Tim Hemlin's Blog, page 3

The Next Level

Comparing books is often unfair, particularly if they are from different genres. Forgive the sports metaphor, but can you say quarterback Tom Brady is a better athlete than forward LeBron James? It’s a safe bet Brady throws a football better than James, and James dunks a basketball better than Brady. As for the overall athlete, we could look at commonalities such as strength, speed, BMI, etc. and come to a reasonable conclusion. Perhaps then the same can be said for stories as most all tend to follow the typical plot line of exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and conclusion, not to mention character development, be they hobbits, mice or regular people such as you and me.

Recently I read two very different books, one a fantasy and the other a mystery-suspense. The fantasy was a wonderful journey that knitted together a rich plot for over four hundred pages. The suspense was a novella that got right to the point and hammered it home in about a hundred and fifty pages. I admit to liking the fantasy more, but then I enjoy thick books with well-developed characters and settings. Now that’s not to say I didn’t like the suspense. I did. And it was never meant to be a long and drawn-out story. However, I still think it missed the chance to be a really great read.

The suspense novella was well written and had lively characters. The author also created an interesting situation. In a nutshell, a young girl goes to work at an assisted living facility that used to be a sanitarium. The mystery surrounds a resident who hasn’t shown his face in years. For some reason the girl becomes obsessed with the reported hermit. Not a bad set-up. Yet instead of exploring the obsession and tying it into the girl’s past or present situation, the writer ushers the reader right on through to the end.

My point is that too many good ideas go underdeveloped. Had I a psychological reason the girl in the suspense became fanatical about the reclusive man it would’ve been a more satisfying experience. And this has nothing to do with writing style. Robert B. Parker also wrote lean prose. I read every book in the Spenser series, and in the later novels I think a Robert Frost poem had more words than some of Parker’s chapters. Yet he was a master at character motivation and conveying the psychological aspects to the reader.

All plots have been told and retold, but not all stories. It’s the writer’s voice and his or her characters that make the story new. Take your narrative to the next level by giving your characters their due. They deserve it, and so do your readers.

On Reviewing

As a writer, I take reviewing another author’s book seriously. Let me preface this by stating I only read manuscripts I like. There are too many good books and too few hours, so if a piece hasn’t hooked me within the first hundred pages I quietly place it in the box destined for my local used bookstore. Because I don’t waste my time or energy on bad novels, the reviews I give tend to be highly positive. Is that wrong?

Frankly, I enjoy connecting with fellow writers and reviewing their work. Writers have done that forever. Hemingway reviewed Fitzgerald and visa-versa. Ezra Pound helped launch Robert Frost’s career with one of his reviews. Walt Whitman, showing perhaps the brassiest literary balls, anonymously reviewed himself. Three times. And he proclaimed himself “a new type of character . . . for the present and future of American letters.” Nonetheless, writers like to help when they appreciate the other’s work. I freely admit this is my attitude toward reviewing as well.

Kelley Harrell asserts “online review sites are the slush piles of feedback.” Any generality tends to be unfair, yet at the same time there is a hint of truth. Somerset Maugham said, “People ask for criticism, but they only want praise.” Along those lines, one knock against online reviews is that writers solicit five star ratings from friends and family. The danger there is an overabundance of watered down recommendations that cause honest readers to distrust them. After all, who wants to download a five star book only to discover two star writing? Blind praise can be as misleading as the poison pen.

While I don’t bother reading and reviewing books I don’t like, I realize I’m in the minority. Bad reviews are part of a writer’s life. If they are given honestly I can accept it. Not only have I been writing and receiving criticism for over thirty years, as I’ve mentioned before I also teach adolescents. I have a thick hide. I know my work isn’t for everyone. To my amazement, some people don’t like sci-fi or cli-fi novels with a dark dystopian edge. Yet when someone reads my novel and gives me a thoughtful critique on what he or she didn’t care for, I’m fine with that.

