I’ve spent the last two days redoing my bibliography on my website, as Tuesday is the official release of 50 Shades of Neigh, and in doing so it’s let me reflect on how, and why, I’ve signed my stories to certain publishing houses.

There’s a word passed about among the writing community, and that is Exposure.

When a writer, author, or producer says they got paid in exposure, it generally means that the writer has given their work away for free to a house or publisher in the hopes that their work will reach more people, a broader audience, and help make the writer more well-known. It kind of feels like an instagram ‘influencer’ asking for free meals, or even more arrogantly, asking the restaurant to pay them to eat there, for a few posts on social media.

Have I written for exposure? Yes, I have. I actually have a rule about how I operate. I will write for exposure for a house that picks up one of my larger works. If a house picks up a novel or novelette and pays me for them, I’ll write a short for their magazine or an anthology. If a house picks up a short from me, I owe them a flash or a few. This lets me reach out to their core audience and community, and lets them, the readers, see my style and name. It EXPOSES me to the clients and fans that look forward to seeing new work.

Has it worked for me? I’d like to think so. I can actually see on a chart, how my sales and amazon ranking have been slowly increasing over the years.

Is it a tactic I will continue to employ often? Maybe; my writing time over the years has been affected by my personal life, and while I would love to have the luxury of just writing for free, I don’t. The royalties and token payments I get go towards paying my website or picking up copies of books that I can sell to help cover my overheads.

Is it something for you to try? That is up to you. Writing for exposure can be a tricky business. After all, you could spend hours or days or weeks on a piece, only to see it rejected from the magazine or anthology. It could also get lost in publication, you could lose the story forever, or it could end up in a panned collection. It’s a gamble, but played right, it could garner you new fans, and even, new sales.

What I’m trying to say is, be wary and cautious, and it’s entirely up to you in the end. Go in with your eyes open and you mind aware. No one will scoff you if you decide that you can’t write for free, but if you do, make sure you are comfortable doing so.

I’m not going to lie: I find the advertising of my work to be the toughest part of being a writer. It always feels like a desperate plea, no matter how I swing my words or angle. That being said, I am very proud of how far I’ve come.

While I’m not rolling in dough, or able to retire to some far-off fantasy island, I can say that I’ve improved, and that my work is generally well received, and that my work I have done for exposure has kept me doing okay, as an independent author.

So, as we crawl into the 20’s, I already find myself involved in a few liberties and group projects, and, best of all, I am working on concluding The (hopefully first) Genmos Trilogy.

That being said, I need to take stock of what I have, and what I have yet to finish. I need to build a priority list and FOCUS on getting more completed and out there, so more can shine.

Here is what I AM going to do for 2020

-Finish Genmos: Conclusions rewrite, and submit.

-Write my piece for a group anthology. This project is still hush hush, but I am hoping it will shine and make a bunch of independent writers and authors get their names out there.

-Finish a piece for a dreampunk anthology.

Now, what do I have that I could work on:

• Rewrite my horror erotica, Children of Twilight, for the umpteenth time. If it needs to become a novella, then I should just let it.
• Rewrite my spy/romance, The Final Gentleman. I have improved vastly over the years in my ability, and I think I can finally make it pretty kick ass.
• Finish the first draft of Raven’s End, book 1, my fantasy novel. It’s already 71k in. I just have to roll it the rest of the way.
• Continue and finish A Force Among Stars, my military mecha Sci-fi that’s already 35k in.
• Get Timegasm: Concussed by the Bust, finished. I think that one could be better as a fun loving novella. It’s only one chapter in, but would be an absolute delight to work on as a rest piece between more serious projects.
• Work with a few young authors on my werewoofy story.
• Finish my YA /NA fantasy, Dynamic sorcery, although I would love to work with an upcoming author on this project, or at least someone who likes making relationships shine.
• Finish my Sandman post-apoc work.
• Get Dragon Queen novella, and Identity Crisis back into subbmissions.
• Find someone (A magazine or serial producer) willing to take and release my superhero stories on the vipers.

Here’s to a busy but hopefully successful 2020.

There is a note on my screen that reads “Don’t trivialize the villain.” What does it mean, and why do I have it posted there? It’s a reminder to myself that the best foes, are those that are actual, honest threats.

I, personally, get very annoyed when I read a story and the main foes are idiots. It hurts, and leaves me feeling insulted. How am I to believe that such stupid, moronic characters actually became threats in the first place? It attacks my intelligence, and often leaves me wondering, what’s the point of a heroic character if the main threat could be defeated by anyone with enough intelligence to tie their own shoes?

Villain, foes, could not exist by being morons. They would never have achieved power in the first place if they weren’t cunning, dangerous, etc. (On a caveat, I am not including a foe or enemy or threat that is based on ignorance.) By being menacing, actual looming threats, they in turn enhance the story and give the heroic characters an honest, real threat that must be defeated through challenge and adversity.

A good, well-structured foe makes for real stakes and honest tension. Cartoonish villains cheapen the story and mock the seriousness of the hero, and their need to perform heroic actions and deeds.

Let me take a study of one of my own works, if I may. Let’s look at NOBILIS: Seedling, and examine the villains – Note the use of the plural form of the word — and foes to the main characters.

