Common Pitfalls, Part 4: Wooden Characters

Person enters a scene but does nothing of import. Their spoken words are forced, if they have any at all. They provide nothing that distinguishes them from the scenery, or from the other characters. Nothing they do seems to hold any weight, or have any reason. They take up space, and that's about it.


The problem? They're the main character, and they might as well be made from cardboard. What, exactly, does it mean to have wooden characters?

I've heard this discussed numerous times, particularly in criticism, but I've found that it's rarely explained or completely understood. Time after time, though, this issue comes up -- particularly so for new writers or those on their first novel projects.

First of all, it's not enough for a character to simply be in a scene. Think of it like an item in a store; it has no distinction from the ones next to it, therefore you have no reason to take notice of it. It doesn't excite you or otherwise interest you. It is, for all intents and purposes, a waste of space. Characters can be like this.

If a character enters a scene and does nothing of import, why are they there? Why did you invite them to the party in the first place if all they're going to do is stand in the corner and not talk to anyone? Every character has goals, dreams, and a history that drives them toward those things, so why is this one simply standing there picking his/her nose?

Because you neglected to breathe life into them. A character may be an introvert, or they may have a very stoic or bland personality, but they still need to exude some sort of presence if they're going to be in your scenes. They need to have emotions, reactions, idiosyncrasies; otherwise they really are just a talking piece of scenery that the reader needs to keep track of. We're lucky if they even have names.

I've actually heard one writer criticize another that their story (unintentionally) had no characters at all. They elaborated to say that any character could be swapped for the other (even the hero for the villain) and the story would be the same.

How do you combat this? How do you give a character, even a stereotypical one, a distinct personality?

Lately, I've been watching a lot of the show Rescue Me, so I'm going to do sort of a "character study" to illustrate how you can make sure yours have something to bring to the table. In the image above, left to right, the characters are: Gavin, Franco, Sean, "Probie" Siletti, Chief Reilly, and Kenny are pictured. These are the firemen who the story of the series revolves around. In short, they are the main characters, and everyone else is minor (to different extents).

I've only watched 12 episodes of this series, but I can tell you quite a bit about each of these men. Gavin is divorced with three children, lives across the street from his ex-wife, battles alcoholism, waffles with his belief in God, and talks to imaginary dead people. He's abrasive, rude, Irish, reckless, and brutally honest even while he deceives to get what he wants and avoid consequences. And this just barely scratches the surface.

Franco is a bit of a playboy who will sleep with just about anything that moves. He has a five-year-old daughter from a crazy drug addict ex-girlfriend, and struggles with his role in her life. Sean has a heart of gold but a brain of mush. Probie is naive, overly trusting, and desperately just wants to fit in. Chief Reilly has a gambling problem, a wife with rapidly advancing Alzheimers, and a gay son he's incredibly ashamed of. Kenny writes poetry to deal with his feelings and stress during 9/11 and afterward, until he has to face the realization that he is using that as an escape from his very real marital problems.

All of these men are, on the surface, stereotypical in a lot of ways. They are firefighters, so they do a job where their lives are at risk nearly every day. This, already, says a lot about the personality of their characters, but it doesn't say enough. If we were given no glimpses into these guys' home lives, their relationships and how they treat others, and how they deal with personal crises (as well as professional ones), we would know very little about them.

This is how you need to treat your story. Try to keep in mind what do we know about these characters? At the end, we should be invested in them by how familiar we've become with watching them act. Actions speak louder than words, after all, so you not only have to pay attention to what they say but how they say it (which is incredibly tough considering adverb-heavy dialog tags are currently out of favor).

When you create characters for your story, you need to think about more than how tall they are and what color(s) their hair is. How do your characters react to a crisis? Perhaps the better question is do they react? How do they treat others? What events in their past have brought them to this point, and how to those influence their actions and reactions?

Some writers use exercises or character outlines, before they even begin their writing, to define their characters. Sketches, non-essential conversations, paragraphs written in 1st-person from each -- none of which will be used in the actual story. These all can help a writer "get into the heads" of their characters, but I've found it most important to simply focus on who I'm writing as I'm writing them. My characters are what I want to drive the story, so I make them do it.

In French, the word person actually means "nobody" by itself. Un person means "a person," but alone it simply refers to a lack of presence. Are your characters nobodies?