A pet peeve of mine is the reviewer who begins, “I don’t usually read (insert genre: e.g. science fiction/ fantasy/romance) and really couldn’t get into this book . . .”—come on, if it’s not your cup of tea, why drink it? What bothers me more is a poor review from someone who obviously hasn’t even read the book and for whatever reason feels the need to be nasty. They remind me of that angry teenager who destroys school property in order to gain attention. I suppose there’s little to be done about online haters who hand out hack reviews—other than to ignore them. Chalk it up to the dark side of Harrell’s statement.

I for one will continue to read thoughtfully and attempt to write intelligent reviews. After all, isn’t that what sincere readers look for and what serious writers want?

One Lovely Blog

This blog hop is designed to show our readers a more personal side. We list seven interesting facts to help cast light onto that tough writer’s persona we all like to project. Believe it or not, one of the hardest things I’ve done was to come up with a bio for my book. I use the same one on my blog. But I am human and like everyone else I have dreams, hobbies, problems and goals. I see this as a way to share some of them with you, my readers.

The rules are that I share 7 Lovely Facts about myself, and links to at least 15 blogs that I enjoy reading. If I have nominated your blog, please don’t feel any obligation to join in but if you do, please link back to the blog of the person who nominated you (that would be me), share 7 facts about yourself and nominate 15 blogs (or as many as you can).

I was reading some of the other blogs on this tour…. There are some remarkable and gifted writers here and I’m happy to be in their company. Many thanks to the talented JMDReid, whose blog, The Storm Above, is all about his writing, featuring his upcoming book of the same name. He’s just published his first short story called The Assassin’s Remorse. Cheers to you, my man.

Here we go with 7 Lovely Facts about me:

1)   In High School everyone thought I was going to be a sports-writer because I love to write and I love sports. I played football, (tight-end and linebacker), baseball (starting 2nd baseman and outfielder), and hockey (left wing.) At the time I thought it’d be cool to combine my two loves. Imagine being paid to watch games. Then I got into photography and thought I could add that to my repertoire. We didn’t have a school newspaper, but I do remember that several of my photographs made it into the yearbook.

2)   For a year in college I majored in Forestry. I love the outdoors and wanted to follow in my father’s footsteps – he was a Ranger in the forest service. When I was young he often took my brothers and me on fishing trips and hikes up in New Hampshire’s White Mountains. I believe that my love of the outdoors and consequently the environment stems from my fathers dedication and love of his job. It turned out that my desire to write was much stronger than my grasp of chemistry and dendrology, so I changed my major back to English.

3)   If I could have had a first career, it would have been a musician. That seems to be a common thread through many of these blogs. I’m beginning to wonder about the old adage that says, “short story writers are failed poets and novelists are failed short story writers.” Are all writers failed musicians? I don’t know . . . but I do know that music has always been an important part of my life. My uncle gave me my first guitar – an old Harmony. Guitars have come and gone but I still own that one. My parents enrolled me in guitar lessons when I was 10, and my guitar teacher’s name was Melody! If that wasn’t a sign of a budding music career then I don’t know what was . . .alas, I haven’t played in several years, now, but I like to think that it’s kind like getting on a bike . . .

4)  I run marathons. If you know me, that’s not a big surprise. But many of you don’t know that I started running to help my heart. My cardiologist told me to change my diet and get regular exercise. I went through two exercise bikes before I started seriously running again. When the last one broke down, I’d had it with stationary bikes, laced on the running shoes, and haven’t looked back. I ran my first half-marathon in Houston in 2010 and my first marathon in San Diego in 2011. This January Houston will be my sixth 26.2 miler, and then in April I plan to tackle the 50K trail run at Brazos Bend State Park here in Texas. On my bucket list are the Boston, New York and Marine Corps Marathons.

5)  I do most of the cooking in our house, not because I have to, but because I love to cook. I learned to cook for myself in high school because I wanted to make good pizza. From there the sky was the limit. My father always said that everyone should have a trade as well as a career. And since I graduated with an English degree, I thought that was sound advice. I started cooking for Byron Franklin Catering here in Houston in 1980. I teach middle school now, but the ten years I spent in The Kitchen were a great experience. My culinary series, The Neil Marshall Mysteries, are loosely based on those years.

