Idea Farming—growing your plot #1

Idea Farming—growing your plot #1

This is the first of six blogs on story farming. In this one, I’ll talk about what components are required for a healthy plot harvest. In each of the next three, I will describe a farming method—Container (short stories), Backyard (anthologies and/or novella-length pieces),  The South 40 (the book series), and Mega Farming (the book series).

In the last blog of the series, I'll give some pro/con comments on each and my advice on when it might be appropriate to use ideas from each in a type of farming for effective cross-pollination. 

But, because we want a good crop/plot, we'll start with basic needs.

Soil.  While it is possible to produce sizable crops with hydroponics, most plants are grown in soil. Dirt is not soil. Soil contains an abundance of organic and inorganic materials that help nourish the plant and keep the roots anchored.

In your plot garden, soil is your experience as a reader and writer. In the same way that plants grow best is rich soil, without a good grasp of what it takes to make a good story, you’re pretty much doomed as a writer.

Seed. A mature seed contains an embryo plant that’s just waiting for the right conditions to grow into a plant.

Unless the mature idea for your story is present in your plot seed when you start writing, you’ll find that growing a story is impossible. Have a basic outline in mind when you begin.

“The Law”. All plants require Light, Air, and Water (LAW) to grow. When you take away any one of these three requirements, you break the law, and your plant dies.

Plots also die when requirements aren’t met. You need believable characters, reasonable plot points, and realistic dialog to keep your plot plant alive. (Sorry, but BC, RPP, and RD don’t make a cute acronym.)

Cultivation/weeding/pruning.     Gardeners and farmers know that keeping the soil loose, removing weeds, and, if the plant requires it, judicious removal of limbs/shoots that are dying, dead, or growing in the wrong direction are mandatory actions to an abundant harvest.

The plants in your plot gardens must be cultivated—keep your mind’s soil loose and open to new and alternate ideas. Plots must be weeded. You have to be willing to admit that some of what you’ve written is more weed than crop—and you have to be willing to remove those post-haste. Finally, some of the verbiage you write is good, but not in the story you’re writing—that’s where pruning comes in. Cutting good stuff to keep your plot growing (MOVING FORWARD) is essential.

Next week: Idea Farming—growing your plot #2—Container Gardening

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My website is: www.crdowning.com

Idea Mining: where to get ideas for your story

Idea Mining—where to get ideas for your story

In my last blog I said I was going to discuss “Idea Farming.” However, it dawned on me that you have to have an idea before you can farm it. So, this blog will be on where you might go for overall ideas for stories.

There are three sources for ideas that I use with regularity. First, we’ll look at each as an independent entity.

Real life. Events that really happened are excellent sources for ideas. They nearly always have a ring of truth to them, and they usually provide key plot points you can incorporate.

In one of my upcoming novels, The 5^th Page (scheduled for a summer/fall 2015 release), a friend, and former police officer, told his story of why he left the police force and became a pastor. Since the idea of transitioning from police officer to pastor intrigued me in and of itself, and the minimal details he was allowed to provide based on the circumstances of his separation from the force provided significant tension, I thought it was an ideal story idea.

So I wrote a novel about it.

After my friend read the book, he returned it saying, “Thank you.”

“Oh, no,” I replied. “I should be thanking you.”

“You don’t understand,” he said. “Now I know how the story ends.”

That’s what a fiction writer dreams to hear.

However, there are some critical points to keep in mind and essential policies to keep when converting fact to fiction. But more about that in my next blog.

Published material. Since you can’t copyright an idea, existing stories can provide ideas. There is a limited number of plot situations possible. “Georges Polti was a 19th century French writer [who] described 36 situations that may be found in many stories, based on the list identified by Goethe who said it was originated by Italian Carlo Gozzi (1720-1806).”  From: ttp://www.changingminds.org/disciplines/storytelling/plots/polti_situations/polti_situations.htm

While Polti’s list is extensive, it, like nearly any list, is most probably incomplete. However, when teaching high school biology, after the Advanced Placement Biology Exam, my AP Bio students wrote a science fiction story—after all they had all taken 3-4 years of science and had listened to my stories for at least a year.

