Nothing is ever new…

…just endlessly rediscovered!!!

~~~

With the simple fact that these days your book will have an upward struggle to be seen on Amazon, considering there are slightly over 38 million other books there already, each one vying for your attention. Does the product of all your hard work stand a chance? One thing is blindingly obvious. It must be an attention grabber, and I’m not talking about the cover!!!

There was a time when I used to write several thousand words per day. In fact I subscribed to the idea that unless I wrote at least five thousand words a day, I wasn’t really writing, merely dawdling. Oh how wrong I was! These days I barely write two hundred words in one day.

Why?

Simple – I spend the rest of the day and the one after, even the one after that, endlessly checking each word, often substituting a far better one. I lengthen or shorten sentences, move them around in the paragraph before me. All of this until I’m satisfied that the end product flows. Or to put it another way – unlike many of my fellow writers I prefer painting a picture with as few words as is necessary…

Ask yourselves how many books have you started to read then discarded because they grind to a halt on nearly every page. Usually because the author in question favours endless detail over getting on with the story???

I recall watching this fifty-eight minute episode of Fry’s Planet Word back in 2012 (don’t ignore the red highlighted link I’ve given you. CLICK ON IT!!!) on the subject of James Joyce and the written word. Steven Fry was discussing Joyce’s way of working with an enthusiastic aficionado in Dublin.

Imagine my total surprise when it was revealed that Joyce approached each work in progress in exactly the same way as myself. Some days he would write a chapter, some days a paragraph. But more often than not he would only write a sentence, spending hours poring over it to make sure that each word was the best possible choice to use, and that it was in just the right place within the sentence.

Don’t get me wrong now, I’m not claiming by any stretch of the imagination to be the 21^st century version of writers like James Joyce, or George Orwell, or even my literary hero J.R.R Tolkien, who all used this method. But when I learn from programmes like Steven Fry’s that I have unwittingly adopted and employed the same writing techniques, all of a sudden I don’t feel alone anymore. More to the point I no longer think, or believe, that high daily word counts are the be all and end all. Neither should you…

Finally; remember what I said at the conclusion of the first paragraph – Your book must be an attention grabber, I’m not talking about the cover. 

Which by the way if you’ve spent money on both content and cover, chances are you will never get your money back, if you’ve written something that doesn’t appeal to the mass market, people will not bother to read.

You must get the reader hooked within the first two pages!!!

😉

You know your hooked…

…when writing becomes a vocation and not just an enjoyable hobby!

~~~

While I admire anyone who loves to express themselves through their writing, there comes a time when we all have to choose between continuing with what to us is an enjoyable hobby, and taking it up as a full time vocation. Please note that I did say vocation and not occupation. There is a marked difference…

It takes an awful amount of guts and determination on your part to take that giant leap into the uncertain world of literature, often for little monetary gain let alone plaudits for your work from the reading public and your peers. Apart from anything else you can expect to endure a lot of heartache, angst and sleepless nights as I can personally vouch for from my own experience gleaned over the past twenty-four years as a relatively successful published Indie author.

Now where was I? Oh yes – I was about to say that I rarely if ever get a good night’s sleep when writing a new book, at least until the first draft is finished. Nagging thoughts about something in the story literally wake me every night anywhere from midnight to four or five am. The downside of getting up so early is that I’m lucky if I’m still awake after six-thirty pm. So relaxing in front of the television in the evening (in other words – vegging out) doesn’t happen these days.

While the enthusiastic amateur loves the idea of writing thousands of words while engaging in a completely pointless writing phenomena like Nanowrimo believing it makes them a bonifide writer, it doesn’t! Some hard working writers I know in the traditional publishing world must set themselves a daily word count in the multiples of thousands, due to the demands of their agents and publishers. However as an Indie, meaning I’m responsible for every step in publishing a book myself, I do not follow suit. Nor would I want to ever again!!! In my case I don’t see the point in churning out thousands of words each day, which in all probability will end up being edited out as totally nonsensicle by your’s truly, before I hand my MS over to a trusted few fellow published authors for further scrutiny.

