Tempest

This is my entry for the writer's contest that won me third place at the writer's conference:

Tempest

Lightning never strikes twice, but in my case it did. Or rather, this was the second time I had been marooned in this same general area of the ocean. The second time this year. There was no convenient island nearby so my friend Briny and I were dumped in the water. We could see the stern of the galleon, Defiance, as she sailed away.

If you don’t think it’s hard to walk on the ocean, you are mistaken. The waves pummeled my legs and I stumbled and slid across the roiling surface. I would be in up to my knees sometimes in water that was at least two miles deep.

“Kale!” Briny called, yelling to be heard above the roaring of the sea. I looked and he pointed to the sky. The gray clouds were almost black, churning like an upside down maelstrom. Lightning flickered and I could just barely see the metallic sheen of a gargantuan flying ship. Then it was behind the clouds again. Its great engines turned and the sky shook with thunder.

Something fell and hit the water with a splash. I tossed my stinging wet hair out of my face, could barely see through the waves. There was movement, something gray like rock. A blur. Suddenly I knew what it was and deftly drew my cutlass from its sheath, brandishing it in front of me.

The creature leaped and I fell back with a yelp, lashing out to bring the blade slicing across its hardened shell. It was barely affected. I could see its spindly legs, waving antennae, and sharp, snapping claws. But this was no ordinary crab. From some unknown planet, the creature was about six feet wide and its shell was stippled with green and orange.

“Come on!” I yelled, grabbing for Briny’s arm and making a run for it.

Then, as if nature were out to get us, it started to rain.

Writer's Conference

I just went to a writer's conference last Saturday and it was very informative.  There were several one-hour classes I went to, emotions, dialogue, and brainstorming being a few.  The classes were taught by published authors, including Lisa Mangum and Julie Wright.

You'd be surprised how much you can learn by just going to a one-day writer's conference.  I know now that I could insert a bit more emotion into my books.  Then again, I also need to reign in it at a couple of places, seeing as how my characters tend toward mood swings.

I would definitely recommend that you go to a writer's conference in your area.  You can learn a lot, especially if you are serious about getting published.

I also entered a writing contest supported by this conference and ended up tying for third place.  I'll try and post my entry with my next blog post.

~Catherine

World-building

The man walked through the village and down to the harbor.

I bet every single one of you just had totally different visions of that sentence.  Not one of you would have pictured the exact same thing.  It was a pretty bland sentence, wasn't it?  That's because it has no detail, no description.  You have no idea of what this place really looks like.  How about this:

He hurried along the cobbled road past wooden homes with thatched roofs and he headed for the harbor where his ship lay in wait at the docks.

A bit more descriptive, wasn't it?  Add a few more sentences (describe the people, the sound of the waves lapping the shore and the screeching of seagulls, describe the ships, etc.) and you will paint a more precise picture of this little village by the sea.  That's what world-building is all about.  You don't need to describe every single part of your world or where ever the story takes place.  But just describe enough to make it believable.

The trick is not to tell me about every building, every person, every ship, that is contained within the scene.  The trick is to tell me just enough so that I take for granted that the rest of the world exists.

If you can accomplish that, one more layer has been added to the story and it will contain depth.  It will seem full and I won't bother questioning your reality.  As for the world's rules, well, I couldn't care less whether you take up the laws of physics, crumple them in a ball and chuck 'em out the window.  At least I will believe that that is how is is supposed to be.

~Catherine

Characterization

Characterization is very important for writing any story, even more important than the plot.  If the characters are weak and 2-dimensional, the readers won't care about them.  You want readers to care.  You need to make characters that readers can believe in.

First of all, who is your character?  Is he brave?  Cocky? Intelligent? Confident?  Self-absorbed?  You need to figure out how your character behaves and rather than telling us what he is, show us through his actions throughout the book.  Bond with your characters.  Get to know everything about them.  For the duration of your novel, your characters should be your best friends (yes, even the bad guys).  You should know them inside and out.

Here is a video by Lisa Scottaline discussing the importance of characterization.

When writing your book, make sure your characters feel real.  Because a real good story is one that is driven by the characters rather than the plot.  I'm not saying plot isn't important because it is.  What I'm saying is that characters should be what drive the plot and keep the reader wanting to read your book.

