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

The other day I opened up the folder on my computer called “Novels-Unfinished and found no less than 25 sub-folders. Each sub-folder contained files related to some unfinished project. I have to admit that it was fun reading some of my older ideas. Some files contained no more than a paragraph of text, while others contained pages and pages.

I never get rid of anything that I write, no matter how bad or seemingly useless, because sometimes those abandoned ideas can be salvaged. I often combine several older ideas together into one story. I usually take the best bits and leave the fat behind.

This year I started two projects and abandoned each one. The first project is a sequal to my finished novel, and the other was an attempt to write something lighter and geared toward younger readers. I stopped work on both projects for various reasons. While I had loads of ideas for a sequel, all of the little parts didn’t seem to hold together. I couldn’t figure out the overriding theme of the story. I will probably go back to it eventually and try to figure it out. I started the second project and kind of just forgot about it, which is always a bad sign.

About three weeks ago, I had another idea. I picked up a cheap notebook and started to fill it up with ideas. The core idea of the story is new, but it contains a lot of old ideas that I’ve been wanting to use for a long time. I have a few chapters outlined, so I will probably get started with the writing soon.

So keep those old scraps, you never know when they will come in handy!

Well, I just put the 7th and final (?) Harry Potter novel on the shelf next to the first six books. I wanted to write a review that was a bit different, so I’ve decided to review it purely from a writing point of view.

J.K. Rowling is certainly a skilled writer. She has created a world full of characters who are loved world-wide. Most of the previous novels followed a similar formula. The stories usually took place over the school year at Hogwarts. Rowling has broken this formula, since deem it necessary to have most of the action take place off school grounds. Without giving too much away, Harry is on the run and needs to figure out how to destroy the Dark Lord.

Pacing

The novels pacing is a subject of much discussion by readers. The novel starts off with a bang but somewhat sags in the middle. This is somewhat understandable since the characters know what they have to do, but clearly have no idea where to start. Much of the middle section of the novel revolves around the characters following leads into dead-ends. It’s realistic but still drags the story down.

Action

There are three major events in the novel that are almost purely action. The action scenes are elaborate and well written. Rowling does a fantastic job of keeping track of the characters during these scenes which sometimes span 2-3 chapters. During these scenes, there is a lot going on in the background, and Rowling manages to keep the level of suspense high.

Characters

Since this is the final novel, it is jam packed with characters from previous novels. Sometimes it’s hard to keep track of all of them. In the final action sequence, it seems that everyone who is still alive shows up. Again, Rowling does a great job of giving these characters their 15-minutes (or in some cases, their 15-words). One thing that did annoy me a bit was some of the characters reactions to certain events. Some of the sub-plots (there are dozens) seemed forced. I also thought that the relationship between Ron and Hermione seemed a bit forced at times. They spend most of the novel arguing, and don’t seem to see eye to eye on anything.

Details

One thing you will notice as soon as you start reading the book is the sense of finality. She goes through great pains to let the reader know that this is the last book. It feels like the last book. She manages to tie up every loose end from the previous novels. You will also learn things about characters, like Dumbledore, that are very surprising.

World Events and Baddies

Voldemort is really, really, really bad, and Rowling is not afraid to show it. She certainly holds up her end of the deal in this respect. Everyone is afraid of Voldemort, even his closest followers. He achieves record level nastiness that is liable to give young readers nightmares. My opinion on this matter is, if you are going to spend 6 novels building up a bad guy, he had better be the King of all Baddies. In a lot of fiction, the bad guy usually ends up coming off as much cooler than the good guys. Not so in Harry Potter. There is nothing likable about Voldemort. Anyone who idolizes him probably needs a few visits with counselor.

The big picture of how his return affect the wizarding world is very well done. There is a great sense of paranoia running through the book. The characters are unable to trust anyone, even those who they thought were allies.

Overall

Even though the novel had some short comings, I really enjoyed it. Even when the book dragged, I still felt compelled to read more. The final battle and epilogue were masterfully done and should leave no reader disappointed. I

Wow! The country is once again going crazy over Harry. No surprises, since this is the final book in the series. I’ve actually been a fan of Harry Potter since the second book was released. I had never heard of Harry, until I saw a copy of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, prominently displayed at my local bookstore. I was kind of surprised to see a fantasy book displayed in the front of the store.  The title and the cover art got my attention, so I picked it up and leafed through it. A few days later, I purchased the first book in the series, and have been reading about Harry ever since.

