Tag: johnrsermon

Writing Sprints and the progress they bring.

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Hello everyone,

I hope you’re having a good week so far.

I attempted NaNoWriMo 2022 with varying degrees of success. On the one hand, I didn’t reach the 50,000 word target but I did find my way to a method of writing which, at one point, made me think I could reach the glory of 50,000 in a month. That was:

The Writing Sprint.

This method involves setting a timer, which is usually between 15 and 60 minutes, and writing non-stop until the time is up.

I did sprints of either 15 or 20 minutes and set the timer on my phone. As the timer was on my phone this meant that I could NOT use my phone for all the procrastinating goodness/badness it brings. I had to wait until the alarm rang to say I was done. And I learned to love and hate the alarm sound in equal measure. It didn’t sound too lovely at first but I’m now conditioned..sorry..prepared for the relief the alarm gives me. I wonder why?

If I received an important call or message I would stop but other than that I would keep writing. I would also try to eliminate all other distractions so I could focus on the writing alone. As my phone was and is my main distraction the fact that it was now my method of telling the time meant I could write with not many interruptions. The point as well for a writing sprint is to not stop even though you may feel like you want to do some editing or you feel some dialogue or description or anything has fallen flat. The main thing is to get as many words down during the time frame you have given yourself.

I have also found that making a small plan before each sprint helps me a lot to make use of the time well. If I know what I’m going to write about or roughly know, the time gets used more effectively than if I go in blind or with a wisp of a idea.

Here are a few Pros and Cons that I’ve found while using Writing Sprints:

Pro’s

  • Knowing that I only need to put aside 15 minutes and I will make progress with my WIP.
  • WIP progresses at a steady pace.
  • Increased focus when writing outside of doing the Sprints.
  • Can be done multiple times a day and does not necessarily have to be all at once.
  • No time for editing as you go.

Con’s

  • No time for editing as you go.
  • Can feel like a bit of a chore.
  • If your writing is not flowing you can be tempted to clock watch.
  • Can feel like the time is hanging over you instead of helping you move your WIP along.

Overall, discovering Writing Sprints has been a game changer for me.

This all leads me to a question, if you already use Writing Sprints, how did you first find out about them?

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Romance Webinar and What I took from it.

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Hello everyone,

I hope you’ve had a good week so far.

On Wednesday, 22/02, I (virtually) attended a webinar entitled ‘How to write Romance that Stands Out’ via Reedsy and hosted by Michelle Hazen (https://michellehazenbooks.com/). This was a really useful and informative webinar about how to approach writing a romance story and some tips about how to make it all pop off the page.

I’ve been thinking about writing a romance story for a while now, and this webinar has put me on the right track.

The webinar discussed providing three things to clarify a story; Make it Specific. Make it Personal. Make it Visual.

Following these main tips as you write your story can help it become more unique. And in a genre that has regularly been a top many a best-selling list, this could be crucial. The webinar also detailed 7 principles to follow as you are writing. These are:

  1. Meet Cute – How your characters meet and make it unique.
  2. Demonstration of Value – Show, don’t tell something about the love interest that makes them more attractive to the other.
  3. What are your readers expecting? – Give them what they want. Which, amongst other things, is that the two love interests get together at the end of the story.
  4. Flipping Stereotypes and Genre shortcuts – How to do things that don’t conform to usual stereotypes of shortcuts for the Romance genre.
  5. Time for date night – Think outside the box for what the character’s first date will be and how it happens.
  6. Mid-Book Reversal – Big change mid-way through the story that keeps things interesting. For example, the couple breaks up when one decides to make the decision thinking it’s best for the other.
  7. Grand Gesture – Make it personal, show time and effort, and something symbolic of the relationship.

For the entire webinar, please visit the following link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2D_DjKSLdFc&t=7s.

The main thing I took away from this was that to make your story stand out, it should be as unique and specific as possible. Say, instead of having the two main love interests meet on a date in a coffee shop or bar, how about they meet another way? By accident or on a rock-climbing holiday or when you, and they, least expect it?

These types of things happen all the time in real life. For example, you decide to do something slightly different on your lunch break from work and suddenly discover a new place to eat or a new route to walk. It’s a small example, but you get the point. Why not have your characters do something different to what you might do in their shoes and see what happens?  

Currently, my love interests meet in a coffee shop and bond over a common interest. Not until later do they realise they work in the same company and are not particularly fond of each other from a work perspective. I have already written a short story for this, and I’m excited to flesh out the details and see where it takes me. The webinar has helped me in that respect and will guide me until it’s done.

