15 Things I've Learned From Writing Fiction For 20 Years...

Since Summer 1999, I've been doing something nobody asked me to do. I've written books. I thought that writing one book was a huge undertaking. But, as it turns out, writing a series of books with crossover characters is an even bigger mountain to climb. Along the way, I've learned a few things that have kept me writing and, I hope, will keep you writing too.

1. The First Line Is Key: Let me put it to you this way - when I walk into a bookstore, how I browse is to take a copy of a book, flip to the first chapter and read the first line. It used to be that I'd give the author three paragraphs to hook me. But now I see that the beauty of writing is hooking them in with the very first line.

2.  Keep the Chapters Slim: Each chapter is a scene. A scene that must advance the plot. Pack whatever pertinent information you need to and then move on to the next scene.

3. Keep it Simple: This piece of advice is interchanageable depending on how you write. If you like to write long, drawn out sentences with poetic prose, that's perfectly fine. But what I've found that keeps me engaged as a reader are short, simple sentences. No dressing required. If there are some clever nuggets of prose they should come naturally and not be forced. My style is somewhat of a balance between Stephen King, Charles Bukowski and Harlan Ellison. Or, at least, that's what I'd like for it to be.

4. Do Not Hold Back: Here's something that I've learned the hard way several times over. Do not hold back. Readers can tell and they will call you out on it. If something feels visceral and almost too intense, put it on paper. No one ever decided to play it safe when writing a novel. Writing a novel is a jump into the unkown, wondering if you have the strength to climb back out. If you pull punches, clean up your language or try to cater to only one section of the audience, you will lose all of them. For example - my characters curse. But they don't curse on every single page like it's a Tarantino movie. If my characters are at their breaking point, they don't shy away from a grunted cry of "Fuck!" or "Oh Goddamn It!"

5. Every Story Is The Film Behind Your Eyes: Before I picked up the pen, or laptop in my case, I wanted to be a filmmaker. Much like the writer Garrett Robinson. However, I knew nothing of how to cast actors, secure sets, acquire permits or props or even when to film. I just knew how to tell a good story. But I've found that filmmaking and writing go very much together. If you have a scene you want to write, you picture it in your head first. Let's say, for instance, that you have an opening scene where a man enters a hotel and rings the bell at the concierge desk. You know all the details. But the reader will get bogged down if you describe every stick of furniture in the lobby. Only you know which details to focus on in order for the reader to get an idea of where the scene is going yet don't give away too much. Is the man sweating? Is he carrying a secret? Is the hotel manager against him? Is he meeting someone in his room? 

6. Write about what you don't know: They often say 'write what you know' but I'm a firm believer in that writing is a journey into the unknown. Sure, you can add some of your experiences and expertise. But always leave enough room for free will.

7. Don't let research intimidate you: Research should be the last thing on your mind. This isn't a term paper. If it is, I'm sorry. But if you want to write fiction, there may be some points along the way that you have to look up or google. Just don't do it while writing because it breaks the flow. Always leave it for the "look that thing up later" section of your brain.

8. Connect with your characters: If your characters do not have wants or needs then they have no soul. They don't have to like the same things you do. But they do need to be relatable and a reflection of the human condition. Allow them the space and opportunity to play.

9. Don't sweat the page count - the story will tell you when its done: If it's a handful of scenes, it's short. If it has three to four acts, it's a novella. If it is something that builds over time, it's a novel. No matter what - remember that the story will be done when the last line feels right.

10. Make every chapter a cliffhanger: I know you can't make every chapter someone literally hanging off the edge of a cliff. It is your reader that needs to be on the edge. Make it so that every setup builds to a payoff.

11. Play to your strengths, bury your weaknesses: When writing, I tend to get bogged down by overly descriptive phrases. So I cut them. I like my sentences nice and neat. You shouldn't overwrite a scene to where its 50 pages in and the characters are stuck in the Same Room. Bury the boring parts of your manuscript or they will bury you in unnecessary text.

12. Outline in your head: There are authors who are pantsers and plotters. Pantsers work by the seat of the pants, on the fly. Plotters map out every detail before they write one word in their manuscript. Let's face it, the outline is already in your head. It is condensed into twenty or so bullet points of what will eventually happen in your story. And if you know that, you can write everything in between.

