{"id":31969,"date":"2018-03-08T08:18:29","date_gmt":"2018-03-08T13:18:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/?p=31969"},"modified":"2018-03-08T08:18:29","modified_gmt":"2018-03-08T13:18:29","slug":"sean-grigsby-five-things-i-learned-writing-smoke-eaters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/2018\/03\/08\/sean-grigsby-five-things-i-learned-writing-smoke-eaters\/","title":{"rendered":"Sean Grigsby: Five Things I Learned Writing Smoke Eaters"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>When dragons rise from the earth, firefighters are humanity\u2019s last line of defense, in this wild near-future fantasy.<\/em><\/p>\n

Firefighter Cole Brannigan is on the verge of retirement after 30 years on the job, and a decade fighting dragons. But during his final fire call, he discovers he\u2019s immune to dragon smoke. It\u2019s such a rare power that he\u2019s immediately conscripted into the elite dragon-fighting force known as the Smoke Eaters. \u00a0Retirement cancelled, Brannigan is re-assigned as a lowly rookie, chafing under his superiors. So when he discovers a plot to take over the city\u2019s government, he takes matters into his own hands. With hundreds of innocent civilians in the crosshairs, it\u2019s up to Brannigan and his fellow Smoke Eaters to repel the dragon menace.<\/em><\/p>\n

1- Simple concepts can ignite big stories<\/h2>\n

A lot of people agree that what makes a great story is its complexity: complex characters, a plot that winds and twists so much, you\u2019ll look over your shoulder to make sure David Bowie isn\u2019t following you with Muppets and a bulge in his magical, gray yoga pants.<\/p>\n

But this is not the same as a concept or hook, and I\u2019m sure you\u2019ll find that a great story also has a very distilled description.<\/p>\n

Before Smoke Eaters<\/em>, I\u2019d written four novels and all of them took at least a sentence to describe. Then came the day I was sitting in a firefighter class where the three-word premise of Smoke Eaters<\/em> popped into my head: firefighters vs. dragons.<\/p>\n

When I told my agent and others about it, they reacted with so much enthusiasm. Wow. Three words did that?! Many were surprised it hadn\u2019t been done before, it makes so much sense. And I guess the fact that I\u2019m a professional firefighter helps.<\/p>\n

Now that the book is finished, you can add a few more words to it: firefighters vs. dragons in the future. There\u2019s a lot more going on, of course, but that simple concept sparked a much larger story.<\/p>\n

2 \u2013 You have to fight for your write<\/h2>\n

Time to write isn\u2019t going to fall into your lap. You have to make time. Huh. Seems like you might have heard that a few times before. Maybe even on this website.<\/p>\n

As a firefighter, I work for twenty-four hours and then go home for forty-eight before I have to do it all over again. I\u2019m also a dad to two toddlers and an eight-year-old stepson.<\/p>\n

My daily writing goal is a thousand words. No, I don\u2019t always make it. When I write at the firehouse, I have to ensure we don\u2019t have anything else going on like a school presentation, testing hydrants and hoses, or inspecting businesses for fire hazards. That\u2019s not even taking into account the emergencies I have to respond to. There were many times while writing Smoke Eaters<\/em> (and still) where I would be on a roll at the keyboard and the emergency tones would sound. Then the voice over the radio would send me to put out a fire, perform CPR on someone who overdosed on heroin, or hold pressure to stop the bleeding from a man who decided it was a great day for self-castration.<\/p>\n

But then I would return to the firehouse and get back to writing.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t get me wrong. Some days it just ain\u2019t happening. I\u2019m either too tired or there\u2019s just too much going on. That\u2019s reasonable. I\u2019m here to tell you that, no, you don\u2019t have to write every day. But it\u2019s great to try.<\/p>\n

3 \u2013 It\u2019s okay to write what you know<\/h2>\n

For a long time I heard the writing advice \u201cwrite what you know.\u201d I thought it was bullshit. Yeah, yeah there are many ways to define that little pearl of wisdom, but I\u2019m talking face value. For me, writing is the same as reading something unexpected. It\u2019s an adventure. Fighting fire is something I know. Where would the surprise be? I didn\u2019t want to write about firefighters, I wanted to write about lesbian, laser-wheeled motorcycle gangs in space. And I did.<\/p>\n

