I rarely get responses. It's something that also happens on my personal page. I'm told I'm likeable, but I don't get interactions. It's because of those things that I'm TERRIFIED that I will not be successful as a writer. A couple people showed a strong interest, but I'm worried with how long it's taking to get the cover made, that people will lose interest in it all together.

[beckstewart-blog1]

Conventions

How often do you go to conventions and what kinds do you prefer? I don't get to go very often, since my work schedule includes Saturday mornings. It's hard to go to a Friday at a con, since they start so late, and be able to go to work Saturday morning. Mostly I go to hang out. Taking time off work to attend or stay (or both on the very rare cases) means making sure I have enough of a cushion in my bank account that I don't feel guilty about going. I have a couple conventions that I usually frequent, or plan on going to more often now. Nan Desu Kan, Colorado's premier anime convention, was my first ever, and I've gone all except one year since 2005. Starfest became a favorite after finding a more mature crowd at it, and it encompassed a little more of the genres I prefer. And Anomaly Con, Denver's first steampunk convention. Though it's been around a few years now, I haven't been able to attend until this year. But I very much enjoyed myself and plan on continuing to attend. This weekend is a convention here in Denver! Actually several, it sounds like. However, I'll be attending one specifically. Who will be stopping by Mile Hi Con to come say hi to me?!

[beckstewart-blog1]

Starting Over

Sometimes I find that my writing and hobbies can overlap in similarities. While working on my dress for Vanessa the other day, my first prototype didn’t work out. It means having to try a different method, a slightly different idea. Honestly, still not completely sure that the idea for my second prototype will work, but I’ll never know if I don’t try. Writing is similar, in its own strange way. You can have a scene planned out a certain way in your head, but when you put pen to paper, it just won’t come out right, no matter what you do. Sometimes you have to scrap the idea completely. Sometimes you have to alter things slightly. I’ve been trying to work on the sequel book, Chaos Rises, but I keep getting stuck only a few pages into the writing. There’s a scene that has become strangely difficult to write. I was originally planning on a huge scene between two characters with lots of arguing, but I just couldn’t even get the scene to lead up to it, so I just skipped over it, thinking I could go back and write it in later. But after starting on a scene after that, I realized it sounded better. I still wanted it to sound a certain way, but no matter how much I wrote it, it wasn’t working. I would write a couple lines, then delete it. Write a couple different lines, go back a page, read it all together, and just delete everything again. Nothing sounded right, worked right. While working on the dress the other night, my boyfriend was over and we both worked on our individual projects. Eventually, he brought up the part I was having a hard time with writing and we brainstormed a bit. With some of his input ideas, my scene is going to end up turning out nothing like I originally planned out. I haven’t written it. Yet. But it’s close, whenever I have a moment to spare to sit and type without distraction. As I’m sure you all noticed with this blog getting out a day late, I’ve been busy with things all over the place and haven’t been able to stay on just one project. Need to remedy this soon.

Warning to writers

While you are worrying about whether beta readers will steal your ideas, there is a more genuine threat on the horizon.

When offered a publishing contract, please do all your research before you sign. There are a number of fakes and scammers out there, as well as good-intentioned amateurs that don’t know how to get your work to a wide audience. I won’t tell the heartbreaking stories here - there are too many.

Being published badly is worse than being never published.

It can destroy your career and your dreams.

The quick check is to google the publishing house name + scam or warning.

But, to be sure, check with these places first. They aren’t infallible (nothing is) but they can help you protect yourself. They are written and maintained by expereinced writers, editors, publishers and legal folks.

Absolute Write: Bewares and Background Checks

Preditors and editors

Writer Beware

and the WRITER BEWARE blog

Keep yourself and your work safe.

This is really important, so if you are a writer or have writer friends, or you are a writing blog, please reblog it.

[rosey-buddy]

Just to let you know, PublishAmerica changed their name to America Star Books.

