The First Five Pages

The First Five Pages by Noah Lukeman has been a great help to me. I'm nearly done, and I can't wait to get more of his books. My library has two more--one about the art of punctuation, which intrigues me, and one about building plot.

The First Five Pages has 19 chapters covering the first 19 things that agents will look at when they read your book. (For the record, Lukeman is an agent himself.) Probably the most beneficial chapter to me was "Subtlety." I never really thought about subtlety in writing, but he stresses its importance here, and it makes so much sense. He talks about not giving too much away, not being afraid to leave some things unresolved, and not beating the reader over the head with certain facts. I've realized there are places where I do this in my longer manuscripts. In fact, just today I've gone back to my "Dead Gods" manuscript I'm rewriting, and am only up to about 6000 words rewritten, and deleted over a 1000 of those words.

The goal of the whole book is concision, making your book as tight and readable as possible. It's a huge help. If I were teaching a class on how to sell a book (which I wouldn't be, because I haven't done it, but for the sake of argument), this would be required reading.

WHAT I'M WORKING ON RIGHT NOW:
As I said, I worked on "The Dead Gods" a little this morning, and I've also been editing my two short stories, "One Man's Retirement" and "The Hand That Inks." They're both just about ready to submit.

Short Stories

I know it's only 10:20 right now, but I'm falling asleep sitting here. I'll have to go soon. This'll be a short post.

So I'm working on "The Dead Gods," rewriting my completed manuscript. Needs a lot of work. I'm reading another book right now called "The First Five Pages," by Noah Lukeman. Very helpful. It's by an agent, giving advice on the 19 things that all agents check for in writing. Very helpful. I'm already adding things to my list of things to change in my book. And I'll probably have to start over rewriting again. OR at least make changes.

In the meantime, I've written two short stories in the last couple days. One I'm very proud of as it is, the other needs a little work. The one I'm proud of is called, "One Man's Retirement," and is light-hearted. I've got a story out to Weird Tales, but when I hear back about that one, I intend to submit "Retirement" immediately.

The other is "The Hand That Inks." I just wrote it tonight. I've been kicking this idea around for a long time, and finally put it down to paper (computer screen). Feels good. Needs some editing, but I think it's good. I've taken a fascination with tattoos in writing--as the name suggests--although I have none of my own. Maybe some day I'll get one.

Comic Wednesday

Comic Wednesday again already. Let me jump right in with the issues I planned on buying:

All Star Superman #10
Ultimate Iron Man #4
Ultimate Spiderman #120
Sorrow #4

I didn't end up buying Superman because, eh, I don't care about it anymore. Same reason I didn't buy Iron Man. Also, I missed #3.

Looking forward to reading Spidey, although this arc isn't too my liking. I don't care for the new artist, either.

I started buying the Sorrow comic mostly because I wrote a comic of the same name. Mine ended up being a graphic novel with superpeople and lots of backstabbing. The Sorrow I'm buying is a 4-issue ghost story. Still, it turned out to be pretty good, so I'm pleased I picked it up. Pleasant surprise!

I also got Powers volume 6 at the library tonight. That's my most eagerly anticipated comic right now.

What comics are you into right now?

Weird Tales

So, I've read stories that were in Weird Tales ages ago, and I've read stories that were in Weird Tales in the '80's and 90's (thanks to a Best Of book I found at Goodwill). But now I've gotten a collection of Weird Tales from the 21st century. You know how magazines always tell you that you should read their magazine before you submit to them? They're right. Most of my stories are nothing like what Weird Tales publishes. However, after reading a few samples, I've gotten a pretty good feel for what they like, and I've gotten a few ideas in the process. Can't wait to put a few of these ideas onto paper and see how they go over with the good folks at Weird Tales. I've gotten three rejections from them, but I've gotten very positive feedback in those rejections. Hopefully, I'll be able to cater to their preferences a little better now!

Comic Wednesday

Well, here it is, Wednesday again. All the new comics came out today! Thrilling! I bought...Did I mention I was poor? I didn't buy anything today. There really wasn't much that struck my fancy. I've got my eye out for a zombie comic called "Awakening." I've only got issues 1 and 2. I've got a sneaky feeling my shop stopped carrying it,a nd I may have to have them special order the following issues for me.

Since I didn't buy anythign let me talk about one of my new favorite books--Powers. I started reading the old trade paperbacks of Powers, and I love the book. The guy at the comic shop told me it was the best superhero comic out there, so I tried it out. Loving it! It's funny, clever, and doesn't do superheroes like all the other superhero books. It's about 2 non-powered detectives who are on homicide in a city full of superpeople. All of their cases are dead superheroes. And the cases are never simple things. So far, the first trade, "Who Killed Retro Girl?" is my favorite, but the third one, "Roleplaying," I think, was really good too. I think there's eight trades in all so far, I'm waiting to get the fifth.

I'm not a huge Brian Michael Bendis fan. (For those unknowing, he's the writer of Powers and Ultimate Spider-Man and the New Avengers, I think.) His style is always the same. He can have two pages with a dozen frames on them, and have maybe five words of dialogue. Every frame will look the same.

