Reading Books Can Help You Write Books – and Fix Story Problems

 

Photo credit: Unknown creator on Pixabay

 

When I was a kid, I wanted to be one thing when I grew up: An astronaut. And I planned to get there by first going into the Air Force. With this plan in place, I threw myself into learning everything I could about space and jets. My parents probably thought it was cute that I was reading books about jets. But then I became deaf at age 13 and there went my plans to join the Air Force and become an astronaut. Bummer.

 

But I never lost my love for either of those things. But nowadays, my fascination has more to do with space and not jets.

 

I couldn’t travel into space in real life, but as a writer, I could write about these subjects. Not only this, I could write stories of characters traveling through space. I’ve written a children’s book with just such a character, and I plan to submit it in the near future.

 

Meanwhile, I’m writing short stories and poems about outer space, objects in space, and space travel. I even have a poem about something related to a phenomenon discovered in space in my poetry book, Watch This Space (and, no, the “Space” in the book’s title is not a reference to outer space, though when I think about it now, I find it ironic that I wrote a poem about something occurring in space that was discovered JUST from observing space!).

 

One short story I have written, however, left me doubtful about it for a while there. I knew it needed work, but I couldn’t figure out what kind of work it needed, exactly.

 

I got the idea to write this story after reading the science fiction novel Obsidian by Bryan W. Alaspa. A character in that story, an astronaut, thinks about a myth he read that might have something to do with an episode his crew member was going through. I was so fascinated by this myth, that I asked myself one of the most common questions that writers ask to get ideas: “What if?”

 

I decided to explore the possibility of this myth being true in a story! It’s a science fiction story, but I wasn’t happy with the first draft. It just fell short. I wrote it as a parody story in response to a submission call. But when I reread their guidelines and saw the prerequisite “NO ALIENS!” I rewrote the story as a regular sci-fi story and figured it was at least passable. Still, I wasn’t happy with it, so I just put it away for a while, figuring I would go back to it later.

 

I have tinkered with that story ever since as ideas came to me, but nothing really came out of it.

 

Then I was added to an anthology that had a theme which I could fit into this story.

 

And, thankfully, the guidelines didn’t state that they didn’t want stories with aliens. That meant I could submit this story!

 

But I needed to fix it first.

 

The first thing I did was revise the story so that it fit with the anthology’s theme.

 

But even after doing this, I STILL needed to figure out a better ending for the story! The original ending was just too “meh.” And it didn’t really offer any ideas on what happened to my characters.

 

I let the story sit again, deciding to relegate this problem to that “workshop” in my mind.

 

Then I started reading the novel The Martian by Andy Weir. I was sorting through ebooks available to read on my Libby app one day and, remembering how much we loved the movie, I decided to start reading the novel.

 

And reading that novel has helped me figure out how to fix the ending of my story!

 

Like Mark in The Martian, my character is stranded on a planet. He has no way to get back to the shuttle hovering in orbit, and radio communication was destroyed by the hostile aliens he and his crew member were ambushed by. Also like Mark, my character is an engineer. So reading about Mark’s train of thought and actions to figure out how to stay alive on Mars until he is rescued gave me an idea: My character, who is also an engineer, needs to be doing the same thing! Not surrendering to the aliens holding him captive, but figuring out a way to escape and notifying his crew member on the shuttle that he needs to be rescued!

 

With this knowledge, I was able to once again approach revisions of my short story with a fresh perspective. The revisions are going well so far. I’m still reading The Martian, and it continues to inform and inspire me about the thought processes my character should have as an astronaut who is also an engineer. The novel is amazing, and I am glad it has helped me to figure out just what kind of ending my short story needs.

Deadline Reminders

As someone who is forgetful, I have found that using sticky notes to help me remember things has been most helpful.

 

 

I use these for my writing as well. I often grab the sticky notes to write on if I need specific information about a submission call, a reminder to pitch somewhere, a reminder to submit a story somewhere, or if I need to follow up with someone on a certain day.

