Quick update: Penworthy blog has re-published a blog post I originally wrote in February 2008 about "Fiction Calisthenics". It's a short read about a quick exercise to warm up one's creativity or break out of a writing rut. Check it out!

Science Fiction and Fantasy Author, Bryan Thomas Schmidt

Excerpt from The Returning:

E

ither his eyes were failing or the shadows were alive.         

Dru blinked as he listened to his fellow cadets breathing and snoring around him. He lay at the center of a row of seven bunks with seven more lining the opposite wall. All twenty-eight were occupied and no one else seemed to be stirring.

      As he lifted his head, he saw a dark shape like a shadow, slinking down the center aisle. The figure moved quickly, sliding between the bunks on the opposite wall and leaning over one of them. He saw a sharp movement. Did the shadow have four arms? Who could it be? His mind raced for answers. His clothes stuck to his body, an odd feeling. He never sweated at night. There was a gargling, then he watched as the shadow shot upright and ran back the way it had come. Dru heard wheezing coming from the bunk and sat up, planting his feet on the floor. What was happening with Cadet Kowl? He jumped up. “Kowl, are you ok?”

      No sign of the shadow. A metallic smell filled his nostrils. Others stirred around him. He heard a click as reflector pads flicked on overhead.

      Dru gasped and stepped back as he stared down at Cadet Kowl's slashed throat as blood drained from it into two pools on either side of his bunk on the floor. He shivered, a sudden chill coming over him.

       “Gods! He's dead!” The cadet behind him sounded as shocked as Dru felt. Cadet Walz was it? Dru couldn't remember. Then chaos erupted as someone pulled the alarm and he was shoved aside by arriving instructors.

In Bryan’s second novel, The Returning, new challenges arise as Davi Rhii’s rival Bordox and his uncle, Xalivar, seek revenge for his actions in The Worker Prince, putting his life and those of his friends and family in constant danger. Meanwhile, politics as usual has the Borali Alliance split apart over questions of citizenship and freedom for the former slaves. Someone’s even killing them off. Davi’s involvement in the investigation turns his life upside down, including his relationship with his fiancée, Tela. The answers are not easy with his whole world at stake.

Author Spotlight

Bryan Thomas Schmidt writes science fiction and fantasy, not only for grownups but for children, too. 

His goal? "To write family friendly, fun stories both parents and children can enjoy which inspire wonder and a desire for adventure and a lifetime of learning. To write the kinds of stories that inspired me when I was growing up, safe stories with fun, admirable characters, interesting worlds, humor and action that you can’t put down and won’t easily forget."

Bryan's favorite authors include en, C.S. Lewis, John Grisham, W.E.B. Griffin, Nicholas Sparks, Timothy Zahn, Gail Carriger, A.C. Crispin, Leigh Brackett.

He hosts #sffwrtcht (Science Fiction and Fantasy Authors Chat), a live chat with science fiction and fantasy authors, editors, etc., on Wednesdays at 9 ET on Twitter. #sffwrtcht also posts interviews and reviews on a blog, as well as at SFSignal, Grasping For The Wind, and other sites.

Bryan's work includes novels, anthologies, and more: 
The Saga of Davi Rhii: The Worker Prince (October 2011
The Saga of Davi Rhii: The Returning (June 2012) 
The North Star Serial, Part 1 (May 2009)
Space Battles: Full Throttle Space Tales 6 (editor & contributor)(April 2012)
102 More Hilarious Dinosaur Jokes For Kids (Forthcoming 2012)

The Worker Prince made Honorable Mention on Barnes & Noble Book Clubs Year’s Best SF Releases of 2011.

Projects Bryan is currently working on for future publication:
The Dawning Age Trilogy, an epic fantasy series with steampunk elements
Abraham Lincoln, Dinosaur Hunter, chapter books for kids 6-12
The Saga of Davi Rhii: The Exodus
World Encounters Anthology (editor)

One of Bryan's favorite quotes is this: “Concert pianists at the height of their fame practice every day, why shouldn’t writers?” – John A. Pitts

And, indeed, he's one of the steadiest writers I've encountered, whereas I am not so steady, writing when I can, schedule be damned. That's probably why he has far more fiction in print than I do. (There's a lesson in here somewhere, kiddos.)

A member of SFWA, ASCAP, and CCL, Bryan is also available for conferences, and he moonlights as a freelance editor. He can be reached via his website, where readers can catch up on his blog or SFF Writers Chat, buy his books, and read excerpts of novels.

