#Special Offer. Get a book for Free.

To celebrate the release of my new novel 'A Matter of Integrity', I have decided to make my Science Fiction novel #'Alien World' available for free to anyone who wants it. Just go to Smashwords and download it in various formats. 
Special Offer: Alien World Free from Smashwords   https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/345117

 It is also available for free from the Apple iBookstore.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/alien-world/id686796490?mt=11

My new Crime novel: A Matter of Integrity

#A Matter of Integrity has been released. I published it with Smashwords.
Here is the blurb:

‘A Matter of Integrity’ is a crime novel featuring PI Lews Canon. He is not your average hard-eyed PI. He doesn’t wear sunglasses or a hat, instead he wears a baseball cap; he doesn’t smoke or cuss, and he doesn’t carry a gun. His office is in a run-down building with no Air Conditioning and his twenty-year old car is ready to quit any day. He has an alcohol problem he doesn’t want to admit and he has the ability to get himself into trouble more often than not. The funds are low and he needs a case desperately to pay the bills. His sidekick isn’t some sexy beautiful woman, either. In Canon’s own words, “She’s built like a fridge and scares even me sometimes.” However, she is loyal to him and keeps him in line. There is much friendly bantering going on between Canon and Nelda throughout the novel. Even though the novel is written a bit tongue-and-cheek and with some humor, there is plenty of serious stuff happening. When Canon finally gets a case, he’s beginning to wonder if it was such a smart idea to take on his new client. The case gets more and more complicated and involves several of his other clients. It becomes quite personal, and Canon has to commit a violent act to save himself and the woman he loves.

Available from Smashwords:  

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/432389

Also available from Apple iBookstore:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/a-matter-of-integrity/id869721766?mt=11

A Matter of Integrity

I was going to publish my new crime novel ‘A Matter of Integrity’ today. Yesterday I converted it to the eBook format and loaded it onto my Sony Reader. As I began reading it I discovered 3 errors in the first few pages. Nothing huge but irritating. One major blunder was using the same sentence (or nearly the same sentence) twice on the same page. So now I’ve decided to read the novel again with a critical eye. This proves again how important it is to put some time distance between you and your new creation.

Now it depends how fast I am with reading the book until I can publish. I want to make sure it is error-free. Everything else is done. When I wrote the novel I followed Mark Coker’s (Smashwords) tips on formatting since I’m planning to publish with Smashwords again.

I also uploaded the book onto my wife’s Reader. She will read it with a watchful eye. If she finds any errors she will make a note and tell me. She is a critical reader. I have to compete with Ludlum, Nora Roberts, George R. R. Martin, Ken Follett, Clive Cussler, Steve Berry, and other famous writers. Not an easy task, but I’m up for it ☺.

I am happy to announce that I have designed the cover. After many different designs I came up with this one:

If you haven’t guessed it yet, yes, that’s me holding a gun. It’s just a toy gun but who will know? I found similar pictures on the internet, but they have to be purchased. So I figured I can produce one myself. For the design of the cover I used the PAINT program on my computer. It’s not that difficult. Okay, I don’t have a half naked woman on the cover, but this is not that kind of a novel. No nudity or sex in this one, just a few murders and other fun stuff. ☻.

‘A Matter of Integrity’ will be available soon from Smashwords and other outlets. (I just had to get that in here). Come back and find out when.

#Editing...when is it done?

On one of the forums I visit they talked about editing and people wondered if you can over-edit. I guess you can, but there comes a point when you have to say that you need to move on.

Right now I’m busy with editing my latest novel ‘A Matter of Integrity’. Since I’ll be publishing it myself I am the editor. I want to make certain all the errors have been fixed. I’ve read the story now five times. The first time I looked for inconsistencies and other errors. I fixed those. I also fixed obvious mistakes, like spelling errors and using the wrong words. The second time I looked for more mistakes. I also ran it through the Spelling and Grammar program of my Word processor. I don’t rely on that one too much, because it is itself riddled with errors. It will suggest using ‘I’ instead of ‘me’ for instance, and there are other suggestions that are simply wrong. I only use it as a tool to help me find obvious errors.

I am always amazed that I can still find blunders in my manuscript after reading it several times. The fourth time I read it, I did quite a bit of rewriting, like awkward sentences and bad dialog. I added and changed dialog. After I was nearly done with the story I changed the name of one of the characters. I used Spell check to change the name throughout the whole manuscript. Now when I read it for the fifth time, I actually found on two occasions where the original name of that character popped up. I never noticed that in the first four readings. Our minds are wonderful but also deceptive. They will automatically insert words that aren’t there, just like a computer program. However, this time I didn’t find many errors

It is important to read a manuscript without too many interruptions. The ideal way is to read it in one session without too many breaks. The only problem with that is that our minds and our eyes get tired. We will overlook even glaring errors. Another problem I found this time, I read a sentence and I think: Didn’t I use this same sentence somewhere else in the novel? So I went back and searched for it, only to discover that I remember reading this sentence from a previous reading.

It would be nice to have someone else read the manuscript, someone who may also be a writer, but not all of us have that luxury to have someone who is actually interested. Most writers are busy with their own works. They have no time to read and correct somebody else’s book. Unless they do it for a living. But I don’t want to spend the money to hire somebody like that. I guess if one uses a publisher, then that service is free, but it still doesn’t guarantee a book free of errors. Even professional editors are human and prone to overlook the same things I do. And they don’t want to rewrite another writer’s novels. I’ve been reading my older published books and I was in a way alarmed when I found so many errors. I wish I could edit all of my books and republish them, but I’m not really interested in that. I’ve spent enough time with those stories when I wrote and edited them.  Now I want to write new things, experience new adventures through my characters.

