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M.D. Tolman

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February 2018

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What’s your advice for aspiring writers?

M.D. Tolman 1. Become a story teller first, a writer second.

Realize that "writing" is just a medium. What you're using it for is to translate your imagination int…more1. Become a story teller first, a writer second.

Realize that "writing" is just a medium. What you're using it for is to translate your imagination into a a form that others will be able to see and understand. While good writing skills will help you write a clearer picture, no amount of writing skills will be able to help you if you don't have a clear and vibrant world inside your head to begin with.

The world you write on paper will almost always be a touch dimmer than the one in your head. So if you want the world on paper to be bright, you'd better make sure the world in your head is dazzling!

2. Let your curiosity drive you!

Yes you are writing fictional events in a fictional world, but while the fantastic might draw peoples' attention, it's the things they can relate to that will keep them there.

Understand feelings, emotions, personality types, politics, careers. Learn peoples' motives, fears, hopes, desires. Learn history, trades, computer sciences, math. You don't have to be an expert at any of these, but all of these together will help you build a far more realistic world... oh... and also be careful of the NSA while looking up 100 ways to kill someone.... Just saying... better safe than sorry :P

3. Getting your Point Across > Writing Styles

I see many authors spend the first few years of their writing, trying to mimic the style of a famous author they love. While this in itself is not bad, when it gets to the point of micromanaging your writing to match the exact format, you're really just holding yourself back.

As said in the first piece of advice, As a writer, you're trying to translate YOUR thoughts onto paper. The person you're mimicking was trying to translate THEIR thoughts onto paper. Your brain and their brain are not the same. Don't try to bottleneck your brain through someone else's style.

In all honesty, grammar, spelling, style, all of these can be superseded by storytelling. iff i right lik dis it iz distrackting.... But if I make a character who has been known to have a strange manner of talking speak like that, it becomes endearing. Get your story across. If that involves breaking up paragraphs, do it. If that involves spelling something oddly, do it. If that involves making a page's writing in the shape of a fish, so help me that's awesome! Do it!

As long as it ADDS to the storytelling, and doesn't DISTRACT the reader. Do it.

4. Become the Expert of Cause and Effect by Asking "Why?"

Remember when you were a kid, and you'd just ask "Why? Why? Why?" until your parents kindly told you to play outside and threw you out the door? ...No? ....Just me? Ah well... You need to tap into that again!

Don't just think about what your characters will do and who they will be... ask yourself WHY?

Why would they need to fight this evil? Why would this evil be there in the first place? Why can't anyone else fight them? Why would the events of this book matter? Why is it hard for this character to do this? Why did he become this way? Why will doing this change him?

Once you ask enough whys, you'll start figuring out how's... then from there the what's tend to take a life of their own as "Wait. He is like this, and was changed like this, so there's no way he would do this! He'd do this instead!"

Everything in this world is cause and effect. Everything in your world can be as well. Figure out the causes at the start of the book so you can better understand the effects at the end.

5. You are Going to Stink

First drafts are awful.... short.... self contradicting... but that's okay, because first drafts are not meant to be published.

First works, may also be awful. I have written seven complete novels at this point? Maybe a bit more? (I have who knows how many half finished ones) And I've only published two. The first book I published was actually about the fifth book I wrote, and even that book I see ways to improve on. But that's okay. Because even though in my eyes it may be awful, people have come up to me and told me how it changed their lives. So as an author I call it a win.

Everyone stinks at something day 1. Even the most "Naturally gifted person" will write a first work that is far from the best they can do. But the only way to get rid of a stink, is to air it out. So keep writing! Keep letting other people read your works. It will feel awkward and scary but that's how you grow... both in skills and in confidence. If you reread your work and it looks awful... realize that just means you can still go farther. DON'T think that it means that no one could possibly enjoy your work! (Artists are known for having far more refined and picky tastes than the average admirer of their work. It's half the reason we can make work people enjoy!)

6. Final Piece of Advice: Don't Feel Tied to Other Authors' Advice!

Yes... this is self contradicting.... However it is ultimately true. As an author, you want to find and refine YOUR style of writing. And it possibly could be a style no one has ever seen before. There seems to be hundreds of blogs out there writing "The PROPER Way to Write ____" but realize this is all just advice an author learned trying to find their own style.

