Quick Update

Bulletpoint Update

- Been short story writing. It's great until the last 500 words. Seems that's when the inspiration runs out.

- Snuck into World Fantasy Con. Had no credentials. Somehow got in.

- Started a new book. It shoved the other projects aside. Started today. 5,000 words down.

State of the Writer

I'm 34 now. I am grim on my birthday (Wednesday's child is full of woe). I reflect.

My Writing Year

A Monstrous War is in the best shape its ever been. I'm getting back into Firstsons as soon as I finish a short story that struck like lightning (if it comes you must obey it). I have 3-4 short stories sitting around, all lightning strikes (I'm a long form guy, so when a short story comes, it comes easy, riding on pure inspiration) I guess I should learn how to submit them and start with that.

I had a busy year. Between my query package (he both loves and hates the query package), several short stories, and my roadhouse fan fiction (love me some wade garret), I've also worked on some comic stuff and a 300 page SECRET PROJECT.

Yes, you heard me. 300 pages of something SECRET. I had a dream with the Penny Arcade guys, and in it and they were very impressed. Maybe it wasn't a dream, maybe it was whatever Deja vu is before it happens the second time*.

This Year:

Firstsons

J.B. v. O.D. Rum (more on this later)

Submit Short Stories

More Conferences

Mentor (I need a writing mentor, badly. I have no connections. This is where am BFA or MFA could have helped. How will to accomplish this? I don't know. Shove pages into the hands of someone I respect, I suppose.)

*Promnesia = Deja Vu. New word: Prenesia. Def: The pre-state of Deja Vu, where the groundwork for noting something no one cares about occurs. (From my twitter)

Writing vs. Writer

I've read about wanting to write vs. wanting to be a writer.

Me, I want to write more than I want to be a writer.

So what does that mean? Allow me to illustrate by telling a story.

In January of 2009, I went to the New York Comic Con. I had a still-cooling first draft of A Monstrous War in my hands and wanted to talk to some writers, editors, marketing people, and whoever else would talk to me about the industry. I wasn't going to pitch (This is not the place to pitch, and I wasn't ready anyway), I just wanted to get the lay of the land.

I spoke to an undisclosed editor, who told me point blank that this was not the time to try to sell a traditional fantasy novel. If I wanted to get published, undisclosed editor said, I should write urban fantasy. The only way traditional fantasy would be published, they said, was someone had to be in love with the book. I'm paraphrasing, but the gist was, an agent and editor had to be willing to put everything on the line to get it published.

I was told my book had better be a very special book if I had a chance.

Now, my first reaction was to say "Don't worry, it is." However, I just nodded and asked undisclosed editor how their weekend was going and wished them the best.

I could have went home, shelved A Monstrous War, and tried to write an urban fantasy novel. Actually, that's a lie -- I couldn't have done that. Because I didn't have an urban fantasy novel in my head that needed to be written.

If I wanted to be a writer more than I wanted to write, then I would have grinded one out, and maybe it would have cut the mustard in a hot market, but it wouldn't have had any spark or magic.

I want to write. I want to tell the stories I have in me that need to be told. I just don't have that mercenary quality. If someone asked me to write for an anthology, and I thought I had something worth it, I'd go for it. But if not, I'd have to pass.

Because of that, what I write is always going to have magic in it.

Everything ! (But the Book)

So, I have begun looking for an agent. Getting published is an exhausting process, designed to weed out the serious wannabees from the sorta wannabees. A lot goes into selling a book (and yourself). Besides the actual complete and worth-it novel, you need to write a query letter, a synopsis, and a chapter by chapter synopsis.

Each takes time and practice to craft.

First there is a query letter. It contains some specifics about the book (genre, number of words), and then a few catchy paragraphs - what you'd read on the back of a book. This is the writing equivalent to approaching a girl at a bar. You don't have much time to get her interested, and saying the wrong thing means instant rejection.

Then comes the synopsis. A synopsis is an ugly, cliff's notes version of a book. I've just written a 400+ page novel, and now I have to condense it into one page and still make it sound interesting.

In one page, I have to describe thecharacters, their story arcs, the plot, and the ending in such a wayit makes a person want to read it. This was not easy. Every word matters. I stared atsentences over and over again, shifting and replacing words andreading them out loud to see how they sounded.

