On Also Being Stuck

For this post, I wanted to pick up on the same themes of Liv’s previous post.

I’m finding myself a bit stuck as well.

I’ve been working on the second draft of my latest manuscript THE BREWMANCER, and honesty’s it’s been brutal. I’m basically rewriting the entire first half from scratch and reworking most of the flashback interludes scattered through the book. I made some major changes to the plot when I was about two-thirds of the way through and now I’m paying the price.

While it’s tough going now, I still think the changes were for the best. The original ending – which is now sort of in the middle – was really depressing and involved the death of a major character and the bad guys winning. I’ve said before that I love a good Bad Ending, but this one was a little too Bad. And it wasn’t the right ending for what this story had become. The new ending features a victory for a our protagonists, but still with a cliffhanger to hook for the next installment.

It’s definitely a better ending, a quite frankly, I was having trouble coming up with enough plot to fill the space between the beginning and the originally ending. Moving that to the middle really helped, because it provided a catalyst for the action in the new second half. That said, all of the rewriting has me bogged down. I’ve had to rework a lot of the relationships plotted out originally and some of the major character arcs as the books morphed over the course of its completion.

I want to make this manuscript work, but this is probably the hardest second draft I’ve done.  A lot of that has to do with the fact I’ve learned over the course of three manuscripts you can’t just wing it on your redrafts. And believe me, I’ve just winged on a couple of them. When I’ve done that before, I ended up with disjointed and poorly edited stories afterwards. I know now the what work needs to be done and it needs to be done right.

And maybe that’s why it’s so hard this time – I know how much work it’s already been and how much more there is to go. There’s a small voice in my head as I slog through these revisions that whispers every so often:

Is this worth it?

Sometimes I wonder for a moment if it really is.

Then I remember years of work I’ve put into this craft. If I quit now, that would have all been for nothing. Then I remember all the people I’ve seen celebrating on social media on their Book Birthdays. If I quit now, I’ll never get to see my own Book Birthday.

Social media can be a big help on this front. Seeing friend’s progress and succeed is a driver. I’d be lying if a bit of professional jealousy at seeing other writers make book deals, hit the bestseller list, etc wasn’t a motivating factor too. But my biggest driver from social media is successful authors who have celebrated a half dozen or so Book Birthdays talk about their struggles. No matter how many times you hit the NYT Bestsellers List, there’s still a ton of work that goes into writing and rewriting that next book.  That fact could be just as daunting for an established, successful author is inspirational. For me it, shows that I’m not just struggling alone, that other writers, prolific and praised ones, aren’t just whizzing from book to book without a care.

It means I’m doing something right.

So I’m going to keep pluggin along, wading through these edits as I try to make this a coherent story. It’s going to take longer than I thought it would, and that’s okay. The work will be worth it in the end.

The Great Reading Challenge 2017 Edition!

I really don’t read as much as I should. With my day job, writing my own stuff, other life things and ALSO HOW AMAZING TV IS RIGHT NOW AND ALSO ALSO HOW WERE REWATCHING LOST there’s a whole bunch of other things pulling at my limited attention.

That said, Kristin challenged me to a reading contest this year – 12 books in 12 months. And I’m not one to say no to A CHALLENGE. This might not seem like a lot, but for someone who’s reading time is basically their lunch break and whenever he can fit in an hour at night, it’s something.

Now that the first quarter of 2017 is about to wrap, I thought I’d look back at the books I’ve read so far this year (they’ve all been pretty great thankfully) and share a few quick thoughts with all of you. Most of these are from the ol’ TBR pile, which was due for a much needed culling (I’ve added 50 more books to the List since I started writing this post).

THE FIFTH SEASON by N.K. Jemisin

This book won a Hugo Award, so you know it’s probably pretty good. In a world ravaged by cataclysms called Seasons, a woman seeks vengeance for the death of her son, traveling across a vast wasteland to find his killer. Spanning three different timelines, it’s a story of people with the ability to quell or create earthquakes, volcanoes and and other seismic events. To begin or end the Seasons.

The worldbuilding in this book is incredible, there’s a rich backstory to the culture and history of the world that’s explored in each of the timelines. There’s even a catalogue of the various Seasons in the supplemental material in the back. The characters were pretty well developed too, but it was the world and its history that was the big selling point for me.

 

EVERY MOUNTAIN MADE LOW by Alex White

Alex is a great dude. He was a potential mentor  for me when I entered Pitch Wars a couple years ago and we got to meet and hang out at World Fantasy Conference last year. He’s also a hell of a writer and this book, his debut, proves it.

