A Peek At My Library

I thought I’d take a little time today to list a few of the books that have influenced me and my writing. Keep in mind that this list is neither comprehensive nor definitive. Think of it as a glance at some of the works that have helped to make my stories what they are. 

20,000 Leagues Under The Sea by Jules Verne

My love of great books began when I was very young. My mother has always been a collector of a wide variety of books, and she would read to me every night from her expansive library. This book was one of my favorites, as it not only fed my love for the fanciful and exotic, but sparked a passion for biology and the ocean that I still have today. In fact, I've always thought that if I hadn't chosen a career in the arts, I would have been a marine biologist.  

The Art & Craft of Playwriting by Jeffrey Hatcher

Most of my early writing consisted of short stories and stage plays, and this title was the first book on the craft of writing that I ever read. This is where I first learned about writing in scenes, dialogue, character arcs, plot structure, handling back-story and a variety of other lessons that I still try to apply to each of my stories.

Treasure by Clive Cussler

While the adventures of Dirk Pitt didn't fit with my usual diet of fantasy and sci-fi when I was growing up, Cussler’s melding of archaeology, the ocean and formulaic pulp adventures all captured my imagination. Treasure was my first and favorite Dirk Pitt novel, and I still have a soft spot for this James Bond of the Sea.

Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings

David Eddings’ Belgariad is a great example of a fantasy author creating characters that are even more interesting than the fanciful world that they inhabit. While Eddings’ work eventually became monotonous and bland, this first series and the following Malloreon are some of my favorite fantasy reads.

Shadow of a Dark Queen by Raymond E. Feist

This was the first epic fantasy I’d ever read where the author managed to juggle multiple worlds, characters, and plot lines so skillfully that I couldn't help coming away with a sense of grand scale and almost overwhelming scope. While I've found Feist’s other works to be hit or miss, this novel is still one of my favorites in the genre.

Dave Barry Does Japan by Dave Barry

Humor writing is deceptively hard, but Barry always make it look so easy. I've read and loved his books for years and will readily admit that the most reread books in my library are his nonfiction works. I love his comedic memoir of traveling to Japan in particular because Barry manages to be hilarious while giving me a sense of place, setting, and mood in a way that other, more serious books cannot. I don’t think I’ll ever get enough of this man’s brilliantly slanted musings.

So there’s a small sampling of some of the books that I loved growing up and that I still reread today. I really enjoyed thinking back over these titles, and would recommend that all writers do the same as an exercise to examine what books have influenced who they are and what they choose to write.

Reflecting on the PNWA 2014 Conference

Last week I had the opportunity to attend the

Pacific Northwest Writers Association’s 59th Summer Writing Conference. While it would be impossible for me to describe everything that happened over the course of the intensive, four-day event, I did want to take a little time to describe some of my personal highlights from the experience.

Thursday began with several workshops on the craft of writing and reconnecting with old writing friends. Since I've been coming to this conference for several years now, I find that I have so many friends to catch up with that sometimes I don’t get the chance to meet very many new people. One writer I was happy to meet was a young man named Derek who was attending the conference for the first time with his mother Susan. Susan had attended one of my workshops last fall, and along with my good friend Bob Manion we enjoyed a pleasant dinner together before returning to the conference to hear keynote speaker and thriller author James Rollins. If you've never heard Rollins speak before, I’ll just say that he managed to be equal parts hilarious and inspirational, and a good time was had by all.

Friday was filled with panels and workshops, including one on being a hybrid author presented by Gordon Warnock. This workshop was of particular interest to me, as I have decided to pursue both a traditional publishing route as well as independently publishing some of my fantasy and steampunk series. Speaking of which, Friday night was the PNWA autograph party, and I was honored to participate along with more than 60 other award-winning and New York Times best-selling authors. It was a heady experience to sign copies of my books and connect with some of the fans of my stories directly. (Big thanks to good friend and fellow fantasy author Connie J. Jasperson for sending me a picture of the event!)

Saturday was probably the most exhausting day of the conference. 

After attending a terrific workshop on character development given by my friend Terry Persun, I then gave my own workshop on unlocking character motivation to a nearly packed room. (Thanks to Lynn Bahrych for her covert photography of the workshop.) I had a ton of fun presenting, and was gratified to hear that I had helped a lot of my fellow writers to solve problems that they had been struggling with. I then went to a pitch session where I had several great conversations with agents about the possibility of representing a future steampunk project that I currently have in the works. That night I attended the Literary Contest dinner, helped hand out prizes, and went to an after-dinner party with all the attending agents, editors, and contest winners.

Sunday was much more subdued, with a casual morning of listening to contest winners and finalists reading their stories, followed by an awesome presentation given by best-selling author Robert Dugoni. After the conference, several writer friends and I went to a nearby restaurant and relaxed together while chatting about all that we had experienced and learned. It was a pleasant, comfortable way to end the conference, and I look forward to keeping in touch with all my writing buddies until we do it all over again in 2015.

