James Wade's Blog

Top 10 Bits of Writing Advice

1. Be disciplined. Force yourself to sit down and work. Even when you’d rather do anything else, put something on the page. Sometimes your worst days turn into your best. If they don’t, at least you flexed your discipline muscle.

2. Read. Read everything you can. Read writers you know are infinitely better than you. When musicians are learning to play music, it helps them to tap their foot to the beat. That’s what reading does for writers, it’s our count-in, it helps us get our foot tapping.

3. Balance is key. Take breaks. Stretch. Don’t forget to eat (guilty).

4. Get into a routine. Find the time where you work best (sometimes it’s the only time you’re able to work). Whether it’s when you wake up, before you go to bed, when you get home from your day-job, etc. form a routine around your writing time. My routine is: coffee, reading a page or two of really good prose, dive in.

5. Be (a little) selfish. There’s always a reason to not write. Always. At some point you’re going to have to put something off, or cancel something, or upset someone, because you have to work. Sometimes it’s hard for other folks to understand that writing is a job, and the job gets harder if you’re fishing with your buddies in the middle of the lake.

6. Cut yourself some slack. Writing is hard. You want things to be perfect, but they won’t be… ever. If you’re staying disciplined, staying balanced, and working hard, then it’s okay to take the occasional day off. It’s also okay to write something you’re not wild about. Not every sentence can be Faulkner. Don’t let the pursuit of perfection stop your progress.

7. Don’t worry about the audience. Write what you want to write. No matter what you write, some people will like it, some people will hate it. There are plenty of 1-star reviews on Goodreads for every great novel ever published. There are agents and publishers who turn down manuscripts that go on to be bestsellers. Don’t waste your time guessing what people want to read.

8. Enjoy the process. Very few authors can earn a decent living, let alone get rich from their writing. You have to enjoy the actual writing part. That’s where the happiness is going to find you. It’s fun to speak at conferences, to meet readers and other authors, and it’s flattering to get a good review from a stranger. But in the end, the majority of a writer’s life is being alone in front of a computer. So make sure that’s what you want.

9. Be kind. You’ll get rejections. You’ll get acceptances. You’ll get advice (solicited or not). You’ll have moments of joy and moments of doubt. You’ll meet people you like and people you don’t. But no matter what or who you encounter on your writing journey: be kind. This can be a thankless industry for a lot of folks, so make sure you thank everyone.

10. Do what works for you. These are some of the things that work for me. They may not work for you. Whatever keeps you writing, do that. Whatever makes you happy, do that, too.

I'm Still Trying

Two years ago our travel trailer was parked on BLM land in the desert outside of Carlsbad, New Mexico. The famed caverns to our north, the sloped peaks of the Guadalupe Mountains to the south, this was a fine piece of country to make camp for a few days.

I took a long walk with our dog-- a little scouting trip to explore the territory. Other than some old ruts from an oil tanker, and the occasional loose cattle, this place looked so wild, so untouched, that I felt guilty about even being there. I felt guilty that I was leaving footprints in what I took to be this magical place where I didn't belong. But then I looked behind me and the wind was blowing so hard that it had blown away those footprints. Seeing that relieved the guilt, but it also brought a certain sadness. Of course people had walked here before me, lived here before me. There'd been civilizations and societies, distinct cultures and blended populations. There'd been Indians, Spaniards, Ranchers, Oilmen, and every one of them had a story to tell, about the land, and about themselves-- about how so many of our internal struggles have remained the same no matter how much the world around us has changed.

I went inside and starting writing. I wrote a couple of paragraphs about the country, then a couple about that yearning feeling that comes with being alive. Yearning for what? I couldn't say. But there's a longing that most of us feel, and I wrote about it. I wrote about that longing and a great many other things.

I wrote about poverty and equality and the beauty of the morning; about death and love and horses. I even set aside my ego (however temporarily) and wrote about how scared a man can get, how weak and lost the world can make us feel. I tried to tell a story of nuance (something I feel is most lacking in our society of extremes), of landscapes as magnificent as they are unforgiving, and of the way the day slips into night whether we're paying attention or not.

I feel our lives are layered in ways we may not even be able to acknowledge, let alone account for. I feel the enormity of existence is matched only by its impermanence. I took these feelings and tried my best to turn them into words. To describe the strength of a woman, the complications of family, the fear that makes religions seem both necessary and absurd, and the speculation that very few choices in life belong completely to the individual.

