Stop Slacking Off!

Hey everyone! Good to see you again. About the title, that’s an order to myself, not you. A while ago my long term goals were to write novels or short stories and get them published, or do it myself. I have a long history of starting projects and not finishing them (ask my wife about the retaining wall in the backyard. Actually don’t). Same goes with the novels I started. Pretty convinced I’m not alone in this.

Anyway. Several years ago, maybe nearly ten, I reached a point where I was prepared to begin work on the cover artwork of at least two of my novels. One of them involved a young female Caucasian character. My kids had just finished secondary school so I knew a few of their friends so it wasn’t difficult to find one who was willing to pose for me for the book cover photo. The other book, however, involved very different characters. I didn’t know anyone who physically resembled those characters enough to work with so I had a problem. Being the introvert I am, and needing to work with people (preferably models or actors) I didn’t know, was a bit daunting. But the end goal was motivation enough to jump out of the comfort zone and tackle this thing head on. I also had to up my photography game.

I spent a few years accumulating a bit of camera and lighting gear, finding models I could practice shooting with and directing, and generally improving those skills. You can see some of those results on my Instagram page.

Then we had a pandemic full of lock-downs. You might remember it. So that slowed down the shoots somewhat. I never really got back into it, neither the photography nor the writing. Kind of lost the motivation.

The job I had at the time had an abnormally high staff turn-over rate (and due to the nature of our work we still had to go into the office) so I got to meet quite a few new people over those years since 2018. Some of them I felt comfortable enough with (eventually) to admit that I write novels and short stories in my spare time, even though I hadn’t opened Scrivener for years. I was surprised when a couple of these people were interested enough to want to read my stuff and actively encouraged me to keep going. This was awesome. And it lead to another problem.

Long story short, I recently bought a virtual drum kit (think air-drumming but with sound!) and in my efforts to make it work with my laptop I broke Scrivener.

I have since found a solution to the Scrivener issue that just leaves the drum kit. If anyone knows how to get MIDI working over Bluetooth on Linux, I’m all ears.

Thank you to those who do provide much needed encouragement. You know how much this means to any writer.

On another note, When I get annoyed with things and need a break I find some music on YouTube. I discovered an awesome acoustic band from Romania who do covers of songs from the 50’s to today. Check out their version of Radar Love by Golden Earring. These guys and girls love what they do and it shows. So much fun!

Guest Post: Writing and Self-Publishing a Fiction Novel

Today I am featuring a guest post by Ben Russel. Ben has offered to write an all-important piece for the beginning novelist describing the essentials of writing a novel. Ben is an avid reader and writer. He’s now more into essay writing teaching high school and college students how to write different types of essays. One of his recent articles is on how to write a picture analysis essay. Okay, take it away, Ben.

Anagrams in Novels – Clever or Cringeworthy?

I’m really bad with picking up anagrams.

I recently realised that the name of a famous ebook reading device is an anagram of “book”. (That’s the Kobo, in case you’re worse at it than me.)

And it was only this year, 11 years after the last instalment of The Matrix Trilogy was released, when I realised that for three movies of NEO trying to work out if he is the ONE… you see? And that was only after someone pointed it out to me.

Character Development: When Your Main Character Tells You How It’s Done

My main character from Rochelle’s Briefcase popped into my head the other day and boy did she give me serve!
It took me a little by surprise. I mean, it shouldn’t have. Who else’s head would she be in?
It was an interesting exercise in character development. Here’s what we had to say to each other:

Portals – A Writer’s Escape Hatch

Have you ever read a story where a character suddenly finds a supernatural portal and teleports away from some evil enemy? Did it fit well into the story or did it feel like the writer had painted himself into a corner and struggled to get out? Ever done this yourself as a writer, even if the story didn’t see the light of day (or the dark of night as the case may be)?

According to NASA you might be off the hook slightly as they have discovered that these portals are one step closer to reality.

NASA figure out how to find hidden portals

Obfuscation

It’s been said that obfuscation is the best example of obfuscation. I came across a simpler version of this explanation some time ago. Loved it. Of course here I’ve expanded, embellished and over-exaggerated it almost beyond recognition and meaning for entertainment value if nothing else.