OK, so I guess this is day two of my website not cooperating. I’ve busted out the Bluetooth keyboard because apparently Siri can’t be trusted. Still, this thing is tiny and I have ogre fingers, so I’ll be making this short.
Today I was listening to the Writing Excuses podcast and the episode was about creating alien characters. I was absolutely thrilled to hear Mary discuss the proper ways to create a species/civilization because it’s something I have preached before! She said to never base them on an existing culture, because those cultures didn’t arise in a vacuum. Your race will lack context if you try to base your characters on Romans or Arabs or whoever. Instead, she said to either look at their surroundings and let that dictate how the culture would have to evolve, or to choose what you want the end product to look like, then deduce what kind of environment would produce that. That’s the deductive character building I brought up several blog posts back. I was, frankly, thrilled to hear that I’d stumbled upon a writing technique with the backing of a famous author. So, I’ll reiterate: either build your characters (and races) around their circumstances, or shape the circumstances to fit that characters you want. Be Excellent to Each Other
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And for today’s blog is going to have to be a little shorter than usual. Unfortunately the desktop version of the site doesn’t seem to want to load on my computer. Frankly, I’m surprised the cell phone version actually loaded up. Even that took a few tries.
I know I’ve done more than a few of these “shorter blogs” lately. And it doesn’t help that my cell phone keyboard is messed up so I’m using dictation mode. But still, it’s been over a year since I started this blog and I don’t intend to miss an update if I can help it. So what’s today’s mini topic? Well, I think I will briefly touch on creating characters. I don’t know of anyone recommends it more if there’s any writing manuals that suggest doing things like this, but other than my main character, I tend to start a lot of my characters out as walking tropes. That is to say, the initial idea of a lot of my side characters her fairly one dimensional. I create my side characters as needed, to fill a gap or perform a specific job in the story. It’s only after I have a chance to play with them, mess around with them within the narrative, and see how things turn out, that I have any idea of where I want to go with these characters. For example, my character of Samantha started out, I’m ashamed to say, as a stereo typical Amazon. By the end of my 2 or even third draft, she had evolved into something far more complex. She’s a character that doesn’t understand others very well, but is never really needed to. She is a character that very much wants to take the weight of the world on her own shoulders, to never have to worry about needing others, and through her story arc she really comes into her own. I’ve actually gotten really positive feedback about her character from some of my betas. It’s really fun to look at some of the feedback about Samantha, to think how she started so one-dimensionally, and to realize that people actually really like her. So I guess the idea behind today’s blog is to not worry if your characters are flat on the first draft. They are there to fill a role. Once they’ve done that, then you can go in and expand them, make them more complex, and make them, ultimately, more human. DFTBA There's something weird about writing letter after letter to perfect strangers you've been stalking on Twitter. Other than everything that sounds like it'd be weird with that. When you're querying agents, you have to cater each letter to the specific agent you're messaging. It's like having to alter your CV or resume for every job you apply for.
It's not like I have a problem with this. I know I need to court every agent individually, show them that I've researched what they represent and that my book is just the thing for them. But there is certainly that desire to just copy and paste and get them all out at once, but that won't do me any favors. I think the next part that's going to be tough is the first slew of rejections. And I know the rejections are coming. I heard that JK Rowling spent years waiting for someone to read Harry Potter, so if I think The Paladin is getting represented right out the gate with me as a debut author, I'm really dreaming. Still, I have to move forward with confidence. I mean, if I don't believe in the novel, I can't expect agents to. So what's next on my plate? Well, I have about five more letters to send out for this first round, then I guess I'll hope to hear back. If I'm lucky, the agents will give me some feedback along with their rejections and I can alter my manuscript. Beyond that, though, I guess I'll need to start focusing more clearly on my next writing project. I think I know which one I want to do, but still... I'm not sure where I'm going while I wait. This might be the toughest part of the whole process. DFTBA One of my more recent reviews is up on GeekNifty and I thought this might be a good game to share with you guys. I usually have a load of wonderful things to say about the games I play, or at the very least, point out what I liked and where I can see the developer tried. I... don't have much to say about this one. First off, is Log Jammers bad? I mean... Sorta? The problem is there's nothing here. That trailer can substitute for playing the actual game. There's just no meat to this thing. No story beyond a tiny bit of detail in the character selection. Gameplay? Pong. With axes. I think I summed it up best in my official review on Geek Night. It's Pong, but complicated. Does that make it better? Not in the