Category Archives: Writing

Writers as Sociologists

In Sociology, one learns that societies are bound together by a series of ongoing and dynamic relationships each with their own set of rules. Societies have also interesting subcultures which may operate in opposition to and be hidden from the larger world.

Rather than studying worlds, writers create them. From a blank page, they build societies and subcultures with very clear sets of expectations on how members treat each other. These norms may be written down or stay in the writer’s head just under the surface. When a rule is revealed or violated can add drama to a story.

As a person moves between societies whether as a transient or more permanent member, they go through a process of assimilation, learning what is desired of a good citizen. So it is in a story where we are introduced to a character in a new situation. Through their eyes, we assimilate and conform to their world’s expectations gradually as well. In the Amazi Series, I captured the immigrant process in 1890s America but with a steampunk twist. Creating such a work could not be done without an intensive study of the time macroscopically including economic trends. You see the characters over time dealing with basic needs such as housing, language, social acceptance, work, leisure, new technology, and love. Along the way you learn how people thought and acted at the time.

One thing that can be jarring is working on two series at the same time with different sets of rules. For me, it would be tough dealing with The Corporate Intent Series (a dynamic and sometimes violent world which is no holds barred) and Olivia Plymouth Series (a much safer world where certain things cannot happen) at the same time.

One interesting writing exercise is violating the rules in the early edits. This gives insight into what is possible for a character or a scene. Then the later edits return to what is expected. This is what I have done in the Olivia Plymouth Series. The original version of the current book was darker and more violent. But leaving the book like that wouldn’t be an Olivia story.

So the next time when you are thinking of creating a world of fire-breathing plants or flying puppies, perhaps crack open a sociology book to learn how a society really works. Study subcultures of the past and present to learn the rules of the page. The result will be a richer work.

Organizing Olivia Plymouth

Introduction

The two Olivia Plymouth International Traveler and Fashion Consultant books and one story have been my best-selling series to date. These were originally created in the early 2000s and sat on the shelf until 2012.

I always envisioned writing four books for the series. This blog concerns the effort to create and distribute the last two books.

Challenges

The challenges being faced are:

Planning two books at once.
Capturing continuity across the series.
Developing the overall story arc.
Organizing the book bibles.

This is the first time that I have planned two books at once. I just recently completed the following process and started writing.

Planning two books at once

This was fairly easy to do because

It is one continuous story with two distinct phases and emotional feels.
There is a logical break in the story to end the third and begin the fourth book.

Continuity and story arc

Fortunately, it is fairly easy to resume work. There are some things that greatly helped:

An “odds and ends” idea list for both books.
3000 words of Book #3 written between 2004-9.
A Book Three Bible that had the chapter names revealing the plot direction.
The prophecy from the Story that told what was to happen.

The next step below also helped as well

Organizing Olivia Book Bibles

Since creating the last Corporate Intent and Saving Eddie books, I use Wikidpad to build a story bible and track the creation/publication progress.

The software can be downloaded here:

http://wikidpad.sourceforge.net/

I re-read the above works and then created a wiki of key characters and places. This is invaluable for these reasons:

Capture key sentences from previous works to be reused or rephrased.
Note items to be added to the last two books for continuity.
Unanswered questions or topics from previous books to be explored.
Key hyperlinks and research topics are organized.
Handy to use as a project planner and tracker.
Got me quickly into the “Olivia Plymouth mindset.”

The amount of storage for this information — 400 K.

Did the above make a difference? I will know when the books are completed in 2015.

References

More on the series can be found at the link below.

Olivia Plymouth Series

https://www.smashwords.com/books/byseries/1730

http://wikidpad.sourceforge.net/help/

Encountering and Overcoming Writer’s Shanks

Introduction

There seems to be a lot of articles on overcoming writer’s block. But I see next to nothing on overcoming writer’s shanks. A shank in golf is a bad mishit. The same thing can happen to writers. They undergo a dark night of the soul where everything written seems wrong, bad, forced, or some other means of being unsatisfactory. I went through this briefly while creating In Small Doses 3 (a collection of short stories).

How I Overcame the Shanks

It took awhile. But the following things helped me return to “the usual level.”

Have faith in yourself

You alone know what you are capable of. Things are always changing and eventually inspiration will come back. This is not the time to get depressed or angry.

Throw nothing out

At a later point of time, you may see that your content was not really that bad or just needs some minor changes. This is what happened with ISD3.

Keep writing

Try writing on something you are comfortable with. Soon you should regain your confidence to tackle again the challenging topics.

Rest and Recharge

Take a walk, watch a movie, plant some seeds. Whatever it takes for you to rejuvenate. You may have been pushing yourself too hard.

Celebrate every small victory

Be kind to yourself. For every time you get one step closer to being on track celebrate. It will keep reinvigorating you.

Remember

And once again you are happily writing full steam, briefly write down your “shanks period” and what you did to overcome it. So there is no next time or it occurs for a shorter duration.

Please share if you have encountered the “writer’s shanks” and how you overcame it!

Eight Reasons Why Saving Eddie is Different

I recently completed Saving Eddie, a fictionalized paranormal retelling of Edgar Allan Poe’s life. This is different from any of my other books for the following reasons:

It crosses genres. The book is a biographical mystery with romantic and paranormal elements. It attempts to seamlessly merge these elements together.
It uses unique plot devices. It is based on Arthur Rimbaud’s idea of a “season” covering the key periods in Poe’s life. The book is mostly told through two imaginary journals including one of Edgar’s mostly unknown real-life brother Henry. Henry also is deciding throughout the book when would be best to save his brother’s life.
It provides a different perspective on Poe’s life. There are many different books on this great author. But few are written from the perspective on why he could so clearly describe the ideals of beauty and the depths of human madness. It provides a theory on the disastrous consequences of his being constantly in debt. Some of his lesser known works are also highlighted.
It is well-researched. Diving into primary resources as well as visiting many of the places where he resided made this the most researched book that I have done to date.
It uses lengthy chapters. Typically I write short chapters. However, in this case, a chapter was written for each “season” of Edgar’s life. Using the “one long take” approach allows the reader to better understand the ups and downs of that period.
Use of unreliable narrators. The two journal writers in the story are caught up with their own emotional biases and may make misleading judgments. Along the way, you watch them both grow.
A preview copy and cover was released early. It had the most downloads in the shortest period of time of all my book samples.
It is not a retread. Another author could have made this a rehash of Killing Thoreau with time travel. But I decided to go into unfamiliar and more challenging territory instead.

This was a highly satisfactory experience that I hope you have as much fun reading as I did creating,

Why “Saving Eddie” is Different

After completing the powerful and dynamic Corporate Intent Series, I needed a follow-up before diving into the final two Olivia Plymouth books. The answer came while watching a video on Edgar Allan Poe’s life. I would write an alternate paranormal retelling of this original writer. How to do it took longer to figure out. Telling it from the viewpoint of his ghostly brother and a female admirer that watches Poe mostly from afar would be the viewpoints used.

Saving Eddie is different and more challenging than anything else that I have done:

Using Arthur Rimbaud’s idea of a season corresponds to one chapter. So this meant longer chapters that had to be self-contained stories. Having a “partially omniscient” narrator being Henry Poe also solved many issues. There are gaps in Poe’s life that allowed for original scenes. Using the paranormal also nicely explains some of the whys in Poe’s life.

I am having a lot of fun writing this. You can read the initial chapters at GoodReads