Tag Archives: writing

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My mind is racing – in the wrong direction

Today I had two meetings. The first was in the morning, which was cancelled, leaving myself and the only other available participant with a free hour. We decided to just screw around in my cube to see what we could come up with. It was hands-down the most productive meeting I’ve had for that group. Actually got stuff done – useful stuff. The second meeting was at the end of the day. It was also productive, but in a completely different manner.  I received clear direction and feedback and had most of my questions answered – AKA: I know where I’m going with that project, how to get there and when. PLUS it’s a fun project. I basically get to re-vamp a bunch of reports for a tele-health system in a newer much more wiz-bang and easy to manage technology. 

The problem is that the day is over and I’m still in full-on programmer mode. I can’t seem to clear my mind of plans for how I might structure the new system. Now, this shouldn’t be a problem, it’s nice to be enthusiastic about work, but it is because NaNoWriMo starts in a couple of days and I need to focus on my personal stuff while at home. If that meeting had occurred earlier in the day, perhaps I would have run it out of my system by 4.

Anyhow, here I am, thinking about queries, data organization, documentation, testing, and all that jazz. I just can’t seem to get back into the right frame of mind for writing and plotting. Not only that, I can feel exhaustion setting in. Won’t be long before I’m too tired to really concentrate. That’s my NaNoWriMo update for the day. I’m trying, but I just can’t seem to get there. Perhaps a run, then maybe?

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Tag, I’m it?

I was tagged by the most excellent L.M. Bryski (lmbryski.com) to answer some questions about myself and writing. So, here it goes. I can assure you, it’s boring so…You’ve been warned

When did you start writing? Was being a writer something you always aspired to?
A lot of times you hear folks talking about how they started writing when they were still in diapers and things. Not me. I started writing sometime in high-school. I didn’t do it a lot then and once I learned how to program computers, I wanted to apply stories to that. Still do actually. Becoming a game designer was where I started, but I realized that with the sorts of games I wanted to do, I was either going to do the programming (where I might make a living) or writing (where I won’t make a living). So, I went on programming, but didn’t make it into game programming. Instead, I’ve kept a pretty solid wall between programming and writing.

What genre do you write?
At the moment, I’m writing fantasy, but I’m not married to that. I like to tell good stories. If I found one outside of fantasy that I like, I’d write it.

Can you tell us a little about your current work in progress? When did you start working on this project?
I have 3 current projects. The first is a high-fantasy I’ve been chiseling away at for about a decade and it still needs an outrageous amount of work. The second is called Wine Bottles and Broomsticks, it really is my favorite at the moment, and the third is a steam-punk fantasy that doesn’t have a real good name and I’m only just now in the process of sketching it out. The Winebottles project is really my main project. I started it in early August and I’m about half-way through. I’m extremely impressed with myself over that story, actually. Not only is it not something I ever thought I’d write, it’s getting very good reviews from everyone I’ve shared it with so far. The last project is just now getting off the ground, it’s a steam-punk fantasy that I’m going to try to hammer out for NaNoWrimo

What was your first piece that you can remember writing? What was it about?
The first thing I can remember writing was back in high-school. It was a sci-fi short story I’d written for an english class. I don’t remember a lot about it, except that it had something to do with the foolishness of war.

What’s the best part of writing?
You know, I’m not sure I can say. It’s just something I like doing. I love all things related to making stuff, wood working, programming, small construction projects, cooking (I’m not great at this), and stuff like that. As far as I’m concerned, writing a story is the ultimate art of making (game programming is a pretty close 2nd though).

How much time a day/week do you get to write? When is the best time for you to write (morning or night?)
I’ve got a day job and kids. These things dominate my time and I don’t get nearly as much time as I’d like to write. On a super focused week, I might get between one and two hours a day for a day or two running. Normal weeks run about 30min before work and 30 min on lunch break, with maybe 5-10 minutes in the evening, with a few breaks in there. I usually miss Saturday, but sometimes I’ll get the chance to binge on Sunday. I generally write best when my concentration isn’t broken, which is really any time of day.

Did you go to college for writing?
Nope. I got my degree in computer science.

What bothers you more speeling errors; puncutation, errors, or errors for grammar?
I’m bothered by egregious infractions of all three, but minor errors I don’t much care about. If I have to read a second, third or fourth time to understand, it’s bad.

