Julia Benally's Blog, page 10
October 2, 2020
Scammers Everywhere!
I got some weirdo on LinkedIn who asked to read my stories, so I sent him the links. My bio is all over the place and clearly says I'm based in Arizona. The guy comes back and asks me if I'm in New York. And then he wants to chat with me on google hangouts and whatsapp. He desperately wants to talk with me there because he says that's how business people connect the best. He says this on LinkedIn, where you do exactly that.
I thought I was done with this kind of BS when I left Twitter.
He has the link to this page, but I seriously doubt he even came here to read.
Highly suspect!
October 1, 2020
A writer's lesson number...hm...one?
A writer is supposed to read and write a lot. They're also supposed to keep their eyes open. Watch the world. Don't lock themselves away into a room like many do. No wonder I can't find anything good to read.
Enough of this, "I'm an introvert and I have to stay inside."
I'm an introvert, too. You needn't be so proud.
And so, today I went out into the world in search of inspiration. To see things, watch things, analyze, and listen.
AND....
I saw a dead dog.
...
...
Next video, 3 creepy baby monitor stories: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ra6ZgyTOlQ0
September 30, 2020
Writing Individual Fight Scenes
I have a lot of fight scenes in my book and there are more in the next ones. When I first started writing, I stuck in action-for-action like this: he punched his jaw, the other guy staggered backward, but lunged in and punched his enemy in the stomach. Whole paragraphs were written like this. While action-for-action is good, it shouldn't take up the whole fight and is only part of the concoction you're creating.
When I went through the first book, I found some fight scenes were better than others. I was wondering why. I made note of the good fight scenes and then I did a lot of reading.
In several blog posts, people talked about writing war. The authors said to zoom in onto one soldier and get into his head. Let somebody die in his arms, or whatever the case may be. Go into the individual fighting. But how do I do individual fights?
I thought of the authors I really loved who could make fight scenes between individuals. I went straight to Edgar Rice Burroughs. I read several of his Tarzan and Martian books and made notes. He makes the hero's opponent really strong and there is a major threat of death to the hero.
He gets into the heads of both opponents. What are their thoughts in the heat of the moment? What are their motives? He also doesn't always go action-for-action. He leaves that up to the reader's imagination a lot.
That rule goes for all kinds of writing and not just fight scenes.
Each fight is almost like a tiny story of its own. You can go through the opponents' state of mind at the beginning, middle, and end. Add in your details in between. After the fight is over, is there time to feel anything? Keep in mind that emotions after a fight can't take up too much time, especially if BS is going down and your character needs to escape. Of course, if it's the end of all the fighting, then have a field day.
Emotions, thoughts, actions, and details need to be balanced. Too much emotion and there's no fight scene. Too much action detail and nobody cares what's going on. Too many thoughts and it's like, "how in the world is this guy fighting?" Many times there are no thoughts. Fighting is short and to the point, so these things must be, too.
In other fight scenes, authors describe the gore and what exactly happened to the person's innards, or where the knife went through their body.
Mixing and matching is something you need to do, like with a salad or a sandwich, otherwise it gets boring. Showing and telling need to be balanced as well. 'He staggered into the wall as the floor swayed like a ship at sea' may or may not be better than 'he was losing a lot of blood.' Like Bob Ross said, "You have to make these big decisions."
Pulling the reader close into the fight is the goal, and not feel like they're in a helicopter watching things play out in confused fashion.
I've read some fight scenes with a lot of technical, this is how he twisted the guy's arm and then used this judo move in great detail to flip the guy over his head. I had no idea what was happening. I'm still not sure what in the world. I think he landed on his coccyx which is located at the bottom of some bone which is needed for--wow the author knows his human anatomy. Who cares! Personally it sounded like the author was showing off how he knew these technical things.
The skill is not knowing these technicalities, but making the reader see it and feel like they're a part of it.
Read fight scenes, make notes, and apply or not apply. What do you like? What do you not like? Take your time. Fight scenes take practice like everything else.
Remember, after all is said and done, this is a piece of art. Put all your love and heart into it. Form this piece of clay into a masterpiece.
Make it beautiful.
September 29, 2020
I did an Isaac Asimov...which is not a good thing.
I made a story about skinwalkers a while back and it kept getting turned down, so I just put the story away so it could wait for a magazine to show up who might want it.
The other day, that magazine showed up. So I ran and pulled out the story and read over it to make sure it was formatted correctly and was within the proper word count range.
Wouldn't you know it, I did an Isaac Asimov. I built the tension up like crazy and then at the climax, nothing. I was so appalled with myself. So I spent all yesterday in thinking mode and plotted out the climax until 2 AM.
I also forgot to post the next scary video at the bottom of the page.
Not today, though!
September 28, 2020
The battle with the trash-eating cow continues
The battle with the trash-eating cow continues. The trash can was knocked over again, but the joke was on the cow. It was trash day. The trash truck took the cow's junk before it could invade. The cow settled for licking the inside of the trash can until the time when it's junk food could be restored.
In the middle of the night, it stands at the end of the road, mooing like its life is over while the dogs yap around its legs in vain attempts to run it off. The cow will not be moved. Rocks bounce off its butt like a brick wall. It will eat only out of my trash can if it's the last thing it does.
The wretch leaves all the other trash cans alone. What makes mine so special?
September 25, 2020
The woke up too early post
Ever have a day when you wake up too early and realize it's 11 AM?
This is me thinking, "I better do those Amazon Ads."
"Blah."
"I better go edit."
"Ugh..."
"I'm hungry."
"I don't feel like cooking. Where's my maid? Oh yeah, I don't have a maid."
