Seven Heroes Books

First Page

2013-08-04T19:54:00.001-07:00

Dear Lord of Words,

Can you please explain the need for myself to spend hours contemplating, writing, reading, and stressing over the first page to my novel?

It's a bit of a drag, if I can be even more frank (don't call my Shirley?), that such a small portion of my story be an impressive consuming sink of brain-power, eye muscle scanning, and typing experience. The fairness of it all escapes me.

Yes, I understand that the first page is what most readers will see when they open the book, well, after they've gotten past the credits, copyright, etc, or are done reading the last page. Of course the beginning should be good -- it has to catch the attention of the reader, setup the character and world, and maybe something else, although I'm not sure. But really, my quality of writing shouldn't need to be substantially more professional or re-worked because of this, right?

Okay, I know what you're thinking. How can I think the first page doesn't need to be perfect? What if it's like the rest of my crappy novel? You've got a point there. But, in that case, shouldn't I just write in the same vein as the remaining content so that I'm not fooling the reader into thinking I'm talented or that they might enjoy the story? I don't want to be sued for false writing-ability.

Shouldn't the cover do more for me? I mean, it's got to be awesome, too!

Right, I'm missing the point, I'm sorry. Then could I at least try less and less from paragraph one on until the end of page one? By then I'm sure my writing will just go seamlessly to normal and the reader won't be caught in the turbulence that is my attempt at providing them a story.

I haven't received your answer yet.

Oh, you were reading my first page? What'd you think? Lord of Words? Mommy...?

So you want to watch it as a movie instead? Crap.

-JK

Succinct

2013-05-09T18:04:00.003-07:00

Sometimes when I read I get lost. Sure, word follows word and punctuation is present. Hey, getting lost can be good, if I meant getting lost in a story such that I was entrenched in the world and lives of the characters. No, I’m talking about when I read a paragraph or — even worse — a sentence, that by the time I get to the end of it I can’t remember what I’d just read or what the point of it was. And this has happened to me during published works, although not as often as drafts.

What if words were the only way we could convey our feelings? I’m talking on a literal level, here. Neither symbolic speech nor non-verbal communication count. (This would be a different world.)

And what if those same words that you typed or write could not be taken back? They would be etched on the stone of eternity for all to see, or at least all who cared to look.

I know that I would think more carefully how I phrased my ideas, opinions, and thoughts in general.

In that world, whether or not you feel the inspiration of your writing flow, or the sludge barely moves from your tips, you would be stuck with it. Tough luck. Would you survive? If you were a writer, would your work see the light of day past your inner-circle?

But, we’re blessed to be able to edit, delete, and revise. Keep your style, sure, but try to be succinct. Losing your reader is the worst thing you as a writer can do.

-JK

Developing Skills To Write Novels

2013-02-13T17:50:00.003-08:00

A friend of mine recently asked me what the above header so boldly asks (though it isn't a question here).

How did I develop the skills to write novels?
To some degree I think the skill has to be built-in. Perhaps that's a convenient answer.
The programmer in me wants to break this question down into modules, in some order, but not in an official way, so here I go:

Creativity

When writing creative fiction/non-fiction, it is crucial that I have some sort of landscape of original thinking. If I don't have a creative wave pulling me out to the forgotten, demon-ridden whirlpool of story-land, why should I expect the reader to enjoy reading it? They've already read that last book – they probably won't want to pay money or waste their time reading a crappy duplicate.
Bless your story with genuine articles of your own creative juices. Don't be mad if you find story elements based off of other stories, but be sure that you give it your twist/taste.

Love of Reading

What? No, you don't need that. After all, books are written by magic, and thus no one writes them.
Yet, the want to read has to be there, otherwise why should you (or I), the writer, want others to read it? Anyone who writes a story and publishes it who doesn't love to read did not have a lot of readers. It will show through. Don't make it out to be that love of reading means knowing how to write just like your favorite authors. It only means that you enjoy the act of immersing yourself in a story so much that you want to do so yourself.

Planning

Writing a novel requires you to know the story. (Duh!) There are scenes, and beats within those scenes. A collection of scenes will make a chapter, and a series of chapters an arc. And of course, a series of arcs makes a novel.

You have to know what is going to happen, and when. Does this need to be known at creation of the story time? No. You will figure this out as you go, and from draft to draft changes will also be made, even if just slight.

Make your trajectory, and fine tune it as you write. Otherwise, you and your readers (if you have any) will be completely lost.

Determination

If you end up quitting, then your story will never be finished.
Some days (or weeks) are so challenging that you question each piece of the story that makes it your own. Given that, it would be easy to accept defeat and forget the project. Sure, you'll have days that rock your world and you want to sing to the world of your greatness, until the next day when your writing is worse than two hillbillies comparing who has more teeth.
Keep going if you want someone to read your piece someday. That may mean changing large elements of the story, and that hurts. But, that pain will be worth it when you complete the novel and see what you've accomplished.

Learn

Doing research on your world is crucial. So is learning from your mistakes and improving. If you don't increase your minds-awareness, and/or your characters', then the reader certainly won't feel challenged, either.

When I say your characters learn, that should mean that they are vibrant and think for themselves.
The world you build also has to learn as you write it. Certain events and places may not feel suitable for it, so if that's the case, take them out. Remember what I said about re-doing things? That's where this comes into place. You want to create the most natural fits for your world, even if your world isn't natural at all.

Take the time to get involved with the story, and really care about what happens to it, and your readers will notice, and hopefully end up caring, too.

Collaboration

Even if you never write with another author, you need friends. People can be great, and in that spirit, it is my belief that an ear, a shoulder, eyes balls, or even your own self can be a great remedy to the writing life. Your friends can help you out, and you to them. Learn other styles and stories. Give advice to the others, and listen to others, even if you don't do anything with it. No one knows the secret to writing, so should it hurt to ask around to see if you and your friends can stumble upon it?

Lastly

This isn't a module, but: believe that your writing matters. If I didn't believe that my writing and my stories have a place in the world, then I probably never would have started doing any of it. It's a compulsion, and the best treatment for it is to keep doing it until you get it out of your system. The best writers never free themselves from the compulsion.

Is Grammar and Spelling Important In Novel writing?

2012-12-02T07:30:00.000-08:00

Is Grammar and Spelling Important In Novel writing?

Sumtimes I read the noosespaper. (Good story, bro, tell it again.) My Dad reads it every weekend, or tries to, at least. When I was younger, he would pull my Sister and I up and show us a typo. This would also happen for advertisements when we were out and about; I have a keen eye for such grammar mistakes and typos because of that, which has become my jetpack for jettisoning over the grammar pitfalls of writing.

How can it be that people whom are paid to write can have a published piece out in the wild with grammar problems and typos? I suppose the first thing to consider is this: no one is perfect, least of all the entirety of humanity and computer programming.

