Writing

When I was on my way home to Columbus for Christmas recently, I brought along some of JoAnn McFatter's CDs that she sent me. I had been feeling a bit guilty that I had not heard them all and what better opportunity to listen than when I am driving for eight hours?

So one that I listened to was Cloud by Day. Here I heard my new favorite JoAnn song. Track 8, Take Me Away. I talked to JoAnn about it later and she told me it was spontaneous. Prophetic worship. One only need hear the transition from track 8 to track 9 to know this is true. ("Surround me......Like a marshmallow.......")

I have a great admiration for my friend JoAnn because she works without a net.

When I wrote Soon Will Come the Light, I was working the same way. I just sat down and wrote. I didn't think, I didn't outline, I had no idea where the book was going or where it would end.

I wrote for the sake of the writing.

I sang for the sake of the song.

It worked.

But then the book was published and all at once I am professional writer. I felt like I had to write like a professional writer. So one thing I did was to start using Storyview 2.0, which gave me a net.

The problem is now that I have a net, I can't write.

This is evident to anyone who's read Light on the Horizon, which was written with an outline.

I have had an idea for a book for a couple of years now that I have been wanting to write. I have tried and tried and tried again to outline it, but it isn't working. I can see the plot in my head, I know how it evolves, but when I try to outline it, I get nowhere.

Yet this is what professional writers do. They outline before they write. But it isn't working for me.

So I am going back to writing to writing without a net.

Stay tuned...

As I have been working on reorganizing the blog, I have seen it has been (sigh) over a year since I have posted in this category of WRITING. I thought I would give you an update on what I have been doing along those lines.

First, I have been working on a manual on how to safely and effectively program a T.E.N.S. unit for maximum pain relief. I have reservations about putting this out there, I don't want to get sued if something goes wrong.

Also, I have been working on a piece of autism fiction that I am hoping will be published. It is somewhat of a sci/fi novel told from the point of view of a boy with autism, including many of his private thoughts. My goal here is to try to give an insider's view of autism from a completely different venue than the current non-fiction and biographies that are out there.

I haven't been able to write much on either of them lately, but I do want to get back to them and get them done. I will post updates here as I am able.

Years ago, after I first moved here to Bedford, I picked up somewhere an old Compaq Portable III computer. I called it my "Writing Station" and put it in a corner of the room and I used to do my writing on it.

I recently sold it for $20.00 at a yard sale.

Now I have a new Writing Station. I have a Toshiba Libretto 70CT. The size is right, as you can see, and the one I have has 19 different operating systems on it. I plan on using one of them, Windows 98. Maybe a bit of Windows 3.1 on occasion.

I have wanted one of these for many years and I am glad to finally have one. But I have found that while the size is right, the memory isn't. It has 16MB of memory in it, and in order to run the outline and word processing software I need to, I will need to find another 16MB of memory.

But it takes a proprietary chip (which you can't get anymore so it has to be used) and that takes the price up. I have seen it anywhere from $40.00 to $80.00 and more.

In the meantime, I am using a Texas Instruments TravelMate 5200 laptop. I got it back in the mid nineties when I was serving on the board of directors of the Autism Society of America.

I can't believe after all I have put it through the past decade that it is still running at all.

It has been a while since that last post below. I have decided, wisely I think, to scrap the SuperFriends story.

I just couldn't write it. I wanted to, but I couldn't because to write for the SuperFriends, you have to write badly, and I just couldn't do that. I wrote three chapters and had to stop because I got tired of writing all those interjections!

Great Gotham!
Great Hera!
Great Krypton!
Great Wings of Mercury!
Great Lightning!
By the beard of Poseidon!
By Robin Hood's Bow! (Okay, that's my favorite. I admit it.)
Holy smoke, Batman! The church is on fire!

I tell you true, people, I just couldn't keep writing those.

Still, the idea was a good one. As Lex Luthor and Brainiac start a fire to cover tracks for a theft for the new Hall of Doom, it inadvertantly causes tragedy for the SuperFriends.

Well, I guess I can't tell you anymore, because I want to put the outline of the story on the site. I will link to it from this blog when I get it up, and you can read it yourself.

I was watching an episode of the Super Friends yesterday. Well, several episodes, really. From the first season with Wendy, Marvin and Wonderdog, all the way to the final season, with Firestorm and Cyborg.

And I had an idea that would reunite the original 13 members of the Legion of Doom.

I started an outline for it today. I figure I can get this outlined and written in a week or less, post it on my site, then go back to mroe serious things.

And I can get some writing and outline practice in while I am doing it. :)

In writing the church Christmas play this year, I am using a program called Hollywood Screenwriter.

True, this software has constantly gotten bad reviews, but for the beginning screenwriter (or for the guy writing a church play), it is not all that bad. And the price can't be beat, that's for sure. Tipping the scales at $59.99, this software costs a lot less than most screenwriting software, which can easily be upwards of two or three hundred dollars.

the reason you will want screenwriting software is that it formats the screenplay for you, to the exacting (and unforgiving) screenplay format. Using only the TAB and RETURN keys, you can have your script formatted appropriately, without all that hassle of working to get things just write. You can focus on the writing instead of the formatting.

This program is low on features, yes, but it does format the screenplay for you. That's what most of us want.

