One of the things I have had a difficult time with in the past, is accepting that what a character said was a lie. I think authors don't tend to do that much in dialogue. When two characters are talking about something, they tend to answer truthfully and fully, unless they are a villainous character up to no good. But it seems as though general lies, told out of embarrassment, or impatience, or gloating, don't tend to be told very often.
I was just writing a scene in which a character was explaining how he would found it cowardly to send a man to the gallows, rather than face him in single combat. While the character believes that, he neglected to say that a part of him relishes in killing scumbags. I was on the verge of sharing that information out of reflex, when I realized I didn't have to. and I would never have to. the character could lie.
I think sometimes we only recognize lies in stories if they are told by traitors, or if the narrator or pov character reveals their deceit. But I think authors probably often allow characters to tell half truths, without the revelation; small lies that you really would only pick up on by rereading, or knowing the true personality of that character.
Alright, well that was short. but that's okay. Maybe a joke. One I heard a while back.
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says, "Does this taste funny to you?"
XD
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Uphill battles, and averting "Meta"
When I last posted, I said I wanted to start blogging daily. I'm sure it'll take a while before that truly becomes a habit, but ya gotta start somewhere. and since I tend to have a lot of false starts before I actually start, I gotta start my false-starts somewhere too.
A couple weeks ago I started running in the employee fitness center at Rayovac (where I'm employed), I'm a couch potato in general, and I'm very out of shape, so I go back and forth between running and quick walking, pushing myself to run longer and faster every visit. When I'm on the treadmill I have often listened to music or audiobooks, and I'll focus on these things when I'm doing the running portion especially. Today I forgot my headphones. I had gone out to my car to swap my boots for running shoes, when the realization struck me that I had no means of distracting myself from the slowly ticking seconds. One other time I'd ran without them, and every step was miserable. I was too aware of my running, of my exhaustion. I was overly aware that I had just finished working a draining eight hour shift spent entirely on my feet. I nearly just called it a day and went home. Instead, I set my jaw, and ran anyway. There will always be things to distract us from our goals. Loosing weight, getting in shape, these things will never be easy (hence the failure of every easy diet and simple weight-loss pill/drink/earmuffs), so when a new difficulty comes along, we can't let ourselves get frustrated. Part of us thinks "I'm already fighting an uphill battle, it's not fair that I have to face _____ too!" (for me that blank would have be filled with "focus"). Instead, we have to remember that we chose to fight an uphill battle, rather than accept the alternative. the missing headphones of problems, changes nothing.
Two things relate this to writing, first off, Becoming an author is another uphill battle, and I'm bound to run into some problems I didn't expect, or I hoped to avoid. When they surface, I'll have to remember, that I was prepared to face them in order to obtain my goal.
Secondly, while running in silence, I was able to distract myself with a new book I'm working on, and I feel like I came up with some neat advances, including character backgrounds, and world possibilities that could be explored in a sequel, without ruining the stand alone nature of the initial book. so Yay!
I was going to share a "daily to do list" I wrote up this morning, but I feel like I've occupied a sufficient amount of both our days with this post already. A hint tho, this blog was on the to do list (whoa, Meta! j/k) xD
A couple weeks ago I started running in the employee fitness center at Rayovac (where I'm employed), I'm a couch potato in general, and I'm very out of shape, so I go back and forth between running and quick walking, pushing myself to run longer and faster every visit. When I'm on the treadmill I have often listened to music or audiobooks, and I'll focus on these things when I'm doing the running portion especially. Today I forgot my headphones. I had gone out to my car to swap my boots for running shoes, when the realization struck me that I had no means of distracting myself from the slowly ticking seconds. One other time I'd ran without them, and every step was miserable. I was too aware of my running, of my exhaustion. I was overly aware that I had just finished working a draining eight hour shift spent entirely on my feet. I nearly just called it a day and went home. Instead, I set my jaw, and ran anyway. There will always be things to distract us from our goals. Loosing weight, getting in shape, these things will never be easy (hence the failure of every easy diet and simple weight-loss pill/drink/earmuffs), so when a new difficulty comes along, we can't let ourselves get frustrated. Part of us thinks "I'm already fighting an uphill battle, it's not fair that I have to face _____ too!" (for me that blank would have be filled with "focus"). Instead, we have to remember that we chose to fight an uphill battle, rather than accept the alternative. the missing headphones of problems, changes nothing.
Two things relate this to writing, first off, Becoming an author is another uphill battle, and I'm bound to run into some problems I didn't expect, or I hoped to avoid. When they surface, I'll have to remember, that I was prepared to face them in order to obtain my goal.
Secondly, while running in silence, I was able to distract myself with a new book I'm working on, and I feel like I came up with some neat advances, including character backgrounds, and world possibilities that could be explored in a sequel, without ruining the stand alone nature of the initial book. so Yay!
I was going to share a "daily to do list" I wrote up this morning, but I feel like I've occupied a sufficient amount of both our days with this post already. A hint tho, this blog was on the to do list (whoa, Meta! j/k) xD
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
An update, An objective, and a plan
Alright Alright already! I'll post a new blog! You guys are so demanding! No but seriously I do it for the fans, hopefully one day, you wont be imaginary!
There is actually a few things I could post on here.
I don't know how many of my friends & family have realized that I've begun taking writing seriously; that I'm gradually transitioning into viewing it both as an enjoyable hobby and dream, but also a "business". I've been attempting to make this transition for a couple months, and it's not happening as quickly as I'd like, but eventually I want to get to the point where I'm writing because I enjoy it, because I want to, and (when I'm not in the mood) because it is my decided career. I'm not there yet, I still spend more days not writing than I do writing. The goal is to write everyday, or at least 5 days a week, because when I become a full time, fully-financially-supported-by-my-craft, author; I probably will be writing 5 days a week.
