Posts Tagged ‘writing’

Video Rage: Begin the Final Draft!

Posted: March 31, 2016 in Novel, Progress Report, Writing
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I came home from the grocery story just a little while ago, and logged into my email after I put the groceries away. I was surprised and pleased to see an email from my fabulous editor, Britney Thompson Mills, with her marks and remarks on the third draft of Video Rage. You know what that means! One more draft and we begin the publication process!

Now if you don’t know what Video Rage is, it’s the sequel to my first novel, Reborn City.  And if you don’t know what Reborn City is, it’s the story of street gangs in a dystopian city-state in Earth’s near future, and a conspiracy involving the leaders of a rising gang known as the Hydras and the leaders of the city. The novel features themes of Islamaphobia, racism, drug addiction, gang violence, and overcoming other people’s expectations. It’s also a bit more realistic than other dystopian stories, with problems that mirror problems of today’s world, and a society that you can actually imagine forming.

Reborn City, my very first published novel.

Reborn City, my very first published novel.

The sequel to Reborn City, Video Rage, follows the Hydras soon after the end of the first novel, as they face the same problems made that much worse, and deal with new threats that are intent on taking their lives. I’ve been working on VR since my third year of college, and I’m glad to see that we’re finally just one step away from publication. So I’ll take a break from working on Rose–I’ve only gotten a tiny bit of that edited, anyway, so no big deal–and get through VR as fast as my little fingers can type.

In fact, I think I’ll start tonight! Look forward to seeing a post with a release date some time in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, why not check out Reborn City? A lot of people have told me that they really enjoyed reading the book, and that they cannot wait to read VR. So if you think it sounds interesting and want to check the novel out, you can find copies in paperback and e-book from Amazon, Createspace, and Smashwords. And whatever your thoughts, please let me know what you think. Review, comment, I love some good feedback, and I would love to hear yours.

And if you’re an author looking for someone to edit your book, why not check out Britney’s website? She’s got great skills and she’ll give your book the touch-up it needs. I speak from personal experience, and I highly recommend her.

That’s all for now. See you in a few hours, when it’s Friday (you know what that means). I’m off to edit!

Ignore the Naysayers

Posted: March 30, 2016 in Living and Life, Reflections, Writing
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Yesterday someone in one of my writers’ groups on Facebook posted about a recent upsetting experience. She’d told her family that her book was coming out later this year in July, and that she had other books on the way too. Apparently her family’s response was entirely negative, telling her that only rich and famous people actually called themselves authors, and that she should keep her head out of the clouds and on the ground because she obviously wasn’t one.

Not only was this reaction just plain horrible (we should be getting tons of love and support from our families for our writing dreams, not criticism and put-downs), but it’s also ignorant. While not all authors become rich and famous, they don’t need to be to be called authors. And even the rich and famous ones, which are rare to begin with, started out as dreamers with a manuscript they wanted to get published. Seriously, every one. JK Rowling was a single mother living on state benefits while writing Harry Potter. Stephen King was a teacher with three kids and not a lot of cash before the paperback rights to Carrie allowed him to move up the economic ladder a little. HP Lovecraft never saw true success in his lifetime, but he’s considered one of the most influential authors in modern-day horror. We all have to start somewhere.

But that’s beside the point. What I’m actually trying to say is that fame or finances are horrible ways to measure whether or not someone should be called an author. Someone could have millions in the bank or have a reality show and a famous spouse and write terrible fiction. No, if you’re going to measure by what right someone has to be called an author, then do it by how passionate someone is about writing, and by how their work resonates with others. If someone is very passionate about writing, about telling stories and sharing them with others, and that person’s work resonates with readers, I really think they deserve to be called an author. And in the case of this particular author, she’s clearly passionate about her writing, and it resonated enough with her publisher that they want to publish it and believe it’ll do well in sales. In my eyes, she definitely deserves to be called an author.

