Here’s some fan artwork I received for The Dragons of Jupiter. Very exciting stuff. Please enjoy. 🙂
Holo Writing – More Fan Art
Holo Books
Humanity Machine – 2nd Draft Complete!
Can a person manufactured for war still be human?
The second draft of Humanity Machine is now complete, and Adam Burn has finished the stellar cover art and graphic design. Oh yeah, it’s coming together!
So what is Humanity Machine?
Humanity Machine is a story of Manufactured People. Soldiers created on demand using an advanced form of 3D printing. More precisely, this is the story of one such soldier: Vance. This is her journey as she grows from just one more cog in the machine to an individual that can shape the destiny of her people.
Humanity Machine is a story of Intense Space Battles. Highly advanced, self-modifying warships slugging it out in the depths of space. Vance serves as one warship’s drone controller, commanding her squadrons of interceptors and bombers against a powerful and tenacious foe.
Humanity Machine is a story of Divided Humanity. Not by politics or ethnicities or faiths, but by technology. It’s a story about how technology molds a society, and how that technology can make its people seem very alien to an outsider. Imagine a society with no families, no children, and no gender roles. Imagine a two-tiered society of the created and the creators. What would that society be like? What would its people be like?
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UPDATE: Where is Humanity Machine?
I have good news and news (which is really neither good nor bad). The good news is that Humanity Machine will be released. Eventually. The novel is now a very polished 3rd draft, and it’s coming out one way or another.
I honestly wish we could publish the book now, but here comes the neither-good-nor-bad news.
How the novel will be published is a bit of an open question. Actually two open questions. I know that’s horribly vague, but to say anything more at this time would be premature. There are some potentially exciting opportunities here, and the delay comes from H.P. and I taking the time to explore them properly.
So, yes. Humanity Machine will be coming out. You can count on that.
Humanity Machine – Cover Work-in-Progress
The incredibly talented Adam Burn has begun working on the cover to Humanity Machine. This is merely the first element of the composition. Here you can see the SolFleet frigate Valor taking shape, which the main character Vance serves on as its drone controller. It’ll be under attack in the final version.
Pretty cool, huh? In Adam’s own words:
“Starting first with the massive capital ship, quite rough at the moment mostly throwing down shapes and basic lighting so the final will be more refined.”
Yes, ladies and gentlemen. What we have here right now is “quite rough.” I can’t wait to see the refined version. 🙂
So what is Humanity Machine? Well, I’m glad you asked!
Humanity Machine is a story of Manufactured People. Soldiers created on demand using an advanced form of 3D printing. More precisely, this is the story of one such soldier: Vance. This is her journey as she grows from just one more cog in the machine to an individual that can shape the destiny of her people.
Humanity Machine is a story of Intense Space Battles. Highly advanced, self-modifying warships slugging it out in the depths of space. Vance serves as one warship’s drone controller, commanding her squadrons of interceptors and bombers against a powerful and tenacious foe.
Humanity Machine is a story of Divided Humanity. Not by politics or ethnicities or faiths, but by technology. It’s a story about how technology molds a society, and how that technology can make its people seem very alien to an outsider. Imagine a society with no families, no children, and no gender roles. Imagine a two-tiered society of the created and the creators. What would that society be like? What would its people be like?
And if all goes to plan, it will be out this year!
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Time Reavers – Sequel
This is so exciting! People have started asking about the sequel to Time Reavers!
Please allow me to extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone who has inquired about the next book. Your feedback is a precious, wonderful thing. So, on that note, I thought I’d take a moment to talk a little bit about the sequel.
Will there be a sequel to Time Reavers?
Oh, you’d better believe there’s going to be a sequel!
What’s it called?
The working title is Mind Reavers.
What will it be about?
The hidden war between the tau guards and the reavers is about to go loud in a big way. The barrier between our worlds is crumbling. The resolve of the tau guards is failing, and seventeen-year-old Nicole Taylor, with her unique ability to speak to the reavers, may be the only one who can save the Earth.
Also, expect to learn more about the true nature of the reavers in this book. A lot more. Many of the lingering questions from Time Reavers will have light shed on them.
What will happen in it?
Oh, come on. Like I’d answer that. 🙂
When are you going to finish it?
Well, I’ve got to start it first. It’s on the short list of upcoming projects along with the sequel to The Dragons of Jupiter. Right now, I’m focused on making Humanity Machine as awesome and exciting as possible.
FINISH IT FASTER!
I’m sorry. I wish I could write faster too. 🙁
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Holo Writing at SC Comicon 2014!
This past weekend, H.P. and I participated in the first ever South Carolina Comic Con, organized by the very hardworking Rob Young of Borderland Comics and Games. The event lasted two days and, according to one of the staff members, drew in over six thousand people! I can believe it too. The convention center was packed. The pictures we took do not do the crowd justice because, simply put, we were so busy when the crowds really hit!
