Inpatience and Your Best Foot Forward

Last weekend, I sent two different query letters to two different literary agents. One wanted the first ten pages of a given work, while the other wanted the first twenty pages. Now, I’ve sent many query letters in the past, and still plan to, but this time, it’s with The Mustard Prince in the Condiment Kingdom being re-edited by me once again with a deeper understanding of “voice.” I really don’t have plans to edit it yet again, as I have other projects to work on.

This taught me something though, and that’s that I really didn’t put my best foot forward in sending out my works. Part of it was just a lack of knowledge and experience, but part of it was just impatience. This really is a long and arduous process with the goal being very difficult to obtain. I did myself no favors though in wanting to essentially rush the process and send my works out before they were ready.

I’ve noticed that I’ve somewhat enjoyed the process a bit more having some level of experience writing. I can identify better what to look out for and what to insert as well. For example, I feel that I have made The Mustard Prince in the Condiment Kingdom funnier after this last re-edit. I’m just hoping that a literary agent will resonate with the work, and that eventually, it can be read by many different people.
 

Tediousness and the Finished Product

I watched Ready Player One in 3D last week, and I thought that it was really good. For someone like me who has a channel talking about things like anime, manga, movies, etc, and was/is a gamer, this movie resonated with me quite a bit. In what movie could I see Mecha Godzilla fight against The Iron Giant (from the movie, not Final Fantasy) and a Gundam? That type of creativity and nostalgia is why I really like “story” in general.

I just finished re-editing the first chapter of The Mustard Prince in the Condiment Kingdom. This is the third or fourth time that I re-edited it, but now that I have a deeper understanding of “voice,” it just felt that I had to do it to put my best foot forward to potential literary agents and the reading audience in general. I have a lot more to do, but this has taught me that the finished product is not going to look like the initial product, and that we obviously don’t do everything perfectly the first time.

The process is tedious, for sure, but it can be fun too. I do feel that I made the story funnier due to these re-edits and much more descriptive too. I also feel that I have a better grasp of what to look out for as far writing more descriptively and getting into the characters and story. I suppose that it is all just a part of the learning process.
 

Creativity and Originality

This week has been more good than bad. On Tuesday morning, I caught a minor cold, so I was not bed-ridden or anything like that. However, sickness makes it difficult to get writing, editing and all that other stuff going. Despite that, the good outweighed the bad.

On Thursday night, I went to see Cirque du Soleil: Luzia, and it was amazing. The creativity that they utilize was something else, and it surprised me to see what people can do with something like a whistle, or a soccer ball, etc. Then, on Saturday, I went to WonderCon in Anaheim and cosplayed as Bruce Lee from Game of Death. Once again the creativity there was off the charts. There were a good amount of artists, and they put their own spin on a certain character, series, etc.

In a sense, that’s what I’m doing with my own stories. Everything has been done in some way or another, but everyone has their own take, and I think that’s where the originality comes into play. This week, I got to see a lot of that.
 

Process and Excellence

I watched the newest Tomb Raider movie, and I thought that it was fun enough. It would be a good rental, but not something I’d particularly recommend to watch in the theaters unless one is looking for an action flick. I was talking to a friend, and we were discussing why the movie didn’t particularly stand out. As someone who is doing a lot of editing right now, as I have finished two books so far (The Mustard Prince in the Condiment Kingdom and The Wilderness), it’s a surprise that these movies don’t seem to have a high level of editing and fixing noticeable holes.

We were quickly able to notice the flaws in the movie, so why weren’t these flaws addressed in post-production? There could have a myriad amount of reasons, to be clear, but it just seems like a certain potential wasn’t reached because of it. Granted, there are time constraints, budget, etc. Maybe, they just wanted to make money more than aspire for excellence.

I find that as I learn more about writing, that I’m constantly having to re-edit my works. It’s a slow and sometimes tedious process, but I suppose that the goal is to aspire for excellence. That’s not to say that I’m trying to re-invent the wheel but just make my works the best that I possibly can.
 

Good Memories and Bad Moods

I can’t say that I had a great week. A lot of little things hampered my week, and in turn, affected my motivation and concentration to write, edit, or work on my podcast. Mood plays a role in the writing process and overcoming bad and/or negative moods is just one more thing that I have to learn how to do. This stuff does not write or edit itself.

I watched Disney’s A Wrinkle In Time and did a movie review for it. I read it as a kid back in elementary and liked it, and I think that this version is the second, or maybe third movie adaptation for this book. That’s what I want for The Mustard Prince in that a child could read it and still have good memories of it even as an adult. It didn’t help my mood though that I thought that the movie was just okay when in fact I was looking forward to it.