 So when is the editing done? That is up to the individual writer, but eventually one has to make a decision and say: “I’m done.”

I believe I’m almost done. Perhaps one more reading, but it will for sure be the last one, because on this fifth reading I found few errors, just minor stuff, and I know I’m close. Then comes the formatting, the blurbs, and the personal stuff at the end of the book. After that comes the hard job of finding an attractive and fitting cover picture.

#Outpost Salamander

Usually, I don't have the title when I start a new novel. However, the next novel I'll be working on has already a title: Outpost Salamander. The story takes place in the universe I created in the trilogy 'Lizard World' (Epsilon, Epsilon City, and Raptor's Tooth), of which 'Outpost Epsilon' is the forerunner. Actually, I started writing this one as 'Outpost something' and I wrote 1,700 words. That's when the title came to me. I also have already some kind of outline, which is quite early into the story. That doesn't always happen, either.

I've always been fascinated with stories of lonely outposts on an alien planet. I haven't read many by other writers (that was the time when I used to read most of the time), so I created my own with 'Outpost Epsilon'. Anything can happen on an outpost. Actually, I have a short story from my earlier writings  that also plays out on an outpost. The story is called 'Luugus'. It was one of the stories in my anthology 'Tapestry of Dreams', published by Melange Books.

Terrex Stonewall, who was the main character in Outpost Epsilon and in the Lizard World trilogy appears again in Outpost Salamander. However, he is now 58 years old. The main character in Outpost Salamander is Bret Grayson, who is Terrex Stonewall's nephew.

The book will stand completely on its own, but reference will be made to Epsilon, the planet populated by dinosaurs. The complete series is under the umbrella 'The Spider Wars', and I'm hoping to write more books after this one.

In a way, writing a story where the background has already been created, is easy and yet difficult. I have to make sure I get all my facts straights. I'm talking about people and places I've created in previous stories. This means I have to go back to notes I made when I wrote those stories and it also means reading  some of the stories again, if only just partially. It's like doing research, only it is researching my own creations.

I took a holiday for a couple of weeks to get away for a while from the cold winter and the snow, but it didn't mean I took a holiday from writing. I had planned to read some books, but my mind was filled with ideas for a new novel, so I began writing it and just kept on writing every moment I had. Lying on a lounge by the beach is fine, but doing nothing but just staring at the water or into the sky only puts me to sleep. So I kept busy with my writing. The surroundings were relaxing and inspiring. A good thing my wife likes to read.

I didn't have my laptop along, so wrote the old-fashioned way like I used to do: into a scribbler with a pen. I filled one scribbler and part of another one. Now I have to transfer everything onto my computer. That's when the first editing begins.

I found it more difficult to write this way, because as the story progressed, new ideas popped up and I needed to change some earlier paragraphs, add some new ones, and do some rewriting. It is so much easier when writing on a computer. I have so much respect for the writers of years gone by who never had computers, only typewriters. How they managed to write so many books, some of them wrote a hundred books in their lifetime, it is difficult to believe. They didn't have word-spell, automatic corrections, and all the other perks we have now. The only way they could make multiple copies was with carbon paper. And they couldn't  afford to make typing errors. They were difficult to correct. I remember writing my stories like that. It was frustrating. I still have my old typewriter...on a shelf in the basement.

I will have to take a break again from writing Outpost Salamander, because I still have to do more editing on my novel 'A Matter of Integrity'. It is finished but needs more polishing;  and then comes the formatting. I still don't have a cover picture. That is the most difficult part, but it will happen.
The writing is the fun, the getting the story ready for publishing is the work, but it needs to be done if I want to share my story with others.

#A Matter of Integrity

I finally decided on the title of my ‘Lews Canon’ novel. It came to me when I woke up at night and couldn’t fall asleep again. Finding a title is, for me, the most difficult part of writing a novel. You can’t just pick out anything because it sounds cool. The title needs to reflect something from the novel. The title I came up with ‘A Matter of Integrity’ does exactly that. I did have to do a little bit of rewriting some dialog to make the title fit, but it worked out.

I read the whole novel once again, discovering quite a few inconsistencies and errors, which have been fixed. I had to add new paragraphs but also had to take out some. There were many awkward sentences which needed to be rewritten. Done all that. When I started with the novel I had no idea where it would lead me, but it developed nicely, new ideas came to me while I was writing and in the end with a bit of tweaking it all came together. I’m happy with the novel; actually, quite happy.

A Matter of Integrity is 76,000 words long. I think it is just the perfect length for an electronic book. I’m still not sure who I will publish with, either Amazon or Smashwords, but I will publish it myself. I have more control over the content, and I don't have to wait a year for it to be published.

This novel, like ‘Bullet of Revenge’, doesn’t have any Erotica in it. There is a bit of romance and interaction between men and women, but only bantering and hints. After all, that’s what happens in life. We can’t ignore that and pretend sex doesn’t exist. It is part of life and part of happiness between couples. Romance without sex would be quite boring. But there are no explicit scenes in this novel.

Now I’m taking a bit of a breather from this novel, just to distance myself a little. Perhaps for a couple of weeks or so. Then I’ll read it again for another edit, looking for misspelled word and other mistakes that still lurk inside the novel. I also have to design the cover. That is also a bit daunting. It takes a lot of time to browse through images that fit the novel.

