You Are Never Ready / Happenings In The Outhouse 22-July-2022

"When we save enough money, we'll start our business."

"When I make just one more pass through this book, then it will be done."

Let me give you a small piece of advice: you will never be ready.  Completely.

That book?  It'll never be completely ready, in your mind.  You just have to do your best work and then send it out.  Then, start on the next project.

That woodworking project?  No amount of sanding or honing will make it absolutely complete.  Again, in your mind.

You have to start.  And then finish something.  And then start again on the next project.

Sure, there are plenty of stories of famous people (thinking Tolkien here) who worked on a project for years and years.  What would've happened if Tolkien would've not spent that time on Lord of the Rings and instead published much more in the world of Middle Earth?

Start your project today.  Finish it.  Don't dwell on it.  Finish.

Then start on another project.

Wash, rinse, repeat.

If You Can Do It Better, Do It / Happenings In The Outhouse 27-May-2022

Critics.

People love to criticize the artistic works of others.

Love 'em or hate 'em, there have been critics for as long as humans have walked the Earth.  But some criticize far more than others.

I was listening to a podcast about the upcoming Lord of the Rings series coming to Amazon Prime later this year, and I was struck by how critical the folks were about the process and what story they were using to tell.  It reminded me of the criticism George R. R. Martin has received in regards to finishing his fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire.

The same goes with other successful people, like Rowling and the new fantasy world she has created, and many others.

It drives me crazy when I hear about all the people speculating about this and that about a new series in the Marvel universe or Star Wars universe or whatever.

Me?  I just sit back and enjoy the show when it comes out.  No speculating.  Why?  It's a waste of my time.

I would rather spend my time creating my own worlds than speculating about others outside of my control.  Think about it for a moment.  Would you rather watch the movie unfold or actually be a part of it?

I go with the latter if my money is on the line.  I control my own creations.

Also, and here is the crux of what I'm getting at: if you think you can do better, then go ahead and do it.

Not everything needs an explanation / Happenings In The Outhouse 12-June-2020

Writing a decent story means, at times, that you may be walking a fine line between a well-paced story and one that drags.  Well-paced doesn't necessarily mean fast-paced.  Have you ever read a book or watched a movie/TV show where you found it difficult to stop?

That's good pacing.  And the best ones blends fast and slow pacing very well.  It would do you well to study how it was done.

A few weeks ago, I decided to watch all eleven Star Wars movies back-to-back, in chronological order by the events in the movies, not the release dates.  I started with the three prequels, then Solo and Rogue One, and of course the original trilogy and finished off with the sequel trilogy  Now, before you ask, I didn't watch them straight through without any sleep.  Lord no!  But it was interesting how quickly I moved through the first movies--including the prequels--and by the time I got to the final sequel movies, I found it difficult to watch for too long.  In fact, it took longer to watch the final trilogy than the others.

Then I discovered why.  Pacing.

Even Rogue One and Solo didn't suffer from a pacing problem.

If you view the sequel trilogy, there is a problem with the characters having to explain EVERYTHING.  True, there was some explanation in Phantom with the whole midichlorian thing when it came to the Jedi and Sith, but it was done quickly, in passing, and then we moved along--well, some were upset by it and still are to this day.

Remember.  Not everything needs to be explained.  And mindless banter just for the sake of banter only drags the story along.  Not that dialogue needs to be eliminated.  If you want a lesson on dialogue, read anything by J. D. Salinger.  Especially his other stories.

Watch one of your favorite movies or read one of your favorite books.  I can almost guarantee you that the pace of the story doesn't suffer.  Events don't always have to be explained in great detail.  Even Tolkien didn't explain a lot of the events in Lord of the Rings.  Neither does Rowling and George R. R. Martin, when it comes to their worlds.

Please leave something for the imagination.

If you could have dinner with a writer (living or dead), who would it be?

Copyblogger has a great segment of articles they call The Writer Files.  They've interviewed many writers, from Seth Godin to Jeff Goins.