[lunamax1214]

HEAD’S UP, WRITER TYPES: THIS IS AN IMPORTANT PSA!

[oldmanyellsatcloud]

Also applies to many so-called freelance sites that are just content mills, and may not pay unless your work is used, even if the contract seems designed otherwise.

[konekat]

Listen, reading these is like legit reading horror stories.  When it comes to publishing your writing, always, always, ALWAYS do your research.  Not only will it help you avoid scams, but it will also be likely to help you land a much better fit for an agent/publisher/whatever.  Knowing more is never going to hurt.

[glorious74-deactivated20181211]

Omg!!! Thanks for the warning! Writers— reblog!

[thegirlwiththebook]

I’ve heard stories like this that are scarier than horror stories. This is an all time worst nightmare for a writer. Everyone reblog and make sure you keep your work safe! 

[the960writers]

Always, ALWAYS check Writer Beware. Let me also recommend Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s blog about contracts and contract scams for authors in her section Business Musings.

[more-legit-gr8er-writing-tips]

Reblogging again for the links. Also check pred-ed.com and the Absolute Write forum. Then google Publisher’s name + scam and see what comes up. Do NOT use the BBB ratings, they are wholly unsuitable for rating publishers and regularly give A ratings to well-known publishing scams. You can also read my own post on publishing scams, have a link on the left of my blog ( can’t link here, I’m on mobile, sorry).

[bodaciousbanshee-deactivated202]

@korrigu

[breelandwalker]

SUPER IMPORTANT PSA!

Equally important to know is that you can SELF-PUBLISH through a number of platforms these days. @ean-amhran and I used Amazon’s CreateSpace and Kindle Direct Publishing to publish both of our books. No editors, no contracts, no finagling with publishers who want to change your materials. Just direct-to-market material.

(Granted, it means you’ve got to do a LOT more work yourself with editing and formatting and cover art, but it’s worth it to miss the headache of trying to bargain with publishing houses or avoid scams.)

Be vigilant, fellow writers!

[beckstewart-blog1]

Side Projects - Help Focus or Distraction?

Is having side projects while you write a good idea? Perhaps it isn’t something directly tied to your writing. Maybe it’s just a couple pieces of art for the characters, or trying to design the cover. Or if you’re also a costume designer and making outfits for your characters to wear to future events for your book. Okay, so maybe you aren’t me and have twenty thousand other things going on while trying to work on your book. Sometimes having side projects are great to help focusing, because when you get exhausted of one thing for the day, you can move onto something else. Sometimes though, it’s more of a distraction, because you end up working on one thing other than your main project. For me, sometimes it helps me to stay focused. But lately, it’s become not just a distraction, but a giant chunk of time that is exhausting me. In Bloody Notes, Vanessa wears a gorgeous white dress for a Christmas party, and I got the idea that maybe this dress could be great for a cover art. Having a cover art with an actual model on it as Vanessa is something a little easier to keep as a theme with future books than my original mock up would be. Plus the dress could be worn to future events for book showings or whatever. Or even just for the usual steampunk events that I normally like to go to. I love the dress, and I honestly can’t wait to get it finished. But I’m trying to go a little traditional, and wear a corset under the dress, so as I’m making it, I’m trying to size the pattern down to fit close to the corset. It sounds fairly easily, but I’m already finding that my original pattern needs lots of modifications to it to cover the corset properly, and places it needs to be taken in that I didn’t consider at first. I’m constantly stitching, then going and put the corset on, and having a second pair of hands help to take the pattern in, and then going back and forth between the two actions over and over until I’m happy. The problem is… wearing the corset while I cut and sew is a little uncomfortable, so I only put it on when I’m doing my fitting, and it takes  a while to get into the corset and back out again, so it’s taking several days to get anything done. As soon as I’m done with my prototype of the dress top, I can get everything going fast. But currently I feel like I’ve barely made a dent in anything, because every time after I get out of the corset, I’m a little worn out. Of course, everything is going by very slow, and I hate it. I sometimes  wonder why I thought it would be a good idea to do this dress, but hey, I’m up for some insane challenges sometimes. I’ve always wanted to be able to wear a Victorian style dress properly with a corset underneath it. I’m used to wearing corsets, so I’m hoping it isn’t something that will end up bothering me.

