Ignorance is bliss....

Ignorance truly is bliss.  When I sat down to write my last book I just wrote, and brilliance spewed forth.  Well, I thought it was brilliant anyway.  And I was thrilled with what I saw.  And before I knew it, there was a book.  And it beamed at me.  It radiated beauty.  But then...I started to learn about writing and how to create a truly brilliant novel.

Well, I can't say that I'm well informed...yet.  But one thing that I've learned in the few steps I've taken upon my path is that you need something called GMC.  What is GMC?  Well, ummm...I don't really know.  But I do know that in order to have a truly brilliant novel with truly brilliant characters, you have got to have GMC.  Do my characters have it?  Well, as I sat in the grass this afternoon watching my daughter's softball practice, I thought about it.  Dorothy Gale had it.  Luke Skywalker had it. Richard Kimball had it.  Rick Blaine had it.  But does Collin Sykes have it?  Does Jewell McKean have it?  Does Percy Knighton have it?  Does Doc Babineaux have it?

Honestly - I'd have to say that in the Dollar Store sense, I think they do.  But then, I started thinking about my sequel.  And I started thinking about that GMC.  And I thought, they don't even have the Dollar Store version of GMC and I thought, by golly, they need it!  And not the Dollar Store version of it, I want the Saks Fifth Avenue version of GMC!  So I started thinking about it.  What is their goal?  What do they want in this...my second book.  And that's when I realized...Ignorance.Is.Bliss. 

Lesson One....

So what makes a novel great?  I mean truly great?  Why do you stay up until the wee hours of the morning reading some novels, knowing that you need to get up and go to work in the morning, while other novels simply put you to sleep?  Why do you ignore your family, your job, your very life to find out what happens next in one book, while another is simply a snooze fest?

Well, obviously part of it is simply what interests you.  For instance, Tom Clancy is considered a brilliant author but I just can't make it through a single chapter of one of his books, and Stephanie Meyers is - well, personally, I don't think she's a great author, but I really enjoyed her books.  Why don't I think she's a great author?  Because I enjoyed her books once.  But when I went back to read them again, they were torture.  I just could not bring myself to read them.  They were awful (IMHO). 

So what was it that made them unreadable, compared to other books that I can read over and over again?  Patricia Briggs, Adrian Phoenix, CE Murphy, Faith Hunter, Eileen Wilkes... And of course the greats: Ayn Rand, Gabriel García Márquez,  Fyodor Dostoevsky, Robert Heinlein....these authors can be read over and over again.  It's that ability to pull the reader into the book.  Each time the reader finds something new, feels the same excitement for the characters, and for me, at times, I find myself pushing even harder to get to that next scene, not to find out what happens but because I know what happens and I can't wait for the character to reach that next point in the book. 

*This* is what makes a great author.  This ability to pull the reader into the book and make them a part of the scene.  For me, with the Twilight books, that second time, I just didn't care.  And I don't know why.  So that's what I think I'm going to do over the next couple of weeks.  Figure out why I care about some characters, and not so much about others.

I'm also going to look at Kim Harrison's book Black Magic Sanction.  As I break the book down, there will be spoilers so I'll give you spoiler alerts.  I'm going to try to figure out how to make another page so that you can ignore those pages as you wish.  Right now - as I understand it, books are made up of "scenes" not chapters.  And every "scene"  must have a purpose.  So as I'm reading I'm trying to figure out why each scene belongs.  In the last chapter I read, I just don't understand why it was there but maybe that will reveal itself later.  But more on that maybe tomorrow....

The art of perfection....

“Perfection is attained by slow degrees; it requires the hand of time” ~Voltaire

So Why did I start this blog?  My idea is that I have realized that I am not good at everything that I do.  No...it's true.  For those of you who believe that I excel at everything I try, I have found something at which I do not excel.  However, I hope that with practice, this will change.  Some things require hard work and  writing is one of them. Perhaps writing one's thoughts day to day or week to week, or writing an article for an academic journal may be something with which I am familiar, but this does not translate well to writing novels.

Many of my fans (and I thank each and every one of you) may be saying to yourself "but I really enjoyed your book."  Well, that may be true, but as with anything, there is always room for improvement.  Why do I say this?  I've been panned.  Yes, it's true.  Someone gave me what for.  Someone who, over the past weeks, I have come to respect quite highly.  Now, this person (and you know who you are) has been generous and honest, and offered to help me improve upon the skills that I already possess.  And dare I say, I do possess some.  It was a pretty good novel - or so my readers tell me.  But it could have been so much more.

Let's face it, Rome wasn't built in a day.  Heck, it took The Good Lord a full seven days to Create His masterpiece.  And yet, here I am, brazen enough to think that because I've read a few good books, I can call myself an author.  Well, actually...I am going to call myself an author anyway (just a novice author).

And so...with the tutelage of this wonderful person who smacked me upside the head and said "Yo - you are NOT on the PATH!  It's over here...." and any fine people I meet upon the way, I will learn to become a brilliant author who will turn out great books that people will *love* to read.  (I'm so humble). 

This blog will share with you my experiences as I travel along this path, learn and grow.  And along the way, I will be sharing my critiques of the books I read from my new *author* point of view as I learn the tools of the trade.

I invite you to join me on my quest and read a few good books along the way.