In the meantime I’ve already started a new novel. I’m at 1,700 words right now. It is a Science Fiction novel and takes place in the universe I created in my 4 book series ‘The Spider Wars’. The first book was ‘Outpost Epsilon’ and the other 3 books were subtitled ‘Lizard World’. Book one: Epsilon. Book two: Epsilon City. Book three: Raptor’s Tooth.

But this story happens about 20 years after the events in ‘Lizard World’.

I liked that universe and the alien races inhabiting it, and I liked the main character Terrex Stonewall. He is also in this story, but only as secondary character, and twenty years older. The main character is his nephew Bret Grayson. I don’t know yet how this story will develop, but as I write things happen and the story and the characters will take shape and become more real in my mind. We’ll see where it leads and ends. That’s the excitement of writing a story. I never know what danger awaits the characters as they experience the life I’m creating for them.

I have no title yet. Right now I’m writing it as ‘Outpost Something’.

#One step closer to the Finish

Today I wrote the last sentence in my novel 'Lews Canon'. It is not the final title. Now begins the job of editing and finding a fitting title.

The novel turned out to be 74,800 words long. I usually write longer novels, but I didn't want this one to be too long. Apparently, readers don't want long novels. So this amount of words seems just right.

I'm happy with how it turned out. When I start a new novel, I never know where it will lead me. It was the same with this one. But once I was about two-thirds into the story suddenly a foreseeable ending appeared and I knew where I was headed and I had a pretty good idea how it would end. Even though, while writing, new ideas popped into my head and they helped to round it out and to make it as it stands now.

I'm not going to rush with the editing. I'll take my time. Now I have to read it first to find inconsistencies and stuff like that. After that comes the search for spelling errors, awkward sentences, making sure all the names are spelled correctly every time they are mentioned.

Once I have a title comes the fun of finding and designing a nice cover.

I'm not sure yet if I will publish with Amazon or Smashwords. Neither of them have done much for me in the selling department of my last books. I'll have to look into how I will market the novel, also. I have a few ideas, but I don't want to spend much money. Money I may never recover.

#Writing a novel, part 9

 A sample of the history of a character

This is the history and character sheet for Lews Canon. He is the main character in the book I’m currently writing.

Lews Bullseye Canon, P.I.  (Sometimes he uses an alias: Mark Conelli).

41 years old in 2013. (Born in 1972).

Ex-Cop. (from 1994 to 2006). Then worked as an investigator for another agency (Delta Investigations) (from 2006 until 2008. Then he opened up his own agency). Canon Detective Agency. No job too big or too small. Call....

5ft 11 inches tall.

One blue eye and one brown eye. (Courtesy of his grandfather).

            Father: Bigg Canon. 71 (1942). 5feet 3 inches tall, in elevator shoes, is as skinny as a third world refugee and has a head as bald and big as a cannon ball.

            Mother: Mathilda Canon (ne: Turner). (1944 – 2009. Age: 65)

            Grandfather: Bullseye Canon. (1918 - 1993 at age of 75.

            Grandmother: Mary Canon (ne: Petrowich) (1923 – 1995 at age of 72)

            Brother: Bigg Colt Canon. 1967 – 1992 at age of 25) Car accident.

1988: Lews makes his driver’s license at age 16

1989: Lews buys his firs car: a 1983 VW.

1990: Lews joins the Military

1991: Lews is deployed in Kuwait 

1993: Lews leaves the Military

1993: Lews goes to the Police Academy

1994: Lews becomes a cop

1995: Lews marries Mary-Ann Kilbride (She’s 20 years old)

1997: He traded in his VW and bought a 1994 Toyota Camry.

2006: Lews quits the police force and gets a job with Delta Investigations Inc.

2007: Mary-Ann divorces Lews. She blames his drinking. She marries her attorney.

2008: Lews starts his own detective agency

2010: His Camry is stolen (16 years old).

2011: Nelda starts to work for Lews

            Lews meets Sonya McKinnon, a divorced woman.

2012: Lews makes Nelda his partner

Now he drives a 1993 Cadillac. Got as payment for a job in 2010

He lives in an apartment.

Character traits:

Athletic. Friendly. Good sense of humor. Honest. Committed to his job. A little too good-hearted sometimes. Loves women but can’t commit himself. Doesn’t like guns. Never carries one. Has a bit of a drinking problem.

Note: This history developed as I wrote the story. In the beginning I had nothing but his name, and I changed that later. Right now I’m about half-way into the story. A few things will be added and possibly even changed. This list is just a guideline and not written in stone.

Here is a link to how author Kay Kenyon handles a Character Sketch.

http://www.kaykenyon.com/2014/01/26/tori-harding-a-victorian-heroine/?goback=.gde_2025159_member_5833305446009556995#!

More next time

#Writing a novel, part 8

 Using a character sheet

What is a character sheet and what does it look like? Well, a character sheet is a list of the characters appearing in a story. It contains the names and other information of all or a few of the players. When I start with a new story, I may not have a character sheet, but once I have my protagonist and I begin to know him/her a little bit better, I will start my sheet.

I’ll write down the name, his/her appearance, and any information I think is important to know. I may even write a bit of a background. The list may contain names of family members, relatives, and friends. In the beginning the list may be short, but as I get to know the person behind the name, the list becomes longer and longer.

How long a list is, depends on the importance of the character. A minor player may only have a name and a brief description of his/her appearance. Possibly a short history; and that isn’t even for certain.