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Common Pitfalls, Part 3: Storytelling

A blonde, spiky-haired youth squares off (pun!) against the symbol of his enemy: Shinra Headquarters. His life has been ruined and his planet continues to be ravaged by this corporation. He has lost friends, memories, and time beyond measure in his struggle for freedom from their tyranny. Others assist him in this quest, but it is his alone to fight. With his Buster Sword, the man named Cloud Strife is ready for action.

Many of us are familiar with this scene. For those of you who aren't, it is from the groundbreaking Playstation game Final Fantasy VII. More than any other entry into the franchise, FF7 has captured the hearts and minds of RPG fans worldwide, and still remains so relevant that people shout for a re-make and salivate over the pseudo-sequel OAV Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children. What is it about this particular game that people attach to?

I believe it is the story. Come on, many of you know you cried when Aerith (Aeris in USAmerica) was killed before your eyes. Many of you still seek out the ending video on YouTube just to see Cloud deliver the final Omnislash blow to Sephiroth. Who can forget the One Winged Angel, the burning of Nibelheim, Cid and his Highwind and his Rocket?

I promise this isn't yet another gushing fanboy post. I have something to relate here, and it ties into my main question for the post today: What does storytelling mean, and what differentiates it from other types of writing?

Final Fantasy 7 is an epic story. At the outset, all you're introduced to is, essentially, a group of environmentalist terrorists whose plan is to sabotage and destroy an energy reactor. Throughout this introduction, it's revealed that these reactors are draining the planets energy (which Cloud couldn't care less about). Their owner, the Shinra Corporation, keeps the city of Midgar in a stranglehold -- the wealthy live on an upper tier while the poor dwell underneath in slums. They can't even see sunshine unless they leave the city.

Despite the breadth of this intro, it's only the beginning of a story that reaches much further. Old enemies come back to life, identities are lost and found again. There is betrayal aplenty, bravery in the face of adversity, and supernatural forces that are at the same time mysterious and solid.

What gives FF7 an automatic advantage in the story department is that it's an interactive experience. You, as the player, are forcing the characters through these trials because you control where they go and, to a certain extent, what they do when they get there. Parts of the game change based on who you take in your party, what you say to NPC's, and in what order you complete tasks in. The game is fairly linear in comparison to others, but what's important to note is the immersion into the story.

Immersion is a vital part of storytelling. The adage "show, don't tell" is all about immersion. We want to see what a character sees, feel what they feel. To summarize the events of FF7 would not only be difficult, but it would rob the story of its punch.

Aerith's death is a good example. If I told you a girl from the slums, who grows flowers in a church, was stabbed through the chest by the villain (and his incredibly long sword), you might care a little. If I revealed she was in prayer, attempting to save the planet, you might care a little more. Even if I told you Cloud was in love with her (which remains sort of ambiguous), you still might not care enough. No, to immerse you properly in that particular event, you need to know how the characters reached that point. I'd have to put it in context. I'd have to tell you the story.

The same is true for anything you write. One problem with today's fast world is our tendency to summarize and condense things. We have short attention spans and we want the maximum amount of information in as little time as possible. This approach does not work with storytelling; we need to know a lot, and it is going to take some time to acquire that knowledge.

Getting people to care (about your characters and your story) is one of the toughest things about writing as well as storytelling. You can write until you're blue in the face but, unless someone cares, you might as well have spent all that time chopping wood or painting a house. If your characters don't feel real, if your story doesn't immerse us, there's not only no reason to feel empathy -- there's no incentive.

I've said before that the "good guy" always wins and that we know this. The reason it's okay is because we want him to win. If we've become emotionally invested in him/her/it, we want the payoff that is bound to come at the end of the story. In many cases, we watch a character broken down to the lowest point in their life thus far, and we want to see what happens to them when they come out the other end of the tunnel.

This is what storytelling is. Creating a world, in which lives a character, around which a distinct series of events revolves, where the outcome is uncertain, obstacles vie for a place in their path, and something the character believes vital is truly at stake. If you can convince us, your readers, that all of these things are true, you have written a successful story.



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I'd write a Bad Romance with Lady Gaga anytime

Based on some prodding from Emily (see comments), and a recent conversation with Micah (driving home from the Warrior Dash), I decided to post on this highly-relevant topic. Highly-relevant to me, anyway.

Last year, I posted an Artist Spotlight on Lady Gaga over at Beethoven's Playlist (which, I know, I desperately need to update... sorry). You should probably read that first, if you haven't already.

