by john | Dec 19, 2012 | Real Life
For keeping the discussion civil on my last post. I got a lot of comments from people I know, some from people I don’t know, and at least one from a guy I’ve known since elementary school! Everyone agrees that we have to do something to prevent another tragedy like what happened in Newtown.
So, since we need to be the change we want to see in the world, I’m going to start doing my part to work against the glorification of the gun in my own work. I’m not sure exactly what form that’s going to take – it’s not like Bubba is suddenly going to stop carrying a gun. That would be silly, and out of character. But he might solve a few more problems with brains than bullets, and maybe Jimmy won’t be carrying a shotgun on the cover of the next Black Knight Chronicles book.
Let’s be clear – I don’t think urban fantasy novels are big contributor to gun violence in America. But we may be a tiny part. And maybe that butterfly effect is real. Maybe a small change in my books can create a large change in my world. I have to think so. I have to hope so. Because my ranting on Facebook isn’t enough. Victor Cruz writing on his shoes isn’t enough. Tom Brady wearing a sticker on his helmet isn’t enough. Bob Costas talking isn’t enough. President Obama tearing up on camera isn’t enough. We as a nation have gotten to a place where life isn’t precious to everyone anymore. And I don’t just mean the lives of the children and teachers that were lost. I mean the shooter, too. The mentally ill young man who didn’t get the help he needed.
We failed them all.
That’s why it hurts so much, because you failed them too. I did. I failed my society because I haven’t done everything I can for people who need my help. I’ve turned away from people who are mentally unstable because they make me uncomfortable, without doing everything I can to help. I’ve done my part to make guns “cool,” by putting them in the hands of my wisecracking characters and showing little to no consequence for their reckless handling of heavy weaponry.
Now look, I don’t want everybody to hold hands and sing “Kumbaya.” For the first point, I don’t know where your hands have been. But I do think that this is an opportunity for every one of us to look at the issues in the world around us and see if we’re doing anything to make them better. We bitch a lot. I know, I’m on Facebook, so I know exactly how much some of you bitch. And I bitch a lot, too. Now’s the time to stop bitching and make the world better.
This is a ramble, but it’s my blog, so get over it. But I think I may have meandered around to a point. Here’s my promise to you – I will be a more responsible writer in the future, and I will continue to use my writing to try and change my world for the better. Bubba will still be armed, and Jimmy will still have a shoot-first, ask questions later attitude, but I can show more consequences, and I can make it clear that I understand that I don’t live or work in a vacuum. I have already used my bully pulpit to try to subtly advance the cause of marriage equality and gay rights (and if you missed that in Back in Black, then you really weren’t paying attention), so this isn’t really a new thing for me.
What are you going to do? How are you going to be the change? Let me know in the comments, so I can hold you accountable. Because I know for damn sure my readers will hold me to it.
by john | Dec 17, 2012 | Uncategorized
And this time, I don’t mean the Jonathan Swift type of modest proposal. I actually mean that I have an idea for gun control in the US. If you’re of the opinion that no one should have guns, or that everyone should be able to have any type of gun they want for whatever reason, then don’t bother reading this, because you’re just going to think that I’m an idiot, and there are already enough people with valid reasons to think I’m an idiot, so we don’t need any more.
Let me start by saying that what happened in Connecticut was terrible, and it’s just the latest in a string of terrible things, and there should be something we can do as a society to make terrible things stop happening. And I’ll also be brutally honest and tell you that I’ve wondered a lot since Friday what part, infinitesimal as it may be, that I play in continuing the problem. You see, I worry about my characters. It may not seem like it, but I do. I worry that when people read about Bubba shooting it out with a monster in a parking lot and spraying lead around like it’s candy at a Christmas parade, that I’m doing nothing more than glorifying guns and the “shoot ’em all, let God sort ’em out” philosophy. I’m fairly certain that my sales are small enough not to have any grand influence on society as a whole, but I am concerned that in some small way, I may be part of the problem.
And as such, it’s incumbent on me to be part of the solution as well. I jokingly said to someone on Friday that we have to do something. I said “I mean, I don’t want anyone to take away my guns, but we need to do something about these assholes shooting kids.” I meant it. I own two guns – a Ruger 10-22 .22 rifle, and a 12-guage shotgun. I don’t own a handgun, but probably will at some point. I enjoy shooting. I’m pretty good at it, and it’s a skill that I enjoy exercising. I don’t hunt, because I don’t like getting up early and don’t need to hunt to survive. Plus I don’t really like getting messy, and there’s a lot of mess involved in field-dressing things.
But my point is that I am a gun owner. Neither of my guns are registered, because in North Carolina you don’t have to register long guns. I’ve never taken a class in gun safety, because I don’t have to. I received no instruction when I bought either gun, because no one had to provide it to me. And I bought both guns completely legally, one in a gun shop in Georgia, and one at a gun show in Charlotte. And if I wanted to, I could go to Walmart today and buy as many rifles and shotguns as my credit cards and cash would allow.