Here is a list of things a character sheet may contain:

Name:

Gender:

Age:

Title: Economic status (rich/poor):

Location:

Birthplace (Date of birth):

Occupation:

Name of company if self-employed:

Name of employer (company):

Former job:  

Color of Skin:

Nationality:

Height:

Weight:

Eye color:

Hair color:

Length and style of hair:

Bald:

Glasses/contact lenses:

Beard or moustache:

Scars:

Tattoos:

Other outstanding features:

Languages spoken:

Education:

Sexual orientation:

Marital Status:

Name, age, occupation of husband/wife (if dead how and when?)

Names and age of children: (alive and/or dead):

Name of father (alive or dead?):

Name of mother (alive or dead?):

Maiden name of mother:

Grandparents from father’s side: (alive or dead?):

Grandparents from mother’s side: (alive or dead?)

Special people in his/her life:

Zodiac sign:

Religion:

Hobbies:

Manner of dress: (e.g. hat, coat, shoes/boots, jeans)

Manner of speaking and acting:

Special abilities and skills:

Problems: (e.g. alcohol, drugs, smoking, sexual):

Special memories:

This list is not written in stone. You can add anything else that may seem important. Or you can leave things out if they are not needed.

Next time: What a brief history of a character may look like.

More next time

#Writing a novel, part 7

How to find names for characters

How important are names? I’m talking about the names of characters, especially the main character.

For the main character you want a name that awakens feelings of trust and empathy in the reader. You want the reader to identify with the main character. A man needs a strong name and a woman a soft name. A name should also be easy to read and easy to remember. Don’t use a name like Fernando Esperanto Garlokkini Tweedlewood as you main character; not even as any character, unless you write a comedy.

You probably snickered when you read that name. Believe me, I’ve seen similar names, especially in SciFi or Fantasy novels. Some of them were impossible to read, never mind trying to remember them. I’ve seen names with numbers and letters, names with barely a consonant in them, names as long as a whole sentence. I’m sure the writer did not even bother sounding them out. First of all there is no way even the writer can spell a name like that the same throughout the novel. I know I can’t.

So avoid long names, cute names, and names that sound too foreign. Readers don’t want to stumble over them every time they come up. Also, do sound them out. In one my short stories I was looking for the name of a star system. I made one up Arsol. It looked cool, but needles to say after sounding it out I did not use it.

For my trilogy ‘Web of conspiracy’ I named the main character Jeff Chartrand. The name is short, strong, easy to spell and easy to remember. For the secondary characters I used names like Spencer, Stoneman, Sheppard etc. Chartrand partner’s name, a woman, is called Maxine Montana. He calls her ‘Max’. There is a reason for that.

Even in my Science Fiction novels, where I can be liberal with the names, I try to keep them simple. I can’t name aliens with Earth names, but I don’t make them difficult to spell or read. I used names like Sheera, Norgana, and Spreeh. Easy to write and read.

How do I come up with names like that? I use different methods. I may take a regular name like Sheena and change one letter: Sheera. Morgan become Norgana. Harry may end up as Serrie. Or I may drop the h from Sherry and make ie out of the y at the end. Two different approaches. The main idea is to keep it simple. Don’t make Sherry into S5harriiiy2 just because it looks exotic and alien. You’ll forget how you spelled it the third time you’ll write it and I’ll challenge you to pronounce it.

Even with regular names it may become confusing. I keep a printed sheet with the names and background of all my characters beside me when I write. I update the sheet as I add new names and new details about the characters.

Of course, like with anything in life, there are exceptions to the rule. In the book I’m currently writing, I’m using cute names deliberately. That’s because the book is written in a somewhat humorous tone. The main Character, a detective, is called Lews Bullseye Canon. His partner, a woman, is Tusnelda. (I apologize to any woman by the name Tusnelda). I knew a girl once in my childhood by that name, but the character in my book isn’t modeled after her. Anyway, Tusnelda doesn’t like her name and she calls herself ‘Nelda’. I have names like Brandon Brandon in there and Frederick Titman. I would never use names like that in my regular novels.

Conclusion: If you write in English, stick with English sounding names. Refrain from using too many foreign names. In fact the other day I checked for Chinese names and I discovered that Peter, Harry, John, and other English names are quite popular in China.

Many times I use a telephone book to find names for my characters.

More next time

#Writing a novel, part 6

How to start a novel

The many different methods to start a short story or a long novel may be:

*The title

*The name of a character

*The name of a location

*A word

*A short sentence

*An idea

*An action

#How to find a title

Some writers will have a title before the story is even written. I’ve never written anything where I knew the title beforehand. For me to find the right title is one of the more difficult parts about writing any story. I usually wait until I’m finished with the story. Once I begin the editing I will look for clues in the story that might suggest a fitting title. Sure, when the title is found one might say, “That was easy,” but it hardly is for me.

I mentioned one of my novels: Seeds of Chaos. That is the title of the complete novel. The story is about a man who travels to different planets and he impregnates the women he encounters (it is erotic Science Fiction!). By the way, that is not the only thing in the book. There is plenty of action in the story. Since the novel ended up as two volumes because of its length, I had to find two titles. That was the difficult part. When I read it again, the title suddenly appeared in my mind. One of the planets where a lot happened was called ‘Eden’s Gate’, and that became the title of the first volume. The second important planet was ‘Hell’s Gate’, so that became the title for the second book.  It seemed simple enough and logical, but it wasn’t so until I decided on the titles.

In my series ‘Lizard World’ I wrote ‘Outpost Epsilon’ first. The title was chosen because the story is about an outpost on an alien planet. For the trilogy that followed later, I needed actually four titles: One for the series and three for the books.