I’ll end with a question, how do you try and make your Romance Story unique?


The Hunt: Part 2.

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https://johnrsermon.com/2020/01/27/the-hunt-part-1/

The lizard’s arms and legs flailed up and down as it struggled to run away, knocking people into the road and to the ground as it tried to flee. Cars screeched around it and ploughed into signposts and buildings and people. John bounded over the vehicles and quickly helped as many people as he could. He bounced across the vehicle roofs with some people cheering him on as he did so. John stopped for a moment and removed and launched a dagger. He punched the air and gestured to the growing crowd as the blade grazed the side and split some of the scaly skin from the lizard’s tail. The lizard threw up its head and howled as it kept moving.

“Stop showing off. It’s making its way to the tunnel. You know it can escape to the sewers that way, right?” Said Sam as he finished moving down the building and jumped onto the pavement.

“Really? I did not know that. Thank you so much, big Sam, for pointing out the most obvious thing known to any hunter worth anything at all.” John said as he continued and jumped on top of a recently crashed car. The lizard moved fast now, hitting its stride between people and vehicles and towards the tunnel.

Both hunters pushed their way through the panicked or mesmerised crowd and made sure to thank those who actively moved out of their way. The helicopters above followed them with spotlights. Cameras big and small followed them on the ground. Some more heroic passers-by tried to slow their target down but were dealt with efficiently by a powerful lizard limb. The tunnel approached, and Sam stopped on top of a post box. John looked back and groaned through his teeth. Sam took off his coat and aimed his arrow carefully.

A Land Rover coming through the tunnel suddenly started to swerve as the driver let the fear overcome him as the giant lizard hissed closer. Sam aimed and fired an arrow into one of the car wheels that burst and the car jolted and flipped over in front of the tunnel entrance. The crash caused several other vehicles to crash, and in no time, they began to pile up and block the tunnel.

“Dam, you Sam. Don’t put the public in danger like that.” Said John as he watched the lizard scale the cars and scurry up and onto the road running over the top of the tunnel.

“It stopped the demon going through the tunnel did it not?” Sam shouted back. He put his bow away and grabbed his coat before joining John again on the chase.

The hunters scaled the car wall and onto the road. Their target moved at high speed down the middle as cars calmly drove to the sides. Sam and John smiled as they received cheers from the crowd. The lizard screeched back at them before jumping down from the road and into trees nearby losing the helicopters in the process. The hunters warned off the people with their cameras on the ground from following them as they kept chase.

A story finally finished and two more to write.

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Hello,

20160407_181917_resized

What you have just seen is the prelude to one of the greatest fights I have ever seen. Lego Darth Vader vs Lego Cheeky Monkey. Well, the greatest fight I’ve ever seen if I had seen more than this quick snap. Honestly, I can’t remember what happened but the result is that both are now standing at the edge of my desk ready to welcome anyone that comes into the spare room/office. I think it was a draw but I hope the cheeky monkey won.

Anyway, hello again.

Following on from last time, I have been doing a lot of catching up on the Reading, Writing and Discussing front. Here’s how it broke down over the last week:

READING:

I’ve been moving along nicely with God of Vengeance by Giles Kristian (http://gileskristian.com/books/god-of-vengeance/). I have always enjoyed the pace, language, wit and style of Giles Kristian’s prose. This book has kept that going as it tells the story of how the Vikings who are marauding around in Giles Kristian first three books, Raven: Blood Eye, Raven: Sons of Thunder and Raven: Odin’s wolves (http://gileskristian.com/books/) came together and specifically how their Jarl Sigurd became their Jarl. As much as I like movie prequels I enjoy them even more in written form. Remembering an old but good book is always cool when I’m reading a new and good book.

WRITING:

My latest short story has finished! I had started the story before I had to start my revision for my exam and the dam revision got in the way. Though the story was almost finished, the revision-imposed break allowed me to come up with an ending for it. I did not count on taking a break from writing my own stories and instead writing notes would give me a full formed ending. Right there, as I was walking to work, and in the freezing cold no less, which meant typing a note into my phone was annoyingly difficult.

