The Confession

Okay, so I have been busy lately with family things and scout camp. This blog update is a little overdue. Hopefully I will make up for that with wittiness and intelligent comments. In case of failure in that purpose all I can say is, "At least it's better than reading your teenager's facebook.

After a long couple weeks of careful consideration I have decided to post about something that has been bothering me for a while. That is the presence of the bad guy's confession in books, movies, and especially television shows.

My wife watches several police type dramas on Hulu and Netflix. I noticed a common thread in many of the shows where after a lengthy investigation with many dead ends and red herrings, the street-smart cop and his sidekicks finally corner the bad guy.  He is trapped into coming clean in a lengthy confession and personal epiphany of his terrible wrong-doing.

Now I know that this is a huge pay-off for the regular viewer as our society loves to have someone else take the blame for bad stuff that happens. Trust me. I have enjoyed many a good, "Take that to your cell!" moment in TV drama. We all like to see the good guy triumph and the bad guy get what he deserves.

My problem is simply this. I believe that in the real world we are all the heroes of our own life's story. No one likes to think of themselves as the "bad guy" or evil. Most of us will never experience a life changing epiphany where we realize how evil we are, or feel sorrow at how much pain we have caused to other people. We like to feel that those bad acts are justified because the other person somehow asked for it, or deserved it because they are so bad.

For instance: How often have we seen a movie where the bad guy is so bad that we cheer for the good guy to kill him? After and hour or so of countless atrocities by the villain we actually want our hero to take him out for good. The villain has killed people, and we call it bad. Then it somehow becomes okay for us to want our white knight to ride in with vengeance, and soil his righteous armor by the same act?

Call me a hypocrite. I like those same movies.

The confession bugs me a little more. I have seen it done well at times, but I think the part that bothers me is when an author uses the confession to fill in plot holes, or introduce a mind-blowing twist. I feel it is cheap and lazy.

I simply have a hard time suspending disbelief when a hardened criminal breaks down in tears to explain that he killed the girl because he loved her. It is inconsistent with the man I have seen be so diabolical and deliberate throughout the rest of the movie or show. Be true to your character.

I almost like it better when the villain goes to jail cursing the police officer the whole way, and blaming everyone--even his own mother for not loving him--the whole way there. It is more true to real life. Think about it. What was the last thing you did that someone was offended by? Did you have a lucid moment of epiphany where you realized you just might be that person's villain?

Guy's Week

This last week my wife and step-daughter were out of town. This left me with my step-son, 3 biological sons, and our baby girl to play Mr. Mom with. While most of you are shuddering with visions of Michael Keaton in a flannel shirt, feeding his baby chili, I will have to tell you my week was nothing like that. I spent time taking my boys on their paper route, teaching them to make tin foil dinners on a grill, eating out at a pizza place with a play-land, and making various ice cream treats. It was pretty smooth.

Alas, I was not able to get much writing done as a result. I didn't even have time to write my blog.

I have been doing alot of visualizing though. Hanging out with two ten year old boys, with their eight year old brother, as well as my other six year old son, I was able to learn alot about my target audience. First, they have a pretty grown-up vocabulary. Even the six year old. They also are able to get very complex concepts. Finally, I learned that their love of violent video games was deeper than I was comfortable with.

All these things I will take into consideration as I work on my book. Dialogue, complexity, and video games will all play a part in my novel.

I am convinced that it is close to impossible for someone who isn't familiar with children to just decide to write a novel for the middle grade audience. They would talk down to them, miss the correct voice in dialogue, or just totally fail to pique their interest.

Lucky me. I can do research walking through my living room at home.

A Tale of Two (Movies) Stories

Last night my wife and I stayed up and watched a couple movies. (Which is why I didn't post at my regular Monday time.) The experience was pretty interesting.

Since I have been taking myself somewhat seriously as a writer I have studied the craft from a variety of sources. Authors, podcasts, and websites have supplied me with much of what just reading doesn't teach. (Though it does teach alot.) Usually I have discussions with my wife about what I have learned, and she is turning into quite the critic. We look for story elements when we watch movies, and discuss what we think after we watch them. Last night was no exception.

The first movie we watched was an epic, coming of age fantasy that felt like someone's role-playing game that just happened to be made into a movie. That being said I was able to find several positive merits in the film. The bones of a good story were there: interesting character arcs, conflict, and a great antagonist. However, the film missed the mark in developing those arcs, and the lines and acting were not adept at bringing out the story.