Instead I tend to write between two to five hundred words, (the latter being roughly the length of this blog post) knowing full well that when I do go back over them, that in all likelyhood three quarters will either get deleted or be re-written so many times that in the end they bear little or no resemblance to the first attempt, before I feel I can move on to the next part of the story. Even when writing posts like this one, I spend more time re-writing than anything else.

Writing full time requires total dedication and a will of iron on your part. One last thing for you to remember – what works for me won’t necessarily work for you. But at least now you know how this writer works…

🙂

What it takes to write a book

I’m taking one of my frequent breaks while writing my latest story to reveal how I go about doing it. I’ve spent the last twenty-five years honing the particular method that works for me.

First I write a paragraph. Then I take a cold hard look at the words I’ve written, in particular their order as I’m doing right now while writing this post. It is at this point that I begin to edit the words written, not only for ease of reading, but also from the point of view of spacing, capitalization when required, spelling, grammar and punctuation. While at the same time asking myself what other words can I use that mean the exact same thing, but still clearly convey my meaning to the reader, bearing in mind that there is alway more than one way to say something.

There is only one method when it comes to writing to be avoided at all costs. Sitting in front of your exercise book, typewriter or computer kidding yourself that by churning out thousands of words per day, that somehow by osmosis, doing so makes you a writer. It doesn’t! For the serious independent writer like myself, this line of thinking is a complete fallacy!

In the end all you have achieved is a big mess for someone else to fix, when you should have cleaned the manuscript up yourself before presenting it to your editor, if you use one!

All you have to do is think back to those bad marks you got in class for handing in sloppy work when you presented your essay or composition to your teacher? In this instance imagine that your editor is that teacher, wearing his or her ‘we are not amused’ expression on his or her face, at the prospect of having to make sense of your rambling manuscript…

We all see prime examples on a daily basis right here in the Blogosphere. If you can’t write an error free blog post, what makes you think you can write an error free book manuscript?

NaNoWriMo and other get it down quick notions have a lot to answer for! I’m pretty sure the concept was dreamt up by someone with an obsessive-compulsive disorder. 😉

Once you are finally happy with the paragraph, move on to the next and repeat each step I have mentioned. If your word count reaches somewhere between two hundred and fifty and five hundred words using this method, take it from me you have done a good day’s work.

Why do I limit the number of words I write each day? Simple – a little thing I call brain-fade! Ask yourself how long you can work at 100% capacity before you lose your concentration. This is precisely the reason why I constantly stop what I’m doing to take a breather. What you have to learn is to walk away from it! Go and make yourself a drink or get something to eat. In other words distract yourself. You can always return to it later. I normally work for no more than two hours at a stretch each and every day until I’ve reached the last word in the manuscript.

Each morning when I switch this laptop on, I open the saved file I’m using and once again begin the editing process by reading through what I’ve previously written. Often I see something that needs to be changed. Once I have corrected any mistakes during the daily read through, I can then begin to write the next paragraph.

See, its simple if you know how. My method of constant editing is not for everyone, but it works for me. Remember what I said earlier – a high daily word count is not a good thing unless you have no choice ie, you are a contracted writer for one of the big five publishing houses, where time is money and badly written manuscripts are the norm…

There is one last point for you to consider, turn off the in house spelling or grammar checkers within any writing software package you use. There is no substitute for having a dictionary like the Oxford English and its thesaurus close at hand. Learn to rely on the mark one eyeball like every writer worth their salt does.

PS – right that’s it, lesson over…

😉

When writing love scenes, its always better to suggest than to describe…

Ok, so does this stunningly beautiful young woman meet with your approval? She does? Good, now that I have your complete and undivided attention, lets get on with what I want to talk about today.

In other words, how I go about writing the many intimate moments between the principal characters in my current work in progress, the drop dead gorgeous artificial intelligence Céleste, (In case you hadn’t noticed, that’s her in my blog’s header above this post) and the human she loves, David O’Leary.

