A.J. Maguire

Tag: Author

  • Bring it on 2015!

    I am dubbing 2014 as a success in spite of the avocado fiasco and am seriously excited to see what I can accomplish in 2015. I’ve already got a couple of things planned but today we’re filling out the writing schedule for the whole year … which I’ll admit is like my favorite part of the holiday season.

    This is mostly for me but if you’re brave enough to peek into my writer’s brain then … welcome to the mayhem!

    This is like my personal pep-talk and I’ll reference it throughout the year just to keep myself revved up and ready to write and … well, attack life with fervor. Because really, if we’re not deliberately living then we’re missing out.

    So! Here’s what I want to do in 2015 …

    1) Publish Tapped (Scheduled: January 13, 2015)

    As I’ve mentioned on this blog before, I’ve decided to try my hand at the self-published market. I’ve learned quite a bit from the two small presses that have published me over the last couple years and while I adore them both, the Tapped series requires just a little more freedom.

    2) Edit Persona (Scheduled: January – March)

    Starting January 2nd I will begin implementing edits from my editor(s) for Persona. (Thank you Michael Keenan.) This edit requires a major overhaul of the ending. As soon as it is done it will go back in to said editor so I have a hard deadline of April 1st.

    3) Residual Haunting Wrap-Up (Scheduled: January – March)

    Back in October I started serializing Residual Haunting at Wattpad and its own Story Blog. We’re currently on chapter 12 and there are 13 more to go. Needless to say, the serialization will continue after the New Year. I chose not to post anything over the holiday break due to people being away with their families and such.

    4) Edit Usurper (Scheduled: April – June)

    Trenna fans can stop hounding me. As soon as this edit is complete it will go in to the publisher (Wings ePress) who has first rights to all things Dyngannon.

    5) NEW CONTENT WRITING (Scheduled: April – June)

    My brain is funny sometimes. I can work on 2 projects at a time so long as one is being edited and one is being created. That’s why you see the first three months of 2015 I am editing Persona and finishing Residual Haunting. I have several novels on the back burner that are just waiting to be written so I get to pick from the following;

    Dead Weight (sequel to Tapped) / Alex Huntley (Civil War) / Warpath (4th Trenna book) / Primal (Dragons)

    6) Query Goals (Scheduled: August – December)

    Given the professionalism of my editor I know that by July 2015 I will have Persona back in my hot little hands. I’ve carved out the months of July and August to go through those edits again. It’s a shorter time frame because there should be less work involved (meaning no major over-hauls and such) but once it’s done I will begin querying the book out.

    7) NEW CONTENT WRITING (Scheduled: July – September)

    Obviously whichever one I manage to do in April-June is off the list here, but the choices are the same. Dead Weight (sequel to Tapped) / Alex Huntley (Civil War) / Warpath (4th Trenna book) / Primal (Dragons)

    8) Edit Residual Haunting (Scheduled: October – December)

    By the time October rolls around I should be ready to pick up Residual Haunting again and start editing the crap out of it.

    9) Participate in National Novel Writing Month (Scheduled: November … and probably December)

    Because I just can’t seem to get enough of this program I’ll be trying my hand at this competition again. Depending on what I’ve managed to get finished earlier in the year I will likely pick from my list of 4 back-burner novels. If I’ve written Dead Weight then I know there’s a third Tapped novel (Inmate) that should be added to this list as well. And I have an Aliens vs. Vampires novel buzzing in the back of my brain too.

    10) Poetry Reading and All Things Not Writing

    I want to read a poem a week. I like poetry, I just really suck at writing it. So! I’ll read it instead. One a week through 2015.

    Also in 2015 I want to learn at least 6 new martial art forms/kata (trust me, I have the means to do this.)

    I want to read 12 new books from authors I haven’t read before. If you know a book you think I should try please let me know. This is a book a month and I know I read tons more than that so this should be easy.