The movie began with a standard warrior hero as the protagonist only to change at the midpoint to be about the warrior's younger brother stepping into his birthright as a chosen-one type of dragon slayer. It developed the older brother's love interest and conflicts only to leave him as ineffective as other supporting characters at the climax. Further, another really cool character died for what appeared to be no good reason while the chosen one watched, screamed, and otherwise waited off camera while other characters reacted. It left me pondering where the movie missed, and what could have fixed it.

The second movie was a classic technology out of control movie where the character's lives are endangered by some really cool artificial intelligence that becomes smarter than everyone else. My wife's initial reaction was, "I know the good guy will win, but I hope it isn't just about the battle to destroy the technology." I agreed. That would be predictable and boring.

Lucky for me I had already seen this particular movie, and knew that an awesome thrill ride awaited for her viewing enjoyment. In the end the technology became smart enough to know that it was the problem, and ended up redeeming and sacrificing itself to save the main character and his love interest. The antagonist was so subtle that you didn't realize until late in the movie he was the bad guy. In the words of the Writing Excuses crew, It was, "Surprising, yet inevitable."

The first act of the second movie was a little slow in the setup, and the conflicts looked flimsy and manufactured, but kicked into overdrive in the second act. It was the complete reversal of the first movie that made all kinds of promises and failed to deliver. Even though I had seen the second movie previously it was an exciting ride.

My final synopsis is the first movie failed to deliver because of the presentation in the story telling, and the second movie thrilled because it took you past the promises made to the audience in the first act. For me, I learned that if you begin to set up a story and make promises, you have to full fill them in interesting and unexpected ways.

Writing for Middle Grade Readers

I am back from my run and ready to continue the habit of blogging on Mondays.

This week has been rather eventful for me since this my the first full week back as a writer. It is also my first full week of Summer Vacation. Between mowing the lawn/yardwork, fishing with the kids, running a paper route, and general family stuff I have actually spent quite a bit of time in the pre-writing process. (By the way, fishing is fantastic for that.) During the last year I actually have had a bit of time to prepare lots of crazy and fun ideas. I also received some great advice from both Brandon Mull, and Brandon Sanderson.

Brandon Mull was at a book signing in the local Barnes and Noble, and since my wife had everything published by him we were there. After waiting in line for a short time we got to the table, and I introduced myself telling him I was working on writing. He said, "Awesome! Write crazy stuff!" He then asked me if I had any questions for him. I asked, "How do you find time to write when you are also a Dad?" His answer was very insightful and helpful.

"When you aren't writing, be thinking about what is happening in scenes."

Now this may seem like a no-brainer, but I have thought about story ideas without ever actually thinking through a scene when I wasn't sitting down just to write. In other words, I had only ever thought through a scene right before I was preparing to write. With Mull's advice I was constantly visualizing scenes.

Several months ago I was able to get into a Twitter chat with Brandon Sanderson with the same question. I will post a link to his answer below, but the gist was the same. I had to make time to write, or do something else. What I ended up doing was taking a hiatus from actually writing, biding my time with ideas and development, while waiting for summer to come.

So here I am with several ideas waiting for me to tap the potential. With the many children between the ages of 8 to 10 in my home, and with my job teaching Special Education in a local junior high school I have finally decided to write for the middle grade audience. It was a tough decision to make as I love epic fantasy and young adult, but my writing voice trends toward those middle readers. The stories with be fantasy flavored.

Armed with my genre and with a specific audience, I have decided on the story to work on first. It involves a ghost and 12-13 year-old-students. That is all I will say for now.

Thanks for visiting!

Link- http://brandonsanderson.com/article/92/Tweets-October-31-November-14-2011 
Conversation-
justinkjeppesen Mon Nov 14
#torchat @BrandSanderson Any suggestions for finding time to write for a full time dad with a full time non-writing job?

BrandSanderson Mon Nov 14
@justinkjeppesen It depends on whether or not your day job is creatively draining. If it is writing/programming, etc (more)

BrandSanderson Mon Nov 14
@justinkjeppesen You'll have a much harder time, as those jobs flex the same muscles as novel writing. #torchat

BrandSanderson Mon Nov 14
@justinkjeppesen The people I've known who do it tend to get up an hour early, before their brain is worn out, and write then. #torchat

BrandSanderson Mon Nov 14
@justinkjeppesen Basically, you'll have to give something up. Television, video games, golf, something. (But not family time.) #torchat

Hiatus over

I am back!

