Writing Update 2018 week 52

Mike GristWeekly Writing Update, Writing

Very little got written this week, what with Christmas travel adventures and then being sick the last few days.

I did however have some pretty cool ideas for the thriller book #3. They’ll deal with some concerns I had re- not being as completely episodic as Jack Reacher.

I don’t know about you, but I find the lack of continuity in Jack Reacher novels annoying. I want previous books to have some impact going forward. I’d love it if Jack was capable of learning and growing. It’s hard and kind of depressing to imagine him in his 50s and 60s still just roaming the land, helping maidens fair. Even if he’s happy with such a lifestyle, I’m not happy for him.

It’s like he’s in a state of stasis. Waiting for something to break the gridlock.

Well, I want my guy to advance – even as individual novels are highly self-contained. I’m thinking more like Marvel movies. Each movie deals with its own big bad and issues, while at the same time, in hints and credit post-rolls, a bigger story is built. I aim to build that bigger story.

In coming up with the idea for book 3, I first of all came up with the bigger story. It couldn’t work though – wouldn’t do it justice. Many other things had to happen first. So now I’ve got the overarch, I need to build up to it. I was worried that would feel like just delaying, but I don’t think it will be. As I tell each self-contained story, hints will drop tying them to the grander story.

And when the grander story ends? Well, that is another question. There are a lot of possibilities. I put Amo in my Last Mayor zombie series through 9 books of tortures. I had/have another 9 books in mind for him, all continuing his character further. I may never write those books, but they may serve as prep work for these thrillers.

No words or agent info this week. The world stands still on the cusp of 2019. My writing year in review is tomorrow.

Christmas travel adventures 2018

Mike GristLife

This Christmas we had a busy schedule of family visits like never before – such that we rented a car (Nissan Qashqai) and traveled up to Bolton and back to see everyone.

  • Dec 22 – Christmas party at mom’s house in London with Dad, Ailz, Joe, Vicky, Aria
  • Dec 24 – Christmas Eve party at Alice’s house in Leicester with Mom, Karen, Alice, Jay, Ivy, Clover
  • Dec 25 – Christmas Day party at Alice’s house with above plus Tony, John and Bev (Jay’s folks)
  • Dec 26 – Boxing Day drive up north
  • Dec 27 – Post-Christmas visit at Joe’s house with Joe, Vicky and Aria

It was pretty full-on and full of little adventures, with awesome food at every leg and lots of fun with nieces. Highlights include:

  • Father Christmas turning up in my sister’s neighborhood in his motorized sleigh.
  • Church on Christmas Day morning with my mom and Karen. I can’t imagine when last I went to church on Christmas Day! They had a couple of weird panto-like songs, and one proper one. Sermonizing was kept to a minimum.
  • Getting the gifts for my sister’s kids bang on, with Harry Potter dolls for Ivy, and a Daniel Tiger backpack for Clover. She is only 3 and the backpack dwarfs her! But still she is keen to wear it.
  • On Boxing Day we headed up to Bolton to see my brother, and spent the day with lunch at The Last Drop Inn, followed by a brief walk around the Dunscar Golf Course near my old house, then watched Mary Poppins, then the final descent to the yurt where we planned to ‘glamp’.

However, all did not go according to plan. The yurt, at the bottom of a muddy field in the dark, had a wood burner which I set up professionally with 3 bits of crumpled paper and a log cabin of kindling around it. The paper they’d provided didn’t burn though, and just made smoke. The smoke didn’t rise up the chimney and just washed back into the room, stinking it up.

We called the owner and she said she’d never seen it do that before. She thought the chimney must be blocked. Anyway, we bailed out and asked for a refund – because even if she fixed it, everything would smell of smoke all night. So, we got back in our car at 8pm on Boxing Day, trying to find a new place to stay!

Our phones were dying. Su’s died and mine hit 9%. We called the Last Drop but nobody answered. We decided to just go for it and turn up, hoping they’d have a room.

They did! We stayed at the Last Drop, had a cheese platter, enjoyed the guy blasting out Robbie Williams’ songs in the bar, enjoyed power, heat and running water, and slept well.

