Imagination in a world of Sameness

Big Macs are bad for you...in more ways than you might think

The nice thing about fast food is that I can walk into any MacDonald's in the country, and my burger will taste the same in Washington as it will in Michigan, or any of the other states. This is probably the single greatest factor in the appeal of such places. The problem with that is that a Big Mac will also as likely to kill you in Washington a it is will in Michigan. Just bcause you can get someting the same way, doesn't make it a good thing. An attractive veneer of sameness may be a cover for a culture of decayed imagination.

Let's talk a second about the ability to imagine powerfully in a culture which conditions us to accept a factory stamped version of reality, shall we?

Why is it, that when we find ourselves confronted by a product of genuine imagination and creativity, that we can scarce walk away unchanged by it? Is it that it's cool? Probably not, since the things which usually carry the label of cool are often the result of an industry (publishing, music, film, etc...) which seeks to mass produce attractive product based on waves of consumer interest. Oh, Vampires are in right now? Let's reward people who can generate skads of material about sparkly vampires and in so doing, milk the consumer of their dollars.

This is the driving force behind popular culture. It may have been that there was an original, imaginitive, creative iteration of something, but it soon gets buried in a pile of facsimilies which are only the shadows of imagination and creativity.

This is about control. Who can control the market by inundating it with what is popular, and thus wrest control from someone else's hands? Sameness controls by limiting understading of possibilities. It only allows us to see Option A or Option B.

What imagination does, is to provide a work whose effect is to break the spell of sameness and to awaken us to other possibilities. "Wait," it says, "but there's also Options C through Z." When confronted with Imagination we are shaken out of the sleep of sameness so that we can see a broader spectrum of reality than we could before.

Sameness is motivated by reductionism, which is at its core a celbration of ignorance. Reductionism reduces understanding of reality to simplistic. This means it must by necessity choose to ignore aspects of reality's complexity...hence "ignorance."

The difference between Control and Discipline

Imagination however, does not rely on an impulse to control others, but to have self-control, to be disciplined in your chosen medium of creation. Self-control, or discipline, is necessary to imagination because if we are not aware and in control of ourselves and the ways in which we produce within our chosen mediums, we will default to whatever firstcomes to mind...which is almost always a replication of something we've already seen, heard, experienced from somewhere else (i.e. it will not be our own but a shadow of someone else's work).

Creativity and Imagination, then, are not most often about free spirited, uninhibited creation or production because these things without self-control will generate more and more sameness. They will lack skill and refinement. hey will be untrained.

This is the opposite of someone who is practiced and seems to produce something on a wim when in fact they are producing out of years of training and experience which has given them a sort of "second nature," as we call it.

Lack of discipline and skill appreciates sameness because it is easy to digest and requires little effort to understand...because it's shallow. Reductionism breeds a culture of low value.

Be Imaginitive

Why try to be imaginative? Because if we don't, we lose something: vibrant humanity. If you've ever taken a look at our culture and been appalled at the character traits you've seen in it, it's not because people have no morals. People have no morals because they have shrunken imaginations that demand sameness, which in turn breeds selfishness, which in turn breeds skillessness, which breeds more and more sameness, etc.

A powerful imagination is required to wake ourselves and others from the slumber of "blah" life. And when we wake and look around we'll see the decay in the imagination of our culture and be made sick by it. But, in doing so, we'll be motivated to do somethin by it...to imagine deeply and subvert and destroy the brokenness around us, to be replaced by vibrant and creative expressions of goodness.

Didn't you kow that what you create matters?

You do now.

Self-Publishing, a Necessary Phenomenon, not a Fad.

The Way Things Were

Once upon a time there were Gatekeepers for the publishing industry. They were the "Publishers." Some were big, some were moderate in size, some were dinky. All of them had the same basic flaw: they could only do so much, only publish so many books by so many authors. The assumption was that those who got publishing contracts (the Holy Grail of the publishing world) had "made it," and were the best of the best.

In reality, that wasn't always true. Many published authors from these Publishing companies were in fact, quite good. But there were others who were just okay, and others who were no good at all. There were some who were no better (perhaps even way worse!) than some of the undiscovered, un-published authors. As time ran forward this became the accepted reality, flaws and all.