Brandon Sanderdson once said that he writes 14 hours a day, 5-6 days a week, but he didn't mind because it was something he loved. Now I'm not sure I would need or be able to do anything for 14 hours a day, But I could see myself happily writing 60 or so hours a week (assuming I didn't have to work part or full time somewhere else.) For now my goal is to get to the point that I'm engaged in my writing [process] 20-30 hours a week. Eventually I'll sell a couple novels, or a series, and it'll allow me to work just part time, and then I'll try to transition into writing 40-50 hours a week. So that by the time my self-sufficiency is relying wholly on my writing, I can easily transition into writing 60+ hours a week.
So what am I doing to attain these goals? For one thing, I'm always considering new story ideas, and playing my works-in-progresses out in my head. I listen to the podcast writing excuses, and I soak up their advice, and use their discussions to gauge my position and progress as a writer. I analyze books, movies, and tv shows; breaking them down to their stories, and finding the positives and negatives of the works. I'm part of two writing groups, and tho I'm not as productive as I'd like, I'm learning things, and I'm getting better.
Still, none of this explains how I plan to transition from amateur to professional, or justifies my belief that I can attain a professional status where so many others fail. According to Jim Butcher, only about 3 in 1000 people that decide to become published author's make it. and of those only 1 in 10 make enough money to call it a living. On the face of it, this isn't very encouraging. But then you have to realize that a lot of people who decide they want to be published author's never finish a book. Well, it wasn't my best work, the ending sucked, and I've since changed it enough that it needs significant rewrites. but I HAVE finished a novel. Over the next couple months I'm hoping to refinish it, complete with an excellent ending, consistency, and nearly twice as much content. To be honest it was a little daunting, and I felt myself getting bogged down, so I've started a new novel that I can work on simultaneously. Being able to switch tracks for a day or a week, will help me to keep writing when frustration or uncertainty threatens to bog me down.
This second novel also gives me advantage over two more groups of writers. Plenty of people planning to get published (and even some who don't) have written novels. But many of these write just one or just one series. they spend years trying to sell their novel, constantly editing and rewriting it/them when they get rejections (or even just out of fear of rejection). Patrick Rothfuss (excellent writer), spent a decade trying to get "King Killer Chronicles: Name of the Wind" published. Apart from a children's book or two, He has published only books in that series. I got the impression, that it's all he really tried to get published. I also plan to write more books when I'm done with these. This time next year, I hope to have half a dozen books written and revised to manuscript level floating around publishing houses, and agencies if I haven't gotten published yet. The other group I have advantage over, is the group solely trying to sell books that can't stand alone. Publishers prefer stand alone stories from first time authors. Even if there's room for a sequel, the first one should be a self-contained and sufficiently resolved story. You could also argue that writing multiple (and disparate) stories is valuable experience/practice that writers of a single novel or series just don't get.
The next thing I'm likely to face, is rejection. I'm hopeful and I'm determined, but I'm also very likely to receive rejections from many places before I get an acceptance. I'm imagining this is another big drop off point. Nobody likes rejection, especially when it's something they've poured themselves into, sweat, tears, and blood. I'm sure I'll hate it, but I"m also determined not to let it stop me. I'll revise and rewrite, and I'll submit new works, and I'll submit to multiple places. and When I am able to move past my initial rejections, I'll realize that I'm passing another swath of people cut down by their own doubts affirmed.
You know there's also a group of people that send in submissions with ridiculous splattered all over them. Doing things like choosing weird looking fonts. I heard of a person that had their letters in a mix of colors. Perfumes, pictures, drawings. Submissions should be crisp, easy to read, and they should wreak only of professionalism. This I can do, and would have done even without the many groanings of editors shared with me.
So already, I feel like I'm outstripping much of my competition. Jim Butcher followed up his statistics with an explanation of his road to publication, and a statement about outrunning the competition, not the bear. The second stastic about only 1 in 10 earning enough to call it a living, really doesn't scare me much, I mean, if I already beat the odds of 1 in 334 get published, then I'm not going to give up until I'm able to make enough that I can make it my only and full time job.
Every Author I've heard talk about it, has said the same thing. Just don't give up, Keep writing, keep trying, keep at it. the Tor submission guidlines and FAQ were asked what percentage of people that submitted got published. They really didn't want to answer, because they didn't want to discourage potential authors. They WANTED the submissions. Eventually they did give a real percentage, but I don't recall it, the only percentage that stuck with me was this: "100% of people that don't submit their novel, don't get published."
This post is dragging on, but I have a few more things I want to share. First off, I'm planning to go to worldcon (a scifi and fantasy convention in Chicago) that often has publishers, editors, and agents networking, hanging with friends, and promoting books. I plan to use the opportunity to provide a face and personality to go with my name. My plan is to get two books manuscript ready by the beginning of september. Then I go to the convention, step out of my comfort zone and strike up conversations with editors and agents, get to know them and their work a bit, and ask if I can send them my manuscript. When they get it, they'll have a human being to connect to the work, and it could give me the edge I need.
