Short Stories With Matt

     So I'm going to undertake a side quest in my epic journey towards publication. Don't worry, Alduin, I'll still slay you, I'm just going to take some time to help out this poor guard who took an arrow to the knee five years ago. Skyrim reference. Move along, move along.

     I'm going to write some short stories. These will be related to the main story of my books. They will enhance your understanding of events, but they will not be necessary to understanding the plot. I'm not going to cause Continuity Lockout, at least, I hope not.

     These stories will center around a few characters, some of whom surface in the main books, some of whom do not. The story will be centered around events mentioned in the book, namely the war in Benfor, and the Wilderness War between the Pathkeepers and the Karad.

     Yes, I'm name dropping to get you a little curious about what happens in my books.

     I'm going to be working on outline work for these stories for now, so you can expect an update on that around Thanksgiving time. Each short story will be about 10,000-30,000 words. I hope they'll be something you can enjoy reading.

That Girl, or, Why I Wasted a Year of My Life and You Don't Have To

     Listen up, it's past midnight, and so I'm liable to talk a little crazy. I've been ruminating over details of my life, and I realized for the first time ever that there is actually something I regret doing.

     Everything you do creates a path that leads you to this moment in time, that makes you who you are today. If you like who you are today, that's a good thing. And I do like who I am today. But there is a very large event in my not-too-distant past that I have taken issue with as of late.

     If you're just starting high school, and have any sort of romantic leanings, let me explain something to you. Sometime over the next four-ish years, you are going to meet an absolutely amazing girl(or guy). It will be love at first sight, and when you actually do summon the balls to ask them out, you will fall head-over-heels for them. 'I love you' will be said far, far, far too early into the relationship. You will get wrapped up in each other. You will be convinced that they are 'the one'.

     You're throwing your life away, your prime years. Run as far away from that person as you can, they are trouble for you. 'The one' does not exist. 'The one' is a delusional fantasy created so that you would bind yourself to a person and become dangerously co-dependent upon them. If you get in a relationship with That Girl, you are going to waste over a year of high school. For me, it was most of my junior year and the very start of my senior year.

     That Girl was bad for me. I couldn't see it because I was so 'in love' with her, but because of her, I allowed my talents and my gifts to stagnate for almost one full year.

     The worst part? From the beginning of the relationship, I heard God tell me to leave her, to break up with her. I heard God say that he had something better. I now know that my foolishness ruined a year of my life. Yeah, I had one heck of a dopamine and oxytocin high, but I allowed this girl to wrap me around her finger, I allowed her to take my focus from God and the use of my talents.

     I sit here and realize I threw a year of the time I was supposed to use to prepare for life straight into the trashcan.

     Don't do that. Long-term relationships have no place in high school. Period. High school years are supposed to be a term of preparation for the real world, not a time to prance around and play house with some chick or some dude who makes you feel fuzzy inside. Grow up.

     Furthermore: high school ruins things. Suppose you do meet someone you are insanely compatible with, shares your faith, and wants the same number of kids you do(ladies, I want none, keep that in mind when trying to get my attention); do you really want to have to endure high school together? If there's one thing that being a minor, having a job that barely pays a thousand a month, and having a buttload of schoolwork to do relationships, it's ruin them. This is only magnified by the fact that most people don't even know who they are yet.

     Young relationships are not a bad thing. Far from it. The Bible is constantly saying 'the wife of your youth'. And youth back then was really young. But if you just look at that phrase, you're missing another point, another key verse. Genesis 2:24- "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh." Hey, guess what? You can't leave your father and mother in high school, you nimrod.

     "But, Matt," you say. "I'm so in love I feel sparkles in my happy place when she/he's around."

     If you're a guy, come a little closer so I can smack you across the face. Love is not a feeling. Get that through your head! Attraction is a feeling. Infatuation is a feeling. Love is the highest commitment to a person that you will place their needs and desires above yours, even unto the ending of your own life. Again, read Genesis 2:24. That's God's description of how dating is supposed to go. Are you a Christian? Are you in high school? Are you in a high school relationship? You're sinning. Get out of that relationship and stop screwing around with your life.

     It's called tough love, deal with it. Stop crying and get over yourself, you'll be a better person for it.

This random late-night post has been brought to you by Monster, the unofficial drink of writers everywhere.

Light

     Light pricked the darkness.

     No legend knows how long that single spot of light shined out of nowhere, no legend tells whether it was bright or whether it was dim.

     The light vanished, for a time. The darkness that had become worlds continued to exist, unsettled by the existence of the light, for the light was a sign of life—that which the darkness had outlasted, that which the darkness had destroyed. The darkness continued to wait, swirling on itself, violent in its stillness.

     Light shone again, this time brighter. As the universe spirals downwards, so it must begin again once it has reached bottom. The darkness shuddered as the light continued to shine brighter and brighter until almost nothing existed save the light.

     The light vanished still again.

     The darkness was disturbed now. It knew that its existence wasn’t forever, that an end to void would soon come. The darkness could do nothing but wait, tensed to smother the light. The darkness heard, as no ear had heard in many thousands of ages, a sound. The sound of a single word, spoken against the void of chaos. In tongues of ages past, that word was known as “death”.

     And so the darkness died, its place now taken by eternal light. Unending, blinding, the light became the universe, shone until nothing save the purest white existed. Energy pulsed in the light, radiating in all directions from everywhere and nowhere at once. Infinite light in every part of the universe. Where once had been the Earth, there was light, where once had been Orion’s Belt, there was light. Black holes that had been swallowed by the darkness were now replaced with the energy of light. Light was all that existed.

     

It was from here that the universe would yet again begin a downward spiral.

Rainfall

     A path in the shadow of mountains. Dirt paved by feet unseen for many years, blackened as the sun dipped low behind the stone wall to end the day. The road stretched on for many miles from north to south. A wind picked up in the east, bringing with it a wall of clouds, too arrogant in posture to yet release their flood upon the earth and turn the path to slick mud.

     The gale whipped through the trees to the east of the road, turning their boughs into a sea that flashed different shades of green as the leaves were twisted this way and that. The foliage rustled, coming alive as the wind tore at it. Thunder rumbled as the clouds drew nearer to the mountain range, to the inevitable clash of nature.

     The warrior quickened his pace along the road south, south to home. The wind buffeted his weary footsteps, and the heavy chainmail in his backpack weighted him oddly. He sniffed the air as the smell of rain grew.

     Lightning flashed from the clouds to the forest, illuminated the darkening landscape and stretched the warrior’s pupils. With a hand to the hilt at his side, he continued along, his worn boots beating out a steady pace. Blood and dirt stained what had once been a lighter shade of hide, but had now become a dark and ugly shade. The warrior looked at the clouds again, almost overhead now, the darkness almost complete as the last rays of sun poked over a peak to the west.

