At the risk of sounding like a broken record (or audio playback stuck in a loop, if I try to modernize the old saying), my God, writing from the perspective of a an honest-to-goodness Nazi is hard. I feel like my sanity is taking hits for every chapter! And that’s not even the worst of it! I’m also struggling with Owen Payne’s arc, but for a different reason — a reason that makes me wish I had more sanity points left! But before we talk about either of those topics, let’s take a look at the week’s key performance indicators.
Last Week’s Progress By the Numbers
I’m north of 10,000 words this week, which is good. But man, it was a slog!
I’m sorry i keep talking about the trials and tribulations of writing from the perspective of Moritz Lehner, who is a modernized Nazi. I chose to write this story. This is all on me. I should just suck it up and stop complaining. Yes, it’s hard to write from the perspective of someone who is so objectively repellent. It’s even harder to write objectively, without calling attention to the evil-ness — but therein lies the worse part.
Trouble is, it’s not as hard as it should be.
It’s hard to get into that character’s head. But once I’m there, it’s too easy to stay. I have to exert energy to get out of that mindset. That hurts. I don’t want to believe that I can think like a Nazi. It’s bad enough that I can think like a fascist — but being able to add racial overtones, rule-by-terror, expansionism, and a willingness to murder vast swaths of people so easily is just galling. I have spent a lifetime trying to cultivate traits like empathy (which does not come naturally to me) and a radical adherence to facts (which also does not come easily). Seeing how easy it is to toss that all aside for membership in an exclusive tribe is just galling.
But you know what? It’s also enlightening. I used to say I could not understand how Germany descended into Nazism. Since 2015, I’ve said I don’t understand how my own country could so joyfully sprint down that same path. But writing this character has clarified it for me. Nazis are human; the Americans who embrace that ideology are human, too. I am human. Nothing human is alien to me.
Kinda cool that another Terence said that, even if he spelled it wrong!
Even Writing Payne Has Been a Pain
Writing Mortiz Lehner’s chapters are tough because he’s not only a Nazi. He’s an enlightened Nazi. He’s trying to avoid the mistakes of the past. The effort to visualize that leaves me drained. Writing Gerhard Wimmer’s chapters are hard, too, because I hate people being imprisoned — worst of all, in concentration camps. So after writing his chapters, I’m even more exhausted.
Rewriting those same chapters? Same thing. They drain me.
It turns out, I’m not even getting an energy boost from Payne’s chapters. That’s unusual. He’s a very warm character. He’s a husband, and a dad, and he has earned the trust of his coworkers and the freed Artificial Intelligences (AIs). Writing this character should be regenerative!
I think there are two factors making even his character a challenge. First, I’m already mentally depleted from writing the other two characters. Second, the political environment in the world around me is getting to me. We’re only a couple months into the new regime, and already, I’m seeing signs that the economic, diplomatic, and military strength of my country is being dead-shorted.
Writing Owen Payne’s arc should be fun! But the world’s making it tough.
The thing that bothers me the most is that all three things are related. Once you understand the Marshall Plan, then spice it up with an understanding of what Nixon’s treasury secretary William Simon accomplished, you can see how the current regime is undercutting every strength this country has.
And here I am, writing books. From a perspective that neither major tribe will identify with. That’s a business consideration. I shouldn’t let it infect my creative processes. But it’s depressing as all get out, and it’s getting to me.
The World of Marketing
I reviewed the performance of my Amazon and Facebook ads. I talked before about trying to figure out the best mix between cost of Amazon keywords, sales, and profitability. The good news is that my theory has driven down costs. The bad news is that by staying away from the keywords that are the most expensive, I’ve stayed away from the ones that generated the most sales.
Looks like I need to tweak my approach. Again. Which makes sense, since I have little experience with Amazon ads. At least I’m not burning through cash because I’m using economical bids.
Facebook ads, though, continue to be work, even if I’m still in the red. I’ve used the current ad graphics and text since November. Only now, in late March, are they showing signs of running out of steam. I’ve had a reach of 14,000 with 28,000 impressions. That suggests (I think!) that on average, those 14,000 folks have seen the ad twice. Now, either that factor, or the general economy in the USA, has depressed this ad’s effectiveness.
I am going to keep the same graphics, because I’m confident in them. But I changed the subject line, ad body, and ad targeting. That new ad will start running on April 1st. I hope performs well. I’d like to break even, at least, on my Facebook ads so I can begin to scale them up.
Progress against Last Week’s Goals
Here’s how I did against last week’s goals:
- Gerhard Wimmer’s Plot Turn 1 Part III: Done! As you can see from the graphic above, I actually wrote Parts III and III (with the latter being a mislabeled Part IV).
- Moritz Lehner’s Pinch 1 Part II: Done! The events flowed, so I also wrote Part III, too.
- Owen Payne’s Plot Turn 1 Part II: Done!
- Payne’s Pinch 1 Part I: Not started! I wrote Lehner’s Pinch 1 Part III instead.
- Take delivery of Miblart’s cover and marketing materials for Dreams of Deucalion Book 3: Bait and Bleed: Done! As usual, Miblart did a great job. I’m completely satisfied with their work.
- Continue evaluating the Facebook and Amazon Ad campaigns: Ongoing! I need to force myself to keep on this. I need to figure this out or I’ll never generate the income I want for my estate.
Goals for the Week in Progress Report 2025 Week 13
Here’s what I hope to accomplish this week:
- This is going to sound weird, but I’m not sure exactly how Payne’s next few chapters are going to pan out. So, my goal is to figure it out collectively as Payne’s Pinch 1 part whatever.
- Write Gerhard Wimmer’s Midpoint Part I
- Write Payne’s Midpoint.
- Write Wimmer’s Midpoint Part II.
- Explore submitting for a BookBub Featured Deal for The Sword of Sirius Book 1: Red Flag Warning. It’s one of the major ad avenues that I haven’t explored.
What Do You Think?
How do you get into the mindset to write your villain — especially if they are particularly villainous? I’d love to hear about your experience in the comments!