What is it and how does it work? Well, backstory is what has happened to or with a character when he/she isn't front and center in the action. It's something that isn't described in the story but contributes to the character's development.
Some authors, one of my favorites among them, will sit down and write an entire biography of a character and pick and choose things in the bio to throw into a story to color the character. In my novel, Questionable Interests, Drummond 'Butcher' Rand, has been out of town attending the wedding of his half-brother's daughter. He mentions it in passing and reflects on the hard feelings between him and his half-brother without really detailing the source of the hard feelings. It also shows that despite the difficulties of his relationship with his half-brother, he is thoughtful enough to attend the girl's wedding and give the happy couple a generous wedding gift. It gives him a history without the tiresome info-dumps that can drag down the flow of a story. It's economical and gets the information across.
Sometimes, the author may have had people wondering about a character's backstory and be pressed into using more of it in a later novel to feed the readers' curiosity regarding the character. Of such are pre-quels born.
For more instances of how backstory can be used, simply read a few of Hemingway's stories. He was a master of the lightly alluded to backstory. His use of the tool managed to give the reader a sense of understanding more than he knew from the story. Perhaps that description is a little tricky but it gets the point across.
Did you ever pick up a book and begin reading it, only to find passages in it that made you think that you had gotten into the middle of a series? That's backstory. The character has a history, the reader is aware that there is a history and it tends to make the reader more interested in learning about the character.
Now, I said when I began this blog that I am not qualified, and will not attempt, to give any how-to lectures on writing. However, I did say that I wanted to give the reader some idea of how I worked. This is it. Take from it what you will.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Dolly Games, Gulf of the Plains and Congruencies
Friday, December 16, 2011
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
The imagined city
And you say, "What in the world is Derek talking about now?" Well, I'll tell you. A couple of years ago, I was writing a story and needed a city to hold a great deal of the action. I felt that I wanted it to be in the Pacific Northwest, but I knew nothing about any of the cities there. Oh, I know which ones they are, but I knew very little about them. I knew I could research them, but there was this nagging feeling in the back of my mind that if I got something wrong about whatever city I included in the story, there would be a million or so people lambasting me about their hometown. Any errors would throw doubt on the story and on my abilities to write. I couldn't have that, so I devised this fictitious city of Port Morgan.
To tell the truth, I've actually lost count of exactly how many stories I've used the city in, but I'm going to put them in chronological order for you. Because, you see, I also used or mentioned several characters in multiple stories. Or, I allowed characters from one book to walk down the streets of Port Morgan as 'extras' in the movie that played in my head and ended up on the page. But, you know what? I couldn't come up with an appropriate name for the city until my latest novel.
Okay, here they are, in chronological order according to what is happening in the stories: Dolly Games, Eggs of Empire, Cold Feet(A short story), Questionable Interests and Taken Apart.
I know this isn't exactly fair. In order to understand what I'm talking about, a person would have to have read all of these stories. Incidentally, Cold Feet is included in my book of shorts titled, The Empty Heart: A Collection. But you have to pay attention because some of the characters who have made uncredited cameo appearances in these books are not identified and only exist in the stories for a paragraph or two. Sometimes, they are only described in passing. but if you know the stories, then you know the characters.
No. I won't tell you which ones they are and I won't give hints.
Returning to the fact that I didn't give the city a name until recently; I don't know if a name never really popped out and made itself known to me, or if I was just being lazy and using a location that I had already invested a lot of time and effort on. Who knows? I don't.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Dolly Games, Gulf of the Plains I and II, and Congruencies.
To tell the truth, I've actually lost count of exactly how many stories I've used the city in, but I'm going to put them in chronological order for you. Because, you see, I also used or mentioned several characters in multiple stories. Or, I allowed characters from one book to walk down the streets of Port Morgan as 'extras' in the movie that played in my head and ended up on the page. But, you know what? I couldn't come up with an appropriate name for the city until my latest novel.
Okay, here they are, in chronological order according to what is happening in the stories: Dolly Games, Eggs of Empire, Cold Feet(A short story), Questionable Interests and Taken Apart.
I know this isn't exactly fair. In order to understand what I'm talking about, a person would have to have read all of these stories. Incidentally, Cold Feet is included in my book of shorts titled, The Empty Heart: A Collection. But you have to pay attention because some of the characters who have made uncredited cameo appearances in these books are not identified and only exist in the stories for a paragraph or two. Sometimes, they are only described in passing. but if you know the stories, then you know the characters.
No. I won't tell you which ones they are and I won't give hints.
Returning to the fact that I didn't give the city a name until recently; I don't know if a name never really popped out and made itself known to me, or if I was just being lazy and using a location that I had already invested a lot of time and effort on. Who knows? I don't.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Dolly Games, Gulf of the Plains I and II, and Congruencies.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Latest novel's reception
I last left you with the news that Dolly Games was going to be available in the KLL(KDP Select Lending Library), and was going to be offered free for just two days. So far, the number of downloads of this book far outstrip all my other offerings by such a margin that it is difficult to quantify it. At least, for me it is. I wondered for the past day and night if it was being downloaded so much simply because it was free. Well, now I know that it is also a very good book. One of my toughest critics is my youngest daughter, (Hi, Kris!) while my oldest daughter has been overwhelmingly in favor of everything I've written, (Hi, Mel!).
Kris is one of those very busy people who has difficulty finding time to do the things she wants because she has so much that she has committed herself to do for her family and others. As such, sometimes, dear-ol'-Dad falls by the wayside and that has been the case with many of the books I've written. Of course, I know that the genres I generally write in aren't for everybody and not usually to her taste. However, she called me today to tell me that she loved my latest book and that it was "scary". She also told me that she had called a friend of hers who writes a blog dealing with free Kindle books and started to tell her about my book. Her friend stopped her and told her that she had already downloaded the book and loved it!
Since so many people refuse to buy a book that has no reviews posted about it on its Amazon page, I ask all those who have read Dolly Games to post a review. You wouldn't believe how many people won't buy a book for the most inane reasons; some people won't buy a book if the cover doesn't appear to be professionally done. Or, if it has a generic, two-color cover. Or,if they think the book's description page indicates that it might have skeezy content. It is the same with reviews. Some people won't buy a book that has no reviews. Others won't buy a book that has even one bad review. Still others won't buy a book that has reviews written by people who can't spell grammar, much less use proper grammar when writing anything. I guess they think the book must be low-brow or that the people who wrote the reviews are so clueless about what is good that their opinion can't be trusted. So, please, if you have downloaded Dolly Games, post a review. It doesn't matter to me if it is a good or bad review; a good one can only help others to make up their minds about the book and I can learn from a bad review.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Dolly Games, Congruencies, The Empty Heart: A Collection and others.
Kris is one of those very busy people who has difficulty finding time to do the things she wants because she has so much that she has committed herself to do for her family and others. As such, sometimes, dear-ol'-Dad falls by the wayside and that has been the case with many of the books I've written. Of course, I know that the genres I generally write in aren't for everybody and not usually to her taste. However, she called me today to tell me that she loved my latest book and that it was "scary". She also told me that she had called a friend of hers who writes a blog dealing with free Kindle books and started to tell her about my book. Her friend stopped her and told her that she had already downloaded the book and loved it!
Since so many people refuse to buy a book that has no reviews posted about it on its Amazon page, I ask all those who have read Dolly Games to post a review. You wouldn't believe how many people won't buy a book for the most inane reasons; some people won't buy a book if the cover doesn't appear to be professionally done. Or, if it has a generic, two-color cover. Or,if they think the book's description page indicates that it might have skeezy content. It is the same with reviews. Some people won't buy a book that has no reviews. Others won't buy a book that has even one bad review. Still others won't buy a book that has reviews written by people who can't spell grammar, much less use proper grammar when writing anything. I guess they think the book must be low-brow or that the people who wrote the reviews are so clueless about what is good that their opinion can't be trusted. So, please, if you have downloaded Dolly Games, post a review. It doesn't matter to me if it is a good or bad review; a good one can only help others to make up their minds about the book and I can learn from a bad review.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Dolly Games, Congruencies, The Empty Heart: A Collection and others.
Friday, December 9, 2011
Self-censoring as a writer
Yeah, that's right, I'm taking that subject out of the box. Let's grab hold of it, roll it around, give it a shake and see what happens.
From cruising the Kindle Boards, I've seen some folks lament the lack of clean stories. I agree that there is a time and place for the sort of thing that sometimes ends up in my novels, and those who object to sometimes vulgar language, tittilating, even almost explicit subject matter, should understand that every bit of it in my stories is meant to advance the story. Either that or to add to character development. Sometimes I use it to set the tone for the story or to clarify a character's motivations.
Bad language can and should be used to show the state of mind of a character under stress. If that character is the type of person who wouldn't be expected to use bad language. And it can be used to show exactly how stressful a situation is. If the character has taken everything thrown at him/her in stride and is suddenly found to be cursing, that just means the character is under a great deal of stress. More than he/she has experienced previously. And sometimes, a character is just such an uninhibited person, accustomed to the lowlife, that the use of bad language is natural for him/her.
Now, to sex. How many of us have had sex waved under our noses as a carrot to get us to do something that someone else wants us to do. I mean, sex can be a great tool for manipulation of others. It can and has been used to ruin many lives in the past and will continue to be used because it is such an effective tool. Sex is one of the great motivators of History. Though it is viewed as something cheap, it is very nearly as great a motivator as Money and Power. If we could peek into the boudoirs of the most powerful, richest people in History, I think we would find that freedom of sexual practices is one of their favorite pastimes. How many rich and powerful people have had careers ruined because the most intimate, private and personal details of their lives have been brought to light?
By using sex to show how a character reacts, whether he/she is the most powerful person in the story, or the least, I can establish the fact that he/she is simply another person. No different in substance than anyone else.
So, should a writer self-censor himself/herself? I can only say that it depends on the circumstances of the story, the audience he/she wants to reach and how the writer wants his/her work to be perceived. Think of all the books that would have been tremendously different if the author had left sex out of the equation. Lolita, Catcher in the Rye, Portnoy's Complaint, Ulysses. Those are only a few that I can name, but you get the idea. Writers are creative people or they wouldn't be writers. I'm not sure I would go so far as to describe them as artists; I know that I am not an artist, I'm a writer.
As a writer, I have an inborn need to communicate, to be understood, to connect with my readers. I thought once of blunting my creative urge and becoming a critic, but felt that the choice wouldn't allow me to be true to myself. I have to admit that I was feeling somewhat tremulous about my writing ability and was timid about putting my writing efforts out there for others to see. I mean, the full extent of a critic's creativity is only in how to describe how much they like or dislike another's work. From some of the reviews I've read of others' work, critics don't seem to feel the need to self-censor. Believe me, I self-censor quite a lot of my work. I have written some passages that have stunned me when I've gone back to proofread them. A couple of times, I've said to myself, "What in the world would Miss Grundy say?"
In closing, I can only say that whether or not a writer self-censors is entirely up to him/her.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Dolly Games, Gulf of the Plains and Congruencies.
From cruising the Kindle Boards, I've seen some folks lament the lack of clean stories. I agree that there is a time and place for the sort of thing that sometimes ends up in my novels, and those who object to sometimes vulgar language, tittilating, even almost explicit subject matter, should understand that every bit of it in my stories is meant to advance the story. Either that or to add to character development. Sometimes I use it to set the tone for the story or to clarify a character's motivations.
Bad language can and should be used to show the state of mind of a character under stress. If that character is the type of person who wouldn't be expected to use bad language. And it can be used to show exactly how stressful a situation is. If the character has taken everything thrown at him/her in stride and is suddenly found to be cursing, that just means the character is under a great deal of stress. More than he/she has experienced previously. And sometimes, a character is just such an uninhibited person, accustomed to the lowlife, that the use of bad language is natural for him/her.
Now, to sex. How many of us have had sex waved under our noses as a carrot to get us to do something that someone else wants us to do. I mean, sex can be a great tool for manipulation of others. It can and has been used to ruin many lives in the past and will continue to be used because it is such an effective tool. Sex is one of the great motivators of History. Though it is viewed as something cheap, it is very nearly as great a motivator as Money and Power. If we could peek into the boudoirs of the most powerful, richest people in History, I think we would find that freedom of sexual practices is one of their favorite pastimes. How many rich and powerful people have had careers ruined because the most intimate, private and personal details of their lives have been brought to light?
By using sex to show how a character reacts, whether he/she is the most powerful person in the story, or the least, I can establish the fact that he/she is simply another person. No different in substance than anyone else.
So, should a writer self-censor himself/herself? I can only say that it depends on the circumstances of the story, the audience he/she wants to reach and how the writer wants his/her work to be perceived. Think of all the books that would have been tremendously different if the author had left sex out of the equation. Lolita, Catcher in the Rye, Portnoy's Complaint, Ulysses. Those are only a few that I can name, but you get the idea. Writers are creative people or they wouldn't be writers. I'm not sure I would go so far as to describe them as artists; I know that I am not an artist, I'm a writer.
As a writer, I have an inborn need to communicate, to be understood, to connect with my readers. I thought once of blunting my creative urge and becoming a critic, but felt that the choice wouldn't allow me to be true to myself. I have to admit that I was feeling somewhat tremulous about my writing ability and was timid about putting my writing efforts out there for others to see. I mean, the full extent of a critic's creativity is only in how to describe how much they like or dislike another's work. From some of the reviews I've read of others' work, critics don't seem to feel the need to self-censor. Believe me, I self-censor quite a lot of my work. I have written some passages that have stunned me when I've gone back to proofread them. A couple of times, I've said to myself, "What in the world would Miss Grundy say?"
In closing, I can only say that whether or not a writer self-censors is entirely up to him/her.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Dolly Games, Gulf of the Plains and Congruencies.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
New Options
After so many months of wishing that Amazon had some sort of program for Indie authors to promote their work, it has finally happened. They have gotten their KDP Select Lending Library up and running and given Indies the opportunity to enroll their works in it. Of course, the author must allow Amazon to be the exclusive eBook retailer of the title for 90 days, but that's no hardship. At least not for me. Maybe it is for other authors, but everyone's opinion and outlook is different. My opinion happens to be that any positive exposure is good for sales.
Along with this, the author also will be allowed to promote his/her book free of charge for 5 days every 90 days. That means that for the duration of the promotion, that title will be free to prospective purchasers. At one time, we (Indies) were able to set our price at $0.00 for any period of time, and that helped to drive sales. It got the author's name in front of the public and anyone who liked his/her work, would normally begin searching for other books by that author. When the Agency Model was forced on Amazon by Apple and the Big Publishers, that option was taken away from the Indies as part of the marketing agreement with Big Publishing. That's when the option to make free eBooks available to readers was reserved for Big Publishing alone. I believe that to be something like restraint of trade. Now, of course, the U.S. government and the European Union are both investigating Apple and the Big Publishers regarding price fixing. And that's a good thing. I don't believe that any reader should be forced to sometimes pay as much for an eBook as they pay for a hardcover or Trade Paperback book.
For those who don't know; most of the paperback books that people buy are called mass market paperbacks. Trade Paperbacks are generally about the size of a hardcover book, with somewhat larger print and better production quality. Trade paperbacks are more expensive than mass market paperbacks, too. So, you can see what I'm getting at here. Apple and Big Publishing forced readers to pay more for an eBook than was previously necessary. There is no reason for an eBook to cost more than $2.99. Many authors, like me for instance, price their books anywhere from $.99 to $1.99, and that pricing model seems to work very well. I know of an Indie author who routinely earns royalties in the six figure range every year while pricing his books at $2.99.
No, I don't expect to earn that much from my books. Anyone would be a fool to think that. In the meantime, I'll be reasonably content to sell a few books to people who have come to trust and like my work.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Along with this, the author also will be allowed to promote his/her book free of charge for 5 days every 90 days. That means that for the duration of the promotion, that title will be free to prospective purchasers. At one time, we (Indies) were able to set our price at $0.00 for any period of time, and that helped to drive sales. It got the author's name in front of the public and anyone who liked his/her work, would normally begin searching for other books by that author. When the Agency Model was forced on Amazon by Apple and the Big Publishers, that option was taken away from the Indies as part of the marketing agreement with Big Publishing. That's when the option to make free eBooks available to readers was reserved for Big Publishing alone. I believe that to be something like restraint of trade. Now, of course, the U.S. government and the European Union are both investigating Apple and the Big Publishers regarding price fixing. And that's a good thing. I don't believe that any reader should be forced to sometimes pay as much for an eBook as they pay for a hardcover or Trade Paperback book.
