I was always fascinated by these birds as a kid because the males are very colorful. I grew up to see that their had a chuckle-inducing name: Cock-of-the-Rock. Both species are found in South America and are not threatened. Let’s just jump into the facts here:
They are known primarily for the male’s disc-shaped, brightly colored crest.
Andean Cock-of-the-Rocks are found in Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia. They are the national bird of Peru.
Guianan Cock-of-the-Rocks are found in French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana, south Venezuela, eastern Colombia, and Amazonian Brazil.
The family name is Rupicola. They get this from Latin for rock (rupis) and inhabitant (cola).
They live in cloud forests, which are at 1,600-7,900 feet elevation.
Both species have sexual dimorphism, which is when the males (brightly colored) and females (brown) look different.
Males put on displays and duel for females in areas called leks.
Males have multiple partners and do not help with nest-building or child-rearing.
Females lay 2 eggs and incubate them for 28 days.
A nest is shaped like a cup and held together by the female’s saliva.
They eat fruits, insects, frogs, and small reptiles. They are one of the few species that will eat army ants.
So, I live on Long Island, which is in New York. On Wednesday, we received a ‘present’ from Canada. That would be the wildfire smoke, which made it hard to breath for those of us with asthma. It turned the world a creepy yellow that reminded me of disaster movies after a volcano explodes. There was some level of panic and annoyance by those who had to go out in the mess. Through it all, many of us jokingly hummed or sang the South Park song above. Best way to remain calm while hacking up a lung.
All that being said, I hope Canada can get the fires under control and save the land, animals, and people in their path.
This was another exhausting week, but I knew it would be. Last full week of classes always leads to a lot of work, especially on the parental front. Took every opportunity to help my son study and relax for finals, which start next week. It wasn’t easy to do since we don’t have guides for all of the tests. I made sure he had all of his homework done too. I’m glad that there’s a place for parents to see what their students owe, so I was using that every afternoon. Thankfully, my son may be forgetful at times, but he’s been quick to make up work. No major headaches beyond an ELA test on ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ and a science test. As far as I know, he aced both.
Speaking of academic successes:
My son had an academic awards ceremony on Monday. As you can see, he ended up winning three awards. One was for his Lego Robotics team coming in 3rd, which was a small surprise. Another was a Presidential Gold Award for being on the honor for 7 quarters. I expected him to get something like this, but I didn’t realize he had hit the honor roll that many times in a row. The final award was the ultimate surprise and a local one. It was a special recognition made in memory of a former student. It was given to a student who always gives 100%, is seen as dependable, and always happy. This was probably the biggest win for him because it was entirely unexpected.
I’d like to say that other things happened this week, but nothing that reached the same level of importance. Work, parenting, and resting for another day of those things was basically it. I kind of met all my goals because I made them simple. Even finished the September posts and started planning the monster posts for October. Nothing really exciting there.
This week did start the Do I Need to Use a Dragon? posts though. Less than a month before it goes live. It’s still up for 99 cent preorder. It’ll stay that price for the first month, which I hope will give it some traction. The posts/teasers have gotten a little bit more attention than others. Although, I’m seeing some weird comments that go to spam and only respond to the book title instead of the topic. They appear to be automated and always push for me to visit another site. Not sure how I triggered a bunch of spambots, but maybe that’s a good thing?
My big goal for this weekend is to finish the Darwin & the Beast Collector outline. I had hoped to tinker with it throughout the week, but too many things were going on for me to get to it. Be nice if I can finish it today after my doctor appointment. I’m doubting it only because I’m rarely in a creative mood after those. Always feels like I get bad news and have to decide on if I should keep my current level of suffering or trade it in for a medication-induced one. I’m still trying to get the diet to improve by reducing sodium, which is harder than one would expect. Before anyone starts throwing out suggestions, I’m a slightly picky eater and my lunch options are limited at work. This paragraph took an odd turn.
The week coming up won’t be that bad. Classes end on Tuesday for me and my son, which means we get half days. He’s been studying hard, so we won’t have to cram before the tests. He’ll have a 3-day weekend to study for his ASL benchmark, so we can focus on the other ones. Doubt he will have any other homework too. We’ll be at graduation day before we know it . . . Both for him and one of my students who is aging out. Still not fully accepting that next school year will be the first one I’ve been in life skills without this student there. Definitely going to tear up at some point. Guess it’s going to be a crazier week than I realized. At least on an emotional level.
