U.L. Harper's Blog, page 3
January 2, 2012
The Truth About In Blackness (part 1 of 3)
Let me just start this by giving a big spoiler alert.
SPOILER ALERT!
I got asked the other day what my novel In Blackness was about. Immediately I told them something similar to what is on the back of the book. You know, it’s a coming of age story about three teens taking a journey into the past and discovering all kinds of cool stuff, like how their parents might have been on drugs. I told this person about the aliens in the story, the one character, Saline, rediscovering religion, and another character finding work for the first time at a young age and all that stuff. Then I implied the alien invasion and a lot of death and that In Blackness is a trilogy or will be. So I did that and this person said, no, what is it ABOUT? So I was like “Oh, about with a big A not a small a. About.”
Now everybody knows that you can’t just say what the story is About (big A). It’s not something you can talk about real quick. Sure you can have your little elevator pitch ready but we all know that stuff is surface level. What a story is about lies in the details and is intertwined in dialogue and cadence. It’s passive aggressively left in-between words, and purposely subjective. I didn’t answer it then but I will now.
This is what In Blackness is about, in consideration of one character: Saline.
First off it’s a coming of age story. What that means is completely subjective but for this story it’s about evaluating the past just so you can move on from it, which is what Lenny and Saline must do. They have a hard time with this, especially Saline. It’s so hard for her, in fact, that she decides to head back to her home town to be in her childhood environment. All this was just to gain perspective. But what will she do when she gets there? What’s there for her? Her parents both died in a car accident when she was 10 years old and now at eighteen she simply needs closure.
Needing closure is what naturally makes the scenario bleed into what she must do to survive in her life. She finds God again, yes, realistically to survive. She grew up believing, but unlike her brother Lenny who said screw God because God killed their parents, she feels more like Jesus helped her through her parents’ death. So she starts going to church again. Deep down, she feels as though Lenny will eventually come around to her point of view. She has no sense of heaven or any righteousness about it. She simply wants to survive, to be mentally healthy. Needless to say, she has conflict with herself when she can’t deny the real reason she found her way to her old home. On some level, she has been pushed there by aliens that have a purpose yet to be revealed to her. And I won’t reveal it here either.
She has to deal with the fact that the most righteous people she had met in her life came from the church, and they too were on a trek to her old town of Lowery, Washington to—get this—coerce with aliens.
While writing this I had to really think about the plot-point surrounding this part of the story and what it would mean to Saline’s development. She finds that her group of Christian travelers had been often meeting with aliens (though they considered them more like angels). Not only is her world rattled but she doesn’t know how to get it back together. Essentially Saline’s arc is about her keeping her faith or losing it and what she could do with it in the short term.
Saline was a challenge to write, mostly because I’m not the biggest Christian on the planet, however I do truly like the idea of faith and empowerment from somewhere that is not one’s self. I love that Saline needs to learn how to generate her own energy, literally, to survive.
This is not the novel I thought I would be writing. This is not the style I thought I would use to portray these characters. This novel is much darker and bloodier than I anticipated. It was also plenty more fulfilling. Please take the time to take a peek at what I’m talking about.
Come on down and meet Saline.
I’ll tell you what. Although In Blackness is a paper book as well as an e-book, if you are curious about learning more about Saline, here is a code to download it from smashwords.com for only .99 cents. This is only a partial promotional. The only way to get the code is from reading this blog or if someone gave you the code. The code expires February 2nd.
AV32L
Enjoy!
U.L. Harper
SPOILER ALERT!
I got asked the other day what my novel In Blackness was about. Immediately I told them something similar to what is on the back of the book. You know, it’s a coming of age story about three teens taking a journey into the past and discovering all kinds of cool stuff, like how their parents might have been on drugs. I told this person about the aliens in the story, the one character, Saline, rediscovering religion, and another character finding work for the first time at a young age and all that stuff. Then I implied the alien invasion and a lot of death and that In Blackness is a trilogy or will be. So I did that and this person said, no, what is it ABOUT? So I was like “Oh, about with a big A not a small a. About.”
Now everybody knows that you can’t just say what the story is About (big A). It’s not something you can talk about real quick. Sure you can have your little elevator pitch ready but we all know that stuff is surface level. What a story is about lies in the details and is intertwined in dialogue and cadence. It’s passive aggressively left in-between words, and purposely subjective. I didn’t answer it then but I will now.
This is what In Blackness is about, in consideration of one character: Saline.
First off it’s a coming of age story. What that means is completely subjective but for this story it’s about evaluating the past just so you can move on from it, which is what Lenny and Saline must do. They have a hard time with this, especially Saline. It’s so hard for her, in fact, that she decides to head back to her home town to be in her childhood environment. All this was just to gain perspective. But what will she do when she gets there? What’s there for her? Her parents both died in a car accident when she was 10 years old and now at eighteen she simply needs closure.
Needing closure is what naturally makes the scenario bleed into what she must do to survive in her life. She finds God again, yes, realistically to survive. She grew up believing, but unlike her brother Lenny who said screw God because God killed their parents, she feels more like Jesus helped her through her parents’ death. So she starts going to church again. Deep down, she feels as though Lenny will eventually come around to her point of view. She has no sense of heaven or any righteousness about it. She simply wants to survive, to be mentally healthy. Needless to say, she has conflict with herself when she can’t deny the real reason she found her way to her old home. On some level, she has been pushed there by aliens that have a purpose yet to be revealed to her. And I won’t reveal it here either.
She has to deal with the fact that the most righteous people she had met in her life came from the church, and they too were on a trek to her old town of Lowery, Washington to—get this—coerce with aliens.
While writing this I had to really think about the plot-point surrounding this part of the story and what it would mean to Saline’s development. She finds that her group of Christian travelers had been often meeting with aliens (though they considered them more like angels). Not only is her world rattled but she doesn’t know how to get it back together. Essentially Saline’s arc is about her keeping her faith or losing it and what she could do with it in the short term.
Saline was a challenge to write, mostly because I’m not the biggest Christian on the planet, however I do truly like the idea of faith and empowerment from somewhere that is not one’s self. I love that Saline needs to learn how to generate her own energy, literally, to survive.
This is not the novel I thought I would be writing. This is not the style I thought I would use to portray these characters. This novel is much darker and bloodier than I anticipated. It was also plenty more fulfilling. Please take the time to take a peek at what I’m talking about.
Come on down and meet Saline.
I’ll tell you what. Although In Blackness is a paper book as well as an e-book, if you are curious about learning more about Saline, here is a code to download it from smashwords.com for only .99 cents. This is only a partial promotional. The only way to get the code is from reading this blog or if someone gave you the code. The code expires February 2nd.
AV32L
Enjoy!
U.L. Harper
January 1, 2012
To Trust or Not Trust the Reader, That is the Question
Here is the question: To trust or not to trust the reader.
The question stems from how much a writer is willing to let the reader infer. Let me get personal for a second. When I'm wearing my reading hat I read with a lot of ego. When I say that I mean I don't want the author to dumb it down for me. I want to be engaged by thinking, not only by visualizing and setting. I don't necessarily need the author to "put me there" as much as I want them to set it up so I can get there on my own. They should make it feel like I did something creative rather than they did something creative. Afterwards I'll give them all the credit, but while I'm reading I should feel like a participant in the story, as well as a spectator. Therefore I need a lot left up to me. I love figuring out what a character is thinking by their body language and what they say. I love characters reacting to something to help their development. I don't need to know why they reacted a certain way, (not all the time) only that they did. I need to know who characters are, not why they are who they are. The story will naturally cause them to make sense. At least that's how I read.
Another way to think about trusting the reader or not, is basically the opposite from above. I know plenty of readers who love plenty of internal dialogue. They really appreciate a narrative that pulls them along, which is fine. Most people I know like a lot of back story. They like big introductions for characters so they can have a solid sense of them. As a reader, if not done well (and usually it's not) it bores me into putting the story away for a while or not finishing it. I think if we did a survey, we'd find that most people prefer anything that will get them closer to the story. But, once again, maybe it's better to give just enough, and let the reader do what they're going to do.
With all that being said, where do we draw the line? When do decide, "Okay reader, you got this. I gave you enough information. Take this." Or, does this never happen? Do we constantly rebuff the reader throughout the story?
I'm also part of a writers group where many think that, hey, sometimes you simply just need a nice info dump to make things make sense, you know, because the reader forgets. You have to help them out. Road signs, is what I hear. Honestly, I think the author has a job and it's not to pamper the reader. At the same time, I'm not a bestselling author so what do I know really know. Still, what irks me irks me. I don't want narrative dumbed down or over explained for me and I don't like to dumb it down or over explain it myself. At least I'm consistent.
