New readers

A few readers contacted me this week to say they're enjoying Xmas Carol. I love when people give me a shout-out, especially if they're still reading the book. I get a big kick out of hearing where they are in the story and how it's affecting them. This never gets old.

And then, as each reader finishes the book and (hopefully) shares his or her reaction with me, it's like the ending of an episode. But the great thing about a book is that it comes to life again and again: there are always new readers. The adventure begins anew each time someone picks up the tale. This supplies a never-ending sense of freshness for me as an author.

This is so much fun. Writing Xmas Carol was the best thing I ever did.

This time I'll imitate a TV detective

Recently I spent a few days looking for timeline software. I had this illusion that there was a program out there that could track the timeline for my next novel, magically and simply. Ha. There are timeline programs but I don't find them magical, or even pleasing. Thus I remain a softwareless child.

The timeline proved troublesome in Xmas Carol. Toward the end, I realized my days were cramped and jumbling into one another. I had to adjust all sorts of things to bring them into line, which wasn't fun at all. I want to avoid this pitfall with my next book.

Without the aid of magical software, I'm going to create a timeline -- but I'll do it like the detectives on TV. I'm going to line my living room wall(s) with a long piece of paper. Then I'll put dates on the paper and string my scenes over the timeline. Surely this will work. Surely.

Xmas bummer

The other day, it occurred to me to wonder whether I could legally include lyrics from Xmas carols in my horror novel, Xmas Carol. They're all over the place in the book right now because I considered them to be in the public domain.

Well, I'm glad I looked into this before publishing the book. It seems you can't include song lyrics in a novel unless you pay exorbitant rates to the copyright holders. If you include lyrics in your novel without paying the title holders, lawyers will swoop down on you and sue you for a zillion dollars. Apparently, you can mention a song's title but not one word of the actual lyrics. Oy.

This strikes me as weird and unproductive. Yes, I know people wrote those songs and they deserve something for their work -- but you're not copying the song and playing it on your TV show; you're just giving the tune some free advertising. And you're certainly not competing with the songwriter in any way. You're not re-selling his song, in other words. (Though I could see how someone might think differently about this.)

But at the core is something deeper: we're talking about Xmas carols here. They're as American as apple pie and "The Star-Spangled Banner". We were weaned on these songs. They are us and we are them. For this reason, it seems ridiculous to say you can't quote the lyrics of an Xmas carol in a book.

Anyway, it's a major bummer. I used the lyrics well in the book. They added something essential by connecting readers' Xmas memories to the story. I hate to lose that. Sigh. Now I have a huge hole to fill. Song titles ain't gonna do it. Bummer.

Editing a novel

In the early days of this blog, I wrote a lot about the process of writing fiction. How do you write a novel? How do you create a character? How do you write dialogue? What makes a scene work? If you click on the tag "writing process" below, you'll see those posts. The truth is that I've been learning how to write a novel as I wrote one. I find the same is true of editing.

At first, I edited the entire book from start to finish. This is a necessary process and it helps you to become familiar with the scope of your book. You get to see it in one fell swoop, in other words. But while this is definitely helpful, I found that no matter how many times I went through the book, I was still changing things. This gets to you after the 40th pass through the book. It really does.

Right now, I'm completing the final stage of editing my horror novel, Xmas Carol. (Yes, I'm still editing the book; what can I say? It needs it.) I'm doing the editing differently now. What I do is edit a chapter -- and immediately edit it again, and then again, and again. I do this until I'm completely satisfied with the chapter. Then I mark that chapter done and move on to the next. This seems to be working in a way that whole-book editing never did. I'm now happy with the first nine chapters of the book. It's only got 12 chapters, so I'm almost there.

I'm not sure how other fiction writers handle the editing process but this seems to be the way I do it. I'd love to hear from other writers. How did you edit your book?

As for regular readers who are dying to get their hands on Xmas Carol, I promise the book will be out by July. I swear. I'm almost there. Woot!

Editing workflow: hardware edition

Yes, of course I'm still editing Xmas Carol. I will until the day I publish the book. But this post is about hardware.

