God, I’m a dumbarse sometimes.

Literally, I could kick my own arse today. I went to sort through all my new story idea notes and realised I hadn’t numbered the pages or even labelled them as to which stories they belonged to. So no I have around two hundred pages I have to go through and figure out what goes where. What a fricken rookie mistake to make, and I can’t even blame anyone but myself.

I still can’t figure out how to insert a picture into my posts now that WordPress has updated itself on me. I hate it when I can’t figure things out. It’s annoying the hell out of me, and it’s probably something simple that I’m doing wrong, or overlooking. I’ll figure it out eventually – Hopefully.

Settings

Getting the setting right for each story is one of the main things you have to do. When I first started on Admetus Gaea 1: The Gaean Prophecy I had to figure out a whole new world. I even had to figure out their language and some other stuff before I could begin writing. This is but one of the continents on the world of Admetus and is basically where the first book is set.

I worked on this world on and off for many years before I ever wrote and submitted the story for the first time. I’m very attached to the place and the beings who live on this world.

My niece Leigh W even helped me come up with designs for flags for each of the tribes, packs, clans etc. She even helped me work on things like what they imported and exported. not that any of this made it into the book, but I had it for my own personal use if I needed it. We did all of this way back when we were both in our 20’s→ I’ll be turning 51 this Sunday coming up. Weirdly, I first came up with the concept for This book when I was 12 years old. It’s just one story that would never let go.

Okay, I’ve gotten off track. What I was trying to say is, when you think about starting a book. You should take the time to think about where it’s going to be set and write yourself out a detailed description of the where and the when. So when you need it you can always go back to it for reference. This is especially handy if you are not particularly familiar with the setting of your book. I don’t do it for the stories that are set in and around the area in which I actually live, because I know them well enough to note need notes→ though I do make note of all the businesses I use both real and made up, so I can re-use them in following stories if set in the same general area.

Picture files.

I have a lot of pictures that people have sent me, or that I have just collected over the years where I thought the person might make an interesting character. Usually, I have no clue who they are. Unless the people who send them to me gives me a name to go along with the face, or if I’m the one collecting the picture happens to find the name to go along with the face, I’m left pretty clueless. The other thing for character inspiration it might not be the whole face. Like this guy for example. For me, I liked the colour of his eyes and the shape of his beard. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a pretty good looking guy, but for the character I’m working on, I’d need to change a lot about him

Other things I collect pictures of are buildings because they are useful when trying to set up where my stories are set. take for example this one, could be set in the far distant future where a great tragedy has befallen the human or alien populace, and nature has decided to take back over the planet. I keep all these pictures in files on a hard drive because I never know when I might need them.

Other things I might collect photos of are animals, such as creatures that could be used as shifters, or weapons used in fighting, or clothing that any of my characters might wear.  I honestly think it’s easier to keep these things on hand for future reference.

I know it sounds like I keep harping on about taking notes and keeping files etc… but it really is worth it, if you take the time to give it a go. Go on, try it for a couple of months and see if it could work for you. I bet you won’t be disappointed.

New story ideas.

When I have a new story idea I like to write everything out in longhand and keep it all in a folder that I can get my hands on when I need it. I also type the notes up and keep them all in a file in my dropbox and as well on my external hard drive, so I never lose them for when I want to use them at a later date.

I think I have mentioned before I sign and date the long-handed copies so I remember when I first had the ideas. This sometimes will bring back the memories of what was going through my head at the time of what was going on with me when I was first coming up with the whole initial story idea.

Also if I have any character or place inspiration at the time I will insert pictures into the files I have on the computer and hard drive so I have a visual reference at a later date. I find this always helps me. Also if I have a very strong opinion about a character I will fill in one of my profiles, and add that to the file as well. The more information I have on hand when I need it the better.

It’s taken me a long time to get into better work habits when it comes to my writing. I wish I had have been smarter at the beginning. I hope some of my wisdom as weird as it might seem at times helps even just a little bit.

Making a diary

Actually, I just bought a cheap one from the dollar shop to keep track of my writing. I believe if I see something written in black and white, then I can better track of where I’m at, and what I’m working on. I can also mark down when I get edits and when I send them back. when I submit books. When I sign contracts, or even if I get knocked back and what they say to make the story better for resubmitting.

The book doesn’t have to be the prettiest, as you can always recover it to your own liking. I probably would have, but right now it isn’t a priority, and I haven’t found a picture I want to put on the front yet.

Getting back to what I was originally saying if you are having problems staying on track writing then I really suggest you get a cheap diary and start making notes and deadlines for yourself to help you get things done. Most of my stuff is worked out on a 2K a day plan.

