Category Archives: Writing

Building suspense

file51e162f9801b1It’s really too early in the morning for my writing process, so I’m wasting my precious time procrastinating.

I just opened my WIP, and I was about to do a thing, when I realized the thing I was about to do would make a great lesson. I was about to add suspense to a paragraph.

Now suspense means holding events up to cause mental uncertainty. You can do this in very obvious ways, like ending each paragraph in a cliffhanger, but of course this kind of lewdness only leads to things like bestsellers. You can also do more subtle things, like moving important details to the end of a paragraph. This, of course, doesn’t cause a great deal of mental uncertainty, but it does land the pertinent details at the end of the paragraph, where the reader naturally pauses. This gives an extra millisecond or two to let that detail set in.

So, back to my story. Here is the original paragraph:

Lance turned off the screen and left the little viewing room.  As he stepped into the corridor, he nearly ran into two men who were walking by. Lance recognized one of them and nearly screamed, letting out a little “AH!” sound. He was wearing a white uniform with a gun on its belt, and he had grown a pencil-thin mustache, but he was definitely the same man. The other man was Ed Bennet, the station owner. He had aged since making the video, but it was him.

And here is my edit:

Lance turned off the screen and left the little viewing room.  As he walked into the corridor, he nearly collided with two men. One of them was Ed Bennet, the station owner. He had aged since making the video, but Lance could tell it was him. When Lance realized who the other man was, he nearly screamed, letting out a little “ah” sound. He wore a white uniform now, and he had grown a pencil-thin mustache, but he was definitely the same man, Lance’s guidance counselor, Raul del Rio. He wore a gun on his belt.

Energy levels

C what I did there?

C what I did there?

Sometimes, I’m still amazed at how hard this writing gig can be. After recovering from the bronchitis I had last fall, I had several huge projects I wanted to get finished this summer.

Things have not worked out so well. Mistakes were made.

My first mistake was slogging through the re-write I was doing when I got the bronchitis. Once I had recuperated enough to finish, my creativity was tapped out.

Then, I immediately jumped into the next project on my schedule, a MINION sequel, instead of the next project I wanted to work on. This was a huge mistake, killing my creativity and ending with me throwing away 10,000 of 12,000 words written.

The thing is, I really want to do a re-write of the one science fiction story I wrote about five years ago. I have a friend who is editing a science fiction imprint and I’ve really wanted to work with him. Of course, just finishing a book is no guarantee he’ll want to print it, but I just thought it would be fun to submit something to him. I’ve been agonizing for weeks about dropping the sequel and working on this project.

This morning I gave myself permission to work on the science fiction piece, and I ended up taking on the MINION sequel with new vigor.

Seriously. WTF, brain.

Demicon 24

That's not a DemiCon. That's a demi bra.

That’s not a DemiCon. That’s a demi bra.

I had a great weekend at DemiCon, The Des Moines Annual Science Fiction and Gaming Convention. The author guest of honor this year was David Weber, who has written more books than most people could conveniently eat.

Like most conventions with “big” authors, I found this years’ DemiCon a little less intimate than other years. Weber’s fan club, The Royal Manticoran Navy was there in force, and in uniform. They’re a great bunch of people, but they do kind of guarantee that any talk with the author will be attended by at least 30 people.

Most importantly, I got a chance to catch up with my Iowa author friends, Adam J. Whitlatch, Lettie Prell, Mary Wilson, Lars Pearson, and Catherine Schaff-Stump. (I’m almost afraid to name-drop here, because I’m sure I’m missing someone.) Some of the best parts of the con are hanging out with people who have similar interests.

Oh, and how could I forget, I got to see a live show of Hor-riff-ic. There are a lot of riffers out there, but Hor-riff-ic makes me laugh the hardest.

Why Authors Annoy Me

Looks like a bit of a hippie, not that there's anything wrong with that.

Looks like a bit of a hippie, not that there’s anything wrong with that.

