Promo Shots (The Lamp)

The Long and Short of It

Some famous author once said that if you can’t tell a story in 50,000 words then you shouldn’t tell it. While I don’t totally agree with that statement, I do agree with the sentiment it expresses. Two of the books I started recently (won’t mention titles, but one of them is consistently in the top 3 bestsellers on Amazon) were so padded with useless words and descriptions that I couldn’t even finish them. As an author myself, maybe I’m more sensitive to such things. One of them was, after all, a best seller. But that doesn’t mean the reader got their money’s worth.

When a writer starts a new project, the publisher generally gives them a word count goal that’s in line with their genre. If you write sci-fi or fantasy, don’t hand in anything less than 90k words or it will be handed back to you with red ink, stating “TOO SHORT.” This is a problem because sometimes a story only has so much life in it before the pacing begins to fizzle out, and adding more scenes to it will surely come off to the reader as forced. But the publisher doesn’t care, because it’s all about the word count. Epic fantasy needs lots of words (half of which can’t be pronounced) whereas romance and literary fiction can get by with shorter works.

This is where indie writers and traditionally published writers get to creatively part ways. Just as independent filmmakers can get away with producing content directly for their fans, so also indie authors can take advantage of their freedom and write their story without the silly limitations imposed by a marketing group somewhere. There’s no fear of breaching your contract in the independent publishing world, unless you’re signed to a small pub house that’s trying to be a major one.

Personally, I don’t shoot for a lesser page count,  but I’m free to write the story I think my readers will enjoy… without any extra padding. That makes me very happy, and it’s the reason you won’t find any fluff or extraneous scenes within my work. Words should function in an luminary way, lighting up the world you’re creating and moving the events that transpire through a progression until the story culminates and no more can be said on the subject because you’ve exhausted every interesting angle. Of course, for a series, there’s something to be said for leaving some gas in the tank, so to speak. But even the books of a series should be tightly written, so as to not waste the time of the reader.

You’ll notice some word count meters in the side bar of this website. My current work-in-progress “All American Addict” is set to 50,000 words. That is what I consider the minimum amount of words to complete the story I’ve already outlined (and finished, in screenplay form). If the book ends up being 70,000 words, that’s okay by me… so long as every scene and description I write moves the story forward. The Lamp was only going to be 40k words but I kept finding interesting angles to explore and the end result was 15k words over. But I doubt there’s a single wasted word in the whole book (I’ll let you be the judge of that!). Sometimes it’s easy to look at an outline and know instinctively how long the book will be. That’s something that kind of comes with experience. I’m working on only my third novel right now, so sometimes my instincts are off. All part of learning, my friends.

Book Recommendation

Son of Hamas

A few weeks ago I read a terrific non-fiction book titled Son of Hamas. It's the self-told story of Mosab Hassan Yousef, a young Palestinian man who was raised under the Israeli occupation of the West Bank. His father, Sheikh Hassan Yousef, is one of the founders of the terrorist organization, Hamas. Mosab grew up idolizing his father, who was stuck in a cycle of imprisonment and release, for years. Mosab grew up like other Palestinian kids, throwing rocks and causing trouble for the Israeli soldiers out of disdain for the treatment of his people. He learned the politics of his region from a young age and, growing up the son of a famous Sheikh, got to spend time with people like Yasser Arafat and other well-known political figures.

Mosab describes pretty severe treatment (definitely in the realm of torture) after being detained on several occasions by the Israelis. He spent a lot of time in prison and the Israeli Shin Bet took interest in Mosab because of his father's influence within Hamas. They asked Mosab to spy for them and he agreed, but only so he could later kill them for the treatment he'd received. He was working as a double-spy for the Shin Bet organization, spying on his own people while secretly planning to backstab his Shin Bet handlers.

But then things changed.

Mosab describes the tit-for-tat mentality of the Middle East. You strike us, we'll strike you back harder. You kill one of ours, we'll kill five of yours. His own father, who he thought to be a brilliant spiritual and political mind, could not out-think this tit-for-tat scenario himself. He simply went along with it, not knowing of a better way. Mosab also witnessed jealousy, bickering, and a string of despicable lies within the Hamas organization which he'd branded himself to. It seemed to him, after spending a lot of time in the inner circle, that the people working for Hamas were no more noble than the Shin Bet he was working for. At least he'd been preventing massive causalities while spying for them. That's more than anyone else had done to bring peace. The Shin Bet had a code name for Mosab: The Green Prince. He was their most valuable agent, and they showed him tremendous gratitude for working with them. This surprised Mosab, and turned his opinion of them upside down.

