Monday, December 19, 2011

Books on Writing Books 2

Here are the list of Books on writing books that I have added to my library so far...

Gotham Writer's Workshop: Writing Fiction
The Write Brain - Bonnie Neubauer
Sin and Syntax -  Constance Hale
The Little Red Writing Book -  Brandon Royal
The Daily Writer - Fred White
Sparknotes: How to Write a Short Story
Spunk and Bite - Arthur Plotnik
The Complete Handbook of Novel Writing - Editors of Writer's Digest

I'm a novice,  perhaps a journeyman at best, and I know in a previous post I stated that most books on writing books are a complete waste of time and paper, and most are, to be honest, my opinion on that hasn't changed in the slightest. But that's not to say I know everything there is to know about writing, or that I don't seek out and or need help, because i don't know everything and i do need help. I am but a mere Padawan Learner, a Jedi Apprentice with no Master to guide me. So, I've began an compulsive search to find fruitful and beneficial material that will help me grow and develop as a writer. and thus far these are the books I found informative enough to add to my Library of study.

To these books and the rules set within I have taken a Bruce Lee, Jeet Kune Do, styled of academic learning approach, meaning, I read through and "Absorb what is useful, disregard that which is useless." Not one of these works, I feel could stand alone as the premier and essential guide to writing, but together, with a bit from this one and a thought from that one, I have found myself becoming a more confident and competent writer.

Saturday, December 17, 2011

My Ambitions as a Writer

Stay diligent. Stay focused. Do not succumb to self pity or doubt.

That nagging feeling in the back of your mind, the one that whispers to you "Give up."
The one that so plainly points out the irrationality of your actions.
The one so adamant to convince you that, you are merely wasting time you do not have.
Ignore that. That is only your fear.

Your insincere Fear.

Your fear of Rejection, your fear of Disappointment, your fear of Failure, your fear of Success.

It is only your insincere fear.

It, by no means, truly believes a single thing that it has said.

So write on, write on, the chapter is almost finished, that paragraph almost done, that sentence is almost perfect.
Don't stop! GO!

Go!
Move!
Grow!
Crawl!
Push!
Pull!
Beg!
Plead!
Pray!
Cry!
Laugh!
Love!

Live, and die... but do it all on that page.

And when you're done... do it again.

Tell your story.

Friday, December 16, 2011

Sometimes...

You don't always have to tell the story, sometimes you just have to let the story tell you...

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Someday at Christmas there'll be no Modern Warfare 3

It's December! Actually half-way through December and I haven't made a single post until now. I'm so sorry, not only have I not been working on the blog, but I'm still on chapter 19 of my novel as well. <insert-sad-face>

To be honest with you all I've been distracted, and I'd really like to tell you that's its been serious adult life issues that have been keeping me from my work, but it's not.

It's been that darn Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 3 [CODMW3], curse that delightfully addictive game. I've been playing almost non-stop since I got it, which is why is in less than 3 weeks I'm a level 77 Brigadier General in mulitplayer and well on my way to Prestige Mode! (Out of 3,468,992 players I'm ranked #135,514 In free-for-all combat!)< BOOyah!>

But I digress, after all, this isn't a blog for gamer nerds (which I am) it's a blog for writing nerds (which I also am). Aside from my unhealthy video game addiction I have also had some serious adult issues IRL (*irl = I.n R.eal L.ife) as well, but none that would stop me from writing, actually they are more inclined to make my writing better, but I'll save that announcement till my next post. (Muhahahahahahaha!)

And now for something actually pertaining to my writing, I finally got one of my test readers to finish the first five chapters of my book.... and they loved it! They could name names, recall scenes and even repeat the story line exactly how I imagined it would be interpreted! It was a great feeling to know you're on the right track and things are coming out on the page the same way you imagined them in your head.

It was an awesome feeling when my reader started trying to predict what was going to happen next and being able to actually see and hear the excitement they had about the story and the characters, it took everything I had not to spill all the beans and tell them how the story unfolds, but in the end I held it in.

