Tag Archives: writing

Jan 23 2014

Rewriting vs Old Writing

This is the start of my non-Talia novel involving Micki. The first section is the new section I’ve rewritten. The second part is the old section.

They say that protocol trumps everything in the military, that respect for the command structure and everyone in it is a soldier’s primary non-combat responsibility.

This simple little fact was what Micki Brandon kept telling herself over and over as she stared at the older man sitting behind the desk. She stood ram-rod straight, waiting for the order to relax, while the minutes continued to tick past.

What does he want this time? She thought. Is there something else he wants to lord over me? Or is there a fresh round of insults coming?

How someone with the disposition of a porcupine made command of any starship proved worthy of debate between Micki and her friends. While they glowed over the Captain and his teaching style, she had only negative stories to share. To her is seemed almost as if the man went out of his way to make her miserable.

“Micki you disappoint me,” he said finally.

Make sure to look at the prescribed six inches over his head, she thought.

“I’m sorry, sir.”

“I don’t get you,” Captain Alric Patton said as he rubbed the bridge of his thin nose. “Command has eyes on sending you through the command program and you act like it’s the plague.”

“I’m sorry, sir,” she said, “but as you know, I’m serving my required two years. I don’t, at this time, wish to make Fleet my career.”

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And here’s the old:

Micki Brandon looked at the man sitting behind the desk and sighed. What did he want this time? Was there something else he wanted to either lord over her or insult her with this time?

How he ever became the captain of a starship, much less command the training ship Barton, beat the mud out of her. The Captain loved to let her know of every little mistake she made and then remind her of it a thousand times. Frankly she didn’t know if he was trying to make her a stronger cadet or cause her to cry. At this moment it looked like crying was the front runner.

A scar ran down his left cheek, which emphasized every facial gesture Captain Alric Patton made. His hair had turned gray long before Micki ever saw him and, in her opinion, age had done nothing but make the man crankier. Of course, she could be wrong, but at this point who knew?

“Micki you disappoint me,”

She looked at the wall the prescribed six inches above his head. “I’m sorry, sir,”

Patton rubbed the bridge of his thin nose. “I don’t get you. Command has eyes on sending you through the command program and you act like it’s the plague.”

“I’m sorry, sir,” she said, “but as you know, I’m serving my required two years. I don’t, at this time, wish to make Fleet my career.”

Aug 21 2013

Massaging Final Draft

 

One of the hardest parts of being a writer is taking that final step to getting yourself published. Why is this so? Believe it or not, it’s where you spend the most time.

I know you think I’m crazy, but it’s true.

While actually writing the story takes time, it’s the hard copy edits, etc that eat up your time more than anything else. And let’s not forget the final massaging.

Now the final smoothing can be anything from a simple looksee to check for errors to giving it a final rewrite to get things in the perfect spot. Either way, that’s what eats up your time.

So, when you’re at this point, like I am, take heart and don’t give in. This is where the professionals are made and the chaff cleared out. Ones who don’t truly want to be professional won’t make this step.

So, hang in there.

Aug 10 2013

A Day In The Life Of A Writer

 

Today I’ll share the glorious world of a fiction writer. On the days that I don’t have to worry about anything but writing, this is how it goes.

11AM is when I’ll wake up and brew of cup of Starbucks’ Blonde Willow Blend and I sit down to play Scarlet Blade. This will take up a couple hours as I let the cobwebs clear from my wind. After that it’s moving on to a shower. Once finished, I then start to work on writing projects.

As I mentioned before, I finished the first Talia novel and have now moved onto a new project. However, with that said, I learned a valuable lesson. A couple days ago there was a thread going over at the Writing Forums that was enough to make me shake my head. ‘How Many Words Do You Write In A Day.’ Listening to the figures, it was unsurprising to see how merde comes out of a lot of amateur writers. I’ve learned that things are simple:

If you slow down, you stand a better chance of writing good stuff.

Why? Because it gives you an opportunity to sit back and construct your sentences, paragraphs and chapters better. You, as the writer, can pay close attention of every word you put onto paper that way, which will, in turn, cut down on the sheer amount of editing necessary when finished with the rough draft.

I learned this as I ended up hard copy editing this novel two times. After practicing since ’08, this shouldn’t be something I need to do, so I plan to help prevent that by slowing down.

If there is any piece of advice I can give is to do what it takes to make sure you pay attention to every word, sentence, paragraph and chapter.

Sometimes the turtle gets the prize.

Ok, once I’ve written between 1-1.5k words, I call it a day. Yes, there are times that I feel I could go on forever, but is the quality there?

Now it’s dinner time, which is the one meal I really eat each day. If I have 2 it’s normally a weird move…and three is very rare. So, I’ll have anything ranging from pizza to Chinese and then settle down for the evening.

Reality television, outside of Wipeout, has no appeal to me, so I’ll crank up the BBC and see if any good dramas are on. If not, I’ll plug the ear buds into the laptop and watch anime for a couple hours.

I end the day playing Scarlet Blade until bedtime. There you have it, the day in the life of a writer. Glorious isn’t it?

Jul 3 2013

Defining Moment in Writing

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That was asked on the writing forums and I think it’s different for each of us. Sometimes it can be an internal force that pushes you to do it or an external one. In my case it was external.

There’s a very wise woman on writingforums.org named Maiamamma. I won’t go into her background other than to say that she’s been in the business of books and scriptwriting for decades now. One day, I’d been posting away on the forums while piddling with a novel. She asked me a serious question:

“Do you want to be know as a person who posts on a forum or as a person who’s a serious writer?”