Maybe that’s a lesson in itself, in that we don’t know how the audience will accept our works. I suppose that we cannot control that aspect and could only do the best that we can learning from criticism and other works. 
 

Cold Weather and Entertainment

I had a tough time getting to my routine of working on editing and the podcast this week. The cold weather here in California does not help as I just want to be wrapped in blankets. When that happens, I tend to just fall asleep instead of work on things. Aso, I’m already tired from doing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu almost right after work on Mondays and Wednesdays.

I still found time for some entertainment, as I watched the Fullmetal Alchemist live-action movie on Netflix, and I also started reading the Princess Jellyfish manga. I actually have volumes one through seven just sitting in my room, and I decided to finally read them. It is really funny, and relatable to me since I tend to be all “otaku” about anything from anime, manga, MMA, Peanuts, movies, etc. The Fullmetal Alchemist movie, I thought, was good, and it really followed the plot points of the Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood anime pretty well. I’m sure that it’ll have a few sequels as long as it’s successful.

I think that a lot of factors go into this whole writing thing. Distraction like the internet, television, movies, cell phones, etc. to the weather can all make it that much more difficult to write, and those are just outside factors. Internally, motivation comes and goes and a lack of a sense of urgency also contribute to negatively affecting the writing process. Finding your own process and structure and maintaining it is probably more difficult, for me at least, than actually writing.
 

Discomfort and Evolving

I watched Black Panther, and I liked it enough. Some are going to criticize things like the political and social messaging of the movie, but I thought that as a story, it was fun. It moved forward well and felt well-paced. I actually have a problem with my stories in that they constantly just keep moving forward, but I can’t seem to have my characters just stop and smell the roses. I always feel that my characters just have to always be doing “something” and always in a state of action, for the most part.

Maybe that’s just my style of writing, or maybe that’s something that I’m going to have to improve upon. My comfort zone in my stories is in constant action, so I may have to get out of my comfort zone and have my characters just sit around and tell stories or something. I guess that it’s good in constantly being uncomfortable, as that’ll keep my writing sharp and evolving.

I feel that movies and some media, in general, haven’t been evolving very much. We’re seeing a good number of reboots and a lack of new approaches at times. I don’t think that anyone has to necessarily reinvent the wheel, as I personally value execution and characters more than anything else in story. 
 

Childhood and Coming Full Circle

I went to the Long Beach Comic Expo on Saturday and cosplayed as Bruce Lee from Game of Death wearing a yellow track suit. I got some good pictures, and I had fun overall. It’s nice going to an event like that, and despite being in my mid-thirties, it’s not seen as childish at my age to go to an event like that these days. Families are now going to these events with people my age growing up with similar interests and getting their kids into those same interests.

I have hope that The Mustard Prince can be something like that for people. I’d like for a kid to read The Mustard Prince, have good memories of the characters from that book, and grow up still having a fondness for it. I actually feel that way about Puss-N-Boots, which is the book that pretty much taught me how to read. 

I find the journey of becoming an author as something that comes full circle, in a sense. I used to read and/or watch stories unfold through various media (tv shows, anime, video games, books, manga, etc.) when I was younger, and still do but just not as much, but now, I am going that next step as an adult and writing stories for others to enjoy.
 

Technique and Creativity

I’m not much of a sports person, at least when it comes to stick-and-ball sports, but I did catch the Super Bowl, and I try to catch as much of the Winter Olympics that I can. Being more of the creative type, I tend to gravitate towards things that utilize creativity. However, in most of my endeavors, I’ve made it a point to learn fundamental techniques before trying to be creative and unorthodox. With a lot of these sports, seeing them played at the highest level, I get to see one if not both (creativity and technique) utilized at its peak.

Creative writing and trying to become an author has been a process of technique and creativity. I feel that I received some level of fundamental writing from writing so many essays in college, and it helps that I’ve always liked grammar. However, as I’ve stated in another blog post, it really has hindered my ability to go to that next level of creativity, as it’s just recently where I’ve learned about things like “voice,” for example.

I’m really hoping that I can reach a point where I can put it all together. Fundamental technique, in writing, seems to be more of a tangible thing where it’s about sentence construction and grammar. The creative part of it is much more difficult though, where it’s not so concrete. Writing primarily fantasy, it’s all about creativity, and also how one presents it as well.
 

The Past and Re-editing

With writing for a while and learning new things in regards to editing, voice and whatnot, I decided to edit one of my first fantasy short stories, The Witch’s Origin. I’m going to read it on my podcast when I’m done editing it. However, reading over the story, it is quite honestly not well-written. The funny thing is that when I wrote it, I thought that it was indeed well-written.

