..:: Written .:. Off ::..

I have lots of stuff flying around my head since I finished my novel. I have never finished anything of this magnitude before and let me tell you, I am really excited. And terrified.

For the first time ever, I got a quick pang of fear when I thought about trying to get my book published. I have never experienced that before and I think that I dealt with it in a good way. I just let the thought go (props to Buddha for that trick). I didn’t start to feed it or dwell on it. There is really no time for that now. There is too much work to do.

First and foremost, I have to start editing. Like I said in my last post, I am coming up with some sort of plan to edit this monster. There are so many things that need to be fixed. There are plot holes that need filling, characters that need developing and lots of names that need to be changed. When you write fantasy, you have to make up everything: street names, city names, character names (elves named Frank don’t cut it) and different races. I think I am pretty safe in the character name department but my city names need work.

The next thing that I need to do is figure out a list of publishers who work with this sort of fiction. I will probably use Writers Market to at least assemble a list.

Then I will need an agent. I know that this will be just as tough as getting published. Finding someone who believes in my work and will push it is going to be hard. That’s why the editing process is so important. I can not even image the embarrassment of sending a less than perfect manuscript out to an agent or publisher. The creative side of writing is most important but if you skimp on the technical side one bit…excuse me for saying…but you are f**ked.

I personally do not trust my own eyes. I will edit my book. Have a friend or two look it over and then send it to professional. I worked too hard on this thing to get lazy now. I would urge you to do the same thing unless you are a copy editor.

Today was a strange day. For the first time in almost two years, I woke up and didn’t feel that I had to write anything. The book is done, at least, the skeleton of it is finished. While, I would love to spend time celebrating, I know that there is much work ahead. The first 20 chapters of my novel are in really good shape. I have written and rewritten them many time. Still, I am going to take a day or two off and then go back to the beginning and really tear the thing apart. I am going to take the next few days to come up with some sort of plan to really edit my novel. Once I figure out a method, I will post what I am doing. I could use any advice that you have.

I also plan on reading a few of the publishing and legal books that I have so that I can be ready to send the novel out when I feel it is in good shape.

The next thing that I have to decide is what to write next. I have two ideas. One is another story set in the same world as my first novel. The second is a completely different fantasy story that I have been toying with. I am not going to start anything new until January 1st so I have time to think about it.

When I wrote the title to this post, it was the second time that I wrote those words today. Do I even have to say what the first time was?

I don’t know what overcame me today but I wrote almost 5000 words, which culiminated in me finally finsishing my novel.

Writing is truly a lonley job as all of the people that I care about telling the good news too are either sleeping or not around.

Doesn’t matter though.

I am too tired to know what I am feeling right now but I know one thing…I am entitled to take a break from writing for the rest of tonight.

Okay, enough whining. The weekend is over. Thanksgiving is a memory and the family has vacated my household. Time to get back to business…

I am getting close to the end of my novel, even though unexpected dialogues and chapters have been springing up out of the blue. My characters seem to be taking on a life of their own and doing things that were not in the original plan. I just competed a conversation between two characters that was supposed to be about 2 pages that ended up being about 12 pages. I didn’t realize how much they had to say to each other especially since they hate each other.

I am still on track to be done, maybe, by the end of this week. Once I’m finished, I get to begin the task of editing. I have become pretty adept at this over the last few years because I tend to rewrite whenever I have writer’s block. Editing is almost therapeutic. I have convinced myself that it is not actually writing so I do not have to burden myself with being creative during the process. This is a load of shit, of course, but if you can’t lie to yourself, who can you lie to? Right?

The truth is, editing is a very creative process. This is when I go back and inject color and feeling into all of those limp passages that I have written. It’s a time to go back and check continuity (He fired a pistol last chapter and now he has a shotgun? WTF??) and make sure that everything makes sense.

When I first started writing, I would save my document as one file. This is a big “no-no”. Not only do you open yourself for a disaster if the file gets corrupted buy you also make the task of editing much more cumbersome. It is so much easier to work with single chapters than one huge document. A 400 page document is so much more daunting than 30 something 10-15 page documents.