This last year has been a crazy year! Having my boys come live with me was great, but hard on the writing. All in all, I don't feel bad about making the sacrifice to be a father. As a result of my time with my children and step-children, I have some fantastic middle grade novel ideas. (Sorry no spoilers!)

School is out for the summer, and I have some time now to sit and write. It feels strange to once again set goals, and brainstorm story ideas after taking so long off. I hope to get back on track, and crank out some serious wordage.

Now it has come to it, I think that my writing will be better as a result of prioritizing my life. You can never get time with your children back.

Technology in Schools

So last week my school district bought iPads for all of the special education teachers it employs. This was pretty exciting for me since my wife has a first generation iPad, and I have been watching her play with it in envy. We had a great training on all the features, as well as educational apps. Let's just say I was very impressed with the features that allow blind, or otherwise impaired individuals use it.

I began thinking of classroom applications for the iPad, and even used some of my special education funds to buy a pair of iPod touches to use with my students who have learning disabilities in reading. Audio books will be used next year with my eighth grade students who read on a 1st or 2nd grade level. With books like The Adventures of Tom Sayer, and The Diary of Anne Frank on their reading list those students would otherwise struggle to keep up. They would probably not learn much.

One of the other teachers in my school is responsible for the students with Aspergers Syndrome, a form of Autism. She has been using an iPad with her students all year with great success. They are able to dictate essays they would have otherwise been unable to write. They have been able to enjoy online educational content. They have even been able to address their sensory needs. Impressive.

Now I am not trying to say that audio books, or other technology will replace good old fashioned paper books anytime soon. What I will say is that I believe that this technology will make books more accessible to people who would have passed on reading in the past. For writers this is great news. News that I feel strongly enough to share on my writing blog. It is helpful to have a foot in the educational realm, especially when I spend a good portion of my time with my target audience for my YA stories. Hopefully you find this information helpful too.

Motivation

Recently I have read alot of blogs written by both writers, and future hopeful writers. The interesting thing I have found is that most writers have, at one time or another, thought their writing is absolute crap. I am hitting that point. Actually it is somewhat encouraging to see that I am going through stages that published writers have experienced.

Many budding writers at one time, or another read published works and think, "I can do that!" Then they sit down to write and find it is more difficult than we thought. Well laid plans fall flat, and we fall out of love with our own ideas. We become bored.

Following a period where we decide we should give up our writing habit and get a real job, (or part time job because we already have a job to support our writing dreams), parents, spouses, or friends encourage us and we start again.

We keep coming back to our urge to write, our desire to explore places and people who exist only in our imagination. Inside of us we have a story that must be told, a view of the world that we wish to share with others.

It is actually comforting to me to see that I am going through the cycle. It means I am doing the work. Many authors take years to break in only after putting in the time to learn their craft. Is it hard to realize your story won't keep your audience's interest? You bet. Frustrating. Is it difficult when you write something you feel is really good, share it with your critique group or alpha readers, only to find that you have made rookie mistakes in grammar and punctuation? Oh yeah. Embarrassing. We must understand that this is the price we must pay to earn our place as authors.

If you find yourself in this place as I have, pat yourself on the back. You are on the right track.

Spring Break

This week is Spring Break for me, and I have the week off from teaching. I have been able to spend time with my family and writing in the last few days. It has been a welcome break as this time of year can become pretty stressful.

I am currently a couple chapters into a realistic fiction middle grade novel. It is a story about a 7th grade boy who learns about friendship while dealing with social pressures, bullies, and girls. I haven't had this much fun writing in a long time. I'm not using an outline, but the story just rolls onto the page. I guess all those years working with junior high students has given me a wealth of inspiration to draw from.

In other news I am finishing Brandon Sanderson's Alcatraz book 4. Alcatraz and the Shattered Lens. It is a very quick read, and hilarious. My wife gives me concerned looks when I bust out laughing in the middle of a chapter. Then I read it back to her, and she laughs too.

Well, it's back to writing for me for now!

Writing Update

So I have been really good the last few weeks, and have started writing consistently on a couple different stories. The first is an Epic Fantasy about a royal child that his uncle takes and raises because he is slated to be sacrificed. I get up early in the morning and write for about an hour. So I am able to get about 500 words each day. The second story is a middle grade story that I write around 250 words during my lunch at school. It is a snarky tale of a young man who learns self-esteem through an experience into a fantasy realm.

Daylight savings messed me up a little, but so far I have the first chapter of each story done. I hope to have 5000 total words this month and a good chapter to submit to my writing group at Farland's Writer's Group Forums next month. Now on to my writing group critiques...

New Baby!

