If you haven’t seen the new look of StoryFix, please check it out. Larry’s post today, by the way, is on a character’s inner dialogue. Larry promises to make characterization even more complicated than it already is and he succeeds. StoryFix has a new newsletter, too, and the debut issue is less than three days away.

On the note of cool places to learn stuff, seriously consider TribalAuthor. Jonathan Fields provides a few killer bonuses for joining his tribe. One of which, the Truth about Book Marketing, is a must-read for any aspiring scribe.

Finally, it’s Sinister Sunday and a new portion of the scary story is live. Act III hyperlinks are here. See you in a bit. LL

Now, I’m happy ecstatic that it happened because the delay forced me to think about Chapter 55 and face the fact that it blew cookies. This part of the scary story didn’t work and, on some level, I knew it. Had another writer presented it I would’ve said, “It’s not believable. You’re forcing a plot point to occur rather than showing it unfold.” I think I just wanted to be done with time to spare before the Sunday deadline.

So maybe I broke my own network? Maybe my little editor, a close friend and confidante of a certain ghoul I live with, had to make a point? Perhaps whatever force looks out for writers had her simply had her eyes on me.

In any case, here’s Chapter 55 and here’s the version that sucked. Your thoughts? LL

The trip was productive and handed me many gifts, the most important being a new plot-outline for Skin and Bones. I’ve fought with that story for a while, so I’m psyched to dig into it, carve out a beat sheet and pants a few major scenes. (I’m always at my best at the beginning of a project – is this true for you, too?)

Both airplanes tried to rock me to sleep, but I had enough Starbucks in my veins to keep a herd of drugged antelope awake and caught up on some reading:

1. First up was, “500 Ways to be a Better Writer” by Chuck Wendig. Mr. Wendig is the novelist, screenwriter and freelance pen monkey at the Terrible Minds blog and, let me tell you, he’s got a style all his own. I’ve never read the F word so many times in a book on writing… A complete review is due shortly.
2. Wendig mentioned writer, Joe Lansdale and that led me to read Lansdale’s story, “Bullets and Fire.” Lansdale has a mysterious and powerful voice. He’s like a stealthy riptide. He snags you in calm, shallow water and carries you into the dangerous waves. If you’ve got a Kindle please grab this quick read for FREE right here – Bullets and Fire – so we can talk about it.
3. Finally, I got to (almost) finish, “Darkly Dreaming Dexter,” by Jeff Lindsay. This is the character-driven novel that inspired the television series, Dexter. Lindsay created a mesmerizing character in Dexter, one we look at with morbid fascination and pity but with a disturbing empathy as well. I’m (more than) a little jealous of Lindsay’s skill. It’s the story’s structure that really captured me, however. I may be wrong, but it seems that Mr. Lindsay deviated from accepted principles and pulled it off with the skill of a tight rope walker strolling between tall buildings. Again, a full review is pending and I hope we can discuss and debate and learn a lot from this not-so-typical serial killer story.

Talking about story structure, I’m working on a blog article called, “Confessions.” It’s a story about a reckless kid who, in his youthful arrogance, was certain that story rules didn’t apply to him. He ignored the concepts of conflict –> character –> story milestones and more – and obviously he was me. I’m nervous about sharing it, but the story goes a long way toward explaining why I’m such a fan of story structure and guys like Larry Brooks who preach it. I’ll see you then. LL

Ghastly: So, been giving a little writing advice, eh?

Me: Yup.

Ghastly: Don’t you think it’s a little premature? I mean, your backlist is one book and, well, the sales figures speak for themselves.

Me: Just when I was enjoying your company, you turn into an a-hole.

Ghastly: And you turn into a writing coach? Are you serious?

Me: Okay, I don’t know everything about writing fiction. Nobody does. But I’ve learned a hell of a lot and -.

Ghastly: A lot of people know way more than you.

Me: Agreed, and I bought their books. Now as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, I’ve learned a lot. I did it all the hard way and -.

Ghastly: Yes, reading can be such grueling work.

