Tag: j michael straczynski

Weekly Update – July 13, 2021

On By ronsonbeckIn Action Figures, Event, Novels, Strongarm & Lightfoot, Young AdultLeave a comment

The cover for The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Elfish Motives is almost finished! Tricia is into the fine color work, which is when her pieces really come to life, as you can see at right.

Now, you might notice that the figure at center top — Rhian, Winifred’s mother — has undergone a significant change from the last draft. Tricia thought she wasn’t looking very prominent in the piece and needed to command more attention, which is perfectly in keeping with her character, so Tricia swapped out her formalwear and put her in armor.

There’s not much left to do but finish the color work and add the logos and text, and then we’ve got ourselves a brand-new Strongarm & Lightfoot adventure ready to go!

WRITING PROJECTS

Action Figures – Secret Origins: Audiobook recording underway, scheduled for mid-2021 release.

Action Figures – Issue Eleven: Draft one underway. Scheduled for a winter/spring 2022 release.

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Elfish Motives: Final draft is done, awaiting cover art. Tentatively scheduled for a summer release.

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – book six: Second draft finished, third draft in process.

APPEARANCES & EVENTS

None scheduled.

MISC.

The New England Speculative Writers group has a new preview book for newsletter subscribers. Pick it up and read the opening chapters to Well-Behaved Women – Awakening and other stories.

If you’d like to make sure you don’t miss any news from me, remember that I have a weekly newsletter that features some of the stuff you see posted here plus new, newsletter-exclusive material. Click this link to sign up.

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Weekly Update – July 6, 2021

On By ronsonbeckIn Action Figures, Event, Novels, Strongarm & Lightfoot, Young AdultLeave a comment

Tricia continues to truck along on the cover for The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Elfish Motives. As you can see, she’s into the preliminary color work, which is when her creations really start to come to life.

So, who are these people? Going clockwise from bottom left, we have our own Winifred Graceword, her parents Alastair, Rhian, and Everett, and her younger brother Matias — but that’s all I’m going to give you for now. I’ll be posting the back cover text soon enough!

WRITING PROJECTS

Action Figures – Secret Origins: Audiobook recording underway, scheduled for mid-2021 release.

Action Figures – Issue Eleven: Draft one underway. Scheduled for a winter/spring 2022 release.

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Elfish Motives: Final draft is done, awaiting cover art. Tentatively scheduled for a summer release.

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – book six: First draft finished.

APPEARANCES & EVENTS

None schedule.

MISC.

The New England Speculative Writers group has a new preview book for newsletter subscribers. Pick it up and read the opening chapters to Well-Behaved Women – Awakening and other stories.

If you’d like to make sure you don’t miss any news from me, remember that I have a weekly newsletter that features some of the stuff you see posted here plus new, newsletter-exclusive material. Click this link to sign up.

Weekly Update – June 29, 2021

On By ronsonbeckIn Action Figures, Event, Novels, Strongarm & Lightfoot, Young AdultLeave a comment

Ah, one of my favorite parts of the creation process is upon me! Tricia has started sending me teases of her cover for The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Elfish Motives, including the bit to the right. I’ll tell you that the lady on the left is none other than Winifred, but the lack of her ever-present smile might have thrown you off. But who’s the smug jerk next to her? Is that why she looks less than thrilled to be there?

I guess you’ll just have to pick up the book when it drops, which should be later this summer!

WRITING PROJECTS

Action Figures – Secret Origins: Audiobook recording underway, scheduled for mid-2021 release.

Action Figures – Issue Eleven: Draft one underway. Scheduled for a winter/spring 2022 release.

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Elfish Motives: Final draft is done, awaiting cover art. Tentatively scheduled for a summer release.

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – book six: First draft finished.

APPEARANCES & EVENTS

None schedule.

MISC.

The New England Speculative Writers group has a new preview book for newsletter subscribers. Pick it up and read the opening chapters to Well-Behaved Women – Awakening and other stories.

If you’d like to make sure you don’t miss any news from me, remember that I have a weekly newsletter that features some of the stuff you see posted here plus new, newsletter-exclusive material. Click this link to sign up.

Weekly Update – June 22, 2021

On By ronsonbeckIn Action Figures, Event, Novels, Strongarm & Lightfoot, Young AdultLeave a comment

Finally got a full writing day in over the weekend! The eleventh Action Figures book continues to take shape, though what its final form might be remains a mystery. The thrill of being a pantser.

