depth aka chicken post

Okay so yesterday was a bit of an odd post for most I would suspect.  It was meant to be a lighthearted and not taken with the utmost seriousness.  With that said I still want to make the point that I believe it matters to the readers that their writers did their research or took the time to make the story right.  When I read it is in short spurts (probably because the writing gets in the way.)  I know for many others they sit and read for hours, which sure I love to do as well, but seldom get the time to do so.  In either case, but more importantly to those like me who only read little chunks of a book at a time I think it is important that each block of words hold value.  The page should have depth and meaning to it so that the reader can feel engrossed in whatever moment is depicted in it.  I know personally I would not want to read blah blah blah and then bam a nice cliff hanger at the end to keep me on the edge of my seat.  No for me I would rather read substance, substance, substance, and then holy crap I think I'm going to pee my pants.  So have I and other writers hit that achievement every time probably not; but what a goal right?

As one of my old forums use to say "this post is useless without pics," but since this is a writing blog I think it more fit to give a writing example.  So without further adieu, the chicken crossing the road example of what I'm talking about.  I'll give ya two versions and hopefully you'll be able to pick which version is the better of them.

Why did the Chicken cross the road: Version 1

Sam the chicken thought it would be a good idea to cross the road.  In order to reach the other side he would have to traverse the pavement that stretched two car widths.  Having not previously been on that side this would be a great adventure for him.  He left behind his parents, some friends, and his girlfriend named Butterball.  On that far side were lots of food for dinner so Sam could not wait to get started.  After several moments he looked back having accomplished the deed.  He had been lucky that no cars needed to pass during that time frame.  He was now on the other side and his new life awaited him.

Version 2:

Sam's eye stared down the highway, his neck tilting slightly as he anticipated the cross.  There was so much to consider about this life changing decision.  If he crossed now, Sam would be leaving behind his parents, his friends, an the love of his life Butterball.  He had known her since they were peeps, and his heart ached as he thought of losing her.  The other side with its insect and worm lush fields and the low hanging branches for roosting held so many promises for his future.  Over there he could make a name for himself.  Yes he wish Butterball had the courage to join him, but there would be other hens.  He swallowed hard, and stretched out his neck fully checking one last time that the way was clear.  Then with his head held high he strutted across the two lane road.

Okay those were written on the fly so please be easy on me.  I hope that they still illustrate what I am trying to get at.  The first blurb is cold and quite frankly leaves as fast as it comes in.  The second though, at least for me, has a bit more oomph to it.  I feel his dilemma and then his pride at the end.  So even over such a few short words big and dramatic differences can be found.

WIP to EPIC a story of ABC and XYZ plus f ?

Talk about a work in progress (WIP).  I would have never imagined that in the midst of writing one novel I'd fall upon so many ideas.  The bonus part is that not all of the ideas that are flowing out are slated for this particular novel but for future installments.  There is so much 'machinery' to think about and keep track of while writing.  I would guess most folks just figure that a writer must develop the scenes, the characters, and a workable plot.  But ah... there is so much more to it, trust me.

I'm currently juggling the intricacies of how each character will grow over time across several plot lines.  On top of that I need to take into account how this first storyline will influence a separate but tangential tale.  Then both of these stories will combine or more like intertwine as each will need the other to complete the climatic ending of a third story.  Okay I realize this is somewhat confusing, so I'll attempt an example that is unrelated to my current piece.  Hope you like algebra.

book1
a---> A  where character one is little a and through book grows into big A.
x--->X our nemesis also develops and grows stronger in the book so by the end he is big X
So book1 the finale is A battling X where A defeats X and becomes Ax ....

book2
b--->B now little b is character two and he develops in book two and grows to be big B
Ax is still around and helps b become big B so you have B+Ax as a team.
y-->Y is our new book 2 villian and the duo defeat this new villian thus becoming (B+Ax)*Y==>(B+Ax)y

Book3
So you start with By and Axy and they are stronger than ever having survived through two installment already.
This time they will be battling z who turns into Giant Z by the end and they of course win the day as always.
So the final equation is then (By+Axy)*Z ==> (By+Axy)z where our heroes defeated Z and made him little z.