So there this guy, Russell Blake, who’s written a bunch of bestselling novels. I’m not familiar with his work as I don’t read thrillers. In his most recent blog post, he talks about why authors annoy him. Honestly, I can’t argue with him.

He talks about how a writer friend–whom I assume will not be an author friend after he reads Blake’s post–disparaged some of Russels works because his characters did not have an arc. He then snarkly, and appropriately, points out that the (probably former) friend in question does not sell as many books as Mr. Russell Blake–who I know only through this blog post, but his seems like an interesting guy. I would definitely have drinks with Blake, especially if he’s paying. Okay, so maybe I just like drinks.

In his post, Russell talks about how his friend will riff about the “rules” of writing. About character arcs and adverb use, about archetypes and climaxes. However, Russel prefers to write a good story, something new and exciting, a ripping yarn.

I have a bit of a different theory. Those rules are great for people who are starting out. However, once you develop your style and you know what kind of story you want to tell, they become less important. A good writer doesn’t depend on rules. A good writer knows himself, learns from the rules that others follow, finds out how they can help his work, and moves on.

Or perhaps I should say, fortune does not favor he who has the thickest and best-organized rulebook.

Then again, I sell less books than anybody, so what do I know?

Finishing

mortal_kombat_finish_himYesterday, I put the finishing touches on a draft of my book PANIC NO MORE. I started this most recent draft in October, and I’d expected to be done a lot sooner. However, I did not have the easiest time last winter, bouncing between illnesses.

The worst part about finishing this draft is not being finished with the book. I know I tend to be a bit of a perfectionist, but I’m pretty sure on this one it simply needs more work. Maybe time and a good reading will convince me otherwise, but right now, after X number of revisions–I don’t even remember–I just don’t feel like it’s there.

There are, however, good aspects to this. The manuscript is in much better condition that it was. And now, I can start a new project. It’s well beyond time I work on a sequel to MINION OF EVIL, and I’m looking forward to working on something a little more silly. I might even take a couple days off to catch up on my reading.

After I work on another manuscript for a while, I’ll come back to PANIC. And it will probably make a whole lot more sense to me.

Labels

ZDuoNAYesterday, I was reading through some critiques I had gotten back from my group. One person complained they didn’t know whether I was trying to write a comedy or something more serious. To this, I say, “Good.”

While my first two books might be considered comedy, I like to think they are somewhere beyond the norm, and they would look silly sitting next to 100 Mother-in-law Jokes, and other things that sit on the humor shelf in the bookstore. Minion isn’t quite Horror. Fangs isn’t quite Urban Fantasy.

In my new book, Panic No More does this as well. I did not sit down and say, “I am going to write X genre.” I just sat down and said, “I want to write a book with computer programming and Pan in it,” and I let it be what it wanted to be.

Razzle Dazzle

Someone posted this video of a young Liberace to Reddit today. The commenters all went on and on about how talented he was. This is true. Liberace was a talented piano player. He had skill, style, talent, and personality. However, it is a mistake to believe he was the most talented piano player in the world. He was merely the richest.

The same can be said about the writing world. There are writers that have great technical skill. They write great, literary works. They get outsold by Stephanie Meyer. I’m told this should bother me…. No. It doesn’t.

url

I would totally wear this.

Personally, I’ll take the glamour over mundane quality any day, because, as Liberace shows, people love a spectacle. And I want to give people what they want. If you can mix that spectacle with a tacit competency  that’s all the better. Does that make me a clown? Maybe. But let me share my favorite quote about Liberace.

My favorite story about Liberace:
Liberace called up his brother and said, “George, remember that bank I used to laugh all the way to? I bought it.”

 

In the future, no one will care

Last week I reviewed a science fiction piece that referred to a train capable of doing 200kph as a “bullet” train. I insisted that in the far future, a 200kph train should be so commonplace, they should just be called “trains.” In fact, having grown up in the era of “bullet” trains, I already think of them as commonplace. 

