Mark Hamner's Blog
June 6, 2014
Mistakes I Made (So You Don’t Have To)
Mistakes I Made (So You Don’t Have To)
Posted March 7, 2013 by Mark Hamner
Note: This article first appeared on Indies Unlimited (http://www.indiesunlimited.com/).
I learned a lot from my first foray into novel writing, to say the least. Most of these various lessons were, I hate to say, learned the hard way. Let’s take a look at a few of my…learning opportunities…in the hope they may help some new writer somewhere to avoid the mistakes I made the first time out.
The most glaring mistake I made during the creation of my first novel, Echo’s Remnant, was not taking the time to learn the standard word count range for my genre. My Echo Chronicles series is targeted toward a young adult audience, but I really had no idea what that meant when I started out, other than the fact that it was going to be a fast-paced, character-centric story, with a protagonist in his late teens. What I didn’t know is that each genre has a generally accepted word count range. Depending on what you read, the typical YA range is 60,000 – 85,000 words, give or take. Well, when I wrote Echo’s Remnant I was still going by the remarkably inaccurate metric of page count. Of course, I was typing in 10-point Arial with really wide margins. When I was done, and after I converted my manuscript into standard print format margins, font-size, spacing, etc., I had a 750 page novel that clocked in at about 180,000 words. That’s right: I had a 180,000 word YA novel – from a first-time author. The good news is that I was able to find a good stopping point and spawn the second book in the series, Empire’s Rise, from the second half of the original Echo’s Remnant. I know there is some debate over book lengths, but I believe people come to a genre with certain expectations. Plus, as a new author, it’s important to give your audience something they can digest easily in order to build their trust before you ask them to read more. Once you become a bit more well-known, you can bend or even break the rules a bit, because your audience trusts your work. There’s a ton of material out on the web about standard lengths, word counts, page calculation formulas, etc. I recommend checking into that before you start writing so you have a general idea of your target. Now, don’t get me wrong: I’m not at all saying sacrifice your story to stay within an arbitrary word count, but do know that it does matter.
Another area where I would have benefited from a quick review of the rules of the road, so to speak, was in the domain of the standard rules and conventions of writing. Now, having started writing in my mid-thirties, when I had been out of college for…ahem, quite some time…I thought I knew how to write. I had always done very well in writing in school. So I sat down and typed out my 180,000 word YA novel. Then, when I was editing, I went back and reviewed the rules of writing. I should have, as Willy Wonka taught us, scratched that and reversed it. There was so much I got wrong – nothing huge, but little things, like the proper way to indicate an action taken mid-dialogue, or the standards for writing numbers. It turned out I didn’t remember as much as I thought I did. Fortunately, I caught these errors before the book went out, but it added a lot of work on the back end that could have been avoided by a little up-front pre-reading. I urge new writers to take a moment to re-familiarize yourself with the basics; it can really save you time later! Will the average reader toss your book across the room because you used a hyphen when you should have used a semi-colon? Probably not. But, in my opinion, taking the time to make your work as professional as possible is a good way to show pride in what you do and show respect for your audience.
These are just a few of the mistakes I made during my first draft of my first novel. I’d love to hear any tips you may have for first time authors!
Mark
Don’t Put Out Junk (or The Importance of Editing Your Work)
Don’t Put Out Junk (or The Importance of Editing Your Work)
Posted January 22, 2013 by Mark Hamner
When I think about parts of my writing experience that may be helpful to a new writer, just starting out, the thing I keep coming back to is the importance of editing. This is a lesson I had to learn, like so many in life, the hard way.
When I decided to self-publish Echo’s Remnant, I found myself very excited about the possibilities. People will be reading my work! It will be out there for the world to see! I may have been so excited, in fact, that I moved a bit too fast.
Before you can say “Mark didn’t proof-read enough,” my book was out there on Amazon and Barnes and Noble, ready to be picked up and read. I was absolutely thrilled. As expected, the first people to read my debut work were my close friends and family. Then others started to read. Reviews – good reviews! – started appearing on Amazon and B&N. 5 stars! 4 1/2 stars! Yay!
Then a funny thing started happening. I began getting messages from my close friends telling me how much they liked the books. Being that several of them are English or Lit majors, however, some of the messages went something like this: “Mark – Great book! I really loved the characters! A few typos, but nothing serious. Good job!” My heart sank. A few typos? Gah! I had read through my book when it was still in Word format, and corrected any typos I saw – one time. Turns out, as many of you know, that’s not nearly enough – not even close. I had to fix this. My book was out, but if I fixed it quick, then most people would get a clean copy.
