It’s a mistake! Time to edit.

Now that is a good question (posed by Benjamin Solah over at the AW Forums).

I start editing the moment I write

I write my first drafts on legal notepad (white-blue lined). That gives me the freedom to add notes, scratch entire senteces, scenes or what have you. When I tried to do it in the computer, the backspace genie took over and I ended up with an empty screen. This way I can do changes on the fly and keep the writing flow.

Version 1.5

Transcribing to the computer means editing. Spelling, grammar, sentence structure. Not completely, but some changes are made, especially if the notes call for them. It also allows me to do research on the spot using tools like Google Earth and Wikipedia if I have any questions on source material.

Reactor Cool Down Time

I let my work cool down, from a few weeks to several months. It allows me to work on other things while creating a little distance between myself and the work. You strike the iron while it’s hot but you quench it in water for it to hardened.

Beta Testing

I made do another round of editing before sending it off to the Betas. What I want from my Betas is the answer to the following question “Do I have a story here?” With their input in hand I do a final(well as final as it can be) revision before I deemed it worthy for query consideration.

One-Pass Method

I’m using the one-pass method on my current WIP as the final revision. Yes, I know, using it that way defeats the purpose of the “one-pass” but since I never used it before I thought this would be a good time to try it out. I may, if it works, integrate it earlier in my editing process, but for now I don’t think it will work as just the one editing form. At least not yet.

You can check out Isaac’s take on editing here.

And considering the source of this post as well as its theme, I think this video says all that needs to be said about it.

Down to Springfield I Go: A Viral Story

Unfocused me tagged me as part of the viral chain story. I can always use the exercise. So here is my contribution.

The Rules:

Here’s what I would like to do. I want to create a story that branches out in a variety of different, unexpected ways. I don’t know how realistic it is, but that’s what I’m aiming for. Hopefully, at least one thread of the story can make a decent number of hops before it dies out.

If you are one of the carriers of this story virus (i.e. you have been tagged and choose to contribute to it), you will have one responsibility, in addition to contributing your own piece of the story: you will have to tag at least one person that continues your story thread. So, say you tag five people. If four people decide to not participate, it’s okay, as long as the fifth one does. And if all five participate, well that’s five interesting threads the story spins off into.

Not a requirement, but something your readers would appreciate: to help people trace your own particular thread of the narrative, it will be helpful if you include links to the chapters preceding yours.”

The Story:

The ground crunched beneath my feet. Besides my noisy footsteps, I heard only the sound of the gentle crackling fire behind me. Its faint orange light lazily revealed my immediate surroundings. Beyond the glow, there was total blackness. I whistled. I took the small rock I had been carrying and whipped it away from me, expecting a thud, crack or plop — but a soft yelp of a cry answered. (Splotchy)

“Crap! I forgot all about Monster,” I realized. “I must be drunker than I thought,” I spoke aloud to no one in particular, though an owl answered my drunken slur. Ever since my neighbors have been giving me grief for the way Monster chases their cats and poops in their lawn, I haven’t felt comfortable staying in my house. I’m pretty sure my landlady is thinking about evicting me, so I’ve decided to lay low for a while.

To the surprise of no one… (Freida Bee)

The night turned darker. A storm blew in. It was, in fact, a dark and stormy night. Too drunk to worry about Monster’s rock-inflicted head wound, I stumbled back to the campfire, where I found the ghosts of John Fante and Charles Bukowski roasting hot dogs, drinking whiskey and singing sad songs about women. The ghost of Fante whispered in my ear, tales of love and loss, and I found myself walking slowly down the trail to the river, where I suddenly found myself…(Lass)

Falling down an embankment. Instead of rolling into the river, I landed on what felt like a raft. I crawled around it, the storm pelting down on me, adhering my thin clothes to my body like a second, very wet, skin, and discovered that it was indeed a raft. I could feel the huge humps of the logs (smooth and barkless, unlike Monster, the cur!) that had been lashed together with a waxy hemp. A pretty decent job, from the looks of it. Not that I could see anything; the storm had rendered the night blacker than the farthest corner of a monster-filled closet. If I could find where it was tethered to the shore, I could cut it loose, leave this place and all these drunken hallucinations for good. Hell, I could even…..(FreshHell)

… wreak my terrible vengeance on the people who had forced me into hiding in this crummy town, so small it didn’t merit a point on the map, so pointless that it didn’t even have a name.  The farmers who fought the surrounding land for a living just called it Town; the townies didn’t call it anything except “this shithole” or, if they were ambitious or lucky enough to leave, “that shithole.”

