A.J. Maguire

Category: Uncategorized

  • The Working Blurb

    I think I’ve read so many books on how to write books that it’s actually a little sad now. On the one hand, I’ve picked up some invaluable advice from people far more experienced than me, and on the other hand …

    I think I could have stopped at the 7th book. Most of them tell you the same things but in different ways.

    Things like …

    “Choose a designating writing time and make it a habit.” (I do try to do this. 6-7:30AM is my time now, but schedules change so it’s likely to go back to 8-10:30PM again soon.)

    “Read. Read. Read some more.” (Psh! You can’t stop me from reading.)

    “Outline.” And  … “Don’t Outline.” And … “Do whatever, just get words on the page.” (That last one is my motto.)

    Or … and I actually have done this  …

    “Take your favorite novel by your favorite author (not you) and hand-write the first three chapters.”

    Actually, I think they said to go ahead and hand-write the whole book, but I never went past the first three chapters. The point of the exercise was to pay attention to style and voice and, as crazy as it sounds, it actually works.

    But among my favorite tools when first starting a new project is writing the “working blurb.” It’s also been called the “nugget” for those familiar with the lingo. Normally it’s only 50-100 words but I let it push out to 150 sometimes.

    Basically, this “working blurb” goes in place of my title page during the first draft. I have copies of it on 3×5 cards in my wallet and attached to the notebook where all the hand-written material is. It is what keeps me excited about the novel and helps remind me what I’m hoping to accomplish.

    And in the spirit of the new project I’m going to share it today. To all fellow authors out there who may not have attempted writing a “nugget” or a “working blurb” before, I highly suggest you try it. It’s just 100-150 words that make you want to write the book.

    Dead Weight – Working Blurb

    Reeling after their narrow escape from Europa the crew of the hauler class ship Zephyr seek refuge in Sect Space, as far removed from the Consulate as they can get. With their covers blown and their former Captain comatose, Jorry and Seach find themselves answering a call for help from an old friend. The call takes them to Saturn, deep inside Consulate space, and to make matters worse, Jorry is still haunted by the man she killed on Europa. 

    As Jorry slowly loses her mind, Seach must find a way to keep them all out of Consulate hands. When the ship is damaged, they are forced to dock with an abandoned station hidden in Saturn’s upper atmosphere. But they aren’t the only one’s wandering the corridors of this dead station and whatever is lurking there isn’t pleased by their trespass. 

     

     

  • Year’s End

    Well, after possibly the worst Christmas present ever – which was a 24 hour flu bug that gave me an absolutely miserable day – I’m finally getting around to my end-of-year post.

    A friend of mine (L.J. Cohen, author of several YA novels that everyone should be reading) introduced me to the idea of posting writing goals and the like several years back and I’ve come to enjoy this little tradition.

    So!

    I wasn’t able to get to everything I wanted to do in 2015 writing-wise. I blame this on the re-write of Persona, which took several months more than anticipated. It is, however, finished and I have been shopping it around (another of my 2015 goals).

    Tapped was released in January 2015 as my first ever self-published novel. I imagine I could do more marketing-wise for it but I think I’m going to stick to just writing the next book.

    What’s next for 2016?

    1)  Dead Weight – the sequel to Tapped is slated for work to begin starting January 1st. I’m terribly excited for this one and have been aching to get started.

    2) Primal – This is a new-adult-paranormal-romance novel that I’ve been kicking around for years. I’ll begin work on it sometime in June, after I’ve completed the draft for Dead Weight.

    3) Residual Haunting – Will be completed in 2016. ‘Nuff said.

    4) Usurper – Is currently being edited. It may drag into the first two weeks of 2016, but not much further than that.

    5) Persona – Is going to go onto Kindle Scout. We’ll see how that goes. And I’ll throw confetti and wave people toward it because … apparently that’s what I’m supposed to do?

    I dunno, I’ve never done it before. We’ll have to see.

    Beyond the writing …

    I hope to enjoy many, many hours with my son, doing odd-ball things and having a blast.