Me: I wrote three hundred page drafts that couldn’t be fixed.

Ghastly (evil chuckle): Those were fun days!

Me: For you! They sucked for me. Look, some people can write their way to a story. I’m not one of them. I found other tools and if I can save someone a little heartache by sharing them, I’m going to.

Ghastly: What if the tools that helped you completely derail the career of another writer? Have you thoughts about that?

Me: I’m just sharing. It’s like putting out a value-buffet. Everyone can take what’s valuable to them and leave behind the rest.

Ghastly: Ever heard about the road to hell? It’s the one paved with good intentions.

Me: And with hitchhiking ghouls at every turn, I’m sure.

Ghastly: Don’t be ridiculous. We disappear and materialize whenever we want.

Me: So disappear and materialize someplace else ‘cause the blogs on writing aren’t going anywhere.

And that’s the truth, so thanks for reading them, commenting and sharing this ride with me. See you on the scary road… LL

Yesterday I ranted about the horror story ideas thrown at me by non-writers. I suggested that while these ideas could stand alone as art they lacked the essential element of a commercial horror story. Today I want to explore that deeper – and hear your comments about it.

Please know that I have commercial aspirations as a horror writer – and that’s it. I don’t aim to write literary fiction or fiction of cultural importance. Like the blog’s tag line says, I Want to Scare the Hell out of You. That said, this post is about horror stories as commercial fiction rather than anything that critics might rave about.

Please also know that not long ago I would’ve not only agreed that the story suggestions were excellent, I’d have started writing them – immediately. In fact I did exactly that more times than I can count. I never wound up with a story, though, at least not one that someone might buy, put out as a book or turn into a movie… This perplexed and troubled me. The solution was right in front of me, of course. It sat at the foundation of every horror story I’d ever loved and it was:

 CONFLICT

A story has many elements. It begins with a cast of characters, one of which is the protagonist or central point-of-view character. This protagonist moves through the story and experiences certain events as plot points. Some of these things exist in the two ideas, at least partially. Let’s assume that the living will be the heroes and the dead will be the villains. We still don’t have a story because neither the heroes nor the villains have a goal. Without a goal, the protagonist has nothing to be heroic for. He has nothing to gain and, even more important, nothing to lose. The same is true for the villain. The ideas hold a distinct hint of danger, yes, but it’s not the kind of danger that requires battle. It’s not the kind that’s worthy of a story. The ideas lack conflict and therefore they remain ideas and not really stories.

We could make them stories by asking a bunch of what if questions. What if Park Ranger Jones was murdered? What if he was killed because he did something very bad? Finally, what if he’s a cunning and malevolent ghost hell bent on destroying the people who put him in the grave?

Okay, now it’s getting exciting. We have the makings of a decent villain. We still don’t have a story, however. We won’t have one until something opposes the goals of our villain. So let’s ask what if questions again. What if people start to disappear in the woods? What if the new cop in town somehow finds out about the park ranger’s demise? What if he has to enter the woods and battle the dead park ranger to keep more people from disappearing? We could summarize it as:

Park Ranger Jones died in a horrible accident. At least that’s what everyone wants Robbie Robbins, the new Police Chief, to believe. But when Robbins stumbles upon a secret, he opens the door to a past the town would rather forget – and an evil force he may not be able to stop.

It’s a hell of a lot closer to being a story than, “It had a park ranger’s hat!” Now, it’s got a hero, Chief Robbins; and the hero has his hands full with an antagonistic force, the ghost of Park Ranger Jones. The antagonist’s not too happy about being dead and therefore he’s coming back to extract some serious vengeance. It’s Chief Robbins’ job to protect the citizens of his community and he must do so. Will he succeed or fail? Will he win the battle or fall victim to the dark forces of evil? No matter what happens we have CONFLICT and within that we have our story.

Again, I’m not talking about art. I’m talking about mainstream commercial horro fiction, the kind non-artsy guys like me aspire to be good at. I’m eager to hear your thoughts on this as well as how you’ll respond the next time someone tell you, “I’ve got a great story for you…”

Now please join my hero as he battles an evil force for the soul of his best friend and the safety of the world in an online horror story. I’ll see you next time.

