A Series is Born

After writing my previous blog entry "Prequels and Sequels: Are Series More Successful?" I took a great deal of time (about 5 months hehe) to think through and weigh out my options for creating a series out of my novel "The Mechanical Room."  I wanted to see if it were even possible to string together the ideas, plots, and stories from the other novels I had formulated, and it turned out to be very possible.

Having painstakingly gone over the story line of the potential series, I found myself writing the second book (sequel to "The Mechanical Room") in my head already.  My sister once asked me about my writing methods and I told her... "When I feel compelled to write, when it's not an option, but a need... when I HAVE to get whatever is in my head out... that's when I know I've got something," and such is the case with this new novel.  I am currently in the pre-writing stages, but I am excited to add to my world and give my character John Noah a bigger role to play, though he will not be the main character in the sequels.  That is my writing style... I tend to have more than one main character because I believe, in life, we all have a part to play and everyone has a story to tell... no one person can do anything alone, though the stubborn may try.

And so the Side Effects series by Nevada Wolf is born (No relation to the 1994-1996 Canadian hospital themed dramatic television series, which I've never seen or heard of before... thank goodness for Google). The first book is "The Mechanical Room," which will be followed by "Dis-Ease" (working title).

Tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiired!

Never try to write, or do anything for that matter, when you are on the verge of collapsing into your keyboard.  I have been working too much lately at my job and haven't had a chance to take a break.  I took some time off a while ago and I think I felt a bit guilty about that because I had just started (within my first 3 months) and already I was taking 5 days off.  So now I've been trying to go as long and as hard as I can ("that's what she said").  The problem is of course sleep deprivation.  I know some writers can function, but really how much quality can you possibly produce?  Doesn't the average human being need at least five hours of sleep?

We had an event Saturday and then another event yesterday (Tuesday) and I didn't get very much sleep either nights.  I come home, check some emails, get on the phone, read up on some articles (not in that order) and try to figure out what to wear for these events.  I never realized how important it was to own a suit until now.  I have been giving my co-workers fair warning that I may collapse at any time so keep an ear out for a thud of some kind.  Seriously, it's that bad... the kind of tired where you are nodding off every 5-10 seconds and when you turn corners you feel your body going a liiiitle too far in that direction.  When I get like this, my fingers don't move across the keyboard as fast or as smoothly, my words end up backwards and jumbled.  I am struggling to write this post.  I need to just sleep!  However, there's no rest to be had, at least not yet.  I still need to sit down and read my novel!!!

REJECTION!!!!

Every true writer experiences rejection of some kind or another.  I don't think the reality of writing would be as conscious for me if it were not for this part of the process, and we all go through it and you know I think if you take it in strides it can really make you a stronger writer.

So far I have received two rejection letters from two separate agencies.  Neither one of them provided any tips, pointers, advice, or anything really.  Just the generic, "thank you for submitting... we will not be accepting your work at this time... the decision making process it a difficult one... we thank you for submitting... etc. etc."

I would honestly prefer to have some constructive criticism and that way I walk away with something for my time.  Both agencies took longer than advertised to reply and longer than Writer's Market indicated in their books.  Patience, however, is a writer's greatest virtue I believe, and so I continued to wait.

Now, with rejection comes hope.  I am strangely excited that my work is being considered at all and has human eyeballs scanning the pages reading MY WORDS!!  Words by Nevada Wolf!  The other part is that I am aware of the luck factor involved in the submission process and perhaps I wasn't lucky this time around, but who knows.  I will submit to other agencies and one of them might happen to be going through something at the moment and my story may reach out to them and beckon them to invest in me as a new author.

The main thing I want you all to walk away with is never give up.  Keep writing.  Keep submitting.  Every writer that has a book on the shelf isn't necessarily the most "talented" and certainly not "perfect."  They just happen to give people what they want and need in that moment and in that time.  Some stories are timeless and touch every generation.  So let it come from your heart and no matter what... don't quit! I guarantee you your story will touch an audience and that audience will forever be YOUR audience.

Ladies and Gentlemen... John Noah

Character Profile: John Noah

Age: 30

Height: 5’7”

Weight: 140 lbs

Eye color: Brown

Hair color: Black / Dark Brown

Birth Date: September 17, 2079

Birth Place: Los Angeles, California

Scars/handicaps: Inflicted with Miller’s disease – a terminal illness with a 100% fatality rate. Has a birth mark on the lower back of his neck.

