Writing and Reading

I’m tellin’ you…this getting up in the morning stuff feels like it gets more maddening every day. I need a little doooooooooooose of insanity. Or else I will melt into a puddle of KY Jelly. My fingers will turn into slugs. And my nose will become a lizard that speaks in British colloquialisms. Taco Supreme.

You all know me by now–at least I hope. Any of you new readers out there still in the dark? Sorry. Since it’s so late at night right now, and I have to be up early in the morning for work, I can’t post links to previous articles written on my blog to give you a little inside info on the “Wretched Writer”. But I will say this:

It most definitely has been an ‘interesting’ year. ‘Interesting’ as in rough. Difficult.

I’ve been challenged this year–mentally, spiritually, emotionally. Even physically. I won’t lie–it hasn’t been the easiest or best of years. But I’ve certainly learned a lot. I’m still learning. I hope I learn for the best. And not for the worst.

Aside from my regular day job, the grocery store scheduled me from 5 to 12:30 AM. I’ll miss a New Year’s celebration. Not that I’m missing much. These days, celebration has become sort of a shadow, lingering in the back. I’m faced with more important things other than ‘celebrating’. Serious things. So I’m not bitter (although sometimes I think I am).

Which is why I’m writing this post….

My tribute to a new year.

Sorry if I don’t sound as chipper as usual. I’m rather somber right now. My only hope, my only wish–is that this new year brings a sort of retribution, a rising of the ashes, if you will, of my life. Call it a recovery of a life crippled this past year. That would be a triumph. That makes the new year sing for me. That’s my hope.

I don’t hope for a New Year’s Resolution. I hope for the title of this article instead. I want to live again the way I used to before. I want my new year to be really…new.

I want to be renewed. Vindicated.

“All major theme parks have delays.

When they opened Disneyland in 1956,

nothing worked.”

————————————

the pirates don’t eat the tourists.”

It occurred to me that, ever since I started my precious blog, I never wrote on the topic of query letters–

Query letters, the all-important letter that rivals that of a love letter, the letter we all toil over, trying to find the right words that’ll woo the one we’re smitten over, how we ravage ourselves, throwing crumpled up pieces of paper, our hearts beating so fast at the thought of our gorgeous angel, making it difficult to even write one word–

Dear (insert lovely’s name),

How your eyes do theeeeeeeee someeethiiiiing….

Scratch that, crumple it up, start over. It doesn’t work! None of the words’ll work.

Yes, people, not even that cheesy love letter rivals that of the….

QUERY LETTER

And we shall cue the “Sound of Music” music, you know, that “hills have a pulse that beat to the sound of drums” music or something or other. I dunno. I never watched the freakin’ movie. Yes, query letters. Dear, God, query letters.

We have workshops on query letters these days, you know? It’s staggering. Everyone these days has the magic formula. I should say it’s the basic formula. You need a hook: check. After that, you have to outline the basic information: word count, genre, main character, premise, yadda yadda yadda: check, check. You have to write in something personal, something that’ll make it stand out (maybe you met said agent at a conference, or you know the agent’s grandmother and fed her chicken soup etc etc.): check, check, check. You tell a little bit about yourself that pertains to your endeavor to being published: quadruple check.

I could go on and on, but it won’t make a difference: I’m not trying to write a query letter training session here.

What I am going to say is exactly what I wrote up there (points a few paragraphs up). There’s the BASIC FORMULA. It’s all the information your agent/editor needs to understand what your project is about. That’s what’s important.

The variables are simple: query word count, structure, paragraphs, word choice. Things like that. It’s all up to you. It depends on your genre, too. It depends on your personality. Your style.

My current full request came about by a query letter I wrote of only four lines. Yes, you heard me–FOUR LINES. That’s it. And then there are other colleagues of mine that have interested agents birthed of page-long query letters, very detailed, thorough, remarkably articulate.

It’s all subjective. Some agents like a long letter–others like it short. Some like to be wowed by the unique. Others like it standard, simple. The crazy thing is there’s no way to be certain which agents really like what and how or especially when.

In the end, all that really does matter is your story. Your work. Is it a work this agent may be interested in devoting all that attention? It’s about faith. Someone had to have faith in Stephenie Meyer’s TWILIGHT. It wasn’t necessarily the query letter; it was the story.

Statistically, keeping that in mind, if you simply keep at it, there’s bound to be one agent out there that’ll read that polished query letter and will simply like it for the concept, the story, the character. What have you. Of course, it definitely helps that the query letter is polished…. But ultimately…it’s that novel, that story, that’ll hook them. Faith–it boils down to that.

So next time you’ve shelved that novel that never scored a hit to first base, remember to pull it back into the lineup, let it swing a few more times. Let it build up that muscle again. Give the literary market time to breathe, time to evolve, time to change. Then swing away.

