Plans For 2021

Well, a new year is almost upon us.  I have plans for 2021, the biggest of which is the release of Homecoming, the first true science fiction novel in my collection(which is weird given that sci-fi has always been where my heart lies).  The current plan is for a March 1^st release, and I think I’m well on track for that, although it’s possible I could move that up.  All depends on the editing corrections I need to make.

I also intend to write my sci-fi/fantasy mashup.  The hardest part of that will be putting it away for a while to stew – so I can edit it with fresh eyes – instead of releasing it.  That goes back to that whole “impatience” thing.

I’m also hoping to start the sequel to Salvation Day, or to rewrite the sequel to Akeldama.  I’ll only do one unless my sales take off and I can do this full time – don’t want to bite off more than I can chew.  I should know more by summer, and I’ll give an update at that point.

What are your plans for 2021?

What To Do With Unpublished Work

I’ve published four novels, with a 5^th out soon.  However, I’ve written double that in terms of actual material.  As a writer, it makes me itchy to have stuff out there that is probably never going to see the light of day.  However, it’s also a recognition that not everything is publishable if one wants to maintain any kind of reputation for quality.

I first encountered this phenomenon decades ago while reading the tenth anniversary book for Calvin & Hobbes.  The cartoonist, Bill Watterson, talked about ripping up weeks’ worth of material to maintain quality, and I remember thinking that that was crazy, because I wanted all the Calvin & Hobbes I could get my hands on.

Of course, now I know better.  It’s hard while writing to really know if what you’re writing is any good.  In fact, it’s hard to know right after you’re done writing if what you’ve written is any good.  You really need to put it away and let it cool down before looking at it again.  Only then might you know if it meets the quality mark.  I thought at least two of my published novels were shit when I was first done with them, but they looked fine when I went back over them.  Unfortunately, not everything I’ve written has aged as well.

The sequel to Akeldama comes to mind.  It took me four months to write(at least…I can’t remember exactly, but that sounds about right).  I had doubts at the time, but I figured it’d be fine once I was further removed from the process.  Wrongo!  Reading it now, it makes me want to cringe.  It’s a bad novel, and while elements of it are okay, they don’t fit, so I’ll be going back to the drawing board completely for the sequel.

Every so often, I’ll write something I think it great that later turns out to suck.  On Freedom’s Wings, my very first novel, is now so cringeworthy that I wonder why I ever put it on paper.  In retrospect, it’s even worse – I should’ve been able to see I was creating a Star Trek knock-off that people would laugh at(myself included).  Just another point to let things cool down(as I need to remember with the new project I’m working on).

So these novels are just sitting there doing…nothing.  I think a couple of them have potential if I rewrite them, so they may see the light of day later on(much later on).  And although it’s hard, it means I need to not get too attached to my work, because then having to abandon, or seriously rework, a novel is less painful.  As silly as that sounds, every writer experiences that when they have work that turns out to not be their best.

Auto-Correct

Computers and the programs associated with them for our writing have come a long way.  They help us spell, they help us find the right words, and they even try to help us be grammatically correct.  Of course, that doesn’t always mean they’re helpful.

The grammar suggestions are what I could do without the most because the computer suggestions are all about efficiency, and sometimes writing requires less than efficient language in order to create the right effect.  Sometimes I’ll look across my page and see a bevy of blue marks under the words, which is annoying.  I’ll occasionally check what the suggestion is, but it has yet to yield a single change from me.

Red lines are different because they denote words that are misspelled, which I’m usually pretty good at(although I have been known to type to fast and get something wrong).  And sometimes I intentionally misspell words(again, for effect), but that’s a rarity, so the red squiggles let me correct my mistakes.  But the blue ones?  The grammatical corrections?  Almost always garbage.

So thanks, auto-correct and grammar checks, but I think I’m a better writer than you.

Character Names

Character names mean things.  I only recently realized just how important that was, even if I’d been unconsciously doing that as I write for years.  Most of my characters have names that I perceive to be ordinary and sympathetic – Michael Faulkner, Seth Gendrickson, Dean Turlman.  These names are kind of generic and allow the reader to put almost whoever they want into them.

However, there are times when the name evokes more meaning.  Christian Gettis from WrongfulDeath was obviously an allusion to God and the afterlife.  As I’ve started writing my sci-fi/fantasy mashup, my characters’ names are meant to give insight into who the character is.  For example, Wilhelm Hoyt IV, Regent of the Braalmin Imperial Realm of Unos Murcan, is meant to sound haughty and above it all.  Grand Magus Vishestar is meant to be mysterious enough for the reader to know he’s powerful magically.  Sultan Brimiri Gildesh is supposed to evoke visions of a grand ruler of an unfamiliar realm.  As soon as the reader sees the name, there should be a mental image of the person and their basic function.

Think about this in other work.  Dumbledore is a pleasant sounding but complicated enough name for readers to know that this friendly wizard is more than he appears.  Grand Admiral Thrawn is regal enough to know he is in charge.  And none of this is by accident.

As a writer, you have to spend time on your names.  Names can draw in readers or turn them off(if the name doesn’t match the character…would you buy a badass punk rock warrior named Steve?)  Dwell on it, brainstorm it.  And if necessary, change them as the story progresses to better match.  It will make for more enjoyment for the reader and an easier time for you to write.

Finding The Right Word

Part of being a writer is finding the right word.  That’s not as easy as it sounds.  Words have great meaning in our heads as we think of them, but on paper, they don’t always work as envisioned.  Remember, a word not only needs to evoke vision and emotion in the writer, but also(mostly) in the audience.  And that word choice often comes down to a matter of degree.  In other words, it’s more often a choice between anxious and nervous rather than between tree and whistle.

