Mike Angley

Writing in the Dark

by

Mary Deal

Many people have asked for a way to catch that spark of creativity as they wake from sleep.

History is full of writers and people of science and other fields, who have said they receive inspiration in the wee hours of the morning. Some of my most creative moments were when I woke in the middle of the night, so I decided to emulate these great people.

In the past, I lost a lot of sudden inspiration by allowing myself to toss and turn with an idea before returning to sleep, thinking I’d remember it in the morning. History teaches us that we should write down insights and creative flashes on the spot. So I placed a pen and pad on the nightstand. Still, turning on the lights felt like robbing me of sleep.

After a while, I gave up the idea of writing on a pad and decided to go directly to my computer since keying is faster than handwriting. That required waking even more and I found that fully waking sent my muse fleeing. Too, walking to another room, half asleep, and waiting for the computer to boot, I’d forget why I was there!

Handwriting in the dark proved the best way. I got used to the idea of not turning on the lamp or waking fully, and to sitting in bed under the warm covers. The best ideas came and were easily captured when I was only partially awake. Once the notes were jotted, I went back to sleep or lie back to wait for more inspiration.

When writing, the shape of the white paper shown by moonlight, or by the dim light of the street lamps filtering in through the window. Never mind trying to follow those barely discernable blue lines on the paper. I never saw them. All I saw was the shape of my hand moving across the area of white, and my pen, depending on its color. I just wrote.

In the beginning, it helped to imagine each letter of each word. It kept me focused just enough to keep from falling asleep while sitting up. It also helped me write legibly. The tendency—and I’ve heard this from other night writers—is to write hurriedly and the letters and words end up being only partially formed. The writing is difficult to decipher when re-reading later. I soon learned how to write readable letters and words without having to concentrate on each. I didn’t write small. In fact, it was best that I wrote large and got the idea on paper legibly enough to read in the morning.

And forget about hand printing notes. The following morning all you may see will look like chicken scratching! Not only were my printed separate letters haphazard on the paper, but the individual parts of each letter were disjointed and scattered. So, deciding to write only in script, the problem left was how not to write on top of what was already written.

It’s easy to add more notes, not knowing where on the page you left off. You’ll most likely end up writing over what was already there. In the morning, if you wish to keep the valuable information you took the time to jot, you’ll had no choice but to try to decipher the over-writing. So at the moment you’ve finished writing one thought, even if you used only a portion of the paper, turn the page. If more notes are added later, they won’t be written over earlier inspiration.

Another way of avoiding over-writing when finished writing one line across the page: Place the opposite hand over what was just written. Cover each line as they are added and that takes care of that problem.

When stopping writing for a while, attach the pen to the edge of the next blank page. When fumbling for the notepad in the dark, the pen allows a fresh start on a clean page.

Always use a bound notebook. I tried loose pages once but that was short-lived when, in the dark, everything fell to the floor and I didn’t know what was written on and what was not. What a mess! Not to mention being totally distracted and losing my brainstorm!

Any bound notebook will do. You can also punch holes in computer paper used only on one side and put it in a binder. It’s a very thrifty idea. When I run proof copies of my stories and edit, then go back into the computer to make changes, I am left with pages of paper used on one side. Nocturnal note taking can make fullest use of that paper before it’s finally discarded.

Writing on both sides of the page is difficult to do, depending on how each sheet folds backwards. If you use a pre-made notebook, once you reach the last page, and certainly if you need to keep writing, close the book and turn it over. Begin again from the back of the book by writing on the backsides of the pages you have already used.

Sitting up in the dark to write seemed arduous at first. Inspiration can be easily discouraged by the need to sleep. To accomplish what you wish in your writing career, accept creativity whenever your muse presents it. It’s a matter of dedication.

Most practiced writers I know who wake during the night say these techniques have proven invaluable. But the one quality that everyone must have in order to make these techniques work is incentive. It is one thing to wake with glorious information and marvel at the wonders of our minds, then return to sleep. It’s another to want to record some of the best ideas our own brilliance has produced. We must have the incentive to sit up and write in the dark and persevere till we’ve developed the easy habit of doing so.

When I get those great bits of information now, I seem to sit up even before I begin to awaken. I jot my ideas till I think I’ve said what I needed to. Sometimes I merely write the skimpiest of notes and sometimes complete sentences because we all know how fickle the muse is. Recapturing an idea is never the same if we are forced to try to remember details hours later. After writing everything I need to, I lay down knowing I’ve not lost anything and I can sleep in peace.

Only to wake again.

And again.

And….

Sidebar

A common practice to remembering information that fades upon awakening is to do what dream therapists suggest for those wishing to remember dreams.

Assume the same position you lay in when you woke. Place your arms, legs and head where they were. If you were laying on your side, back or stomach, stay in or turn to that same exact position. The dream or that brilliant idea will usually reappear as you relax.

Please visit Mary Deal’s website for more wonderful articles like this one: Write Any Genre.

