Scott King's Blog, page 10

Old North Church Dog Tag Memorial!

It’s Veterans Day so I thought this would be a fitting photo to share.

I shot this at The Old North Church in Boston. The church is where the lanterns were hung before Paul Revere road out to let the locals know that the British where coming. Most people recognize the “one if by land, two if by sea” line from the poem written about Revere.

The 2017 Gaming Calendar!

Missed the Kickstarter? Don’t worry. The 2017 Gaming Calendar is officially for sale. Get it at the link below!

http://www.lulu.com/shop/scott-king/2017-gaming-calendar/calendar/product-22888299.html

The 5 Day Novel!

My newest non-fiction book, THE 5 DAY NOVEL, is out this week!

This past summer I wrote a novel in five days and this book explains how I did it. If you are looking for some ways to optimize your workflow and finish your novel check it out.

Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Five-Day-Novel-Optimizing-Workflo…/…/

UK Amazon:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Five-Day-Novel-Optimizing-Workf…/…/

Audiobook:

http://www.audible.com/…/The-5-Day-Novel-Audiob…/B01M7O4G2L/

Ameriguns!

Ameriguns, my new thriller novel, released last week!

It’s a political thriller with tons of action. If you like heart pounding, fast paced books, then make sure you check it out or help spread the word!

Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Ameriguns-Scott-King/dp/1539125947/

Amazon UK:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ameriguns-Thriller-Scott-King-ebook/dp/B01M8JJTEL/

Audible:

http://www.audible.com/pd/Mysteries-Thrillers/Ameriguns-Audiobook/B01MCS2K3A/

Covered Bridge!

It was a crazy end of summer and a super busy start to fall, but I’m back!

In August, Lisa’s family came for a two week visit and we did a mini-tour of Texas as well as a week at a beach house on South Padre Island. Then I had a family situation and had to fly back to Maryland. Then I had to wrap up fulfillment for my 2017 Gaming Calendar Kickstarter. Then I had to write Volume 4 of Holiday Wars. Then I had to prep for launching two new books.

Now things are FINALLY getting back to normal and I’ll be sharing regular stuff on the blog!

The photo above is from the Franconia Notch State Park in New Hampshire. Lisa and I were able to do a four day weekend to see New England and this was a cute spot we found on our way to see the Flume Gorge, a really popular hiking location.

Cinnamon Bun!

Here is a YUMMY cinnamon bun from Brew-n-Bake. We get these MAYBE once a month and when we do they are soooooooo good.

5 Day Novel: Day 5!

I’ve decided to write a novel in 5 days. Not a first draft, but a completed novel from concept to polish with rewrites included!

Today was all about line editing…

TODAY was rough. I made it through one pass. Then did a quick word search for some of my crutch words.

I’ve mentioned before that I underwrite. Part of that is because my background is screenwriting and a screenplay is much more sparse than a novel when it comes to descriptions. A screenplay is a blueprint for a final product (the movie) while a book is a final product. So it makes sense that in a novel there needs to be a lot more details.

That meant I spent most of the day re-reading every sentence and rewriting it as well as fleshing out the details. So “Nathaniel entered the arena. Across the stage he saw the target.” would instead become a full paragraph ((too tired to actually write it right now)). The paragraph would have to flow, have the write depth of POV, and give a general sense of the setting without being  too much.

Line editing is what I hate most about writing. If it weren’t so important for my own voice and finalizing the story I’d try to hire someone else to do it. But it matters and I of course could now go back and do another full pass, but at this point I’m calling it. The book is done.

I exported an epub and sent them to my two alpha readers. They both promised to have the whole thing read by the 5th. The book is then due to my editor on the 8th. As I’ve said several times this week the themes and plot deal with some sensitive hot topics. So in this case the alpha reads are important just to make sure I handled those things in a tasteful manner that serves the characters and story I’m trying to tell. I don’t expect to have to make any major changes but I might need to cut a few lines out here or there or add in a few just to clarify descriptions that I thought were clear but ended up being too vague.

But yeah. It’s done. I didn’t know if I could get the book done. My brain is fried. My body is friend. I feel like I just walk a marathon. This is was a fascinating exercise and I totally never want to do it again! Glad I did it. Glad that I discovered I could do it, but still NEVER AGAIN.

Now its time for some well earned sleep.

5 Day Novel: Day 4!

I’ve decided to write a novel in 5 days. Not a first draft, but a completed novel from concept to polish with rewrites included!