But hey this is the final installment so the boss should be huge and heck if we are crafty enough maybe they have been developing over the course of the three books, right?  So taking that into account then in book 1 we could have a little z thrown in, who by then end of book 1 is big Z.  Then by book 2 big Z has become Giant ZZ.  Finally by book three he's beyond imagination growing to a humongous ZZZ that must be whittled down by our characters who have just now mustered up enough strength and wisdom to overcome the bad baddie beast of ZZZ.  (getting tired for some reason, but lets continue anyways.)

book 1 = a + x + z ==> Ax +Z
book 2 = Ax + b+ y + Zz ==> Axy +By +ZZ
book 3 = Axy +by +ZZz ==> Axyz + Byz

Phew, are you still with me? (Yes, that weird ass crap up there is really how my brain thinks.) Well then what happens after the big 3 part story ends?.. A new beginning starts of course and with it a bunch of new characters.  This time however the setting is changed from what occurred in those first few books and we have so much history to help us create the follow up books.  Let's just say for the sake of this discussion that the author kept the 4th book and maybe more in mind when tackling the development of numbers one through three, wouldn't you think that four would be pretty stellar.   At the very least it would probably fit and flow better.

I think this is why I now understand why so many fantasy novels end up as epic fantasies.  The worlds created by these writers are truly 'green' ever changing and growing as the stories develop over time.  In my case, and probably with many other writers, the 'green' state is alive even before the first printed copy of the novel hits the shelves.  I cross my fingers that all this hard work up front will pay off in the end and that the world I have designed is intricate and wonderful, a place that readers will enjoy visiting from time to time as new installments are released.      

Oh, just for fun... keeping the string theory algebra fun alive a putting book four into the equation then you'd have to add in the elements that might foreshadow the characters or events that could take place in this book in the first three books.  We'll call this foreshadowing the variable f.

book 1 = a + x + z +f ==> Ax +Z +f

book 2 = Ax + b+ y + Zz +f ==> Axy +By +ZZ +f

book 3 = Axy +by +ZZz +f ==> Axyz + Byz + f

book 4 = f + c + u ==> Cu  ... as in Cu L8ter

:)

Direction

A reminder to all the folks out there who are writing.  Does your story have direction?  As in a flow path that takes the reader from the initial backdrop all the way to the finale.  Does the story actually drive them to this goalline you have set up?  If not, I implore you to start thinking about it.

Whether you are the plotter type or free form type of writer you should examine each point/chapter and determine whether it moves the characters forward.  In other words, does it help the character grow as a person?  Does it get them to start seeing the underlying theme/s present in the book?  Are they slowly but suredly overcoming conflicts and weeknesses?

This can be done through a variety of ways of course.  General narration although mundane in nature is sufficient in allowing the reader to get a sense that our hero/protagonist is having developments.  Remember we want our heroes to have life, to be realistic (most of the time), and we want them to most importantly not be stagnant.

Don't forget though that dialogue is a very powerful method for pushing this idea of forward driving as well.  You can let any variety of characters whether they are friends, enemies, strangers, inside or outside of the inner circle of the main character to help "teach" them morals and life lessons.  The use of diatribe will reveal the faults of your characters and inevidably help them through it.

I could continue on, but you all get the point and I don't want to get into a lecture on the subject.  I forget who said it first but its sound advice, remember each element of your story should have a purpose and it should pretty much, in some form or another, help drive the story to the pinnacle.

Hope everyone had a happy mother's day... see ya soon.

How Long

What is your retention time for book ideas before you just have to put it down on paper or type it up?  Does it have to be immediate or can you let it stew up their in your mind for a while and develop a bit.  I'll be honest I have a tendency to forget things; my memory is a bit faulty.  So on a general rule of thumb I need to write down pretty much everything the moment I think of it whether it be a single word, phrase, or an entire page.  I believe I've discussed this concept before so I won't linger on it again, but I did want to share a couple of pictures to illustrate it and let you know how much goes into creating a manuscript.