So I went to work. I sat down with the Kindle version of my book and an open Note (the “Notes” app) on my iPad. I read through the entire book again and I was, I have to admit, shocked by the number of silly mistakes I found. Every time I found an error, I noted it on my Note. I found this was better than trying to read through the Word doc again and make corrections as I went, because this allowed me to put myself in a reader’s shoes. When I finished my read through, I went back and corrected all of the errors I found, using my giant iPad Note as my guide.
More troubling than my typos, misspellings, and grammatical issues was an actual timeline error I found in my last chapter. The last chapter of Echo’s Remnant is in the form of a journal. At one point in the journal, the writer states that he was “tortured for three days” after he came forward. Well, problem was, the previous entry was one day prior, and he was still debating whether to come forward. So where did he find time between yesterday and today to be tortured for three days? Ugh!
And just when I thought I was finally done, that I finally had a quality product, my wife came to me and said, “You know, Mark, a coup is a military takeover. A coupe, however, is a two-door car.” Yikes! I had referenced the antagonist taking over in a coupe in the journal chapter. Images of him riding into town in an armored Honda Civic 2-door came to mind. Embarrassed, I fixed that quickly.
I’m happy to say that, though I’m embarrassed by the quality issues with the first draft of my first book, I learned a lot. I was able to get all the typos corrected before the print version became available, and I sent updates via Kindle and Nook to those who had purchased the less-than-ideal version.
When I finished my second book, Empire’s Rise, I took extra care to make SURE there were no typos, misspellings, etc. I published the book to paperback via CreateSpace, then went through my Draft copy with a red pen, marking an problems, which I then went back and corrected. I did multiple read-throughs, looking for grammatical errors, continuity errors, etc. I found a doosey of a continuity error near the beginning of the book. Often, when I’m writing, I’ll come up with a plot point that needs to be set up earlier in the book. So I’ll go back and add in context and set-up in earlier chapters. While I like this process, you can get yourself into trouble from a continuity standpoint with this. The big error I found was that, early on, one my characters says, (Empire’s Rise Spoiler Alert!) “If I die, I want to be buried, like Hayden.” Well….the problem was, at that point in the story, we had not even MET Hayden, much less had her killed, much less buried her. Oops!
I’m happy to say that I was able to take the hard lessons learned from that first draft of Echo’s Remnant and apply them to Empire’s Rise, ensuring that its first release was a quality release. I owe that to my readers – I believe all authors do.
I should say a word here about professional editing services. I think these are a GREAT idea, and I fully support using them. My problem is I didn’t have the money at the time to use one of these, but I wish I did.
I think all authors can benefit from several full read-throughs of our work before releasing it to the public. Getting close, trusted friends to read your books and let you know about any mistakes can help as well. There is so much competition out there for readers’ attention. I think a lot of readers will tire of a book filled with typos and grammatical errors, and may pass up your book in favor of one with higher quality.
So edit, edit, edit! Our ideas are worth the time!
Mark
Ear to Brain: Music’s Influence on Writing
Ear to Brain: Music’s Influence on Writing
Posted January 4, 2013 by Mark Hamner
As I’m about halfway through the third book in my series, I thought I’d do an entry on something I’m noticing more and more: music’s influence on my writing.
Lately I’ve been having a lot of ideas for my books while on the treadmill in the morning (yes, I do workout – shocker, I know). So I got to thinking: What is it? Is it the adrenaline rush and near-passing-out state that my out-of-shape body finds itself in that then floods my mind with ideas (“here, think about this while you’re unconscious, which you’re certainly about to be!”) But no, I think it’s the music. As I can’t tolerate the overlapping noise of the five or so TVs in our apartment complex’s gym yapping on top of one another, I almost always listen to my iPod as I’m “running” (quotes added because actual runners would probably consider what I do to be fast walking in a somewhat run-like posture). And I find that the music helps me think, get unstuck, or just get better insight into my characters.
Let me give a few examples (**Spoiler Alert** I’m going to talk a bit about events that happen in The Echo Chronicles):
Let’s start off with characters. I’ve really worked hard to make my antagonist, Craven, a complex character. That can be challenging – as those who have read TEC can attest, the guy does some fairly awful things on a rather consistent basis. But its important to me that I convey that, to some extent, he really does believe that what he is doing serves “the greater good.” Like most villains, Craven doesn’t see himself as “the bad guy.” There’s a song by Imagine Dragons called Radioactive. If you haven’t heard it, go grab a copy and give it a listen – I’ll wait. Okay, back? Great. It was a great song, right? Well, that song, with its lyrics about waking up to a destroyed world and basically deciding to participate in the apocalypse because it’s going to happen either way, really gave me an overarching vision for the way Craven thinks. He sees the world as broken, and he is going to fix it – by any means necessary. Keeping that in mind, I can do my best to write him as a villain driven not be a twirl-the-mustache sense of evil, but rather by a twisted view of what’s right.