One of the more interesting questions they ask is: what writers, living or dead, would they like to have dinner with?

Who would yours be?

Here's mine: it's a small list, with various pros and cons tied to it.

First and foremost at the top of my mind is Stephen King.  That's a no-brainer.  The King of Horror himself.  As long as we talk "shop" - i.e. writing.

Next would be Brandon Sanderson--fantasy author.  I've listened to enough podcasts and watched enough videos to give me a good sense of what he can teach, and then again he's teaching an upcoming class over at Write About Dragons.com next month.

That's all for the living authors--I know, it's a short list and I didn't even mention others such as J. K. Rowling or John Grisham.  Or even Dean Koontz.

The deceased authors, on the other hand, are a bit more interesting.

One such fellow is J. R. R. Tolkien.  Nothing more needs to be said there, do I?  Next would be John Gardner--his novel On Becoming A Novelist is a classic in my book, and a must-read for any author.

In the end, if I had to choose one, it would be the recluse J. D. Salinger.  Why?  He doesn't even write genre fiction, so why Salinger?

He is a master of dialogue, for one.  And his method of storytelling far exceeds most writers.  I'd just like to know how he approaches the craft of writing and even dialogue in general.  There's one such story he wrote--it wasn't Catcher--where we meet two characters conversing for over fifty pages, while one is in the bathtub.  And I was enthralled by it!  How in the world did he pull it off?

Ancient mysteries I'd like to know.

In the end, I'd set aside King (although if I really had to pick a living author, it might be his son Joe Hill) and Sanderson for the mighty Salinger.

Yeah, that's who I'd pick.

Who's yours?

Parable of the cabinetmaker

There once was an master cabinetmaker, whose great works were higly sought from all across the land.  One day, his apprentice noticed the cabinetmaker spending just as much time sanding the back corners of the drawer as he did the front.

"Why do you do that, sir?" the apprentice asked.  "No one will see them.  No one will even know."

"But I will know," the master cabinetmaker said.

The same could be said about your writing.  How much are you smoothing all of the edges?  Are you making the dialogue to the best of your ability?  Are you bringing a richness to both the story and the characters?  What are you holding back?

In my alternative military history novel (boy, I should really share the name for this instead of always referring to it in this way), I came to a chapter where I delve into the life of one of the supporting characters.  As I did, there was so much I discovered that I want to enhance it as I continue to write the rest of the book.

Does this always need to be done?  Do you need to share all of the worldbuilding you did for your book?  Certainly not.  However, take one of your favorite books and watch where the author does this, sharing a richness to their created world.  I'm currently re-reading George R. R. Martin's Game of Thrones and loving where he brings this rich world to life.  He does it in sublte ways, giving little hints to the past.  The same could be said of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings.

Does everything need to be included in your story?  Certainly not.  But adding even a few details here and there will make your world more alive, and your readers will grow more and more in love with it.  If, in the end, it doesn't work, you can always hit the DELETE key.

My 5-Star Review of "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"

In college, the Harrison Ford movie Clear and Present Danger (based on the novel by Tom Clancy) came out into the theaters.  I've always liked Harrison Ford as an actor and once again it proved to be a great action movie.

A few days before I went to the movie, a guy in our dorms (I believe it was the R.A. but don't quote me on it) said, "Yeah, Mark, don't waste your money.  The movie absolutely sucked."

I found this incredibly odd as Harrison Ford, once again playing the Jack Ryan character, was a decent actor and I didn't quite believe the movie would be that bad.

I pressed further.  "Why did it suck?" I asked.

"Because it had nothing to do with the book."

Okay, he got me there.  I had bought the book but was holding off reading it because it was quite a lengthy tome--as much of Clancy's novels were.  I then went to see the movie, despite the seemingly 1-star review from one person.  I liked it.  It was a great action flick, worthy of repeated watchings.  What was that guy thinking?  Then I read the book.  He was right: the book had little to do with the movie.  In fact, the Jack Ryan character was maybe in 1/3 of the book.  But movie-goers would be a litle pissed to spend their money to see a movie where Harrison Ford was only in it for 40 minutes.

