In last month's blog, I mentioned that I had read 38 print books and 47 Kindle books in preparation for writing Xylander. Did I really read 85 books? Well, not all entirely. Some of them I only needed a little information. Others I was able to scan through and find the material specific to what I needed. However, for the most part, yes, I did read the better part of 85 books over a period of six months.
What is more unbelievable is the fact that I have so many more I want to read that are listed in my wish list on Amazon. Currently I have 450 books in my wish list. There are 157 books in that list that are about Native Americans in general, the Osage, the history of either the U.S. or Arkansas, and any others that might give me more insight into the subject in which I am writing. I doubt I will ever read them all in my lifetime, mainly because I keep adding books to the list every week, or I keep getting new Kindle books for $.99, or free, or through Kindle Unlimited.
It seems I can never read enough. I feel sort of like Abe Lincoln; I am educating myself through the various books that I read and the many articles I find on the Internet. Information is everywhere! When I was teaching, I would tell my students that they were so lucky to be in school during this time period. Anything they want to know can be found easily on the Internet. Of course, that also means they find other things that they don't need to know or be filling their minds with. I feel that a teacher has a great responsibility to direct his/her students toward the right information and away from the distractions. Believe me, it is not easy! As for me, I love it that I can look up anything and find the answer almost immediately. Teens don't appreciate the wealth of knowledge.
As I mentioned before in April 11th's blog, I am not an English major and Xylander is my first novel. In preparation for my writing I researched other books that may be out there similar to mine. I didn't want to write a book that had already been written, but of course, since it is partly about my life there can be no other book like mine. But, I wanted to read what was already out there.
I downloaded books that were written with similar agendas: time-travel, Native Americans, frontier life, etc. Gradually, I began to accumulate quite a list of books with similar agendas. However, I really needed to learn about the Osage. I explain in my Author's Notes at the end of my book how I came about writing about the Osage, so I will let you read that on your own. But, when I started researching Native American tribes that could have lived in the area in which I grew up, I was impressed with the Osage the most.
The Osage people are an under appreciated group that have not made their way into fictional writing enough, in my opinion. I found plenty of historical writings, some of which I have read, but more of which I still have to read. Writers have romanticized the Cherokee, the Iroquois, the Comanche, the Arapaho, the Dakota/Lakota, the Mohawk, the Mohicans, to name a few.
Once I decided on the tribe that I would write about, I had to research the time period in which I wanted to put them in. Throughout most of the book Charlotte searches just as I did for what could have happened during the time to be significant and interesting. I didn't need a major dramatic event; I just needed something that I could use to spin off from and create a dramatic story around it.
My own historical events I used in the same way. For whatever reason, the events in that period of my life are still clear in my mind. I could go from month to month and almost week to week and remember almost exactly what was going on in my life back then. It was 26 years ago, but it was a very impressionable time in my life.
Although I have some knowledge of plants and animals and experience from actually living in the area, I had to research plants that would have been used for medicines, what plants they grew and ate, what they hunted, how they made their clothes and houses, tools they used, and even games they played. I cite some actual stories that were told among the Osage. Their religious ceremonies were harder to pinpoint. Many customs are lost due to the fact that many were passed down orally and they were considered so sacred that only those that were ordained as "ministers" knew the words and order of events.
Then I began finding books on how to write a book. When I first made the decision to try to write a book, I had no idea that Kindle Direct Publishing existed. I imagined that I would write a book and send it out to as many publishing companies I could find in hopes that it would get published. I was so surprised and relieved to find that it was so easy to upload and Wa-La! it's out there.
It's only been six and a half weeks since I first launched my book on Amazon and only a few sales have trickled in here and there, but I keep believing in what I'm doing and maybe one day it will pay off.
Monday, April 13, 2015
Saturday, April 11, 2015
The art of writing
They say write what you know and no one can know Charlotte better than me, because it is me!