[beckstewart-blog1]

Perspective

Every author has a certain perspective that they prefer to write in. Some people prefer to tell their story as if the main character is telling it. I love those kinds of stories because you get to see their personality through the way that they tell their own story. One of my favorite novel series, The Cal Leandros series by Rob Thurman, is written in that manner. Cal is so snarky and it shows through how he tells his story of chasing after werewolves, demons... even his own dealings with his brother and the infamous Puck.

Other authors prefer to write in a third person point of view. You tell the story, but it’s a step back from the main character. You’re observing them, you know what is going on in their head, but they aren’t the one telling the story. From this point of view, as the reader, you still know what their thoughts and feelings are as certain events unfold, but the story is told more as facts rather than storytelling.

However, my preference is a little more than that. Especially with my series. I write third person. Though it would be a little hilarious to possibly know every snarky comment Vanessa would be making through her journey in this series, I found that I have two main characters. A limited view of just one of the characters would be difficult. Vanessa and Leon have very different thoughts and views about everything. Depending on the scene, the perspective will slip slightly from either Vanessa, Leon, or an overall view of everything going on. Though I must admit, that in Bloody Notes, the ‘camera’ seems to follow Leon more than it does Vanessa. Or maybe that’s just me?

Having a third-person omniscient view point when writing The Leviathan Mysteries is extremely important in this case. It’s not just that one person knows something important to a scene in one case, while the other’s feelings in a certain situation is more important in another. It’s what comes later. Though originally this was going to be a stand-alone story, I have since thought of elaborations for this story. The extended version... well, as things move along, the two will end up having a long separation. Being able to write in this perspective of third person, rather than a limited single view, I’ll be able to jump back and forth between the two of them and give all sides of the story going on. So I guess you could say it was a happy accident that I ended up writing Bloody Notes in that particular style.

On a side note... yesterday was my birthday! It’s a little crazy how time goes by. I don’t think I’ll ever actually feel my age. I also got my cards delivered! I’m so ecstatic with them! I never thought I’d have cards that look this nice, but dang... Things do change.

[beckstewart-blog1]

Comics vs Novels

I embarrassed myself the other day when my boyfriend asked if he could see my old deviantart account. It wasn’t until I had started scrolling through the things on my old fan art page that I remembered why that one got so many hits and decided I should probably warn him about a weird and silly comic that I had written almost ten years ago. Despite the unusual topic of the short-lived comic, he asked what’s the difference between writing a novel and writing a comic.

It’s something I’ve never really thought of, and it’s been so many years since I’ve written a full comic like that. I’ve made little ones here and there and wanted to make more to make fun of some of the things I deal with in everyday life. I’m sure every artist out there has different ways about making comics, but for me it’s fairly simple.

When it comes to writing a book, you have all the time in the world to talk about scenarios. You get to describe what a room looks like, what a person looks like, but in the end, it’s always up to the reader how exactly that person looks. I read somewhere that it’s amazing that one thousand people could have read the same book, have the same favorite character, but each person has their own idea of what that character looks like. And I suppose that’s the nice thing about reading a book. It’s your own interpretation.

But comics are a little less for the imagination. You don’t get to tell the reader this is how the person looks like, you show them specifically this is what they look like. This is how their nose crinkles up when they talk about someone they don’t like, this is how their posture is, this is the kinds of clothes that they wear. If you have a very specific look you want for a character or place, this is a great way to have your audience see what you see.

It helps a little if you have the artistic talent to pull it off. Ha!

