Yes Today is January Seventh 2018
Despite what the first post says. Juast so you know.
Sunday, January 7, 2018
Thursday, November 23, 2017
Welcome to the Jaded Walker!
Welcome to the Jaded Walker!
My name is Charlie Wayne Bell, and I am the author of the fantasy novel "The Majik of Spark" available on the Amazon Kindle. The rest of the details are available on my Author Page link.
A second book of the planned trilogy is already underway.
The Jaded Walker is not a new blog, but one that I am resurrecting. I have my own topics I like to write about, but what I really want is to hear from you on whatever topics you like. Once we get to know each other, I may even let my meme, the Jaded Walker, weigh in as well.
One of my other passions is the online game "World of Warcraft" and those interested should check the blog "Wild Family Adventurers" for the almost daily dealings of my characters. I now wish I had named the blog something else, but I'm very fond of it now and so the name stays. "Wildshard" is the name of my main character in the game.
There is older content you are welcome to read. I went through a lot before I settled on the final form of the book. It's messy, but then writing often is.
That's my intro.
Let me know what think.
My name is Charlie Wayne Bell, and I am the author of the fantasy novel "The Majik of Spark" available on the Amazon Kindle. The rest of the details are available on my Author Page link.
A second book of the planned trilogy is already underway.
The Jaded Walker is not a new blog, but one that I am resurrecting. I have my own topics I like to write about, but what I really want is to hear from you on whatever topics you like. Once we get to know each other, I may even let my meme, the Jaded Walker, weigh in as well.
One of my other passions is the online game "World of Warcraft" and those interested should check the blog "Wild Family Adventurers" for the almost daily dealings of my characters. I now wish I had named the blog something else, but I'm very fond of it now and so the name stays. "Wildshard" is the name of my main character in the game.
There is older content you are welcome to read. I went through a lot before I settled on the final form of the book. It's messy, but then writing often is.
That's my intro.
Let me know what think.
Wednesday, March 8, 2017
From Website to Blog
From Website to Blog
With my new mandate to restart my art and writing business, I chose to start by setting up my website. I was once an IT (information technology) guy and that included the building of two websites on my own. I can't keep up anymore with the new waves of technology that keep coming up, but I can still handle the easier stuff. I hope.
I retired my last website more than a year ago because it became too unwieldy and difficult to maintain. I'm taking a slightly different approach this time. Instead of a website, I am going to use a Blog, which is like an informal kind of website. The JadedWalker blog that you are reading right now is one of my blogs. I need to upgrade the content and capabilities, though, to get the full benefits of my website-like blog.
I have a tendency to tinker, and the tinkering tends to cause problems I then have to figure out how to fix. So, I'm not going to make changes to The JadedWalker blog. I'm going to start a new blog so I can tinker with it, learning the features and capabilities I want.
My intent is to use that new knowledge to build a new website-like blog that will become my main online presence. I haven't decided whether The JadedWalker will remain separate or be incorporated into the new blog.
Follow along as I figure this out. And anyone with experience with this is welcome to weigh in with suggestions and tips!
With my new mandate to restart my art and writing business, I chose to start by setting up my website. I was once an IT (information technology) guy and that included the building of two websites on my own. I can't keep up anymore with the new waves of technology that keep coming up, but I can still handle the easier stuff. I hope.
I retired my last website more than a year ago because it became too unwieldy and difficult to maintain. I'm taking a slightly different approach this time. Instead of a website, I am going to use a Blog, which is like an informal kind of website. The JadedWalker blog that you are reading right now is one of my blogs. I need to upgrade the content and capabilities, though, to get the full benefits of my website-like blog.
I have a tendency to tinker, and the tinkering tends to cause problems I then have to figure out how to fix. So, I'm not going to make changes to The JadedWalker blog. I'm going to start a new blog so I can tinker with it, learning the features and capabilities I want.
My intent is to use that new knowledge to build a new website-like blog that will become my main online presence. I haven't decided whether The JadedWalker will remain separate or be incorporated into the new blog.
Follow along as I figure this out. And anyone with experience with this is welcome to weigh in with suggestions and tips!
Thursday, March 2, 2017
Hitting the Reset Button
Hitting the Reset Button
Since you are reading this, you know that I last added to this blog on August 3rd, 2016. That's six months ago and then some. This post is my mea culpa. I want to get all the broken issues out of the way so that I can get back to doing what I love to do - writing and drawing. Please hang with me for a few paragraphs, and if you like what you read please sign up and follow this blog.
I'm doing my taxes and came across the paperwork for my home business. Frankly, it needs a great deal of work. I want to do a lot better in 2017 than I did in 2016. I have a lot of ideas in my head and scattered through my PC but I have never really put real effort into getting it organized. I have broken websites galore that I sometimes fuss over but never get anything done about it. I have a sort of finished book that is gathering dust. I have artwork but don't take the time to promote or sell it. So - 2017 is the year I make a real go of it.
I am laying out a business model to help guide me through it, starting with my name.
My Name - Such a simple thing, but I have used so many different names on my work, mostly because my name is so ordinary. I can't even steal from my wife, who's maiden name is Jones. My full formal name is Charles Wayne Bell Jr. Should I use it? The short form is Charlie Bell. Both are very common names. What about Charlie Bell Winningham, from my Mom's side of the family? Eh, not really. Umm, Charlie Bell Jr? Sigh. I grew up being called Junior, which was okay for a kid, but not an adult. The one I like the most isn't even my name: J Walker Bell. "Walker" comes from another thread of our families. The only published work I have online is a short story collection with that name on the title. Thinking on it, I decided to stay with the formal name most people know me by: Charles W Bell, and "Charlie Bell" among friends and family.
So, here is my business model: I am an independent writer and artist. The focus of my work is in science fiction/fantasy and abstract art.
Title: Charles W Bell
Author and Artist
Brief Biography:
I am a published author of several science fiction and fantasy short stories that have long gone out of circulation. I have an unpublished novel that has lain dormant for close to two years. That is sobering and embarrassing, but facts are facts.
I can't recover the past. But it's not all bad. The artist side of me woke up recently. In 2016 I published a booklet showcasing my unique abstract coloring book titled "Uniquely Original Art Coloring Book for Adults." I made some sales. It was a start. I am currently working on "The Gitmo Project," which is a true story about the three years I spent as a child in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
These are just pieces. I need to bring it all together into a plan I can make work. My goals are simple:
(1) Publish my novel "The Majik of Spark."
(2) Expand and promote my abstract artistic work. I am planning a second coloring book of abstract art. In addition, I have had some success including a personal touch by adding a name for a small additional price. Another idea I am working on would present themed coloring books, such as monsters, flowers, flying things, etc, taken from earlier work tied to the same theme.
(3) Continue to meet with writer's groups and participate in events. I miss too many meetings, and my goal is to participate more often. Please poke and prod at me when I fail. I have a terrible memory and every device I've tried to use to keep track of appointments has given up in frustration. But I try.
(4) Continue to do public readings whenever possible. The writer's group has a schedule of events where public readings are given. I should be looking for more opportunities along those lines.
(5) Dust off this writer's blog and work to expand my followers. Before I go, I'd like to add one more introduction. I started calling my blog "The Jadedwalker" back when I was using the pen name J Walker Bell. I also created a gnome-like image of the same name. The JadedWalker is a form of meme I've kept through many phases of my writing. He is my anchor amid the flood of miss-directions I've taken over many years of writing. I continue to learn from him. And from you.
Since you are reading this, you know that I last added to this blog on August 3rd, 2016. That's six months ago and then some. This post is my mea culpa. I want to get all the broken issues out of the way so that I can get back to doing what I love to do - writing and drawing. Please hang with me for a few paragraphs, and if you like what you read please sign up and follow this blog.
I'm doing my taxes and came across the paperwork for my home business. Frankly, it needs a great deal of work. I want to do a lot better in 2017 than I did in 2016. I have a lot of ideas in my head and scattered through my PC but I have never really put real effort into getting it organized. I have broken websites galore that I sometimes fuss over but never get anything done about it. I have a sort of finished book that is gathering dust. I have artwork but don't take the time to promote or sell it. So - 2017 is the year I make a real go of it.
I am laying out a business model to help guide me through it, starting with my name.
My Name - Such a simple thing, but I have used so many different names on my work, mostly because my name is so ordinary. I can't even steal from my wife, who's maiden name is Jones. My full formal name is Charles Wayne Bell Jr. Should I use it? The short form is Charlie Bell. Both are very common names. What about Charlie Bell Winningham, from my Mom's side of the family? Eh, not really. Umm, Charlie Bell Jr? Sigh. I grew up being called Junior, which was okay for a kid, but not an adult. The one I like the most isn't even my name: J Walker Bell. "Walker" comes from another thread of our families. The only published work I have online is a short story collection with that name on the title. Thinking on it, I decided to stay with the formal name most people know me by: Charles W Bell, and "Charlie Bell" among friends and family.
So, here is my business model: I am an independent writer and artist. The focus of my work is in science fiction/fantasy and abstract art.
Title: Charles W Bell
Author and Artist
Brief Biography:
I am a published author of several science fiction and fantasy short stories that have long gone out of circulation. I have an unpublished novel that has lain dormant for close to two years. That is sobering and embarrassing, but facts are facts.
I can't recover the past. But it's not all bad. The artist side of me woke up recently. In 2016 I published a booklet showcasing my unique abstract coloring book titled "Uniquely Original Art Coloring Book for Adults." I made some sales. It was a start. I am currently working on "The Gitmo Project," which is a true story about the three years I spent as a child in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
These are just pieces. I need to bring it all together into a plan I can make work. My goals are simple:
(1) Publish my novel "The Majik of Spark."
(2) Expand and promote my abstract artistic work. I am planning a second coloring book of abstract art. In addition, I have had some success including a personal touch by adding a name for a small additional price. Another idea I am working on would present themed coloring books, such as monsters, flowers, flying things, etc, taken from earlier work tied to the same theme.
