'merican Psycho

Books:

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis is the story of a really really angry man starring the man who is Batman in the film adaptation. The later has nothing to do with anything pertaining to the book, I just like to mention Batman whenever possible.

*Warning* This post could possibly contain spoilers. I'm not sure yet but you've been warned.

Patrick Bateman has got to be the angriest Wall Street investment banker to ever make Scrooge MacDuck amounts of money, in the 1980s. He's so pissed off that he literally gets off by murdering prostitutes, coworkers, total strangers and the occasional ex-girlfriend in the most graphic possible ways....or does he? It's a tricky story. Part of the appeal with American Psycho is that the violence and sex is so over the top that your mind is forced into asking the question whether or not what is happening is really happening. It taps into that part of the human psyche that makes us angry when we're cut off on the highway. Most of us keep it together and drive on our merry way. Some of us act out in the so-called heat of the moment and those people tend to end up in jail. However all of us will not hesitate to conjure up some kinda of insane scenario in our minds where the wrong-doer is harmed in some fatalistic way. I can't be the only one who things this way, right? I'm not the crazy one, am I? Anyway, Bateman either takes this mental roleplay to the extreme, or he's killing people willy-nilly in a world without competent law enforcement. It was the 80's after all.

I enjoyed the book. It was a good read, a change of pace to anything that I've read lately. Can I recommend American Psycho? Kinda. If you're squeamish in any way, you'd probably do well to leave this book on the shelf. The murder scenes often come out of nowhere, OR they are staged so well that the suspense is built up to a point where you can almost stick your finger through it, like a squishy piece of red velvet cake soaked in blood....orange juice.

If your survived Event Horizon, or happen to watch it annually at Christmas time, the way I watch It's a Wonderful Life, then Bateman's antics might seem tame to you and I would seriously consider keeping away from other people for the betterment of society. But if you do OK with gore, then I suggest you pick up this book. It's important to know your history and how Yuppies and Hippies are pretty much the same tiresome species, only one tends to bath more and wears designer clothing.

Writing Them:

2 entries in 2 days! I'm making up for lost time. I read a lot of books and wanted to get caught up before finishing another one. Not a whole lot has gone on between now and the last entry. Since I haven't done this yet, I just want to thank anyone who's reading this, and who checks the site from time to time. I don't have a huge following but it would appear that the number is growing. That's cool. I really appreciate it. One day, when I've got something worth reading I'll post it here so it'll be exclusive to those who were here from the beginning. Then you can be all hipster and say how you knew me before I was famous. Anyway, it's great that you're here and I hope that I'm writing something interesting enough for you to keep coming back and reading it. 

The Martian

Books is Books

The Martian by Andy Weir was recommended to me by one of the writer/hosts of Writing Excuses, a podcast about, well, writing. I'm going to give you the same pitch I got from the show: It's a science fiction Robinson Crusoe story.

That's all I really remember from the pitch. It was a long time ago, before I traded podcasts for audio books during my commute to work. Advertising for Audible can be dangerous for podcasting. Though I highly recommend Writing Excuses if you're even remotely interested in the craft. One day when I've written a wheel barrel full of books I hope to give a little back as well.  

The Martian is about a man who gets stranded on Mars. He wields the power of science to keep himself alive. Will he survive? Or will he die, tragically of starvation, exposure, or -dare we even think it: martians of the little green variety?

Read the book.

Despite being overly saturated with hard science, it was a very exciting read and you really felt for both the main character as well as everyone else. In a way I was reminded of Armageddon, only without the meteor, Steve Buscemi, or terrible acting from the rest of the cast.

Writing is Books

I spent the weekend feeling anxious about the progress of the novel. My wife thinks I'm being too hard on myself. I probably am. I want to get this revision done. I've had a lot of trouble reworking Chapter 2. Sunday was spent restructuring it. Part of the problem has been that there isn't any good action happening at the beginning of the story. I think I may have fixed that by putting an action scene in Chap 2. We'll see how it goes. I have some writing to do, but I'm working off of a foundation, stuff I had written that needs to be tweaked here and there to fit into the chapter. Once those changes are made, and a few more chapters written, I should have Parts 1 and 2 complete. On to the rest of the story!

The State of Nature: The "Glass-Half-Empty" Kind

On Reading:

If Thomas Hobbes has taught us anything, it's that people are assholes and left to their own devices will lie, cheat and kill you if it would work out to their benefit. I'm paraphrasing. He was a real uplifting guy.

I'm reading two books, given to me as gifts, by Chris Samson, that take two popular story concepts, throwing them into Hobbes' State of Nature. I don't know if Samson recommended these books for this reason, or if I'm just in a rainy-day mood, but the parallel is definitely there.

The first book was, Steelheart, by Brandon Sanderson, which takes the popular superhero genre, and asks the question: What if all superheros were self-serving bastards who kill without thought or remorse and do nothing but feed their own wants and needs? Steelheart is the first YA book that I've read since the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld. It's written in the first-person from the eyes of one who has suffered great loss at the hands of, Steelheart; and extremely powerful super human known as an 'Epic'. He's basically Superman under the influence of Red Kryptonite, in a world where this is no other kind of Kryptonite to fall back on. The story establishes a pecking order between humans and epics. Steelheart is at the top of the order, ruling over a city that was once Chicago. Humanity has become a subservient class to the epics. The story makes it clear that there are no good epics.