    I want to climb mountains with my kid and generally enjoy the adventure that is being a parent. (AKA – we’re going to go find some fun.)

    And that’s it. That’s my 10(+) for the year of 2015. I can do this. I know I can do this. Bring it on!

  • The Close of 2014 …

    Yep, it’s that time of year again. The moment when I look back and take stock of what I did or didn’t manage to accomplish during the last 365 days. (It’s less than that, I know, but with Christmas and Residual Haunting posts I need to toss this post up sooner rather than later. Because my all-time favorite post is the one where I decide what I’m going to get done in 2015 and stuff.)

    So … here are the things I said I wanted to get done in 2014 …

    #1) Graduate.

    Big check-mark there! Back in May I graduated from Northwest Nazarene University with my BA in Christian Ministry.

    #2) Submit Persona to the ABNA contest in January.

    Another big check-mark. I didn’t win, but they did send me an invitation to Kindle Scout, which I haven’t decided on yet.

    #3) Implement edits from developmental editor (Yay, Gabriel Fitzpatrick!) on Tapped.

    In spite of an epic failure coring an avocado that left me one-handed for several months I did manage to implement not only the edits from Gabriel Fitzpatrick, but suggestions from my Beta readers as well. Check, check, and check!

    #4) Finish Residual Haunting.

    Residual Haunting is almost finished. It is currently being posted as a serial novel on Wattpad and is updated every Wednesday morning. I’m going to put this one down as half a check-mark. (PSST. Wattpad means you can read the current chapters for free! Go check out my creepy sci-fi/horror thing!)

    #5) Revamp the synopsis and query letters for the revised Tapped novel. And then Send. Out. Those. Queries.

    Check. I did this. And then I decided I wanted to self-publish Tapped (and its entire series) because it gives me more creative freedom.

    #6) Revise Persona and start formatting it for publication.

    …. Um … nope. Due to the unforeseen incident with the avocado from Hades I spent most of my working time focused on revising Tapped. It was excruciatingly slow work given that I had two fingers I could not feel during the months of May through October.

    #7) Participate in NaNoWriMo again.

    I totally participated. And I totally lost. Again. I should give myself a negative check-mark for losing.

    Is there such a thing as a negative check-mark?

    #8) On December 2, 2014 Persona will be released as my first self-published novel.

    ………… Needless to say, this did not happen. Production on Persona was pushed back. It’s new publication date is set for April 2015. However, I will be sending this in to agents and traditional publishing houses first (as per my arbitrary agreement with myself for all my work) so that date might be pushed back again depending on what sort of response I get.

    #9) I would really, really, really like it if I could climb a mountain.

    I climbed through a canyon. It wasn’t a mountain, but it was climbing. Half a check-mark.

    #10) If I can swing it, I would love to be a Secret Santa for someone next year. I’ve had one this year and it has been wonderful fun.

    Check-mark.

    So! I did relatively well in 2014. Bring on 2015!

  • Tossing in the Towel – NaNoWriMo 2014

    Illness struck my house last week. It started while my son was having a sleepover, the poor kid suddenly had a fever and I had to separate the boys during the sleeping portion of said sleepover to keep our guest from catching it. (Didn’t work, our guest has been sick the last couple days too.)

    Being the mother that I am I spent all night watching my son’s fever spike and level and spike and level until finally Sunday morning we were able to run out and get some more Tylenol. By Sunday evening I was sick as well. And for several days Hazen and I stayed home, nursing our illnesses with frequent naps and intermittent bouts playing Star Wars.

    And soup.

    Lots of potato soup.

    My NaNo project was left aside.

    While I could possibly rush through the next two weeks to get to 50,000 words before the end of November I know that they would be 50,000 really horrible words. Rough drafts are notoriously bad, but the abomination that would sprout from such a rush would require the entire work be thrown away and restarted in December.

    Which would be a complete waste of my time.

    So!

    I am formally throwing in the towel for NaNoWriMo 2014.

