Hello one and all, it is I JJ, and I am back and ready for action. First off, let me just say I am sorry this blog got swept away in the tide of life, but I am glad to bring it back. Things with me have been crazy as of late, so some quick updates are in order.

Malcolm Midnight, or more correctly the edited version I meant to self publish, crashed with my last computer, and the project is now sitting on the back burner. To be honest, I don't have a major project going, but I have been working on my craft quite a bit. Poetry has been a much bigger part of my life recently and I would not have it any other way. 
 

Interestingly, that poetic imagery has found its way into my prose, in the form of a short snippet that may in the near future be my major project. Its shapping up to be a story about a boy who gets lost in a place he's called home his whole life, shortly after he finds out his family is moving away. I use a lot of fantastical imagery, and I think t lends an etherial atmosphere to the text so far. Bellow is a sample.

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Our tale begins in the time between day and night. In the west the sun was setting, and the moon was high in the east, gray and pale as a ghost. Between them was the crystallize vale, an endless expanse of sky. And bellow them, a boy was walking along an unnamed dirt road, wondering where his path might lead.

Beneath the branches of ancient mesquite trees, and past fields of wildflowers the color of lavender and gold and sunlight, Jonah Mathers walked in the clear, crisp air, beholding the sky as it turned the deep, periwinkle hue that belonged only to the clearest of twilight nights.

It was still early spring, but the breeze that rustled the desert marigolds and the brittlebush leaves was a summer sort of breeze, warm and pleasant, with a heady perfume of dust and cactus and creosote. Its one of Jonah’s favourite smells, and he breathes it in, allowing it to fill his lungs and his nose and his soul.  Tears well up in his eyes as he thinks of all the summers to come he won’t spend here in new river.

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Aside from poetry and side projects, I've been working on a malcolm sequel, titled chasing ghosts. more on that soon. But for the imediate future, check back in in a couple of days, and we'll take a look at some of what I've been reading/watching in my absense. see you then, bye!

So, you have your piece all written out, from start to finish. The plot has its beginning, a middle, and an end, and you are more than satisfied with it. Time to post it to the web, or send it off to this publisher or that one. Right?

Oh, if only it were so.

See, if you write for yourself, and have no inclination to show your work to people, I guess this would be ok. But if you want your work to be the best it can, and especially if you want to publish it, you are not done. In fact, maybe closer to half. I can tell already I have lost some of you already, those who had prayed to leave editing in the high school English class in which it no doubt belongs. If I weren't writing this article myself, I might well join you. Still, editing and revision have their place, and can take your writing from good to great if you just take some time to get it done.

So, the process is simple. Once you finish writing, stop. Go away from your piece from a while, see a movie, do something, just so long as it is not writing. You are going to want a fresh start on this when you come back. In fact, this step is probably the most important to good editing. If you are burned out by too many words when you edit and revise, you will probably end up doing a pretty  sloppy job of it. The next step is almost as important. Set a date to return to writing, and stick to that date. If you let it slip by, that sets a precedent for habitual procrastination with editing, and you'll never get it done in any sort of timely manner.

From there, its just a matter of rereading, correcting mistakes, and adding content and details as needed. Want to add a bit of description here? Does this bit of dialogue make no sense? Now is the time to correct mistakes like this. No matter who you are, there are mistakes to be found, I promise you. However, here is the problem many people have with editing, myself especially. As you might expect of any process involving fully reading and reworking a novel length story, this takes forever, and becomes very tedious very quickly.

Really, the only way to get it done is to set a schedule, and stick to it. You will edit on these days, for this amount of time. Do not set a specific amount of material you want to edit, or you’ll set yourself up for defeat. Just stick to the times, and get it done. You may find it dull like me, but you will be making your work as good as it can be.

To me, that is worth it. So I keep at it, and stick to my schedule. I am finally nearing the end of a full edit and revision of one of my best pieces, in preparation for self publishing it. I know that even if I want to spoon out my eyes after all this rereading, my writing is worth it.

This is JJ signing off this time, and hoping sincerely you have a better time editing than I do. XD

Looking back on my time as a writer, I can not begin to guess how often I have heard folks arguing over which is more important, plot or characters. This is ridiculous, because by defenition one can not exist without the other. The main plot is just the experiences of the main character, and therefore the two are tied together, inseperable.

