50,025

The magic number for today! I must say it is a pretty great feeling getting that many words under my belt in 30 days. But what is an even better feeling is I really think this could be my best book yet. I still have another 15 to 20 thousand words to write until the story is done, but I really like where it is going thus far. I will surely speak more about it later, but for now you can revel in my shiny new NaNoWriMo winner's badge.

NaNoWriMo 2010

Once again I'm undertaking the craziness that is NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). And this year I vow I won't hit the middle of the month doldrums. This will be the third year I've undertaken to write a 50,000 word novel in one month, but from experience I can tell you in some ways it is easier than it sounds and other ways harder. Writing the words is easy. Getting beyond the blocks that crop up is much much harder. Each year, just around the 15th of the month I've run into a wall. My nice little graph that was trending upwards at a beautiful 45 degree angle suddenly flattens out. It is the awful middle section where I just don't know what to write about. But not this year.

I have done something that I never did in the last three novels I've written. I created a detailed outline of the whole story, beginning, middle and end. I don't don't know why I've never tried it before (except maybe I'm lazy). But this year I was not going to have that feeling where I was sure I couldn't finish, and everything I was writing was crap. This year I would triumph over mid-month blues. By the way, one reason I've never created an outline before is because I never had a tool that made it so easy. Let me restate that, I never USED a tool that made it so easy. I wrote last year's novel in Scrivener, but I didn't take full advantage of it. This year, no excuses. I have detailed note cards of every major scene. Detailed notes of every major location. Notes for the magic system of the world. Photos of all the characters (found at istockphoto.com). All put together in a wonderful, easy to organize format within Scrivener.

Tonight for example I was writing a scene involving my main character, Joey, and his Father. I split the screen vertically. On the left were notes about his father. Who he is, what he does for a living, his character traits, etc... along with a photo I thought represented him. On the right was the manuscript. I wrote while looking at the notes and photo. It was amazing the details I pulled out, that I normally would not have. I love this tool. If you don't use it, go to their web site now: www.scrivener.com The new Scrivener for Mac, version 2.0 came out today (I am not going to upgrade until after November) and the version for Windows is available in beta format. I can't say enough about this program, and to top it all off it is dirt cheap. Go there now.

I'm headed for bed. 3,500 words under my belt and it is only day one. Who knows maybe I'll crank out a 100,000 word novel this month. (I'd settle for 50,000 words with at least a small portion of those usable.) Happy writing all.

On Epic Fantasy

I just completed The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson, the twelfth book in the Wheel of Time series. Robert Jordan died before being able to finish writing the series (sometimes I thought I'd die before I was able to finish reading the series) and Brandon Sanderson was chosen to wrap it up. There are actually going to be two more books by Mr. Sanderson before we finally get to the end. Book thirteen is due November 1 of this year.

This series is epic, in every sense of the word. Each book is big enough to give you tendonitis just holding it. It makes the Harry Potter series look like picture books. The storyline spans an entire continent, and encompasses the lives of dozens of people, although it primarily focuses on a handful. At times I found myself thinking the series could have been much shorter, but then I think there would have been a great deal lost. This series, more than any other in quite some time, became real to me. There were times over the past eight or nine months (that's how long it took me to read them) that I honestly had moments where I wasn't sure what was reality, and what was part of the world that Mr. Jordan created. As an example, for several books there was an intense heat wave that lasted well into winter. On hot days, in the real world in the middle of summer, I actually had in the back of my mind that it was supposed to be winter, even though the temperature outside was ninety degrees. These moments only lasted seconds, but they go to show how deeply immersed I was in the world of The Wheel of Time.

The fact that Brandon Sanderson wrote the last book, using copious notes from Robert Jordan, has been a great example for me as a writer-wanna-be on pacing. I can honestly say that if Mr. Sanderson had written the first eleven books, I think most of my difficulty slogging through the books would have been nonexistent. Robert Jordan would spend nearly entire books on one character. Then do big, honkin' prologues on the next book catching you up to what was going on with everyone else. His prologues could be a sixth of the book. So I found myself a bit frustrated at times wondering what was going on with the rest of the characters. Brandon Sanderson on the other hand jumped around. Every second or third chapter was devoted to a different character. Sure there was that disappointment when you were involved in one character's circumstances and he yanked you away to follow another, but each section ended in such a way as to force you to read on. I read the last book in half the time as any of the others.

All this to say, I love epic fantasy, but I'm sure it isn't for everyone. You do have to have the mindset that you will finish no matter what. That you will continue reading even if it is hard going at times. The world building is incredible. The scope of the story all encompassing. And the payoff at the end is usually (hopefully) worth it.

