Reading to Learn (as opposed to Learning to Read)

I'm always seeking to hone my craft. I've taken college courses on writing, I've participated in contests. I've read books on writing, I've submitted work for critique. But I think the way I like best to work on my writing is to read. I stick mostly to my preferred genre of Speculative Fiction, but I'm not averse to anything that catches my eye. Stephanie Plum novels, Victorian dime novels, the occasional literary fiction. I even read the Twilight novels, but that was more along the lines of "never ban a book you haven't read." I felt that I couldn't honestly say that Twilight was garbage unless I'd actually seen it for myself.

To any Twilight fans who became upset reading those last two sentences, feel free to reach out to me for a more detailed critique.

You can learn a lot from reading things outside of your comfort zone, become introduced to conventions and techniques not regularly used in the books you enjoy the most. As an example, I want to change my writing style slightly for each of the characters in my SOD novel. Give the POV characters each their own voice. I think Tadakatsu would be suited to what I've heard called beige prose. Specifically, the late Robert B. Parker's style in the Spenser novels.

When I read, even if I'm reading just for fun, I analyze the book. I don't even do it consciously, it's just something I find myself doing. Picking out tropes and seeing how they use them. I ask myself questions like "Why did the author go with first person narration, rather than third person limited?" "Oh, he's using a dream sequence here. Is he doing it to create symbols, or is he just ramming narrative information down my throat?"

I never use dreams in my writing for that very reason. It seems like too many writers use it to spoon feed the plot to the reader. A similar problem occurs with info dumps. I tend to be a bit more forgiving with those, since in Science Fiction an info dump can be unavoidable. Still, I like them best when the writer comes up with a way to integrate the info dump into the narrative. I remember one book I read recently where the author explained the phlebotinum the protagonist just acquired by literally having him read an owner's manual. Reviews I've read have stated that this author is supposed to be good at info dumps. Which means that either I found a rare bad example, or I'm too picky.

I'm probably going to have to put an info dump or two in my own novel. I have the beginnings of a couple here and there, I can't decide if I should try to work the information into the novel, handing it out piecemeal, or give in and just explain everything in one fell swoop. I think I'll look for some essays on info dumps and find out what other people think are good or bad ways to do it, and make my decision then. While I'm at it, I'll look for some tips on naming my novel. I usually put off the title until the end, because I'm terrible with titles. I have a lot to think about, and a lot to read. Time to get to it.

-E. Maxfield Moen

The Moment Arrives

I took another break, had a lot going on these last few months. Not the least of which is my wife, who's pregnant with my first child. In all the anticipation and excitement, I let the book slip away. But it wasn't entirely forgotten. I've been writing notes about future events this whole time, and today I decided to put some of what I've been noting into the novel.

The character's goal is finally within reach, almost literally. And I actually know how I want it all to go down. Also, I've reached a near milestone, I'm about 300 words away from 75,000 words. I put a goal of 100,000 words just so I can benchmark my progress, but I have a feeling this draft is going to end closer to 80,000 or 90.000.

I'm excited, and I can't help but think about the second draft already. I'm trying to file my thoughts away for later, my goal now is to get my ideas on paper, and not to look back until I've done that. I'll worry about continuity errors and that sort of thing on the second draft, when I can look at this as a whole and see what needs to be fixed.

One thing I've been thinking about a lot is something I brought up in an earlier entry. My characters exist in a vacuum. Before I'd mentioned how they almost never talk to anyone but each other, but it extends beyond that. I barely ever describe where they are in space. I think a big part of that is because I'm being influenced by Isaac Asimov, who only described a scene if it was necessary. I think I've gone too far though, and I'm not describing scenes even when necessary.

I don't want to end up with what How Not to Write a Novel described as treating a scene like a bunch of disembodied brains floating in a suspension. I describe what the characters are doing sometimes, but I don't think I've ever described what they look like. Definitely need to work on that.

Lot of stuff to think about, but my first goal is to keep writing until I get to the end. Then I can worry about everything that came before.

-E. Maxfield Moen

One Down, Two to Go

Last night I finished the chapter that had been causing my block. The characters are motivated and and moving, and their final goal is in sight. According to my original outline, there's only two more chapters until I'm done with my first draft. I don't foresee myself having to stretch it out to more than two chapters, but there's still a lot of material to cover.