Its tough, because my style involves using foreshadowing and mystery, and I stress character development. These things take time to unfold. For any of the work to have gravity, you have to go on the journey.*

Next is a chapter-by-chapter synopsis. You get one paragraph for each chapter. Ever try to explain an awesome movie to someone? You know that awkward moment that happens while you're explaining it and getting a blank stare back? Then you realize you're ruining it, maybe making the person not want to see it now, which is the opposite of what you wanted? Yeah, that's how a chapter-by-chapter synopsis is.

And if you screw any of the above up, the agent or publisher will reject you without ever actually reading the book. Now, this is not their fault, they get dozen of these every day, they can't read every wannabee's book. It's just frustrating knowing you have a great book but not being able to get the right people to read it.

Query letter, synopsis, chapter-by-chapter synopsis. And we're still not done. Next is the research. Now you have to look into agents. This is the person who is your advocate. As a writer, they represent you and sell your book to the publishers. It has to be someone you think would be a good fit for you and your work, as well as someone you think can sell your book. And they actually have to be looking for new, unproven authors. Then you have to tailor the above materials to that agent's sensibilities - whatever you think those may be.

In the process of becoming a published author, writing the book has been the easiest part.


* Where that asterisk is, that's one page, the length of a synopsis.

Using a Framework

So, people wonder how you manage to write a book-length story. Perhaps they've given it a try themselves, and when they're done, they have around fifty pages. What's the trick to having enough material? How do you know what comes next? How to you prevent the ending from coming too soon?

Well, there is no trick, but having a framework helps. By that, I mean a structure to help you get from point A to point B to point C and so on. A lot of stories move through time (spending a year in a new place) or through space(traveling cross-country), giving the author a base to plan the story around. Let's find some popular examples.


Harry Potter and the School Year

J.K. Rowling uses the school year calendar to frame Harry Potter. She goes from the first day of school to Halloween to Christmas (dodging Easter—she handles religion well in those books by never addressing it) to final exams. She fills it in with a sports season. This gave a young author a nice structure to fit her story into.

As a side note, she necessarily abandons it in the last book, and as a result people thought the book meandered a bit. The pace of it seemed off. Rowling stated she's most proud of that last book, and I understand why. It must have been a challenge to abandon the structure she'd used for her first six books.


J.R.R. Tolkien, Map Master Supreme

Now Tolkien was different. He had a whole world ready to draw upon. This is pure conjecture, but I suspect he simply traced the path his characters would take and that dictated what they would encounter. A lot of his chapters encapsulate a location. There is a chapter for the Prancing Pony Inn, Helm's Deep, etc.

It's also an excellent way to show off your settings, giving the reader a tour of your world. I admit, I use this one a bit. It's really helpful having a fully designed world at my fingertips. Having to build it as I wrote would have been daunting.

Ender's Game: the Repeating Framework

Ender goes to Battleschool; he's new and has to prove himself. He does and earns respect. Ender becomes a commander; he's new and has to prove himself. He does and earns respect. Ender is sent to command school. Everything is new, and he has to prove himself. He does and...

The framework here is introducing the character into a new environment, having him master it, and then going on to another new environment.


A Series of Unfortunate Events, a Series of Settings

The kids go to a new area and they meet their new guardian. Count Olaf shows up in disguise and causes problems, forcing the kids to move on a robbing them of any allies. I've only read the first three of these, so don't come after me if it eventually changed.

---

These works have a few things in common:

- They are all early works by new authors. I think each found a framework that helped them chart apath and fill out their stories.

- They are all great books. Having a framework doesn't mean a book will be bad. It's just a structure for the story and characters.


T.V. shows follow the same frame work all the time, House and Scooby Doo being prime examples. Don't ask me why Scooby Doo came to mind. Movie sequels often follow the framework of the first film, but I think that's an attempt to safely emulate the first film's success, basically giving the audience the same movie.


So my suggestion would be to choose either time or space and establish the starting and ending point. Move your characters and story through it. Knowing what comes next can help when deciding what happens next.

A Book Down

After 350 days, my first novel is in the can. The first draft took eight weeks of intense writing. I realize now that was the easy part. Its there-writes that are the real grind, going through line by line, taking out what doesn't need to be there and cleaning it up. Each re-write took as long as the first draft, and you have to sit the draft and let it cool down in your mind. That time is essential. I didn't realize how important it was to get distance from the book.