    I wish everyone the best of luck who is continuing to plug away at their NaNo novels. You’re all awesome. You can do this. Keep moving forward!

  • Handwriting vs. Typing Debate #1

    My first book was written almost completely on 3×5 cards that I stored in my cargo pockets while serving in the Army. I kept them in a Ziploc bag since … you know … Army stuff. Field exercises in Hawaii were murder on paper. If you’ve never been to Hawaii then let me tell you, they have this red dirt that can stain anything.

    I mean it.

    I took the advice of a more experienced soldier and purchased an extra uniform for the sole purpose of rolling around in reddish mud.

    Now then … I don’t recommend using 3×5 cards to write your whole novel on for several reasons.

    #1) Unless you’re in a situation where you absolutely must store your work in your cargo pocket, why would you want to?

    #2) 3×5 cards with numbers on them are still a pain in the batoosh to keep in order. Should you be crazy enough to do this, find an organization style very, very quickly.

    #3) 3×5 cards are easier to lose than full pages of paper. Again … some sort of filing system is absolutely necessary here.

    All that said, I do still use 3×5 cards. I just don’t write the whole stinking novel on them. I write blips, lines, descriptions, plot points, or anything that catches my attention that I think could be useful. The actual writing of the novel normally takes place in a notebook.

    I love the feel of pen on paper. Something about it just calls to me, sets my creative mind to wandering, and helps me focus on the novel at hand. And this was all well and good for my first several novels.

    However … looking at a series like Tapped, which at this juncture is approximately 7 books long with offshoots for novellas and short stories, it has become increasingly apparent that I need to adapt my writing techniques. The problem isn’t so much writing on the notebooks, but the editing process that comes after.

    You see, after I’ve transferred everything onto the computer and done at least 3 passes at the novel, I inevitably print the whole thing out and find myself handwriting EVERYWHERE.

    No, really. Everywhere. Margins, napkins, between lines, no place is safe.296311_500604823329356_837081728_n

    So in essence I’m handwriting the novel twice.

    This takes time.

    Trenna fans will agree with me here in saying it takes too much time. (I’m so very sorry. But I do promise Usurper will be out next year.)

    This is what inspired the Residual Haunting challenge. For those of you just joining us, Residual Haunting is the serialized novel I have been posting up on Wattpad and its own story blog. It has been written completely on the computer, which accounts for a slight lack of description but a very stylized flow to the narrative.

    Since I am over midway through the book now I figured I would do a bit of a Pro vs. Con update on this experiment.

    Pro — Character voices flow better.

    Con — I had to go back in and write descriptions of the characters.

    Pro — Timing for writing the rough draft has been cut in half.

    Con — Character depth is missing. Who are these people and what do they want? (Aside from not being eaten by the monster roaming the museum.)

    Conclusion — The rough draft will be rougher than normal when this is done. I will have to go in and add graphic detail to make the setting come alive. I will have to slow down and use the 1″ picture frame (thank you, Ann Lamont) on each of the characters. We will have to see at the end of the editing process if this actually saves time in the long run.

    Now, these are my experiences. Someone else will likely have different results. But as writers it is our duty to experiment and learn different ways to approach the craft. It’s the only way we’ll grow.

  • Vulgarity

    When friends ask where they can pick up one of my novels I always have to preface the conversation with; “I apologize in advance for the language.”

    This is because most of these friends are asking around the pot-luck table at church or something and I feel a need to cushion them from the reality of what I’ve written. I don’t want to shock them or make them feel uncomfortable, so I figure it’s best they know walking into the book that there will be some rough language.

    So why don’t I exclude vulgar language from my novels?

    Easy … because it’s not realistic.

    Let’s face it, we all know curse words. Some of us even pride ourselves in new and creative ways to utilize expletives. I had a Drill Sergeant in the Army who knew how to insert four letter words inside other four letter words — a feat that requires no small amount of talent, I assure you — and who woke us all in the early morning by flicking on the light switch and shouting; “Get the f**#* out of bed.”

