How’s this?

I pushed open the door, walked to the car, drove a few miles past farmer’s fields, and found myself at Myra’s house.

Well, I suppose it gets the job done. And perhaps you want your reader to concentrate on something else. But what about this?

The old screen door squeaked and protested as I pushed it open; it slammed shut behind me. I jumped the three steps to the gravel path and swished through the unraked leaves downed during yesterday’s thunderstorm. My poor little MG, so impractical on Nebraska’s many dirt roads, sat muddy and forlorn; I hopped in and turned the key. It never does like to start. Just as the battery was almost dead, it coughed into life, complaining loudly through the hole in the muffler. The road, still muddy from the storm, was not kind to my MG, splattering mud everywhere, and I slid a little more than I liked around the sharp 90-degree bend near the massive oak. Thumping up and down over the washboards, all that remained of the corn crop was stubble, not yet plowed under. After a few more equally sudden turns, I caught sight of Myra’s farmhouse, mightly lonely on these flat western Nebraska plains. The outbuildings had long given in to nature, but Myra had worked miracles Read more…

Writing: Style

Arlene sent this comment to me using the American Flying Broomstick comment form:

I’ve been getting the free weekly subscription for a while now, since Randy C. talked about it in his “this is true” newsletter. When you told us you were reducing the cost of the books, I immediately went to the website to buy it. Before I did, however, I realized how much I am enjoying the little snippets once a week. If I bought the book, I would lose the weekly e-mails, and I decided I didn’t want to do that. Thanks!

Arlene, not to worry! You are welcome to stay on the free chapter a week e-mail list. But you can do both. I sold both books to a Mensa Convention attendee, who wrote me to say he was signing up for the free chapter a week e-mail list to “relive” the experience. You can too! Your purchase supports this site and the free list. I’m glad you’re enjoying the flying broomstick experience!

American Flying Broomstick, Mt. Sneffels Press, Reader Comments

How do you like to describe events in your novel? By event I mean something that happens to further the plot. Let’s take an example.

Your outline (you do have an outline, don’t you?) says that Jack, Mary, and Jane meet each other at the Post Office. Jane is excited about her new movie role. Mary is upset because she didn’t get the role. Jack is courting Mary, so wants to advocate for her. The scene begins stiffly as Mary offers her grudging congratulations to Jane. Jack tells Mary she should’ve had the role. Mary starts to cry. Jane, embarrassed, tries to leave but Jack starts explaining why Mary should’ve won.

Okay, how can you describe this? I can think of three ways. You may think of several more (if so, please comment and describe them). First, you can play the scene live. You set the scene and record each line of dialog just as it was spoken. Second, you can summarize Read more…

Writing: Characterization, Writing: Dialog, Writing: Style

This was sent to all folks on my various Flying Broomstick mailing lists:

Greetings from Broom Headquarters!

I’ve been making changes and I think you’ll like them.

1. I’m dropping out of Amazon, which means I can lower the price for the first book, “The Story of the Great American Flying Broomstick, Book 1: Genesis.” It was my desire to make it available on Amazon that led me to the original $17.76 price, but now that I’m removing it, I can drop the price to $9.95. I think that’s a much more reasonable price for a novel, don’t you? (And I still make money, more than I do with Amazon.)

2. I’ve put video on the site. Go to www.americanflyingbroomstick.com and click on the introductory video. Also, go to the page for each of the two books (use the menu at the left) to see me read video exerpts.

3. Because both books now cost only $9.95 each (with $2.75 shipping via media mail in the US), I’m dropping the Premium and Platinum on-line subscriptions. The free chapter a week will remain and all of you on that list will continue to get your chapters!

4. There’s a bit of a special if you purchase both books at once, with a break on shipping, because shipping two books costs very little more than shipping one book.

5. I’ve created an entirely new site for Mt. Sneffels Press, at www.mtsneffelspress.com. Instead of hand-coding the site as I’ve done before, the site is a Wordpress blog. Mt. Sneffels Press has moved into the category of “micropress,” because Paul and Becky Klein McCreary’s book has been added to the catalog. And I’m working with two more authors. My blog is about writing: the process, the pitfalls, suggestions, etc. Take a look and write comments. (P.S. Now that I’m using Wordpress, I wonder why I ever thought of setting up a site any other way!)

6. Status of Broom 3, FOG at the Crossroads: It’s essentially finished, but I’m getting one more review from my best reviewer. I completely rewrote it in response to his first set of comments, so I want to get it right. It should be released in a couple months. I think you’ll love it!

So, now’s your chance to get the hardcopy books and join the ranks of flying broomstick enthusiasts! Please pass this note to your friends to tell them about the books, the free chapter a week list, and the new Mt. Sneffels Press site.

