Mike's Writing Blog

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Mike's Writing Journey

I am a writer, and this is the story of my journey.

2/21 - Who I am and What this is about - My name is Mike Lewis, but because of the confusion of other Mike Lewises, I am going by my full name - Michael D. Lewis. For years I have been writing stories. In 1993-1995, while traveling for the Air Force, I wrote my first novel, a romance about a time traveler (a idea that has since been done by someone else - and much better). It was a fun story to write, but it was more to keep my mind going while being away on trips. I haven't looked at it in years, but I am sure it was dreadfully awful. Still, it was an interesing story and maybe I'll explore it again some day.

But in 2002, after moving here to the Twin Cities, I was bored when I was unemployed. I was full of a bursting need to be creative, and without a job, I had no outlet for that creativity. One day, while watching TV, I saw a show - a Discovery channel - that gave me an insirpation for a futuristic space story. I immediately fired up my computer and wrote a short story. I gave it to Adele, who said "That's great - what happens next?" What happens next? Hmmm. That's an interesting idea. So I wrote another story, which became Chapter 2, and another, and another and so on. By the Fall of 2002, I had around 20 chapters and a complete novel that I titled "The Human Quest". I was pleased with it, but by then, I had a job, and so the novel sat.

Now, I will digress here for a moment to tell you a little about myself. I am an engineer. The reason I became an engineer was because of something that happened in college: I realized that I loved the thrill of having an idea and watching that idea grow into an actual "thing." It was that creativity that I thrived.

Then, when I became an engineer in real-life, I realized a hard truth: that as an engineer in my line of work, it wasn't about ideas and seeing something come to fruition, but rather about spending countless hours reading requirements and writing TPS reports. Any creativity I had in my job was stifled. I started to become frustrated, because I had all this creativity that needed an outlet.

I thought back to what happened in 2002, when I was in a crative funk. I had two major outlets for my creativity - this web site and my novel.

Back in 2004, while bored in another long software requirements meeting, I started daydreaming about what it would be like to see the future. My mind started wandering, and I suddenly had an idea for a novel. But at the time, I was so busy with work and my new child, that I couldn't find the time to write it.

But finally, last year, I got frustrated with my work (that's another rant for another time) and I left my job. I also joined a writing group, and I started learning everything that I was doing wrong. I started writing new stories and revising my novels, and that's where I am at today.

So now, join me on my journey, and I'll share with you some things I have learned along the way.

3/1 - My projects - I have a number of projects in the works right now, and here is the status of each, for anyone who cares.

1. My short story "Trefoil" is ready to be sent out. It's a story that everyone either absolutely loves or absolutely hates.

2. My short story "Stiyaha" is in its final stages. Just needs a little tightening, and then I'll shop it around.

3. My novel "The Seers" is complete through Chapter 7. I'm getting started on Chapter 8. For those of you who haven't talked to me in a while, the original work was complete through Chapter 19, but upon my reread, I decided to go in another direction. The new novel looks drastically different from the original, and some of the major elements from the original might find the light of day again in another form.

4. My novel "The Human Quest" will be having the cobwebs and dust pulled off of it for some retooling. The story will remain the same; the bad writing errors will be fixed.

3/2 - Things I have learned from my writing - Here are some things I have learned that I thought I would share with you:

1. Titles. Some of you have asked why I have chosen titles for several of my short stories that are words that do not appear in the stories themselves. In those cases, I have used the title to speak to the reader without necessarily speaking to the characters. Since the characters do not know about the title, I can use that to pass information on to the reader without involving the characters. The jury is mixed on this; half the comments say this practice is brilliant and the love the title and the other half say the practice is distracting and they hate the title. Not saying it's good or bad, just explaining why I did it. (In one case, there is an image that reader knows but the characters don't; in another, a word that one character knows but dares not utter is revealed in the title.)

2. Plotting versus "pantsing". I've learned that there are two types of writers - "plotters" who plot every detail out into an outline and fillin the details and "pantsers" who write from the seat of their pants, without any idea of where the story will ultimately go. I used to be a rigorous plotter. I had my story completely plotted out start to finish with what I was going to accomplish in each chapter down to the smallest detail. When I actually wrote that chapter, though, the characters were going to do what I wanted them to do or else! And what I found was that the story wasn't very compelling. However, I can't write without any idea of where I am going, so what I have learned is to outline generally where I want the story to go (only to keep my focus on what is necessary and what isn't), but to let the characters take me where they want to go (within reason; the reason for the outline is to say "this is out of bounds; wander within the bounds wherever you want to go"). I am finding that it is easier and more rewarding to go with this approach.