Yes, I do use napkins, backs of crossword puzzles, information tags from work, post its, fliers from horse shows I'm attending, etc.  basically anything I can get my hands on at that moment.  I never want to lose that creative spark/moment.

More on the Journey - Rewrites

So I will have to admit the rewrite is dramatically more difficult to write than the original manuscript.  This time around I am considering the audience, the market, the the science or writing.  There is so much more research involved on this end of the project, much more than I had anticipated.

Originally I just spewed out a bunch of what I would consider artful dialog and scenery.  There was a plot path and it flowed alright, but most certainly had holes in it.  For the rewrite I'm sitting back and looking at the work with the eyes of a reader.  What would they want to know about the characters or how would they like the book to flow.  I have thus added more push and pull between the protagonist and  antagonist giving the storyline more suspense.  It will hopefully give the reader a sense of urgency to read more to determine what the characters are going to do to one another and why the detest each other so much.

I have also new elements of the main characters struggle or conflict.  I believe this was lacking in the original, the reader will now not be left confused about this topic.  Quite simply he can not lose another woman in his life, the struggle with himself not reaching his mother's defense is quite crippling to his ego.  It is a battle which if he can win, will allow him to become the land's greatest protector.  Therefore now he is set on the task with the heroine of the book, will he and can he save her or will he fall short like he had once before?

Secondly, I have thought long and hard about the market the book will be read by.  I had originally set the stage for an adult book.  My current thinking has leaned me towards the young adult market.  I am testing the novel out in that genre editing the text as needed to attain this goal.  For instance, the first manuscript had the hero lose his wife.  This time around I have let him miss the opportunity to save his mother, brought his age down fifteen years, etc.  Logically speaking this should open up the market for the book allowing both older and younger readers some room to show interest.  Also it will leave me some flexibility in case I want to keep the characters around a while for future installments, for which I must admit I have some great ideas for.

Then there is the science of writing.  I have learned so much about what editors and publishers want in a book, I would be foolish not to incorporate this into the creation of the manuscript.  Quite specifically here lately I have discussed the opening lines of a book.  See this post for my explanation on this.  Also I have done a lot of research on the actual art of story telling and adding those elements into the book.  The conflicts, the overlining themes, foreshadowing, revelations, etc.

I look forward to sharing more with you all in the future... stay tuned.

Advice

Let me first point out some darn cool things I have got going on this evening all of which are associated with my new droid phone.  Did I mention I love this little thing.  I feel like a a coma patient who has just awoke from a long slumber with reguard to all this new technology.  The smart phones are simply incredible devices.  I seriously had no idea just how far they had come in the last 5 years.

So for example I'm using my droid phone (via pdanet application) to give my netbook internet access.  That inself is quite cool.  I can imagine being out in the boonies at one of my wife's horseshows and still able to use all my social networking and internet games.

There are so many other apps that are of interest on this tiny machine that i dare not get into it, but it should be noted that it has been a slight distraction from the writing.  However, tonight I definitely made some headway with the book.  I took some terrific advice from the gals over at Confessions From Suite 500 and did a rewrite of my first page. 

The advice was simple, probably why I could handle it, heh.  Seriously though it plainly said that the first page and heck even the first couple of sentences should establish voice, character, setting, plot, conflict, and tone.  Piece of cake right?  LOL Well not for us all I can assure you of that.  Never the less, I took it to heart.  I understood and respect that these folks are doing this stuff for a living so their advice is definitely worthy of acknowledgement and in my manuscript's case...implementation!

Did I achieve it?  I'm curious to see as well.  I've submitted it to my close network of readers to determine.  Important point is this, never be so close minded in this art form known as writing as to not take some much needed advice from time to time.  Plug yourself in to blog sites that are as much fun to read as they are informational after all knowledge is power and hopefully it is the goo that helps make us better writers.

