Podcasts

So I'm 3 or 4 years late to the party, but I recently discovered I enjoy podcasts. Not just the ones I want to listen to for entertainment sake, but also ones I can use for my writing. There are ones geared specifically for writers, of course, but I've also been listening to ones about science, astronomy, pop culture, and other things that can give me ideas for stories, characters, subplots, etc. Pretty much anything can give story ideas, and podcasts are nice and handy, either at the computer or iPod.

As I said, I know most people are saying that I should have discovered these a while ago. If you, like me, haven't thought about listening to these through a writer's eye, I suggest it. Short post today, but I have some more podcasts to listen to. Until next time, keep reading and/or writing.

Open Script Jitters?

So I finished my first screenplay. The first draft anyway, though I doubt I'll bother polishing this one. I guess I got what I wanted out of it--a good learning experience. No, that's not true. I wanted something I could polish and see if Hollywood wanted it, though I guess the learning experience is good, too.

I have a problem with underplotting. I've done so on the novel I'm working on (though I believe I'll be able to fix that in my second draft), and I did it in my screenplay. Feature screenplays run between 90 and 120 pages. Mine clocked in at a whopping 23. Not fixable in a second draft without huge plotting fixes. Personally, I think I'd prefer to move onto something else instead of working this one to death. Oh well, as I said, I learned quite a bit, so it's not a total loss.

I think I pretty much knew going in that I didn't have enough story. Add to that I didn't work very hard on the characters, and I was doomed from the start. I feel like I did enough right, however, that I will try again. I enjoyed the process, and once I got used to the structure and the extreme show-don't tell rule, I did all right. The pre-writing had me down from the beginning, though. Now I know a bit more, so my next attempt should be better. I hope, anyway.

That's it for now. Until next time, keep reading and/or writing.

Screenwriting

I finally started actually typing my screenplay this week. I've found it is so much different than any other type of writing I've tried before. Usually I like to wing ideas as I writer. This means that I just go after my short stories with nothing more than a vague idea. I feel this helps the story overall, as while I'm typing, I'll occasionally simply ask myself what I can do to make it weirder/scarier/funnier/whatever it calls for. In my novel I'm writing, I made a pretty thorough outline, but I left a lot of wiggle room to do some fun things in it. The basic structure remains, but I still have artistic license in the project.

With my screenplay, though, I created a number of different outlines and I want nothing to go off pace. I'm worried so much about the all-important structure that I know my creativity won't be able to shine through. That's fine with me because I've already written it a few times, just without all the inner workings. I've already let myself go off on tangents while writing my treatment, which was basically my screenplay in short story format without dialog. Even though I'm just getting started with the structured writing, I'm finding that the dialog is flowing, but at a difficult pace if that makes sense. I basically know what my characters are going to say, but getting them to say it in a life-like way sometimes proves a challenge.

Next time I try my hand at this, I may take even longer in the pre-writing. Maybe the next treatment will be an actual short story, with dialog and everything. After that, once I'm comfortable with the layout and structure of the screenplay, I'll possibly even be able to do less pre-writing. I guess I'll see how it all works out. All I know is that it's fun to stretch myself into a new form of writing. I may as well end this now and get back to it. Until next time, keep reading and/or writing.

Writing Goals

It's so important for writers to set goals for themselves. Not just big goals that will take months to complete, like "I will finish my novel this year," or whatever your overall goals are, but small goals that help you keep moving. I think it's important to keep the goals relatively simple and small, or they could overwhelm you and keep you from completing them. I give myself goals each week, and I tape them to the wall right at eye level at my writing desk. This way I always know what I should be working on.

For example, I'm working on a novel, a screenplay, and various stories for children at the moment. My goal this week is to write 5000 words in my novel this week. (I use my word count in Word to track this even though that's not the way to actually count up words in a finished manuscript. It's a great tool for a first draft, though!) For my screenplay I gave myself the goal to complete my beat sheet for my screenplay, which I've already completed this week and have crossed out (a nice feeling to see it gone from the list). For my children's writing, I gave myself the task of coming up with 10 good ideas for stories that I can basically start writing at the drop of a hat. Ideas are a dime a dozen, obviously, but workable ideas are a little more difficult. In addition to these, I have other goals such as watch a movie (for research purposes), read a screenplay, read five short stories, and read 30 pages in a novel each day.