    Charming, I know. But also quite effective.

    Cursing seems to be a staple of adult life. There are very few of us who can say they’ve never, ever used a curse word in their lives so it is unrealistic to exclude such language in fiction. That said, there is a difference between using said words naturally, and using them for shock factor.

    I’m just going to go ahead and admit that if I feel the words on the page are there deliberately to shock me, I’m putting the book down.

    Yes, I’m offended by that, but not because of the words themselves. I’m offended because the author thinks that’s the only way to get my attention.

    Trust me, there are better ways to shock and awe your audience.

    Cover Art by Chris Howard
    Cover Art by Chris Howard

    Residual Haunting (which just posted Chapter 2 this morning) has some swear words in it. Mostly there’s slang (frigging and freaking and all variations thereof) but the vulgar words are in there and I’m sure people will notice.

    Authors have to tread a fine line between keeping true to character voice and trying not to offend their readers. It’s awkward — especially around the pot-luck table — but I’ve noticed that every time I apologize in advance, my friends just chuckle and shrug.

    They get it.

    They live here too.

  • Research as a Writer

    Writers are really life-long scholars. Sure, we get to play around in fiction and make up rules in our fantasy worlds sometimes, but when push comes to shove we are constantly having to “Google” one thing or another. Whether we’re researching words (Hello, online Thesaurus) or we need to find out just how far away Pluto is from Earth (NASA has a really cool site for that) the research of a writer never seems to be done.

    With each book comes a new set of questions, new things we need to know to make the novel believable because the last thing we want to do is insult our readers.

    Science Fiction authors find themselves having to explain gravity on a ship. Historical Fiction authors need to know their time period well enough to keep readers rooted in the story. Crime writers need to know police procedure and proper investigative techniques. And the list goes on.

    The bottom line is, if you’re a writer then you’re a researcher too. There’s just no getting around this work.

    Now, I’ve heard horror stories of authors who get lost in the library, researching so much that they never actually start to write the story. When I started my first historical fiction (Persona) I was seriously afraid of this happening.

    I absolutely love history. It would have been easy for me to get sucked into all the facts and true stories about what happened in WWII and I knew it. So I made a list of rules for myself before I started the project and, because I’m about to start my second historical fiction (The Abolitionist) in November, I thought I would share those rules today.

    1) Write the Character First

    Before I did any research I had to have my main character firmly in my sights. With Persona this was Megan Crossweathers, and I wrote the entire first chapter before I began researching. Now, I did have to go back and edit that chapter quite a bit after I’d done my research, but that first chapter helped me ask very specific questions for my research.

    Example: After writing that first chapter I knew I had Megan on a boat that was about to sink. So I researched boats that sank until I found the S.S. Ceramic (No, really, that’s its name) which sank right about where I needed it to and had only one reported survivor. 

    2) Know What You Need

    I’m pointing to the first rule up there “Know your character” again because if you know your character and the story you’re meaning to tell then you won’t get lost in a sea of information as you’re writing. As much fun as it is to learn about history (or science or crime or whatever your passion is) there’s only so much that’s actually going to be useful.

    So, you need to know what you need.

    Example: During my recent editing of Tapped I found my characters walking on Pluto. (The dwarf planet, not the Disney character or the Roman god of the Underworld.) In order to do that I needed to know the climate of the dwarf planet (which is very, very cold by the way) and the terrain and … you get it. 

    Generally speaking, you come up with these questions as you write which brings me to my third and final rule …

    3) Keep Writing 

    Many things constitute as research in my book. Preparing for The Abolitionist, I’ve begun watching movies centered on the Civil War (just watched Gettysburg this weekend) and gathered documentaries which I will slowly begin to consume. These help me two-fold because documentaries let me get my learning on (I totally love The History Channel) while also seeing the styles (hair, clothing, weaponry) right in front of me.