Let’s face it, when it comes to a lot of the books on offer under the heading of romance, what you get these days is porn. If only the authors concerned had taken the time and trouble to think things through first, instead of being in such a blinding hurry to get themselves noticed. There really is no need to resort to spelling out every little detail in such an explicit manner as some writers tend to do, when describing what’s going on…

Suggestion is always the key to writing any and all scenes of a sexual nature, never full on description.

In the first draft of any such scene, I start by spelling it out, leaving absolutely nothing whatsoever to the imagination, merely to get the scene firmly fixed in my mind. Then by taking the sentences one at a time as I go back over what I initially wrote, by carefully choosing my words I rewrite each one until they still say what I originally intended, but purely by suggestion or allusion. That way I leave it entirely up to the fertile imagination of the reader to fill in the blanks for themselves.

In other words, unless you have been living in a cave, cut off from the rest of humanity for your entire life, you will know exactly what is happening in the particular scene without my having to spell it out for you.

The art of suggestion is not a difficult technique to master, providing you are prepared to think about how you want the scene to finally end up looking on the page. In other words, take your time to ensure that the reader will totally ‘get’ what you are saying without being embarrassed or disgusted by what they have just read.

Not too many years ago, the way I’m currently writing the love scenes between Céleste and David would definitely have enraged some narrow minded individuals, while the romance lovers back then would simply enjoy them for what they are.

Well I’d better get on with the next scene in the chapter I’m currently writing, now that I’ve finally cooled down after completing their latest steamy moment together. Hopefully by now Céleste and David will also have done the same thing – cool down I mean. But knowing the pair of them as I do, I’m betting they haven’t… 🙂

That’s it for now folks. More later if your good,

Jack

😀

When writing becomes a vocation and not merely a hobby

While I admire anyone who loves to express themselves through their writing, there comes a time when you have to choose between continuing with what to you is an enjoyable hobby, and taking it up as a full time vocation. Please note that I did say vocation and not occupation. There is a marked difference…

It takes an awful amount of guts and determination on your part to take that giant leap into the uncertain world of literature, often for little monetary gain let alone plaudits for your work from the reading public and your peers. Apart from anything else you can expect to endure a lot of heartache, angst and sleepless nights as I can personally vouch for from my own experience gleaned over the past two and a half decades as a relatively successful published Indie author.

Right now, if you have actually been reading my posts and not merely clicking ‘like’, you will know I’m a fan of romance not necessarily between a man and a woman in some of my books. Forgive me I digress, but the ‘clickers’ of this world do tend to annoy me especially when they don’t actually bother to read the post they have just ‘liked’. I know of what I speak. The viewing stats don’t lie!.

Now where was I, oh yes – I was about to say that rarely if ever do I get a good night’s sleep when writing a new book, at least until the first draft is finished. Nagging thoughts about something in the story literally wake me every night anywhere from midnight to four or five am. The downside of getting up so early is that I’m lucky if I’m still awake after six-thirty pm. So relaxing in front of the television in the evening is out.

While the amateur loves the idea of writing thousands of words while engaging in a writing phenomena like Nanowrimo, or indeed some hard working writers I know in the traditional publishing world who must set themselves a daily word count in the multiples of thousands, due to the demands of their agents and publishers, I do not follow suit. In my case I don’t see the point in churning out thousands of words each day, which in all probability will end up being edited out as totally nonsensicle by your’s truly.

Instead I tend to write between two to five hundred words, (the latter being roughly the length of this blog post) knowing full well that when I do go back over them, that in all likelyhood three quarters will either get deleted or be re-written so many times that in the end they bear little resemblance to the first attempt, before I’m satisfied enough to move on to the next part of the story. Even when writing posts like this one, I spend more time re-writing than anything else (thirty-two times so far).  😉

So, if you are thinking about making your hobby your vocation, take it from me it requires total dedication and a will of iron on your part. One last thing for you to remember – what works for me won’t necessarily work for you.

For now that’s it folks.

More later,

Jack

😀

Come On, Own Up, How Many?

