Odds & Ends

As I think I said before (I'm too lazy to go back and check previous blogs. It happens. A lot), the original intent of the blog was to help promote/explore my writing. Since I've been busy just trying to stay afloat lately, that didn't really pan out. Well, to make up for it (if only to myself), here's a mini-entry on my writing process. Note, I said my writing process. Obviously, everyone is different, and that process is different for everyone. The things that I do won't work for everyone. Hell, they don't even work for me all the time.

I always try to write something everyday, even if it is something I never intend to publish or even finish. Seriously, up until the first Zero book, I never had finished a long-form story. I've written dozens, if not hundreds, of short stories and poems, but I had never completed a book. And following that determination of writing everyday is how that story was born. And trust me, plenty of scraps were left on the wayside as I wrote. Which leads me to my next point...

I'm no longer afraid of editing my own work. I used to hate, hate, hate editing my own stuff. In my mind, everything was gold and worth keeping. It wasn't until I started showing it around to people and, sadly, publishers, that I realized just how shitty some parts were. If there was something I wish I could've learned earlier it is how to self-edit.

My peers, friends, etc. are great at bouncing ideas off of. But not usually family. They usually kind of gloss over when I talk about my work, so I usually skip that route and go straight to someone who I know will give me more honest feedback. So if you have a lot of friends (or even one, really) who read, ask them to take a look. Also, make sure that they're honest with their criticsim and not just looking to fluff you. I mean your ego. Not a lot of work got done on 'Zero' until I found a couple of friends who read it for me.

I write everything in pen on actual paper first. I'm very bad at just sitting at a computer and being able to hammer out a story consistently. There's something very...organic about the feel of pen on paper, and the simile I use is that the words and ideas flow from my head like the ink from the pen. It's corny, I know that, but it works.

That's it for tonight. Like, I said, these things work for me. What works for me won't always work for you, so please, no one quote me as the end-all for writing (I know. Up until that point, everyone stood at the ready with their twitter feeds and their fingers ready to fly).

As a fun little extra, I will say something about Project Zero: Bulletproof that I haven't included in any of the versions floating around: The main character, Lance, was originally going to turn out to be gay, but I thought that had gotten kind of cliche. Yeah, think about that one for awhile.

Buy Project Zero: Bulletproof from Smashwords (also available on the iPad's iBook store):
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/10007