Just got done changing from my old host to a new host. In the process, I lost the formatting and pictures on the blog here. It’s going to look a bit bland for a little while as I find a theme I can modify into a new design for the website. I hope to get the portfolio up and running again soon, too.
Here Be Construction
June 9th, 2009Rocket Road Trip
April 1st, 2009Just as a reminder, Shawn Boyles and I are still updating our webcomic Rocket Road Trip every Monday and Thursday. Follow a family of monster hunters as they get embroiled in B-movie fiascos!
47k
December 9th, 2008Just an update on the Nanowrimo book I was working on during November. I made it to 47,000 words, which isn’t too bad considering how crazy busy it was last month. We spent the last Saturday Christmas shopping, and in between shopping I wrote on a little computer I bought about seven years ago–and it was old when I acquired it.
Long about the 9pm that night, the little computer died, taking my writing with it (it was so old it didn’t even have USB capabilities). It wasn’t the 3k that I needed to reach 50k, but it was something, and I never recouped it over the next day.
But I’m happy with what I accomplished and will be finishing the book this month. I won’t, however, be using a ten-year old computer that might go kaput on me at any minute.
Revision and the Internal Editor
November 21st, 2008Hit 31k on the new book. I should be about halfway done, but it’s hard to tell. When I hit revision time, I think 25k will be about halfway. I habitually write a ton more than I really need. Darn exposition. I’m trying to learn how to dramatize more and tell less.
It’s feeling pretty good so far. I’m excited to go back through and revise it and add more structure to the story, but being able to make stuff up on the spot is really the way to go sometimes. The characters, especially the side characters, are so much more interesting when I create them as they’re needed. I’ve had to rewrite a few times, however, when I didn’t like the first side character I placed in a certain spot. The second time at it, the characters turned out really fun.
There are some interesting things I’ve had to do due to the fact that I had no outline to speak of when I began this book at the beginning of the month.
For example, I’ve cut a lot of stuff already when I notice that I’m straying from the preconceived story in my head.
I think being able to reign the story in a bit has come from the experience I had writing Nethermore, which was written mostly without an outline and wound up being a train wreck because I added every little deviation and tried to make each one make sense within the plot, which royally messed up character and pacing.
So, I have a little bit better idea now when I’m straying too far. The little deviations can be left and dealt with in revisions. The big deviations would muddy up the whole recipe and cause huge swathes of rewriting. Here’s to hoping I’ve learned my lesson on that and can move toward a more coherent first draft.
There a lot of days where I feel like what I’m writing is utter drivel, and I have to keep telling myself that I can fix things after the fact. A sculptor has to have material to sculpt from. Right now, I’m creating that material: the base, the underpainting, whatever you want to call it. Sculpting—revisions—will come later.
If I fixed everything as I went, it would be like painting a painting to completion in 1 inch by 1 inch squares, including all the nitpicky details and without having drawn the thing beforehand. It might be an interesting exercise but the fact remains that the painting’s still going to look weird when it’s done. (Which, again, is what happened with Nethermore.)
My friend Shawn asked me the other day if revision is something “pretty darn essential to being a writer.”
I’m afraid it’s pretty darn essential. Unless you’re .01% of the writing population. And it may not be so much rewriting everything, but a combination of rewriting and revising. But sentences are deleted, some are added or changed to create better clarity, scenes are added or deleted to make the story fill out better, etc.
Rewriting used to scare me to death! Until I started looking at novels as sculptures and saw in my writing group that all the published writers are not only good writers but also good REwriters.
In other news, I went to the midnight showing for Twilight with my wife and a group of family and friends. My review: it was a faithful adaptation of the book. Best part of the movie: insertion of music by Muse: Supermassive Black Hole. Best part of the night: seeing my wife get very excited to see the movie.
Display Model
November 19th, 2008Last night after work I wound up at Costco with the intent of meeting my wife there. We’ve been without a TV for two or three weeks now since my brother-in-law moved out of the basement. We’re not big TV watchers, but we do have a Wii, and you kind of need a TV in order to get the video game fix.
I wound up waiting for about an hour, and even though it’s Costco, I can only do so much looking, and I’m wandering around wishing I could do some writing.
But wait! They’ve got laptops here with usb drives and Notepad on them! I picked the laptop with the most discreet location and a good view of the nearby employees. I plugged in my thumb drive and wrote about 800 words in twenty minutes.
Not a bad output, considering. I just wish I’d thought of it earlier. Maybe I should start writing at Costco every night.
Return
November 18th, 2008It’s time to start updating frequently again after a long absence. Things have been crazy! Since I last posted, I’ve gotten married, become a step-dad, moved to a new city, started a new job, and started my next novel. Life has given me one crazy ride, and I’m still getting used to things.
Couple items of note. In February, Shawn Boyles and I started a web comic, Rocket Road Trip, about the crazy adventures of a family of monster hunters. We originally wanted this to be a cartoon. (We had been writing cartoons at work for the previous year before this and wanted to create a property that was all our own.) And the cartoons will be forthcoming…when time allows.
