The Communication Age as it Applies to Writers

I find it astounding the impact the communications age has had on the art and craft of writing.  Twenty years ago, I could not have done the things I am doing now with my writing.

Back in the day, I remember slogging it out, solitary (and desperate) in front of my computer, generating story after story.  And then having to edit and polish stories over and over, and then from there sending them off to a limited number of print magazines or publishing houses ... and then being rejected over and over again. 

I have a box full of perfectly good short stories and three manuscripts of perfectly good novels that have just sat in a corner collecting dust.  Those are the things I composed coming up as an aspiring author that helped me sharpen my skills because I had no choice in the matter.  It was good to go through that process as it made me a better writer, I believe.  And there were a few successes, but those successes only came after considerable effort and only after I passed beyond some "gatekeeper" (read: magazine editor or literary agent). 

But now ... can you hear the theme score from 2001: A Space Oddysey playing in your mind.  Yes!  Now we have entered the communication age.  It is an age that opens all the gates, takes the keys from the gatekeepers, and gives writers free access to go out there and really take a shot on the open market.  Keep in mind, there is some down side to this liberation, such as the really bad writing out there that is reflected in poorly done and unprofessionally presented stories.  But the capitalist pig in me has faith in the market (read: the readers).  The good stuff always rises above, especially when properly and vigorously marketed.

This is never more true than in the age we live in now.  With the technology making it easy to upload and publish as an independent, combined with the ease, reach, and affordability of social media marketing, it is very possible for a talented, professional writer to not only see his work in print, but also have readers discover it, read it, and go viral with it.

I strongly encourage anyone who has a passion to create great stories that they join in on the benefits of the communication age.  Write well!  Publish (traditionally or independently)! And then avail yourself of Facebook fan pages, Twitter feeds, Goodreads, Wattpad, Blogger, Wordpress, Oyster, Inkbok, Stumble Upon It, Etsy, Pinterest, etc., etc., etc.  The time is now for all of you aspiring author's to step out of your comfort zone, think outside the box, and reach deep down (pardon all the sinful clichés), because your time has come right now, right here ... write away!

The Cost of Independence

For years I have written fiction (and some non-fiction) and enjoyed the creative process immensely.  As I have mentioned before, it is like base jumping from Mount Everest without a parachute.  But the traditional publishing industry was always the daunting gauntlet I had to fight through (just like every other writer, poet, screenwright) just to get my stories published. 

I equate the attempt at traditional publishing (even of very short pieces of literature) as trying out for the Olympic team (winter or summer) or auditioning for the leading role in a major Hollywood box office epic.  It is fiercely competitive!  Even when what you have written is well-written and page-turning, it can still be rejected by numerous and varied editors of several magazines and publishing houses.  Depressing?  Mmmm, somewhat, maybe ... not really, really. 

I get it!  I surely do!  Especially now that I have gone over to the "indie" side of things.  Actually, I got it way before I decided to go indie with my stories, but now that I am in the mode of publishing my own pieces, and working with the digital platforms out there, finessing the distribution angle, the marketing involved, and all the editing (that must be done completely "in-house"), oh, yes, now I really understand why the publishing industry is so daunting. 

It's a business.  Pure and simple.  The stories are a product, and the publishers and the editors are acting in the very smart role of being business managers first.  They have to do so, otherwise they lose money, become unprofitable, and go out of business.

Now that I am doing things completely on my own, I see the amount of time and effort and capital that goes into the process of delivering a product (a story) to the market.  I always knew this on the subconscious level, but nothing brings clarity to the situation when confronted with the reality. 

So, I have a great appreciation for the traditional publishing industry.  Still, I am glad I made the move to go independent.  It is not without its additional work, but I love it anyway.  As the owner of a small business, I am already used to producing a product, finding customers, marketing, packaging, distributing, etc.  Hence, the extra things I must do now, time-consuming as they may be, are actually good fun! 

And when it is all done (if it ever really and truly is), I see the fruits of that labor in the form of a quality story that reaches many readers.  It costs considerably, but independence is exhilarating ... almost as exhilarating as base jumping from Mount Everest without a parachute.

