Musings of Two Creative Minds

Yesterday I had an epiphany about my writing and the entire Para-Earth Series... it's been a collaboration all along.  From "The Bridge" to "The Ship" to "The Vampyre Blogs -Coming Home", the entire journey has been one gigantic collaboration with my wife/best friend Helen.  And I am planning on putting her name on the first two books.   Why didn't I do this sooner?  And how did I not realize it was a collaboration all along?  Because I thought a collaboration strictly meant two people were doing the actual writing, but that's not the only way a collaboration works.  Ideas, suggestions, helping shape characters, plot, settings, events... all of that goes into a collaboration as well.   So even though I did all the writing in "The Bridge" and "The Ship", Helen gave me so much guidance like helping shape the characters personalities, questioning their actions, being my sounding-board for ideas I had but didn't...

         Welcome back to another installment of collaborations: what do they look like and how do I make mine work?  Okay, actually, I’m continuing the discussion from last time.  After all, this is supposed to be a blog, not an ongoing saga.  I also want to apologize for any strange grammar or punctuation errors in this entry because I’m using Dragon instead of actually typing on a keyboard.  WRONG DRAGON! SORRY DIDN'T MEAN TO WAKE YOU UP, SIR.  PLEASE JUST GO BACK TO SLEEP!            Whew!  Anyway, I'll be sharing my adventures with Dragon Speaking Naturally software, and learning how to use it, in another blog entry,  For now I’m going to continue to share my experiences with collaborations            Now, last time I talked about my collaboration with my old friend Rich Caminiti, today I’m going to be discussing my other collaboration with my wife H...

As you all know by now, I've been working on not one but two different collaborations.  The first is "The Pass" a historical/fantasy piece with a fellow I went to high school with some 30 years ago, Richard Caminiti. (for the sake of privacy, I left the clipboard showing his name and arrest number from this police photo out - JUST KIDDING!)  Actually it's not really a mug shot, but I couldn't resist  using this shot because the expression on his face is so serious.  Of course I'm going to get an earful later for this, but that's what friends are for, right? The other is another installment in my Para-Earth Series, titled "The Misty Mountains", with my wife  Helen Krummenacker.  Note: DEFINITELY NOT A MUG SHOT! Okay, now that I got that bit of silliness out of my system, lets get back to today's topic namely the discussing more challenges one faces with a collaboration.  Now in Rich's case, the biggest challenge ...

As you all know I talk a lot about writing and the different aspects of it.  Recently I got to wondering about where it all begins.  Where do most stories originate or come from in the first place?  Naturally the answer is a person gets an idea and starts to explore different avenues with it.  But that wasn't good enough of an answer to me.  I had to ask, where does the idea come from in the first place?    Where does idea get its beginning?  What if...  I began to ask and then stopped.  I'd just found my answer.   Two little words... that's all it takes for a story idea to be born.  But it doesn't stop there.  Oh no, my friends those two little words keep popping up throughout the writing process.  Time and time again, I find myself asking or thinking those two words as I'm working on scene after scene.  Or if I'm trying to decide which direction to take the story next.   Ask yourself, how many...

Last night after I finished my class, I was waiting at the bus stop outside my university's library.  I was feeling pretty good, and was in a humorous mood.  So when two young ladies came out of the library, each carrying a large white board, my mirthful nature got the better of me.  As soon as they came up to the bus stop I said, "You know, most people find a notebook just as useful and it actually fits inside a backpack." They both laughed and came back with, "Yeah, but we make a lot big mistakes."   From there we started chatting and they explained the white boards were for two clubs they were part of.  It was at that point I notice that both of them were wearing  t-shirts with mushrooms all over them.  Curious I asked if mushrooms were involved with either club and they said yes.   From there, they began to explain how they're clubs were trying to do some research about mushrooms and how to try and make a business out of certain ones...