6)   You all know that I teach, but did you know that I taught for 2 years at an at-risk school in HISD? I got my teaching certificate through an alternative certification in Houston Independent School District. The school I taught at right after I was certified was an inner city middle school. I loved those first two years, met some great people, role-models actually, but they were challenging. I got a job the next year at Fort Bend Independent School District and have been here for 20 years.

7)  Finally, I fly-fish. I didn’t pick up the sport until I was 32. My wife and I took a marvelous trip to her home state of Colorado. I’d wanted to go there since I was a kid. At the time, her family had a cabin in the Rockies near Decker and it was beautiful. She taught me how to fly fish on the lakes near the cabin. I love it. Fly-fishing is my laid-back civilized alternative to trail running, though the thrill of a trout hitting my fly is just as exhilarating and never gets old.

Those are 7 facts about me, lovely or not. Some of my favorite blogers are listed below. Participation is optional of course, if you have already been tagged for this, so sorry! If not, share some of you with the rest of us.

A link to each writers’ blog is embedded in their name or their blog, while their books, if any, have the direct links in the titles.

Chess Desalls author of Travel Glasses THE CALL TO SEARCH EVERYWHEN, Book One~a great title don’t you think? And Book Two. INSIGHT KINDLING, IS COMING SOON. Her blog is a lot of fun. Besides information about her writing, she posts flute noodling, “kind of like writer’s doodling,” she tells me, but they are very good. Every Friday she publishes a Frabble. What is a Frabble? Check out her blog and find out.

Lynette Creswell is the fantasy novelist from the UK who recently interviewed me (find that interview here.) My first Internet interview and she is very supportive on Facebook and Twitter. Lynette is a very talented writer who writes short stories, teaches Creative Writing workshops for local school children, and her Magic Trilogy series is a top seller at Amazon. Her newest book, ‘Clump, a Changeling’s Story, ‘ a fantasy adventure about an unlikely hero, unexpected love and deadly betrayal is coming out later this year. Sounds fun, Lynette!

Lee Mountford writes a great blog called Creating Bad, informative, provocative, and diverse.  I’ve been one of his biggest supporters. He was one of my first Twitter buddies. His short story “The Box” published in the Horror Anthology, SERRATED TORMENTING TALES OF MACABRE, just came out on Halloween. I’ve read it and it is quite good. Congrats!

Clive S. Johnson  writes an interesting blog on Goodreads and is also a good Twitter pal. In addition to being a kindred spirit, he is an artist, freelance editor, poet & prolific author of the REALM OF DICA fantasy adventure series available at all good outlets. I’ve started Leiyatel’s Embrace, the fist book in that series and I love it. He is currently working on his sixth book in the series, Starmaker Stella. Good luck, Clive.

Nicholas C. Rossis is another prolific writer whose works include science fiction, epic fantasy and children’s stories. Perseus, an epic fantasy series, and his science fiction short story collection, The Power of Six, have both reached number 1 on Amazon! His blog is chock full of content. Everything from advice on writing, marketing and publishing, to guest blog posts and author interviews are included. Visit the site just to see his many photos of Greece, where lives. He tells me Texas is his “fav” place, but after Greece? I don’t believe him. Thanks Nicholas for all the support on Twitter and Facebook.

Janna Kaixer dubs herself a left-handed 17-year-old writer, writing with a mix of night-owl enthusiasm, chocolate and tea. She says her blog: Words of Procrastination from a Young Writer contains productive procrastinations. It describes her writing process, daily life and random questions sure to tickle your fancy. She is currently working on an Urban Fantasy loosely set during the Industrial Revolution. She lives in New Zealand, or as she calls it, Middle Earth. And she listens to great music when she writes. Let’s all support this talented young writer.

Margurite Madden is the author and publisher of three books Once Upon a Western Way, Keeping a Backyard Horse, and My Butterfly Cancer. A Leukemia survivor, she founded a company Metamorph Publishing whose blogspot gives tips on writing, marketing ideas and hosts interviews with other writers. A little butterfly told me that she is planning two more books. Way to go Margurite!

Clive Eaton has a blog called Marketing Tips for 4 Authors full of very useful insights, tools and advice for every type of writer. His first novel, The Pyramid Legacy has a sci-fi plot twisting the fibers of history together with those of the future. Operation Stonehenge, coming soon, postulates that the architects of The Great Pyramid and Stonehenge were related. His website also has articles, interviews and helpful links. Clive has also been very supportive to me on Twitter. Thanks Clive.