I encountered this recently while trying to decide between tiresome and tedious.  Which fit better?  The scene was about a routine task, so was the task tiresome, or was it tedious.  I decided that it was more tedious than tiresome, because, to me, tedious evoked images of moving forward but being mind numbingly boring while doing so.  Tiresome, on the other hand, spoke to me of an air of exasperation, as if someone was sighing while doing the task.

Yes, we writers really do obsess over these things.  They may seem trivial to the reader(I just substituted reader for audience), but they’re often the difference between being interesting and engaging.  Interest is great, but if I can get someone engaged, I may have hooked a reader for life.

SME Exaggeration

An SME is a Subject Matter Expert.  Think of a doctor, lawyer, Soldier, or mechanic.  These are professionals in their fields.  Yes, many can do a few things the experts can do – lots can stitch up a cut or change out a starter on a car – but the experts can do so much more.  And that’s where, in writing, the problem can come into play.

Because, to be honest, being a professional can be boring sometimes.  It’s one thing to know the overarching and exciting parts of an issue, but professionals know the minute details that bore the hell out of most people.  But because they know those details, they are so much better than amateurs.  As a retired Soldier, I cannot tell you how many amateur tacticians I’ve laughed at who think they know anything about war.  So many think it’s about picking up a rifle and opening fire while giving no thought to how to achieve suppressive fire for maneuver, how to achieve a combined arms integration, or even that most wars are not won or lost through fighting, but rather through logistics(I have to be careful myself here…I can talk all day about warfare in detail that would be mind numbing to most…but that’s why I’m a professional and you’re not).  Similar practices apply to lawyers who scoff at TV courtroom dramas or airline pilots who see random amateurs landing planes heroically on TV.

So why do I bring all of this up?  Because as a writer, SMEs sometimes have to alter their expertise so it can be portrayed in an interesting way for the reader.  Think about it – who would read a story about a doctor working his or her way through pathology slides looking for a single error involving cholestasis or a firefighter who spends hours and hours working on how to attach a hose to a fire hydrant?

It can be maddening to SMEs to have to dumb down their knowledge so that the vast majority of the public, those who have zero expertise in the field, can enjoy a story without lots of requisite knowledge.  Sometimes that even involves changing capabilities to fit a story(and sometimes those capability changes affect the public mindset…most firearms experts know that a “silencer” deflects the concussive pressure from a gun down and away from the shooter but does not “silence” the bang like the movies suggest).  This is fine so long as people understand they’re reading fiction, but it gets either amusing or annoying(depends on your outlook) when those same readers now purport to be experts because they’ve read a book.

In areas I’m not an expert, I’ve had to seek out expert advice from some in order to make my story more realistic.  From medical knowledge to how prisons work, I’ve asked a bevy of professionals, and I’ve usually taken what they’ve told me and tried to incorporate it into my story.  That doesn’t mean I’ve always taken everything unchanged – again, enjoyment of the story has to come first, so some details shift depending on whether or not I think the public would buy it, whether realistic or not.

So please keep two things in mind when you read a book – it’s a story(and usually a fictional/exaggerated one at that), and the exasperation of the expert you know who you tried to dazzle with your knowledge is real.  Maybe they’re patient with your new “expertise,” but not always.  Try to remember that while you enjoyed it, it had almost no practicality in the real world.  But hey, who reads books for reality anyway?

Writing Impatience

Every novelist will tell you that writing the actual novel is the fun part.  Unfortunately, that’s the “game time” at the end of preparation.  In my case, preparation means outlining.

Outlining is okay at times, but it can be tedious.  The reason is that I want to write.  I want to actually tell the story.  However, I also know me and realize that if I write without outlining, as I’ve tried in the past, the result will be shit.  So I have to outline to a certain point before I attempt to write.

I also can’t outline the entire story, which can be just as maddening.  I’d like to get outlining out of the way so I can focus on writing, but if I outline too far, the story will eventually not match the outline.  So it becomes a process of stops and starts.  The temptation, of course, is to shortchange the outline, but that’s also folly because that provides the foundation of what I write.

All of this reminds me of football players who say that they love playing on Sunday, but the rest of the week is where the work comes in.  Outlining is that rest of the week.  It’s necessary, but I just wish it would go faster so I could write…which is what I got into this to do.

Original Ideas(NOT!)

How many truly original ideas are out there?  Aren’t most stories just variations of ideas we’ve been batting around for centuries, if not longer?

I know, I know…that hurts.  How can I say there is nothing original?  Well, because humanity has been around quite a while, and we’ve said a lot.  That doesn’t mean there aren’t new ways to tell the same stories, but they’re still mostly the same story, right?  Let’s look at some things we think of as “original”:

The Shining – ghost story and possession

Harry Potter – boy hero saves the world, plus wizards

Star Wars – boy hero saves the universe…plus space wizards

Guns of the South – Bring the Jubilee gets a modern update

Earthclan – mankind goes into space and finds older, more powerful races

World War Z – zombies

Our stories tend to follow predictable patterns.  Either hero finds incredible, overpowering evil and has to protect(the world, family, an orphanage), star-crossed lovers must find each other under incredible odds(one is dying, they’re both dying, lovers from a past life, bad guys get in the way), or savage conflict creates chaos(brutality of war, oppression breaks out and people must be set free, cowboy has to defend the ranch and his woman against outlaws).  A few other basic plotlines are also out there, but most of what we read today are mere variations of stories we’ve been telling each other since we sat around the fire roasting what’s left of a woolly mammoth.