Of course, there are always people who feel they know better, whether or not they’re inside the industry, and there will always be people who just want to put others down just so they can put others down. I run across those people from time to time. I can’t say which kind the family of the author I’ve been talking about it, but I know what response I would give them: Screw you. Those people don’t hold any power unless you allow them to, and your own opinion of yourself and your work is more important than what they have to say. And if they’re only going to say hurtful or denigrating things, then maybe it’s best to put them aside and find people who will give you the support you need. Let them stew in their own negativity.

Or to put things more simply (and humorously):

So let them naysay. It won’t get them anything if we don’t let them have anything from it. And I don’t know about you, but I don’t intend to let any of my detractors (few that I have) say anything bad about me and bring me down. No, I’ll keep on writing, editing, publishing, and marketing, and listen to the voices who will help me along in that.

And in its way, having those supporters is way better than any riches or fame (though those would be nice).

Self-Pub Authors: How to Deal with Idea Fragments

Posted: March 28, 2016 in ideas, Journalism, Writing
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I just published the other article I wanted to write before I started working on Rose. How to Deal with Idea Fragments is exactly how it sounds: tips on working with characters, concepts, or images that could be great stories but you don’t have enough material yet to really call it an idea. I took a lot of the material for this article from personal experience, and I’m hoping that it proves very helpful to writers everywhere who may struggle with these fragments on occasion.

Go check out the article when you have a moment. And if you get a moment, why not check out the rest of the website? Self-Published Authors Helping Other Authors is a fantastic blog from independent writers, by independent writers, and for independent writers. There, you can find articles on writing, editing, publishing and marketing, all without having to use a big publishing company. I’ve found it extremely helpful in the past, and I’m sure you will too.

That’s all for now. I’m going to try to get some work done on Rose today. I actually started work on the third draft late last night, and while I didn’t make a lot of progress, I at least started the process. Hopefully I can get it a little further along today, right my Followers of Fear?

#FirstLineFriday

Posted: March 25, 2016 in ideas, Novel, Writing
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It’s Friday again, so you know what that means. It’s #FirstLineFriday!

Now if you’re unfamiliar with what #FirstLineFriday is, here are the rules. On Fridays, you:

  1. Create a post on your blog entitled #FirstLineFriday, hashtag and all.
  2. Explain the rules like I’m doing now.
  3. Post the first one or two lines of a potential story, a story-in-progress, or a completed or published story.
  4. Ask your readers for feedback and encourage them to try #FirstLineFriday as well (tagging them if necessary).

This week’s entry comes from a story I’ve had sitting in the back of my head for a while. Without going into details, it involves issues of faith and belief, as well as devotion and power. It’ll be a very dark and probably bleak book when it’s finally written. Anyway, enjoy:

I remember the day I lost faith almost as clearly as if it had happened yesterday. Probably a good thing too, because my lack of faith is what allowed me to survive.

Thoughts? Errors? Let’s discuss.

And while we’re here, I think I’ll tag someone again. This week I’m tagging…Angela Misri of A Portia Adams Adventure! Angela, in honor of your new book, No Matter How Improbable, being released, I hereby tag you for #FirstLineFriday. Hope you enjoy doing it almost as much as I do every week. Or as much as I’m enjoying the new book. I’m about nine or ten chapters in at the time I’m writing this, and I have to say, I find it very intriguing. Especially including real historical figures in the story. That’s a pretty cool touch.

That’s all for now. If there’s anything else to post about this weekend, you’ll hear about it. In the meantime, have a good day and I’ll see you all later. Have a good one, my Followers of Fear!

Give in to Love, Not Hate: Reactions to Brussels

Posted: March 22, 2016 in Living and Life, Reflections
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Earlier today, Brussels was hit by a wave of terrorist attacks. An airport and a metro station were hit by explosions that killed thirty and injured one-hundred and thirty more. ISIS has claimed responsibility, making this the second attack in Europe the group has perpetrated in the past year. And once again, we are reeling from the horrors caused by these monsters, and coming together to stand firm against them.

In these troubled times, it is good that we come together. ISIS and those who think like them hope that there actions will cow the Western world, fill us with fear and make our governments and our societies collapse. Instead, the Western world comes together in support of our fallen and wounded, vowing to stand against and increase our efforts to destroy vicious cancers like these terrorist groups.

