Solitaire Parke's Blog - Posts Tagged "writing"

If you want to find information on anything concerning being an author or just writing in general, there are some outstanding and informative blogs out there to help with anything and everything you might need to know, including all the things you didn’t realize you needed to know. So here are a few of them for you to check out.

The Log-Line: Can You Pitch Your ENTIRE Story in ONE Sentence?

11 Ideas to Help You Write the Positively Perfect Blog Post

The Pros and Cons of Amazon KDP Select Exclusivity

10 Ridiculously Simple Steps for Writing a Book

A Writer's Guide to Point of View

The Creative Penn

 

Have a great September - and Happy Reading!

Solitaire

www.solitaireparke.com

John Hemingway once said, "there is no friend as loyal as a book." I am a firm advocate of reading books. I believe, as both an avid reader and writer, that knowledge is power and that there is always something to learn which will in some way make you a better person or perhaps a better writer. Books can be motivational and inspiring or draw us into a magical world that takes us far from our often hectic and lackluster world. Many of us have certain books that are like an old friend we can always rely on for encouragement or allow our minds to become creative.

Sci-fi author Ray Bradbury's favorite books that most influenced his career were those in Edgar Rice Burroughs's "John Carter: Warlord of Mars series". "They entered my life when I was 10 and caused me to go out on the lawns of summer, put up my hands, and ask for Mars to take me home," Bradbury said. "Within a short time, I began to write and have continued that process ever since, all because of Mr. Burroughs."

It’s interesting that Bradbury would be a fan of Edgar Rice Burroughs, since the same author is the one that started it all for me with the book “ A Princess of Mars .” I have a very old hard cover of it sitting in my office in a glass enclosed case, in addition to a large number of his earliest paperback books that are prized possessions.

 

My favorite character from his books that I’ve read would have to be John Carter from the Barsoom novels. He was the most singularly minded person I’ve ever encountered. He was always in control, never faltered, was open and honest and refused to give up no matter how hopeless the situation seemed. He openly loved the heroine of the story and was willing to move heaven and earth to be with her. He inspired me as a child and the books inspired me to become an author. How much more could anyone ask out of a series of science fiction books? Don’t get me wrong, I’d like to be more like him, but I cannot in good conscience say that I find myself in that person’s character. It’s just someone that I desired to emulate. He didn’t remind me of anyone in particular. A character of his caliber was larger than life, and in inadvertently caused me to raise the bar of expectation to an unhealthy degree, at least so I’m told.

“What an astonishing thing a book is. It’s a flat object made from a tree with flexible parts on which are imprinted lots of funny dark squiggles. But one glance at it and you’re inside the mind of another person, maybe somebody dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, an author is speaking clearly and silently inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people who never knew each other, citizens of distant epochs. Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic.”

Carl Sagan

Grab a book and Keep Reading!

Solitaire

www.solitaireparke.com

What process do you use on a day to day basis to determine what happens next in a novel? What is your decision-making process for introducing new characters and how do you determine their importance?

Early on I researched how other authors went about prepping for writing a novel. Some created elaborate outlines and spent inordinate amounts of time agonizing over every detail. The system works, just not for me. In the attempt to recreate the entire book in outline form, I lost contact with what I was trying to say. Consequently, it would take me months to find I wasn’t getting any closer to the actual writing process.

I finally hit on how it functioned for my level of impatience and trust me, once you find it, stop butting heads with the inevitable . . . just write. I started over a lot until I realized one key thing; by trying to adhere to an existing outline, letter by letter, number by number, the story got lost in the translation from my attempt to force the outline to become the book. The story has to come from the gut, not from a preconceived notion that was designed before the writing began. The story needs to have a mind of its own, and at times, should not be controlled. Sometimes, you should just let the monster out of the box.

I usually dig back into my past and find that moment, everybody has them, where everything that could go wrong . . . does, and then allow the characters to go through, at least in spirit, the same level of agony, just to see where they will take it instead of me. I discovered that if I put on my writing shoes, and then just followed my feet, the characters managed to get themselves into enough trouble to satisfy my wanderlust. Sometimes, I don’t even know what they’re about to do, but isn’t that how life works?