And my thanks for making flying broomsticks a reality!

Dave Casler

American Flying Broomstick, Mt. Sneffels Press

Think of it. You write a novel. You find an agent. The agent gets you a contract with a publisher. An editor at the publisher works with you for weeks to hone your prose. The book is released with all due fanfare. The royalties roll in. Your public demands more.

Uh, that’s so 20th-century. Actually, maybe more 19th-century. Ah, the golden years. But memory weeds out unpleasant realities. Such an era never existed.

And it exists even less now, if that’s possible. Publishers are hurting and laying off staff. No one reads anymore, they say. The book is doomed. And yet a recent Time magazine article notes that overall readership is up 3.5%. (They didn’t say over what period.)

What’s happening is a complete restructuring of the entire market mechanism for moving words from authors Read more…

Writing: Business

I’m reading a non-fiction book on William Tyndale, an early advocate for an English translation of the Bible from the original Hebrew and Greek; in fact, his own translation serves as the basis for the King James Bible. It’s a topic that interests me. But I groaned and winced through the first few chapters. In fact, the only reason I’m sticking with it is that a friend loaned me the book with his recommendation.

So what’s my problem? The writer, clearly in awe of Tyndale, seems unable to leave out adjectives. Here’s the first sentence:

In God’s panoramic vision of the history of the earth, some significant events have been singled out for seers’ eyes to preview and prophetic pens to record.

Uh, I thought I was reading a history book. And it goes on. Here’s another: Read more…

Writing: Style

In previous posts, I’ve talked about a necessary ingredient in your novel (indeed, in all fiction): conflict. So what should the conflict be? Sometimes it’s obvious, for example your novel on star-crossed lovers. Other times it may not be.

When you think about your next novel, you start with a hazy picture in your mind. In fact, the conflict may be the first thing you see: a couple loses their only child because of a doctor’s (perceived) incompetence. With that you can construct characters. Clearly you need a man and a woman. And maybe a boy or girl. Oh, the doctor. Maybe a lawyer or two. Throw in a judge. Starting with the conflict opens up whole new vistas.

Ah, but perhaps you’re writing your next romance novel. The characters are standard: a (few) women and an irresistible man (or two). But hasn’t every possible romance novel been written? Hmph. You’re stumped for an appropriate conflict. After all, the whole point of a novel is to Read more…

Writing: Characterization, Writing: Dialog, Writing: Plotting, Writing: Style

I haven’t put a post up for the last couple days because I’ve been deeply involved in writing a proposal for my day job. Pondering this, I think the similarities between writing a good novel and writing a good proposal are striking. A proposal has to be very clear to the reader. Any ambiguities can create problems later. I have to be very clear about what I’m proposing, under what conditions I’ll do the job, exactly what is in scope for the job and what is out of scope, and what cooperation I need from my customer to enable me to complete the job. And, the proposal may contain conditions that must be met before I’ll start work.

Similarly, when writing your novel you may be putting some conditions on what you will deliver. For example, if you are writing through the voice of a narrator, the narrator may have Read more…

Writing: Business, Writing: Style

When I write a scene, I’m writing down what I’ve already imagined. In fact, I live my novels! I’ve thought through the scene as though I were there as one of the participants. I see it, feel it, smell it, taste it, and hear it. Then my job is to get enough of that down on paper so the reader can follow my train of thought.

Many scenes in my novels are set locally. Locally means Ouray County in the Colorado Rockies. And, yes, I take a bunch of photographs. In fact, I’ll stand on the spot and take enough pictures that I have an entire 360-degree view! With digital cameras, there’s no limit. In fact, a scene in the second Flying Broomstick book is set in Mesa Verde National Park, not terribly far from here. So, I hopped on my motorcycle and made the trip. On the way I made note of the terrain over which my characters would fly, picking up such details as numerous trees killed by beetle infestation, the recovery of some land from a fire, the tunnel, etc. I took dozens of photos. But remember: use these photos as reminders, not as a complete record of your visit.

Now here’s the rub. Photos only record Read more…

Writing: Plotting, Writing: Style

You’ve honed your characters and written their bios and let their backstories consume your daydreams. The conflict is palpable. The plot is moving forward. But you’ve rewritten your scene to the point of wearing out your keyboard, and it still doesn’t work!

What might not work? Here are some possibilities: A character is out of character, for example old miser Don suddenly becomes a delightful counselor and a shoulder to lean on. That doesn’t work. Maybe the setting is wrong: you want a sunset on the beach but your story is set on the East Coast. Or your hero, who has a serious heart condition, is throwing things in a screaming rage, but his heart attack doesn’t come for another 100 pages.

If you keep honing that scene you’ll get an ever-more lovely description of a scene that doesn’t Read more…

Writing: Characterization, Writing: Style