However, at times like these it is tempting, even in our solidarity against terrorism, to give into fear and turn on those whom we should stand with because of a misplaced association. Already in the wake of Brussels, increased calls to monitor Muslims have been sounded from all sectors, including from presidential candidates here in the United States. On social media, the hashtag #StopIslam has been trending, associating Islam with terrorism. And although this hashtag has been condemned by both social media companies and users, the outcry has seemingly only grown the trend. Once again, it seems a lot of people feel that Islam and Muslims are to blame for what happened in Brussels today.

I have met and made friends with plenty of Muslims in my time. I’ve studied the religion, out of curiosity and for my own education. And as many of you know, my first novel featured very prominently a main character who is Muslim. And I’ve maintained for years that the people who commit these horrible acts of barbarism, no matter what they may believe or claim, are not Muslims. Or if they are, they are very poor examples of Muslims, like Westboro Baptist is a poor example of a Christian church, or the man who murdered Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin is a poor example of a Jew.

And yet it saddens me that so many people disagree, and that the world is slowly beginning to look like the fictional landscape of my novel Reborn City.

In these times, it is important to not turn on each other and look for scapegoats. The only people to blame are the actual members of ISIS, the terrorists who set off the explosions and the people who funded them and helped to coordinate their attacks. Not the people who worship in peace, who go to work every day and bring home money for their families and want only to live a good life, and condemn every act of terrorism that is done by these monsters. We must remember this as we move in the coming months to prevent further attacks and to beat back this menace. Only together can we truly stand together in solidarity and win this war.

So in the future to come, let us not give into fear or hate. Let us not blame people who have never done an aggressive act in their lives or just want to live in peace and harmony with their neighbors. Let us not listen to those in power who make it seem acceptable or even smart to give into this hate and fear. Instead, let us come together. because only together are we strong enough. Let us embrace love, unity and kindness, and say to those who dislike our way of life, “You shall not tear us down! We are working together, we are embracing our neighbors, and because of that you shall not win!”

Because only together, only through love and through reaching out and not giving into fear can we beat back this evil and make tomorrow safer. If we give into our fears, we’ll only divide, and victimize, and maybe feed the phenomena we are trying so hard to destroy.

And that cannot happen. We cannot let it happen.

So let us come together. Let us stand together. And let us come out of this so much stronger than we did coming in.

Prepping to Work on “Rose” Again

Posted: March 21, 2016 in Novel, Reflections, Writing
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So I finished that outline for that new novel I plan to write for NaNoWriMo later this year. First draft of the outline, anyway. I probably will revisit it again before November, make some more tweaks and possibly add a scene or two. It’s a ghost story, and since ghost stories tend to involve the protagonist or protagonists being affected on a very personal level by the spirits involved, often by exacerbating personal problems as well as actually haunting the people involved (ghosts and ghost stories are very intimate that way, I’ve noticed), I’ll want to make sure that that’s done right in this story before I write it.

Now that that’s taken care of, I’m finally getting around to working on Rose, the novel I wrote as a thesis for my senior year of college. If you’re unfamiliar with that novel, it’s about a woman with amnesia who finds herself trapped in the home of a man who says he’s her boyfriend, her body going through astounding changes which this man says was to save her life. I started writing it in September 2014, went back a couple weeks later to rework the entire story because the direction I was going in at first just wasn’t right for the story I wanted to tell, and finished the first draft in January 2015. Not too long afterwards I did a second draft that I finished around April, and I haven’t touched it since.

So yeah, it’s been nearly a year since I worked on that novel. But between working and living in Germany, writing some original short stories and editing Video Rage twice and giving Laura Horn a much-needed second draft, can you blame me?