During this period of publishing, those who were on the outside of the gates of the publishing industry didn't have much choice. They could either pay a substantial sum of money to a "vanity press" (a company that would format/print your book for you but at a sizeable cost and only if you placed a large order for copies of your own book), or the author could just forget about it and go do something else.

Things Change

When digital technology took over the civilzed world it brought with it an unprecedented opportunity: Authors could side-step the gatekeepers and use a Print-On-Demand company. They'd pay a fee and have their book put together and available for orders of any size at any time. Hence "on demand."

Then there was the e-reader. Kindle, Nook, Kobo, etc.

With this new piece of technology, authors didn't have to even print their books to sell them. Upload them onto Amazon or Smashwords or where ever else, and "TA-DA"! The gatekeepers were side-stepped yet again.

Fad? Hardly.

Some called Self-Publishing a fad, something that would eventually pass off into the night like a dream, never to return and hardly to be remembered. but this has not been the case. More and more of us have discovered this beautiful process as a way to at last vent our creative energies and share our stories and ideas with the wider world around us.

Anything that truly hands the reins of creative power over to the creative person is going to propel the industries of creativity forward. This is what Self-Publishing has granted to us. This is why I love it and will continue to do it as long as the creative process continues to surge through my being.

And this is why I will help others to do it as well. I started Fresh Page Consulting because I know what it is like to try to figure out the world of Self-Publinng all by myself. For a long time I wished I had someone to help guide me in the process. Now there is somebody.

Me.

I've been down that road. I've been on it for almost seven years now.

I can help you.

I can walk with you from manuscript to printed and digitally downloadable Book.

I'm not one of the Gatekeepers.

I'm a Gate Opener.

For more infor mation go to the Fresh Page website. Or, e-mail me at freshpagepub@gmail.com.

I hope to hear from you soon.

Sam.

Turning a "Fresh Page."

Hey everyone,

Well it's official! I've started my own Self-Publishing business, called Fresh Page Consulting. I provide consulting, coaching, and I put books together for people. Trade Paperbacks and e-books are the name of the game at Fresh Page. We can do one, the other, or both at the same time. I can also provide basic or advanced cover design, and proofreading.

If you or someone you know has written a book but don't know what to do next, I can help you get your book into print and available for Kindle, NOOK, or other ebook readers. Maybe you've been rejected or ignored by Publishers and agents. That's not really a problem for me.

I've been writing and Self-Publishing since 2005. I've had to navigate the confusing world of Self-Publishing and thankfully came out the other side relatively unscathed. But I've also come out the other side armed with an arsenal of know-how and I won't charge you an arm and a leg.

I'd love to help you make your publishing dreams a reality. I'll be watching for you.

Here's the Website.

Here's the Facebook.

P.S. Here are some books I've put together.

Mindin' My Own Bidness

Okay, so I'm thinking about something.

Shocker, I know.

The thing which currently occupies my thoughts is starting up a small side business. Specifically, I'm thinking of starting up a small company that will offer services to authors in order to help them self-publish their books -- a Self-Publishing Consulting & Services business.

I just got thinking about how much I love putting my own books together for publication and then I thought about how there are many others out there who are just starting out and haven't a clue as to how to get their books out on the market aside from spending big bucks...and I won't charge big bucks. Little-to-medium bucks, yes, but not big ones.

So if you're looking for a Self-Publishing Consultant, I could be your man. I'm putting together service packages right now which include formatting, converting files, cover creation, etc.

The more I think about this, the more excited I get. This could be good, I think.

I'll keep you posted on developments.

The First Confessor - Terry Goodkind Self-Publishes!

Okay, so, this is big news.

Terry Goodkind, a favorite author of mine, and a New York Times Bestselling author at that, is going Self-Pub for he next book: The First Confessor: The Legend of Magda Searus.

He hit the scene in 1994 with his brilliant first novel, Wizard's First Rule, which incidentally broke a record by being won in a major bidding war between three major traditional publishers. Since then he has written 11 novels and one novella, all of which have done very well.

Now he's doing the one thing I've been waiting a while now for some major author to do: Self-Publish a fullscale novel.

A lot of authors are tinkering with the idea and they're publishing short stories. Dean Koontz has done it, Stephen King has done it, but none of them have done what Terry is about to do. I think this is going to set a new precedent.

