My Special Place

Wow, it has really been a few weeks since I posted. I'll be real honest here. When a story has me completely engaged--or otherwise kicking my ass--I have a hard time being "social." That means I may not have a FaceBook or Twitter update in a few days, or even a week. It is a bummer because then it might seem like I'm not working, but I am.

Sometimes I just have to go to my special place to make it all happen.

"Kenny, tell us, where is your special place?" OMG, I thought you'd never ask.

My special place often times is just a quiet piece of land in my own mind, a period of reflection that lasts a few days. Nothing special happens, other than I wait and try not to talk Michele's ear off. It is a very strange time, because (as a lot of writers will tell you) I feel like I should be doing something, but I'm not. It's all just stewing around in my brain. Usually, I engage in a variety of house chores or try to watch a few movies.

Eventually, something causes it to click. It could be a particularly aggravating day at work, or just being bored.

Yesterday, it was a drive to Louisville to pick up the lil' woman from the airport after her return from Florida to visit her sisters. As the bluegrass rolled by, pieces started falling into place, bad ideas were tossed aside and my confidence kicked back in. So, maybe a long drive is worth the price of gas after all.

Anyway, I have a new article up at Rogue Blades Entertainment called "Big Heroes Make Big Decisions." Check it out.

Let the world do its own spinning.

The third story I'm working this year has some dialogue that is extremely challenging. But that is a good thing. I do not particularly struggle with dialogue, but to give this story a third dimension, this part needs to be spot on.

The wild child inside me is saying to just let it flow...and it did for the most part. But it wasn't quite right until just yesterday, a testament that sometimes dialogue does take some work. Sometimes my characters are lazy, and they don't want to do the song and dance for me.

This particular character is partly E.B. Farnum (played by the great William Sanderson) from Deadwood and partly a stubborn grandfather (perhaps my own) who has watched generations of his people succumb to lawless madmen.

Here is the best of E.B. Farnum, which I think is some of the best dialogue ever written, just mesmerizing. Note, this is R-rated.

The Best of E.B. Farnum.

Do I have my work cut out for me or what?

Approaching this character, this particular piece of dialogue, I put myself into E.B.'s head and fired him up a little, just a small injection of dignity and indignation. Now, if I can just ensure it translates to the page...E.B. might say to me, "I'd hate to cripple your progress, Mr. Soward. But for a favorable recompense, perhaps I could tender a song or two."  

Play your fantasy game, and write.

A couple of weeks ago, my writer-friend David Dalglish (author of the Half-Orc series among others) gave me a great game to play that would not interfere with my writing. Not too much, anyway.

You see, I had to give up video games five years ago due to the fact that they had completely saturated my life, causing me to become the greatest slacker this world has ever known. It was amazing that I did not lose my job. My habit? Everquest, Star Wars Galaxies and Age of Mythology. By the time it was said and done, I was in debt, had neglected all my friends and had all but given up on writing.

The best thing I ever did was quit. I subsequently killed my debt, got promoted multiple times at work and started writing again. My life turned around.

But with my first book published now, The Budget of Your Life, and my life back on track in general, I have been fiending to do some sort of gaming, conscious of the fact that anything too heavy could destroy me.

Warily, I posed the question. Is there an online game out there that is not completely devastating to one's life? David's answer, Might and Magic: Heroes Kingdoms. You can pretty much play for free (or pay a little something) and you do not need to install any special software. It is a combination SIMs and Age of Empires.

Basically, you set up a kingdom, build alliances, create cool characters and go to war. You make a few moves an then come back later to see the results. So far, it has satisfied my need to pillage things and hasn't had much of an effect on my spare time, especially my writing. It has had just enough of an effect to be fun.

Thanks a lot for the suggestion, David! So...play your fantasy game, and write.

My creative juices are better than your creative juices.

The urge to write comes and goes. Often, it is as elusive as a bunny hopping through a field of indian grass, and at other times it is an elephant that comes into the office and sits right on top of you. And, yes, more often than not the writing is always better when the elephant does its thing, but sometimes it is a healthy exercise to go chasing the bunny.

I thought I would mentions some of the things that put me in the mood to write, whether I catch that damn bunny or not. In no specific order of importance:

1. A stressful day of work gives me the strong urge to be free, to be the one telling the story rather than someone else dictating it to me.

2. Music almost always gets me going. Specifically, dark bands. Case in point, How to Destroy Angels was tonight's special guest on the Kenny Soward Show.