The story follows Loxley Fiddleback (what a name!!!), a strange young woman who can see ghosts, as she traverses the dangers of a multi-tiered city called The Hole. One part ghost story, one part murder mystery, one part journey of self discovery, this book is a rollercoaster of an urban fantasy. Loxley is one of the most intriguing main characters I’ve read in a long time. Her personality is so unique and original and Alex really nailed her character arc.

 

THE DEVOURERS by Indra Das

I actually got an ARC of this in my World Fantasy grab-bag last year. I was excited to see it in there, as I had heard good things and the cover art is AMAZING.

The book was pretty interesting and unlike most fantasy I usually read. It follows a professor in modern day India who is tasked with recording and translating an ancient scroll acquired from a mysterious stranger. The professor falls for the stranger while discovering that he is a shapeshifter who has lived for centuries traveling the globe.

The book had a really unique take on the werewolf/shapeshifter mythos, and what it means to be human. There’s also some very insightful musing about the nature of gender and the fluitiy of gender roles. This book also had some of the most beautfil prose I’ve ever read with deep, vivid descriptions. Admittedly, I thought it did go a little overboard with the purple prose, but for the most part was an enchanting read.

THE BEST AND THE BRIGHTEST by David Halberstram

I used to read a lot of nonfiction, most politics and economic stuff. I dropped off after a while to focus more on fiction because that’s what I was writing. THE BEST AND THE BRIGHTEST is one of the most acclaimed books about foreign policy and political statecraft. This book is about the Kennedy administration and how the US got into the Vietnam War. It’s cautionary tale about the hubris of political experts and the death of common sense in policymaking. I’ve only just started it, and it is a BEAST of a book in terms of length and density. I’ll probably read it in quarters and tag in a fiction book here and there.

It’s also one of Steve Bannon’s (you may have heard of him) favorite books and one that he’s apparently having everyone in the White House read. While subject matter is very interesting to me, I think this book will also give important insight into the mind of the man who is the architect of much of the current administration’s policies.

So what have you all read so far this year or what do have planned to finally cross off the TBR?

How Do You Solve a Problem Like a First Draft?

Stop me if you’ve heard this story before.

You’ve reached the “end” of your manuscript’s first draft. You look back over your shoulder at the smoldering wreckage of your plot, malformed narratives writhing about in a primordial soup of creativity. It’s a formless maelstrom of scenes and moments, but somewhere in all the chaos you can see the pieces for a coherent story coming together.

You smile wistfully, ready to take hold of those few shimmering pieces of plot stability and staring pulling this thing together.

Now you’re ready to bring order to this book!

That’s about where I am right now, sifting through the first draft of my latest manuscript, THE BREWMANCER. I’m trying to find the best pieces of plot foundation to start laying down and building up the brick and mortar, wood and plaster to make a structurally sound story.

I don’t know about all of you, but I’m a pantser when I write. I basically just go with a barebones outline of the major plot points and kinda fill it in from there. That tactic, for me at least, leads to somewhat barebones first drafts that need to be beefed up in future drafts. For THE BREWMANCER, I envision the final product being about 90,000 words, and the first draft ended up at about 80,000.

That’s quite a bit more beef.

In the first draft, I did leave some scenes and chapters completely unwritten, either because they required some significant research or were difficult to write for some other reason. Fight scenes are tough for me, so on the first go I just sketch out a quick blow-by-blow of how the fight would go, then fill in the details later. A bunch of characters, places and fantastical things were left with just placeholder names, too.

Details.

In first drafts, I usually keep details to a minimum. Details of what things looks like, details of what the characters are doing. I pretty much lay down basic settings and actions to move the plot along. I consider dialogue one of my strong points, so I try to get most of that stuff written in the first draft. I do worry too much of the plot is conveyed through dialogue, so I’ll pare some of the back in subsequent drafts and replace it with more descriptions or backstory. At the same time, I try to keep the info dumps to a minimum in each draft, but sometimes in the second or third drafts I’ll feel pressured to hit the final word count, go overboard with with backstory.

So basically first draft with too little stuff, second and third drafts with too much stuff.

The hope is to find that special sweet spot in drafts four and five.

I like to keep my drafts under five before sending it off to beta readers, and then a draft or two will come of out that feedback.

I feel like this is a strange way to draft, most people have a large and unwieldy first drafts, then pare it back – cutting scenes, side plot, or even full character POVs (I’ve done that once and it was BRUTAL)  But I’ve done my first drafts this way for my last couple of manuscripts to reasonable success. Like I said, I have the fear when I’m finished with one of these skeleton drafts I won’t be able to find enough words to get to the optimal word count, but I usually end up getting there without any superfluous plot additions and weird tangents.

