How I Write - Part I

Was reading someone else's blog the other day and they wrote about how they wrote, beginning with the story idea all the way to the end. Her style was very impressive. Very professional. Very much a different way than my style.

My stories NEVER begin with what I think people want to read. Including me. They begin with a scene which comes to my mind. It can be about anything. Most often it involves one of the stronger emotions, such those associated with love, battle, achievement and failure.

This scene will replay in my mind dozens of times over a period of days or weeks. As it does, I expand it. Who is/are this person/these people anyway? How did they come to be in this scene? What happened next?

That's how Swords of Fire was born. Several unrelated scenes kept playing out in my head. As I developed them in my mind they grew, like ripples expanding in a pond when one tosses a stone. Only I had tossed several stones this time, and as the ripples began to bounce against each other - they melded. I suddenly realized my main character in all the scenes was really the same person. This helped me identify just who he was and how he came to be in all of these scenes.

Each of these scenes became "sticks in the sand". Markers which I could point to from a currently unknown beginning.

That was the hard part! Deciding where to begin the story. I restarted many times before finding myself comfortable with Khirhsa and Kelso standing trial for yet another misdeed. Now I knew where the story began, and I wrote with the markers in mind.

The original story s*cked. I hate admitting that, but I tried reading some of it when I opened The Archives last month. It s*cked. But unlike all previous writing, I didn't drop Swords of Fire and move on to another project. (I did start many other projects. I just didn't drop Swords of Fire.) What I did was learn more about Khirsha's family history, and world history. I learned about who these people were and why things were important to them, and why they were afraid and why they made the mistakes they made. I discovered my "heroes" were far from perfect. (And my "villains" were far from completely bad.) Even those with the greatest knowledge suffered from ignorance. Those with the greatest power suffered from weakness. All of this knowledge helped me write in a manner which (I believe) brought Khirhsa to life. It made his conflict meaningful, and believable.

The story takes place in a fantasy world out in space beyond our galaxy. To be specific, in a star system located in the constellation Perseus, under the string arm. But the fantasy world is not the story. In Traitor, which opens the series, the only thing about the world which would reveal it is different from our reality are a few references to things. Otherwise, the story is in the background.

I think I've kind of veered from this post's original premise, so perhaps it is best if I just shut it down. I've been behind nearly all day. Our sump pump quit working at most inopportune time. We tried bailing the water, but it refilled almost instantly. Had to make an investment into a new sump pump, which we were not able to install, so we had to bring in a plumber. And I've been sick. And, and, and, and, and. Lots of stuff going on today. Not much of it was fun.

FairyHedgeHog had an interesting post this morning.

Writing a Sequel

So, I've begun work on Quest, which is the sequel to Apprentice. No actual writing has taken place, but I reread Apprentice and saved a new file to receive the second story.

Me thinks I may be falling into the right mood to write this sequel. We'll see.

Sometimes writing sequels can be hard. Sometimes they come easy. Writing the sequel to Swords of Fire: Traitor was not difficult, despite having to write a complete book. The reason was because, originally, Traitor and Prophecies of Madatar were actually one book. As I developed the story further and further I was forced to split it into two books. So Prophecies of Madatar wrote fairly quickly. I think it took me a month to get the first draft, and a year to edit it down to 190,000-words. Now, using the knowledge I have acquired since going on-line, I will probably need another month or two to finish it.

What is hard is writing the next book in the series: Bonds of Love. I know what has to happen, but I still have to write it. Got a fair way into it before leaving off last summer.

Write the sequel to Apprentice is different. Apprentice came to me quickly, and I think I had the rough draft written in a week. I gave it to a beta reader and made some changes. Then I presented it to a writers' group in February. But at that time the idea of a sequel was simply a nice thought, germinating in the hidden places of my heart and mind. So now I'm ready to move on it. Like Bonds of Love, I have to write from scratch. Fortunately, I only need write up to 7,000-words or there abouts. Since it is a sequel, it may actually take longer than the original. But look for me to be bragging about it some time in May.

Coming soon to a beta reader I know: Quest. Starring Kiahva and Amice.

Useless Ramblings From a Sick Mind

It looks like this is going to be a silent day. That's probably just as well as I'm not feeling all that well. Nasty pain in my chest every time I cough. Nasty. Still coughing up clear, though. (Now aren't you glad I told you that?)

Re-reading Traitor, and then I'm sending it off to a beta reader. But that's not all I'm going to do today. Planning on getting two important writing assignments (self-assigned) at least started.

First, I want to write Part 2 of my Hero Story for Legion of On-Line Super Heroes. The Gala begins on Friday and I'm planning on posting Part 1 then. There are eight official Authors now, and we're expecting it to be a lot of fun. How's that for a plug? Unpaid advertising, right here on my blog.

Second, and this one I do not expect to finish today, I want to write the sequel to Apprentice. I was hoping to begin it on Saturday, but the day just fell away from me. Today would be better, but I'm sick. (Been called that more than once.)

Sometimes I find myself wishing I could be like normal people. But then I get to talking with someone I think is normal and find out they're nothing like anyone else I know. In fact, I can't really think of any two "normal" people I know who are alike. So how can they be normal? I thought normal was the way most people were. If that's so, then I don't know any normal people. Which is fine with me. I like the people I know.