I’ve also had quite a year so far insomuch as my writing goes. I finished Nethermore back in April or May. It clocked in at 175,000 words and was a bigger train wreck than my first novel. I actually didn’t even get to the end fo Nethermore. It was just getting way too long. I’d started the book at the wrong point, I’d added way too many characters, and I kept changing the characters’ motivations.
After consulting with the wise members of the writing group, I ended the novel with something along the lines of: "And then the vampires flew in from the west on the winds of unforeshadowed happenstance. One by one, the main characters either died of surprise or were eaten by the vampires. Then the vampires turned on each other until not one thing moved or breathed or spoke in the land. In the end, all that is, and was, and ever will be succumbed to death and madness. The End."
The advice of my writing group was to be finished with Nethermore and go back to it at another time. I’d learned all I could from it, and it was time to start something new.
I began my next novel a few weeks later, and within days, I met the woman I would marry, and as many of you know, being engaged sucks up a lot of time. I didn’t get much writing done, but I did gather notes and scenes for the next novel. Last month, I outlined the entire thing and now have a stack of 3×5 cards waiting for me to sit down and write.
For Nanowrimo, I decided not to write that novel. Several friends had suggested that I play to my strengths and write something short and quirky, with the idea of a younger audience in mind.
And so I’ve been hard at work on my middle grade novel, which–if I continue on at the same pace–I’ll finish this month or early next month, depending on how long it is.
I’m experimenting. The new novel is a free write, and I have to sometimes reign myself in to stay focused on the story at hand, but I’m getting some of the most creative and fun scenes and characters that I’ve ever created. I go back and massage out the glitches when this mad dash to finish the thing is over.
But in the meantime, I’m enjoying myself immensely.
Top 12-List: Best Wheel of Time Covers Ever (Part 4 of 4)
May 1st, 2008Well, most of this post has been done for months, but I just haven’t gotten around to updating the blog. What a slacker I am! I’m not going to promise any regular updates, but I am going to say that I finished Nethermore finally and have moved onto the next novel on my list. Next time I post I’ll talk about the things I learned from Nethermore and how those affect how I’m approaching my next book.
Now back to the Wheel of Time cover countdown!
#3. Crossroads of Twilight
I’m putting this at #3, but at the same time I’m not sure if it accurately reflects how I feel about the cover. At this point, I’m having a hard time separating the covers from the contents of the books. This very well may be a pity award since this book is the one that catches the most flack from readers.
However, I love the design on this one. It makes it very pick-up-able. There are more identifiable characters on this cover than any of the res t of them. I can actually tell which one is Mat, Thom, and Tuon. And the purple foil letters are snazzy and magical like a big dose of Harry Potter. So this is #3 because it’s fun to look at, has identifiable characters, and has horses who are excited to be part of the story.
#2. The Dragon Reborn
This portrays one of the great moments of the series, when the sword that is not a sword is pulled from the heart of the stone in Tear. Rand, Perrin (looking more like a member of the Goonies than a blacksmith’s apprentice), and Mat are readily identifiable, as is the creepy visage of Baalzamon that peered out from the spine of this book. My biggest complaint about this cover was that it was during the time that Tor’s book binders whipped up a batch of bad glue, which had the covers falling off most of the paperback’s I bought during this era. The Dragon Reborn paperback was the poster child for this era, falling off more quickly than most. But that was nothing a little Elmer’s glue and blue food coloring couldn’t fix. (I was fifteen at the time…I don’t know why I added blue coloring to the glue.)
#1. The Eye of the World
This could have been in the generic-people-riding-horses post, but these are pretty identifiable characters. We know which ones are Lan and Moiraine and Rand. This cover holds a place in my life because of the sense of wonder that it portrays. I remember seeing The Eye of the World sitting on the end table at my best friend’s house back when I was fourteen or fifteen. I picked the book up, borrowed it from my friend’s father, read it, and then lost it in my locker at school. Moiraine and Lan still look like these characters in my imagination. Everything is right about this cover; not because the design and art are perfect, but because of the memories associated with it. Thanks, DKS, for a nice cover. And thanks, RJ, for a wonderful series full of memories.
Well, that’s it folks. I’ll definitely review the cover for A Memory of Light when it’s released. Until that time, I’m not sure how much cover reviewing I’ll do, but I will get back on track about the book writing updates. And maybe I’ll find a bit of time to update the website and add a better portfolio section. Thanks for reading, folks.
Top 12-List: Best Wheel of Time Covers Ever (Part 3 of 4) People Standing but Not Necessarily Doing Anything Important
November 12th, 2007A bit belated, but here is part 3 of 4.
#7. Fires of Heaven
At least this cover shows that there’s something lurking in the shadows, a phantom menace that may or not be a man in a Trolloc-head helmet or a Trolloc in a Trolloc-head helmet. Rand, Aviendha, and Mat stumble from the bar in Rhuidean only to find that the whole city has been cleared out. Rand (at a whopping 5’6”) contemplates going down the stairs in while wearing Chinese-silk pajamas; does he think better of it? What if he were to be ambushed in such a silly get-up? Aviendha hides her face from the camera so that we don’t know that it’s her doing the interpretive dance. Unfortunately, we do know what she’s doing. Mat looks cool. But he’s Mat, after all! It’s pretty hard to make him look stupid.