There’s also the ability to get to play with the angle. When reading a book, you see a movie in your head. You see the movie from whatever angle or shot that you think best fits what you are reading. When it comes to comics, you get to show them specifically what you want them to focus on. And you can show a reader what is important by the size of the frame, or even the shape of the frame. It’s a little like how you would plan out making a movie, you just don’t have the actors and film crew to do it.

When I write comics, I have a script in my head. I know what I want my characters to say, it just is a matter of how I want it to look when I draw it out. Things change as I develop through the comic sometimes. I never plan the panels or anything ahead of time. I just go. Single page comics are a little less to think about. I don’t usually even plan panels, no boundaries. Just kind of a flow of the eye and that’s it. A close up shot that shows character 1, a close up shot that shows character 2, a wide shot showing the conflict, and then a shot of one of the character’s responses to what is going on.

Comics aren’t a big thing in my future. Only for the random things that happen in life. It’s easier for me to write things than it is to draw it half the time anymore.

[thewritershandbook]

[thewritershandbook]

[theunnovelist]

100 Resources to Help You Write Your Novel

The biggest challenge to writing a novel is enduring to the final two words—THE END. Between the first line and the last are questions, choices, doubts. Sometimes they get the better of us, sometimes and we quit before the draft is complete.

The following articles contain insights, inspiration, maps and methods, answers to questions, and myriad tools to get unstuck.

The Idea

Story arises from the impetus that starts the imagination on a quest to create a world in which the idea can grow in a movement toward meaning. Learn how to generate, recognize, and test your story ideas.

The Idea

Where Ideas Come From

Follow the Story

Keeping Confidence When Sails Deflate

What If?

What’s In A Title?

Storm Clouds

Wrong Turn

Obsession

Turn A Taboo

Cerebral Cinema

Heard It Through the Grapevine

Enter Stranger

Mad, Mad World

The Myth of Marital Bliss

A Picture’s Worth 1000 Words

Quotes for Writers

Photo Gallery Prompts

Theme & Premise

Theme is the tangential force that unifies story elements and instills those elements with meaning. From theme, the writer weighs in with a premise, and the story gains its philosophical, psychological, or spiritual spine. A well-crafted premise forces the writer to identify a main character, a central conflict, and a general plot. Like a mini-outline, the premise illuminates the story’s best course.

Understand the dynamics of theme and premise, learn how to differentiate and utilize the two.

Every Story Needs a Theme

Two Sides To Every Story

All-American Theme

How to Write a Story Premise

Plot Structure & Development

Story is a record of years, weeks, days, while plot derives and conveys meaning from a span of years, weeks, days. A hero wants something, goes after it despite opposition, and arrives at a win, lose, or draw. Unlike a chronicle of events (when someone says this happened, then this, then that) plot is dynamic. Plot is an interplay of forces coming together, pushing against each other, incrementally advancing while simultaneously coming to a boil, and ultimately achieving equilibrium.

Discover how to maximize the physics of drama.

The Physics of Drama

Plot Structure in Three Acts

Plot: The Inciting Incident

Plotting Your Novel’s Middle

Plotting the End of the Middle

Plotting the End

Something Happened

The Moment of Clarity

Filling the Emotional Void

Balancing the Plot Triad

Balancing the Plot Triad Part II

Creativity Abhors a Box

The Outline

An outline provides milestones along a story’s route and makes sure the writer hits his plot points while steering clear of detours. Of course, some wrong turns amount to genius, but an outline can help to identify what is genius and what is superfluous.

To Outline or Not To Outline

The Outline as Plot Development

Outline in Three Acts

Outlining The Ten Story Elements

Outlining The Ten Story Elements Cont’d

Creating Characters

Knowing what your characters need from you to take on a distinctive persona is integral to their creation and the success of your novel.

What goes into a great first line—a line so promising that readers commit to the next two chapters?