But it definitely motivated me to write more and to keep getting better.

till next time,

Lefty

P.S. [DTRS] Clan forever!!!! HUAHH!

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Ot Russiie s Lubvye

The blog has gotten 10 views from Russia, I don't know if that's some type of error but I'm excited anyway! A few years ago I tried to teach myself Russian. Primarily because speaking two languages is the equivalent to a super power in my opinion, and if you're gonna speak another language, it might as well be Russian.

As you may have guessed this post has absolutely nothing to do with me working on my novel. I just like Russia, for no other reason than it's just seems like a cool country, and since I may, or may not, have some Russian readers I figured I'd share.

Til next time,

Dosvadonya Muy Brat,

Lefty

P.S.
The blog title says "From Russia with Love", in Russian. (te-he-he)

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Books on Writing Books

I tend to obsess. A lot. Especially when I'm embarking on a new endeavor our starting an journey that's new territory for me. And though I've been a storyteller for most of my life (mostly in the form of random and unnecessary lies)  novel writing is still very much uncharted territory for me, so I did what I always do when I'm not sure about something, I research it until my eyes bleed. This lead me to purchasing a lot of books about writing books.
Now most bookstores have a full section for books on writing books, usually it just marked as reference though. Now essentially the books all say the same thing and most of them don't even do that well. In my opinion most books on writing books aren't worth the paper they're printed on, and that's saying a lot, because I don't usually say such things, but I feel it has to be said. Now there are a few good writing reference books out there, but those are usually the one that offer insight into the writing process of already established authors, the books that offer and step by step instructional on how to write a book are worthless, because in the end you're not actually writing a book you're feeling in a worksheet with some fancy details.
There is no formula for writing a successful novel and there is no magic book out there that's going to show you how to do it, the only thing you can really do is write. One of the biggest obstacles of writing a novel is the pursuit of publishing, and unfortunately most books on writing books are just someone else's successful attempt to get published, but just because it was put in print doesn't always make it helpful or even relevant in most cases its just an attempt to get 20 bucks out of an over enthusiastic aspiring writer.
Now there are some great books on writing books out there, but they are the exception rather than the norm. As a matter of fact everything I come across a good one I'll come back here and let you guys know about it (since we're pals and all)
Till next time,
Lefty

November = NaNoWriMo

It's November which means its NaNoWriMo, which means National Novel Writing Month, but for me November means a lot of other things. For one my first year wedding anniversary was this month, Nov 6th to be exact, me and the wife went to Chicago for the weekend and had a great time, but I also took a complete break from writing for the weekend, not even letting myself think about my book project for some 72 hours (of course I cheated, but only because Chicago is a difficult city not to be inspired by) But before we left I finished Chapter 18, yep Chapter 18 done, on to 19. I sent out a few excerpt to a few trusted readers and hoping to get some good feedback as a really burst into the second half of the project. I'm planning for about 12 more chapters to wrap the project up which is less than I've already done but perhaps the most important portion. I hope to be done by year's end but as December get closer, its seeming less and less likely. Here's to trying.

Till next time,

Lefty

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Chapter 17. Done.

On September 20 I posted that I had just completed the 16th Chapter of my Novel in Progress, guess what I did last night as well. No not that, I finished Chapter 17!

I didn't realize that the competition of the two chapters were nearly a month apart, mostly because writing chapter 17 actually only took me little less than a week, starting it however took me three weeks. Strange I know, but I had an odd transition to overcome leaving 16 and getting to 17 and in the end I took a completely different direction than I had original planned (I know you've heard that before) which all just further goes to prove, a really good writing project often takes on a life of it own.

Anyway remember that character from chapter 16 that I said made such a large impression on me that It garnered her some more page time, well it did and in Chapter 17 she gave the performance of a lifetime. Its good, not to boast or anything but I mean i really enjoyed writing it and I'm just super excited for you guys to read it, that's what I mean by good. I was so excited in fact that I did let a friend of mine read it, fresh out of the notebook at that, completely out of context, not even proofread, or in anything other than my horrific handwriting. That's how excited I was about it.

