Tag: novel writing

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Cheating With AI

AI seems to be everywhere lately. Search engines, word platforms and more beg you to use it. There are legitimate uses for it, but some I consider to be cheating with AI.

Writing and research are two of these. There are many who will disagree, but I stand firm.

AI and Writing

At home I am not online. In town every time I try to write an email, a search entry, check over a blog post, this AI pops up trying to tell me what I should write. This is very annoying as the stupid program starts guessing at what the word is by the time I have two letters typed.

Admittedly my spelling is not always right. However, spell check catches mistakes most of the time. And that doesn’t keep covering over my document or page with lists of words and phrases.

cover for "Capri Capers" by Karen GoatKeeper
This wild romp let my imagination fly. Every chapter ended with a cliffhanger. Every name was devised for fun and fit into the character. For me, this is what makes writing special.

Then, too, my novels come from my imagination. If AI writes my novel for me to edit, it is no longer my novel. It is AI’s novel and probably far from my idea of what it should be.

My present novel looks at getting old, relationships to family and friends, immigration and reinventing oneself. The main character has been a recluse for decades for medical reasons, has an abusive background. I have come to know her and those around her. AI would only guess at these pulling from whatever learning material it used.

Stephanie comes from a lifetime of people and experiences. I know what is happening and will happen to a large extent. AI won’t know ant of this and might well distort it if I explained.

If I were to use AI to write my novel, edit the result and publish it, I would consider it cheating with AI.

Research

When I start doing research, I have an idea what to look for. Often it is a bit vague. As I go exploring the topic, I can check out different parameters, fine tune, go off on tangents.

By cheating with AI, I end up looking at only what the program thinks I am looking for. It’s something like the difference between browsing the shelves at a bookstore or library and searching on Amazon. You miss so much.

Perhaps I am just old-fashioned, but I will continue to use my own imagination for my writing.

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Finding Writing Time

Normally I reserve mornings after milking as my writing time. This summer has made that time unavailable and left me finding writing time at odd times.

Heat

Many places have had temperatures in the triple digits. Not in the Ozarks. What we’ve had are nineties and humidity almost as high. The sun has seemed to bore through me any time I go out in it.

Before noon has been the only time of day cool enough to get any outside work done. My morning typing time gave way to outside work.

Orange Cat keeping cool
My cats are trying to keep cool in the heat. Usually they spend the day outside. Now they stay indoors much of the day.

Weariness

Working outside in the heat drains energy. By the time I do one or two things, I am tired.

Warm nights with high humidity make sleeping difficult. I go to bed tired and wake up tired.

Finding writing time in the afternoons is possible. But too often I find my head down on the desk and the screen gone blank.

Writers Block

My Life’s Rules wasn’t just on hiatus. I was stymied. Somehow I needed to advance the storyline several months. Sounds easy?

The story has been going on a day by day basis which works very well for the beginning month or so. This can’t continue for several months without killing the story with trivia and boredom.

Now I know how to break and continue the story without sacrificing the storyline. Finding writing time to get it down on the computer is frustrating.

finding writing time comes after researching Dwarf Hackberry Fruits as wild edibles
Before finding writing time for The Carduan Chronicles: Ship Nineteen I need to find time to read the book on wild edible plants. The number and variety of them is amazing. This picture is from a previous year. My favorite hackberry tree has no fruits on it now. I’m checking out more of them. However, the pawpaws and elderberries are ripe now.

Carduan Chronicles

Even if I find time, it’s hard to keep going on this right now. I need to get the story another two weeks or so, but I know that it needs a major rewrite again. I’m also doing lots of wild plant research needed for the rewrite. What’s the point of continuing?

The point is getting this second in the trilogy to the same point as for Ship Eighteen. Then I can write the final book for the trilogy.

In the meantime, finding writing time is getting easier as fall temperatures make it possible to write mornings and work afternoons again.

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Foraging Wild Edibles

It’s getting hard to keep going on my Ship Nineteen draft as I know it needs major work again. The plus side of continuing is having a better draft of what the Carduans are doing. The negative side is how much is missing, like foraging wild edibles.

What the Carduans Accomplish

There are several major problems these survivors face. One is the need for shelter. For now, since there are so few of them, they can live in the ship and use the ledge they discovered.

Another is defense against the numerous large predators. The Carduans are snack size for coyotes, foxes, bobcats and large snakes. They are edibles for smaller creatures like raccoons, hawks and owls.

These predators are avoided as much as possible. When necessary, the Carduans have discovered a defensive weapon.

Food is another issue. For now they can hunt, fish and forage. Winter will return. They must be ready with stored food.

Red Clover flowers
I know someone who likes red clover flower tea. He gathers the flower heads, dries them and then brews tea. I’ve tasted a few flowers. They have a quick bit of sweet followed by a bit of spice. The Carduans love their morning coffee, but must find a new drink. Will this work?

