Meet the Contributor: David Lucas

Today, I'm interviewing David Lucas, one of the contributors to Writers' Lens.

David, your website mentions that you write in a number of genres, Spy/Crime, Horror and SF, would you say you have a unifying theme in your works or do you work for something different with each work?
I work on something different for each piece, but a common character is the jagged anti-hero.  They are dealing with something--PTSD, addiction, regrets for not being the person they thought they would be when they were children--that gives them a ragged edge that is a part of their character and their world.

Do you have a process when you write?
I do.  I start with the idea--which may come from the news or a conversation or be a collision of ideas from various sources.  I then focus on the main character and nine questions I learned from reading a book on Earle Stanley Gardner, the author of the Perry Mason novels and many other novels.  These questions form the beginning of my plot.  I then plot my story, loosely.  I write the first draft.  The first draft is really my true plot.  From there, I rewrite.

Rewriting, that's when the real writing happens.  Which line do you struggle with more, the first or the last? 

 It's not a line that I struggle with; it's where the story begins.  Where my plot starts the story, and where it really starts, may be in two different places.  Sometimes it may be off by a few chapters and sometimes it may be the right scene, but not quite in the right part of the scene.

Beginnings of stories are a challenge for me too. But somehow when you get it right, you just know.  Until then it takes some work.  The Writers’ Lens is about Bringing Fiction Into Focus – what brings your writing into focus, the characters, the stories, the love of words?
It is the story--the journey and the unusual development of the character.   To me the journey is one that follows a quote of Robert Lewis Stevenson, "In each of us, two natures are at war – the good and the evil. All our lives the fight goes on between them, and one of them must conquer. But in our own hands lies the power to choose – what we want most to be we are."

So, David, of the many genres you work in, what are you working on now, and can you tell us a bit about it? 
I have three projects I am working on. 

I am currently writing the first draft, or plot draft, of a paranormal crime drama, working titled ­THE DEVIL'S BOUNTY HUNTER, which is about Detective Reo Pennington,  a consequential moralistic cop who is killed and finds herself in Hell.  There a devil makes a deal, she can either stay in hell or return to Earth.  But there is a catch.  The devil wants certain people to be sent to hell.  Oh, and to stay alive, she has to kill someone every forty days.  She agrees to the deal and finds herself in a Machiavellian game of cat and mouse as she must keep her badge, stay alive, and deny the devil what he wants.

The second project I'm writing is entering second draft.  It is a space western, working title HERNE'S LAW, about Hernando "Herne" Castellano, a veteran of a civil war in humanity's future, who is abandoned with his troops by his government on the final battle, when a peace treaty is signed.  Herne goes into a self-imposed exile for six years, when he is forced to return by a call for help.  Battling PTSD, he returns and finds his world changed, and not for the better.   Herne's government abandoned him, so he follows only one law--help those who can't help themselves.

The third project has gone back to plotting.  DARK MEDICINE is a gothic novel, about Alexandre Levreau, who was cursed by a witch after the Battle of San Carlos (also known as the Battle of St. Louis) during the American War for Independence.   All he ever wanted was to return home, but the curse changed him--made him inhuman.  He returns home to find his wife married to his brother.  In a duel he kills his brother, only to be imprisoned alive by his former wife and his father--and reemerges over two hundred years later--only to become a science experiment of a distraught emergency room doctor determined to find a way to keep people from dying.  But, there are only three problems with the doctor's plans: The witch who cursed Alexandre was also entombed with him and is immortal; The doctor does not understand the darkness he is playing with; and Alexandre is determined to return to home.

You may learn more about me at www.davidalanlucas.com, follow my "Coffee with David" blog at http://davidalanlucas.com/blog5.php, follow me on twitter @Owlkenpowriter.

 

Tools We Use - yWriter

Today I'd like to talk about the tools we use.

As writers we all use our imagination and our brains. I know many writers use a laptop, desktop or other computer to put their words in order.  But what other tools do you use?

I’d like to share with you a tool that I use that I was lucky enough to find early on in my writing career.  yWriter.

yWriter is a free application created by a programmer who also happens to be a writer.  You just know you’re going to get something useful when an actual writer has put the application together.

And you certainly get a tool worth using.  I’m grateful to have found yWriter when I did.  Back when I started writing, every writer I met wrote in order, sequentially, from beginning to end, in Word. When I started writing, my thoughts and ideas came to me in a jumble.  I would know how I planned to end the story,  I’d have a single character’s name and large chunks of dialogue.  None of it showed up in my brain in any order that I could manage.  

I certainly couldn’t put all this information in a Word doc without losing my mind.

I remember hunting online for something, anything, that might help.  I remember someone mentioning yWriter, and I immediately sought out the website.  

Simon Haynes created yWriter to help with his own writing.  And I bet it’ll help yours too.  Check it out.  Try it out.  It’s FREE.  And if you really like it, support Simon by purchasing one of his books.  Hal Junior: The Secret Signal or his Hal Spacejock series.

What tools do you use to get your writing done?  What tools do you wish you had?

Win a copy of Hapenny Magick!

It's Monday again, and here is a wonderful way to celebrate the start of a new week, a giveaway!

