Lou Paduano | Urban Fantasy Novels | Sci-Fi Crime Series

Writing Update – July 23, 2018

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So much going on this month, folks! Let’s get this writing update going!

Writing!

A Circle of Shadows

The proof is in. First copies have been sent to my advance readers. Some feedback has already been trickling in and I’m loving what I’ve been hearing. Lots of praise for where the story goes, quite a few screams as well, but people seem to enjoy the book.

Can’t ask for more than that!

Oh, except that if you should pre-order your copy today!

As people have mentioned certain aspects of the novel, I’ve realized how much A Circle of Shadows changed during the drafting. This is going to make a great author commentary so be sure to grab your copy and read it as soon as you can!

Promethean

Book Two of the DSA is finally coming together. I’ve buckled down this week to finish my first massive pass on the draft. Hoping to have this off my plate by the end of the month.

I’m so happy to have made some real progress on this one. It’s been an editing struggle. Lots learned during the process, some lessons repeated multiple times, in order to refine the narrative and make sense of each character’s role.

Really excited to keep plugging away at the DSA series. It has all my favorite aspects of a conspiracy thriller, heavy in the science-fiction vein.

Ancient Weapons

I put together the script for what will be Book One in a series called Red Epsilon. This one is pure space opera. We’re talking starships and space battles. Aliens and cool weapons. Snarky banter and heartfelt characters.

This one holds a special place in my heart and I’m really working to keep each book in the series standalone. That is a new challenge for me. (DSA goes the opposite way and everything is very interconnected and runs together for a full narrative.)

I think it is the strongest script I’ve put together in a long time and I can’t wait to sit down to start the draft this fall.

Superman

Say what? You’re writing Superman now?

I wish!

I am working on a spec script for the character (in my “spare” time). The idea is to keep my hand in the comic world. To do so, I realized I should be putting more time on crafting comic book scripts in order to better grasp the genre.

Why Superman?

I recently read Man of Steel #2 by Brian Michael Bendis. I won’t give away the whole plot of the issue but there was a sequence early in the book concerning the Toyman. Great villain. Great pathos.

He is in Coast City, rampaging in some giant Kaiju monster. Just destroying the city for no justifiable reason. His motivations completely unknown, the impetus behind his appearance totally lost. A wasted element from a writer claiming Superman doesn’t have many decent villains…

Suffice it to say, I was not a fan.

It made me realize he missed the point of the character. But what is the point of the Toyman? That’s where I started and put together a basic outline for a single issue story utilizing my favorite elements of Superman.

My plan is to finish the script between projects and share it here on the blog.

Interview!

I recently sat down with L.A. Frederick to discuss my writing. You can check out the interview here. And be sure to pick up a copy of The Rain.

Thanks for reading!

Fun Writing Exercises

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Writing a series of books can be one of the most exciting and challenging projects. Finding the connections and carrying them to fruition is fulfilling on an incredible level. But it can also be a slog.

A series can include a number of books of varying lengths plus editing, marketing, publishing and all the other fun activities in the mix. Years can disappear in the blink of an eye.

So what can you do to stay in the moment? To stay fresh and feeling jazzed about sitting down at the keyboard to work on your epic?

How about some fun writing exercises?

Writing exercises – a necessary distraction.

Living in a single world can be constraining. You can feel boxed in, limited in what you can do, in the type of stories you are able to tell. There are rules with any series and being constricting by them while working on a multi-year project can take some of the fun away from the work.

So why not step away every once in awhile?

I do it. I have to and most of the time I don’t even realize I’m doing it. It will come in a dream or while I’m doodling outlines for blog posts…(I mean working diligently at all times… definitely not doodling…)

I’ll remember an idea from years ago and run with it for an hour or two to see where it leads. Usually it goes nowhere. A couple notes here or there. A character sketch or three. Some plot points but nothing coherent.

And then back to work.

Will it become something down the line? Hopefully. But for now it is enough to work through the thoughts – and keep COPIOUS NOTES (ALWAYS!) – and then buckle down to the draft, edit, marketing you’re actually meant to be working on.

Writing Prompts

What happens when I’m feeling burned out and don’t have the lightning strike on another series, script, project, etc.?

I find one.

