Category Archives: Writing

Writing Fundamentals: Definitions

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Hi,

Today I want to talk about definitions, and about that most dreaded and feared of dinosaurs: the thesaurus.  I have seen some prodigious vocabularies of late.  People are trying out a lot of new words.  Now generally I have no problem with using varied and large words, but there is something that everyone who writes needs to know.

You see, there are actually at least two meanings for every word.  The denotative meaning is the definition you find in your dictionary.  But words also have a connotative meaning.  Hulking and enormous both mean big.  But usually when somebody says ‘hulking’ they mean big in a bad way.  Enormous can go either way.  If you want big in a good way… well how about generous, or um… big.  Ooh, how about tremendous.  Let me give you another example.  Green generally means fresh.  Having green (fresh) lettuce is a great thing.  Having a green (fresh) pilot isn’t.  In this case, he’s inexperienced.

The point is, you can’t just pull a word out of the thesaurus and expect it to work in every sentence.  Your hero may have a grin, a smirk, or a leer.  All are smiles, but they aren’t all the same.  There’s a fine line between sexy intense and intense creepy, after all.

If you’re going to start using a word in your writing, try it out a few times in your spoken language.  See if you get punched in the face.  Once you feel comfortable, then you can use it in your writing.  Then your writing will be jake, sterling, superb, or at least satisfactory, acceptable, not bad.

Writing Fundamentals: Point of View

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Hello all.  I just finished reading a novella with some serious problems regarding point of view.  Now, point of view can mean a number of things that are connected.  Voice and tense are both related and can get mixed up with point of view.  For our purposes today, let’s stick strictly to narrative point of view.  Here are the choices.

First Person:  This is told from inside a character’s brains and looking out of their eyes.  Some people really hate first person, but I don’t.  It can give you a real connection to the main character (narrator).  You need to be careful when writing first person to maintain the personality of the character, and of course, you have to stay within the confines of what that character knows.

My big gripe with first person is that so many writers can’t seem to stay in it.  They drop in and out of it, either because they are switching to another character, or because they forget.  So you have something like this:

I walked into the room and looked at Sharon.  Bob could tell that Sharon was unhappy.

WTF?  Is there suddenly another person in the room?  Who is this Bob guy?  Is that the narrator or a different Bob.  My advice: if you plan to switch characters at some point, use third person.

Second Person:  Don’t use this unless you’re writing a song.  Lots of great songs written in second person– You’re So Vain comes to mind.

Third Person: Third person is a narrated story told by someone who isn’t one of the main characters.  They’re God, or the author, or somebody.  They might be able to see into the brains of all the characters (third person omniscient) or only into the minds of one, or even none (third person limited).  I like writing third person, but don’t use third person omniscient.  That’s a personal thing.  I like to reveal things slowly to the reader and I think this is easier with a limited viewpoint.  Sometimes, like in the Senta and the Steel Dragon books, I rotate the character I’m most intimate with from chapter to chapter.

So there you go.  Three points of view to use: First Person, Third Person Limited, Third Person Omniscient.  And one point of view never to use, unless you’re Carly Simon.  So pick one, but please, please, please use it until the end of your book.

Astrid Maxxim – The Person

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Astrid Maxxim and her Hypersonic Space PlaneNow that I’ve finished four Astrid Maxxim books, I’ve been musing a lot on the girl and her personality.  Astrid started as my homage to Tom Swift Jr.  I really loved that series of books when I was a kid and really wanted to recreate the feeling I had when I read them.  Now, even with the books being as short as they are– 30,000 words (just like the Tom Swift Jr. books) I’ve had a chance to make her a bit more three dimensional.

Astrid is still one part Tom Swift, but she’s also one part Walt Disney and one part Steve Jobs.  Okay, she may be two parts Steve Jobs.  Maxxim Industries really does kind of mirror Apple as far as their computer technology, though Maxxim is even more into aeronautics than electronics.  Still in Astrid Maxxim and the Antarctic Expedition, Astrid gets to take part in what is essentially a keynote speech to developers.  She also dabbles in high finance and hostile take-overs.

In Astrid Maxxim and her Hypersonic Space Plane, she’s become a bit of a hard CEO, firing off memos to the company when something bothers her and in one instance firing an employee who doesn’t present the proper Maxxim image.  Of course, she’s still a fifteen year old girl and has to deal with all those things that are important to fifteen year old girls.

Astrid Maxxim Chapters

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I enjoy coming up with chapter titles for Astrid Maxxim.  I try to keep the flavor of the Tom Swift books that inspired her, with the exception of the last chapter.  If you look at the previous books, you may detect a pattern.