H.P. and I had a blast interacting with people at the convention. We met I.R. Harris, author of the dark epic fantasy Bound Trilogy as well as plenty of talented artists. Tons of cool people, many in costume, stopped by our table.
Many of those who stopped by left with our books in hand. We almost blew through our entire stock. Bear in mind, we ordered extras after the success of Tangled Web’s Free Comic Day. Even with that, we still almost ran out. It was a great weekend for us!
To everyone who purchased our books, THANK YOU! Welcome to Holo Writing!
Holo Writing at SpartanCon!
This past Saturday, H.P. and I hosted a table at SpartanCon. We had a lot of fun doing it. A big, warm thank you to Spartanburg County Public Libraries for extending the invitation to us and letting us host a table at their event.
This picture was taken before things got crazy. And boy, did they get crazy! The head librarian mentioned to us that between eight hundred and a thousand people showed up. We had a wonderful day interacting with plenty of new readers. To everyone who bought our books, thank you! We hope you enjoy them!
The day was a resounding success for us. H.P. and I will definitely be participating in SpartanCon next year.
Of the people who attended SpartanCon, plenty came wearing some superb costumes. Not surprising, since the library hosted a cosplay contest with two 4-day tickets to DragonCon as the main prize. Here you can see me with the winner and her completely homemade Jawa costume.
Yes, there is a lovely young lady underneath all of that.
And there’s plenty more awesome cosplay where that came from. Early in the day, I had my picture taken with an Alucard cosplayer. The young gentleman stopped by our table afterwards and was so impressed with our books he brought his friends over to show them. They too left with our books in hand.
And here’s one more really cool cosplay. Why? Because it’s Dead Space. Does there need to be another reason? 🙂
Again, thank you to everyone who decided to give our books a try. You’re awesome!
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Holo Writing at Tangled Web Free Comic Day!
Daniel McAbee, owner of the Tangled Web, graciously invited us to host a table during his Free Comic Day special. Both H.P. and I stayed the entire day and had an absolute blast. So many awesome people stopped by our table to hear about our books. We really enjoyed getting to interact with our fellow sci-fi/fantasy fans, and a warm thank you to all of you who decided to give our books a try.
We also got very good at summarizing our books quickly. H.P. did a particularly awesome job.
Fan-in-the-Making: The Dragons of Jupiter? What’s that about?
H.P. Holo: Space ninjas versus space marines!
Jacob Holo: There’s more to it than that, but yeah.
Fan-in-the-Making: Cool. And Time Reavers?
H.P. Holo: Teens with super powers versus giant interdimensional cyborg insects!
Fan-in-the-Making: Sounds interesting.
We also had free buttons and bookmarks, which were a huge hit. We actually ran out of The Dragons of Jupiter buttons. People especially loved the “I’m a Dragon” buttons with a piece of the back cover art on the button. I thought a hundred was enough for the day, but the crowd cleaned us out!
Despite hosting the table for eight hours, the day went by in a flash. It’s a good thing we brought plenty of books, because people were in the mood to buy some action-packed sci-fi/fantasy! You can’t see them in the top picture, but there are boxes of books underneath our table. We emptied them. The books you see in the next picture are the only survivors from a fantastic day at Tangled Web (actually minus one, because we sold another shortly before we packed up).
Again, both H.P. and I had a really great time at Tangled Web. Thank you to Daniel McAbee for being a truly stellar host, and thank you to all of our new readers! Welcome to Holo Writing!
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Holo Writing – Fan Art
Here’s the first piece of fan art I’ve received! Please enjoy! 🙂
Humanity Machine – 1st Draft Complete!
artwork by the very talented Adam Burn – used with permission
The first draft of Humanity Machine is officially complete! Woohoo! Weighing in at a hefty 140,000 words, it’s a bit longer than The Dragons of Jupiter and is now my largest novel to date, though editing may change that.
I’ve already completed my first editing pass, and I have to say I’m pretty excited about this one. Don’t get me wrong, there’s still plenty of polishing that needs to be done, but the fundamentals are definitely there. I’m going to make one more editing pass, then hand it off to H.P. for her first read through. After that, I’ll do my third editing pass, then give it on to my test readers.
And from there it’s edit, edit, and edit again. Plus start talking to Adam Burn about some awesome cover art. Time to clean this manuscript up!
So what is Humanity Machine, you may be wondering. Well …
Humanity Machine is a story of Manufactured People. Soldiers created on demand using an advanced form of 3D printing. More precisely, this is the story of one such soldier: Vance. This is her journey as she grows from just one more cog in the machine to an individual that can shape the destiny of her people.
Humanity Machine is a story of Intense Space Battles. Highly advanced, self-modifying warships slugging it out in the depths of space. Vance serves as one warship’s drone controller, commanding her squadrons of interceptors and bombers against a powerful and tenacious foe.
Humanity Machine is a story of Divided Humanity. Not by politics or ethnicities or faiths, but by technology. It’s a story about how technology molds a society, and how that technology can make its people seem very alien to an outsider. Imagine a society with no families, no children, and no gender roles. Imagine a two-tiered society of the created and the creators. What would that society be like? What would its people be like?
