tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10608607854743205482024-02-18T19:42:15.109-06:00<!-- dreaming with my eyes open -->JAPartridgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14877362553462049242noreply@blogger.comBlogger57125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060860785474320548.post-65291183669011016142016-03-15T16:55:00.006-05:002016-03-15T17:01:16.518-05:00<br />
<h2>Beginning Your Story: Concentrating the Heat</h2>
<br />
By now you should have a bunch of ideas calling out to you, demanding to be explored in your story. How do you make sure your reader feels the same way? By turning up the heat. The heart of your story is conflict and the key to good conflict is highly motivated characters pursuing conflicting goals.<br />
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<h3>
Relationship Map</h3>
<br />
<ol>
<li>Write the names of all the important characters (who you believe will substantially influence the plot) arranged in a circle. You may also include names of organizations that are involved if you have not yet created a character to represent their interests.</li>
<li>Draw a line connecting your protagonist and your antagonist.</li>
<li>Above the line write the main issue they have in common.</li>
<li>Below the line write the approach or value about this issue where they disagree.</li>
<li>Repeat for all your listed characters.</li>
</ol>
<br />
<br />
For example, in Kingdom of the Stone, Karux (the protagonist) and Amantis (the antagonist) agree that the scattered human tribes need to work together to protect mankind from approaching inhuman threats. Where Karux and Amantis disagree is that Karux wants to recruit the surrounding villages into a cooperative effort to feed and protect themselves while Amantis feels the best approach is to control them through fear of the angorym, coercion through controlling food sources and the threat of violence from his growing army. During the course of the story, this conflict escalates into literal all-out war.<br />
<br />
Karux’s allies, the elders of Har-Tor, agree with Karux that the refugees of the northern valley must be protected and provided for, but disagree on where their priorities should be and how to use their limited resources.<br />
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Every major character should have areas where their goals intersect (forcing them to interact and not just avoid each other) and areas where their goals diverge (creating tension or even open conflict between the two.) Even a loyal sidekick, who unquestioningly supports the protagonist, may start to question the protagonist’s actions if the cost of pursuing that goal becomes too high and the sidekick feels he needs to protect the protagonist from himself.<br />
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If two major characters agree on everything, you should consider combining them into a single character. Each character, like each word of the narrative, needs to pull its own weight. Excess characters, like excess words, will only bog the story down. It should be mentioned, however, that sometimes two or more characters may function as a single character, (e.g. the twins Fred and George in Harry Potter) but if any character does not add additional tension or conflict through a unique point of view, they don’t need to occupy your limited story space.<br />
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You may discover certain patterns emerging through this process. Alliances may form or shift adding extra complications/interest to your plot. Or you may find holes where a character needs to be added or an extra character that needs to be cut. You may even discover your protagonist through this process or discover your real protagonist is a different character than you thought. That’s all good. You’re getting to know your story better.<br />
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We’ll talk about protagonists soon, but first we’ll discuss how to refine your ideas through the Idea Filter with one last use of our already over-extended metaphor...<br />
<p>
<b>Next time – Beginning Your Story: Focusing the Fire</b></p>JAPartridgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14877362553462049242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060860785474320548.post-84062781396412453512016-02-26T09:46:00.002-06:002016-02-26T09:59:27.283-06:00Beginning Your Story: Setting the Fire<br />
You started with a spark of inspiration, a story question or a situation worth exploring. You've brainstormed all the related ideas, themes, characters, situations feelings, even symbols or mental images this idea inspired through mind-mapping, previewing and visualization. Now it's time to get cooking.<br />
<h2>
Find the Hottest Coals</h2>
<b>First: s</b>et all that work aside (you'll need it later) and walk away. Clear your head. Think about something else. In fact, don't think about story at all.<br />
<br />
<b>Second:</b> find your mental creative place (a quiet room, or put on your headphones and blast your favorite music, go for a walk, or even just wait until a certain time of day when you feel the most relaxed and creative) and summon up those feelings and images that first inspired you.<br />
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<b>Third:</b> without referring to you notes, write down the four or five key ideas you feel are absolutely necessary, the things which resonate with you the strongest, the reason you want to write this story.<br />
<h2>
Pile On the Fuel</h2>
Now get in touch with your inner seven-year-old child and ask questions, lots of questions. Pick the first item on your short list and start writing down questions. If the item you're thinking about is a thing or a place, be sure to ask about the people behind it. Who made it, or made it significant. What important thing happened there or with it? If it's about a person, ask what important changes have occurred in their life when the story starts. What do they want to change? Why haven't they done so before now? If the item is more abstract, ask yourself what about it makes it cool, creepy, attractive, frightening or maddening and what kind of people, places or things do you associate it with.<br />
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Don't worry about whether or not the questions seem silly or even make sense. Just jot them down quickly You're goal here is to trick your subconscious into giving up its secrets. When you've gone through each item, go back and answer these questions. Again, work quickly. Write whatever springs to mind. If some questions or answers stand out, go back and ask more. You may even find yourself in a dialog with yourself, asking and answering your own questions as you look for the meaning behind the things you want to write about.<br />
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No matter how strange this dialog may seem, assume that nuggets of pure gold are hiding within. You are telling yourself what you want to write. Like a young child, your subconscious may not explain itself very well or lose site of the pig picture under a mound of odd details so be prepared to look at these ideas from all angles as you search for the secret connections and purpose behind them all.<br />
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When you do go back afterward, focus on the people, groups and organizations behind the story. Look at their history and motivations. Look for patterns, who works together with whom and why? Where do they agree and disagree? The heat of your story comes from conflict and conflict comes from strongly motivated characters pursuing incompatible goals or using incompatible methods to achieve them.<br />
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At this point, you may already have a full story in your head. If you gone through all the steps so far, you should, at the very least, have the essence of one ready to be put together. All you have to do is find your focus and concentrate the heat.<br />
<h4>
Next time – Beginning Your Story: Concentrating the Heat</h4>
<br />JAPartridgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14877362553462049242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060860785474320548.post-85530307168547734732016-02-26T09:43:00.001-06:002016-02-26T09:59:52.492-06:00Beginning Your Story: Chasing the Spark<br />
Once you have that spark, you'll need to gather up all the toys (story ideas) that you want to play with. There are probably many methods of mining the subconscious, here are a few that have worked for me.<br />
<h2>
Mindmapping</h2>
What is it about the spark the most fascinates you? Does it evoke a particular emotion? Does it promise interesting conflict? Does it explore an interesting point of view?<br />
<br />
<ol type="1">
<li>Write it down in the middle of a blank piece of paper and circle it.</li>
<li>Giving yourself only a few seconds, without thinking, quickly write every idea—no matter what—the first idea provokes.</li>
<li>Afterward, review the results, and draw lines connecting these new ideas to your first idea.</li>
<li>Select the most interesting of the new ideas, circle it and repeat the process.</li>
<li>Continue until you fill the page, run out of ideas or feel that you've got enough ideas to work with.</li>
<li>Finally, look over the results. Which ideas repeat? Which stand out as most interesting or important? Which seem to group together? Which seem to contradict or oppose other ideas?</li>
</ol>
<br />
<br />
You may find ideas for characters, conflicts, settings, even snatches of dialog, forming early in the process. Write them down and keep mapping. You may only need to do this process once or you might want to do this several times over several days, each time focusing on different core ideas which the first map produced. When you find all the elements you need to form The Sentence you know you are nearly there.<br />
<h2>
Previewing</h2>