Secondly, I bought my name as a domain name DarrenMoen.com is owned by me for the next two years. I'm planning to have a working (if simple) website ready by then as well. On the website I'll have sample stories excerpts. I'll have a mirror of this blog posted there. I'll have a bit of biographical info, maybe a book review spot. I might start doing a podcast. I was considering working up to the point where I was blogging daily, podcasting weekly, and uploading a youtube video monthly. I also have some ideas for webcomics I might share. I also have a lot of story ideas (more everyday) I might take one of them and publish it on my website a chapter at a time. There will always be new ideas, and having a free story out there could show case my talents, and attract an audience for future books. So this will all be on my website (by the way, another thing to put me above my competition), so when I go to the convention, I can hand out cards with my website and email address and maybe a QR code. (Brief QR code side adventure... aaaand, I'm back)
alright, I'm nodding off, sleep takes me, I'mma let it. But in conclucsion. I'm as determined to be a writer as a college kid is to be a doctor or Lawyer, it's not likely to be quick, it wont be easy. But I'll get there, I've got too many ideas and too much drive to not make it, and I've put in too much time and money already to call it a lost cause.
O, btw, It's not my hope to get published by out-pacing other aspiring authors. Ideally every single one of us would right excellent prose, and the world would find itself with an insatiable hunger for new novels and stories, that no amount of new authors could ever sate. So read, get your friends to read, and practice with me, and maybe we'll all make it. Either way I'm determined to get there, not because I'm better or luckier than others, but because my writing, timing, and purposes are all excellent and matured. I would honestly rather write beautiful, elegant, and well formed prose; with only a cult following, than write a clumsy, cliche, and pointless piece of prose that was a best seller and made me millions. I'm in it for the stories, perhaps my elitist thinking will give me another advantage.... or perhaps it's a disadvantage. But it's one of those things I have no real control over. The sky is blue, everybody dies, I can't grow facial hair, and I want to write things I can be proud of more than I want to write things I can profit from.
There is actually a few things I could post on here.
I don't know how many of my friends & family have realized that I've begun taking writing seriously; that I'm gradually transitioning into viewing it both as an enjoyable hobby and dream, but also a "business". I've been attempting to make this transition for a couple months, and it's not happening as quickly as I'd like, but eventually I want to get to the point where I'm writing because I enjoy it, because I want to, and (when I'm not in the mood) because it is my decided career. I'm not there yet, I still spend more days not writing than I do writing. The goal is to write everyday, or at least 5 days a week, because when I become a full time, fully-financially-supported-by-my-craft, author; I probably will be writing 5 days a week.
Brandon Sanderdson once said that he writes 14 hours a day, 5-6 days a week, but he didn't mind because it was something he loved. Now I'm not sure I would need or be able to do anything for 14 hours a day, But I could see myself happily writing 60 or so hours a week (assuming I didn't have to work part or full time somewhere else.) For now my goal is to get to the point that I'm engaged in my writing [process] 20-30 hours a week. Eventually I'll sell a couple novels, or a series, and it'll allow me to work just part time, and then I'll try to transition into writing 40-50 hours a week. So that by the time my self-sufficiency is relying wholly on my writing, I can easily transition into writing 60+ hours a week.
So what am I doing to attain these goals? For one thing, I'm always considering new story ideas, and playing my works-in-progresses out in my head. I listen to the podcast writing excuses, and I soak up their advice, and use their discussions to gauge my position and progress as a writer. I analyze books, movies, and tv shows; breaking them down to their stories, and finding the positives and negatives of the works. I'm part of two writing groups, and tho I'm not as productive as I'd like, I'm learning things, and I'm getting better.
Still, none of this explains how I plan to transition from amateur to professional, or justifies my belief that I can attain a professional status where so many others fail. According to Jim Butcher, only about 3 in 1000 people that decide to become published author's make it. and of those only 1 in 10 make enough money to call it a living. On the face of it, this isn't very encouraging. But then you have to realize that a lot of people who decide they want to be published author's never finish a book. Well, it wasn't my best work, the ending sucked, and I've since changed it enough that it needs significant rewrites. but I HAVE finished a novel. Over the next couple months I'm hoping to refinish it, complete with an excellent ending, consistency, and nearly twice as much content. To be honest it was a little daunting, and I felt myself getting bogged down, so I've started a new novel that I can work on simultaneously. Being able to switch tracks for a day or a week, will help me to keep writing when frustration or uncertainty threatens to bog me down.
This second novel also gives me advantage over two more groups of writers. Plenty of people planning to get published (and even some who don't) have written novels. But many of these write just one or just one series. they spend years trying to sell their novel, constantly editing and rewriting it/them when they get rejections (or even just out of fear of rejection). Patrick Rothfuss (excellent writer), spent a decade trying to get "King Killer Chronicles: Name of the Wind" published. Apart from a children's book or two, He has published only books in that series. I got the impression, that it's all he really tried to get published. I also plan to write more books when I'm done with these. This time next year, I hope to have half a dozen books written and revised to manuscript level floating around publishing houses, and agencies if I haven't gotten published yet. The other group I have advantage over, is the group solely trying to sell books that can't stand alone. Publishers prefer stand alone stories from first time authors. Even if there's room for a sequel, the first one should be a self-contained and sufficiently resolved story. You could also argue that writing multiple (and disparate) stories is valuable experience/practice that writers of a single novel or series just don't get.
The next thing I'm likely to face, is rejection. I'm hopeful and I'm determined, but I'm also very likely to receive rejections from many places before I get an acceptance. I'm imagining this is another big drop off point. Nobody likes rejection, especially when it's something they've poured themselves into, sweat, tears, and blood. I'm sure I'll hate it, but I"m also determined not to let it stop me. I'll revise and rewrite, and I'll submit new works, and I'll submit to multiple places. and When I am able to move past my initial rejections, I'll realize that I'm passing another swath of people cut down by their own doubts affirmed.
