Tag / dangers to society

by Matthew

Writus Interruptus

An Alaskan fjord filled with small icebergs and smooth blue-green water, approaching the South Sawyer Glacier.

Well, the distractions of summer have come and gone, so time for an update from yours truly as we barrel headfirst into fall. In DFW, that means football, the Texas State Fair (corndogs!), lingering summer temps (actually has been a pleasant September so far), and kids back in school.

Travel is one of humanity’s great pleasures. My family took three trips this summer: a week in New York City, fifteen days all over Alaska, and five days at the Atlantis resort in The Bahamas. Wonderful experiences, all. The photo above is from the approach to South Sawyer glacier, about a 2-hour boat ride north of Juneau. That scene was totally epic, frigid, and one of the pinnacles of summer for me. I am a cold weather critter.

This summer wasn’t a particularly productive one for me as far as writing goes. I got to experience my first bout of COVID-19, which was relatively mild, but also exactly zero fun for a few days. My kiddo’s been busy with camps from one end of Dallas to the other. And we tend to be last-minute planners on trips, so much of my limited writing time at night got redirected to trip planning/booking. Between trips was recovery, laundry, unpacking, and more packing, and driving my kiddo all over town to playdates or managing sleepovers. I made some headway with Steelwing 2 (title forthcoming!), but progressed far more once school started. I watched from afar as Dangers to Society languished on Amazon’s Kindle Vella platform with few readers. Once the 30-day the exclusivity period with Vella had lapsed (after the final episode was released), I could get going on the physical copies of D2S, so here’s that announcement:

Dangers to Society on sale October 1st, 2024!!

Here’s my store link if you’d like to preorder a signed copy directly from me. The eBook is available for preorder now on Amazon. On (or around) October 1st, the title will be available to purchase in paperback and hardcover

One of the earlier pieces of advice aspiring authors will receive is to write the story they want to read. Dangers to Society is that story for me. I greatly enjoy Steelwing, the forthcoming sequel, and the other stories I’m working on. But D2S strikes a special chord, because it is a whole bunch of things at once: fun, silly, stupid, and smart. It possesses a modicum of social commentary, but doesn’t take the message that seriously. It inspires the imagination. It makes you say – I know that place (if you’ve been to Dallas at least). It plays out on the movie screen in your mind. I have a wonderful, engaging premise to follow for the follow-up, but probably won’t open that can of worms until at least Steelwing 3 is wrapped up. Hopefully good sales will make that a harder decision – so help a brother out!

When you’re an indie author and going on your own steam, there is a lot to do. Polish the heck out of the manuscript. Have it edited. Do interior design (not terribly hard, just time consuming), cover design (or artist searching/hiring), cover templates for Amazon and Ingram Spark, project setup at both (neither of which are similar or smooth processes). The cover templates are annoyingly different and exact, and any slight deviation from their expectations can mean days of delays. There are reasons publishers take years to publish a book after they acquire it from an author.

The cover of the novel Dangers to Society by Matthew Rollins

I totally dig the cover. So orange.

And then there’s all the marketing. So much promoting, social media, the research between those, it can make your head spin. You can do as little as zero, but expect commensurate results with your marketing efforts. I’ve been patient after launching Steelwing to rely on word of mouth and do very limited social media advertising, but will work a little harder on marketing with each title released. Another recent piece of advice I’ve received is that the best advertising of your back catalogue is your newest book, so I’ve taken that to heart and attempted to keep my funnel of new projects ahead of stagnation. I expect sales of Steelwing to tick upward once Steelwing 2 comes out, and both will rise further when the third book is released in 2025. Marketing remains a challenge to me, but it’s something I’m aware I need to work on and will hit that subject harder in the months to come. Maybe I’ll even get my awkward self on TikTok (gulp).

So, with all of these “other” things to do during my limited writing time, it’s hard to keep putting out fresh word count consistently. I started writing in earnest mid 2017, and I am definitely feeling the years that have lapsed since then. Some lingering injuries (back), some new ones (tailbone), some genetic susceptibilities (neck), and a gripful of new medications have all put downward pressure on my late-night stamina. Back when I was writing the first draft Dangers to Society in 2019 and 2020, I could stay up until 2-3AM when the words were flying. Now, midnight is usually my limit. But I keep at it. My interest in writing and my stories remains keen, so I know I’m spending what free time I have doing something I love.

Building Worlds is not only the name of my blog, but my publishing company, with which I am to help authors like me get their books out into the world. At the moment it’s just my own books, but I hope to use the work I’ve done on my own as an example for what can be done with some passion and just a little bit of care and artistic gravitas. If you happen to be coming to DFWCon this year, look for me and let’s strike up a conversation!