I could write a novel (yeah, I can!) and not do any spell-checking. Let's also assume that I don't know how to write with mostly correct grammar, and also, let's say that I didn't use the spell-checker to mitigate (in most cases) the problems.

So, the piece gets out there, because that's how the world works. (If you didn't know, all you have to do to become a famous righter is get your piece “out there”. Pretty simple, dummy.) People then pick up your piece and become enthralled by the miraculous story and diction-talent that you possess. It becomes a popyoular book! That's amazing, and all u had to do was right it. Yeah, you rok.

Xept, I don't believe that ever actually happens. It can't be write that righters can just pen/type out a potentially mind-blowing piece and push it to the world and actually get somewhere off just that. It will never happen that way. (And if it does, feel free to strip me of my jetpack.)

But, you might say that not all diealogue is in correct grammar. Oh, yeah, for sure, but that's usually fine. Why? Well, dialogue is when the character is speaking. (Is that how it works? I had no idea, thank you!) So, if the character is speaking, then the dialogue should represent their dialect.

Back to the point of the article. Why will peaces that are poor in their grammar and spelling never make it big? Because people generally hate to sift through those missedakes for a long period of time, myself included. I find it frustrating, and more so if I paid for the work. Njoyment is usually what I want from reading a book. The act of reading it shouldn't force me to think two hard about the actual words yoused. If it does, perhaps it was the dictionary? Hey, it could be.

Think of it from another point of view. You have a phone. It's awesum and does phone things (smartly, I'm sure). But, its slow when loading “apps” and you can't change all of the settings to your liking. After some time, using the device gets on your nerves for at least sum of its functions. But, u have that two-year contrack; good luck with that.

We shouldn't put it up with overly unedited writing, unless we are editors! For the most part, though, buks are published with at least the paulish of correct grammar and lack of signiphicant typos. What a great feet and I'm happy that we have accomplished that much! But, I'm not so sure that will last. Our world is becoming less formal by the deckade...will I be a stalwart in twenty years because I right more correctly than another writer?

I find it important to right with an eye for correct spelling and yousage of grammars. What do you think? Are you a writer or a reader?

A little writing inspiration from The Oatmeal

2012-11-20T22:40:00.001-08:00

Feeling a little lost? Go read this from a real writer (well *internet* writer), The Oatmeal. Click here for the full link.

What happens when I ____?

2012-11-11T16:04:00.001-08:00

When I first wrote the title to this post, I had the concept of a "What happens when I <insert curse-word> up? How...be...awesome...again?"

However, that's actually a narrow perspective, therefore this post will cover the great eff-ups and successes, and how the author (you/I) should deal with them.

An author can force a story to deteriorate in more ways than should be allowed.

I can pull on that one thread and suddenly I wish I'd left it all alone because now I have one long spaghetti of story. Certainly, you can put it back together...but it may not be easy.

Was that chapter really necessary? What did it do for the character, for the reader?

I spend the entire story building up the character's personality and desires, and I don't want to screw up! Perfection is ideal. Attainable? No.

But, back to that chapter example. There has been at least on time where I wrote an entire chapter that I then threw away. I can divulge this one thing quite easily: it was not enjoyable. I spent a good hour on that thing. Sure, it was the first draft and it wasn't a long chapter, but come on! I wrote the scenes, had some ideas for the next chapter, and then with some thought, I realized it was for naught. Perhaps my whims had caught up with me: I can't write the perfect list of chapters on the first go anymore. Normally, I'll add chapters on later drafts, but remove in the first? That's not how I thought I'd do it.

So, what happens when you screw up? You fix it. In my case, I removed the virus chapter and replenished the story with a better one that gave the story the direction it needed. It was actually surprisingly easy, once I realized I had the second chance. Still, I didn't really plan out the replacement, but I was in high spirits. And I got some comedy out of it...always a good thing.

To summarize: when you make a big mistake, bring out your critical eye and take a sip of I-can-do-better. And perhaps add some sugar. Find a better way. Take your story as a whole and work through it!

Onto the optimistic side:

When I do well I get giddy. Woot I rock at writing! I want a slow-clap. Now.

I got through the tough passage and the character is up against a huge block that they have to surpass. Yeah, it's a good time to be the writer: how will it go down? I just set up the story for that amazing thing? Yeah, I'm awesome.

The gotcha? Don't get complacent. Most likely you're not finished with the draft. If you are, then move to the next draft, else hire an editor.

If you have more writing to do, be happy for what you did, but move on. As most of us know by now, one day you'll feel ravishing about your accomplishment, but the next downright dreadful. Take it in turns and be strong, you Writer.

-JK

Re-draw

2012-11-11T15:41:00.000-08:00

Re-draw

I read an interesting article a few weeks ago. (What, you didn't?)

If I find the URL for it, I'll post it up, but for now I'll go into the summary, and my thoughts on it, in a practical sense.

Novelists have a hard time; we have long pieces that need to hold the reader, build up conflict in a somewhat well-measured time, and keep a look-out on the end from the get-go. Short-story writers don't have that same problem. As far their problems go, that's not for this piece.

So, if we have such a hard time keeping things in-line, understandable, and interesting, how can we know we've done such things? It's not easy, as I subtly alluded to above. And, the article goes into the following methods for helping out the novelist, using short-story methods:

write from multiple POVs (point-of-views)
Break up the major arcs into sub-arcs that are more or less self-contained

Hey, that's work! Or, hey, I already write out the POV of a few/several main characters. (I normally don't do multiple POV, but perhaps that will change.)

It's important to have an idea of the flow of the story at every point. That may mean that, at least for single POV stories, that you, the author, write passages of the other characters. In this manner, you can fill plot-holes, and understand your characters, the world, and events better. Isn't that a good thing?

It's this re-draw that I find interesting. My, what if you actually like what you write in this stage? Maybe that means the next draft actually uses those bits? Why not? It's your story, write it how you find it best.

I'm planning on doing just that, I think. I still am working on the draft, but I am closing in on the ending, and once I've taken my break from the story, I'm looking forward to this incredibly in-depth method. Sure, it's going to take a long time, and my frustration level is going to rise. However, the idea is that my story will be better off for it in the end. Want to try that yourself? Go ahead! I doubt you will be disappointed for the effort.

The Enthralling, Forworn Tale of Eragon

2012-10-06T17:35:00.000-07:00

The Enthralling, Forworn Tale of Eragon

Christopher Paolini, the author of The Inheritance Cycle, is a New York Time's Best-selling author. He gained his claim to fame with Eragon, which he originally drafted at 16. Almost a year ago, he published the last of the four book series, the final of which was named Inheritance.

WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS (ALTHOUGH NOT MANY)

Eragon, although a sophomoric tale of the protagonist, Eragon, was an interesting read by an author so young. Paolini took his love for literature, and fantasy in particular, as inspiration with this book, and of course, the series as a whole.

The first book showed many signs of Star Wars. (I should probably cite my sources, but you can either peruse Wikipedia, articles in print or on the web, or read the books yourself. I will do my best only to stake claims from reputable sources I have read, as well as those that I believe to be true -- it is up to you, the reader, whether or not to believe them.) Is it bad to love Star Wars? Some may say so, but that's not the point, here. And, of course, I don't say whether it's wrong to use, subconsciously or intentionally, inspiration from the stories one loves. As I have mentioned in previous posts, as well as Kyle, it is nigh impossible to create a genuine story anymore.

Had Eragon been written with less childish diction, though, perhaps the writing would have been able to stamp out some of the claims that Paolini had only re-stamped his name on certain stories.

Eldest, the second book, only gave more fire to the plagiarism claims. There are many implied and informal references to popular stories, both in literature, as well as film. Even so, I was not bothered by that so much because there were still cases of the realm Paolini had developed where originality and quality writing broke through. He began to find his way in this book, I believe. In the end, though, I found the book to be longer than it should have been. However, at 19 years old when I read it (and having not read an enormous amount of fiction), I wasn't yet bothered by the hefty book.

Brisingr, the third book, was supposed to be the final one, but Paolini laid down the law and promised he would be able to finish the series in four. He said that he made the story larger than he'd anticipated, and thus one more would be the most appropriate way to conclude it. This book took a leaf from Eldest, such that it showed Paolini's best effort in terms of creativity so far. His most avid readers, though, were able to see through certain mysteries (Eragon's true father, for instance). After I had time reflect upon the story, and discuss it with my bro-in-law, we both had come to the conclusion that it was long and that the characters had seemed to dredge on about Galbatorix this and Galbatorix that, as if the reader was not painfully aware of by now whom the major villain was. As far as adding in the Drwarves political affairs...well...that only added to the length.

Inheritance, the final book, is where most mysteries come to an end. Much like Eldest and Brisingr, though, I found it to be far too long. You may not feel the same way. Paolini was able to take his creativity and passion even further into places I didn't know he could go. However, while reading this book particularly, I became frustrated and weary as I continued on. Some chapters were amazing, while others felt pointless. I felt that Paolini never learned how not to describe something in its entirety. There are just too many words, and not enough braincells to take it all in even three times in some places. It is a shame because the story is quite entertaining overall, if given the time to read and time to reflect. The actual ending wore me down. A few parts sparked my interest, but overall I was already so worn-down by the book and series as a whole that I continued to read nearly just to finish it.

Let me state this once: Christopher Paolini is a very talented author.

Did his editors give him too much room? I believe so. He was a popular author who made Knopf money...so of course they only gave it enough to make it readable and as relevant to the reader and story as possible.

Paolini showed major strengths in writing multiple POVs. That was also one of his greater weaknesses as a creative author; sometimes we just need to move on with the story, without directly involving another important character where the author feels it is absolutely necessary.

The ending was quite pleasant, which I supposed shouldn't have surprised me. I say that because by the time the book had ended, most of the copy-cat lines people had stated about the work, at least in my mind (since I haven't read all of fantasy), were not nearly as important to the work as they said. He made it his own, and that is something of which to be proud.

Would I recommend the series to someone else? It depends on their taste. Is it a waste to read? No. Does it bring anything divine to the world? You be the judge.

I love the Harry Potter books. Book 5 was too long, but even so, after having read it many times, I still the love the dang thing, even if I might skip some paragraphs now and then. Would I re-read The Inheritance Cycle? Tough call; only time will tell.

-JK

Keep it fresh

2012-06-23T07:57:00.002-07:00

Kyle and I have been busy, it seems. We've taken time away from this site, but here is a "quick" post to jump start us, hopefully.

I'm far in DAHDBB, my main folklore, fantasy, sci-fi, novel. I have pride in that. Sure, I wish I was finished with it, so that I could edit and move on to trying out agents. But, that's not how it is, yet.

Why do I have pride? Because the last novel I wrote was for NaNoWriMo, and in some ways I wish that was the case with this one. I want to have a draft done in a month. It's a good feeling to know that the word count is there and that I can edit all the faster. I've been writing DAHDBB since September. I came up with the original first chapter last May, let it fall into the abyss, until I snatched it up again and thought, "Hey, this could be really good." So, I have pride because I'm writing despite my wish that I could go faster. I'm continuing to push to the end, no matter how crappy the first draft may be.

Now, to the "Keep it fresh" theme.

Don't get complacent.

The second that La Escritora, Ha Sopheret, The Writer, thinks that she has no problems writing her story, or editing her draft, is the one where she will fail herself.

Fail herself? Eh? Say what?

It's nay impossible to write a wholly original piece, today. Try to write a decently original story and there will be an audience clamoring for more. The only time a rip-off story will be popular is when the initial cycle of audiences has never read fiction, or fiction in the category you've written, so they don't know any better. Sorry to say, but that's happened to me, especially with Christopher Paolini's Inheritance Cycle (Eragon books). I still haven't read the last one, Inheritance. But, that's another post.

If I can't write a completely original story, why shouldn't I just rest on my literary laurels and steal from the greats? Because that's illegal, for one, but also I wish to become a great writer off of my own talent and eager, excited fan-base.

Thus, Keep It Fresh. Put those veggie plots in a new place in the fridge, or introduce a new delectable food to the cold place. What do you have to lose? Cutting it out later if it didn't go well, or editing the shit out of it till it works? So, time, really. But, to gain? A more promising, enriching story. That's what you want.

I keep thinking that I will not strengthen my weaknesses as a writer, and boy I know what they are. I ask for feedback and criticism, so I'm not exactly avoiding unpleasantries.

But, I'm still trying. At every chapter, I ask myself what is interesting, what is confusing, what is boring, and what will this do for the story. Some times I'm wrong, or I don't see it, yet. I'm sure that's happening with DAHDBB. Yet, that doesn't deter me from trying out new ways to tell my story -- even if it means I have to surprise myself, sometimes. That usually means a character does something and it makes me wonder why and what it might mean. And the consequence of such an occurrence is only as far-reaching as my imagination. Hey, they're my characters. Kill 'em off if I don't like them. Or, better yet, have them lead the protagonist into a trap. Yeah. Do it.

Henceforth, your goal and mine shall be to dice up those fresh greens and bag 'em up in different places. See what happens. You just might like the result.

JK.

Writers

2012-02-18T08:14:00.000-08:00

Yeah.

