2014-03-08 Q&A Chat 2

[20:55] <@Jo_Lallo> Testing
[20:58] <@Jo_Lallo> Just a few minutes to go! Fingers crossed some people show up.
[21:05] == rabbit [rabbit@bookofdeacon.com] has joined #bookofdeacon
[21:05] <@Jo_Lallo> Welcome!
[21:05] <rabbit> hey there! saw your tweet. I’m about to start streaming but I thought I would pop by and show some support!
[21:06] <rabbit> I RT you too
[21:06] <@Jo_Lallo> Many thanks. No one else has shown up yet.
[21:06] <@Jo_Lallo> Had a few folks for the early one though.
[21:06] <rabbit> oh nice
[21:07] <rabbit> well how goes it?
[21:07] <@Jo_Lallo> Doing pretty good. Making progress in the sci-fi book.
[21:07] <rabbit> that’s awesome
[21:07] <@Jo_Lallo> I’m finagling the release of at least two books and a short story, so it’s a busy time.
[21:07] <rabbit> haha make sense
[21:08] <rabbit> *makes
[21:08] <@Jo_Lallo> What are you about to stream?
[21:08] <rabbit> heh… the new south park game
[21:09] <@Jo_Lallo> Stick of Truth? I saw a demo at Comic Con.
[21:09] <@Jo_Lallo> Looks excellent.
[21:09] <rabbit> it’s actually a lot of fun
[21:09] <rabbit> and you really get into it
[21:09] <@Jo_Lallo> I should have picked it up.
[21:09] <rabbit> I am about halfway through it
[21:11] <@Jo_Lallo> The South Park guys are particularly good at decsiving you at just how well they can do something. The songs are always catchier than they have any right to be, the stories are always just a bit better than you’d expect.
[21:11] <@Jo_Lallo> deceiving, that is.
[21:11] <rabbit> yea it’s actually really well done
[21:11] <rabbit> it’s kind of like playing a few south park episodes
[21:12] <@Jo_Lallo> It looked like it.
[21:12] <rabbit> a lot of the characters from the show are in it, like those little christmas animals
[21:12] <@Jo_Lallo> Nice.
[21:12] <rabbit> there are some really cool like rpg elements to the game that I really like too
[21:13] <@Jo_Lallo> Yeah, the demo I saw wasn’t hands on, but I saw some timed hits and such.
[21:14] <rabbit> you level up and it goes by pretty slowly which I enjoy because some games you can just finish in a few hours.
[21:14] <@Jo_Lallo> I like a game with a good long playthrough.
[21:14] <rabbit> and the different classes you can pick have varied abilities which is neat
[21:14] <rabbit> afk a bit
[21:16] <@Jo_Lallo> I appreciate you stopping by, but don’t let me keep you from the game. I’ve got the sci-fi open in the other window until folks start showing up.
[21:17] == BoD_6624 [BoD_6624@bookofdeacon.com] has joined #bookofdeacon
[21:18] <BoD_6624> hello
[21:18] == Amira_123 [Amira_123@bookofdeacon.com] has joined #bookofdeacon
[21:18] <@Jo_Lallo> Hi there!
[21:18] == BoD_6624 [BoD_6624@bookofdeacon.com] has quit [Quit: Page closed]
[21:18] == Amira_123 [Amira_123@bookofdeacon.com] has quit [Quit: Page closed]
[21:18] <@Jo_Lallo> Ah. Well, that was brief.
[21:19] == Ginger [Ginger@bookofdeacon.com] has joined #bookofdeacon
[21:19] <@Jo_Lallo> Welcome!
[21:20] <@Jo_Lallo> We’ll be doing this Q&A style, so if anyone has any questions, just shout them out.
[21:20] <@Jo_Lallo> I’ll answer then as I see them, and if yours slips through the cracks, just let me know.
[21:21] <@Jo_Lallo> To get the ball rolling, I’m going to go over some of the stuff we discussed in the afternoon chat.
[21:21] == Ginger [Ginger@bookofdeacon.com] has quit [Quit: Page closed]
[21:22] <@Jo_Lallo> Et tu, Ginger?
[21:22] == Ginger [Ginger@bookofdeacon.com] has joined #bookofdeacon
[21:23] <@Jo_Lallo> One of the questions I was asked was about inspiration.
[21:24] <@Jo_Lallo> For the Book of Deacon stories, the original inspiration was (fittingly based on the discussion going on earlier in the chat) video games.
[21:24] <@Jo_Lallo> I also get a lot of inspiration from music.
