Kyle Michel Sullivan's Blog: https://www.myirishnovel.com/, page 267
May 15, 2014
Weirdness
Jake took me down a dead end and now we're trying to find our way back, so I only got 3 pages done, so far, and part of that includes the confession bit. Why does he do that? He knows it won't work. Too many aspects interfere with the natural progression.
I've been working late thanks to being the only one at work to do stuff, right now...so that may be part of the problem. We've got four fairs needing to be picked up this week and entered into the UK by Tuesday, next week. I get home and I'm wiped.
I feel rather like the scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz, wishing he had a brain.
I've been working late thanks to being the only one at work to do stuff, right now...so that may be part of the problem. We've got four fairs needing to be picked up this week and entered into the UK by Tuesday, next week. I get home and I'm wiped.
I feel rather like the scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz, wishing he had a brain.
May 14, 2014
Police don't just lie in the US...
This is an amazing story about cops investigating two murders who convinced several people they'd helped in a murder but just couldn't remember it...scary...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/2014/newsspec_7617/index.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/2014/newsspec_7617/index.html
May 13, 2014
Rebootingly done
I did some adjusting on the banner and sent it off with a link to my webpage for these books. I also changed some links on my site to take potential buyers to Kobo instead of a page that merely offers more links. Go Daddy isn't that easy to use when you're setting up...but it's very easy to do updates. On that score alone it gets kudos from me. The previous setup was damn near impossible.I know the banner's a bit cluttered, but that's deliberate. I want these suckers lumped together, finally, so people can see I've got more than one offering or one place where my books can be bought. For all its self-righteousness, Amazon's offering everything.
Now I can get back to OT and finish it up. An idea I had long ago about how to reveal the main killer but tossed aside has resurfaced, and works. But it changes the motivation of everything...and that's cool. Because in the long run, it makes the reasoning behind what's happening even more vicious.
Ah, the joy of writing...
I did some adjusting on the banner and sent it off with a...
I did some adjusting on the banner and sent it off with a link to my webpage for these books. I also changed some links on my site to take potential buyers to Kobo instead of a page that merely offers more links. Go Daddy isn't that easy to use when you're setting up...but it's very easy to do updates. On that score alone it gets kudos from me. The previous setup was damn near impossible.I know the banner's a bit cluttered, but that's deliberate. I want these suckers lumped together, finally, so people can see I've got more than one offering or one place where my books can be bought. For all its self-righteousness, Amazon's offering everything.
Now I can get back to OT and finish it up. An idea I had long ago about how to reveal the main killer but tossed aside has resurfaced, and works. But it changes the motivation of everything...and that's cool. Because in the long run, it makes the reasoning behind what's happening even more vicious.
Ah, the joy of writing...
May 12, 2014
Sidetracked
I spent the evening setting up a website for my adult books, using my old kmscb.com domain. GoDaddy's updated its web designer so I had to learn it all over again, and while some parts of it are easier, others are impossible. For example, I can't change the names of the links in the main menu if I want to use a particular design. Irritating. But it's done. Now I have one place to send potential book buyers to that's separate from my other site.
I did this because another website is willing to post a link to my work. All I have to do is send in a banner...so I worked this up --
It's a bit chaotic, and deliberately so...and I think I may rework it. I like the face being on the left and the figure on the right, now that I think about it. And the link embedded in it will be for my one site instead of having to make do with sending people to directtextbook.com or Amazon or anything.
Wish I could afford to do some real advertising in specified spots. Not just for these books, but also David Martin. I tried the ad thing with facebook and that got damn near nothing. I've got a giveaway going on GoodReads, but I don't know if that will do anything, yet. It doesn't end till Sunday. I've sent out post cards and copies of the book...and it just sort of sits there. I wonder if I did the story right?
Maybe I'm not the type who should write children's books...
I did this because another website is willing to post a link to my work. All I have to do is send in a banner...so I worked this up --
It's a bit chaotic, and deliberately so...and I think I may rework it. I like the face being on the left and the figure on the right, now that I think about it. And the link embedded in it will be for my one site instead of having to make do with sending people to directtextbook.com or Amazon or anything.Wish I could afford to do some real advertising in specified spots. Not just for these books, but also David Martin. I tried the ad thing with facebook and that got damn near nothing. I've got a giveaway going on GoodReads, but I don't know if that will do anything, yet. It doesn't end till Sunday. I've sent out post cards and copies of the book...and it just sort of sits there. I wonder if I did the story right?
