Get a literary Prius

Sputter. Sputter. Sput. Sput. Sput.

Your writing engine just died. The pen stopped and the paper stretches on for seventeen notebooks. Crud.

You gotta finish though, right? It's fairly important, this ridiculous thing called writing. And, for many of us, it pays the bills.

So, what happens when you're cruising along the margins, admiring your penmanship (penwomanship), smiling as the characters do lovely and not so lovely things to one another, and then your story stalls? You could get an oil change, or fix your tires. But, really, what if all you need is a new car?

No, I'm not talking about a new story. I'm not talking about taking a leak, and I'm not talking about replacing your pencil. I'm talking about a new perspective: that might be your Prius--half writer, half real person.

If you're stuck in the pot-holes of your story, hybrid or not, even if you've just finished a great chapter, you must wonder what to do next. Is it possible to lose the magic? Could you actually break the mechanics of your story if you make a wrong move? It is certainly possible. Thus, you can do a couple of things: either write through it, or do something else.

I, my lovely thousands of readers, usually opt for the latter. That doesn't mean that you can't, but sometimes it just gets to be a lot of crap before you hit gold. So, how about hang out with those creatures called "friends", see a movie, or by the G-d's powers, read?

And that is what you'll need to think about. Change up your vehicle--either by turning down another road, or looking through the eyes of a different windshield. Either way, you should put some thought into it, otherwise writer's block, no matter what form it is, if it exists, will keep blocking you from that Pulitzer.

Now, back to work. Drive that car to the finish line.

-JK out.

Down & Dirty Fiction

Okay, so the title to this post might be misleading. What I meant was for “getting into a story”. People say, “Oh, yeah, I got into Lost.” Or, “I just couldn’t get into Harry Potter.” The topic of this post, then, is what does it mean to get into something, and on a greater note, why we use that phrase. Let’s begin like we normally would: with some ridiculous statements that we can hardly back up.

Chuck Wendig of terribleminds has coined the term, penmonkey, and wisely so. In his book of predominately edited blog-posts, Confessions Of A Freelance Penmonkey, Chuck talks about how the content of a story is not bound to the margins of the page (or sides of your compy or tablet). He calls it the magic of the cell-phone, with communication from all places of the story coming in and going out, and especially interfering with one another. Of course, that’s the way it should be. And that, JK’s huge base of readers, is where our idea of “getting into a story” takes place.

Getting into something probably means finding yourself in the story. Perhaps you are reading Gulliver’s Travels (the revised for modern comprehension edition), and within a couple of pages you find yourself gasping at the *SPOILER* tiny men tying up our beloved Gulliver. You got into the story. You found yourself at the scene, and what’s really important here is that you cared about the story, and hopefully, the character.

Writers and readers want that. If within a chapter the reader hasn’t gotten into the story, then they probably won’t (and hopefully they didn’t waste their money and time!). They can try, and they might, especially if there are vast changes in the story or a different POV. But, they would probably just be forcing their eyes along the pages until they go Fahrenheit 451 on that POS. Writers, too, but many won’t realize if they’re writing crappily until they’ve received 50 rejection letters from (hopefully) prominent publishing houses. (You can self-publish, of course!) They might not notice what they’re writing. Or, they might. Hopefully they do. And, if that’s the case, it’s the same situation: if they can’t get into their story writing-wise, or if they find content wise they don’t like it, then SOL and try again.

So, now we have an idea of what getting into something means. The why is as easy as the what. It’s a great why because the meaning of words actually give some semblance of a “world” in which you can “see yourself living in” with the actual characters.

Therefore, the first step for any reader or writer is to find those special things that they can relate to in a story, and get in knee-deep. Down and dirty fiction.

-JK out.

First Page Sneak Peak of "The Write Message".

Batter Up

The man shuffled the papers. His eyes were focused upon the desk in the manner of a Renaissance statue. Drew tried to meet the gaze with the same calm, but he couldn’t hold his heart down. Without a clock in the small office, he felt as though a ticking time bomb might appear just for a laugh. He clicked his tongue a few times; he felt about ready to burst.

It was a very clean desk. A powered-off computer sat on the left side, and in the middle was Drew’s story.

“Well,” Mr. Graham said. He folded the manuscript in his hands and placed it upon the desk gently. He sighed and adjusted his round glasses. Drew parted his lips, tongue nestled into an active position, yet his mistakes seemed to zip him shut indefinitely.

He clicked his tongue one last time. It was louder than he’d expected. But, something else was coming and now perhaps he would have to wallow in self-pity once again.

“I should have realized that this would happen. I am a bit disappointed, overall.”

Drew frowned. The question burned, screaming for the iron to rise, but he’d come to learn something important in his fifteen years of life: desperation was evidence of feeble attempts not to plunge into the abyss. Depression would get him nowhere.