Today was all about the second rewrite…

I’m from the camp who believes the cliche that writing is rewriting so it was SUPER important that when scheduling out my week that I made time for multiple rewrites. No matter how well you plan or outline things happen when writing. A character who you thought would do one thing does something completely different and rewrites allow you to embrace those kind of changes.

So my main focus today was to fix all the plot and character problems. I did have a few. The core of my story didn’t change from the original outline but the genre unsuspectingly did. I meant the book to be way more action like Taken or the Jason Bourne movies. There is action, but instead its much more a slower political thriller burn like The Pelican Brief or a Brad Meltzer book.

I had so much to do with the characters and I’m still not done with them. When you start a first draft they are all new and you don’t know them yet. Now that I know the story and have been through it a few times I’ve started to hear their voices. That means I still need to go back again and make sure that those voices are clear and distinct throughout the whole thing.

Lisa is working a late night tonight (Plant emergency but not like she’s in-danger emergency) so I should have till midnight or later to keep working. My plan is to keep doing passes addressing and cleaning up all the character bits. Then tomorrow I’ll do a final line editing pass which for me is always the hardest slowest stage of writing a book.

Four days in and I am feeling burned out. I’m ready to be done. Why couldn’t I call this “The 4 Day novel?” so that I could quit or “The 8 Day Novel” so I could take a break?  Uhhhh tomorrow will be painful, but I’m almost done. ONLY ONE MORE DAY!

5 Day Novel: Day 3!

I’ve decided to write a novel in 5 days. Not a first draft, but a completed novel from concept to polish with rewrites included!


 


Today was about finishing up the first draft…


 


I got to typing at 5a.m. and didn’t stop till 11:45. At that point I ate lunch and jumped back in. Things went well till around three. I took a break to do my daily three mile walk, showered, and had a thirty minute phone call with my favorite audiobook narrator. Once I got back to my office things kind of meandered…


 


I fell down a research-hole by accident when I should have been typing, but in doing so I discovered that in 1989, when I was seven or eight, I met a Saudi Arabian prince in Washington DC’s Chinatown. My grandmother took me to a Saudi Arabia exhibit at the convention center. After seeing it and a badass laser show we went out to lunch with the prince. I remember the exhibit in detail, but I have no idea why we went out to lunch with him.


 


Granny was big into teaching and education. She got a bunch of awards, grants, and met President Reagan I think twice. My grandfather owned a bar/restaurant near the White House (here is an article about how it closed in 1998: https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-5833...) which always had congressmen and other big wigs. As a result I ended up meeting a lot of people as a kid and never knew why. All I specifically remember about the Saudi Arabian Prince (who I didn’t know till today was a prince) was that he called me a “strange boy” because I ordered escargot with a side of french fries and then put vinegar on the fries.


 


So yeah weird research hole.


 


Once I got back to writing I managed to finish the first draft of my novel. It’s sitting at 36,577 words. That’s fine. I’m an under writer. I know when I do re-writes and the polish that the book will easily grow 10k-15k. There are a multiple sections where I have things like “DESCRIBE WHAT SHE LOOKS LIKE” and “FIGHT WITH PROTAG GETTING BUTT KICKED.” So the book will only grow from where it is now.


 


Tonight I’m going to make a list of changes that I need to address in the plot and characters. Tomorrow I’m going to start on chapter one and work my way through to the end. I can’t believe the week is more than half over. There is still soooooooo much I need to do. Fixing character voices, checking emotions in scenes, making sure I’m happy with the depth of the POV. Uhhhhhh I’m really worried about running out of time!

5 Day Novel: Day 2!

I’ve decided to write a novel in 5 days. Not a first draft, but a completed novel from concept to polish with rewrites included!



 


Today was all about the first draft…


 


I REALLY wanted to get 50k words done today. That didn’t happen. Apparently there is a physical limit of how many words a person can type a day. You can only type X amount of words per hour and I just didn’t keep up the speeded that I needed.


 


In twelve hours I hit 18,080 words. I’m feeling pretty beat and haven’t even hit the the halfway point of the novel. I’m going to take a break for dinner and then jump back in. If I push I think I can hit 24k-26k in total for the day. That’s planning for a bedtime around 11p.m.


 


Although today’s numbers aren’t what I was hoping them to be, it does mean I should be able to hit 45-50k tomorrow and finish the first draft. I had planned for tomorrow to be a half day of writing and a half day of re-writing, that’s impossible now.


 


It’s ok. I can still do this five day challenge. It just means Thursday will have to be all rewrites and then Friday I’ll focus on getting the polish done. Phew I’m feeling fried though. This fast pass process is not something I could keep up on a normal basis. It’s both physically and mentally draining and thus not sustainable.