Journey

Have you ever heard the saying that goes something like, "it’s not the destination but the journey that is important."  What a true statement I am ultimately discovering during this writing process.  There is so much joy in finding out what is going to come of the characters I have created.  Why even more of us don't sit back and try this art-form is quite baffling to me.  

Keep in mind that for a reader the story unfolds over a short period of time.  They pick the book up and within hours, days, maybe months depending on their reading speed, the story brings to fruition the labors of the writer.  However, the author has mulled around the plot and character development for months or more likely years.  So to them the discovery of the twists and turns or the sorrows and elations of the people in their book is savored.  

So the journey the author has of creating these plot points and characters is like molding different puzzle pieces.  When the pieces of the puzzle finally start fitting together magical things start to happen.  It is quite satisfying knowing something exists by the sweat of their brow.  Heh, come to think of it, I suspect it must be like having a kid.  So now I know why many say that writing a manuscript is like giving birth.  I suppose it does parallel that sort of curve of emotion roller-coastering.

    

For example, would you want to give up those moments of pregnancy such as the first kick, or those sonograms, or the figuring out of his/her name?  Of course not, and the writer will never forget their creation of the first confrontation of the protagonist and antagonist.  They will not forget the epiphany that brought to life their main plot line or title to the manuscript. 

I will be curious to discover the similarities of this analogy after the writing process is complete and the child/novel is birthed.  Will I, the writer, just have an offspring that brings joy and laughter to my life or will it just sit around and stink up the place?     

Contraction Subtractions

Ahhh, the final stretch is upon me and I have the darn book nearly complete.  When I say complete, I really mean complete this time.  Unfortunately, there is but one endless finding that plagues me.  I keep running across contractions and apparently they are my bane.  I'm using them constantly throughout the bloody thing.   Not to worry though I believe I've caught most of them and took the document to a heightened state of professionalism.  It's simply amazing how much of a difference it makes in the work.  So much so I would like to challenge all of you to take a step back and look hard and long at your work in progress.  Does it make use of contractions like I'm, can't, he'll, etc.  Pull them out and read again.  See what I mean.  :P

So now you're saying, well it's dialogue so it's okay.  Here's where you and I would tend to disagree if this is your standing.  Sure I'll concede that there are times where a well placed "don't" is appropriate, but certainly not throughout the entire manuscript.  People are reading these books quickly and expecting high quality. Their minds will naturally contract the words for them if needed.  So keep from letting your book look like an elementary school kid wrote it and fix them.  It's tedium sure, but this is no time for laziness... It's the final stretch and you can do it.  lol  Have a good day...
--
Below just for fun is my version of the above post written without the contractions...  Which one looks better, did you feel the voice of the two posts differed much?
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Ahhh, the final stretch is upon me and I have the darn book nearly complete.  When I say complete, I really mean complete this time.  Unfortunately, there is but one endless finding that plagues me.  I keep running across contractions and apparently they are my bane.  I am using them constantly throughout the bloody thing.  Not to worry though I believe I have caught most of them and took the document to a heightened state of professionalism.  It is simply amazing how much of a difference it makes in the work.  So much so I would like to challenge all of you to take a step back and look hard and long at your work in progress.  Does it make use of contractions like I'm, can't, he'll, etc.  Pull them out and read again.  See what I mean.  :P

So now you are saying, well it is dialogue so it is okay.  Here is where you and I would tend to disagree if this is your standing.  Sure I will concede that there are times where a well placed "don't" is appropriate, but certainly not throughout the entire manuscript.  People are reading these books quickly and expecting high quality.  Their minds will naturally contract the words for them if needed.  So keep from letting your book look like an elementary school kid wrote it and fix them.  It is tedium sure, but this is no time for laziness... It is the final stretch and you can do it.  lol  Have a good day... 

Update

Quick update on the state of things.  Book one is complete, Whoo Hoo!  I hit the print button and I'll be doing some editing on a first ever hard copy of it.  What a milestone this is, but I can't sit on my laurels just yet; there is still so much to be done.  The polishing process will take up most of January I suspect.