Close your eyes and imagine your story is finished. You're holding it in your hands. It is exactly the type of story you'd hoped it would be and, fortunately, brilliant reviewers think the exact same thing. (That's why they're brilliant.) Write a review of the finished story. (Which you haven't started yet.) Feel free to describe it as the best, most amazing, most profound work of fiction ever written, but describe why it is. Describe the characters, the themes, the plot, the setting, etc. Describe how it feels to read it. Describe why others should read it. Describe how and why it will change your readers' lives and what they will get out of it. Once you've calmed down, go back and look at it, underlining the ideas you want in your story.<br />
<h2>
Visualizing</h2>
I don't spend a lot of time on Pinterest. In fact I wouldn't have created an account there at all if I hadn't stumbled across some Pinterest boards while doing image searches for a book set in Japan. I tend to use it primarily when researching settings and then after the plot is well established. But there is a long tradition of writers cutting out pictures of people who resemble characters and places to be used as settings. If you are more visually oriented, try starting the creation process by seeking out and collecting images which evoke the feelings and ideas you want your story to convey.<br />
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Whichever method(s) you use, before long, you should find yourself with a bunch of fragments that need to be drawn together into a story. (Assuming the story hasn't already assembled itself.)<br />
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<h4>
Next time – Beginning Your Story: Setting the Fire</h4>
<br />JAPartridgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14877362553462049242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060860785474320548.post-63250898703999699062016-01-17T13:26:00.000-06:002016-02-26T10:51:55.116-06:00Beginning Your Story: Finding the Spark<p>Beginning Your Story: Setting the Fire(I've been doing some writing about the process of writing, essentially trying to work through my own process while at the same time digesting a lot of reading on the subject. I've been posting these thoughts elsewhere, so I thought I should probably post them here on my much-neglected blog as well.)</p>
<h2>Beginning Your Story: Finding the Spark</h2>
<h3>Inspiration</h3>
<p>"Where do you get your inspiration?" From the numerous interviews, articles and blog posts I've read by and about authors, this seems to be one of the questions authors most fear. Some have admitted to having vague or flippant stock answers on hand to deal with it. I suspect many fear this question because they don't know how they do what they do and worry the day may come when they can't manage it when they need to.</p>
<h3>The Source</h3>
<p>The idea usually bubbles up from the subconscious, a "what if?" question, and not just any "what if" question, but one which captures the writer's imagination and demands to be answered.<p>
<p>Writing coaches have numerous tricks and techniques to tap into that subconscious such as word association games or guided imagery prompts. (If you know of any good ones, please share or post relevant URLs below.) The best approach, particularly when you're feeling frustrated, may be to just not think about it. Go out and do something else, clean the house, run some errands, get out of your normal rut. Relax your mind, watch a new movie or read a new book.</p>
<p>I believe writers are naturally curious people who like to "look behind the scenes," who wonder how things really work, and who like to take ideas apart then put them back together in novel ways. At some point you will, now doubt, find yourself saying, "That's interesting and all, but what if..." and you'll have your story spark.</p>
<h3>The Spark</h3>
<p>It may start with <i>an interesting character:</i> A crown prince who discovers he's actually a commoner raised to become a sacrifice to save the true heir to the throne. How will he react? <b>Kingdom of Shadow</b></p>
<p>Or <i>an interesting situation:</i> To save his first love, a shy Japanese teenage boy must prove to a Shinigami (Japanese death god) that love exists by making it fall in love with him, without his girlfriend finding out. How might he do it? <b>Courting Death</b></p>
<p>Or <i>an Interesting setting:</i> A secret war taking place in our own world between two strange supernatural forces that grant mysterious agents supernatural powers. It includes intrigue and espionage, rival shadow societies competing for lost or forbidden knowledge and a spreading curse that involves the undead and stranger things from other dimensions. What kind of things might happen here? <b>The Awakened</b></p>
<p>Unconsciously or consciously, exposing yourself to interesting new ideas and asking what if, stirs the coals that produce the creative spark. Once you've identified it and learned to recognize it, you need to chase it.</p>
<h4>Next time - Beginning Your Story: Chasing the Spark</h4>
JAPartridgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14877362553462049242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060860785474320548.post-84251177332277911102015-12-26T19:20:00.000-06:002016-02-26T10:01:03.986-06:00Plotting Part 3: Fleshing Out Your StorySince it is a lot to remember to think about, I wrote a little javascript application to walk through the development of the logline, the story's theme, the 8 key transition scenes and to help develop it all into a full outline. You may find the page at: <a href="http://japartridge.com/wp/wp-content/funandgames/theStoryPlanner.html">http://japartridge.com/wp/wp-content/funandgames/theStoryPlanner.html</a><br />
<br />
Below are some additional considerations, divided up by story part, to help flesh out the rest of the scenes and make sure everything is covered.<br />
<br />
<b>Part 1</b><br />
<br />
<ol type="1">
<li>How do you introduce protagonist? Is he sympathetic?</li>
<li>Do you demonstrate his primary traits through his actions?</li>
<li>Do the descriptions slow things down? Interrupt the story?</li>
<li>Do you show his greatest desire? Is it the same as the external plot goal? Does he think it will solve his personal problems?</li>
<li>Do you show his greatest Need? Does his desire conflict with this?(Will The Truth change his greatest desire to something else or will it change the means of achieving his greatest desire?)</li>
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<li>Does he already want to change his circumstances/setting? Why doesn't he?</li>
<li>Do you demonstrate his belief in The Lie? Does he come to believe The Lie as a result of something that happens at the beginning of the story?</li>
<li>Do you show how his past caused this belief? Hint at it? Should you? (Is the backstory significant enough to motivate the protagonist through the story?)</li>
<li>Do you show that belief causing/could cause problems for the protagonist by creating a self-limitation, or weakness in him, or generally making him unhappy?</li>
<li>Do you show The Lie becoming a problem for him at the start, or in the Inciting Event or the 1st Plot Point?</li>
<li>Do you show that belief causing/could cause problems for others?</li>
<li>Do you show him defending The Lie/refusing to change?</li>
<li>Do you show his capacity to live by The Truth if only he believed it?</li>
<li>Do you show the setting supporting that belief in The Lie?</li>
<li>Do you highlight those parts of the setting that will change or appear to change in the protagonist's perceptions as a result of The Truth, or (if he does not return to the same setting at the end) which will contrast with the setting created by The Truth?</li>
<li>Do you foreshadow The Truth, how he will learn about it, it's capacity to defeat The Lie, or how it may be tied to his greatest Need?</li>
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<li>Do you show the protagonist doing something that leads to him becoming involved in the story?</li>
<li>Do you show him rejecting the opportunity to get involved in the story? (Resisting change.)</li>
<li>Do you show him beginning to grow aware and uncomfortable with some of The Lie's effects by the end of Part 1? How does his use of The Lie begin to change?</li>
<li>Do you show the protagonist making a fateful decision that ultimately leads to the 1st Plot Point? How does it result from the events in Part 1?</li>
<li>Do you show how the events of the 1st Plot Point changes his situation? Does it change the setting or move him to another setting? Is the impact big enough? Does it "destroy his world"?</li>
<li>Do you show him accepting or rejecting this change? Does he consider this a good or bad thing?</li>
<li>Do you show him making a determined decision as a result of the 1st Plot Point? What is his new Goal? Was his prior goal replace or changed?</li>
<li>Do you show how The Lie will continue to cause big trouble for him in his new situation as a result of the 1st Plot Point? </li>
</ol>
<br />
<b><br /></b> <b>Part 2</b><br />
<br />
<ol type="1">
<li>Do you show the protagonist continuing to act according to The Lie?</li>
<li>Do you show The Lie continuing to hamper him?</li>
<li>Do you show his ideas about The Lie changing as he tries to hold onto it?</li>
<li>Do you show him managing to get closer to the goal despite these setbacks?</li>
<li>Do you show how this also pushes the thing he needs farther away?</li>
<li>Do you show him gaining skills/knowledge/allies/resources (intentionally or not) he will need for the second half of the story?</li>
<li>Does he see the power of The Truth demonstrated and how life might be following it?</li>
<li>Do you reveal something new about the antagonist in the 1st Reversal?</li>
<li>Do you reveal something now about the protagonist? </li>
</ol>
<b>The Turning Point/Midpoint</b><br />
<br />
<ol type="1">
<li>Does a dramatic event happen at the midpoint of the story?</li>
<li>Do you show the protagonist learning something about himself?</li>
<li>Do you show him learning something about the antagonist or the nature of the conflict?</li>
<li>Do you show his behavior changing as a result of these two revelations?</li>
<li>Do you show him taking initiative in the conflict?</li>