(3) Continue to meet with writer's groups and participate in events. I miss too many meetings, and my goal is to participate more often. Please poke and prod at me when I fail. I have a terrible memory and every device I've tried to use to keep track of appointments has given up in frustration. But I try.
(4) Continue to do public readings whenever possible. The writer's group has a schedule of events where public readings are given. I should be looking for more opportunities along those lines.
(5) Dust off this writer's blog and work to expand my followers. Before I go, I'd like to add one more introduction. I started calling my blog "The Jadedwalker" back when I was using the pen name J Walker Bell. I also created a gnome-like image of the same name. The JadedWalker is a form of meme I've kept through many phases of my writing. He is my anchor amid the flood of miss-directions I've taken over many years of writing. I continue to learn from him. And from you.
Wednesday, August 3, 2016
The South Bay Scribes
The South Bay Scribes
I can't put my finger on the precise date, but somewhere along the way I wandered off the path and away from my focus on writing. My last post here was in March, a distant five months ago. My novel, "The Majik of Spark," is finished but hasn't found an agent. The plan to self-publish remains an idea, not an action. I wrote a new story, "The Royal Gramma." It was well received in our writer's group, but other than losing a writer's contest it lays fallow.
During my five month haitus our writer's group drifted apart following the tragic death of our leader, Gerardo. Most of the original group I belonged to simply stopped coming and I eventually lost track of them. The South Bay Scribes took me in, led by Charlie Berigan. I felt immediately comfortable with the new group. The jokes about how to discern between the two Charlie's when getting our attention grew, and to this moment we both still respond to any and all form's of "Charlie." One member of Gerardo's group also came to the South Bay Scribes, Robert, and he also helped draw me into the group, for which I'm grateful.
I met many new friends and they soon got to know me, my writing, and my penchant for endlessly doodling during the meetings. My "doodling" morphed into a sort of artform and the more artistic in the group, like Susan, took my better pieces and fit them into our chap books. I can now say I'm both writer and artist.
My artwork has recently taken a new direction. I'm not sure who to give the credit to, but whoever it was showed me a coloring book for adults. I was fascinated, and did some research. The patterns used in virutally every book I checked was nice, but repetitive. Most books were based on the same set of patterns.
I can do that, was my first reaction. My second reaction was, I can do it better, with patterns that are unique and original, not cookie-cutter. I am now working on marketing my "Uniquely Original Art Coloring Book for Adults."
I can't put my finger on the precise date, but somewhere along the way I wandered off the path and away from my focus on writing. My last post here was in March, a distant five months ago. My novel, "The Majik of Spark," is finished but hasn't found an agent. The plan to self-publish remains an idea, not an action. I wrote a new story, "The Royal Gramma." It was well received in our writer's group, but other than losing a writer's contest it lays fallow.
During my five month haitus our writer's group drifted apart following the tragic death of our leader, Gerardo. Most of the original group I belonged to simply stopped coming and I eventually lost track of them. The South Bay Scribes took me in, led by Charlie Berigan. I felt immediately comfortable with the new group. The jokes about how to discern between the two Charlie's when getting our attention grew, and to this moment we both still respond to any and all form's of "Charlie." One member of Gerardo's group also came to the South Bay Scribes, Robert, and he also helped draw me into the group, for which I'm grateful.
I met many new friends and they soon got to know me, my writing, and my penchant for endlessly doodling during the meetings. My "doodling" morphed into a sort of artform and the more artistic in the group, like Susan, took my better pieces and fit them into our chap books. I can now say I'm both writer and artist.
My artwork has recently taken a new direction. I'm not sure who to give the credit to, but whoever it was showed me a coloring book for adults. I was fascinated, and did some research. The patterns used in virutally every book I checked was nice, but repetitive. Most books were based on the same set of patterns.
I can do that, was my first reaction. My second reaction was, I can do it better, with patterns that are unique and original, not cookie-cutter. I am now working on marketing my "Uniquely Original Art Coloring Book for Adults."
Thursday, March 3, 2016
Writer's Digest 2015 Short Story Competition Results
Writer's Digest 2015 Short Story Competition Results
The results are in and my entry, "The Royal Gramma" did not win any prizes. There were over 6,700 entries. Quoting, the "winner's names will be made public when they appear in the July/August 2016 issue of Writer's Digest magazine. Afterwards, their names and story titles will be posted at www.writersdigest.com. The competition collection has a May 2016 publication date and we anticipate that we will begin mailing in June."
So there we are. I'm disappointed, of course. More than disappointed. I really thought the story worthy of publication. This isn't the end, and I will be working on finding a home for the story.
In other news I am actively working on the "Song of Chord." This is the second book following "The Majik of Spark." The first book is still making the rounds of publishers and literary agents. I am also considering a shorter work based on the trilogy as a means to get more interest in the novel. I'm exploring a number of possibilities.
The results are in and my entry, "The Royal Gramma" did not win any prizes. There were over 6,700 entries. Quoting, the "winner's names will be made public when they appear in the July/August 2016 issue of Writer's Digest magazine. Afterwards, their names and story titles will be posted at www.writersdigest.com. The competition collection has a May 2016 publication date and we anticipate that we will begin mailing in June."
So there we are. I'm disappointed, of course. More than disappointed. I really thought the story worthy of publication. This isn't the end, and I will be working on finding a home for the story.
In other news I am actively working on the "Song of Chord." This is the second book following "The Majik of Spark." The first book is still making the rounds of publishers and literary agents. I am also considering a shorter work based on the trilogy as a means to get more interest in the novel. I'm exploring a number of possibilities.
Friday, January 15, 2016
Writer's Digest Short Story Contest
Writer's Digest Short Story Contest
Writer's Digest does an annual short story competition for all genres. The only rule is that the story has to be under 1500 words. The first place winner of the competition receives $3,000. The top twenty-five submissions will also receive at least $25. The most important prize, though, is that the top ten submissions will be published.
I have several projects in work, but the story I felt was the best for the contest takes me back to the late 1960's when we lived on the Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. When I first started writing the story, I didn't think I had enough content to get close to the 1500 word limit. I should have known better. In writing the non-fiction story about the three years we lived there, I began to remember more and more. Soon, I was struggling to keep the story under those 1500 words.
Judi came to the rescue by pointing out that there was an episode in the story that didn't fit. I liked that episode, which was funny and scary at the same time. On second reading, though, it was obvious that it interupted the flow of the story and did not add to the central theme. The result is a better story - and cutting that scene brought the story back under the word count restriction.
The name of the story is "The Royal Gramma." I sent the story to the Writer's Digest contest. The contest closed on 15 January, and winners will be announced sometime in February.
Writer's Digest does an annual short story competition for all genres. The only rule is that the story has to be under 1500 words. The first place winner of the competition receives $3,000. The top twenty-five submissions will also receive at least $25. The most important prize, though, is that the top ten submissions will be published.
I have several projects in work, but the story I felt was the best for the contest takes me back to the late 1960's when we lived on the Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. When I first started writing the story, I didn't think I had enough content to get close to the 1500 word limit. I should have known better. In writing the non-fiction story about the three years we lived there, I began to remember more and more. Soon, I was struggling to keep the story under those 1500 words.
Judi came to the rescue by pointing out that there was an episode in the story that didn't fit. I liked that episode, which was funny and scary at the same time. On second reading, though, it was obvious that it interupted the flow of the story and did not add to the central theme. The result is a better story - and cutting that scene brought the story back under the word count restriction.
The name of the story is "The Royal Gramma." I sent the story to the Writer's Digest contest. The contest closed on 15 January, and winners will be announced sometime in February.
Monday, December 7, 2015
The Writer's Market
The Writer's Market
The novel "The Majik of Spark" is finished and got it's first look by a literary agent at the San Diego Writer's Workshop on October 9th. The details can be found in the October 10th post. In a nutshell, the agent, Jennifer Azantian, liked my pitch and requested I send a formal query letter.
Jennifer responded to the query letter on November 12th. In her response she said: "I found your story to be very strong and truly believe you're quite talented." Then she politely said no, the book wasn't right for her, and wished me all the best.
Finishing the book was my first milestone as a writer. The second milestone was getting the attention of a literary agent. Now I have a third milestone - my first rejection letter.
I consider that positive news. Using tools such as the Writer's Market book (and it's online version, writersmarket.com) published annually by Writer's Digest, I am building a list of literary agents and publishers that might be interested in the book.
My first search on the website for literary agents turned up forty. I am working my way through those listings and will report on how that goes.
I'm still writing, of course. The advice I've been given from several sources is NOT to go right into working on the second book of my trilogy. Should the first book not fair so well, few if any would be interested in part two. Well, I can't help but work on the second book, at least part time.
I am branching out, though. I have two short stories in progress, and maybe it will surprise readers to know neither is fantasy or science fiction. The first story has the working title of "Belefonte's Device" and began its life as a science fiction story. When I pitched the idea to my wife, she asked a very good question. "Do you always have to write fanatasy and sci-fi stuff?"
My knee jerk answer is yes, I always write fantasy and sci-fi. But then I took another look at the story, which centers on two friends in their sixties, Nathan and Madge. It didn't take much thinking to see that the story could be better told as straight fiction, and that's now my approach.
My very smart wife also suggested I should write something closer to home. I knew almost immediately what I wanted to write about. In 1968 my Dad was stationed in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Mom, Dad, me, and my two brothers lived there for three years. I remember very little of my childhood, but the three years I lived in "Gitmo" from the age of twelve to fourteen stand out in great detail in my mind. So I can now add a non-fiction story to my list of projects.
The novel "The Majik of Spark" is finished and got it's first look by a literary agent at the San Diego Writer's Workshop on October 9th. The details can be found in the October 10th post. In a nutshell, the agent, Jennifer Azantian, liked my pitch and requested I send a formal query letter.
Jennifer responded to the query letter on November 12th. In her response she said: "I found your story to be very strong and truly believe you're quite talented." Then she politely said no, the book wasn't right for her, and wished me all the best.
Finishing the book was my first milestone as a writer. The second milestone was getting the attention of a literary agent. Now I have a third milestone - my first rejection letter.
