Writing | CW Hawes

8 Sentence Sunday on Dieselpunks #10

The zeppelin Argo is on the last leg of its journey to the country of Georgia, known in ancient times as Colchis. The land of the Golden Fleece. Lady Dru and company will land in Georgia and attempt to find and retrieve the Golden Fleece for Mr Walter Ramsey Hall.

However, the fun is only just beginning. In today’s snippet, the Argo is flying over Turkey and is attacked by two Soviet built biplanes. Dru and her friend Dunyasha run to their cabin to retrieve their pistols. While getting them we hear their conversation. Here is today’s snippet:

We heard more machine guns firing.
“Is this gas bag armed?” Dunyasha asked. “Because that wasn’t only the planes shooting.”
“Knowing Mr Hall, as I do, I’d say Argo is armed.”
“I love that man,” Dunyasha said with a huge smile on her face. “And those bastards better not hurt my champagne.”
We ran back to the lounge, opened a window on the starboard and looked out. Argo’s engines were roaring and she was on a steep climb.

If you write or read Dieselpunk, join in the fun: 8 Sentence Sunday on Dieselpunks.

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Out of Thin Air

It’s probably an occupational hazard. Every now and again I’m asked, “Where do you get your ideas?” I usually reply, “From life” or “Out of thin air”. Truth be told, I don’t know where my ideas come from really. Like manna, they fall out of the sky and I just pick them up.

In 1982, I read a story in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine introducing a female cozy sleuth. The editor complained about the lack of female sleuths. There just weren’t enough of them. The story was “Meet Athalia Goode” by Raleigh Bond. The editor hoped we’d see more of Ms Goode. Unfortunately, I don’t think Mr Bond chronicled any further adventures. At least a Google search produced none.

What immediately popped into my mind was the name Athalia came from the Greek meaning “truth”. My mind drifted to Latin and in a flash Justinia Wright was born. Truth and Goodness. Justice and Right. One Greek. One Latin. For seven years I did nothing with Justinia Wright. Then one day I learned there were caves under Minneapolis. In a flash, that manna falling from heaven, I picked up a mystery involving my job at the welfare office, caves under Minneapolis, and my interest in Aztecs. I wrote the mystery and set it aside. Twenty-five years later, I rewrote the novel and published it last year as Festival of Death. Unlike Mr Bond, I wrote three more novellas featuring Miss Wright (Trio in Death-Sharp Minor) and have a second novel in progress.

The Rocheport Saga, my post-apocalyptic, libertarian, retro-futuristic quasi-steampunk series (Book Three coming out soon), began with a single sentence and eventually ended up over 2200 manuscript pages in length. That sentence? “Today I killed a man and a woman.” Where the heck that came from I don’t know. Out of thin air most likely.

Lady Drusilla Drummond Hurley-Drummond was inspired by the very real Lady Grace Hay Drummond-Hay, who wrote for the Hearst papers in the ‘20s and 30s. Why feminists haven’t written a biography of Lady Grace is beyond me. She was a truly remarkable and very modern woman.

Information is rather scarce about Lady Grace and I don’t pretend Lady Dru is anything like her inspiration. Lady Dru is more a superheroine figure, set in a dieselpunk alternative 1950s.

The Moscow Affair, her initial adventure, began life as a simple what if. Out of thin air I thought, what if World War 2 had never happened, and the Czarists tried to retake Russia upon Stalin’s death? And a novel was born.

All of these ideas just appeared. What’s more, they appear to everyone. Some of us just happen to see them as story ideas. Each of us has a talent. Some of us, can tell stories. Some of us can fix things. Others of us can sell, or do complex mathematics, or figure out problems. We need handymen, plumbers, electricians, mathematicians, engineers, and the like. The world would be a boring place with just storytellers. The handyman who fixed my broken chair looked at it and figured out how to fix it. Did the solution come to him out of thin air? Maybe. Sure seemed like it to me.

Each of us is unique and in our own ways, weave magic out of thin air. I’m glad we’re not all storytellers.

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8 Sentence Sunday on Dieselpunks #8

Today’s snippet comes from an early chapter in my forthcoming novel The Golden Fleece Affair. Here we see a little different side of Lady Dru. Having learned how to shoot a submachine gun when in the Soviet Union on her previous adventure, told in The Moscow Affair, she has occasion early on in her new adventure to use one again.

