I’m so damn proud of this novel.
Until now, I’ve been writing this blog in roughly chronological order, but I’m skipping over my seventh novel, Omegaball, to discuss my most recent release, Strong Bones. I’m prone to using a lot of folksy metaphors and turns of phrase, including many from the world of sports; one expression I think applies to this book: I left everything on the field.
Such as it is.
Continue reading “It’s not Shakespeare, but it ain’t bad: Strong Bones”
I’ve published novels just about every way a person can. I’ve had two traditionally published. I’ve self-published a few others. I’ve released ebook exclusives.
But I’ve never serialized a novel. Until now.
My latest novel, HELL HEIST, will be serialized on my Substack blog. The first several chapters will be free, while the rest of the book will be available for paid subscribers only.
Note — I also plan to move most of my regular blogging, including the series on my novels, to Substack, as well.
Here’s a “table of contents” for the book. I’ll update this post as I progress through the text.
https://robertjpeterson.substack.com/p/hell-heist-start-here
If you’re looking for a way to support a longtime writer, this is a great way. If you enjoy the book, tell someone else about it!
Thanks!
In high school, I wrote a play that won first prize at the 1995 Rocky Mountain Playwrighting Festival.
The play, Landslide Victory, depicted an afterlife that was, for all intents and purposes, godless, where the almighty was chosen by an election no one cared about and where a random doofus bumbles his way into garnering enough support to depose the imbecile who’s currently in office.
Trust me, that summary is much, much better than the play itself.
While I’m discussing my novels, I thought of this formative work and wanted to ponder where it sits in my mind and my life, all while looking at the two times it was produced. Continue reading “It’s not Shakespeare, but it ain’t bad: The time I wrote a play that won an award”
While running California Coldblood Books, I’ve received a few hundred submissions. I’ve appeared on podcasts and on some convention panels in my capacity as editor, and I’ve also been interviewed a few times. I’ve probably had a dozen friends, acquaintances, or colleagues approach me about publishing their books or developing their projects.
But I’ve rarely been asked this:
What advice would you give to aspiring authors?
So here goes, and please remember—these are only my opinions. Take ‘em or leave ‘em.
So much of this is out of your hands. Continue reading “It’s not Shakespeare, but it ain’t bad: So much of this is out of your hands”
Let’s talk about query letters.
This is only my opinion and my advice, but if I were you, I would never pay a cent for a query letter critique. I would never attend, much less pay for, a workshop about query letters.
Here’s why, and again, these are only my opinions: Continue reading “It’s not Shakespeare, but it ain’t bad: Let’s talk about query letters”
My fifth novel, The Odds, is one of two titles I’ve had traditionally published. There’s a somewhat long story behind how it landed at a publishing house. I’ll share some of the details about that experience, all while offering some insights—such as they are—about my experience and interactions with the mainstream publishing industry at large. I haven’t had many, but I think they’re informative for any writer, beginning or otherwise.
Note: I decided to split this entry into multiple parts. In this entry, I’ll only discuss the composition process behind the book itself.
But besides the business stuff, The Odds is the first novel of mine where I felt like everything came together into a truly coherent whole. As the saying goes, it’s all of a piece. As the first novel of mine that was entirely a product of planning, The Odds was also a distant echo of The Island Circus Part Two in a very sad and particular sense; my fourth novel ended with a funeral for one of the characters, but if you’ll indulge a bit of woo, it was also the funeral for not only my “pantsing” self, but also the angry young man who had written my first four novels.
That angry young man was dying during the rewrites of The Island Circus Part Two, and all the novels I’ve written since then have reflected the older and sadder person I’ve grown into. Continue reading “It’s not Shakespeare, but it ain’t bad: The Odds: Let’s talk about the book”
I think this is the best novel I’ve ever written.
Such as it is. I can’t point to some massive, accomplished body of work. I can’t point to much success—though it’s not nothing—and I doubt the Island Circus books will ever see the light of day … but my fourth novel, subtitled Cougar Clinkscales’ Island Circus, is the best work I’ve done.
I used to think of The Island Circus as one novel.
I still do, for the most part, but after I finally finished this novel—the overall process was more than six years—it felt like two novels, one a very unusual sequel to the first. I’ll talk about them both, as they had fairly different composition processes and histories.
One of my primary progressions as a novel-writer—I blanch at calling myself a novelist, because it’s never been my full-time job—has been to go from writing novels on the fly to outlining them, or as it’s more commonly known in the biz, from being a “pantser” to a “planner.”
Continue reading “It’s not Shakespeare, but it ain’t bad: Magic Spiders”
At the behest of no one, I thought I’d describe the creative process behind every novel I’ve written. By my count, I’ve written nine (or eight, depending). Sometimes that number feels like a great accomplishment, other times embarrassing, but regardless: I love writing novels. I think it’s the one creative thing, the one endeavor I’ve managed to cultivate any real skill in doing, and I’ve found myself musing about my process—such as it is—a lot recently.
I’m also feeling a measure of creative fatigue with my latest novel. I figured, what better way to get around it than to prime the pump reviewing my previous work?
Robert J. Peterson, Author 