Don't limit yourself by other peoples' limitations! At the end of the day, the only thing that matters is "Did readers enjoy your book." So read the advice from others. Learn from their mistakes. Analyze, think about what caused them vs what they say caused them. Look for ways to apply it to your style. But don't just follow word for word what every blog tells you. You'll go nuts! There is so much conflicting advice out there and they all work to write great books! Writing is not a systematic checklist. It's an expression of who you are and what you believe! Know others, know yourself, Write on!(less)

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Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

M.D. Tolman The Wolf of Class 1D was an idea I had wanted to write for a long time. Though the characters are fictitious, it is possibly one of the most personal …moreThe Wolf of Class 1D was an idea I had wanted to write for a long time. Though the characters are fictitious, it is possibly one of the most personal stories I'd written, inspired by my own life, growing up as a "sensitive" guy. I wrote it during the start of a difficult time in life as well where I had just been involved in an injury that made me lose the use of both my legs and everything seemed to be falling apart.

I had three goals for The Wolf of Class 1D:

1. I wanted to try writing a female lead. And decided to make said female lead, the kind of person I wished I had met myself while growing up. While Miyaki Mei is not perfect, she is stronger than she knows, and her strength can be very healing for others.

2. I wanted to put in as much encouragement as I could in this book. It does include warnings against pride, lust, or bitterness, but I wanted this to be a book which let people reading it realize, they are not alone, and they have the strength to get past this. I wanted them to feel stronger and more at ease after reading it.

3. I wanted to reach out to anyone else who's intuitive to peoples' emotions. The empaths/NF's of the world, and make them realize they weren't alone... and that this "sensitivity" they might have been ridiculed for growing up, comes with a great strength as well. I truly believe we are all made different... but that it's because of our differences that each person is essential to this world.(less)

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M.D. Tolman’s books

Average rating: 3.0 · 2 ratings · 2 reviews · 2 distinct works

	Aldenaire liked it 3.00 avg rating — 1 rating — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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M.D. Tolman's Blog

The Wolf of Class 1D and The Fourth Dimension

As many people have asked me how I came up with the concept of the fourth dimension used in my latest book "The Wolf of Class 1D" I decided to write a longer post giving a full breakdown of the theory I had come up with. It's a bit abstract, but for those who wanted more details on the concept, it's the best breakdown I can give! Enjoy!

https://macyaks.wordpress.com/2018/04...

M.D. is Currently Reading

M.D. Tolman is currently reading

The Silmarillion

by J.R.R. Tolkien

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Feb 17, 2018 11:13AM

M.D. Tolman is currently reading

Unfinished Tales

by J.R.R. Tolkien

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Feb 17, 2018 11:13AM

M.D. Tolman is currently reading

Mere Christianity

by C.S. Lewis

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Feb 17, 2018 11:00AM

Quotes by M.D. Tolman (?)

“You are alive. Therefore you're already invaluable and irreplaceable. Stop worrying about living up to other people's expectations! Grow into the unique you that goes beyond their expectations!”
― M.D. Tolman, The Wolf of Class 1D

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“Life will remind you more than enough times how chaotic and hectic this world is." the elderly man mused as I opened my eyes again. "Make sure you take the time to remind yourself how peaceful it can be as well.”
― M.D. Tolman, The Wolf of Class 1D

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“Time can't move back. It only goes forward. You can never go back to how things were, but as long as you are alive you can decide how you want to move forward.”
― M.D. Tolman, The Wolf of Class 1D

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message 1: by M.D.

Feb 24, 2018 08:40AM

Just a head's up! Anyone who is interested in a hard copy of The Wolf of Class 1D, the $15CAD sale ends on Thursday March 1! Plus you can currently use the code SHIPIT2018 on Lulu (until Monday the 26th at midnight) to get free shipping meaning it's ONLY $15CAD (Which is much cheaper for you in the US!)

Hope you enjoy! :) Loving hearing the feedback so far!

http://www.lulu.com/shop/md-tolman/th...

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