I'm not supposed to be good at it...

I've been in a funk lately, in my writing, in my exercise regime, with my poker club, in my family life, in my spiritual life, in life in general. No big, nasty, horrible things are happening to me, just a general malaise has hung like a cloud around me. I've felt like I'm just not particularly good at anything. I know this feeling very well. I've had this feeling in periods of my life. But today (my birthday) I've discovered something profound. Watch this video and you'll see what I mean.

"...when you are learning things, you suck at them." I don't even know who this woman is, but I think she has stumbled on a deeply profound idea. Life is all about learning. I think maybe I've spent my life never really getting past the "suckitude" stage. I find something I like, I work at it a while then I start to feel like I'm just not that good at it, so I move on to something else. But what this smart lady is saying is I'm not supposed to be good at it, at first. Life is all about learning new things, but if we don't, if I don't ever get past the "sucking" stage, then what good are my attempts? I should just quit trying if every time I try, I quit.

So, here is to being lousy at something, but pushing on through. Here's to working from suckage to awesome, and not jumping from sucking at one thing to sucking at another, over, and over again.

Avatar

I may have more to say later, but Avatar... wow! I'm not sure Cameron built the epic universe he was after (ala Star Wars) but man did he do something special with the world building and animation. I can't really say it was special effects because nearly the whole movie was animated, but it isn't your father's animation. I am usually as stickler for effects that don't look quite right, or animation that seems stilted or mechanical, but my goodness... there was barely a hiccup in the nearly three hour movie. It was utterly believable; like he took a camera crew to another world and filmed it. The 3D engulfed me. The flora and fauna was breathtaking. And the acting via digital performance capture was top notch. I felt like the Na'vi were real flesh and blood people, with a full culture and attitude. It was just amazing.

Now to the epic nature of the story. This is really the only area I think Avatar fell short. For what it was, the story was solid. It wasn't cheesy, or unbelievable, but was it epic? Did James Cameron create a universe with the vastness, the "bigness" of a Star Wars, or Star Trek, or Middle Earth? I don't think so. Was it a big enough universe for one 3 hour movie? Yes. But big enough for a series of movies? Big enough to become an icon, a piece of American culture? I don't think so. Again it was amazing, but more in the immersivness of the world, and animation, but not universe. Will it make a boatload of money? You bet. Will I see it again? You bet. Will it be something that defines this generation of movie goers, like Star Wars did? I just don't see it. But only time will tell for sure. What I can tell you is the bar has been raised considerably. Movies of this nature (science fiction and fantasy) will never be able to get by with what they were doing a year or two ago. I feel some regret Avatar didn't happen before The Lord of the Rings. If you could marry the effects/animation/world building of Avatar, with the epic story of the Lord of the Rings, I would probably call it the greatest movie ever made.

30 Books in 2009

One of the things I believe strongly, is if you want to be a writer, you must first be a reader. With that in mind I set out toward the beginning of this year to read (and track my reading) as much as I could. Now I have a pretty busy life. I have several hobbies, a wife and two kids, friends to hang out with, church events to attend, a business to run, etc, etc... so what this means is I have to work to carve out time to read. That said, I feel pretty good about finishing thirty books this year, including the daunting "Einstein" by Walter Isaacson. But something curious happened in my quest to be a prolific reader. I struggled to find books that I really, really loved. In fiction, there were only two, "Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card and "The True Meaning of Smekday" by D.M. Rex. This may partly be due to the fact that I felt like I had to finish every book I started. Because if I didn't, then it wouldn't make my list. So I ended up reading some books all the way through that I normally would have put down. This took up time that I could have been reading something else that I might have loved. I also read a few series that ended up being okay, but just not great. I was invested enough that I wanted to see how the stories ended, but I can't see myself reading them again.

This all got me thinking about my own writing. Am I creating something that is just okay? Something that people might add to their list of books read, but not loved? If so, am I okay with that? Obviously there are many different tastes out there. Some people may have loved the books that I thought were mediocre. So there is always that possibility with my own work. I guess in the end I need to try to write something that I love, and hope there are others out there with similar tastes.

What about you all. What books have you read that you absolutely love? I'd love to add some into the queue for next year.

