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Showing posts from January, 2011

Note to Self: The Best Laid Plans o' Mice

Now, self, when you follow all those previous notes and have yourself a great chapter all outlined and thought out, when you know your characters and can predict their every move, when your plot is a shining jewel just waiting for a setting—things will still go awry. It's okay. Just press delete and try again—and again. And again! See, the truth is, nothing's written until it's written. A scene that feels like it makes perfect sense might come out all wrong because of one little thing—like it has too many characters, tries to do something it shouldn't, or on second thought, no, that character wouldn't actually say/do/ingest that no matter how much you need them to. Writing novels is easy. Writing good novels—that's hard. Some chapters are simply harder to get right, and it never gets any easier. Does it mean they don't belong? Sometimes. But not necessarily. Some things require sustained effort and long periods of meditation in a hot shower. Note to

Note to Self: Make it PAY!

You remember in The Hunger Games when the tributes all ride their chariots in a parade into--a stadium? Was that what it was? I don't even remember for sure. What I DO remember is how I felt about it. "Yes! That's so awesome! There's hope for the heroes!" That's what I call a payoff. It makes the reader feel something good, whether it be exciting, hopeful, poignant or whatever, it's a high point in the story. When you invest your time and emotional energy to read a novel, it's nice to get something back from it. In fact no one (masochists and academics excepted) will read a book that doesn't give them some sort of pleasure. (Forced reading in school excepted, as well.) The same goes for music. The very best, most listenable songs and compositions follow a pattern veeeery similar to the classic story form. We all know the story form, right? Well, it's not just a beginnning, middle, and end with a single climax. At least, not in my mind

Note to Self: You Don't Understand Women

I started out Novel 2 with ten characters. Five were boys. When I thought of another character I wanted, I made her a girl. Six to five is still pretty close to even. But one of the boys was dead weight, and he was the first to go. That left six to four. One of those boys was the antagonist, one was the main protagonist. The other two ended up with very minor roles in the plot. Two of the girls also ended up with minor roles. Are you keeping track? That means I had four girls with major roles and two boys. For reasons that are no longer true, the antagonist wasn't a point-of-view character. One of the girls became the point-of-view for the bad guys. And that eleventh character, the girl I added as an afterthought, has become a main protagonist, equal with the original one--the boy. Now I have a book with four female POV characters, and one male POV character. I'm not female. Note to Self:  If you're going to write a book just to practice and learn by making mistakes

Note to Self: I Think You Move Me

So, if you had superpowers, wouldn't your first inclination be to help make the world a better place by fighting crime, raising money for charity, or cleaning up the local government? If you were eighteen? It would be mine. Okay, no. It wouldn't. My first inclination would be to get rich and famous. What on earth possessed me to think anyone would do otherwise? I don't know. Early drafts of Novel 2 had impulsively good characters. "Hey, what shall we do for fun?" "I know. Let's start a non-profit to clean up and redevelop a blighted neighborhood!" "No, let's run for city council!" "Let's risk our lives to save strangers!" Actually, risking their lives to save strangers is probably the most realistic of the three. People actually do that. People do the others, too, but they have some connection, some motive, something in their lives that leads them to those choices. Note to Self:   Characters should have motive

Note to Self 2: There's Too Many Kids in this Tub

As I mentioned in the last post, dumping a dozen characters into a novel and trying to give them equal weight ain't such a good idea. True, I realized pretty early on that one of my unusually gifted teens wasn't contributing to the plot (which wasn't really a plot), and so I axed him. That left, let's see, NINE other unusually gifted teens to deal with. Plus a boyfriend, a mom, and a shrink. Uh... I know, it seems pretty obvious. Even the inexperienced I knew it was probably too many. But I LOVED them! I loved them all! They were great people, y'know? I mean, we've all got that many friends that we easily keep track of, right? Why should it be a problem to keep track of that many imaginary friends? For more information, see Note To Self 1 . You can't build a good plot around an ensemble cast that large. At least I can't do it. And if a picture is worth a thousand words, and video is thirty frames a second, well, you need a whole lot 'o words to e

Note to Self 1: Pick a Plot

So, when I was eighteen, I set out to write a novel. I had no qualifications aside from a good command of English grammar. I'd read a lot of science fiction novels, but as it turns out, writing a novel is a lot harder than reading one. I picked up a lot of what went into those books, but that didn't include structure, plot, characterization, sentence structure, or any useful storytelling techniques beyond coming up with a really freakin' awesome premise involving an entire civilization and/or a woman in a sexy spacesuit. I promptly fell into world-building purgatory and stayed there for over ten years. In 2009, I finally finished that book, kicked it out the door, and started on novel number two. And, as it turns out, I hadn't learned a whole lot in those intervening ten years, despite taking two creative writing classes. I guess one has to actually write to learn how to write. In the last two years, I've written nearly 500,000 words. (That's halfway done w

In Memory

Latest query attempt: Brian’s girlfriend Esha has always been sensitive to feelings, but now she can directly control them. It’s a logical extension of her natural charm, enhanced to something way beyond logical, and powered by the desires of other people—especially Brian. What he wants most though, is to stay with Esha, for nothing to change between them. Leah can draw power from others too, but the way she does it has led her to the brink of suicide. Esha’s ability to alter emotions saves Leah. She’ll do anything to repay that kindness, even risk using her own talent for remembering not only her past, but also her future. Leah remembers Esha lying dead, murdered by a desire-powered rival, Peter. After changing the future she saw, Leah has no idea what’s going to happen next. Just as her misuse of power once destroyed her mind, Peter’s power will destroy his, leaving him unpredictable and dangerous. If Leah uses her power again, she’ll know exactly how to keep Esha safe, but

Author Interview: Spendlove

And today we have a special treat: another author interview! This time it's with a brilliant, up-and-coming author who apparently has identity issues. I may or may not be related to this person, who is frequently called Spendlove , and whom I shall refer to by the abbreviation "S". Now, without further ado, I have a few questions for you, S. S:  I shall answer the questions for you, however, I want it noted that I am The Shiz, and there shall be no other Shiz besides me. IF:  Where do want it noted? S:  My left tricep. IF:  Alriiiight. Let's start with these basic questions. Never mind if they don't apply to you; answer them anyway. Are you still writing that novel? S:  Yes. Explicitly. IF:  Well, when will I be able to walk into Borders and buy it? What's taking so long? S:  Two words; Munchkin Encounters. Simply put, you have literally no idea what that's like. IF:  Are there vampires or zombies in it? S:  What do you take me for? Some