Am I doing this to shit on everything?  No – I’m doing it to say that we can make old ideas new and fresh by adding variation, by putting our own spin on things.  But that’s what we have to do; we have to look at these stories from new angles.  Lazy writers will just slough off old tropes and hope they sell again, while creative ones will find an approach no one has seen before.  That’s what makes storytelling exciting.  It’s not easy, but if we do it right, we get people to think we’ve found something new, even if we’re aware it’s just a classic we’ve cherried out.

Read, Read, Read

For writers, there is one absolutely essential element to getting better – reading.

That’s right, kiddos, if you want to improve as a writer, you need to read everything you can get your hands on.  And I don’t just mean good stuff; you also need to read bad stuff.  Good stuff can help you figure out ways to approach a story – The Shining did that in Marvelous ways for me for Salvation Day – but bad stuff can help you figure out what to avoid.  It may be cringeworthy, but knowing what not to do is just as important as knowing what to do.  In some cases, it may be even more important because while sometimes it’s hard to describe what we like, it’s not hard to know what we don’t.

I’ve fallen down on this for a while, but I’m trying to get back in it.  My biggest problem is in finding stuff that captures my interest.  Some of the supposed giants write in ways I find difficult to enjoy(David Brin comes to mind), and even some of the greats are hit and miss(like Stephen King…great with 11/22/63, but not so much with Salem’sLot).  Even writers I’ve loved, like Timothy Zahn and Harry Turtledove, don’t always write stories I’m interested in.  And if a book doesn’t capture my interest quickly, I put it down.

Of course, I return to books I love frequently.  I’ve read Tim Zahn’s Thrawn Trilogy multiple times, and I go back to Guns of the South over and over.  But that’s not getting me new stuff.  I need to see what other authors might capture my fancy…as well as which ones turn me off(and why).  It can be challenging, but that’s what writers must do to improve, for other books are the best teachers.

Style Effect

A writing style can affect the way a reader absorbs a story.  Actually, any writer worth his or her salt will ensure that their writing style affects the way the story is read.  I’ve written stories from the perspective of an observer and from the perspective of the main character, and that choice is intertwined with the mood of the book.  Do I want the reader to be disinterested, absorbing the world from the point of view of an outsider, or do I want them to be exhausted by the end of the story, as if they went through it themselves?

Of course we all want readers to be invested in the characters and plot, but specifically how can be manipulated(I almost didn’t write the word “manipulated,” but isn’t that what writers try to do to a reader’s emotions?).  Therefore, choosing a writing style has to be made before writing the story, and it has to be a conscious decision.  Further, changing styles must also be a conscious decision.  I have a novel that requires rewriting but which plays with two different styles – one from a first person present point of view, and one from a third person limited point of view.  Moving between them has proven harder than I thought because each style has a different effect, and changing too often or randomly can be jarring to the reader.  That jarring must serve a purpose beyond just screwing with someone.

So decide your style.  Figure out how and when it changes.  And do so prior to writing, because it’s way too hard to change in midstream.

Excitement Versus Reality

It’s one thing to get excited to write a new novel.  It’s something else altogether to find the time to write it.

I came up with an idea recently for a new novel that merges science fiction and fantasy.  Basically, a fleet of ships from Earth heads out to explore the galaxy and finds a world run by magic.  I thought it would be interesting to see if these two genres could be integrated.  So far I’ve managed to get two chapters written and have started on the third.  Unfortunately, I haven’t gotten further, and given that it’s been over two months, you’d have thought I’d made more progress.  Alas, life gets in the way.

I think this is the case with most writers who aren’t able to do this for a living(ie, almost everyone not named King or Rowling).  We get excited for the idea, but we have to keep our “regular” jobs and tend to our families.  Taking time out to write consistently is challenging.

And let’s not forget that writing requires momentum.  I can’t just write 50-100 words at a time and create something coherent.  That’s too bumpy, so I need time to write at least 500 words in order to have a rhythm that works.  Five hundred words takes about 15-20 minutes, so I have to try and carve out time in an otherwise busy life.

So I’ve had to temper my enthusiasm.  If I could get some time to concentrate, I could have this new novel ready(1^st draft) by mid-Spring, but as long as we’re wishing, the winning lottery numbers would be nice…

Formatting Fantasies

An author’s imagination can be limitless, but how he or she conveys the ideas of that imagination aren’t.  This truism came to me again as I was reading an old Calvin & Hobbes book.

Anyone who knows me knows I have an affection for Calvin & Hobbes.  It was my favorite comic growing up(replaced now by Zits), and I instantly related to Calvin.  I think inside we’re all whiny kids who want things our own way, and we approach the cruelty of the world by creating our own.  So I often go back to the Calvin & Hobbes collections for a laugh, or even just a wistful memory.  As I was reading the 10^th Anniversary Book, I came across Bill Watterson’s laments regarding the Sunday strip.

I won’t go into too much detail here – if you want that, buy and read the book yourself – but he was frustrated by the format of the Sunday strip, as it had to be laid out in certain ways, and it limited what he wanted to do.  After several long, protracted battles, he finally freed himself from those constraints, only to find his joy at that freedom tempered by the reality of it.  See, regardless of how he wanted to tell the story, he needed readers to still be able to follow it, so there had to be a natural path of progression.  Although more open to what he envisioned, it was nevertheless not unlimited.

That’s something that many writers need to remember as well.  For starters, few of us have the pull Watterson did to get folks to print our stuff in whatever format we want – fonts are limited, type size can only be so big or so small, and even pictures can’t be random.  So we have to shoehorn our vision into the format of a printed book most folks offer.  Further, our story needs a natural path for the reader to follow.  This could be solved if we could simply crack open our skulls and let the reader see completely into our imagination(and understand it), but that’d be messy, both literally and figuratively.  Our minds are a mess, understandable mostly only by ourselves.  We have to farm it and give it order so others can follow along.

Keep this in mind as you write.  That great idea you have means little to anyone but yourself if others can’t understand it.

