J. Mark Miller | A Writer's Fantasy |

One of the most exciting aspects of writing, for me, is the process of discovery. I’ve found myriad layers of discovery from finding what’s in my imagination, discovering the motivations and personality traits of my characters, and most important, self-discovery.

As I’ve made the commitment to be more intentional about my writing over the last year, I’ve been learning what does and doesn’t work for me in the writing process. My first completed novel was one I had been working on half-heartedly for nearly ten years. I finally decided about a year ago to buckle down and finish it, spending a month rewriting and re-charting the 60,000 some-odd words I’d already produced, then finishing the first draft in about a month or so.

What was interesting about the process was how I unconsciously chose to approach the manual aspect of writing—good old paper and pencil. I purchased a five-subject spiral notebook, and went to work a few hours each day writing the remaining manuscript by hand, finishing it sometime in early October.

There’s a point to this story, so hang with me. The remainder of October was spent typing the hand-written manuscript into my computer, and though it was the extra step, it really became something of a blessing. During the transcription process, I was able to essentially do the first round of editing, so in the long run the time was not wasted.

When November came around, I was done with the transcription, and NaNoWriMo was under way. I had downloaded the trial version of Scrivener, determined to give it a real run for the money since I could purchase it at half price after winning NaNo. So here I was, suddenly shifting from writing a first draft by hand to writing on my laptop. Granted, I didn’t know if I could keep the minimum pace necessary to complete 50,000 words in 30 days writing my hand, but I suspect in hindsight I would have.

In fact, I now have suspicions I would have well exceeded the word count.

You see, I’ve since completed that NaNo novel, and as I’ve been going back to do a first round of revision, I’m finding I don’t like the voice of the novel as well as my hand-written one. Even after NaNo was over, and the pressure to produce a minimum word count was gone, I continued forging ahead on the laptop. I fell in love with Scrivener and used it daily to complete the first draft.

In the last couple of weeks, I’ve taken up plotting a new novel, and a short story as well. Without thinking about it, I’ve found myself with pencil and paper in hand, writing out the plots and notes to these stories by hand. I’m enjoying the process so much more than when sitting on the couch with my laptop, and I’m finding myself much less easily distracted. The whole experience feels more organic and natural to me, and I know I’m producing a better first draft.

NaNo is approaching, and I’m considering doing it by hand. Since I can enter a word count number of my own without using the official word counter, I’m thinking I can just figure out how many words per hand-written page I average and use that as a guide for my daily goal and word count. Sure, I’ll have to type it all up later, but I think I’ll come out with a much tighter manuscript in the end.

Hey there readers. I’ve been AWOL yet again, but in my own defense I’ve been busy. This week should be a good productive week of writing, revision, and blogging as I’m taking half a week of vacation.

In other news, LOST is over. Whether you did or didn’t like the finale episode, and even if you lost interest in the show somewhere along the way, you have to admit the series was a game changer, and television producers will be hard-pressed to find its like again.

There have been some rumors and hints around that LOST may come back again in the future. The producers said they wouldn’t have a hand in a sequel series, but ABC themselves may think otherwise. The plot was certainly left open-ended enough, and there are still more questions than answers about the island. Realizing the losties in the Earth-2 universe were actually dead and preparing to move on into the afterlife showed us evidence of further possible adventures.

What about Hurley and Ben as they continued to shepherd the island? Did Desmond escape the island and reunite with Penny and their kid? What’s up with Eloise Hawking? What about Lapidus, Richard, Kate, Sawyer, and the others who escaped on the plane? What about Walt, Aaron, and Sun and Jin’s kid? How do they figure into things?

I had a dream a few days ago that felt very much like the opening scene of a continuation of the series. Now roll with me here. There were many weird, impossible happenings in LOST, so you know what I’m about to share could make complete sense in that universe.

