Episode #255: Research Is The Essence Of Good Writing

Our doggo Oreo chilling out in preparation for a very busy and fulfilling Christmas day.

As any good writer will often tell you, on the point of poking you very hard in the chest, thoroughly researching the main topic of your book, along with the other various tangents that make up the meat and potatoes {or the bean burger and organic fries if you're a veggie} of your story is essential to creating a fantastic product.*

*sorry, but old work habits like using three dozen words instead of an eighteen pack to explain something never really goes away, they just stay dormant.

Since I write fiction, today's post will be about doing the required research in order to make your story as realistic as possible, no matter the genre.

I've always been a bit of a macadamia when it came to researching a particular topic, whether it was work related or personal amusement, and I took that macadamia-ness to a whole new level of neurotic clarity when I started writing. For example, with my first published novel, some items of note included motorcycles, the adult entertainment industry and the feminine form.

The more that I grew as a writer, the more widespread my research efforts became for the stories I was creating. Even though at this point I was writing mostly fantasy based stuff, I still wanted certain elements of the story to have some basis in reality. So my current project became the ultimate test of my research skills.

Different cultures: I became enamored of different cultures a few decades ago with all the books/documentaries/videos that I was consuming, so it became a no-brainer to introduce those elements into my current project.

So I performed what I considered to be a deeper than normal research dive for the cultures that I chose to have a larger than normal focus on in the story: Aztecs, Incas and Mayans. And when I say a deep dive, that included things like family life, language, certain culture norms and deities. In regards to the cultural norms, I made a conscious decision to err on the side of being conservative, since I had no real way of knowing how those cultures felt about certain elements that were woven throughout the story (except maybe the Incas). And can't forget that I created a whole other culture from scratch that had all kinds of other historical elements woven into their fabric.

Different time periods: This probably could go hand in hand with the previous point, since I decided to have different time periods intermingle. For example, I had various characters that were part of the aforementioned cultures, directly or indirectly. A few other characters were part of the modern civilization (mostly North America), while another was part of the late medieval time period. 

Modern/old-fashioned technology/norms: This particular aspect of the story is where I had the most fun playing with. From a modern perspective, both major areas of action (Earth and Pod Planet), were heavily peppered with references to the use of modern technology: drones, cctv, computers, weaponry and digital media; old fashioned technology like having the horse as a main mode of transportation.

Odds and Ends: This particular category is for mostly all of the various bits of research that I had to do for various subjects like grammar (description mostly), certain concepts that I wanted to make sure I was using properly (e.g. slavery & sexual orientation), animal/personal traits (e.g. can horses sleep while walking and certain human characteristics), and other assorted items that would randomly pop into my head while writing a particular scene and I would want to know if it would fit or not.

Names and languages: This one was an ongoing issue throughout the entire series. First, I wanted to make sure that the names made logical sense for the adventure I was writing about AND that they emanated a powerful aura; Secondly, except for one made up language, I wanted the languages to be universally known and used. Which is why I chose English and Spanish as the two dominant languages that were used throughout. I also threw in the languages of the Aztecs (Nahuatl), Incas (Quechua) and Mayans (Yucatec Maya), as those cultures are moderately featured throughout the story. And I threw in ASL, as I have one character who uses sign in addition to telepathy.

One should also note that I didn't use any of the actual languages involved beyond English. A very good editor told me years ago that one should state what foreign language is actually being used in a given conversation, as opposed to actually using the language itself. Less aggravation and definitely less verbiage.

So overall, I enjoy most aspects of research, whether for personal curiosity (e.g. a used c.d. of a band that I've never heard of before) or for writing (clothing was in the top three of the biggest non-culture items that required heavy research). I find it's always better, at least in writing, to sound like you know what you're talking about, as opposed to actually knowing what you're talking about.

{c} 2024 by G.B. Miller. All Rights Reserved

Episode #254: Is The End Really In Sight, Or Is It Just A New Beginning?

Another candidate in my continuing quest of finding books about any kind of topic under the sun: the Oxford English Dictionary. Acquired from my public library's perpetual gently used book store (also features c.d.s, DVDs, puzzles and children's books).

In case anyone was thinking the worst about my blog, have no fear, as this is a writing update on my now five volume series that has a working title of "Sister v Sister".

As the post title hints at, the end is really within sight with this series. Over two years of hard work, totaling (as of the day of this post) 1,200+ pages/112 chapters and a shade over 550k+ words. Oh, least I forget, this is also (currently) spread out to 8 three ring binders.

In the time spent writing this weighty tome, I have developed what I believe is a solid theory that can be applied to all books, consisting of two good points and one incredibly fugly point.

Good point #1: The basic idea for the story. This, in my opinion, is the easiest goal to accomplish. If you consistently carry a small pocket notebook and a pen, you can easily jot down ideas for stories as you go about your day. In my particular case, the story idea was a kidnapping. We fleshed it out afterwards, but the premise was very simple and very basic.