When you are writing in a time period, it’s important to see the world through the eyes of your characters. To me, my 2006 Honda CRV is a typical, small SUV. To the driver of a model-T Ford, it would have been considered a mechanical marvel. In 30 years, I’ll probably remember my CRV fondly, but as no comparison to my China First J49S-274Y 2040, which is powered by my own brainwaves, and urine.

cars

 

So, if you are, right now, writing a book in 1913 about life in 2013, and your character gets into his 2006 CR-V there’s no need to mention that it has computer-controlled all wheel drive, traction control, and anti lock brakes. Don’t even bother to mention how easily the CR-V blazes past the Model T’s top speed of 45 miles per hour with its 156 horsepower engine. In 2013, very few people  care about such things. They just get in the car and drive.

 

Rubber Duck Writing

The other day, I learned about Rubber Duck Debugging. The idea is a programmer describes a problem to an inanimate object, and upon reaching the problem in the code, they will more easily notice the problem

Photo by Tom Morris, 2011I’ve often noticed that one of the best ways to learn something new is to teach it to someone else. Also, a good way of realizing a detail you’re taking for granted is trying to explain a complex concept to a complete idiot. This sometimes frustrates the idiot, but it affords them a rare opportunity to do something more useful than convert lite beer to urine*.

*My wife tells me that by making this statement, I’m being unkind to complete idiots, therefore if you are an idiot and desire an apology, please send me a stamped self-address envelope along with the customary $15 handling charge. You will receive your apology in four to six weeks.

I often find that discussing my plot lines with my wife helps me sort out which scene to write next. While she is neither a complete idiot nor an inanimate object, I often find the exercise rewarding. Above and beyond the call of duty, she even provides me with valuable insights.

urlSo, the next time you’re stuck in your writing try talking it out with a lamp, or a rock, or your local village idiot. The results may surprise you.

Anxiety

If you’re not interested in writer insanity, you can stop reading now. It’s okay.

I don't think

I don’t think frogs spit like that.

I should be asleep right now, but two things are keeping me awake. I have a chapter up for my critique group this week. And I was having trouble getting into my scene today.

I’m putting this down, in public, on the blog, because people might find it interesting. Also, it’s like 1AM, so expect the typos to be worse than usual.

I re-joined my critique group recently because I like helping other people. I never intended to put things up for critique for any other reason than turnabout is fair play, and yet, here I am awake. What if they all say the chapter isn’t ready, or it needs work? I’ve reworked it more times than I can remember. Of course, I tend to forget things rather easily, so that might just be three times, but I’m sure it’s more like ten.

I think some, or possibly most, of the anxiety I’m feeling stems from the story itself. You see, when I write, I tend to take on aspects of my character’s personalities, and Nick Baker is just a little bit crazy. He jumps at the slightest provocation. He’s not one to poke around a dusty attic, or sit with his back to a dark room. Hopefully, he will be fun to read, but right now, he’s in my head.

Okay, second reason for crazy, or are we up to three. I worked on re-writing a scene today, and I realized I’d walked off the edge of the world. I’d always intended to do a complete re-write to the end of the current book, but now that the time is here and I find myself gun shy to modify a manuscript I’ve always put so much work into. Everything I write form here on out is just a first draft hanging on 60,000 completed words. The book could be another 10k or 30k or 60k long. I don’t know. Usually, I say this is the fun part, but today, I just got caught a little off guard.

I feel like I’m never going to finish this book. I’m not tired of working on it. Things seem to be going reasonably well. I’m just not working that fast, and there’s a bunch to do.

Yes, I could work longer or harder if I wanted to see things move faster, but I discovered long ago that I have my own internal clock and it is broken. When I’m on, I can give Superman a run for his money, but sometimes the gears just don’t want to mesh. I’m starting to think tomorrow morning’s not going to be a good day. What time is it again? Oh, yeah.

They say that everyone is a little crazy on the inside. I’ve just shared a little of mine, but blogging is an imperfect form of crazy release. I need to start stockpiling my crazy for the forces of good and channeling it into the manuscript.