No. 45 -- Dusk Before the Dawn

by Larry Ketchersid

Started: November 30
Finished: December 3

Notes: Ancient civilizations. End of the world. Martial arts. What's there not to like?

Mini review: A fascinating mixture of mysticism, nanotechnology and martial arts. The book reminded me a bit of King's "The Stand," but not because of any story similiarities (there aren't many), but because of the way the writer deals with a multitude of characters embroiled in a world facing near-extinction. This book is an easy read, fairly short, but does a compelling job of giving you enough information about the characters and plot and settings, etc. It was a breath of fresh air to read a tight story, not something spread out over 500 or more pages.

Ramblings from the slush pile

I've been reading slush for Flashing Swords for a little while now. It has proven most educational for me, as a writer and reader and editor.

As a writer, it helps me to see things like plot holes and story structure, good and bad. I get to see when those things work and when they don't. I'm hoping this will make my own work stronger.

As a reader, I've also learned some things. Flipping through the slush has helped me determine a little more what I like and don't like about stories. Some things work for me, and some things don't. It's all just my opinion.

Here are a few things I've found or noticed:

• I'm seeing a good bit of fiction set in the Bronze Age, usually related to Babylonia, or with some kind of link to that time period. Is this the new, big thing for fantasy? I don't know. For the most part, these stories don't work much for me. Why? Because I'm not seeing anything new. Tiamet might be a weird, mysterious creature to someone who doesn't know better, but come on ... the majority of fantasy readers are going to be familiar with her and Marduk, etc.


• The stories, over all, are not as bad as I would have expected. I'd say at least one in four are worth publishing, though maybe with some rewriting.


• I've yet to see a story that I've been completely repulsed by.


• I don't care much for experimentation. This is just me. But when I'm reading a short story, by the gods, I want to read a short story. I don't want to read some faux historical text or something that twists around the ending and puts it at the beginning.


• Good antagonists are hard to find. Make your bad guys bad, but with a purpose. Don't just make them orcs or goblins or vampires or whatever. Villains need to be something more than just a thing for the good guys to kill.


• Good protagonists are hard to find. Make your main characters real people. Give them weaknesses, fears, dreams. Don't make them generic.


• I'm also seeing a good bit of Norse related material, some good and some not so much. Be careful here. Remember you're not writing an ancient saga, but a short story for a modern audience.


• Despite the fact I like to write darker material, for the most part I prefer reading jaunty stuff with a fun little attitude, at least when it comes to fantasy.


• The first paragraph can be everything. I'm not seeing a lot of good, let alone great, first paragraphs. Usually I'm seeing one of two things, lots of exposition that is quite boring, or action that is so convaluted I can't tell what's going on until I'm at least four or five graphs into a story. A little exposition up front can be good; for example, if there's a fight scene, I need to know fairly quickly what type of environment it is happening in ... a castle, cellar, open field, where? I also want to be able to tell pretty quickly who the protagonist is.


• For stories, I prefer what I call a "neutral modern" voice. This means if your story is supposed to be set in an ancient time, I don't want to see modern slang and cursing. But I also don't want to see a lot thees and thous and names so weird I can't pronounce them. Keep in mind your audience. You're not writing for a history professor nor are you writing for your peeps. You're writing for a modern audience that doesn't want to be distracted by the oddities you might use.

None of the above thoughts are set in stone. I'm sure I could find a story that goes against everything I said above, but I'd still love. I just haven't seen it yet.

The future of war is here

Just when you thought Starship Troopers and Armor couldn't be reality ... science and the military prove us wrong with this.

There ought to be a word for ...

... that thing that happens when someone pesters you about a book, telling you over and over and over how fantastic it is, even to the point of lending you the book, then you read it ...

... and it sucks ass.

And you tell the person.

And watch their mouth form into a little "O."

There should be a word for that.

Other early writings

When I was in fourth grade, I wrote my first book. Yes, fourth grade. And I think I violated copyright law. But maybe not. Today, what I wrote could be called fan fiction; it's not as if I tried to sell the book or anything.

It's title is "James Bond in: The Search for Research II." The plot was about James Bond and another spy, a guy I made up named Ron Stenburg, and their mission to find out who sunk a British science vessel, Research II. Along the way they fight all kinds of bad guys, get captured, Ron has a love interest with a girl named Julie and they come face to face with the world's most notorious hitman/villain, a guy named Stepi Rolls (boy, could I pick character names back then). When it's all over, lots of bad enemy agents are dead, Ron retires with Julie and Bond returns to England for whatever his next mission would be. Oh, and I drew pictures every 10 or so pages.