Since I’m a bit of a slacker, I still have yet to pick up a copy of the new book. I’m currently reading Beowulf by Seamus Heaney, and plan to read Grendel by John Gardner next. After I’m through those, I will probably make time for Harry.

Since so many people are lining up to buy the new Potter book, I was curious as to how many copies were flying off the shelves. While reading some news articles, I found an interesting story regarding how retailers aren’t making too much money off this book due to the deep discounts being offered. Check it out here:

Harry Potter and the Diminished Returns

I will try anything when it comes to writing at least once.

Right now, my novel is just a bunch of random scenes in my head. The other night, I decided that I had to just write down what I had in some format. Writing into a journal was one alternative.  Another, was to write each scene down on an index card. I’ve become interested in the process of film-making recently, so writing each scene down on an individual card would be my version of storyboarding.

Storyboards are defined as follows:

 sto·ry·board       (stôr’Ä“-bôrd’, stōr’Ä“-bōrd’)  Pronunciation Key
n.   A panel or series of panels of rough sketches outlining the scene sequence and major changes of action or plot in a production to be shot on film or video.

This is by no means a revolutionary concept in novel writing. Many authors use this technique to organize both their thoughts, and the scene arrangement of their novel.  Like I said above, I will try anything once so…

…I first took my journal and wrote a quick summary of the novel. Next, I dug out my old index cards and proceeded to write each scene on an individual card. I have about 5-6 scenes written out. Each scene could be either a whole chapter or just a scene within a chapter.

After that, I took it one step further and created a card for each character that I know will be in the book. I simply wrote down that characters name and a brief summary about that character. I then wrote POV in the right-hand corner of the card, if their will be chapters from this characters perspective.

I’m trying to limit the POVs this time around. The last book had a few POV characters, since some of the action took place from the “baddies” perspectives. I have nine characters now. A few of them are unfortunate enough to not have names. I’m waiting until the right name strikes me before assigning them something silly.

When I think that I have enough scenes, I will start to arrange them on a corkboard in the order that they will take place in the novel.

One major thing that I’m lacking is an ending to work towards. I usually know how a story ends before I start it. It helps me to work towards something. Once I figure out more about the story, I hope that the ending will present itself.

First off, thanks to all of you who left comments on my last post. It’s great to see that there are writers out there who are able to think past what they are told by all the naysayers in the world. If you have some time, take a moment and read some of the comments on my last post. Some of them are quite interesting and eye-opening.

Now…onto the novel…

I’ve been thinking about my idea for the sequel, and unfortunately, it’s not lighting up my creativity. My first novel has a clear ending. I did not want to fall into the Fantasy Trilogy Trap. I like books that stand on their own, and swore that I would never write a trilogy, just because it seems to be the trend. For some reason, three is the magic number.

Yawn.

So why am I writing a sequel? Well, it’s so much a sequel, as a continuation of the main characters story. Since the first novel is very personal, I figured that I would make the second more epic. It just seemed to be the logical move. I had an idea for a story that dealt with huge armies from different dimensions converging on the world in question to battle for power. While this idea has possibilities, I’m still not sure if it’s the right story to tell at this point.

Last night, while tossing and turning in bed, I had a much better idea on where to go with the sequel. It’s a much smaller scale, but a lot grittier. I like gritty, and most of all, I want the story to be different. My philosophy when it comes to art is to do things that have not been done before. I don’t see the point in writing something that has been done to death a thousand times over.

I also find that I can’t just write for the sake of writing. Writing prompts and flash fiction challenges hold no interest to me. I’ve tried these before and my output is mostly crap. The only time these seem to work for me is if I already have a quality idea floating around my head that doesn’t fit into my current project. Some writers do well with writing on the fly, but I just can’t seem to get the hang of it.

I know I’m on the right track with a story when I get a flood of ideas. I had a lot of ideas last night as soon as I came up with the new direction for the story. The challenge now is to sort through them, and then combine them with the bits from the original idea that are worth keeping.

It’s always good to keep track of any ideas that you might have, even if they don’ seem relevant to your current project. I’m not really organized, so sometimes I will jot stray ideas down in a notebook, or create a computer file with a few sentences. So don’t throw anything away! You never know when you will need it.

All of this novel planning makes me feel complacent. I haven’t actually written much in the past few weeks. My next steps will be to organize my ideas, and write a chapter or two. Even if I don’t use these chapters, it will help me establish the tone of the novel.