MA: My very special guest today is the former host of Georgia Public Radio’s “Georgia Gazette,” Emilie P. Bush.  Emilie has traded in writing the news for writing Steampunk. For those not familiar with this type of writing, it is a sub-genre of science fiction that typically takes place in the 19^th Century, but features anachronistic technologies (like digital electronics during the industrial revolution).

Emilie’s debut novel, Chenda and the Airship Brofman, sends Chenda and her companions up in the air, across a desert, through a mountain and under the sea in a thrilling adventure. Emilie P. Bush lives and writes in Atlanta.  Welcome to the Child Finder Trilogy!

Please tell us some more about your background.

EB:  I started in radio, writing and reading the news. The first national story I sold was when I was 19 years old, working in the WOUB news room in Athens, Ohio. A chemical plant in Belpre, Ohio, had exploded and I broke the story to NPR news. I decided two things on that day: I wanted to cover the arts (as I really felt AWFUL for being happy when lives had been lost) and I was in love with public radio. I worked on and off in radio for the next dozen years, and finally ending up at Georgia Gazette. I left radio – perhaps for good, shortly after my daughter was born.

MA: Many journalists make the shift from covering news to writing, but most, it seems, write non-fiction.  Why did you choose to write fiction?

EB:  I got lost a bit after “retiring” from broadcasting. I started blogging, and everyone said, “You need to write a book!” About what, exactly? My life in babyland? Boring – even to me – and it was MY life! But after another year or so, I got this feeling that if I didn’t write a novel, I would die a horrible death or something, so I started to write. In no time at all, Chenda and the Airship Brofman was born.

MA: That is an interesting title.  Tell us more about it.

EB: Chenda and the Airship Brofman, at its most basic, is a feminist Steampunk coming-of-age story cloaked in the classic hero’s epic. Like the best Steampunk out there, this story is a Vernian Adventure; new worlds are visited, science and technology trump might and cunning and the characters deal with many of the age old issues of loyalty, the heart, family and self identity.

MA: So just who is Chenda and what kind of transformation does she make in the story?

EB: Chenda starts out as the most isolated girl in the world – a spectator in her own life. She’s ALWAYS been taken care of – first by her father and then by her husband Edison. But when he’s murdered, Chenda is suddenly faced with the first major decision of her life: follow Edison’s instructions, or continue living as a pampered child. I make very few physical descriptions about Chenda as she is a blank slate in the beginning of the story. I wanted the readers to be able to see themselves in her, and be able to feel the loss and hollowness she feels. As the story goes on, the descriptions of her flesh out, mostly through marks the events of her life leave on her. Her disposition evolves. She looks, walks, talks and feels in a totally new way by the end of the book.

Chenda – never having much say in her own life until the story begins – is naive about a lot of things, but is fiercely loyal. She’s very trusting of the people Edison put in her life, and when she makes up her mind, she doesn’t easily change it. For as much as she trusts Edison, she doesn’t trust her own feelings. Or, more specifically, she has trouble identifying how she feels. Her commitment, I think, is her greatest strength.

MA: What kind of challenge or adversity does she face?

EB:  The Antagonist is the Tugrulian Empire and everything it stands for. It’s the major obstacle that Chenda and her friends need to overcome – well – at least survive. We don’t meet the Emperor in this book, but we feel the ripples of his presence throughout. In the follow up to Chenda and the Airship Brofman, I plan to bring Chenda and her pals face to face with the Emperor. The Tugrulian Empire is a cruel place, and like so many of us who travel the world, Chenda is deeply affected by the suffering she sees. She goes into the Empire hoping to slip in and back out again unnoticed, but she’s drawn into the problems that hold the Empire’s people in pain and poverty.

MA: Many people believe we write what we know or experience.  What about you?

EB:  Many of the settings for Chenda and the Airship Brofman are tweaked places I have been and things I have seen, and many of the characters look an awful lot like my friends. In one scene, Chenda leaves the airship and encounters The Wanderers – the people who beg at the foot of the airship dock.  It’s exactly the experience I had when stepped out of the airport in Ghana, West Africa.

Steampunk is a great genre in which you can take your own life experiences and, with a little nudge here and push there, shape them into elements of a really great story. This book has a lot of me in it: My travels in Africa and Eastern Europe, my mugging, several old jobs, and a good bit about my views on faith, friends, family and education.

MA: It sounds like you have so much in life to draw from.  So, what’s next?

EB: More novels. I have two I am working on now. The first is a follow-up to Chenda – I’m calling it The Gospel According to Verdu, and it follows the companion of Chenda who gets left behind. We’ll see all the favorites from Chenda in The Gospel According to Verdu.  The other book, called Cryptid, is a totally different animal from Chenda and the Airship Brofman. Not even Steampunk.  It’s an expansion of a very short award-winning story I wrote called “The Heartbreak Cryptophiliac.” In this modern mythological fantasy, Elizabeth Monday accidentally cheeses off a Greek God, who curses her. Now she can see all of the imaginary creatures that live in New York City. It’s a fun little story.