I'm sure there is no wrong way to do it. Ironically, I'm sure there's certainly a right way. So now I'm throwing the question out there: How do you like it? Which way do you prefer?
Remember I'm the author of In Blackness, a novel definitely worth checking out.
The question stems from how much a writer is willing to let the reader infer. Let me get personal for a second. When I'm wearing my reading hat I read with a lot of ego. When I say that I mean I don't want the author to dumb it down for me. I want to be engaged by thinking, not only by visualizing and setting. I don't necessarily need the author to "put me there" as much as I want them to set it up so I can get there on my own. They should make it feel like I did something creative rather than they did something creative. Afterwards I'll give them all the credit, but while I'm reading I should feel like a participant in the story, as well as a spectator. Therefore I need a lot left up to me. I love figuring out what a character is thinking by their body language and what they say. I love characters reacting to something to help their development. I don't need to know why they reacted a certain way, (not all the time) only that they did. I need to know who characters are, not why they are who they are. The story will naturally cause them to make sense. At least that's how I read.
Another way to think about trusting the reader or not, is basically the opposite from above. I know plenty of readers who love plenty of internal dialogue. They really appreciate a narrative that pulls them along, which is fine. Most people I know like a lot of back story. They like big introductions for characters so they can have a solid sense of them. As a reader, if not done well (and usually it's not) it bores me into putting the story away for a while or not finishing it. I think if we did a survey, we'd find that most people prefer anything that will get them closer to the story. But, once again, maybe it's better to give just enough, and let the reader do what they're going to do.
With all that being said, where do we draw the line? When do decide, "Okay reader, you got this. I gave you enough information. Take this." Or, does this never happen? Do we constantly rebuff the reader throughout the story?
I'm also part of a writers group where many think that, hey, sometimes you simply just need a nice info dump to make things make sense, you know, because the reader forgets. You have to help them out. Road signs, is what I hear. Honestly, I think the author has a job and it's not to pamper the reader. At the same time, I'm not a bestselling author so what do I know really know. Still, what irks me irks me. I don't want narrative dumbed down or over explained for me and I don't like to dumb it down or over explain it myself. At least I'm consistent.
I'm sure there is no wrong way to do it. Ironically, I'm sure there's certainly a right way. So now I'm throwing the question out there: How do you like it? Which way do you prefer?
Remember I'm the author of In Blackness, a novel definitely worth checking out.
December 27, 2011
Down With Santa
In the dead of night people gathered on the boardwalk and waited for Santa Claus to fly by. They stared up at the sky and then glanced at their watches and cell phones. Each had a look on their face like damn, he should have been here by now. I was there too, wondering exactly how they were going to make this happen, make Santa appear to the masses. I had never seen Santa fly by. I've seen him in public places asking kids to sit on his lap so he could lie to them, but never had I seen him fly through the sky with his reindeer like E.T. across the profile of the moon. Keep in mind, it wasn't until this day that I truly thought about what a detriment Santa Claus could be and probably is.
Suddenly, up in the sky, I saw the unthinkable--Santa on his sleigh being pulled by reindeer. What I couldn't ignore though was the fact that they weren't real deer but rather a long fluorescent object hanging from a helicopter that if you were four or five or six years old could be misconstrued as Santa and his reindeer. For some reason the kids in attendance didn't notice the helicopter and as if they were abducted by aliens they probably won't remember the helicopter occurrence. The kids and parents all waved at Santa. One person said to her child, "Did you see Santa?" And the little girl responded, "Yes, he's right there!" The little girl kept waving as Santa thwumped off into the distance.
Now, I'm all about having fun and lying to kids and finding time to relive the good ol' Christmas times of past but enough is enough. Being with relatives I'm reminded that some things just aren't that serious. I mean, there's nothing to worry about and nobody is getting hurt, in regards to the Santa Claus lie...right? I question that now.
The next day a good friend of mine called me and I told him about my new thoughts on Santa--the fact that Santa needed to go away and that his time here was done. At first we laughed about it but it was in this conversation I found myself saying some heart felt things. For instance, there is a certain amount of energy a person must spend to outright lie and maintain the lie. What better way could we use our energy? I mean, even without Santa we can buy gifts for our loved ones. Why not? Furthermore, and I thought about this one long and hard: I don't have any kids but if I did and I spent time searching for, I don't know, a meaningful gift, I would want them to know that I gave it to them out of love and understanding of them. Why in the world would I want them to think that instead of me showing my love and respect that it was in fact a fat man who flopped down from our chimney that we don't have who really cared to give you what you want. Why would I deflect positive energy? Why would I misplace it? For what purpose? What kind of tradition is that?
Let me put this in a different light. I once thought that after Santa wasn't real that Christmas lost its jazz to me. You know, now that I knew my parents were really Santa they made excuses not to get cool gifts. Excuses like, we don't have the money. Or truly silly excuses like, "We're going to get you something that you need." It kind of ruined Christmas for me. But maybe that wasn't the case. Maybe I stopped liking Christmas because, well, because maybe because of Santa Claus Christmas lost its backbone.
I'm not religious at all, and I don't wish I was, but at the same time, think of all the energy Santa pulls away from Christ. I know, it's a harsh thought, because many still go to church on Christmas. With that being said, kids, when they're most impressionable, they really think of Santa Claus and what you get from him rather than what they can get from Jesus.
Just sayin.
Last thing.
We don't need to get rid of Santa, merely update him a bit. Here's what we do. Tell the kids that if they're really good then Santa will give us a stipend or some kind of super gift card to get them stuff. Of course with a bigger family the stipend won't go as far, but at least it makes some sense and parents can still claim love from them going into the gifts. Now, we don't even need to leave Santa cookies, as if he's holding our gifts hostage. We wouldn't have to maintain the silly reindeer lie. You could still take your kids to the mall to sit on the fat man's lap and all and you could even teach the kids about Rudolph. It's just that, well, you don't have to tell kids about not having money. You can simply say Santa was friggin mugged for his stipends this year and all is well.
Merry belated Christmas and down with Santa Claus.
And I wrote a novel called IN BLACKNESS that you and everyone you know should read, probably immediately.
Suddenly, up in the sky, I saw the unthinkable--Santa on his sleigh being pulled by reindeer. What I couldn't ignore though was the fact that they weren't real deer but rather a long fluorescent object hanging from a helicopter that if you were four or five or six years old could be misconstrued as Santa and his reindeer. For some reason the kids in attendance didn't notice the helicopter and as if they were abducted by aliens they probably won't remember the helicopter occurrence. The kids and parents all waved at Santa. One person said to her child, "Did you see Santa?" And the little girl responded, "Yes, he's right there!" The little girl kept waving as Santa thwumped off into the distance.
Now, I'm all about having fun and lying to kids and finding time to relive the good ol' Christmas times of past but enough is enough. Being with relatives I'm reminded that some things just aren't that serious. I mean, there's nothing to worry about and nobody is getting hurt, in regards to the Santa Claus lie...right? I question that now.
The next day a good friend of mine called me and I told him about my new thoughts on Santa--the fact that Santa needed to go away and that his time here was done. At first we laughed about it but it was in this conversation I found myself saying some heart felt things. For instance, there is a certain amount of energy a person must spend to outright lie and maintain the lie. What better way could we use our energy? I mean, even without Santa we can buy gifts for our loved ones. Why not? Furthermore, and I thought about this one long and hard: I don't have any kids but if I did and I spent time searching for, I don't know, a meaningful gift, I would want them to know that I gave it to them out of love and understanding of them. Why in the world would I want them to think that instead of me showing my love and respect that it was in fact a fat man who flopped down from our chimney that we don't have who really cared to give you what you want. Why would I deflect positive energy? Why would I misplace it? For what purpose? What kind of tradition is that?
Let me put this in a different light. I once thought that after Santa wasn't real that Christmas lost its jazz to me. You know, now that I knew my parents were really Santa they made excuses not to get cool gifts. Excuses like, we don't have the money. Or truly silly excuses like, "We're going to get you something that you need." It kind of ruined Christmas for me. But maybe that wasn't the case. Maybe I stopped liking Christmas because, well, because maybe because of Santa Claus Christmas lost its backbone.
I'm not religious at all, and I don't wish I was, but at the same time, think of all the energy Santa pulls away from Christ. I know, it's a harsh thought, because many still go to church on Christmas. With that being said, kids, when they're most impressionable, they really think of Santa Claus and what you get from him rather than what they can get from Jesus.
