Reading Writers: Zima Blue

In any craft, personal growth involves gleaning from those who have gone before us. In faith, we study the teachings and sayings of religious sages. In science, we study the works and progress of philosophers past. In music, we grow long bangs and sweep them to the side, mumbling, “Baby, baby, baby, oooooooh!”

Wait, what?

Anyway, it’s true for writers, as well. To progress in the craft, it’s important to glean from others. And to do that, we read other authors who we consider to be masterful.

Most instructional books encourage writers to read. And I would agree. Yet, I find it amazing that so many aspiring writers simply don’t. In fact, someone in my writer’s group recently told me that he’s “not what you’d call a real reader.”

Uh… You aspire to write books but don’t read them?

For some reason I decided not to argue. I just said I didn’t subscribe to that philosophy and left it at that. Let him figure it out on his own. For me, when I get stuck or bogged down in certain aspects of the craft, I grab stories of authors I look up to, and they help me out of ruts. Specifics on that later.

A book that I’m going through right now is a compilation of straight-up science fiction short stories by Alastair Reynolds, called Zima Blue. I strongly recommend this for both writers and readers alike.

What I love about Reynolds’ stories is how each one packs a punch. The worlds, though short stories, are huge, and there’s always a big surprise that whacks you at the end. A lot of people say short stories don’t often linger with you like a full sized novel would, but after reading Reynolds’ short stories, I would argue against that.

Are you a reader? Who are your favorites? Are you a writer? From whom do you glean?

Posted in General | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Keeping It In Perspective

Like everyone else, I have a tendency to overwhelm myself with plans, to-do lists, and “what to do if” scenarios that are so far into the future that they’re irrelevant. The things I had started for personal enjoyment suddenly feel like work. I find myself facing a mountain of endeavors that I must climb. Alone. Without ropes and boots and food supplies.

At that point, I usually abort and retreat for the nearest Holiday Inn Express.

I’m sure you’ve done it, too. What started out as a cool hobby or idea turned into an overwhelming mountain of worry and regret before you got to the park entrance. I can see you down the road, inside the cheesy gift shop, hiding behind the rack of obnoxious, light-up key chains and the picture frame that’s supposed to hold a shot of you, glorious, at the top of the mountain. Don’t look at that right now. The top of the mountain isn’t important.

No. It isn’t. So drop that lying “I climbed Mount Kilimanjaro and all I got was this lousy t-shirt” swag and let’s head outdoors for a better perspective.

As a creative person, I’m constantly coming up with exciting new ideas of things to do and then adding them to my list. If I don’t keep myself in check, the list becomes overwhelming. Dreaming up new ideas is easy! Adding them to our to do lists is, too. But when we add something that is going to interfere with our top three most important things ever, it needs to be removed. Try it for yourself. It’s okay. The world will not crumble if you stop doing it.

See? Better.

Now let’s go back to our original list of “three most important things”. It’s okay if you want to change them. Now is a good time to do that. Right now, my list looks like this:

  1. Write THE JOHNSON BOOK (title TBD).

  2. Write a MUD based on THE JOHNSON BOOK (title TBD).

  3. Tidy up THE FOURTH CHANNEL and get it ready for publication or agent query. (And a sub-bullet of that would be: Decide if I’m going self-publication or traditional.)

Now step back. Remind yourself that we picked our top three things because they are fun. Remember when they were fun? I do! Sometimes, only barely. Sometimes it feels like a lot of hard work. Still, it’s important that we return to the original love in order to keep the passion burning.

In fact, have some fun! If you’re concentrating too hard on one portion that’s draining, take a break, then reward yourself by working on something different that encourages fun. Ask yourself why you’re doing this! The answer: FUN! If it isn’t fun, then it’s time to revisit your personal “top three things”.

Word of the day: FUN!

Posted in General | Leave a comment

MUD Beginnings

Writing a MUD is a little odd because it all happens in second person prose. I’ve worked really hard on getting my third person and my first person down, so the new voice is making me a little confused. These days, it’s not acceptable mainstream prose. It’s an antiquated voice. It feels a little foreign while composing.

And it reads a little cheesy.