[21:25] <@Jo_Lallo> Some songs have inspired whole scenes by themselves, usually without the lyrics having any bearing on the scene that forms in my head.
[21:27] <@Jo_Lallo> System of a Down is good for that.
[21:27] <@Jo_Lallo> Particularly because half of the time I can’t figure out what the lyrics are supposed to mean anyway.
[21:29] <@Jo_Lallo> Let’s see. So long as there’s no questions, I’ll just talk about the next book on the horizon.
[21:29] == BoD_6821 [BoD_6821@bookofdeacon.com] has joined #bookofdeacon
[21:29] <@Jo_Lallo> That would be my first NaNoWriMo project I completed, back in 2012. It is called The Other Eight.
[21:30] <@Jo_Lallo> Probably the most purposely comedic book I’ve written so far.
[21:31] <@Jo_Lallo> The book’s about superheroes with pointless abilities.
[21:31] <BoD_6821> I loved the book of deacon series (it has been one of my favorites of all time)! Is there anything being published from that series again?
[21:31] <@Jo_Lallo> Yes indeed!
[21:31] <rabbit> I’m glad some people showed up and I got to read a few questions! I have to go though. 🙂 have fun you guys
[21:31] == rabbit [rabbit@bookofdeacon.com] has quit [Quit: Page closed]
[21:31] <@Jo_Lallo> Right now there are two short stories in the setting that will be showing up in anthologies.
[21:31] <BoD_6821> Awesome! 🙂
[21:32] <@Jo_Lallo> One is called Seeking the Shadow, and should be in an anthology called ROGUE
[21:32] <@Jo_Lallo> It takes place between The Rise of the Red Shadow and The Book of Deacon.
[21:32] <BoD_6821> That is sweet! I am a creative writing student and you are one of my inspirations.
[21:33] <@Jo_Lallo> The other is a story called The Stump and The Spire, and it will show up in a book called Neverland’s Library.
[21:33] <@Jo_Lallo> Really?
[21:33] <@Jo_Lallo> That’s awesome.
[21:33] <@Jo_Lallo> What sort of writing do you do?
[21:33] <BoD_6821> Yes haha. I want to be a travel writer but I want to write some fiction as well.
[21:33] <@Jo_Lallo> Cool.
[21:33] <@Jo_Lallo> Being a travel writer seems like a pretty sweet gig.
[21:34] <@Jo_Lallo> The research would be great.
[21:34] <BoD_6821> Thanks! I’m trying to build a website for it, but it’s hard on a college student’s budget.
[21:34] <@Jo_Lallo> I can imagine.
[21:35] <BoD_6821> Are those two books about lain?
[21:35] <@Jo_Lallo> Seeking the Shadow (as the name would suggest) is at least partially about Lain.
[21:35] <@Jo_Lallo> The Stump and the Spire is sort of a side story.
[21:35] <@Jo_Lallo> No main characters, just a little adventure about two kids.
[21:36] <@Jo_Lallo> Both of these stories are pretty short, below 10,000 words.
[21:36] <BoD_6821> Alright, I can’t wait to read them :). It’s always fun to have a similar time line,.
[21:36] <BoD_6821> .*
[21:36] <@Jo_Lallo> But Seeking the Shadow might turn into a full length followup of The Rise of the Red Shadow.
[21:36] <@Jo_Lallo> I’ve just got to finish my current projects.
[21:37] <@Jo_Lallo> Before I start on the next major Deacon story.
[21:37] <BoD_6821> I imagine it’s a lot of work with a full time job.
[21:37] <@Jo_Lallo> Yep. It makes for slow going when work and real life are both busy.
[21:38] <BoD_6821> For sure. Do you have any secrets for overcoming writer’s block?
[21:38] <@Jo_Lallo> One or two.
[21:38] <@Jo_Lallo> A weird one which might only work for me is for me to switch how I’m writing.
[21:38] <@Jo_Lallo> If I’m writing on the PC (which I usually am) I’ll switch to pen and paper.
[21:39] <@Jo_Lallo> For some reason just jotting down a few sentences longhand gets the juices flowing again.
[21:39] <BoD_6821> That’s an interesting one. I haven’t tried that before.
[21:39] <@Jo_Lallo> My stories usually have more than one plot thread.
[21:39] <@Jo_Lallo> So if I’m stuck on one, I’ll leave it and try another for a while.
[21:39] <BoD_6821> That is a really good idea,
[21:39] <@Jo_Lallo> When all else fails, I’ll talk to my brother, or two of my friends.