Creature Profiles: A New Feature Coming In August

Next August I’m going to introduce a new feature to my blog. Called Creature Profiles, each installment will feature a monster/fictitious animal from one of my stories and will include details like its physical features, behavior, and where I got the idea for it.

As an added feature to each Creature File, all my fans and readers are invited to send in an original picture of what they imagine the creature might look like. I’ll select my favorites and include them with its profile, so give it your best shot!

With that in mind, the first creature to get a profile will be the sleevak, a monstrous critter from The Beast Hunter that the Heteracks use to do their beast hunting for them. The deadline to get the artwork to me will be August 11, and the profile will be posted the following Monday. To submit your picture, send it to lindsay@lindsayschopfer.com and put “sleevak picture” in the subject line.

I look forward to seeing all of your artwork and starting up this fun new feature. Have fun! 

Building Confidence as a Writer

Recently, I was considering possible exercises for workshops that I may want to teach. One of my ideas was to start off by asking the participants to raise their hands if they’d ever been told that they were a good writer. Then I’d ask everyone that had raised their hands to put them down if someone had ever told them that they weren't a good writer. The purpose of the exercise would be to illustrate the biggest problem with relying on the opinions of others about your writing.

There will be people who will praise your work no matter what you do. There will also be people that will never be satisfied, no matter what you do. The key is to focus on your most important reader… yourself. If you aren't already your own biggest fan, then you need to be. Write the kind of story that you want to write, not the kind of story you feel you should write. You need to be laughing at your own jokes, crying over the tragedies you've written, and desperate to find out what will happen next in your stories.

Remember also that confidence comes from knowledge, not belief. ‘I think I’m a good writer’ isn't nearly as strong as ‘I know I’m a good writer.’ Knowing that your work is good does come in part from the praise of others that you respect and trust, but it should start with yourself and your opinion. However, be careful that confidence doesn't become arrogance. Think of all the successful, imaginative writers that have an amazing story and then follow it up with something depressingly lackluster. What happened? I think one problem could be that so many people told these writers that they were geniuses that they started to believe it and that they didn't have to work so hard anymore. Confidence means that you know you are capable of greatness, not that it comes easily. Consistently effective storytellers work hard at their craft. Very hard.

The best way to build your confidence as a writer is to work hard by constantly improving your craft while writing the kind of stories that you enjoy. Do that, and you’ll begin to gain the kind of fans you want to keep. You’ll gain fans like you.

Pitching to Agents and Editors

On July 17^th through the 20^th, I’ll be attending the Pacific Northwest Writers Association’s Summer Conference in Seattle Washington. I've gone to this event faithfully every year since 2010 when I first decided to push my uncertainties aside in favor of connecting with all the various professionals within the writing industry. I remember all the fears, insecurities, and nerves that plagued me then, and to be honest, I still feel many of the same emotions as I prepare to present a workshop at the same conference just four years later.

One of the fixtures of the PNWA conference is the opportunity given to writers to pitch their stories to a large number of attending agents and editors. In addition to pitching my own stories, I've had the opportunity to work on pitches with a large number of writers in a variety of genres. After last year’s conference, I was gratified to receive several e-mails from writers who attributed their success with agents and editors to my advice on pitching. In anticipation of the coming conference, here are some of the things I was able to share with my fellow writers about pitching their stories.

Be Comfortable

Often, when I would ask a writer to tell me about their work, they would ask if I wanted their memorized pitch or if they could just tell me about it. I’d usually tell them that I wanted to hear both, and it was amazing to hear the difference between the formal, canned pitch they’d labored over and the more organic description of a story that they loved. Often, their informal description was more interesting, and they were much more relaxed. Of course, some writers will not be comfortable without that carefully prepared pitch. Just remember that you need to present your story in the way that best suits your personality. As my writer friend Tracy Shew summed up: “An ounce of confidence is worth a pound of preparation.”

Be Brief

 Most pitches are actually dialogues between the agent and writer. Keeping your pitch brief allows time for questions and an open discussion of your work. During one of the workshops I attended last year, I had a young lady come and sit next to me towards the end of the presentation. In a nervous whisper, she told me that she was struggling with her pitch, and someone had said that I could help her. We quietly left the workshop and went out into the hallway so I could look over her carefully typed, single-spaced, full-page pitch. Since she seemed to want the security of a written page to read from, we focused on pulling out the strongest statements from what she had already written. In the end, her pitch was little more than one paragraph long, but was much stronger. I was happy to have helped her, and even happier when she joyfully told me later that she had been asked for a complete manuscript by three agents.

Be Relaxed

 Remember that agents and editors are people too. While you are hoping that they can take your career to the
next level, they are hoping that you will do the same thing for them. A pitch is a two-way interview for a working partnership. So relax, be yourself, and enjoy the search for a personality that matches your own.