My last draft was my forth draft, and I was still finding errors and plain bad writing. And I had two good proof readers besides myself going through it. In the end, I read the whole thing, one sentence at a time, out loud, and that helped a lot.

I'm excited to get back to the first draft of the second one. I miss drafting. I used to think of it as"real writing", but really its creating. Its all real writing, but that first draft is the funnest part.

I'm back to chronicling my day to day writing, as well as doing my best to give everyone an honest look at the submission process for a first time writer, which is bound to be brutal.

There are two roads: straight to a publisher and trying to get an agent. I plan to submit to one publisher at a time while shopping agents. For those of you who don't know, its a rejection filled process. Writers tend to have fragile egos, and the rejection tends to make people quit trying.

In the end, its about belief. I have to believe that the book is good and not give up. This is the sort of thing that no one can do for you - you have to find it in yourself. Its not anyone else's dream, its yours.

Polishing

Yes, I know. But I'm back now. Don't be mad, baby.

So, I've been polishing A Monstrous War. Its shiny.

What comes next is querying and submitting samples. I am not going to lie, I'm scared. I guess this is where a lot of new authors wash out. They have the product but are afraid of the rejection.

I'm feeling that.

There are a lot of excuses. Its a bad time in the market. Its a worse time for traditional fantasy. Saturn is obscuring Uranus, etc.

But the truth is I'm just plain scared. I know I have a good book. Now I have to get the right people to look at it.

Another Lap

Hello again, it's been a while. Did you change your hair? It looks nice.

My job became two jobs the last few weeks. It's tough to work double time, then try to write. I just didn't have the energy for it without constant stream of liquid sugar flowing into my gullet. I had to give up soda. I hit that point of unhealthy where it affected my energy levels and everything was harder. Thankfully, I can still work out when mentally exhausted.

The good news is that I got the manuscript of A Monstrous War back from my brother, who painstakingly performed the copy editing. I am now making the final changes, and hope to be querying agents and publishers this time next week.

It's good. I don't know what else to say. I wrote a book and it's good. Maybe this is what fatherhood is like.

36,000

Another tough week. Work really piled on and I spent too many days laying around in a zombified state. I didn't even read much this week, much less play video games or watch t.v. Where did I find the time to write a book six months ago? It wasn't this hard last time. I don't do anything but work and write.

Of course, last time I mainlined mountain dew and stuffed my face full of kit-kat bars. I'm trying not to do that again, but I have to admit I write better on a sugar high. Maybe I need to decide if I want to be a muscular wage-slave or a fat, toothless writer.

It's not much of a decision, really. The books would outlive me even if I ran five miles a day and ate only spinach.

All in all, the second book is going really well. There have been some challenging sections, but so far it blows the first one away.

Oh, I bought a phone that has msword on it. I can write anywhere now, just very slowly and with a lot of typos. I wonder if I have unusually large thumbs. I wrote 450 words last night sitting in a bar. I need a different type of phone or more practice. My fingers can't keep up with my mind.

32,000

I almost never listen to music when I write, and if I do it's always something specific - a song I that matches the scene. But I felt like it today and thought I'd give it a try. If it hurt my writing, I could always turn it off. I borrowed my buddy's ipod and learned two things:

My friend has pretty decent taste in music and I need an ipod.

It cut down on the distractions. The words came easy and fast. When I got up I was so pumped I could have flipped over a car.

Writing Thought:

The good days are the ones that make you believe in yourself. Remember days like today.

30,000

I had a bleh week. I don't like excuses, so let's just say I got very little done. It was a mix of poor health, lots of work, and being a bit stuck on how I wanted to move forward with the second book.

So instead, I worked on my query letter and continued research into literary agents and publishing. I've never written a query before, and there is an art to it. It's essential, so I'm crafting it carefully. There is a lot to do, if you want to do these things right and make it.

Writing is lonely sometimes. But it's my dream, not anyone else's.

Writing Thought:

Not every chapter is a home run - they can't all hold big moments. Sometimes you have to down shift gears and start building things up again.