Goals like these keep me focused each day. I know what I should be working on, and I do it. In the past, I'd dilly-dally through my writing without focus, and therefore I got little real work done. With my weekly goals, I'm finding I get actual writing work accomplished. It's a good feeling, and also why I think every writer should use goals, be them daily or weekly. That's it for this week. Until next time, keep reading and/or writing!

Another Published Story

Here is a link to my latest published short story. It is called Find the Flag, and it is from issue 38 of Dark Fire magazine. I hope you enjoy it.

I've had this one written for over 10 years. I've always been proud of it, and my persistence in finding a home for it finally paid off. I actually had this placed with a print magazine back in the late 90s, but it went out of business before this story was put in it. Better late than never, right? Anyway, any comments you have on the story will be greatly appreciated. I hope everyone enjoys it!

Writing for Children

I'm pretty excited. I just finished a first draft of a beginning reader story. I'm going to put it away for a few weeks before I start editing, but I'm just happy that I've finally started writing for kids. It's also neat in that I wrote about 600 words and it is considered a book. Well, assuming I can get it published, right?

I've also started on a few ideas for magazine articles for kids. I don't know the market all that well yet, so I'm going to wait until I can get my hands on a Children Writers Market guide. The ideas are good, I believe, but I want to wait to see about article word count and all that. Small detail, but one that makes the difference between getting published and not.

I have a few ideas for longer books, both middle readers and young adult novels. I'm working on getting the first draft of my adult novel done before I start focusing too much on those, however. In the meantime I may try my hand at a few more beginning reader books. I had a good time writing the one I finished.

That's it for this week. Just wanted to post an update on my writing life for any that were interested. Until next week, keep reading and/or writing.

Sorry no post this week

Life threw a curveball this week, so I won't be posting. Look back next week for a new post. Until then, keep reading and/or writing.

New Story Published

I'm making an extra post this week because I found out my story, "Hypnotic Therapy," was published today in the third issue of the online magazine Cerulean Rain. Here is the link: Hypnotic Therapy

The link leads to the entire issue in .pdf format. My story is on page 30, so you can go right to it by typing in "30" in the page number section of the toolbar of your trusty acrobat reader. Leave me any comments about the story here if you are so inclined. If you haven't seen them, the links to most of my other published stories are in the DEC 2008 section of this blog (or you can click here for Part 1, here for Part 2, and here for Part 3. I'd love to hear comments there, too! Enjoy!

Scrapping a Project

I now know how hard it is to scrap a project after putting hours into it. My screenplay was going nowhere, and I was freewriting for hours on end to come up with ideas to get just the five basic plot points of the story. I'd get to the midpoint of the story and then nothing seemed to work. I forced a few ideas, but nothing felt right. I wasn't comfortable moving forward with those ideas because I knew the end product wouldn't be very good. Everything I tried felt forced.

So I tore my pages out of my notebook and started again.

It's the same idea, but I've gone in a different direction, and the process is moving much smoother. I'm hoping in a week or so, maybe less, I can actually start writing my first screenplay. I should have all of the pieces in order. I'm actually getting kind of excited because this is a new writing medium for me. All because I had the guts to tear out those pages in my notebook and throw them away. Writers need to know when it's time to move on to another project, even if the one that isn't working has been a real time sink. It stinks to not get a payoff from all those hours, but sometimes it's necessary. Even a new direction with the same idea can be counted as a new project because that new direction needs all the nurturing of a brand new idea.

That's it for this week. Until next time, keep reading and/or writing.

Music While Writing

Today I just figured I'd give an insight to the background noise I have on while I write. Why not, right? Like reading about the lives of characters, people like to know what other people are doing. It's why "reality" TV shows, entertainment "news" shows, and the like do so well. So I thought I'd give you a little insight into me. (Hey, who knows, maybe I'll be famous some day, right? Y'all will care then!)