She, her partner, Karl, and Jake Branson, Mr Hall’s Man Friday, are being pursued by a mysterious black Hudson Hornet. Now, on a narrow and winding road, sandwiched between a semi and the Hornet, the big black mystery car tries to run them off the road. But Dru is ready. She cocks the submachine and sticks it out the window. Then the fun begins:

The Hudson hit us and kept accelerating. The jolt caused me to hit my head and see stars for a moment. Branson was struggling to keep us on the road. I saw a man lean out the passenger side of the Hornet. He had a gun. I pulled the trigger on the submachine gun.

The windscreen on the black sedan shattered and the wind blew the glass back into the car. The behemoth drifted over to the side of the road, up onto the angled cut through the earth, hit a boulder, flipped end over end, came back down onto the road, rolled over onto its roof, and burst into flames.

If you write or read Dieselpunk, join in the fun: 8 Sentence Sunday on Dieselpunks.

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Being Prolific

Some writers are naturally prolific and others aren’t. It is not an issue of good or bad, it just is. One of my favorite authors, Kazuo Ishiguro, sometimes has years go by before a novel comes out. But are they ever good. Margaret Mitchell and Harper Lee certainly wasn’t/isn’t prolific. Yet Gone with the Wind and To Kill a Mockingbird are such tours de force why write a second? Could a second be anywhere near as good?

Beginning in 1847 with his first published work, Anthony Trollope, in a span of 35 years, produced 35 novels, 2 plays, 44 short stories, and 18 volumes of sketches and non-fiction. That is nearly 3 works a year.

From 1939 until his death in 1992, Isaac Asimov wrote or edited over 500 books. That is over 9 a year. Pretty incredible.

What’s their secret?

For Trollope, it was writing 10 pages a day (2500 words). A practice Stephen King also follows. Trollope also used standard plots so he could focus on his characters.

For Asimov, it was simply to write. Leave editing to the editors, he once wrote, that’s what they’re there for. Of course, in today’s world there is no slush pile and no editors to edit. Victims of bottom lines and shrinking profit margins. Agents, beta readers, and editors for hire have taken over what the Big Publishers discarded. Nevertheless, even though the publishing world is different today than in Asimov’s day, he had a point.

Writers write and editors edit. For today’s author, who wishes to be prolific, obtaining the services of a good editor could go a long way towards obtaining that goal of prolificity.

Also key to Asimov’s tremendous output was he wrote fast in a simple and straightforward style. He focused on the story, got it on paper, and let the editor edit so he could write the next story. His stories are also rather formulaic. Writing to formula helps to eliminate plot angst.

Think about this: a 1,000 words a day (that is 4 double-spaced typed pages) will, in 50 days, produce a 50,000 word novel. At that pace, you can turn out 6 novels a year. Want a fatter novel? 75,000 words? You can still turn out 4 or 5 novels a year writing only 1,000 words a day.

Being prolific is within your grasp.

Write every day
Write to a goal. At least 1,000 words a day.
Don’t be fancy. Write simply.
If you’re a plotter, use a formula genre plot. If you’re a pantser, keep those simple formula plots in mind to help corral your characters and keep some order.
And let the editor edit.

Let me know what you think. Do you have any special tricks up your sleeve? If so, please share!

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8 Sentence Sunday on Dieselpunks #6

In today’s snippet, we find Lady Dru, Dunyasha, and Kit Somers (our intrepid Graham auto salesman turned secret agent) having been captured by the evil Count Neratoff and SS-Sturmbannführer Leiprecht. They are being held captive in a room deep underground beneath an old, abandoned church. Together, with Kit’s two knives hidden in his boot soles, they have cobbled together a desperate array of “weapons” to help them escape: a bucket, serving as a chamber pot, a couple handfuls of dirt scrapped from the dirt floor, and the length of electric cord for the light bulb. Now they need to figure out what to do. Kit has just said, “Our only chance will be when they open that door.” Here is the snippet:

“Yes,” Dunyasha agreed and added, “It would be be nice to know how many are out there.”

“When you roll the dice,” I said, “you have to play the numbers you get.”

“This isn’t backgammon, Dru,” Dunyasha replied.

“Close enough,” was my response.

We talked it over and concocted a plan. Probably half baked at best. But half baked was better than not baked at all. So we sat and waited; waited with our half baked plan of escape.

