Monday Musings: Time, Patience and Practice

Writing can be an ardous task. It takes time, patience and practice. I'm still practicing .That's why I am a daily blogger again. Some people are born with a natural talent for writing; some of us have talent that needs to be developed.

When I decided to take on the task of developing this skill, it was never my intent to go about with an air of haughtiness, saying things in my haughtiest of voices, like: "I am an author. I have published a bigillion books, therefore thou shalt bow down and worship the very ground upon which I tread." My journey into the world of writing is based on my passion and joy for the art itself.

I write based on the authors I read and admired as a younger person. Going further back, the high school literature teachers of my time not only taught the content of the piece we were studying, but also required - not encouraged - required the studying of the author themselves. That part of my education has stayed with me all these years. It has also created a picky reader in me. If I do not know anything about an author, it is likely I will not choose to read their works.

I also recognize, not every reader is like me. There are plenty of readers out there who could care less why authors write what they do, or how they are inspired, or why the subject of the work was chosen in the first place. They simply enjoy a good story. They may just enjoy something they can curl up with and get lost in another world, or a torrid love affair, or even take an adventure to far off lands.

As a writer, which has a different definition than author, I enjoy writing my blog, things that will never see the light of day, and working on the manuscripts for the books I will publish. I don't mind sharing bits and pieces of my life with my blog readers - even the not so pleasant pieces. Why? Because it allows them to have a greater understanding of the things that will eventually end up in the hands of the public; and in some cases lends credibility to the work itself.

In my first and only published novel, Sticks and Bones, the character, Marcia Grant, bears a great resemblence to myself. Many of the oddities about her personalty are strikingly like my own. Coincidence? I think not. I actually did work as a registered private investigator in my day, although I never had a desire to be a police detective, or work in law enforcement. I am a cold person in some regards. I keep my emotions in check most of the time. I separate work and personal life ninety-nine percent of the time. I had a cat, who was much like Marcia's cat, Mr. Murphy, in personality and even breed. Marcia's cat was named after the old Murphy's Law - not the TV show.

Currently, I am reading (studying), State of the Fantastic: Studies in the Theory and Practice of Fantastic Literature and Film. Selected Essays from the Eleventh International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts 1990. Edited by Nicholas Ruddick. Why am I reading this, insteading of pounding away at the keyboard to get my next work out there? As someone aspiring to be an author, I have some pretty high expectations for my next work. I am not a novel mill. I cannot, and will not, publish drivel, or poorly written - filled with grammatical as well as punctuation errors - garbage, to turn a dollar, at the expense of my readers. Sticks and Bones, is not the great American novel. However, it carries a message with it that was important to twenty-eight other people. Something they wanted, or needed the world to hear. It has received positive and negative feedback, which I have used both to improve my current work.

I am not a foremost authority on writing, or being an author. I hope my studying of the art of writing will someday bring some sense of enjoyment to readers worldwide. Until then, I will continue to take my time, exercise patience, and practice.

The Realism of Characters

I am the analytical reader and writer. Everything I read is thoroughly analyzed for realism. With that said, it should be a given that everything I write is also analyzed for realism.

I'm often questioned by young people, who are also aspiring to be authors, why can't characters just be whatever you want them to be or do whatever you want them to. The answer is quite simple - if the character is not believable then the story is not believable. If the story is not believable it will not sell. Today, although many readers are reading for escapism, they still require a certain degree of realism in order to be able to relate to the characters and the events that occur in the story.

My first finished full-length novel, "Sticks and Bones" is written with a stark dose of realism to drive home a point to young people. I won't give a story spoiler here, but in order to write for young people they need to be able to see themselves in the story. Not always as they are in their own real life, but even as they might be in a fantasy story. "Sticks and Bones", a mystery crime thriller for young adults, required a certain amount of realism regarding high school students of today and why they do what they do in order to spark the interest of young people.

It was a fascinating adventure spanning four years immersed in the world of high school students of today so that I could demonstrate that realism in the book. This, in itself, is a testament to why characters can't just be what you want them to be. In this particular case they had to be as real as the reader and the friends of the reader. The characters of the book and their worlds are easily identified in the lives of the readers. A young adult will be able to say, "That sounds just like so-and-so," a person well-known to themselves. At the same time, I had to create adult characters that were just as realistic as the high school students of the story. If I had not created these realistic characters neither adults or young adults would understand the crime and why it occured thus diminishing the point of the book.

"Sticks and Bones" has yet to be published, however, I am hopeful that it will be picked up by a traditional publishing house and disseminated across the world. As arrogant as it might sound, I feel that the message carried in this book will send it soaring to the top of the readers lists all around the world.

The novel I am currently working on, "The Ten Thousand Hands Project" will astound even the most critical or skeptical reader. It is a work of fiction that has a very real place in the world in which we live. It will cause readers the world over to take pause and question what they honestly believe to be true in the world and what they don't. Why? Because of the realistic nature of the characters. Building characters is difficult. Characters require knowing everything about them - what they like or don't like and why they do or don't like those things; what are their physical attributes as well as their psychological attributes and how do each of these connect with the world in which they live - a world that must be created by the author with just as much realism as the characters themselves.

"The Ten Thousand Hands Project" is the prequel to the series, "The Malakai Chronicles". There are fantasy books, books on the occult, books based on religious history - but there are few books out there that touch the subject matter in "The Ten Thousand Hands Project" or "The Malakai Chronicles". I am hopeful for publication with this series as well and know that it will take the reader world by storm.