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.