Writer Senses

See my review of McLeod's novella here . Cover art of the book. Source . “Dead Tree Version” is a third-person omniscient novel chronicling the sudden and surprising success of USDA employee-turned-author John Madison Darwin and his misadventures with the adorable Carrie. This existential soul-search (or nihilistic meandering; pick your poison) is narrated over a period of months and features scenes ranging in tone from the darkly-humorous to the sitcomishly-ridiculous, taking place in both recurring locations (Darwin's apartment; Carrie's apartment; 'Cafe Nostrum') and non-recurring locations (some resort in Wisconsin; a 'con' in the Arlington Heights Community College gym). We are even, at times, treated to the magnificence of the Heavenly Throne, where G-d Almighty deals with a fictional (I think? Probably a composite character of some sort) angel/visionary named Burt Hugeunot, who appears to Darwin in dreams at key points in the story—portending ...

Are you a writer who made up new words for your story? Are you going to bring those terms out for your English-reading audience to interact with? Should you use a neologism in your fiction? The answer depends on how much you want to "translate" the "language" of your characters into English. If you're writing a story where "English" isn't being spoken (such as in the Ark series), then in theory, everything is "translated" for your English-reading audience. Assuming this, the places where you choose to be literal with your terms is a narrative marker of significance or insignificance. Here's what I mean: Having written a novel with more than a few neologisms, I found that employing neologisms was important in the places where an English word (or even a loanword like the Japanese sensei ) did not do full justice to the breadth of my term. I use the term didak to refer to a Magisterial Adept's "teacher." "Tea...

See my review of McLeod's novel here . Source: Amazon.com. The quality of "Currently Untitled" is such that I don't feel a need to pad my review or give an extra star or two because I know the author personally. Currently Untitled is a third-person omniscient narrative mainly following the existential crises of the forty-something Angus Agnew Pilcrow Anderson. Angus stumbles along the line between the Baby Boomer and X generations, throwing extravagant parties in his suburban Chicago McMansion, bedding ex-girlfriends from high school, paying alimony and child support out of his overflowing bank account (he made his money in real estate) while he bangs away at what he believes will be the next Great American Novel, though every indication from the narration indicates his manuscript may find better use as toilet paper. Angus's inflated self-image and cliched response to pretty much everything are not lost on the omniscient Hardy, who highlights through...

Listening to: Daft Punk: Lose Yourself to Dance Word Count of An Autumn Veil : 215,000 Word Count of book two: 16,000 ____ vil•lain (ˈvɪl ən) n. 1. a cruelly malicious person who is involved in or devoted to wickedness or crime; scoundrel. 2. a character in a play, novel, or the like, who constitutes an important evil agency in the plot. [1275–1325; < Middle French < Late Latin villānus a farm servant] Great stories stick with us because of their unforgettable characters and earth-shattering events. Few things highlight great heroes and great events like great villains. Villains bring conflict. They force the heroes to fight, challenge their beliefs, and leave them with physical and emotional scars. Some villains were once heroes, and tragically fell when they could no longer bear the weight of living and dying. Others, so it seems, were born evil the same as you were born with brown or blue eyes. These villains in particular take on universal characteristics, giv...

Listening to:  Final Fantasy 7  soundtrack ____ This is the second installment of my favorite stories series. A glaring gap in my prior entry was of the literary breed. How can an author not have a book on his list of favorite stories? Unbundy your undies and read on. THE NAME OF THE WIND Cover of "The Name of the Wind," by Patrick Rothfuss.  Source. " I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in. I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during day. I have talked to Gods, loved women, and written songs that make the minstrels weep.   You may have heard of me. " -From the book jacket of  The Name of the Wind The Name of the Wind   is New York Times bestselling author  Patrick Rothfuss's  first novel. And wha...

Current Word Count of Autumnveil: ~207,000 ____ It was within the first year and a half of writing that I realized telling the whole story of Autumnveil would take over 200,000 words. Even at that time I knew this would be a hurdle to publishing for an unpublished novelist. As common knowledge goes, sci-fi/fantasy works for new writers shouldn't exceed 125,000 words. I wonder sometimes if I should try to divide the story differently in order that my first publishing attempt might go easier Act I, which concludes with a climax and rapid falling action, is about 100,000 words and could probably stand alone if it absolutely had to. But dividing the story there doesn't feel organic to me. There are so many questions left over. Maybe that's good. Maybe those questions will keep readers begging for more, but so much of my maturing as a novelist really started happening in Act II. This is when the fruit of historical and language studies, traveling during my summers, reading ...

“ Stories you read when you're the right age never quite leave you. You may forget who wrote them or what the story was called. Sometimes you'll forget precisely what happened, but if a story touches you it will stay with you, haunting the places in your mind that you rarely ever visit. ” - Neil Gaiman Good fiction both informs and is informed by reality. I'm not a big reader. It is strange juxtaposing this truth with my being a writer. Do chefs hate food? Only if it's so oily the US wants to invade the plate . I'm not a lover of books, mostly because I find so many books to be poorly-written, and who has sixty hours to read something that everyone  says  is good but my own two eyes can't stop bleeding at? No, no. I love  good  books just like I love  good  movies, and I have no time for bad books just as I have no time for bad movies.  Well, not  all  bad movies . To confuse the medium for the core, that is, the story, w...