R. Leib's Blog: Dream State - Posts Tagged "writing"

There are occasions when characters take control of their part in the story. Mitchell Ebberhaus in "The Negative's Tale" did this. Characters with a life of their own are much more believable and real, so I let him be who he wanted to be. Originally, he was going to be a minor character appearing a few times in a supporting role. He would not stand for that. Mitchell insisted on subsuming the part of another character, a major player. Once Ebberhaus asserted himself, that other character simply ceased to exist. He was completely absorbed by another persona that would not be relegated to the background.

Writing is like being pregnant, except it feels like your water will never break, labor pains start the first day and never let up, and after you've finally given birth, there are people who are paid to tell you that your baby is ugly.

I have to say that my experiences with literary agents has not been the best. Out of the dozen or so that I wrote to, only two had the courtesy to respond. I have no problem with their not wanting to represent me. I just think that if someone takes the trouble to follow their guidelines, they should also take the trouble to let you know what their decision is.

Here are a few things I have learned while looking for an agent:

Read the agent's guidelines carefully. Some agents do not want to consider submissions, if they have been submitted to other agents at the same time. Others do not care. Some want your sample work to be an email attachment. Others will not read attachments and want sample work to be incorporated into the body of the email. If you do not follow the agent's guidelines, expect your submission to be discarded without consideration.

Be polite. Looking for an agent can be frustrating and discouraging. Do not let that seep into your cover letter. You want the agent to feel your enthusiasm for your book right away. Although it is not advisable, if you write back to an agent, do not be argumentative. It is okay to ask for advice. It is not okay to vent.

Read the fine print. There are people out there posing as agents who disguise their vanity operation as real representation. You should not have to pay an agent to get represented. By the nature of their business, a real agent expects to make money by representing you to publishers. Otherwise, they would say yes to everyone. (Yes. I made this mistake. I submitted to a supposed agent who did accept my work for representation. The catch was thousands of dollars up front from me as a retainer for a "publicist". Needless to say, I said "no thanks".)

Actually it was a rejection. I had submitted a short story to a fantasy magazine that offered to critique submissions. When "Symbiont Dawn" came back, it was accompanied by two critiques. I learned a lot from both of them.

I had labored to find the precise word that meant exactly what I intended for every noun, verb, adjective, and adverb. The result was nearly unreadable and flowed like a fall down a flight of stairs. (I commend those two editors for making it all the way through.) Now I strive to express my ideas in easy to read sentences. I avoid long, prepositional phrase ladened run-on monstrosities. I now keep my adverbs and adjectives as terse as possible. I try to stay away from arcane words and references as much as I can. I make an effort to be satisfied just telling the story I came to tell.

The three secrets to making a work of fiction believable are: Research, Research, and Research. One of the editors was drawn to factual errors I had made in my story like a snake to a downed bird. If you are going to incorporate a detail into your writing, either know you are right, find out you are right, or obfuscate. Usually, being ambiguous is not as good as getting it right, but it will keep the detail crunchers off your back.

If you can find someone whose opinion you respect to honestly critique your writing, it will help you become a better writer.

As I write this, "Symbiont Dawn" is a number one rated short story on Helium.

I get story ideas in a variety of ways.

I read something in a book, a newspaper, or a magazine or see something on TV that gets me thinking about how it could be different or have an interesting twist to it. From there, I try to flesh out the idea into a complete story concept. These are "what if" story ideas.

There are things that happen to me or people I know that trigger ideas about how these things might be handled in the future, how they might affect our descendents or an alien race differently, or how they could occur in a different way or for a different reason. These are "why is it that way" story ideas.

Sometimes ideas just come to me. I am doing something completely unrelated, and "bang" there is an idea in my head. (This is the most infrequent way I get ideas.) These are "off the wall" ideas.

I learn about some science fact or theory or some technological advancement, and that gets me thinking about how it might factor into our lives, how it might change our future, or how we might have to adapt to deal with it. These are "technology driven" ideas.

On rare occasions, I have gotten story ideas from my dreams (mostly nightmares). These are definitely the eeriest story concepts.

I was talking with someone who read "The Negative's Tale" a couple of days ago. One thing she said got to me. She asked me to write another Allon Wu story. I did have one in mind, but it takes place at the end of his life. I have been thinking about it, and have come up with another challenge for the central character of "The Negative's Tale". There will be a new mystery to tangle with that has twists and surprises and concealed motives. I have taken the first step on that long journey today with the first pages of "Tourist of Infinity".

Thanks Laura.

It's been four days since the beginning of my new project. Here is what has happened so far:

The major characters have been blocked out. This is not to say that they are set in stone. I might tweak their descriptions and traits to fit how the story develops, and I might add more characters, discard characters, or split or merge them.

The primary and main back stories have been summarized. Once again, these may be modified to refine or improve the flow of the narrative. This summary gives me a framework and a rough roadmap to guide me, while I construct the story. I have a plan for most of who does what and what happens to them. A list of suspects have been formed, but I have yet to decide who is the culprit, if there is one. That information will evolve on its own during the writing process.

The basic research into the science behind the events outlined in the plot summary has been done. Notes and Excel spreadsheets have been created containing the information necessary to make the details and occurrences as scientifically reasonable and as consistent with each other, as I can make them. This does not mean that I am done researching. New elements that arise during the writing of the "Tourist of Infinity" will require further checking. Things that I have not considered yet will need to be resolved. Research never ends. It outlives the writing process itself.

The first few pages have been written.

Now that the project is started and the first flush of enthusiasm has been invested in preparations, the hard, long hours of writing begin. The hardest part is getting myself to put in the writing time on a regular basis. I will not be able to finish the novel within the time limit I have set for myself, if I am not consistent in my dedication to the work. Every day, no matter how small the contribution, I must move forward. I have set a pace for myself to have the rough draft finished in four months. Then the editing and re-editing begins. I do not know about other writers, but I have a need to evaluate every word to make certain that I am confident of its contribution in telling the story, that it is the right word for the moment, and that it does not disrupt the narrative flow.

Last night, it occurred to me that an element of one of my subplots was not imaginative enough. I thought about it for a while, and came up with what I think is a much better idea. This is where writing a plot summary comes in handy. It was easy to change a bit of description in the summary, and now that concept is very different. I have started writing that part of the book, and I have to say that I am much more enthusiastic about how it is going than I would have been with the way it was originally.

Things are going well although slowly. The change to the subplot is working out well. I have written about the equivalent of a short story. Research continues. As does refinements of some of the concepts behind the story. It is important for Fantasy and Science Fiction writers to establish base concepts that delimit the circumstances and actions in their stories. Other fiction writers are bound by the realities we all share. Our genre allows us to create "realities" for our readers that are the product of our imaginations. This advantage, like all advantages, comes with responsibility. Without a logical construct to which our readers may anchor their suspension of disbelief, we lose their trust.