If you want to be a doctor, you go to medical school and they tell you what to do for about seven years. You get your degree and you train, and you don’t really have to go figuring out how to remove tonsils just by going in there and snipping random stuff.
If you want to be a teacher, you get your degree, you student-teach, you learn from people who are doing it right in front of you. They don’t just drop you into a dusty arena full of middle-schoolers and leave you. (Though it probably feels like that, at first.)
But when you say. “I wanna be a paperback writer! Paperback writeeeerr!” People are like, “Good luck with that.”
Thanks for all the luck, guys. It’s been very useful.
If you’ve read Dronefall, then you know that in the back it says book two, Lightwaste is coming in summer of 2018. That’s not a spoiler. It’s technically more like a lie. Obviously, here we are in the third week of March, 2019, and do we have Lightwaste? No. Why?
I Have No Idea™
From now on, I’m going to note in my captain’s log every time I hit an obstacle in my journey from finishing a book to publishing it. It would make quite a chronicle for Lightwaste. Since summer of ’18, I’ve been telling myself, “yeah, probably next week,” almost every week. I don’t think I could even classify the feeling as suspense anymore. Hitchcock would have thrown the book of my life across the room by now. This has gone on about seven months too long.
I’ve read a pile of books on writing and I tend to browse multiple blogposts on the craft through the week. I’ve finished eleven novel manuscripts and made four available to the reading public. But I’m still groping in the dark when it comes to the nitty-gritty digital world of publishing. I really don’t know what I’m doing.
But I’ve made up my mind to let it bother me as little as possible. I don’t want to get too wrapped up in the chaos of the last seven months and the very possibly extensive chain of roadblocks still ahead. Sometimes I’m smart enough to see work as a game. Part of the game is hacking through Mirkwood with frankly nothing to guide you and assure you that you’re even on the right track. I pick up new skills all the time—things I never would have set out to learn, because I never saw them coming. In doing this I repeatedly surprise myself by doing things I thought were beyond me with my total lack of training.
So, even though I don’t deny that having no idea what I’m doing is potentially extremely frustrating (particularly when it gets in the way of my production of art) I think I’m actually doing pretty well, considering. In fact, right before I published this post, I ordered my second page proof of Lightwaste. Maybe I really will publish the book by the end of the month. Who knows?
Gotta love a big list post, right? I’ve had this list stashed away in my writing journal notebook for a while, just as a reminder to myself and a brainstorming prompt. Characters and their interactions are essential to driving a story and keeping it dynamic and interesting. Too often I notice authors slacking off on the complexities of interpersonal relationships in their stories. Some characters are nice to each other, some are mean, some are in love, some mentor each other or behave “like brothers” or “like sisters.”
But within these general outlines in real life, there’s a lot more going on than just that. There are numerous ways for brothers and sisters to relate to each other, and numerous ways to be in love. Sometimes characters can actually seem to lose their personalities and become stock-photo siblings or cute cake-topper couples. Unfortunately, this seriously detracts from my emotional investment in their relationships as the reader.
So, as a writer, I need to stretch my imagination a bit and search for ways to develop character relationships outside the obvious. This post is mostly focusing on positive, or overall-positive relationships. There’s a lot more to these relationships in real life than thoughtful words, friendly smiles and comforting hugs all around. Here are a few suggestions I noted to myself.
#1 Let them fight
No matter how much two characters love each other, there’s no way their interaction is going to be a frolic through a meadow of dancing buttercups all the time. Even the nicest characters have flaws. (And remember, conflict is a good thing when you’re writing fiction.)
#2 Give them a secret they can share
Another thing that’s always good is secrets. And when two characters get to guard a secret together, they naturally grow closer. It can be anything from a matter of life and death to simply trying to hide a stain on the carpet from important company.
#3 Let them worry about each other
I probably see this enough with romantic couples or parents with children, but people worry about people they care about whether it’s technically their responsibility to or not. And in a gripping story, there’s always plenty to be concerned about. Explore your characters’ personalities in the way they express or don’t express their concern.
#4 Have them plot something together
Similar to the idea of them keeping a secret together, showing your characters working on an elaborate plot or plan together will highlight their individual problem-solving approaches and unique kinds of ingenuity.
#5 Make them laugh at each other
I’m not really talking about intentional jokes, here. Characters who are close friends will be very sensitized to each other’s…peculiarities. And once they’ve reached a point when they know their relationship can take it, they will probably start both teasing and simply smirking to themselves over the other’s quirks.