My very first draft of the first chapter I hand wrote in a spiral notebook. Almost nothing from what I wrote in that notebook made it into the final draft, but it was very good therapy for me. I guess you could say I exercised my demons from the past. I got out all the childish feelings and hurts that I had apparently harbored inside me for almost 25 years.
When I wrote it all out and sat it aside for a day or two, I read back over it. I was struck with how absolutely silly it was. I decided then to grow up and get over it. I focused on the facts and scratched out the petty emotional whining.
Then I got down to the business of writing a story. An interesting phenomenon about writing that I discovered is how sometimes the subconscious writes for you. (I'd prefer to think of it as a guiding spirit or some other ethereal being channeling through me.)
I did write out an outline to some extent. I knew some scenes ahead of time that I wanted to write about. I laid out an Act I, Act II, and Act III of sorts. But when it came to the individual words flowing from my fingers, the words revealed themselves to me in surprising ways.
For instance, I was surprised at Charlotte's bubbly spirit in the beginning. I don't know why I was surprised, really, because that was me back in those days. I was naïve and carefree, just living from day to day not concerned about too far into the future. That free-flowing spirit came back to me in the process of writing, and I was reminded of who I once was.
For the first few weeks of writing, I was absolutely giddy with the discoveries I was making. Unfortunately, I was unable to really talk about it with anyone without spoiling the book for them. I wanted to talk about what a romantic Charlotte was. She had such an idealistic view of the world, especially the past. She loved the nature all around her and because she lived surrounded by trees and small animals she was able to experience nature on a small scale.
Even though she was a carefree teenager, she did appreciate the small things. She did "stop and smell the roses" every chance she got. She observed the wind blowing through the trees and the stillness in the forest. She inhaled the air and admired the colors. She was very observant even when others thought she wasn't paying much attention.
Another unique aspect of the book is the time period for both the lives in which she lives. Charlotte's life starts in 1988-89. This was a time still untainted by cell phones and the internet. (I, however, could have never written this book without the use of the internet. Most especially, Amazon, where I ordered 38 printed books and 47 digital books. More on that topic later.)
I feel like an old foggy when I tell my kids now, "Back in my day we couldn't just text one another constantly and know what was going on with them every single second." It was refreshing, for me at least, to constrain myself to a time when we couldn't just reach for our smartphone and look something up (although I would die without that connection today.) If we got lost in the woods, we had to use the direction of the sun, telephone wires running overhead, or landmarks to find our way home. And sometimes, we got lost. My brothers and a friend of theirs rode their bikes through the trails and came out onto the highway. They asked a man how far it was back to Paragould and he said 12 miles. I think one of them started crying because to them that was a long way on a bike. But in actuality, it wasn't that far because our house was on the edge of the city limit and it was probably no more that 3 miles for them to get back. They made it back somehow without calling mom to come pick them up. And I can't imagine that my mother wasn't at all concerned that she didn't know where they were and hadn't seen them outside for awhile. She must have had a lot of trust that we would show up at home come supper time. There are many more stories like that that I could tell, but I'll save them for later. Today, my kids have to call me from their cell phones at regular intervals to let me know where they are and that they are okay. And if they don't check in on time, I call them.
After I wrote the bulk of the book, I went back over it to fine tune it and edit it. I was reading along and really getting into the story, when I took a step back and said, "This is really good stuff. Who wrote this, oh, I did!" There are some parts to the book that I honestly have no memory of actually writing. I must have really been in the zone. When I read back over it, I couldn't recall having written a certain part or using a particular word. Like I said, it was like spirit channeling.
I smiled as I read each of the individual character's personalities coming out through the story. Some of the characters are based on actual people, especially members of my family. But then others are a combination of people I knew. I couldn't include everyone I knew and interacted with back then. It would be too many for the reader to have to keep up with. I narrowed the characters down to a minimum so the story could be told instead of bogging it down with character analysis. Many names are mentioned as incidental characters and include names of my nieces, nephews, and cousins so they will be immortalized in the book.
