Justin Swapp

Magic Shop – Chapter 7: A Strange Visit

admin — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 13:02:35 +0000

Well, I finally finished Chapter 7. That one definitely took me longer than the others. This is a key chapter in the book as some plot turning information is revealed. I have a feeling I will have to revise this one heavily, but that will come once I am done with the first draft

The Magic Shop: Chapter 6

admin — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 12:57:25 +0000

Things have been flowing nicely on the first draft of The Magic Shop – until chapter 6. The family had some vacation planned, and so I didn’t get a ton of writing done. I’m getting back now, so I hope to knock this out and move on to the next chapter as soon as I can. This book has been fun so far, because its flowing much nicer than the Cross Chronicles. I took more time to plan this one out. Stay tuned.

Justin

New Novel is Underway

admin — Sun, 16 May 2010 19:39:50 +0000

I started writing on the new novel this week – The Magic Shop. I finished the detailed outline a week or so ago and have been mentally working up to the start of this book. I needed a break from the Cross Chronicles, so I decided to move on to this new fantasy project. I just finished the first draft of the first chapter and I am starting on chapter 2. Things are heating up!

Acrobat.com – Free writing tools

admin — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:25:17 +0000

Check out acrobat.com and the free writing tools it offers. Its the closest thing to collaborative MS Word that I have seen. Neat!

New flash fiction story

admin — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 14:40:02 +0000

I just posted another flash fiction story that I wrote last night entitled Face to Face. Check it out under the short story section.

How to use the Smicolon

admin — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 13:36:01 +0000

Semicolon usage has confused many of us since English 101. Today I found a website that uses pretty funny comics to deliver the rules around semicolon usage. Check it out!

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/semicolon

New Short Story: Final Exam

admin — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 05:47:20 +0000

I just added a new short story (flash fiction, really) that I wrote this weekend while I was at BYU for the writer’s conference. I posted it in the short story section. Let me know what you think. I named it Final Exam.

Thanks
Justin

LTUE 2010 at BYU

admin — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 00:26:42 +0000

I have the privledge of attending LTUE 2010 at BYU this week/weekend. There are a lot of great authors here giving sound advice to those of us who are persuing the craft.

Here is a link to the schedule so you can check out the details.

I wanted to call out how impressed I was with a few of the authors (and we still have tomorrow to go too!)

John Brown gave a workshop on “How to Write a Story that Rocks!” He shared some amazing tools with everyone in attendance. Here is a link to his website. I would be out of place if I didn’t call out Larry Correia as well. They really teamed up to deliver the message. His site is here. Both of these gentlemen have just published books that sound highly enjoyable. Check ‘em out.

I wanted to call out two tools in particular that came out of this work shop. One, he gave us a hand out that outlines the process he taught us. What process? Well, thats the thing. He recorded the meeting and said that he would be posting it on his website at some point. Check it out! This was

very

helpful.

Dan Wells gave a workshop today on pacing and structure. It was also extremely helpful (and it didn’t hurt that he was halarious either). His web site is here. He didn’t have time to cover a monstrous topic, so it went by a little quite. I posted a comment on his site asking him to please share the power point presentation he put together for the event. There was some great information there on a 7 point outline, or skeleton that we can use to deliver our character arcs. This was great.

Finally, I met an author that I have never heard of before – Clint Johnson. Here is his site.

I have to say that I was really amazed with Clint spoke on the panels. He had a way of articulating writing advice that just seemed to resonate with me. He was very clear, and just… well, delivered. After having just heard him speak, I am going to go and pick up his books. (I don’t even know what they are about). I was that impressed.

Check it out.

All in all, I just thought I would give a quick update, and that I would try to share a little of what we have been able to participate in at this conference.

Write on!
Justin

FastPencil.com

admin — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 20:42:15 +0000

For those of you would be authors/writers out there that are always looking for a new tool to help you be more productive, check out www.fastpencil.com. Its free to use, and they give you one central location to house your work (write), and to find others with whom you may collaborate and edit your work.

They recently came out with a free iPhone/iPod app too. Very good stuff. Check it out and let me know what you think

Thanks
Justin

The Cloud

admin — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 15:34:07 +0000

I’ve decided to write another short story for a contest they are holding over at www.thenextbigwriter.com. All entrants have to write stories revolving around the lives of people impacted by a dark cloud appearing and hovering over Las Vegas. This should be fun.

Also, I found a wonderful website in www.fastpencil.com that helps you organize and collaborate on your writing. GIve it a look. I think I will be using it in the short term for “The Cloud” to test it out.

Thanks
Justin