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Work Life Balance

Tue, 13 Aug 2024 21:04:02 GMT

Explore practical tips for balancing work and life, especially for self-employed individuals. Learn how to involve your family in your journey, communicate your vision, celebrate successes, and maintain realistic expectations to achieve harmony

Happy 4th!

Tue, 13 Aug 2024 21:01:37 GMT

Long Time, No Talk!

Tue, 13 Aug 2024 20:53:59 GMT

Catch up on the latest updates from Christopher Patterson, including new book releases, upcoming projects, and exciting developments in the writing world. Stay informed and discover what's next!

Planning Your Way To Success

Thu, 14 May 2020 22:13:23 GMT

My Journey Through Planning My Writing

“Creating outlines is boring.”

“If I create an outline, it will stifle my creativity.”

“I can either plan or write. I don’t have time to do both.”

These are comments I commonly here in the writing community. In fact, these are comments I have personally heard…because I said them. This juxtaposing ideology of either planning or not planning is so pervasive in writing that we even have a term for it – “planners” vs. “pantsers.” The planners look at the pansters – those people who just sit down and write with no outlining, or very little – and wonder how they ever get anything done. And the pantsers look at the planners and wonder how they have any creativity with all the planning they do.

Can't We All Just Get Along

Yeah, I think we can. And in reality, the best writers, as far as I have seen, fall somewhere in the middle of this conundrum. They plan things out to some extent and then they let the Muse take them.

I was a full-blown pantser…

It sounds like I’m at an AA meeting. Hi, my name is Chris Patterson and I’m a pantser. I looked at people who planned, read about planning, taught planning, and spent time outlining like they were crazy. I was always like that – high school and college. The worst part about writing was the rough draft. Why write a rough draft when I can just write the final version first? Well, you can probably already see where the flaw in my logic was.

I felt like planning and outlining would firstly take away from time better spent writing. I mean, I already knew what I wanted to write. It was in my head all the time…except for the stuff I forgot. But that only means it wasn’t important…unless it was. And then, outlining and planning stifled my creativity. I’m an artist. I don’t want to pigeonhole myself in a box. Let my innate story-telling abilities take me where the winds would have me go.

I don’t even know if that makes sense, but that was my thought process. I found planning abhorrent, atrocious, and all together disgusting. Books on going through a writing process were pointless wastes of money, as were courses. But what if I treated other areas of my life with the same attitude?

If We Are Affective in What We Do, We Plan

Think about a sports coach, a teacher, and a financial advisor. These are all people who must do an extensive amount of planning and, these are all professions I have or have had. What would we think if a coach walked into practice everyday with no idea what he or she was going to work on or train? They wouldn’t be very effective, right? But, even more than knowing what they have to work on today, they need to know what they have already worked on, what they want to work on, what their goals are, areas that need retouched, etc. When good teachers walk into classrooms, they have a plan. Most have written plans in their hands, but even if they don’t, they have the day, the week, the month, the quarter, and the year planned out. If we sat down with our financial advisor and they said to us, “Well, let’s see what we’re going to do today,” we might hire a different financial advisor. We want to know that they not only have a plan, they have a plan for us that extends well into retirement. It’s mapped out, well-thought out, and coordinated.

Does that mean these people can’t be creative? Of course not. The best coaches are the ones who have a plan and see something not on their plan and deviate from it, correcting their own, misaligned course to better meet the needs of their team and athletes. Same with teachers. I cringe when a teacher doesn’t take tangential questions head on and go with it, perhaps enlightening their students even more. Those moments offer creative thinking and learning for both teacher and student. Financial advisors course-correct all the time, with new products and new laws coming out. This was the plan, but now it has to change. But guess what? These moments of creativity are often followed up by…you got it…a new plan.

Imagine a pastor or rabbi or imam who stood in front of their congregation and said, “You know what, today, I’m going to let the Spirit lead me.”

Most people would be like, “Okay, cool.” And that might be one of their most memorable sermons or talks. But if they did it the next week, and the next, and the next, and the next, their congregants might eventually start wondering where they are going, what they are supposed to be learning, or they may start losing interest all together.

Planning is so important.

How Planning Helped Me

When I finally bit the bullet and got myself a professional, content editor and not a friend or another writer, one of the first thing Graham told me was I needed to plan my stories out better. Well, that’s not what he initially told me, but after asking some questions, he realized I wasn’t planning. So I finally said “OK” and I started planning. And man has it helped.

There are a lot of great planning tools out there from a lot of great writers. The planning process that has worked best for me is the 3 Act Michael Hauge Screenwriting plot structure. Now, I am not a screenwriter, but the principals in Hauge’s plotting plan can be applied to fiction novels as well. So I typically spend about an hour or two plotting my story out using this system, which breaks things down into percentages of the story and major events at each one of those percentages. For instance, at 10%, the protagonist has to be presented with an opportunity that moves the story forward. Think, Gandalf showing up Bilbo’s doorstep or Obi Wan Kenobi finding Luke in the desert of Tatooine and saving him from the sand people. I map that out, all the way to the climax and resolution. So this whole process follows the typical story arc, just in a more precise way. And like I said, it only takes about an hour or two.

But isn’t that an hour or two I could have been writing? Yes.

I’m not a full time writing. Neither am I.

Aren’t I wasting time? Not at all.

You see, I found that when I don’t plan I blabber, just like if I am talking to someone and I don’t have a plan in regards to what I am going to say. If I was giving a speech, or when I speak at sports banquets, I have a plan; otherwise, I just talk. The same thing happens with our writing. For this blog, I have a plan. I would sit down and write and without important points, I really had no idea where I was going. I had a beginning and an end in mind, and then I had to fill in the middle. By plotting each one of these story points, I know where I am heading. I also have a target goal – 10%, 25%, 50%, 75%, 90%, and 100%. They are much less daunting then the end. Once I hit those points, I can go back and do a quick edit of my work up to that point, which I do. It just makes things so much easier and more streamlined.

Next, before I actually start writing my book, I establish a number of chapters; for my Fantasy novels, its 60, for my Historical Fiction and Urban YA Fantasy, its 30. I don’t religiously stick to that number of chapters, splitting some, combining others, but it gives may an even better framework. Then, I write a one to two paragraph blurb about each chapter. This is, I will admit, very time consuming, but it is so well worth it.

Each chapter is a little story arc in itself, and like your larger story, it needs that planning. If you don’t know what your chapter is going to be about, how can you effectively write it? As I have done this, my writing has improved in quality and speed. I can go back and look at my paragraph, making sure I am on track and focused on this chapter.

Does this stifle my creativity? No. If something I write spurs another idea, I jot it down and I insert another chapter, or a section break. I am constantly adjusting the story points and the outlines. But this has helped me go from writing one book a year or more, to writing three books in about 5 months. And I expect as I get better at planning, it will get faster, and I will have less need for course correction from my editor.

There are a lot of ways to do this, and my method works for me. I would suggest looking up Michael Hauge. KM Weiland is also a great resource, as she is also a fiction writer. Another resource that helped me as well was Victoria Schmidt’s “Book in a Month.” I still use some of the principals in that book. But, just understand that I recognized my writing went from okay to pretty good, just by adjusting my attitude towards planning.

Don’t Over Plan

Let me leave you with this. Don’t over plan. I know that sounds like I’m contradicting what I just said, but as I started writing and publishing, I was amazed at how many writers I came across that had been writing their book for ten years, twenty years, even more. And the one thing that all of them would say is, “I’m still in the planning phase.” I think we can get over consumed with planning and making sure everything is just right and there are no mistakes and etc. etc. Nothing is ever going to be perfect. Your ideas will change over time. So let me give you some advice I give my athletes. At some point, you just have to pull the trigger and be okay with whatever the consequences might be. Otherwise, you’ll never know.