Foraging Wild Edibles

Over the years I’ve learned about a number of wild plants good to eat. They include lamb’s quarters, dock, plantains, chicory, dandelions and chickweed. Some are more palatable than others.

These can’t be the wild foods the Carduans eat. Why not? Because these are mostly introduced plants that grow near human habitations, not out in the ravines and abandoned pastures.

What does grow out there? I’ve photographed lots of plants growing out in the wilder areas, but don’t know which are edible or what they can be used for.

spicebush flowers
Wild plant foraging begins early in the spring. Spicebush blooms early with spicy flowers. Later the leaves are spicy eating too. The Carduans do discover these flowers and enjoy eating them, the ones they can reach.

Doing Research

Samuel Thayer lives foraging wild edibles and has several books out about foraging. The biggest drawback is his location, far north of the Ozarks. Some of the plants, like wild rice, just won’t be found where the Carduans are.

Even so, “Forager’s Harvest” has many useful items in it. One is preparing wild grains. And some of the plants are found here too.

That leaves two items. One is finding plants accessible to the Carduans who are very small. The other is finding some of these plants and tasting them so I can give descriptions in the novel.

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Plotting Goat Shows

People seem to love showing off things and animals. Goats are no exception which means there are goat shows.

These events occur in Dora’s Story. Emily’s mother wants the recognition of winning them. The girls want to take part as members of their 4-H club. There are two big shows close to them and they attend both.

using goat shows for plotting goat shows
This is an old picture from the first Arkansas state goat show in 1981. The class is for Nubian doelings. Note the whites then the official wear for those showing goats.

Why Have Goat Shows?

I only took my goats to the local county shows. I led a couple of 4-H goat Projects and the shows were part of this.

We held the shows for several reasons. One was for the members to show off their goats. More importantly the judges could help them recognize the strong and weak points of their goats.

The public was the other big reason for holding these little shows. Many people know little about goats and many times what they know is wrong.

This isn’t their fault. Goats are fun to make fun of. Brush goats do tend to have long goatees and big horns. Goats do butt each other and other things. Horns are a great way to tear delicious bark off of trees.

Buck goats (male goats in the dairy goat world) do reek during mating season. Does (female goats in the dairy goat world) do not.

If produced properly, goat milk tastes good. It is also better balanced for human consumption than cow’s milk.

Phelps County Fair goat show
Phelps County Fair has a goat show. Back around 2006 most of the goats shown were dairy goats. This is an Oberhasli sometimes called a Swiss Alpine. Note the show clip and how the goat is set up with front feet across from each other, back feet set directly under the tail and the collar used to keep the goat’s head up, but not straining.

Dora’s Story Goat Shows

The shows in this novel are much bigger shows. I have attended several of these bigger shows as a spectator.

These shows have several goat breeds and several classes for each breed. There are showmanship classes for young goat owners.

In plotting these shows for the novel, I had to list all of the classes, all of the goats in each of the classes and the names and ages of the owners of these goats. This took at least a page of notes.

To complicate this, the same shows occur annually. They show up more than once in the novel. That meant aging the owners and their goats, adding some new owners and goats.

Much of this material was not used in the novel. Emily and her sister showed Nubians and grades only. But they did talk to many of the other owners.

Novel background notes are like that. The notes make writing the novel easier and the result better. But that doesn’t mean all of the notes appear in the novel.

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Dora’s Story Characters

It was September and I wanted a story line to write in November when the idea came. The plot would revolve around a dairy goat moving between several different owners. Then I began creating the Dora’s Story characters.

cover for "Dora's Story" by Karen GoatKeeper
After writing a number of straight plotline novels, this was very different. There was the novel plotline. Yet each of the six parts had a plotline for itself and as part of the novel one. It involved several goat shows and each of these changed as the participants got older. It took over a year to get all of it right.

Who Are They?

From the time my first goat, Jennifer, was born, I’ve met many people with goats. Others I’ve heard of. These were the beginnings of my Dora’s Story characters.

The goat would come from a small time breeder. Her first owner would be Emily. Why would this young girl get a goat? Why would she give up her goat?

This brought in her mother and sister. For the girls, the goats were 4-H projects and pets. The mother wanted the prestige of purebred goats and Dora was a grade goat.

Once sold, Dora went through several owners. Each was a composite of people. One was a bad owner. Another was ill. Finally Dora ends up with a young boy.

Going In Circles

Emily was devastated when Dora was sold. Her dream was to find Dora again. In the original draft, she does.

As years pass, people change. Emily grew up. So did Dora.

Emily wanted to get Dora back as though this would make everything like it was. Long ago I learned you can’t go back except in memories. Such an ending would not be at all realistic.

Yet, Emily did need to find Dora again. But she needed to find her beloved goat in a new time, under the new conditions.

