Silence

I am slacking on updating this blog with content. It is crunch time, right now; the semester is coming to a close. So, here is a poem I wrote in fall. It is called "Silence." Enjoy.

Silence

First dates sit in turquoise vinyl booths,

nursing on their text messages.

Women trudge home

through five o’clock traffic,

pacified by Andrea Bocelli’s

radio distorted voice.

Men sit with plastic attached to their ears,

placed on hold,

sucking on their IPods.

Mute birds perch on bark branches

Twitter tweets on their behalf.

Insulated from silence.

It has been awhile

It has been awhile since I last posted anything. Normally I would continue with my series, but I don't feel like writing that up right now (but I will continue it soon). Instead, I will share another short story that I have written. It will only be the first few paragraphs as usual, though (I do this so that if I have the opportunity to get it published somewhere, I don't have to worry about taking down my story). Enjoy:

Patrick Gilmore opened his bedroom window and poked his head outside. The air was cold--very cold--like a piercing dagger. But no matter the unpleasantness, there was a familiarity Patrick felt--though it wasn't a comforting familiarity. He paused.


A lady, walking her dog, sauntered along the sidewalk. She leaned backwards on her heels as if she had nowhere to be and nothing to worry about. Even the dog let its tongue hang loose, breathing heavy, dopey breathes of innocence. A couple ran along the sidewalk, talking and laughing. Patrick's neighbor across the street, Luther Franklin, stood in his bathrobe, pajama pants, and slippers, waiting for the mailman. Just waiting. Waiting with a cup of coffee in his hands. Waiting. And when the mail did come, Luther greeted him with a smile and a wave as if they were old college pals.


Patrick couldn't help but feel sorry for those poor souls. Their innocence. Their carefreeness. Their nonchalantness. Their ignorance truly is bliss, thought Patrick, but it's tragic. If only they knew what I knew. If only they could walk a day in my shoes, knowing the imminent threats in the world. But they are far too occupied with the pleasures of walking the dog, sharing laughter, and lounging in lush pajamas with a warm cup of coffee. I know better than to be preoccupied with the fantasies of this world. Reality is where I sit.


Patrick continued watching until the people cleared from the street. Then he pulled back from the window. He felt more relaxed with an empty street.


But then there was this car. Patrick's eyes went on alert, darting around. A Jeep Grand Cherokee parked across the street at the neighbor's house. Black. Tinted windows. License plate number MJY D303. Florida. What is Florida doing in Wisconsin? Family? Friends? The snow around the tires looked undisturbed. Whoever it is, they must have gotten here sometime last night, before the snowfall. 

Characters (Part II)

I'm back with more ways to develop a character. If you need a refresher go back to "Characters (Part I)." Anyway, great characters are characters who have quirks, itches, motivations, and so on and so forth. Here is some questions that will bring your characters to life.

Distinctive speech patterns can mark a character as... well... distinctive. Marilyn Monroe, for example, talks in a breathy, superficial way; or Robin Williams, he talks in a manicfasthardtocatchallhiswords kind of way. So, when developing your character's speech patterns, here are some questions to ask:

Does your character speak formally or informally (diction, structure, etc.)?

Does your character cuss?

Are there distinctive phrases your character uses? A phrase (maybe one or two or three different phrases) that they use over and over again that marks them and their nature.

Does your character use regionalisms, slang, jargon, etc. (i.e. "ain't"). Do they speak in a way typical of the area they live in or the profession they are in?

Are there typical sentence structures (i.e. a series of fragments, never actually finishes sentences, etc.)?

Your character's speech pattern should fit their personality (and their personality should fit their speech pattern). All the exteriors should line up and not contradict each other. (If you remember, I go into more depth about "exteriors" in Part I.)

I hope this helps develop those life-like characters; I know it helps me. And as always, these are mere suggestions, tools in a writer's toolbox. These are not a checklist where you include (A), (B), and (C), and voila; it doesn't work like that. No. Instead, you use what is helpful for you--the writer.

Stay tuned for Characters (Part III)... I know, real creative.

Writer's Retreat

Hello! I just got back from a writers retreat where plenty of writing, plenty of writing contests, plenty of writing exercises, and plenty of discussions on writing all took place. It was a community of writers just hanging out and writing. Now, if you are not into writing, I know that doesn't sound like much fun; but let me tell, it was.

One of the main writing prompts was that we had to use one of the following three sentences (for our first sentence of our short story), and the chosen line cannot be altered in any way:

1. Rachel's first trip to England didn't go as planned.
2. A light snow was falling as Charlie Reardon left the diner and made his way down Madison Street.
3. Sometimes, when it's quiet, I can remember what my life was like before moving to Cedar Springs.