     The wind increased, howling, tearing at his face and hair, pulling him and pushing him. The warrior kept his pace, fleeing from the north, hurrying towards the south.

     The clouds reached mountain range. Sheet lighting cracked in the sky. Thunder boomed, echoed off the mountains and swept across the path and into the forest with a deafening roar. The warrior halted for a moment and peered at the sky, waiting. A droplet smacked against his nose, splashed into his open eye. He blinked and rubbed at his face as more rain followed. The path looked black now, the surface had turned to mud.

     The rainfall turned into a torrent, and a torrent into a deluge, streams racing off the cured leather of the warrior’s pack. His hair clung to his head and his clothes to his body as he set off again, hand ever on the hilt of his sword, head down to focus on keeping his balance as the ground grew ever slicker.

     The lone survivor of the Slaughter at Dumhaven continued through the night, and the storm did not stop.

The Bleak

     Winter turned the blackness of night to a hazy blue and clothed the cabin in a mantle of pure white. A light emanated from the single window, a lamp flickering there. The glow pierced the darkness of the cold night, a tear in the cloak of darkness. It only let one know how alone you truly were in the Bleak. The wind howled, tearing at the senses like brambles at fine clothing, blinding wanderers with ice and snow. The stars could not be seen overhead as the storm began to unleash its fury.

     The blizzard swirled around the hut, all but obscuring the glow of the lamp from whoever may have seen it. One did. The half-mile distance to the cabin may as well have been twenty leagues. The Traveler’s hands were frozen stiff, his thick cloak almost board-like from the ice. Foot after foot he managed to trudge through the snow, his eyes locked on the faint light to the north.

     He had long given up on using knowledge to escape the Bleak. Only years upon years of gathered instincts drove him forward, a whisper in his ear that he was not walking in a circle.

     The light grew.

     The Traveler wanted to spit, but the thought of another icicle dripping from his bearded chin kept his saliva in his mouth. He wanted to wipe his nose, but he kept his hands huddled underneath his cloak, wrapped tight around his body. Only the faintest sensation of cold and wetness came from his reddened face.

     Perhaps only a quarter mile remained. His mind knew the pace he kept, his body did not. The steady beat of his boots into the icy powder ticked away in his head. Another foot, another yard, another span. His mind kept the rhythm. His body grew numb. The light grew in strength. He thought he could see the outline of the cabin now. His mind told him only a hundred yards were left.

     The wind pushed him around, set his course to a stumble. His hands came out form his cloak, he flailed for balance. When he found it, he could not see the cabin. With a desperate slowness, he turned in a circle, looking for the light. He could not see it. Instinct told him north, north, but he could not see north. The stars refused to be revealed, even for the tiniest moment.

     The Traveler spat and another icicle formed on his beard, white as an old man’s from the snow. And then, sure that he could not see the light, the Traveler gave up and sat down to await his death. The blizzard raged and froze him solid.

     When the light of morning brought respite from the storm, he was revealed to be only fifty feet away from safety, yet he would never be found. He would remain one of the many objects hidden under the mantle of snow that draped the Bleak and made it the most dangerous environment in all of Andul.

     That night, another blizzard came, and the cabin was also lost to the world.

Slaughter at Dumhaven

     And the din of war died with one final sweep of blade. One last man fell headless to the earth, blood spewed forth from his neck, spear clenched in a death grip. Years later, legend would call it the Slaughter at Dumhaven. The wind keened like a woman given a stillborn after hours of painful labor. The lone warrior sank to his knees, neither relief nor depression yet able to wash over him, only pure exhaustion. His coat of mail shifted underneath a hard leather cuirass. Both were ripped and stained with the blood of fellow man.

     The field of Dumhaven extended for miles in every direction, stained with the crimson blood of fallen armies. The warrior let out a long breath, his eyes closed. The wind obscured the noise of his lungs as bloody mud wetted his knees. The corpse in front of him still emptied through the neck.

     All around him, corpses lay, twisted and bent like childhood toys thrown into the garbage once the child outgrew them. Bones poked out of limbs like a worm out of the earth, faces were frozen into expressions of agony, horror, despair. Blood pervaded all. Its metallic stench rose to the wind and swept southwards to let all know that the fell deeds were done.

     He could already hear the first crows beginning to descend. In a matter of minutes, this field would become as black as oil, the dead a feast for the living, their eyes the dessert. The knights would be lucky. Covered from head to toe in plates of steel or frost metal, their families would have a face to look upon at the funeral. The warrior saw one such knight two feet from him. The visor of his helm was open. The warrior took a weary hand and slid it shut.

     “I am sorry, my friend,” he whispered.

     The warrior looked at the sky. It grew blacker by the moment, the chorus of the death feast growing louder and louder. Thunder clapped somewhere in the distance and the wind continued to howl. The warrior gathered his last reserves of energy and forced himself to his feast, the hundred pounds of mail and leather dragging on his weary shoulders. Step by step, he moved south, the lone survivor of the Slaughter at Dumhaven.

     The crows feasted.

By No Eye

     Mankind is the race of endurance, for there is no event which they cannot survive. They survived what was called by some the First True War. They survived the Scattering, the day the Earth shattered. Their seed was sown among the stars, among the races of the inky blackness. And still mankind survived, even the pure strain. The universe expanded, light-years upon light-years. Stars died, galaxies were swallowed up. And still mankind endured.

     Mankind endured to the point where the arc of civilization inevitably turned downwards. The great gates between worlds died, cities burned, forests became deserts, and pinpricks of humanity were separated, knowing each other only as alien legend. Life was at its end, and man was clinging to the last bit of hope as one holds to a lover going away on a long trip. Mankind dwindled.

     Great cities on these separated worlds became towns, towns became villages, villages a lone hut in the shade of a mountain. Even wildlife became scarce, on its last legs from the wave of overpopulation’s hunger.

     Then mankind truly lost the will to live. Worlds that had once been a scattering of hermits now only were home to ghost-echoes and rushing winds, empty biospheres in the mantle of space. Even more was forgotten by those that still lived. No one knew the world they lived on was round any longer, no one even knew why winter came and why the spring always followed. No one remembered a newborn’s cry.

     Still they lingered. Their spirits broken, their bloodlines ceased, they continued to exist. Somehow. A man sighting another man was as rare as diamonds supposedly were, but no one knew what a diamond was anymore. There were no children, for they had all grown up the moment they found the urge to kill, yet there was no one to kill.

     And finally, billions of years from when their story had begun, mankind died out. The last of them gave his last breath and laid back to stare at the stars, the stars which had defeated all life.