I would like to see some of those things change. And here is my proposal to put in place some gun controls in the US – treat them like cars.
There are about 250 million cars in the United States. There are about 270 million guns. There are about 311 million people. Cars and guns are very similar in number – statistically, almost every person in the country owns one. Obviously, that’s not true, since studies show that most people that own one gun, own multiples. Like me. I guess it’s like tattoos. I mean, how many people do you know with one tattoo? I have four. Yes, if you ask nicely, I’ll show you all of them. The only one that’s inconvenient is the one on the back of my leg, and it’s on a calf, so it’s still pretty easy to whip out.
But back to my point. In the US, if you own a car, it’s registered. If you are operating a car, you pass a basic operating exam. And you renew the registration every year, and you renew the operator’s license every few years. And if you’re operating a car, you carry liability insurance against the chance that you do something foolish and injure someone.
Now, let’s replace the word “car” with the word “gun.” There’s nothing about car ownership in the Constitution, because there weren’t cars when the document was written. But I’ve never heard anyone say that they felt there were governmental barriers to car ownership. I don’t see how this proposal for gun control really infringes on people’s ability to own a gun. You can still buy a dozen guns if you like, you just have to pay to have each one registered. Not a ton of money, but a percentage of the value of the firearm. Maybe 5%. Maybe 1%. Whatever, that’s math.
There should be some way to grandfather in existing gun owners so they wouldn’t have to register each gun they already own, but they would have to have a license to operate the guns they already own. And we’d have to pass an operator’s test. What happens if you flunk the test? I dunno, maybe your guns are confiscated for 30 days, until you re-take the test and pass. There are a lot of things to still be worked out, but even I, as an owner of multiple guns, think it’s too easy to get a gun right now.
I’m not going to bother with assault weapons, because most of the worst shootings aren’t done with assault weapons, but restricting magazine size to ten rounds is fine with me. Because if you can’t bring down anything you’re shooting at with ten rounds, you’ve got either bigger issues with your aim, or you’ve brought the wrong weapon to the boar-hunt.
So that’s my modest proposal. I expect a lot of people will hate it, but if you hate it, take a second and really think about it – if you’re a law-abiding gun owner (and several of my close friends are), what’s the real issue here? I’m not saying you can’t own whatever you want, I’m just saying that once every certain time period, you have to prove you’re competent to own a gun.
And don’t give me this BS about criminals will break whatever gun laws are put in place. I know that. But the people who have recently gone batshit and shot up schools and malls and movie theatres were otherwise law-abiding citizens who might have been stopped by a few barriers to entry to gun ownership.
Yes, you have the right to keep and bear arms. But you do not have the right to endanger others. The right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are considered inalienable and self-evident, and the document those rights are called out in is older than the AMENDMENT that gun ownership is guaranteed in. I love the Bill of Rights, and I love my guns, but I’m willing to jump through a few governmental hoops if it keeps one person alive that would have been killed by a gun in the wrong hands.
by john | Dec 15, 2012 | Real Life
In the wake of the tragic events in Connecticut yesterday, my heart goes out to the parents and families of the children, teachers and school personnel that lost their lives. I’m not a parent, so I can’t imagine what it would feel like to have my heart and soul ripped out like that. But it brings a lot of emotions to the forefront, a lot of fear, a lot of anger, and a lot of helplessness. And in America, when we feel helpless, we lash out blindly at whatever is nearest, even if they’re our friends. So you’ll see a lot of wide-ranging things on Facebook over the next week or so that will piss you off, hurt your feelings, and make you re-think people you thought were your friends.
Please don’t.
Don’t be the person that refuses to be friends with someone because they are blind on one issue, or because when they feel that an important part of their lifestyle is under attack, that they respond in kind. Take a step back, remember why you’re friends with that person, and see if there’s more than one reason. There probably is. If there are more reasons to be friends with them than there are reasons not to, then you should still be friends.
A very personal example of this is my friend Special K and I. I consider K to be one of my best friends in the world. He’s one of the guys that no matter what I need, I know I can call him and he’ll be there as soon as possible. We disagree politically more than pretty much anyone else I associate with. There’s almost no point in a political discussion that we come down on the same side on. In today’s world of wall posts, de-friending and snap judgements, there’s no way he and I should still be friends. But we are.
Because our friendship is real, and exists outside of a computer program.
Now I’m not saying that simply because you’ve accepted a friend request from someone that you ride the elevator or subway with each morning and have never spoken three words to outside of your commute, that you should listen to any kind of craziness that they’re spewing. But I am saying that if there are people that you’ve broken bread with, drank a beer with, laughed with, and had meaningful contact with – you should maybe not have a knee-jerk reaction to something they spew out on Facebook in a time of high emotion.
