Authonomy

I've noticed that although the blogosphere is filled with writers eagerly learning their craft, almost none of them seem to be taking advantage of sites like Authonomy (link is to my book there). I've been a member since December 2009, and it's one of the most useful sites I have joined. It leans slightly toward the British side of things, since it is a Harper Collins site, but there are writers from all over the world there. I've recently been getting some great feedback for my book from a wonderful Belorussian writer.

As with any such site, one must have a bit of a thick skin to be able to ignore the few people who are not diplomatic enough, but most there are decent critiquers and pretty supportive. You just need to filter out the bad and concern yourself with the good.

The first time I posted a book there I had already completed it. Not many take the time to read the entire novel, which I can understand since reading on a monitor isn't the most pleasant experience, but a few do, and most will read some of it and generally leave some useful feedback. I have made thousands of corrections on my books due to Authonomy critters.

I've been posting my latest book chapter by chapter as I write it, and I've found this very useful. The critters have pointed out a number of things that have saved me lots of further effort down the line if I had waited to post only after completing the book. People seem to be enjoying this book far more than my first, perhaps because thrillers are more popular than Tolkienesque fantasy, but also perhaps because I am a slightly better writer the second time around.

I would never ask anyone to support me blindly, but if anyone finds Authonomy useful and checks out my book, I can always use more support. BTW, it actually doesn't help a book if you support it immediately upon joining. You need to add some books that don't mean much to you (or other ones you find that are good) and first get a ranking before adding the books you truly like to your shelf. Only with a ranking will books accrue benefit from your support. The longer you leave them on your shelf, the more points they gain.

After a year and a half, my first book reached around 191 in the rankings (out of tens of thousands of books on there). My second book has reached 84 after just over one month! If you like thrillers and/or science fiction, perhaps check it out!

Writing vs Story

My feeling is that most of us newbie writers have a serious problem with story. When we first take to the blogosphere, we learn an incredible amount about writing, and after a year or two we gain a lot of confidence. However, I think the bulk of what we learn concerns only one aspect of writing a novel, and that is the writing side of it. I don't mean only grammar, though of course that is an important part of it, but rather all of the disparate elements of creating decent prose and dialogue.

Imagine for a moment that you have learned to write perfectly, that you have perfect grammar, perfect prose, perfect dialogue. You can still write a terrible story.

Story is where most of us go wrong in our early efforts. Part of it is that it is a bit elusive. Who is to say for your particular subgenre where the best place to begin your story truly is? Who can tell you whether to have a single POV character, or whether several might work better for the needs of the story? There are some things that I can give an opinion on, though they are not universal. For instance, these days I feel that omniscient is not the best POV to use, though having said that I still see good books by famous authors using it and using it well. I feel that close 3rd works best for me, and for YA books first person seems to be the most commonly used POV.

Do you ratchet up the tension enough in your story? Do you deflate it too quickly? Do you use too much exposition? I keep hearing that there should be almost no exposition in the first fifty or so pages. You need to hook the reader and gain their trust before you start doing a little 'telling'. There are no hard and fast rules that will work in all cases, which is why becoming good at 'story' is so hard and frustrating.

So many times I see writers not getting it when it comes to story. They will post a chapter or excerpt online and others will let them know that something is wrong with it, yet when they come back with an edited version it is easy to see that they didn't truly 'get it'. It might be too much exposition, or perhaps the writer is overwhelming the reader with too many new characters in one chapter, but when the writer is warned about the issue, they more often than not tinker a bit with it rather than actually resolving the problem.

What are your thoughts on story?

Top 20 U2 Songs

I'm avoiding doing writing posts for now, primarily because I am in the process of moving and cannot do any writing or editing for the moment. My computers are all packed up and I won't see them again until probably October. I have to spend the next two months wandering around the US before I can finally settle down in our new home in lovely Budapest, Hungary.

So, I will continue my stroll through my favorite music groups. After the glorious rock of the early 70's, U2 was the next rock group I fell in love with. I'm proud that I loved them for years before most other people caught on to them. I'm also disappointed that after so many incredible albums they turned away from what they did best and started doing pop/electronica dreck.

1. New Year's Day (live from Under a Blood Red Sky) - The album version is okay, but it is this live version from the original Under a Blood Red Sky cd that really has the fire. The Edge plays both piano and guitar, and his echo-heavy touches really help to highlight Bono's soaring vocals in the middle part.

2. Bad (live from Wide Awake in America) - U2 is a fantastic live band. I've seen them several times, and often I love their live versions better than what they produced on the albums. Bad is far, far better in this live version than the studio version. It has a slow, relentless buildup, adding one instrument at a time, before exploding.

