Aspiring Writer Interview: Leigh Covington

This week's interview is brought to you by Me. And Leigh Covington from right here in Utah. I was pointed toward Leigh's blog by Melanie Fowler (another Aspiring Writer interviewee, click that there link) and I decided to ask her for an interview. She got back to me right away, which I very much appreciated, so thanks for that Leigh! It's referrals like this that help me keep up this feature, so keep them coming!

Leigh Covington

First, some of the boring/invasive questions. How old are you?
*sigh* Can I lie?

Yes.

20’s would be awesome! But alas. I am in my low 30’s.

Are you married? Have any kids you'd like to brag about?
Yep! I am a city girl who married a farmer! He loves being in the middle of nowhere and would be perfectly content there as long as he lives. I, on the other hand, prefer civilization, although I do love to visit remote areas too. I have 3 kids. A boy, Kai (8), girl, Haydyn (5), and girl, Paisley (2). My entire life revolves around them. They are so much fun, but at the same time --- I love bedtime!

Where abouts do you live?
I live in West Point, Utah. It is west of Clearfield of Layton (depending on which you have heard of.) And very near the entrance to Antelope Island, which is fun.

How far back did you start writing?
Oh heavens! I have really been writing my whole life. I get a lot of requests for poems for people or skits for church groups. It is fun. But I was always afraid to go for something more – like being published. However – last August, I finally took the plunge and jumped into the blogging world (for writers) and I am working more fervently on some of my MS’s.

What are you working on right now?
I have put some of my picture books on the back burner for the time so that I can work on my YA fantasy, STAIN. It has been an adventure, and thanks to some fabulous crit partners, as well as blogging buddies – I have learned so much & it is constantly improving.

How long have you been working on it?
Hmmm – is it weird that I don’t know? I think since about September or October. I didn’t make get as much done as I wanted, with my school schedule, but I plan to have the first draft finished by March 31st.

Tell us a little about Stain.
Skye, and her best friend, Logan escape from an Island where they were used as slaves for their country. The King executes them at the age of 17 in order to prevent an army from rising against him. Skye and Logan happen upon The Guardians, where they are told more about why they were enslaved on the Island, along with the other children of Selaesia. From there they must journey to the Oracle to find out if either is the one that will be able to lead The Guardians in a war against the King in order to save the children of Selaesia. What they didn’t realize is that the king can use the stains that mark their arms against them, and he does whatever he can to stop them.

Where do you see yourself going with Stain?
I hope to find an agent and publisher, although I don’t have anything against going Indie. Mostly, I think that through an agent and publisher I can learn a lot and I won’t have to fully rely on ME!

Have you sent out any queries?
If this book ends up being everything I hope it will be then I will start querying this fall. *crosses fingers.*

What is your favorite book or author? Why?
Right now I am on a Brandon Mull kick! I love his MG series, FABLEHAVEN, and I am also enjoying the BEYONDERS series that has just started.

What has been the hardest part about writing Stain? About writing in general?
#1 hardest thing for me – is TIME! When I get the kids to bed, I want to curl up in bed and WORK! However, my husband thinks that his time to watch TV. We try to trade off, but I think I’m going to have to come up with a new plan. #2 thing that I am working on is using “active” voice. That can be tricky, but once again – I have awesome crit partners to help me out.

What has been the best or most rewarding aspect of writing?
Learning, growing and meeting awesome writers in the blogosphere. Honestly – the friendships and support are phenomenal!

Do you have any "technical" suggestions for new writers?
I think writers should attend as many workshops or conferences as possible. You learn so much and meet great people. Also – look into WriteOnCon. I wasn’t sure what to expect from that last year, but it was wonderful and I look forward to it this year. AND… do blog hops! Especially if they are writing related. It’s great to practice and get feedback!

Do you have any sage advice for new writers?
I think it’s important to “NEVER GIVE UP!” Honestly – there are pumps and valleys along the road to publication, so don’t give up. I also think it’s important to keep an open mind and use feedback. I know that I don’t see my book as others will, so I need to take their advice into consideration. It doesn’t mean I need to use it, but I should be open about my writing and not consider myself perfect. (Don’t tell my husband… as far as he knows… I am always right and always perfect.)

Have you published anything?
I did submit my 2 short stories from the Campaign Challengers on Rachel Harrie’s blog. It has been a fun experience to see a few of my things available to the public.

How about some links to any blogs, websites, or other online media you run?
http://leigh-covington.blogspot.com

http://twitter.com/leighcovington

http://facebook.com/leigh.covington

Thanks  for helping me out and giving our readers something to distract themselves from at work! Keep at it, and one day we'll all be published and share snooty drinks at a snooty writer's club or something. That's what Stephen King and Brandon Mull do right?

Finding your groove.

Finding the rhythm and flow of writing isn't easy. I think some new writers think that once you finish your first book, or sell a novel, that suddenly writing becomes easy. I know I did. Unfortunately, it never works that way. It has been several months since I finished my first draft of The Sometimes Sword, and yet the last few weeks have been the most difficult for me to find motivation. Now, I don't want to focus on the difficulties; I want to highlight some of the things that will, first, help you realize you aren't that different from the rest of us, and second, maybe find some good advice to help you out.

I don't have much in the way of advice today, but I do want to say this: ask yourself why you are writing. Is it just a hobby? For fun? Are you just bored? Do you want to someday sell a book? Whatever your answer is, be it ambitious or laid-back, that's fine. But, you need to look at what your intentions are, then carefully assess what you've been doing, and how it supports, or doesn't support your dream. If you want to make a living writing novels, then approaching it like a hobby is probably not going to work, etc. Just try to make good decisions, and constantly re-evaluate your priorities.

Now I want to hear from you. What advice can you give other readers about managing their dream, and finding the healthy groove of writing?