• The Pirates. These are menacing, mysterious brutes responsible for most of the destruction in the story. They are lurking, ominous, nigh indestructible, responsible for most of the casualties in the story, and only thwarted by the titular NOBILIS entity, who, in this case, is essentially the heroes hand-of-God.

• The Slavers. They are acute and direct threats in the second half of the adventure. They are observant, tactical, and almost succeed. The only reason they fall is because they become too greedy, and try to capture registered freebies.

• The Corporations. They are the companies who lord over the heroes and almost everyone else in the universe. While not outright evil, more an evil byproduct of their times, they are still a threat, granted a cunning one that does not threaten the characters directly, but who pose a sinister air about themselves, marking them as future dangers.

• The Environment. Space is hostile, and surviving its many dangers is only circumventing the eventual defeat of death. To a point this has only been briefly touched on in Seedling, but the environment is an ever-present threat that will not go away and disappear. Yes, some characters are less threatened by it, but the danger itself will never stop.

All of this should hopefully add up to a universe where the characters mere survival and continued freedom is in itself a victory.

Simply surviving is an achievement, and anything extra beyond that is only icing on the cake. By recognizing the layers of threats as actual dangers, the reader should be drawn into the story, and their experience should be enhanced.

1. INTRODUCTION

“Do you know what a sentence is?” I write in a comment on a young writer’s work, to which he replies, “Five to ten for possession?”

“I mean in a literary or writing sense.” I laugh as my thumbs pound my smartphone’s screen.

Their reply gives me a somber pause. 

“I know that a sentence begins with a capital letter and ends when you put a period or question mark, but I’ve been writing instinctively like how I talk.”

They’re half-the-world away, and have approached me for help thanks to an offer I made through social media. While their English education is lacking, they absorb information like a sponge and they’re willing to learn; plus their writing is better than some of my peers who graduated university. 

“A sentence,” I reply, “is a complete thought. It needs a subject: someone or something who the sentence is about. It also needs something about the subject; whether it be a thought, a description, an action, or a command. A paragraph is a collection of these complete thoughts based around a theme.”

There’s another pause. Curious why it’s taking so long for my colleague to reply, I opened the google doc. In real time, I watched the conglomeration of words they have already thrown onto the screen become separated, moved around, and reorganized.

“Can I please ask you to look over my work in a few hours?” They write back to me. “I want to try and shape my thoughts.”

I agree English was not my strong suit until I learned the best method for me to study by, which is—oddly enough—building study guides. Diving back into my notes from college, I dig up the following information for him, and for myself as well.

Let me share with you.

2. THE SENTENCE

2.1 WHAT IS A SENTENCE IN LITERATURE?

The Oxford Dictionary website states the definition of a sentence as such:

SENTENCE: A set of words that is complete in itself, typically containing a subject and predicate, conveying a statement, question, exclamation, or command, and consisting of a main clause and sometimes one or more subordinate clauses.

https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/sentence August 23, 2019

Wow, okay, class over? No, I’m afraid not. As said above, it is several things.

1. A statement
2. A question
3. An exclamation
4. A command
5. Active or passive
6. Consisting of a main clause and possibly one or more subordinate clauses

2.2. THE SIMPLE SENTENCE.

Let’s try simpler terms. A sentence is a complete thought that has a subject (someone or something) and a predicate (an action or description based around the subject), finished off with a concluding punctuation mark, aka end mark. (There are only three types of End Marks in the English language, and they are the period, the exclamation point, and the question mark.)

So, here’s a simple sentence: Suzy sat.

Suzy in this case, is a person, and in this case the SUBJECT of the sentence because she is who the sentence is about.

What did Suzy do? She sat. Sitting is an action, and not a person or a thing. It tells us what Suzy did, therefore it is the PREDICATE

How did the sentence end? Think about how you would say this. Were you surprised Suzy sat, were you wondering if Suzy sat, or were you simply explaining that Suzy sat?

The rule of thumb is unless you are asking if Suzy sat, your END MARK should be a period. Exclamation points are rarely if ever needed outside of dialogue, where you can use an exclamation point to show that the speaker is expressing a strong reaction.

Let’s try another sentence: Paul is the owner.

Who is the sentence about? Paul, so he’s the subject.

What’s special about Paul? He owns something. Boom, the Predicate.

Subject + Predicate + End Mark = A Simple Sentence.

2.3. THE MORE COMPLICATED SENTENCES

2.3.1. WHAT IS A CLAUSE?

A clause is a simple sentence that is lacking the end mark.

SUBJECT + PREDICATE + END MARK = A Simple Sentence.

SUBJECT + PREDICATE = CLAUSE

If you’re like me, you’re probably thinking, Why come up with The Clause? Is this just another way for those English professors to be all high-and-mighty?

Not quite.

Not all sentences in the English language are simple. Some have to convey more that the briefest of stories, and that can sometimes take more than one thought to accomplish. Sentences with more than one clause fall into two categories: THE COMPLEX SENTENCE, or THE COMPOUND SENTENCE

2.3.2 THE COMPLEX SENTENCE

What is a Clause again? It is a combination of a subject and a predicate.

SUBJECT + PREDICATE = CLAUSE

A complex sentence is a sentence consisting of two or more clauses where one clause is joined with and relying upon the other.