Just sayin.
Last thing.
We don't need to get rid of Santa, merely update him a bit. Here's what we do. Tell the kids that if they're really good then Santa will give us a stipend or some kind of super gift card to get them stuff. Of course with a bigger family the stipend won't go as far, but at least it makes some sense and parents can still claim love from them going into the gifts. Now, we don't even need to leave Santa cookies, as if he's holding our gifts hostage. We wouldn't have to maintain the silly reindeer lie. You could still take your kids to the mall to sit on the fat man's lap and all and you could even teach the kids about Rudolph. It's just that, well, you don't have to tell kids about not having money. You can simply say Santa was friggin mugged for his stipends this year and all is well.
Merry belated Christmas and down with Santa Claus.
And I wrote a novel called IN BLACKNESS that you and everyone you know should read, probably immediately.
December 9, 2011
Vonnegut: Player Piano vs. Cat's Cradle
I’m going to attack the book review in a different way this time.
I just finished Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle. Keep in mind I listened to Player Piano at the same time so I got a solid juxtaposition of his writing style from his earlier days to his not so early days. Player Piano was his first published work from what I understand and Cat’s Cradle came about, I don’t know, ten years later. What I noticed most is how much Vonnegut grew as a writer from Player Piano to Cat’s Cradle.
Let me point out the glaring differences in these two novels and then at the same time hopefully detail how repetition shapes a writer more than classes or seminars or what have you.
It’s hard to tell from the start but Cat’s Cradle and Player Piano have plenty in common. In saying that, although their over a decade a part they are still conceptually the same book. Before pointing out what they have in common let’s first draw from what they don’t have in common. ‘Piano’ centers around engineers being the elite in society, the one percent, the prestigious and privileged. Indeed, it is about men who no longer get their hands dirty. Our protagonist, who is portrayed through the first-person narrative, is the everyday man of the future. He’s middle-class in his mind but he’s upper-class by rank and he’s having a problem acting as such. This seems to be different from the protagonist of Cat’s Cradle, a young male journalist of the middle-class who becomes a king of an island. On any level, when you examine these angles you find that in both stories the protagonist is somehow meant to rule, make decisions for all those around him. One might argue that this is Vonnegut’s ego seeping into the story, somehow. Ego or not, Vonnegut found a way to write the same story through different eyes. It’s called keeping it fresh people. Everybody take note. Years of repetition did nothing but grow him as an author. Just sayin.
Here’s another similarity but difference with the two novels. Both characters have beautiful wives whom they are disconnected, emotionally. The wives don’t seem similar and they are not the same type of character but they have the same role in the story—the woman of no consequence who is totally hot.
Before I go on I will not ask you how many times you’ve effectively rewritten the same character and didn’t know it. I believe Vonnegut knew he did it so he made it work for him. Just saying he kept it fresh. Everybody take note. Repetition. Growth as an author. Just sayin.
Vonnegut does something else that’s pretty interesting in both stories. See, Vonnegut, in his novels, was a world builder, at least in these two books. After he developed the world, he simply added the third act and then called it a wrap. Example. In “Cradle” once the island of San Lorenzo is completely set up he breaks it down in heart wrenching fashion; in other words, after you meet all the characters and know where they’re from and where they’re going and their stories are completely interlaced with the physical world, the story comes to a drastic close. In ‘Piano’ he does the same. Vonnegut had an interesting way of showing all the angles right before turning it on its head. He liked to lay down all the information so that the reader would infer plenty and then spring the last act on us.
The big difference in the two novels is that Player Piano is twice as long as ‘Cradle”. In ‘Piano’ he exemplified his point longer, and don’t be mistaken, he was making a point in this one, in both of them. That, and in Piano he used significantly more adverbs. In other words, the big difference between the two is that in one he trusted the reader to pick up the meaning of what the characters were doing and in the other he didn’t trust the reader as much, so he had to force the issue, probably using more words, more adverbs.
They’re both great books and perfect examples of what a writer can do when they know exactly what they’re doing and why they’re doing it. Vonnegut grew in large part from writing and retooling his style, learning what to edit and even when to show and not tell and vice versa. Both of these stories throw you through a range of emotion but ultimately to epiphanies.
See the cat? See the cradle?
U.L. Harper is the author of the sci-fi/horror/literary novel In Blackness Stop by Amazon.com and pick it up or stop by Smashwords.com or B&N.com
I just finished Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle. Keep in mind I listened to Player Piano at the same time so I got a solid juxtaposition of his writing style from his earlier days to his not so early days. Player Piano was his first published work from what I understand and Cat’s Cradle came about, I don’t know, ten years later. What I noticed most is how much Vonnegut grew as a writer from Player Piano to Cat’s Cradle.
Let me point out the glaring differences in these two novels and then at the same time hopefully detail how repetition shapes a writer more than classes or seminars or what have you.
It’s hard to tell from the start but Cat’s Cradle and Player Piano have plenty in common. In saying that, although their over a decade a part they are still conceptually the same book. Before pointing out what they have in common let’s first draw from what they don’t have in common. ‘Piano’ centers around engineers being the elite in society, the one percent, the prestigious and privileged. Indeed, it is about men who no longer get their hands dirty. Our protagonist, who is portrayed through the first-person narrative, is the everyday man of the future. He’s middle-class in his mind but he’s upper-class by rank and he’s having a problem acting as such. This seems to be different from the protagonist of Cat’s Cradle, a young male journalist of the middle-class who becomes a king of an island. On any level, when you examine these angles you find that in both stories the protagonist is somehow meant to rule, make decisions for all those around him. One might argue that this is Vonnegut’s ego seeping into the story, somehow. Ego or not, Vonnegut found a way to write the same story through different eyes. It’s called keeping it fresh people. Everybody take note. Years of repetition did nothing but grow him as an author. Just sayin.
Here’s another similarity but difference with the two novels. Both characters have beautiful wives whom they are disconnected, emotionally. The wives don’t seem similar and they are not the same type of character but they have the same role in the story—the woman of no consequence who is totally hot.
Before I go on I will not ask you how many times you’ve effectively rewritten the same character and didn’t know it. I believe Vonnegut knew he did it so he made it work for him. Just saying he kept it fresh. Everybody take note. Repetition. Growth as an author. Just sayin.
Vonnegut does something else that’s pretty interesting in both stories. See, Vonnegut, in his novels, was a world builder, at least in these two books. After he developed the world, he simply added the third act and then called it a wrap. Example. In “Cradle” once the island of San Lorenzo is completely set up he breaks it down in heart wrenching fashion; in other words, after you meet all the characters and know where they’re from and where they’re going and their stories are completely interlaced with the physical world, the story comes to a drastic close. In ‘Piano’ he does the same. Vonnegut had an interesting way of showing all the angles right before turning it on its head. He liked to lay down all the information so that the reader would infer plenty and then spring the last act on us.
The big difference in the two novels is that Player Piano is twice as long as ‘Cradle”. In ‘Piano’ he exemplified his point longer, and don’t be mistaken, he was making a point in this one, in both of them. That, and in Piano he used significantly more adverbs. In other words, the big difference between the two is that in one he trusted the reader to pick up the meaning of what the characters were doing and in the other he didn’t trust the reader as much, so he had to force the issue, probably using more words, more adverbs.
They’re both great books and perfect examples of what a writer can do when they know exactly what they’re doing and why they’re doing it. Vonnegut grew in large part from writing and retooling his style, learning what to edit and even when to show and not tell and vice versa. Both of these stories throw you through a range of emotion but ultimately to epiphanies.
See the cat? See the cradle?
U.L. Harper is the author of the sci-fi/horror/literary novel In Blackness Stop by Amazon.com and pick it up or stop by Smashwords.com or B&N.com
November 21, 2011
U.L. Harper Interview S.L. Pierce
Good day or night or evening to everyone. U.L. Harper here, author of the recently released In Blackness (Sci-fi/horror/drama/). You can get it wherever book are sold. Yes, shameless plug. On any level, I had an opportunity to catch up with S.L. Pierce the author of Secrets, The Hate, and co-author of The Devil's Game. She makes for an interesting subject. Take a look below to see what we talked about.
Q.Tell us about the genre you're writing in how you came to write in that genre.
A.) The genre I write in is mystery/thrillers. It's no mystery (ouch, bad pun) why I chose this genre. It's my favorite to read. I don't really like romance, and I can't even imaging writing a love scene. I'm not creative enough for SciFi or paranormal, but I love mystery/thrillers. I also want to create some strong female characters. Ones that don't make dumb mistakes and end up caught by the bad guy.