I chose sentence (1). Here is the beginning of my short story that I am writing based on the prompt:

Rachel's first trip to England didn't go as planned. Just like the second didn't go as planned, nor the third. Come to think of it, Rachel couldn't remember anytime when things went according to plan at England: Family Diner in Boise, Idaho. And this time--her fourth time, with her fifth-grade class--was no exception.


"Class," said Rachel, "we will be sitting in the corner booth seats." She extended her arm towards four turquoise vinyl seats. And then she led her class from the front door; past the regulars, grumbling about those damn kids; past Laverne, the fifty-something, raspy voiced waitress with too much purple eye shadow and deep-red lipstick; and into the booth seats. 

Kindle Owners' Lending Library (KOLL)

Hello. So maybe some of you are wondering how my short stories are doing. Well, like I have expected, they don't draw much attention to themselves. Murder on Laodicea Street and The Awake are Dead are my only two stories that I have self-published on Amazon's Kindle Library.

Roughly, I average selling 1.5 stories a day (that is like 50 cents a day!). Some days I get no sales, and I rank in the 200,000s on the best-seller lists. Other days I'll get three sales and rank #40,000.

But, the main reason I am writing this post is because I have some pretty cool news. Well... at least I think it is cool. Yesterday (2-29-2012), I got my first "borrow." A borrow is when a Amazon Prime Member picks up your book for free. They don't have to pay the 99-cent book price; I don't get the 35-cent royalty.

But wait, there's more!

This is really cool for me because per every "borrow" I make roughly $1.50. Pretty neat, huh? That's one-dollar-and-fifty-cents that I get to keep all of.

So yes, ideally I'd prefer if I got 1.5 borrows a day. But either way, it is a lot fun having people read your work, your writing.

Characters (Part I)

As author's we will write stories involving characters. It is important to give depth to the character, making them more life-like and believable. So, as authors, it is our job to incarnate our character's inner life. Give the physical to infer the spiritual. Give the exterior to show the interior. Watching the character act and move around a place allows the reader to see something about the character's inner character.

How is this done?

First, the voices of the characters, what they say, and how they say it, says a lot about the character. We learn about characters by how they talk.

Show the way your character walks. Does your character walk with their hands behind their back? If so, this is very Prince Charles-esque, and the reader would assume your character is very comfortable with themselves. Where else could they hold their hands? Pockets? Back pockets? Arms folded? each says something different about your character.

How does your character sit? Do they sit on the edge of their seat? Or, is the character turned away on their seat, not facing the other people? One shows listening intently. The other shows a lack of caring. There are so many ways your character can sit. But, the question to ask is, does your character have a distinctive  way of sitting that says something about them?

How does your character greet (or say goodbye) to people?

How does your character hold their hands in a social setting. Certain ways send certain messages.

How does your character hold their head? Is it nodding? Tilted? Hanging?

All of these don't have to be used, but they are part of a writers toolbox. As is everything I write about on this blog, these are tools that you can adapt to your own writing needs. You might use all of it; or you might use none of it. Stay tuned for more ideas on character building!

Opening your story

Openings grab the reader's attention, making them want to commit more time to the book. Often, it is said that busy editors with tons of manuscripts will throw away books because of a uninteresting first page, a boring first paragraph, and, even, a bland first sentence. Therefore, openings--and openings with a BANG!--are an important part to a story; because sadly, readers to judge books by their covers (and by covers I mean opening to a story).

Here are some helpful hints; but as always, these are recommendations. If these tips don't help, then don't use them. Writers constantly pick and choose techniques that they think will be useful, creating their own personal toolbox of tips.

• You want to drop your character right in the middle of the action (i.e. think the beginning of the Indiana Jones movies. Even though the action is not relevant to the rest of the story, Indy is dropped right in the middle of action).

• Provide the necessary background to bring your audience up to speed (nothing more though).

• Establish the major dramatic question (it doesn't have to be revealed entirely, though).

• Identify the narrator, or the narrative point-of-view early on.

• Don't paint elaborate state sets, don't have lengthy preambles, don't have overtures (and you get the point).

• Establish a distinctive voice (what is distinctive about that voice?). Make it recognizable.

• Don't be afraid to start right in the action (i.e. "The second blow crushed my nose into a bloody mess."). This beginning gets the reader right into interesting action, asking questions about (a) who is he fighting? (b) what happened in the first blow? etc. etc.

• If the setting has an important role--if it is critical--take that time to describe that picture (AGAIN: Only. If. Its. Critical.).

• Let the audience know something will happen (i.e. "The night before the volcano erupted...")

• A lot of writing is intuitive, write what you feel is an attention grabbing opening.