Even though I have a master's degree and have written many professional papers, I have never had the opportunity to write prose. I had to really teach myself to be more poetic and descriptive. I was able to write the basic scenes then as I went back over each chapter I added in a sentence or two to elaborate the beauty or the feelings involved. I was amazed at how just a few more words here and there really bolstered the eloquence of the writing.
I have become sort of a reader snob now as well. I deliberately read other books on Kindle to get a feel for how others were writing. I came across several books that I just could not get past the first page or, at most, the first chapter because the subject verb agreements didn't line up or they constantly switched from past to present tense. I'm not an English major; I am a Biology major with a Chemistry minor. My master's degree is in Educational Leadership. So, although I am still a newbie when it comes to writing fiction and prose, I must have enough writing skill to get my thoughts across through words and be able to write clearly enough that others can understand my message. Even though those writers might have had a good story, it was painful to try to read when I was constantly having to make corrections in my head over their English grammar mistakes.
I'll admit, my writing isn't perfect. I may not put all the commas in the right places. But, I hope I have done well enough that any minor mistakes I made won't get in the way of the overall story.
All in all, I fell in love with the act of writing. I have a memory of when I was around the age of six. I went to the half bathroom that was in my parents' bedroom. While in that bathroom, I must have been chatting away at myself. I distinctly remember saying to myself, "I love talking. I could just talk all the time." I was a chatty Cathy for a long time before I learned to keep silent and listen to what others have to say. Now, I'm in love with writing just for the sake of writing. If no one ever reads this, then, well...I've enjoyed myself anyway. Although, I sincerely hope that at least a few people read my writing. Whether or not they appreciate it, that's okay with me too.
My very first draft of the first chapter I hand wrote in a spiral notebook. Almost nothing from what I wrote in that notebook made it into the final draft, but it was very good therapy for me. I guess you could say I exercised my demons from the past. I got out all the childish feelings and hurts that I had apparently harbored inside me for almost 25 years.
When I wrote it all out and sat it aside for a day or two, I read back over it. I was struck with how absolutely silly it was. I decided then to grow up and get over it. I focused on the facts and scratched out the petty emotional whining.
Then I got down to the business of writing a story. An interesting phenomenon about writing that I discovered is how sometimes the subconscious writes for you. (I'd prefer to think of it as a guiding spirit or some other ethereal being channeling through me.)
I did write out an outline to some extent. I knew some scenes ahead of time that I wanted to write about. I laid out an Act I, Act II, and Act III of sorts. But when it came to the individual words flowing from my fingers, the words revealed themselves to me in surprising ways.
For instance, I was surprised at Charlotte's bubbly spirit in the beginning. I don't know why I was surprised, really, because that was me back in those days. I was naïve and carefree, just living from day to day not concerned about too far into the future. That free-flowing spirit came back to me in the process of writing, and I was reminded of who I once was.
For the first few weeks of writing, I was absolutely giddy with the discoveries I was making. Unfortunately, I was unable to really talk about it with anyone without spoiling the book for them. I wanted to talk about what a romantic Charlotte was. She had such an idealistic view of the world, especially the past. She loved the nature all around her and because she lived surrounded by trees and small animals she was able to experience nature on a small scale.
Even though she was a carefree teenager, she did appreciate the small things. She did "stop and smell the roses" every chance she got. She observed the wind blowing through the trees and the stillness in the forest. She inhaled the air and admired the colors. She was very observant even when others thought she wasn't paying much attention.
Another unique aspect of the book is the time period for both the lives in which she lives. Charlotte's life starts in 1988-89. This was a time still untainted by cell phones and the internet. (I, however, could have never written this book without the use of the internet. Most especially, Amazon, where I ordered 38 printed books and 47 digital books. More on that topic later.)