Yeah, I’m excited about this one.
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Writing Techniques – Character Sheets
Today, I would like to discuss one of my favorite writing tools: the character sheet.
Characters form the heart and soul of a story. They can breathe life and energy into an otherwise dry tale. So, naturally, their creation is a very important skill for a writer to learn. I suspect there are as many methods for generating new characters as there are writers. Who’s to say one method is better than the other?
Not me, that’s for sure. But I have developed a method that works for me. Here’s what I do.
When an idea for a story begins to take form, I determine what roles I will need. How many characters are required to tell the story? Where are their places within the story? What functions need to be filled?
I divide the roles into two categories: Technical and Personal. For example, if I’m writing a story about an elite military squad, a Technical list might look like this:
- Squad Leader
- Sniper
- Demolition Specialist
- Tech Expert
And a Personal list might resemble this:
- Main Character
- Love Interest
- Dependable Cohort
- New Guy/Gal
I can then combine the two lists, mixing and matching, looking for holes as I go. The result might look something like this:
- Squad Leader – Main Character
- Sniper – Love Interest
- Demolition Specialist – Dependable Cohort
- Tech Expert – New Guy/Gal
This list will go through many revisions as the story evolves from a crude sketch to a more robust outline. For me, it’s easy to mix and match the Personal and Technical roles. Some characters may have multiples of one type or even both. This can be especially true for major characters. Roles can, of course, change as a story progresses, but that is something I save for the plot outline itself.
These roles form the basic building blocks for the characters. Once I’m happy with the roles I’ve listed, I begin to add details and depth to each character. In order to do this, I use a character sheet.
My character sheets vary a little from novel to novel, but they’re mostly the same. Basically, it’s one big list of characteristics that I fill in order to gain a better feel for the character. Character sheets also serve as excellent references when I’ve forgotten the cool details I had planned.
This is one of the reasons I outline so heavily. I forget stuff.
So, what do these character sheets look like? Well, they look like this, actually:
- Character Description
- Age
- Gender
- Weight
- Height
- Health
- IQ
- Appearance
- Occupation
- Goals
- Morals
- Poignant Memories
- Past Traumas
- Hobbies
- Likes
- Dislikes
- Confidence
- Fears
- Sense of Humor
- Family
- Flaws
- Skills
- Charisma
- Speech Pattern
And yes, I fill in each line for almost every character I write about. Does all of that make it into the novel? Is all of that even relevant? Do I need to do this? No, of course not. But filling in all of that stuff helps me develop each character into an individual, unique voice. It’s a tool I use, nothing more. If it helps me write the character, then the tool has done its job.
It may not be the best way to craft characters, and it certainly won’t work for everyone, but it’s a method that has served me well for many years.
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The Dragons of Jupiter – Book Trailer
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n24DP_Cu72s]
Humanity Machine – 1st Draft Half Done!
artwork by the very talented Adam Burn – used with permission
I’ve reached that golden point when writing the first draft of a novel. Yes, the point where I have less to write than I have already written. I’ve crested the hill, and now all I have to do is stroll down the slope on the other side. Nothing to it, right?
Right …
So what is Humanity Machine? What’s it about? What’s it have to offer? In short, why should the reader care?
Those are very good questions. Please let me try to answer.
Humanity Machine is a story of Manufactured People. Soldiers created on demand using an advanced form of 3D printing. More precisely, this is the story of one such soldier: Vance. This is her journey as she grows from just one more cog in the machine to an individual that can shape the destiny of her people.
Humanity Machine is a story of Intense Space Battles. Highly advanced, self-modifying warships slugging it out in the depths of space. Vance serves as one warship’s drone controller, commanding her squadrons of interceptors and bombers against a powerful and tenacious foe.
Humanity Machine is a story of Divided Humanity. Not by politics or ethnicities or faiths, but by technology. It’s a story about how technology molds a society, and how that technology can make its people seem very alien to an outsider. Imagine a society with no families, no children, and no gender roles. Imagine a two-tiered society of the created and the creators. What would that society be like? What would its people be like?
So there it is. Humanity Machine. I’m pretty excited about this one.
And, of course, if I’m going to go through all this effort, I’ve got to give the novel some beautiful artwork. A big thank you to Adam Burn for allowing me to use his artwork for this post. Please check out his DeviantArt page here for more fantastic artwork. If all goes as planned, Adam will be doing the cover art for Humanity Machine, when I reach that point.
Naturally, a lot of hard work lies before me. Humanity Machine already weighs in at a hefty 70,000 words. I expect it to be somewhere between 130,000 and 150,000 words when everything is said and done, and those words aren’t going to write themselves. It’s been a tough experience. This is novel thirteen for me, and it is easily my most ambitious. The outlining alone took me a year to complete.
But it’s all going to be worth it. I can feel it. I hope you share that sentiment when it’s done.
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