To be fair, I also wrote a story while the students were writing one. To even the playing field a bit, since I was writing short stories regularly, I allowed the class to pick three numbers from 1-46. Those were the required plot situations I had to include in my story. In addition they got to select two major characters—ranging from students in the class to Sponge Bob and Chuck Norris (in the same story!). Finally, they were allowed the select the science upon which my story was based.

I will admit that is probably not the best way to mine your story ideas, and many of the stories were cheesy. However I, and some other teachers, have used two or three of those classics to pique interest in a topic for various science classes. The basic outline of one of them is the structure for one of the stories in my Traveler’s HOT L series.

Dreams, etc. Never discount your own brain as a rich source of material. I have learned to get out of bed and write down ideas when I wake up in the middle of the night. Sometimes I read skdf solsnof soo s alsno, or some such iteration of what I was thinking. But, most often enough of the dream is there to allow me to recall my thoughts and use them.

Keep a pencil and paper on your nightstand!

Next Blog: Idea farming—growing your plot

Follow me on Twitter: @CRDowningAuthor and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CRDowningAuthor

My website is: www.crdowning.com

The daily schedule

What follows really is "A day in the life..."

Some of you have noticed that this blog post is “a week late.” My wife and I were visiting my son and his family (including my adorable granddaughter) in Wisconsin. Besides not having a lot of time, they live in the far north of the state and Internet access is, well, inconsistent.

But, I’m back in San Diego now.

I have three kinds of “days” in my life.

1.             No writing days. While not common, these do exist. The schedule for these days varies and is unimportant to today’s topic.

2.            Some writing days. On these days, my writing time is restricted to either morning or afternoon. This schedule is always based on other activities: doctors, financial planners, family responsibilities.

On some writing days, I either write in the morning or afternoon. Since the times I do write are structured as on my third type of day, read on for specifics.

3.            Writing days. I try to being writing before 8:00 AM. Since I’m always up before 0600, I have time for walking the dogs, devotions, and breakfast/newspaper before I dive into the process. Regardless of which of the two schedules provided below I’m following, I always take a break around noon to exercise and have a light lunch.

A.   If I’m writing new storyline. New stories kind of come out without much urging or control. So, I might write for an extended time, 2-3 hours, without stopping because I want to get as much as I can down and saved before it evaporates. Eventually, by the end of one of these days, I might have put in 8-10 hours of writing. My best production that I’ve documented is 6000 words on one of these days. I almost always stop by 7:00 PM, but do run as late as 9:30 on occasion—a night owl I am not!

B.   If I’m editing. This is my most highly structured type of day. Editing is a laborious process. I wrote about some of that process in an earlier blog, Quick Tip: Be aware of what one word can help you do, and will expand in a future blog, 10 More Editing Ideas to Make Your Revisions Less Revolting. Suffice it to say that I take more frequent breaks when I’m editing.

                          i.       First reason for more breaks. It’s just hard work. After all, you have to cut off part of yourself when you edit. I mean, you wrote what you wrote and thought it was good enough to keep. And, if you’re working on a second or third revision, you’ve already agonized a lot over the prose before. I get up and wander about once an hour, on final edit days.

                        ii.       Last reason for more breaks. They help keep my outlook fresh. Unless I move around and get the blood flowing through my cerebral cortex, I miss items that should have been edited out or corrected. I’ve never published a “perfect” manuscript, and I doubt I ever will. But my goal is no errors in the published manuscript.

So that’s it. May your writing days be productive ones.

Next Blog: Idea farming—growing your plot

Follow me on Twitter: @CRDowningAuthor and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CRDowningAuthor

My website is: www.crdowning.com

Managing more than one project

While you might have the luxury of working on one thing at a time, I do not. I suppose I could arrange my schedule towards achieving that goal, however, I cannot imagine not having more than one project going at any given time.