Music has also helped me get the pacing of a scene right. At the end of book two, Empire’s Rise, there’s a scene in which we find out how twisted Craven really is. That is, (**again, Spoiler guys**) of course, the destruction of New Boston as Trin and his friends watch, helpless. I needed to get the tempo and emotion of that moment right, as it would inform the rest of Trin’s thoughts and feelings about Craven and what he was capable of. I needed just the right mix of chaos, fear, and, frankly, darkness. As I was tweaking that scene, I found a version of Carmina Burana (yeah, I know, its been in everything) from Trans-Siberian Orchestra. This version was different than any I had heard before. It starts with the typical “epic” “Oh Fortuna!” opening, but then just stops. The music drops away, a beat comes in, and a few voices begin to slowly march through the song – it’s almost like a dirge. It continues this way through the first verse, then a guitar comes in and things really kick into another gear. To me, this was perfect for how the last scene of Empire’s Rise plays out. It goes from chaos (“What did he do?”) to darkness as Trin realizes Craven just destroyed New Boston. This song really helped me out with making sure I got that moment right.
And I’ll conclude with one that will probably turn most of you off: Coldplay. That’s right, I said it. One of Coldplay’s songs helped me get the emotional impact of a particularly gut-wrenching series of events right. I’m going to try and respect those who are reading my series here, because this is about something that happens in the third book, which, as of this writing, isn’t out yet. So, in book three, there is a major and personal loss. This loss is so devastating for Trin that he contemplates giving up. But there is a moment where hope begins to come back into the equation, and he must decide, even after this horrible thing has happened, does he keep moving forward? I needed to be sure that when I wrote that part it packed the emotional gut punch I needed. Listening to “Fix You” really helped me with that. I know there are…ahem…mixed feelings on that song, but the merging (I’m trying my hardest not to use the word ‘juxtaposition’ here) of the sadness and loss of the beginning of the song with the complete turnaround at the end, when the music picks up, really helped me to figure out exactly what needed to happen – and how – to show Trin all is not lost.
So those are my thoughts on music and writing. You’d think with all the great ideas I seem to get from the gym that I’d hop right out of bed and dash over there – but no, it’s a constant, painful struggle. Oh well, we march on. All that aside, I think music is a really powerful force that can influence our moods and ideas, and it has certainly helped my writing.
I’d love to hear what you guys think!
Mark
April 6, 2014
Hope’s Defiance (The Final Book of The Echo Chronicles)
Nook eBook: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/hopes-defiance-mark-hamner/1117350578?ean=2940148905790
“You’re not as alone as you think.”
Five months have passed since the Echo crew was torn apart by betrayal and sacrifice. Trinidad Shepherd and Dalton Stevens are working with the growing rebellion against Vartan Craven, desperate to find intel on the location of the increasingly paranoid and elusive Emperor.
As Craven plans another cruel display of his power, the last cavers of Cave System Echo Night Patrol must race to find the purpose and location of the mysterious Polaris Protocol. What they find could change everything.
Can Trin put aside his fear and anger and stop Craven before he annihilates another city? Can the people be convinced to rise up before it’s too late? What is the Polaris Protocol? And what was Cipher trying to tell Trin before she sacrificed herself?
It’s all leading to the moment Trin dreads, to the moment he’s always known was coming: the final confrontation with Vartan Craven. It’s a struggle that could solidify Craven’s grip on power – or bring his Reunified American Empire crashing in around him.
March 6, 2014
Cinder’s Reach (Book Three of The Echo Chronicles)
Nook eBook: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/cinders-reach-mark-hamner/1115359538?ean=2940016674261
Paperback: http://www.amazon.com/Cinders-Reach-Book-Three-Chronicles/dp/1484082729/ref=tmm_pap_title_0
Six months have passed since Vartan Craven’s dramatic ascent to power. Stunned by the loss of New Boston, Trinidad Shepherd and his Echo Crew are in hiding. Unable to find a clear path forward, the last cavers disrupt Craven’s forces where they can, conducting nighttime patrols to help the citizens of New D.C. against the cruelty of the elite praetorians.