You've come a long way baby ...

So, yes, it has been a while, but what can I say, I have been busy.  Aren't we all?  But that always brings back the situation that many writers find themselves ... where do I find time to write?

It has been quite some time since I last posted, and I do have valid excuses.  Business has been good, I trained and received the coveted black belt in martial arts (Kung Jung Mu Sul to be more precise), went on a couple of exotic trips, finished a novel, etc.  And that does not even account for having the usual domestic chores and other adventures that consume one's daily life. 

Still, I find time to write.  But how do you do it? (you ask).  It's not easy, but I have discovered a way to warp time and change the laws of physics to accomplish this.  Well, not really, but it sounded good.  No, my ability to be productive with my writing boils down to one simple thing ... discipline. 

You see, our modern world is so complex and packed full of multiple distractions.  In fact, this is actually getting worse by the minute (or better if you prefer distraction).  But the key is to meditate and to simply remain focused on your passion.  So, if your passion is writing, then you must train the brain to cast aside all the distractions.  Turn off the television.  Set down the smart phone.  Toss the video games in the trash.  Set a specific time in the day, get an egg timer, wide it up, and start writing.  And when you start writing don't let anything stop the flow of words.  Shut off the world and turn on your creativity.  Before you know it, word by word, you will have something of a story ... sooner rather than later.

I heard it once said (I think it was Ray Bradbury who said it) that you should write something everyday, and surely after a year of doing this you would have several hundred stories.  Out of all of those stories, there is bound to be one gem (at least one).  And I believe that.  I crank out tons of stories and ideas.  And admittedly a good deal of it should be forgotten (and usually is).  But the cream always rises to the top.

Lately, here are the results to prove it.  Check out the following that I have worked on within the last couple of years that are just short stories (forget about the fact, that while I was not doing this blog, I was writing a 400 pages novel, too), and you will see that if you just set aside the distractions and get your mind laser focused, you can accomplish something (maybe a lot of somethings):

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/416977 - The Last Moment Loop

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/419409 - The Lie

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/413724 - Leonard & Molly

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/421789 - The Part To No Genesis

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/424032 - A Mirror Darkly (Part One of The Wonderland Series)

Free Fall Writing (Read: Base Jumping Without A Parachute)

It's been a few weeks since anyone heard from me in the blogosphere. But I am not ashamed about it at all. True, I should be a little more "involved" with posting these little snippets of "wisdom" from a writer-in-progression (or regression), but I have a valid excuse.

The fact of the matter is, I have been writing ... alot! Just not in the blogosphere.

Okay, so here's the straight skinny, boys and girls, and I think it is well worth talking about whether you are a beginning writer or someone in the middle (like yours truly), or a finely-tuned, thoroughbred, Pulitzer Prize winning author.

Back in early July, I was already humming along with numerous story ideas. I even started in on the story about that elephant-shaped mountain in El Paso that we all hiked up to on Independence Day weekend. But then something happened that was rather serendipidous or perhaps even synchonicious (is that a word? I'll have to look that up ... but anyway, you know what I mean). You see, there was a member of my writing critique group that seemed to be struggling with finding the muse, and I was concerned a bit about her. Also, I was looking at the time constraints I had for my own writing and wanted to find out more on how to compose flash fiction. So, one day when work at the office was blessedly mellow (which is very unusual), I left the office in the charge of the genius (read: beloved bride) and I sauntered off to the bookstore.

My intent was to find a "how to write" book for my struggling-with-writers-block friend and also something for me that would enlighten me about this flash fiction writing craze that had come about in the last few years. Flash fiction, by the way, really isn't something new. It's just a new name for something that's been around forever. Back in the old days we used to call flash fiction, short shorts ... meaning, short stories that are usually around 1000 words or less. Someone in the beginning years of the twenty-first century decided to call it flash fiction and the term caught on and took off from there. Now the flash fiction concept sort of appealed to me, having spent a great deal of time writing a couple of novels that would take anywhere from several months to several years to bring them to near completion, all to have them end up sitting in a box in my closet. Flash fiction would be something that works well with someone like me who often jokes about having ADHD (I really don't), and certainly has very little time to write (being that I have a full-time, demanding small business along with a family and a life for crying out loud).