Too many of us live behind walls of our own design. We hide our true selves because we feel weird, or that we won't be accepted. We feel that we need this acceptance to live; we need to feel normal, related-to, and understood. Many of us, however, don't feel understood. We might feel loved, appreciated, welcomed, and accepted, but rarely do we feel understood. Especially artists (and I'm including writers in this category).

What is there to say about Lady Gaga that hasn't already been said? She's gone from relative unknown to worldwide phenomenon in less time than it takes most artists to release a second album. If you haven't heard her name, or her music, or seen her on television, or an article about her, or interview with her, you must be living on the Moon (and even that's suspect, since radio broadcasts into space).

But, oddly, I don't want to talk about her fame. Frankly, I don't even want to talk about her music. Nor do I (specifically) want to talk about her look(s), her style, her upbringing, drug habit(s), sexual orientation, or any oddly intriguing speculation as to her human-hood.

Today, I am going to talk about why I am in love with Lady Gaga: her platform. Of course, this concept touches on many of the above-listed things, either directly or indirectly, but my focus is something more poignant and grand than even the sum of all of those.

Assuming you've heard about, or seen, her, you are well-aware of how different Lady Gaga is. Her chosen attire is, to put it mildly, strange in almost every public appearance. So much so, in fact, that when she arrived for her Barbara Walters interview (10 Most Fascinating People of 2009) in a considerably modest and arguably conservative black dress, the host was downright stunned.

At concerts, award and other types of shows, Gaga's "appearance" is nothing short of unique (and that's putting it mildly, with a positive spin). She's constantly criticized for being too revealing, too trashy, too odd, or too something. And yet, these looks are distinctively her.

At this point, I'd usually begin sentences with "She makes no apologies for this, but rather..." Except, frankly, this doesn't apply. It's not that she's weird and understands it. It's not that she's weird but wants to be accepted anyway. And it's not that she's weird and wishes she were otherwise. God, no.

She's proud of it.

As well she should be, in my opinion. To me, Lady Gaga is more than a singer, an artist, a performer, a trendsetter, an oddity, a phenomenon, or any combination of these. Though she is all of these things, in the best possible way.

Now, this is not to say I'm not a big fan of her music. I am. Her songs are also distinct, incredible, and fun to listen to. But I see the music as just one part of a truly fascinating person. Music is one of many outlets that artists use to express themselves, though.

The great thing about Lady Gaga isn't that she is both a great musician AND a great performer, it's that she does them both at once. When I think of her, I can't separate the two. That's why she says it isn't an act or a character, that is the way she actually is. She wholeheartedly believes this, otherwise her platform wouldn't be as sincere as it is; she honestly desires for people to know it's not just okay to be different, it's fantastic.

I love Lady Gaga because of what she represents. She's a symbol of something I not only support and endorse, but wholeheartedly believe in. Far beyond all the warm-and-fuzzy Disney movie morals of "just be yourself," Gaga's very existence is rooted in the fact that she is comfortable in her own skin. She makes no apologies because she doesn't need to. She doesn't explain things because it would be pointless. She lives in a world where "just be yourself" isn't an encouraging childhood mantra, it is a justified mandate.

She exists, unrestrained, because that's who she is.

Lady Gaga uses herself as a canvas to express herself, and she does it with no reservations. Not only do I respect that, I wish I could be more like it. I wish we all could. She's an intersection of desire and ability.

Whether you enjoy her music or not, you know who Lady Gaga is. Whether you like it or not is up to you, but she doesn't require your endorsement. Would that we all could live so fearless, even for a day.



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The Official "About Me" Post

About Todd Newton

I was born in 1980, had an interesting upbringing (as I'm sure we all have), and rebelled as a teenager. I have since realized I was not the only person to do this (hence previous the parenthetical statement). After ten tumultuous years I barely remember, I moved to Denver, Colorado. Things have been different ever since.


I write books. So far, I've completed 3 manuscripts:

1. The Ninth Avatar (Epic Fantasy, released by Trapdoor Books in 2010)
2. Thomas Redpool Goes To Hell (Religious Satire, currently unpublished)
3. Scions of the Shade (Epic Fantasy, unrelated to #1, currently unpublished)

I'm working on a 4th and 5th project at the moment, which will be the prequel and sequel to The Ninth Avatar. I have plans for more Fantasy after that, so if you're into it, stick around a while.