     And the universe continued to expand. Soon, the shadows between worlds became the worlds themselves. The stars winked out, one by one, turning in on themselves and pulling at the threads of space. Asteroids bounced aimlessly about space, nothing to alter their course where once had been gravity. Now there was only void. There was only darkness.

     The darkness would endure far longer than man ever did. Far longer than the stars, far longer than the planets, far longer than the black holes. The darkness would sit. The darkness would wait. The darkness would exist until what was unknown to any mortal mind came and replaced it.

     The void ebbed. It is the nature of the universe to spiral ever downwards, but what happens when the bottom has been reached? None were living to witness it; none know what happened the moment that light was glimpsed by no eye for the first time in time unsearchable. Perhaps it had been millennia, perhaps a single day.

     And the Light was seen by no eye.

Go For It

I want you close your eyes.

Not now, you dolt. You wouldn't be able to read the rest of this. I'm going to give you some instructions and then I want you to follow them. Start by closing your eyes. Think of something you want to do. Not something like skydiving, but something you want to do and can do within the next 12-24 hours. Think hard. Just one thing. Got it?

Go for it.

Too many of us live in fear of failure. Too many of us live in fear of rejection. Too many of us would rather do nothing than to try.

It's time to step out. It's time to change. Whether that thing is telling someone something you've been hiding from them, whether it's asking that girl out, signing up for a gym, sharing something you wrote...

Go for it.

You have to grab your fate from Fate's grasp, for Fate will never give it to you of his own free will.

Go for it.

Guest Post by Sydney Schwager

My good friend and fellow writer Sydney did me the favor of writing a guest post. You can find her blog here: Let's Be Adventurers. The following prose is written by her and most excellent, in my humble opinion.


“When words are scarce they are seldom spent in vain.” - William Shakespeare

If the above statement is true, then if words are plentiful, then can they be made and used and wasted? Or is that dreams… Either way, words.

I believe words are the support of humanity. Every word has a meaning. They express how we feel and think. They communicate ideas and emotions. Words are pure expression that you can see and hear and, best of all, write! Ah yes, writing. As Matt has already mentioned, writers are insane. I believe it’s because, writers are lovers of words. And look how many words exist in the English language alone! There’s just too many to remember. But, that is what makes the writer crazy. Though there are too many words, and most people are satisfied with just using enough to get their point across, writers try and squeeze every possible word they can into their memories. Especially large interesting words, those are always the hardest to use, and yet the ones we always want to remember. Why are writers so infatuated with words? Well really, writers are obsessed equally with words and people. To a writer, the two are synonymous. See, if words are the support of humanity, then being obsessed with words leads to an obsession with people. You discover that certain people can be described by certain words, or that a word reminds you of a person. You start writing just because you like words but then you start making people out of your words. You begin to create worlds and life and… you can manipulate and sculpt things with your words. And then, you begin to discover new words! You realize the words you’ve been using are rubbish in comparison with these new ones and the power they hold. These new words are more expressive. They communicate the meaning of your old words, but on a whole different level! And eventually you end up with so many words in your vocabulary that you just love to use that whenever you write or talk you end up rambling because you want to fit in as many words as possible… It’s true. I tend to ramble anyways, and since I make a point of expanding my vocabulary, I ramble every time I talk it seems.

If you can ignore the above rambling, this is where it gets serious. I really do believe that words are the support of humanity, but I also believe they could be humanity’s downfall. Words are expression and meaning, right? Well, not all words have a good meaning. And not all words are used kindly. Words can build people up, or they can tear them down. Words can be used to lie. They can hurt people or infuriate them. But the good and bad thing about words is that they stick with you. You can give someone a compliment, and they may remember the words you spoke for forever. Or you could tear them down with your words, and they may end up in therapy because they never really got over what you said. Words always carry meaning and power, whether you think they do or not. So, be careful of what you say. Sometimes this is hard. I know I struggle with it. I’m a communicator (it’s my top strength) so when something comes into my mind, I just say it. I don’t think about what I’m saying or how it will sound, it’ just comes out. I have to be very careful most times, and oftentimes end up apologizing for things that I say.

Writers are infatuated with words. And if they’re smart, writers are also very careful people, because they understand that words are powerful. But let’s face it, most of us are not all that smart either that or we don’t care. So if you ever find yourself talking to someone who either, A) makes animated facial expressions as if talking to themselves, B) consistently contradicts themselves, C) uses words you’ve never heard before and probably never will again (also consistently) or D) who has no problem dropping whatever they’re doing to write down an idea, chances are good that yes they’re insane because they’re a writer! Insane because, with a head full of so much meaning and power that is words, you sacrifice your sanity for the sake of your obsession: words.

Beginnings and Guest Posts

First off. My friend Sydney is going to be doing a guest post for my blog in the near-ish future the 13th or the 14th of October to be exact. You should subscribe to her blog: Let's Be Adventurers. She's got some good stuff there. I certainly enjoy reading it. You probably will, too.

So be expecting that sometime in the next handful of days or so. Known her, I'm willing to bet there's going to be a poem involved.

So, beginnings. What makes 'em good? Quite a few things actually. A beginning needs to accomplish several things to qualify as 'good'.

1. Hook you into the story.
2. Entertain.
3. Set the tone/pace.

I just started on the Dark Tower series by Stephen King. Book one, The Gunslinger opens with this line:

"The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed."

One way to hook the reader is by raising questions. Who is the man in black? Who is the gunslinger? Why is the gunslinger following him, why is the man in black fleeing? If you're trying to raise questions, make the first sentence as loaded as possible. The first line of dialogue in my book Traveler's Chronicles: Book One is:

"Ahoy, human!"

Raises a few questions, that's for sure. Questions make the reader want to keep reading or the watcher to keep watching. And there's your explanation for why you put up with season five of Lost.

The beginning should entertain. Even if there is no action going on, such as a man in black fleeing across a desert, something should happen the the reader's mind can grasp, the imagination can use. Sometimes this will come from the very first line, as in my book.

"All was quiet. The wintry air settled itself upon a mantle of snow that glistened under the starry sky. The stone wall of nighttime silence on the Illaria-Asiderkrauk border was pierced by a hailing."

A description which can capture the imagination of the reader, but isn't too terribly long, is a great way to get them interested, to make the first scene more vivid. Stephen King's descriptions that follow the first line of The Gunslinger certainly do that.

"The desert was the apotheosis of all deserts, huge, standing to the sky for what looked like eternity in all directions."

If that doesn't get something vivid in your head, you might be dead. Or left-brained.

Sorry, I tease.

Onwards, Traveler. Another important job of a good beginning is to set the tone and/or pace. I have not read that far into The Gunslinger at the time of writing this, but I can use another book I have read all the way through to exemplify what I am talking about. Ever read The Hunger Games? The beginning sets the tone pretty well.

