Tag Archives: On Writing

Is it just me…?

I swear, it seems like the days are not just rushing by, but literally rocketing before my eyes.

We’re already three months into 2023 and I can barely remember 2022 at this point.

Anyway, as I pointed out a little before, I’m currently working on two things: A (gasp) graphic novel I’m working on with a wonderful penciller and my latest novel.

I’ve written before that the novel is moving along but I do still have to figure out the novel’s ending. I’m not quite there yet but when I do crack that particular nut -and I’m sure I will eventually- everything should fall into place.

As for the graphic novel, if all works as I hope, this will be the second graphic novel I’ve ever done… in collaboration with a wonderful artist, of course. My first is The Dark Fringe, which was the very first attempt at creating a full story…

I am loathe to get into too many details of this new graphic novel simply because we’re in the very early stages of this work and I’d rather start making formal announcements when the work is near release. I will say this much: The script is complete and if all works out, the book itself will be approximately 170 pages long. It will likely be released in three volumes at first before being collected into a single volume.

So far it looks terrific and I couldn’t be happier with the work of my friend who is drawing it.

Again, I’m being a bit cryptic here but revelations will be made when the time comes.

Until then, stay tuned!

So… what have I been up to of late…?

It strikes me I haven’t provided much information about what’s been on my plate -creatively, anyway- for a while now.

One of the frustrating things about being a writer is that it takes a while for something to get done. It is more likely than not whatever project I initiate goes through various permutations and what comes out often isn’t anything like what I originally conceived.

Further, I don’t want to give details up… I want the project to be released fully formed and “done”, and that means giving “updates” on a project have to be free of many story details.

At the moment, I’m working on two projects… or rather I personally am writing my next novel while a good friend of mine -an extraordinary artist- is working on another project I’ve already written.

The novel is roughly halfway done. I’ve gotten most of the details of the first half of the book in place but have yet to fully flesh out the book’s last act. I’m getting there, thought.

As for the project done in collaboration with my good friend… I saw the first few pages of it and I can’t wait to see more. Again, don’t want to give away too much but after all the shit I’ve gone through and the sadness and madness of dealing with my parents’ passing, lawyers and judges, and banks… it’s really nice to get back to creative work.

Let’s see where things go…!

On Writing… edits

As I’ve mentioned before, my latest novel, The Ebb of Time, is now available over on Amazon and I’m getting fairly strong interest in it… at least insofar as people are reading it -usually in what appears to be one sitting!- and that, in turn, encourages me to think that perhaps I’ve written another book that those who take on get into and want to see what comes next…

I hesitate to use the term ”page turner” but that’s indeed what’s usually in the back of my mind when I write these works. I want people to be ”hooked” onto the novel and its presence and hopefully get so into it they read it all the way through and indeed in that one sitting.

I’ve mentioned before, perhaps too many times now, that I find Elmore Leonard’s writing advice quite fascinating and, of the items he lists, this is my favorite:

Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.

What he’s saying is that your novel/story should be a lean and focused work, one that doesn’t waste the reader’s time with elements which don’t add to the story in any significant way.

There are many, many, many works out there that I’ve tried to read but have stopped simply because the author does indeed go off on tangents, perhaps over-describing what characters wear or getting a little too detailed about silly stuff like what they eat (This, interestingly enough, is something I see far too often: Detailed descriptions of what a character is eating and/or orders at a restaurant).

Anyway, for me getting a good first or second draft of a book is inevitably only the first major step in getting it ready to be released. I wind up spending many hours going over the work, revising it and adding -at first anyway- elements that I feel might be needed or, conversely, removing things that are either repetitious or don’t really add much to the story proper.

The repetitious thing is a real head-scratcher for me. I don’t know why but sometimes I repeat story elements and its not until I get to the editing phase that I realize there are these repeated beats/concepts. No major literary crime, mind you, but an annoying thing I do without meaning to. Often I’ll consider these repeated beats and compress them together into one and choose where best they belong.

But even when you’re completely done with your work, it pays to have someone read it after the fact.

My wife did this with The Ebb of Time and she found, much to my shame, at least a half dozen minor errors I made which somehow made it through my editing process.

Most were silly things. I would call a character a different name. On one specific page, the main character was called -twice!- by a different name and for the life of me I don’t know how a) I made that error and b) didn’t discover it before giving my wife the book to read.

