3. How stories evolve and take on a life of there own?

Michael W. Davis

Davisstories.com

Author of: Tainted Hero (Champagne books, 1/08), Forgotten Children (Champagne books, 7/08)

Being both an engineer and a mathematician, I figured the process associated with writing fiction would be similar to what I learned over 30+ years. You know, you create a plan, a scheme, and you stick to it the best you can till you’re done. Well, yes and no. It is possible, at least for me, to initially plan out the basic structure of the plot, scenes, and characters, but a strange thing happens when I start actually writing the story. It evolves with a life of its own, really. As I visualize scenes in my head, it’s like I’m there witnessing what’s happening first hand. The responses by the characters, the actions that take place, events that come up; they just kind of happen on their own. It's one of the reasons I lock myself up in a dungeon for hours at a time. I actually live the story, and if I stop, unless I’m at the end of a chapter, I lose much of the environment and surroundings I’m seeing in my minds eye. For me, that’s a good thing. It’s why I enjoy the actual creation of the story so much. I get to live in a new world and meet new people, much like I guess the readers do. Only difference is, and this is the really neat part, if I don’t like the way things are playing out, I pick up my mental eraser, rewind the tape, and imagine something new. For example, in one novel, I had a supporting character slated to be killed midway through the story. But as the character evolved, she became so real, such a terrific person, I fell in love with her (as a brother of course) and I couldn’t kill her off. So I just had her get roughed up a little. And the storyline can change drastically. In Tainted Hero, the end result turned out to be about 50% of my original vision. In Forgotten Children, things ended up to be roughly 70% of the initial idea. But in my latest (Blind Consent), man, the story took several loops and ran off in a brand new direction, only matching about 30% of my original ideas. This evolutionary process went against my fact-based training and was difficult at first. But I’ve learned that if I cut the strings, unfetter my mind with too much structure, and let the story go as it sees fit, the end result is tons better, and I have a ball in the process. Till next time, have a good one.

2. Fiction writing realities - the uphill climb

Michael W. Davis

(a.k.a Big Mike)

Davisstories.com

Author of: Tainted Hero (Champagne books, 1/08), The Treasure (Golden Acorn Publishing, 12/07), Forgotten Children (Champagne books, 7/08)

Thanksgiving day, a good friend I’ve known since I was a teenager (centuries ago) ask me, “What does it take to write fiction stories?” Being the wise cracker that I am, I replied, “It depends.” She was silent for a moment then pushed, “Depends on what?” Again I responded, “On what your purpose is for writing fiction.” Truth is, the answer to “What does it take” depends on whether your goal is to write “good” fiction and enjoy the writing process, or to get what you write published. Just because you create a story that people love does not equate to getting it out on the selves. Because of the saturation that publishers and Lit agents deal with every day, each submission is but a grain of sand on their beach. I remember one reply that provided the encouraging words, “we receive 23000 submissions a year and accept 12 to 15”. I used my hand to force closed my jaw and thought, “Holy crap!” Honestly, when I started writing, I was very naive. I had no idea how flooded the pipelines were. How can any agent or publisher deal with such volume? Fact is, they can’t. That’s why many close their doors to submissions and stick with existing authors, social buddies, referrals, etc. I’ve read several articles, blogs, and rejection letters that affirm the general rejection rate usually exceeds 99% (one actually stated 99.98%). Those are some hard obstacles to over come. With that many competing drops of water in the fire hose of submissions, just being good, or even great, is not enough. I know, it’s a hard lesson for something you’ve dreamed of, or always planned to do when the time was right. Most that eventually succeed accept this slap in the face and push on. In coming posts, I’ll offer some lessons I learned of things that “might” help your chances, and things that don’t mean squat. In summary, at least for me, it boiled down to recognizing six things: a willingness to learn, an open ear to feedback, developing a really thick skin, focusing energy into the right avenues, not wasting silver bullets, and fortitude. That last one is essential. If you don't have persistence , you won't last the course. Each day, after you visit the mail box and receive your share of "no thank you" letters, repeat the words, "I think I can, I know I can", until you believe it. I remember reading stories of well known authors that struggled for five to eight years before their first story hit the street. Come to think about it, my two years climbing that mountain doesn't sound so bad anymore. Till next time.