If you feel like you are stuck in the planning stage for too long, maybe you should scrap the story and move to another one, or at least put this story on the back burner and give it a rest for a while.

I hope this was helpful and insightful. Let me know what you think. And remember, if you haven’t already, sign up for my newsletter so you can get regular updates on other blog posts, new releases, and promotions.

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The Epic Fantasy by Allen Werner

Tue, 19 Mar 2019 17:11:50 GMT

For those whom accept the challenge and choose to write an epic fantasy tale, a firm grasp of the world you want your characters to populate is as important to the story as the story itself. Authors will painstakingly map out entire worlds, filling the landscape with beautiful cities and thundering rivers, enormous mountains and pleasant meadows. And all of these places will have to be given a history and assigned a name, or designation, some sort of reference. And to further deepen the antiquity of the sites, cities and rivers, perhaps even the characters themselves, they might be known to different peoples, different races in different regions, by different names. If you look at the character of Aragon in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, you will find him known by many names including Strider, Estel, Ranger and eventually King Elessar.

Historical Fantasy

I write historical fantasy. To write historical fantasy, an author must judiciously research the region of the known world where the story will play out. This doesn’t mean we cannot add unique buildings, forests, towns and other elements to the world, but the base must be sound, the major markers identifiable. The author will also have to map out the time period, the past of that area and the people who once lived there, their language and customs, the artifacts and impressions they left on future civilizations. In my tale, The Crystal Crux, the city of Parthenope or Naples is one of the major metropolises. Although it is Italian, its roots are in Greece, in the adventurers who created the first settlement.

It is fantasy, but the author of historical fantasy will want to stay as true to the facts concerning the real world as possible. A writer will want the reader to question their knowledge of history, wonder what is true and what is not. To accomplish this, the author must have done their homework, combing through dozens of historical documents and books, atlases, religious script, as well as various manuals concerning art, architecture and indigenous plants and animals. All this gathering of information will ultimately fill myriad notebooks and there will be stick-it notes everywhere. If one is not careful it is quite easy for all this research to become overwhelming and ponderous, and eventually of little use.

Research and Prepare

Before you begin researching, I advise the writer to devise a storage locker, a final resting place for all this gathered information to be assembled and collated. Ask yourself, ‘How will I find this information again once it goes into the locker?’

The locker doesn’t have to be a physical file although some of us still prefer this tangible system over electronic options. You can create a locker on your computer or in the ‘cloud’. Just make sure you understand how the filing system will best operate for you, be it dates, places, methods, names, titles, whatever.

Grab the Readers' Attentions

No matter what type of book you are writing, it will require a powerful beginning, something to grab the reader’s attention. And I don’t mean the opening few lines. There are many theories on what works best but from what I’ve seen and read, when it comes to epic fantasy, there really are no rules. Most people who read epic fantasy already know what they are getting into. They are going to explore a world that goes beyond the first opening lines. They are going to give the whole first chapter a chance.

This elaborate mapping of a fantastical world the author labored to create is going to eventually have to become a part of their reading mind. It’s not going to be simple and straightforward no matter what the first sentence says or even how the first chapter reads. There are going to be multiple characters in dozens of locales plotting various machinations to achieve numerous goals. It won’t be as pedestrian as a single protagonist versus a single antagonist. There will be many of both. And sometimes, protagonists will become antagonists and antagonists will become protagonists. There will be minor characters that enter. We will learn a great deal about them, even learn to care about them, and then they will simply go away. An epic, by definition, is going to bear the reader through an ocean of emotions and a tsunami of events. I don’t think it really matters to the epic fantasy reader which character, locale or plot you begin with. The story is going to grow way beyond that moment and most readers of epic fantasy are educated enough to know that. The author needs only guarantee that the opening chapter makes them want to be sucked into that world.

Keep the Readers' Attention

Once the reader is sucked into your world, that is where the real challenge for an author begins. How do you expand the world without losing cohesion? I have read George R.R. Martin’s ‘A Song of Fire and Ice’ series and I will tell you there were plenty of times I had to backtrack to remind myself where in the world I was. He challenged us constantly. He would start a new book with a region and set of characters not even spoken of in the other books. Epic fantasy of any kind demands much from the reader. Martin seems to demand even more. But this demand, in turn, means there is a colossal onus placed on the author to write so well, that the reader will continue reading this strange new material believing it will eventually mesh with what is known. If the writing is weak and the palette no longer vivid and full of life, the reader will become lost and lose interest. It all comes back to the writer’s ability to make the fantastical sound tangible.

I have also found as an author, you want feedback from readers accustomed to reading the epic fantasy genre. Readers of other genres have different expectations and often find epic tales, no matter how well-written, to be obtuse and long-winded. They hate the constant flipping from one character to another to another and so on. I’ve had others tell me that flashbacks drive them mad – and I use a lot of flashbacks. I start my first book with a flashback.

In truth, no matter how you present the history or culture of the world you have so shrewdly researched, readers unaccustomed to epic fantasy will deem much of what you write to be wholly unnecessary. They will advise you remove it, shorten it up.

While we understand that every word written must be worth the author and readers' time, we are also seeing the larger picture. We want to bring that whole beautiful landscape to life and there is simply no condensing that. For a story to truly be epic, there have to be dozens of characters in several lands. There must be divisions and plot twists that ripple across seas and shake mountains. We can be obscene and throw thousands of dragons,

vampires, hydras, griffins and unicorns into the story to please the audience but it is the elaborate setting that gives their existence purpose and meaning. The complexity of the world we create, be it historical or imaginary, defines great fantasy from all the rest.

About Allen Werner

The Crystal Crux - Betrayal , is the first novel by Allen Werner , and the first in 'The Crystal Crux' series. Allen Werner is a past winner of the Wisconsin Regional Writer's Association Jade Ring contest. Allen Werner is a history enthusiast with a passion for the Middle Ages, Greek, Roman and Norse mythology, as well as Native American studies. He follows the Way of the Sacred Names, Yahweh and Yahshua, plays soccer religiously and is an ardent supporter of rock and symphonic metal bands. Allen Werner lives in Southeastern Wisconsin with his wife, Susan. They have three daughters, three grandchildren and loving host of self-proclaimed extended children and grandchildren.

You can find The Crystal Crux - Betrayal at Amazon.com

Make sure you visit Christopher Patterson’s website at www.christopher-patterson.com and also make sure you sign up for his monthly newsletter where you can keep up to date with what’s going on in his world, his articles and blogs, get access to freebies, and experience promotional material. You can sign up for Christopher Patterson’s email newsletter at http://eepurl.com/b5AUa1

On Writing Christian Fantasy

Tue, 19 Mar 2019 17:11:38 GMT

Writing fantasy is a difficult thing to do and not for the faint of heart. And yet, it is a genre that many of us find ourselves inexplicably drawn to again and again.

That’s because the realm of the imagination is a wonderful place. I think of it as brain candy. Orcs, unicorns, elves, angels, magic, trolls…each one of these are the work of someone’s amazing imagination.

As is well known, much of our current day fantasy fiction springs from the hotbed of Tolkien’s mind. But the roots of his creations hark back even further to the days of Norse imagination and mythology . However, Tolkien showed his mastery by taking an existing idea and making it better, developing it into something amazing that people could wrap their minds around.

And that is what fantasy writers do. We take a wonderful idea, add our own angle, and create something new.