3. Mid-life crisis. I try to sleep or take a nap and then wake up and realize that if I don't get up and write something now, I will never do it. Half my life is over.

4. An image or scene in my head that absolutely will not leave me alone, specifically something that is brutal or sad. What is brutal and sad to me is a subject unto itself.

5. Nothing to do for about four days. While it rarely happens, nothing like plenty of sleep and then right into the office with a coffee and a positive attitude. The day job should be far, far away.

6. Winter. While this is becoming less and less a factor--I'm becoming a hermit in the spring and summer now too--nothing like being cozy in your house while everyone is freezing outside. Strangely enough, watching Deadliest Catch has the same effect on me.

I'd love to know what gets those creative juices flowing for you. Drop me a comment!

Fun with repurposing ideas.

There is a specific publication I have to be published in. Besides it being an SFWA publication, I just want to prove something to myself damn it.

Wisely, I spent a good deal of time reading up on the types of stories they publish, a great time saver. This in itself was a big change from my younger days when I used to randomly send pieces to anyone who took them. It is hard enough to get published without being completely off the mark with regards to content.

Then I had to think up a story that would work well with this specific style. When I couldn't think of anything, I started going back through stories I'd written ages ago but had never published. For one, I forgot how many stories I'd actually written. And two, many of them were pretty good.

One in particular was a western (in the vein of Deadwood) about a town run by lawless madmen, and a widows revenge on their leader. I might have gotten it to work with this specific publication, but it would definitely have needed a fantasy twist...and the story was much more of a horror story.

So...I took the entire town and plopped it on huge tank-like tracks and sent if off into the wasteland, and there sits the story. This really opened things up creatively, and allowed me to add some cool elements. I'm 1/3 through, and I'll keep you posted!

You guys ever re-purpose stories like that?

One good story for every two written.

Lately, as my friend J.M. Martin will attest, it usually takes me a few tries before I get a story right. And even then, it is hardly right. But it is at least good enough to submit by that time. Unfortunately, the only way to shorten that time--to really get to the meat of the story after some lengthy experimentation--is just to practice and get better.

A recent example. I labored over a 7,000 + word story that started out with a group of adventurers standing in front of a cave, about to embark upon some dungeon capers. It wasn't a horrible idea, specifically because I wanted to work on character interaction, dialogue and flow. It was an exciting story with the typical dungeon humor, two battles and an interesting ending.

But something bothered me about the story. For one, the length. Nothing wrong with a longer story--if you can get past the cliche premise--but it just seemed like I was beating around the bush about something. My character interaction was fun, but it just did not seem honest...it did not make me feel anything. One of the characters screamed at me "you've only just scratched my surface!"

Who am I not to listen?

So I started again...right in the middle of the story, with a burst of revelation from one of the characters. I then found it necessary to have only one battle sequence, and my screaming character was next appeased. I ended up with a new story that was around 3,500 words; it was more serious and more real to me.

I realized then that the original story was simply an exercise to get to know my characters better. What a way to do that! Hours and hours spent writing only to realize that it needed to be redone.

The lesson is that there is nothing wrong with spending some time with the story in your head before spouting words. Mediate on it, sleep on it, or do whatever it takes to sniff out the real story.

Facebooking our virtual tombstones?

Facebook is like the iPod shuffle feature. One minute you are just cruising along, and then BAM, a crazy friend requests hits you smack in the face. Sometimes, it's a blast from the past, someone you liked or at least got along with who evokes old memories that may have dropped on your brain's selective retention list.

The most fascinating aspect is that as we get older, people on our friends list will start to pass away (some may have already), yet their pages will remain as a tribute to their memories; virtual tombstones, if you will.

Right now, sites of those who have passed away are still available online due to privacy concerns that keep anyone from actually accessing and deleting the accounts. But there is some indication that the creators of social networking sites have already begun preparing for the future and may offer family members of the deceased the option to take down the site or keep it up forever.

I think it is a great idea to leave these sites up. Whether you would like to visit the site of a deceased friend in silence, or would like to leave a comment, the opportunity would be available. How cool would it be to leave a comment recounting some old memory for everyone to see and be a part of?

When you think about the billions of people who have gone before us, forgotten, with no records of their existence whatsoever, social networking seems like a bit of a miracle, giving us some modicum of immortality. Chalk one up for the little guy.