Here are some tips that I use for the editing process:

1. Break your document up into chapters.
2. Identify each file with a name that will let you know what is going on in that chapter. Example: Chapter2-BilboHocksTheRing.DOC
3. Keep a copy of a good style manual handy incase you run into any questions about whether to use that semi-colon or any usage issues. I recommend The Elements Of Style by Strunk and White, as does every other writer on the earth.
4. Give your freshly edited chapters to a trusted reader/friend to check out. You never know what you will have missed.
5. Check for continuity. Make sure that your story is consistent. This can be a bit difficult over the course of a huge novel. I would suggest that if you have a long story with lots of characters, that you take notes during the editing process. You never know when that leather coat that your character has been wearing will turn into to a raincoat midway into your story.

Any tips that you would like to share about editing? I would love to hear them. I need all of the help that I can get.

The holidays are fast approaching and this always puts me in the mood for some Christmas music. Here at Doomed to Rock, we don’t always listen to what people would think of as “traditional” Christmas music…lets see what have in the old CD player to greet Santa with…

1. King Diamond - No Presents For Christmas: Ah..an old favorite from our favorite satanist. I looked up the lyrics and they are just way to stupid to print but the sentiment is still there.

2. Christmas With The Devil - Spinal Tap: Another goody from the world’s greatest make believe band. A great way to celebrate Christmas is to gather the family around the fireplace, make some hot chocolate and sing along:

The elves are dressed in leather And the angels are in chains (Christmas with the Devil) The sugar plums are rancid And the stockings are in flames (Christmas with the Devil)

3. Father Christmas - The Kinks: My all time favorite Christmas song! The Kinks were always such an angry and underrated band. I like these lyrics so much, I will print them all:

When I was small I believed in santa claus
Though I knew it was my dad
And I would hang up my stocking at christmas
Open my presents and I’d be glad

But the last time I played father christmas
I stood outside a department store
A gang of kids came over and mugged me
And knocked my reindeer to the floor

They said:
Father christmas, give us some money
Don’t mess around with those silly toys.
We’ll beat you up if you don’t hand it over
We want your bread so don’t make us annoyed
Give all the toys to the little rich boys

Don’t give my brother a steve austin outfit
Don’t give my sister a cuddly toy
We don’t want a jigsaw or monopoly money
We only want the real mccoy

Father christmas, give us some money
We’ll beat you up if you make us annoyed
Father christmas, give us some money
Don’t mess around with those silly toys

But give my daddy a job ’cause he needs one
He’s got lots of mouths to feed
But if you’ve got one, I’ll have a machine gun
So I can scare all the kids down the street

Father christmas, give us some money
We got no time for your silly toys
We’ll beat you up if you don’t hand it over
Give all the toys to the little rich boys

Have yourself a merry merry christmas
Have yourself a good time
But remember the kids who got nothin’
While you’re drinkin’ down your wine

Father christmas, give us some money
We got no time for your silly toys
We’ll beat you up if you don’t hand it over
We want your bread, so don’t make us annoyed
Give all the toys to the little rich boys

Okay, I received this comment today:

“Good points. But Metal itself sucks ass, so what’s the difference? Grow up and listen to some real music.”

Now mind you, I have had to live with these comments my whole life due to my taste in music. Yes I like Heavy Metal. What most people don’t realize is that there are so many sub-genres of this music that if you have the patience, you will never get bored. When people tell me to listen to “real” music, my reply is always, “Okay, what is real music?” Usually, people will fall back on music that is pretty much bullet proof: Jazz, Classical or pull out bands like The Beatles and The Stones. Sorry, but I have news for you, I listen to all of that stuff, probably more so than you do. And guess what, you can hear jazz and classical influence in lots of metal bands like Dysrythmia, Death, Soilent Green, Mr. Bungle…the list is endless. I am probably more open-minded to music because I listen to heavy metal since metal bands are influenced by all types of music, even world music.

So, since I really had no content to post about today, if any of you would like to enlighten me as to what music I should listen to that will allow me grow up…go ahead! I am would love to hear from you.

For now, I am going to disappear for a few days because it’s apparently Turkey Time here in the good ole US of A.

Check out these free MP3’s of Doomed to Rock’s approved music menu. Right Click and choose Save As on any of the songs below!

1. Evil Eye - Fu Manchu: Awesome stoner rock band from California. Fu Manchu will make you pull out your old iron-on tee-shirts and dig out your dusty bong.

2. Clutch - Spacegrass: Who wants to Rock? Hailing from Virginia, Clutch may be one of the great American rock bands still playing. Their studio albums are great but they really shine in a live setting! Sit back and get ready to rock!

