Why You Need To Let Your Book Cool (It's Not The Story... It's You!)

Most of us have the experience of going nose-blind to something. If you're a cat owner, it might be your furry companion's litterbox. If you have (or were) a teenage boy, it's the fact that their room has that particular funk in it that only handling your laundry and doing some deep cleaning will fix. In short, when you spend all day, every day hip deep in something, you grow desensitized to it. It's only by leaving to go run errands, or to take a weekend trip, that you realize exactly how bad the smell is, making you wonder if something happened while you were gone.

This is why it's important for you to take a break between writing a story, and editing it. It's not for the book... it's for you. Because if you go back in desensitized to all the flaws, you aren't going to be able to clean it up the way it deserves.

And trust me... you want all those smells out of your story.

But before I get into the meat of today's post, remember, don't forget to sign up for my newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron! Also, be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree.

Lastly, for hundreds of extra articles on gaming, weird history, and for more free fiction, check out my Vocal archive, too!

You Need To Be Fresh Before You Edit

We've all been at that point where we cross the finish line on a story, panting and exhausted. We've been in this world for so long, and we're tired of it. We don't want to think about it anymore, we just want it to be done. And for your first draft, that is perfectly acceptable. However, to return to one of my favorite metaphors, this is why you take breaks between sets at the gym.

Yes, I'm going somewhere with this.

When you lift weights, you need to maintain good form in order for the exercise to put the strain on the right places, and to not hurt yourself. However, when you get tired, your form starts to slip. This means you start compensating with other muscles, and sometimes you just push through to get the right number of reps instead of focusing on the quality of those reps. This is one reason you're supposed to rest between sets; it gives your body time to recuperate, and to come back at it with the proper energy.

If you don't take time to rest when it comes to editing, then you're not going to be going in with good form. You're just going to be performing the action (physically reading the words on the page) without actually getting the intended result (analyzing your story to see where improvements need to be made). Because just reading your story again won't make it better... that's just going through the motions because, well, that's the next step.

That's the point of hitting save, and then not looking at your story again for a little while. A week, at least. Two weeks is better. Because this gives your brain time to rest and recuperate. It's even better if you can work on something totally different as a palate cleanser. Even if it's just something small like doing some outlining, it makes a difference. Because then you can come back to the job of improving your story with a refreshed mind, and a sharpened wit.

And you'll be able to actually smell the bad parts once you've been out of the house for a while, so to speak.

Support The Literary Mercenary

If you want to see me produce more work, consider some of the following options!

- My Facebook

- My Blue Sky

- My LinkTree

- My Weekly Newsletter

- The Azukail Games YouTube Channel (where I contribute video content)

- The A.L.I.C.E. Files (a channel full of short stories, many of which are mine)

And if you happen to have some spare dosh lying around, and you want to be sure my supply doesn't run low, consider become a Patreon patron, or leaving a tip by Buying Me a Ko-Fi!

Also, if you're curious about how to write for tabletop RPGs, don't forget to check out my show Tabletop Mercenary, which you can find on both the Azukail Games channel!

Like, Follow, and Come Back Again!

That's all for this week's Craft of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or my most recent short story collection The Rejects!

 

And to stay on top of all my latest news and releases, collected once a week, make sure you subscribe to The Literary Mercenary's mailing list. 

If you'd like to help support my work, then consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page! Lastly, to keep up with my latest, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well!

You Should Know Your Story's Theme Before You Start Writing

A lot of authors tend to disregard the more academic parts of writing because it just seems like a bunch of airy, empty talk. You're focused on the characters, the plot, the emotions, and getting down in the trenches to really make your story pop. However, while we can debate all day about symbolic meaning in a work (sometimes it's a subtle reference to the hidden depths of sadness in a character, and sometimes the curtains are just fucking blue), one thing that is worth thinking about is your story's theme.

Because it's going to show up whether you intend it or not... so you should think about it ahead of time.

And it will help. Especially when figuring out where you're going with this story.

But before I get into the meat of today's post, remember, don't forget to sign up for my newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron! Also, be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree.

Lastly, for hundreds of extra articles on gaming, weird history, and for more free fiction, check out my Vocal archive, too!

Which Idea Recurs Throughout Your Story?

