I Really Really Like CrowdPricing

What is CrowdPricing? By Scribl:

Click on image, to view it in full size.

The practice of CrowdFunding eBooks is rather new, so I cannot really say that I know much about it. I do, however, feel very excited about the idea of it!

The idea of letting the readers influence, in a sophisticated way, the price of my eBooks is brilliant! A story is less appreciated? It can be enjoyed by the few and odd, for free. A story is popular and wide-spread? Let the masses give me their few cents, for the benefit of more such wonderful creations!

What

Would

Spock

Do? 

Do you think that this might catch and become the standard, in the future? Maybe even the future of all trade?

A Generation of Worlds

Open for 10mb 512p large version.

As I continue my journeys in the world of game development and 3D art, I noticed that my wiki, which I use to express my own ideas about game development, should have an actual game attached to it. That is to say, that while writing down technical ideas for games is great, it would also be better presented in the guise of a simple entertaining game world.

The idea came to me intuitively and by muse! Elves Versus Trolls. I have always wanted a game that lets not only all those cutsie gamer people enjoy playing, but a game world that encourages and works with internet trolls. Why? Because, I am one such troll! And I am not ashamed of it.

Internet trolling is an art form. Just like dance and reggae. It does not have to be insulting to anyone to be funny. Trolling can even be helpful, when touchy topics are highlighted, and nobody wants to get dirty, philosophically speaking. I have been active in trolling circles for many years, and I am proud of me and most of my fellows. We bring humor and joy and good company.

So, why have trolls in a game?

I would like to talk about this in my next blog post. In the meanwhile, let me tell you about http://donjon.bin.sh/world/. What an interesting world generator!!! Not only does it have many options to choose from, for your own totally unique world, it also lets you export the result in different ways, so you can have both an animated gif, an image, and a map! How awesome is that? :-)

I also noticed they have other generators in their website. Mostly fantasy gaming related, id est Dungeons & Dragons games. I have not really checked the other generators, so do share if you find anything interesting. Comment below! ;-)

Port à Folio!

So, I finally found FolioHD, a nice little website that does free and professional artist portfolio hosting. They let you add Youtube videos, and it all runs smoothly and looks good, too. I added some of my better looking renders/models and can finally attach it to e-mails, whenever I seek occupation in 3D art.

Portfolio.AssafKoss.com

Latest portfolio upload... Still honing those 3D skills.

Hiatus & Changes

I have decided to stop writing stories. I will keep them online for now, but I will not do anything en-towards it.

It is, indeed, a lovely thing how time does not really apply in the world of the Internet. I have had quite a hiatus from blogging, due to the emotional crash of deciding to drop my literature workings, and expected to drop the blogging, as well. Surprisingly, I found myself time and again thinking about the blog in a more personal manner - disregarding the value of it as a tool to advance books.

My muse has been faltering.
Now, it has returned!

I shall remove the "Daily" part of the blog, but still use it often. Many ideas must be discussed, and many an experience should be told! :-)

Here's a little shiny I've made after recently joining a hobby team of MMORPG developers.

Imagine someone using my sword to kill!

 

End of Winter, Come Spring

Call Me Call Me by Yoko Kanno & Steve Conte

A lovely day of cool breeze and dark clouds. The birds! Oh the birds! Enjoy the photographs. Taken with my low-quality laptop webcam. :-D

I'm Just Trying To Be Funny

I don't know what's going on. My funny bone isn't working. I find myself without my regular intuitive and spontaneous humor. I write stories, but I can't really find the funny humor in them. I write posts, but I can't really think up anything funny to add.

I only get some rhetorical humor going on when commenting on Facebook.

I guess I'm nothing but a troll, after all.

A New Language In Process: English

I enjoy sharing and reading in writers' forums. It is a  suitable hobby for a wanna-be author. It has been an interesting experience to receive different comments about my choice of words and style. I would like to investigate this topic today.

Charles Dickens in 1860

Even though English has some very important rules, which guide us all in its' proper use, so that meanings are inferred correctly, it has long lost its' place as a privately controlled language. It is no longer the language of any one people, nor two or three. It has become a global language. A language of all people. With this change in ownership, many rules and ideas have been introduced into English.