I think this is a good thing and I'm very interested to see what the results are going to be.

The new book will be released solely as an e-book on all the major platforms: Kindle, Nook, etc. It will retail for only $9.99, except the first week when it's $8.99.

Do yourself a favor and head to Terry's Facebook page, Twitter page, or his website. And check out the book when it comes out. It should be a good entry point for his writing as it's not in the middle or at the end of a series. It's related to the larger world and characters he's created but it takes place a long time in the story's past.

And, as always, don't forget to check out my e-book novel A Ghost of Fire on Amazon for $2.99 as well.

Below is the Cover image for The First Confessor.
Peace.

Covers - A Picture is worth a Thousand Headaches

I'm in the process of choosing a cover for A Ghost of Water, book 2 of my series of Paranormal Thrillers. And to say that it's causing me some frustration is putting it lightly.

Let's get something out of the way, shall we? "Don't judge a Book by its Cover."

Nonsense. Sheer and utter drivel is all that is...or at least when it comes to actual books.

In a book store the average person spends 8 seconds looking at the front cover and about 15 seconds reading the back cover. And, for the most part, decisions to buy books are made on the book cover alone. I know, I know, there are people who actually crack a book open and flip through a table of contents and may even sample a bit of the writing itself. Weirdos.

I like to do it myself.

But I have to admit that if the cover doesn't draw me I won't open it to give it a chance, unless it's from an author I already enjoy and/or respect. And odds are that if it's an author I already like it's because once upon a time I saw one of their book covers in a store or on Amazon and I was drawn to it.

Covers matter.

Hence my ordeal.

So I've generated several options using CreateSpace's (that's Amazon's Self-Publishing company...it's great!) cover generator. Some of them have been good, some...well...not so much.

The trick for me (and countless other Self-Published Authors) is to make our covers look professional, and not like they're "Self-Published."

Here are some tips:

1.) Make sure the finished cover will reproduce well in Grayscale. The rational for this is if you ever want the book reviewed in some kind of periodical that only prints grayscale images (a newspaper, let's say) then a clean, grayscale version of your cover image will go a long way to helping you sell copies.

2.) Don't Clutter the Cover. Don't make the cover image too busy because it's a turn-off for buyers. Simple is best. The fewer words/images the better. Always. This goes especially for the back cover copy (the words on the Back Cover that tell people what your book is about). Back Cover copy should hover around or under 80 words. You've already written the book once, don't make us read the whole thing on the cover.

3.) Blurbs & Testamonials. If you can find someone else who is an expert in the area about which you're writing and you can coax them to first read your book (or a sample) and then give you an endoresement, this is a good thing.

4.) Colors Matter. Here's a quick one. Red sells. Why? Who cares, it just does. Just don't go overboard with it.

That's about all I have for you today. I'll leave you with one of the potential cover images. The photo credit for the image goes to my good friend, Leslie, who took the shot while recently in Mexico.

Peace.

Interests of Conflict

Conflict is the engine of “story.”

Without forces of antagonism to oppose him/her, a story’s protagonist (main character) has no reason whatsoever to populate the pages we read and more importantly the ones we write.

If the life of your main character is even and balanced the whole way through the story you’re writing, then you’ve done something wrong because there is no worthwhile quest for him or her to participate in. If I crack open a book and the character just sort of floats through the tale unhindered in any way I begin to wonder why I bothered opening the book in the first place.

There are a number of reasons for this, so I’ll share a few of them here.

1.) A character that faces no conflict will display no depth. If we only know what the character is like at rest and cannot see what he/she is like under pressure we intuitively know that we haven’t gotten to know that character. We don’t understand them, haven’t become close to them, and consequently we can’t care about them. I have nothing invested in a character I haven’t gotten to know and therefore why would I bother to hang around and see what happens to them at the end of the story? Conflict is what will make your character multi-dimensional and fully realized on the page and in the reader’s heart and mind.

2.) Nothing moves forward in a story except through conflict. Things may happen but they are not proper story events without negatively charged forces behind them.

Frank went out and bought an ice cream cone from the corner store. He ate it. Then he walked home. The End.