 I enjoyed the book. I got somewhat bored halfway through, however the ending made up for any lull in the middle. Great payoff.

The 2nd book takes the whole magic school for wizards and fantastical lands of magic tales, and gives it a raw and gritty edge. The book is, The Magicians, by Lev Grossman. This first book in a 3-part series seems to parody/pay tribute to The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, while taking a number of relentless jabs at the Harry Potter series. Here's a text I sent to Samson after getting about an hour or so in: 

Despite how "dark" and "edgy" the Harry Potter books might appear, even in the later half of the series, they're essentially modern day fairy tales with the same kind of whimsical disregard to issues people face in the real world. What Grossman tries to do (and succeeds), is take the school of magic trope, and melds it with the life of a typical college kid; from sex, infighting within their respective clique, recreational drug use, and binge drinking. Oh, and there's magic too. The story goes out of its way not to candy-coat anything in an otherwise 'family friendly' sub-genre.

The very end of the book was anything but satisfying. Some of this can be forgiven as it's the 1st book in the series, but I felt the author was reaching for some sort of surprise ending that was supposed to leave the reader both guessing and wanting more. Instead it felt somewhat try-hard and artificial. But I cannot judge The Magicians too harshly as I was entertained throughout the book, and despite the bad ending, I was left wanting more, glad to see 2 more books in my future.

On Writing:

The App Store had this game as their App of the Week, called Deemo that I picked up for the iPad. It's sorta like Rockband, with the only instrument being a piano. You tap the notes as they fall from top of the screen to bottom. It's a way for an instrumental illiterate like me to feel like hot-shit playing a piano. The game samples from real composers, so through it I discovered V.K. a Taiwanese pianist.

I've been listening to his music during writing sessions and it's both calming, and inspiring. I generally listen to something while I write. Most of the 1st Draft of this story was written to My Chemical Romance, primarily Black Parade and Danger Days. The 1st Draft was written with a lot of raw emotion, which was murder for my beta readers, but helped me get the story -broken as it was- out there. Now that I'm in the revision stage, I have a lot more that I need to think about, so losing the vocals but still having music to focus me, helps in this process.  

Jonathan (Dr.) Strange and Mr. Norrell

Reading the Book:

Thanks to being poisoned at a very young age by comic books, whenever "strange" is used in relation to a person's name, my mind immediately arrives at, Dr. Strange. I'm not even going to begin to explain how little sense this makes or how it would even tie into Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke.

The story takes place during the Napoleonic Wars. It could be considered historical fiction were it not for the presence of magic. What sets the story apart from other books about magic, was the distinction between those how use magic; practical magicians, and those who simply study the history of magic; theoretical magicians.

While reading I was reminded of The Count of Monte Cristo for two reasons: Both stories take place in and around the time of Napoleon, and both Dumas and Clarke include historical figures as characters, some of which are instrumental to the plot. I have a very deep fondness for The Count of Monte Cristo. It's a great story and the movie version starring TV's Jim Caviezel has reach epic re-watch-ability status. In fact, while writing this, I feel like spending a good part of my morning setting up the old xBox and dusting off the DVD of Monte Cristo.

Much of my reading is done in the form of audiobooks. I'm one of those people with the audacity to think that listening counts as reading. I read this way because, well, I have a long commute to work. But also, there would be a significant gap between blog entries were I to read all these books the old fashion way, because I'm a terribly slow reader. And a book like Jonathan Strange was not a quick read, even for a fast reader. It's not shy on content, and several times it runs the risk of losing the reader in anecdotes, -though interesting- that causes one to question how it pertains to the overarching story. But you need to stick with it! Like Tolkien, it's more about the world than the adventure. However unlike Tolkien, you're not stuck in some weirdo's cabin for hundreds of pages, or arguing about the price of ponies while the f-ing wraiths are at your back door.

But back to reading in a more traditional sense for a minute. I picked up some books these past few weeks that I'm excited to read but since I am a slow reader, I thought I'd talk about them now, and then really talk about them later.

Off the freebie cart at the local library I grabbed a hardbound addition of The Damnation Game by Clive Barker. Hooked me from the first sentence.

Went to the New England Author's Expo and connected with a lot of fellow indie authors. I met some really cool people who I hope to stay in contact with. It was really encouraging to meet cool folks who are in the same boat I'm in...or perhaps they're in somewhat nicer boats with engines and a lido deck, while I'm still trying to figure out what the hell to do with these paddles.

But I also reconnected with author, Vlad V, and picked up all 3 of his books. I'm currently reading The Button, which is Part 1 of a 2 book series. I suggest you look him up and buy his stuff, Yorkic, and Brachman's Underworld. He's linked here and on this site's main sidebar.

Also got The Big Book of Genre Stories by Dale T. Phillips, which looks to be a little bit of everything and I can't wait to start it. Dale's a cool guy and he gave me a mention in his blog so I thought I return the favor. Check him out.

