Inkwell

Finding the time?

Been awhile since I've written...been awhile since I posted...been awhile since I laid in the sun and just kicked back and roasted (hey - it rhymes...I'm no poet)

Such is the life of the writer who also has to have one foot in the "real world". The Real World isn't just a show on MTV...sometimes it is a life-sucking reality from which there seems no escape. That is where writing comes in (at least for me...I guess for some, there is music, jogging, or mind altering substances).

What I have historically had trouble with, and I don't think I'm alone here, is in finding the time. Then again, maybe the time is there, and I just have to find the focus to devote that time to WRITING. For example, I find the time to miss very few pro football games (Go Titans!). Now, to my credit, I have managed to kick my TV and movie-junkie habits for the most part (except for football - Go Titans!).

Now, if I could just pull away from all video games. Yep, there...I said it. I'm a grown man, with kids and a job and a mortgage and all that rot, yet I still get pretty jazzed about blowing up starfighters or taking a sword and hacking up Orcs in some virtual world (Lately, it's been City of Heroes for those MMORPG-philes out there).

So, by the time I get finished with my daily grind and get home, hang with the kids, see the wife and finally retire to the study...what wins out...some mind numbing carnage on the 17-inch screen? Or a creative escape to a world of my own creation? Well, the right answer would be the latter, but the former often has an irresistible pull.

Here's a glimpse into my personal life...I try never to be whiny or self pitying and I don't want to bring a lot of angst to my blog. Having said that, get ready for the whiny, self-piteous angst....

Of late, my "real job" has been pretty stressful. I would daresay it has been getting in the way of my creativity. There are times it feels like all those folks I answer to at work basically set me on fire at 8:00 (sharp) and I just burn away until 5 or 6 when I finally escape to my house, extinguish the flames and do it all again the next morning. Why do I say all of this? To point out the fact that I have crept out of balance. I think balance is critical to a creative mind.

Balance doesn't mean hours and hours of writing time each day. That would be great, and Stephen King does it. So does R.A. Salvatore. You and me though? We have to steal it when we can (and they did too at one point in their lives). So, my compadre, we must seek balance. We have to work, and do well (so we keep getting our annual 2% merit increases - thanx corporate America! I'll be living the dream in 600 years!) We have to fulfill all of our other roles (Father, son, brother, husband, friend, wife, daughter...whatever you've got) and we have to do it all with a little reserve left to pour into our creative venture. It's not easy...I am no master, in fact, right now I need to adjust the balance some. Does it mean I quit my job, sequester myself away from the wife and kids and ignore my folks? Nah....I take less responsibility at work, as much as I can afford. I enlist my wife's aid so that my time with the kids is quality time. After they hit the sack, I give her a kiss, make sure she is happy and well adjusted and then I have to force myself to write...maybe a word, maybe a sentence, maybe a paragraph, page or chapter. The point is, keep a little back from "old man world" and save it for yourself (and us - your future readers). Write...write...write...later, we will get it right!

JG

Best Fantasy Worlds

What is the single best fantasy/sci- fi world out there?

Man that is a hard question and it really gets to what should be in a "created" world. I mean there are the worlds of Star Trek and Star Wars which are so vast and well characterized. Obvioulsy, many people feel at home in these worlds, so much that they spend a large part of their lives there(which might seem a little odd, but hey, to each his own - I've spent a great deal of time in both myself).

Both Trek and Wars though, while they grew out of the vision of a single guy (Roddenberry and Lucas respectively) have since had others add to the milieu so to speak.

I am thinking about one world, completely envisioned by a single guy and then developed so well that we feel it is real. Of course, many of us would say the master would be Tolkien. As the images above show, however, I think Dune would almost qualify as just such a world. What a great place Frank Herbet gave us with those books.

What makes these uniquie? Is it merely the detail? I don't think so. I think those can be found in other, less well-loved worlds. I think it is the consistency of having the one voice. One guy thought of the races, the languages, the places. One guy wrote the books that introduced us (another great one is Redwall by Brian Jacques). We could all come up with a whole list of these worlds. RObert Jordans, Terry Brookes, Stephen King's Dark Tower, etc. etc. etc.
We wander in those worlds and find ourselves entranced as much with the storyteller as the setting and thus it all combines to form a place we want to visit again and again.

Don't get me wrong...Star Trek and Star Wars have great appeal, but even then, we fans seem to gravitate to a particular "voice" in that world. For example, I like Peter David's Star Trek voice and I love Timothy Zahn's vision of Star Wars.