    That’s it … that’s my 2016. I hope everyone else had a couple of great holidays and that their new year is spectacular!

  • Flashbacks, Memories, and the Tricks of Telling a Series

    I’ve written several “sequels” at this point. Saboteur comes after Sedition and Dead Magic is after Witch-Born and, starting next month, Dead Weight will be the sequel to Tapped.

    Now, there are some tricks I’ve learned to telling a series and since I just had to implement a new one I figured it was time to start sharing. Because I also read books that come in a series, like the Glamourist series by Mary Robinnette Kowal or the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon, I can also see how other authors have gone about this and have sometimes used their methods.

    The trick of a series is understanding that the previous book you’ve written – if, of course, you’re dealing with the same characters – is all backstory now. Readers who pick up the third book in your series may eventually go back to read the first, but they’re not aware of what happened to your characters back then.

    Conversely, Readers who have been with you from the beginning know all about what’s happened and can quickly become bored if you’re putting too much of that first book into the second.

    How then are we to keep things fresh while also giving important information from the first book?

    Well, first let me say that this is ALL ABOUT CRAFT.

    This is the moment when an author can truly shine, so don’t just hurry through this. Sit down, take a deep breath, and focus on your craft.

    Here are some tricks that I’ve learned so far.

    1. Look at the former book through the eyes of a different POV. Take one scene from your previous book and tell it from the point of view of someone else who was there. This gives new perspective to that scene and will inevitably show something new to your readers about that moment.
    2. Try hard to avoid the flashback, or at least the lengthy flashback. If you’re going to use a flashback, use it in a real way. We don’t remember all of what happened three weeks ago, we only remember it in snippets. Time will cloud it, and whatever happened is going to effect us differently now as opposed to then.
    3. Let your character re-tell the story out loud to someone who hasn’t heard it yet. What they choose to say, or not say, will be just as important as the scene itself from the former book. And I don’t just mean; “She told him about how Porrex had attempted to have her son assassinated.” I mean really let them tell the story.

    There are a few other ways to go about this, but I think the most important thing to remember is that your characters are different in each book. Every story needs to have them growing a little bit more, have them learning something because if they aren’t then you’re just telling the same book in a different way.

  • Thanks Giving

    I drove down to my mother’s house with all of five dollars to my name. A two hour journey turned into three as I was forced to drive 50MPH on icy roads and low visibility, but my son and I made it whole and healthy – even though the car seemed a little grouchy. It has sprung a leak somewhere and I’m not sure what it is.

    Still, it seems minor so I’m confident I’ll make it home tomorrow.

    For the last few days I’ve been surrounded by some of my favorite people and I am grateful for that. It’s why my Thanks Giving list is late this year … because I was spending time with people I enjoy.

    Still, I cannot let the month of November pass without giving my list so here it is, my Thanksgiving list of 2015::

    1. My son. He is a source of joy, conflict, stress, laughter, and enlightenment that continues to surprise me.
    2. My family. I may live two hours away from my mother but I hope to fix that soon. We’re quirky, we don’t always agree, but I know they’ve always got my back.
    3. My writing. Because I wouldn’t understand myself, my son, or my extended family without it.
    4. Hotels with indoor pools. My son has enjoyed the pool here every day since we arrived and he has been sooo happy.
    5. My cat … who is probably quite lonely right now so it’ll be nice getting home to him tomorrow.

     

  • Playing With Craft

    “Are you a pantser or an outliner?”

    “What’s your favorite part of the writing process?”

    “How do you deal with writer’s block?”

    “Where do you get your characters?”

    “Do you hand write the first draft?”

    Over the last few years I’ve heard variations of these questions from different interviews and the like and I have to be honest … at the time I didn’t really pay them too much mind.

    This year, however, I’ve reached the point of my craft where I’ve begun asking precisely why I do things the way I do.

    I “pants” the first half of a novel and then I have to outline it … but why?

