Sam Knight's Blog, page 7
April 30, 2018
Do your creative batteries need recharging?
This morning, I woke up in a cheery mood for the first time in a while. I found myself replaying conversations I’d had, at Pikes Peak Writers Conference 2018, over and over again… so that I wouldn’t forget them.
I will forget them anyway, because I am me, but still, I enjoyed them so much I found I was actively trying to remember them. I have to admit, this is a little unusual for me. I normally talk with people and move on, as I suspect most of us do. I don’t try to commit the conversation to memory unless something about it seems really important, like the boss telling me what I need to do, or something happened I am afraid I will have to repeat in court. (Fortunately neither of those happen to me very often anymore…)
As I am a writer, especially if you are one yourself, you might assume I was trying to memorize what an editor or an agent had said to me. And you’d be right, kind of. There is one specific thing one specific editor and I talked about that I was trying to remember. But there are dozens of conversations I had with people (editors, agents, writers, and more) that were just… conversations.
And they were awesome!
And I feel like I love writing again.
Not that I had stopped, but being around “my kind of people” made everything shiny and new again. I was even singing this morning! (Oh, I hope that didn’t ruin anyone’s day.)
I made some new friends this weekend, I got to see old friends, and I strengthened acquaintances. What more can I ask for? Not much. But I got more anyway.
I learned things. And not just from the sessions I attended. Even in the sessions I taught, I found people who knew things I didn’t, and who were willing to share. (In a wonderfully nice way, not in that “I’m going to try to take over your talk” kind of way.)
And now, with all of these happy memories filling me up to overflowing, I am soooo ready to write!
And that is the point of this post.
If you are a creative type, do you take the time to find conferences in your chosen field? Do you get to rub elbows with people you respect and admire? Do you get to spend some time with peers who “get it” even if maybe they don’t quite get you?
If you don’t, and if you find yourself battling creative fatigue, or maybe even depression, you might want to seriously consider surrounding yourself with like-minded fools for a little while. Find a conference that focuses on your area of creativity, or at least an area close to it, and go mingle!
This is not the first time I have felt this, but, hats off to Pikes Peak Writers, this is one of the most impactful. I don’t see how anyone who comes in, and gives it a chance, could not have been engulfed by the friendly, helpful attitude that surrounded the weekend.
By the way, each and every one of the keynote speakers gave a talk that was… Well, let’s just say, they were all that good.
I have come away inspired, hopeful, and ready to write.
If you feel like you having problems feeling inspired, and hopeful in your creative field, maybe you should consider going to a conference? If you can’t find one that you think fits you, I would certainly recommend this one. Even if you’re not a writer, I’m sure they would welcome you in.
April 18, 2018
Into the Heart of Hell
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I just got my proof copy of Into the Heart of Hell, and I think it looks pretty darn good!
The e-book is already up for pre-order, at Amazon, B&N, Kobo, iTunes, and Smashwords.
A door that had never been there before opened…
Black shadows danced across the red-lit walls of the hallway, some spidery, some humanoid, none human.
“It’s time, Daniel. I have come for you.”
When Blaze walks through a doorway into Hell, he is offered a proposition. Do Satan’s bidding now, on Earth, in exchange for a very comfortable eternity—in Hell.
How do you turn down Satan when you find out he already owns your soul?
Blaze is going to try…
I would like to toss out a special thank you to my beta readers who helped me iron bugs out of the pages. Any splotches you still see are my fault for not cleaning well enough, not theirs!
April 6, 2018
A Better Place to Die
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I am excited to announce I have a new story out. A Better Place to Die is now available in Science Fiction Trails #13 !
A Better Place to Die is the story of a freed slave who has worked his way west looking for a new place to live. But things are never that simple in real life, let alone in the Weird West…
At $6.95, it is hard to beat the price of Science Fiction Trails’ latest publication, so I hope you’ll consider snapping up a copy and reading my story, as well as stories by J.A. Campbell, Cynthia Ward, Henry Ram, Rebecca McFarland Kyle, Sam S. Kepfield, and Paul J. Carney and more!
It’s sure to be a hoot!
March 30, 2018
NaNoEdMo, PPWC 2018, and more!