Hello everyone, today I want to give you all a little insight into how things are going with my latest novel. Some of you may know that I had started working on "The Door" some time back, but then set it aside to work on "The Vampyre Blogs - Coming Home".  I did this originally, because I'd hoped to get the vampyre book out last October, but of course that didn't happen.  My classes at CSU Monterey Bay got crazy with the workload so I couldn't finish in time.   Now, the vampyre book is set around October so I wanted to keep with the whole Halloween timing, so after finishing the 1st draft I've set it aside and gone back to "The Door".  This is actually beneficial since "The Door" will temporarily wrap things up for the heroes of my first two novels "The Bridge" and "The Ship".  So by going back to "The Door" I can have a sort of trilogy to put out as a box set come Christmastime. With thi...

This week I got 8 people lined up as "Beta-Readers" for my second novel "THE SHIP". For those not familiar with beta-readers, they are basically test readers for you book.  They will read the story and give you feedback on what they thought of it.  But what kind of feedback am I talking about? Well this may vary from writer to writer.  For me I'm looking for the following feedback: 1-Did they like the story? (this is a given, I have to know whether or not the story is even working for my readers in the first place) 2-How was the pacing?  Did the story drag a lot, or was it too-fast paced and hard to keep up with? 3-Were the characters likable and did you come to care about them?  Did they intrigue you?  Did you want to see more of them in the future?  (I'm working on an ongoing series where I will rotate some of the cast from time to time) 4-Spelling errors?  (I've done my best but some things will still slip past me so a few mo...

     Well, one third of October is gone already and Halloween is coming.  But so is something more terrifying, at least for those who brave the challenge.  November is Nanowrimo Month and I've signed up for it.  For anyone unfamiliar with Nanowrimo, it's quite simple.  Starting on November 1st you have until the November 30th to write 50,000 words of a brand new novel.  That's right.  You start a brand new novel from scratch at the beginning of the month and try to write at least 50,000 words in 30 days.  It doesn't mean the novel has to be completed, you just have to have written that amount of words for your novel.      Now to some this sounds easy, to others it sounds daunting.  The object here is not to create finished product, but a first draft and have those 50,000 words of it done by the end of the month.  It has been calculated that a person would need to do 1666 words per day, without missing a single ...

CROATOAN A lone word carved on a pillar of a fort that had once housed a colony of 90 people from 1587 until 1588 or '89 perhaps?  Who can say, because in 1590, there was no trace of the colonists who had made the isle of Roanoake their new home.  No sign of a struggle or battle could be found, and the local native Americans on the island proclaimed no white men had ever settled there.   Roanoake, or "The Lost Colony" as it has come to be called, is an actual mystery right out of early American history.  Many ideas and theories have been put forward to explain the disappearance of the nearly 100 settlers, but no hard evidence has been discovered to say exactly which theory if any is the correct one.  As for the word carved in the lone pillar "Croatoan", what did that have to do with anything?  Well according to those who'd come to check on the settlers in 1590, a plan had been set in place where that word would be left in plain sight if the set...

I created this video with the YouTube Video Editor because my cell phone will only allow me to e-mail videos only once and I accidentally lost all of them on my laptop.  So I just sent all the vids to YouTube and edited the puppy here (http://www.youtube.com/editor). Anyway, this is the finale about my setting changing.  I know you all have been supportive and maybe wondering a little bit about why I chose to do this series. Well here's the answer, setting affects people.  Especially it affects your characters.  Their drives, dreams, motivations, how they feel (excitement, boredom, anger, resentment, etc.)  And changing settings can have a huge impact on them and what choices they make with their lives and how they react to it.  You've seen me go through a range of emotions and seen some parts about me I've never revealed to you before (like saying goodbye to a place and thanking it for all it had done for us).  Can a place be sentient or aware? ...

Here is part 3 of my 4 part video series on my wife and I moving from Santa Cruz to the Monterey Bay area.  The experience itself has given me loads of ideas and I hope it's been doing the same for you.  You've seen me going through a range of emotions and hearing how I feel about leaving the place that's been home and my inspiration for the last 4 years.  But with any new experience you can find a lot of ideas if you just keep your eyes and mind open.