I consider that positive news. Using tools such as the Writer's Market book (and it's online version, writersmarket.com) published annually by Writer's Digest, I am building a list of literary agents and publishers that might be interested in the book.
My first search on the website for literary agents turned up forty. I am working my way through those listings and will report on how that goes.
I'm still writing, of course. The advice I've been given from several sources is NOT to go right into working on the second book of my trilogy. Should the first book not fair so well, few if any would be interested in part two. Well, I can't help but work on the second book, at least part time.
I am branching out, though. I have two short stories in progress, and maybe it will surprise readers to know neither is fantasy or science fiction. The first story has the working title of "Belefonte's Device" and began its life as a science fiction story. When I pitched the idea to my wife, she asked a very good question. "Do you always have to write fanatasy and sci-fi stuff?"
My knee jerk answer is yes, I always write fantasy and sci-fi. But then I took another look at the story, which centers on two friends in their sixties, Nathan and Madge. It didn't take much thinking to see that the story could be better told as straight fiction, and that's now my approach.
My very smart wife also suggested I should write something closer to home. I knew almost immediately what I wanted to write about. In 1968 my Dad was stationed in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Mom, Dad, me, and my two brothers lived there for three years. I remember very little of my childhood, but the three years I lived in "Gitmo" from the age of twelve to fourteen stand out in great detail in my mind. So I can now add a non-fiction story to my list of projects.
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
Writing On The Go
Writing On The Go
I still do most of my writing at my desk on a desktop computer. Lately, though, I've been considering getting a portable device so that I can write wherever I happen to be. The choices are numerous and continue to expand.
First off, I should describe the not-so-current system and devices I have now. For those with all the newest gadgets, you may need to hold your nose and roll your eyes at my "setup."
The desktop is an Intel Velocity Micro Edge Z40 running Windows 7 with a 250GB SSD drive, a number of external drives and a 21" HD monitor. Not flashy, but stable and gets the job done. The very few problems I've had were handled superbly by my favorite local PC store, MPC Electronics in Chula Vista, CA.
http://www.mpcelectronics.com/home.php
I bucked the Apple bandwagon (favored by my iPhone spouse) and use an older model LG smart phone (identical to the Galaxy 5). Works for me.
I also have a Lenova Windows 8.1 tablet that I never really got comfortable using. The detachable keyboard and wireless mouse worked fine, but other connections for HDMI, USB, microUSB, etc were poorly placed which quickly became irritating. The Windows 8.1 touchscreen was also difficult to manage and maddeningly vague about how to navigate it. Okay, so some of that is from my own inexperience with touch screen tablets. I hoped the Lenova would help me get over that, but it didn't. When the battery utterly failed, that was the end.
Since the main reason for getting a second device is to write in places other than at my desk, I considered getting a small, inexpensive wireless laptop that I could use anywhere. There are any number of those and I may still wind up settling on one of them. As a secondary desire, I am very interested in checking out the now available Windows 10. I could use the laptop to get comfortable with the new operating system before trying to upgrade my PC. In other words, I'm not going to screw up my PC by attempting to upgrade the OS to Win 10 until I really knew I could do it safely.
I dug deeper, looking to see what else is out there that might fit my needs. I came across this recent article:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2911098/computers/mini-pc-invasion-10-radically-tiny-computers-that-fit-in-the-palm-of-your-hand.html
The PC World article reviews 14 tiny devices that are fully functional computers. Looking through all fourteen, it was the last one on the list that got my attention. The Asus Vivo Stick fits in the palm of your hand, has all the connections you could want, and it runs Windows 10. It's not yet released, but the projected price is $129. I could use the keyboard from the Lenova and connect to any screen with an HDMI connection.
http://www.cnet.com/products/asus-vivo-stick-pc
I want it. Let me know if you use similar devices or know of other good ways to write on the go.
I still do most of my writing at my desk on a desktop computer. Lately, though, I've been considering getting a portable device so that I can write wherever I happen to be. The choices are numerous and continue to expand.
First off, I should describe the not-so-current system and devices I have now. For those with all the newest gadgets, you may need to hold your nose and roll your eyes at my "setup."
The desktop is an Intel Velocity Micro Edge Z40 running Windows 7 with a 250GB SSD drive, a number of external drives and a 21" HD monitor. Not flashy, but stable and gets the job done. The very few problems I've had were handled superbly by my favorite local PC store, MPC Electronics in Chula Vista, CA.
http://www.mpcelectronics.com/home.php
I bucked the Apple bandwagon (favored by my iPhone spouse) and use an older model LG smart phone (identical to the Galaxy 5). Works for me.
I also have a Lenova Windows 8.1 tablet that I never really got comfortable using. The detachable keyboard and wireless mouse worked fine, but other connections for HDMI, USB, microUSB, etc were poorly placed which quickly became irritating. The Windows 8.1 touchscreen was also difficult to manage and maddeningly vague about how to navigate it. Okay, so some of that is from my own inexperience with touch screen tablets. I hoped the Lenova would help me get over that, but it didn't. When the battery utterly failed, that was the end.
Since the main reason for getting a second device is to write in places other than at my desk, I considered getting a small, inexpensive wireless laptop that I could use anywhere. There are any number of those and I may still wind up settling on one of them. As a secondary desire, I am very interested in checking out the now available Windows 10. I could use the laptop to get comfortable with the new operating system before trying to upgrade my PC. In other words, I'm not going to screw up my PC by attempting to upgrade the OS to Win 10 until I really knew I could do it safely.
I dug deeper, looking to see what else is out there that might fit my needs. I came across this recent article:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2911098/computers/mini-pc-invasion-10-radically-tiny-computers-that-fit-in-the-palm-of-your-hand.html
The PC World article reviews 14 tiny devices that are fully functional computers. Looking through all fourteen, it was the last one on the list that got my attention. The Asus Vivo Stick fits in the palm of your hand, has all the connections you could want, and it runs Windows 10. It's not yet released, but the projected price is $129. I could use the keyboard from the Lenova and connect to any screen with an HDMI connection.
http://www.cnet.com/products/asus-vivo-stick-pc
I want it. Let me know if you use similar devices or know of other good ways to write on the go.
Saturday, October 10, 2015
Talking with an Agent
Talking with an Agent
Wow! I'm so excited I can barely contain myself. Yesterday I pitched my novel, "The Majik of Spark," to an agent. A real literary agent! I was so nervous I knew I'd forget my pitch. I had a pile of paper notes to keep track of what I wanted to say, though I know I should have memorized it.
Wait. Maybe I should back up a bit. An apology first for disappearing for the last seven months. It's been that long since my last post. That was in March, after I attended the Southern California Writer’s Conference. I had a lot of lofty plans after the conference. In hindsight, I'm okay I didn't get to many of them. Instead, I focused on making the novel better. Not long after the March conference I began to realize my "finished" novel was really more like just the latest version. I kept finding issues in my read throughs, and my wonderful editor, Deb, was put through the ringer fixing grammatical errors and other missteps. I lost count of how many versions we went through before I really felt like it was DONE.
Back to the present. Yesterday, 9 Oct 2015, I went to the San Diego Writers Workshop. This is an intense, one day workshop hosted by San Diego Writer's, Ink. The key reason I went is that the conference offered sessions with real literary agents where I could pitch the book. Out of the many agents available, there were two who represented sci-fi and fantasy works. The sessions are short - ten minutes. The idea is to get practice pitching our work, learn that agents aren't ogres and that they are just as excited meeting us writers as we are to meet them.
One of the agents liked my pitch enough to ask me to submit the first 25 pages of the book. Literary agents see hundreds of pitches and read thousands of query letters from novel toting writers trying to get their books published. Nearly all are rejected. So this is a big step, but I have to remind myself it is only one step.
What happens now? I'll write a query letter. In addition to the 25 pages I'll send a synopsis (a 1-2 page summary of the entire book). She asked that I add the word "Requested" in the query letter, which gets my submission out of the slush pile of other query letters and directly into her hands. I can't ask anymore than that. But I can hope.
PS - If you don't know who this is, this is Charlie Bell. My pen name is J Walker Bell.
Wow! I'm so excited I can barely contain myself. Yesterday I pitched my novel, "The Majik of Spark," to an agent. A real literary agent! I was so nervous I knew I'd forget my pitch. I had a pile of paper notes to keep track of what I wanted to say, though I know I should have memorized it.
Wait. Maybe I should back up a bit. An apology first for disappearing for the last seven months. It's been that long since my last post. That was in March, after I attended the Southern California Writer’s Conference. I had a lot of lofty plans after the conference. In hindsight, I'm okay I didn't get to many of them. Instead, I focused on making the novel better. Not long after the March conference I began to realize my "finished" novel was really more like just the latest version. I kept finding issues in my read throughs, and my wonderful editor, Deb, was put through the ringer fixing grammatical errors and other missteps. I lost count of how many versions we went through before I really felt like it was DONE.
Back to the present. Yesterday, 9 Oct 2015, I went to the San Diego Writers Workshop. This is an intense, one day workshop hosted by San Diego Writer's, Ink. The key reason I went is that the conference offered sessions with real literary agents where I could pitch the book. Out of the many agents available, there were two who represented sci-fi and fantasy works. The sessions are short - ten minutes. The idea is to get practice pitching our work, learn that agents aren't ogres and that they are just as excited meeting us writers as we are to meet them.
One of the agents liked my pitch enough to ask me to submit the first 25 pages of the book. Literary agents see hundreds of pitches and read thousands of query letters from novel toting writers trying to get their books published. Nearly all are rejected. So this is a big step, but I have to remind myself it is only one step.
What happens now? I'll write a query letter. In addition to the 25 pages I'll send a synopsis (a 1-2 page summary of the entire book). She asked that I add the word "Requested" in the query letter, which gets my submission out of the slush pile of other query letters and directly into her hands. I can't ask anymore than that. But I can hope.
PS - If you don't know who this is, this is Charlie Bell. My pen name is J Walker Bell.