[21:40] <@Jo_Lallo> Just explaining to them what’s happened so far, telling them where I need it to go, and what’s tripping me up, has a tendency to untie the knots.
[21:40] <@Jo_Lallo> Plus, they’re all really creative people, so they usually have no shortage of suggestions.
[21:41] <@Jo_Lallo> As I was saying in the previous chat, music helps me a lot too.
[21:41] <BoD_6821> I generally just make coffee. I haven’t been writing much fiction though. It helps when you have creatie people around you, I help run a newspaper so I get help from them occasionally if I need it.
[21:41] <@Jo_Lallo> Nice! College paper?
[21:42] <BoD_6821> Yup! I am in an intro creative writing course. I’m a freshman right now.
[21:42] <@Jo_Lallo> It’s funny, I went to a technical school. There was no creative writing.
[21:42] <@Jo_Lallo> We had “technical writing.”
[21:43] <BoD_6821> I am not a fan of technical writing at all. I prefer being able to write about sword fighting and the like.
[21:43] <@Jo_Lallo> Me too.
[21:43] <@Jo_Lallo> NJIT was my school. They actually asked me back there earlier this week.
[21:43] <BoD_6821> Oh really? What for? I go to Lake Superior State University.
[21:44] <@Jo_Lallo> I was in something called Albert Dorman Honors College, which is a part of the university.
[21:44] <@Jo_Lallo> And they reach out to alums to ask them to come back and talk to current students.
[21:44] <@Jo_Lallo> They call it “Passing the Torch”
[21:45] <BoD_6821> I like that idea a lot
[21:45] <@Jo_Lallo> I guess they do a web search or something on previous graduates from time to time and call up the ones with a lot of hits.
[21:45] <BoD_6821> We don’t have anything like that at all.
[21:45] <@Jo_Lallo> I don’t know that for sure, but it’s the only reason I can think of that they’d contact me.
[21:45] <BoD_6821> That would make sense to me. Inspiring their students and all.
[21:46] <@Jo_Lallo> That’s too bad that they don’t have something similar for you.
[21:46] <@Jo_Lallo> Do you commute or stay on campus?
[21:46] <BoD_6821> I like on campus. We have about 800 on campus and 2,300 total.
[21:46] <BoD_6821> live*
[21:46] <@Jo_Lallo> I did too.
[21:46] <@Jo_Lallo> I couldn’t tell you the numbers.
[21:47] <BoD_6821> I think it’s easier that way.
[21:47] <@Jo_Lallo> Agreed.
[21:47] <BoD_6821> I am a Resident Adviser which helps me fund my future travel too.
[21:47] <@Jo_Lallo> A friend of mine was an RA.
[21:48] <BoD_6821> It’s an interesting job. I start training the 21st.
[21:48] <BoD_6821> So did anyone inspire you to create Miranda?
[21:48] <@Jo_Lallo> Not anyone specific.
[21:49] <@Jo_Lallo> Like a lot of my characters, she started more or less as an empty spot in the story.
[21:49] <@Jo_Lallo> “I need this, this, and this to happen.”
[21:49] <@Jo_Lallo> “What sort of person would do this, and how would that person react to this?”
[21:49] <BoD_6821> I think she was an amazing character. She was well built.
[21:50] <@Jo_Lallo> I’m glad you think so. My readers seem split on the subject of Myranda.
[21:51] <BoD_6821> Really? I loved her. It was a close tie between her, Deacon, and Lain. But overall she took the cake for me.
[21:51] <@Jo_Lallo> Some people love her, but lots think that she is “too stupid to live” and “should die in a fire” and “is a bad fantacy character.”
[21:51] <@Jo_Lallo> I find a lot of belligerent people can’t spell.
[21:51] <@Jo_Lallo> You liked Deacon, too?
[21:51] <BoD_6821> They don’t know what they are talking about. I adored her. It comes with the lack of intelligence.
[21:51] <@Jo_Lallo> Deacon is like the forgotten character.
[21:51] <BoD_6821> Deacon was the bomb! He was so kind.
[21:52] <BoD_6821> Deacon is everything that I would like to be, if that make sense?
[21:53] <@Jo_Lallo> Well, you’re already a dedicated student, and a friendly person, so you’re on your way.
[21:53] <@Jo_Lallo> Deacon’s probably the character with the most “Jo” in him.
[21:54] <BoD_6821> Thanks haha. I try my best. You really are a great writer. Do you want to quit your day job for it?
[21:54] <@Jo_Lallo> I so very much want to quit my job.
[21:54] <BoD_6821> IT sounds pretty intense and rough.