Things happened in that story. Frank did things. There was a beginning, a middle, and an end. But nobody cares about this story because it doesn’t matter. Why? There’s no conflict. Nothing opposes him from getting what he wants, he obtains the object of his desire, and then he goes back to where he started leaving the reader to say, “So what?”

Now, imagine reading a book that has a lot of this kind of thing going on in it. How long are you going to stick with that book before getting fed up with it and dropping it off at the Goodwill? Not long.

The events of your story need to alternate between positive and negative charges. The only way to accomplish this is through the introduction of conflict. Conflict (negative) gives your character something to overcome it (positive).

3.) Conflict is the only way to bring about “absolute, irreversible change,” which, according to Robert McKee (“Story” seminar & book) and countless others is an essential aspect of the end of every story. If things are exactly the same at the beginning as at the end then the reader isn’t going to say, “Wow, what a great story.” They’re going to say, “Eh, whatever.” Restoring balance to life is one thing; making life better at the end than it is at the beginning is another.

Both “Good” and “Bad” things need to be lost along the way and replaced by better things. Both “Good” and “Bad” are the enemies of the “Great.” These thing which need to be lost over the course of the story can be anything (friends, lives, beliefs, objects, etc.) but they need to be lost as part of the story’s conflict.

The principle is this: Put your character(s) through hell. Take them through to the other side of it. Show us how they are better for having done so.

Hope that’s helpful.

"A Ghost of Water" Proofs

This is more of a geeky-joyful announcement than it is an actual blog post. Though I should have one of those coming soon. I just wanted to say how glad I am that my editing/proof copies for "A Ghost of Water" have arrived! Now I just need to farm them out to my readers/editors to get the ball rooling on getting it finished.

It's always such a good feeling to hold that first copy in your hand, to see the fruit of your labors. So, let this be an encouragement and a reminder for all you writers out there: Don't give up. The journey is totally worth it.

Also, as a bit of side-news: The Ebook for "A Ghost of Fire" is now available on the ibookstore for all you ipad/iphone users. $2.99.

Peace out and enjoy the pic below.

Basic Structure issues in Writing

This past Tuesday I taught lesson two of my "Novel Writing Class" for Leslie's Tutoring in Port Orchard. We had a blast as usual but the wierd thing is that the topic is sometimes considereed a boring one: "Structure." The discussion can be a bit technical, I admit, but as with anything a person can be passionate about it doesn't have to be boring.

Anyway I say all that to say this: Here's a few additional bits I'd like to say about "Act" structure. Yes, every story should have 3 basic Acts. But what should characterize each of those Acts?

Act 1: The Set Up.
Your first Act is mainly about introduction. You're introducing characters, setting, and the plot (or basic direction of the story.) Action is appropriate here but it shouldn't be as prominent as it will be in Acts 2 & 3. With your "Set Up" you need to have Your Act 2 action and Act 3 climax in mind.

Act 2: The Action.
This is where the main bulk of story "happenings" take place. If your story is a Mystery, the mystery should have been introduced in Act 1 and essentially unravelled across Act 2. Most of the doing and thinking about the body of the story should come here. In Act 2 your story should really be building up a serious head of steam.

Act 3: The Resolution.
Here you should be prepared to tie up loose ends and bring resolution to the story's conflict. All of the "Set Up" and "Action" from the first two Acts comes to a head here and climaxes. Here you take all of the story you've built through set up and action and you bring them to a satisfying conclusion by addressing them and answering them with absolute irreversible change.

There you go. Hope that helps in your writing.

Novel Writing Class

For all of you in my Novel Writing Class (and those of you who just WISH you were in my class...I understand, it's gonna be okay) let's make a few thing clear:

1.) Writing is first and foremost about you and what you have to say. You are your first audience member. Before you ask if anyone else is going to be happy with your writing, make sure you are.

2.) Writing is fun. Well, at least I think it should be. I know you're going to run into hard stuff like writer's block, sticky plot points, characters not doing the stuff you want them to. Those are small potatos compared to the joy of making something fun, cool, and worthwhile.

3.) Writing is meaningful. We don't do this for no good reason. We write because it matters to us. It's important enough to spend hours in front of blank screens pecking away at keyboards so that what we have rattling around between our ears will finally be exorcised, will get out of our heads and go have a life elsewhere. If someone else enjoys it, so be it. But a story untold may be undiscovered gold. What good is it?

