Supporting Cast

From the development stages of the Titan series I have worked very hard at making an exciting and engaging cast of characters. Having a solid hero and protagonist are important and great, but the key to having a great series is having a lush and deep cast of characters that people can get to know and love. the key to any great superhero is the rogues gallery. After all, a hero can only be as good as the villains they face. That only gets you so far though, after all what is superman without Jimmy Olsen or Perry White. Spider-man without his friends and co-workers. These characters all help ground or protagonist and help us relate to him. I have spent a great deal of time creating Delta City and all its inhabitants. I think they come across rather well in 'The Midnight Hour', and hope they get even better in 'City Under Siege'. Throughout the series they will all get to See their character arc develop and they will all have an impact, good or bad, to Michael/Titan. In the end I can only create the characters that I think are good and then it is up to you all who stay tuned for the series to see if I was even remotely successful.

Titan Christmas Special

After watching the onslaught of Christmas specials over the last two weeks I've been thinking that next year may be time to make the first Titan  Christmas themed mini serial. I do remember reading many a holiday special issue did I read when I was young (a particularly funny holiday themed Spawn issue strikes me quite clearly), and I think it would be fun to do one for Titan. The trick, of course, would be to do it where it is not entirely ham fisted and overly corny. If done right it could not only be fun but maybe have some kind of meaning as well.


Merry Christmas to everyone from all here in the Titan Universe.

Titan Mini Serial 2

Right after the holidays I will start writing the next Titan mini serial. My hope is to take the first week of January to write the whole thing and then release each part in successive weeks. I curently have two stroylines for the mini serials that I am working with. One is from the view point of Delta City reporter Vicki Earnthardt, and the other is from evil twin terrors Shock and Awe. The latter will end essentially where Titan 2 will start from. It will all depend on whether I have time to do both before the release of Titan 2. I was quite pleased with how the first mini serial went. I was really only dissapointed in the delays I took in gettnig each part out. That is why my main point this time will be to have basically the whole thing written before the first part even comes out this time around.

Weapon of Choice

When i was first developing Titan I knew I wanted to have him as a superhero with a weapon that he would carry around and use in his battle against evil. In was unsure what kind of weapon I would give to him however. I took into account the kinds of weapons any other heroes had, and the history I had given the Titan powers. I was still stuck. All I knew was that I didn't want to use a sword because it simply seemed far too cliched. then it hit me, the staff. After all, my favourite ninja turtle growing up had been Donatello. I wasn't sure how I would be able to explain how the ring was able to arm Titan with a staff after he would transform, but hey if it can change his clothes and give him superpowers then why not arm him as well. It was a magical ring after all so belief should be able to be suspended.

Ring Slinging

One of the questions that was asked of me by one of the students at Magrath junior High School was regarding Titan's power ring and where I came up with it. It was thought then, and I'm sure by many others as well, that it was directly related and influenced solely by DC's Green Lantern. That was one of the sources, but not at all the only one. There are at least two other influences of the power ring that I conceptualised for Titan and they are The Lord of the Rings, and The Mighty Hercules cartoon. I had just finished reading LOTR when I was creating Titan, and I watched old reruns of Mighty Hercules everyday before school as a kid. Those are the obvious influences I consciously know of for the power ring that Michael wields. I wanted a talisman, and object to be the source of Titan's power and the ring seemed like a perfect totem for me. I had originally had him just find the Titan staff, but come on that just seems ludicrous to have Michael have to either walk around with this staff (imagine the excuses he would have to make for that) or have him run looking for it every time there was trouble. The ring fits, and there are some mystery that surrounds it still. It's secrets will eventually be revealed.

Indie in the Digital Age

 It's now been ten months since I made the plunge of going Indie for Titan: The Midnight Hour and fro the most part I feel it has paid off. I am starting a series so I was always prepared to lay the groundwork and wait for it to start to pay off.  So far the biggest obstacle I have encountered is creating the awareness to the public of my book and the series. I have been using several social media tool to promote the book, Amazon, blogger, facebook, biblioscribe, and goodreads, and briefly with Kindle boards which I have yet to fully explore.

Amazon, I found, actually offered a good array of tools that authors can use through Kindle as well as Createspace. I have not used my author page probably nearly as much as I should have so far, but it is a good tool to have. I am just not sure how much it helps in the long run. Do people actually check them?  the biggest advantage has been the free promo days offered by Kindle. Yes, it is a bit of a double edged sword giving my book out for free, but it seem to slightly boost sales for a short span after the promo would end. I did seem to get some reviews out of it as well. as I stated, I am starting a series so some free copies to get some momentum built up is a small sacrifice to pay.

Blogger has been good, but I am not too sure just how the hits I received have yielded any increase in overall sales, bu the hits to my blog have been nice and steady in their growth since I started this.

Facebook has been much more disappointing than I had ever hoped. I was relying on it heavily to get some exposure for the book but it has been one of the slowest social Media outlets I have used. I am sure it all depends on a number of factors in getting any online  buzz with Facebook, but so far I have had very little.

Biblioscribe seemed like it would be positive but once I started to explore the site I was very disappointed with it. I had many problems just getting an account set up. I tried creating some press releases and an author page and just found the site very glitch filled and not user friendly, and then just grew aggravated and tired with the site altogether. I have not used it at all in months now and likely will not go back.


Goodreads was a real wonder once I started with it, and it left me wondering why it took me so long to find it in the first place. the site is very multifaceted and easy to navigate. I have not been on long enough to see any positive results as far as my book sales are concerned, but it seems full of potential.

As far as hard copies go it takes a lot of good old fashioned hitting the pavement and getting yourself out there. I have approached numerous bookstores and am in close to ten now. I am in several public libraries and a couple of school libraries as well which have resulted from hard work on my part.

This just teh start. I plan on doing more for "Midnight Hour" after the holidays and seeing what else other authors are doing to support their work and then the new Titan book will be out by the spring of 2013.

Action AND Adventure

So, with the first full draft of Titan:City Under Siege complete I will be moving on to the editing and re-write stage in January. With "The Midnight Hour" I felt very comfortable with the pace and flow of the story as I wrote it. All of the edits were largely for minor story facets, some of which simply impacted the whole story and had to be followed throughout the manuscript. However, I never felt uneasy about balancing the action with the character development. "City Under Siege" it had a very different flow to it and I found myself questioning the balance. I do think overall it is a very strong book, even stronger than the first, but I am very curious to see what others think, I guess I will find out during editing. I am just a natural self doubter, I questioned "The Midnight Hour relentlessly until I got validation from editrs and outside sources . This book started feeling very similar to the first in flow until chapter 11 then through to chapter 15 it very much took on a life of its own. The climax simply kept building and building. Those chapters, 11 through 15, are pure action adventure chapters, the kind of adventure I wanted for Titan from the start. If its a roler coaster ride you want to go on with Titan then "City Under Siege" will be for you.

Carly Support

the one thing that I regret about the new Titan book is that I don't have Carly giving Michael/Titan the kind of support and help she did in the first book. The kind of grip that Dr. Melodian puts onto Delta City did not leave a lot of room for her to get her hands dirty this time. I always sort of envisioned the character a little like Penny from Inspector Gadget, in that she was the brains of the outfit. I may yet be able to give her some more justified page time with edits but it will have to work with the story. Rest assured her role will remain big in Titan's adventures in the book to come.