The series title ‘Lizard World’ was easy enough. The story takes place on a planet populated by giant lizards. The title of the first volume is ‘Epsilon’, because the planet is called ‘Epsilon’. The action in book two happens in the main city on the planet: Epsilon City. So book two received the title ‘Epsilon City’. And the story ends in Raptor’s Tooth, a small settlement in the jungle, and that’s how I came up with the title for the third book: Raptor’s Tooth.

Easy? Not really. It only seems that way.

I don’t always use places for the titles.  In my book ‘Bullet of Revenge’ the title came to me as I read the last chapter.

As you see, the title can be many things. It can be

*a place,

*the name of the main character,

*an action,

*a phrase one of the characters utters somewhere in the story

*an idea

*a thing

*it can be one word or a whole sentence

The title of a story is an important part of the whole. If possible, if should be connected to the story and not something that sounds nice, but has nothing to do with the story. Don’t use a title like ‘The Invasion of the Black Turtles’ when there is no mention of black turtles anywhere and if there is no invasion taking place. Use common sense. Don’t try to mislead the reader.

More next time

#Writing a novel, part 5

Writing just for our own enjoyment is different from writing for the enjoyment of others. Suddenly, we find we will have to follow some rules.

I wrote and published a short booklet ‘The Published Writer’, a practical guide to electronic publishing. Obviously, that wasn’t a fantasy novel. I had to take a different approach. First I wrote a bunch of articles. Once they were written I organized them into a particular order. Before I could publish the booklet on Amazon, I had to download their rules. Not on how to write the book, but how to get it into the right format so their program would accept it. When you work with other people you will have to follow some rules.

There are some publishing companies, if you want to publish with them they will dictate what you can write and how they want the story structured. You have to follow their formula. Some writers may not mind that; I do. Perhaps, if you strictly write for money, you will have no choice. I write for my own enjoyment, I write for the love of writing, and I want to entertain my readers. I want them to experience the world I create when they read the story, the way I enjoy writing it. That is only possible if I can put my heart into the story and if I can write it the way I feel it needs to be written. Not by formula but by intuition.

That is one of the reasons so many writers these days go the way of self-publishing their books. There is one drawback to self-publishing. If a writer doesn’t have a good command of the English language, (or the language of their country), the quality of the work may be lacking. As long as a writer writes for his/her own pleasure it doesn’t matter if words are misspelled, sentences structured wrongly, inconsistencies in the story, etc., but the moment a book is published for the world to see, then it is a must to publish only polished material. Then it is most important to follow at least the basic rules of writing. Most people, that includes readers, are somewhat rigid in their ways. They want to see order and established procedures. Anything else and they may not finish reading the novel.

You don’t need to edit your novel when you write for yourself. Once you’re done, you can move on to the next project. Not so if you want to have your creation published. When the story is finished the real work begins. Unless you are nearly perfect in the command of your language, you need to have someone else edit it. No matter how often you read your manuscript, mistakes will still be overlooked. Of course, that also happens if you have your story edited by a professional. Editors are humans, too. They make mistakes like everyone else, but it is always a good idea to have another mind look at what you created. Sometimes we don’t see certain things, not just spelling mistakes. Inconsistencies can pop up easily. There are many ways mistakes can creep in; even it is just the misspelling of the main character’s name. It happened to me. It happens to everyone. I will write more on that in a later article.

More next time

#Writing a novel, part 4

When I wrote there are no set rules on how to write a story it might have caused some misunderstanding. What I meant there are no rules on how to write, especially when one writes just for entertainment, but there are certainly rules how to use the medium of writing, namely the spelling of words, the structuring of a sentence, and the correct words for what you want to say. You can’t make up your own words. Well, I guess that’s not quite true, either. When you write SciFi/Fantasy you can actually create new words for your story, but you still have to explain what they mean. Those words will, as a rule, never make it into the dictionary.

There are exceptions. In 1961 the famous Science Fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein created the word ‘Grok’ for his novel ‘Stranger in a Strange Land’. It is a Martian word that could not be identified in Earthling terms. If you want to learn more about the word ‘Grok’ do a search for Robert A. Heinlein. It will come up. The word ‘Grok’ is one of the words that made it into the dictionary.

So it is possible to create a new word the world may adopt, but it doesn’t happen often.

What I really wanted to say about the ‘no rules’ is the way you write your story. You can start at the beginning, then write the ending, and then fill in the middle. You can write the last scene first and then write the story. Or you can just start at the beginning and keep on writing until the end.

You can create all your characters first, write about their life or you start with one character and build from there. If you have all your characters already in place, you can draw from their life experiences as you write the story. The story can already be written as an outline, and you just flesh it in.

For me, that doesn’t work. My characters develop as the story moves on. I create the characters as they are needed. My characters come alive when my protagonist meets them. That’s when they are born. Once they exist, then I flesh them out with background and so on. But, like I said, no rules. That’s just the way I do it...most of the time. Sometimes I may change the way I write my story. It all depends what I’m writing.

I’ve noticed a lot of TV shows and movies start with an action scene. Some of those scenes don’t even have anything to do with the actual story. They are just there to introduce the main character and to get the viewer hooked. Some books may start out the same way. It seems something so many writers have adopted. That’s one of the so-called rules I meant that you don’t need to follow. Just because everyone does it, doesn’t mean you have to.

I think it is pretty sad if you have to get the interest of viewers or readers with some wild car chase, a murder, or some rescue scene. I don’t need that when I read a book. Sometimes it is nice to have the characters introduced by telling us who they are, or have a description of the strange and exotic world we’ll be visiting for a few hours.