People like to tell me what horror stories to write about. They say, “Oh, you should write about __________because THAT would be a great story.” (The same folks usually add something like, “I could write it, of course, but I have zero patience for sitting at the keyboard and typing all night.” Sigh… As if writing is nothing but typing. I think this happens because writer is one of those professions that everybody believes they can do; and nobody believes it more than the people who’ve never attempted it. Those of us who’ve fought with a story and battled demons – the character’s and our own – to put one on the page know first-hand how hard it is. But that’s a different post.) As I was saying, it’s important to note that the _________ usually has some elements of a horror story; but it almost always lacks the one core ingredient that any horror story worth sits upon. For example:

 “Oh! You’re a writer? I’ve got a great story for you! One time at band camp, okay, me and this other kid, we went on a midnight hike to look for this park ranger’s ghost! We really did! So get this, okay, me and this other kid were out there in the woods and we heard all this rustling. It was something in the brush, you know? We thought, okay, probably an animal. Then we saw… (pauses for dramatic effect) The Shadow! It was a full moon – you’ll need to put that in, by the way – and the shadow where the all the noise was coming from wore a park ranger’s hat. It was him! It was the Park Ranger’s Ghost! You can write it if you want. Of course, I’ll need you to split all the royalties you earn…”

Or, at one of the cafes I use as a satellite office:

 “So you’re a writer, huh? Is that why you’re always scribbling in your notebook? You should think about getting a blog, maybe putting some of your stuff online, and you really should write about this place because there’s a ghost here. I’m not kidding. One night while I was locking up I heard him in the bathroom! I thought it was a customer, you know, so I just waited and then the door swung open and, get this there was nobody there! Serious, dude, the bathroom was empty. Anyway, you should write about that. It’d be a great story.”

By the way, these are both real suggestions. I swear on Ghastly’s head.

Could these suggestions be written as art? You bet. A talented writer can make art out of a grocery list. Could they inspire stories? Most definitely. The Park Ranger’s Ghost could be a lot of fun. But as they stand now, do you get the idea that these great stories are missing something? Yes – and it’s the core element of what a story is:

CONFLICT

And that’s this week’s topic. Part II heads your way tomorrow. I’m out of the writing lair this week, so my response time to comments may be delayed. I’ll check as often as I can. Be sure to catch up on the scary story, Sinister while you’re here and, as always, watch out for goblins…

I received FREE potato chips today. The flight attendant gave them to me for being nice. This was very cool of her and very much appreciated. Oddly enough, the passengers wedged between me and the window didn’t catch on and use “please” or “thank you.” That’s something interesting and I’ll write it someday. (Note – it pays to be nice, especially when the person you’re being nice to controls the snack supply and just might have time to save only one or two people from a horrible death… Just saying.)

Hope to see you this week for two posts on CONFLICT, an important part of a horror story and something I have strong feelings about. I’m pretty sure Ghastly is making an appearance this Wednesday. Check back to be sure.

It’s Sinister Sunday so a new chapter is live now and the scary story continues… It’s a short one. Lots of the chapters in Act III are pretty to-the-point, at least how they’re outlined now. Time will tell what they look like live. (The next, slightly-longer, chapter is fully drafted and cooling off, so it might go up early. Thoughts?)

All for now – THANK YOU for being here and giving this a read. I’ll always share my chips with you, no matter what. LL

Welcome back. In the first part of this article, I suggested that writing every day isn’t enough to make you a writer. I say this because there’s a big difference between a stack of typed pages and a story. You can work in a way that grows your skills or in a way that squanders your time and raises your frustration level. Don’t get me wrong; writing anything is better than not writing. But the real challenge is in making your daily writing sessions productive and getting the most out of them.

