The Stories of Scott D. Southard

December 11, 2012

My Online Literary Experiment: Riding the Train
On this Friday I will be sharing Chapter 21 and I am, honestly, feeling more stress and pressure now around the writing of the book than I have ever before.

Wait… have I said that before? Whatever the case, I am on the train and we are flying down the tracks. Little animals beware!

Part of the stress might just be because I have to keep up this blog at the same time… and there is the matter of my new little book being released last week!

(Oh didn’t you know? Here is a link for my info- https://sdsouthard.com/2012/12/07/a-jane-austen-daydream-my-latest-novel-is-out-only-4-99/.)

Yes, there is a lot going on and I feel it in my writing bones…

The Struggles

As I noted in my last update I am no longer ahead a week in my writing, which means Chapter 21 is still a work in process even today, but that is not my big problem. My big problem is that as I get near the end there is so much I want to do which means my chapters are getting long.

When I first began the experiment, I thought the chapters would always be between 10 and 15 pages, in the most. Well, that was thrown to the wind with the first 20+ page chapter emerged (Chapter 3).

Ah, Chapter 3… What did you do to me!?!

(more…)
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December 10, 2012

A JANE AUSTEN DAYDREAM has a Facebook page!
A Facebook page for A Jane Austen Daydream has been created on Facebook by my great publisher. I hope you will consider liking it. There are samples from the book, comments, and giveaways! Yes, prizes related to my book. How cool is that?

Right now they are giving away a poster. (I kind of want one.) You can find the Facebook page here.

And as always, you can find the book for purchase here:
I can not wait to hear what people think of the work…
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December 4, 2012

The First Trailer for A Jane Austen Daydream
A video of me introducing A Jane Austen Daydream and talking a little about the book. Also includes the first glimpse of the cover.
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November 1, 2012

My Online Literary Experiment: Cheat! Cheat! Cheat!
In today’s update around the writing of Permanent Spring Showers I must throw myself upon the mercy of the court… I mean, my readers. The mercy of my readers

Yes, I had done something I had promised not to do around the creation of this book. How big a deal this is truly is your own to decide, but who said making a book was easy? And when you consider how many plots and characters I am juggling with Permanent Spring Showers, well it’s not…

Okay, I am just rattling off excuses now. Let’s move forward to the updates and my guilt.

Cheat!

Some of the more careful readers might have already caught this mistake. (Did you? Have you been giggling at me behind my back?)

As mistakes go it is not a big one, I get that, but it is jarring enough to take a reader out of the little dramatic universe I am creating. And while I do consider Steve an unreliable narrator in a few ways, he is not unreliable enough to make that big a mistake. He does have a watch. (more…)
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September 25, 2012

My Online Literary Experiment: Permanent Spring Showers, the story so far…
This Friday, I will be sharing the tenth chapter in my (possibly maddening) online literary creation/experiment/novel Permanent Spring Showers.

A new book that can be read in two very different ways.

Permanent Spring Showers is the story of a half-dozen different relationships and how they interact with each other (good and bad) over the course of two to three months. The relationships are romantic, funny, serious, sad, hard, lost, falling, rising, and passionate… basically the same as a rainstorm in that turbulent season.

Each of the earlier nine chapters in this literary experiment (I will discuss more how this is an experiment for those that don’t know below) can be found on the Permanent Spring Showers page here. (Minor spoilers below after the jump.) So how can this book be read two different ways? (more…)
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September 5, 2012

It’s time! The eBook version of MY PROBLEM WITH DOORS is available! (Links, samples, and a new introduction to the work is included in this post)
The eBook for MY PROBLEM WITH DOORS is now available via Google eBooks for a mere $9.99. You can find it here.

This version can work on any eBook reader from Kindle to your iPad or iPhone.

If you would rather have a paperback copy of the book, it is still available via amazon.com (here) for $15.95.

There are a few samples from the work available out there if you would like to check it out first. You can find a sample from the work via the official Google eBook page for it (here) as well as a sample on my own website (here) of one of my favorite scenes in the work.