Homecoming Cover Reveal!

As usual, my cover artist, Carl Graves, has done an outstanding job taking my idea for a cover and making it even better.  This is the cover for Homecoming, and it captures the spirit of the book in several ways, from the shadow across the planet to the different sides folks see the history to the light and dark the story represents.  I hope you like it, as I expect Homecoming to be out at the end of February.

Taxes And Penalties

Writers like to write.  But if you’re an indie author, you have to worry about that boring business stuff to…or else you will pay the price.

I recently had to pay a mild tax penalty because I misinterpreted the tax year.  I was under the impression that since I arrived in my new home in Tennessee at the beginning of December last year that I my fiscal year could run from December to December, with taxes due on the 15^th of the 4^th month following the end of the tax year(March 15^th, in my case).  Well, that wasn’t quite true.

Turns out that the state of Tennessee said that my taxes began fresh every January…meaning that I owed them for 2019.  It wasn’t all that much since I haven’t sold very many, but I had to pay a $27.50 tax penalty for late filing.  I jumped on it quick because I’m pretty paranoid over government taxation bureaus(lots of horror stories on that front).

So pay attention to your business.  Writing is great, and if you never want to sell a thing, then don’t worry about it.  However, for those of us with the dream to one day do this for a living, there are governmental rules and regulations that, like it or not, we have to pay attention to.  Otherwise, our next memoirs will be of prison time.

Re-engaging An Editor

Schism’s biggest failure is the lack of proper editing.  I had an editor for SalvationDay and Wrongful Death, but I skimped on that for Schism.  I know, I know…I’m a terrible author, I should be flogged, I didn’t give readers the best product…blah, blah, blah.  At least one reviewer even downgraded his review of my work from five stars to four as a result of a few editing mistakes that made it into the final version(which I’ll correct one day when I get the time).

However, I won’t make that mistake with Homecoming.  I have recently engaged an editor(more of a proofreader to make sure I can write the language correctly), and that should cut down on any speed bumps in reading.  It will cost me some money, but it’ll be worth it if folks can more smoothly read my work.  I should’ve done it with Schism, but money was an issue.  Thanks to those of you who’ve bought my previous work, I think I have that accounted for(for now).

Time, Blogging, And Writing

I try to get this blog done about a month in advance.  I do that in order to not bump up against a hard date deadline and find myself either posting garbage, or not posting at all.  I’ve run into that a few times, and I always feel guilty about it(despite y’all not paying me anything for this blog).

Unfortunately, staying that far ahead also takes time away from my writing(or at least my novel writing).  As I get time, I find myself checking first to see if the blog is ready.  If it’s not, it creates a dilemma where I think the work(blog) should take precedence over fun(novel writing).

I think the only solution is to finish all of my monthly blog posts, while allowing exceptions based on current events or unusual circumstances, within the first week of the month.  That should free me up to write for the rest of the month…and I need to stick to that.  You see, I’m a sucker for getting ahead, and my temptation is to sometimes get even further ahead(it gives me a rush – I know…I’ve got issues).  I’ve got to make the disciplined decision to just “be done” with the blog and make a conscious effort to write no more posts unless one of those unusual circumstances comes up.  That way, I can enjoy writing(not that I don’t enjoy the blogging, but let’s be real – novel writing is much more fun).  Since this is the last post I’ll write in October for the month of November, even if I don’t know the exact date of the post, I’ll try to do little but write on my new novel until November 1^st rears its ugly head.

Reminder On Blog Pictures

I did a post about eight years ago talking about finding original pictures for your blog.  I wanted to reiterate that today because I’ve come across more and more blogs that have funny, but not always approved by the photographer, pictures.

You see, there’s this little thing called copyright law out there, and it means that you usually require permission to use someone else’s photograph.  Yes, there are places like Shutterstock that provide pictures to use free of royalties, but most people want to be paid for their work.  And failure to do that, or get permission in advance(preferably in writing), means you can pay a lot more later.

Everyone has an iPhone(or some equivalent).  Use it to take pictures and then figure out which pics would be good to use for your most recent blog post.  Yes, it’s more work than it’d be to search “toothless rednecks with pythons” on the internet, but it’s less work than making more money if the photo’s owner finds you out and demands you pay him.

Forgetting To Post

I’ve been trying to get ahead on blog posts and have generally been successful.  Although I reserve the right to change what I post based on breaking news, I usually write my blog posts a few weeks in advance.  In October, I managed to get my blog posts written nearly three weeks ahead of schedule.  I like this because it lets me breath easy and not jump through my ass to write a bunch of nonsensical, rushed posts at the last minute.

 

However, this past month, I very nearly forgot to actually post the new blogs until the month was over.  You see, I write the post in word, and then I cut and paste into Blogger, editing a bit and adding the necessary links.  In October, I found myself the week before suddenly realizing I hadn’t posted what I wrote.  It’s one thing to not post because I got lazy; it’s another entirely to not post because I forgot to actually hit the post button.  Hopefully my scatterbrained mind won’t do that this month.  I guess we’ll find out if this day is empty.  :-P

Allusion Versus Specificity

As I’ve started working on a new novel, my first in several years, I’m remembering a few challenges that writers always run in to.  First, how much description do you give versus how much do you leave to the reader’s imagination?  Second, how much do you reveal versus how much you elude to.

Let me tackle the first one first since it’s the easiest to put into words.