"When I wake up, the other side of the bed is cold."

The sentences that follow, follow in the same tone. Stark. To the point. Very quickly, a bleak picture of the local world is set up, as is the quick but intimate pacing of the novel.

Hook 'em. Entertain 'em. Let 'em know how your story will flow.

Do these three things, and your beginning might just be good.

My Relationship With My Characters

Readers, be warned. You're about to have a glimpse into the mind of a writer.

It's a scary place. Writing is just a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia.

My characters and I have an interesting--some would call it abusive--relationship. They are all wonderful people. Or elves. Or goblins. They all have hopes and dreams, a few of them have lovers, a few are tough as nails, and some are pansies. They sometimes enjoy the worlds I create for them.

Right now they're all pissed off at me. See, as a writer, it is my job to put my characters through emotional, physical, and mental hell so that you, dear reader, might have good book to read. My characters do not like this. In fact, there's talk of unionization. I think it already happened with the last incident.

So I'm working on edits, right? Making the book as polished as possible before I send it off to any editor. In the middle, there's a section that feels like something is missing. Can't place my finger on it. Then one of my characters says: "Oh, yeah, there's a civil war going on in this section of the country, because that's the only way to flesh this part of the book out to what you need it to be."

I pimp-slapped him.

But he was right. 10000 words of right. That's what I'm doing right now, adding in about 10000 words to my story in order to flesh out part of the midsection. All because Emakar couldn't keep his dang mouth shut!

The main character hates me with a fiery passion. The crap I put him through is, to me, hilarious. To him it just sucks. I mean really sucks. I tell him it's to entertain you guys, but he never seems to accept that as motivation for pushing through the stuff I throw at him. Instead he moans about lost love or some such nonsense. Pansy.

So there's your glimpse into the mind of a writer. Yes. I am insane. It's the only possible defense against reality.

YOLO?

     This is something that has been on my mind a lot lately. The phrase YOLO means You Only Live Once. 99% of the time, it's used to justify partying, drinking, and teenage crap. It's used as an excuse for irresponsible decisions that can only impact your life for the negative, because, hey, it feels good, and... YOLO!

     The first reason that it pisses me off is because there should be no excuse for wasting your life. Sitting back and letting life happen to you, or worse, helping it drag you down, is not what you were made for. You were made for more than drinking, partying, and sleeping around.

     The second reason that YOLO pisses me off is our soldiers.

     How dare you throw that phrase around, when our boys go into battle, painfully aware that you do indeed only live once? Do you think that they're thinking they have a second chance as bullets rip into their flesh, as the heat from an IDE sears their face, as shrapnel punctures their lungs?

     How dare you live in the freedom those men and women bought by laying down their lives only so you could waste yours? YOLO! Yes. Now make something real of it and stop insulting the men and women of the military and anyone else who has laid down their life so you might have your precious freedom.

Other Projects

Sorry I haven't posted here in a while, I've been busy with the filmmaking side of my life. Hop on over here: Reich Interviews to catch the latest on what I'm up to. Thanks for your support!

-Matt

You Haven't Given Your All

I relate a lot in life to my physical training... Whether that's my time spent under a heavy barbell or the time I spend pummeling my heavy bag or sparring partner, it seems that the physical is often an expression of what lies beneath.

Physical training--tough physical training--can teach you many valuable lessons, chief among them the importance of hard work. When you spend time throwing punches until you're breathing like an asthmatic, or pulling deadlifts off the floor until your hamstrings feel like swollen balloons, you soon begin to understand that today's work grants you tomorrow's proficiency.

It's something that's really hard to understand from the outside looking in. It's hard to understand how the simple act of lifting heavy objects builds character, but it does.

The thing I have done in training that builds the most character is called the Widowmaker. Anyone who's tried this knows exactly what I'm talking about. It's a simple concept, but an insane one. You take the weight that you can lift in the squat ten times, and proceed to lift it twenty times.

It sucks.

It's made possible by resting in between reps and taking a bunch of deep breaths: easier said than done when you have 225 pounds sitting on your shoulders.

Yet this is life.

There are times when the going gets tough. I'm not talking about studying hard for a test, or having to go to bed early for school, or getting grounded. I'm talking about the hailing-so-hard-it-knocks-you-out, wid-blowing-from-all-four-corners-of-the-earth, ground-shaking-beneath-your-feet, crap just hit the fan storms of life that only come once every great while.

Somethings hits you in the emotional balls and you go down.

It's times like those I remember the three months I spent doing Widowmakers. When you got to the bottom position of the squat, you had to will your legs to drive the bar back up. You had to grit your teeth and squeeze your stomach so the bar didn't snap you right in half like a toothpick. You felt the metal dig into your shoulders. You saw your own reflection in the pool of sweat on the floor. You heard that little voice tell you just to dump it on the catch bars.

Then you say 'NO'. You kick your hamstrings into it and practically leave the floor on your way up. One more rep out of the way. Time to rest and go again.

This is how life is. It takes you down and tells you to give up, tells you that you've given enough. Well, here I am saying that you haven't.

I don't care if you've cried blood.

You. Haven't. Given. Your. All.

Unless you are reduced to a mumbling pile on the floor that vaguely resembles a human, you have not given your all. Don't you dare say you've given it everything you've got when there are soldiers fighting for freedom in the battlefields of the world; these soldiers have been ripped to shreds by IEDs, mortar fire, 9mm bullets, knives, nerve gas.

You have not given your all.

The soldier in the veteran's home who has lost the ability to walk because he threw himself in front of a bomb to protect a child has given his all. Not you. Not me.

Am I being extreme? Am I being harsh?

No. You're just being a wuss and looking for excuses. And let me tell you. There are none. I'm not speaking from a flawless platform. Sometimes I quit early. I'm human, and humans are wusses by default.

Get up. Get back in the game. Fight.

You always have more to give.

The Easy Way Out

What is it with self-publishing?

Oh, I'm sure to get a lot of flak for this post. To heck with that.

Self-publishing is generally a bad thing in my opinion. Now, I'm not saying this from the soapbox of a bestselling author--yet--but please try to understand where I am coming from. With self-publishing, there is no 'gatekeeper'. Any crap can get published and spread to the world. Now, that's not necessarily bad in and of itself. Free speech is a good thing. A very good thing. (http://foxnewsinsider.com/2012/07/11/arizona-pastor-arrested-jailed-for-holding-bible-study-in-home-his-wife-says-it-defies-logic/) A very, very good thing.