Astrid Maxxim and her Amazing Hoverbike

 

  1. The Hoverdisk Failure
  2. The New Kid as School
  3. Project RG-7
  4. Robot Valerie
  5. The Battery Presentation
  6. Genius at Work
  7. The Trouble with Valerie
  8. Kidnapped!
  9. The Return
  10. The Field Trip
  11. Austin Comes to Visit
  12. An Afternoon at the Maxxim’s
  13. Mr. Charles Edward Toulson
  14. The Great Escape
  15. Astridium
  16. Hoverbike to the Rescue
  17. The Night of the Spring Fling
  18. The Kidnappers’ Trail
  19. The Escape
  20. All’s Well that Ends Well

 

Astrid Maxxim and her Undersea Dome

 

  1. A Long Weekend in Spain
  2. The Missile Attack
  3. A Surprise at School
  4. A Tough Day
  5. Family Secrets
  6. Pearl Lake
  7. The Lake Monster
  8. The Mysterious Stranger
  9. The School Monster
  10. The Trip
  11. Arriving in Paradise
  12. Penelope Maxxim
  13. Waimea Beach
  14. From the Falls to the Nightclub
  15. Epicenter
  16. Late Night Adventure
  17. The Dome
  18. Danger in the Depths
  19. The Great Achievement
  20. Much Ado About Nothing

 

Astrid Maxxim and the Antarctic Expedition

 

  1. The Thing
  2. The Malt Shop
  3. The Terrible T-Rex
  4. Trouble at the Launch Site
  5. Leaving Home
  6. Los Angeles
  7. Down Under
  8. The First Day of Winter
  9. Life in Adelie Land
  10. The Southern Ocean
  11. Penguins and Seals
  12. The Lost Base
  13. Back from the Bottom of the World
  14. Captain Bonnefoy
  15. The Board Room
  16. The Press Event
  17. Measure for Measure

 

Astrid Maxxim and her Hypersonic Space Plane

 

  1. The Future
  2. Awake
  3. The Rocket Launch
  4. The Space Plane
  5. One Sophomore’s Morning
  6. School Daze
  7. The Problem with the House
  8. Remodeling
  9. A Maxxim Thanksgiving
  10. The English Paper
  11. Breaking a Record
  12. Arriving
  13. Maxxim Motors
  14. A Maxxim Christas
  15. Nova 5
  16. Emergency in Space
  17. Ariel Aloft
  18. Return to Earth
  19. A Winter’s Tale

The Best Astrid Maxxim Book Ever

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Astrid Maxxim and her Hypersonic Space PlaneI’ve really had fun writing Astrid Maxxim and her Hypersonic Space Plane– more fun than on just about anything I’ve written lately.  I guess that’s why I jumped into writing it.  I’m really happy with what I’ve written too.  I go back and re-read chapter one again and again.  It really tickles me.

Others could disagree with me, but I think the best of the series up until now was book 1, followed by book 2 and book 3.  When you look at it, you could say I’ve been going downhill.  This book changes that.  I think it is the best of the series by far.  Part of that is because this book is more self-aware than the others.  Also Astrid is a little older (15) and is experiencing some growing.

The official release date is October 24th.  I can reveal right now that it will be available wherever fine ebooks are sold for 99 cents.  Just like the others.

Astrid Maxxim and her Hypersonic Space Plane – Coming Soon.

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Astrid Maxxim and her Hypersonic Space PlaneI swear I didn’t mean to do it.  After spending the last part of my summer vacation finishing Astrid Maxxim and the Antarctic Expedition, I had no intention of jumping into another.  I had planned to get right back to 82 Eridani: Journey, which is sitting right here half done.  In fact, I had thought that I wouldn’t do another Astrid Maxxim book for a year or two.  I just couldn’t stop writing about Astrid.  I just continued on into a new book, and now I’m done.

I’ve actually done more writing since school started than I did during the summer.  This isn’t because I don’t have plenty to do.  It’s because my wife started back to work too, and I have a lot of time alone at home.  I think this may be the quickest first draft I’ve ever written– 20 days.

When I hit the halfway point in the new book, I contacted Matthew Riggenbach at Shaed Studios, who has done all the Astrid Maxxim covers, and had him get started.  He does fantastic work as you can see and is a joy to work with.  I have no idea if I’m easier or harder to work with than his other clients, but I gave him some pretty specific requirements on what I wanted and he really pulled it off.

Anyway, it’s done.  And now it has an official release date: 10-24-14!