Okay, I might have also been a bit hesitant to approach Rose again. During my thesis defense at the end of my senior year, my advisor told me that if I were to get Rose up to the level worthy of getting it published, I would have to do quite a lot of work on it. And not just grammar and spelling, though that was mostly okay. I had to work in new scenes, space out some others, rework a couple of characters, and change a bunch of stuff in the beginning of the book. Add to that the normal work of editing, and I’ve got one hell of a third draft ahead of me. It’s a bit intimidating, almost like starting a new novel and facing a blank page asking for sixty-thousand plus words.

Yeah, the horror writer’s scared of his own creation. Make fun of him and the irony. Go ahead, get it out of your system.

But you know what? I think I’m up for the task. I took Laura Horn, which I was sure would need an entire rewrite, and the worst that it came to was a few tossed chapters and one major plot point subtly changed to better reflect actual circumstances. If I can tackle that (and LH was a much longer book, by the way), I think I can tackle Rose.

And not only that, but with this being the third draft, I think once this is one I can send it to n editor for a final look-over before I get ready to publish the book. So if we’re lucky, I could have Rose ready for publication by the end of the year. Wouldn’t that be great?

So I’m going to get two articles out of the way, and then I’m going to get straight onto Rose (unless I get the notes back on VR, in which case editing that takes precedence). Wish me luck, my Followers of Fear. I’m going to be very busy these next couple of months (though that is kind of my life in general).

#FirstLineFriday

Posted: March 18, 2016 in ideas, Writing
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It’s Friday again, so you know what that means. It’s #FirstLineFriday! And it’s my mother’s birthday today. And tomorrow she and her partner/fiancee of several years will finally get married. Yeah, all that’s happening this weekend. I would go into more detail on that, but that’s not what this blog is about.

But enough about that. Let’s get to why we’re here. For those of you unfamiliar, here’s the rules for this weekly blogging ritual. On Fridays, you:

  1. You create a blog post on your own blog entitled “#FirstLineFriday”, hashtag and all.
  2. You explain the rules like how I’m doing.
  3. You post the first one or two lines of a potential story, a story-in-progress, or a completed or published story.
  4. You ask your readers for feedback and encourage them to try and do #FirstLineFriday.

This week’s entry, surprisingly, doesn’t come from a story or a story idea. It’s from an idea fragment, which is basically when you have something–an image, a character, a concept, etc.–which could be part of a story but doesn’t have a story to go with. This would be like if JK Rowling had the idea for a boy wizard named Harry Potter but hadn’t yet thought up Hogwarts or Harry’s struggle with Voldemort. Great basis for a story, but where do you go from there without the magic school or the villain? It takes a bit of thought to make the fragments into full on ideas, and then actually write them. Unfortunately for me, I’ve had a lot of idea fragments swirling around my head lately, and I’ve been unable to think of a story for them yet, usually because I’m trying to think of something somewhat original that doesn’t sound like a similar story or hasn’t been done to death for the fragment. As you can probably tell, that can be difficult at times.

DAMN YOU, WORLD WHERE NOTHING UNDER THE SUN IS ORIGINAL! DAMN YOU!!!! I’m sorry, I’m just very passionate about trying to come up with stories that people feel isn’t like an already well-known story. Can you tell?

Anyway, here’s an opening that could go to this one idea fragment, assuming I actually got it to coalesce into a full-fledged story idea. Enjoy:

The little girl biked home, her blonde braids flying out behind her. She had no idea she was trying to outrun a storm that she was the herald of.

Thoughts? Errors? Let me know in the comments below.

And while you’re at it, why not try #FirstLineFriday yourself? It’s a lot of fun, and it’s great practice for writers wanting to try different openings.

In fact, I’m going to see if I can get someone into it by tagging them. I pick…Kat Impossible! Kat, you’ve been tagged. You have to participate in one #FirstLineFriday! Have fun with it!

Well, that’s all for now. I’m going to be working on a couple of articles this weekend in between the wedding and everything else, so keep an eye out for them. Have a good one, my Followers of Fear!

Personal Problems for the Characters

Posted: March 13, 2016 in Reflections, Writing
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So I’ve been working on the outline for a new novel that I plan to write for National Novel Writing Month in November (I know, it’s early for that, but I need to work on something original because I’ve been doing nonstop editing since last NaNoWriMo, and if I don’t work on something new before I work on Rose I’m going to scream). And while I’ve been working on it, building the story chapter by chapter, I had the feeling that there was something missing from the story.

