Word pronouncement…

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If a character’s name is hard to pronounce, does that make it harder to connect to him/her?


And in a related subject, if a place or object is hard to pronounce does it have the same effect?

Thx for reading and any comment you might leave…

Man did I really write this?

Have you ever read what you have written and said to yourself, “man did I really write this crap?”

I just finished about 6 hours of writing and decided to read a few chapters in the middle of my book, just to get a better idea of how to complete the ending. Man was I disappointed, I couldn’t believe how bad some of it was… how disheartening.

Have you ever had this happen to you?

The bad part is I don’t know if I can fix it. It kind of left me feeling lost or overwhelmed. I hope once I am 100% complete, I can go back and read it from cover to cover and feel better about it than I do now.

I just have this overwhelming feeling I need to start from scratch. 81k words of poorly written work can do that to you. I just feel it would be easier to write it better from word one, than trying to fix that mess.

I just don’t think I can do it all over again. The rush of nearly completing my first draft that I was feeling just hours before has vanished… wow I hope I feel better in the morning—I hope that I can forget this and move on—I just hope.

Thx for any comment you might leave—even though I have been here before… any advice helps heal the wounds of feeling inept.

Five Things...

So I do not normally partake in things like this but since I was (kind of) tagged by Jeff I figured I would do it.




Where were you five years ago?



1) Doing the same job, as I am now…

2) Dreaming of doing something with my life.

3) Trying to find out who I was.

4) Trying to be a better father and husband.

5) Hating what I did for a living and cursing every day of my life.



Where would you like to be five years from now?



1) Writing my 4rth and final book of my series.

2) Helping others become writers.

3) Start my own publishing house.

4) Doing something I love to do, not work in a field I hate.

5) Sitting on a beach under an umbrella composing under the setting sun.



What is/was on your to do list today?



1) Write…

2) Think about writing…

3) Read a few chapters.

4) Work out on P90x

5) Try and watch less the 2 hours of TV



What five snacks do you enjoy? (if diet didn’t matter)



1) Benut butter and honey on toast.

2) Loads of bacon

3) carrot cake with cream chesses icing

4) Glazed doughnuts

5) Crunchy Cheetos



What five things would you do if you were a billionaire?



1) Buy every car I ever wanted

2) Take care of friends and family financially.

3) Open my own publishing house.

4) Travel the world on my private jet…

5) help out struggling authors… authors who deserve help that is, and help them find the path to being published.

If you read this, and want to do it yourself… consider yourself TAGGED and get-err-done.

Thx for reading and any comment you might leave...

When to let people read your novel...

Revision stages…


What stage of the revision process do you give out copies for people to read?

My stages… or at least my plan so far goes like this: 1: First draft 2: story revision 3: complete grammar edit 4: then let people read the work 5: process the critics and do one final rewrite and edit.



And one more question: I have to come up with a few names, hopefully names that roll off the tongue and or catchy. Names for creatures such as these: Half-man half-scorpion and a half-man half-spider, like the body of the creature and the torso of a human.

Edit: (Names of the entire species not specific character names... thx)
Thx for your time and any response you might leave…

Advice to a beginning writer...

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What is the best advice to a beginning writer you could offer?


Mine would be this: once you start to write, just write… don’t get bogged down with research or dissecting your structure or worry about anything.

Just write and let the rush of starting something new push you onward. There will always be time to go back and pick apart what you have done. If you have to, keep notes of names places and scenes for references—but don’t stop composing to read what you have done until you’re DONE, or the rush will leave you behind scratching your head, or the feeling of self-doubt will creep in and the overwhelming feeling will make you feel inadequate…

Also don’t worry about word count it will come and it will all work out.

That about sums it up for me, I hope you write and make millions… best of luck!

Thx for reading and any comment you might leave.

Climax…

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Have you read a great book… well a book that you thought was great until the Climax?

Would you read another book that particular author wrote, if the climax of the previous book sucked?