For those who don't know; most of the paperback books that people buy are called mass market paperbacks. Trade Paperbacks are generally about the size of a hardcover book, with somewhat larger print and better production quality. Trade paperbacks are more expensive than mass market paperbacks, too. So, you can see what I'm getting at here. Apple and Big Publishing forced readers to pay more for an eBook than was previously necessary. There is no reason for an eBook to cost more than $2.99. Many authors, like me for instance, price their books anywhere from $.99 to $1.99, and that pricing model seems to work very well. I know of an Indie author who routinely earns royalties in the six figure range every year while pricing his books at $2.99.
No, I don't expect to earn that much from my books. Anyone would be a fool to think that. In the meantime, I'll be reasonably content to sell a few books to people who have come to trust and like my work.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Thursday, November 17, 2011
New novel published
Yes, it's true. My new novel, Dolly Games is published and will be ready for purchase in about 24 hours. That's Friday, November 18th.
The novel predates the other novels that I have used the characters, Carl Tanner, a Lakota Sioux detective, Julie Shepherd, a former actress who tired of Hollywood and its seamy underbelly and Isaiah Decker, a smart-assed clown who nevertheless has a deep and solemn side. Their original partner, DeeDee Barton, a woman with hidden depths, is included. This story takes place prior to the adoption of the STD Detective Agency for their business name and shows how the group interacted with each other. We also learn how DeeDee Barton came to leave the agency, and why.
I think this story was one of the most satisfying for me to write because it forced me to pay more attention to plotting and storyline. There are plot twists within it that I had to engineer carefully so that they were neither transparent or appeared to have been pulled out of the air. The motivations of the characters had to be strong and true to human emotions. As with all my stories, I tried to exhibit the things in life that motivate people to take the actions that they do. I have tried to make the story both gritty and romantic to show that the softer side of very nearly anyone is always beneath the surface of their apparent personality.
For inspiration, I had to look no further than some of the old film noir movies of my youth. The machinations of powerful people are in the background, but can be felt by the pricipals of the story in every action that sets the circumstances for the plot.
It is my hope that those of you who read this novel will be suitably horrified and appalled by the crimes of Dolly Dagger and follow the actions of Carl Tanner and his partners with relish.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Gulf of the Plains, Congruencies, It Happens Every Day and others.
The novel predates the other novels that I have used the characters, Carl Tanner, a Lakota Sioux detective, Julie Shepherd, a former actress who tired of Hollywood and its seamy underbelly and Isaiah Decker, a smart-assed clown who nevertheless has a deep and solemn side. Their original partner, DeeDee Barton, a woman with hidden depths, is included. This story takes place prior to the adoption of the STD Detective Agency for their business name and shows how the group interacted with each other. We also learn how DeeDee Barton came to leave the agency, and why.
I think this story was one of the most satisfying for me to write because it forced me to pay more attention to plotting and storyline. There are plot twists within it that I had to engineer carefully so that they were neither transparent or appeared to have been pulled out of the air. The motivations of the characters had to be strong and true to human emotions. As with all my stories, I tried to exhibit the things in life that motivate people to take the actions that they do. I have tried to make the story both gritty and romantic to show that the softer side of very nearly anyone is always beneath the surface of their apparent personality.
For inspiration, I had to look no further than some of the old film noir movies of my youth. The machinations of powerful people are in the background, but can be felt by the pricipals of the story in every action that sets the circumstances for the plot.
It is my hope that those of you who read this novel will be suitably horrified and appalled by the crimes of Dolly Dagger and follow the actions of Carl Tanner and his partners with relish.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Gulf of the Plains, Congruencies, It Happens Every Day and others.
Friday, November 11, 2011
Progress on my new novel
Hello again! Long time, no talk-to! I've been distracted and working diligently on the thriller I started immediately after finishing the sequel to my novel, Gulf of the Plains.
The thriller, titled Dolly Games, takes place in the fictional city of Port Morgan, in which the action in my novels, Eggs of Empire, Taken Apart and Questionable Interests, takes place. You may ask why I have chosen to make up a city as a scene for all these novels when there are so many others to use. That's a good question and I must say that it was a decision of convenience.
Sure, I can bring up from memory any number of physical features in quite a few cities and place action sequences in them, but if I committed an error in memory, people would lambast me for not knowing the city. I would rather not have an innocent mistake detract from the story. For this reason, I have created a city, complete with Interstate highways, low-rent districts, a country club with an attached marina, a shopping district and any number of businesses and restaurants in which my characters and move about. If there is something about the city that any readers find similar to their hometown, they can nod wisely and say, "I'll bet he used to live here to know the town so well!"
At present, the novel is about 90% complete, lacking only a few finishing touches to make certain that there are no errors in context and continuity. Oh, then there's that other thing. I approached a friend for help with a certain thing in the story that I knew nothing about and was told that my friend "would be honored" to help. When the job was only half finished, a job that would take no more than fifteen minutes if done all at once; my friend backed out without any explanation at all. This left me with the job of altering the story to make up for the lack which this caused me. It was vitally necessary because the job my friend was supposed to do would support a vital clue in the story. Leaving the story as it was would be meaningless and amateurish, and it required quite a bit of rewriting to salvage the clue. I am currently occupied with that and have simply taken a short break from it to post in the blog. For those who will not only read the blog, but will also read the book; tell me later if you can find the seam to which I have just alluded. I'm willing to bet that you can't.
The inspiration for the story? One line in an old song. I'll leave that for you, the reader to decide about after you've read the story.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Gulf of the Plains, Congruencies and The Empty Heart: A Collection.
Available on Kindle
The thriller, titled Dolly Games, takes place in the fictional city of Port Morgan, in which the action in my novels, Eggs of Empire, Taken Apart and Questionable Interests, takes place. You may ask why I have chosen to make up a city as a scene for all these novels when there are so many others to use. That's a good question and I must say that it was a decision of convenience.
Sure, I can bring up from memory any number of physical features in quite a few cities and place action sequences in them, but if I committed an error in memory, people would lambast me for not knowing the city. I would rather not have an innocent mistake detract from the story. For this reason, I have created a city, complete with Interstate highways, low-rent districts, a country club with an attached marina, a shopping district and any number of businesses and restaurants in which my characters and move about. If there is something about the city that any readers find similar to their hometown, they can nod wisely and say, "I'll bet he used to live here to know the town so well!"
At present, the novel is about 90% complete, lacking only a few finishing touches to make certain that there are no errors in context and continuity. Oh, then there's that other thing. I approached a friend for help with a certain thing in the story that I knew nothing about and was told that my friend "would be honored" to help. When the job was only half finished, a job that would take no more than fifteen minutes if done all at once; my friend backed out without any explanation at all. This left me with the job of altering the story to make up for the lack which this caused me. It was vitally necessary because the job my friend was supposed to do would support a vital clue in the story. Leaving the story as it was would be meaningless and amateurish, and it required quite a bit of rewriting to salvage the clue. I am currently occupied with that and have simply taken a short break from it to post in the blog. For those who will not only read the blog, but will also read the book; tell me later if you can find the seam to which I have just alluded. I'm willing to bet that you can't.
The inspiration for the story? One line in an old song. I'll leave that for you, the reader to decide about after you've read the story.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Gulf of the Plains, Congruencies and The Empty Heart: A Collection.
Available on Kindle
Friday, October 7, 2011
Character names
I've written before about the names I use for characters and how I come up with them. You know, the bit about using a baby-name book, phone books and such. However, there are three characters I've used before and am using in the thriller I'm writing. In various TV shows and movies, I've noticed that three surnames keep cropping up in use for heroes of the pieces and I decided to use them. How many times have you watched a TV show or movie and learned that a hero's surname is Shepherd, Tanner or Decker? That's what I'm talking about. The names themselves indicate not only the background of the character, but give hints about what his or her family may have been like. They are less universal than Smith, or Jones, or Brown, or even Murphy, but they still provide a link to the commonality of human social convention.
It's not the sort of thing that people take time to think about, but rather a visceral reaction. Take the time to think of each name and note the unconscious preconceptions that swim to the surface of your mind regarding each of them. Shepherd: a person who not only guides a flock to good grazing, but protects it from predators. Tanner: someone who works for a living at a job that is smelly, dirty and yet, provides him or her a good living. Decker: this one is more difficult. A man or woman whose family has worked with their hands, but has risen to a position of prominence, bringing their family along with them. Those are my preconceptions attached to the names; yours are probably different, but you may see what I'm getting at. Use the names of your characters to help the readers' minds fill in the gaps in the characters' histories. It conveys a small part of what the character is supposed to be like, saving the author the effort, and the reader the boredom, of writing and reading about a character's past life. I can think of little more boring than reading a lengthy passage about a character's background just when the the action is beginning to heat up.
So, I've passed along a hard-won bit of writing wisdom that helps my work to move along with a minimum of fuss, and I hope it helps some of you along the way.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Congruencies, The Empty Heart: A Collection, It Happens Every Day
It's not the sort of thing that people take time to think about, but rather a visceral reaction. Take the time to think of each name and note the unconscious preconceptions that swim to the surface of your mind regarding each of them. Shepherd: a person who not only guides a flock to good grazing, but protects it from predators. Tanner: someone who works for a living at a job that is smelly, dirty and yet, provides him or her a good living. Decker: this one is more difficult. A man or woman whose family has worked with their hands, but has risen to a position of prominence, bringing their family along with them. Those are my preconceptions attached to the names; yours are probably different, but you may see what I'm getting at. Use the names of your characters to help the readers' minds fill in the gaps in the characters' histories. It conveys a small part of what the character is supposed to be like, saving the author the effort, and the reader the boredom, of writing and reading about a character's past life. I can think of little more boring than reading a lengthy passage about a character's background just when the the action is beginning to heat up.
So, I've passed along a hard-won bit of writing wisdom that helps my work to move along with a minimum of fuss, and I hope it helps some of you along the way.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Congruencies, The Empty Heart: A Collection, It Happens Every Day
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Wide variety of subject matter
Okay, so here I am, ten days past a milestone birthday and you would think that at my age, I would know more than I do. One of the things that I don't know is: Why do people gravitate more toward Post-Apocalyptic novels than they do the other subjects that I've written about?
Don't get me wrong, I like it that I've sold so many copies of Gulf of the Plains and Gulf of the Plains II: Fog and Bog, my post-apocalyptic series, but I've written so much else that I've written as well. Some of my work is even better than these two books, but for some reason, I can't get readers interested in it.
I've written a book of shorts dealing with subjects from reincarnation, ghosts and succubi, to alternate worlds, possessed building stones and even added a short dealing with an imaginary criptid in a humorous, Western setting. There's a book about a demonic possession. A time-travel novel. An alternate world story. A book about a vampire mother who actually tries to protect her children. An interplanetary book dealing with a messianic figure. A book about what happens to a couple when they fall into the interstices between worlds. A story of a man who earns a questionable reputation through the use of a mystical knife. A story about a genie. And a cloning and reincarnation story. I think you can see why I question readers' tastes. There is so much here that is entertaining and interesting, yet the readers don't seem to be able to find most of it. If they like my P-A novels, then why can't they simply do a search on Amazon for my name and find the rest of it. Some of my books are interlocked by the use of recurring characters from other stories, and several even take place in the same fictitious city.
I'm not a whiner, I just want to know what I am doing wrong in marketing my work.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Congruencies, A Taste For Blood, A Quart of Djinn and others.
Don't get me wrong, I like it that I've sold so many copies of Gulf of the Plains and Gulf of the Plains II: Fog and Bog, my post-apocalyptic series, but I've written so much else that I've written as well. Some of my work is even better than these two books, but for some reason, I can't get readers interested in it.
I've written a book of shorts dealing with subjects from reincarnation, ghosts and succubi, to alternate worlds, possessed building stones and even added a short dealing with an imaginary criptid in a humorous, Western setting. There's a book about a demonic possession. A time-travel novel. An alternate world story. A book about a vampire mother who actually tries to protect her children. An interplanetary book dealing with a messianic figure. A book about what happens to a couple when they fall into the interstices between worlds. A story of a man who earns a questionable reputation through the use of a mystical knife. A story about a genie. And a cloning and reincarnation story. I think you can see why I question readers' tastes. There is so much here that is entertaining and interesting, yet the readers don't seem to be able to find most of it. If they like my P-A novels, then why can't they simply do a search on Amazon for my name and find the rest of it. Some of my books are interlocked by the use of recurring characters from other stories, and several even take place in the same fictitious city.
I'm not a whiner, I just want to know what I am doing wrong in marketing my work.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Congruencies, A Taste For Blood, A Quart of Djinn and others.
Monday, September 12, 2011
Mojo: Who has it, and what can they do with it?
That's quite a question. Everybody has mojo. Some have it to a different extent than others, and are able to use it to their advantage. I have mojo but have refrained from using it because it is like a loaded gun. Use it unwisely and people will avoid you. Trot it out at an inappropriate moment and whatever situation you are trying to effect may spiral out of your control. And that brings us to why I am writing about mojo in a blog dedicated to helping my readers understand how and why I write.
The reason for it is that I try to create characters who have mojo and show what happens to them when they use it wisely or unwisely. Sometimes it may seem that a character doesn't have much in the way of mojo, but if the reader pays attention to what the character does, they will see that he has restrained himself in its use, only letting the genie out of the bottle when it is absolutely necessary. Just like using a weapon. For instance, in a disagreement with a neighbor, you don't pull a gun or knife because he or she won't keep their dog from pooping in your yard. If you turn a water hose on the dog to drive it away when it's pooping in your yard and your neighbor comes after you with a pickaxe and murder in his eye, then you pull a gun. And, so it is with mojo. Maybe that analogy was a little too strong, I would never use a gun on a neighbor unless forced by circumstances to do so in order to protect myself or others.
Now, of course, whats-is-name made the expression popular with his movies, but the way he referred to it was distasteful. With mojo, you have to be careful. Its improper use may leave people thinking of the character, or a person, as arrogant and overbearing. With the proper application, mojo can smooth the way for a character. Its unconscious use is always to be preferred. For the longest time as a young man, I was inexplicably successful where the opposite sex was concerned and always found myself at a loss to explain it. Then one evening, as I was wrapping up my prize for the night, I was approached by a friend who, in an admiring way, said, "Man! You've got mojo!" It had to be that. I wasn't rich or especially handsome. Maybe it was because I was genuinely interested in the girls I encountered. Whatever it was, it all boils down to the same thing: mojo.
So, yeah, I want my characters to be unaware of their mojo and use it unconsciously as a natural course of living their lives. I think that this adds a touch of realism to the situations they find themselves in and the resolution of their problems. Mojo can help you to create sympathetic characters, but only if you are careful with its application. Write a character who seems to care for nothing but what he wants and you are creating a character who misuses his mojo. It makes him unlikeable and the readers won't want to read about him. At least, they won't unless you make him a villain. I can't imagine him being a hero. Maybe he could be, but if he doesn't care about the others in the story, then he will seem hollow. So, in closing, I say, beef up your characters; give them mojo.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of The Empty Heart: A Collection, Congruencies and others.
Available on Kindle
The reason for it is that I try to create characters who have mojo and show what happens to them when they use it wisely or unwisely. Sometimes it may seem that a character doesn't have much in the way of mojo, but if the reader pays attention to what the character does, they will see that he has restrained himself in its use, only letting the genie out of the bottle when it is absolutely necessary. Just like using a weapon. For instance, in a disagreement with a neighbor, you don't pull a gun or knife because he or she won't keep their dog from pooping in your yard. If you turn a water hose on the dog to drive it away when it's pooping in your yard and your neighbor comes after you with a pickaxe and murder in his eye, then you pull a gun. And, so it is with mojo. Maybe that analogy was a little too strong, I would never use a gun on a neighbor unless forced by circumstances to do so in order to protect myself or others.
Now, of course, whats-is-name made the expression popular with his movies, but the way he referred to it was distasteful. With mojo, you have to be careful. Its improper use may leave people thinking of the character, or a person, as arrogant and overbearing. With the proper application, mojo can smooth the way for a character. Its unconscious use is always to be preferred. For the longest time as a young man, I was inexplicably successful where the opposite sex was concerned and always found myself at a loss to explain it. Then one evening, as I was wrapping up my prize for the night, I was approached by a friend who, in an admiring way, said, "Man! You've got mojo!" It had to be that. I wasn't rich or especially handsome. Maybe it was because I was genuinely interested in the girls I encountered. Whatever it was, it all boils down to the same thing: mojo.