Even the ending doesn’t have to be some earthshaking revelation. I have to admit, I am fond of those, but that’s just my own little fetish. My two-volume novel ‘Seeds of Chaos’ ends with a, I hope, revelation that was not expected. It was meant to leave the reader with something to ponder.

However, like I said, those endings are not required. As long as it is explained who committed the murder that is already okay. Of course, the ending shouldn’t be lame, either. The reader should not leave the story feeling let-down. People like happy endings, but not every story needs to end with the happy couple riding into the sunset.

More next time

#Writing a Novel, part 3

 The book I’m currently writing is a contemporary novel, a detective story, featuring a PI by the name of Lews Canon. It is a not-so-serious story, written in a light-hearted style. Sure, there will be some action, some violence, after all it is a detective story, but mostly it will be filled with humorous dialogue.

I wrote the first few pages quite some time ago, but it never went anywhere. In fact, the main character was Mark Canon, not Lews Canon. I changed the name later on, because it made more sense having him named Lews. It fit much more to the theme and style.

Sound it out and you may get an idea of what I’m talking about.

After reading those first pages, I thought they may make a good story, but what would I write? So I actually made a character sheet of all the characters I mentioned in those few pages. I even developed backgrounds for them. Then I wrote some more, then I made an outline of a story. Of course, as I’m writing, the outline changes, the story may take a different road, but at least I do have some sort of guide.

This one is written in the first person. Lews Canon is telling his story. As a writer I have to become Lews Canon. I have to experience in my mind what he experiences. I know what he thinks, but I don’t know what the other characters think. I will never know, unless Lews Canon is a mind reader. Since this isn’t SF, he isn’t. He’s just a normal man with normal abilities.

Should I, for some reason, decide to write a chapter featuring one of the other characters, I could also write that in the first person, but then I wouldn’t know what Lews Canon is thinking.

So, as you can see, there are certain rules when writing a story.

Third-person limited omniscient

When writing in the third person, the same rules apply. When we follow the main character, we have to write from his/her perspective. We also know what (s)he thinks but not what the others think. It is called POV (Point of View). Many writers don’t seem to understand this principle. They will jump from one character’s thoughts to another, sometimes in the same paragraph. It is also known as ‘Head-hopping’. It is not a good way to write, because it can become confusing to the reader. It is not difficult to write with only one POV, even though some writers think it is. It takes a bit of discipline but can be achieved.

Omniscient Mode

There is another style where the narrator of the story knows the thoughts of every character, like a god, who knows everything. It is called the ‘omniscient mode’. Some writers write in that style. I don’t really care for that way of writing. It is head-hopping at best and can become quite confusing. One never knows who is featured. The story becomes impersonal and as readers we can’t identify with any of the characters.

More next time

#Writing a novel, part 2

As I said in the beginning, there are no set rules when writing stories or poems, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any. What I mean is that there are no rigid rules, but we still have to follow a certain road, otherwise we’d end up with a jumble of words and sentences that may not make much sense. There has to be order in anything, even in writing.

Obviously, we need a beginning and an ending. The beginning should give the reader a taste of what’s to come, wet their appetite for more, and the end has to tie things up. Of course, we can end with some kind of a cliff-hanger, which is needed in a series, to entice the reader to buy our next book. But it is not a good idea to end a book in the middle of a scene to be carried on in the following book. Readers do want some closure.

As we grow in our writing, we will try to experiment with different styles and different procedures. We can do that, because there are no set rules that we have to follow.

When I write Science Fiction/Fantasy I usually don’t know where I’m headed with the story. I let the characters guide me, I let them follow the way they want to go on their adventure. I follow the story as it develops. Once I’m deep into the story I will begin to flesh out the characters, their backgrounds, and I will develop the environment in which the story takes place.

When I wrote the novelette ‘Outpost Epsilon’ I wanted to write a story about an outpost on a planet populated by dinosaurs. So that was the premise: a planet full of dinosaurs and an outpost, but I didn’t have a story. Then I created a guy by the name of Terrex Stonewall. I didn’t know who he was. For now he was just a name, who became a man, who was a scout in the Solar Union. He landed on the planet I called Epsilon to join other scouts who lived on the outpost. Their job was to watch for intruders into this alien solar system. And the story developed from there.

I had no idea at the time, that I would write a trilogy called ‘Lizard World’ three years later. Who knows, I might write another book or two that will take place in that same universe. I say ‘universe’, because in the process of writing the trilogy I had to create a whole universe filled with alien races, giving me new ideas for more stories. And that’s how novels are written. They may begin with an idea, a word, a sentence. One never knows what develops from there. All we need to do is give our imagination free reign and follow the adventure.

In my early days of writing I wrote strictly for my own amusement. I didn’t care much about political or moral correctness. I knew nobody would ever judge me about what I wrote, because nobody but me would ever read it. However, I did worry about correct spelling, grammar, and the correct meaning of the words I put on paper.

Once I began writing to be published, that did change. Even though I wrote stories with erotic content, I needed to be careful what I wrote and how I wrote it. I also needed to follow the rules of my publisher. When you write for the public, you must follow those rules. Certain subjects are taboo. Certain words may be taboo.