First and foremost, we need a singular definition of what a theme actually is. The definition that I'm going to be using for this is, "An idea that recurs in, or pervades, a work of art or literature."

And for folks who need an example, I'll share one of my own here.

Crier's Knife is my dagger-and-witchcraft fantasy novel about Dirk Crier going casting for his cousin when something goes wrong. This eventually leads him to a town to the far north that hides a dark and dangerous secret that Dirk simply has to deal with. Mechanically, it's a fairly simple story with a flat arc protagonist who has been given a goal he needs to achieve.

So what are the themes of this book? Things that recur time and again, or which could be used to categorize some of the plot?

One theme is that power must be used responsibly. We see this in the contrast between the Criers, and the cult that Dirk runs into in the northlands. The Criers are stewards of their area, and they only use as much of their talents as is necessary to protect themselves and others. The cult, on the other hand, seeks power and control, which brings them into conflict as they seek to grow, and to take more territory as they attempt to become a new empire. We also see it in how Dirk personally chooses to use his own abilities, favoring restraint because he understands that due to the nature of his gift, once it's been unleashed, he can't take it back. One could also argue about the nature of duty, family, and loyalty as themes throughout the book, as well, though they're less front-and-center than the question of power, restraint, and responsibility.

Now, with all of that said, I'll be the first to admit those were not my intentional themes when I sat down to write this story. I was very much focused on the worldbuilding, the characterization, the plot, and making sure the flow had a classic sword and sorcery feel. However, the themes I mentioned are still very much present in the story, whether or not I intended them to be there.

In that way, theme is kind of like genre. You can deliberately choose your genre or theme, and include it in the work as part of your scaffolding when you're getting it on the page, or you can locate it afterward in the editorial phase. However, themes are going to be present in your story, so it's best to sit down and think about this aspect when you start... because while happy accidents sometimes happen, you generally get more out of deliberate effort than you do out of lucky happenstance.

Support The Literary Mercenary

If you want to see me produce more work, consider some of the following options!

- My Facebook

- My Blue Sky

- My LinkTree

- My Weekly Newsletter

- The Azukail Games YouTube Channel (where I contribute video content)

- The A.L.I.C.E. Files (a channel full of short stories, many of which are mine)

And if you happen to have some spare dosh lying around, and you want to be sure my supply doesn't run low, consider become a Patreon patron, or leaving a tip by Buying Me a Ko-Fi!

Also, if you're curious about how to write for tabletop RPGs, don't forget to check out my show Tabletop Mercenary, which you can find on both the Azukail Games channel!

Like, Follow, and Come Back Again!

That's all for this week's Craft of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sci-fi dystopian thriller Old Soldiers, the Hardboiled Cat series about a mystery solving Maine Coon in Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or my most recent short story collection The Rejects!

 

And to stay on top of all my latest news and releases, collected once a week, make sure you subscribe to The Literary Mercenary's mailing list. 

If you'd like to help support my work, then consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page! Lastly, to keep up with my latest, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well!

Foreshadowing: The Magic Trick Of Your Novel

If you've ever been to a magic show, you understand foreshadowing. It's when the magician starts by telling you a story, bringing up subtle music, and signaling for the stage lights to change. It's when the choreography kicks in, and the setup for the trick becomes a whole show. It is all of that flash, the lore, the mystery, and the lead up that makes the trick really land for the audience. Because the magician could just walk out, and perform an act of sleight-of-hand too fast for the viewer's eyes to follow... but it won't be the same without all the smoke and mirrors.

So when you write your book, consider your setup, and the dance you're doing with your readers to set their expectations for when you reach the crescendo of your story... because it will affect how hard your big reveal lands when you pull back the curtain!

Even a simple card trick needs a bit of theater to it.

But before I get into the meat of today's post, remember, don't forget to sign up for my newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron! Also, be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree.

Lastly, for hundreds of extra articles on gaming, weird history, and for more free fiction, check out my Vocal archive, too!

The Prestige, And Your Plot

For those who have seen the film The Prestige, you've heard the explanation in the introduction about how a great magic trick exists in three parts; The Pledge, The Turn, and The Prestige. The Pledge is where the magician shows you a perfectly normal thing, like a bird, a coin, or a metal ring, letting you see that it is completely normal. The Turn is when something seemingly impossible happens; the bird disappears, the solid metal rings connect with one another, or a particular card vanishes from the deck. Last is the Prestige, which is where the magician reveals the final trick; they find your card, the assistant that seemed to be in pieces is whole again, and so on.