    Is an outline too restrictive for the beginning of my process or am I just afraid of losing that spark of inspiration if I try?

    Well, I won’t really know the answer to that question unless I try something different.

    So!

    For the last several weeks I’ve been playing with my craft. Scrivener makes this curiously easy, especially with the 3×5 card approach, so I’ve been working on an outline for a paranormal romance.

    Why not, right?

    Just because I’ve never written in that genre before doesn’t mean I can’t. I’m only limited by myself here, and I’ll only grow if I stretch those boundaries.

    And just to make things interesting … let’s try the young adult market.

    For those who follow this blog you’ll know that I cringe at the young adult market. I disliked High School while I was in it, why would I want to go back, even in fiction? (Though now that I’m working with this outline I believe most authors hated High School and that’s how they infuse the pages with all that angst.)

    Again, we’re looking at self-imposed limitations here and I’ve decided to break free of them.

    And, given that this is a writing experiment, I’ve decided that I’m going to share this process here. This is a writing blog, after all, and maybe what I learn along the way will help someone else.

    As with any experiment, I have to lay some ground rules to follow.

    1. I will post once a week on the project beginning in December.
    2. The post will consist of comparisons between what I used to do, and what I am forcing myself to try. (Example, this book will use an outline from start to finish.)
    3. The Hard Deadline schedule will not be moved. (This means that this is a side project and cannot interfere with what I already have planned for 2016. Which is plenty, just so you know.)

    Those are pretty simple rules. The Hard Deadline schedule will be discussed next month when we start looking at New Year goals, but to help clarify a bit, I’m to begin work on Dead Weight (the sequel to Tapped) on January 1st.

    Yes, this means I will essentially have two books being created around the same time. If it proves to be too much I’ll have to focus on Dead Weight, complete it, and then resume with the experiment.

    That’s the glory of a side project. It can be moved if it needs.

    In the meantime …

    Everyone participating in NaNoWriMo … you’re awesome! Keep writing!

    I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving (if they celebrate it) or just an awesome week!

     

  • We Interrupt this Blog …

    Under normal circumstances I would never write anything like this here.

    Actually, under normal circumstances I would never write this anywhere but in my fiction. It goes against what I’ve been trained to do with my “writer’s blog” with focusing on all things story, structure, or otherwise craft.

    However, I simply cannot take it anymore.

    With tragedies occurring worldwide (yes, I speak of the incidents in France) and the influx of hate being spouted off through social media, every instinct I have screams to just turn off the computer and bury myself in a book.

    It’s a pattern I see all too often; something happens, people get angry, people start pointing fingers at different agencies/factions/whatever, someone voices that we need to calm down, and people start to get angry about people being angry.

    Eventually things die down until, lo and behold, tragedy strikes again and the cycle gets repeated.

    Now, I’m not saying we need to start ignoring tragedy when it happens. One of the most beautiful things about human beings is our capacity to feel empathy and to come alongside those who are hurting and in need with the effort to help.

    Keep doing that.

    Always do that.

    But there is a moment when our compassion turns ugly. We want to hunt for someone to blame and, inevitably, our fear begins to dictate our actions. We paint complete strangers as terrorists when we know nothing about them. We see a threat on every street corner and nurse the notion that our way of living is the only right way to live, so anyone living outside of that notion becomes an enemy.

    We become a people defined by our fears.

    And we attack people out of that fear, giving them labels so that it is easier to dismiss the fact that they are human beings as well. “Muslim”, “Christian”, “Terrorist”, “Refugee”,”Liberal”, “Republican”, “Democrat” … We group everything together rather than looking at the individual person as someone to be valued, respected, and even heard.

    This needs to change.

    Our world is ugly and ugly things happen in it. Don’t add to it.

     

    Let me put it this way …

    During the Roman era a group of radicals began meeting in secret. Their religion was mostly comprised of women and the very poor, and they kept their dealings very, very close to the vest. They never hurt anyone and for the most part they submitted to every law that was demanded of them, but an atmosphere of fear still grew in society.

