There’s a lot of not-so-great advice being regurgitated over and over because someone else said it a long time ago. Certain things, like the rules of grammar or story structure, are not really negotiable, of course. But today I want to go over a few writing “rules” that don’t work for me, and probably don’t work for a lot of other writers, either.

I thought today I would go over some of the things I did to cut a hefty chunk out of my book, bringing it down to the slim, trim 119k words it is today. Yes, I cut a novel’s worth of words out of my novel. So, let’s take a look.

So. Tomorrow, my debut novel, The Case Of The Cheap Suit Plot, is officially released. It’s been on pre-order for some time, but starting tomorrow that bad boy gets downloaded to readers’ devices of choice, and those who want a physical copy can get the paperback as well.

At my day job recently, a co-worker asked me, “So, the day your book comes out, are you going to have a party?”

Hahahaha…no.

I know a lot of authors will often talk about their influences. If you’ve been following me a while you may have noticed that I don’t. At least not as much as other authors. This is because somewhere in the back of my tiny little mind, I worry that folks will somehow figure that my entire writing style/stories will be like the books and authors I name.

Logically I know it’s not true. I know most readers will not assume that of me and my work. Every once in a while I need to remind myself though. Thus, today I figure I’ll talk about three books that had a tremendous impact on me and my writing…

I’m a writer with ADHD. And some days, I sit down at my computer with about 12,000 ideas on the tip of my brain, ready to make those satisfying clack-clack-clacking sounds on the keyboard as I unleash my genius. Other days, just getting to the computer chair feels like wading through molasses.

I can in no way rely on being *~inspired~* in order to write with any consistency. The reason I’ve finished a novel, and then finished two more that are ready for beta readers, and then finished a draft of one more, over the last year and a half is because I made myself write. I sat down, most days of the week, and said, “I’m going to write. It may not be good. I may delete all of it tomorrow. But I’m going to write.” For me, routine is everything.

So, today I thought I’d talk a little bit about what I need around me to get in the headspace for writing. These are the five indispensable items I cannot be without.

There are a million guides on how to structure your plot out there. The Hero’s Journey, Save The Cat, The Rollercoaster Method, etc. But all of them have a few basic components. You have to start with a little exposition followed by an Inciting Incident. Then, well, more stuff happens. This eventually leads to a climax, followed by tying up any loose ends.

So what goes in that part of the book in the middle, between the Inciting Incident and the climax? That’s the bulk of the story, after all. Heck, for my book, that’s Chapters 3 through 34, out of 36. Well, there are a whole host of things you can put in the middle of that book, and some of it will depend on the genre you’re writing and/or the structure model you’re following. But one thing I feel is an important addition to nearly any story is a “win”.

A topic I’ve seen brought up with frequency in the writing community is, “How can I trust beta readers, critique partners, and/or editors not to steal my ideas and release my book under their name?” I personally think this fear is blown out of proportion, for a few reasons.

Two weeks ago, I wrote a little bit about what I like to see in a book’s first chapter. I also touched on the Inciting Incident, and I want to expand on that topic in this blog post. Personally, I’d never heard the term before I started trying to write professionally, but it’s a cornerstone of any work of fiction – whether you know it or not.

If you’ve been in the writing community for more than five seconds, I’m sure you’ve heard about how important your first chapter is. There are whole writing courses on how to craft a first chapter. Some editors even offer a service where they critique only your first chapter, and all the hype is for good reason. Your opening volley is what readers see when they use the “Look Inside” feature shopping online, and if they’re browsing a paperback at a physical store, they’ll likely flip to Chapter One as well. If they don’t see something intriguing, they’re probably not buying the book. So today I thought I’d discuss what I, as a reader who also writes, like to see in that all-important Chapter One of a book.

So, early last week I revealed the official cover art for my debut novel, The Case Of The Cheap Suit Plot. The response has been overwhelmingly positive (huge sigh of relief). Now what?

When I sat down to do this blog post my original thought was to talk about how drawing informed my writing.

But the truth is, I’ve been drawing for years, and I know some people —especially my family— are probably wondering why I stopped. Even if you don’t know me, you may have seen the sketch work I’ve done for The Case Of The Cheap Suit Plot and thought to yourself, “Is this guy a writer or an artist?” Why have I chosen to go the writer route instead of the visual artist route?

There’s no short, easy answer. I realize that at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks I SHOULD do, only what I want to do. But I want to offer something of an explanation, so I think I’ll address that in tonight’s post.

Probably one of the biggest points of contention in the fiction writing community is Pants versus skins Plotters. Some swear by pantsing, others claim plotting is the only means to good writing.

Even the world’s most famous authors seem divided when asked about their methods. Many have talked about being a pantser, plotter, or something called a plantser.

Now, no single method will make you a famous author. Whatever works best for you is the method you should use. Knowing the difference between the three will help you to figure out which one that is.

I grew up on cartoons. My favorites from my childhood in the 80’s were shows like G.I. Joe, Thundercats, The Real Ghostbusters, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Silverhawks. There were a couple that I wanted to see more of, but for a family living on Long Island without cable television, I could never catch more than an episode or two of shows like Robotech, Voltron, and The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers.

These shows laid the early groundwork that would become my love of anime. While parents failed to see it, dismissing these shows as big-budget toy commercials (and they were exactly that) the people who worked on these shows did something no one expected. They made stories we cared about.

Happy Holidays! And a look at what’s in store for 2024.

Ah, the holidays. For those of us who live in the North Eastern United States, it’s the magical time of year that falls between the spooky joy of Halloween and the absolute suck of everything that comes after the New Year.

My family wasn’t what you would call “financially stable.” And this wasn’t any fault of my folks. They always did the best they could for my brothers and me. And Christmas was that time of year when they would go all out.

Santa’s yearly visit was always the highlight of the year in our family, as my parents loved to make Christmas as magical as they could. But I think it was the Christmas of 1989 when everything almost went off the rails.

Only a few days left to check out some great FREE short stories!

Thanksgiving is just around the corner. ‘Turkey Day’ as some of us like to call it. So what does that mean? It means we stuff our faces into a borderline coma while thanking God, the Universe, our lucky stars, or whatever means something to us for our good fortune to be able to do so.

But it means something else too. Something many people dread having to deal with. And I’m not talking about the post-meal BM from eating expired cranberry sauce, or having to decide between the light or dark meat.

I’m talking about having to deal with family.

While I’ve been telling stories in one form or another for most of my life, I didn’t automatically gravitate to writing novels. In fact, one of my first story-telling mediums was tabletop role-playing games.

Many a game master has written a campaign or module for their friends, and after running it, thought, “This would be a great novel.” They set out to write a book based on the epic journey they just went on with their friends. I did it too and I discovered there are a few pitfalls that game masters should be aware of before settling down to write that book.

One of the beautiful things about writing as an art, is that inspiration can come from many places. It can come from a conversation, the world around us, and perhaps unsurprisingly, from other works of art.

Since I started writing, I’ve noticed that my writing instinct tends to jump into action when I hear a particularly moving piece of music, or I’ll imagine writing the narration as I watch people proceed through even mundane tasks. It also kicks in when I see certain works of visual art. I want to share a couple of those pieces with you, today.

If you read my first blog post, you know that stories are my passion. My life’s blood. I enjoy crafting, writing, and telling them. And there’s no one part of the process that, to me, is any less fun than another.

I’ve come to discover, though, that I do get a certain satisfaction from seeing things come together. Enter one of my long-time hobbies; Gunpla.