Characters & Plot

Memorable Characters

Identifiable Characters

Test of Time

The Character Profile

From Backstory to Front

The Heart of Character

Prince By Palace

Thoughts

Body Language

As A Man Speaks

Words Portray Character

Opinions

Actions

Through Another’s Eyes

Pressure

Character Check

A Unique Brand of Nice

Creating Funny Characters

The Fatal Flaw

Fatal Flaws in Literature, Film, & Television Characters

The Character Arc

The Enneagram Personalities

The Enneagram in Literature

By Any Other Name

Fiction’s Best Characters

Joseph Heller’s Yossarian from Catch-22

Anne Tyler’s Maggie Moran from Breathing Lessons: A Novel

The Lead

What goes into a great first line—a line so promising that readers commit to the next two chapters?

Your Novel’s All-Important Lead

Begin With Character

Begin With Place

Begin With Questions

Begin With Answers

Begin With The Problem

Begin With The Unprecedented

Pencil In a Title

7 Ways NOT to Begin Your Novel

100 Best Opening Lines

The Ending

What goes into a great ending—an ending so satisfying that readers commit to buying your next novel?

Endings Part I

Endings Part II

100 Best Novel Endings

Dialogue

The dos and don’ts of writing dialogue that will move your story forward while establishing characters.

Dialogue Part I

Write Between the Lines

Dialogue Is Adversarial

Internal Monologue

He Said, She Said

Dialogue Checklist

Humor

Everyone enjoys a laugh, but some writers are better than others when it comes to getting a chuckle from their readers. As E.B. White wrote, “Humor has a certain fragility, an evasiveness which one had best respect.” But understanding the patterns and repetitions that breach expectations, writers are able to craft the benign violations that tickle the brain and add to the texture of any genre piece.

Humor in Literature

The 1, 2, 3 of Humor

Humorous Imagery

Humorous Word Choice and Arrangement

Words With a Humorous Ring

Characters That Get Us Laughing

Humor Writing Exercises

Edits & Revisions

Editing is everything. Know what to look for and how to self-edit your novel.

Editing Your Manuscript

Editing Your Manuscript Part II

Re-Vision

Re-Vision Part II

Editing Checklist

TWITTER I FACEBOOK I GOOGLEPlus I PINTEREST I WEBSITE

[septembercfawkes]

What You Need to Know Most About Character Voice

I’m kind of embarrassed to admit I didn’t have much of an understanding of character voice two years ago. I’m an English graduate, and none of my professors in college really talked about it. I think I remember learning the definition in high school and reading it briefly in a few writing tips.

In truth, I’ve probably heard the fact that “voice is one of the biggest draws for getting an agent or editor” more than I’ve actually heard tips on writing voice. Since then, I’ve gotten to the heart of what voice is. Or so I think. You’ll have to judge for yourself. Here’s what I found for anyone who might be struggling like I once was, or anyone who wants to learn more. The stuff in this post is what helped me bring that elusive voice into focus.

First, by definition, “voice” can refer to the writer’s style, the narrator’s style, or, your characters’ persona, thoughts, speech patterns, and word choice.

Sometimes when people think of character voice, they think of first-person narration, but really, all characters have a voice of their own, even if they aren’t telling the story. To illustrate, here are three lines from Harry, Ron, and Hermione:

“Don’t go picking a row with Malfoy, don’t forget, he’s a prefect now, he could make life difficult for you…”

“Can I have a look at Uranus too, Lavender?”

“I don’t go looking for trouble. Trouble usually finds me.”

If you’ve read the books, I bet you can tell who said what.

Voice is made up of two things: What the character talks (or sometimes thinks) about, and how she says it. In other words:

What the Character Talks about + How She Says it = Voice

Hermione believes in following rules and frequently tells Ron and Harry to do likewise. She’s also very logical and intelligent. In the first line above, she chooses to warn Harry, and then explains, logically, why he should heed her warning. Ron usually says those comical one-liners, and his language is usually a little coarser than the other two, so his quote is the second one. Because Harry is frequently accused of things, he often has to defend himself, “I don’t go looking for trouble.”