[21:54] <@Jo_Lallo> One of my friends won’t stop pestering me to do so.
[21:55] <@Jo_Lallo> I’m paranoid about it, though.
[21:55] <@Jo_Lallo> Book sales are volatile, and I’m convinced the day I quit is the day they’ll bottom out.
[21:55] <BoD_6821> I think you have a lot more killer novels in you. I can see that, especially in the world we live in today.
[21:56] <BoD_6821> Have you studied much marketing? I am doing a lot of that lately.
[21:56] <@Jo_Lallo> All of my marketing has been trial and error.
[21:56] <@Jo_Lallo> And following in the footsteps of others.
[21:56] <BoD_6821> Check out copyblogger.com. They rock.
[21:56] <@Jo_Lallo> I’ll definitely check it out.
[21:56] <BoD_6821> They have 15 free eboks on it.
[21:57] <@Jo_Lallo> Wow.
[21:57] <BoD_6821> I was surprised with how much they give without charging.
[21:57] <@Jo_Lallo> It is weird, but a lot of the best advice is free advice.
[21:57] <@Jo_Lallo> I follow an author named Lindsay Buroker.
[21:58] <BoD_6821> I agree. Any free knowledge is awesome. I’ll have to check her out. What is her writing like?
[21:58] <@Jo_Lallo> Her blog is a great place to learn fancy indie author tricks.
[21:58] <@Jo_Lallo> She does fantasy and steampunk.
[21:58] <BoD_6821> Awesome. I already have her book marked!
[21:58] <@Jo_Lallo> And she’s got a very enthusiastic following.
[21:59] <@Jo_Lallo> She and I worked together on a bundle once.
[21:59] <BoD_6821> Sweet. She sounds like a really cool person to follow.
[21:59] <BoD_6821> I don’t follow many novelist. It’s more or less travel writers.
[21:59] <@Jo_Lallo> As you should, if that’s your goal.
[22:00] <@Jo_Lallo> I’ll be honest, I’m not up on travel writing.
[22:00] <@Jo_Lallo> Or traveling, really.
[22:00] <@Jo_Lallo> I’ll make a trip to Vermont now and then, and once a year I go to Boston.
[22:00] <BoD_6821> Definitely. It’s pretty much credit cards (to get free airplane tickets), the latest cool place, etc..
[22:00] <BoD_6821> I focus more on budget travel personally.
[22:01] <@Jo_Lallo> I’d consider that the more valuable topic to cover.
[22:01] <BoD_6821> Thank you. I still love fiction though.
[22:02] <BoD_6821> I just hope I can build a decent story.
[22:02] <BoD_6821> I have yet to really try to make a novel.
[22:02] <@Jo_Lallo> My head is an endless jumble of plots.
[22:02] <@Jo_Lallo> Everything ends up a novel in my brain eventually.
[22:03] <BoD_6821> If you could write another story, what would it be?
[22:04] <@Jo_Lallo> I’ve got a few stories I’d like to write eventually.
[22:04] <@Jo_Lallo> Aside from the Sci-fi and fantasy settings I’ve already got, I’ve got a few short story ideas that have been impatiently waiting for me.
[22:05] <@Jo_Lallo> They usually tend toward fantasy too, but more modern.
[22:05] <BoD_6821> Alright. I have yet to read your fantasy ( though I have them on my nook). I need to dig into it though!
[22:05] <@Jo_Lallo> Fantasy or sci-fi?
[22:06] <BoD_6821> I meant sci-fi.
[22:06] <@Jo_Lallo> That’s what I figured.
[22:06] <@Jo_Lallo> Well, when you decide to dig in, you’ll find them a little more comedic.
[22:06] <@Jo_Lallo> I’m told they get good around Chapter 7. (They actually have chapters!)
[22:06] <BoD_6821> Awesome 🙂 Yeah haha. Is going through goodreads to self publish pretty easy?
[22:07] <BoD_6821> Chapters are always good!
[22:07] <@Jo_Lallo> Goodreads is more of a place to share your books and discuss them. Smashwords and Kindle Direct Publishing are the main self-publishing fronts for me.
[22:07] <@Jo_Lallo> And it’s really very easy.
[22:08] <@Jo_Lallo> Once you’ve written the book, it really just comes down to knowing how to format the word doc.
[22:08] <@Jo_Lallo> Then uploading it and filling out the book details.
[22:08] <BoD_6821> That’s cool then. Is marketing the more difficult thing?
[22:08] <@Jo_Lallo> Getting people to buy it, yeah, that’s the tough part.
[22:08] <@Jo_Lallo> Also, doing a paperback is a little tricky.