This should at least be a start.

Peace.
Sam.

Novel Writing Class?

After a conversation with my friend Leslie (The proprietor of Leslie's Tutoring in Port Orchard, WA) I'm strongly considering teaching a Novel-Writing class for her. I have to admit I'm very excited about the possibility. At the same time I'm a little overwhelmed by the enormity of the task.

I love writing and I love teaching so it would seem to be a natural fit. And I had a very good time and great response from the Literary Analysis class I taught for Leslie's Tutoring last year. But there is just so much to writing a novel or non-fiction book that I do reflexively. A lot of the time it just sort of happens. Yet intention is a major player as well.

Additionally there's a lot of different philosophies out there on that emphasize very different aspects of the craft. I just re-read Stephen King's On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft last month and I'm really glad I did. It's brilliant and very "man-on-the-street" in it's ideas. There's a lot to draw from there. But Robert McKee's Story has some exceptional, but VERY different ideas. Plus, I have a lot of other resources I'll probably use, though they don't all say the same kinds of things. Getting this down to a manageable effort may be abit like herding cats. I don't expect to come away unscathed.

Regardless, I'm very excited and hope I get to do it. If I do, I'll probably end up using this blog with for supplimentary lessons and writing ideas and exercizes.

Peace out.

Rhythm & Writing

If you write (or create anything at all - painting, sculpting...whatever), it can be helpful to establish rhythms which can facilitate more productive and focused times of creativity. There are, of course, countless ways to do this. You can, for example, establish routines and/or disciplines to your work.

When I write, I, for instance, like to get out at least 1,000 words a day if I can. (As I write this, I just finished such a session - I wrote 1,096 words in my next book, A Ghost of Water, the sequel to A Ghost of Fire.) Sometimes I do way better than this sometimes, not so much. But there are other things we can do which feed our spirits and ennable further creativity.

One thing which helps me is the intake of other people's creativity. It's a common piece of wisdom which suggests that writers should first be readers and muscians should first be listeners to great musicians and actors should first be members of the audience.

Here's what I've been doing for some time now: When I write I like to listen to music at the same time. I love to read, for sure, but I find music really gets me going and itching to create. I'm a mediocre musician myself, but I'm fairly good at writing and so that's whereI like to channel my creativity. Plus, it's sort of hard to read a book and write a book at the same moment.

When I was writing A Ghost of Fire  listened to U2's album, No Line on the Horizon over and over and over. Now that I'm working on A Ghost of Water I'm constantly cycling through Lindsey Buckingham's new album, Seeds We Sow (which is really fantastic and indie, if you're into that).

I let the rhythm of the music get me going.

The point is, before you try to prepare a meal for other people with your creativity, it's important that you get fed yourself first.

Warning: be careful when doing this. In one respect you might find your work too strongly taking on a flavor of whatever is "inspiring" you at the moment. In his fantastic book, Story, Robert McKee, a guru on story, plot and pacing, says that the screenwriter must be careful of this because sitting on the top of your brain is every movie you've ever seen, so it's very easy to steal someone else's work, even without really realizing it. The same is true for writers nd artists of every type.

But don't let that stop you. Allow it to challenge you to dig deeper to the themes and veins of resource buried deep in that strange, complex little head of yours.

Go, listen, watch, pay attention, eat it, soak in it, digest and process it.

Then go and make something.

Rediscovering discovery.

I sat down last night after having not done any writing for a while and started plunking away. It was not long before I rediscovered why I love this.

It's been a few months since I finished writing A Ghost of Fire, my first novel (but my third book), and I started in again on chapter two of "A Ghost of Water." To be honest I had a fair bit of anxiety over starting the sequel. I had the first chapter done a while ago and it's available as a preview at the end of A Ghost of Fire, but I began to wonder: can I really do this? I was afraid I'd exhausted everything I had to say about these characters. As it turns out that's not the case.

Because writing (fiction or otherwise) isn't always about putting things on paper which you already know that you know. In large part it's about the art of discovery. Stephen King in his fantastic book, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, explains that for him writing is a bit like archaeology. It's more about uncovering things, sweeping away the dirt to discover things you were unaware were there.

So in a way I'm rediscovering discovery.

