Category Archives: writing

The Good News Post

So, there are several bits of new news to share this chilly December morning.

First off: Because I have a minor surgery scheduled this week and then a week off from my day job for recovery that mean I will not be working any more overtime. The money is nice, and I love chipping in and helping out my team at Kaiser Permanente but it’s really nice to get back to a normal schedule that allows for writing.

Second, pivoting of the subject of writing, our favorite local bookstore Mysterious Galaxy is saved! They have new owners and a new location so the store will not have to shutter depriving San Diego book readers, un-employing its staff, or leaving its various book, gaming, and writing groups homeless. Truly this had made this season festive.

And HBO’s Watchmen reached the season one finale and for once I am not disappointed by a project associate with showrunner Damon Lindelof. Quite the contrary, this series was fantastic. Every element plays perfectly in tune with the themes that grounded this version of the story and all the major points and developments were well established. The characters both as written and as performed simply captivated and for those that are the older versions of ones from the sources material managed to be true to their natures while exploring logical and consistent change from the thirty years that had passed. While Angela Abar (Regina Hill) may have been the protagonist of the story Laurie Blake (Jean Smart) took home favorite character prize from this viewer. Where the original graphic novel Watchmen centered thematically on the Cold War and the ever-present threat of nuclear annihilation with those ideas and terrors informing not just the plot but the look and feel of the story this Watchmen explored the lingering horror, hate, and trauma of racial injustice and bigotry. Starting off with the slaughter and destruction of ‘Black Wall Street’ in Tulsa Oklahoma in 1921 and ending with crisis from Tulsa that threatens the world, Watchmen 2019 explores justice and the thorny issues confusing that concept with its petty cousin vengeance. Best off the season did not end with a plot cliffhanger. While the final shots left a terribly large question unanswered it did not fail to resolve the essential conflict or theme of the series. If there is never a season two the show is still full resolved and satisfying. Thank you, Mr. Lindelof, I do so hate cliffhangers.

 

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Scattered Thoughts

Life continues to be very busy. On this upcoming paycheck I will have 26 hours of overtime clocked so this post will cover a number of subject all very briefly.

 

I’ve been watching Star Wars from the ’77 film through The Last Jedi in preparation for the new movie next weekend. Of the original trilogy Empireremains the best in terms of character, writing, and filmmaking despite having no real ending. The original ’77 movie is complete but very simple and Jedi is hampered by an overly simple script. Finished The Force Awakens last night and Ford had so much more to do as an actor than he did in Return of the Jedi that even with the repeated beats from the first film this one is much better than Jedi. For me the only parts of Jedi that still holds up is the central heart of the narrative, Luke, Vader, and the Emperor.

Watchmen on HBO continues to amaze but I am still holding my breath to see if it falls apart in the final episode.

I have my next novel outlined but I am holing off starting until after the insane hours slow down.

I have a minor surgery scheduled next week. It will likely mean again another week with perhaps just a single posting.

I have also learned that at this time the plans for an audio edition of my novel Vulcan’s Forge has been placed on hold. So if you want a copy it will be hardback, paperback, or e-book for now.

The UK is leaving the EU and I hope that doesn’t trigger a cascade of economic shocks through the world markets. It also looks to have set up another round of Scotland wanting to break up the UK and if that happens what may happen to Ireland and Whales?

Trump is going to be impeached but it is highly doubtful that he will be removed. No one is coming to save us, it’s on us now. I think the Democrats should not focus on winning back former voters who went for Trump in 2016 but rather get to the polls those who sat it out last time. Attack your enemy where he is weak not where he is strong.

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This Hurts

I’ll admit that this hurts more for the employees of my favorite local business but it’s a dagger to the heart of the bibliophiles of San Diego as well; we may be losing our beloved Mysterious Galaxy.

Mysterious Galaxy a bookstore that specializes in Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, and Mystery, though they will order any in print book for you, is losing their lease and is in a desperate search for not only a new location but a new owner as well. If the search is not successful our cherished institution will close.

I have been a regular customer of the place for many years ordering nearly every book, including my e-books, from them. In addition, for about ten years I have been a member of the writers’ group that meets there twice a month and that experience has not only given me friendships but critical skills that made my upcoming first novel publication possible. The staff has always been friendly, helpful and knowledgeable introducing me to several authors I might not have tried without their introduction.

Fiction is full of last-minute miracles and we hope for at least one in the dark times.

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Book Launch Changes

Hello:

Due to a late conflict at the venue the launch of my novel Vulcan’s Forge has been moved from Thursday March 26th 2020 to Saturday March 28th at 2:00 pm and it is still at our beloved Mysterious Galaxy.