Tangent aside, the problem with self-publishing is that it encourages a lower standard. I know a decent number of writers. 90% of them have the 'I'm not good enough' syndrome. They always talk about how hard it is to get published, how hard it is to even get a manuscript read, etc. Before self-publishing, that was it. If you didn't have the balls to put the work in, you didn't get published. End of story.

But now, those writers who are convinced you must acquire an entire flipping room full of rejection letters before you get published have an easy way out. Instead of actually putting the blood, sweat, and tears in so that they can have a book on a shelf at a bookstore(or online at Amazon...), they can write a single draft and throw it out at the world.

It's not the throwing anything out that's the problem, it's the weakness it encourages. It encourages the 'getting published is too hard' attitude. Getting published is a badge of honor. Badges of honor must be earned. Getting self-published is the same as running a blog. Anyone can do it, so there's nothing special about it.

So, if you are a writer, I encourage you to not get self-published. Go the traditional route. Yes, you will have to work your butt off. Yes, you will probably cry at some point along the way. But you're a writer! Grow a pair and fight as long as it takes to get published. Hone your craft.

You won't regret it.

Foresight

Foresight. And no, not the actual I-have-a-vision-from-the-future type of foresight. I'm talking about the ability to look at the situation you are in and see all possible ramifications of it. I have that ability. It's a wonderful thing to have, especially when you're a writer.

But it malfunctions. When I really need it. If I'm writing, I can juggle complex political systems in order to steer the plot in the exact direction I need, keep track of the names of five different squires, and remember the bloodlines of three different dragons. I can see exactly how this should interact, and the different factors that could make it turn out differently. But when I need this ability in real life?

It goes down the drain.

I think this might be because of distancing. When you're in the thick of something, it's hard to see it in a big-picture format. But when you're the almighty puppet-master of your book's world... It's a little easier to see how things branch out.

So I Owe A Post

I sort of disappeared once I started editing. A lot has happened since then... But I haven't finished editing. I'm in round two of edits, which is where I have my beta readers hone in on all my plot holes that I'm sure I've overlooked. Fortunately, initial reports have been good. This makes me happy.

I've heard that blog posts are supposed to go rather long, but I'm not one to do that. Frankly, I like to be frank. Life is short, and if you can't say what you mean quickly, you're already one step behind. As a writer, as a director, as anything, saying what you mean quickly is a good thing.

So say what you mean. Or else someone could get hurt. That is all.

I'm Done

As of today, I have finished the final draft of my novel. Now, that doesn't mean there's no editing to do, but I have the plot the way I like it and the time has come to do a quick edit before I ship it off to my beta readers. This has me excited like you wouldn't believe!

That being said, my right brain is a pile of goo right now (I wrote about 15k words in the past 3 days, 7500 of that being on one day), and so even writing this post is a challenge. I think it's time to take a few days (hopefully a full week) off to relax, and then come back to my draft with fresh eyes to edit before I send it off to my beta readers.

This is not the end of the journey. In fact, it is only the beginning.

The Big Finale

     The end is near. The end of my story, that is. I have come a long ways since the start of this year, about the time when I really dug in and started working on finishing my final draft. I have somewhere in between 5-10 chapters left to write, and I intend to get those written within the next handful of days. Yes, that is about 10-15k words.

     But hey, why not?

     After I finish, I will be taking a break from my story. For one whole week, I won't even look at my outline. Then, I shall begin the painful process of editing in order to get it publishing worthy by summer.

    Wish me luck, this is where the real work starts.

T- T is For Telling

     Telling. Don't do it! What is telling? Well, here's an example:

     Jakko walked across the green and told Thaimis that the army was en route.

OR you could SHOW...

     Jakko sprinted across the field, then pulled to a halt in front of Thaimis. He took a brief second to catch his breath, then spoke: "The army is en route."

     See the difference? Whenever possible, describe the action, don't give an account. Granted, there are exceptions...  You don't want to describe every second of a thousand mile journey between two countries, nor do you want to describe your character's morning routine every time he wakes up.

     That being said, opt for showing whenever you can. It makes for a better read.

S- S is For Secrets

     Secrets. Gotta have 'em. I'm not talking about turning your book into a mystery or crime drama when it originally was a fantasy. No... I'm saying that one of the ways to add depth to your characters is give them secrets. Also, give them motivation to keep those secrets from each other. This will create... wait for it... Conflict! And Conflict is king, so make some of it.

     The only hard part of the secrets game is keeping track of who knows what and who thinks what. The best idea I've heard is to keep a notepad with some sort of table on it right beside your computer, and make little notes as you go as to who knows what and how much. Right now I'm working off of my head because I didn't start said notebook early enough, but let me tell you, a notebook sure would be handy right about now...

     So learn from my mistakes. When giving your characters secrets to keep from each other, use a notebook to keep track of them.

R- R is For Research

     Research. How do you do research for sci-fi and fantasy? Simple. By knowing your world. Knowing your world can be as simple as keeping track of all the 'rules' your characters encounter and then keeping them consistent, or it can be as complex as advanced map-work, creating languages, and developing histories and political systems. For me, it's somewhere in between. While I don't really go so far as to create whole languages with grammar mechanics and pronunciation guides, I do like to have an idea of the layout of lands.

     Here's some of the things I like to know and keep track of:

1. Maps. I need to know the exact layout of a country. OCD thing, maybe.
2. Political systems. This affects everything. I need to know how much power the King has, how much governors and mayors have, if there's a caste system, etc. Pretty much the framework for every country you have.
3. Magic system. If there is science or magic in your book, it needs to be consistent. If a character needs ammo for a spell, then you better not have him ever cast it without ammo. Likewise, if a ship engine can only cover so much distance in one go, keep that consistent. Your readers will thank you by not bringing it up at every conference you go to.

     This is the extent of my world building. I try and get most of this figured out beforehand, and then modify it as I go... The only rule is that everything has to be consistent.

Q- Q is For Quitting

     Don't do it.

     When you stepped onto the path, you knew that the journey would not be easy. Therefore, why do you hang your head when the rain falls and thunder rolls, why do your footsteps falter when the valley floods? You knew what you signed up for. You knew it would bring fear to your heart, tears to your eyes, sweat to your hands, and blood to your skin. You may be in the middle of the journey, but that is not license to quit. Before you began you saw the destination and said that it was worth it. Lift your eyes up now and see what you began in pursuit of and know that every tear, every drop of blood and sweat is worth it. You can win this. When you've fallen in the mud, and you can't seem to get up, look where your headed, dig down deep and force yourself to your feet. You're a warrior, and life cannot, will not, never will get you down unless you give it permission. When you fall, come up swinging, come up swinging hard. Soon the journey will be over and you will be home. You will be glad for every step you took, every pain you endured. Then will you look back and know that the journey was worth it.

     Don't quit. 'Nuff said.