Q.) The writing world is hard. What keeps you pushing forward?
A.)When it gets really tough I think to myself 'look, the time is going to pass whether you sit here and write or sit in front of the tv, so what is going to make you feel better at night?' That usually gets me through the rough spots. And there are a lot of those. Writing is a tough, lonely job!
Q.)Here's the silly question of the day. If for some unforeseen reason you were only allowed to write one more book in your life, what would it be about and why?
A.) Good question. I don't know exactly what it would be but I know it would be dark. Really dark. For some reason I love that desperate, 'how can I go on feeling' in a book. I would love to create a really good, dark story. It would be good for a last book because you could use it as an excuse, as in, that book took so much out of me I can't go on...
Q.) Now let's take some time to talk about your newest release. Tell ulharper.com two things about it, something to make people want to read it.
A.) The Devil's Game is about a stalker. 'What?' you say, 'Another stalker book?' But wait. This book asks the question 'What if your stalker had a stalker? Would that person be your friend or your worst enemy?' It's suspenseful without being gory!
Q.) It took us a while to get to it, but tell us three things about your latest book that might not be in the pages. You know, behind the scenes stuff.
A.) Well, it is co-written (with Maren Kaye) so for the first few chapters I would write then send it to Maren. She would read what I wrote, then send back another chapter. It was like a game at first because we hadn't discussed a plot, or even a book, at that point. It was so fun!
Q.) Quick question. What was the last darned good book you read besides your own, and could you tell us what you liked about it so much. You know, a story you wished you wrote, and don't forget to tell us who wrote it
A.) Silo Nine by S.J. Ford. He is an indie author I met through twitter. I read the first chapter on his website, immediately bought his book and read it in a day. Yes, the cover is a little offputting ( I shared this opinion with him and he is considering a change) but the book is so good. I know it will sound like another vampire book but it's more like a technology book that happens to have a vampire in it. Really! I am not a SciFi fan but this book was excellent!
Q.) What is a piece of advice you would give an up and coming author or a new author or someone looking to get into the business.
A.) I would say really think about this decision. Is it your dream? Are you ready to work hard and all the time? If so, then get ready. You need to write all the time. You need to promote all the time. ALL THE TIME. Yes, it's fun and very rewarding. But it's also hard and frustrating. So don't make the decision lightly.
Q.) Now let's get to the actual writing. What are your writing strengths? If you don't have any strengths just lie. I mean, I know plenty of perfect people, I'll just add you to the list.
A.) My strength as a writer is the start. I have tons of great ideas for the beginning of a story. Or the beginning and the end of a story. The problem comes after that. Oh look. I led right into your next question. How convenient!
Q.) Okay, be careful here. What are your weaknesses as a writer? If you don't have any weaknesses, feel free to let everyone know that you have none. Once again, some people are perfect and everyone simply has to understand that fact.
A. The middle of the story. All that stuff that has to happen to get to the end. I am always in such a rush and I hate all that descriptive stuff you need so the reader feels like they are in the story and to care about the characters. Thanks goodness I have a writing partner (Maren Kaye) who is just the best at all of that!
Q.) Last silly question of the day. Let's say you just finished your masterpiece. I mean, you wrote "the end", checked the word count at 150,000 words, stood, pumped your fist in victory and then the power shut off in the house and fried your hard drive and everything was lost. Lucky you, you made a back-up on your thumb drive that you found, for some reason, in your dog's mouth...and he just swallowed it, so you run down to the local coffee shop to retrieve the version you emailed to yourself but you were hacked and all is really lost. What do you do now? I'd run up and down the street naked with a hammer in one hand, a lollipop hanging from my mouth and a tear falling from my cheek. But what about you?
A.) Oh what a horrible horrible nightmare. I think I would lay in bed for a few days thinking I will never recover, that it took all I had to write those 150,000 words and I could never do it again. I would believe my writing career was over. Then, maybe a week later, I would start digging through all my garbage, and anyone's garbage I had sent a draft too, or a chapter, or a word, and I would start to piece it back together. In the end it would be an even better story for having written in twice. OK, now wake up! Because I'm actually still in bed devastated!
Thanks for stopping by. Come on through to say hello whenever you get the chance. We’ll be waiting!
Q.Tell us about the genre you're writing in how you came to write in that genre.
A.) The genre I write in is mystery/thrillers. It's no mystery (ouch, bad pun) why I chose this genre. It's my favorite to read. I don't really like romance, and I can't even imaging writing a love scene. I'm not creative enough for SciFi or paranormal, but I love mystery/thrillers. I also want to create some strong female characters. Ones that don't make dumb mistakes and end up caught by the bad guy.
Q.) The writing world is hard. What keeps you pushing forward?
A.)When it gets really tough I think to myself 'look, the time is going to pass whether you sit here and write or sit in front of the tv, so what is going to make you feel better at night?' That usually gets me through the rough spots. And there are a lot of those. Writing is a tough, lonely job!
Q.)Here's the silly question of the day. If for some unforeseen reason you were only allowed to write one more book in your life, what would it be about and why?
A.) Good question. I don't know exactly what it would be but I know it would be dark. Really dark. For some reason I love that desperate, 'how can I go on feeling' in a book. I would love to create a really good, dark story. It would be good for a last book because you could use it as an excuse, as in, that book took so much out of me I can't go on...
Q.) Now let's take some time to talk about your newest release. Tell ulharper.com two things about it, something to make people want to read it.
A.) The Devil's Game is about a stalker. 'What?' you say, 'Another stalker book?' But wait. This book asks the question 'What if your stalker had a stalker? Would that person be your friend or your worst enemy?' It's suspenseful without being gory!
Q.) It took us a while to get to it, but tell us three things about your latest book that might not be in the pages. You know, behind the scenes stuff.
A.) Well, it is co-written (with Maren Kaye) so for the first few chapters I would write then send it to Maren. She would read what I wrote, then send back another chapter. It was like a game at first because we hadn't discussed a plot, or even a book, at that point. It was so fun!
Q.) Quick question. What was the last darned good book you read besides your own, and could you tell us what you liked about it so much. You know, a story you wished you wrote, and don't forget to tell us who wrote it
A.) Silo Nine by S.J. Ford. He is an indie author I met through twitter. I read the first chapter on his website, immediately bought his book and read it in a day. Yes, the cover is a little offputting ( I shared this opinion with him and he is considering a change) but the book is so good. I know it will sound like another vampire book but it's more like a technology book that happens to have a vampire in it. Really! I am not a SciFi fan but this book was excellent!
Q.) What is a piece of advice you would give an up and coming author or a new author or someone looking to get into the business.
A.) I would say really think about this decision. Is it your dream? Are you ready to work hard and all the time? If so, then get ready. You need to write all the time. You need to promote all the time. ALL THE TIME. Yes, it's fun and very rewarding. But it's also hard and frustrating. So don't make the decision lightly.
Q.) Now let's get to the actual writing. What are your writing strengths? If you don't have any strengths just lie. I mean, I know plenty of perfect people, I'll just add you to the list.
A.) My strength as a writer is the start. I have tons of great ideas for the beginning of a story. Or the beginning and the end of a story. The problem comes after that. Oh look. I led right into your next question. How convenient!
Q.) Okay, be careful here. What are your weaknesses as a writer? If you don't have any weaknesses, feel free to let everyone know that you have none. Once again, some people are perfect and everyone simply has to understand that fact.
A. The middle of the story. All that stuff that has to happen to get to the end. I am always in such a rush and I hate all that descriptive stuff you need so the reader feels like they are in the story and to care about the characters. Thanks goodness I have a writing partner (Maren Kaye) who is just the best at all of that!
Q.) Last silly question of the day. Let's say you just finished your masterpiece. I mean, you wrote "the end", checked the word count at 150,000 words, stood, pumped your fist in victory and then the power shut off in the house and fried your hard drive and everything was lost. Lucky you, you made a back-up on your thumb drive that you found, for some reason, in your dog's mouth...and he just swallowed it, so you run down to the local coffee shop to retrieve the version you emailed to yourself but you were hacked and all is really lost. What do you do now? I'd run up and down the street naked with a hammer in one hand, a lollipop hanging from my mouth and a tear falling from my cheek. But what about you?
A.) Oh what a horrible horrible nightmare. I think I would lay in bed for a few days thinking I will never recover, that it took all I had to write those 150,000 words and I could never do it again. I would believe my writing career was over. Then, maybe a week later, I would start digging through all my garbage, and anyone's garbage I had sent a draft too, or a chapter, or a word, and I would start to piece it back together. In the end it would be an even better story for having written in twice. OK, now wake up! Because I'm actually still in bed devastated!
