Trey Stone's Blog, page 28

Self-Help for Writers & Book Review: GMC: Goal, Motivation and Conflict by Debra Dixon

First of all: Great book. I haven’t read many of these how-to-write books but this is one of my favorites.

It’s short and to the point, discussing the what, why, how of GMC: Goal, Motivation and Conflict. It’s all you need to tell a good story, it’s what going to make your characters come alive and Dixon is going to tell you all about how it works.

What’s so great about it is that it’s nothing new. You’re not going to have to learn something new and difficult, or wrap your head around something you’ve never heard about. It’s definitely a familiar concept, but the way Dixon explains it will make you think.

I have two other how-to-write books that I recommend.

The first is The Fiction Writer’s Handbook: 10 Minutes Edits by Dennis Hayes. This one is even shorter than Dixon’s, and a great book for beginner writers. If you’re wondering where to start, or want to know about a few things to be aware of, I’d recommend you start with this one.

Then I’d suggest this one here, by Debra Dixon. Like I mentioned above, it’s very simple and to the point, but carries a very powerful message. You’re going to learn things and it’s not going to be difficult to pick up on. Also, I’d be willing to bet that the payoff is huge. It’s going to change how you think about your characters.

The third and last one is On Writing by Stephen King. It probably helps being a King fan if you’re diving into this one, because the first half is a biography and King is known for droning on (and on, and on). The second half however is about writing, and King has done a lot of it. You don’t have to like him to understand that he’s been very successful and he’s written much and widely. He shares some of what (in his opinion) works and doesn’t work, and you’ll probably be left with a few things to think about.

Do you have any self-help books for writers to recommend?

Book Review: When The Eagle Hunts by Simon Scarrow

The plot is pretty straightforward: A brief prologue details a ship lost at sea. Only four Romans survive. They wake up on a beach in Britannia only to be taken away by barbaric tribesmen just when they think they’re saved.

Cut to Macro and Cato, soldiers in the Roman army, busy trying to conquer Britannia. There’s lots of marching and fighting, and marching and fighting, and fighting and marching. That’s until they’re given a very special mission: find and save the people who were lost at sea. The emperor’s family.

It’s a good book. I’m archaeologist, educated in England, so anything with Roman usually piques my interest. But…

The first half of the book is just a long fight scene. There’s the prologue which I mentioned, a scene in a tavern where Cato and Macro drink for a little bit, and after that they’re constantly on a march or fighting, or recovering from either.

All the time I was reading this, I kept thinking “what’s the point?” There didn’t seem to be much in terms of character development, and at this point, the whole “we got to save the important people from the prologue” hadn’t even been mentioned. Not even once.

And, no offense to Scarrow, but Oit’s not his writing style and way with words that sells this book, it’s his story. So it’s weird that the story took so long to get going.

*Now, I didn’t know this at the time, but this is apparently the third book in as series, though I didn’t feel like I’d missed out on much*

After the 50% mark we get to the core of the story. They’re given their secret mission to save some important people and they run off after some druids. It’s fun, it’s exciting, and I enjoyed the story in general.

But at the same time, I have to ask myself: Why did someone decide to pick this up? What agent read the first 1-2 chapters of this, and decided to the carry on, and then apparently read half a book before hardly anything happened and still went with? This cover suggests Scarrow has written some great stuff before (I’d never heard of him before this), so I assume that has much to do with it. And I don’t mean to berate him as an author, like I said, I liked the book.

If you like historical fiction, and enjoy a good fight scene or twelve, I’ll highly recommend this.

Book Review: Pure Reality, Part One, Black by Ryan Rinsler

Connor Cooper has it all. A cushy job, a beautiful home. In a futuristic world where you can ask your house for a glass of whiskey, and it pours itself, all you really need is money. And Connor has a lot of it.

But this world gets boring, fast. When his friend Matt encourages Connor to test out Silk Corporation’s new technology: Pure Reality, Connor doesn’t hesitate for long. Pure Reality lets you put on a virtual reality headset and live out any life you’d want to. And Connor is eager to try it.