So, the story centers on a young couple who survive an attack by the huge rock worms a la Gears of War 2 (http://gearsofwar.wikia.com/wiki/Riftworm). Now, the worms aren’t as aggressive or mean looking as the ones from Gears of War 2. They are intelligent and just want to find a new place to live after their home planet got exploded. They found Earth and let us know what they wanted. We naturally tried to destroy them so they retaliated. The young couple survives and then find themselves face to face with the chief rock worm. In shock, they try and figure out their next move. This could potentially change the course of mankind. I’ve had this idea in my head for a while but the ending was something I’d hoped to get to as I was writing the story, which is usually the way my endings appear. I have now finished one story and as I turned the pages of my notebook I found two post-it notes with ideas for two more. Two more stories I will write in the not too distant future. Once they have been planned out. Pfft. Notes and more notes.

 

 

DISCUSSING:

My discussions have mostly been around two things with the odd blog post comment thrown in-between: Wrestlemania 32 and my work exam. Even though the exam has been and gone those of us in the office who sat the thing have been going over what we did write and what we did not write and slowly sending each other crazy. I am glad the chatter has gone silent now when it comes to the exam. Though I have thoroughly enjoyed studying for it, I am glad to have a break from it. At least for now. There also was the little matter of Wrestlemania 32 to contend with. I enjoyed the event and the match quality was up there with some of the best Wrestlemania’s I have seen but as for the results? Only liked a few of them. Most of them did not make much sense from a fan who is looking at what the result will do for the progression of the storylines between the wrestlers involved. Hopefully, new stories will be written off the back of them so I can try and forget how, in some cases, the results were meaningless. It has also been nice to talk to my friends who aren’t wrestling fans and try and get them on board. It will happen one day. I will keep trying.

Right, well I’m going to go back and finish my notes for my next story. I hope you all have a good week.

Bye!

 

Getting back to blogging basics. Let me (re)introduce myself.

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Hello,

Back in 2012, March 7th to be exact, I published my first ever blog post. This went as follows:

‘

Well, I’ve took the plunge and created my own blog. Its use is to either:

  1. Read other writers blogs and stories and maybe have them do the same for me.
  2. Rant about stuff.

But which do i do first?

‘

Short and sweet and to the point. Well, two points. Point 2 hasn’t happened that much as I don’t tend to rant that often. However, point 1 still rings true today. I want to read other authors blogs and stories. I want to do this to try and take in all kinds of styles and genres that may help me when I come to do my own writing.

Then, there’s the maybe.

I like the word maybe. When used correctly it can invoke intrigue and suspense. Or at least, I hope it can. But, when I used it in my first blog post ‘maybe have them do the same for me’, it was used incorrectly. In fact, it should not have been used at all. Now, I very much want other authors and non-authors alike to read my stories and blog posts so I can converse with them and learn and grow when it comes to my writing. Happily, I have made that clear since March 2012 and I speak to authors regularly but not as often as I’d like. But I would like to increase the amount of people I speak to.

So, I decided to take a ‘Blogging 101’ course to try and improve my chances and move my blog forward. The course’s first assignment is to introduce myself. As you can see, I’ve already done that but I would like to do this again. If you let me. And…

Good evening,

My name is John Robert Sermon and I’m from Stockport, Greater Manchester, UK. I have been writing on and off since 2001. With more emphasis on the off. But since 2009, I started to write more and more until March 2012 when I started this blog. Since then, I have written 21 stories (3 novels and 18 short ones) and this number is growing. I would like to use this blog to share those stories and the process I go through when I write them. I would also like to read other blogs and stories and interact with other authors.

I would like this blog to help me to improve my writing and to talk to some like-minded people.

There you have it. Happy re-meet you again. Now, back to the writing.

Bye!

 

 

Oh NaNoWriMo, hurry up and get here will you!

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Hello

 

This post is shorter than usual for one reason and one reason only. I haven’t really done that much in the last or so to do with my writing. I’m not sure how it happened but I reckon if I break it down I can probably figure it out. Here we go…

Wednesday 02/10/2013.

After work, went for a run. Got home to find my mate had come round to watch the football (soccer). Watched the game, was tired by the end of it, it turned out to be a very dull game, and went to bed. That explains Wednesday.

Thursday 03/10/2013.

After work, went to my girlfriend’s house. That explains Thursday.

Friday 04/10/2013 – Saturday 05/10/2013

After work, went to see my parents and stayed over for the Friday night. Spent part of Saturday with them as well. Went home, had some food, and went out again to meet my mates to go watch some rugby. Rugby finished, went to get some food and then out to a rock/metal night. That explains Friday and Saturday.