23,000

fter a week of catching a few hours here and there, I finally crashed and slept for twelve hours. In doing so I lost a day. I'm going to have to put in an extra 300 words a day this week to make up for it. Such are the perils of whatever.

Long session tonight - I had to find my way and it took some time. When this happens I just push on, rather than get stuck on a scene. I've learned I'll work it out later - that's what second drafts are for. The same goes for finding just the right word, the right sentence, etc.

Writing Thought:

Forge ahead. Blaze the trail, and pave the road next time you pass through.

Today started slow but I typed the last 500 or so words with a smile on my face. I hope people are as amused reading it as I was writing it. The tone of it, the description, the dialog all mixed together effortlessly as if I was working from a recipe.

The thing is, after 1,000 words, I wanted to quit. It was late on a Friday night and I was wanted to hang out with my friends and kick back. It's something I've done before many times: forced myself to walk away from a room full of the people I love being around to get my words done for the day.

The question is: How bad to you want it? If you're walking away day after day without finishing what you set out to do, then the answer is "not enough".

This is generally how I give myself pep talks, by the way.

Writing Thought:

If I had skipped out today, would that last 1,000 words have come? Or would the magic been left there, deep in the ground, undiscovered, because I was tried of digging?

19,000

Had me a nap, so I ended up getting my words down from 5am to 9am. Have to be careful not to lose a day when that happens.

I read the same books over and over. It's embarrassing how many times I've read some things.

Anyway, re-reading Neil Gaiman's Sandman. Destruction of the Endless paints, sculpts, writes poems, and cooks...and he's terrible at them all. It's because they all involve creation, and he's the personification of destruction.

Did I know that once, and forget it, or did I just see it for the first time?

Either way, I'm not doing that thing were I am inserting texture where it may not be. Gaiman meant to do that, I'm sure. Unlike many things from my youth, Sandman holds up really well. I still remember reading the first issues at my friend's house in 8th grade.

The Graveyard Book was pretty good, and I felt a real joy for him when he won the Newberry. I like Gaiman to the point where his strengths far outweigh his weaknesses. The man loves the hero's journey. Neverwhere, American Gods, Anansi Boys, etc. all deal with the main character discovering their origins and finding their inner power. I'm not knocking it...I do the same thing in A Monstrous War with Ithurial Styx. However, I'd love to see him write the next step. What happens to Shadow or Nobody once they know who they are? That I care shows he creates strong characters.

There is no denying the influence he had on me. American Gods might be my favorite book. If you like fantasy, especially urban fantasy and you haven't read it, read it.

Writing Thought:

Again, things I did not foresee keep happening. It's one of the things that makes me feel like a real writer, when the story creates its own twists and turns. The danger is too many tangents and hurting the pacing.

17,000

Worked, did my taxes, then sat down to write. I didn't want to - I wanted to goof off and play video games, but hey, books don't write themselves.

I'm finding myself looking back at the first book to make sure I don't contradict myself or copy the same phrase (especially descriptions) twice. When there are several of these, that's going to be a pain. Then again, I'm going to have an ear to ear grin every time I reach for the stack of books.

Also, there is the issue of re-capping, re-describing, etc., things encountered in the first book. How much is too much? How much is not enough? Hopefully when I get an agent and an editor they'll be able to clue me in. Looking forward to that.

In other news, sometimes I know where I want to go, but I don't know how I'm going to get there. That's when it's nice to have a world at my fingertips. I check my maps, trace the route, and look at what the characters will cross paths with. Then I think about how they will react to what they encounter.

It's a very organic process that feels spontaneous and darn good...a balance between outlining and natural growth.

The map is not the land.

Still, this would have been really hard, had I not built Orb slowly over a long period of time.

15,000

2,000 more in the bank.

More heavy stuff tonight. I'm not a time-waster in these books. Man, does this one move. I want that to be one of the things I am known for: when you pick up one of my books you know that a lot is going to happen.

I had a goal in mind tonight - a big scene, and I was presently surprised when I discovered that the events had more texture, more meaning to them than I had first planned. An outline is just an outline. A map is not the land.

Today's thought:

You'll have big scenes in your mind. Scenes you've been planning for a while, that have been building and gaining gravity, and you'll want to do them justice. Don't let it intimidate you. Writing scared is bad. Don't get in the ring with your mind on survival. Get in the ring to win.