<li>Do you show how he begins to use The Truth to take initiative?</li>
<li>Do you show how The Lie continues to hold him back? </li>
</ol>
<br />
<b><br /></b> <b>Part 3</b><br />
<br />
<ol type="1">
<li>Do you show the protagonist beginning to use The Truth to resist The Lie and overcome obstacles?</li>
<li>Do you show The Truth forcing him to change? What does it cost him? What does he give up?</li>
<li>Do you mirror an event in the 2nd half, similar to one in the first, where the protagonist acts according to The Truth where before he had acted according to The Lie? (To show his character growth.)</li>
<li>Do you show him continuing to hold onto The Lie, though it makes things difficult? What mistakes does he make because of it?</li>
<li>Do you show the protagonist's renewed determination after the 2nd reversal? What did he lose? How does the antagonist cause it?</li>
<li>Do you clearly show The Truth? Does a character explicitly state it?</li>
<li>Does the protagonist start to betray The Truth and claim what he most wants by using The Lie? What does he give up?</li>
<li>Do you show how the protagonist's victory is turned to defeat? How is the antagonist responsible?</li>
<li>Do you show how The Lie made this possible?</li>
<li>Does the protagonist choose the Truth at the end? How does it symbolically cost him his life? What important aspect of it does he lose?</li>
</ol>
<br />
<b><br /></b> <b>Part 4</b><br />
<br />
<ol type="1">
<li>How does the protagonist's choice continue to make him suffer--both mentally and physically?</li>
<li>How does it make pursuit of his goal more difficult?</li>
<li>Do you show the protagonist questioning his choice?</li>
<li>Do you show him being tempted, bullied, mocked for following The Truth? How else might his belief be challenged?</li>
<li>By what small act can he show he is a completely different person than before?</li>
<li>Does the tension/action build throughout Part 4?</li>
<br />
<li>How does the protagonist's personal revelation lead to or empower him to face and overcome the antagonist? Does it come before or during the climax?</li>
<li>Does it work the other way around with the confrontation leading to the final revelation?</li>
<li>What does he do to defeat the antagonist that he could not do before embracing The Truth?</li>
<li>Does the protagonist get the thing he desires in addition to the thing he needs? Does he sacrifice it?Does his reason for wanting it change or perhaps it just doesn't matter to him anymore? Does focusing on the thing he needs empower him to also obtain the thing he desires?</li>
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<li>Is the resolution short, sweet and soon after the climax? Does it drag on too long?</li>
<li>Does it tie off all the important loose ends? (Assuming you didn't deliberately leave any dangling for sequels to address)</li>
<li>Do you clearly answer the thematic question? Does a character explicitly state the theme?</li>
<li>Do you show how the protagonist's new situation contrasts with his starting situation? Has he returned to the beginning location?</li>
<li>Does the ending mirror the beginning in some way? Does he demonstrate his new character?</li>
<li>Do you give the reader a sense of how life will continue for the main characters?</li>
<li>Does it end on the right emotional note?</li>
</ol>JAPartridgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14877362553462049242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060860785474320548.post-27627286730356378112015-12-23T11:09:00.000-06:002015-12-26T20:02:35.133-06:00Plotting Part 2: Beginning Your Plot<b><u><br /></u></b>
<b><u>The 8 Key Scenes (with an Optional 9th)</u></b><br />
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Each of the four story parts begin and end with an important event that marks the transition from one story phase to the next. Add in two special scenes which occur in the middle of Part 2 and Part 3 and you have 8 key scenes to shape out the skeleton of your story.<br />
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<b>The Opening Scene—</b>This is one of the most important scenes of the story and usually one of the hardest to get right. It has to let us know what kind of story to expect and hook us with a story question that makes us wonder what is about to happen next. Ideally it should introduce the protagonist, or the antagonist, or possibly a side character that will connect the two—to give us someone to identify with or care about. Ideally, it should also introduce the main conflict of the story, or at least foreshadow it, or another conflict that ties into the theme (Inner Plot) of the story—so that we'll wonder what happens next. While it's doing all this, it also needs to begin to introduce the setting and the tone of the story.<br />
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<b>The First Plot Point—</b>After spending the first 25% of the story trying to avoid or deny the main conflict, or just being trapped in his lie, the protagonist is forced to act when something changes his world forever. He may get slapped in the face with the story conflict, or even be given a positive opportunity that sets him on course to the story conflict, but he is ultimately forced to make a choice to go somewhere or do something to set things right. Even if all the protagonist can do is try and make a new life for himself in a new place or under new circumstances he cannot keep his current life.<br />
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<b>The First Reversal (1st Pinch Point)—</b>After spending the first half of Part 2 just trying to figure out how to respond to the 1st Plot Point, the antagonist steps in at the 37% mark to wreck things again. Any progress the protagonist has made is probably lost—or worse—discovered to be harmfully misguided. This emphasizes the fact that the protagonist can't just adapt to the problem but must face it directly if he is to ever find peace/happiness again. It will usually reveal the problem to be bigger, more powerful or more complicated than first thought and that acting upon The Lie is not only not helping the protagonist to reach his Goal, but actually making things more difficult. If the First Plot Point forces the protagonist to commit to action, the First Reversal ups the tension and urges him forward.<br />
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<b>The Mid Point—</b>Exactly halfway through the story, everything changes again. Like the First Plot Point, the Mid Point marks the beginning of Part 3 with a major change in the protagonist's situation where the protagonist switches from defense to offense. I have heard it said that if the First Plot Point was positive, then the Mid Point should be negative and vice versa. Either way, the protagonist finally begins to understand The Truth, both of the general nature of the conflict and of himself. He won't have given up on The Lie yet, but he will begin to see that he needs The Truth to solve his problem. From now until the Third Plot Point, the protagonist will begin to take charge of the situation and set things right (insert training montage here) using the resources gained in Part 2. While his inner conflict between his dependence on The Lie and his need for The Truth will begin to fade as he leans on The Truth (he may even begin to resist the effects of The Lie), he will be forced to make an ultimate choice between the two at the end of Part 3.<br />
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<b>The Second Reversal (2nd Pinch Point)—</b>Having begun to understand and use the power of The Truth, the protagonist is forced to face the cost of continuing the conflict. Halfway through Part 3 (62% of the way through the story) the Second Reversal appears, where the Antagonist strikes back and the protagonist pays a big price. (If the protagonist has a mentor that is going to die, this is where they bite it.) From now on, the protagonist continues progressing with renewed--even fierce--determination.<br />
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<b>The Third Plot Point—</b>At the end of Part 3, 75% through the story, the protagonist was at the final point of victory where his Goal was in reach. All he had to do was turn his back on The Truth and act according to The Lie. (Feel the power of the dark side!) He may have even started to do just that, but then disaster strikes as the Third Plot Point arrives. The antagonist engineers a major disaster and the protagonist, knowing he can no longer merely use The Truth while clinging to The Lie, is forced to choose. He can reject The Lie, which may cost him the Goal he had been fighting for, or reject The Truth, which will cost him the one thing he most needs. If this is a positive character arc story, he will be forced to recognize how The Lie has failed him and reject it, sometimes almost reflexively. This illustrates that the protagonist's values have clearly changed because to reject The Truth would be to sacrifice these things he now values. From now on until the climax, that choice will be tested as everything else the Protagonist once valued may be stripped away to prove his commitment to The Truth.<br />
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<b>The Climax—</b>Having been stripped of everything but The Truth, and starting Part 4 at the lowest of low points emotionally, the protagonist pushes straight toward the final confrontation with the antagonist. Enduring a final series of challenges to his commitment to The Truth (sometimes including the mockery of bystanders or even urging from allies who believe the fight is lost or the cost too high to continue) the protagonist confronts the source of his problems directly and all the cards are laid out on the table. Ideally the climax of both the inner and outer plots will occur together at the end of the story. Often that final revelation of The Truth in the inner plot will empower the protagonist to defeat the antagonist in the outer plot. With a sense of inevitability, and yet still an element of surprise, the protagonist completely overpowers the antagonist and fully appreciates his new relationship with The Truth.