Also during this time, I've been doing the framework for book two "Of Diar Age." I want to make sure it aligns nicely with all the foreshadowing I've done with the first book.  As I've previously stated in another blog I've even begun writing the first chapter.  We are talking still very very rough draft. lol

Lastly, I've been finalizing the query letter I'll be sending off to literary agents I'm interested in.  Let me just say this is a very tricky part of the process.  For those of you not familiar with a query letter I guess I should elaborate a bit.  When you write a book, you then have to get it published right?  Well between you and the publisher is a person who will basically represent you and help you sell the manuscript to the publishing firms.  They make sure your rights and royalties are in order and a bunch of other legal stuff.  However the tricky part is that there are so many would-be writers out there that the literary agents get swamped with inquiries.  The result is that the agents have to be very picky with who they take on as a client.  So even though they are representing you, the writer still has to "win" the agent over.  It would be like trying to convince the car salesman to sell you a car and not the next guy.

So to win the agent over a writer has to create a query letter, and a damn good one.  The query basically informs the agent that the writer has completed a manuscript and then describes various elements of the novel. You basically have one page to summarize your entire manuscript and basically "sell" or "hook" this very well informed member of the literary world.  It is as complex and important as a persons resume.  So I've been tweaking my query (can I say that in public) trying my best to give this book a shot at a successful start.

Eerie Dream

So I guess the message for the day is 'careful what you listen to before heading off to bed.'  As a writer one of our basic natures is to have a creative and oft times environmentally susceptible mind.  Meaning we take what we know and what we experience and use them to fuel our storytelling.  Quite intuitive, nothing new I suspect is learned from that being said.  As it turns out this tool though is hard to turn off or so I'm coming to discover.  With practice I hope to at least learn to throttle it better.

If your thinking of writing a novel, or any length story I would suggest a dip in the research waters on the actual art of storytelling.  Myself I'm doing it backwards, my story is complete and I'm going back now and making sure I've including all the important stuff, with the hope of not having to rewrite to much of it.  We'll see, so far I'm doing okay.  At any rate, one particular lecture I have recently watched was called Creative Writing Story Structure, broken into 12 parts posted on youtube by architectus777.  

In the lecture he describes the basic elements of crafting a good story.  I had listened to the first three parts before drifting off to never never land.  During those three episodes he covered such things as plot, opponents, themes, and goals and in doing so a nice little story of his own was beginning to form.  In it the main character seeks out his sister's rapist and wants revenge, along the way he has a revelation and decided killing the bad guy wouldn't do any good.  

The lecturer also through the course teaches that a spectacular ending can really make or break a story and gave a good example of how Sixth Sense achieved its success from having such surprise ending.  The Sixth Sense had a so-so beginning and end but it was really the ending that drove it into another realm.  On a side note, I was thinking of another good one that has a great ending, The Scent of a Woman.  When Pacino delivers that address at the end to the school disciplinary committee I was in awe (goosebumps), and have remembered the story to this day.

So off I go to bed with bad guys and surprise endings on my mind.  The dream I had, which unfortunately I remembered when I woke, began all nice and sweet.  The main character was a guy who had moved into an uppity condo/apartment complex.  Shortly after his arrival he discovers an attraction for the neighbor lady.  They go on a date and when he attempts a second is snubbed, she's just not interested.  We then seen him walking the streets passing by schools, houses and ball parks.  He is alone and depressed with ahead hung low and eyes darkened under the brim of a hat.  A short time later we get a news flash that a man was caught by the police a suspect in a homicide and rape spree he had committed.  Scene then pans back to his apartment and on his bed face down is the neighbor lady obviously the victim of a viscous murder her back soiled with blood stains.  The news flash then switches back to the police car, and inside is the feller again.  he's the bad guy, eek!

Now I realize it doesn't feel like a surprise ending the way I described it above, but trust me it felt that way in the dream state I was in.  The guy had seemed so unassuming throughout the entire dream, no malicious nature about him at all, then wham he's the bad guy.  Go figure?  Needless to say I woke up in an eerie state of mind, but at least I had something to chat about today.