  What Your Character Talks About

So, What does your character choose to talk about? What does he not talk about?

In Lord of the Rings, the Hobbits often talk about food. They’re Hobbits, so they eat a lot more than the other characters and therefore food is important to their culture. Because they bring up food a lot, we know that’s what they are thinking about on their journey. They don’t casually strike up conversations about advanced battle tactics; they don’t have a war-based background. And any conversation they do have about battle tactics wouldn’t be on the same level as a warrior. So their background, culture, interests, and experience influence their voice.

If your character is a nutritionist, she might look at her lunch and talk about complex carbs, protein, calories, and vitamins. A fashionista might notice that her best friend is wearing this season’s color. A dentist might see people’s teeth first.

Remember, what your character chooses to talk about reflects what he’s thinking about. I know that sounds obvious, but have you really considered it? If your character says something, it’s also conveying to your reader what’s on his mind at that moment.

You can work that to your advantage by having your character say something surprising in a specific situation. If I have a character break up with her boyfriend, and she’s crying, and someone tries to comfort her, and she says, “It’s not Zach so much. Now I have to go to the dance looking like a complete idiot.” Not only is the response surprising—she’s not crying over the loss of Zach, but her potential embarrassment—it also reveals character—she’s more concerned with her image than the loss of her significant other.

Having that specific line stated in that situation conveys a lot about the character and her relationship with her boyfriend. It conveys what she’s thinking about most.

In Part 2 of this,  I’ll delve into how characters talk, mentioning some of the potential problems and a few minor techniques you can use for a character’s voice.

UPDATE: Read Part 2 here

[hungryhungryterminator]

WRITER TIPS.

[arialerendeair]

I NEED THESE ON A POSTER ON MY WALL.  ;;  

[majestic-space-being-blog]

These just made me start crying. I would die if any of these actually happened.

[beckstewart-blog1]

I forgot to write a new blog for today, but I am too excited to think of anything else to write about today! I GOT MY BUSINESS CARDS ORDERED! And I have my book set up for publishing, the only thing that still needs to be done is a final cover work. AH! But I'm in the process for creating something better than the mock up I showed y'all last week. Also, a memory came up on my personal Facebook page. Inspirational posters for writers. I looked through them again, and almost started crying. These things are so amazing.

[beckstewart-blog1]

Designs

I’m not quite all here right now, my brain is on overdrive right now. I’ve been spending the last few days working on business cards designs for both my author pages and cosplay pages. After a while, I finally came up with some final designs! Today’s brief blog is simply showing off what I’ve been doing.

The business card design for my author’s page underwent only two transformations. I tried a few other designs, but the images didn’t fit very well, so two were the final looks, and this one was the best.

The business card designs for my cosplay page had ten different looks, and I could not pick just one design that I liked, so I left it up to a vote on my personal page. Jus twenty-four hours later, the voting was very much obviously over as this design won by a landslide.

My mock design for my novel cover. I got the idea after doing the business card, and decided to elaborate on the cover design. However, I don’t know if this will be a final design, as I’m not sure I can duplicate anything similar to future novels. So it may be scrapped later.

[beckstewart-blog1]

Convention Prep Week

Oh man, I forgot to plan a blog this week! It’s been a little hectic this week, so I was focusing on other things rather than writing. Why?

Nan Desu Kan! Denver’s anime convention that is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. I’ve been going since 2005, and last year was the only time I missed going. I had to pass it up in order to go to different convention at the end of the month. They also changed venues and I got a little nervous about going to a new location I was unfamiliar with because I get a little social anxiety sometimes. Even though I haven’t watched a lot of new anime, it’s fun to hang out with friends. This year, I’m only attending one day and going with my boyfriend, as he’s never gone to an anime con before.