This is a fascinating book, and a very interesting premise. If you’re a fan of science fiction from before it might sound a familiar, and if you’re a fan of The Matrix or Westworld, this is going to be right up your alley.

Rinsler writes with passion and dedication, taking his time to construct an elaborate and detailed world that promises to take you on a journey you’ll remember. His writing is beautiful yet down to earth, and I was impressed.

Personally, I had an issue with the length. This book is very long, and I tend to prefer books that start with a spring straight out of the gate and doesn’t slow down until the end. This isn’t like this. The pace is slower, taking it’s time with building up the world around you, never letting you slip too far ahead. Which leads me to my second issue. I felt like a lot of the story wasn’t motivated by anything. It’s perhaps difficult to explain, and again I’m talking about personal preference here, but for a while I didn’t understand where we were going, or if we were going anywhere at all. I’ll blame it on me having the attention span of a small child.

The ending caught me off-guard though, and made up for however drawn out or boring I’d thought the first half of the book.

Like I said, if you’re a fan of science fiction along the lines of The Matrix and Westworld, you’re going to love this. Trust me.

You can check out the book here.

New Year, Same Opportunities!

I got to say, I hate the holidays.

I always think I’ll have more time, to write, to read, to do stuff in general and it never fails to backfire. I should know this by now, but I keep forgetting every year.

This time, I feel like it’s taken me particularly long to get back into my old habits. (This blog post is a good example, because I’d planned to write it a week ago!)

But I’m finally back into it. Writing in the mornings. Reading in the evenings. Getting back onto Twitter and in touch with people. I’ve missed it, I really have.

And I’m excited! I have big plans for this year. I want to get at least one (maybe two!) books out there, and I have some first drafts lying around that I can’t wait to get my hands on. And when I’ve done a few rounds on those, and got them off to some beta readers, I’m planning on drafting a new project that I’ve had on the back burner for ages. It’s really exciting, and I can’t wait.

It’s weird. A while ago, I wouldn’t have been so open with my goals and plans. Not because I didn’t want to share, but perhaps because I didn’t think I could do it. I’ve learnt a lot this past year, and one of the things is that I’m capable. Very capable.

That doesn’t mean my plans won’t be delayed, or pushed back. But I can do it, I know I can.

And I can’t wait.

 

What are your plans for the year? Anything big? Small? I’d love to hear about it!

Book Review: The Power of Body Language By Joe Navarro

Very unusual from what I usually read, this isn’t fiction at all. Joe Navarro is a former FBI specialist, who knows how to read people. I was recommended this book by a colleague who said I’d probably find it interesting (which I did, not gonna lie), and I got it since it was on Audible.

Again, the subject is very interesting. Navarro clearly know a whole deal about how humans act and what the things we do with our body means, and he conveys that to the listener with interesting examples throughout the book.

But…

This is painful to read. I’d go as far as to say one of the worst books I’ve read this year, in DESPERATE need of an editor.

The beginning is the worst. There’s lots of idiotic examples of things that just can’t happen (I recall something about dogs not speaking English) and tons of unnecessary repetition (things like: “if you’re a father, or a mother”. Navarro, there’s a word for that: “parent”!)

And it’s constant! The audiobook is 7 hours I think, and you could easily cut the first 1, 1,5 and the you’d end up with the exact same book. Same with the ending, where there’s lots of repetition. I think the idea was that Navarro wanted to summarize, but he’s just repeating himself constantly.

I think the problem is that Navarro and whoever produced this, did it as a seminar instead of a book. It sound to me like they just put Navarro in a studio and let him talk, rather than have him read from something he’d written.

In conclusion: fascinating subject, awful book. Good case study of how not to write a book.

Book Review: The Force by Don Winslow

The most fast-paced, real-life, hard-hitting, brutally honest police thriller you’ll ever read.

