Josiah Bancroft's Blog - Posts Tagged "senlin-ascends"

I've never been very interested in writers residencies. The idea of going somewhere for the express purpose of writing has always seemed a little strange. Perhaps that's because I write everywhere and often. I don't need a cabin to inspire me to write. One of the main reasons for going on a residency, I'm told, is to "stop the clocks," to carve out a little time for the lonesome and ponderous work. But my life is not hectic. I am not "busy," at least not in the way that everyone else seems to be. When I'm not writing, it's out of laziness, not for the lack of a remote mountain cabin to flock my thoughts.

But, when I heard about the Amtrak residency for writers, I was really excited. The idea is as simple, romantic, and ingenious: they buy you a ticket, they give you a desk and a berth, and you write on the train as it rolls around the country for a few days and then drops you off back where you began.

Part of the application asks why you want to participate in the residency. My answer was this:

There's something unique about riding on a train. It's both venturesome and contemplative; it's invigorating and hypnotic. One feels like one is hurtling along, but very placidly, very methodically.

Trains do strange things to one's perception, too. The environs near the tracks are just glimpsed as they pass by in a rush, but the distant things, the mountains and the horizons, they linger outside the window for minutes and hours at a time.

Writing is a lot like riding on a train: it is as an adventure of contemplation. It is the rushing by of words and the lingering presence of distant impressions and ideas.

Before publishing Senlin Ascends in February of 2013, I released the three parts of the novel separately over the course of several months. Serializing the book served two purposes. First, it gave Senlin a chance to attract a readership, particularly those readers who prefer to read shorter works published more regularly. And second, it gave readers a chance to tell me what they liked and didn’t like about the direction of the story and the shape of the characters. Much of that advice was invaluable.

With Arm of the Sphinx, Book II in the Books of Babel series, I’d like to repeat that process. So, I will release Arm of the Sphinx in four e-book installments over the course of this year, with a new part arriving every few months. Each installment will be about a hundred pages long and will cost $.99. The complete e-book will be available for $4.99 at year’s end, at which point I will take down the serialized parts. This means that intrepid readers of the serial will get to read the book first and for a dollar less than everyone else.

If you prefer print, don't panic. I'll be real releasing a print version at the end of the year, too.

My hope is that you can help me to spread the word about the Books of Babel. Reviews are appreciated, of course, but if you’d like to share your thoughts with me directly, you can email me at TheBooksofBabel@gmail.com. I’d be delighted to hear from you, even if you aren’t delighted with the book.

Ian Leino, my best friend, is responsible for the fantastic cover art. I asked him to draw the cover in stages, so that with each subsequent release, the cover will evolve from a sketch to a completed image. Visit ianleino.com to see more of his wonderful work.

Thank you for reading!

P.S. The e-book serial will be available on Amazon tomorrow. I will release it on the Nook and Kobo sites next week.

I wrote this advice to my students this morning. As is often the case, the best advice I can offer others is just the advice I give myself on a regular basis.

Don’t talk about your ideas or intentions. It’s normal to get excited about a personal goal. It’s also normal for writers to think about their current projects compulsively. So, it’s only natural for us to want to talk about our ideas and current projects. We want to share our passion and excitement, and we want someone to validate those feelings. But by receiving this premature validation, we erode the motivation that we need to do the work. We are less likely to finish something if we talk about too much. Productive writers are often secretive about what they’re working on because they don’t want to lose the drive to finish it. They’ve learned to take validation from doing the work rather than talking about it.

Reading will teach you everything you need to know about writing if you read broadly and carefully. Workshops, conferences, creative writing programs, and writers’ residencies are primarily social engagements. Writing is often a lonely business, and so writers naturally look for access to a community. These interactions have an interpersonal value, but they won't teach you half as much about writing as reading will. Read classics, read your contemporaries, read outside your genre, read books that intimidate you, and read every day. Don’t be discouraged by people who brag about all the important, obscure, or difficult books they’ve read; many of them are exaggerating, anyway. Read at your own pace, but don’t stop reading.