Family Trees

The House Of Marsden

This is just a quick piece showing you one of the family trees I’ve worked out for the Marsden family. I’m constantly tweaking it when I realise I’ve screwed up royally. So don’t take it for a fact that this is how it will stay. As I haven’t checked it in a while, and it is probably due for another going over. But hopefully, it will give you an idea of how I keep track of just one of my series.

I hope all these little tidbits of information are useful to the way you go about getting your own writing set up.  If there is anything you want to know, drop me a line and I’ll answer you if I can. If I don’t know the answer I’ll ask someone else and get back to you.

More Inspiration.

Sometimes the best inspiration comes from the music I’m listening to. Though in all honesty, I rarely listen to anything as I actually write. I prefer to write in silence—without outside distractions.

I get a lot of my book titles from the lyrics of different songs. Like when some in a song repeatedly sings, ‘I’m not okay‘ that to me screams new story idea. Even when someone starts off a song with the words ‘Hello Darlin‘ I know I want to write my own scenario to go along with those words.

Sometimes the overall theme of a song can inspire me to write a story to go along with that song. I know it probably has nothing to do with how the singer originally intended the song to be seen, but rather how in my minds-eye how the story unfolds.

No matter where you get your inspiration from, just remember to write it down in case you ever have to go back for a top-up. Sometimes this is something that needs to happen to get the psyche flowing again.

SIDE NOTE> I finally signed the contract with TEB on Wardens of the Guild 3: Heartstrings.

Back-up Copies

I’m a big believer in having all your work backed up. Whether it be on a flash drive similar to this, or in something like dropbox, or even on something like a Seagate external hard drive.

There is nothing worse then your computer crashing and losing your damn WIP. Trust me, I’ve had this happen to me more than once.

I’ve also taken to signing and dating any handwritten notes, so if I ever am in the situation where I have to prove my work is my own. I can show exactly when I came up with the idea→ Actually, my brother gave me that handy hint a few years back when I was telling him about a whole lot of plagiarism going on. Not with me, but with other more famous authors. So now I do everything I can to protect myself.

I’m not sure if any of these things are helpful for you, but they have sure been helpful to me over the years. I think anything I have found useful is well worth passing on.

Beta Readers

I think they are a good thing to have when you write, because they catch all the small mistakes I make, and trust me I make a few of them. Mine is named James A→I, on the other hand, call him Yoda.  The poor bugger is going to be run off his feet this year with me.

The truth is I have had really bad luck when it comes to beta readers. I can never find ones that seem to stick around. I don’t know whether it’s because their lives get busy, or my writing is just shite and they don’t want to tell me. I’m the first to admit I’m not the greatest with punctuation.

And coming back after a two-year break I have to relearn how to do everything all over again. I’m not gonna lie, it’s hard. It’s going to take me a bit to get back into the swing of things, and then to be easy swapping from one publisher to the other, as they both like things done differently.

I’m lucky with Yoda, as he isn’t afraid to call bullshit on something if I’ve stuffed it up big time, though usually, he explains to me the right way to do it. Sometimes an editor will leave me a one-word comment (like plot) how the hell am I supposed to know what that even means. To me, it’s just part of the story. I think all editors should have to explain their comments so I can understand what they’re talking about.

So my advice is if you are a writer than find yourself a decent beta reader or two and let them point out all the little holes in the story, and pick up on the spelling errors you may have. It will be well worth it in the end.

Note keeping…

This is just an example (Sons of Evenmore 3: Fear the Scarlet Moon) of how I write some—not all of my books. I sometimes before writing/typing a story will do up a synopsis so I know where each chapter needs to be. It doesn’t tell me what to write in each chapter just the key points to get me to the end result of the whole story.

The other thing I have started doing is keeping a notebook beside me and writing down the character’s names as they enter the story so I don’t forget them at a later date.

I’m not sure if it was this blog or my other blog where I talked about writing 4 chapters of a story (Experimentals 3: Messages from the Dead) using the wrong name for one the main character, and the other main character I added an e to the spelling of his name. At least when I mixed up the names it was at least with a character from the same story, and not one from another series completely… Okay, I admit it, I have done that before as well, and lucky for me my editor caught it.

If you learn anything from my fuck-ups, it should be this. Take note of the people in your story. Feel free to use the basic template that I do for my profiles… Take notes on your stories and where they are set… especially if you are writing a series. I like to use excel (see The Connelly Chronicles notes picture insert), but Lynn Viehl has some awesome ones on her Blog Paperback Writer even though she no longer does the blog it’s still up, in the freebies tab, in the non-fiction section, you’ll find many great things to help you keep track of your novel writing… or you can use them as a basis to make something that works for yourself like I did.

PS: On a completely non-writing related note… I’d like everyone to remember it would have been David Bowie’s & Elvis Presley’s birthday’s today. Two legends have gone forever.