Any person who had the occasion to entertain Engrish, Japanese English, or Indian English well spoken by legions of telephone representatives and support personnel, has had the unusual experience of being part of a conversation that does not claim to be in actual English; but rather in Global English. <Insert New & Entertaining Name Here> might just make the original language not as common as it still is.

Pfft Gamers.

And not to mention internet slang and "leet" writing. It may be that the new ways people use English to communicate in writing could lead the future of our new global language!

j00Z |\|3\/3r |<|\|0\/\/, U|\|L3$ j00Z 7r'/. :)

Utopia

I have just finished reading the book Utopia (1516 by Thomas More), which I have gone through quickly in the past as well. It is essential for any modern day thinker to observe the changes that have occurred around us in history, and to see which of them do not change so much, while also acknowledging those changes that do not change at all.

In the story, More goes through crucial topics in every day social organization, such as finances and money (in which he debunks the need for coin and property); employment;  corruption and unlawful law and judgement; and even goes at some length into politics and royalty.

Even though many ideas and topics in the short book of one-hundred and eighty three (183) pages seem to be irrelevant for modern day logic and need, it is without a doubt a testimony and clear example of the goals we are still aspiring to reach even today. Do not dismiss this important artifact from our past.

The original cover for the book.

The Life Of A New Author

This blog marked the birth of a new author. Me. The excitement and opportunities ahead had motivated me, and got me to publish two wonderful stories in eBook format. The anticipation, and with it both success and failure, have put an odd discomforting vibe on my writing. I would like to share this experience here.

Some call it "writer's block", while others just see it as temporary mood swings. I accept the challenge my own mind has set, and am unwilling to simply bow down to inability. Even though I have tried music to alley the discomfort, there is a feeling of disinterest and lacking in my new books. It started with my Science-Fiction novel Future Value, and after disagreement with the horridly slow pace at which that book was half-written, I have moved on to my fourth book and the second in the Robert The Fail series titled the same with the subtitle "Losing To Trees."

In both cases I find interest in the story and characters, yet find myself disinterested in the writing itself. I have tried to simplify the methods I use to concoct my stories in the Word text editor to no avail. Now, I am forced to consider other methods with which to share my stories, beyond the default option of writing a hundred-page standard book.

I wonder if it's just winter taking its' toll on me.

If you have shared the same or a similar experience in your writing, please share it as a comment. :-)

The GIMP 2.8.2 Experience

Does The Trick!

GNU Image Manipulation Program is how they call it. It is basically a Photoshop for Linux, but it works on Windows and other platforms as well. Also, it's completely free and awesome.

Never the less, I have been retouching my eBook covers and Facebook photos these days, and have discovered just how difficult it is to get the results one would like. Even, any result that would really feel satisfying. Hard work changing colors, fixing pixels, moving layers, fixing transparency, and generally getting a result that would not scare away blind people.

Feel free to comment on my eBook cover updates. ;-)

Amazonian Adventures #2

Today, I found out that my eBooks were hoarding serious technical bugs. >< Obviously, something that my audience would feel to be amateurish. Immediately, I turned and fixed those bugs!

Complaint #1
Amazon's file conversion system blows. I use the most simple and technically-correct Word 2010 documents, and still Amazon insist on bugging up my eBooks. Bad spaces - Wrong bookmarks - Inability to handle Unicode. *sigh*

Love trolls.

Complaint #2
Every time an author updates their book's files, it can take plenty of time for Amazon to update. In the meanwhile, if a mistake was made, there is no option to cancel submission - and upload a new file. No, I must wait these twenty-four (24) hours or more, until I can upload my books again, and then only a day later will those updates be available. Better be careful with that submission button.

A Soundtrack For Authors

It seems that many of us have lost the secret art of inspiration. In the past, artisans and craftsmen had an abundance of natural environment and quiet in their daily life. The sounds of water, animals, and the wind had reigned the cacophony of their lives.

Just as the painter needs a brush and a canvas, so does the writer need his own tools of the trade. In a similar fashion to a painter that chooses his studio or a special location for his painting, so does the writer need his special locations that would induce concentration and help his creative flow. For example, I benefit from the parks and remote locations in my suburban area away from the city.