Aspiring Writer Interview: Laura Mclain Madsen

Laura Madsen

This week's interview is with Laura Madsen, a member of the writing group I pretend to be in (I have only attended two or three meetings because of scheduling issues). She's a veterinarian with who just turned the big four-oh. She's married with two daughters, one dog, a cat, and lives here in the Salt Lake Valley. I've actually read her current book titled Ophelia's Flowers, and thoroughly enjoyed it (despite my initial misgivings stemming from the issue of me not being a teenage girl). It's an unapologetic story about the (sometimes) brutal nature of teenage relationships, and I hope you all can one day read it. I had a chance to ask her some questions for my Aspiring Writer Interview series, and she agreed to help me out. Lets jump in.


How long ago did you start writing?

If you count school-related writing, I've been writing nonfiction forever. My first nonfiction piece published was a short description of a veterinary case (a hedgehog), published in Veterinary Forum in 2001. Since then I've written many nonfiction articles, including a couple when I was bored out of my mind on maternity leave. I only started writing fiction about four years ago.

What's the project you're currently working on?

I've written two novels: a middle-grade urban fantasy and a contemporary YA (young adult). After the holidays I plan to start querying the YA novel, Ophelia's Flowers. I also have a nonfiction children's article coming up in April in the magazine AppleSeeds, about the evolution of dogs from wolves.

Have many works have you published total?

About twenty nonfiction articles, but no fiction yet.

How long have you been working on Ophelia's Flowers?

I wrote most of Ophelia a few years ago, but got sick of it and put it aside. Then I wrote the fantasy, sent out a bunch of queries, and received a bunch of rejections. After that I decided to go back to Ophelia, revising, rearranging and editing.

Tell us a little about it.

Teenage angst. The basic plot is: girl meets boy, boy turns out to be a manipulative jerk, bad things happen.

Ophelia's Flowers is full of some, frankly, gritty teenage stuff. Where did you find the inspiration for that?

I've been in a manipulative relationship and started writing Ophelia in the hope of helping some other girl who might find herself in a similar situation. Most of the plot is completely fictional, but there are little kernels inspired by real life.

What are your goals for Ophelia's Flowers?

Hopefully traditional publishing.

Have you sent out any queries? How many have you gotten responses to?

I haven't queried for Ophelia yet, but sent out roughly forty for the middle-grade fantasy. One agent requested the full manuscript but declined to pick up the project. I've got my fingers crossed.

What is your favorite book or author, and why?

Too hard of a question! I love love love the Harry Potter series, and fantasy in general, but will read pretty much anything. I just finished reading The Magician King by Lev Grossman, and started A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. I also have a fascination with children's picture books and love David Wiesner's work.

What has been the hardest part about writing your current work? About writing in general?

For me, writing isn't hard in itself, but the hard part is making time for it and making myself do it. I know some writers who get up at 5 AM to write before they take the kids to school or go to work, but I'm not that energetic. I tend to go in phases when I write a lot, but then won't write again for a month or two.

What has been the best or most rewarding aspect of writing?

I guess I'm just compelled to write, to get my thoughts on paper (or on the screen). Even when I'm not doing "official" writing, i.e., writing that might eventually make some money, I also blog and write book reviews.

Do you have any "technical" suggestions for new writers?

Getting into a writing critique group is important. You need people to say, "This part doesn't work," or, "You used the wrong word here," instead of just saying, "It was good."

Do you have any sage advice for new writers?

Don't take rejections personally. After about fifty rejections you sort of become immune to them.

Do you have any online media my readers can check out?

I have two blogs, one on writing and books at laurambooks.blogspot.com, and the other on veterinary medicine and my personal life at veterinarymom.blogspot.com. I'm also a frequent contributor to a book review blog, www.bookshoptalk.com.

There you have it folks, stop by and check out her blog and say "hi". If you haven't already, check out my other interviews with aspiring writer Melanie Fowler and author Peter Orullian, who's hardcover The Unremembered is on sale now for just $7 on Amazon.com.

Aspiring Writer Interview: Melanie Chaston Fowler

With this series, tentatively titled "AWI" (Aspiring Writer Interviews, clever I know), I hope to bring out some wonderful writers and get the word out about the great scene we have here in Utah. If even one person is inspired by it to begin their own writing endeavors, it will be well worth it. This is the first of (hopefully) many interviews I will be doing each week. 

Melanie Chaston Fowler

I thought I'd start off with someone I know: fellow aspiring writer, Melanie Chaston Fowler. We actually attended the same high school and performed in the same (awesome) choir. Several years after graduating I discovered that she too wanted to be a writer, and already had a few years under her belt. Melanie began writing in earnest in 2007, though she wrote a book in high school that was read each week by a friend as it progressed. She is 24 years old and married with two children, "the most beautiful daughter, and the toughest, sweetest little boy." She lives in Northern Utah, and loves it.


I had a chance to ask Melanie some questions yesterday, and I hope you enjoy hearing about what she has been up to.


Tell us what writing project you're currently working on?
Daughters of Etheria

How long have you been working on it?
Since 2007

Can you tell us a little about it?
It is a childhood game that my sisters and I used to play when we were young. It is about four girls who are the four seasons, and my book is about how the four seasons/girls, came to be. 

What are your goals for it?
I would like to traditionally publish but I'm open to other ideas if things don't work out.

Have you sent out any queries? How many have you gotten responses to?
None yet, but I know I'm getting closer because I just downloaded Elana Johnson's *FREE* e-book called From the Query to the Call.

What/who is your favorite book or author?
It changes so frequently, in middle school, my first love of books were Dealing With Dragons by Patrica C. Wrede, and Beauty by Robin McKinley. But now I love anything fantasy, and mostly YA (young adult) but I have a growing love for MG (middle grade), especially since another story of mine is going to be MG.

What has been the hardest part of writing Daughters of Etheria?
For my current novel, figuring out the point of view. And writing in general, learning how to balance it all, life, writing, and more life.