<br />
<br />
<b>The Resolution—</b>It might not be a full scene. It might only be a paragraph or two, or even a couple of lines—though if your name is J.R.R.Tolkien it might run on for chapters—but the resolution is no less important than any other scene. This is the reader's emotional payoff for enduring the struggle. It shows the results/reward of living by The Truth by indicating how the protagonist and his circumstances have changed as a result of his decision to embrace The Truth. It's also a final chance to answer any remaining story questions which may have gone unanswered in part 3 and part 4.<br />
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<b>The Backstory—</b>Your optional 9th scene, is an important event in the protagonist's past (often traumatic) that convinced the protagonist of The Lie. Screenwriters sometimes refer to this as "the character's ghost" because it haunts him, reminding him of The Lie while motivating him to live by it. If the event is dramatic, it may be shown in flashback—especially at the end of part 3 where the protagonist wrestles with refusing The Lie. If it is important to the outer plot, it might be used as an opening scene. It may also only be referred to indirectly or remain a complete mystery (to the reader) throughout the story.<br />
<br />
Next time—Plotting Part 3: Fleshing Out Your Story, with an extra bonus feature.JAPartridgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14877362553462049242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060860785474320548.post-77211172990885872782015-12-21T09:00:00.000-06:002015-12-26T20:04:12.022-06:00Plotting Part 1: How Story Works<br />
You’ve come up with an idea for a story, brainstormed all
the cool elements you’d like to include and mapped out the relationships of the
“good guys,” the “bad guys” and everyone in between so that you know how their
motives all differ from each other (providing conflict) and how their goals are
at cross purposes (so that they can’t avoid each other). You’ve even come up
with your core sentence, determining the heart of the story you plan to write,
and the main themes you’ll be dealing with.
<br />
<br />
So how do you actually turn that into a story?
<br />
<br />
<b><u>The Purpose and Function of Story</u></b><br />
All stories are fundamentally about conflict. Two (or more) forces, each trying to change the world around them in contradictory or at least incompatible ways, come into conflict. The strengths and weaknesses of
each are weighed and the implications of each are considered, and a winner is finally chosen and the results are projected. In a way it’s almost like a scientific experiment. In fact, some years
ago, I rambled on my much-neglected blog about how I thought storytelling could
be considered mankind’s first science. (<a href="http://japartridge.blogspot.com/2007/08/mans-first-science.html">http://japartridge.blogspot.com/2007/08/mans-first-science.html</a>)
I’ve learned a lot more about how stories work since then, but I am just as convinced now as I was then that this is true. In fact you can pretty much see it in the story’s shape.
<br />
<br />
<b><u>2 Plots, 3 Stories, 4 Parts</u></b><br />
Every complete story has two plots which I refer to as the Outer Plot and the Inner Plot.
<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>The Outer Plot</b> – is simply the sequence of external events the provokes the protagonist into
acting. The outer plot goes something like:<br />
<br />
<i>Part 1:</i> A problem occurs
which the protagonist may first try to avoid or deny until it affects him
personally by changing his circumstances. By the end of Part 1 he cannot go
back to anything like his old life until he fixes the problem.<br />
<br />
<i>Part 2:</i> The protagonist
first struggles to avoid or fend of the problem’s effects or the antagonist’s
attacks while trying to figure out the true nature of the problem. The
protagonist will be gathering (sometimes unknowingly) the
knowledge/weapons/skills/allies/resources /etc. he will need to ultimately face the
antagonist/problem, but probably won’t be able to attack the antagonist/problem
directly at this point. If he does, he will fail badly because he is completely
unprepared.<br />
<br />
<i>Part 3:</i> At the mid-point
of the story, the protagonist has gained some insight into the true nature of
the problem or a weakness of the antagonist and formulates a method or plan to
attack. The protagonist goes on the offense, making progress toward his goal
while paying increasing costs at the same time.<br />
<br />
<i>Part 4:</i> After having been
stripped of nearly all of his resources, the protagonist comes face to face
with the antagonist and, while at the very point of losing, pulls one last
trick out of his hat in a desperate all-or-nothing attempt to defeat the
antagonist.<br />
<br />
<b>The Inner Plot</b>—While
the protagonist is dealing with the conflict of the Outer Plot, this is
mirrored by a similar struggle taking place <i>within</i>
the protagonist. The the outer struggle tests the protagonist’s abilities and
methods to overcome the external conflict, while the inner struggle tests his values and his understanding of himself, his relationships and place in the
world. How he responds to this inner struggle and how he feels about the
results determines which of the three basic story types or Character Arcs the
story falls into.<br />
<br />
<i>The Positive Change Arc:</i>
The protagonist starts out with a misunderstanding about himself, his world or
life in general. This may sometime be caused by or associated with some
significant past personal event. We shall refer to this misconception, or
aspect that must change, as The Lie.<br />
<br />
The Lie leads to a weakness or a fear which the protagonist
must overcome in order to obtain the thing he needs (The Truth) to be truly
happy. Unfortunately, the protagonist finds himself in a situation where facing
The Lie may cause him to sacrifice his Goal, or the thing he wants because he
thinks it will make him happy. The Inner Plot is all about how the protagonist
discovers the power of The Truth to overcome The Lie and then sets himself free
by learning to commit to it. This is the most common inner plot and is often
used with an “everyman” protagonist who functions as a stand-in for the
audience.<br />
<br />
<i>The Flat Change Arc:</i> The protagonist already
knows The Truth but his commitment to it and his ability to apply it is being
tested. Everyone else, however, lives according to The Lie—or variations of The
Lie. While the outer plot remains unchanged, the inner plot <i>almost seems</i>
as if it consists of only Part 3 and Part 4 of the 4 plot parts. If the
objective of the positive change arc is for the protagonist to solve the
problem by discovering The Truth and change himself, the objective of the flat
change arc is for the protagonist to save everyone else by demonstrating the
power of The Truth. This is the next most common inner plot and is often used in
action hero, superhero or suffering hero type stories.<br />
<br />
<i>The Negative Change Arc: </i>The protagonist not only
doesn’t know The Truth, he never learns it. As The Lie pushes him further and
further from The Truth, the protagonist clings to The Lie even tighter, determined
to pay any price to achieve his Goal or go down fighting. He usually fails to
accomplish his Goal, but if he does, it is an empty and meaningless victory for
which he’s sacrificed everything that could have made him truly happy. He
usually fails to see how The Lie has harmed him, but even if he does he will
still be powerless to comprehend or implement The Truth. These stories are tragic
cautionary tales where the protagonist destroys himself and often the people
around him by acting according to The Lie.<br />
<br />
Stay tuned for... Plotting Part 2: Beginning Your Plot (The
8 Key Scenes, with an optional 9th)JAPartridgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14877362553462049242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060860785474320548.post-73667959586051990872015-12-05T17:26:00.000-06:002016-02-26T10:42:50.822-06:00NaNoWriMo 2015 After Action Report & Lessons Learned<br />
Every year except for last year (which we will neither mention nor think about) it seems my writing process for NaNoWriMo improves by some measure and 2015 is no exception. This year, due to changes at work and time demands from taking martial arts, I’ve probably had nearly half the time to write than in years past and yet I have, for the most part, kept up with my writing quotas. Following are some tips, tricks & techniques I found useful.<br />
<br />
<b>Disclaimer: </b>Everyone approaches NaNoWriMo differently and I’m sure a number of people will consider some of these techniques “cheating.” It largely depends on what you think the “rules” of NaNoWriMo are. My opinion is that the purpose of NaNoWriMo is to get writers into the habit of writing regularly and to help them gain the confidence and skills necessary to continue do so. It is not necessary that you write a new book, that you complete a new book, that you write only one book or that (despite it’s name) that it even be a novel or work of fiction. The one absolutely rule for me is that you start on November 1st and that you write fifty-thousand words by November 30th. So here are some of the techniques that have been particularly helpful for me this year.<br />
<br />
<b>1. Have a plan —</b> I knew back in 2007, when I first started NaNoWriMo, that I had to have as much pre-planning completed as I could before it started so I would spend as little time as possible stopping to think about what comes next. Since my scenes generally run around 1K each, that means I need to start the month with at least a list of 50 scenes. Of course I didn’t quite do that this year. So — not for the first time — things got a little sketchy toward the end, requiring that I fall back on some other techniques.<br />
<br />