However, much like Tolkien initially experienced, we often find that our intended audience rebels against our creations, considering our stories too bizarre. In many ways, the world of Christian fiction has become a narrow marketplace. While some who read Christian fiction choose not to venture beyond the popular and into the wide world of fantasy, others of us yearn to do so, daring to consider the fantastical and the supernatural and ask, “What if?”.

When Tolkien created Middle-Earth, he took the creations of the Norse mind and molded them into the mindset of a Christian worldview . Angels became known as wizards. Demons became orcs and other dark creatures. (For a brief yet comprehensive explanation of the lineage of Tolkien’s creations that goes beyond this post, see this video: http://youtu.be/YxgsxaFWWHQ .)

It took years for many Christians to accept the creations of Tolkien’s mind and for the most part, his work is now a treasured part of our literary culture, even translated into film, the possibility of which Tolkien himself would never have dreamed.

While we might at times feel alone, Christian fantasy writers tread narrow rocky pathways that, if we look hard enough, have previously been trod by those who became masters at writing stories born in a mind firmly couched in Christian theology.

There are many “radicals” like ourselves who have found the confines of traditional Christian fantasy too restrictive, too narrow a place to express the outflow of our imaginations. Many of our fellow Christians who yearn to explore the realms of the fantastic have been forced to look outside of Christian publishing to satisfy their craving for more. And so we find the Christian fiction world to be in a Catch-22 situation. In traditionally published Christian fantasy fiction markets, there aren’t enough writers because there aren’t enough readers—and there aren’t enough readers because there aren’t enough writers.

However, the world of independent publishing has allowed us to create what I will call a gray market—a world that lies between the general fantasy market and the traditional Christian fiction market.

In addition, indie publishing has allowed Christian fantasy writers a forum in which we can speak our minds freely. As indie writers, we can create and publish books targeted at the general market and yet maintain our Christian worldview. Even more Christian fantasy writers have found a niche in the general market where they can hold their candle high.

As writers we find that our market has become reachable in so many ways. And the good news is that Christian readers are discovering this new outlet for stories they have long craved to read. Not only is it a good time to be a Christian fantasy writer , it is also a good time to be a Christian fantasy reader. And that, my friend, is a very good thing.

So to sum all this up, is it challenging to write fantasy from a Christian worldview? The answer would be an unequivocal “Yes” but mostly because writing fantasy is hard.

Dona Watson grew up with a book in one hand, dreaming about imaginary worlds of mystery and adventure. In high school, she found an old novel in a used bookstore, fell in love with fantasy fiction and never looked back. Look for her award-winning fantasy novel The Lightstone of Perlan , to be published this year, as well as other short stories online and in print. A writer and editor with an unbridled love for reading and writing fiction, Dona lives surrounded by way too many books in Southern California with a wonderful family and a precocious little dog. You can find her online at http://donawatson.com .

The Attack on Indie (Self-Published) Authors

Tue, 19 Mar 2019 17:11:30 GMT

I was in the middle of doing some research for another article I wrote when I came across several other articles dealing with self-publishing. I have to admit, I was excited to read them since they dealt with self-publishing and, even though self-publishing is becoming easier and more mainstream, its still hard to find usable resources. These articles quickly disappointed me. In fact, they downright upset me. I don’t know. Maybe that was their goal. Exert a gut reaction from someone who disagrees. What was the central idea behind these few articles? Self-publishing is a terrible idea, those who are self-published authors really aren’t authors, and writing should be relegated to the elite few.

We Live in a DIY World

I am a little embarrassed to say that there might have been a time in my life when I agreed with these magazine writers and editors. I have always enjoyed writing and reading, but my first artistic love was the guitar. More specifically, I specialized in classical guitar. I practiced relentlessly (most of the time), worked and worked on fundamentals, toiled over studies and modes, and eventually studied classical guitar performance at the University of Arizona . I was proud to be a musician. I was proud of my skill and hard work. I was proud of my ability to sight read.

And then came the self-taught guitarist.

Man, these guys truly pissed me off. They learned a few riffs. Learned a few modes. Learned a couple chords. And there they were, playing on the U of A mall, strumming and singing to whatever the new, hipster song was at the time…and there they were, women swooning over their skill and men wanting to be like them. You’ve got to be kidding me. This guy couldn’t tell you what mode he was playing, or why those chords went together. He certainly wouldn’t have been able to play anything by Fernando Sor or Johann Sebastian Bach . He’s not a real guitarist. Or is he?

I slowly began to understand, as I got older and wiser, that we were both, in fact, guitarists. We were different types of guitarists and our skills definitely lay in different areas. But, nonetheless, we were both musicians. In reality, many of those self-taught, non-music reading hipsters probably have or are making more money at playing the guitar than I even have or will. They recognized a market and played to it. Good for them.

“There Are No Guarantees"

This attitude permeates almost every area of our world, every industry, every business. The girl who studied history in school and now makes a living by taking photographs is ridiculed by everyone else who went to school for photography. The self made business man who was a high school dropout receives the scorn of every other business person who has their MBA from some reputable school. The teacher who didn’t go to school to be a teacher, but rather went to school and studied English is now the most decorated Biology teacher in the district, much to the chagrin of every other educational professional. And the examples go on and on and on.

The Industry Has Changed

I was in college when I decided I wanted to be an author. I have always loved writing. I loved reading too, but when I read, I was enjoying someone else’s imagination, someone else’s creation. I wanted people to enjoy my creation, my imagination. I had started what would eventually become The Shadow’s Fire Trilogy , as well as several other spin off stories that are still works in progress. I thought what I had was pretty good (it wasn’t at the time) and so I started looking at what I would need to do to get my book published. I was excited, ready to go, and expecting to make a gigantic impact on the fiction world—especially in fantasy. Wow, was I in for a rude awakening.

The Gatekeeper

My dad was, for most of my life, a self-employed, small business owner. And he was good. Successful. Innovative. So, when I tried my hand at sales—and I was pretty good at it—I, of course, turned to my dad for advice. I was selling insurance and mutual funds and really trying to target businesses, trying to encourage them to set up company insurance plans and 401(k)’s. My father explained to me the concept of the gatekeeper.

The gatekeeper. The ominous interceptor of information. The ruthless decider of worth and worthless. The unyielding door to the vast riches and markets held by the small (or large) business.

The gatekeeper was usually the front secretary. This was a person who seemingly had a job that was low skilled, low pay, and easily done. Wrong. This is the person most trusted by the boss. This is the person who is privy to management’s most inner thoughts. This is the person who has outlasted all other employees, keeping their head down and doing their job. And one of their jobs? Sift through the countless letters and phone calls and even in person drop ins to determine whether or not they are worth the time of their employer. As a salesperson, you must find a way to either get through, or around, the gatekeeper in order to meet with the big dogs. The gatekeeper was the bane of many salespersons, and the destroyer of hopes and dreams of that one, huge policy that could make an insurance agent rich.

The World of Publishing

How does this relate to the world of publishing? Simple. The author is the salesperson and the world of publishing has landmines of gatekeepers just looking to blow you up. I was surprised to find out how similar the world of writing and books and publishing was to sales. Only, in the world of publishing, they mask these portentous figures with titles such as agent or acquisitions publisher. And forget about going around them. In the world of sales, if you’re cunning and sneaky enough, you can find a way of avoiding the gatekeeper. Not in the world of publishing. You can’t even step through the door of a publishing house unless you’re being led on a leash by an agent, and not just any agent, an agent with a track record of success.