This whole thing started as a project for National Novel Writing Month. I knocked out 50,000 words, knowing that I still had a long way to go. I had estimated the book might come to 100.000 words. As of this point, I'm almost at 71,000 words. I'm thinking now I might end up closer to 80,000 by the end. Though future drafts might inflate that.

One thing I've been thinking about the last couple days is whether I should adjust the tone. The novel has elements of a heist, or caper, story, though I haven't actually written it as such. Most notably, our heroes' plan isn't all that complicated.

That is one thing I'm probably going to spend the most time on in the second draft. As I wrote it, the characters were pretty reluctant to go with the plan I'm currently writing. This is because the author was reluctant to go ahead with the plan. However, I couldn't think of anything better. In future drafts, I'm either going to have to seriously rework the plan, or come up with a better plan.

Another thing I plan on working harder on in future drafts is the SOD's interactions with other people. Or rather, their lack thereof. It occurred to me as I worked on this chapter that the SOD exists in a vacuum. No matter where they go, or how many people are around them, they only talk to each other. I was focused on fleshing out the heroes' personalities, and their relationships with each other. I focused on it so much that I forgot to have them talk to other people. Their biggest interactions with others are with people who are shooting at them. And while that's exciting -at least I hope it is- it doesn't lend itself to conversation.

But those are for further down the line. Right now, I have to focus on the completion of the SOD's first mission. In a lot of ways, the part I'm working on now is the hardest part of the book. Everything before was prelude to this moment, and I have to sell it. Even if I do rewrite the plan, I'm probably going to keep most of the chapter I'm about to start, and likely all of the one that comes after. It's exciting, scary, and daunting. I just hope I do myself justice.

-E. Maxfield Meon

Progress report

I've been getting some work done on the novel since my last post. Finished a section in the chapter I've been stuck on, started another. I've had a couple flashes of inspiration that have helped me get back on track. 

Most of it deals with the big picture, the series as a whole. I know in general terms where I'm going with the story, the goals the SOD has to accomplish. The flow of events, the order things happen in, has been evolving in my brain, and I've been keeping notes on my phone. I should probably back them up on my computer so I don't lose them.

I've also had a couple thoughts on the section of the book I'm working on now. I realized that I introduced a direct antagonist (as opposed to the shady pulling strings behind the scenes villain I haven't even shown yet), put a little pressure on the SOD, and then dropped the ball. In later revisions I'll try to ramp up the threat they pose, but for now I realized that they are perfectly positioned to get the plot moving again.

I find myself falling back on techniques I've used as a Game Master running RPGs. If the party seems to be flagging, throw some danger at them, force them to respond. Or, as Raymond Chandler put it, "When in doubt, have a man come through a door with a gun in his hand." Or to reword it in terms that fit my particular genre, "When in doubt, have enemy ships come out of hyperspace."

It's still slow going right now, but I'm pushing to get more done. I don't want 2017 to go by without having a first draft completed. I know what has to happen, now I just have to make it happen.

-E. Maxfield Moen

Four Years

I see that it's been about four years since my last post. I really put my writing on hold, and I feel guilty about it. But I have a plan. It's something I've been working on for more or less the last ten years.

Several of the stories I've written have been in a sort of shared universe. I say "sort of" because the stories are all prequels, featuring characters that are part of a novel that I've been writing in fits and bursts for at least a decade. I've written scattered sections, rewritten those sections, and given up many times. Then, for the 2015 National Novel Writing Month, I decided to start from scratch. For those who don't know, NaNoWriMo is a yearly challenge to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. I knew I wasn't going to be able to write the novel I wanted in only 50,000 words, but I felt it would at least get me started.

So I dumped my original drafts, and spent the month of October doing something I'd always scoffed at in the past. I wrote an outline. In my youth, outlines had been something I scoffed at, a waste of time that a "real" writer didn't need. I hadn't used am outline when I did my first NaNoWriMo in 2011. But I saw that I needed to organize my thoughts, work out a coherent plot before I got started.

So I wrote an outline. And to my surprise, it was a big help. It was very bare bones, but it helped me visualize the novel, work out the high points I wanted to hit in each chapter. I found myself filling it in as I wrote my novel.

I also set up a hard and fast rule for myself. I have a tendency to dither over a first draft. I'll go back and tweak a conversation, or pour over some exposition. But this time, I told myself I wasn'the going to do that. Like Gen. Patton, I would always be on the advance. There would be plenty of time to revise later. The important part was to get the novel written in one whole piece. Then I could hem and haw all I wanted.

