The Next Big Thing

Colette Black Craft & Skills No Comments

I’ve been tagged by the wonderful Marsheila Rockwell to participate in “The Next Big Thing,” a writers chain letter designed to let fellow writers and readers know about the projects we’re working on. At the end of the post are links to more fabulous writers who will tell you next week what they have on their drawing boards.

So, for the questions:

What is the working title of your book?

I finished a rough draft on a novel I’m calling, “Fourteen,” during nanowrimo, plugging in the last 50K  over the course of the month. It’s in the editing process, and I’m very excited about the story and the characters. I think I’m in love with my protagonist, though he’s too young for me.  (Don’t tell my husband.)

Where did the idea for the book come from?

A very dark place. Much of the idea came from musings about how a person changes from a basically decent individual with high ideals into a crazed tyrant. What has to happen and how long would such a process take?  As those thoughts churned, I found myself increasingly intrigued with the very complex villain that formed and the events that would make it possible for a hero to destroy him.

What genre does this fall under?

I’m currently calling it a fantasy, though what kind of fantasy I have yet to determine. It has 1930’s technology, which makes it too far in the past to be considered contemporary, and the world has magic that meshes with the more modern aspects. Some have suggested steampunk, but it doesn’t go there either. I like that it’s a unique meshing of concepts, but finding a subgenre is a challenge yet to be addressed. As always in my works, there will be some romance, and lots of action.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie version?

Like Marcy, I don’t really think of my characters in these terms, but to play the male protagonist, Fourteen/Gabrick, I think Kim Jaejoong with strawberry-blond hair (at least for looks. I have no idea how well he acts or speaks English). Jodelle Ferland or someone with similar looks would do well for Mariessa, the female protagonist. For the villain, Beht Han, we’d need an older version of the protagonist, but I don’t have anyone in particular in mind.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of the book?

Fourteen believes becoming the next emperor will grant him unequalled divinity and knowledge, but the choosing is a death sentence from which no one has ever escaped.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

That is yet to be decided. I’ll show it to my agent, the wonderful Cherry Weiner, and then we’ll go from there.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

That’s a tough one. I left and came back to this story numerous times. Research was at least a solid month. The outlining phase was also a month or two, and the writing was probably three months, but that’s hard to say because I had other projects and some editing in there as well. I’d guess, start to finish, about five months, but it’s a guess.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

I think it might compare in some ways to Brandon Sanderson’s Mystborn series. It has a hero’s journey, which is common in many fantasy novels, except instead of starting from poor and difficult circumstances our main protagonist comes from an environment of wealth and a puffed-up sense of his own self-importance.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

The same ones who inspired me to write as a career are my motivators for putting any of my ideas into print, including this one-my family. It’s too long of a story to share here, but when my website is up and running, www.coletteblack.net, I’ll have the background of my late-in-life writing career on my About Me page. Look for it in the next couple of months.

What else about your book might pique the interest of readers?

Hot guys with years upon years of training in hand-to-hand combat, a buxom babe who’s good with a gun, and a girl with a temper, a lithe body, and an uncanny ability to throw knives. Add to that a world where only the elite own guns, motorcars, or have access to aeroplanes; the poor are relegated to solving conflicts with knives and swords, trying to survive a ruthless caste system; and every living thing leaves behind a stone of some power, whether it be a light in the night, an instant poison, or a prophecy that will change the world.

And now my taggees, in no particular order, whose own entrees (unless otherwise noted by them) will go up on or around 12/19:

1) I met S. James Nelson at WFC 2011 and discovered a great writer and good friend. Author of The Demigod Proving Grounds–a personal favorite, Keep Momma Dead, and winner of David Farland’s short story writing contest, placing his story in the anthology, “Nightingale Songs,” if you haven’t looked at his work, you should. Find him at www.sjamesnelson.com

2) A fellow superstars attendee, fun person to hang around with, and amazing fried-twinkie-eater (alas, we will see this no more), is Kim May. If you scroll down her blog a bit, you can see her testimonial from the Superstars Seminar we attended together. Go to www.ninjakeyboard.blogspot.com

 

Enjoy!