I'll be talking more about these at a later date but I wanted to put them out there because they're from some very cool people who love what they're doing probably a little more than I do. Also, there's Clive Barker to, so, ya know.

Writing the Book:

I wrote some lore. I think lore is important even in a story that is set in the "real world". But when you're building a unique, unexplored world from scratch, it's a necessity. I tend to think a lot of this lore, this world building will be in the finished manuscript, but it's also helpful to write such things in order to help one understand the world they're trying to write. It may be the stuff of history text books not appropriate for the story, but it's required by the author to flesh out ideas and create a consistent universe.

I write chronologically. I start at Chapter 1 and go up from there. At least, that's what I've grown accustomed to doing in the world of First Drafts. During this revision phase, I seem to be all over the place. Not sure if I like that. Currently I've gone back a few chapters and am fleshing out scenes that are either non-existent, or lacking. Revisions are like washing a car. In the first draft you've sprayed it down, going over it with soap and a sponge. The car is clear, but now all the little imperfections are easier to see and it's time to start buffing them out. Often this process takes longer than the initial write. At least that what I'm finding.

'Salem? Short for Jerusalem? Mind blown.

On Reading:

Until I read Wolves of the Calla, (or was it Song of Susannah?) I had no idea that 'Salem's Lot was about vampires. Seriously, I thought it was about witches in Salem Massachusetts. I had a blind spot in my vision for the little comma at the beginning of the freaking title, and clearly in my minds eye as well. How surprised was I that: A. It was a vampire story, and B. It took place in Maine.

But I've always been somewhat of a picky reader when it comes to Stephen King. And I won't say that I intentionally avoided reading his horror books. I was just more interested in novels like the Dark Tower series (fantasy with a post-apocalyptic slant), The Stand, (ok, maybe it's a horror book and maybe I did have nightmares when I read it in high school. But The Stand is Science Fiction meets the ultimate battle of good vs. evil). The Green Mile and Different Seasons were very good stories, but scary, no.

I didn't find The Shining all that scary either. Maybe it's me? Maybe I'm a sociopath?

Then again, maybe not. Because 'Salem's Lot scared the crap out of me.

These days, the vampire genre has grown to insufferable levels, choking the masses, flooding book shelves and TV channels and we're all just sick and tired of it until one day you finally just wish that Flanders was dead.

I'm sure in 1975, 'Salem's Lot was new and exciting and far from glitter, and male models, and all the vampires flocking to Louisianan.

But I think what make this story such a great read and more than just a novelty for its time, had more to do with the development of the characters and less to do with the vampires. Don't get me wrong: there were lots of vampire madness and some really creepy, bloody, and unexpected scenes. But what hooked me was that by the time the shit started hitting the fan, I was emotionally invested in the story. I'd been hanging out with these people in this small town in Maine. It felt like a real place. The story and its inhabitants felt real. I cared about what happened to them. I cared about what happened to the town.

If you've never read anything by Stephen King, this would be a good place to start.

One Writing:

I 'd been binge-writing for a good part of the summer. It's a lot like binge-drinking, only the hangover doesn't hit until you take your notebook full of scribbles and try to make sense of it while typing it all into the computer. I have a lot of content. It's now a matter of finding places to put it.

As far as story progression goes, I'm somewhat at a standstill at the beginning of Part 2. However the development of the characters has gotten a lot better. I feel like they're finally coming into their own. This had been an issue, as I was having a lot of trouble relating to one of the main characters. I think she's now a lot less two-dimensional from where she was during the 1st Draft. So I guess that's progress.

Ninja High School #176

Reading Books:

I've written about Ninja High School before. I think it's awesome that it holds the Number 1 slot in the Top 5 Influences to my Writing. It's in a category shared with Stephen King's Dark Tower Series, Kurt Vonnegut Jr.'s Cat's Cradle, The Matrix, and Big Trouble in Little China ("We really shook the pillars of Heaven, didn't we, Wang?")

There's something awesome about the 'high school kids with exceptional strengths/powers' genre. TV Tropes calls this the, Academy of Adventure and it's a genre with significant appeal and seems to work across many different mediums. The focus tends to be on the institution, however were the students in attendance of said institution normal disillusioned youth, the story would be over on page 1, issue 1, episode 1. No, what goes hand-in-hand with the school for wizards, gifted youngsters, and sailor-girls blessed with moon power is that they are, by their own right, exceptional.

The original run of Ninja High School has this in seemingly every character with the exception of the main character, who is an average American teenage boy. He plays the part of 'damsel in distress' to two striking female leads, one with exceptional skills in martial arts, raised in a family of ninjas, while the other is the princess to an alien race of skunk people. As the series progresses, this normal teen encounters other, larger-than-life characters, both friend and foe, and eventually shows both bravery and courage despite a lack of superhuman ability. 

Possible Spoilers lay ahead. The series has been rebooted. And it's been rebooted in similar fashion to the more recent Star Trek films, staring Chris Pine, and Sylar. When the first film came out, I was not a fan because they literally erased everything that happened before, with a major disruption to the space-time continuum. And who, who I ask you would want to live in a world without Captain Picard!?!?! But I understand why they went in this direction though, and I think it's the same path Ben Dunn and Steven Ross are taking Ninja High School.