<b>2. Write what interests you right now —</b> The important this is getting words on the page. Whatever motivates you to do that, pursue it. So...<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><b>2.a. It’s OK to skip around —</b> I admit I actually like to go through my scenes fairly sequentially because — though I do like to plan things out — I always discover things in writing that I will build on in later scenes. There is certainly no reason you couldn’t later go back and change scenes after discovering the foreshadowing you wanted to include or just generally set up for reveals that hadn’t been planned ahead of time, that’s what editing is for, just try to not get caught up in going back and revising until after NaNoWriMo is over. The important thing is to keep moving forward.<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><b>2.b. It’s OK to write more than one story / thing —</b> There are certainly more than a few writers (mostly pantsers I expect) who start out writing one story, then change their mind in mid-nano because either a side character or a sub-plot became more interesting. The idea that this is OK was something of a revelation to me. In the past I normally just gutted through one story, but lately I’ve also had some random stories that have come bursting out of me at high word counts. Sometimes I think it helps to have a major change in tone or plot to freshen things up during NaNoWriMo rather than trudging through the same story for the entire month — but then I’m severely ADD so that could also be a problem when my goal is to have a complete novel at the end. At least that time normally wasted sitting around trying to decide what will happen next and how it will happen, is now used productively.<br />
<br />
<b>3. Capture every moment —</b> Some people can crank out 100K novels in November that are actually decently written. I hate and envy those people. OK, I don’t hate them, but I definitely envy and maybe feel just a twinge of disgust. :)Though every year I refine and improve my process, I usually just barely do 50K in November.<br />
<br />
NaNoWriMo is all about focus. To succeed, I have to snatch every spare moment of time and use it to produce story. Even when I’m not writing, I’m mentally reviewing what I’ve written and planning what to write next. I think that level of focus helps bring out aspects of the story that would never be discovered if I were to take a more leisurely pace and split my attention with daily concerns. To help cature this, I usually carry a little fat notebook with me wherever I go. Everything in my head, setting, dialog, history, narrative, it all goes in the notebook.<br />
<br />
<b>4. Forget the keyboard, try the pen —</b> When I am sitting at the keyboard taking an hour or more to write a mere dozen or so words I can sometimes crank out hundreds of words a minute simply by ditching the keyboard for the pen. Perhaps it’s just that I’m left-handed and so stimulate the more creative right side of the brain when I write by hand, or perhaps the act of physically coordinating my hand when writing slows my ADD brain down enough to focus my thoughts, but I find this change in technique particularly effective when other approaches fail. I’ve written as much as a third of my nanos by hand this way.<br />
<br />
<b>5. If you’re not ready to write the scene, then write about the scene —</b> I’ve a bad habit of rehearsing scenes in my head to get them right. For example, in dialog, I may know that I have three or four subjects that need to be addressed during the scene, but I want the conversation to flow freely and naturally from one topic to another so that if a character starts with subject ‘A’, the next character will naturally respond with ‘B’, and another ‘C’. But sometimes these subjects may not be naturally related. You may need to have characters go from ‘A’ to ‘B’ then back to ‘A’ or even ‘D’ before going on to ‘C’. Planning all this out, along with the right emotional notes, the shift in character relationships as well as the overall plot can be difficult, yet I can’t afford to spend a lot of time rehearsing.<br />
<br />
Sometimes when I’m not sure how to write a scene, I just write about the scene. I write about what I want to happen or options I’m considering. Often I’ll start writing the scene this way and immediately after describing it, have worked out what I want to do during that process. Part of my editing process is doing a “show don’t tell” check to see if I’ve mentioned an emotion without illustrating it, or summarized a conflict that should have been played out step by step. Since writing about the scene is all about telling, it often provokes me into going back and writing the scene I was talking about.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>5.b.</b> This technique is also useful if you are writing a character's reaction to a prior scene ( where they were not the POV character) but you're not sure precisely what that reaction should be. Try re-writing the prior scene from their POV. The details of setting and action are not what are important here. Feel free to summarize those, only focus on the new POV's responses to them. If that doesn't work, play reporter and question them about it, writing down their answers.</div>
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<span style="font-family: sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<b>6. Capture every thought —</b> I learned the lesson of Technique #3 by accident while seeking help in the NaNoWriMo and other writer forums for difficult scenes which I was trying to decide how best to handle. Often, just by describing the problem and adequately defining it, the answer would come to me. I don’t have the time I used to have to hang out in forums during November, but I can accomplish the same thing with Technique #3. In fact anything I write about my NaNoWriMo project or even writing in general can prove helpful, so as a result, whether it’s a forum post or a blog post like this one. I write it in my NaNoWriMo doc file first (I create a new one on Nov. 1) then copy and paste it into wherever I want to share it. At least it gives me the chance to spell check it first.<br />
<br />
<b>7. Write just write! —</b> What do you do when it’s 11:15 PM, you’ve only written a couple hundred words and didn’t even make it to one thousand the day before? The answer is write, write anything no matter what. The best way to jam out a massive word count is to not even think about the writing. Authors call this free writing and it is actually a good way to free up the mental blocks and get the word flowing. Just scroll to the bottom of your document and write about whatever is on your mind, whatever you’re feeling, whatever frustrations you’re having with your story or anything else that is distracting you. Not only will it help you get your word count back on track and reduce the urge to just quit because you've fallen so far behind, it can also (as in Technique #3) help you figure out what you need to do to get your story going again.<br />
<br />
<b>8. Delete nothing —</b> This has been a basic rule of mine since year 1(of my participation in NaNoWriMo.) Forget that the keyboard even has a delete key. One of the biggest tricks of NaNoWriMo is turning off the internal editor. Sometimes though, it’s hard to ignore the obvious. When I find something that obviously needs to be changed I just put brackets around [it.] ←- the part that needs to be deleted and write that part the way it should be. Sometimes, though, a new paragraph will take two or three runs at it before I get the phrasing right. This can make it hard to figure out what’s extraneous, what’s being kept and thus where I should go next. This, unfortunately, may lead to me dragging these mistakes out to the end of the paragraph/page/scene/document, which is not a bad thing in itself except that it sucks up some of the time that was saved by not going back and editing and deleting some of the word count. And did I mention I had ADD? It’s surprising how distracting something like that can be.</div>
<div>
<br />
[and] [to earlier] [NaNoWriMo] [that I’m not] [conversation] about [I need] [book] [work through] [in] [so that I know] [read] [it is particularly difficult I find it’s just because] [by hand] and in [was]<br />
[this year] some [can’t] [adding] was can [when all things are said and done] [Focus on ] [what I’m thinking about making happen] [sometimes]</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
<b>In Conclusion...</b></div>
<div>
I hope you find some of these techniques helpful. If you don't like/disagree with any, don't feel you have to use any if then. If you have some additional techniques or variations you like to use, please share. Most importantly, whether it's November or not, always keep writing.</div>
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JAPartridgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14877362553462049242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060860785474320548.post-61039728257180342912015-04-12T18:26:00.000-05:002015-04-12T18:27:18.753-05:00Do You Really Know What Your Story is About?This last year has been a gut-wrenchingly horrible disaster. The only way I survived it was by getting lost in a new story that is so personal, I can't really talk about it right now. I've done a number of things to take charge of my life, and in the writing arena, I finally decided to sign up for Holly Lisle's writing course How To Think Sideways, which encapsulates pretty much everything she learned from when she decided she wanted to be a writer, until she first got published and won all these awards.<br />
<br />
In the first month, she presented a lot of clever ideas for tapping into your own subconscious and determining what stories are truly important to you. I can't tell you what they are because, not only are they copy-written, I've paid a lot of money to learn them, so don't ask.<br />
<br />
One technique I do want to talk about is something that is not unique to her. In fact I came up with my own version of it years ago, and though her approach does offer an interesting angle I need to figure out how to incorporate into my process, over all I prefer my own approach.<br />
<br />
That technique is the story sentence.<br />
<br />
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Vollkorn, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">
We used to play a game on the NaNoWriMo forums called 20-word synopsis, which really caused me to develop a system for writing synopses. I call it my four questions and I don’t even start writing a story until I can answer them and produce a one sentence synopsis.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Vollkorn, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Who is the story about?</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Vollkorn, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">
Not so much their name, but what is their role in the story? An orphaned street urchin? A bored housewife? An Evil necromancer who loves candy? Start with a basic noun and adjective.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Vollkorn, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">What do they want?</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Vollkorn, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">
This is going to be the thing that moves the story forward. This is what they are going to struggle and sacrifice for.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Vollkorn, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">What is stopping them from achieving it?</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Vollkorn, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">
