Author Archives: fictionalpenguin

One Hundred Days of Blogging – Day Forty

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Four days until I’m officially on vacation. It’s so close I can practically feel the waves of awesomeness generated by the crowds at Intervention washing over me. Naturally, I have to do some road to Intervention and Chicago posts because I am really damn excited about next week. The promise of great times with terrific people is just overwhelming.

I’ve got a couple pretty rough ideas where I’d like to go with these posts (tomorrow’s post is my 200th post, by the way; how time does fly). As always, there’s some element of doing things as I feel like it and hoping they turn out okay.

Day Forty – A road trip is only as good as its driving music

Not only am I traveling to Rockville, Maryland, with my good friend (and brother-type person) Jason, but I’ll also be making the trip to Chicago to see his new, very first bought-for-himself-like-a-responsible-adult house. And what kind of writer would I be if I didn’t appreciate the journey as much as the planned destinations? These trips need to be absolutely amazing. Especially the one to Chicago, as that will be the furthest I’ve ever driven. Ever.

I am tremendously fond of all varieties of music, though I still have aversion to rap and country. I hate to admit it, but the CD in my car has gotten quite stale. I can’t possibly drive from Carnegie (the starting point after this upcoming weekend) to Chicago without at least some new tunes to drive by. It’s also the easiest part of preparing for my trip. Clothes and stuff can wait, but picking music so I have CDs ready in time? That’s important stuff.

What kind of music makes for a good road trip, though? When Jason travels, I know he likes to listen to audio books. I’ve tried that, but it just doesn’t feel right. Also, I’m far too easily distracted. Traveling to a new place while trying to focus on a story is probably a recipe for disaster (and also worthy of note is that audiobooks are really goddamn expensive, but that’s spoken like someone who has no concept of money or money-management). Generally speaking, I prefer energetic music. However, to keep some level of balance, I also enjoy some more peaceful music. To avoid falling asleep, the tracks are arranged in a way that makes for jarring transitions.

But what music should these vacations have? Two years ago, Jason and my Intervention soundtrack included Gangnam Style, so nothing is really off-limits. I mean, almost nothing. I’ve been really considering getting (getting, picking up, etc, are all ways of saying buying on iTunes, by the way) some stuff by St. Vincent. So You Think You Can Dance has all sorts of wonderful music, but I’m afraid I’d start trying to do some sort of flailing version of the dances associated with those songs on the show. I’m only half-joking there.

Suggest music, people! I have until Thursday night to burn CDs. As part of my travel journal, I’ll post the playlists that ended up keeping me company along the way.

Sixty days remaining.

One Hundred Days of Blogging – Day Thirty-Nine

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I’m convinced that days off of work are not governed by the same space-time laws that are in play every other day of the week. They go by way too fast when they shouldn’t, and drag out when it’s time to focus on things like cleaning or important paperwork or whatever.

On the plus side, I did take a terrific walk tonight with Brianne. It was relatively cool out, but not unpleasantly so, and it was enough to get my brain going on various topics relating to creative things.

We’ve established by now that when my brain gets going on things that it can go to negative places. However, that negativity is a pretty powerful starting point for me to put my problem solving skills to good use. So I guess it’s a lose-win situation. Something like that.

However, all things are eclipsed by next weekend and Intervention. After that, I’m making my first major road trip to Chicago for some quality time with my best friend Jason. This upcoming vacation, I think, will be a much-needed break, and I’m hoping it will yield a good deal of productivity on my part (on top of seeing movies and enjoying good liquor with friends).

Tonight’s post, however, relates back to some of my thinking from my walk. It should provide some insight into how my brain works, and so I caution readers to potentially step away while retreat is still possible. Continue reading →

One Hundred Days of Blogging – Day Thirty-Eightish

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My focus is more on the little red notebook, and still slightly directed towards the oh-shit possibility of a bat getting in. Again. More importantly, I feel I should bow out from last night’s topic idea, if only because I don’t think I could handle it in a way that would read well. The short version, simply put, is there is nothing wrong with seeking help. Life will take you on magnificent journeys, but sometimes you may end up in dark places. Those are the times seeking outside aid shows true strength.

