Update: if you don’t have two reviews to link, it’s cool … you can apply anyway. I have an idea for what to do.

Hi Guys,

I’m looking for two more people to become “trusted readers” — this means you get to read my first and second and third drafts and give me story feedback, ideas, “I hated this part” thoughts, and so forth. This is an unpaid thing … you’re basically trading some feedback for the chance at an early look at my upcoming work. You’ll also get thanked in the acknowledgments of anything that goes on to be published.

You will have to sign a very simple non-disclosure agreement. It’s a two-page contract in very readable English that just basically says “I totally won’t steal Chris’s books and give them out on the internet.”

In 2013 you will at definitely get to read The Broken God Machine before it comes out, along with the first draft of Monster Hunters, and probably another first draft. If you’re going to apply, please link me at least two book reviews you’ve written at Amazon, Goodreads, your blog, or similar. If the reviews can’t be linked (like Barnes & Noble or Apple), please describe how I can locate them. IE: “go to this book’s page and look for the user ‘TotesLuvsVampires’ … that’s me!”

Interested? Go to my contact form to get in touch.

After a couple of months of planning and getting everything together, I’ve launched the Kickstarter for The Children of the Sun! I’m really excited to be giving my readers the chance to pre-order the book, and to have a shot at some cool extra rewards as well. If you want a chance to get TCotS a week before it comes out, get signed copies of the print edition, or even get a chance to read my future work before it comes out, you should definitely check out the site.

If you’re not familiar with Kickstarter, it’s easy and convenient: you can sign up using an existing facebook or amazon account, or make a new Kickstarter account. Then you select a pledge amount and a reward tier (you can pledge higher then the reward you choose, if you want), set up payment through amazon.com, and then wait to see if the project succeeds. If it does, your card will be charged on August 29, and I will send you your reward(s) in November.

You can pledge anything from a dollar or more, and rewards start at three bucks, so it’s not expensive. Of course, if you want to drop some extra cash, you can get some pretty great perks!

If the project should fail, don’t worry — I will still release the book on time in November. However, there will be no chance to get it a week ahead of time, signed copies will be extremely limited in number, and there will be no additional rewards. So your best bet is to back the project.

Oh, and make sure to watch the video so you can check out the star turn by my adorable cat, Baron Salvatore H. Lynx II!

The Children of the Sun at Kickstarter

I think I’m going to try an experiment with this blog — I’m going to ask if you fine folks, my readers, have any particular questions for me. They can be about my writing process, or about the II AM Trilogy, or pretty much anything else you can think of. Ever have a question about one of the characters or events in Blood Hunt or TBTB? Ever wanted to know where I do my writing, or when I work, or how I come up with these zany ideas anyway? Now’s your chance!

Just visit my contact form, and ask. I’ll put together the MailBlog entry in a week or two, depending on how many questions come in! Hopefully I’ll get some interesting queries!

The results are in! I’ve drawn winners for all of the prizes in the II AM Trilogy “I Want a New eReader” Contest. Thanks to everyone who entered (more than 1,100 of you!) and congratulations to those who won. I’ll be holding more contests in 2012, including one for an early look at The Children of the Sun, so stay tuned!

Here’s the winner list:

Grand Prize

• Tiffany Tillman

First Prize

• Joiceann Fromm
• Clinton Ferreira
• Tammy Grice
• Fiona Cox
• Nanang Denny Vagustira

Second Prize

• Tyler Holland
• Brooke Jennings
• Sadie Samways
• Nadine Nel
• Luke Wolf
• Diane Ellison
• Richard Cook
• Julie Murray
• Caroline Massey
• Ginamarie Calix

My readers have been good to me. Blood Hunt is selling very well, particularly for an indie eBook, and feedback on the book has been extremely positive! With that in mind, I’ve put together a little contest. I’m giving away a free iPad 2, Kindle Fire, or Nook Color … along with some signed copies of my books (or gift cards for people who already have signed copies). Part of the idea of the contest is, of course, to drum up new readers, but it’s also a chance for existing readers to win something cool. It’s a way of saying “Thanks” for all the support and encouragement that so many of you have given me.