[22:09] <BoD_6821> I like your strategy now. The first book is free and then the rest cost money.
[22:09] <@Jo_Lallo> It works for drug dealers!
[22:10] <BoD_6821> There is a lot for paperback. Haha once you hook ’em!
[22:10] == BoD_1181 [BoD_1181@bookofdeacon.com] has joined #bookofdeacon
[22:10] <@Jo_Lallo> Paperback publishing involves setting up things like “gutter” and “bleed”
[22:11] <@Jo_Lallo> You need to line things up just right.
[22:11] <BoD_6821> I don’t know about either of them. But I know it can make less cash flow.
[22:11] == BoD_1181 [BoD_1181@bookofdeacon.com] has quit [Quit: Page closed]
[22:11] <@Jo_Lallo> Gutter is the part of the book that connects to the spine.
[22:11] <BoD_6821> Publishers take so much money when you go through them, I hope they don’t hurt me too much with my first book.
[22:12] <@Jo_Lallo> Publishers take a huge bite, but they also handle a lot of the nuts and bolts.
[22:12] <BoD_6821> Oh alright, thanks for the info! They do deal with a lot.
[22:13] <@Jo_Lallo> For one thing I wouldn’t need to know gutter and bleed.
[22:13] <@Jo_Lallo> (Bleed is the part of the page that gets cut off so that the image goes all the way to the edge.)
[22:13] <BoD_6821> It’s always good to know though. Have you published many paperbacks?
[22:13] <BoD_6821> I have your ebooks.
[22:14] <@Jo_Lallo> The trilogy and the prequel are available in paperback.
[22:14] <@Jo_Lallo> So four of them.
[22:14] <BoD_6821> That’s pretty good then. I plan on having paperbacks eventually.
[22:14] <@Jo_Lallo> They’re via CreateSpace, which is an On Demand publisher.
[22:14] <@Jo_Lallo> I highly recommend them.
[22:15] <BoD_6821> Alright, I’ll check them out.
[22:15] <BoD_6821> They seem pretty solid.
[22:15] <@Jo_Lallo> The book quality is good. The cost per book isn’t too bad, and they get you on Amazon.
[22:16] <@Jo_Lallo> That’s more or less what I needed.
[22:16] <BoD_6821> Amazon is huge. After that, you can just get links put up.
[22:16] <@Jo_Lallo> Indeed.
[22:17] <@Jo_Lallo> It’s funny that the 2pm chat had far more people in it.
[22:17] <@Jo_Lallo> I wonder if I’m up against some good TV tonight.
[22:17] <BoD_6821> That is funny. What shows do you like?
[22:17] <@Jo_Lallo> I don’t watch much TV these days. Netflix is my friend.
[22:18] <@Jo_Lallo> I’m a Mythbusters fan, though.
[22:18] <@Jo_Lallo> And eventually I’ll blast through Breaking Bad and Mad Men.
[22:18] <BoD_6821> Netflix rocks. I only watch Doctor Who and Arrow.
[22:18] <@Jo_Lallo> You know, there are a few gaping holes in my nerd-credentials.
[22:18] <@Jo_Lallo> And Doctor Who is one of them.
[22:18] <BoD_6821> I have yet to start those. I feel like i will lose all my freetime by starting those.
[22:19] <BoD_6821> Haha a few holes is alright.
[22:19] <@Jo_Lallo> Yeah, a good show with a full backlog on netflix will swallow your life.
[22:19] <BoD_6821> I have had a few guilty moments of going through a series in two or three days.
[22:20] <@Jo_Lallo> Dr. Who. Lord help me if that whole series gets put up.
[22:20] <@Jo_Lallo> It’s got like a thirty year history.
[22:20] <@Jo_Lallo> Not contiguous though, so that’s good.
[22:20] <BoD_6821> It goes way back. It would be much more than just David Tennant haha.
[22:21] <BoD_6821> I am sad we lost Matt Smith.
[22:21] <@Jo_Lallo> I haven’t been able to develop a loyalty to any of the doctors. I’ve only seen one or two episodes.
[22:22] == BoD_8553 [BoD_8553@bookofdeacon.com] has joined #bookofdeacon
[22:22] <@Jo_Lallo> Welcome!
[22:22] <BoD_6821> Oh alright.
[22:22] <BoD_6821> I have seen one or two seasons.
[22:23] <BoD_6821> Have you wanted to write a script? I want to, but it is scary at the same time.
[22:23] <@Jo_Lallo> I’ve toyed with the idea.