3. Where the Streets Have No Name - I prefer the single version, simply because it cuts out some of the overly long intro of the album version. This is a perfect song for opening a concert. I get chills down the spine during parts of it.

4. Pride (In the Name of Love) - U2 are great at anthems. The ringing intro and driving guitar on this one are unforgettable, while Bono's lyrics pay tribute to Martin Luther King.

5. Gloria - I like the studio version fine, but the live version from Under a Blood Red Sky is the best.

6. Sunday Bloody Sunday - Yet again, the live version from Under a Blood Red Sky is the definitive version for me. This song defines what an anthem is.

7. The Fly - I absolutely love the guitar solo on this one.

8. Mysterious Ways - I remember hearing this on the radio for the first time. The very first sounds of the guitar reminded me of Jimmy Hendrix, but as soon as the full band came on I knew it was U2.

9. In God's Country - A nice song, but it's the guitar solo at the end that always gives me shivers.

10. I Will Follow - The studio version was...okay. The live version from Under a Blood Red Sky is wonderful, especially the interlude in the middle.

11. A Day Without Me - The Edge was always great about mixing his riffs with little memorable echoey notes, and he does that splendidly here.

12. Seconds - This catchy songs features both Bono and Edge singing off of each other.

13. Surrender - Not the studio version. I love the live version from Live at Red Rocks. Edge even breaks out his pedal steel guitar.

14. Until the End of the World - The driving guitar riff and terrific solo raise this song above mediocrity.

15. Promenade - Most people would never pay any attention to this song, but I find it so lovely.

16. Fire - A wonderful guitar riff.

17. Two Hearts Beat As One - Yeah, I tend to love their older stuff better than the new.

18. Electric Co. - Again, I prefer the live version from Under a Blood Red Sky. Blazing fast guitar riffing.

19. I Threw a Brick Through a Window - I love Edge's added vocal lines, acting like an echo at the end of Bono's lines.

20. Out of Control - Fast paced and addictive.



Honorable Mention:
The Unforgettable Fire
A Sort of Homecoming
One Tree Hill
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
Twilight
I Fall Down
Numb
Vertigo
Bullet the Blue Sky
One
Even Better Than the Real Thing
With or Without You
Rejoice
Red Hill Mining Town
Desire
Silver and Gold

Top 20 Led Zeppelin Songs

I did my other two huge favorites from the time period of the late sixties and early seventies (Pink Floyd and The Beatles), so I need to finish up by including Led Zeppelin. I do also love bands like The Who, Cream, The Rolling Stones, Donovan, Hendrix, etc., but Floyd, Beatles, and Zeppelin are my very favorites from that time. I save Zeppelin for last only because their songs are harder for me to rank than with Floyd or The Beatles.

1. No Quarter - This is one of the most hauntingly beautiful, lyrical songs I have ever heard, and the mix of hard riffs with soft interludes and echoey vocals makes this the most listened to Zep song in my iTunes. I also highly recommend the cover of this song by Tool.

2. Black Dog - As a four year old boy, this was the very first song that pounded its way into my consciousness. It was the first time I ever thought about MUSIC as something other than what Sesame Street or other TV shows provided. The best album of all time -- Led Zeppelin's untitled Fourth album -- had just come out and my parents played it over and over again. This song led it off, and the sound of Jimmy Page's guitar warming up made a fascinating intro for a 4 year old kid. The song was unusual, too, with its alternating music and vocal parts, capped off with a relentless ending guitar solo.

3. Stairway to Heaven - There's a reason this song topped all the charts for best song of the century. It's perfect blend of haunting melody, buildup of tension, mystical vocals, blazing guitar solo, and crunching coda seemed, well...heaven sent. This is also the very first song I taught myself to play on guitar, and I believe I do a pretty fine job.

4. Ramble On - I seem to have a soft-spot for the Zeppelin songs that are mostly soft acoustic numbers but suddenly throw in a wallop of hard crunchiness, and that's exactly what this song delivers. It doesn't hurt that it is about Tolkien, too!

5. Tangerine - I love playing this song on my guitar. It has such a lovely melody, and the outro is gorgeous.

6. Over the Hills and Far Away - Another song I love to play on my guitar. The riff is addictive and when the hard part hits, it packs a great punch.

7. Rock and Roll - Perhaps the greatest intro drum riff ever, and since it followed immediately after Black Dog on Zep's masterpiece fourth album, it formed the greatest duo of rock songs in my mind.

8. Immigrant Song - Another fantastic Page riff, and it's about Vikings, too! I love the original, but sometimes I love the LA Drone version better.

