Writing

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Finding Your Way Back to Writing

Posted on by J.W. Martin

I wish I was writing a post about how I can’t remember the last time I missed a day of writing. But if you’re anything like me, you go in fits and spurts. Could be days between writing sessions, or weeks, or when life gets really hectic, months.

Long stretches of days and weeks with way too much overtime, a hectic family life, and the crushing state of the world we live in have all contributed to very little writing over the last few years. It wasn’t that long ago that I wrote two books in a year. Now, more than two years without a single book.

But I digress. This isn’t meant to be a pity party of a post. It’s meant to be a celebration.

Because it doesn’t matter how long you’ve been away. It doesn’t matter how many words you wrote, regardless of how many you used to write, how many your writers’ group averages, and it sure as hell doesn’t matter about that one time you went crazy and wrote in the tens of thousands of words.

You’re back. And it always feels good to be back.

Returning always reminds me why I fell in love with writing in the first place. Though I know the words I wrote are going to be full of rusty typos and will one days be edited within a character of their current state, I loved it.

I got to play with words. And play with an entire world I was creating as I went. I write lines that made me feel witty and clever. I wrote lines that I knew would need to be straight up deleted. It doesn’t matter. It was all great. It’s work. And it’s fun. It’s my passion. It’s the thing I wish I could do for a living, but it’s also the thing I know I’ll keep doing for the rest of my life even if I never make a dollar.

And it’s great to be back.

AllDiscussionMotivational MondayWriting

Confidence in writing: Seemingly

Posted on by J.W. Martin

Seemingly.

Nine letters, three syllables, and one massive pet peeve.

The word has its uses, but all too often it’s used under a myriad of reasons that all fall under one umbrella cause: a writer’s lack of confidence.

You see it a lot in cases like, 

“His face contorted, seemingly angry.”

“A seemingly dangerous man.”

“A crowd of seemingly millions.”

Examples like these come from moments of self-doubt where a writer isn’t confident enough to say something. To make a statement. Instead, words like seemingly allow for beating around the bush, skirting the issue, and several other cliches. And seemingly isn’t alone either.

Almost, kind of, apparently, sort of like, and several others that allow someone to hide behind not taking a stance for fear of being called wrong. 

Feels like I’m standing on a soap box at this point, but let me state (with certainty) that the biggest reason these words are my pet peeve is because I often find them in the early drafts of my own writing. 

Yes. I too suffer from a lack of confidence. I think it’s required to do any kind of writing. 

If we look at the early examples, and resist the urge to bring in the issues or show, don’t tell, word selection, and rewriting sentences to make them not suck, we get:

“His face contorted, angry.”

“A dangerous man.”

“A crowd of millions.”

They aren’t great sentences, but they’re stronger. Confident. They say something and dare the reader to question it. And frankly, if your reader isn’t on your side enough to believe that a man is angry, a box is heavy, and water is wet, than you have a much bigger problem on your hands than being afraid to make a statement.

So fear not, fellow scriveners. If you’ve done your research, there’s nothing to be concerned about. Nothing to stop you from making any and every statement in your writing.

It’s your world. It’s your story.

AllWriting

Querying is a Special Kind of Hell

Posted on by J.W. Martin

This isn’t news to anyone who’s ever been in the query trenches. Suffering from this very process is one of the most inclusive clubs there is.
For those who haven’t been here (or never will) querying is the process that authors take to attempt to get their book(s) into the hands of literary agents or maybe publishers. It involves sending a query letter that takes your 100,000-word book and trying to get its pure awesomeness across in a matter of a couple hundred words.

We authors build a list of agents who work with their genre of book. We personalize each one and send with that agent’s specifications. Most want a writing sample, but the length always varies. Three chapters, ten pages, etc. And many want a synopsis: the most painful document an author can create.

Then, once you’ve stared at your query letter for far too long, you hit send a hope you haven’t made any stupid typos. Spoiler alert: you probably did. But typos are impossible to see before sending, and very obvious after the fact. Then the waiting begins.