7 Things I've Learned About Storytelling

Below is an updated excerpt from a Q & A with a fellow writer who was looking to be inspired and to learn knew things for his own book. This was originally posted in April 2008; it came to mind again as I prepared for a presentation to a writers group. Sometimes, I need to be reminded of my own words, or take a refresher course in the basics of writing. Perhaps the lessons listed below might be of help to other writers, as well.

 

Q) What useful things have you learned about creative writing in general from writing a novel?

A) Though I've learned much from writing this book, I've also gleaned much from other sources. Below are a few things I've gathered along the journey.

I copyedited manuscripts for a publisher. My job was to find spelling, punctuation, usage, and subject/verb agreement errors--all the boring stuff--but I also found paragraphs that should be rearranged, or sentences that were awkwardly structured or misplaced. Once phrases or entire sentences were given new homes, the writing flowed. It read well.

LESSON ONE: The boring stuff matters. Who cares how creative your stories are if you can't tell them coherently?

I also edit manuscripts writers are preparing to send to agents or editors. Some writers have already been published, but for most this is their first manuscript to be sent out into the world. They want "the works" when it comes to editing/critiquing. From reading these manuscripts, I've often learned what not to do in my own writing.

If spelling, grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, dialogue, description, or some other basic element of storytelling makes you nervous, consult other writers, ask editors, or find resource materials (style books, online dictionaries, etc.).

LESSON TWO: Read someone else's manuscript. Sometimes we are blind to our own words, and need the mirror of others to see our mistakes.

LESSON THREE: The adage "show, don't tell" is valid. Sometimes, we need to tell the reader some information because we need to condense time or space on the page, and move on to the next scene. However, those times should be rare. Never miss an opportunity to dramatize the story, make it come to life. Don't report dialogue; let us hear it. Don't tell us how characters feel; show emotion in their actions, words, expressions, silences.

For more along this line, check out Rebecca Miller's blog for a discussion of Scene vs. Narrative.

LESSON FOUR: Silence is golden. Sometimes, we writers fall so in love with our own words that we disgorge them onto the page with abandon, without consideration to whether or not they belong there. If we subject the reader to long passages of poetic prose describing the countryside, he may give up on the story altogether, or he may skip ahead to the good stuff, to where something is actually happening. Interweave description with action. Learn when to shut up.

Learn what to leave out. There is power in a character's pause, in the implied words he never says, in the actions she almost takes. Go ahead, and lead the reader toward a certain conclusion, but also leave something to the reader's imagination; it will often be more powerful than any words we might use to fill the gap.

LESSON FIVE: Daydreaming is an active pursuit. To the untrained eye, you're lollygagging. You're sitting and staring at the ceiling, out the window, into oblivion. You're watching paint dry. No. Your mind is active. In your mind, warriors are scaling cliffs, serial killers are stalking their next victims, a lover is desperately trying to capture the girl's attention, the gunfight is about to commence. Writers need time apart and alone in which to daydream. That's part of telling the story.

LESSON SIX: Patience is also an active pursuit. Sometimes, the words won't arrive when we need them. Sometimes characters dig in their heels, stick out their chins, and refuse to cooperate. They say things that raise our eyebrows or do things that startle the rest of the fictional populace. When this happens, don't scrap the work. Stop. Reflect. Consider the alternatives. Go with it--see where this leads. Go backward--see if you took a wrong turn. Most often, I see where the new road takes me, and I am rarely sorry.

Sometimes, you realize you've taken on a task bigger than you expected. (That's what happened to me with this current project). It expands like some sort of alien goo. How are you going to tell a story that's so big you stagger under its weight?

You can only do what you can do. You start. Perhaps you produce a timeline so that you know what happens next, who enters the story and where. Perhaps you outline the plot--as a whole, or chapter by chapter, or scene by scene. Perhaps you just wing it (my most-used strategy), and you write about this group of characters and their problems and desires, then you bring in other groups or events, and so on, and weave the tangled threads as you go. Perhaps you adopt an eclectic approach: seat-of-the-pants mixed with a little outlining here and there, and sometimes a timeline to help orient yourself.

However you approach it, don't give up. I've been with the basic kernel of this story for about twelve years, wrote other stuff and tinkered with this one, but didn't get serious for a long time because it was hard work. The story, however, wouldn't let me go. January 1, 2008, the first manuscript in the cycle was completed, and now I'm three-fourths of the way through the second one. Patience is an active verb.