Simple Sentence:
Suzy (subject) sat (action) .(end mark)

Complex Sentence:
Suzy (subject) sat (action) on (place), this combines the two clauses) the brown (description, so a predicate )chair(subject).(end mark)

SUBJECT + PREDICATE  joined a  PREDICATE + SUBJECT finished with an END MARK.

Oh No! Math!

Take a deep breath, muchacho. This gets easier to spot as we go along.

2.3.2.1. INDEPENDENT VS DEPENDENT CLAUSE

The first clause is the independent clause. Alone, it tells a story. The second clause tells us where Suzy sat, but it is only included in the sentence to tell us where Suzy sat. This is called a dependent clause because it only exists to further round out the Independent clause.

So, let me write another sentence. 

Paul is the owner of the company that we work at.

What is the main subject? Paul.
What is the status of Paul? He’s the owner.

That’s the INDEPENDENT CLAUSE, and it forms a simple and complete sentence.

What’s Paul the owner of? The Company
What’s so special about the company? We work there.

These are the DEPENDENT CLAUSEs, because without knowing that Paul’s the owner, the dependent clauses lack the feeling of a complete sentence.

(Paul is the owner) of (the company) that (we work at.)

Can you see a pattern yet? Yes? 

Think we can talk about how these sentences combine their clauses together? Let’s look back at dear Suzy.

Suzy sat on the brown chair.

Now, I’m going to bracket the independent and the dependent clause.

(Suzy sat) on (the brown chair).

INDEPENDENT CLAUSE joins DEPENDENT CLAUSE end mark.

Now, let’s talk about the word that combines the Independent Clause to the Dependent Clause. That joining word is called-

2.3.2.2. THE SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTION

What the hell, English? What do those words even mean? Let’s break it on down. A conjunction is a word that joins something together. Subordinate means it relies on something. Therefor a Subordinating Conjunction is a fancy-ass way of saying a joining word.

Okay, let’s look at examples of these Subordinating Conjunctions, or joining words.

What word combines the two clauses?

(Suzy sat) on (the brown chair.)

That’s right; it’s the word, “on.” Good job! Here’s two more examples:

(Paul is the owner) of (the company) that (we work at.)

INDEPENDENT CLAUSE + SUBORDINATING CONJUCTION + DEPENTANT CLAUSE + END MARK = COMPLEX SENTENCE

Subordinate Conjunctions fall into one of 9 categories:

1- COMPARISON:

Than, whether, whereas

Comparison Subordinate Conjunctions compare the dependent clause to the independent clause.

Paul is the owner whereas we are the employees.

2- RELATIVE ADJECTIVE

That, which, whatever

Relative Adjectives relate the clauses. This is not a comparison, but an agreeance.

Paul is the owner of the company which we work for.

3- TIME

After, Before, Once, Since, Until, When.

Time is anything related to a chronological condition.

Paul is the owner until he retires.

4- CONCESSION

This one is a little weird. Basically, it is the use of though, but it is preceding the general sentence.

Although Paul is the owner, it is his wife who runs the show.

5- RELATIVE PRONOUNS

The use of so, whomever, who, whom.

Paul is the man who owns the company.

6- PLACE

Where, on, below, above, within; basically anything relating to physical positioning.

Paul is the owner of the company within which we work.

7- CONDITION

If, only if, unless.

Condition can be hard to explain, but it’s taking a clause and saying it can only occur if the other clause comes true.

Paul is the owner if he buys the company.

8- MANNER

How, as though, as if.

Don’t be thrown by the name. A “Manner Clause” is used to say either how someone does something, or how something is done.

Paul acts as if he is the owner.

How does one clause relate to the other? (That was both an example and a question.)

9- REASON

So that, since, because

Reason is when one clause occurs due to another.

Since Paul is the owner, we are his employees.

Paul is the owner because he bought the company.

Wow! That’s a lot to handle, but you can see how a complex sentence relates two or more clauses together. Now it’s time to look at what some consider the most difficult sentence of all.

2.3.3. THE COMPOUND SENTENCE

The compound sentence is a sentence with at least two INDEPENDENT CLAUSES that have realated ideas, and are either joined by a word called the COORDINATING CONJUNCTION or by a semicolon.

Well, the good news is by now we understand what an independent clause is, and we’ve already seen and talked about one type of conjunction. This only leaves us to ask: what is…

2.3.3.1 THE COORDINATING CONJUNCTION

You use coordinating conjunctions all the time, and you probably don’t realize why or how you’re doing so.

That sentence you just read had an example in it.

Let’s break it down.

You use coordinating conjunctions all the time is an example of one INDEPENDENT CLAUSE.

SUBJECT: You

And what do you do?  What is the PREDICATE? You “use coordinating conjunctions all the time.” Boom! INDEPENDENT CLAUSE, baby!

Second sentence, “You probably don’t realize why or how you’re doing so.”

SUBJECT: You

PREDICATE: don’t realize you’re doing so

Do you notice something? Each clause could stand on its own as a sentence, or independent clause, but they work best when joined together. In fact, if you look at it, the second independent clause is almost reliant on the first independent clause, but with the smallest tweaking could stand on its own.

Now, what is the COORDINATING CONJUNCTION that combines the two clauses? The word that joins them is “and.”

What are some examples of Coordinating Conjunctions? Well, here’s a word many of us will understand: F.A.N.B.O.Y.S.

