hexlait-blog

[hexlait-blog]

hex and first person perseverance

I've written a lot of books, but I find that when it comes to sitting down and writing a 60k novel I generally like to play it safe. All my novels are in third person, and a lot of their folders have a file somewhere with the original working title and then a second file that I used to write the manuscript with the working title and then "third" because I started the book in first person and backed out about 2000 words in.

The only extended pieces of writing I have that aren't in third person are novellas, one in a mix of first, first plural and third, and one in second person. But I feel like the way to improve your writing, along with editing and practicing and all the stuff writing blogs tell you to do, is to experiment. So I'm setting out on a journey through space, and on it I'll be braving first person. I just gotta not back out this time.

Wish me luck.

[hexlait-blog]

working with covers again ~

[hexlait-blog]

hex and the chapter adventure book approach

I recently had a cool new idea for how to approach long projects, which was to make a note with about 8-10 blank chapter names, and fill them in over the course of a week or a month or however long I liked, with whatever titles came to mind. Then, when I went to actually write the book, I'd have to tweak and twist the plot to make the names of the chapters make sense. It was a lot of fun, although some of them were pretty hard.

Here's my set of chapters, for the curious:

1. An Explosive Morning

2. Dead Animals in Nowhereville

3. The Stuttering Sidewalk

4. An Eater of Mysterious Fruits

5. The Sexening

6. Deadly and Dangerous

7. Back in the Pit Again

8. The Deep Sad

9. Ass

10. Suprise

11. An Explosive Afternoon

[hexlait-blog]

something heartening for hex

The other day I was describing a scrapped/inactive story idea of my from a year or two ago to a friend and apparently the fact that it was one of my old unused idea got lost in the convo because part way through she asked me: "Where can I see that? Is it a book or a movie or something?" and I was like: "Oh, no, it was one of my old ideas, I never wrote it, I thought I said that already." After which she was sort of mad at me but it made me feel very cool. It made me feel like, hey, my ideas are exciting, people want to read about them. That's always a good feeling.

[hexlait-blog]

great advice from everyone

When I tell people things like: I have written ten novels, their eyes pop and then they ask: how many have you gotten published? To which I reply: none. If I had gotten a book published I would probably shake people's hands with it.

If the person I'm having this conversation with is approximately the same age as my parents, the next thing they do is tell me to try self-publishing, which is to me, unhelpful at best and a little insulting at worst. I mean, I greatly admire authors who can make it through self-publishing. But to me, the ultimate success is to be accepted by agents and publishers. That's the recognition I'm seeking.

On a less ego-based level though, it's unhelpful advice because I know enough about self-publishing to know that it's for those who are capable and charismatic online and offline self promoters and networkers, and that's just not me. I'm not a social media guru. I need the backing that bricks and mortar publishers and agents can provide.

[hexlait-blog]

beyond writing with hex

I live in Canada, and in Canada when you have to buy some windshield washing fluid or bicycle wheels or something like that you usually go to Canadian Tire. At Canadian Tire after you pay for your purchase they give you some Canadian Tire money, which is essentially monopoly money, that you can use to get real dollars discounted off Canadian Tire purchases. You get about 5-10 cents per purchase, maybe 20-50 if you were getting something extravagant. I own 11 dollars of Canadian Tire money. It looks like a wad of drug money. It's one of my favorite and most useless personal collections.

[hexlait-blog]

hex and internet social anxiety

I ordered my friend an action figure on amazon like three months ago and it never arrived. I have to go put in a complaint at amazon but a mixture of laziness and vague fear that the people will know I complained is preventing me. Now i’ll never get that action figure.