But Powers works, probably better than Ultimate Spiderman does. And I like that book, too. I mostly started reading USM because it started the Spiderman story over in a different universe, and you didn't need thirty years of continuity to know what was going on. You also didn't have three other monthly Spiderman books that take place in the same universe, with crossovers and all kinds of other stuff.

So anyway, yeah. Powers is an awesome comic book. It's unlike any other comic book I've ever read. Probably my second favorite right now, after The Walking Dead. (Robert Kirkman, if you're reading this, I hate you. I have become far too obsessed by your book.) (And Will, you're not on my good side, since you introduced me to the book.)

Mark is Tim is Corbin is...Mark

How important do you think a character's name is? I mean, I know on its most basic level, it needs to be a good name--if it's your protagonist, the reader shouldn't cringe when he reads it, and if it's your antagonist, your reader maybe should cringe. Mostly, I think you as the writer need to like the name. If you're going to be working with these characters for months or even years, you should at least like their names.

But what's the difference between naming a character Mark or Mike? Sure, maybe there are associations in you own head--maybe you knew a kid named Mike growing up that was a bully, so you can never name your protag Mike. But to the average reader, do you think it matters if they are reading a Mark or a Mike? A Tim or a Tom?

I have the hardest time coming up with names sometimes. In my manuscript for "The Dead Gods," my main character was named Mark. But do to the fact that I had about five names in the book that all started with the letter M, I decided to change most, especially the ones I wasn't too attached to. So I changed Mark to Tim and that was that. Or was it?

I was doubting my choice within hours. Tim just didn't seem to have it. Didn't seem too identifiable. But how do you come up with exactly the right name? I stare at name generators on-line until my eyeballs bleed, and nothing sounds right. I begged my wife to help me and after she threw out a few I couldn't use--like Jerome--she suggested Corbin. Mostly because my character is an alcoholic doctor, and Corbin is the name of one of her doctors--maybe an alcoholic, maybe not. But I like it, and that's what I'm going with. For now.

So, how important is the name? I know names are important, but what level of importance do you give them?

Comic Wednesdays

I intend to make Wednesdays my comic day on my blog--if you know much about comics, you'll know that new issues hit the stands every Wednesday. Now, I know what you're saying. "Today isn't Wednesday." That's right. Very astute of you. I got off to a late start this week. I thought about just waiting till this coming Wednesday to start, but I really wanted to talk about the comics I got in the last couple weeks.

For Stephen King fans, "The Dark Tower: The Long Road Home" #1 came out. I've been waiting a while for that one. The art, as in the last series, is amazing. Not very much has actually happened in the story yet, but I'm sure it'll get good. The real prize with this book is the written material at the back, the history of Mid-World. Great stuff. I'd like to see all of the back matter from these comics printed in a book, since most of it stands on its own without the comics anyway.

I'm sure many of you were as saddened as I was to see the final issue of "Zombies vs. Robots vs. Amazons" come out. While the story was fairly cheesy and campy--really, looking at the title, what did you expect?--but the art was pretty cool. And fear not, if you read the comic all the way through, you saw that there will be a follow-up series, "Zombies vs. Robots vs. Mermen." The tale continues!

And this past week, "The Walking Dead" #47 came out. The Walking Dead is probably my favorite series right now. Robert Kirkman is great! I didn't like him on Ultimate X-Men, but he sure knows his zombies. The amazing thing about The Walking Dead is that the zombies really have such a little part. It's a truly character-driven story about the survivors. The issue seemed like it was mostly filler, though, to get to the last page. Throughout this arc, appropriately title "No One Is Safe," Kirkman seems as if he's on a mission to kill off a character every other issue or so. I really detest the Governor and the Woodbury storyline, and can't wait for it to be over. I hope the Governor dies and we can move on.

Well, that's it for Comic Sunday! I'll post again on the subject in a few days, if I find anything to buy this week. I have limited funds for comics, so I unfortunately don't get to buy as much as I would like. But I read a lot of trades from the library, so maybe I'll have time to discuss those as well.

Zen?

What do I know about this concept called zen? Squat. But I just picked up two books by one of my heroes, Ray Bradbury. One is called "Bradbury Speaks," and the other is "Zen in the Art of Writing." I've been a big fan of Bradbury for years now, ever since I read "The Martian Chronicles" in jnior high. As a side note, I must have re-read it as a high school senior, beacuse the otehr day I stumbled on a book report I did of it, in which the teacher marked me off because I wrote something about how Bradbury describes the Martians with such eloquence and beauty. My teacher wrote in the margin, "Who ever heard of beautiful Martians?" and marked me off. If she'd ever read the book, she would have seen that apparently Ray Bradbury had heard of beautiful Martians, so she should just pipe down.

Sorry about the rant there. Anyway, I've loved Bradbury for years and can't wait to get to these two books. My writing style is nothing like Bradbury's--he uses very colorful language and description; I keep description to a minimum. But I am very interested in reading what one of the masters has to say about writing.