Education: Barely graduated from high school and eventually received his degree from a two year before getting his Bachelors degree.

Work: Works for a large non profit organization that strives to relieve suffering from natural disasters, sickness, and diseases around the world

Best friend(s): His niece Rain, his cat Jack. In “The Mechanical Room” world- Penn Wolfgang

Marital status: Widowed

Enemies: His boss Monica. In the other world- the dwarves, cat people, imps, gremlins, and shadow stalkers.

Parents: His mother Alana and his father Walter

Present problem: John is suffering from a terminal autoimmune illness known as Miller’s Disease. He has lost most of his family to this illness except his niece. He is forced to endure the agony of life without his loved ones until the illness finally claims his life, which is a day that John looks forward to.

Character traits: John is a man of his word. He means what he says and he says what he means. He can be very direct, which often puts a lot of people off. He used to try and be tactful before his affliction, but after losing the love of his life John no longer saw the point. He has a soft spot in his heart for women and children and animals. John tries to respect nature but often he finds himself unable to sit still long enough to absorb it fully. He can be impatient at times and often tries to find the best solution to a problem though it might not necessarily be the easiest solution. He can also be very stubborn at times.

Humor: He has a sarcastic and dry sense of humor and is not afraid to make a joke at his own expense.

Ambitions: John looks forward to dying so that he can reunite with Jannike (his wife that passed away), and at the same time he wishes to live so that he can see his niece grow older and wiser in the world and have a family of her own some day.

Philosophy: John doesn’t care what others think of him. He lives for himself and no one else. He doesn’t believe in wasting time worrying about what other people think when the only thoughts and opinions that matter are your own.

Favorite colors: Red and Black

Pastimes: John is a fan of chess. He also enjoys people watching and often just staring out into the world. He loves rainy days and playing with his cat Jack.

Dress: John is usually business casual. He doesn’t wear a tie. His sleeves are often rolled up. His shoes are a bit scuffed, but he somehow ties it all together and looks presentable. People often mistake his slouched/hunched posture for laziness or that he doesn’t care when, to him, he’s trying to conserve energy from having to sit up or stand up straight.

Hobbies: Chess, reading, sitting in silence, and watching old Hayao Miyazaki animated films.

Wonderful Prose

"It was early spring, and the night was cool but not chilly.  There was a fragrance in the air, washing down over the city from the high meadows in the mountain behind Riva and mingling with peat smoke and the salty tangy sea."
- David Eddings' Castle of Wizardy: Book Four of The Belgariad

Wonderful prose!  One of my favorite descriptive passages from Eddings' series and this book.  I know it is not unusual for a writer to be his or her own worst critic.  I happen to like a lot of what I write or otherwise I wouldn't write it... right?  Right, well of course there are times when I get frustrated and seem unable to find the right words to describe the scene I have in my mind and in my imagination.  Usually I will then take a short break, take some conscious breaths, and sit in my setting without the stress of trying to describe it to someone.

If you really think about it we do this as human beings everyday practically.  Take a look around your current setting/environment and what do you see?  An office?  An apartment?  A bedroom?  A park?  A cave?  Whatever it may be, we see it and sit in it but hardly take the time to appreciate it.  Can you describe your setting?  Can you describe your setting with your eyes closed?

I know a few friends and family members who are writing but find trouble with this.  For me it is particularly challenging because my worlds and settings are not real and in fact stretch the limits of ones imagination.  Making it real and believable is as simple to me as touching back on some of those memories of places I'd visited as a small child, when everything was new and mysterious, and conjuring up that feeling:

John and the others awakened to the callings of the forest creatures along with the rising of the sun.  The morning dew did not penetrate the home of Waya but instead gave a hint of moisture in the air.  Within the towering sequoia tree was a sweet smell of wood and sap that provided a feeling of peace and protection.  Gawonisgi advised them to set out early so that they made it to the Starlight Queendom in time to catch the officials.  He said that they were diurnal in nature like most magically endowed beings.
 -The Mechanical Room by Nevada Wolf 

This is one of my favorite pieces of prose from my book The Mechanical Room.  I conjured up old memories of waking up in my great grandmother's home (may she rest in peace) on the weekend with daylight breaking through.  When I combined this memory with the memories of being in what seemed like a forest in her backyard (when it was actually just a backyard) and sprinkled it with a bit of magic... that was how I got my scene, and to me it was perfect.

