M.B. Weston's Blog, page 15

M. B. Weston’s Writing Diary: 01/03/15

Laundry is the death of all good writing days.

Let me explain: Writing is all about getting in “the Zone.” The Zone is where all amazing stories happen. It’s basically a time when you focus everything out and creativity, story, and characters just blend together and make something happen. The Zone is where all good dialog hides and where all the things you never knew about the story show themselves.

The Zone is a very difficult place to get to. On average, it takes me at least fifteen minutes of staring at my computer and pretending to type words to get into the Zone. And then, it doesn’t really have any benefit unless I spend at least 45 minutes there. When I’m there, I’m there. I can’t really hear anything going on around me. I’m concentrating fully on the story I see unfolding in my mind. And yes, it’s easy to startle me when I’m in the zone.

Interruptions in the Zone can kill a story. I have lost countless amounts of dialog and storyline because of interruptions.

The other problem: interruptions take you out of the zone. And it takes at least 15 minutes to get back into the zone. They are costly.

We writers try to be polite, but one interruption can cost us an hour of time and the desperation of trying to re-figure out the story.

And today was laundry day… Every hour, a new load. No Zone…

I got to it after dinner though. :) It wasn’t perfect, but the story is taking shape. I took about 1,300 words for them other novella I thought was the first and put them inn and then added to that. I’m at over 3,000.

Tomorrow will be an interruption free day–I hope :)

M. B. Weston’s Writing Diary: 01/02/15

My new year’s resolution: write every day. This sounds easier than it is. When you work full time and you come home on Friday, there are a few things you don’t want to do: 1) use your brain, 2) answer emails, 3) use your brain, 4) straighten the house, 5) use your brain, 6) figure out how on earth you’re going to get the rough draft of a novella done in two weeks.. Especially since that takes… your brain.

Seriously, on the last day of the work week, I’m toast.

But I have deadlines to meet, a resolution to keep, and goals to make happen.

And I swear, watching Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is part of meeting those goals. Seriously. Scouts honor. It’s pulp, and I was told to watch it. :)

Anyway, so… Most of my “writing” took place in the form of plotting in the shower. (Take that in the innocent spirit in which it was written.) I have to redo the concept for this first novella, and that involves some thought. So I worked out a bit of the introduction, making sure to introduce the main characters in the series to each other. I’m also coming closer to figuring out the main plot. Since my main character’s nemesis has the power to see anything in a reflection, I want to play around with the idea of smoke and mirrors… It’s going to come to me tomorrow because I’m not going to give it a choice.

Anyway, I wrote all of my ideas down directly into the manuscript, and I have therefore written today.

And if you are a writer or thinking about becoming a writer, here is a hint: you can now download Microsoft Word on your iPhone/iPad and connect it to your dropbox. So I can type a few paragraphs before I get to bed and I don’t have to wait for the computer to turn on, which is wonderful!

All right. Off to bed now! Tomorrow I want to get 7,000 words done if possible…

Toodles!

M. B. Weston’s Writing Diary: 01/01/15

So this morning, I realized that I’m writing the wrong story in this little novella series first.

That’s right. I started writing the wrong story.

Yeah, that was a great revelation… I just spent 3 days working on what is actually going to be the second story in the Michael Lodestone series, only I’m a story ahead.

Actually, without going into any spoiler detail… I basically, in 15 minutes while I was taking my morning shower, figured out the entire plot of the novella series. Well, the big picture story arc. I spent the rest of the day researching in the Internet and brainstorming. It sounds like wasted time, but now I know where I’m going with this thing.

(I also know the properties of Jade and where you can find it, and I have a nice list of mythological creatures with fangs or tusks… And I now know that a few Chinese emperors were killed drinking what they thought were elixirs of life… Yep, the research took me in an interesting direction.)

Right before I went to bed, I wrote down a whole scene of dialogue between two characters, so I even got to write some today. :)

Lesson: sometimes, figuring out that you have to start a different story can be the best thing for the series.

New goal: Finish rough draft by January 24th.

And now I am off to bed. Toodles!

M. B. Weston’s Writing Diary: 12/31/14

Today was quite interesting. Nothing like walking to work and having 20 ideas about your current writing project race through your head. I love it when that happens; it means I’m in the writing zone all the time–not just when I’m at the desk. It means my work will become more productive. It takes a few days to get there, but once I’m there, no matter where I am or what I do, I get ideas. (This is why successful writers suggest writing every day, and it’s probably why I haven’t been able to get a good flow going for a while. Losing this momentum with a few days break takes a weak to get back. I’m going to make it a goal to do something with writing–books, not blogs–every day for 2015.)