You know there's also a group of people that send in submissions with ridiculous splattered all over them. Doing things like choosing weird looking fonts. I heard of a person that had their letters in a mix of colors. Perfumes, pictures, drawings. Submissions should be crisp, easy to read, and they should wreak only of professionalism. This I can do, and would have done even without the many groanings of editors shared with me.
So already, I feel like I'm outstripping much of my competition. Jim Butcher followed up his statistics with an explanation of his road to publication, and a statement about outrunning the competition, not the bear. The second stastic about only 1 in 10 earning enough to call it a living, really doesn't scare me much, I mean, if I already beat the odds of 1 in 334 get published, then I'm not going to give up until I'm able to make enough that I can make it my only and full time job.
Every Author I've heard talk about it, has said the same thing. Just don't give up, Keep writing, keep trying, keep at it. the Tor submission guidlines and FAQ were asked what percentage of people that submitted got published. They really didn't want to answer, because they didn't want to discourage potential authors. They WANTED the submissions. Eventually they did give a real percentage, but I don't recall it, the only percentage that stuck with me was this: "100% of people that don't submit their novel, don't get published."
This post is dragging on, but I have a few more things I want to share. First off, I'm planning to go to worldcon (a scifi and fantasy convention in Chicago) that often has publishers, editors, and agents networking, hanging with friends, and promoting books. I plan to use the opportunity to provide a face and personality to go with my name. My plan is to get two books manuscript ready by the beginning of september. Then I go to the convention, step out of my comfort zone and strike up conversations with editors and agents, get to know them and their work a bit, and ask if I can send them my manuscript. When they get it, they'll have a human being to connect to the work, and it could give me the edge I need.
Secondly, I bought my name as a domain name DarrenMoen.com is owned by me for the next two years. I'm planning to have a working (if simple) website ready by then as well. On the website I'll have sample stories excerpts. I'll have a mirror of this blog posted there. I'll have a bit of biographical info, maybe a book review spot. I might start doing a podcast. I was considering working up to the point where I was blogging daily, podcasting weekly, and uploading a youtube video monthly. I also have some ideas for webcomics I might share. I also have a lot of story ideas (more everyday) I might take one of them and publish it on my website a chapter at a time. There will always be new ideas, and having a free story out there could show case my talents, and attract an audience for future books. So this will all be on my website (by the way, another thing to put me above my competition), so when I go to the convention, I can hand out cards with my website and email address and maybe a QR code. (Brief QR code side adventure... aaaand, I'm back)
alright, I'm nodding off, sleep takes me, I'mma let it. But in conclucsion. I'm as determined to be a writer as a college kid is to be a doctor or Lawyer, it's not likely to be quick, it wont be easy. But I'll get there, I've got too many ideas and too much drive to not make it, and I've put in too much time and money already to call it a lost cause.
O, btw, It's not my hope to get published by out-pacing other aspiring authors. Ideally every single one of us would right excellent prose, and the world would find itself with an insatiable hunger for new novels and stories, that no amount of new authors could ever sate. So read, get your friends to read, and practice with me, and maybe we'll all make it. Either way I'm determined to get there, not because I'm better or luckier than others, but because my writing, timing, and purposes are all excellent and matured. I would honestly rather write beautiful, elegant, and well formed prose; with only a cult following, than write a clumsy, cliche, and pointless piece of prose that was a best seller and made me millions. I'm in it for the stories, perhaps my elitist thinking will give me another advantage.... or perhaps it's a disadvantage. But it's one of those things I have no real control over. The sky is blue, everybody dies, I can't grow facial hair, and I want to write things I can be proud of more than I want to write things I can profit from.
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Dystopia
Alright, I wasn't going to, but I'm posting the prologue to the book I started writing for my new writing group. This is unrevised (so it still says vampires, but it will say something else like Ghost, or banshee, or mermaid. IDK, it'll be changed. this scene's overt antagonist is an impossible monster, that's the important take away.)
amn the Writers. Monsters weren't real, this was just a sick twist
in his script. The lights flickered and went out, thankfully he'd come
prepared. It was really the only weapon against the Writers. When the
started to mess with you're story you could only try to prepare for
the inevitable, with luck you come out the hero, the alternative is
usually death. Ben was usually the plucky sidekick. He should be on
the phone while one of his friends guided him through the dark factory
with blood splattered walls. “What did I do? What did I do? What did I
do?” the phrase came unbidden from his thoughts to his mouth, as
little more than a squeak. Why were the Writers putting him in this
situation. There was no such things as monsters. All the same he
adjusted his grip on his wooden spike. The script said he had to kill
a vampire. But there were no vampires, vampires were a cliché, writers
avoided them because their lives depended on it. Why would they
reintroduce them now, after fifty years of avoidance?
Ben's flashlight followed a smear of blood on the wall down to the
floor.
“Oh God. Oh God he's dead. Oh God.” his stomach heaved as it had so
many times since entering the warehouse, and he dry heaved eyes
clenched tight against the horror. This morning he was just an
accountant. His stories hadn't been interesting, not really. His
family always warned him about that. “Ben don't be an accountant”
they'd say, “you know what's interesting about accountants? The way
they die. If you HAVE to be an accountant, be one that travels the
world seeks out adventure. Be one that writes his own story. Make as
little work for the Writers as possible.”
He hadn't listened. He just wanted a comfortable life. Wasn't that
the point of all the stories? Wasn't it all about the resolution
toward peace? Defeating evil and retiring into mediocrity? He'd
achieved that he just skipped the evil step. He avoided evil. But he'd
found the mediocrity and it made him happy. He had a wife a house and
2 kids. He had a dog named spot and a picket fence. He had a cat named
fluffy. He had the dream. Why did the Writers need to take that away.
