About Writing and Selling

Terra-Prime: The 2nd American Civil War, the prequel to the Terra-Bravo Saga is coming along nicely! (Yes, I've made a slight change in the title.) Thus far, I've written 92 pages (11 chapters) and I'm nearing a major transition point within the story. I'm still on track for a May 2014 e-publication dates.

The flow on this book is similar to that of Crisis on Terra-Bravo, more action oriented.

*****

Once I have Terra-Prime published, I'll see when Kyle is ready to tackle our next book in the Terra-Bravo Saga. If he's still out of pocket (family/work/college), I may press on with an idea for a new, military-adventure series tentatively named "Roman's Legion". It's set in the modern era and involves a group of former military members who set up a paramilitary/soldier of fortune/adventurers organization. I've pretty much outlined the first book in my head. Now to put that on paper and prepare to write it sooner or later.

*****

Foothold on Terra-Bravo and Crisis on Terra-Bravo continue to sell on the Kindle Store at Amazon.com. Still waiting for a sale of Honing Your Instructional Skills. Need to do some vigorous advertising all the way around.

So, if you know of any science fiction or adventure fans out there, please pass along the links to the Terra-Bravo Saga e-books.

Likewise, if you know of instructors or teachers who may want to look at some new approaches to take in their instruction/teaching, please share the link to Honing Your Instructional Skills.

*****

Enough for now! Have a great week folks and remember...let's be careful out there!

Jeffrey

© Jeffrey M. Fortney - 2014

Honing Your Instructional Skills - 9 Steps to Improving Your Teaching!

One of the greatest adventures of my life was serving as an instructor at the USAF/US Army Fire School at Chanute AFB (Rantoul, IL) and later at the DoD Fire Academy at Goodfellow AFB (San Angelo, TX). My tour at Chanute began in April 1986 and ended in November 1992. My time at Goodfellow began in April 1994 and ended in October 1997.

As much as I enjoyed my time "on the floor" at the various fire departments at which I served, I really enjoyed my time as an instructor. Thanks to mentors such as Senior Master Sergeant Robert Trowbridge, Master Sergeant Don McGee, TSgt Jerry Blaisdell, Mr. Kenneth Medlen, and others I achieved Master Instructor status within 2 years and won numerous instructor awards to include Junior Enlisted Instructor of the Year (1988). During my time at the DoD Fire Academy, I earned two additional awards: the Goodfellow AFB Civilian Technical Training Instructor of the Year and the Air Education Training Command Civilian Instructor of the Year (1996).

More importantly, over the years I developed an approach to engage my students and bring out the best in them. As a result, my student test average was approximately 94%. Over the years, I've encountered many of my former students and found they had translated their success in Tech School to success in the field. Many of them have returned to the DoD Fire Academy to serve as instructors themselves.

For several years, I've tried to boil down my approach into a book that instructors could use to improve their instructional skills. My initial thought was to focus on Fire Service Instructors. With the advent of e-publishing, I decided to revise the book so that any instructor/teacher could use the approach.

Last week, I e-published Honing Your Instructional Skills - 9 Steps to Improving Your Teaching! on Smashwords.com. Through Smashwords, it is available at their site and at Barnes & Noble (b&n.com). Tonight, I put it up on Amazon's Kindle Store as well.

I hope instructors will take a look at this book and apply the approach to their instruction.

**********

Looking at the view count for my previous post, it appears that some folks may have been put off by my title of "Sacrificial Lambs." The post was about how authors create some characters merely for the purpose of killing them off to move the story along. Guess I need to work on my titles a bit!

**********

More snow and ice predicted for tomorrow but nothing is supposed to last. I plan to get some writing in on the prequel to the Terra-Bravo Saga this weekend (hopefully 2 chapters worth!!!) and maybe write a Hub or two.

**********

Stay safe!

Jeffrey

© Jeffrey M. Fortney - 2014

Sacrificial Lambs - Creating and Writing Characters Who are Doomed!

I was chatting with one of my readers the other day and she told me she cried when one of the characters died. I thanked her for the compliment which surprised her. I told her I had written that character for two purposes...one of which was to die heroically.

You see, quite often in fiction, a character's primary purpose may be to serve as the sacrificial lamb to:
-- move the plot forward
-- grip the readers' attention
-- elicit strong emotions

Think about your average murder mystery. No corpse (or supposed death), no mystery! Think about all the slasher films. Definitely got your attention, eh?

Then think of all those stories in which a beloved (or even hated) character dies! You feel bad when the beloved character dies and great when a hated character dies. (Sorry, Yeller. or Sorry about that, Emperor Palpatine!)

As an author, I will use that plot devise. And I freely admit, there are some characters I've written whose sole purpose to exist at all is so that I can kill them at some point in one of my stories. If they elicit a tear or a cheer from my readers at the proper moment, then they will have served their purpose.

**********

Made more headway tonight on the prequel to the Terra-Bravo Saga. Wrapped up Chapter 8 and got our stalwart heroes out of a jam. They have a long trip ahead of them with more danger along the way and still more waiting for them when they reach home!