Things get more complex, however, since most stories have more than a single character. Each character, by their own nature, have a storry of their own, every bit as complex as the main plot. These other stories are called character arcs, and when an arc overlaps with the main plot, the character starring in the arc is introduced to the story. These meetings should feel natural, real, and like the way two people could really meet. It must not feel like the hand of fate.

For writers who work from a limitted perspective, like me, making these arcs can be difficult. When only one person is followed, the others can fall into stereotypes. To avoid this, use subtlety and hints. Allude to the other arcs often but briefly, and it will feel more real, and developed. A good method to use here is outlining. Write a few paragraphs on each of the main characters, telling their stories, and make notes where the arcs overlap and separate. These are moments of special focus, and the times between are the parts you actually write out fully. All the rest will happen off screen, but it is still important for you, as the writer to know, even if the readers never will. You should put backstory here too.

When writing these meeting points, look to your real life friends. Think of how you met them, and take notes of it. Try and keep the meetings varied and interesting. People can only simply meet at an Inn so many times before it becomes predictable and contrived. Looking to your own life will help you avoid this. Whenever you get stuck, in any way, look inside for your answer. A writer is, after all, a peddlar selling a product anyone can make. The only thing you have that every other writer does not is your own voice. Distill it, improve it, and never stop working on it. This voice is your single most valuable tool.

And that's all for me this time. I will be back with more soon, so keep checking back. Always something going on in this crazy mind of mine. Ta-ta for now, everyone.

When I was six years old, I went on a journey with twelve dwarves and a hobbit, over the misty mountains to take a golden treasure back from a dragon. That was my first great adventure, but by no means my last. I did all that, and much more later on, all thanks to the magic of the printed word. Since my first adventure in JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit, I have attended a Wizard's school, fought beside The King in The North in the Whispering Woods, stood in awe as Dr. Frankenstien brought new life to dead flesh, and even begun to forge my own dreams, however they might compare to those epics mentioned about.

And you can do the same.

I can not stress that enough. you can do the same. No matter who you are, or what you do, you have a story to tell, and if you can find the right path, learn the rules of the words, and keep your determination from begining to end, you can bring that story to life. It isn't always easy, but it is something we can all do if we set our minds to it.

Now, note that I said everyone has a story, but never used the word book. That is because in my experience, the word book is poisonous, and will kill your passion for writing faster than anything in the world. One day you will start writing, planning to write a book. You will work long and hard all through the night, and go to sleep happy with yourself and proud of your work on the book. In the morning, you will read it over, and the doubts will crawl in.

You will see the flaws, the mistakes, the typos and the plot holes and it will all pile up until you delete the whole story to start again. But no matter what you write, you can never get good enough. How could you ever have thought you could write a book? You can't even get a few pages out well, so how could you ever finish a book?

The answer is by not trying to, in my experience. Let me remind you I have never been published as of yet, so I've never written a book. I've never sat down planning to either. I write stories, long abd short. I try not to worry about perfection, and I have others proofread my work before I do it. I take breaks, and then I come back and edit. All of these work miracles, and make the writing just less stressful.

In the end, you should write because you want to, because the story is as interesting to you as it is to your readers. You don't write so you'll have a book, or your muse will eat itself.

Now that the goal is laid out, and we all know what to avoid when looking at that evil screen full of white pixels, we have the hard part. Write a few words. Anything at all will work. If it doesn't, skip a few lines and go again. Delete nothing. Keep going until you get an idea, and once you have a few pages or paragraphs or really whatever amount feels write to you, take a look at it and plan out where the story is going from there, at least a little bit.

And Boom! You are officially started as a writer. Welcome to a world of frustration, endless editing, criticism, obsession, and self doubt. This is a world that will devour your time, and give you no rest. But, in the end, its worth it, to those who truly feel drawn to writing. It is something essential, something magical, and in the end, it is worth all the heartache in the world.
 

This is what I do, and if you want to learn more about how to do it, keep checking back regularly. Feel free to suggest subjects for future posts as well. See you all next time!