I've started working on my rewrite of the newly titled "The Dead Gods." The whole first chapter had to go, and it's now a much more action-oriented scene. I wrote about 1000 words yesterday, and that was just the basic story. I still have to go back through and work on characterization, which is really my trouble spot.

WHAT I'M READING:
Just finished "The Rising" by Brian Keene. Not thrilled, but I'm getting the point that all of his books will end pessimistically. Got it. Thanks, Brian. Everybody will die in every book. Okay.

Aside from the Bradbury books, I'm in the middle of "Ghost Story" by Peter Straub. I can't remember if I've mentioned anything about Straub here or not, but the two book sof his that I read before were awful, "lost boy, lost girl" and "in the night room," which were two books that went hand in hand. Terrible. But "Ghost Story" was one of his earlier ones, and I can see why he's thought to be great after reading just a handful of chapters so far. Brilliant writing.

The Useless Protagonist

That's what I learned about my protagonist after reading "How to Write Horror Fiction." Okay, I actually already knew it, but still: My protagonist is useless. He provides no function in my book "Charred." And as an update, "Charred" is now going into its fourth official title--"The Dead Gods."

My main character serves no real role in the book. Things are done to him, and he learns a lot of information, and he's present at the climax, but you could have the whole book without him. My secondary protagonist is only slightly more necessary to the story.

So my goal is to make the main character more integral, to make him take action in the book instead of just digging a hole in his basement. Yeah, that was one of his highlights in my most recent draft. That and finding the bones in said hole.

So Mark (now "Tim") is going to have a bigger role. Not just investigative, but action-taking. Down with passivity, up with activity!

WHAT I'M READING:
"The Rising" by Brian Keene. Honestly, this is my third or fourth Keene novel, and I don't know what to think of him yet. "Ghoul" was not very good. I really enjoyed "The Conqueror Worms." "Dead Sea" was...depressing, to say the least. I guess"The Rising" is the best so far. Zombies are definitely his forte.

I'm also watching "Harvey Birdman" lately. I never saw it before--don't have cable, I just happened upon it at the library a week or two ago. Great show. Hilarious.

WHAT INSPIRES ME:
Call me shallow, but I did my taxes last night, and I'm inspired by the return I'm getting. I don't love money or anything, it's just be nice to actually have a little.

If Wishes Were Horses, We'd All Be Eating Steak

That's one of my favorite quotes from the TV show "Firefly." Great show. Anyway, on to my post (where you will see how it relates).

I'm about half-way through a book right now called "How To Write Horror Fiction" by William F. Nolan, and I wish (see, here it is) I'd read this book before I wrote my book, "Charred." I've already got about 2 pages of things that I want to go back through my book and change, and none of them are minor things.

Not much that I've read is new to me, but reading it again has refreshed it all, along with a few new things, and made me realize all the areas my book sucks in. I've got a lot of work to do now, but that's okay. I'll be rewriting my first manuscript while working on "Stranded" at the same time. Maybe by the time I'm done with "Charred" again, I'll have a decent first draft of "Stranded."

So, "How to Write Horror Fiction" is a good book, one that I recommend. It's from the early 90's so some of the references are a little dated. But it's been a big help so far, and I can't wait to read the rest of it.

Irony

I find it a bit ironic that I restart my blog, hoping to focus on inspiration, and then I go one of the longest streaks I can remember without any of it myself. It's partly my sour mood lately. Well, mostly my mood. I haven't been paying attention, looking for ideas, making them happen. I've been trying to forget writing. I actually swore off writing a couple days ago, then before I knew it I was thinking aobut my current work in progress again. Guess I just can't kick the habit.

WHAT I'M WORKING ON:
Well, still working on "Stranded." I'm about 15,000 words in now. I'm done with all the rewriting part from the previous draft and am working on new material now. It's hard. I think I'm ready to start another rewrite! Just kidding. Not yet. But I may have to again before too long. I get these ideas of ways I woudl rather do things, and I can't wait till I'm done to change them. So it may take me a while to get to the end of this thing, but with all the constant rewrites, it should be pretty close to finished by the time I get there. I really want the book to be literary fiction that also happens to be horror, and that will be hard to do. Takes a lot of work on themes and ideas. I'm more of a plot guy myself, but I really want to try this.

I'm also getting back into the habit of submitting stories. I've got a good-sized handful that need to be published. I was happy to hear back from a magazine called "Big Ole Face Full of Monster" the other day. I submitted a story called "Unnatural Blonde" way back in June. They just now contacted me to tell me that they were still considering my story and were trying to find a place for it in an upcoming issue. They're okay with simultaneous submissions, so I'm still sending it out--just sent a more cleaned up version to Weird Tales a few minutes ago. Also resubmitted "This Devil's Song" earlier today as well. I consider this story my masterpiece to date. It'd be nice if someone else showed a little love for it as well.

CURRENTLY READING:
For anyone who cares, I'm reading Cormac McCarthy's "Blood Meridian." I haven't read a western in years, but I'm really enjoying it. Before that I read "Born Standing Up" by Steve Martin. I was never a big fan of his comedy, but I enjoy his books. "The Pleasure of My Company" was one of the funniest and, dare I say, sweetest books I've read in a long time.