Sunday 06/10/2013

Spent the day hung over and watching wrestling, football (soccer), a film and playing on my xbox. That explains Sunday.

Monday 07/10/2013

After work, had some food. Had a nap. Made my dinner for the next day in work.

But then…

BOOM!!!! Edited two of my short stories. There we go. At least I did something.

How did this happen? I did read a lot of 1984 which I’m getting ever closer to end of but I didn’t really write that much at all. I didn’t notice the week get away from me. After a week like that, NaNoWriMo can’t come soon enough. I’ve made sure I’m signed up for it and already know what story I’m going to write.

If you want to get involved, have a look using the following link http://nanowrimo.org/.

Well, I’m going to make sure this week involves a slight case of Character Profile fever. Along with finding the writing bug that didn’t bite me last week and letting it have a field day.

Good Pie

Demons and their ways.

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Hello

Since my last post I’ve managed to complete two more of my demon character profiles. I now have three of the four demons profiled that make up the villains of my story. I’m really looking forward to writing the next one as it is the chief, among many, villain of the piece.

Each of the other types of demon have certain skills and knowledge to do something in particular. This type of demon, known as the Ripper, was designed as a protector for the other three. It was designed to make sure the others don’t come to any harm.

I have most of the main parts to this character figured out so it shouldn’t take as long as the other three. Which is a shame as I’d wouldn’t mind it taking a lot longer. As I wrote the Searchers Want, the character grew more than the others because it was more influential. The Ripper demon is the architect of the demons plan to take over the world. As much as I enjoyed writing all the other character profiles, this one should be ever so slightly better.

What I am looking forward to as well, amongst a lot of other things when I start editing this story, is expanding on each of the demons characters. Relating to humans is easy, but demons? Do I know any demons? There is a bloke who walks around Manchester with just his trousers on, wet hair, and a bunny rabbit under his arm. Maybe he’s a demon?

Anyway, to sign off, here is a brief on how the Searchers became searchers in the first place. If you have any questions, feel more than free to ask them.

‘ There are four types of demon in total that make up the villains of my story, The Searcher’s Want. Three of them have been designed to do a certain thing to help the human race live better lives. The forth has been designed to protect them while they do this if required. Unfortunately they have decided not to help anyone else but themselves. After discovering, within hours of their birth, the powers that they had, they all fled to different parts of the world. That is what necessitated the man who conducted the ritual to bring them to life, Henry Radcliffe-Gray, to start searching and killing them just under 400 years ago. He is now the Searcher General and commands the rest of the searchers. ‘

Cheers

Research…Will I ever like you?

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Hello

Following on from my last post, which was two weeks ago, my fault, sorry, I have looked into buying a notice board. This may seem like a simple task but I don’t want to be buying notice boards all the time. This is necessary I can assure you. (I’m sure some of you are aware of this anyway.)

I also decided to dedicate a majority of last week to research. I have started to research certain parts of two of my stories, the story I’m currently writing which is my take on the vampire myth, The End Solution, and The Searcher’s Want, my hunter/searcher against demons for the fate of the world story I started, and finished recently, for NaNoWriMo.

For The End Solution, I’ve started by looking into the structure of the British Government. Specifically, who the Prime Minister has around him and why. I since discovered that he has around 21 members of parliament who act as cabinet ministers around him mainly amongst others. This has given me the headache of having to come up with possibly 10 new fully formed characters for this story as I don’t plan to need all of them in a complete capacity. And, along with having to write full character profiles for the ones already in the story, this is both bad and good. Bad, all that time it will take. Good, because I know I’ll enjoy it on many levels and it will help to advance the story greatly. Research…Will I ever like you?

For The Searcher’s Want, I decided to start the character profiles. Using the template I found in a post from writerdsnelson entitled ‘Profiling Blake’, I’ve discovered a lot about my characters and some things I can use to enhance their back stories, and create some conflict which I think the story needs, when I come to re-draft the story in the future. What I found out when doing this was some research, which I’d been neglecting about some of my characters, was sorely needed. For instance, one of my characters, the second oldest searcher named Abraham Smith, has been a searcher for 200 years. He became immortal at the age of 55 after being a searcher for 2 years. Now, this brings up all kinds of things when I’m writing about his history. Working out dates and things. It’s as exciting as it is frustrating. I think I’ve got the dates right, which I’m going to go over again just to be sure, to then find out I’ve missed one thing out. And I have to start all over again. Research…Will I ever like you?