Part of the reason I opt for the small structural first draft is because my first manuscript was so bloated. 180,000 words that wasn’t even really a complete story, even with that many words. I also edited each chapter as I finished it, which is something I’ll never do again. Cutting that book back by 60,000 words and still having it a gigantic mess, trying to make that first book into something remotely publishable took months just wasn’t worth it. It was good lesson because I obviously didn’t know what the hell I was doing when writing that first draft, but it also put the fear of overdrafting into me.

Now, I still have have a bunch of work to do after a first draft, but by adding in stuff I skipped over, I still feel like I’m making progress, instead of going backward. Sure, I’ll end up cutting a bunch of scenes and subplots and I’ve already had to rewrite the first few chapters because they no longer match up with the direction the story ultimately took, but it feels like progress.

It’s going to be another few more months of editing, but I think I’m in a good place with it right now.

Welp. Better get back to work.

But before I go – how do all of you create your first drafts? Over or under draft? Edit as you go? Let me know!

 

2017: Stuff To Get Excited About!

It’s the beginning of a new year, friends! And with a new year comes a whole bunch of new media to get excited about! For this post, I’m going to keep the positivity train rolling and run down some of the movies, television and books I’m looking forward to in 2017.

Television

We’re in a golden age of television right now. There’s so much content being released every year, and because so much of it is good, it’s hard to keep up. There are two new series debuting this year that I’m really excited about more than anything else:

Legion

A TV series about Charles Xavier’s schizophrenic telepath son sounds like it could be pretty wild, right?  

Fox’s treatment of the X-Men properties has been a mixed bag over the years. X-Men 2, Days of Future Past, and Deadpool were all great movies. X-Men 3, Apocalypse, and Wolverine Origins were all rancid turds smeared over film reels. Needless to say I’m a little apprehensive about the prospect of them bring the X-Universe to TV.

That said, FX has been producing some really smart and dynamic TV over the last couple years, including an adaption of Fargo by Noah Hawley, who is also the series creator on Legion. I think bringing the oddball charm and humor of Fargo to one of the stranger corners of the X-Men Universe could produce remarkable television.

I’ll also watch Aubrey Plaza in pretty much anything. As an aside, if you haven’t watched Parks and Recreation yet, stop reading now and go watch it. This blog post will still be here when you get done.

American Gods

I was late to the party on American Gods. I adore Neil Gaiman’s comics work, but hadn’t read any of his prose fiction until a few years ago. Shauna demanded I read American Gods and OMAG I couldn’t believe I had waited so long.

Now that story is coming to television and I’m thrilled.

There’s always pitfalls involved with adapting a book to film or television, especially one with the scope and style of American Gods. There’s a tone and tenor of this story that would be difficult to capture on film, a huge challenge to bring the vividness of the prose to life outside the reader’s mind.

Luckily, Bryan Fuller, one of TV’s most brilliant visual creators is helming this project. His work on Dead Like Me, Wonderfalls and Pushing Daisies were all inspiring, but his recent run on Hannibal was one of the most visually arresting pieces of television I’ve ever seen. If there’s anyone who can do Gaiman’s vision for these characters and world justice, it’s Fuller.

Movies

Pretty much every year from now until the End of Time we’re guaranteed a handful of superhero movies and a new Star Wars movie. 2016 brought us a really good superhero movie in Captain America: Civil War, a decent one in Doctor Strange and two dreadful ones in the form of Batman v. Superman and Suicide Squad.

2017 will bring us one of the most important superhero movies ever and the next mainline Star Wars film and I am super excited for both.  

Wonder Woman

This actually happening.

Finally.

If you told me 20 years ago fricking Ant-Man would have a solo movie before Wonder Woman I wouldn’t have believed it, even if you were bound by the Lasso of Truth. Well it’s 2017 and Ant-Man had his movie two years ago, but now it’s Wondy’s turn.

I’m really excited for this movie, just because it’s Wonder Woman, but I do have some major reservations. On the positive side, Gal Gadot looks fierce as hell in the costume, and yeah she doesn’t have a huge acting range, but I think she’ll be fine. Look cool and kick ass. The trailers look great so far (happy to see my boy Chris Pine) and Wonder Woman was the best part of the otherwise abysmal Batman v. Superman.

That said, the trailers for the aforementioned Batman v Superman were also great. So were the ones for Suicide Squad. And Man of Steel. Those movies ranged from middling to absolutely dreadful. I fear this will be the case for Wonder Woman – awesome trailers that show what could be a good movie – by the final product ends up butchered by a bad script and executive meddling.

