Sharpen Your Point: A Climactic Discussion

For the writers, there are the Outliners and the Freewriters. One plots their novel out succinctly, before touching finger to key to write dialogue and exposition; while the other develops their story with starts and stops as they mull over characters and their motivations, slowly developing the story into something from the fabric of nothing.

Neither way is right or wrong, it is all a personal matter of style and comfort. The Outliners probably know their plot and character arcs, while the Freewriters may have to work through these issues over time; but neither approach is immune from story deviation or plot changes. The greatest outline in the world could be blown apart by a sudden inspiration that ratchets up the stakes of the story. Any professional story, that has staying power, must satisfy on some basic merits. One of them being the climax. A well told story that falls apart as everything tries to come together, will just leave a sour taste in the reader’s mouth.

A Thought on Beta Readers

Just had this thought, not entirely unique, but certainly relevant about: beta readers. 'Tis the month of NaNo, and writing is all abuzz on the brain...oh, and turkey and family as well—to be sure, and certainly not in that order.

We write, we revise, we polish and we send for beta—for those of us serious about the craft. But what is the beta about? Do they tell you how marketable your manuscript is, fix your typos, point out grammatical flaws and bizarre lines of thought? They do all of this and much more, but here's the most important part:

The beta reading process is about getting the writer to realize what they wrote versus what they imagined as they wrote.

Veil of a Warrior. Coming Soon? - An Argument to Self-Publish

I'm seriously considering self-publishing my novel Veil of a Warrior.

That's a big deal for me. As many already know—that are attached to the publishing industry—it was never viable, or even respected, to go the self-publish route. It was, and still is in some respects, called vanity publishing for a very good reason. It is just amazing how much has changed in the span of 1-2 years. Suddenly, what was not even remotely an option, is more than just an option, it is perhaps THE way to go...

No NaNo, I’m Busy.

No NaNo for me this year. Heck, I only just recently finished the 50k word goal from the novel started for last year’s competition.

Part of me is ashamed to admit that, but I won’t feel too bad. I didn’t give up and the developing novel is something I can be proud of. It’s incredibly rough, still in that first draft stage that can make eyes glaze over with the pain of the prose and the agony of the scene breaks, but there are moments of glory that make me smile.

In keeping with the spirit of things, I will do NaNo in my own way: I will finish the first draft of Felling Abberfaun this November.

The gauntlet is thrown.

I started the month at about 76k words and estimate the book will end up around 110-120k. As of this writing (11/7/11) I’m at 83,400 words. Decent, but I need to step it up a notch. The NaNoWriMo goal breaks down to1,667 words/day. I probably won’t manage that pace. I have a few scenes coming up that will take some careful plotting. But I am starting to feel like I can get this first draft done by month end.

The sooner the better.

Once that’s done I’m ready to finally return to my Hammerblood series and revise Veil of a Warior, for what should be enough (in my humble opinion) to submit it to agents and editors. Read an upcoming post for some exciting news on that book (at least to me).

Carpe that NaNo. Write on!

The Grueling Life of a Book Reviewer

As far as things go, I'm pretty new to reviewing books. I've long enjoyed them, always had personal critiques for my favorites and ranting laments for the disliked. But, yeah, I'm still a padawan trying to tread in the path of greater jedi.

Immersing myself further in the process has brought about some interesting events. I started down this path initially, because I wanted to start blogging; as a beginning writer, I was either going to focus on sharing my developing work or talk about the writing process.

Yes. Unsettling.

Let's be honest, after all, a learning writer sharing their work is rife with danger for anyone's good sense of fiction, and talking about the writing process seemed...well...ridiculous. (Yes, I still do it, but hey, it's not the focus...or at least it wasn't.)

I'd like to say I gave this all a lot of conscious thought, and through a well-formed plan took on book reviews as the main focus of my blog posts, but I didn't.

Whoops.

Perhaps I'll save face a little, by noting that I wanted to take the time to analyze books and see why they worked for me and why they didn't, to help further my own writing process and because talking about books is just a lot of good nerdy fun...or perhaps I've already lost you. *sigh*

Through my involvement with SF Signal, I like to think that I've started to reach that next level of book reviewing expertise, and recently had the pleasure of being sought out for a review by Daniel Polansky, for his debut book: Low Town. In my talks with him, I ended up getting a free book and the chance to see more of the publishing process.

I've gotten some free books before through SF Signal's Books Received, but this time it was all solo, just me, and that was pretty freakin' cool.

I was expecting a "galley" copy, of which, I can still only guess the actual appearance of, because Doubleday sent a first edition hardcover. (I'll try not to complain.)  Anyone not used to the process, this does not encourage you (me) to write a positive review, but it does encourage me to read the book. I see room for improvement in Polansky's debut, but it is a debut and for anyone that has read enough, you start to see that a first book always has room to improve. (Perhaps that sounds horrible, but there it is.)

I also got a chance to do my first book interview with Polansky, now on SF Signal.

I'm certainly eager to cram more book reviews in amongst the writing, the day job and the family life. A few more free books would be welcome too. Should I just post my address here?