There are certain elements that are concrete when we read a story, but how much of that is from description, and how much of that is from what we as readers fill in?  When I envision a starship, for example, I have a specific picture of what it looks like, and that image stays intact in my mind unless the writer gives a specific description of his or her own.  The same goes for all kinds of stuff, from rumpled old professors to plasma rifles.  That said, imagining everything can be exhausting.  I want to fill in gaps rather than start from scratch(otherwise, why am I getting the story from the writer instead of just creating my own?).  Striking this balance is a lot harder than I remembered, and it leads to several drafts before I’m satisfied.  Above all, it requires patience, which isn’t one of my strong suits.

The second question is a bit more stark – how specifically do you reference the rules of the world in which the story is set?  In my newest novel, a sci-fi/fantasy mashup, magic is governed by a definite set of rules.  I could make the story so much easier by just laying them out, perhaps on a piece of parchment tacked to the wall of a wizard or something.  However, letting the reader discover them during the story, more through what is and what isn’t done, has greater potential.  It grants tension to the story, and it leaves open the possibility of adding or adjusting, in accordance with consistency, as things unfold.  It also requires me as the writer to trust my readers to figure them out.

The problem with laying them out straightaway is that it removes the mystery and lets trolls nit-pick about following them.  But the temptation to not doing so leaves open the garden of rules and allows for the potential to grow wild and out of control.  I think I’m going to stick with alluding to them, but, as above, that’s going to require patience, which I’m almost never good at.  I have those rules written, and I find myself wondering if the story will allow all of them to come out, and if not, is that good thing or a bad thing?

Enough of my rambling.  Basically, this stream-of-consciousness is about the dilemmas writers face when telling a story, and I’m working through it as I type.  Maybe it makes sense to you; maybe it doesn’t.  I guess I’ll let the story decide.

Useless Criticism

I don’t mind criticism.  Honestly, I really don’t.  Reading tastes are subjective, and not everyone will like my work.

That said, if you’re going to criticize my writing, do it constructively.  I recently ran into someone who simply said, “I really didn’t like your book.”  When I pressed them on why, they didn’t have more of an answer beyond they didn’t like it.  That’s not criticism I can use to improve or figure out if I have a deficiency of some kind.  Telling me the plot developed too quickly or none of the characters were sympathetic are things I can use.  Disdain by itself isn’t.  There is little more frustrating than someone not giving out why they disliked what you wrote.  It’s like a kid saying they don’t want to eat deviled eggs because “They’re yucky.”  Do I need more mayonnaise?  Less?  Add cayenne or paprika?

People will criticize.  It’s what we do as humans.  But geez, people, tell us why so we can get better.  Less than that comes off as contrarianism.  Even if that’s a fact of life, that doesn’t make it less annoying.

Engagement

In the Army, there was a concept called strategic messaging.  It was designed to use themes and messages in order to elicit a desired response.  Basically, it was designed to affect attitudes and behaviors towards what the organization wanted.  Business uses the same concept(think corporate public affairs or advertising).

So, why did I bring this up?  Because I’m trying to figure out how to best engage on community writing boards.  No, I’m not trying to be straight up Machiavellian; instead, I’m hoping to use common interests among writers to showcase my own talents and (hopefully) get some more traffic to both my website and my novels.

So how does one engage a bunch of writers?  We’re an eclectic bunch whose interests can be very broad or incredibly narrow depending on our mood.  So I think the way to do it is manifold.  First, one has to establish a relationship with those on the board and show you’re not just a craven manipulator who wants to use others to advance one’s own work.  You have to get to know people and take interest in them and their work(this should always be reciprocal).  Second, don’t get specific at first; engage broad interests and ideas in order to get people to engage with you.  When people think they’re involved, it allows them to buy in emotionally.  Then, once you have established relationships and wetted their appetite with your concepts, then you can get a little more specific with what you’re looking to do(release dates, character arcs, etc).

Unfortunately, my time has been squeezed recently, so I haven’t been able to engage on these boards as much as I wanted to.  That means I’m going to have to a) essentially start over, and b) make a more concentrated effort to engage so I’m not having to continually start over.  Despite the COVID pandemic, I haven’t gotten onto the boards in more than two months because working from home doesn’t necessarily mean that I have more time(in most cases, I have less because my bosses assume I’m more available).

So I’m going to go back on and try to restart my introduction.  If I can keep that consistent and demonstrate I’m interested in authors as people, then maybe I can get some interest in my ideas.  But first, I have to begin…again.

Input Controversy

I like to get input from beta-readers.  Seeing how someone else reads my story is usually fun, and it provides insights as to whether or not the audience is reading something the way I intended.  I always remember that this is my story, and thus under my control(ie, readers don’t get to dictate changes), but I’m never too big a deal to recognize a potentially useful point, or to see if a trend emerges from the beta-readers.

Recently, though, I asked for input on my “Rules of Magic” for a new novel I’ve been working on.  I wanted to see what I’ve overlooked, or if the rules worked.  What I got instead was a bevy of controversy.

Since magical stories are an imbedded part of our world, everyone has an opinion about how magic should be employed(or how it shouldn’t be employed).  Some folks thought magic should be ubiquitous, varying not in the slightest for each race of creatures.  Others said that my rules were stupid because magic is magic, and so can do anything with no real limiting principle.  And as I brought up reasons why the rules were the way they were, the vociferous nature of the responses was surprising.  In fact, you’d have thought I stepped on a puppy or used ketchup on steak.  I was unprepared for the passion of those giving input.

Of course, me being me, I had to remind them that they were free to write their own story.  I wanted to gage if the rules would work, and, unfortunately, got no trends in how folks would modify the rules.  To me, a lack of trends means that folks simply have a mishmash of opinions.  Trends show me that there may be reader expectations; a smorgasbord of stuff just says that people are passionate readers.

I want to continue to ask for feedback, but perhaps I should limit it to the story rather than the boundaries around it.  Few readers get to see inside the foundations a writer lays before writing the story, and maybe there’s a reason for that.

