As of today, I have 100 pages done on Shadow Glyph Book 2: Gothikar! There are two story-lines, one following a father and the other his son. I’m writing the son’s story first, but have some sections done on the father’s too. Adding it all up, I have broken the 100 page checkpoint. And, seeing as it is November, I’m still on track for getting Gothikar done by summer!
For a couple of weeks, I have had books available in Mosaic Books on Bernard Street in Kelowna, BC. This Saturday, come on down to meet me and get a book signed! I’ll be there from noon to 3:00. I’m quite excited and hope to meet lots of new readers!
Now to find a pen worth signing with…
Multitasking.
There’s no such thing as writer’s block (defined as a complete inability to make progress with one’s writing). There is boredom. Frustration. Indecision. Distraction. But no all-inclusive syndrome. There are solutions to any of these problems.
The number one thing I hear new writers say is that they can’t write further. They start something long and then get stuck and give up. I think every writer experiences a boredom problem. No matter how brilliant an artist you are, there is a point where you just need a break! Unfortunately, many people don’t return to their project after their break. It is too hard to go from a week or two of no writing to working on a large project again.
My solution is simple. Do two. Do three. Work on multiple projects. When I got bored of writing Shadow Glyph, I would write on something else, whether a school assignment or another idea I had. I have about 5 different stories that I started during the writing process of Shadow Glyph. When I grew bored or frustrated with Shadow Glyph, I would start something new, or work on another project that seemed interesting to me at the time. After a couple days or weeks even, I would return to Shadow Glyph.
Trying to press on with a story when you don’t want to is a good way to completely burn yourself out and is more than likely to result in a ruined product at the end. Readers can tell when the author is forcing something and when the writing IS actually flowing.
Save yourself some madness and your work some quality-lost and try multitasking!
PS: I have uploaded a diagram of one story-line from Shadow Glyph under the Shadow Glyph section above. WARNING: this content includes spoilers. Only read it if/once you have read Shadow Glyph.
Cutting out writing.
Any writer knows that everything in the first draft is not there to stay. Most of it does, but even the best writer needs to cut out some parts – the unimportant scene, the poorly written conversation, the plot point that was flawed. Often, this is why editing gets a bad name. Authors spend so much time perfecting their work that to remove even a paragraph can be a painful job.
During the last stages of editing Shadow Glyph I realized that an entire chapter of mine should not occur. It added another loophole to the plot, one which would have a negative effect on books to come… It was so hard because I enjoyed the scene so much, but I managed to delete it. Looking back, the book functions much better.
On a different note, I decided to cut about 70 pages of writing I had done for Book 2. The chapters in question I had written during last semester. While they are interest stories nonetheless, they are not important to the plot and make one character much harder to understand. I hardly had to think when I decided to delete them, unlike the 5 pages of Shadow Glyph that had me frustrated for a week! Sometimes cutting out writing is a painful process, but sometimes it is easy to accept that it must be done.
Rather than drive yourself crazy, approach your writing with an open mind. Perhaps impossible advice, but a worthwhile goal.
PS: Don’t worry that I’ve been set back on Book 2. More than 50 pages done already.
Shadow Glyph was published last week! I’m still getting used to the concept of having a book DONE and for sale; it’s so exciting! It’ll take me at least a month before I’m accustomed to it… For anyone who doesn’t know, it’s available here at Createspace, the company that published it, or through plain old Amazon by just searching “Shadow Glyph”.
I’ve been so busy with everything that I haven’t written a blog post about it yet… My poor website doesn’t even know that the book is done! I finished editing it a couple weeks ago and had to wait for a proof copy to ship. The proof copy had some technical errors on the back cover, but those were resolved by Createspace. Next I waited for a final proof copy to make sure they were resolved.
That proof copy came last Tuesday, June 26, 2012 (The day my book was published). I put it on the table, and went to finish getting ready for the day. Then I mowed the lawn. Then I cleaned up my dog… and then I clicked OK on Createspace. Pretty funny story when I tell about the day my first book was published. But I kind of like it.
So… because this is a self-published book, its success depends on my own efforts to advertise as well as the hear-say of readers like you. For every friend you tell to check it out, to read it, or even to send here, the impact of my book grows exponentially.
But enough of “my own efforts to advertise”. I’ve been working on Book 2 over the past several months, and recently went back to the start to reshape the beginning to be much quicker. With all the progress on Shadow Glyph, the more exciting it is to work on the second book.
Also a shout-out to the first couple of buyers! It’s been out for a week and some people have already bought it. Can’t wait to hear what you think. On that note, I love questions and comments about writing or the book itself, and this site is the place to do it! I’m planning to draw up some cool diagrams to go along with the first book, let me know if you think of anything else you’d like to see 🙂
Some of you may remember the old series I wrote, Imperfecta, where each episode was decided by audience votes. The number of readers dropped too low, which influenced how well the audience decisions were, so I discontinued the series. While I’m not starting it up again or anything, I have rebooted the website. It was shut down when I got Ithyka up and running. Now both are accessible, so anyone who wants to can go back and read about the five fateful individuals that board the Ascension III. Enjoy 🙂
I would post a link to it, but for some reason my two websites have cooperation issues… just type in www.imperfecta.net and you can get there.
First off, some news. I was trying to have Shadow Glyph for sale this weekend but the final proof copy I received featured a beautifully illegible back cover. That has been fixed, but now I am waiting on the final final proof copy. Hopefully this weekend I’ll be able to post a for sure release date. It will be sometime next week. Once I know, I’ll put a countdown on here.
——
I recently thought of a way to inspire my blogs. I set up this website to be both a way of communicating with my readers, but also to allow them to communicate in return, like a community. So, last time, Dylan asked about my influences. Below, I’ll write about that a bit. From now on, I’ll choose a question at random (if any) from the comments and reply with a post. Sounds like fun, from my point of view…
What has influenced my writing? I would say that history plays as much a role on this as other written works. Being a fantasy writer, I’ve decided that the more I fit my stories into a historical realism, the better. Shadow Glyph has magic, but I actually prefer books without wizards, like A Song of Fire and Ice. The main reason to write fantasy is to provide a unique way of presenting insights about the world, themes, or even entertaining plots that cannot exist in the real world. That said, all fantasy should chase the real world. In my opinion.
What about other writers? This also plays a huge role in making an author. Any writer will tell you to read; what you read does influence what you write. The late Robert Jordan, who tragically passed before the 12th book of his 12-book series, has had an enormous impact on me, both in my writing and reading. I’ve read the Wheel of Time 3 times now and am ever amazed at the connections, details, and twists I notice each time I open the covers. His ability to transform characters, to age them in a realistic way, to introduce you so thoroughly into each individual’s world, I will always try to write like that. Unconsciously and consciously.
I could go on and on about influences, so maybe I’ll talk about them again sometime. For a quick list of books that I feel have shifted or impacted my writing: Atlas Shrugged, Lord of the Rings, the series Shannara, and a Star Wars book version of Episode III. The author, Matthew Stover, had a very interesting way of getting you into the characters much better than the movie did.
——
Last year I discovered that when I sit down and give it enough time, I can quite impress myself with my ability to draw. I’ve wanted to try some character sketches for a while, and finally sat down to do it. I finished a drawing of Dryn, the main character of Shadow Glyph. I found a picture online that was exactly how I imagined Dryn to look (by the end of the book). The actor, Alex Pettyfer, resembles the character a lot, so I found a picture on his IMDb to use. After a lengthy pencil sketch, I made some changes, and ta-da! It’s Dryn!
Dryn ten Rayth.