Think of it this way, if you set out to learn the guitar you would never sit down with your instrument, pluck on the strings and call yourself a guitar player. You’d learn chords, some basic strumming patterns and scale patterns. You’d learn the names of the notes and a little music theory and how it all comes together to create music. In other words, you’d do some homework and acquire a few skills before you dared call yourself a musician. Writing is the same kind of endeavor and you need a few tools in your arsenal.

It’s more than having a handle on where the commas go. It’s about knowing what a story is and how to move one along. It’s about knowing when to describe something in extravagant details and when not to. It’s having a sense of character and an ear for dialogue and a thousand other intangibles. The good news is that you can acquire all of these tools and sharpen them as you bring your stories to life. The first step, however, is to figure out where you’re at in your development as a professional writer.

Are you a new writer still finding your voice? Or have you been at it long enough that you know how to twist a phrase? Some of us have a natural talent for prose. Every sentence we write reads beautifully! (I’m not one of them. Never was.) Maybe some of your skills are very advanced and others are lagging. It doesn’t matter where you are as long as you’re aware of it and keep it in mind while you write.

Many of the writing gurus have tips and techniques for gaining the skills you need. These tactics allegedly give writers the ability to show instead of tell, write thoughtful dialogue and create memorable settings. I think those exercises are a waste of time, to tell you the truth. At the end of each exercise you have nothing but a completed exercise. You can acquire the same skills by writing a story and at the end of your toil you have something to publish. What I’m getting at is this: know where your current skills are and use the stories you write to improve them.

On that note, I’m sure that you have a lot of stories to tell. I’m also certain that you’re only going to live a certain amount of time. That said, there’s no way you’ll have time to write every single story that comes into your head. So you owe it to your muse, the characters you love and your writing-self to make sure your daily writing hours take you toward finishing your stories. Furthermore, it’s especially productive to spend your writing hours on your novel or other most important story. You’ll have an easier go of this if you have a map.

One way of creating a map for your story is by deliberate story-planning. Yes, I’m talking about structure. No, I’m not saying you should outline every single aspect of your story before you write it – unless you want to. Nor am I saying you should abandon all of your instincts and never write by the seat of your pants – unless you want to. I’m saying that quite often you can make the most of your limited writing time by planning your story ahead of time in accordance with professional story telling principles.

Story planning is nothing more than looking at your story from a 30,000 foot perspective. It gives you the ability to see what happen at certain points in the plot, how those events impact the characters and theme and, most important, how it all comes together in an amazing ending. Story planning is NOT following a formula or selling out. It’s writing with a roadmap that makes going from the opening scene to resolution much easier. Believe me, it’s also much more fun to write when you know what going to happen next and that it’s adds up to a killer story.

I don’t mind telling you that accepting the roadmap of story structure resuscitated my writing career. My dream of becoming a writer was on serious life support and the simple act of embracing structure got me off oxygen and back in the game. I seriously wish I’d listened to my writing-mentors – who preached plot-points and mid-points as if it were religion – long ago! I’ll also confess that I still write by the seat of my pants sometimes. Let’s face it; writing without thought can be exhilarating. It’s magical and mysterious and it’s probably what got many of us hooked on words in the first place. Sometimes, free-style writing is also the best way to discover a character’s flaws or deep seated emotional needs. You can learn a lot about a character and her story by diving in and writing.

So, both seat-of-the-pants writing and story-planning have a place in every writer’s life. You can make the most of your writing time by understanding the difference as well as where you’re at as a writer. Then, use that knowledge as a basis for where you want to go while you transform your ideas into publishable works. All it takes is awareness, some thought and intentional action. Make sense? Hope so. Let me know in the comments.

If you’re new here, please dive in to my scary story, Sinister and let me know what you think. I practice what I preach and walk-the-walk – and I want you along for the ride. See you in the shadows. LL

Get a Writer’s Life

…And most of us know that making this writing-dream come true involves some fanatical dedication. It’s true, I believe, that success is the result of choices made every day. So the decision to write every day is a no-brainer. We have to do it. The internet is full of writing advice that encourages us to do just. In fact, it’s sometimes presented that sitting down and slinging together 750, 1,000 or some other magical number of words will somehow make us writers. That’s not the case, I’m afraid, and we’ll get into that in Writing Every Day, Part II. For now, let’s talk about instilling a realistic writing habit and making word-play a big part of day-to-day life.