 

Making a Bad Thing Look Like a Good Thing: The Truth About Writer’s Block

The Writing Life 3 Comments

“Sorry I’m late, everyone. I had a really late night yesterday. I’ve had houseguests and then I had to drive them to the airport really late and didn’t get to bed until well past midnight. Then my alarm didn’t go off. I had it set to p.m. instead of a.m. Oh, and the traffic was just unbearable. From the moment I hit the turnpike, it was bumper to bumper. I had a minor fender bender just down the street; you can hardly see the damage, fortunately, but I had to stop for a few minutes and get the other driver’s insurance information. Did I mention I was starving by this point? I decided to stop for breakfast. The service was so slow; can you believe the waitress expected a tip for that? Anyway, when I got here, I couldn’t find a parking spot, for the life of me. So sorry, everyone, so sorry, but here I am.”

Does anyone else hate dealing with people like that? I’m not just talking about late people, though there are plenty of those. I mean people who don’t deliver on their promises, who say they’re going to do one thing but then do another… and then make excuses for it. Those people really get under my skin.

But I have a confession to make. I am one of those people. Let’s admit it. It’s just so much easier sometimes to make excuses than to pull up our sleeves and get the job done. This is an especially tricky lesson to learn if you happen to be self-employed, with no boss looking over your shoulder to make sure you finish what you’re supposed to. Self-employed people have to find their own motivation, which is usually a combination of money and passion for what they do.

Which finally, after a long prelude, takes me to the whole point of this little post. Writers are essentially self-employed people, with no one keeping an eye on us to make sure we’re keeping our fingers on the keyboard. Yes, we have support groups, and we’ve written a lot about that over the last few weeks, but the responsibility of getting words down on the page ultimately falls on only one person: you. And unlike self-employed types, as writers we can’t find our motivation in the eventual money we’re going to make, because the financial reward for our efforts is usually both small and too far into the future to realistically plan for. No, our motivation must come from passion.

Passion must trump excuses. Most importantly-hey, didn’t I promise to get to my point soon?-passion must trump writer’s block. Because writer’s block isn’t a real thing. Writers are the only people I know who use inactivity as a crutch in quite this way. I waited tables for many, many years… and I hated it with a bright, nuclear-like passion. But I showed up on time and worked every day until my shift was over.

So why is it that I don’t show up on time and work until my shift is over at the job that I actually claim to love more than anything else in the world? Now, that’s a puzzle. The answer is simple: because I don’t want to. Oh, I can invoke writer’s block, but that’s not very honest of me. Sure, I don’t quite know what’s going to happen next in my story. I don’t know how my main character is going to react to the latest world-shaking plot twist. Perhaps I’ve come to the end of my outline. Perhaps I’ve just discovered a perplexing plot hole and haven’t worked out how to fill it in without lampshading the problem…

Well, I could take two approaches. I could knuckle down and write anyway, even though it’s almost certainly going to be crap only to be expunged later. Or I could take a much-needed break, get some fresh air, grab some dinner, go for a walk, hit the gym, have a short nap, do some yardwork… see what I did there? I made a bad thing look like a good thing, and that’s what writer’s block is all about. By saying we suffer from writer’s block, we manage to make ourselves sound professional whilst really just being lazy and unproductive.

We really should cut that out, right?

Getting Stuck in the Big Swampy Middle

Ace Jordyn Character Craft & Skills Ideas & Plotting Rewriting Storyline The Writing Process Writing Tools 2 Comments

It was breathtaking and I couldn’t stop reading it!

That’s the experience every reader wants and those are the words every writer wishes to hear. The adage that if your character is sleeping, so is your reader is all too true. So if your novel is stuck in the big swampy middle, so will your reader be and he may not have the fortitude to move on. So, how does one gracefully dance across the swamp without getting stuck? There are many books written on the topic but here are three things I’ve learned:

 

1) you have permission to make things difficult for your protagonist.

When a fellow writer made me aware that it was my duty to make things difficult for my protagonist – that I was supposed to be mean – writing got a whole lot easier and the middle became so much more fun! Disasters, unexpected problems, the fatal character flaw, the goal he so desperately wants is within reach yet is maddeningly elusive, twists and turns, the mentor dies, red herrings  … the list of trouble goes on.