-JK

Word Clouds

2012-02-06T22:19:00.000-08:00

I found an interesting site that creates word clouds out of any text. I wanted to share the results here.

First the word cloud for Seven Heroes Books:

Now here is the Word Cloud for the draft of my book Fates

I will be eradicating the words "back" and "face" now.

And the draft of Jason's book, Daniel and his Dead Brother Brian

Wait, who is this book is about?

I think this might actually be a good writing exercise. When I edit my next draft, you can bet I'm going to be on the lookout for overused words.

Making some good changes

2012-01-19T07:37:00.000-08:00

I graduated college last month and began obtaining my freedom into the land of adulthood where dreams flourish and...pigs fly. Well, as a writer with a sudden increase in free time until I start my new job, I've been making some changes.

Colemak

I am learning an alternative keyboard layout to QWERTY, called Colemak (http://colemak.com/). It makes better use of the infamous 'home row', and has better positioning of keys in general. That being said, switching over takes time (upwards of two weeks for speed comparing at least, for the average person); if you are a writer, programmer, or someone who types a lot (and uses all of their fingers to do so), I say it is worth the effort for the speed and comfort.

Outlining

As much as I love my creative spark, lately it has been doin' me harm. Sure, I feed it and it gives me kick-ass stories, but after that I am left with a plot that needs further constructing and pruning. I am against a comprehensive outline, though, because I find that I work best when not stating the full intentions of my piece from the start. Great if it works for you, but this is my talky-time.

Outlining does not have to be as dangerous as battling a cobra with your bare hands, nor should it be, unless that is how you work out your stories. Normally, I think in silence about the awesome things I want to go down in the story; awesome does not equate to happy or exciting. When I think on those things, usually I am able to find another level of for the story, to make things more meaningful for all parties, including the characters. Sometimes, though, it is better to make an outline on paper, or machine. I suggest machine if you aren't drawing or sketching anything important.

In the end, whatever makes your story a better read is what you should be doing, and that may not be limited to one method.

Less time on Facebook

Boy, do I love procrastinating! Not doing my work, while simultaneously berating for doing the same thing is an exciting, never-ending quest, and the worst part is that only you lose from it. So, I have been spending less time on social networks in general. The pay-off from my limited, personal boycott is that, well, I have been more productive; I was able to fire my over-paid writing elves, too.

I do not, however, wish to make obscene gestures to those who you use social media services as a way to market and advertise – more power to you!

Rdio Subscription

Music helps me get through my day, so I make sure to listen to great bands and artists. The problem, however, is that unless you are able to and accept illegal music torrents as a valid way of listening (just saying!), then either you buy a boat load of music, or you buy a subscription to an online music service! (Or both, if you so wish to.)

I have been listening to music on rdio (http://rdio.com/) for three months on the free version, and most of the songs and artists I wanted access to were available. If there is ever a problem, you will know because you will only get a 30 second preview. The same thing happens with Spotify, I believe.

I signed up for the base subscription, which for $4.99/month, gets you unlimited playback on your computer (desktop or web player). I won't go further into the pricing or the service in general, but two quickies: same price per month as Spotify, and the website is a work of art as a web app implementation-wise.

Using a full-fledged office suite

Google Docs is great at a few things, such as: real-time editing & collaboration, available as long as you have an internet connection, and is a good example of a web app. What it needs to do better is: allow for stronger editing and styling for the end-user. If you do not need specialized styling and do not mind being tethered to the web for access to the document, then gDocs is a great friend. I go back and forth, and will for awhile longer. I have my files stored in the cloud, so aside from the real time collaboration bit, I have the best of both worlds with Libre Office (http://libreoffice.org/), a fantastic open-source office suite. It is supported by a thriving community, and releases updates every few months. When it comes to publishing your work professionally, web apps won't be up to it, yet.

-JK

"I'm Writing a Novel, Officer!" --Weird Things I've Googled For Something I was Writing

2012-01-19T06:48:00.001-08:00


http://redriverpak.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/devious.jpg

If you take a glance at my web browsing history after I finish a writing session, you are likely to come away with three conclusions:

I can’t spell “beaurocracy” (bureaucracy as it turns out), often not even close enough for Google to figure it out.
A Good portion of my time “writing” is actually spent on Tumblr, Facebook, and Pandora.
I might be planning to commit some pretty God-damned serious murder.

When you write Scifi or Mysteries, you have to do a surprising amount of research that would normally indicate a severe case of psychopathy. How fast does an object have to move to decapitate someone? How long does it take to bleed out from a stab wound? How does small pox spread?

Not going to lie, it’s some pretty messed up stuff; The kind of horrifying shit that the blond sorority girl unfortuitously notices moments before getting murdered by her newly acquainted, eccentric, millionaire-lover.

I live in constant fear of the day when the FBI shows up at my door and I have to explain that I only Googled “aerosol poisons” for a chapter I was writing.

All of that said, I thought Jason and I might share a list of some of the most disturbing and incriminating things we’ve Googled while writing and get it on the record that it’s ALL for a novel (right??).

Kyle:

Calculating blast radiuses
How does anesthesia work?
Genetic manipulation using viruses
How long would it take for an object to fall to earth from orbit?
How long can a person survive in space without a suit?
Fast killing poisons
Dislocating an arm
How do energy weapons work?
How do you make an EMP bomb?
Is it possible to ignite a planet’s atmosphere?
Names of the Gods of Death
Weaponized nanite technology
Creating a black hole
Can the large hadron collider destroy the universe?
Anti-matter bombs
US Military sniper rifles
Combat knife techniques
Third degree burns
Tesla’s Harmonic Weapons
Implanting a mind-machine interface device

Jason:

Untraceable poisons
How much pure nicotine does it take to kill a man?
City police hierarchies
The origins of Cerberus (3-headed dog, guardian of Hades)
Powerful boxing moves

-JK

"Fantasy" is NOT The Same Goddam Thing as "Scifi"

2012-01-06T01:16:00.000-08:00

Every time I walk into a bookstore or library, I usually make a brief stop in the section labeled "Science Fiction." Yes, yes, I'm a nerd, but if you'll stop snickering now, I'm going to make a point of literary taxonomy that may just blow your mine; Goddamn dragons and swords and magic and scantily clad amazonian warrior women do not belong in the goddamn "science fiction" section...

I don't have anything against the dragons, or swords, or magic, or the scantily glad amazon warrior women gracing the covers of these books (in fact I am rather pro-scantily-clad-female as a general rule) but the fact is that this kind of story simply does not belong in the science fiction section. As the name, "science" goddamn "fiction" might suggest, a scifi story is a work of fiction that derives many of its main plot points, scenes, and characters from an imagined form of science. Generally, it's important that the science used within the story be plausible and well researched, lest the other nerds make fun of you for the impracticality of your FTL drive.

