I'm writing again. Hooray!

I thought returning to writing fiction would be difficult, that I'd have to resort to beating myself with Opus Dei whips or something. Didn't turn out that way.

It was quite simple to get back in the swing of things. I just sat down and picked up where I left off. It felt like I'd never stopped. This book is called "The Worlds". It's a sci-fi novel that breaks all the rules. I love to break rules. It helps me to enjoy the process of writing because I can exclaim "Take that, literary scolds!" as I lay down a new scene. Seriously, breaking rules is my favorite pastime.

So the next book is (once again) on the way, kids. Stay tuned. In the meantime, read the first one I wrote. It's October, or as I like to say, "Octogre". This means Halloween is on the way and I'll be plugging the book all month. It's the perfect time of year to start reading Xmas Carol. Go get it -- and tell me what you think of the book. I love to get feedback. It's how we writers get better at our craft, you know. Without an echo from readers, we're writing in the dark.

And to anyone out there who is procrastinating about a task that's hanging over their head like the proverbial Sword of Damocles, I suggest my golden rule: "Do something every day to continue your task." It doesn't matter how small the effort is. Due to the miracle of mathematics, it all adds up and one day you'll realize you're done. It ain't hard. Just takes a little work.

PS: NPR insists the way I just used the phrase "Sword of Damocles" is incorrect. Stuffy critics! This is the way it's used currently in the US -- and that is what makes this use appropriate. I love to irritate arcane scolds. It's good, old-fashioned fun. Read my books and see. How dare they establish rules for writers? Writing is anarchy: you can do it any way you like.

Things are looking up

I received good news yesterday. Casey Shain agreed to do the cover for the next book. Woo hoo! He's the artist who created the Xmas Carol cover. As I told him when we spoke, each time I see that cover I'm thrilled. It's the perfect image for the story.

So it's all systems go. The new book -- The Worlds -- is being written as we speak, and now we know that it will be well-dressed. BTW, you may have noticed that "The Worlds" is also the name of this blog. I named it after the book because, well, it's the greatest story ever told. The concept of The Worlds is literally the mother of all ideas. You'll see. (Snickers to self.)

Okay, it's time to write. Thanks, Casey. You put the wind in my sails by agreeing to do the cover. And as for my blog readers, if you haven't read Xmas Carol yet, get yourself a copy and dive in. You'll be glad you did. It will frighten and startle you while showing you things you've never seen or dreamed of. It will also make you laugh -- and in the end, it will lift your spirits. (PS: Did I mention that it provides an alternative to the god idea? A real alternative?)

The book is calling to me. Gotta go.

Writing tales

Light blogging ahead, since I'm working on the next book. At the moment, I'm learning about my characters.

I suppose there are writers who outline every damn thing before plunging in and writing, but that's not me. I simply come up with a general idea of where I'm headed, and then I let it happen. My fingers seem to know what to do.

Today, I want to say something about fictional characters. I find there's little benefit to defining the personalities of my characters at the outset. That doesn't work for me.

Instead, I simply write them into scenes and see what they do. They tell me who they are, rather than the reverse. When I see them in action, when I hear their words (and yes, their voices), I come to understand them. And only when I know them inside and out can I really put them to work.

This means I write many scenes that I don't "use". And by "use", I mean these scenes don't end up in the final draft of the book. But I do indeed "use" them. They're my teaching tools. They define the characters for me. And for this reason, they're anything but a waste of time.

So I'm going to write today, though what I write may never see publication. But it's useful all the same. It's a step on the road.

This has been your shout-out from "The Worlds" -- the coolest book you haven't read yet.

Scenes: the building blocks of a novel

Last year I bought a Nick Drake album called "Family Tree", which is described as an album of "home recordings". Essentially, it's Drake playing guitar and singing in his room, while taping the result. It's not high quality but it's Nick Drake. Since his death in the 70s, his popularity has grown and there's a real hunger to hear this man's voice and music.

As I listened to the songs, I was struck by a parallel: songs are to a singer, as a scene is to a fiction writer. Each is a discrete, distinct entity, part of a whole (the album, the book) yet capable of standing on its own. A scene, I thought, is a writer's song. This had never occurred to me before and it seemed profound.

Now, as I find myself outlining the initial scenes for my new novel, "The Worlds", I'm reminded of that perception. I can push it further: the initial scenes of a book are like the choice of songs to lead off an album. They set the tone, establish the style and (hopefully) wake the reader up. They say "stay tuned, more like this (or better) ahead".

