Sean Miller's Stories

“Summer” is a theme in my new novel, The Pieces of Stan Rosenstern. There’s summer heartache and romance, challenges between groups, and part is set at a cottage on a fictional lake. And what the hell, here’s one of my favorite songs.

Today was the first day nice enough to walk to the Market, which is the setting of 2 big dates in my new novel. The couples’ first date, as well as when the male gets to meet the female’s sisters.

It was ten degrees today. I walked down Sparks Street, one of the main settings in my new novel. The main character works here and a few dates between the hero and heroin occur here.

Bob B of Loose Cannon Press reviewed my reading for OIW Reading Night:  (My first official literary review)

Sean Miller, ‘Confronting My Brother’, from an untitled novel in progress

This was an excerpt from an earthy and realistic novel, dealing with deep relationships and personal emotional struggles. We hope to see this novel published soon and this section was an encouraging taste. The computer voice rendition of Sean’s work makes us realize how blessed we are in this digital age.

 

 

There is a unique process to preparing for a literary reading.  In January I got an e-mail saying that “OIW Reading night” would take place February 23^rd, and we’d each have six minutes to read a piece.  My brain was sent in motion.  I thought, “what’s an intense, symbolic six-minute selection of my new novel manuscript to read?” I like to read intense, action-packed sections.  They hold the listener’s attention the best and are symbolic of your current work as a whole.

I decided on a selection.  I picked the “showdown between the two brothers” at the end of section one. It is symbolic of the two brothers conflicting lifestyles.  I started editing the selection.  At first, the selection was a minute and a half too long.  I then focused in on the selection.  There were many sentences in the excerpt that were just too long.  For example, one sentence in the novel read “Wanna know the truth Lorne?” By changing it to “something else Lorne” I saved half a minute.  It took a bit, but I got a seven and a half minute reading down to six minutes.

Because my computer reads for me, I can concentrate on my audience during readings.  I started the reading and looked around the room.  People were smiling, blinking, taking it all in.  When my OIW contemporary Darren Jerome turned to me and said “Great reading Sean” I knew that my piece stayed in his mind.  This is the author’s goal in reading.

These songs come into play throughout my new novel. I had one of these songs in mind while plotting. Some songs are referred to directly in the text. Others just best describe situations and incidents.

Jacksoul

Bolton

Lighthouse

Dan Hill

Jimmy Cliff

I used to preview excerpts of my novel on my website.  But I must say, when it comes to writing I’m a traditionalist.  I love books.  Many agree that there’s a smell to a new book, and joy you get from cracking its spine open for the first time.

Some say there’s a formula to writing love stories: boy meets girl and they fall in love. Boring!  As my OAC English teacher used to say, “the whole point of writing is to write something new.” You gotta send your characters through some turbulence before they get to the end.  Here’s a sketch of the love story in my new manuscript.  (No, you won’t win anything if you remember it when you read the novel.)

• Boy      meets girl.
• Boy      learns that girl is taken.
• Girl      gives boy hope.
• Girl      reaffirms she’s with another
• Friend      gets tip relationship is over
• Boy woos      girl
• Boy wins      girl
• Boy and      girl get together
• Girl      needs a breather
• Boy realizes      he likes another
• Boy takes      it too casual with another
• Boy loses      another
• Boy wins      back the first girl

Personal journals are a great source for novel ideas.  According to my journal, on June 17, 2004, I noted that the corner of Sparks & Elgin in Ottawa rocks like the corner of College and Clinton in Toronto.  Immediately, I thought, I had an idea for a novel.  So, I began writing.  This book was going to be different from my previous two novel manuscripts.  For once, I literally pictured the three sections of the novel before I began writing.  I even ordered in my imagination the scenes that would occur in each of the three sections.  I had sections two and  three mapped out, but I was sketchy on the opening section.

After I finished section two, I realized that section one wasn’t as good as it could be.  So, I scrapped section one.  I wrote another section that I thought was better.

Last June, I finally got the courage to show an editor my manuscript.  She liked it, but commented that section one didn’t connect to sections two and three.  She wrote four pages of comments of how I could connect the three sections.  She saw a theme that would prevail if I reversed the first two parts.  As I got into the second draft, I figured out a new storyline for section two.

I’m coming to the end of draft two.  I’m changing the ending and the novel’s title.  Titles aren’t my strong point.  I may ask friends for their input for the new title.