MA: I’ve been to New York City, many times, and I’m not so sure all those creatures are imaginary…but perhaps I had too much to drink.  I’m just joking with you!  Thanks for stopping by and visiting with me today.  I encourage my readers to visit Emilie’s website for more information about this fascinating author and her unique genre: http://www.site.coalcitysteam.com/

When I’m Stuck

by

Mary Deal

Let it be known that I never have the dreaded writer’s block. But sometimes I do get stuck. It may be from working on too many projects at once.

I usually work on more projects than I can complete, though my main focus is on one or two at a time. When I’m stuck I play a trick on my mind. I begin working on a different project. Seems my mind can’t help throwing out random bits and pieces of information for lots of different stories. So all I have to do is work on something else and what I need for the story I prefer to work on then comes to mind.

When I’m stuck writing anything to do with a character – maybe dialogue – I stand in front of a mirror—have one right beside my desk— and practice the gestalt of the character’s situation. That is, I speak the dialogue to myself in the mirror until I sound like the character. It also helps to gesture like the character when I speak. Then I include those words and gestures verbatim in the story. Including those mannerisms, too, enhances the character’s personality because I can actually see my character in the scene as I act out his or her part.

If anyone were to watch me and not understand, they would think me nuts!

Please visit Mary Deal’s website for more wonderful articles like this one: Write Any Genre.

MA:  Fantasy writer Anna L. Walls is my guest-blogger today.  She is the epitome of a woman in the wilderness!  Anna lives in the rough country of Alaska and works at a fishing lodge during the summer.  Her town is accessible only by boat or plane in the summer or by snow machine or plane in the winter.  In-between times, she doesn’t go anywhere – it’s not possible!  Your life reminds me of that movie last year, The Proposal, starring Sandra Bullock.  It seemed like the only way into that town was by plane or boat.

Welcome to some warmer climes, Anna.   I imagine that with the amount of shuttered-in time you have in Alaska, you have fewer distractions than most people, giving you the opportunity to focus on writing.  What did you do before settling down and putting quill to paper?

AW: Oddly enough, before I started writing, there was no prequel, no lead-up, no planning whatsoever.  I had no idea how delightful writing could be.  In fact, if anyone were to ask me what I was going to do with my future back in high school or even in college, I would have recited my wish to run a riding stable – something that would cater to city kids, though that plan wasn’t too solid either.

MA: So why novels? Why not a birds-eye view of life in the austere and inaccessible nether regions of Alaska?

AW: My writing had two reasons to start actually.  My son gave me an old laptop computer, and my husband didn’t like me to go off into the bedroom to read a book.  Combine the two and viola, a writer is born as I started writing the sort of things I like to read.  It wasn’t long before I had well over a dozen stories.

MA:  Tell us about your first novel.  I understand it’s a fantasy story.

AW:  KING BY RIGHT OF BLOOD AND MIGHT, my one published book, is about a young prince who must discover his birthright as well as the world around him.  Raised in seclusion, he had scarcely been beyond the palace walls before he was whisked away to learn about the greater world as well as his own country.  There his fate was joined with that of legends and fairytales, and together they were able to cleanse the evil that seeped through the land like a cancer.

On my website, I have the reviews for this book and the synopses for several other of my stories, and on my blog I have samples from nearly all of my stories, and just recently, I’ve started to post up another of my books a chapter at a time.

I really like the genre involving kings and princes and such, so that’s what I chose, but that is by no means the only way I make my choices.  Several of my ideas came from particularly vivid dreams.  That translates into more than one of my stories taking place in space or in another dimension.

MA: What makes your main character tick?

AW: Prince Harris’s strengths are his practical outlook on all things.  His weaknesses might be his naiveté.  It is fortunate that he acquired friends before he encountered enemies.

MA: Who is the evil villain or sorcerer in your story?

AW: The antagonist is one of the mysteries that Prince Harris spends most of the book trying to solve.  This one man had an effect on Harris’s life even as far back as before his parents were married.  It’s not until half way through the book that Harris finally has a name to ask after, and it was some time later before he meets the man face to face, but his leaching touch is evident throughout the book.

MA: Many writers draw inspiration from their own lives; what does a fantasy writer in the Alaskan tundra draw from for such a story?

AW: I wouldn’t say my real-life experiences had anything to do with the plot, but I made liberal use of my knowledge of horses and riding.  I even made use of my knowledge of traveling through deep snow.

MA:  Will we hear more from Prince Harris in the future? Any plans for a sequel?

AW: All my books are stand-alone stories.  My first book does, however, have a couple siblings.  Book two is complete and takes place across the Midwest, and book three will take place up and down the west coast, but other than occupying the same world in the same time frame, there is no mixing of the characters.

MA:  Well, thanks very much for thawing out with us on the Child Finder Trilogy!  Folks, please be sure to check out Anna’s website, Anna’s Passion, http://AnnaLWalls.weebly.com, and her blog, Anna’s Obsession, http://AnnaLWalls.blogspot.com.

