In the works...

When I finish a project that I tend to work on, well, everything.  I do that, then, eventually, something kind of surfaces and comes to the forefront and I begin working on that exclusively until I finish it.

So it went after State of Chaos.  This time things have turned out a bit different.  What I've ended up doing is combining projects.  I had several ideas, but none of them seemed to have enough meat on the bones to make a novel length story out of.

The original (and long overdue) idea was pretty simple.  The one character that's been under-appreciated throughout the Chaos books is Tina, hands down.  There's a reason for that, Tina is different folks.

Now I'm paraphrasing here, but my editors all know that the original intent of State of Chaos was to write a book about Tina.  The working directory that we shared all the files in was, in fact, called 'Tina'.  We'd finished the editing and, of course, the ribbing began, "So are you actually going to write a book about Tina next time?"  (I'm sure it was much snarkier that that)

I replied, "I don't know if I can do it.  Tina isn't like us.  She doesn't think like we do.  She see's the world in sound,  She computes musical equations in her head like we do algebra.  How do you describe someone like that?  How do you get in the head of an adolescent girl who just ain't normal?  You'd need Barbar for that."

--Insert pregnant pause here--

"So ask her."

I won't say I know Barbar well, but she has sent me a couple of nice comments on my stories, and I certainly admire her work.  So with some trepidation I did just that.

The reply I received was absolutely stunning.  She wrote me a 500 word short that showed me exactly what I should be doing.  The Rhythm of Her Soul was the first thing that I tried based on what she sent me.  The actual 500 word short has already been incorporated into the larger story.

That being said I was already playing around with another Chaos story, it had no real plot, but I had some fun ideas for scenes and I had written quite a few.  If you have read The Rhythm of Her Soul then you know that the writing in that story is rather intense.  At first I thought I was going to write an entire novel that way.  No, no, no.  The human brain can't do it in my normal style of writing.  Moving a story into and out of Tina's rather weird point of view is jarring.  It will give you a headache, staying there too long is likewise just a bit like living down a rabbit-hole.  Interesting and exciting ideas, but the readability definitely was suffering.

The current story is a combined one.  At the beginning of each chapter is a scene out of Tina's life.  These scenes progress chronologically alongside the narrative of what you might think of as Chaos 4 until the two stories intersect at the climax.  Oh, and it starts when she's three.  I'd say that project is about 40% done.

Which brings us to the weird stuff.  I'm actually writing two things, still.  The second ... oh boy.  A three book series that's kind of a, erm, post-apocalyptic fairytale reboot?  Think even parts Kick Ass, Mad Max, and Peter Pan.  Indeed, maybe a lot of Peter Pan.  You see Tinkerbell tries to shoot Peter ....  aww hell, you guys aren't going to believe this stuff until you read it.  Its a good story and it will most likely be a straight YA story.  Well that's if i can get Bell to actually wear clothes... *sigh*.  (Bell, as I'm writing now, is kind of on a 'nudist strike'.)

Humor might just possibly be involved.  There will be pirates, and well, that makes it all worth while.

That's probably about 30% into book one now.  It's a bit harder in some ways.  Bell can't speak, and that's an interesting degree of difficulty for someone who relies on dialog as much as I do, but she is easily the most awesome character I've written (sorry Anita).  Pete is entirely to much like Tony right now and I'm constantly working on that and ways to make and keep my own pack of lost boys interesting.  Wendy is too generic and that needs work as well.  Come to think of it Wendy was always a bit bland wasn't she?  Oh well, I'll fix that....

Anyway I thought I'd come up for air and let you know what I'm up to.

Ezzy

Note: If you don't know about Barbar and her excellent series about Bec, an adolescent with just a slightly different outlook on things from, well, normal young teenage girls (is that possible?) you can find it for the amazingly low price of FREE! at Beyond the far Horizon  (free registration required, no ads, no spam).  While you're there, hang around and check out the excellent sci-fi works of Bruce Brettenhaur and the site's owner Gina Marie Wylie.  I think I left an old copy of Anita's Rescue there, but it's outdated.

Theories Two - Anita Lives in My Keyboard

She really does.

Right there, on the right, just beside that scroll lock key no one uses.  No one uses it, so it's the safest place for her I guess.

You probably wonder why I have a twelve year old girl living in my keyboard.  That's simple, she likes to write.  Mostly she likes to write about, well, Anita.  She wrote and entire novel about herself.  That would be pretty cool, except it wasn't supposed to be about her at all.  It was the beginning of the grand joke on my editors where I tell them I'm writing one thing then Anita writes something else.

She's constantly interrupting me and asking me if she can play while I'm writing.  At twelve I guess she doesn't understand why, if the other characters in the scene get to play she can't.  If I don't pay close attention to her, as a parent should a child, I'll catch her playing on my keyboard all by herself.