I'm finally happy with the progression of initial scenes for the book. I haven't written them all yet; I've done some and have headers that represent the others. The logical order is established. Now I have to make music with this.

Here today, gone tomorrow

It's time to write my next book, "The Worlds". As a consequence, I won't be blogging very much in the coming months. Sorry about that.

Consider this post an open thread. If there's anything you've been dying to tell me, here's your chance. And if any "Xmas Carol" readers happen by, I hope you'll let us know what you thought of the book.

If you do leave a comment, I'll be aware of it. It's not like I'm going to Mars. And my email address isn't a secret. Reach out and touch me. I won't bite.

See you later.

A writer's life: rewrites

I'm reading a draft of a book I wrote. The Worlds is the first volume of a sci-fi trilogy, of which I've written the first two books. My job this year is get the book into shape so I can publish it. Okay, that's the background.

As I read The Worlds, I'm surprised to see a radical difference between the main body of the book, which I wrote three years ago, and sections that I wrote last year. The new sections are way better than the original draft. It seems I'll have to rewrite most of the book. That's fine because after so many months of editing Xmas Carol, I have a hunger to write new things. Let me at it.

It's stormy today in New York. You know what that means: perfect reading weather. I know what I'll be doing for the rest of the day.

Next up: "The Worlds"

For the past few days, I've been reading a draft of a sci-fi novel I wrote a few years ago. It's called The Worlds -- which is also the name of this blog. The idea behind The Worlds is so far-reaching, it's startling. My aim is to publish the book in 2013 and publish the second book in the trilogy the year after that. (Like The Worlds, it already exists in draft form.) And then I'll write the final book in the series. Xmas Carol is a lot of fun; make no mistake about that. But The Worlds is the joint.

I've got my work cut out for me. The Worlds was my first attempt at writing a novel and I didn't know any of the tricks yet. To my now-seasoned eyes, it sounds clunky -- but I can fix it. I learned so much while writing Xmas Carol. My task now is to apply those lessons to this book. It should be fun because I love the story. It is so wild and appealing!

So next up: The Worlds.

Nice stuff over on the graphics blog

I put two fun videos up on my cheesy-graphics version of this blog today, plus a photo of folks ice-skating on our pond. If you can stand the bandwidth, come on over.

The Worlds: update

I just finished editing The Worlds, my first book, and in my humble opinion it sounds damn good. All it needs is a few new scenes and I'm ready to write them. I've got a page of ideas set up in my scene book. Tomorrow will be a writing day.

I'm so pleased with the sound of it -- the pace, the words, the style. I don't know if it will have wide appeal but I enjoyed reading it. That was my aim at the outset: to write a book that someone like me would find interesting. I think I did that and I'm thrilled.

Low-bandwidth version of this blog

I just put this blog up today for readers of my main blog who are on dial-up. This blog contains the same posts but without the graphics. I know some of you guys are still dialing in. Hey, I was a dialer for ages because I live in the woods, and it takes a while for technology to reach us. Anyway, here it is.

Note that some posts will refer to graphics, photos and whatnot. I'm not going to alter the text to remove those references. You can always click on the link to the full-graphics version of this blog. The link is in the column on the right, or you can just click here.

We improve our writing by writing

Now that I've written three books and am working on a fourth, I've noticed that my writing has improved with each book. It makes sense, of course. Practice is how we learn a skill.

I can't help but notice as I edit The Worlds, my first book, that I'm a lot better than that now. The story is wonderful but in its present form it lacks the depth of the later books. This is a strange thing to discover as I proceed with the editing. I wasn't aware there was such a difference between the earliest and latest books. There is so much more I could have done back then if only I'd known how.

The thing is, I do now. So I'm reinforcing the book as I edit, building greater character depth and improving the story. Another interesting thing is that the last time I read book 1, I hadn't written book 2. Now that the second book is complete I can tailor the first book accordingly.  After all, I'm familiar with the next fifty years of this fictional world's existence. I hadn't realized this, going into the edit. It's great.

Looking back, I can see that I was in a race with myself when I wrote The Worlds, wondering all the while, "Can I really do this? Can I write a book?" I rushed to the end like it was a finish line. But times have changed. I can do more with The Worlds now.

In other words, I suspect my 87,000-word book just got a lot longer. In fact, I think I'm looking at a major rewrite. Such is life. I'll do whatever I have to to make my books the best they can possibly be. I owe it to them.

I'd love to hear from other writers about their experiences editing their fiction.  See that comment button down there? You can click it, you know.