P- P is For Prologue

     Prologues. It seems people either love 'em or hate 'em. I love 'em. How come? Well, I'll tell you. Otherwise I wouldn't be writing this post.

     A prologue is an excellent tool in the arsenal of a writer for one good reason: You can set up your world, hook your reader, and give an idea of the general direction of the plot. And then you can jump into a slower-paced first chapter without the massive risk of losing your reader after page 1. If they're hooked and wanting to know why the dude in the shiny black helmet choked the crap out of the pilot and captured the girl in white, then they'll be willing to put up with all sorts of whiny-ness from your farm boy main character just so they can get to the 'good stuff'.

     In my humble opinion, a prologue that starts with the main character is--usually--a prologue wasted. Your main character will not--most of the time--start directly in the middle of the action. As such, you want your prologue to show someone who is. Maybe their wise future mentor who's going to turn them into a machine of magical butt-kicking, or maybe the snarky lancer who winds up being just boss enough to push them over the edge and into victory come the final battle. Perhaps you want to start with an elven princess transporting a valuable 'jewel', only to get kidnapped by a really, really nasty dude(s).

     Prologues will also set the tone of the book. If it's going to be an epic, the prologue will need to be a bit more grandiose than a tightly-focused story about a small town. If your book is going to be gritty, then let the prologue convey that; we don't want a mother to pick up what she thinks is a 'nice fairytale book' for her 9-year-old son, only to find a witch-burning, a beheading, and a gory torture scene all within the first six chapters. Sweet dreams, kids.

     When it comes to hooking the reader, here's how you do it. On the first page include action, a mystery, or a very, very tense situation(remember Conflict?). Mission accomplished. Not quite that simple, but you get the idea. Also: You want your readers to have questions at the end of the prologue. By the end of that bit, you want them starting a betting pool on whether or not you can deliver one the promises you make to them.

     The prologue is the best place to drop Chekov's Guns. If you need the gun to go off in Chapter 12 that your main character is part of a prophecy, then have someone in the prologue mention a prophecy and people thinking it's close to being fulfilled. One thing that you can do that is rather risky is this: You can set up series-long Chekov's Guns/arcs in your prologue. Why is this risky? If poorly handled, people will think it's an aborted arc and you are a crappy writer.

     If you start an arc or place a Chekov's Gun in your prologue that won't pay off until a sequel, keep it fresh on your reader's minds. Do not fail to mention it for the rest of the book. Find a way to assure them that you still hold that thread. If they see that the thread is actually being followed, then when the book closes with 'To Be Continued', or whatever words you choose... They will not think that you just dropped them on an island, promised them mystery and adventure, then brought them to a sorry excuse for a series conclusion that didn't even answer any questions, like "WHERE DID THE POLAR BEAR COME FROM?!" Sorry.

     Point is, try a prologue, but remember: readers have long memories.

O- O is For Outlining

     Talked about it before, but let's go more in depth. Outlining is an incredibly useful tool in the writer's arsenal that can save a major amount of trouble when you're sixty-thousand words deep into the belly of your plot. How do you outline? It's quite simply.

     You know how when you write, it's more letting the words flow than thinking? At least for anyone like me? Well, outlining is the opposite. You aren't really describing anythings, you're just bullet-pointing the important bits. Like your main character moving to a new country, meeting an important side character, etc.

     Some people like to outline on the computer, I prefer paper--it feels more hands-on. A sample would like something like this:

Prologue:

1. Talkan travels to ________
2. ______ runs into ________
3. Talkan __________
4. They discuss the signs that have been happening
5. They leave for ________

Yes, that is actually my prologue, just heavily censored to prevent spoilers. Point is, outlining will help you craft a master plot. Give it a try.

N- N is For Non-Linear

     Let me ask you a question. What, in real life, is ever linear? Not a whole lot. Same should be with your stories. Not that you have to have your character run freaking everywhere to find a new outfit, but all outline-worthy problems should have a degree of non-linearity to them. The bigger the problem, the more work it should take to solve it. Bonus points if you can cause each side trip to relate to another problem in the story.

     A prime example of this is the thread of the love plot in, say, a fantasy epic. The love story most certainly is not brought up in every scene. Most, maybe, but not all. Each time it's brought up, something is solved and more complications are brought up... Prince Charming finds her tower, but she's not at home right now. Unfortunately, the dragon is. Get the idea?

     This all stems from the magical word: Conflict. As an author, you are the living embodiment of Murphy's Law to your characters. The more complicated you make their problems--assuming you can weave it all to a meaningful conclusion--the better story you're going to have. Another example...

     If you have an epic battle, please don't let it get resolved in one chapter, especially if it's the final battle. Take your time with that stuff. Full on medieval offenses do not finish in one paragraph. It takes a lot longer than that to muster 500 infantry into a charge against a castle wall, especially when you take the archers and boiling oil into account.

     I used to have this problem myself. Battles are fun to write, but being the minimalist that I am, they would often get over far too fast. Like I said, non-linearity will help you here. Cause complications for every tactic. If your hero is trying to scale the castle wall to take out the general, then have him run into at least a couple guards, and have his scaling equipment be a little sketch. And certainly don't make every attack successful. A battle isn't a straight win or a straight loss. It ebbs and flows.

     Keep these things in mind as you are plotting. Your story will benefit greatly.

M- M is For Malvolio... M- Why, That Begins My Name!

    This is going to be a completely off-topic post, but here goes: I do theatre. It's fun, it's a hobby of mine that I've been involved in since before high school. I've learned a good number of things from theatre, so I'll attempt to list them here.

1. You can't practice if you don't know what you're practicing.
2. Just because it looks like chaos, doesn't mean it is.
3. Sometimes a little yelling is necessary.

     Each of these can apply to writing. Ha! I got back on topic. Take that, ADD! Right, where was I? Anyway...

1. Take time to learn your craft. If you just write, yeah... Eventually you'll get better. But your efforts will be compounded if you read a some books on writing. A couple of good ones to start with would be 'Story' by Robert McKee and 'Plot versus Character' by Jeff Gerke. Those two books very much helped my writing, more so than just about any other book I've read.

2. When you're in the middle of things, it might feel a little messy. That's good. It means your characters have lives of their own. Keep that outline on hand and the end in sight, then when you step back, your 'chaos' will be a intricate tapestry of fiction.

3. Conflict. If there isn't conflict, you don't have a story. 'Nuff said.

L- L is For Linking

     Linking. That is, linking events. You have to do it. Well, you don't have to, but it sure helps your book be awesomer. Linking covers everything from bringing a situation full circle to foreshadowing. Essentially, it is the art of making your book feel connected.

