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There Came A Knocking Publishes Tomorrow!

Tomorrow is publication day for my new novel “There Came A Knocking”!

I’m so excited to finally get this awesome work out to all of you incredible readers. I’ve put so much love into this, and painstakingly brought the retro feel of 1980’s slasher thrillers back to the literary world. The campy slasher genre has disappeared as of late leaving, what I would argue, a void that hasn’t been filled by much of anything substantial. My hope is that this novel can revive some peoples’ interest, and reignite the silliness that comes with it.

Now, what do I mean by silliness? It’s all about the gimmicks and the HORRIBLE decisions that our poor unsuspecting character make within the horrorscape that we as authors create. Think about some of the best slashers out there! The combination of an interesting gimmick and the complete absurdity of characters’ choices to go into the dark basement when you as the reader KNOW there’s something fishy going on down there. It’s almost satisfying to see a clearly dumb move be punished by something you’re mentally telling the character not to do. That’s party of the joy of the genre!

Think of some of your favorite movie slashers and really think of their gimmicks. Ghostface has the ghost mask and hunting knife, Jason has the hockey mask and giant machete, Freddy Krueger has the burned body with the finger blades, and Jeepers Creepers has his hate and coat to cover his demon body. The gimmicks are the key to creating a memorable antagonist in these stories, and it’s something I find so much fun in creating. The best part is coming up with something so absurd, give it to someone with murderous intent, and let them loose into the worlds of the page.

In some ways one could compare the slasher horror/thriller genre to that of romantic comedies. The stories are so full of absurdly exaggerated events that lead the characters to make choices that one would never do in real life. Do you think the hot cowboy billionaire is gonna choose the city girl that has nothing much to give him? Yeah, probably not. Do you think that rummaging around in a dark creepy shed behind your house while you’re being stalked by a serial killer is going to result in anything except you being stabbed? Yeah, you get my point.

This genre is so dear to me, and offers so many great stories that keep you looking over you shoulder as you walk through your house at night. did you check if your door is locked? Better go double check, who knows who could out there. “There Came A Knocking” has a slasher with a killer gimmick that would make you question if his motives blur the lines between what is morally right or wrong. Or maybe you will just see him as a monster that he is to so many unfortunate people. That conclusion is completely up to you! I look forward to hearing what all of you amazing readers have to share about it in the coming weeks post publication.

Thank you all so much for coming on this journey with me, and I look forward to all of you coming a knocking with me!

–John McCool

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Could Ai be the future of table top storytelling?

Dungeons and Dragons has been a creative outlet by so many over the course of its long existence. Many authors such as myself have used it as an exercise to better our storytelling skills through the use of its various tools. After all, what could possibly be better than creating a narrative within the darkness of the seemingly endless dungeons of the D&D multiverse? Nothing. The answer is nothing. However, there is something that has plagued many would-be table top adventurers for a long time, and something I even struggle with similar table top experiences, and that is actually finding people to play with.

Not finding people to play with can be from a variety of things. No one around you is interested, you live in a remote area where there simply just isn’t anybody to play, or you’re just too nervous to be around people. If you do happen to get together a small group of people, good luck convincing one to play as the dungeon master. I get all of that. This led to the creation of D&D solo play. Yeah, like literally playing a social game solo. Now, a few D&D fascist would say this can’t be done, but I disagree. I’ve tried it before testing out 5th edition back in the day, and it was kind of an enjoyable experience, however, as you can expect there’s a major aspect that is missing. The socialization of the experience. 

We are now at the forefront of gaming. The advancements in artificial intelligence have paved the way for the next evolution in table top storytelling games. There have been quite a few apps out there recently claiming to be storytelling games that are Ai generated, but they are all pretty bad. And I mean bad. However, recently Meta (Facebook) announced to creation of Ai assistance on their messaging app, and one of those is literally called Dungeon Master. 