Okay, so I have been out of commission on my blog here for a couple weeks on account of my wife giving birth to our new baby girl. This makes seven children total for us, but she is the first joint effort. Needless to say, I have been a bit busy helping out with domestic chores and running other children.

This time off has allowed me time to brainstorm and rethink some of my story ideas. I am fleshing out some characters and have followed some of David Farland's/Wolverton's advice from his daily writing kicks. Much of that information is invaluable to revisit when you are at various points in writing.

I am currently trying to make my ideas for character more interesting. One of my weaknesses as a new-ish writer is that I get into a story and find that I just don't have enough conflict or mystery to make it interesting. As a result my writing grows stale. It falls flat. The outcome is yet another unfinished story that I have become bored with. I reviewed Mr. Farland's essay's on outlining. I highly recommend it for anyone in my shoes.

Forming a habit

I was able to write a couple thousand words this week and feel that it was quite a good writing week. I find it funny that after I have read what I have written I start feeling like my prose is, well, stupid. However, as I read what other authors have written, I don't feel that my writing is sub-par. I wonder if other authors have a love-hate relationship with their writing as well. Something to think about.

Anyway, the most difficult thing I have found for a budding author such as myself to deal with is forming the habit to write daily. Working on several projects has definitely helped me to find the interest in going back to words that I have previously written.  It is also something that I just have to sit down and dedicate myself to do. With work, kids, house chores, and a baby on the way it is difficult to find time.

Brandon Mull gave me some great advice the last time he was at the local bookstore. I told him of my plight in finding time and asked how he did it. First he laughed and said that he took a year off. Then he told me something I have made a part of my day. He said, "When you don't have time to write, visualize the scene. Get the details down then when you have some spare time, write." Great advice, and it has worked. I find all sorts of ideas and scenes popping into my head--sometimes at the wrong time! But hey, at least I have no shortage of things to write about.

The long week...

I write this as I am sitting home from school sick. This week has been very busy with having my children over the weekend and preparing for a new baby in a couple weeks. I spent the weekend mostly playing with my boys and setting up baby stuff like the crib. I have done alot of reading and listening to Writing Excuses and I am learning alot.

A major thing I learned about myself is that I need to have several projects going at one time. I want to be one of those writers that blows through a novel and moves on to the next product, but it isn't to be. I find that what I actually do is write on something until it starts feeling stale to me. Then I have to take a break from it and write on something else that is pulling at me. This helps to keep my ideas feeling fresh. It is easier to keep up 500 words per day when I feel that way. It won't work for everyone this way, but as writers we need to learn about ourselves in order to be effective. I can't try to write like other established authors. I need to be me.

In other news I have been reading Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson and only have about 200 pages left. When I am finished I plan to do a review on my blog. I have also been reading parts of the Wheel of Time series to pick up some tricks, and yes, I have harkened back to the past and have read some parts of the Dragonlance books. I find that reading in the style I write helps me write better.

Cheers until next week!

Brainstorming

This week I have spent alot of time brainstorming and organizing the ideas in my head. I never seem to have a shortage of ideas, but I do have difficulty once I have my ideas organized in an outline staying excited about my current project. I have found out that I am great at outlining and the idea part, but becoming consistent in working on it after that is my downfall. This would be what I believe the Writing Excuses trio would call "World Builder's Disease".

I have done alot of thinking and studying on this problem, (mostly studying myself) and I think that I need to cut out all my extracurricular activities such as tv and videogames until I have reached my daily goal of 500 words. Goals and deadlines have always been helpful to me, so I will use that to help myself. I would suggest something similar for anyone struggling to write. It takes dedication, and self-discipline, both things I need to cultivate in myself.

I plan to use this blog as a journal of sorts to reflect on my progress, and work on self-discipline. If I am able to help others as I share my process that will be an added bonus. Cheers.

Beginnings

I have finally taken my first step to becoming a professional author. I have been writing and learning for a while, taking points from writers such as David Farland, Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. I have done alot of learning from Writing Excuses, and am a member of Farland's Writers' Groups. With this blog, I plan to log my journey in writing publishable work for others to reference. I also plan to post short stories and ideas on this page for review and feedback from my followers. I consider myself a fantasy author who sometimes dabbles in science fiction.

To date I have published some short children's stories on non-paying ezines and one article on the Utah Special Educator as I am a special education teacher.

http://158.91.165.5/fmi/xsl/special_educator/article.xsl?-db=sped_articles_searchable_ol&-lay=cgi&-recid=645&-find=