gualtiero via Compfight

I don’t like abridged books.

Yes, I understand the unabridged Les Miserables is nearly 1500 pages, and Victor Hugo spends 50+ pages setting up the Bishop who gives Jean Valjean the candlesticks–a scene the movie/play does in 5 minutes flat.

Yes, I understand Leviticus is strange and long and full of skin diseases and that we don’t even practice animal sacrifices any more.

Yes, I understand the plot of Moby-Dick–you know, hunting that whale–is a bit overwhelmed with voluminous details on whale anatomy and the art of harvesting the oil.

Yes, I understand that Tom Clancy gives you every intricate detail of the politics and military movements of his characters and that Robert Jordan has a penchant for making sure you know exactly what everyone is wearing.

And I’m okay with that.

What saves a cookie-cutter Hollywood plot are the non-essential flourishes, the little sidetracks from the traditional plot structure.

Because fiction isn’t about trying to absorb as many plot points as possible as quickly as possible. The things that don’t make it into Cliff Notes are what make books worth reading. The style, the digressions, the turns of phrases, the banter, the atmosphere, the foreshadowing, the hints of something greater.

It seems to me that by abridging a book, you cut out its soul.

That question, in many ways, gets to the very heart of what made writing The Unremarkable Squire interesting to me.

We’re trained to look up to the powerful. The majority of heroes, by definition, are powerful and hold positions of power. It’s hard to start a new TV drama without having the main character be a cop, doctor, or politician.

Few people want to be merely a writer or a businessman. They want to be a famous writer or a wealthy businessman.

One of my working titles for The Unremarkable Squire when I was in the middle of it was The Oath. Obed Kainos, the story’s namesake squire, takes an oath to both serve his master and those who need his help. And he takes his oath seriously, even when the normal, sane thing to do would be to find a loophole.

As a Christian, I believe the first shall be last, and the last first. But what does that look like in a story? (Or, more importantly, in real life?)

The Unremarkable Squire is filled with humor and quirky characters, but the heart of the story, the kernel of idea that focused me, really is answering the question: “Why isn’t this book about the knight instead of the squire?”

The copy I read, bought from Summer’s Stories for $1.

I recently read Ray Bradbury’s The Illustrated Man, a collection of 19 short stories written as only Bradbury can write them. I thought I’d share some of the lessons I learned, in no particular order.

Space is full of wonder, and Mars is Fairie-Land.

Space isn’t full of balls of gas and bunches of rocks and barren planets. It’s not about trajectories and techno-babble. No, it’s full of wonder. Try to remember that next time you watch Battlestar Galactica.

More than that, there’s a tension between mankind’s desire to sterilize everything and the romance and mystery of life. If you don’t believe me, read how Edgar Allen Poe leads armies of witches and monsters against spacemen in “The Exiles.”

Not everything has to be explained.

Rockets fly. An ancient city lies dormant, waiting. All the blacks escaped to Mars mid-1900. Some guy has the ability to create images for you to experience. Dead writers rule on Mars. Tattoos tell the future. Holographic lions hunt for you.

Is any of this explained? Just enough for the story to work.

Mystery is more than all right. It’s required. And it’s not a cop-out. It’s the point.

The Single Idea is more than enough.

If you play with your idea, let it wander about and show you the nooks and crannies of where it lives, you’ll have plenty of story. If it rains on Venus all the time, go with that. Show it. What is the landscape like, the storm, the Sun Domes, the psychological effect on man?

A single idea, fully explored, will sink deep into the mind of your reader.

Make us feel.

A clever idea isn’t enough. It’s sterile. (See my first lesson.) Show us how it feels. How does being a million miles from everything, stuck in a metal tube called a rocket, feel. What is the joy of your spaceman father returning, the worry of him being drawn back to space?

One of Bradbury’s best methods is to find a single object and imbue it with the main emotion of the story–like boxes of Havana cigars that hold both a sense of pleasure lost and an ominous foreboding. (Seriously. Read “The Fox and the Forest.”)

Your view of technology is not as important as your view of humanity.