Much to my surprise, I find that using my iPod Touch and Macbook Air, I'm able to edit very efficiently. What I do is send the book to the iPod Touch, where I read it in iBooks. The shocking thing is that I can grasp the text much better on the Touch screen, compared to seeing it in Scrivener, my writing program. It's just easier to grok. I'm not sure why.

In any case, I read the book on the Touch and when I find something I want to change, I do it on the Air in Scrivener. Now and then, I turn the Scrivener file into a fresh file for iBooks and check the changes to see if they read well. As a result of this seemingly simple process, I'm doing the best editing I've ever done. The book sounds much, much better.

Any other writers out there? What tricks do you use when editing?

Thoughts from Blurb Land

Mother Gin Sling & poor innocent.

I wrote the blurb for Xmas Carol last week but I don't like it much. I just don't have a knack for writing pithy descriptions. I need more elbow room! Also, I hate blurbs. Since they often contain spoilers, and you don't know if one will or won't reveal too much, you can't read any of them. How does that make sense? I think blurbs should be vanquished. All we need is a title, an author, an image -- and an evocative phrase like "An Artificially Intelligent Horror Story". (Thanks, Casey!) Heck, what more do you need?

Anyway, because of this foray into short-form writing, I've been highly blurb-conscious of late. I see blurbs everywhere. I even see obituaries as "people blurbs". But you know who does the best blurbs? The folks who write the movie descriptions for TV listings. They have this itty-bitty space for a description and yet they have fun with it. Take, for instance, this treasure:

The Shanghai Gesture (1941)  Gambling den boss Mother Gin Sling drags her British ex-lover's daughter into decadence. Gene Tierney, Walter Huston.

Ain't that great? You hardly even need to watch the movie. Anyway, when I'm happy with my blurb, I'll show it to you guys. In the meantime, take two aspirin and call me in the morning.

Weird experience

The master.

A segment on the news tonight featured an invention I made up for Xmas Carol. There it was, up on the screen -- no longer my secret idea. How dare they invent something I made up? It's downright rude! 

Anyway, horrors. Now it'll look like I lifted the idea. Ah, but my pre-publication readers can attest to my coming up with it first! I'm saved. Then again, I may just come up a new invention and stick it in. Take that, inventors!

This was a seriously strange experience. Again, how dare they?

Yes, I'm still editing Xmas Carol

I keep saying I'm "editing" Xmas Carol but a more accurate statement would be that I'm rewriting it. I'm always rewriting it. It's apparently what I do.

Our own Artichoke Annie suggested a few changes after reading it, and I agreed because her ideas were good. So I dove back in to make the changes . . . which of course ended up with me making more changes, and more changes, and . . . So yes, I'm rewriting the book.

I used to look down on writers who took three years to write a book. After all, I wrote three books in 18 months. Ah, but that was before I began "editing" the books into final form. Xmas Carol is the one I chose to work on first -- and I'm still doing it many months later. I started writing Xmas Carol on January 28, 2010. So I've been working on it for about 19 months, and I figure it's going to take another month or so to complete. Whew.

This brings me back to a quote I see often on writing blogs: "Great books are not written, they are rewritten." I'm rewriting the book, not editing it. And it's a good thing. Each time I go through it, the book becomes better.

Right now, I'm about 2/3 of the way through the book. And when I'm done I'm going to go through it again. And I'm going to cut, cut, cut. I am so rewriting this book.

Hang on. I promise it will be done at some point. Really.

Creating fictional characters

Last night I was musing about the characters I've created for my books. Characters can be wildly interesting and it's fun to create them. At first you sit around, thinking this or that over, trying to see the character and get a feel for him. And after much soul-searching, you reach a point where you're ready to write a scene in which the character appears.

The thing that hit me last night is how important it is to write the first line of dialogue for your character. In that line is everything. Yes, you will develop this character further but as soon as you write down his words -- he exists. In fact, it's shocking how fulsomely he exists.

This happens because in that one line of dialogue is everything you need to know. (Okay, not really but stay with me.) You commit to the character when you write a line of dialogue, and instantly you know this person. It's as if the line is DNA that contains the blueprint for everything that must follow.

