T.C. Weber

Majenta wrote: "Hello, T.C.! Thank you for contacting me! I hope you are keeping as safe and well and possible and having a great week. Happy reading, writing, and everything else. Blessings!
Best wishes from Majenta"

Blessings and best wishes to you too!

Hello, T.C.! Thank you for contacting me! I hope you are keeping as safe and well and possible and having a great week. Happy reading, writing, and everything else. Blessings!
Best wishes from Majenta

Tracey wrote: "Thank you so much for the friend invite!"

You're welcome!

Thank you so much for the friend invite!

Kyle wrote: "Thank you so much for the friend request!
Alien is definitely in my Top 3 all time favorites.
Great choice!"

What are your other two?

Thank you so much for the friend request!
Alien is definitely in my Top 3 all time favorites.
Great choice!

Ꮗ€♫◗☿ ❤️ wrote: "T. C.,
I’m just popping by to say hello!
I look forward to our interactions.
"
Nice GIF!

T. C.,
I’m just popping by to say hello!
I look forward to our interactions.

Here are some questions and answers from a thriller panel I was on recently:

1. Pacing-- What does it mean to you and how do you maintain it?
A thriller has to be generally fast-paced. That’s part of the thrilling experience. In my books, and I think this applies to most books, not just thrillers, every scene should move the plot forward. In proactive scenes, the POV character has a goal, there’s a conflict that gets in the way, and a setback, where the character doesn’t get exactly what he or she wants. In reactive scenes, the character is reeling from something bad that’s happened, he or she has to decide what to do next, there may not be any good options, but he or she decides to do something, picking the least bad option. Not all scenes should be packed with action, you need some variety. So that’s where the reactive scenes and character development come in. I end each chapter with something unresolved, something that will lead the reader to the following chapter. In Wrath of Leviathan, the villain is getting closer and closer to the heroes, so showing the villain’s progress as the last scene of a chapter builds tension. Finally, I would say cut out anything you don’t need. Start your scene as late as possible and end it as early as possible.

2. Character sketches. Who are your characters and do you come up with them before you start a novel or do you develop them as you go along? Have you ever tried doing the opposite of what you do?
In Wrath of Leviathan, my main characters are two sisters, Waylee, who is an unemployed bipolar journalist and musician, and Kiyoko, who is much younger, and is a virtual reality addict and designs game environments and real-world costumes for a living. There are a lot of other characters also. The main villain is a divorced ex-cop who’s now a mercenary. He cares about his kids, who he’s not allowed to see anymore, but everyone else is just a means to an end. I create detailed profiles for my major characters, fleshing out their goals, personalities, backgrounds, appearances, etc. These may change while drafting the story, but usually not a whole lot. I try to make the characters interesting, and different from each other. The characters themselves change during the course of the story, following an arc that’s integrated with the events of the story; in other words, the character affects the story and the story affects the character.

3. Much has been said about the plotter vs. pantser debate. Do you work from an outline or do you fly by the seat of your pants. How did you choose this method and have you ever tried another way.
I typically write short stories seat of the pants, more or less, but I always outline novels. They’re too long and complex to really get right without some kind of road map. I follow Randy Ingermanson’s Snowflake method and Larry Brooks’s Story Engineering, more or less. The first step is to brainstorm story ideas and pick one worth writing about. I turn this into a “what if” question (e.g., “What if nearly all information was controlled by a powerful elite? Could ordinary people overturn such a system?”) and a one-sentence novel summary (e.g., “An unemployed journalist and her friends try to stop a power-mad CEO from controlling the world.”) The next step is to expand that sentence to a full paragraph describing the story setup, major plot points, and ending of the novel. Then I develop the main characters and their goals, motivations, back story, etc. I weave the character arcs into the plot and write a short synopsis followed by a long synopsis. I convert this to a scene list in Scrivener, with a virtual index card for each scene (ideally with the scene arc outlined). Then finally I start writing, starting with the opening scene and writing usually one scene/day. As I write, the story changes, sometimes quite a bit, but at least I have a roadmap to follow.

4. Chronology: when you write do you proceed in chronological order or do you jump around? How and why do you use this method?
I try to proceed in chronological order, but in the BetterWorld series, whenever the characters are separated, they follow different threads, and often I’ll be so into that thread, what that character is doing, that I follow it for several chapters before going back and working on a different thread.

5. What are some techniques you use to create and maintain suspense?
First, I like high stakes that are both broad and personal. For example, in the BetterWorld trilogy, MediaCorp’s information monopoly makes them essentially the most powerful dictatorship in history. And Waylee, the main character of the first book, will do anything to stop that, and is further driven because MediaCorp had her fired from her newspaper and blacklisted.
Second, make the villains more powerful than the heroes. The heroes of my trilogy are talented, but are essentially normal people, with no money and not much influence, but they’re up against the most powerful corporation in history and a government that does their bidding. Then I add missions that seem impossible, like recording secret conversations with the president, or taking over the Super Bowl. How on earth will the heroes pull that off? And if they don’t pull it off, the world is screwed.
Third, pile on the problems. Whenever things seem bad, make them worse.
And then have a ticking clock, deadlines that the characters have to beat.