So, yeah, I want my characters to be unaware of their mojo and use it unconsciously as a natural course of living their lives. I think that this adds a touch of realism to the situations they find themselves in and the resolution of their problems. Mojo can help you to create sympathetic characters, but only if you are careful with its application. Write a character who seems to care for nothing but what he wants and you are creating a character who misuses his mojo. It makes him unlikeable and the readers won't want to read about him. At least, they won't unless you make him a villain. I can't imagine him being a hero. Maybe he could be, but if he doesn't care about the others in the story, then he will seem hollow. So, in closing, I say, beef up your characters; give them mojo.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of The Empty Heart: A Collection, Congruencies and others.
Available on Kindle
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
New novel published
Yes! My newest novel, Gulf of the Plains II: Fog and Bog, is published and under review. It will be 'live' in 24-48 hours.
Let me tell you why I decided to even write a sequel to the original novel, Gulf of the Plains. The first novel did very well and some of my readers expressed an interest in a sequel, so in order to take advantage of the original's popularity, (and milk a cash cow), I wrote the sequel. The original was crying out for a continuation of the storyline anyway, so I figured, "What the heck?", and moved on along with the story, following a logical progression of the plot.
The characters: John Sheaves always seemed to be a more moral version of his father, Bailey Lovell and while I've gotten tired of his never-ending moral behavior, I have gradually made him more pragmatic and willing to do whatever was necessary to make his world safe for his family and friends. Paget Redpath also needed a makeover. She was too grief-stricken by the death of Bailey Lovell and needed to get on with her life. To that end, I enlarged the character of Carl Starr and gave them a chance to explore each other. Beth Stewart was also a character in need of something more to do than simply raise the baby she and John produced. I let the readers see her as a 'Mother Earth' figure for a while and then jerked the rug from under them by removing her ability to produce more children and also gave her an urge for more adventure in her life. I inserted new characters in the person of Paget's sister, Julia and a Marine Colonel modeled after a quasi-historical figure that few people will recognize. The old characters of Matt and Molly Lyndon are also here and Matt continues his unconventional ways in the story while I'm afraid that Molly got short shrift in the story. The Rhineharts are also in this story and we get to see, in a sidewise fashion, that Callie Rhinehart is growing up. Some of the secondary characters are only in the story because I needed 'spear-carriers' and there really wasn't much else for them to do. For those who don't know what a 'spear-carrier' is; he's the guy in some of the old plays and movies that enters from the wings, carrying a spear, and announces to the other characters on stage that "My Lord, Lord and Lady Plushbottom have been captured by the rebels and are being detained in the Tower!" You know, someone who informs the audience of action that has taken place off-stage.
The villains: Paul Wilkins and Wilson Reynolds are merely characters that I had to devise to give our heroes something to fight. They served their purposes of being suitably mean and nasty and, let's face it, in real life, the heroes of any situation seldom make actual, physical contact with the villains. The only real contact the heroes have with the villains is when they kill them. Such is the case in this story. Oh, I could have gone into their meetings a little more and had them make threats against each other and make them more human, but I didn't see the point. I wanted them dead and they are dead; so the story is served in the best way I know how and I'm satisfied.
This is the book as I've written it and for those who don't like it; write your own, I did.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Gulf of the Plains, Congruencies, Gulf of the Plains II: Fog and Bog, and others.
Available on Kindle
Let me tell you why I decided to even write a sequel to the original novel, Gulf of the Plains. The first novel did very well and some of my readers expressed an interest in a sequel, so in order to take advantage of the original's popularity, (and milk a cash cow), I wrote the sequel. The original was crying out for a continuation of the storyline anyway, so I figured, "What the heck?", and moved on along with the story, following a logical progression of the plot.
The characters: John Sheaves always seemed to be a more moral version of his father, Bailey Lovell and while I've gotten tired of his never-ending moral behavior, I have gradually made him more pragmatic and willing to do whatever was necessary to make his world safe for his family and friends. Paget Redpath also needed a makeover. She was too grief-stricken by the death of Bailey Lovell and needed to get on with her life. To that end, I enlarged the character of Carl Starr and gave them a chance to explore each other. Beth Stewart was also a character in need of something more to do than simply raise the baby she and John produced. I let the readers see her as a 'Mother Earth' figure for a while and then jerked the rug from under them by removing her ability to produce more children and also gave her an urge for more adventure in her life. I inserted new characters in the person of Paget's sister, Julia and a Marine Colonel modeled after a quasi-historical figure that few people will recognize. The old characters of Matt and Molly Lyndon are also here and Matt continues his unconventional ways in the story while I'm afraid that Molly got short shrift in the story. The Rhineharts are also in this story and we get to see, in a sidewise fashion, that Callie Rhinehart is growing up. Some of the secondary characters are only in the story because I needed 'spear-carriers' and there really wasn't much else for them to do. For those who don't know what a 'spear-carrier' is; he's the guy in some of the old plays and movies that enters from the wings, carrying a spear, and announces to the other characters on stage that "My Lord, Lord and Lady Plushbottom have been captured by the rebels and are being detained in the Tower!" You know, someone who informs the audience of action that has taken place off-stage.
The villains: Paul Wilkins and Wilson Reynolds are merely characters that I had to devise to give our heroes something to fight. They served their purposes of being suitably mean and nasty and, let's face it, in real life, the heroes of any situation seldom make actual, physical contact with the villains. The only real contact the heroes have with the villains is when they kill them. Such is the case in this story. Oh, I could have gone into their meetings a little more and had them make threats against each other and make them more human, but I didn't see the point. I wanted them dead and they are dead; so the story is served in the best way I know how and I'm satisfied.
This is the book as I've written it and for those who don't like it; write your own, I did.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Gulf of the Plains, Congruencies, Gulf of the Plains II: Fog and Bog, and others.
Available on Kindle
Friday, September 2, 2011
Progress and the lonely writer
Yes, that's right. I said it. I get lonely sitting back here in the office writing. On those occasions when I've spent too many hours writing and have gotten stiff and sore from sitting, when I totter back into the living room to catch up on the local news and stuff, I realize that I miss the sound of other people. I don't know what's up with my daughters, my brother and his family, my wife. I have to spend some time catching up with my wife but am unable to call my daughters and brother because they all work and it's usually in the middle of the day when I poke my head up and look around. Oh well, there's nothing to be done for it, the situation won't change anytime soon.
To address the first word of the title, let me tell you about the progress I've made. The sequel to Gulf of the Plains is finished, edited and copyrighted. I'm just waiting for it to be formatted and then I'll publish it. For those fans who have gotten tired of my promises to finish it; I anticipate that it will be published by September 6th and expect it to go live on the 8th.
But, wait! There's more! I have returned to writing the thriller I started while I was working on my volume of short stories. Though it takes place in the fictional city I created in the Pacific Northwest which hosts the action for at least four of my scifi and horror novels(Eggs of Empire, Taken Apart, Questionable Interests and the short story, Cold Feet), this is a straight thriller/mystery. A quartet of players from my novel, Eggs of Empire make strong appearances and serve to help drive the action. If you've read the previously mentioned novel and I know that quite a few of you have; then you are already familiar with the partners in the STD Detective Agency. That is, Julie Shepherd, Carl Tanner and Isaiah Decker. Decker's wife, DeeDee Barton is also in this story and we learn that before she married Isaiah, she was also a partner in the business and quit to raise their family. The action in this story predates their marriage and we get more than a passing glimpse of the relationship she had with Carl Tanner before Decker married her. I really can't reveal too much of what takes place in this new story. Let me just say that there is a plot twist that has the potential to leave the reader staring at the last page and asking out loud, "What!?"
Of course, now, many of you will be tempted to turn to the last page to see what I'm talking about, so maybe I'll just reveal the resolution of the twist somewhat before the final page. I've got the same problem that I always have, though. I've got a good beginning and have set the tone of the book in the first 8,000 words and I know how I want the story to end. All I have to do is to work on the progression from the beginning to the end. I'll spend a lot of that time with character development and the readers won't even know that they are reading about the villain and how he/she developed into a killer. Even this past sentence is meant to mislead you; by writing he/she, some of you may be led to believe that the villain is a transgender killer. Since I can't even think about the sheer mass of research it would take to write such a person believably, I'll just say that it isn't so. The killer may be male or female, lesbian or homosexual, or heterosexual, but not a transgender. Wait a minute...what about a lesbian or homosexual transgender? Nah. I still can't invest the amount of time it would take to learn about transgender persons and how they might think of their orientation. Huh! Like they say: "Write about what you know best." I'll stick with that.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Gulf of the Plains, Congruencies and others.
Available on Kindle
To address the first word of the title, let me tell you about the progress I've made. The sequel to Gulf of the Plains is finished, edited and copyrighted. I'm just waiting for it to be formatted and then I'll publish it. For those fans who have gotten tired of my promises to finish it; I anticipate that it will be published by September 6th and expect it to go live on the 8th.
But, wait! There's more! I have returned to writing the thriller I started while I was working on my volume of short stories. Though it takes place in the fictional city I created in the Pacific Northwest which hosts the action for at least four of my scifi and horror novels(Eggs of Empire, Taken Apart, Questionable Interests and the short story, Cold Feet), this is a straight thriller/mystery. A quartet of players from my novel, Eggs of Empire make strong appearances and serve to help drive the action. If you've read the previously mentioned novel and I know that quite a few of you have; then you are already familiar with the partners in the STD Detective Agency. That is, Julie Shepherd, Carl Tanner and Isaiah Decker. Decker's wife, DeeDee Barton is also in this story and we learn that before she married Isaiah, she was also a partner in the business and quit to raise their family. The action in this story predates their marriage and we get more than a passing glimpse of the relationship she had with Carl Tanner before Decker married her. I really can't reveal too much of what takes place in this new story. Let me just say that there is a plot twist that has the potential to leave the reader staring at the last page and asking out loud, "What!?"
Of course, now, many of you will be tempted to turn to the last page to see what I'm talking about, so maybe I'll just reveal the resolution of the twist somewhat before the final page. I've got the same problem that I always have, though. I've got a good beginning and have set the tone of the book in the first 8,000 words and I know how I want the story to end. All I have to do is to work on the progression from the beginning to the end. I'll spend a lot of that time with character development and the readers won't even know that they are reading about the villain and how he/she developed into a killer. Even this past sentence is meant to mislead you; by writing he/she, some of you may be led to believe that the villain is a transgender killer. Since I can't even think about the sheer mass of research it would take to write such a person believably, I'll just say that it isn't so. The killer may be male or female, lesbian or homosexual, or heterosexual, but not a transgender. Wait a minute...what about a lesbian or homosexual transgender? Nah. I still can't invest the amount of time it would take to learn about transgender persons and how they might think of their orientation. Huh! Like they say: "Write about what you know best." I'll stick with that.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Gulf of the Plains, Congruencies and others.
Available on Kindle
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Extraneous tools I use to write
This seems like a strange subject, but I find that it is something that I just never really thought about until now. Oh, sure, I listen to music to set my mood and the mood of the piece I'm writing, and I even use it for inspiration sometimes. But there are other things that clutter my desk.
A set of bobble-heads that instill a sense of whimsy. Two dictionaries for those moments when I can't think of the correct word I want to use, or am momentarily stumped as to how to spell a word. (An uncommon occurrence, but there it is.) A baby-name book for the occasions when I need to find just the right name for a character. A pair of tactical knives (an S&W HRT and an old V-42) for those moments when I NEED the tactile sensation of having a deadly bit of steel in my hand to evoke the impression I want to insert into an action sequence. A couple of envelopes of old family pictures when I want to experience sadness, melancholy and nostalgia. The emotions help me to convey what I want to say sometimes. A measuring tape for those moments when I simply need to know how big or small a certain measurement really is. A large coaster to hold my coffee cup or glass of water.
Add to that all the general clutter that writers seem to habitually have on their desks and my workspace suddenly seems to have been diminished. Oh, and of course, a small notebook and pen to keep notes regarding whatever piece I'm working on. In it, you will find lists of characters with descriptions and familial connections appended to them regarding other characters. Hand-drawn maps of the general, fictional area the action takes place in, and page numbers denoting the page-breaks for chapters. I also keep a running track of whatever page I am on when I proofread and/or edit a piece.
When I am writing, these things delineate the extent of my world; there is nothing and no one that exists outside them. Oh, I keep my concerns, duties and responsibilities running in "background" in the back of my head. (What did you think? I'm not oblivious to the world around me.) But when I am in "writing mode", these things are what exists for me. I suppose that would indicate dedication to the work and concentration; I've been known to snarl when disturbed. The cordless phone behind me has a weak battery and I will not buy another; it manages to keep my phone conversations to a minimum so I can get back to writing quickly.
That is a partial tour of my writing environment. There are other things in the room that serve me as much as the things on my desk, but this was designed only to make people aware of what I used on my desk to aid me in writing.
Thank you, Derek A. Murphy
Author of Gulf of the Plains, Congruencies, The Empty Heart and others.
Available on Kindle
A set of bobble-heads that instill a sense of whimsy. Two dictionaries for those moments when I can't think of the correct word I want to use, or am momentarily stumped as to how to spell a word. (An uncommon occurrence, but there it is.) A baby-name book for the occasions when I need to find just the right name for a character. A pair of tactical knives (an S&W HRT and an old V-42) for those moments when I NEED the tactile sensation of having a deadly bit of steel in my hand to evoke the impression I want to insert into an action sequence. A couple of envelopes of old family pictures when I want to experience sadness, melancholy and nostalgia. The emotions help me to convey what I want to say sometimes. A measuring tape for those moments when I simply need to know how big or small a certain measurement really is. A large coaster to hold my coffee cup or glass of water.
Add to that all the general clutter that writers seem to habitually have on their desks and my workspace suddenly seems to have been diminished. Oh, and of course, a small notebook and pen to keep notes regarding whatever piece I'm working on. In it, you will find lists of characters with descriptions and familial connections appended to them regarding other characters. Hand-drawn maps of the general, fictional area the action takes place in, and page numbers denoting the page-breaks for chapters. I also keep a running track of whatever page I am on when I proofread and/or edit a piece.
When I am writing, these things delineate the extent of my world; there is nothing and no one that exists outside them. Oh, I keep my concerns, duties and responsibilities running in "background" in the back of my head. (What did you think? I'm not oblivious to the world around me.) But when I am in "writing mode", these things are what exists for me. I suppose that would indicate dedication to the work and concentration; I've been known to snarl when disturbed. The cordless phone behind me has a weak battery and I will not buy another; it manages to keep my phone conversations to a minimum so I can get back to writing quickly.
That is a partial tour of my writing environment. There are other things in the room that serve me as much as the things on my desk, but this was designed only to make people aware of what I used on my desk to aid me in writing.
Thank you, Derek A. Murphy
Author of Gulf of the Plains, Congruencies, The Empty Heart and others.
Available on Kindle
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Characters I have tired of
Yes, that's right. I said it. I have tired of some of my characters. The faces and outlooks that seemed bright and new a year ago have turned old and timeworn. How tortured does a female character need to be to begin getting on my nerves? How moral and straitlaced can a male character be before he becomes something that I no longer recognize as having sprung from my mind?
I became tired of my characters in Gulf of the Plains II: Fog and Bog about the second month I was working on the sequel. Sure, they're the same characters that I used in the first book, but I think I am too familiar with them and they are no longer respectful and eager to please. Every time I turn around, they try to turn the piece into a soap-opera and I'm not having any of that. This is an action/adventure, damn-it! Act like the men and women of action that you're supposed to be! So, jack another cartridge into the chamber and blast away! Act as though you know the baddies are coming over the hill and it's do or die time! Stop getting in touch with your feelings and trying to feel up the new girl. Get some sleep, because you never know when the next time you have a chance to sleep will be! Remember, the future of the human race may depend on you; you owe it to them to kill the bad guys and make the world a better place to live.
Now that I've given them a good talking to, maybe I can get back to the job of actually writing the story. I'm sure that when I edit the piece, I'll have to cut out a bunch of the touchy-feely crap. Hey, maybe I can piece all those bits together from the other stories I've written that have gone astray and make a Romance Novel out of them...Nah! There's not enough explicit sex in any of it to qualify as the porn masquerading as Romance Novels these days. I guess I could write some, but for me, that would seem like cussing in church. Wubba-da-dubba-da-dubba-da! (That was me, blowing out my lips in frustration.)
Well, I think I can do this now. Thanks to all of you for bearing with me as I blow off some steam.
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Gulf of the Plains, Congruencies, The Empty Heart: A Collection and others.