**********

Honing Your Instructional Skills has received Premium Status on Smashwords.com which means it will be pushed out to places like Amazon's Kindle Store, Barnes & Noble, and many other fine e-bookstores soon.

**********

Think I'll sign off for tonight. My eyes (and the rest of me) are tired!

Stay safe!

Jeffrey

© Jeffrey M. Fortney - 2014

Finally!

I have worked for quite a few years on a project near and dear to my heart...a book to help fire instructors improve their instructional skills to become highly effective instructors. Over those years, I would take the manuscript out, tweak it a bit, get frustrated, and put it away. And thus it languished.

The book was never going to be a long one, maybe 50 to 75 pages in print. You know, a bathroom book that can be read in a couple of sittings! My hope was to publish it through Fire Protection Publications' FPP imprint (for non-validated books) like Chief Dennis Compton's wonderful When in Doubt, Lead series. However, in recent years FPP has published fewer and fewer books of this size.

Then my family convinced me to write and e-publish a science fiction story I'd played around with for an equally long time. With (my son) Kyle's help, Foothold on Terra-Bravo was written, finished, and e-published and quickly followed by Crisis on Terra-Bravo! This re-awakened the writing bug in me and I looked once more to my instructor book.

I knew this book would not be about training personnel to become fire instructors...but one for fire instructors to improve their attitudes and behaviors and positively impact their instruction! But if I wanted to publish it and FPP was no longer publishing such short books, where could I get it done? Going to a competitor was against my strongly beliefs. E-publish maybe?

As I worked on the latest version of the book, I came to realize that the ideas I was presenting could apply to any type of instructor, teacher, college professor, etc... Perhaps it would be better to genericize the material, strip out as much material directly related to the Fire Service Instructor, and take a broader approach.

This resulted in an even shorter, tighter manuscript. I broached the idea of e-publishing with our Managing Editor at FPP and he agreed I could and should e-publish it! With a broader approach, it was no longer strictly Fire Service related and was outside the realm of FPP. He even teased me about chasing the big bucks by going for the broader audience. (Well, there is some truth to that!)So, I prepared my manuscript for e-publishing through Smashwords.com; editing, formatting, more editing, and finally, shooting a cover.

The cover was a long time in development as I wanted a specific type of look. Not artwork, but a photo. Finally, an idea jelled. I asked a friend, Lori Raborg, who works in our Curriculum Division to appear as the instructor. We arranged a classroom, set the stage, and shot the first sequence of Lori as the "highly effective instructor" giving an animated lecture. With those pictures shot, Lori stepped out of the room, changed into some scruffy clothes, messed up her hair, and returned. We gave her an old stool to sit on and an old, warped ruler to use as a pointer. It took a few shots for Lori to devolve into a tired, worn out, burned out instructor but she was a great actor and made it happen.

Fortunately, through the years, I've learned some photo manipulation tricks and created a split screen effect: ineffective instructor on the left and highly effective instructor on the right. I added in the title info and BOOM there it was!

A little more editing and formatting, some time running the book through Smashwords formatting program (lovingly name MEATGRINDER!) and VOILA! A new book: Honing Your Instructional Skills (9 Steps to Improving Your Teaching!).

Honing Your Instructional Skills is currently available in multiple formats at Smashwords.com. Once it passed its review at Smashwords, it will be pushed out to other e-bookstores such as Amazon's Kindle Store, Barnes & Noble, Versent, and others.

I've priced it at $0.99 solely because of its length.

I hope to set up a Facebook page for Honing Your Instructional Skills in the near future. I'll keep you posted!

*****

I'm 59 pages (in Word) into the prequel to the Terra-Bravo Saga. I've just wrapped up a major battle scene and moving into a grand escape. But there are battles aplenty ahead. This new novel is a lot of fun to write. I find myself losing track of time as I write which means it's holding my attention quite well.

*****

Well enough for tonight. Once again, the Polar Vortex is pushing Southward. Stillwater may get significant ice, sleet, and snow tonight through tomorrow evening.

Y'all be careful out there!

Jeffrey

© Jeffrey M. Fortney - 2014

Of Writing and Artwork

Greetings!

I've had a busy past few days. I have begun writing the prequel to the Terra-Bravo Saga! As of tonight, the prologue and the first three chapters have been written. Of course, this is the first draft and I may revisit some or all of these chapters again before e-publishing. But, I feel strongly that I'm on track for getting it on the market in May.

Sadly, Kyle isn't along for the ride on this one. As I mentioned previously, Kyle is working to finish his degree this semester and between family, work, and school he is SWAMPED. I also mentioned how proud I am of him (and all of my children) for continuing their educations!

The story for Terra-Prime: Civil War is more military/action/adventure than science fiction (although some sci-fi elements will appear later in the story). Writing this one has given me some ideas for a new military/action/adventure series to follow the Terra-Bravo Saga (as I hinted at in my last blog post).