I’m a bit regretful that I didn’t know things like “voice” or proper editing in the past. It’s quite time-consuming to go over stories that I wrote and re-edit them. Also, in the case of The Mustard Prince in the Condiment Kingdom, I put it out as an eBook on Amazon a while back, and it’s not completely edited correctly. It still lacks “voice” right now especially since I am just starting to understand what “voice” is.

I suppose that this goes to show that it takes a while to put everything together no matter what endeavor one is trying to do. I thought that after college that I could write, and write well, but it turns out that writing creatively with my own “voice” as an author is another skill altogether. Also, I realize how important editing is to this writing process.
 

Voice and Learning

I was listening to a podcast, and the podcaster reviewed Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland.” He said how well-written it is, and I decided to read some excerpts. During this time, I remembered a criticism that I got from a literary agent talking about “voice.” I honestly didn’t understand “voice” very much and just wrote how I wanted to. 

Reading some excerpts of “Alice in Wonderland,” I was surprised by a lot of things. For one, the sentences that I read were particularly long, and I was under the impression of condensing and having a “less is more” mentality. The other thing is that I can identify the “voice” of the author in what I read. I can tell that the author’s “voice” which entails quirks, humor, knowledge, etc. was present in what I was reading.

In college, I wrote a lot of essays and helped many students with their essays. Now, I’m not saying that my writing is totally essay-like, but having essay writing being the primary source of my writing, I can tell that certain aspects of that such as rigidness and not really having a “voice” are present in my writing. I can write a grammatically correct sentence, and I can even describe the actions in a way that I’m “showing” and not “telling,” but I always knew that one couldn’t really tell who wrote that sentence. Hopefully, with this newfound knowledge, I can lend my own “voice” to what I am writing.

Simplicity and Reinventing the Wheel

I just watched Studio Ponoc’s “Mary and the Witch’s Flower,” and I thought it was solid. In my opinion, I saw a children’s story being made that was not trying to “reinvent the wheel.” In interviews with some that worked on the movie, they just wanted to create movies after Studio Ghibli closed down. I can relate to that as I wrote The Mustard Prince in the Condiment Kingdom with that same mentality. I just wrote something fun, entertaining, and with a focus on a simple story with memorable characters.

As an author, I still feel that I’m just scratching the surface. I’m still learning and utilizing what I’ve learned into my stories, especially at the time when I have to edit my work. Most recently, I just learned some new things about dialogue, for example. Because of that, I really don’t try to reinvent the wheel but just write about stuff that I like and enjoy. 

I don’t know how that is going to translate with readers though. I suppose that in order to find that out, then I have to become professionally published, which is the goal that I’m working towards. I can only hope that others will enjoy my works and give validity to what I’m working towards.
 

New Year and Small Changes

It’ a New Year, and my goals for this year, 2018, are the same as my goals for 2017. I want to get a girlfriend and get a literary agent. One thing that I am changing is my approach to things by making small adjustments. I think that there’s this idea that change needs to be relatively big whether it’s in dieting or other things, but I’ve learned that small adjustments make a big difference.

For example, with my podcast on Youtube, I’m going back to showing my face and talking to the camera instead of the viewer just seeing a picture. I’m changing the placement of where I advertise my website and my book on the actual podcast in order to get to the meat of the podcast instead of having this long, drawn-out introduction. With getting a literary agent, I’m making small tweaks to my query letters, but also doing more reading on how to make better dialogue in my stories. I then plan to re-edit the dialogue.

I’m hopeful and motivated, which is good. At the end of 2017, I was getting less motivated with how I was marketing my works and myself, especially through the podcast. I am going to look at 2017 as a year of just planting the seeds via practice and educating myself in order to eventually reach my goals.
 

Backwards and Forwards

I have to admit that I feel that I’m working from behind lately. I can’t say that things have been going my way, and that’s hurt my motivation and drive. I suppose that these are the times where I have to really ask myself if I want to be a professionally published author and hope to make money from this endeavor, or continue working at a cubicle.

When I get home, I work on some combination of writing, editing, or marketing my works. Television is something I’ll watch as I eat, but I’ve gotten to the point where I’m not that compelled to just lounge around and watch television until I’m done with writing stuff. I feel regret and slothful the times that I do just sit around.

 If I’m not staying productive, I feel that if I’m not moving forward, then I’m moving backwards. I’ve gotten in the habit and schedule to focus on writing as a priority. I kind of wish that I had this type of drive and focus when I was still a student, but I suppose that it’s just part of the learning experience.
 