Available on Kindle
I became tired of my characters in Gulf of the Plains II: Fog and Bog about the second month I was working on the sequel. Sure, they're the same characters that I used in the first book, but I think I am too familiar with them and they are no longer respectful and eager to please. Every time I turn around, they try to turn the piece into a soap-opera and I'm not having any of that. This is an action/adventure, damn-it! Act like the men and women of action that you're supposed to be! So, jack another cartridge into the chamber and blast away! Act as though you know the baddies are coming over the hill and it's do or die time! Stop getting in touch with your feelings and trying to feel up the new girl. Get some sleep, because you never know when the next time you have a chance to sleep will be! Remember, the future of the human race may depend on you; you owe it to them to kill the bad guys and make the world a better place to live.
Now that I've given them a good talking to, maybe I can get back to the job of actually writing the story. I'm sure that when I edit the piece, I'll have to cut out a bunch of the touchy-feely crap. Hey, maybe I can piece all those bits together from the other stories I've written that have gone astray and make a Romance Novel out of them...Nah! There's not enough explicit sex in any of it to qualify as the porn masquerading as Romance Novels these days. I guess I could write some, but for me, that would seem like cussing in church. Wubba-da-dubba-da-dubba-da! (That was me, blowing out my lips in frustration.)
Well, I think I can do this now. Thanks to all of you for bearing with me as I blow off some steam.
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Gulf of the Plains, Congruencies, The Empty Heart: A Collection and others.
Available on Kindle
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Status of the sequel to Gulf of the Plains
It's been a while since I posted anything in this blog and I feel badly about it, but I've been working on the sequel and trying to get things done in my real life as well. I've been bogged down in the story because I'm not sure where I want it to go and if I follow the dictates of conscience, the sequel will become longer than the original. I don't want it to become a bloated corpse, stinking of putrifaction, like the corpses that must have been floating in the gulf after the polar shift. If I allow it to become too long, I fear that it will become simply a fat imitation of the original story, without the energy to move itself beyond being published.
The characters, though interesting, are beginning to pall on me and if I'm not careful, will devolve into soap-opera-like cut-outs. And that's not what I want. I want them to be vital and alive. I want them to jump off the page, slap the reader across the face and urge them into action! Anything less would be an insult to the reader.
I've written Paget Redpath as a harder character in the beginning of the story but she is getting softer with the advent of her sister Julia. I have written John Sheaves and his wife, Beth, as more realistic than previously and Matt Lyndon has become a father figure for John. Matt continues to be a wild-card in the story and anytime I want to envision him, all I have to do is remember some of the truly humorous people I've known. He is a combination of several of them, and will continue to be so.
At present I have over 65,000 words written in the sequel and many Kindle authors would think that is enough. (Can you imagine? A lot of them have the gall to charge $3, or even $5 for a single short story!) However, I believe that in order not to cheapen my product, I must make my stories the same length that people have come to expect from a dead-tree book.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Congruencies, Taken Apart and others.
Available on Kindle
The characters, though interesting, are beginning to pall on me and if I'm not careful, will devolve into soap-opera-like cut-outs. And that's not what I want. I want them to be vital and alive. I want them to jump off the page, slap the reader across the face and urge them into action! Anything less would be an insult to the reader.
I've written Paget Redpath as a harder character in the beginning of the story but she is getting softer with the advent of her sister Julia. I have written John Sheaves and his wife, Beth, as more realistic than previously and Matt Lyndon has become a father figure for John. Matt continues to be a wild-card in the story and anytime I want to envision him, all I have to do is remember some of the truly humorous people I've known. He is a combination of several of them, and will continue to be so.
At present I have over 65,000 words written in the sequel and many Kindle authors would think that is enough. (Can you imagine? A lot of them have the gall to charge $3, or even $5 for a single short story!) However, I believe that in order not to cheapen my product, I must make my stories the same length that people have come to expect from a dead-tree book.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Congruencies, Taken Apart and others.
Available on Kindle
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Motivations
Hello! I'm back! Been away in spirit if not in body. My heart just wasn't in writing the blog and rather than post the depressed maunderings of a man approaching an accelerated old-age, I opted to let the blog lie fallow until I had something of worth to plant in it.
Addressing the title of this post: my motivations for writing. I like the idea of leaving something behind me for others to see. Perhaps they might come to understand me to a certain degree. It's not that I'm especially difficult to understand; I live, I breathe, I eat the foods that others eat, I want many of the same things that others want. I'm just not very vocal about how I feel about things. That's where writing comes in, like a knight on a white horse, carrying me forward and spurring me to essay new and untried avenues of expressing myself.
There is also a cathartic release for me in my works. Did I have a romantic relationship that went horribly wrong? Yes. Have I come to terms with it? No. Though the blame resides with me every day, it originated with another and I curse the day that I relented and agreed to speak to her. After being hammered day in and day out with her pleas and promises, I eventually did as she wanted and it cost me dearly, in more ways than one.
So, how do I achieve a cathartic release from that? I have written several pieces expressing how I feel about the pain that I feel every day. My novel, "Congruencies" was my daydream of how I would go back in time to change the thing that I did to ruin my life. No. I haven't taken my characters from anyone that I knew in life. I'm not about to court a lawsuit of any kind because of my writing. My work is a product of my imagination coupled with the pain I've known in my life. The short stories in my book, "The Empty Heart: A Collection", are also drawn from my emotions and longing for a second chance. As a young man, I was what was called "a dog" where women were concerned. I suppose it was only justice that I was lied to, lied about and deceived in every sense of the word. The penalty that Kellan pays in my short, "Cost of Passage", is self-flaggellation for me. The emptiness of heart and loneliness of never truly having loved another that Wade Travis feels in the title piece sums up the way that I've felt for a very long time. Incidentally, the macabre visitation that he experienced is something that actually happened to me shortly after I betrayed the young woman that I should have spent my life with. Was it a product of her ill-wishes? I don't know. That's why I explored it in the story.
After dealing with such heavy thoughts while writing those stories, I wrote "Wild Weasel Wilson and the Banshee Chicken" as an exorcism of those dark thoughts. I thought that something funny was in order. "Repetitions" expressed my thoughts regarding reincarnation. I don't believe that there is any possibility of distancing from race or culture. I believe that if reincarnation exists, then people must be reincarnated within their original culture, from DNA belonging to their families. How else can they atone for their sins against people they have known intimately? It only makes sense to me that by remaining as a karmic burden of their family, they are most likely to come in contact with the reincarnated spirits of thsoe they've hurt the most. That's simply a personal opinion and I have nothing to offer as proof.
Do ghosts exist? I addressed that question in "If Shadows had Voices". I kind of think that karma is also tied up with the concept of ghosts. If a spirit is unwilling to be reincarnated; where does it go? Is it stuck in a kind of limbo? Is a haunting, being tied to a place, a kind of limbo? Can ghosts be tied to living people?
"Cold Feet" was my foray into the urban adventure genre. I liked the experience and will probably write more of them. Imagine; ordinary people, faced with extraordinary circumstances. It enables me to write with realism and gives me an enjoyable writing experience.
For my attempt at writing a Howardesque piece; see "The Keystone". I liked it but felt that it was incomplete when I was finished with it. I wasn't able to write with the florid phrases that he used in his works because I have been too heavily influenced by the spare, but evocative writing style of Zelazny. I AM NOT AS GOOD A WRITER AS ZELAZNY AND NEVER WILL BE! I wanted to get that said so that no one will think that I am comparing myself to him. I just like the way that he wrote and don't think that anyone can ever write as well as he did.
Now you have read a few of my motivations for writing and I must say that there are others that I don't have time, space or inclination to go into here. The best way to get a firsthand sampling of my motivations for writing is to read my work. Read between the lines and apply them in a suppositional manner to aspects of your own life and you may come up with an idea of why I write.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of The Empty Heart: A Collection, Congruencies, Gulf of the Plains and others.
Available on Kindle
Addressing the title of this post: my motivations for writing. I like the idea of leaving something behind me for others to see. Perhaps they might come to understand me to a certain degree. It's not that I'm especially difficult to understand; I live, I breathe, I eat the foods that others eat, I want many of the same things that others want. I'm just not very vocal about how I feel about things. That's where writing comes in, like a knight on a white horse, carrying me forward and spurring me to essay new and untried avenues of expressing myself.
There is also a cathartic release for me in my works. Did I have a romantic relationship that went horribly wrong? Yes. Have I come to terms with it? No. Though the blame resides with me every day, it originated with another and I curse the day that I relented and agreed to speak to her. After being hammered day in and day out with her pleas and promises, I eventually did as she wanted and it cost me dearly, in more ways than one.
So, how do I achieve a cathartic release from that? I have written several pieces expressing how I feel about the pain that I feel every day. My novel, "Congruencies" was my daydream of how I would go back in time to change the thing that I did to ruin my life. No. I haven't taken my characters from anyone that I knew in life. I'm not about to court a lawsuit of any kind because of my writing. My work is a product of my imagination coupled with the pain I've known in my life. The short stories in my book, "The Empty Heart: A Collection", are also drawn from my emotions and longing for a second chance. As a young man, I was what was called "a dog" where women were concerned. I suppose it was only justice that I was lied to, lied about and deceived in every sense of the word. The penalty that Kellan pays in my short, "Cost of Passage", is self-flaggellation for me. The emptiness of heart and loneliness of never truly having loved another that Wade Travis feels in the title piece sums up the way that I've felt for a very long time. Incidentally, the macabre visitation that he experienced is something that actually happened to me shortly after I betrayed the young woman that I should have spent my life with. Was it a product of her ill-wishes? I don't know. That's why I explored it in the story.
After dealing with such heavy thoughts while writing those stories, I wrote "Wild Weasel Wilson and the Banshee Chicken" as an exorcism of those dark thoughts. I thought that something funny was in order. "Repetitions" expressed my thoughts regarding reincarnation. I don't believe that there is any possibility of distancing from race or culture. I believe that if reincarnation exists, then people must be reincarnated within their original culture, from DNA belonging to their families. How else can they atone for their sins against people they have known intimately? It only makes sense to me that by remaining as a karmic burden of their family, they are most likely to come in contact with the reincarnated spirits of thsoe they've hurt the most. That's simply a personal opinion and I have nothing to offer as proof.
Do ghosts exist? I addressed that question in "If Shadows had Voices". I kind of think that karma is also tied up with the concept of ghosts. If a spirit is unwilling to be reincarnated; where does it go? Is it stuck in a kind of limbo? Is a haunting, being tied to a place, a kind of limbo? Can ghosts be tied to living people?
"Cold Feet" was my foray into the urban adventure genre. I liked the experience and will probably write more of them. Imagine; ordinary people, faced with extraordinary circumstances. It enables me to write with realism and gives me an enjoyable writing experience.
For my attempt at writing a Howardesque piece; see "The Keystone". I liked it but felt that it was incomplete when I was finished with it. I wasn't able to write with the florid phrases that he used in his works because I have been too heavily influenced by the spare, but evocative writing style of Zelazny. I AM NOT AS GOOD A WRITER AS ZELAZNY AND NEVER WILL BE! I wanted to get that said so that no one will think that I am comparing myself to him. I just like the way that he wrote and don't think that anyone can ever write as well as he did.
Now you have read a few of my motivations for writing and I must say that there are others that I don't have time, space or inclination to go into here. The best way to get a firsthand sampling of my motivations for writing is to read my work. Read between the lines and apply them in a suppositional manner to aspects of your own life and you may come up with an idea of why I write.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of The Empty Heart: A Collection, Congruencies, Gulf of the Plains and others.
Available on Kindle
Monday, July 11, 2011
Progress on the sequel
I don't often post anything in this blog about something that I am currently working on, but thought that today was a good time to start doing that.
Work goes on apace on the sequel to Gulf of the Plains: Fog and Bog. Paget and her new family are suffering another upheaval in their lives and I'm wondering where it will lead. Oh, I know what I've plotted, but as I once said: I like to let my stories grow organically. She has acquired a new romantic interest to take the place of Bailey and her sister is making her first appearance. Unlike Paget, she has not suffered at the hands of any enemies until now and I'm wondering if she will be made of the same stuff that Paget is. Will she be too brittle to handle the occurrence as well as Paget has done in the past? While I have toned down the sexual abuse that marked the first book, (it seemed kind of skeezy), it is still important to show how Paget's sister deals with it. I felt there needed to be some symmetry in their relationship. Julia had judged Paget harshly pre-polar shift and I believed it was necessary to let her walk a mile in Paget's shoes.
John Sheaves is growing within the role that his father and his own actions have set for him and Beth has become a tried and true helpmeet in the smashed world they have to live in. Matt and Molly are as steadfast as ever and Matt's sense of humor is standing him in good stead. He is still the same irreverent, young man in an old man's body that he was in the first book.
Moving on to Paget's love interest; Carl is as silent as he was in the first book, but now we see that it is just his way. He is a wise and canny leader of men and it is his judgement that helps Paget to survive in their adventure.
A new character, Pencherjevsky, has made an appearance and will continue to have an impact on the lives of the group. I am toying with the thought of establishing a relationship between him and Julia, but feel that it might be too convenient. I'll have to think about that. Maybe they should just have a casual-type thing. Or, maybe he should be too concerned with what's happening in the story to spend any time dallying with her.
You see, I have a weakness for showing some characters as heroes and others as victims. Bringing such characters together naturally includes giving them a relationship. But maybe it isn't so natural. In life, it may be, but such relationships tend to fail in time. Maybe I need to show that failure. It would tend to give both of them some depth, something that a new character needs in any story.
Okay. I've told you my thoughts without including any serious spoilers, so that's about it for today. I have to go throw my characters into their lives and see if they sink or swim.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Gulf of the Plains, Congruencies and others.
Available on Kindle
Work goes on apace on the sequel to Gulf of the Plains: Fog and Bog. Paget and her new family are suffering another upheaval in their lives and I'm wondering where it will lead. Oh, I know what I've plotted, but as I once said: I like to let my stories grow organically. She has acquired a new romantic interest to take the place of Bailey and her sister is making her first appearance. Unlike Paget, she has not suffered at the hands of any enemies until now and I'm wondering if she will be made of the same stuff that Paget is. Will she be too brittle to handle the occurrence as well as Paget has done in the past? While I have toned down the sexual abuse that marked the first book, (it seemed kind of skeezy), it is still important to show how Paget's sister deals with it. I felt there needed to be some symmetry in their relationship. Julia had judged Paget harshly pre-polar shift and I believed it was necessary to let her walk a mile in Paget's shoes.
John Sheaves is growing within the role that his father and his own actions have set for him and Beth has become a tried and true helpmeet in the smashed world they have to live in. Matt and Molly are as steadfast as ever and Matt's sense of humor is standing him in good stead. He is still the same irreverent, young man in an old man's body that he was in the first book.
Moving on to Paget's love interest; Carl is as silent as he was in the first book, but now we see that it is just his way. He is a wise and canny leader of men and it is his judgement that helps Paget to survive in their adventure.
A new character, Pencherjevsky, has made an appearance and will continue to have an impact on the lives of the group. I am toying with the thought of establishing a relationship between him and Julia, but feel that it might be too convenient. I'll have to think about that. Maybe they should just have a casual-type thing. Or, maybe he should be too concerned with what's happening in the story to spend any time dallying with her.
You see, I have a weakness for showing some characters as heroes and others as victims. Bringing such characters together naturally includes giving them a relationship. But maybe it isn't so natural. In life, it may be, but such relationships tend to fail in time. Maybe I need to show that failure. It would tend to give both of them some depth, something that a new character needs in any story.
Okay. I've told you my thoughts without including any serious spoilers, so that's about it for today. I have to go throw my characters into their lives and see if they sink or swim.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Gulf of the Plains, Congruencies and others.
Available on Kindle
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Characters
Okay, so the title of this post is a little lame. It has meaning for me, and you read this blog to see what I have to say. Accept it and move on.
The characters in the books I have written, Mason Kelly, Claire De Luca, Lillian Reese in A Taste For Blood, Stephan(Stitch) Lyne, Grrrl-tew, Brisa Lyne in Stitch in Thyme, Brian Caffrey and Aditi in A Quart of Djinn, Patrick Cameron and Rebecca Franklin in Congruencies, Michael (Miles) Peregrine and Katie Milburn in Behind the Stone, Dorothy Augusta, Peter Sunday and the private investigator trio of Shepherd, Tanner and Decker in Eggs of Empire, Louisa Gerard and Demon in Taken Apart, John Sheaves, Paget Redpath, Bailey Lovell and Beth Stewart in Gulf of the Plains, Brian Maclin and Annalisa Carey in It Happens Every Day, Drummond Rand, Bruiser and Cruiser Linehan in Questionable Interests, all owe their existences to my imagination. Gee, that's quite a list. And it doesn't even include all the secondary characters that I created.