Before long I had a story that I could hold in my hand instead of my head. So I took a galley copy of the book and drove out to where the trailer is now parked (on a cedar-heavy slope near the Blanco River in Wimberley, Texas), and I thought about those things that led me to write the novel-- the same things that keep me writing, today. They’re mainly questions I don't have answers to (not only I have I not found any answers in those two years, I don't believe I've gotten any better at hunting for them).

But I don't read books for answers. I read them for the emotions, for the stories, and for that most holy of agreements between author and reader that says we're all human, we're all lost, but for the next 300 pages we're all in this together.

So, if you feel like coming along, you can preorder All Things Left Wild at this link, or from BookPeople, or IndieBound, or anywhere else books are sold.

I love every one of you. Keep reading. Keep trying. We're gonna be alright.

JamesWadeWriter.com

Release Date: 6/16/2020 

Blackstone Publishing

The Writer's Life

On March 2, 2018, I made coffee, read a few pages from writers I admire, then started working on my first novel. 

Today, January, 22, 2020, I made coffee, read a few pages from writers I admire, then picked up where I'd left off on my third novel. 

In between was a book-deal, flying to New York to visit my agent, working with editors, cover designers, a publicist, and marketing folks. When the book comes out (June 16) I'll get good reviews and bad reviews. I'll sell some books, but probably not enough to move the needle (so goes the industry I'm a part of). I'll do interviews, speak on panels, attend conferences. Then, just like that, the book will be old news. 

Sure, I'll publish more books (per my contract, I'll have at least two more). And maybe they'll do well, and maybe they won't. Maybe I'll win awards, be on best-seller lists, and have my novels turned into movies. Or, maybe the books won't sell, the awards won't be there, and Hollywood won't ever come calling (percentages say this is the more likely outcome). 

But either way, I'll make coffee, read a few pages from writers I admire, then keep writing. Because living the writer's life is not about the variables. It's not about the unknowns. Sure, you can hope for success, but you can't count on it, and you damn sure shouldn't depend on it to maintain your passion for the craft. Writing is a solitary endeavor, a lonely path. Embrace that. Embrace it and exalt it and make it the "why" of everything you do. 

You have to love the process. You have to love the chair. You have to miss the chair, when you're not in it. You have to be excited-- no matter how tired you are, or how much the outside world has taken from you this day, or this week, or this life-- about sitting down and working on your craft. That's the writer's life. Everything else is a trap. Win an award? Here, have an inflated ego that won't help your writing. Sales numbers down? Here, have a kick in the gut that won't help your writing. Can't find an agent? Well, you must be a terrible writer. Spoke on a panel at a conference? Wow, you're the greatest author of our time. None of it's true, none of it matters. What matters is you, the chair, and the work. 

Do the work, love your craft, and it won't matter if you're reading in front of an auditorium full of people or at an open-mic that nobody showed up for-- you'll be living the writer's life. 

What is tone? And, why are houses so big?

Dear readers, 

Man, houses are crazy. My cardio has tripled since moving out of the travel trailer and having to climb up and down stairs. I peed in three different toilets yesterday. I lost Jordan for a few minutes. I could hear her voice, but I couldn't see her. I thought perhaps she was finally revealing herself to be an illusion, having never actually existed outside of my own imagination (which-- when you think of someone like her agreeing to be with someone like me-- really checks out). Turns out she was just in the third bedroom. 

Houses are crazy. They're also big. Even the ones that aren't big, are still big. Our house is somewhere around 1,500 square feet. Not exactly a mansion. But considering we only had enough stuff to fit in a 144 square foot camper, the house seems eerily empty. It looks like a murder house with plenty of space to put down plastic tarpaulins. On the plus side, the acoustics are rock solid. 

Enough about houses (they're big and crazy, if you haven't heard). On to the news. No, not that news. Writing news! Blackstone Publishing officially accepted my second manuscript, River, Sing Out, and had some very kind things to say about it. For those who are new to the blog, I signed a three-book deal with Blackstone earlier this year. That deal included my first manuscript, All Things Left Wild, and the rights to my next two manuscripts. However, Blackstone still reserves the right to say, "nah, brah," if they don't like the manuscripts I send them. Meaning, I was quite nervous that the first story was a fluke and I'd somehow duped my agent, my publishers, my editor, etc. into thinking I was a writer, when I'm so obviously not a writer and never will be, because my writing is trash and I have nothing worth saying and everyone is better than me. 