Now, a secret comes to light – a secret that has the potential to re-energize the Echoes’ mission and give them their first shot in months at keeping Craven from gathering more nuclear keys.
But all is not well within the remnant. Having endured so much pain and loss, Trin, Cipher, Creed, and Dalton are close to their breaking points.
With all that’s happened, and all that’s at stake, can the remnant survive…each other?
February 6, 2014
Empire’s Rise (Book Two of The Echo Chronicles)
Kindle eBook: http://www.amazon.com/Empires-Rise-Book-Echo-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B00AE84PE0/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=
Nook eBook: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/empires-rise-mark-hamner/1113854619?ean=2940015790115
They are the last of their kind. Outmatched. Outnumbered. On the run. Their homes have been destroyed. Their friends and families murdered. Now, Trinidad Shepherd and his crew must come to grips with their devastating new reality and devise a plan to fight back against the evil that has wrecked their lives. But Vartan Craven has plans of his own. Can the Echo crew stop Craven before he can gain control of the nuclear arsenal and make his Reunified American Empire a reality?
January 6, 2014
Echo’s Remnant (Book One of The Echo Chronicles)
Kindle eBook: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00888Q1X6
Paperback: http://www.amazon.com/Echos-Remnant-Mark-Hamner/dp/1478323450/ref=tmm_pap_title_0
Over 250 years have passed since the events of the Dark Winter brought down the structures of society and government in a nightmare of chaos and anarchy. Trinidad Shepherd considers himself a fairly average “caver”, having lived his entire life in Cave System Echo, one of several vast underground cities scattered throughout the desert.
When a freak archery accident injures the leader of his patrol, Trin is tasked with leading the four person group on their nightly route. But his leader’s injury does more than earn Trin an unwanted promotion; it delays his patrol, making them late to the coordinated ambush designed to wipe them out.
After a series of massive explosions rock the desert night, Trin and his crew rush back to Echo Cave, finding their home in ruins, their family and friends murdered. Realizing they are the last remnant of Echo, the four friends must embark on a perilous journey to learn the identity and motives of the mysterious attackers – a journey that will take them far away from all they have ever known. Along the way they will learn the terrible secret behind the true purpose of the cave systems.
Outmatched in every way, and aided by a secret order dating back to the last days of Past World, the Echo crew must summon all of their strength and courage as they confront a power-hungry tyrant intent on using the secret of the caves to enslave not only the inhabitants of the cave systems, but the entire world.
Echo’s Remnant, the first book in the four part Echo Chronicles series, follows the Echo crew – Trin, the leader; Cipher, the tech; Creed, the fighter; and Dalton, the novice – as they leave the wreckage of their homes behind, learn to rely on one another for survival, and search for a way to fight back against the far superior force that has wrecked their lives and destroyed everything they loved.
May 24, 2013
Cinder’s Reach (Book Three of The Echo Chronicles) – First 2 Chapters
Copyright © 2013 by Mark Hamner
All Rights Reserved
Chapter 1: Ash and Flame
This can’t be happening.
As an acrid wind sent clouds of grey ash swirling into his face, Trinidad Shepherd found himself once again facing the scorched door of the New Boston Town Hall.
He hated this door; hated it with every fiber of his being. Because though this particularly horrid nightmare had tormented him dozens of times, the terror waiting beyond that door still chilled his very soul.
Unable to wake, Trin opened the door.
The NewBostonTown Hall, or what was left of it, again stood before him. A thick coat of grey ash and burned paint chips littered the floor. The walls were covered in scorch marks, and small fires still burned in the corners of the hall. The air reeked of smoke; the air reeked of death.
Please let it be different this time.
It wasn’t. Acting on their own accord, Trin’s legs began to slowly summit the stairs. As his worn caver boots crunched down in the ash, the wood groaned in agony under his weight. With the exception of the stairs’ agonized protests, the silence enveloping this once happy place was deafening. Trin’s heart began to race as he neared the top of the staircase.
Wake up. Please wake up!
As Trin reached the second floor, a cold, raspy voice greeted him, as it always did.
“Trin.”
The Echo leader closed his eyes tight. That never worked.
“Oh come on, Trin. That’s no way to greet me, after all we’ve shared.”
“You’re not real!”
A cold hand brushed across Trin’s face. “Not anymore, I’m not. Thanks to you.”
