5 Ways to Reveal Backstory When Writing A Novel

For my latest WIP I spent nearly six months designing a rich backstory complete with six habitable planets, four alien races, culture, pre-history, flora, fauna, and loads of other details that may never make it onto the page in any of the several novels I will write in this series. However, now that I’ve finished

Why Being a Novelist and Being a Teacher Sometimes Doesn’t Mix

I’ve been an English teacher for over 16 years and I’ve technically been a novelist for about 5 of those years.  I’ve been running this blog now for over two and half years, and I can tell you that doing all of this is really taxing. Right now I am in beautiful Louisville, Kentucky at

Books In Print: This Broken Earth and Come Apart

At last I can announce that my books are in print and on Amazon Kindle.  Here they are, and where to find them: This Broken Earth – The world has ended…sort of.  Wandering through the apocalypse are a band of people simply trying to survive, but their lives, like our own, have a greater destiny not

Cover Reveal: Final Covers for Come Apart and This Broken Earth

I am waist deep in the production of the print edition of my newest novel Come Apart and my e-book only novel This Broken Earth.  I planned to release both of them together, as I will shortly, probably the first of next week. I took everyone’s advice about cover art that made suggestions, and now have the

The U.S. of After Chapter 56

Morax I perched on the top rail of the control tower.  This dead president boat once served a mighty nation that fell into our hands.  The ship was ours now.  Americans didn’t need what Americans couldn’t maintain. Long way down was the ocean. It was wide and rolling along as we sailed the path to

The U.S. of After Chapter 54

Clayton All of us formed a line leadin’ to a long bridge that went out over the water and onto a large deck.  At first it didn’t resemble a ship, but when I looked closer and actually stood on the pavement I realized it was the loadin’ elevator of an aircraft carrier.  The ship was

The U.S. of After Chapter 51

Clayton Once we got on down the river a ways we found that there were boatloads of people with the same idea we had.  I suppose they heard about the same stories around campfires lit in places I had not traveled.  I heard accents from all over, mostly the south, but pretty much from everywhere.

The U.S. of After Chapter 50

Kelly The river sent us along, and we just went along with it.  Amy and Clayton sat near each other but they didn’t really speak much.  I suppose she was still pretty upset about all the people she had lost, mainly Ralph. “Hey, Amy,” I said, plopping down next to her.  “I’m Kelly.” “Hey,” she

The U.S. of After Chapter 49

Amy Gideon and his two buddies opened up with their rifles into the swarm of dogs that ran into the store, their eyes red with disease and their mouths foaming something awful.  Clayton jumped in front of me to bat a medium sized nearly hairless dog away with his walking stick.  It made a sound

The U.S. of After Chapter 48

Howard I followed them up into the city.  At least they waited until dark but that was probably not the wisest choice.  Clayton walked right behind Gideon, and then Amy came right behind him.  Two of Gideon’s men walked to their left, shotguns at the ready.  Amy had been carrying that Winchester since Ralph died