LESSON SEVEN: Be true to the story.

Don't let others write it for you. Sometimes, we ask for the opinions of other writers, and their version of an edit or a critique is to rewrite the story in their image. Help is one thing; control is another. A good editor will hunker down inside your story, get a feel for it, try to look at the story's world through your eyes, then help you tell that story and reveal that world as best as possible. He won't take over and turn the tale into something it was never intended to be.

Go ahead, have a theme, but don't turn your fiction into a pulpit. This goes back to Lessons Three and Four: "Show, don't tell" and "Silence is golden." You may want to dramatize a family breaking apart, or a person being lured into an abusive relationship, or maybe you're going for a broader effect, such as nations at war, the politics of poverty, and so on. Perhaps you have experienced something similar, and the idea about which you write is a personal thing. You have strong feelings about it, or strong beliefs. Tell us a story, but don't tell us what to think, believe, or feel. A reader's imagination, personal experiences, and beliefs will do that job. He may disagree. That's okay. But, if you do your job well, he may keep reading until the end. What more can a storyteller ask?

Lastly, don't let others tell you it can't be done, it won't sell, you'll never finish, it's no good, whatever. If you--the author--believe in your story, if it grabs you by the collar and drags you to the finish, then it must be written, even if it won't sell or it's not good. You need to ask yourself why you're writing it in the first place. Perhaps it's not intended for the world. Perhaps it's the thing you must write before you can write something else. Many bestselling authors have years of work hidden in a filing cabinet or a cardboard box, piles of pages, thousands of words, that the world will never see. Those are the training manuscripts. Don't be afraid to write a few.

Lessons from Littlest

Took a walk Monday afternoon with Littlest, who is not quite two. Wouldn't ya know it? She chooses the rattiest looking daisy to admire while telling me how pretty the flowers are.

in the backyard     c. KB, June 2012

Reminds me of God: He created us, and there's sure some uglies in the bunch -- I'm talking behavior more than appearance -- but taken all together, we're a beautiful sight.

Littlest then tries to pick a daisy, but she doesn't have the strength to do more than pop it's head off if she pulls any harder, so she looks up at me and asks for help. Of course, I choose a nice specimen.

c. KB, June 2012

Again, reminds me of God. He wants only the best for us. Sometimes, though, we're content with the rattiest we can find.

"Best" doesn't always mean shiniest, newest, biggest, costliest. A walk with a child is free. So is time, laughter, patience, companionship, a listening ear. Sometimes, the hardest to do and the most difficult to give is a shut mouth. Do we really need to express every thought in our heads?

c. KB, June 2012

Sometimes, the best thing is a session of sidewalk chalk in the driveway.

"What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight.  Create anyway."

(credited to Mother Teresa)

Animal Control, or How to Remove A Squirrel Trapped in Your Fireplace (redux)

In honor of my brother's return to the States for a brief R&R, here's a re-post of a funny-but-true experience he had a couple years ago when an uninvited guest invaded the fireplace. Enjoy!

How to remove a squirrel trapped in your fireplace in 12 easy steps:

http://www.about-squirrels.com/

Step 1: Call pest removal service and get a quote.
Step 2: Have your spouse resuscitate you after you hear price quote.
Step 3: Repeat steps 1 and 2 until every pest removal service in the phone book has been contacted or until you understand that the lowest price quote is still going to be over $100.
Step 4: Contemplate purchasing commercially available trap.
Step 5: Decide $25 is still too much to pay and retrieve cage of your late hamster.
Step 6: Place cracked corn inside of cage, attach wire to door for remote closure, place cage (quickly) into fireplace.
Step 7: After about 12 hours of waiting, realize that the squirrel is NOT falling for it.
Step 8: Add seeds to cage and cover the cage with old tee-shirts to make it dark and cozy.
Step 9: Accept the fact that the squirrel will NEVER enter your trap.
Step 10: Lose patience with squirrel, get out flashlight, lantern, digital camera, and canned air.
Step 11: Harass squirrel mercilessly. This part is fun.
Step 12: Fear is good motivator. The squirrel exits back up the chimney the way he came in.

7  Things I learned while trying to evict a squirrel:

1. A squirrel can growl.
2. Squirrels do not like flash photography.
3. Squirrels will stare you down.
4. Squirrels jump when sprayed with canned air. 
5. Angry/scared squirrels in confined spaces can be quite entertaining.
6. Trapped squirrels are not fond of yelling, running children.
7. With enough motivation a squirrel can clear obstacles that were previously insurmountable.