But I’m working at it, and I’ve started building the actual MUD — as best I can anyway, without a finished program. And that’s fine, because I really don’t need it yet. The beauty of this is what I’m creating now is can be simply plugged in later.

Everything’s being planned and plotted out in a Visio-type format, just as I would a novel. It’s visual and helps me keep everything organized.

So here’s what the opening room looks like so far on my “plan”.

I tried making it small enough to give a better overview of how my pages look, while also obscuring the text. Unfortunately, the text is still readable if you focus hard enough. Warning: Spoiler above?

Too late, I guess.

It doesn’t matter too much, because not a lot goes on in this room. It’s the opening of the “story”. The room is at the top with a Key below. The letters all mark points of interest and NPC’s, and below I started filling in what the text should read, should the player interact with those points. I also put in responses for different actions.

We haven’t yet defined those actions, though it doesn’t matter. Having responses ready is really what matters, and we can add more types of responses as needed. Plus, this is all loose — we can add/subtract/modify as the world and the game grows. This is all just preliminary and the idea is sure to grow as time goes on.

I can’t wait.

Posted in Games | Leave a comment

Productive Vacation


This is where it all started. More than three years ago in this room, in front of that fire. That chair. Tom in bed behind me, taking a long nap. This is where I decided I was going to be a writer and started working on my very first novel.

This past week, Tom and I returned for a working vacation. The two words probably shouldn’t go together, but after a few hectic weeks, I decided the only way I could get caught up and back on track was if we took off for a few days. We picked a bed and breakfast in the Adirondacks, figuring that if we didn’t have the distraction of phone, internet and everyday life, we’d never get anything done.

And it worked. Aside from a day of shopping at the local outlet stores, we got a lot accomplished. I trimmed my workload down to something manageable, and set some goals. THE FOURTH CHANNEL was cleaned up quite a bit (I completely rewrote the first chapter) and will be what I bring to my writers’ group for review. I can’t wait for them to take a crack at this. At this point, I’ve been looking over the content for so long that I no longer have any idea if it’s good. Depending on their reaction, I may consider querying the book to some agents.

You know, for the standard rejections.

I also rebooted the unnamed “Johnson Book”, and decided that this would be…

…(drum roll)…

…the world our MUD will be based on.

Yep, Tom’s project this week was to really get cracking on a Ruby-based MUD. Apparently there’s already some framework done for one, but there’s no quest system, as well as a few other major components. All week, we brainstormed over bad dinners and shared our individual progress over sub-par lunches.

The breakfast at the B&B was great, but the surrounding area left us wanting and in need of a diet plan.

At any rate, the MUD’s coming along and the “Johnson Book” has been rebooted with tremendous success. My plan is to release short stories online that support the MUD and its post-apocalyptic, demon-infested world. I hope it’s a new take on the genre. Tom seemed genuinely impressed, which makes me hopeful.

I can’t wait. I feel a working weekend coming on…

Posted in General | Leave a comment

Blogmageddon: Team Kirchner Minutes 022311

So what started out as my foray into Blogspot turned into a battle royale.

I honestly had no idea he’d be so upset.

Last night, Team Kirchner met over dinner to discuss the event that was Blogmageddon 2011. Calmly, we talked it out and, in the end, we both walked away from the conversation getting everything we all wanted. Even Maggie-Toes. There was a lot of Canadian Bacon flying out of the pan last night.

So here’s what I wanted:

1. Easier commenting on blogs.
2. A professional presence where I can start to generate some interest in my work. (I have a plan – more on this in a second.)

And here’s what Tom wanted:

1. A professional looking website — if we don’t own the domain, it won’t look professional (his opinion)
2. A site we own so we can own all the content

We both understood both sides of the argument, so in the end we agreed to do the following:

1. Forget about Blogspot
2. Purchase JenKirchner.com
3. Start writing lots of content to put on the site
4. Ease up as Comment Nazi on all sites (in progress — some things take time… and healing)

Step one is already done. As of this morning, we own JenKirchner.com! Now I need to start working on my writing-related content. I have a lot of ideas and I just need to turn that into something solid.


“You had a dream… and it was solid.”