Fantasy, on the other hand, contains elements that are... well, they're "fantastical." Meaning beyond the realm of what could conceivably occur within our understanding of the universe. Often, these follow laws of physics and/or use beings that have been pre-established by mythical traditions from various cultures. Examples include dwarfs, vampires, wizards, dragons, the use magic etc. Most of these mythical elements are left unexplained by science, because why a vampire exists is less important to some stories than say, describing his abs in excruciating detail.

I'll allow that the line between science fiction and fantasy can grow blurry. As Arthur C. Clark once said, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." So one might argue that a world of dragons and magic is occurring in a parallel timeline, or that energy can be gathered and manipulated through a genetic fluke. One could argue that, but unless the science behind this is at least acknowledged (if not explained) by story, then it remains a work of fantasy.

If that argument isn't enough to convince you, allow me to demonstrate that it's really not that difficult to tell the two apart: Let's take a brief quiz.

Does the book cover pictured below belong in the science fiction or fantasy section?


Could be scantily clad women on the spaceship...

Let’s see, advanced technology was used to create a spaceship that seems reasonably plausible and it's floating above an alien world. Okay this is an easy one, it's science fiction!

Great! Now see if you can classify this one:

There is no science that can explain what is keeping her breasts in place.

Let’s see, we have a scantily clad, possibly elvish woman holding a jeweled scepter with some sort of demonic mythical creature next to her. This must be fantasy!

Correct again!

I'm not arguing that one genre is better than the other. I do tend to enjoy science fiction more myself, but there are fantasy books that I also find enjoyable. All I'm saying is that the American people, at the very least, are owed a signed letter of apology and a personal pledge from President Barack Obama to pass the 28th amendment to the US Constitution reading: "No venue of books or literature shall in any way combine the goddamn Fantasy books with the goddamn Science Fiction section."

-JK

Review: The Demonata By Darren Shan

2012-01-04T18:18:00.000-08:00

Darren Shan, best known for his Cirque Du Freak series, finished his ten-piece Epic Fantasy, Sci-Fi, and horror-ridden series The Demonata in 2010.

A friend of mine recommended the story to me, lending me her copies of the first four books. The first, Lord Loss, although possibly slow at times for me, was a delightful read overall, and I was quite curious to continue.

I wasn't let down as the story came to a close. There were many plot points that surprised me, and since it is a fantasy piece primarily (with strong Sci-Fi later on), that is a good thing. I don't like being able to figure out the plot of a story hundreds of pages in advance, and with The Demonata, I was rarely able to guess how things would go until toward the end of the tenth book.

Darren Shan has a wonderful talent for horror, guts, humor, and dialogue. The last two may seem out of place, and that's fine.

One of my biggest points of contention was in the number of books. I don't think it needed to last ten. Given that, the actual events were nearly perfect for the story. I wouldn't remove any of them, again, just the number of books. Books seven and eight could have been merged into two parts of the same book. The same could be said for 9 and 10, but then again not everyone loves to read epically long books.

I find that I want the story to continue. I finished it half an hour ago and I miss many parts of it. Darren Shan reached his goal for me: he entertained me, and taught me some life lessons (or at least reinforced).

To learn more about Darren Shan, please visit his website: http://www.darrenshan.com/demons/index.html

Till next time,

JK

One Year, Baby!

2012-01-02T16:53:00.001-08:00

Today at Seven Heroes Books, we are celebrating our one year anniversary. Quite exciting! And, this event provides us with some sort of requirement to summarize what we have done in the past year, and what we may have learned.

Jason: Kyle, what was your most confusing writing event of the year? You know, something that made you bewildered as to what you should do. This could be something happening in the plot of one of your stories, or something you read about writing and wasn’t sure how to react, or whatever else have you. Please, lay on the bed and let it all out.

Kyle: For me, the most confusing time is when I hit a point in my plot where I know I don’t know how to move forward. I try to force it, but nothing I do seems exactly right. That’s always very confusing. Because I may write something that seems okay, but deep down in my gut, I know it’s not what goes here. Conversely, my best times are that moment of clarity, when something falls into place and I know how to proceed with the story.

Jason: On my end, it was similar to your issue. When finishing The Write Message, I put myself on a timeline to get it to publication, and without an editor, I was unsure if the story was even good. Checking through chapters and wondering what I might have messed up, or if I had taken something too far wasn’t a good feeling. Of course, most of the writing seemed to flow well and the story was done well in many key areas. That just makes room for improvement on the next go.

Kyle: Did you have a favorite quote about writing from this year?

Jason: “You write gold. Except you suck.” This is my own creation, but the two sentences piece together an idea many of us have about writing: improvements are almost constant, but with every power-up we become increasingly aware of those who are superior in some way. The journey will continue that way indefinitely, but I suppose something to learn from this is that most likely you will never write a piece that is wholly golden, and on the flip-side, shit will not permeate entirely. Nice bit of optimism there, no?

Kyle: The best piece of writing advice I heard this year was something to the effect of: “I’m a shitty writer, but I’m a great rewriter.” I really tried to take this to heart this year. This means not being too harsh in judging your first drafts, not getting overly attached to the original plot lines or bits of prose, and finally, expect to do it all over again and be better off for it. One of the best parts of being a writer is that you get to turn back the clock, and quite laterally, rewrite history.

Jason: Yay! So, that means I can buy some Google stock back in the 90’s when it was cheap, or not what you meant? Either way, these thoughts are what will continue help us along 2011. Later on, I’m sure, we’ll do a piece about time-management and writing. Till then, happy re-writing, everyone, and we hope to see you around soon!

-JK

Critiquing

2011-12-26T20:40:00.000-08:00

I’ve encountered a lot of advice on writing. The years fly by and it seems that certain aspects of the art become more crucial and pointed for me, whilst others seem like non-issues. What have I learned from these experiences? I was going to make a list, but perhaps just fragments of thought would be more appropriate (and more for you to criticize!).

(Okay, I’m making a list.)

Not everyone is at your level of writing.

That could mean people are better and worse than you. Take those words lightly because your definition of better and worse may not be someone else’s. I meant to use this with an altered definition of connotation.
Given this subjective level of writing, and perhaps even local vs global level, it may be challenging to offer criticism on someone’s piece if you are either afraid of hurting their feelings, or you just cannot seem to find one substantial bit of weakness.

When I encounter what I believe to be writing inferior to my own, or perhaps in general (especially when dealing with a rookie writer), then it might be easy to sugar-coat my feelings. Don’t. A friend of mine said it’s a good habit to search for three positive (or strengths) and three negative (or weaknesses) aspects of the piece. This could be dialogue, pace, setting, diction, characterization, or anything else. The 3&3 rule, as I’ve just dubbed it, is probably most important here. Why? Because they probably won’t listen.