Television-wise, I finished watching ‘FUBAR’ and thought it was fun. Had some iffy parts when it tried to be serious, but I have a soft spot for comedic action that involves Arnold Schwarzenegger. Why can I write his name correctly on the first try, but I get the names of friends I’ve had for years wrong at times? Anyway, I decided to re-watch an anime called ‘Log Horizon’ since I didn’t know how things would go for the next few weeks. I didn’t want to start anything new and have to stop for a while. Makes for decent background noise while I finish the book outline. Might be able to start writing Darwin & the Beast Collector by the end of the month too. Fingers crossed.
Goals of the week:
Finish Darwin & the Beast Collector outline this weekend.
Even though most books are written in past tense, new authors continue to wonder if that is the way to go. It is very easy to see why. Since we are raised reading past tense books almost entirely, that is what our brains believe is correct. Present tense comes off as clunky and ‘wrong’ to someone who has never read it before. It isn’t even a conscious thought by the reader. All they can tell is that it is really strange. Apparently, we are fine with hearing things in present tense, but reading/seeing them in such a state is off-putting. Not entirely though because you can expose yourself to both and never have any issues. I’ve found that people who read a lot of graphic novels and comics will take to my books without sensing that there is something different. Yup, I am a present tense author. Not only that, but a present tense third-person author, which means you get a variety of perspectives in real time. Present tense does lend itself better to first-person POV in some sense, but third-person can still create a great story. As one person put it when reviewing Beginning of a Hero, it was like reading a television show or movie in a good way.
Some people might be rolling their eyes what I just said. I have a brief story for you, which I believe shows how the mind works with past and present tense:
A friend of mine has been reading my stuff since high school. Back then, I jumped tenses in the middle of sentences until a teacher told me I had to choose one. I thought present tense was the smarter choice since I saw the events in my head. Didn’t realize it was uncommon until nearly 20 years later when I began publishing . . . Again, my friend has been reading my stuff for that long. His wife never did until she picked up my first book. They had very different opinions here. She found my work weird and difficult because something didn’t feel ‘right’. They realized it was the tense and his reasoning was ‘that’s just Charlie’. You see, he already had a lot of exposure to present tense through me and other series he found with that style. She did not, so it took her a little while to get her mind to adapt to the change in tradition. I feel that this shows how readers will be more comfortable with past tense, but it doesn’t mean using present tense is wrong or pointless to attempt. In fact, I think we are seeing more of the latter types of stories, so you will find more readers who can jump the mental tense tracks with ease.
I have a theory about why writing is more in past tense than present. Something I like to trot out to get other authors thinking about the origins of the trade:
Want to know the theory? Then check out Do I Need to Use a Dragon? on July 3rd!
(This one isn’t very subtle. From when I was a stay-at-home father and was gradually getting driven into the ground. I really was the last one to go to sleep and the first one to wake up. Definitely do my body and mind any favors even though it’s what had to be done at the time.)
(I should probably clarify something. Each week is going to have excerpts from a different book section. This week is the Author section, which is the smallest. So, it’s not easy putting this together. Enjoy.)
I was surprised when this question came up in conversation. Not only once, but a few times over the years. Seems some authors feel they shouldn’t bring this up out of fear of being called a copycat. Others merely give a list of things without any extra information and try to get back to talking about their stories. The problem is that people are going to connect your work to those they are reminded of, so you might as well reveal what inspired you. It could be another book, a historical event, a movie, a show, or anything that gave you that spark for the story. A secondary question here would be: How do I talk about my inspirations?
The answer: A blog or other social media platform.