On an amusing note, I received a two-star review recently. I know that doesn’t sound amusing, but go ahead and read it and tell me it doesn’t make you laugh.

Effective villains? Ramping up story tension? HOW DARE I?!

Negative reviews are inevitable in this job, and you eventually learn to ignore them (or stop reading them), but ones this laughable are worth relishing. The guy’s complaining that partway through the story — he didn’t even finish reading the book before posting! — the villains have the upper hand. I decided to skim some of his other reviews, and he’s left similar complaints about other books in which the antagonists at some point had the upper hand. This is apparently his bugaboo, which he’s certainly entitled to, but if you only enjoy stories in which the bad guy is Skeletor-level ineffectual, you’re going to hate a LOT of great stories.

WRITING PROJECTS

Action Figures – Secret Origins: Audiobook recording underway, scheduled for mid-2021 release.

Action Figures – Issue Eleven: Draft one underway. Scheduled for a winter/spring 2022 release.

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Elfish Motives: Final draft is done. Tentatively scheduled for a summer/fall 2021 release.

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – book six: First draft finished.

APPEARANCES & EVENTS

  • Convention of Heroes 2021 – Runs this week through June 25. Join superhero authors for a series of virtual panels on writing superhero fiction and related topics. Unfortunately, due to work commitments, I won’t be able to make my panel on creating superhero characters, but you should still check it out.

MISC.

The New England Speculative Writers group has a new preview book for newsletter subscribers. Pick it up and read the opening chapters to Well-Behaved Women – Awakening and other stories.

If you’d like to make sure you don’t miss any news from me, remember that I have a weekly newsletter that features some of the stuff you see posted here plus new, newsletter-exclusive material. Click this link to sign up.

Weekly Update – June 15, 2021

On By ronsonbeckIn Action Figures, Event, Novels, Strongarm & Lightfoot, Young AdultLeave a comment

The adjustment continues. I have a full, dedicated writing day coming up on Friday, my first in a few weeks. I’m honestly not loving the loss of writing time that comes with having a regular day job, but earning actual adult money that pays my bills takes the sting out a little.

FWIW, I’ll be working on the next Action Figures book, which is starting to shape up as the penultimate book in the series. The question is whether how much it will bring the series arc to an end — which sounds like a dumb thing to say considering I just called it the penultimate book, but I’m considering taking a page out of J. Michael Straczynski’s book and using the final book in the series as denouement for the whole series.

Now, if you’re a fan of JMS, you probably get what I’m talking about, but for those who aren’t familiar with his most notable creation, Babylon 5, the series was structured to offer its major climax more toward the middle of the overall story and use seasons four and five to let the aftermath play out to the series’ ultimate resolution. Even though that plan was altered due to the uncertainty of the show receiving its full five-season run — it looked like it was going to end with season four, so things were accelerated to get it all in — it offered a different approach to the traditional three-act story structure.

With Action Figures, I’ve introduced a lot of characters and concepts that will have far-reaching impacts in the world I’ve created. Problem is, I never planned to continue the series in perpetuity; the plan was always to wrap things up as the main characters transitioned from childhood to adulthood, and it feels like I’d be denying the readers by setting up a whole new set of pins only to never knock them down.

So, assuming things play out as I want (hope), the final book will tie off all the threads pertaining to the core cast and set the stage for future stories set in the AF universe, but not necessarily featuring the Hero Squad. Guess we’ll all find out together.

WRITING PROJECTS

Action Figures – Secret Origins: Audiobook recording underway, scheduled for mid-2021 release.

Action Figures – Issue Eleven: Draft one underway. Scheduled for a winter/spring 2022 release.

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Elfish Motives: Final draft is done. Tentatively scheduled for a summer/fall 2021 release.

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – book six: First draft finished.

APPEARANCES & EVENTS

  • Convention of Heroes 2021 – June 21 – June 25. Join superhero authors for a series of virtual panels on writing superhero fiction and related topics. Unfortunately, due to work commitments, I won’t be able to make my panel on creating superhero characters.

MISC.

The New England Speculative Writers group has a new preview book for newsletter subscribers. Pick it up and read the opening chapters to Well-Behaved Women – Awakening and other stories.

If you’d like to make sure you don’t miss any news from me, remember that I have a weekly newsletter that features some of the stuff you see posted here plus new, newsletter-exclusive material. Click this link to sign up.