Hey! If they aren’t going to listen, then why take the time to give the story a good rub-down and make it a constructive critique in the truest sense? Well, although it will take more time (forgetting the length of the piece), if this person is serious about being a writer, then getting the best you an give is going to be the greatest gift you could give them at that point. It means that they’ll either quit, or at some point in time (an minute later, or thirty years) they will come back and take it to heart in some form. Taking it to heart may require a certain amount of time...and feel free not to take it personally. I did the same thing to a friend and I have thanked them for their earlier advice. It’s a jungle out there, folks, and without a machete to cut through the crud, I may never find the magic.

On the flip side is someone who writes at your level or “above”. I put them together because they are different, but the extremities of advice involved (speaking of myself here, or people I know) are quite similar.

At your level of writing: you may not even realize you are at the same level, and so you might look down on the mistakes you begin to see. Only weeks later will you realize you did the same thing — only now you know how to fix them! And if you do realize during the process of reading? Well, you don’t. That’s the great part. You will never realize, until after the fact. (Tell me how you do if you have.)
With superior writing, you may find yourself knit-picking. It’s bound to happen, and you can’t really stop yourself unless you’re quite used to criticizing. Tough luck. However, the other way is that you find nothing at all and so come out of the piece in awe. You feel as if one of two things has happened: 1. You have found the holy grail of writing and you are inspired to get better, 2. Another great author stands in your way and they are visibly better, so to hell with writing: go find another hobby...like glass blowing...yeah.

You will encounter people critiquing your pieces using these techniques I’ve described above: G-d-speed for sticking it out and writing another day.

Blowback.

You just critiqued someone who, in your mind, is an inferior writer. You did your best to be constructive (which, let me remind you, includes positive reinforcement), and of course they ignored your positive remarks. So, they tell you that they hate you and that you suck at writing. And, if they feel up to it (usually a time thing), and if they have access to your writing, they will shit on it and waft the fumes for all to see.

What do you do? Normally, I will read another section of their piece (if available), and continue to critique. I will also message them and get into what the real issues are: namely, they didn’t like what I said, and that they didn’t think about what I said. You an also retaliate in equal measure, being just as rude :)

Keep in mind that on writing forums, the main thing is the social aspect. Be careful. Blowback (when directed toward you, or against), can be good or bad. The community, if active at all, may shun either or both of you.

Give the work a chance. That means finishing it. Or, don’t; it’s entirely up to you.

If you don’t finish the piece and then go to town on it, splattering it with its own blood, you are asking for blowback. Remember that positive reinforcement spiel? That is part of it, but how can you give a realistically thorough critique if you didn’t finish the darn newborn baby?
By finishing it, you are allowing the act of writing to live on. If you don’t finish it, then why would anyone finish yours? Be a good person, no?

If you finish it and still think it’s worthless, then kill the sucker and make the only positive the fact that they had the desire to write at all.

If you critique your own work, let at least two weeks pass by before doing so. Anything you might try to do on your own without external advice, will probably be fruitless.

There isn’t a good ending for this post. Sorry. Keep writing!

-JK

Self-Publishing and eBook Creation

2011-12-04T20:20:00.001-08:00

Hello all. Thank you for visiting this blog once again. Kyle & I appreciate it very much.

It's not easy to "reach the masses" these days, despite ever growing media channels. And, perhaps that makes it even more crucial for bloggers and tweeters to keep up, lest they fall behind. We would hate to fall behind.

The order of business in this post is a discussion and overview of self-publishing, and eBook creation.

You'll say (since you've followed ALL of our posts), "Hey, you two fools, haven't you already done self-publishing posts before? I WILL NOT STAND FOR THIS." Well, we say, "That's why you're sitting...and something new has come up, so we feel it a good thing to update the STATE." Applause.

I have The Write Message onto Amazon and Barnes & Noble as an eBook. I am very proud. Exciting.

A few posts back I mentioned how self-publishing (and all publishing for that matter) require more than just writing and selling: you've gotta market. Without putting it out there, you are leaving your fantastic, golden baby to die in the annals of The Internet. The annals are a scary place. You don't want that.

Since I have just put my creation to the world in a digital format (other than in print at the KU Bookstore), I have some words of advice: you'll become the person who people think of as "Oh, here THEY come, shoot. They're going to talk about their BOOK again. I bet you all of the glittering vampires in Twilight. Yeah, that's right -- you're not going to take that bet."

But, it must be done. The odds of your ebook or printed book selling past your family and close friends is low. It's lower than your room temperature, you poor, poor, person.

You'll have to be a bit annoying. And, it will hopefully pay off, assuming you have a worthwhile story.

That being said, publishing your creation on Amazon and/or Barnes & Noble is surprisingly easy and quick. You'll probably want to learn a bit about formatting...seriously. If you spend the time learning how to format either in a word processor, or HTML (that's what epub and mobi use), then you'll be able to nearly obliterate all formatting oddities when you go look at the site previews. I'm not a professional, and I don't have to the time to become one, so I didn't get ALL of the problems out. Just the big ones.

When you've got that ready, for Amazon, go to the bottom of the page for Independently publish through us. Then, assuming you aren't doing print, go to Kindle Direct Publishing (versus print for createspace). And, the rest is straightforward.

For B&N, go to the bottom for Publishers. Then, you'll find information about pubit! That's the service you'll use and in my opinion it's even easier than with Amazon, which is saying something.

You get to set your royalties, the genres (you get 5 with B&N, vs 2 with Amazon), and any information about your book you think the audience would like or needs.

After that, you wait for the processing to go through. Amazon is fast, like Jimmy Johns. B&N is not as fast.

And, that's it for now! You can, of course, check out Smashwords. They also do eBook publishing. I haven't had much experience with them, so my guidance stops here.

And, as always, some useful links to help boost my ego:
The Write Message at B&N
The Write Message at Amazon

-JK

Writing After NaNoWriMo

2011-11-23T20:41:00.001-08:00

Certainly it must be possible to write after the infamous National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo).

Right?

Yeah.

Okay, I should clarify: writing a different story once NaNo is over. And by a different story, I mean to assume that you've completed your NaNo piece. Because we all complete the things we work on.

I did NaNo last year, successfully. I got it published in April, so I was editing during that time. Once I had it finished, I wrote stuff in vague bits of inspiration for some time. And basked in my own *glorious* writing.

Then I went back to old projects. Then took a break. But now, I've got two main projects and I love them both. I recently checked the page count for my new story, "Daniel and his Dead Brother Brian", and it's at 27 pages. I was very happy. That's something. It's the beginning of a story. Readers can actually judge it!

So, I suppose I am in a surprised state. It feels strange to be writing without an overt deadline. No end of November to hound my dreams (nightmares). Instead just the nightmares of stories forgotten. Just Kidding. Really.