It is so incredibly difficult to get published today. Like I said, you first must find an agent. So you send out hundreds, if not thousands, of query letters. And after receiving rejection letter after rejection letter telling you your writing just isn’t that good, you steel yourself up, thicken your skin, do several rounds of rewrites and revisions, and repeat the process three or four times. Finally, you get something that is good. People read it and respond positively. You even know someone who knew someone whose cousin’s husband’s cousin worked at a major publishing house, and they assure you, your manuscript is ready. This is it. This is the moment. You send out the query letters. One. More. Time. And…thank you but at this time, we aren’t interested. It’s not your writing though. You no longer suck at the craft you so desperately want to be successful in. No. It’s almost that high school break up letter that no one wants. You would rather your ex-girlfriend tell you that you smell, she thinks your ugly, she hates your family. But instead, she tells you, “It’s not you, it’s me.”

Welcome to the final rejection letter. And why is this one so hard to take. Because, at any other moment in time, like that failed high school relationship, your book would have been a best seller. It was just the wrong time. See, in order to get an agent, in order to get published, you must have experience. You must be fresh and new (remember, there’s no such thing as a new story). You must have published something before. Wait. Record screeching. What? How can I ever get my book published if I need to first be published in order to publish a book that isn’t yet published? Did that last sentence just sound weird? Sure, because that’s what has happened to the publishing industry. How do we get around it? Well…

Welcome to Self-Publishing

When I first started thinking about getting published, self-publishing—or vanity publishing—was so expensive and treated with so much disrespect by the rest of the writing community, any writer worth anything would have never even considered it. I was lucky enough to actually get picked up by a small publishing company and that only happened because I knew another author who had published with them and she gave me an in. At that point, as you might suspect, I thought I had made it. I was wrong. That was only the first step. I won’t go into the rigmarole that was my experience with a publishing company, but I finally left and found myself at square one again.

By this time, however, self-publishing had started to revolutionize. Amazon had created a company called CreateSpace . They did print on demand. They offered editing services. They even offered marketing services. One of my editors who worked for my former publishing company actually suggested to me that I self-publish. It was much more respected now, much cheaper, and the industry already had several stories of self-published authors selling a ton of books and then getting picked up by major publishing houses. Could that be me? Maybe.

You see, self-publishing offers prospective writers—authors—an opportunity they may not otherwise have. Just like online colleges offer people an opportunity to education, teach yourself music books offer musicians the ability to learn without shelling out a bunch of money, and YouTube offers someone who is otherwise not mechanically inclined a way to work on their car.

The Attack

The Huffington Post posted an online article written by Melissa Foster and Amy Edelman in 2012 that listed four reasons why Indie Authors aren’t respected. It was a well put together list. I agree with all the reasons.

Bad editing
A lack of gatekeepers
Quantity over quality
Crappy covers[1]

Yeah, pretty much spot on. But these are things that a self-published author can overcome. Find editors who want to pump up their resume. Save up some money and pay for it. Find students at your local college going through Creative Writing degrees. Take your time. Understand the concept of delayed gratification. Know that the more time you take, the better your product is going to be. And be willing to shell out a couple hundred dollars for a good cover. I found Adriana Hanganu . She does an amazing job and she is very reasonable.

Melissa Foster also suggested in an article titled “ Are Self-Publishing Authors Killing the Publishing Industry? ” that Indie Authors are killing the publishing industry by “creating a devaluing for the written word.”[2] Wow. Thanks. In some cases, I am sure there are pretty terrible self-published works out there, but are they any worse than some published works. I mean, read several books about a certain shade of color, or a series about sparkling vampires. These are better simply because they were published by a traditional publishing house? In another Huffington Post article, this one written by Dr. Jim Taylor , an adjunct professor at the University of San Francisco , he asks the question, “ Are Self-Published Authors Really Authors, or Even Published? ”[3] Dr. Taylor confesses that four of his 14 books are self-published, but still gives a somewhat unfavorable view of the self-publishing world.

The article that upset me the most, and the one that prompted me to write this article, was an article from the New York Post . Joseph Epstein writes an article entitled, “ Think You Have a Story in You? Think Again .” Epstein completely trashes writers thinking about self-publishing and eventually finishes his article with this condemnation: “Don't write that book, my advice is, don't even think about it. Keep it inside you, where it belongs.” [4] I’ve linked all these articles to their online sources, so you can read them yourself if you want.

Final Thoughts

This world is full of nay-sayers. And, using the words of my wrestling coach in high school, there are no guarantees. The only guarantee I can make you is that if you don’t give something a shot, if you don’t do your absolute best, if you don’t work hard, you will not make it and you will not be successful. What is my advice to you? Keep writing. Don’t just write for the sake of writing. Write your best, whatever your goal is. Understand what self-publishing means. Understand the hurdles you have to overcome if you decide to self-publish. But keep that dream alive, and let other people read it. Don’t keep it to yourself. Don’t ever stop believing in yourself. Write your story and Dare to Dream.

[1] Losowsky, Andrew. "The Big Reasons Indie Authors Aren't Taken Seriously." The Huffington Post . TheHuffingtonPost.com, 30 Jan. 2012. Web. 25 Aug. 2016.

[2] Foster, Melissa. "Are Self-Publishing Authors Killing the Publishing Industry?" The Huffington Post . TheHuffingtonPost.com, 24 Oct. 2012. Web. 25 Aug. 2016.

[3]Taylor, Dr. Jim. "Are Self-published Authors Really Authors or Even Published?" The Huffington Post . TheHuffingtonPost.com, 30 Sept. 2013. Web. 25 Aug. 2016.

[4] Epstein, Joseph. "Think You Have a Book in You? Think Again." The New York Times . The New York Times, 27 Sept. 2002. Web. 25 Aug. 2016.

How to Be an Audio Book Narrator

Tue, 19 Mar 2019 16:15:46 GMT

If you’ve ever heard an audio book and have thought, “I’d love to do that”, then I’ve written this guide for you. This is all I know about being an audio book narrator. I’m a newb in this field however I’d like to tell you it’s much easier than you think, and also much more challenging than you think.

Yes, this sounds controversial, however being an audio book narrator is not hard, if you have kids then you’ve probably been doing it already each time you read a bedtime story. But the hard part can be learning the new skills both on computer and vocal, setting up your studio, and most important of all, sticking with long books.

If you have any questions, then don’t be afraid to post in the comments below and I’ll get back to you. Failing that, you can email me direct at amrit@laughingmonkey.tv or get my contact details through my website on www.laughingmonkey.tv .

As for what mic I use, after doing a lot of research I decided on getting the Cad E100S which is an American made mic. It had great reviews and was a favourite for voice over artists. The Cad came out much cheaper than the Neumann’s so it fit my budget. So far I’ve been pleased with the results.

I’m not going to go through setting up a home studio. There are countless videos on youtube on that, but, if you want to see photos or videos of my setup then just ask in the comments below. If enough people ask, I’ll post some.

Voice Acting

Being an audio book narrator is a lot like being an actor. In fact, you certainly will be acting the roles of the characters you speak. However there is no physical visual performance being recorded, even though you might be animated in your physical appearance, you won’t be performing on stage in front of an audience, nor will anyone see anything you do, so it is 100% dependent on your voice to get the message across to your listeners. You might think that’s obvious, however when you only have your voice to deliver a message, it’s very important you understand what the author is saying and you’re able to deliver the message in that way. Hence reading a subject you understand or are at least familiar with is often a good first step.

What Motivates You?

The reason you start recording an audio book is an important question. It is your reason is what will get you through to the end. Or not. So ask yourself, why do you want to narrate a book? Whilst the idea may seem romantic at first, that idea will soon fade once you experience the vast amount of work, time and effort it takes to record a finished piece. I’ll go into the time it takes to record and produce a final piece later.