Bradbury’s not a great writer because his view of  the future is particularly accurate. I think he struck out on about every prediction in The Illustrated Man. (I don’t think he was trying to be accurate.) He’s a great writer because humanity doesn’t change, and he understood humanity–its evil impulses and sins, its goodness and dreams.

The future isn’t paradise, but it’s not necessarily hell. It’s both, because we’re both angels and demons.

Your stories don’t have to be preplanned; they need to be good.

I had the feeling, though I couldn’t prove it, that Bradbury began with an idea and just started writing, not exactly sure where the ending was. Everything seemed introduced organically. From a strictly practical point of view, things were sometimes a bit meandering.

But, that discovering was part of the pleasure. In fact, the places a story lingered tended to be the reason the story sank into my mind.

Don’t forget the simple pleasures.

The characters in the stories look at the sky and dream. They remember the old swimming holes. They imagine good food or a long drag on a cigarette. They wash dishes on the night the world ends.

Because, for Bradbury, it wasn’t about saving the world. It was about remembering the soul.

I know it here, blindly—
In the foreign streetlights,
The yellow line in headlights,
Tired, with hours behind,
Dead tired, and hours ahead
Unknown.

I know it
Like failing memory,
Like laughter at a casket,
Like another movie,
Another song,
Another, another, all life long,
Till all’s a barren land.

Groping man questions God.
Does He,
Answering,
Grope for Man?

In the beginning:
Eden’s light.
In the beginning:
God’s delight:
The sun, the moon,
First day, first night,
Land, plant, bird, beast,
Adam, Eve — all’s Right.

Shattered

The world growing older,
Growing colder—
Dark creatures waging war,
Cracked Nature exacting toll,
Hungry Night drinking souls.
And then, the Great Revenge,
The Paragon of the Plans of Men—
Jesus beat and beat again.
Pound
The nail repays our tortured years.
Pound
The nail demands he feels our tears.
Pound
Demonic joy at striking back.
Eye for eye.
Tooth for tooth.
Life for life.

Somehow the sun that hid,
Returned.
Revenge,
Sickening sweet,
Brought about its own defeat:
Guilt assuaged.
Sin undone.
As in heaven,
On earth begun.
The empty tomb,
The final step.
The miracle?
Jesus wept.

I’ve always been fascinated with serialized, multi-author projects.

Back in 2005-2006, I helped organize The Story Project, a two-year, multi-author project consisting of the fictional blogs of 13 characters as their lives intertwined in a New England mansion.

A few years later, I helped organize a pulp fiction project where writers wrote a third of a pulpy story then exchanged with each other, wrote another third, then exchanged for a final time before writing an ending. This is where Nathan Marchand’s Destroyer comes from, which is the inspiration for House of the Living. (Incidentally, I have a barbarian story from those days I mean to dust off sometime this year.)

Children of the Wells (CotW) is the newest and most ambitious of these projects.

CotW is a shared world, meaning that multiple author will contribute to the same world. The novels will be episodic, meaning they are self-contained but contribute to an ongoing storyline. They will be serialized, meaning you can read new content each week. And they will be good.

You  may have read the summary before:

The Cataclysm destroyed our magic wells and, along with them, our technology, our scientific advancements, and our aristocracy. We thought the world was dying. Forced to rely on our former enemies, we evolved, but in those first days, we had no inkling of the true extent of that change.

The world is almost-modern fantasy, where technology developed differently due to the possibilities opened up by magic. The story begins with a disaster in the scientific capital of the world, Jalseion, that changes everything.

The Select’s Bodyguard, the first novel set in this universe, begins serialization the first week in April and starts off with a bang.

We want these stories to be interesting, exciting, and character-focused. In The Select’s Bodyguard, you’ll be introduced to Bron and Calea. I think you’ll enjoy these characters, though you may hate one and love the other.

Check out childrenofthewells.com to sign up for our newsletter and spread the word! We want to reach people with our stories. If you’re interested, tell others. We’d love the publicity.

It’s coming….