There was one paragraph, a small one thankfully, that was almost incomprehensible as written. Another oddity that it made it through so many drafts without me noticing it! My best guess as to how it made it there was that maybe I did some revision on that paragraph at the very end and simply got distracted and didn’t add in all the words I needed to.

Again, though, we’re talking about very minor stuff. The name changing truly was the biggest issue but it was limited to problems here and there. The one paragraph was a relatively small one halfway through the novel and easily fixable, and I believe there were also something like two very minor edits of improper works/tenses.

Regardless, I’m thankful to those out there who are checking the novel out.

As is often the case with me, I’ve taken a few days to relax… and focus on some rather serious things I’m about to deal with regarding the loss of my parents in Champlain Towers… but am already thinking about my next work.

As is always the case, it’s something I’ve wanted to work on for a while, a general premise that should allow for expansion into a hopefully suspenseful action/adventure/horror book.

We’ll see!

On Writing…

Got into an interesting commentary tangent yesterday with some people online about writing and figured I’d cut and paste it here, if you’re interested…

The first bit is rather brief and involves what I think are two things all authors should keep in mind and/or do:

1) Ingest a lot of fiction, chew on it, see what works and -sometimes even more importantly!- what doesn’t work. The more awful a work and the clearer you can see what makes it “awful”, the better because that teaches you the things you may not want to do.

2) I feel author Elmore Leonard created a fascinating list of 10 writing tips but its the final one that I like the most: Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.

Yes, it sounds snarky as hell but there is a startling clarity to this.  What he’s saying is don’t run up the page/word count just for the hell of it.  Hone your story into a razor sharp book, one where a reader will love every word and won’t find their eyes glazing over at any points.

That led to this longer posting where I elaborate a bit about what I wrote above…

Like many would be writers way back when, I also looked into the “How to” books on writing, up to and including the Stephen King book which I mentioned way upstream.

The bottom line, I’ve found over time, lies in the two things I pointed out. I’ve always been super curious about reading and/or watching stories (whether on TV or Movies, etc.). After a while, I began to detect patterns to stories, some of which were eventually categorized in other works (the “hero’s journey” being one of the biggies, though at the time I didn’t recognize its categorization!).

And I was highly critical about the things I would read and or watch. I would see where the things worked and very much paid attention to what didn’t. If a book, for example, started very well but lost me at some point, I would try to figure out why it did so. Likewise with movies. And if I felt everything worked, I’d also try to understand why as well.

This subsequently becomes applicable to one’s own fiction writing. You develop that understanding of what is in your mind “good” versus what you feel is “bad” and you obviously try to steer your work in the former rather than later direction.

Experience becomes key. My first novel took forever for me to write because not only was it my first attempt at such a beast (I had written shorter stories before that) but also I was just finding what worked for me from a technical standpoint.

Today, as I’m about to finish off my 13th full work, I have an understanding about the techniques I didn’t way back when. As I noted upstream, I tend to want to start a novel with a reasonably clear idea of how it begins and, even more importantly, how it ends. This doesn’t have to be written completely in stone, but the general ideas should be there and should be intriguing enough for me to take the next step.

The biggest struggles I have are in writing the connective middle, getting the reader (and me, the writer!) from Point A to Point Z. Here I fall back on my memory of all the stories I’ve ingested and try my hardest to create something that is as unique as possible. I loathe the idea of retreading a story and strive to make something that is my own. By virtue of the fact that there are so many stories out there, mine cannot be some 100% “new” thing -that’s impossible- but I do strive to give readers a ride and surprise them with whatever it is I’m offering them.

And that’s where the Elmore Leonard quote comes in, especially when I get to the later stages of the revision process. I also loathe the idea of having readers’ eyes glaze over with either paragraph upon paragraph or page upon page worth of stuff that doesn’t in the end make your story any better.

Back when I was in College and had a creative writing class the teacher talked at one point about Henry James’ theory of the “organic form”, ie the idea that a novel or story is like a human body and that every organ, muscle, cell, etc. has a purpose in said story. In some ways this ties in directly to Elmore Leonard’s quote in that you want your story to be razor sharp and not have any extraneous (beware, highly technical literary jargon follows) bullshit muddling the overall work.

When I finish my first draft of a novel, in general it can be at a low of 50,000-60,000 words. As I revise the book in the early stages I’m often adding material into it and the book can bulge up to 100,000 to 130,000 words. But once I have the book “locked down” and know all the elements I’ve wanted to include in the work are there, I start to pare things down, to leave out the part that readers tend to skip. The book will then generally become thinner, word count-wise, and by the end I’ll have a work that usually (but not always) winds up in the 85,000 to 110,000 word range. 