So, anyway, I digress ... but not really. You see, I figured, why not do some really short pieces and see where things go. Writing a story with fewer than 1000 words would make for some quick pieces and might work well with my tight schedule. Sure, it would be challenging to squeeze plot, description, characterization, and purple prose all into a very tiny box, but I was up for the challenge.

So, there I was in the bookstore, and I came across this book in the writers reference section called "Take Ten". And it had all these little exercises where I was provided with a scenario for a story, or a first line for a story, or the basic premise of a plot, or a rudimentary outline for a particular character, etc., and then I was given multiple options or "twists" to plug in with these various scenarios and premises. And to add to all of that the entire book was set up like a game or a contest of sorts where once I had randomly picked one of these exercises, I was given only ten minutes to write a story based on what had been picked.

This intrigued the creative side of my brain, but threatened the logical side (read: the critic). The creative side said, "Cool, this could lead to all sorts of neat little story ideas and would force me to do these stories quickly because I was racing against the clock." But the logical side of my brain said, "Uh, what are you talking about? Ten minutes to put something together without any thought put into it. You're out of your mind. Writing a good story takes planning and careful meditation on the story background, the characterization, the subtle weaving of simile and metaphor. Forget about it!"

But for the first time in a very long time, the creative side of my brain rebelled and cast off the chains which the logical side of my brain had shackled it with, and I bought the book. I was going to try it, by God, and the logical said of my brain be damned.

So, I went home that night and started looking through the book. I picked out one of the exercises that looked to me, at first, like it might fit with my genre of science fiction. It was one of these premises about writing a story about time standing still and everything and everyone freezing in place like they had, well, been turned to ice. I thought, excellent! Let's do it! This is right up my alley!

I set up the alarm clock, turned on the computer, picked my excercise ... and jumped.

It was like running off the edge of a cliff and plummeting thousands feet. Logically, I knew what this was about, this feeling I was feeling. Writing is best done when the creative side is allowed to free fall without a parachute ... but not to a certain death. Quite the contrary! That base jump into complete unknown creativity was the most life giving and exhilarating experience a writer can have. It was a rush. And when my alarm clock went off, I was amazed at what I had come up with in less than a thousand words. It was a very interesting story that, surprisingly, had nothing to do with science fiction or fantasy. Instead, it was a mainstream flash fiction piece about a surprising revelation uncovered amongst the relationship of long-time friends. It actually came out better than I could have expected. I even eventually presented it to my writing critique group, and they really liked it (and they weren't just saying that to make me feel good, either, as they are actually my harshest critics).

After that little experience, I did several more of these exercises. In fact, within the course of two weeks, I had written ten very interesting and very coherent pieces (at least I think so). Not all of them turned out to be flash fiction pieces, but the process of base jumping, of free fall writing, sent me into creative overdrive that has barely slowed since mid-July and I am currently at 18 new stories within a matter of just a few weeks all without causing dreadful harm to my business or my family life. In fact, the genius is actually quite content because it gives her time now to do what she likes .... painting.

As for my fellow critique group writer who is having writer's block. I have a little book for her and I am not so sure I am going to wait until Christmas to give it to her, either.

Stories Everywhere

I am often asked where I come up with story ideas. Yes, even the wife (read: genius) seems to wonder just where I come up with some of the ideas for various stories. I mean, I write science fiction and fantasy. It's a lot of mythical creatures, totally made-up aliens, technological gadgets that (so far as we know) have not yet been invented, and far off places that either don't exist or we do not currently know of their existence.

So where do the stories come from?

For the typical mainstream writer, they can often draw from their own real life experiences; a sort of fictionalizing of their real life, so to speak. Others, through vicarious observation, draft stories of things that happen in everyday life, but to other people.

But us writers of scifi/fantasy? Where do the ideas come from without having to re-shape an old episode of Star Trek that we watched in 1992?