#6 Let them discover each other’s weaknesses
Weaknesses are essential for creating a fully-developed character, and once characters have stumbled upon each other’s broken places, there’s potential for a lot of interesting dynamics between them as well as, of course, plot developments.
#7 Make them misunderstand each other
Your characters may have similarities and might see eye-to-eye most of the time, but they are distinct individuals with different experiences. Confusion is bound to interfere with their communication sometimes, and it can add to your story while highlighting differences in your characters’ views of reality.
#8 Give them in-jokes
My siblings and I have so many in-jokes. It doesn’t take very long to start creating them within groups, so this should also be true of fictional characters. In-jokes can be used as running gags throughout books or throughout a series to add that all-important humor element and reference characters’ past experiences together.
#9 Have them protect each other
And I don’t mean create an Official Protective Boyfriend character and leave it at that. A protective boyfriend is pretty predictable unless you can create a unique and memorable way for him to express his protectiveness. Sometimes a best friend’s protective impulses can be just as strong as any hunky love-interest’s, and outside of a romantic situation, they can pack a lot more of a punch.
#10 Let them reverse roles sometimes
Sometimes the funny one gets in a bad mood and the more serious one has to try to lighten the moment. Don’t give one character all the good lines and don’t let one get all the injuries while the other is constantly the designated healer. Turning the tables now and then will allow you to explore more sides to your character interactions and create depth.
#11 Give them a chance to break rules for each other
This is especially good for deepening relationships involving rule-abiding characters. Sometimes a character should find themselves in a situation where they’ll either have to go against the flow or sacrifice their devotion to their friend. Actually, they could choose either way, and it would add dimension to their relationship and make for some interesting plot material.
#12 Make their wills or personalities clash now and then
Strong-willed characters are always satisfying to read about. Stubbornness is a major factor within relationships and it can be a great way to create friction and conflict between two lovable characters. The same is true for characters who simply clash because of pronounced differences in personality. Sometimes neither is in the wrong. They just approach the world differently and get in each other’s way.
#13 Let them pick up on each other’s hints
People who are close enough and interact frequently enough can reach a point where they almost seem telepathic because of their ability to read each other. Certain facial tics, postures, or ways of phrasing statements can carry a lot of meaning, and some characters could become great at recognizing them. Some characters might read the signs and analyze them consciously, others might get a hunch and not be sure where it was coming from. Another opportunity for characterization.
#14 Have them miss each other when they’re separated
This constitutes a whole plot for some romances, but it shouldn’t be neglected in platonic relationships. Separation can highlight the ways characters impact each other’s daily lives. What does character A miss when character B is gone? Think outside the box. Of course, they miss their smile and their jokes, but think of the other, more specific things they might take for granted.
#15 Let them sacrifice for each other
Sacrifice is a great way to demonstrate love between characters through meaningful, plot-driving action rather than words or warm fuzziness. If one character has the opportunity to give up something of their own goals or desires to further those of another character, it always rings true for readers who are hoping to see both true friendship and true heroism in protagonists.
This might be the most useful technique I’ve ever discovered when it comes to editing and revision. I did it for the first time while I was working on Dronefall Two, Lightwaste. I’m at the dreaded revision stage for my current WIP, Rainchill, Dronefall Three, but I’m not dreading it like I used to, because I just finished creating my reverse-outline.
So, let’s get straight to business.
What is a Reverse-Outline?
I can’t remember where I read it, but somewhere someone said you should keep a running outline of your chapters and scenes that you can refer to during your revision process. I decided what I wanted was a concise, uncluttered, list-like map of my whole novel in clear chronological order. It looks a lot like a plot, but actually a bit more detailed, in my case, and much easier to read. A reverse-outline is an inventory of what’s there, in your finished manuscript, before you begin your revisions.
How do I create a Reverse-Outline?
If you decide to implement this tool into your own revision routine, you’re going to want to customize it and tweak it so that you get the most out of it. I give my first draft a rest for…probably too long, and then return for an objective read-through. I divide my outline into chapters and my chapters into scenes.
I label my chapters with numbers and names. I know a lot of people don’t name their chapters, but if you don’t, I might recommend that you give them names or some quick descriptors in your reverse-outline. This will just make it a lot easier to navigate and see your overall plot as you revise.
