While I try not to let on in this blog--due to the fact that it's really not the subject of this blog to discuss such things--I've been in kind of a slump. There are reasons for that, and most are emotional, and rather personal, in nature. I won't get into it too much, but it slowed my writing to a crawl, nearly a halt.
The kicker was the other night when my primary computer shut off, permanently. I'll survive, but that kind of prevents the Halloween art I was going to post up here as a fun little thing. My characters were going to be in costume and it was going to be great. Ah, well. One of these days I'll upload it anyway, though the surprise will be ruined.
Anyway, back on subject here, today was kind of a turning point for me. Again, getting a little personal, but I'll just say that my to-do list is a heck of a lot shorter than it was yesterday. That helps a lot, because I was getting to where I just didn't think I could do it. I considered dropping out of NaNoWriMo for the first time in 5 years.
Pfft! What was I thinking. Back down now? On the very brink of what promises to be another insane, amazing, fun, silly, harrowing adventure of a month?! Now that I'm going it with a lot more friends than ever before?! When I already made plans to make it to the kickoff at midnight, despite working at 10 AM the next morning?!
I think not. No way. If there's one thing I know I'm capable of, and that's yet still a really impressive feat, it's finishing a NaNoWriMo. Where else am I going to get my confidence back? Also, because my character this year has a few shades of my inner self, it'll be therapeutic in that sense, too. Once I come out of my day-long coma December 1st, I should have my drive back in full force.
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Look at Me!
Everyone on the internet wants attention. That's just how it is, right? Whether you're an author scrounging for an audience or just some random person posting your thoughts somewhere, it's all turned into a complicated popularity contest. Luckily, it's perfectly fine--even a good thing--to share victory. Now, I don't exactly have any victory to go around, but we all start somewhere, right? Maybe it's the same for you. Either way, I think we can all learn something from each other if we just share our thoughts on the matter. So here are mine.
The way I see it, attracting people who consistently look at your content, time after time (the most valuable kind of attention you can ask for) is a bit of a balancing act. Yup, time to roll out the three-point system, bane of essays and speeches everywhere.
First, you have to have some kind of general subject matter that you stick to pretty consistently. In my case, that's writing, specifically sci-fi and fantasy (what else do you expect?) It's a continuous look at what influences my work day-to-day and how I respond. I pretty much never deviate from that. That's the easy part, to me at least.
Building on your subject, you then need to offer content that's either useful or entertaining in some way. Entertaining might mean you have a short story or video every week or two that keeps the people's attention (this is how most YouTube channels get their followings.) As for being useful, I think that's the thing that a lot of people have trouble with. They think they don't have any new or interesting information to present to the world. I certainly haven't done a good job at this aspect up until now, but I think that because everyone has a unique take on everything, it's a matter of getting creative.
Finally, make sure to add a personal touch. Nobody wants to read something written by a faceless robot (except maybe to see how faceless robots write, but once the novelty wears off they'll lose interest.) If you're a writer and you have a developed voice in your work, by God please use it. I've had enough boring reading. Yes, think about how you write, and also, find places where you can hint about other aspects of your life.
Okay, now in case you're not exhausted of all blatantly working too hard to take my own advice, it's example time. In fact, this is what got me thinking about this topic. I was reading my philosophy textbook for college, and all of a sudden the author brought up his dog. Apparently the dog's growing and shedding of fur perfectly illustrated the theory we were talking about. We were still on the topic of philosophy, it turned out, so he didn't violate that. Not only that, but it helped in understanding what I was trying to learn. And, of course, I now know a little bit more about the textbook author (who I didn't really think of as a person before.)
Funnily enough, I pretty much did the same thing by citing that example, didn't I? But if I bring that up then I have to point out that I'm still doing it and now we start getting into an infinite loop and okay I think it's about time to wrap this up! It was kind of a long post but I wanted to not only tell you guys what I think but also have lots of chances to use those techniques myself. Thanks for being so patient, and for actually reading my blog in the first place for that matter. I'd love to see what you guys think about this, too, so please feel free to comment.