~Catherine

The Price of Freedom

Hi, there.  I have decided that every once in a while I'm going to post a book review.  Writing and reading go hand in hand, after all.  I will be talking about The Price of Freedom, a Pirates of the Caribbean novel by A.C. Crispin.

This 653-page book is a prequel to the movies and tells of how Captain Jack Sparrow first acquired his beloved ship, the Black Pearl.  It starts out with a 25-year-old Jack working for the EITC and Cutler Beckett.  After the death of his captain, he is promoted to captain of an EITC vessel, the Wicked Wench.  Beckett has ordered him to persuade one of his house slaves into revealing the location of the fabled island of Kerma, the location of Zerzura, the Shining City, as well as an underground labyrinth filled with treasure.  But Jack knows that Beckett intends to take all the treasure for himself and imprison the people who live there.  Now Jack's not sure whether he really wants to go along with it and soon makes some plans of his own...

Crispin definitely did her research.  The terminology used and the lifestyle was what it would really have been like to sail a ship in the eighteenth century.  The culture was well-written for the period, yet Crispin managed to include aspects of the POTC universe as well.  I could easily see what was going on because of Crispin's vivid world-building.

Yes, this is quite a long book, but it is an exciting read.  It contains pirates, EITC, a princess in disguise as a slave, and, of course, an island hidden by magic with a monster-infested labyrinth.  It has the air of a POTC book, but is also refreshing with new characters and new places.  There are also a couple of recognizable faces, such as Captain Teague and Captain Barbossa.

If you are interested in reading this book, you can find it on Amazon: Price of Freedom.

A.C. Crispin is also the author of the Starbridge series as well as a few Star Wars and Star Trek books.

~Catherine

Getting Hooked

"It was a pleasure to burn.
"It was a pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed.  With the brass nozzle in his fists, with this great python spitting its venomous kerosene upon the world, the blood pounded in his head, and his hands were the hands of some amazing conductor playing all the symphonies of blazing and burning to bring down the tatters and charcoal ruins of history."

--Ray Bradbury,

Fahrenheit 451

That, my friends, is an example of a hook.  The hook is what really gets a reader's attention, what makes him or her decide whether or not to go on.  It is important to make sure that you've got a reader's attention right from the start.  If you're anything like me, you don't just pick up a book at the store, look at the cover and say "This looks good" and buy it.  No, if you're like me, you flip through the pages a bit, go to page one and read the first couple of paragraphs.  If the first page isn't interesting enough, what makes you think the rest of the book will be good?

So don't bore readers with lengthy descriptions at the beginning of your story.  Begin with some dialogue, some action.  People nowadays are getting so impatient that the beginning of a book needs to reel them in quickly and keep them in.

Keep in mind that publishers will be looking for a good hook as well.  After all, they might have hundreds of manuscripts to look at and not time to read them all the way through.  If your story is not captivating by the first page, the publisher may just put it aside and get to the next manuscript.

Also, make it relevant.  Don't just put out any random exciting bit and then turn around and write away in the opposite direction.  If you're writing about something unknown to the reader, mention it at the beginning to get him or her curious and wanting to know more.  Instead of beginning with "Once upon a time...," begin with "And then he did this."  If you start in the middle of an action or event, most likely the readers will want to know how it started and will continue reading for an explanation.

Starting with a flash forward is also a neat little trick for getting a reader's attention, adding a bit of foreshadowing.  Include a scene out of the climax, put your protaganist in mortal peril, that kind of thing.

The beginning of a book is usually the hardest to write.  It's because we all know that if you can't catch a reader within the first few sentences, what chance do you have?  So come up with something relevant to the story and exciting.  Something that will make a reader keep on reading until they find they can't put the book down.

~Catherine

Welcome

Hi, Catherine here.  Welcome to Insanity Writers.  And don't forget to leave your sanity by the door when you come in.  Think I'm kidding?  No, not really.

This blog will be for all those people out there who love to write whether you intend to get published or not.  I will be focusing mostly on fantasy and science fiction but the basic concepts I will talk about can be attributed to any genre.

I am currently an unpublished, thus unrecognized, writer with the dream of becoming published someday.  As well as giving helpful advice to aspiring writers, I will also share with you my own journey as I attempt to put my own books on the shelves.  For all of you who wish to get published, I wish you the best of luck.
~Catherine