In both cases what is gained is creative freedom. When a familiar world is made new again, one has the ability to create without having to worry about the years of past continuity. What NHS has over Star Trek is this idea of multiple dimensions that are accessible through both magical and scientific means. This allows for stories to not only exist within the context of the rebooted universe, but can also pull from other dimensional plains that the long time reader will find familiar, and perhaps even a little nostalgic.

This first issue had a Sliders vibe to it. Remember Sliders? Great show. The whole premise was about 4 lost interdenominational travelers trying to get back to their version of Earth. Along the way they met their doppelgangers and some very cool 'what if' scenarios. The rules of continuity were fast and loose because each episode rebooted the gaming console that was the known universe.

I see very good things ahead for Ninja High School: Reloaded (that's what I'm calling it anyway). The potential is there for fresh new stories while maintaining the would-be hero and superhuman heroines that brought so much appeal to the original series run. I'm really looking forward to where Dunn and Ross take us.

On Writing:

Writing for Ninja High School!

Just kidding. I wish.

Seriously though, I'm writing a lot of new scenes for my novel. I'm not paying too much attention to writing chronologically (which is how I tend to write). I'm finding that I have a lot of possibilities open to me and seem to be stressing about how and if I should change some major plot points in the story that will deviate significantly from the First Draft.

Here's what I do know:

There will be one central character in this story and the story will be told from her perspective. The development and thoughts of the 2nd main character will be revealed in a series of letters/journal entries that he dictates as audio recordings. 

Like in The Rook, even my minor characters are somewhat larger than life. They all have compelling stories that should be told. I'm thinking that each subsequent story in this series will be told/viewed through the eyes of one of these characters. Everyone gets a book!

I've started proofreading Part 1. Even if I'm changing the perspective, I have a lot of solid writing here that could possibly be used in other stories, or sections of this story. It's also a good way for me to gain some perspective, as I lost a lot of that during the extra busy month of June.

Also, without getting into all the details, as it would sound like bragging, I'm currently in possession of a Surface Pro 3, so I've been able to proof the Word doc of Part 1, using the Inking feature. So I've been able to write in red digital pen all over my document. It's working out really well.

Meanwhile, in the town of -UNDISCLOSED-

Reading Books:

The squeal to "John Dies at the End" by David Wong, is a book full of spiders.

"This Book is Full of Spiders: Seriously, Dude, Don't Touch It" is a less rough-around-the-edges tale centering around two beloved slackers living in a fictitious Midwestern town. Part of the popularity to the first book was due to it's following on the Internet, as a serialized blog of sorts. Reading the first book you could tell that -though coherent and complete- it felt somewhat disjointed. There were several stories rolled into one overarching main story that tied itself together in a somewhat chaotic way. The chaotic nature of the story and it's characters, that off-the-cuff writing style made the story work.

The squeal is much more polished. The story is tight. There are several subplots but they tie together in a way that complements the story as a whole. The tie-ins are clean.

I think the 1st book is better only because that chaos was what set the book apart, made it unique. It's not that it wasn't present in the squeal, but it was lacking.

Writing Books:

I had to look back to my last entry to see what the hell I had last talked about.

Ok, Part 1 IS done.

I need to sit down and edit it but finding the time to do that has been tough. It's the end of the fiscal year and the library I work at has a lot of extra money they want to give me. So my meager 6 hour a week shift has grown to 19 hours, just for this remaining month. So I'm working a lot.

I've reached the conclusion that in the same way writing with pen and paper is more effective than typing it out, editing in the same way is equally beneficial. But the tech-geek in me wants to desperately bridge this gap. I tried using a stylus with my iPad, Pages, and a copy of Part 1. Didn't work. Actually it sucked ass. And to be blunt, as one who owns several Apple devices and doesn't pass up a trip to the Apple Store whenever I'm in a mall, I can honestly say that the iPad is a nightmare for serious writing. It's a toy. It really is. Don't get me wrong, I like my shiny expensive toy, but I've given up on trying to use it to get any real work done. 

I've been eyeing the new Surface Pro 3, which isn't even out yet. No, I'm not being endorsed by Micro$oft. I'm merely seeing something I could actually use to get the pen and paper experience on an electronic device.

So I've been wasting a lot of time on tech I don't have instead of reading Part 1. 

Meanwhile, I'm stumbling through Part 2. I'm still trying to get a clear picture of how events play out. I mean, it's all been written in Draft 1, but I'm still discovering new things, new quirks about characters, new places to explore.

Having no time doesn't help either. I'm not in the groove, not in the world of the story.

Reading Part 1 will help.

Perhaps in July.

American Werewolves

On Reading:

Neil Gaiman is a great writer. This probably goes without saying, but I'm going to say it anyway. And before you accuse me of pandering, please note that I am simply referring to the man's ability to write. I'm not going to jump on Pinterest now and gush about his sexy hair or anything. 

Anyway...

"American Gods" is a novel about, well, gods and how they enter existence through the beliefs of humanity. A god goes out of fashion, they're forgotten and their power wanes. People of the modern age turn their beliefs in abstractions to the more tangible: televisions and technology, and poof, new gods!

