Tim Learn's Blog, page 8

Top Three Things I’ve learned about writing 2016

Top Three Things I’ve learned about writing 2016

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1) Little Adventures

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This may sound strange, ‘little adventures’—what does that mean? Well, only when I sat down and started to think of it, that is of the many books I loved, it was always the little events in each chapter, each book that remained so vivid. I think this is something that needs to be in every story. I only say this because, looking at my writing and some of the other fare I’ve read this year, I’ve found few little adventures in them.

For instance, any of you who have read ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ probably remember the many little vingettes at the beginning of the story, all the happen before Tom Robinson’s trial even starts or pops up. There’s the fire story where Boo ends up putting the blanket on them; there’s the rabid dog story where Atticus shots it dead on; and there’s the Mrs. Dubose story where Jeb has to read to her to quit her pain medicine addiction.

After reading a lot of YA and such this year, I can’t recall one book that deals with any of this, that gives us a little taste of daily tomfoolery. And yet, old books seem so rich with them.

2) Character Immersion

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I never understood before all the language thrown around by other web writers about detailing their characters, getting all the likes and dislikes of them down on paper before writing. I’d have to say I still don’t. Too often it feels like the wagon pulling the horse, or rather, prepping the wagon before you even own a horse. One is ready but can’t do a thing without the other more vital part—the story.

No, instead, I like my characters to grow organically as I write. I discover more and more about them and by the end they are just as three dimensional as all the others that sit by the wayside waiting for the story to start. I can see now why developing them beforehand is useful, but I need my characters in the story I’m writing, so if I need them to be another way, then I go back and alter it.

Still, character immersion is needed, and what really makes it apparent are the side characters. Sometimes I forget about them—I don’t flesh them out enough. In this way, I’ve grown a little bit and made their movements, although maybe never seen in the reader’s eye, more distinct. I can now account for a lot of what they’ve done, even if no one else will ever see it.

3) The Canon is Difficult to Ignore

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This only comes after reading a lot of contemporary writing—and watching a lot of current movies—and I can’t help but feel disheartened most of the time. What I mean is, I don’t like a lot of it. Every story I read seems so similar, so copy and paste. One book I read this year—a trilogy touted by many to be amazing and heart-breaking that supposedly will soon be made into movies—was dry and expected. Even the dialogue rang like something you’d expect to hear. Every turn and instance just felt like filler to stretch the book out to its over 400 page count. But it’s not just that.

This is what is popular now. This is what people want to read, and the little stories I find so interesting and amazing don’t really fit in. It feels like there’s a certain formula, and that’s what people latch onto—the familiar. I don’t want to say my writing is phenomenal different, but there are many books that I enjoy, and others look over them. They don’t see how great they are, and yet these are the books I want to write.

In the end, it’s hard to believe in something when everything else is so bland, so…the same. I can’t help but wonder if my taste is off, if my keen eye toward art is somehow off. Maybe, it is.

 

My Top Three Pet Peeves in the Dialogue of Self-published Work

My Top Three Pet Peeves in the Dialogue of Self-published Work

Having read many self-published books recently, I’ve encountered three jarring habits among these authors that rip me right from my enjoyment of reading. To be honest, I have been guilty of them all as well at some point in my writing, and I hope to offer some advice to steer clear of these pitfalls. And so…

1a) Natural Dialogue

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There are many facets to this dilemma so I’ll start out slow. First off, there seems to be a notion that all dialogue should sound realistic. I don’t know where this started or why anyone gives it credence. If you look at any of your favorite books, from Catcher in the Rye to Crime and Punishment, none of the speaking is natural. It is all highly scripted for full effect. I think where the confusion comes up is that dialogue should have a natural tone to it. Now, how is that different?

Well, let me first clarify what dialogue blows. Here is an example from a recent book I read.

“Hello,” his grandfather said.

“Hi,” he said from his bed, “How are you?”

“I’m good, but it looks like you’ve taken a beating.”

Or

“I don’t think it’ll work,” he said.

“Really? Why?” she asked.

Yes, this is the way we may speak—but no one wants to read it. The key point comes at the end when the grandfather starts talking about the beating. If so, why not start there.

As for the second example, it is not as bad as the first, but I wanted to show that even a useful prompt like ‘Why?’ can be blended into an action done by the character, thus making the scene more lively.

