It's Spooky Time!

This is hands down my favorite time of the year and if I had a way that I could bottle the Halloween feeling and drink it in everyday I would. I mean what is better than being able to make the outside of your house look like a creepy cemetery and the inside like something a witch would feel comfortable living in? And don't forget to top it all off you get at least one day when you can play dress up out in normal society and no one thinks you're too weird (sorry, but there will always be at least one person who thinks you're weird.)

As soon as October first rolled around I pulled out the skeleton flamingos and put them up in the yard. They were a little dusty but very eager to get out to work adding to the spooky ambiance with the tombstones. Inside my sons helped me put up wall decals and distribute the cobwebs. All in all a very good job, it's just sad it will all come down so soon. I stopped in at the local Every Think store and they are already crowding out the Halloween decorations with Christmas stuff. I really wish we could just get through one holiday at a time.
Anyway, all this great spookiness has been getting me thinking of writing some spooky stories. Certainly my new novel, Loves Deception, has some great thrills, but none of that spooky Halloween element that I see as the supernatural.

This last weekend I went to Salt Lake City for a wedding and while there took the family to see this great little shopping village where all the shopkeepers had decorated with these fantastic witches made from pumpkins and gourds. Just walking around and taking it all in gave me such a great Halloween feeling. Of course maybe if it was Halloween all the time it wouldn't have that same effect. It would be a lot like stores selling eggnog all year, sure it would taste great and...well maybe that isn't the best example, but I'm sure it would lose some of it's magic. Maybe in the same way I could write a nice supernatural spooky book on occasion. So although the next three books I've got planned out are all squarely in the Crime/Thriller genre I would still like to explore the fun possibilities of the spooky supernatural with all its' great monsters and settings.
Actually I've had a couple of really good ideas for a book with a good Halloween feel to them but the paranoid writer in me doesn't want to share them just yet because I just know you'll steal them (because they're that good). Suffice it to say when they do come out you'll look back at this moment and say "Yeah, I would have stolen those ideas."

But that does leave a pretty open question: What makes a great spooky story? I think most of us have sat around the campfire, or flashlight, and told or heard a spooky story. Those types of stories sometimes even invade our everyday life. In Iraq the unit I was with was moved to a new base and it was really large with a lot of foreign nationals. Immediately we were instructed that we had to travel in groups of two or more and under no circumstances should we ever go visit with a foreign national. When asked why the extra care was needed we were told the following story:

Not too long ago on this very base a US soldier, just like you, made friends with a foreign national. They were good enough friends and the US soldier felt safe with the foreign national. One day the US soldier wanted to go and visit his new friend but no one wanted to go with him so he decided that he would go alone. So he crept out of his CHU and do you know what happened?

He was never heard from again!

Now I have no idea if that story was even close to being true (and certainly I have taken some liberties in the retelling). I do think this type of story certainly demonstrates several of the parts that really help to make a good spooky story.

1. Familiar Location.
2. Similarity of character.
3. Hanging ending.

So first, just like in realty, location plays such an important element. Having a familiar location that your reader can identify with will make it seem more real and therefore more believable. A lot of those old ghost stories I've heard might be the same but their locations are easily transplanted from one state to another.

Second, like with the location, you need characters that your reader can relate to in a close way. This of course is true in any genre of writing but in a story that will have the reader abandoning some reality to buy in to your supernatural spooky story I believe that you must add even more similarity to your main character to increase the believability factor.

Lastly the use of leaving the ending open for debate on what really happened will leave people talking about the story much more than if it was all wrapped up like a Scooby Doo mystery. And with this type of ending it leaves a nice opening for a sequel no matter how many of your characters you may have killed off.

Well that's about it for now. I hope you have some great Halloween plans and lots of haunting to do.

Ciao,

Clark

Back in the USSA

The Falls

So the past few months have been a crazy time for me. Lots of going here and there and doing this and that. Finally at the beginning of this last week I landed in my home town of Idaho Falls and it has been a fantastic reunion with family and friends.

There certainly have been a lot of changes in the past 13 months. The town has added and lost some businesses (one restaurant opened and closed in that 13 month period and I never had a chance to sample their wares). The politics of the country has certainly become more European and in so doing making the book Atlas Shrugged seem even more relevant (I'm also wondering when I'll need to begin paying my VAT). My nine year old decided he should grow to my shoulder height (I'm six foot one!) and my 3 year old is riding his bike like a pro and using phrases like "you frustrate me." I've certainly made changes. I've come back with a little more gray in my hair, a novel under my belt, and perhaps a little wiser in the ways of the international world. One thing is for sure, change is inevitable. No matter how badly we may want things to be one way it can't be that way forever.
It's like if you want a job very badly, so you educate yourself, you make the sacrifices and after putting in the hard time you get the job. But the moment you get that job you begin to lose it, others want it, the standards change, your priorities change. Life never gives you that moment where you can just sit still in the same place for long. And that's okay, life would be pretty dull if it always stayed the same, besides all you have to do is just let go and enjoy it (easy right?).

