A Year of Writing Blog

The Continuing Saga of Camp Nano

Camp-Participant-2015-Twitter-ProfileApril is Camp Nanowrimo month (July is too.) I have been looking forward to this event for a while. At first I was going to edit my story about Wally and Ashna, but on a random writing day I came up with a fantasy series that follows the Marvel Avengers formula. I was really excited about this idea, but I knew it was a just-for-fun project so I set it aside until Camp Nano. Every once in a while this project would tap me on the shoulder and see if I wanted to play. I really did, but I told it we had to wait for April. And now April is here.

Camp Nano differs from Nanowrimo in November because you can pick the type of project you want to work on and how many words you plan to complete. Since I am working on several non-Camp Nano writing projects I decided I could finish 30,000 words. This does not mean I am writing 30,000 words in April. I am probably writing about 70,000 words in April. But 30,000 of them will be for my Camp Nano project.

I’m not worried about not winning (sometimes I get nervous about this in November.) Camp Nano simply gives me permission to write something that makes me happy, but may never become the epic story I think it could be. I don’t normally write pure fantasy (by fantasy I mean a story set in a fictional medieval world with magic, dragons, and anything else I can think up) but this story seems to call for it. And I am having a grand time creating my world and characters.

I hope everyone has a great April. I’ll post in a week or two and let you know how this project is going. I’m so glad Nano happens more than once a year. I’d hate to have to wait until November to play with this project.

Oh little playmate,
Come out and play with me,
And bring your dollies three,
Climb up my apple tree,
Slide down my rainbow,
Into my cellar door,
And we’ll be jolly friends,
Forever more, more, more!

My Interview on SFWG

imagesP8VY8R61Last month the Short Fiction Writer’s Guild (SFWG) posted a review on their website of my story that won their 2014 flash fiction contest. You can find my winning entry on my website if you would like to read it. Today they posted the interview they did with me. I am honored to be asked about my writing viewpoints and I hope that my answers will help any writers needing encouragement with their own flash fiction.

I learned a lot about myself while answering these questions. I never once considered writing a horror story even though the theme was evil Christmas. It seems that many other writers took that route and that made me question why I don’t equate evil with horror. When I think of evil I think of Voldemort from Harry Potter, The Emperor from Star Wars, and Hydra from the Marvel universe.  None of these books and movies are horror stories but yet they prove that evil lurks everywhere, from children’s books to comics.

The one thing I tried and failed to do was write about an evil Santa. And I really tried. No matter what story I started I could not make him evil and have him still be Santa. If he acted evil then he wasn’t acting like Santa so he wasn’t actually Santa. I only had a thousand words and could not really create a believable story about an imposter Santa. But it led me to a new question, do I stereotype my characters?

If I can’t make Santa evil can I make my detective a regular guy with a loving family? Can I make my bad guy so sympathetic that the reader forgives him of his crimes? Can I take any character and make them the opposite of what people expect? I don’t know. I like to think that my characters are original but that is probably not true. There are few truly original characters. All of our favorite fictional people are modeled after someone else, either consciously or unconsciously.

I am plotting out a multi-book series that takes the Avengers and sets them in a King Arthur-like world. They will each have roles fitting for that time but I am not going to hide the plagiarism. What I hope is that even if the similarities are there that the characters will be original for the story and the setting. So in the end it is okay if I can’t make Santa evil. What is important is that I make my characters believable and so intriguing that the reader will have no choice but to keep reading.

“Inside each of us, there is the seed of both good and evil. It’s a constant struggle as to which one will win. And one cannot exist without the other.” Eric Burdon

 

Why I Did Not Love My Reviews

imagesO6QRVKDMWell. It today is February 10 and I have written ten book reviews. I don’t think I can do anymore, at least not in the format I have chosen. I love all the books I have reviewed but all my reviews say the same thing. “This is a great mystery.” “You should read this.” “It has charming characters, an intriguing plot, and a setting that makes it special.” I am boring myself.

I think if I do this again I will not make it about me. I don’t think anyone really cares what I think about a book. Would you really read a book because I told you it was good? I doubt it. I need a different way to convince people how good these books are.

Right now I have no idea what that is and I have many writing projects that I want to finish before Left Coast Crime in March. I think I will switch my focus from book reviews to short fiction, something that I enjoy much more.

I know ten reviews is far short of the original twenty-eight I planned to write but when I started this I had no idea how much I would dislike writing the same fluff over and over. I don’t need to do another eighteen to learn what I already know.

So back to the world of fiction. I am already more excited about writing so I don’t regret quitting. Stephen Dubner from Freakanomics says that quitting can be the most important thing a person does. I guess we’ll find out.

To help us understand quitting, we look at a couple of key economic concepts in this episode: sunk cost and opportunity cost. Sunk cost is about the past – it’s the time or money or sweat equity you’ve put into a job or relationship or a project, and which makes quitting hard. Opportunity cost is about the future. It means that for every hour or dollar you spend on one thing, you’re giving up the opportunity to spend that hour or dollar on something else – something that might make your life better. If only you weren’t so worried about the sunk cost. If only you could …. quit. Stephen Dubner Freakanomics, Season 1 Episode 5

I Love The Omega Network by Thomas Locke


One of my favorite things to do is wander the library shelves looking for new authors to read. Unlike bookstores that only keep the newest books on their shelves libraries have books that are dozens of years old. These are good books but once I move I often can’t find them anymore. This happened with the Thomas Locke mysteries. I kept looking for them but thought I was out of luck. Then one day I noticed they were in eBook form. I immediately ordered them and they are as good as I remember.

Who is Thomas Locke?

Well, he is not a 19th century politician and he not an epic fantasy author. Those Thomas Locke’s I can find information on. The Thomas Locke who wrote The Omega Network is a little more mysterious. In fact I know nothing about him except that he wrote a couple of wonderful books. I guess that is enough.

Why do I love this book?

I love characters who do the right thing even when it is hard to do so. I also love slimy politicians that I can enjoy hating. The Omega Network has both. The good guy has to make hard decisions but he does the right thing. In the process he is almost killed which is a good reason to stop doing the right thing. While I would call this book a Christian mystery I would say that is more about morals than religion. It is also about how people with lots of money can roll over the little guy, a great premise for a book.

No book is perfect. This is what bugs me…

In this case what bugs me is that no one knows about The Thomas Locke mysteries. They are really good, but when I used to borrow them from the library it seemed like I was the only one who ever checked them out. They were always on the shelf when I wanted to read them. That seemed a shame. I know there are a ton of books to read in the world but I wish more people would add The Omega Network and The Delta Factor  to their reading list.

Why should you read this book?

This is an intelligent, moral mystery filled with danger, and a little romance, set in the swamps and cities of Florida, both places where slimy creatures dwell. That must be why I picked it up all those years ago. I never regretted it and neither will you.

A Quote Worth Quoting

Rico took another step toward the desk, let the guy stare down into the barrel, the biggest blackest hole he would ever see. And the last one.

But still there was no fear. Thomas Locke The Omega Network