Today we have the privilege of sharing an electronic copy of Jennifer Carson's fantasy middle grade novel, 

HAPENNY MAGICK.

 As the tiniest Hapenny, a race of little people, Maewyn Bridgepost spends her days from breakfast to midnight nibble scrubbing the hearth, slopping the pigs, and cooking for her guardian, Gelbane, who never spares a kind word. As if life as a servant isn’t bad enough, Mae learns that Gelbane is a troll—and Hapennies are a troll delicacy.

Years ago, a spell trapped Gelbane in Mae’s village. Ever since, Gelbane has been chiseling away the magic spells that guard the village and now Mae’s community is destined to become a smorgasbord for half-starved trolls.

Jennifer is using Kickstarter to fund her first print run of this heartfelt story. Check out the video and all the wonderful illustrations she has planned!

To enter the contest, simply leave a comment or question on The Writers' Lens blog between October 24th, and midnight October 29th, 2011. Please include your email so we can reach you if you win. The more comments you leave, the greater your chance of winning the contest. The winner will be chosen after midnight on Saturday and the announcement made on Sunday, October 30th.

Thanks for entering, and Good Luck!

Winner of Oct. 9th Contest

The winner of Cornelia Amiri's October 9th contest, The Golden Compass Toy Airship and the book Zen and the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury is Lori from Vancover. Congratulations Lori.

Meet The Contributor: Ansha Kotyk!

Meet the Contributor: Ansha Kotyk!
By Brad R. Cook

This week I had the great pleasure to interview the next contributor to The Writers’ Lens, Ansha Kotyk. She is the author of Gangsterland, a middle grade novel due out later this year. A professional writer for the last five years, her titles
include The Comic Book, The Story of Kore, and Ground Zero. Like many writers she began her craft at a young age, writing her first story at the
age of nine.

She is a contributor to several blogs like #mglitchat and Pots n Pens. If you haven’t checked them out I highly recommend that you do – find more at: http://mglitchat.blogspot.com/
or http://potsnpens.blogspot.com/

Ansha also wrote an excellent post about the choice she made in publishing, and why it was the right decision for her. It’s a great post about independent publishing. Read more at http://www.anshakotyk.com/blog

So, I asked her a few tough questions – sharpened my lens to bring her fiction into focus as it were.

Your website mentions following your dreams, any advice for those who dream of publication and don’t want to lose their way?

Following your dreams is what we're made for, why else would we dream? I think the idea of following a dream makes a lot of people hesitate. I mean, a dream is huge right? What if we can't achieve our dream? Or worse, what if we can and it's not what we anticipated? What then? We
move on and find another dream! I think the goal to following a dream is to make it tangible. Make a list of things we need to accomplish in order to achieve our goal and start working on the list. Eventually we meet that goal. I had a friend once tell me "if you want it bad enough, you'll do what you need to do to get it". I don't watch television. My 'down' time is writing time. I make room in my life for my writing every day. And that's how I know I'll eventually make my dream come true.

Cornelia asked me about the difference between Y/A and MG – So I have to ask, what sets Middle Grade and Young Adult apart from books for Adults?

Wow, tough question. When I was a kid I don't recall there being the amount of Middle Grade and YA books that are available today. I think the themes in MG and YA draw a number of readers. First experiences in life are always thrilling and as a reader you get to relive that through MG and YA characters who are having these experiences and making these decisions for
the first time. I actually can think of a number of reasons to read MG and YA, I have even talked my neighborhood book club into reading a few YA and MG novels instead of adult literary novels. Personally I think you find the theme of hope in MG and YA titles and that will always keep me reading.

Do you have a process when you write? Do you write at the same time every day or whenever you can find time? Do you outline or let the words flow?

For the last 3 years I've made it a point to set time aside to write each day. My children are young so it's been during nap times and now preschool. I really need that quiet time to focus on being creative. I'm a semi-pantser. :) I have always outlined my stories. I even have a few outlined that I never wrote. But the outline is my road map. When I write the draft the scenes create themselves as I write. I'm a strong believer in the subconscious mind doing all my work for me. It makes this job lots of fun!

The Writers’ Lens is about Bringing Fiction Into Focus – what brings your writing into focus, the characters, the stories, the love of words?

I have always loved the well crafted plot and maybe that's because I grew up on lots of Sci-fi, but I do love my characters.

Which line do you struggle with more the first or the last?

Both! I've rewritten my first pages more times than I can count. And I'm currently reworking my final scene. I'm a big proponent of Fast Drafting. Getting the words for your story down on paper as fast as you can. Keep that momentum, that flow of your story. It makes for some lengthy
revision but a thrill ride of a first draft.

What are you working on now?

I'm working on the final revisions of my Middle Grade novel GANGSTERLAND, an open ended series about a boy who wishes himself into his comic book of 1920's gangsters and finds himself in more trouble than he imagined. I plan to self-publish around the New Year. I've drafted the 3rd book but not the 2nd. I plan to keep myself busy with my dream.