And no, I am not a frequent user of peyote or any other psychedelic drugs, natural or synthetic. I was, however, once accused of "smoking something" by one of my fellow critique group friends for coming up with a particularly bizarre fantasy that everyone in the group loved (despite the bizarre backdrop and details of the story), but no, drug free except for the multi-vitamins in the morning. The genius has me taking about three thousand different supplements every morning, sheesh -- wait a tick, maybe she's behind the whole ... naah, couldn't be her doing, I've been this way long before she came along and brightened my days.

No, I have always been this way, coming up with neat little ideas that spring into my mind at the most inconvenient and surprising moments. Inconvenient in the sense that they often happen while I am in the midst of a business-related deadline. Surprising in the sense that they come out of nothing, really. I am not even thinking about doing a story on anything, and then like Emeril "Bam!", there it is.

So there must be only one conclusion I can draw: I am the victim of a rather overactive imagination, I .... uh, imagine.

I really don't know how it was that I became a victim of my imagination. It just happened. Perhaps it was all those years growing up in a small town without much in the way of actual replicas of toy guns or swords (my brother and I oftened fashioned these things from sticks and stones), and many of our school friends lived in another town several miles away, so we had to come up things to amuse us other than mindlessly sitting in the front of the television (although there was plenty of that, too).

So, there it is, a victim of imagination, and so now everytime I turn the corner something sometimes inconvenient and frequently surprising hits me up along the head. Shortly thereafter, I am no longer paying attention to what is going on around me, but rather immersed in a story line to go along with what just happened to me when my imagination once again victimized me.

Here's a perfect example of what I mean by all of this. Last weekend, after much discussion and debate, the genius and I decided to take a short trip to El Paso, Texas. I know what you are saying ... "El Paso? Why would you want to go there?" I will tell you. We had some good friends recently move there and being the tightwads that we are, we decided a vacation where we could crash on their sofa-bed was a lot cheaper than one requiring a reservation. Just teasing about the latter part. Actually, our good friends had moved out there, a younger couple with some wild notion of taming the world by starting out with El Paso. I "imagine" they figured if they could make it there they could make it anywhere (I thought that place was New York?). But anyway, I digress. So, we head off to El Paso for a visit. They're a nice couple and fairly active and adventurous ... and then we come along. From the moment we are off the plane we hit the ground running, and we're off to the Franklin Mountains. My understanding is that these mountains are some sort of southern cousins of the Rockies and they're right there on the edge of El Paso.

And then up we go hiking 1700 meters toward the top of this ridge where, of all things, is this rock formation that looks like a gigantic elephant sprawled out on its belly overlooking the arroyo below. And the whole time we are hiking, we are chatting and carrying on like the fools that we are, toiling in the heat that is July in west Texas, just having a great time.

Now from far away, it looked like any other uplift of granite or basalt or whatever mountains are made of, but as we journeyed upward and closer, it did look very much like an elephant was up there; a gigantic, gray elephant with a trunk that was partially resting on the ridge, but the last bit of the trunk was curved upwards and pointing to the sky.

And that's where my imagination chose to strike at me. Caught me in its clutches at my most vulnerable ... sweating, tired, bum left knee wobbling. Definitely a predatory creature my imagination is as it always seems to sense weak prey and cull it from the herd at just the right moment.

We made it to the top, stood upon the elephant's trunk, and even found a cool spot in a small cave to rest and admire the view around us. But on the way back my brain was already working overtime. I remember even being asked on the way down why I was so suddenly quiet, and I simply replied that I was "contemplating". But my companions were surely thinking that I was quiet due to exhaustion (after all, we were working on our third hour of hiking at that point). And perhaps I was exhausted, physically, but my mind had been consumed by my imagination.

By the time we were done, it was clear to me that the elephant on the ridge was merely sleeping, and that if someone were to go up there and climb on top, the elephant might just wake up, take a look around, and perhaps then cause a little mayhem. Later, as we all continue down to the bottom of the mountains, and then returned to El Paso to enjoy dinner and conversation, the story line further developed in which fictional characters became involved in waking the elephant and this led to a "rocky" adventure (sorry, I had to do it) involving magical gems, daring thieves, and an avalanche that wiped out an entirely made-up city.

