Emma Larkins Blog Has Moved

Greetings! It's been a while since I've posted here, so I wanted to write a note to let you all know I've finally consolidated my blog and my website. From now on, I'll be adding new content over there.

New Blog Here

What you'll find on the new blog:

• More frequent posts! I've felt somewhat stifled by the direction this blog has been going. This has caused me to stifle blogging impulses that didn't quite mesh with my old content.
• More creative projects. In addition to my science fiction writing, I'm now designing tabletop games!
• More fiction. I'm excited to write and share short speculative fiction pieces, and I now have a place where they fit!
• More personal anecdotes. I'm a pretty private person, but I love the personal stories I read by writers I follow, so I want to try some of my own.
• More guests/interviews. One of the best parts of writing and being social online is showing off the awesome work of other creators. Can't wait to do more of this.

What you won't find on the new blog:

• Freelance writing advice. If that's what you're looking for, I highly recommend subscribing to the Freelancer blog on Contently.
• Business/marketing advice. I care a lot about this subject, and will most certainly write about it for other markets. At the same time, it's targeted to a very specific audience that doesn't necessarily overlap with the audience for my creative projects.
• Heavy industry/tech talk. Again, I want to make the blog accessible to fans, not just creators. So less about the nitty-gritty "how" a project comes to life, and more about the "why."

Thanks to everyone who has followed what I've been working on. Excited to have you all join me in this next chapter!

Cheers, Emma

Page-a-day Book Release of Mechalarum

I haven't always been the best at keeping this blog updated. A regular font of information needs to have a source, and I've been too interested in jumping around to consistently produce words of wisdom for my audience.

However, the upcoming release of my debut novel changed that. Now I have a focus, something to dedicate my energies towards, and best of all, a simple, straightforward plan for posting once a day.

My novel Mechalarum is scheduled to release on October 9, 2014. In the meantime, it will be available for pre-order on Amazon.

Until then, I'll be releasing the first few chapters a page at a time in image form on my Mechalarum blog. Head there to see the latest posts! 

NIKA Interview with Game Designer Josh Raab (Tabletop)

Today's interview is with game designer and active member of the NYC gaming development community Josh Raab. Josh is currently running a Kickstarter to fund development of his tabletop game NIKA, which he describes thusly: "Command a Greek city’s hoplite soldiers. Push and rout enemy lines. Coordinate allied attacks to secure victory, but watch your flanks!"

Watch the video to learn more about improving Kickstarter success through building community before launch, the importance of playtesting, and thoughts on the creative process. I've included a partial transcript of the interview below.

Hope you enjoy!

Tell us a little about you and your game.

I'm a grad student at the NYU Game Center, MFA in Game Design. Studied Ancient Greek History in undergrad, which was the inspiration for NIKA. It's a game about ancient Greek warfare, where you have four Greek cities, two allied against the other two. You're basically trying to get one of your pieces across the board into your ally's territory.

What's In a Blog? Choosing a Focus to Get Noticed

I've never been entirely happy with the way I've run this blog. True, after writing (off and on) and evolving the content for almost six years, there's a lot of value wrapped up in it. Even without publishing regularly, I'm getting a couple thousand views per month; I peaked at 4,500 last March when I ran my Mechalarum Kickstarter. But I've never identified a target market and consistently delivered interesting and useful information to that audience.

It's hard to pick a focus when I'm interested in so many things. I could easily write pages and pages geared towards people running crowdfunding projects, authors writing and self-publishing their books, science fiction readers looking for entertainment, or NYC-based entrepreneurs building tech startups. Or I could just post photos like the one above because, come on, who doesn't like beer and waffles?

Another consideration is content style. Although content marketing is bigger than ever, blogs seem somewhat passe in 2014, falling in popularity compared to Tumblrs or simply "news sites." We have more stories than ever competing for our attention in a variety of formats. The stuff that succeeds needs to be rare, slick, attractive, informative, and/or easy to consume.

A third important factor is a bit vague - what will make me want to come back to writing my posts, day after day? My friend vowed to pick a "song of the day" every day this year, and he's stuck with it. It's fairly simple, interesting, personal, and sets up an expectation that people can get behind.

2014 is going to be the most rewarding and most profitable year I've ever had. Creating a regular content stream is an important part of that vision. I'm excited to try out new ideas, assess for both personal and audience interest, and iterate as needed.