I'm discovering that, for me at least, the writing process is just as much about learning something about these strange characters as it is about teaching these characters to the audience. There are moments when I'll write something...and be surprised by it.

Now, I do work from an outline. I have a basic idea where the story is headed but sometimes things crop up which may change that. As I wrote last night I discovered one of the sub-themes of the story I didn't know I was going to have to help the characters wrestle through. And I'm excited to see where it goes.

So as you write (or create whatever it is you create), don't get stuck on just getting the characters or ideas from A to B. Let them live a little. Let them have some run around time. Let them play in the mud and see what happens. You may be pleasantly surprised.
______________________
To read my writing:

Website: http://samwhittaker.webstarts.com/
Smashwords E-Books: http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/samwhittaker

"A Ghost of Fire" NOW AVAILABLE!

My new novel, A Ghost of Fire, is now available in print and several electronic formats.


Kindle, Nook, other Ebook formats (ALL only $0.99!) are available Here.

Paperback ($14.99) available Here.

Hardcover special ($22.95) available Here.

Free Sample Chapters (1-5) of "A Ghost of Fire"

To help with the wait, here are Chapters 1-5 of "A Ghost of Fire," the new Paranormal Thriller coming out in September. They are free to read/download: Here.

Description.

Steve Nicholas wasn't looking for drama. He was just looking for a job. But when he lands a position as a Janitor at a respectable data processing company strange things begin to happen. There's the smell of smoke and the echoes of childlike laughter. But these inexplicable things may only be the beginning of something much more menacing.

He soon begins to have increasingly terrifying nightmares and to experience ghostly encounters while awake. It won't be long until Steve finds himself caught between warring supernatural forces.

If he isn't careful he might get burned...or worse.

List Prce: $14.99
5.5" x 8.5"
328 pages
Coming: September 2011

The Narcissitic-yet-Humble act of Publishing

Arguing with Myself



I sometimes wonder if every author goes through the same internal argument I do when getting ready to publish a new work.

It goes something like this: I say something to myself like, "This is the most brilliant thing I've ever done -- how can it fail?" Then about three seconds later I reply, "This junk is never going to go anywhere, is it you loser?"

I feel like Gollum in that scene from The Two Towers film where he's arguing with himself. It's kind of messed up.

It's true what they say, we can be our own worst critics. But at the same time we can be our own highest praisers. I doubt whether either of these options is healthy.

Not even the praise of close friends or loved ones can always change the course of this mental melodrama. "Oh, this was brilliant!" Someone says. then you respond, "Thanks... are you just saying that because your my mom?"

A Touch of Reality Helps

I think the key here is not to be too hard on ourselves while at the same time not to think too highly of ourselves either. I mean, you know how annoying it can be to be around people who can either  say nothing positive about themselves ... or who are so in love with themselves that you wish they would take a long walk off a short pier. Why be either of those people? Or worse, both?

In our own analysis of our work we must neither be too afraid to let our written work out into the open nor be too narcissitic with our work that it gets set loose before it is ready, before we have had a chance to cut and/or strengthen its weaknesses.

Sometimes You Can't Make it on Your Own

Find honest people who will read what you've written, analyze it and tell you what they liked and what they didn't, what worked and what didn't. And LISTEN to them for the love of all that's holy.

All three of my books (The Exiles Next Door, The New Book of Acts, and A Ghost of Fire) have had at least four different people proofread and edit. They brought four different perspectives and gave four different sets of observations. And that's what you want. You want variety in review.

I hope that helps.
Does it my Precious?
It does, it does...Gollum.

To read more of my writing:

sample/purchase ebooks: http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/samwhittaker

Purchase print books: The New Book of Acts & The Exiles Next Door.

Facebook for A Ghost of Fire (Coming Soon!)

Fear & Fiction

So...a ghost story, huh? Occasionally that's the sort of reaction I get when I tell people about the new book. What I get from this is a question: "Why would you want to write about that?" There's probably an underlying assumption about the value of the horror genre (among other assumptions). I want to explore briefly here the place fear has in our culture and the horror genre as a means to express that fear.

Real Bad Stuff

Let's make no mistake: there are fearful and terrible things in our world. The recent tragedy in Norway is a clear-faced example. A deranged person goes on a rampage and ends over 90 lives. There is radical evil at work.