50,076 Words

Well, here it is, just hours before the end of November 2009, and I've crossed the finish line. I'd like to say it was a great experience, but honestly this year was tough. When I did NaNoWriMo in 2008, I had a blast the entire time. Sure I got behind, but the story was such fun to write. This year I struggled through nearly the whole thing, and in the end I'm not sure whether it has any value or not. Sure I think there are some good points to it, my son said it was more "mysterious" than the first Noah Zarc book, which is what I was going for. But in the end I'm not sure it had any clear direction. But that is not what NaNo is about. It is about sitting your butt in the chair and typing, and that I did. If you take a look at my word graph, you'll see I really struggled in the middle. About day 16 is when my son told me he'd help me get going again by reading what I had written. So that got me moving. But by thanksgiving I really had to kick it into high gear, writing 10,000 words in only two days. When all is said and done, I am really surprised how easy it is to crank the words out. I just may have to go back to the drawing board, or keyboard, to figure out how to make those words form a story worth reading.

Writer's Block

I hate writer's block. I'm not saying I hate getting writer's block, I'm saying I hate the term. I've always believed it was just an excuse for not writing. "I'd be working on my latest novel, but I have writer's block, so I'll go check my facebook page instead." "The World Series of Poker final table is on, I wonder if my man Phil Ivey will take it this year." (He didn't.) You get the idea. Writer's block is an excuse to be lazy. And here I am about to get all honest on you. I had a huge bout of writer's block for several days last week and spilling into this one. You see I'm deep in the throes of NaNoWriMo, and as anyone knows, who is familiar with this insanity, there is absolutely no room for laziness. That's why we use intriguing, "You non-writers wouldn't understand." terms like writer's block. I was completely lost. I had no idea what to do next in my story. So I didn't do anything. I saw my word count deficit build. I thought maybe this year I would be the loser I always knew I was, and not finish what I had started.

Then, my resolve strengthened. No, I will not be that guy. I will not be what my friends in high school said I was. I am not a quitter. D. Robert 2.0 would prevail. So I put my fingers on my keyboard, and I typed. One painful word after another. Then the keys started clacking a little bit louder. The staccato of words on a page beat the air in rhythm to my pounding heart... Okay, that is a bit dramatic, but suffice to say, the words came. Maybe not the next Faulkner, but there are some nuggets in there. Something that won't hit the editing floor in a few months when I get back to the manuscript. So I say now, writer's block be gone. I do not condescend to acknowledge your presence.

Now, what the heck am I doing writing this blog. I still have a valley to climb out of. A low spot in my climb toward 50,000 words to make up for. 11,787 down. 38,213 to go.

Writing a Novel Isn't Rocket Science, Or Is It?

A couple weeks ago, after I posted about completing the latest draft of Noah Zarc, I received a comment on the post from Susan Quinn, a real life rocket scientist. She offered to read through the latest draft and give me some feedback. I of course jumped all over it and sent the manuscript off to her. A short time later she returned the document with an exceptional, well thought out, critique. The most exciting part, in my opinion, were the five "Tech Issues" that she wrote detailed remarks about. Informing me, from a scientific standpoint, where my technology was a little off the mark. Did you know that there is no "escape velocity" if you are simply trying to leave the earth? As long as you are not trying to enter orbit around the earth, you can go at pretty much any speed you are able to maintain. Duh! Susan also had wonderful ideas to improve several other areas of the story, and character development as well. So, Susan a big ol' thank you for your help.

For anyone else out there in the final stages of writing or editing a novel, I cannot say enough about the importance of finding another pair of eyes, or better yet multiple pairs of eyes, to take a look at your manuscript. Look for people who can be honest, detailed, and relentless. This isn't a popularity contest. You don't want people to fawn all over your work. You need critiquers who aren't afraid to tell you like it is. Aren't afraid to tell you to "kill your darlings". If you can find someone like that, and they also point out areas they like, how much more are you going to believe them? My wife is my biggest critic, but I can tell you when she says she likes something, that is huge. Because I know she is not just trying to make me feel all warm and fuzzy, she genuinely means it.

So get your story out there. Let the wolves tear it to pieces. Then put it back together better, and stronger than ever before.

NaNoWriMo 2009

I just signed up for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). I'm pretty excited about writing book two of Noah Zarc. Is anyone else out there planning on having a go at it this year? If so let me know your NaNo name so we can help push each other on. If you are on on the fence about it, I highly recommend you have a go at it. There is nothing like reaching the end of a 50,000 word novel in only thirty days. November 1 you aren't a novelist, and November 30 you are. In my case I will be a three-times novelist (if I finish, which I will baring any catastrophe). So what are you waiting for, sign up now. www.nanowrimo.org