I’m going to be optimistic. This will finally be the good DCEU movie. One of them has to be.

Star Wars Episode VIII

The Force Awakens was everything I wanted in a new Star Wars.

Yeah, it was derivative of A New Hope, but it had everything that made me fall in love with Star Wars as a kid – great characters, a compelling villain, breathtaking action sequences, and quiet heartfelt moments. The nostalgia moments and callbacks were handled perfectly in Episode VII, whereas I thought they were a bit hamfisted in Rogue One.

Speaking of Rogue One – I didn’t love it (and you can hear me and Kristin talk about it on the last episode of our podcast). I was wary about the off-year Star Wars side stories between the mainline series, and Rogue One did little to satiate those fears.

I am, however, incredibly excited for Episode VIII. With director Rian Johnson at the helm – probably best know for 2012’s grim time travel flick Looper – I have a feeling this next episode will go the way of Empire Strikes Back. I foresee a darker tone, increasing danger for our heroes, more tragedy – but I’m also the Rey finding her way as a Jedi. Those Luke and Rey training sequences will be a-maz-ing!

I’m trying to keep the Hype Train in the station, but I know as soon as the first trailer drops, nothing’s going to hold it back.

Books

There’s a whole bunch of new books coming out this year that I’m sure are amazing, but I’ve got a ridiculous backlog, so this is the year I’m going to finally tackle my TBR pile! Well, a good portion of it at least. Here’s six of the books I’ve already picked out to start:

Mirror Empire by Kameron Hurley

Updraft by Fran Wilde

The Fifth Season by N.K Jemisin

Every Mountain Made Low by Alex White

Counterpart by Haley Stone

The Providence of Fire by Brian Staveley

It’s a pretty eclectic mix of Science Fiction and Fantasy. I’d also like to read some nonfiction this year, I used to read books on politics and economics pretty regularly, but stopped a few years ago to focus on fiction.

That’s what I’m looking forward to in 2017, what about all of you?

Read, Watch, and Think Happy Thoughts

I’ll be honest, I totally forgot I had this post coming up until I got a notification on my phone last Thursday. As you can imagine, it was the last thing on my mind, but I knew I still had to write something.

Anything.

On the podcast this week, Kristin and I decided we’d just talk about stuff we’re geeking out about to keep it upbeat and positive for the listeners. That seemed like the right, and important thing to do. It ended up being a pretty cathartic experience, so I decided I’d do something similar for this post. In the spirit of positivity and happy thoughts, here’s a little list of some fun and lighthearted books and TV shows that might help take your mind off what’s going on in the world.

Heroine Complex by Sarah Kuhn

You probably think it’d be cool if your best friend was a superhero. And if you could be her sidekick, that would be pretty rad too, right? Maybe not so much.

Heroine Complex is the story of Evie Tanaka, personal assistant to her very demanding and very superpowered friend Aveda Jupiter. Evie is always playing second fiddle to Aveda, forced to cover for her antics and clean up her messes. But when Aveda is injured in combat, Evie is forced to stand in for her superfriend. And guess what? Evie had powers of her own!

This is a super (lol) fun and smart romp that highlights the important bonds of both friendship and family, even when trying to deal with burgeoning superpowers and battling demons from another dimension (demon cupcakes even!)

Genrenauts by Michael R. Underwood

If you asked me what my favorite “type” of SFF or comic story is, I’d be hard pressed not to pick “Adventures Through the Multiverse”! Comics have done this a bunch of times, but I don’t see it as much in prose. Genrenauts does it, and in a spectacularly fun fashion.

The story follows floundering stand up comedian Leah Tang, who is given the opportunity to travel the multiverse to fix unraveling stories. Each world the Genrenauts attempt to save represents a different genre trope – western, sword and sorcery, romance – while at the same time turning those genre conventions on their heads.

The stories are lighthearted and adventurous – Leah is a snarky but loveable main character and her surrounding cast is full of diverse and engaging personalities.

Steven Universe

I wrote a post about how wonderful Steven Universe a couple months ago on the Scribes, so I’ll keep this one short. While that post was mostly about how the lessons of SU can be applied to writing, it also gives you a good idea about the major themes of the show and how incredibly positive it is.

Steven Universe is one of the most heartfelt and inclusive shows I’ve ever seen. It eschews the bleakness and coldness of the real world for a warm, pastel-colored vision of place governed by the love of friendship and family.

 

 

 

Azumanga Daioh

Okay this last pick is a bit of an oldie, but if there’s one piece of media I’d describe as “comfort food”, it’s Azumanga Daioh.