Good point #2: A starting and ending point. Again, in my opinion, it's another easy goal to accomplish. You decide on how you want it to start and how you want it to finish. In my case, it was a home invasion that was the actual starting point to the story. As for the ending point, it was to be the two sisters and the husband of one to become co-rulers of an unknown planet.

Fugly point #1: It has to be the journey itself from the beginning of the story to the perceived ending of the story. It truly does become something with all of the meaty entrees, appetizers, salads and desserts. A true smorgasbord of delightful pieces that make your story complete, but man, it can drive you to pull out a pair of Zircon encrusted tweezers so you can remove all those hair follicles from your body just to kill the mental pain.

With all of the various side plots, side tangents and the solid growth of all the characters involved (e.g. dribbling in almost one dozen highly necessary backstories for all of the characters involved, no matter how long they hang around for), and if you're like me, a pantster, you have to find a way to keep track of all of those various story parts.

For me personally, it was the chapter-by-chapter print out, which was soon followed by a bullet point synopsis that made it up to chapter 96 before petering out. Still, it has been a nightmarish process, as it seems that the closer I get to the actual ending, the harder it's becoming to write each chapter that takes me to that actual ending. Especially since it's taking me a bit of time to wrap up the various plot lines as I progress to the ending.

And even when I finally do write the intended ending, which is still in flux as we speak (think of it as a movie anecdote where the scriptwriter is furious pounding out enough re-writes in order to film the movie for the next few days, only to wash/rinse/repeat), I still have to write a bunch of epilogues. Why, you might ask?

Well, wouldn't you like to know what the immediate aftermath for all of the characters once the final ending is written? I certainly do, because even though I'm toying with the idea of writing a few adventures for those characters, I still want to know what the final outcome will be for them. For example, I would like to know what the final fallout will be with the kingdom after the coup d'etat is enacted.

So the T.L.;D.R. of this post would probably read something like this: our blog host is finally heading down the home stretch of a typical writing marathon and desperately trying not to be the very last runner to cross the finish line, but kept getting sidetracked as he learned and applied new (to him) writing techniques in order to create a thoroughly enjoyable tome.

So my question to you is this: does my proposed theory sound off the mark, spot on, or somewhere in between?

{c} 2024 by G.B. Miller. All Rights Reserved

Episode #253: Me Plus Automobile Equals Stressful Anxiety...For Others

Christmas 2024, where metal is king because the real thing is just too darn expensive (among other peripheral issues) this year. Plus, from what I understand, it took less than an hour to put up and decorate.

This week, I have a topic that strikes fear and stress in the members of my immediate family: automobiles.

Specifically, me and anything to do with automobiles.

First off, let me admit to this one important and highly salient fact: I am a 100% complete Richard as a passenger. I am actually proud of the fact that the moment I got my license at 16 (going on for what will be 44 years of being a menace on the roads), I turned into the mega-Kevin of the passenger universe.

If my ass wasn't planted behind the steering wheel, I became the kind of passenger that you would pull over to the side of a dark desert highway and push out of your car with a pointed metallic object. I have mellowed out in my older age, but I still wear my thorny crown with pride. Except on the rare occasions that I'm a passenger in my daughter's car, then I absolutely behave myself.

Now, onto the main topic of this post: my driving.

I make no excuses for my positively thuggish driving, as I was taught to drive by my dearest mother when I was a lad. Now she just drives bad. Period. End of discussion. Unfortunately her bad habits had also worn off on both of my children as well (she taught them), but that's a story for another time.

The key difference, in my humble opinion, between thuggish and aggressive, is that thuggish driving requires spatial awareness and acceptance that you drive like a jerk, but not jerky enough to draw the attention of Officer Unfriendly. Aggressive driving requires no acceptance of personal responsibility and a high level of narcissism.

I will also admit that my thuggish driving is an equal opportunity destroyer of cars. It really doesn't matter what kind of car that I drive, my driving habit remains the same, thuggish but obeying the basic rules of the road.

Here's a short list of the cars that I have owned/driven over the preceding four decades of life, most of which were driven into the ground/destroyed in an accident. In no particular chronological order, I have owned/driven the following:

Ford Pinto; Grand Torino; Chevy Malibu Wagon; Acclaim; Camaro; Hyundai; Ford Escort; Oldsmobile Alero; Nissan Altima; Toyota Celica (manual); Monarch; Ford Ranger.

Pretty sure that I've owned way more than 12, but you get the basic idea. 

In general, I do cause a lot of anxiety and stress with anyone who happens to be a passenger in any car that I drive. To be honest, I have to be one of the only people that I know that absolutely tolerates backseat drivers whenever I drive. I had people who straight up tell me that they will not ride with me due to the way I assault the road.