Thanks for stopping by. Come on through to say hello whenever you get the chance. We’ll be waiting!
November 16, 2011
U.L. Harper's Interview: Who is Jason Halstead
Good day or night or evening to everyone. U.L. Harper here, author of the recently released In Blackness (Sci-fi/horror/drama/). Don't forget to pick it up from Amazon.com or wherever books are sold. I had an opportunity to catch up with Jason Halstead the author of Wanted, Voidhawk, and The Lost Girls. Had a pretty good meeting. Here it is below.
Q.) Jason, tell us about the genre you're writing in and how you came to write in that genre.
A.) That’s a harder question than you probably meant it to be! I write in multiple genres and have a really hard time confining a book to only one. Since you’re holding a gun to my head (don’t worry, it’s got ‘Nerf’ on the side of it), I’ll go with science fiction.
I write sci-fi because I enjoy it so very much. To me it takes the best of the imagination and makes it believable. Fantasy is fun too, but sometimes it’s hard for me to suspend my disbelief and really get into a story. With sci-fi I consider it the author’s job to either make it believe or to tell a story so darn good that I don’t care if some things don’t make sense.
With that said, I often mix fantasy or paranormal into my science fiction. My reasoning behind it is that any technology so advanced as to be beyond our understanding is considered magic.
Oh, and there’s virtually always a romance angle (or several) going on in any of my stories. What fun would life be without emotion, heartbreak, and the triumph of love?
Q.) Who would you consider an influence in your writing? It doesn't need to be another author. Maybe it's someone you've never met.
A.) I’m influenced by everything. When I lived in southeastern Utah I was often inspired by the beautiful vistas. At other times I find myself filled with a new idea thanks to the music of Evanescence, John Denver, Megadeth, or others. Sometimes it’s another writer who gives me an idea that I have to spin off into another direction altogether.
I’m also influence heavily by people. The people I talk to on Twitter, my blog, or via email can have some very thought provoking ideas. Other times it’s people I know who are going through rough times, or maybe even people I don’t know that I’ve read about.
In short, inspiration is everywhere. The tricky part is opening my eyes and seeing it.
Q.) Even while inspired the writing world is hard. What keeps you pushing forward?
A.) Pushing backward is damn near impossible! Seriously, try it sometime – put your back up to something and start pushing away at it. It’s an awkward movement and sooner or later you’re going to fall on your butt. Probably pull a muscle while you’re at it. No thanks, I’ll move forward instead. Safer and that way I can see where I’m going.
That’s a quirky answer, but that’s because trying to succeed is the only option for me. I fail at plenty of things I attempt, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to give up. It means I just learned a lesson on what not to do, so now I can try again. I’ll never succeed if I don’t keep trying, and so far I’m making steady, if slow, progress on reaching my dreams.
Q.) Here's the silly question of the day. If for some unforeseen reason you were only allowed to write one more book in your life, what would it be about and why?
A.) Only one book left in me until the end? Well it wouldn’t be a book aimed at public consumption. It would be about me, and it would be for my family. I’d want them to know me inside and out, not just from what they’ve experienced of me as their father, but for them to have something to realize that I’m more than just “Dad”, I’m also a person with as many emotions and fears and hang-ups as they will have when they grow up. And then they could share it with their kids, so on and so forth.
And of course I’d go out of my way to let my kids and wife know what I think of her as well. Being a guy I try, but probably fail, to communicate just how wonderful a person I consider her to be.
Q.) Now let's take some time to talk about your newest release. Tell ulharper.com two things about it, something to make people want to read it.
A.) The Lost Girls is a story about woman who saves other people so she doesn’t have to save herself. Her name is Katalina Wimple and she’s a special victims detective in Phoenix, Arizona. She’s also a survivor of a childhood attack that made her a special victim.
The Lost Girls follows her as she tries to stop a kidnapping ring that is selling young women into slavery. Along the way she gets caught up with her therapist, who’s motives are suspicious, and then must resist the seduction of a prostitute whose motives are far too evident.
Did I mention the exploding vehicles, gunfights, and treachery?
Q.) Exploding vehicles, gunfights and treachery. Sounds like a good time. With all that being said, it took us a while to get to it, but tell us three things about your latest book that might not be in the pages. You know, behind the scenes stuff.
A.) I’m liking this line of questioning more and more! My problem is that I can only reveal so much – the sequel to The Lost Girls (Traitor) is soon to be released and the third book in the series is ready for editing.
The Lost Girls takes place in my Dark Earth universe – which is our world with a twist (portals opened to a parallel world where technology did not advance beyond the dark ages, in its place they used magic to create civilizations ruled by tyranny).
The characters in The Lost Girls were so powerful to me one book wasn’t enough. The second book (Traitor) is soon to be released and the third one (Wolfgirl) should be due early in 2012. A fourth book featuring Katalina Wimple is also in the works, titled Black Widow.
Last but not least, Katalina also has a cameo role in my novella, Voices. I had a completely different plan for Voices but as the story unfolded it took on a life of its own and the characters let me know what really happened. It then became my job to write it down as quickly as possible. Voices takes place between Wolfgirl and Black Widow.
Q.) Quick question. What was the last darned good book you read besides your own, and could you tell us what you liked about it so much. You know, a story you wished you wrote, and don't forget to tell us who wrote it
A.) That’s an easy one: The Capable Man, by Marc Hamlet. I liked it so much I had to help him get it published. And since then it’s been doing quite good – with any luck this will help push it from good to great, I know Marc deserves it!
Q.) What is a piece of advice you would give an up and coming author or a new author or someone looking to get into the business.
A.) I try to give loads of advice to would-be writers. Check out my blog (http://booksbyjason.wordpress.com) to browse through the posts. But as for something special or more important than the rest, I’d say stay the course. Be persistent and never give up…unless you’ve had a restraining order filed against you, that is.
As long as you keep trying and keep an open mind to feedback and criticism, there’s no reason why you can’t grow as a writer and as a person to reach whatever goals you aspire to.
Q.) Now let's get to the actual writing. What are your writing strengths? If you don't have any strengths just lie. I mean, I know plenty of perfect people, I'll just add you to the list.
A.) Why yes, I’m the best writer there ever was. Don’t believe me? Just ask me!
How about I offer up some objectivity? I’ve been told in reviews that I write women well – as in they are realistic and very believable. I’ve also been told that I do a great job with dialogue and showing, rather than telling, a story. How about action scenes – one reviewer credited me with putting actions scenes together in a way she’d never seen before and absolutely loved it (I believe it involved blending action and magic).
What else do I do well? I’m not sure, but I invite people to read my books and offer their opinions so I can grow and become better for it!
Q.) I love your honesty. Okay, be careful here. What are your weaknesses as a writer? If you don't have any weaknesses, feel free to let everyone know that you have none. Once again, some people are perfect and everyone simply has to understand that fact.
A.) Well of course I have weaknesses. If I didn’t I’d have nothing but bestsellers, paid off student loans, and no debt to my name. Figuring out what they are is a constant struggle though. I love getting feedback from people, even if it’s a brutal editor. It’s always a learning experience for me and it helps me to become better writer and a better person.
I tend to write as though I’m watching the story unfold before me. That sometimes keeps the POV more limited than some people might like, but I prefer it that way – I don’t feel the character should know everything and therefore, neither should the reader (until it’s time to reveal whatever devious plot twist I have planned, that is).
Another potential weakness is my love for movement and action. That doesn’t mean constant kung-fu fighting, jus that I like to have my stories moving forward and always working towards telling the story. I try very hard to not get hung up on rhetoric or redundancy. I figure if I wouldn’t want to read it, why would anyone else?
Q.) I love the limited POV. I’m with you on that. Last silly question of the day. Let's say you just finished your masterpiece. I mean, you wrote "the end", checked the word count at 150,000 words, stood, pumped your fist in victory and then the power shut off in the house and fried your hard drive and everything was lost. Lucky you, you made a back-up on your thumb drive that you found, for some reason, in your dog's mouth...and he just swallowed it, so you run down to the local coffee shop to retrieve the version you emailed to yourself but you were hacked and all is really lost. What do you do now? I'd run up and down the street naked with a hammer in one hand, a lollipop hanging from my mouth and a tear falling from my cheek. But what about you?
A.) I’ve lost plenty of stories in the past. If it’s worth it to me, it’s worth the work of rewriting it. I’ve taken additional steps to insure this doesn’t happen anymore – between USB storage, storage on multiple systems, email storage, and even a RAID 5 array on the dataserver I have in my basement.