I may not know what peat smoke is, but I know what smoke is and I can use my imagination for the rest.  Many might not know what a sequoia tree is (especially those outside of California), but I bet they know what a tree is and the imagination does the rest.  I try not to get caught up too much on writing for others and instead I write for myself, and what sparks warmth in my heart may touch the hearts of others around the world if I am lucky.

Happy Holidays to everyone!

A Unique Voice

Most of my work tends to focus on a few central characters, however never neglecting the characters that also move the plot of the story along.  Given that I tend to have a number of characters, I try to make sure that each one has a unique voice.

Sometimes this can be tricky for me particularly when the characters are related (i.e. father and son, brothers, etc.).  One thing I try to remember is how many unique people I've come across in my life.  I've worked at a college counseling facility, lived on the east coast, west coast, and in the midwest, and I've been in the military.  I had to have come across some distinct characters in my travels. 

I try to dig back and reference some of these characters.  Another good tip that I read was to go to a park, or restaurant, or somewhere with people in general and just listen to the dialogue and conversations.  I'm kind of a hermit and so I hate leaving the apartment unless it's for food, family, or work.  I have, however, kept detailed journals throughout my life that also help me keep a record of the people and places I've encountered.

My main character, John Noah, was easily unique in his voice from the opening of the book, but I tried to keep it in balance with the changes occurring around him.  My favorite character to write, however, was the father of my supporting character Penn.  Elder Manaster... very wise, knowledgeable, brave but also very rude, short tempered, impatient and sometimes even a bit childish.  He was my way of getting away with some of the technical things in the book.  Whenever a character didn't understand something, Manaster would try his best to explain (as politely as he could), but then inevitably he would get frustrated and resort to belittling the person's intelligence... ha!  Almost like the character Sheldon from CBS's The Big Bang Theory.  Great show by the way!

What's the Difference Between a Query Letter and a Cover Letter?

Sheesh!  Trying to find this information proved to be challenging even for the almighty GOOGLE.  However, with our powers combined we formed, no, not Captain Planet, but a powerful team with the answer to this ever puzzling question.

Here's some information from a website that I think said it best:

What's the difference between a query letter and a cover letter? Author and instructor Alexis O'Neill uses an overhead projector to aptly demonstrate the difference. She pretends to shake her own hand casting a silhouette of a handshake. That's a cover letter. Meaning, "Hi, here's my manuscript." Then she traces a question mark. Meaning, "Hi, would you be interested...?" That's a query letter.

(http://www.scbwisocal.org/kitetales/query.htm)

So to put it simply, a cover letter is very short and concise and literally something you put over the rest of your submitted materials (e.g. query letter, synopsis, sample pages/chapter, etc.).  The cover letter should be in the format of a standard business letter.  This website has a few decent samples:

http://www.fictionforum.net/writers/articles/cover-letter-format-124.html

A query letter is a single page letter, single spaced, with spaces between the three main paragraphs.  The first paragraph should be your hook and generally contains a bit of narrative about your story to entice the reader.  The second paragraph usually runs a bit longer than the first and provides the main plot points of your work.  Some agencies want to know how the plot is resolved by the end of this paragraph so be sure to read each agency's specific guidelines and requirements.  The third paragraph can be a short blurb about yourself or your writing career/credentials, but whatever you write make sure that it ties in with what you're submitting.  For instance, don't talk about being a 40-year-old mother of two unless the book has something to do with that.

There's a lot of information out there.  Some people are confused about the difference and so the information might seem confusing.  One website described a cover letter with the exact specifics of a query letter, which prompted me to investigate further.  My advice is to research research research and then research some more until you feel confident enough with the information you've gathered.


Note:  There's also a difference between submitting materials to an agent versus submitting materials to a publisher so be sure to look for those specifics also.  Again, read the submission guidelines and criteria of the agency you are submitting to carefully and thoroughly.

 Best of luck to you all!

(Recommended reading:  Writer's Market 2010: Novel and Short Story Writers)

Pre-writing

One of my favorite pre-writing exercises to do is a character profile.  I like character profiles because it gives me a chance to get to know my character 100% and flesh him/her out so that they are as real and tangible as possible.

When I began writing The Mechanical Room, I knew I had three main characters definitely--John Noah (my protagonist), Penn Wolfgang, and Kade Strongarm (my antagonist).  I began writing the character profiles for each, detailing their likes/dislikes, age, birth marks, sense of humor, parents, spouse, etc. etc.