*****

If you haven't already, please encourage your friends and family members who enjoy sci-fi to read Foothold on Terra-Bravo and Crisis on Terra-Bravo. Both of these e-books are available in multiple formats
through the following e-book stores for $2.99 each:
- Amazon.com
- Smashwords.com
- Barnes&Noble (bn.com)
- Apple iBooks Store (via iPad or iPhone)
- Diesel eBook Store (diesel-ebooks.com)
- Versent Books (versentbooks.com)


*****


I mentioned artwork above, so let me address that as well. As you may well recall, I've never been really happy with the covers for Foothold and Crisis. They were creations of necessity, not ability! Well, I've found a program that can help me with creating eye catching covers. I've downloaded the primary program and have begun playing around with it. I'll need to purchase some additional plug-ins (of course!) but I hope to be able to create new covers for my existing books and future projects as well within a few months. I'll keep you posted as time goes along!


*****


Big week coming up at the office as I get the lost components of Company Officer 5th and Chief Officer 3rd to Graphics for layout! Then I'll review the comments from two tech reviewers on the first 10 chapters of Company Officer. Hopefully, I'll have some time to start writing Chapter 9 of Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting 6th. This is pretty much an all new chapter and will take some time and TLC to get done right!


*****

Enough for now! I need to turn in soon and get some sleep. Hopefully Julie and I won't be shaken out of bed by an earthquake (we've had several in the past two days!).


Stay safe, everyone!

Jeffrey 

© Jeffrey M. Fortney - 2014

Discharging and Recharging the Ol' Batteries!

Well, my hope of getting a lot of publicity out for the Terra-Bravo Saga during February never really came to fruition. It's been a hectic month thus far between work and home and my mind has been elsewhere. So what HAVE I been up to, you ask? Let's see...

- Editing and proofing chapters of Company Officer 5th edition. This next week will be even busier with this project getting the last seven chapters ready for layout.

- Final editing of chapters of Chief Officer 3rd edition. I hope to have this project ready for layout by the end of this next week!

- Writing/editing chapters of Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting 6th edition and getting them ready for validation committee review and commenting.

- Finishing Honing Your Instructional Skills. Just need to do one final edit and do some photography for the cover! Hope to e-publish it by the first week of March.

- Started writing Terra-Prime: Civil War, the prequel to the Terra-Bravo Saga. Eight pages in with more to come in the days ahead.

- Came up with an idea for a new military-style adventure series and have been working on a series bible for it. More news to follow about this new series in the months ahead.

The more hectic my days are at work, the less I feel like writing when I get home. The story of my life, it seems. Some weekends are my days to recharge my writing battery, while others are spent writing.

*****

Foothold on Terra-Bravo and Crisis on Terra-Bravo are available through the following e-book stores for $2.99 each:

- Amazon.com

- Smashwords.com

- Barnes&Noble (bn.com)
- Apple iBooks Store (via iPad or iPhone)
- Diesel eBook Store (diesel-ebooks.com)
- Versent Books (versentbooks.com)

Tell all your friends who love science fiction/military/adventure stories about the Terra-Bravo Saga!

*****

Weather here in Stillwater, OK, is going to be beautiful for the next week or so! Unfortunately, the local weather gurus refuse to give up on Old Man Winter just yet. (Last year we had snow in May!)

*****

Until next time (which will be much sooner), y'all be safe out there!

Jeffrey

© Jeffrey M. Fortney - 2014

Winter's Baaaccckkk!!!

Another set of Winter storms are set to pass across the U.S. Once again, many of us are going to be stuck inside with only *gasp* a single Super Bowl to keep them occupied. But the storms aren't just this Sunday... they are supposed to happen one after the other over the next few days. 

So whatever can we do to pass the time? Well, for me, I'll be writing, working on another story. You? Well, I could suggest sitting down, picking up the old e-reader and reading some good ebooks. For those who love science fiction adventures, may I suggest the following:

Foothold on Terra-Bravo
The first book of the Terra-Bravo Saga.

As their world falls toward Armageddon, scientists in the United States discovers a means to transition to other worlds, alternate versions of their own world, each with some very interesting differences. One world, Terra-Bravo, has just come out of its last ice age. There, the Western World has never been colonized by humans while sabre-tooth cats, mammoths, and other extinct animals still wonder the land.

A series of teams are sent through the Portal to construct a colony and prepare for more colonists to follow. But time is running out for Terra-Prime and there are dangers galore on Terra-Bravo.



Many folks are voracious readers and one book might not be enough. In that case, download:

Crisis on Terra-Bravo
The colonists of Terra-Bravo discover a new danger, insurgents they brought with them from their homeworld. Can they discover who the insurgents are and stop their plot before the colony is destroyed? Will they be able to expand their colony without damaging Terra-Bravo?

Both books are available for $2.99 at
Smashwords.com
The Kindle Store (Amazon.com)
Barnes and Noble (B&N.com)
and other e-bookstores!

*****

I'm still writing, just not getting as much on "paper" as I would like. A mild case of writer's block. I'll plow on through though. Still have "Honing Your Instructional Skills" to complete before moving on to the prequel to the Terra-Bravo Saga. Kyle will be busy between family, work, and college this Spring so the third book of the Terra-Bravo Saga will be delayed until he's available.

*****

Until next time, stay safe and warm!

Jeffrey

© Jeffrey M. Fortney - 2014