The way I see it, attracting people who consistently look at your content, time after time (the most valuable kind of attention you can ask for) is a bit of a balancing act. Yup, time to roll out the three-point system, bane of essays and speeches everywhere.
First, you have to have some kind of general subject matter that you stick to pretty consistently. In my case, that's writing, specifically sci-fi and fantasy (what else do you expect?) It's a continuous look at what influences my work day-to-day and how I respond. I pretty much never deviate from that. That's the easy part, to me at least.
Building on your subject, you then need to offer content that's either useful or entertaining in some way. Entertaining might mean you have a short story or video every week or two that keeps the people's attention (this is how most YouTube channels get their followings.) As for being useful, I think that's the thing that a lot of people have trouble with. They think they don't have any new or interesting information to present to the world. I certainly haven't done a good job at this aspect up until now, but I think that because everyone has a unique take on everything, it's a matter of getting creative.
Finally, make sure to add a personal touch. Nobody wants to read something written by a faceless robot (except maybe to see how faceless robots write, but once the novelty wears off they'll lose interest.) If you're a writer and you have a developed voice in your work, by God please use it. I've had enough boring reading. Yes, think about how you write, and also, find places where you can hint about other aspects of your life.
Okay, now in case you're not exhausted of all blatantly working too hard to take my own advice, it's example time. In fact, this is what got me thinking about this topic. I was reading my philosophy textbook for college, and all of a sudden the author brought up his dog. Apparently the dog's growing and shedding of fur perfectly illustrated the theory we were talking about. We were still on the topic of philosophy, it turned out, so he didn't violate that. Not only that, but it helped in understanding what I was trying to learn. And, of course, I now know a little bit more about the textbook author (who I didn't really think of as a person before.)
Funnily enough, I pretty much did the same thing by citing that example, didn't I? But if I bring that up then I have to point out that I'm still doing it and now we start getting into an infinite loop and okay I think it's about time to wrap this up! It was kind of a long post but I wanted to not only tell you guys what I think but also have lots of chances to use those techniques myself. Thanks for being so patient, and for actually reading my blog in the first place for that matter. I'd love to see what you guys think about this, too, so please feel free to comment.
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Awkward Romance
So, NaNoWriMo is coming up, and like many years I have a pretty bare-bones type of plan in mind for it. One that could go anywhere, has potential to be silly, and, most importantly, does not compel me to believe the resulting novel will actually do anything for my writing career. (This last condition is the trump card against my inner editor.)
The way it does this? By blurring the line between fan fiction (something based in another creator's work) and originality. My novel, tentatively titled "The Lifey Thing," is rooted in an intellectual property that is now not only a story but an entire culture. This culture, which can now be seen filling conventions everywhere, is where the main character resides.
Yes, like me, my character Aaron is a big fan of the hit hybrid-media webcomic Homestuck. Actually, he's a bigger fan. Instead of just buying some cards and throwing together a cheap Halloween costume to show his love for it, he discovers it and then immediately becomes obsessive. To the point where he starts taking all the quizzes out there to find what character role fits him, and then does everything he can to follow it.
Not only that, but he gets into things like "troll romance," in which love is divided into four quadrants that are symbolized by playing card suits. Hearts is pretty much what you expect, while diamonds and clubs are more or less platonic. It's spades that makes this really weird stuff. Spades represents the kismesis, a person you hate passionately but are somehow still very attracted to. Aaron believes that he'll only be satisfied if he can somehow get both a traditional romance (which he never had any success with in the first place) and a kismesis.
Needless to say, the people around him have no idea why he's acting the way he does. It makes no sense. He may throw away reason and the things that are best for him just to get into this. Is there even the slightest possibility that his extreme attitude would ever pay off? That's what I'm setting out to explore this November.