At the moment, Tom and I are working on a MUD. Tom’s working out the programming portion, and I’m working out the quests, characters/classes and story elements. What I intend to do is release some short stories that support the MUD world. This new site is where I can do that. I’d also like to write more of my humorous stuff, like what I did a few years ago with the “24: The Unwritten Hour”. I’ve always said that I wouldn’t watch Twilight unless it was remade by Michael Bay, and I’ve been toying around with writing something that reflected what that would look like. All this would go on the new site. I also have a lot to say about leading a writing group and writing novels, so all that kind of craft-related content will go there as well.

Now I need to get writing it, and saving it all up so I’ll have lots of stuff to put there once the site goes live. There’s a lot of work ahead for me.

Hoo boy!

Posted in Humor, Writing | Leave a comment

Team Kirchner Meeting Agenda

I’ve had a few questions about what Tom’s and my “meeting agenda” looks like. In case you’re curious, here’s tonight’s. To no one’s surprise, the blogspot thing hit the agenda (see “Platform & Marketing”).

The pic gets a little cut off, but you get the point. I also should give Maggie-Toes more time to explain why she didn’t get a job. Slack cat.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering about tonight’s fare, it’s the Light & Healthy Spaghetti Carbonara served with garlic bread and salad!

Posted in Humor | Leave a comment

Platform: Gotta Have One

Someday, I want to release my books to the masses. I’m not sure how I will do that yet, though I churn the question over and over: Should I self-publish or try for the traditional publisher? Either way, I’m smart enough (and have researched enough) to know that both roads lead to a lot of hard work. And that’s okay — I’m not scared of a little elbow grease.

But let me tell you what does scare the pants off of me: Platform.

New authors need one. We need to develop a community and show that we know how to market ourselves. Writers, I am told, need to have a web presence. Agents and editors want to see it because they want to make sure you can market yourself. And for the writers who decide to self-publish, well, we need to get our butts out and market because no one is going to sell our book but us.

So you see why I’m a little freaked out. No?

Okay. Let me put it to you this way: I’m not what you call a “mingler”. Unless it’s with friends that I know and am familiar with, I’m a “keep to myself” kind of a gal. However, if I want to get my butt out there and develop a platform, I need to get a writer blog going and start getting readership, get a facebook account, change my twitter account to be something more professional — and then I need to take all those things and start getting my name out there in the way of commenting on other people’s blogs and re-tweeting things and networking and finding people’s writers friends and weaseling my way in so I can get a group of writer friends and people who might be interested in any upcoming works.

And let’s be honest. That does not sound like my idea of a good time.

My question is this: I don’t have any books out yet, so how can I get people excited about my authorship? But I can’t release books without anyone knowing about it because then I won’t have anyone to read my books?

It’s a circular argument.

I did come up with an idea. It’s an idea I’ve actually had before however, I’m afraid to say it because Tom is watching!

So Google has their own blog community, called blogspot. It’s almost like a Facebook and Twitter type thing, where it’s a community of people with blogs. It’s easy for people to search and comment and get connected with those that have similar blogs and interests. If I was more active on blogspot and tried to get interest in my blog, maybe I could start to develop this platform thing. Maybe I could get hooked into a network of writer friends. Better yet, I could create a blog just for writing-related posts.

Here’s where it gets painful, not for me, but for Tom: I created one.

Let me explain why this is such a problem. This is just like when a parent sees their child in an inappropriate outfit and will not allow them to leave until they’ve changed.

I probably won’t be allowed to leave until I’ve deleted the ugly, offensive blog.

But that blog does a lot of things that this one doesn’t, including allowing comments a lot more easily. And apparently, when it comes to building a platform, a blog needs comments.

So there you have it. I’m wondering if I can get away with a shiny, new blogspot just for writing and developing a platform, and keep this blog for personal ramblings. The new blog isn’t so bad. It needs a really smart caption though. Ideas?

Also taking bets on whether or not Tom lets me leave the house after he sees it.

Posted in Writing | Leave a comment

More Plot!

After my last post, I’ve had some more time to work on my latest novel and the story has been developing more in my head as I go. I’ve been able to take my crazy plot map and streamline it. In fact, most boxes got deleted and I’m well on my way to a great story. The plot is even coming right along. Remember when I said I wasn’t sure what it was? I’ve got it.

Kinda.

Looks better, right?

So I’ve got three columns with different colored bands at the top.