The scene begins with Jack and Hurley walking through a dark, damp cave with torches aloft. They fight their way through offending roots and cobwebs, followed by a gaggle of nameless, faceless losties. They’re searching for something, and Hurley keeps asking, “Dude, where are we going?” I’m not really sure if Hurley sees a dead Jack, or if Jack’s really there in the flesh. One clue is Hurley is holding a torch while Jack is not.

They round a final bend in the cave to find their way blocked by a large, blueish-white slab of something. Jack announces, “We’re here,” and Hurley steps up with his torch to see what’s going on. It’s a giant block of ice. There’s a shadow of something encased within, and Hurley reaches up to wipe the frost away from the ice’s surface. He gasps when he discovers what Jack has led them to.

John Locke is frozen inside.

Hurley whispers, “Dude,” and the LOST logo appears.

I get excited just thinking about it. What do you think happens next?

Happy writing.

Late last week I posted some mini-reviews on what I’ve read so far in 2010. Since then I’ve finished reading Ragamuffin by Tobias S. Buckell, and am about halfway through the third book in the series, Sly Mongoose

I made mention of how I thought Crystal Rain started a little slow. Such is not the case with Ragamuffin. The story literally starts out with a bang, and new characters are soon drug into the interstellar conflict hinted at in Crystal Rain. Two of the favorite characters, John deBrun and Pepper, are back, along with a cadre of butt-kickers lead by a cybernetic clone of the latter named Nashara.

While humanity seems to have overcome their Teotl oppressors on New Aneganda, the Benevolent Satrapy has decided humanity has outlived its usefulness and is a clear and present danger throughout the 48 worlds. When the remnants of the Teotl tear through the collapsed worm hole over New Aneganda, John and Pepper are thrust back into the fray, not only as defenders of their adopted home, but of all humanity.

Ragamuffin is a fast-paced, enjoyable ride. Buckell introduces several new technological innovations to his world, all of which feel real and plausible without pushing the story over into the realm of hard SF. The character of Nashara is herself an interesting bit of technology. While the concept behind her is not exactly new, Buckell’s use is interesting, and key to the plot’s advance. Her relationship with the myriad characters is what ties the entire thing together. I was left wondering if the other characters knew just how much more rich their lives were because of their acquaintance.

I enthusiastically recommend Ragamuffin, a masterful sophomore undertaking by Buckell. I’m looking forward to completing Sly Mongoose (I’ll review it next week), and I’m sure I’ll want to read what he offers up in the future. Hopefully he will not only give us some more great stories in the same universe, but show us what he’s really capable of by crafting even more worlds for our imagination to play around in.

READING: Soldiers Live (Chronicles of The Black Company)

Confession time. This blog hasn’t really been around for twenty-one days. After reading on several literary agent’s blogs that modern writers often need a pre-existing online presence to be successful in the business, I figured I’d better get started. I created the blog a few days ago, and began writing reports on my NaNoWriMo progress as if it had been written that very day. It’s been a pretty fun exercise, both from a writing standpoint, and in doing a quick review of what’s been written so far.

To be fair, this is not my first blog, and I’m kind of well known in the blogging circles in another realm entirely, but those credentials really don’t mean anything for my desired goal becoming a published author. I’m not trying to hide the other side of my life, I will usually just make it a point to not bring it up unless it is relevant in some way

If you happen to stumble across this blog in the future, welcome to the dream. As of this writing I’m sure the only people who have read any of my posts are myself and my wife, and I doubt she has or will read most of them in the future.

What are my plans? Until the end of NaNoWriMo, not much beyond the daily report. I do have an idea to share some really great resources I’ve found in the last month or so. In the future, you can count on periodic reviews of whatever I might have finished reading, and reports on where I’m at in terms of writing, editing, revising, searching for and agent, and hopefully getting published.

After NaNoWriMo, I’ll also start writing either short story series or one-shots. I found this really great book at the recycled book store called The Daily Writer. I plan to start using it on a regular basis as a source of writing prompts for free writing exercises.

I’m glad you found me, and I’m thankful for any and all input you can provide as we journey together to get me published.