WRITING STYLE:
For writings that appear on the Internet, I use three periods for an ellipsis, two dashes for an em dash, etc. I do this because I’ve experienced the horror of a converter not being able to read smart quotes or common punctuation marks, which has turned my documents into so much unreadable garbage with that strange spade/question mark symbol everywhere. So to maintain readability no matter the format, I leave the auto correct off when I’m writing for the web.
I write my stories in Scrivener, clean them up in OpenOffice (where I add all the fancy formatting), and I’ve even broken out the Calibre and Sigil a time or two. It only takes a couple of minutes for me to go through a document and make a few style changes. It takes much longer if those style changes involve trying to find unrecognizable characters, disappearing italics and bold, or quotation marks that have been turned into a mess.
I believe in the Oxford comma (“potatoes, tomatoes, and lettuce” versus “potatoes, tomatoes and lettuce”). There is one space before an ellipsis and one after it (the time is … wow, that’s late) and it’s usually used to show missing words or a marked hesitance in dialogue. There is one space after a colon and the following word is not capitalized (These are some of my dog’s favorite foods: broccoli, beef, and chicken.) and you know you’re using it right if you can replace it with the word “namely” and still have your sentence work. There is one space after a period or a comma.
I do the best I can with spelling and grammar, but no one’s perfect. I have on occasion confused “compliment” for “complement” and have appreciated it when no one laughed at my gaff (check me out, I made a punny). I have a dorky sense of humor and I throw around a lot of pop culture references. There have been times when I’ve bent the rules of grammar for the look of a project, though I’ve always tried not to break the rules outright.
Once you pick a style guide to use for a document, stick to it. There’s nothing like trying to read a story written by someone that jumps from the Chicago Manual of Style, to the French style, to the German style, to … It would be better to just throw style out altogether rather than making a big mess of it.
MY PROCESS:
Depending on the story, I write in different ways. There’s always that same “Ah ha” moment when an idea pops into my head, but the way that it is developed can be very different.
For Visions of Blood & Shadow I started writing and I didn’t stop until it was finished. The story unfolded in front of me and I had no idea what was happening or how anything was going to wrap up until I was staring at the complete story on my computer screen. It was an oddly cathartic process, the words flooded out of me and there was an amazing sense of awe when I looked up one day and realized that it was done. I had written my first full-length novel. It blew my mind.
Heroes & Villains started in the same way. I began writing a superhero story, wrote a quick outline for Allies & Enemies, and went back to Heroes & Villains with a new sense of purpose. There are some parts where I wrote the dialogue and then built the scenes around it, or I wrote a scene description and kept the story moving, coming back later to fix what once went wrong. In my head, Heroes & Villains is the first part of my three-act structure (Setup: Heroes & Villains, confrontation: Allies & Enemies, and resolution: All That Remains) and introduces the main characters and sets the stage. It stands alone as a complete story, but it’s also the first of three parts that add to a larger narrative: the life and times of Darkstar x Blue Ice.
When I wrote Echo I decided in advance how many chapters there would be and what would happen in them. It is a sweet contemporary romance and that is exactly what I was going for. There’s the introduction of Cole and Anderson, the attraction and developing relationship, the conflict, and the HEA (happy ever after) ending. I’m well-known for my need to use flowery language and I tried to avoid that with Echo; simple and sweet was what I was aiming for, and I like to think I nailed it. That’s not to say that Echo is a perfect work–they never are–and I figure there will come a time in the future when it might be Star Wars Special Editioned, though I have no plans at the moment.
As with Echo, Centrifical was written with the use of an outline. I wrote a list of events, chapter listed them, and got to work. I wrote out the scenes and filled in the dialogue, which was the reverse of Echo, where I had pages of dialogue and filled in the actions and emotions. I liked the idea of a rock star and a B-rated TV star being best friends, and I’d even seen a picture somewhere of Jimi Hendrix and Leonard Nimoy being all bro-faced for the cameras. The story practically wrote itself.
I am inspired by many things–TV shows, movies, songs, photographs, weird things I read on Wikipedia. Ideas form in my brain and for a time I become obsessed. I can never know what will interest other people, but I try to write the stories that I would like to read. From a bumbling superhero turned bad ass supervillain, to a man with a speech impediment, to zombie elves and rock stars, it’s all there in my head. It’s just the way that the stories choose to express themselves that changes; there’s always that same feeling of “I made that” when I’m looking at a completed story.
And then there’s the editing, when the magic disappears and the work begins. Because seriously, editing is the worst part of the writing process. It’s that time when you put away the magic unicorns and start erasing all the stupid puns as you polish your bit of porn fluff into something cohesive with an actual plot.
I hate editing with a fiery vengeance, but without editing Anderson from Echo went from a blond to a brunet and back again, the bank of Megacity was 400-stories tall (that’s like 7900 feet), and the dead walked in several of my stories when I forgot who got killed off when. Editing is that moment when the fun stops and the real work begins. It’s an important part of any writing process and usually takes the longest amount of time, at least for me it does.
HALF THE TIME I DON’T KNOW WHAT’S GOING ON:
I love to write, watch TV, play with my dog, and eat. I generally follow the news of the world, but it’s not the greatest priority. Seriously, I was completely surprised to find out that SOPA is still being pursued by those same guys that can’t even keep the government running. I do not have my finger on the pulse of the world today.
A lot of things I find out from Tumblr or from an offhand remark on Twitter. But if no one outright comes to me with a “Look dude, this happened,” then I have no idea what’s going on. So if you’ve got some earth shaking news you want to share with me or you want me to share with the world for you, don’t be afraid to send me a blog link or start a dialogue in the comments of whatever blog I happen to be lurking on at the moment. I’m terrible about direct responding–that old OCD and social anxiety disorder rear their little heads–but I do share links and I do like making quick write ups as long as I have permission.
I don’t like to step on anyone’s toes, which makes me hesitant to publicly share some of the awesome stuff I come across, but if you want something shared I’m always happy to help out. Basically, I would love to pimp your shit. And since I don’t keep 24-hour vigilance on the whole Internet, feel free to tap me on the shoulder and point me to the awesome.
– As ever, peace, love, joy –