Here is a question for all my fellow writers, both published like myself, and those who just love to write for the sheer joy of doing so. How many hours do you spend writing each day and how many words is usually involved?

Ever since I changed the way I write from how I used to in the past, when I would spend hours to achieve a daily word count in the thousands, I now stick rigidly to a short but extremely intense daily session. I find this is the method that works best for me. If you are wondering how long, these days I limit myself to adding no more than one to two hundred words per day. In my case I start writing at five in the morning, finishing promptly at eight am. I find that to continue beyond that three hour working window of 100% concentration, means that silly errors will inevitably begin to creep in due to my state of total mental exhaustion by the end of each session.

The rest of the day is taken up with a lot of thought about where the story wants me to go next, not the other way round, while I carry on with my normal daily activities. You must remember that a story is a living thing…

Years ago when I was still in the workforce I used to spend two to three hours writing each night from Monday until Friday. Then on the weekends I would write for twelve hours on both days. On public holidays the number of hours sometimes stretched from twelve to eighteen. While to the unitiated, endlessly pouring out words might seem to be the only way to write a story, trust me when I tell you it isn’t! In fact its often the worst possible way of going about it. If you don’t believe me, just look at the hundreds of thousands of poorly written books out there by writers who convinced themselves that high daily word counts is the only way to go. A daily three hour session is by far the best way from my point of view.

I would love to hear how you go about it, but I know you lot of old. Most of you are too damned shy! Don’t just leave it up to the normal three or four regulars to comment. There is absolutely no excuse for you not joining in. You never know, you might even gain some useful ideas and tips on the subject from one another. So leave your thoughts for others to read as comments below this post.

😉

At long last, another milestone has been reached

The significance of the burning eyes on the cover will only become apparent once you read the novella

***

I’ve finally reached another important milestone during the writing of my latest science fiction work in progress – The Guardian. It seems to have taken me simply forever to reach this point. But at long last I have finally passed the magic twenty-thousand word barrier after endless rewrites, the way I far prefer to go about writing these days, over any other method you care to name. Why? Because it is how I ensure that no inexplicable turns in the storyline have occurred. Or maybe something was glossed over, (the latter thanks to Bob Van Laerhoven, who kindly pointing out a couple of missing pieces of information to me the other day, after I had asked him to read through what I have written so far) as well as eliminating any punctuation and spellign errors. Damn! There’s one for a start.  😉

Now for the last few thousand words, which like the rest of the story, I’ll constantly be rewriting as I go. Not for the first time has the story dictated where it wants to go next. This time I need to split the characters up into two man teams, which means that the enigmatic guardian would appear to have a tactical advantage over them as it is thoroughly familiar with it’s own home territory, meaning that it instinctively knows every nook and cranny, hiding place and ambush point, unlike my characters. Although I have to say in their defence that they are learning. Maybe it will be triumphant. Maybe they will. Either way I’m really going to need to be on top of my game as I now intend writing the rest of the story from each team’s particular point of view, while at the same time continuing to write it from an overall perspective. A literary challenge definitely not for the faint hearted, if there ever was one. Meanwhile I’ll continue on in the same vein until this particular novella is as error free and near word perfect as I can possibly make it for all of you.

More later

😉

To be avoided like the plague!

It would be fair to say that some new writers fall into one or two of the inevitable hidden traps lurking within the world of words from time to time. Here are just a few examples.

***

Let’s start by talking about one aspect of your book’s characters. Never ever reveal everything there is to know about them in one go. Think about it for a moment. Isn’t it far better to gradually find out tidbits of information about your friends, family members and work colleagues? Of course it is. The same applies to your characters. So why tell your readers everything you feel they need to know about them within the first few paragraphs?

Next we come to one of my pet hates – stating the obvious. Just because most of us at some point or other have done it in real life, doesn’t make it acceptable. You don’t have to look too far for classic examples of this particular trap. How many films, television programs and computer games do exactly that? Far too many, that’s how many.

Want an example?

How about when someone knocks on the door in a particular scene in a film or television drama? Why do the writers of the offending piece feel the need for one of the characters to vocalise, when it is blindingly obvious to you the viewer? You’ve got ears. So chances are you heard it, as did the characters!