This anime is a simple slice of life comedy about a group of Japanese high school girls and their teachers. There’s no huge overarching plot, not big stakes that must be resolved, just a glimpse into the everyday lives of a quirky group of students and teachers.

It’s a low key and charming series, that can also be uproariously funny at times as well. Wrap yourself in this show like a warm blanket and let the worries of the world melt away.

Also there’s a cat who may or may not be Bill Clinton.

So friends, care to share some of other positive and uplifting media are you’re enjoying right now?

Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl… And Writers!

What a fortuitous occasion!

Not only do I have a post on the ‘ol Spellbound Scribes today and also a new episode of our podcast is dropping today as well! This week on the Pod fellow Scribe Kristin McFarland and I discuss Season One of Steven Universe, and let me tell you, that show is a DELIGHT and we had a DELIGHTFUL time talking about it. So, I thought today I would discuss three lessons of Steven Universe that can be applied to writing as well.

CROSS PROMOTION Y’ALL

Also, there’s probably some minor spoilers for Steven Universe throughout this post in case you’re concerned about that sort of thing.

LESSON THE FIRST – TEAMWORK WORKS!

The main characters of Steven Universe are the eponymous Steven and his protectors / matriarchal figures the Crystal Gems – Amethyst, Garnet and Pearl. In each episode they’re beset by some terrible trouble or perilous problem that must be defeated or solved. And of course, those trials cannot be solved without the power of teamwork! The Crystal Gems can even fuse together to become bigger and more powerful version of themselves.

What does this have to do with writing? I’ve written posts in the past about the importance of beta readers you can trust and friends in the community that will pick you up when things go wrong. Your friends in the Writing Community are your Crystal Gems, ready to defend you when the chips are down. Your beta readers are your fusion – with all the skills and life experiences of the people you’ve entrusted combined in your manuscript. The merging of their imput will make your book stronger than before. And if you’re me, it won’t be bigger like the Fusion Gems because Shauna will have slashed the crap out of it with the Red Pen of Doom.

LESSON THE SECOND – BE INCLUSIVE!

Steven Universe has some of the best queer representation of any show on TV, animated or otherwise. Especially important and awesome because even though there’s a lot in in-jokes old people like me will appreciate, it’s made mostly for kids. The show explores gender roles, breaks down the boundaries of gender binary and celebrates general queerness in a way that most “adult” shows can’t or won’t.

We should strive to write inclusively as well. I’ve tried to write diverse characters that are “outside of my lane” with varying degrees of success. I messed up on a whole bunch of things in OVERDARK, that I luckily had great beta readers to help point out. I fixed them the best I could. But I think it’s still important to try. The characters in our book worlds, even the fantastical ones, should be reflective of reality.  Everyone should have the opportunity to see themselves as the hero of the story. This goes back to the first Lesson. Do you best and hopefully your friend and beta readers will call you out on problematic stuff they find. Reach out to Sensitivity Readers too. Teamwork can go a long way to snuff out harmful and hurtful representation.

LESSON THE THIRD – NEVER GIVE UP!

By the end of the first season, Steven and the Crystal Gems face seemingly insurmountable odds. Captured and standing off against enemies more powerful than they are, all looks lost and still they refuse to back down. There’s an amazing song called “Stronger Than You” that plays during the climactic fight scene which is all about the strength of bonds of love and friendship and together we can overcome anything. Even against the most threatening of foes, Steven and the Gems won’t give up as long as they have each other.   

I’ve beat this drum in almost every post on this blog.

Writing is hard.

Publishing is brutal.

Rejection is unrelenting.

But you shouldn’t give up! There’s been days that I’ve been hammered with rejections or failed to write a single word with any coherence or value and just wanted to hang it up. Without the support and inspiration of friends in the writing community, I probably would have.

The challenge of the publishing industry might not be quite as dire as invading Gem warriors from another world, but to a writer, especially one at the beginning of their career, they can be just as intimidating. Luckily, like Steven and the Crystal Gems, we have strong and supportive community to stand with us when we need them. 

Thanks for reading as always, friends. Do give Steven Universe a look if you have a chance, it’s a wonderful little show with a great message and representation.

Writing Short Stories & The Struggle With Brevity

If you’ve been following my posts on this site for the last… two years or so I guess? Wow. Has it been that long already? Anywho – if you’ve been following my post you’d know that I’m a big proponent of working on the the next project while the forces beyond your control do what they need to do with your last project.