Dora’s Story Characters

Each step of the way, Dora is a possible way to the future for each owner. Some take advantage of this. Some don’t.

We are often blind to or afraid of opportunities that come our way. They pass us by. When it is too late, we realize we went past them, now regretting it.

Carpe Diem.

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Wild Capri Capers

We were watching some old Rin Tin Tin movie serials and I wondered if I could write a serial about a goat. Every episode ends with a cliff hanger, so a wild Capri Capers took shape.

Movie Serials

When movies started and were only shown in theaters, the theaters wanted a way to keep people coming back every week. The movie serial was born.

These serials lasted for weeks with a melodrama plot. Each episode was full of action and ended with something dangerous happening leaving the hero or heroine in mortal danger.

The following week the dangerous happening was shown again with changes. Those changes let the hero or heroine survive to continue the plot only to again get into a dangerous situation.

cover for "Capri Capers" by Karen GoatKeeper
Begun as a lark and an experiment, Capri Capers was such fun it became a book.

Melodramas

These are simple plays. They normally have three main characters: a hero, a heroine or damsel in distress and a villain. The villain had some dastard scheme to capture the heroine and was foiled by the hero.

My father and his friends made up these plays up every week while he was in high school. They put on the plays for the students during lunch every Friday. My father always played the villain.

Proper protocol had the audience greet the hero with cheers and the villain with hisses and boos. At graduation all the students booed my father in honor of his years playing the villain.

Wild Capri Capers

The original draft of Capri Capers was in true movie serial format. Every chapter ended with a cliff hanger. The next chapter looked at the cliff hanger and solved it before launching the plot into the next cliff hanger.

Every name was chosen like a melodrama name. Dan Janus is after the two faced Roman god. Leroy Rogue and Roscoe Rascal are the villains. Harriet Zeigenhirt’s last name is German for goat.

The final draft changed the cliff hanger repeats into a more familiar novel plot line. However, the cliff hangers are still ending the chapters of a wild Capri Capers tale.

Oh, yes, there is a goat, several goats in the story. Capri is a goat and plays a big part in the story.

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Only Nine Carduans

There may be forty-five soon-to-be Carduans on Ship Eighteen, but they are fourteen weeks away from Cardua. Ship Nineteen has only nine Carduans on board.

Somehow these nine need to find a place to live and make it habitable, find sources of food and water and devise methods of defending themselves from the many predators living on Cardua.

Who Are These Carduans?

Three are ship officers. They know how to fly a space ship and not much else.

Six are young people ranging from ten-year-old Tico to seventeen-year-old Hirs. Their backgrounds vary, but they are young. They do have skills learned from their parents or experiences.

Supplies Are Needed

The advantage Ship Nineteen has is that it was a cargo flight. Those six young people were overflow from the passenger ships ahead of them. There are lots of crates filled with useful things packed on the ship.

The disadvantage is that these people don’t know how to use many of the supplies. There are solar panels and electrical supplies. No one know how to set them up. There are cooking supplies for a restaurant. No one knows how to cook.

Lygo does know about sewing and has lots of supplies originally destined for a shop she was opening with her mother, a seamstress. Tico knows some carpentry and there are lots of supplies originally destined for a furniture shop his carpenter father was going to open.

defensive black snake
If you are only four inches tall, this is a terrifying sight. How can one of my Carduans defend themselves from a snake wanting to eat them?

Finding Their Skills

Only nine Carduans face a new world filled with plants and animals that tower over their mere four inch height. Each must find their skills and find ways to use them as part of a team.

As far as these people know, they are alone. Their former lives are only memories. All of their friends and relations are now memories.

There may be only nine Carduans, but they must overcome their pasts, their griefs, their ignorance and become a group to face this new world. That is the only way they will survive.

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Writing “Mistaken Promises”

Writing “Mistaken Promises” was like writing an epilogue for “Old Promises.” Epilogues and prologues are usually discouraged in writing advice. This is because they are often used as ways to put in lots of world building and backstory rather than as part of the story. Used well, these can both open up the story and close the story, things I’ve done.

Writing an Epilogue

When I wrote “Capri Capers” there were lots of story lines not really completed, only hints of what the endings would be. However, the plot itself was over, so stringing it along would drag the ending out, not make it better. The same was true for “Hopes, Dreams and Reality”.

For these novels, I added a single chapter called Epilogue. This completed those story lines, endings that happened much later than the original story. It gave closure to the story for the various characters.

As I write “The Carduan Chronicles”, I’ve used a Prologue to set up having two space ships involved in the story. The original Ship Nineteen is stranded in an ice storm in an Ozark ravine. Ship Eighteen is stranded in space in a race against starvation and running out of fuel as they attempt to reach the Ozark ravine. Their link is through Sola and her son Tico.

cover for "Mistaken Promises" Hazel Whitmore #3 by Karen GoatKeeper
Although I began “Mistaken Promises” as an epilogue for “Old Promises”, it soon took on a life of its own.

