I had a little R & R and writing time in December, and was at a beach house for a bit. I brought some books, and soon discovered I was reading three at once, in different modes. I had an audio of ENDER’S GAME for when I walked; THE RED SCARF by Gil Brewer at the top of my Kindle; and a real honest to goodness print book (remember those?), THE PASSAGE. And I was going back and forth between them.
What about you? Do you find yourself reading more than one book at a time? What’s your record?
Monthly Archives: January 2013
I Am JUSTIFIED
It’s been crazy since the holidays between my writing deadlines, promotion for my latest release Indigo Awakening, and all the relatives coming in and out of town. But this week I’ve been saved. Elmore Leonard’s Justified is back for Season 4 and the first episode – Hole in the Wall – did not disappoint. It was “happy dance” fun.
Yes, Raylan and his bad ass Hat-itude inspires me to dig deep for insanely evocative dialogue and characters that make me cringe and laugh at the same time. I see this series as pure writer inspiration. (I love Elmore Leonard.) There were shockers in this first show. Don’t worry. No spoilers, but for anyone who saw it, I’m already filling my Constable Bob “Go To” bag with all the necessaries to kick some fictional butt in 2013.
What would you put in YOUR “go to” writer’s bag this year? Any resolutions? Here are FIVE writer things I learned from being JUSTIFIED.
1.) Never discount the importance of a good secondary character. Constable Bob is a prime example of how a well-written secondary character can steal your scenes and maybe become a spin-off.
2.) Writing one book can lead to another if you plant the seeds. Add a super hot bail bonds woman, a hotel mini-bar, and a marshal with pliable ethics and you can have a future book plot. Leave threads or seeds to another plot in your current work-in-progress. It never hurts to have ideas and it may leave readers wanting more.
3.) Dark humor is gold. When a loaded hooker comes face to face with something “grizzly” in her place of “business” or a simple phrase like “take care of him” can be construed in more than one way, a well-placed bullet can be JUSTIFIED funny.
4.) Give your anti-heroes loads of baggage and a cast of characters around them that will push their ethics to their darkest depths. Test them. Right from the start, Raylan is tempted into “helping” bring a fugitive to justice, especially if he can benefit from a little bounty money on the side and sees no harm in taking a modest gratuity. What comes next escalates his woes into pure Raylan MO when he has to cover his butt from getting caught. (Hint: If you talk too much, you get a special seat in his car.)
5.) To get a great pace going, jump into the plot without too much back story. The sheer mystery will draw readers in until your reveal. Have patience and don’t “telegraph” where you’re headed. Readers love a twist they never saw coming.
For the premiere, I followed twitter hashtag #JUSTIFIED while I watched the show to see what followers found interesting or memorable. Die hard fans are hilarious and they often quote whole lines to let everyone know what got to them. Twitterville heated up with Justified fans and I had even more fun. Many writers joined in the fun.
So tell me what you’d put in your writer’s TO GO bag for 2013—to be ready for anything like Constable Bob. Or please share what JUSTIFIED has taught you, whether you’re a reader or writer. (I’m pretty sure I’ll never ask Raylan’s daddy Arlo about what he likes to read. Just sayin’.)
Here’s a sneak preview of next week’s episode. If you have trouble viewing it, here is the Youtube link: http://youtu.be/mtMFLlk5lKk
How to stay Focused on your Writing
By Joe Moore
Happy New Year to everyone as we get the 2013 edition of The Kill Zone blog underway. Thanks for continuing to come by and share your thoughts and comments. If you’re a writer, may this be a great year for your efforts. And if you’re a reader, please pick up or download a copy of one of TKZ author’s books and take us for a spin.
This past Monday night, not far from where I live, the BCS college football championship game was played between the #1 University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the #2 University of Alabama Crimson Tide. Notre Dame never had a chance. Within 10 minutes the Tide had scored two touchdowns. By the end of the first quarter, they were a yard away from their third touchdown which they scored seconds later at the start of the second quarter. By halftime they were up 28-0. The middle of the third quarter, 35-0. Final score: 42-14.
Notre Dame forgot how to run. They forgot how to throw or catch the ball. They forgot how to block, tackle, or in general, play the game. It was one of, if not the worst championship football games of all time. Somewhere around the middle of the first quarter, the Fighting Irish lost focus. As a consequence, the viewing audience, the fans in the stadium, and even the sports commentators seem to drift away to other things. Not something you want to happen in a major sporting event.
So why am I talking about sports on a writer’s blog? Because what happened to ND and their loss of focus is something that you never want to happen to you as a writer. To help you keep your focus in the New Year, I suggest the following four tips. I hope they help.
1. Set realistic, obtainable goals. Naturally, if you’re a published author under contract, a deadline is the best goal of all. In most cases, there are nasty consequences for missing your deadline. But if you’re writing your first novel or have yet to nail that first publishing contract, the only deadlines are the ones you set. So your goals can be things like word count, pages per day, hours of writing per week, etc., something that is within your ability. If you find that you consistently meet your goal, then consider expanding it a bit beyond your comfort zone. If you goal is 500 words a day, try upping it to 700 or 1000.