Learn more about Gangsterland and the rest of Ansha’s writing at: http://www.anshakotyk.com/
Follow her blog at: http://www.anshakotyk.com/blog
and if you’re not checking out her twitter stream, you should be – @AnshaKotyk

Researching Your Novel: Always Start With Google!

Researching Your Novel: Always Start With Google!
By Brad R. Cook

If you take one piece of advice away from this post
– Always start with Google!

This is part of a talk about research that I’ve given at a couple of writers’ conferences, but it is also my favorite way to learn. If I don’t know something – I Google it. It’s practically how I learned to be an IT tech. BTW, you can Bing too, whichever makes you happier.

In a nutshell, Google is an algorithm that searches everything posted on the web for the keywords you entered. So if you ask for an apple you will get every post with apple in it from the entire world, that’s why it says – about 115,000,000 results (0.12 seconds.)

Why do you need to research? Details! People read to learn, to escape, to experience something new. To fulfill this desire, every writer needs to include rich details.

There are three things to remember when researching your novel:
1 – How to research: Start specific then broaden – always approach from multiple angles – try to find source material.

Start your search with very specific keywords, something like – apple pie recipes with a flaky cinnamon trust. (Can you tell I’m hungry, or it may be a Steve Jobs’ homage, but I had apples on my mind.) It's always best to see if there is a website that has exactly what you need. If that doesn't work, say there just aren't any cinnamon piecrust recipes, then broaden your search. See if there are apple pie recipes with flaky crusts that you could add the cinnamon too. Your next option, if you still haven’t found what you are looking for, or want more detailed information – is to approach from a different angle. See if there is a pumpkin pie recipe with a cinnamon crust. Lastly, one of the most important things you can do is find the source material. Especially, since much of what is on the web is a reprint or an amalgamation of other sources.

2 – Where to research: It isn’t always about libraries.

I love libraries! They're the single greatest resource when trying to find out information. In some cases, they're actually better than Google because they have resources I can't access by myself. However, sometimes it's good to get out of the library. How many times have you heard – “Write what you know!” – and they’re right, so fire a gun, swing a sword, drive your characters’ car, ride with a biker gang, or walk through each location of your story. It can be invaluable to actually do the things your character does. Not to mention, it makes the research fun.

3 – What to research: Details!

Research is about one thing – details. The right details give your novel depth and enrich the reader’s experience. It's how writers create an environment that the reader won’t want to leave. Research the specifics, the clothes, technology, history, slang, sights, sounds, smells, and feel of the important aspects of the character’s world.

Anyone can write – a man walked into a room and fired a gun – but with a little research – The lieutenant smashed his boot against the cheap particleboard door, took two steps inside and smacked into the rancid odor of week-old pizza and enough piled crap to start an episode of
Hoarders. As a man stepped into the hallway, the lieutenant fired a tight-spread of buckshot. (My apple reference didn’t work as well here.)

The second sentence makes people want to read more. They care more about the Lt. than some generic man. What did I research? The type of person, what they wore, and what type of weapon they carried. The type of place they entered. What did that place look like, smell like, and feel like? Don’t add all the details to every sentence, but knowing the in’s and out’s of your world is the only way to show the reader. So, research the five senses, and remember your genre – if you’re writing a space epic, you'd better know some of the laws of astrophysics; writing a western, you might want to know that the pump action shotgun wasn't invented until the 1890s; writing a
mystery, brush up on police procedures. We read for the details.

I hope that helps. My next blog post will continue the research theme. I’ll touch on some great places to look when researching. Good luck with your writing!

Win a Book of Poetry!

It's Monday! Time for another Writers' Lens contest!

Now that you know a little about me from Cornelia's great interview, allow me to pass a book on to you.  I have a signed copy of Matthew Freeman's poetry collection, Darkness Never Far - and all you have to do to win it is leave a comment!

Matthew is an amazing, award-winning St. Louis poet. His next collection is due soon, but until then, let me tempt you with his last collection. Matthew Freeman has been a poet since he was a teenager in Dogtown, St. Louis. Since then he has fallen in love, travelled the country, and sung his songs. He now lives and writes in The Loop, in St. Louis. Darkness Never Far is his third collection of poems exploring the impact of mental illness on language and mythos. (bio borrowed from Coffeetownpress.com)

A special note: Matthew recently assisted the Missouri Warrior Writer Project. The Missouri Writers Guild in partnership with the Missouri Humanities Council, is helping soldiers and their families write about their wartime experience using Poetry, Prose, and Personal Essays. The project has been a resounding success and Matthew gave his time to perform poetry workshops.

One note about the contest: Due to shipping limitations, you have to live within the continental United States to win. Apologies to the international readers. We also have giveaways that are fully online so anyone can win.

To enter the contest, simply leave a comment or question on The Writers' Lens Blog between October 17th, and midnight October 22nd, 2011. Please include your email so we can reach you if you win. The more comments you leave, the greater YOUR chance of winning the contest. The winner will be chosen after midnight on Saturday and the announcement made on Sunday, October 23rd.

Thanks for entering, and be sure to check out the rest of the posts, including last week's Twitter Hash Tag post by Cornelia Amiri.

Good luck with the contest!

Learn more about me at www.bradrcook.com