Sunday, March 1, 2015
Back To Work
Back To Work
It’s March now. The Southern California Writer’s Conference ended two weeks ago. The novel is finished. It’s time I start polishing my manuscript into a fine shine and getting those query letters started. I expected to take a few days to decompress. I’m not surprised, though, that I’ve let two weeks go by.
I’m one of those people who have a hard time starting a new project. Yes, the novel is done, but there is still an ominous mountain of work to do, and I hesitate and equivocate. Once I get myself engaged, I’m all in. It’s that first step which I always find hard to take.
Our writer’s group meets on Thursday. By then I WILL be back at work. I’m not sure yet exactly in what order I’m going to work on my many tasks. I know I need to craft a final, clean manuscript before I will let it out of my hands. I dithered over how to do this, but the solution is simple. First of all, I want to be able to make editing corrections myself. It is a fundamental element of my craft. I’m still learning, though, so I’ll continue to rely on my volunteer editor to help clean up the mistakes I make. Between the two of us, my expectation is that the manuscript will be good enough to get the eye of agents and publishers.
I am smiling as I write because I find myself already noticing problems. For example, re-read the first sentence in the second paragraph, which has fourteen words. “I’m one of those people who have a hard time starting a new project.” That is not the original sentence. It read: “I’m one of those people that has a hard time getting started on a new project.” It has sixteen words. Eliminating small problems can make a big difference overall.
Next up is my website. When I built the current J Walker Bell website I included all four of my blogs. My idea to drive content to the website by enticing them to read the blogs didn’t turn out quite like I wanted. The website became less and less about my writing and more about the other things I was doing. I was also not consistent in posting blogs, and that, too, was a problem.
Despite its flaws, I like the site. I designed and built it myself using Wordpress. I selected and used a template for the basic design and then tweaked it using Wordpress tools. I am no expert, but I had fun learning. Even so, it was a lot of work.
I have a novel to nurture now, and the existing multi-purpose website doesn’t meet my needs anymore. My Wordpress skills are admittedly rusty from disuse. Still, I am going to take a crack at building a new site. I know what I want. It will be very focused on the novel. I even have a template based on studying many writer’s websites as well as advice I received at last year’s La Jolla conference. Keep an eye out for the site’s coming out party.
Okay, the post is done. I’m now officially back at work.
It’s March now. The Southern California Writer’s Conference ended two weeks ago. The novel is finished. It’s time I start polishing my manuscript into a fine shine and getting those query letters started. I expected to take a few days to decompress. I’m not surprised, though, that I’ve let two weeks go by.
I’m one of those people who have a hard time starting a new project. Yes, the novel is done, but there is still an ominous mountain of work to do, and I hesitate and equivocate. Once I get myself engaged, I’m all in. It’s that first step which I always find hard to take.
Our writer’s group meets on Thursday. By then I WILL be back at work. I’m not sure yet exactly in what order I’m going to work on my many tasks. I know I need to craft a final, clean manuscript before I will let it out of my hands. I dithered over how to do this, but the solution is simple. First of all, I want to be able to make editing corrections myself. It is a fundamental element of my craft. I’m still learning, though, so I’ll continue to rely on my volunteer editor to help clean up the mistakes I make. Between the two of us, my expectation is that the manuscript will be good enough to get the eye of agents and publishers.
I am smiling as I write because I find myself already noticing problems. For example, re-read the first sentence in the second paragraph, which has fourteen words. “I’m one of those people who have a hard time starting a new project.” That is not the original sentence. It read: “I’m one of those people that has a hard time getting started on a new project.” It has sixteen words. Eliminating small problems can make a big difference overall.
Next up is my website. When I built the current J Walker Bell website I included all four of my blogs. My idea to drive content to the website by enticing them to read the blogs didn’t turn out quite like I wanted. The website became less and less about my writing and more about the other things I was doing. I was also not consistent in posting blogs, and that, too, was a problem.
Despite its flaws, I like the site. I designed and built it myself using Wordpress. I selected and used a template for the basic design and then tweaked it using Wordpress tools. I am no expert, but I had fun learning. Even so, it was a lot of work.
I have a novel to nurture now, and the existing multi-purpose website doesn’t meet my needs anymore. My Wordpress skills are admittedly rusty from disuse. Still, I am going to take a crack at building a new site. I know what I want. It will be very focused on the novel. I even have a template based on studying many writer’s websites as well as advice I received at last year’s La Jolla conference. Keep an eye out for the site’s coming out party.
Okay, the post is done. I’m now officially back at work.
Monday, February 16, 2015
The Rogue Workshop
The Rogue Workshop
This past weekend I attended the 2015 Southern California Writer’s Conference at the Crown Plaza Conference Center in San Diego. The conference was a blast as well as instructional and productive. I met some great authors and authors-to-be.
This is the second writer’s conference I’ve attended. The first was the La Jolla conference in November at the Paradise Point Resort last year. There are many similarities in the two conferences, including workshops, lectures, read and critiques, advance submissions for readers, guest speakers, and late night marathons for the hardy. The Friday night no-host cocktail reception and the Saturday night banquet are also staples of both.
One immediate difference in the two conferences is the venue. Last year's Paradise Point Resort is a far better choice than the Crown Plaza by a wide margin. The meeting rooms at the Paradise Point Resort are smaller and more intimate, nestled together with short, outdoor pathways through beautiful landscaping. Inside the meeting rooms, the U-shaped or squared table arrangements encouraged conversation and participation. By contrast, the Crown Plaza meeting rooms are large, high ceiling chambers that echoed and made it hard to hear. We sat at large round tables intended for dining, not meeting. Unless you were able to grab one of the 8-10 seats at the teacher’s table, it was a challenge to hear and participate. Second, the meet and greet socials were right outside the meeting rooms and our conference wasn’t the only group using it. Since we were encouraged to move freely between different meeting rooms, doors were routinely opening and closing, flooding the room with noise each time. Third, the conference seemed to be put together at the last minute. We were encouraged to go to the conference website to review and select the many sessions available, which I did. Yet, right up to the day of the conference, a good percentage of the sessions listed only a title with no description of any kind as to what was being taught.
On the very positive side, there were some great sessions and excellent teachers. I also learned a lot just by talking and listening with those like me who are still learning, and share the same dream of being a writer. The best presentation of the conference was by Ara Grigorian, a commercial fiction writer who has only recently written his first novel. He taught me a lot about the pacing of a novel, and he did it in a very entertaining way that I will remember long after the conference is over. Ara took clips from several movies, primarily ‘Notting Hill,’ and used scenes from the movies to show the ebb and flow of act one to act three that must exist to keep the readers attention to the end.
I also want to acknowledge two more people who impressed me. I sent a request to the conference for an advance read and critique from author Matt Pallamary, and met with him on Saturday afternoon to go over the fifteen pages I submitted from the first chapter of my novel, The Majik of Spark. I was excited to see that there were lots of red ink spilling across those pages. To me, it meant that I would be learning a lot as we went through it. I did, and that short session is going to drive the self editing phase of the novel. I also want to acknowledge author Bethany Lopez. I had never met her before, but we have an affinity in that both of us served and retired from the military while still pursuing our dream of writing. In addition to being an inspiring guest speaker, she led a number of classes which I attended. During a session about secondary characters, we got into a spirited back and forth about happy endings and untimely deaths. Bethany, being the true optimist, roots for happy endings, and her fine novels deliver just that. I looked more for high drama, killing off a key player so that a secondary character would have to rise to the challenge. When she pointed out that I done similar deadly deeds twice more, I realized that maybe I should take a more serious look at “happily ever after.” Uh, not. Seriously, the debate made me think, and I will be reviewing the romantic angle that is present but somewhat buried in the book.
Finally, I come to the Rogue Workshop. I’m not quite sure how to describe it. On the surface, the workshop is a group read and critique where anyone can ask to read their work (or have their work read). After the reading everyone else in the room gets to critique the work. The only rule is that the critique must be about craft, not content. I’ve never been to one of these, and I was pretty nervous about it. Not only was I expected to have my own work critiqued, I was expected to critique the work of others as well. It’s not a format that I am comfortable with, but something Bethany said during her speech on Friday helped me get over my jitters. I don’t remember the specific quote, but it was something like “attack what you fear, and believe that good will come of it.” By the way, did I mention that Bethany is a very positive minded person?
Back to the rogue workshop. I went to it. There were about fifteen people in the room, led by a young lady who I have unfortunately forgotten the name of. She is a fine reader and made everyone feel comfortable sharing our work and placing ourselves under the critical eye of our peers. The read and critique began at 9pm, and our last read and critique ended at 2:40am in the morning. Several of these sessions go on at the same time and there is a bit of a competition to see who grinds it out the longest. We outlasted them all. I was exhausted but pleased, and even a little exultant (that might have been the sleep deprivation). It was the highlight of the conference for me.
With the conference over but still fresh, my next task is a self edit of the novel to tighten up the prose and improve the pacing of the story. Matt Pallamary showed me in just 15 pages how much work that is going to be. Then, if I go the “traditional route” I am looking at having to find an agent, an editor, and a publisher. Each will evaluate whether to take a chance on me. If I get that far then I’ll need beta readers, formatters, cover artists, social network planning, and a growing list of things that must come together to actually become a published work. Finishing the novel is only the first step.
I’m a long way from the finish line, but I’m most definitely in the race.
This past weekend I attended the 2015 Southern California Writer’s Conference at the Crown Plaza Conference Center in San Diego. The conference was a blast as well as instructional and productive. I met some great authors and authors-to-be.
This is the second writer’s conference I’ve attended. The first was the La Jolla conference in November at the Paradise Point Resort last year. There are many similarities in the two conferences, including workshops, lectures, read and critiques, advance submissions for readers, guest speakers, and late night marathons for the hardy. The Friday night no-host cocktail reception and the Saturday night banquet are also staples of both.