Denny Malone is a cop in New York, and a damn good one at that. He runs the streets. Takes care of those he needs to take care of. Comes down on those who don’t play by his rules, and he comes down hard. Malone hardly makes an attempt to hide it at all… He’s corrupt up to his ears.

This is the best thing I’ve read in ages. I actually got this for Christmas last year, and only got to it now (the struggles of a never-ending TBR, am I right?).

I’d never even heard of Don Winslow. I went in completely blind, not expecting anything.

I love his writing style. It’s fast-paced, it’s constantly entertaining, it doesn’t dwell too long on meaningless descriptions. This book is super long (which usually is a bad sign, in my opinion), yet I read the whole thing in a few days. That’s the thing, when an author writes fast, I read fast. It’s great.

And the story is fascinating as well. Winslow clearly has done his research about what it’s like being a cop in New York. (Or, so I imagine at least. I know nothing about New York, so all the locations and place names are lost on me, and all the cop lingo might as well be made up). But it makes it feel real at least, and it pulls me in. It’s amazing.

I loved this entire thing. Winslow doesn’t hold back, and I can’t wait to read more from him. Definitely a new favorite of mine.

NaNoWriMo, December and Finishing a Book

We’re well into December, I know I’m late, but I wanted to wrap up how I did for NaNoWriMo and what I’m focusing on now that it’s all over.

First of all, I didn’t “win”. To win NaNoWriMo, you have to write 50.000 words, which for some reason is a novel to them. Well, I wrote around 27.000 and I think I finished a first draft for a novella.

If you read my previous post about NaNo, you’ll remember I was rewriting an old story. First of all, I’m super happy I did. I took the original idea, used much of what I’d started what, and just made it awesome (I’ll go as far as to say I made it ‘awesomerer’). I also rewrote it from third to first person.

BEST, DECISION, EVER!

It’s so much better. Soooo muuuuch beeeeeetteeeeeer.

I’ve been one of those people who didn’t use to care much for first person. Now I love it. It lends itself to storytelling in a much different (and in the case of my NaNo story, better) way.

Now, the only issue I’m wondering is: Am I actually finished at 27.000 and calling it a novella? For some reason I’m not quite sure. I can’t decide if I just flunked out and should try to expand the story, or if it actually ends there. So far, it has a beginning, middle, and end, so unless I really, really, really want to write more when I dig it back up in 3-4 months, then I’ll just have to edit the shit out of it.

For now, December, I’m trying to get my second book ready to go. It is very nearly ready, and I hope to have a cover and a release date ready soon. I want to start sending ARCs to people, so if you read my first book, The Consequence of Loyalty, and want read my next, be sure to let me know.

Oh, and have a wonderful Christmas/Holiday/Winter/December/End of the year!

Book Review: Lady of the Lake by Andrzej Sapkowski

There we have it. The Witcher series is over. Finito. Done. And I feel empty, but in a good way.

I don’t know how much I should say about the plot. Ciri’s part of the adventure is remains in focus, with Geralt, his companions, Yennefer and everyone else trying to catch up. There’s a lot of jumping back in forth, most in place, but some in time, and it’s… it’s magnificent.

Sapkowski’s fantasy is of a different caliber. There’s something old school about it, something grounded and comfortable. Much of it feels like a fairy tale, the kind I grew up with, but at the same time it has those qualities we all love from Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones and whatever else your favorite fantasy might be.

Also, it’s vast. It’s the kind of series I want to start reading from the beginning again straight away, because there’s just too much. Now that I’ve gone through it once, I want to hear the same story again while knowing who everyone is, knowing what’s going to happen and to live it again.

It’s a great series. I recommend it highly if you’re interested in fantasy. It’s special. And of course, I’ve been playing the game (Witcher 3) simultaneously, and that’s also great. If you’re into games, I recommend that as well. Now I’m just waiting for the Netflix show, and my life will be complete.