    In Greece particularly this group was a curiosity. Rumors began to spread about them and what they must do in their secret meetings. Some said they drank blood as an initiation into their ranks. Others said they baked babies into loaves of bread, tricking unsuspecting people into eating it and thus forcing more people into their little cult.

    Fear grew between society and the group of radicals, who were shunned and poorly treated because of their faith. It did not matter that the rumors were not true, what mattered was how deeply that fear penetrated the hearts and minds of people. To be a Christian was to be labeled a weird religious vampire and much, much worse.

    And all because people were too afraid to sit down and really try to understand each other.

    Scrape away the labels and really look. Come alongside the people in need and push your energy into helping them rather than pinning blame.

  • October Round Robin: Ghosts, Spirits, and the Paranormal

    Woo! It’s time for another Round Robin conversation! This month the topic is …

    Do you believe in angels, spirits, ghosts, demons or other ethereal beings or locations?

    Why yes … yes I do believe in angels, spirits, ghosts, demons and all that jazz. I sort of have to because it comes with the territory of being a Christian. In other words, if I believe in a God that I cannot see, it stands to reason that there are other elements at play in and around the world that I also cannot see.

    What do you think when they appear in stories?

    That being said, fiction does get carried away with the paranormal at times. But then, fiction has been using ghosts since before Shakespeare and certainly Shakespeare himself used the incorporeal at times to drive his story forward – Macbeth, Hamlet, etc.

    I can get all technical and dive into the debate about what our superstitions surrounding ghosts and the supernatural say about us as humans – like our desire to know and understand what comes after death, or our deep-seeded need to take control of something we obviously have no control over – but when push comes to shove that’s not what I’m looking at when I see a ghost pop up in a story.

    Nah. When I see a ghosts show up in a story and it’s been done right, I get the chills and shiver and absolutely love it. (Sadly, I cannot go see Crimson Peak because my son is too young for that and I’m pretty sure it would scare him the way Rose Red scared me.)

    Have you used them in your own stories?

    Yes! Often!

    Sedition has a fallen knight sort of guiding Nelek and Trenna at different spots in the book. Saboteur doesn’t have a ghost in the traditional sense of the word, but Trenna often sees her son, who hasn’t been born yet.

    Witch-Born has the boy-ghost haunting Witch-Eater Lake and … yeah, he’s still one of my favorites. He shows up again in Dead Magic, but he’s a little … changed … which was fun to write.

    Residual Haunting is … if you couldn’t tell by the title … absolutely FULL of ghosts. It takes place inside the Residual Haunting Museum, which puts ghosts on display. I’ll have the finished draft of this book done before the year is out.

    And, finally, Tapped has a ghost. Granted, it’s an unorthodox use of a ghost since I have it sort of stuck inside someone else, but it is there and believe me, he’s causing all sorts of trouble in the sequel; Dead Weight. (I am particularly proud of that title. It works on so many different levels for this book.)

    I’ll probably continue to use ghosts because they’re one of my favorite mediums. They remind you of the fragile nature of life, add an element of insecurity to the characters on the page, and if they’re done correctly can be downright creepy.

    Check out what some of my fellow authors have to say about ghosts and spooky things in fiction!

    Marci Baun   http://www.marcibaun.com/blog/
    Margaret Fieland   http://www.margaretfieland.com/blog1/
    Diane Bator   http://dbator.blogspot.ca/
    Beverley Bateman   http://beverleybateman.blogspot.ca/
    A.J. Maguire   https://ajmaguire.wordpress.com/ (YOU ARE HERE)
    Fiona McGier   http://www.fionamcgier.com/
    Heather Haven   http://heatherhavenstories.com
    Bob Rich   http://wp.me/p3Xihq-wU
    Anne Stenhouse   http://annestenhousenovelist.wordpress.com/
    Helena Fairfax   http://helenafairfax.com/
    Hollie Glover   http://www.hollieglover.co.uk
    Rachael Kosinski   http://rachaelkosinski.weebly.com/
    Connie Vines   http://connievines.blogspot.com/
    Rhobin Courtright   http://www.rhobinleecourtright.com/

  • Early Access: Star Wars Knights of the Fallen Empire

    I’ve never been shy about my geekdom so I’m going to go ahead and admit that I have been waiting and waiting and waiting for the new Star Wars game access to come out.