We need our friends. We may not need everyone that the computer tells us is a friend, but the real ones are worth more than just a button-click whenever they say something to piss you off. A real friend is someone like me & K, who can argue vehemently opposing positions, but still drink a beer together, watch a football game together, and be there for each other. Friend is a word that has a lot of meaning to me, and it’s used too lightly for my taste, but it’s one of the most important jobs that you can have. Don’t fire a real one over a political disagreement. Real friends argue.
This was not what I planned to write about. At some point in the next few days I’ll polish up my nascent idea for reforming gun control laws in the US that will likely make no one happy on any side of the issue, but I think is fair to everyone. I’m not quite ready to put that out there, and it still feels a little too soon, so I’ll let it percolate for a couple more days. For now, hug somebody you care about.
by john | Dec 13, 2012 | Uncategorized
So in my ongoing efforts to avoid getting a day job, I’m going to start offering more services to other writers here on this blog. There is a huge gap missing in the independent writing scene, and that’s developmental editing. This is the hardest type of editing, the kind that makes writers willing to give up the vast majority of their revenue to New York publishers. This is the kind of editing that every writer needs, and very few places offer.
So I’m offering it. Call it book doctoring, call it developmental editing, call it comprehensive story development, whatever. Here’s the long and the short of it. I offer the following editorial services, all quoted on a per-project basis built on an hourly rate and how long I think the job will take.
Developmental Editing – multiple passes to get the story right. This isn’t a line edit, or a copy edit, and it certainly isn’t a good proofread for grammar. This is taking the book apart and putting it back together. This might include killing off a character that’s not working, reworking point of view, adding or removing fights, nothing is off limits. This is going to be expensive, and time-consuming, and I can only do a few books each month.
Line & Copy Editing – This is where we make sure that the book is written well. We go through and make sure character names are consistent, that weapons tech is correct, that people are the same height throughout the book, that the sentences make sense and we know who is talking and who they’re talking about. This is a lot easier than developmental editing, and I can do a couple of these each week.
Proofreading – This is the grammar edit. We’ll go through the manuscript twice to make sure that everything is spelled right, the commas are in the right places, and that the place names are correct.
Formatting & Ebook Conversion – I can do this, too, and quite inexpensively. I can format for Barnes & Noble, Amazon and Kobo. I can job it out for Smashwords. I can also format your book for print.
I don’t do cover design. You can look at my Bubba covers and see the truth in that statement. That said, if you like the Bubba covers and would like something in that vein, let me know.
If you’re interested in any of these services, contact me at johnhartness AT gmail DOT com.
by john | Dec 12, 2012 | Uncategorized
So hey there. It’s hard to get back in the habit of blogging regularly when you’ve been the kind of slackass I have lately, but I’m working on it. Just wanted to pop by and give y’all a heads up on the classes I’ll be offering and the cons I’ll be attending in the next couple of months. All these classes are offered through Carolina Learning Connection, and you can click the linky to sign up.
December 29 – Self-Promotion and Marketing for the Writer – this is how to use social media to sell yourself, how to market your book, how to dress and behave at conventions, essentially the entire guide to how to sell yourself and your books, all in a 4-hour workshop.
January 5 – The Next Step – What to do with a short story or manuscript after you’ve finished it. We’ll talk about all the various forms of publishing from magazines and literary journals to self-publishing or selling s series to a NY publisher.
January 19 – Self-Publishing – We’ll talk about what it is, what it isn’t, why should, why you shouldn’t, and what to expect from a self-publishing experience.
February 5-26 (One Night per Week) – Novel Writing – We’ll go through the whole thing – the outlines, the pantsing, the character development, the turning points, the two and three-act structure, word count, world-building, the whole nine yards. Then you’ll need to go take The Next Step class to figure out what to do with it.
February 27-March 13 (one night per week) – Short Story Writing – like the one above, but for short stories. Duh.
March 30 – Teaching Self-Promotion again. Most writers need this more than any class I teach. Less of them sign up for it. Silly writers.
Conventions and Appearances –
Sunday 12/16 – Charlotte Comicon – Come on out to our new, larger location and check out this awesome one-day family-friendly con! I’ll be there with books, t-shirts and other awesome Christmas gifts.
January 11-13 – Illogicon 2 – I went up to hang out at this new con last year, now I’m going back as a guest! Should be a lot of fun, but still pretty low-key. I dig low-key.
February 22-24 – Mysticon – This will be my first trip to Mysticon, so y’all come out and make a brother feel welcome!
So that’s what I’m up to the next few months. Come out and say hello, especially this weekend at the Charlotte ComiCon!