     The best writers make even the most tangled web of plots and subplots connect together to make a story. How do they do this? Outlining. Nothing helps you plan your story like outlining. I used to just go at it, but I've found myself outlining more and more lately. Try it. It helps.

K- K is For Kill-Off

     Ah, the kill-off. Nothing can anger more readers or make them read on like the kill-off. A time honored technique, it can be used to great effect in the right hands and disastrous effect in unskilled hands.

     If it's a major character you're killing off, this can serve as motivation for the main character--Obi-Wan killed by Vader, Luke really has to man up now--or the ending to an installment to saw 'screw you' to Fox give it a bittersweet factor--Hoban Washburne dying in Serenity. Minor/smaller characters dying off can either be very much played up--think something along the lines of Rue's death in the Hunger Game--or a catalyst at the beginning of your book/script--Batman Begins would be a good exampe.

     However, make no mistake that just because your character that you kill off is minor, that they can just be a background character. If the kill-off is to be more than an extra dying in a fight scene--like if our heroes storm the throne room and kill some random guards--there must be an emotional connection if you expect to cause it to affect your readers. Otherwise, the person is officially a Red Shirt. Just sayin'.

     All that being said, use the kill-off sparingly. Don't be like 24.

J- J is For Just Enough

     As a writer, you walk a fine line. The line of Just Enough. I'm not speaking on particular subject here. I'm talking about everything. Adjectives are great, but too many and your writing becomes bogged down. Too few and it seems a little bland. Same with description. Same with just about anything.

     Now, there is no magical level of ingredients--20 adjectives per chapter, 10 lines of dialog per page, etc.--that you can find. Just Enough depends on your voice. You have to find your voice, the intangible facet of your writing that makes it yours.

     When you find your voice, then you will know what Just Enough is.

I- I is For Interest(The Love Kind)

     Why do heroes and heroines have love interests? Well, I was originally going to say it's similar to the 'escort quests' in MMORPGs, and it's just because the developers are lazy and need more filler content to make the game more challenging, but that's not entirely true. Love interests are a great source of conflict, motivation, and filler content subplot. They can be central to the story, minor to it, or grow over the course of several books. The love interest can be a good thing or a bad thing--or a complete mystery to which it is (see Sam and Ruby from Supernatural).

     Getting your hero to fall for someone is just a matter of figuring out what he wants in a lover, and then creating a character that will actually help the plot along who conforms to that. But watch out... don't create cardboard characters just so your hero can have a damsel in distress. And please, oh please do not let the love interest ever fall prey to the 'Standard Female Grab Area'. If you do that, I will find you and force you to rewrite the scene. No one is going to cry foul if the bad guy punches the girl into unconsciousness. He's a bad guy. He does things like that.

     Getting off subject here. Love interests are a good thing to throw in the story, but don't do it unless the love interest provides a legitimate addition to the story. No cardboard lovers, sorry.

H- H is For Heroics

     I'm going to go out on a limb and say that you want the hero of your story to do heroic things. Even if he/she is an anti-hero, you want them to save that village from burning to the ground because, hey, it's cool. Well, I hate to break it to you, but heroism must have a motivation, especially for a main/major character. Even if the character is a support character, and his reasoning is never mentioned, you must know why he is so heroic so that he can be believable... Not a 2D action hero.

     Batman, for instance, has a private war against crime, because criminals killed his parents. Sam Winchester signs on to be a Hunter again because it appears that Yellow-Eyes killed his girlfriend--in the same way that he killed Sam's mom. Malcolm Reynolds signs on to save the 'Verse because, well, he just flat out hates the Alliance. Oh, and they killed a bunch of his friends. Nick Burkhardt signs on to the whole Grimm gig because his beloved aunt died of cancer and 'complications', and passed the legacy on to him. Bilbo steps out the door because he's part Took, dangit, and that's what Took's are apt to do.

     See the pattern? All the good heroes have something in their past/the first few chapters of the book/movie/TV show that burns inside them... Makes them do what they do and gives them a fiery passion to do it with.

     So give your hero some motivation, and see just what can happen.

G- G is For Goals

     There is nothing more helpful than setting your goals. 'Fire, ready, aim' doesn't really work that well. For me, I always manage to try to write at least 1000 words a day. Hopefully more like 3000. To be honest, some days that just doesn't happen, but it at least keeps me on track and feeling uncomfortable if I'm slacking off.

     I've been told some people don't work this way, but it helps me.

     Another type of goal you need to concern yourself with is the goals of your characters. They all must--at least, the main ones--have very clearly defined goals and motivations for said goals. Without goals, there and can be no conflict, and without conflict, there can be no book. The more specific the goal, the better. Something like: "Find fame and fortune" doesn't work... Well, not unless you have a really, really, really strong motivation, but we'll get to that later. Something like: "Find where I belong" is a good start, but narrow it down to... "Do I belong amongst the men or the elves?"

     See where this is going? A broad goal is great to start with, but whittle it down to a focused point. Once you have your character's goal, you will be able to create conflict, and once you can create conflict, you can create a story.

F- F is For Failure

     Failure is necessary in good fiction. If you get the sense your characters are strolling down the road of life with flowers being tossed in their path, something is wrong. Your character's journey should feel like trying to navigate a mountain road in the middle of a severe thunderstorm, while carrying a lightning rod and trying avoid the lightning.

     Let's think of a new character. We'll call him Jack--because all good male leads are called Jack--and say that he's 30 years old, unmarried, and captain of an Angerthan-Class star-frigate. Yeah, I right sci-fi, if you didn't get the memo... Jack is in love with a girl. We'll call this girl Jill.

     Jack is stationed in the LL Sector of the Terra Realm, a couple lightyears away from where Jill is, living on Civilization's Jewel. Now how would the story be if Jack's tour got over, he got back to Civ's Jewel, found Jill, asked her to marry him, and she said yes?

     That would be a boring story. So, for the sake of Conflict (check out Day 3 of the challenge), we'll throw in some space pirates, because pirates are good (if you get the reference, you are awesome). These space pirates attack the frigate just as they're about to make the jump home.

     Failure #1: Just as Jack was about to head home and be reunited with his girl, Conflict rears it's beautiful head and says: "Sorry, pal, not just yet. I think the author wants you to have your soul ripped to shreds by forcing you through all sorts of awful situations go on some sort of inner journey or something." We're going to be particularly evil to Jack and have the attack of the pirates throw the worm-core calibrations off, meaning that when they do make the jump, they land on the wrong side of town.

    Through a tragic series of events, Jack is forced to fail and fail and fail yet again, until about 2/3 of the way through the book, where he starts to succeed. Now, I'm not saying he can have no success before this point, but I am saying that the major goals should not be accomplished yet. As you near the home stretch, you can start to build towards Jack's success at his goals. A little victory here, a little victory there, until--finally--Jack kicks the Big Bad in the teeth.