Probably, normal is another word for dull. I don't know any dull people, either. They are all very interesting and fascinating, although many of them don't think so. In that regard I guess we are alike. The thought is always there that some day people are going to realize we're just not that interesting. Except we are. Each in our own way.

How in the h*ll did I wind up on this tangent?

People have always scared me. Much as I can like individuals, and groups, I don't always know how to interact. Often, when I try to be silly I'm actually offensive. Not everyone enjoys my sense of humor. And not everyone understands that I'm trying to be funny. I find things to be funny that are not supposed to be funny. Not sure why. Not why I find them funny, and not why they're not supposed to be funny.

Got to be careful in humor. Especially in writing. But even face-to-face one can offend. I remember a long time ago moving from one apartment to another. Some friends were helping us. Spouse and I got a place (flat) on third floor and we had a regular conga line of people bringing up boxes and such from the truck. As I was walking down the stairs I chanced by one of our friends who was struggling to get my Raleigh 10-speed bicycle up the stairs. Seeing him in his distress I couldn't resist making a comment.

"Oh, that's right! Take something easy."

Now had I said that to probably any other of the friends helping that day I would have been treated to some sort of clever rebuttal. But not Gary. Instead, as I was making my way back up with a box who should I meet by Gary's wife, all angry and in a huff.

"I don't think bringing a bicycle up stairs is easy. And if that's the way you feel about it maybe we should just leave!"

I thought it was funny.

Well, I'm off to the treadmill. Got to walk five minutes three times today. It's only 600-steps (I know, because I'm wearing a pedometer), and by the end of the day I will have walked less than a mile, but it's better than spending the whole day on my b*tt before a computer screen.

A Poet's Frustration

While wandering alone through the streets of cyberspace last night I came across someone's blog who talked about April being "Poetry Month". They were accessing a site which gave a topic to write about. What's interesting about that is that today's topic is "whales", which is what I posted about on A Voice in the Wind without knowing.

Anyway, I felt like writing another poem. My last one was nice, but it failed to say what I really wanted to say. This one is better, but I still haven't captured what I'm looking for. I need to write out more. Thank God for Apprentice.

Let Things Be
by Bevie James

Let the smile on her face shine bright and glow with gladness
Let the laughter in her heart radiate with joy
Let the thoughts in her head be confident dwellings of peace
Let her belong to herself and be nobody’s toy

Let the arms that hold her tightly be gentle and kind
Let the lips which touch her be sweet
Let the body she holds be responsible and winning
Let her tingle from head to feet

The things that she gives let her give them with love
The things that she loves let them be
The people she loves let them live lives in peace
Let this girl live and be free

The 500-Year Inspiration

So I'm seriously thinking about working on a sequel to Apprentice. When the story concluded Amice was to return to her home village. Kiahva had at last accepted her love for Amice and the two shared a first (and last) time of tenderness.

The logical next step is for Kiahva to go on a quest to find her absent love so the two can be together again.

I've got some ideas which I think will work. I'm excitedly looking forward to writing it.

On top of that I need to complete my first installation of my Hero stories. I've definitely decided to go with Panthera and Leo. Their logical first conflict will be with Panthera's cousin, Pelage, and her panther cat, Onca.

A lot to write?

Yeah. It is. But you know what? I love it this way. Creatively, the 1980s was my peak of performance. But even then there were distractions which held me back from all I was able to achieve. (And hence, I failed to achieve.) This time, the Muses have come upon me with magical inspiration, derived from the joy of those who have reawakened me to what it possible. I can write about things I was always afraid to write about. I can explore places I was always afraid to visit. I can live in places I never dared. And all of that without the distractions of the past. It is so much better this time. I can tell the Muses are happy.

I certainly am.

I LOVE THE WORLD!

Spontaneous Poetry

This is one of those posts I will probably wish I had not made come tomorrow. No matter. It's part of my new creative experience, and the Muses encouraged me to follow.

The final inspiration was listening to Janis Ian. I put one of her songs up as Today's Music.

Anyway, here is the result of my inspiration. It is a poem. I call it -


Things We Can't Have
by Bevie James

She was pretty, cute and her mind was so sweet
She was all that a lover could hope ever to meet
Soft skin and soft hair and a voice like a song
Green eyes and a dimple, and legs which were long

Her manner was tender, her breasts were so fine
To hear her sweet laugh was like drinking fine wine
When happy she purred like a black and white cat
She kept herself trim, she never got fat

Her only desire was she might soon know love
She cooed for it loudly, a sad mourning dove
For love she was willing to be someone's toy
But no one would have her, for she was a boy

So, What's Up

So I found this new vocal talent, T.O.M. He's not famous, or anything. In fact, I don't believe he's recorded anything "official". But I was going to create a short pieces with him singing along to a CD. I thought it would be cool. I still think it would be cool, but it's kind of difficult to put together correctly. So I've put it on the back burner, so to speak.

What I'll post about instead is my recently finished book, Traitor. I'm giving it a "final" read before handing it off to a beta reader. That has me about as nervous as sending in a query letter to Evil Editor. Which reminds me, I still have to work on that.

But I like my story. It's reading well. Knowing the story so well, I keep finding myself surprised when certain elements are not there. But it's good. Whether anybody else thinks so, I guess I'll find out soon enough.

The new Legions blog is going to have me busy, I think. That's good. We're officially up to five, with two others who have indicated some level of interest.

Heck of a day! Don't you think?