I don't like to listen to music with lyrics that I can get caught up in. It's not that I don't want them to influence my writing; no, it's more because I don't want to stop writing and start enjoying the music. For me, at least, the music should simply be in the background. Luckily my choice of music, heavy metal, has many artists I enjoy where it's hard to make out what the singer is actually saying. It's perfect. I can listen to what I enjoy and not worry about getting too caught up in it while I'm creating. I also enjoy, for the same reason, listening to instrumentals such as movie soundtracks and Celtic and Irish music. They tend to make a good background noise option for me.

If anyone enjoys listening to music while they create something (doesn't have to be writing), post it in the comments section. If you don't like listening to music but prefer something else (even silence) post that, too. Until next week, keep reading and/or writing.

Random Musings

I'll probably use that title more in the future. It works for posts like this. I don't have much to say today, but I thought I'd give an update on how my writing is going.

I had decided to split my time between working on my novel and working on my screenplay. Then I decided that was kind of dumb. Why not just work on the novel, get it done, and while I'm waiting for it too cool down for the first set of revisions, I can get started on my screenplay? Made sense to me, so that's what I've decided. I'm close--closer than I thought, really--to getting to the actual first draft of my novel. I have the rough outline done, meaning I have it structured, who the POV character is going to be for each chapter, and the basic idea of what each chapter is going to be about. I don't want to over-plot since that takes some of the fun out of the actual writing process, but I do want to know a bit about what's going on with each chapter before I start. I'm hoping I'll actually be writing by early next week, but I'll see how the rest of the outlining goes.

I had a couple of early mornings in the last couple of weeks thanks to short stories. Dreams woke me up somewhere around 5 AM both times, and I couldn't think of going back to sleep because these stories needed to get written. The first time was really kind of surreal. I had a dream where I was a writer in a class and I wrote a short story. I don't know how well the story was received in my dream because I woke up before anyone saw it. I rushed to my computer, turned it on, and fired up Word. A little while later I had the entire thing written. It was actually pretty easy since, in a weird, twisted way, I'd already written it. I knew the beginning, middle, and end before I even dragged my buns out of bed.

The second time wasn't as easy. This time it was more of your classic dream situation. I had the dream and woke up with the idea burning in me. I knew it wouldn't wait, so again I fired up the computer and Word and got typing. This time I didn't have the whole thing in my head, just a vague idea that I found really cool. I wrote 12 pages that day and 7 or 8 the next, so I guess it really needed to get out of my head (I'm usually a 3 or 4 page a day guy). I haven't looked at either story yet, but I think they're pretty good (I'll disagree with that when I read through them for the first time, but my trusty red pen will make 'em good).

That's it for today. Until next time, keep reading and/or writing!

Writing Short Stories

Today I thought I'd share how I write short stories. I have quite a few floating around on-line, and I've just been informed that I'll have another published sometime in 2009 (making that two I'm now waiting on). You can look in the December 2008 section of this blog (My Stories Pt. 1; Pt. 2; and Pt. 3) for examples of my work--all but two of my published short stories are represented there.

Basically my technique for creating these stories is quite simple. I don't plot, create characters, or usually even have an ending. I almost always simply have an idea that sparks my interest. When I get one of these ideas, I just start writing (or I write the idea down in my Story Idea Notebook for future creation). Sometimes the story just jumps out of my head and onto the paper and it's all I can do to keep my pen up to speed with my brain. Other time (most times!) I spit out a paragraph or two and then need to tinker with the idea. While this part can be frustrating, it's also the fun part of writing, in my humble opinion. Creativity can run wild. After I've run a few "What if?" scenarios through my head, I'm usually good to go--until I get stuck again and run through the process again.

If I can get my story moving, I don't usually think up an ending until I'm almost there. It's fun when I get to the ending and am surprised with how it turned out. Other times, if I'm having trouble getting through the story, yet it's an idea that still excites me, I will make sure I think up an ending so I know where my final destination is. Usually this helps me focus and get to the goal. If not, I'll put the story aside, move onto something else, and let my subconscious tackle the problem. If it really is a good story idea, it won't be too long before I can move back to it and finish up. If not, well, maybe I wasn't ready to get that story out. And that's the good thing about short stories--they don't take much time out of your writing life, so if you need to abandon one, you haven't lost months like with novels or screenplays, usually just hours (or sometimes, but rarely, days).