I wrote all through November, and hit my 50,000 word mark. It was enough to get me about 3/4 through. I was proud of myself. I had ridden a wave of creativity for a month, despite a couple bumps and bruises on the way, and I had a really good jump start. I decided to take December off for a number of reasons, but was committed to finishing the first draft in January.

Then I hit Writer's Block. Hard.

I knew where I wanted to go, and what to accomplish. But I couldn't figure out how to get there. I floundered. Worse, I lost confidence. My big beautiful novel withered before my eyes.

Which is why I've decided now, over a year later, to publicly state that I am going to get back on track with this novel.

My plan is to use this blog to chronicle my journey. As soon as my first draft is done, I'll post it here, ways l warts and all. I'll go over the bits that I need to work on, the bits that I think are good and just need to be tightened up. I want to go over the novel chapter by chapter, and document my changes.

Let me explain a bit about my novel for those who don't know about it. It's part of a planned series called Sons of Destruction, named for the protagonist's team. I don't have a title for the novel itself yet, so far I'm just referring to it as "Sons of Destruction" or "S.O,D." The setting, characters, and plot, are loosely based on a Role-Playing Game I was a part of over ten years ago. We culled the rules, characters, and other ideas from a number of sources. They bore only a superficial resemblance to the original, so don't expect this to be a "serial numbers filed off" fan work. I've changed names wherever there might be a copyright issue, such as characters whose names were borrowed from other works (a distressingly common activity among new Players).

The novel takes place in the late 27th Century. It is very much a Space Opera, because I happen to love Space Operas. In the SOD Universe, magic is real (and explicitly called magic), though generally ignored by humans. Humanity exists side-by-side with alien races. Some are similar enough to humans to work alongside them, others are "alien" in every sense of the word. Faster-Than-Light travel is achieved using Gates, mysterious devices found at the edge of star systems left behind by unknown aliens.

The novel follows a group of mercenaries calling themselves the Sons of Destruction, on their first job. These are not idealistic heroes like you might find in Star Wars or Star Trek. Rather, the S.O.D. are hardened veterans, rough-around-the-edges sorts who don't fit into regular society and work as mercenaries because violence and death are all they know.

More characters join later on, and the S.O.D. grows as an organization as the series develops, but at the start there are four members.

Alfred "Disaster" Sharp: Former member of a society of soldiers-of-fortune, Disaster grew up in the military lifestyle, and has spent more time in space than on planets. He left after being denied the leadership position he craved, and decided to create his own mercenary company. Disaster is characterized by bloodlust, and likes to use his engineering skills to modify his weapons. He also has cybernetic implants he uses to enhance his abilities, including metal eyes and a prosthetic right hand.

Corgan: An orphan who grew up on a low-gravity domed moon colony, Corgan must wear a sealed exoskeleton to survive in normal conditions. His youth was spent as a guttersnipe, stealing to live. Taken under the wing of a mercenary, he was honed into an assassin. When his former team was wiped out, he found a new group of companions and formed the S.O.D.

Date Tadakatsu: Born on a colony based on 16th Century Japanese society and technology, Tadakatsu's past is a mystery. He rarely speaks, but it is plain to the people around him that his heart is filled with an unnamed rage. Eschewing modern weapons, he combines superhuman speed and reflexes with a nearly indestructible pair of swords to take down more advanced opponents. He is proof that you should not bring a gun to a sword fight.

Ari Parse: The first nonhuman member of the SOD, Ari is from a race that superficially resembles canines. Ari's penchant for human suits, as well as his supercilious attitude, makes him seem comical at times. His inability to make facial expressions gives him a cold air, at least to those who don't know how to read the positioning of his ears. All this conceals Ari's true strength, his powerful psychic abilities. An expert mind reader, he is capable of planting ideas in people's heads. He is the least combat-capable of the four, though in his own way, he is just as dangerous as the others.

I don't know how long it's going to take me to finish the first draft, there's still a point or two I'm stuck on, But I have copious notes, I'm still working on the outline, and I'm hoping that once I get past the point I'm at now, things will move much more quickly.

Time will tell. But please keep an eye out here, I'm hoping that this blog will keep me motivated.

-E. Maxfield Moen