Well there are some great changes on the horizon for you Clark Chamberlain fans. Loves Deception is on track for a November release on Kindle and I am already hard at work on my next thrilling novel which will be taking place in the great city of Butte Montana. Also coming soon will be the return of my weekly videos and a new podcast segment.

Talking about the podcast I am in search of podcasting partner, so if you or someone you know enjoys talking about writing, thrillers and life drop me an email writeclarkchamberlain@gmail.com

Come back Wednesday when I will be revealing the last character from Loves Deception.
Ciao,

Clark

Fare Thee Well Baghdad

I began this journey over a year ago and very soon it will be coming to a close. It won't be too long before I'm back in the states living a very different life, one with more freedoms and more responsibilities. I find that changes of this kind deserve a moment of reflection.
So how did I come to this point? Well it has never been my intention to make this forum an outlet about my military service, but this particular entry may require a smidgen of that detail. As I've mentioned in my post About Me, I had a moment in my life when I wanted to push myself and I decided that service in the army National Guard was the way to do it. In my contract there is a clause that if I am in college I won't be deployed overseas but when this deployment to Iraq came along I waived my right to stay behind and volunteered to go. There were a few reasons I made that decision: I didn't join to watch others go in my place, I have had experiences in life that I hoped by going others might avoid, and I wanted some adventure.
The original mission that I volunteered for was being a gunner on a convoy security operation. I would be out there every day on the dangerous roads having great adventures that would give me so much to write about later in life. Well as so many things change in the army my mission was changed as well and I was stationed as security at one of the entrances to the United Nations in the international zone (the green zone).
As you might have guessed my adventure level dropped considerably, certainly there were a few times my heart raced but it lasted for only a moment, like if lightning was striking close by.
I was a little disheartened over the switch, but if you don't know by now I make my own life so it didn't bother me long and as in the immortal words of Jagger and Richards "You can't always get what you want but if you try sometimes well you just might find you get what you need."
Working the gate for the United Nations opened up an entire new world for me; allowing me to meet great new friends and share in their stories of life. It also meant that when my shift was over I had enough time to create this website and write my first novel Loves Deception.
So I have to be honest with you and I can't speak for the rest of Iraq, but Baghdad is a city that I would enjoy returning to one day (when it is more peaceful). There is so much history in this city and a lot of wonderful places to see and it's exotic in a way that I have not experienced before in my American travels. I know that I have not fully explored here and leaving now seems premature.
So it is with a heavy heart that I say farewell to the good friends I have made at the IOM and the UN and also to the city that has given me shelter for this past year. I sincerely hope that our paths will cross again.
Ciao,

Clark

Know What You Write

I was reading another blog where a guest writer was discussing that familiar phrase: write what you know. This writer was discussing, in under 100 words, why you should ignore the phrase and write about what you love, because if you only wrote about what you knew you’d never open yourself up to anything else. 

I have to agree with writing about what you love but I also believe that you should write what you know. This is my reasoning: if you love something you will learn about it, if you learn enough about it you will be able to write about it in a believable way.

Maybe I’m unique in my thought, but I believe that my real life experiences make me a better author. It’s not that I have experienced everything in life; I hope that I don’t, but especially dealing with human emotions there is a lot of spill over from one experience to another. Being able to call upon that real body of knowledge gives me more confidence that my reader will hear the ring of truth in my words. 

For me it all goes back to my civil war novella 100 Days Until Tomorrow. I was just writing a story without knowing anything. I was creating the characters, the battles and emotions (the emotions were the worst). I had no idea what I was doing and it showed. It was that novella and encouragement from a friend that started me on my journey of life. I began to engage others in a way I hadn’t before. I stopped opening my mouth so much and watched more, trying to take in what people did and said and the motivation behind it. 

I also recognized that if I was to be taken seriously I needed to do some decent research before I started writing. My new novel Loves Deception is set in Idaho, Utah, Seattle, and California because I know these places. I am working on the plots for two new novels one set in Iraq and the other Butte Montana. I know Iraq more than I ever wanted too but I have only passed through Butte a few times, so before I get really started writing that novel I plan on spending more time there so I can write about it in a convincing way. Both of those stories also will require more research. 