Big Mike

Davisstories.com

0. Lessons learned from two years of hard knocks experience

Michael W. Davis

(a.k.a Big Mike)

Davisstories.com

Author of: Tainted Hero (Champagne books, 12/07), The Treasure (Golden Acorn Publishing, 12/07), Forgotten Children (Champagne books, 6/08)

PREAMBLE

It’s been two years to the day from when I dove into the quagmire of the writing profession till I actually stuck my head about the swamp and got my first novel published. Along the journey, I learned a lot of things, some work, some don't. Over the next year, I'll post articles aimed at sharing what I've learned. My intent will be to provide a candid reflection, but of course, the opinions will be my take on the ride to date. Courses are taught in this stuff, so what I offer are strictly my newbie opinions. I plan to discuss the following topics:

1. Dark side of fiction writing

2. Fiction writing realities - the uphill climb

3. How stories evolve and take on a life of their own

4. Where do stories come from?

5. What was the biggest surprise to writing fiction?

6. Why write - the expected return

7. Success - what does it take?

8. Watch out for the extended hand

9. Creating a completed Manuscript –What is the process, how long does it take?

10. Things that define a good script

11. How do you create characters?

12. Where do scenes come from?

13. Introspection - the key to enveloping the reader

14 The importance of research, factuality, and detail

15. POV – the unyielding path

16. How to recognize when your script is honed enough?

17. The submission process - what to expect

18. Self promotion – why do it? The promo plan

19. Self promotion- Your choices and their relative merit?

Post 0 – BACKGROUND: WHO THE HECK IS THIS BIG GUY?

Before discussing what I learned across a two-year journey into the frustrating (but sometimes rewarding) fiction-writing world, we need a little background on who the heck this big guy is. Roughly two years ago I retired from 35 plus years in support of the military and intelligence establishment. I was left with the quandary, “What in the world do I do with myself?” At first, with all the free time, I re-initiated my predator/prey chase routine of following my mate around the room like a love struck hound dog. Unfortunately, not being the young stallion I once was, this burned out quickly (especially when she started carrying a sidearm around her waist).

I had always wanted to write fiction, but never had time because of the numerous family crises, or emergencies at work. Given I had written probably ten thousand pages across my career in the technical world, I made the arrogant self assessment, “Of course I’m qualified to write fiction. No big difference. I’ve written technical articles, reports, even had a book published by Prentice Hall, piece of cake.” Not! How naive I was. I had the ideas, the drive, but I was missing a critical recognition, namely; writing something that draws people away from their lives, creates stories/characters that are real to them, makes them feel good if only for a moment, it’s different, and its harddddd. It is a shift from anything most of us have done, and it is a learned skill, something that takes time, and patience to cultivate.

Of course, it requires inherit abilities that are built upon. For example, there’s no way I will ever have the basic resources to be a Victoria Secrets model. No matter how many hours I spend on the runway, or what courses I take, I don’t have the natural core assets. It just isn’t going to happen (if you saw my butt, you’d understand why). But taking raw words, making them flow gently through the mind, engulfing the reader into the story, making him/her go “Oh”, “Ah”, or “damn”, now that is a learned skill, something many of us can evolve, if we don’t get frustrated, truly listen to the feedback of others, and let our abilities develop over time. True, just like I’ll never be a VS model, some will never be able to grow the skills, but many can, if they allow themselves to adapt and be patient. Need proof? If you decide to venture into the painful world of writing, save all your initial drafts from the start. You will be amazed how your writing will change, evolve, mature, at least I was. Does that mean we all can be Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Dostoevsky, well of course not, and why do we have to? We don’t. If people truly enjoy your words, if they escape for the moment; what more can we want?

That brings me to the thrust of why I pull myself out of the writer’s dungeon in my isolated lonely back room to write these articles. I’m sure that everyone that has struggled through the newbie process has awakened to certain realities about the writing playground. For those entering the arena, my intent is to share lessons learned pertaining to certain epiphanies about trying to write fiction. Accepting these key axioms can help endure the bumpy ride into the field of fiction writing. Let me offer two just for this post: Axiom 1 – There’s a mega difference between being a good writer and getting someone to want to publish your work; and Axiom 2 – Your personal return may be significant, but your expected financial return is likely negative. Why? Expected return deals with the likelihood of financial reward, and its monetary value. I read somewhere a few interesting stats: about 6 million stories are circulating in the USA literary ether at anyone time, but only about 100,000 to 150,000 books get published; (2) greater than 99% of people that submit stories never succeed, and (3) the average return on a published fiction is 2000 to 6000 dollars.

I don’t profess to be an expert by any regard, but I will share what I’ve learned thus far, in terms of what I "think" works or doesn't work, at least in my opinion. My next post in four weeks will provide an interview pertaining to my latest work entitled TAINTED HERO for which I just got a "Top Reviewers Pick" 5 out of 5 star review (yeap, I was riding high). Starting in my third post, we're off to the races with "The dark side of fiction writing". See ya then.

Big Mike

Davisstories.com