Develop your own standards and define your own expectations for your work. Don’t look to your peers for validation. You can always find someone who is worse than you, and if you’ve read enough, it’s also easy to find someone who is better than you. While it’s natural to be aware of other writers’ failings and strengths, you’ll drive yourself crazy if you spend too much time measuring your work against the genius of others. Learn to appreciate your accomplishments; learn to identify your weaknesses. Neither critical acclaim nor popular reception will give you lasting self-confidence or self-knowledge.

Uneasiness, insecurity, and failure are essential to growth. Learning is often an uncomfortable process. It requires a lot of effort, some of it tedious and much of it discouraging. We can’t grow unless we are dissatisfied with our first efforts and our past accomplishments; we can’t grow unless we risk failure and exposure to scrutiny and criticism. It’s important to remember that failure is unavoidable. Those of us who never take risks don’t avoid failure, we just defer it to the end of our lives when we have nothing to celebrate, nothing to take pride in. That final failure is infinitely worse, not least of all because there is no opportunity for success. If you persist and if you learn from your experiences, you will eventually succeed. There are, of course, many different kind of success, and not all of them end in mansions and mobs of adoring fans. But the success that you earn by dent of diligence and sweat will be incredibly rewarding. I promise.

It's pretty easy to deduce the genre of a book from the title. Just think of all the different ways you could repackage a classic like Moby Dick!

Contemporary Literature: Pale Leviathan

Non-Fiction: The Whales of Our Fathers

Film Adaptation Rebrand: Making Waves (Now a Major Motion Picture starring Shia LaBeouf as Captain Ahab.)

Classic Science Fiction: i, Ishmael

High Fantasy: The Ambergris of Mobi Dique

Erotica: There's a Queequeg In My Bed!

Steampunk Princess Pequod, The Hunt for the Steam Behemoth

Y.A.: Revengence- "Amid the ruins of the old world, a young woman must overcome her brain cancer to find the sea monster that ate her brother. When she falls in love with a handsome cannibal, Kraig, she must choose between discovering her inner strength or embracing her hidden beauty. Or does she?"

The third part of Arm of the Sphinx is available on Amazon for download. But it won't be for long. Next Tuesday, I'm going to pull the parts down and publish the complete book. If all goes well with the proofs, the print version should be available starting then, too. I'm planning on doing a few Goodreads giveaways. I'll keep you posted!

If you're interested in reviewing the new book, I'd be happy to send you an e-copy. Haven't read the first book in the series? No problem! I can give you a copy of Senlin Ascends, too, so you can catch up. You can email me at thebooksofbabel@gmail.com, or you can message me. You don't have to be a professional reviewer. Everyone in the Goodreads community is a book reviewer as far as I'm concerned!

To celebrate the publication of Arm of the Sphinx, I'm hosting a Goodreads Giveaway. So that readers have a chance to catch up with the series, the Giveaway includes a copy of both Arm of the Sphinx and Senlin Ascends.

After many months of searching for the right printer, I'm happy to announce that the hardback of Senlin Ascends is now available! You can purchase it from Amazon, have your local bookstore order it, or buy a signed copy directly from me (which will take a little longer because I have to order the books and then ship them out again).

If you'd like a signed copy, please message me or email me at thebooksofbabel@gmail.com so I can get a sense of how many books to order.

Happy New Year, everyone!

For a chance to win an advanced reader copy of THE HOD KING, all you need to do is sign up for my newsletter. (I only send out two newsletters a year, so I promise not to spam your inbox!) I will select one winner at random from my mailing list.

You can sign up for the newsletter here. The drawing will be held on October 31, 2018, and a winner will be announced shortly thereafter. This contest is open to everyone, everywhere. Good luck!

For a chance to win a Subterranean Press Special Edition of The Hod King, share your favorite quote from any of The Books of Babel in the comments below.

One winner will be chosen at random. Contest spans several platforms. One entry per person, please. Open to everyone, everywhere.

Closes midnight (EST) July 18.

EDIT: The randomly drawn winner of the Sub Press special edition of The Hod King is @mrdorough (via Twitter). Congratulations, Matthew!

Many thanks to everyone who participated in the giveaway. It was truly wonderful to read your favorite lines from the series!