It's inspiring stuff, I'm sure.

My second novel, "Mafia Massacre," was also a rip off. I wrote in in 6th grade, and it was a book about the Executioner, Mack Bolan, and his war against the mob. I don't remember as much about this book, other than it starts with Mack having a nightmare about his days in Vietnam.

One thing I've always found surprising is the level of the writing from fourth the sixth grade. There's actually quite a bit of improvment, though I guess that's to be expected.

And I still have these two books. I wrote them in notebooks, and they're stuffed away in a box in my bedroom. Every few years I'll break them out to glance at them and remember a little of my youth.

My earliest writings.

Way back in the 1970s, when I was a kid, I began my youthful writing apprenticeship by creating comic books. I would take ruled paper and use colored markers to create my little drawings and stories on the pages, then I staple the pages together.

I started with the basic Marvel universe of super heroes, then I added my own good guys and bad guys. Eventually I had a three-ring binder full of drawings and notes about all my creations.

My main creation was a guy I called Destroyer X. He was human, but from another planet. His planet was in the middle of a civil war against a despotic wizard when a godlike being came to the man who would become Destroyer X and offered him super powers to defeat the wizard. But there's a catch. After the wizard is defeated, Destroyer X must leave his planet and go to a little place on the other side of the galaxy known as Earth. Earth needed a new protector, and this godlike being (whose name I can't remember) was in charge of finding that protector. Of course, Destroyer X agreed, defeated the wizard and went on to become Earth's new champion super hero.

I even created a super group called the Destroyers, which was made up of Destroyer X, Spider-Man, the Hulk, Rom the Spaceknight, Dr. Strange and a shifting band of others.

Man, I wish I still had those comic books and all those notes. I bet I spent hundreds and hundreds of hours putting all that stuff together, and I'm sure it's been long destroyed.

I would have been about 7 and 8 when I did all that work. We had a couple of very bad winters in a row, I missed months of school, and playing in the snow gets a little dull after a week or so. Thus I had had plenty of time to write.

Wish I had that much time to write now!

2007 in retrospect

Nope, 2007 isn't over yet, but JA Konrath has been blogging about goals, and it got me to thinking.

Did I reach my goals this years as a writer? Not quite. By looking back at this post, I realize I've fallen short. But not by much, and again, the year isn't over yet.

I had hoped to have my trilogy completly finished by the end of 2007. That's probably not going to happen. The first drafts are finished, and the first novel is completely finished, but the second novel is ready for a third rewrite/edit and the third novel is not quite finished with the first edit.

I also had hoped to start another novel by the end of the year. That definitely isn't going to happen.

I won't offer excuses, but I'll just say life has kept me very, very busy this year, and often I've been without a computer at home (or wherever I've been sleeping) for long periods of time. My writing computer still isn't set up yet at our new place, and probably won't be for at least another week or two until we can get all our stuff unpacked. Meanwhile, I've done as much trilogy editing on paper as I could.

Despite the fact I haven't reach all my goals, there were some positive things this year, and I've continued to learn as a writer.

• I had a couple of short stories published, and there might even be one or two more before the year is out, and I'm expecting/hoping at least a couple to be published near the start of 2008.


• I've reviewed books for Apex Online, which has opened me up to a whole slew of authors of whom I was unfamiliar, and has allowed me to meet and e-mail a few cool people.


• I've begun to read stories for Flashing Swords, which is actually teaching me a lot about finding strengths and weaknesses in stories. Always good knowledge, that.


• I've been rejected by editors. Yep, that has been a good thing in some instances. Why? Because it's allowed me to open correspondence with them. I wouldn't say I've made new editor friends this way, but at least my name won't be a total unknown to some of these folk.


• I've written a handful of new short stories this year, most of them very short (less than 2,000 words), allowing me to experience flash (or near-flash) writing.

I'm sure there are plenty of other ways in which I've grown as a writer this year, but those are some of the highlights. Early on in 2007 I was extremely productive, but not so much of late. Still, I'm not giving up.