For

And

Nor

But

Or

Yet

So

When you use a coordinating conjunction, you break the sentence with a comma. I like to think of it as a sign that the comma is a signal that the coordinating conjunction is coming.

PRIMARY CLAUSE + COMMA + COORDINATING CONJUNCTION + SECONDARY CLAUSE + END MARK = THE COMPOUND SENTENCE.

Let’s have some fun using F.A.N.B.O.Y.S., and start by using two sentences:

I want to buy the blue car.

I want to buy the red car.

• FOR

“For” presents a rationale, or reason why the first clause occurs. In other words, we compare the two subjects’ clauses against each other.

I want to buy the red car, for it is faster than the blue car.

• AND

“And” links two non-contrasting clauses together.

I want to buy the blue car, and I want to buy the red car. (Sure, be rich and flaunt it, a****e.)

• NOR

Nor can be tough as it is used to link two non-contrasting, negative clauses, meaning, it links two agreeing disagreements.

I don’t want to buy the blue car, nor will I buy the red car.

• BUT

“But” is used when you have either a contrasting idea, or an exception.

I want to buy the red car, but I will probably buy the blue car.

• OR

Or is used when you want to present an alternate idea.

I will buy either the red car, or I will buy the blue car.

• YET

Like but, yet presents a contrast or exception.

I want to buy the red car, yet I will probably buy the blue car.

• SO

So is used to show consequence.

I didn’t like the red car, so I bought the blue car.

2.3.3.2. THE SEMICOLON

Rarely used nowadays, and often considered in poor taste by editors, the semicolon is a symbol that replaces coordinating conjunctions.

Example: You use coordinating conjunctions all the time; you probably don’t realize why or how you’re doing so.

I want to buy the blue car, but I will probably buy the red car.

becomes

I want to buy the blue car; I will probably buy the red car.

That almost sounds like resignation. Still, it’s legitimate, but oftentimes one could just break the two independent clauses into two sentences. The only reason—at this point—to join those two sentences together is to show their relationship with one another.

Note from the editor: When one clause of a sentence includes multiple commas as the result of a list of subjects, it is totally proper to use a semicolon with the conjunction. This is probably the only semicolon rule that is actually clear enough not to be considered up for interpretation!

#ViveLaSemicolon

2.4. ACTIVE VS PASSIVE

In English, all sentences are in either “active” or “passive.”  As a gramatical rule of thumb, every Paragraph should have at least one Active sentence, preferably the first sentence, so we know what the paragraph is about.

2.4.1. ACTIVE SENTENCE

In an active sentence, the person or thing responsible for the verb (action) of the sentence comes first. Likewise, in a passive sentence, the person or thing acted on comes first, and the person responsible for the action is added at the end.

Johannes Gutenberg created the printing press in 1439.

In the example above someone created something. That someone is the subject, Johannes Gutenberg, and he created the printing press.

Wait, Subject + Predicate… I see a system here!

2.4.2. PASSIVE SENTENCE 

Generally, you want to write in the active verse unless:

• The actor (whatever is performing the verb) is unknown, irrelevant, or the writer wants to be vague.

The first printing press was invented in 1439.

In this case, the subject is the printing press, the predicate was when it was invented, but there’s no person, animal, human, machine, doing the inventing.

• You are talking about a general truth or widely accepted fact.

• You want to emphasize the subject acted upon, which is generally the method used in scientific or technical papers.

The first printing press was invented in 1439 by Johannes Gutenberg.

So, we have a subject and a predicate, but the actor—the inventor—comes after the detail.

2.5. EVERYTHING’S AN ACTION,

Is your brain feeling like mush yet with all this talk about clauses, and predicates, end marks, and conjunctions? Well, let me try again in another way:

Do you know that every sentence has an action in it?

Susie sat.

That sentence has a plain verb (action) clearly stated immediately after the subject, but what about another sentence like:

The chair is brown.

There is an action in that sentence, and the action is a state of being. Not all verbs or actions have to be grandiose motions like leaping, jumping, running, or blinking. Nor must they be grandiose thoughts such as thinking, guessing, or considering. Sometimes, just being something is a verb.

2.6. CONCLUSION ON SENTENCES

Wow, is your brain full yet?

I know mine’s getting there, and I wrote this article. So, why study all of this? We studied this so that you, the reader, can understand the basic rules of a sentence. By knowing the basic rules, in what I hope is the clearest explanation you’ve ever read, you can help form your next sentences into clear short stories. In addition, knowing how to make a proper sentence will improve your communication skills. An incomplete or badly written sentence can not only ruin the flow and message of your words, but it can throw a reader so badly off they may leave your work entirely. This doesn’t mean you should give up though, because now you have the tools to make your sentences great.

3. THE PARAGRAPH

3.1. WHAT IS A PARAGRAPH IN LITERATURE?

The Oxford Dictionary website states the definition of a sentence as such:

PARAGRAPH: A distinct section of a piece of writing, usually dealing with a single theme and indicated by a new line, indentation, or numbering.

https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/paragraph August 23, 2019

That’s cool and all, but what does it mean? Let’s focus in on just a few words, usually dealing with a single theme. In fiction, this can be a grand number of things.