Are you doing it to become famous? Are you doing it so you can make money? Or are you doing it so that you can tick this off as another thing you wanted to do in life? My reason? Well simply put, I wasn’t looking at monetary value, nor any fame aspect. I simply wanted to have a recorded piece which my children could listen to forever, long after I was gone from this mortal body. So it was my gift for them. That reason was strong enough to get me through to the end of the book without giving up. And that’s what you need. Whatever your reason for wanting to record a book, as long as it is stronger than your desire to quit you will be fine and get through it. So do it for you mum to listen to, in the worst case.

Oh, and as far as fame goes, I hate to admit it to you, but unless the person is already famous, I wouldn’t be aware of who is narrating an audible book I’m listening to. And since it’s all audio, I would have no idea if that person passed me on the street, so no, this is one field where fame is not prevalent. However, for me, that was one thing that attracted me even more to it. I didn’t want to be famous. But I did want to create.

How Long Does it Take?

An hour of recorded finished audio can take between 4 to 8 times that to edit and finalise. That’s a lot of investment for a book which is 36 chapters long. I found it took me about 40 minutes to read 5 pages. Editing time took me around 2-4 hours for that piece depending on how many mistakes there were in my read. Of course, as the book went on I became a better reader and was able to read with less mistakes.

So yes, the time invested in recording an audio book is going to be longer than you plan. So your reasons are what will get you through it.

Start Practise Recording

Right, so I’m assuming you’ve got your mic, your studio is set up and you’re ready to go. My advice is take a book you like - any book, and start recording yourself. Read the first chapter whilst recording yourself.

Next, listen back to it whilst reading your book. There will most likely be a lot of background noise, a lot of pauses, times you’ve forgotten to read words out or times you’ve just missed entire sections altogether. Usually, the first attempt will be awful. So don’t worry about that.

Whilst you’re listening to your audio, think of how you could have said it better. Or imagine a professional actor narrating the book.

Now I would like you to re-record the voice over and think of the actor who is narrating it. Slow your words where necessary. In fact, we often read too fast when we’re nervous, so get used to that red light saying record and be comfortable in it and slow yourself down.

Listen again.

Basically, that’s what I did, over and over, until I was happy with what I heard. This is your school time. You are learning to use the tools, getting comfortable with the mic, learning to read in a quiet room with nobody to listen to you except a computer. You will get it. Just keep with it. If you absolutely hate it, then maybe this is not for you. But if you enjoy telling the story and strive for improving your recorded performance, then this sure is for you.

Edit

So the editing phase is where you get to have fun and improve things. Like taking away the background noise removing long unnecessary pauses, and even changing the tone of your voice.

I use a tool called Adobe Audition for this, but free software such as Audacity is just as good.

Learn how to use your software of choice. There are plenty of help videos on youtube on this.

The Test

So once I was confident in what I produced was good, I asked a few other people to listen to it, and see if they were engaged and enjoyed it?

This can be tricky as people often don’t want to do things that others ask them to do, especially anything that takes longer than 5 minutes. So, it will be a good idea to make a friend, who has a similar interest whom you can critique back. You can also set up a local meetup group, or better still join a facebook group such as the VoiceOver Club .

If you can read one chapter well, then you can read the whole book.

Listen and Repeat

A great way of increasing the kind of accents you have is by practicing them. And a great way to practice is by listening to different accents you hear, and mimicking them. When you’re watching a film, or tv show, attempt to copy the actors voice. The more voices you have in your bag, the more variation you can add to your audio book.

The other great way to practice is when you’re listening to radio adverts. These are actually good ways to practice different delivery methods: is it naturally spoken or not, which words have they emphasised. The key is to listen and repeat.

One way I found was that different voices come from different sources of the body. A booming voice might come from the belly, whereas a squeaky voice will be all from your throat.

Strive for excellence

This is something I realised in my life a long time ago (in a galaxy far far away). Those who strive for excellence, will always keep growing. They will better than they were. Continuously.

So if there’s one piece of advice I can give which is crucial to this, and probably any task you set before yourself, strive for excellence. It’s not about doing the best you can do, it’s about finding ways you can do better, to give the best final product.

Don't Over Perform

Now I admit, sometimes I record pieces where I think at the time I have produced something superb. And then I play it to somebody else and they think it’s cheesy or over performed. This is a common problem in voice over. We can give it our all and then over perform, and come across terrible.

But that’s ok. Just tone it down. Maybe take a break from the mic for a bit and return and have another go at it. Record several versions of a shorter piece and ask people what they prefer.

Get Your First Audio Book Contract

So by now you should be in a place where you’ve practised, and have received good feedback. So put yourself together a short showreel and go to www.acx.com and choose a title you’ll be happy to read.

Don’t be discouraged by not receiving an offer. It could be that your voice just doesn’t match what the author had in mind for that particular book, so keep applying and you will get a deal.

If you keep getting rejected, then contact me and I should be able to give you some advice.

Planning Your Schedule

With ACX once you are offered a position you will need to agree to a delivery date. Now, is the time to work your schedule. How long will it realistically take you to record it? How much quiet time do you actually have? Are you away on a holiday, or another event? Are people staying over at yours who will be potentially loud? All these factors will drastically affect your ability to finish your book on time.

I try to set one rule in life when it comes to delivering a project: “under promise so you can over deliver“. There will be times where you might not be able to record due to illness, or random guests coming over, or your computer dies (by the way, always save to a cloud device such as google drive), so factor this buffer time. If you think you can get it recorded in a month, easily, including edits, double that time.

The Recording Process

Initially when I started out recording I began reading one chapter at a time. On average this took me about 45 minutes to do. Then I would send the recording to Chris, he would listen and let me know if I was on track or not. In the most part I was often on track. However, because there were 36 chapters in total, this would become a very long slow process. So I found simply by reading more than one chapter at a time, I was able to double my output. My advice is therefore read as much as you can in each sitting. Don’t just settle for one chapter. Read, two or three at a time.

Be sure to take breaks. You will need to keep your energy up and if you do feel your energy dropping, go eat something light and then do a few stretches or maybe go for a walk before starting up again.

I would keep a glass of water at hand, as it can get pretty hot in a recording studio, especially in the summer and your mouth can dry out. It is better not to drink too much water though, rather, just put a small mouthful and swirl it in your mouth to keep it moist. If you drink too much then all kinds of mouth noises will get picked up in the recording.

Communicate with the Author

The beauty about ACX is they are the contract makers and encourage you and the author to interact with each other in any form you want.

The book I read was A Chance Beginning by Christopher Patterson which is actually part of a trilogy called Shadow's Fire. I have to admit I’ve made a friend through this process. There is nothing like two minds getting together as one, so communicate with the author and keep them very much involved in your project.

So if there were delays, I contacted Chris well in advance. Chris was actually more the director of the piece. You see, direction will be needed, and who better by than the author? So Chris and I came up with this process. He would write me paragraph on each chapter, telling me what the tone is, who the characters are and what he imagines the voices should be like, and that was often enough to get things spot on for Chris in terms of what he envisioned.

We didn’t always get it right, there was a time the accent Chris recommended for the Dwarves did not fit in what I envisioned, so I recorded him two versions of the voices and he preferred the one I suggested. So if you do feel something else works then don’t be afraid to share this with your author.

Error Checking

The thing about ACX is it is a shared project with shared ownership. It’s in the interest of both parties to produce an audio book that sells. So that’s two pairs of eyes and ear that 100% want this project to work. There is a saying in Punjab: Two minds together are like 11 individual minds. I have to say, without the guidance and direction of Chris I wouldn’t have produced the book to the level I did.