So what's the morale? Hell if I know, but I think I have discovered something about fantasy worlds. The detail is only part of the draw. The thing that will keep people coming back is the passion the writer has for the world and its inhabitants. So I guess I would just offer that as a caution to us sci-fi/fantasy writers. Any of use can generate a detailed list describing a "new world", but if its not immersive enough that you want to live there, then chances are no one else will even want to visit.

Adios,
JG

Books on Writing

This is not meant to be a full book review of books on writing - Just some that I think are essential "Dos" and so far one that I think is a pretty big "Don't". Of course, I am a huge softie and I don't want to totally pan someone else's stuff - so instead of "Don't" I will use the phrase "Do - but last".

So, my personal favorite book on writing? Easy "Sometime the Magic Works" By Terry Brooks.
This is my personal favorite because I find it conversational and inspirational. It's not, unfortunately, the most useful I've come across as it is sort of a discussion of Terry and how he writes and how he got where he's at. It is still great though (Despite some people's view of Terry's works - he even discusses that a little bit).

My next favorite (which is much more practical and was actually useful in changing how I write) is: "The Elements of Style" by Strunk and White.
This book is fantastic for helping with those mechanics!

My third fav would have to be "HOw to Write a Damn Good Novel" By James Frey. This one is inspirational and fantastically useful. There is a whole series of these, but this first one is (IMHO) the best.

Next would have to be "On Writing" By Stephen King. This one is only marginally practical, but it is written in signature King style and is imminently readable and inspirational. If you likes King's books, this one is fantstic!

Finally the one I didn't love so much. It is "The Plot Thickens" by Noah Lukeman. It's not atrocious or anything and is pretty informative. I could sum it up by saying it would make a good textbook. Not all that inspirational and not that great of an idea generator. It is the antithesis of King's book. King presents a "No plotting" style to mimic real life where as Lukeman's book has all of these exercises to get characters and subplots "just so". I don't know about you, but with a real job, three kids and a wife, by the time I finished all of Noah's complex exercises, I would be three years down the road and would have never written a page. Probably useful for some who have trouble getting started. Not a bad one-time read, and even I'll keep it around for reference, but it hits the bottom of my list. (Sorry Noah) I apologize to Noah because he is pretty noted in the field and I don't want to make any enemies!

Well, that's my list! There are tons more, but those are the ones I've been toiling with recently.

Have a great and safe and ahppy Fourth of July weekend!!! (And write four thousand pages by Tuesday!)

JG

How Much is enough?

1,000 words a day? 5,000 words a day? 1 word a day?

How much is enough for those writers like myself who also have a "real job". Stephen King in his book "On Writing" said he recommended 1,000 words a day "just to get started". That is awesome advice, if you can manage it day in and day out. Me, there are times I can't average a word a day...okay, I have written a thousand words a day for a few days so I guess I have averaged a word a day for awhile, but you take the point. I will say I have not managed the 1K words a day as recommended by the esteemed Mr. King. I have three kids, a job and a wife...sue me.

Now, let me say this, instead of just being gripey at a noted and respected author making a statement that I cannot claim to adhere to. I would love to write a thousand a day, and in fact, it is my new motto. I will let you know how I do. My personal recommendation though, if 1K is too much for you (some recommend as much a 2-5K) then how about one sentence? I have found it hard to write just a single sentence, so usually it turns into more than that, but on those days when the kids won't go to bed, the job has really sucked and the wife needs her hunka hunka burnin' love, then once I sit down and write at least a single sentence, I feel better. I feel like I have progressed in my writing career and that I have not laughed in the face of the muse who sometimes graces my presence.

So, how much is enough? whatever you can muster mister, now get off the internet and go write something!

JG

Cool Resource

One thing I wanted to do with a Blog was to collect links and other resources for writers. This is one I stumbled across recently that is a Canadian site. It is interesting because it is pretty eclectic in the things it contains. Of particular interest is the section on "writing tips". It has some pretty concise and interesting tips.

http://www.writersblock.ca/

I don't know about the rest of you out there, but my mechanics could always use a little polishing. I throw in adverbs where I should not, I end sentences in prepositions, and my dialogue mechanics are always a bit twitchy. Oh well, I tell myself, it's a journey, not a destination. If I wait for perfection, then I will be waiting a LONG time.

Cheers,
JG

Fortunate are those who can laugh at themselves...

...For they will never lack for a source of amusement...