I'm not going to review the entire book. What I liked about it was that he weaved several compelling stories throughout the course of the novel that came together in a very satisfying way. Gaiman could have serialized the story, the way King did with "The Green Mile." There were some very distinct breaks that kept the story fresh.

Patricia Briggs has written a series of paranormal tales in the same vein as Supernatural, True Blood and the Vampire Diaries with her protagonist, Mercedes Thompson. You'll know the books I'm taking about because they feature a hot, dark-haired bombshell with tattoos, usually holding a wrench or other tool commonly found in a mechanics garage, amid a goth backdrop. I picked up this book because I needed something light to read between the Historian and American Gods. I also wanted to read something sexy, but I have to say, it wasn't nearly as sexy as the cover would have you believe. I guess that old saying about book covers is true. Regardless, it was a good story in a genre littered with over-sexed characters and full-frontal male werewolf nudity. 

On Writing:

Part 1 of the book will be done tonight.

After a long talk with one of my writing buddies, and some careful thinking, I'm not going to go the Amazon self-publishing route. For me it's took risky and I really think this story would do better in more traditional markets. So I'm going to be querying agents once the story is done. My endgame is to make books, physical books, that'll be put on sale in book stores, book store I may one day be in, during book tours.

Hey, that Rhymes.

Roger Debris presents, History

Reading Books:

The vid has nothing at all to do with "The Historian" by Elizabeth Kostova, but it was what came to mind when thinking of how I would write this entry. The Historian was written in a unique way, which at first will sound like a somewhat gimmicky way to write a story, but was executed really well in this particular story. The story is written as a series of diary entries, letters between characters and research material. The story begins with a 1st person perspective main character in her 50's recounting her early teenage years. But even these parts of the narrative are read as if they were part of a memoir.

The book is about vampires.

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Specifically it's about Dracula.

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And to break it down even further it's about the half-monster, half-historical figure made famous in Bram Stoker's novel, which was also written as a series of journal entries and corespondents.

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I remember putting hundreds of copies of this book onto and off of the shelf in the "Literature" section at a now defunct bookstore, so I didn't expect this story to follow the same trends common in genre fiction. And it didn't. The book focused heavily on the history of Dracula the man, and of his realm in the Carpathian Mountains during the 18th Century.

The main characters, all heavily embedded in the camp of Science, were forced to come to grips with the reality that indeed, the Dracula of history had much more in common with the vampire of story and superstition.

I enjoyed this book but I felt that the last 100 pages were when the book really got good and I wished the earlier parts could have been like the later. This might have more to do with my own preference to genre fiction, and those last 100 pages were very much like a vampire story than hard lit. 

Writing Books:

I'm thinking about starting a Character Blog. This would be separate from this blog, which, despite what you may think is about a real life person. If it develops into something, I'll publish it as it's own work. Regardless of where it goes, it will be a good exercise in character development. It would also be a good way of giving you, the reader, a taste for how I write and what I write about. I realize that this little endeavor is based on a lot of talk on my part, with very little concrete proof of my talents. Unless you're part of my writing circle, you really have no idea what the hell I'm doing besides, well, this. This will either help entice or repulse you from my work. Regardless, you'll know what you're getting yourself into.

The link will be posted on the site's homepage soon. I'll also update this entry with a link should you be reading this after-the-fact.

In other news, Part 1 of the story is almost complete. I've probably said this before but it's much closer than it was the last time I said it. I'm on Chapter 6, and it will probably be the last Chapter of  Part 1. Of course, I think I might have said that about Chapter 5, so who knows.  

Up Next...

Moon Called by Patricia Briggs

and

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Flat Characters

Reading Books:

Pandemic, the third and perhaps final installment in Scott Sigler's Infection series must be what happens when an up-and-coming-author-turned NY Times Best Seller reaches for the stars and gets a tragic third-degree burn in the process. Scott, I admire your previous works, and the methods you used to sell your wares still has me held in perpetual awe. How you marketed yourself through the medium of podcasting is, in a word, remarkable. Not everyone can do what you did, despite its simplicity and the high availability of the technology.

But damnit Scott, would it have killed you to not rush the third story in a series that first hooked me into the Sigler universe?!?!?!

The book was broken up into parts. Part 1 was probably the best out of the entire novel. The reason being that it was probably written on the heels of Contagious, which in my opinion was the better of the three stories. Part 1 felt like it was attached to Infection and Contagious, which is a good thing when you're writing a series of books. There was actually character development in Part 1. I was actually starting to feel something for Margaret Montoya and Clarence Otto, -two characters who seemed to always get second-billing in the previous stories, when compared to Dew Phillips and "Scary" Perry Dawsey.

But once Book 2 began, all the care I could ever possible hold for these characters went right out the window and fell into a fire, destroyed like many of the story's settings, as well as the story in its entirety as well.