1. Main Plot / Work Life
2. Love Life
3. Home Life

Marceline’s love life and her home life are subplots that all tie back to the main plot, and support the main objective: Marceline getting what she wants.

Wait a minute, I hear you saying. Isn’t the story about good guys versus bad guys?

Nope. A story is about a protagonist’s journey to getting what they want. There are obstacles along the way, problems that need to be solved. The bad guys are just standing in the way of the protagonist getting what they want. They’re metaphors or bumps in the road that bring the character closer to realizing what they really want.

See, along the way, the protagonist will change. They will become deeper and more understood by the reader and have false hopes to getting what they want.

In the end, the protagonist gets what they want. Sure, maybe they have an all-out fist fight with the antagonist, but that’s just a metaphor for overcoming and getting what they want.

More on that later.

In the meantime, don’t forget to check out the latest on AwK! I’ve been posting more cooking adventures, especially a few from Light & Tasty 2010.

Posted in Writing | Leave a comment

World Building & the Fear of Crapola


My latest plot map – as of 14Feb11. And it’s still very unfinished.

Everyone has their own way of world building. In the book I’ve been going through (The 90-Day Novel) the author talks a lot about just taking a few weeks to do nothing other than practice stream-of-consciousness writing and good, ol’ fashioned thinking about one’s novel.

I’ve learned that, on some level, that method works very well for me — but not until I’ve created my world and my characters. And the only way I can do that is by starting the first Act of the story. It’s like the “set up”. As “The 90-Day Novel” explains, it’s important to hold the story very loosely while we write, because as we write, that’s when the magic happens: Ideas come to us. Details spring to mind. The story takes a turn. Maybe the ending isn’t at all what we thought when we started.

This weekend I worked more on my latest paranormal (see crazy plot map above) and as I did, the world started to form even more. The character became more defined to me, and I thought up some really juicy aspects of her character that are going to come into play as the story continues. I’m so excited.

That said, I still have no idea what the overall conflict is. She’s a second-class citizen in a magic casting world, and she wants to fit in. I know what she looks like in the beginning of the story and, more importantly, I know what she looks like when the story wraps up: She faces what people consider a handicap, overcomes it, and gains her self-respect.

It’s just how she gets there… I haven’t figured that out yet. I’m not even sure who the “bad guy” is yet.

That sounds bad, doesn’t it? It’s a little scary, but just takes a little elbow grease and bravery. To figure that out, I just need to keep writing my scenes. Develop my characters. Keep writing the world. Cause problems for my character early on that will develop into issues later. Early on, she’s already got a problem: Day one of the story marks the end of her 3 month probation at her job. On this day, she will find out if they keep her or fire her. Because she’s so wrapped up in what everyone perceives as a handicap, it’s a huge self-esteem ordeal for her. And then, based on that outcome, more conflict comes:

1. If she is fired, what will this do to her self-esteem? How will she live? Will she be tossed back on the streets? Will she resort to a life of crime? Who will want her?

2. If she gets to keep her job, what will that do to her self-esteem? Will she practically kill herself trying to win the approval of her coworkers?

Everything that happens in the story builds conflict for the main character. As they say, no rest for the weary. I’m not sure what exactly happens next, but as I plod along, I create more problems for my character.

As I said, in order for me to do that, I have to write. My problem is that I get scared to sit down because I don’t know if what comes out is going to be good or bad, so I procrastinate, and that’s what ends up making my process so long. I should be writing every day, holding the story loosely, being A-OK with tossing something if it’s crap — not fearing what happens when I sit down to write.

I need to stop being dictated by my own fear and just get to it. That’s my problem. Time to get rid of it and just write.

Posted in General | Leave a comment

Story Plotting

After a short slump that involved a pity party, some tears, a few pick-me-up-talks from Tom and a side of self-doubt, I’m back in the writing game. I wanted to work on a book that was action-oriented, but my heart fell for another paranormal idea. My world building for this story is coming along strongly and, though I have only a very tentative idea of a plot, I’m moving ahead.