Steve Lebel is an author of the humorous fantasy The Universe Builders about a young god who just graduated from God School out to build his first universe. Steve wonders if the years he spent as dungeon master or whether his favorite player-character a chaotic-good elven fighter/mage influenced his choice of topics. Whatever . . it was a winning combination. The Universe Builders won a finalist award from Stargazer Literary Prizes for Visionary & Metaphysical Fiction. Very impressive Steve!

MAScott is the pseudonym for a spousal writing team. They prefer the term because it best describes their relationship as a whole and how they write ~ as equal partners.  Their guiding principal is “The person with the best idea leads.” Together they write adventure and romance. Their tagline says, “We’ve seen reality and it’s not for us!” They also have another blog, The Steampunk World of MAScott and one in development Romance ~ Suspense ~ Mystery. Well, here’s to another spousal writing team that make marriage and creativity work together.

Nonnie Jules Besides writing a terrific blog, Nonnie has two books out ~ “THE GOOD MOMMIES’ GUIDE TO RAISING (ALMOST) PERFECT DAUGHTERS,” 100 Tips On Raising Daughters Everyone Can’t Help But Love! and Daydream’s Daughter, Nightmare’s Friend. Her next book, “THE GOOD MOMMIE’S GUIDE TO RAISING (ALMOST) PERFECT KIDS,” The Next 100! is scheduled for release in between December, 2014 – January, 2015.  A children’s book is also scheduled for release sometime in the near future. Nonnie lives by the the premise that a candle looses nothing by lighting another candle. Her limitless help to other writers is awe-inspiring. She recently started a publishing company and is also the president of Rave Review Book Club. Thanks to her and RRBC for all the help and support they offer. Nonnie you are awesome!

Bruce A. Borders is another prolific writer who has a terrific blog. Inside Room 913, Miscarriage of Justice, and Over My Dead Body are only a few of his numerous books, including the popular Wynn Garrett Series and can be found at most online retailers including Amazon. Find the print editions on his website. He is also a very talented singer/songwriter. Check out the link on his site to hear to some of his music also available on iTunes. I’ve listened to many of his CDs but my favorite song is  “There’ll Never Be Another Johnny Cash.” Bruce is a man of vast talent and has been a great supporter of mine on Twitter. Thanks, man.

Jared Rinaldi  is an actor, writer and student of life. His first novel, Hyperion begins the Bridge Burner trilogy. The second, Pyronic Technique is due out shortly. He also has a short story collection Tales from the Mountaintop available on Amazon, His blog says he is greatly influenced by music in his writing ~ a kindred spirit. I just started following his blog but so far I am thoroughly enjoying it.

Kathryn C. Treat  is a real warrior. She has been battling a life-threatening allergy to molds and chemicals. Her book Allergic to Life is a harrowing account of living with chronic illness. Her blog continues that chronicle. She has been through far more than anyone should have to, yet she finds time to write, blog and help other writers. She is an inspiration. Right now she is going through a very hard time and I don’t expect her to join in on this blog hop, but her story is so amazing I wanted to include her just to share her courage and show my great admiration to a brave and valiant soul.

The World Book Blog Tour

The World Book Blog Tour is an invitation to share not only an author’s work but also the work of other authors/writers. Then the idea is to pass it on in hopes of authors reaching authors and readers across the globe. Thanks to all of you who jumped on board to participate in the fun.

Thanks to J.V. Carr, author of Username: Bladen and Patty Cakes and the Stolen Ball, both published through Westbow Press, for adding me to the tour. Ms. Carr, who has a degree in psychology, has six children and hosts four exchange students from whom to draw inspiration for her work. As she says herself, she feels “inspired to share the beauty of life and the importance of education and entertainment through children’s books.” More about J.V. Carr can be found at http://jvcarrwriterauthor.com/

These are the question posed by the World Book Blog Tour:

What am I working on?

