The new site layout is cleaner and more airy. I loved the original look and feel, but this one should be more sustainable. It’s got better search features and (I hope) a more engaging home page.

If you’re new, here’s what you’ll find on this site: 

• News about my books, in-progress work, and events. 
• Updates on The Xenthian Cycle.
• Resources I continue to use in my book research.
• Links to my social media profiles. I’m most active on TikTok, GoodReads, and Instagram. I’ve mothballed my Twitter and Facebook accounts for the most part. My presences remain there to prevent squatting.
• Book recommendations for other authors whose work I’ve read and loved. 

The best way to stay in touch is to subscribe to my mailing list. I respect your time and inbox: I only reach out when I’ve got news to share. 

This site also complies with Canada’s anti-spam legislation. If you subscribe, your email address will not be shared with anyone.  

While I wish pen names were ironclad, the reality is doing anything image-based in 2022 means my writing life and my professional life must inevitably sit side-by-side. So, if you’re looking for me in my work-life/start-up context, you can find me here. 

I’m proud to have redesigned emwilliams.ca. Web overhauls are a lot of work, and I’m grateful to the designers who worked with me.

It’s fantastic to welcome you back after so many months of preparation. Thanks for visiting!

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What’s Vocal? Here’s the backstory

Based in New Jersey, Vocal is a competitor to Wattpad in the digital publishing space. Both companies share a similar goal: to build a digital hub where writers attract an audience and get paid.

Ten days ago, I’d never heard of Vocal. You probably haven’t either. But they partnered with Ayman, a breakout BookTok star, to promote their newest contest.

Like many #BookTok people (the hashtag for book people on TikTok), I’ve watched a lot of Ayman’s content. She’s entertaining, well read, and extremely connected to other popular BookTokers.

For example, when the New York Times did a story about how #BookTok is changing the publishing industry in March 2021, she was one of the people they featured. She also happens to read fantasy.

You’ve got to hand it to the Vocal marketing team. Their ads were EVERYWHERE in my feed. I instantly recognized Ayman’s face and was happy to see her getting some sponsorship money. So, I watched her video explainer.

It’s a simple premise. Write the prologue or first chapter to a fantasy story and win anywhere from $10,000 (grand prize) to $50 (25 runners up) for your work. Stories were due by 11:59 p.m. on Monday, June 6.

And, the catch? The story has to start with the sentence, “There weren’t always dragons in the valley.”

Picking a premise for my $10k fantasy prologue

Sometimes when I see a contest premise, I draw an immediate blank. My experience was similar with the $10k fantasy prologue. After I’d read the rules and requirements, no inspiration jumped to mind. So, I had a look at many of the existing entrants.

Unsurprisingly, I saw lots of Dungeons & Dragon-style photos and premises. They looked cool, but didn’t spark an immediate idea for me. Annoyed with myself, I went for a walk with Jerry, my husband and long-suffering soundboard.

“I’m not feeling the D&D stuff,” I told him. “It’s not my bag. And I don’t think going there will help me standout. What else could I do?”

“Yeah,” he agreed. “You write action. How about a heist story? I don’t come across so many of those in fantasy.”

It’s true. Scott Lynch pioneered the sub-genre of fantasy heists when he published The Lies of Locke Lamora in 2006. There are other books, but that’s the big series.

And, like the Ocean’s 11 franchise was until Sandra, Cate and Rhianna got in on the action in Ocean’s 8, it’s very male.

We shot some ideas around. I kept coming back to the one D&D character I’d ever made, a dwarf named Kevl. Interesting name, I thought. I’ll start there.

All the fun and no novel-length plot headaches

Only, when I sat down to write, Kevl the dwarf showed up as Kivel. She had a welding torch in hand and a penchant for surfing with her best friend, Jayne.

Cool, I thought. Let’s roll with it.

I had a lot of fun building their friendship and giving you a glimpse of their world, while adding some fun-times complications. Writing something other than The Xenthian Cycle was also a nice break in my writing routine. Particularly when I didn’t actually have to diagram the actual heist plot (yet).

I solicited feedback from my regular beta reading pool and hit the deadline. Thanks to Diana, Jen, Mary, Tanya and Jerry for the quick turnaround.

You can read “The Adamantine Heist” here. Wish me luck!

The post $10k Fantasy Prologue Challenge? Heck ya. appeared first on E.M. Williams - Fantasy Author.

Why did you make a book trailer?

First, book trailers have been a necessary part of marketing new novels and series for the last decade. Video has been king ever since YouTube secured its place behind Google as the second biggest search engine on the planet.

Second, factor in the growing emphasis on video-based content in online search results and one thing was clear. Making a book trailer was going to be key piece in my marketing plan.