Querying is taking something extremely personal, putting it up on a pedestal and saying, “Here. Judge me. Harshly.”

It’s the act of offering your heart to someone and then having to wait months to hear an answer.

It’s being told “no thank you,” and worse, over and over again. Exclusively.

It’s not much fun for literary agents either. These people are drowning in query letters. They never stop coming. There’s no such thing as catching up because, for every one they read through, three more have arrived in the meantime. And those that respond to all their queries are burdened with stepping on someone’s dream with each response, even though their responses are friendly and professional.

Among the many rejections, every writer eventually gets a “full request” arrives. This is when an agent likes your query letter and requests to read the entire book. It’s one of the most exciting responses a writer can get. And I can tell you that it feels like a big step forward. However, this is just the next stage and the odds are still that you’re going to hear a “no thank you.” It doesn’t matter if you go into this stage knowing the odds. A “no” at this point is crushing. More crushing than a standard query rejection. It usually requires a little me time after getting one of these bad boys.

So why do we do it?

Well, there aren’t that many other ways to publish traditionally. There are non-traditional ways, but that’s a whole other post.

Every writer wants to have a New York Times best-selling book. Every agent wants to discover the author with the next big book.

Querying requires persistence and an eternally-springing sense of hope. There are lots of success stories out there. People are signed to publishing contacts all that time. I’d love to tell you that it pays off to stick with it, but I’m still waiting for my success story.

Despite the odds, despite my personal experience, I look at every query I send potentially as “the one.”

AllWriting

NaNoWriMo 2019 Wrap-Up!!

Posted on by J.W. Martin

Okay! This post has been a long time coming (too lazy to write it) and publicly demanded (by no one) to talk about gargantuan NaNoWriMo efforts (sitting at a keyboard) and explain why I didn’t blog for a month (which no one noticed).

November is always a tough month for me when it comes to spare time. Having a full-time job and kids that are into their own extra-curricular stuff means “spare time” is already hard to find. Now imagine taking that small amount of time and cramming 1,667 words of writing into it. Let me just say some sleep was sacrificed.

 

I felt bad that I wasn’t blogging during that time, but I just couldn’t fit it in. Could barely even think about it. Even my reading time suffered, which was one of biggest struggles of all.

However, despite all the hardships (oh, poor baby) I WON! 50,000 words in November!

The story I was writing, which I think will end up being about 100K all in, is about a group of detectives trying to catch a serial killer in a smallish town. What I found to be interesting is that the chapters from the perspective of the killer were way easier to write than the ones from the side of the law. I obviously know more about being a serial killer than I do about being in law enforcement (Quick! Someone call the cops!)

Now I’m faced with a particularly annoying quandary. I have 3 projects all begging for my attention.

  1. This NaNo project is going to need another 30-50K to be complete.
  2. A first draft from last year needs some attention and a new draft.
  3. A BRAND NEW story that popped into my head last week has taken over my every waking thought. It just walked up to me, slapped me in the mouth and dared me to do something about.

As desperately as I want to write the brand new idea, I know myself. If I don’t finish that first draft on number 1, I might never finish it. It might remain abandoned forever. What to do, what to do…

HAPPY WEDNESDAY!

Fun fact about this post: Does anyone else hear a random voice shouting insults, or is that in my head?

 

Book TagWriting

The NaNoWriMo 20 Questions Tag!

Posted on by J.W. Martin

The NaNoWriMo 20 Questions Tag!

NaNoWriMo is just around the corner, and I’m SO excited. Coming off of last year’s “win”, I’m also feeling quite optimistic about it. And thanks to Sophie @ Sophie’s Corner I can let a little of that excitement leak out with this tag. Enjoy!