From an Irish-American to Everyone…Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!

Follow Those Guidelines

by

Mary Deal

A writer’s willingness to work with an agent or editor will show in how a manuscript is submitted.

When submission guidelines are established, how well the writer follows those rules and how well they are carried out, tell a potential editor or publisher how well they will be able to work with that writer. More than that, it tells them how much a writer is willing to cooperate and work with them.

For example, if the guidelines say not to use paperclips or staples and a submission arrives with a huge paperclip, this is a red flag to an editor. Chances are, after rough handling in the mails, the paper clip has bent the paper so badly that the sheets jam the editor’s photocopier. Many editors may not make copies, but what if the story is so exciting that a group of judges want to sit around and discuss it? They certainly aren’t going to do that over one single copy.

If an editor says he or she likes your story but says changes are required, your willingness to improve the story will show way before you’ve gotten your submission past the point of being read. It shows in how well you follow guidelines.

When an editor calls for the first chapter and the guidelines say not to fold your submission and you send a dozen pages folded in thirds and crammed into a number #10 envelope, your submission will either be returned unread or tossed.

If a writer cannot follow directions, it simply says that the person is not serious about his or her work. The writer probably places little value on instructions and thinks the submission will be read anyway because it’s so darned good, not realizing that the #10 won’t even be opened. This also shows a person who is too lackadaisical about keeping supplied with the proper materials of the trade.

A similar theory about following directions holds true in certain therapeutic practices. In administering therapy, the therapist may unexpectedly ask a client to do something, like move their chair a little to the side. This is a test of how well the client is willing follow directions. Whether or not they cooperate is a measure of how much they will submit to therapeutic techniques.

Like the patient that repeatedly arrives for therapy but refuses to cooperate, you choose whether or not to follow submission instructions. In order to receive more acceptances than rejections, or to have an agent or editor ask for your entire book manuscript, writers must be willing to play by the rules. So, follow directions and guidelines to the letter.

Please visit Mary Deal’s website for more wonderful articles like this one: Write Any Genre.

I am very honored to have as my guest today, a fellow former Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI) Special Agent John (“Jack”) T. Miller.  Jack is not only a former OSI agent, but he’s also an accomplished writer.

He served in the US Army (three years) and the USAF (eighteen years), before retiring in 1975 as an E-8, Senior Master Sergeant.  So let me do the math…this means Jack entered the military before I was even born, but I won’t tease him too much!

Jack has had a long career serving the law enforcement community.  He worked for the Clark County, Nevada, District Attorney’s office surveilling Organized Crime figures. He also went undercover with the FBI and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Dept conducting long term stings against street thieves and burglars. He served with the Nevada State Gaming Control Board (GCB) as an enforcement agent and retired from there in 1988 as a Senior Agent. During those years he was an expert witness in state and federal courts in cheating cases. Not to be outdone, he worked part-time in casino surveillance (Eye in the Sky) at three different casinos and part-time as a contractor to the US Army conducting surveillance on civilian trucking companies hauling sensitive military equipment and ammunition. Jack fully retired in 2002.  Let me personally thank you for your service to our country, to the Air Force OSI, and to the law enforcement community.

MA:  So, what started your interest in law enforcement?

JM: I was born into the job. My dad was a Michigan State Police trooper from 1924 until 1949. I think law enforcement and investigations are in my blood. I have never had second thoughts about doing anything else. I enlisted in the Army to be an MP. Then, for personal reasons, I enlisted in the US Air Force to be an Air policeman. I did that job for seven years then applied to be a special agent with the Office of Special Investigations. I was selected and did criminal and counter-intelligence investigations for ten years.

MA: With such a varied and unique career, I’m sure you have a real experience tale or two to tell!  What do you write?

JM: I write about what I know. Crime, crooks, spies, and cheats. I have had some good times and some bad, and they all go into my books.

MA: At what point did you start writing?

JM: During my time in the Air Force, I had been involved with some sensitive investigations. Naturally, my wife and three kids would ask what I did, but I could not tell them then. I decided I would write memoirs. At page 150 I realized that almost half of the memoir was about one counter-espionage case I ran. I hit delete a lot and restarted. After three years of writing, deleting, changing, adding and editing, I produced the next best seller in the United States and just knew I was going to be in the same category as Dan Brown and John Grisham. I sent the manuscript off to a publisher and received my first of several rejection letters. Dejectedly, I was watching TV one morning feeling sorry for myself and on one of the morning shows, a man was talking about his company and how it would publish unknown authors. Before long, I had in my hands my paper child and the new responsibilities of marketing and advertising.  Something my life had not prepared me for.

MA: Tell us something about your books.