Basically that's how I write my short stories. I just get an idea and write it. I don't turn on my inner editor until after I've finished the first draft and start with the revisions. One thing I like to do while writing, in addition to playing "What if?" is to ask myself how I can amp up the strangeness factor. It's a sure way to get my creative juices flowing during the writing process. Other than that, I just write. Sometimes I finish in one sitting, sometimes it takes a few days, but I write.

I hope this inspires some with their own stories. On another note, those of you who have been paying attention (I don't know who is--feel free to comment on any article!) may notice I did not post an update on Saturday. I've decided to publish this blog only on Wednesdays for now. So, until next week, keep reading and/or writing!

Bad Writing

I tried to start reading a book earlier this week, and I just couldn't get through the first half-dozen pages. It usually takes a lot for me to put down a book without giving it much of a chance, but this one destroyed many of the rules writers are told not to do. I'm not going to name the book or author, but I figured it'd be a good chance to go over some things to avoid when writing.

The first thing that screamed out at me was the banter between the two characters. The author feels the need to get some background information out to the reader, so he has the characters using the "As you know..." method. This writer doesn't come right out and have the characters start their lines with those three words of death, but the intent is the same. For those of you unfamiliar with this, it means the characters feed each other lines that are common knowledge to each other. If these characters were real, they would have no need to say these things to each other, yet there they are in the book, spewing common knowledge. It does work at getting the information to the reader, that's for sure, but it shows a lazy writer.

I also had a few other problems with word choices and techniques that forced me to put the book down. Believe it or not, some words are basically invisible to the reader, something the author can sometimes struggle with. As a writer, we are taught that we should not repeat certain words too often. Some words, however, are okay to use over and over. One of those is "said," as in showing who is speaking in dialog: "I didn't like this book," Eric said. Said can be used over and over, and it won't be overused. The sign of an amateur is one who uses describing words instead of "said." (For example, "I didn't like this book," Eric grumbled.) Even better, of course, is using action to let the reader know who is talking, and I must admit the author of this book did that quite often in the few pages I read. (An example of this is: Eric closed the book without marking his place. "I didn't like this book.") But remember that "said" is just fine. You won't lose readers over using it, while you run the risk if you substitute adjectives and other describers for it.

One other thing that jumped out at me to mark this author as a lazy writer was the use of adverbs. Adverbs can be helpful and even add something to some writings, but fiction isn't one of them. The author should find other ways to show what those adverbs are showing. If a character says something joyously, sure we get that she is thrilled, but actions and word choice would be a much better way to show this. Having said that, though, know that this isn't a deal breaker. I might not even have noticed if the other two things above hadn't grabbed me by the throat and made me look for reasons to stop reading this book. Even authors who profess that adverbs are evil in fiction have at least one or two of them in their stories (I've looked). If they are not overused, they'll go unnoticed (or might even gain power they shouldn't have), but if they're in the story often, they show amatuerism and lazyness.

Honestly (adverbs are fine for blogs, in my humble little opinion), if the characters hadn't employed the "As you know..." dialogue, the non-use of said and the adverbs wouldn't even have phased me. Once I saw the author being incredibly lazy, though, other things popped up into my consciousness. I believe this is a great lesson for me and anyone else who wants to write. You can get away with little things if bigger things are done right. Remember, a reader is more likely to put a book down after the first few pages because he or she is not invested in that story and characters yet. Deeper in, the reader will likely stick with it to see how it ends. Of course, that same reader may not be happy with the writing and may not pick up another of your books if the middle was lazy, so the lesson here, I guess, is to take the time to make sure the finished product is good all the way through. Adverbs and other lazy techniques are fine for a first draft, but make sure you get rid of them in the revision process.

That's all for today. I hope this article helped you; I know it helped focus me a bit more on the importance of strong writing. Until next time, keep reading and/or writing.

My Novel Writing (1st in a series)

I've decided what my novel will be about. And then I decided to start a second one while I was planning the first. Counter-productive, yeah, I know, but I have a reason.

The novel I decided to write has all the buildings of a stand-alone fantasy epic, with suspense, action, romance, and all the good stuff that go into a great novel. So if I fail to deliver, I know it's not the fault of the idea. I'm in the process of planning it out, which may take some time. But that's a good thing, as it'll make for a deeper story right out of the chute. I will probably run through my process of building and plotting and all the other good stuff at a later date, but for now I want to continue with the process first.