6. Let's talk a bit about Point of View. What POV do you prefer? When it comes to thrillers, which POV is better? Why? What are the advantages and disadvantages to the various POV's?
I prefer third person close, so the reader can get inside the character’s head. I wrote a dystopian novel titled Born in Salt in first person, which I did just because I like to try different things. In first person, the reader is even more in the character’s head, but it’s harder to tell a story that way because you can only show things that are happening to that one particular character.

7. POV Shifts-- Generally, third person limited, using one character's POV per scene with a break between any POV shifts, is the preferred method for writing thrillers. Do you subscribe to this technique? Why or why not?
Yes. Film and TV have advantages over books in being able to show the setting more easily. But one advantage of books is that the reader can really get inside the characters’ heads, and I think that’s a crucial part of the immersive process.

8. Sex and Violence-- Ah, now that I have your attention, let me ask you. What should writers keep in mind when writing scene with the two aforementioned topics.
First, keep your audience in mind. If you’re writing for kids or teens, obviously you can’t be graphic. Then, unless you’re writing erotica or torture porn, neither of which are my thing, don’t go overboard with the details. Just show what matters most to the characters and the plot development. Too many details get boring. We don’t need to read about every squeeze and thrust, or every punch or gun shot. Just give a taste, enough where the reader can fill in the details.

9. How important is the concept of time in the writing of a thriller?
Critical. Having a ticking clock, a deadline that the characters have to beat, adds a lot of tension. In Wrath of Leviathan, both the heroes and villain have deadlines. For example, Kiyoko, the main character, has to help her friends before they’re extradited. In Sleep State Interrupt, Waylee, the main character, has to figure out how to infiltrate a closed New Year’s Eve event and get everything they need to get inside and collect the information she needs, before Dec. 31. Then, they have an even bigger challenge to sneak into this high-security broadcast center and broadcast a video during the Super Bowl, and they have to figure all this out before the game starts. Then they have more problems after the game starts and are running out of time.

The Wrath of Leviathan is now available for pre-order on Amazon in both Kindle and paperback format!

In Wrath of Leviathan, the second book of the BetterWorld cyberpunk trilogy, Waylee faces life in prison for daring to expose MediaCorp's schemes to control the world. Exiled in São Paulo, her sister Kiyoko and their hacker friends continue the fight, seeking to end the conglomerate's stranglehold on virtual reality, information, and politics. But MediaCorp and their government allies may quash the rebellion before it takes off. And unknown to Kiyoko and her friends, a team of ruthless mercenaries is after them, and is closing in fast.

https://www.amazon.com/Wrath-Leviatha...

I also posted some pictures for The Wrath of Leviathan:
https://www.goodreads.com/photo/work/...

I posted some pictures from Sleep State Interrupt, including all the main characters:
https://www.goodreads.com/photo/work/...

The Wrath of Leviathan is now available on Amazon as a paperback pre-order!

In Wrath of Leviathan, the second book of the BetterWorld cyberpunk trilogy, Waylee faces life in prison for daring to expose MediaCorp's schemes to control the world. Exiled in São Paulo, her sister Kiyoko and their hacker friends continue the fight, seeking to end the conglomerate's stranglehold on virtual reality, information, and politics. But MediaCorp and their government allies may quash the rebellion before it takes off. And unknown to Kiyoko and her friends, a team of ruthless mercenaries is after them, and is closing in fast.

https://www.amazon.com/Wrath-Leviatha...

Sleep State Interrupt, my near-future cyberpunk thriller, is on sale this week for 99 cents on Kindle! If you haven't read it yet, check it out!
https://www.amazon.com/Sleep-State-In...

For an advance look at The Wrath of Leviathan, visit http://savethereefs.wixsite.com/tcweber, scroll down, and click the link to Chapter 1.

WARNING: Contains spoilers about the first book (Sleep State Interrupt), so if you haven't read the first book yet, the web site contains links to that too.

In Sleep State Interrupt, a giant media corporation has taken over the Internet, created an addictive virtual reality called BetterWorld, and controls nearly all information. Politicians do their bidding and a brainwashed humanity serves a privileged few. Waylee Freid, an unemployed Baltimore journalist with ever-worsening bipolar disorder, is the only hope for a brighter future. She and her countercultural friends bust a notorious teenage hacker out of jail and sneak into a closed presidential fundraiser at the Smithsonian castle, where they hope to record incriminating admissions that will wake up the world. Hunted by Homeland Security, Waylee and her friends must reach a sufficient audience by broadcasting their video during the Super Bowl. But to do so, they'll have to break into one of the most secure facilities ever built.

In Wrath of Leviathan, the second book of the BetterWorld trilogy, Waylee faces life in prison for daring to expose Media Corporation’s schemes to control the world. Her reality-challenged sister Kiyoko, her increasingly unhinged boyfriend Pel, and juvenile hacker genius Charles are hiding in São Paulo, Brazil, and trying to challenge MediaCorp’s monopoly over virtual reality and commerce. But a team of ruthless mercenaries and corrupt cops are after the trio, and are closing in fast. Meanwhile, MediaCorp and their government allies seek to quash the rebellion Waylee started, and tighten a grip over the world that could last for millennia.