JM: I have a total of five.  Cold War Warrior is my first.  It is the true story of an airman approached by the Soviets to be a spy and does so after he notifies OSI and is approved to be an asset for the US government. We controlled what he gave the Soviets. The next is titled Cold War Defector and is a sequel to Warrior. In this self-published book, the Soviet case officer is caught. He is convinced to be a spy in place. He is instrumental in identifying a man, a military intelligence agent, who wants to commit treason against the US. My third book, Master Cheat, reveals how casino cheats organize, target, and cheat all casino games. My fourth, All Crooks Welcome, tells the story of the first long-term undercover police sting in Nevada. It happened in Las Vegas, and I was part of it. When the dust settled, we convicted 105 thieves and prostitutes. That one is traditionally published. My last book is The Medal. It is about a soldier who is in competition with life for the Good Conduct Medal. However, it seems that every time he could be qualified, something happens.

MA: Tell me about your characters, how were they developed, how did they get their strengths and weaknesses?

JM: The characters I use are most often actual people I have had dealings with. I disguise their real names, sometimes for security reasons and sometimes for my own protection. If the person reads one of my books, he will recognize himself as a character. His strengths and weaknesses are his or hers. I just write them as I see them.

MA: That sounds a bit risky to me, and you are much braver than I!  Do you have any recurring characters?

JM: Yes. In every book I write there is a character named Frank Hawkins. His is an OSI Special Agent who retired and worked for the District Attorney’s office, and then went to work for the GCB. He spent some time in the Army before going into the USAF. Does that sound familiar? Yes Frank Hawkins is me. Always in a minor role in the book. I did not want to write a biography, although if a person read all my books, they could say I did. Biographies are of little interest unless you are famous to begin with. I am not and have no designs to be.

Every story I tell is based on actual events. Some are embarrassing to Frank Hawkins, and some are because of him. I like to call what I write, Historical Fiction. I take actual events which might not be too exciting by themselves and fictionalize the characters. I often embellish some activities leading up to the historical event. My goal is to entertain the reader and to educate him or her into what goes on behind the scenes of the event.

MA: Are you working on anything now?

JM:  Yes, I am doing my first non-fiction project. It actually is a documentary anthology. I was assigned to two radar sites as a security policeman. One was an isolated remote site, and the other was isolated, but not remote. Those are military terms for being out in the sticks without or with your family. There are no medical facilities, no support functions, and recreation is limited. In spite of these hardships, the military personnel assigned did their jobs, and in some cases did not become alcoholics or go stir crazy. I am putting together stories from these radar site veterans of how they entertained themselves. Many of the stories they tell are humorous.

MA: Where can folks get your books?

JM: My books can be purchased through my web site, www.retafsa.com. When ordered each book is individually signed, and shipping is flat rate, regardless of the number ordered.

MA: Thanks for spending some time with us today, Jack.  I’m always excited to have former OSI agent authors on the Child Finder Trilogy, and when I have someone with your amazing law enforcement credentials, I am even more delighted.

Building a Story

by

Mary Deal

An example of how to begin a new story when your Muse has taken a vacation.

A friend of mine—I’ll call her Judy—had written a novel and was in the process of sending it out to literary agents seeking representation. She and I knew that first-time authors typically needed to have two or more completed manuscripts in hand. Publishers do not make large profits on an unknown writer’s first book but on subsequent publications. Money is spent on publicity for the first book, to establish a reputation for an author and build readership. With these aspects already established, on subsequent books, larger profits are realized. Too, publishers were more apt to believe that a writer was capable of turning out numbers of books if they did so of their own volition.

So, Judy needed to write another story, and fast. She had just completed the rigors of editing and deep polishing the first manuscript and felt burned out. I suggested she take a breather for a week or two; maybe even get away for a vacation. She is not one to shy away from responsibility, so she pleaded with me to help her find a way to conjure another plot because her Muse had taken the vacation for her.

I never thought about how to start a new story. My stories just rolled out whenever I allowed myself to think. Then I remembered a few techniques I used in establishing characters in my first novel and passed those steps along to her. The one presented here is the procedure that worked for her. She took more than a month conjuring characters and, not surprisingly, the story unfolded as she went along. By the end of three months, she had completed the first draft.

But something happened along the way. Her Muse evidently decided she liked the excitement of the new story and returned promptly from vacation. In following the steps given below, Judy came up with an idea for a sequel to her newly finished story and then decided to make it a serial.

* * *

Imagine an image of a person you’d like to have in one of your stories. From that mental image, build a character. She or he will probably be your protagonist. This may change, so beyond recording the character’s physical attributes, do not think further into the story.

If you have written short stories and have a favorite protagonist, you can use that character to help flesh out another one. The technique presented here works best if you start fresh with a character about which you know nothing. Then you’re less likely to follow the plot line of the other story already written. Just have a sort of feel for a person and start simply by listing physical attributes: age, color of eyes, skin tone, hair color and any other details you feel you wish the person to have.