For me the last few years, that’s been waiting for responses from query letters. Well I’m back in the query trenches again. While I did start my next novel, The Brewancer, I wanted try my hand at writing short stories too. I wanted a change of pace from novel writing, but also wanted to challenge myself to tell a competent story in format I’m relatively unfamiliar with. I read a bunch of the Nebula nominated stories earlier this year for our podcast, but other than that, I haven’t really had the time to delve into the many wonderful short stories coming out seemingly daily.

After spending about a month writing, editing, rewriting, reediting a short story about the end of the world heralded by a Pokemon GO-ish video game, I have this to report:

Writing short stories is really hard.

Not that novels are easy by any means, but at least with novels you have a lot more space – more freedom to tell your story the way you want. A standard SFF novel can be anywhere from 80.000 – 120,000 words (or more if you’re an established author). That’s an incredibly wide space to build a world and inhabit it with well developed characters. I tried writing some short fiction a few years ago, but it was a brief and messy dalliance. I considered this my first “real” attempt at writing a short story.

Here’s a few of the takeaways from the experience:

A Glimpse Into a Grander Tale – One of the approaches it took to writing a short story was looking at it as a scene in a larger narrative. This story has a few flashbacks, but the main plot is the buildup to and engagement of a big fight scene. I got this idea from Fran Wilde – who at World Fantasy read scene from her novel SKYBOUND that originally started as a story, but evolved into a novel.

Keep The Cast Small – There is only a finite amount of space to introduce and build a backstory for the characters in a short story. Mine had four. In the early drafts, the main character had three friends that she went with to fight the monsters. Well guess what? Putting together even a minimal backstory for three secondary characters was too much. Three friends became two. I think that worked out well, because I was able to give the two remaining a little more depth, even still with only 5,000ish words to work with.

Respect the Economy of Words – Brevity is not my strong suit. I like to use a lot of descriptions that some might consider a weeee bit overwrought (they are right usually) and this short story of exercise was the greatest challenge of my overwroughtness. It was difficult, not just because I’m prone to writing overlong descriptions, but because I felt like there was a necessity for flowery language if I wanted to eventually submit this to a “literary” short story magazine. So how to be descriptive without being tooooo descriptive? I don’t think I have quite gotten the right balance yet, but that’s what future drafts are for, right?

Endings Are the Hardest – I love a good cliffhanger ending. A cliffhanger with enough closure to be satisfying is something very difficult to pull off. I think I did a pretty well in OVERDARK, but not so much with my previous novels. Taking the approach of a short story being a scene in a larger tale, I had to both end a scene and give closure to that scene. There’s a main relationship centerpiece to the story I wanted to make sure had some semblance of satisfactory closure. Of all the challenges in writing a short story, this was probably the greatest. Because this is the end of a scene and the story could continue onward, the right mix of “The End” and “To Be Continued” was really tough to nail.

Complaining about the hard stuff aside, writing a short story was an overall enjoyable experience. I liked the challenge and I think the story itself is pretty good. I still have a fair amount of editing to do, but hopefully it will be ready for submission when the big markets open up again in the fall.

So what are your experiences with short stories? Any advice on how to navigate some troubles I had in writing them myself?   

I’m On To The Next One, On To The Next One

What’s next?

That’s the question writers always have rattling around in their heads, isn’t it? Sometimes you might have half a dozen new plot ideas floating around in your brain soup and sometimes the ol’ skull bowl will have been drained bone dry. It’ll fill up again eventually, though. The stream of ideas is never truly dammed up.

One thing is a constant in the life of the diligent writer (0r any creative pursuit, really) – regardless of where you are in your current project, there’s always going to be a Next Thing. There will always be the need to make the Next Thing.

I tend to be someone who has too many Plot Bunnies frolicking through my Mind Fields at any given moment. If you follow me on Twitter, you probably already know that I run quite a bit. In the Not Winter months, I’ll log about 10-20 miles over the course of the week. The portion of that running time not spent on keeping myself from collapsing into a wheezing heap is devoted to plotting stuff. Plotting whatever my current WIP is, but also thinking ahead to what the Next Thing is going to be. A lot of time out on the open road has turned into wild Plot Bunnies.

But now it’s decision time. My YA Superhero manuscript, THE MANY FOES OF AURORA OVERDARK is done and it’s being queried right now (and eternal thanks to a number of my fellow Scribes for their invaluable input into the final product). It’s time to start the Next Thing. I had three ideas I was kicking around for the OVERDARK’s successor:

Weird Western with demons and this kinda Hellfire-punk technology and stuff. The Dark Tower is one of my favorite book series, so I’ve always wanted to try my hand at writing a western-themed story (really hope they don’t butcher the movie, btw).