Maybe I'm not the type who should write children's books...
May 11, 2014
452
That's how many pages I now have...and maybe fewer...but I dumped the entire last chapter because it just prolonged the finale without any purpose. Instead, I moved one confrontation up, chopped out a minor sub-plot that meant nothing, and now I'm probably 90% done. One killer just got revealed and another is on the way...and then the denouement.
But this leaves me blank of brain, so instead, I shall show you how NOT to pounce on a cute boy who's doing a belly roll in his "Risky Business" style home...
See what I mean?
But this leaves me blank of brain, so instead, I shall show you how NOT to pounce on a cute boy who's doing a belly roll in his "Risky Business" style home...
See what I mean?
May 10, 2014
Feeling better about it...
I've gone through nearly 300 pages of OT and so far only the first couple of chapters were in need of serious work. The rest has been detail work with a bit of info-juggling. I like what I've done, for the most part -- letting character determine the speed of the plot as opposed to rules and regulations for writers. I am getting rid of some redundancies, but overall if builds in a way I like. Nothing forceable about it.
I am honing Jake's manner of speech, more. He's not as verbal as Antony so that is something I'm keeping in mind as I go through. It means getting rid of a couple of nice descriptions, but they just didn't fit into the way Jake talks.
I still found time to find out Conchita Wurst won Eurovision for "Rise Like A Phoenix". Coolness. That means that next year's Eurovision Contest will be held in Vienna.
Conchita's got a great voice, but this song would be perfect for Shirley Bassey.
I am honing Jake's manner of speech, more. He's not as verbal as Antony so that is something I'm keeping in mind as I go through. It means getting rid of a couple of nice descriptions, but they just didn't fit into the way Jake talks.
I still found time to find out Conchita Wurst won Eurovision for "Rise Like A Phoenix". Coolness. That means that next year's Eurovision Contest will be held in Vienna.
Conchita's got a great voice, but this song would be perfect for Shirley Bassey.
May 9, 2014
This is what 487 pages looks like
And it's not done, yet. But I'm at that stage in the story where I need a hardcopy to go through in order to figure out if the thing's making any sense. I just can't do that on a computer. I guess I'm still old-school in that a red pen on paper is more honest to me than cut-and-paste.I like the photo I put on the top of it...and I was thinking once the book's done I'd use something like that for the cover...but now I'm not so sure. It's on the obvious side, to me. I wonder if I can figure out some way to do a holographic cover through POD that will show him both smiling straight at you and eyes downcast in sadness?
While printing, I reread a section where Jake and Dion talk and remember their week together, years ago...and Jake learns his uncle refused to invite him to live in Palm Springs when he was kicked out of his home. The reason why ties into the whole theme of the story...and leads to the moment, alone in a hotel room, when he accepts the reality of what it all means.
It's still a mystery novel, and I am simplifying the way into that genre, but I won't be able to trim it back to being just that. This book is about a lot more than I intended...and happily so.
And terrifyingly...
May 8, 2014
Words of wisdom from a man who won't stop writing till he's dead...
Stole this from http://www.openculture.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------
In one of my favorite Stephen King interviews, for The Atlantic, he talks at length about the vital importance of a good opening line. “There are all sorts of theories,” he says, “it’s a tricky thing.” “But there’s one thing” he’s sure about: “An opening line should invite the reader to begin the story. It should say: Listen. Come in here. You want to know about this.” King’s discussion of opening lines is compelling because of his dual focus as an avid reader and a prodigious writer of fiction—he doesn’t lose sight of either perspective:
We’ve talked so much about the reader, but you can’t forget that the opening line is important to the writer, too. To the person who’s actually boots-on-the-ground. Because it’s not just the reader’s way in, it’s the writer’s way in also, and you’ve got to find a doorway that fits us both.
This is excellent advice. As you orient your reader, so you orient yourself, pointing your work in the direction it needs to go. Now King admits that he doesn’t think much about the opening line as he writes, in a first draft, at least. That perfectly crafted and inviting opening sentence is something that emerges in revision, which can be where the bulk of a writer’s work happens.