Disappointment and Podcasting

I have to admit that I am lacking motivation these days to working on anything writing whether it’s actual writing, editing, but especially marketing through my podcast. I feel like I’m just spinning my wheels in sending query letters, working on the Chris’s Storytelling Corner podcast, and not getting anything in return. The podcast is particularly infuriating because I get next to no subscribers on Youtube, and just a slow crawl of progression as far as followers on Soundcloud. It doesn’t help, and honestly just seems so bizarre, that I receive next to no comments on my podcast as well. One video has a couple hundred views, but oddly doesn’t have any comments, for example.

It's disappointing because of the idea that if you work on something hard enough, you’ll get some sort of progression. In my case though, especially when it comes to the podcast, I work on it regularly, but see hardly any positive results.

I have to seriously consider changing something entirely, or stopping the podcast altogether as it does take a good amount of my time. I like doing it, but without having any type of comments and not seeming to have any type of audience as I have no idea who is listening, it’s more and more coming across as a waste of time.
 

Urgency and Rejection

I’ve been sending out more query letters to literary agents as of late for The Mustard Prince in the Condiment Kingdom. I have felt this particular urgency to send more as of late. I did not always put sending query letters out as priority, but now I feel that I have to. 

With sending out more query letters, I have been receiving more rejections. I’ve received some positive feedback about my book even in rejection, which I appreciate, but it’s still disheartening to get rejected. Now, it’s just most constant rejection.

I have a spreadsheet showing my rejections. If I reach the goal and actually get professionally published, I’m going to be really proud of that spreadsheet. 
 

Retro and Today

I have this, what I feel, peculiar interest in retro things. I particularly like 80’s cartoons, Tin Tin, Peanuts and others forms of media. For one thing, they surprise with how much content they have that pertains more towards adults. For example, in some of the 80’s cartoons I watch, characters actually die.

Things back then just seem a bit more straightforward to me. These days, there’s a lot more style that at times takes precedent over substance. I recently watched Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, and I felt that it was all style with very little substance. My writing though is pretty straightforward, which gets more to the destination or goal quicker, and leads to more action, but I have a hard time having my characters just stop and smell the roses.

That’s not to say that all things today are bad. I quite enjoy a lot of the media that’s being put out there from The Marvel Cinematic Universe to some of the television shows out there as well. 
 

Cleanliness and Tasks

I was told that there are two types of creative people – those who are really clean and those that aren’t. I fall into the category under those that aren’t. At work, I’m clean, and I make sure to keep the common rooms and bathrooms of my house clean, but my own room and car are very messy. 

Part of it is just time. I dedicate a good amount of my time to writing-related things when I’m not at my job like writing, editing, or working on Chris’s Storytelling Corner. It doesn’t have to be clean around me in order for me to do those things, and I know that others have to have a clean workspace in order to complete their tasks.

The other part is also just being a bachelor as well. In my view, the only one affected by this lack of cleanliness is me. If I were with someone, then that would change the dynamic. I’m cognizant though that it’s just good in general to keep things clean, and I’ll attempt to allocate time just for cleaning. 
 

Hurry and Sloth

I realize that I’m in such a hurry to complete this goal of being an author that I’m making mistakes on the way. It seems to be the way that life has taken me. I’ve suffered from sloth for a good amount of my life, that when I decided to actually live my life in productivity and take becoming an author seriously, I’ve rushed it. Because of that, I’ve gone back to The Mustard Prince in the Condiment Kingdom or my short stories and have had to re-edit them. I’m in such a hurry to make up for lost time that my work suffers.

The re-editing process has been a great learning experience for me. I’ve honestly had to edit so much out simply because I was repeating things. It’s surprising just how much is just not needed in the story. I’ve also filled in gaps in a sense where transitions from one sentence to another or paragraph to another have been so much smoother.

I’m playing catchup, pretty much in life and in the writing process, and I’m kind of paying for it. All in all, it’s better than living a life of sloth.
 

Choice and Self-Reflection

Trying to become an author has given me some self-reflection. At the end of the day, it’s a matter of choice as to whether I work on writing or not. Outside of sickness or something else, I choose whether or not I work on writing. There are no outside factors to blame. I choose to do it or I don’t.

I’ve made it a habit to work on writing for so much time of my day every day, and it’s a good thing. After work, I would time the amount of free time that I have left on the day, and how much time I would put to writing, working on the podcast, or editing. I used to prioritize putting more time into this extracurricular work instead of free time. Now, I’m giving myself more free time than I am doing this extracurricular work. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still doing this work but not sacrificing as much of my free time to do so.

Relaxing and having free time as an adult is not always available. It’s a reward for working eight plus hours a day. One needs to relax a bit. However, I do the extracurricular work (writing, editing or working on the podcast) first then my free time and relaxing is even more satisfying.