Sins of Our Fathers | Author Blog

I’m trying out a new thematic look for the blog.

I like it. Need to add some stuff to the sidebar yet.

What do you think?

This morning Joe Carter at Evangelical Outpost highlighted a FireFox extension that is a must have for we writers.

It allows you “Dog Ear” a web page you are reading. You know, like you would a book so that you could go back to that spot and re-read something important you wanted to note.

Well, this extension allows you to do that in the text on a website – multiple times. And get this. When you go back to that page after closing your browser, the Dog Ears are still there!

Here’s a link to the Dog Ear extension.

So if you’re like me when you read something and you want to mark an area for remembering in order to quote it or write about it later, than you should check out this extension.

These cool extensions you can add to FireFox is one of the reasons I quit Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.

Mercy! It’s cold out there. The wind is blowing away something like 20 degrees of warmth, so it feels much colder than the 50 degrees the mercury is reporting at this moment.

Yeah. I know. A bunch of you are dealing with ice upon ice situations right now. You have my prayers. But you have to understand something about Florida cold weather. When you combine our high humidity with dry Arctic air, it’s a far different cold.

Or perhaps it’s just that I’m a Florida boy with O.J. for blood. I don’t squeeze well when frozen.

Which may make for a nice segue into the topic of criticism of one’s work.

Yesterday it was my privilege to attend my Christian writers group that meets once a month. This is a talented group of people. I’ve been encouraged by them in ways I didn’t know were possible.

The way it typically works is we bring copies of what we are working on and read it aloud for the group. People edit and offer helpful criticism, suggestions, and encouragements.

Of course everyone likes encouragements, but suggestions and criticisms are often hard to accept joyfully.

Yesterday, I took in a section of [tippy title="SOF"]Sins of Our Fathers, my novel of course.[/tippy] that contains a short paragraph of graphic material. It’s a description from a police report that describes the violent rape and murder of woman.

I was nervous taking this section into the group for a couple of reasons. One, my writing group is made up of mostly women. Two, rape is a difficult subject to tackle and frankly it should always be difficult.

The section is necessary because it shows (not [tippy title="tells"]Showing in our writing is always so much more impactful and lasting than telling.[/tippy]) us why Pastor Jack Grayson is so bitter with God.

I will note that it is not as graphic as what a viewer of CSI: Miami would encounter on prime time Television. But often times words on a page give a much longer lasting image than something on a screen.

Well, I received some criticism for the section. Which is okay and I valued it. Partly because the I value the person from whom the criticism came.

Also, I was ready for it. As writer’s we need to be prepared to receive criticism.

For one thing, we’re not perfect in our writing. We should always be striving to better our craft.

For another thing, we can’t please everyone.

It’s important to recognize the type of criticism we are receiving. Is it because our writing is lacking punch or full of errors? Or is the criticism over content and idea?

In this instance the one person who had criticism for me was over content. Which isn’t to say that there wasn’t error in the writing too, there was and I’m so happy they all helped me to ferret those problems out.

But the criticism over the graphic nature of the death of the woman in [tippy title="SOF"]Sins of Our Fathers, my novel of course.[/tippy] was instructional to me. It helped me to better grasp the market that this novel is focused towards.

And that’s an important thing we artists need to learn to do with criticism. Evaluate it and see how you can turn it into a positive.

You may wonder. The others in my group did not react in a negative way, in fact one offered a suggestion of adding a detail which in my mind would make it that much more hard to swallow but would certainly add to showing Pastor Grayson’s state of mind and heart.

So in short, if you are an artist of one medium or another, learn to channel the criticism that you receive into a positive mindset. It’s not easy. I don’t like being sliced and diced anymore than the next vegetable about to be thrown into the pot. But I do like the soup that results afterwards.

How odd is it that a guy who’s lived his whole life in [tippy title="Florida"]Warm, sticky, sunny, rainy. I love it. And best of all I think I’ve seen snow flurries maybe twice my entire life here in the Tampa Bay area.[/tippy] would find useful a method of writing named “The Snowflake Method of Writing a Novel”?

But then when you’re passionate about an idea you’ve got throbbing in your brain, you’ll grasp at anything to give it life.

In writing my novel, “Sins of Our Fathers,” I tried a number of organizational methods to bring that throbbing idea to life on the page. This is a good thing, because no one method will work for all writers. We are a diverse group of people with strange minds and imaginations. The key is to adapt what you learn to you’re style.

