Extending the Theme

From my last blog entry I alluded to the fact I have a few storylines going on in the current book I’m writing. The bad part about this is I have an idea where two of them are going, but I'm stuck on how to introduce the third. The third, of course, is the meeting of Opus Wright and Jeremiah Stone. I find this particularly difficult to sort out in my mind because of the time frame of where they meet in the story and how to blend that into this particular novel. It’s something that’s bothered me for quite some time, so I’ve left it in the back of my mind and just concentrated on the two storylines going on now. It’s a good thing I did this because I had an epiphany yesterday on my drive up to Pittsburgh to watch a baseball game and eat some ‘Peace, Love, and Mini-Donuts’ (which are well worth the stop if you’re anywhere near the Strip District).

My epiphany came in the realization that a friend of mine is reading Book 4 of the Jeremiah Stone series (the prequel) and the night before we were discussing a few aspect of that story. And besides getting some great feedback, I also remember that novel being rather short (about 57,000 words). Also, the end of it discusses the second time Jeremiah dies, but only briefly. So as I was driving and thinking about all this, I came to the conclusion I could actually expand the ending of Book 4 by adding the meeting of Opus and Jeremiah. It would actually be quite easy and would be a great precursor to where Book 1 starts.

Now with this dilemma out of my head, I can concentrate on just dealing with Opus and his nemesis in my current project and forget about adding a storyline which would probably not fit very well, as if it was just added there in an adhoc manner. SWEET!

Now for a bit of Book 4 (unedited):

Shifting his balance beyond gravity’s norm, Jeremiah twisted to the side sliding his body around as he ducked under a massive right hand before his own uppercut caught the guy just below the ribcage lifting the man from the floor. For any normal person, this would’ve been an incapacitating blow leaving them curled into a ball on the floor, but this guy was tougher than anyone he’d fought so far. Though the man grunted heavily at the punch, he only stumbled one step before backhanding a swing. Jeremiah was no amateur though. Ducking under the clumsy attack, Jeremiah struck upward again until his fist pounded into the man’s jaw, breaking it.

This time the man went down, but surprisingly he didn’t stay down and was crawling, stumbling, back to his feet. Jeremiah didn’t let him get there as he dropped to one knee while hammering his elbow into the back of the man’s shoulder collapsing the supportive arm. There was a deafening crunch and this time, as the man collapsed to his side, he wasn’t getting up.

Rising to his feet as applause exploded from a few and jeers arose from other, Jeremiah looked himself over. He’d been hit a couple times and would show bruises for it within a few hours, but he was relatively unscathed. He’d been lucky and avoided getting hit in the face by the man’s club-like fists. Now all Jeremiah had to do was make it out of here with his money, back to the MIT to close out his school debts, change his identity and the name on his transcripts one more time, then find some other school which would accept him. Maybe Yale would be a good choice, or Harvard. Either offered the best instructors his newfound money could buy and he like dealing with the best. Besides, despite his brutish manners, he was at the top of his class at MIT.

Busting Out

As a few of my last posts have attested too, I’ve been in sort of a writing funk. The story I’m writing is good, however, I’m at a crossroads and can’t think my way out of it. Or rather couldn’t. A few days ago that changed when I got to the airport and told myself I have to get through these next few pages. It also help that I took the advice of my previous blog entry a little more to heart than usual. So by the time I sat down at the gate I had the next scene planned, the same scene I wrote and wadded up earlier, and began writing. This time the words came and I only stopped writing when my battery died. It was a good day.

Since then I’ve written a little but more over I’m trying to get down to the nitty-gritty of the story and the climatic ending. This I have to plan for because there are two storylines merging and a third I may introduce (maybe). Anyway, it’s a work in progress. The great thing is I surpassed 40,000 words, so I’m half way there though I only planned this to be a 60-70,000 word book. HA! Shows you how much I know.

Now for the excerpt (unedited):

As Brian shuffles across the parking he counts the five vehicles besides his own and the one the men just arrived in. Five cars means probably twelve people at most within the building, as a slow drizzle of rain starts to fall, but it’s nothing compared to the dark chill which enters his soul as he prepares for dealing death. This is his chance, his reckoning moment in which repetitive training finally takes action. In almost a surreal manner, a calm floods into him even as his senses heighten and his vision gains focus. With each step toward the door, he’s able to pick out individual specks of rain within the mist and hear the subtle pinging of hot metal cooling as he passes by the engine compartment of the large car the three men had climbed out of. In his mind, however, he’s able to absorb it all and dismiss it just as quickly as his feet pick up their pace just enough so his hand is able to grasp the door just before it closes. And as he pulls it open he hears the electrical buzz of the inner door charge allowing the three men, and now himself, into the inner sanctum. He also hears the answer to a question concerning the Americans.