One of the reasons that I started blogging was to meet other writers. Many of the writers who I’ve met through this blog have been have been really cool, and open-minded individuals.

It’s when I move into the general populus of writers, that I get into trouble. The more writers that I encounter, the more I find that they are a drain on my personal drive to be a successful writer.

My annoyance always mounts when it comes to the subject of Self-Publishing. I was talking to some writers about my novel and immediately found myself on the defensive because:

• I’ve hired a professional to proofread my novel.
• I firmly believe that Self Publishing is a viable alternative if you are willing to create a product that is as professional as a book published by the “big houses”, and you are willing to promote your novel to death.

The general consensus seems to be, if you can’t get your novel published traditionally, then it’s not good enough and should be shelved. Self-publishers are considered to be hacks. Well, guess what, I’d like to have a $1000 (no need to be conservative) for every traditionally published contrived, poorly editied novel I’ve slogged through over the years. The book shelves are lined with hack writers. Being published does not mean you’re not a hack.

I’ve also been told that you can only hope to sell about 250 copies of your novel if it’s self-published. These same people seem to be ignorant of the fact that many traditionally published novels never even sell 2000 copies. Being published is not the be all, end all it’s made out to be.

I don’t argue too much with these people because I realize something; they’re thinking is way to rigid. Sure, there is a huge stigma when it comes to self-publishing, but I think that most of the bias is perpetuated by us writers.

Why do I think this? Until I started writing seriously, I was blissfully unaware of terms such as Vanity Press, POD and Self-Publishing. With decades of book-buying under my belt, I never once knew if a book I was buying was from a traditional publisher or from a self-publisher. I would just buy a book and read it. I didn’t check the spine to see who published it. If the book looked good, or was recommended to me, I bought it.

End of story.

Only now, since I’m a writer and read books on the subject, and interact with other writers, am I aware of these different publishing avenues. And the only reason I may have thought that books from PODs or Vanity Presses are bad, is because I’ve been told so by other writers. I’ve never once had a non-writer tell me, “Don’t buy that book! It’s self-published!”

Writers moan about how publishing eludes them, but will turn around in an instant and burn their bridges by condeming viable alternatives.

It’s funny. A rock band that self-produces a CD, and sells it by hand is considered to be “grassroots” and given credit for having a DIY work ethic, while the writer who takes this path is considered to be an amateur who couldn’t make it with the big boys.

I think that if you are going to succeed at anything, you have to be flexible, and open to any alternatives. If you believe in your work, you should be willing to promote it, and do whatever it takes to get it out there. If I can’t get my book published traditionally, you are damned right I will self-publish. And if you are too good to do it yourself, then it’s less competition for those who do.

I remember reading Henry Rollin’s Get In The Van (which is self-published), which chronicles his years as singer of the hardcore band Black Flag. In one section, Henry is depressed because only one person has shown up to the gig that night. To paraphrase, the guitar player says, “Whether there is one person in the crowd or a hundred, you still give it your all every night.”

I firmly believe in this philosophy. No matter how you are publishing your book, if you put out a polished product, and get behind it, at least you can say that you tried. I don’t want to be 70 years old, lamenting about how I once wrote a book but couldn’t get it published. I’d rather 250 people read something that I wrote, than nobody.

I was trolling the forums at Absolute Write today and stumbled upon a post about Blogs VS Website, in regards to being an author.

As an author, I prefer a blog because it’s more personal. I have direct contact with my readers, and I enjoy the feedback that I receive regarding my posts.

The author of the post said that he tried blogging, but quickly grew bored of it since no one was reading it. I suspect that the poster didn’t do much to let the world know about his blog.

There are a few things you need to do to promote your blog:

1. List your blog in the search engines. You can do this for free at Add Me and Submit Express.

2. Come up with a theme. Unless your readers are you close friends and family, they probably don’t care about what your cat did last night, or what you had for breakfast.

3. Find other blogs similar to your own and comment on them. This is a great way to meet like-minded people.

4. Respond to comments on your blog. Let the readers know that you are reading what they take the time to post!

5. Post often. I like to post at least 2-3 times a week.

6. Ping your blog every day! This will let blog sites know that you have a new article posted. You can ping your blog at Ping Goat or Ping-O-Matic.

