Inside the Outhouse over 25,000 words

Just thought I'd chime in with a word count for my WIP, Inside the Outhouse. It's over 25,000 words at this point, and I figure it's over half way done. My students are glad to hear I'm finally writing a book they can read. I've made it clear that my current published books really aren't for them. The Vase is a book they can read, but it's really not for kids. The two Killer books are certainly not for kids.

But being a Middle School teacher, I thought I would go ahead and write a Middle Grade book. As for Second Chance - a Football Story, I'd classify that one as a YA book. Meaning for young adults. Stress the word "adults" on that. There's no sex scenes and no killing, but there are a lot of swear words in there, which would be labeled as profanity. I included the profanity, because on a football field, or in a young man's apartment, there is profanity. Young men swear a lot, while playing football on a football field and in a living room drinking beer watching a football game. It's what they do.

So because of that I would not recommend Second Chance for a Middle School reading list. High School, perhaps, but not Middle School. Which is where Inside the Outhouse comes in. No swearing in that one. No sex scenes and no graphic violence. There might be some scary scenes in there, but not violence. And no blood, other than a scene in a blood bank. But there is no blood being spilled.

So, yeah. Inside the Outhouse is definitely an MG book. Not sure how I'll conclude it yet. Not even I know how it's going to end. That's why you write the book. you get to the end and you end it. Until then...

Back to Work on WIPs

With the release of the Knox Robinson Publishing schedule for 2016, and seeing two of my most recent books listed for publication in 2016, I have a new zeal for writing. That means my two WIPs are back in action. Beginning with Killer on the Payroll, the third installment of my Trent Smith Killer Series, which I returned to writing yesterday. Trent Smith is, after all, my favorite character. I put him up there with Conan, Captain Kirk, and James Bond.

After watching an episode of Arrow last night, I was glad that I've written the Trent Smith character to have no family. Actually, who knows if he really does have a family. It's just that there has been no family introduced in the first two books. He claims to have no family, however, as I just wrote that last night. He meets a nurse in the hospital where he had to stay overnight due to some injuries, but the nurse takes a liking to him and a romance develops.

If anyone thinks that's farfetched, think again. I was hospitalized in my distant past, and guess what. The nurse took a liking to me and it developed into a romance. So, yeah, it really does happen, as it did happen to me. And to honor that experience, I'm even naming the nurse in my story after the nurse in real life: Nancy. (I am using a different last name, of course.)

But the point of all this is that I'm back in action. I was focusing on my other WIP, Inside the Outhouse. But being an MG/YA story, the word count will probably be about half that of the other WIP. It's one of the many good things about MG/YAs. Shorter stories and not as much commitment regarding time spent in story development. Although I must say I have spent a good amount of time with this story's development.

So, back to work. And stay tuned.

Inside the Outhouse over 20,000 words

With my recent focus on my Killer books, John Dunn, and The Vase, I've not said much about my WIP, Inside the Outhouse, which, as of yesterday has surpassed the 20,000 word count. Since I don't expect it to total much more than 40,000 words, being an MG/YA book, it's about half finished.

But that's just an approximation. I'm not sure, really, how many words it will total. It could be more, could be less. It's a first person narrative, which, to me, seems very restrictive. Nothing other than the main character's POV is portrayed, and that's far from what my other books are like.

But 1st person narrative seems to be the preferred narrative of MG/YA books, so that's why I chose it. For all other books, I will return to the third person limited POV. That's my preferred method. Never could stand first person. Still can't.

Second Chance Revisions Completed

My fifth novel, Second Chance, a Football Story has been revised. That is, the round two revisions are completed. It won't take as many rounds of revisions as my first four novels did because of all that I learned from the process. It reads very well, now, and there are no inconsistencies or errors in the story line.

All typos are eliminated, too, but that's something that can't be guaranteed, since typos seem to have an uncanny ability to hide from a proofreader as if they had a sentience of their own. Typos, if they were life forms, would be devious things. At any rate, it's a manuscript that would be ready for an editor. Whether or not that editor is going to be a Knox Robinson editor remains to be seen, as I have not yet signed a contract for that book with them.