Who knows. Your dusty novel might hit a home run one day.

This is an ambitious performance, people. Because it’s one of the more ambitious pieces I’ve ever written. It’s more visual than it is verbal. But I think you can get a sort of meaning behind the performance. Call it an inner conflict, if you will–the mirror personifies that. Honestly, it’s one of my favorites pieces, too. I identify with it so well. Especially these days. So enjoy it.

*******************************************************

Vmoblogger Entry

The Mirror

Dealing with wickedness    wickedness with dealing
I’m facing the mirror    mirror the facing, I’m
My dark self staring back    I’m staring back at you
Like a mocking mimic    mimic mocking a-like
Everything is backward    backward is everything
When vision reflects    reflects vision when
I see a perverse universe    you are the perverse universe
Speech likes being evil    evil being likes speech
Turn my face now!    Now face my turn
To see the world    see me right now!
I ask, who am I?    you’re my slave
(Cold silence)    I’m your master.

Since I was so tired last night, I forgot to post another wonderfully timeless film quote. So instead of a “bedtime quote”, this is just a “quote of the day” . Enjoy. I heart you, and you complete me.

=========================================

“Every man dies….

Not every man really lives….”

Mel Gibson - “Braveheart”

Here it comes, readers. I did it. Literally about a minute ago, I finished plotting out the new book, VERMILION EYE. I’m convinced, I’m set. I’m ready for launch. It seems feasible to me. I asked all the right questions as far as research is concerned, I’ve read a few books that offer some insight to some authenticity of certain scenes. I think I’m ready. I’m going to start writing it now.

To give you an idea, rough estimate on size will be possibly 80,000 words. Now, I need you to keep something in mind, readers–whenever I estimate, I always end up with something LARGER.

So prepare for a good size book, I guess.

As I’m writing, of course, I’ll be fleshing out more of the character sketches for reference, too. That’s just sort of how I roll with the writing process. I hope it all turns out well. The journey starts. It was the revelation first–now it’s the walking of the path. The path towards completion of a novel.

I’ll keep you posted.

I’ve got a webcam! Call this an introduction to a new segment of blog entries, if you will. VLOGS. Video Logs. Video Weblogs. Whatever. But now along with the words, you’ve got the man. Stan. Peter Pan. Watch me fly, watch me soar into the sky and talk to you in person, in the flesh–

And I think I’ve decided on what kind of subject matter my vlogs are going to be. It’s going to be a lot of fun. Since I’m huge on video editing, I’m so into making these entries interesting and enjoyable. I hope you’ll enjoy them as much as I enjoy making them.

So without further ado, my first vlog entry–right here–

On my account on YouTube, I’ve posted this video. So check it out.

It popped in my head the more I thought about Christmas. And I thought about one particular film that always rests in my mind as a veritable masterpiece, a work of such creativity that it even stirs me to explore and pay homage to great works. Sort of like the films, “A Knight’s Tale”, a valentine to Geoffrey Chaucer or “Shakespeare in Love”, a wonderful story about, well, yeah, Shakespeare! Taking works and creating something of it is part of writing. Part of literature. I sort of call it the fuel for imagination. Music is the same way.

So I have this one particular scene from the fantastic film, “The Passion of the Christ”. Great scene. The Garden of Gethsamene.

You’ll notice, though, that according to Scripture, there’s no conversation between Christ and Satan at all in the Garden. The Gospels can only be so definite about such things–but it fits the progression of the story really well. For all we know, there might’ve been a very dangerous conversation between Christ and Satan. We don’t know. But I also thought it was genius of Mel Gibson to include bits of the Psalms into Christ’s prayer to the Father. And even the bits of acting literally painted the words of the Bible for us in so many different ways. Satan’s dialogue was particularly chilling. All in all, a fantastic scene–fantastic writing–both biblical and creative. Check it out. And God bless.

You know, after a 4-hour drive from Illinois in the late night, arriving in Grand Rapids–knowing I had only three or so hours of sleep before coming into work this Friday–AND also being surprised at what Freak and Chuck did to my blog while I was away (waves a bat around as the two of them run away scared)–it is most definitely fitting that I post another edition of the MIC (Morning Insanity Channel). Most definitely.

I look and feel like I haven’t showered in days. I can’t eat any breakfast right now because I’m too juiced with caffeine. In fact, I’m sweating caffeine right now. I’m caffeinating. Hey, that’s a NEW WORD! Anyhoo, to better cope with my insanity, I have the wonderful, lovable and strangely alien-blooded Ryan Higa back with another video. Completely necessary. To deal with my insanity. Yes. Enjoy.