If you have read the book and liked it, please consider sharing it with a friend. If you haven’t read it, I hope you will check out this unique and surprising novel. I am very proud of it. A new introduction to the creation of the work is included below. (more…)
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February 28, 2012

An Excerpt from MEGAN, a Novel
In the hope of doing something different, I decided today to share a scene from my novel MEGAN. In 2009 it was honored in an international novel-writing competition which led to its publication with a new press out of Canada. It can be found on amazon.com here. It is also available as an ebook and audiobook by contacting the publisher or as an eBook from GooglePlay here.

MEGAN is the story of Megan Wane, an imaginative soul who lives in two different worlds. In the real world, she is an event planner at a large firm, dealing with a micromanager and angry fellow employees; in her imaginary world she is a princess and secret superhero who is on a mission to save her world which was turned to blackness. Sometimes her real world slips into her imagination. In this scene Princess Megan and her two companions meet a terrifying and strangely bureaucratic dragon.

–

“Greetings. Hello? Over here. Hi!” The great green dragon was standing in the middle of a large open field. The field (situated where the woods once were) was surrounded by yellow torches. All of the torchlight seemed to coalesce on the dragon, making the beast look larger in the contrast of shadow and the brightness. It was the first dragon Princess Megan had ever seen and it astounded her.

The dragon really didn’t need to direct their attention to itself. The beast was hard to miss, no matter how much the trio might have wanted to pretend that they didn’t see it. It was standing on its hind legs and was wearing a pair of thick reading glasses and a red sweater-vest. It was also holding a clipboard in its right claw and a pencil was positioned behind its left ear. “Are you Princess Megan and her two servants?” the Dragon asked when they had approached closer. (more…)
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February 7, 2012

Book Review: Farsighted by Emlyn Chand
It’s a hard task when a writer decides to begin a book series.

There is really no more important book in the series than that first one and it can apply an extra burden on a writer’s narrative as they not only try to give you a solid story, but excite you enough to want to continue the adventures of the main characters, while giving you a feeling of closure and not closure at the end. Whew… This is the task Emlyn Chand gave herself in her first young adult novel, Farsighted (Found on amazon.com here), a possible five-book series.

There is a lot going for Farsighted.

For one, there is a very unique narrator, one that took me quite by surprise with a “Doh, why have I not seen, or thought, of this before!?” Frankly, the idea is, in my opinion, almost revolutionary for storytelling. (more…)
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January 12, 2012

Fiction Sample: The First Chapter from MY PROBLEM WITH DOORS
In the hope of doing something different, I thought I would share the first chapter of my novel, MY PROBLEM WITH DOORS. It is available on amazon. com, by iPublish Press, a new indie publishing house. Here is the link if you would like to check it out. I hope you will, if I can guarantee anything it is that this book is very unlike anything else out there right now (some books reviews for it can be found on the sidebar). I would like to think you will be surprised.

This first chapter is called “Beginnings.”

From MY PROBLEM WITH DOORS

I will do my best not to lie.

It wouldn’t help my cause to exaggerate,

fabricate

or change any aspect of my life.

Also, I will do my best not to forget anything that may be helpful. Unfortunately, I have never been the kind of person to remember dates or write such information down. Still, I hope that I will be able to generate enough material to aid me.

–

This is a plea for help.

If you have found this manuscript and think it to be only a novel or an ancient piece of fiction, it is not. This is the story of my life and I hope in your reading of it you will be able to help me. (more…)
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January 9, 2012

Some Thoughts on Harry Potter, Lucy Pevensie, Alice, and Compasses…
Here’s a confession- I’ve always wanted to write Children’s literature.

Oh, not any typical children’s lit/young adult book, I’ve always dreamt of doing something groundbreaking, stupendous. So, in other words, I’ve built up the idea so much in my head that I can’t even begin to start. None of the ideas I get reach that level. Of course, none could.

Why do I love the idea of writing a book in this genre? Because this is the gateway drug for all good readers (I plan to stop the drug references there). We don’t start by reading War and Peace; we start by reading Lewis Carroll and his Alice. A good children’s lit book will inspire a reader (and writer) for decades afterwards.

I can go on about this for pages–and I’ll probably talk about it again at some point–but let me focus today on one thing I love and two things I think children and young adult lit needs help on. (more…)
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