Word Count Wednesday - the Return!

Hello everyone,

     Well, as the season of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is upon us again, I am once again participating in the mad dash to write 50,000 words (minimum!) in 30 days. Although that does have me quite busy, I thought it would be a good time to bring back Word Count Wednesdays, since word count is kind of my life at the moment.

     If you follow me on social media, by now you probably know that my current NaNoWriMo project is a sequel to The Saga of Asa Oathkeeper which is tentatively titled Asa Oathkeeper Among the Giants. The story of Asa Oathkeeper was left unfinished at the end of the Saga, and many fans have asked about a sequel that reveals how her story continues or ends. I have not been in a place to tell that story until now, but I'm happy to say that it is finally happening.

Current Word Count: 26,899

     In other news: Tales From Midhgardhur did well in the 2017 Channillo Awards, taking runner-up for Best Fantasy Series for the second year in a row, and taking Best Short Stories Series for 2017! I am very proud and pleased that Tales From Midhgardhur continues to be award-winning fiction!

     Some news about forthcoming projects: Tales From Midhgardhur, Volume I and Tales From Midhgardhur, Volume II are making the jump to audiobook format! Working through ACX, I have contracts with audiobook producers for Audible versions of those books! Bridger Conklin of BCV Studios is producing an excellent version of Volume I; he brings a delightfully clear and up-beat reading to the stories, and in the words of my beloved wife Tanya, "he makes [my] words sing" - high praised indeed! Gary Miller-Youst brings a lovely baritone voice to Volume II, sounding perfect for the grim world of Midhgardhur and highlighting the rough edges and potential horrors of that world. I am very happy to be working with these talented audiobook producers, and look forward to those volumes being from audible in mid to late December - just in time for all your holiday shopping needs, I hope!

     Finally, a hint at an upcoming project - I cannot say much now, but I have been asked to participate in a project involving some Appendix N-style swords & sorcery, and have sketched out plans for a new series of stories for that project. If the project does not go forward, I'll probably write the series anyway; I'm too excited about the ideas I have to allow the stories to fade away unwritten! I shan't know more until sometime in December, after NaNoWriMo is over and I have a chance to breathe again . . .

Happy Reading! Skál!
~ Colin Anders Brodd
November 15th, 2017
Villa Picena, Phoenix, AZ

The Channillo Awards 2017

Hello everyone,

     In the summer of 2016, I discovered that the site Channillo, which hosts my Tales From Midhgardhur series, had declared a new program of awards for the best series on the site. These were called the Channillo Awards, and the winners were determined by the number of readers adding the series to their "Favorites" list. My series was runner-up for the Best Fantasy Series in the 2016 Channillo Awards. I was very proud of that accomplishment - obviously, I would rather have won Best Fantasy Series, but out of so many, I was very pleased to come in second place!

     This summer (2017), I looked to see if there was a "2017 Channillo Awards" announced, but the summer passed without such a posting. I finally saw an announcement in autumn - I think in October, though the announcement might have been made earlier - that the 2017 Channillo Awards were going to be announced November 1st, 2017! There's not much you can do to influence the awards, other than encourage your readers to be sure to "Favorite" your series. So I made some social media posts and crossed my fingers.

     Well, for whatever reason, the awards were not announced on the 1st, or even for the first week. I actually stopped looking, because I am busy this month with NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month)! But today I had a free moment, so I looked, and saw the winners had been posted! I am quite proud to remain the runner-up for Best Fantasy Series for the second year in a row! But I was even more proud to see that Tales From Midhgardhur was the WINNER of Best Short Stories Series for 2017!

     The competition is pretty fierce for these awards. I count over 65 Fantasy Series on Channillo, and 80 Short Stories Series. As much as I (once again) would rather have won Best Fantasy Series, second place out of more the 65 series is something of which I am very proud. And the award I did win? Best Short Stories Series? Let me tell you a secret.

     The form of the "short story" is an inordinately difficult one to master. True masters of the art of the short story are rare; I would not claim to be a master yet by any means. I might be a journeyman, more likely a mere apprentice, but surely not a master. The concision and clarity required to write a good short story is simply astonishing to me, even after writing them more-or-less monthly for a few years now. I can sit down and vomit out 50,000 words for NaNoWriMo, and that's an endurance challenge. A marathon. With perseverance, I shall arrive at 50,000 words . . . eventually. Doing it in the 30 day deadline is harder, but again, given the time, I'll get there. Whether or not the words I set down are any good, well, that's another matter. But I find it much harder to write a short story of just a few thousand words. I'm not trying to "make word count." In fact, I don't care about word count. I'm trying to make every single word . . . count. Each must be chosen with exquisite care, and arranged just so. It would be nice if novels could be written that way, but I am not sure that they can. In my experience, you generate a lot of words for a novel, then start editing and cutting. But I'm already doing fine work when I write a short story, and when I edit those, I need to get out a jeweler's loupe and the really fine cutting tools.

     For me, as an author, there is nothing more challenging than writing short stories. So I am very proud that out of 80 series of short stories on Channillo, Tales From Midhgardhur was a fan favorite judged to be the Best Short Stories Series of 2017 on Channillo! Thank you to all my readers and fans for your continued support! I could not have done it without you!

Happy Reading! Skál!
~ Colin Anders Brodd
November 13th, 2017
Villa Picena, Phoenix, AZ