The state of my health

For those who might not know, two and a half years ago I was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. That's not good, but it's maybe not as bad as it sounds. I was in and out of a hospital for a few weeks, and I had to take several months off work at the time. I had to change my eating habits and general lifestyle, and I eventually even had to change my work situation to lessen the stress in my life.

I lost a good bit of weight at the time, but since then I had put some of it back on. My eating habits slacked again, though still not as bad as it used to be.

Still, of late, I've had a lot of stress in my life due to not having full-time employment, starting my own business and moving at least twice in the last eight or so months. All that, combined with lack of sleep, and some bad eating habits (though again, not nearly as bad as it used to be), has made me go back down hill some.

I'm not in the hospital again. But I do have some minor symptoms of recurring problems with my congestive heart failure. I suffer no pain, but I do get short of breath.

Basically, my form of congestive heart failure means lots of fluid builds up around my heart, which puts pressure on my lungs and causes me the shortness of breath. At my worst, something as simple as standing up causes me to have to pause and breath heavily for half a minute or so. When I'm at my best, I'm pretty much normal.

I'm at a point, and have been for the last six or so months, where I no longer have to be on medication. My doctor had been impressed enough with my improved heart condition that I could drop my meds.

But I still have to watch what I eat. Most importantly, I have to limit my daily sodium intake and I have to watch how much liquid I drink every day.

All this is kind of funny in a couple of ways. First, I'm not a salt person; I don't even like salt on my french fries. So I would have never thought I'd have problems with sodium. But I do. Tons and tons of frozen and canned and restaurant foods are filled with sodium. You might be surprised, if you don't check how much sodium is in a lot of foods. For instance, one can of soup usually contains enough sodium for my entire daily intake. The second funny part of this is the fluid business. I've heard all my life you're supposed to have at least eight glasses of water a day. Not me. I'm not supposed to go over six, four if I'm having a bad day.

I bring all this up for two reasons. One, it's the holiday season, and yes, like everybody else in America I indulged myself over the last day or two. But I did watch myself carefully in the days before and I know I'll have to watch myself in the days to come. My breathing is already a bit harsher from all the sodium in the traditional Thanksgiving Day meal.

The second reason I bring all this up is good news. Since the first of the year, I have lost 70 pounds. Yep, that's right. 70. I won't say how much I originally weighed, because it would be too embarrasing, but let's just say I'm a big guy and have always been pretty big.

Hard to imagine fifteen years ago I lifted weights three times a week and ran four miles a day.

But no longer.

Anyway, my health isn't the greatest, but it's not awful. I could be doing better, but I feel like I've made a lot of progress. I just need to keep moving forward. I have my good days and I have my bad days, and it's always dependent on what I ate or drank the day before.

I'm getting better, slowly, a day at a time. I'll keep loosing weight, and hopefully someday, maybe in another year, I won't have ANY days where I'm short of breath.

But today, of course before I ate for Thanksgiving, I weighed myself and I had lost that 70 pounds. I'm pretty proud of myself for that.

I'm a Flashing Swords First Reader

Recently I have joined the fine people over at Flashing Swords as one of their First Readers, which means I am one of the folks who gets a first look at stories submitted to this fine publication.

This is a first for me, and I'm glad to lend a hand with their slush pile. I hope to provide editors and writers with my own little pearls of wisdom in hopes of continuing the excellence of Flashing Swords and maybe to even help it become a better publication than it already is (if that's even possible).

I'm also doing this for myself. It always helps to study other writers, to study their strengths and weaknesses, in hopes of making me a better editor and writer.

I'm glad to be part of the team.

No. 44 -- Seventh Son

by Orson Scott Card

Started: November 22
Finished: November 29

Notes: This is another author who I've never had a chance to read with the exception of a few of his shorter pieces. Thought it was time I gave him a try.

Mini review: Boring. Boring. Boring. 'Nuff said.

For all the lonely writers

Writing can be a lonely game, especially for genre writers. And I say this as someone who, to a certain extent, is constantly surrounded by writers, at least newspaper writers.

When you tell someone you are a writer, you usually get one of two reactions: a blank, dumbfounded stare that seems to say "what a waste of your time" or you get the ch-ching of money in someone's eyes as they try to think of a way to ask you to write their idea into a novel and then split the money with them. Neither reaction is very endearing. For the first reaction, I usually just ignore the person from that point on because they have no interest and I've suddenly lost interest in them because obviously they believe anything that doesn't bring an immediate return in dollar bills is garbage. For the second reaction, I usually try to pull myself away as quickly as possible, even if I have to chew off a limb to do so.