Magical Revelations

It’s no secret I think that Salvation Day is my best novel.  One of the things that makes it my favorite is that there are very few instances of what I call “info dump.”  Most of the narrative is revealed slowly, through the actions of the characters.  Off the top of my head, I can think of only two info dumps in the story – where Lucifer reveals the nature of Hell and Creation to the main character, and the main character’s conversation with God.

So why the long, rambling tour through a previous book of mine?  Well, because I’m trying to figure out how to handle things in my new book.  As mentioned previously, my new novel is a sci-fi/fantasy mashup, and I’ve already found myself trying to cull info dumps on why the people of Earth are exploring the galaxy in the first place.  However, now that they’ve run into a planet full of magic, I have to figure out how to handle that introduction as well.

The magic in my world has rules.  There aren’t many, but these rules still dictate what magic can and can’t do(for example, magic is always stronger when used in conjunction with another caster of magic).  I’m trying to figure out how to introduce these rules in the course of the story.  Of course it’d be easier for some wizened old wizard pouring over dusty spell books to either tell the audience what the rules are, or for him to have a piece of parchment tacked to the wall of his tower, but I don’t think that’d be as much fun for the audience.

Therefore, I’ve got to figure out how to reveal these rules through the course of the story without contradicting myself.  I think I can do that through two means, the characters’ actions and their interactions.  What I mean by that, is that maybe after magic becomes known to the group of non-magic people from Earth, they start asking questions when they see a bit of magic performed.  Rather than give an info dump, the magic casters they talk to simply act as if the answer to the question is obvious(because to them, it is).  It could be akin to the way someone might explain not running out into traffic to a particularly slow child.

I haven’t completely figured out the dynamics yet, but the challenge should be fun.

Two Genres At Once

Although Homecoming is currently my last planned publication unless I start being able to make money at this venture, that doesn’t mean I’m no longer writing.  Homecoming was written several years ago, so it’s not like it’s something new.  But as a writer, I want to write.  Therefore, I’ve finally started to write once again.

This new book is different than anything I’ve done before.  The biggest difference is that I’m trying to mash up two genres at once – science fiction and fantasy.  It starts out in sci-fi, with a group of starships departing Earth on humanity’s first real colonization effort outside of the solar system, so it goes into what a wormhole looks like, how an advanced society has used gravity tractors to move Earth beyond the reach of an expanding sun(as well as move several other planets into zones to make them habitable), and why the need for licenses to have babies has motivated people to go on this journey.  In other words, pretty standard sci-fi stuff.

However, the second chapter will start in the fantasy world where dragons, elves, and magic exist, so I have to switch gears, and it’s a challenging switch.  Do I change the writing style?  How do I separate the worlds at first, and at what point do I mix them?  More than that, once the characters and adventures from the different worlds start to mix, how do I handle that, and how will the audience react?

I’ve never written fantasy before, although I’ve enjoyed it immensely.  I played D&D as a child, and my love of magic and the worlds created by such giants as JRR Tolkien and George RR Martin is enormous.  Still, it’s a new style for me, although each writer has his or her own style and handles each story differently.  The question becomes how do I alter each entry, if at all.

And I’ll try not to go crazy in the process…

Politics And Clapter

I don’t think it’s too much of a revelation that most of the most politically vocal writers(or actors, or directors, or screenwriters…) come from the Left side of the aisle.  That’s not to say that there aren’t middle of the road or conservative writers, but the loudest voices almost always seem to be liberal(with notable exceptions).

That doesn’t make those voices less divisive.  The impression created by those who can yell the loudest gives a false image of prevalence.  But more than that, it divides the audience and isn’t as “brave” as some seem to think, especially when it is more about clapter than insight.

What’s clapter?  Clapter is a tendency among a large set of folks either online or in stand up shows to say something that isn’t funny or insightful, but with which the majority of the audience agrees, thus eliciting a round of applause.  It doesn’t persuade those who don’t already agree with it.  I’ve always found clapter to be petty and boring.  Think about it – when you say something about which everyone already agrees, sometimes enthusiastically, what are you really risking?  I mean, if I tell everyone that bacon tastes good, what stand have I taken that brings people over?  Almost everyone agrees that bacon is indeed quite tasty, so I shouldn’t expect vigorous disagreement.  In fact, most who despise bacon a) aren’t already part of my audience, and b) aren’t the target of my message, unless the purpose of my message is to feel righteous in poo-pooing those who dislike that tasty meat.

So why do so many engage in it?  I think it comes down to two things.  First, everyone wants to be liked.  No matter how much folks say they don’t care, most really do, and being liked for a popular stance feels good.  Second, people want to feel righteous, and grand agreement provides that.  It validates our position, which is why so many react with bewilderment and anger when someone has the temerity to disagree.  Far too many hold their political positions as a reflection of their character, so anyone who disagrees is taking issue with their character(and must be a bad person).  That’s a conceited and insecure way to look at things, and it divides further an already polarized society.

Get off your soapbox and tell a good story.  After all, isn’t that why the reader sought us out in the first place?

Praise For Schism!

Some great reviews have been coming in for Schism!  In addition to its 4.0 star average on Amazon, it is also averaging 4.3 stars on Goodreads.  Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to review it.

Modest Sales Success

I pulled out my business’ bank statement a few days ago(Rushamra Publishing LLC) and was gratified to see that Schism has enjoyed a little bit of sales success.  In fact, it has sold better than any book I’ve yet published(not like that’s a lot, but it’s something).  It’s not like I’m sitting pretty and planning to buy that villa on the southern coast of France, but it’s nice that I’ve been able to pull in something.