A pleased grin takes hold of him as the one question he had is answered as if it were a gift from the devil himself; the second floor.

Without even slowing, his eyes take in every nuance as the barrel of one of his silenced guns slides under the glass pass-thru for badges and fires twice into the guard’s chest. The distinctive noise causes the three men to turn to him, but Brian’s second gun is already raised and firing. The first and second men get head shots falling them like puppets without strings while the third jerks to the right. Brian corrects his aim and fires twice taking the man in his throat and right eye. As the man collapses, Brian’s into the hallway turning the gun towards the alerted guards. The nearest fails to extract his gun before Brian plugs him in the forehead. The other guard at the far end, however, raises his weapon, but Brian steadily walks forward with both guns raised firing four shots into the man’s chest. As the guard falls forward in death he’s able to fire a lone shot into the hard tile floor.

Writing

So I got sent a blog about how to write more when a person actually sits down to write. And though the blog was a bit long winded, the gist of it was to plan your writing in your head before you write and get excited about it. When you’re excited about writing a scene then the words tend to flow more. The other thing the blog mentioned was to not worry about grammar at the time, but rather just getting the words onto paper. Now I can agree with all of these and do the first two all the time, though I can’t seem to let a glaring grammatical error linger as I continue down the paragraph. I have to go back and correct it.

The one other thing I do is review what I’ve written once I’m down, either by reading it or going over it in my mind. This helps me verify the content stays true to the characters especially in conversations. And this is what I believe to be the true art of writing, staying in character. Clear precise descriptions, believable settings, and an intriguing storyline are of course necessary for a good story, but engaging characters are what draw in readers. This is why I go over my conversations over and over again, but again these are just part of the whole, albeit an important part.  

These things together make a good story, but it’s the writing of it I’m concerned with now. To write a story that flows, that has continuity, I believe the writer needs to write out a complete thought, a scene, an action sequence to its fullest all at once. They have to capture the moment as it were. To do this I normal try to write either full chapters at a time or leave off between scenes within a chapter. To write a little bit of a scene and then put it down requires that I be in the same mood, same mindset as when I first started writing it. This is not an easy thing to do.

This brings me to my current stasis, yes – stasis. I’ve not written in a couple weeks because I can seem to find the motivation, the same level of intensity, as I did a few weeks ago. Therefore my story has stagnated, though I haven’t been stagnate. I have worked through the scene, or rather the upcoming scene, in my mind. I still haven’t settled on how it’s going to take place, but I’ve worked through and around a few of my issues. Shortly I think I’ll be able to finally start writing it out provided I give myself enough time to do so.

Anyway, I hope it turns out better than what I’ve planned so far because I don’t want to have to delete another three to four pages like I did the last time I tried to work through this area of the book.

Wish me luck.

The Dilemma

So I’ve written in a few different genre, from swords and sorcery to sci-fi modern adventure to romance to poetry and short stories to erotica. Granted the romance book I wrote was from a guy’s perspective while the erotica was more of an editing job for a friend than for personal needs. However I have yet to venture into the horror genre, but I’m contemplating it a bit though I'm not sure if I can do it. The reason I doubt my writing is due to the fact horror requires a setting of mood and suspense in a very specific way, a way I doubt I can accomplish.

Why? Because I’m a fan of sudden fiction. Sudden fiction lends itself to action, not suspense.

To the contrary, I’ve come up with an idea for a book that could definitely take me into this genre. The story is a combination of psychological thrill and detective story, but could easily reflect the horror element.

Now I have to say the current book I’ve been spending most of my time on is rather dark in nature. It actually shows how a person can become a killer along with a developing a few other mental disorders. The fun part about it is I can see myself as the person within the story and know where and how I’d react to certain situation. Move over, because I can relate in some odd way it tends to push the story toward action and confrontation. Therefore I’ve created a nemesis for the main character, as any evil villain should have. But because of this story I feel I might try to broaden my horizons into horror, or at least something far more dark and deadly.

Now, completely off the subject, I’ve started reading a sci-fi adventure book my uncle has begun writing. I must say the story is intriguing, though very scientific since my uncle is determined to have the science of it accurate. In my reading of it so far I find one thing I can’t get past, which is the dialog. The conversation from every character reads like they’re all automatons. It’s all so stiff and none-engaging, though technically sound. And in a way since the characters are scientists I can understand the direct nature of it, just not from every character. There’s just no variety, no personality, no intrigue generated by it. Everyone is just so plain. Maybe there’s something I can do about it.

We’ll see on both.