But every once in a while you get a third reaction, someone who is truly interested.

But even here, for a genre writer, the reactions are a bit different for each person, usually based upon what kind of genre or sub-genre they themselves like. If I had to place myself in a genre, I guess I'm a dark fantasy writer because I like to write fantasy and horror and I sometimes like to mix the two, but every once in a while I'll write a sci-fi or mainstream piece. But try explaining that to someone, even someone who shares some of your own interests. If I tell a genre-loving individual, who also happens to not like darker material, that I'm a horror or dark fantasy writer, I'll often get a squeamish look. If I tell someone I'm a fantasy writer, I usually hear back something like "you mean fairies and stuff?" No, I mean Conan and stuff. "Same thing." Hardly.

So, it can be lonely being a genre writer. The Internet helps quite a bit. Most of the folks I talk writing with are people I've met online or who I've known personally at one point in my life and we keep in touch online.

But with writing, specifically speculative writing, being one of my few interests nowadays, some days it's a bit difficult to make it through the day without snapping at someone else. I don't care for politics -- too abbrassive, and there's no one to root for. I've lost nearly all interest in sports -- it's just a money game now, with maybe the exception of some minor league sports. So, writing is my life. It's what I live for.

Am I going insane?

No 43 -- The Martian Child

by David Gerrold

Started: November 20
Finished: November 22

Notes: I don't normally pay a lot of attention to writing awards, but this book won both the Hugo and Nebula awards, so I thought I'd give it a shot. Picked this one up at work. I've never read any of Gerrold's prose before, though I have seen a number of TV shows he's written for (Star Trek's "The Trouble With Tribbles" being my favorite). And yes, that's John Cusack on the cover because there's a movie version of this book coming out.

Mini review: A nice, touching story, but not really my thing normally. Barely science fiction at all; in fact, if the author weren't a known sci-fi figure, I doubt this would have been classified as sci-fi.

AC/DC lyrics

Another band I don't think of as lyrically gifted, but they've had a few I really liked:

Ride On
It's another lonely evening
And another lonely town
But I ain't too young to worry
And I ain't too old to cry
When a woman gets me down.
Got another empty bottle
And another empty bed
Ain't too young to admit it
And I'm not too old to lie
I'm just another empty head.

Rock and Roll Ain't Noise Pollution
Hey there, all you middle men
Throw away your fancy clothes
And while you're out there sittin' on a fence
So get off your ass and come down here
'Cause rock 'n' roll ain't no riddle man.
To me it makes good, good sense. Good sense.

For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)
We roll tonight to the guitar bite.
Stand up and be counted for what you are about to receive
We are the dealers
We'll give you everything you need.
Hail hail to the good times
Cos rock has got the right of way.
We ain't no legends, ain't no cause
We're just livin' for today.

No. 42 -- Dexter in the Dark

by Jeff Lindsay

Started: November 17
Finished: November 20

Notes: I've enjoyed the Dexter program on Showtime for the last couple of seasons, and been meaning to check out some of the novels upon which the show is based. Fortunately, I found this one when scrounging through books at work.

Mini review: A nice change of pace, with a storyline that wasn't so linear I could pick out every plot point as it came up. This novel felt almost episodic, sort of like each chapter was an episode of a TV show, instead of an ongoing narrative. Actually, despite the dark material, this book has a fine wit to it.

The perfect song?

Happy Trails
by Dale Evans Rogers

Happy trails to you, until we meet again.
Happy trails to you, keep smilin' until then.
Who cares about the clouds when we're together?
Just sing a song and bring the sunny weather.

Happy trails to you, 'till we meet again.
Some trails are happy ones,
Others are blue.
It's the way you ride the trail that counts,
Here's a happy one for you.

Happy trails to you, until we meet again.
Happy trails to you, keep smilin' until then
Who cares about the clouds when we're together?
Just sing a song and bring the sunny weather

Happy trails to you, 'till we meet again.

My problem with modern novels, part 2

Okay, so back to bitching about modern novels.

I mentioned Hollywood, and I think that's a big part of it. It's not that Hollywood has taken over the novel publishing world, but that the novel publishing world has shifted far into the spectrum of entertainment.