Carefully avoiding looking at the mutilated body on the floor, Ben
walked deeper into to building. Find the vampire. Kill the vampire.
Maybe they'd let him have his peace then. He would have earned it. He
wasn't fit for this. Vampire! There were no such thing. What did the
writers want then? Did they want him to kill someone dressed as a
vampire. Could he? If it meant his peace, could he kill a normal man,
just following his own script? Damn the writers!
Ben's breath rang loudly in his ears, only the reluctant dragging of
his feet, and the throbbing of his heart were more pronounced. If
there were vampires, maybe that's what they'd hear too. The fear in
his footsteps, the edge in his breath, the panic being pumped through
his veins. He couldn't help but imagine shadows moving in closer,
surrounding him. Why am I doing this? What can they do to me that
worse than this? His steps faltered. Could they do worse than this?
Nobody was going to let him stab them with a steak. And he was hardly
an athlete. Without extraordinary luck he'd die tonight anyway.
He knew why. It wasn't because he was an accountant. Not really. It
was his own fault. He'd cheated on his wife, and worse he hadn't told
his listener. They said it wasn't in his character, which meant he'd
lied about other things. He'd wanted so badly to have that perfect
life that even a fake was better than nothing.
Maybe he did deserve this fate, but that didn't mean he had to accept
it.
“I'm going home. Do you hear me? I'm going home to tell my wife I'm
sorry and I love her. I'm not going to try to kill you, so you have no
reason to kill me. Let's just... Let's just all go home. I'll call the
cops about the body, they'll clean it up. Let's just go home.”
There was no concession, but then, there was no refusal or attack
either. Maybe they didn't want to kill him. Maybe they were afraid for
their own life. Slowly, Ben turned and began to take slow steps toward
the warehouse entrance, stake held tight, ready to defend himself if
he really needed to. Nothing moved. His hopes raised, and with it his
fear of hope being dashed. His slow creep became a walk, soon he was
jogging down the corridor. He could see light shining in through the
newspaper covered windows.
“Your life has been promised to me”
The disembodied voice come from all directions and stopped Ben cold.
Where was he? He searched wildly with his flash light, left right,
before and behind. Everywhere was empty. He began to creep forward
again. He was only 10 yards from the door. “please, I'm sorry. I don't
want to do this. I don't want to die!” Ben realized how helpless he
looked. He knew there was no such thing as vampires, but he couldn't
help feeling like he was looking like lunch. He straightened himself
and raised his stake. “I will defend myself if you attack me! Why
don't we both just go home to our families?” It was quiet and he was
so close to the doors. All the while his flashlight searched. No
sound, no movement. Left, right, before and behind.
And Above. Always look above, vampires hang from ceilings. It seemed
so obvious now. Now, Now that the room was spinning. Now that
consciousness was fading. It seemed so obvious, with the vampire's arm
around his throat, neck pierced and bleeding. “Damn the writers.”
amn the Writers. Monsters weren't real, this was just a sick twist
in his script. The lights flickered and went out, thankfully he'd come
prepared. It was really the only weapon against the Writers. When the
started to mess with you're story you could only try to prepare for
the inevitable, with luck you come out the hero, the alternative is
usually death. Ben was usually the plucky sidekick. He should be on
the phone while one of his friends guided him through the dark factory
with blood splattered walls. “What did I do? What did I do? What did I
do?” the phrase came unbidden from his thoughts to his mouth, as
little more than a squeak. Why were the Writers putting him in this
situation. There was no such things as monsters. All the same he
adjusted his grip on his wooden spike. The script said he had to kill
a vampire. But there were no vampires, vampires were a cliché, writers
avoided them because their lives depended on it. Why would they
reintroduce them now, after fifty years of avoidance?
Ben's flashlight followed a smear of blood on the wall down to the
floor.
“Oh God. Oh God he's dead. Oh God.” his stomach heaved as it had so
many times since entering the warehouse, and he dry heaved eyes
clenched tight against the horror. This morning he was just an
accountant. His stories hadn't been interesting, not really. His
family always warned him about that. “Ben don't be an accountant”
they'd say, “you know what's interesting about accountants? The way
they die. If you HAVE to be an accountant, be one that travels the
world seeks out adventure. Be one that writes his own story. Make as
little work for the Writers as possible.”
He hadn't listened. He just wanted a comfortable life. Wasn't that
the point of all the stories? Wasn't it all about the resolution
toward peace? Defeating evil and retiring into mediocrity? He'd
achieved that he just skipped the evil step. He avoided evil. But he'd
found the mediocrity and it made him happy. He had a wife a house and
2 kids. He had a dog named spot and a picket fence. He had a cat named
fluffy. He had the dream. Why did the Writers need to take that away.
Carefully avoiding looking at the mutilated body on the floor, Ben
walked deeper into to building. Find the vampire. Kill the vampire.
Maybe they'd let him have his peace then. He would have earned it. He
wasn't fit for this. Vampire! There were no such thing. What did the
writers want then? Did they want him to kill someone dressed as a
vampire. Could he? If it meant his peace, could he kill a normal man,
just following his own script? Damn the writers!
Ben's breath rang loudly in his ears, only the reluctant dragging of
his feet, and the throbbing of his heart were more pronounced. If
there were vampires, maybe that's what they'd hear too. The fear in
his footsteps, the edge in his breath, the panic being pumped through
his veins. He couldn't help but imagine shadows moving in closer,
surrounding him. Why am I doing this? What can they do to me that
worse than this? His steps faltered. Could they do worse than this?