More next time

#Procedures to follow when writing a #Novel

There are  no set rules that need to be followed to write a story, a novel, or a poem. Sure, there are plenty of books written on the subject, some of the authors have set themselves up as authorities on the basis that their books have sold many copies, millions, perhaps. They’ve made up their own rules, other authors may copy those rules, change them around, and make them their own. If there are many of these books around, those rules may become the standard on writing a story. They tell you that a story must start with a certain scene, you’ll have to capture the reader’s attention by such and such a page. After that the story has to develop according to an almost rigid pattern.

They will tell you that before you even start writing your story, you must have a layout, your characters must be developed with backgrounds of their lives, and you should know what happens in each chapter. It is even almost mandatory to know the end of the story. Then you start writing and with all this preliminary work your story will almost write itself. There will be no surprises, no straying off the rigid road you have developed with a logical mind. Everything will make sense. I call this formula writing.

Well, that doesn’t work for me, and, I’m sure, for many other writers, seasoned or just budding. Every writer has to find his/her own style and develop a personal method. A good story requires a fertile imagination, a good command of the English language (or whatever language you'll be writing in), and a writing style that captures the attention of the reader.

I find writing Science Fiction and Fantasy more interesting and more enjoyable than any other genre, because I never know where the story goes. I usually don’t  have a character sheet or a skeleton draft of what will happen, because I don’t know. I may have an idea of what the story will be about or I may not. I might just have the name of a character, who may end up being the main character. I will write a word, a sentence, a paragraph to get the creative juices flowing. With every new paragraph may come a new idea. The first chapter will begin to take shape, and even then I still may not know where I’m headed. But deep inside me, like shards of memories, ideas will begin to form and develop. The words will begin to flow from my fingertips and I will start to immerse myself into the world I’m creating in my mind. Every sentence may bring new revelations and new adventure, and finally, I’ve written the last sentence. The whole process takes months, in some cases, years. It all depends how much time I have to devote to my writing.

Writing Science Fiction does not require much research. I can create worlds and places, because they don’t have to exist in real life. I can shape them into anything I want. I can create my own version of history. That is not the case when writing a contemporary novel. It is important to have correct dates, correct history, real places. In my trilogy ‘Web of Conspiracy’ I even checked out the weather on the dates and in the cities I mentioned. I also made certain that the dates and names of days corresponded. It did take quite a bit of research to find that out. I also needed to study up on places in the Middle East where part of the story took place, and certain historic dates, like the Gulf war and other events. It is amazing how much you learn doing that kind of research. I downloaded maps of Iraq and other places. I even found quotes from the Koran or Qur’an (I didn’t know it was spelled that way). Everything can be found on the internet.

While writing ‘Bullet of Revenge’ I needed to find information about the FBI. For instance, I had to make certain they had offices in the city I mentioned, and other stuff. I learned a lot of things I didn't know before. It is important to do this research. Readers will quickly find out if a writer hasn’t done his (her) homework.

Every genre does require a different method. When writing a murder mystery it may be important to know the ending. I say ‘may’, because even that can change as the story develops. With the introduction of new characters new ideas also pop up. Of course, that is the case with any story.

More next time.

Hello 2014

Happy New Year

Aproaching the end of another year

Another few hours and we have to write 2014 onto our checks and letters. Postage in Canada will be going up in the new year, discouraging most people from sending out letters. I haven't been using regular mail for a long time now. Most of the stuff I sent is by electronic means. I wonder about the people who run Canada Post (I'm sure it is no different in other countries). They think by raising postage they will make more money. They sure have no idea about merchandising. Typical government mentality. If you need more money just raise the taxes, no matter the consequences.

Our railroads aren't run anymore efficiently, either. Mismanagement is one of the reasons they don't make money. Too many people collecting huge salaries and too little production. When I was still in business, I sometimes employed a couple of guys who worked for the railroad to help me out temporarily in wiring houses. (I was an Electrical Contractor). They usually worked nights for the railroad, that's why they had the time and opportunity to work during the day on other jobs. They told me they didn't work much on their regular job. They mostly relaxed and even slept sometimes. It meant they had the energy to still work for me and make some extra money. I heard stuff like that a lot from other people who worked for the railroad.

Anyway, I don't want to get carried away with that. I use my personal blog for venting about stuff like that. As for my own progress with my work, I'm at about 25,000 words with the novel I'm currently working on. No title yet, just the working title: Lews Canon. There is never enough time around Fall and Christmas. Hopefully in the new year I'll get more time to write. I've spent some time on it developing different characters and writing down important date so I can keep the story straight. It is a detective story written in a humorous tone. I hope I can keep it going until the end of the story. And I hope my efforts aren't going to be wasted because people may not want to read it.

I just read on somebody's blog about what readers like. Most like romance and paranormal stories, even romantic westerns. Perhaps I should write romance. When I was a teenager I read a lot of westerns and I loved them. I've always been fascinated with that era in time. Maybe I should try my hand at writing a western with some romance thrown in. I'd have to do a lot of studying up, though, like how cowboys talked and things like that. Shucks, I believe I'm gonna strap on my six-shooter right now, jump onto my bucking bronco and hit the dusty road. Sheriff McCalla is waiting for me down by the corral. I reckon I'll be seein' y'all by the ol' oak tree for the hangin...

It was worth a try...or maybe not.

For now have an easy slide into the New Year

I wish you a prosperous and successful 2014.

Happy New Year

When is a poem a poem?

I don’t consider myself a poet, but I do write the occasional poem, mainly for my wife. She is my inspiration. I usually write her one for her birthday, Valentine’s Day, Easter, and Christmas. I’ve written probably over 50 so far. When I told her I want to publish them, she said they belong to her and are not mine to publish. And I respect her wish, but sometimes I make an exception and publish one, like the poem I wrote for her this Christmas. Should you be interested in reading it, please go to my personal blog. ( http://www.hergros.blogspot.com/ ) Much of what I wrote there I wrote here, but you’ll also find the poem.