Good luck to everyone who will be pitching at the PNWA summer conference this year. I look forward to seeing you all there!

Writing Process Blog Chain

Recently, I was invited to participate in an author blog chain where I would answer a few questions about my stories and the way that I write. I want to thank my good friend and fellow fantasy writer Burnham Wycoff for the invitation. Check out his new blog as he discusses his forays into independent publishing as well as a variety of other topics tailored specifically to writers. I also highly recommend checking out masfiction, the steampunk writing team that preceded Burnham in the blog chain and are currently crafting an exciting mix of alternate history and Jane Austen in a Pacific Northwest setting.

What are you currently working on?

Right now I have four projects in the works. There’s The Keltin Moore Online Serial, the episodic adventures of my steampunk monster hunter with new episodes posted at the beginning of each month. I’m also working on a sequel to my first novel, Lost Under Two Moons, which involves my main character Richard going back to Other World to begin delving into some of its secrets. The last two projects are an epic fantasy and another steampunk adventure and will be specifically targeted for a more traditional book deal.

How does your work differ from others in your genre?

I try to be really careful in the kind of stories that I read to avoid inadvertently copying somebody else’s style. As a result, most of my influences come as a mixture of the classics, old favorites, and video games, my biggest weakness. Also, it seems that my characters tend to be primarily based on  observations of real people rather than the study of other writers’ work, and my settings come as much from my own dreams and memories of childhood make-believe as they do from anywhere else. I think it’s this variety of influences that set my writing apart as both exciting and yet viscerally familiar.

Why do you write what you do?

When I was a kid, I would go into the woods near our family home and play make-believe for hours at a time. As I paced my secluded hideaways, I would act out the stories I told myself, living out all kinds of fantastic adventures in the safety of my own imagination. I never grew out of that. To this day, I still feel the need to play make-believe, to explore realms of fantasy and imaginary worlds. Writing is my hideaway now. The thought that I could make a living by continuing to nurture that sweet, creative child inside of me is like a dream all on its own, and I couldn’t be happier.

How does your writing process work?

I recently posted an article about my weekly writing goals and how I manage my projects, so I thought I’d focus here on what I do to get in the mood for writing. I usually write and edit first thing in the morning and late in the evening, times when I feel the least demand for me to have to act like a grownup. I do most of my work at my desk, which I’ve surrounded with images and objects that remind me of the small, coastal town of Long Beach, Washington. Long Beach has been my family’s vacation destination every year since I was a child, and everything about its stormy shores inspires me with mystic potential.

Probably the biggest thing I do to get in the mood to write is listen to music. I’m a big collector of music, and spend many hours contentedly sorting, arranging, and playing with my ever-growing library. When I write, I have different types of music that I listen to depending on the scene that I’m working on. For action scenes, I prefer heavy metal and hard rock. For descriptive scenes, I like to listen to classical or new age. When I edit, I crank my music up loud to force me to concentrate on my work and avoid just lazily looking over what I’ve written. I love music for the way it can evoke emotion and sensations, and I try to use it as a tool to put myself in the right place when I’m working.

The Next in Line

I hope that you’ve enjoyed reading a little more of my writing process and what makes me tick as a writer. Be sure to check out Ty Roper, the next author in the chain who is working on an intriguing dystopian adventure and has a terrific blog on the ups and downs of crafting a novel. 

“What Happened to Your Online Serial?”

Fans of Keltin Moore may be wondering when the next episode of his serialized adventures will be posted. My last related announcement said that I would be taking a break during April and May to dedicate my full time to finishing the final edits on The Beast Hunter in time for its launch date. But the book has launched and now it’s June. What about the serial?

Well, never fear. I’m finishing the final proofread of the next episode and plan on having it on my website by the beginning of July. Why then? I’m planning on making some significant changes to the way my website is going to be run, and one of those changes is that I plan to have a new episode of the serial up each month, rather than sporadically publishing them whenever I finish one. To do that, I need a little time to build a backlog, just so I can have some schedule-cushion for the future.

Another change readers will notice will be the name of the serial. To avoid confusion with the first Keltin Moore novel, I've changed the serial’s name to The Keltin Moore Online Serial. This is a more descriptive title, and should clearly define it as a separate body of work from the related novel.

Finally, I've decided that I won’t be including an Author Insight with each episode anymore. Instead, I will be encouraging fans to connect with me here on my blog, on Twitter, or on Facebook with questions about my stories and creative process. By doing this, I hope to engage directly with my fans by discussing what interests them specifically, rather than writing a general review of my own work.

Be sure to check out my website in the first week of July to read the latest episode. In the meantime, you can read the episodes that are already posted and buy The Beast Hunter, Keltin Moore’s first adventure.

The Keltin Moore Online Serial

The Beast Hunter Amazon Page