Month: May 2018

Hammer and Tong

Now that storylines in Anye Legacy books 2 & 3 are in pretty good shape, it’s time to go back and apply writer’s craft. I’ve been away from Quantum Soul long enough to be objective, and I can see it needs some work.

This is always a dilemma for a writer – you fall in love with the details and end up writing material that, while it might be lovely, contains fundamental defects.

The pacing was off, there were too many details that readers probably won’t care about and some of it was boring.

So, I’m working on a new beginning, picking up the protagonist at age 17 instead of age 11. In order to focus on what I need to be doing, I made a short list.

  • Interiority of characters
  • Sense of place
  • Meaningful exposition
  • Interior dialogue
  • Advance the plot
  • So what

If you want to see what I’m setting aside, go here for a look at a sample of the most recent draft. What follows is the first 2 chapters of my current thought experiment. It’s early to be sharing this, and it still might not be any good, but I’m not shy. Comments welcome.

Continue reading “Hammer and Tong” →

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Found on the editing room floor …

… is a bit about an author who wanted to show off his mastery of craft by executing metaphor and irony in a single passage, so he wrote about his dog’s “cough syrup” eyes at dinnertime — meaning “expectorant” — but looked it up and learned it was the wrong usage.

Author’s note: Having just suffered a terrible bout of influenza, I believe I have a good excuse for this. Even so, if you find the gag vaguely amusing, please say so in the comments.

It would be a kindness, on account of I sure didn’t get any validation at home for it.

 

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John’s Amazing Waffles

Serves 2

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tbs sugar

4 tbs Kraft vanilla malted milk powder

1/4 tsp salt

mix dry ingredients thoroughly, then add

1 egg, beaten

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbs melted butter

buttermilk (about 3/4 cup … add to desired consistency)

For best results,  let batter sit for 1 hour …

Whole milk mixed with sour cream, cottage cheese or yogurt may be substituted for buttermilk … Blend thoroughly before mixing with dry ingredients …

For extra fluffy waffles, separate egg white from yolk, beat egg white with sugar and fold into batter as last step of preparation.

When adding pecans or other nuts, put nuts on cooking surface BEFORE adding batter …

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