7. Join a blog surfing site such as Blogexplosion. This takes some work, but I always manage to pick up a few readers.

If you are looking for a blog service, I recommend WordPress. Blogger is just plain buggy. Both of these hosts are 100% free. I don’t see any reason to use any of the pay services.

    Novel writing is a long process, and frankly, it should be. I think that some writers are in a rush to get their first book written and published, but is that really a good idea?

We all know that a poorly written book has very little chance of being published, but that’s not what I’m talking about.

Sometimes a story needs time to simmer in your head. The longer that you take, the more time you will have to think about different aspects of your story and characters. I think if you rush a story, it may not be as good as it could be if you took your time and really thought what you are writing.

Many of us are inspired by things in our everyday life. Even a fantasy writer like myself, incorporates things that I see and experience into my work. If I would have rushed my first novel, there are so many details that would not be in there had I tried to pound it out over a short period of time.

Take your time, don’t rush. When people ask me how long it will take to write a novel, I alway answer, “As long as it takes.” The same thing applies to how long a novel will be page wise, but that’s another post.

I’m currently getting ready to do my brain dump. I use the following items for the brain dump:

• Several black gel pens
• 1 non-ruled journal
• Lots of tea
• Lots of time

I’m still in the midst of organizing my ideas for the sequel to my first book. Since I’ve decided to write a sequel to my first novel, I’m doing a reread/rewrite of the first book.

I’m planning to have the book 100% completed in the next 2-3 months or sooner. I’ve been doing a lot research on both traditional publishing, and self-publishing.

Here are the results of my research:

• I have as much of a chance of getting published, as I have of being struck by lighting twice, while sitting on the toilet reading a copy of “O” magazine.
• If I self-publish, no one will take my book seriously, and it will die a quick death shortly after my friends and family buy up their copies.

Pretty grim, huh?

I swear, if I didn’t love to write, I would have given up a long time ago.

I have to admit that I’m a bit of a hard head when it comes to statistics, and being told that certain things are impossible.

I think that there are a few reasons that most writers fail to get published:

• They send their book out before it is 100% publication-ready
• They become discouraged by the first few rejections
• Their work does not stand out from the crowd
• Their book stands out too much

But even if you do get published, there is no guarantee that your book will sell. Even books that are published by traditional means may not sell more than 2000 copies.

The most important thing that I’ve learned over the past few months is that if you want to sell books, you have to be a salesman, and be willing to promote yourself. Most writers (including myself) cringe at this thought.

Why?

Because we want to sit at our desks and write. We don’t want to be bothered with things like promotion, publicity and marketing. The sad truth is, no matter how you publish your book, you will have to deal these things. The publisher may assign you a publicist, who is more than likely working on 10 other books including yours. And if you are self-publishing, it’s all YOU.

I’m currently working on my plans to promote my book. I want to have a marketing plan in place well in advance. I have some basic ideas, but I’m really trying to think out of the box. Most of the success stories that I’ve read about are about authors who tried new and creative ways to market their books. Once I get my plan together, I will share some of them with you to get your feedback.

I’ve been thinking about violence in art. No doubt, these thoughts are tied into the Virginia Tech massacre that took place earlier this week. My thoughts are centered on the fact that the murder’s English teacher voiced concerns about his writings.  Whether it was the voilent imagery in this plays, or a combination of this writing and his actions, it makes me wonder what will happen going forward when a student turns in a piece of work that contains violence.

I like to watch horror movies. I’ve seen every slasher movie this side of Halloween. Last night, I watched a documentary on the genre. Clips of Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel discussing their thoughts on the genre, were interspersed between the documentary. They assumed that the writers of these films, and those who watched hated women, and were using these films to put “modern” women back in their place.

I think that most people how love to watch these kinds of movies, and who write horror, are attracted to these themes because we like to be scared. I love to be scared. Watching a horror movie, or reading a horror novel, is a good way to safely experience fear. When the movie is over, or the book is closed, we are free to go about our lives.

When something truly horrific happens in real life, the media will scramble to place blame. I’m wondering who will be blamed this time. Horror movies? A rock star (ie. Marilyn Manson with Columbine)? Video games? I think that the media needs to place blame, because the horrific truth is much more complicated. The truth being that there are real monsters out there.

In the next few weeks, I’m sure that stories will pop up all over about how student X was dismissed from school for writing a short story or poem that contained themes. I’m not sure what the answer is, but stifling creativity is probably not the best way to handle things.

What do you think?