Most of my chapters contain three scenes, but the actual number of scenes ranges from two to five. There are several ways you can choose to handle your scenes in a reverse-outline. You could just write a quick sentence describing what happens. Or you could write the character goal, the conflict, and the outcome. I have been using James Scott Bell’s HIP acronym. H=hook, the thing that pulls you into the scene. I=intensity, the action or conflict of the scene. P=prompt, the thing that makes you read on. I find this method helpful because it highlights how readable and interesting a scene is…or is not. This way, when I’m revising, it’s easy to see when a scene is boring.
So, when I write all this down, it sort of looks like this:
Ch. 1 CHAPTER NAME
Sc. 1
H:a crazy thing happens I: it escalates to global hysteria P:someone get help!
I leave wide margins and make notes when I find a major plot-hole or scene I could improve. Once I’ve been through the whole novel, writing it out this way, I can get to work on revisions with my reverse-outline as a roadmap.
How do I use a Reverse-Outline?
A reverse-outline does some really helpful things for me. First off, it forces me to read my first draft quickly, and summarize my overall structure as well as my chapters and scene-work. I now have my story written out in its most important details in an easily accessible format. Not only have I probably made the major plot-holes and dropped threads clear to myself already, but I can keep this reference handy for all my smaller edits. Having the plot in front of me all the time will safeguard me against creating other plot-holes that might result from my stupid brain trying to mess with the chronology of my story in my memory. (This is a problem for me.) I want to be able to quickly check the order of events without searching my document.
There aren’t a lot of limits to how you can use the reverse-outline in your editing process. I’ve gone through and ranked my ten weakest scenes and gone back in to improve each one. I’ve marked which scenes were action and which were reaction, found the turning-points, and flagged the scenes that seemed too heavy-handed or forced. You can track the emotional range of a story, or the surfacing of sub-plots, or character POVs by color-coding. You name it. If it’s something you feel you need to edit for, you can use the reverse-outline to assist you.
Reverse-outlining might be particularly useful for visual people or those of us who stray quite a bit from our original plot and need to remind ourselves what actually went down in the manuscript. If you think this sounds like too much fuss, it actually isn’t. You’re going to want to read through your first draft anyway, and taking notes in this way really doesn’t take any extra time. If you’ve never done anything like this before, you might find that it actually helps take some of the pain out of revisions.
I remember the Hale-Bopp comet. I don’t really know why. I wasn’t even three yet in Spring of ‘97. But I remember Mom picking me up and pointing it out through the bathroom window facing west. It was surreal, even to my very young mind—like a shooting star that had been stopped.
We haven’t had a comet like Hale-Bopp since. I’ve spent most of my life anticipating the next “Great Comet.” We’re overdue for one. So, in 201X, I was paying close attention when I found out a massive comet called Ison was passing the orbit of Jupiter, inbound.
Ison was predicted to be “the Comet of the Century.” But there was a certain degree of uncertainty. It didn’t take too long for scientists to recognize Ison as both a highly unstable body and what they call a sundiver—perhaps a self-explanatory term.
You may or may not remember how the story ended, but I think it was on Thanksgiving night Earth got word that Ison was a goner. I saw the time-lapse on TV. It swung around the far-side of Sol and a brilliant spray of vaporized material spewed out the other side. The nucleus was gone.
But that was after I wrote the poem “I Dreamed of Ison.” I mixed the metaphors of the grandiose promises of comet Ison with the quiet childhood story of a stray cat, “Comet” who eventually disappeared again. It’s kind of odd reading it in retrospect knowing the details of Ison’s star-crossed meeting with the sun.
“I Dreamed of Ison” is one of the 31 poems included in my long-in-coming poetry book Songs from the Small Hours. The illustrated chapbook is finally available to the public via Amazon. (And via me, personally, shortly. I just ordered a box of 50 of those things to hand-sell.)
One thing though. I haven’t released it as an ebook. I just thought I should say that before you asked. I might or might not later, but I personally think it lends itself to paperback quite a bit more, and you would be cheating yourself buying it in electronic format—I might change my mind later. Depends on how many people yell at me that they would get it if it were an ebook, but have no interest in paperback, and throw smoke-bombs through my windows.
Honestly, I don’t know how many people actually read poetry—I mean once they get out of school. But if you’re one of those rare people, or would like to be, you can read my book. Here’s the link for it. You might enjoy it. There are poems about insomnia and butterflies and graffiti and windchimes and things like that.
Well, here it is. I can’t believe we’re now in the last year before the 20’s roar back around. It’s going to get weird, you know. We have such strong images of what the 20’s 30’s 40’s etc. represent that I don’t think anybody alive is really ready to adjust to the new millennium and a whole new round of decades by the same names. Or am I the only one who freaks out about things like that?