Mr. Graham scratched his chin. He had a little stubble on his young face.

Drew couldn’t figure it out, wondering what had happened. “I suppose,” Mr. Graham said with moist eyes. “That I expected more of you, Mr. Burgundy. This time around.”

Drew finally looked down; maybe it was just the gaze, but he couldn’t handle it. If only the dark blue carpeting could produce prose, or at least some sort of ultimate story. Unfortunately, his dust mites couldn’t speak for him—that was his job.

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Google: recursion

Sometimes writing can feel like a spin on a broken record. Just like typing in “recursion” to Google will give you an endless linking to “Did you mean: recursion?”, the art can go on forever, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. However, it is frustrating much of the time. I won't take the analogy into any more obvious jokes, though. The real post starts here:

You don't want to scratch the record. That is, you don't want to damage your story, or your pencil. Or hell, yourself for that matter. Well, maybe yourself a little because, let's face it, writers face their demons one way or another.

So, if you're being careful, what happens if you just forget and move on? What happens if you just write, and see where the story takes you?

Well, lots of editing, actually. And sometimes it feels like it will never end. You're falling down an endless hole, and really you hope you can grab hold of something, and sometimes it seems like you will. Actually, I've heard that most people who want to write a book, or even just want to write, never do.

Why is that? Well, I'm not an expert, but throughout the past couple of years, I've begun to understand a bit about that.

It's not just that it takes time. Most people who’ve had the yearning to write say that, it seems. "Oh, if I had the time." And I do? I make the time.

Starting up that story, whatever it is, and putting your soul on the line is, admittedly, a bit scary. That might sound a bit melodramatic, but it really isn't. Everything I write makes me curious if I'm doing my best. I don't want to write crap. And neither do you.

So, where does this recursion, or process in terms of itself, come into play? It's in the "write", "edit", "write", "edit", phase. Sometimes that can go on for an entire life time. For others, four months, and then publishing, or quitting.

It can make anyone wonder if they're up to writing. Can I really do this if it's taking so much effort & time? What about the greats? The greats weren't perfect. And, they were forging paths for us later in life. Now, there are things called Editors.

We shall continue to explore this topic on the NEXT EPISODE OF SEVEN HEROES BOOKS!

-Jason out.

The Donald Trump of Self-Publishing

It's definitely not easy being a self-published author. I'd like to say that I didn't know how that is, but then I'd be lying. Really, I would be.

What does it mean, really? Not the lying, but being self-published. You have to do things for your book and for your own reputation. That's not to say friends & family won't help out if you ask them, or ask them to read (buy) your book, but really, how else are they going to get it? You have to tell them you have a book out.

Sounds like a challenging concept...doing things for yourself. Having no shame is another word for that. And, I have no shame. My bad. However, you have to be careful that you don't come off as a self-promoter who doesn't care about anyone. People don't like not being cared about. Thus, if you're going to promote yourself, at least have tact. That means don't bring up your amazing author self and your possibly over-priced book, unless it feels right for the conversational context. And, if you can't figure that out, you probably didn't write a very good book. Blame Oscar Wilde, not me.

Next, or in most cases first, where are you going to do it? That is, get self-published. There are tons of sites, and only a handful that are actually good for the bang. Amazon createspace,  smashwords, and lulu are a few. Or, you can go tree-killing, too! I'm sorry, not every book is a waste of a tree, including my own. However, I am all for eBooks. So, if you have the opportunity and the means (mula, usually), then go eBook. Then again, don't completely discount physical books. They tend to sell well. And still will for quite some time. I will laugh at the first midnight release of an eBook at a bookstore. If you haven't gotten the joke, then I'm sorry and you should stop reading this post now.

Lastly, don't expect to become Stephen King overnight. However, that would be weird because then there would be at least two Stephen King's walking around. Therefore, just make sure you understand that you won't be getting any NYT Bestselling in that week. Or month. Or most likely year. However, in that decade is completely doable. That means keep writing, keep promoting, and well...keep living.

PS: Keep your license on you at all times in case Donald Trump requests to see it.
PSS: Maybe carry around a copy of your book.
PSSS:

-Jason out.

Why Write?

Brandon couldn’t keep his eyes off of her. It was such a typical high school day for him, but all things considered, drastic changes were on the horizon.

Jason: Alright, alright. I’m sorry. That’s overly cliche. Here I am, trying to give you some explanations as to why a writer would write, and I’m providing terrible fiction. Kyle, what say you?

Rebecca Black & New Views! (MUST READ)

Okay, nothing about Rebecca Black. That was just to get you here.

Please, type in "view" at the end of the URL in the search bar (click "Home" first, though). Then you'll understand.

-JK.