"How to Write"—Free Ebook

The subtitle is "My Approach May Not Work for You," which is true of any writing how-to.  It's too individualistic an art.  Nevertheless, out of ten years' worth of work and 140,000 words, not all of which were published on this blog (and a few have had minor changes), there's bound to be something in the book you can use.

It's free to read or download (but not train AI on or, of course, pirate!) here.  See my entry Ebooks Update for a full list, or go to http://self.gutenberg.org/Authors/KevinWadeJohnson.

Table of Contents below the jump; those not posted here already are in bold italics:

Support Your Local Author

Does it entertain?  Does my writing only work for me?  Am I any good?

Those are the kinds of questions I suspect every writer has to work out, early on.  We all think we have what it takes or we wouldn't try—but are we right, or just deluding ourselves.

And we all need some kind of indication that we can do it.  For me, more than anything else, it's the contest response pictured above.  Not the creative writing class, that didn't help.  And having family read it, likewise.  "Death of a Captain" (see this recent entry) had and has its points, and I still had a long way to go, but this letter was the first sign I might get there.

If you are ever in the position to answer any of those first three questions for a budding writer, take the time, and give the most constructive answers you can.  Tell them what they did right.  Tell them what troubled you.

Need something more specific?  How about:

• Did the plot make sense?
• Did you care about the characters?  Can you say why?
• Did the dialog seem believable?  Was it witty, profound, or maybe sparkling?
• Was the world interesting?  What interested you about it?
• Was the story compelling?

 Once they know they won't fall to the ground, landing flat on their face, they can spread those authorial wings and soar.  But not till then.  Help them out from the constrictions of the nest.  Let them know they've made it.  Let them fly.

(Free) Ebooks Update

Updated January 25, 2025

My ebooks are on Project Gutenberg Self-Publishing Press, at http://self.gutenberg.org/Authors/KevinWadeJohnson, complete with descriptions and excerpts.  They're pdf ebooks, all free, and always will be.

Note: To read or download a book from Gutenberg, it appears you'll have to create an account there now.

Non-Fiction

First, the published (not self-published) biography I wrote (free pdf):

The Neglected Giant: Agnes Meyer Driscoll
 

 

 

 

 

 "How to Write" - An Approach That Worked for Me

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

300-Plus Problem Words and Phrases

 

 

 Parallel Worlds and Skew, Essays and Reflections

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fiction

Aunt Gabby Saves the Universe (novella)
 

 

 

 

 

Ghost Mode (novella)
 

 

 

 

 

Roads Between Worlds
 

 

 

 

 

Shadows Between Worlds
 

 

 

 

 

T-Man
 

 

 

 

 

Across the Worlds with Aimee and Phineas

 

 

 

 

 

Department G

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ice Cold and Other Stories: Expanded Edition

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

US Gummint Cunning Man

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eleven Nonsense Rhymes and a Handful of Poems
 

Rivers Between Worlds

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Solstice and in Peril

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Faker

End of the Line

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fallen in with Shadows: A Novella

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shadowed

The Adventures of Princess Onesie and Fairy Friend

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Souls Between Worlds

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Trouble Magnet: A Novella

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Traveling the Transdimensional Highway

Making It Home

Second-Best with a Sword and Other Stories

Thresholds

Note: As of November 2023, at least, to read or download any of the books on Gutenberg appears to require logging into an account there.

In the Service of the Queen

Note: As of November 2023, at least, to read or download any of the books on Gutenberg appears to require logging into an account there.

In the Service of the Prince

Note: As of November 2023, at least, to read or download any of the books on Gutenberg appears to require logging into an account there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the Service of the Heir 

 

A House Between Worlds

Note: To read or download any of the books on Gutenberg appears to require logging into an account there.

I'll update this entry as I write, revise and ready new works.

"Everyone in This Picture Is Dead"

When I was writing The Neglected Giant: Agnes Meyer Driscoll, I often had this picture up in the background, and would often look at it.  (It can be found in the linked document on p. 56.)  Usually when I looked, the title of this entry would come to mind at some point.

I liked looking at the picture as a window on the world I was writing about, and to admire young Agnes Meyer's fierce intelligence and determination, still blazing out of the picture over a century later.

And, as I wrote it, I found much to admire about her.  A great American, never known and now nearly forgotten, this country owes her much, and I was glad to shine a light on her.  She accomplished so much despite so many obstacles.

Which is not to whitewash her.  She made mistakes, the kind rivals could use against her and certainly did.  Intelligence and determination are worth admiring, but they don't eliminate error.

But overall I found her far more admirable than not.  I was determined on my own part to tell her story with honesty and accuracy; she deserved no less and I'm sure wouldn't have wanted it otherwise.  I like to think I succeeded.

Still, the picture I looked at did influence me in one direction.  I kept looking at a picture of people and seeing good, honest folk, more than one of whom served her country and served it well.

"Everyone in this picture is dead."  As I wrote, I strove for honesty and accuracy.  But I aimed for one more thing.  I tried not to be unkind.

Agnes Meyer Driscoll began her Navy civilian career on 1 August 1919, 100 years ago today.

11 Things I Try to Do as an Author

Since posting this, I've removed my books from Amazon, and am moving them to Project Gutenberg Self-Publishing Press.  They're all pdf ebooks, all free, and always will be.  I apologize if you wanted one of the trade paperbacks.