Which means Second Chance, unlike my John Dunn book, can be signed by any other publisher. It's a different kind of story than any of my other books. I don't know if it would be considered an MG/YA book, but I suppose it could be. There are no kids in it, but there are a lot of high school football players in there. The main characters are young adults, (in their mid-twenties,) so I guess it would qualify.

It's my other book, Inside the Outhouse, that really is an MG/YA book, since its main character is a fourteen year old boy, and he is running around with his same aged friend who has a younger sister who provides the romantic interest. I'll be putting more energy into that one, since Second Chance seems to be good to go at this time. Back to work.

Inside the Outhouse over 16,000 Words

Over 16,000 words on my MG/YA novel Inside the Outhouse. On another note, I'm trying to see what happens by soliciting a few literary agents for Second Chance. I'm calling it a YA novel, too, because it's not violent, there's no sex, and the MC is only 24 years old. It has a lot of teenaged high schoolers in it, and the story centers around a high school football team. So I figure that qualifies it at least as a YA novel, if not an MG/YA novel, but whatever. I don't expect anyone to answer. I've learned that lesson already. Still, you have to try. Sometimes the impossible happens.

And if it does, I'll have an avenue to the big time. Meaning the top level publishers. I'm currently at level three with my Killer Series and The Vase. John Dunn had been accepted by a level 2 publisher, meaning print runs, hard bound copies, and placement in bookstores. The prospect is exciting, and I can't wait. So if Second Chance is published by KRP, that will be fine, but why not take another shot at a level 1 publisher? I've learned MG/YA novels have a better chance, so yeah.

As for Inside the Outhouse? I'll give that a shot at an agent, too. Gotta finish it first. Then we'll see.

No Gratuitous Sex or Violence in Killer Series

I was watching Strike Back on the CineMax channel last night, hoping for another chance to see Dustin Clare, but he wasn't anywhere to be seen. What I did see was a ridiculous sex scene between Damien Scott, (played by Sullivan Stapleton,) and the newest hottie actress on the show. But it was a ridiculous scene. The female character's friend had just been murdered, and the woman asks Damien Scott to promise she can get revenge on the murderer, after which she proceeds to have sex with him, as if she had forgotten that her friend had just been murdered.

It was completely gratuitous. It did not advance the plot in any way. Of course it showed the complete act, nudity and all, as if it were a soft core porn show. Talk about gratuitous, it was the definition of it. It made me think about how my own Killer series doesn't do that. There is sex and violence in the Killer stories, but every sex scene has a plot advancing purpose, and none of them are graphic. There's a lot more violence, but those scenes are every bit necessary.

The word gratuitous connotes the scenes are unnecessary or overdone. In Strike Back, the latest sex scene was unnecessary. In my Killer Series, the sex scenes are not unnecessary, nor gratuitous, nor overdone. I still don't recommend them to anyone under eighteen, however. And being a Middle School teacher, I'm forever reminding my students that the stories are for their parents, not them. They can read The Vase. There's no sex scenes in that story. And my WIP, Inside the Outhouse is a story I'm writing specifically for them. Can't wait for that one to get finished. Time to go to work.

Inside the Outhouse breaks the 10,000 word range

As slowly as I'm writing Inside the Outhouse, it's actually an event, for me at least, to have reached the 10,000 word range. It's not uncommon for MG/YA books to only have 40,000 words, which means it's possible I'm one quarter through the story right now.

Does that mean I'm only planning it to be a 40,000 word story? I'm not even sure. I don't think it's going to be that short. It may or may not be my shortest novel. Right now my shortest novel is Second Chance - a Football Story, and it's 86,000 words, more than twice as long as a typical MG/YA novel.

I suppose MG/YA novels vary in length as do all novels. Just how long will Inside the Outhouse be? I won't know until it's done. As for where in the story does 10,000 words put the story of Inside the Outhouse? All I can say is it's still in the beginning stages. Which means there's a lot of writing left to do. We'll see how that goes.