The way it does this? By blurring the line between fan fiction (something based in another creator's work) and originality. My novel, tentatively titled "The Lifey Thing," is rooted in an intellectual property that is now not only a story but an entire culture. This culture, which can now be seen filling conventions everywhere, is where the main character resides.
Yes, like me, my character Aaron is a big fan of the hit hybrid-media webcomic Homestuck. Actually, he's a bigger fan. Instead of just buying some cards and throwing together a cheap Halloween costume to show his love for it, he discovers it and then immediately becomes obsessive. To the point where he starts taking all the quizzes out there to find what character role fits him, and then does everything he can to follow it.
Not only that, but he gets into things like "troll romance," in which love is divided into four quadrants that are symbolized by playing card suits. Hearts is pretty much what you expect, while diamonds and clubs are more or less platonic. It's spades that makes this really weird stuff. Spades represents the kismesis, a person you hate passionately but are somehow still very attracted to. Aaron believes that he'll only be satisfied if he can somehow get both a traditional romance (which he never had any success with in the first place) and a kismesis.
Needless to say, the people around him have no idea why he's acting the way he does. It makes no sense. He may throw away reason and the things that are best for him just to get into this. Is there even the slightest possibility that his extreme attitude would ever pay off? That's what I'm setting out to explore this November.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Ready for NaNoWriMo?
Oh, boy. This is going to be a tough month.
As you all already know, I've got college and work going on, and it's been a tough juggle. Trying to update this blog and make even a little bit of effort on The Third Face each day has been about all I could do.
So basically, when November rolls around, I will never have a spare minute.
If you're new to my blog and you don't know what NaNoWriMo is, back up a bit. Read this a sec. I'm trying to write a novel in a month here. Craziness by itself, but I've done it before. (You should too.) It was tough every time. I didn't have this kind of workload back then, though.
The problem is finding those spare hours, every day, and actually having the will to use them. It's about still wanting to work on something when I've already been at work all day. It's about still being able to type after doing homework for hours. It's about still having some energy after taking classes until 9 at night and driving home. Every. Single. Day. For 30 days.
Can I do it? We'll see. You'll definitely know whether I do or not. As usual, when I'm in the midst of something big like this I can't help but share what's going on with it through this blog. In fact, next time I'll tell you exactly what I have planned for this year.
As you all already know, I've got college and work going on, and it's been a tough juggle. Trying to update this blog and make even a little bit of effort on The Third Face each day has been about all I could do.
So basically, when November rolls around, I will never have a spare minute.
If you're new to my blog and you don't know what NaNoWriMo is, back up a bit. Read this a sec. I'm trying to write a novel in a month here. Craziness by itself, but I've done it before. (You should too.) It was tough every time. I didn't have this kind of workload back then, though.
The problem is finding those spare hours, every day, and actually having the will to use them. It's about still wanting to work on something when I've already been at work all day. It's about still being able to type after doing homework for hours. It's about still having some energy after taking classes until 9 at night and driving home. Every. Single. Day. For 30 days.
Can I do it? We'll see. You'll definitely know whether I do or not. As usual, when I'm in the midst of something big like this I can't help but share what's going on with it through this blog. In fact, next time I'll tell you exactly what I have planned for this year.
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Novel Planning: How Much?
If you're as serious about novel writing as I am, then you've probably gone out of your way to find the best advice there is. How can you write a novel that people will love, and that will actually sell?
There are a lot of different opinions on it. I see a pattern where some writers call for a lot of planning. One site claimed that you should outline your novel so thoroughly that you have a paragraph explaining every single chapter, and then write the actual thing as fast as you can with minimal editing. Yeah, I'm SURE that will solve everything.
More recently I had a look at Storyfix.com, a blog by author Larry Brooks that suggests there are certain areas of any novel (or film) which all need to work together to make it great. Like many others, Larry Brooks advocates a planned structure: four parts with their own specific functions, and several key points that either highlight or separate them. It's a very involved, disciplined way of looking at things.