NaNoEdMo (National Novel Editing Month) is wrapping up, and to celebrate, I have an article up on their website. I was pretty excited and honored to be asked to write an article for them! If you would like to read it, you can find it here: http://www.nanoedmo.com/little-things-matter-sam-knight/
Coming up next is Pikes Peak Writers Conference, April 26-29, 2018, where I will be giving three talks:
Friday:
10:50-11:50Salon H
♪ ♫ Do you want to kill a snowman? ♪ ♫
Saturday:
4:30-5:30Eagle’s Nest 1&2
Popular Self-Publishing Platforms
Sunday:
11:20-12:20Salon GH
I Do Not Think That Word Means What You Think It Means
I was sorry to hear that Jim Butcher would not be able to attend, but there are a TON (more actually, once I get on the elevator with them O.o ) of great people who will be there.
I’m also excited that later this month I have a story coming out in the anthology Hotel Haunted!
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February 13, 2018
Fetish Keyboards
Writers tend to have fetishes about certain writerly-related things. I don’t mean sexual fetishes (although with some writers you never know…), I mean the other definition:
2. an inanimate object worshiped for its supposed magical powers or because it is considered to be inhabited by a spirit.
synonyms: juju, talisman, charm, amulet
-from Google dictionary
Sometimes these are first edition books, or old typewriters, quill pens, or silly erasers.
But sometimes the more modern things start to creep in. Here are some of the really cool ones I spotted while daydreaming instead of writing.
*Note: I am not recommending, and have not tried, any of these. I was just admiring and thought I would share. Most of them I couldn’t justify the expense of purchase. I use a (kind of) ergonomic cheap keyboard. My fat hands don’t work well on tiny, old fashioned keyboards. They also don’t work well on the wide-set, actually ergonomic things. I also can’t deal with dvorak keyboards.
*Just in case you didn’t know what a dvorak keyboard was.
A nice “retro” keyboard.
A fancy copper finished “retro” keyboard.
One that is really starting to look like a typewriter!
Something a little more “modern” looking. Reminds me of a 1960’s vision of what the future would hold.
Something for that writer who needs a little more magic in their life!
For the explorer! Reminiscent of old, rolled up, sea maps. Monfters Be Heare!
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For the person with too much money who likes to wipe fingerprints off all the time!
This one makes me think of living in a hut, on the beach, sipping mai tias and writing all day…*sigh*
Not exactly a keyboard, but it gives me a Star Trek TNG feel!
as does this laser projected keyboard! (But not as much.)
This reminds me of some game I had as a kid, where we strapped paddles to our hands and then… I don’t remember. Probably tried to hit each other. Heck, back then, that probably was the game.
For the octopus in all of us!
And I’m glad these one-handed keyboards exist for those who need them, but I can’t imagine (and pray I would never need to) learning how to use one!
When I found myself drooling over things like these, I knew it was time to stop looking! (But I didn’t!)
(Go the the website and look at the rest of this one! Holy Moly!)
Captain Nemo is jealous, I’m sure!
And finally, the breakfast keyboard! For that author you need to remind to get back to work. Which is what I am going to do now. Right after I go eat. Waffles sound good for some reason…
January 11, 2018
Tangent Online 2017 Recommended Reading List
If you are a fan of weird westerns (you know, supernatural stories in the old west), this is the anthology for you!
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You can find it on Amazon here:
http://amzn.to/2D10HVv
For more on the Tangent Online 2017 Recommended Reading List, you can go here:
https://www.tangentonline.com/news-ma...
December 3, 2017
The Wizard and the Dinosaur Riding Pirate
The Wizard and the Dinosaur Riding Pirate had originally been written for a charity anthology to raise money and awareness for cancer survivors. Unfortunately that project fell apart and never came to fruition, and the story sat in my “trunk” from 2013 until Editor Dana Bell asked me about it in 2016. She felt it would be a great addition to an anthology she was working on.
So I dusted it off, cleaned it up, did my best to fix mistakes that I had grown beyond.
Hopefully I made it better!