I think this happens because of the nature of writing and the nature of humans. When you write dialogue, you're not listening, as you do in life when someone is talking. You're speaking through the character. And in doing so, you are him. I think this happens in large part because the writer can literally hear the character's voice as he speaks. And in that intonation, that delivery, that voice, is the character, whole and true. At first, only the writer can hear this voice but in the course of the book, he makes the reader hear it too -- and hear it truly.

The knowledge a writer feels comes also from human knowing, from the built-in talent we homo sapiens have for understanding the actions of others. It's that mirror neuron thing, when you get right down to it. By speaking in the character's voice, the writer becomes the character. This is nothing new for us. We humans can slip into the minds of others at will. We do this to figure out the motivations of others so we know whether to trust them or not. To do this, we in a sense become the other person, and in doing so we can feel if their words and actions line up in a logical fashion. We ask if they are believable, and we're uncanny in our ability to ferret out the truth. It's how we come to understand others and it's one of our basic survival skills.

So when we slip into a character, we learn a lot. It's not so much a writerly skill that comes into play -- but a human one. This is how characters are built: we get inside them and become them. And the moment you write that first line of dialogue, you've crossed the Rubicon. You're off and running. This is how characters come to be -- at least, in my worlds.

I need some help

There is a gay male character in one of my books and he's always saying things are "faaaaaabulous!"

The problem is that it's the year 2030. Would a gay man speak like this 20 years in the future? It doesn't seem likely, does it? I mean, he might do it for a retro thrill but there would probably be some wonderful new word that gay people use with a sense of style and fun and exaggeration.

I need suggestions. It's 2030 and you're a gay man. What word would you use in a gay, campy way? This one's got me stumped. Any thoughts?

Timelines: Aaaarrrrgh!

Timelines are a difficult aspect of writing fiction, at least for me. I create scenes and assemble them into a book, and it all makes logical sense to me. But then at some point I have to fit the fictional activities on a real calendar. Because in the end, the story must be in synch -- all the clocks have to chime in unison.

As a writer, you just write. You know your story needs this or that, so you write scenes and make those things happen. Often these scenes are not anchored in time. They just float around in book-space until you nail them to a clock. The problem comes when, even using a trowel, you can't jam all the scenes into a coherent timeline. 

This is where I am now with Xmas Carol. It's not a huge problem. It just concerns a three-day space, into which I must fit about five days worth of scenes. I'll have to compact them somehow. Sigh. I'll get it, but still: grrrrrrrrrrrr!

Today will not be an easy editing day, but I'm on it.

Writing about psychopaths

There are not one, but two, psychopaths in one of my books. I figured why not go for two, you know? Just kidding. The plot required them. As a result, I spent a lot of time with these guys.

You've probably seen the news about the woman in New York who found her real mother, and thereby outed as a kidnapper the woman who raised her. Now there's a psychopath. She steals a baby from teenage parents, brings it home and happily goes about her life, raising the baby as her own and probably never thinking of the child's true parents. These folks have no qualms at all. Qualms are for the little people. It's all about them. Everything else is inconsequential.

Hearing about the case reminded me of my very own, homegrown sociopaths. It was strange to write about them because I had to get into their heads. So what is it like to be one of these guys? What I learned is that they are one-dimensional. There is no depth, none at all. There is only what they want, and the act of getting it. Their satisfaction is intense, but fleeting. It's just a quick fix until they see the next thing they want. They're the ultimate consumers, and we are the consumables.

What I learned is that a psychopath is a pathetic thing to be. I came to see them, both my fictional characters and actual psychopaths, as cursed. There is no hope for them, no possibility of change. I found myself pitying them.

What hollow lives they lead, always looking outside for satisfaction because there is nothing inside. I sense that this scares them at times. That's half the reason they want thrills -- to distract them from noticing who and what they are. They are people without souls. What a rank existence.

A bit dead

I wrote a post a couple of months ago bemoaning the fact that I'll never be able to write horror novels that have ghosts, witches, spells or any of that sort of nonsense in them. They don't exist, so poof! They're disqualified and I can't write about them. That's how it works for me. Only real (or conceivably possible) elements can worm their way into my stories.