    Here’s the thing …

    All that information is useless unless I have someplace to put it. And I’ll never find a place to put it unless I’m still writing.

    So for every hour I spend watching a documentary, I have to spend an hour writing too. Sometimes I start the day writing and then watch a documentary, other times I watch first and then write. Either way, I’m researching as I go.

    Disclaimer

    I’m one of those bizarre hybrid writers who can never start a novel with an outline. The first dozen chapters are what I like to call “cause and effect” writing, which presents the character and a particular problem and then watching said character try to resolve that particular problem. But I can’t finish a novel without an outline either.

    By the middle of the book I have a firm enough grasp on the character, theme, and plot of the novel that I can write a sketchy outline to help me reach the end. I call this “Muse Central” because I go about a week or so where I don’t write anything on the novel itself, but instead let my Muse take control to write the outline.

    These are just my rules. It’s not a “one size fits all” thing here.

    Authors who like to have an outline from the get-go probably won’t benefit here. Discovery writers (writers who don’t use an outline) might.

    Maybe.

    I don’t know. I’m really just winging it here. These are rules that helped me and on the off chance that they might help someone else, I decided to share them. Writing is a craft, after all, and no one way is going to work for everybody.

  • Meet My Character Blog Tour

    Shen Hart tagged me in the “Meet My Character Blog Tour” and I’ve been sitting on this for a couple of days, trying to decide who I was going to “tag” in response. I’ve decided on Lisa (LJ) Cohen, RJ Blain, and Skye Taylor. Good luck and have fun! 

    1) What is the name of your character?  Is she fictional or a historic person?

    Johanna Rorry — otherwise known as Jorry. She is purely fictional. 

    2) When and where is the story set?

    The story is set many, many, many years into the future. We get to go spelunking on Pluto, lay siege to a space station orbiting Neptune, and infiltrate a military base on Europa but in between all of that the characters are on board the hauler-class vessel known as the Zephyr. 

    3) What should we know about him?

    Ahem. You mean “her.”

    And you should know that when she sets her mind to something she doesn’t waver. She’s a complicated mix of soldier and mother, capable of hacking into computer systems and constantly focused on the safety of her family. 

    4) What is the main conflict? What messes up his her life?

    Her son Devon wants to go to University, but because Jorry and her counterpart (Seach Barlow) are both deserters from the military this poses many problems. Sending Devon to school could reveal their whereabouts to the military they’ve been running from. So Jorry makes a black market deal to get Devon some security tags that won’t alert the Universe that she’s still alive and still allow him to go to school. 

    And … you know … things go very, very wrong. 

    5) What is the personal goal of the character?

    She wants to see her son safe and happy. 

    6) Is there a working title for this novel, and can we read more about it?

    The tentative title is Tapped and you can read a snippet of it on my main website ajmaguire.com. (HINT: It’s under the science fiction tab.)

    7) When can we expect the book to be published?

    Well, I have a rule that I send out everything to the traditional market first and if it doesn’t get any bites then I look into Indie publishing. So I’m really not sure. It could be out sometime in 2015 or it could be later.

     

  • Writing Hard Scenes

    For the past several weeks I have agonized over one particular scene. It’s an important scene. Plot happens. Torture happens. Characters react in various ways to said torture, thus revealing more about who they are as people and making the book quite a bit more profound than it would have been otherwise. 

    One problem. 

    I don’t know how to torture someone. 

    Honestly, there’s a part of me that’s quite annoyed at having researched proper torture techniques. I mean, who wants to know that stuff?

    This scene was extremely difficult to write both because I didn’t know anything about torture and because I didn’t know how to properly convey someone being tortured. I almost tried scrap the scene, to just “fade to black” and let the Reader’s imagine what was going on, then come back later during the rescue. 

    But I couldn’t do that because the scene really does reveal more about the relationship between our hero and the antagonist. It shows how far both are willing to go to get what they want.