What has been the best or most rewarding aspect of writing?
Probably having author friends that have succeeded in getting their books published. It's simply amazing.

Do you have any sage advice for new writers?
New authors; don't be afraid to call yourself a writer. Also start a blog, create a platform. Learn from others, and go to a conference. Get a crit. partner. And lastly, it doesn't all have to happen at once. Take your time, but keep moving forward. Don't ever give up. If you have a story that you want to tell, keep working on it until it is perfect, and then when you think it's perfect. Work on it again. Just keep going.


Thanks Melanie.

Melanie runs her own blog Adventure Writes, and is quite active in the writing scene. I highly recommend you check her out, and get involved with some of the awesome stuff she has going on.

New friends, new writers... Good to meet you!

It seems like the interviews are going to be a pretty fun feature, because I got a lot of interest from all of you on Melanie Chasten Fowler's from yesterday (or maybe it was just the fact that it was Melanie). Thanks to everyone who stopped by and left a comment. A special thanks to those of you who added me as followers! I look forward to some good conversations.

As I've said before, the purpose of this blog was originally to give myself a writing outlet while I was in school, and didn't have time to actually write in my own novel much. Since then I've had several people tell me that they had found some worth in something I posted, and it had helped them with their own writing (I don't claim to be any kind of expert in the slightest). So the blog has morphed into something I think might be beneficial to the writing community. The way I plan to accomplish this is to open it up to everyone to contribute. I know many of you have blogs or websites, and I want to be a support for those. If you have an event or contest you'd like to spread around, let me know. If you have an awesome local writer you'd like me to interview (even if it's yourself), also let me know! Feel free to post any questions about writing you might have in my post's comments, or email me.

If you discover a great website or book that has helped you in your own writing, let me know so I can post it. Throw quotes from authors' blogs at me, notify me if you get published or self-publish. Let's pull some of the great writers here in Utah into the spotlight and get some great books out there!

Local Aspiring Writer Interviews.

Every week, starting now, I will be conducting an interview with a local aspiring writer from here in Utah. I hope to make it a regular thing, and I have several people in mind already. Soon though, I'll need to get some suggestions from all of you out there in Internetland. So if you know anyone who is currently writing, regardless of whether or not they've been published, refer them to me. I only ask that they have been doing so for long enough to have formed some (somewhat) solid ideas about themselves and their book, and it would be helpful if they have some kind of Internet presence (blog, Facebook, website, etc.).

So have at it, start sending people my way. You, or the writer themselves, can contact me at trevorjacobgreen@gmail.com.

One last note. If this is successful, I'll possibly begin doing interviews with aspiring writers outside of Utah, and perhaps someday get some published authors on here also.

Freelance Writing: A Plea.

I've been thinking a lot lately about what I want to do with my life. I obviously dream of being a full time writer, but there's a lot that goes into that. Much of it is outside the aspiring writer's control. (For instance, I don't have complete control over my work and school schedule, I have financial obligations that prevent me from devoting more time to writing, and who knows if anyone will ever buy one of my books?) I don't want to be one of those writers who pins their hopes on a book selling someday (not that there is anything wrong with that) and does nothing else. Even if I never sell a book, I still want to write for a living.

I've come to the conclusion that I'd like to start questing into the world of freelance writing, be it the Community College newspaper, websites, blogs, articles, or what-have-you. I have no illusions that I will have much success, especially to begin with, but I need to get out there. I can't complacently sit by while my life passes in front of me. College is a great plan, but it can't be my only plan, just like my book can't be my only plan.

So the question is this: how the heck does anyone get started in freelancing? What I know about it could be written on the back of a stamp. In 24 pt font. I've heard that most places don't accept unsolicited inquiries, which leaves me... where exactly? How does one find information about writing one-time articles? Are there websites advertising for writers? Are there publications that regularly accept submissions? What about short stories, is anyone taking those? These are all questions I'm hoping some of you might have suggestions or answers to. I'm not too worried about compensation right now (obviously), I mostly want to flex my writing muscles and work with some deadlines and editors, even if it's just on a small scale.

Blow up the comments people, I appreciate anyone's input!

A little status update, and a word from Pat Rothfuss (via his blog, link in the body).

Okay, so I thought it was high time to write once more about writing, even if it's short. I've been steadily making progress on TSS 2.0 over the last few weeks. I estimate I've already passed the 50k word point, though only 20k of it is in the current first draft (the rest is garbage I eventually filed away). 30k is a lot of words to throw out, but I had good reason, and it wasn't for nothing.


As some of you may remember, in the course of rewriting the book from the ground up, I chose to convert it to a sort of urban fantasy, where a girl from our world crosses to a magical one. This is really exciting for me, and I feel like overall, it's going really well. But, there have been challenges. The biggest one has been the scene where she first appears in the new world, and subsequently needs to get some info about her new surroundings. (The reader also has to get info, otherwise they'd be completely lost.) My first attempt was about 15 pages long, and was a train wreck of info-dumping and unnatural dialogue. The second attempt trimmed it down to maybe 10 or 11 pages, but didn't really address or solve the original problems. (Keep in mind, these were complete rewrites of the same scene, not edits.) The third draft of the scene was about 8 pages, and I decided to rethink the process, eventually changing some key elements of the logistics so everything flowed a bit better, but once again, I didn't solve the problem. It was still too long and it still felt like an info dump (I was bombarding the reader with names and terms), both of which add up to a really, really bad scene.


So I asked some people what they thought. I asked my writing group (a bunch of really neat people who I have only met like 3 times, but we chat over the interwebs) for some suggestions, and threw some ideas around at my family. Eventually I was able to hammer out a new version, and with Becky's help, I reformulated the scene, switching out characters, and revising the outcome of the "magical explanation". I started to write it, and made it about halfway through before I once again realized it just wasn't right. The basics of the new idea were solid, and it would work, but I was still trying to do too much, too soon. A couple of writing groupies (is that a good term?) brought up some books that had slow reveals related to the magic system and travel to magical worlds, so I tried hard to edit my own thinking on the subject.