Hi, I put a bunch of free stories, novel excerpts, and drink recipes on my web site: http://savethereefs.wixsite.com/tcweber

Navigate to the "Free Stuff" tab. Enjoy!

The Wrath of Leviathan, first of two sequels to Sleep State Interrupt, is coming out Sep. 1.

In this near-future thriller, Waylee faces life in prison for daring to expose Media Corporation’s schemes to control the world. Her reality-challenged sister Kiyoko, her increasingly unhinged boyfriend Pel, and juvenile hacker genius Charles are hiding in São Paulo, Brazil, and trying to challenge MediaCorp’s monopoly over virtual reality and commerce. But a team of ruthless mercenaries and corrupt cops are after the trio, and are closing in fast. Meanwhile, MediaCorp and their government allies seek to quash the rebellion Waylee started, and tighten a grip over the world that could last for millennia.

I posted some short stories ranging from children's to slipstream. Check them out!

If you've won or bought Sleep State Interrupt, posting a short review would be very helpful. It's the only way other readers will know about it. Thanks!

Why Your Reviews Matter
by Chaz Bufe, publisher See Sharp Press

Your reviews matter, probably more than you realize.

There has been a drastic decline in the numbers of magazines and newspapers over the past two decades, and an even more drastic decline in the number that carry book reviews. The number of daily papers in the U.S. dropped roughly 15% over the past quarter century, and a great many of those remaining have reduced or entirely eliminated their book review sections. (This is in line with their overall reductions in news and feature coverage during the same period due to huge, presumably Internet-caused, revenue drops.)

The status of weekly papers is perhaps even more dire. Forty years ago there were independent weeklies in almost every major and mid-size city in the country, and a great many carried reviews. Since then, those that survived have been, and are still being, gobbled up by media conglomerates, the New Times chain being emblematic. That chain bought weeklies in half of the country’s largest markets, and the New Times papers I’m familiar with (and probably all or nearly all of the rest) do not review books.

The situation here in Tucson is a case in point. Six years ago, Arizona’s oldest daily newspaper, The Tucson Citizen, went under. The remaining Tucson daily, The Arizona Daily Star, now devotes only a half-page to reviews in its Sunday edition (no space at all in the others), and the formerly independent Tucson Weekly has been bought twice over the last 15 years by small media conglomerates. It used to carry weekly in-depth reviews of books by local authors. No more. Following its most recent sale, it stopped carrying book reviews and almost everything else that made it worth reading. It’s now little more than an advertising sheet of use only as bird cage liner (which is, literally, what I use it for — I normally don’t even bother looking inside it).

Magazines are in somewhat similar shape. Circulation (especially news stand circulation) has been declining simultaneously with the ascent of the Internet, and revenue has been plummeting: from $48.3 billion in 2007 to $27 billion in 2015. Two specialty magazines, Guitar Player and Bass Player, owned by the same company, are a case in point. From their glory days in the 1990s, their circulation has dropped by roughly half, and a few years ago they combined their staffs in a cost-cutting move. The end result of all this is that magazines have cut back their coverage, and it’s harder than ever to get reviews. (Bass Player and Guitar Player are exceptions to the rule, and are still very good about reviewing books.)

Compounding all this is the explosion in the annual number of new books over the past 25 years or so. The number of new titles reported by Books in Print, the best source for information on physical books, more than doubled over the last 15 years; the current total of new print books exceeds 300,000 per year. Add in e-books, and the number is likely over 1,000,000. (No one really knows how many e-books are published annually.)

Add this all up, and you have far more books competing for far fewer reviews in the remaining magazines and newspapers (the situation is similar with online review sites, which are overwhelmed), and for what little shelf space remains in bookstores.

The number of independent bookstores, where readers in decades past could discover books that received few or no reviews, has declined drastically over the past half-century. At present, they account for only 10% of the book market. So, that channel for readers to discover books has all but disappeared.

To make matters even worse, the large-circulation magazines tend to ignore books from small presses and to review primarily, often only, books from the half-dozen conglomerates that dominate the book publishing industry, and both television (and syndication-dominated) radio talk shows tend to book only the authors published by those same conglomerates.

What’s left for small publishers? Reader reviews on Goodreads, Amazon, Kobo, B&N, and other online retailer sites.

If you read a book that you like issued by an independent publisher, please consider writing even a one- or two-sentence review for Goodreads or any of the online book retailers. It’ll help both the author and the small publisher. And it’ll help other readers discover books they would enjoy.

Your reviews are more important than you think.

(reprinted from https://seesharppress.wordpress.com/2...)

The first four chapters (0-3) of my upcoming cyberpunk thriller, Sleep State Interrupt, are available for free at http://www.seesharppress.com/SSIsampl.... Check it out!

Free short story: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view...
Waylee Freid, a young reporter in a near-future Baltimore, uncovers evidence that a powerful corporation called MediaCorp secretly co-opted the government to take control of nearly everything people see and hear. Can she get her evidence out and reverse the process before it's too late? Or will her editors succumb to outside pressure and bury her story?