One immediate difference in the two conferences is the venue. Last year's Paradise Point Resort is a far better choice than the Crown Plaza by a wide margin. The meeting rooms at the Paradise Point Resort are smaller and more intimate, nestled together with short, outdoor pathways through beautiful landscaping. Inside the meeting rooms, the U-shaped or squared table arrangements encouraged conversation and participation. By contrast, the Crown Plaza meeting rooms are large, high ceiling chambers that echoed and made it hard to hear. We sat at large round tables intended for dining, not meeting. Unless you were able to grab one of the 8-10 seats at the teacher’s table, it was a challenge to hear and participate. Second, the meet and greet socials were right outside the meeting rooms and our conference wasn’t the only group using it. Since we were encouraged to move freely between different meeting rooms, doors were routinely opening and closing, flooding the room with noise each time. Third, the conference seemed to be put together at the last minute. We were encouraged to go to the conference website to review and select the many sessions available, which I did. Yet, right up to the day of the conference, a good percentage of the sessions listed only a title with no description of any kind as to what was being taught.
On the very positive side, there were some great sessions and excellent teachers. I also learned a lot just by talking and listening with those like me who are still learning, and share the same dream of being a writer. The best presentation of the conference was by Ara Grigorian, a commercial fiction writer who has only recently written his first novel. He taught me a lot about the pacing of a novel, and he did it in a very entertaining way that I will remember long after the conference is over. Ara took clips from several movies, primarily ‘Notting Hill,’ and used scenes from the movies to show the ebb and flow of act one to act three that must exist to keep the readers attention to the end.
I also want to acknowledge two more people who impressed me. I sent a request to the conference for an advance read and critique from author Matt Pallamary, and met with him on Saturday afternoon to go over the fifteen pages I submitted from the first chapter of my novel, The Majik of Spark. I was excited to see that there were lots of red ink spilling across those pages. To me, it meant that I would be learning a lot as we went through it. I did, and that short session is going to drive the self editing phase of the novel. I also want to acknowledge author Bethany Lopez. I had never met her before, but we have an affinity in that both of us served and retired from the military while still pursuing our dream of writing. In addition to being an inspiring guest speaker, she led a number of classes which I attended. During a session about secondary characters, we got into a spirited back and forth about happy endings and untimely deaths. Bethany, being the true optimist, roots for happy endings, and her fine novels deliver just that. I looked more for high drama, killing off a key player so that a secondary character would have to rise to the challenge. When she pointed out that I done similar deadly deeds twice more, I realized that maybe I should take a more serious look at “happily ever after.” Uh, not. Seriously, the debate made me think, and I will be reviewing the romantic angle that is present but somewhat buried in the book.
Finally, I come to the Rogue Workshop. I’m not quite sure how to describe it. On the surface, the workshop is a group read and critique where anyone can ask to read their work (or have their work read). After the reading everyone else in the room gets to critique the work. The only rule is that the critique must be about craft, not content. I’ve never been to one of these, and I was pretty nervous about it. Not only was I expected to have my own work critiqued, I was expected to critique the work of others as well. It’s not a format that I am comfortable with, but something Bethany said during her speech on Friday helped me get over my jitters. I don’t remember the specific quote, but it was something like “attack what you fear, and believe that good will come of it.” By the way, did I mention that Bethany is a very positive minded person?
Back to the rogue workshop. I went to it. There were about fifteen people in the room, led by a young lady who I have unfortunately forgotten the name of. She is a fine reader and made everyone feel comfortable sharing our work and placing ourselves under the critical eye of our peers. The read and critique began at 9pm, and our last read and critique ended at 2:40am in the morning. Several of these sessions go on at the same time and there is a bit of a competition to see who grinds it out the longest. We outlasted them all. I was exhausted but pleased, and even a little exultant (that might have been the sleep deprivation). It was the highlight of the conference for me.
With the conference over but still fresh, my next task is a self edit of the novel to tighten up the prose and improve the pacing of the story. Matt Pallamary showed me in just 15 pages how much work that is going to be. Then, if I go the “traditional route” I am looking at having to find an agent, an editor, and a publisher. Each will evaluate whether to take a chance on me. If I get that far then I’ll need beta readers, formatters, cover artists, social network planning, and a growing list of things that must come together to actually become a published work. Finishing the novel is only the first step.
I’m a long way from the finish line, but I’m most definitely in the race.
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
The Finishing Touches
The Finishing Touches
I wrote "The End" for the manuscript "The Majik of Spark" on January 12th, 2015. The manuscript in my hands now tells a much different story than when I first began writing it. The story began as an extension of the online game World of Warcraft. The characters were based on my pixilated characters from the game. That was in November 2013 and I was participating in the annual National Novel Writer's Month (NaNoWriMo). That process helped me to write a second draft that removed all references to the game. The third draft was completed based on the great advice and information from my first writer's conference. From start to finish, from first draft to third, it took fourteen months of work to complete.
The manuscript is one hundred and thirty-two thousand words long (132k) and is composed of thirty-four chapters. The grueling process of editing the manuscript now begins in earnest. Frankly, I haven't done a very good job of preparing the groundwork needed to get the manuscript to an agent, so that will be my focus in the time I have. The editing work will also continue.
The Southern California Writer's Conference begins on 13 February, 2015. I am attending the entire conference. With a loving nod to my wife, who paid for the hotel reservations as a Christmas present, I will also be staying at the hotel for the duration of the conference. For three days I can focus 100% of my time into my writing and the conference.
I have four weeks to be ready.
I wrote "The End" for the manuscript "The Majik of Spark" on January 12th, 2015. The manuscript in my hands now tells a much different story than when I first began writing it. The story began as an extension of the online game World of Warcraft. The characters were based on my pixilated characters from the game. That was in November 2013 and I was participating in the annual National Novel Writer's Month (NaNoWriMo). That process helped me to write a second draft that removed all references to the game. The third draft was completed based on the great advice and information from my first writer's conference. From start to finish, from first draft to third, it took fourteen months of work to complete.
The manuscript is one hundred and thirty-two thousand words long (132k) and is composed of thirty-four chapters. The grueling process of editing the manuscript now begins in earnest. Frankly, I haven't done a very good job of preparing the groundwork needed to get the manuscript to an agent, so that will be my focus in the time I have. The editing work will also continue.
The Southern California Writer's Conference begins on 13 February, 2015. I am attending the entire conference. With a loving nod to my wife, who paid for the hotel reservations as a Christmas present, I will also be staying at the hotel for the duration of the conference. For three days I can focus 100% of my time into my writing and the conference.
I have four weeks to be ready.
Sunday, November 16, 2014
Where Did the Time Go?
Where Did the Time Go?
Our family just returned (14 November) from a round trip RV excursion from California to Virginia and North Carolina and back. On board the 27 foot Shasta Class C RV were myself and my better half, the family dog, and four cats. It was a fun but exhausting trip. I'll expand on the trip in a later post, but I wanted to get everyone up to speed on the novel, for which I have been very remiss.
The bad news is that my computer crashed just a few days before we left on our trip and there wasn't any time to get a new one. Now that I'm back home I've started getting a new computer up an running.The good news is that all of the "novel stuff" was backed up, so none of it was lost.
"The Majik of Spark" is on the final stretch. Nineteen Chapters are complete, with much of the initial editing completed. Chapters twenty through twenty-seven are also complete, pending editing. Chapter twenty-eight is giving me some trouble at the moment, but it is nearly complete. I have the last five chapters mapped out and I'm pretty excited about how things are falling together.
The goal is to have the novel completed and ready for pitching at an upcoming writer's conference scheduled in February, 2015.
Now, I just need to transfer files over to the new computer, get myself organized, and keep writing!
Our family just returned (14 November) from a round trip RV excursion from California to Virginia and North Carolina and back. On board the 27 foot Shasta Class C RV were myself and my better half, the family dog, and four cats. It was a fun but exhausting trip. I'll expand on the trip in a later post, but I wanted to get everyone up to speed on the novel, for which I have been very remiss.
The bad news is that my computer crashed just a few days before we left on our trip and there wasn't any time to get a new one. Now that I'm back home I've started getting a new computer up an running.The good news is that all of the "novel stuff" was backed up, so none of it was lost.
"The Majik of Spark" is on the final stretch. Nineteen Chapters are complete, with much of the initial editing completed. Chapters twenty through twenty-seven are also complete, pending editing. Chapter twenty-eight is giving me some trouble at the moment, but it is nearly complete. I have the last five chapters mapped out and I'm pretty excited about how things are falling together.
The goal is to have the novel completed and ready for pitching at an upcoming writer's conference scheduled in February, 2015.
Now, I just need to transfer files over to the new computer, get myself organized, and keep writing!
Friday, February 7, 2014
Bane's Existence
I wrote a short story called "The Hallway" back in 1991. Yes, that's how long ago it was. Over the years I worked on this story numerous times, but I never felt that I had it right. Publishers felt the same way, and it never sold. Like an itch I had to scratch, however, I kept coming back to it.
After yet another rewrite, I submitted the story for a read and critique session at the La Jolla Writer's Conference in November, 2013. I received some good advice, but I was deep into the writing of the novel, "The Majik of Spark" and "The Hallway" went back on the shelf.
Jump forward to today, almost three months after the conference. Work on the novel went gangbusters for awhile, but the torrent has slowed to a thin stream and I felt I needed to work on something else for a bit. I reached once again for "The Hallway."
The story has a number of problems with it, but the overall issue was that there was too little detail for the reader to get a real sense of who these people were and why they should care about them. I had spent a lot of time paring the story down to meet artificial limits according to "those who are supposed to know about these things" and for publishers who had word counts to worry about. I decided to let the story be what it wanted to be, and take as long as it needed to get there.
Yesterday I finished it. The story is now called "Bane's Existence" which I think is a clever title that matches the intent of the story. I'm always a little giddy when I finish a work. I'm sure there will be some editing on further reading and reflection. Right now, though, I am very happy with the results.
Our writer's group will get first crack at the story. In the meantime, I'll be looking for a home for it.
After yet another rewrite, I submitted the story for a read and critique session at the La Jolla Writer's Conference in November, 2013. I received some good advice, but I was deep into the writing of the novel, "The Majik of Spark" and "The Hallway" went back on the shelf.
