Kenn Ghannon: Blog

I'll let you in on something that probably isn't a secret: I read more than I write. It's my form of entertainment; a way I can 'veg out' and leave the real world behind. Many times, I'll find inspiration in another author's work or maybe I can take what has been written and wonder how I would handle a similar situation. When I'm reading, I have a number of pet peeves. I'm going to tell you my biggest one.

Every story requires a certain suspension of disbelief. It's the price you pay for reading fiction; you know it's not real so you 'bypass' some things that are obviously unlikely if not impossible. I feel the author is responsible for not breaking that suspension by not doing anything so outlandish that there's no way it could possibly happen. I have a very difficult time reading a story where the author goes so far that there's no way I can keep that disbelief from creeping in.

The most obvious way that an author can break the suspension is through dialog. If you're character is a 14-year-old, he should probably talk like a 14-year-old. (That's one of the great things about the Harry Potter series to my mind; book one talks about like you'd expect an 11-year-old to talk and as the series progresses, the conversation gets more 'adult'-like.) His maturity level should be the maturity level of a 14-year-old (unless you prove he's a super-genius - but even then, believe it or not, a 14-year-old super-genius talks quite a bit like a 14-year-old non-genius because language skills improve with age - you don't just wake up one day and start sounding like you've swallowed the SATs). This means that there is likely no way in hell a 14-year-old is going to say something like '...I tacitly agreed to another meeting...' or '...to put it in perspective...'. Now, I can buy that one or the other might be used - but both together in the same conversation? It's not going to happen - and it intrinsically breaks the suspension of disbelief.

So, that is my biggest pet peeve. Specifically, having an x-year-old character who doesn't speak or act like an x-year-old character. If you don't know how an x-year-old character speaks or how they act, you probably should go and be around x-year-olds to study them - it'll make your writing so much better!!

Not writing, that's for certain. After finishing 'Pretty CAPable', I started writing the sequel 'Fairly CAPable' - but I just wasn't feeling it. 'Pretty' was a very tight story (at least, in my mind) and I had a definite sequence of events that I wanted to depict. I'm not having similar success with 'Fairly'. The other Swarm writer's warned me about taking on too many diverse personalities with Calix's harem and perhaps they were right. The problem is that in building the personalities of Calix's concubines, I somehow lost Calix; the story I was writing became more diffuse as I threw more personalities at it.

So, I did what I always do - I took a break. Re-charged. I worked on other stories I've started and haven't finished (including some work on my upcoming 'magnum opus' that I started over three years ago and have yet to finish - but I'm getting close; I'm 18.25 chapters in and my thought is I can finish it out in 6 more or so - maybe less). I put together some new stories. I relaxed. Heck, I haven't even checked my email account in weeks (and I can see that I have HUNDREDS of emails in there that are going to take some time to get through).

So, for those of you waiting patiently on Calix's next adventure - I apologize but I'm not certain when it will be ready. I really need to out-think the story at this point and I'm not there yet. As for any other ramblings bouncing through my head - that's going to be a bit as well. I've got two vacations coming up in the next few months that I need to do some extensive preparation for and that's going to consume a lot of what little free time I have. Plus, I have my oldest in her first year of college who is having trouble acclimating so that's time consuming as well. No offense, but family, work - the ubiquitous Real Life - has to come before writing. At least, for now.

Thanks for your understanding and patience,
Kenn Ghannon

Please accept my most humble apologies that the final chapter to 'Pretty CAPable' is a day late. There was an issue yesterday and I wasn't able to post. The conclusion has currently been submitted and should be available shortly.

It has come to my attention that Chapter 8 of 'Pretty CAPable' was long enough to warrant 2 pages in the SOL system; that wasn't intentional but it is what it is. The problem arises from the page separation occurring between the letters 's' and 'a' in the word 'sane'.

I have no idea how the SOL system manages to divide a single file into the two html pages; it is - quite honestly - an awesome system and my kudos to whomever wrote it, runs it and maintains it. Since I don't know how it works its magic, I also have no idea how to fix it so that it doesn't separate the page in the middle of a word; all I do is upload the chapter in a single html file - SOL does the rest. If anyone knows how I can 'force' the system to break in a certain place, I'd appreciate it if you told me so I can fix this.

Thanks!
Kenn Ghannon

I apologize; the Pretty CAPable update is a day late. There's really no excuse though I can point to my internet being down since last Saturday and installation of a new SSD drive on my computer (for which I re-installed my Operating System). However, though I was and am still installing a number of programs, I was essentially done late yesterday afternoon.

Like I said, I really have no excuse - but I hope you enjoy the new chapter anyway.