Happy Memorial Day

Going to enjoy the day with family and I hope you guys do to.

When is a series too long?

This past weekend I saw this movie with my oldest daughter and my wife.

Now I was probably one of the people that thought that it ended alright with the trilogy. I didn't think this was necessary and seemed more like a milking of the cash cow than for story expansion. Can we say Scream 4 (Which I loved as with this movie.)

But my question isn't about the movie so much, because it kicked butt in the box office and I really enjoyed it. It made me think, was it needed? I love the character of Jack Sparrow, more so than Will or Elizabeth. So I didn't mind it for that reason, yet in books, have you ever read a series that seemed to go too long past its prime. I don't read a lot of series, and most of them are made a series because they are one big arc, yet this movie wasn't part of the same arc. Different bad guys, different quest, the only thing the same was Jack. Could a book survive under the same circumstance?

I don't think so and that's probably why it doesn't happen very often.  What are your thoughts on book series that go too long?

Three sided conflicts?

I know I've been writing a lot about my current project and this is another post about it.

My antagonist is two different people. It's a three sided conflict and it's making me wonder if that is too much as I can't really recall any books having three sided conflicts. Maybe it's just late (or super early) when I'm writing this, so I'm looking for examples so I can read them and see how they did the pacing.

Any suggestions of books? Or just how they managed it? Any of your own struggles with this sort of conflict?

Supporting Characters

In my current project, I have many characters. My crit group thinks that most are pretty important, however, one that I think is important, and will be playing a big role later on isn't coming across well.

I am having trouble thinking of a way to integrate this character better as she's the girlfriend of the main characters brother, so she's only in a few chapters until chapter 9, then she's in more of them. I need to make her likeable, she's a good person, yet if my main character doesn't interact with her much, how can I get this across better? Maybe have them get forced into a situation where they are alone? Maybe have her brother talk about her more? What would your suggestions be? I'm up for anything right about now because I've been spending so much time building the main characters reactions to the world as it's changing around her that this one minor character sort of got left in the shadows.

Trance by Linda Gerber

This is another book that I received from Michelle McLean during her book giveaway.

I liked the cover right off the bat, the way that it sort of sucks you in. The title is enticing because it reminds me of the kind of stuff that I write, supernatural action.

Now once I got into the book, it was good, just not what I was expecting. I was expecting a stronger action plot. Now there is action here, it's just not the main thing. It's about a girl trying to find her place in life after her mother was killed in a car accident and these trances that she has, but has never been able to prevent.

I would classify this more as a thriller mystery. It has a lot of elements going on. A trance that she can't figure out, a new friend, and a boy who is hot.

I think that the thing I took most away from this book was the study of Numerology. The wiki definition is "Numerology is any of many systems, traditions or beliefs in a mystical or esoteric relationship between numbers and physical objects or living things."

I thought that was a cool thing to have in a book. I've vaguely heard about the study, but learning it in the creative space that Linda took it actually peaked my interest in it. I remember after reading the book, I researched Numerology because of the way that the main character is explained it was cool.

Now this story handles itself well, it plays a nice balance between the trances and the main character trying to figure them out, but it does a wonderful job of really showing us her changes. The way she is unsure, timid after the accident and what she blossoms into

I would give this book a sold 4/5.

Are we writers or typers?

My 10 year old called me a "Typer" this past weekend. She said that instead of writing the story on paper by hand, that I type it. Now granted technically that is correct, and I told her that writing is more than just the way you put words down and more about the craft of storytelling.

I think it would be more prudent to call us storytellers even though we don't always verbalize our stories. (I still wish that class in college was in a time slot I could have taken.)

The craft of telling stories is what motivates us, not the process of how we do it. Heck I know writers that still do it longhand and then copy it onto the computer to edit. My wrist hurts just thinking about that.

So what do you think of the term typers? Am I right or is my ten year old right? (She'll be reading your comments.)

How I write.

This past week, there seemed to be a lot of posts on how individual writers write their story and I wanted to get on the action. I'm always the kid that seems to be left behind, maybe I should make some noise more often.

*Whines, cry, and shouts.*

Okay, now that is out of the way, I am a Pantser. I like to sit down, hang out with my characters and just go along for the ride.

Now this is bad for a couple reasons, one is that my rewrites can usually take a little longer than others because mine is a lot of stuff that needs to be expanded or cut.

This also works for me because honestly, I don't think I could spend a month outlining the book and still enjoy the story after that. I like the surprises, the twists, the turns, all the fun stuff that gets me pumped for writing.

My four novels I have written this way and they usually take about 6 weeks to write the first draft. The most recent book I'm having critiqued by my crit buddies while I'm writing it so it's taken me.... I'm go on the low end 4 months. So more than double my previous books. This would be worrisome, except that because of the feedback, I have a feeling that my first draft will be sharper than it usually is, meaning less time revising in the long term.

So hopefully I can stick to my plan and have a first draft done by the end of May. Only about another 100 pages over 15 days, I can do it! And you all will be along for the journey.

So what sort of writer are you? Let me know in the comments.