It is the story of two children in a cancer ward who go into a shared dream to battle their cancer, which, in the dream, has taken the form of zombies, ghosts, and worse…
November 15, 2017
NaNoWriMo is Half Over… Have You Thought About Editing Yet?
Okay, this is a shameless plug, but it is an honest one.
My book Blood from Your Own Pen: A Practical Guide on Self-Editing and Common Mistakes: For Beginning Authors Who Intend to Survive to Publication is in the NaNoWriMo StoryBundle. You can check that out here: https://storybundle.com/nano
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But hurry, it’ll be gone November 30th!
(Um, the bundle will be gone, not my book. But the bundle is the cheapest place you’ll ever see my book, and you can donate 10% of your purchase to a charity! You can also gift the bundle to someone…)
I have posted on Facebook about some of the other books in the bundle, but now I’m going to toot my own horn for a moment.
This is going to sound a bit arrogant, but stick with me, please.
I keep my own book on my desk as a reference.
Seriously.
Why?
Because it is full of all of the things I got tired of looking up over and over again because I couldn’t keep them straight in my own mind. For a long time, I have kept a list of things to double-check, or do, whenever I finish a story. Things that are meant to correct mistakes that I ALWAYS make.
Things like “Do I put a comma after an ellipses when using dialog tags?”, “Is it ‘gray’ or ‘grey’?”, “Do I want affect or effect?”, and “What was the difference between an epilogue and an afterword (NOT afterward!)?”
And I am STILL making them. I always will. I’d be a fool to not think I will, so I do my best to always correct them.
And that is the whole point of my book: Recognizing and correcting your own mistakes.
From examples of a submission letter for short stories, and how to format those submissions, to how not to write dialog and why it’s okay to “tell, not show” sometimes. And I’ve included explanations to help you understand why—which is the biggest key to being able to avoid a problem in the future, I think.
The book is a collection of things that I have learned the hard way, or that I have learned from watching other people grow as writers. Most of the editing I have done has not been “acquisitions”, where I cherry-pick the best stories and reject the ones I don’t want to fix, but rather much more developmental, where I have tried to help the writers understand what it is in their writing, or story, that doesn’t work well.
That experience led to the collection of ideas in the book. It is full of things that most new writers know, or think they know, but still get wrong. It’s also got a bunch of stuff most new writers never even consider.
I realize we all have personal preferences in what we do or don’t do in our writing, and I’ve done my best to take that into account in a personable way, explaining why things are done a certain way (if I can explain it, sometimes it just is) and pointing out that the important thing is that you know the rules you are breaking so that you can break them effectively without looking foolish.
If you are wrapping up your NaNoWriMo story and starting to think about editing it down into something publishable/salable, my guide is a collection of things to think about fixing now, so that you don’t have to fix it after an editor tells you that’s why they rejected it.
And remember! Even if you are going to self-publish, you need to have your story edited by someone else (proofread at the very least). You can’t trust your own eyes on your own work.
Good Luck on NaNoWriMo! If you are falling behind and don’t think you’re going to make it, don’t worry, you’re not alone! I am on track to fail again this year! Not necessarily a bad thing, as I explained in this post on The Fictorians : Fail to Win.
October 26, 2017
Micro Fiction Exercises for NaNoWriMo
NaNoWriMo is almost upon us! I still haven’t decided if I will go for the win this year. I may go for the Fail again though! That’s been good to me in the past. (I explain that here at the Fictorians.)
And, Obligatory Shameless Plug: My book Blood from Your Own Pen: A Practical Guide on Self-Editing and Common Mistakes: For Beginning Authors Who Intend to Survive to Publication is in the NaNoWriMo StoryBundle this year! You can check it out here: https://storybundle.com/nano
Something I have heard from NaNo participants in the past is the worry and stress of the onset of “writer’s block” while under the pressure of the 30 days of November time limit. First let me say NaNoWriMo is supposed to be fun. Don’t stress out about it. Next, I’d like to offer my theory of writer’s block.
Admittedly writer’s block is going to be different for everyone. The causes and the manifestations are going to be as numerous as there are writers. Many writers claim there is no such thing as writer’s block. I’m not sure I’ll go that far out on the limb, but I would like to say that when I am having anything resembling writer’s block it is because I am working on something that I don’t want to work on anymore.