This is a fun exercise. If you’ve ever done any screenwriting you’re probably aware of the need for spec scripts. These are scripts based on a currently or previously popular television programs.

They are also an interesting challenge and a way to stretch your writing muscles. Any chance to step out of the box created by a long running project and rejuvenate those creative juices is a welcome one.

Take a favorite show. Any show you love.

Write down every trope about the show. Characters. Overarching plot points. Find the inherent rules of the show.

An example is Phineas and Ferb (don’t judge me…)

There are rules within the show. Three separate plots are built in each show. A Phineas and Ferb plot involving some crazy invention. A Perry plot handling the maniacal Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s latest scheme to take over the tri-state area. And a Candace plot to rat out her brothers’ wacky adventure of the day.

Each one may appear separate at first but they all have to come together at the end.

Rules are rules. You have them in your own work and each show follows suit. Learning them and then working within them is a challenge.

In The X-Files there is the obligatory cold opening before the credits where the threat shows up and claims a victim. There is also the dubious, open-ended closing of the episode showing the audience that nothing is ever truly solved with the show.

If you look deeper into the show’s formula you start to see the pattern.

Learn the rules, and then you can stretch them and see what works for you and why.

Other mediums.

Television is only one avenue to take. Don’t feel limited to it.

Personally, I turn to comic books (shocker, I know) for a way to distract from my work on Greystone. Once or twice a month, when I’m feeling slightly burned out Soriya and Loren’s adventures I take a day to play in a different sandbox.

Lately, I’ve been on a DC Comics trip. I’ll take a character like Superman, or a team like the Legion of Super-Heroes, and sketch out what I feel are the strengths and weakness of the book/current direction. From there I might dig into their history and see where they’ve been. Where was the book the strongest in the character’s history and why?

I ask enough questions until I can see a pattern, or at least the start of what makes the property work or connect with the audience.

Then I come up with ten to fifteen ideas of my own. Building arcs, growing tales, using these characters.

Some evolve into full blown scripts, some get scratched at the outline phase.

But the exercise is the key.

Benefits of writing exercises

They are necessary. Living with one story can feel too confining and can make you resent the incredible journey you’re undertaking. Rather than allow that to happen, step back.

Take a day and write anything else. Play in a different world, even if nothing comes of it.

Then get back to work.

Thanks for reading.

Minor Characters – Asset or Distraction

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There is a balancing act when it comes to writing. It comes in many forms and can be handled in numerous ways. One of the main issues I have found while working on The Medusa Coin relates to minor characters vs their major counterparts and the juggling act therein.

The need for minor characters

Minor characters inhabit the world surrounding your principal players. From the man handing over a cup of coffee to Officer John Pratchett in the Greystone series they are a vitally integral component in fleshing out the world of your main characters.

They act as counterpoints for character arcs, offering opposing viewpoints or giving an outsider perspective to issues going on in the background of your story. They bring color to the black and white principles of the main character’s world. Their roles include love interests and foils put in place as obstacles to keep them from their goals.

Whatever the role they are necessary to the end result; a fully formed world for your reader to lose themselves in.

Where minor characters distract:

When minor characters become principal players in the novel it can be jarring for the reader. Unless the transition is gradual and accepted by the reading public, more often than not there will be fan outcry at the loss of visibility for their favorite hero or heroine.

There is an old Superman tale I always come back to when it comes to this issue. The story is called Panic in the Sky and deals with Brainiac invading Earth with his Warworld fortress. Superman leads the charge, commanding a cadre of heroes, against the forces of Brainiac.

The story is amazing. Well thought out with high stakes. Superman is put through a real test during the course of the piece. Then at the climax Superman DOESN’T save the day. Someone else does. A woman named Maxima.

MAXIMA? WTH?

Now, being a comic nerd I understood what the author, Dan Jurgens was doing here. He was setting up Maxima and Superman’s entrance into a new incarnation of the Justice League. However, for a Superman story to lose sight of the man of steel so completely at the finale of a long arc was a tragedy of the worst kind. It pulled me right out of the story and is painful to read even now. (Pretty to look at though.)