Like every convention, I have a new costume to debut! There is an anime that came out when I was younger, and when I found out the name of a character, I thought that I would like to dress as a girl version of that character, since it’s my mom’s maiden name. When you have Ketchum blood, how can you not cosplay from Pokemon? So seeing all my friends making Pokemon GO costumes, I got the itch to finally make this costume. I decided to take the idea of the Pokemon GO trainer outfit, but style it in the colors and look of Ash Ketchum’s original outfit design. I even still have a Pikachu stuffed animal that I’ve kept all these years, knowing that someday I would make “Ashley” Ketchum. The design was extremely easy, and required minimal modifications of a couple of colored t-shirts and zipper.

I also started some brainstorming with some more in depth details about Bloody Notes’ sequel and following novels. Bouncing ideas off of my boyfriend helped greatly, because he was throwing all kinds of questions about things my way that I wasn’t considering before, which helped to flesh out some of the details I had that were extremely vague before. It’s been a while since I’ve had someone I could do that with, and it makes me feel like I’m starting to make some progress again.

Someday, I’d like to be able to have a table at convention again. I’ve had one in the past a couple of times, but it sold mediocre jewelry designs and a bookmark that didn’t sell. Maybe future sales will be better, now that I’ve improved in some aspects. I also would love to sell little figurines of my main characters. Being successful at the conventions has always been a dream. I just am utterly terrified sometimes that I’m going to fail like with my past attempts at having a table. I’m thankful that I shared a table in the past. But perhaps I just never found the right venue. I’m excited about Anomaly Con, Colorado’s first steampunk convention. Where books at almost every single table is common! Where bookmarks are actually needed! Where people are looking for pieces to enhance their costumes! A place where I can hopefully belong and grow a wonderful fan base.

[beckstewart-blog1]

Soundtracks and Playlists Pt. 2

Chaos Rises Playlist

After completing the playlist for Bloody Notes, and using all music from Abney Park, I knew I was in trouble for the sequel that had started to come to mind. I needed more than the music I had already. I set off on another search on youtube. A friend had mentioned Abney Park to me years before I started writing, but I never heard of any other artists or bands. I had no idea what to even search for, let alone if they actually were considered steampunk. The first one that caught my eye was this screenshot of a person standing at the ocean in a black and red outfit, but their face was painted up like a robot. For the longest time, as I was scrolling through results, I passed it up because the look kind of creeped me out. Finally, I gave up on trying to find anything specific, and just started clicking on links and listening to what it was. So I clicked on the creepy robot screenshot, and was blown away by the sound of ‘Honeybee’ by Steam Powered Giraffe. I had no idea what I had just gotten myself into but I couldn’t deny the chills the song caused, and I found a new obsession. But that’s a whole other story! It was the start of something amazing though. I started finding several new artists after that, bands that I never knew existed, and steampunk music became my life. There was so much out there. But I had barely an idea of what I wanted for a follow up novel, and trying to find things that fit with it, meant going through so many albums. There are still songs and albums and artists I have yet to touch, but it just means more discoveries for the future stories! - London 1856 – Walid Feghali - Rain – Pandora Celtica - The Secret Life of Dr Calgori – Abney Park - Clockwork Vaudeville – Steam Powered Giraffe - Too Far to Turn Back – Abney Park - The Depths Below – The Cog is Dead - Soliton – Steam Powered Giraffe - Fight of Flight – Abney Park Sadly, I don’t want to say too much about why I picked some of these songs. You’ll just have to listen to them and make some guesses about the upcoming story for yourself!