She's trying to write this blog, and doing pretty well at it.

Now you have to understand I have a lot of characters that live in my head.  I have many, many more who exist on virtual paper and, I guess, a few copies of real paper as well.  Only one lives on my keyboard though.

My goal is to have more live in my keyboard.  Characters that actually live in your head are rare.  I have four up there.  Those that live in your keyboard are like the fabled calico tomcat.  Anita has one; his name is Sparkles.  She wrote him herself.  Some say they don't exist, but there he is, doing backflips off of the pause key.

The point to be made here is that characters should do what they want to, not what you want them to.  Trying to force a character into a situation they don't want to be in is futile.  The greatest case of writer's block I ever had was because I put a character in a situation where there was only one outcome.  Then tried to get him to do something else.

They won't listen to you, stop trying.  If you haven't built the want, need, desire, and motivation into the character before you put them in a situation where you expect an outcome don't be at all surprised if it doesn't turn out like you intended to.

The consequence of failing here is the destruction of the readers' suspension of disbelief.  Nothing is more fatal to a story than that. 

There are times that you need to rethink the setting or situation you place your characters in.  You imagine a scene without imagining how the characters will react ahead of time.  If it happens, and they don't react as you wish, consider changing the scene, but don't try to force the characters.  It never works, but it seems harder to change a carefully crafted scene that you've envisioned than it is to just simply make the characters do what you want them to.

If this has never happened to you then you may want to re-examine the characters.  Do any live in your keyboard, or in your head?  If not, look at them more closely.

-Ezzy

From the Shameless Plug Department....

Don't miss Rebecca Danced this weekend! 

From Friday January 20th through Sunday the 22nd Rebecca Danced is a free Kindle download from all Amazon Kindle stores worldwide. 

Three teens begin coming of age in Savannah Georgia in 1984. Rebecca is confined to a wheelchair and just wants to learn to walk. Tony is rich and popular with the girls at school. He can literally have anything he wants, except what he's already lost. Little sister Tina is a prodigy and knows that with just a bit of music, anything is possible. 

In today's world of the paranormal and occult, Rebecca Danced is unashamedly emotional and uplifting.  It proves that you don't need such things to have just a bit of magic.

Ezzy

Theories on Writing - It's All About the Readers

This is obviously the new blog.  I tend to not fiddle with things too much, but right now at least the profile section is not working correctly (errors out when I try to save the profile).  I'll get that fixed and post a short profile shortly, but a quick lowdown if you've wandered in off the street.

I'm an author of books of dubious genre.  Why dubious?  They don't really seem to fit anything.  At first glance some may dismiss them as young adult.  They aren't.  They are a bit sophisticated in their themes and plots to appeal much to the typical young adult audience.  There is no Harry Potter here.

Personally I classify them as coming of age stories.  Yes the characters are mostly teenagers, but they get themselves into the damndest situations!  When I say they get themselves into those situations, I really mean that.  Even I don't know what they might do next.

I have some controversial theories on writing that many don't subscribe to.  They (whoever they are) will tell you I'm just plain wrong, and that it can't be done that way.  My readers disagree, and that is my first theory on writing.

Writing is a performing art.  There is only one objective in mind.  To please the audience.  Anything, and I do mean anything, else is secondary to that goal.  As authors we now have the freedom through conduits like the web and self publishing to bypass the gatekeepers.  We no longer have to write to please agents or publishers, we are our own agents and publishers.  That leaves us free to now write for our audience.  It's nothing short of revolutionary.

Think about that for a minute if you write.  It's no longer what the publisher wants, or the publisher's idea of what the audience wants.  It's what your readers want and what they tell you they want.  If you are just a reader or a fan of my novels that may just sound like common sense and it does.

Well the pundits say that's all wrong.  They say I should write for myself, what I want to write.  Of course if I did that my personal opinion is I should just keep it on my hard drive, right?  If I only write what I want to read there would be no reason to bother with that whole pesky publishing thing.

So I don't write for myself.  I write what I believe you want to read.  I enjoy doing it for you.  It makes your suggestions and discussions valuable to me.  Comments aren't just appreciated, they're necessary to the process.  I'm going to have my e-mail address right out front for you.  If you don't want to make a public comment or suggestion, e-mail me a private one.

Will I use your ideas?  Maybe.  I will say that the beginning chapters of State of Chaos not only contained two scenes specifically suggested by readers, I rewrote the ending of Anita's Rescue at one point to accommodate them because they were that good.

But aren't author's supposed to sit in their ivory towers and lord over all they survey?  Shouldn't they be aloof with their publicity shots and sage beards as the only proof of their existence?  Nah, it's a brave new world.  Those authors couldn't write for you if they wanted to.  They had to write for the gatekeepers.  Us?  We'll do it anyway we damn well please.

-Ezzy