The question is, is this overdoing it? Is it going to kill the novel-writing process? I guess that depends on what you want most out of it, and how close you feel to having it right yourself. I know I'm still not happy with the way mine is written, so to me, it's worth a try.
Still, there's a full-page checklist on there and after an hour's concentration I'm still working on the opening sequence here. This thing is asking a lot! But it seems to me that there's a lot of merit to at least answering these questions, and using them to write the novel--whether I decide to actually go with the structure prescribed or not.
Basically what I'm saying is, I'm going to give the techniques in that blog a try. Some day I'll let you guys know how that came out. First, though, I have NaNoWriMo--look out for talk about that next time.
There are a lot of different opinions on it. I see a pattern where some writers call for a lot of planning. One site claimed that you should outline your novel so thoroughly that you have a paragraph explaining every single chapter, and then write the actual thing as fast as you can with minimal editing. Yeah, I'm SURE that will solve everything.
More recently I had a look at Storyfix.com, a blog by author Larry Brooks that suggests there are certain areas of any novel (or film) which all need to work together to make it great. Like many others, Larry Brooks advocates a planned structure: four parts with their own specific functions, and several key points that either highlight or separate them. It's a very involved, disciplined way of looking at things.
The question is, is this overdoing it? Is it going to kill the novel-writing process? I guess that depends on what you want most out of it, and how close you feel to having it right yourself. I know I'm still not happy with the way mine is written, so to me, it's worth a try.
Still, there's a full-page checklist on there and after an hour's concentration I'm still working on the opening sequence here. This thing is asking a lot! But it seems to me that there's a lot of merit to at least answering these questions, and using them to write the novel--whether I decide to actually go with the structure prescribed or not.
Basically what I'm saying is, I'm going to give the techniques in that blog a try. Some day I'll let you guys know how that came out. First, though, I have NaNoWriMo--look out for talk about that next time.
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
The Man in the Brown Bandanna
Today you get a free short story that doubles as an introduction to The Third Face. Enjoy!
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Art Attack
The more strange or abstract that world is, the more it helps to have backup for the words on the page. Usually that means art.
Needless to say, I like drawing. I don't consider myself a great artist, but all the character illustrations that went with the release of The Third Face were mine. To the left here is another drawing of those characters that I did a bit more recently.
Other than this, though, I haven't drawn a thing in months. Time to fix that! There's another major character I want to introduce that way, and a bigger project that would be great to have done by Halloween.
So yes, expect images on blog posts to be a much more common thing from now on.
Friday, October 12, 2012
Review: The Subtle Knife
The first book took place in a world where everyone has a daemon, or spiritual animal, alongside them. Witches, shamans, and other strange cultures stand alongside an all-powerful church that worships "The Authority." There are always little names and places that hint at it being very similar to our world, but it feels like a fantastical parallel that Pullman has used in place of Earth.
That all goes out the window when we meet Will, who lives in the real world. Somehow, though, he manages to find a gap in reality that takes him to other worlds, and these "windows" are the focus of this book. Like Lyra, Will has an internal struggle to deal with while he learns the art of using a powerful tool. The call of childhood comforts constantly pulls at his need to fight, to win, to kill in order to survive.
I said in the first book's review that you can kind of ignore the religious undertones in it. That, too, has completely changed. The flight of the Angels and the impending war to destroy The Authority are pulling that into light, and I can expect to see this issue take over completely in The Amber Spyglass.
There are other things that have changed, which I don't like so much. Lyra seems really dumbed down here. While she and Will fight a bit early on, after a while she decides she's just going to do what he says. Where's the strong-willed, clever girl with the savage mind I grew to love in the first book? Other characters acknowledge the change, but only in passing.
Because of this closeness that gets established between the main characters, Pullman likes to jump between them freely, revealing the thoughts of both in the same breath. While this could have to do with Lyra's apparent powers of perception, it's still kind of an unfocused view. I felt a little detached at times, and the narrative, filled with vague thoughts, sometimes bored me even though I was rabidly eager to find out what happened next in this amazing plot.