"I made the mistake of leaving the shirt in the fireplace," said Bubba, "because he (the squirrel) just wallered it around until he made a cozy nest and went to sleep. He stopped trying to escape."

Here's a Sunday sermon: Even if your captivity is comfortable, you're still not free.

In addition to the above observation about no longer trying to escape, my wise younger brother said this several months ago: "When you get to the point that this is unacceptable, you take steps to change it. But you don't change until your dissatisfaction with where you are outweighs the risk of stepping out on faith." (Context can be read here.)

Amen, brother. Amen.

Verbal Fatigue

Almost two months since my last post -- one might think there are no adventures in fiction.

Despite the silence, there have been adventures aplenty, though not quite the kind I would like. I've been immersed in editorial projects: manuscripts for a publishing company, volunteering for online magazines, participating in a small critique group, and restructuring a few of my works.

As a result of all that verbiage, I'm experiencing what might be called verbal fatigue. Surrounded by words, I have nothing to say. However, I do hope to have something profound or funny or even remotely fiction-related to post soon.

For those who might be interested, here's a site that was recommended to me this week: Adventures in SciFi Publishing. Looks like some good stuff!

Night of the Living Dead Christian - Day 2

What is a Christian? Really?

I started off with a sure-fire winner. "A Christian is anyone who claims to follow Jesus."

Luther steepled his fingers and looked at us carefully..."You realize, also, that according to your definition, people like Adolph Hitler would be Christian."

"WHAT?! Hitler was an atheist."

"On the contrary, Hitler was firmly opposed to atheism. He claimed to be a Christian."  (p60)

So, what is a Christian? Really?

That question and others are tackled in Matt Mikalatos' funny and thought-provoking new novel, Night of the Living Dead Christian, in which Matt's fictional self embarks on a quest to help his lycanthropic neighbor, Luther, become transformed and leave behind his wolfish nature.

Problem is, there are too many zombies.

They infest neighborhoods, fill churches -- they're everywhere. They often carry big Bibles, they have a neatly-packaged answer for every problem you might face, and they want you to be just like they are. What's so wrong with that? 

Side note: When one is in pain and a little drugged-up, as I have been for a couple days due to an impromptu but urgent dental matter, one's delayed and "ugh-ugh-ugh" laughter may sound a bit too zombie-like for comfort.

Anyhoo. Back to the zombies.

Matt and Luther go to church one Sunday, are chased by zombies, jump -- or, in Matt's case, fall -- out a window, drive through the ravening crowd of undead, sort of rescue a not-quite-zombified victim, and escape to the safety of Luther's backyard, where the almost-zombie is stowed in a shed while the cohorts discuss the possibility of Matt's own zombification.

"...This breed of zombies doesn't reproduce through biting." [Culbetron] poked my leg wound with his finger, and I yowled at him. "There are plenty of different ways a zombie plague can start...magic, of course, or through a virus, usually spread through bodily fluids, which is why the zombie bite can be so dangerous. I've heard of zombie plagues that can be spread through hearing other zombies or even by seeing their acts of violence. This particular breeds appears to infect through philosophy."

"Don't be ridiculous," Luther said.

"It's true," Culbetron said. "You heard about their church. The zombies insist that their victims read certain books, listen to certain podcasts. The main question of a zombie race like this is, 'Do you agree with me?' You may recall that when they captured me the other day, they tried to hold me down and force me to listen to a podcast. They can't rest until you've become like them...and then you'll want others to become like you. And so it spreads."

I shuddered. "It's frightening. I was getting into a little during the musical number."

"Your kind tends to have a soft spot for musicals, especially if you're offered a solo."

"My kind? That's the second time someone has implied that I'm a monster."

My friends -- the werewolf, the mad scientist, and the robot -- exchanged glances and then smiled at me. "We're just kidding you," Hibbs said, and they all broke into hilarious laughter.  (pp98,99)

Ever realized that maybe you don't know yourself as well as you think you do? That maybe the way you see yourself isn't necessarily the truth? That's a sobering day.

In case you're interested, there's a handy field guide to monsters at the back of the book. Technically, it's a self-diagnostic tool -- I'm pretty much aligned with the sasquatch -- and you might be surprised to find yourself described somewhere in its pages (261-267).

Back to the guys standing in the backyard and talking among themselves, as well as addressing the zombie in the shed, the same zombie who had been trying himself to escape from the horde of undead in the church parking lot:

 "...(I)t was Luther Martin's car that hit you, not mine. Just in case you're thinking of, for instance, suing someone." Luther scowled at me.

