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,
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
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!
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Exploring Characters
So what exactly can you expect from the second edition of The Third Face? I kind of hinted that I want it to be longer, but besides that there's really been little about the actual content of this update.
First and foremost, I want to take a look at each of my characters. Some of them have had plenty of time in the limelight, and others didn't appear at all until the last few chapters. It seemed as if I did that with no rhyme or reason other than what made sense with the flow of the story.
But the book could grow significantly if I gave all those other characters their own sides of the story, in full. I mean, there's been a lot of just vaguely mentioning what people were up to, and that kind of continued in The Demon's Guardian, admittedly. I don't think that's really necessary, because there's definitely a lot of room for expansion with such a short book!
Not only do I want to spend more time on each character, I want to add some smaller things to help them come alive. What's the character's worst fear? Does he or she have a nervous tic? What foods do they like best? I won't just add these things in for their own sake, but when I get the chance I'd like to demonstrate some of them over the course of the trilogy.
There's one other way I want to expand on my characters, but I think that one deserves its own entry, so check back in about a week for that!
First and foremost, I want to take a look at each of my characters. Some of them have had plenty of time in the limelight, and others didn't appear at all until the last few chapters. It seemed as if I did that with no rhyme or reason other than what made sense with the flow of the story.
But the book could grow significantly if I gave all those other characters their own sides of the story, in full. I mean, there's been a lot of just vaguely mentioning what people were up to, and that kind of continued in The Demon's Guardian, admittedly. I don't think that's really necessary, because there's definitely a lot of room for expansion with such a short book!
Not only do I want to spend more time on each character, I want to add some smaller things to help them come alive. What's the character's worst fear? Does he or she have a nervous tic? What foods do they like best? I won't just add these things in for their own sake, but when I get the chance I'd like to demonstrate some of them over the course of the trilogy.
There's one other way I want to expand on my characters, but I think that one deserves its own entry, so check back in about a week for that!
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Rewrite
Now for the most overdue post in the history of this blog: the one where I announce the thing I've already announced everywhere else.
If you haven't bought The Third Face yet, get over to Smashwords and grab it for FREE this week! On September 29th, the version I originally published is going to disappear forever.
That's because I've decided it needs a complete rewrite. Spending a couple of hours in Creative Writing class, combined with my regrets about the story, confirmed that for me. I mean, in that class, I actually LIKE reading the textbook! It's a good class, and even though we're completely focused on poetry, it all applies to novel writing, too.
Thus, this book is going to be completely unavailable for, perhaps, a few months. But it will be completely worth it for the places I'm going to take it--this time, I can rightly refer to it as a novel, rather than the novella it really is. At least, that's my hope.
If you haven't bought The Third Face yet, get over to Smashwords and grab it for FREE this week! On September 29th, the version I originally published is going to disappear forever.
That's because I've decided it needs a complete rewrite. Spending a couple of hours in Creative Writing class, combined with my regrets about the story, confirmed that for me. I mean, in that class, I actually LIKE reading the textbook! It's a good class, and even though we're completely focused on poetry, it all applies to novel writing, too.
Thus, this book is going to be completely unavailable for, perhaps, a few months. But it will be completely worth it for the places I'm going to take it--this time, I can rightly refer to it as a novel, rather than the novella it really is. At least, that's my hope.
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Change of Plans
Every writer, at some point, has to deal with their "normal" job and/or education getting in the way. I'd say that point is going to come for me pretty soon here.
Due to unforeseen circumstances, instead of just the occasional class here and there, I'm suddenly taking 13 credits this semester, and art isn't one of them. That wouldn't be a problem if I didn't also have a job. I made sure I don't have work and class on the same days, but the homework load is going to be a bit of a problem.
That starts in September, which is the month I was thinking about starting on a second draft of The Demon's Guardian (not to mention some extras for the series that are still under wraps). Needless to say, that's pretty much going out the window. I'm not even sure if I'll make NaNoWriMo this November, which would be a crying shame after winning 4 years in a row.
In fact, my secret goal was to release The Demon's Guardian as early as December, but my college semester doesn't even end until then. So, if I want to write, I'll have to squeeze it in with whatever moments I get. That probably means there will be even less time for this blog, but it's okay. I'll keep you updated with whatever is happening.
Or I'll try. I probably should have mentioned that my first draft was done on the 4th as scheduled. Belated hooray!
Due to unforeseen circumstances, instead of just the occasional class here and there, I'm suddenly taking 13 credits this semester, and art isn't one of them. That wouldn't be a problem if I didn't also have a job. I made sure I don't have work and class on the same days, but the homework load is going to be a bit of a problem.
That starts in September, which is the month I was thinking about starting on a second draft of The Demon's Guardian (not to mention some extras for the series that are still under wraps). Needless to say, that's pretty much going out the window. I'm not even sure if I'll make NaNoWriMo this November, which would be a crying shame after winning 4 years in a row.
In fact, my secret goal was to release The Demon's Guardian as early as December, but my college semester doesn't even end until then. So, if I want to write, I'll have to squeeze it in with whatever moments I get. That probably means there will be even less time for this blog, but it's okay. I'll keep you updated with whatever is happening.
Or I'll try. I probably should have mentioned that my first draft was done on the 4th as scheduled. Belated hooray!
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