And if you know any 8-14 year-olds who read ebooks, please buy them a copy of Astrid Maxxim and her Amazing Hoverbike.  It’s just 99 cents, and they’ll like it.

P.S. I had Matthew go ahead and create the next Astrid Maxxim Cover, even though I haven’t actually outlined my idea for the book.  So I don’t know when I’ll write book 5, but I will.

Writing Fundamentals: Tense

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The biggest problem that I’ve seen with some of the Indy books I’ve read lately has been with tense, and nothing takes me out of the story quicker than a sudden switch from past tense to present, or vise-versa.  No one should write a novel in the present tense, unless you’re James Joyce… no, not even then.

Stories should be told in the past tense.  The easiest way to remember how to stay in the proper tense?  Imagine the story you are telling is real and that it already happened.  Tell it like you would tell a friend how your last year was.  That way, you’ll never fall into the trap of using words like today, now, etc.  Also, watch out for your verb use.  If accidentally use a present tense verb, it can mess up the rest of your sentence, and you are suddenly off track.

Why not use present tense?  For the very reason stated above.  The reader wants to believe in your world and your story.  If you’ve written what happened in the past, it’s that much easier to suspend disbelief.  Who is going to believe that events are somehow happening as you read the story.

I’m sure that most writers will read what I’m saying and think, “well, duh.”  Well, good for you.  Keep up the good work.  Those who have trouble with tense?  Go back through your manuscript and make sure it reads like a something that has actually already happened.  Good luck.

Back Matter

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Books by Wesley Allison

Look for them wherever fine ebooks are sold. Paper editions are available at the City of Amathar Blog and by special order from your favorite bookseller.

Princess of Amathar

Transported to the artificial world of Ecos, Earth man Alexander Ashton struggles to understand the society of his new friends the Amatharians. As he does so, he finds himself falling in love with their princess and being thrust into a millennium-long war with their mortal foes the reptilian Zoasians. Princess of Amathar is a sword-swinging novel of high adventure.

His Robot Girlfriend

Mike Smith’s life was crap, living all alone, years after his wife had died and his children had grown up and moved away. Then he saw the commercial for the Daffodil. Far more than other robots, the Daffodil could become anything and everything he wanted it to be. Mike’s life is about to change.

His Robot Wife

In His Robot Wife, the novella-length sequel to His Robot Girlfriend, it is the year 2037 and Mike has been married to his robot wife, Patience, for five years. Troubles are on the horizon though. Prop 22 promises to annul marriages between humans and robots. And Patience hasn’t quite been herself. Is there something wrong, or does she just need a software upgrade?

His Robot Wife: Patience is a Virtue

It is the year 2037, when men are men and robots are cute.  Patience, the robot wife, has a new friend– Wanda.  Wanda, another Daffodil, has been having difficulty bonding with her human, the recently divorced Ryan.  She hopes that with Patience’s mentoring, she’ll be able to help Ryan accept her into his troubled life.  But even Patience isn’t prepared for what happens when they take a joint vacation cruise to Antarctica.  His Robot Wife: Patience is a Virtue is a science fiction story in a world where technology is more than just a pretty face.

Eaglethorpe Buxton and the Elven Princess

Eaglethorpe Buxton, famed adventurer and story-teller, friend to those in need of a friend and guardian to those in need of a guardian. He is a liar and braggart, not to be trusted, especially around pies. Who are we to believe? Buxton himself leads us through his world as he comes to the aid of… a poor orphan? An elven princess? Who can guess with Eaglethorpe himself telling the tale?

Eaglethorpe Buxton and the Sorceress

Eaglethorpe Buxton, famed adventurer and story-teller is back, this time to put on a play about a sorceress. When the sorceress, subject of his play arrives with fire in her eyes, Eaglethorpe must pretend to be his good friend Ellwood. Will he pull off this charade and survive? And what happens when the real Ellwood shows up? One can never tell, especially when Eaglethorpe tells the story.

The Many Adventures of Eaglethorpe Buxton

Eaglethorpe Buxton, famed adventurer and story-teller, friend to those in need of a friend and guardian to those in need of a guardian. He is a liar and braggart, not to be trusted, especially around pies. Who are we to believe? Buxton himself leads us through his world in The Many Adventures of Eaglethorpe Buxton, which include the two previously published tales and three all new adventures.

Senta and the Steel Dragon Book 0: Brechalon

Brechalon is the novella-length prequel to The Voyage of the Minotaur and the books which follow in the story of Senta and the Steel Dragon. Meet the people who will change a world– the Dechantagnes, wealthy siblings from a disgraced aristocratic family who plot their revenge; the imprisoned sorceress Zurfina; and Senta, the orphan girl who will one day rise to great fame and power.