What is the best writing advice anyone has given you?
I don’t think I could pull out any specific advice that I would call the best I’d ever heard. I can, however, point out some of the worst advice I’ve ever come across. At some point in my digital travels I came across a bit of advice describing dialog tags other than the ‘he said and he asked’ as henous, especially when adverbs are involved. It sat wrong with me, so I pulled a few books off the shelf to take a look at what other authors do. Guess what, they were all employing dialog tags and adverbs. These books were good.

What advice would you give to another writer?
Just write. Don’t talk about it, do it. Listen to all advice you hear, remembering that it’s advice, you can take it or leave it, but if someone points something out, at least do them the favor of considering it.

What are your favorite writing sites or blogs that you turn to for help, tips or encouragement?
My favorite thing to do is bop around on twitter and other writer’s blogs. Jut seeing that others are thinking the same things I am, and experiencing some of the same difficulties keeps me going.

What is the best book you’ve read this year?
I dunno. Perhaps Coraline, by Neil Gaiman.

What is the best movie you’ve seen this year?
I can’t say that any one particular movie has stuck out in my mind as being the best. I don’t watch a tremendous amount of TV, but I would say that from the perspective of fantasy writing, I watched Jim Henson’s The Labryinth with a critical eye earlier this year and I was more satisfied with that story and the imagery than any other movie i’ve watched this year.

Who is your favorite author?
That’s a hard question. I’m going to go with Douglas Adams. I recently picked up the hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy for the first time in a long time a month or two ago. The writing in the early part of the book is actually kind of terrible, but it’s funny and engaging, and that’s why I like it. Plus, there’s something about the hapless MC that I enjoy. It’s tough to do it right, but he does. I realized that after I started working on Wine Bottles and Broomsticks that my MC is an awful lot like Arthur Dent. It wasn’t really intentional, but that book most certainly had an influence on my writing.

What are your plans for the rest of the year in terms of your writing?
Re-write my precious high-fantasy The war of Shadows. That story needs a lot of help. I’m going to finish my first full draft of Wine Bottles and Broomsticks and start a second book in that series. In the mean time new chapters will go up on channillo.com monthly until I’m done. The third thing I’d like to do is get most of a full draft of a steam-punk fantasy written. That’s going to be my  NaNoWrimo project. Lofty goals, all of them, but It’s what I’m aiming at.

Where else can we find you online?
I’m on twitter @daveskoster
My blog: www.onwritingdragons.com
Facebook: Dave S. Koster
and Instagram @daveskoster

I absolutely can’t believe you made it to the end of this. Good for you – You deserve a glass of wine or something.

Cheers!

-Dave

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NaNoWriMo for Awesome

So, I’ve got most of my NaNoWriMo novel plotted/sketched out. So far just up to chapter 12 or so, I need to spend some time focusing on the final action and wrap-up, but I think I’ll be able to get there pretty quickly. Then, I’ll just need to spend some time before go-time filling out a few scene descriptions, and fiddling with characters.

Uh, Dave

Yes?

I did read your sketches

And what do you think?

That story is going to suck.

WHAT!? Come on, they don’t go into characters or any detail, and it’s just the loose sketch, how could you know it’s going to suck?

First off, I’m in your head, so I know. Second, that story may have started with a strong cast, but the plot has no soul. 

What do you mean it has no soul?

I can tell just looking through your meandering scribblings that this book is going to wander around lost in the woods until you get near the end, where there will be a big battle, maybe a chase, then it’s over -happliy ever after and all that. To top that off, it’s so full of cliches and over-used ideas that I don’t even WANT to like it – See SUCK.

Alright then, smarty pants, what should I do with it?

Go back to the first chapter you wrote up and have a chat with the characters. Maybe pantster it a little bit. I mean it’s fine to apply over-used ideas, but they’d better be interesting ones that are well executed, your original sketch has absolutely no hint of compelling story telling.

So, I’ve got to start over? 

No. Keep some of your characters, dump a few others, make the story about the main character and her problems, not about the adventuring. To paraphrase Yoda: Focus on where she is, what she is doing. Nobody gives a rip about a queen in a tower somewhere, and you know what? your MC probably doesn’t care either.

So what if it’s not very good? This is just NaNoWriMo, it’s just like a super-challenging practice session right?

NO – you are doing this to challenge yourself and get better at your craft. You’re not going to get better by churning out crap that a 3rd grader could do in an afternoon.

You’re a real jerk, you know that?

I’m not a jerk, I’m you. Now, get your rear back to work, you’ve only got a few weeks to re-imagine this story into something that isn’t awful.