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8 Sentence Sunday on Dieselpunks #5

In today’s snippet, Dru, her friend Dunyasha, and Branson (a member of the expedition) are making their way out of the wooded hills at night to Kutaisi, Georgia. They are armed in the event of trouble and, of course, trouble comes. Our party of three encounter men walking up the road from the opposite direction. The men have lanterns to light their way. Dru and her team take to the shallow ditch along side the road for cover. It’s touch and go if Dru and her companions will be discovered. Here’s the snippet:

… I saw the lanterns were very close and then I sneezed.

In a heart beat, four gun barrels were pointed at me. In the language I know best, English, I said, “I guess you boys found me.”

They said something in Georgian. I started to get up, when Dunyasha yelled, “Down!” The rapid fire “chu-chu-chu” of the suppressed Sten gun spoke. When the firing stopped, I waited for a moment before i looked up and saw Dunyasha looking at the bodies. Her figure was illumined by the light of the fallen lanterns.

If you write or read Dieselpunk, join in the fun: 8 Sentence Sunday on Dieselpunks.

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The Fabulous Pencil

I love pencils. They are an extremely utilitarian writing instrument. While the US spent millions developing a pen to write in outer space, the Soviets, strapped for cash, simply used a pencil.

Pencils are uncomplicated and yet are a fairly complex bit of engineering. And I am referring to the “simple” wood-cased pencil. It is their uncomplicated nature which appeals to me. Simply sharpen and write.

To save wear and tear on my hand, I like using a soft lead. I can get a dark enough line to read and not exert much pressure to do so. Depending on the manufacturer, a 2B, 3B, or 4B is best for me.

But why use a pencil at all? In this day and age, with computers, smart phones, and tablets, why use a pencil — why write, by hand?

Check out these articles which show the benefits of writing by hand:

The Lowdown on Longhand

Do Writers Need to Write by Hand

Type or Write

The bottom line? We retain more information with writing by hand over typing and we become more thoughtful composers. Our sentence structure and grammar are better and we have more coherent thoughts.

My favorite pencils are General’s Semi-Hex No. 1 and General’s Test Scoring No. 580. The lead on each is soft and smooth, yet they keep a decent point, and the cost is very reasonable. Plus they are made in America.

The other pencils I tend to reach for are the Staedtler Mars Lumograph in 3B and the Blackwing series by Palomino. The former is made in Germany and the latter in Japan. Both are very smooth writing. The downside is cost. They are pricey.

So the next time you start to write your version of the Great American Novel, reach for a pencil.

Do you have a favorite pencil? If so, share what it is!

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The Literary Sketch

My love affair with the sketch goes back many years to my reading of Adventures in Contentment by David Grayson. At first puzzled by the seeming lack of direction the author took, I suddenly realized the “novel” was a collection of vignettes, or sketches, and each one produced a mood of contentment. I was enthralled with the skill of the author in making each chapter a haven of contentment. From the Adventures, I went on to discover other writers of sketches: Washington Irving, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Anthony Trollope to name three.

A sketch is at base a mood evoking descriptive piece of writing. Perhaps the verbal equivalent of the tone poem. A painting in words. One of the best discussions of the form I’ve found is in a blog post from 2007 on the Siris blog, simply entitled “Literary Sketch”. Do check it out.

The sketch has no plot to it, although there may be movement in the piece. Through the description of the scene, a mood is evoked and that is its strength: to use the power of words to evoke feeling and to perhaps stir us to our very core.

There is a Japanese literary form developed by Basho called haibun, a linking form of prose and haiku, which is very similar to the sketch. Basho composed his travel journals in haibun, as well as writing stand alone atmospheric pieces and essays in the form. I love haibun. It is a brilliant dance of prose and poetry.

If you haven’t tried the sketch, either writing one or reading one, I encourage you to do so. A well written sketch is prose poetry at its finest.

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The Protagonist in the Pits

Structure. I intend to write about structure today. What?! A pantser writing about structure? Yes, I, the consummate pantser, I, who have the sign above my desk which says, “Pantsers rule and Plotters drool”, am going to write about structure. Fasten your seat belts. Here we go!

I have always been a fan of 5-Act structure, which dates back to ancient times. However, there was always something of a problem. Act III is supposed to be the climax and since when is the climax in the middle of the story? Standard plotting advice puts the climax near the end of the story with a quick resolution. Critics of 5-Act structure are, of course, very quick to point this out. Some note that Shakespeare, himself, didn’t have the climax in Act III.