Did I mention that I re-use some characters in other works than the ones in which they make their first appearances? Lillian Reese and Bruiser and Cruiser have all been in multiple books. Bruiser and Cruiser have been in three, though in two of them, they have played extremely limited parts. Identical twin geniuses, condemned to live far from academic lives because of their appearance and background, they seemed to spring full-blown into my mind when I began writing of them. Did I say that they are both nearly seven feet tall and, though highly intelligent, somewhat obtuse regarding how they look? They dress well in expensive clothing, but seem unaware of their badly broken noses. The only difference in their appearance is their noses and it is the only way that people can tell them apart, though most people are too intimidated by them to mention it.
Some of you may have noticed that I have used several mysterious characters who seem to have no place in the story, though their actions are the deciding factors in the stories' resolution. They are: Rod (Rodw Muze'l Oki) Mallory, Rhiann (Oki Rhi'an'a Shta) Mallory, Emmet (Em't oKun Rodw) Mallory and Delia (Rhiaph Deli'a Shta) Mallory. Another character that I have used, but failed to identify for you, the reader, is Anna (Rhiaph An'a Shta) Mallory. All these characters belong to a series that I cut my teeth on before I ever published anything. In all, they and others, populate five, or is it six, novels that I wrote prior to anything I have published. I'm very much afraid that I will never publish these other novels because I'm not sure that very many people will be accepting of these aliens' familial dynamic. Or even of their hidden identities.
You see, I reasoned that the ancient gods of Mesopotamia, Egypt and Greece had to have come from somewhere and; why couldn't they have been aliens? The stories I have written regarding them start just as they are leaving their home world and I have envisioned, and included pastiches of their pasts, in several books as flashbacks. While I am certain that a great many new-agers, emos, goths and other people who can't be identified by any of these classifications, would enjoy the stories, I'm afraid that mainstream readers would sneer at them and avoid them in droves. Besides, since I was just beginning to write, they come off with a soap opera flavor to them that makes them seem amateurish and unsophisticated. Not that any of my other works can be called high literature. I simply recognize that they require a great deal of re-writing that may or may not be worth the trouble. Maybe someday I'll re-write them. If I do, you, my readers, will be the first to know.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of The Empty Heart, Questionable Interests, It Happens Every Day and others.
Available on Kindle
The characters in the books I have written, Mason Kelly, Claire De Luca, Lillian Reese in A Taste For Blood, Stephan(Stitch) Lyne, Grrrl-tew, Brisa Lyne in Stitch in Thyme, Brian Caffrey and Aditi in A Quart of Djinn, Patrick Cameron and Rebecca Franklin in Congruencies, Michael (Miles) Peregrine and Katie Milburn in Behind the Stone, Dorothy Augusta, Peter Sunday and the private investigator trio of Shepherd, Tanner and Decker in Eggs of Empire, Louisa Gerard and Demon in Taken Apart, John Sheaves, Paget Redpath, Bailey Lovell and Beth Stewart in Gulf of the Plains, Brian Maclin and Annalisa Carey in It Happens Every Day, Drummond Rand, Bruiser and Cruiser Linehan in Questionable Interests, all owe their existences to my imagination. Gee, that's quite a list. And it doesn't even include all the secondary characters that I created.
Did I mention that I re-use some characters in other works than the ones in which they make their first appearances? Lillian Reese and Bruiser and Cruiser have all been in multiple books. Bruiser and Cruiser have been in three, though in two of them, they have played extremely limited parts. Identical twin geniuses, condemned to live far from academic lives because of their appearance and background, they seemed to spring full-blown into my mind when I began writing of them. Did I say that they are both nearly seven feet tall and, though highly intelligent, somewhat obtuse regarding how they look? They dress well in expensive clothing, but seem unaware of their badly broken noses. The only difference in their appearance is their noses and it is the only way that people can tell them apart, though most people are too intimidated by them to mention it.
Some of you may have noticed that I have used several mysterious characters who seem to have no place in the story, though their actions are the deciding factors in the stories' resolution. They are: Rod (Rodw Muze'l Oki) Mallory, Rhiann (Oki Rhi'an'a Shta) Mallory, Emmet (Em't oKun Rodw) Mallory and Delia (Rhiaph Deli'a Shta) Mallory. Another character that I have used, but failed to identify for you, the reader, is Anna (Rhiaph An'a Shta) Mallory. All these characters belong to a series that I cut my teeth on before I ever published anything. In all, they and others, populate five, or is it six, novels that I wrote prior to anything I have published. I'm very much afraid that I will never publish these other novels because I'm not sure that very many people will be accepting of these aliens' familial dynamic. Or even of their hidden identities.
You see, I reasoned that the ancient gods of Mesopotamia, Egypt and Greece had to have come from somewhere and; why couldn't they have been aliens? The stories I have written regarding them start just as they are leaving their home world and I have envisioned, and included pastiches of their pasts, in several books as flashbacks. While I am certain that a great many new-agers, emos, goths and other people who can't be identified by any of these classifications, would enjoy the stories, I'm afraid that mainstream readers would sneer at them and avoid them in droves. Besides, since I was just beginning to write, they come off with a soap opera flavor to them that makes them seem amateurish and unsophisticated. Not that any of my other works can be called high literature. I simply recognize that they require a great deal of re-writing that may or may not be worth the trouble. Maybe someday I'll re-write them. If I do, you, my readers, will be the first to know.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of The Empty Heart, Questionable Interests, It Happens Every Day and others.
Available on Kindle
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Things that burn, things that soothe
This post won't exactly be about writing, although I believe I said in the very first post that this blog would be about my journey as a writer. Or, something to that effect.
Just over 4 1/2 hours ago, I awakened in the wee hours of the morning, (if you're over fifty, you know what I mean by that) and was unable to return to sleep. Sinuses were stuffed up and running and then the room was too hot. After kicking off the covers, the a/c kicked on and then it was too cold. I lay in bed for an hour, clearing my mind to sleep and found that I was not in the least tired. Or sleepy. I finally arose and slipped into a pair of sweats and a t-shirt and repaired to the living room. After desultorily gathering that the early morning news was no different than the late night news, I settled on watching Mallrats from beginning to end. Always before, I had watched it in disjointed fashion, not understanding some of the references because the context and continuity had been lost by only watching portions of it.
I decided that the appeal of the movie is that it seeks to shock by showing young adults doing and saying things that even the previous generation would hesitate to say and do. At least as cavalierly as was portrayed on the screen. Having grown up during the fifties and sixties, I was no stranger to shocking behavior and questionable decisions that horrified my parents. While young adults and teens in the mid-nineties believed that the movie was the next best thing to sliced bread, there really were few redeeming qualities to be found in the movie and I believe that was the point; that a movie didn't need to have any redeeming qualities. Yes. The movie depended on shock value to draw attention to nothing at all and the humor was sophomoric. So, to sum up; this movie, and pretty much every movie by this film-maker seems to be intended as a portrait of a generation and no more. It goes overboard to evoke a humorous response from the audience and judging by all of this film-maker's other movies, he seems to be a comedian with a one joke repertoire. This movie may have been fresh and funny near the beginning of his career, but he has not trotted out anything new to say in the later ones. And, that's a pity.
Now to address the title of this post. I wanted to write so badly early this morning and knew that if I did, I would get nothing else done today, and I have many time-consuming things that I need to do. The need to write burned my soul and spurred me on as though the monkey on my back was digging the spurs in to no avail. However, one might surmise that I didn't like the movie I watched and they would be wrong. The humor, marginal and simple-minded as it was, soothed me to the extent that I was able to forget my need to write, which was exactly what I needed at that time.
I don't often suffer from insomnia and I must admit that today was the first time I was able to deal with it sensibly and come out of it feeling refreshed and without frustration. On another note, before I began writing this post, I checked my horoscope. Yes, I am one of those, though I am not a slave to it. You can imagine my mild surprise to read that something momentous in the heavens was supposed to occur at exactly the time I awakened. Just another in the long line of coincidences that have filled my life. Someday I must write them down. I have used a few of them as inspiration for a few of my stories and have not been disappointed in the finished product.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of The Empty Heart: A Collection, Gulf of the Plains and others.
Available on Kindle
Just over 4 1/2 hours ago, I awakened in the wee hours of the morning, (if you're over fifty, you know what I mean by that) and was unable to return to sleep. Sinuses were stuffed up and running and then the room was too hot. After kicking off the covers, the a/c kicked on and then it was too cold. I lay in bed for an hour, clearing my mind to sleep and found that I was not in the least tired. Or sleepy. I finally arose and slipped into a pair of sweats and a t-shirt and repaired to the living room. After desultorily gathering that the early morning news was no different than the late night news, I settled on watching Mallrats from beginning to end. Always before, I had watched it in disjointed fashion, not understanding some of the references because the context and continuity had been lost by only watching portions of it.
I decided that the appeal of the movie is that it seeks to shock by showing young adults doing and saying things that even the previous generation would hesitate to say and do. At least as cavalierly as was portrayed on the screen. Having grown up during the fifties and sixties, I was no stranger to shocking behavior and questionable decisions that horrified my parents. While young adults and teens in the mid-nineties believed that the movie was the next best thing to sliced bread, there really were few redeeming qualities to be found in the movie and I believe that was the point; that a movie didn't need to have any redeeming qualities. Yes. The movie depended on shock value to draw attention to nothing at all and the humor was sophomoric. So, to sum up; this movie, and pretty much every movie by this film-maker seems to be intended as a portrait of a generation and no more. It goes overboard to evoke a humorous response from the audience and judging by all of this film-maker's other movies, he seems to be a comedian with a one joke repertoire. This movie may have been fresh and funny near the beginning of his career, but he has not trotted out anything new to say in the later ones. And, that's a pity.
Now to address the title of this post. I wanted to write so badly early this morning and knew that if I did, I would get nothing else done today, and I have many time-consuming things that I need to do. The need to write burned my soul and spurred me on as though the monkey on my back was digging the spurs in to no avail. However, one might surmise that I didn't like the movie I watched and they would be wrong. The humor, marginal and simple-minded as it was, soothed me to the extent that I was able to forget my need to write, which was exactly what I needed at that time.
I don't often suffer from insomnia and I must admit that today was the first time I was able to deal with it sensibly and come out of it feeling refreshed and without frustration. On another note, before I began writing this post, I checked my horoscope. Yes, I am one of those, though I am not a slave to it. You can imagine my mild surprise to read that something momentous in the heavens was supposed to occur at exactly the time I awakened. Just another in the long line of coincidences that have filled my life. Someday I must write them down. I have used a few of them as inspiration for a few of my stories and have not been disappointed in the finished product.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of The Empty Heart: A Collection, Gulf of the Plains and others.
Available on Kindle
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
A common writing mechanism
Have you ever been reading a story and gotten really caught up in the action and etc. and suddenly run into a *** followed by the problems another character is concerned with? Yeah, me too. I kinda like it. So long as it advances the story, there's nothing wrong with it. Interesting things happen to other people in the story besides just the main character and this mechanism allows you to learn of them.
We may be completely comfortable with such things in a story, but not be able to apply the mechanism to "real life". Many members of my extended family were, or are, career military and have spent years living in faraway and exotic places. As a boy, I don't think that I was ever more than fifty miles away from home on any sort of trip, so if I had cousins, uncles and aunts that lived across the country; that was pretty exotic.
But many times, they would return home for their once or twice-yearly visit and seem to expect nothing to have changed. Some of them seemed to think that I should still be a young boy, only to find that I had a driver's license, a car, an after-school and weekend job, and was dealing with pretty much adult-type problems. They also failed to comprehend the fact that however much their own lives had changed, the lives of those of us still at home had changed as well.
That's what I like about the writing mechanism that I mentioned. It shows that the characters that are "off-stage", so to speak, have their own problems to deal with while the main character is being suitably heroic. It drives home the realization that life does not stand still for others just because you aren't there. Perhaps it helps us to not be self-centered and insensitive. I don't know. I just like the mechanism and use it frequently in my works.
Leaving that subject for a while, I would like to say that I am currently working on the sequel to my novel, Gulf of the Plains. I am calling it Gulf of the Plains II: Fog and Bog. I am also working on two currently untitled pieces; a tragedy and a thriller. The tragedy has bogged down while the thriller is moving along. Neither of them is moving nearly as well as the sequel. I find that I have trouble dividing my time among them and cannot devote as much of myself to any of them as I should. I am on the verge of telling myself to just pick one and get on with it.
Well, until next time, thank you.
Derek A. Murphy
Author of The Empty Heart: A Collection, Congruencies and others.
Available on Kindle
We may be completely comfortable with such things in a story, but not be able to apply the mechanism to "real life". Many members of my extended family were, or are, career military and have spent years living in faraway and exotic places. As a boy, I don't think that I was ever more than fifty miles away from home on any sort of trip, so if I had cousins, uncles and aunts that lived across the country; that was pretty exotic.
But many times, they would return home for their once or twice-yearly visit and seem to expect nothing to have changed. Some of them seemed to think that I should still be a young boy, only to find that I had a driver's license, a car, an after-school and weekend job, and was dealing with pretty much adult-type problems. They also failed to comprehend the fact that however much their own lives had changed, the lives of those of us still at home had changed as well.
That's what I like about the writing mechanism that I mentioned. It shows that the characters that are "off-stage", so to speak, have their own problems to deal with while the main character is being suitably heroic. It drives home the realization that life does not stand still for others just because you aren't there. Perhaps it helps us to not be self-centered and insensitive. I don't know. I just like the mechanism and use it frequently in my works.
Leaving that subject for a while, I would like to say that I am currently working on the sequel to my novel, Gulf of the Plains. I am calling it Gulf of the Plains II: Fog and Bog. I am also working on two currently untitled pieces; a tragedy and a thriller. The tragedy has bogged down while the thriller is moving along. Neither of them is moving nearly as well as the sequel. I find that I have trouble dividing my time among them and cannot devote as much of myself to any of them as I should. I am on the verge of telling myself to just pick one and get on with it.
Well, until next time, thank you.
Derek A. Murphy
Author of The Empty Heart: A Collection, Congruencies and others.
Available on Kindle
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Take inspiration where you find it
The day before yesterday, I awoke at 4:00 AM with a storyline and plot going through my head. I didn't need to get up until 6:30, so I lay there, drowsing, and let the storyline and plot percolate through my brain, making changes here and there, following different permutations to their logical conclusions. Truthfully, I was surprised that I could be half asleep and work so well.
Once I had gotten my obligations out of the way, I sat down to write and found that while there was no hesitation, some of the glowing phrases that had sounded so great in my half-dreaming state, went on paper like the leaden footsteps of a zombie. The work has required some re-composing, (is that something slightly different than decomposing?) and is still turning out pretty well. Upon reflection, I must dream in predictable, stock lines, for the storyline I dreamed up, (literally) is simply a classic, romantic tragedy. It's still worth writing though, so long as I give it a twist here and there.
Back to the state of my dream-life: Not all of them are so staid and staple. The dream that awakened me yesterday was somewhat outre' and weird. It involved one of my favorite people, doing strangely sexual things that I felt I was not free to involve myself in. Throw in the improbably grotesque setting that we found ourselves in and there might be, (I say, might be) a story there. Kind of along the lines of "Repent Harlequin, Said the Tick-Tock Man" by Harlan Ellison.
Having grown up during the 60's, some of the things I saw and read were probably drug-induced inspirations of the authors and displayed a willingness to relinquish control over their own minds. I find myself unable to completely let myself go like that and so, will probably never write anything like them. However, in keeping with the title of this post, I still say that a writer should take inspiration where and when he finds it.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of The Empty Heart: A Collection, Congruencies and others.
Available on Kindle
Once I had gotten my obligations out of the way, I sat down to write and found that while there was no hesitation, some of the glowing phrases that had sounded so great in my half-dreaming state, went on paper like the leaden footsteps of a zombie. The work has required some re-composing, (is that something slightly different than decomposing?) and is still turning out pretty well. Upon reflection, I must dream in predictable, stock lines, for the storyline I dreamed up, (literally) is simply a classic, romantic tragedy. It's still worth writing though, so long as I give it a twist here and there.
Back to the state of my dream-life: Not all of them are so staid and staple. The dream that awakened me yesterday was somewhat outre' and weird. It involved one of my favorite people, doing strangely sexual things that I felt I was not free to involve myself in. Throw in the improbably grotesque setting that we found ourselves in and there might be, (I say, might be) a story there. Kind of along the lines of "Repent Harlequin, Said the Tick-Tock Man" by Harlan Ellison.
Having grown up during the 60's, some of the things I saw and read were probably drug-induced inspirations of the authors and displayed a willingness to relinquish control over their own minds. I find myself unable to completely let myself go like that and so, will probably never write anything like them. However, in keeping with the title of this post, I still say that a writer should take inspiration where and when he finds it.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of The Empty Heart: A Collection, Congruencies and others.