She hated it! No I'm joking, she actually raved about it, she loved it, at least that what she told me, and I don't really have any reason to suspect she was lying, so now I'm even more excited about revising, streamlining, typing it and including it with the other chapters and having more people read it!

Oh the joys of writing, they're so self-serving!

Til Next Time,

Lefty

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

In Case I Haven't Been Totally Clear...

In my last 'Book Update' post, which also happened to be my first, and up until now, my only 'Book Update' post, I told you all that I had just finished chapter 16.

Now when I started blogging back in September I also told you that I would take you with me through my entire book writing process, which includes writing, publishing and marketing/promotion.

So with all that being said you may, or may not be wondering, “Where the heck is Chapter 1?” or “How the heck is he on Chapter 16?” in which case both would be very legitimate question, both deserving of a very legitimate answer. Regardless of which question you may have asked, my answer is the same, “I actually started writing some time ago. A long time ago actually, like maybe 8 months to a year ago, and yes I’m only on Chapter 16. (which sounds lie an average of 2 chapters a month which isn’t really to bad when I think about it.)

So yeah, you haven’t experienced the entire book writing process, at least not in real-time. But believe me I’ll go back and cover every sleepless night I experienced working my way up through the first 16 Chapters.
If it’s any consolation, I’m planning roughly 32 chapters in all so you came in right at the half-way point.

Til next time

Lefty

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Justice

*The following is a short story or perhaps more of an idea for one, I wrote based off of a dream I had roughly a year ago. I've had thoughts of turning it into a larger work, but figured I'd also share it here with you as well. Considering recent events, it would seem dreams have no expiration date. It's still in a rough format and is by no means a final product. Feedback is welcomed.

We stood in an extremely long line that now lay behind me, and seemed to trail off into forever. The line lead into a large open room with high ceilings similar to a gymnasium or perhaps an airplane hanger, it is hard to say which.

 On the wall furthest from the entrance stood 8 to 10 metal body cast dummies, shaped like the head and torso of a man.  The metal dummies gave off an intense heat, like opening an oven at 400 degrees without first preparing yourself for the sudden change in temperature. A rubber dummy lay outfitted on top of the metal cast dummy, the rubber was thick, like car tires, and seemed unaffected by the heat coming from the metal which lay directly beneath it. The heat itself seemed only present to stop onlookers from loitering. It forced one to do their duty and move along, quickly away from the dummies, where prolonged exposure to the heat was unbearable. Not necessarily physically damaging you see, only highly uncomfortable, which kept the endless line moving relatively quickly, serving its purpose to perfection and turning out to be quite ingenious.

            My position in line however had yet to get to the dummies. My position was at the point where we picked up knives, long sharp knives with wooden handles. They reminded me of the cooking knives my mother use to have when I was a child. I took my knife in hand, testing the sharpness of it with the tip of its metal blade vs. the end of my fleshy finger. The knife won, pricking my finger tip. I bleed a little.

            Placing the blade of the knife under my arm, I put my wounded finger in my mouth and shuffled along maintaining my position in line. As we got closer to the back of the room I could see those that were positioned in front of me stabbing the rubber dummies with the knives we had just received. There seemed to be no mandatory or predetermined number of times one was suppose to stab the dummies, but it looked as if everyone was taking 3 to 4 stabs each. ‘Enough to show you meant it.’ seemed to be the unwritten rule. I followed suit.

            The stabbing of the rubber man felt grotesque. The rubber body felt by no means human, however the feelings it recreated were the same. The stabbings were violent, and the cuts left in the rubber were jagged and distorted. The rubber would grab hold to the metal blade on each thrust, forcing you to use greater strength upon withdraw, and then even more on the following thrust. So even the most reluctant participant was stabbing like a well experienced psychopath by the third and fourth stroke. Even me.