When it comes to writing something of this nature, remember that if you need to tell your readers that someone knocked on the door at a given moment, either say so when you are writing the scene, or have one of your characters vocalise it – never do both! What makes you think that it is perfectly acceptable when telling a fictional story? It isn’t.

Before you start, don’t give me any of that art imitating life baloney. Just don’t do it, alright – grrr!

Next we come to writers who rely on the ‘third person’ where each and every character is referred to by the narrator as he, she, it, or they, to tell an entire tale. It’s fine if it is used in its proper context such as an item of news or as a voice over in any television documentary.

And now for the dreaded hero cliche. In certain films the hero or heroine is usually portrayed as some kind of superhuman, who follows a strict moral code. When it comes to writing, never portray your chief protagonist or protagonists in a perfect light. Instead, make him, her or them totally believable. While they may not be real, your readers need to think they are within the context of the story. To that end give them human faults, frailties and habits, both good and bad.

Just remember that most real hero’s are normal individuals just like you and I, with one major difference. In a given set of circumstances, they did something completely out of character to save the day.

Lastly, because you blindly accept without question what the various characters say and do in any film, play or television drama, it doesn’t follow that your readers will when they deign to read your book(s), if your characters aren’t believable.

If you want my advice, such as it is, think long and hard about each situation before you write that book. I’ve briefly touched on a few of the problems that still catch new writers out. There are many more traps for the unwary.

Here endeth the lesson, at least for now…

😉

A Few Further Thoughts

I’m still engaged in working out chapter two of my new science fiction novel The Guardian. Because I need some more serious thinking time to solve a particular problem, specifically how I go about introducing more characters, how many, and the gender ratio, I thought I might say something about a few things that tend to happen when we write, and some which get overused, not just by newbie writers I might add. A lot of what I’m about to say, I’ve said in previous posts. For my long time followers, please bear with me. This is mainly for any and all newcomers to my blog with dreams of one day becoming a published writer.

***

Some of the novels and novellas by first time writer’s I have read recently, seem to rely solely on descriptive prose, while others believe that narrative and nothing else is all you need to tell the story. Neither of these techniques should ever be used on their own. Then there are a few who commit the sin of being verbose. To them I simply say, why use fifty words when ten or twenty will get across what you want to say?

But what I really want to get across to you is why descriptive prose should be used only when appropriate, and preferably not relied upon as a few writers tend to do – Bernard Cornwell’s Stonehenge 2000BC springs to mind as a book doubly cursed. It is mainly descriptive prose as well as being longwinded, i.e verbose. What was he thinking when he wrote it I wonder? Was it an experiment? Perhaps it was…

I saw this excellent quote on a writer’s Q&A site recently – “Descriptive prose is simply writing that describes or gives a picture of a scene.” To give you an example, here is a short extract of mainly descriptive prose from my current WIP. To set the scene for you, remember that the story is set in the twenty-second century. Things are hotting up between my two main characters. Lynne loves wearing what she thinks of as vintage clothing from the twenty-first century. In this brief scene she has deliberately dressed in a specific way to get the attention of my male lead Adler while they are back on Earth. Up until now he has only ever seen her in her baggy flight suit, appearing indifferent towards her. Consequently she is determined to change his mind.

“Hi boss. God you are a hard man to track down.” Adler looked up to see Lynne standing before him. For a few seconds his eyes devoured the vision before him. Her makeup was perfect. The top half of her body was barely concealed inside a flesh coloured translucent Dolce and Gabbana tank top that clung to her breasts, leaving nothing to the imagination. As she slowly spun around for effect, the thought occurred to him that her perfectly formed rear was not so much covered by the Teal blue silk Artigiano miniskirt she wore, as lovingly caressed by it. Her legs were clad in a pair of Filodoro fishnet stockings. On her feet she wore an expensive pair of Marino Fabiani bright red stilettos. To complete the ensemble, she had an expensive Gucci bag slung over one shoulder. “Buy a girl a drink soldier?” she demanded rather than asked, giving him a smouldering look while deliberately sitting down directly opposite him to reveal the briefest hint of cream coloured silk underwear barely large enough to cover what now lay tantalisingly hidden from view when she crossed her legs. Yet again she was playing him. His wide eyed reaction told her she now had his complete attention.

