When Good Guys Go Bad.

I have been playing with this idea that the world is experienced through characterization. In our favorite books, the world is colored by the narrator. The narrator hands the observer "your opinion", "your feelings" and "your hopes" for the characters. A good author will do this slowly and frequently with an unreliable storyteller narrating the story. I would love to do this, and think that I may give it a whirl at the end of this year. A story told from the perspective of the bad guy.

The reason is not so that I can tout the virtues of someone that everyone would agree is evil, but to show motive to their thought process. Bad guys, after all, are not bad for the sake of "badness", as they are much too self-involved to be interested in just being evil. A truly evil character is often highly moral, and convicted as to his righteousness... At any cost. Hitler was gripped by convictions and he was morally driven. And millions were massacred.

At the same time, I would love to outline my theory on altruism... Though I think that a subject for another blog. 

Selfishness is a pretty brilliant motivator. It leads to disappointment, bitterness, hate and fear. By degrees, a protagonist will move from being "good" to being "bad". A good author will cause the reader to root for the protagonist no matter what. I do not think that I will every be a good enough artist to paint Hitler in a good light, but I hope to be good enough to take a "good" guy and paint a picture that shows him to be as common as the rest of us. Able to make all the same mistakes that any one of us can, and never clean up their messes. 

I would love to create a character that makes a world of horrible messes and have the reader (secretly, maybe) root for them. At the same time, creating a character, who is the essence of altruism, that the reader finds to be a compelling antagonist. I am currently designing such a set of characters. We shall see how that works out.

For those of you who would inquire about the book that I wrote during Nanowrimo in November, I am shoring up loose ends and having cover art created. It should be titled The Plum Line. (Yeah, I know that it's spelled 'plumb'.)

D20 Writing Fun!

Having trouble coming up with creative aspects when writing? To short story writers as well as my novelist kith: This one's for you! I took the idea from Orson Scott Card's M.I.C.E. quotient and from a gamer's 20-sided die, ground both finely in a mortar and pestle, mixed with a little art from my drawing book and baked in a well-greased blog at 451°F until readable. 

The concept is simple: Look at the first selection (Mileau), roll your D20 and follow the number to the corresponding number, and VIOLA! You have the setting for your story. Then, follow the same directions for the Idea selection. BOOM! You have your idea. Character is a little different as it has a bonus section for creating a more indepth character. Roll again on this section to add a point of inner conflict for the character. A 'Disgraced General' could be fun, and the implications of having a 'Priest' that has a drug 'Addiction' means a whole different set of issues for a 'Drug Lord' with the same 'Addiction'. And just watch what happens when a 'Disgruntled Sycophant' gets fed up with his 'Abusive Government Leader'! Finally, go to the Event selection and roll to find out the flux of your new character's outer world.

 I hope that you have fun with this as you prepare to write in 2015!

Waxing On

I change culturally and mechanically, often taking form and function from nature and nurture and then forming friction from my last presupposition. By degrees, I stray from what is natural and move toward the mechanism. Enamored often with myself and with what vapid concoction with which I enforce and define my flux. To defend my disfunction, dispel my critics and insolate my invention. And the invention is not mine. I inhabit the measure of path to which my foot is most firmly nestled and think it safety. It is certainly not safe. Nothing along the path is safe, but dangerous. The deadliest however, is the unwillingness to change. I know this, culpable for my response. My soul knows too little to go. I know too much to stay. My soul only knows what I tell it. Or, at least, what it's been told. And it's been told of an illusion of safety and forgets the reward of risk. It knows the mechanism; The machine. It knows what I've allowed. So, it is my responsibility to expose it to the possibilities. To feel the future, thinking forward and give it a singular option: Go!

It is not in the rearview or bathroom mirrors. It is outside my ken. In the realm of the impossible-unfathomable.

Post-NaNoWriMo... Er... Post.

Well, after the rigors of NaNoWriMo, I have done a lot of soul-searching-- In the past four days. I am pretty sure that after the first day or so of soul-searching, I realize that it then moves to fruitless navel-gazing and then on to sour-seaching. I meant to take a week off from writing at all, you know, "to rest". But, I really miss writing. And I am itching to see what it is that I actually wrote. So far, it's various degrees of rapidly cooling passion that seemed better in my head than type on a page.

Yep, I know that it is part of the process but, I want it to be finished. My vision for the book was an action-packed, alt history, weird west/steampunk fantasy, un-romance. I'm probably not seasoned enough to tackle any two of the descriptive genres at the same time, let alone one. But, herewego.

I hope to have a readable second draft ready for my beta-readers by the first of the year. I am excited to have it in the works and published in ebook shortly after that and finally in solid form by spring. If I can get on the stick, I can have The SkyRift ready by then, too. If you want to read the first 5,000 words, you can click here to read it.

I DID IT! NaNoWriMo 2014!

Well, I did it! I wrote 50,000 words! In 30 days from November 1st through November 30th, I wrote 50,000 words! The book is called The Plum Line and I have some cover art coming. I am totally stoked. I will fill in the details on what exactly is next, when I know. Thanks to all the folks that gave me so many words of encouragement and understanding when I ignored them and wrote all these dang words. Next, I will be going back and reading it to see if it makes any sense.

NaNoWriMo Update 2014!

Friends, I just wanted to pop in and tell you a little as to how I am doing for National Novel Writing Month. It has been tough the past couple of days. If I know what it is that I want to write, I can write fairly quickly. In fact, it is feasible that I can write around 2000 words in under two hours. However, that is definitely in a best case scenario. If any of you desire a sneak peak at what exactly it is that I am writing, check it out here. Also, feel free to ask questions about the story. I will answer in a way that is as forthcoming as possible. If you are not the proud owner of my ebook Brimstone Deep, buy it here.

Last Post Before Nanowrimo

This is it! I am going to spend the next few days bending all my writing energy on readying myself for Nano's rigorous writing schedule. The first seven days of November, I will be shooting for 5000 words a day. I know that I may not hit anything close, but I need the head start. Also, I need to know what is possible. I have written that many words in a day, but we are talking all day. With few distractions. And nothing else to for which I was responsible. Furthermore, if I can, I can take it easy the remaining days. It always seems like the last week is the doozy, considering Thanksgiving and all. Heck, if I find that I am actually able to do it, I may just continue through the month. Look for my page here, and track my progress if you want. I may post the actual body of work on the site, I'm not sure yet. Excerpts, though. Definitely excerpts. Also, if any of you want to take a crack at writing 50,000 words in a month, sign up for free here.

Here I go.