Nobody was going to let him stab them with a steak. And he was hardly
an athlete. Without extraordinary luck he'd die tonight anyway.
He knew why. It wasn't because he was an accountant. Not really. It
was his own fault. He'd cheated on his wife, and worse he hadn't told
his listener. They said it wasn't in his character, which meant he'd
lied about other things. He'd wanted so badly to have that perfect
life that even a fake was better than nothing.
Maybe he did deserve this fate, but that didn't mean he had to accept
it.
“I'm going home. Do you hear me? I'm going home to tell my wife I'm
sorry and I love her. I'm not going to try to kill you, so you have no
reason to kill me. Let's just... Let's just all go home. I'll call the
cops about the body, they'll clean it up. Let's just go home.”
There was no concession, but then, there was no refusal or attack
either. Maybe they didn't want to kill him. Maybe they were afraid for
their own life. Slowly, Ben turned and began to take slow steps toward
the warehouse entrance, stake held tight, ready to defend himself if
he really needed to. Nothing moved. His hopes raised, and with it his
fear of hope being dashed. His slow creep became a walk, soon he was
jogging down the corridor. He could see light shining in through the
newspaper covered windows.
“Your life has been promised to me”
The disembodied voice come from all directions and stopped Ben cold.
Where was he? He searched wildly with his flash light, left right,
before and behind. Everywhere was empty. He began to creep forward
again. He was only 10 yards from the door. “please, I'm sorry. I don't
want to do this. I don't want to die!” Ben realized how helpless he
looked. He knew there was no such thing as vampires, but he couldn't
help feeling like he was looking like lunch. He straightened himself
and raised his stake. “I will defend myself if you attack me! Why
don't we both just go home to our families?” It was quiet and he was
so close to the doors. All the while his flashlight searched. No
sound, no movement. Left, right, before and behind.
And Above. Always look above, vampires hang from ceilings. It seemed
so obvious now. Now, Now that the room was spinning. Now that
consciousness was fading. It seemed so obvious, with the vampire's arm
around his throat, neck pierced and bleeding. “Damn the writers.”
That old dusty trail
Alright, it's been more than a week since I last wrote, which I didn't want to happen, even if my excuse is that working 60 hours a week with 4-6 hours of sleep a night is exhausting. Even so, I've neglected my blog.
What can I share today? Well, I just got home from my writing group a little while ago, so I should have some, sadly... we're not as productive as I'd like. November is a productive month for us, and March had a slight increase, but on the whole, it's more of a "hang out with like-minded people and get creative juices moving" group, than a writing group. Even during NaNoWriMo, we didn't do much sharing of our writing. I might try to get the group there more interested in actually writing and sharing, and growing, as a group.
It may be that the group majority isn't interested (or at least serious) about getting published, and getting to the point where their creations can support them financially. That is my goal. I want (and believe I can attain) a sustainable income as an author. I've no doubt that it'll be difficult, but it's my goal. I've heard great things about having a strong writing group. I think there's the potential for that with the group I'm in, but I think we need to decided whether or not we want to reach for that. We have a diverse group, and I think that diversity could add a lot to our critiques. If you're in A Ream of Writers, and you're interested in focusing the group back on the writing and growing aspects of the group, hit me up and let's see what we can come up with.
In the mean time, I've joined an online writing group in the attempt to get some feed back. It doesn't provide quite the incentive to write as A Ream of Writers does (during Nov. anyway), but I think there's excellent potential for honing my craft, and helping others hone theirs.
As far as the writing goes, I've written a prologue for a new story, as my first submission to my new writing group. I used a fake vampire (Shampire! oh that's fun! :-P) as the antagonist. I want some uncertainty in the prologue about the existence of monsters. The character is killed at the end of the prologue, ostensibly by the monster. The problem is, that vampires really ARE over used. And the book isn't about vampires, and vampires are in fact fake in the book. Thankfully my group pointed it out to me, and I can change it to a sham-monster of a different variety.
I also realized that part of my difficulty with revising Wielding the Locket, is that I haven't finished it. There's a few things I need to do to finish. Firstly, I need solidify some of the back-stories and world rules enough that I can find the best ending. and secondly I need to just start writing it. I wrote a pseudo-ending back in December so I could share it, but it was too early for that scene, and that scene wasn't meant to be the ending.
Alright, one more thing I've learned about the Writing (or at least about it's peripheries ((peripheries was apparently not a word I learned to spell recently... thank you spellcheck)). I need a website. If I do get published, a website could be very useful for collecting and keeping readers. But even before that, a website would show publishers, editors, and agents that I'm serious about my work, and would give them a taste of who I am and what I do. So my goal for this summer is to set one up. I'll share that on here when it's ready.
Okay, I have to go critique 4 more 1k submissions for my writing group, I need to write a little of WtL. and I need to go to bed.
Random thing of note for the week: Something unexpected, but not wholly surprising, has been happening; I'm getting better at spelling. I've always been pretty bad at spelling, but I hate the red lines under my words, so I often correct it manually until I find the right spelling, and lately I've been getting fewer of those.
Also, I realize that I sometimes don't make sense, I tend to blame dyslexia (self diagnosed), but it's also fatigue that both causes it and keep me from reading and editing these. I'll start doing that in a week or two when I've caught up a little on sleep.
What can I share today? Well, I just got home from my writing group a little while ago, so I should have some, sadly... we're not as productive as I'd like. November is a productive month for us, and March had a slight increase, but on the whole, it's more of a "hang out with like-minded people and get creative juices moving" group, than a writing group. Even during NaNoWriMo, we didn't do much sharing of our writing. I might try to get the group there more interested in actually writing and sharing, and growing, as a group.