Revision in the second draft, “one of them, anyway,” may “necessitate some big changes” says King in his 2000 memoir slash writing guide On Writing. And yet, it is an essential process, and one that “hardly ever fails.” Below, we bring you King’s top twenty rules from On Writing. About half of these relate directly to revision. The other half cover the intangibles—attitude, discipline, work habits. A number of these suggestions reliably pop up in every writer’s guide. But quite a few of them were born of Stephen King’s many decades of trial and error and—writes the Barnes & Noble book blog—“over 350 million copies” sold, “like them or loathe them.”
1. First write for yourself, and then worry about the audience. “When you write a story, you’re telling yourself the story. When you rewrite, your main job is taking out all the things that arenot the story.”
2. Don’t use passive voice. “Timid writers like passive verbs for the same reason that timid lovers like passive partners. The passive voice is safe.”
3. Avoid adverbs. “The adverb is not your friend.”
4. Avoid adverbs, especially after “he said” and “she said.”
5. But don’t obsess over perfect grammar. “The object of fiction isn’t grammatical correctness but to make the reader welcome and then tell a story.”
6. The magic is in you. “I’m convinced that fear is at the root of most bad writing.”
7. Read, read, read. ”If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write.”
8. Don’t worry about making other people happy. “If you intend to write as truthfully as you can, your days as a member of polite society are numbered, anyway.”
9. Turn off the TV. “TV—while working out or anywhere else—really is about the last thing an aspiring writer needs.”
10. You have three months. “The first draft of a book—even a long one—should take no more than three months, the length of a season.”
11. There are two secrets to success. “I stayed physical healthy, and I stayed married.”
12. Write one word at a time. “Whether it’s a vignette of a single page or an epic trilogy like ‘The Lord of the Rings,’ the work is always accomplished one word at a time.”
13. Eliminate distraction. “There’s should be no telephone in your writing room, certainly no TV or videogames for you to fool around with.”
14. Stick to your own style. “One cannot imitate a writer’s approach to a particular genre, no matter how simple what that writer is doing may seem.”
15. Dig. “Stories are relics, part of an undiscovered pre-existing world. The writer’s job is to use the tools in his or her toolbox to get as much of each one out of the ground intact as possible.”
16. Take a break. “You’ll find reading your book over after a six-week layoff to be a strange, often exhilarating experience.”
17. Leave out the boring parts and kill your darlings. “(kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings.)”
18. The research shouldn’t overshadow the story. “Remember that word back. That’s where the research belongs: as far in the background and the back story as you can get it.”
19. You become a writer simply by reading and writing. “You learn best by reading a lot and writing a lot, and the most valuable lessons of all are the ones you teach yourself.”
20. Writing is about getting happy. “Writing isn’t about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid or making friends. Writing is magic, as much as the water of life as any other creative art. The water is free. So drink.”
See a fuller exposition of King’s writing wisdom at Barnes & Noble’s blog.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
In one of my favorite Stephen King interviews, for The Atlantic, he talks at length about the vital importance of a good opening line. “There are all sorts of theories,” he says, “it’s a tricky thing.” “But there’s one thing” he’s sure about: “An opening line should invite the reader to begin the story. It should say: Listen. Come in here. You want to know about this.” King’s discussion of opening lines is compelling because of his dual focus as an avid reader and a prodigious writer of fiction—he doesn’t lose sight of either perspective:
We’ve talked so much about the reader, but you can’t forget that the opening line is important to the writer, too. To the person who’s actually boots-on-the-ground. Because it’s not just the reader’s way in, it’s the writer’s way in also, and you’ve got to find a doorway that fits us both.
This is excellent advice. As you orient your reader, so you orient yourself, pointing your work in the direction it needs to go. Now King admits that he doesn’t think much about the opening line as he writes, in a first draft, at least. That perfectly crafted and inviting opening sentence is something that emerges in revision, which can be where the bulk of a writer’s work happens.
Revision in the second draft, “one of them, anyway,” may “necessitate some big changes” says King in his 2000 memoir slash writing guide On Writing. And yet, it is an essential process, and one that “hardly ever fails.” Below, we bring you King’s top twenty rules from On Writing. About half of these relate directly to revision. The other half cover the intangibles—attitude, discipline, work habits. A number of these suggestions reliably pop up in every writer’s guide. But quite a few of them were born of Stephen King’s many decades of trial and error and—writes the Barnes & Noble book blog—“over 350 million copies” sold, “like them or loathe them.”