So I began Rewrite Number 5 of this particular scene. This time, I acknowledged that I couldn't do everything in one scene. I wrote it simple and fast, trying to be concise as possible. I eliminated several aspects of the previous scenes, made the reasons for appearing in a magical world more of a mystery, and withheld some stuff that the reader probably didn't need to know (the technical mumbo jumbo I had developed for myself).


I ended that version at 5 pages, and while it still needs the tweeks and revisions all first drafts need, I think I finally pinpointed the right way to do it. Last night I was able to move on and begin writing Chapter Five, where the story really gets interesting.


In all, my wasted words add up to about 30k, but the trimmed and lean version was worth it, and I learned a lot about myself as a writer, and also saw the deep black hole many writers fall into. Endless rewrites of a chapter early on can really take the passion out of you, and stall your book. While I think I escaped that trap this time, it's something to look out for in the future. 


On a related note, I wanted to share something Pat Rothfuss (author of the Kingkiller Chronicles) posted in his blog a while back, and I hope he doesn't mind me linking it here.


How to overcome fear of failure, by Pat Rothfuss: "You come to grips with the fact that writing something that sucks is better than writing nothing at all.

If you write something and it sucks, then good for you. Not all explorers discovered lost golden cities and trade routes to the mysterious East. Some of them died in a ditch. A lot of them did, actually. But still, they get full props for being brave.

But if you sit there paralyzed with fear, afraid to get out of your chair, then you’re no kind of explorer at all. You’re just a sad bastard. You have no chance of being cool.

The same is true with writing."

Now at 22k words (not counting 10k that went into the trash) into TSS 2.0!

It's been a while since I posted, but I see that some people at least have continued to visit everyday. Thanks for that. I've been involved in school and am currently in a post-procrastination rush toward finals. With only a week left, I find myself horribly unprepared, so this will be a small island in a sea of non-existent posts.

First off, any of you who come to visit me and also participated in NaNoWriMo, congratulations (if you succeeded)! Even if you didn't make the 50k word goal, you should pat yourself on the back, then keep going! Finish it!

As the post title says, I'm currently at 22k words into my rewrite of TSS. I had planned to do NaNoWriMo, but only started mid month, so I guess you could say I'm on track so far to hit my 50k mid December. With school though, I'm looking at the middle of January as my goal. This particular rewrite is shaping up to be a lot longer too, possibly into the 110k range as opposed to TSS 1.0, which was 86K words. The story is progressing nicely, and oddly enough, becoming more mature and complicated, despite having made my characters 2 years younger than before.

Just a small note before I take off. If you writers out there haven't looked into a program called Scrivener, you need to do so, now. Click here and watch the videos, download a 30 day trial, and prepare to be blown away as it changes your writing forever.

Well, I'm off for another week at least, nose to the wheel and shoulder to the grindstone and all that. Thanks for stopping by!

Opportunities to write... Are they really that few and far between?

Lately I've been bemoaning my lack of time. With work and school sucking down minutes and hours like a hungry hamster, it seems like the day is over before I can manage to type a word. Even on the days where I manage to find an hour or two, I feel like my brain will explode if I don't veg out in front of Frazier on Netflix, or catch up on that MMO I've been playing.

Thing is, I'm looking at it all wrong. Writing is hard, but it isn't work. At least it shouldn't be. I've personally found a lot of pleasure and pride in the things I've written (crazy, but true), so why do I treat it like a chore? I think the answer lies in my organization of priorities. I've chosen to put TV and MMOs in a place of importance when it comes to relaxation, when really, I should be developing writing into my main source of enjoyment. And here's the thing, writing is totally fun. It really is. But sometimes our brains have to be taught that fact. Even us bookish types have been indoctrinated all our lives that the definition of recreation is watching the tube or playing video games. On a related note. Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim comes out tomorrow, and I won't be purchasing it. Why? Well, the $60 price tag is part of it, but mainly, it's because I want to remove that lazy temptation to fall back to video games from my life. If I'm bored or stressed, I should go write, and if that means radically changing my way of thinking about it, then so be it.

Writing can be fun, and it should be. No one, and I mean no one, should be writing novels or stories because they think it's a smart career choice. What about you? What things are you letting get in the way of writing?

I've officially started the first draft of a new The Sometimes Sword.

After converting the existing (straight fantasy) prologue to fit with the current incarnation (urban fantasy), I have completed the first chapter--nearly 6k words--so far. It's going surprisingly well. Despite my misgivings, I'm staying motivated and positive, and I think it's reflected in the material. Entering the modern world as opposed to a pseudo-medieval one in my writing is something I've never done before. It feels odd to reference things like TVs or iPods, but it's also kinda fun. Writing about high school and friends seems natural to me, and a character that previously lacked a fully-formed personality has since come busting through the screen at me.

I exceeded my daily goal of 2k words by, well, 2k words, for a total of 4k today alone. If I stick to it, I will easily have a 90k word book by the end of the year, ready to be edited and revised, possibly even submitted by summer 2012. (Once again, in case you missed it, this is a rewrite of The Sometimes Sword, an already completed novel running at 86k words. I am rewriting it to convert the entire thing into urban fantasy, a task too large for simply revision.)

Here's hoping this holiday season is a productive one! What about you? What are you working on right now?

Converting a draft into a new story.

I'm going to try and start writing shorter posts, to make it less of a chore for you to read. So here goes.


I'm in the first steps of tearing apart The Sometimes Sword, mostly just thinking about it. I have yet to do any actual changes to the words, but I'm making progress nonetheless. Yesterday while I was walking into the Tech building for my math class, I had an epiphany of sorts. It wasn't a specific idea for the story, more like an over-all revelation. It occurred to me that I wasn't thinking big enough, despite my intentions to reorganize the book. I needed to completely re-imagine the whole thing, from the ground up.


