Sebastien de Castell at The Grind Writers: on Writing a Series

We were fortunate to have Sebastien de Castell come to The Grind Writers in May, and give us a mini-workshop on "The Collaborative Process of Writing and Publishing a Series."

Sebastien's the author of TRAITOR'S BLADE, the first in his series, which he sold to Penguin.

He gave a really interesting, excellent presentation on the ways and means of writing then selling a series.

He told us about his 8  Expert Readers "who help you make your strongest book:"

• the Concept Reader, 
• the Craft Reader, 
• the Literary Reader, 
• the Genre Reader, 
• the Industry Reader
• the Market Reader,
• the Proof Reader, and
• the Distribution Reader.

He explained the role of each Reader in the process of getting that manuscript from the author's computer to the bookstore shelf.

Sebastien also told us about the mechanics of running his (now closed to new members) weekly writers' critique group where members have to post a chapter a week for other members to review and then they receive critique at a dinner meeting which addresses each person's offering (5 mins. each). Their critique is surgical and sometimes blunt, according to Sebastien -- but each member of this group wants to become a published author, so it's not for the thin-skinned or feint of heart.

An interview with Sebastien on Speculative Book Review.

Sebastien de Castell at The Grind Writers - May 2014

When someone said they kept thinking of him as "Simon" not "Sebastien," he quipped, "Yes, if I'd been Simon I would have gotten beat up fewer times in school."