Fortunately, my work in marketing means I know a lot of people who are excellent videographers and producers.

Sim and I have worked together on video projects in the past. Working with them, I got someone who a) understood my vibe and b) produced something way cooler than I would have made alone.

Production Process

Chaos Calling: Book 1 of The Xenthian Cycle entered production in November 2021. When I submitted the manuscript for copy edit, Wes and I were already working on the cover. I knew a book trailer was high on my list of marketing assets.

So, I approached Sim about their availability and booked the project. Freelancers often book up months ahead, which means it’s important to plan ahead of your deadlines.

After booking Sim’s time, I wrote a creative brief. Not familiar with the term? It’s a marketing document that explains the goals, intent, deliverables and budget of a project. I sent it to Sim with a loose script, some suggestions for photography, and some music I listened to when I was writing.

I LOVE the song they picked, which we agreed was perfect during the first round of feedback. Sim gave me several other options, but this one was a clear winner. Thematically, gives just the right amount of Terminator 2: Judgement Day. (To this day, it’s one of the best action movies I’ve ever seen.) Our track has more drums than synthesizers, however, making it more 2022 than Brad Fiedel’s score.

Adjusting the photos, pacing, storytelling and graphics took two rounds of feedback.

I’m so happy with the result!

Are you a TikTok person?

No problem.

You can watch the mobile version of the Chaos Calling book trailer on my Tiktok profile. Go check it out!

The post Chaos Calling Book Trailer #1 has dropped appeared first on E.M. Williams - Fantasy Author.

Every time this date rolls around, I wish a friend of mine a happy birthday. Usually that same morning, I wonder how the whole Star Wars thing started for George Lucas.

Was there a shred of inspiration that caught him by the throat and didn’t let go?

If so, I can relate.

Was it more like a slow unfolding? In interviews, Lucas’ official original story for Star Wars sites a collaboration with a friend and a desire to write an upbeat, inspiring space opera for teenage boys.

I believe that story. But I also know how easily the raw writing experience gets written over with editing and marketing narratives.

I still remember how mine happened, but after seven years, the details are blurrier than they used to be.

That’s why it’s so important to find story totems that connect you to the mood of a piece. And this trailer for the eighth Star Wars movie has been one I returned to time and again.

May the Fourth Be With You: Core Inspiration

As my publication date for Chaos Calling got closer and the project moved from manuscript preparation and into production, I found myself listening to that first 30-second clip of Rey speaking over and over.

I’ve carried this story inside me for a long, long time. The jobs I had and the person I was at the start of this journey do sometimes feel like they took place in a galaxy far, far away.

But the hour approaches. And this novel is finally waking to its life as a public document outside my control.

TikTok, however, is all about the remix. So here’s my homage to The Last Jedi and a few of the many Toronto locations in my book.

@emwilliamscanada A long long time ago, I dreamt about putting these Toronto locations into a fantasy action novel. #fantasybooks #maythe4th #maythe4thbewithyou #fantasyauthortok #indieauthor #indieauthorsoftiktok #newbooks #selfpublishedauthor ♬ original sound – E. M. Williams

It’s been a long road, but we’re only four weeks way now. If you’re a Kindle reader, you can pre-order your copy of Chaos Calling as an ebook on Amazon now.

And to all the fantasy fans out there: May the Fourth Be With You.

The post May the Fourth Be With You, Toronto! appeared first on E.M. Williams - Fantasy Author.

It’s late July 2020. We’re six months into the pandemic. Vacations are on hold. I’ve finished the substantive draft of Chaos Calling and submitted it to my editor to see if I’ve resolved her concerns with the pacing and plot. 

Creatively, I was bored. 

I came across this Hollywood Reporter article in a colleague’s LinkedIn feed. Netflix Canada had opened a call for Canadian film/TV pitches. And anyone could apply–no credentials needed!

The deadline was August 5. And I thought, why not? Life then was so stagnant. I was itching for a little excitement and to learn something new.  

Watch my Tiktok about what I learned pitching Netflix. It’s had +39,000 views.

I talked with K, a cousin of mine who’s an actor and screenwriter. She introduced me to J, a long-time colleague of hers who also acts, writes and produces. We got together (virtually) and talked about my options. J recommended pitching an idea I wasn’t super attached to, so we picked a separate (unpublished) YA book series I’m also writing. 

We set the story up as a film with trilogy potential. Here’s what I learned.

#1: Pitching film/TV is its own animal 

Publishing has the query letter. Startups have the pitch deck. TED has the talk about a big idea. Marketing consultants have the project proposal. I’ve pitched all of those contexts, but film and TV requires an intensely visual format with its own rules. 