There's nothing wrong with entertainment. It's entertaining. I like being entertained. But I also like a little extra from time to time. Sugar on my cereal, for example.

The film industry has almost always been one of instant gratification, stooping (so to speak) to the lowest of our emotions. That's inherent in the medium to some extent. You go to the flickers and you're out in two hours.

Novels don't have to be that way. What have you enjoyed more (usually), that novel you read in one day or that novel you delved deeply into for a month?

But to backtrack a little, even Hollywood has become more Hollywood in the last 10 or so years. I haven't seen an action movie in years (other than "V for Vendetta") that I thought had anything more to it than just fighting and death. But there have been plenty of movies that do more than just tug on your heartstrings or grab at your nut sack. And I'm even talkin' action movies.

Apocalypse Now

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Hell, even the first Matrix movie had some thematic material to it (though I think a lot of that was lost to special effects and a rush for $$$ in the sequels).

At first glance, something as action-oriented as a spaghetti western might not seem to have any substance, but that just means you're not paying attention. You have to look for the little things.

When I look for the little things in modern movies, I find nothing but romantic comedies with weak jokes and the latest big sci-fi/war/historical/action flick that has nothing but meaningless deaths. There's no unspoken agendas, no secrets to look for, no characters to feel empathy for ... no nothing.

I realize I'm talking a lot about modern film here when I'm supposed to be talking about the modern novel, but again, that's because I feel the publishing industry has gone Hollywood to a large extent.

And let me add, I'm not saying all modern novels are bad. I am definitely not saying all modern novels I've read recently are bad. I'm just saying I wish they had a bit more substance to them.

Maybe I expect too much. I realize someone who reads as much as myself can't expect every book to take me to nirvana.

BUT BY GOD THE AUTHORS SHOULD AT LEAST TRY!

I say that because I believe a lot of writers have fallen into formula writing, much like screenwriting (which I do have some experience with). You have your beginning, middle and end. You have your protagonist. You have your antagonist. The beginning: the protagonist has a problem. The middle: the protagonist tries in various ways to solve his or her problem but runs into trouble against the antagonist. The end: The protagonist usually finds a way to solve the problem, though sometimes they fail.

I like screenwriting. I enjoy it. It has taught me a lot and it brought me out of my writer's block a few years ago.

But again, does every single friggin' new novel have to read like it's a screenplay?

Far too many publishers are seeking material that's like a screenplay, in my opinion. Heck, if you look around at enough publishers' Web sites, a number of them even come right out and say it.

They want no exposition. Lots of action. Action-oriented dialgoue. Little-to-no description. Fast. Fast. Fast. Keep the reader going, going, going.

Shit. Ed McBain's the only writer I know who can pull that off. And he did it well.

We as writers should expect more of ourselves, our publishers and our readers. We also owe more to ourselves and to our publishers and our readers.

I hate to sound all artistic, and I don't mean to. And, I'll admit, this blog post actually sounds stronger than I normally feel about this topic.

But, come on. All I see on the bookshelves at stores are rip-offs of Harry Potter (a seven-book series about a new mystery in each book) or "The DaVinci Code" (definitely a mystery).

You other writers out there: Give me more. Give me better. As a reader I deserve it and want it. As a writer, I'm going to start expecting it.

To speak in film terms again, I'm tired of nothing but VanDamm and Adam Sandler
flicks. I'm ready for some Coppola movies.

My problem with modern novels, part 1

My recent post about theme and a few other comments here and here have gotten me to thinking lately about modern novels and one of their big downfalls.

I believe a problem with many modern novels is the lack of a strong theme or a theme that is hidden so well you have to buy a telescope to find it.

Most of my reading habits jump around. I read some older material, classical literature then non-fiction then pulp fiction then modern fiction. I hate to sound like one of those old foggies who always says "things were better in the old days," but for the most part I have to say that's true when it comes to fiction.

I've read a decent amount of modern novels in the last few years. One big element I see in nearly all of them is the element of mystery. Mystery is fine. It draws you in and can keep the interest level high. But I seem to notice a lot of mystery without a lot of character development and not a strong overall theme.

Unless you consider a theme to be something as simple as "oh, we figured out the big mystery" or "oh, we survived that big deadly thing and now we're stronger for it." Those can be themes (though simplistic for my own tastes), and there's nothing wrong with a good romp of action and adventure with some mystery thrown in.