I did all of this before I started the novel.  Of course, once I started writing I realized I had more characters to delve into and eventually I wrote a few other character profiles.

Here are some of the basics that my character profiles cover:

Age
Height
Weight
Eye Color
Hair Color
Date of Birth
Birth Place
Scars/Handicap
Education
Work
Best Friend
Marital Status
Enemies
Parents
Present Problem
Character Traits
Humor
Ambitions
Philosophy
Favorite Colors
Pastimes
Dress
Hobbies

After I've answered all of these things about my character I usually feel quite satisfied with the layers of their personality.  Test it on yourself just for fun... fill out all of these sections about yourself to see how much it covers.


(Recommended reading:  Writing Fiction: A Guide To Narrative Craft by Janet Burroway)

How do you write terminally ill?

A few people have asked me, "how do you write," and then they'll either ask about the different races and cultures in the book or about my main character. In particular, some wonder how do you write the terminally ill if you aren't terminally ill yourself. Well, if you think about, we're all headed there... some of us a little slower than others, but in the end we all kick the same bucket.

I take what is, and I multiply it to get the sense of failing health and the depression that comes along with it. If writers know one thing it's depression, and man do I have lots of it! I'm broke and struggling every month just to make ends meet.  Normally I would sort of just sulk in this negative form of thinking, but thankfully I had my novel to pour it all out on.  I mean, it was a blessing in disguise.  I was able to tap into the emotions I felt and apply it to my character who had just lost the love of his life and didn't know how to go on, or is even certain if he wants to go on at all.

So yeah, my character has this great tone to him right from the beginning of the novel.  He's rude, inconsiderate, and just plain mean sometimes.  My friend Rachel would say, "sounds a lot like you," (haha) and occasionally she'd be right.  Then you see how hurt this guy, John, is and how much he loved life and felt so betrayed by it.  He really doesn't hate living.  He hates the unseen force that is life or rather death, but he doesn't distinguish between the two.

I mean if you've ever had the feeling that you just couldn't catch a break in life... bam!  That's John Noah... the poor guy.  You can't help but feel sorry for him. You want to help him.  You want to root for him, but at the same time you want to just watch and see what he does because he makes some interesting choices that makes you wonder, would I do the same?

Introducing The Mechanical Room

Welcome to my adventure!  I set out on this journey several years ago.  I was working for a non-profit in Santa Monica, California and while I was using the bathroom I saw a door to a room in front of me.  I looked up and on the door was a sign that read "The Mechanical Room," and I thought that's funny, who would put a room inside of a bathroom stall?  Then I began to wonder what was on the other side of that door, and my imagination took over.

This is the point where my mother would say, "oh boy, we know what a crazy imagination you have," and it's true I do have a crazy imagination.  I have always loved fantasy and science fiction.  I think it's partly due to my tendency to escape reality and what better place to escape to other than a fantastical one?

My imagination, sitting on the toilet and staring at that door, allowed a spark of creativity.  The spark gave birth to a novel that I am very proud of.  I wrote The Mechanical Room over a span of a couple years.  The bulk of it I wrote after being fired from my job... nothing better to do, why not write a novel!?  It was the perfect escape.

THE MECHANICAL ROOM combines elements of both science fiction and fantasy.  My main character, John Noah, is dying from a terminal illness that over half of the human population suffers from called Miller's Disease.  In the year 2109, the autoimmune illness Miller's Disease claims a 100% mortality rate. John, however, is resistant to it.  Doctors desperately try to convince him to volunteer for an experimental treatment, but John refuses.  He has recently lost his wife to the disease and couldn't care less whether he lives or dies.  As John's health deteriorates, his employers feel it is in his best interest to terminate his position.  On John's last day of work, he investigates strange noises coming from a room inside a bathroom stall.  Feeling his way through the dark room, he stumbles and falls through a gaping hole in the floor.  He wakes up in a fantastical world and soon realizes he is literally in for the fight of his life.


I know there are many of you out there who are going through trying times.  I encourage everyone to explore their creative side and turn something negative into something positive.  This is not just my journey, but a journey for all like me who dare to turn their dreams into a reality.


Here I hope to chronicle my writing process and my tireless efforts to get published.  My goal is to obtain a literary agent within the next six months.  I then plan to be published by the end of 2010.

So, let's get started!  Wish me luck!