Category: WRITING

How to Start Writing a Book

I was eating dinner when the idea just popped into my head for Azaya's book 3. I have not thought at all about it since I'm still finishing book 2, but it happened, and I thought I'd share the very early stages of how I write a book. Being five books into the Charles Mandrake book series (that includes the Azaya series), I have a lot of material. Characters and world are well established, and I've settled into a style for the series, but starting a new book is the same in many ways whether you're just starting out, or have a well established story. It all has to start from somewhere. One of the biggest topics for the entire series is how the tribes were separated. There's the side where Charles, Anna, Todd and the usual suspects have spent most of the pages dwelling. This includes Skelderheim and all…

WRITING

Using Obsidian for Writing – How I Write A Novel (As I write it)

This isn't meant to convince anyone to switch tools. Plenty of writers use Scrivener, Sudowrite, Word, Google Docs, or something else entirely. This is simply the workflow I've settled into with Obsidian. Using Obsidian for Writing - I do 70% of the Writing on Mobile Phones Full manuscript writing. My main phone is a current-ish Samsung S23, and the writing-only phone is a Blu G53. Only the S23 has mobile service. I mainly use phones because at least one of them is always on me. It's fast to just get things out, and even though I'm a horrible screen typist, Google Keyboard (installed on both) can usually figure out what I was trying to spell. Most of my best inspiration has started when I'm not in front of my computer. Yes, I do use the computer for long-range editing and writing, but the initial capture and scene creation usually happens…

WRITING

Building a Chapter – How I Write a Novel (As I Write It)

This is the second post that walks through my process of writing a book as I am writing it. It's a guide to what I'm thinking while a go through chapter creation, and how I work. Drawing From Other Sources There are parts of writing that have been influenced by things I've seen in other areas of my life. It could have been something that I read in a book or seen in a movie. It might have also been something I personally experienced in life at one point or another. The idea of time duality is part of the latter group. In chapter two, the idea started out with remembering the opening scene of "Spirit, Stallion of the Cimarron." Specifically it was the sweeping camera and title score (0:00-3:15) that got this chapter started. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzTQQSKfMV0 That was a long time ago for me, and I was an adult, but…

WRITING

Azaya Second Book Started – How I Write A Novel (As I write it).

July 15, 2026 I picked up the pen again and started in on Azaya's second book. Right now, the working title is "Azaya and the Central Expanse." Rather than talk about the book directly, I'd like to share with you some of the actual process I'm going through in writing a book as I'm writing it. A Note About Confidence in Writing This isn't really about the process of writing as much as it is knowing you can do it. If you read the about page, it took me three books and over 60 chapters of writing to gain the confidence that I could actually tell a story, and write it down in a way people actually want to read. This didn't come easy. When I started the journey on October 21, 2025, I had never written a chapter, much less an entire book in my life. I turned to…

WRITING

How Do You Make A Story Feel Lived-In?

This is the first post that covers one of a few of the methods I used when writing the series. It contributes in making the story across all media feel lived-in and like a place that you could actually visit. Throughout the Charles Mandrake series, one of the most apparent feelings that readers get is that the entire world feels lived-in and real. Almost like East Bay and Skelderheim were actual places that you could visit. This wasn't an accident by any means, and I designed it to feel this way. Consistency is the Key to Making a Place Feel Real. Authors, like movie directors know that there are certain things that have to be consistent throughout a scene or over a series of scenes. Like if Johnny puts his phone in his left pocket, shakes someone's hand, and then pulls his phone out from the right pocket, the viewer…

NEWS

East Bay, Maine. The Site and the Build Behind It.

Building a Fictional Town Site that Feels Real The East Bay Maine site started out when I decided that I was going to write Charles Mandrake, Book Zero, "East Bay." The original thought was that I was going to write the origin story for the Trio, Charles, Anna, and Todd, but the project took an unexpected direction on its own. The Premise Behind the Website The first thing I instinctively knew came from the experience I have in marketing and development. This site had to feel like it was a town's website, and I did about six hours of research on small town websites. I found that most of them are either run by the city government and completely put-you-to-sleep boring, or they're run by an organization that has no idea what user experience is, or what people actually find interesting. Creating The Site Vision Before I did anything, I…