On the opposite end of the spectrum:

Have you read a slow almost boring book and the climax blew you away?



One last question: what makes a good climax (in a book) for you?



My story is moving well, I am not sure where to end it now. Its funny my whole experience of writing up to this point, was how was I going to get to 75k words… and now, it’s all about how I am going to stop shot of 90k. It blows me away how fast it builds up after 60k word count.

So if anyone out there is worried how they well ever get to 70+ thousand words… trust me don’t worry about it, just write and it will come. Don’t give up or feel overwhelmed, just sit down and push forward.

Kind of shows how ignorant I am and was.

Thx for reading or any comment you might leave.

Biggest Fear...

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What’s your biggest fear when it comes to writing? Maybe a better way to put it is, what fears do you have when people read your work?




I think my fear of not being understood, makes me describe too much. Every time the first thing I ask a person that has read my work is, did it make sense… then I ask what parts did you hate or bore you?



Thx for reading and any response you might leave.

Pushing though...

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I have recently been very disheartened with my writing… every sentence feels fake and just wrong somehow.

I keep thinking it’s going to get better but it hasn’t yet. I know what I want to say I just can’t get into a flow—into the grove if you will. I am feeling trapped and I don’t know why… this is a new experience for me. All I am trying to do is push through it and hopefully I come out the other side better than when I went in.

Has this ever happened to you and what did you do.

Authors Guide

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Ok I am going to share all the info I have gathered on the web about writing… I hope it helps at least one person, if so that’s all I can ask for.

Thx for reading hope it helps.



First off, are links about formatting your novel and query letter and some examples of query letters… hope it helps.


Her site blog rocks… much more than formatting, tons and tons of information here..

http://kayedacus.com/2007/05/23/manuscript-101-introduction-basic-manuscript-format/

go here for full list of what her site offers... you won't regret it.
http://kayedacus.com/writing-series-index/


Next: How to Format an Unpublished Novel in Word 2007

http://www.ehow.com/how_4841027_format-unpublished-novel-word.html


Next: a great site on formatting and everything else you would like to know…

http://www.charlottedillon.com/ManuscriptPreparation.html




Ok----enough on formatting next is query letters.

This is a good site… read all her post on query letters, it will help a ton.

http://bookendslitagency.blogspot.com/search/label/query%20letters


Next: my favorite agent blog… and my first choice of an agent if I ever get so lucky. Her site offers sample queries, and more about "everything" than I can list…

http://pubrants.blogspot.com/2006/08/queriesan-inside-scoop-sherry-thomass.html


All post on queries:

http://pubrants.blogspot.com/search/label/queries


Query help…

http://queryshark.blogspot.com/


Good info specifically on queries…

http://querytracker.blogspot.com/



Ok next would be good editors:

Great editor… this is her personal blog, not sure if she is looking for books to edit. But she is too good not to mention...
http://creativeartsanonymous.blogspot.com/



I love this editor… she specializes in Developmental Editing and Query Letter Critiques…

http://www.kristenweber.com/index.html



Pro editor… her site is full of wonderful advice for writers, its practically endless supply of information.

http://victoriamixon.com/getting-your-manuscript-edited/





Hope it helps someone… thx for reading and any response you might leave.

Making Decisions

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First off, after reading countless agent/publisher blogs, I had decided to have a word count of around 80k. This is the ideal length of work for a first time author in my genre (historical fantasy)

Now that I am nearing the end of my first draft, and I see clearly that it will be close to 95k words. If I end the book where it transitions best into the next book. (probably 4 books)

My question is this: would you change the ending of your book to fit it into a word count? Even thou I am writing 4 books and supposedly can end it where I see fit… I want to end the book satisfactorily for my readers. So they get fulfilled by reading my book, not thinking "that’s it… I have to wait till the next book to find out!!!"

Or would you end the book where you decided to in the first place and forget word count?

Or would you end the book where you wanted and just cut the word count from previous chapters?



Thx and input will be valuable.