[22:23] <@Jo_Lallo> A friend of mine asked me to help him write one once.
[22:23] <@Jo_Lallo> The problem is pace, for me.
[22:23] <@Jo_Lallo> And length.
[22:24] <BoD_6821> It’s the idea of others acting it out that bugs me and length.
[22:24] <BoD_6821> “How will this sound on stage?”
[22:24] <@Jo_Lallo> I write too long for the average script.
[22:24] <@Jo_Lallo> I never really thought about that.
[22:24] == BoD_8553 [BoD_8553@bookofdeacon.com] has quit [Quit: Page closed]
[22:24] <@Jo_Lallo> A fan contacted me a few weeks ago, asking for permission to write a screenplay based on Book of Deacon.
[22:25] <BoD_6821> That would be interesting to see.
[22:25] <BoD_6821> Did they send you the script?
[22:25] <@Jo_Lallo> It was in the planning stages at the time, I think.
[22:25] <BoD_6821> Oh alright, so it will be a while yet.
[22:25] <@Jo_Lallo> Fans reach out from time to time to ask if they can work on projects derived from my stories. I don’t know that any have reached completion yet.
[22:25] <Ginger> I’v always thought BoD would make a good movie
[22:26] <@Jo_Lallo> Thanks!
[22:26] <BoD_6821> It would make a really good movie.
[22:26] <@Jo_Lallo> I know a lot of writers have actors all picked out for their stuff.
[22:26] <BoD_6821> Who would be your dreams actors?
[22:26] <@Jo_Lallo> I have a very hard time fantasy casting.
[22:27] <BoD_6821> Jenifer Lawrence for Myranda?
[22:27] <@Jo_Lallo> Technically Desmeres was written for my friend Cary.
[22:27] <@Jo_Lallo> I think she was pitch by some fans.
[22:27] <@Jo_Lallo> I did a poll about this once.
[22:27] <@Jo_Lallo> Ellen Page was the one with the most votes for Myranda.
[22:27] <@Jo_Lallo> Actually, there’s a website devoted to this.
[22:27] <BoD_6821> It would be cool to see the results. She came to my mind too.
[22:27] <BoD_6821> What site haha?
[22:28] <@Jo_Lallo> Storycasting.com
[22:28] <@Jo_Lallo> http://www.storycasting.com/author.aspx?id=e9ed15a2-4f54-4422-ab6a-5b632a6a4e02
[22:28] <@Jo_Lallo> Let’s see what people said…
[22:29] <@Jo_Lallo> Heh, Liam Neeson as Lain.
[22:29] <BoD_6821> Those are cool haha. I feel Liam is a bit too old for that role.
[22:30] <BoD_6821> You would surely have a high budget for that cast!
[22:30] <@Jo_Lallo> Yeah.
[22:30] <@Jo_Lallo> No one ever casts affordable actors.
[22:30] <@Jo_Lallo> Because no one knows their names.
[22:30] <@Jo_Lallo> Okay, found the page with the poll I did.
[22:30] <BoD_6821> Very true. I saw one cast Tom Hardy for Lain. That would be sweet.
[22:30] <BoD_6821> Awesome!
[22:31] <@Jo_Lallo> http://www.bookofdeacon.com/2012/03/03/read-an-ebook-week-and-other-news/
[22:31] <@Jo_Lallo> You can tell who was hot at the time because they show up in more than one role.
[22:31] <@Jo_Lallo> Kellen Lutz.
[22:32] <BoD_6821> Yeah you can. Johnny Depp would be amazing.
[22:32] <BoD_6821> Maybe Leo in this book could finally gain an Oscar!
[22:32] <@Jo_Lallo> It’d be one hell of a makeup job.
[22:33] <BoD_6821> No kidding. All of that fur.
[22:33] <BoD_6821> I think CGI would take over at that point.
[22:33] <@Jo_Lallo> Yeah.
[22:33] <@Jo_Lallo> I usually picture it as animated.
[22:33] <@Jo_Lallo> At which point people say, “So Lain looks like Disney’s Robin Hood?”
[22:33] <BoD_6821> I would like to see it with actual people. I’m not a huge fan of animation though I guess.
[22:34] <BoD_6821> Lain is too hardcore for Robin Hood.
[22:34] <@Jo_Lallo> Agreed.
[22:35] <BoD_6821> Was the goal of Lain to make a character that was unstoppable and always won?
[22:36] <@Jo_Lallo> Lain’s character was very much about what happens when your purpose consumes your life.
[22:36] <@Jo_Lallo> Working toward his goal was the only thing left, so he would stop at nothing.