Right now I’m in the planning stages for a sequel to my dystopian-clifi The Wastelanders, published by Reputation Books and available at Amazon. I actually picture two more books. As with most second acts, the next novel will be darker and place the main characters in peril before giving way to hope and redemption in the third book. Along the same lines, I am preparing to send out a related short story that introduces a new character to The Wastelanders.

I’m also writing a young adult urban fantasy. When I was in my twenties, I worked for a high-end caterer in Houston, Texas. The whole time I was there we had a kitchen witch hanging from one of the air vents as a sign of good luck. I’d always wanted to write a story about a kitchen witch but could never make it work. Then last winter a librarian friend of mine suggested I try writing a young adult novel. For some reason the image of the kitchen witch returned and an idea took hold. It was further enhanced when I ran a 30K with my seventeen-year-old son, who ran alongside a young lady friend of his all pinked-out in her running gear, and I realized I had my two main characters. The novel is titled Son of a Kitchen Witch. I recently finished the first draft, which was pure fun to write. Now comes the hard part—the editing and revision.

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

The Wastelanders came about because of my concern for the environment. That doesn’t necessarily make me exclusive in this genre as most people who write clifi are trying to bring attention to climate change. Yet in my novel I also deal with power, political corruption and mass movements and cite often from that unique American blue-collar philosopher Eric Hoffer. I like stories that mine for feelings and explore complex themes. There’s nothing like being immersed in Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina or Henry James’s The Wings of the Dove. Of course I also enjoy lighter reads. The young adult novel I’m now working on is less complicated than The Wastelanders in that it’s more direct. It’s a love story and a coming of age story that focuses on good versus evil, and I’ve loved every minute I’ve spent with those characters.

Why do I write what I do?

Life interests me. I enjoy learning new things and doing new things. I have a hard time sitting still, which might sound funny coming from a writer, but I consider writing a bit of a contact sport anyway because it challenges the mind. Besides writing, I am a runner, having completed a number of marathons, half-marathons, 25 and 30Ks. As I said, I’m also passionate about the environment and often blog about it. I trail run, fly-fish, and simply enjoy being outdoors. Because of this I feel it’s my duty, in the words of Dr. Jonas Salk, to be a good ancestor so future generations can also enjoy nature.

How does my writing process work?

For me, every day is an idea for a story and every person and everything within that day contains the seed of a story. Sometimes it’s in the big picture, such as climate change and drought, but often it’s in relationships. My characters inspire me. I know a story is working when they spring from the page and have a life of their own. For instance, the two main characters in the young adult urban fantasy I’m now working on seemingly stepped out of thin air and invited themselves into my life. It was as if they sat down in my study and said, “Here we are, Tim. Now what are you going to do with us?” The same happened with The Wastelanders. I knew the characters needed to be well-rounded, in that the antagonists couldn’t simply be cardboard representations of evil and the protagonists needed to have their flaws, but I didn’t expect to like the antagonists as much as I did, particularly the president’s manipulating, power-hungry wife. On the flipside, I couldn’t wait to write about each of the protagonist’s story line. Strangely, though, it wasn’t Joey, Bernie or the Bear but the young Time Witch who kicked the novel into another gear and raised it beyond what I had originally imagined.

Next stop on the World Book Blog Tour?

K.K. Allen is the author of The Summer Solstice Series. Her first novel, Summer Solstice: Enchanted is a wonderful coming of age paranormal urban fantasy that takes place in Apollo Beach, Florida. As I teach adolescents, I read a fair share of young adult novels, and Ms. Allen’s ranks up there with the best of them. The next book in the series, The Equinox, is not coming soon enough! In addition to writing urban fantasy, Ms. Allen also works in the Media Industry as a copywriter for websites and a scriptwriter for video productions. You can find her at http://www.kk-allen.com/, on Facebook and on Twitter @KKAllen_Author.

Lynette Creswell is the author of The Magic Trilogy, which includes Sinners of Magic, Betrayers of Magic and Defenders of Magic. The popular and gifted Ms. Creswell has created a fabulously rich world filled with intrigue, mystery and, of course, plenty of magic. She has also penned the light-hearted romance The Witching Hour. As she herself says, “For me, writing is like breathing fresh air, I cannot live without it and I hope my passion shows in my work.” Indeed, it does as demonstrated by the accolades Ms. Creswell has accumulated. Find her at http://lynetteecreswell.wordpress.com/, on Facebook and on Twitter @creswelllyn.