The Dungeon Master, which picture is awkwardly similar to Snoop Dogg, is an Ai persona who’s only reason to exist is to give you the best D&D experience as possible, and it does it quite well. It works just like you’re messaging in the app, but it just lays out the narrative, then asks you what you would like to do next. It’s the most interactive, and most in depth reactions to any Ai I’ve tried for this sort of thing, and honestly the story I’m currently in isn’t that bad.

So, I’ve a common dude from a village that is approached one night at the local tavern by a strange man named Grimgold who had a weird obsession with a nearby forest. He asks me if I am interested in a bit of treasure hunting, and of course I am, because why else would I be playing D&D? Anyway, we go to these ruins where we’re jumped by some goblins who actually almost brutally murder us. We escape with our lives and are approached by a mysterious wizard named Eira who tricks us into breaking into these ruins to “defeat an evil wizard” who is threatening the area with evilness. Well, big shock, it was a ruse. She steals some hidden amulet form the ruins and straight up whips us up and down the halls of those ruins. We barely escape, and head back to town where we formulate a plan to gather some powerful artifacts to dispel her evil magics. 

Super in depth, right? I’ve even attempted to trick the system by doing something that normally an average player wouldn’t do. The Ai asked me what we should do next before looking for the artifacts, and I said I want to ask Grimgold for a favor. He said of course, and I explained I wanted to go to my home in a small village some ways away, and grab my Wand of Magic Missiles to aid us in our quest. Instead of deflecting as I thought was going to happen, Grimgold agrees and now my player actually has it for the story, and Grimgold remembers. Before we left my house I asked Grimgold if he was hungry, and that I’d make him some hard tack for the road. He actually told me thank you, and he and my character shared a meal and stowed some for the road. It blew my mind.

This technology has truly changed my perception of what Ai can do fro humanity. I’ve been having such an incredible time with this, and it’s so good it feels almost like I should be paying for this service. don’t get any ideas Zuckerberg…I highly recommend that any D&D fan give this a try, and recommend this even more to authors who are looking for an exercise with their storytelling. The Ai only reacts to what you write which has truly gotten my writing cogs turning in my head. This is an incredible tool, and I hope you all enjoy it just as much as I have. 

Until next time readers!  

–John McCool

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Minneapolis’s Hidden Bookstore

Recently I undertook a journey to the land of a thousand lakes for a work trip to Cafe Imports and Mill City Roaster. Oh yes, I’m talking about the land of the Vikings in America. The lands of the far north that borders our friends and partners across the great lakes. I’m talking about the great state of Minnesota, land of a thousand lakes.

After my business things were taken care of, I decided to just strap on my backpack, pick a direction and just walk. I walked on for a while until I happened across this super cool book store hidden off the beaten path. Every time I go off adventuring in some new city, I make it a point to find a local coffee shop, and find a nice used bookstore to lose myself in for a few hours. So business trip or not, this trip was no different.

I stumbled upon a very interesting sign that just leaned up against the side of the building. It literally said “Books, Maps, and Prints”. What a way to pique my interest, right? I was immediately intrigued. I promptly crossed the street, and pushed my way into the old wooden door revealing the hall within. Now, what was really cool about this building was that it was actually connected to an art studio, which had their current exhibit up on full display as soon as you stepped in.

Their theme was a very relevant subject that we see quite frequently in the circles of the literary world. The theme was Banned Books. Displayed all through the exhibit was various forms of artistic representation of books being banned through society, whether for a good reason or bad, the intention was clear. However, the most impressive piece was four books that hung from the ceilings by chains. The dangled loosely to about chest level where upon further inspection, I discovered that there was a little lock mechanism that allowed someone to open them up and read the books. This was such a super cool feature, but it was the actual books themselves that interested me more. From the chains hung religious texts from four of the biggest religions in the world. It was fascinating to try and dive deep into the mind of the artist to understand what they were going for. Why were they hung from the ceilings by chains? Why were they locked, but easily unlocked for anyone to read? It was simply an incredible exhibit.


After that awesome surprise, I took a trip next door to the reason why I came. Before me was a low lit, dusty, old book store with books piled high to the ceiling. Literally my dream come true. This little hole in the wall is a small operation ran by an older man, that was just as awkward as you could imagine. He was the owner of this fine establishment, and wore the wrinkled face of a man who had seen a thing or two in his day. Each wall was lined with books from medieval reprints to maps of some of the strangest places in the world that one might not expect to find in such a place. It was quite the collection that could only be spawned in the dreams of a bibliophile.

I took my time to rummage through the seemingly endless shelves; most so over stocked that there were stacks piled up high on the floor. What I discovered is this book store was dedicated to the realms of knowledge and history. 85% of the tomes that lined those shelves held the chronicles of the world which the likes I’ve never seen. Memoirs, biographies, history texts, language books, How-to’s- and even a few cook books thrown in for good measure. I love the fact that places like this exist to preserve some of the forgotten lore from our history. In an age where reading certain things can be looked down upon, seeing this old man hold such tomes was a delight.

One section that quite interested me the most was his vast collection of art books. Each one was carefully categorized by the region which the art pieces were collected, making the seemingly endless books more manageable. The shelf that interested me the most was the Japanese art collection. I’m very interested in this subject at the moment as I am currently wrapping up a course in Japanese Scrolls and Manuscripts at Harvard University online. As I flipped through the pages, I found many of the works which I had learned about in my studies which gave me valuable insight.

Now, I don’t really collect non-fiction books, however, I can truly appreciate it. Even though there weren’t any books I walked out with, the memory of this place will forever be with me. If you ever find yourself in Minneapolis, MN, please go check out this incredible shop. Finding this little book store confirmed to me that the used book market isn’t going away any time soon.

–John McCool

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Does anyone actually read screenplays?


This is the question I’ve been asking myself over the past year. So, a little backstory on me. I actually began my writing journey as a screenplay writer back in 2016. Of course I’ve written things before then, being short stories and stuff, but my first REAL work was in writing for the silver screen. Or the little screen you hold in your hand everyday, and are most likely using to read this very post. Anyway, I wrote several screenplays to ship around to film festivals, and some of them actually did quite well. In fact, some of my readers might be familiar with The Ruse. I loved that story so much that I produced a print edition with added extras like commentary and an exclusive short story for it.

So, I was going over my website the other day, and a question materialized in my head. The exact same question I proposed at the beginning of this post. Does anyone actually read screenplays? The answer, come to find out, is like 95% no. Now, this isn’t to discourage any would be screenplay writer, because that is absolutely NOT why I’m here. It all has to do with the target audience, right?

Who would you say is the target audience for your screenplay?

1) Actors looking for practice.
2) Producers that you’ve pitched the script to.
3) Other screenplay writers.
4) Film festival judges.

That’s it.

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing though. If you have a love and a passion for screenwriting, then you already know that your future belongs in the hands of the festival circuit. Submitting my work to a film festival is truly some of my most exhilarating and exciting memories as a writer, and it’s going to be something I look forward to more in the future. However, the common reader or follower of your work more than likely isn’t into such a format. AND THAT”S OKAY. We write depending on the people who we wish to share our work with, and I’ve found over the years that leaving screenplays sitting dormant on my website is just a waste of space. Every bit of writing has its place and its proper location!

I’ve recently redone my website to accommodate this transition to a more traditional format. If I do get lucky enough to get something produced, or produce it myself, I’m going to 100% publish the script alongside the produced product. I’m a huge fan of reading scripts after I listen to an entrancing audio drama, so it would be quite the shame if I didn’t follow that same release format. Did I just admit to working on audio plays? Maybe…

Regardless of who your chosen audience is, go out there and follow your dream no matter what. Write that screenplay you’ve had an idea for, and send it out to every festival imaginable! Those are your people!

– John McCool

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Current Novel WIP Update

Hey Reader!

This is just a little update on my current work in progress. I have been writing “There Came A Knocking” every day since the beginning of January of this year. It’s been such an incredible experience, and I can’t wait to talk more about it in the near future! However, while being in such a sensitive phase in the novel writing process, it becomes a little hard to talk about it with so many story pieces being moved around the board.

I’m currently almost finished with my second draft of the novel which is a huge accomplishment. When I finished the first draft, I made one of the biggest mistakes an author can make after wrapping up that phase of the process. I immediately started working on the next draft as soon as I typed the final period on the sentence. For those of you who do not know, drafting your manuscript is nothing more than going over your work from top to bottom and editing. It’s to make sure you have a consistent story with no plot holes or continuity errors.

Most authors recommend taking a few weeks off after you finish your first draft to get rid of the book eyes, as it’s called, then hop into the second draft with the eyes as a self editor. So, I didn’t do that. I hopped in straight into the deep end of the pool which led to a wee bit of burn out. Rookie mistake, but we live and learn. The burn out didn’t last long, so as soon as I took a breather, I hopped back into it, and now I’m knocking on the door of a finished second draft.

My wife, of course, will be my alpha reader, but as soon as it’s ready to go I’ll begin the recruitment of my beta readers. After that, it’s go time for my editor, then my proofreader who I’ve yet to hire. Only then will I start to assemble a solid group of ARC readers to begin the long awaited day of November 10th! I’m very excited for this piece of literature I’ve worked so hard on, and I hope all of you enjoy the gripping, terrifying story as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Until next time!

John McCool

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Reedsy

When I began my writing journey I often wondered where was the best place to start. I remember sending in the library of the community college I was going to at the time in my home town of Meridian, MS world building this incredible fantasy world that I have yet to do anything with. As I filled this notebook up with some of the most detailed crafted world I’ve ever developed, I started to become worried that I’ve bitten off more than I could chew, and I was right. I was under the false assumption that the best thing for new authors to do go balls to the wall, and knock out that debut novel from day one. Of course, hindsight is 20/20, but I can say that it was the wrong idea for someone so new to the world of writing literary fiction. This quite obviously led to extreme burn out before I even started to pen my first work, and as you could assume, this was quite discouraging for someone just starting out.

There was a time when I was really considering that a potential career in writing simply wasn’t for me. I dabbled with screen writing for quite a while, until I was introduced to something that completely changed my writing life forever. This little community of dedicated professionals helped me propel my career in writing to a place I’ve always wanted to be, but always struggled to get a firm grasp on. I’m talking about Reedsy.

As me and my wife were bouncing around to different places, as a result of our nomadic lifestyle at the time, I really struggled to actually sit down and put pen to paper. The original part of Reedsy that I was introduced to was their awesome short story writing contest. They provide authors with five prompts that they can submit to, and a panel of decorated judges come to a winner who is awarded $250! Now, to be fair I’ve yet to win this competition, but every week the competition restarts allowing myself and hundreds of other authors to step into the arena of literary combat to become the champion for the week.

Now, I’m sure you’re wondering why I would be encouraging new authors to join competitions. The answer is that it’s not about the competitions at all. It gives new authors an organized, structured environment to hone their skill, and make a few friends along the way. The content requirement is very simple with a max word count of 3,000 words, and a minimum of 1,000 which is absolutely perfect for beginner writers. With the overarching theme changing from week to week, writers are able to really stretch their muscles of creativity. I tend to steer more to the dark and mysterious in my writings (it’s literally more slogan), so I can take any of those prompts and turn it into something quite epic! However, the downside is that I’m pretty sure Reedsy doesn’t necessarily like dark story telling, because I’ve never seen one win, but who knows!

Reedsy will always hold a special place in my heart. All of the stories in my first published book was an anthology of short stories all written for those competitions! It really helped me become such a better writer, and become more comfortable with people reading my work. For anyone even slightly interested in writing as a hobby, please consider giving it a look over. You will be quite surprised with the fascinating worlds you can create.

– John McCool

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Similar Story Devices In Anime and Wrestling

There’s a little exercise I like to do when I am consuming any type of fictional media. It’s very rare these days that I get a break long enough to enjoy other people’s work, but when I do, I like to analyze story elements within the writing. Now, this is just purely from a writer’s perspective, I could go all day about symbolic imagery film makers use in their work, but that’s a post for another time.

As I’ve gotten old, and further along in my writing career, I’ve noticed two similarities in the storytelling structure of two forms of fiction that are so dear to me growing up: Anime and Wrestling. Now, on paper these two are polar opposites. One is written for animators and voice actors to perform, while the other is a live action 360 degree theatre performance. Each has such unique ways of progressing a story technically, however I’ve started to identify similarities within the two from a story structure standpoint.

A common story note within the two are the use of factions to progress a story line with more than six characters. It’s simply the easiest way to involve multiple unique characters without having the need to necessarily build a deep lore for every single one of them. Notable examples are the Usos in WWE. They are an amazing faction, but them by themselves is less than spectacular. Jimmy Uso has no lore to him, Jey has a little bit, and Solo is nothing more than a modern retelling of the old Umaga character from the Ruthless Aggression era of the WWE. In anime there is no better example than the Z Fighters from Dragonball Z. The decision from the great Akira Toriyama to group the weaker members of his cast into a faction rather than having them forced alongside the main cast was a perfect example of how to use side characters. Characters such as Krillin, Tien, Yamcha, Goten, and Trunks just simply can’t carry the weight of the story as individuals, but as a team, they are perfect for expanding the overall chaos of the troubles the cast as a whole faces.

Now, this doesn’t mean that eventually a side character can’t be moved into a lead role. With Jey Uso in the WWE, he actually had a championship opportunity against the future leader of his faction, The Bloodline, before losing that, and eventually going on to join him. Even now as we start this season of WWE post Wrestlemania, we see Jey still a front figure in the Bloodline/Sami Zayne storyline. In Dragonball Z we see characters all the time get upgrades to their abilities which pushes them up the ranks of the cast. Piccolo is a recent example of a faction based side character making a big push for the spotlight in the newest movie, which I thought was an excellent idea, and a great use of such a foundational character to that franchise.

Another similarity between the two is the age old use of Hero versus Villain story structure. In Wrestling there’s actually technically terms used in the industry to identify the hero and villains of certain storylines. The hero is more commonly referred to as a “Baby Face” and the villain is referred to as a “heel”. Now, the heel term makes sense to me, but I never understood the baby face title, but I’ve never been in the Wrestling industry, so pardon my ignorance. The writing is usually pretty straight forward. The heel is doing some sort of injustice or has personally harmed the baby face kicking off the story line with their clear roles defined. The baby face is most of the time an underdog having to grind their way to the top in order to face off against the heel in an epic conclusion at the next major event show.

In anime, it’s quite clear story wise who the hero and villains are. Your hero is always going to be the main character of the show with the villain being introduced a little ways on. Like Wrestling, the hero will have to grind their way to the top in order to face their villain in an epic conclusion at the season’s end. The final confrontations are usually written as an event within the season to allow most plot points to be resolved for most characters to make way for new stories in the next season. These events are more subtly placed, because unlike Wrestling they don’t have flashy graphics displaying the name of said event with whoever is headlining it. However, if you analyze your favorite anime near the end of the season, it’s quite obvious where major resolution events begin. The most extreme example I can think of is Naruto Shippuden. The resolution arc starts as soon as the final battle of the Great Ninja War begins which ends up being like a 30 episode event.

One of the last major crossovers, and honestly most fun in my opinion, is the use of character gimmicks. This is so fundamental to both forms of media that without it? They just simply wouldn’t be what they are today. The list is actually endless is you look at all the unique characters that have come and gone in both the wrestling ring, and the hundreds of anime shows out there. The use of gimmicks allows writers to bring an unrealistic flavor to a character in order to make them more memorable. For example, in WWE my favorite wrestler of all time, Edge, debuted in a faction called The Brood. Again, we see that use of faction building to introduce characters. The Brood was actually a faction that claimed to he vampires, and would enter the ring by rising from flames in an epic visual display of pyrotechnics. The leader of the faction would literally come out with a grail of liquid that looked like blood, and spit it in the air before entering the ring. It was truly epic, and made all three members of the faction stand out. This unique gimmick made two of those three skyrocket to superstar stature, and catapult their careers.

In anime, gimmicks can be placed as either physical or in terms of personality. In Zoids we are introduced to the series’ female lead who’s gimmick is she is a race of ancient people who have the ability to manipulate the robotic Zoid creatures that roam the lands. In My Hero Academia, our main character’s name is Deku which is actually a derogatory name given by the series’ anti-hero. The word Deku actually means “good for nothing” which follows the character’s upbringing as someone who has no super powers in a super powered world He actually accepts the name, and wears it as a badge of honor in this awesome twist on the gimmick. Not many people would adopt a potentially harmful name, so carrying that gimmick is such an awesome change for a main character.

For storytellers like me, it’s very interesting to identify story devices that appear in multiple fictional media. It’s a fun experiment that I would encourage any storyteller to try no matter what your preferred form is. Any of these lessons can be learned and applied to anything you write! While you’re enjoying your favorite TV show, try and pay attention to the actually writing of it, and see if you can compare it to a completely different form of media. You’ll be pleasantly surprised.

John McCool

Photo Credit: WWE

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Are Chapters Getting Shorter?

Has anyone noticed an interesting trend in literary fiction lately, or am I going crazy? On a routine supply run to a local chain grocery store for the coffee shops I manage, I usually take a few moments to browse the latest books. They have one of the better book sections compared to other chain department stores, so it always feels like a treat when I can take a looksie.

One of the greatest things to do when browsing books is, of course, flipping through the pages, and taking in the wonderful world the author has created. However, there seems to be a trend that I noticed a few months ago, and has persisted with every new release that I’ve flipped through

Are chapters getting shorter?

Now, hear me out. I am actually a fan of this structure for reasons I’ll get into later. I feel like it’s more manageable from a writing perspective, because instead of cramming so much information and progression within one single chapter, the author is able to keep the story moving at a more organized pace. I could argue that a lot of the times an author will use scene breaks to allow the reader to take a pause at the story’s progress, but in my opinion it feels so much more natural to end the chapter, and start a new one at a new scene. Don’t take that as I’m and anti scene break author, because I’m not. I use scene breaks all the time, I just feel in a contemporary sense that starting a new chapter is far more efficient.

So, what do I mean by being more efficient? In the outlining phase of any story, the author does a few things to keep organized well before fingers start clacking away on the keyboard. Some authors make plot points, some make a flow map, some just keep sticky notes everywhere, and some make a description for every single chapter. I am the latter. With this in mind, my chapters are already broken down into scenes. The exception being a change in perspective within the scene which I do several times in my current work in progress. The same events are happening within said scene, but the point of view switches to a different character.

I’m privileged to have the mind of a writer, so as I flip through the pages of new releases, I’m quite confident I know the reason why. I’ve had some of my fellow authors during discussions complain it is because the attention span of readers are shortening with the rise of Tiktok and other quick hit fiction. This is certainly true. However, it also makes the workflow of the author so much easier, so it’s a trend I’ve gladly accepted.