Rules

  1. Thank the awesome blogger who tagged you!
  2. Link back to the creator of this tag, Sophie @ Sophie’s Corner. (I want to hear about your NaNo novels!!)
  3. Feel free to use the NaNoWriMo 20 Questions Tag graphics!
  4. Answer the questions.
  5. Tag some friends who are also doing NaNo this year.
  6. And have fun!!!

Tell me about your NaNoWriMo project this year! Give me a blurb!

Hmmm. I usually don’t come up with the blurb until the end, but let’s give this a shot.

A serial killer is loose in a small town and his motive goes far beyond riches, fame, or revenge. The Darwin Killer picks victims with weak genes. Defects, genetic time bombs, and any kind of disease that can spread biologically or socially. There’s no line this monster won’t cross and it’s up to Special Agent Miles Wallace to catch the killer or only the strongest will survive.

What’s the genre?

Crime/thriller.

Describe your MC in three words.

Expert, confrontational, grieving. 

Without spoilers, describe your villain in three words.

Self-righteous, brilliant, monstrous.

What is your goal? (the traditional 50K? 20K? 5K? or……. 100K?)

The classic 50k!

Is this your first draft? Second? Third?

Blank page, draft 1. It’s been a while since I’ve been in the first draft of something! (probably about a year)

Are you starting a new project (or draft), or continuing an existing one?

Brand new. The idea has been with me for a while, but I’ve never written anything beyond the outline.

What is your favourite time to write in the day?

I’m a night owl. I’ve tried getting up early and I just can’t function, let alone put a sentence together.

Where are you going to write?

Probably at my kitchen table. Maybe on the couch (yes, in front of the TV) if I’m ahead of my word count.

Computer or paper?

Computer all the way. I used to outline on paper, but found so many good ideas hit me when I least suspected and moved everything to digital formats.

NaNoWriMo is a huge commitment!! How are you going to make time to write?

Less sleep. lol. Seriously. Once the kids are in bed, the dog is walked, and lunches are packed, that’s when I’ll sit down to write.

Are you going to participate in local or online NaNoWriMo events? (e.g. kick-off parties in your city, write-ins, virtual writing sprints…)

Probably not. I always say I’m going to, and I really do want to, but the timing just never seems to work out.

Do you write from beginning to end or skip around?

I’m very linear. I can write a scene knowing it might move to another place in the book, but I can’t jump around much more than that.

Planner or pantser? (or plantser?)

Planner. That doesn’t mean unplanned scenes won’t pop up or that I won’t follow one of my characters down a rabbit hole. That usually happens at least a few times. (does that make me a plantser?)

What will be your go-to NaNoWriMo snack?

Left over halloween candy. My wife and I buy always buy WAY TOO MUCH knowing that we’ll need the sugar boost for all those late nights.

Choice of caffeine? (or no caffeine?)

Pepsi or Dr. Pepper.

Any rewards for milestone achievements? For finishing NaNoWriMo?

No. I just get pumped about having a big word count. I usually tell myself I’ll buy a winner’s t-shirt, but I’ve only bought one out of the three times I “won.”

Share a tip for other NaNo-ers!

Just do a little every day. Even if you don’t have time to hit your daily target, write every single day. Even if it’s just a little.

How are you feeling about NaNoWriMo? (Excited?! Nervous!? Terrified?!)

Excited! I’m always pumped this time of year. I wish I could write 50K every month!

Share an aesthetic for your NaNoWriMo novel!

If you’re doing NaNoWriMo this year and you want to give this tag a try, consider yourself tagged!!

Fun fact about this post: Normally, I’m not a fan of these types of novels, but I can’t get this story out of my head!
AllLifeWriting

The Week of No Blogging

Posted on by J.W. Martin

You may have noticed I pretty much wasn’t here last week. Probably not, though. Last week was nuts. There were highs, there were lows, frustrations, and feelings of success I have never experienced before. 