Either the villain or natural forces or whatever the Protagonist is struggling against. Often there is both an external conflict: overthrow the evil empire, and an internal conflict: must address a childhood trauma and overcome a debilitating fear of snakes to defeat the evil snake god. If one is more important than the other, focus on that. It’s up to you to decide if that secondary conflict should be added into your synopsis as an additional complication.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Vollkorn, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">What is at stake?</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Vollkorn, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">
This is the bad thing that will happen if the Protagonist fails. This is why we should care about the story, what makes it interesting.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Vollkorn, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">If you want to try and play the 20-word synopsis, try answering each question in five words or less. For a book synopsis you’ve got a little more room, but this should help you focus on the important and interesting parts.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Vollkorn, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">
There is also an unofficial fifth question I like to answer before I start writing, though it never goes into the synopsis. </div>
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Vollkorn, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">How does the character change over the course of the story? </span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Vollkorn, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">
<a href="http://japartridge.blogspot.com/2013/10/must-main-character-always-change.html" target="_blank">There are a few cases where you actually don’t want the character to change,</a> but most of the time they will.</div>
JAPartridgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14877362553462049242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060860785474320548.post-62786049784399920772014-01-22T15:42:00.000-06:002014-01-22T15:42:26.664-06:00Is My Head On Backwards?<br />
In an attempt to stay relevant beyond November, the folks over at NaNoWriMo have started offering much-needed help and advice to authors in the post first-draft phase of writing. I'm not there yet, but I started reading some of my much-neglected writer blogs to try and fire myself up for writing the second half my this year's novel. I just read a recent blog post of theirs “<a href="http://blog.nanowrimo.org/post/74180255653/a-7-step-guide-to-big-picture-revision-with-bonus" target="_blank">A 7-Step Guide to Big Picture Revision</a>” and once more I am struck by how completely opposite my writing process is from most everyone else’s. <br />
<br />
My official scientific survey of other people’s writing styles (conducted by the method of reading and noticing things) seems to indicate that the great majority of writers—including a large number of published writers—start with some sort of idea about a character or a situation that sounds interesting, followed by a lot of writing, then a period of investigation to determine what was actually written (followed by large portions being thrown out and other large portions being re-written.)<br />
<br />
This just seems to be incredibly wasteful to me, like first throwing a bunch of randomly colored paint at a canvas, then deciding what kind of painting you can make out of it. OK, on second thought, that does sound like a fun creative exercise. But is that a professional way to do things?<br />
<br />
In reading the author’s suggestions for revision, I realized I probably did about half those steps before I even started writing. Doing it any other way just seems backwards. I’ll admit that when I first started writing, at least before I started trying to seriously write novels, I did a lot of writing like that, but I don’t know if any of those explorations and exercises ever amounted to anything.<br />
<br />
The reason all this surprises me is that early in my self-study of the craft of writing, I came across James Frey’s “How to Write a Damn Good Novel” I & II and his concepts of “step sheets”—mapping out the character’s journey from the initial conflict to the final conclusion. It just made so much sense to me--(being an INTJ on the Meyers Briggs charts of course I’m drawn to a more systematic approach)--that I assumed that all professional writers did something like that. Instead I’m constantly finding myself very much in the minority.<br />
<br />
So now I’m wondering what other writers’ approaches are. Is it primarily “write first and structure later” or are there some other modified/hybrid/Off-the-wall approaches used out there?<br />
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JAPartridgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14877362553462049242noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060860785474320548.post-61091856854048724282013-12-05T16:36:00.000-06:002013-12-05T16:36:07.212-06:00Post NaNoWriMo Ennui<div class="MsoNormal">
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I’ve never run a marathon (I’ve never run anything longer
than a couple of 5Ks) but I hear it’s pretty exhausting. I often compare NaNoWriMo to a mental
marathon though, so I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised at how exhausted I am
having finished it. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Each year as I get excited preparing for NaNoWriMo, I always
wonder why I didn’t get more writing done after November. 2013 was actually a pretty productive year
for me writing-wise. Even so I still wondered
why half my novels have taken two years when, if I wrote more consistently, I
could easily get them done in one.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Now I’m starting to remember. It’s the week after nano and I’ve only poked
at my story. (Rather like a
pre-adolescent boy poking at a dead body with a stick.) All that energy and movment is completely
gone. This year I didn’t even finish off
all my pre-planned bullet points. I
still have a few more scenes that I know need to happen, but I can’t seem to
figure out how to care about them enough to write them.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I did go back and re-read what I’ve done so far. The section where my young lady assassins
appear still amuses and interests me greatly.
I’m already kicking around an idea for a sequel to frame their backstory. In fact I’ve been toying with the idea of
doing something really, really, really stupid.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I’ve been toying with the idea of doing a comic.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Drawing and writing comics were my first love as a
child. However, I have drawn almost
nothing of significance in the last three decades. I did, however, get a rather inexpensive Wacom
drawing tablet late last year, and my drawing hand has been getting itchy as I’ve
browsed through some instructional videos on youtube.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I’m probably just going to start with some character
sketches with the idea of using them for the cover of my next book. Then we’ll see where it goes.<o:p></o:p></div>
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That’s assuming I somehow get this book done.<o:p></o:p></div>
JAPartridgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14877362553462049242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060860785474320548.post-35949988959038972352013-11-21T09:25:00.001-06:002013-11-21T09:25:50.637-06:00Passing the 2/3rds mark<div class="MsoNormal">
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I can’t believe this month is almost over. It seems like November just began and already
NaNoWriMo is 2/3rds over. I've had ideas
for a couple of posts, mostly about the process of writing, but I've been so
busy writing I haven’t had time to write about the writing. What little I've done of that, I've tended to
do either on the Nano forums or on the local nano group’s facebook age. I think next year—assuming I’m still able to
do this--I’ll have to make copies and post them on the blog just to make sure
content occasionally gets updated.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Every year seems to go a little better than the last and I
think, in some ways this year has gone smoother as well. I was perhaps not quite as prepared as in previous
years, but I haven’t really panicked. I've
always kept my running average above where it needs to be though I've missed a
couple of days, and even then I got at least half my required quota in. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the last couple of years, I haven’t really attended any
events. This year I managed to make a
couple, though most of the events are all on the other side of town. I have enjoyed kibitzing with the facebook
group, though and have felt more a part of things.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I've learned a couple of things this year:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
</div>
<ol>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Weekends aren't really the lifesaver you think
they are.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">I even took Friday Nov 1 off
and though I made decent progress on Friday, my overall weekend total wasn't
any better than my weekly total.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">I’m guessing
it’s either because there are more distractions or because I’m getting burned
out.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">I have been spending way too many
nights plugging away till midnight so I can bump up my word count. (Which makes
those early morning schedules quite painful.)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">I’m writing a lot more of my story by hand.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Who would have thought it?</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">I've been a computer geek since I was a
teenager.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Even so, I find that writing
in my little fat notebook helps me slow down my thoughts and focus them, make
steady progress and gives me a since of accomplishment as I fill up it’s little
3x5 pages.</span></li>
</ol>
<!--[if !supportLists]--><o:p></o:p><br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m sure I’ll have more insights later, probably after this
is over. Thanksgiving looms ahead and we
have a long car trip waiting for us next week.