13. Make it re-readable: One thing I love when reading is to go right back to the beginning chapter and reread the setup. Now that's a good book. You want to give the reader an experience. One that says, one of these days, I have to re-live those moments in the book again. They're too good to fade from my memory.

14. Let it cook: Like with any process, you need time away from your creation to come back to it with new eyes. See if things have marinated well. Does it still make sense? Does it still capture your imagination? Will it grab others? Does it resonate? Will this matter 20 years from now? I can tell you from experience, if you keep coming back to it, then it's a good idea that deserves the right amount of time to cook. However long that may be.

15. Leave the reader wanting more: An alright book will have you put it down and say to yourself, "Well, that was a pleasant distraction." But if you know what a reader wants and needs, you'll have them saying at the end of your story, "I wonder what those characters are up to right now."

Pushing Through Misery

 

A lot has changed in 18 months. And I find myself coming back to blogging.

The pandemic was slowing down here in the states. The lowest amount of cases in June of 2021 was a remarkable 5,000 for the entire country. Now we have had 1.35 Million cases just yesterday. The Beta Variant is gone. The Delta Variant is dwindling. It seems that the majority of cases of Omicron are less severe and come with an antibody response.

Many of my fellow narrator friends, family members, and old friends have lost a loved one due to Covid19 or Cancer or another illness.

My own father passed away from Cancer. A form called Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors (GIST) on September 25th of 2021. (For more information on this rare disease, click here.)

We've lost heroes young and old. Quite recently we lost Betty White, Sidney Poitier and Bob Saget.

Here in Michigan, January has replaced December as an unforgiving month of bitter cold with temperatures in the single digits at night.

And while a lot has changed, you have to wonder: How does one power through trauma and misery in order to write another story?

Well, this blog is called Tales and Troubled Times of a Hungry Writer for a reason. 

I am no stranger to Trauma.

Writing has always been therapeutic for me. My mother and father always encouraged my voracious appetite for reading and when I finally started penning my own stories, they gave me tremendous support. When I decided to self-publish my first book, they provided me with money to do so. They kept copies of my books in their bedroom on a nightstand within reach. Every time I told them I had another idea cooking they were both impressed and astonished by my productivity. But they were the ones who fed the fire that continues to burn within me.

Yes, it is easy to get bogged down. To have downtimes. To not even want to glance at a blank page. To regard storytelling as a fool's gambit when you are in the throes of great depression. But the blank page is always waiting. It remains neutral. The blank pages listen to your woes and tries to help you figure them out one sentence at a time.

And while the world seems to be changing rapidly, through peaks and valleys, sometimes grim and sometimes hopeful, I remain convinced and encouraged that better days are just ahead.

At least, that would be my father's outlook. He was always a man with infectious optimism. And I'd like to carry on that tradition.

The last gift I gave my father was a gold pocket watch. These days I find myself wishing we had more time together.

The last gift he and my mother gave me was a FreeWrite Traveler.

Even with all the bad news and daily struggle of sadness, I have found time to finish some stories.

I recently finished what I called THE BIG SCI-FI BOOK, which has been long-gestating. It finally has a cover and is available on Kindle, Nook, and Kobo now. I call it Skyways Of Tomorrow. I am currently halfway through recording the audiobook.

I have also finished a thriller Novella on the FreeWrite.

A story I am 90 percent finished with is a Christmas Novella that will hopefully be out soon. Maybe in February.

And, quite recently, I've decided to end every future story I publish with the words:

In Loving Memory Of

Carmelo Scarlato

Life moves. Friendships are rekindled. Stories are still told.

Our strength as humans is not just in our multiple ways of expressing ourselves but also in that much-needed yearn to express our grief and to be vulnerable. This helps us untangle the wires in our minds. It helps us relate to one another. But it is a feature that is distinctly human.

So continue to write. Write about Sorrow. Write about Joys and Triumphs. Write about whatever your heart desires. Pour out your humanity on the page and it will heal you in turn.

Then you will find that you're not just pushing through misery. You are creating something new and beautiful which will make your loved ones proud.

I'm still writing stories, Papa. These yarns are for you.

The 2 Year Drought

Well, here we are again. It is amazing how many times I’ve come back to the blank page, thinking that nothing would come of it. I am often dismayed by crafting a story that is already formed inside my head. I sometimes obsess over questions that plant seeds of doubt.