3. Earth - Land of Some Other Order: From their new CD Hex comes a healthy dose slow, western-like metal. Earth’s music is designed to put you into a trance, so please do not operate any heavy machinery while listening!

4. Corrosion Of Conformity - Stonebreaker: Rounding off this week, we have the first track from the newest COC cd…straight from New Orleans!

Well, that’s if for today. All of these tracks are courtesy of www.stonerrock.com

Give me some feedback. I am always curious to hear from you whether you love it or hate it.

I stumbled across this site that listed the Top 10 Most Ridiculous Black Metal pictures of all time. Even if you have never heard any Black Metal, all that you really have to know about it is that it is supposed to be the most evil form of music of all time. The musicians often dress up and scowl a lot. Often, these bad intentions go array and you end up with bands that look like the picture that I have posted. If you dare to see more unintentional hilarity, follow the links and enjoy…

Part 1

Part 2 (if you dare)

As writers, we tend to know a lot about the craft of writing but when it comes to things like publishing and the business side of things, we tend to know little. If you are a writer, who has no intention of being published or does not care about protecting your work, then knowing the business side is not important. If you do intend to have your work published or have concern about the theft of your hard work, you should really start reading about the publishing business right away. I used to run my own fantasy/horror webzine so I took the time to learn about rights and contracts a few years back. If you are a serious writer, there are lots of places on the internet where you can find a good deal of info on the publishing side of things.

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America has a lot of good info at their site that pertains to any genre. Check out section of their website that details a lot of things you should beware of as a writer.

If you have a piece that you are interested in getting published that falls into the Fantasy/Science Fiction/Horror/Humor genre, please check out Ralan’s Site. Ralan lists hundreds of markets to get your work published. He also lists sites that have bad reputations for ripping off writers or not paying. This site is crammed with good information so please check it out.

Another great site is Writer’s Market. The owners of this site are also the publishers of those huge Writer’s Market tomes that you see in the book stores. Sure you can buy the book but you can get all of the same info and more online by subscribing to their site. It costs $4 a month or $30 a year but it is worth it if you are ready to get a story, article or book published. The advantage that the site has over the book is that it is completely up to date. Markets come and go so I think it is much smarter to go with the site. I am not sure if you get a discount on the website if you buy the book.

Is Nu Metal dying? What is Nu Metal, you ask? Its that brand of Metal mixed with Rap that was really popular about 2-3 years ago. You must remember all of those shitty bands that were stinking up the already putrid smelling rock radio, like INCUBUS, Korn and P.O.D. I think you can even throw in Disturbed, Staind and Papa Roach into that group. Those band my not be Nu Metal but let’s pull the chain on these latter day Metallica-mopes too.

The first signs of Nu Metals death came when Limp Bizkit released their tepid, Result May Vary, which dropped with the same sound of a five pound bag of shit hitting the ground. I guess every one finally got sick of Fred Durst! How could anyone get sick of the guy who was brazen enough to ruin The Who’s Behind Blue Eyes? Bizkit followed up Results with the equally bad, The Unquestionable Truth Part 1. Considering that Limp Bizkit’s record company just released a Limp Bizkit Greatest Hits CD, this week, maybe we will not have to endure, The Unquestionable Truth Part 2. Greatest Hit CDs usually are released to fill CD contract obligations. I came up with this post when I saw that the Greatest Hit CD in question debuted at #47. Not a good sign for Bizkit, but hey, it made me laugh.

As a true fan of Heavy Metal music, nothing pleases me more than to see this genre die. These shitty bands only cast a bad light on true metal bands. Band like Limp Bizkit and Korn help perpetuate the stereotype that all Metalheads are unintelligent block heads who are into violence. and nothing can be further from the truth. In my life time I have seem more fights and violence at classic rock concerts than at Metal shows. Most Metalheads are polite and go to these venues to hear music and not cause fights. When the American public sees a dolt like Fred Durst onstage, inciting the Woodstock crowd into a riot, it makes all fans of metal look like animals. And guess what…real Metal fans don’t buy those types of bands music because it’s a joke. Period!

So, please, let the funeral of Nu Metal/Rap Rock begin! I have just given a fitting eulogy so let’s get it over with and bury that genre six feet under.