The contest runs til November 30, so there’s plenty of time to read The Blood That Bonds and Blood Hunt, if you haven’t already, and make sure you get those questions right.

You can visit the contest website now to see what the questions are or to enter. Good luck!

A couple more people have taken the time to review The Blood That Bonds on their blogs and offer some kind words about it. I figure the least I can do is link back to them in return!

• The Blood That Bonds Review by Tim Beachum
• The Blood That Bonds Review by Rebecca Hart

Thanks very much for taking the time to talk about TBTB with your readers, Tim and Rebecca! If anyone else out there has posted a review, please don’t hesitate to send me the link!

The last time I sat down in front of a microphone to be interviewed, the term “podcast” hadn’t been invented yet, I was still working in the video game industry, and I was covering the nightmarish hellscape that some people know as the Electronic Entertainment Expo, aka: E3.

I don’t do a whole lot of video game journalism or development these days, so opportunities to get in front of the mic at major trade shows are less frequent (particularly since I try to avoid major trade shows). The good folks over at The Online Guys, though, gave me an opportunity to stand up and speak out. Or rather, to hang out on my cell phone and chat with them for about twenty minutes on what it’s like to be an author making his way through the brave new world of electronic self-publishing. We talk about my work, the way I’ve used social media to connect with my fans, and dive for a bit into how the process of producing an eBook actually works.

You can check the interview out over at their website. Many thanks to Nils, Rob and Samantha (not the one from TBTB!) for having me as a guest. It was a good time!

Admit it: the one on the right looks way more interesting!

Something which you may have heard about, and which most authors fall victim to at some point in their writing, is the “Mary Sue” effect. This is a term used to describe when an author inserts a character into their work that they wish they could be. Usually it’s an idealized, impossibly attractive person who also happens to be brilliant and talented. This character typically lacks significant flaws, and while they may appeal to the author (for whom they are often acting as a surrogate), they’re rarely very compelling to readers.

I have by no means moved beyond this problem, though I’ve gotten better at identifying when I’m moving in that direction and working my way out of it. More and more I find myself putting together notes on my characters before I ever begin writing, in the hopes of avoiding the situation in the first place. One of the things I try to do with characters, especially major ones, is identify a trait or two that they possess that might not be considered desirable by most people.

As an example of what not to do, let’s take John Storm in my novella Voices. This is one of my oldest characters, originally created before my teens, and even in his present incarnation he suffers rather heavily from Mary Sue syndrome. He’s tall, fit and handsome, confident and caring, and frankly he seems to have his shit together far more than many twenty-five year-olds living in New York. Not super realistic to begin with … and this is a guy who supposedly spent the last decade or so thinking he was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and convinced he was crazy!

John does have a few flaws — overconfidence and a tendency to act without thinking among them — but he’s a bit too perfect for his own good. I don’t think this kills his character (reaction to Voices has overall been quite favorable), but of the four main characters in the book, it makes him by far the least compelling. Brian, Kevin, and particularly Jen are all far more interesting, in part because they have more flaws which they need to work to overcome.

In the real world, we’re all flawed, and readers will relate even on a subconscious level to a character who has to deal with this fact. In Voices, Jen is really struggling. At the start of the story, she’s on the far opposite spectrum of John: so flawed that she may initially seem abrasive to the reader. She’s a homeless alcoholic with a bad attitude who pushes hard against John’s attempts to help her. Even as her character evolves, the rough edges remain; Jen will always be stubborn, judgmental and quick to anger. It will always be an effort for her to let people in and let them get close. These traits, and the reasons for them, make her a more compelling character than John. As a side benefit, they also allow for some fun dialog, and some interesting plot points. Win-win!

Next time you’re coming up with characters for a story, try this exercise: write down their name on a sheet of paper (or a text editor), and then start listing words you think people would use to describe that person. If the descriptive list is coming up more than 80% positive, consider specifically adding some character flaws, physical flaws, or both. It may hurt a little to do it, but your characters and your writing will be better for it.