[22:36] <BoD_6821> I can see that. His character was very much like I want my future characters to be like.
[22:36] <@Jo_Lallo> He get’s kicked around pretty good in the prequel, though.
[22:37] <BoD_6821> Yeah he does.
[22:37] <BoD_6821> I would love you to give a speech at Lake State.
[22:38] <@Jo_Lallo> Thanks!
[22:38] <@Jo_Lallo> If the turnout of this chat is any indication, I wouldn’t be much of a draw.
[22:39] <BoD_6821> I’m a heavy weight on campus. I could get people, easily.
[22:39] <BoD_6821> It’s just funding haha.
[22:39] <@Jo_Lallo> Yeah.
[22:40] <@Jo_Lallo> Fans here and there have asked if I’ll be doing any book tours in their area.
[22:40] <@Jo_Lallo> I don’t foresee book tours in my future.
[22:40] <BoD_6821> I imagine book tours cost a lot. I would love it if I could meet you though.
[22:40] <Ginger> Sorry I couldnt join in on chat much, Im on a nook and I such at typing on this thing. Iv enjoyed reading your conversation. Thanks for doing this chat. Ill look for more.
[22:41] <@Jo_Lallo> Thanks for attending!
[22:41] <BoD_6821> They could happen, it’s just hard to get started. Have a good night Ginger 🙂
[22:41] <@Jo_Lallo> I’ll definitely do more. I’ll probably take care to promote them a little more next time.
[22:42] <@Jo_Lallo> The other day a guy who does convention booking in Iowa spoke to me.
[22:42] <BoD_6821> I’ll do my best to attend. My schedule can be crazy.
[22:42] <BoD_6821> What did he say?
[22:42] == Ginger [Ginger@bookofdeacon.com] has quit [Quit: Page closed]
[22:42] <@Jo_Lallo> He was wondering if I’d be interested in being considered as a guest of honor.
[22:42] <@Jo_Lallo> In 2015 or 2016.
[22:43] <BoD_6821> That would be pretty neat.
[22:43] <@Jo_Lallo> I said “Sure, put me on the list. I’ll try to beef up my resume between then and now.”
[22:43] <BoD_6821> Haha, how are you at public speaking? I’m a bit weak at it.
[22:44] <@Jo_Lallo> I’m shaky. Particularly with prepared speeches.
[22:44] <BoD_6821> Same. The whole naked room doesn’t work for me.
[22:44] <@Jo_Lallo> Iv
[22:44] <@Jo_Lallo> e always wondered why that would work.
[22:44] <@Jo_Lallo> I was a Best Man at two weddings in the span of a few months.
[22:45] <BoD_6821> Tough job!
[22:45] <@Jo_Lallo> So imagining that audience would have meant imagining my parents and family naked.
[22:45] <BoD_6821> Haha bad image. That is the last thing you need.
[22:45] <@Jo_Lallo> I watched the wedding video of the second speech.
[22:45] <BoD_6821> Cringeworthy?
[22:45] <@Jo_Lallo> You can see me huff this big sigh of relief once I’m done.
[22:46] <@Jo_Lallo> Oh, yeah. I can’t be in the room when they play the video.
[22:46] <@Jo_Lallo> The speech didn’t go poorly, but I hate seeing or hearing it.
[22:46] <@Jo_Lallo> I actually feel the same way about hearing someone read my books out loud.
[22:46] <BoD_6821> I run a new webshow (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MKsKJcaiiw&feature=youtube_gdata) and I can’t stand watching myself.
[22:46] <BoD_6821> It’s like that with workshops in my classes.
[22:48] <@Jo_Lallo> When I had to proof-listen to the audio book I had made, it was agony.
[22:48] <BoD_6821> Oh I bet. It’s the feeling that your voice isn’t normal.
[22:48] <@Jo_Lallo> I literally had to put it on my MP3 player and walk around while listening. I couldn’t sit still.
[22:49] <@Jo_Lallo> It wasn’t even me reading it.
[22:49] <@Jo_Lallo> It was a woman named Fiona Dwyer.
[22:49] <BoD_6821> That’s rough. Thankfully I am not forced to watch my videos.
[22:49] <@Jo_Lallo> She did a great job, but the whole time I’m like, “Gah, no. I’m so sorry you have to read these words.”
[22:50] <@Jo_Lallo> I remember when she send me the audition recording.
[22:50] <BoD_6821> Don’t worry about how it sounds. I feel in love with your series. It was the same level as the Percy Jackson seris to me.