Chess Desalls is the author of the series Travel Glasses, the first book of which is The Call to Search Everywhen, now available on audio book, too. This delightful young adult time travel series will leave you wanting more. In fact I found her twist on time travel intriguing, her characters interesting and the plot tightly written. Toss in some mystery, romance, and a whole lot of adventure and you have a fun read. In addition to being a longtime reader of fantasy and sci-fi novels, the talented Ms. Desalls is also a flutist and recordings of her work can be heard on her website http://www.chessdesalls.com/  Find her on Facebook and on Twitter as well @ChessDesalls.

Interview with English Author Lynette Creswell

This week I had the good fortune to be interviewed by Lynette Creswell, author of the Magic Trilogy and The Witching Hour.  It was a wonderful, thought-provoking experience, and Lynette is an intelligent and gracious person to work with.  Check out her work at lynetteecreswell.wordpress.com and on Twitter @creswelllyn

Click here –> http://wp.me/p3cviT-AC

If you have questions for me, leave a comment on this site, message me on Facebook or leave a comment in my status on my Facebook Author page TimHemlinAuthor.  And as many of you know, you can always find me on Twitter @TimHemlin

I will return with my regular blog next week.  Embrace the moment my friends!

 

The Creative Mind Part II

A good friend of mine gave a presentation this week on the value of the fine arts in public education. She pointed out a creative mind is an active mind where the brain is firing on all cylinders. She also drew from a number of studies showing that people who work in the arts are more empathetic than people who don’t. Many companies encourage the arts because they’ve discovered that employees who have a fine arts background work well with their colleagues. I believe it. Those who paint, sing, play an instrument, sculpt, and write are aware of their feelings, which in turn makes them sensitive to the feelings of others.

Allow me to shift gears a moment. Last night I read an online article concerning the mercury level in fish. The number of different types of fish affected and the rise of toxicity are alarming. Air born pollutants are the culprits. They go up in the atmosphere, get blown out to sea, and are consumed by the creatures that live there. It’s fixable. After all it was Nixon’s EPA that took the lead out of gas before we all ended up as crazy as Roman emperors. Surely if we can do that we can take pollutants out of our air and excessive mercury out of fish.

So why talk about poisoning the world in a blog titled The Creative Mind? First because I believe it’ll take creative minds to clean up our mess. I don’t know if the politicians get it, but most sane people realize we can’t keep treating our world like a rental car. Besides, politicians don’t lead; they follow. Frank Herbert said, “Bureaucracy destroys initiative.” Innovation and the will to make a difference traditionally emerge from the private sector.

The common misconception that people have is that they can’t make a difference. This is understandable, given for instance that recent political discussion in the U.S. appears to be dictated by a couple of billionaire brothers. On the other hand, as the Dalai Lama says, “If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito.” I prefer to think of myself as a lone voice in the wilderness, but I’m okay with mosquito if I can raise awareness.

Maybe I like doom and gloom. After all, I wrote a dystopian novel. Yet I truly believe we should be the never-ending story—the longest running drama in history where only the characters change but the setting holds steady. When I say setting I’m not talking landscape. Landscapes such as towns and cities and countries do change. The setting is this big crazy beautiful world. I am a part of her story as she is a part of mine. The world is my muse, and I love learning from her and about her. To paraphrase Eric Hoffer, it’s the learners who shall inherit the world while the learned find themselves fit for a world that no longer exists. The creative mind craves learning so it can refashion knowledge and truths in a way that touch people down to their souls.

Embracing Cli-Fi

Ultra-runner great Rob Krar, winner of this year’s Western States 100, says he doesn’t focus on his competitors but instead on that spot he calls “the Cave.” Or as he explains, “I love going to that dark place . . . I wouldn’t wish it upon anyone else, because it’s suffering, but when I race, I sink hard in the hole, and I want to be there” (Running Times, August 2014). Yes, the dark place. The what-doesn’t-kill-you-makes-you-stronger place (No, I tell my students, Kelly Clarkson didn’t say that first, a guy named Nietzsche did). And yet I agree with the Dalai Lama: “I find hope in the darkest of days.”