You don’t have to write everything to be by the book facts but it needs to be believable enough that the reader will surrender their belief or even better that they will walk away believing your story.

So what do you do when you want to write a story and you really know nothing about? Research! Learn all about it. If you can’t go to the place talk to someone who has. If you can't find a person to talk with start reading about it. Avoid taking the easy way out and going to Wikipedia, instead try the library. If you’re researching a specific time period or event check to see if there is a museum dedicated to it (you’d be hitting a gold mine talking with the curators of such an establishment). 

The great thing about whatever subject you are writing on, there will always be an expert. Seek experts out, not only will they be a wealth of information on that particular subject they may also have experiences that you can draw from for the story you are currently working on or a future story. 

I love writing because it is a never ending pursuit of knowledge. You have to continually be filling up your mind with new things, ideas, feelings and places. 

Write what you know about. If you don’t know about anything then learn more. The greatest thing about writing is that it only requires your own mind (and at least a writing utensil and a piece of paper).

Back At It

I'm still alive and kicking over here in the desert. Right now it's so hot that my sweat is sweating. Honestly I went out and started a fire the other day just to cool down a little.
It has been too long and although I'm still not able to get videos uploaded I wanted to get back to blogging here. These past few weeks have been very eventful, I've been getting some feedback on my first manuscript which means that I'm getting another step closer to releasing Loves Deception.

Overall the feedback has been very positive which is great for me because I won't have as much to rewrite. Of course it's not perfect and there are some changes that must be made. I think the most interesting thing that I'm seeing in the feedback is that as the author I sometimes forget that the reader doesn't know all the background of the characters that I know. It's just like in life, you're explaining something and it makes perfect sense to you because you have all the background information but to the person you are explaining it to might be a bit lost and may even have to make large jumps over the holes in the information you are giving (or not giving).
So in writing, or in day to day conversation, it's really the same: be detail oriented. So how can you be more detail oriented in writing? Start with the scene set up:

• Where are your characters?
• What are they wearing?
• What time of day is it and how is the weather?

These seem so simple but can be easily overlooked as a writer because they are seen in our minds eye as we are writing and therefore are sometimes left out. As you are placing these set up details look for natural areas to place them. If you simply use the first page jotting down every detail you can have the opposite effect of helping your reader see what you see and instead they can become bombarded and actually tune out the details.
Next look at your character and plot details:

• Are your character's emotions showing?
• Is the plot moving forward?

Good detail will help to set up future chapters or can simply move the plot forward. If the detail you have in your chapters does neither it may be unnecessary or need additional detail added in.
I love watching movies but many times they cannot show you the deep emotion in a scene the same way that you can when you read it. Now with character emotions you can go one of two ways: tell what the character is feeling or show what they are feeling. Here are some examples:

Mabel's eyes lit up as she saw Henry enter the packed room.

vs.

As Mabel saw Henry enter the packed room she could feel the happiness wash over her.

Of course sometimes it might be better to have a combination of the two styles: 

  

Henry pulled the cell phone from his pocket; it was Jasper calling him. Henry's countenance dropped as it always did when Jasper called.

In this way you can show his emotion but tell that it happens often, the only way to show that it always happens would be to put several scenes in the story where it continued to happen and there may not always be room for that.

Try using both out to see which you like better.

Come back often as I will be revealing the last two characters in Loves Deception and keeping you posted on my writing and sharing tips to improve your writing.

The Art of Suspense

What makes a reader spend their time turning the pages of a book? In one form or another the story is compelling, it makes them want to know what happens next. The opposite is true for why someone would put down the book and go do something else. In the fiction genre category of Mysteries and Thrillers that compelling force in many instances will be suspense. Suspense can make you believe that anything could happen including the loss of a main character. Good suspense should make the reader decide to stay up reading for another thirty minutes because they have to find out what happens next. If a chapter ends and everything is okay and there is no suspense then a rewrite may be in order. That does not mean it has to be a nonstop thrill ride where your characters can't even catch their breath, but by the end of the chapter there needs to be good suspense, compelling the reader to move forward.

Now I am not the master of suspense, I believe that title still belongs to the amazing filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock. Now why would I bring up a filmmaker in a blog about writing books? It's my belief that there are many elements that can be taken directly from a visual story telling medium such as film and be placed directly into writing. If you look back to my previous article, Devils in the Details, I talked about watching clips of dance movements to better describe a scene in my novel so that it would have a more fluid movement. The same principle could be used in creating good suspense. Of course I'm not suggesting that you lift a scene from a thrilling movie and drop it right into your novel. Instead watch closely to how a film builds suspense. Film directs the viewer to very specific things, it leads the viewer to see and experience exactly what the filmmaker wants them to see and experience. A good author can do the exact same thing.