On Writing: How I Do It…

I’ve always been fascinated by how authors write.

I’ve bought books by some noted authors who go into explanations of their writing techniques and I’ve found that, for the most part, there are similarities and differences but one thing is clear: They put in the work.

As much as writing is presented -especially in the media- as some kind of diversion, writing is hard work, at least for me, which involves considerable concentration and thought along with many, many hours of sitting either behind a desk or on a chair going over page upon page of material.

I’ve said this before but it bears repeating: When I set about writing a novel, it becomes something of an obsession. In quiet times, when driving or when eating or showering or you-name-it, my mind tends to wander upon whatever story I’m currently writing and thinking through scenarios and bits and pieces of the book and, at times, coming up with new/interesting material to add to the whole thing.

It’s almost like going into an OCD trance that can quite literally last for many months and, in extreme cases, a year or more!

But let’s take a step back and please note, this is my way of doing things and may not apply to other authors.

How do I begin the whole process?

This is the hardest part of the whole thing: Coming up with a concept you feel is worth pursuing.

It’s so easy to say so very hard to put into practice. At any given time I may think -when I’m not concentrating on whatever novel I’m currently writing- scenarios and possibilities for future stories.

Sometimes, I back into works I’ve considered before and/or not quite completed and revisit them to see if they’re worth giving a second look. Other times I’ll simply come up with an interesting new concept -one I very much like- and work from there.

There are no hard and fast rules about this, other than that the initial idea, however it came about, is one that I feel is worth pursuing.

In the novel I’m currently writing, I did a little of both. The story begins with a short story I wrote quite literally many, many years ago and always felt like it would make a great intro to a cool longer story/novel.

Only problem was at the time I wrote that original story, I simply had no place to go with it.

I subsequently got involved in my Corrosive Knights series and, following finishing that off and looking around for a follow up, I then recalled that original short story I wanted to expand upon all those years before and, like magic, the gears in my head start turning and soon I had an interesting initial concept which used the short story as the novel’s intro and went off from there.

But, just because I had an initial concept doesn’t mean the whole story, start to end, is all planned out and ready.

I started the process of writing this new novel and, as I did, the story morphed from something relatively simple/simplistic into something a little more involved. Often, it moved into directions I couldn’t have anticipated without the hard work of sitting down and typing away and/or thinking about the story day after day.

This is a standard part of my process of writing, by the way. Every novel I’ve written, every one, I start off with an initial set of ideas that appeal to me enough to pursue but over time the story inevitably moves into all kinds of new and interesting -and unanticipated!- directions.

Why?

Maybe because I can’t stand the idea of writing something that isn’t to some degree original/interesting to me as a writer… and I need to surprise myself with these new directions.

See, this is part of what makes for a successful book in my mind: I want to be as surprised and excited by new and interesting ideas as I hope I make readers feel. I don’t want to go through an “easy” route and write something that repeats other stories. I want there to be an unpredictability to the story being told, to offer surprises that make sense yet are just that. In as much as possible, I want to give my readers -as much as I’m able to- something they may not have read before.

That’s not to say I’ll always succeed at doing this, but I try!

If I’m very lucky -or in a good groove- I’ll have the first full draft done in a matter of 2-4 months or so, usually the later and in some cases sometimes longer.

The “completeness” of the first draft of my novel varies wildly but it usually represents a point where I’m comfortable enough with what I’ve written -start to end- that its time to print it out, read through it, and add notes and new material while starting the process of getting rid of any extraneous material.

There have been times I’ve decided to print out a “first draft” with significant chunks of the book missing/not yet written. Sometimes its because I’m unsure what will go into these sections and I want to step back and get a clear look at the book “as is” to figure out what it may need. Once again, creativity is the key as I’m coming up with scenarios and sequences.

Speaking of which, at this stage I sometimes realize sections of the book may need to be re-ordered. An action scene on page, say, 100 works much better if it is placed a little earlier in the book proper.

By the time I finish the first draft read-through, I have a printed copy that’s filled with red marks and notations. Sometimes, I’ll write on separate pages what I need to put in.

