Monthly Archives: September 2014

Planning and when the story takes its own course

I continue to have a great time writing the Tracking Jane series. Even though I like to free-hand my story-telling, I required a little planning for this series to sketch out how each episode serves an over-arching narrative and what aspect of Jane McMurtry’s life it covers within a self-contained story line. Still, as I […]

September 30, 2014 – 6:55 am | By Eduardo Suastegui | Posted in Novels | Comments Off on Planning and when the story takes its own course

When the story demands a flashback

As a reader, I find few things as annoying as a protracted, slow-moving, data dump of a flashback. For me, flashbacks tend to halt the progress of the narrative — as in, I hear the sound of screeching tires right before the thing hits an immovable concrete wall. For this reason, early on in my […]

September 25, 2014 – 4:30 pm | By Eduardo Suastegui | Posted in Essays | Tagged , | Comments Off on When the story demands a flashback

Rover comes out early

After yesterday’s quick announcement, another one follows today. After completing the final touches for Rover, episode 2 of the Tracking Jane series, I went ahead and released it today. It’s ready, so why not? Like we’ve discussed before, together with Shadow-7, these two episodes add up to a full novel length. If you haven’t picked […]

September 25, 2014 – 7:07 am | By Eduardo Suastegui | Posted in News, Novels | Comments Off on Rover comes out early

Tracking Jane series news: updated covers, upcoming releases

Just wanted to drop a quick note to let my readers know some specifics of how the Tracking Jane series is going. First let me say what a moving experience it’s been for me to write this series. My respect and admiration for wounded veterans and what they go through to get on with their […]

September 24, 2014 – 10:19 am | By Eduardo Suastegui | Posted in News, Novels | Comments Off on Tracking Jane series news: updated covers, upcoming releases

Story-tellers and their tools

Do the tools the artist uses to advance his craft matter, and if so to what extent? I recently faced this question in an endeavor I didn’t expect the answer to matter, namely in my writing. To facilitate writing on the go, anywhere writing, as it were, sometime I ago I procured a tablet with […]

September 22, 2014 – 6:32 am | By Eduardo Suastegui | Posted in Essays | Comments Off on Story-tellers and their tools

Waiting for Shadow, a new episode/prequel in work

Now that I’m more or less done with the first two episodes of the Tracking Jane series and have quarantined the first draft of the third episode before I start editing it with fresh eyes, I got the inkling that some of the backstory in Jane McMurtry’s recovery needs to come out. I am currently […]

September 19, 2014 – 5:55 am | By Eduardo Suastegui | Posted in News, Novels | Comments Off on Waiting for Shadow, a new episode/prequel in work

More thoughts on word count quotas

You would think that after I posted my polemic about not counting words but making words count, that would settle the matter (yes, that’s a joke). Yet, a couple of days ago I ran across yet another blog posting about the need for word count quotas. We’re all different, and I’ll avoid the fallacy that […]

September 18, 2014 – 6:15 am | By Eduardo Suastegui | Posted in Essays | Tagged , | Comments Off on More thoughts on word count quotas

Review: ‘The Minus Faction’ by Rick Wayne, flaws don’t diminish a compelling story

Rick Wayne writes with such skill and unassuming ease, his prose is worth the reading if nothing else for the clarity and spark of it. But for two bothersome flaws, the Minus Faction would earn my full five stars. I was first drawn to Wayne’s story, The Minus Faction, wanting to see how he wrote […]

September 17, 2014 – 6:15 am | By Eduardo Suastegui | Posted in My Book Reviews | Comments Off on Review: ‘The Minus Faction’ by Rick Wayne, flaws don’t diminish a compelling story

Tracking Jane, episode 1 out, episode 2 preview ready

I am pleased to announce Shadow-7 is now released for Kindle. Working in this story and the episodes that follow has taken me along a terrific creative journey. Writing Shadow-7 and subsequent episodes has allowed me to meet great characters (one in particular) and to struggle alongside them as they make sense of life and […]

September 16, 2014 – 5:51 am | By Eduardo Suastegui | Posted in News, Novels | Comments Off on Tracking Jane, episode 1 out, episode 2 preview ready

Voice of The Mute Tales gets new covers

A cool benefit of being an indie author comes through the avability to try new covers at will and see if that helps you connect with new readers. After all, though we like to think the book’s content rules, we do have to acknowledge that an eBook, especially, does get judged by its cover. Lately […]

September 15, 2014 – 6:35 am | By Eduardo Suastegui | Posted in News, Short Stories | Comments Off on Voice of The Mute Tales gets new covers