It may be that the group majority isn't interested (or at least serious) about getting published, and getting to the point where their creations can support them financially. That is my goal. I want (and believe I can attain) a sustainable income as an author. I've no doubt that it'll be difficult, but it's my goal. I've heard great things about having a strong writing group. I think there's the potential for that with the group I'm in, but I think we need to decided whether or not we want to reach for that. We have a diverse group, and I think that diversity could add a lot to our critiques. If you're in A Ream of Writers, and you're interested in focusing the group back on the writing and growing aspects of the group, hit me up and let's see what we can come up with.
In the mean time, I've joined an online writing group in the attempt to get some feed back. It doesn't provide quite the incentive to write as A Ream of Writers does (during Nov. anyway), but I think there's excellent potential for honing my craft, and helping others hone theirs.
As far as the writing goes, I've written a prologue for a new story, as my first submission to my new writing group. I used a fake vampire (Shampire! oh that's fun! :-P) as the antagonist. I want some uncertainty in the prologue about the existence of monsters. The character is killed at the end of the prologue, ostensibly by the monster. The problem is, that vampires really ARE over used. And the book isn't about vampires, and vampires are in fact fake in the book. Thankfully my group pointed it out to me, and I can change it to a sham-monster of a different variety.
I also realized that part of my difficulty with revising Wielding the Locket, is that I haven't finished it. There's a few things I need to do to finish. Firstly, I need solidify some of the back-stories and world rules enough that I can find the best ending. and secondly I need to just start writing it. I wrote a pseudo-ending back in December so I could share it, but it was too early for that scene, and that scene wasn't meant to be the ending.
Alright, one more thing I've learned about the Writing (or at least about it's peripheries ((peripheries was apparently not a word I learned to spell recently... thank you spellcheck)). I need a website. If I do get published, a website could be very useful for collecting and keeping readers. But even before that, a website would show publishers, editors, and agents that I'm serious about my work, and would give them a taste of who I am and what I do. So my goal for this summer is to set one up. I'll share that on here when it's ready.
Okay, I have to go critique 4 more 1k submissions for my writing group, I need to write a little of WtL. and I need to go to bed.
Random thing of note for the week: Something unexpected, but not wholly surprising, has been happening; I'm getting better at spelling. I've always been pretty bad at spelling, but I hate the red lines under my words, so I often correct it manually until I find the right spelling, and lately I've been getting fewer of those.
Also, I realize that I sometimes don't make sense, I tend to blame dyslexia (self diagnosed), but it's also fatigue that both causes it and keep me from reading and editing these. I'll start doing that in a week or two when I've caught up a little on sleep.
Friday, May 11, 2012
First breath in days.
I've got a solution to my afore mentioned problem. If you want to read it in detail, you can in my previous post ("an 'oh crap' moment" I think); the premise being that I thought my novel Wielding the Locket (WtL) was doomed because I forgot to account for magic in my world's economy, religion, and current military strategies which is sort of a problem in my book. Most authors tend to deal with this issue in 1 of 3 ways. They account for the issues. They limit who can use the magic (genetics, chosen one, discipline.) Or they make the cost of using the magic very high ( sometimes a one time price paid on the onset, sometimes a price paid for each act of magic, sometimes an accumulative cost.
Now, since I hadn't accounted for the affect of magic on certain aspects of my world, I was afraid I was going to have to scrap the book, rewrite it completely (and in ways I didn't like). I did not want deny magic to anyone who wanted it. I considered making it religious taboo, too cliche. I considered having it cause insanity, which would have fit fairly neatly, but this is also a bit over done, and probably darker than I'm prepared to make this story.
I fell asleep having decided I was going to need the magic to cause sudden blindness. and it made me sorta sad. I softened the blow to my characters and myself by leaving my characters with an alternative form of sight (sort of a cross between Wheel of time's "seeing the weaves" of the "one power", Neo seeing the code in The Matrix, and Daredevil seeing with sonar). But it had to be a big enough disadvantage that people would be pretty hesitant to accept it as fair trade for learning magic. I had already come up with this concept for one old woman, and I felt it solved my problem, but it was still a bit darker than I was ready to make, especially because it could require extensive rewrites of discriptions at very least, along with rewrites of the character struggle. So I wasn't happy.
Finally, while working at Rayovac, I was able to refine that idea into a better fit for the puzzle I'm building.
Not everyone who uses "magic" (or wield the Impeti, as I phrase it.) loose their sight. But the ones who can do serious magic do, the ones who are in complete control of their Wielding will loose their sight.
This will be called "loosing the light" by other wielders. but outsiders (especially those from another city) often assume it's a reference to their goodness. there will be mixed rumors, some knowing about the blindess others not. But they will keep most people away. Many of those that try to learn will give up when they are told the consequences.
It's possible to regain full sight, if you give up the ability to see the Impeti that sorta make up everything.(Will, Reason, Sensation, Life, Nature, Truth/Illusion, Time, Matter, Distance/location/velocity). You could potentially still use magic, but it would be much less controlled. This can't be undone (as of now).
It works well because it will scare people off, help keep people from building their own Wielding armies (with Full wielder help)
Since it doesn't happen until you gain full control over your wielding, and has a build up period, I can keep his sight in the majority of the book; probably with disconcerting periods of blindness.
It also provides a great opportunity for tension in the character, suspension in several scenes, and several excellent plot twists, including one I just thought of now, that probably will remain buried until one of the sequels.
anyway. problem fixed!