I’m happy to report I’ve added a good bit of detail to my new unnamed novel project, which has its own notebook…and is the newish topic of tonight’s post. Continue reading →

One Hundred Days of Blogging – ???

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This is sort of Day 37.2 or 38.1, depending on how you look at it. I mostly just want to focus on how the bat is not in my house now. There’s more business there, like looking into getting a new lair perhaps (which is a thought that horrifies me because of all such a step would entail). Let’s not talk about that now, though.

It’s been a tumultuous week for everyone, I think. The world got a good deal darker this past Monday with Robin Williams’ passing, that’s for certain. Most people I know seem to be running into their own problems. I just had a goddamn bat in my house, among other things.

My focus here is that every single day everyone is fighting their own battles, and every day there seems to be at least one asshole who is actively trying to make someone else’s life more difficult. Let it be known I was really on the fence about this post, but I feel like it’s something that needs to be said.  Continue reading →

One Hundred Days of Blogging – Day Thirty-Five

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I’m tired, my stomach hurts, and I have a thirteen-hour day ahead of me. Let’s get started (an appropriate statement).

Day Thirty-Five – The best (and worst) beginnings 

Update on 8/13/14 – This failed to post yesterday, despite WordPress saying it had been posted. Suffice it to say I am royally pissed off. Technically it was written yesterday, so I’m not restarting. God damn it.

Tonight has been a dark and stormy night, which makes for an exciting summer evening of wondering where all the flashlights and candles are. It also makes for a terribly cliched, overdone opening scene. Why not start with a bright, sunny day? Or maybe a slightly cloudy afternoon? There are very obvious answers to those questions, of course, and a lot of them point to “the weather is a framing device for some bad event, stupid”.

I have a hell of a time coming up with solid beginning scenes in my work, and far more often than I care to admit. Here are my biggest fears, and how I work to avoid them.

What if this turns into an info-dump?

Exposition happens. Sometimes it’s necessary, but more often than not it can be avoided with better descriptions, stronger characters, and a host of other tricks. When I’m in the moment, working to get that first scene set up, my focus is more on getting words on the page than it is what words are happening. Probably not the best approach, but it certainly helps get writing done. I avoid really thinking about the scene itself, and if it’s an info-dump set-up versus a beginning with merit, until I go back for the first rereading. Or one of my lovely beta-readers catches it. So long as the first page doesn’t read like the rolling opening credits in Star Wars, things are off to an okay start.

Once upon a time? No, wait…

What’s in a first line? A whole lot of hoping to hook readers. A first line, and this is some powerful stating of the obvious here, can make or break if a reader even bothers to continue with a story. While it’s silly, it’s the reason why “Once upon a time” and “It was a dark and stormy night” have become such endearing beginnings. I wouldn’t exactly recommend using them in a work unless you’re going for a very specific tone, though. Getting that perfect first line is something that just happens, I think. All the planning in the world can’t quite prepare for the eureka moment of when the perfect opening sentence happens in your brain.

Let me tell you all about the main character

This falls back into the info-dump, sort of, but it’s its own special sort of pitfall. It’s really tempting to provide an immediate image of the main character. That way the story can move along to the important bits, like the hero saving the day and the villain dying a horrible death. Those sorts of things. But It feels forced. It always feels forced. It’s much more organic, I’ve found, to gradually introduce traits. I’m actually somewhat guilty of giving minimal character descriptions and letting readers fill in details for themselves. It just happens that way.

Start here! No, here! What about here?

In longer stories, novels, and the first book in a series (god help me, I don’t think I could tackle the last one there), it’s hard to choose exactly where to start laying things out for readers. Especially in novels, and probably far more than I can fathom when embarking on the start of a series. I still haven’t figured out exactly how to approach this, as I’ve deleted far too many first pages for my own tastes. Whatever feels most organic isn’t always the best, and so it’s good to depend on outside perspectives here. The best choice will set the stage for the story’s events, providing a logical flow from Point A to Point Z, without jumbling Points B through Y too badly.

 

These are all pretty simplified, but it should give 1) some insight into how I handle starting a new story, 2) a few of the many issues I have starting new projects, and 3) how I can take complex topics and ruin them by cutting them down to minimal detail.

In any event, I need to drag my sorry ass to bed and hope I survive tomorrow.

Sixty-five days remaining.

