Hill 170 by Michael Barclay! Action Packed!
Please Welcome Author Michael Barclay! He's written an awesome action packed book!
There is a writing secret that I have never shared with anyone. I would like to share it today with your followers. But, before I get to that I’d like to point out a few things about my writing process.
1. I am a slow reader. Remarkably slow. I am the kind of reader that reads the same sentence three times. (Like that one; three times, no joke!) I also tend to read in small chunks. I don’t like to sit for very long.
2. I am a slow writer/typist. Probably one of the worst on the planet. I simply cannot take my eyes off the keys (slow habit #1). I also am constantly transposing letters and going back to rearrange them (slow habit #2). Do I know how to spell ‘truck’? Of course I do. Do I constantly mis-type it? Naturally. And thousands more as well.
3. I keep everything I write (never know when it might come in handy) - EXCEPT - that one thing that was just so perfect, just so pure and universal but that just didn’t quite fit the current scene so I accidentally didn’t save it (coulda swore I did; don’t I back up everything - even this little guest post - and usually two copies, right?). Ten minutes later, when I realize it will make the perfect start for another scene, that’s when I look up to see Untitled.doc has been erased. Yeah, I know, why is it always the very best thing ever? Ugh.
4. I find it hard to work in the same room every day so I move about. Combined with my lack-of-love for my (and any) laptop and I have PCs all over the place. And, of course, different versions of the manuscript as well. So, when it’s time to put things together I get to have fun wasting spending hours sifting through the versions to find which connects with which. Over the course of writing Hill 170 I did pick up quite a few, very useful, file management traits. But I still can’t stay in the same room; too much like work.
The list can go on and on. My point being I am very much NOT built to be a novelist. But I can’t help it. I love to tell stories. I love to bring a huge project together and make it work - better yet, make it so that others will enjoy it, get hooked by it and truly experience it. My goals for Hill 170, in part, were to 1) get readers to feel like they knew the characters; that they spent time on the Hill, 2) to teach something new (This is something I always get from my favorite novels. It may be a bit of a risk, I know; some readers will hit an obstacle and stop. Others, like myself, will keep going and find that at the end of the story they have learned something. Jurassic Park is a great example.), and 3) to get an emotional response. I’m pleased to say that with my debut I managed all three. And best of all, my next novel (Sellebrity) will be even better because of what I learned writing Hill 170.
And that secret of mine? The best way to kick start my imagination is to pull out a History or Science book filled with photographs and charts - one of those books that likely weighs about fifteen pounds - and browse through it for an hour. Just going here and there quite randomly. Eventually I start to drift off a bit; my mind wandering past the end of a read (but not really seen) sentence. The daydreaming begins and a ‘what would it be like if…’ line of questions forms. I keep going just a bit more and then head for a pillow.
In less than a minute after my head goes horizontal I have a full-blown, highly detailed dream. The secret is to have my digital voice recorder right next to my pillow - I dare not pick up my head, the dream will spill out - ready to record the ideas that are now filling my brain.
Of the fourteen yet-to-be-written novels on my work shelf, nine began this way.
Thanks for letting me post!
Michael
Michael will also be giving away an Ebook copy!!!
Just leave a question or comment for the author with your email to be entered to win!
Contest finishes October 30, 2011
Please do check out Michael's Blog :
and his book can be bought here:
Comments
I look forward to reading your book.
kym
krykym(at)fullchannel.net
cgclynsg0 at gmail dot com