Nic McPhee via Compfight

My website’s been pretty quiet lately, and I apologize for that. It’s because I’ve been busy on projects and tasks that you’ll see soon. Here are a few of them.

The Unremarkable Squire

I’ve spent my daily writing time lately going over corrections for The Unremarkable Squire, which is to be published this summer. I’m about halfway through my editor’s notes. It’s been fun to re-read the story again.

Man, I started that novel a long time ago….

Children of the Wells

What is this? you say. It’s a new multi-author project premiering in April. We hope to create a series of novels in a shared world. All stories will be available to read online as they are published chapter by chapter. Then we’ll have bonus-packed ebooks and such things.

But what is it about? you ask. Well, here’s a sneak peek:

The Cataclysm destroyed our magic wells and, along with them, our technology, our scientific advancements, and our aristocracy. We thought the world was dying. Forced to rely on our former enemies, we evolved, but in those first days, we had no inkling of the true extent of that change.

And that’s all I’m giving you for now. Except for this: I have the honor of writing the first novel, The Select’s Bodyguard. Here’s the tagline:

When the world’s burning, you save what’s most important…even if she’d rather die.

Stay tuned!

My Mailing List

I’ve been putting effort into building a mailing list. I recently reached my first goal of 20 subscribers. Yipee! The 20th subscriber, Pam Bottjer, will receive her choice of Another World or The Day After. 

Now let’s shoot for 50. I  think that’ll warrant an original story of the 50th subscriber’s choosing. Sound good?

And that’s it!

(Now I just have to get these things finished.)

Picture:  Nic McPhee via Compfight

“House of the Living” is a science fiction short story inspired by a scene from Nathan Marchand’s Destroyer. This story, part of a short story exchange, stands on its own.

I really enjoy how this story turned out. Most of the comments from early readers centered out it being “creepy” or “haunting.”

Download it free in the format of your choice.

PDF: House of the Living

Ebook: Smashwords

In “Transitions,” a young man has to decide whether he’s ready to grow up. A granddaughter deals with her grandfather’s ALS in “Old Man.” Richard Higgins, Vienna reporter, learns something startling when “Local Man Struck By Lightning Survives.” In “The Love Letter,” an emotionless bachelor tries to discover what love is. And, finally, experience a story told in reverse in the character study “That Which Is Hidden.”

Ebook: Smashwords / PDF / Amazon

Features the Stories:
The Accuser,  Another World,  Antidepressant,  The Beholder, The Best Thing in the Whole World,  Between, Blush,  The Chase,  The Coming Darkness,  The Communion of Saints,  The Connoisseur, Dinner at Twilight, The Eden Project, Ezra Jupe, The Fiery Demise of Chuck Norris,  Four till Boom!,  Gloom and Deep Shadow,  The Graveyard, Heavenly Music,  Hymn of Exile,  In Step, The Joining, Listen to the Beat, The Little Cloud-Lord,  Man,  Memory Lane,  Near Enough to Touch,  A New Song,  Now We Fight for Real,  One Last Chance, One of a Kind, Photo Finish, Playing God, A Pleasant Dream, Princess, Rachel Weeping…, Rain, Religious Warfare,  School’s Out, Second Coming,  The Signature,  Snow Day,  The Stories of My Life, Two o’clock,  Wastelands,  Watery Grave, The Web of Worlds,  …What You Wish For, Your Call is Important to Us, The Zealots

Print: Lulu / Summer’s Stories

PDF: Payhip

Features the Stories:

The Memory – It was a memory more precious than any other she had, and it drove her to attempt what none had ever done.

Lunatic Pandora – One day, the sky began to fall. And that was only the beginning.

The Empty House – While looking through her dead father’s old journals, Susanna discovers a secret his dementia could not erase.

A Madman’s Tale – Mad scientist Victor Von Victorstein explores alternate dimensions for wealth, beauty, and knowledge–with spotty results.

The Vision of Prince Frederick – A childhood meeting with a girl changes the Prince’s life forever.

Ebook: Smashwords / Amazon