Well, I rambled on for quite a while today...interesting anecdote though...if you've got the time, give it a read...I narrowly avoided a mortifying experience and my closest friend took the brunt of it for both of us...

One thing that is important to remember in life is that we simply should not take life, or ourselves, too serioulsy. To do so is to miss out on some great opportunities. I will elaborate.

I wrote the "mission statement" for my little blog yesterday. I launched the whole idea as a way for me to sort of present ideas and tips and links for other writers out there. I viewed myself more as a facilitator than an expert. I just thought a site detailing some experiences (good and bad) and some pointers (also probably good and bad) might help out those who were just getting started.

So, I gathered a few of my writing books and began browsing the web for sites of interest. One of the books I picked up from my personal collection was "The Elements of Style" by Strunk and White. If you don't have this book, and you want to write, do youself a favor and go pick it up. Don't take my word for it. It is also highly touted in Stephen King's "On Writing". Click Here...see for yourself

Anyway, as I thought about the elements of style, I decided to write a short piece on how important a well versed vocabulary can be in establishing the tone of a work. Well, as soon as I thought about this, a sadly humorus story from my high school days surfaced that I think emphasizes the need for appropriate word usage more than all of the preaching I could do on the subject.

The year was 1989 and my good friend Scott Greer and I had a painful crush on Mrs. (Yep...Mrs.) Richards, a young and attractive teacher who was probably not more than ten years older than we were as seniors. To this day, I have no idea what Mrs. Richards taught though it makes my story much more ironic to me if she was an English teacher. She may have been. I don't know.

In any event, we were hopelessly in love with her and for some reason, in a fit of high school egocentricity, we convinced ourselves she was flirting with us. We decided to approach her about it, confess our feelings and then let Mrs. Richards select one of us to subsequently launch into a tawdry affair the likes of which one might read about in the pages of Hustler magazine.

Now in my Senior year, I was doing allright with girls, mainly because I targeted those with egos more sorely bruised than my own. Even still, I was much to afraid to approach a teacher. Not so with my friend Scott Greer, class stud and Mr. self-confident. Even still, looking back, he must have been somewhat intimidated by the situation as we decided the best course of action would be to write a letter to Mrs. Richards. So, we sat in the cafeteria one afternoon and wrote the letter. We poured over every phrase and impressed ourselves with our own eloquence. We polished the letter until it was perfect. We though it nearly dripped with romanticism and naked sexual charisma. We left it on her desk and fled.

In some sort of adolescent wisdom, I had managed to inspire Greer into this action and I had been involved in drafting the (now infamous) letter, but I avoided having my name attached to it somehow. So it was little surprise when the very next afternoon, Scott Greer was summoned before the Assistant Principal. At SDHS, the Assistant Principal was Mrs. Young. Mrs. Young was a great Principal. She was friendly and fair and she was an unbelivable disciplinarian. We had always been on her good side. Her bad side was reserved for miscreants and malcontents. Now one of us, Scott, was about to see another side of Mrs. Young. We had become miscreants if even for a short time.

It seems our letter panicked poor Mrs. Richards as I had convinced Scott he should indicate how he had seen her looking at him. I thought perhaps she might have feelings for him of which even she was unaware. I thought if he pointed this out to her, she might find herself suddenyl ensnared in the bonds of lust. Man, was I wrong.

Now, I know at this point the story doesn't seem all that funny...but one of our best lines was where Scott implored Mrs. Richards to take the letter serioulsy and not to view it as a joke. In our desire to impress the young teacher we attempted to flex what little vocabulary adolescent boys being raised in southern Tennessee might possess. In the letter Scott had drafted, we had implored Mrs. Richards not to view his advances as a GESTATION. Of course what we meant was a GESTICULATION. Two words of quite different meanings. (And even the second wasn't used entirely properly - ah...young love)

What had started out as our attempt to have a sort of male-Lolita type affair, turned into something a bit more embarrassing. My friend, normally confident and unflappable to a fault, was laughed out of the Asst. Principal's office by both Mrs. Young and Mrs Richards. Our misuse of Gestation was not the only odd turn of phrase, but was perhaps the most humorous. Looking back, I can still imagine our heady sense of destiny as we crafted the letter. I don't think the outcome would ever have been any different than it was despite how well the letter might have been written, but I am certain that whatever wild romanticism we were attempting to conjure in Mrs. Richards was probably significantly deflated by our mention of a gestation. Not exactly a "sexy" word to say the least.

I guess knowing the craft, or at least knowing the words, is an important part of writing.

JG