Oh, and if you want to beer-and-waffle it up, check out the delicious selections available at Sweet Revenge.

Games As Stories, Plus A Cultus/Cram Games/Boston FIG Shoutout

Excited to share some great news.

Cultus - by Cram Games - is going to the Boston Festival of Indie Games Tabletop Showcase!

True, I'm a bit biased, as I kind of like game designers Phillip Schmitte and Jesus Garay. But the game also has a great story, perfectly encapsulated by flavor text and shown off with gorgeous art.

Earth Grinder

“An unorthodox sword to fight greedy earth spirits”

Enduring Confection

“Sweet ecstasy from the World Before attracts the hungry”

The premise is that, in a post-apocalyptic world, people find 'relics' from past times (shovels, well-preserved pastries, football helmets), interpret them, and build up cults around them. As the cult leader, it's your job to use influence to construct shrines around these relics, fill the shrines with devotees, and execute 'ideas' to strengthen your following. The person with the most power at the end of the game wins!

As a writer, I've been thinking a lot about the different mediums in which people tell stories. Games (whether video, tabletop, board, or other) are fascinating storytelling vehicles that often use imagery, social interaction, music, movement, and more to convey something authors attempt using only words. I'd love to explore what it's like to craft a world, plot, and characters in this way.

Can't wait to hear what happens at Boston FIG!

Writing Mechalarum on the Subway

Don't have much time for an update, but wanted to let everyone know that I'm making good use of my daily subway commute to get in some extra editing :)

Insomnium Interview: Zach Bonelli Talks Serialized Science Fiction Kickstarter Thoughts

In honor of Zach's continuing campaign to Kickstart Insomnium, here's another great interview where he delves into thoughts about the art and science of writing. Hope you enjoy!

Insomnium is Latin for a "waking vision." What interests you about blurring the line between dreaming and "real life," between consciousness and unconsciousness?

The main character of Insomnium, Nel Hanima, is in a place in his life where nothing is as it should be, nothing is functional. The worst part is that he has no idea how to move himself toward something better.

The dream forced upon Nel and his friends is an inverted wake-up call, forcing them to deal with their respective situations. I think that, when we peel away the surface layers of reality, we’re forced to ask ourselves really hard questions about who we are and what we’re doing with our lives. Nel can’t do this in his waking life, so the City of Nowhere comes to the rescue.

Your story deals with multiple characters in a dream-like scenario. One of the questions you ask is, "Who is the one actually doing the dreaming?" Tell us more about how this question ties into how much of our reality and identity is formed by our perceptions.

That is the big question for most of Insomnium. Whose mind created all of this? Could it be one of us? What does the dream have to do with us disparate people, who don’t even originate from the same universe?

Put differently: why are we here? Why are any of us doing what we do? Our answers define who we are as people and how we interact with the rest of the world.

The twentieth century has created some massive philosophical questions for humanity. What is the “right” way to spend our time on Earth? In many parts of the world, we’ve solved hunger and disease, but now that we no longer struggle to merely exist, what should we be doing with all of our time?

Finding answers to these questions, I think, is the key to our identity crisis. I’ve developed an answer for myself, which I think Insomnium will make clear, but I believe it is up to each individual to arrive at his or her own answer.

Insomnium by Zachary Bonelli Now on Kickstarter

I'm excited to announce the Insomnium: A Serialized Science Fiction Novel Kickstarter!

You might remember Zach from the terrific Google Hangouts interview he gave in April. If you haven't watched it yet, definitely check it out - Zach has some amazing thoughts on writing and creative and collaborative processes.

Here's a little taste of Insomnium to whet your appetite:

"Nel Hanima lives in Seattle of 2089, a citizen of the newly organized Western Union. Life has stabilized since his childhood, when he lived with his parents in the Queen Anne community bunker. Government has been reestablished, and order restored. Famine and disease no longer run rampant, and the economy has stabilized. But still, the trees and grasses grow browner. The Sound continues to rise, swallowing up neighborhood after neighborhood of Nel’s youth.

Even though life has never been better, Nel can’t help but feel his life is somehow worse, without purpose or meaning or hope.

One night, he falls asleep in his apartment and awakens in the City of Nowhere, an impossible conundrum world of inhuman citizens, where time and space are an illusion and paradoxes run rampant."

To find out more, check it out here, or by clicking the image above!