I take those revisions -and at this stage they’re pretty significant- and put them into the computer. I then print the whole revised thing out and read through it, once again adding in things that are needed, taking out things that aren’t, while cleaning up whatever I can. The earliest drafts are mostly about getting the novel’s sequences in order and making sure the book works like it should.

When we get around to the third draft, its usually more of the same: Going over the book, trimming whatever fat there is, and adding or subtracting what needs to be added or subtracted. In some instances I may realize that there are two or three separate sequences that work better if they’re merged together into one, or one sequence that works better if its split in two.

It’s like having Lego blocks and swapping out pieces here and there as well as sometimes moving bigger sections to other places.

This will go on with each subsequent draft and soon I’ll have the novel’s story pretty well “locked” down. All the parts will flow, leading to the climax and conclusion and there will be no need to either add or subtract sequences.

When I’ve gotten to that point, my revisions tend to move into the storytelling mechanics themselves. In this part of the process I become interested in streamlining the writing and making sure its as sharp as possible while leaving the story itself.

I’m an impatient reader and this informs my writing. I don’t like novels which waste page after page with what winds up being pointless dialogue or overlong description. While it may work for other authors, for me it becomes an exercise in “trimming the fat”.

While the page/word count tends to rise from the first draft until I have the story “locked down”, the opposite happens when I reach this later stage of writing. As I cut things down, making sure that I’m not repeating myself and offering the reader the essence of the story I’m trying to tell without the bloat, the word count now tends to start falling.

Soon enough I reach a point where my red marker is being used very little from page to page and that’s when I know the book is just about ready to be released.

And that’s when the reward for all that hard work comes.

The moment I finally hold a fresh copy of my latest novel and flip through it.

It’s an absolutely beautiful feeling!

…And so it begins… Again!

Last week Wednesday I flew to Texas to deal with some family business. It was a short flight and I was back home by Sunday morning.

However, before taking the flight, I was determined to finish off the first draft of my latest novel. It was a tight thing but I managed to do so, creating a more than adequate first draft before flying off and, on Monday, I printed the whole thing out.

Alas, Monday through Wednesday have been something of a nightmare. I’ve been super busy with other work and the stresses associated with it -and they have been just beautiful, let me tell you- and I haven’t been able to give the new novel as much time as I’d like.

Today, Thursday the 15th of April, I finally had some time to devote to it and I managed to work through a few pages. Not a lot, granted, but I feel like the book’s opening is pretty solid.

I also feel the novel is not unlike Terminus Island, my last novel, in that I feel we’re moving quite well here and I have a book that’s much closer to done than some of my previous ones that required up to 12 or so drafts before I felt they were good enough to be released.

In the case of Terminus Island, I wound up doing some five or so drafts of the book before I felt it was good enough for release.

I’m hoping the same happens this time around. If that’s the case, its not inconceivable that this new novel will become available later this year.

Oh, and in case you were curious: This novel will be an independent story and not part of the Corrosive Knights series.

I may well return to that universe after this novel -I still have story ideas!- but this concept proved too much of a draw to let go!

I’ll tell you more as I go along!

On Writing… More Stuff

So a couple of days ago the novel I’m currently working on seemed to somewhat come together after several months of working on it.

Finally!

I wish I could offer some kind of short cut to coming up with a story but the reality is that, at least for me, its a tough process that involves so much daily thought and consideration…

For me, at least, my novels have to have a special something to make them come together and be worth pursuing. At the risk of sounding really obnoxious, I want to say something with each book. I want readers to have some very complete work which has its beginning, middle, and end which, if I’ve done things right, will leave you, the reader, satisfied.

Hopefully, more than satisfied!

I want the work to linger in your mind, at least for a little while, and maybe get you curious enough to try my other works.

When writing, I want to create something that intrigues me and which I feel would intrigue me if I were walking through a bookstore looking for something to read.

For my current novel, I have what I consider a terrific start but wasn’t too sure of the middle and ending.

What’s changed is that I’ve now got an ending I’m quite happy with and which eases -and creates!- problems. On the one hand, I now know where it is I’m going to with this book. On the other hand, I have to come up with some juicy stuff to fill the middle of the book. I already have a few things so let’s see how it goes!

More news when it develops!

On Writing… Cracking The Story…

While I’m certain it’s different for authors, for me a book really starts to work when I’ve got both the start and, especially, ending worked out.

Before reaching that point, there’s plenty of thought put into my novels, working with situations I’d like to present or bits of dialogue that appeal to me.