But, the problem is this ... that's about ALL I'm seeing in modern fiction. There's a mystery set up in early chapters, then very quickly you get to know the main protagonist and his or her sidekick, then they have to fight through a bunch of stuff to get to the end where they finally unfold whatever the big secret is.

Again, there's nothing wrong with that kind of fiction. It's enjoyable, it sells, but for the love of God, can someone come up with a new plot? Can someone come up something that has a little more depth to it than that?

And I don't mean to pick on the mystery genre, or any other singular genre. I'm seeing this across the board in all genres.

Don't get me wrong. I like a good mystery from time to time, but all I'm seeing in modern novels ... from Harry Potter to horror fiction to lots of fantasy fiction ... is mystery after mystery with not a whole lot of context.

Maybe I need to read more modern stuff. Or maybe I'm right and the publishing industry has sold out to Hollywood.

More later ...

A problem worth having

So, for the first time in probably two decades, I have my to-be-read pile down to three books. It's usually somewhere between 15 and 30 books, but I've intentionally been trying to whittle that pile down because I got tired of looking at it (and because a lot of books I'm excited to read seem to lose their luster after I've stared at them for a few years).

Then I go to my newspaper job. We get lots of books for free. Tons of them. At least 5 or 6 a day for review. However, we're generally not supposed to take them.

Until today. The book editor decided she wanted to clean out her office, so she took about 20 mail crates full of books and lined them up in an empty office. Then she passed the word that anybody could have any books they wanted.

At first I cursed. Then I think my eyes went all goo-gooey and I plied my way through those boxes of books like Renfield scouring his cell for rats to eat. I came away with about 20 books, mostly novels.

That was at dinner time. I took a box of those 20 books to my Explorer.

Then it was back to work.

And I kept hearing that office calling to me, saying "There are still plenty of homeless, orphaned books here waiting for you to provide them shelter."

So, toward the end of the night I scampered back to the books and perused them once more. This time I only came away with a dozen books.

I didn't want to be greedy or anything.

No. 41 -- 99 Coffins

by David Wellington

Started: November 14
Finished: November 17

Notes: This one is for another book review. I'll admit, I'm kind of tired of the whole vampire thing, but this one has a Gettysburg link to it. So, I might find it interesting. Also, I've never read this author before, and I always like discovering another talent. Also, the cover you see at right might not be the final cover; this image is of a galley.

Mini review: The first half of this novel is pretty straight-forward mystery stuff, but the second half picks up nicely and is nearly nothing but action, action, action. A small town (modern Gettysburg) has to defend itself against a group of vampires, and it's one heck of a battle.

Apex Digest subscription drive

Okay, all you spec fiction writers ... you're always saying publications don't pay enough for their short stories, but here's a chance for you to directly improve that situation.

Apex Digest is currently holding a subscription drive with one big goal in mind: to improve payments for short fiction.

If 100 new subscriptions, the new rate will be 2.5 cents per word.
If 200 new subscriptions, the new rate will be 3.0 cents per word.
If 500 new subscriptions, the new rate will be 5.0 cents per word.

Multiple-year subsciptions are also available.

The drive is running through Nov. 30, so see what you can do. Even if you can't afford a subscription, maybe you can help by passing along word about the drive.

Van Halen lyrics

While Van Halen isn't band I normally think of as a "lyrics" band, they still have a few that have caught my ear over the years.

Runnin' With the Devil

I live my life like there's no tomorrow
And all I've got I had to steal.
Least I don't need to beg or borrow
Yes I'm living at a pace that kills.

I found the simple life ain't so simple
When I jumped out on that road.
I got no love, no love you'd call real
Ain't got nobody waiting at home .

Runnin' with the devil.



Ain't Talkin' About Love
I been to the edge
and there I stood an' looked down .
You know I lost a lot of friends there baby,
I got no time to mess around.
So if you want it got to bleed for it baby .
Yeah, got to got to bleed baby.
Ain't talkin' 'bout love .

My love is rotten to the core.


And the Cradle will Rock ...
At an early age he hits the street
and winds up tied with who he meets,
and he's unemployed.
His folks are overjoyed.
And the cradle will rock.

A matter of themes

Themes, or "meanings" to stories, are essential. Every story should have some kind of theme, some kind of emotional quotient that usually affects the main protagonist. Usually this means a change of mindset for the main character by the end of the story, but not always; sometimes a characters views or ideas are merely reinforced by what happens in a story.