13,000

Worked on my second book today. As I mentioned before, I had 11,000 words down already, so the 2,000 I did today puts it at 13,000.

It was my first day drafting in a while. Coming back after four months off wasn't too bad. For the last two months I've been re-writing, which is much different from writing a first draft. Re-writing is more craft than creation.

Things were a little rusty, but they still worked. It was a good day. I'm happy with the pages. Nice to know I still got it. There's always this fear that some day I am going to sit down and nothing is going to happen.

There is a little more horror in this one. It's not intentional, and it doesn't change who the audience is. Fantasy is a great genre. You can have mystery, horror, romance, etc., under its back drop. Such freedom.

Today's writing thought:

Writing verse is hard. As Conan said, "I have no tongue for it."

But if used sparingly, it has a real weight to it.

Going in the Tank

I'd like to write two novels a year, and I think its an attainable goal. I wrote my first in six months (including the 10 week resting period between 1st and 2nd drafts) and didn't feel rushed at all. Of course while writing it I worked full time. I did, however, give up going to the gym. I just couldn't juggle all three. (When I go to the gym, I get sucked in. I'm there for 3 hours, and with driving and showering, that's 4 hours. Hopefully with summer here I can do smaller workouts around the house. You can tell the book was my baby...I look a little pregnant from the pounds I put on making it.)

So tomorrow marks six months from when I started writing A Monstrous War. It's time to start the second one.

Except I cheated, it's already being written.

Firstly, I know where the characters are going (development and geography) and what happens (including the ending, can't stress that enough). I have pages and pages of outline and notes. These are a haphazard blend of plot points, conversations, and little world building nuggets. I built it slowly. As I wrote the first one, I had the outline for the second one open (and the third to be honest), and whenever something didn't fit into the first (the first is a lean machine, baby), I'd toss it in the second. Of course, the second runs on all cylinders, so if it mucks up the engine, it gets tossed again.

Secondly...

Okay, so I told myself that I was going to take a break, as to not burn myself out. But the day after I had printed the (ugly) first draft for the chosen reviewers, I was drying the dishes and POW, the first sentence of the second book came into my head.

[Quick aside. I think first sentences are very important, as are last sentences. They don't have to be a bolt of inspiration - you can craft them - but they have to be solid. I felt a tremendous pressure for the first sentence of my first novel to be great. And I rather like it.]

I set down my dishes and ran to the laptop. I was just going to jot down what was in my head and stop when the tank ran out. I had moved my table to the living room and wrote looking at the Christmas tree. It was quite the little moment.

5,000 words later I had written two rather kick ass chapters. The next day I got up and wrote 4,000 more that were also solid. And it moved at a sick pace, giving answers, character development, and my first romance type scene ever (which I am strangely happy with, future blog post noted). Its everything a publisher wants in the first 50 pages. Too bad I had a write a whole first book to set them up.

The next day I wrote the worst 1,000 words of my life (and I'm counting the story I wrote in 7th grade that was a cross between Batman and King Arthur. At least that had honest energy). It was painful. I tried to gut it out to 2,000 words, but I realized that I was going to delete those 1,000 one day anyway. I got up from the laptop and said DONE and walked away from drafting for four months. Don't get me wrong, if lightning struck, I'd sit down and bottle it, but I wasn't making it.

And when you don't try to make it, good luck folks.

Lastly, it's been "cooking" in my head. I'm a slow stewer. That's my process...things just drift around, connections form, and a feeling builds. I guess that feeling is close to tone, or maybe style. Sometimes I get the two confused (not formally trained here people).

So tomorrow (by that I mean Sunday...night person.) it's back to 2,000 words a day. And I have to tell you, I'm looking forward to it. I've been missing the process. It's weird, I don't love it when its happening. Let me be honest and say I don't sit there with a huge grin on my face, slamming keys like Dracula at a pipe organ. It runs the gambit, from airy inspiration to a dry grind. But every time I get up from the chair I feel great.

What happens to this blog?

It becomes a day by day log of how the draft is going. I'm going to try to keep it short (take grain of salt now).

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go delete 1,000 words.

Making It Make Sense

I like making things up.

Let's take the expression "right hand man". The expression is usually used to describe the head underling, the close assistant, the chief aid, etc. Now I'm not sure of the origin of the this phrase but...