Turns out, I've fooled them again. 

Part of my worry (aside from the aforementioned "my writing is trash"), was that the second manuscript is such a departure from the first. All Things Left Wild is set in 1910 in the southwestern desert and mountains. River, Sing Out is set in modern-day East Texas. And even though the former is not exactly the feel-good book of the year, the latter deals with some dark shit: meth, dog fighting, prostitution (not the fancy Nevada kind), etc. 

Alas, everything worked out, due in large part (I'm assuming) to the similar tone of both novels. It took me a while, I know, but I finally got to the point of the blog. What is tone, and how do you create it, or manipulate it, or use it to tell your story? 

Tone is a literary device used to create mood. Tone comes from the author, while mood is something produced in the reader. I've blogged about setting, which is another tool used alongside tone to create mood. So what is my tone? I don't know. There's light and humorous (what I usually try to evoke in these blogs), skeptical, optimistic, removed, and a host of other tones that I can point out in other works from other writers. But for whatever reason, I can't pinpoint my own. Perhaps writing mirrors self in that way. It is much easier to define others, whether it's their flaws or their positive attributes, than it is to define ourselves. 

Even if you can't define exactly what your tone is, you can usually "feel" what you're going for as a writer. So, how do you get readers to come to those same feelings? Imagery, syntax, language, diction, are all tools you can use to create tone, create that feeling, whatever it may be. For example, here's an early line from my second manuscript: 

"The sun set and the world died another small death and those upon it the same and all growing closer to what ends may be met. The boy watched the darkness spread as the hills before him turned from shadow to black and the red hued colors of the horizoned sky took a last smoldering gasp and disappeared into the stale grey of dusk."

All that's happening here is a boy is watching a sunset. That doesn't sound so bad. Could be quite lovely. But through the imagery and language (tone) provided, we get a much more sinister, almost depressed feeling. Bam. That's the mood. Class dismissed. See y'all soon.

Until then, go read something,

JW

Roots

Dear readers,

A man can make a routine out of anything, even change. So it’s gone for me and my wife over the past two years. We’ve lived in our 144-square foot travel trailer (Betty) since September of 2017, when we began letting Hurricane Harvey refugees live in our condo for free (thanks to AirBnB for allowing us that opportunity). In October of that year, we set sail in Betty on a road trip, traveling from coast to coast and border to border (we spent some time in Mexico, but not Canada. Next time, ay?).

We became so accustomed to change, to the freedom of the road, the lack of responsibility, that the thought of moving back into a house has us freaking out. But, ready or not, on Sept. 1 we are officially retiring from RV life and setting up shop at our house in South Austin (Club 1804).

We were so scared to start our adventure, and now we’re even more afraid of seeing it end. We discovered so much about ourselves on the road. We got into some great habits of meditating, staying mindful, moving slow, and just being content. I’m terrified we’re already moving away from those things now that we’re back in Austin. Traffic, social obligations, cell service, the news-- there’s a lot of bullshit to wade through in order to find that inner-peace that was so accessible while camping off-grid in the desert, or hiking up a mountain, or exploring a national forest.

We’re going from reading by candlelight, to reading a two-hundred dollar electricity bill. We’re going from eating organic grapefruits picked in an orchard, to planning an entire day around a trip to the grocery store because there are approximately 12.4 billion people in Austin (half of them are on the roadways, the other half are already at the grocery store).

But one thing that hasn’t changed is the writing. A blank page looks the same no matter where I am, and my energy to create is as strong as it has been in a long while. So, while I may not be thrilled about having to walk down a flight of stairs to get from my office to the kitchen, I am excited to have a dedicated space to work in, and pumped to begin writing my third manuscript for Blackstone Publishing.

I’ll try to check-in once a week on this blog, and once a month via newsletter. If you haven’t signed up for that, do it! You’ll get updates on the publishing process, book recommendations for each month, an upcoming events calendar, and more.