It was on a trip to Jerusalem that Mosab fell into a group of people that had been studying the Bible. Mosab was given a Bible, which he began to secretly study alongside the Koran. He describes being shocked at Jesus' command to love our enemies. He'd never heard such an idea before and became convinced, though still a Muslim, that Jesus was teaching the right way and “loving ones enemies” is the only hope for peace. He'd seen all the other alternatives and the blood that had been spilled as a result. He began to love the Israelis the way he loved his own Palestinian brothers and sisters. It would take some time before Mosab finally converted to Christianity, and the decision was a painful one.

By this time, he'd threatened the Shin Bet to let him go to America for a visit, where he planned to stay while applying for asylum. The Shin Bet was reluctant to agree because they couldn't protect him anywhere else, and the entire operation was a secret—even the Israeli special forces didn't know what they were up to, or who was involved. Mosab had grown very close to his main ally at the Shin Bet, an Israeli man named Loai (a code name). Finally, he was allowed to leave the country to visit America.

After spending some time in the States, the US government became aware that a Hamas terrorist was living within their borders—it was Mosab. They went after him and detained him in order to process his deportation back to Palestine. Mosab pleaded for asylum, stating that he was not a terrorist, but had been working with the Shin Bet to stop suicide bombings. They didn't believe him. Then, on June 24, 2010, Mosab's Shin Bet ally, Loai, stepped forward and vouched for the entire story, risking his life in the process. His real name, Gonen Ben-Itzhak, was revealed and Gonen flew to California to testify for Mosab, who he described as a “true friend.” Due to Gonen's testimony, Mosab was allowed to stay in the US. He'd risked his life to save Mosab's.

Shortly after, word got out that Mosab had become a follower of Jesus and his family, including the father he adored and idolized, disowned him. He knew it might happen, but the sting was no less painful. He's currently living in the US as an exile and more than likely will never get to see his home, or family, again.

I found Mosab's story to be thrilling and heartbreaking at the same time. I'm amazing that someone like him could change so dramatically (from a hate-filled Hamas sympathizer to a Christian who believes in loving his enemies) but it's difficult to read what he had to go through in the process. There were too many near-death situations to recount but Mosab tells them with engrossing, visceral prose littered with the kind of incidental details one usually finds in first-person accounts. I give it 5 out of 5 stars.

So my recommendation is to pick up this book and read it with an open mind. It's well worth your time.

The Lamp is Glowing...

This is the final cover for my new novel, designed by Leah S. Frieday. Editor is Tom Safford. Published by Phantom Fiction. Available on Amazon (paperback and Kindle) April 2012. Here's the blurb that will appear on Amazon's page when the book is released:

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THE LAMP is a supernatural urban thriller with elements of action, mystery and heart-wrenching drama.

They called him Levi the Leveler because of his frightening power. A terror in the boxing ring, most of his opponents didn't make it past the first round... and those who did lived to regret it. After a careless decision sends him to prison for seven years, Levi returns to a life in ruins: his fiance has split, his friends -- gone.

While struggling to pick up the pieces, Levi receives an inheritance from the mysterious figure known simply as K.S. He soon learns that the gift -- an antiquated lamp -- might just have bizarre supernatural powers. This inheritance, however, proves costly as a fearsome enemy now hunts him. Levi's boxing days might be behind him, but the most dangerous fight of his life lies ahead.

The Lamp is a 50,000 word novel (around 200 pages in print form). Content Warning: Intended for readers age 16 and up due to mature content. 

I Object! (Learning to Disagree Well)

A few years ago I heard a lecture on Refusing to be Offended (click to listen) which completely changed my mind about something very important. First, I learned that I don’t have to be offended, whether someone is trying to offend me or not. I can simply choose to not take offence. That’s good news to people like me who don’t like feeling offended. Second, I learned that it’s not disagreement that divides people, but offence.