But, in the end, I'm happy that I'm back into writing something and not moving on quickly. I'm back, baby!

-JK

Jason's Rules of Writing

2011-11-16T19:05:00.001-08:00

Jason's Rules of Writing

(And why you shouldn't listen)

You write gold. Except you suck.
You will usually describe objects (nouns) by their three most important features. (More of a context thing.)
Passive sentences are killed by a watchful eye (or eyes) and practice.
Being redundant is redundant. Don't be redundant.
Readers will hate a meaningless story more than a story full of crappy writing.
Readers don't like to read crappy writing, unless glittering vampires are involved; and thus the pages glitter in their own respect.
You write gold. Except you suck.
The mark of a great writer is one who learns the rules (guidelines), and breaks them in such a way that the reader benefits from it (and possibly doesn't realize the breakage).
The mark of a terrible writer is one who doesn't learn the rules and thus has no idea how to subtly make it seem as if they aren't broken; pissed off reader (see 5 or 6)
Back up your writing somehow.
The mark of someone who shouldn't be a writer is
Don't listen to anyone's writing advice.
Take that advice seriously.
Finish your work.
Finish it.
Read as many stories and/or poetry as you can.
This doesn't count. (See 12)
Outlining is good.
Sticking to your outline is bad.
The voices in your head are right.
You have voices in your head?
Finish your work.
You write gold. Except you suck.
Don't let anyone tell you you cannot be a writer. (See 12 and then 13)
Work with others, for you will at the very least find out how bad you currently are; if you're lucky you'll realize your potential and receive help getting there.
Learn how to write a sentence. (You need to learn how to write a sentence.)(See 4.)
Edit your work.
Listen to our Fearless Leader.
Step out of your comfort zone of writing. Include dragons.
Take at least two weeks away from your completed draft before returning.
Finish your work.
(See 1)
Stay away from cliches, unless you don't.
Learn how to constructively critique.
Learn how to rudely critique.
Learn how to keep your mouth shut.
Learn how to see the positives in a piece. There has to be at least one.
Get jealous of superior writing and work to better yourself; odds are someone looks up to your writing in some way.
Avoid the use of “very”, “really”, and “just”. Also, feel free to take out “that” if it doesn't change the meaning of the sentence.
Clarity over prose.
Tell don't show. (See 12)
Consider doing something else with your life.
Remind yourself that this is the thing you're best at.
Remember that you (will) get paid to make things up.
If it's only there because you like it, get rid of it.
If it doesn't benefit the story, get rid of it.
Less words, same meaning.
The use of choppy sentences and fragments isn't always good. Sharp is better. Clarity and power are best. (See 47.)
Come up with one more thing to write. (See 31.)
Believe that someday someone will read your work. Just let it be beyond your mother by that point.

Apologia Writing

2011-11-03T22:56:00.000-07:00

We don't live in a vacuum.

Our words can hurt others as much as they can enlighten.

Learning to tone down the critical or negative aspects of one's views in light of how others may perceive the message is something I have never been particularly great at.

And, because of this, sometimes it means you have to bite your own words.

NaNoWriMo gave me a lot. Although I have only participated in it a single time, I have fully experienced the trials and stress of the competition. A friend of mine has children and she gave it a shot last year, only to get a few thousands words typed. So, because I finished means what exactly? That I had an easier time. That's all.

Under the guise of being Awesome, it seems I became cocky and then not-so-cocky after the fact. Now I just pity the poor souls who devote November to the Writing G-ds. I pity them for one main reason: it's a drug that is hard to give up.

I will re-iterate that I am not jealous of my friends doing it this year. It is a tough thing to do and should not be taken lightly. After all, as students, hitting 1667 words a day ain't easy. And, that assumes you don't like writing utter sacks of smelly forgotten words. You want to do well. And so did I.

The first thing one must do in any sort of rhetoric, especially when they are communicating with a potentially opposing beliefs crowd, is not to attack them or make them feel stupid.

I didn't quite miss that mark. I didn't mean to come off as critical or pretentious as I might have. I was only looking to write a blog post.

So, brave NaNo'ers: fare the rocky synonym shores and alliteration valleys with caution as you make your way to the Land of Eternal Denouement. If you're lucky, you might come out with something you'll want to continue working on.

JK

Making NaNoWriMo out to be a (non) Giga Deal

2011-11-03T13:20:00.000-07:00

Perhaps it should be stated that NaNoWriMo is a giga deal.

It isn't so much that the act of writing itself is important, but the persistence in doing so.

That is the "magic" of NaNoWriMo.

And, at least in my case, once I've waved the NaNo stick, suddenly the event itself seems to disappear.

Until over half of my writer friends are doing it.

I certainly am not jealous. I mean, I did it last year and succeeded. And I got the darn thing published. But, it does, I think, beg some consideration into why I'm not participating once again.

I have proven that I can be a full-time writer. I churned out a second draft within six months of finishing the first. That's not to say it was pure-gold, but there is definitely some lovely expensive silver shining along. Enough to catch your eye and let you enjoy it. Or, perhaps I'm putting words into my readers. And, I do have readers (*gets all giddy*).

So, if I've proven (who cared in the first place?) that I can do it, why would I want to put my hands into carpel-tunnel mode once more? It seems foolish, no?

Well, the news is that it's kind of fun. It is. You're pushing against the logic of story-telling. We love breaking rules. Even if there weren't any with which to begin. (Yeah...I totally kept the preposition law, and made the sentence awkward.)

Bending/Breaking rules is something humans love, even if subconsciously.

Here are a number of reasons why I am not participating this year:

I am about to graduate
I no longer need a NaNo battle scar
I'd rather not consider my first draft a zero-draft.
There is a flaw in NaNo (so MANY words in so LITTLE time!)
I like making lists

These reasons in a logical-concatenation give me enough of a basis not to do it again. And, I probably never will. It is certainly an interesting and inspiring event, but it's not something I can continue to do.

All that being said, I would suggest anyone who has an inkling to be a writer (or is a writer) do it at least once. It is worth it that much to try, even if you don't succeed. The realization you can get from the attempt is worth a lot more than spending the normal amount of time writing a novel.

JK

Prologues assasinate Wookie Witers

2011-09-27T13:20:00.000-07:00

So, it all began.
There was a forest.
And a young boy — in said forest — who didn’t know who he was.
Then an old man with a tangled, silvery beard, came up to him with a somber smile.
The boy didn’t know that a smile was meant as a greeting, but considered it evil.
He leapt to try to kill the old man, but failed pathetically.

Then one day a horrible storm washed through the forest, and as the old man was fighting the world’s strongest bear, he died when a tree struck by lightning flattened him.