I'm not currently represented by an Agent, but I'm open to the idea. My writing process is still somewhat slap-dash at this point, as I'm still figuring all of this out. Writing on this blog helps, as does connecting with other writers through their blogs, my Twitter feed, and Facebook.

Speaking of Facebook, you can find The Ninth Avatar on Facebook, and a Scions of the Shade page is operational there too (but obviously subject to change since the book hasn't been published yet). Also, make sure you follow @thomasredpool's Twitter feed. He doesn't always talk much, but who on Twitter does? Ha!

If you'd like to contact me directly with questions, inquiries, complaints, or criticism, please do so by emailing me at initialdraft@gmail.com.

More About Me

I'm happily married, with two dogs (Leonidas and Suki, ages 4 and 5 respectively).

I love music. From Breaking Benjamin to Beethoven, Lady Gaga to the Living Sisters, Pendulum to Grace Potter & the Nocturnals. There aren't many genres I don't sample on a regular basis, and I'm always open to suggestions for new artists (or old artists I've never heard of).

I love cigars. Cohiba, Rocky Patel, Padilla, Bahia. If you know these, then you understand. Cigars are a great way for me to relax, take a break, and contemplate. Once in a while I read or write while I smoke... but it's not always easy. I'm still developing a taste for scotch, but I think I've settled on Johnny Walker Black Label as the perfect cigar accompaniment.

I love Colorado. Growing up in Northern California, I never really developed an appreciation for snow so it's taken a bit of getting used to. I lived in Utah for 10 years before I moved here, and it snows there, but it was all just part of the miserable. There are things to do in Colorado that I never thought I'd enjoy. Since moving here I've come to appreciate skiing, hiking, dogs, craft beers, wine, and camping.

I love travel. I've been on two cruises (one to the Western Caribbean, the other to Alaska), visited Canada (Toronto and Victoria), Japan (Kyoto and Osaka), and France (Paris and Versailles), and I'm looking forward to more trips. My favorite part of travel is the food, followed closely by the "newness" of things, the exploration. Trips I plan to take in the future are Scotland (Glasgow), Spain (Barcelona), and a trans-Atlantic cruise. I'd also love it if my international friends would come to visit the USA!


That's about it. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Thanks for stopping by!


(Last updated 8/24/2010)

The Official "About This Blog" Post

created by wordle

About Initial Draft

I've talked about many things here on Initial Draft, but rarely have I talked about the blog itself. Of course, you can learn quite a bit by surfing old posts of this blog. I've tried to make it convenient as far as using Labels. This is how I organize it in my mind, anyway. It gets kind of sketchy in the early days of Initial Draft.

I feel lucky to have acquired a name that has a direct resemblance to writing. I started this blog at the beginning of 2007, when I decided I wanted to declare to the world I was a writer. This was my first actual public blog; I had blogged on MySpace for close to 2 years, or so. I ranted, raved, gave all kinds of personal updates, and then began to discover a passion for this. Blogging is fun, especially so when you receive comments back. That makes it rewarding.


I had already begun to write The Ninth Avatar as well as an early few chapters of Thomas Redpool Goes To Hell. I chose to write Avatar first because that idea progressed quicker, and I was able to write chapter after chapter about Starka and her companions. I learned so much that first year, but I really only scratched the surface of what writing a book actually entails.

The skill, the work, involved, eventually made me realize how serious of a task writing was to me. Writing, in itself, became rewarding. I wanted to share how excited I was, therefore I created this blog. Pretty simple, on paper (or screen), but it became so much more to me.

Writing remains at the very core of who I am, and how I define myself. I hope it always will, always does. It's the way I communicate best, perhaps because I'm given a real chance to speak my entire mind. I write novels because I feel short stories sort of impersonal. A comparison between the two that I've heard, short stories are like one-night-stands while novels are like marriages, relays it perfectly. That's not to say short stories aren't great, but I think sometimes I have a fear of lack of commitment.

I want to immerse myself in a project. Get to know it so well, that I could tell the same story with different characters, or the same characters in a different setting, or a different story in the same setting. With or without different characters; possibly both. I'd say when I've committed the project to memory, but novels aren't exactly all that easy to memorize. The events, sure, but the words?

The initial draft is so different from the final product that no man could ever write the same, novel-length, story from memory without wanting to change it, improve it, revise it, and perfect it. The urge might be too strong to control. Now, this is speaking of a novel, of course; a work of personal creativity. These statements don't reflect on religious texts because that's an entirely different scenario.