This would be akin to the Lone Gunmen showing up in The X-Files finale and ending the threat of the Cigarette Smoking Man once and for all. (If they had survived until the finale – stupid Season 9…)

Or Dean Thomas saving Hogwarts while Harry Potter slept one off at Hagrid’s. (WHO THE HELL IS DEAN THOMAS?!)

In the words of the Earl of Lemongrab from Adventure Time – UNACCEPTABLE.

How minor characters best serve a story:

Much of what I spoke about above are the ways a minor character best serves a story. A foil for the protagonist. A love interest. An obstacle. A counterpoint. Someone that brings humor to a dreary situation or brings conflict with an opposing perspective on a situation.

Someone that adds a layer that wasn’t there without them in the room.

The very best way to use a minor character is to give them A moment not EVERY moment. Maybe it is a one-off joke. That’s how Pratchett started off for me in Signs of Portents. Now I try to work him into the story more often in order to showcase that differing perspective.

The story remains centered around your principal players. Stay true to that, while allowing the minor roles to add depth to the plot and conflict to your character arcs.

Thanks for reading.

Writing Update – December 8, 2016

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I like to take stock on where I am with my work and I feel it’s important to share that with you here. Every two weeks you can find out what I’m currently writing and what I’ve been reading.

Writing

The absolute best part of my job is breaking story. It’s intricate and it’s messy and it never ever turns out the way you expect. There are non-stop surprises, ranging from the fantastic to the heartbreaking.

If I could I would outline every day for the rest of my life. I love the craft behind building a story. From the inciting incident to the turn to the climax.

That is where I am this month; breaking down the next piece of Greystone’s first cycle, the second short story collection that builds right into the final novel.

The working title is Pathways in the Dark.

My kids hate me right now because they keep seeing me play on my cell phone but it is because I keep finding a new note on the collection. A piece of the puzzle that started with Signs of Portents so long ago. An answer to a question I never thought to ask.

Pathways is about finding your way. Every major and minor player introduced since the start of the series (that’s managed to survive) has a role to play. I’ve been racking my brain trying to figure out each story. How to weigh in new threats with callbacks to previous tales. Who gets the focus and why?

I should be doing other things. Tales from Portents is two months out. There’s so much work to do on it and the lead-in release of Resurrectionists. I should be resting up after NaNoWriMo and drafting The Medusa Coin.

Soriya Greystone and Greg Loren had other plans for me. And I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Speaking of NaNoWriMo, I hope you’ve enjoyed my pieces over at The Write Life. The last one will be out next week. I am eternally grateful for being given this opportunity to share my experience. There were some tough days in there but I definitely feel like a stronger writer because of NaNoWriMo.

Lots of news on Tales from Portents and Resurrectionists in two weeks!

Reading

I’ve been binging on my stockpile of comics that have built up over the last few months. Novels are still on the backburner for a bit but I’ve picked one out. I’m counting that as progress.

Superman: Lois & Clark – Not based on the 90’s show, though that would be AMAZING. In 2011, DC decided to update Superman. They threw away his marriage to Lois, made him younger and more rebellious. It didn’t really work for the character. This book brought back the Superman from my youth. (“My” Superman.) Dan Jurgens pulled out all of the elements I loved about the character, including his marriage to Lois, and really crafted a heartfelt story about the couple living in a world not their own. The addition of a child in the mix was great as well.

Dan Jurgens pulled out all of the elements I loved about the character, including his marriage to Lois, and really crafted a heartfelt story about the couple living in a world not their own. The addition of a child in the mix was great as well.

Very happy to add Superman back to my reading pile again. It’s been way too long.

Transformers: Drift – Empire of Stone – I confess, I have an unbridled love for robots in disguise. And when handled by IDW’s team of writer’s and artists? They are damn near perfect month in and month out. Shane McCarthy follows up the first Drift mini-series about a former Decepticon (turned Autobot turned neutral) with a buddy cop romp.

Seriously. It is Lethal Weapon with two giant alien robots. Ratchet (Murtaugh) and Drift (Riggs) play off each other to perfection. The action is over the top and chaotic. The character moments flow seamlessly and hit the right note and the right time.

A great afternoon read.

I just started Grant Morrison’s Seven Soldiers of Victory so I’ll hold off on talking about it until next time. (psst, it’s mindblowingly crazy so far…)

Thanks for reading!

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