About two nights ago, I hit across what was missing. It was personal problems! Good horror stories often deal with issues that the characters are dealing with both internally and in their own lives! In great horror stories like Cujo and the novel I read and reviewed the other day, the main characters are trying to keep their families alive in some state and not lose their livelihoods in addition to trying to survive rabid dogs or a haunted house. In the TV series Supernatural (which I’ve been binging on lately, it’s so good!), in addition to dealing with evil entities and the oncoming Apocalypse, the protagonists Sam and Dean Winchester have to deal with the fact that they’re brothers, with all the issues that family can have when living and working in proximity, and then some.

And I don’t do enough of that exploring–or indicate that I will be doing that sort of exploring–in the outline for this new project. Which is actually a very big issue if I think about it.

There are several reasons why this is. One is having these personal issues helps the audience identify with the characters. Everybody has problems, and seeing people with relatable issues in their life–recent loss, money troubles, relationship issues, addiction, etc.–even if they’re just characters in a story, make people feel for them. In American Horror Story: Asylum, the character of Lana Winters is thrown into Briarcliff as a patient because she’s a lesbian. We of the present day know she was born that way and there’s nothing wrong with her, but back then, the LGBT community was seen by many as immoral or insane, and faced all sorts of discrimination. This immediately makes her a lot more sympathetic to us than if she was just a regular ambitious reporter, and helps draw us into the story as well as makes us identify with the characters.

Another reason creators explore these deep, personal issues in horror fiction, even when you’ve got everything from ghosts to serial killers to aliens to vampires and everything in-between, is that it keeps the characters interesting and the audience interested. Going back to Supernatural, what would the show be like if each episode was about the Winchester brothers facing a new monster and defeating it, plus a few quips? Well sure, it’d be entertaining for a while, but with no change in that formula things would’ve gotten stale probably ten seasons ago. Part of the draw is seeing these two very-different brothers go through ups and downs in their relationships, figuring out right and wrong in a world full of grey areas and just trying to be good people and good to each other at the end of the day, in addition to stopping the end of the world and all the things that go bump in the night.

And third, we writers like to explore these characters, their problems and traumas, and how the characters deal with them over the course of the story. Some good examples of this come from my own work. If you’ve read Reborn City, you know that protgonist Zahara Bakur doesn’t really start out as heroine material. She’s as far from a Wonder Woman as you cn get. But through the story, I explore both the problems she deals with as a Muslim gangster in an environment that isn’t very nice to Muslims and Zahara’s doubts and fears. And I love doing that, I love watching characters like Zahara grow from someone whom you’d never expect to be a hero to someone whom you’d willingly follow into a tricky situation.

So yeah, exploring personal problems with our characters, whatever those problems are, is definitely something we authors do a lot of. And I need to do it more with this new project I’m working on, even if I’m not picking it up again until September or October. Actually,I’m a little surprised I’m not doing more exploration. There’s a whole big problem with the protagonist’s relationship with another character–let’s just say they shouldn’t be an item for a very good reason–and I’m so not exploiting that enough. I really have to explore how this relationship could mess with the characters while at the same time something evil is attacking the town.

In fact, I’m going to get on that right now. Wish me luck, my Followers of Fear. Hopefully by the time I’m done going over this outline, it’ll be as good as it needs to be for November.

#FirstLineFriday

Posted: March 11, 2016 in Writing
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It’s Friday again, so you know what that means. It’s #FirstLineFriday!

Now if you’re unfamiliar with #FirstLineFriday, here what you do. On Fridays, you:

  1. Create a blog post on your blog titled #FirstLineFriday, hashtag and all.
  2. Explain the rules like I’m doing.
  3. Post the first one or two lines of a potential story, a story-in-progress, or a completed or published story.
  4. Ask your readers for feedback and encourage them to try #FirstLineFriday on their own blogs.