Mechalarum Mini-Update

Haven't had much time to write here lately, as I'm working towards dedicating as many free moments as I can to Mechalarum. Two months might seem like a long time, but I don't want to take any chances. This is the point at which I'm realizing that putting out a novel is a monumentally enormous task, and that writing the first draft (at least for me) is only a tiny sliver of it. Luckily, I've got some great support people on my side to help keep me plugging away!

To make up for being AWOL, here's a cute picture of a puppy! Okay, so he's not technically a puppy anymore, but he is adorable :)

Writing About Crowdfunding for Authors with Buckell, Sullivan, Shvartsman, and More!

I recently received an awesome opportunity to share my thoughts about crowdfunding for authors on the SF Signal blog, along with some of the most interesting people currently pushing the boundaries of publication and promotion methods.

MIND MELD: What Crowd Funding SF/F Novels Means for Authors and Publishers

Excerpt:

"The introduction of crowdfunding is again upending the landscape, this time creating a natural vetting process; a success on a site like Kickstarter shows that an author is likely to have something other than the ability to type tens of thousands of words going for her. It’s never easy to judge how enjoyable a book by a first-time author will be, and crowdfunding provides a great tool to help good reads rise to the top."

The list of co-authors on the article really demonstrated how small the crowdfunded science fiction/fantasy author space is at the moment. I've actually been chatting with three of the eight other authors on the list, including...

Michael J. Sullivan, who recently concluded a thrilling Kickstarter campaign for his book Hollow World during which he raised more than 10 TIMES his funding target of $3,000 and blew through his stretch goals as if they were planets at the mercy of a Superlaser.

Link Roundup April 24: Phantom Tollbooth Documentary, Transcribing Interviews, and More

Just a short post for today, wanted to share some of the links I've been collecting recently. There's some useful info here for putting a recorded interview into written form, videos comparing and describing the various self publishing platforms, exciting news about a classic children's book, sweet pics captured during my Mechalarum costume promotional event, and a great forum post with tips about using Kickstarter. Hope you enjoy!

How Do You Transcribe Recorded Interviews?

Self Publishing Video Tutorials

Phantom Tollbooth Documentary Coming This Summer

Meet Emma Larkins on Take It Easy Tiger

Forum Post About Kickstarting Board Games

Interview with Alex Shvartsman on Community Days

Welcome to another great Community Days interview!

My guest today is Alex Shvartsman, a writer and game designer from Brooklyn, NY. He's sold nearly 50 short stories since late 2010, to such venues as The Journal of Nature, Intergalactic Medicine Show, Daily Science Fiction, and Galaxy's Edge, among others. He's best-known for humorous short stories.

In 2012 Alex edited and published Unidentified Funny Objects -- an anthology of humorous SF/F which featured stories by Mike Resnick, Lavie Tidhar, Jody Lynn Nye, and Ken Liu, among others. It was well-received by readers and critics alike. Alex is running a Kickstarter campaign to help fund the second in what he hopes will become an annual anthology series: Unidentified Funny Objects.

Tell us a little bit about your inspiration for the Unidentified Funny Objects collection. How did it reflect your previous experience as a writer and editor?

Much of what I write is humorous science fiction and fantasy short stories. I submit them to what markets appreciate that sort of thing, but there are many established and well-respected magazines and anthologies that do not. So it cuts down the list of viable professional markets from over a dozen to just a handful. I always found this frustrating and wished that somebody would create a regular outlet for SF/F humor (I firmly believe there are plenty of readers interested in such stories). So you could say that I was inspired to create the market I always wanted to exist. And when I researched humor anthologies, I found that nothing similar to Unidentified Funny Objects had been published, at least not during the course of the last decade. I became even more convinced that there's a niche need that my project could fill.

How Virtual and Real-World Events Can Nurture Your Writing Career

What’s a writer got to do to get noticed these days?

Feeding your fictional (or non-fictional) passion requires more than simply creating beautiful works of words. Readings, panels, classes, and presentations (whether on- and offline) can be a great boon to your exposure – and your bottom line.

Strengthening Relationships with Fans 

Self-published authors are pretty much on their own when it comes to building a platform of zealous fans (although it is possible to contract out publicity services, as long as you find a reputable person or organization). The strongest relationships are formed when you meet and engage people in conversation – either in the real world, or the virtual one. It can take some work to get comfortable with the idea of showcasing yourself live in front of strangers, but it helps to think of the lives you can potentially touch, teach, and inspire with your words.