I still liked the book.  And even the movie.  They were just two different versions of the same story, and I was fine with that.

The same goes with The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the first of three movies based on J. R. R. Tolkien's book The Hobbit, directed by Peter Jackson.

If one were to watch the movie with such a critical eye to see if all of the elements of the book were in the movie, you may be disappointed.  But only because there is so much more in the movie than I had expected.  I won't reveal any spoilers here, except to say that so far Peter has done a wonderful job of tying this movie in with the three Lord Of The Rings movies as well as the other histories of Middle Earth (i.e. The Silmarillion).

Keep in mind, when Tolkien first published the Lord Of The Rings, he released a newer edition of The Hobbit because in the first edition the One Ring did not play as large as role as he originally planned.

I give 5 full stars for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The only drawback is that I have to wait a full year to see the second of the three films.  But, like millions of others, I will be waiting with much anticipation.

Going back to what we talked about at the beginning of this blog post, let me ask you a few questions:

How many versions of Bram Stoker's Dracula have been made?

How many Batman or Spiderman or Superman movies have been made?

How many different versions of fairy tales (i.e. Snow White, Rapunzel, Jack and the Beanstalk) have been made--no, Disney isn't the only one doing this.

Aren't there two theatrical versions of Stephen King's The Shining?

Tales can be told in various ways, depending on the medium.  Theatrical movies and written novels are two entirely different ways.  Don't criticize one if it doesn't match with the other one.

Go see The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.  It's well worth it.

What I Listen To: The Tolkien Professor

With the new Hobbit movie, directed by Peter Jackson, out in theaters--no, I still haven't seen it yet at this point--I want to share a podcast series I listen to fairly often called The Tolkien Professor.

The Tolkien Professor is Professor Corey Olsen, who is an English professor at Washington College, and he has various lecture-style podcasts on . . . you guessed it: Tolkien!

His first introductory lecture is about "How to Read Tolkien and why."

He even has a lecture series on The Hobbit and has written a book on the subject.

With tons of various lectures, be sure to check out the lecture feed for a list of all the subjects.  So, if you love Tolkien and want to know more about Middle Earth, or even about medieval literature in general, be sure to check out The Tolkien Professor podcast.

For more information, here's a TED Talk Professor Olsen recently did:

Happenings In The Outhouse 21-Dec-2012 / End of the world?

The end of the world came . . .

And went.

We're still here.

Thank you, Mayans!

I'll keep this brief today.  My literary agent search is still commencing, although with the holiday season much of the publishing industry is on hiatus so it may have to be put on hold until after the new year.

But still I press on.

Despite the supposed end of the world.

What else am I working on?  Right now I have a list of about a dozen short stories I'm editing and expanding.  One I even had published in a regional publication several years ago and have changed it up quite a bit.  Once that is done . . . who knows.  I have other projects in the wings, all waiting patiently for me.

Have I seen The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey yet?  Nope.  Due to circumstances beyond my control, this may have to wait a few more days, but rest assured I will see it in the theaters.  It is my absolute dream to see a blockbuster movie like this on the opening night--one day, by God, I will!

Should you write for the market . . . or from your heart?

Over the past few decades, I've studied best-selling authors.  These are the ones who are super-successful, most becoming everyday household names.  Ask anyone if they know who these authors are: Stephen King, John Grisham, J. K. Rowling, J. R. R. Tolkien, Tom Clancy, James Patterson, Danielle Steel, Dr. Seuss.  In fact, here's a Wikipedia link to a list of the best-selling fiction authors and quite a number of them will jump out at you.

But what separates these authors from all of the others, the ones who also may earn a living writing?