But anyway. This is going to be kind of a quick mishmash post. I’m just typing it up after work here at the library. Might as well. I’ve got a giveaway to publicize and I thought I might announce some semi-formal-ish reading and writing goals for 2019.
My artistic goals are really ambitious and I’m not going to write them all out here. Crazy stuff even outside of my writing life. Things involving producing two or three tin whistle CDs and learning digital art. I’ll be pretty excited if I even get half of this stuff done.
But first off…
Reading goals:
Read 50 books. I didn’t set a number last year, and I ended up kind of wishing I would have. I got kind of lazy. But 50 sounds doable this year…provided I read some fiction and shorter books now and then. *rents a 550 page biography of Einstein from the library*
At least 12 books on astronomy/cosmology/astrophysics/space exploration. This shouldn’t be hard for me. That’s my second language. I’m a major space nerd. Also, this biography totally counts.
At least 8 books on the craft of writing. I don’t intend to stop growing, and writing and reading about writing are some of the best ways to do that.
read certain classics that have been on my to-read list for way too long. Yeah. Got to do that eventually.
Read some non-fiction on subjects I’ve never read about before. I love exploring new fields and I’m going to make that a priority this year.
And fiction is apparently also a thing. So I’m aiming to try some novels. Maybe some mystery, maybe some sci-fi, maybe some dystopia…maybe even…*shudders*…some YA.
And…
Writing Goals:
PUBLISH SONGS FROM THE SMALL HOURS! Literally any day now. Just waiting on my final page proof.
PUBLISH LIGHTWASTE! Also very soon. I promise.
Edit and publish Dronefall Three, Rainchill. The first draft is complete. (It was my NaNoWriMo project.) It’s going to come out this Spring. I won’t make you wait.
Write, edit and publish Dronefall Four. I’m really excited to get the book four. The plot isn’t on paper yet, but I’ve got a cool and slightly creepy concept ready, and there are dual storylines…it’s gonna be fun.
Write and edit Dronefall Five. Yes, I actually intend to finish the Dronefall quintet this year. Kind of crazy. I highly doubt that Five will hit the press until 2020, though. I won’t push it that hard.
Publish a collection of short-stories. I’ve written several short stories and short story ideas breed like tribbles in my head. I might as well do it.
Publish a second book of poetry in the Fall. Are you counting? Yeah, I want to publish five books this year. Told you I was going crazy.
Anyway. I’m sure you’re exhausted just reading all this. Don’t get too tired. You’ve got a lot to d yourself this year and we’ve only just started. What better way to start than to enter a book giveaway? I mean, getting more books is prerequisite to reading more books, right? So, I just thought I’d like you to the giveaway celebrating the launch of Reveries Co., which includes a paperback copy of Dronefall among the loot.
Allow me to encourage you with the rather hollow words that the publication of Lightwaste is just around the corner. But it really is. All I’ve got left to tackle is a formatting issue that I can’t seem to solve. Once I get over that last of about a million speed-bumps, you will have Dronefall Two.
But while I continue to wrestle with that, let me tell you everything you get to know about Lightwaste right now. First off, it does have a cover.
And a back-cover copy.
The strongest lies are invisible.
Halcyon Slavic wanted to disappear. That was why she ran away from society in the first place. She could slip under the radar, do what she believed was right, be whoever she wanted to be. In her smothered world, these simple desires all require some degree of anonymity.
Yet when she accidentally discovers that she has in fact, no legal identity on the world-wide database, something changes. Apparently, the facts of her own identity are being hidden, but why? In a fevered search for the answer, Halcyon leaves the shadows of District Three Point five and returns to the exposure and control of the world she was raised in—a world that dangles by a fragile string of well-told lies.
She’s come to get the answers. She’s come to pull the mask off. And she’s come to wreck the equilibrium in ways she never thought she could.
It’s a bit longer than book one, which will likely be the trend throughout the series. It’s also strongly Halcyon-centric, which has its pros and cons. First off, you learn some stuff about Halcyon, and hopefully get a chance to connect with her more than you did in book one. Halcyon can be a strange person to work with. She pushes and pulls a lot while I write. In this book she’s really trying to get her footing and decide what she’s willing to fight for. She knows how to keep her head down, which she’s done for most of her life, but she’s starting to question if its really possible, or even right to keep hiding.