After I got the idea for Smoke Eaters<\/em>, though, I knew I could do it my way. I could talk about what it meant to be a firefighter, the culture, the stress, all the many, many swear words. But I could also throw in all kinds of curiosities from science fiction, fantasy, and horror.<\/p>\n

Which brings us to\u2026<\/p>\n

4 \u2013 You can write whatever the fuck you want!<\/h2>\n

Dragons? Check. Firefighters? Check.<\/p>\n

But what you might not know about Smoke Eaters<\/em> is that I\u2019ve also included ghosts, robots (including a metal Dalmatian that only speaks Korean), a cyberpunk Canada, laser swords, power suits, and a bunch of other cool stuff.<\/p>\n

Why? Because I wanted to. I fully believe in letting your imagination roam wild. That\u2019s why I love writing speculative fiction. This isn\u2019t to say that you should get to the end of your epic fantasy and have space unicorns invade and poke everybody in the butt with their horns. But, hell, if you\u2019ve done the preliminary work where that would make sense: go for it!<\/p>\n

Sometimes when I write, a thought tries to dissuade me from doing a certain thing. A few times this is just logic. Most of the time, however, this is pure, assholey fear. Fuck fear. If it\u2019s what you want to do and it makes sense: do it. Don\u2019t hold yourself back because you think the market wouldn\u2019t want Karen and Debbie to get married on top of a giant puff of cotton candy in the Triangulum galaxy.<\/p>\n

When I first set out to write Smoke Eaters<\/em>, I kept seeing the beginning in my head. It was an ash-covered wasteland where a ragged ghost (wraith) floated over the desolation, groaning. I don\u2019t know where the hell this image came from! I thought I was going to be writing about dragons. But as I developed the story, the wraiths became a big part of the plot and I tied it all together. Now, I couldn\u2019t imagine the book without them.<\/p>\n

You are in charge of your story.<\/p>\n

5 \u2013 keep moving forward<\/h2>\n

So, while Smoke Eaters <\/em>is my debut novel, it\u2019s the fifth that I\u2019ve written and the second I\u2019ve had on submission. I\u2019m on the low end of the spectrum, too. Some writers had to write a ton more than that before they got published.<\/p>\n

Rejection, obviously, is a big part of publishing, but there are a lot of other flaming balls of shit that can fall into your path. The only thing you can do about it is to write more stuff, new stuff, different stuff. Don\u2019t get hung up on one work. You still might sell it later, but I am a big proponent of starting something completely new each and every time. You get better that way. I talk about persistence a lot on my podcast, Cosmic Dragon, and in general. It\u2019s what separates pros from coulda-beens.<\/p>\n

And persistence doesn\u2019t stop with the business side. I still read books on craft, listen to podcasts about writing, and watch YouTube videos about it. Never stop learning. It\u2019s something they teach us in the fire service, and it\u2019s just as valid in the business of lying on paper for a living.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Sean Grigsby is a professional firefighter in central Arkansas, where he writes about lasers, aliens, and guitar battles with the Devil when he\u2019s not fighting dragons.<\/em> He hosts the Cosmic Dragon podcast and grew up on Goosebumps books in Memphis, TN.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sean Grigsby: Website<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Smoke Eaters: Indiebound<\/span><\/a> | Amazon<\/span><\/a> | B&N<\/span><\/a> | Kobo<\/span><\/a> | BAM<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When dragons rise from the earth, firefighters are humanity\u2019s last line of defense, in this wild near-future fantasy. Firefighter Cole Brannigan is on the verge of retirement after 30 years on the job, and a decade fighting dragons. But during his final fire call, he discovers he\u2019s immune to dragon smoke. It\u2019s such a rare […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-31969","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-theramble","8":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pv7MR-8jD","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31969"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31969\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31974,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31969\/revisions\/31974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}