Writing a poem isn’t much different from writing a story. First, of course, I need a theme, but my heart has to be in it also. That’s why writing a poem for my wife is easy.  I start with a word or line and go from there. Sometimes I sit and wait for inspiration. If I get stuck, I quit and continue the next day. Something always pops up. I may write different short sentences and see where they take me. I try to rhyme the last word of two successive lines. I’ve written some poems with rhyming the first line with the third line. There are probably many other ways to write a poem. The way I write mine works best for me.

Like I said, I’m not into poems and haven’t done any studies on how to write them. I’m sure there are rules. However, sometimes other writers publish their poems on the forums I visit and I must say, I’ve read some awful stuff. Some so-called poems don’t rhyme at all. The writers just make up a string of words, sometimes unfinished sentences, and give them their own lines. This is an example of what I’ve seen (not exactly something I read. I made this one up, but it is close enough to give you an idea):

Ice, Water, cold

Must go swimming

Cold, cold, cold

Wet and strange

Clouds in the sky

Flowers and rain

Beauty everywhere

Snowflakes in the clouds

Fairies dancing

Blah...blah...blah...

Went out into the rain

Saw mud all over the place

Strange, how the sounds make echoes

Everywhere mud and water

Must write a poem about this

Wonderful experience with water

in the can and in the sky

Fell into a puddle

And got wet

And dirty

Crazy people watch

Must fly to Africa (Huh?)

The mantra of the world rests on my shoulders

And it is my calling to follow it

Blah...blah...blah.

I’m not kidding, I read similar stuff like that. It doesn’t make any sense and it doesn’t even rhyme. As far as I’m concerned, any idiot can write garbage like that. Oops, I wrote this. What does that make me? An idiot or a poet. I wonder. Wow! This could be the beginning of something big...Maybe I’m a poet after all. Or maybe another Picasso. Oh, right, he was not a poet but a painter. I never understood his paintings either, but people who apparently know what they’re all about pay millions to buy them. Apparently, it takes a different mindset.  Anyway, I don’t consider that kind of stuff poetry. Unless...? Hmm. Perhaps I don’t understand this whole thing. Makes me wonder...Something to ponder... Hey, that rhymes. Another poem coming up?

SLAP! Let’s get back to reality.

Merry Christmas to you all and may you all have a prosperous 2014 writing many stories, novels, and poems that  make sense.

Changing a title and other musings

After giving it much thought, I changed the name of the main character in the novel I'm presently working on. It is slow going because of other things I'm doing. This time of year is always busy with hunting season just behind me, Christmas coming, and other stuff that pops up. Perhaps I'm not as dedicated to my writing as I used to be. There are many reasons for it progressing so slowly, but I've been trying to write something every day, even it is just a few lines or paragraphs. I have an outline already worked out, now it's just a matter of fleshing it out and writing the story.

As usual, things change as I'm writing the story. New ideas pop up and I'm going with the flow. I changed the name of the detective from Mark Canon to Luus Canon and now to Lews Canon. It makes more sense. You'll see when you read the new posting, or perhaps it is not easily noticed from such a short excerpt. Maybe I'll post a bit more.

I'm at around 19,000 words right now. I have no idea how many words it will take to finish the novel, but as I write more ideas appear and that's how the story moves ahead...one word, one sentence, one paragraph at a time. Eventually I will be done with it.

As I wrote in a previous article, I'm not sure where my writing will take me. I'm going to try with this humorous detective novel to see what readers want. I am sort of enjoying writing this one, but I have to admit, I enjoyed writing Fantasy and Science Fiction more. Somehow I can immerse myself deeper in those stories and they seem to flow easier and better. The erotica adds a bit of spice to the writing.

There are no explicit sex scenes in Lews Canon. Sex is mentioned, there is bantering going on between the male and female characters, but everything happens behind closed doors. We don't enter.

I keep reading that most readers who buy ebooks are women. They like romance novels. And they do like erotica. Just look at the success of 50 Shades of Grey. Not many writers actually understand how such an apparently bad novel can achieve such success. It is an enigma, but I'm sure the writer doesn't care. She sold over 50 million copies and made over 90 million Dollars. Who cares if the novel is badly written with many mistakes. The readers didn't seem to mind or care.

It is doubly sad when I think how many hours I spend editing my novels, making certain there are no inconsistencies and no spelling errors (but they creep in no matter how often I read the novel!), just to find that none of that really seems to matter. The readers aren't there for the kind of novels I love to write. Much of the problem, of course, is marketing. I don't want to spend money on advertising and the sites where I talk about my new and old novels have a score of other writers doing the same thing. Competition is fierce and the members (readers and writers) who belong to these groups don't change much, even though sometimes new people join. They prefer to read certain genres and they will only buy from writers they've read before. If I'm one of those writers I am happy and consider myself lucky.

I know I don't spend enough time marketing my books. If my name doesn't pop up all the time, it will be forgotten. But I'd rather write my stories than spend my time commenting on sites (I do that anyway. Sometimes more often than not) or trying to peddle my books. I always hope somebody sees my name and book in the ocean of other writers and books and I hope this someone likes my stuff. That's all I can hope for. So I'll just keep on writing.

In fact, I should have been writing on my novel instead of writing this into my blog. That's just how it goes. Somehow I always get sidetracked, but I enjoy doing this, anyway.