Through the middle, there will be many mini-problems which escalate into bigger ones and culminate into the BIG middle disaster. The BIG middle disaster is the lynch pin of a problem that propels the protagonist into the third act where he rises to the challenge in the smashing climax. This disaster can happen anywhere from the mid-point to the end of the middle.

Most importantly, the protagonist complicates the situation, makes it more complex, worsens it and raises the stakes. How can your protagonist worsen the situation? By having a fatal flaw that he must overcome in order to achieve his goal such as shyness, insecurity, impulsiveness, greed, play-by-the-rules, or risk taker. Sometimes the character may experience success but that can have unintended consequences such as: the antagonist’s reaction; there’s a worse problem he wasn’t aware of; or a secondary character has a bad reaction to the achievement.

2) plan your BIG middle disaster and work toward it

The plan doesn’t have to be overly detailed. Even if you’re a pantster, it helps to know where the BIG middle disaster will occur and what it will be. This will keep you from being derailed, from writing scenes that don’t support the story goals and the final conflict. There’s still lots of room for pantster creativity in getting to the BIG middle disaster and moving beyond to the climax.

As you’re working toward the BIG middle disaster, as you’re ramping up the tension by increasing emotional, physical and psychological conflict, as your characters reactions and actions are met with resounding consequences and reactions, keep in mind the story telling technique you’re using. For example, is this primarily an action oriented, plot driven story? Are you using a mini-arc, a smaller story within a larger one which although connected, serves to reveal information about the characters? Are you following a sub-plot? Is there a new character to add an unexpected dimension to the tale? It’s too easy to get derailed and fall into the swamp if you’re not clear about which technique you’re using.

And it can never be overstated: increase conflict to increase tension to keep readers wanting to know what’ll happen next. For every event, there is a reaction with resounding consequences and more reactions and actions. This will make writing the story exciting for you and a white-knuckle read.

3) focus on the prize

You’ve got your beginning with the story problem clear in your mind. Your protagonist has faced an opening disaster that commits him to solving the problem. You know the prize, the novel’s ending. Now, you must focus on that prize with your protagonist to get him to the ending. At this point, it doesn’t matter if he succeeds and this is a happy ending, or if he fails and this is an unhappy ending or if this is a bittersweet ending with mixed results. What matters is keeping an eye on the goal, working toward the climax by making sure all events -setbacks, triumphs, actions and reactions – somehow contribute to the end result.

Subplots, side trips that reveal character only count if that incident or revelation shows us something significant about the character in relation to the story goal. Saving a cat may be important if it shows a compassionate, compulsive need to act which gets him into trouble later on. For example, it’s a laudable trait to get the cat out of the tree because grandma’s upset and her blood pressure is rising. But, when escaping from the bad guys, he stops running across rooftops because he sees a half starved cat that’s too scared to jump and the six year old kid is on the ground crying. You can imagine how his compassion may get him into more trouble. The rule is that everything you reveal or use must contribute to your character working toward the prize.

The middle is really the fun part of writing the novel. It’s where you can explore your character, exploit his weaknesses and strengths, and keep ramping up the excitement. There are times when I stop writing and ask my character: What do you see? or Oh, oh, what are you going to do now? Your character will answer those questions for you and stay true to the story goal if you’ve done your homework in your character profile, and if you keep your focus on the prize.

 

For me, the middle is an incredible adventure where the protagonist and I journey through murder, mayhem and have the time of our lives!

What works for you?

Writing Software from the Technologically Impaired

Colette Black Software The Writing Life Writing Tools 2 Comments

Yes, from the technologically impaired, not for the technologically impaired, so I can’t help you with your computer problems. And, I’m not saying that whoever wrote the software was technologically impaired, only the person writing this post. So, if you’re like me, and don’t consider yourself particularly savvy with computers and software, why use a writing program? Because it will make you a better writer.