After recording each chapter, I had Chris listen to it just to make sure I was on track. Then I would begin the edit. Later, the editing took so much time I decided to outsource this part to get the project done. So in the end we had two checks done, one by Chris to make sure the accents were on the right path and mood and tone of each scene was correct, and secondly my editor who would actually pick up a lot of mistakes which we missed out.

At the time of this writing we are on the final corrections of the last 6 chapters. We will then add some background music between every five or six chapters and then combine all of the recordings into one final file.

Marketing

Regardless of your reason for making an audio book, unless it makes money it will be difficult to keep the process going and recording your next book. Therefore it will help a great deal if the author has some kind of following where you know sales are likely.

In most cases, authors on ACX are there because they do not have a large publishing house backing them. Therefore all marketing will need to be done by the author, and possibly you. In fact, this article is written specifically with that in mind, to generate awareness of the book. So blog about it, share it on social media, spread the word and find ways to get sales.

Have Fun

Recording an audio book is a mammoth task but not one that is out of anybody's reach. Therefore, I will say make sure you have fun. Always laugh, during the good times and the bad times, and it will get through it.

Good luck and if you do have any questions on this topic, then give me a shout at amrit@laughingmonkey.tv .

Writing Your Story

Tue, 19 Mar 2019 16:15:45 GMT

In my last article, Anyone Can be a Writer , I encouraged you to write your story. Now, here’s a big slap in the face: There is no such thing as a new story. What? Seriously? Why am I even bothering, then? Yep. But before you leave, hear me out. That doesn’t mean you can’t write your story.

When I was in college, I took a course that was called “Creative Non-Fiction.” People hear that title and think it somewhat oxymoronic. Non-fiction is about facts, truth, history. There is nothing creative about that. Wrong, and this class—and my professor, Fenton Johnson —proved that.

Two Story Types

I could probably write a series of articles about that class, but one of the things Fenton told us was, “There is no new story.” Most of us in that class had a desire to be a professional writer of some sort and, so, needless to say, that statement was a little disheartening. So he clarified. He started off by telling us there are only two story types out there.

1. Man (used in a general sense here) goes on a journey or quest

2. Stranger comes to town

“There is no new story.”

When you think about it, that’s pretty spot on. Think about the last book you read. It’s either about some sort of journey—physical, emotional, spiritual, or otherwise—or the protagonists dealing with a stranger showing up in their lives and creating change—good or bad.

My favorite genres happens to be fantasy and historical fiction, so most of what I read is the journey story. In reality, I cannot think of a fantasy novel that I have read that wasn’t a journey. I did read a historical fiction series call King Raven by Stephen Lawhead that was a “stranger comes to town” type story. It was a different take on Robin Hood , so the stranger(s), you could say, were the Normans .

Two Story Types Equals Seven Story Types

Now I’m just trying to confuse you, right? Nope. I recently came across several articles that talked about the expansion of these story archetypes. Why am I talking about this? Because I think it’s very important for an author to think about what types of story they want to write. One of the biggest mistakes amateur writers make is they don’t plan anything out. They just write. I mean, that’s how the creative juices flow. If I do too much planning, I stifle my creativity.

Well, not really. As I have practiced my writing, I have come to realize that if I plan out a story, outline, have a blueprint in front of me, it actually allows me to be more creative and, yet, stay focused and on task. I now have a goal in sight. What are these story types?

“Legends of the slaughter of a destructive monster are to be found all over the world. The thought underlying them all is that the monster slain is preternatural and hostile to mankind”

— E.S. Hartland, The Legend of Perseus (1896)

1. Overcoming the Monster: Somewhere out there, a great evil has risen to power and I must destroy it.

2. Rags to Riches: The peasant becomes a king.

3. The Quest: I must find the princess, the treasure, the grave, etc.

4. Voyage and Return: The Prodigal Son, Back to the Future, etc.

5. Comedy: Self-explanatory, but in the Greek tradition, the type of humor can be different depending on the story and the genre.

6. Tragedy: Could be a rags to riches tale, but everyone ends up losing.

7. Rebirth: Similar to a Tragedy, but in the end, the hero understands their error and makes a change before it’s too late. Think, It’s a Wonderful Life

I’m hoping one of the things you can see here is that many stories are really a combination of two or three, or maybe all these story “types.” So, when I say there is no new story, I’m not saying don’t bother, because what you want to do has already been done. That may be true. But what I am trying to say is, “How do you create a different take on one of these stories?” People have already experienced a quest, a rebirth, a voyage, etc. What sets yours apart from someone else’s? And, how much do you want to be set apart?

Being Unique

What do you mean, how unique do I want to be? Why wouldn’t I want to be as unique as possible? This refers back to a previous article I wrote. Defining you and writing your story. Your story may involve someone else’s created world. Your story may be a part of someone else’s story. Your story doesn’t have to be completely unique, especially if your goal in writing isn’t to get your work to the masses. People who know you will probably appreciate your story. Those that don’t know you may not, but that’s okay because you don’t care about them. You might be writing to a subgroup within a genre, i.e. lovers of Star Wars or Forgotten Realms, so you’re story exists in an already-created world with already-existing characters. Again, you know who is going to like your work and you don’t really care about the rest.

If you’re looking to make money, get your book into the hands of as many people as possible, and cross genres—which is what my goals are—then you need find your uniqueness. This is where, in my opinion, the real work in writing a story or a book happens. That isn’t to say that someone who writes a memoir or a story in an already existing world or even a creative non-fiction piece is doing great work and isn’t a talented author. However, in order to get people to pick up a book and say, “Wow, I’ve never read a story like this before,” takes a lot of time, effort, imagination, brainstorming, etc.

How an Author Spends their Time

Firstly, if you truly want to be a writer, you must understand that the majority of your work will not be in front of a computer. The majority of your work is done observing, thinking, noting, talking. Then you have to take all these stimuli, all these ideas, understand what other people have already done, and somehow make it coalesce into something new and fresh without losing your own integrity and staying true to your story. Once you have done that, and you write it all down and create your “book,” then you have to edit, decide what you need to throw out (which can be a heartbreaking experience), edit again, have other people read it and endure their criticism.

Secondly, you must read other books in and outside of your genre. You need to know what is out there, what is being read, what stories are being praised and what stories are being criticized. You don’t want to beat a dead horse. I dare say, if you were to write a book about five kingdoms in a land that looks oddly like the island nation of Japan and consisted of warring chieftains vying for the power and affection of the king, who has just recently come to power and unified all five kingdoms, all the while staving off the advances of southern zombies (or even vampires or werewolves for that matter) and prevent the former king’s son—an infant when the king died and now a grown man—who can talk to, oh, I don’t know, dragons, from coming into power, you might be accused of stealing your plot ideas from A Song of Ice and Fire —more commonly known as Game of Thrones . You might admit that you heard someone talking about a similar plot, although you have never read the Game of Thrones books nor watched the movie, but, nonetheless, people would not look at the similarities too kindly. Again, as writers, much of our time must be consumed by reading. Not only must we read to gain inspiration and understand what people are reading, but also so we don’t copy what other people are doing. I know that I, as a reader, can’t stand books that clearly rip off other series and authors and books. Again, we as authors will often times rehash the same stories—the adventure to win a princess, to slay a dragon, to protect the infant prince—but can we do it in a unique way.

Authors Who Have Achieved Uniqueness

So I turn to authors like George R.R. Martin and J.R.R. Tolkien and J.K. Rowling . I turn to authors like Anne Rice and Dean Koontz and Stephen King . Tom Clancy and Robert Ludlum . These are genre writers who have such a unique spin on their genre, that people who normally wouldn’t read anything from their respective genres read their work. They’ve taken the story types, no doubt, and used them in different ways, so much so that people who can’t stand vampire stories will read Rice and people who can’t stand dragons will read Martin and people who hate horror will read Koontz .