Some of you may be wondering how you can help a baby writer with his first book. There are a few things you can do.

Pre-Order the Book: Pre-order count more for helping the book than sales after the book is released.

Pre-Order at a local bookseller: Amazon is wonderful in its reach but it is impersonal and will not take note of a few pre-orders. A local store will notice and this can spur orders for its shelves, or even get an employee on board as a fan and promoter.

Post Reviews: If you get the book leave reviews, honest reviews even if they are negative, help raise a book’s profile.

Share posts and tell people who may be interested. Book are still on of those products that truly benefit from word of mouth.

 

 

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Not Doing Nation Novel Writing Month

Tomorrow is kick off for a lot of people who will be attempting to write 50,000 words in 30 days. This is an entirely achievable goal and I salute every person assault that mountain but I myself will not be taking part.

I have my system of writing and I find it works very well for me. I writer Monday thru Friday and take the weekends off. This keeps me engaged and I avoid burn out.

I will however be starting on a new novel in November. Just yesterday I completed the first draft of my outline for a new SF book. The outline clocked in at 8700 words, not my longest and not my shortest, and I discovered quite a few things about my plot, my characters, and their relationship along the way. I think it is during the outlining phase that I experience the same sort of discovery process that ‘pantsers’ having while writing their first drafts. It is also where the gaps in logic and plot holes first appear to me and I can fix them before doing the pick and shovel work of actually writing the scenes.

Now to draft a synopsis and run that past my potential editor.

 

 

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I Have A Release Date

My debut novel, Vulcan’s Forge now has it official release date from Flame Tree Press, March 26th 2020. (That year, 2020 still feels to me like some distant far away future.) The novel will be available in Hardback, Paperback, and e-Book editions. There will also be an audio book but I am not sure of its release date.

Because there is a release date that means the novel is now available for pre-order. I have already confirmed that at both major on-line retailers, that is to say Amazon, and at my local specialty bookstore Mysterious Galaxy, so if you are interested you can buy the book now for it’s March release. (I am informed that pre-orders count more for success than off the shelf purchases.)

 

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New Achievement Unlocked

The road to publication of my first novel has been long, twisty, and full of detours that sent back to square one but the destination has finally come into sight.

It has been an interesting experience as I proceed into new and unknown territory with phase of the publication. Submitted books and stories is something I have become quite familiar with but when the contract arrive for the novel that was new, particularly since I was navigating those waters sans agent. Then there was working with my editor. I must say that Don has been great, between his comments and the insights from Imogene the copyeditor I not only improved Vulcan’s Forge  I also learned things about my own writing style and hopefully have improved.

For the last two weeks I have been carefully reviewing the galleys for Vulcan’s Forge, scouring the PDFs for mistakes, typos, and the like. (And I must report that there have been very few. I adore the layout and look of the text. This is one of the principal reasons I sought traditional publishing there are far too many critical skills that are best performed by others.)

This morning I popped over the Flame tree Press’ website and saw that their Spring 2020 catalog was posted and there on page 28 was my book.

I was not ready for the emotional experience. There is a vast gulf between thinking about a thing and seeing that actual thing come into reality. It’s an excitement I have looked forward to and now it makes my fingers tremble and my heart flutter.

There can only be one ‘first time’ and I am so happy to share mine with Flame Tree.

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Choice versus Ability: What RPGs Can Teach Us About Writing

The other day I listened to the episode of the podcast Scriptnotes  where the two hosts, Craig and John played the role-playing game Fiasco  with a fellow writer and it sparked some thoughts about story telling and how characters become compelling. John and Craig in addition to being successful screenwriters, show runner, novelists, and playwrights, are role-play gamers notably playing Dungeons and Dragons  the wellspring of all role-play gaming today so listening to them play Fiasco  a game that is entirely focused on storytelling with only extremely limited mechanics intrigued me, especially since I had thoroughly enjoyed the episode of the web series Tabletop  where I first learned of Fiasco.

In Dungeons and Dragons  characters have a well defined set of abilities, usually derived from a ‘class’ that defines the character profession, thief, wizard, warrior, and so one but in Fiasco  the only thing that defines a character is their relationships to the other characters of the game. There are not statistics for physical or mental abilities, no rule set for determining if a gunshot hits a target or misses, in short characters have no defined abilities whatsoever. A Fiasco character is defined by their choices and in fiction writing it is the same.