Still, the things I'm unhappy about are certainly not enough to make me drop a story as daring as this one. One thing that still hasn't changed: Philip Pullman is not afraid to take risks, and that is where his work shines.
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
WeMiSciFan... Fans?
Gah that is hard to try and abbreviate.
What I mean to say is, West Michigan Science Fiction and Fantasy Fans. That's quite a mouthful, isn't it? But it's the only thing that can properly describe the group I recently started over on Facebook. Maybe we should come up with an entirely different name... hmmm...
Anyway, yeah. I invited my friends who fit the description, and they invited some of their friends, and we're definitely off to a good start for a week-old Facebook group that doesn't have another organization behind it. It's nothing fancy and there aren't really any rules or anything, but who needs that stuff anyway? Not unless we see some huge growth in membership...
Still, we're doing quite a few cool things already. The main thing, of course, is plain ol' discussion, where we debate about zombies and bring up our favorite (and least favorite) pieces of sci-fi and fantasy. In addition, there's already at least one piece of writing that a member has put on the table, a science fiction poem he wrote. Other events we're getting started with are Book of the Month and Friday Reads (in which everyone brings up what they're reading on Friday.)
Sound good? It's an open group, and the "West Michigan" part is not a hard border on who and who cannot join. It's more like a phrase that I include so that I'm not trying to be competitive with groups on the national or international level, because this is a smaller group. The point is, anyone is welcome!
If you're interested in joining,
What I mean to say is, West Michigan Science Fiction and Fantasy Fans. That's quite a mouthful, isn't it? But it's the only thing that can properly describe the group I recently started over on Facebook. Maybe we should come up with an entirely different name... hmmm...
Anyway, yeah. I invited my friends who fit the description, and they invited some of their friends, and we're definitely off to a good start for a week-old Facebook group that doesn't have another organization behind it. It's nothing fancy and there aren't really any rules or anything, but who needs that stuff anyway? Not unless we see some huge growth in membership...
Still, we're doing quite a few cool things already. The main thing, of course, is plain ol' discussion, where we debate about zombies and bring up our favorite (and least favorite) pieces of sci-fi and fantasy. In addition, there's already at least one piece of writing that a member has put on the table, a science fiction poem he wrote. Other events we're getting started with are Book of the Month and Friday Reads (in which everyone brings up what they're reading on Friday.)
Sound good? It's an open group, and the "West Michigan" part is not a hard border on who and who cannot join. It's more like a phrase that I include so that I'm not trying to be competitive with groups on the national or international level, because this is a smaller group. The point is, anyone is welcome!
If you're interested in joining,
Monday, October 8, 2012
Back to Reviews: Textbook Edition?!
Because of that, I've been getting a lot of disbelieving stares lately. People are just not prepared to accept what I'm going to say in today's entry.
I love this textbook.
The Practice of Creative Writing by Heather Sellers is the first time in a long while that I've heard something new about writing. This book isn't going to repeat "show don't tell" mantras and pour reasons on your head like it's trying to exorcise you of your bad writing habits. There's no repetitive grammar exercises, either.
Instead, the book is a fast track for a person who's already capable of putting words on the page, to become a real writer. If you're thinking about making something that a lot of people will actually want to read, these are the things you need to know. You're going to see all the pieces that activate the real power in any piece of writing. It shows you how to master energy and tension, where to find the beats in the story, how to make scenes matter and skip the ones that don't.
This textbook is my #1 motivation for going back and rewriting my book, from the beginning. All these techniques will really make it something amazing! It made me really excited to tear the whole thing apart and build it back up again, making it the best it can be.
This book has that kind of power, and I really think any serious writer needs to read it. Where nonfiction goes, it has my highest recommendation.
Saturday, October 6, 2012
More Blog!