It would be nice to finish before Thanksgiving day, but I’m sure I’ll be
very busy until then.<o:p></o:p></div>
JAPartridgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14877362553462049242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060860785474320548.post-37899293230680840182013-10-29T14:10:00.002-05:002015-06-17T20:19:00.388-05:00Must the Main Character Always Change?<br />
In preparing for this year's NaNoWriMo I've been reading a lot of writing advice hoping for inspiration. One piece of advice that frequently gets cited is that when planning your story, the writer needs to decide how the main character is going to change. It's pretty much assumed by many that without some sort of change, you don't even have a story. But is this true? Must the main character change?<br />
<br />
James Bond has been cited as a character who never changes. The man at the beginning of the story is pretty much the same person as the man at the end of the story. While that's true, it might be argued that that James Bond stories are really about the villains. At least they always seem to learn the lesson at the end that evil doesn't pay.<br />
<br />
I can think of a better example, one you probably haven't heard of. It not only demonstrates how an unchanging character can work, but be just as emotionally satisfying--if not more--than a story where a character changes. It also explains what others really mean when they offer that other bit of advice: "Find the worse thing that can happen and make it happen."<br />
<br />
Trigun is an old western style anime set in the future on a colonized world.<br />
<br />
I know what you're thinking: "You want to talk about the craft of writing and you bring up a silly kids cartoon?" It may at times be silly, but its certainly not just for kids. Bear with me.<br />
<br />
The main character, Vash, first appears as a bumbling goof-ball caught in a case of mistaken identity during a manhunt for an extremely dangerous criminal. He gets caught in situations with lots of gun play and somehow manages, seemingly through sheer luck, to not only survive but keep anyone else from getting killed.<br />
<spoilers> </spoilers><br />
<br />
<b><spoilers>[spoilers]</spoilers></b><br />
<br />
It turns out he's not only a real gunman, but the best there ever was...and something of a pacifist. His goofy act is simply an attempt to disarm people-so to speak. Over the course of the series you find out just how committed he is to not letting anyone die as increasingly powerful bounty hunters come after Vash, yet he continues to save the innocents caught in the crossfire at increasingly higher personal costs.
<even bigger="" spoilers=""> </even><br />
<br />
<b><spoilers><even bigger="" spoilers="">[even bigger spoilers] </even></spoilers></b><br />
<spoilers><even bigger="" spoilers=""></even></spoilers><br />
<spoilers><even bigger="" spoilers="">The whole series is really a philosophical discussion been Vash and his brother Knives (Don't you just love his name?) as to whether violence and death are an inherent part of the universe. (See what I mean about this not really being a kid show?) </even></spoilers><br />
<br />
<br />
<b><spoilers><even bigger="" spoilers="">[end of spoilers and back to the main point]</even></spoilers></b><br />
<spoilers><even bigger="" spoilers=""></even></spoilers><br />
<spoilers><even bigger="" spoilers=""><end -="" and="" back="" main="" of="" point="" spoilers="" the="" to="">Vash does have a momentary fall from grace where he is put in an impossible situation and appears to compromise his beliefs. But though it nearly destroys him (and me, just watching it) Vash reaffirms his beliefs in the final confrontation with his brother, remaining true to himself. It is his <i>lack</i> of change that makes the end so triumphant. </end></even></spoilers><br />
<br />
<spoilers><even bigger="" spoilers=""><end -="" and="" back="" main="" of="" point="" spoilers="" the="" to="">If anyone changes in this story (aside from the character of Nicholas D. Wolfwood) it is the viewer, whose understanding of Vash changes as he/she gets an increasingly deeper understanding of who Vash really is. </end></even></spoilers><br />
<br />
<b><spoilers><even bigger="" spoilers=""><end -="" and="" back="" main="" of="" point="" spoilers="" the="" to="">So why does this story work without change? </end></even></spoilers></b><br />
<br />
<spoilers><even bigger="" spoilers=""><end -="" and="" back="" main="" of="" point="" spoilers="" the="" to="">It goes to that other bit of poorly worded advice, "think of the worst thing that can happen to your character and make it happen." The worst thing that could generally happen to a person is to be killed or rendered helpless and tortured, neither of which would make a good story. What the advice should be is "find out what your character believes in or stands for and test their commitment to that belief. Find out just how much they're willing to suffer or sacrifice to hold on to it." </end></even></spoilers><br />
<br />
<spoilers><even bigger="" spoilers=""><end -="" and="" back="" main="" of="" point="" spoilers="" the="" to="">Most characters will be flawed and as a result will change. But in those rare cases where a character represents an ideal, you may not want that character to change, but you'll still want to see how much he/she will suffer to hold to that ideal. I'n the case of Vash the Stampede, Vash the Humanoid Typhoon, it turns out he will suffer quite a lot.
</end></even></spoilers>JAPartridgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14877362553462049242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060860785474320548.post-83952462057354561092013-03-23T23:21:00.000-05:002013-03-23T23:21:32.397-05:00Twilight of the Outer GodsI think I've settled on military SF this year and decided to give fantasy a break. Of the two main ideas I've been toying with, Twilight of the Outer Gods--military SF in a Lovecraftian universe--is the one providing me with the greatest number of ideas.<br />
<br />
These are the characters I've been working with. <br />
<br />
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<br />JAPartridgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14877362553462049242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060860785474320548.post-8739305310965047612013-01-14T11:10:00.001-06:002013-01-14T11:11:40.649-06:00Huh? what?<p>I think, somehow, some of my posts have gone missing, including the usual post-nano retrospective.</p>
<p>This year went pretty well despite a number of real life changes which had enormous potential to mess things up. Each year seems to get a little easier and go a little smoother. I still failed to attend even one nano event and even those few friends I could talk into doing it with me bailed out right at the beginning so I endured it entirely alone.</p>
<p>Despite all that, I not only got my 50K+ written, I even finished a rough edit before the year's end.  In fact--not to sound too Pollyannaish--even my first reader (my wife) has said my writing has improved enough that not much work will need to be done to whip it into shape. </p>
<p>Now if only I could get someone to actually read it.</p>
<p>I need to do at least one more pass before it's ready for the June deadline. I'd love to bounce it off some other readers, but I figure I'll have to go this alone as well. I have considered doing an audio recording, since one of the best ways to edit a piece is to read it aloud, (and there seems to be a market for such. A number of the guys I work with always seem to be listening to audio books instead of reading) but I'm not sure I have enough time to record it all.</p>
JAPartridgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14877362553462049242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060860785474320548.post-54398165463449251462012-10-25T15:40:00.000-05:002012-10-25T15:41:15.078-05:00Killing My Potential<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As a child, I had a love/hate relationship with the word “potential”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I seem to remember hearing that word applied
to me more than once and I often felt that it was just a synonym for “not quite
good enough.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And yet, ironically, it is
the love of potential (or the fear of failure) that has me dragging my feet on
submitting my queries.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In my research, I found 13 AAR literary agencies accepting
electronic submissions for science fiction/fantasies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s 13 chances to find out if I succeeded
or failed in my 2+ year investment in Kingdom Of Stone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Right now it is at least a potential runaway
best seller--heck, it could even be a Pulitzer Prize winning novel--but very
soon the query letters are going out and those potentialities will quickly evaporate
into actualities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unlike quantum
particles, it seems books can’t exist as nothing more than an expanding wave of
probability.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I know that even if the book never sees a publisher’s
catalog, it’s not a waste.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I learned
much just writing it and self-publishing is increasingly becoming a viable
option.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even if it gets turned down by
all 13 agencies, it might still see the light of day in some future incarnation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the meantime, I’m ignoring much
professional advice and working on the sequel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Since this series is generally intended to be a series of related yet stand-alone
novels, it ultimately doesn’t matter which gets published if I can get even one
past the gatekeepers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m fully prepared