I believe what the superstars do is write completely from the heart, iregardless of what the market is doing.  Not that I don't believe all of the others are also writing from the heart, but deep down they may be riding whatever trend is out there.

Take Stephanie Meyer.  There were plenty of vampire stories out there (i.e. Anne Rice), but she took it to another level and went somewhere vampire stories never had a home before: in the hearts of millions of teenage girls.  It didn't take long before grown women (and men) were reading Meyer's stories.  You could even say the same thing about Rowling and her successful Harry Potter series.  Harry Potter is a children's story . . . except that they're well-written and just plain fun to read.  Nowadays, walk around any book store and you will see tons of book covers that look like either Meyer's or Rowling's stories, because the publishing industry wants to capitalize on the other original idea.

At the genesis of Stephen King's writing career, when he was churning out stories for the . . . what he called the "titty magazines", he came up with the idea for Carrie.  Now, he did throw his first attempt in the trash and his wife Tabitha retrieved it, but he went back to it, not even knowing if it could sell.  He just wrote.  Then, it sold.  And he's been writing ever since.

I know, I know, I'm probably not painting a very good picture of the hundreds of other successful writers out there, am I?  But, I have to admit, in listening to tons of other podcasts by these other writers, this is what they seem to talk about.  They talk about writing for the market instead of just plain writing for the love of writing.  It's possible with the advent of ebooks and self-publishing methods, these writers will stretch their wings and be daring, writing whatever is in their hearts.

I hope so.  Because there's plenty of room at the top next to King, Grisham, and Rowling.

What if "writing what you know" doesn't get you anywhere

Let's face it, writing what you know is only short-sighting your writing career.

Sure, John Grisham was a lawyer, so it seems natural that most of his novels are in the legal thriller arena.  But not all of them.

Stephen King was, at one time, an English teacher.  Many of his characters are also.  But not all.

Anne Rice spends many of her weekends hanging around vampires and swapping stories--okay, that one's a little far-fetched, but you get what I mean.

I'm almost positive John Sanford--who is a pseudonym, besides--never worked as a hard-charging police investigator.

What about J. R. R. Tolkien, J. K. Rowling, Robert Jordan, and Brandon Sanderson?  Their fiction is largely in the fantasy world.  Can't use any of their "write what you know" there.

I think it should be rephrased to be "Write what you want to know" or even better yet is "Write what you love."  There's nothing with writing what you love to read.  In fact, it's strongly encouraged.

Dream Team

In Napoleon Hill's classic book Think And Grow Rich one of his chapters is devoted to what is called the Mastermind Group.

A Mastermind Group is synonymous with a Dream Team.

These are a group of people, that although they may individually exhibit great talent, together they can form an unstoppable force.  Napoleon Hill said to create, in your own mind, a Mastermind Group and use that group when making decisions.  For example, one of his members was Abraham Lincoln.  Pretty hard for him to attend in person, since he's been dead a little while (even in Napoleon Hill's time), but if you've read enough about a person, it's almost like channeling their creativity or talent.

Dan Miller and Dave Ramsey have been part of group of thirteen men they call the Eagles Club, which is the same concept of the Mastermind Group with other members of the business community that they trust and are great friends with.  You can have more than one Mastermind Group--possibly one in person and the other in your mind.  One could be your writers' group and the other be a group of famous authors you wish to "channel."

Who would be on your own dream team?  Mine would possibly be:

Stephen King

George Lucas

Steven Spielberg

J. R. R. Tolkien

J. K. Rowling

John Grisham

Brandon Sanderson

J. D. Salinger

John Gardner



Am I dreaming?  Yeah, I probably am.

J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit - the official trailer

It takes a lot for me to get excited about a new movie--unless it's probably Star Wars or something--but the new Hobbit movie looks absolutely awesome - I highly recommend you check out the Official Hobbit YouTube channel (I suggest clicking on this link, because I tried searching for the longest time to find the official site and was disheartened to find it very difficult)