Anyway, figured out three scenes that need changing in my first paragraph. I’m going to jot notes in the prose and come back to it later when I have a better feel for the characters and where the story is going. It will look something like this:

Michael stumbled down the street, blood dripping off his jacket. [Note: the cops took his knife and he has to go back and get it.]

Came home from work early. Cleaned the house and then had to go to the vet to get special prescription food for my dog, who has a bladder stone problem. Finally back at desk around 5:00. Now its time to stare this manuscript in the face and start writing even though–let’s be honest–trying to formulate a lot of these action scenes is really frustrating. I hate writing stage directions and choreography, and that’s basically the gist of action scenes. Later I will get to fill in the blanks, like sensory details and character development, but right now… It’s like wading through mud. But my characters are still trapped in a sinking van, and I have to get them out. Oh, and add in a little surprise with one of the characters. :::grin grin:::

Got about 1000 words in and then had to leave for a New Year’s Eve party.

Toodles!

M. B. Weston’s writing Diary: 12/30/14

Wow, what a day. Worked, came home, spent just a bit of time working on getting end of year bills paid but not enough. Then left to have dinner with my sister and her husband. Came back, finished bills, walked the dog… By then, it was 11:20… I’m really trying to write every day no matter what in 2015, so I set my timer for 15 minutes and…

Well basically I sank a van in the Mississippi River and then had to leave the passengers in the van as it filled with water because my timer went off.

:::insert maniacal smile here::::

A few things I learned tonight:

Claire doesn’t want to be called Claire. I keep calling her a variety of names, but mainly Currently Mary, Kate, and Judith hopped in there once. If she keeps it up, I’m going to call her Meredith Weathersby and turn her hair grey and tie it in a tight old lady bun.

Of course, I just destroyed the vehicle my good guys need to complete their assignment… Like seriously. But, think of the conflict I just created! I love writing characters into corners because getting them out is half the fun.

I just realized that 30,000 words is four 8,000 word short stories. This is key because I divide my stories into 4ths (like a screenplay).

Writing action scenes (like, having a van fall in a river and sink) is much harder than character development scenes. seriously, it’s so much easier to have your character sit on a couch and ponder. I’ve encountered a few times in this story where I have wanted to move on an idea and really had to convince myself to do it because writing the scene would be hard. I think part of it is figuring out how my character will solve the problem.

Forcing myself to put something “on paper” (digitally speaking) each day and blog about my progress is working. I’m really excited about this. I want at least 3 books to come out this year…

Okay, folks, time for bed. I’m looking at 6 or less hours of sleep.

Toodles!

M. B. Weston’s Writing Diary: 12/29/14

Hard day today. Woke up at 3:45am because I never took a shower or removed my make-up last night. Set alarm for 6:00 so I could start jogging again, but kind of slept through it. Woke up (again) at 8:07am, giving me exactly 8 minutes to get ready for work. Got home around 4:30, answered email, balanced bank, did bills, left again for dinner.

Finally back at desk at 8:11. Brainstormed for a bit. Figured out:

The end-game for the series. (Oh yes!!!)
The beginning (Someone dies, which kinda happens a lot in my books.
I feel the “Ah Ha Moment” approaching… I also fear I’m going to have to get hold of someone familiar with shipping in NOLA…

8:44: took quick break to walk Chewie, my doggie. (Will let a few ideas simmer and see what I come up with.)

10:10 Back at desk after a bit of dog walking and thinking things through. My main character, Michael Lodestone has to intercept a shipment. I don’t know what the heck is in the shipments somewhere in New Orleans, and I might not even know until he actually reaches it, but its enough to go on. I also know his team consists of a female ex-cop with a prosthetic leg below the knee and a male computer hacker. Their names will come to me later. (I suspect the girl’s name is Claire, but I’ve heard far too much Modern Family going on in the television in the family room.) And one of them has to have blond hair because I’ve got a bunch of brunettes running around. (Ah, the joys of being a pantser.) (And don’t think I’ve given away anything because I haven’t…)

On now to the story!

