Ask the Author: Christian Alex Breitenstein

“I'll be answering questions when I have the time. No guarantees, but I'll do my best!” Christian Alex Breitenstein

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Christian Alex Breitenstein Hi Tarl :-)

No worries, I won't kill Xandrian Stone by ruining his story.
Thank you, the weather is much, MUCH nicer now that the exceptional, wet summer heat is over. We don't usually have tropical heat - 30 degrees centigrade is common, but usually the heat is rather dry and therefore not so bad after all.
This August the heat was up, but the humidity was exceptional - and that was not nice at all. But now it's better, today it'll be quite hot again but dry so that's not a problem.
How about there? Nice and cozy I hope?

Yours, Christian Alex Breitenstein
Christian Alex Breitenstein Hi Ian,

Um, sorry, you're right. I'd be spitting mad at me if I were a reader for all that silence to be honest!
Fact is, I was unsure how exactly to develop the story into the future and several attempts I made ended up in the virtual trashcan. I'll do my very best to give you book 7 ASAP, which may be in 2 weeks or 2 months - I really cannot be any more specific. Because the story all the way to book 10 or 12 must be set and prepared, book 7 is absolutely crucial.
This is my first series, and I am doing my best!
Christian Alex Breitenstein Hi Tarl, Thanks so much for your near-infinite patience! Xandrian Stone Book 5 is going to be released this week. I am hoping for tonight, but that's most likely a bit optimistic - tomorrow it will be at the very latest.
Yours,
Christian
Christian Alex Breitenstein Uh, this is a good question. Lemme think...
You see, the problem is that my life is, viewed from the outside, rather boring. There are no real mysteries, but maybe the events leading up to my total burnout 2008 and the years-long process of recovery might be a book. A depressing one, with a happy ending that's only just happening now. But there is no mystery in that, I know what happened and why.
On the side of mysteries, I still come up empty, sorry.
Christian Alex Breitenstein I now have a definitive answer to that. I was trying to make Xandrian Stone book 5, but was blocked - it just did not come together.
Then I started with a new story, Eondrias. The first book of that is finished now, and Xandrian Stone is growing again, so the block is removed.
So, to un-block myself, I need to flush my brains clear of all the little bits and bobs of story that did not work to become able to think clearly again. De-fragmentating your hard-drive is quite similar to that, I believe.
Christian Alex Breitenstein The best thing about being a writer? I dream up stories and people pay some of their actual, real-life, hard-earned money to read them. This blows me away every time I think about it, which is only a couple dozen times a day. :-)
Christian Alex Breitenstein Thank you, happy to hear that! The new one will be out inside of this month. :-)
Christian Alex Breitenstein Yes there is. It will be out inside of this month. :-)
Christian Alex Breitenstein Yes, inside of this month. :-)
Christian Alex Breitenstein Yes, indeed. Sorry for not answering earlier, but it'll be done inside of this month. :-)
Christian Alex Breitenstein Hi Steven, the following link my Amazon forum, where I just answered a very similar question in detail. The short answer, 2 weeks. the long answer:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/forum/cd/fo...

Yours humbly,

Christian Alex Breitenstein
Christian Alex Breitenstein Hi Tarl, Thank you for reading my books! Part 3 is going to come to you early next week, with part 4 following by the end of June.

If all goes as planned, I'll then release a new part by the end of each month: Part 5 by the end of July, 6 in August and so on.

Humbly yours,

Christian A. Breitenstein
Christian Alex Breitenstein Hello Mp Davis!

I apologize for my long silence, but I had a lot of thinking to do.
In Lieutenant Stone I made a crucial error: Two independant ideas for the rank system have somehow merged together and brought forth a not very beautiful child - the system I started describing.
Unfortunately, that system does not make a lot of sense (especially as the story progresses) and I sought ways to repair it in the second book, coming up empty. So, I decided to go back to the drawing board and made something new and shiny that does make sense - now I am in the process of updating the first book.

Amazon will allow for a significantly changed book to be updated by the readers, so here is what's going to happen:
I will merge the first three or four chapters into one, update chapter 1 and re-release the first book significantly longer and better. You and everyone else, who has bought a copy already (and will buy one before the update is done), can just update your book for free, no further money will be necessary.
Everyone who will, by the time the update is done, not own a copy yet, will see a higher price - most likely between 2 and 3 dollars.

All I humbly ask for is a bit of patience. This is my very first book, and I want it to be memorable - in a good way. Also, I have a normal job and thus my weekdays are blocked from writing unfortunately. I am doing my very best though!

Thank you very, very much and yours humbly

Christina Alex Breitenstein
Christian Alex Breitenstein Don't start writing because you want to make money.

That will not work. I have a job that pays my bills and write in the off time, mainly on the week-ends. I regard any money that comes from writing as nice, additional funds that are most definitely welcome but not necessary to live.
Also, look at the statistics. I heard that half of my fellow writers who publish on amazon make less than $500 a year. Living off of that might pose a slight challenge.

Also, to write necessitates something to write about. If you wish to write fiction of any kind, you need a plot, a main character, a couple of side characters, a universe and a timeline as your basic building blocks. To construct a story out of this chaos you need focus and never, ever, ever - EVER deviate from the course you set right at the beginning. That'll corrupt the story and make it fail.
Starting a story is actually not that much fun. You need to know, at least roughly, what's going to happen across the whole story, you need to set up the main character properly, introduce the universe you built and, basically, set everything off into the direction you want it to go.
Think of it like shooting an arrow. If you aim well and careful, it'll go where it is supposed to go. Aim sloppy and you'll shoot yourself in the foot.

The most important part might be this: Read your own story. Over and over again. If you like it, it's on the right track. I you yourself don't like it, work it until you do. You are your own first and most important critic. Be ruthlessly honest with yourself.

Lastly, read. Anything and everything, just read. By reading a lot you are going to learn a lot about sentence structuring, grammar, plot-structuring, all the tools you are going to need as a fellow writer.
Christian Alex Breitenstein My very first storyline, Xandrian Stone. Right now it is the 2nd of October 2015, and Xandrian Stone 01: Lieutenant Stone is far, far more successful than I ever dared hoping. Xandrian Stone 02: Major Stone is coming together nicely, and will be released as promised in the second half of October.
Christian Alex Breitenstein Basically, I am a dreamer. Stories of all kinds always go through my head, Xandrian Stone is pieced together from parts of those daydreams.
As are all my other stories which will be coming after Xandrian.
Christian Alex Breitenstein Well, Xandrian Stone has grown over a long time and still is growing. That's one of the reasons I am releasing the Xandrian Stone books as shortbooks, which are essentially the chapters of a larger book.
This way I can react to feedback and correct mistakes or clarify unclear things.
But to the question: I have always been a great fan of Horatio Hornblower or Richard Bolitho. Without the needed knowledge about naval warfare in the late 18th and early 19th century I constructed a setting for these stories by inventing a whole new universe. That way I am free to do as I please to deliver you a story full of adventure, hardship and - eventually - victory.

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