L. Lane Bailey's Blog, page 10

Railroaded – excerpt 2

This is a book that is currently a work in progress. There WILL be changes in this before it makes it through, IF it makes it through. The story is about a waitress that inherits a fortune and a mystery from a customer.

As ten o’clock rolled around, the last few customers were finishing their dining.  Rock and Ginger were both diligently cleaning up behind their counter, getting everything ready to close up for the night.  Rock had finished up his stuff early, but Ginger had a few dessert...

New Life excerpt

This should be my next published book, although the name will be changed… I don’t like the working title. I have previously published a few excerpts, although since the book isn’t finalized quite yet, there certainly have been changes.

***

Vici woke to a pounding on her door.  As she gradually regained awareness, she saw that there was barely light outside her window.  “What the hell?  It isn’t even six-thirty yet,” she said out loud, wrapping a robe around her as she went to the door. ...

Work In Progress 10-27-21

As I mentioned Monday, I have several WIPs (Works In Progress). I’d like to cut down on the number, but I don’t if things will work out that way. I’m positive that somewhere along the line a story or two will be abandoned. There simply won’t be enough for me to write it… it won’t “speak to me.”Read More

Currently, I have “New Life” out for its second round of “beta reads” with a different group than those that read it a couple of weeks ago. It is sitting around 90k words. My goal for a ...

Writer’s Block

It doesn’t exist, and it is the bane of every writer. Read More

To hear it from some, there is an intelligent force that blocks the ability of a writer to get word on paper (or screen… whatever). They must do battle with this being in order to record their tales, swords clashing and blades flashing. To get the simplest phrase to be recorded, a fight must ensue.

There is no such thing as “writer’s block.”

I’ve had it… but it doesn’t exist. The reality is that it is “story bl...

So You Want To Write A Book – recap

It has been a journey. I did NOT expect to write ten parts for this series. Maybe five… But, here we are. So, let’s recap. Read More

Part 1 – Intro and a mention of NaNoWriMo. I also showed one of the possible story arcs. Exposition. Inciting Incident, Rising Action/Progressive Complications, Dilemma, Climax, Denouement. This isn’t written in stone, but it is a good start.

Part 2 – Organization. If you are going to write a good story, you need to be organized about it. Most of...

Short Stories

I have slowed a little since the end of the Summer Fiction Series on Vocal. Oh, I have still been writing, but it has been on my novel projects. I have a few of those going… more than usual. I am going to try to get a few of those completed and out of my head… but in the meantime, there are these four stories. Read More

First up is The Prodigy. It is a sports related story, talking about a kid dedicated to making it in pro sports, doing whatever it takes to get better. But he finds out...

So You Want To Write A Book 10

Once again, we find ourselves sitting on a manuscript. It has been written and edited to perfection… or at least close. It is time to unleash that perfection on the world. Maybe not the world, but at least someone. Read More

Beta Readers.

Warm up the network. You need to find people to read your story and give HONEST feedback. If they are any good, they WILL find mistakes. Probably a lot of them. You will likely slap yourself in the head and wonder what you were thinking. Me,...

So You Want To Write A Book 9

I’m sure that in the last few days you have cranked out a full manuscript. or… you are jumping ahead so that you know what the next step will be. Either is fine. Read More

Now you get to edit.

I always loved seeing the instructions for carving a duck from a block of wood. It is two simple steps.

Get a block of wood.

Remove everything that isn’t a duck.

That is editing. You have a manuscript, and you need to polish it, add to it and cut from it until you have a novel. In...

So You Want To Write A Book 8

We are down to brass tacks… You have a plan, you have created some characters, and you have built a world. Now what you need is a manuscript. You can’t delay it anymore. If you want to write a book, you need to write a book. It is the next step. Read More

Honestly, this is where most people stop.

Ready, aim, aim, aim, aim, aim…

They fail to fire. Never mind adjusting aim and firing again.

The first thing you likely need to do is set a realistic goal. NaNoWriMo is a go...

So you Want To Write A Book 7

You have a plan. You have a world. You still need something, though. You need to populate that world and create some characters to fight your fights and slay your dragons. Characters can be our invisible and imaginary playmates. They can be our friends and families. Or they can be made up from whole cloth. They can be combinations of all of those things. Read More

I have some of each in my books. A few of my characters are barely connected with real people. Paul Murphy is one of th...