Right now, as I sit writing this blog entry, I have the following writing projects going.

A.            Final editing for The Observers – A Science Fiction Odyssey. This book, 72K words long and my second with http://www.koehlerbooks.com, has been edited for format and story (back and forth) and content (also back and forth). It’s currently at the copy edit back on the East Coast. As soon as I get that edit sent to me, this will become my number one priority because I want to make sure we keep our December 2015, release date.

B.            Second edits and copy edits of the seven stories that will be part of Traveler’s HOT L #2 (that’s the working title). Right now at 92K words in length, this book will be published through Amazon’s CreateSpace, as was RIFTS-A Science Fiction Thriller. Release date target for Traveler’s HOT L #2 is pre-Thanksgiving of this year. This is my #1 priority when The Observers is back at the publisher.

C.            Currently at the imagine and create stage, is a book idea I’m working on with a co-author, Gregg Gibbs, a retired Irvine, California Police Sergeant. Stay tuned for details. This project pops into first place when I have a nuance for an idea already in place. Until then, it’s not really on the radar.

D.            Also, in the queue are two detective books starring Phil Mamba, my private detective—he has a story in each of the Traveler’s HOT L books. The first exclusively Mamba book is composed of four of his case files with the fourth being a “you solve it,” story. The second book is a full-length novel based on a real event. I’m looking at 2015 release dates on those.

Ongoing, non-writing projects include:

E.            Starting last week, I am teaching two sections of a class on Curriculum and Assessment for Azusa Pacific University’s Teacher Credential Program. This two-class obligation will continue until at least late January.

F.             Being a husband, father, and grandpa.

G.            Keep up with preparation for my Adult Life Group class at Mission Church of the Nazarene in San Diego.

Still more stuff

H.           Being part of my almost 93-year-old mom’s life.

I.              Then there’s twice daily dog walking.

J.             Honey-do items.

K.            Oh, yeah. Facebook, Twitter, and webpage management.

You get the drift.

So, how do I keep all the plates spinning on their spindly sticks?

1.        I know what my projects are.

That may sound like nonsense, but if I don’t keep in mind what the priority projects are for me in any given day, I end up spending inordinate amounts of time on what might be legitimate activities that are not one of my current projects. So, first off, know what you are working on that has a deadline—that’s probably one of your projects.

1.             I map out time each day for projects and the other legitimate stuff.

“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” From 1955-2012, most every weekday of my life had a set schedule—school of some sort. Whether as a student or teacher, that’s how many years I was “in school.”

When I retired, I had to make a schedule. It’s not controlled by a bell system. But, I do have time blocked out for Prayer/Devotions, Writing, APU stuff, Other Life Items. Most days I stick to the schedule—if I err, it’s almost always to allow for more writing time because sometimes I just have to get that story out of my brain!

2.            I work with a wonderful publicist.

I recommend working with a professional who values your work and works for you to make your writing better. I am most fortunate to be working with Sherry Frazier (http://www.frazierpublicrelations.com/).

She has helped me focus. She has kicked my tush on occasion, when I deserved it. She has redirected my focus when asked. She is one of my biggest fans.

I cannot give her high enough recommendations.

3.            I don’t let creative juice spoil.

I can only edit existing material for a certain length of time. Then, I have to do something new. So, I build into my timeline enough flextime to allow me to take a break on the very necessary editing processes and work on new storylines, characters, whatever.

So, what’s the bottom line on Managing more than one project?

Know your projects. Plan your work time. Find someone who’ll keep you on track. Keep on writing.

Next Blog: The daily schedule

Follow me on Twitter: @CRDowningAuthor and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CRDowningAuthor

My website is: www.crdowning.com

Quick Tip: BE aware of what one word can help you do

This is kind of a Bonus Blog entry. I just got The Observers – A Science Fiction Odyssey, back from my Editor, Joe, at KoehlerBooks. Before I jump into this "almost final edit" of that book, which will be released in December of this year, I thought I pass on a few thoughts about the editing process.

