Recent content by Julian S Bartz

I recently published the final book in my first trilogy and in taking a look back decided to write an article on the things I have learnt in the process. I know that over my time I read many blog posts from people who had published before me and got great insights and tips to help me along...

Great questions so far. A big thing for me is always to make them note if they read about a character or place and can't remember them. In Fantasy there are often a large cast and many exotic locations. It can be hard to keep track of them and often a Beta reader might not make note that it took...

As a writer who chose to start with an epic trilogy I can only say I wouldn't recommend it unless you have your heart set on it. Reason being, you learn so much from your first completed novel. So much so that quite often you will look back on it and think you could do it 1000x better. What that...

Friends of mine have struggled through depression for years and the first step is always being open with it so that you can get support. So good on you for being so comfortable talking about it, its not easy. I have always said you should write when you feel like writing. Obviously this isn't...

Not sure if this has been mentioned on the forum before but I expect members will be interested in this Kickstarter game. It looks pretty cool. A game where you a prompted to write. It seems to be a mixture of fantasy/sci fi. I really like the art style.

Tragic backstories make up the backbone of so many fantasy novels. At the end of the day I think every character will have things in their past which were not pleasant and result in their current outlook on life. It's all about whether the writing dwells to much on them at the expense of the...

Agree. I have the first novel in my trilogy free with the exception of Amazon where I have it up for 99 cents. this encourages people to try it out and if they like it buy book 2. When I only had the first book out I had a short story up for free to encourage people to try out my writing and I...

I recall very early in our relationship my wife asking me this question. She is a huge classic literature buff. She said, you only read a few classics and very few modern books, but you read Sooooo much fantasy. Why? I answered, Anything set in the real world, without anything out of the...

Time for some shameless self promotion. The second novel in my Valerious Chronicles is now available for sale. Amazon Barnes and Noble Smashwords For those interested, the first novel in the series is available for free to encourage new readers to try the series through the following...

I have a similar website where I blog about random thoughts, sometimes writing related othertimes not. I tend to use it as a means to show anyone who may read my books and want to know more about me so additional content. I do book reviews, discuss the things that have influenced me or just...

I wrote about 70% of my second book at work. On slow days or in between tasks. Doesn't always work, but when you can do it, it is fantastic. I imagine it is what it is like to be a proper 'paid' writer :) I find it did make writing at home a little harder, but mainly because I had already...

Looks good. Congrats!

I use Createspace for my paperback in print on demand. It has worked really well for me. Quality of the books is very high and the copies are affordable. When I am having an event it is relatively easy for me to order a bulk purchase. And friends who have purchased online say they are happy...

Quite often Graphic novels or Comics have an info dump at the beginning. Eg a one pager about the world, sometimes written as though part of a history book. It is seen as acceptable as with graphic novels it is known that it is hard to provide exposition. That being said a lot of comics just...

I can say from personal experience that the YA market seems to be a lot more open to fantasy novels. When I originally released my first book it was under general epic fantasy. Uptake was slow as expected. However I noticed that a lot of my readers, especially those who were liking the book...