9. Fool in the Rain - A very funky song for Zeppelin, considering their usual blues/rock roots.

10. Whole Lotta Love - When I was little this seemed like such a heavy rock song. Nowadays other bands have come along that are far harder, but this one was special way back then. What a riff and what a solo!

11. Ten Years Gone - Another of those songs that alternates between super-soft loveliness and crunchy distortion.

12. Travelling Riverside Blues - This was recorded live for a BBC broadcast, but it sounds amazingly clean. Blues rock at its finest.

13. What Is and What Should Never Be - Like I said before, I have a soft spot for these soft songs that turn hard, and the outro is echoey fun.

14. When the Levee Breaks - John Bonham's drum sound on this song rewrote the books for drummers everywhere. It was huge and made you sit up and take notice immediately. This song closed the fantastic fourth album perfectly.

15. Achilles Last Stand - A guitar tour-de-force for Jimmy Page, though Plant's vocals fit the song perfectly as well.

16. Moby Dick/Bring It On Home - I have my favorite edited version of this, which might be sacrilege to some, but works wonderfully for me. I cut out the annoying drum solo in Moby Dick, leaving in the splendid guitar, and melding this directly into the follow up Bring It On Home.

17. Four Sticks - One of my favorite songs to play on my guitar. It's said that Bonzo used four drum sticks to get his pounding sound. All of the songs from this fourth album are amongst my favorites. This one is mainly instrumental, since Plants' vocals are mostly there to accompany the sound Page and Bonzo are making.

18. Kashmir - Many people rate this song much higher. I do love it, but not as much as the above songs. The guitar sound and chord progression are an amazing invention for Page, and I love the little violin part they threw in.

19. The Rain Song - I pretty much ignore the vocals on this one, as they don't thrill me, but the guitar part is special. I taught myself to play it because of how gorgeous it was, especially the way it finishes.

20. That's the Way - There's something addictive about this simple, soft acoustic song that I just love.

Honorable Mention:
Going to California
Thank You
In the Light
Misty Mountain Hop
The Battle of Evermore
How Many More Times
Good Times Bad Times
Heart Breaker
Dazed and Confused
Nobody's Fault But Mine
Poor Tom
You Shook Me
Your Time Is Gonna Come
Custard Pie
The Song Remains the Same
The Ocean
Since I've Been Loving You
Out On the Tiles
Hey Hey What Can I Do
Living Loving Maid
In My Time of Dying
White Summer/Black Mountainside

All Fun & Games Blogfest

I had to enter this blogfest, since some games have had a tremendous impact on my life. In fact, I believe one of them had everything to do with who I am today. I'm only going to mention two games (though I like many more), since those two had far greater influence on me than any others.

Let's begin with the lesser of the two, so I can save the greater for last. Dungeons & Dragons (D&D: an all-encompassing term I will use to represent all versions I played, including Middle Earth RPG) was the first huge game in my life. It swept me away, along with my younger brothers, for a good several years beginning in my early teens, and its impact is one I can still feel, especially in my writing.

My mother thought it was a terrible waste of time. I know she was wrong. I learned so much from D&D. My vocabulary certainly improved, along with my imagination. I finally found something that allowed me to indulge in the greatest fantasies of my youth, from sword fighting to knights in shining armor. D&D also pushed me a bit out of my shell of shyness, forcing me to actually socialize with other fans of the game. It was something so deeply compelling, almost magical, that we could play all day and wonder where all the time went. I'm grateful for what role playing games added to my life.

The game that transformed my life, however, was chess. I was first given a cheap plastic set when I was about four, but no one knew how to play, so all I did was push the pieces around in mock battles until someone threw the set away. I didn't notice chess again for many years, which is too bad since I later learned that I was quite talented at it.

In junior high school, a friend told me he was in the chess club and invited me to come. I did and I was fascinated to see this game treated so seriously by people. I even saw some magazines with an arcane notation, obviously used to portray moves of games played between professional grandmasters. I never imagined a simple game had a whole world revolving around it. The club required payment of a dollar per visit, however, and my family was very poor, so I couldn't return.

I was swept up in my soccer leagues for the next few years, so it wasn't until my junior year of high school that another friend invited me to the chess club and I got hooked for good. I saw people playing blitz chess, where they have to play the entire game within either three or five minutes per person. Playing so quickly seemed amazing to me, and I knew I wanted to be able to do that.

Sadly, I had joined near the end of the year, and every player in the club was graduating. Would there even be a club the next year? I spent that summer checking out chess books from the library and reading them frantically. When my senior year started, I harassed a teacher into becoming the coach (though she had no idea how to play chess) and advertised in the paper to get more players. We did get around ten players, but no one knew how to play, so I was the best player in the club. We had a blast playing in the tournaments that year, though we stank.