Planting the seeds of foreshadowing can be thought of in the same way.

Magic often happens in the margins.

The Pledge is when you initially start planting your seeds in the story. Maybe you're looking to show your hero is going to fall, and become a villain in a future arc, so you show them having an emotional outburst, talking about a secret, or something that shows they have the capacity to be terrible or brutal. The Turn is when we see the foreshadowing begin to manifest in a material way. A concrete step down the path toward the payoff. There may be several Turns in your foreshadowing. The Prestige is when the final reveal happens, and the foreshadowing is completely paid off.

Consider one of the more obvious pieces of foreshadowing from pop culture; the fall of Anakin Skywalker. We see him as a child, being told by the overarching villain that he looks forward to seeing what will come from Anakin in the future. We see him grow, train as a jedi, and become a warrior, a general, and a hero. But we also catch glimpses of the terrible violence inside of him, the darkness, the hate, and the fear. We see him make a deal with the devil as he turns to Palpatine. In the end we see him fight Obi-Wan, lose, and nearly die, before he is resurrected as the cybernetic Darth Vader, and the foreshadowing of that arc is paid in full.

Alternatively, you could take an even bigger view of the setting for another foreshadowing; the idea of bringing Balance To The Force. The Pledge is when we are told Anakin will do this. The Turn is that when he falls to the Dark Side, he seems to have proven the prophecy false. Then after Luke's story, we see that it was through Anakin's bloodline (if not through his person) that balance was found. Prophetic plots are often a good source of foreshadowing.

Foreshadowing isn't just for clever navel-gazing novels, you know.

 

And if you're someone who wonders why foreshadowing is even necessary in a book, well, consider books that suffer from Scooby-Doo Syndrome.

Even if you've never seen me use this phrase before, you know what I'm talking about. If you watch classic episodes of the Scooby-Doo cartoon, many times it turns out the person behind the mask is a character we've never seen in the episode, haven't heard mentioned, and there's no way we could have deduced who person was going to be under the sheet, the clown makeup, or whatever costume they were wearing. There were no clues for the audience to follow, and there was no foreshadowing about who the person was... so when it came time for the big reveal it was impossible to predict, because it felt like the writers just randomly pulled someone out of their back pocket as the villain.

That is what happens when a story lacks foreshadowing. Resolutions can feel jarring, character actions can seem like they came out of nowhere, and it can feel like the story just took abrupt twists and turns with no warning or explanation. Foreshadowing can be subtle, or it can be decidedly unsubtle, whichever suits your story. For an example of the latter, if you watch the film Automaton Transfusion one of our leads says of the jerk he deals with at school, "I'd just like to ram a chainsaw in his face," which happens by the end of the third act.

Just remember that good foreshadowing is like a good magic trick. It engages, it captivates, and the timing is everything.

Support The Literary Mercenary

If you want to see me produce more work, consider some of the following options!

- My Facebook

- My Blue Sky

- My LinkTree

- My Weekly Newsletter

- The Azukail Games YouTube Channel (where I contribute video content)

- The A.L.I.C.E. Files (a channel full of short stories, many of which are mine)

And if you happen to have some spare dosh lying around, and you want to be sure my supply doesn't run low, consider become a Patreon patron, or leaving a tip by Buying Me a Ko-Fi!

Also, if you're curious about how to write for tabletop RPGs, don't forget to check out my show Tabletop Mercenary, which you can find on both the Azukail Games channel!

Like, Follow, and Come Back Again!

That's all for this week's Craft of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sci-fi dystopian thriller Old Soldiers, the Hardboiled Cat series about a mystery solving Maine Coon in Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or my most recent short story collection The Rejects!

 

And to stay on top of all my latest news and releases, collected once a week, make sure you subscribe to The Literary Mercenary's mailing list. 

If you'd like to help support my work, then consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page! Lastly, to keep up with my latest, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well!

You Don't Have To Write A Novel (There Are Other Kinds Of Books)

Writing a novel is a very particular skill set, and it combines a lot of different disciplines into a single piece of storytelling. You have to be able to create characters that get people invested, you need to set the scene, describe what's happening, and you need to be able to build a world, write a history, and construct a plot that isn't going to fall apart as your readers try to walk over it.