Sometimes, though, it is not possible to find a comfortable and accessible remote location. For this, music can be our atmosphere, and assist in the writing process. When I do workout, I prefer good rock or metal music to encourage me. On the other hand, when I do something as immobile as writing, I require quiet and soothing music. I enjoy tracks from "fantasy" and "celtic" themes.

Feel free to add your own suggestions! :=)

How To Write A Book (A Practical Guide)

Had to add that "practical guide" part there :=P What? It gets results.

Anyway, today I want to share with you, my dear readers and blog-followers, my secret methods for authoring a book. In order to reduce technical issues when writing a story, I have devised so far two methods that speed up my creative writing flow, and minimize the effort necessary in maintaining concentration while writing an entire story.

One, is my Book_Template file. I didn't want to shift between different programs/interfaces while writing a story, so I had to figure out how to implement my ideas using only Word 2012 or any other interface. Therefor, before I write my story I first fill-in a template file with the following:

Title, Subtitle & Summary. These allow me to choose a topic and general theme for my story. The summary specifically allows me to note down any important ideas that I want to include in the storyline.

Main Characters, Secondary Characters, Miscellaneous Characters & Locations. These are short lists I keep in my template, so I can keep an eye on all those details, and change them in an organized fashion. This keeps me from obvious errors, and also helps me order my characters and locations. This order helps for referencing inside the story.

Chapters, Sections & Subsections. I divide my story into titles. Every chapter is split into several sections. Every section is split into several subsections. This allows me for a consistent storyline, which is also very easily manipulated. Also, using the titles as a reference, my writing-flow is more steady. This reduces distractions dramatically and builds up self-confidence while writing.

The second method is a simple Heading manipulation in my story file. I have been using it with my current book, Future Value, and I am very pleased with the results. Under the View tab in Office 2012, it is possible to reveal the Navigation Pane. Then, I simply copy my template into the story file, and edit it so that each chapter, section, and subsection are set as a Heading in their according levels (Heading 1/2/3). Other titles are kept as a Title or Book Title heading, so they do not crowd my Pane. This allows me to add content directly under my titles, and it also allows for amazingly easy navigation within my story. I find this method more efficient, than simply checking back with my template file after every two or three paragraphs. :=)

TIP: One of the awesome things with headings is that the author can select all content that is of a certain heading, even Normal text, and immediately apply any action to it. Even remove all Normal text with a single button press!

Attached are my up-to-date Empty Template file, and an example of a properly headered Story file:
http://speedy.sh/TE8nS/Empty-Book-Template.docx
http://speedy.sh/SA2Nj/Empty-Book-Example.docx

Categories For Blog Posts

After considering the organisational methods of my blog, and seeing that navigating around this bundle of text may not be so easy, I have decided to categorize posts.

This means that every post will be tagged according to its' categories. This is rather flexible, and to my own division, so it is not expected to be purely logical. I have added a cute Tag Cloud on the <<-- left for your enjoyment. ;-)

This is the entire list of categories as of today:
review, opinion, thoughts, reflections, update, memoir, book, ebook, publish, zen, wilderness, lifestyle, inspiration, motivation, poetry, writing, author, blog, forum, media, help, action, fantasy, epic, drama, novel, series, anime, manga, comic, tv, life, advice, how to, howto, health, diet, nutrition, tech, technical, game, garden, gardening, plants, trees, herbs, diy, do it yourself, guide, experiment, finance, money, amazon, programming, coding.

How To Make A Story Sound More Interesting

Often, authors will think of events and characters that really capture the mind. These would beg and insist to have a story-world to be told about in. While a good idea and a character is something to start with, it is obviously not enough. Interest is lacking.

A good event or story need several things:
A. A reason for it's occurrence; whether it is told before the event of afterwards.
B. Relevant emotions that create sympathy between the characters and the reader. Without describing such strong emotions, the reader will feel disinterest.
And finally, C. Every event must be in relation to its' affect on others in the story. I once saw on TV a joke about this issue. The newscaster read from the prompter: "An atomic-bomb has fallen on Los Angeles last night! No one was killed or injured in the event." :-D Hehehe Classical.