Will the story turn out to be published? Will it turn out to be an award winner? Who knows? Who may even care? For me, it is more the journey than the destination when it comes to writing. I enjoy the process, and somewhere along the way something surprising just might happen ... like it did in the west Texas town of El Paso.

So, now you ask me, how is it that I come upon story ideas. They are everywhere. They are all around you and me. The key is in letting yourself be vulnerable enough to become a victim of your imagination.

Lots of Introductions Needed

It was one of those things that just happens. For years I had scoured (well, maybe not scoured, but rather occasionally perused) the business world for a different sort of entreprenuerial enterprise. I looked at vending machines, financial brokerage services, insurance sales, and various business services. I even fancied trying to take my current small business to the next level, franchising, but the costs of building a business system and then becoming a "captain of industry" just seemed mind-boggling ... not to mention, well, costly.


Then the wife, frustrated by having to listen to my frustrations, told me to knock it off and get back to my writing. I guess she was tired of seeing me expend my creative energies on trying to come up with just the right "hook" or the right "angle" to jumpstart another, totally separate business or to take the little tiger (the current business we own) and grab it by the tail, make it mad (in a metaphorical sense, of course), and then turn it into a tiger that would be difficult, if not impossible, to tame.


Writing, huh? She's a genius! Actually, all the frustrations I exhibited were part of my evil plan to get her to insist that I give up my foolish notions regarding unknown and risky business enterprises for the even more foolish notion of getting back into the passion of my life and the one single constant pastime I have had since I was a child -- writing. For the record, I am a dabbler when it comes to pastimes -- you should see the collection of golf clubs, amateur astronomy telescopes and books, martial arts weapons and gear, books on origami, art supplies, fishing gear ... need I say more? But writing? Now, there we go!

I started on that hobby when I was a wee lad and it came about when the movie "Star Wars" fell in conjunction with my exposure to the various Tolkien books. This conjunction of sci-fi movies and fantasy novels inspired me; all those lasers, spaceships, dragons, elves, and as I got a little older ... hot alien princesses. Ah, yes, many a summer night I spent as a boy in my isolated, little midwestern farm town writing stories about far away places, until one day, I finally grew up.


But then even still, throughout my years in military service, college, a couple of bad relationships, and my near total immersion in a small business, I still wrote stories and poetry, and a couple of novel-length manuscripts that never made it to the bookstore. Writing was always there in my mind, even when I wasn't writing. In fact, eventually, I managed to get good enough at it that a couple of short stories made it into print, and a handful of poems as well. Didn't get paid much for the publications, but I was thrilled, nonetheless, to make it out of the category of "wannabe" to "been there, done that."


Then a funny thing happened on the way to the forum. Life changed for me shortly after getting a few things published. I got a divorce from the previous wife, had to start up a business so I could eat, and then met the current wife (the genius), and this all caused me to put the budding writing career on hold ... for about five years. And then last fall the genius sent me off on my merry way to the laptop to begin writing again. I even joined up with my old critique group (a very talented collection of local writers, all published in their own right), and now I spend my free time writing.

You want to know what I discovered? Well, I'll tell you anyway. I learned that although I may be a "has been that never was", at least I still got it. It's just like riding a bike. Once you learn, you can't unlearn. I finished the unfinished draft of a novel that had been sitting right where I left it five years ago, wrote a couple of decent poems, and in the middle of all that I even managed to scribble out a half-dozen new short stories. And at the risk of sounding like a braggard, I will daresay all of it actually came out pretty good (well, maybe not all, but most).


Which brings me around to this introductory blog. It's kind of a full circle sort of thing. I love writing, and I love talking about it, and I love doing it, and I love sharing it. Not sure where all this will lead, but it is my intention to share a bit about writing, perhaps give some pointers, maybe even do a few book reviews (if I ever find the time), and try to share some insight about the writing world, particularly when it comes to science fiction and fantasy. Heck, I might even actually make a business out of writing! Why not? Clancy and King can't make all the royalties, can they?

I will admit, though, I am not an expert in blogs, nor in writing (God knows I remain forever imperfect and always working at it), or in science, or in giving sound advice.


But I am a good dabbler.