This can be caused by a deadline I feel I have hanging over my head or something I have just lost interest in. Generally I get around this by doing other things. (Not things like laundry, dishes, or watching Game of Thrones! That way leads to not writing anymore. But at least the laundry and dishes are done…) Sometimes these are other writing projects I am excited about, sometimes editing projects, and sometimes art projects. I love playing with art programs. And I often use them to motivate me in my writing. ( More on that in Art as Inspiration, Art as Inspiration 2, Art as Inspiration 3, and Art as Inspiration 4 )
Some of the writing I have used to motivate me when I am fighting the urge to not write is writing Flash Fiction. Flash fiction is generally considered to be a story under 1,000 words. ( You can read examples of mine here: Broken (A Flash Fiction Piece) and Boutonnière (A Flash Fiction Piece) ) But I especially enjoy Micro Fiction, or stories less than 150 words or so.
Writing these really short short stories makes my writer brain work. I have to come up with an idea, I have to make it work as a story (rather than a vignette or just some notes), and I have to think about words that will let me stay inside that low word count.
Then, I am done quickly with a project, I have the “high” of having finished something, and I can jump back into the thing I really needed to be working on.
I have written “dribbles” (50 word flash fiction), “drabbles” (100 word flash fiction) and various other length stories, depending upon what a market is looking for. (Things like the Six-Word Story, or Twitterature (stories in 140 characters)) Personally I prefer doing the really short, specific word count type micro fiction. It adds to the challenge and the story becomes like a puzzle to me, wherein I have to use the right combination of words to tell the story (and still have a story) at exactly the right length. I have to make it fit.
Recently I wrote a few micro fiction stories for a venue that did not accept my submissions. I don’t mind. I’m a writer. I’m used to rejection letters and if I hadn’t wanted to write the stories anyway, I wouldn’t have without being paid first. But now I have a handful of these I have “no use” for. There aren’t very many markets for these anymore. But it was fun to write them!
And I wanted to point out the process to you in case you are having problems with writer’s block. Because doing a couple of these can kick-start your writing juices and get you back to what you wanted to be doing!
Generally the exercise went like this: They had a pool of words and I chose three of them and wrote a 45 to 55 word story using those three words.
Now, I don’t have pools of words for you, but I am sure you can find some around you somewhere. Ask the person next to you for three random words. Ask the three people next to you for a random word each. Take the 5th word of page 55 of the dictionary, and the 6th of page 66, and the 7th from page 77. There are many ways to get words. The thing is, you are stuck using them to make a story. And the story has to be very, very short.
That way you can get back to your big story quickly. Try it at least once. If it works for you, great! I’ve helped you along with your NaNoWriMo project! If it doesn’t work…well, you were just procrastinating anyway, right? No big loss of time there.
So, here are the stories I wrote. The words in bold are the words the stories were built around. I hope you enjoy them.
Teddy-bear clutched tight in one gnarled hand, the gigantic red-horned demon delivered its resignation with the other. The tips of its claws burned holes in the paper. Tears welled in fiery eyes as it waited.
With a laugh, Satan winked. “You win!”
White light flashed, bells pealed, and the newborn angel carried Teddy to Heaven.
(55 words long)
#
Pop-star Island opened with a spark, not the expected explosion. Metal Land boiled hellish lava for dozens instead of thousands, Reggae World was too tranquil, and Punk City was punky. Within a week it was abandoned as lifeless. Years later groupies were found living in the country, hiding in the bluegrass, far from the roadies.
(55 words long)
#
Mary looked at the hole in the plastic-wrap. The lipstick smeared across her mouth added to the mask of horror she wore.
“I swear, I didn’t know!” Johnny pleaded, but his words fell upon deaf ears.
All Mary could hear was the agonizing screams of her dying future.
(48 words long)
#
The king tipped the vessel back and drained the wine into his mouth. It was too weak, he thought as he swallowed. It needed to be bolder and less sweet.
“Sire?” the Chancellor prodded him.
The king looked at the Chancellor and then down at the peasant pleading for his life. He had nearly forgotten.
