Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Writing Journal: Becoming a Best-Selling Author

As I fine-tune my eighth book for publication, I realize it's time for some reflection on becoming a best-selling author.

No, just kidding. I write books, I don't sell them. Yet.

So let's just chit-chat about my new stuff.

My current project is a humorous sequel to Dementia-13, the non-humorous 1963 Francis Ford Coppola film.

I'm learning a lot by writing it, mostly regarding characterization and motivation. Working with someone else's world forces you to keep a lot of details straight, even when you only have a handful of details to work with.

"But WHY did you write something that's basically fan fiction? And aren't you worried about being sued?"

Second question first: Nope, because Dementia-13 is in the public domain, so it's a legal sandbox to play in.

First question second: Thought it would be a fun writing exercise.

The idea to riff on public domain works came from a local filmmaker, John Johnson, doing a Plan 9 from Outer Space remake. And when I also heard about someone raising funds on Kickstarter for a remake of The Brain That Wouldn't Die, I realized it was time to dive in.

I made a list of about a dozen fun weird movies that are in the public domain (The Brain That Wouldn't Die, Night of the Living Dead, Glen or Glenda, Attack of the Giant Leeches, etc.) and I have ideas for prequels and sequels to all of them. But that sounds like a lot of work, so I'll probably end up just doing a collection of short-short riffs on all of them. Maybe for my 20th book.

The bottom line is that I never know what my next book will be.

A throwaway conversation about international flights with a co-worker sparked Nut Rage, which I'll write someday. Energy drink consumption inspired False Farts, which is outlined and ready to flesh out. 

And I don't remember what inspired my two written-and-currently-being-revised books, Derpa Derp and Please Don't Eat My Face! If I recall, I had the latter as a document title- nothing more- and settled on writing it based on the title alone.

I meant for both of those to be stand-alone works, but they both turned out open-ended. I mean- you can read and enjoy them and never read the sequels. But there's more there in each case. And I have sequels to write for my Tronald Rump and Eric Roberts books. And unless readers start yelling at me, I won't rush any of those follow-ups.

But on the other other hand, any of them might be my next book. I'm guessing Derpa Derp 2: Derp Derpa is the most likely candidate since I have the most concrete outline for it and it makes me giggle hardest. Always trust your giggles.


-Phony McFakename

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Legal disclaimer: Me am on Twitter and Facebook and Instagram and YouTube and even Pinterest if that's your thing. And me books am on Amazon and Barnes & Noble and Kobo and probably some other places, too.

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