Phil Adams: Procrastinating Novelist & Writer

In the midst of novel writing ~ alright, alright, chapter 1 writing ~I found myself in a bind. I was deep into describing a scene when I realized I needed of a neat sounding name for an insignificant little hamlet and for a couple of incidental characters. When I flipped to my handy-dandy List of Useable People Names & Useable Place Names (as suggest by 1st Draft in 30 Days) and I faced an empty list. Neat, numbered lines ran the length of a 8 1/2 x 11 page of paper, but no list of place or people names. Of course, at that moment, my brain freezes over and nothing short of a Super Nova was going to melt it into function again. I couldn’t come up with any names whatsoever.

So what did I do?

Naturally, I surfed the Net. What better way is there for a blocked writer to obtain inspiration ~ don’t answer that, I know the Internet is not even on the bottom of the top 20 Ways to Remove Writer’s Block list.

But I surfed and I found a treasure horde of Name Generators!

You’re gonna love these. There are name generators for Being/Alien Species, Organization, Superheroes, Technology, Medieval Street NNames, Eqyptian Names

Check these out:

Seventh Sanctum

Fantasy Name Generator

Fantasy Lands

Squid.org

Serendipity

The Forge

Posted by Phil Adams at 09:05 AM | Permalink

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A less sophisticated software for writers that I found the most useful overall is a package called, Write It Now.

AlienSkin Magazine’s senior editor, Kay Patterson, introduced me to it, and got me hooked.

I use it for my short stuff. It’s basic, no frills. Totally unlike Dramatica Pro in that regard.

Writers who prefer to outline their stories first before they write them would find this little program nifty.

And though it doesn’t have all the bells & whistles of Dramatica Pro, it also helps be brainstorm and gives that infernal itch to sit in a chair and write.

Price? A mere $39 bucks. Yep, it’s cheap. But it’s actually pretty good.

Without the bells and whistles I tend to procrastinate less and write more. Hum...

Posted by Phil Adams at 09:24 AM | Permalink

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In the early years, while endeavored to formulate, research and write my novels ~ and this was during a time when computers were still in the 286 mhz and MSWindows 95 stages ~ I often wondered why no one developed a software package for writers. I’m not talking word processing software, but software that helped with plot development, characterization, note organization, character profiles; and kept it all at our fingertips, readily accessed when we needed it. I had even wondered if software could help with brainstorming story ideas.

For years the only software I had found minimally helpful was a program that calculated readability. I don’t me like those found in Word Perfect or MSWord. This software package spit out a full page report. I can’t remember the name of it, and laughably it was DOS based and loaded from a floppy disk ~ no not the huge floppy disk of old, but a 1.44MB disk none the less.

Today, I while away hours toying with my novel writing software ~ which I also utilize for the occasional short stories I write.

I’m hooked on Dramatica Pro. I bought it new but at a reduced rate through Amazon.com. And it took me months to master the basics of it ~ but only because I’m a procrastinator don’t y’know.

Dramatica Pro’s nearly everything I could ask for in a writing program. It helps me analyze my characters, my plot, subplot, story theme; it helps me build tension and supplies me with plenty of well-known example stories to help me along.

As I answer its myriad of questions, it actually builds a useable synopsis of my story.

It even helps me brainstorm ideas, showing me chart-wise how my overall story changes when I rearrange character wants and roles, etc.

The only things it doesn’t do is dammit is write my novel! And it doesn’t talk to me.

For short stories you would answer about 50 questions versus the 200+ questions for novel length fiction.

I find when I use it, when I re-read the chart notations or review my notes for each character, new insights pop into my head or the itch to write some of the story strikes. Which, for a procrastinating writer like me, is a good thing!

New the program will cost you anywhere from $199.00 to $250.00. A big investment if your a newbie writer or more into short stories. But you can also find used copies (Make Sure the Used Package Comes With Accompanying Book and chart) occasionally on Amazon.com or in your local Half-Priced Books.

Posted by Phil Adams at 09:07 PM | Permalink

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You better have THESE books on your shelf and within arms reach of you if you’re serious abut your fiction writing.

They have been revamped by Writer’s Digest with new spiffy covers, but their interior content has remained the same in their reprinting.

I was lucky enough to snatch up these babies when they were initially published. They are truly Indispensable Must Haves.

They are the Writer’s Digest Books:  Elements of Fiction Writing series on fiction writing.

~ A Complete Series of 6 Books ~

1. Beginnings, Middles, & Endings

2. Character & Viewpoint

3. Conflict, Action & Suspense

4. Description

5. Plot

6. Scene & Structure

And there you have it. The last of my Indispensable Reference Books.

As you may have guessed (and this is particularly true about most writers, novelist and otherwise) that reference book reading is indeed a major distract for procrastinating little ol’ me. But at least it is an educational one, that helps me to improve my chances at writing publishable stories.

Posted by Phil Adams at 10:43 PM | Permalink

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In all the year that I have been writing science fiction, fantasy, and yes, even a few horror tales, I’ve only come across a small cache of quality reference books on these genres. And by quality, I mean they really speak to me as a SFFH writer. The fuel my fire. The little light bulb above my head switches on and I see the light! I also admit that sometimes my little light bulb dims out a bit ~ especially if there is a good SFFH movie on TV that I haven’t seen in a while. I’m a movie junkie too. I feel it’s only fair I mentioned that.

But these books are top notch, packed with invaluable information that is both useful and easy to employ in any writing project: flash, short story, novel.

I also categorize these as part of my Inspirational Stuff too. I certainly can’t write without them being within arms reach.

On my new 3-tier shelf, they definitely sit on the top shelf.

These books are:

1. Writer’s Guide to Creating a Science Fiction Universe,
     by George Ochoa & Jeffrey Osier

2. World Building, by Stephen L. Gillett & edited by Ben Bova

3. Aliens & Alien Societies, by Stanley Schmidt
    & edited by Ben Bova

4. Space Travel, by Anthony R. Lewis & Edited by Ben Bova

5. Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy, by Crawford Kilian

 

Posted by Phil Adams at 03:31 PM | Permalink

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As a perpetual, procrastinating novelist ~ I have numerous reference books on writing. They fill the 4-shelf bookcase in our bedroom.

But the only ones I deemed Indispensable and carted down to my closet office were these:

1. The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing, by Evan Marshall

2. The Novel Writer’s Toolkit, by Bob Mayer

3. 1st Draft in 30 Days, by Karen S. Wiesner

4. Novelist’s Boot Camp, by Todd A. Stone

 

The above are in no particular order. They’re all good, and I highly recommend them to anyone serious about starting a novel.

Posted by Phil Adams at 12:13 PM | Permalink

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Every writer has them. Some writers have more than others.

Me, I have 3. Three that I hold dear, and Must Have near to me at all times when I write. And only 1 of these relates to writing my preferred genres Science Fiction & Fantasy writing.

I have a hell of a lot more How-Tos on general fiction writing and on writing short stories.

But only 3 How-Tos that have proven effective for me. These 3 indispensable books are, in the order I’ve deem of importance:

   #1 How To Write Science Fiction & Fantasy, by Orson Scott Card

   #2 How To Tell A Story: The Secrets of Writing Captivating Tales,
          by Peter Rubie & Gary Provost

   #3 How To Write A Breakout Novel, by Donald Maass

Posted by Phil Adams at 10:57 AM | Permalink

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