"Sue you? No way. I want to thank you. I've been trying to get up the guts to leave that place for months."

Culbetron cackled with inappropriate laughter. We stared at him, and he chortled, "The zombie just said that he was trying to get up the guts to leave. Get it? Guts?"

Luther sighed. "You are like a paperweight on our souls, Doctor." (p100)

 Another side note: The zombie in the shed reminds me of the end of Shaun of the Dead, which film also addresses -- in a secular, more violent fashion -- the idea of what it means to be truly alive.

Just like Rob the zombie, I tend to stick to things -- jobs and dentists and churches -- that I should have abandoned long ago:
1) Jobs, because they ensure an income, and I'm not comfortable with total reliance on God to meet my needs -- and yet He keeps placing me in just that situation, and I'm learning to put less and less faith in my checkbook;
2) Dentists, because I dislike the process of x-rays and exams required for the new guy -- but the last dentist messed up the mouth so badly that the new dentist must do even more to repair it (fear and avoidance are not my friends); and
3) Churches, because I was raised to attend every Sunday, Wednesday, special meeting, revival service, evangelistic crusade, youth event, community outreach, you name it -- and "real Christians" don't skip out or church-hop. But when my life broke into pieces, all anyone gave were canned answers, pop theology, tidy Scripture verses, smiling promises to pray for me. I was a mess, in desperate need of help, but my messiness was uncomfortable for others, who told me that I needed to stop wallowing and just "overcome".

So, like Luther the werewolf and Rob the zombie, I left, and for several years, I only attended services on rare occasions. I never left God, I never abandoned fellow believers -- I just left church. And that's when my real relationship with Him began.

Which brings me to yet another quote from Night of the Living Dead Christian, this time a passage from Luther's point of view:

If belief gets us into Heaven regardless of behavior, or even despite our actions, then Satan will be in Heaven alongside pastors and theologians and missionaries and saints. For Satan's theology must surely be as informed as the most learned Christian scholars, for he knows God very well indeed. And the signposts Christ gave for recognizing his "true followers' seemed to have very little -- in fact, next to nothing -- to do with people's beliefs. He seemed strongly concerned about people's actions. Christians say, "A true disciple of Jesus believes that he is God and that he died for our sins." But the Christ they claim to follow said that his true disciples take up their crosses and follow him, that they obey his teachings, that they "bear much fruit," that they love one another, that they give up everything, even family, to follow him in the way he demands.

It seems that Jesus' own definition is alien to most Christians, who are satisfied that by signing their name on some creed they are somehow mystically associated with Christ. It is why I can say with Mahatma Gandhi, " I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians."

Perhaps if they were more like Christ I would like them too. (pp95,96)

While reading the discussion that opens today's blog post, I was strongly reminded of another novel  -- The Visitation by Frank Peretti -- in which the main character, a former pastor and now determined non-churchgoer, tells the story of his journey from salvation to conformity to non-faith. Not so much a lack of faith in God as much as a struggle with Him. Definitely a lack of faith in church and packaged answers. That character's journey reflects my own, and made my initial reading of The Visitation difficult and intriguing at the same time.

Ditto for much of Luther's story in Night of the Living Dead Christian. This time, however, many years after beginning my journey with Christ outside the traditional church boundaries, I can enjoy the humor of the novel while appreciating its pointed questions. Those of us who claim to follow Christ need not check either our sense of humor nor our intelligence at the door.

(sudden chorus coming from First Regular Christian Church of Vancouver: "Brains, brains, we want your brains!")

Please disregard the rambling nature of this post. It was composed while the author was on painkillers. (Recall the aforementioned dentist?)

And do please check out these other stops along the monster tour:

Gillian Adams

Julie Bihn

Red Bissell

Thomas Clayton Booher

Thomas Fletcher Booher

Beckie Burnham

Morgan L. Busse

Theresa Dunlap

Amber French

Tori Greene

Nikole Hahn

Ryan Heart

Bruce Hennigan

Janeen Ippolito

Becky Jesse

Jason Joyner

Carol Keen

Leighton

Shannon McDermott

Rebecca LuElla Miller

Nissa

Joan Nienhuis

John W. Otte

Crista Richey

Sarah Sawyer

Chawna Schroeder

Rachel Starr Thomson

Steve Trower

Fred Warren

Shane Werlinger

Nicole White

Dave Wilson