3. There is no right or wrong when writing. I am working with a guy who has never written fiction before but wants to, and he has written Chapter 6, then Chapter 20, then Chapter 9. He told me he is desperately trying to start at Chapter 1 and write in sequence, because that is the "right thing to do" and I explained to him that there is no right or wrong. I think too many times that I (using my engineer thinking) have done the same thing - looked for the right and wrong way to do something. There is wrong way to build a bridge, but there is no wrong way to construct art.

4. Thinking inside the head. In my latest novel, I had something that had to happen in a certain chapter. I couldn't find a way to fit it into the story. Frustrated, I knew I had to keep going or else the story would never get written, so I decided that I would write up until that point, put something like "Big thing happens here TBD" and keep going. But what I found was that as I wrote that chapter, I wrote past the hole - I found a way to write the big thing into the scene. What I credit for it is the fact that being in the character's head for 18 pages and several hours, I saw things - started thinking like the character - that I never could as the author trying to think like that character.

Back to the right or wrong, I hear many people talk about how they are stuck at a place, and what I told my friend was that if you can't write Chapter 6, perhaps if you wrote Chapter 7 or Chapter 8, you learn more about that character see them react to other things, and maybe after that, if you go back to Chapter 6, maybe you'll see something you didn't see before. That's what worked for me.

3/12 - Inspiration - Today, I was treated to a rare reward for my writing.

I submitted my story "Trefoil" to a writing class I am attending. One of the students in my class read it, and then he wrote a story that had little in common with mine, but he said he was inspired by my story (and you could see elements of it that were).

Why is that rewarding, you ask? Because of this: I may publish the story and millions of people may read it, but will anyone remember it? Instead, I had at least one reader who read my story and at some level, it moved him to write a different story. He didn't just read the story; he reacted to it. That's something you can't quantify that in some ways is much more rewarding than being published.

It inspired me to pull one of my old stories "Disabled" out of the round-file and rework it. That story was submitted to a group who hated it - absolutely loathed it. One lady, though, said she absolutely loved it and enjoyed it very much.

What today taught me is that it's not about satisfying millions of readers with my writing; it's about moving people with my writing, even if those readers are few and far between.

4/15 - Just sucking it up - I hit a point in my writing where I started to hit the wall. I didn't know what came next, the next chapter just felt really boring, and I thought the story was going nowhere. After talking with some other aspiring novelists, they too have hit the wall.

But I decided to just suck it up and write the next chapter. I tuned out the inner critic who kept telling me it was boring and stupid and just wrote it anyway. Who knows, maybe it is boring and stupid, but it got me past the sticking point to a point that was exciting and action paced. Maybe in a few months after I look back and see that work in a new light during the revision phase the chapter might be different.

But my point is this: when you hit the wall and your inner critic is yelling at you full volume and you think that the story won't go anywhere else, just keep writing. Write a scene, no matter how boring or ordinary it is. Just keep writing. And suck it up.

5/19 - I love it when - I love it when a character takes the ball and runs with it.

I was writing, and I hit a spot where I wasn't sure what to do. So, I took two chatacters - the protagonist and an ally of the antagonist - and threw them together into a room. And the antagonist's friend? He surprised me in ways I never anticipated.

If I sat down and planned to write out the scene that transpired, I never would have come up with what actually happened in the scene. I just put them together and let them chat, and the antagonist took the scene to a level higher than I thought.

It's an amazing thing to watch.

12/13 - Update - Well, obviously, I've been updating my novels more than this poor neglected web site.

I pulled "Seers" back out in September and began editing it again. I got some good feedback about some changes I should make to put the action more up front and to make the characters more real. I'm in the process of doing the third revision on it, and it's going really well.

I've also been working on some short stories as well. Every now and then, I need a break and whip out a short story to help clear my head.

As far as "The Human Quest," I realize that one needs more work than I can give it now. I need to do something radical to it - convert it from third person POV to first person; it's a lot more work than I want to put into it now, so it's on the back burner.