Imagine soldiers in a line, sword in their right hand, shield in their left. The man to your right, shields you, as you shield the man on your left. Your right hand man guards you. You trust him with your life.

Now is that where the phrase really comes from? I honestly don't know. It might be - it seems to make sense. But guess what?

It doesn't matter. Because in my world, that's where it comes from now. In my books, that's the origin of the phrase. That's the beauty of fiction writing.

I like making things make sense.

I'll invent reasons why certain stories make sense, even if they aren't there. I'll add texture where it may not exist. I love to fill in the blanks.

Lets take the movie adaptation of Watchmen. If you watch closely, each character has a different fighting style.

The Comedian fights like a boxer, which fits the era he grew up in. In the 30's, you aren't learning oriental martial arts.

Ozymandais uses kung fu, (watch his flowing hand movements, especially in his first fight). In the graphic novel, he mentions in passing that he learned to fight in China and Tibet.

Silk Spectre uses a lot of roundhouse kicks, spinning kicks, and backfists. In the Watchmen Sourcebook (mayfair games published it for the DC roleplaying game back in the '80s), its mentioned that Bruce Lee trained Laurie. Sure, its more his move style than his real style, but this is a movie. (This also makes sense, he was still teaching in the early 60's, and taught celebrities like Steve McQueen, so he may have taught a celebrity's daughter).

Nite Owl uses straight karate - linear, powerful motions. He even chops a a guy out of the air. Makes sense for a rich, idealistic kid to take local karate classes.

Now was this intentional? Did they really put that much thought into it, or did I see what I wanted to see?

It doesn't matter. For me, its there.

Another example: The second Narnia movie, prince Caspian. The movie, not the book.

I love Peter in that movie. He's lived a lifetime in Narnia, but when he comes back, he looks 17. Here's a man, a king, with a lifetime of experience, and he's treated like a child. And you can see it gets to him. When he duels King Miraz, you're to think that Peter is in trouble, I mean he's a just a kid.

But me, I giggled. To me, Miraz doesn't know what he's getting into. He's a fighting guy older than him, way more experienced, in a young man's body. Maybe Miraz is physically stronger, but 17 year olds have sick cardio.

Now, did they intend this to be there? No clue. But in my mind, it's there and the story is better for it.

I could go on all night about this, and in the future, I may make note of what I see in stories. I'd like to know what you see. in them. I think those are great conversations.

Also, I love the idea that people see things in my writing. It just gives me a glow.

I love to make things make sense in my writing. It all fits together. You see the reason for everything. Make its a response to the real world, where we wish things made a little more sense.

Why Write Fantasy?

I love my genre.

I have a few science fiction ideas, and I'm brewing a "rural fantasy" story. I might even have a Star Wars book in me (if I had the ability to introduce new characters and play with the myth a little). But day in and day out, I'm a fantasy guy. Fantasy stories are the kind of stories I want to tell.

Why fantasy?

Because of the power of myth.

Stories about gods and heroes have a weight to them, and I love putting a human face on those archetypes.

Because of big stakes and big moments.

When you make the world, you have absolute control. Because its not our world, you can do whatever you want. You can depict events that if read in a more realistic fiction setting (let's say a nuclear war on earth) don't work as well, because readers might say "That would never happen."

In fantasy, the statement "that would never happen" does not exist, because anything can happen.

Because of larger than life characters, and the big choices they get to make.

You can have a character make a choice that changes the world. You can put them in situations that show you true character. You can build them and break them down and put the weight of a world on their shoulders.

Because its a great way to explore theme and symbolism.

When you deal with monsters and magic, you can really play with theme. My first book is about racism. True racism, as in human vs. other. Fantasy is such a sneaky way to affect people's outlooks. Its why we tell children fairy tales.

Because it strikes a chord.

And even if you can't put your finger on it, if you can't understand why a story affected you, it does. Because it jumps past logic and goes right for your gut.

Because there are no limits.

No other genre gives you the freedom to tell any story you want, to put the images you have in your mind into form. There's a reason why its called speculative fiction.

What about science fiction? The two genres are close, no doubt. But the word science is in the description. In the end, the readers want a sense of possibility.

In fantasy, they want the sense of impossibility.