 

Ever since I started using a planner to help manage my days as a writer and author, the sticky notes have also been useful in another way: Acting as a reminder for deadlines.

 

 

 This particular planner includes a full month spread at the start of each month’s days, so I use this to also note any deadlines for submissions long in advance. Or sometimes I will add deadlines when I learn about them.

 

This, too, has been immensely useful in helping me to stay on top of deadlines coming up.

 

But sometimes, I forget to check the monthly spread! Oops! I try to check it every Sunday, just to see what is coming up in the next week, but of course, I tend to forget to do this. Sigh.

 

Even so, this method of reminding me about deadlines has helped a lot, and I still keep using it.

 

The deadlines I include in the monthly spread are both for submissions I have already committed to via the editor as well as “maybes” that I am interested in, but not sure yet if I’ll have anything to submit to in time. (If I do have anything that might fit with a forthcoming deadline, I will submit to it right away! For example, I had a short story that fit a theme for a submission call, so I sent my story off right after I learned about it.)

 

In the past, I have written my deadlines on calendars, but these days, the planner (and the sticky notes!) work better. I don’t remember to look at my calendar every day but I DO remember to look at my planner every day, so it has been more effective as a reminder of any deadlines coming up.

 

The thing that really made this method stick for me is to make it a daily routine to check my planner. Unlike some other writers, I have something going on EVERY DAY. So I started grabbing my planner every morning when it was time to get busy with the writing stuff. The only days I don’t use the planner is if I’m too sick to do anything or I’m in the hospital. Otherwise, I use my planner every day – even on my birthday and holidays!

 

 

When it comes to trying to remember to do things, I usually make it a part of my routine – whether it’s the morning routine, weekend routine or a seasonal routine. Routines are the saving grace for anyone who tends to forget things. If I make it a routine to grab my planner when I start my writing work for the day, then I will likely notice those reminders. I just need to create a routine to start checking the monthly spread every weekend! Maybe using a sticky note will help too.

Writing to Inspire

 

 

At the start of every new week, I try to select the “right” book to promote next. Sometimes I will pick a book to promote if its “book birthday” is coming up, or I’ll select a book if it has a character or theme that matches a certain day coming up (like the children’s book A Million Doughnuts for National Doughnut Day).

 

But this week, I knew what book to promote without having to think about it.

 

On January 7, 2026, an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Macklin Good, an unarmed 37-year-old mother of three. This murder sent shockwaves and anger throughout the country. Many people took to social media to share their outrage over this killing.

 

I was affected by this on a personal level.

 

That a woman was murdered by ICE.

 

That a mother was murdered by ICE.

 

That a poet was murdered by ICE.

 

That a member of the LGBTQ community was murdered by ICE.

 

THAT AN UNARMED AMERICAN CITIZEN WAS MURDERED BY ICE.

 

An American citizen.

 

Not an undocumented immigrant. Not a terrorist. Not someone pointing a gun or posing a threat with a weapon to anyone.

 

An American citizen.

 

And like many other poets responding to this outrage, I wrote my own poem about this incident. A poem I did not share online, because it’s going into a poetry book that I am writing. But I responded to it by writing a poem.

 

Just as I have responded to many other things by writing a poem. In fact, my poetry book, Other, contains poems I have written in response to things: Religious extremism, women’s fight for equality, disability rights, and LGBTQ rights.

 

I wrote those poems all in support of those rights, and I hoped that the poems would inspire people during this time of darkness that this country is in, when the war against the LGBTQ community is still going on and women are STILL fighting for their rights – reproductive rights among them.

 

So I promoted Other this week. I hoped that these poems would inspire people in those communities, who I wrote these poems for. (Well, as a disabled asexual woman, some of those poems were personal). It has gotten a good response from a few people. I know this book won’t create the kind of change I want to see happen in this country, but I hope that it can, at least, empower the readers who are in those groups and give them the strength to keep up the fight.

 

Hopefully one day, we won’t have to keep fighting.

 

Rest in peace, Renee.