Lady Heroes of the Multiverse – basically female trope heroes joined up to save the Universe. Multiverse hopping is a thing that’s done a lot in comics, and by golly do I love my comics. Also, I recently read Michael Underwood’s first GENRENAUTS book and that kinda got me excited to do a multiverse team thing.

Those two came up from the usual On-The-Run-Brain-Bubbling.

The third one has a bit of a story. If you’ve listened to fellow Scribe Kristin McFarland and I’s podcast The Young Podawans, you’ll know that we discuss What We’re Drinking at the beginning of each episode. One week I had a beer called the Ginga Ninja and on the side of the can was a mini story about The Brewmaster and his Ninja Wife. I said to Kristin on that episode “I want to write this book.”

And I think I’m going to next. I’ve got a little Brexit inspired plot starting to brew (lol) around the Brewmaster and his probably not Ninja, but some kind of soldier wife and also his husband who’s also integral to their beer making / soldiery business.

So what’s the point of this post besides “look at these ideas I have and and have to pick one waaaaaah”? It’s interesting where we get our ideas from. The impetus for some of my previous books were a D&D campaign from high school, a ghost girl from a comic book, and now a story on the side of a beer can.

And not just that inspiration can come from anywhere, but that it can come at any time. Some people do their greatest thinking in the shower. Like I said before, I do a lot for my plot brainstorming during my runs, but I also have a 30 minute or so commute to and from work everyday and I find that to be a good time to mull over new ideas as well.

I think it’s vitally important for writers to carve out not only writing time, but thinking / plotting time. The ideas for the Next Thing need a place to be cultivated, whether they’ve come from the random mundanities of everyday life, plumbed from a lifetime of stories we’ve consume, or a little bit of both.

So, I guess I’ll leave this post with a question:

When and where does everyone else do their plotting and idea brewing? We all have so many different commitments and needs pulling us away from our stories, and I’d really love  to know how people find the time in their lives and keep the stream of ideas still flowing.

 

Beta Readers Are Your Alpha Support System

Pretty much all my posts on the ol’ Spellbound Scribes have been about my writing journey or about what it means (for me at least) to be a writer. I’ve talked in the past about the importance of a good support group to help you along in the hard times (because good lord will there be a whole bunch of hard times)

Today I want to talk about one particular support group, probably the most important of all – Beta Readers and Critique Partners.

I’m at the point in my current manuscript – THE MANY FOES OF AURORA OVERDARK – where I’ve sent it out to beta readers and am eagerly (fearfully?) awaiting their feedback. A few have given me some initial thoughts (which have been very positive and very affirming) and one has returned a full edit back to me (also super amazing – thanks Shauna!)

I’ve seen websites or Twitter mentions about matching up complete strangers as CPs and BRs and that idea has always made me kinda nervous. A stranger reading any early draft of my manuscript? How about no? I would have a hard time sending my work to someone I don’t know – mostly out of fear they would just hammer the hell out it, because I’m a stranger to them too, so why should they care? I’d generally prefer to send it to someone I already have a relationship with – that I trust – but also know will be honest with me. Trust and honesty are the most important part of the CP/BR relationship. 

Sometimes your stuff sucks.

You need to know if your stuff sucks.

A good CP/BR will tell you if your stuff sucks and how to make it better, not just trash it without reason. Constructive criticism is the greatest gift your read can provide. When I was still trying to find readers, I thought I could trust and build a relationship with, I sent my first manuscript to someone I was somewhat friendly with on Twitter. About a month later she sent it back. She only read the first couple pages and tore them apart, littering them with pedantic and nitpick comments. Nothing constructive. Nothing of value.

That experience put me off to sending my work to a relative stranger. That hurt. I didn’t want to experience something like that again. Putting your stuff out there is terrifying, even to people you know and trust. But you have to. You have to be ready for them to tell you it’s not great. The first time I got beta feedback I was upset with a lot of the comments. I loved my book and thought it was perfect. I was wrong and after that initial sting of criticism, I realized that I was wrong and there was a lot I needed to fix. You can’t take negative feedback personally. Which is hard, because there is so much of YOU in that manuscript. But if you trust your CP/BR, you’ll know that pain is ultimately for your and your story’s betterment.

Over the years, I realized I needed to get over my fear of having strangers read my work. Sending my second manuscript in for Pitch Wars was a big step. The biggest. Getting into the contest was basically having your manuscript sent to CP who was a complete stranger (CS?). It was a pretty terrifying proposition, but it was probably the best chance I’ve taken with my writing. Now I have another amazing beta reader in my PW (lot of acronyms in this post, huh?) mentor Hayley! She gave some of the best feedback I’ve every received and completely changed the way I approach writing novels. It would have never happened if I held onto that fear.