And I do not differentiate between highway and residential/town/city driving. Having resided in a suburban area located just outside the capitol for about fifty years and having worked in said capitol area for about twenty-two years, my driving has remain consistently the same: thuggish but obeying the house* rules of the road.

*When you drive in the city, normal rules of the road do not apply, but those that were modified due to certain circumstances do.

Now, lest you think that I drive severely stupid on residential streets, I do not. I am very well known in my local neighborhood, so I actually make sure to drive uber-responsible (e.g. posted speed limit or below, eyes open so wide that my entire head disappears). And if you think that after reading all of this that your opinion of my driving is low, just wait when I decide to tell you of my adventures as a pedestrian. BWHAHAHAHAH!

In general, I scare people with my driving, whether that other person is a fellow raging maniac behind the wheel, or a trapped passenger beside me. I drive badly and where I live in Connecticut, I am not considered to be an anomaly, but a normal member of the automotive society. If this was another time long ago, I probably would be the model for those news stories about bad drivers.

One more aspect of my driving you should know about that puts me a cut above everyone else save my two adult children, is that I still remember the majority of the back roads in my state from my days borrowing/returning newspapers/microfilm to various academic institutions. So not only can I still get from border to border to border without taking the highway, but I still remember what route numbers go N/S & E/W and where I generally is in a given part of this state.

Sadly, knowledge like this is rarely passed on to the younger generation these days. I mean, you should be able to in a pinch read an actual road map to get from point A to point B (last real road trip I had a road atlas with me and we were able to plan everything out down to the very last detail), but just like having to use an actual telephone, it's a very lost art.

So, how are your driving skills these days? Good, bad, average, or just so ugly that you're the proverbial answer to the insult of "you got your license out of a cereal box"? Inquiring minds might want to know, if only to avoid you as much as humanly possible on the roadways.

{c} 2024 by G.B. Miller. All Rights Reserved

Episode #252: Where Oh Where, Are My Blog Words?

We all need a little flashback to warmer times right now, and Happy little flowers can often bring the warm fuzzies to lighten the mood.

About once about every five months, I open up a blank blog screen, only to find myself staring at said screen and thinking to myself, "And I am here because....why?"

Which as a person who dabbles with the various parts of grammar is not a good question to ask myself. So when I sat down in front of the computer, and asked myself that very exact question, I knew a micro-second later that this was going to be ONE OF THOSE POSTS. The kind of post that starts off with good intentions but immediately pivots to being exactly like a t.v. series that jumps the shark when it comes up with a dream sequence that immediately wipes out the previous season's plots.

So the first thing I did (unnaturally for me) was to stare at my vast record collection to see anything popped out to me for a topic. Unfortunately, beyond noticing that I have several Jim Reeves records, nothing jumpstarted my brain cells. So we continued with our mental wandering to see what else could jumpstart my brain cells.

I briefly thought about giving a writing update, but instead I began ruminating about what kind of contract I would enforce on anyone who would want to option the movie rights to my series (you can spurt your liquid refreshment at the computer screen now). T.L.;D.R.: my series actually checks off a multitude of very important identity boxes in order to be given proper consideration for dipping into the cesspool of Hollywood.

So, after making that right turn at Truth or Consequences, we continued on our vainglorious journey for a writing topic. We briefly stopped at the music depot, to see what kind of topics, if any, they had for sale, but alas poor Yorrick, I knew him Horatio. So we stepped out of the music depot and thought about going to Homeless Depot or the railroad depot, but instead we made a stop at the mail depot.

Unfortunately, beyond getting a very thick guidebook to....drum roll please....MEDICARE! and griping about lost mail (that's a mind-numbing story within itself) and T-Mobile (another mind-numbing story within itself), nothing of any political import was to be had. So, yikes! and away we went to trample through the forest with our band of stoic manly men.

After trampling with my band of stoic manly men, we decided to exit the forest with blisters on my fingers and bunions on my toes in order to continue my search for a blog topic. Now if you've made this far and you're scratching your head wondering just exactly what the blog topic is and where are my blog words, let me tell you my dirty little secret.

To borrow from Jerry Seinfeld, this blog post is about absolutely nothing. Buuuuuut, it's a nothing that managed to bring a smile to your tired face on this mediocre Monday morning, because my friends, you read a post about nothing in particular. Unless you count someone dropping over a dozen pop culture references to be actually something, then you read a post about something.

Either way, you found a way to occupy anywhere from sixty seconds to one-hundred five seconds of your day absorbing a piece of fiction that contained absolutely nothing of import. Which means that my job is done here until next Monday, when we get to do this all over again not live in front of the studio audience, but via the compact disc. Or cassette, depending on what decade I would like to briefly reside in.