Now, having said that, let me introduce you to what I think is a fabulous way to organize your novel.

You can find it on Randy Ingermanson’s website at this link: The Snowflake Method of Writing a Novel.

One reason I so like this method is that no two snowflakes are alike. That’s just how big and creative our God is. Secondly, it provides the skeleton necessary to get a good look at your novel. Third, it’s adaptable.

I came across the method when I had already written about forty pages of my book. I used this method, adapting it with things I picked up in college and with my own way of thinking, and rewrote those pages.

It is a great tool. I plan on using it for my next novel too, if that is the Lord’s plan for me. Which I hope it is.

So click over and check it out.

If you’re currently working on a novel or pondering writing one, I think you’ll find it of great use.

Oh, yeah. Did I mention it’s FREE?

The interview that I just did with Victoria Gaines made me think about a couple of the tools I’ve used to bring Sins of Our Fathers to this point.

The first is not so much designed for writing as much as it was for remembering. It’s a piece of software called, The Brain. The company describes the concept of their product this way:

Dynamic Mind Mapping and Knowledge Management Software for Everyone.

I came across this software years ago in September of 1998 and have been using it ever since. Though today I don’t use it as much as I used too. The version I use is their [tippy title="PersonalBrain."]PersonalBrain helps you organize all your Web pages, contacts, documents, e-mails and files in one place so that you can always find them-just like you think of them. This saves you time and makes your life easier! With PersonalBrain you can even find related items-that you worked on-but forgot existed.[/tippy]

What’s neat about the software is that the database of information you collect is stored in a visual manner and links to other ideas just like you think. In other words, “This made me think of that which made me think of that,” and so on. I’ve used it for everything from how-to information on gardening and caring for [tippy title="orchids"]Incidentally, orchid growing has become such a great hobby for me that I couldn’t help but make mention of the beautiful plants in Sins of Our Fathers.

Jack Grayson grows them as a means of remembering his murdered wife Isabella.[/tippy], journaling, general notes, Church projects, stray ideas, and cooking recipes. I just printed out a recipe for stuffed Jalapeño peppers I saved years ago that I plan on making for tomorrow’s [tippy title="Super Bowl Game"]GO COLTS[/tippy].

One big help PersonalBrain was for me in writing this novel was in the creation of the characters. It helped to build a structure of how characters related one to another visually.

I’ve also used PersonalBrain for cataloging Internet news items that I wanted to remember, but of late I’ve found it much easier to use Google’s Notebook for that purpose. Google describes it this way:

Clip and collect information as you browse the web.

* Clip useful information.
You can add clippings of text, images and links from web pages to your Google Notebook without ever leaving your browser window.

* Organize your notes.
You can create multiple notebooks, divide them into sections, and drag-and-drop your notes to stay organized.

* Get access from anywhere.
You can access your Google Notebooks from any computer by using your Google Accounts login.

* Publish your notebook.
You can share your Google Notebook with the world by making it public.

The other program I used specifically to write Sins of Our Fathers, is called QuickPlot.

It’s from the company, Typing Chimp Software, though that wasn’t the name of the company when I got my copy which was free at the time as a way to interest people in the company’s other software. I have version one. They are now up to version five which carries the price tag of $49.99 and goes by the new name, QuickStory.

Needless to say, my version one looks very basic from what the current version looks like. Perhaps for my second novel I’ll purchase the new version. But I have to say I found this product indispensable for outlining my plot and scenes.

I do know of other writers that use their word processor’s outlining function, but frankly I found that method too cumbersome. Others have suggested a spreadsheet. I could see how that could be easier, but I’ve never tried it.

So, if you’re a writer and looking for some software to catalog and plot, those are three I would give a glance at.

I was completely humbled by the Lord this past week through a wonderful woman named [tippy title="Victoria Gaines."]Freelance writer, columnist, award-winning blogger. Dreamer, seeker, and southern scribe.[/tippy]

She writes a blog that has been a continual encouragement to me in the Lord. It’s titled, Windows to My Soul.

She also has another blog that is an encouragement and resource for we writers titled, Light for the Writer’s Soul: Victoria Gaines.

You need to click over to her sites and bookmark them.

Vicki, reading about my book, Sins of Our Fathers, contacted me told me she wanted to post about it. She sent me a set of very good interview questions.

So what are you waiting for?

Click over and read, Author Spotlight: Hal Paxton.

You’ll sure to learn something about me and the novel you didn’t know.