I created my ‘Legends of Windemere’ blog before I published in order to get people interested. The first lesson I learned was to add pictures or videos because straight words don’t catch the eye. The second lesson was that readers and other authors enjoy seeing the curtain get pulled aside. You come off as a thinking human being with interests instead of a hazy figure trying to market a book. The inspirations of your story can be used to connect with readers and fellow authors too. A person who sees that their favorite movie helped drive you to write your book will become curious. They will do a comparison, which could backfire, but they will still buy and read the book. You also don’t have the risk of someone angrily shouting that you copied something else. Authors are allowed to be inspired by other works as long as they don’t do full-on plagiarism. People will commonly jump to that conclusion if you aren’t open about what gave you that creative spark.
An important part to keep in mind here is to not simply list your inspirations. That’s boring and doesn’t really explain things. It can lead to you having to say more in comments, which can get repetitive because people won’t always read those. To draw more people into your world and see where it came from, you need to go deep. Explain the connections and why this other work inspired you to write your own story.
For example, tell the audience when you first experienced the story and how you felt about it. You will be surprised how many authors will make similar comments even if everyone has a different source. This opens a discussion that will help you make more author friends, more readers, and realize you aren’t the only one who is inspired by other things. We tend to forget that this is fairly common for some reason when we are just starting out as authors. Maybe because we’re not sure of how much we can borrow and fear the label of plagiarist. This opening of your process will certainly help to alleviate some of that fear and stress.
Interested? Enjoy the rest when Do I Need to Use a Dragon?goes live on July 3rd!
We have about a month before Do I Need to Use a Dragon? goes live. I’m doing 3 teasers a week in June, so I was wondering what to do on my usual teaser day. Well, the book is about advice. There are 4 sections and 4 Tuesdays this month. Let’s see what people have to say about their own experiences.
What is the best advice you’ve received as an author?
What is the worst advice you’ve received as an author?
How would you creatively describe what it’s like to be an author?
(Just a quick note before we kick off the June posts that will be connected to Do I Need to Use a Dragon?, which will be out on July 4th. Everything will be excerpts from various sections. Just to give you a taste of what’s going to be in the book. Enjoy.)
Authors love to talk about process and how they came up with their creations, so plotting and pantsing come to the forefront quite often. It’s common for a person to bring up how they created something and somebody with an opposing style steps in to either criticize or declare how they work differently. This causes friction and an argument can develop because the two people end up thinking they are under attack. Thankfully, it isn’t common for the fight to devolve to such an extent, but be aware that wading into these waters can result in you getting pulled into a debate you didn’t see coming. You have to love the passion of authors when it comes to their own works and technique. That’s how you know the person is serious about their path and stories.
You can figure out what a plotter is from the word, which does seem a tiny bit insidious. This is why I sometimes use ‘planner’ instead. Well, that and I keep getting the words mixed up since they’re synonyms. A plotter will spend weeks, months, or years preparing for the moment they will write their story. They will spend hours researching whatever they might need. Character biographies, monster descriptions, plot synopses, outlines, calendars for other worlds, and all manner of material are created if needed. This is extra true for fantasy and science fiction authors who may have to create an entire world from scratch. A plotter will enter the writing phase with confidence and many times there will be a focus on continuity. You may work slower because you are repeatedly checking your notes to make sure you haven’t accidentally switched an eye color or used the wrong goblin type. With all of their planning, a plotter may feel that they don’t have to rewrite or severely edit because they have made sure all of the scenes and characters are essential. In their mind, they have effectively eliminated most of the extraneous stuff during this initial stage. The tension and anxiety many authors feel are used up during the planning, so they can be more relaxed.
Pantsers are fairly relaxed from the beginning. They may be nervous about where the story is going to go, but it comes with an excitement for the unknown. To be fair, it isn’t like they don’t plan anything at all. All pantsers I have talked to admit that they have an idea of where they want the story to go and what to do with the characters. They know what their heroes and villains look like for the most part too. So, it would be better to say they do minimal planning before diving right into the story. This grants them a freer style because they are letting their mind run with the concept. It can take longer to do this stage than it does for a plotter because one can run into a twist that leaves the story in a rough spot. This requires going back to rewrite or taking a moment to figure out where this will put everything. It’s like a pantser puts a jigsaw puzzle together after single look at the picture while the plotter needs to have the box cover on hand at all times.
There are flaws with both schools, so don’t go thinking one is better than the other.
Check out the rest on July 3rd in Do I Need to Use a Dragon?
Legends of Windemere 