One Hundred Days of Blogging – Day Thirty-Six

Posted on by under Joshua's Nightmare Updates, One Hundred Days of Blogging

Today was busy, eventful, and generally good.

However, I’m also entirely okay saying this post is being used as a cheat-day for the sake of focusing on creative writing projects. And because I just had a thirteen hour work-day, and I don’t have an idea I like enough to bother. Especially after the last two turned out so unfortunately.

On one hand, I’m really excited I have a book on its way to being published (FYI: it’s Joshua Harkin and the Wicked Nightmare King, which shouldn’t be surprising).

In closing, I have a question for you all (or at least those of you who comment…so a select few, I guess). How does Joshua Harkin and the Wicked Nightmare King sound as an official book one title? I know I’ve had it listed on the Joshua’s Nightmares page for a while, but I want to know what people think.

Wishing everyone a happy, productive hump day, I guess.

 

Sixty-four (just like one of Nintendo’s best, most carpal tunnel syndrome-furthering systems) days remaining.

One Hundred Days of Blogging – Day Thirty-Four

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Today can jump off a cliff into shark-infested waters already. Holy shit. It’s been dreadful. I could easily go on about why today was one of many miserable Mondays I’ve experienced as of late (I still maintain we revoke Monday’s status as a day of the week until it gets its act together). I’m going to focus on the positive instead.

For instance: I replaced the handle set-up for my downstairs toilet today. I realize this doesn’t sound like much, but it’s the first time I’ve ever had to do such a thing. Problems like that had a way of fixing themselves at home, or so I seemed to think (the joke is my stepdad got stuck dealing with all of these issues). I’m one minor home repair closer to being a proper, responsible adult. Sort of.

Time for real talk. I’m really freaking hungry, and today was almost bad enough for me to justify using the word hangry. Almost. It sounds too stupid to really justify. Instead of dancing around, I’m getting to the topic now. And then I’ve got an actual fiction writing project for while I wait to hear back from Cary Press in regards to my latest round of what I assume are stupid questions. Continue reading →

Fantastic News

Posted on by under Joshua's Nightmare Updates, Misadventures in Fiction

I had another post planned for tonight, which would argue the validity of fanfiction and so on. I’m sorry, but that’s getting postponed.

Just this once, however, I can say it’s not because of laziness. I’m excited to say I have tremendous, fantastic news. I checked my e-mail, and I honestly can’t remember why, and found this waiting for me.

Hi Phil,
You are the winner of our book publishing contest on Facebook. When you get a chance, please email us your manuscript so we can get started on publishing your book!
Let me know if you have any questions.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Alexandria White
Collaborative Publishing Manager
CaryPress
~ Your Books in Your Fans’ Hands and Hearts
Holy crap. Holy crap. Holy crap. How do I even react?! I e-mailed them some questions, of course, but now I’m just freaking out. I’m excited, and a little anxious.
The manuscript I’m sending? Joshua Harkin and the Wicked Nightmare King, of course! Mention of it being a two-book series hasn’t come up yet, but hopefully that can be another thing that happens down the road. For now, I’m just ridiculously excited, kind of terrified, and eager to set some even loftier goals for myself. Holy shit, people.
I will probably be completely intolerable for at least the next forever.

One Hundred Days of Blogging – Day Thirty-Three

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Thirty-three? Two threes, hidden in the form of another number? Like three games in a trilogy? Mystery solved. Half-Life 3 confirmed through a blog with no affiliation to Valve whatsoever. Everyone else can go home.

Sorry. I really couldn’t resist.

Today’s probably going to see two posts. That’s the plan, anyway. I’m trying to guilt myself into it, but I’m also feeling lazy. The latter half of that shouldn’t be too surprising. I think it just needs to be vacation-time for me already. I had to stop half-way into that sentence because my elbow cracked, and it sounded like a goddamn gunshot.

Anyway, I’m just kind of rambling, so I might as well get to the important bits.

I’ll be taking an official break from my This Week in Misadventures posts for now, as most of what I’ve been doing (sadly) has been these posts. I’m taking steps towards fixing that, but it’s mostly an embarrassing reminder of all the things I failed to accomplish in the previous week. Not as good a motivator as you’d think. Continue reading →