Now you might be asking yourself (or asking me), "but what about stories that are just for entertainment?" True, there are plenty of those, but deep down (maybe even hidden very well) there is some sort of theme to the story, even if it's not some big, eye-opening, world-shaking idea. A story without any kind of theme whatsoever is not a story. It's merely a string of events.

Don't believe me? Then go read some short stories that are action oriented ... I'll suggest maybe a Conan story by Robert E. Howard, or a Calthus story by Steve Goble. Yep, you'll find lots of action and adventure, heads rolling, bodies falling, stuff like that ... but I guarantee by the end of the story the protagonist has learned something either about himself, his world or other characters. That's where the theme comes in. Again, if a main protagonist learns nothing ... absolutely nothing ... then you don't have a story, just stuff happening.

Now, I'm not a writer who usually ponders the themes to my stories before writing, and often not even while writing. But I do look my stories over for a theme once they've been written. In all my stories (at least my decent ones), there will be a theme. It's not a theme I planned, and maybe not even one I like or agree with, but it will be there. That might be lazy writing on my part, but I have found that when I try to push a theme (ie., agenda) into a story, the story almost always falls flat. So I try not to think about my themes too much until I've written.

Where I stand with my writing

Not a lot of writing or editing the last month or so, but most of that's because I've been busy moving and working.

However, I did manage to write a few short stories and I've got 15 stories circulating the slush piles. Usually, as soon as I get a rejection, I send it right back out. Unless I'm saving a story for an upcoming reading period, or I know of a new market that's getting ready to open up soon. I do have one story I'm holding onto for those reasons.

As for the trilogy, I've been able to do a little editing on paper, but I've actually not sat down in front of a computer to work on the story in nearly two months. The computer I write on, and which has all my chapters stored (yes, I have backups on burnt CDs) has been in storage until yesterday. So, I'm looking forward to getting back to the trilogy. It's nearly finished. All the editing (on paper, anyway) is done except for a chapter I added and another chapter I'm thinking about adding. After that I have to go back over books two and three one more time for line editing, looking for the little stuff ... spelling, grammar, etc.

Meanwhile, book 1 of the trilogy is sitting at a certain publisher's, waiting to be discovered. They're already several months over their own reading time, but I'll let the book sit there at least through the end of the year. After that, I'll be submitting it elsewhere, and maybe to a few agents.

A blog worth discovering

If you haven't checked out short story writer Jim Van Pelt's blog at A Place for Strangers and Beggars, I suggest you do so. Not only is Jim a writer, but sometimes he's also an editor of one anthology or another (most recently "Hardboiled Horror") and he is a teacher.

Over the past few months I've been checking out his blog, and he often has interesting topics, sometimes quite analytical of the short story writing process (a lot of which also applies to novels and other forms of creative writing).

Jim also brings some of his teaching to the blog, discussing elements of story crafting that he has discussed or is working on with his students. I feel like I've learned a good bit of late just studying what he says about his classes.

And Jim seems to be pretty down to earth. While he might talk about the artistic side of writing, he also keeps it real by sometimes talking about the academic or business angles.

THE zombie movie

World War Z, one of the best books I've read in the last few years and my all-time favorite book dealing with zombies, is being made into a movie. According to IMDB and other sites, it is being produced by Brad Pitt's Plan B Entertainment and is scheduled to be released sometime in 2008. The screenplay is still being worked on.

Before you jump the gun and think "great, another zombie movie, who needs it?" I want you to know "World War Z" is much more than just a zombie book. It's a novel told in interviews with people who survived the rise of and the war with the zombie. It's a novel of a zombie war as if told by Ken Burns. "World War Z" is full of tales of survival, a few comedic and a few horrific and many touching. The chapter dealing with pets, specifically dogs, was one of the most moving sections of the book. The political spectrum of the new world after the zombie invasion is also quite interesting (though I myself found this part a bit unrealistic -- Cuba as a new world power? I don't think so).

I'm quite excited about the movie, and hope they don't screw it up by turning it into a straight horror flick or even a horror comedy.

The Dune connection

Okay, I'm reading Dune, by Frank Herbert, for the first time. I'm about 160 pages into the novel and I've been reading it for about four days.

I carry a book with me just about everywhere. I keep it out on my desk at work so I can catch a page or two here and there while I'm waiting for other people to finish their job so I can finish my job.

