A New Release Nugget is a short piece
about one new thing an author learned during the process of writing
their new book, something they hope will encourage and inspire other
writers as they navigate the swirling currents of creation and
publication.
Today's new release is a debut novel, Spawning Ground by Kevin Cockle. He's got seventeen short stories out there, a screenplay, and an Aurora nomination. Spawning Ground is his first novel, and here's one thing he learned during the writing:
“Spawning
Ground” being my first novel, the list of things I learned in the
process of writing it is pretty long. That I could write long-form
narrative at all. That you need to trust your writing: can’t be
second-guessing every sentence and word choice if you’re going to
finish. But technically, if there’s one tangible step I took that I’d
do again - and that might be of use to others - it’s the fact that I
wrote SG as a screenplay first.
Movies
are external and visual - novels are about the interior lives of
characters - but still: a screenplay is basically a structured outline.
“Spawning Ground” started out as a short story (very interior; no act
structure) which I wound up optioning to a local film company. Adapting
a short story for a feature film was a really useful exercise in terms
of structure and narrative, which was important, since I was trying to
create a compact genre thriller. Characters and neat speculative ideas
weren’t going to be enough: the thing had to have momentum; readers
needed to have reasons to turn pages. Plus it’s a lot easier to tweak
and re-write a screenplay than it is a novel. The logistics just made
sense.
Having
the screenplay in front of me made the writing of the novel a matter of
disciplined execution. No staring at a blank page and trying to think
of something: the actual creative work had all been done. I knew where I
was going, which made getting there a lot easier. The whole process
made me more professional in approach than I otherwise would have been.
And it worked, which is the main thing.
Genetic perfection has a price: a brutal Darwinian contest
of strength and cunning to determine which bloodlines will continue,
and dominate.
When Sarah Wheeler’s Spawning Contest is rigged,
her breeding and training will be put to the ultimate test.
Find out more about Kevin
Today's new release is a debut novel, Spawning Ground by Kevin Cockle. He's got seventeen short stories out there, a screenplay, and an Aurora nomination. Spawning Ground is his first novel, and here's one thing he learned during the writing:
