Author: Dr. Sean

First draft done

I just got back from a two-week hiatus. My crappy first draft has been marinating in a series of mp3 files. I dictated the entire first draft using a Sony voice recorder. Now I’m transcribing the audio files using a nifty piece of software called MacWhisper. Once the transcriptions are done, I’ll copy and paste […]

Cast of characters

Here are the characters, along with their comic archetype: Sir Aliyah Abdullah — Royal/Fighter/Know-It-All (about chivalry)Lester [needs a last name] (Sir Aliyah’s Page) — Nerd Who Thinks He’s Clever/HedonistMo & Fadwa Abdullah (Aliyah’s parents)Mr. Quaggy (school counselor/homeroom teacher)Principal Regina Regis (middle school principal)Skippy (Med Faire joust opponent)King Courtois of Fief — Bumbling Authority/Showbiz TypeQueen Gwennifer […]

A first peek behind the curtain

Post author By Dr. Sean
Post date July 27, 2023
Categories In Process
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I write in Google Docs & Scrivener. Google Docs is where I brainstorm and journal. When an idea grows into a premise, I move it to Scrivener. Here are a couple screenshots for the Scrivener “Project” I’m using for the medieval comedy fantasy. The working title is Sir Aliyah, Knight-Errant. As you may know, the […]

Editor’s top 3 premises

The editor I hired on Reedsy choose the following 3 as the most promising of the 10 middle-grade novel premises I shared with him: Premise #6: Four Square Premise #9: Parental Abduction Premise #10: The Sad But 100% Completely True Tale of Lester, Court Jester, as told by his Faithful Cousin Sir Aliyah, Knight Errant […]

10 novel premises challenge

Post author By Dr. Sean
Post date July 8, 2023
Categories In Process
2 Comments on 10 novel premises challenge

Two years ago I joined this novel-writing course at The Novelry called Write a Novel in a Year. At the time, I was waffling between two projects. The first was a retelling of Cinderella called Spiderella. You can probably guess the premise from the title. Instead of a princess, her fairy godspider transformed Spiderella into […]

Sneaky Twerp is also pesky

Post author By Dr. Sean
Post date July 3, 2023
Categories In Market
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I was amused to see recently that Journal of a Sneaky Twerp rose once again to the number one spot in its category on Amazon UK: That being said, the category is almost comically specific. Teen & Young Adult Humor Nonfiction eBooks? Teen & Young Adult Humor About Farts With Hirsute Protagonists Nonfiction But Also […]

Advanced base camp

Hello! Some of you may know me. Others, not so much. Allow me to briefly introduce myself. My name is Sean Miller. I’m American. 53 years old. He/him. The “Dr.” above is from a PhD I earned a decade ago at the University of London. My research explored the role imagination plays in the production […]