I hope you enjoy what you find here. If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to email me at initialdraft@gmail.com. Thanks for stopping by.


(Last updated 8/24/2010)

Common Pitfalls, Part 2: Anatomy

Here's a question you wouldn't be alone in asking: What the hell is a "chapter?"

Parts, acts, sequences, scenes, chapters, sections, and many other terms are used to discuss a chunk of a novel, but why? What do they all mean?


Think of your novel as a hard drive, and your chapters like logical drives that you've partitioned out. If you've worked "in computers" then you know what a logical drive is. If not, then read on, my friends.


In novels, there are various pieces that makeup the whole. Most authors break them up into "chapters," which are arbitrarily drawn boundaries between one set of happenings and the next. This is inherently helpful in works, like mine, where numerous viewpoint characters are represented; the best way to switch point of view is to begin a new chapter. Some authors even group chapters together into "parts" or "books" within the same single narrative.

But how do you know when to end one chapter and start another?

There are a few schools of thought on this. One is to end with something exciting-but-unresolved, like a gunshot from an anxious teenager uncertain about whether he wanted to kill his mother, his teacher, or himself. This pushes the reader to want to know, which encourages them to read on. It's also looked upon by many as sort of a cheap tactic. Television shows use this a lot to keep your butt on the couch during the commercials, so that you have to know what happens when they come back from the break. (This is humorous when you watch the show on TiVo or Netflix, only to have the scene recapped upon the return.)

Another method is to end with something exciting-but-unresolved-but-in-motion. A decision that gets made by the main character would be the best example I can think of, like a Knight who decides he actually does want to brave the odds and rescue the Princess. This way, the reader knows what's going to come next, but they can either be curious about how it's going to happen or how successful it's going to be.

At this point I just want to digress for a moment to point something out. The Good Guy Always Wins. This has been the rule in fiction since time began, and the only major changes to it since then have been making the characters more ambiguous as to whether or not they're a "good guy." We, as readers, know the protagonist is going to come out on top. We don't read the book to see that, we read the book to see how it happens, and possibly even what they learn along the way, but we pretty much know who's going to win before the story gets underway. Don't let this distract or discourage you; this takes the importance off of how "unique" or "mindblowing" your work is, and puts more focus on how tense and exciting it is. Hence why this discussion is so important to have.

The other schools of thought on chapters are to just end it when a scene is over, and to end when you think a boundary is necessary before launching into the next part of the tale. Say, when the characters all stop at an inn to rest, the "camera" rests with them and the scene ends. Next chapter they awaken, or the scene begins when they're already on the road (so as not to waste our time if nothing of interest happened at the inn).

As I said, it is arbitrary. If you want to end every chapter at 3000 words, you get to decide that. It may not make for great tension, unless you try really hard, but it's your book. The most important thing to keep in mind is that you're not chiseling the words in stone. As you edit, you may add or remove paragraphs to the edges of a chapter, you may even move chapters around or delete them entirely. When I use the phrase "it's your book," I'm encouraging you to trust your instincts. No one else can tell you how to write your story.

That's also important to remember: you're writing a story. I'll discuss the difference between writing and storytelling... Next time, on Initial Draft... (fade out music, end scene)


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Common Pitfalls, Part 1: Awareness

Mystery is a must when you write a novel simply because of the length of the piece, even if you're not writing a "mystery." You can't summarize the events right at the beginning, otherwise you defeat the purpose of writing a novel in the first place. The simple act of events unfolding necessitates a series of revelations. As your characters learn things, so too do your readers, until that awareness culminates in a conclusion where all of that accumulated information becomes imperative.

Today I'm going to embark on [what will hopefully become] a series on the common pitfalls of writing a novel. Some of these concepts will apply to both the writing and editing phases, like the one I'll talk about today, but others may apply to one or the other only.

Awareness
Defined as having knowledge, to be conscious or cognizant; informed, alert, knowledgable or sophisticated.

Frankly, I had no better way to express the idea concisely. Surely the term awareness could apply to the famous show, don't tell philosophy in the sense that your character being aware of their surroundings is a prerequisite for the description of said surroundings, but that's not the context I'll be using today.

No, what I mean is this: WHAT do your characters know, and WHEN do they know it?

When working on a large project, which a novel inevitably is, certain facts and bits of information become available to your character(s) that they can then react to or, more commonly, act on.

Other characters' names are a good example; if you, the author, haven't "named" someone, you're stuck referring to them as pronouns:
he, she, they
or objects
the boy, the girl, the man with the hatchet.