Jump forward to today, almost three months after the conference. Work on the novel went gangbusters for awhile, but the torrent has slowed to a thin stream and I felt I needed to work on something else for a bit. I reached once again for "The Hallway."
The story has a number of problems with it, but the overall issue was that there was too little detail for the reader to get a real sense of who these people were and why they should care about them. I had spent a lot of time paring the story down to meet artificial limits according to "those who are supposed to know about these things" and for publishers who had word counts to worry about. I decided to let the story be what it wanted to be, and take as long as it needed to get there.
Yesterday I finished it. The story is now called "Bane's Existence" which I think is a clever title that matches the intent of the story. I'm always a little giddy when I finish a work. I'm sure there will be some editing on further reading and reflection. Right now, though, I am very happy with the results.
Our writer's group will get first crack at the story. In the meantime, I'll be looking for a home for it.
Monday, January 13, 2014
The Last Chapter Three
The Last Chapter Three
First of all, I want to thank all those who listened to my long reading of the first three chapters of "The Majik of Spark" at the writer's group meeting on January 2nd. I truly appreciate the encouragement and comments. I'm a bit squeamish at doing readings, but it was a lot of fun, thanks to all of you.
Since then I have spent considerable time on an extension to the third chapter, which I felt, in its current state, left too many things hanging. I didn't want that to complicate later chapters. I almost decided to let it stay undone while I worked on some big picture things, but since the chapter was already two-thirds completed, I ultimately decided to get it finished now. It took me three tries before I was finally satisfied. I will give a hint: Patient readers of my earlier version of the novel get closer to finding out what happens with Kalydice's locks. I also begin what I labeled the "Artifact thread" that turns up periodically throughout the story.
It may be awhile before I pen the next chapter. I plan to flesh out my chapter synopses into more detail so that the pieces interlock better. I hope that will reduce the amount of re-writing I need to do, which will ultimately speed up the work. That's not to say that things won't change. New ideas can always crop up. My characters always seem to have something to say about their role as well.
I'll be sending out Chapter Three for critique shortly.
First of all, I want to thank all those who listened to my long reading of the first three chapters of "The Majik of Spark" at the writer's group meeting on January 2nd. I truly appreciate the encouragement and comments. I'm a bit squeamish at doing readings, but it was a lot of fun, thanks to all of you.
Since then I have spent considerable time on an extension to the third chapter, which I felt, in its current state, left too many things hanging. I didn't want that to complicate later chapters. I almost decided to let it stay undone while I worked on some big picture things, but since the chapter was already two-thirds completed, I ultimately decided to get it finished now. It took me three tries before I was finally satisfied. I will give a hint: Patient readers of my earlier version of the novel get closer to finding out what happens with Kalydice's locks. I also begin what I labeled the "Artifact thread" that turns up periodically throughout the story.
It may be awhile before I pen the next chapter. I plan to flesh out my chapter synopses into more detail so that the pieces interlock better. I hope that will reduce the amount of re-writing I need to do, which will ultimately speed up the work. That's not to say that things won't change. New ideas can always crop up. My characters always seem to have something to say about their role as well.
I'll be sending out Chapter Three for critique shortly.
Monday, January 6, 2014
Androids Don't Dream Electric RTF
Androids Don't Dream Electric RTF
Yes, the title is a play on Phillip K. Dick's book "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" which became the movie Blade Runner.
I was thinking about my dead Windows XP backup computer. I don't actually need it except when the main computer is down. It was painful having them both out of action at the same time, but now that the main computer is up and running again, I haven't done anything about the backup.
I'm partial to desktop computers because I like having a specific place where I go to write, which is my little upstairs office. So, my first thought was that I needed to replace the dead desktop with another desktop. A cheap one I'd only use in an emergency. My second thought was that the only truly critical things I have on my computer is Jarte Plus, an enhanced version of Wordpad that I do all my writing with, and the files that go with my writing projects. I love Jarte's simplicity and excellent, easy to use features. It's Word without the Microsoft clutter. I can get email and Internet access from my Galaxy 3 android smart phone. Everything else I could live without for a few days - I just proved it.
Feeling a little bit like a dinosaur, though, I felt I should at least consider other options, those being laptops and tablets. I like the idea of having a device for writing that I can easily carry around with me. I could write wherever I happen to be. Such as when the Missus throws me out of the house to get me out of her way, or when I have to drag the dog off to the dog park that neither of us like. Ever had a dog that hated to be walked? Never mind, that's a different story.
A laptop would do the trick, but I've tried that in the past and I just didn't like lugging it around, or the heat it generated, or the time it took to boot, or how awkward it felt using it. Maybe I could find a laptop that I did like.
I am also considering a tablet. I'm immediately saying no to the Windows Surface. It has the worst of both worlds - the lousy Windows 8 O/S making for a poor faux tablet, coupled with an expensive, oversized laptop. I might have still considered it, except that it was more expensive than comparable tablets and it forces everything through the Microsoft website for all apps and programs. No thanks.
My wife has an Apple iPhone, and for Christmas I got her the iPad Air. She loves it. As for me,
I prefer an Android tablet since my phone is also Android. Not to mention the cost of switching from Android to the iPhone. I'm also a Kindle reader, which led me to consider the Kindle Fire HDX. Coupled with a matching keyboard (purchased separately) I though it might do the job of small, light and functional. It couldn't use Jarte, though.
Jarte, I was sad to find out, does not have an android or Apple tablet version of their program. There are specific reasons for this. First, Jarte is nothing more that Wordpad with extended features. Wordpad doesn't run on the Android. There is a Google app version of Wordpad that is new (still in beta) which might fit the bill that I could try on my phone. Google also has it's own word processor, free on the Kindle, called QuickOffice. I'll try that one out, too. There are some others, but most of them are focused more on simple note taking, not lengthy writing.
There is one issue in using any non-Windows tablet that surprised me. Just as I use a simplified version of Word for all of my writing, I prefer to save those files in .RTF format. That format is universally accepted, retains all formatting, but isn't bloated by all the gunk of .DOC and .DOCX. Unfortunately, Android devices don't support the .RTF file format. There are apps that claim to be able to read .RTF files, but none support writing to or editing those files. It's a disappointing mystery to me.
What that means is that any files I want to use on a tablet would have to be converted from .RTF to .DOC and back again. Conversion between the two is pretty good, but it's not perfect, and I worry that I would be forever tinkering with it.
However, before I get ahead of myself, I'll test the two apps I mentioned above: QuickOffice and Google Wordpad. And I'll take another gander at those Windows laptops.
Update: After all that research I ended up almost where I started. I purchased a Lenovo Ideapad. It's a 10.1 inch tablet that runs Windows 8. I went with the 64GB version that came with a slot for an SD card as well as a micro-USB port, plus the usual connections of a tablet PC.
I also got a case including a keyboard that also works smoothly. The tablet can be separated from the case/keyboard when I want to just use the tablet.
I love the tablet. The touchscreen is very sharp and responsive. I am quickly getting used to not having an actual touchpad, which is a plus for me. I miss my mouse, but if I get to pining too hard I can install one from the micro-USB port. I sent an email to the Jarte folks about compatibility with Win 8 and they were quick respond that their version 5 of Jarte Plus, which I have, already has touchscreen capability built in. I haven't tested that yet, because of a number of issues that always seem to come with a new device.
Some things have to be changed. I need to replace Windows Explorer with the Firefox browser. I need to strangle Bing and replace it with the Google search engine. I need to wring the life out of MSN so it will stop bothering me. I prefer AVAST! as my virus checker, but McAfee is already installed and working so I'll keep it - at least until it reaches expiration. I did get Microsoft Office running.
I still haven't been able to get my email flowing. Judi says that could be a blessing in disguise. She has her email coming into three devices: her home desktop, her iPhone, and recently on her iPad. I never liked getting email on my phone (texting is so much easier), but I do want to be able to get my email to the tablet. It may take a call to the Cox cable folks, who handle our mail server. Jarte is also installed, but I'm having a license issue with Jarte Plus. I have Jarte Plus on a thumb drive, which works just fine. However, it's awkward on the tablet because of the cable attachment to the micro-USB port, which is very inconveniently placed on the bottom of the tablet, right where the tablet sits on the keyboard case. Sigh. I'll figure it out.
I'm firing this off before I think of more things to add.
Yes, the title is a play on Phillip K. Dick's book "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" which became the movie Blade Runner.
I was thinking about my dead Windows XP backup computer. I don't actually need it except when the main computer is down. It was painful having them both out of action at the same time, but now that the main computer is up and running again, I haven't done anything about the backup.
I'm partial to desktop computers because I like having a specific place where I go to write, which is my little upstairs office. So, my first thought was that I needed to replace the dead desktop with another desktop. A cheap one I'd only use in an emergency. My second thought was that the only truly critical things I have on my computer is Jarte Plus, an enhanced version of Wordpad that I do all my writing with, and the files that go with my writing projects. I love Jarte's simplicity and excellent, easy to use features. It's Word without the Microsoft clutter. I can get email and Internet access from my Galaxy 3 android smart phone. Everything else I could live without for a few days - I just proved it.
Feeling a little bit like a dinosaur, though, I felt I should at least consider other options, those being laptops and tablets. I like the idea of having a device for writing that I can easily carry around with me. I could write wherever I happen to be. Such as when the Missus throws me out of the house to get me out of her way, or when I have to drag the dog off to the dog park that neither of us like. Ever had a dog that hated to be walked? Never mind, that's a different story.
A laptop would do the trick, but I've tried that in the past and I just didn't like lugging it around, or the heat it generated, or the time it took to boot, or how awkward it felt using it. Maybe I could find a laptop that I did like.
I am also considering a tablet. I'm immediately saying no to the Windows Surface. It has the worst of both worlds - the lousy Windows 8 O/S making for a poor faux tablet, coupled with an expensive, oversized laptop. I might have still considered it, except that it was more expensive than comparable tablets and it forces everything through the Microsoft website for all apps and programs. No thanks.
