Bran Hambric: The Specter Key trailer!

Hey there blog readers,

The trailer for Bran Hambric: The Specter Key has come out! This is the trailer for the second novel of the Bran Hambric series written by Kaleb Nation. For those of you who don't know, Kaleb is a blogger/vlogger who became a writer (which I hope to be someday as well). He created this trailer himself, so watch it and enjoy!

The 2 Reasons why I started this blog... Part 2

Why did I start this blog?

Obviously from the title, there are two reasons. The second reason is Kaleb Nation.

Kaleb Nation, writer of the Bran Hambric series. He is also known as TwilightGuy and ShiverGuy. He is addicted to Twitter and he vlogs alot... I'm starting to wonder if he spends anytime writing his series at all.

Anyway, Kaleb has this amazing website:
http://kalebnation.com/

On his website, he blogs... alot, whether it's about his novels, or his pet chinchilla, or his interviews with other writers, or going on Blogtv, or about Stephenie Meyer and her Twilight series, or etc.... Seriously, when does he ever write his own novels.

Kaleb Nation is the author of Bran Hambric: The Farfield Curse and Bran Hambric: The Specter Key and also whatever comes next after that...


However, these books are not what got me reading about Kaleb Nation. Don't get me wrong, his books are great, but what really got me into following Kaleb's blog is that he sometimes talk about his journey as a writer. He often mentions that he had this idea in 2003, and then five years later in 2008, that idea became a novel that was accepted for publication with Sourcebooks Jabberwocky. Then in late 2009, the novel came out and I read it.


Reading about his journey as a writer appeals to me because Kaleb Nation is around my age, and he's publishing a novel, which gives me hope that I can publish a novel as well. So then someday, I'll be able to shout on my blog that my novel got accepted for publication. Someday I'll be able to sign a book deal, and tell people I'll be going on tour, and etc....

Not only that, but I realized that one of the reasons I read his first novel was because I've been following his blog and getting all excited when it finally came out. So maybe, if I start my own blog, I'll be able to connect with people who also loves to read books. In other words, I'm trying to build a platform.

Let's face it; today with facebook, and twitter, etc..., publishers have gotten lazy when it comes to marketing their client's books. Publishers want authors who already have a platform of people who want to read their novels. They have realized that with blogs and stuff on the internet, they can get their authors to help market themselves in a more efficient way that won't hurt their budget (remember: publishing companies are a business too).

That is why Kaleb Nation is one of the reasons I started this blog. I want to follow in his footsteps so that one day I'll be able to publish my first novel. So, please read my first novel when it comes out someday; I promise you won't be disappointed. Also, read the Bran Hambric series by Kaleb Nation. It is a really good fantasy series.

To find out more about the Bran Hambric series, go to this website:
http://www.branhambric.com/

The 2 Reasons why I started this blog... Part 1

Why did I start this blog?

Obviously from the title, there are two reasons. The first reason is Stephen King.

In 2000, Stephen King published an autobiography/writing guide, called On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. After reading this book, I've only got one thing to say about it.... If you ever decide to become a writer but know nothing about writing, then READ THIS BOOK!!! Out of all the self-help writing guides I've ever read, this was one of the most useful books of them all.

This book has three parts in it. The first part is just an autobiography of Stephen King's childhood and his early attempts at trying to get published (his first successful novel was Carrie, which is also a great novel and movie that I highly recommend). The third part of the book is also autobiographical, but this time it's about how Stephen King got injured in an automobile accident, and how he struggled through his injuries and tried to write again. Parts 1 and 3 of the book does not really give any practical writing advice. However, I find it to be very motivational for anyone who is lazy when it comes to writing (like me). When I look at the problems in my life, I realize that they are nothing compared to what Stephen King had to go through when he tried to write. Compared to him, I'm just a big blob of procrastination that can't turn off the TV and sit down and write. So, I'm going to face my small problems and also start writing seriously (hopefully, this blog will motivate me).

The second part of this book is a practical writing guide. This is VERY useful. It teaches you about the essentials of writing a novel; everything from developing your characters, coming up with plots, and fixing your grammer. Most of all, it tells you how to edit out the unnecessary details in your novel. In other words, get rid of those annoying adverbs. Seriously, kill the adverbs.

Writer: Die adverbs! Die! {stab}, {stab}, {delete}, {stab}

Adverbs: No! Stop killing me continuously!

But I bet that many of you are wondering why this writing guide is better than most of the others out there. Well, there are many reasons, but these three are the biggest of them all.

1) This writing guide was written by Stephen King, who is one of the best horror writers in history. He can be compared to other famous writers, like Poe and Lovecraft. So, after all the years of experience and success, Stephen King must know something about writing.

2) Along with his advice, Stephen King also included a rough draft and then an edited draft of his short story, 1408 (which also became a great horror movie). In other words, he doesn't just give us advice on how to write better, he also shows how he does it too.

3) This writing guide only gives us necessary and practical advice. Most other writing guides out there just fills up its page with unnecessary pieces of manure that is just a waste of time. They give out useless information that is not needed, and then give us exercises that most will probably ignore.

In conclusion, read On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King! It's a great book for the aspiring writer.

For more information about Stephen King, go to his website:
http://www.stephenking.com/index.html

PS: If you haven't noticed it yet, at the top of my blog page, it says 'John Smith: On Writing'. I hope that this blog will record all I know about writing, and then one day, like twenty years after I publish my first novel, I will be able to write my own 'On Writing' autobiography/writing guide, which will hold all I know about writing.