Combating Writer's Block: Advice by Genre

There is no worse disease for a writer than writer's block. I'd also say that writer's block is terrible for readers too, uninspired prose is what we expect from policy and political people, not our entertainment. I'm a fan of Stephen King's writing advice: set a daily word goal and stay at it until you reach the goal. There is something about daily writing and forcing yourself to write that seems to make things flow.

But Tyson, I hear you say, I'm stuck with no ideas for what to write next. Luckily I was procrastinating whilst writing the other day and came up with a definitive fail safe for each major genre. Any additions are welcome in the comments.

Thriller Writers
When writer's block strikes kill someone or blow something up.

Crime Writers
When writer's block strikes describe the main character getting drunk and wallowing in self pity.

Mystery Writers
When writer's block strikes introduce a red herring.

Romance Writers
When writer's block strikes introduce new character with rock hard abs.

Literature Writers
When writer's block strikes describe a tree in intimate detail.

Fantasy Writers
When writer's block strikes have a talking dragon appear.

Sci-fi Writers
When writer's block strikes cut and paste physics article from Wikipedia into your novel.

Horror Writers
When writer's block strikes cut and paste autopsy reports into your novel.

Paranormal Writers
If you already have vampires, ghosts and werewolves in your novel, introduce ninjas and pirates as characters.

If you are really stuck after all of these ideas, then there is no novel in existence that can't/couldn't be improved by the addition of pirates and/or ninjas.

Book Review: Lucifer's Odyssey - Rex Jameson

Some people love reading their friend's books, others loath it. I can understand some people's reticence in reading a friend's work; what if the book sucks? I've found that the best way to have friends who are writers is to choose them on the strength of their writing. That way you can't be disappointed by their subsequent books. Plus, free books!

Rex is much like me: a nerd. As a result it isn't particularly surprising that Rex has come up with a very interesting melding of speculative fiction, fantasy and sci-fi (the sci-fi element could actually be described as part of the fantasy element, from a certain point of view). This novel reminded me at times of some of Heinlein's work. Earlier in the book I was especially reminded of Heinlein's Job: A Comedy of Justice.

Now I have an annoying habit. My friends and family will attest to the fact that I inadvertently spoil movies, TV shows and books by giving away key aspects of what is about to happen. My brother recently complained about me spoiling The Wire for him when I mentioned Stringer Bell dies. So I'm not going to go into too many details about the Odyssey of the title, whether there is more to the initial story of betrayal and conspiracy, whether Jehovah was the messiah or just a naughty boy who is b....... Almost. The plot builds upon itself as the book continues and keeps you involved with the layers of the Odyssey. Suffice to say you will be rooting for Lucifer as he pulls his swords to go Conan on....... Almost did it again.

I'm hoping to have a bit of chat with Rex in the near future, so stay tuned for a future guest blog post.

Book Review: Season of the Harvest - Michael R Hicks

I've lived and worked in agriculture for pretty much all of my life. Aside from that short trip to Alpha Centuri to save the universe from Krag the Merciless I can safely say that agriculture is something I have spent a lot of time around and am at least peripherally aware of. Which always makes techno-thrillers and sci-fi books like Season of the Harvest hard to review.

I often wonder if ex-military guys sit down and read a book and think "like we'd ever do that". I know every scientist would love the GC mass spectrometer that the CSI labs have on TV - nothing like a weeks work being turned into a 5 second task to get scientists hot under the collar. Do police and law enforcement people find it hard to enjoy any book or TV show due to the errors? They have those stairs at booking for a reason, push the guy down them a few times! So many little things that we writers and readers just don't realise are crap.

In part of my research I found out that one thing that annoys gun nuts enthusiasts is that they hate the smell of muzzle flash being described as "cordite". You see cordite hasn't been used in bullet manufacturing for a long time, subsequently a writer describing the smell of cordite after a gun battle is showing ignorance. Clearly never having the need to use a gun to shoot random people is a major character failing in writers.

But are they showing ignorance? This is fiction after all.

To most readers describing that post-gunshot smell as cordite elicits the correct sensory appreciation. Gun powder, ho hum; cordite, ah-hah specific smell! For CSI we know that a case that would normally take months and go through several different investigators and result in absolutely none of the CSI team needing to shoot anyone, has to be wrapt up by your show's stars in the 42 minute show time.

So really the research and reality of the writing or show only has to be enough to move the plot and characters forward. This is fiction after all.

As a result I can say that I really enjoyed Michael's novel. He kept up a cracking pace and kept a very tightly woven narrative. At one point about three quarters of the way into the book I remember thinking "there is no way they can get out of this one". So much tension!

This was a nice mix of sci-fi and thriller and reminded me a lot of James Rollins. This is especially since there are similar themes to Rollins' novel The Doomsday Key. Just imagine that with aliens!