I’m from the south and here it’s not polite to talk about politics or religion (although the former is being brought up more and more) because we’re told that these are contentious issues. I won’t deny that they are contentious issues, but I refuse to believe in the myth that people can’t learn to disagree well. I have very close friends that are on opposite ends of the political spectrum (from hardcore right-wing conservatives to flaming liberals) and we enjoy discussing these things together. The reason is because none of us insist that everyone agree with our opinion. Why should I take offense when someone thinks I’m wrong? It takes a frail ego indeed to insist that everyone agree with them all the time. My friends and I can vigorously debate opposing viewpoints without getting angry or hostile simply because we refuse to take offence with one another. In other words, we’ve learned to disagree well and more and more I’m convinced that this is a trait that should be expected of anyone who considers themselves a mature adult. If we can’t consider possibly being wrong on a given subject, then we have decided that our ego is more precious than truth.

I’m a Christian who has had very pleasant conversations with Muslims and Atheists because we chose not to be offended by the discussion. Yet, I once had a “Christian” brother threaten to physically assault me because I held a different doctrinal opinion than him regarding a very non-essential side issue. I offered to sit down with this brother and explain, in detail, how I’d arrived at my view, but he was unwilling. That was someone who was intent on being offended, no matter what. Instead of considering the fact that he might be wrong about something, he choose to disengage in our relationship. If this individual was firm in his opinion, he could have simply sat down with me and shown me my error. But the ego is a dangerous slave master.

The irony, I’ve found, is that southerners, the ones who insist on being polite, are some of the worst offenders when it comes to unfruitful, hate-filled disagreement. I listen to a lot of talk radio and where I live it’s all conservative. I wonder then, if people who only listen to these shows, are coming away with the inability to actually reason through an issue. Like it says in Proverbs 18:17 --

The first to plead his case seems right, until another comes and examines him.

Now this by no means tells us that the first (or only) idea we hear is necessarily incorrect -- only that it should receive a healthy cross-examination. After being tried, maybe the original case is still the strongest. Sometimes, however, it will fail to stand up under cross-examination and we might actually be forced to change our opinion about something. God forbid that ever happen! Seriously though, I hope that we can all learn to vigorously debate important issues without taking offence and learn to disagree well. And speaking of bitter disagreements, I just finished a book titled Son of Hamas about the son of a terrorist who became an Israeli spy before moving away from Islam and into the arms of Christ. I hope to give a review of this important book soon.

Thanks for reading.

Working Hard

I want to apologize (to my 3 or 4 readers!) for the lack of recent updates to the blog. I've been working hard on three different writing projects. Lately I've been doing all my writing early in the day, usually at the local library, and end up not eating until around 3pm. I would not have suggested writing in a fasted state prior to my experiment with doing it over the past week. I find that writing with no food in my system (and thus no energy being borrowed for digestion) is actually a profitable endeavor. I guess the adage is true: you never know until you try!

I use the notepad on my phone to track my progress from day to day, with the minimum goal being 2,000 words per session.  Using the phone tracking system has worked wonders for keeping me focused. I don't know if any writers follow my blog, but try it. Doing this sort of performance tracking might be useful for other vocations as well. Having a nebulous goal (like writing a book) is next to useless. I've made the most progress by tracking my word count each day and making sure I don't stop until I hit the desired count. Since going into the writing profession fulltime, I treat it like a regular day job. I get up, have my coffee, and head off for the "office." Then I work, taking breaks as needed, until I meet my daily goals. I think the more prolific writers carry that same mindset.

Happy New Year!

The Lamp & Amazon KDP Select

Two weeks ago I went exclusive with KDP Select for my book The Island of Ted. That means the book can now only be sold through Amazon (with deals for Prime members) and all the other book markets, like Barnes and Noble, can no longer carry the title. In exchange for being exclusively with Amazon KDP, they throw out some very cool enticements which I may go over in future blogs. But since going exclusive with Amazon, my sales have increased by a decent margin. So I think I'll stick with them to release all future books as well. That is, unless Barnes and Noble and iTunes come up with a better deal for indie authors.

I'm nearing the completion date for The Lamp and I've concluded that it should be a standalone title instead of a series. If I had to choose between releasing a deep, fast paced novel and a thinned out series of novellas that basically cover the same storyline. As a reader, I'd prefer the novel-length work so that's probably where this is headed.

My goal is never to sell a million books but to make the reader happy and give them an enjoyable experience. The reader is everything to me. If I fail to satisfy the reader and become a millionaire selling junk stories, I have failed at this endeavour.