This post has been kinda all over the place (as I feel like mine sometimes can be) but I guess the summation is you need people you trust and know will be honest with your work. That person might be someone you’ve known for years, but it also doesn’t hurt to try out your stuff on a complete stranger – who knows, maybe that person will be someone you can always trust in the future to give you the feedback you need.

As an aside, I feel weird sometimes deciding whether I should call the folks I send my work to “beat readers” or “critique partners”. CPs have a more serious feeling, like there’s some kind of reciprocal blood bond or something between you and the reader. BR feels more casual, but I’ve read the works of some of my beta readers and some not. What do you all think? 

What your experience with BRs/CPs, friends? How did you meet them? Nightmare experiences? Let me know!

How to be a Real Writer (Spoilers: You Are One Already)

There’s a whole bunch of Writing Advice out there. Like too much. It’s really overwhelming at times. A new writer could drown in it, if not given a Good Advice vs Bad Advice life preserver. When I was trying to figure out what the hell I was doing with my writing (still am) and trying to navigate the terrifyingly choppy waters of publishing (still am) I followed a lot of White Rabbits down a lot of White Rabbit Holes. There was a lot of Writing Advice down it those holes. I drank some and I ate some. Some was good and some was bad.

A good deal of it was bad.

Some very bad, as if Voldemort and Maleficent had a child and instead of becoming a Evil Wizard Queen that kid decided to use their wicked lineage to start an Evil Writing Advice Blog to lead astray burgeoning writers. This life choice would be disappointingly diabolical to that kid’s parents, I’m sure, but still very dangerous to writers who might stumble upon that blog. A White Rabbit leading them down into a dark tunnel that never ends.

I read many the Malemort Writing Advice Blog in my day, filled with the type of advice that I would look back on now and be baffled that anyone would take it seriously. But much of this advice was spouted by Real Writers, ones who had Made It and needed to tell you how to Make It too. I hope most up and coming writers will do their proper research, and eventually see these kinds of blog for what they really. Some of that advice is is really damaging, but that damage can be mended.

Today, however, I would like to discuss one type of truly horrible and destructive Writing Advice that I still see propagated from time to time in my Twitter feed and it makes me SMDH every time.

“To be a Writer you have to write every day.”

This is the single most damaging piece Writing Advice I have ever encountered. It’s not like bad advice on how to format your query letter, or an arbitrary number of Twitter followers you need to have to get an agent’s attention or any other such nonsense. Not only is the “Write Every Day” advice wrong, it’s actively harmful to people struggling to find their identity as a writer.

Putting in the words is hard. We all have other commitments that take time away from the writing. Especially when you’re just starting out and trying to find that balance between your writing time and the rest of your life. This advice put even more pressure an already difficult task. There is a lot of stress that goes along with this work. Pressure to finish a book. Pressure to find an agent. Pressure to get published. Pressure to be a bestseller. It doesn’t end. If you don’t put the words in everyday, you’re just a wannabe. Unless you write every damned day, you’re a phony. A fraud.

You are not a Writer.  

Fellow Scribe Kristin McFarland wrote a fantastic post about Evangelion and Identity last week. It’s difficult for a new writer to find their identity as a Writer. Impostor Syndrome is one of the hardest things to overcome. We’ve all suffered it, and we surely will again. The fact this advice might strip away the identity of someone as a Writer, just because of some arbitrary measurement of progress or achievement is heartbreaking to me. It’s unfair. It’s wrong. 

Self care is one of the most important aspects of being a writer. I’ve learned this over the years. Burnout, sacrificing sleep and personal time in the name of  forcing yourself to write, even though you just can’t, will turn you against the work. It will make you hate it. You know what’s going to make you Not A Writer faster that not writing every day? Not writing every day or ever again because you burnt yourself out and hate writing now.

So, my friends, I want you to repeat after me:

You are a Writer

Still plodding slowly but surely through that first manuscript that somehow is already 150,000 words long and is only three quarters of the way done?

You are a Writer.

Putting the finishing touches on that Poe/Finn Bromance turned Romance fanfiction you’ve been working on since The Force Awakens came out?

You are a Writer.

Working on the next manuscript while you’re out on submission, furiously rechecking your inbox every five minutes and freaking out every time your phone vibrates?

You are a Writer.

Doing final edits on the last volume of your huge, New York Times Bestselling YA Dystopian Werewolf Romance Epic with a movie option starring Ariana Grande?  

You are a Writer.

So go forth and write, you beautiful goddamn Writer.