After reading through the proof copy of RIFTS – A Science Fiction Thriller, I was doing my final edit. I remembered reading something I wanted to change, but hadn’t marked it. That’s not a good idea. I think that’s one major reason God created sticky notes.

I really didn’t want to skim the whole second section of the book. I did remember that the word be was associated with the paragraph I was looking for—I have no idea why.

So, I did a search for the word be. I was careful to put a space in front of the b and another space after the e because I wanted only the word be, not belong, because, amber, adobe, or any other iteration of a word with be in it.

What I got was.

1.     A long list.

     But, also

2.   A way to find other oddities in the text that required editing.

I found out that by reading the text around the word be provided me with a completely unbiased view of the text. That brought typos, comma use errors, and grammatical faux pas into literally immediate focus because I wasn’t reading the story then.

Did I catch all the glitches in the manuscript by this stroke of genius luck?

Nope. But the manuscript that was printed as RIFTS is the most error free of any of the books I’ve published or had published.

Be daring. Try it. You’ll like it. Because it works!

I have one more most excellent editing tip to share. But, I'd like some more. Any tips I receive from my readers in an email from my website by MIDNIGHT THURSDAY AUGUST 21, will be tested by me during my editing next week. The best of up to 9 of those will be included in a future blog titled, 10 More Editing Ideas to Make Your Revisions Less Revolting.

Those suggestions included in MY list will be posted with the sender’s initials.

In the meantime, if you are looking for a professional editor/proofreader, I have a strong recommendation. Her name is Shelley Greene. She provides feedback (good/bad) and suggestions as well as helping with wording, grammar, and typos.

Shelley’s email is: evergreene91@gmail.com. She is also on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shelley.greene.566. She doesn’t work for free, but her rates are VERY competitive. You will be glad you contacted her.

Next Blog: It Takes a Strong Back and Spine To Be a Winning Cover

Follow me on Twitter: @CRDowningAuthor and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CRDowningAuthor

My website is: www.crdowning.com

Closing the Cover

In my last blog, I described the process I followed for the two books I have that are currently for sale. In this blog we’ll look at two other possibilities: 1) Book under contract; 2) All your own cover work.

If you are looking for a contract with an established publisher, you probably won’t have the option of auditioning an artist or an idea for your cover. You might, but the odds are not in favor of those options. My second book with Koehlerbooks, TheObservers – A Science Fiction Odyssey, will be released December 2014. Koehlerbooks has a unique approach to many of their covers—they offer two options and visitors to their website can vote on the option they like the best. 

Here are the choices in the voting for the cover of The Observers.

 

                     

And the winner is…

I think potential readers did a fine job. The cover that was not selected is intriguing (there is a solar system on the iris of the eyeball, and the neurons at the top relate to the story), but it doesn’t have a “wow” factor. The winning cover captures the essence of the book without giving away anything significant in the plot. It also includes the visual drama of the faded alien eye (observing!) with the flash of an unknown sun as it rises over the horizon of an unnamed planet.

If you want to start from scratch and make your own cover, here are three things to keep in mind.

1.    CreatSpace/Kindle have very specific requirements for a cover.

Here’s a screen shot of the custom template Amazon provides once you know the number of pages in your book. This template is for 300 pages using white paper.

THESE ARE VERY IMPORTANT CAVEATS—READ THEM CAREFULLY.

A.   Where is says to “Turn off guidelines…” they mean erase/delete the Background (that’s all the stuff you see here.)

B.   You need to be sure your front cover photo runs all the way to the edge of the paper, not just to the trim line. Amazon’s print parameters allow for some “slippage,” so run the front cover photo to the edge of the page.

C.   Make sure all your text is at least 0.5 inches from the trim line.

2. You will need software that a) allows you to manipulate pictures, text, boxes, etc., all in one file; 2) that will save your cover as a PDF file.
3. These files take a lot of your TIME and your computer’s MEMORY—insufficient quantities of either will leave you frustrated and probably unsuccessful.

