I am a writer and I hate dream sequences. More than any other convention or cliche, dream sequences are the stupidest thing ever cooked up by the author’s imagination. I avoid them wherever I can. I avoid them like a river of lava. And if the time comes when I absolutely have to set foot in it, when I’ve exhausted all other options for alternate routes, backtracking, and even digging under the earth, I still don’t do it. Nothing wastes more of the readers time than going into a dream. I wish more creative writing teachers and guru told students to avoid this disease of books. Here’s why: 1) Dream…
-
-
Should an Author Change a Story for Commercial Viability?
So while I’m composing the outline for “naga hide” story, I thought I’d share this anecdote. I was with my wife, walking our two poop-makers floor-destroyers inbred suicidal moronic pains-in-the-ass with fur dogs. And as I’m always desperate for conversation topics (being an introvert) I talked about the two novels I was planning — seeing which idea she thought had more merit. When I talked about “naga hide”, she had qualms about the main character. She said “women don’t like snakes” so that might diminish the marketability/commercial viability. That certainly got my attention. Commercial viability = people paying money to publisher = happy publisher = publisher paying money to agent…
-
More
I know why I’m having trouble getting motivated to write. When a story idea exists in your head, it is perfect. It’s maybe a bit nebulous. Maybe it’s not a 100% from beginning to ending story. But it exists in a perfect state. It has no flaws. The characters are exactly who you imagine. The imagery is exactly how you expect it. No clumsy wording muddling things up. That creature you imagine? He’s perfect. He does everything you expect him to. He acts like you want. His pleas have the right tone. Your leading girl looks the way you want. The action is tight and quick, photographed and animated exactly…
-
These Are The Thoughts In My Head Right Now
There are two voices in my mind right now. One voice says “you should be writing! You’re good at it. People like your writing. You like writing. You like creating worlds and relationships. It’s like playing with dolls. It’s a lot of effort and takes a long time, but it’s worth it.” The other voice just wants to consume. It’s the one that tells me to spend my lunch watching YouTube videos instead of writing. See, I’m at a new job and it’s not so easy to watch while I code anymore. Kinda looked down upon. In fact, unless you have special permissions, you can’t even get to YouTube. I…
-
So What’s Going On Lately?
I know you all get sick of my posts about Marvel heroes I don’t know and movie junk. The authorship is going okay. I’ve found a way to combine writing and not writing at the same time. Merm-8 should be getting re-released pretty soon by eTreasures publishing. We recently got Disney Infinity for our Wii U. Well, my wife really got it as a birthday present to herself, but I’ve been playing when I can. It’s like Kingdom Hearts but simpler. It’s just the co-operative multi-gameplay I’ve been wanting. Too bad it’s now defunct. Collecting the merchandise has been an interesting experience. On one hand, it’s super-discounted. On the other,…
-
There Are No Writing Conferences In MN
So I bought the 2015 Guide to Literary Agents by Chuck Sambuchino because… well, I need some help. I’ve written three books, sent hundreds of queries, and have little-to-nothing to show for it. I thought maybe this would be a better resource than exploiting the free version of QueryTracker. But when any big author shares their story about how they got their agent, the most common thread is a writing conference or convention. Face-to-face. Query letter in hand. Agent unable to escape or hide behind the rejection letter. And since I’m isolated in my own home, I thought I need to get in on this, if for nothing else than…
-
The Year in Writing
This has not been a great year for writing. I finished Defender and started sending out the queries. Only two agents bit. The rest never responded or sent rejections. This is my third novel I’ve written with intent for publication and again, no one was interested. I know most novelists don’t get their first novel published. A lot don’t get their second. But three novels with ~93 rejections a piece? I am doing something seriously wrong. Art is one of those things where no one can tell you what you’re doing wrong. When you put together a bunch of ingredients that don’t work together, no one can tell you how…
-
Responsibility As an Author
The last of my panels in NerdCon: Stories was “But It’s Just a Story: The Moral Responsibility of the Storyteller”. As aforementioned, I didn’t intend to attend, but I’m glad I did. It brought up a lot of issues that I hadn’t considered. Patrick Rothfuss started the panel with an anecdote about reading The Hobbit to his son. It starts quite dully with Gandalf and Bilbo having a conversation. Then the dwarves arrive, one by one, and more discussions and negotiations ensue. Nothing magical happens — except for one thing, Bilbo and Gandalf sit outside blowing smoke rings, competing with each other. And so, as impressionable young ones are want…
-
NerdCon: Stories (Minneapolis Oct 9-10 2015)
So here’s my write-up on attending NerdCon: Stories. To summarize, I’m not sure how much I learned, but I was definitely entertained. There wasn’t anything about the publishing industry or how to get an agent, but that was all right. That wasn’t what I was expecting. This con was focused on the fundamentals behind the story: why they matter, what effect they can have. The medium didn’t matter. Novel, movie, or song. Horror, erotica, or adventure. Stories are what makes us human. Let’s go to the rundown. Unlike Convergence, there was a lot more “everybody goes to this” events scheduled. The only thing scheduled in the morning was mainstage entertainment.…
-
Some HP Recovered
Thankfully, some consistent days on writing, bearing down on my to-do list, and upping my doses of medication, and I seem to have recovered somewhat from the disappointments of writing. Still haven’t gotten any agent bites, but at least I resolved my query letter. Whether it’s better or not, I don’t know. I’m still working on the princess crossover. It’s getting damn large. I understand how some writers can write 500,000 word epics, but I don’t know how they revise it. Mine’s only up to 146,000, but the idea of going back through it all is intimidating. I worry about the time consumption. But I figure as long as I’m…