As a fan of the Matrix trilogy, I'd be the first to admit that character development was by and large two-dimensional. In fact one of those life-sized cardboard cut-outs of Captain Kirk found in your local comicbook den of all things in geekdom had more depth than the characters in The Matrix movies. But Scott, you made me care so little about every single character in Pandemic that by the end I was almost rooting for the virus to destroy everything. Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't the point of a survival story to get the reader to feel something for the would-be survivors so that when every hardship happens, they are jolted back to the edge of their seat in terror of their potential demise, and anticipation on how they're going to get out of this one. There was none of that. I can't even say the characters were simply unlikable. There wasn't enough development of them to feel strongly one way of the other. The only characters who came close to some form of development, (and only because of their presence in other stories) were Clarence Otto and Tim Feely. But too much time was spent making huge brush strokes on the disaster as a whole, paying far too little to character development. I'm sorry. I went into this expecting to like this book. I was sorely disappointed. Read it if you want to finish the trilogy, but don't expect much from it.

Up next: The Historian 

Writing Books

Not a whole lot new to report. I'm writing Chapter 5 in longhand. There's something almost intimate about writing this way, -with pen and paper. There's a connection that is often lacking when writing on a computer. I don't know if the ideas just flow better, if there's a subtle barrier between the words inside my head and typing them on a keyboard, or if I'm less easily distracted from surfing the web. But it's getting there.

I started reading the revisions out loud. There is a crystal clear voice to the narrative in Chapter 1. That voice can be heard in the Chapters that follow, but some polishing is required for it to be at the level of the first Chapter. Reading out loud also makes it clear where the flow is stifled by too many words, complicated descriptions, or awkward storytelling.

It's a long weekend so maybe I will get some solid hours of writing in next time.

"She said, 'I serve none but Korrok.'"

"You sure?" said John. "I thought she said, 'I server none but to rock.' I was about to agree with her."

"Whatever, John."

On Books:

And with that, I give you my thoughts on "John Dies at the End" by David Wong, (if that's even his real name)...which it isn't. It's really Jason Pargin.

This book is a funny-strange piece of fiction. It's written in three distinct acts that all fit together in a chaotic but seamless way. Act 1 reads very much like a science-fiction drug novel and is probably what would happen if Philip K. Dick and Chuck Palahniuk had an alien love-child. Act 2 continues the climb into the realm of the strange, leading into Act 3 which takes you places you never thought existed in the realm of weird.

The story is told from the 1st-person perspective of David, and several scenes that he was not physically present for are recounted by him, originally told by the books other main character John. Interestingly enough, since John tends to exaggerate his account of things, the retelling of events are both far-fetched but not without David's commentary pointing this out the absurdity of John's story to the reader. John and David fall into the archetype of slacker-hero. The humor drawn out through both the dialog and situations the two characters are put in make them very likable.

The book is funny. It has to be because it's equally gory. Chris Samson told me the book and the movie complement each other. After reading the book, I'm not sure I want to see the movie. I can do horror. But gore-horror is not my bag when it's on the big-screen...or the TV. I guess this really marginalizes my horror intake. Maybe I need to break it down further. alien-demon-worm-monster-gore-horror is not my bag, baby. In fact, anything with worms, mutant worms, slugs and other such variants don't set well with me. Some people have a thing against spiders or giant rats. I'm not a fan of all things squishy.

But who knows. Maybe one day I'll man-up enough to watch the movie version starring Mr. Crabs and that guy from Sideways.

On Writing:

It's pretty clear that the way the revised chapters are forming, each chapter will contain 3 scenes. The scenes seem to be divided by a change in venue. Another revision or 2 will help tighten up the transitions. Right now the process is going smooth but this may get tricky once I start incorporating the sections that have already been written into the revisions. Since noticing this pattern I may take a crack at doing something I never do and start outlining.

I started drawing a map of the main setting of this story. I feel like Tolkien every time I draw a map. I amazed by people who can draw good maps of fantasy places. Mine, like my hand writing always end up looking like chicken scratches.

Lastly, I plan on writing the last scene of the revised Chapter 4 tonight. This will end the new beginning of the story, allowing me to focus on cleaning up the material I've already written. I also end the new sections with a flashback of sorts. It's also the first really big action scene in the story. 4 Chapters in and I'm finally getting to the action. That may or may not prove to bit me in the ass. I don't know. I may have to start the scene in a prologue, then uses this last scene of chapter 4 to continue what the prologue started. I'm not going to worry about that now. 

1Q84, 1984, Make 7 Up Yours

Thoughts on Books

I haven't read any of Haruki Murakami's other works, so I don't know how 1Q84 stacks up with the rest. With that in mind I have to say that I really enjoyed that long-ass book. Audible had it clocked past 40 hours. That helped the author take his time with the characters and plot. Some would argue that he spent too much time explaining all the little intricacies, every minute detail, but for the type of story that 1Q84 is, I think it worked. Part of the appeal to the story was that I had no idea what I was getting into. I hadn't heard much about it. I knew it was being touted by the nerd community as some sort of philosophical science fiction. I found it more surreal than anything else. But at the same time it wasn't over-the-top either. At times I was reminded of the more subtle supernatural scenes from Princess Mononoke  involving the Kodama creatures in the forest.