The worst offense of all is to use ellipses. (…) If it is not showing weakness in voice, ie. ‘I…I didn’t mean to kill him,’ then you are off-putting the reader. As in: ‘I was going to eat…what the?’ This is wrong on so many levels that the best advice is to just avoid it.

Solution: In this one instance, break the writing hallmark—Show, don’t tell—and just tell us. Change it from direct speech to reported. If not that, cut the intro stuff out.

After acknowledging one another, his grandfather leaned over with one eye half shut, and said, “Looks like you’ve taken a beating.”

Or

“I don’t think it’ll work,” he said.

She tilted her head as if to say ‘why?’

1b) Unnatural Dialogue

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Moving on…when they say make it sound natural—whoever these ‘they’ are—they mean to have the language resemble our patterns of speech. Even though this blog post is structured with easily identifiable sentences, most of the time when we speak, we throw out key words that we assume our listener will insert. In other words, don’t write perfect sentences all the time for your characters to say. For example:

“You ate it?” she said, staring at him wide-eyed.

He smiled.

“Yeah. Had two of them.”

Here you can see the female did not use a proper question format. She should’ve said ‘Did you eat it?’ and the boy’s response should’ve been ‘Yeah. I had two of them.’ But in both cases, certain aspects were cut out to sound natural.

Solution: listen to how you and your friends speak. Even on TV, no one speaks one hundred percent clear sentences. The best way to fix this in your writing is the secret all writers should know: editing. Go back through your work and ask yourself, does this sound too perfect?

Sidenote: Be careful! Too many imperfect sentences will express to the reader that your characters are either nitwits or people who don’t know the language well, so avoid overuse of this phenomenon.

2) Boring Dialogue

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Another problem: flat scenes with lackluster dialogue. So make it pop! Dialogue is the meat of the story. This is where readers enjoy themselves the most because we see the conflict unfold in front of our eyes. If it isn’t powerful or too wordy or too bland, your whole story will sink. Like all writing books say: there needs to be tension.

“There’s nothing to worry about,” the captain said, tossing a wrist in her direction.

“But there is. A large tropical storm is coming this way,” she shouted.

“I’m sure it’ll blow over.”

“All my data says otherwise,” she said, straining her voice.

“The weather channel seems to know nothing about this,” he added.

Although it may seem like something dramatic is happening here, the dialogue doesn’t show it. There’s nothing on the line and just by denying the claims of another doesn’t make us feel tension.

Solution: Like always, edit! The best way to catch these problems is to read your work, not with the words in mind, but with the push and pull between characters. If there is no hidden info or bad feelings between the two speaking, you might be looking at a problem. If so, trust your ‘quality’ instincts. Hopefully, you’ve developed some.

“There’s nothing to worry about,” the captain said tossing a wrist in her direction.

“Five thousands lives on a boat—are you say that’s nothing to worry about?” she snapped.

“Of course not. All I’m saying is that these storms come by all the time and cause little problems.”

She glared at him.

“All it takes is one time to be wrong,” she muttered.

3) Repetitive Dialogue

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My last peeve is repetition. I too have had this problem. I believe it comes out of a desire to have the reader fully in the know, or I just get too caught up in my head that I don’t realize I’ve already hashed (and sometimes rehashed) certain information. Any dialogue, that is just a rerun of something before, will instantly feel dry and boring, and this will lose the reader’s attention. Following the example from above, if we were to jump two pages and read:

 

She ran to the second in command and said, “The storm is coming closer. We have to do something!”

“That?” he scoffed, “It’s some dark clouds. We see them all the time.”

She shook her head, frustrated and grabbed the CB from his hand to radio shore.

“This typhoon will hit us soon,” she shouted.

The CB sounded back, “All our data shows no reason for concern.”

 

Here we see the main character plea to two different sources after addressing the captain, and their responses are similar—do we really need a retelling of this information? By saying it again and again that no one wants to heed her warnings the suspense and tension are dashed. Repetition destroys story-telling.

 

Solution: The first thing to do is try cutting it. I know, I know, most authors despise this, but a good eye can tell if this is necessary or not. Sometimes trimming it can ramp up the plotting. However, if repetition is needed to show how the character is running into the same brick wall or the same type of response, the best way is to either internalize it by having the character express it in their head, or summarize it.

 

                    She couldn’t believe it. Everyone she spoke to had the same response. Maybe it was part of the job, part of            having power over something bigger than they could understand that made them dismiss warnings, or maybe, it  was just negligence. Either way, she knew her effort was being wasted.