    Seriously.

    I have two level 60’s, one level 59 and one level 58 on various classes and characters and have been aching to know what this new story is about.

    So I spent three hours or so last night letting the game patch/install, constantly checking that status bar while watching Guardians of the Galaxy with my kiddo (who was equally excited about the game, I might add) until FINALLY I could play.

    Now then …

    I couldn’t play for long because three hours of patching eats into the sparse evening hours but … I love it.

    I have always loved the story-lines in Star Wars, that’s why it’s my game of choice, so I was wide-eyed with pleasure and wonder at the epic (and I do mean EPIC) story I’ve started into here.

    Obviously I haven’t gotten too terribly far into it, but if it continues on this venue I’m going to enjoy every moment bouncing through Wild Space and fighting against (NO SPOILERS HERE.)

    Also, I allowed my kid to make the new level 60 (comes with the subscription) because I’m an awesome Mom who understands that he really just wants to wave a lightsaber around and look awesome. I’m not invested in that character so he can answer all the quest questions on his own and pave a new path.

    I will, of course, be responsible about my playing times and get all my writing deadlines done and whatnot, but since I did finish Persona last week and I have nothing scheduled to start until November 1st … I’m gonna be in Star Wars.

  • Cork-Board Mayhem & Camp NaNoWriMo

    Well! It’s more than halfway through the year and I am nowhere near where I wanted to be in terms of deadlines. So! I got to rearrange my cork-board and took a great deal of time deciding what project was going to come after Persona  — because yes, I am still working on that one.

    The re-writes for Persona’s ending have been challenging. I am stepping outside of my comfort zone and delving into far darker territory than I am used to. However, in reviewing the outlines and watching it progress I can honestly say it is a far better book now (even in its incomplete form) than it was when I started.

    Because the mood has been so dark, I have been working on Usurper on the side. Trenna and company always tend to make me laugh, so it’s been a nice counter-balance. That said, with Camp NaNoWriMo having officially started, I’ve decided to use the month of July and the Camp as a means to try and push Persona over the finish line.

    This means my cork-board has to be re-arranged and Usurper will be left to the side until August. I only have a little left on Usurper anyway, so this should work out just fine.

    Fun things!

    Super fun things!

    For the first time ever, I’m going to submit one of my novels into the Epic Award Contest. I might actually submit both Deviation and Tapped, since you’re apparently allowed to do that. We’ll see, though.

    And now … in celebration of the 4th of July … Here’s some free content straight out of the pages of Usurper …

    Brigetta tilted the bowl over with one finger, barely listening to the fight in the corner.  A gooey, glumpy substance filled the bowl, looking oddly doughy.  She wasn’t a cook, but Bree would bet someone had been trying to cook something before they were called away.  By process of elimination, she determined either the General Herself had been attempting the feat, or the woman’s daughter was to blame for the culinary catastrophe before her.

    A body crashed into the table, sending it scooting across the room toward the open hearth.  Bree had just enough time to withdraw her hand before Faxon threw two blades at the ill-fated Eldur man.  An instant later she heard the small daggers hit their marks and suppressed a shudder.  The meaty, visceral sound of a blade sinking into skin wasn’t something she thought she could ever get used to.

    The Eldur blood in the air was a welcome distraction.  She felt the slowly dying beats of their assailants heart strum against her skin as magic was released from the man.  Like glistening sand in the sun it hovered in the air, waiting.  Magic knew what she could do with it, that it had been summoned for a purpose, she only needed to give it the command.  What she was about to do, however, was far more dangerous than she cared to admit.