[beckstewart-blog1]

Soundtracks and Playlists - Pt. 1

When it comes to writing, it’s always sometimes a little hard to get into the swing of things if you can’t completely immerse yourself in what you are writing. I find one of the hardest things for me when I write is being able to stay focused because of what is going on around me. So I long ago came up with a fairly simple solution to that. I had started listening to music with headphones on when I was writing. It helped to drown out the rest of the world around me so that I wouldn’t be tempted to look up from my paper or computer screen to just gaze at what was going on around me and get distracted from scenes that I wanted to write in my head. Even if I found myself in a completely empty room with no distractions whatsoever, I was distracted by there being nothing there. When I started writing some of my fantasy stories back in high school, I listened to a lot of the Lord of the Rings soundtracks. Having no lyrics helped to stay focused, the adventures that were painted with just a melody made it easier to focus and infuse my writing with the melody. When it came to writing battles, I’d listen mostly to the battle music from the soundtracks, and when it came to happy times, something like “Concerning Hobbits” played instead. Having only one or two songs here or there with lyrics made it easier to focus, because I didn’t want to just sit there and think about singing along (which I have a bad habit of doing). But I found that when I got to writing steampunk, Howard Shore didn’t work all that well anymore for background noise. I tried listening to some trance music that I had, or other just instrumental things, but nothing really helped with getting me focused just right. Finally, I remembered a friend mentioning Abney Park was a steampunk music group. I spent a good amount of time on youtube trying to find songs and full albums from this band, and getting my hands on as much of their steampunk style music as possible. And it worked. I had three albums that I was able to collect from them, ‘Lost Horizons,’ ‘Æther Shanties,’ and ‘The End of Days.’ For the most part, I listened to everything when I was writing. But eventually, I noticed that certain songs were sticking out to me that seemed to fit with my writing, or had some strange tie in somehow. It wasn’t until I was nearly finished that I started to realize which songs made an impact, but I waited until I was fully finished to construct my playlist. - She – A song from Leon’s perspective about a woman in his life. - Herr Drosselmeyers Doll – Plays a little bit mechanical dolls that were introduced in the novel. - Under the Radar – A bit of a theme song for the Greenwich Gang and how they operate. - Wanderlust – Explores a little bit of Vanessa’s personality. She’s not a lady that will just sit around. She wants to be out there doing things and being places. - The Derelict – I had just finished reading Treasure Island and instantly recognized the lyrics and had to include it. - Victoria – It’s a beautiful waltz song. I instantly fell in love the first time I heard it. The song is really sad and the lyrics don’t really fit with the story at this point in time, but perhaps this is what Leon and Vanessa dance to during the Christmas party. - Æther Shanty – Another song that was considered for later in the series. I thought that eventually I want the characters to be able to go out and travel the globe, and some of the catastrophes the crew would face. - The Clockyard – A catchy little tune that stuck with me. Doesn’t really have much connection to the story itself, other than the use of the name in the series. A clockyard is basically like a junk yard, but usually containing only pieces of broken machinery, mainly clocks and steam engine items. - The End of the Day – Another catchy tune. I loved the sound of this song the most, and it was hard to not dance a little to it each time it came up on the playlist. - The Wrath of Fate – One of those songs that was considered for later in the series. Aeroships weren’t a very big thing in the first novel, but they will start appearing more later in the story, so all the horrible things that could happen on airships and zepplins is a definite worry. - Victorian Vigilante – With a story about Jack the Ripper, and someone trying to catch him, how could a song about someone being a vigilante not be on this playlist? - Letter Between a Little Boy and Himself as an Adult – It’s not so much anything that has to do with the story, but perhaps if Vanessa and Leon had a chance to do something like this… send letters to their younger selves, would their story have been different? It’s a bit of an interesting ‘what if’ that perhaps a lot of Victorian era people thought about.

Bloody Notes playlist

I teased with myself that if my novel ever became a movie, this would be the soundtrack to it. And I laughed a little, because I thought “Does that mean that Abney Park would be the only music provider for the album?” I quickly realized that I didn’t know if there were other steampunk artists out there when it came to music. I only had ever heard about Abney Park. Even a steampunk romance novel I had been reading very briefly made a reference to their pirate flag on someone’s t-shirt. I wanted a little more variety when I went to work on my sequel novel. Only three Abney Park albums that had already been well picked through for the first book wasn’t going to be a good place for choices. So off to youtube I went again, in search of something new.