Let me go back the full week. It’s Friday as I write this, so last Friday my wife and I decided to throw the family in the van and go to autorama. It’s only an hour away, so it wasn’t a massive trip, but I had just heard Seth Rollins was making an appearance there. He’s my son’s favourite wrestler and the opportunity seemed too perfect to skip. As a bonus, the man helping Seth Rollins looked familiar. I’ve been a wrestling fan my whole life, so I was wracking my brain trying to figure out why as we stood in line. Then it hit me! The man in question was none other than legendary referee Tim White. I asked his to pretend to disqualify me in the picture but he refused and stated that he had never disqualified anyone in his career.

On Saturday, I took my son to a birthday party/sleepover only to find out that it was the wrong weekend. Luckily my son’s disappointment was quickly smashed by the plans to buy a bunch of junk food and invite some friends over to watch Spider-man: Into the Spiderverse. 

By the way, if you haven’t seen Spiderverse yet, you’re missing something truly special. Whether you’re a comic book fan or not, whether you like animated movies or not, this is something I feel like everyone should watch. It won an Oscar, for crying out loud! Just go watch it and thank me later. 

Sunday rolls around and the furnace starts to act up. I kept it running, but this would prove to demolish a good portion of the remaining week. More on that later. 

Monday passes without any real event. Work. Play rehearsal. And I call to have someone come look at the furnace. A lot of you can see where this is going.

Tuesday has be staying home from work until the technicians can diagnose my furnace. They do, and I need a new one. You might be thinking some technicians will always recommend a new furnace. But my furnace is almost 50 years old. Putting money into a furnace that old has never been recommended by anyone.

Now the real problem of the week settles into place. The old furnace has stopped working, and the new one needs to be ordered. I live in Canada, and it’s winter. For 2 days, we survived in the house with nothing more than those little space heaters for warmth. I have to say, they do an impressive job, but it was still cold ALL THE TIME.

So Tuesday, Wednesday, and most of Thursday go by like an iceberg floating in the Tundra. 

Thursday, I discover a twitter party event called Pitch Wars. Any unrepresented writer, with a finished unpublished manuscript, is invited to tweet a pitch for their book using the #PitMad hashtag. Agents taking part then browse these tweets and anyone who get a like from a literary agent is officially being asked to query that agent. 

I’m proud and thrilled to let you all know that over the course of a few tweets, I got 3 likes!

I know what some of you are thinking: Oh, big deal. 3 likes. 

To me, it’s a massive deal. It’s not a lot of interest, but it’s the most interest/interaction I’ve had to date. I sent the queries later that night. Strike while the iron is hot, right?

And that brings us back to Friday. Life seems to be back to normal, at least for the moment. And I have to say, I’m pretty exhausted. This week was a bit of an emotional rollercoaster. I can only hope that it turns into the next step in my road to being published, as well as many, many years of reliable heat in my house.

Fun fact about this post: The header image is the first of many visual changes that this blog will see over the next while. I’d love to hear what you think about it.
AllWIPpet WednesdayWriting

WIPpet Wednesday | Evolution

Posted on by J.W. Martin

WIPpet Wednesdays is a blog hop where writers can share a snippet from their WIP. The only stipulation is that the excerpt is somehow related to the date. Be sure to check out some of the other lovely WIPpet snippets here. Thank you Emily Wrayburn for hosting.

So, I’m nearing the end of the first draft of my WIP. I’m having a little trouble getting over that final hump, but it’s SO CLOSE I CAN ALMOST TOUCH IT! I’m hoping that this post will get me a little more excited about this ending I’ve been working towards and get me across the finish line.

A little about this WIP, Evolution:

Faced with imprisonment, Kai, Coak, and Micah are given a chance to earn their freedom by working together to perform a series of heists. Simple for people of their considerable skills, except that they can’t stand one another. Not that it’s the fault of any one of them. They’ve each been raised by their people to treat the others of Fulcrum with disdain and mistrust. But what choice do they have? Whether the heists go right or wrong, the situation for the three youths will get nothing but worse as they figure out the true intentions of the heist and discover that nothing is as it seems.