Will the story translate well to the page?

Will people be moved by it?

Will people find this story entertaining?

Will I ever be able to write something this good again?

I’ve discovered that, for the most part, this happens to all writers. John Grisham takes six months to write a book, and he always starts on January 1^st. John Irving writes the ending of each story first and tries to build a novel around it. Dean Koontz makes several drafts of each page before he moves on to the next one.

What I’ve found is that every writer has a process. But it is weird that I hadn’t figured out mine until just a few short weeks ago.

My process for writing is as follows:

1.       Get an interesting “What If?” Idea.

2.       Let the characters and plotlines gradually unwind in the mind.

3.       Write 30 to 60 perfect pages.

4.       Abandon the story for a while.

5.       Come back to the story, re-read what I wrote before.

6.       Let the characters drive

7.       Write the last 50 pages in a glorious fury

I once thought that this process was clunky and erratic and didn’t make much sense. But then again, a story is like that in its rawest form. It needs to be shaped, polished, molded. I used to buck against these 7 steps I would take, thinking that I wasn’t taking the craft of writing seriously. But now I find that as jumbled as this process seems to be it is still uniquely my own.

I still jump in and out of stories at my own pace. I still have hundreds of pages of half-finished stories. And I’m always mind writing; thinking of another line or plot point or character to put in a book as I continue on with my life. It has become a daily habit to think of a story and continue to shape it without having to write a word.

So imagine my surprise when I looked at my list of published works and found out that I had not released a new work in over two years! By all accounts, it would seem that the well had run dry, that the fairies and sprites of inspiration and imagination had left me for greener pastures. That I am experiencing a writer’s drought. But that is not the case.

I still plan on revisiting the world of Olde Country in Ye Olde Idea Shoppe. There are a few characters who get solo adventures that are tied to Pickpocket Frankie. There’s still a second part to mysterious Mr. Dead Eyes and there are even a few surprises in between. I still have novellas that are over the halfway mark. I still have a memoir or two. I am even trying out a book of poems.

So even though nothing has seen the light of day, I have still been working on writing in some capacity.

While my process is not entirely predictable I have now come to own it and take pride in it and realize that, well, that’s just the way my brain works.

So, at least for now, I have to go back and tend to my crops. They need watering. But keep a sharp eye and you just may see the fruits of my labors.

Click Here To Listen To My Audio Books

Da Works

Well, it’s winding down to the end of the year and I could not let the new year pass without saying a few things about my journey of writing and what I’ve learned.

I meant what I said about writing novels now instead of novellas. And, like I always do, I am drifting between three separate novels. So here are my works in progress and my thinking behind them.

THE BIG SCI-FI BOOK – God, feels like this one has been going on forever and yet every time I come back to it, I am encouraged to time travel back to the 1940’s again and again. I’ve always wanted to write an immersive, exciting, mind-bender of a novel and I feel that this one is leaps and bounds better than what I’ve written in the past. I know its more ambitious because I’ve done a lot of research on it. But the main thread is to make the story enjoyable and not bogged down with facts. I’m trying to write it in such a way that once you’re done with the journey, you’ll want to read it again. (25,000 words in.)

WORKING WOES – This book is a memoir of my working life. The one I’ve always kept in the back of my mind and just now am I willing to brave the storm and write it. I say brave the storm because I’ve found that this is not just revisiting my work life from 2003-2014 but it has also become a poignant discovery of some extremely difficult times. I’m not very public with my feelings because I tend to be self-deprecating. I’m more willing to deal with depression or outright numbness through writing than to ask for help. Writing about my work life has become more therapeutic and cathartic than I ever imagined. It’s made me laugh at the fun times I had at jobs I liked and groan whenever I encountered an awkward situation or one of the many setbacks that were put in my way.  I find myself barreling through and breaking new ground and happy to say that this process has really given me closure. And if that inspires a person to tread carefully when entering the workforce, then I am grateful. (14,000 words in)

THE HOUSE – With each novel, I try to do something different. But I also like to set some of my stories in the past for nostalgic purposes. This one is set in the seventies. It’s kind of my take on the classic movie The Old Dark House. But it goes much deeper. There are twists and turns galore. I wanted to tap into a horror that was both psychological and suspenseful. I have no idea when this title will see the light of day. But I’m encouraged to write more because this is one of the few novels that I have fully mapped out in my head. And that’s really saying something. (4,000 words in.)