Senta and the Steel Dragon Book 1: The Voyage of the Minotaur

In a world of steam power and rifles, where magic has not yet been forgotten, an expedition sets out to establish a colony in a lost world. The Voyage of the Minotaur is a story of adventure and magic, religion and prejudice, steam engines and dinosaurs, angels and lizardmen, machine guns and wizards, sorceresses, bustles and corsets, steam-powered computers, hot air balloons, and dragons.

Senta and the Steel Dragon Book 2: The Dark and Forbidding Land

Two years have passed since Senta, the sorceress Zurfina, and Bessemer the steel dragon arrived in the strange land of Birmisia. Now it is up to the settlers to build a home in this dark and forbidding land, ruled by terrifying dinosaurs and strange lizardmen. Ten year old Senta must discover which is the greater threat, a would-be wizard or the ever-increasing presence of the tyrannosaurus.

Senta and the Steel Dragon Book 3: The Drache Girl

More than three years have passed since the colonists arrived in Birmisia, and Port Dechantagne is a thriving colony, with the railway line almost complete. Twelve year old sorceress’s apprentice Senta Bly, Police Constable Saba Colbshallow, and former maid Yuah Dechantagne must deal with wizards, prejudice, steam carriages, boys riding dinosaurs, and the mysterious activities of the lizardmen.

Senta and the Steel Dragon Book 4: The Young Sorceress

Everyone in Port Dechantagne seems to have an agenda of their own, from mysterious sorceress Zurfina, to agents from the enemy nation of Freedonia, to the kings and witchdoctors of the mysterious lizardmen. On the eve of her fifteenth birthday, sorceress’s apprentice Senta finds herself being pulled first one way and then the other. Will she actually have to split herself into four in order to deal with all her responsibilities?

Senta and the Steel Dragon Book 5: The Two Dragons

War has come the Birmisia. The newly settled colonists contemplate war on two fronts. The mysterious lizardmen from far away Tsahloose, led by their monstrous dragon god, threaten from the south. And from across the sea, the totalitarian kingdom of Freedonia threatens to invade their world with wizards and steam-powered war machines. Can even 17 year old Senta and her mistress Zurfina the Magnificent stop them? Find out in the thrilling conclusion to the Senta and the Steel Dragon Series.

Senta and the Steel Dragon Book 6: The Sorceress and her Lovers

It’s been three years since the war and the world has changed. Port Dechantagne, once a distant outpost of civilization, has grown to be a large city, the center of prosperous Birmisia Colony. Steam-powered carriages share the streets with triceratops-pulled trolleys, fine ladies in their most fashionable bustle dresses lead their lizardmen servants through the shopping districts, and an endless stream of immigrants pours into the region.  Eleven-year-old Iolana Staff, daughter of the colonial governor, has important things on her mind, namely the mysterious Result Mechanism. Meanwhile, sorceress Senta Bly returns from the continent with a new male companion, an illegitimate daughter, and a long lost brother. Hated and feared for her magic, she must face wizards, assassins, and an old enemy from another reality.

Tesla’s Stepdaughters

In a world where men are almost extinct, someone is trying to kill history’s greatest rock & roll band. Science Police Agent John Andrews must negotiate a complicated relationship with Ep!phanee, the band’s lead singer; drummer Ruth De Molay, bassist Steffie Sin, and the redheaded clone lead guitarist Penny Dreadful, as he protects them and tries to discover who wants to kill the Ladybugs.

Women of Power

The life of a superhero is tough. All American Girl fights supervillains, alien invaders, and terrorists as she tries to get product endorsements and a magazine deal. That’s nothing compared to her private life though. She’s only just broken up with her super boyfriend Perihelion when he’s scooped up by Omega Woman, and now rival Skygirl has moved into her territory.

Blood Trade

Vegas is going to hell– literally. Werewolves run through the streets and the vampires are taking over. Former army ranger/Goth tattoo model/private eye Xochitl McKenna doesn’t like it either, especially when it comes between her and her clients. But are the vampires and werewolves the greatest threat, or is it something or someone much closer to her? Warning: Adult Content.

Astrid Maxxim and her Amazing Hoverbike

From the 180,000 acre campus of Maxxim Industries, fourteen year old girl genius and inventor Astrid Maxxim works alongside her father, Dr. Roger Maxxim, on projects to make the world a better place. Her latest invention is a flying scooter—the hoverbike. Is it the target of an international spy ring, or are they after secret Project RG-7, or Astrid herself?