I continued to improve rapidly, though, and soon I joined a real chess tournament for adults. I did very well, scoring five points out of seven, and the only game I lost was one I was winning easily only to throw it away due to inexperience. From that point on I went to a dozen or so tournaments each year, improving steadily from Class C player to Class A.

How did chess change my life? I started college in computer engineering. Three and a half years into college I realized I didn't enjoy my major. I wanted to change to a career that I liked. I tried out a few different classes, and one I picked because of my fascination with the Russian chess grandmasters. I ended up loving that class, so I changed my major to Russian and Soviet Studies. I had no idea what I could do with such a major, but I didn't care. I wanted to enjoy my education.

As I drew close to graduation, a recruiter came to the university seeking Russian language speakers to work at the American Embassy in Moscow. I leapt at the chance, since it was the first sign I had of work I could do using my major, plus it meant perhaps getting to play chess in the heartland of the game.

Playing in Moscow was far more than I ever imagined. Tournaments were completely different than in America, and I was challenged far more by the strong competition. Because of the bad financial situation there, I was able to hire one of former world champion Anatoly Karpov's trainers for a cheap price. Even better, as a member of the embassy, I began receiving invitations to compete against famous grandmasters. Among them, I played against world champions Kasparov, Karpov, Anand, and Kramnik.

Playing World Champion Anatoly Karpov

I met and married my wife there, so I have chess to thank for that, as well as for our two beautiful sons. When I returned to the US in 1997, I was a much stronger player, and it showed. I had some fabulous tournament results, including several undefeated events. I won ten games in a row leading to a tie for first place in the 2001 US Amateur Championship in Tucson.

I rejoined the Foreign Service and moved overseas again. I keep seeking out new adventures in chess, playing in Iceland and Hungary. Now I am moving to Hungary this summer, since they have one of the best chess organizers there, and I hope to play often.

I find the experience of playing serious chess very much like writing a new chapter in a book. My mind seems to vanish into a mystical zone, from which I awake several hours later, hopefully with something quite nice as the result. Thank you, chess, for all that you have done for me!

Top 20 Beatles Songs

Sorry for those who find these boring, but music is an enormous part of who I am, and since I started off with one of my big favorites, I might as well continue on with my others.

Oh, how to do a best of with The Beatles? They were so fantastic and I love so many of their songs. They have a timeless brilliance, so I fully expect them to remain popular no matter how much time passes. Sometimes I am in the mood for some of their earlier stuff, and sometimes (more often actually) their later. Note that my list will be a mix of quality, nostalgia, and simply which tunes I listen to most often. So, there may be songs that I think are brilliant (like A Day in the Life), but don't actually listen to as often, so they fall to a lower spot. Pretty much any song you don't see on here is one that I probably do like, just not enough to make it to my top list.

1. Get Back - I prefer the one from the Past Master's album, since I like the ending better. The rollicking rhythm is addictive and McCartney's vocals work perfectly with it.

2. Yesterday - Such a beautiful song, and so simple. The soft little guitar intro always gets me.

3. Something - Yes, as much as I love rock, I am a sucker for beauty in music, too, so this one follows quite logically from the previous track.

4. Medley (Mean Mr. Mustard/Polythene Pam/She Came in Through the Bathroom Window/etc.) - I know they strung a lot of unrelated stuff together here, but it is all so awesome and blends great together right on through to The End.

5. Sgt. Pepper - I shortened the title so that I could say that I dearly love both the beginning and the reprise of this song, and I also count A Little Help From My Friends as part of it.

6. Things We Said Today - I love how this song changes up the pace and feel, yet I really enjoy each of the differing parts. This is one of the two songs (along with Mother Nature's Son) that I always sang my sons to bed at night with when they were young. My youngest knew all the words to these two songs by the age of two and sang right along with me.

7. Mother Nature's Son - See the previous tune. Another lovely song.

8. Love Me Do - I once heard the alternate version where John and Paul reversed the parts that they sang, and I couldn't stand it. The original is simple and great, though.

9. For You Blue - I seem to like a lot of George Harrison's songs with The Beatles, though he never did much for me as a solo artist.

10. I've Got a Feeling - I can't figure out how to describe why I love this one so much. I just do.

11. I Feel Fine - I just love the guitar part, and I taught myself to play it!

12. Helter Skelter - I heard that this was the first ever heavy metal song. As a kid I didn't like it, but it grew on me.

13. Revolution - The one with the amazing, rocking guitar; not the slow version.

14. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) - Off-beat and ingenious.