So I spent some time thinking about everything (you might begin to detect a common theme here about thinking...): what I like to read, what I want to write, whether or not I had pigeon-holed myself, etc. I came to several conclusions, one of which was a pretty big deal. I've always been a fan of urban fantasy, and wanted some of that feeling in my book, but at the same time, I don't want The Sometimes Sword to take place in our world. So as of right now, I am in the process of converting an existing character into a modern-day visitor to the world of TSS, sort of a Narnia/Harry Potter type infiltration of a magical world...deal. This changes so much existing material that I will essentially be rewriting the book as opposed to revising it, regardless of the scale. It's a monumental change, but since I'm writing it as a new book I will hopefully make more headway than if I had continued editing.


Perhaps this will give me the motivation I need to get some real progress made toward my dream of being a writer, and as winter break approaches, perhaps I'll have the time too.

Research and Writing.

Why should writers/authors do research, and what benefits does it have? I'm sure opinions on this subject vary wildly. I wanted to give some of my thoughts, along with recent experiences while working in The Sometimes Sword.

I've never been a research buff. I've always fancied that, in Fantasy at least, the author's mind should be sufficient to provide details in the world they themselves made. (Makes sense right?) Well, not so much. recently I've been taking advantage of research more, and I wish I had started earlier. First though, let me define research, as there are two parts in my opinion. First, what most people think of: basic fact finding such as discovering the different parts of a horse's saddle, looking up what different metals were used in weapons in medieval societies, or the names of the individual pieces in a set of plate armor, etc. Second, there's the research for story, character, and setting ideas (this one is especially important).

It's true that an author can invent most anything they want to, and a really smart author can bluff their way through many details, or just make them up on the spot. Writing in extreme High Fantasy makes this easier than say, modern crime thrillers, but for those of us who want to ground our fantasy world closer to home, we need to introduce some solid facts to forge that link. For instance, back when I first started The Sometimes Sword, I knew I wanted to have a horse in there somewhere, but knew nothing about them. Not wanting to treat a horse like a motorcycle (as Howard Taylor of Schlock Mercenary fame phrases it in several Writing Excuses episodes), I had to find out something about them. What do they eat? How much do they eat? How fast can they run, and for how long? Do my characters need to worry about the cost of maintaining their mount? Do they sleep standing up or laying down? These things were important. Even though the story I was writing might have been okay without them, I knew I needed to have those details to give it a sense of reality. So I jumped on the Internet (yes, it really is that easy) and looked up a few reputable sites dedicated to caring for horses and began to read. Truth be told, it ended up being pretty dang interesting all by itself. I took some notes and added a few bookmarks.

I've done the same with pieces of armor, and terms for different weapons and styles of swords. These details, when integrated seamlessly into your story, help to flesh the world out, and give the illusion that you really know what you're talking about. After all, telling a story is all about creating illusions, because an effective one hides everything that doesn't make it into the book, along with any failings the author might have in say, horsemanship.

The other kind of research is a little more involved, and ultimately, serves a story better than fact-finding alone. I'm talking about using the world's thousands of stories as an inspiration for yours. There's a lot more of this than we realize, even from the greats: Lloyd Alexander's Horned King came from an old legend in Ireland (I think) about a spectral hunter with antlers on his head called Herne the Hunter (much of his world is loosely based on Welsh legends). Banshees in countless tales come from another set of Irish legends. Sherlock Holmes's(?) case "The Hound of the Baskervilles" is based on the legend of the Beast of Bodmin Moor. Nearly any modern witch you read about has some characteristics tie back to Black Annis, the English legend of a witch in Cornwall. (Feel free to correct me about these facts or add to them, I haven't actually done research for this blog article, pathetic I know.) J.K. Rowling with Harry Potter and Brandon Mull with Fablehaven use countless fairy tales and mythical creatures from our world to fill their own.

Don't be afraid to do some searching. Need a crazy creature to put your reader at unease? Look no further than the some of the anal-fixated monsters in South America and some of the American islands, or the old crazy stuff Japanese freak the crap out of their kids with. You can find legends about everything: kings with curses, sorcerers who turn people into animals, witches who eat children, demons in disguise, etc. Now, I'm not saying you have to lift details straight from them (though you definitely can) or that you have to base your story on an existing legend. What you can do though, is research these things to give yourself a kick in the pants, or to find something that sets a spark in your brain. When you feel completely squeezed dry of creativity, it helps to take some time looking for stories that intrigue you, then determine what qualities made them stick out, and convert them to something you can use. (I know I've always been fascinated with the old school creepy stuff, hence all the talk of witches and old Irish legends.)

I'm currently doing this for The Sometimes Sword, and I'm finding that so far it's helping to pump some excitement back into the writing process, along with informing some changes to fundamental characters. So next time you sit down to write and feel a little bored, think about doing some research to liven up your story and increase the illusion of reality.

How we should all be viewing our "first drafts".

Lately I've been in a funk. Yes, I just used that word. At some point in the last few months, I realized that I don't know myself as well as I thought. I'm not able to gauge when my depression will kick in, and unlike a few years ago, I can no longer turn it off and on like a switch by listening to some posi-core. Right now I'm feeling better about writing, and a few fun ideas have popped into my head about The Sometimes Sword. But I can't guarantee that next week I'll feel the same. It's a reality I need to face in order to overcome it someday.

As for my blog, I think I may just need to suck it up and write about writing, not the lack thereof. Who knows, maybe it will eventually bring me back into the right state of mind. Today I wanted to focus on editing, specifically when you realize that the editing you are doing is a dead end. At some point a writer might stop in the middle of the second or third edit, sit back, and realize that the story they wanted to write has never been further away from reality than at that exact moment.