2. Set a writing schedule and stick to it. If you work a day job and can only write a half hour a day, make sure you utilize that half hour to its fullest. Don’t schedule it in conflict with other priorities such as family activities. And make sure everyone around you knows that your scheduled writing time is your serious time to devote to your goals. They need to understand how important your writing is to you.
3. Establish a writing “place”, one with minimum distractions. A corner of a bedroom, out on the patio, the quiet of a spare room. Go there when you write and think of it as your “office”. Avoid any place that contains noises, TVs, or any other distraction that could pull you away from your valuable writing time.
4. Consider joining a local writer’s critique group. If there’s nothing available in your area, there are many groups that meet online. Having to produce a new chapter to present to the group each week is a strong motivator to keep you focused and hit your goals. You don’t want to go to the meeting or log into the forum empty handed.
There are many other tips on maintaining focus, but these four worked for me when I started out writing my first thriller years ago. Remember that writing routines like these are repetition that build mental muscles and help your stay focused on completing your manuscript.
Any other tips out there to stay focused as you hone your writing skills?
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THE BLADE, coming February, 2013 from Sholes & Moore
"An epic thriller." – Douglas Preston
"An absolute thrill ride." – Lisa Gardner
”Full-throttle thriller writing.” – David Morrell
"Another razor-sharp thriller from one of my favorite writing teams!" – Brad Thor
"History and suspense entangle from page one." – Steve Berry
Sifting through the stats for nuggets of insight
It’s always fun, and occasionally instructive, to analyze how new readers find their way to TKZ. So yesterday I took a quick look at the blog’s system stats. Here are some of the key word searches that brought people to the blog:
Rhino, rhino skin: Searches for rhinos take readers to Jim Bell’s Rhino Skin, which contains good advice for writers who need to develop a thicker hide as a survival tactic.
Best written sex scenes: This search phrase has got to be our all-time winner for drawing new readers to the blog. It usually lands on Clare’s post, The Top 5 mistakes made in sex scenes. Written in ’09, it’s the post that keeps on giving.
Semi Colon: This search lands on Jim’s The Great Semi Colon Debate. If your page has a semi colon stuck in its craw and you want to vent about it, this is your post.
Formula for writing a best seller: Those in search of a magic formula for best sellerdom will undoubtedly be disappointed to read there’s no such thing in a post I wrote a while back, How to write a best seller.
Book revolution: This search lands on any number of field reports about the rapidly changing publishing industrY.
Overall, the search stats for TKZ reveal that readers find us because they’re serious about their writing craft, and they’re looking for insights on the journey toward becoming a better writer. From the number of repeat visitors we get here at TKZ, and the blog’s overall growth over the years, I can surmise that we’re providing some discussion that’s useful. The Zoners of TKZ pledge to continue doing our best to engage readers and continue the conversation in 2013.
And now I’d like to hear from you. Are there any particular topics or voices you’d like to hear discussed this year at TKZ?
To New Adventures
Happy New Year from all of us at TKZ!
2013 has already ushered in a new adventure for me and my family with us moving to Denver. My twin boys start at their new school today and so there is a palpable sense of nervous tension, excitement, fear and uncertainty in the air – all signals that we are embarking on an adventure indeed. In honor of this, I have also started reading The Hobbit aloud to them – but I have assured them that, as far as I know, they won’t be encountering any trolls, goblins or dragons here in Colorado.
This year I have decided to focus my new year’s resolutions on some of the aspects of my career that I fear were sidelined during my time in Australia. Being so far away from the principal market for my books as well as my agent meant was not necessarily a good thing as I missed out on valuable face-time at conferences and book related events. It was hard to justify the expense of flying over just to meet with my agent or to attend a writing conference and so I focused solely on my writing – which was not a bad thing – but I fear I did so at the expense of ‘driving’ that writing forward into the marketplace.
It means that I face 2013 feeling like I don’t have very much to show for all my efforts – even though I know it is more a question of timing and patience than it is anything else. But it truly is time that I stopped being reactive and became the driver of my own career. In concentrating on my writing (and completing three manuscripts could hardly be considered slacking off!) I didn’t keep up the other aspects critical to keeping my career on track – I made bugger all changes to my website, did little or no marketing or publicity, and apart from TKZ blog I didn’t keep up with guest posts or my own Edwardian-era focused blog. Mea Culpa indeed.
My goals for 2013 are pretty intimidating – not in terms of time or commitment but in terms of changing my mindset to make sure I regain a better sense of control over my career and come out of my hermit hole to promote myself rather than focusing solely on my writing to the detriment of everything else. In this ever changing marketplace I cannot afford to remain at shut-off from everything but the manuscript in front of me (and now, I don’t have the literal ‘tyranny of distance’ as an excuse, either).
But here’s the thing – I’m not exactly sure how I’m going to achieve this change of mindset or how to overcome the self-doubt that a few years of what feels like self-imposed exile has brought. So I’m seeking advice from you all. What goals have you set yourself and your writing career this year? I’m hoping I’m not alone in wrestling with all the challenges a new year and a new adventure can bring. So how are you going to overcome obstacles and achieve all that you want to accomplish this year?