2018 was a heavy workload kind of year. I've narrated some wonderful works from Shirleen Davies, Mark Cisper, Jamie Davis, Morgan Cole, Washington Irving, Lao Tzu, Leslie North and Brian Knight. My daughter is growing up and she really loves reading! My business is growing and I'm learning new things every day. The house is still be fixed up but its almost finished. I'm excited to see who I will be narrating for next and what new stories I'll be able to conjure up.

New year means new goals.

So, for 2019, my new year's resolution will be to write a chapter a day.

Thanks for reading.

Here it Goes: Novel or Nothing!

For the past few months, I’ve been really busy. It feels like two sides of me are organizing the year ahead when it comes to new projects. Writing has always been my go-to when finding inner peace or to unravel the concepts involved in life. While I am an avid consumer of entertainment, I strive to be a content creator. I’m here to entertain the masses.

But, as it turned out, I’ve really branched out when deciding to become a narrator. It gave me another outlet to express myself.

So that, understandably, has taken up a lot of my time. And I don’t mind. I love immersing myself in being a storyteller.

I now work for three companies: Acx, Bee Audio and Findaway Voices.

If all goes well, I should be quite busy this year when it comes to my full time job. But, my productivity has slowed significantly with writing.

So, for the new year, I’ve given myself a new goal. From this date forward, I am done working on Novellas and Short Stories.

There’s a couple of reasons why:

1.     Short stories and Novellas are quick to produce and I want to challenge myself more and not just take a quick dip in and out of worlds.

2.     For the rest of the year I want to work on ONLY Novels. So that’s anything over 50,000 words in length.

3.     I have a backlog of novels that are screaming to be written.

4.     And I want to get at least 3 full novels done this year.

Currently, I’ve been taking my written works and have put them up on Audible. Three of the titles (Right Outta My Mouth, Village Americana, Pickpocket Frankie) are narrated by me. But the majority are narrated by other very talented people. The reason for this is two-fold.

First, I know I don’t have time to narrate everything I have written. Besides, there are some stories I’ve written where I have convinced myself that I am just not the right voice for it. Second, since I started narrating in 2014, Audible Acx has had a swell of new narrators. Thousands more people have gotten into this field. A lot of them are looking for their first book to narrate. I remember when I was looking for that chance to become the voice of somebody’s story, so now I’m offering that to people who are trying to break into the industry.

Also, I’ll be moving to a different house. Which will be a big change for me and my family. And since this seems like the year for big change I figured why not have big goals.

But, dear reader, there are more titles to come in the future.

I’m putting the final touches on two novellas.

One is called The Digital Novelist and the other is called The Loop. They’re both what I’ve come to know as Sci-Fi Horror.

And they are the final two stories I’m going to include in my newest collection titled Night of Novellas. (6 novellas in all with introductions, extras and behind the story segments)

The last novella I’ll be working on before I jump headfirst into novels will be a title I call The Transcriptionists. It’s a crime thriller that came to me one day.

But, after all that, it’s Novel or Nothing, folks.

I still have a list of titles that have been percolating long enough.

THE BIG SCI- FI BOOK is the one I’m most anxious to return to, as it also ties into another title I’ve written called Thief of The Gods: An Area 51 Confession.

I’d also like to return to Mr. Dead Eyes 2. Because the audio book for the first book is in production now and it sounds great. It’s giving me new ideas of what I can put in the second installment.

I also have two spinoff sequels to Pickpocket Frankie. These two books don’t have the titular character Frankie in them. These are more focused on two big characters mentioned in the book. And those are both crime thrillers.

I also have another novel planned for the private investigator Thomas Wilker. But this will be set way before the events of Mr. Dead Eyes.

Add to that a behemoth novel I have planned that is in the genre of literary fiction. I don’t know how long it will be, but it will definitely have a large cast of characters.

So, yeah, it’s clear to me that the novels in my head are screaming for attention. And all I have to do is open the door. Why wait, right?

Remember, always set new goals for yourself every year.

And, as always, keep writing.

;)