The importance of characters in a story should be dealt with in primarily the same way that God deals with us down here on earth. No one person is of greater importance than anyone else. If we treat any single character with less importance than their counterparts, we have done them a grave injustice. We as writers never know which character will surface again in a subsequent story. Today’s sidekick might be tomorrow’s hero.

Do you have a certain process that inspires you to create new characters or prep for a new piece or novel you are writing? I'd love to hear your comments.

Thanks,

Solitaire

You can purchase or preview my books at www.solitaireparke.com.

 

 

 

I start my day in the same way as, I would assume, any other person. Personal hygiene, shower-shave, the usual stuff. Ordinarily it wouldn’t be worth mentioning except that without it I manage to think about a lot of things. It’s just that none of them equate to writing. Being freshly showered seems to energize my mind and allow it to do other things besides wallowing around in a fog. Coffee is on the menu between 7 and 11 in the morning. I rarely stop for a lunch break, but occasionally snack here and there while I keep working. From 11 on, I usually drink tonic water and ginger ale – my ginger tonic.

I have two dogs, so periodically during the day they need an outdoor break. Then there are the two cats who definitely don’t want to feel ignored. Pets have their own ways of letting you know when they need your immediate attention. Not always in a good way!

If I’m writing dialogue, I often have conversations back and forth with my characters to determine what sounds awkward or unrealistic. If I need to clear my head, once in a while I’ll watch an episode of a Sci-Fi show just to keep a fresh mind and then its back to writing again.

For me to get into the spirit of writing, the mood of the room is actually quite important in the scheme of things. A good desk lamp tends to set the stage, casting an ambience that is conducive to seeing the story before I write it, or at least doesn’t take away from the ability to begin writing.

Music is the single most important ingredient to my writing, and it has to match the feel of the story. I write more fantasy than anything, and I've found that epic instrumentals work every time. I can almost see the characters being inspired right along with me.

I try to write from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday-Friday, and rewrite the bits and pieces I don’t like in the evenings between 10:00 p.m. and midnight. I don’t sleep as much as most people, and it just seems logical to do something constructive during a time when very little happens otherwise.

I’ve been asked many times about taking breaks and I advocate them, of course, but I rarely remember to take them. Once I get caught up in the story, it tends to take on a life of its own.

Oh, and then there’s that full-time job that I work from home for thirty-two – sometimes more – hours per week. I’m a pretty busy author these days.

 

If you haven't already, check out my Website , my Amazon Author Page , friend me on Facebook and follow me on Pinterest .

Thanks for reading!

Solitaire

 

 

 

 

It’s the time of year that often focuses on Spring cleaning just about everywhere.  So, it’s not a bad idea for authors and writers to do the same thing with their websites, blogs and various digital content.  Here’s a few ideas that you might want to concentrate on for your Spring cleaning efforts.

Update your Website and/or Blog: 

  Check for broken links

  Does your site need a new overall look?

  Update your Bio and Contact information and photo

  Make sure your site looks good on mobile and all browsers

  Check your page load speed

  Think about adding or deleting content in your sidebars

  Redo your Header or Footer

  Add or delete Social Media sites & the information on these sites

  Backup your site

Email:

  Go through your emails and unsubscribe to unneeded ones

  Archive material you want to keep

  Delete old emails

Social Media Sites:

  Do passwords need to be changed?

  Update your Bio and Contact information and photo

  Do you need a new Header or Background?

  Check privacy settings and info

Check all Book Sites:

  Are all your books listed?

  Check and update book descriptions if needed

  Update Bios, contacts and photos

  Are my sites linked to the proper places?

Backup:

  Important files of data and images (possibly an external hard-drive)

Take stock of what has happened in the past and get ready to reset things and move forward to a great year.  Things will get better and you need to be ready for a wonderful new year ahead! Get ready to accomplish your goals!!!

Solitaire

www.solitaireparke.com