Must See TV

When staring up at the wall of insurmountable obstacles standing in the way of a novel breaking through to publication and reaching a broad audience, I'm reminded of another success story - about how someone's creative vision overcame early set backs and all-but-certain failure to reach critical and popular acclaim.

But this story is not about a novel.

It's about a TV show.

In 1989, NBC aired the pilot of a new sitcom.  Critics and audiences were unimpressed; the pilot bombed and plans for a full season were scrapped.  But one NBC executive, believing in the show's potential, ordered four new episodes, which aired a year later in 1990.  The ratings were just high enough to justify a second season.

In 1991, the second season began, but after a string of low ratings, NBC pulled the show and put it on hiatus, leaving it seemingly dead in the water.

The Gospels According to Voice and Show, Don't Tell

All right, enough about me.

In addition to chronicling my journey as a writer (which, thanks to the previous entry, we're all caught up with), the second thing I want to do with this blog is to highlight/explore/analyze great writing.

Where better to begin than by examining two of the more important elements in writing a story:
       
          • voice, and

          • show, don't tell

Now, as a refresher, voice is the holiest of holies for literary agents and editors (and probably readers, too).  According to my 7th Grade literature text book,

"Voice refers to a writer's unique use of language that allows a reader to "hear" a human personality in the writer's work." 

Voice also includes elements like word choice, sentence structuring, and the ability to convey a mood or a tone.

Perhaps the best way to understand the effectiveness of voice is to look at examples.  First up we have the beginning of a little-known MG fantasy book called The Lightning Thief:

"Look, I didn’t want to be a half-blood.

            If you’re reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is:  close this book right now.  Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life.

            Being a half-blood is dangerous.  It’s scary.  Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways.

            If you’re a normal kid, reading this because you think it’s fiction, great.  Read on. I envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened.

            But if you recognize yourself in these pages – if you feel something stirring inside – stop reading immediately.  You might be one of us.  And once you know that, it’s only a matter of time before they sense it too, and they’ll come for you.

                                     
           Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

          My name is Percy Jackson. 

I’m twelve years old.  Until a few months ago, I was a boarding student at Yancy Academy, a private school for troubled kids in upstate New York.
         Am I a troubled kid?
         Yeah.  You could say that."

What is Past is Prologue (or, Why I Do What I Do)

So what possesses an otherwise perfectly sane adult (I think) to spend their free time writing about imaginary people in imaginary places, going on imaginary adventures?  Glad you asked...

As a kid, I went to nine different schools in three different states, all between K and 9th grade... oh, wait - wrong blog.


This was my journey to becoming a writer of fantasy:

***Warning:  this post is a little lengthy and terribly self-indulgent - somewhere between a selfie and my own reality show.  But I thought it was enlightening for me to throw down almost all of my influences in one place...


1972
Born.  Nothing fantastical about that (other than my own umbilical cord tried to strangle me and failed) but you gotta start somewhere.

Never Tell Me the Odds

I decided a long time ago that I would pursue the safest, most financially secure, the easiest of professions:  fantasy novelist.

Yeah, I know... epic.

It's difficult to think of a more far-fetched career to actually achieve success with.  Consider the different stages along the journey, accomplished in succession, and the long odds attributed to each one:


1st --> Start - and finish - novel
• How many people think they could write a novel?  How many of those people actually sit down and start writing that novel... until it's finished?  It's impossible to have statistics on this, but one could say that starting - and completing - a novel is the toughest part.  Except...