Until then, go read something,

James

Dealing with Rejection

When I was in the fifth grade I had all the irrational, white male confidence in the world. I made good grades, won writing contests at school, and played baseball year-round on little league and traveling teams. Then I asked a girl, we’ll call her Ashlea (because her name was Ashlea), if she wanted to be my girlfriend. She said “no,” just like I knew she would because everyone loves me and how could anyone not want to be with me and-- wait, she said what?

With one word, my sheen of invincibility was quickly and unceremoniously washed away. I was gut-punched. Grief-stricken. Inconsolable. But, as our mind is wired to do, I rationalized that it wasn’t me who was the problem. It was her. She must be crazy.

Now, this is an inappropriate response to rejection. But so is self-deprecation. The answer, like most things in life, is somewhere in between. This is especially important for writers. Whether it’s a short-story, poem, manuscript, etc. your work absolutely will be rejected at some point by someone. I’ve had more than 20 short stories published. I’ve had nearly 50 rejections. And, somehow, that’s considered a really good ratio.

Certainly there’s the now-famous story of J.K. Rowling’s 12 rejections when she was shopping Harry Potter. Melville, Hemingway, Vonnegut, all rejected. The list goes on. Not all agents can be Mark Gottlieb. There are some who are going to make mistakes. If someone doesn’t like your work, don’t be discouraged-- maybe it just wasn’t for them.

However, you don’t want to avoid all criticism or setbacks. You want to embrace it and learn from it. If you get several rejections on the same piece, take another look at it. What could you change? Was there something in the final draft that was still nagging at you? Find it. Fix it. Try again.

Sometimes, though not often, agents or editors will let you know exactly what it is they didn’t like about your work. This is, naturally, a double-edged sword. It helps pinpoint exactly what is “wrong” with the writing, which is good; but it also pinpoints exactly what is “wrong” with the writing, which is bad.

The best thing to do in this particular case is be honest with yourself about whether or not the criticism is valid. If it is, swallow your pride and work on your weaknesses. That’s the only way to get better. If you’re in the gym and somebody points out your skinny legs, you have two choices: get mad and refuse to look at mirrors that show below your waist, or get under a barbell and squat until you puke.

Again, from Ashlea to dozens of literary journals to that time I asked my wife if we could follow the Astros for all 81 road games, I am used to rejection. As a writer, you have to be. You have to harden your heart a bit. I once received a rejection that said one of my sentences was too long.

This was new to me because never have I ever (drink) been criticised for long sentences-- at least not since grammar class in high school. Other decent writers who employ long sentences as a literary device include Faulkner, Dickens, Hemingway, McCarthy, O’Connor, Lewis Carroll, Salinger, Tim O’Brien, Bukowski, Audrey Niffenegger, and we could go on forever. The point is, I would be a fool to let this rejection letter influence my writing style. But that doesn’t mean all criticism is without merit. Like anything else, take a nuanced approach. It’s not always black and white. I’ve had plenty of useful critiques from editors. I’ll have plenty more.

So, to recap: get used to rejection, strengthen your resolve, but embrace valid criticism-- and it was probably my bad haircut and thick glasses that ultimately ended my romance with Ashlea before it began.

Brand Building and Burying the Lede

I looked up the things you’re supposed to do if you want to be a successful writer. That’s a lie. My wife, Jordan, looked up the things you’re supposed to do if you want to be a successful writer. Being a decent writer is number #11 on the list. Apparently there’s quite a bit of salesmanship and networking and shameless promotion and “building your brand,” which is the worst phrase since ever and serves only to make self-important people feel somehow more legitimized.  

But somewhere on the list, between “you’ll never make it, stop trying,” and “bug your writer friends to read your shit all the time,” there was a sentence or two about blogging and how it keeps you connected and makes you seem accessible. The concept is novel (no pun intended): try to get people to read your writing (blog) so you can get people to read your writing (book). Or, if you’d rather: write stuff people might like to read (blog) so you can maybe have a career writing stuff people might like to read (book).

I just finished an 87,000 word manuscript and the only thing I need to do now is write more, but not about myself (because that’s boring and selfish) and not about my novel (because we want people to buy it). Sports are off-topic, politics are divisive, and it was just announced that all movies will now be remakes of older movies but set in the Marvel Universe. So I’m left with writing about writing, which isn’t such a bad gig (though I am curious to see if Thor can save the Titanic, or if Forest Gump will have a fight in the middle of an entirely different Black Panther party).