Available on Kindle
Saturday, June 11, 2011
The importance of keeping a notebook handy
Yes, that's right! A notebook...I can't tell you how many times I've had an idea and failed to write it down to remind myself later and found later that I've forgotten the idea.
For instance, this morning I returned from work, fiddled around the house for a while before going to bed and just before sliding into the sheets, I had a great idea for this blog,, spent a couple of minutes composing and mentally filed it away. Upon awakening, I stumbled through my usual 'waking routine' and moved to the office to write. When I went to access this blog, my chagrin was very great when I realized that I could not remember one bit of what I had composed just before going to sleep.
I know that some people sneer and tilt their noses at the mere mention of a homely, old notebook, but the entire point of having one, or anything like it, is to be able to jot down reminders to yourself. Maybe you keep a journal in a PDA or some other device. I encourage you to continue to do so. If you, like me, are at the age where a notebook is more your speed and you haven't made the switch to completely electronic devices; then by all means, keep on keeping on! Just so you have a way to remind yourself of those pearls of wisdom that trickled through your brain just before going to sleep.
Sure, the effort of raising up in bed to jot down a few notes may not be conducive to getting your rest, but think of what you will have missed. You may have been putting words together in such a way as to put the most respected writers to shame, but it doesn't mean a thing if you don't ever publish them!
Now, I don't consider my writing to be anything special. I'm not persuasive, witty or erudite, and I freely admit those facts. However, I am a decent writer and sometimes find myself with a turn of phrase that simply begs for attention. Of those few instances, I am proud and that's part of why I write. Having managed in a small way to preserve my thoughts and creations for posterity, I am assured that when I am gone, someone, somewhere, will read my words and be moved. If just in a small way.
Fame would be nice, but it is not what drives me. I have never craved it. Not in the way that celebrities, movie stars and other performers seem to. If someone picks up one of my books, reads it and tells a friend that they just finished a good book, then I am relatively happy.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Congruencies, The Empty Heart: A Collection and others.
Available on Kindle
For instance, this morning I returned from work, fiddled around the house for a while before going to bed and just before sliding into the sheets, I had a great idea for this blog,, spent a couple of minutes composing and mentally filed it away. Upon awakening, I stumbled through my usual 'waking routine' and moved to the office to write. When I went to access this blog, my chagrin was very great when I realized that I could not remember one bit of what I had composed just before going to sleep.
I know that some people sneer and tilt their noses at the mere mention of a homely, old notebook, but the entire point of having one, or anything like it, is to be able to jot down reminders to yourself. Maybe you keep a journal in a PDA or some other device. I encourage you to continue to do so. If you, like me, are at the age where a notebook is more your speed and you haven't made the switch to completely electronic devices; then by all means, keep on keeping on! Just so you have a way to remind yourself of those pearls of wisdom that trickled through your brain just before going to sleep.
Sure, the effort of raising up in bed to jot down a few notes may not be conducive to getting your rest, but think of what you will have missed. You may have been putting words together in such a way as to put the most respected writers to shame, but it doesn't mean a thing if you don't ever publish them!
Now, I don't consider my writing to be anything special. I'm not persuasive, witty or erudite, and I freely admit those facts. However, I am a decent writer and sometimes find myself with a turn of phrase that simply begs for attention. Of those few instances, I am proud and that's part of why I write. Having managed in a small way to preserve my thoughts and creations for posterity, I am assured that when I am gone, someone, somewhere, will read my words and be moved. If just in a small way.
Fame would be nice, but it is not what drives me. I have never craved it. Not in the way that celebrities, movie stars and other performers seem to. If someone picks up one of my books, reads it and tells a friend that they just finished a good book, then I am relatively happy.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Congruencies, The Empty Heart: A Collection and others.
Available on Kindle
Friday, June 10, 2011
A little mood music, please!
When writing, I find that I am able to order my mind and compose with music playing in the background. I have different playlists on my computer for different moods, and choose between them according to whatever mood I wish to be in for that particular story.
I use my moods for inspiration and freely move from one to another. There are times, however, when I get stuck in a neutral mood and can't seem to find the words that I want to put on paper. (figuratively) It's then when I have to shake myself out of that non-mood and get back to the business of writing. This blog helps in that respect and I feel that it also gives you, the reader, some idea of what is involved in writing. At least from my perspective. Everyone is different and what spurs you, or anyone, to write, may be completely different from what motivates me.
In my mind, I have cherished stories that I have read that I wish my stories to emulate. Music helps me to access the feelings that those stories generate within me and then, to put words in a line that simulate the feelings that run through me when I think of those stories.
If this helps any of you; then I'm happy. If this gives any of you some idea what writing is like for me; then I have achieved my goal.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of The Empty Heart: A Collection, Congruencies and others.
Available on Kindle
I use my moods for inspiration and freely move from one to another. There are times, however, when I get stuck in a neutral mood and can't seem to find the words that I want to put on paper. (figuratively) It's then when I have to shake myself out of that non-mood and get back to the business of writing. This blog helps in that respect and I feel that it also gives you, the reader, some idea of what is involved in writing. At least from my perspective. Everyone is different and what spurs you, or anyone, to write, may be completely different from what motivates me.
In my mind, I have cherished stories that I have read that I wish my stories to emulate. Music helps me to access the feelings that those stories generate within me and then, to put words in a line that simulate the feelings that run through me when I think of those stories.
If this helps any of you; then I'm happy. If this gives any of you some idea what writing is like for me; then I have achieved my goal.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of The Empty Heart: A Collection, Congruencies and others.
Available on Kindle
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Perceptions of whether or not someone is interesting
So, you don't think you are interesting. I never thought that I was until one night over thirty years ago. My first wife and I went to a night club with one of her Jr. High and High School friends, with the intent of helping her to find someone to date. She didn't, but while we were talking about what kind of guy she was looking for, she told us that I "intrigued" her. At a nonplus, the only thing I could think of to say was to ask her exactly what it was about me that made her feel that way. Her answer was: "There's just...something about you." Many years later, I attended a group retirement party for our entire department just before our work was out-sourced, and there was an obnoxious guy from another section that walked over to me as I stood in line for a pitcher of beer, (he had obviously had too much to drink) and said, "I've always hated guys like you; with your perfect hair and perfect clothes!" I was wearing a pair of Levis, athletic shoes and a dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up at the time. And it occurred to me, yet again, that people's perceptions of you may not be those that you relate to yourself.
That was when it hit me that no matter how "plain vanilla" we think we are, there is always someone out there who thinks, "There's just...something about you."
Now, you may ask, "What does any of this have to do with writing?" I'll tell you. I, you, anybody, may think that, for example, our feet are too big, our ears stick out too much, our noses have too much of a blob of flesh at the end, or that we need to lose a little weight to make our clothes fit better. However, other people's perceptions of us may run counter to our own. And that is what makes for misunderstandings that can be used in a story to produce conflict or, even a pair of star-crossed lovers. Don't ever think that people aren't interesting! They may have lived through something that most people only dream about. Do you remember that Gregory Peck movie titled "Pork Chop Hill"? I have an uncle who was actually in the middle of the action there at that time. He's kind of a 'class clown' most of the time, always finding ways to entertain people, but he has a dark side in his life that drives him to behave that way. Besides the action he saw on that hill, he was also tagged by his commanding officer to go on night patrols because he was Indian and the officer thought he would be better at it than others. He was, but that's beside the point. He was also forced to kill enemy soldiers at close quarters, and had problems later in life because of those things. Think, PTSD. Though he behaves like a backwoods hillbilly, he has also led one of the most interesting lives you can imagine.
All a writer has to do is to become friends with people and get them to talk about themselves. Once he or she finds how interesting people really are once they get past their surface perceptions, there is a wealth of material there for a story.
Of course, don't write a biography unless you get permission to do so. Don't simply change the names and write one, either. Use the inspiration you gain from the person's story to write your own.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Gulf of the Plains, Congruencies and others.
Available on Kindle
That was when it hit me that no matter how "plain vanilla" we think we are, there is always someone out there who thinks, "There's just...something about you."
Now, you may ask, "What does any of this have to do with writing?" I'll tell you. I, you, anybody, may think that, for example, our feet are too big, our ears stick out too much, our noses have too much of a blob of flesh at the end, or that we need to lose a little weight to make our clothes fit better. However, other people's perceptions of us may run counter to our own. And that is what makes for misunderstandings that can be used in a story to produce conflict or, even a pair of star-crossed lovers. Don't ever think that people aren't interesting! They may have lived through something that most people only dream about. Do you remember that Gregory Peck movie titled "Pork Chop Hill"? I have an uncle who was actually in the middle of the action there at that time. He's kind of a 'class clown' most of the time, always finding ways to entertain people, but he has a dark side in his life that drives him to behave that way. Besides the action he saw on that hill, he was also tagged by his commanding officer to go on night patrols because he was Indian and the officer thought he would be better at it than others. He was, but that's beside the point. He was also forced to kill enemy soldiers at close quarters, and had problems later in life because of those things. Think, PTSD. Though he behaves like a backwoods hillbilly, he has also led one of the most interesting lives you can imagine.
All a writer has to do is to become friends with people and get them to talk about themselves. Once he or she finds how interesting people really are once they get past their surface perceptions, there is a wealth of material there for a story.
Of course, don't write a biography unless you get permission to do so. Don't simply change the names and write one, either. Use the inspiration you gain from the person's story to write your own.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Gulf of the Plains, Congruencies and others.
Available on Kindle
Friday, May 27, 2011
Locations that still exist in my mind...
Some have asked me where the inspiration for some of the locations and physical features in my stories come from. The answer is: from my memory. I spent a great deal of time wandering around the countryside near my hometown as a boy and young man and some of those places were and are, dear to me. Slate Rock Bluff, the Low-water Dam, Three Bridges, Swinging Bridge, Punkin Center and their like will, mostly, never be seen again. Most of them were covered by the lake before I moved away. Even the roads used to get to them are gone now and the only way to get to them is by boat. With them covered by water, I wouldn't even know when I was floating over them. Three Bridges still exists and while the road has been improved, they look different now. I heard the Swinging Bridge was destroyed by a wind-storm and it's been so long since I was there that I doubt I could even find its location now.
Another place that lives in my memory is the cave below the bluff at Monday Hill. The hill was homesteaded by my Dad's uncle, Bob Monday, back when Indian Territory was opened up to settlement. He already lived there, being a tenant farmer on Indian land, which was the only way a white man could be a legal resident in Indian Territory. The cave was shallow and wouldn't have provided much shelter during the winter, but was good enough to keep the rain off your head during the rest of the year. Over the years, many people had scratched graffiti into the rock walls, some of them dated back nearly to the Civil War, and were quite interesting. Anyway, the way the river has flooded in recent years, I'm pretty sure the water covers it a good part of the time. There was a really neat way to get down the bluff to it, though. There is a very large crack in the dome of rock the hill is on and someone laid a couple of telephone poles end to end in the crack, making it possible to walk down through the dead leaves and scree that lined the bottom while hanging onto the poles. And, no, you couldn't slide down the poles like you would the banister on a stairway; too many splinters. One of the kids in my old Boy Scout Troop made that mistake and got laughed at all the time he was trying to pull his pants down to get at them. All in all, it was a pretty bloody sight. We were out there for a 'coon-hunt' and he was miserable the rest of the night. I've got to say that sitting up on top of the hill by a campfire, listening to the dogs bay until they caught wind of a raccoon was enjoyable.
For those who have read my books; I have included several of these locations in more than a few of my books. Oh, and there was another place that I have used several times. It doesn't have a name. The old story is that it was a cave on the Verdigris River bank used by the Daltons and was large enough to drive a wagon into. The government blasted it sometime just before statehood, leaving nothing but a jumble of boulders. I don't advise crawling around on them as it is too easy to slip between the boulders and break a leg. There was another entrance to the cave above the bank and a local man crawled into it when he was a teenager. I was told that he found several wagon wheels, a couple of rotten, wooden chairs and a table inside. When he told his father about the find, his father told him to cover the entrance so no one could get lost in the cave. Once the young man realized that the cave was a dangerous place for anyone to enter, he did as his father told him and covered the entrance with a few small logs, several sheets of tin roofing, a couple of wooden barrels full of trash and dirt. by the time I saw the place, everything had more or less rusted and dissolved into the surrounding dirt and was only a flat spot in an unused field.
Yes, many of the locations I use in my books are gone forever, but not forgotten. At least, not by me. Anyone who tried to find them using the turns that I describe in my stories would quickly find himself lost or sitting in the middle of the lake.
I have to admit that many of my stories are based on what I wish still existed, or things that I wish had occurred differently. My readers seem to find them enjoyable as they keep buying my books; and isn't that a measure of success?
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Congruencies, A Taste For Blood and others.
Available on Kindle
Another place that lives in my memory is the cave below the bluff at Monday Hill. The hill was homesteaded by my Dad's uncle, Bob Monday, back when Indian Territory was opened up to settlement. He already lived there, being a tenant farmer on Indian land, which was the only way a white man could be a legal resident in Indian Territory. The cave was shallow and wouldn't have provided much shelter during the winter, but was good enough to keep the rain off your head during the rest of the year. Over the years, many people had scratched graffiti into the rock walls, some of them dated back nearly to the Civil War, and were quite interesting. Anyway, the way the river has flooded in recent years, I'm pretty sure the water covers it a good part of the time. There was a really neat way to get down the bluff to it, though. There is a very large crack in the dome of rock the hill is on and someone laid a couple of telephone poles end to end in the crack, making it possible to walk down through the dead leaves and scree that lined the bottom while hanging onto the poles. And, no, you couldn't slide down the poles like you would the banister on a stairway; too many splinters. One of the kids in my old Boy Scout Troop made that mistake and got laughed at all the time he was trying to pull his pants down to get at them. All in all, it was a pretty bloody sight. We were out there for a 'coon-hunt' and he was miserable the rest of the night. I've got to say that sitting up on top of the hill by a campfire, listening to the dogs bay until they caught wind of a raccoon was enjoyable.
For those who have read my books; I have included several of these locations in more than a few of my books. Oh, and there was another place that I have used several times. It doesn't have a name. The old story is that it was a cave on the Verdigris River bank used by the Daltons and was large enough to drive a wagon into. The government blasted it sometime just before statehood, leaving nothing but a jumble of boulders. I don't advise crawling around on them as it is too easy to slip between the boulders and break a leg. There was another entrance to the cave above the bank and a local man crawled into it when he was a teenager. I was told that he found several wagon wheels, a couple of rotten, wooden chairs and a table inside. When he told his father about the find, his father told him to cover the entrance so no one could get lost in the cave. Once the young man realized that the cave was a dangerous place for anyone to enter, he did as his father told him and covered the entrance with a few small logs, several sheets of tin roofing, a couple of wooden barrels full of trash and dirt. by the time I saw the place, everything had more or less rusted and dissolved into the surrounding dirt and was only a flat spot in an unused field.
Yes, many of the locations I use in my books are gone forever, but not forgotten. At least, not by me. Anyone who tried to find them using the turns that I describe in my stories would quickly find himself lost or sitting in the middle of the lake.
I have to admit that many of my stories are based on what I wish still existed, or things that I wish had occurred differently. My readers seem to find them enjoyable as they keep buying my books; and isn't that a measure of success?
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Congruencies, A Taste For Blood and others.
Available on Kindle
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Ho-hum storylines
That's right. Ho-hum. What do I mean by that? I was thinking last night about storylines and it occurred to me that most adventure stories never revolve around people who have money problems and don't go to extraordinary lengths to resolve them. Seems kind of self-evident, doesn't it? No adventure to be found in a story of a guy who just goes to work every day and drags his butt from pillar to post just to pay the bills. But, how many times has just such a thing been the central focus of our lives? In order to make a story of it, you have to show the dismal, daily round and quickly contrast it with some momentous event in the main character's life.
For instance; the character may be concentrating on getting through the gauntlet his life has become and suddenly be thrust into circumstances that require him to sink or swim, fight or die, just to continue living. We've seen those mechanics used thousands of times, and that's okay. It points up the juxtaposition between what he or she has had to endure and what he or she has forced on him/her. We are suddenly confronted with the question of whether or not a man or woman who can barely drag him/herself through life, can deal with an overwhelming challenge. Many times, we learn that the character has deeper resources that have gone untapped in his/her daily life because there was just no way to use those resources.
A visit to the movie screen calls up an example that is very close to the scenario I have laid out. Who among you remembers 'Straw Dogs'? It's almost a fish out of water story. A man who is mild-mannered and almost diffident, is forced to become harder and more brutal than the people who confront him without losing his humanity. It's a more complex story than that, but it gets the point across.