Goal: 1,500 words. In 45 minutes. The quality of said words isn’t really important right now. If I do 1,500 words per night for 13 to 14 chapters, my rough ROUGH draft is done in two weeks. Having the story in my head would greatly increase the chances of this happening, but I can only work with what I’ve got, which is bits and pieces of a puzzle right now.

11:30 Fell asleep at the desk. Got about 1000 words in and figured that if I fell asleep sitting up, it might be time to turn it in. Something I’ve learned about writing: once you’re done, your done. Staying up an extra hour will only produce crud, meaning you’ve got a pile of nasty words you can’t do anything with and 1 hour less sleep. (In my case, I also seem to get sick.)

Tomorrow looks good because I get to sink a van full of people and figure out how to get them out alive! :)

Toodles!

M. B. Weston’s Writing Diary: 12/28/14

I’ve decided to keep a little online writing diary to keep myself accountable for my writing. Nothing like a little bit of public pressure to kick myself into high gear… I’ve also got a few major writing goals for this year and a few publishers asking me for stories and I thought it would be fun to share what is in the cue. This is my first entry, and I’m typing it on my iPhone in bed right before I go to sleep–for the second time, so expect entries to change over time.

Project: 30,000 word pulp novella due to Pro Se Publishing by April 15, 2014. (This was a fluke project that comes under the heading of: mention an idea to Tommy Hancock, the editor in chief/head honcho of Pro Se, at a con in late November and get the “I want it. Give it to me by April 15th.”)

The project started as a short story called “The Witch Hunter,” which is about to be published in John Hartness’s Big Bad 2 anthology by Dark Oak Press. More on that later. (Yes, it’s the one I performed at DragonCon.) I always knew it would turn into a series about Michael, a witch hunter, but I didn’t know how it would all work out.

Status: 1, 300 words complete as of yesterday. I’m a pantser, which is good and bad. The good: I get to dive right in and just start writing. The bad: sometimes I have to stop a bit and do some brainstorming. Basically, I need my “Ah ha! Moment” where I figure out the main conflict of the story and can start writing with reckless abandon…

(I, um, don’t have my “Ah Ha! Moment” yet. Today was about finding it.)

Goal: After skimming pulp novellas (I’ve never written pulp, but I’m told my writing naturally leans toward it. Won’t this just be an adventure?), I have decided I’m looking at 13 to 14 chapters of about 2,300 words each. Using a 3 act format, I know that the introduction to my story is 3 chapters. The inciting incident will take place around chapter four.

I need this information for pacing purposes. I’ve never written a novella and I don’t know how it is paced. I’ve got a deadline, so I don’t want to fool around with timing. I have thee short chapters of non-stop action to introduce my character and prove to the audience that he is going to save the world in 6,900 words. And all I have is a character with a backstory, the main villain for the series, and a setting: New Orleans.

More stupid math: my rough drafts are rough. Really rough. Basically, my writing will expand by 1/3 between the first and final drafts. (I write over my maximum word count on the second draft and then I tighten and cut in the 3rd. This means I have to write 1,500 words per chapter in my first draft if I want a final draft of 30,000 total. (I worked all this out yesterday.)

Again, this little diary is just something I’m trying to post to let everyone know what I’m doing. I don’t want to give too much away, but I also want to keep everyone excited about projects coming up, so I will give a few hints throughout the time I do this.

Premise: A long long time ago, in a year that I still don’t have a clue about (I’m thinking the dark ages), a group of powerful witches decided they would cast a spell that would give them complete immortality. I still don’t know the number of witches, which is a problem because the number of witches determines the number of stories I have to write. I’m working with either 7, 10, or 13. (Obviously such a spell would be dark and evil and would require unspeakable acts.) These witches are the ones responsible for all the fairy tales we have from around the world. They have survived the ages and are still at work in the modern age. The only way they can be killed is if one of those who has immortality disavows all magic and kills them. (Technically this is a good thing since this small group has commuted horrific capital crimes for ages.)

Part of the goal with the series is to focus on the fairy tale witches and to steer clear of anything remotely modern or real-life. I’d rather create a fake world of good verses evil so as not to offend anyone. My main villainous is the queen from Snow White, so I figure I’m safe there. (I’m still toying with linking her to Lady Bathory.)

Enter my character: Michael Lodestone.

His name: Michael, after Michael the arch-angel (because sometimes you just have to name a character quickly when you promise John Harntness you will give home a complete short story in a week). Lodestone: a last name he chose because Lodestone has anti-magical properties. Along with iron. I will work out the chemistry later.