    And I knew that if I scrapped it, I would be cheating myself out of a growth moment as a writer.

    Writing the hard scenes is what helps challenge us as writers.

    Yes, we need editors to help us do that too. Yes, we need to read books that help us grasp story structure and characterization.

    But we also need to face those scenes that frighten us because it is only through those scenes or genres or points of view that we can truly take ownership of our craft.

    So.

    I wrote a torture scene.

    It took me several weeks and I cringed while I was doing it, but I know (and the Readers will know) just who these two people are because of it.  

  • Dead Magic Release!

    Witch-Born fans can rejoice today! (That’s right, I said “rejoice” because we really don’t use that word often enough these days.) The sequel and (likely) final chapter of the steampunk-magic-imbued saga has been released through Double Dragon Publishing. 

    Yes, yes, I know … “But you just had your first science fiction (Deviation) released last week!”

    Quiet, mongrels! You’re not rejoicing like I told you to! 

    (I might be a little spirited today. The strap on my favorite purse broke and I am torn between grieving it and celebrating the new release. I apologize for any and all shenanigans.)

    But no, seriously, Dead Magic is officially released. See its understated and quietly brilliant purchase link at the side of this post … Or if you don’t like sidebars you can follow this link to its brand new Amazon page. 

    Marvel at the steampunky cover art (created by the ever-so talented Deron Douglas)

    deadmagic-510

    Why yes, that does appear to be a naked man in the background. See the tattoos? Witch-Born fans should automatically recognize them!

    Bask, my lovelies, in the blurby thingy that must be placed on all books … 

    Return to the Steam Punk world of Magnellum for the second book in the “Witch-Born” series.

    Magic is gone and Valeda Quinlan knows it, she just can’t prove it. Determined to learn the truth, Valeda finds herself at the mercy of Elsie Delgora, the last known Witch to have ever seen Magic. Scrambling for survival amidst the noble Houses of Magnellum, Valeda agrees to help Elsie in return for Magic’s location. But the help Elsie needs is more than Valeda bargained for. Sent on a mission to find Lord Winslow Agoston, Valeda is confronted by powers far beyond any Witch-Born and forced to take on an even larger role in the fate of Magnellum.

    In all seriousness this book was a joy to write. I had fun with Valeda and Winslow and I sincerely hope everyone else will too. 

  • Dreaming Word Choices

    Well, I was have a great time editing Tapped before school got in the way.  I’ve got an Environmental Science final next week and a MASSIVE reading list for two other classes as well.  I’m going to call this a mixed blessing because I was starting to see words in my sleep.

    Yes, dreaming word choices is sometimes a problem for me.  As crazy as it sounds, I always know when I’ve been staring at the same manuscript for too long when I start arguing with my internal editor during the REM cycle.  It normally goes something like this —

    Me: “He reached for the small …”

    Enter Editor’s voice: “You mean half-inch.”

    Me: “Fine … He reached for the half-inch computer drive …”

    Editor: “Are you sure you want to say ‘computer drive’?  I thought it was a hacking device.  You should keep it standard and just call it a hacking device.”

    Me: All right, all right.  “He reached for the half-inch hacking device …”

    Editor: Well, that sounds funny.  Too many “H’s” right next to each other.

    Me: (with a growl of frustration) “He reached for the half-inch device …”

    Editor: Now that’s too ambiguous  you need to tell us what kind of device it is.

    Me: I hate you.

    Editor: Oh, and isn’t the character sore and beat up at this point?  So wouldn’t he really be straining, or stretching, or fighting past his injuries to try and get the hacking device?

    …..

    Yeah, that’s about how those dreams go.  As funny as that sounds, it’s really not very restful.  I normally wake up feeling like I’ve been working all night … and in some respects I have.  In any case, that’s why I’m thinking this whole school issue is a good thing, because I might be overwhelmed by homework, but at least I’m getting sleep.