If you’re traditionally published, your publisher will probably be able to assist in this arena – after all, it’s in their best interest to improve your visibility. Still, it doesn’t hurt to take as active a part as you can. For example, check out Togather; it’s a great option for getting fans to commit to an event so you don’t show up to an empty room.

Interview with Janicu, Book Reviewer, on Community... 'Days

Another great guest on Community Days today! Janicu (aka Janice) has been reviewing books since 2006, and posting reviews on her blogs since 2007. Her focus is speculative fiction (an umbrella term for science fiction, fantasy, and stories in general with fantastical elements) with a good does of romantics thrown in for good measure.

You can learn more about Janicu on her Specfic Romantic blog or on Twitter. She's also got a great Tumblr if that's more your style. Hope you feel enlightened after reading her responses!

What is it that attracts you to speculative fiction with a romantic angle?

Well, I think that it's the combination of the total escapism of a world that exists in your imagination that SF brings combined with the interesting relationship dynamics you see in Romance. I don't necessarily NEED both of those together - when I was a kid, straight Fantasy was my favorite genre, but as time went on and I read more stories, I realized I tended to prefer character-driven tales that end happily. That's not always true (I good bittersweet ending can make me hug a book and sigh brokenly), but it is generally where my tastes are. When I first created my blog I didn't really think too much about what to call it. I just used my nickname (janicu) and said, "janicu's book blog". Later on I wanted to make it clearer what I reviewed so I came up with specficromantic because it explained my tastes better.

Interview With Zachary Bonelli on Community Days

I was privileged to host Zachary Bonelli's first Google Hangout interview!

Zack is the founder of Fuzzy Hedgehog Press, a group of speculative fiction writers who wanted to create a powerful collaboration to make it easier to spread the word about their work. You can find out more about him by checking out his website, or see what he's up to on Twitter.

In addition to spending time creating fantastic works of fiction, the authors at Fuzzy Hedgehog Press also take time to promote the work of others through their Indie Spec Fic Fund. They highlight cool-looking projects from Kickstarter and Indiegogo, helping innovative, new writers have their chance at the spotlight.

Here is a video of the interview, and below is a partial transcript. Hope you enjoy!

Tell us a little bit about your background.

I've been writing for a very long time, I started when I was in high school. As I kept writing, a I latched onto a character and a world (well, actually, multiple worlds). That became a book, Voyage. I became embittered with the whole traditional publishing system, decided I couldn't get it ever published that way, and put that on the back burner. I wrote little stories over the last ten years, but basically it was stalled. And then recently, Hugh Howey and the big self-publishing thing happened. Not only did I decide now is the time for me to really write Voyage and get that out into the world, but I wanted to create a space for people like myself. My biggest worry with putting out Voyage, at least through the traditional publishing machine twelve years ago, was that my main character is gay. Someone along the way would tell me "oh, he has to be straight or it won't sell," of course that would be the end of my relationship with any publisher or editor. Even though, clearly, that's not the case today, the publishers would be more receptive to that, I wanted to create a community where anyone who finds themselves in a similar situation [would be supported].

What are the benefits of a writing collective for authors?

The different models of collectives are varying a lot. Part of the core values for me, at least, are 1.) authors owning the rights to their own work, and 2.) no one in the group will ever tell you that you can't publish "x." They may disagree with you strongly, but there's no such thing as "Oh, that's a topic that's not allowed in literature." The other major thing that separates us is, if you look at groups like the Science Fiction Writers of America, people are only allowed in if they have "acceptable publications" in "acceptable venues." We are not an exclusive group, in fact, exclusivity is totally contrary to the core values... If you have a piece of writing that you're working on, and that you intend to publish or self-publish, you're welcome.

Bibliocrunch Twitter #Indiechat for Self-Published Authors: My Takeaway

I participated in a great Twitter conversation hosted by Bibliocrunch on Tuesday called #indiechat. We ended up discussing all sorts of topics, but the main conversation centered around how to ask book bloggers for reviews on their sites.

On Blog Book Tours

A "blog book tour" is an online, promotional event during which an author schedules "appearances" on a collection of blogs related to authors, writing, the subject matter or genre of his/her book, etc. It's a great way to get people talking about your work, and it can be more effective (and less expensive!) than a "real world" book tour.