The scary thing is that "evil" is not completely "out there" somewhere but also "in here," in us, in me. I/we share responsibility for the very real, very bad stuff that happens in our world. We make choices every day about how we interact with people face to face, on a message board and when someone we're talking about isn't around at all. And not all of these choices contribute to the wellness of others. Do they?

And it's not just people. I am one among many who believe there are real and dark spiritual forces at work in the world. evil must be understood holistically (in both it's visible & invisible forms) if it is truly to be reckoned with.

When contact with this sort of terror sits inside us should we be surprised that it seeks to come out somehow?

Output

Now, humanity is designed, engineered to be creative. We seek multiple forms of expression. We generate new ways of communicating our emotions, experiences, rationalizations, thoughts ... including the fearful ones.

"Horror," "Supernatural Thriller," "Paranormal Fiction" or whatever category you want to use are valid expressions of the fear which sits on a cultural throne. And this fear must be expressed.

Why? Because if we are not honest about fear and simply supress it we will find that farther down the road our fears will have grown and it will be much harder to cope with them.

Healing always requires honesty. The truth must be named and called out before it can be fully played out in us.

Separating the Good Bad from the Bad Bad.

Are there ways of expressing this that are unhealthy? You bet. As in any form of expression, any use of a genre of storytelling or poetry or whatever there are excesses which are just un-helpful.

What is the goal? Is it to get as much atrocious activity on the screen or on the page? Does there need to be buckets of blood and gore? See, I don't think so. As a matter of fact when we inundate ourselves with these they lose their meaning, their power to express fear.

When I started writing "A Ghost of Fire" and to plan for the subsequent volumes I chose to write in such a way that relied more on tension and suspense rather than on simple atrocity. Is there blood in the book? Yes, but it's strategically used. It's not, "Oh, we've gone two more pages, let's get some gore in there."

The Fate of Fear

Will fear always reign? No. Fear has had its dark night to do what it wants. But remember this. Never forget this: "There is no love in fear. Perfect love drives out fear" (1 John 4:18).

Take that, fear.







Open your Eyes

Where do you get your ideas? That's a strange question, because it appears to assume a single source of ideas. I really don't think there is one. I think inspiration for writing or any other creative endeavor comes in many different shapes and it keeps no schedule. Sometimes it's clear and in your face, sometimes it creeps up on you  and pounces when you least expect.

Here's an example from personal experience. A few years ago while I was writing my first book, The Exiles Next Door, I had basically finished the thing...or so I thought. Then as I lay in bed one night, trying to get to sleep an idea seemed to drop out of nowhere. It was a simple line I'd heard a fellow classmate say in my Hebrew class in college that had stuck in my brain like popcorn kernels stick in your teeth. I couldn't get to sleep until I got up and wrote the idea down. It became an entire chapter of the book.

Sometimes inspiration develops like a diamond: slowly, over a long period of time. You see something like a billboard or somebody do something at the mall or whatever. You say to yourself, "I have no idea why, but that's important and I'm going to hold onto it until I figure out why." It's sort of like a grain of sand in an oyster which over time becomes a pearl.

Here's another example. My second book, The New Book of Acts, has a chapter which is based on a conversation between myself, my wife and another person in the first church I pastored in Michigan. We had this conversation where we talked about new churches and how some had picked non-traditional names. I wondered out loud if a new church could start and never pick a name. The idea met with opposition. it then became the basis for Chapter 3: A Church with no Name. But it took a while for that idea to take shape into a chapter.

The point is this: When it comes to ideas for creative projects ALWAYS keep your eyes OPEN. You never know when you're going to strike gold. Even the smallest, most seemingly insignificant incident can blossom into a core concept for a story, a chapter, a song, a scene, a play... anything.

Maybe keep a small pad of paper with you to jot down an idea. I've used this before. It can be helpful but its not necessary.

To read more of my writing:

sample/purchase ebooks: http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/samwhittaker

Purchase print books: The New Book of Acts & The Exiles Next Door.

Facebook for A Ghost of Fire (Coming Soon!)

Expectations and the "let down" effect of sequels

It's happened to all of us. We've seen a movie sequel or read a book sequel because we thought the first one or previous ones in the series were so brilliant that we just HAD to check out the next one. And then...the fizzle. It wasn't what we hoped for. Or film Franchises get "rebooted" and the fanboys and fangirls get all up in arms because "It won't be the same."