     If you want a great example of this--certainly better than the one I contrived in the space of 30 seconds--go on Netflix and start watching Supernatural. I swear I have no affiliation with Eric Kripke, but there is no show I have seen that weaves a better plot. Watch it with a a writer's eye and notice how well the characters arc, how they are forced through failure time and time again, and how everything builds perfectly to where they kick the Big Bad's teeth in. For the sake of spoilers, I won't say who it is. I'll only say that Yellow-Eyes is small potatoes.

     Seriously, watch Supernatural. That show taught me a lot about writing good arcs.

E- E is For Efficiency

     Efficiency is everything with writing. There is no reason you should describe something with 500 words when 50 covers it just as well. It's not that prose is bad, it's just that in today's market, speed is the name of the game. Why read a book when you can watch a movie? That's what you're up against.

     You must keep everything on point. Long, flowery description doesn't work. I'll go watch the nature channel if I want to see all that. Same with dialog. Speeches may have been fine in Ayn Rand's day, but now the only situation is if the character is rousing an army for battle. Even then, keep it pithy.

     Yes, this post is short. Look at the title.

A Quote From My Book

"If you're not comfortable with your butt being wet, you're not made out to be a Traveler."

D- D is For Destruction

     Oops. I forgot to post yesterday. My bad. As a result, you will get two posts, one in the AM, one in the PM. Sound good? Here goes.

     Destruction is a key element of good fiction, at least, in my opinion. I'm not talking about the catastrophic razing of cities. I'm not talking about the apocalypse. I'm talking about the destruction of your characters. If you want to write a good, soul-wrenching story...

     Take a character with a very strong stance (A). Set him up against a character of the opposite stance (B). Start throwing all the horrible situations you can think of at A, but here's the catch. Each situation must be designed to make him reconsider his position. Bit by bit, twist and turn him until at some point in the story, he is the exact opposite of what he started as.

     A good example of this is Star Wars. Anakin started out as a good Jedi with noble intentions, but by the end of the first three (yes, the first three. I'm an EU'er, and unrepentant of it, so if you have issues with George Lucas' tweaking of his story, go whine about it somewhere else), he had become a Lord of the Sith.

     Another prime example is Season One of Supernatural--all the seasons are good, but this is the example that doesn't take multiple seasons to come to fruition. Yes, Eric Kripke apparently plans that far ahead. Point being, in Ep. 1, Sam says to Dean that what they're doing won't change anything because 'Mom's dead'.  Dean slams him against the wall and tells him to never talk about her like that.

     Cue the finale episode of Season One, where the exact opposite happens. Sam has become the obsessed Hunter, getting revenge on anything supernatural, and Dean is the one telling him to pull out of it because 'Mom's dead'. Guess who gets slammed against the wall this time?

     The point is, take your character's ideals, their values, and destroy them. Or at least attempt to. Then maybe repair them if your publisher refuses to let you end the series on such a down note you're feeling kind.

C- C is For Conflict

     Conflict. Conflict is what your book must be based upon. Conflict is the basis of all plot. What is conflict? Conflict is when two people with opposite goals or similar goals but opposite routes meet together and one of them has to give for the other to acquire what that person wants. Sound complicated? A wants X. B wants Z. For A to X, B has to not get Z. For B to get Z, A has to not get X.

     If you have a story idea, you need to figure out how you can generate conflict in the world of that story. Because story is conflict, you need conflict. Oh, want an example? Sure thing.

     In my story, the main character, Jakko, falls in love with a girl. Note: Jakko is a half-elf, and in the country he is in, there is an elven clan dedicated to killing half-elves. You have been backstory-ized. Jakko is traveling with this girl to her city, but when her father finds out that Jakko is a half-elf, his desire to keep his daughter locked in a tower until age 30 protect his daughter from that elven clan rears up... Conflict.

     Please note my book is not a love story, and this is a minor sub-plot compared to the main arc. Please believe, I would not write a romance novel. I'm not that type of guy.

     Back to our regular broadcasting. Where was I? Oh, yes. Conflict. You need conflict in your novel. End of story.

     Yes, I have been known to make the occasional pun.

B- B For Beginnings

     Beginning. Everything, with the exception of one, has a beginning. Genesis is another word for beginning and sounds more epic and all around awesome-er. Every story has a beginning, with the possible exclusion of Memento, but I'm not going to get into that--I don't want to break my brain by thinking about it too hard. There's an old Chinese proverb that says: "Every journey begins with a single step". Wise words.

     When you begin a journey (writing a book, lifting weights, getting to know that one girl you really like), there is a definite moment in which you can say: "That's when all of this began, that's when things changed". Sometimes that moment is hidden.
   
     An example of this would be my book that I am almost finished with. I'm on the third/fourth draft. It is so different from draft uno that I have a hard time tracing the actual genesis. I spent about 30 seconds in between that last paragraph and this one, and I have figured out the 'real' genesis of my book, the moment it became all that it is now. I was sitting in a panel at the Omaha Film Festival that kind of sucked. So I decided to brainstorm. Within an hour and thirty minutes, I had turned my story from a one-nation war into a fantasy epic involving a war between... I'm getting ahead of myself.

     The point I'm trying to make here is that you need to take that first step. Go do it, get out there. Seize the moment. Write that first chapter or prologue. Pick up that barbell. Ask that girl out to Winter Formal coffee. The worst thing that happens is you die horribly, and let's face it, how likely is that to happen?

     Don't Google the statistics. It's very discouraging.

And The Letter of the Day is A- A For Aggression

Aggression is a lost art. Aggression can be a very bad thing. For example, being aggressive towards your boss will get you fired. Being aggressive towards a child is wrong. However, there are times when being aggressive is very, very beneficial. To use writing as an example, there are times when you're feeling writer's block, when you're feeling lazy, when you just don't want to write anything. If you can summon your aggression to overcome that block, that is a very good thing. Personally, to get aggressive, I don't have to go to my 'angry place'. Not usually. All I have to do is tell myself to shut up for once, and then just set myself to the task I need to do. The aggression will come naturally. That could be because I'm a guy, I like challenges, and lift heavy things on a regular basis, though... One thing that will help if I just cannot get aggressive is music. It can't be calm music like the Decemberists or FM Static or Yo-Yo Ma. It has to be loud and stirring: Hans Zimmer, Theocracy, For Today, or any action movie score are great examples. That being said, aggression must be controlled. Using it against people is never a good thing. Using it to overcome tasks is.

A to Z Blogging Challenge

     Okay, so to kick this blog off, I'm doing the A to Z Blogging Challenge. That's right.