It was then that I realized you can’t do both. If you posting like made, then when do you have time to write? And conversely, when you’re writing (and editing) when do you have time to post? While I might cruise the forums before I start editing, or when I get off work, I don’t spend hours posting. I might leave the page open while I figure out what items on this blog I wish to mention on the one I have there.

What was the thing that made you choose to be a serious writer?

Jul 3 2013

Depression and BiPolar

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I read a post on the forums today, and I have complete compassion for the poster. The question was how to write when depressed?

As someone who suffers from Bipolar, I’m not sure it’s possible to be able to effectively write when suffering from clinical depression. When I’m hypomanic, I might get more ‘work’ done but it’s sloppy and needs complete rewrites to get it to make sense. On the other hand, when depressed, I don’t get much work done and what does get accomplished is wordy, slow and twinged in sadness. It also ends up being a miserable time to work.

Nothing, and I mean nothing, is worse then having Bipolar or Schizophrenia. For me my mood swings can sometimes be minute to minute but mainly day by day and it’s miserable to go through. When younger I used to a complete cycle in a matter of minutes. Someone or something would bother me, it would build then I’d rapidly shoot up into an explosion and then suddenly drop into a hole and feel like crying. It was miserable.

I’m not trying to help Big Drug with my next comments but I need to tell the truth. Nothing I’ve done in the past has ever helped until my Doctor found the right medicine combo. There’s no real way to self treat Bi-polar. It just doesn’t work…and the damndest thing is: it’s fairly common for Bipolar people to be great artists (and writers). However, if we don’t treat ourselves, the odds of killing ourselves and depriving the world of what we can do go up drastically.

I don’t have the stats at my fingertips but the rate of untreated Bipolar patients who commit suicide is higher than those who are. And that’s no guarantee that it won’t happen either…but it helps out a lot.

If anyone reading this blog feels like they might have Bipolar, than I suggest seeing a physician and let them check you. While it might cost a lot of money sometimes to get treated, you’ll feel so much better and happier that it’ll be worth it.

I hope everyone has a good day.

Jun 30 2013

Number One Writing Tip

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I saw a post this morning asking what was our number one writing tip. In all honesty, it’s hard to boil things down to one tip. So, here’s mine:

Get your story finished first and foremost.

Let it sit and ‘rest’ while you get the emotional connection to it out of your system.

Rewrite it completely.

Hard Copy edit: print it out on paper and read through each chapter.  I recommend doing it 2-3 times.

Make sure you print yourself one hard copy version of the completed manuscript.

When it comes to actually writing the story, my one tip is to let it grow on it’s own. I never outline my stories, I just create a first chapter through trial and error (it often times takes me 3-4 attempts to get one that makes sense and I like) and then it let it grow own it’s own.

Also remember, there will be times where you do feel like you’re shoveling sit from a sitting position. It’s when you feel this way that you need to keep pushing yourself forwards. I think you’ll be surprised at how well you’re writing really was.

Jun 27 2013

What is it with new writers and fantasy?

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That’s been a post covered on one of the writing forums for the past couple days. And this determines the price of tea in China?? Fantasy is what most of the people from 18-25 grew up on. Between Harry Potter and Twilight, that’s what they’ve been exposed to, which means that’s what they’re going to write about. Is this such a complex thing to understand?

Sometimes I think people spend more time on boards complaining about something and making a mountain out of a mole hill. If the dumb asses just sat down and WROTE then they might create the next Harry Potty, Hunger Games or be the next Rowling, King or Grisham.

The moral of the story? Quit wondering about things and just write. You’ll be better off for it.

Happy writing.

 

Jun 23 2013

1st and 3rd Person POV in the same book??

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Dear Lord, just say NO! I have read only one book like this and it was CL Anderson’s “Bitter Angels” and I hope it’s the only one! That was by far the most jarring, poorly flowing novel that I’ve ever read. Here’s why:

She wrote it in a very weird and annoying way. One chapter could be written in first person (the name of the character given) and then she’d write a second chapter from another character’s POV in first. Fine..I can deal with that…

Then…she’d make a third chapter in 3rd person with a third character. See the problem?

Trying to read that book was the ultimate in what’s called ‘head hopping.’ It became a pain in the ass to keep up with it all and ruined what was a very good premise. 

So, just say no!

 

Jun 21 2013

Suspension of Disbelief

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Another post that caught me eye, and shake my head, was ‘How to Make Suspension of Disbelief’ in a compex world? Huh?? Is it that difficult? Here’s the solution:

Suspension of Disbelief comes from the reader being immersed in the world of the book enough to feel like it’s real. How is this done? By the quality of your writing!!! So many of these questions have a simple answer: your writing is the key.

When it comes to creating a novel, nothing matters more then your ability to draw a reader into your world. That’s where the combination of description and characterization come from. A truly believable character can make up for a poorly described world. However, a beautifully described world can’t compensate for a poor, cardboard character.

The combination of the two, when done correctly, are what brings people into your world and then forget it isn’t real. See what I mean?

Instead of spending time on boards asking questions that have already been answered, my advice is to spend time telling a story! It’ll progress your career, if you want to be a professional, more then being a massive poster on various forums.

My challenge to everyone is: Do you want to be a serious writer or to be known as someone who posts under your screen name? Their not compatible in many ways.

I hope this has helped. Happy writing!