I subscribe to Adobe Cloud’s suite of programs—in part for Photoshop and the full-blown version of Acrobat, but also for Muse, which I use to manage my websites. There are many other programs, but those are the three I use most.

If you have another reasonably high-end program for photo manipulation, and you don’t need to do website design/maintenance, then the complete version of Acrobat may service your needs. I really can’t say that with 100% certainty, but I think that option has at least a reasonable chance of success because Amazon provides a PNG version of the template along with the PDF version. However, you have to submit a PDF file to CreateSpace/Kindle for your cover.

Here are my current ideas for the two covers I’m working on for two Mystery Novels in my queue. These are both “all me.” The photo of The Detective, is on both covers to indicate the books are part of a series.

These need work. But I did them without anyone physically helping me. I’ve been using Photoshop for under a year, so I think I’m doing pretty well.

Of course, we still have one more aspect of covers to cover. My next blog will be TWO weeks from today..

Next Blog: It Takes a Strong Back and Spine To Be a Winning Cover.

Follow me on Twitter: @CRDowningAuthor and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CRDowningAuthor

My website is: www.crdowning.com

You can’t tell a book by its cover, but the cover can convince you to buy it!

You can’t tell a book by its cover, but the cover can convince you to buy it!

When you walk through a book store (You remember those, don’t your? Physical buildings with shelves of books made of paper organized by genre and author.), how do you decide what book to pick up?

Or, if you’re browsing Amazon or Barnes and Noble, once your search for genre brings up a page of books, what makes you choose to click on a given book?

Answers to those questions vary. For some, it’s the author. For others, it’s the title. But, for a WHOLE LOT OF PEOPLE, it’s the BOOK COVER.

What makes a good cover? How about a GREAT cover? Or, if all the ducks line up in a row, A MEMORABLE COVER?

Browse the covers of books in your personal collection. Is there a theme? If not, what still draws you to those covers?

While I don’t have the ultimate answers to my own questions, I do have some ideas to consider if you are publishing your own book.

Design by Publisher’s Service

All self publishing entities with which I am familiar offer cover design for a fee. Fees start at $200 and range upwards of $500. Some companies offer templates where you use their layout (and their art if you wish) and drop in title, author, and other text.

I’ve never done an online search for book cover designers, but I would be SHOCKED if there weren’t dozens to hundreds of artists willing to design a cover for you… for a price.

But, what if you have your own idea?

Self Design

CreateSpace offers a blank template for covers of books published through them. The template is customized for the thickness of the spine. It’s easy to work with, IF, AND IT’S A BIG IF, you have either Photoshop or Adobe Acrobat Pro. I’ve used their template, and I cannot imagine trying to fit your idea/art/text into their template without one of those programs.

Trucated versions of the covers of my books, Traveler’s HOT L – The Time Traveler’s Resort, and RIFTS – A Science Fiction Thriller.

During the course of my high school and university teaching, I’ve had several fine artists as students. For Traveler’s HOT L, I was VERY fortunate to have Reed Steiner, now a Graphic Arts teacher, who was willing to work with Koehler Books on a cover design.

The photo that follows is one set of pencil sketches Reed submitted.

From that group, the publisher, with input from me, selected the lower right option to enhance. The next photo shows the intermediate design, also a pencil sketch.

If you compare this to the final cover, you will see how someone who knows what he’s doing (or she’s doing!), can make what I think is a memorable cover.

RIFTS cover has a similar path from a different origin. This artist is one of my students from Great Oak High. I’d seen her work when she was in my class, and I asked if she was interested in helping. She graciously accepted.

Here’s her first idea.

Very cool, but it’s not true to the story. So I sent her the following.

Check out the final cover on Amazon to see, once again, what an artist can do with minimal inspiration! I consider this my tribute cover to the sci-fi author’s and illustrators from the Golden Age of Science Fiction (1940s-1960s)—my favorite time for that genre!

Next week: “Closing” the Cover

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