1. First write for yourself, and then worry about the audience. “When you write a story, you’re telling yourself the story. When you rewrite, your main job is taking out all the things that arenot the story.”
2. Don’t use passive voice. “Timid writers like passive verbs for the same reason that timid lovers like passive partners. The passive voice is safe.”
3. Avoid adverbs. “The adverb is not your friend.”
4. Avoid adverbs, especially after “he said” and “she said.”
5. But don’t obsess over perfect grammar. “The object of fiction isn’t grammatical correctness but to make the reader welcome and then tell a story.”
6. The magic is in you. “I’m convinced that fear is at the root of most bad writing.”
7. Read, read, read. ”If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write.”
8. Don’t worry about making other people happy. “If you intend to write as truthfully as you can, your days as a member of polite society are numbered, anyway.”
9. Turn off the TV. “TV—while working out or anywhere else—really is about the last thing an aspiring writer needs.”
10. You have three months. “The first draft of a book—even a long one—should take no more than three months, the length of a season.”
11. There are two secrets to success. “I stayed physical healthy, and I stayed married.”
12. Write one word at a time. “Whether it’s a vignette of a single page or an epic trilogy like ‘The Lord of the Rings,’ the work is always accomplished one word at a time.”
13. Eliminate distraction. “There’s should be no telephone in your writing room, certainly no TV or videogames for you to fool around with.”
14. Stick to your own style. “One cannot imitate a writer’s approach to a particular genre, no matter how simple what that writer is doing may seem.”
15. Dig. “Stories are relics, part of an undiscovered pre-existing world. The writer’s job is to use the tools in his or her toolbox to get as much of each one out of the ground intact as possible.”
16. Take a break. “You’ll find reading your book over after a six-week layoff to be a strange, often exhilarating experience.”
17. Leave out the boring parts and kill your darlings. “(kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings.)”
18. The research shouldn’t overshadow the story. “Remember that word back. That’s where the research belongs: as far in the background and the back story as you can get it.”
19. You become a writer simply by reading and writing. “You learn best by reading a lot and writing a lot, and the most valuable lessons of all are the ones you teach yourself.”
20. Writing is about getting happy. “Writing isn’t about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid or making friends. Writing is magic, as much as the water of life as any other creative art. The water is free. So drink.”
See a fuller exposition of King’s writing wisdom at Barnes & Noble’s blog.
May 7, 2014
Kill your darlings...
A problem I'm having with OT is fitting in some background so someone who hasn't read Rape in Holding Cell 6 can keep up with Jake's references to what happened between him and Antony. A lot of the trouble boiling up in OT stems from that story's fallout. This was a deliberate decision and fits in with the overall theme...but it's making things tricky now that I've cut so much explanation.
Fact is, I've cut another 9 pages, and the story reads a lot faster and smoother. But I don't know if I feel that way because I know the background or if it really just doesn't matter that much. It could go either way. I may just keep revealing bits and pieces as things progress, make it a shadow mystery.
Slashing the filigree is proving to be painful. And yet...it makes sense. The first few pages of a book determine whether or not you'll finish it or eventually put it aside. I've done that a few times with books -- usually getting to around page 100 before I stop making myself read.
For example: I've only finished one of William Faulkner's books -- The Sound and the Fury -- because his prose is so dense. I had to drop a class I was taking in college because I hated his writing so much. And as much as I love The Foundation Trilogy, I could not read the god-awful prequel to it written by Asimov because Hari Selden was made into such a gullible twit.
Don't want that to happen to my books.
Fact is, I've cut another 9 pages, and the story reads a lot faster and smoother. But I don't know if I feel that way because I know the background or if it really just doesn't matter that much. It could go either way. I may just keep revealing bits and pieces as things progress, make it a shadow mystery.
Slashing the filigree is proving to be painful. And yet...it makes sense. The first few pages of a book determine whether or not you'll finish it or eventually put it aside. I've done that a few times with books -- usually getting to around page 100 before I stop making myself read.
For example: I've only finished one of William Faulkner's books -- The Sound and the Fury -- because his prose is so dense. I had to drop a class I was taking in college because I hated his writing so much. And as much as I love The Foundation Trilogy, I could not read the god-awful prequel to it written by Asimov because Hari Selden was made into such a gullible twit.
Don't want that to happen to my books.