{c} 2024 by G.B. Miller. All Rights Reserved

Episode #251: Cover Me Softly To Better Music Quality

This was taken on one of my few full scale (for me) hikes in Cedar Mountain this year. Legs are to the point where going up an incline greater than 1% causes great pain, but the peace and tranquility I do get in the aftermath is well worth the aggravation.

This week's post was inspired by a mediocre e-zine article that I had via the M$N news aggregate that listed their version of a top 20 cover song list, and one of the covers mentioned was "Boys of Summer" done by a mediocre alt-rock band called The Ataris.

Now I've listened to that cover and that mediocre version is the only standout of the mediocre collection surrounding that song. 

Stating my opinion about a mediocre cover song by a mediocre band perfectly segues into my personal opinion that cover songs fall into three distinct categories: versions done by quality indie bands/artists that exceed the original; versions done by known bands that equal the original, even when they put an unusual twist; and versions done by known bands that sound like they were phoned in or done to make a quick buck.

Four artists that immediately come to mind that fall into the first grouping are Post Modern Jukebox, Violet Orlandi, Frog Leap Studios and Broken Peach. They managed to harness the power of YouTube and parlay that exposure into live stream concerts, higher quality videos, original songs, original full length c.d.s (the former has 10 c.d.s out, two have released/are releasing their debut and Frog Leap has released about 80+/- full length downloadables) and tours. I highly recommend checking them out as all four are fantastic artists.

The second grouping, known artists that have done covers that have equaled/surpassed the originals, are the ones that I will truly rave about, because their covers show that they actual care about the final product. Some examples are as follows:

1. I Fought The Law by the Dead Kennedys: This particular song actually got me hooked on the DKs back in the early 2000's. It's a skewered version that features the events surrounding the deaths of activist Harvey Milk and S.F. mayor George Moscone.
2. In Bloom by Sturgill Simpson: This is one of the few cover versions of a Nirvana song that absolutely knocks it out of the park. It's moody, dark and in my personal opinion, is how the song should've been played originally.
3. Boys Of Summer by The Hooters: This is the song that triggered me to write this post. This cover by The Hooters, is performed in the way that I believe does this song justice: lightly dark, foreboding, melancholy for what was illicit for a brief moment in time. In my personal opinion, the song should've never been presented with an upbeat tempo.
4. Black Betty by Ram Jam: This was the best rework cover of a song that the artist never received a writer's credit for. The original was done by bluesman Leadbelly, so it was a down tempo bluesy kind of number. And for an added twist, Australian band Spider Bait did a very cool cover of the cover.

Now to present some examples of those who basically do covers to either phone it in or to make a quick buck. Sadly, these few examples are ones that get played a lot on commercial rock radio. There are a lot to choose from, since it seems that every well known band has done covers, with the majority of them being just average/mediocre. Note: there will be no links as I don't want to add any more to the seven I already have.

1. Whiskey In The Jar by Metallica: For me, this cover only stays true to the original lyrics and nothing else. Having grown up on Roger Whittaker (my father had odd tastes in music when I was a child), the original version of this song was a lively Irish folk tale, almost like a jig. The version by Metallica was something that just hurt my ears to listen to. Turning a song into a metal song doesn't instantly make it good...but it does give it the potential for it to be a money-maker/way for a metal band to keep their name in the public eye.
2. Everlasting Love by U2: This was strictly a cash grab/keep the name out there between releases. The original is an uptempo sub-three minute song that makes you want to sing along to. This bleechy cover does nothing for the listener, as it's bombastic arena rock at its absolute worst.
3. Last Kiss by Pearl Jam: Strictly a cash grab that offers no variation to the original. They turned a decent "teen death song" (a sub-genre in the late 50's that featured songs like this one and "Tell Laura I Love Her") into something that a no-talent person like myself could play blindfolded. The insipid drum beat sounds like it came straight from a recording studio from the same time period. Just. No.
4. I'm Down by Adrian Belew: This was, in my opinion, an uninspired version of the Beatles classic. It just really didn't do anything for me, and it was definitely suited as a "B" side to the "A" side of "Oh Daddy!" (Billboard 100 chart). I kind of put it up there with the uninspiring bootleg version performed by the Beastie Boys.

It's sad that one can remember the bad versions of well known songs more than the original versions of the same song. There are a lot of cover songs that I've heard over the decades, courtesy of college radio and internet radio stations like SomaFM and believe that at least 70% of them are really good, and this includes all genres that I've been exposed to over the decades. It's the remaining 30% that bothers me to the point of being exceptionally unbent, because it's often those 30% that get the most airplay.

So I hope you've enjoyed my pleasant little diatribe about cover songs, and if cover songs are your jam, please check out SomaFM. SomaFM is another link in the chain of the only good thing to come out of California: music. They have a channel that is called "Covers", which plays nothing but in all possible genres.

Happy Monday!

{c} 2024 by G.B. Miller. All Rights Reserved