Ignoring the protests slamming through his mind, Trin’s eyes opened. There she was. Her clothes were in tatters, her skin horribly burnt and peeling. What was left of her hair hung in wispy threads on one side of what was left of her face. Her eyes were a pale, milky white, with neither irises nor pupils to lend any shred of humanity to her visage. The Echo leader began to tremble. “Melissa.”
“There’s my hero.” The scorched specter of Melissa Williams, General and leader of the enclave of New Boston, smiled, her lipless gums revealing crumbling black teeth.
“Mel, I’m sorry. I didn’t know!”
“Oh, Trin, you silly boy. What did you think was going to happen? You convinced me and my entire enclave to stand up to him. That worked out well, wouldn’t you agree?” The specter laughed, sending bits of ash flying into Trin’s eyes.
“I didn’t think he would use the weapon!”
“Trinidad, Trinidad,” Melissa said, her voice taking on a teasing tone of sympathy, “don’t beat yourself up too badly. It’s my fault, really. I trusted you.”
“Mel, I –”
“Shhh! It’s okay. Don’t worry, I found someone to make it all better. For me, for Kaylee, for all of us.”
“Mel, no….”
With that, the man Trin knew was coming, but still dreaded to see, strode slowly out of the burned ruins of General Williams’s office. Dressed in all black, his shining blades mounted securely to the back of his long black jacket, Vartan Craven smiled at Trin. “Hello, Trin.”
“You monster!” The Echo leader tried to lunge at the cruel mass murderer standing before him, but, as always, his legs were like boulders.
“Trin, Trin, you continue to disappoint me. I’m not the monster here, my friend, you are.”
“You killed them all! You murdered thousands of people here!” Trin screamed.
“No, Trin. You did this. This is your fault. This is all you. You killed the people of New Boston. You killed Melissa. You killed little Kaylee.” Craven paused, glancing back over his shoulder. “You know, you’re not very good at protecting those you care about. Isn’t that right, Hayden?”
Please wake the hell up!
“That’s right, Emperor.” Hayden James, battered and bruised, a bloody arrow lodged in her stomach, walked to the madman’s side.
“Wow, Trin. It’s a really bad idea to be someone under your protection,” Craven said, his eyes wide in mock surprise. “Wouldn’t you agree, Serena?”
“Yes, Emperor.” Serena Garland, her clothes ripped to shreds, her body a horrific tapestry of bloody cuts and bruises, walked out of the general’s office to face Trin.
“You see, Trin, there is no point in opposing me. Opposing me brings only death.”
“He’s right, Trin.” Doctor John Meadows lumbered slowly out of Melissa’s office, several arrows still lodged in his back.
“You were supposed to keep all of these people safe, Trin. You have failed so completely that it shames me to be in your very presence.” From the inside pocket of his black jacket, Craven produced two data cards – keys. “But that’s okay. I can make this better. Shall I make the pain go away, my subjects?”
“Yes, my lord.” In unison, Melissa, Hayden, Serena, and Doc turned their backs to Trin and knelt in the ash before Vartan Craven.
“Then by all means, be free!” Craven raised the keys, one in each hand, high above his head. As he brought them down, the four specters burst into flame.
As the four manifestations of Trin’s guilt writhed in agony on the ground, Craven locked his intense green eyes on the Echo leader. “This is your fault, Trinidad Shepherd. This is all your fault.”
Gasping, Trin opened his eyes.
“Another nightmare?” Dalton asked, looking over at the small mattress on which Trin sat, panting.
Trin nodded.
“Him again?”
“Yeah.”
“Sorry, man.” The Echo junior member paused. “Well, if you’re up for it, I was about to patrol,” he said, grabbing his black crossbow from the corner and sliding it onto his back. “And, well, you know…” Dalton looked over at the mattress on the far side of the room, where Karen Watley lay, curled into a ball, muttering to herself.
Trin did know. When he asked, Cipher frequently assured him that she was okay; that she was just tired. That was obviously a lie. During the time they had been camped in this tiny apartment on the outskirts of NewD.C., they had all been traumatized; they had all been scarred. None of them would ever be the same after that terrible night six months ago, when they witnessed Vartan Craven’s dramatic ascent to power; when they witnessed him murder the entirety of New Boston with a nightmare weapon from their desert. But Cipher broke fully about two months ago. That was the night everything went so unexpectedly wrong so nightmarishly quickly. That was the night they lost Creed.
Chapter 2: That Night
It had been a routine patrol. Like most nights, three of the four Echo cavers made their way through the back streets and alleys of New D.C., looking for opportunities to engage Craven’s forces. After Craven took control, his guards, and particularly the sadistic praetorians, now leaderless with the loss of Commander Stanton, began to take pleasure in tormenting the citizenry of NewD.C. As their primary targets were often the poor and helpless, the Echo crew found it most beneficial to patrol areas off the beaten path, where the poorest often hid, huddled in fear of the praetorians.