That’s all for now. Keep writing (when you can)!

by Matthew

Dangers to Society: Out Now!

The big news train for 2024 keeps rolling on!

As of May 20, Episodes of my second story, Dangers to Society, have begun to appear on Amazon’s serial platform Kindle Vella. A new episode will come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday through summer 2024. Episodes will typically consist of 1-2 chapters, depending on length. The first episode has the prologue and first three chapters because they’re a little shorter. The first 10 episodes are free to read (that gets you through chapter 18!), so you totally have no reason not to give it a try! Episode 2 comes out May 22nd.

If you’ve not heard of it, Kindle Vella is part of Amazon’s Kindle platform and offers readers the chance to “pay as you go” if you will, purchasing tokens to spend on serial story episodes as they become available, and the reader wants to read them. Episodes 11-on cost 10 tokens each. With Amazon’s best deal, a token costs less than a penny, so Vella is actually less expensive than buying the whole eBook. But what if you start a Vella story and don’t finish? Get a quarter of the way in lose interest? Done. No more books on your DNF pile you paid 100% for. It’s also an avenue for authors who crave more interaction and a potentially far shorter runway to get their latest work to their audience. Vella also gives authors the option to add notes and polls to each episode to help further connect readers to their favorite authors. To use Vella, you’ll need an Amazon account and a Kindle device, Kindle app on your phone, or via the Kindle website on your preferred web browser. Experienced Kindle eBook readers will already have everything they need.

Now let’s talk Dangers to Society!

Dangers to Society is an adult contemporary superpowers (but not superheroes) fantasy. It features a lot of swearing, a little bit of spice (1.5-2), and just a smidge of sudden, graphic violence. It’s light-hearted, a little smart, a lot stupid, and crazy fun.

I love, love, love this story – it’s right up my alley. I really hope it does well, either on Vella, or as a published novel after the episodes are done releasing, because I truly want a reason to return to this world (other than my own interest). There’s already a primary outline for Dangers to Society Vol. 2 floating around in my head, and it’d be great to get to work on that soon.

Game of Thrones was still en vogue when I began writing Dangers to Society and I had begun to read the massive Stormlight Archives books by Brandon Sanderson, so I was interested in attempting a story with multiple main characters and points of view. It features five viewpoints (well, really six, but that guy gets the Ned Stark treatment early).

Dangers to Society is my answer to the question “What would happen if our society right now (or very near in the future) began to develop superpowers, most of which were silly?” Well, for one, we’d get a new government agency. And some compelling agents to follow. And some politicians who want to control things. Natch. Because the abilities can be silly, we end up with some particularly goofy ones, which I think is great fun. But there are some dangerous ones out there too (hence the title). We follow four agents based in Dallas, TX as they navigate their own abilities, catalog others, and try to uncover a mysterious plot that unfolds when facts in the president’s press conferences prove to be wrong. But don’t just take my word for it, here’s a few quotes from readers:

Tight pacing, great characters, relevant modern setting, and an entertaining humorous turn of phrase

A rare pleasure

Evident technical skill and a keen intelligence

Beautifully Written

Emotional, tactile, immediate

Impressed the f**k out of me

Gotta say, when people drop those kinds of compliments on your work, it’s pretty humbling. Yet despite how awesome D2S is, I had no luck with finding an interested agent for the manuscript. I will admit, the story is a little off-the-wall, the word count is higher than agents like, and because it’s far more character-driven than plot-driven, it’s a slower ride. It also entered the query trenches on the heels of Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame movie and the beginning of Marvel fatigue, the emergence of The Boys on Prime Video, and the continued struggles of the DC cinematic universe to connect with audiences as effectively as Marvel usually does. So, I’m not surprised an agent didn’t bite. If they don’t have an acquisitions editor asking for something (“Hey, I need a wacky superpowers story for adults!”), the agent will simply pass because they’re too busy to work on anything but stuff they know will have better odds with the publishers. But everyone who’s read Dangers has loved it, so it didn’t feel right to just let it languish in the drawer, never to see the light of day.

Since I cracked open the self-publishing seal last fall with Steelwing, I felt that I needed to get Dangers to Society out there. And I’m curious about Kindle Vella, because of the immediacy of publication, and it kinda fits with the modern TikTok vibe of short attention spans. Read a chapter on the toilet, anyone? Plus, D2S is also a fairly long story (by modern publishing standards) at 130k words (necessary because of all the viewpoints), so I have room to publish somewhere around 40 episodes which I think would be a nice test to see how Vella works.

A wonderful (and very patient) artist created this cover last year for a potential self-published D2S novel before my focus went to releasing Steelwing. I think it’s pretty fun, but it’s proven kind of divisive. Some really like the meteors and butterfly motif (done by yours truly), others really like the graphic novel panels style. I also made the following prototype, following design trends of recent thrillers:

I think they all have good qualities, though perhaps none of them are a perfect representation of everything that goes on in the book – certainly not the humor, which is subtle, but always around the corner. Drop a comment below as to which you prefer!

