Annotation Alcatraz Chapter Twelve The Alcatraz Smedry you think you know is a farce. And now we get the cynical side of Alcatraz’s character growth. It was an interesting experiment, writing this book from the perspective of someone looking back. I knew what I wanted to have happened in Alcatraz’s life (remember, when I changed…

Annotation Alcatraz Chapter Eleven Authors like to torture people. If I had to pick, this would be my second-favorite rant. The mousetrap one is fun, but this one actually says something. It offers commentary. Even if it is ridiculous. I’ve wondered about this concept. Why, exactly, do authors do what they do? Why do I…

Annotation Alcatraz Chapter Ten Are you annoyed with me yet? This beginning is exactly what I like about the form of this book. Here, I can go on and on about how you shouldn’t separate readers from the payoff of cliffhangers–all the while keeping you from getting the payoff of the cliffhanger at the end…

Annotation Alcatraz Chapter Nine Dinosaurs I’d like to be able to tell you where this came from, why I put it in the book, but . . . well, I have no idea. Remember, this book was–in essence–a long free write. I didn’t have much of an outline, setting, or anything else in mind. When…

Annotation Alcatraz Chapter Eight Elevators? How primitive. Of all of the things in this book, I think this chapter has the biggest stretch when it comes to worldbuilding. I really liked the concept of Free Kingdomers thinking of our modern world as primitive. Them thinking swords are more advanced than guns is a really fun…

Annotation Alcatraz Chapter Seven Unwittingly made a friend’s pants fall down. Humor is hard to write. Not only is it subjective, but in a book you don’t have the benefit of a laughing crowd to help you get into the mood. Because of these things, I know that everyone who reads this book is going…

Annotation Alcatraz Chapter Six Kindly pretend that you own a mousetrap factory. This mousetrap example is exactly the sort of thing I can do in a children’s book that I haven’t ever been able to make work in an adult book. I’m not sure why it feels so good in this format, while doesn’t quite…

Annotation Alcatraz Chapter Four Smedry Talents We’re hitting our stride now. I think that this is where the book starts to really reflect what I imagined for it. Here, we’ve got some genuine tension, some worldbuilding, and some utter silliness. One of the early ideas for this book was a magic system where the characters…