  • On the 27th we visited my brother’s new place – they’ve got it decorated so beautifully inside, dark wood floors, stacked stone wall in the bathroom, big and classy printed photographs. Joe has a cabinet full of all his figures. Really beautiful – and they laid on a great Us-theme lunch with Frank n Beans, cornbread, and other fixings.

Aria, who’s 5, then did some gymnastics on the floor mats – she’s really very good, we played some board games, made some LEGO, then went outside to a field where Joe and I chased Aria around with Joe’s new drone! She loved it, totally giddy and endlessly energetic. A really great visit.

Running away from the drone!

Then a 7-hour drive home. It’s the 29th now, and today and yesterday I’ve been laid up with an upset stomach. I think just all the rich food over the period, plus the big Burger King burger I had on the way home.

On the whole, awesome, exhausting, great fun and good family times.

Writing Update 2018 week 51

Mike GristWeekly Writing Update, Writing

Early in the week I put the 3rd pass editing capstone on my thriller book 2, and fired it off to my Dad and Ailz – Ailz got back to me within a day and said she thought it was great, better than the first!

Thank you Ailz! Much needed relief there – the topic matter skirts an edge, and I didn’t want to tip over.

I moved straight on to re-editing Mr. Ruin book 1 – going over this again after writing the 2nd thriller has definitely showed up how much I’m learning about pace and story. I already edited Mr. Ruin once, while writing the thriller book 1! But already I see areas that bog down, are repetitive, are slow.

It’s getting better with every pass. Soon I’ll tackle book 2.

In other news, I was on the Fantasy Fiends podcast! This was a great experience – I wasn’t sure I’d have enough to talk about, but it turned out there was so much to talk about that we skipped the hosts’ normal style of reading a sample from one of the author’s stories. I was fine with that – it was interesting to chat to Stevie and Andy. I also got to plug the audiobook release of The Rot’s War.

Final update on thriller book 2:

  • Word count: 95,000, down by 3,000 from 1 week ago. Had to cut these words- which was a few hundred words from lots of places. Sad to go further away from the vaunted 100k, but I have to serve the story.

Projecting thriller book 3:

  • It always happens when I finish a book in a series, and think I want some time off to clear my brain – new ideas for the next book come rushing in! Usually when I’m about to sleep, and I tap it out in notes on my phone. It’s great and slightly annoying at the same time!
  • I’m starting to get more idea of an overall arc. I could close it off in book 3, but I think it’ll go longer. It won’t end the series, but end the first major chapter – and no chapter will only be focused on building to a climax. More like Marvel movies that have their own stories while also building around the edges to climactic Avengers movies.

Agent update:

No news, just waiting on the one agent who requested the full.

Plans:

I’ll do a whole year roundup next week. Lots of things to reflect on.

Me on the Fantasy Fiends podcast/video

Mike GristInterviews / Reviews, Life, Writing

Last night at 1:30am I woke up from a brief slumber to take part in the Fantasy Fiends podcast, with hosts Andy Peloquin and Stevie Collier. My first time to do something like this!

It was a blast – I guess I never talk to other fantasy authors, so what a pleasure it was to dig in with them. We talked about:

  • how our real-world adventures and travels (Japan, Canada, ruins) have inspired us in our character and world creation.
  • our writing processes and productivity schedules (1 book ever 2 momnths for Stevie, 1 a month for Andy!).
  • our various upcoming news and projects (book 3 for me and thrillers with agents, Andy’s 5 follow-ups, Stevie’s new cover).
  • and more…

Check the podcast video here:

Red Dead Redemption is getting uncomfortable…

Mike GristGame Review, Life

A few weeks back I raved about the cowboy game Red Dead Redemption 2. You’re a cowboy criminal, you can go anywhere, do anything, and it all feels so real.

Well, last night I finished chapter 2 and entered 3 of the game (I’ve been parsing it out gradually), and was made to feel pretty queasy at my role in all the criminal escapades.

Spoiler alert – chapter 2 ended with a big shootout in the town of Valentine, after Leviticus Cornwall, a rail magnate whose train we’d recently robbed, turned up with some Pinkertons to arrest the leader of my gang, Dutch.

So, we shot them all. We shot up the town, where I’ve been hanging out for weeks now, chatting to people. But that isn’t even the worst bit. The worst bit are the 3 events that followed immediately after.