While I think the world is in a dark place right now, I am not preaching doom and gloom. I have too much Anne Frank in me and believe that people are basically good at heart. At least until they obtain political office or work their way high up the corporate ladder. Something strange starts to happen then. Maybe it’s a lack of oxygen that accounts for the loss of common sense.

Case in point, on Meet the Press this past February Representative Marsha Blackburn, in a heated discussion with Bill Nye, spoke repeatedly of cost benefit analysis concerning climate change. Like anyone, I am very conscious about costs and benefits in my own personal finances as well as the country’s economy. However, I don’t see any benefit to stonewalling the discussion about climate change but do see an enormous cost in the future if we continue on this path. In his New York Times article Shattering Myths to Help the Climate (Aug. 2, 2014), Robert H. Frank points out, “In other domains, uncertainty doesn’t counsel inaction.” For example, doubt about being invaded doesn’t mean we recommend disbanding the military. The only thing uncertain about climate change, Frank adds, is how much worse it will get.

I suppose the effects might not turn out as badly as predicted, but what if they do? Even George W. Bush spoke of adaptability when it came to climate change. Furthermore, evangelical Christians, the majority of which have long dismissed global warming as real, are beginning to speak up. For instance, climate scientist and evangelical Christian Katharine Hayhoe asks, “What’s more conservative than conserving our natural resources, making sure we have enough for the future, and not wasting them like we are today?” Again, in the words of Dr. Jonas Salk, “Our greatest responsibility is to be good ancestors.”

As a trail runner, a fly-fisherman and a lover of the outdoors, I admit to being a certified tree hugger and believe it’s my duty to be a good ancestor. That is why I wrote The Wastelanders. That is why I write Cli-Fi. Cli-Fi is a term coined by Danny Bloom. As Bloom states, “This is about climate change and global warming and using a new genre to help wake up the world.” You will be hearing more about this burgeoning genre from the likes of Hamish MacDonald of Scotland, Lisa Devaney of the UK, and Mindy McGinnis and Paolo Bacigalupi of the US, to name a few. Oh, and I intend to keep my name in there too because I believe it is a subject worth writing about.

Work

Old habits die hard. When I was young, word counts determined a day’s success. If I hit my 500, 750, or 1,000 words then life was sweet, if not I was cranky and unsociable. At the very least, having a daily goal forced me to sit at my desk and work. Over the years I discovered the downside proved to be sloppy writing simply because I wanted to hit my target. I needed to learn the art of revision.

Though I never met him, the novelist John Gardner taught me much. The author of The Sunlight Dialogues, Nickel Mountain, and October Light—thankfully all now available at New Directions Books—had a work ethic that should be the envy of any artist. He preached not only daily writing but also daily rewriting. And rewriting. And rewriting. After all, an author wants to set a dream in the reader’s mind, and nothing pops that dream bubble faster than sloppy work. Gardner said, “The novelist pursues questions, and pursues them thoroughly.” The key word is thoroughly—thematically, emotionally, through gestures and imagery, and by reworking scene after scene after scene.

Naturally revision needs to be tempered with common sense. Paul Valery once professed that a poem is never finished, only abandoned. At some point it is time to move on. After all, what writer is ever completely satisfied with his work? However, I think the opposite tends to be more of an issue. A friend of mine who ran a literary journal once complained that so many poems she read were two or three drafts from fulfillment. The novelist Tom Williams told a bunch of young and hungry writers back in the 1980s that often his student’s work was initially better than his. A pause, a smile, a puff on his pipe—yes, professors smoked in class in those days—and then he added but none of them worked as hard as he did to improve it. Now I see that was why he was published and reviewed in the New York Times and few of his students ever joined him.