Introducing a character's name early also makes dialogue a lot easier to facilitate.
"Neeno, put that thing down before you hurt yourself."
"Have at you!" Cried Neeno as he raised his wooden sword.

It can also make the setting easier to digest.
"The Sun Lands? I've heard of them, but never been there."
(200 pages later)
Neeno stood at the edge of the plateau, mouth agape, as he took in the majesty of the Sun Lands.

These are all mentions of concepts that become more important as time goes on. You can't exactly get into Chapter 30 without ever mentioning a character's name, but without expressly stating it how else are the characters, and subsequently the readers, supposed to know it?

It's the same with concepts. Say Person A has murdered Person B.
Person C has no idea the murder has even taken place until they are told, or stumble upon the crime scene.

That is when C knows, but what do they know? The chronology of how your characters become aware, and what they become aware of, is of paramount importance to both the tension and depth of your story.

If, for example, Person C knows immediately at the beginning of the story that Person A was the killer, then there's no tension of investigating the crime. This is all fine and good if the only point to your story is vengeance by Person C, or escape by Person A, as those create their own tension. If, however, your goal was to provide some mystery as to the killer's identity, you fail before you truly begin.

Note: In many cases an author will "reveal" things through the eyes of the villain (or antagonist) as well. This can both hurt and help, depending on how well it is done, and how necessary it was in the first place.

How much a character knows, particularly about the other characters, will greatly drive the tension in your scenes. If Person C knows that Person A is a murderer, they might act nervous. Person A, firm in the belief that no one knows, may act strangely cavalier. The exchanges between these two parties, and especially the thought processes behind said exchanges, then become particularly entertaining.

Many writers, including me, keep a Writing Journal. Others keep Book Bibles or various other aptly-named apparati in which they chronicle their plotlines and doodlings. Others still keep copious amounts of sticky notes on their desks. All of these methods contribute to one thing particularly difficult for the novelist: keeping their facts straight.

As the author, you need to know everything. You not only need to know what each character knows, but also at what point they learned it. Keep track of this however you can, even if that means trusting to your rapidly decaying memory. Keep index cards, if you have to, but fight hard to keep that continuity of story that's required for a novel-length work.

Have you had struggles with this in the past?
Or, have you read any books recently where the author seemed to struggle with it?


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Why I Love Gmail

Enough said.

Keeping People Informed

Last night, I was fortunate enough to have dinner with my wife and two [prominent] writer friends of mine. One of the two I see on a fairly regular basis, and I talk to even more often. The other travels so much, and has such a busy life in general, that I only rarely get a chance to see/talk to them. In fact, she had absolutely no idea The Ninth Avatar had been published, or that I had just completed a third novel.

I was shocked.

Not only do I blog fairly often, but I post on Twitter and Facebook about what I'm up to on a fairly regular basis. How could someone who I interact with be so disconnected from my status? Is it my fault, or theirs?

As writers, many of us are well aware how annoying self-promotion can be. We constantly struggle between "getting our name out there" and keeping a positive reputation. I recently faced a similar issue with the SFFworld topic created to discuss The Ninth Avatar; someone suggested that, since I was a board regular, that I should have done at least some self-promo there. But how?

How do you inform people without becoming just a talking head?

Surely this is all about marketing methods, and this is something my "day job" is intimately involved with. Two main factors drive marketing in my world: relevancy and personalization. Ideally, I would know in advance each person who is interested in my book and I would send them an individual email to encourage them to purchase, read, and possibly even review it.

The major problem with this is I don't know who is interested, considering I don't know all that many people who enjoy Epic Fantasy. When you write a book, it's not enough to have a rapport or friendship with an acquaintance or contact. Or, at least, that's the way I view it. People have encouraged me (both in the example above and otherwise) to just go ahead and talk about it, but this is difficult for me. It's not that I'm lazy, per se; it's more like I don't want to become an obstacle to them.

Hence why I blog. It creates a place where, if people are interested, they can come and see. It's more reactive than proactive, but it also places the bulk of the work on my friends and potential readers. I lose relevancy because only the people who follow my blog (or Twitter feed, or friend me on Facebook) know what I'm up to. I can't exactly carry around a sign that says "I'm a published author," can I?