You wrote your first draft, maybe you gardened it, watching as it grew and took shape. Unfortunately, somewhere along the way the story also got away from you. Perhaps it still turned out well enough, but your original vision got lost in the metaphorical grocery store. Along with the usual horrible prose, shudder-inducing dialogue and other things that plague first drafts, you find yourself trying to find where your vision went. A lot of time can be wasted with this process, and even worse, you may find yourself struggling to deal with a fragmented and revision-heavy manuscript, purely dead weight. I found myself in just this situation a month or so ago. At the time I decided to give up the book indefinitely and move on to something else. I've since changed my mind, for many reasons (you can read about them in some of my previous posts).

So what do you do when you suddenly find yourself in this position? Some people give up, thinking they just aren't good enough writers, others move on to something else (like I almost did), and some people just keep plugging away at it, endlessly revising for years and years. I like to think there is another way. Chuck Wendig at Terribleminds.com has these wonderful lists he does, usually titled along the lines of "25 Reasons Why Writers Blank" and so on. Recently there has been a theme throughout them (possibly because of NaNoWriMo coming up) where he focuses on the purpose of a first/rough draft. I think many writers, myself included, think of the first draft as the stepping stone to the second draft, then on to the third and so on; something to be improved over time, incrementally revising each version until it shines. Naturally, this can lead to the aforementioned years of editing, or giving up.

Nowadays, I'm suddenly not so sure that this is how it's intended to work. What if--and stay with me here--what if the first draft was meant to be a practice draft, and no more? What if a writer sat down and pounded out a 60k word manuscript just to clear his/her head? We all know what it's like to have an entire world, story, and several characters floating around all schizophrenia-like in our brains, especially when we first develop a story. It's sometimes painful, often confusing, and always frustrating to have so much information stored away without an outlet. What if that first draft was the outlet, and not the first step toward the final result? Crazy huh? (Maybe it's just me, maybe you all knew that back when you were five years-old, and I'm simply horribly behind the times.)

This is something I want experiment with on The Sometimes Sword. What will happen if I take a machete (metaphorically) and hack this book apart, ruthlessly throwing away any crap I encounter, and trim it down to its elements? I'm hoping this will relieve the dead weight, destroy the fragmentation, leaving only the scenes with worth, ready to be studied and arranged how they need to be (maybe even into a new book). Perhaps I can bring my story back to the original vision I had, before it got away from me.

I haven't actually done this yet, but I've been thinking a lot lately (thinking about a story is almost as important as writing it) and I think I have some fun ideas that will add a lot: considering new characters, introducing new plot lines, redefining the antagonist and her motivations, rearranging events, changing character personalities and backgrounds, etc. Another thing I want to bring back is the description of the world and locations, which fell out along the way. I want to dive into the history of the world and highlight the crazy creatures and individuals within it. This last bit is actually why I initially began to write the story, but in the course of devising plot and (struggling) to develop believable characters, this fell by the wayside. (I admit, Fablehaven was the series that sparked this particular desire. I've always had a soft spot for the "magical menagerie" type fantasies, and I wanted to write one myself). I need to bring it back, because it was what made writing The Sometimes Sword fun. Without it, I ended up where I am now with the book, depressed, bored, and pessimistic.

Back to the main point of this post however, my first draft has been treated as a diamond in the rough, as opposed to the wet clay sculpture it really is. There is no cutting and polishing of a precious gem, only demolition and rebuilding, mixing it back into itself. Now that the ideas have been vomited onto the paper, and my brain-clutter cleared away, I can begin writing the real first draft, the one that will eventually become the final manuscript. At least, that's the plan.

What do you think? Are you stuck in a draft that you think is the diamond in the rough, but in reality, is simply the first clay pot that you need to mix back in and start anew?

Becky's Horror Story.

Harmon's toe fell off.

There it was, sitting on his carpet, while congealing blood slowly leaked out of the stump where his big toe should have been. He stared in disbelief, utterly shocked at the sight. A definite ache was coming in waves from the top of his foot up to his knee. He convinced himself to think through his predicament. He'd heard of plenty of smashed toenail cases, where the nail eventually died, disconnected, and left a black and bruised toe behind... maybe this would be the same.

Now he was almost certain he'd seen a monster down the alley behind his apartment last night. He'd stumbled back, and fallen into a puddle of … goop... wearing nothing but sandals. Harmon could see his back of trash out the bedroom window, still sitting on the ground by the dumpster where he'd left it in his haste. He remembered the breath he'd taken, convincing himself just enough that he'd watched one too many horror films that month. He'd gone inside, quickly kicked his sandals into the front closet, and gone to his room, not even turning out the lights. He'd been able to get to sleep, but had not been able to go back out in the dark.

Eyes. He remembered red eyes, and shiny sharp claws the size of his head.

Harmon shook his head to clear his mind and quickly reached with his left hand for the corded telephone on the desk to call for a ride to the hospital. He felt a sudden pin prick at his wrist that made his gasp in pain. The prickling spread like electricity across his wrist and through his palm as he watched with his own two eyes a black ring form where his watch should have been.

Panic rose from Harmon's stomach to settle in his chest and around his lungs. Struggling to breathe in and out, he watched as the skin around his wrist bone peeled back wetly and his flesh was eaten way by an unseen force. Exposed white bone began to crack and pop, splitting away from his arm. His voice caught in his throat; his fingers went limp and his hand severed itself from his arm before his eyes to rest on the dresser, leaving him with a burning stump in mere seconds.

Harmon stared wide-eyed, and released an uncontrollable shout of fear as he reached over with his remaining hand to pick up the severed limb, now oozing red blood into the light wood of his dresser.

Leprosy, zombification, and Apocalypse by aliens all crossed his mind as he raced with his hand out the bedroom door and down the hall. As he ran past the bathroom, his right knee cap popped with such force he was thrown to the ground with a yelp. Unsuccessfully, he tried to catch himself with his severed limb. Harmon's cheek bone fractured at the impact, and his face rushed across the carpet.