The pulp series: Mr. Lodestone gets to hunt these 6, 9, or 12 witches… (This is what pantsing looks like. I’m a full chapter in, and I don’t even know how many people he’s fighting.)

Now that you are up to speed, here’s what I did today:

Goal: 1,500 words written.

Reality: got caught up with necessary brainstorming.

I needed to know what the bad guys would be doing, and Grimm’s fairy tales and other tales make the villains quite flat. Like, seriously, why does the witch from Hansel and Gretel eat children? Who eats children?!?! (Looks like there was a famine in Germany a while back, btw, which gives a bit more explanation.) I needed to figure out the motivations of my bad guys, so I decided to make a list of real, modern day villains. No I will not divulge my list.

Bingo! I don’t have my “Ah Ha!Moment” yet, but I have the basic premise of at least 7 novellas entered into a nice Excel Spreadsheet.

And I know the first bad guy Mr. Lodestone is hunting.

Note: tonight’s goal was cut short because I fell asleep on the couch while brainstorming… (Never brainstorm in a horizontal position after 9:00pm.) That’s why I’m posting this after 3:00am.

Tomorrow’s goal: tomorrow is a work day, so if I get 3 hours of “office time” in I will be lucky. I’m going to hope to write 1,500 words and be done with the rough chapter 2. I also need to figure out who Michael’s friends are. I know there is a girl and probably a guy. One of them is a computer hacker. One of them can fight. One of them might have only one leg… (I don’t know we’re that came up, but I can’t shake it.)

I might even have my “ah ha moment”!

Toodles!

Video: M. B. Weston Interviews D. Alan Lewis – The Lightning Bolts of Zeus

I was able to sit down for a short interview with D. Alan Lewis and chat with him about his new steampunk adventure, The Lightning Bolts of Zeus!  

Click here for more information about the Lightning Bolts of Zeus!

See the interview here:

Video: M. B. Weston & Other Authors Present “Retro Radio”

Join with M. B. Weston, other Dark Oak authors, the Expedition Unknown team, and a few other crazy people as they perform a hilarious cold read of an early radio drama at one of the Alabama Phoenix Festival‘s evening panels. Each person was given a script they had never seen before and assigned a part. The script was from a 1950’s radio show called Zero Hour, and it was modeled after some of Ray Bradbury’s short stories. Just a warning: it’s at a convention after dark, and words don’t have the same meanings now as they did in the 50’s. (This would probably be rated PG or PG-13 for some adult content.)

Unfortunately for those involved, someone had a video camera…

Retro Radio: 2014

Recorded in front of a live audience at the Alabama Phoenix Festival 2014

Tonight’s Final Cut in Movies Radio Show – The Best Movie Spoofs

Join me tonight at 8:00 EST for tonight’s Final Cut in Movies Radio Show. I’m bringing in Dark Oak Press & Media‘s managing editor, Allan Gilbreath, and we’ll be discussing the our favorite movie spoofs, including, but not limited to:

Mel Brooks (Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, Space Balls, Men in Tights)
Galaxy Quest
Monty Python
Austin Powers
the Scary Movie franchise
Spinal Tap

And non-spoof spoofs such as the The Fifth Element and the Princess Bride.

They will also talk a bit about making Attack of the Killer Beignets and its mockumentary and how it became an Indiana Jones spoof…

Listen Live at 8:00pm EST at TMVcafe.com!

Do you have M. B. Weston’s Elysian Chronicles on your Kindle yet? Get them now for only $2.99–less than the cost of a Starbucks Latte! (Click here for A Prophecy Forgotten on Kindle and Out of the Shadows on Kindle.)

Be sure to check out M. B. Weston’s YouTube Channel (YouTube.com/TheMBWeston)!

Fantasy, steampunk, and paranormal novelist M. B. Weston is the author of The Elysian Chronicles, a fantasy series about guardian angel warfare and treason. Weston is also the hose of The Final Cut In Movies radio show that airs on TMV Cafe Monday nights at 8:00 EST. For more information on M. B. Weston, visit www.mbweston.com. To receive notification of M. B. Weston’s book releases click here to subscribe to Dark Oak Press & Media’s e-newsletter.

Click here for a full listing of M. B. Weston’s published books, and be sure to check out her ever-growing list of published short stories here.