Let’s look at an example:

Paul is the owner of the company that we work at. He’s poured his heart and soul into making our workplace a comfortable, healthy, and enjoyable place to be; but it’s not without cost. Most often, Paul can be found at the office working well into the night struggling over reports and fiscal papers until either exhaustion claims him, or satisfaction allows him the most miniscule of breaks. That’s why we admire him.

Do you see a theme? Who or what is the paragraph about?

Paul and his running of the company. All the sentences above focus on that, and collected together they create a paragraph.

Now, a paragraph generally has a few extra parts to consider:

3.1.1. THE INTRODUCTION

Every structured paragraph has an introductory sentence. The introduction is the starting sentence of the paragraph and it should focus the reader on the subject of what the paragraph is about.

            Paul is the owner of the company that we work at.

That is a clear introduction. It lists who the subject is, what’s his signifigance, and how the reader can relate to him. From here, the rest of the sentences should follow this theme.

3.1.2. THE SUPPORTING SENTENCES

The supporting sentences link the introduction to the conclusion, but each should also follow several considerations.

1. UNITY: That the supporting sentence is unified around the main idea.
2. ORDER: While not always important, it is vital to remember that order can be crucial. Whether chronological or descriptive, the sentences should flow.
3. COHERENCE: Do your sentences make sense if read aloud, or are there jarring gaps between them. Are they the same tense and same structure?
4. COMPLETENESS: Do the sentences clearly support the main idea? This is normally done in essays by using three or four supporting sentences.

3.1.3 THE CONCLUSION

The concluding sentence should wrap up and relate all the supporting sentences together.

So—if we go back to the example—the introductory sentence tells who the author is talking about, the supporting sentences expand upon the subject and the final sentence states why the author wrote about the subject in such glowing detail.

Let’s look at another paragraph from one of my favorite authors.

What, or whom, is the paragraph about? Fear, and why the narrator must not surrender to it. The supporting sentences then link together with a flowing set of ideas. Firstly: what is fear, then how will the narrator deal with it, and what will happen when the narrator deals with fear, and finally the consequences of achieving this goal.

3.1.4. HINTS AND TIPS

Here are a few hints and tips you can use to help build a better paragraph.

3.1.4.1. AVOID LISTING

The Warrior walked into the room. The Warrior was tall, towering over the others in the room, but it wasn’t just The Warrior’s height that made The Warrior seem larger than life. The Warrior held herself confidently, challenging anyone else who dared to look at The Warrior with anything less than respect.

Okay, does this look like a laundry list to you? It sure does to me. While each of those sentences are correct and clearly relating to the theme of describing The Warrior, it’s not exactly dynamic.

Since we’ve already established that the paragraph will be about The Warrior, so now there’s a few things you can do to reduce the number of times you are forced to write, The Warrior.

3.1.4.1.1. PLAY THE PRONOUN GAME

Originating from the Latin word pronomen, which means ‘in the place of (or to replace) no men” a PRONOUN is a word that replaces a noun (a name or a specific object) or noun-phrase. (Example: The Warrior)

There are charts all over the internet regarding pronouns, but long story short, they are based on how someone or something is being related to. What are some examples? Here’s a chart.

https://strawboats.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/pronoun-chart.jpg, September 14, 2019

How do you use that chart? Well, you have to consider who or what you’re talking about. In our case, The Warrior has been established to be female, and we are talking about HER in the 3^rd person, so the 3^rd person female line is ours to play with.

The Warrior walked into the room. SHE was tall, towering over the others in the room, but it wasn’t just The Warrior’s height that made HER seem larger than life. SHE held herself confidently, challenging anyone else who dared to look at HER with anything less than respect.

By balancing out the use of pronouns, and mixing them with noun phrases, the list can be reduced.

4.1.4.1.2. ACTIVE AND PASSIVE

Remember how active vs passive was mentioned back in sentences? We already know the subject thanks to the introductory sentence, so we don’t have to start every sentence afterwards declaring that we’re immediately talking about The Warrior. Let’s have some fun

The Warrior walked into the room. It wasn’t just her height that made The Warrior appear to tower over the other occupants in the room, but it was the way she held herself. Standing confidently, she challenged anyone who dared to look at her with anything less than respect.

5. CONCLUSION

Now, with all that being said, there is something to consider: We’ve only studied the basic rules of sentences and paragraphs. There are doctorates one can earn in the English language, and although it’s my native tongue, I am nowhere near a master of language.

Not all paragraphs have to follow the rules, and not all our sentences in dialogue, or our responses, follow the rules to the letter. Oftentimes—especially in fiction—shorter paragraphs can have far more impact than longer ones. Brief, sharp statements can have more impact. Mastering the literary paragraph takes time and practice, but this should help give you the foundation to really make an impact with your writing. By knowing the basic rules, you can therefore bend them to your will.

Practice the basics, and the rest will come easier. It can take time to master, but the more you practice making correct and dynamic sentences and paragraphs, the better your writing will be.

Note from the editor: I’ve found that most grammatical rules, especially when writing fiction, can be considered more as guidelines. Most of the time you want to follow them, but there is a little bit of wiggle room in fiction for ‘artistic liberty’ or ‘style’ to take precedence.

There’s a certain art form to crafting engaging prose. This information should be considered ingredients in the writer’s cookbook, but that they can be applied in numerous ways. Separating the “cook” from the “chef” in the world of literature is the ability to mix these ingredients in new and exciting ways.