White hot fury raged in his left hip where he heard a sickening creeeeeak followed by a slurrp, like tearing apart a cooked chicken leg. Screaming filled his ears as he dragged himself across his living room carpet, reaching, stretching for the front doorknob. There was a throbbing more intense than he'd ever felt in his life. His entire left leg now lay askew, detached six inches away from its rightful place at the base of his hip; the skin on his thigh blackened and bloody, tiny veins and muscles still attached to his body. Following with his eyes a trail of blood from his bedroom, he turned to see his right leg maimed at the knee, laying down the hall ten feet behind him.

Blood squirting from his missing appendages and stumps, moans and grunts spewing from his mouth, Harmon collapsed on his back mere feet from his dead bolted front door. Too weak to speak or call for help; too drained of blood to lift his head. Searing pain filled his side, and a warm wet feeling spread from his stomach.

A soft scraping sound came from the coat closet. Slick, wet sounding footsteps made their way across his entry way just outside Harmon's blackening vision. Seconds passed with Harmon listening to a thick drip, drip, drip like a leaky faucet, just inches from his head. Something breathing hoarsely and deeply.

Harmon felt his life seeming from what remained of his body. Darkness continued to fill his vision, and all he could feel was dull, cold pain. No time to wonder why.

The last thing he saw was the monster chewing on his severed hand.

I'm radically less interested in Art than I used to be.

First off, this post is a little disjointed, and I can't be held responsible for bad grammar and spelling. (I wrote it over the course of three days, shoved in between studying.)


Long before I ever thought of being a writer, I was an artist. Before I read books for pleasure I was teaching myself to draw and fumbling around with techniques (with horrible results). I eventually began to develop some skill to go with my talent, and over the years, I produced some pretty good stuff (in my humble opinion). For a very long time I thought visual art would be my calling. Once I got my first computer and copy of Photoshop, I began to teach myself computer animation and graphic design. Later, while performing vocals in my deathcore band, I taught myself to make t-shirt and other merch designs, including two CD covers.


All seemed to point to a computer graphics/animation career, and I hoped to go to college for a degree in it some day. After my band... well, disbanded, I fell out of practice, as show posters and merch designs had been my main source of work. Somewhere along the way in the ensuing years, I also fell out of love with it. This crazy idea of writing a story pushed it from its place at the adult's table then kicked it in the kidneys.


And I'm glad it did.


Right now I'm in college, working on my generals. One of my current classes is Art History 2720, and I hate it. I can't remember an exam I have feared so much as the one I just took. I'm no slob when it comes to retaining information and so on, but the amount of specific detail the professor demanded within an hour class is, quite frankly, insane. All I want to do is write, and anything that takes me away from that is a waste of time (or so I feel). Math I can handle (shockingly enough), as it only requires practice and knowledge of formulas and methods (you can't mess that up). Art History and my (shudder) Philosophy class require a different kind of brain power. And it's not just the frustration of connecting ideas and concepts, or simply memorizing dates, it's doing things the instructor's way, or the highway. It's all about their interpretation, even when it's blatantly wrong or out of context (looking at you Philosophy Professor).


I suppose it's mostly a matter of what I'm willing to place importance in, and while I know deep down that college is important, it just feels like a waste of time. Not just a waste; it is actively taking away from my ability to work on the dream of being a writer. I have no time to practice, no time to edit, and certainly no time to actually write the fiction. The only reason I continue with college is the fact that I can't simply rely on writing to support me. I'm not so egotistical as to imagine that I can "make it" or get published. It's only a dream so far, and dreams don't put food in your mouth. But if I use college as my back up plan, is it really worth it if it wholly prevents me from pursuing my dream?


Why can't I dream of being a doctor?

First, a wonderful little recipe....

I don't have much time today, but I wanted to share a recipe, then a bit about TSS (my book The Sometimes Sword). As some of you know, I'm a huge fan of a site called Terribleminds.com, run by the strange Chuck Wendig, a freelance game writer, screenwriter, and published novelist who makes me chuckle more often than anyone else. His blog contains a ton of different subjects: interviews, writing advice, lists, etc. Recently he has taken to posting recipes that he proudly deems "NSFW". I highly recommend them, as they are as hilarious as they are tasty. (Caution: if you aren't into crude language, stay away. Also, did I say "as" enough in that sentence?) The latest recipe was a sausage and apple pasta with a butter cream sauce which he titles "This Recipe Will Autumn Your F*@!ing Socks Off". And yes, before you ask, it did. My socks, and my stomach, were quite satisfied. I don't know that I've ever tasted something that immediately resulted in a loud "Wow". Seriously, go look it up.


To the point of this post however, I really wanted to chat briefly about TSS. It's times like these that I can actually be grateful I'm not a published writer with a reputation, deadlines, and so on. I've been thinking a lot lately about my writing, to the point that I seem to have confused myself. I need to stop thinking about what I should be doing so much, and just write what I enjoy. Some of you might have seen my blog post describing my reasons in shelving The Sometimes Sword indefinitely, and while I still think my reasons are warranted, I think I may have jumped the gun in deciding to move on.

Those of you who have read any or all of TSS know that there is a lot left to do in order to make it a smooth, cohesive novel with a satisfying middle and ending. Part of the reason I felt like it was a waste to continue on with it was the the sheer amount of work that needed to be done to it, and not knowing where to start. It's overwhelming to look at a 400 page book and try to figure out what's wrong with it and how to fix it.

Like I said above, I am so glad I'm still an amateur, in that I can change my mind when I need to and go back and forth between books without a publisher telling me I'm a moron. As of right now, I am once again picking up The Sometimes Sword, but in a different way. Instead of trying to fix existing material, I will begin stripping away entire sections that aren't up to scratch, then rewriting them the way they need to be. This will include the entire ending, and the first few chapters of the book for sure. I intend to rebuild them from the ground up, altering the very framework of the book in the process. This will mean a lot of material going into cold storage, and even more brand new material added in its place.