I had come to this shithole after running out on an arrest warrant back home in River.  I brought Monster, even though being so … distinctive, he made it harder to hide; I couldn’t just leave him behind.  The crooked judge who signed the warrant, the weaselly sheriff who swore out the complaint against me, and most particularly old man Berringer; I’ll get them all.

My plan unfolded before me, surprisingly simple.  With this raft, I would simply float down the filthy, slow-moving river to Springfield.  The backyards of both the judge and Berringer each extended down to the river; taking care of them would be easy.  The sheriff would be harder; even if he weren’t on duty, his home was on the other end of town.

No matter.  I’ll figure it out when the time comes.  They’ll pay for framing me for…(Unfocused Me)

And so the story continues:

A rifle. That’s what I need. They don’t ask for no background checks or nothing down at the town’s gun store. The owner would sell me a a bazooka with a smile if I could pony up the cash. I’ll have to dig out the old cashbox from the backyard. Better do it at night when nobody is looking. Old Man Parker has been snooping around here lately, can’t have him find my money. Yeah, a three-odd-six, some ammo and the boat.

Drift, shoot and move on.

And now for the next sucker… I mean fellow story tellers.

Colby, Donna, Isaac, Kelly and Marian, you’re up!

More Writers’ Blogs and Resources

Kitty Ghost Writer

Another Friday, another list of writers’ blogs and online resources:

• The Writing Runner: According to the About write up: “I’m a writer in my 20s who also loves to run, and I’ve been having trouble doing both lately. This blog is my attempt to get back into the groove in both departments, hopefully before my agent asks how the new book is coming along!”.
• Organized Chaos: An urban fantasy writer’s blog. Her first novel Three Days to Dead should hit your local bookstore this fall. For more info go check her place out.
• Untitled Opus: According to the blog subtext is For those who want to point at something and say, “That there.” I found it to be a good read on such subjects as Politics in Fantasy, but don’t take my word for it according to the author “The attention and approval of internet strangers is my highest aspiration.” So go there and approve to your heart’s content.

On the Resources side of the equation I have a few blogs that might help:

• TV Tropes: I’ll let the creators/editors of the site explain what it is all about: What is this about? This wiki is a catalog of the tricks of the trade for writing fiction. We dip into the cauldron of story, whistle up a hearty spoonful and splosh it in front of you to devour to your heart’s content. So if you think if what your doing has been done before, check this place out. Also I found it to be a very fun read (yes I like to read Wikis, I’m weird that way!)
• The Query Letter Wizard: It is a site that promises to help you with your query letter so that you may reach an agent and ultimately publication.  Hell, I’ll take any help I can get!

Now for the obligatory video, not related in anyway, shape or form with the above, except perhaps as a source for inspiration (or not).

Above & Beyond- Can’t Sleep/Underworld AMV

Note: I’m sure Kelly from Organized Chaos will get a kick out of this video!

A movie non-review: Star Trek The Movie (New)

Why call it a non-review, because in order to properly review this movie I would have to go into details that would ruin it for you. And I don’t want to do that?

Why?

Because…this movie…is…AWESOME!

I will, however, highlight some of the ways this movie is AWESOME! by using my preferred method of illustrating things, bullet points. So in no particular order:

• Spock: It is all about the man, or should I say Half-Vulcan/Half-Human green blooded alien struggling with his emotions and his heritage. Zachary Quinto nailed the performance, as did all the actors (extra bonus performances from both Karl Urban as McCoy and Simon Pegg as Scotty). And yes you will applaud when Leonard Nimoy comes on the screen.
• The Nods: From Red Shirts to a certain admiral’s beagle, this movie has it all, pay particular attention to all the Wrath of Khan references.
• Sound in Space: I like how they played with this particular trope. Just remember to open your chute at the right time.
• The Starship Enterprise: A character in itself. Somehow the makers of the movie made it both Shiny Looking and Cool at the same time.
• Villain’s Motivation: Nero, played by Eric Bana, comes up as twisted, wounded and utterly dedicated to his cause without coming off as a total ham. Too bad he didn’t quote Shakespeare although he did prove that revenge is best served cold, or as cold as the near vacuum of space will allow and then some.
• Applied Phlebotinum: Done extremely well as well as subverted all at the same time. It’s because the director and writers know their tropes so well that they managed to turned them into powerful story telling tools instead movie crashing cliches.
• Rule of Cool: Applied liberally to everything in the movie. ‘Nuff said!

So to recap, this…movie…IS…AWESOME!

These are the voyages….

P.S. In your comments, please add (SPOILER) if you are going to discuss any plot points. Thank you.

What if I had made that movie?