As of this writing, the header for this blog begins, "Constantly spewing out ridiculous amounts of information..." Would you say that's right? No? Me neither. I should be more honest, don't you think? Well, rather than change that right now, I think I'm going to try and actually live up to it.
The main reason is actually that I have a lot of things to talk about all of a sudden. I had a tough decision to make on which subject I wanted to blog first--there are at least 2 more important ones nagging at me right now, so expect those pretty soon.
Before this, my goal was "try to get 2 entries a month." That's hardly anything and I still didn't do it, because it didn't seem like anything important was happening. Well, this time I'm going to try to open up to the public a bit more. You'll find the books I'm reading, the writing articles I found helpful, events, and of course, novel updates!
So what's my new goal? Every other day. I'm not going to beat myself up if I don't do it perfectly, or if I happen to be gone every once in a while, but that's the ideal here. I mean, remember when The Third Face was first coming out and I posted every single day--sometimes more than once? If I can do that, I can do this.
Check back soon.
The main reason is actually that I have a lot of things to talk about all of a sudden. I had a tough decision to make on which subject I wanted to blog first--there are at least 2 more important ones nagging at me right now, so expect those pretty soon.
Before this, my goal was "try to get 2 entries a month." That's hardly anything and I still didn't do it, because it didn't seem like anything important was happening. Well, this time I'm going to try to open up to the public a bit more. You'll find the books I'm reading, the writing articles I found helpful, events, and of course, novel updates!
So what's my new goal? Every other day. I'm not going to beat myself up if I don't do it perfectly, or if I happen to be gone every once in a while, but that's the ideal here. I mean, remember when The Third Face was first coming out and I posted every single day--sometimes more than once? If I can do that, I can do this.
Check back soon.
Thursday, October 4, 2012
The Tarot Method
Just the mention of the word "tarot" might make some readers turn away. It's one of those mystical things associated with psychics and gypsies and all that. Let's set aside the debate about whether the cards can tell the future and such. In this post, I'd rather present them as an author's tool.
Every tarot card has a significant amount of symbolism behind it. The name is just a label, and to understand it you have to know a little bit about the picture on the card, the history of the card, and its place in the set. What I'm getting at is, the cards are complex, and they're not always what meets the eye--much like a good character.
So, the tarot method is this: for each main/major character, choose a tarot card that sounds like him or her. Assign that card to the character. Now, whether you know the cards or not, look into the meaning of the card, and apply that meaning to the character.
For example, I might look through the names of cards and say, "Well, Lina certainly acts like (and is sometimes referred to as) a queen. She must be The Empress!" But I know that The Empress is actually a motherly, nurturing figure--nothing like Lina at all! Could that be a hidden side of her that gives her a bit more dimension? Certainly. Bam, character development.
I have 11 major characters, and I assigned them each two cards, one at random, the other through my choice. That leaves me with a lot to consider, perfect for expanding on what's already a complicated story--I have to keep this up for a whole trilogy, after all!
Every tarot card has a significant amount of symbolism behind it. The name is just a label, and to understand it you have to know a little bit about the picture on the card, the history of the card, and its place in the set. What I'm getting at is, the cards are complex, and they're not always what meets the eye--much like a good character.
So, the tarot method is this: for each main/major character, choose a tarot card that sounds like him or her. Assign that card to the character. Now, whether you know the cards or not, look into the meaning of the card, and apply that meaning to the character.
For example, I might look through the names of cards and say, "Well, Lina certainly acts like (and is sometimes referred to as) a queen. She must be The Empress!" But I know that The Empress is actually a motherly, nurturing figure--nothing like Lina at all! Could that be a hidden side of her that gives her a bit more dimension? Certainly. Bam, character development.
I have 11 major characters, and I assigned them each two cards, one at random, the other through my choice. That leaves me with a lot to consider, perfect for expanding on what's already a complicated story--I have to keep this up for a whole trilogy, after all!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)