What does that mean?  Basically it means that I can continue to publish(for the moment).  I’ve made almost enough to cover the cost of Homecoming, and I think I can start the process of bringing that to market maybe a little quicker than originally planned.  Look for it now around the beginning of March – a more detailed release date to come soon!

Same Title, Different Story

Content is protected by law.  Titles and ideas are not.  Sure, if a writer basically cribs from another, to the point where the stories are essentially the same, that’s not kosher.  However, many writers have similar ideas, and even similar titles.  It’s usually not even apparent until after publication.

I bring this up because a few folks have brought up that there’s another book out there called Schism.  Released roughly a week prior to my own version, it’s even about a Second American Civil War, albeit this one about the aftermath(mine is more about the war itself).  This shook me a bit when I discovered it.

I’ve never heard of, let alone met, the other author.  The worst fear of most writers is that our work gets stolen and somebody else gets rich and famous off our work.  Of course, this is needlessly paranoid, but every writer feels it.  With Schism, I wondered what the heck happened.

What happened was that we live in perilous times where deep partisan divisions run deep, and it has been that way for years.  Even my own novel reflects the way divisions ran several years ago(when I first wrote Schism), and I’d have probably written it a little differently nowadays to reflect more updated conflicts(BLM, antifa, Patriot Prayer, Trump, Pelosi, etc).  This is the peril of writing slowly and releasing after a process of polishing and editing.  Makes me wonder if writing quickly is more advantageous than trying to write quality).  Maybe that depends on the topic.

Schism isn’t the only book I have that shares a title with someone else, but it’s the only one, from what I can tell, that shares similar content.  Salvation Day shares a title with a science-fiction novel, and Akeldama shares a title with several pieces of music, but none of those are anywhere near what I wrote.  Wrongful Death appears to share titles with several suspense novels.

I think all of this leads to needless anxiety.  Just write what your story is, and let others write theirs.  Much as I’d like to think all of my ideas are unique, others can be smart too, and sometimes we overlap.  Just tell a better story.

Rewriting and Discarding

A couple of decades ago, I read through the 10^th year anniversary book for Calvin & Hobbes.  Now, Calvin & Hobbes is my all-time favorite cartoon strip(Zits is close, but not quite there), and I was heartbroken when Bill Watterson quit making it.  Reading through his commentary, I discovered he discards quite a bit of material we never see.  I didn’t understand that until I started writing for publication.  After all, who wouldn’t want more stuff from their favorite author?

Watterson revealed that writers, even the best, sometimes write crap.  In fact, what is written often starts off as crap.  It’s the editing, rewriting, and polishing that produces the masterpiece we love from the author.  The goal is to present the best and make us clamor for more, and putting garbage in front of us that we had to wade through to find treasures would diminish our appreciation of the good stuff.

It’s no secret that I believe Salvation Day is my best work.  More than a few have asked when the next chapter of that book is coming out, and why I’m not getting it out faster.  Truth be told, Salvation Day went through several incarnations where it sucked(my biggest problem was lack of patience in developing the story).  Had I released what I first envisioned instead of working on it to get better before audiences saw it, it wouldn’t have resonated, much less won an award.

This is a peak behind the curtain many usually don’t see.  Part of the trick of being an author is wanting folks to believe that everything we write is awesome, and to have them begging to see anything we create.  However, if folks saw what we discard, they might barf.  So let’s maintain the illusion, even if frustrating.

Appreciating Research

Seldom does the audience know what goes into a novel from a research standpoint.  And while they may not know the details of what’s right, they’ll definitely let you know if something is wrong.  The more broadly distributed the knowledge, the less you can get away with just making stuff up.

With Akeldama, I needed to know how the Catholic Church runs and which churches are prominent.  That’s because there are a lot of Catholics in the US and around the world, and getting wrong something so widely known would make folks quickly dismiss the book.  On the other hand, most folks don’t know basic survival techniques in an austere environment, so writing about how to survive alone on a new world is something where the truth can be stretched a bit.

What writing has done is given me appreciation for research.  Even if the reader doesn’t see the work that went into something, the time involved can be consuming.  In Schism, I wrote a scene at a state penitentiary.  I’ve never been in prison and wasn’t part of the MPs when I was in the Army.  So I called up a few buddies, some who served and some who saw prison firsthand, and got some knowledge…all for a page and a half of action and dialogue.  It was important to me to be authentic, but the time involved versus what was written was grossly out of proportion.  And that’s but one example.

So the next time you read a well written novel, appreciate what went into it beyond plotting and character development.  Chances are that the author spent more time researching for authenticity than writing.

Changes In Blogger

I’m not big on change.  When things achieve a homeostasis, I want it to stay there.  Unfortunately, life is full of change, and even Blogger is throwing that at me.

The format in Blogger – the way I post these – has changed, and it has thrown me for a loop.  I used to be able to see all of my posts in one page, and now I’m scrolling down each.  The buttons have changed.  How to link to other pages have changed.

While change can be good when necessary, I don’t get the need to do it just for the sake of doing it.  Just as I get used to something, I have to adjust to something new.  Personally, I think it’s bullshit and wish I had other options to just keep things running as they were.

Juggling Priorities

As mentioned previously, I’ve started a new novel.  It’s progressing better than hoped, mostly because I’ve stayed ahead on blog posts and am not stressed about meeting that schedule.  I’ve also carved out ten to fifteen minutes each day to devote to writing.

That doesn’t mean I’m not still preparing to publish.  I reviewed/edited Homecoming recently, and I’ve begun the process of bringing that to market.  It is currently planned as my last novel for publishing unless I can make a few bucks to sustain myself, but we’ll see how long that lasts.  After all, I have several more in reserve(that still need rewrites), as well as a sequel to Salvation Day demanding to be written.  That sequel is my next task after the current sci-fi/fantasy novel, but that could mean starting in a year or five years.  We’ll find out.