Also, I didn't do any kind of reread/edit of this, so I apologize for any nonsense sentences. I literally fell asleep writing this..... Can't wait till I can get more than 5 hours of sleep a day, and work less than 12 hours.
Now, since I hadn't accounted for the affect of magic on certain aspects of my world, I was afraid I was going to have to scrap the book, rewrite it completely (and in ways I didn't like). I did not want deny magic to anyone who wanted it. I considered making it religious taboo, too cliche. I considered having it cause insanity, which would have fit fairly neatly, but this is also a bit over done, and probably darker than I'm prepared to make this story.
I fell asleep having decided I was going to need the magic to cause sudden blindness. and it made me sorta sad. I softened the blow to my characters and myself by leaving my characters with an alternative form of sight (sort of a cross between Wheel of time's "seeing the weaves" of the "one power", Neo seeing the code in The Matrix, and Daredevil seeing with sonar). But it had to be a big enough disadvantage that people would be pretty hesitant to accept it as fair trade for learning magic. I had already come up with this concept for one old woman, and I felt it solved my problem, but it was still a bit darker than I was ready to make, especially because it could require extensive rewrites of discriptions at very least, along with rewrites of the character struggle. So I wasn't happy.
Finally, while working at Rayovac, I was able to refine that idea into a better fit for the puzzle I'm building.
Not everyone who uses "magic" (or wield the Impeti, as I phrase it.) loose their sight. But the ones who can do serious magic do, the ones who are in complete control of their Wielding will loose their sight.
This will be called "loosing the light" by other wielders. but outsiders (especially those from another city) often assume it's a reference to their goodness. there will be mixed rumors, some knowing about the blindess others not. But they will keep most people away. Many of those that try to learn will give up when they are told the consequences.
It's possible to regain full sight, if you give up the ability to see the Impeti that sorta make up everything.(Will, Reason, Sensation, Life, Nature, Truth/Illusion, Time, Matter, Distance/location/velocity). You could potentially still use magic, but it would be much less controlled. This can't be undone (as of now).
It works well because it will scare people off, help keep people from building their own Wielding armies (with Full wielder help)
Since it doesn't happen until you gain full control over your wielding, and has a build up period, I can keep his sight in the majority of the book; probably with disconcerting periods of blindness.
It also provides a great opportunity for tension in the character, suspension in several scenes, and several excellent plot twists, including one I just thought of now, that probably will remain buried until one of the sequels.
anyway. problem fixed!
Also, I didn't do any kind of reread/edit of this, so I apologize for any nonsense sentences. I literally fell asleep writing this..... Can't wait till I can get more than 5 hours of sleep a day, and work less than 12 hours.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
an "oh crap" moment
So, I've started listening to Writing Excuses (as I may have said), and I was just listening to an episode from their first season where they talk about costs of magic.
AND.
MY.
JAW.
DROPPED.
OPEN.
I've been pretty proud of my NaNo Novel (here after called Wielding the Locket (Here after referred to as WtL)). I mean, I still have a lot of work to do, but the frame work was there. and the more I add and edit, the more excited and proud I get.
I forgot the books. (Ted Mosbey from how I met your mother tells a story of an architect that built a library but forgot to account for the books, the building sank a little each year and was eventually condemned.
I wanted my magic system to be available to anyone willing to learn, I wanted a years worth of learning to be be a solid start. a year to learn a lifetime to master, sort of thing. The magic system has no health costs (beyond some fatigue, which is cliche) and has no moral cost. the cost is generally in material, time, and the distance of the magic user (wielder) from the affected area. There's other potential costs, but you could get by with just those for the most part. There's also increased random activity surrounding magical activity. I'm actually fairly okay with the cost of the magic. although, I need to do something about the fatigue, it's too cliche.
the problem is, Magic has almost no effect on my world's economy. why wouldn't everyone learn magic to aid them in their every day life? I do have rules set up about being approved as a "student". But there's a large number of people who can wield. Why aren't they making big bucks? well, some are, but why not more?
With the limited number of wielders, why aren't there people training an army of wielders to take over the world?
I haven't thought of any of these things, it very well may be my story's Unmaker.
Bed Time, maybe I'll find another puzzle piece or two that will answer these questions and unify the story even better, while I sleep.
AND.
MY.
JAW.
DROPPED.
OPEN.
I've been pretty proud of my NaNo Novel (here after called Wielding the Locket (Here after referred to as WtL)). I mean, I still have a lot of work to do, but the frame work was there. and the more I add and edit, the more excited and proud I get.
I forgot the books. (Ted Mosbey from how I met your mother tells a story of an architect that built a library but forgot to account for the books, the building sank a little each year and was eventually condemned.
I wanted my magic system to be available to anyone willing to learn, I wanted a years worth of learning to be be a solid start. a year to learn a lifetime to master, sort of thing. The magic system has no health costs (beyond some fatigue, which is cliche) and has no moral cost. the cost is generally in material, time, and the distance of the magic user (wielder) from the affected area. There's other potential costs, but you could get by with just those for the most part. There's also increased random activity surrounding magical activity. I'm actually fairly okay with the cost of the magic. although, I need to do something about the fatigue, it's too cliche.
the problem is, Magic has almost no effect on my world's economy. why wouldn't everyone learn magic to aid them in their every day life? I do have rules set up about being approved as a "student". But there's a large number of people who can wield. Why aren't they making big bucks? well, some are, but why not more?
With the limited number of wielders, why aren't there people training an army of wielders to take over the world?
I haven't thought of any of these things, it very well may be my story's Unmaker.
Bed Time, maybe I'll find another puzzle piece or two that will answer these questions and unify the story even better, while I sleep.
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