At this point, do not list anything like the fact that the lady changes hair color frequently, or has a nail biting neurosis. This has little to do with establishing the basics of physical image. If something “extra” does come up in creating the character, then your Muse is beginning to feed you details of a story you have yet to consciously realize. How exciting is that? If this extra information may to be pertinent later in your story, then you can add it. Be simple in the primary description and make a separate list of added details as something you may include later.

Next, give the person just enough of a life so that you know what makes your character unique.

~ What does she or he do for a living?

~ How many other family members?

~ What are her or his best personality attributes, and worst ones?

~What other relatives share this character’s life and how does your character interact with them?

~ What SECRETS does your character hide?

Another example: If you give your character habits like a facial tic, or mail biting, try to conjure why she or he has it? Is it the result of some repressed emotion? Is it from some shock long ago? How does this unnerving habit affect people presently in the character’s life? What crisis from her past does she have to work through to eliminate the tic? Who’s involved? If nothing like this comes to mind for your character, don’t worry. Something else is on the way!

I like the part about the secrets most. Most people have things they wouldn’t want the world to know. If you were to draw it out of them, you’d probably find some shocking information, juicy tidbits around which to build your plot, around which to motivate your character.

See where this is going? By the time you’ve got the first character established, you will have introduced us to other people in her life.

Next, choose one of those secondary people and build another character sketch. It doesn’t have to be a love-interest either. The next character can be a public figure she or he is trying to emulate, or someone who has been stalking her or a neighbor, or….

For the next character, you do not have to use any particular person included with the sketch of your main character. You can start fresh again and build a whole new person. Later, something in that creation will tell you how to bring this person together with your main character and the others.

Finally, your characters will tell you a story as you create them. Begin to write about how these people interact. By the time you get this far, you will know where your story is going. You will know your plot!

Trust the process. You will have conjured something important to say about these people, their lives and their impact on one another and the outcome.

Write without editing. Let your mind wander from the rational to the absurd. As you write, you’ll find yourself choosing which path you wish the story to follow.

In the end, you may not use most of the information you pack into your character sketches. However, because you have taken the time to build your characters, you will know how they react in all the circumstances presented in your plot. A morally upstanding person reacts one way to a certain occurrence; a frivolous person reacts a completely different way to the same situation. You will know these people because in building character sketches you unknowingly create their morals, ethics and motivations, which will surely spice up your plot.

Please visit Mary Deal’s website for more wonderful articles like this one: Write Any Genre.

Mike: My guest-blogger today is fellow Rocky Mountain writer, Mario Acevedo.  He writes the Felix Gomez vampire-detective series for Eos HarperCollins.  Mario’s debut novel, THE NYMPHOS OF ROCKY FLATS, was chosen by Barnes & Noble as one of the best Paranormal Fantasy Novels of the Decade.  His vampire character has been spun off into a comic book/graphic novel series by IDW Publishing.  Mario was voted as 2009 Writer of the Year by the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers.  He is the chapter president of the Rocky Mountain Mystery Writers of America.  Mario lives and writes in Denver, Colorado.

Welcome to the Child Finder Trilogy!  You have an interesting background that preceded your writing career.  Tell us about that.

Mario: The prequel?  It ain’t pretty.  I went to college, got tossed in jail once, was commissioned in the army and got out, called from the reserves for Desert Storm, and was later mustered out for good.  My civilian life zigzagged from career to career as I moved around chasing jobs only to get laid off.  During that time I was churning through manuscripts, which now reside in my closet.

Mike: Sounds like an edgy beginning, but one that shaped up well.  Your writing career has been marked by some great achievements.  What brought you to write novels in the first place?

Mario: It started in the sixth grade when our semester project was to write a book.  Actually, what the teacher had in mind was more of an illustrated booklet.  I was paired with Stuart Williams.  This was way back when the original Star Trek was on the tube.  Stuart and I were crazy about the show and we decided to write a similar story.  When the projects were due, Stuart and I didn’t have a book to turn in.  Instead we had a three-ring binder thick with descriptions and diagrams, the crew roster, adventure scenarios, drawings of the uniforms and space ships, star maps.  Basically the story got away from us.  Still, our teacher realized we had done more work than anyone else and gave us an A.  Since then, I’ve always got a running narrative of “what if’s” going through my head.  Meanwhile Stuart went into the Air Force and flew Phantom jets.

Mike: Now, you’re dating yourself!  I haven’t heard anyone talk about the F-4 in a long time J.  But that’s an interesting beginning, and I can see the trappings of the fantasy realm you currently write.  Tell us about your stories.

Mario: I write about Felix Gomez who went to Iraq as a soldier and came back a vampire.  My stories are macho hard-boiled noir with a supernatural twist.  In the latest adventure, WEREWOLF SMACKDOWN, Felix gets trapped between rival lycanthrope clans in Charleston, SC, and the impending rumble could doom the supernatural world.

Mike: Goodness!  That’s an intriguing idea for a story.  How did you come up with it?