But there's one eerie sort of tale that I may yet work into my bag of tricks. I'm talking about stories where the characters are really dead but it takes them the whole book (or movie) to realize it. "Hmm," you say. "But wouldn't that constitute a nonsensical story, Keith?"

Not especially. Humans experience flashbacks. We say, "his life flashed before his eyes," and everyone understands what we mean. It seems to me a significant story can be packed into a flash. All you have to do is play it back at a much slower speed. Voila: an eerie tale that doesn't break my self-imposed "reality rule".

At some point I'm going to try one of these. It won't be the usual, boring (i.e., SyFy Channel-like) story where there's a car crash at the beginning, and at the end they all see themselves dead in the wreck. I think I can do a lot better than that.

Am I tipping off my audience by saying this? Sure. But I'll bet you won't even recognize the gambit when you read the story. Betcha!

The mad editor

Well, I'm editing but I'm not quite mad -- more like exhausted. I've been editing Xmas Carol for a couple of weeks now and I'm halfway through the book. In the process, I've come to realize that what I'm doing isn't editing. It's a total rewrite, a much bigger task.

And it's going well. As I said in an earlier post, I axed an entire story-line and excised a character. (I feel I should put them in aluminum foil and store them in my freezer. You never know when you might need a good character or storyline.)

But phew, what a lot of work. Writing books is a joyful, easy thing but editing them into final shape is a whole 'nother animal. It's a mountain of work. 

 Anyway, this has been my report from the trenches. Over and out.

Shining a light on society's ills

There are times when I gleefully rip into religion in my novels. It's such a delicious, overripe target. I can't help myself. But religion is not the only thing with a bulls-eye on it in my fiction. Stupidity, ignorance, cruelty and irrationality also get my attention. I like to point out the idiotic things we humans do, and as we know, there's certainly no shortage of material out there.

When we do this as writers, when we shine a light on society's ills, we perform a vital function for our world -- especially now that journalists have, for the most part, stopped doing (or even understanding) their jobs. Without a Fourth Estate, this job may now be up to fiction writers. Think of what Dickens' writings did for the London of his times, and Mark Twain's witty dissections of the society of his day. This is a hallowed tradition. I can't aspire to those heights, of course. But I can do my part. I can shine a light on the ugly things that need fixing.

Of course, any writer who wants to go down this road has to decide how to go about it. What tone should we assume when performing this service in short stories, novels, plays and screenplays? What is the most effective way for us to get the job done, given our own, particular talents?

In our times, snark has become an art form. People are getting better and better at it and article after article on the internet leaves behind a verbally bloodied victim. It's our primary spectator sport these days.

But snark is such an easy out, so close and convenient and raw, like ripping open a vein. It's always there; we can always do it. We simply direct a venom stream at our target and let loose a volley. The stronger the venom, the louder the thud as the victim falls to the floor, senseless. It's a quick fix, a hit that satisfies -- at least, momentarily. We use it all the time on blogs and I say "Go, girl" to that. But should we bring a current trend, a faddish way of speaking and writing, into a work of fiction that we hope might be around for a few decades?   How will it sound in 2025 if the people of that day are not constantly at each other's throats?

So I asked myself if I wanted to bring this verbal style into my books. Did it sound inviting? Did I want to write many scenes that ended in verbal bloodshed? The answer was no. To me, snark doesn't fit with my style, so I decided not to go that route. Snark's fine -- and believe me, I can do it -- but I don't see a place for it in my stories. I have other ways to accomplish my task, using humor and perhaps a frightening level of honesty.

I write scenes that hold up a mirror to show us what we really are, and what we're really doing. There are aspects to our behavior that are hidden under rocks, not only from others but from us. As a writer, I'm merciless about lifting up every damn rock I see and cataloging what lies beneath. That's what I do: I let the reader see situations from odd angles, showing them something they never knew was there. And I try to throw in a laugh to soften the blow. That's how I like to do it.

