Well, here we go again today. After reading the forums for a minute I stumbled across someone asking about what kind of technology people would create if dumped on a planet with just electronic readers and work tools. Ok…

Why wouldn’t people make the basic technology first: homes, vehicles, roads, etc? This is simple enough that it’s not that hard to think about what would happen. Why would high tech be the first thing they’d make-as some posters said in response. You can’t build high tech stuff without having basic technology mastered first, so the ones that provide transportation, sanitation and food would be highest priority.

See, this is what I mean about writers needing to think. Or, at the least, do a Google search on what is basic technology that a civilization would need to begin. None of its difficult to understand; I just don’t think some aspiring authors want to do any kind of legwork to create their story. Which leaves me with one question: How do they expect their story to be believable if they don’t do the necessary research?

Sometimes I wonder about the future of fiction writing…

I’ve been sitting here carrying out my final edit and read through of the first Talia novel. On the television I’ve got the Syracuse vs Boston College basketball game on while listening to Queen on my Ipod. All in all, it’s been a very calm and relaxing evening while I’ve worked.

See, some writers say they need to lock themselves into a room with their computer/typewriter and not speak or see another living soul. I’m not quite that way. Oh, I’ll go to a different room but I’ll listen to Itunes while I write and who the artist is changes with my mood.

Tonight has been really fun because I enjoy basketball and watching it. Before I got diagnosed with Bipolar I was on track to be a successful coach, so I end up looking at things as a coach would. And the best part? I don’t have to worry about being fired if I make a wrong call! J

Either way it’s a fun night for me and now I’ll go back to work on my Athol novel. Once this Talia novel is finished, I’ll turn my attention to editing the short story that brought the little teen assassin to life. This, I hope, will get published in a magazine, but I’m concerned that at 9.6k words it might be too long. With any luck I can edit it down, but I’m not sure if I can find a way to remove 2k to make it a “normal” short story length.

Today’s song is “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap” on the Live from River Platte album.

One thing I’ve seen debated on the forums lately is whether or not writers need to rewrite their drafts.

Personally, unless you’re a perfect writer, I think you do. The rough draft-especially for me-is just my fingers vomiting onto the screen. This is where I get the actual idea onto paper and the chapters, etc written. Then I let it sit for a bit, then come back and give it a rewrite to tighten it (if necessary) before going into hard copy edits.

There’s nothing evil about rewriting something. Sometimes you need to in order for the finished product to be worth a damn. Don’t be scared to do that and don’t let the artistes in forums try to tell you it’s evil. Do what you have to do to make sure your novel is at a publishable quality.

And, once again, have fun!

Music has always been a friend of mine while writing. Right now I’m listening to “Street Fighting Man” by the Rolling Stones

I was cruising the various forums a couple minutes ago while I took a break from writing and came across a thread about a novel being too short. In it, the poster was wondering if others encountered that issue and what to do about it.

As someone who has issues with being more verbose then too little, while it’s not necessarily something I am experienced with, I do know how to fix it.

When writing a novel, especially if there’s more than one character, there’s room for adding characterization, expanding on a scene or adding POV changes. Sometimes you can do all of them and make it work.

One trick I do when I want to make sure my battle scenes are large enough is that I like to show the POV from both sides of the fight. There’s always interesting characterization to be found in a situation like that. That’s one way of doing things.

Adding description to a scene is another, but this you have to be careful with or you’ll slow your pace down. So, use this one sparingly.

My big thing is to add characterization. Add scenes involving all of the people involved and you’ll not only make sure you have enough words but will give the reader a reason to root for the person you’re writing about.

Each of these can help you out a lot, and I hope sharing them will give some advice that’ll help others advance their career.