I also don't have an incredible surplus of time to send the aforementioned type of email to each individual person. Therefore, it becomes a group message, and it loses that personalized feel. Blogging is similar to this in that it's very impersonal. It's a broadcast message with no particular recipient in mind save "people who are interested." Creating a blog audience is difficult, even when you have something topical to talk about (e.g. writing).

When I was first published, I sent out a direct email to every one of my Gmail contacts (friends, family, co-workers, etc.) to announce it. I've also invited people to join The Ninth Avatar's Facebook page, or "Like" it (since "Become a Fan" apparently sounds like too much of a committment). I've hosted giveaways on Goodreads, participated in the discussion on SFFworld, and blogged up a storm, but still there are people who have no idea that I wrote a book.

How do you keep people informed? How do you create that precious and all-important "word of mouth?"


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Back to Basics

No, not that kind of basics.

This kind of basics.

I know most of the people who read this blog are writers. This is a blog about writing, after all, so you'd have to care about it a little not to get bored with the themes of my posts! But, also, and more importantly, I follow a lot of the blogs (and twitter feeds) of people who follow me. You are writers, through and through, and I hope you enjoy what you read here even half as much as I enjoy your posts.

That being said, have you ever gotten "back to basics" with your writing mechanics? Sort of a tune up, so to speak. I can honestly say that I've never read the above book, Strunk & White's Elements of Style (though I have listened, thoroughly, to the Xtina album). Do I feel this has held me back, in my writing? Possibly, but it is the subject I enjoyed most all through school (when I went to school). I "tested out" of my English classes in college because, frankly, they were too remedial. But what do you expect from a tech school?

No, I learned the basics of English and Grammar from the California Public School System. It may not have taught me how to write a story, that I learned much later, but it did teach me how to write.

Many of us post entries about storytelling, but I see only a few posts here and there about writing. Actual mechanics. Even my own post series titled "how to write" is all about how to convey rather than syntax. Why is this? Perhaps we think everyone knows mechanics already. Perhaps they actually do. But I know I struggle with it, as does my copyeditor (the one I've worked with). I would love to make their life a little easier, so I am making it a goal to brush up on the basics. Commas, participles, semicolons, full on colons, etc.You get the idea.

Whether I post on these things is another matter entirely, but you may see something on it in the near future. 

But what about you? Ever gone "back to basics?" Any exact issues you struggle with?

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Unfinished Business

I firmly believe that many of us have made enemies over our years on this planet. Recently, a few events (being contacted by someone I hadn't talked to in about a decade and being handed a copy of the above book) have given me cause to re-examine my own misadventures. I even read over a deadjournal I used to keep, and revisited the MySpace Group Topic that existed solely to talk about how much of an ass I was (last posted-on circa 2006, nearly ten years after the events heralding my ass-dom occurred).

I only rarely look back on my past. I'm a "forward" thinker, and I reconcile my failures as learning experiences or, as many of us do, accept them as forces which shaped who I am today. I'll admit that I hold a few grudges, but these are few and far between, especially in comparison to the percentage of people who have cause to feel a grudge against me. I have wronged, been wronged, and in most cases the issues between me and the other party went unresolved as we went our separate ways.

Frankly, so much time has passed that simply forgetting it ever happened is actually more productive and beneficial than seeking the wronged party to provide some kind of expired apology. And yet, many of us do just that. We attend our High School reunions, seek out old friends (and enemies), and call our exes in effort to repair the things that hang guiltily on our consciences.

It's a strange thing, to seek out this reconciliation, this "closure," because in most cases the time has long since passed where a person even cares anymore. We, as people, constantly evolve and change as we learn and grow. The reasons we cared enough to be hurt five or ten or fifteen years ago may be completely foreign and incomprehensible today. So, what do we do with this guilt or, in effect, this feeling of unfinished business?

We have no choice but to process it and move forward. While it does no good to deny our past, act as if it didn't happen, it only weighs us down to constantly wallow in it and wonder "what if." A person could go mad contemplating the course of their life if they'd made just one different decision and, since time marches ever forward, it would be to no end anyway.

If you've been a horrible person in the past, try to be a better person. That's about the long and the short of it. Friends, lovers, and hobbies will always come and go in your life. Hold onto the things you can, and work toward letting the rest go. None of us will ever be sixteen again, but that doesn't mean our sixteen-year-old selves can't teach us a thing or two about life.

Your memoir will never have a sequel. Besides, a sequel's purpose isn't to apologize for the characters you hurt in the first story; it's to tell a new story entirely. Get on with it.


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