I'm probably going to go back and read Murakami's other works, but not for a little while. In the time it took to read 1Q84 I racked up 4 credits on Audible. In case you were wondering, I used those credits to add these books to the library:

1. Pandemic by Scott Sigler

2. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

3. John Dies at the End by David Wong

4. The Rook by Daniel O'Malley

And speaking of The Rook, I finished reading that as well. This is Daniel O'Malley's first novel and it's apparently the first book of a series yet to be written. I also enjoyed this book a lot. I was concerned the main character was going to be a weakling the entire story. But she turned out to come into her own and performed some major feats of kickassery.

I really hope the author continues to explore this series. It runs along the same vein as my own writing. There were also some very funny moments that had me laughing out long...alone...in my car...shutup.

I enjoy a lot of books. I'm very hesitant to get on my soapbox, point my finger and tell an author their work is crap. It does happen, but not very often. If the story takes you to a place other than your car on the way to work, your comfy bed before going to sleep, or that waiting room...er...waiting...to see your proctologist, than the author has done their job correctly. I tend to steer clear of so-called 'reviewers' in the comment section of places like GoodReads. I know the Internet is supposed to be the ultimate social settings, but when I read comments, especially the negative ones, I just have roll my eyes. And I absolutely stop reading any comment that begins with, "I really wanted to life this, but..."

It may sound hypocritical, because here I am spouting my opinions, but if I really wanted to talk books with someone, I'll do it directly. In a forum it's really not a discussion as much as we like to think it is. It's a mean spirited person's idea followed by others who will side with or against the original post. Quite often it devolves into name-calling.

Besides, what I'm doing here is basically saying, "Theses are books that I've read. I like them, you might like them too. And if you don't, hey, that's cool. Just don't be a dick about it." And if I think a book that you like is crap, that's my opinion and I'll try not to be a dick about it. Maybe you have a soft spot for Will Wheaton and the 1980's. Cool. I personally think TNG was better without Wesley Crusher and the 1990's were better because of Chrono Trigger and Pearl Jam (which is funny because the 2000's are much worse because of Pearl Jam with songs from the Ten album that are played incessantly on FM Rock stations).

In the immortal words of Forest Gump, 'That's all I've got to say about that."

Currently reading "John Dies at the End'. No spoiler intended. It's surreal, but in different ways from 1Q84. 

Thoughts on Writing

Not much to report except that I'm back in the swing of writing 2000 words a day. I'm also on Chapter 4 of the quasi-revisions. Chapters 2-4 are all new. So I guess they're a first draft. But I'm going to be spending a lot more time on revising these chapters myself before handing them off for outside scrutiny. Chapter 5 will be a much better version of the old Chapter 2, and, for the moment, the story should flow from there with revised version of what I've already written.

I've noticed a pattern as I've written these revisions. The revised chapters, from 1-4 all contain 3 scenes, usually based on a change in venue. In the first draft, some chapters would only be one scene while others would be upwards of 6 or more. I like the order, the organization of this 3 scene per chapter. It sort of gives me a space to work with and helps me plan out what I need to cover.

My one fear is that I've introduce A LOT of new things in these new chapters, and I already had a lot of material to work with as it is. So I hope I'm not adding more questions to an already long list. But I'm very happy with the results, the new characters, and the direction the story is going. 

Finding the Momentum

Writing Books:

The character of Aryel Lessard should have been one to come easy for me. Anyone how has gamed with me, from MMOs to pen&paper RPGs would know that a version of this character has been lurking in the echo chamber of my mind for close to a decade. But maybe since she had been around for so long that I stopped actually thinking about her. By 'thinking' I mean, putting some analytic thought behind who she is, and not staring dreamily into space, occasionally letting out carefree sighs while sucking down chocolate-covered strawberries.

I had to actually do some thinking when it came to creating the Basilisk because up until the start of this project, his formidable presence had not set foot into the hallways of my mind. What he wanted in this life I had thrown him in, and how far he would go to get those things were established, and written down. I had answered the questions that needed answering. By the time I started writing him into the story, I knew what made him tick.

With Ary, I'm still sort of finding that out. Which sucks when you've written an entire first draft and are just realizing one of your principal characters needs to go back to character development school. It feels kinda like a soldier being sent off to war when the commander realizes that he never learned how to shoot. I don't know. Maybe it's different. 

But Ary is a far better character now than she had been a week ago. And, until the beta-readers tell me otherwise, I think she's come a long way sicne the 1st draft of the story. It's not been easy, but it's been an experience I'm glad to have gone through because I've learned a great deal by going through this process. I used to write a 1st draft of a chapter, revise it, and then call it good. But it's not good. There are a lot of questions that need asking. I've written more revisions of just the beginning portion of Chapter 2 than I care to count. But it's important. I need to see what works and what doesn't. Yes, it's discouraging to not have all the answers when I sit down to write. Sometimes sessions feel as though I'm just spinning my wheels, but it's all important. It's all necessary. In the end I think it makes for better characters and hopefully a better story.

And it's important to keep even what you don't use. Because you never know when I scene might come in handy elsewhere. 

Reviewing Books:

Not going to write a review this week because I'm just under the 5-hour mark on finishing 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami. I want to see how it ends before I put my thoughts into words on the screen.

I used my 2 credits from Audible to get John Dies at the End by David Wong, and The Rook by Daniel O'Malley. Chris Samson recommended John Dies to me. Though I forget if he said to read the book first or see the movie. I remember him saying that the two complemented each other.