The boy reverted back to his original, evil programming.

And thus begins our story.

Ten years later.

Billy, as he named himself, met a young woman, and throughout their escapades, he divulged his secret past to her. Thus, he repeated what had happened in his past to the girl, even though he was already there. He fell asleep and had become very frustrated by stating to the girl what had happened.

Right. Yeah. No.
Please, don’t tell me you liked that snippet. It was a prologue. It was written in forty-five seconds and I hope it shows you how muddled a prologue can be. Surely, most young orphaned boys aren’t evil — unless they’re (SPOILER ALERT) Tom Riddle.

The point was most stories don’t need a prologue, or perhaps, don’t need one explicitly. Usually you can get away with saying things in exposition, or in a character’s memory as he/she recalls things or dreams about them.

The prologue is supposed to give the reader information and insight into the story that they couldn’t otherwise get from the main story. Even J.K. Rowling in all of her complicated plot, didn’t have an explicit prologue. Chapter One was just that, a chapter 10 years earlier than Chapter Two. Get over it. It worked very well and it didn’t say “Prologue”, or “Ten Years Prior”, or “If you don’t read I will kill you.”

Tell your story. Okay, “show”, but you know what I meant, you take-everything-literally you. If you want an early chapter, then do it, but don’t fall into the ten-piece epic ten-year-old-boys-and-girls fall into as their first piece/pieces.

The prologue becomes a boilerplate. It’s just not worth it — usually. So, focus on the story first, get some opinions, and then see what you’ve got to do. Don’t be that a-hole Wookie Witer. Make your own path. Don’t repeat yourself if you don’t have to.

Get a literary Prius

2011-08-01T10:12:00.000-07:00

Sputter. Sputter. Sput. Sput. Sput.

Your writing engine just died. The pen stopped and the paper stretches on for seventeen notebooks. Crud.

You gotta finish though, right? It's fairly important, this ridiculous thing called writing. And, for many of us, it pays the bills.

So, what happens when you're cruising along the margins, admiring your penmanship (penwomanship), smiling as the characters do lovely and not so lovely things to one another, and then your story stalls? You could get an oil change, or fix your tires. But, really, what if all you need is a new car?

No, I'm not talking about a new story. I'm not talking about taking a leak, and I'm not talking about replacing your pencil. I'm talking about a new perspective: that might be your Prius--half writer, half real person.

If you're stuck in the pot-holes of your story, hybrid or not, even if you've just finished a great chapter, you must wonder what to do next. Is it possible to lose the magic? Could you actually break the mechanics of your story if you make a wrong move? It is certainly possible. Thus, you can do a couple of things: either write through it, or do something else.

I, my lovely thousands of readers, usually opt for the latter. That doesn't mean that you can't, but sometimes it just gets to be a lot of crap before you hit gold. So, how about hang out with those creatures called "friends", see a movie, or by the G-d's powers, read?

And that is what you'll need to think about. Change up your vehicle--either by turning down another road, or looking through the eyes of a different windshield. Either way, you should put some thought into it, otherwise writer's block, no matter what form it is, if it exists, will keep blocking you from that Pulitzer.

Now, back to work. Drive that car to the finish line.

-JK out.

Down & Dirty Fiction

2011-07-17T22:19:00.000-07:00

Okay, so the title to this post might be misleading. What I meant was for “getting into a story”. People say, “Oh, yeah, I got into Lost.” Or, “I just couldn’t get into Harry Potter.” The topic of this post, then, is what does it mean to get into something, and on a greater note, why we use that phrase. Let’s begin like we normally would: with some ridiculous statements that we can hardly back up.

Chuck Wendig of terribleminds has coined the term, penmonkey, and wisely so. In his book of predominately edited blog-posts, Confessions Of A Freelance Penmonkey, Chuck talks about how the content of a story is not bound to the margins of the page (or sides of your compy or tablet). He calls it the magic of the cell-phone, with communication from all places of the story coming in and going out, and especially interfering with one another. Of course, that’s the way it should be. And that, JK’s huge base of readers, is where our idea of “getting into a story” takes place.

Getting into something probably means finding yourself in the story. Perhaps you are reading Gulliver’s Travels (the revised for modern comprehension edition), and within a couple of pages you find yourself gasping at the *SPOILER* tiny men tying up our beloved Gulliver. You got into the story. You found yourself at the scene, and what’s really important here is that you cared about the story, and hopefully, the character.

Writers and readers want that. If within a chapter the reader hasn’t gotten into the story, then they probably won’t (and hopefully they didn’t waste their money and time!). They can try, and they might, especially if there are vast changes in the story or a different POV. But, they would probably just be forcing their eyes along the pages until they go Fahrenheit 451 on that POS. Writers, too, but many won’t realize if they’re writing crappily until they’ve received 50 rejection letters from (hopefully) prominent publishing houses. (You can self-publish, of course!) They might not notice what they’re writing. Or, they might. Hopefully they do. And, if that’s the case, it’s the same situation: if they can’t get into their story writing-wise, or if they find content wise they don’t like it, then SOL and try again.

So, now we have an idea of what getting into something means. The why is as easy as the what. It’s a great why because the meaning of words actually give some semblance of a “world” in which you can “see yourself living in” with the actual characters.

Therefore, the first step for any reader or writer is to find those special things that they can relate to in a story, and get in knee-deep. Down and dirty fiction.

-JK out.

Seven Heroes Books

First Page

Succinct

Developing Skills To Write Novels

Creativity

Love of Reading

Planning

Determination

Learn

Collaboration

Lastly

Is Grammar and Spelling Important In Novel writing?

Is Grammar and Spelling Important In Novel writing?

A little writing inspiration from The Oatmeal

What happens when I ____?

Re-draw

Re-draw

The Enthralling, Forworn Tale of Eragon

The Enthralling, Forworn Tale of Eragon

Keep it fresh

Writers

Word Clouds

Making some good changes

I graduated college last month and began obtaining my freedom into the land of adulthood where dreams flourish and...pigs fly. Well, as a writer with a sudden increase in free time until I start my new job, I've been making some changes.

Colemak

Outlining

Less time on Facebook

Rdio Subscription

Using a full-fledged office suite

"I'm Writing a Novel, Officer!" --Weird Things I've Googled For Something I was Writing

"Fantasy" is NOT The Same Goddam Thing as "Scifi"

Review: The Demonata By Darren Shan

One Year, Baby!

Critiquing

Self-Publishing and eBook Creation

Writing After NaNoWriMo

Jason's Rules of Writing

Jason's Rules of Writing

(And why you shouldn't listen)

Apologia Writing

Making NaNoWriMo out to be a (non) Giga Deal

Prologues assasinate Wookie Witers

Get a literary Prius

Down & Dirty Fiction