Mario: The concept of the first story came to me in a flash–a vampire-detective investigates an outbreak of nymphomania at a nuclear weapons plant.  After that I had to flesh out the protagonist, Felix Gomez.  Where was he from?  How did he become a vampire?  These questions took many cocktails to answer.

Mike: I, too, have found inspiration in a cocktail from time to time.  Did you imbue Felix with any special characteristics? Strengths? Failings?

Mario: Felix Gomez has undead powers: super speed and strength, night vision, tremendous powers of recuperation.  He’s got the usual vampiric weaknesses, aversion to sunlight (unless he uses a special makeup), silver, and garlic.  Something that is both a strength and weakness is his sense of honor and duty.  This serves as his moral compass (still skewed nonetheless) but it also means his adversaries know what makes him tick.

Mike: I like the idea of an honorable and sense-of-duty vampire.  You mentioned adversaries…who are they?

Mario: Alien gangsters appear in the first and third books.  They were a lot of fun to write.  A villainous vampire from the second book becomes the main antagonist in the latest.  One recurring complication is the Araneum, the secret world-wide network of vampires, who give Felix tough assignments to crack.

Mike: I know you served in the Army, but I’m sure none of your real-life experiences factored into your plots, or did they?

Mario: I’ve tried but I have yet to develop superpowers or meet aliens, werewolves, and nymphos.

Mike: (chuckling) Okay, I asked for that.  So what’s next?

Mario: I’m pitching new story ideas to my agent.  I’ve also got a comic deal with IDW Publishing that spins off my vampire novels.  The first issue will be out late April 2010.

Mike: Congratulations on the comic deal.  What’s in Felix’s future?

Mario: Felix Gomez is the central character of the series.  Soon you’ll see him in comic book form.  I have characters that pop in and out of the series.  The love interest from the first novel comes back in WEREWOLF SMACKDOWN but the romance doesn’t work out the way Felix thinks it should.

Drop by my website on March 23 for the special two-day promo of Werewolf Smackdown: http://www.marioacevedo.com

Mike:  Mario, thanks so much for visiting with us today.  Congratulations on all your past successes and upcoming comic series.  Folks, check out Mario’s website and be sure to visit during his upcoming promo.

I am honored today to have as my guest, a real Miami Vice detective, Michael Berish.  Mike was born and raised on the banks of the Hudson River in Poughkeepsie, New York.  He received an A.A. degree in Criminal Justice, graduated from the University of Pittsburgh on an academic scholarship—with a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology, and later earned his Master of Arts degree in Communications from Miami’s Barry University, where he took courses in Production, Directing, Screenplay Writing.

MA: I have to admit, I enjoyed the television series, Miami Vice back in the 1980s, so it’s a real treat having you as my guest.  You have a fascinating background that, no doubt, informs your writing.  Tell my readers more about your law enforcement experiences.

MB:  I worked as a patrolman, detective, and supervisor with the City of Miami Police Department for twenty-two years, thirteen of which were spent as an undercover detective in the REAL Miami Vice where I worked everything from Narcotics & Vice, Prostitution, Gambling and Pornography, to Dignitary Protection of President Jose Napoleon Duarte (of El Salvador) and Pope John Paul II.

I became proficient as an expert in the field of obscenity, testified in front of the Meese Commission on Obscenity during the Reagan Administration, and was subpoenaed by the F.B.I. to testify for them in New Orleans—as an expert witness—reference an interstate transportation case.  I’ve lectured in front of numerous civic groups, taught week-long seminars to other law enforcement agencies on First Amendment rights, helped train new Assistant State Attorneys on how to properly conduct obscenity investigations, and made over a thousand cases, mostly against organized crime syndicates, which have the best attorneys in the world.  I have also closed down twenty adult bookstores and theaters in Miami and never lost one obscenity case.

MA:  That’s an amazing resume of accomplishments.  Tell us about your writing career since leaving the real Miami Vice.

MB:  My first book is an anthology of stories that take place in Miami, in the Black ghetto known as “the Pit.”  This book, “REFLECTIONS FROM THE PIT,” pulls no punches; it shows you the good, the bad, and the ugly (warts and all), the dark side of police work, both the humor and the tragedy.  I feel my approach to storytelling is unique in that all of these stories contain individual, quirky, off-center characters that focus on their basic character flaws while dealing with the social issues of the day. They are meant to be snapshots into the dark side of police work and deal with segregation, teenage prostitution, crazies who think they have been abducted by aliens, the murdering of transvestites, the lack of compassion and sympathy by the younger generation for their elders, the stupidity of criminals and the cowardice of police officers in the face of danger (the latter of which is rarely seen on TV), hangings from police cruisers, affirmative action, Cuban freedom fighters (a.k.a. terrorists), the callousness of society towards the homeless, drug-dealing cops and corruption, bungled police stings, the “don’t get involved” syndrome, the raping of the elderly, and police brutality and its senseless violence.

“Reflections from the Pit” was awarded BEST FICTION NOVEL (2nd Place) published in 2008 by the Public Safety Writers Association.