I feel like an old foggy when I tell my kids now, "Back in my day we couldn't just text one another constantly and know what was going on with them every single second." It was refreshing, for me at least, to constrain myself to a time when we couldn't just reach for our smartphone and look something up (although I would die without that connection today.) If we got lost in the woods, we had to use the direction of the sun, telephone wires running overhead, or landmarks to find our way home. And sometimes, we got lost. My brothers and a friend of theirs rode their bikes through the trails and came out onto the highway. They asked a man how far it was back to Paragould and he said 12 miles. I think one of them started crying because to them that was a long way on a bike. But in actuality, it wasn't that far because our house was on the edge of the city limit and it was probably no more that 3 miles for them to get back. They made it back somehow without calling mom to come pick them up. And I can't imagine that my mother wasn't at all concerned that she didn't know where they were and hadn't seen them outside for awhile. She must have had a lot of trust that we would show up at home come supper time. There are many more stories like that that I could tell, but I'll save them for later. Today, my kids have to call me from their cell phones at regular intervals to let me know where they are and that they are okay. And if they don't check in on time, I call them.
After I wrote the bulk of the book, I went back over it to fine tune it and edit it. I was reading along and really getting into the story, when I took a step back and said, "This is really good stuff. Who wrote this, oh, I did!" There are some parts to the book that I honestly have no memory of actually writing. I must have really been in the zone. When I read back over it, I couldn't recall having written a certain part or using a particular word. Like I said, it was like spirit channeling.
I smiled as I read each of the individual character's personalities coming out through the story. Some of the characters are based on actual people, especially members of my family. But then others are a combination of people I knew. I couldn't include everyone I knew and interacted with back then. It would be too many for the reader to have to keep up with. I narrowed the characters down to a minimum so the story could be told instead of bogging it down with character analysis. Many names are mentioned as incidental characters and include names of my nieces, nephews, and cousins so they will be immortalized in the book.
Even though I have a master's degree and have written many professional papers, I have never had the opportunity to write prose. I had to really teach myself to be more poetic and descriptive. I was able to write the basic scenes then as I went back over each chapter I added in a sentence or two to elaborate the beauty or the feelings involved. I was amazed at how just a few more words here and there really bolstered the eloquence of the writing.
I have become sort of a reader snob now as well. I deliberately read other books on Kindle to get a feel for how others were writing. I came across several books that I just could not get past the first page or, at most, the first chapter because the subject verb agreements didn't line up or they constantly switched from past to present tense. I'm not an English major; I am a Biology major with a Chemistry minor. My master's degree is in Educational Leadership. So, although I am still a newbie when it comes to writing fiction and prose, I must have enough writing skill to get my thoughts across through words and be able to write clearly enough that others can understand my message. Even though those writers might have had a good story, it was painful to try to read when I was constantly having to make corrections in my head over their English grammar mistakes.
I'll admit, my writing isn't perfect. I may not put all the commas in the right places. But, I hope I have done well enough that any minor mistakes I made won't get in the way of the overall story.
All in all, I fell in love with the act of writing. I have a memory of when I was around the age of six. I went to the half bathroom that was in my parents' bedroom. While in that bathroom, I must have been chatting away at myself. I distinctly remember saying to myself, "I love talking. I could just talk all the time." I was a chatty Cathy for a long time before I learned to keep silent and listen to what others have to say. Now, I'm in love with writing just for the sake of writing. If no one ever reads this, then, well...I've enjoyed myself anyway. Although, I sincerely hope that at least a few people read my writing. Whether or not they appreciate it, that's okay with me too.
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
It's out there!
I published my first book via Kindle and Createspace over the weekend. I'm trying to spread the news. So please share with as many as you can.
It will be available on Kindle Unlimited until July 2nd, then I plan to publish it on Smashwords where it will go out to iBooks, Nook, Oyster, and others world wide.
Feel free to give me feedback. I'm working on the next in the series, Follow the White Stag: A Spirit Traveler Tragedy. Now is the time to let me know what you would like to see and how I can make it better.
Happy Reading!
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