My wife has an Apple iPhone, and for Christmas I got her the iPad Air. She loves it. As for me,
I prefer an Android tablet since my phone is also Android. Not to mention the cost of switching from Android to the iPhone. I'm also a Kindle reader, which led me to consider the Kindle Fire HDX. Coupled with a matching keyboard (purchased separately) I though it might do the job of small, light and functional. It couldn't use Jarte, though.
Jarte, I was sad to find out, does not have an android or Apple tablet version of their program. There are specific reasons for this. First, Jarte is nothing more that Wordpad with extended features. Wordpad doesn't run on the Android. There is a Google app version of Wordpad that is new (still in beta) which might fit the bill that I could try on my phone. Google also has it's own word processor, free on the Kindle, called QuickOffice. I'll try that one out, too. There are some others, but most of them are focused more on simple note taking, not lengthy writing.
There is one issue in using any non-Windows tablet that surprised me. Just as I use a simplified version of Word for all of my writing, I prefer to save those files in .RTF format. That format is universally accepted, retains all formatting, but isn't bloated by all the gunk of .DOC and .DOCX. Unfortunately, Android devices don't support the .RTF file format. There are apps that claim to be able to read .RTF files, but none support writing to or editing those files. It's a disappointing mystery to me.
What that means is that any files I want to use on a tablet would have to be converted from .RTF to .DOC and back again. Conversion between the two is pretty good, but it's not perfect, and I worry that I would be forever tinkering with it.
However, before I get ahead of myself, I'll test the two apps I mentioned above: QuickOffice and Google Wordpad. And I'll take another gander at those Windows laptops.
Update: After all that research I ended up almost where I started. I purchased a Lenovo Ideapad. It's a 10.1 inch tablet that runs Windows 8. I went with the 64GB version that came with a slot for an SD card as well as a micro-USB port, plus the usual connections of a tablet PC.
I also got a case including a keyboard that also works smoothly. The tablet can be separated from the case/keyboard when I want to just use the tablet.
I love the tablet. The touchscreen is very sharp and responsive. I am quickly getting used to not having an actual touchpad, which is a plus for me. I miss my mouse, but if I get to pining too hard I can install one from the micro-USB port. I sent an email to the Jarte folks about compatibility with Win 8 and they were quick respond that their version 5 of Jarte Plus, which I have, already has touchscreen capability built in. I haven't tested that yet, because of a number of issues that always seem to come with a new device.
Some things have to be changed. I need to replace Windows Explorer with the Firefox browser. I need to strangle Bing and replace it with the Google search engine. I need to wring the life out of MSN so it will stop bothering me. I prefer AVAST! as my virus checker, but McAfee is already installed and working so I'll keep it - at least until it reaches expiration. I did get Microsoft Office running.
I still haven't been able to get my email flowing. Judi says that could be a blessing in disguise. She has her email coming into three devices: her home desktop, her iPhone, and recently on her iPad. I never liked getting email on my phone (texting is so much easier), but I do want to be able to get my email to the tablet. It may take a call to the Cox cable folks, who handle our mail server. Jarte is also installed, but I'm having a license issue with Jarte Plus. I have Jarte Plus on a thumb drive, which works just fine. However, it's awkward on the tablet because of the cable attachment to the micro-USB port, which is very inconveniently placed on the bottom of the tablet, right where the tablet sits on the keyboard case. Sigh. I'll figure it out.
I'm firing this off before I think of more things to add.
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Cobbling it All Together
PS - The formatting looks awful, I know. I am having issues with blogger.com. Hopefully I will get fixed soon.
While it may not look like it on the surface, I've been actively working on the novel. In terms of real pages completed, I've cleaned up the first two chapters and added additional content to carry forward several threads that have been added. The plan is to read those two chapters during the next writer's group meeting. Most of the work, however, has been under the hood. Several main characters have been better fleshed out with detailed descriptions about their backgrounds and personalities. I also spent considerable time mapping out a chapter by chapter synopsis. That's been a lot of work, but I'm pretty happy with the initial results. The chapter synopsis is my guide. As a result of that work, I was able to tighten the story arcs considerably. The thirty chapters of the latest completed version of the novel has been compressed into eighteen chapters. I hope the changes will move the story along at a faster, more exciting pace.
The book doesn't end at the eighteenth chapter. I have synopses of new chapters nineteen and twenty completed, and I'm not quite done yet. Don't panic, though, a great deal of the original content is still there, so it's not like I'm re-writing the whole thing. Content has been moved around and unnecessary pieces have been set aside (ie, things that don't progress the story). There is a lot of writing still to be done, but a good bit of it is just tying the moved around pieces together and adding connections to the new threads I'm weaving in. I am currently walking through the main threads looking for consistency and relevance. One of my problems is that I've changed my mind a number of times about how some things work that are pretty critical to the story, and I have to nail those things down and get on with it.
Let me use a real example. One fundamental element of the story changes considerably. That change concerns Flea. The character, Flea, was never really fully defined. What is he, exactly? Currently, Flea appears both as a young man and as a musical instrument, a mandolin. The explanations for this phenomenon are lacking in the story, and that creates confusion. Taking a step back, I had to look at the idea of Song and it's effect when present and when absent. Song comes from the Well of the Worlds on Chord. It doesn't reach Spark. However, Song does exist on Spark. Flea is a creature of Chord, stolen from Caretaker Melody by Mela-nnee, and taken to Spark. Flea IS Song, which makes him both precious and dangerous. This new Flea does not play music or transform into a musical instrument. Flea is a sentient receptacle of Song in the shape of a young man. What more he might become will unfold over the course of the story.
While it may not look like it on the surface, I've been actively working on the novel. In terms of real pages completed, I've cleaned up the first two chapters and added additional content to carry forward several threads that have been added. The plan is to read those two chapters during the next writer's group meeting. Most of the work, however, has been under the hood. Several main characters have been better fleshed out with detailed descriptions about their backgrounds and personalities. I also spent considerable time mapping out a chapter by chapter synopsis. That's been a lot of work, but I'm pretty happy with the initial results. The chapter synopsis is my guide. As a result of that work, I was able to tighten the story arcs considerably. The thirty chapters of the latest completed version of the novel has been compressed into eighteen chapters. I hope the changes will move the story along at a faster, more exciting pace.
The book doesn't end at the eighteenth chapter. I have synopses of new chapters nineteen and twenty completed, and I'm not quite done yet. Don't panic, though, a great deal of the original content is still there, so it's not like I'm re-writing the whole thing. Content has been moved around and unnecessary pieces have been set aside (ie, things that don't progress the story). There is a lot of writing still to be done, but a good bit of it is just tying the moved around pieces together and adding connections to the new threads I'm weaving in. I am currently walking through the main threads looking for consistency and relevance. One of my problems is that I've changed my mind a number of times about how some things work that are pretty critical to the story, and I have to nail those things down and get on with it.
Let me use a real example. One fundamental element of the story changes considerably. That change concerns Flea. The character, Flea, was never really fully defined. What is he, exactly? Currently, Flea appears both as a young man and as a musical instrument, a mandolin. The explanations for this phenomenon are lacking in the story, and that creates confusion. Taking a step back, I had to look at the idea of Song and it's effect when present and when absent. Song comes from the Well of the Worlds on Chord. It doesn't reach Spark. However, Song does exist on Spark. Flea is a creature of Chord, stolen from Caretaker Melody by Mela-nnee, and taken to Spark. Flea IS Song, which makes him both precious and dangerous. This new Flea does not play music or transform into a musical instrument. Flea is a sentient receptacle of Song in the shape of a young man. What more he might become will unfold over the course of the story.
Saturday, November 16, 2013
Cross Country Safari . . . Maybe
Cross Country Safari . . . Maybe
A little off the subject, but I wanted to let readers know we will be traveling (I think) next week. I will have all my writing comforts with me, but I don't know how much time I'll have to write.
The family has been waffling back and forth for a couple of months now trying to decide whether we will make our annual trip (although it's been two years, not one, since our last trip) to visit relatives in Mississippi, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia. Just to make things a little more interesting, we are also planning a stopover in Paris, Texas, just because ... well, just because.
Our preference is to use the RV for such long trips. We bring along a few cats to keep us company and enjoy the rituals of a leisurely drive and nightly stops at each RV park. Our responsibilities to our foster cats as well as our own brood have put some constraints on how long we can be away this time around. We have two cats on medications. We are also concerned that our foster cats will backslide on the progress we've made socializing the skittish ones if we are away from them for too long.
We've settled on three weeks as the maximum time we can be away. "If" we go, we will have a lot of help from some great friends who'll be coming by the house regularly for cleaning, feeding, and playing. While we know they'll do a great job, we have a parent's worries for our four footed kids that will be left at home. To cut down the travel time and give us more time for visiting, we are taking the car this time. Two cats, Jonesie and Jackson, and our dog Sheila will be coming with us.
We are less than a week away from our planned start, and we have done most of what we need to do to be ready. Mostly. Maybe. Umm, well . . . We still haven't pushed the "GO" button, yet. Two days ago one of our younger cats came down with the sniffles. He seems to be getting better, though we are keeping a close eye on him.
Oh, I do have a little bit of news from the Writer's Conference. They are still compiling and editing the audio from the conference, but expect to have that done in about two weeks. By the time we get back from our trip I should have it.
A little off the subject, but I wanted to let readers know we will be traveling (I think) next week. I will have all my writing comforts with me, but I don't know how much time I'll have to write.
The family has been waffling back and forth for a couple of months now trying to decide whether we will make our annual trip (although it's been two years, not one, since our last trip) to visit relatives in Mississippi, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia. Just to make things a little more interesting, we are also planning a stopover in Paris, Texas, just because ... well, just because.
Our preference is to use the RV for such long trips. We bring along a few cats to keep us company and enjoy the rituals of a leisurely drive and nightly stops at each RV park. Our responsibilities to our foster cats as well as our own brood have put some constraints on how long we can be away this time around. We have two cats on medications. We are also concerned that our foster cats will backslide on the progress we've made socializing the skittish ones if we are away from them for too long.