1. We saved a German guy who’d been kidnapped, and helped him find his family. But why? It’s this pretense of being decent that gets to me. Yes, it is nice we helped that guy, but is that occasional niceness allow us to be criminals the rest of the time? I’m trying to figure out the moral scales at work here. Does it somehow make up for our criminality?  

2. After this, we rolled to a new town, sidled up on the sheriff, and offered to help him. A criminal gang (just like us) had escaped jail and I had to bring them in. Of course the gang leader begged me to let him go. This is all very confusing. He’s just like me. Where is my code of honor in this?

You think there’s honor among thieves, but not here. We are nakedly out for #1, ourselves. Worst of all was how happy the lawmen were to welcome us as ‘good men’ in their midst. I want to be good and not just a faker! I want to be welcomed in towns rather than have people always saying ‘None of your trouble now, you hear?’ when I come within earshot. 

3. The cherry on all this was when Dutch was talking down any hint of rebellion in our group, in the aftermath. I’m getting the feeling that this is our style now. We go to a new place, bleed it dry, wreck our reputation, then move on again. But Dutch has some BS explanations for this.

He says some stuff about wanting a brighter, kinder, gentler world. That’s what we’re seeking.

What?

I just had a storyline where I freed a guy from a religious cult talking trash like this. Dutch talks sweet to us, then we commit crimes, and we lie to ourselves about how amoral we are, and it’s all for some greater good, while we’re out there killing folks. Then we all went fishing together and had a merry old time. 

It’s pretty distasteful. When I realize the reason Mary never married me (my character!) is because I’m a criminal, I felt bad. I ruined her life and my own with this lifestyle. I was raised by Dutch, and I was brainwashed to think this is a good lifestyle. But I could do anything. Be a cowboy. Run a store. Be a decent man instead of grumbling about being a bad one. 

Sigh.

And then, in the new camp, it’s right back to breaking legs for our resident loan shark. I would hate these people, if I wasn’t one of them!

Well, I could always stop playing. I wonder if the story is setting up a fall for Dutch from within. Maybe I will sell him out to the Pinkertons. That’ll be a tough one to live down, but maybe the right move.  

The Rot’s War out in audio!!

Mike GristAudio, Writing

Book 2 of my Ignifer Cycle, The Rot’s War, has now been released as an audiobook by Podium Publishing!

I never once imagined a day like this would come. I first wrote this book hard on the heels of The Saint’s Rise maybe 10 years ago, way back in the mists of my time in Japan. I sent The Saint’s Rise to agents and publishers in multiple rounds, hundreds of them in total, and only ever came back with rejection. 

What chance did a sequel have?

Then I discovered self-publishing. I rewrote, published, rewrote, published several times. A year ago, the Saint hit, and Podium saw it. They contacted me. Now both books are in audio, and I’m stunned by that.

Take a listen now. Either book could be free with an Audible subscription. 

Thriller #2 second ironing pass finished!

Mike GristUncategorized

After I finish a book, I get to ironing.

Typically I do three passes. I call them ironing, because at this stage all the plot engine stuff and moving parts are on the page, but maybe not in the exact right places, so I have to smoothe out wrinkles. Some sections will be boggy or slow. I often get caught up in a moment and stretch it out, when it needs to be faster. 

So the first ironing pass catches the worst of this. Usually I’m aware of it going in. As I write chapters, I’ll leave notes on the header suggesting what may need to be done:

  • Repetitive? Too long?
  • Too many tears?
  • Too dense – trim.
  • OK?

The first iron is a kind of skim, where I look at those sections first. Some may need big changes, like a whole chapter has to go, or several get combined, or similar. It doesn’t take very long.

The second pass is a full readthrough, making line edits, paragraph edits, and again shuffling some bits around. I often have a chapter somewhere in the middle that is rich on ‘theory’, kind of the working mechanisms that drive the plot, and will probably play a role in the ending.

I often need to tame these sections right back. I love throwing everything at the page, all the crazy words, terms, and ideas I can come up with, but I’m sure that is no fun to read. Readers switch off at such info dumps, glossing over sections which are crammed with some important details, then what happens later won’t make sense.

I need to thin these sections out to the essentials. This can take a LOT of time, and is pretty exhausting, but it’s always beneficial. 