And here is part 2 of "My Setting Is Changing". This time we're starting to say farewell to some very close friends...

Just uploaded a new video on my Vlog/YouTube channel about "Setting". This is the first of a few installments about how a person's setting can affect them, whether they are a character in a story or an author in real life. Please check it out and leave a comment either here or on my YouTube channel underneath the video. Thank you.

Settings... where does your story take place?  In Heaven?  Hell?  Another planet? This world?  If it is this world, what time frame?  Middle Ages? The future?  World War I or II?  Another time entirely?  And how does that setting affect the rest of your story?  Does the environment your characters are living in shape their personalities or how they get by in life?  Are they isolated with few friends because of the terrain or location? So many questions right?  But this is something that every writer has to deal with when telling a story. And of course your setting can also shape what genre of story you are telling.  Take Frank Herbert's "DUNE".  The setting of Arakis had a major role in shaping the main character Paul and his mother.  From leaving a world of splendor with water and lush vegetation to going to a barren desert planet, where water was more valuable than money or any riches.  The dangerous and hars...

I added a new installment on my Vlog about writing.  Here's the video from my YouTube channel  "AllanTheAuthor".  This particular video is all about animals and how they can affect your writing.  Whether it be giving you ideas, or being used as plot points to help move a story along, or even finding out the animal has a story of its own. I hope you all enjoy it and if you feel like it check out my other writing videos on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/user/akrummenacker?feature=guide

The numbers for Part 1 were looking very good for my new Vlog, but not so much on Part 2.  I wondered if people hadn’t been able to find the link for it so I’m posting it here.  Hope you all enjoy meeting the SS Palo Alto and how it helped inspire and entire novel. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hpr7d3aQ0z4

Okay, the wait is over.  Here is the link to my new Vlog. This is part 1 of 2. The link to part 2 is just below the video. If you have trouble finding it let me know and I'll do a separate post to it here.  Remember, this is not intended to replace my blogs, I'll still be doing them.  This Vlog unites the two and gives some actual visuals to help clarify some of what I've covered.  I hope you enjoy and please leave some comments either here or at my YouTube channel below the videos.  Thank you. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJ4UFgzIPsI

Well, for some time now I've considered adding Vlogging to my arsenal of writing tools.  And today, I took my very first steps.  A few weeks before college let out, I was speaking to a classmate about how I wished I'd had a digital camera to record some of the dances we were doing in class so I could rehearse at home.  She told me she had a Bloggie camera that she didn't like and would let me have if I: 1) Managed to get it to operate, because she couldn't and 2) Promised to record her performances in class. Well I agreed and succeeded at doing both.  So that's how I wound up with a Bloggie camera.  Mind you, I later learned that the reason she couldn't get it to work was software incompatibility with her computer.  And by the time I figured out the problem and how she could get around it she already had gotten new camera which was better suited for her needs.  She informed that the Bloggie had been given to her as a gift, so she wasn't out of ...

This took me totally by surprise and I'm very flattered and honored.  I hadn't thought my blogging was having such an effect on people.  I want to thank Red and Flame at  http://firestone2012.wordpress.com/  for nominating me in the first place.    Now in accordance with the rules of the award I'm supposed to reveal 7 facts about myself so here goes. 1 - Was a foster child at the age of 8 months and adopted at the age of 4 years by the Krummenackers. 2 - I studied and performed magic illusions in my teens and still have a lot of my equipment and skills. 3 - I've been taking dance lessons (mostly in Ballroom and Improvisational Dance) since I turned 41. 4 - I played violin in grade school and a little guitar in high school. 5 - Studied to be a Physical Therapist back in 1982 only to drop out, I was getting too emotionally overwrought over the people I couldn't help. 6 - Went back to college 2 years ago and got my A. S. in Human Services 7 - M...

I'm really excited, today is my very FIRST guest blog. It's at 10 Day Book Club. The link is below, I hope you all get to check it out. http:// 10daybookclub.wordpress.com/ 2012/05/02/ story-ideas-a-walk-through-life /