The Poet Donald Hall said, “Because I loved my work it was as if I did not work at all.” Interestingly, Hall likes rewriting better than creating the original because he enjoys the word play and tinkering. For most of us I believe it’s the opposite. We thrive when the creative spirit pulses through our mind, body and soul and the new suddenly springs to life. And I fully admit that’s me—when I first wrote The Wastelanders it took on a life of its own, surprising me at many turns. Yet when I finished the first draft I understood I had to go back and put some meat on its bones. Or come up with a decent metaphor. Or polish the dialogue. Or even cut the fat because I still get sloppy when meeting the day’s deadline. Old habits die hard, but thankfully Mr. Gardner, Mr. Williams and Mr. Hall remain close-by, whispering, “You’ve done the fun part, Tim, now let’s get to work.”

 

The Creative Mind Part 1

Whether we know it or not, we all have creative minds. That can be good or bad—God knows we’ve been creatively killing ourselves since the dawn of time. Necessity isn’t the mother of invention. War is. I tackle the theme of war in The Wastelanders, the insanity of it taken to another level. Hemingway said, “Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime.” Interesting from a man who wore it like a badge. Yet for the moment I’d rather focus on something else Mr. Hemingway said—“The writer must write what he has to say, not speak it.”

I’ve said this before but it’s worth saying again. Many people talk about becoming a writer because they like the idea of being a writer. However, they lack the work ethic it takes because they don’t follow Mr. Hemingway’s advice and actually write what they have to say. Writing is hard. Good writing is even harder. For instance, anyone can scribble “he looked old and addled” but it takes a Moira Young to write “Jest like the land, Pa’s gittin worse an his eyes look more’n more to the sky instead of what’s here in front of him.” That’s from Blood Red Road—a great read! So I try to follow Natalie Goldberg’s advice: “Use original detail in your writing.” Of course, that’s easier said than done, but that’s also why writing is a contact sport.

As a teacher, it drives me to the brink of madness when a student tells me he doesn’t read because he doesn’t want to be influenced by a particular writer. That attitude is wrong on so many different levels; I want to bang my head against the wall. We wouldn’t have West Side Story if Sondheim, Robbins, and Bernstein thought along those lines. I tell my students that any artist worth her salt is influenced by the artists that have come before her as well as by those with whom she associates. Recently a quote by Stephen King has been floating around twitterland: “If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.” Yes, simple as that. I tell my students to read, imitate, and learn. It’s what the Beatles did in their early days playing in Germany, and talk about the original work they produced. I fully admit to being influenced by Mr. King, Frank Herbert, and Philip K. Dick when writing The Wastelanders. The trick was turning the novel into my own work. And I think I pulled it off.

In the End . . .

If you could meet anyone no longer with us, who would it be? At times I wonder what an afternoon of conversation with Ben Franklin would be like. Or a day fishing with Hemingway followed by a night’s drinking at Harry’s Bar & Grill. My father has been gone nearly fourteen years now—what about having a couple of draughts with him at The Sportsman’s Den? Runner and writer Haruki Murakami says, “Memories are what warm you up from the inside. But they’re also what tear you apart.” So could I handle a couple of beers with my dad only to have him gone again the next morning? I don’t know.

In The Wastelanders, the dead threaten to return from the past. Though my approach to the theme is different, I was strongly influenced by Philip K. Dick’s masterpiece, Ubik. In the novel he blurs the line between life and death, allowing the two dimensions to communicate. Dick’s writing is more satirical than mine, but anyone who has ever read him will agree he was well ahead of his time. “The Divine Machinery has a peculiar brutality to it. . . . It isn’t romantic. It’s cruel—it really is,” he says in The Divine Invasion. It is this brutality, combined with political intrigue, I tried to capture in The Wastelanders—a dead president looking to extend his power beyond time and beyond death itself. Absurd? Perhaps, but then the past holds a strange power over us that affects the present as well as the future.

In the end I agree with Vladimir Nabokov: “Life is a great surprise, I do not see why death should not be an even greater one.” However you want to look at it, I believe we are all on that karmic wheel. To be stuck on one turn is simply spinning your tires in divine mud. Remember in Our Town how Emily, now dead, wants to relive a day from her past and chooses her twelfth birthday? It doesn’t go so well for her as she realizes that many people travel through life without savoring the time they have. I believe you must acknowledge the past and plan for the future. However, for life to be a great surprise you must embrace the present. And while I said I agree with Nabokov, I’m not in any hurry to check out the second part of his statement.