But if it did my motto in life would be applied here. Suck it up and get to work. Work doesn’t get done unless I get to work doing it. Or as the female daycare provider at the gym said to my wife just last night, “Man up, Buttercup!“
I can be found on the web at http://www.booksbyjason.com.
My blog is located at http://booksbyjason.wordpress.com.
Thanks for stopping by, Jason. Don’t be a stranger!
And oh yeah. Here's the plug for my book. Have a good day everyone!
Q.) Jason, tell us about the genre you're writing in and how you came to write in that genre.
A.) That’s a harder question than you probably meant it to be! I write in multiple genres and have a really hard time confining a book to only one. Since you’re holding a gun to my head (don’t worry, it’s got ‘Nerf’ on the side of it), I’ll go with science fiction.
I write sci-fi because I enjoy it so very much. To me it takes the best of the imagination and makes it believable. Fantasy is fun too, but sometimes it’s hard for me to suspend my disbelief and really get into a story. With sci-fi I consider it the author’s job to either make it believe or to tell a story so darn good that I don’t care if some things don’t make sense.
With that said, I often mix fantasy or paranormal into my science fiction. My reasoning behind it is that any technology so advanced as to be beyond our understanding is considered magic.
Oh, and there’s virtually always a romance angle (or several) going on in any of my stories. What fun would life be without emotion, heartbreak, and the triumph of love?
Q.) Who would you consider an influence in your writing? It doesn't need to be another author. Maybe it's someone you've never met.
A.) I’m influenced by everything. When I lived in southeastern Utah I was often inspired by the beautiful vistas. At other times I find myself filled with a new idea thanks to the music of Evanescence, John Denver, Megadeth, or others. Sometimes it’s another writer who gives me an idea that I have to spin off into another direction altogether.
I’m also influence heavily by people. The people I talk to on Twitter, my blog, or via email can have some very thought provoking ideas. Other times it’s people I know who are going through rough times, or maybe even people I don’t know that I’ve read about.
In short, inspiration is everywhere. The tricky part is opening my eyes and seeing it.
Q.) Even while inspired the writing world is hard. What keeps you pushing forward?
A.) Pushing backward is damn near impossible! Seriously, try it sometime – put your back up to something and start pushing away at it. It’s an awkward movement and sooner or later you’re going to fall on your butt. Probably pull a muscle while you’re at it. No thanks, I’ll move forward instead. Safer and that way I can see where I’m going.
That’s a quirky answer, but that’s because trying to succeed is the only option for me. I fail at plenty of things I attempt, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to give up. It means I just learned a lesson on what not to do, so now I can try again. I’ll never succeed if I don’t keep trying, and so far I’m making steady, if slow, progress on reaching my dreams.
Q.) Here's the silly question of the day. If for some unforeseen reason you were only allowed to write one more book in your life, what would it be about and why?
A.) Only one book left in me until the end? Well it wouldn’t be a book aimed at public consumption. It would be about me, and it would be for my family. I’d want them to know me inside and out, not just from what they’ve experienced of me as their father, but for them to have something to realize that I’m more than just “Dad”, I’m also a person with as many emotions and fears and hang-ups as they will have when they grow up. And then they could share it with their kids, so on and so forth.
And of course I’d go out of my way to let my kids and wife know what I think of her as well. Being a guy I try, but probably fail, to communicate just how wonderful a person I consider her to be.
Q.) Now let's take some time to talk about your newest release. Tell ulharper.com two things about it, something to make people want to read it.
A.) The Lost Girls is a story about woman who saves other people so she doesn’t have to save herself. Her name is Katalina Wimple and she’s a special victims detective in Phoenix, Arizona. She’s also a survivor of a childhood attack that made her a special victim.
The Lost Girls follows her as she tries to stop a kidnapping ring that is selling young women into slavery. Along the way she gets caught up with her therapist, who’s motives are suspicious, and then must resist the seduction of a prostitute whose motives are far too evident.
Did I mention the exploding vehicles, gunfights, and treachery?
Q.) Exploding vehicles, gunfights and treachery. Sounds like a good time. With all that being said, it took us a while to get to it, but tell us three things about your latest book that might not be in the pages. You know, behind the scenes stuff.
A.) I’m liking this line of questioning more and more! My problem is that I can only reveal so much – the sequel to The Lost Girls (Traitor) is soon to be released and the third book in the series is ready for editing.
The Lost Girls takes place in my Dark Earth universe – which is our world with a twist (portals opened to a parallel world where technology did not advance beyond the dark ages, in its place they used magic to create civilizations ruled by tyranny).
The characters in The Lost Girls were so powerful to me one book wasn’t enough. The second book (Traitor) is soon to be released and the third one (Wolfgirl) should be due early in 2012. A fourth book featuring Katalina Wimple is also in the works, titled Black Widow.
Last but not least, Katalina also has a cameo role in my novella, Voices. I had a completely different plan for Voices but as the story unfolded it took on a life of its own and the characters let me know what really happened. It then became my job to write it down as quickly as possible. Voices takes place between Wolfgirl and Black Widow.
Q.) Quick question. What was the last darned good book you read besides your own, and could you tell us what you liked about it so much. You know, a story you wished you wrote, and don't forget to tell us who wrote it
A.) That’s an easy one: The Capable Man, by Marc Hamlet. I liked it so much I had to help him get it published. And since then it’s been doing quite good – with any luck this will help push it from good to great, I know Marc deserves it!
Q.) What is a piece of advice you would give an up and coming author or a new author or someone looking to get into the business.
A.) I try to give loads of advice to would-be writers. Check out my blog (http://booksbyjason.wordpress.com) to browse through the posts. But as for something special or more important than the rest, I’d say stay the course. Be persistent and never give up…unless you’ve had a restraining order filed against you, that is.
As long as you keep trying and keep an open mind to feedback and criticism, there’s no reason why you can’t grow as a writer and as a person to reach whatever goals you aspire to.
Q.) Now let's get to the actual writing. What are your writing strengths? If you don't have any strengths just lie. I mean, I know plenty of perfect people, I'll just add you to the list.
A.) Why yes, I’m the best writer there ever was. Don’t believe me? Just ask me!
How about I offer up some objectivity? I’ve been told in reviews that I write women well – as in they are realistic and very believable. I’ve also been told that I do a great job with dialogue and showing, rather than telling, a story. How about action scenes – one reviewer credited me with putting actions scenes together in a way she’d never seen before and absolutely loved it (I believe it involved blending action and magic).
What else do I do well? I’m not sure, but I invite people to read my books and offer their opinions so I can grow and become better for it!
Q.) I love your honesty. Okay, be careful here. What are your weaknesses as a writer? If you don't have any weaknesses, feel free to let everyone know that you have none. Once again, some people are perfect and everyone simply has to understand that fact.
A.) Well of course I have weaknesses. If I didn’t I’d have nothing but bestsellers, paid off student loans, and no debt to my name. Figuring out what they are is a constant struggle though. I love getting feedback from people, even if it’s a brutal editor. It’s always a learning experience for me and it helps me to become better writer and a better person.
I tend to write as though I’m watching the story unfold before me. That sometimes keeps the POV more limited than some people might like, but I prefer it that way – I don’t feel the character should know everything and therefore, neither should the reader (until it’s time to reveal whatever devious plot twist I have planned, that is).
Another potential weakness is my love for movement and action. That doesn’t mean constant kung-fu fighting, jus that I like to have my stories moving forward and always working towards telling the story. I try very hard to not get hung up on rhetoric or redundancy. I figure if I wouldn’t want to read it, why would anyone else?
Q.) I love the limited POV. I’m with you on that. Last silly question of the day. Let's say you just finished your masterpiece. I mean, you wrote "the end", checked the word count at 150,000 words, stood, pumped your fist in victory and then the power shut off in the house and fried your hard drive and everything was lost. Lucky you, you made a back-up on your thumb drive that you found, for some reason, in your dog's mouth...and he just swallowed it, so you run down to the local coffee shop to retrieve the version you emailed to yourself but you were hacked and all is really lost. What do you do now? I'd run up and down the street naked with a hammer in one hand, a lollipop hanging from my mouth and a tear falling from my cheek. But what about you?
A.) I’ve lost plenty of stories in the past. If it’s worth it to me, it’s worth the work of rewriting it. I’ve taken additional steps to insure this doesn’t happen anymore – between USB storage, storage on multiple systems, email storage, and even a RAID 5 array on the dataserver I have in my basement.