If you've only read the free fiction I've posted here or on Goodreads, I probably haven't shown you what my novels and short story collections are like (although the Bear and Mouse story comes close to my novels).  (Edit: It's now become one, titled In Solstice and in Peril.)  Other than Aunt Gabby Saves the Universe, which is young adult, I've so far done nothing but science fiction (Department G is also horror), although I've got some fantasy in the works.

So, what do I go for when writing novels?  What can you expect?  Well, here are eleven things I try to do every time (I've already talked about what I don't do):

11. Carry you along with flowing sentences.  Here's an example from Across the Worlds with Aimee and Phineas: "This moment, this moment when this woman looked into my eyes, this moment when I saw into those limpid depths, when I saw beauty, innocence, self-possession, strength and compassion, this moment my life stopped."

10. Build the worlds.  I try to create settings that have pasts, that then developed into their presents.  I try to give them cultures that aren't all at the same point on the Society and Culture Curve.  I want them to feel real while I draw you in and immerse you in them.

9. Create interesting characters.  Even my first novel, Roads Between Worlds, had an antagonist that I still think has exceptional depth.  Rock Alvarez in T-Man is larger than life, or at least is inspired by people like that I've known, but is still as three-dimensional as I could make him.  Phineas in Across the Worlds with Aimee and Phineas is a rascal, and likeable, I hope.  And I've tried to do likewise in later works.

8. Create diverse characters.  Most of my novels have protagonists, if not viewpoint characters, who aren't my gender, along with someone who isn't purely male or female in gender either.  They aren't all the same race as me, not even always the same species.  I try to keep my worlds rich in the kinds of people inhabiting them.

7. Create strong relationships.  There's nothing wrong with going through life alone, but in a novel, dialog helps break up the narrative and establish characterization.  If I'm thus going to have two characters, I'm not going to stop with trying to make them engaging.  I'll try to make the bond between them engage you too.

6. Give them witty dialog.  As long as I'm putting words in their mouths, I might as well put in wit as well.  Here's a small part of an exchange between the viewpoint character and Rock in T-Man:

"So, what were you asking about?"
"The plan," I said.
He glanced at me indignantly.  "I thought you had the plan!"
"What's the penalty for striking a superior again?"
"Finally," he said, "you admit it."
"What?"
"My superiority."

5. Keep it dynamic.  Scenes where "nothing happens" can be highly readable, but are all too easily filled with static prose.  My approach is for things to happen, and I try to keep the prose dynamic and moving as well.

4. Provoke some thought.  I don't want to provoke you otherwise, but I do want to give you something to think about; that's why all my novels reveal more and more about the characters, societies and worlds as they go along.  So I give you things to think about, but I won't make you figure them out, since it's my job to make all clear.  I want you to end up thinking, "That was really interesting" for as long as possible.

3. Avoid the expected.  I've been reading science fiction for decades, and I make every effort to avoid giving you plot developments or worlds or scenes that either of us might already have encountered.  I do my best to be as original as I can.

2. Have something to say.  I've read novels written purely to entertain, and did have a good time.  On the other hand, I see no reason why something that takes so long to write, and somewhat less to read, can't have something more to be gained, and be memorable.

1. Entertain!  When I want to write an essay, I do, and I post it on the blog.  I'm not going to put my time or yours into an essay disguised as a novel (no self-indulgence!), because I want to have fun writing it, and even more for you to have fun reading it.  And I hope you do!

The Neglected Giant: Writing about Agnes Meyer Driscoll

You don't have to read too far into the biography I wrote of codebreaking pioneer Agnes Driscoll (nee Meyer) to realize it's got its scholarly side; the footnotes are a pretty good indicator of that.  If you go all the way through to the seven appendices, you'll have an even better idea.

(Form for ordering a free hardcopy here; softcopy directly here.)

But, although getting the scholarly side right was critical, the aspect of writing about Driscoll that concerned me most was making it readable.  I did my darnedest to make it a page-turner, even literary.

The page-turner part, as far as I could make it so, came about through three elements.  The least of the three was throwing in a little foreshadowing here and there.  More useful was pacing: Many of the narrative sections are followed by reflective ones.  The major element was through the section and chapter transitions.  I put a lot of figurative sweat into those.

See, any time a written work has a portion that's clearly ending, that's an opportunity for readers to stop turning pages and do something else.  So making not just a smooth transition to the next part, but an engaging one, is crucial.

Here's an example:

...She might have been seething with resentment, fuming with frustration, or burning with ambition, but the evidence is inadequate for us to be sure.

"We Didn't See Anything Burning": 1938-1941

The "heat" imagery of the last sentence of the one section, and the word "burning" (a repeat, as well) in the following section heading didn't happen by accident.

Whether the biography has any literary merit or not is for others to say, but I did strive to use what techniques I could.  For example, since the theme of the work is what a giant she was, I used wording throughout to reinforce that image.  If you want to know what I mean, go back and look at the fifth paragraph of the previous entry, starting with (italics added), "She raised herself..."

The biography was a lot of work, but it was also incredibly gratifying.  If you get half the satisfaction from reading it that I had in writing it, you're in for a treat.

If you have a Goodreads account, you can rate The Neglected Giant here