[22:50] <BoD_6821> fell*
[22:50] <@Jo_Lallo> I was like, “Oh man… she’s got an irish accent. OH MAN, she pronounces strawberries “strawbreeze”. She’s so in.
[22:51] <BoD_6821> Haha that is all you need to sell it!
[22:51] <BoD_6821> I am in love with a scottish singer named Nina Nesbitt. I love her accent.
[22:52] <@Jo_Lallo> I wanted Fiona to do the trilogy, too, but by then a publisher was involved and they wanted their own staff.
[22:52] <@Jo_Lallo> The person ended up being someone named Karyn O’Bryant and she did a great job too.
[22:52] <BoD_6821> That sucks. Was the publisher easy to deal with?
[22:53] <BoD_6821> At least she was good.
[22:53] <@Jo_Lallo> Yep. Tantor Audio.
[22:53] <@Jo_Lallo> They gave me an advance, and put me in touch with the narrator.
[22:54] <@Jo_Lallo> The audio books are borderline sellers though. Their on the fence about picking me up for future books.
[22:54] <BoD_6821> Sweet. That would be an interesting job, just reading books. Why is that?
[22:54] <@Jo_Lallo> Book 1 sold pretty well. Just about earned the advance back.
[22:55] <@Jo_Lallo> But the sales dropped off for books 2 and 3.
[22:55] <@Jo_Lallo> So they said, “We’ll see if the listeners come around.”
[22:55] <@Jo_Lallo> I won’t know for another four months or so.
[22:55] <@Jo_Lallo> The only other publisher I dealt with was a Bulgarian publisher called MBG Books.
[22:56] <@Jo_Lallo> Timezone and language issues made that complicated.
[22:56] <BoD_6821> Maybe the new series would re-ignight the sales.
[22:56] <@Jo_Lallo> Could be.
[22:56] <BoD_6821> Language is huge.
[22:56] <BoD_6821> I feel like I am spelling ‘re-ignight’ wrong.
[22:57] <@Jo_Lallo> re-ignite
[22:57] <@Jo_Lallo> On the plus side, the I got to see what my name looks like in Cyrillic.
[22:57] <@Jo_Lallo> http://www.bookofdeacon.com/wp-content/gallery/all/BookOfDeacon_1-copy.jpg
[22:57] <BoD_6821> Thanks haha.
[22:57] <BoD_6821> That looks awesome!
[22:58] <BoD_6821> How easy did it translate?
[22:58] <@Jo_Lallo> Not sure. The translator told me he enjoyed working on the story though, so I guess it wasn’t that tough.
[22:58] <@Jo_Lallo> They were supposed to send me copies, but they never got here.
[22:59] <BoD_6821> I don’t think you give yourself enough credit for how good the books are.
[22:59] <@Jo_Lallo> In some customs warehouse there is a stack of book of deacon books in Bulgarian.
[22:59] <BoD_6821> Publishing companies are weird.
[23:00] <BoD_6821> That would be crazy to see.
[23:00] <@Jo_Lallo> Self-confidence. Never really developed much of that.
[23:00] <BoD_6821> It’s hard to get it. I fake it 50%.
[23:00] <@Jo_Lallo> My opinion is generally, “Well how good could these books be? I’M the one who wrote them?”
[23:00] <@Jo_Lallo> Fake it until you make it is a surprisingly successful policy.
[23:01] <@Jo_Lallo> My literary career is evidence of that.
[23:01] <BoD_6821> You rock at writing though. Can I add your personal Facebook so we can talk more whenever?
[23:01] <@Jo_Lallo> If you like.
[23:01] <BoD_6821> Did you hire an editor? I would die without an editor.
[23:01] <@Jo_Lallo> I did.
[23:01] <BoD_6821> Alright thanks, I’ll shoot you a request.
[23:02] <@Jo_Lallo> I’m working with someone named Tammy Salyer right now as an editor.
[23:02] <@Jo_Lallo> I’m completely incapable of editing my own stuff.
[23:02] <@Jo_Lallo> I just see what I thought I wrote.
[23:02] <BoD_6821> Oh right on. I write for a newspaper so I just have a basic one.
[23:02] <BoD_6821> It’s hard for me to gain a cold eye.
[23:04] <@Jo_Lallo> Request received and accepted.
[23:06] <@Jo_Lallo> Okay, so we’ve crossed the two hour mark on this chat. That’s where I pulled the plug on the last one.
[23:06] <BoD_6821> Alright thanks. Well it was good talking to you! Have a good night 🙂
[23:06] <@Jo_Lallo> You too, thanks for coming to the chat!