But if it did my motto in life would be applied here. Suck it up and get to work. Work doesn’t get done unless I get to work doing it. Or as the female daycare provider at the gym said to my wife just last night, “Man up, Buttercup!“
I can be found on the web at http://www.booksbyjason.com.
My blog is located at http://booksbyjason.wordpress.com.
Thanks for stopping by, Jason. Don’t be a stranger!
And oh yeah. Here's the plug for my book. Have a good day everyone!
November 10, 2011
Review: Clive Barker's Abarat
Abarat is one of those long winding stories that you settle into and meditate on. The Abarat is a Galapagos of time and space, an alternate reality and a reflection of our society all the same. Let's not forget that it's also a young adult novel, and it shows.
Conceptually, it's all Barker. I mean that in the sense that the characters come out of the page as if they're real, as if they are being channeled from somewhere. One day Barker will pass away and someone will find the map to the Abarat (and maybe even another map to the First Dominion), and learn that Barker had regular correspondence to his characters. Their quirks are what keep it fun.
Barker develops character through dialogue first and actions second. Not that there isn't a lot of action. It's just that as far as developing character it's clearly dialogue first.
After reading you realize that this is obviously the first novel. In fact, this first book is an overview to the people and physical place of the story, but by no means do we go too deep.
Our heroines, Candy Quackenbush, we only get to know her as far as who she meets. We know where she's from but her entire purpose is kept hidden from us...in a fun way. Half way through this one I bought the second book knowing I would need to pick that one up as well.
With all that being said, I wasn't amazed by Abarat by any means. It was just an easy read. It's not very long and it gets you interested for the second book, which I will be starting soon.
For years now, Barker has shed much of his horror skin and embraced a strong fantasy touch. Not a problem. But keep in mind, Abarat is a fantasy story first, in the traditional sense. This first book is not as winding as let's say Imajica and not as dark as let's say The Great and Secret Show, but it has more fun than either of those, and it is fresh. I've been reading Barker since high school and to this day I wonder where he is going to take us, and in regards to Abarat, man, I don't even know, but I will be on for the ride.
I'm the author of In Blackness, a story about the beginning of the end. Definitely check it out
Conceptually, it's all Barker. I mean that in the sense that the characters come out of the page as if they're real, as if they are being channeled from somewhere. One day Barker will pass away and someone will find the map to the Abarat (and maybe even another map to the First Dominion), and learn that Barker had regular correspondence to his characters. Their quirks are what keep it fun.
Barker develops character through dialogue first and actions second. Not that there isn't a lot of action. It's just that as far as developing character it's clearly dialogue first.
After reading you realize that this is obviously the first novel. In fact, this first book is an overview to the people and physical place of the story, but by no means do we go too deep.
Our heroines, Candy Quackenbush, we only get to know her as far as who she meets. We know where she's from but her entire purpose is kept hidden from us...in a fun way. Half way through this one I bought the second book knowing I would need to pick that one up as well.
With all that being said, I wasn't amazed by Abarat by any means. It was just an easy read. It's not very long and it gets you interested for the second book, which I will be starting soon.
For years now, Barker has shed much of his horror skin and embraced a strong fantasy touch. Not a problem. But keep in mind, Abarat is a fantasy story first, in the traditional sense. This first book is not as winding as let's say Imajica and not as dark as let's say The Great and Secret Show, but it has more fun than either of those, and it is fresh. I've been reading Barker since high school and to this day I wonder where he is going to take us, and in regards to Abarat, man, I don't even know, but I will be on for the ride.
I'm the author of In Blackness, a story about the beginning of the end. Definitely check it out
November 5, 2011
Words You Can "Count" On
I love reading and I want to keep it that way.
If you write a whole bunch in a session and then find out it's all crap, please don't feel bad about deleting it off of your working page. Sure, move it somewhere else, to a special crap word file you might keep, but there is no reason to leave it in your story.
Like I said, the thing is that I love reading and I want to keep it that way. I say that without hyperbole.
When I hear about a new book coming out I want to read it just because it's out. That's how I roll. When someone tweets that their book is on sale over at Smashwords or Amazon for .99 cents, I seriously want to go pick it up, just for the fact that I feel like I somehow met the author.
I love reading and I want to keep it that way.
Now let's get to the heart of it. It seems that we base the quality of our writing on word count. If this is the case we need to stop this shit and quick. I don't read tweets or Facebook posts that say things like, "I wrote a really great chapter today." Or I never read, "I'm really starting to understand my WIP." None of that. I see this: "Just wrote 1,000 words and boy am I tired." Or, "Got in 5,000 words today. It's coming along great."
Does anyone truly think the number of words you write means anything? I mean, really.
Let's say you write 3,000 words that day. Okay, that's a good thing but so what. We all know that of those 3,000 words, you might not keep any of them. Or maybe you'll keep about 1,000 of them. I mean, I question the whole business of keeping a word count per session in the first place. Ask yourself, what are you doing by counting your words? Really, what is the point?
The word count isn't writing or reading. It's not even craft. It's merely something we get hung up on. I used to do it too. Who am I kidding; I'm a word counter in recovery. I still do it out of habit but I'm getting better.
Instead of word count, this is what I learned to keep track of: My writing habits for the day; the time in which I write and how well I use that time. I do this because I love reading and I love writing but I don't love counting words. I appreciate sitting down at a the screen, writing until I've emptied what I got for the moment, taking that break to sip my wine, sending a few tweets, reading a chapter of whatever, complaining about life, sending a few more tweets, and then coming back to the screen to see what bullshit I put on the page. I then do a rough edit, nothing too heavy, hopefully, just enough to let me properly see the next moment and then I get started. I'll go back again hours later and read both of my sessions and see if perhaps I have a third session waiting in me. If I do, then I'm up till 5 a.m. If not then I have a good day at work the next day.
Sure, I count the words, but that's simply a habit I'm trying to break. I recently started writing on a word processor that doesn't naturally keep a word count. It's refreshing.
Like I said before, word counting is a draft thing. Because in the end I truly think a 130,000 word novel is too long. That's just me. I'll look at that word count and probably start brainstorming how I'm going to edit.
Until not too long ago I thought this is kind of what everyone was doing--just writing when they got the chance, and developing their skills and habits. I'm finding we're counting words and somehow finding meaning in the word count.
I might be wrong with my assessment. But if I'm not wrong, guys, remember, quality over quantity. If you write 1,500 horrible words, just delete them or move them somewhere that's not on the working document. That way, at the end of the day, you can say, today I had a great writing day. I wrote 1,500 words and didn't keep one bad one.
Because like I said, I love reading and I want to keep it that way. Hopefully, I'll get more tweets that say,"I wrote 1,500 great words in my WIP."
Man, I can't wait to pick it up.
Don't forget to check out my novels, especially my newest work In Blackness, a coming of age story that erupts into sci-fi/horror, available wherever books are sold
If you write a whole bunch in a session and then find out it's all crap, please don't feel bad about deleting it off of your working page. Sure, move it somewhere else, to a special crap word file you might keep, but there is no reason to leave it in your story.
Like I said, the thing is that I love reading and I want to keep it that way. I say that without hyperbole.
When I hear about a new book coming out I want to read it just because it's out. That's how I roll. When someone tweets that their book is on sale over at Smashwords or Amazon for .99 cents, I seriously want to go pick it up, just for the fact that I feel like I somehow met the author.
I love reading and I want to keep it that way.
Now let's get to the heart of it. It seems that we base the quality of our writing on word count. If this is the case we need to stop this shit and quick. I don't read tweets or Facebook posts that say things like, "I wrote a really great chapter today." Or I never read, "I'm really starting to understand my WIP." None of that. I see this: "Just wrote 1,000 words and boy am I tired." Or, "Got in 5,000 words today. It's coming along great."
Does anyone truly think the number of words you write means anything? I mean, really.
Let's say you write 3,000 words that day. Okay, that's a good thing but so what. We all know that of those 3,000 words, you might not keep any of them. Or maybe you'll keep about 1,000 of them. I mean, I question the whole business of keeping a word count per session in the first place. Ask yourself, what are you doing by counting your words? Really, what is the point?
The word count isn't writing or reading. It's not even craft. It's merely something we get hung up on. I used to do it too. Who am I kidding; I'm a word counter in recovery. I still do it out of habit but I'm getting better.