“That fellow (Berish) has a real talent for writing a story. That’s excellent work.”
E. Howard Hunt (American author of sixty-three novels, C.I.A. spy, and coordinator of Watergate. President Richard M. Nixon once referred to him as “a prolific book writer.”)

This book reflects the very ‘soul’ of honesty as well as the constant corruption involved in working as a beat officer.”
Bill Kelly Special Agent in charge of Obscenity Investigations for the Southeast United States (Retired) FBI, Miami, FL.

MA:  Congratulations on your award-winning novel, and those are some excellent endorsements.  What about the second book?

MB:  My second book, entitled “Bad Cop, No Donut” is an anthology of stories from 15 different cop/writers from around the country and deals with the theme of bad cops and their behavior.  It is due out around April/May 2010.

“A ride-around with some of the best cops and best cop writing in the business!” David Black, author of The Extinction Event and writer for CSI Miami and Law & Order

“Bad Cop, No Donut includes some of the most riveting stories I have read to date.  It’s a top-notch crime fiction anthology.” Donald Bain, author of the “Murder, She Wrote” series

“This collection is written by a squad of fine writers–some of whom are current or retired real-life cops.  Gritty, hard-hitting, authentic, and edgy–and guaranteed to keep you turning the pages.” Raymond Benson, author of the James Bond anthologies “The Union Trilogy” and “Choice of Weapons”

MA:  Once again, congratulations on your great endorsements, and my very best to you on the book’s success when it debuts here soon.  Are you working on anything new in the meantime?

MB:  Currently, I’m working on a new novel entitled: “When Kings Go Forth.” It’s not a cop book; it follows several generations of Hungarians (from 1849 to the present) and their trials and tribulations from Budapest to America.

MA:  I need a moment to get my head around that!  What a shift in direction and concept.  I wish you the very best with this new project.  Folks, please visit Michael Berish’s website for more information about this fascinating writer and law enforcement professional: www.realmiamivice.com

Words and Sounds

by

Mary Deal

Proper pronunciation is a key in remembering names or deciding which name or word to use in your stories.

Count me as one of the people who manage to confuse words in a most curious way. I have always had trouble with when to use “loose” or “lose” until I hit upon the fact that it wasn’t the definition of each word that caused me difficulty. It was the way I pronounced them.

Another difficulty I have is with names. When trying to remember anything, one of the simplest ways for me is to associate it with something else. In try to remember a person’s name, I usually have to say it several times, and associate it with the person’s face, in order to remember. Remembering faces is easier, but names elude me unless I work hard at remembering. Say the person’s name to myself as often as possible while in that person’s presence and while looking at his or her face sometimes works. Still, that’s kind of difficult to do when trying to hold a spontaneous conversation.

Associating a person named Susan to another Susan I know helped. Also associating the person with someone I either liked or disliked, depending upon the conversation at the moment, sometimes works.

Susan was a young oriental girl I met. But how would I remember a typical American name with an oriental girl who was only then learning to speak English? Then an oriental man I once met came to mind. His name was Xzu Zan and it was pronounced like “Su-san.” Xzu Zan being oriental, it was then easy for me to remember Susan, my new oriental friend.

So if I can associate names, I should try it with simple words that are the bane of my writing endeavors. With my incorrect pronunciation of the words “loose” and “lose,” when I repeated “loose/noose” and “lose/lost” I stopped becoming confused. It also helped me to visualize the similarities of the spelling of those four words as I thought about them.

A noose can be loose and has similar sounds. Not having similar sounds but similar meanings is “lose/lost.” If you lose something, it is lost. Similarities exist in each set of words: Five letters in each word in the first example with four in each of the second.

Using this method, also resolved my often incorrect usage of “wretch/retch” and “wretched/retched.” According to the Oxford Dictionary, the meaning of “wretch” is “an unfortunate or contemptible person.” “Wretched” means “in a very unhappy or unfortunate state,” or, “of poor quality.” “Retch” means “to make the sound or movements of vomiting”. “Retched” is simply past tense of “retch.”

Since these two words are only related in sound, it came to me that “wretch” has one more letter then “retch.” Likewise, the pronunciation of “wretched” has two syllables while “retched” sounds like one syllable. When you pronounce these words and pay attention to the syllables, you clearly understand which one should be used in a given situation, but easily mistaken when writing or editing too quickly.

Another example is “who’s/whose.” This one seemed simpler to grasp once I studied it. Anytime there is an apostrophe in a word such as “who’s,” it’s a contraction of two words. Broken down, “who’s” becomes “who is” or “who has.” The usage according to this rule is then simplified and “whose” is used at all other times.

When writing “who’s” or “whose,” read the sentence and see if the meaning is “who is” or “who has” instead of the contracted word. Simply break down the contraction into the two separate words and it becomes clear which should be used.

Proper pronunciation of words and names helps clarify usage in speaking or in the written word.

Please visit Mary Deal’s website for more wonderful articles like this one: Write Any Genre.