So, on this 27th day of the 2nd month, I decided to share 27 lines from chapter 2. I hope you enjoy:

Micah never realized how much it sucked to travel by foot until his pack was too water logged to ignite. Flying wasn’t just fun, it was a much more efficient way travel. It took less energy and far, far less time. Sure, there were a certain level of intellectual requirement to flying, but he was used to excelling at anything requiring intelligence.

His fight with the web-head had ended on the coast south of the Mountaineers, but he couldn’t go there for repairs. Maybe if the casing needed some work, or if he needed a new short sword. They wouldn’t be able to do a thing with the delicate inner workings of the pack.

The Swimmer commune was the west of where he washed up, but he’d find no help there either. If he started talking about what the pack needed they’d probably look at him like he was speaking a different language and end up just offering him some kind of fish, like that would fix anything.

There was the chance of finding Kai at that commune, but probably a slim chance. A Flier comes calling and all the Web-heads would protect each other.

Micah decided to head northeast. That would put him on a path that run straight through The Festival. It wasn’t the most fun to be had in the Crucible, but there was usually a few people to mock, and a few to entice into a more private meeting. More importantly than that, he’d be able to find someone to repair his pack. Or at least someone he could buy a new one off of. His mother wouldn’t be happy about incurring that cost, but Micah was her burden to bear.

He walked all through the night. What choice did he have with no pack, no place to go, and nowhere to sleep? By the time he arrived at the Festival it was barely morning and everything was still being set up.

In the middle of the festival grounds men were erecting a series of tents for the cross-breeding ceremonies. Every year at the festival, each of the sub-species would offer a few of their most virile and fertile young people. Each person would be matched up with someone of another sub and they’d try to create a new life.

Micah considered himself a fairly open-minded guy, but the thought of ending up alone in one of those tents with a stranger, while people sat around the outside with expectations, made his stomach turn. Well, depending on the stranger.

The Festival runners always gave a long-winded speech about the historical unrest and the lasting truce. Apparently, trying to cross breed was an attempt to strengthen the bonds between the subs.

There it is. It’s very rough, but as I said, first draft. I hope you enjoyed it a little, or at least that it didn’t totally suck.

Fun fact about this post: Writing this Sunday night and watching the Oscars. Of all the people I thought would give an inspiration speech that hit home with me, I did NOT think it would be Lady Gaga.
AllWriting

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the 3rd Act

Posted on by J.W. Martin

A friend and beta reader recently got back to me with some feedback about a story. Most of it was great stuff. Found errors and things she found odd and suggestions to make them better or more believable (and there was a bit of ‘I LOVED THIS PART AND THAT PART’ which is always incredible to hear.)

One the main things she brought up, though, was the relationship between two characters. She said she wanted it to happen sooner, and wanted more of it. Why wasn’t there more? Why didn’t it happen sooner?

I looked at her, and with all seriousness (and like it was the most obvious answer in the world) I said, “she doesn’t care about having a relationship right now. She’s focused on her goals, and getting through the things in front of her, and a man is the last thing on her mind right now.”

I’m glad to say that my friend didn’t just ask something like, “Why can’t you just make them love each other?” Instead, she nodded and said she hoped for another story where the relationship was in full swing. 

I can’t say if that’ll happen or not. The relationship, that is. There will almost definitely be another story. But I’ll have to ask the characters if they plan on giving this ‘ship a go or not. 

Fun fact about this post: Writing these kinds of thoughts for the world to read really makes me feel like I’m out of my mind. Love it.
AllLifeWriting

Writing on Wednesday… but on a Friday!

Posted on by J.W. Martin

Let me be 100 with you all for a minute. There’s been a lot of slacking since November ended as far as my writing goes. A lot of slacking. I need to put an end to that. So allow me to share a few goals for the first quarter of the year, and maybe I’ll feel a little more accountable to get these goals done.

Send out more query letters for Vicarious

REJECTED!

