New Year's Resolution for 2019

Well, another year has come and gone, so now it's time for our New Year's resolution.

I'm notoriously bad at resolutions.  Like everyone else, it seems, I'm hoping to lose weight.  I've outgrown more clothes lately.

But even more important, I resolve to finish my third novel, Footman of the Ether, which is a sequel to White Lands Dragon and the second in a fantasy series.  I'm around 60% done, so this should be an easy goal as long as my everyday life doesn't become even more frantic and chaotic.

Additionally, once I've finished that second book, I figure I'll be in an excellent place to solicit literary agents. In addition to the books, I've got lots of other enticing bits to offer (such as my Encyclopedia Irikara wiki I'm developing, a collection of supernatural/horror stories, and some science fiction short stories).

I've also been busy with social media, creating, in addition to this blog, my author's Facebook page and my Twitter page (@WorldsKilgore).  Please visit and follow/like/comment.  :)

Cheers and happy reading, and Happy New Year's everyone!

Christmas For A Writer / Book Lover

It's a great Christmas. My kids got their first smartphones as their "big gift" this year, now that they're teens. Oh boy.

As for me, I made out well. My wife and kids showered me with books and a new writer's desk, among other things. I'm particularly happy about the writing desk. I no longer have to share the ones used by my kids, which are smaller and sorta messed up. For one thing, they tend to eat on them without cleaning up afterward, so if I'm not careful I wind up getting food residue on my manuscripts. I've also been eager to read George R.R. Martin's Fire and Blood, and I've always meant to read the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu and try to understand Taoist philosophy.

My mom also gave me a fantastic pendant by a very talented local artist, Boutique Academia (which specializes in science-based jewelry), which is a little book that unclasps to reveal copper pages. HERE is a close-up.

I've never been to Iceland, but they have a tradition called Jolabokaflod, where they give each other books on Christmas Eve and then spend the evening reading and drinking hot cocoa. I think I'll do the same!  Enjoy!

My haul (with one of my cats, Akela):

Cheers and happy reading!

Merry Christmas 2018

Merry Christmas.

I think all of us writers can relate to this one...

Cheers and happy reading!

Things On A Writer's Desk

Truth!

Cheers and happy reading!

A Real Bookstore

The other day I went into a Barnes & Noble store here in Eugene, Oregon. I was appalled that they now have at least a fourth of their bookstore dedicated to TOYS instead of books or other media, rows and rows of them. And though some of those toys have some level of educational or creative thinking quality (such as robot building kits or strategy games), the vast majority did not.  I no longer think of them as a true bookstore.

One of the aisles at Smith Family Bookstore

Instead, I prefer to go to my local bookstores.  Here in Eugene, for instance, we have Tsunami Books, where a local writer's group meets (the Wordos, where I was briefly a member many years ago), Black Sun Books, which is very small and tucked away in south Eugene, and my favorite, Smith Family Books, which has two levels of books, and two different locations, absolutely crammed with books from floor to ceiling (and stacked along the floor, even). Used books are just as important as new ones, as it should be. 

Upon walking through the door at Smith Family's main location, you are immediately met by stacks of antique books.  It is a place of wonder for me, where I can be happily lost for hours and simply cannot leave without taking some of my newfound book friends with me. That, for me, is what a book store should be about.  Not some washed out corporate nonsense like Barnes & Noble, which is just as interested in being a coffee shop, music store, and toy store as they are about selling books.

Cheers and happy reading!

Sage Advice for Fiction Writing

The list, below, is a collection of easy but wise advice I have gleaned from a variety of sources since I started writing. I hope you find it helpful.

Of course, all rules are meant to be broken in at least some circumstances.

Please leave comments with your thoughts. 

• A problem that a character can walk away from is a book a reader can walk away from.
• Write to your audience.
• Write dialogue that’s worth eavesdropping on.
• Don’t be afraid to “kill your darlings” if it furthers the plot (whether “darlings” refers to characters, favorite plot devices, subplots, or even entire chapters).
• Don’t be in love with your words. Cut mercilessly as needed.
• Add action tags to prevent “talking heads.”
• Make your main characters memorable. Otherwise they’re lost in the crowd.
• Every character should have a unique viewpoint, “voice,” and motivation or they become clones.
• Just when your main characters seem to get a grip on the situation, torment them, then have them claw their way out.
• Your main characters need to be active and turn things around in the plot, not just followers; no one roots for a puppet.
• Emotions make characters interesting. Make them express themselves, unless they’re Mr. Spock.
• Make every word do work for the story.
• Avoid info dumps. Dole out the details and backstory or the reader gets buried.
• Sensory details bring a scene to life. Have a mental meter for the five senses.
• Writing groups, reviewers, and editors take your work to the next level. Be open-minded to critique.
• A main character’s world and her role in it should be larger and more complex than what is represented in the book. Then hint at that larger role to show that your character isn’t just a cardboard cutout.
• Know your characters better than the reader will. If a character isn’t alive to you, he never will be to the reader.
• The story is only as long as it needs to be. Stretching the story by adding superfluous side plots and details, or cutting it by removing necessary material, to meet an artificial word length might help get it published, but readers can often tell.
• The first few chapters of the book, or paragraphs of a short story, set expectations that form a “contract with the reader” about genre, characterization, and the basic plot. Plot twists are good, but stray too far, and you break the contract and alienate your reader. Be true to the story.
• Outlines can be helpful, but don’t be too rigid. Stories and characters can take on a life of their own and lead you down delightful and unexpected paths.
• Show, don't tell (unless, perhaps, it's introspection)
• Write a story worth re-reading.

Cheers and happy reading!