First order of business is demolition. I am planning a time with my alpha readers to sit down for several solid hours and take the book apart. Becky and I did this to a small extent a few weeks ago, but I want to dive deeper and identify the good and bad. I want go over specific sections and determine what needs to be chucked out. If it ends up being whole chapters or the entire last half of the book in the trash, so be it. (If there are sections that have a good premise, but are written badly, we will create a framework in which to rewrite them.)

Next I want to begin arranging scenes that might be good (but in the wrong places) into a different story, establishing a recognizable arc, character and plot wise. I want to examine theme with everyone, and make some diagrams for fluctuations in character development and conflict. One of my main focuses in doing this will be to establish a defined moral, or why the story is significant. (Why should the reader care about this? What will they take away? etc.)

As far as my new book goes, I am still going to continue work on it as I can. I am excited by some of the ideas and characters I've created, but I can't let TSS die. I've worked too hard, and my readers have worked to hard to not meet my goal of submission by January. So going forward, I will have two projects, but TSS will take precedence.

NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month).

So most of you might know what NaNoWriMo means, but for those of you who don't, it stands for National Novel Writing Month, and it takes place in November each year. NaNoPlaMo isn't really a thing, its something that Chuck Wendig made up, and I adopted. It stands for Nation Novel Planning Month, and it's what I want to focus on today.

First, some more about NaNoWriMo. The whole deal is that a whole bunch of writers (anyone really) commit to write a 50,000 word novel between November 1st and November 30th. It's somewhat official, in that you sign up on their website and if you succeed in the 50k words challenge, you win (you win nothing, really, but that's not the point). It's an interesting idea, and I've heard that it helps a lot of people actually finish a draft for the first time. While I don't have much interest in actually pursuing it this year (some of you might remember that I wrote The Sometimes Sword first draft, which was 60k words in 25 days, back in April), I did want to use the idea and frenzied atmosphere (internetsphere?) of the event.

The other day, I was reading on Terribleminds.com where Chuck was discussing the pros and cons of NaNoWriMo. In the blog he mentioned that many writers go into November with the idea that a starting gun goes off, and they then have to sprint to the end of a race, full tilt. He pointed out that, as NaNoWriMo isn't really a rule-based contest, there is nothing preventing thought and deliberation from taking part. This is where NaNoPlaMo comes into play. What if, instead of a sweaty mob-rush to the ribbon, there was a steadier, perhaps tea-and-crumpet filled stroll along a beautiful scenic forest path?

What I mean by this, is that a challenge to write a 50k-word novel has it's merits, but if you don't write something with potential to be more than that, it was a waste of time. Chuck pointed out that a smart writer would use October as NaNoPlaMo, or a month in which to plan your 50k-word book. Once you have it planned, go ahead and sprint through November, finish that first draft, but be prepared to keep working at it. Write a second draft, expand it as much as it needs.

But back to the reason I'm writing about this. I intend to write my new book's first draft in the space of two months (yeah, I know, it's not NaNoWriMo, but I already explained about that), to the tune of about 80-90k words. I will be participating in NaNoPlaMo in the month of October, making sure I have a solid foundation, thereby cutting down the amount of rewriting and revising I have to do (cause I seriously hate that stuff).

What about you? Have you ever done NaNoWriMo or are you planning to?

I want to hear from you! (Not a survey, trust me.)

So the whole thing about this blog is that I'm an amateur. I don't know what I'm doing. Like all writers, I'm feeling my way in the blackness, hoping I don't find a ginger waiting for me in the shadows. I have done a massive amount of studying and research into techniques and advice, but that all comes to nothing if I can't apply it. This, I believe, is something every writer struggles with.

I want to make it obvious (if it isn't already) that I hope to spark conversations and the trading of ideas with this website. I want to hear from you, about your writing, about my writing, with advice and experiences. I want you to tell your friends to come visit me, especially the writer ones.

It's important to network and find other's that share a passion with your own interests. I encourage you to take a look at the other blogs I follow, and read the excellent posts from those writers. And speak up!

The excitement of a new book, and how I learned from the last one.

So I briefly posted that I was moving on from The Sometimes Sword, and I wanted to kind of dig in deeper and explain what I'm doing now.

After an initial decision to leave TSS as a stepping stone and nothing more, I have now amended my way of thinking, and decided to leave it as a work in progress for now, to be picked up at a later (much later) date. Right now I need to focus on improving my craft, and while useful, editing an old story isn't working toward that end.

So I've decided to start a new book, this time in a different way. In the post about My Beginnings, I talked about how I started TSS with absolutely no world building or character development. That was the direct opposite to my first work where I world-builded the crap out of it (and that failed horribly). With this book, I am seeking a balance between the two methods. I want to have a more engaging plot and conflict, along with a more detailed and fleshed out world. This requires some basic world-details and plotting before hand. However, just as with TSS, I want the focus to be character and I will continue to steer toward that. Another important point is that of Discovery with a capital "d". I find that if I world-build too much, I lose my own sense of excitement and discovery as I write and garden the book. So yeah, that's something to keep in mind also.

Really, I want this post to be aimed at what TSS did for me as a writer, and what I can take away from it. I won't go into the specific details, but I want to highlight the process I used to make sure I learned all I could from it.

First, I wrote down a list of fundamental flaws withing TSS. (I used a giant 24x16 whiteboard. I have three of them, and seriously, they are so useful.) Then I had Becky and my alpha readers Travis and Robyn write up a list on another board, this time with everything that was good in the book.

Once I had both lists hanging on the wall, Becky and I went through them and defined the underlying issues/successes of each. I transferred them to a computer document and began to explore the methods of fixing/achieving each. This way, I essentially made a writer's guide for myself, allowing me to build a better book the next time around.

I'm in the middle of some foundational world building, and hopefully at the start of next week I'll begin writing the first draft. I'm excited to start this new project, and hopefully I'll experience the same level of improvement as I did when I first started TSS.

What are you working on right now?