least. The music is okay, but a bit try-hard as far as the retro feel goes. In fact... all of the game is a little too try-hard for my tastes. It's trying so hard to be a game from the '80s that it doesn't know how to make a gamer today enjoy themselves. So how does it go? Well, pick a strange character like the Zombear or Lumberjack, and then play Pong. But with an ax. You chuck said ax between each other trying to sneak it past and score. There are powerups that slide past the dividing line that can keep your opponent from catching the ax, freeze them in place, or let you unleash a special move, but I found myself only grabbing them to keep my opponent from grabbing them. They didn't help me at all. Oh, you want to know what did help me? Moving to the bottom right of the screen and waiting. Yeah. The AI can't stay still, so if you move close and just wait, they'll helpfully slide out of your way. They catch on a little in later challenges, but all you have to do is move to the TOP right. Seriously, just pick a spot and wait. I got SO MANY perfect rounds in a row with this maneuver. No skill. No powerups. Just push forward and wait until they move out of the way. So I hear you asking "what about game modes?" At least I hope you did or that game drove me insane. Either way, you're in luck. Besides single rounds and online play, there is Tournament mode. What's that? Just play a bunch of rounds in a row! Oh, but the variety doesn't stop there. You can play normal mode or Cheerleader mode. Sound exciting? Prepare to be mildly entertained and then never bother with it again. Cheerleader mode puts, get this, cheerleaders in front of your goals. Now you have to behead them to get to the goals. That's all. Just stretches out the individual rounds. So, again, is it bad? Well, no, I suppose not. But it's certainly not good, either. It's banking HARD on the retro vibe and, honestly, I found it more annoying than charming. Even retro games like Mega Man still know to make things look as good as they can without killing the retro vibe. Why they insisted on poor graphics and ONE song that loops through the entire mess of a game, I have no idea. Will you enjoy it? Probably, for a round or two. I wouldn't recommend playing for much longer. Despite it's insistence on being psuedo-retro chic, it's definitely not a cut above the rest. DFTBA PS. Oh, and just because I couldn't help but think of it everything I booted up the game, enjoy this scene from the Big Lebowski. So I submitted my query to my first agent. I'm excited, nervous, and teetering on vomiting, but other than that, I'm just fine. Which means it's time for the next one. I've been researching, I've been Twitter stalking, I've been writing and rewriting, and now it's time for the next one.
So, I have a nice little writers' group on Twitter. I kind of stumbled into it and I'm very thankful I did. I don't post as often as I should, but they've been super supportive. It's nice to hear that other people are going through the same things I am, to hear that they're having the same fears and anxieties. I don't know how to really get into a writers' group outside of my experience. That is to say, if I were asked how to join one, I'd be at a loss. I know there are groups on Facebook and Twitter, there are websites made to help authors and writers meet up and cheer each other on. If you can find one of these, if you need that support, do it. I didn't realize how much this little group would help motivate me and I really think that anyone out there capable of joining one of these groups, should. So to my little Twitter group out there (who I'm sure doesn't read this,) I say "Cheers!" Thank you. I know I don't contribute much, but I look forward to reading what you guys say every day. Keep it up. Don't Forget to Be Awesome PS. VOTE! I'm taking my time finishing this blog off. You see, I've spent the entire day writing and rewriting my query letter. It's pretty much ready to go and, logically, I can't come up with any other reasons to delay sending it.
My head says it's fine, it's written the same voice as the novel, it has a little humor and lays out the story in a concise, interesting way. But at the same time, my confidence is super low. Especially so soon after Pitch Wars where I didn't do so hot, I guess I'm a little gunshy here. I know the odds are against me. The chances of the first agent I contact wanting to represent me are low at best. I know, realistically, this is going to be my first (second?) rejection. And yet with all that, I just can't bring myself to hit submit. I know it's as ready as I can make it. I know the novel is good. I'm just not confident in my ability to sell myself. And, really, I guess that's the rub. I need to be confident. Confidence is key, as the saying goes, and it shows in your writing. At the very least, I need to be able to fake it. Yeah. Fake it. I mean, I managed to rewrite the query letter in an interesting way by pretending one of my characters was writing it. Maybe that's the key here. If this was someone else's work, I'd brag about it, talk it up, lay it on thick. I could do it because I believe in others. I just need to believe in myself, or rather, act the way I do when I believe in someone else. Does that work? Act like I'm pimping someone else's work? Well... I guess we'll find out. Because once I'm done with this post, I'm submitting my first query. So... wish me luck! Be Excellent to Each Other. Well, the long Convention weekend is over and it's time to move on to new things. With the new month comes a new prioritization of all my projects and side gigs. I know we all have a lot things we want to do and only so many hours in the day to do them all. I guess November's going to be my month to get those all in a proper order.