I feel like I could talk about this for ages, at the same time I’m at a loss for words. If you like conspiracies, romance, magic, monster hunting and prophecies, you should read this. You should.

Book Review: Dark Tides by John J. Questore

Dark Tides is a horror anthology, and a special on at that. Put together and edited by John J. Questore, it’s a charity anthology, dedicated to those affected by the Virginia Beach shooting, 31 May, 2019. It’s a work to be admired.

I was excited about the book as soon as I heard about the theme and saw the cover, but when I found about the cause it’s supporting, well… You don’t have to ask me twice.

The theme is—as you might have gauged from the title—water. Dark, disturbing water. The kind that pulls you in and doesn’t let go, forcing the air out of your lungs. It’s beautiful, cold, and terrifying.

There are lots of stories in here, and it’s a long book. With authors like Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Richard Chizmar, Billy Chizmar, Jason Stokes, Hanson Oak, and Bill Aicher (plus many, many more), it’s a hefty read. Most of them I enjoyed. Most of them were good. But at the same time, there some that just didn’t home. Maybe it was me, but I felt like there was a wide range of (for the lack of a better word) quality. Some came across as perhaps a little cliche, and a little bit lacking. (But again, maybe it’s just me.)

A more serious issue however was the editing and production. I had the ebook version of this book, and I came across several instances of misspelled words, missing words, and formatting issues. There were also some cases of the fonts in certain story, or in parts of stories changing to be almost completely faded so it was difficult to read.

But that’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the book, and the issues affect a relatively small portion of the book.

I love reading short stories. It’s nice to have them as a palate cleanser between novels. Something light, and easy. I realized while reading this however, that I’m not used to reading anthologies. When everything’s about the same theme, about the same concept (pretty much always), it’s easy to get bored. You get one horror story about the dark depths, and it’s pretty cool. Then you get another with a similar but different concept, and you’re still excited. Then you get another and another and another.

They blend into each other after a while, and I noticed it exhausted me a bit. (Not that this has anything to do with the quality of the book, of course!

Recommended if you like horror and want to support a great cause!

NaNoWriMo Update & Doing New Things!

Let’s just rip the band-aid off quickly, shall we? I haven’t written nearly enough for my NaNoWriMo project this year. Considering it’s already the 14th, and I’ve barely scratched the bottom of 12.000 words, I’m not hopeful about “winning”. Last year, I did it all in a week, and though I wasn’t planning on doing the same again this year, I was hoping it would go a bit better than this.

But hang on. I’m not saying I’ve failed. Because I absolutely love the story I’m working on. It’s so great, I can’t wait to finish it (whenever that’ll be).

One of the reasons it might be going a bit slow though (even if it’s great), is that I’m doing things quite a bit differently:

1. I’m rewriting something I started on ages ago. I’ve never done this before. Usually I stick with it and finish, or I actually just trash it and forget and never go back to it. This was something I started in the middle of the night once (I think), because the idea just didn’t want to leave my head. I wrote 7.000 words before I kind of just… forgot about it. I didn’t intentionally stop, I just… forgot. As it stand now, at 12.000 words, I’ve just managed to squeeze the life out of those 7.000 words, and I’m on to new things. And it’s exciting.

But wait, there’s more.

2. I’m also writing in first person. I’ve also never done this before. I often find it awkward to read, but the fact that it’s in past tense helps, I think. (First person present is super weird to me. It would be like reading some blog post from a crazy guy on WordPress rambling about his writing habits). It’s making me challenge myself, but it’s also letting me discover this whole new way to do storytelling. How to pain a picture, how to pull the reader deeper in. And it’s truly exciting.

And lastly,

3. I’m also writing something personal. There’s more than a few grains of truth in this story, and though it’s terrifying it’s also very cathartic and emotional for me. I hate and love it at the same time. And I can’t wait to finish my story.

So even though I’m lagging behind on my NaNoWriMo this year, I’m loving every second of it. Best of luck to you and your project! And remember, don’t worry about how it goes. Just write it.