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!

My first guitar!

Christmas came a little early this year for me.  It is my first guitar and so I am learning how to play it.  My fingers hurt!  Damn it!  No one mentions this when they talk about learning to play the guitar.  Does it skip their minds?  As I sit and type, I can't feel my index finger strike the plastic surface of these keys!  But it's okay... it's all part of the process right?

I believe that creativity truly comes from a place of awareness, and sometimes different creative arts can inspire others.

There are times when the mundane typical challenges of life can threaten your creative flow... arguing with your girlfriend/boyfriend or husband/wife (trust me, I know about this one all too well), your kids stress you out, family drama, work has you feeling more like a slave than an appreciated and valued team member, etc.  In these times I believe it helps to use a creative outlet to get you back into the mood to write, or in other words use one art to create a space for awareness, and in that space your creativity can blossom and grow.

I guess I better get back to practicing... I hope my fingers can hold out!

Chapter by Chapter Synopses

Some authors do them and some do not. In the 2010 Novel & Short Story Writer's Market Gregory Frost says the following in regards to outlining (making fantasy real):

"There are writers who stick to a form--who outline everything in detail and then stick to the outline right to the end.  There are writers who, like Raymond Carver, follow a sentence down a rabbit hole and don't know where it's taking them.  I fall somewhere in between.  I outline to ensure that I have a story, a structure, as a point of reference, and once I'm satisfied that's the case I abandon the outline and let the story run." 

I share a similar method.  I usually write a story synopsis and a chapter by chapter synopsis.  My story synopsis is usually just a brief, one page, summary of the book.  The chapter by chapter synopsis is sort of like my blueprint except I don't always follow it.  Like Gregory Frost, I create the outline of the chapters just as a guide to make sure I'm keeping on track, but then I generally just kind of let the story take me where it may along that path.

So this is a method I would recommend especially if there are a number of characters and perspectives or twists in the plot of the story.  Sometimes it just helps to have something to keep you on track, otherwise your story could end up heading in a direction that you definitely did not want it to go. 

Before writing The Mechanical Room I was working on a trilogy that was very complex and had many characters and twists in the plot of the story... I didn't outline for that one, and I got lost.  Now, I have to go back and map out things correctly before I can revisit it.  And that's okay... it's all a part of learning and growing as a writer right?  We each have particular things that we do that work for us, but may not work for others.  I share my experiences for that aspiring writer who is looking to know what may have helped others who have experienced something similar in their journey.

I hope this helps someone out there!

Dwarves

The Germanic / Norse mythical creatures have enticed and tickled my curiosity for a long time now.  When I decided to write my book, The Mechanical Room, I didn't want to focus on creatures that I felt were typically explored in fantasy and science fiction.  Instead, I wanted to focus on the little creatures that tend to be supporting characters to the taller races.  I also created a few creatures of my own based on the cells and tissues of the human body. 

Growing up, I was a big, huge, fan of the animated Nick Jr. series David The Gnome, in fact I purchased the entire series on VCD not too long ago.  It was only natural that I also included gnomes in my book.  The dwarves and gnomes are very similar to me.  In mythology the dwarves are known for their skills in metallurgy and the gnomes are often said to be tinkerers and adept with technology.

Dwarves typically live in mountains or underground and are separated into various clans.  My dwarves also live in mountains and are derived of two clans in particular.  The first clan being more akin to the physical features of the Germanic / Scandinavian people--pale skin, blond (or black) hair, etc (i.e. the above artwork by Ilia Ellion).  The second clan having features similar to Peter Jackson's depiction of Tolkien's Gimli--red hair, slightly tanned skin, etc.

My antagonist, Kade Strongarm, leader of the dwarves, wields an axe-hammer weapon named Blixt Mördare, which is Swedish for "Lightning Killer."  The weapon emits a surge of electricity along with a sonic pulse upon impact, which is where it derived its name.  Kade was an interesting character for me to explore.  He is the son of a tyrannical ruler, his father Berg Strongarm.  He despised the way his father ruled over their people, cold and callous, and decided to be a much more sympathetic ruler during his reign.  It is his undying compassion for his people that leads him to drastic measures to solve their problems including turning to the half dwarf / half spider demon Anakra'Qel.  She takes advantage of his compassion and manipulates him to do her bidding. 

I hope to be able to explore the dwarves again.  Kade Strongarm was easily one of my favorite characters to write, and bring to life.  

(SPECIAL THANKS to Ilia Ellion for allowing me to use your artwork of "The Dwarf" in this blog.  Thanks!  Love your work!)   

A pain in the arse!