I've been reading Michael Crichton's State of Fear. As I'm sure you know many of his books have been turned into films and it is very easy to get wrapped up in his books as you continually get pulled forward by that feeling of suspense. In one section of State of Fear his main characters are in Antarctica and they are being briefed on all the dangers of being caught out in the frozen cold and how each of the vehicles they will be driving hold a number of survival gear items. Instead of just telling the reader there is survival gear, Crichton goes into detail of the type of gear so that you see it. And what do you suppose happens? That's right, the characters get trapped out in the ice and begin to panic. As a reader you think "Go to the box with the survival gear!" The character finally remembers the gear in the back and they get to the chest and find that in the crash it's been damaged and won't open. SUSPENSE. The character finds a screwdriver and hammer and begins to break the box open. It takes agonizing minutes. MORE SUSPENSE. When the box is finally broken open it is empty! EXTREME SUSPENSE. As you can see I have to continue reading. 

When I sat down to write Loves Deception I had a clear outline of what I wanted to happen. I wrote the first five chapters and sent them to my wife to read. I eagerly waited for her to praise me on my extensive writing prowess. Unfortunately it seemed I was found lacking. Although the characters were a bit interesting there was very little compelling her to care about what would happen next. I was writing a Thriller and was delivering a boring commentary on the action. The chapters were also very short in length, roughly 1500 words (not that a small chapter can't make a big impact). So I took those five chapters and sat back down with the goal of making the story have suspense, to make my reader care about the characters and want to know what would happen next. I nearly tripled the length of the chapters and created a rich tapestry of the world I was placing my characters in.

So this week look through the chapters of your own work and ask:

• Where is the suspense?
• How can I point my reader to see what I want them to see and remember it for the future?
• Is the end of the chapter compelling enough to keep them reading. Will the reader lose sleep because they have to keep reading?

Make changes that will give you a more suspenseful result.

The first chapter of the Tale of  Doug Martin will be out this week!

It is Finished or How I Learned to Embrace Possibility

     There was a part of me when I wrote the last sentence of  Loves Deception that was in total disbelief that I had really completed a novel. And I don't want this to sound like a bunch of patting my own back or tooting my own horn (if your more musical) but I feel really good, like here is something that I created and finished.     
     Of course it's not complete, it is simply the first step on my way to seeing my novel in print or on a Kindle or Nook: it is the first draft.
     My next step is the rewrite. One of the things that thankfully I have noticed over the course of putting 84,722 words down on paper is that the quality has become progressively better. So while I will need to go back and rewrite the first 84,720 words the last two, The End, are solid.
     Of course I'm just being a little silly in my complete giddiness for having accomplished my goal. Now that I have a finished my first draft I'm so ready to begin doing the rewrite. For Christmas my wife sent me a book titled Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook. I was so excited when I received it and immediately jumped into the book only to find that the author, Donald Maass, suggests that his workbook is more successful when using it with a complete manuscript. So I set the book on the shelf and eagerly waited for my chance to open it up and get started.
     As I've talked about before I had a long stretch of years where I really didn't accomplish much of what I started and the few things I did complete I immediately sat down and took up residence on those small achievements (like I'm not even bothering playing Super Mario Brothers 2 because I already saved the princess). I saw it happen with several guys I had known from basic training who went on after accomplishing a very physically challenging course and in the process losing lots of weight and becoming more fit only to return home our to there next duty station to become the guy who just sits around and doesn't have to do anything more because they already got fit and did that training. Of course in a few more months they were back to where they had started wondering why.
     So what I'm saying is don't rest around too long. I'm reveling in my achievement because it means a great deal to me, it showed me that I can write a novel, which means I can write more novels. But I'm not sitting around waiting for everyone to come up and tell me how great it is because I can see that the road ahead is still requiring more from me and I'll give it everything it needs in order for me to reach my ultimate goal of publishing my book.
     I'd like to share a few small things that I have learned from this process:

1. It is possible. 
2. It takes work.
3. If it's not working, adapt and change.
4. Celebrate.

     It is possible. I set a goal, wrote it down and made it happen. How amazing is it that we live in a world where we can make what we want in life happen. I think in my life there have been so many times that I have looked at a task and said "This is not possible." I wonder how many things I could have accomplished had I known that the reality of any situation is: it can happen, it is possible. The other side of that coin is that making the possible happen will not take place with out work.
     I think that the four letter word work is the swear that escapes the lips most for those who fail to accomplish their New Years resolutions. Work, or the fear of work held me back in the past because I was not willing to make the sacrifices needed to accomplish what I wanted to have happen. Very little happens without work. If you want what is possible to happen you need to figure out what it's going to take. When I was writing my novel I set smaller goals that were manageable and I had to give up other things that I wanted to do to make room for my new goal. I also put in the time everyday. I heard someone say that results are the outcome of action multiplied by time, or something to that effect. What it means is if you do small things everyday they create the big thing you want.
     In my writing I came to three sections that just didn't work, I was sitting down with paper and pen in hand and fighting to get every single word. At first I simply used the above method and it worked I had a chapter done, it was the hardest chapter I had ever written and I tossed it because it still didn't work. It never worked. Did I stop writing the novel? Of course not, I did have to change tactics, adapt, which lead me to a chapter that flowed simply. Life is ever changing and you either continue to adapt to those changes, still making your way to your original goal or you fight it and end up taking a much harder and longer path that you may find in the end has not lead you where you really wanted to go.
     When you reach the end of the path, before taking the first steps down the next path stop and enjoy what you've accomplished. Life is about learning how to let go of suffering and embrace the good that is there. When you accomplish a goal that's good and it needs to be embraced, shared and celebrated.

Did I tell you that I finished my novel? Pretty cool huh?

Sprinting toward the finish line

     The end is near! Not that the big cataclysmic end talked about in so many religions and cultures but the end of my first draft of Loves Deception. It's so exciting being this close to the finish. The only thing I can really relate it to is the first 5k race I ran. In that race I had started out strong but dropped off in the midsection for a little bit and when I saw the last half mile approaching I felt this burst of energy that invigorated me, driving me toward the finish line. I didn't come in first, second, or third. I was twenty-first, and there was a man who was in the 60 years and older category that beat me, but when I crossed that finish line I felt so good because I had completed it. Much like that first 5k I don't believe that when I finish the first draft of Loves Deception that it will be a first place novel and I'm already getting my mind prepared for my rewrite, but I will have a completed novel, something I have never done.

     I have four chapters to finish and Loves Deception will be complete. I write everything twice, first with paper and pen and then I type it on the computer. I'm not the fastest typist so it has taken me a long time to get everything transcribed over, but a few days ago one of my good friends here in Baghdad got me the hook up with a dictation program for my computer. Technology is such an amazing thing. It took a little bit of time to get the program familiar with my speaking and I had to become familiar with it's commands. In the end it's really helped me speed things up...I think.

     Here's an example of how things have changed:

     I would take my hand written notes and type this:

Mabel approached slowly, a cold calculating expression on her face. The heels of her boots clacking across the polished floor were the only sounds she made as she came closer to the receptionist. Mabel reached into her handbag and slowly removed her cell phone.

"Can I help you?" The receptionist asked in a tone of authority.

Mabel thought the Thomas Vanders might consider hiring another receptionist like this one for the main entrance.

Mabel switched the cell phone to silent and slipped it back into her handbag. She looked at the receptionist and coolly replied, "No" and continued walking past the receptionist toward the office of Melissa Vanders. She could hear the receptionist calling for security as Mabel opened Melissa Vanders door. Melissa stood up not recognizing Mabel from their brief encounter in the restaurant.

And now with the dictation program:

Mabel approached slowly Comma a cold calculating expression on her face Period The heels of her boots clacking across the polished floor were the only sounds she made as she came closer to the receptionist Period Mabel reached into her handbag and slowly removed her cell phone Period

New Line Open Quote Can I help you Question Mark Close Quote The receptionist asked in a tone of authority Period

New Line Mabel thought the Thomas wonders Correct Vanders wonders Correct Vanders wonders Spell V A N D E R S might consider hiring another receptionist like this one for the main entrance Period

New Line Mabel switched the cell phone to silent and slipped it back into her handbag Period She looked at the receptionist and coolly replied Comma Open Quote No Close Quote and continued walking past the receptionist toward the office of Melissa wonders Correct Vanders wonders Correct Vanders wonders Spell V A N D E R S Period She could hear the receptionist calling for security as Mabel opened Melissa wonders Correct Vanders wonders Spell V A N D E R S door Period Melissa stood up not recognizing Mabel from their brief encounter in the restaurant Period

So I'm still working some of the bugs out, but it's getting there, hopefully it just won't hold up my final dash through the last four chapters.

Check back Wednesday for a sneak peak at another character.