My knife slid past the rubber and scraped the metal cast that lay underneath, sending a horrifying chill down my spine. I was struck with the most unbearable feeling, like fingernails on a chalkboard every time the two metals touched. After making my stabs I quickly moved along to the bleacher like seating setup along the wall space not occupied by the stabbing dummies or the large double door entrance. Many others had already taken their seats after their stabbings, knives still in hand.

I could see my cousin begin to move toward a set of bleaches not far from the back of the gym. It was not the best angle to see the open floor area in the middle of the room that seemed to be the new focus of the event, but it was my cousin and a familiar face so I followed suit. I greeted my family, who looked glad to see me as always, and motioned to two others who would be joining us soon. From my seat I could still see, waiting in line after just getting his knives, Ivan Denton, an old school yard chum of mine that I had always enjoyed talking and joking with. I had not seen him and awhile, and can admit, was excited to catch up with him on the time that had passed. I decided to flag him down once he had gotten closer to our seats so that he and his brother John, who was standing near him in line, could join us. As well I figured I would watch him stab the dummies also. My seating was perfect to watch him go through the same motions that I had just went through.
            Ivan was  big, well not much bigger than myself, actually shorter but much better built, we had began high school together at roughly the same size but his unbelievable work ethic forced his body to shoot past and outweigh my own by almost twice my size by graduation.
That was some time ago, however still, his size and stern demeanor gave him a very intimidating look. Ivan, though very lighthearted and friendly, wore a permanent scowl on his face, as if he was always on the brink of losing his patience. It was perfect for the football, which we had played together during high school. The stern facial expression seemed to be hereditary as his brother had the exact same look even though he was much smaller.
I watched expecting Ivan to stab the dummies viciously perhaps even cutting through the metal as well, but he never did. He hovered by the rubber dummies, but he never thrust his knife toward them. Instead after everyone else had done there stabbing he moved toward the center of the gym, his brother along with him, as did a few other people. Knives still in hand.
            Behind them, a gray curtain dropped hiding the metal and rubber dummies and further emphasizing the open area in the middle of the room.
            Ivan and the others stepped into a white box that had been taped off in the middle floor. A voice spoke clearly from a P.A. System from speakers that I could not see.         "These men are responsible for murder, if they can survive with out being stabbed they will be tried individually."
            At this a few people removed themselves from the stands and entered the white square with the intentions on stabbing my former classmate... Their faces wore smug smiles as if proud to be the ones dispensing this twisted idea of justice. A whistle blew from the unseen speaker and they began. The men danced around each other swinging the knives wildly. The criminals seemed to have no real strategy only to remain uncut for as long as they could, for the other men it was just the opposite. Every time a man was finally cornered and stabbed he screamed loudly, and every time my heart broke. My mind went back to the rubber dummy that I had stabbed earlier, and my stomach turned. It was like I had stabbed the men myself… that was my contribution to this sick game. The men were fell one by one, and  the Chasers came in all shapes and sizes young and old, they had not really outnumbered the criminals at first but as each man was stabbed he seemed to disappear and by now the Chasers outnumbered the criminals by 2 to 1. They wrangled them into corners and wrestled them down to the ground, starting by simply poking them in the arm drawing blood, sealing there fate, but as the match progressed that seem to grow even more vicious and more merciless. The Chasers did not need stab them to death, no, only an open wound was necessary, bleeding men were carried away by larger, heavily armed guards. Carried off to their own private executions, to be stabbed as many times as the rubber dummy was stabbed I suppose. Making us all murderers in a sense, at least that's the feeling of guilt I got. I leaned over to my cousin who seemed to be watching with no particular interest and spoke words that I knew could get me into serious amount of trouble
            "You know this is bullshit right?"
            "This is just how things are" he replied.
            Another man had just been stabbed. A Chaser had him pinned to the ground with his legs wrapped around the criminals and holding his torso tightly from behind so he had nowhere to move to. A boy around the age of 12 or perhaps 13 stood over them. He stabbed the criminal in the arm, looking down upon him with a feeling of extreme delight. He had a Mohawk which I have always felt looked incredibly stupid on everyone who wore it, on him, especially so. His smugness irritated me to know end his look of satisfaction after claiming the life of another in the name of justice. He reminded me of the State Men, enforcers of our “unnatural law” and my disdain for him grew even more.       By now the only man left was Ivan. The Chasers began to surround him, moving in reluctantly, his intimidation had reach even them, but it would only last for so long, I hoped that he would at least slash open the throat of the young boy with the Mohawk, I hoped for it desperately. What happened next is really irrelevant Ivan’s capture or escape, perhaps his individual trial, none of it really matters. The damage had been done since the first thrust into the first dummy. When we allowed for the first man to be carried away when his fate hung only by a thread. When we allowed for a system of revenge labeled justice to be the law of our land, but what could be done, like everyone else I sat by and said or did nothing. Perhaps it is as my Cousin said "this is how things are" this is our justice system I guess it is not perfect but it seems to get the job done, or does it?


Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Zombies, Ninjas, Monsters and More...

I love to write, but even more so I love to read. I can't help myself, its like an addiction. It consumes me! I read mostly fiction, science fiction, young adult fiction, superhero fiction (don't know if that's really a defined genre) fantasy fiction, the list goes on, but then occasionally I'll throw in some nonfiction, maybe a biography, or an autobiography of some interesting character from history, the occasionally philosophy or psychology text, and oh yeah I read a lot about writing too, though good writing books are often hard to come across, but I digress.
Since we are following my novel writing progress I felt it was imperative for me to also give the occasional update on what I'm reading as well.

During my last trip to the bookstore (I won't say which because I actually hate their freaking guts!) I picked up three interesting looking novels that I can't wait to sink my teeth into (te-he-he, you'll see why that's funny in a minute)

The first book I picked up was: My Life as A White Trash Zombie by Diana Rowland. This book is about a young girl named Angel Crawford. She's a high school dropout,with drug and alcohol problems and has a rather lengthy police record. But when she's made into a zombie after a car crash, her addictions disappear, except for one new one of course.

I'm a big zombie fan, they are problem my favorite type of fictional monster, over even vampires, werewolves, aliens and human hating robots, so that simple obsession mixed with the incredible artwork that graced the cover of this book, it was a bit of a no brainer (no pun intended, I've actually hit my corny pun limit for this post) *note: the cover art was done by Dan Dos Santos.

My second choice was Blood Ninja by Nick Lake its about a recently orphaned boy who is taken in by a clan of ninjas who all happen to be vampires, and when you think about the many similarities between ninjas and vampires it kinda makes perfect sense. (in a "I live in a fantasy world where both ninjas and vampires exist" kind of way) 
There's actually already a sequel to this book, Blood Ninja II: The Revenge of Lord Oda, but since I had being eyeing this for so long I decided to go ahead and get it, and why not? Ninjas and Vampires, I mean come on., what's not to like.

My last selection was The Monstrumologist, by Rick Yancey. Its about a twelve year old boy who is the assistant to a scientist who studies, and sometimes hunts monsters in late-1800's New England. #score

This is another book that I had being eyeing for some time and decided to just go ahead and go for it, and I'm glad I did, I've already started reading it, and its a hardcore page turner.

Anyway, that what I'm reading right now I'll come back and tell you guys how they turn out, minus any spoilers of course.

Till next time.

Sincerely yours,

Lefty

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

The Completion of Chapter 16

Its 11:23 pm and I have just completed Chapter 16.
I stated that one of my original reasons for creating this blog was to chronicle my progress as I wrote my first novel. Ever word written, every paragraph punctuated, every chapter completed brings me just a bit closer to that end goal. Now since it would be very unproductive of me to write a post for every word and paragraph I put on paper, I've decided to post updates at the completion of every chapter. And so... here we are.

