Good Writing, Good Whiskey
Hello again. It’s been a while.
Since my first book Baghdaddy is still under pre-publication review, by the ever-vigilant boys and girls at Langley, it’s time to do what writers do – get cracking on my new book.
For those of you who know me, I’ve wanted to write this book for a long time. It’s a young/new adult thriller about how absolute power corrupts, and the real power of family. Even if those family members tend to fight like cats and dogs. But after my parents passed away Baghdaddy just wouldn’t stand in line and wait to be written. So, the time is now.
The working title for my new novel is CYPHER 1.0 – Ashur’s Tears. It’s a story that blends “what if” science with magic, and I’m watching the Payette River wend through a snowy forest, from a toasty room – as I work the kinks from my plot.
The view from my window
Writing a book is a lot like making a baby. A glint of an idea. A raw attraction. An enthusiastic week (or two or three) of plot debauchery – the fun and exciting positioning of “what ifs.” Then, a lot of time goes into what fits where, and what works and doesn’t.
Even after you figure it all out, a happy, healthy dose of flexibility, patience, endurance, and vigor is still required to make something new, and mostly wonderful, that didn’t exist before.
For Ashur’s Tears, I’m using several of Blake Snyder’s screenwriting methods to help better visualize my story, and to improve my writing efficiency. If you’re interested in writing a novel his Save the Cat! series of books are well worth reading. His method of organizing a plot not only gives a good breakdown of the “what goes where” in a movie, but he also looks at plot points as a series of “beats” that, like a drum, drive the rhythm of a story forward.
With a little luck I should have my plot worked out, and most of the scenes written for the first act, by the time I come back down from the mountains in Lowman, Idaho after the first week of January.
A Birdhouse on Birches
But now, I have to go. I left the Cypher children, my main characters, in a perilous place and I have to check in on them to see what they’re up to, and figure out what happens next.
More to follow. Visit me at www.billrileyauthor.com