(55 words long)
#
Moving like a panther through the shadows, the princess hid the knife in the palm of her hand. The guests’ eyes were all on the Queen. No one was looking. No one would see. No one would know…
In one swift movement the blade slid through layers and she carved herself a slice of cake.
(55 words long)
#
“What’ll you have?” The barkeep wasn’t put off by the appearance of the nude cherub. People fell in love at his bar all the time.
“Zombie,” the long-faced cupid mumbled.
“Bad night?” the barkeep asked, making the drink.
“Virgin.”
“Sorry. I’ll start over.”
“No. She’s pledged to stay a virgin. No quota for me tonight.”
(55 words long)
#
Night wind rustling through the wheatfield set her shivering, and she felt as though someone had walked over her grave. Though the harvest moon shone brightly above, she shouldn’t have taken this shortcut. A swishing sound startled her and she jumped. Then, scythe swinging low, the reaper came into view.
“John!” She smiled with relief.
(55 words long)
#
Genesis wasn’t merely the beginning. It was also the end. When the rainbow was born, something else died. There is only so much room in the universe and for everything new, something old has to be removed. With the arrival of the spectrum of wonder, so was inverted the security of certainty.
(52 words long)
#
“I give up!” Sally stomped her foot. Billy wasn’t anywhere to be found. He’d never been good at hide and seek before. He wasn’t upstairs, in the laundry room, or the basement. “Billy!” She stomped again, turning her back to the garden. She didn’t see the giant wriggling cocoon up in the apple tree.
(54 words long)
October 5, 2017
Oh my! I’m in the NaNoWriMo Writing Tools StoryBundle!
NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is almost upon us! For those not in the know, NaNoWriMo is an annual event wherein writers attempt, and often succeed, in writing a novel (or at least 50,000 words of one!) within the month of November.
You can sign up on the NaNoWriMo non-profit website, for free, and track your progress and the progress of your friends and fellow authors. This is a great motivation tool for many authors and a great socialization tool for many more. There are often local “write-ins” where writers can gather and write together.
Overall, NaNoWriMo has been a great thing for many authors, new and established. But for some of the newer authors, there is a question that haunts the edge of their excitement. A sinister whisper that slows them down, makes them hesitate…
What do I do now?
What do you do with that 50,000 word novel once you’ve overcome all of those incredible odds to finally finish it?
Well, that’s where the 2017 NaNoWriMo Writing Tools Bundle comes in! And I am very excited to be a part of it!
My book, Blood from Your Own Pen: A Practical Guide on Self-Editing and Common Mistakes: For Beginning Authors Who Intend to Survive to Publication, is all about the first step you should take after finishing your novel: editing it yourself.
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“Before you pay an editor to bleed red all over your manuscript with their pen, grab hold of as many of these rules as you can and squeeze them until the metaphorical blood drips from your imaginary fist. Use it to fill your own red pen and then go bleed red on your story first. You will get more benefit, and learn more, from an editor who doesn’t have to correct these kinds of mistakes for you.
And it will cost you less in the long run. You will never find anyone else in the writing world whose blood is less precious or expensive than your own.”
I cover a lot of ground in the book, but it is aimed at those who need it most so that it won’t overwhelm you despite the massive table of contents. Trust me, this is a great place to start, but don’t just take my word for it! Check these out:
“As an editor of slush piles, I wish I could make reading this book a required prerequisite. As an author, this book has been invaluable in helping me submit professional manuscripts. The chapters are short and get straight to the point, packing this book full of advice. It is a must have for beginning authors, and a great reference and reminder for the seasoned author. If you plan on submitting your story somewhere, definitely get this book.” –J.L. Zenor, author and CEO of The Midnight Writers
“There are a lot of guides for writers, and this one fills a particular niche aimed at the beginning fiction writer. It covers a lot of ground, from cover letters and formatting, to punctuation and word choice. Because it covers so much ground, the four-page table of contents is a godsend.
Beginners will get a lot out of it, and even advanced/professional writers may find it useful.