Astrid Maxxim and her Undersea Dome

Girl inventor Astrid Maxxim and her friends are back.  This time Astrid is building an observation dome beneath the sea.  Will she complete her amazing construction project, or will she be sidetracked by underwater monsters, the evil organization known as the Black Hand, or her snotty cousin Gloria?

Astrid Maxxim and the Antarctic Expedition

Teen inventor Astrid Maxxim is back in her third adventure as she makes a journey to the bottom of the planet to uncover the secrets of a mysterious lost expedition. Meanwhile, troubles plague her friends and family as a hostile takeover threatens Maxxim Industries. Join Astrid and her friends as she faces the frozen dangers of the Antarctic, wild animals, mad bombers, and corporate high finance.

Desperate Poems

Desperate Poems is a collection of seventy poems (some more desperate than others), written over a period of forty years about life, love, desire, being young, and growing old.

Tools of the Writing Trade

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As I’ve mentioned before, my main tool for writing is my iMac. I switched to an Apple computer, after many years of using Windows, in January 2013 and I haven’t looked back. I love my iMac. I’ve had fewer problems with it in the year and a half I’ve had it than I typically had with Windows machines in any given month. Before I got my iMac, I was already a lover of iPhones and iPads.

This past April, when Apple lowered the price and upgraded the processor on the MacBook Air, I got one. Of course my plan was to be able to write on both my iMac and my Macbook and seamlessly synch between the two. I also wanted to synch with my iDevices. Though I don’t write on them, I do look at files sometimes and read through drafts.

I had been using Microsoft Word/Office, but would have to buy another license for my notebook if I wanted to use it. But with the purchase of my latest iPhone and now my Macbook I had Apple’s Pages word processor on all of my devices for free. Since Pages synchs up using iCloud, my problem was solved.

I really wanted to like Pages and it’s not awful. If I were writing for any other purpose than publication, it would be great. Sadly, it just wasn’t a good fit for me. All the publishers require Word documents. While pages exports to Word files, there are almost always errors. They are usually minor—maybe an extra line or something, but they are there. That meant I had to write in Pages and then fix any formatting errors in Word. If I then found an editing error, I had to make the change in Pages, export to Word, and then fix the formatting errors again. If I didn’t, I ended up with multiple versions of documents, all with slightly different errors. That’s what happened.

I wrote three books using Pages, but finally I have had to buy another license for Office to use on my notebook. I thought about Office365, but Microsoft in their wisdom offers a license for 1 computer or a license for 5 computers. I can’t be the only one that uses a desktop/laptop combo and needs two!

So, I have two copies of Office now. How do I synch them? iCloud works pretty well, but until the next version of OSX, it’s difficult to use it with anything other than Apple’s own applications. Microsoft offers One Drive for Mac, but the interface is not smooth and using One Note, I have found that their synching isn’t the quickest. Finally there is Dropbox. Not only does it work faster than either iCloud or One Drive, but the Dropbox app for the iPad and iPhone allows you to view and print Office Files (and not Pages).

So as of today, I’ve got my writing arrangement all configured. Word on both computers. Dropbox to synch my files and view them on phone or tablet. And all my most up-to-date files organized and ready to go.

Writing Fundamentals

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I’ve been reading a great deal of Indy books lately. Being an Indy author myself, I feel like I should help support others like me. I’ve read some very good work. I’ve also read some work that needs some help. Since I’m a teacher and taught English for some 15 of my 21 teaching years, I thought I would write a series of posts about some fundamentals of writing.

Now I’m not talking about typos. We see those all the time and it sucks when they pop up, but they do. I know the difference between there, they’re, and their, but sometimes in the heat of plotting out a story, I type the wrong one. Sometimes I write the same word twice, especially if I’ve stopped and then started writing later. Sometimes I simply misspell a word. The answer of course is proofreading. By the time I publish a book I’ve proofread it myself at least a dozen times. I also have at least one proofreader besides myself read through it for errors. Even so, some creep in. I try to read through my already published books at least once a year. Sometimes I find a typo that has persisted for a dozen passes. I also have a handful of loyal readers who let me know when they catch an error. I feel embarrassed, but grateful. And don’t even get me started about typos created during the editing process.  Sometimes I want to pull out my hair.  It’s not even that unusual to find a typo in a professionally edited, big publisher edition of a well-known author’s book. I see it all the time. So I’m not writing about those.

What I am going to write about is some general fundamental basics of writing. Upcoming posts will be about tense, point of view, figures of speech, characters, pacing, and whatever else I can think up. These posts will all be titled Writing Fundamentals, so watch for them in the coming days.