Most of all though, remember why you started writing, what your goals are, and what you want to achieve. Have fun.

You got this.

Thank you B.K. Bass for today’s edit. You can find his website at https://bkbass.com

In addition, the full document can be downloaded in PDF from HERE:

This August marks my third year anniversary as a signed writer.

By now, I feel established as an author, comfortable, and yet I’m still excited and not perfectly jaded. Rather than brag about successes and mope about failures, I’d like to instead state where I want to take myself as a writer. This might seem a bit altruistic to those in the Writing Community, but these are my honest hopes and dreams.

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1. I want to create expandable universes and expandable series.

What I mean by this, is, I want to create worlds and adventures where other authors and writers want to create within. Think of D&D, Star Wars, Star Trek. Basically, I want to tap into Franchise Media, where multiple authors write for Genmos, Nobilis, Remnants, etc, but, there is a reason why I want to turn these series into places for other authors to write. See goal number 2.

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2. I want to give young or unpublished authors a chance to earn their #ampublished hashtag.

I remember how it felt to write for years without publishing success. I remember the frustration, the doubt, the anger, the self-loathing. What I want to do is work on stories with those who are enduring the same agony, and give them the hope, show them what’s worked for me, and, at the same time, learn from them. I want to see others succeed, and I want to see them become my friendly competition. I want others to be bit by the feeling of success like I am.

This brings me back to point 1. I want to build worlds and universes where, if an author is having a hard time, I can work with them and maybe, along the way, we can learn from each other.  That being said, I am also planning to work more often with other authors on stand-alone pieces. It’s fun to one-off something, without responsibility to match other works from before, or risk screwing up the laws of another.

I might not be a multi-million dollar author, or a household name, but even so I can look and say, I have achieved something, and I want to share that feeling. Who knows, but maybe I just might find myself working with the next big name.

Thanks to Kyanite Publishing, I’ve already seen this happen with Remnants. I’d love to have it happen more often. If there are any writers or authors out there who are new and nervous or experienced yet stuck on ideas and want to collaborate, feel free to reach out.

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3. I want my books to introduce a safer human environment.

I want my writing to make a safer space for my kids as they grow up, so now I aim to casually introduce more diversity in ethnicity, religion, and sexuality without slamming it in peoples’ faces or make stereotypes, but instead, bring it in casually, nonchalantly, as if it has always been that way.

A question came up recently on Twitter (My favorite hangout to talk to other writers.) about, ‘what voice do you write in?’ Many fellow authors and writers were able to choose 1 combination of narrative point-of-view and tense, yet, to my pleasure, I was able to say, I can’t, because I’m not even published in only one voice. Yes, my big works are all in third person past, but my shorts and flashes, which I use to experiment, are produced in a myriad of forms.

What are voices, and what are narrative points of view and tenses? A voice is the style of writing that the narrator chooses to tell a particular section of the story, and it is a combination of parts, two of which I will go into more detail.

The key is, whatever time you choose as an author or writer to work in, you should try and stick with one voice for that particular section of a story. If your world has multiple characters, and different time periods expressed within, yes, you can have a multitude of voices and styles, but you had better make darned sure that, wherever you’re in, you keep it consistent until that section, be it a chapter, a few paragraphs, an excerpt, remains the same so as to eliminate confusion.

Let’s start with the, The Tense, A.K.A The Time period. When do the events of the story happen?

Note the caps in the example below. Each of the examples use almost the same sentence, only changing the time period with which they were concerned by altering one word, (Or two, I know you nitpickers are waiting.) So, to go more in depth:

The Future is what will happen, whether in a few seconds, or a few eons from now, it hasn’t happened yet, but it will or may occur.

• Shannon WILL BECOME the leader of the free world.

The Present is what is happening immediately, right now.

• Shannon IS the leader of the free world.

The Past is something that has happened, something that is over and done with. It occurred, period.

• Shannon WAS the leader of the free world.

Who the heck is Shannon? Should I shake her hand or was she a despot, is a despot, will be a despot? I’ll let you be the judge.

Anyways, there’s your time, or chronological division.

Next is your Point of View, or how the narrator is choosing to explain a particular part of the story to the reader in order to immerse them. There are three primary points of view, 1^st (or first) person, 2^nd (or second) person, and 3^rd (or third) person.

First person is what I jokingly refer to as the selfish person because it’s all about me. (Not Me me, but me.) This is where the writer tries to cast the reader as the narrator.

• I was the leader of the free world. (1^st person past)

• I am the leader of the free world. (1^st person present)

• I will be the leader of the free world. (1^st person future)

In all of the examples above, the narrator is trying to involve the reader directly, telling the reader events as if they are speaking to them directly, making for a very personal experience, but not nearly as personal as-

Second Person, or all about you. 2^nd person is when the narrator decides to make tell the story as if you, the reader, are directly involved, and if YOU are the character in the story.

• YOU were the leader of the free world. (2^nd person past)

• YOU are the leader of the free world. (2^nd person present)

• YOU will be the leader of the free world. (2^nd person future.)

Third person is about them, he, she, others than you or the narrator. While the most informal, there are ways to make things more intimate, but we won’t get into that too much. So, what is third person? It is the absence of first and second person, but still tells an idea. This is the he, she, they method, and/or using the name of the subject.