@emmalarkins You DO have to be careful who you use. I got a blog tour request today for a genre I don't blog about. Not okay. #indiechat
— Julie (@JulieHeartBooks) April 3, 2013

@emmalarkins I use tribute-books for my 'review' tours #indiechat
— lmpreston (@LM_Preston) April 3, 2013

For my tour I send a nice email to the bloggers on my list and directed them to the tour media page I had set up for them. #indiechat
— Alicia Kat Dillman (@KatGirl_Studio) April 3, 2013

Interview with Nedzad Lomigora on Community Days

Welcome to the newly revamped Community Days! Now that I'm interviewing people on Google Hangouts, I realize that trying to fit all of the interviews on Fridays doesn't make as much sense as it once did, so I'm leaving the "day" part of this feature flexible.

Today's guest is Nedzad Lomigora, founder of the author promotion platform Zeeen.com and organizer of the terrific Publishing Innovator Meetups in both Boston and New York. I recently worked with Ned to organize a Kickstarter for Authors panel, and hope to arrange more great events in the future.

Here's the broadcast as recorded from Google Hangouts. If you're interested in reading a partial transcript of the video, you can scroll down the page. But if you have time, watch the whole thing - there's plenty of good info to absorb. Hope you enjoy!

Tell us a little bit about your site, Zeeen.

It's a platform for authors that identifies, attracts, and engages readers. Our predictive analytics engine lets you set your goals, receive real-time alerts on the status of those goals, and access actionable recommendations (what to do to improve on reaching your goals). That all leads to more book sales.

What experiences brought about the idea for Zeeen?

I had a lot of experience in my past with finding industries that were going through a huge change, and publishing was one of those industries... I remember having a conversation with somebody, and asking: "This kind of tool you're using, all of the people in the publishing industry are using, right, because this would make sense. It's so easy, and why wouldn't they?" The answer was no; the publishing industry was so far behind [from a technology standpoint]. I realized the pain that authors were going through, that publishers can't help them with because they don't have the right tools or time. So you have authors left to their own devices... and they can't keep up with all the changes in technology. We decided to set up a company to focus on making the technology much easier to use for authors, and giving them tools that they need to promote and market their books in a way that takes the least amount of time out of their day so they can focus on writing.

Mechalarum Kickstarter Project SUCCESSFUL!!!

It's been an amazing ride, everyone! I'm eternally grateful to all of the amazing support I've received along the way. Looking forward to bringing an amazing novel to life :)

Kiellen Art Revealed, Less Than 12 Hours to Kickstart, Progress, Party!!

Wow, so much has happened over the last day or so, I'm not sure I'll be able to fit it all into one post!

First of all, I've been coordinating with the ever-talented, super-responsive Swasana Adinugraha (with help from the always-awesome Richard Laufenburger) to put together some artwork for the Mechalarum cover. He went above and beyond my wildest dreams in drawing Kiellen in her flying suit, especially given the fact that I've had trouble communicating exactly what it is I want (mostly because I couldn't come up with a solid picture in my mind). That's what visual artists are for, right? Us lowly authors just can't do it on our own :) There are still some tweaks I want to make, but I think this does a great job at getting across the idea of the suit, and how it's slowly starting to eat away at Kiellen's skin.

Second, there are less than 12 hours to go on the Kickstarter project! If you haven't shared yet, please do so. And if you have a dollar or two to spare, every little bit helps :)

Third, here's a quick update video on my progress so far. The handy-dandy Mechalarum chart keeps getting fuller and fuller!

And fourth, I'm co-hosting a party in NYC tonight to celebrate the (hopeful!) success of my project. If you're in the area, feel free to stop by!

Event registration for Super Double Secret #WhiskeyFriday & Mechalarum Closing Party! powered by Eventbrite

Wandering Around NYC In My Mechalarum "Flying" Suit

Building the helmet and the rest of the mock-up of the Mechalarum flying suit was fun enough, but then I got to actually put all my hard work to good use.

Yesterday, I suited up and ventured out into the city with my awesome friend Nancy Quan by my side to capture my antics in both video and photo form. We got stares, smiles, and photo requests from both tourists and hardened New Yorkers alike. I did my best to illustrate the fact that my suit *should* be able to fly, and if nothing else, it was thoroughly entertaining for everyone involved.

So without further ado, here for your viewing pleasure are the results of my latest foray into craziness!

Only a couple of days left! Check out my project on Kickstarter.