You must make your story unique. How? We could literally write a book on how to be a unique write. Actually, that’s not a bad idea. That would be pretty unique. How did I write my stories and how do I make them as unique as possible?

My Story

I was reading and listening to the first book in Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series , The Eye of the World , and at the end of the audio version of his book, there is an interview with Jordan . What Jordan said in that interview literally changed my perspective on fantasy, fiction, and writing in general. He talked about how he created his Wheel of Time series and, one of the biggest mistakes that fantasy authors make, and one he did not want to make, is the simple fact that the journeys and the stories and the plots that we write about are so unbelievable. He wasn’t talking about magic or elves or dragons. He was talking about the fact that you have a man sitting in a bar. A wizard shows up. The wizard tells the man he is going to save the world, and within five minutes they’re off to save the world. In reality, that man would probably buy the wizard a beer, sneak out the back, and tell his friends the next morning he ran into the craziest dude any of them had ever met. That made a lot of sense to me.

The plot of my trilogy, A Chance Beginning , Dark Winds , and Breaking the Flame, was inspired by a desire to write about the unsuspecting hero and the underbelly of society, to do somewhat what Robert Jordan was talking about—to write about a journey that may have never happened. So often, fantasy is about the shining hero. Well, I asked the question, can’t a hero come out of unsuspecting situations and the shunned parts of society? I wanted readers to believe my world and know that I had meticulously researched my world. I also wanted to write something that exhibited humanity. Not all people are good. Not all people are evil. If we include other races—dwarves, elves, goblins, etc.—why should they be any different? So, is it possible that you have a righteous goblin and an evil elf? I think so. Also, many people pick up a fantasy novel and somehow everyone speaks the same language. Well, in Arizona, all you have to do is drive fifty miles south and the majority of people don’t speak English, so why should my world be any different.

These are all things that I think make my novel a little unique and different enough from the next fantasy novel that people would want to read what I have to say.

Hope you enjoyed this weeks article and writing tips. Until next time, HAPPY READING!!!

Anyone can be a Writer

Tue, 19 Mar 2019 16:15:41 GMT

Mystery surrounds writing—all of the arts, really. It seems to be weird dichotomy when people learn or find out that you’re a writer, especially the author of a book, let alone a series of books. They are almost in awe, super excited for you, and can’t believe that someone could actually do such a thing. But then, they are critical. How do you make any money? Do you live on rice and beans? What’s your real job? I tend to focus on the awe and excitement.

People are always enthusiastic and happy for me when they find out I am an author. Everyone always says the same things: “How amazing.” “How do you do that?” “I could never write a book.” “I’m not creative.” “I wish I had your creativity.”

Aspiring Authors

Sacrifice and Hard Work

I am very appreciative of the compliments. Trust me, I am more appreciative than many people might think. I try to stay as humble as possible. Humility produces wisdom, after all, even though I am very proud of being an author and the accomplishment that it represents. I do recognize the hard work and the time and the sacrifice that goes into writing book. I live it. But what amazes me the most is how quickly people are to discount themselves, put themselves down, and defeat themselves before they have even tried something. I see it in sports all the time.

As a wrestling and football coach, I experience kids giving up before they even give themselves a chance. It’s too hard. It’s too time consuming. They just don’t have natural ability. Whatever the excuse, they give up before ever getting started. I didn’t realize that same trend in today’s society applied to the arts as well until I officially became a published author. And all the while, the thing I continue to say to myself is, “Anyone can do this.”

I truly believe that. Like I said, I’m extremely grateful for the congratulations and admiration. But really, anyone could do this. I don’t say this to take away from my own creativity or hard work, but one of our mottos on our wrestling team—and one of my mottos in my own life—has always been, “Hard Work will always beat talent that doesn’t Work Hard.”

Define You

Clearly, not everyone wants to be a writer. So, this is not to say that everyone should be a writer, or that everyone wants to be a writer. This is to say, if you want to be a writer, you can be.

First, let’s define what kind of writer you want to be. That will, of course, dictate what course you take with your writing. I once attended a writing conference put on by Writer’s Digest and the presenter gave us three different types of writers and asked us to decide which one we are.

1. The first type of writer is the writer that simply wants to leave a legacy. This is the person who wants to leave memoirs to their family, create a family tree, or simply get their thoughts onto paper and see it as a book. This writer doesn’t care about sales. This writer doesn’t even care about how many people see their book. It’s all about the accomplishment of writing a book.

2. The second type of writer is the writer who wants to spread a message. This is the writer that has something to say, something important to convey to the world, or a certain group of people. They have experienced something that others have experienced, they have information on important social topics, or they simply want to touch people in a positive manner. This writer does care about how many people see and read their book, but they don’t care about sales. They didn’t write the book for sales. They wrote the book to send a message, tell a tale, etc. They don’t care about how much they make, just how many people read their book.

3. The third type of writer—and the type of writer I am—is the writer who wants to make a living from their writing. They want people to read, and pay, for their work and craft. Now, there is nothing shameful for wanting to make money from your craft. Most authors still have a great story to tell, and they want people to read it. They just want to make money from it as well.

Committing to Commitment

“Desire is the key to motivation, but it’s determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal - a commitment to excellence - that will enable you to attain the success you seek”

— Mario Andretti

So which kind of writer do you want to be? That’s the first step in this writing process. Next, you have to commit. What do I mean by commit? Commit some time—not a ton. Commit some effort. Possibly commit some money—again, not a whole lot. Commit to actually writing your story, whatever that might be. I think—no, I know—so many things don’t get done in our society simply because people won’t commit to something. Fear. Laziness. Other obstacles. Past failures. Whatever it is, you have to commit to writing your story.

What's Your Story

So, what’s your story? It’s interesting how sometimes the worst advice we get comes from our educators. Now, I say that with great trepidation, since I am, myself, a teacher. And, I have received some phenomenal advice from some fantastic teachers and professors. But, when I was in college and studying creative writing, I had several professors suggest that we write about what is commercially desired. If you want to make money, you need to look at what the market desires and then write that.

What terrible advice. From an economic standpoint, of course you would want to provide what the market wants, but you can do that and still write what you want to write about. People will be able to tell if you’re not writing what you’re passionate about. They can tell when you are, for lack of better terms, BS-ing them. Write what you are passionate about.

My Story

I love fantasy. I grew up reading fantasy and sci-fi, watching fantasy and sci-fi, playing fantasy and sci-fi games. I also love history. I knew that if I ever wrote anything, it would be fantasy, historical fiction, or a combination of the two. I have written contemporary fiction short stories—mostly for my creative writing classes in college. They’re good. I’ve gotten pretty decent feedback on them. But it’s not what I love. I have a hard time pouring heart into those stories. To be successful at anything, you have to be passionate about it, right? If you are a teacher, a doctor, a nurse, a plumber, a police officer, anything, you absolutely must be passionate. That’s not to say you’re going to love what you do every day, but if you hate your job or your career, what’s the point? I feel the same way about writing. What’s the point of writing if you can’t write what you love? You love sparkling virgin vampires who hang out with metropolitan, sophisticated werewolves? Then write about them and don’t worry what other people think, just make sure you write the best damn sparkly virgin vampire/metro werewolf story you possibly can.