Releasing a story on Vella is an exclusive gig. It can only be there while the story is ongoing. Once the final episode of the story has been out for 30 days, I can release a full eBook and physical versions, so look for those this fall to add to your collection as well. More news on that here later this summer.

A Call to Action:

There’s a handy QR code to use to go straight to the Vella Dangers to Society page (or click on it). Get to reading! Since the first episode is free, tell your friends! More than that, I hope you love it and want to keep reading. I tend to do most of my social media stuff on Instagram these days, so look for me there and drop some comments, questions, or mention your favorite silly superpower.

As always, thanks for reading. M

(Update note: This post was updated on June 2nd with fresh info on the cost of Tokens and the number of free episodes)

by Matthew

Stealth Lemon Juice

Whilst preparing a marinade for tonight’s grilled chicken, I cut my finger. What does this have to do with writing fiction? Consequences!

Because I was in a bit of a rush, I elected to cut the soon-to-be-juiced lemon in my hand, rather than take the safe approach and use a cutting board. Thusly, when the nice and sharp knife deftly cleaved the lemon in twain, it went into one of the fingers that was holding said lemon. I appreciate your concern, but the cut wasn’t too bad.

Right when I did it, my immediate thought (as the finger bloomed red and the scent of lemon wafted into my nose) was, “Well that’s gonna sting.” But it didn’t. Told ya the cut wasn’t that bad. Wash hands, apply a bandage, and finish cooking, right?

So that’s what I did. Flattened and scored the chicken, tossed it in marinade, and into the fridge it went.

And that’s when the pain started. It wasn’t immediate, as expected. Just a five-minute Alexa timer late. But when it hit, I found all the colorful metaphors I could muster. And, more importantly, the stealth lemon juice forced me to acknowledge the error of my ways.

Choices have consequences.

As a character on the journey of making dinner, I made a choice to cut corners. Who doesn’t want to save a little time in the kitchen where they can? The consequence of that choice was excruciating — albeit brief — pain in my finger. And I didn’t save any time in the end either. Did I learn my lesson? Definitely. Next time I go heroically up against the nefarious evil of the dinner menu, I will bring my cutting board.

Part of the point of the Trials, Allies, and Enemies phase of the Hero’s Journey (or the first half of Act 2 of the three-act structure) is to teach our protagonists lessons. Cross the Death Star chasm with a Stormtrooper’s utility belt and a kiss from the princess for luck. Knock out the troll in the bathroom to save Hermione. Solve the riddle to get the first key to the easter egg that saves the OASIS. These challenges help our protags grow into the heroines and heroes we need them to be to triumph over lemons (or evil, your choice).

Naturally, as we humans go through the course of our lives, we learn from our mistakes. But I think better character growth in stories happens when a hero has to deal with the unintended, and (hopefully) delayed consequences of their actions. Here are a couple condensed examples from my own stories.

In Dangers to Society, the four protagonists each have quirky superhuman abilities. One of them (Steve) can distinguish truth from lies. Another (Ben) can manipulate minds to believe any manner of things. So, I had Ben subtly use his ability on Steve (and others) for something frivolous, just out of convenience. Chapters on, I had a side character casually say something in front of Steve that was in direct contradiction to what Ben had done. This triggered Steve’s ability and caused a cognitive dissonance between the lie Ben placed and the truth Steve heard. It wracked Steve’s brain and risked his health. Ben had to deal with that. He also learned something about using his ability from this encounter. Steve learned something for his arc as well (about Ben), though he wasn’t aware of what it was at the time. The results of the consequences collide later on in the Ordeal phase.

In The Pentathax Contingency, my current work in progress, one protagonist is escaping a planetary conflict in the opening chapter. In my head he’s a bit of a young space scoundrel type, and to create conflict for him as he was escaping, I destroyed his ship (naturally). So he needs another one. He finds an available ship with a testy pilot getting ready to depart. In a bit of a Han Solo vs. Greedo I-live-or-you-live standoff, he shoots the guy simply to escape from the planet. Wasn’t personal. Motivated by survival, and a choice I can see a lot of us making, were we the young space scoundrel type fleeing a planetary conflict. Later on (when I get around to writing it), he’s going to have to cope with the fact that the pilot he killed was a close family friend of our other protagonist (and potential love interest). Oh my, the consequences of that.

An airlock will be involved.

These are the kinds of darlings we get to keep. If the tests you put your protagonists through don’t matter in the end, they’re not worthy of your story.

Make ’em count. M