"I wanna go somewhere."
"I want someone to drive me, though...and buy me presents."
"I gotta write that blog post. Maybe I can write something inspiring!"
"Inspire my foot. I want a vacation and I want someone else to pay for it."
Let's watch a video:
September 24, 2020
A poem of madness, written soon after book 1 erased
Back when I first got published with the Wicked Library, which was....2015? I was writing Nri Kryne under a wholly different title. I only had one back up. I made a copy of it in July and edited all the way to around September without making a single copy.
After I announced my book was almost done in my interview for The Wicked Library, I opened the file one morning about a week later and an error code showed up.
THIS FILE IS CORRUPTED.
No! No-no-no-no! I ran to another computer to see if mine was just screwing up, but it didn't open the file either. I was like, the library! I gotta go to the library! If the file opens, I'll copy and paste the contents into a new file and ten years of work won't go down the drain.
Wouldn't you know it, the library was closed for the weekend because of a holiday. It wouldn't open until Tuesday. This was Friday.
I couldn't write, I was going through writing withdrawal, I couldn't think, and I started shaking. I started writing gibberish in a notebook.
I began to think I would need to re-write the book. I started trying to mentally prepare for it. By the time Tuesday came around, I was in fear, but also half hoping it really had been erased.
I sound bizarre even to myself.
I ran to the library like a mad woman and the same error showed up.
Something like relief and a sense of freedom came over me. I went home, opened a new file, and re-wrote the book in a few weeks. It wasn't the same and it wasn't as long. When the book erased, every problem I'd been having with it vanished. Only what worked remained in my head.
It ended up being a good thing. Now I have three extra back-ups, a new book, and the nut poem I wrote while going through my insanity. Here it is.
Anyone can be sexy
Why can't a woman like me?
Even though my chest is flat
And my butt has gotten fat
I can be sexy now
Anyone can be sexy
I kind of look like a ball
Even though I am a freak
And I've eaten all the meat
I can be sexy now
Anyone can be sexy
I really burp up a storm
Even though I fart a lot
And spend hours on the pot
I can be sexy now
Anyone can be sexy
Why can't a looney like me?
Even though my breath is stink
And I've beaten up my shrink
I can be sexy now
Anyone can be sexy
Why can't a stinkoid like me?
Even though I haven't bathed
In a week or two or shaved
I can be sexy now
I don't know why nobody wanted this poem. Heh-heh...
Now the video by Nightmare Tales:
September 23, 2020
Bug Eggs!
On Friday or Saturday, I can't remember which, I burned my tongue. On Sunday, there was a white bump on the tip of my tongue. I was like, oh man, I really burned it. Still, the white bump looked funny. I mean, what if it was an egg? I'd end up like that woman who'd licked an envelope and got a roach egg in her mouth.
What if the egg hatched? If it did, I wouldn't be long for this world--kind of like when the eye doctor told me two months ago I was going to die in a week because she didn't like the blood pressure reading her assistant took off of my elbow.
I'd surely die of a major gross out if the white bump on my tongue hatched.
Next day, I woke up and the white bump was gone. I was like, oh no, it hatched! My tongue was hurting and I looked real close at it. There was a clean, vertical slice where the 'egg' had been. Unless my tongue reached back to my broken molar in the middle of the night while I was dead asleep and sliced out the 'egg,' I don't know what happened.
There was only one thing left to do. Go get a wine glass, fill it with guava juice, and pretend I was rich.
This is my life.
September 22, 2020
The trash-eating cow
All week and last week, the trash kept getting knocked over. The dogs in the neighborhood always knock the trash over and eat it. They've been doing it for years. We tie up the trash can to the fence and it still gets knocked over. And then the trash truck showed up one year and ate the trash can lid. Now we cover the can with a heavy board.
Last night the trash can was knocked over again. My brothers were furious and they ran out there to see exactly which culprit it was. It was a giant cow. The thing's head was in the trash can munching on trash. What the crap? It has the whole forest to eat grass in and it comes into town for a trash fix.
My brothers chased the cow off, but it just ran across the street and watched them put the trash back into the can. It didn't even care about the dogs barking and nipping at its legs.
As soon as my brothers went back inside, the cow came back and stuffed its head in the trash.
I wonder how trash-fed cows taste. It must not be very good.
And...next video by Snarled.
September 21, 2020
Plotting, editing, cutting, and brainstorming
I said I found out the main character was wrong. He was wrong in lots of ways. Over the weekend, I finally figured it out. The character himself wasn't working because he isn't ready to appear.
He's supposed to be the father of the main character in book 3, but the way I made him didn't work. I had another character in my back pocket that I'd made up several years ago in high school. So I said, "My dude, where are you?" He showed up and stepped into the spot.
Immediately, he popped from the page and could stand shoulder to shoulder with the other characters. He was much like one of the new characters you're going to see in 'Renzhies.' The guy showed up, overpowered one of the characters, stole his woman, and then he pilfered his part.
This new character also has a different background, so book 4 is gone...all gone...except for the storyline to the five characters that I'd had to cut. Their storyline has developed like crazy! This is going to be fun. I'm just going to write their story next.
They're Syladins. If you don't know what a Syladin is, you better read 'Nri Kryne.' And after that, read 'Renzhies' when it jumps out into the world next year.
Through all this, I am going into book 3 and adding the details to it. I've already started and it's looking fantastic. The villain's reasoning is more concrete. At the time I wrote him, I just had a vague idea, but it felt right in my stomach, so I just kept going.
Now for the next video. This one is done by Thriller Teller.