I hope this helps. ;-)

Reviewing THE SWORD OF SHANNARA

First, let me say that I adore the Shannara series by Terry Brooks. The reason I adore it, is that his writing is excellent, and his ideas are authentic and exciting. By authentic I mean that his ideas come from personal life experience, and this is palpable when reading the stories.

Support the author!

I will also add that I have some disagreements with the series, and I will explain inside the review. So let's begin a short review on the first book of the series.

In the first book, Brooks slowly reveals a future fantasy & science-fiction world, where great destruction lead to a renewed Earth. This idea of mixing the two genres into one epic world is brilliant. Sadly, Brooks is a professional teaser, and as such reveals the interesting depths of his world ever so slow.

The Druid Allanon is surely the most charismatic (see D&D Abilities) character in the book. Possessing knowledge and power beyond mere mortals, he takes charge of events and shapes the future of all life on the planet by his actions. Trained to fight against those who wish to destroy and control others - he guides the time-lapsing heroes of this chapter through their duty.

I feel that the Ohmsford brothers and the sword fighting Menion Leah, with other characters in mind, are somehow shallower than the Druid in profile. The storyline is exciting and luring, while the characters themselves are not so much of either. This, of course, only diminishes from the quality of the story a little, and allows the patient reader to enjoy more developed characters in Brooks' future books.

Overall, I rate it to be an interesting read, and an exciting one as well. I recommend it, especially for anyone who would take interest in reading the entire series. I certainly feel that the first book is reduced into a simpler story without the rest of the series included.

My Third Book

I have started writing my third book. It is not a continuation of my past books, although I am planning to sequel "Robert The Fail" with another title ;-)

Hans Fallada at work.
I should be as keen!

This book is part of a series of notes I have taken regarding the meaning of life. I know all authors share their opinions regarding the meaning of life in their stories. Never the less, I intend to write a short book about taking chances, and promoting oneself within the social game of life. This is very specific, and will handle a very specific topic.

I plan on releasing it around mid-January. Be prepared to meet Mark Chandler in his new adventure titled "Future Value"!

The Series of Shannara

I actually enjoyed the
audiobook myself.

An exciting prospect has run into me yesterday. I am an avid fan of "The Sword of Shannara" series of books. I am currently enjoying an audiobook of The Talismans of Shannara. Highly recommended.

It seems that the rights have been purchased by Sonar Entertainment to make a series from the epic trilogy. I have enjoyed "A Game of Thrones", the televised pornographic version of the books by George R. R. Martin, and am bound to enjoy a televised version of this series as well.

Just wanted to let you know ;-)
Source

Amazonian Adventures

Kindle Touch

As one may notice by the small adverts to the right, I have been releasing eBooks on Amazon these recent weeks. This is a project I have taken on myself, as I am a great fan of stories & books. I felt I must repay society, just as I had enjoyed the products it gave to me.

Also, I felt that books are a magnificent way to promote one's ideas, and even gain some cash. With this motivation at mind - I have been working hard at writing, conceptualizing, and managing my books on Amazon. These guys may be tricky at times. It took me several weeks to understand the right approach for getting things done.

For example, my books would not have their Number of Pages displayed, until I had finally messaged Amazon support directly. They have a form for this specific request, but it seems redundant. Another example, is changing the price of an eBook, and repeatedly releasing it updated, thus it may eventually cause the release to be bugged - and not work in diverse ways. Be warned. Enjoy :)

What Name Would You Choose?

Gandalf the Grey by Lucas Graciano

As part of my upcoming Flash RPG game, I was wondering about character names. This is both for the players to learn from, and for NPCs (Non-Player Characters) and the game world.

I feel that a page or a method to assist with name choice is a good step in the right direction. As such, let me share here a few interesting results I have pinpointed in my quest for awesome ancient legendary names!

"Looking For Group" Comic.
An awesome character necessitates
an awesome name!

A good start is always Norse Mythology. A second best and great for Elves is Celtic Mythology. For variation and less fluid sounds there is Ancient Germanic. Finally, for those who are interested in more finesse and modern names one can browse through Anglo-Saxon.