We've settled on three weeks as the maximum time we can be away. "If" we go, we will have a lot of help from some great friends who'll be coming by the house regularly for cleaning, feeding, and playing. While we know they'll do a great job, we have a parent's worries for our four footed kids that will be left at home. To cut down the travel time and give us more time for visiting, we are taking the car this time. Two cats, Jonesie and Jackson, and our dog Sheila will be coming with us.
We are less than a week away from our planned start, and we have done most of what we need to do to be ready. Mostly. Maybe. Umm, well . . . We still haven't pushed the "GO" button, yet. Two days ago one of our younger cats came down with the sniffles. He seems to be getting better, though we are keeping a close eye on him.
Oh, I do have a little bit of news from the Writer's Conference. They are still compiling and editing the audio from the conference, but expect to have that done in about two weeks. By the time we get back from our trip I should have it.
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Playing in the Snow Flakes
Playing in the Snow Flakes
With the conference now behind me, it was time to make use of what I've learned and get back to the business of writing. The main project, of course, is the novel. I also want to make some time to revise the short story "The Hallway" based on the excellent advice I received from my private read and critique with literary agent Jill Marr. More on that in a future post.
I am now on my third draft of "The Majik of Spark." That means I have two 80k+ word novels and a partial third stuffed into my files as well as probably triple that in notes, background, alternatives, and who knows what else. The linear writing process I use (also known as SOTP, or Seat of the Pants writing) is, for me, good for my creativity, but not very conducive to good organization. I just haven't done a good job of organizing the project. When I started coming across old content that looked suspiciously like something important that should have been in the book, I had to take a step back and reassess the plan/non-plan I was using. Having no plan is, by default, a sort of plan, and there is probably someone somewhere who could say it better than I. Aha! Let's let Winston Churchill give his version: "He who fails to plan is planning to fail." Change "plan/planning" to "prepare/preparing' and you have Ben Franklin's quote, "If you fail to prepare then you are preparing to fail."
What I'm leading up to is that I need to do some desperately needed planning and preparation before I jump back into pounding out chapters. In our last writer's group there were mixed views about how formal or informal this should be. There are specific guidelines (such as the Three Act process) that a great many writers, agents, and publishers insist on seeing when reading manuscripts. Then there were some who felt that guidelines restricted creativity and turned the art of writing into a cookie cutter process.
I can only comment on my own efforts, based on my obviously limited experience in writing a novel. I did not follow or even know about such guidelines when I wrote the first draft. In my opinion, the faults of the first draft included a failure to inject a sense of danger and conflict early enough in the book; ie, it lacked the first disaster called for in the three act process. There were lots of other mistakes, of course, but the lack of a tempo that is comfortable to readers was a major flaw. The second draft, while much better in a lot of ways, did not address that fundamental issue from the first draft.
My intent with the third draft is to pay homage to the Three Act process. Frankly, when I looked at the novel in that way, the three disasters fairly jumped out at me. They were in there even before I knew that was what they were. Two were pretty solid, but I could see that one was weak and would need reinforcement. Is that a cookie cutter approach, or an understanding of what gives a novel the ebb and flow it needs to have? That will be up to readers to decide.
I know that I am good at organizing things, when I decide to do it. I also know that I have trouble realizing when organizing should end and writing chapters should begin again. That will be my challenge going forward. I'm going to use a well known method of organizing called the Snowflake Method. I've spent the week since the conference crafting the first two steps, which I'll explain in a moment. I have made some alterations to the storyline based on input from the conference as well, so I hope the changes won't be too jarring to those who have patiently waded through all of these drafts. The first step is to write a one sentence summary of the whole book. The second step is to expand that to a paragraph that captures the story setup, the major disasters, and the ending. All of the emotion is essentially wrung out of this process in order to get to the basic framework from which all the good stuff can be built upon it.
It was hard not to try to fit in Song, or Conductors, or the Well of the worlds, or explain how magic/majik works in Spark but not in Chord, etc. The first thing this process did for me was help me to separate the book I was writing from the book that I will write down the road (ie, Chord). Too often I've confused those two, and this process cleared it up for me. So, below is the result of those first two steps. I'm interested to see if you can imagine how The Majik of Spark can be built, layer by layer, from this beginning.
Step 1 - Write a one sentence summary of the novel.
"A teenaged girl tormented with horrific visions joins a mysterious expedition to restore a shattered, life-giving well." - 17 words [goal, 15 words]
Say what? I can imagine that reaction. Let's take it by the numbers. [1] Philly is the girl, of course, and the story now centers on her as the main character. [2] The "why" that brings her into the expedition is now explained - she has horrific visions of the shattered well that drive her. [3] Those visions come from the wizard Reskin, who plays a more vital role than before. [4] The expedition itself now has a more concrete goal. [5] I've reversed the idea of breaking the barrier between the worlds to restoring the shattered connection, a more positive goal.
Step 2 - Write a paragraph describing the story setup, major disasters, and ending of the novel (roughly five sentences). NOTE: I am only going to include the first two sentences (of seven) since entire plotlines and the ending are spelled out. I'd like to save that for eventual readers to encounter when they read the book. For our writer's group, I'll make more details available so you can see where I am taking this third draft.
Here's the teaser:
"A teenage girl befriends a wizard who, on his deathbed, floods her mind with horrific visions surrounding an immense, shattered well beneath a sky raining blood. Convinced by a wakened goddess that her visions are real, the girl joins a mysterious expedition to find and restore the shattered well and stop the evil forces that covet it's power."
With the conference now behind me, it was time to make use of what I've learned and get back to the business of writing. The main project, of course, is the novel. I also want to make some time to revise the short story "The Hallway" based on the excellent advice I received from my private read and critique with literary agent Jill Marr. More on that in a future post.
I am now on my third draft of "The Majik of Spark." That means I have two 80k+ word novels and a partial third stuffed into my files as well as probably triple that in notes, background, alternatives, and who knows what else. The linear writing process I use (also known as SOTP, or Seat of the Pants writing) is, for me, good for my creativity, but not very conducive to good organization. I just haven't done a good job of organizing the project. When I started coming across old content that looked suspiciously like something important that should have been in the book, I had to take a step back and reassess the plan/non-plan I was using. Having no plan is, by default, a sort of plan, and there is probably someone somewhere who could say it better than I. Aha! Let's let Winston Churchill give his version: "He who fails to plan is planning to fail." Change "plan/planning" to "prepare/preparing' and you have Ben Franklin's quote, "If you fail to prepare then you are preparing to fail."
What I'm leading up to is that I need to do some desperately needed planning and preparation before I jump back into pounding out chapters. In our last writer's group there were mixed views about how formal or informal this should be. There are specific guidelines (such as the Three Act process) that a great many writers, agents, and publishers insist on seeing when reading manuscripts. Then there were some who felt that guidelines restricted creativity and turned the art of writing into a cookie cutter process.
I can only comment on my own efforts, based on my obviously limited experience in writing a novel. I did not follow or even know about such guidelines when I wrote the first draft. In my opinion, the faults of the first draft included a failure to inject a sense of danger and conflict early enough in the book; ie, it lacked the first disaster called for in the three act process. There were lots of other mistakes, of course, but the lack of a tempo that is comfortable to readers was a major flaw. The second draft, while much better in a lot of ways, did not address that fundamental issue from the first draft.
My intent with the third draft is to pay homage to the Three Act process. Frankly, when I looked at the novel in that way, the three disasters fairly jumped out at me. They were in there even before I knew that was what they were. Two were pretty solid, but I could see that one was weak and would need reinforcement. Is that a cookie cutter approach, or an understanding of what gives a novel the ebb and flow it needs to have? That will be up to readers to decide.
I know that I am good at organizing things, when I decide to do it. I also know that I have trouble realizing when organizing should end and writing chapters should begin again. That will be my challenge going forward. I'm going to use a well known method of organizing called the Snowflake Method. I've spent the week since the conference crafting the first two steps, which I'll explain in a moment. I have made some alterations to the storyline based on input from the conference as well, so I hope the changes won't be too jarring to those who have patiently waded through all of these drafts. The first step is to write a one sentence summary of the whole book. The second step is to expand that to a paragraph that captures the story setup, the major disasters, and the ending. All of the emotion is essentially wrung out of this process in order to get to the basic framework from which all the good stuff can be built upon it.
It was hard not to try to fit in Song, or Conductors, or the Well of the worlds, or explain how magic/majik works in Spark but not in Chord, etc. The first thing this process did for me was help me to separate the book I was writing from the book that I will write down the road (ie, Chord). Too often I've confused those two, and this process cleared it up for me. So, below is the result of those first two steps. I'm interested to see if you can imagine how The Majik of Spark can be built, layer by layer, from this beginning.
Step 1 - Write a one sentence summary of the novel.
"A teenaged girl tormented with horrific visions joins a mysterious expedition to restore a shattered, life-giving well." - 17 words [goal, 15 words]
Say what? I can imagine that reaction. Let's take it by the numbers. [1] Philly is the girl, of course, and the story now centers on her as the main character. [2] The "why" that brings her into the expedition is now explained - she has horrific visions of the shattered well that drive her. [3] Those visions come from the wizard Reskin, who plays a more vital role than before. [4] The expedition itself now has a more concrete goal. [5] I've reversed the idea of breaking the barrier between the worlds to restoring the shattered connection, a more positive goal.
Step 2 - Write a paragraph describing the story setup, major disasters, and ending of the novel (roughly five sentences). NOTE: I am only going to include the first two sentences (of seven) since entire plotlines and the ending are spelled out. I'd like to save that for eventual readers to encounter when they read the book. For our writer's group, I'll make more details available so you can see where I am taking this third draft.
Here's the teaser:
"A teenage girl befriends a wizard who, on his deathbed, floods her mind with horrific visions surrounding an immense, shattered well beneath a sky raining blood. Convinced by a wakened goddess that her visions are real, the girl joins a mysterious expedition to find and restore the shattered well and stop the evil forces that covet it's power."
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