 Or

 

                    After the captain, she tried the second in command and even radioed ashore. In the end, she found no    receptive ears for her warning. The storm was going to hit and their boat was going to be unprepared.

 

 

All in all, there is nothing wrong if you find some writing like this in your story. Just hopefully, with some crude editing, it’ll be cut or re-sharpened into something a little more poignant and sparkling. Truth be told, I can’t think of any dialogue that doesn’t start out poor and doesn’t get an awesome makeover after some serious editing. Get your red pens out!

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Chewy Noh and the Jamais Vu

Here it is: the final Chewy Noh!

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Making his way back to the past, Chewy has a lot to do–the most important of which is making sure the horrible future he came from doesn’t happen. In order to do that, he needs to change his cousin’s thinking, avoid the death dodger Tong Pangsak, and make sure his grandmother, mom, and best friend don’t die. There’s only one catch: time doesn’t like repetition. It doesn’t like two of the same thing at once.

Slowly, Chewy’s mind begins to detonate on top of confidence. Everywhere he turns things get worse–his death dodger friend from the future doesn’t trust him, his grandfather seems broken, and the school bully is stricken with the same time disease he is.

If he doesn’t find a way to stop it, the horrible side-effects of traveling through time will slowly erase him. But as he digs further and further into his family’s past, he begins to see that changing things isn’t that easy. In fact, it’s down right impossible.

BUY IT HERE!!!!!!

CHEWY NOH AND THE JAMAIS VU

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How IT Came About…

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How it came about:

I had not planned to write any of these books.

I enjoy teaching, but teaching on a personal level. If I can’t get to know the students over a long period of time, then I feel it is a waste for both them and me. We need to shape each other.

In this way, I suddenly found I had spare time with one of my long time and favorite students. He already knew how to write well-produced, well-thought arguments for essays and sound book reports. But he had always expressed a desire to write stories. So with this free time, I tried to do something new with him: we’d write together–not in collaboration, but side-by-side (parallel writing, I guess.)

Like any new writer full of ideas, he had no clue what to do. Honestly, neither did I, but I wanted to show him the most important part is to just write. Fixing it would come later. So, to set a good example, I wrote. The only germ of an idea in mind was I wanted to make a Korean superhero, having seen the fanaticism Korean, and, I suspect, all boys have for superheroes of any kind. Mine, however, had to be distinctly Korean.

Having spent years teaching English in Korea, I saw many things unique to the country. One thing that wasn’t was how like many Americans–or any other nationality–we tend to believe our way of life is universal, that our small daily habits are a common shared trait. However, this is not true, but many believe so. For this reason, I took many conversations I’ve had with my students and used them to create the characters in Chewy Noh. Most things in the book are observations to show contrast, not stereotypes–another reason for the series. Although I started out with these reasons in mind, through my research into heavier parts of Korean mythology and history, the aim for the books changed.

Special Thanks to:

All of my students, especially J.J. Byun who helped me through this process and is, sadly, the Chewy to my Clint. My thanks must also include others, like my old students :Sang Ha, Ju Hyun, Steven, In Hwa, Yunnu, Yoo Bin, Yeon Ju, Alice, Claire, Sally; and the young: Sang Eun, Juno, The wonderful little Amy-we miss you-, Alex, Emily, TiTi, Sang Won, Squeakers, Min Young, Han, Willy, Joshua, and many more…

Chewy Noh and the Legends of Spring

You’ve never heard of Chewy Noh? Well, at first, when he came, we thought nothing of him. He did well on tests, but so what? Even after his mom got sick, nobody paid attention. That is until the great gym fire.

Afterwards, no one could say for sure it was because of Chewy, but we all thought it. And then kids started getting sick. And the school bully went missing. And finally, a body turned up in his house—his mom’s! The strangest thing of all was he was nowhere to be found.

Some say he ran off. Others say he still wanders the night. Either way, for the past fifteen years, his house has sat silent…until now.

So if something strange moans beneath your bed or a shadow slinks out of your closet, don’t go looking. It could just be the legend of Chewy Noh—back for revenge!

 

Now at Amazon!!!!