But once I have that ending, I have something to work toward and that, in turn, allows me to more sharply focus on the stuff leading up to that ending.

I’ve often tried to put into words what writing is like.

It’s like creating a jigsaw puzzle from scratch, creating each individual piece and getting them to fit together -or throw them away- until you have a picture.

Or perhaps its like painting in oils, first creating a rough image then slapping on the oils, mixing them and creating more and more delicate shades and a more solid overall picture.

The part that can get frustrating -and, paradoxically, invigorating!- is that, at least for me, the final product is in flux, usually through the first two or three drafts at least. Its frustrating because sometimes one worries when and, more importantly if the whole thing will come together. So far, I’ve never encountered a situation where I’ve written over 20,000 words or more and then have felt the need to go back to the beginning and start all over.

But I’ve come close!

There have been works where I’ve written this amount of words and, while I still completed the novel I was working at, wound up discarding hard work in that word count range because it simply wasn’t necessary for the book as it evolved in my head and on the page.

Invigorating because with each “failure”, if one wants to look at the early pecking away at the book, you close in on what makes the story work and, like a dull blade, you’re banging away at it and sharpening it with each new passage/page.

So it is with the book I’m currently writing.

But yesterday I had a pretty big breakthrough: I kinda/sorta have figured out the novel’s ending -finally!- and now all the other pieces are falling into place.

I’ve been writing this book for something like two or three months now and have reached, roughly, the 1/4th point or a little past it, and now with the ending, things should move a little quicker.

We’ll see!

And just like that…

…I’ve begun my next novel.

It’s the way it goes, you never really stand back and admire your work but rather put it aside when its done and start up something new.

While I’m not totally done with Terminus Island -I’m still waiting for the paperback proof copy of the novel to arrive- the fact is the creative aspects of that novel are pretty much finished and, therefore, its time to think about what’s next.

I started doing so and certain ideas started creeping into my head. Next thing I know, I’m putting some of those early rough ideas into a brand new Word file and I’m off and running…!

I suspect this next novel will not take place in the Corrosive Knights universe, making it the first book in many a year that is set apart from that series.

…but…

Does that mean I may be leaving the Corrosive Knights and the various characters behind?

Hard to say. I still have that one “Epilogue” story sitting in my hard drive and I do mean to one day get to it but we’ll see about that.

Further to all this, given that I’m at the very, very early stages of writing this new work and there’s little doubt it will go through a lot of changes before I’m done with the first draft, much less the final draft, it is certainly possible it might wind up tying into the Corrosive Knights universe when all is said and done.

So, for now, stay tuned!

On Writing… Wear & Tear

The other day my daughter was on my desktop computer and complained it was hard to use it because the letters were rubbed off in places.

I have two main computers I use for my writings, and both of them have K350 wireless Logitech ergonomic keyboards like this one…

Logitech K350 Wireless Wave Ergonomic Keyboard w/Unifying Receiver | eBay

I like ergonomic keypads and have used different types. I think my favorite is the Microsoft version but the one I like is a wired keyboard versus wireless and I prefer the wireless version, as I like to sometimes kick up my legs and type while its on my lap. To do so, I need a full, robust keyboard like the one above, one that can -natch- fit comfortably on my lap. With the wired version, I can only pull it so far!

Anyway, this is what my daughter was complaining about, the current state of that keyboard on my desktop computer:

As you can see, the letters S, D, F, C, L, and N are pretty much obliterated because of my heavy typing.

As I said, I have a second computer, a laptop, which I’ve also paired up with a K350 keyboard. I use the laptop in another room, away from everyone, so that I can concentrate on my work and not distract/be distracted by my family. Here is it:

I know the photos look about the same and the same letters are essentially missing: S, D, C, N, and L. Unlike the desktop’s keyboard, though, the F key is still visible and, showing the laptop’s keyboard has seen less use, you can still see a little of the S, C, and L buttons, though not enough to actually read ’em.

Worth noting, too, is that if you look closely at the pictures, you see that the letters M and V, while still visible, are also showing signs of heavy use. In the desktop picture at the top, both letters are quite chipped away while for my laptop the M is going but the V is still relatively intact.

I point this out not to denigrate the Logitech keyboard, though I would say that maybe the letters should last a little bit more, but it is intriguing that those letters, S, D, C, F, L, and N seems to get the most wear… at least when I’m typing, with the M and V being the next level of most used letters.

Because you had to know!

😉