Summer movie season is nearly upon us and that means that means a long parade of explosions, insane FX and some acting thrown in for good measure. All in good fun. On my list of fluffy entertainment to see this summer includes such flicks as the re- imagined J.J. Adams version of  Start Trek  and the six installment of the Harry Potter series (yes I am a Potter head, sue me).

Some of these movies will suck. Guaranteed. But have you ever walked out of the theater scratching your head wondering why you wasted the last two hours in a dark noisy room with a hundred annoying strangers (especially the couple where one is explaining the movie syllable by syllable to their significant other out loud). It had good FX, OK dialogue, great cast and a solid premise. Yet somehow it ended up as an Epic Fail.

Now crappy movies are one thing, but the worst are those movies that you know had all the elements to be great but somehow messed it up. I find that now that I am a full time writer I tend to nitpick movies even more. It is as if I can see through the special effects and fast editing right down to the page full of tropes and cliches.

So let me indulge in a little thought experiment, what if I had made that movie….

Star Wars: The Prequels

Oh boy, where do I start! At the beginning of course. The biggest problem with the prequels is that George Lucas forgot to KISS the script, and by that I mean Keep It Simple Stupid! The movies failed because they tried to hard on several levels:

• Introduced a child Anakin to create empathy with the audience. A teenage Anakin would have done fine. It would also avoid the implications of female pedophilia. The barely disguised incest in the first trilogy was bad enough. Yuck!
• Overcomplicated Xanatos Roulette where the Emperor was behind everything. In real life politicians, like most criminals, are opportunist. Just send your Sith assassin to mess up the  peace conference between the Trade Federation and Queen Amidala and let the fireworks start. I mean wars have started for lesser reasons. WW1 anyone? Then have young Anakin protect her, maybe take her back to his home planet, throw in a dying mother and you got yourself a romance that will last you for three movies.
• Played Count Dokuu straight. Imagine if instead of a Sith Lord he was a disillusioned Jedi which Anakin is forced to kill.  Talk about moral conflict with a good dose of teen angst .
• Like any series writer, if you know you that you have more material than time, then pace yourself, don’t rush the ending because you used to much filler in the second episode/book.

Good actors (although not good acting), great FX and a ready made audience and all you had to do was deliver on your promises. You promised us the Clone Wars, where the heck are they (yeah, I know, Friday on Cartoon Network, wohoo). Always fulfill your promises.

Gattaca

You might no remember this movie, it was a total flop. Great actors, intriguing plot ideas, horrible execution. Two major flaws; slow pacing and lack of tension. You never feel for the main character’s plight in a world where your genes dictate whether you are a sanitary worker or an astronaut.  Wasted performances by the likes of Jude Law (who nearly saves the whole thing).  At the end it turns out everybody was to help the Ethan Hawke become an Armani suited spaceman.

King Arthur

Killer cast (Clive Owen, Keira Knighltly, Ioan Gruffudd), good action scenes and a great premise.

What killed this movie for me?

Editing.

You felt like they left to many scenes on the cutting room floor and the ones that they left in were arranged the wrong way. One scene in particular had a young Arthur pulling a sword from his father’s grave.

The Sword from the Stone.

Mother fucking Excalibur!

A great opening scene, except it wasn’t the first scene of the film, instead it came as a sort of dream sequence (yeah, one of those perfect memory dream sequences) two thirds of the way into the film. Great concept, poor execution.

Does this mean that I am unable to watch the latest crop of summer blockbusters without nitpicking every little detail. No. But even when the movies suck, I can still learn from them.

So, which movies did you see that had all the right ingredients but failed to fill you up?

Now for a movie that I thought would suck, but all the critics say it does not.

Once More into the Breach….

Well, I’m nearly finished with my second WIP, so now it is time to go back and revised Neither Here nor There… one more time. This time around I plan to use the One-Pass Manuscript Revision method I have heard so much about. If this works then I may have discovered a way to work my overall writing process in three not-so-easy steps:

1. Write the Damn Thing!: First draft, raw and uncut. Just lay down the story with the minimum of plot holes, discontinuity or illogical statements.
2. Cut it Down to Size and the Pump it Up!: Cut away all the -ly words, the clunky grammar and since I am a discovery writer, put in all those scenes that I left out. Then hand over the pieces to my Betas.
3. Death Star Trench Run!: Or the one-pass method. Cut into the manuscript with wild abandoned loaded with Beta torpedoes and the Force.  Slash and hack the thing to ribbons and then put it back together again in your computer. Send it again to other Betas. Send out the queries. Cross fingers.

My inner editor has being screaming to get out. He is already dreaming up ways to fix my second WIP and I haven’t finished that one yet! Time to let him do his worse.

Meanwhile, indulge a bit of 80’s nostalgia with A-Ha!