Inside the Outhouse creeping along

My WIP, Inside the Outhouse is a slowly developing story. I hate using the first person narrative, but for the YA genre, I've found most POVs are first person, so I'm going with it. One thing for sure. I'm never writing in first person again. This will be my only time. I don't understand why so many authors write in first person. It's a very limited POV. You can't switch to anywhere else in the story, or write anything other than what the main character is experiencing.

So I'll ride this one out, if for no other reason, to see how it goes. But even if it goes well, I'm still not going to write in first person again. I remember HG Wells and Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote some first person books. I read Well's War of the Worlds and one of Burroughs' Venus books as a teenager, and the first person narrative in those books didn't bother me.

But lately, any  book that's first person is a book I will put down and never pick up again. As for Inside the Outhouse, it's a good thing most people are not like me. After all, I wouldn't want anyone to pick up my book and then, after learning it's first person, put it back down. Nevertheless, I'll proceed and keep everyone posted here on the blog how it's coming along. RIght now, I'm only on chapter two, so like I said, it's creeping along. Slowly.

Three WIPs and Why I Don't like 1st Person POV

Now that Killer Eyes is done, I'm back to work on three WIPs. Second Chance is in the revision stage. I'm going through the third read through. Because it's such a clean ms, I don't think it will need nearly the same kind of attention I had to give my first four books.

I'm also in the process of writing two new books. The third Killer book, Killer on the Payroll, and the YA book, Inside the Outhouse. I'm not so sure I'm excited about Inside the Outhouse. It's more of an experimental book for me. I was never big on the YA genre. And I've always hated the first person POV narrative. But Inside the Outhouse is both. It's YA and it's first person POV.

One of the reasons I've always hated first person POV is that it means I have to become the story's main character. And if it's a girl, then I have to be a girl. And I'm not a girl. This is particularly disturbing when that girl character says something that only a girl would know.

I hate to use this following example, because it's a rather vulgar example, but I swear it's true. I forget the name of the book, but it was a first person POV, where the main character was a woman, and she was looking at some man for the first time. She clearly thought the man was handsome, and the narrative went something like this: "...looking at him made my pussy twitch..." or "...my pussy twitched..." one or the other.

Okay, now, not only am I a woman, I'm a woman with a "twitching pussy!" And I'm not making that up. I swear that the part "...my pussy twitch..." or "...my pussy twitched..." is word for word what that author, (a woman) wrote.

So I have a problem with that. Number one, I have no idea what it's like to have a "pussy." Number two, I have no idea what a "twitching" pussy does or feels like. And number three, I didn't even know pussies could twitch! And besides all of that, I just felt like the wordage was vulgar, and expressing the notion at all was in very poor taste.

Now I'm not a prude, really. But a woman telling the universe about her "pussy" and that it was "twitching" I just think is classless. I was turned off at that point, and since it was in the beginning of the book, I just stopped reading. I never reopened that book.

So, yeah, a lot of books are female first person narratives, and I just can't connect, or identify with a female main character. Does that make me a chauvinist? I don't think so. I don't want to know about a woman's private parts, nor do I want to know if their private parts are twitching. Really, I don't.

So, why is my YA WIP an experiment for me? Well aside from the fact that it's YA, I'm experimenting with writing it in first person POV. I've noticed that many, perhaps most YA are first person POV, and since none of my other books are first person POV, I thought I'd go ahead and make this one a first person POV. It's a fourteen year old boy, and since I was once fourteen, and a boy, I can identify with that character, and make the narrative realistic, as I might have experienced what he does in that book.

So we'll see how that goes. As for my third Killer book, it's back to third person limited, as is Second Chance, a Football Story. Those are really coming along well, and so back to work. That's all.

Finally back to Inside the Outhouse

I had Inside the Outhouse on the back burner for long time, I'm glad now that I'm finally continuing work on it. Inside the Outhouse is an MG/YA book that I only thought to write because that genre seems to be the easiest to get published. But since then I did get published. Four times over. And because of that I really had no motive to get back to it. Now that I've started my sixth book, Killer on a Payroll, I'm starting to get back to work on Inside the Outhouse too. So we'll see how that goes. I never wrote the fist drafts of two books at the same time before. It should be fun. Stay tuned.