Editing, revising, revisions... revising revisions... my least favorite part of writing a novel.  Writing the novel was not so bad.  I cranked out an average of five pages an hour, completing a chapter of 20 pages in a span of four hours.  I wrote maybe eight or sometimes twelve hours a day.  No big deal right?  Now that the manuscript is complete, I've come to find that the work has barely begun!

I don't have a decent workspace.  I write on my futon with a meal tray and the keyboard hanging off of the edge, which contorts my hands and causes me a great deal of discomfort.  I frequently have to take breaks because of this.

My cat, Sam, is spoiled rotten!  He's always trying to curl in my lap.  He will just stare at me with big green eyes until I give in to his demands.

Then, to top it all off, a writer can probably literally rewrite the same sentence over and over again and so it's difficult to not nitpick over the same things.

So, what I like to try and do is do a "once over," or a "quick and dirty" if you will.  I revise the entire novel first looking for grammar and punctuation mistakes.  Then, I go through a second round for style and content.  I have a hard time with this because I have a tendency to want to add MORE and my novel is already a little over 100,000 words, which may seem scary to an agent or publisher (yes I am aware of this).

I'm currently on the fourth chapter and things are going smoothly so far.  One thing I do that helps me a lot is that I keep a notepad open on my computer of all the changes that I plan to make.  I don't implement the changes right away because I want to get a broad scope of things before, just in case some of the changes cancel out others.

Well, back to work!

(Recommended reading: The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White)

Inspiration

Writer's block = Kryptonite to a writer.

Writer's red sun = Inspiration

How does one find inspiration when attempting to tangle the daunting task of writing a novel, short story, etc.?  There were many times during my writing process that I hit a wall and it caused all creativity within me to cease flowing.  Usually my own thoughts caused me stress which blocked my creative flow.

Some things that I typically would stress over were:

1. Names - when I can't think of a name for a character or place it causes me a great deal of stress because I believe that the name is crucial and significant to the character or setting.  In Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series, he named his villain "Darken Rahl."  The name "Darken" has the word "dark" in it which we tend to associate with negative things or bad feelings.  Would you get the same imagery of his antagonist if the character were named "Mary Poppins"?

2. Backstory - deciding how much or how little of a character's backstory to put into the story usually causes me a bit of stress.  Whenever I read, I tend to cringe during flashbacks or parts in the book that take the reader away from the contemporary action (unless it is done extremely well).  Needless to say, when it comes to my own writing, I try to find interesting ways and places in the story to give more history of a character or a setting.

3. The middle - you know that part of your story other than the beginning, climax, and denouement.  I typically know how the story will start, peak, and resolve before I begin writing.  However, the middle can sometimes serve as a speed bump, which is why I love chapter by chapter synopses, but I'll save that for another blog.

4. Premature criticism - occasionally some people have a tendency to want to critique your work when you've barely started.  I consider the creation process to be very delicate, like a newborn baby.  If it were up to me I'd lock myself in a room and not come out until I was done!

So, I'm sure different people have different things that tend to cause stress and block their creativity.  I named just a few things that definitely hit the mark for me.  Here are some things that help to inspire me:

1. Watching The Lord of the Rings - YES!  And no, not just the first movie, but the ENTIRE TRILOGY.  I even watch the special features... EXTENDED EDITION!  My favorite is The Fellowship of the Rings.  I also love watching the special features that talk about Tolkien and how he wasn't so confident in his writing sometimes, and that he even threw away the first draft of his manuscript!  Can you believe it!?

2. Light exercise - about 30 minutes or so usually helps to get my blood pumping or sometimes just a walk around the block.

3. List of names - a friend of mine once suggested a solution to my problem with coming up with names.  She suggested creating a list of names that I keep.  I often hear interesting names, or someone's name makes me think of an alternate funny or strange version, but I never used to write them down.  Now, whenever I come up with a name I just add it to the list.  So when I'm working on a story I simply refer to my list when I need names.  Thanks Viva!

4. Chocolates - self explanatory

5. Substitute this last one for whatever it is that brings you happiness (within reason of course)... for me it would be playing a video game, listening to relaxation music, or even joking around with family and friends.  I think the idea is to basically get up and not sulk or dwell on whatever it is that's causing you stressful thoughts.

Inspiration can often be found in the simplest places that sometimes we forget to look there because of the barriers we set up in our minds.  So I say tear down those walls and let the creativity flow!  Bust out your Rock Band, favorite book, box of chocolates, or whatever your muse may be and let it energize you.

(Recommended reading: Robert's Rules of Writing: 101 unconventional lessons)