They had trekked along in silence most of the night, as was becoming more and more common anytime both Trin and Creed found themselves on the same patrol. Things had become increasingly tense between the Echo leader and the swordsman since the destruction of New Boston. Creed and Cipher had grown closer, often sneaking off after patrol to an adjacent apartment. Yet Cipher continued to spend other nights sitting up with Trin, talking for hours, just like they had done since they were kids. Creed had made no secret of the fact that he resented that. Though Cipher constantly reassured the swordsman that there was nothing between her and her best friend, the sometime-couple’s fights over the matter often resulted in them not speaking for days. And Trin and Creed never spoke. Not one word. Not for months.
That night, Cipher had stayed home, wanting to spend time continuing the arduous task of figuring out, through a series of ridiculously complex calculations, which codes went with which keys. So it was Trin, Dalton, and Creed who approached the group of eight huddled figures crouching around a small fire in a dark alley.
“You guys want some food?” Dalton asked, reaching into his pack and pulling out some bread they had stolen from the local praetorian stockpile.
“Yes! Yes, please,” one of the men said, reaching a trembling hand from beneath the tan blanket covering his body.
The Echo crew had developed a certain mythology among the residents of NewD.C. As they had no way of fighting Craven directly, Trin and crew had decided to make a difference in smaller ways, such as feeding and protecting who they could, when they could. The poor in the alleys were almost always happy to see the strange looking cavers in their desert jackets, because that generally meant either food or protection, or often both.
As the man began to tear into the bread, a rustling from an adjacent alley snapped the Echo cavers to attention. Dropping to their knees, their backs to one another so that all directions were covered, all three drew their crossbows, mounted their bolts, and waited.
And there they were. Two praetorians, clad, as was their custom, in black, came into view at the front of the alley.
“That’s a few less than normal,” Dalton whispered.
Trin nodded. Craven’s elite guards usually walked in groups of ten, so as to assure an advantage over anyone they faced, or, more appropriately, harassed.
“I hate these things,” Creed mumbled, fighting with his crossbow, his bolt continually sliding off its mount.
“You know we had to switch,” Dalton whispered, recalling how the Echo crew had reluctantly scrapped the longbows given to them by the NBDF in favor of crossbows. The reason was simple: the praetorians were now using crossbows, and, frankly, taking from Craven’s men was now their primary means of gathering ammo.
As the elite guards turned to look down the alley, Trin, Dalton, and Creed stood, aiming their bolts directly at the praetorians’ heads.
“Drop your weapons and packs,” Trin said.
The Deltas were caught off guard and outnumbered. This usually resulted in a quick surrender and frantic escape by Craven’s men. But tonight something was…off. Rather than drop their weapons, the men just smiled.
“I said, drop your weapons and packs!”
“Tell you what, Echo scum, why don’t you drop your weapons and packs!” one of the guards yelled back, grinning from ear to ear.
It was then that Trin felt the blade at his throat. Glancing back, he observed the eight men they had endeavored to help standing, clad in black, their weapons drawn.
It was a trap.
As each praetorian brandished their knives at the throats of an Echo caver, the guard from the end of the alley strode confidently toward them. “You see, Echo garbage, we had intel that you might be in this area tonight. You’d be amazed what these pieces of rubbish” – he waved his hand at the surrounding area – “will do for a scrap of food.” The man laughed. “So, drop your weapons and –”
“Nope!” Creed Reynolds slammed his black NBDF-issued boot hard into the shin of the guard behind him.
As the man toppled backward, chaos ensued. Trin grabbed the guard holding him captive by the hair, flipping him over his shoulder and sending him with a thud to the pavement.
As the fight erupted all around him, Trin noticed Dalton was nowhere to be seen. Scanning around, he immediately saw the horrific reason. Their junior member, the man who had engineered their escape from DeltaCave, was lying against the brick wall of the alley, holding his bleeding throat with both hands.
“Dalton!” Trin rushed to his friend’s side.
“I wasn’t quick enough, Trin. He got me. I – I’m sorry,” Dalton said, struggling to speak.
Trin peeled Dalton’s fingers back, an exercise that reminded him a little too much of Matt and his eye injury all those months ago. Fortunately, the praetorian’s blade seemed to miss Dalton’s main artery, but the junior member was still losing a considerable amount of blood.