The one tihng that annoys me about this software is that you must have the CD inserted in order for the software to run. Once the software is running, you can remove the CD. The way I get around this is simply by making a copy of the CD and storing the original in a safe place so I don't lose it. I used a LightScribe CD so I could make a fancy label.

For the serious screenwriter, this software just won't do. But for the person tinkering with writing his first few screenplays, this is a good program to get your feet wet on.

I'll post sample output with this program soon.

As promised, click here to see sample output of StoryView program.

This is an outline I wrote that I will (or won't) make into a novel someday. The outline is complete.

I remembered this morning, after my parents left, that I had a writing deadline I need to deal with. UGH. I hate deadlines.

I am writing a stage play for the children of my church, Lion of Judah Ministries. This is to be the Christmas play this year.

We start the play one year after the A Charlie Brown Christmas TV special, from 1965. Now, a year later, Charlie Brown is sitting in his classroom and again, Christmas has become commercial. "No one understands the true meaning of Chrustmas!" Charlie Brown cries. Of course the teacher sends him to the principal's office for yelling in class, and things go from there.

This has to be done by September, so I better get back to work on it. I only have like three or four pages written so far.

Good grief.

Here is a list of things I have on the back burner to be writing soon. The following are in no particular order, as I have no idea what order I plan to write them in.

--------------------------------------
Soon Will Come the Light

Screenplay

Hollywood Screenplay based upon the book, Soon Will Come the Light, also by Thomas A. McKean.
--------------------------------------
The Clover Chronicles

Outline & Novel.

When a science fiction author goes for a walk to clear her writer's block, she unintentionally begins an adventure similar to something she herself would write when a fairy from another world gives her a bracelet that bestows upon her super powers.

The fairy then tells her there is a great evil close by, an evil so great that the evil is overflowing into his own world. She is assigned by the fairy to stop the evil. But what will be come of the bracelet if she succeeds?

And what will become of her, the earth, and the other world if she fails?
--------------------------------------
Ring of Darkness / Ring of Light

Outline & Novel.

Somewhere, in a land far, far from our own, a wise king decides he is too old to reign. So he fashions two rings of power, using the planet's advanced technology. One, he gives his daughter, who takes the northern hemisphere. The other, he gives his son, who takes the south.

But the son's ring contains a programming error that turns the son evil. The king goes insane, takes both rings, imprisons his son and daughter in them, and finally throws them into what he calls the Dark Dimension.

But prophecy has foretold that many centuries in the future, the rings will be found by yet another brother and sister, and that the never ending battle of good and evil will continue.

Meanwhile, back on earth, a young girl is out hiking with her girl scout troop when she happens to spot a small ring, deep in the woods...
--------------------------------------
Isis: False Goddess

Outline for web publication: Sequel to Isis: Dark Goddess outline, already published on the web.

A charasmatic preacher accuses Isis of being a false goddess and convinces many Isis fans to turn against her, all in the name of Jesus.

Meanwhile, there is a rise in crime in Larkspur, CA. Could these two things be related? How can Isis protect the populace if they keep attacking her and telling her to go away?

How can she resolve the issue of her being a false goddess?
--------------------------------------
Speed Racer: The Spritle Generation

Outline for web publication.

Many years have passed since Speed has won the race around the world. Spritle has his own car, the Mach 7, and has taken up the racing mantle of his brother.

Spritle receives word that his long lost brother, Rex, needs his help. Aided by the mysterious Racer Z, Spritle goes to the rescue.

But is it really Rex that has summoned Spritle, or is it something far more sinister?

And who is Racer Z? And what has become of Chim Chim?
--------------------------------------

Of course, this list is subject to change... :)

Wanted to mention, since that last post, what kind of software I am using for outlines.

Now a lot of people don't like doing outlines. They say it is tedious and unnecessary. Well, yes, it is tedious, but if you want a good story, it is very necessary! You can easily write yourself into a corner there is no getting out of without one. Believe me, I know. I have done it more than once!

So of course I went off in search of outlining software. There are many programs out there to do this, but what I prefer to use is a program called, StoryView.

The new(er) version 2.0 allows you to outline two separate ways, but I prefer the traditional. You can customize and configure this beastie just about any way you want to, so you can write how you want to write.

Using this program will make you a better writer.

I will post a link to an outline I wrote using it soon. So you can see what it does.

This is where I will talk a bit what the things I am writing.

For instance, right now, I have two projects going, both in the outlining stage. First, I have a Star Trek story I am working on, called Descent of the Gods, starring our old friends, Kirk, Spock, and McCoy, along with Uhura. Of course, since Uhura is going planetside, our other old friend, M'Ress will have to take over communications. And Scotty will be in command of the Enterprise.

But command is not something he wants! For no sooner does the landing party beam down to the planet Olympus, when the ship loses contact! Olympus is worshipped somewhat as a god itself in that part of the universe. When Starfleet finds evidence it was once inhabited (the local folk believe it was once inhabited by gods), they send Kirk & crew to investigate. But then they disappear.

Can Scotty get them back on board? And what is the strange and powerful secret of Olympus?

This outline will be published on the site as soon as it is complete.

The other project I am working on is for a novel. It is about a young autistic boy who is pulled into another realm, where he learns who and what he is. This is a sci-fi/fantasy novel I am hoping to publish.

More later.