In fiction a character’s attempt at any action is not random determine by lucky or unlucky dice rolls but success is predetermined by the author compelled by the needs of the text. The character’s abilities are there to allow the possibility of success at any particular action but not to drive that action. What makes a character compelling is the choices that they make. If you can remove the character from the action and replace them with another person with a similar skill set and nothing changes then it is likely that your character is not very compelling. It is the choice that defines the character, it is in agonizing dilemmas where there are no good choices that forces a character to grow and confront their own true nature.  From quiet dramas such as The Remains of the Day  and Mr. Stevens choice to not speak up and tell Miss Kensington how he really feels to special effects spectaculars such as Captain America: Civil War  where Steve has to decide to confess to Tony Star the truth that he had kept secret the truth of Stark’s parents’ murder it is the choice that a character that makes them empathetic.

Abilities can be switched out, anyone can be an expert of some skill ort knowledge but only this particular person with this particular background and experience can be tortured with a specific choice and there you will find the compelling character.

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Sometimes You Should Look Back

The other night I was thinking about a failed novel I wrote several years earlier. The thought was perhaps I could go back re-read the manuscript and approach the idea fresh and see if I could write a new version absent the flaws that had been exposed at its beta read.

The first shocker was the dates on the files. Nine Years? Really? Where had the time gotten?

Okay it’s been awhile, onto reading the first scene of that novel. (It was late and bed was fast approaching. Anyway a part of my brain did recognize that this behavior was mostly avoidance because a shiny new project is always more alluring than the pick and spade work of any current Work In progress.)

Okay, that opening scene is far beyond my currently level of craft.

It wasn’t terrible, so there is that, but it was fatally flawed in its prose execution.

There’s danger when you look at a historical piece of your own art that the lack of competence will damage your confidence in your present works. After all at the time I wrote the novel and invited others to beta read it I thought I had performed decently and I think I am doing so my current projects. Am I as deluded now as I was then?

In some ways absolutely.

Artists are often the worse judges of their own material, simultaneously blind to some faults and hyper aware of others. This is why feedback is vital. Good, honest, and constructive feedback is the super serum that lifts our mediocre efforts into competent works.

However there is a flip side to the self-blindness and that is it can make it difficult to see the progress we have actually achieved.

The flaws in the prose in that novel from 2010 also are an indication of the progression I have reached. In that time I have, in gamer lingo, leveled up several times since writing that manuscript. The characters, the concepts, and the setting of the novel are all still quite compelling to me and if I choose to attempt it again the prose will be substantially better.

I am not depressed by the awfulness of that earlier work I am energized by how easily I can see it and the numerous ideas for how to do it better.

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The Delicate Balance of Character Death in Sequels

Over several nights this week, and I am still not finished I have been watching Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th. The documentary covers the entire span of the iconic slasher/horror film franchise and has a running time that is close the seven hours. I am a movie buff and while I have seen a few of the Friday the 13th  installments I am by far not an engaged fan of the series but I adore learning about films and their production.

Adrienne King who played final girl Alice in the initial film spoke about how many fans reacted badly to her characters quick and unceremonious death in the following sequel and my thoughts instantly flashed to Alien 3  and how the characters of Hicks and Newt were also cruelly dispatched simply to make way for the next batch of Purina Alien Chow.

Sequels are already tricky things to manage. People loved the first story and want more, deviate too wildly from the established tone and elements of that instigating tale and people will feel cheated, that they did not get what was promised on the tine, but hew too closely to the original plot and structure and people will be bored as you simply repeat the original with mere cosmetic changes. What Friday the 13th Part 2  and Alien 3 exemplify is the dangers of ignores the audiences emotional investment in the previous episodes. A story, prose or cinematic, succeeds when the audience become emotionally invested in the fate of the characters. This is particularly true in films where the conclusion presents few surviving characters of which horror films excel. Alice in Friday the 13th  is the ‘final girl’ and her survival is the emotional heartbeat of the movie, giving the audience its catharsis and exhilaration with the story climax. People are excited by her survival after attaching their fears to her for the run of the film. Alice matters. But her off-hand death at the start of the next film is an unintentional swipe at the audience. It is calling them suckers for caring about Alice, or Hicks and Newt for that matter, because all of that drama and tension and terror were meaningless. Those cruel and thoughtless character deaths invalidate all of the emotional toil and payoff of the previous franchise installments.

Does this mean you can’t kill surviving characters in the following sequels? No, of course not. What it means is that a sequel needs to be very careful in which characters fall and the manner in which they fall. Off-handedly removing character simply to make room for new ones is disrespectful to the audiences and their deep emotional attachments. If a character that survived an earlier episode must appear and die in a sequel then that death must be important to the plot and development of the story and it must be driven by the character’s choices. It need not be a ‘heroic’ death, though that is a clear option but it must not be a death that could have been filled by a stand in. Remember that sequel have a carry over emotional effect, the audience are in a heightened state filled with the memories of beloved characters in dramatic tension do not disrespect them.

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