There is a lot of solid, practical advice here, so this guide has earned a spot on my reference shelf.” –Steve Ruskin, author of America’s First Great Eclipse
“If you think you know what you’re doing, or you think you don’t know, or you think you do but don’t, then don’t think twice about buying this book. It’s got a little something for everybody, and everybody needs a little something, sometimes. Take it from somebody who learned more about what he doesn’t know than what he thought he knew he didn’t know. And because of this book, now he does.” –Rick Duffy, author of “Ari’s Song”, Adventures in Zookeeping
“A great resource of information and helpful reminders for writing and editing. Very easy to follow, fun examples, and help with those everyday stumpers that seem to plague us all here and there.” – Jessica Lauren Gabarron, author of “Ether and Chrome”, Sidekicks
“Learn something new about writing, and remember what you forgot.
This simple sentence is the perfect description of Blood From Your Own Pen by Sam Knight.
“Do I need a comma in this sentence?” “Should I insert an em-dash or an ellipsis?” “Is this verb appropriate in my dialogue tag?” “How can I tell the difference between a passive voice and an active voice?” These are great questions, and the answers in this book will improve a writers ability to engage an audience and avoid grammatical distractions.
Time is a fickle beast, and it wreaks havoc on a writer’s memory. A writing technique someone hasn’t used in some time could be helpful in new material, but that little nugget of knowledge might have slipped through the cracks of history, unable to assist in perfecting prose. Do you want a great refresher to bring it back to life? This book will jolt the memory toolbox and put the panache back in pen.
So, do yourself a favor and buy a copy of this book. Your readers will thank you for it.” — Rod Spurgeon, author of the Starcruiser Galaxy stories
BUT WAIT! That’s not all! That was just my book! That was just the very start of the 2017 NaNoWriMo Writing Tools Bundle!
(Okay, for those who don’t know how StoryBundle works, it is a “pay what you want” format, with anything more that you choose to pay going to the authors, StoryBundle, and charity. This bundle will support the Challenger Learning Centers for Space Science Education. And you get to choose the ratio of the allocations. More on that here, at StoryBundle. and here, on Kevin J. Anderson’s blog about this bundle.)
For $5, or more if you beleive it is worth more (trust me, it is!) the initial titles in the 2017 NaNoWriMo Writing Tools Bundle are:
• Blood From Your Own Pen by Sam Knight
• Q&A For Science Fiction Writers by Mike Resnick
• The Unofficial Scrivener Workbook by Michael J. Carlson
• Story Structure and Master Chapter Outline Workbook by C. Michelle Jefferies
On top of those, if you pay more than the bonus price of $15, you get all four of the above titles, plus NINE more:
• Time Management by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
• The Magic Bakery by Dean Wesley Smith
• Excel for Self Publishers by M.L. Humphrey
• Excel for Writers by M.L. Humphrey
• Hurting Your Characters by Michael J. Carlson
• Business For Breakfast Vol. 6: The Healthy Professional Writer by Leah Cutter
• Writing as a Team Sport by Kevin J. Anderson
• How to Make a Living With Your Writing by Joanna Penn
• The Author’s Guide to Vellum by Chuck Heintzelman
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Take a good look at those titles! If you aren’t sure of what to do with your NaNoWriMo novel (or any novel for that matter!), these will help you get there. If you are, or considering, self-publishing, this StoryBundle is a must with the information on how to use Scrivener, Excel, and Vellum.
This collection was curated by Kevin J. Anderson and you can get more details on each of the titles and read what he has to say about the bundle here:
https://storybundle.com/blog/nanowrimowritingtoolsbundle2017/
I also want to point out that Kevin’s book, Writing as a Team Sport: Reflections on the Art of Collaboration, is brand new and has never been available before and still isn’t available anywhere else!
This bundle is e-books only. The books titles come in both .mobi and .epub formats, which means you can read them on Amazon Kindle, Apple iPad, any Android tablet or any other ebook reader, as well as your smart phone and PC, you just have to have an app that uses those formats. (Generally those apps are free!)
The 2017 NaNoWriMo Writing Tools Bundle is available for a limited time (only through November!) so don’t wait too long! It’s just like writing that novel. If you procrastinate now, you’ll procrastinate later, and then it’ll never happen…