First of all, give yourself a break. Writing every day isn’t as easy as it sounds. Most of us work jobs. We owe it to our employers and coworkers to give our jobs our all. We also have families and friends and we must not only honor our commitments to them but value our time together. So accept that writing every day is going to be a challenge and that you’ll have to plan and reserve certain hours for your writing.

Second, stop thinking of your writing-time as typing one word after another at your keyboard. The time you spend thinking about a new idea, understanding its core conflict and the needs, wants and desires of its characters is, in fact, writing-time. You’re better off spending a week coming up with two or three killer ideas than churning out five pages a day that you’ll never use. You can accomplish this with a tape recorder while on a good walk or in the gym. You can write by hand while in the doctor’s office. In other words, you don’t have to be chained to your desk every day. What you do have to do is stick to your writing commitment and invest those minutes wisely.

Third, eat well and hydrate. Desk jobs take their toll on your body. Sustained creative work, like any task of prolonged mental concentration, saps your mental abilities. Because of this, you need a high-performance lifestyle. It begins with diet and hydration. Eat lean meats and make sure you have vegetables on your plate. Snack on fruit instead of junk. If it’s bright and colorful, eat more of it. At the same time, consume lots of clear fluids (not Vodka). Remember, every system in your body relies on water to function. Water helps your body absorb the vitamins and nutrients it needs to maintain not only mental and physical performance, but creativity. If you’re running on empty calories and or dehydrated, your creativity will suffer.

Fourth, make sure your writing-time is both fun and fulfilling. Understand that human being take action for two reasons:

1. To avoid pain
2. To gain pleasure

If your writing sessions feel like you’re the star of a horror story, you’re probably not going to look forward to them. It’s the way we’re hardwired. So you must find personal ways to make the experience something that gives you pleasure. This is difficult because writing is extremely hard work. Sometimes you end up with a headache instead of a story. It’s okay to have bad days. My experience has been that a series of bad days usually means that a major breakthrough is on the immediate horizon. So barrel through the bad times and remain focused on the parts of writing that bring you personal satisfaction.

What is it about writing that brings you the most joy? Is it the fact that you’re able to create an imaginary person and bring her to life using nothing more than words? Is it finding your way to a spectacular plot-point that you know readers will love? Maybe you’ve already got some work out there and it’s the money. Maybe it’s what you learn about yourself while exploring another person’s psyche. In any case, you should identify it, embrace it and work towards more of it. Remember, you can do all of this. You can be a writer.

Stay tuned for Writing Every Day, Part II in which we make your writing hours the most productive they’ve ever been.

All for now, I’ve got a horror story that’s screaming for attention. Write well and don’t forget to check under your beds. LL

HyperThreat(tm) Sound

While the work that introduced me to HyperThreat™ was not writing related, the event kick started some cool projects. I won’t give too much away, but I’ll share that the scary story about a certain red guitar is getting a soundtrack… I’ve wanted to do such a thing for a long time. Of course, writing always takes priority over playing my Strat (at least at this stage of my career) and I’ve had to put that goal off. But the right people and tools are in place, so how can I say no?

Sinister – Chapter 53 is now live. We find Anthony moving away from the mid-point and marching into the Warrior phase. He’s getting his footing, seeking answers, unraveling the riddle… It’s too soon for him to kick ass, of course. That happens in the Martyr phase and I’m really looking forward to it.

Get a Writer’s Life

I strongly encourage all tribe members to return Wednesday for Writing Every Day, Part I and Friday for Writing Every Day, Part II. Not that I have all the answers – nobody does – but I do know a thing or two about writing every day.

For the following week – I’m working on a big blog about the most important story element of them all:

 CONFLICT

Gotta run for now, just heard some strange noises on the stairs… LL