What can I say, Lynne is sexually attracted to him. While there will inevitably be some prudish individuals who consider the above as bordering on the indecent, most will accept it as part of the story and move on.

Another point for you new writers to consider, even some of the old hands need to as well, is never state the obvious. What do I mean by this? Think about how many times while watching a film or maybe a play on television, that at some stage in the film one or more of the characters has said something like “we’re taking fire” when it is plainly obvious to you while watching it from the sight and sounds of ricocheting projectiles, part of the noise of any battle. Another absolute classic example is when a character states the obvious – “someone turned off the lights!” when the lights go out. Duh, really? Even screenplay writers don’t always get it right.

Of course when you are writing a book, unless you make a point of telling your readers what is happening by stating something maybe a little like the two above examples, how else would they know what has just happened. What I’m saying is think before you write!

Any story is always a delicate balance of many writing techniques. Each has its place. None should ever be solely relied upon. There are three or four other points for you to consider. Some of today’s writers see nothing wrong in the endless use of expletives. Don’t do it! Nor should you be explicit when it comes to sex scenes. By all means allude to whats going on, just don’t spell it out.  

Another thing is try to avoid using words in common use in your local vernacular. In the US, the made up word ‘gotten’ gets used on a daily basis. If your intention is for your book to only be sold in your country, then usually there will be no problem using such words. However, if you want your book to appeal to the rest of the world stick to English English and English spelling. In short if it doesn’t appear in the English version of the Oxford English Dictionary, avoid using it like the plague.

Lastly, avoid using the same old words all the time. By all means use them when writing the first draft of your WIP. But when it comes to editing it, make full use of a Thesaurus in conjunction with the synonym function common to all writing platforms. After all, that’s why they exist.

Now it’s back to thinking time for me, while I consume a Pomegranate for breakfast which I bought yesterday as a special treat. At my age, I deserve the odd pleasure from time to time. It’s a fruit I haven’t tasted since I was a child. Can’t wait…

PS – As for whether or not Lynne gets her man? Wait and see.

😀 😀 😀

Progress Report 13

It might be here

Well folks, yet another progress report for you. I’ve been up since 4.30 am just to finish the revamped Chapter Eight, having axed the original after merging the two preceeding chapters into one, which gave me the opportunity to steer that part of the story in a more logical direction. The word count now stands at 21,858 and almost forty-two A4 pages.

I changed my mind, yet again, about the cover. I’m betting that despite what he said to me yesterday, the Story Reading Ape is quietly cursing me about it. Still, because of the troublesome new OS software on his Mac, at least he hadn’t got as far as beginning to work on what I had originally asked of him, or so he says.

Believe it or not, but I’ve been having fun developing Briggs’ love affair. Normally I steer well clear of the depths I have entered into with the subject, preferring to simply suggest any romantic involvements, leaving it up to the reader’s imagination to fill in the gaps. But, as this highly controversial love affair is an integral part of the plot it needs to be spelt out, but only by writing it as tastefully as is humanly possible.

Since doing the major edit of the first seven chapters, I became aware of something I’d normally not pick up on until the final edit – inconsistency. For instance, you can’t have a character enter stage left in one paragraph, only to say later in another that he entered stage right when reminding the reader about his entrance, now can you.

Well that’s about it for now, except that I’ve a feeling that it will end up as a novella by the way its going.

PS – still confused by the pictures I put up for each progress report? Good, that’s precisely my aim, to get you curious enough to want to buy yourselves a copy when I publish it. They may be relevent to the story, or they may just be nothing more than red herrings. You’ll have to wait and see won’t you.

I’m exhausted, so I’m taking tomorrow (Sunday) off. Chapter nine will begin on Monday morning.

More later.

😀 😀