Employee Satisfaction (%)

Critics vs Good Criticism

You have to ignore critics. I truly believe that no matter what any of us do in life, someone is going to tell us we can’t do it. I mean, would we even have an Olympics if anyone listened to the nay-sayers and do-nothings of this world? Just look at the graph above. Look at how many people aren't satisfied with their job. Do what you love; and do what you think you’ve been called to do, whatever that calling might be. That being said—and I will leave this as the wrap up to my first installment of writing tips—do listen to and pay attention to criticism.

Our Stories, Our Babies

Our stories are our babies. I have children. Some of you have children. We take pride in our children. And when people are critical of them, we get defensive. They are, after all, a part of us.

We have this story, this idea, this adventure, this movie playing in our head and it hurts sometimes when someone doesn’t like it or understand it. But there is probably a very good reason for that. Let me say that most fiction is genre specific, as you may well know, so if you write romance and someone who typically reads mystery tells you they didn’t get your romance novel, they didn’t like it, or whatever else, you might take that with a grain of salt—unless you are trying to cross over into a mystery-romance genre. But if someone who reads a ton of romance tells you they didn’t get your story, you might want to listen up. You don’t have to change your story, but it may be a plot issue or a character issue or a formatting issue. Just like a good parent who would listen to other parents who have great kids, as authors we would want to listen to other authors and purveyors of our genre.

I recently received my first two star review, and I have received several three star reviews. I am not necessarily going to change my story because of them, but they do serve as signals or alerts that there are some people out there that might have issues with my style, my story, my method of writing. One of the worst things we can do as authors is be so stubborn about our story that we are unwilling to listen—in essence, we are deaf—to good criticism, criticism that wants to help us get better.

Again, you don’t want to change your story. That is one of the reasons why I left the publishing company I was with before I self-published. They wanted to change my story. Don’t get me wrong. They gave me some great criticism that changed me as a writer for the better, but I had to be open to that criticism. Remember, you know your story. It’s yours. You live it in your head, replaying it like a movie. Your audience doesn’t know it, but you want them to get to know it, live it just like you. So listen to your audience. Let them help you convey your message and your story as best and most effectively as possible.

Until next time, start writing your story and HAPPY READING!!!

Adams, S. (2014, 06 20). Most Americans Are Unhappy At Work. Forbes.com . Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2014/06/20/most-americans-are-unhappy-at-work/#623c350f5862

Dietrich, W. (2013, 05 04). The Writer's Odds of Success. TheHuffingtonPost.com . Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/william-dietrich/the-writers-odds-of-succe_b_2806611.html

Goldberg, J. T. (2011, 05 26). 200 Million Americans Want to Publish Books, But Can They? Publishing Perspectives . Retrieved from http://publishingperspectives.com/2011/05/200-million-americans-want-to-publish-books/#.V7m114-cHIU

What Makes Me Want to Keep Reading

Tue, 19 Mar 2019 16:15:40 GMT

As my tastes in literature have changed I've noticed that I go less and less for cool looking covers and cheesy fantasy novels to more and more realistic fantasy novels. Not realistic as in the fantasy being gone, but realistic as in feeling like the characters could be real people. What really makes me disgusted reading a novel, any novel, is the author playing God with the characters. Machina Ex Deus is lazy writing and a sign that the author is not serious about the humanness of the characters. And if we aren't reading novels to explore humanness at some level, what is the point? The characters are what drives Game of Thrones for example. These feel like real people put into real situations acting in a real way.

Another thing that turns me off of books is not getting to the point. The Wheel of Time is a great example of this. It started off great, neat world, real characters, high fantasy stuff. Then it kept going and going and going, with nothing being accomplished and whatever the characters did accomplish would seem to be set back with convenient resurrections and new prophecies. This was never going to end. I want my time back.

The above things that pull me into and push me away from a book are hard to quantify just by the dust jacket. I usually only go for books recommended to me by the serious readers that I know in my life. I usually can't stand the copy that is put onto the dust jacket. This is why there are things like GoodReads, and Reddit, and the good ole' fashioned book club.

Brett Lindskog is a good friend of Christopher Patterson and an avid fantasy and science fiction reader as well as a reader of Christian motivational non-fiction.

Two Food Items I Cannot Possibly Live Without

Tue, 19 Mar 2019 16:15:39 GMT

Once again, here is a blog posting that really has nothing to do with writing, reading, fantasy, adventure, fiction. Really, it has nothing to do about anything—except for food. Not only does food keep us alive, but food is amazing, as evident by my expanding waistline. It is delicious. It defines our culture. It speaks to who we are, what we like, our interests. Food can even tell other people how adventurous we are, where we’ve been, what our preferences are. This then, much like our “What three books would you take with you to a deserted island?” is much like those many childhood what if games we all played. My favorite foods, the two foods that I cannot live without, truly define me. But they are not just about my taste preferences. They speak to my childhood. They speak to my upbringing. They speak to my likes and dislikes.

My two foods—Eggs and Cottage Cheese.

Okay, before you gag at my choices, let me explain why these are my choices.

Eggs – first of all, eggs are a super food. They are high in protein. They are high in good cholesterol. They are high in calories, so in a situation where calories are hard to come by, they would be a great source of energy. Unfortunately, eggs have gotten a bad rap over the last three decades. In fact, they whole, low fat dieting craze has demonized eggs, falsely. Scientific studies now show that, in moderation of course, eggs can be a very important part of a person’s diet. Despite all the scientific evidence, eggs were a very important part of my diet. I grew up a vegetarian. Being a vegetarian, I didn’t have very many ways of getting protein. My mom wasn’t a huge lover of eggs, and she is fairly lactose intolerant, so dairy wasn’t readily available in my house. My mom turned to soy based products, veggie dogs, veggie burgers, tofu, etc. for our protein. My grandmother—my dad’s mom—grew up on a farm. She was a meat and potatoes kind of woman. Tofu and veggie dogs were not her thing. So my protein staple at my grandmother’s house was cheese and eggs.

When I started lifting a lot, competing in powerlifting and bodybuilding, eggs became a great source of protein, especially for those cutting periods. Even during wrestling, when I was trying to maintain a certain weight, hard boiled eggs were a staple of my diet. Two or three hardboiled eggs helped curb some hunger, gave me some energy, and didn’t pack on a bunch of weight.

Cottage Cheese – So many people think cottage cheese is disgusting. Its rotten cheese. Curdled cheese. Old cheese. Its got a weird texture. Its watery. But, much like eggs, it’s a super food . Its high in calories, high in protein, and, even though it’s a little higher in saturated fat, the fat in cottage cheese is not completely bad for you. Much like eggs, also, it was a main source of protein for me when I was younger.

Like eggs, when I started lifting heavy, cottage cheese, at 15 grams of protein per half cup, became a ready source of protein, and on the days when I could stomach low sodium, low or non fat cottage cheese, it was fairly low calorie as well.

Why these two together then? Well—and this may sound super gross for most of you—my grandma used to mix my eggs with cottage cheese. The cottage cheese cooled my eggs down quickly and I, still to this day, typically mix my eggs with cottage cheese. It’s amazing. Gross? Maybe. But growing up a vegetarian in the 80’s, when being vegetarian wasn’t very popular and we didn’t have all the meat-free foods we have today, I got used to weird textures.

So, there you have it. A relatively short post about food, my two favorite foods. Every time I eat eggs and cottage cheese, I am reminded of my grandmother and it makes me smile, and makes my taste buds love me.

Thank you for reading my blog. Check out my Author Page at Amazon and as always, HAPPY READING!!!

Do people die in A Chance Beginning?

Tue, 19 Mar 2019 16:15:36 GMT

Why did Christopher write A Chance Beginning?

Mon, 18 Mar 2019 18:09:39 GMT