15. Come Together - Another off-beat song, demonstrating the creative genius of Lennon and McCartney.

16. Hey Jude - I don't listen to this one that often, primarily because it goes on far too long, but it still is incredible and addictive.

17. Let It Be - I prefer the version from Past Masters, since it highlights the guitar solo better.

18. Hello, Goodbye - There was a time when I was listening to this one and Penny Lane over and over.

19. I Am the Walrus - Psychedelic and crazily brilliant.

20. Obladi Oblada - An upbeat pacing with funny vocals.

Honorable Mention:
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
She's a Woman
Taxman
Drive My Car
The Ballad of John and Yoko
Rock and Roll Music
Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds
A Day in the Life
Strawberry Fields
Long Tall Sally
Money (It's What I Want)
I Me Mine
Twist and Shout
We Can Work It Out
Two of Us
I Saw Her Standing There
Back in the USSR
Glass Onion

...and so many more that I will stop here!

Top 20 Pink Floyd Songs

I'm in a musical mood today, so I picked one of my favorite bands, Pink Floyd, and wrote out all of my favorite songs. It's hard to put them in an exact order of favorites, since my mood changes all the time, but I'll see if I can get them into a generally good order. Perhaps you'll discover some hidden gems!

1. Comfortably Numb - There's a reason this one tops so many lists of Floyd songs. It's lovely, but also mixes the slightly crazy vocalizing of Roger Waters with the beautiful counterpoint of David Gilmour, and finishes off with one of the more gorgeous guitar solos ever done.

2. Time - Has my all-time favorite guitar solo, which zooms in with such power and then soars. I taught myself to play it, but even so I cannot come anywhere close to the tone and masterful touch Gilmour uses.

3. Dogs - It's so sad that this song almost never gets any airtime. Radio stations consider it way too long, at around 15 minutes, but this is easily one of the most fantastic of Floyd's songs. Gilmour's slightly sad vocals and terrific guitar build up slowly but surely, and then after a slightly overlong interlude with dogs barking, Waters finishes off the song with a scorching menace.

4. Goodbye Blue Sky - Most fans wouldn't have this one so high, but I just love it. It's probably the song I play most on my guitar, and what a lovely guitar piece it is.

5. Run Like Hell - Gilmour says this is their attempt at a disco song. Whatever. It is certainly an off-beat, rocking song, and the echoing guitars and dueling, frantic vocals between Gilmour and Waters make this a memorable tune.

6. Wish You Were Here - I tend to love the prettier of Floyd's songs the most, and this one certainly qualifies. It is also easy to play on guitar, so I enjoy sitting back and relaxing while playing it. Heck, even with my poor voice I can manage to sing along with this one.

7. Shine On You Crazy Diamond - Like the previous song, this one is a tribute to the lost founder of Pink Floyd Syd Barrett. It takes some getting used to, since it builds up so slowly and with such a long guitar solo before finally getting to the vocals, but this song amazes me. I am a guitar guy, so the long solo thrills me, and I taught myself to play it many years ago. I prefer the live version from Delicate Sound of Thunder to the studio version.

8. Brain Damage - Beautiful guitar. "The lunatic is on the grass..." How many pretty songs about insanity are there?

9. Money - You have to love the bass line. Gilmour is incredible, and can take a few simple notes and make them soar to amazing heights.

10. Hey You - Another song that I like playing on my guitar, though I do it the hard way since I don't like to re-tune it (this song uses a non-standard tuning).

11. One of These Days - Nearly all instrumental, this has a throbbing bass line and spectacular pedal steel guitar, especially in my favorite version from Delicate Sound of Thunder.

12. Empty Spaces/Young Lust - I always prefer to listen to these together as one song.

13. The Happiest Days of Our Lives/Another Brick in the Wall part II - Like the previous song, I consider these two to be one song.

14. Have a Cigar - A jazzy rocker with amazing guitar that I just wish I was good enough to do. It's not that it's hard to play it, but that it won't sound decent unless you can recreate the tone, and I can't.

15. Pigs on the Wing - It's tiny, but it's so pretty. I should probably just include all three pig songs from Animals here, and throw in Sheep as well.

16. The Nile Song - One no one ever plays, but I love it. It rocks.

17. Ibiza Bar - Another version of the Nile Song basically, using the same music with different vocals.

18. Echoes - Another song you never hear, because it's more than twenty minutes long. It really has some amazing guitar in it, though.

19. Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun - The version I love is taken from the movie Live in Pompeii, as it's much better than the album version.

20. Astronomy Domine - The live version from Pulse. By the way, I saw that concert live in London in 1994.