I have a could big things I'm looking at in the near future that I'm not quite ready to share with all of you. And trust me, they're big. I've very excited to share them, but the time isn't quite right, yet. Still, on my end, moving things around to prioritize those things is definitely the way to go. As far as writing things go, not too much should be changing. I'm still doing reviews for DLH and GeekNifty, I'm getting everything together for my agent queries, and I'm even looking over a few new writing opportunities. Most of them are in the form of contests so I can try to shine up my resume a little, but there are a few writing gigs that I could definitely add into my rotation. Paying the bills with my writing skills is my goal and every little step I can take in that direction is a good one. Nothing huge today, just a quick check in, but tomorrow I'll be sharing my latest game review. Until then... Don't Forget to be Awesome. First off, just back from the long trip to Tucson and I'm happy to say I had a blast with Claire and Vander. I hope we can do this again some day.
But onto literary matters... While I'm not officially participating in NaNoWriMo, I do think it's an amazing opportunity to get some words in on stuff that you've been holding back on. I recommend it for everyone, whether you want to publish or not, whether you have a fleshed out idea or not. It's writing and it's good for your soul. You'll be surprised what you have inside you. As long as you can, there isn't really a good reason not to do NaNoWriMo. If you're worried about the quality, don't be. This isn't a contest about writing quality. For once, it's almost entirely about writing quantity. Get a novel's worth of words out of your head and onto the paper. What if it's not good? Oh well. You can fix bad. You can't fix blank. Write it anyway. You don't have to share it. You don't have to do anything with it. It's really just a challenge for yourself, something to prove that you have it in you to write a novel. Ah, but what will Mr. Preachy be doing during this month, huh? Well, I have query letters to get out, so I'll be writing those. I have to tailor each one to the individual agent. And I have to put together a proper synopsis (as I think my current one isn't serving my novel well.) On top of that, I need to figure out if there are any literary competitions (other than NaNoWriMo) I qualify for so I can try to gain a little more in the credentials department. It's weird. I can brag about a few things in my life, from the pro wrestling to the journalism stuff, but I have nothing to really show for my writing and, honestly, it's the thing I care about most. Point is, I have a full plate for this month on the writing front. If I feel froggy, I might start doing some preliminary research for my next novel in the The Paladin Series. Maybe I'll take on a short story. But it has to be a legit short story and not the novellas I keep writing. Anyway, write. Oh, and vote! That's coming up, too! Write about voting...? Eh, your call on the last one, but do those first two! Don't Forget to be Awesome! Man, what a night. We gave away some awesome prizes, and had a heck of a night. I’ve got a lot of driving ahead of me, so I’m going to keep things short.
First, a big thanks to Claire and Vander. Couldn’t have done this night without you. Hope you had as much fun as I did. Second, a big thanks to Bookmans and Heroes & Villains for sponsoring the prizes. Our winners loved them! I’ll try to have something more relating to my book or literary endeavors in general tomorrow. Until then, enjoy this pic of our winners. DFTBA Hey guys. On the road headed off to Tucson Comic Con. Really excited to meet some people for the first time in person.
Doing con panels like this is super fun. I love meeting people, traveling, and seeing all the fun stuff at these conventions. So, just in case you haven’t heard it enough, if you’re going to be in Tucson tomorrow, make sure you swing by to see myself and two other Smash Fiction hosts running the Surprise Party panel. We got lots of great prizes to give out and an awesome game. put on a separate note, it’s November. You know what that means. NaNoWriMo. Phrase I’m surprised my iPhones dictation was actually able to recognize. I’m not sure if I will be participating in the typical way this year. I’m very busy trying to get my queries out, but since I’m not actively writing I guess I do have a little bit of time to focus on something new. Then again I wrote three short stories within the last year. I suppose it isn’t good that I’m trying to come up with an excuse not to write. But I wonder if the time I would spend writing will be better served in trying to get mine already finished manuscript published? I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to work on something new, but I don’t think I can knock out the form 50,000 words required by NaNoWriMo. What about you guys? Is anyone up there participating in NaNoWriMo? It’s a great excuse to get to work on that novel you always been wanting to do. I suppose I could always do a little bit on my sequels maybe do some research, figure out where I want to go with the next novel. Either way, even if I’m not knocking out the full 50,000 words, I’m sure I’ll still be writing in some fashion. Well, the road is calling. I’ll give you guys an update on how the convention went tomorrow. Be excellent to each other. |
Matias TautimezKeep your eyes open for my debut novel, The Paladin. Archives
January 2023
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