Suddenly, a puzzling thought came into the Echo leader’s head. How was it that he had time to attend to his fallen friend? The answer immediately became clear. Looking up, Trin saw that Creed, in true Creed form, was somehow commanding the attention of all ten praetorians. Trin’s eyes went wide. This was too many, even for the swordsman.
“I’m coming Creed!” Trin screamed. Looking back down at Dalton, he said, “Keep pressure on that. We’ll get you back to base as soon as we can.”
“Trin, no!” Creed said, panting as he parried blow after blow after blow. “Get D back to base. I’ll buy you some time!” It occurred to Trin that these were the first words the swordsman had spoken to him in a long time.
“Creed, I can’t leave you here!”
“Damn it, Trin! We can’t let Dalton bleed out over there. Get him back. You and Cipher stitch him up. I’ll meet up with you soon!”
Amid the chaotic clashing of steel, Trin knew he had a decision to make. Looking down at Dalton, his skin a sickening shade of pale green, then back up at Creed, his arms clearly becoming tired from parrying the constant onslaught, Trin realized he was, yet again, going to have to choose between two hideously awful choices. He shook his head. He made his decision.
“Come on, D,” Trin said, grabbing Dalton and hefting him onto his shoulder.
As the Echo leader and his injured junior member scurried out of the alley, Trin heard a loud clang. What had just happened? Regardless, he knew he couldn’t stop.
Just as he was almost out of earshot, he heard a noise that would live with him forever. “You’re beaten, Echo scum. Don’t move. You are under arrest for high treason against the Reunified American Empire.”
Creed Reynolds, the best swordsman in all of the cave systems, had been taken prisoner.
Cinder’s Reach comes out Monday, May 27.
March 7, 2013
Mistakes I Made (So You Don’t Have To)
Note: This article first appeared on Indies Unlimited (http://www.indiesunlimited.com/).
I learned a lot from my first foray into novel writing, to say the least. Most of these various lessons were, I hate to say, learned the hard way. Let’s take a look at a few of my…learning opportunities…in the hope they may help some new writer somewhere to avoid the mistakes I made the first time out.
The most glaring mistake I made during the creation of my first novel, Echo’s Remnant, was not taking the time to learn the standard word count range for my genre. My Echo Chronicles series is targeted toward a young adult audience, but I really had no idea what that meant when I started out, other than the fact that it was going to be a fast-paced, character-centric story, with a protagonist in his late teens. What I didn’t know is that each genre has a generally accepted word count range. Depending on what you read, the typical YA range is 60,000 – 85,000 words, give or take. Well, when I wrote Echo’s Remnant I was still going by the remarkably inaccurate metric of page count. Of course, I was typing in 10-point Arial with really wide margins. When I was done, and after I converted my manuscript into standard print format margins, font-size, spacing, etc., I had a 750 page novel that clocked in at about 180,000 words. That’s right: I had a 180,000 word YA novel – from a first-time author. The good news is that I was able to find a good stopping point and spawn the second book in the series, Empire’s Rise, from the second half of the original Echo’s Remnant. I know there is some debate over book lengths, but I believe people come to a genre with certain expectations. Plus, as a new author, it’s important to give your audience something they can digest easily in order to build their trust before you ask them to read more. Once you become a bit more well-known, you can bend or even break the rules a bit, because your audience trusts your work. There’s a ton of material out on the web about standard lengths, word counts, page calculation formulas, etc. I recommend checking into that before you start writing so you have a general idea of your target. Now, don’t get me wrong: I’m not at all saying sacrifice your story to stay within an arbitrary word count, but do know that it does matter.
Another area where I would have benefited from a quick review of the rules of the road, so to speak, was in the domain of the standard rules and conventions of writing. Now, having started writing in my mid-thirties, when I had been out of college for…ahem, quite some time…I thought I knew how to write. I had always done very well in writing in school. So I sat down and typed out my 180,000 word YA novel. Then, when I was editing, I went back and reviewed the rules of writing. I should have, as Willy Wonka taught us, scratched that and reversed it. There was so much I got wrong – nothing huge, but little things, like the proper way to indicate an action taken mid-dialogue, or the standards for writing numbers. It turned out I didn’t remember as much as I thought I did. Fortunately, I caught these errors before the book went out, but it added a lot of work on the back end that could have been avoided by a little up-front pre-reading. I urge new writers to take a moment to re-familiarize yourself with the basics; it can really save you time later! Will the average reader toss your book across the room because you used a hyphen when you should have used a semi-colon? Probably not. But, in my opinion, taking the time to make your work as professional as possible is a good way to show pride in what you do and show respect for your audience.