What is it with all this?? Is it the fault of studios and authors/publishers who don't know what they're doing? Are these people completely incompetent? Or is there more going on here?

Because consumer products of any kind are a two-way street (Lane 1 - Producers, Lane 2 - Consumer) I suggest there's a shared responsibility. Producers (Books, Movies, Music, blah-blah-blah) have responsibility to thoughtfully create worthwhile product and not merely seek a buck. Consumers (the rest of us) have a responsibility to thoughtfully select what we want with understanding of just what it is we're getting into without too high expectations.

While there are definitely "sequel" Producers who screw this up by not being in touch with their consumer base there are also Consumers who sabotage the process by bringing Great Expectations with them to the sequel product. (Interesting side note: Charles Dickens wrote "Great Expectations" as a serial. When the final of the serialized book was published people didn't like it because it wasn't what they expected so he wrote a different ending and published it. Ironic, considering the title isn't it?)

Sometimes a studio announces a franchise will be rebooted, meaning a different take and probably a different cast will be used in future movies of that franchise. Then people get on message boards and get all snarky. "New?" they say, "why does it have to be new? We liked it the way it was!" Are we saying we want the same old thing over and over? Peanutbutter and Jelly for lunch ... EVERY miserable day of our lives? Aren't we bigger and more creative than this? Do our sequels have to be like a McDonald's Big Mac: Fast, full of junk and it tastes EXACTLY the same no matter how many time and how many places we've had it? Have our imaginations really shrunk that much?

As one who is writing a sequel to my novel, A Ghost of Fire, this concerns me. because I don't want to do excatly the same plot with exactly the same kinds of things happening over and over. That would be a let down for me and my audience.

So, dear reader, I leave you with a few question: "As a consumer of sequels, what is your responsibility?" and "What expectations do you bring with you to the Sequel?"

WRITING with an OUTLINE

I touched briefly on this idea in my last post but I feel it's an important enough strategy to focus an entire post on it. Welcome to...The OUTLINE.

Simplicity.

For me outlines are very basic. You don't have to get super-detailed with thembecause that's what the actual writing is about. Outlines are the skeletons and writing is the meat you hang on the bones. When you see a skeleton on the street (!) you don't say, "Hey! That's Frank. I'd know his outline anywehere." But the Skeleton is still essential to the Frank you know because if you saw Frank without it, odds are you wouldn't recognize him that way, either.

I create an outline which is numbered (1, 2, 3...you do remember numbers, right?). Each number represents a chapter of the the book I'm working on. "A Ghost of Fire" has 30 chapters. Guess how many numbbers were on the outline? 30.

Each number gets one to three lines which give shape to the "big idea" of the chapter. You fill in the rest later. Here's a brief example where we'll use a fake book with three measly chapters:

Frank's Day Out: A Novel of the Postmodern Condition.

Chapter 1. Franks wakes up and goes to make breakfast. Frank can't decide what to make (too many options)
Chapter 2. Frank leaves for work and stops at a Starbuck's. Frank can't choose what he wants (WAY too many options)
Chapter 3. Frank stops at the Bank where a robbery occurs. The robbers says to him, "You're money or your life?" Frank can't choose (too many options). Frank is shot. Poor Frank.

That gives us a little something basic to work with, an order. We also have a theme develop. We also see we need a much more interesting character. Frank's a real moron.

Flexible.

Your outline should not be set in stone. I suggest a word processor instead. Why? One word: "Backspace."

While working on the last book I had an entire chapter from the outline that was completely cut. Why? it didn't serve the story. That's another benefit of outlining: You see it all laid out before you and you can begin to see what DOES and DOESN'T work.

An Extra Mile.

I've found it helpful recently to take the chapter from the outline...and then create an outline for the chapter. I'll come up with anywhere between three and seven thing I want to hit in a chapter and make those an outline.

As always I hope this helps.

Smooth writing to you,
Sam.

For more info on my stuff:

My Blog http://sam-whittaker.blogspot.com/

My Website http://samwhittaker.webstarts.com/

My book's facebook page http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/A-Ghost-of-Fire/113144592112247