Lightwaste is kind of a product of my college years, actually. I found myself confronted with some of the same kinds of opposition Halcyon faces in returning to her own school campus in search of records about her own identity. I think a lot of college-age Christians are going to recognize what they read here—and probably younger ones too.
The Advocates for Education and Social Development—which is a massive international organization that controls education and media in the Dronefall universe—is really the biggest influence on the society Halcyon lives in. She finds herself sort of accidentally taking on this cultural behemoth all by her lone in Lightwaste. And the fight is anything but fair.
So, the focus of Lightwaste is a little different from Dronefall. It’s going to feel a bit more political than the other books in the series—though I deliberately avoid the details of politics in the Dronefall Series in favor of underlying issues. But it sets the stage and really defines the opposition for the last three books and I expect is going to feel very real for people who have been paying attention to current events.
Also, you get Zoltan Sycora’s backstory. Can I tempt you with that? I thought maybe I could.
P.S.: In anticipation of Lightwaste’s release, book one, Dronefall, is only 99c on Kindle. If you haven’t started the series yet, and would like to, here’s your chance. Thanks for having the patience to read to the bottom of this post.
Well, I sort of went radio-silent after claiming that I was going to beat the odds and still hit my goal on November 30th. The reason? I was kind of busy doing it.
You need to see my stats to appreciate what happened in November. I have created a graph for you to observe.
No, I’m not kidding. This is actually how I work. What you are observing is a numerical depiction of what it means to have energy-spikes. This really worried some of my professors in college.
This graph only spans from Day 7 forward. I got the brilliant idea of creating a word-count log in my writing notebook at that point, so that’s where we start. Yes, you are reading it right, I had a zero-word day on the 14th. My brain went on strike. I also had an 8,245-word day on the 23rd. Not claiming that was particularly healthy, either, honestly.
I hit my 100k on day 39 of the proposed 40. My average word count per day was 2,982. But as you can see, I rarely did anything like that. Overall, I like to think I was pretty unstoppable, considering that I was way behind where I wanted to be until the last two days. I kind of decided not to worry and to just embrace my talent for uh…total inconsistancy.
In this way, Dronefall III was born. Book three is called Rainchill, for those who haven’t heard. There’s been a great deal of action and suspense and some big reveals. If you get through the first two books, you will hopefully be rewarded by this one. But you still haven’t gotten the chance to read Lightwaste.
So, I thought it would only be fair to stop my insane last-week-of-NaNoWriMo writing and tell anyone within hearing some news from the wonderfully generous world of indie authors. There is a huge sale going on through Cyber Monday. There are over 150 clean indie books in a wide variety of genera on sale for as little as 99c or free. There are even some paperbacks available. You could get yourself a pretty good lineup of reading material if you tried. I’ve watched a lot of these authors, and some of the books are on my own to-read list, even though I try really hard to keep my to-reads under control. Anyway, check out the sale. And hurry up.
What’s more, if that’s not enough, there’s also a crazy giveaway going on. A really crazy one. I mean a literally 20 paperbacks to the winner crazy one. Do I have to say more? You probably will be wanting the link to that one too, won’t you. Okay.
I organized the 290 little circles in rows of ten. Each circle represents 100 words. Every 100 words, I plan to fill in one of the circles with a yellow colored pencil I have here with me. I’ve sectioned the rows off into 5 groups of 5 and 1 group of 4. The sections represent the six days I’ve given myself to catch up.
It almost looks possible. Especially with a cup of coconut almond bark tea—both of which will likely be gone before I’m finished writing this. I’m going to attack this thing. You probably won’t hear from me until Monday or later. I refuse to report until I’m caught up.
So, until then, good luck on whatever your own daring and dangerous adventures are this week. And I kind of hope you’re not as impractical and over-ambitious as some of us. I expected to do more tutorial and how-to post along the way here…but mainly I’ve been doing things wrong. So, here’s my tip for the day: don’t do things the way I do things.
Be back when I’m caught up. What, you don’t think I can do it? Let me show you something. Hold my tea.
Well, I’m not sure that I calculated that quite right. I counted today’s minimum required word-count as missing. I have not yet begun to write! Not today. I just got off work.
The books is going very well. The plot moves very fast but there’s still time for jokes and stuff, which is important. This entry is going to be quite short, I think. I don’t have much to say here, but I definitely need to get back to the book.
Happy NaNoWriMo to all. If you want to “buddy” me on the official NaNo site, my user name is TheLaughingVulcan
