Facebook Enabled...I think

Just seeing what happens when we try to link these two beasts.

Free Comic Book Day!

Just writing in my favorite superhero-themed story this morning (Wraiths) and am on the cusp of breaking 50,000 words. Another milestone and another chance to celebrate at Cashman's this afternoon!

Notes from the Desk...

Just passed the 46,000 word mark and the ideas keep coming. You may notice I've set a goal for "Wraiths" of 107,000 words. I made that due to an average of current processes between words per page and pages per chapter. i roughly know where I'm going chapter-wise so that's where I started. Maybe I'm WAY off...who knows?

I put another goal to hit. I've got to keep pace of 3333 words per week up until my deadline if I want to hit it. That should be easy enough if I don't get bogged down in real life duties and obligations. August 25th is coming faster than we think!

What I learned from Phineas and Ferb...

A recent blog from Bob Mayer told us how to simplify our writing. He related writing to Chef Ramsay's approach to making restaurants not only work but being truly successful. Slim down the choices and do them well; get really good at one genre and be THAT person that's known for doing it the best.

Phineas and Ferb have taken this theory and ran with it for a couple of seasons now. sheer brilliance in my humble television watching opinion. It's actually one of the few TV programs that I can stand. The writers have pared it down to bare essentials and made it incredibly formulaic.

Basically, every episode runs like this:

Phineas runs into a situation and says "I know what we're going to do today!" They then build a machine or some other science experiment and perform some unbelievable feat to accomplish it. Someone asks, "Where's Perry?" It cuts to their platypus who is really a secret agent and he fights Doctor Duffenschmertz in some ridiculous battle for the freedom of the Tri-State area. The boys and their duck-faced mammalian companion cross paths but they never figure out his secret. All the while their sister Candice tries to bust them for having the specific adventure. She's always denied the justice she seeks though.

The plot is always the same, the dialogue is very similar for every episode with catchphrases galore...so why is this even good? Simple, for one: people don't know what they like, they like what they know. It sounds terrible but it's true. Second: the situation is different as well as the setting making the twists incredibly uncanny and specialized for each episode. A basic formula/bracket and all the details are filled in making the writing very streamlined. This is not to say that it sucks because frankly I think it's hilarious!

"Specialize, do that one thing and do it better than anyone else."

Wraiths hits 100...

I can't believe it but here I am at page 100. Every page is a new landmark for me but this is a biggie. I know other authors can look at this post and scoff but this being MY blog, I'lll toot my horn if I want. Seriously, we all have to look for those big landmarks and milestones so we can continue to drive ourselves along our paths and keep going strong. No matter what you do, keep looking for the next little goal and strive for it!

Page 96...

Still going strong on the writing. I took care of some very important house-keeping tasks relating to this story too. I'm not finding alot of time to write the text but I can still take a few minutes to plot and scheme where the train is going. I'm still laying the tracks as I go for some of it and firming up the ground underneath other parts, making them solid and concrete. It all continues to come together!

Voice and Tone

Author Hal Duncan had this posted and even though I admit to not reading much of his material, I love the way his mind works! This is just a great way to look at the order of words, the tone of voice (even if you don't notice the subtle differences at first) and another way to think how your readers will perceive what you put down on the page...enjoy and thanks Mr. Duncan!