TV shows have a pitch bible–Stranger Things has a really famous example, but there are many others. After debating the merits, we picked a film pitch. For this competition, the rules said it had to be no more than five pages. 

My collaborators recommended we make it: 

• Visual–The pitch sets the tone and atmosphere for the project, and can be more important in some ways than the story in terms of getting people excited about the project.
• Succinct–Going over the page limit is frowned upon if you’re an unknown.
• Diverse–The series characters were already diverse, but we also looked for fresh opportunities to mix things up.

#2: Imagined casts help producers see character analogues 

The pitch included short character biographies to highlight each main or supporting character’s conflict and arc in the story. To my surprise, K and J suggested we visually cast the parts on the page with real working actors. 

I would have floundered on this piece without help. I’m not fluent enough with up-and-coming talent in Canada or elsewhere to have a sense of who would be good for what, who’s career is hot, and who has the kind of trajectory that would mean the project would be mutually beneficial. 

Their insights: 

• Don’t pick all A-list actors (e.g., The Rock, Angelina Jolie, etc.). It inflates the price of your project and makes you look like you don’t know what you’re doing. Which I didn’t. Anyway!
• Matching the actor’s vibe to your character’s will help you convey your idea for what kind of energy the person brings to your story. I relied on K and J for this aesthetic. As an outsider, assessing that was a total head scratcher. 
• What I might like about an actor is not at all what producers or other actors see in a performance. For them, it’s range, momentum, versatility and economy of choice. “But I like them,” is never a strong enough reason.

#3: More special effects = bigger budgets, more competition 

I won’t lie: This one’s a heartbreaker for the speculative fiction crowd. It’s not our fault that our minds run toward stories that innately demand special effects or sets that require CG augmentation to look good.  

But those pieces do make a speculative fiction project more expensive without a built-in fanbase to justify the ‘yes.’ 

Compare the last superhero franchise instalment you saw to a pitch for something like Malcolm & Marie, a film with two primary speaking parts shot in one location in roughly two weeks. If both ideas are pitched by unknown talents, the financial commitment alone makes saying yes to the first pitch hard. 

Without getting into the details, my project involved significant character CG, prosthetics and a lot of water shooting (day and night). Not great odds in my favour. 

The value of experiential goals 

Building the document, collaborating on the visuals and thinking through new aspects of my story was a delightful creative experience. I submitted it with joy. 

So, you ask. What happened? 

About two weeks after I applied, LinkedIn notified me that an Entertainment Analyst at Neflix had visited my profile. 

Do I know anyone with that title? No. Have I ever seen a notification like one in my feed before? Also no.

I talked with A. M., a colleague who used to work in finance in the film industry (not for Netflix). “Well, you made it out of the slush pile,” she told me cheerfully. “Between 60 and 70 percent of projects are so bad they’re an automatic delete. Someone cared enough to send an analyst to go look at your stuff. The fact that you haven’t actually published those books probably killed their interest.” 

I mean, fair?

Honestly, the whole experience was so satisfying that getting out of the slush pile felt like a cherry on the top of my creative sundae. 

I’m so proud of the pitch document that K and J helped me to build. It’s beautiful and helped me to refine my thinking about that series. I learned a lot and made a thing I love.

Zero regrets.

The post What I Learned Pitching Netflix appeared first on E.M. Williams - Fantasy Author.

Here’s what you’ll find on this site: 

• News about my books, in-progress work, and events. 
• Updates on The Xenthian Cycle: Here’s what I can tell you about Book 2.
• Resources I used and continue to use in my book research.
• Links to my social media profiles. I’m most active on TikTok, Twitter and Instagram. 
• Book recommendations for other authors whose work I’ve read and loved. 

The best way to stay in touch is to subscribe to my mailing list. I respect your time and inbox: I only reach out when I’ve got news to share. 

This site also complies with Canada’s anti-spam legislation. Your email address will not be shared with anyone.  

If you’re a self-published author looking to level-up your book marketing, let me be the first to tell you about GrowClass. I love this amazing community for the inclusion and support offered in the class Slack channel, which you will join for life. The problem solving, feedback and troubleshooting is literally THE BEST. Sarah Stockdale and her team also offer payment plans for both Canada and U.S. residents. 

While I wish pen names were ironclad, the reality is doing anything image-based in 2022 means my writing life and my professional life must inevitably sit side-by-side. So, if you’re looking for me in my work-life/start-up context, you can find me here. 

Again, it’s fantastic to welcome you to emwilliams.ca after so many months of preparation. Thank you so much for visiting!

We’ll talk soon,

emw

The post Welcome to emwilliams.ca. It’s Great To See You! appeared first on E.M. Williams - Fantasy Author.