• SHANNON / SHE was the leader of the free world. (3^rd person past)

• SHANNON / SHE is the leader of the free world. (3^rd person present)

• SHANNON / SHE will be the leader of the free world. (3^rd person future)

So to SIMPLIFY Everything, here is a small Cheat Sheet

	Past	Present	Future
1st Person (I, me, myself, us)	I Was	I am	I will be
2nd Person (You, They )	You were	You are	You will be
3rd Person (He/She, Noun, them)	She was	She is	She will be

This is not the limit of how far you can stretch this definition of narrative voice. Those who study language or literature will be quick to include other things, such as Singular VS Plural person, and Perfect, continuous, and perfect continuous tense, but that’s more in-depth study for another time.

For those in the know… the last few months have seen my mind consumed with my latest project, a cyberpunk/genderpunk near dystopian sci-fi story that aims to point out a rather poignant problem with America’s penal system, and the issue of common recidivism. 

RECIDIVISM: a tendency to relapse into a previous condition or mode of behavior 

especially : relapse into criminal behavior 

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/recidivism

June 26, 2019 

It hasn’t been the easiest piece I’ve ever written, and much like my flash fiction, Click, this WIP has taken a rather poignant and painful piece out of me. I actively researched stories from convicts, and carefully communicated with parolees who were willing and allowed to talk, as well as free, fully served individuals who “killed their time.” 

What it painted for me, was a less-than-pretty picture. 

America holds roughly a quarter of the acknowledged global incarcerated population, despite only hosting about 5% of the overall global population, and it has turned jails and halfway houses into a for-profit enterprise.

That wasn’t the bad. 

The bad, is that the American system appears hell-bent on punishing the accused even after release. In most states, jobs and housing can be refused simply on the grounds of having a criminal past. The whole system stacks against them, even slapping them with additional fees that were “earned” during incarceration.

I heard stories of cruelty, of abuse, of rape, of unfair incarceration. Real court cases and documents were sent my way, detailing police reports that exonerated the accused, only for the judge to take a personal dislike, and slap the defendant with a maximum sentence, and although it shouldn’t surprise me, I saw a painfully high level of this performed as racist or homophobic action. Yes, some were guilty, and they admitted freely as to why they had been incarcerated, but those that claimed innocence willingly handed over proof to a curious Canadian… because at least I listened. 

Turning to my friends in Canada, some of whom were coworkers of mine, I compared their lives to that of their neighbors to the south. Yes, there are problems with Canada’s system, but not to the caliber of America. 

Read the original Guest Blog HERE

Be it action, be it fantasy, be it science fiction. No matter what we write, it always helps to throw in a little research, even if it is just speculatory. Granted, there may be no better place to explore such wonderful guesses as in the world of speculative literature. Speculative is the name of the game.

Case in point:

My captain recognizes me before he charges across. Slinging the two scabbards across my back, I follow, my dirk knife in one hand, my pepperbox in the other, but by the time I finish my crossing, the battle is done. The deck is slippery, awash with the blood of the fallen. Those who are not dead or dying have surrendered.

“Mr. Oot.” My captain awaits my presence by a hatch that leads below decks. “We have not all day, please.”

Sheathing my knife, I descend into the darkness before I switch the patch that I have worn over one eye, to the other. It is in the shadows that I feel at home. Unscathed and alone. I call to my captain, and he joins me within the bowels below deck.

In the case above, Mr. Oot switches an eye patch from one working ocular orb, to the other after he descends below decks, despite both eyes apparently working well. Why does he do that?

Why did some pirates wear patches over one eye?

Although it’s never been definitely proven, historians often guess that pirates had learned the painful lesson that eyes don’t adjust too well from the brilliant light of a sunny day on the ocean, with the great glow of the sky bounding off the waves below, forming brilliant illumination, to the dank and dim claustrophoic confines of below deck, essentially, a place where the sun rarely, if ever, shone. So, they patched one eye, keeping it out of the glaring light, so that they could switch to their dark adjusted eye and not have to wait for their vision to adjust, which, could mean the difference between a quick raid, free from ambush, or a massacre below.

Our eyes are sensitive. They are composed of “Rods” and “Cones.”  Cones let us see color, whilst Rods let us see shades, tones, or black and white. It takes ten minutes, approximately, for the cones in our eyes to roughly adjust, the rods of our eyes much longer, from half, to several hours. The theory goes that Pirates wore patches, so they could easily look below decks in seconds, rather than in minutes, or carrying light, which would make them easy targets for an ambush.

I first learned about this thanks to everybody’s favorite show of grown boys playing pseudo-scientists, Mythbusters. Specifically episode 71, where they experimented with this exact hypothesis. They called it plausible, and I called it an idea. It stuck with me, a note in my big book of writing ideas, to one day toss into a story.

It’s one tiny detail, barely a footnote, but it plays into something much bigger, a touch of speculation into history, and a plausibility that adds realism, despite the story being a fantastic fantasy.

It’s just one detail that I hope brings the reader more into the story, so it’s no longer words on-screen or blurbs on paper, but an adventure that the reader can ride along with.

Check out these two resources for more information:

Children’s Museum “Why Did Some Pirates Wear an Eye Patch.”