This brings me to my two criticisms of the book, remember I really enjoyed this book. The first was the narrative structure: it was very well done up until about halfway through when more points of view started to be included. Nothing wrong with that but it broke from the flow established earlier on. Having the cat have a point of view for a scene was my shark jumpy moment. The second point is about agriculture: why don't people research agriculture when writing instead of listening to scare-mongers and political groups? I know why, it makes for a much more thrilling read than saying "we've doubled world population, have less farming land, and yet we still fed the world, yay us!" I guess it would just be nice to have someone say "you rock" rather than "you shouldn't use chemicals" once in a while.

I guess the real CSI guys might be also dreaming of magical lab equipment too.

Being a Beta Reader - Peace Army by Steven L Hawk

What I love about the digital age we now live in is that it has suddenly made communities possible again. All those little sullen teenagers who make statements like "life is pain" can now find other people to bother. For readers and writers it means that, like a readers festival, we can gather in corners of the internet and proudly proclaim "I can read and I actually enjoy it!"

This means that now authors can speak to a writer's group from the comfort of their own couch. Or they can speak to fans directly without having to wait for a book tour or festival. Writer's can now grab some readers and ask them "Is it good enough?" and they can tell them "Yay!" or "Ow, my brain!"

I have previously mentioned how I stumbled across Steven's first book here. Well, when I congratulated him on his first book in an email, he suckered me into being a Beta Reader. By suckered I mean he offered me a free copy; by Beta Reader I mean I got to read it before anyone else!

Now normally a traditionally published author would have a team of publishing house people take a large cut of their book sales in order to tell them to rewrite it so that it is a teenage vampire romance novel - because they are hot right now. But in the world of the indie author, or is that the e-book author, no one can afford to end up co-writing with James Paterson. They have to find ways to turn out a quality product with as few costs as possible. Of course some authors aren't concerned with things like spelling or grammar, and just release a book. True professionals, like Steven, wouldn't dream of releasing anything but a professional quality book.

Enter the community.

Once again we find ourselves in touch with our peers. Instead of it being because we all live within a day's horse ride of one another, now it is because the internet has connected us. Authors can help other authors. Fans can be friends with their favourite authors. Sure, you still get the annoying argumentative people who think ignorance is an opinion, but that is why the internet invented pwnage.

Now my experience in being a Beta Reader has been very positive. By the time I had a copy in my Tablet PC it was clear that Steven had done a lot of work on the novel - Peace Army. I actually spotted less typos, grammatical errors and spelling mistakes in his entire novel than in the middle section of the final Harry Potter novel (you know, the part were Harry, Ron and Hermione are wondering around camping for ages and you wonder when something will actually happen, but nothing does). Since Steve was still sending this book to an editor, myself and the other Betas were tasked with trying to spot plot holes, non-sequiturs, and frivolous inclusions of zombies. I really have to commend Steven on a novel that could have been something I was paying for, not reviewing.

This revival of an ancient (pre-2000 AD) practice is not without its problems. Without going into too much depth, I am actually a professional editor and have a few science degrees - some of them are from real universities! So not only have I been asked to rewrite entire articles that consist of the 7 words you can't say on television, but I've made it coherent. So it is likely that I can contribute something of value as a Beta or editor. As a result I think that authors need to still be reliant on doing a good job themselves, finding Beta's who can give positive criticism of value, and not be in too much of a rush to publish.

Of course I should offer up a few comments on Steven's book. Peace Army is an interesting follow-up to the novel Peace Warrior. Once again Steven has hearkened back to the science fiction novels of old, while having an interesting take on a future Earth. The last third of the novel flew past and I had to remind myself to make notes as the book came to its finale. Even if Steven released this book right now without further changes and editing I'd not only be buying a copy myself but would recommend it for anyone who loves sci-fi. Keep an eye out for its release.

All just a little bit of history repeating:

Book Reviews - Peace Warrior by Steven L Hawk

I have mentioned before how I am a chronic procrastinator. As part of my procrastination I frequent various forums that discuss topics of interest. Whether it be weightlifting, woodworking, reading or writing, I'll be there ready to pwn some newb (really I'm a nice guy). Anyway, over at Kindle Forums I stumbled across Steven's book and was inspired to read it. Basically the cover interested me enough to inspire a download of the sample. It was a lunch time and I wanted something to read, this book fit the bill nicely.

I can't remember how far I was through the sample before I was convinced to purchase the entire book, but it was within a few pages. This book was reminiscent of my favourite science fiction novels and had me hooked. Not bad for the first book by a self published author.

Steven has done a great job with the book and this is a very entertaining read. It is clear that he has drawn on his military background, whilst not boring the reader with it. I can recommend this book to anyone who enjoys sci-fi or thrillers. Imagine a Buck Rogers type scenario with aliens and you are most of the way to understanding this book. Steve has set up good pacing, an interesting take on the themes, and makes it an enjoyable journey for the reader.

So if you get the chance, look up the indie authors like Steven, they are giving readers something more than just another James Paterson release.