So, in these last four days I've counted twelve people have walked by my desk and commented on my reading Dune.

I always have a book on my desk, and at most, I get one or two people commenting upon it. But everybody is commenting about this book. I'm not getting bad news about it, but not necessarily good, just people saying they had read it.

Is the book that popular? I mean, people who have hardly ever spoken to me at work have commented on Dune. People who have only ever spoken to me for professional reasons have commented on Dune.

It's weird.

A fantastic prize!

I recently won a prize for a contest over at Howard Von Darkmoor's blog.

I found it in the mail tonight when I got home from work, and what a prize it is! It's a hardback called The Art of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire.

I've only flipped through the book so far, but it looks great! The artwork is fantastic, and letting me know I need to read Martin's work.

HvD, thanks for the great book! Glad I could win it. Looking forward to any future contests.

Hmmm ... maybe I need to come up with a contest of my own?

It's Nov. 5 -- Happy Guy Fawkes Night

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The gunpowder treason and plot,
I know of no reason
Why gunpowder treason
Ever should be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t’was his intent
To blow up King and Parliament.
Three-score barrels of powder below
To prove old England’s overthrow;
By God’s providence he was catch’d
With a dark lantern and burning match.
Holloa boys, holloa boys,
Let the bells ring!
Holloa boys, holloa boys,
God save the King!
A penny loaf to feed the Pope,
A farthing o’ cheese to choke him,
A pint o’ beer to rinse it down,
A faggot o’ sticks to burn him.
Burn him in a tub of tar.
Burn him like a blazing star.
Burn his body from his head.
Then we’ll say the Pope is dead.

Writer/editor relationships

As a writer, I have several friends who are editors of one publication or another. I also know several other editors by name, though I wouldn't necessarily call them a friend, more of an acquaintance.

So, the neurotic bunch that we writers often are, we have to face sending our work to not only editors, but editors who might know us fairly well, sometimes even quite well.

This could be unnerving for the writer as well as the editor. The writer is hoping to please this person he or she knows, but is also looking to make another sale. The editor, on the other hand, doesn't want to disappoint this friend/acquaintance and also wants to deal with their story fairly in comparison to other stories received.

The best way to deal with this is to keep it professional.

Yes, you can cut up and have a laugh with your editor or writer friends, but when it gets down to the nitty gritty of publishing, keep in mind that it's a business (even if big money, or any money at all, isn't involved).

There's one big reason to do this. To keep a good relationship going, and I'm not just talking about the friendship part of the relationship. I'm talking about the business relationship, the writing relationship and the publishing relationship (which can all boil down to the same thing).

I'd much rather a friend editor reject one of my stories and us stay on good terms, than for him or her to have to fret over it or even worse, accept the story just because they know me. That would not be good for them, their publication, nor for me as a writer.

You see, any publication I submit to, I want them to have the best possible stories even if it does not include one of my own. Why? Selfish reasons. Eventually they are likely to publish one of my tales, hopefully for the right reasons, and it will shine all the more coming from a respected publication and while packaged with other good stories.

I'm in this for the long haul, not just to get one story published.

Latest Apex Digest book review

My full review for The Princes of the Golden Cage is now up right here.

Check out some of the other reviews and stories while you're at Apex Digest Online.

No. 40 - Dune

by Frank Herbert

Started: November 2
Finished: November 14

Notes: Yep, I've never read this sci-fi classic. Figured it was about time I did.

Mini review: I'm not quite sure this one deserves the cult status it has fostered, but it was still a damn good book. Started well, but for me, it bogged down for about a hundred pages in the middle, then it picked up again at the end. Most of this tale is sort of political and military intrigue, with spiritual/religious overtones that seem to have more to do with heavy drugs than they do with any kind of creator or mythology (but that's just my opinion). Yep, I'd recommend this one to anybody, even you, von Darkmoor.

New publication and new market

There's a new publication in town, folks. It's called Noctem Aeternus.

I don't know much about them yet, but they kick off in January 2008 and feature an interview with Rob Zombie, a story from Ramsey Campbell and lots more. Looks very well done, and I hope they do well.

Apparently it will mainly be a horror publication, but it looks as if they are seeking other genres too, but with a horror element.

Oh, and for you writers, the Web site's guidelines say they pay 10 cents a word!