Compared to the fantasy novels of the 80s and 90s that hosted like 7,000+ word chapters, we are now seeing this trend take over modern fantasy authors churning out 1,500-3000 word chapters. This is completely fine and welcomed to not only the author in me, but the reader in me as well. I no longer have the time to sit on a late afternoon and consume an entire novella length chapter like I could in my younger years. Having these shorter chapters makes it easier to feel like, as a reader, you are making good progress, and are able to have multiple stopping points during your limited reading session. Nobody likes to stop reading in the middle of a chapter, so giving the reader the opportunity to frequently stop is perfect for the modern book world.

Next time you find yourself in the book aisle of your nearest department store, check out the chapter lengths of the newest releases, and you’ll see what I mean. Shorter chapters are a great trend that I hope hangs around for a long time.

– John McCool

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Writing With Limited Time

One thing that seems to turn off would be authors is a lack of time, or at least a perception that they have no time to write. This couldn’t be farther from the truth in my opinion. There is always time to write, but it’s up to the writer to find where that time is hidden.

Now, I understand that it gets difficult sometimes to carve out the time to put those stories on paper. Trust me, I get that. I have two young kids, work a full time job at a prominent coffee company in my area, and own my own house with the issue that comes with that. I find the time to write. It’s not a lot of time, but I do have it.

I have a very brief moment of peace in between the kid’s bed times, and headed off to the land of dreams myself. This is only about a 30 minute window, but the way I see it is that a little time to write is better than no time at all. With such a small time for daily writing, I’ve set a daily goal for myself that is achievable for this limited availability. I set out to write 500 words a day on my focused work which, in theory, will see me having a finished first draft in about three months. If I write 500 words minimum a day, that’s 3,500 words a week, and 15,000 a month. My target for the first draft is between 40,000-50,000 words, so as long as I keep to my commitment that manuscript will be done in no time. Of course, this doesn’t include multiple drafts and edits, but the point is to just knock out that first draft which is, in my opinion, the hardest part of the process. Beyond the act of sitting down at my laptop to write, I also have to find the time to do one of the most important tools in a writer’s utility belt.

Write an outline.

Outlining is the greatest tool I use, as well as what I recommend to most aspiring authors out there. I’ve found that keeping my outlining time and writing time separate. This ensures I can have continuous progress on my work in progress, as well as progress on the next project I have lined up. It’s actually kind of funny as I type this out, because my current project I’m also STILL writing the outline as I’m currently writing it. The outline goes a few chapters ahead of the actual work which keeps me on track, but my outlining time is spent on the same WIP I’m in the process of writing. Don’t reccomend this method…Finish that outline first.

Anyway, so separating your outlining time from your writing time will ensure progress is being made on multiple fronts. For me, as most of you know, I manage a coffee company, so I have the luxury of a little bit of downtime during some more time consuming, and methodical tasks. My biggest task I do while outlining is making Cold Brew. For anyone in the coffee industry, you know it can be quite tedious just standing around waiting to pour over your next gallon of water on the grounds. Lucky, I use and awesome app called Writer Plus. It’s a neat little app that allows me to keep all my chapter outlines organized, and various story notes together in It’s own folder. It’s pretty neat.

Life can be difficult sometimes. Trust me, I’ve been there. However, we are writers. We have to write. Making the excuse that you don’t have the time is just that. It’s an excuse. You can take the 15 minutes you would normally take to mindlessly scroll social media to write 100 words or maybe more! You just need to have faith that you can get this done, and tell that story that’s been consuming your thoughts for so long.

Tell the story!

– John McCool

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Book Announcement: The Ruse

I’m pleased to announce my new release: The Ruse!

So, what is this piece of fiction? The Ruse is actually a print version of my most successful screenplay to date in the festival circuit. It’s a coming of age tale about a lone girl in a post apocalyptic world that seeks to find a home for this first time in her life. When she does find that home, she’ll do whatever she must to protect it.

Readers will get and introduction from yours truly, the full festival screenplay, a analysis of why I wrote what I did, and am exclusive short story of what happens after the events. This print collection is a passion project of mine, and I can’t wait to share it with you.

The Ruse will be available March 31st on Amazon and Kindle!