However, just because you want to be an author, that doesn't mean you have to be a novelist. Not every story needs to be a novel, and not every book needs to have a story. I say this to remind people there are all kinds of ways to write books, and you need to be honest with your own skills, as well as with your desires as a writer.

Don't fight yourself to create one thing when you might be happier creating something else entirely.

Seriously... there are ALL sorts of books out there!

But before I get into the meat of today's post, remember, don't forget to sign up for my newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron! Also, be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree.

Lastly, for hundreds of extra articles on gaming, weird history, and for more free fiction, check out my Vocal archive, too!

You Can Make Whatever You Want

I have met a lot of writers over the course of my life. Some of them were novelists through and through... others, though, struggled to fit into that mold. They might have had a story in them, but it just wasn't a story that needed 90,000 words to tell. Others really loved to build worlds, but they didn't really have a plot that ran through the setting and its history. Some people loved to build characters, but they just didn't much care for constructing an entire setting all around them, or figuring out plots for those characters to get involved in.

That doesn't mean these people can't write books. It just means they might not be particularly good novelists.

As an example, consider the above video. Titled The Greatest Fantasy Game Never Made - The Venture of Vermis, it's by YouTuber Dogma, and discusses the books Vermis I and Vermis II, which are art books by the creator Plastiboo. Styled like video game guides for the old 32-bit era, these books discuss two dark fantasy video games, what one finds in them, and the paths that should be taken... but these games never existed. The books exist as relics of something that never was, making them highly suggestive of an experience one could have had, and providing a glimpse into a story and world, but without actually providing a through line, a plot, or even characters in the ways we're used to thinking about them.

That is what I mean when I say that not every author has to be a novelist. And even if you are a novelist, that doesn't mean that novels are the only things you're allowed to write.

So take a moment and ask what kinds of projects really make you happy, creatively. What do you like to write? Do you like to create characters? Do you like to make vast, complicated worlds? Do you create pantheons and mythologies? Do you like to write flash fiction, short stories, or even novellas? Do you enjoy writing scripts for stage, screen, or audio?

There is nothing that says you have to write novels to be a real writer. More to the point, though, if you try to force yourself into writing the One True Book style, you'll close your eyes to other potentials. And, perhaps most importantly, novels are not the only kinds of books that people will read, buy, or make analysis videos about either!

As an example, one of the best selling things I've ever written is 100 NPCs You Might Meet At The Tavern, which at time of writing has gone platinum on Drive Thru RPG. The most seen thing I've ever written is the Warhammer 40K short story The Final Lamentation, which was adapted for audio by A Vox in The Void, and has over a quarter million views. And one of the more unique projects I've taken on has been the audio drama series The A.L.I.C.E. Files, which requires a very different approach from any of the novels I've written over the years.

So, if you find yourself struggling to write a novel, take a moment and ask if that's actually the book you want to be writing. Or, as might be the case, would you rather be working on something else? Because it doesn't matter what you're writing, as long as you're enjoying that thing you're making.

And once the book is done, well, you can sell anything with a good marketing strategy, and a little creativity. But that is another story for another day.

Support The Literary Mercenary

If you want to see me produce more work, consider some of the following options!

- My Facebook

- My Blue Sky

- My LinkTree

- My Weekly Newsletter

- The Azukail Games YouTube Channel (where I contribute video content)

- The A.L.I.C.E. Files (a channel full of short stories, many of which are mine)

And if you happen to have some spare dosh lying around, and you want to be sure my supply doesn't run low, consider become a Patreon patron, or leaving a tip by Buying Me a Ko-Fi!

Also, if you're curious about how to write for tabletop RPGs, don't forget to check out my show Tabletop Mercenary, which you can find on both the Azukail Games channel!

Like, Follow, and Come Back Again!

That's all for this week's Craft of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sci-fi dystopian thriller Old Soldiers, the Hardboiled Cat series about a mystery solving Maine Coon in Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or my most recent short story collection The Rejects!

 

And to stay on top of all my latest news and releases, collected once a week, make sure you subscribe to The Literary Mercenary's mailing list. 

If you'd like to help support my work, then consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page! Lastly, to keep up with my latest, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well!