Episode 71 of Myth Busters Results

March is almost over… and while I’m panicking about getting my taxes done… I’m also stoked that Urban Gothic was released from Kyanite Publising. Considering the fact that it’s my second major release, I’d really like to take this chance to go into depth about how it came to be, because, it wasn’t easy to make.

It took many long years since its conception to really get the feel of the book down in my mind. I struggled from the moment it was started, agonized when I put it away, and doubted myself when I returned to it.

So… let’s talk about a few things… mostly… inspiration.

By now I’m sure you’ve heard me mention Dreampunk ad Nausea, but the idea was formed before I even had an idea that there was a word for the genre. My first thoughts of the Dreamscape, the alternate world of Urban Gothic, earned its first inklings thanks to a birthday gift, the 1996 Dragonlance Calendar.

Inside was a picture titled Dreamscape. Holy cannoli did that ever play with my imagination. I actually kept that picture up for two months longer…partly because the mermaid picture which featured a blue-skinned almost naked lady, kept distracting me. 😳

Then… a year later I was gifted a particular poster. This is from the 20th anniversary addition, but it’s almost the same.

The two pictures stayed up together for a few years on my wall, and I was proud of them. Lookit that griffin, lookit that clock, Lookit the stained glass window!

Yeah. It worked… I bought the books once I started first, real part-time job that and had some disposable income, and with money, came comics. Neil Gaiman’s Sandman to be exact.

(And an encompassing crush on death.)

Well, by then I had written my first 7 books and was querying them out to agents and publisher. Let’s just say they needed work. After reading The Lawnmower man from Stephen King I thought, why not get more publicity by writing a novella?

Foolish naive me tried to write Urban Gothic, and I failed only 5,000 words in. Why?

A few things.

• Lack of research: I couldn’t properly catch the wonder I wanted to portray.
• Lack of empathy: For those who’ve read Urban Gothic, you might catch what I’m talking about. For the rest, no spoilers.
• Lack of experience as a writer.

It was thanks though, to Thurston Howl and crew, and my finally growing maturity, that I learned enough to try my No-WIP-Left-Behind policy, and thanks to a few authors, like Moss Whelan and BK Bass that I returned to it.

But… I still feared I wouldn’t portray the dreamscape well enough, that is until I poured through my DVD collection. Hey gang, remember The Cell? It’s director, Tarsem Singh, was known for directing music videos, and it shows.

Wow.

Horrifying, beautiful, all within the mind

Another video, a small, independent film, also played a prominent point. 2009’s ink.

Something has to stop the flow.

If you want a low-budget film done right that punches you in the feels and takes place in a dreamscape…Just bloody watch it. I can’t recommend it enough, especially now that I’m the father of a little girl.

Yet, I still struggled with one concept there was one last part… how to portray a world built on the back of another?

This photo is from the book that has a place of honor ON MY NIGHTSTAND. The graphic novel adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere, adapted by Michael Carey and illustrated by Glenn Fabry. (I could fanboy about these three until the cows come home, as I love Hellblazer AND I have read all of Preacher over a dozen times.)

What Neverwhere did was finally give me a clue how to proceed. I’m fortunate to live in a city that takes pride in something special. With the graphic novel keeping my mind open, I scoured my town, looking for something special.

Recognize this?

Ottawa Street Art.

I could see people’s imaginations taking hold in a city.

It was the final clue I needed. I finally felt what was needed to turn the endeavor into something of a story. I’d love to show you who inspired the characters, but… some people have asked for privacy while other inspirations…. um… 😳

Lastly… It was the support of all my fans and friends, readers and writers and all those who showed interest.

If it wasn’t for you…

Urban Gothic would not exist.

With my second year as a professional author completed, I was going to fill my blog with self advertising and self-worship. I kept putting it off however, as I still haven’t shaken the feeling that it’s a bit like prostituting myself. I used the recent arrival of my daughter as an excuse to procrastinate.

That is, until a few short days ago, when I read that an aspiring writer, with whom I had formed a bond of respect and virtual friendship in our online conversations, had passed away from cancer.

This hurt me more than I like to admit. Strangely enough, we had often discussed toxic masculinity. He was tortured by it, whilst I claim to have harnessed it and twisted it into my own advantage. In shock, I lay on the couch, phone in hand, and tried to collect myself. I tried to bury the grief away. I mean, he was only a friend online, only someone whom I respected as a name, an avatar, right?

Wrong.

Our conversations had always been respectful, and often either attempts to let the other heal, or to bring a smile to each other. We had mutual interests, belonged to the same fandom, and although his stories that he wished to craft may not have been in my vein, I was more than willing to work with him to help make his own dream of writing, possible.

Getting up, I found my eldest child, and asked him, almost tearfully, for a great big hug.

The truth is, the world is much smaller that it seemed only a few decades ago. Nowadays, I can connect with writers, readers, editors, publishers, agents, interviewers, fans, trolls, etc. In seconds. I’ve formed bonds with people all over the world, and though I haven’t met many face-to-face, I’ve chatted online privately, to the point that I feel comfortable saying things that I normally keep private. I’ve used the internet to have vocal conversations, avatar-to-avatar get-togethers, shared pictures and hopes and dream and trials and tirbulations…

These online souls have become friends, and the loss of one struck deeply in my breast.

To each of you who have touched my soul, please know you are: Special

Unique

Wonderful

Inspiring.

And to the friend who passed, and left us without your blessed company

I miss you.