Here are my experiences with a couple of programs out there:

Snowflake:

This is a great organizational tool that takes you step by step through writing a well-developed novel. It’s also a great help as you try to figure out those synopses. It starts you with a brief paragraph description of your novel then has you expand the book summary into five plot-point paragraphs. That expansion continues until you end up at a page where you write out the key points for individual scenes. It also has a character page with a multitude of questions to help develop your characters’ personalities and quirks. I used the software for about eight months, and though I found it helpful, I felt like I was moving back and forth from one screen to another and it didn’t seem to make my writing much easier than having multiple files in Word. It’s a great outlining tool, so it would serve a lot of writers very well. You can check it out at : http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/info/snowflake_pro/

Scrivener:

I use a pc and had heard about scrivener from mac users for years. When scrivener came out with a pc version I had to try it. There’s a learning curve and I still haven’t figured out how to do maximize the program’s capabilities. But if you buy this, I highly suggest you take the time to go through the tutorial, probably more than once. This, and updated versions, will probably be my writing program for life. I don’t have to go into files or bounce back and forth between screens. My color-coded outline runs along the left side of my screen, including a section for research, characters, places, or anything else I might want. Along the right side of my screen I can choose to see notes related to specific files, including pictures and alternating notes pertaining to my whole novel, or just the chapter I’m working on. My writing screen itself can be split, so I can be writing in one screen, need information from one of my research files, and open up another screen right next to where I’m writing.  The only time I have to leave the program is when I go to the internet or books to do research, but when I find what I need, I can place files into my scrivener program and have them on hand for later use.  The only drawback so far is that the spell-check/auto-correct doesn’t seem to be as good as Word, and when I’m working without an internet connection I don’t have any type of dictionary or thesaurus. Since I rarely write under those circumstances, and when I do I just put in a triple-x and move on, I don’t find this a difficulty. I highly recommend this program. You can find it for Mac or pc at: https://www.literatureandlatte.com/

Dragon Naturally Speaking:

I like typing and haven’t used this yet, though I hear great things. I’d probably be a lot thinner if I took this hiking instead of sitting on my butt at a keyboard. If you can learn to tell a story this way, or if you prefer telling your stories rather than the slower process of typing, this might be the software for you. Since I don’t actually use it, I’m going to quote my friend, Dale Stinson, on its many uses and advantages:

“Seven years ago, I decided to write a science-fiction novel. One big problem, I never learned to type. When I tried to type something down, the thought evaporated as I was concentrating on the letters on the keyboard. The next day, I bought Dragon NaturallySpeaking version 4. Initial training of the software took over an hour. During the first eight hours of use, dictation accuracy increased from 85% to almost 95%. Two years later, I purchased DNS- 7 Preferred which came bundled with a digital voice recorder. Theoretically, you could dictate into the recorder, plug it into your computer and magically have your dictation transcribed. It was a huge disappointment, I was lucky if I achieved 75% accuracy. BUT, dictating directly to the computer was a vast improvement over version 4. Within the first day of use, I’d achieved 98% accuracy most of the time. Two years ago I upgraded to DNS-10 Preferred. It was literally a quantum leap forward in usability. I regularly achieve 99% + accuracy with a new software.
PROS: Editing has been made easier by having the software read what I’ve written in a computer voice while I follow the written words on the screen. When I hear the voice say something that doesn’t sound right, I can make a correction while it continues reading. It’s very easy to put down a tremendous number of words during a four-hour writing session, speaking stream of consciousness can do that.
CONS: The software never misspells a word, but it often misunderstands a word. For example: Names. There are many names that can be spelled different ways. Kathy and Cathy are an example. I’ve tried using the name I preferred, “Cathy” multiple times on the same page. Sometimes it would come up Cathy other times it would come up Kathy. After correcting by voice two or three times, it continued making the same mistake. The software also tries to guess what you’re trying to say, it’s often wrong.
In seven years, I’ve “written” close to 3 million words using Voice Recognition Technology. Without it, I would’ve never been able to start writing.” You can learn more about it here: http://www.nuance.com/dragon/index.htm

Editing Software:

There are also editing programs available. I’ve tried a few of these, but since I write science fiction and fantasy, usually using a lot of made-up words, I find most of these more tedious than helpful. I’ve heard great things though. If you’re interested, here are a couple off the top of the search engine. Some I’ve tried, others I haven’t:

http://www.autocrit.com/

http://fictionfixer.com/

I’d love to hear your experiences with writing or editing software. What works, what doesn’t, and why?