With the second novel I decided to start on, I'm taking a whole different approach. This was the one I was originally going to do when I thought about it a week or so ago, but I just couldn't think of enough things to make it long enough to warrent writing. With my plotting, it was going to turn into just a long short story or a short novella. Not what I wanted, so I hit upon a better idea.

But this idea wouldn't go away. I still didn't have the makings for anything longer, so I decided I wouldn't plot it. I'd let my imagination run wild with it and just start typing. If it was destined to not become long enough to be a novel, I'd at least have something written. And who knows? Maybe my subconscious has a plan for it since it wouldn't let it go. I guess I'll find out. I've decided to write at least 2 pages a day, 6 days a week to find out. So far I've written 3, 3, and 4, so I'm doing better than my goal. My other project is not really taking a backseat as I'm still plotting it, but it may be a bit slower than I'd originally anticipated. They are two very different ideas, so I like that I don't get them jumbled in my mind.

That's all I'm going to post for now. As you can tell by the title of this particular post, I'll revisit this topic from time to time (maybe weekly, maybe bi-weekly, maybe whenever I feel like it). Until next time, keep reading and/or writing!

Character Creation Pt. 2

In a short story I don't characterize at all. In the begining, I mean. I just start writing, letting story lead me. The character will grow organically, and if I've done my job, the characters in the story will seem real and well thought out. I also just push through to the end, not revising at all (but more on that in a future post). Therefore, if when I'm revising the story feels flat, one thing to look at is the characters. If they turn out to be nothing more that cookie cut-outs, chances are the story won't work. This is the time to tinker with the character, not at the beginning of the process. Make the character work. I'm the author, not the characters, no matter what others might say. The first draft is just to get ideas down into a workable manuscript, while the revisions are when I craft it into an actual story. Sometimes the entire thing is very close to done with the first draft (characters and all), but more often times it takes four or five (or more) passes through with a red correcting pen before the story (and characters) are ready to be presented as an actual story.

Novels are a bit different. As I've said, I've never penned a novel all the way through, but I have ideas, both my own and from what I've read, about characterization. First off, I truly believe it matters what kind of novel you plan to write as to how much characterization you should do. Personally, the stories I like to read and write are plot-driven. Characters are important, but they depend on the plot, not the other way around. I'm not going to go through a whole character checklist to find out which hospital the main character was born in or at what age he first sat on the toilet and pooped without diapers. It's not esential. I don't need to know that. To write, I just need to know the essentials of my characters to get started. All the little things that pop up to give a depth to the character are essential, but they can come in the process of writing the durn thing.

I've created my own little list of what I want to know about my character before I start. This list has six things for me to flesh out. I write a paragraph on each (more if it just screams out for me to do so) and go from there. Maybe this can help you, too.

1. Write a paragraph on the character's past.
2. Write a paragraph on the character's present (before the actual start of the story).
3. Write a paragraph on the character's role in the story.
4. Write a paragraph on the character's motives and goals.
5. Write a paragraph on the character's main conflict.
6. Write a paragraph on how the character changes (his or her epiphany).

I have other things I can add if I have them in mind right away, such as the character's most prominent personality trait, his or her habits, and other things along those lines. If, however, they don't jump out at me, I'll wait. Something great may come to me while I'm getting to know the character while writing. Or when something pops up in the plot that would make a quirky personality trait or hobby or talent relevant, I can think of something then. Or in the revision process. (Also notice that most of the list depends on having a firm grasp on the plot before the characterization process can start.)

My point is this: you don't have to know everything about your character before you start. If you think you do, fine, do it. But if you need permission to start writing your story before you know what presents your character got for his third birthday, consider this my high-five to you to get started.

One other point I want to make before I sign off for today: Notice I didn't add physical description to my characterization. I don't believe a character (the main characters, at least) should have much physical description added to them. Let the reader decide what the main character looks. Unless a certain physical trait is important to the story, don't bother. Of course, if the character's long legs get him out of trouble somewhere in the middle of the story (or especially if it's in the climax), make sure you casually mention that somewhere in the beginning. You don't want to cheat the reader this way.

Until next time, have fun reading and/or writing!