These are just a few of the mistakes I made during my first draft of my first novel. I’d love to hear any tips you may have for first time authors!
Mark
Follow @markhamner
January 22, 2013
Don’t Put Out Junk (or The Importance of Editing Your Work)
When I think about parts of my writing experience that may be helpful to a new writer, just starting out, the thing I keep coming back to is the importance of editing. This is a lesson I had to learn, like so many in life, the hard way.
When I decided to self-publish Echo’s Remnant, I found myself very excited about the possibilities. People will be reading my work! It will be out there for the world to see! I may have been so excited, in fact, that I moved a bit too fast.
Before you can say “Mark didn’t proof-read enough,” my book was out there on Amazon and Barnes and Noble, ready to be picked up and read. I was absolutely thrilled. As expected, the first people to read my debut work were my close friends and family. Then others started to read. Reviews – good reviews! – started appearing on Amazon and B&N. 5 stars! 4 1/2 stars! Yay!
Then a funny thing started happening. I began getting messages from my close friends telling me how much they liked the books. Being that several of them are English or Lit majors, however, some of the messages went something like this: “Mark – Great book! I really loved the characters! A few typos, but nothing serious. Good job!” My heart sank. A few typos? Gah! I had read through my book when it was still in Word format, and corrected any typos I saw – one time. Turns out, as many of you know, that’s not nearly enough – not even close. I had to fix this. My book was out, but if I fixed it quick, then most people would get a clean copy.
So I went to work. I sat down with the Kindle version of my book and an open Note (the “Notes” app) on my iPad. I read through the entire book again and I was, I have to admit, shocked by the number of silly mistakes I found. Every time I found an error, I noted it on my Note. I found this was better than trying to read through the Word doc again and make corrections as I went, because this allowed me to put myself in a reader’s shoes. When I finished my read through, I went back and corrected all of the errors I found, using my giant iPad Note as my guide.
More troubling than my typos, misspellings, and grammatical issues was an actual timeline error I found in my last chapter. The last chapter of Echo’s Remnant is in the form of a journal. At one point in the journal, the writer states that he was “tortured for three days” after he came forward. Well, problem was, the previous entry was one day prior, and he was still debating whether to come forward. So where did he find time between yesterday and today to be tortured for three days? Ugh!
And just when I thought I was finally done, that I finally had a quality product, my wife came to me and said, “You know, Mark, a coup is a military takeover. A coupe, however, is a two-door car.” Yikes! I had referenced the antagonist taking over in a coupe in the journal chapter. Images of him riding into town in an armored Honda Civic 2-door came to mind. Embarrassed, I fixed that quickly.
I’m happy to say that, though I’m embarrassed by the quality issues with the first draft of my first book, I learned a lot. I was able to get all the typos corrected before the print version became available, and I sent updates via Kindle and Nook to those who had purchased the less-than-ideal version.
When I finished my second book, Empire’s Rise, I took extra care to make SURE there were no typos, misspellings, etc. I published the book to paperback via CreateSpace, then went through my Draft copy with a red pen, marking an problems, which I then went back and corrected. I did multiple read-throughs, looking for grammatical errors, continuity errors, etc. I found a doosey of a continuity error near the beginning of the book. Often, when I’m writing, I’ll come up with a plot point that needs to be set up earlier in the book. So I’ll go back and add in context and set-up in earlier chapters. While I like this process, you can get yourself into trouble from a continuity standpoint with this. The big error I found was that, early on, one my characters says, (Empire’s Rise Spoiler Alert!) “If I die, I want to be buried, like Hayden.” Well….the problem was, at that point in the story, we had not even MET Hayden, much less had her killed, much less buried her. Oops!
I’m happy to say that I was able to take the hard lessons learned from that first draft of Echo’s Remnant and apply them to Empire’s Rise, ensuring that its first release was a quality release. I owe that to my readers – I believe all authors do.
I should say a word here about professional editing services. I think these are a GREAT idea, and I fully support using them. My problem is I didn’t have the money at the time to use one of these, but I wish I did.
I think all authors can benefit from several full read-throughs of our work before releasing it to the public. Getting close, trusted friends to read your books and let you know about any mistakes can help as well. There is so much competition out there for readers’ attention. I think a lot of readers will tire of a book filled with typos and grammatical errors, and may pass up your book in favor of one with higher quality.
So edit, edit, edit! Our ideas are worth the time!
Mark
Follow @markhamner