Speaking of my rewrites, I’ve gotta find time for those at some point.  Akeldama’s sequel needs major overhauling, and that’ll probably be the easiest project.  My apocalyptic novel about a group of psychokinetic overlords needs a total rewrite(like, from scratch), and my novel about Armageddon needs to be rethought in order for it to be coherent.

So I’ve got some work.  The key is to focus on one at a time, and my new novel will be that piece.

Engaging With Writing Forums

I’ve joined writersforum.com, both to connect with other writers and get the word out about my own writing.  I’m not spamming folks with talk about every blog post I make or how they just have to buy my book, for that would quickly grow tiresome.  One of the main complaints about authors on writing forums is that they do nothing but plug their book(s), and it fades into background noise.  People ignore those folks after a while, making the whole enterprise pointless.

I see marketing my work as part of what to do on a writing forum, but not the end-all-be-all.  I’ve engaged on what I think makes good characters, how I develop plot points, and how outlining versus spontaneous writing works.  It allows others to know who you are and let’s you get to know others.  That makes it so much easier for them to not only accept but celebrate your writing when you release.

Unfortunately, it’s also time consuming.  I started off posting and replying several times in my first weekend, but the weekend is easy, especially when excitement is fresh.  I still work a full time job, so getting on during the week is challenging.  The weekends are challenging when my family is competing for my time(and they’re my priority).  I guess this whining is to say I’m still trying to find the right balance to get my work out there.  I get how this could be a full time job, and I ain’t there yet(because I like to eat and own a home, and my other job pays for those wacky things).  If y’all could just buy my books, I could focus more on selling them. 

Worst Superhero Movies

Okay, last time I did worst science fiction movies.  Now it’s time to do worst superhero movies.

Superhero movies are supposed to be a little bit beyond the normal realm of suspension of disbelief.  After all, we’re talking about people flying through the air and shooting laser beams from their eyes.  But there still has to be some depth.  People have to be willing to see something that says “Hey, this could happen under the right circumstances.”  Even our favorites can’t just show up and start being super campy.  That’s little more than an attempt to capitalize on childhood nostalgia.  Well, you know who pays for movie tickets?  It’s not usually children.

1.   Batman & Robin – Wow, starting off the list with a bang.  While nothing can match Christopher Nolan’s BatmanBegins trilogy, the original Batman movie with Michael Keaton was at least somewhat fun.  We hadn’t had a real Batman movie, and Keaton made it interesting, along with Jack Nicholson’s portrayal of the Joker(only surpassed decades later Heath Ledger).  Sure, it was a bit campy, but it was fun and in line with most Batman comics.  Batman & Robin was not.  It took the gritty Gotham look and gave us gangsters that wore fluorescent face paint, as well as Arnold being, well, super-Arnold.  Let’s leave aside a bat suit with nipples, or the way they denigrated Bane - someone asked Joel Schumacher if he’d ever read the Batman comics.  When he said he didn’t read comic books, most folks knew that was why this movie sucked.

2.   BatmanVersus Superman – Sticking in the Batman universe, the newest reboot was awful.  Great potential that was utterly wasted.  It didn’t help that they put Ben Affleck as Batman(I once posted a list of people who would’ve made better Batman actors, and I think I included Verne Troyer and Drew Barrymore on that list), but the conflict itself made no sense.  And did they really need to try and stuff every single DC superhero into the movie?  It was pretty obvious that they felt they had to catch up to the MCU overnight, and it came off as forced.  I watch it if it’s on TV now solely for comedic value.

3.   SupermanIV: The Quest For Peace – Let me first cop to my undying view that Christopher Reeves will always be Superman.  His portrayal in the early 80s was what seared into my mind.  That said, he should’ve been kept as far as possible away from story input.  From what I’ve read, Reeves was instrumental in developing the plot for this hippie-snoozefest about Superman ridding the world of nuclear weapons and fighting a villain that got his juice from the sun.  No, Christopher…just no.  It not only made Superman Global Cop #1, it also would’ve justified Batman’s later attempt to off him by pointing out there’s a super-powered alien who thinks he knows best for humanity, and he’ll impose his version of peace on us whenever it suits him.  I have no idea who had enough blackmail material on Gene Hackman to make him appear in this farce, but it must’ve been a doozy.

4.   CaptainAmerica(from the 1970s) – no, this isn’t about the MCU.  In the late 1970s(1979), Rod Holcomb made this terrible film about a Captain America wearing a motorcycle helmet and riding a rocket powered bike with a detachable glider.  It was so cheesy that I can’t even recall who the villain was.  I watched this on a Saturday afternoon in the 1970s, and even my six year old self knew it was bad.  Maybe there was some kind of contractual obligation to make this and they threw it together at the last minute.  Zero real special effects and a plot that was basically, “HERE’S CAPTAIN AMERICA!” made for a boring Saturday afternoon.

5.   JusticeLeague – okay, okay, so there’s another recent DC installment here, but did anyone feel any tension in this movie?  Like…at all?  I have no idea why the bad guy was doing what he was doing except that he was bad and hated good.  The special effects gave an eerie red glow to things, and no one cared about the heroes.  Also, the outcome was never in doubt.  In Infinity War, the MCU shocked us by following through on the finger snap, and while we knew that the Avengers would eventually make things right, there was some tension as we figured a few of our favorites wouldn’t make it.  In Justice League, I never had that doubt.  Steppenwolfe’s army was so weak that the JLA made it through to the main boss with no trouble whatsoever, and once Superman was involved, it was mostly a combination of bad dialogue and heat ray vision.  I think DC comics has better characters than Marvel, but DC makes horrible movies.  This was among them.

So, what have I missed?