I believe that the whole intent in showing a man who is beaten down by the circumstances in his life, or is oblivious to the changes going on around him because of his focus on something else, is to lend realism to the story. 'Everyman' forced to become something out of the ordinary. We all like to believe that we are equal to such challenges and many of us are. Look at the stories you find in the news about people who face overwhelming odds to save a drowning child, or pry someone from a wrecked car before it burns. Or the men and women who step up and tackle an armed robber or purse-snatcher and hold them for the police. Of such things are heroes made. Countless men and women have joined the military as ordinary citizens and managed to perform acts of heroism that people who know them would have doubted they were capable of.
No. A story that consisted of the daily rounds of a man or woman who was just getting through life would not be anything that anybody would want to read unless it showed the evolution of that character into something that captured the reader's interest.
These are my thoughts on the subject and probably pretty common and self-evident, but I thought they were worth vocalizing.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of It Happens Every Day, The Empty Heart: A Collection and others.
Available on Kindle.
For instance; the character may be concentrating on getting through the gauntlet his life has become and suddenly be thrust into circumstances that require him to sink or swim, fight or die, just to continue living. We've seen those mechanics used thousands of times, and that's okay. It points up the juxtaposition between what he or she has had to endure and what he or she has forced on him/her. We are suddenly confronted with the question of whether or not a man or woman who can barely drag him/herself through life, can deal with an overwhelming challenge. Many times, we learn that the character has deeper resources that have gone untapped in his/her daily life because there was just no way to use those resources.
A visit to the movie screen calls up an example that is very close to the scenario I have laid out. Who among you remembers 'Straw Dogs'? It's almost a fish out of water story. A man who is mild-mannered and almost diffident, is forced to become harder and more brutal than the people who confront him without losing his humanity. It's a more complex story than that, but it gets the point across.
I believe that the whole intent in showing a man who is beaten down by the circumstances in his life, or is oblivious to the changes going on around him because of his focus on something else, is to lend realism to the story. 'Everyman' forced to become something out of the ordinary. We all like to believe that we are equal to such challenges and many of us are. Look at the stories you find in the news about people who face overwhelming odds to save a drowning child, or pry someone from a wrecked car before it burns. Or the men and women who step up and tackle an armed robber or purse-snatcher and hold them for the police. Of such things are heroes made. Countless men and women have joined the military as ordinary citizens and managed to perform acts of heroism that people who know them would have doubted they were capable of.
No. A story that consisted of the daily rounds of a man or woman who was just getting through life would not be anything that anybody would want to read unless it showed the evolution of that character into something that captured the reader's interest.
These are my thoughts on the subject and probably pretty common and self-evident, but I thought they were worth vocalizing.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of It Happens Every Day, The Empty Heart: A Collection and others.
Available on Kindle.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
A Classic Storyline
This isn't going to be a dissection of a storyline; simply something to reveal an influence in my writing style.
As a teenager, many (too many), years ago, after I had recently discovered science fiction stories, my uncle was home on leave from the Navy. Unknown to me, he was a sci-fi fan and while I was at school, he left to return to his duty station. As adults frequently do, he disregarded my ownership of my books and asked my mother if he could trade books with me. When I returned home, Mom told me about it and I found that he left a double-book in place of one of my favorites! I can't remember the title of the book he took, but I still have the double-book he left me.
The book consists of "The Legion of Time" and "After World's End", both by Jack Williamson, and I found that of the two stories, I like the former most. In the story, a man is lured and thrust, (a strange combination) into a noble pursuit and manages to prevail against all odds with the assistance of nearly a dozen other men pulled out of Time at the moments of their deaths. During the story, one and another of these men are killed in action and their remains released over the side of the Time-Ship they are on until only the hero remains. He triumphs at the cost of his life and anyone would believe the story would be over there, but you must remember that this is a sci-fi story and no one is ever really dead if the author doesn't want them to be dead.
The hero awakens in a hospital aboard the Time-Ship and is confronted with his shipmates, presumed dead until this moment. The only permanent casualties in the story are the myriad baddies they dispatched, the arch-villainess, and the tragic character of the man responsible for pulling them all out of Time.
Now, it may seem trite and contrived, but to really judge the story, you should read it yourself if you can find it. I suggest cruising some of the moldy-smelling used book stores that seem to crop up in the weirdest places, because the copy I have was printed sometime in the 30's.
Returning to the "trite and contrived" aspect; it may seem so at the first reading, but I've discovered that Mr. Williamson wrote the story in such a way as to inject an undeniable symmetry that is difficult to dispute. I know that any editor would caution against this as it is no longer a favored writing style. It is an antique and false writing style, but I believe it betrays that within us which wishes to have a "happily ever after" at the end of the story. Not just this story, but any story.
I have played with such a construct in several of my own novels and have been pleased with the result. Maybe that explains why it has been so difficult for me to find an agent while still posting fairly respectable sales figures. I view editors as critics and have seen too many stories, movies and TV shows that critics hated, but fans were wild about. Critics try to instill an artificial style and taste in the audience despite what the audience wants. That's why so many of them admit to 'guilty pleasures'.
To sum up: I will continue to write to please myself and my readers in spite of the things editors my shake their heads over.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of The Empty Heart: A Collection, Gulf of the Plains, Congruencies and others.
Available on Kindle
As a teenager, many (too many), years ago, after I had recently discovered science fiction stories, my uncle was home on leave from the Navy. Unknown to me, he was a sci-fi fan and while I was at school, he left to return to his duty station. As adults frequently do, he disregarded my ownership of my books and asked my mother if he could trade books with me. When I returned home, Mom told me about it and I found that he left a double-book in place of one of my favorites! I can't remember the title of the book he took, but I still have the double-book he left me.
The book consists of "The Legion of Time" and "After World's End", both by Jack Williamson, and I found that of the two stories, I like the former most. In the story, a man is lured and thrust, (a strange combination) into a noble pursuit and manages to prevail against all odds with the assistance of nearly a dozen other men pulled out of Time at the moments of their deaths. During the story, one and another of these men are killed in action and their remains released over the side of the Time-Ship they are on until only the hero remains. He triumphs at the cost of his life and anyone would believe the story would be over there, but you must remember that this is a sci-fi story and no one is ever really dead if the author doesn't want them to be dead.
The hero awakens in a hospital aboard the Time-Ship and is confronted with his shipmates, presumed dead until this moment. The only permanent casualties in the story are the myriad baddies they dispatched, the arch-villainess, and the tragic character of the man responsible for pulling them all out of Time.
Now, it may seem trite and contrived, but to really judge the story, you should read it yourself if you can find it. I suggest cruising some of the moldy-smelling used book stores that seem to crop up in the weirdest places, because the copy I have was printed sometime in the 30's.
Returning to the "trite and contrived" aspect; it may seem so at the first reading, but I've discovered that Mr. Williamson wrote the story in such a way as to inject an undeniable symmetry that is difficult to dispute. I know that any editor would caution against this as it is no longer a favored writing style. It is an antique and false writing style, but I believe it betrays that within us which wishes to have a "happily ever after" at the end of the story. Not just this story, but any story.
I have played with such a construct in several of my own novels and have been pleased with the result. Maybe that explains why it has been so difficult for me to find an agent while still posting fairly respectable sales figures. I view editors as critics and have seen too many stories, movies and TV shows that critics hated, but fans were wild about. Critics try to instill an artificial style and taste in the audience despite what the audience wants. That's why so many of them admit to 'guilty pleasures'.
To sum up: I will continue to write to please myself and my readers in spite of the things editors my shake their heads over.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of The Empty Heart: A Collection, Gulf of the Plains, Congruencies and others.
Available on Kindle
Saturday, May 14, 2011
The doldrums
To any writers who may be reading this; Have you ever entered a period of time in which you felt unable or unwilling to write? At this time, I know I need to write, but seem to be motivationally constipated. Ideas are churning in my mind and I have thought of ways to continue the storyline of the sequel to Gulf of the Plains that I've been working on, but just can't bring myself to figuratively, put pen to paper. The idea of actually sinking myself into the story and getting on with the action is abhorrent to me just now and I don't understand why that should be. Composing has always been a friend to me and the periods in which I have been able to lose myself have been among the most enjoyable of my life. Perhaps that's the problem. Maybe I subconsciously know that losing myself now is not the best idea. There are many things preying on my mind that I can find no solution for and feel that I am just spinning my wheels. It's not that my works aren't selling; Gulf of the Plains has been in the Top 100 Kindle Genre Novels at least one day every week since it was published nearly a year ago, and was recently in the Top 100 in the UK as well. Still, there is something preventing me from writing. I decided to enter a post on this blog as a way to 'prime the pump', so to speak, and let the words flow. I'll let you know how it goes. In the meantime, for those writers who are reading this; keep writing. For the readers; until next time.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Gulf of the Plains, It Happens Every Day and others.
Available on Kindle
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Gulf of the Plains, It Happens Every Day and others.
Available on Kindle
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Influences
That's right, the title is "Influences". Not because my writing or stories are influenced by any particular writer, but because I would like to tell you, my reader, what influenced my latest book.
It is a book of short stories and the first story was prompted by something that happened to me many years ago. I still find it puzzling and have been unable to come up with any explanation other than the supposition I posited in the story.
The second story came to me one night as I lay thinking about the 'lucky' coin I had carried since my Senior year in high school. I thought to myself, "At least when I die, I will have a real silver coin to pay the Boatman with." And thus, a story was born.
The third story was a throwback to the stories I enjoyed so much as a teenager. Many of them were written by Howard and while his stories were heavier on the 'heroic' action than this one, I feel that mine exceeds his in giving the main character a life beyond the action.
The fourth story was a flight of bawdy, almost vulgar, fancy that came to me as I thought of something that my wife sometimes says. I've never heard of a 'Banshee Chicken' from anyone but her and the incongruity of the two words together gave me an idea for the storyline.
In the fifth story, I was feeling down and blue and the memory of a place I enjoyed as a boy came to me. I have included the place in a couple of other stories I have written and still feel as though I could walk to that place, sit down on streamside and waggle my toes in the water, startling the tadpoles and minnows that live therein.
The sixth story is a companion-piece to my novel, Gulf of the Plains, and was included simply because I thought that readers of that novel should be treated to the realization that other people than my characters in the novel had a hard time in that apocalyptic world.
The seventh story is my attempt to deal with the loss of a dream I held dear for many years and was loathe to relinquish. I have come to believe that karma plays a strong part in our lives and wondered if a vow could live after the deaths of the people who uttered it.
With the eighth story, I felt some guilt for behaving shabbily toward another person as a teenager and while she is gone forever from my life, I believed that this story could play the part of an apology for that behavior.
The ninth story was strictly an urban adventure that I have played around with for years. Thoughts of the story have lived many incarnations in my mind for at least thirty years and I felt that the story's time had come. Simply put, I wondered what would happen if a famous person, verging on sinking back into the anonymity we all live in, encountered a common man who was able to improve her life by simply doing what was right.
The tenth story is part of my musings on whether or not an inanimate object can carry a resonance of evil instilled within it many years earlier. I still don't know if that is possible or not, but the story exists for others to peruse and pose the same question to themselves.
With all that said, perhaps others will realize that inspiration lives within us all and that the most mundane things can stir it to a life outside ourselves.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of The Empty Heart: A Collection, Gulf of the Plains, Congruencies and others.
Available on Kindle
It is a book of short stories and the first story was prompted by something that happened to me many years ago. I still find it puzzling and have been unable to come up with any explanation other than the supposition I posited in the story.
The second story came to me one night as I lay thinking about the 'lucky' coin I had carried since my Senior year in high school. I thought to myself, "At least when I die, I will have a real silver coin to pay the Boatman with." And thus, a story was born.
The third story was a throwback to the stories I enjoyed so much as a teenager. Many of them were written by Howard and while his stories were heavier on the 'heroic' action than this one, I feel that mine exceeds his in giving the main character a life beyond the action.
The fourth story was a flight of bawdy, almost vulgar, fancy that came to me as I thought of something that my wife sometimes says. I've never heard of a 'Banshee Chicken' from anyone but her and the incongruity of the two words together gave me an idea for the storyline.
In the fifth story, I was feeling down and blue and the memory of a place I enjoyed as a boy came to me. I have included the place in a couple of other stories I have written and still feel as though I could walk to that place, sit down on streamside and waggle my toes in the water, startling the tadpoles and minnows that live therein.
The sixth story is a companion-piece to my novel, Gulf of the Plains, and was included simply because I thought that readers of that novel should be treated to the realization that other people than my characters in the novel had a hard time in that apocalyptic world.
The seventh story is my attempt to deal with the loss of a dream I held dear for many years and was loathe to relinquish. I have come to believe that karma plays a strong part in our lives and wondered if a vow could live after the deaths of the people who uttered it.
With the eighth story, I felt some guilt for behaving shabbily toward another person as a teenager and while she is gone forever from my life, I believed that this story could play the part of an apology for that behavior.
The ninth story was strictly an urban adventure that I have played around with for years. Thoughts of the story have lived many incarnations in my mind for at least thirty years and I felt that the story's time had come. Simply put, I wondered what would happen if a famous person, verging on sinking back into the anonymity we all live in, encountered a common man who was able to improve her life by simply doing what was right.
The tenth story is part of my musings on whether or not an inanimate object can carry a resonance of evil instilled within it many years earlier. I still don't know if that is possible or not, but the story exists for others to peruse and pose the same question to themselves.
With all that said, perhaps others will realize that inspiration lives within us all and that the most mundane things can stir it to a life outside ourselves.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of The Empty Heart: A Collection, Gulf of the Plains, Congruencies and others.
Available on Kindle
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
A well-considered thought
I've waited for several days before voicing my opinion of the operation leading to Bin Laden's death and I'm finally ready to speak.
As Christians, we are told that we should not rejoice at the death of anyone; even an enemy. I must admit that I am not a 'good' Christian. My faith in God is stronger than ever, but my attachments to the artificial construct of organized religion are more tenuous than ever. Putting that aside for the remainder of this post; I must say that I have never been more glad to hear of the death of anyone than this one. I wish it had happened years ago as he waged war against the Russians in Afghanistan, he couldn't have been the driving force behind the attacks against us over the past fifteen or so years. A bullet was too good for him but it's good that there was no trial for the Arab world to claim was a product of a 'kangaroo court'. As it is, they have already claimed that he is still alive, refusing to believe that he was brought to justice, no matter how rough.
I have deviated from the express purpose of this blog for this one instance and will not repeat the action unless some other world-shaking occurrence comes to rattle us out of our beds.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of The Empty Heart: A Collection, Gulf of the Plains and others.
Available on Kindle
As Christians, we are told that we should not rejoice at the death of anyone; even an enemy. I must admit that I am not a 'good' Christian. My faith in God is stronger than ever, but my attachments to the artificial construct of organized religion are more tenuous than ever. Putting that aside for the remainder of this post; I must say that I have never been more glad to hear of the death of anyone than this one. I wish it had happened years ago as he waged war against the Russians in Afghanistan, he couldn't have been the driving force behind the attacks against us over the past fifteen or so years. A bullet was too good for him but it's good that there was no trial for the Arab world to claim was a product of a 'kangaroo court'. As it is, they have already claimed that he is still alive, refusing to believe that he was brought to justice, no matter how rough.
I have deviated from the express purpose of this blog for this one instance and will not repeat the action unless some other world-shaking occurrence comes to rattle us out of our beds.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of The Empty Heart: A Collection, Gulf of the Plains and others.
Available on Kindle
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Inspiration and the "muse"
First, I would like to say that I very rarely use the word muse when referring to where I get my inspiration for stories. I am driven by a need to create storylines, and ideas for stories seem to pop into my mind at odd times of the day and night. I have awakened from a sound sleep with an idea and I try to 'bookmark' the idea in my mind but I think I need to keep a notebook next to the bed. The ideas refuse to stay bookmarked.
Then there are the songs that I grew up with as a teen and young man. They awaken emotions within me that won't let me forget them and I take those emotions and create storylines from them. I don't mean that I take a song and dissect it; creating occurrences in my stories from the lines of a song. I mean that if a song makes me feel sad, angry, bitter, lonely or lost, you get the picture; I write from those emotions.
Sometimes I think about what my life would have been like if I had done something pivotal in my life differently, and I write about a character who has done what I think I should have done and project the lines of his or her life from there. It's no more complicated than that. I try to write with realism and the simplest, most effective way I know of doing that is to put myself in the place of the character and imagine what I would do, or what I should do, taking a different tack in each situation than I did in life. Perhaps that makes each of my stories somewhat autobiographical, but that's the way I do it. I think a lot of people do the same thing. Besides, many writers write about the unthinkable and suddenly, it isn't so unthinkable.