I sent a few around early November, but then I started reading articles about when NOT to send query letters. A lot people were saying the end of November is a bad time because of how many first draft NaNoWriMo projects are being lobbed at literary agents everywhere. They said the end of the year was bad because every one kind of checks out early for the holidays. And they said January is bad because everyone is trying to get back into the swing of things after the new year. I don’t know if ANY of that is true, but I’ll start querying again some time in February!

Finish writing first draft of Evolution

Evolution was my NaNoWriMo project. I had about 30k words done pre-nano and nano itself added another 50k. With somewhere between 10 – 20k remaining, I should end up about 100 all-in. 

Write first draft for stage play Out of Order

I’ve acted in a few plays, both comedies. It’s great fun if you ever get the chance. I’d also like to write one. Again, a comedy. This idea would take place in an apartment building lobby, where one of the elevators isn’t working (hence my not-so-clever title!) If the play turns out well, maybe the troupe I frequent will even perform it!

Write some of short stories bouncing around in my head 

Troglodyte – a struggle of a species trying to make the from water animal to land animal.

Zombie – a man dies, but remains in his body unable to move on. But instead of trying to eat the brains of the living he can only lament why he’s still here. 

AcetaminaPhil – a man is able to take pain away from others just by being near them.

Humans and the Things They Do When Standing on a Mine – a hunter steps on a mine and freezes in place. He thinks help has arrived when another man promptly comes along, but this new man is more interested in studying the hunter than helping him.

I have even more ideas rolling around up there, but these are the ones that I  feel have had the proper marination time. 

There it is. Hopefully by the second quarter I’ll be ready to take on a second draft of some of these projects, but that would require getting the first draft finished!

Fun fact about this post: writing it on my phone while lying in bed. 🙃
AllLifeWriting

Just Another 2018 Wrap-Up Post

Posted on by J.W. Martin

2018 was a great year! If you’ll indulge me just for a minute, walk with me through some of the highlights from Storeys of Stories.

I read WAY more books than I’ve ever read before in a single year. I crushed my goal of 52 books, ending up with 65. That’ll be hard to beat in 2019, but I’m going to aim for 70!

I read less of the books I WANTED to and more of what I felt I HAD to. I learned the hard way that its very easy to request way too many NetGalley books. I was requesting like someone who knocks out 200 books a year, and the majority of the reading with my eyes was spent on ARCs. I change that in 2019. If I wouldn’t be willing to buy it, I won’t be requesting it. No more, “I might enjoy that.”

      

My favourite book of the year was Bag of Bones by Stephen King. This was a really tough choice, by the way. I read a lot of book this year that I loved. Nevernight, Mistborn, Little Fires Everywhere, Station Eleven, Neanderthal Opens the Door to the Universe, They Both Die at the End, Gemina, and I could keep going.

My blog was up a million % in fun. I’m not going to bore you with stats. Why would you care? All I’m going to say is that I made some really great friends, strengthened some existing friendships, and had a blast the whole time. 

I created a blog meme. First Impression Fridays. And even though only a few people are into it so far, those that like it LOVE it. It’s a lot of fun writing a FIF, but even more fun to read them!

I finished a ‘final’ draft of a manuscript and started sending it out to literary agents. Since then I’ve received a few responses, but nothing beyond a “no thanks,” so far. *shrug* The road to being published is paved with rejection.

I completed NaNoWriMo for the third time. This was the 10th or 11th year taking part, so I was thrilled to reach 50K words. I plan on finishing it in by the end of February. We’ll see.

So that was 2018. And though I have no real complaints, I’m hoping for an even better 2019. What would a better 2019 be?

A year with even more reading.

A year I finally get around to redesigning and organizing this blog.

A year I find myself a literary agent willing to slosh through my manuscripts.

Another year with happy, healthy kids.

Another year with no complaints.

Fun fact about this post: It’s January 4th. How does it feel like we’re a month into this year already?!