The biggest issue with my writing is finding a method that works for me. For Christmas, Tom bought me a copy of “The 90 Day Novel”, which I started to follow. While it helped me in many, many ways, I realized that it was asking me to try a process that wasn’t entirely going to work for me. I’ve been able to adapt it somewhat to work for me, though it won’t be 90 days. 120, maybe? So while I’m positive that I won’t be able to whip out a first draft at the drop of a hat, I have at least grown more comfortable with my own personal process and my ideas.

For now. (See self-doubt and tears above.)

I also got the updated version of Scrivener for Christmas. This is the program that I use to write my novels with. While I love the notecard format and all of the new ways that it allows authors to plot and plan, it doesn’t exactly work for me. I just need something a little more visual and pliable, which is why I still use Visio (above). Yes, that is my crazy plot map for my new novel.

Scrivener doesn’t exactly allow me to plot like the image you see above. It uses a note card system which, while handy, isn’t exactly what I want. However, it does something incredibly handy (and compatible) with my method: I can send that image home and drop it into the “Research” file right on the Binder, and it allows me to reference the image at any time. In fact, for authors who like to download lots of images and items (there are apparently many authors who work that way), the Research binder functions beautifully for saving these kinds of ideas.

Now here’s a teaser of the new novel. It has already gone through my Writers’ Group.


I had just finished the courier package for Judge Blangardi when the alarm went off. Right away I could tell it wasn’t a call for fire. The creators of this particular alarm wanted it to be noticeably different, which is why the office sounded like it was bracing for Blitzkrieg. The cheap florescent tubes dimmed and red emergency lights kicked on, highlighting the safety zones for all personnel who needed them.

In the entire building, it was only me.

I had taken care to memorize all of the safety locations in the building, though it wasn’t necessary. In the dimmed room, cones of bright blue light shone like heavenly beacons of refuge. I hung up my phone, skirted out from around my desk, dodged the mail cart, scooted down the narrow aisle between desks and stepped into the nearest Magic Suppressor, guaranteed to stop magic attacks up to 25,000 MMU – Merlin Metaphysical Units.

Since I was the only person who couldn’t defend themselves from a magic attack, I was the only one hot-footing it to the nearest Suppressor. Everyone else remained where they were, glowing, sparking, radiating or simply holding up the artifact that would provide adequate personal protection in case of a mage attack. Zalman Applewhite was using his Mystic Haagenti Ring for projection and had propped his elbow up on his desk, lifting the glowing, golden item in the air. I noticed he had moved the ring to his middle finger and was now staring hard at me, as if to convey a message. In fact, all six of my coworkers looked irritated. The receptionist probably had the same sour expression, but he was parked at the front desk where I couldn’t see him.

I knew why they were annoyed. In an understaffed, overworked office, every minute was precious. These emergency drills, though mandatory by the State of New York for all government facilities with non-magical personnel, were viewed as a major pain in the butt. Before I came along three months ago, these drills never interrupted their day. Now they were a mandatory monthly occurrence. Being the one who scheduled them didn’t make things easier, either. Mostly they were just irritated because I was a “Non”, someone who couldn’t cast a single spell if I tried. In the list of handicaps, mine was least tolerated.

Instead of acknowledging their obvious disdain, I pretended not to notice by staring at my feet while smoothing out my ill-fitting, fifth-hand-store, salmon-colored skirt. The item was hideous, even by my standards, but it had been marked down so low that I could actually afford it. Three days a week, I squeezed myself into the sickeningly pink atrocity and felt thankful that someone had finally taken pity on me and offered a job that required a skirt, ugly or not.

Five long seconds later, the alarm silenced and a weight lifted from my shoulders. The lights flooded the room and the blue light swathing me dissolved. As if a switch had been flipped, office normalcy resumed: Desk phones started ringing, the coffee maker in the break room gurgled loudly as it finished brewing a fresh pot, and my coworkers returned to their work, shouting to each other over filing cabinets and enormous stacks of unfinished reports. They were so busy they almost looked as if they had completely forgotten about the drill.

I could only hope that was the case. No one else was willing to hire a Non and I wasn’t going back to being homeless, living in the abandoned subway tunnels again. I was going to make this job work. I was going to make my coworkers love me so much they’d never want to let me go. As I returned my desk, I vowed to be the best secretary that the Probation and Parole Office of Punkton, New York ever had.

Copyright 2011

Posted in Writing | Leave a comment