That's enough for today. Gotta go write about apocalyptic stuff.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Gulf of the Plains, The Empty Heart: A Collection and others
Available on Kindle
Then there are the songs that I grew up with as a teen and young man. They awaken emotions within me that won't let me forget them and I take those emotions and create storylines from them. I don't mean that I take a song and dissect it; creating occurrences in my stories from the lines of a song. I mean that if a song makes me feel sad, angry, bitter, lonely or lost, you get the picture; I write from those emotions.
Sometimes I think about what my life would have been like if I had done something pivotal in my life differently, and I write about a character who has done what I think I should have done and project the lines of his or her life from there. It's no more complicated than that. I try to write with realism and the simplest, most effective way I know of doing that is to put myself in the place of the character and imagine what I would do, or what I should do, taking a different tack in each situation than I did in life. Perhaps that makes each of my stories somewhat autobiographical, but that's the way I do it. I think a lot of people do the same thing. Besides, many writers write about the unthinkable and suddenly, it isn't so unthinkable.
That's enough for today. Gotta go write about apocalyptic stuff.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Gulf of the Plains, The Empty Heart: A Collection and others
Available on Kindle
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Better late than never
Yes, it is better late than never. I have found returning to the crushed land of my novel, Gulf of the Plains a little difficult. The sequel has been pretty tough sledding because of that difficulty. Nevertheless, the story continues to move along, though slowly, and I believe the sequel will be ready to publish in a month or so. For those who are familiar with my post-apocalyptic Gulf of the Plains, Paget continues to take centerstage and this time she has a new romantic interest. Readers will find that she has distanced herself even further from her former pop-star persona and is becoming a true post-apocalyptic warrior.
On another note, my book of short stories, The Empty Heart: A Collection, has been published and enjoyed a short run of sales that have been heartening. It has been featured on the bookslovecompany.com website and I hope that exposure will drive more sales. I enjoyed writing the shorts even more than I did writing the novels I have published. The cast of characters for the stories has been challenging and I believe they could almost live lives of their own.
That's enough for today. I have a ruined world to get back to and Paget is in a tough spot.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Gulf of the Plains, Congruencies and others
Available on Kindle
On another note, my book of short stories, The Empty Heart: A Collection, has been published and enjoyed a short run of sales that have been heartening. It has been featured on the bookslovecompany.com website and I hope that exposure will drive more sales. I enjoyed writing the shorts even more than I did writing the novels I have published. The cast of characters for the stories has been challenging and I believe they could almost live lives of their own.
That's enough for today. I have a ruined world to get back to and Paget is in a tough spot.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Gulf of the Plains, Congruencies and others
Available on Kindle
Friday, April 15, 2011
Yes, it's been a long time.
Very sorry, Everybody. It's been a long time since I posted on this blog and I apologize. Or, maybe I'm just apologizing to myself because I really don't know if anybody is reading any of this. In any event, I have published a new book on Amazon's Kindle and I think it is good. It is a book of short stories and I found while writing them that I seem to enjoy writing shorts more than I do writing novels. I'm not sure why that is, but the shorts seemed to have an energy to them that I missed in writing novels. maybe it was that I was able to address and utilize ideas that I had more quickly. Perhaps I'm not a patient writer. I really don't know. What I do know is that these shorts gave me more enjoyment while writing them than I experienced while writing novels. I like for the action to move fast and leave me feeling as though the story I just read was gone too soon. Whatever it is, I think the readers will like them.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of The Empty Heart: A Collection
Available on Kindle
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of The Empty Heart: A Collection
Available on Kindle
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Everybody wants a piece of the action
Hello! It's been quite some time since I posted on this blog and I have to say that I'm ashamed of myself for letting it slide.
Back to the title of this post: Yes, everybody wants a piece of the action because everybody is scraping along, trying to find ways of generating an income. Agents want a bite, Publishers want their not inconsequential piece of the pie and if you go the self-publishing route, everywhere you turn, someone has their hand out. If you aren't careful, you can wind up owing more than you realize from your work, and that is no way to get ahead. It is very important to approach your writing career as though it is a business. Especially when it comes to cash outlays. And, many of the companies you will have to do business with do not lay out your projected expenditures until you have committed to doing business with them. It is all too easy to sign on the dotted line, (figuratively), and learn at a later date that you owe much more than you can realize from your work in a short enough time to pay your new creditor. So far, I have avoided those pitfalls and must say that when I consider the manner in which I have conducted my business of writing/publishing, I am satisfied that I have not bitten off more than I can chew.
The rate at which I am working toward becoming a well-known author makes a snail look positively speedy, but at least I know that my writing will not put me in the poorhouse. The economy, after all, is doing that very handily.
To those prospective authors who may read this, I say, "Keep working and keep an eye on the finances."
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Gulf of the Plains, Congruencies and others.
Back to the title of this post: Yes, everybody wants a piece of the action because everybody is scraping along, trying to find ways of generating an income. Agents want a bite, Publishers want their not inconsequential piece of the pie and if you go the self-publishing route, everywhere you turn, someone has their hand out. If you aren't careful, you can wind up owing more than you realize from your work, and that is no way to get ahead. It is very important to approach your writing career as though it is a business. Especially when it comes to cash outlays. And, many of the companies you will have to do business with do not lay out your projected expenditures until you have committed to doing business with them. It is all too easy to sign on the dotted line, (figuratively), and learn at a later date that you owe much more than you can realize from your work in a short enough time to pay your new creditor. So far, I have avoided those pitfalls and must say that when I consider the manner in which I have conducted my business of writing/publishing, I am satisfied that I have not bitten off more than I can chew.
The rate at which I am working toward becoming a well-known author makes a snail look positively speedy, but at least I know that my writing will not put me in the poorhouse. The economy, after all, is doing that very handily.
To those prospective authors who may read this, I say, "Keep working and keep an eye on the finances."
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Gulf of the Plains, Congruencies and others.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
How do I come up with the names of characters?
Few people have asked me about this, but I have found it to be moderately difficult to do. Sure, you can write a piece and 'plug-in' names at a later date after you've waited for inspiration to help you out, but if you do that, you'll have a piece completed and still have blank spaces where the names of characters should be.
I read somewhere that baby name books were a good place to find names for characters and I've found that to be true. What I do is find a name that conjures up the way I feel about a character. If the meaning of the name also describes the personality of the character, then that's a good thing. People who read my stuff might get a kick out of looking up the names I give my characters in a baby name book. The meanings of the names have an indirect bearing on the story.
For villains, I sometimes use given names of public figures whom I don't like; never having met them, I am simply going on their appearance and demeanor when on camera in the news. Sometimes, a visceral reaction, or gut-feeling, is the best indicator of what a person may be like. I'm not saying that my characters parallel or copy any public figures. I just look at them and think, "I don't like that guy." Then I might use his or her middle name, or last name if it lends itself to use as a given name. NONE of my characters are based on REAL, ACTUAL people. As I said in an earlier post, I use stereotypes to build my characters.
Then there is the family connection. I sometimes use the surnames of my extended family for given names of minor, but pivotal characters. Sometimes, I use given names for surnames. Given my family's numerous connections with the founding of one small town or another, which are named for members of my family, those names are frequently the names of towns and counties.
I want to state that I NEVER, EVER, use real people in my works. The characters within my stories are cut from whole cloth, the inspiration of which comes from my mind.
That being said, I will close this post and make a promise, (probably empty) that I will try not to go so long between posts.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of It Happens Every Day
Available on Kindle
I read somewhere that baby name books were a good place to find names for characters and I've found that to be true. What I do is find a name that conjures up the way I feel about a character. If the meaning of the name also describes the personality of the character, then that's a good thing. People who read my stuff might get a kick out of looking up the names I give my characters in a baby name book. The meanings of the names have an indirect bearing on the story.
For villains, I sometimes use given names of public figures whom I don't like; never having met them, I am simply going on their appearance and demeanor when on camera in the news. Sometimes, a visceral reaction, or gut-feeling, is the best indicator of what a person may be like. I'm not saying that my characters parallel or copy any public figures. I just look at them and think, "I don't like that guy." Then I might use his or her middle name, or last name if it lends itself to use as a given name. NONE of my characters are based on REAL, ACTUAL people. As I said in an earlier post, I use stereotypes to build my characters.
Then there is the family connection. I sometimes use the surnames of my extended family for given names of minor, but pivotal characters. Sometimes, I use given names for surnames. Given my family's numerous connections with the founding of one small town or another, which are named for members of my family, those names are frequently the names of towns and counties.
I want to state that I NEVER, EVER, use real people in my works. The characters within my stories are cut from whole cloth, the inspiration of which comes from my mind.
That being said, I will close this post and make a promise, (probably empty) that I will try not to go so long between posts.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of It Happens Every Day
Available on Kindle
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Long time, no hear from
Good afternoon!
Yes, it has been a long time since I entered a post on this blog. I've been incredibly busy and not disposed to spend much time actually writing anything to speak of.
I have entered one of my novels in a competition and while I don't expect to win anything, like anybody else, I have high hopes or I wouldn't have entered the contest.
It's odd, but I have encountered more support from people that I have barely known than I have from people that are supposed to be my closest friends. Members of my family have been supportive, but it's the people who have claimed to be my best friends that have disappointed me the most. If you can imagine, people that I knew but who rarely noticed me in school, and haven't seen for forty years have displayed more support for my writing career than 'friends' that I see on a regular basis. It makes me wonder if jealousy has reared its head. I have noticed that they evince more support form people that they barely know than they have for me, and I believe that it's the old familiarity thing. You know, "familiarity breeds contempt". All I can say to any of that is that if they are jealous, they had their chance to attempt to make a name for themselves. If it's contempt they feel, then if I am successful, they will have missed their chance to be a part of my life that has been rewarding for me.
It just goes to show that it takes all kinds to make a world.
Yes, it has been a long time since I entered a post on this blog. I've been incredibly busy and not disposed to spend much time actually writing anything to speak of.
I have entered one of my novels in a competition and while I don't expect to win anything, like anybody else, I have high hopes or I wouldn't have entered the contest.
It's odd, but I have encountered more support from people that I have barely known than I have from people that are supposed to be my closest friends. Members of my family have been supportive, but it's the people who have claimed to be my best friends that have disappointed me the most. If you can imagine, people that I knew but who rarely noticed me in school, and haven't seen for forty years have displayed more support for my writing career than 'friends' that I see on a regular basis. It makes me wonder if jealousy has reared its head. I have noticed that they evince more support form people that they barely know than they have for me, and I believe that it's the old familiarity thing. You know, "familiarity breeds contempt". All I can say to any of that is that if they are jealous, they had their chance to attempt to make a name for themselves. If it's contempt they feel, then if I am successful, they will have missed their chance to be a part of my life that has been rewarding for me.
It just goes to show that it takes all kinds to make a world.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Coincidences within a plot
Good afternoon!
So, you pick up a book and find coincidences in it that are unbelievable? Examine your own life and you'll find that coincidences are much more common than you thought. I have traveled, not widely, but enough that I was in places where the last thing I expected was to encounter someone from my hometown; but that is exactly what happened. Not just once, but several times. And, I have met people who at first glance seemed to have nothing in common with me, but on getting to know them, found that they were well-acquainted with people that I had known my entire life. Then there are the people I have met who turned out to be related to me in ways that I could never have imagined. How did these people manage to find me among all the millions of people they had a chance to encounter. Coincidence. Bit in the butt by fate.
By putting coincidences in a plot, you make a nod to the unexplainable in life. Coincidence is a part of "real life", and I try to write in a realistic manner. There is no reason to make apologies for such things, or, really, to try to explain them. The reader either gets it or he/she doesn't. Life is full of coincidences and those of us who ignore them are doomed to live in a world that is dimmed by the absence of the wonder that they can produce.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Gulf of the Plains, Congruencies and others.
Available on Kindle
So, you pick up a book and find coincidences in it that are unbelievable? Examine your own life and you'll find that coincidences are much more common than you thought. I have traveled, not widely, but enough that I was in places where the last thing I expected was to encounter someone from my hometown; but that is exactly what happened. Not just once, but several times. And, I have met people who at first glance seemed to have nothing in common with me, but on getting to know them, found that they were well-acquainted with people that I had known my entire life. Then there are the people I have met who turned out to be related to me in ways that I could never have imagined. How did these people manage to find me among all the millions of people they had a chance to encounter. Coincidence. Bit in the butt by fate.
By putting coincidences in a plot, you make a nod to the unexplainable in life. Coincidence is a part of "real life", and I try to write in a realistic manner. There is no reason to make apologies for such things, or, really, to try to explain them. The reader either gets it or he/she doesn't. Life is full of coincidences and those of us who ignore them are doomed to live in a world that is dimmed by the absence of the wonder that they can produce.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Gulf of the Plains, Congruencies and others.
Available on Kindle
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
How much attention do you pay to critics?
Good morning!
I know, I know, it's been a while since I posted on this blog. Things happen and I get distracted and am unable to post. If this was my actual job and I was paid to do this, I would be more diligent. As it is, this is just what I do in my off-time.
Back to the title of this post. I pay little attention to critics. It's their job to criticize and they get paid to do it, so they criticize other people's work. Too many of them take it to heart and simply work at finding fault with the work of others who may or may not deserve some of the crappy reviews they receive. I would hate to think that my livelihood depended on being negative about the creative efforts of others. I mean, how can anyone keep their mind and attitude on an even keel when they spend their lives looking for the bad in works that they may not even comprehend or understand? How much of a toll can such unrelenting negativity take on a person's life? Never mind the effect it may have on the writer who may believe that he or she has written the next Great American Novel. Bad reviews can be a soul-crushing blow that some people cannot recover from, and to think that a reviewer may simply have written such a bad review because they thought the phrases they came up with sounded 'cute' or tripped lightly from the tongue, is simply too cruel a thing to think of. Maybe the critic thinks that by ripping the work of others to shreds, they can catapult themselves into 'stardom' the way that a well known 'judge' on one of my least favorite talent contest/reality shows did. (I don't like reality shows because they bear little or no resemblance to reality and deprive writers of opportunities to make a living.)
So, just how much attention should one pay to critics? However much you can stomach. Just keep in mind that the only effort critics make at being creative is what they put into tearing the heart out of writers who have come under their eye. And that's not creative, that's just being cruel. They know no more than you or I and earn a living from being negative and cruel with a drop of actual appreciation for the efforts of others now and then. Anyone you meet on the street can do as well.
No. I have not received a bad review from anyone regarding any of my works as yet, so this post is not a reaction to such a review. It's simply the way I feel about the topic.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Gulf of the Plains, Congruencies, Taken Apart and others.
Available on Kindle
I know, I know, it's been a while since I posted on this blog. Things happen and I get distracted and am unable to post. If this was my actual job and I was paid to do this, I would be more diligent. As it is, this is just what I do in my off-time.
Back to the title of this post. I pay little attention to critics. It's their job to criticize and they get paid to do it, so they criticize other people's work. Too many of them take it to heart and simply work at finding fault with the work of others who may or may not deserve some of the crappy reviews they receive. I would hate to think that my livelihood depended on being negative about the creative efforts of others. I mean, how can anyone keep their mind and attitude on an even keel when they spend their lives looking for the bad in works that they may not even comprehend or understand? How much of a toll can such unrelenting negativity take on a person's life? Never mind the effect it may have on the writer who may believe that he or she has written the next Great American Novel. Bad reviews can be a soul-crushing blow that some people cannot recover from, and to think that a reviewer may simply have written such a bad review because they thought the phrases they came up with sounded 'cute' or tripped lightly from the tongue, is simply too cruel a thing to think of. Maybe the critic thinks that by ripping the work of others to shreds, they can catapult themselves into 'stardom' the way that a well known 'judge' on one of my least favorite talent contest/reality shows did. (I don't like reality shows because they bear little or no resemblance to reality and deprive writers of opportunities to make a living.)
So, just how much attention should one pay to critics? However much you can stomach. Just keep in mind that the only effort critics make at being creative is what they put into tearing the heart out of writers who have come under their eye. And that's not creative, that's just being cruel. They know no more than you or I and earn a living from being negative and cruel with a drop of actual appreciation for the efforts of others now and then. Anyone you meet on the street can do as well.
No. I have not received a bad review from anyone regarding any of my works as yet, so this post is not a reaction to such a review. It's simply the way I feel about the topic.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Gulf of the Plains, Congruencies, Taken Apart and others.
Available on Kindle
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