At the end of the second iron, the story makes sense. There are just a few notes left on a few chapters, usually any area where I made a lot of changes and am not sure if they’re right. I need to read them again in context.

For the third readthrough, I’ll do it on my phone. Going in and out of work on the train is a good time. This lets me get flow and approximate the reader experience. Sections that don’t work will leap out. Notes will go into a notes file. I can fix them later. That’s annoying, looking back and forth from my phone, but it beats doing a full readthrough at the computer again.

Hopefully I’ll get it done in a few days, definitely before Christmas, and I’ll be a free man for the holiday! It feels pretty good to have 2 books in my pocket.  


Agent hunt news…

Mike GristWriting

Yesterday I had two bites on my thriller from agents. One was for the full, which is the first time so far, and one for the partial (they responded to an initial query to ask for the first 3 chapters).

That is exciting. Of course I’ve had bites before, and know not to get too excited. Regarding my potential haikyo/ruins book – I’ve had THREE solid bites over the years, and none finally panned out.

  • The first was in my exploring heyday – a Kodansha publisher in Japan arranged a meeting and we chatted about the prospect. I later found out he lost his job.
  • The second was with a French publisher, who went so far as to put the book title on their website – then I never heard from them again.
  • The third was this time a year ago, a publisher doing American history and photobooks reached out and suggested it could all happen pretty quickly. Of course nothing has happened since.

So, yes, plenty of moderation being taken with any hint of good news. Still, it’s quite fun to get excited!

Writing Update 2018 week 50

Mike GristWriting

This week has been jammed with editing the thriller book 2. It capped off at 95,000 words last week, which was disappointing, but as often happens I have found the word count to bloom a little as I edit.

Why? Well, it seems to be a habit of mine that I race ahead a little in writing – which means some important details of setting get slightly left behind. Sometimes I don’t explain concepts or bits of logistical plotting quite clearly enough. When I do the first ironing pass I catch these and fill them out. 

It can lead to a few hundred words extra per chapter, which has pushed the count to 98,500 already! I’m a little ove rhalfway edited. Today I have to do a pretty big cut though – a section that is far too dense with technobabble about hacking. I realize I love this kind of writing – digging deep into terminology and piling unfamiliar terms one atop another – but I can see it’s little fun to read. Definitely not in sync with the rest of the tone.

So maybe lose 1,000 words. I’ll try to add it back on and keep reaching for 100,000!

So, the full update on thriller book 2:

  • Word count: 98,500, up by 6,000 from 1 week ago. Around 1,000 words a day, all in dribs and drabs across many chapters.

Agent update:

Same old same old. When I see a rejection now, it makes me not disappointed but a little angry. The fools!!

Plans: The Rot’s War comes out in audio on Dec 18, 4 days time! I have the Fantasy Finds podcast on Dec 20. I have an International Bookbub for The Saint’s Rise on Jan 10. Hopefully success with that will lead to a much more valuable US Bookbub.

Podcast time!

Mike GristMarketing, Writing

I’m gonna be on the Fantasy Fiends podcast Dec 20 with Andy Peloquin and Steve – pretty excited as it’s my first time to be interviewed live. They send a preview kit which I just filled in – and of course I put forward my days as an adventurer as my topic.

Yeah. I don’t talk about my ruins exploring days much – but of course I still know all this stuff, and remember all the adventures. I suppose I carry it all around with me, and even though I’m not actively exploring/adventuring anymore, it absolutely drives who I am and how I write.

It’s funny, because recently I got a bit hung up on author research. I thought – I’ve never done research for my writing. But that is absolutely not true. For years I was going to all these fantastic ruined places, many of which played a role in history, many of which were part of grand, large-scale dreams. I got in, evaded security, adventured with my friends, had revelations and epiphanies, took photos that got millions of hits, and really did something unique that very few people have done.

The adventure where I met cosplayers – https://www.michaeljohngrist.com/2009/05/cosplay-factory-haikyo-ibaraki/

What better could prepare me for writing fantasy and sci-fi, and for that matter, thrillers? I’ve looked into the dark in ways many haven’t, by going to the dark places.

Yeah. Stand on that authority.

It makes me start to think of ‘research’ as adventure, and maybe piques my interest further. What adventures could I be having now, to fit in my with my life? To build authority? Hmm..