How'd I do? The week of Feb 27th, 2011

The only project I worked on was the short project. The good news there, however, is that I'm over halfway through blocking the scenes. So I should have the blocking for the whole project done by the end of March, but probably sooner. Then flesh out the characters, map out the settings, rough it, revise it, and open it for distribution.

Piece of cake. Made out of a lot of work. With tweaking frosting. Sheesh!

Where I Stand Today

Here's a quick update of where I stand with all my projects. As always, any advice or comments are greatly appreciated and will be duplicated here.

Blog Posts

I got a little side-tracked in my post about Conflict, which was intended to be a help-to article about writing. That's not what this blog is about. The title of the blog says it all, and that's what I'm going to write here. I'm going to promote my projects, trumpet landmarks, and reject failures. That makes this a regular feature.

Marketing Turning Springs

My ads aren't doing as well as I'd like them to. I'm going to try different regions of the country next. A lot of the ads are up for renewal soon and I'm going to spread them around a little.

I'm going to take some time to review the Smashwords treatise on marketing your work (I just remembered that).

I'm going to design some cheap business cards that I can leave around on bulletin boards locally and/or pass out that advertise the book.

A t-shirt design would be good marketing, too. Not just for the title of the book, but for some of the elements in it. How's this for an ad slogan for Berlengame's Constructed Servants Company: "When people just won't do..."

I'm also considering paper copies through a service called WordClay. It's intriguing, but I need to do a little more research.

The Long Project (MrsGM)

I've finished compiling 40+ pages of notes and they lead all over the place. All this stuff is nice, but I have a story to tell and not all of this material will fit. There is a rough progressive line to the information, however, and that helps. I've also categorized the notes as to where they might appear in the work (beginning, middle or end). The next step is to go back to the basics and determine what the essential elements of the story are. Then I keep the notes that apply and junkpile the ones that don't. Story arcing should be finished in March.

The Short Project (OSV)

I'm into blocking the scenes now and it's going very smoothly. I'm about half-finished with that and hope to have it done in March also. A meticulous plan makes for easy steps and easy advancement through and beyond those steps. There are a few holes, but nothing I can't fill on the fly.

The Summary

Although it all looks like future projects, it is an improvement over last month. I will be cutting down my writing time to about six hours per week (necessary because of the two other jobs and other demands on my time), I still think I can get many of these steps done by the anniversary of the release date of my book, April 1st. So, TTFN!

Online business card

Just signed up for an online business card. I'll add it to the profile info here, but here's the info: http://johnchristianhager.businesscard2.com

Conflict -- What You Expected

The Good Fight

You've seen it all over the place. You've had it drummed into your skull by teachers and mentors and writing magazines and bloggers. Conflict is the cornerstone of creative writing. And it is. If there's no conflict, there'a no point to reading further. Your characters are standing around agreeing with each other. Peaceful, but nobody really lives that way. Everyone's life is a struggle in some form or another. People want to read about people under adversity who are unwilling to fail against circumstances that insist upon their failure. They want to take in some of that strength for themselves.


The Writer Giveth...

As a writer, you give your own set of characters conflicts central to the story. Where do you start building their conflicts? With the elements of their world which your characters expect. The same elements, actually, which you must change, or deny to them, in order to create the conflicts which define them.


Define and Dandy

The fights we fight and why we fight them and against what odds all define who we are. Someone who is willing to argue with a five-year-old over finding a penny on the sidewalk is defined by that action. Also defined is someone who refuses to let a child take up smoking. In both cases, the character believes strongly in something. The critical factor for any conflict, in life or literature, is that a sequence of key events before the current conflict has led the character to believe what they believe about the world. Those key events in your character's backstory could be anything from religious training to childhood friendships to adult mentors to the bully that beat them up in third grade. Our expectations of our world are rooted in our experiences, either actual or those taught to us by others. When those expectations are not met, conflict arises as we try to reconcile what we think we know about the world with what is happening at that moment.

Your Roots Are Showing

So it should be with your characters. The clearer you can make the roots of their conflicts, the more essential and understandable and real that conflict becomes. And when their conflict becomes real, your characters do, too.

Try this: look through a newspaper's police calls section. As you read the entries, think of what your character would say or do in those situations. Then ask yourself why. And expect an answer. Or else.

John Christian Hager is the author of the Turning Springs series of e-books and stories, which can be found by searching the words Turning Springs at Smashwords dot com. John is an award-winning writer and playwright who lives in northern Illinois in the USA.

Woo-hoo!

Just found a notification in my email that I sold another copy of my ebook, Turning Springs. Great news after a long day! If you don't have yours yet, you can reach it at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/12087

I'll be posting again in just a few minutes. I finished a writing piece on the importance of expectations when creating conflicts. Don't go away!

Helloooo?

Yep, I'm still here. Got two timeclock jobs, but am getting on a schedule to get more done. Expecting to have some short stuff done soon. Wish me luck.

Long Time Coming

Time for an update.

An Embarrassment of Not Really Riches.
In the space of six weeks I went from having just the writing gig to two other timeclock jobs. It really helps for (almost) paying the bills, but combine those with the writing and the lawn work (I swear, I've watched the grass grow) and trying to figure out a crash helmet for our goldfish (another time), things are getting hectic. I will, however, endeavor to persevere.

So, Is the Book Selling?
No more sales, but a few more downloads of the free sample. If you've read it, let the folks at Smashwords.com know with a review! It's also available for your Nook from Barnes and Noble, so that's good news. Still waiting to hear from Amazon (for the Kindle) and Apple (for the iPad).

When Will the Next Turning Springs Material Be Out?
Wow, that is a great question. I'm hoping by the end of the summer for Project B, but I was hoping that would be finished by Memorial Day. I'm dividing my time between marketing Turning Springs, writing Project B, and writing a new short project I've entitled...wait for it now...Project C. I'm planning on releasing it as a freebie on Fanstory.com, if they'll let me.

Is It Worth It?
Absolutely. I know this will start selling better once I start advertising regularly. With the new schedule I'm putting myself on, it shouldn't take long at all. Watch this space for sparse updates (once per week, I hope).

That's all for now. Write me back!