Instead of word count, this is what I learned to keep track of: My writing habits for the day; the time in which I write and how well I use that time. I do this because I love reading and I love writing but I don't love counting words. I appreciate sitting down at a the screen, writing until I've emptied what I got for the moment, taking that break to sip my wine, sending a few tweets, reading a chapter of whatever, complaining about life, sending a few more tweets, and then coming back to the screen to see what bullshit I put on the page. I then do a rough edit, nothing too heavy, hopefully, just enough to let me properly see the next moment and then I get started. I'll go back again hours later and read both of my sessions and see if perhaps I have a third session waiting in me. If I do, then I'm up till 5 a.m. If not then I have a good day at work the next day.
Sure, I count the words, but that's simply a habit I'm trying to break. I recently started writing on a word processor that doesn't naturally keep a word count. It's refreshing.
Like I said before, word counting is a draft thing. Because in the end I truly think a 130,000 word novel is too long. That's just me. I'll look at that word count and probably start brainstorming how I'm going to edit.
Until not too long ago I thought this is kind of what everyone was doing--just writing when they got the chance, and developing their skills and habits. I'm finding we're counting words and somehow finding meaning in the word count.
I might be wrong with my assessment. But if I'm not wrong, guys, remember, quality over quantity. If you write 1,500 horrible words, just delete them or move them somewhere that's not on the working document. That way, at the end of the day, you can say, today I had a great writing day. I wrote 1,500 words and didn't keep one bad one.
Because like I said, I love reading and I want to keep it that way. Hopefully, I'll get more tweets that say,"I wrote 1,500 great words in my WIP."
Man, I can't wait to pick it up.
Don't forget to check out my novels, especially my newest work In Blackness, a coming of age story that erupts into sci-fi/horror, available wherever books are sold
November 2, 2011
Book Review: The Aristotelian
Let me start this by saying I never read mysteries but I have read Sherlock Holmes. This my friends is a Sherlock Holmes novel, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was being channeled in this short story by Mr. Poling and his nifty authorship.
Somehow the voice of Mycroft, Sherlock's brother, is simply legit. I never got the sense that I wasn't reading a Holmes story. Very impressive. To be frank, the language of the time was captured elequently, not that I know anything about the language at that time but since it didn't bug me to death it must have been done pretty well.
From the opening page I knew that I would finish this story, and this comes at a time when I just have a hard time finishing stories for whatever reason. From what I can tell, hey, a lot of stories kind of suck.
But not this one.
Here, one more good thing about this short story: For some reason I thought Sherlock would take over this story...and he didn't. It's truly about Mycroft. I reasonably thought it would be about Holmes but told through Mycroft, kind of like us seeing Gatsby through the eyes of Nick. Glad it didn't turn out that way. fun stuff.
With all that said, like I said, it's really not my genre to read. Time pieces are fine and dandy. Mysteries are cool too. But there is another element in here. Noir. Noir I have an issue with, and here's why. In noir, specifically when it's in this story form (in my opinion), the reader spends too much time in a character's head. It has nothing to do with the authorship, but everything to do with the genre. My comments also speak to my personal issue with first person narrative. I'm only detailing the reasons why this story did not get a five rating.
Finally, I wish it were longer. But to tell y'all honestly, there was never a subplot developed to justify it being longer. I just liked the writing so much I could have read a lot more of it.
Just sayin.
If you want to check it out, stop by Amazon. Right now it's only about a buck. Totally worth the price.
U.L. Harper, I'm the guy who wrote this article, you can find my books at amazon.com and basically wherever books are sold.
Somehow the voice of Mycroft, Sherlock's brother, is simply legit. I never got the sense that I wasn't reading a Holmes story. Very impressive. To be frank, the language of the time was captured elequently, not that I know anything about the language at that time but since it didn't bug me to death it must have been done pretty well.
From the opening page I knew that I would finish this story, and this comes at a time when I just have a hard time finishing stories for whatever reason. From what I can tell, hey, a lot of stories kind of suck.
But not this one.
Here, one more good thing about this short story: For some reason I thought Sherlock would take over this story...and he didn't. It's truly about Mycroft. I reasonably thought it would be about Holmes but told through Mycroft, kind of like us seeing Gatsby through the eyes of Nick. Glad it didn't turn out that way. fun stuff.
With all that said, like I said, it's really not my genre to read. Time pieces are fine and dandy. Mysteries are cool too. But there is another element in here. Noir. Noir I have an issue with, and here's why. In noir, specifically when it's in this story form (in my opinion), the reader spends too much time in a character's head. It has nothing to do with the authorship, but everything to do with the genre. My comments also speak to my personal issue with first person narrative. I'm only detailing the reasons why this story did not get a five rating.
Finally, I wish it were longer. But to tell y'all honestly, there was never a subplot developed to justify it being longer. I just liked the writing so much I could have read a lot more of it.
Just sayin.
If you want to check it out, stop by Amazon. Right now it's only about a buck. Totally worth the price.
U.L. Harper, I'm the guy who wrote this article, you can find my books at amazon.com and basically wherever books are sold.
October 30, 2011
Review: Terry Bison's Fire On The Mountain
Okay, everyone take this review with a big fat grain of salt because this one, no, I didn't get done with it. It got me too upset. I purchased it at a book faire. I like the publishers--PM Press. I read some other stuff from them and it was good stuff and I thought I'd give this one a chance, based on the reviews of the author. Also the reviews for this one weren't bad. So why not?
The premise is pretty cool. What if John Brown's revolt had worked? Cool, right. How do you not want to at least pick it up and check out a few chapters? Also it's I believe 1959 and there's all this technology and the U.S.A. isn't the U.S.A. It's the U.S.S.A. I don't know, a bunch of cool stuff. And then you start reading it.
It's a deep narrative that gobbles you up from the get go. So a plus there. And then everything I don't want in a novel is quickly introduced. Like I said, this is not a bad novel; it just pissed me off. It's told through a few perspectives but I don't know why. It seemed like the only reason to change perspectives was to cheat on the storytelling.
The paragraphs were way too long and in turn meandered through thought processes that didn't lead anywhere. I had a hard time figuring out where they were in time and space. I couldn't tell what people were doing or why they were doing it, and to tell you all honestly, it seemed like a lot of telling instead of showing. It lacked drama and there weren't any hints that drama was coming up any time soon so I dropped it.
Honestly, I might not have given this one enough of a chance. I was on about page twenty something when I saw that there was a journal from someone and I was like, are you friggin kidding me. A stupid journal. Nothing against journals, which are a perfectly fine tool as far as storytelling, but I didn't see any story to tell, to detail.
Sorry, I know this seems egotistical and pretty lame to the author and the publisher but I've just made a personal decision to not watch bad movies, or read books that are way too easy to put down. And this was one of those books that was just begging me to put it down.
If perhaps you read Fire on the Mountain and were actually really impressed by it then I'll repeat that I think the book is perfectly fine its just not something that I liked very much. At the same time, man, why did you like it? Shoot me a note or something. I'm curious. Maybe I should pick this one up again.
And just to let you know, I wrote a book with a journal in it. Here goes
Here's an unnecessary direct link to Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/Blackness-Book-...
The premise is pretty cool. What if John Brown's revolt had worked? Cool, right. How do you not want to at least pick it up and check out a few chapters? Also it's I believe 1959 and there's all this technology and the U.S.A. isn't the U.S.A. It's the U.S.S.A. I don't know, a bunch of cool stuff. And then you start reading it.
It's a deep narrative that gobbles you up from the get go. So a plus there. And then everything I don't want in a novel is quickly introduced. Like I said, this is not a bad novel; it just pissed me off. It's told through a few perspectives but I don't know why. It seemed like the only reason to change perspectives was to cheat on the storytelling.
The paragraphs were way too long and in turn meandered through thought processes that didn't lead anywhere. I had a hard time figuring out where they were in time and space. I couldn't tell what people were doing or why they were doing it, and to tell you all honestly, it seemed like a lot of telling instead of showing. It lacked drama and there weren't any hints that drama was coming up any time soon so I dropped it.
Honestly, I might not have given this one enough of a chance. I was on about page twenty something when I saw that there was a journal from someone and I was like, are you friggin kidding me. A stupid journal. Nothing against journals, which are a perfectly fine tool as far as storytelling, but I didn't see any story to tell, to detail.
Sorry, I know this seems egotistical and pretty lame to the author and the publisher but I've just made a personal decision to not watch bad movies, or read books that are way too easy to put down. And this was one of those books that was just begging me to put it down.
If perhaps you read Fire on the Mountain and were actually really impressed by it then I'll repeat that I think the book is perfectly fine its just not something that I liked very much. At the same time, man, why did you like it? Shoot me a note or something. I'm curious. Maybe I should pick this one up again.
And just to let you know, I wrote a book with a journal in it. Here goes
Here's an unnecessary direct link to Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/Blackness-Book-...