I started writing short fiction in 2016. I wrote almost every day, purging myself of bad ideas. Of the 40+ short stories I wrote, 21 were published. I also accidentally had a poem published this year. After winning the Writers’ League of Texas Manuscript Contest, I thought seriously about writing a full length novel. I continued to think about it for most of 2017, while I worked at a lobby firm compiling statistics on water conservation in Texas. In March of this year, Jordan and I were meditating in the desert outside of Carlsbad, NM. I’m not what you would call a “good” meditate-tor, primarily due to my squirrel-like brain which refuses to turn off and is usually tuned into something basted with anxiety. So, as my nature dictates, I was sitting cross-legged trying to be serene and zenthused (it’s my word, but you can borrow it) when my mind jogged off toward death and dust and footprints blowing away with the wind. It was your basic “we’re so insignificant” trope, and I wondered if the folks who had the unfortunate privilege of coming before us were ever struck with such notions. The question begot a poem which begot a paragraph and then, ultimately, a real live book. So, because I’m trying to break the record for burying a lede, I’m pleased to announce that the number one literary agent (the ridiculously hardworking Mark Gottlieb) at the number one literary agency (Trident Media Group) in the country has agreed to represent me and my little story. Mark and his talented team at Trident will be pitching my manuscript to editors and publishers in hopes of finding someone willing to trade us money for words.

This brings us back to the brand-building, blog-writing scenario. I have achieved the latter by spewing these very sentences. I’m still unsure of the former. My brand is… something awesome. Something cool and desirable but attainable, but not trying too hard, but not not caring. Something elitist and literary, but something approachable and inclusive. Something secret and rare, but also widespread and commercial and trendy because #money.  Okay, so, we’ll work on the brand part. It’s currently under construction. In the meantime, the manuscript is called Like All Things Left Wild. It’s an upmarket western taking place in the early 1900s, and it deals with class inequality, race, religion, complicated family and, most importantly, the nature of man and what makes our wheels turn. There’s violence, romance, and plenty of philosophical ramblings set against the unforgiving and untamed landscape of the Southwest.

Here comes the paragraph with all the links, because I’m good at computers. That’s a lie. My wife is going to put them in.

If that sounds cool, or if you just want to support me whether or not you actually like it (thanks, Mom), follow this blog, go like my super-professional Facebook page, and follow me on Instagram @smartymcsmartypants and on Twitter @jw_writer. I’ll post updates on whether or not my book is so bad that even the best agent in the world can’t sell it, as well as musings on the process of writing, editing, and shamelessly asking more successful people for help (thanks, Owen Egerton winner of the PEN Southwest Award for his novel Hollow which is available here, and I did I mention it’s available here).

Until then, go read something!JNW

Trust the Process

Trust the Process: but also go through it’s text messages because who the hell is Amber?

There is (hopefully) a (relatively) big (more parenthesis) announcement coming soon.

This blog has nothing to do with said announcement, for fear of undermining and/or spoiling the announcement and thus rendering it not an announcement at all.

Instead, let’s talk about process. Every writer has one and, unlike foods, the more process the better. Dean Koontz will go days without writing then sit down for a marathon session where he may crank out dozens of pages at one time. Joe Lansdale prefers writing a few pages every day. Stephen King sits back and wonders how to spend his money while Satan writes his novels for him, as per their agreement for his soul.*

I did an interview with CrabFat Magazine and was asked about my own process and it occurred to me for the first time that I wasn’t a “cool” writer. Hemingway drank and fought and traveled. Bukowski drank and fought and drank. Some of Willie Nelson’s best songs were written on napkins at bars. All I had to offer during the interview was an apology for not having an interesting process. I essentially gave the equivalent of an “I like turtles” answer. However, as it does with everything except blaming immigrants for a country’s problems, the process changed. Yes, I can finally say I’m a semi-exciting writer. My wife and I bought an RV last year, gave away most of our stuff (I couldn’t let go of the Nintendo64) and hit the road.