I have been working on chapter 16 for what seems like forever, and to be honest with you, I am very glad to be done. About half way through the chapter, the darn thing begin giving me a lot of trouble, and at a particular point I began to even doubt if this particular chapter was even relevant to the story in any wholly relevant way. I mean, yeah it offered considerably more insight into some of the personal aspects to a number of the stories characters, but I wasn't absolutely sure that the chapter itself served any proper function. Still I decided to keep at it, I figured I could at least finish the chapter see where it goes and if it wasn't doing anything special, I'd drop it in the revisions.

Well to my surprise it did turn out something special. As I continued to write and simply allow the story and characters to lead me through this particular portion of their adventure, an amazing  development occurred. In the end, the chapter turned out longer than I originally planned, but I think the additions lend to a much stronger experience for the novel, not to mention some nice action that I didn't even see coming, plus some amazing secondary characters that 'stepped up' to even earn themselves some additional screen time (or page time rather) later in the book, no matter how short lived or painful that may be (for the character I mean).

Anyway, it just goes to show, when you keep the pen on the paper the story will unravel itself.

Writer's block, smiter's block!

Till next time.


Sincerely yours,


Lefty

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Name Collecting

What's in a name?
In fiction writing, I believe a character's name is the most important part of their being. A character's name is its soul, it is the essence of who that character is, or who they are to become.
For my current project I basically took an old nickname and built a character around it, pretty soon the character had taken on a life of his own, becoming even larger and more complex than I could have originally imagined, and  it all started from his name.
There was a point in this character's development where I considered changing his name. I had imagined it would seem self indulgent to name a character after myself, even if it was only a nickname and not truly my name in full, but by the time I had considered making this change it was too late. My character had already became who he was to be, and to attempt to change his name at that stage would have meant changing everything about him.I found this odd at first, I mean in reality people change their names all the time and it has no grand psychological effect on who they are. I mean if the guy sitting next to you at work, comes in one day and says "I needed a fresh start so I've legally changed my name from Steve to Donald." that's not really going to stimulate any great change in who he is as a person. To you, he'll still be the guy in the next cube, albeit a bit more strange, but still, same guy, different name.
But see with literary character's its different, The name is the culmination of everything that character will ever say, do and experience. Rather if it's bestowed upon them before a single word is written, or if they don't actually receive a name until you've thought out every detail of their personality, either way throughout their literary life span they will have not one single more important characteristic than their name.
So my question is: Where do you get your names?
As stated earlier the protagonist of my current project derived his name from a modified form of my own, but come on, a man can only have so many nicknames. Conveniently enough, I currently work in a Call Center, and though I hate it, it does supply me with a near endless amount of odd, new and exciting names to reference use and develop as my writing career continues to grow. That's right, you read correctly, I collect names.
And honestly I rather enjoy it. I hear a name I like and I scribble it down on a sticky note or some random scrap of paper and store it away happily like a squirrel hoarding acorns for the winter. Its like a pastime of mine now, everywhere I go, my ears and eyes are open for the next great name that I can gobble up and add to my collection.
So I guess if I had to answer Juliet's (great name don't you think?) question of 'What's in a name?' then truthfully I'd have to say, everything.

til next time,

Sincerely yours,

Lefty

A Humble Introduction

To be truthful, I'm actually not left-handed, and I guess 'technically' I'm not necessarily even an author, at least not yet. What I am, is an aspiring writer currently at work on my first novel, hopefully, my first of many. I've created this blog to chronicle my experience through the writing process as well as the attempted publication and marketing of my first book. I'm looking forward to the journey and I'm glad to have you come along for the ride. What's a road trip without friends eh?

My intentions are to update with a new post at least once a week tackling all types of different writing related subjects such as character development, setting, pacing, writing techniques, the creative process, inspiration, some of my own practice writing and whatever else I think may be helpful. Writing a book ain't easy and neither is managing a blog, but together I'm pretty sure we can get through this.
Welp, that's all I got today.

Till next time.

Sincerely yours,

Lefty

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