The main character of The Rook is a woman who is a high-level operative of a secret clandestine agency that protects the world from supernatural threats. My hope is that she is an example of a strong female character that I can hopeful gain insight from. We'll see. Dan O'Malley's only written one book according to Amazon and he may very well be as bad at writing woman as I am. But he's published and I'm not so he's probably doing something right.

Look alive, Sunshine.

The editing and revision process of the "Dream" story is going very well. Considering the sheer amount of work that is need to turn the 1st Draft into something ready for prime time, my awesome beta readers are more like alpha readers with what they've had to deal with.

They've been kicking my ass though and that's a good thing. When this is all over I think I'm going to have to 'make [them] a cake or something'. Perhaps subscribe them all to Omaha Steaks.

Since I discover while I write the 1st Draft, I basically told myself the story. The  plot comes out in an out-of-order way, characters are either really well thought out or cardboard cutouts, and settings are either over or under developed. But by the end I have a better idea of the story then I did before this all began.

I kinda feel that the revision process is where the most grueling work begins. Writing a story is easy, presenting it in a way that doesn't sound like the ramblings of a lunatic is hard.

To give you an idea of how it's going. In the 1st Draft, Chapter 1 was 2,803 words. In the revision it is just under 4000 words. That was the result of listening to my beta readers and establishing plot points right at the beginning that weren't fully realized until much later in the writing of the 1st Draft.

I always knew this story would be a series. By this point I know that it will probably end up being 3 books. Together the series will resemble a 3 Act play...or the original Star Wars movies. 

Finally, I resubscribed to Audible. I've never been a fast reader but I greatly enjoy books. Might as well listen to them. With my 1st two credits I got "Ready Player One" and "Snow Crash".

RP1 got good about halfway through, after the author stopped 'telling' me what his story is about, instead of showing me scenes and character interactions.

And maybe casting Wil Wheaton as the voice of the novel was ultimately not the best choice. I'd like to think he'd be a pretty cool guy to hang out with, but he's typecast as somewhat of a conceited prick. Again, he's probably cool in real life, but seriously, he 'sounds' like a high and mighty douche-bag. So when he, as the voice of the narrator-protagonist bestows upon me the virtues of the nihilistic mindset of Internet subcultures, popular in the comment section of Gawker, and splattered across the walls of Reddit, it comes across as sounding preachy. And, staying true to form, any opposing viewpoint is instantly dismissed by the hive-mind by labeling it: Bullshit.

To me this flaw in the book relates back to 'show' vs 'tell'. I, the reader was being told how it is. Period. Were I shown the culture of this polluted dystopian society on the edge of annihilation, where a 3D graphically intensive virtual reality version of the Internet is somehow able to run on solar energy, maybe just maybe I wouldn't have felt as though the author had an agenda. (On a side note, I wonder how much electricity is required to run just one of Google's data-centers, and could it run consistently on solar power?).

Maybe I'm reading too much into it. Again, it wasn't a lousy book. The story, once it got going was good. By the end I really felt for the characters. Setting the scene needed work. And I feel that I can say this because it's what needs the most work in my owe story.

Snow Crash, on the other hand was awesome for 99% of the book. I felt the ending was too sudden. Where the ending worked was that it was very open-ended. I, the reader had the responsibility to determine what happened next, who lived and who died. This was fine. I don't know how I'd have ended it. But it felt incomplete to me, from the final line of the story to the sound of a different narrator informing me that, "This has been an Audible Production of, Snow Crash, but Neil Stephenson..." I was like, "That's it!" and then after a moment I thought, "well, OK, it works."

And today I began 1Q84 which is over 40 hours long! You would do well to expect another book review from me, 40+ hours from now, staggered between commutes to and from work.  

And so it begins

I've spent the past 2 days or so putting together this website. I'm sure there is a lot of rough edges on it. An Apple product it is not! ​

I am told that this is the best way to generate buzz. One day I might actually have something to sell here. Let's hope that day arrives sooner than later. ​

​It's once again time to feed the beast, the beast, at least in this one instance is writing. I've been on a very long dry spell and it's actually been affecting my overall health. So expect to find any and all manner of ramblings, ideas and possibly even snippets of stories. Expect the stories to be proofed at least marginally well, and expect these blog posts not to be proofread at all. 

​Also, feel free to use the comment section, assuming it works, because deep down, I'm nothing but a filthy dirty whore for attention and praise. 

​That's it for now. There will probably be something else to say later. In the meantime I'll leave you with my recipe for Spinach and Artichoke Dip:

1. 1/2 Cup of Mayo

2. 1/2 Cup Sour Cream (The good kind, not that fat-free shit)

3. 1 Clove Garlic (Mince that up)

4. 1/2 Cup Parm (Shredded)​

5. 1/2 Cup Mozzarella ​(Shredded. Add a little extra. I do).

6. 1 Can Quarted Artichokes (Drained and chopped to bits).​

7. 1 Pack of Spinach (Thawed, drained).​

Mix it up in a bowl, put in a casserole dish, and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. 

Served best with Scoops