We’ve lived for days and weeks at a time in the Southwestern deserts, the Sierra Mountains, the Florida Keys, forests, fields, along rivers and lakes, and even a few Walmart parking lots along the way. Throughout these travels I’ve had to redetermine what an efficient writing process looks like. In the end, the result is as follows:

The Perfect Day

Wake up at 6:30 a.m., put on coffee,** feed and walk the dog, drink coffee while reading quality prose to help put me in the mindset to write. 7 to 9 a.m. write and try to not suck 9 a.m. - breakfast 9:30 a.m. - second pot of coffee 9:30 to Noon - write and try harder to not suck Noon - walk the dog, stretch, remember to act like the other humans 12:30 to 1 p.m. - lunch and NPR for a quick but depressing dose of news 1 to 1:30 p.m. - wrap up the writing, look over the pages and realize I should have tried harder in school 1:30 to 1:32 p.m. - have my wife hug me and tell me I’m not a failure, at least not yet, and in the meantime we should eat lunch and go hiking 1:32 to 2 p.m. - lunch 2 to 7 p.m. - hiking 7 p.m. - feed and walk the dog 7:30 to 8 p.m. - dinner 8 to 11 p.m. - act like I’m playing dominoes with my wife, when in reality I’m wondering if there’s a decent living to be made in the male stripper business because writing will never work out, and also everything’s fine because it says “light” right there on all seven of the empty beer cans

See, pretty darn exciting, am I right? Go read something,

*that’s not a knock on Stephen King, that’s just a fact. No one can write that much for that long and have it be that good. All hail the dark lord.

** “putting on” coffee means two different things depending on whether or not we’re staying at an RV park. If we’re at an RV park and hooked up to electricity, coffee-making is carried out in the traditional manner. If not, we boil water and pour it over the filter ourselves. Takes longer, a little less precise, but also fun in an apocalyptic-type way.  

Setting as a Character

Characters who go through change. Characters who are anti-heroes. Characters who have redeeming qualities. Likeable characters. Funny characters. Characters who are like you and me, except more interesting.

There’s quite a bit of thought that goes into crafting characters for a story or novel, but even the most fascinating character loses their luster if the world around them isn’t believable. I don’t mean “believable” in the sense of realism versus fantasy. More like: credible. Whether it’s world-building for sci-fi and/or fantasy writers, or scene-setting for literary works, the place your characters exist and interact is just as important as the characters themselves. It helps place the time period, geographical location and, most importantly to me, the mood and tone for the story.

Most of my writing takes place in real settings at various times in history. That means in order to paint a realistic picture, I have to spend time researching locations. Fortunately, as my wife and I have been on the road for much of the past year, I’ve had the opportunity to study a variety of landscapes, first-hand. In fact, it was the desert outside of Carlsbad, NM, just beyond the Guadalupe Mountains, which inspired my debut novel All Things Left Wild.

I began with the setting and then developed the characters, and ultimately the story, around the unforgiving terrain. I wanted the setting to be as constant and influential to the plot as the characters themselves. I wanted to ensure the landscape and the time period were both present (literally and tonally) in every conversation or rumination, impacting the characters and their decisions.

In her novel, Big Woods, May Cobb does a phenomenal job of bringing her setting to life. She nails the pine-covered forests of East Texas, as well as the regional dialect and the very particular vibe of the 1980s, which are also a part of what makes up the setting.

Another great example of a powerful setting is the Stephen Graham Jones novel Growing Up Dead in Texas. Jones paints an unmistakable picture of his native West Texas, from the farmlands to the highways to the vast emptiness and far reaches of our great state.

In fantasy it’s easy to understand, as readers, how important Hogwarts is to Harry Potter, or why the Shire is so perfect for less-adventurous hobbits; but real settings like the Busy Bee Cafe in Buffalo, Wyoming (Longmire), Coral Gables in Florida (Solomon vs Lord), Savannah, Georgia (Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil), all work to set the tone and vibe for the stories they tell.

The importance of setting is not often underrated by writers, which is why most authors place their stories in towns or regions they are familiar with. Stephen King, a native of Maine, uses the Northeast (particularly Maine) as the setting for most of his novels. Joe Lansdale, a Nacogdoches, Texas resident, rarely strays from East Texas in his work. It’s the same reason so many movies and television shows are set in L.A. or New York (that’s where the writers are).

So notice the world around, take it in, then spill it out onto the page and see if it sounds believable. If not, make up your own fantasy world and nobody will be able to tell you you’re wrong.