Seek out smart, thoughtful readers who will take notes on your work.

Believe it or not, one of the most difficult aspects of writing a book is getting honest feedback on your early drafts. Finding readers can be a difficult task in the first place, and even if you’re lucky enough to have achieved a level of popularity which simplifies that aspect, you’re still faced with the daunting task of weeding out the ones who can give you the criticism and critique that is so vital to redrafting (a process which I covered in my last blog entry). When you find someone who can give that kind of feedback — what I call a trusted reader — it’s like striking gold.

Over the years I’ve been fortunate enough to cultivate a small but incredibly valuable group of trusted readers who I know will deliver honest, specific, unbiased feedback on early drafts of my work. This group includes a few old friends, a professional editor whose services I periodically employ, a select few internet friends, and my brilliant wife (who pulls no punches!). I am highly appreciative of all of these folks, and I place an extraordinary amount of value on my relationships with them. Quite simply: without their input, my work would suck.

When trusted readers give feedback, it’s the type of response that delves well beyond “I loved it” or “I hated it” (or even worse: dead silence). The Blood That Bonds has earned enough fans at this point that I could quickly put together a group of readers for subsequent projects, but not all of them would be able to provide the feedback I need. Make no mistake: I’m very glad that they’re out there! I love hearing from people who enjoy my work, and the rush of receiving an “I loved your book!” email has yet to wear off. I’m not sure it’s ever going to.

I’m just not always looking for that rush. In particular, when I’ve finished a first or even second draft, what I’m looking for is criticism. Hard, heavy criticism. Criticism that hurts, that makes me want to get defensive and start justifying my choices. Criticism that leaves me thinking, “Jesus … I guess I shouldn’t quit my day job just yet.” Not every reader is able to give that kind of criticism. A lot of readers don’t want to give that kind of criticism; they just want to enjoy the story!

The thing is: nothing gets better without criticism. This is why identifying and appreciating trusted readers is so vital to any author’s work. I’m not going to pretend that The Blood That Bonds is a work of high literary art, but it’s a hell of a lot better in its finished version than it was as a first draft. My friends Caryn and Josh pointed out glaring issues with that draft which required major rewrites in the second draft. My editor Lauren went over draft two with a critical eye, pointing out not only myriad typos and grammar errors, but also giving her input on plot, pacing, and characterization. These opinions were all invaluable.

I’m currently in the middle of a feedback round on two different books: The Broken God Machine (first draft) and Blood Hunt (second draft). In the case of the former, I’ve sent it out only to the specific few people mentioned above. In the case of the latter, I’m trying something new: in addition to sending it to my trusted readers, I held a contest and picked ten readers who said they wanted to read it and fill out a brief questionnaire once done. I’ve already received five responses, and all five have provided useful information! I may well consider using some or all of them as trusted readers on future  projects. If you have existing fans, and aren’t terrified that they’ll leak your manuscript, I recommend giving something like this a shot.

Of course I can’t (and won’t) change every aspect of a book to suit the whims of everyone who comments on it. In the end, it’s my story, and certain plot details and character actions are set in stone. What I will do though is seriously consider everything they have to say, especially if more than one or two of the readers identify the same specific problem. Yes, it’s my book, but if some aspect of it’s not working for people, then that part probably needs to be either rethought, or rewritten to better accomplish whatever the goal was. This is the kind of invaluable information that can help you transform a rough first draft into a solid second draft, or take that second draft and build a polished manuscript that’s ready to be submitted to agents, editors, or publishers.

If you’re a writer, you need trusted readers. Without them, you’re going to have a very difficult time getting any kind of objective opinion on your drafts, and without those opinions, your work will never be as good as it could be. If you’re a reader, don’t be afraid to engage an author on a level beyond “I really enjoyed your book” … sending a thoughtful email with real critique in it might just land you the chance for an early look at new work. You’d be surprised how many talented authors, even ones who’ve been published before, are still actively looking for quality readers.