    Faxon moved to retrieve his blades, nodding to her as he crossed the room. “Now or never, Bree.”

    Sighing, she closed her eyes and focused.  With one hand she beckoned the magic closer, pulling it toward her face, toward her eyes.  Reciting the commands first in her mind and then out loud, Brigetta automatically translated the language inherent to all Eldur.  The language of the high born nobles, whose bloodlines traced back to the first Eldur King; a language seldom taught anymore; the gremoth.  Many of the high born knew of it, but not how to speak it.  Only the Blood Mages had kept it intact, guarding the words in a jealous attempt to maintain some sort of power in Dyngannon.

    “Caraloomessa act all et teh,” Bree repeated, wafting the magic still closer.

    Warm light filtered past her eyelids, an odd tickling sensation running over her eyelashes, and then she traded her sight for the vision of a low-flying hawk.  Magic itself picked which hawk.  The odd twist to Blood Magic was that it often had its own ideas of what should be done.  The magic in use only knew she’d wanted something in the air, something close by that could give her a clear view of the island, and it had accepted the price of her own vision for a time.

    The only problem was that she wasn’t certain how long magic would keep her eyesight.  She could be rendered blind for months if it so chose.

    Shoving that worry firmly aside, Brigetta concentrated on the hawk’s vantage.  It wasn’t far from the little cabin they were standing in, flying disconcertingly close to the treetops.  Bree wavered and reached out for something to steady herself on.  Faxon’s hand clasped her own and she felt him step closer.  His body heat warmed her left side and she tried to relax.

    Because she had only traded sight, the vision came with no sound.  This made things even more disorienting, since she could still hear everything in the room, to include Faxon’s quiet breathing.  Exhaling, Brigetta battled the weird sense of vertigo and focused more.

    The bird turned in a wide circle, scanning the forest floor in search of food.  Unfortunately for the hawk, its hunting grounds were being intruded upon.  Bree counted Kaden, the Duke, the General, the Human boy named Troy and the reckless girl who had been in the tavern.  The five of them were moving steadily toward the clearing that held their cabin, which confirmed for Brigetta that she’d chosen the right place.

  • Poetry Challenge 2015 Entry #4

    Explanation: I’m reading a poem a week through the year 2015. I’m not going to explain them or discuss them in any way, I’m just going to post them. Some are famous — like this one — but others will not be.

    The Charge of the Light Brigade by Lord Alfred Tennyson

    Half a league, half a league,
    Half a league onward,
    All in the valley of Death
    Rode the six hundred.
    “Forward, the Light Brigade!
    Charge for the guns!” he said:
    Into the valley of Death
    Rode the six hundred.

    “Forward, the Light Brigade!”
    Was there a man dismayed?
    Not though the soldier knew
    Some one had blundered:
    Their’s not to make reply,
    Their’s not to reason why,
    Their’s but to do and die:
    Into the valley of Death
    Rode the six hundred.

    Cannon to right of them,
    Cannon to left of them,
    Cannon in front of them
    Volleyed and thundered;
    Stormed at with shot and shell,
    Boldly they rode and well,
    Into the jaws of Death,
    Into the mouth of Hell
    Rode the six hundred.

    Flashed all their sabres bare,
    Flashed as they turned in air
    Sabring the gunners there,
    Charging an army, while
    All the world wondered:
    Plunged in the battery-smoke
    Right through the line they broke;
    Cossack and Russian
    Reeled from the sabre-stroke
    Shattered and sundered.
    Then they rode back, but not,
    Not the six hundred.

    Cannon to right of them,
    Cannon to left of them,
    Cannon behind them
    Volleyed and thundered;
    Stormed at with shot and shell,
    While horse and hero fell,
    They that had fought so well
    Came through the jaws of Death
    Back from the mouth of Hell,
    All that was left of them,
    Left of six hundred.

    When can their glory fade?
    O the wild charge they made!
    All the world wondered.
    Honour the charge they made!
    Honour the Light Brigade,
    Noble six hundred!