I know I have to do research to make sure my story makes sense when it comes to location, dates and times of things, street names etc. But I think I’m just whining because it’s not as simple as I thought. I’m going to continue for the next week and I’m sure I’ll grow to like it. Here’s hoping anyway.

Well, to end this post and push me back into a research and character building frenzy, I’ll leave you with a question. How do you like to go about doing the research needed for any writing that you are about to do or are currently doing?

Cheers

 

 

To be rude or not to be rude?

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Hello

Over the past week or so I’ve only done any writing on one day. I know it’s not very much but I found myself either busy, hung-over or doing chores. I probably could’ve done more writing in-between but I’ll make up for it over the next week. Don’t you worry.

Within the writing I actually managed to do, I found myself with the task of writing an ‘after sex’ scene. I had contemplated writing an actual sex scene but I prefer to let the reader imagine what went on between the sheets. Although on second thought I’m not so sure.

This scene was from my vampire myth story and concerned the main female character and one of the chief male support characters. Amanda and Peter are having an affair behind their friend Marks, and other chief male support character, back. They all work at the same Admin Company and were all friends with the lead male character of the story, Bruce. Bruce knew about the affair but kept it a secret as he was close with Amanda. Now that he has become the End Solution and the United Kingdom’s only recognised vampire (of sorts), Amanda has chosen to try and find him to make sure he is ok. Mark is willing to help her But Peter is not. Even with all this Amanda continues to see Peter. I think you know enough now.

It starts inside a room of the hotel they usually use. Both are discussing Bruce and their particular views on the subject. This is mostly to enhance Amanda’s need to find him and to show that Peter is against it. It’s all about character building people! Anyway, throughout the scene they are naked as I don’t think two people, who only really have sex and barely don’t do anything together when Mark isn’t there, would be too bothered about walking around in such a way.

Now I’m getting to the title of this here post and the end of it.

I was considering re-writing the scene with a bit more happening as they are naked. But I don’t think this is in keeping with the tone of the whole story so far. However, it could act as I a bit of a twist in the tone that could set up the same kind of twist in tone sporadically throughout the book for impact. So, my question is this…

Do you think it’s a good idea to be explicit, shocking, drastic et al in stories just for effect or should it always be in line with the tone of the story?

Your feedback would be awesome.

Bye

 

A fistful of grammar.

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Hello

So, I’ve continued to brush up on my grammar skills and as it turns out, I know more than I thought I did. Maybe in my haste to get my stories written I’ve chosen to forget certain aspects of the wonderful, if not very frustrating, world of grammar.

As I’ve been reading through the exceptional book, ‘Improve your grammar; Learn the skills, master the language.’ By Collins. (http://www.play.com/Books/Books/4-/7802960/Collins-Improve-Your-Grammar/Product.html?searchstring=imporive+your+grammar&searchsource=2&searchfilters=s%7bimporive+your+grammar%7d%2bc%7b91%7d%2b&urlrefer=search or http://www.amazon.co.uk/Collins-Improve-Your-Punctuation-Graham/dp/0007288069/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1374611468&sr=1-5&keywords=improve+your+grammar) I keep remembering things that I’ve somehow forgotten or easily working out what I should be doing. I’m currently on the section dedicated to commas and all their forms. And if I’ve missed any commas so far or hereafter, I’m sorry.

This has also helped me with my editing and writing over the past week. I’ve continued with my take on the vampire myth and editing one of my older stories. The writing is coming along nicely, although as it’s going along I’m realising that I’m going to need to create a lot more for the world this story takes place in.

It’s a world in which the Prime Minister rules the country like a dictator. He has put in place huge, gothic, dark buildings in each of the main towns and cities across the country. These help him to keep a watch over a majority of it. He uses special employees or ‘Operatives’ to keep an eye on the small villages and day to day life that he can’t control himself. This, as you might imagine, creates a whole host of questions and a whole host of answers to accompany them. I’ll let you know how I get on.

On the other hand, the editing process has been more fruitful than I’d previously anticipated. I’ve always liked editing but after almost two years away from the story I’m casting my eye on, I’m chopping and changing stuff and really starting to be critical of myself. I know I’ll have to go back over it again and again (location, character, descriptions and so on) but if it’s possible I’m looking forward to it more than I ever have.

Well, that’s me for now. I’m going to get back to it. Hmm…How do I end this post…why not with a question?

If you could change one thing about the world today, what would it be? And don’t feel like you have to choose a nice, save the world, type of option. Just go nuts if you like.

 

Bye