#6. Knife of Dreams
Perrin certainly doesn’t look as large as he’s described in the books. Here he’s doing the important task of pointing out the exact point where the series will end. The Aiel warrior is ready to defend Perrin’s declaration. A gray-haired general looks on skeptically, and an unidentifiable Aes Sedai is surprised that she’s thinking a lot about pudding. Regardless, the color scheme on this cover is very appealing; I love the heron-branded drapes and how Perrin is elbowing the guy behind him in the gut.
#5. The Great Hunt
This is the one that breaks the pattern of these four. Mat (or is that Rand?) has the horn of Valere. That’s a pretty important thing going on. It’s what the book’s actually about, never mind that Trollocs are portrayed as men in Trolloc-shaped armor. This cover gets brownie points for actually portraying an exciting event that actually happened in the book. I think this marks Loial’s only appearance on a cover in the series. He’s looking a little small for being such a giant. My favorite part about this cover is how well it portrays the feeling of autumn.
#4. A Crown of Swords
Rand is looking big and bad for his first ever music video, framed by a really nice/ominous color scheme. I’m a fan of blue, red, and yellow, as you can see by the colors I chose for my website, so the banal subject matter is really all that’s keeping this one from being in the top 3. All this cover is missing are the Trolloc back-up dancers.
Stay tuned for part 4 of 4, where we look at the Top 3 Wheel of Time covers ever!
Top 12-List: Best Wheel of Time Covers Ever (Part 2 of 4): Generic Scenes of People Riding Horses
October 29th, 2007Continuing on to the next set, I’ll review #s 10, 9, and 8, the “Generic Scenes of People Riding Horses.”
#10. Winter’s Heart
I think that’s supposed to be Perrin on the cover. However, it looks like it’s Perrin’s mini-me. I mean, isn’t he supposed to be big and threatening and wolf-like? In the book Perrin’s out to get his wife Faile from the renegade Aiel. This cover has Ricky Schroeder gone woodsman out to check his beaver traps and maybe smoke some jerky.
#9. The Path of Daggers
Starring on this cover, in the ugly thigh-boots, it’s Rand al’Thor, the Dragon Reborn, marching his armies into Ilian. There was a battle in this book. Why isn’t that on the cover instead of Rand riding with his sword drawn so awkwardly? I’ll be he runs with scissors too (which is a perk only channelers of the One Power are allowed).
#8. New Spring: the Novel
The cover of this book tells me that a group of people will ride horses a lot. One rider will wear green, one will wear red, and two will wear blue. The yellow bushes are used very nicely to offset the characters from the city in the background. It’s interesting that this one and the cover of The Great Hunt are the two covers whose color schemes are a little more complex, yet the artist is still able to create great contrast and vibrancy to draw the buyer’s eye. I love that I can identify Moiraine on this one, and especially like how it echoes the direction and posture of the characters and horses on The Eye of the World. Very fitting, since this was touted as the “new beginning” to the Wheel of Time series.
Tomorrow we’ll look at #s 4 through 7!
Top 12 Best Wheel of Time Covers Ever (Part 1 of 4): The Colorful Groaners
October 25th, 2007I’m going to catch flack for reviewing these; I just know I am. But I really wanted to do some posts in honor of the Wheel of Time series and have some fun talking about some of the best and some of the not-so-best covers of the series. Let’s start at the bottom and work our way up. When it’s all done, I’d love to hear some of your Top 12 Wheel of Time covers.
# 12. Lord of Chaos
This is one of my favorite titles ever, bold and red over the top of a brilliant color scheme, beautiful-enough to engage the eye and draw a reader to the book. As always, I love the graphic design on these books, mostly because they remind me of my youth. When I was younger, I wanted my books to be typeset just like these.
However, the cover belongs on a romance novel. Rand al’Fabio stands in the wind, shirt rippling to make him appear larger than he is as a random Aes Sedai gasps at his beauty. Strange things: the man in the rubber-bat suit and Rand’s tiny-looking right hand (not to mention his weirdly proportioned body and extra-tight Civil War pants).
# 11. The Shadow Rising
This might be my favorite book in the series, when the world opens up even more and Rand begins fulfilling more prophecies. I absolutely loved the trip to Rhuidean. So many interesting things happen in this book. Why couldn’t they be on the cover instead of . . . camping.
Rand and Mat (I assume) eat s’mores and discuss March Madness while weirdly-proportioned Egwene (?—she is wearing blue) stirs the chili.
Again, the typeface is nice (although the “Robert Jordan” looks a little crowded so that we can see that the fire is actually a cook fire and not something more insidious). The color scheme is beautiful and eye-catching, and I love the use of value as Rand and Mat’s shadows are thrown up against their Winnebago.
Most exciting subject matter of this cover: a Trolloc(?) shadow appear between the rock formations, hinting that this cover was a snapshot too late to show the attack on camp.
Return tomorrow for numbers 10, 9, and 8!