That’s the gist of it. Anyway, I had a lot of trouble thinking of which story to use for this week’s entry. Not that I didn’t have so many story ideas to share (God knows I’ve got enough to keep me writing for decades), but picking the right story each week can be difficult. I even started this post not really knowing what two lines I was going to put down. In the end I decided to go with two lines that could begin a bunch of different stories, and with great effect each time. Enjoy:

Whenever something awful and unthinkable happens, people look for a higher reason behind it. Sometimes, the only reason that can possibly work is simply that shit happens.

Thoughts? Corrections? Let me know in the comments below.

And while you’re at it, why not do #FirstLineFriday on your own blog? It’s a lot of fun, and I always have fun when I do it. Why not try it? Especially if you’re a writer, it’s a good way to work on openings for stories.

That’s all for now. I’ll see if I can get another post out later this weekend, if I have something to post about. Until then, have a great weekend, my Followers of Fear.

Review: “Within These Walls” by Ania Ahlborn

Posted: March 7, 2016 in Novel, Review, Scary Stuff
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“Within These Walls” by Ania Ahlborn

I’m honestly surprised I haven’t heard of Ania Ahlborn before. I got a recommendation from Audible a couple of months ago to try one of her books, and I ended up getting the paperback version after I finished A Storm of Swords. I’m glad I did, because Within These Walls is one of the scariest books I’ve ever read, on par with the likes of Stephen King.

Within These Walls follows Lucas Graham, a true-crime writer whose career has reached its peak and has since spiraled down into the dust. He gets a letter in the mail from Jeffrey Halcomb, an incarcerated cult leader whose followers killed themselves back in the 1980’s, offering to give Graham his previously-unheard story if Graham promises to live in the house that Halcomb’s followers killed themselves in. With his marriage on the rocks and no other options, Graham and his teenage daughter pack up and head out to the house in Washington, where they find that Halcomb’s promises to his followers of eternal life might be more than just talk.

It’s going to be hard to summarize all that I loved about this book, but I will try. First, it’s hard to put down. The story twists and turns, making you guess where Ahlborn is taking her book every moment. I also liked how she could capture the voices of each of her different POV characters. Lucas comes across as both desperate and obsessed, consumed by the promise of Halcomb’s story and what it could do for his life. Flashbacks told through the eyes of Audra Snow, one of Halcomb’s followrs, really break your heart as you see her fall under Halcomb’s spell. But best of all are the chapters told through the eyes of Jeanie, Graham’s teenage daughter. Teenage logic and thought processes are contradictory, ruled by emotional swings, and not always bound by the rules of the real world, and Ahlborn captures that so well with Jeanie. It actually taught me a couple of things about writing for that age group, something I’ll hopefully keep with me in future stories.

But really, the best part is the scares. Every scare is perfectly done, like something out of a horror movie. In fact, this would be a great movie. Why isn’t this a movie yet? From the initial move-in to the house, to the powerful, climactic end, every spooky scare will chill you and make you worry for the characters and for your sleep. It’s just wonderful.

The one problem I had was that I would’ve liked Graham to maybe investigate some of the house’s history as well as Jeffrey Halcomb and his followers. There’s documents in between a few chapters that go over the house’s history, among other things, but I think it would’ve been interesting if Graham had read some of those and had been affected by them. But it’s a small point, so whatever. I still enjoyed the book.

All in all, Within These Walls a 4.8 out of 5. It’s scary, it’s exciting right till the end, and I will definitely be checking out Ahlborn’s work in the future. If you like a good horror novel, this might be the one for you.

Oh by the way, after I finished this book, I watched a movie over dinner called The Veil about a cult with strange, supernatural happenings, which I only found out after I started watching it. And both the book and the movie were probably inspired by Jim Jones and the Jonestown Massacre, which I read up on this afternoon after I heard the new Outlast horror game was inspired by the happenings at Jonestown. That’s like four Jonestown-related things in one day. I seriously hope that’s a coincidence and not God giving me a sign for what I should do with the rest of my life.

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