“Mistaken Promises” Was Different

As I finished writing “Old Promises”, the novel didn’t feel done. There had to be fall out from the big mess at the end. Too much fall out to just add a chapter called Epilogue.

So, writing “Mistaken Promises” dealt with that fall out. Basically I was writing the epilogue to “Old Promises” when I wrote this novel. As I wrote it, it became more than an epilogue.

Hazel was finding new ways to adjust to living in a rural community. She joins the 4-H, raises some Buff Orpington chickens, competes in the county fair. She starts to leave many of her city ways and ideas behind.

Lucy, too, is branching out. She is learning to be more out going. As a teenager, she is seeking out her own identity.

I enjoyed writing “Mistaken Promises” and seeing how my characters were adjusting and moving on with their lives. Perhaps, someday, I will want to return to Crooked Creek and see where these people have gone.

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Choosing Self Publishing

Lately I’ve been reading the magazine “Writers’ Digest” with its many hints and interviews for authors and wishful authors. Some always seem to be about choosing self publishing.

Common Reason

The reason I see most often for choosing self publishing is keeping control of the book. Traditional publishers can change the title which may or may not be for the best, assign the cover design to an illustrator who may or may not be able to read the book before designing it and determine royalties and other payments for the book among other things.

This is not my reason.

Problems With Self Publishing

Although serious authors do the necessary work, when an author self publishes, no one insists the book be carefully edited. There are editors for hire, but they charge for their services. As this is how they make a living, it is understandable.

Those on a strict budget may skip hiring an editor and do it themselves. Sometimes this works out well, if the author has a strong English grammar grasp. Other times the resulting book is a disaster for readers even if the story is good.

Marketing is another problem. Traditional publishers do have more contacts and do put out new books to places a self published author may have difficulty getting to. They may place ads for the book. However, they do insist that the author do a lot of the marketing such as social media on their own.

cover for "Goat Games" by Karen GoatKeeper
Although this book began as a lot of pencil puzzles about goats, it grew with goat trivia, breed pages, information pages and lots of photographs of goats.

Why Do I Self Publish?

When I wrote my first book, “Goat Games”, I dreamed of being published. I researched publishers and found one where I thought my book would fit. A comparable title, although about horses, had additional material in it, so I enlarged my book to include much more about goats than the many pencil puzzles I started with.

I thought the book was ready, so I queried the publisher. The editor wrote back she liked my book, but wouldn’t accept it. My book was for a niche market, with, in her opinion, no big market and wouldn’t be a viable addition for their company.

Many of my first novels had a lot of goat information in them. They would all fit into this niche market. So I found choosing self publishing was the only way to get my books printed.

Now there is another reason. Time. I am old enough to not want to spend possibly years getting a book published.

Marketing and cover design do sometimes make me wish.

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How Many Drafts?

When I wrote “Broken Promises” the first time, it was a disaster now long erased. The second draft became the novel. How many drafts did it take? Two or three, I think.

“Old Promises” also took one draft. Then I rewrote and edited for two or three more drafts to finish the novel.

Both of these were rewritten again to add the recipes Hazel used in the book.

cover of "Old Promises" Hazel Whitmore #2 by Karen GoatKeeper
This novel took only a few drafts before I decided it was ready to publish. Even so, I reread it and noticed a few more things I might change, if I redo the novel.

Life’s Rules

This novel is different. The first rewrite happened even before the rough draft was written. In fact, I’ve never completed the rough draft.

This last is not really true. I’ve completed the draft in my head. That’s not really the same as I add lots of details, dialogue and more when I write down what’s in my head.

How many drafts so far? I’m on the third rewrite now. It seems I needed to draw some maps and rewrite some of the draft.

The problem with rewriting a partial draft so many times is that part of the novel gets set, edited and polished while the rest is still in need of many things. I tend to focus on actions, plot and dialogue in my first drafts.

The characters are in my head. The settings are in my head. I can see them, hear them, feel them.

A reader can’t see inside my head. That means yet another draft adding descriptions of characters and settings. Those things I can see need to be visible to the reader through my words.

The Carduan Chronicles

How many drafts does this one make for the Carduan Chronicles? I’ve lost count. At least this draft has straightened out two major problems.

Ship Eighteen is journeying to Cardua. With this draft the journey has some semblance of timing. And my missing six passengers are now included in the draft.

This part of the novel will need one more rewrite to add details about the characters. My problem now is that I don’t really see my characters yet.

Ship Nineteen needs to be rewritten as well. How many drafts for it? I don’t know. But I will have a better timeline and know what some of the problems are for tackling this draft in April.

Both Life’s Rules and The Carduan Chronicles: Arrival should be done this year.