This situation remained a dilemma until I read a book entitled Write Your Novel From The Middle by James Scott Bell. The book is short and, I think, high priced — however, his revelation concerning the “midpoint” is perhaps worth the price of the book. It did completely change my thinking regarding the protagonist in the story and the story’s structure.

So what is the “midpoint”? Aside from being the middle of the story, it is the precise point where the protagonist is staring “death” in the face and has to make a decision. The “death” might be physical, psychological, or professional, but there it is and Jane Heroine or John Hero has to make a decision.

Jane or John has hit bottom, so to speak, in the midpoint. The first half of the story has flung her or him into a veritable Slough of Despond. There seems to be no way out. Jane or John is probably going to “die”. The midpoint is where the Hero or Heroine has to decide to throw in the towel or dig deeply within and find what it takes to overcome.

The midpoint, in addition, tells us what the story is about. What the protagonist decides he or she must do or must become in order to triumph. The rest of the story tells us if Jane or John makes the necessary change or does the necessary deed.

Back to 5-Act structure. In essence, every story has two climactic points: the climax of the protagonist and the climax of the story. I think the protagonist’s climax happens in the middle of Act III. That of the story, in Act IV.

Five-Act structure, therefore, looks like this:

Exposition (Act I) – We are introduced to the protagonist, the protagonist’s world, and the problem.

Rising Action (Act II) – Now the troubles begin, rising out of the protagonist’s response to the problem. And, of course, things keep getting worse for our Hero or Heroine as he or she tries to solve the problem.

Climax 1 (Act III) – The protagonist continues to face troubles and hits “bottom” in the middle of the act. He or she has to decide what he or she is made of. The remainder of the act sees the protagonist slowly begin to crawl out of his or her hole.

Climax 2 (Act IV) – A determined protagonist tackles the antagonist with renewed vigor. Troubles must still be overcome. The antagonist isn’t going down without a fight. But, in the final battle, we have the story’s climax.

Resolution (Act V) – The story comes to its conclusion. The problem is solved. All the loose ends are wrapped up. The protagonist is wiser for his or her experience.

I hope you found this of help. It has certainly helped me.

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What’s Happening in 2015?

I’m not a prophet or a mystic. I don’t do Tarot or have a crystal ball. I can make guesses, both educated and un-educated, but am of the opinion they are generally a waste of time.

So what is on the docket for my little corner of the world? (I’ll leave the rest of the world to the news pundits and those who do have crystal balls).

In January, I’ll be retiring from the day job. Joining the pensioner ranks. And I am going to love it! T minus 17 work days and counting!

In 2015, I’m looking forward to taking a couple of trips. Destination? TBD. I’ve never taken a train trip and would love to try the Amtrak. If any of you have been on Amtrak, please write of your experience. I’ve read it can be quite the adventure.

If I can afford the time and money, I’d like to take a couple weeks off and go on a self-guided silence and solitude retreat. If you’ve never been on one, I heartily recommend it. From my experience, it is the best thing you can do for yourself. The time at the retreat allows one to rest. I mean really rest. Like sleep and just move through the day without that invisible whip cracking over your head. The time with yourself is invaluable in allowing you to get to know who you are. You don’t need to be religious either. Just be breathing and have a desire to get in touch with your innermost core. Or just a desire for some peace and quiet and rest.

I want to set up a regular walking schedule so I can keep my joints limber. Might dust off the bike too. Lots of bike trails in the Twin Cities.

On the writing front, I anticipate:

Publishing numbers 3 and 4 of The Rocheport Saga. Maybe number 5 as well. The saga is written. Over 2200 manuscript pages. Just needs typing, editing, and the occasional rewrite to package it into readable installments.
Publishing a second Lady Dru novel. Thus far, I have 75 manuscript pages written.
Publishing a third Justinia Wright, PI novel. 120 manuscript pages written at this point.
Finish a new post-apocalyptic, dystopian series I started this month. The initial 22,000 word novella is typed. I envision a total of 7 books in the series. Some full novel length, some novella length.
Looking through the files to see if I have something I might want to dust off and run with for 2016. Truth be told, I have dozens of fragments and dozens more of story ideas I’ve collected over some 30-40 years of being a wannabe writer. I say it again, the Kindle and the iPad are the best things for writers since the invention of ink.

I anticipate a busy, productive, exciting, tranquil, and hopefully prosperous new year. I wish the same for you!

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