I think it's devastating enough to show the vast emptiness at the heart of religion by telling the story of someone who is harmed by it. I don't need to rip anyone apart verbally. Just put the reader in the right situation and it's so easy to see -- and recoil from. I create those situations. That's how I shine my light on the ills of society.

How do you address this in your fiction? Does snark play a role in your current work?

Basing fictional characters on real people

One of the greatest things about writing is the creation of fictional characters. It's such a freeing thing to be able to create anyone I want. It's almost dizzying to have such power. Which makes a certain type of question from readers rather strange.

Now and then a reader will ask, "Is that me in your book?" Uh, no. I don't (usually) draw characters who "are" a particular person. That sounds limiting and oppressive, actually. We can make anyone up so why rely on a real-life model for a character?

On the other hand . . . I did it once. There is a character in my horror novel, Xmas Carol, that is highly reminiscent of one of my best friends. I didn't do it because I was fresh out of character ideas that day. It was a more ambitious thing.

I wanted to build a character that was like my friend in many ways.  My goal was to take that character on a fictional journey that represents my hopes for my real-life friend. In essence, it was a joyful tribute to my friend's worth. And that was the only time I did this.

One reader commented about a character, "I knew who he was right away! It's you!"  Uh, no. It wasn't. I don't appear in any of my books. (The odd thing is that this reader picked a character who meant very little to me as I painted him onto my screen. He was so minor, an afterthought, really.) 

Are there aspects of me in my characters? Certainly. I'm sure all writers inject their personal traits into characters. We know ourselves so well and we use this knowledge when we write. But there is no character in my books who is me, nor do I think I'll create such a character in the future.

Tell me, do you use real-life models in your fiction?

Keep a tape recorder by your bed

How many great ideas occurred to people as they were falling asleep and were lost forever when they couldn't recall them in the morning?

The first time this happened to me, I thought, "Oh, I can remember that," and promptly fell asleep, losing my idea for all time. It drove me nuts the next day. I could still feel it but it was just out of reach. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't latch onto it.

As writers, our ideas are our lifeblood so losing them is a real tragedy. After seeing too many ideas disappear into the mist, I became determined to find a way to capture them. The next day, I bought a handheld digital recorder at Amazon and it has lived on my night table ever since.

Has it saved me? Many times! It is so great to wake up, vaguely remembering the outline of an idea, and then be able to pick up the tape recorder and play back my thoughts. And there it is: that great idea -- saved!

This came up last night when I had a wonderful notion about the ending for a short story I've been planning to write. I love the concept of the story but I had hit a brick wall with the ending. Nothing seemed to work. Well, it came to me last night just as I was drifting away and I managed to reach for the recorder and mumble my idea into it before slipping into unconsciousness. Now I can write that story! 

Pads and notebooks are great but if you're like me, when you're falling asleep you don't want to turn on the light and sit up to write an idea down. It's so easy to push a button in the dark, speak my piece and drift off to sleep.

Save your ideas. Figure out systems to record them. And then write, write, write.

Short stories

Ah, short stories!  Such fun to write, and yet there's so little call for them.  I've read that short stories are good for nothing, that no one (i.e., publishers) will touch them.  "Give them away," says the throng.  "That's all they're good for."

Well, I've written five short stories and I'm not quite ready to toss them into the wind, thank you.  Today, I plan to work on an idea I've come up with, sort of a way to package the stories (for sale?).  I've seen it done before; it's not a novel device.  I plan to include all five in a book, and write a surrounding story in which they all live.  The five stories are hints about the true nature of the overlaid story.  Each story plays a role in the tale.

A week or so back, I wrote the first section of the main story (the one in which the short stories live).  Today I'm going to edit that first section and see if I'm up to writing the second installment.  I've already thought through the plot of the main story, so all I have to do is let loose on the keyboard.  First, however, it's time to edit.

Anyone out there written any short stories?  What did you do with them?  (Note: I print them and give them away to friends when they stop by.  I've gotten great reactions.  People seem more ready to read a short story than a sizable novel.)  I'm not averse to putting the short stories on this blog, should the over-story idea fail for some reason.  But I'm not there yet.  I like my current plan.

What did you do with your short stories?