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Why?: Chewy Noh and the Legends of Spring

Why?: Chewy Noh and the Legends of Spring

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The Dedication

To Clint

This is a personal dedication (what one’s aren’t?) dealing with my childhood best friend who Chewy’s best friend is named after. Though Clint in the story shares more than just his namesake–the fear of water and leg braces, not to mention super blonde, practically white hair–in this story, another character personifies my childhood friend: Tom

In the book, it is loosely hinted at what fifteen years into the future has caused to happen to Tom. Losing everything he cares about, he doesn’t know what to do–and in a chapter written but ultimately cut from the book, we see what Tom decides to do about it. In this way, it echoes my friend’s choices and the sad circumstances I learned regarding him. Sometimes, we all need a little time traveling powers.

After Note

There hasn’t been an after note with my other books, but as the dedication was given to my old friend, I still felt the whole sub-content of the book had to be addressed. There was a reason for me bringing Chewy fifteen years into the future, and it wasn’t just to make a crazy story. I’ve reprinted the after note below to clarify.

In this book, Chewy Noh goes fifteen years into the future, landing roughly around the year 2030.

I am no futurologist. I don’t try to even guess what new gadgets or new problems the world might have in the next decade or two. It is far too hard, and too many before me have gotten things so utterly wrong it’s embarrassing. But that date is, nonetheless, important.

By that time, most every unreleased POW in North Korea will have died. They will have fought for their country, been captured, and then spent the next eighty to ninety years in another country, living like a slave. They will have spent those years as outsiders, mistreated and under appreciated. When they die, no one will know, and even worse, care. They will have been forgotten, and for me, that is the part of their story that no matter how much I know it I can never for a second believe or understand.

All About: Chewy Noh and the Legends of Spring

All About: Chewy Noh and the Legends of Spring

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Why the title?

This title, like all my titles, is in reference to other things within the book. As any reader of the third book knows, Chewy’s mom changed his name like certain Koreans do in order to secure a better future. Unfortunately, Chewy got stuck with Bo-mi, which is similar in sound to the Korean word for ‘Spring.’

On top of that, as Chewy navigates through this strange, new time–fifteen years into the future–he begins to see he’s not alone. In fact, a very famous Korean legend is right there along side him, tracking his every move. What makes it worse, is it’s not even the legend he knows.

And finally, with Chewy’s abrupt disappearance from fifteen years earlier, his old neighborhood has nothing to do but speculate on what actually happened in Chewy’s old house  before he was gone. In this way, this book further carries the ‘rumor’ theme from the prior books and distorts it in a new way, as rumor gives way to legend, and the whole town concocts a different way of looking at things.

 

Chewy Noh and the March of Death

Chewy Noh should be happy. He has a best friend like no other and by using his secret abilities, has found a way to connect Korea and America forever to keep him.

Unfortunately, none of this matters after Death’s messenger comes to tell him that he has one week left to live!

Knowing his death is coming soon, Chewy scrambles to figure out a way to avoid it, but every direction he turns seems to lead him further and further away from his goal—a dead body, a missing person, and at the heart of it, the secret that started that it all.

In the end, if Chewy doesn’t learn how to change, Death might just come out on top.

Now at Amazon!!!!

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Why?: Chewy Noh and the March of Death

Why?: Chewy Noh and the March of Death

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The Dedication

To J.J. Byun

Sadly, the Chewy to my Clint

The dedication of this book is to one of my students. He is the one whom I started it with as a writing project. He’d write his book and I mine–something like tandem writing. We were not in it to collaborate, but he did inspire certain aspects of Chewy, as did many of my other male students.

This book, however, is personally dedicated to him because of the Korea that is described in the book, and a particular social event that is hashed out by Su Bin, Chewy’s cousin. It was a boat accident that killed many people, and I personally feel it was handle wrong by all involved: the boat company, the government, and especially the media. This event then lends itself as a major piece to the theme of the book and just one theme of the entire Chewy Noh series.

All About: Chewy Noh and the March of Death

All About: Chewy Noh and the March of Death

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Why the title?

With this title, I wanted to keep to the theme of seasons as the first book represents fall, and the second one, winter. However, the events in this book happen in such a short time frame, I wanted to at least mention the time of year it was: March. On top of this, I wanted the word to have a second meaning, that being the constant moving forward of something–in this case, Death–as Yeomra, the death god, is now actively pursuing Chewy. In the story’s prologue, we see Death state his plan to undo Chewy, and the rest of the book is putting it into action, or, thus, marching forward.