to go it alone if I must after that.<o:p></o:p></span>JAPartridgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14877362553462049242noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060860785474320548.post-70751217105450829942012-09-30T17:49:00.002-05:002012-09-30T17:50:26.805-05:00Line of the dayOctober is right around the corner and the NaNoWriMo site relaunch should hit tomorrow. One of the things they do is archive off all the forum posts to give us a blank slate to mark up for the new (writing) year. (Yes, November 1 now marks the beginning of my writing year.)<br />
<br />
One of the threads I participated in the most was the Line of the day thread. It made me slow down and pay more attention to voice as I dashed from plot point to plot point. Since those posts will all be going away soon, I thought I'd cut and paste them here. They're not exactly gems, but remember I was more concerned about hitting quota than voice.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
* * *</div>
<br />
He knew men were about to break in and try to kill them. He knew that if they put up a fight and lost, the spear-men would likely take it out on their wives and children. The image of it all hovered at the edge of his imagination making his hands sweat and his heart race. But he felt another part of him rising to the challenge, wanting to test himself against determined opponents. Years ago he had fought death itself to a draw at the battle of Korion-Tamia. How difficult could these warriors be?<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
* * *</div>
<br />
<br />
(In this passage the poor of the city of Mari have organized and begun to terrorize the wealthy. The following is a mocking rendition of something like a Christmas Carol sung outside their homes during the Festival of the Long Night:)<br />
<br />
"Good Adra, Good Madra”<br />
“Remember traditions of old”<br />
“As you sit beside your fire”<br />
“And we stand out in the cold”<br />
“With a feast upon your table”<br />
“Remember those not able”<br />
“And do now as you’re told…. “<br />
The revelers began laughing and changing the words of blessings to thinly veiled curses, wishing them things like their house not burning down and their legs not breaking in the new year. Each improvised verse sung louder than the last. <br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
* * *</div>
<br />
It turns out that it takes a long time for a village to die. The weight of all the years of marriages and births and deaths builds up a tremendous inertia. Even after the harvests start falling off and the herd’s birthings diminish, the memories of past harvests and past herds pushes the villagers on until their hands literally have nothing to do and they stand staring at an empty horizon wondering if the whole world had died around them.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
* * *</div>
<br />
He was a shirtless old man with muscles like ropes coiled under well tanned skin. He pounded on a large wooden drum on a short stand with two short smooth sticks. Adding a series of syncopated beats, he changed up the rhythm, increasing the complexity until it verged on falling into chaos. It was a musical puzzle, a riddle, an accident waiting to happen. Like the man juggling knives, one was forced to attend to see if the performer was really in control of his art. <br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
* * *</div>
<br />
In the distance, the wound swelled, a gaping maw swallowing the foundations of reality--madness and death and the negation of all things trying to drag itself into existence by its teeth, clinging to the crumbling edge of the world, crushing its own hope by the weight of its need.<br />
<br />
The frightened n’phesh flit about like panicked birds trapped in a room, looking for a way out. Caught in the current of destruction, they were being dragged screaming into the nothingness, their howling despair rising into a chorus of grief echoing in counterpoint to the rage of the thing seeking to birth itself through their deaths.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
* * *</div>
<br />
Andral’s forehead furrowed in warning, dropping like an angry landslide over his mis-matched eyes.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
* * *</div>
<br />
This is the place, Garanth thought. The place where my parents lived. The place where I was born. The place where my father went mad in his search for power and where he killed my mother. Somewhere in that confused jumble of buildings, her body still lay buried.<br />
<br />
Garanth eyed the line of donkeys bringing food and timber and other supplies into the city and tried to convince himself that it was all real— that the city was a physical connection between himself and his parents— but it all seemed like an old story told about someone else. <br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
* * *</div>
<br />
The next day they crossed the line from the un-blighted fields to the blighted fields of the south. The farmers were plowing up the portions which could still be used to grow food, inscribing in the land the demarcation between cursed and un-cursed.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
* * *</div>
<br />
“I am not sure where I am. The last thing I knew I was in the fields outside Har-Tor, but I assure you wherever here is I am.”<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
* * *</div>
<br />
Over the course of the last year, he had tried to use Andral's oracular powers to attract followers much as Craematis had done in Nur. But, where Craematis had managed to work his way into positions of power among the rich merchants and city elders, Pronos had only managed to attract a paltry collection of the old, the poor, the diseased and the desperate. Andral was talking with elemental spirits beyond human understanding. One would have thought such a thing would have attracted more attention.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
* * *</div>
<br />
Below them hundreds of buildings, some with quite tall towers, spread out beneath the gentle pastel glow of phosite crystals embedded in the ceiling. Stairs and ramps rose and fell while balconies and galleried bridges criss-crossed from building to building in what looked, from Garanth’s high vantage point, like gossamer webs of stone. Over it all the colored phosite gems waxed and waned with the eddies of the invisible flow of xaris. If it weren’t for the varied colors, it would have looked exactly like the beams of light moving across a city as they pierced through drifting clouds.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
* * *</div>
<br />
Apaidia's mother had warned her of such things collapsing and pouring hapless victims into great subterranean depths. There was no telling how much stone actually lay beneath them.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
* * *</div>
<br />
Feeling the gravity of awareness pull at him from behind, he turned and found her standing there. JAPartridgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14877362553462049242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060860785474320548.post-60160618700853470162012-09-19T18:25:00.003-05:002015-04-21T14:21:10.615-05:00Ready In August?There seems to be an inverse relationship between writing and blogging. Here it is September and I haven't blogged once since NaNoWriMo. Fortunately, that doesn't mean that I haven't been writing. Of course I've wasted a fair amount of time goofing off and playing MMOs. I even started a new job which has rather occupied my mental space for the last several months. But, despite all that, I also managed to knock out 30k on last year's nano, re-work and self-publish a novella (including interior art) and planned out the rest of this year's nano.<br />
<br />
Normally I don't even decide what story I'm going to do until September or October, so I'm feeling pretty good about that. I recently finished a final (for a while at least) read through of A Kingdom of Stone (and made ebook versions for a friend to read) and started re-reading the first half of The Stone King to get in the right mindset for this year's nano. I don't know what the work situation will be like during nano, hopefully I'll have time to write. Assuming I do, I seem to be pretty well prepared.<br />
<br />
We'll see.<br />
<br />
<br />JAPartridgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14877362553462049242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060860785474320548.post-41778979306674999832012-01-15T16:49:00.000-06:002012-09-30T17:51:28.704-05:00NaNoWriMo 2011 - Post Mortem<br />
Now that the craziness of the holidays are mostly over and we come to the part of the year where we're supposed to be contemplative and introspective. I thought it past time to do my write-up for this year's nano.<br />
<br />
In many ways things went better than last year. I still didn't make it to any of the events though, which was somewhat disheartening. The local public libraries even got involved, but half their events were on the south side of town where nobody lives. (At least nobody participating in the local nano forums.) And not one official event was held anywhere near me. None of my friends who normally endure nanowrimo with me participated or else they dropped out early in the month so that, once again, I basically had to go it alone. I even considered dropping out and just doing my own thing, but I guess I'm too stubborn. Well, that and the five free prints were still an incentive to keep going.<br />
<br />
There were a few bright spots however. Though there were a few rough days where I just couldn't meet goal, for the most part, the writing came easier. This was the first year (aside from The Ascent where I was basically following an outline written by Xenophon) that I didn't get to the end of the outline before I hit the 50,000 word mark. I guess I'm getting better at guesstimating my word counts. The one really fun thing I engaged in this year was a thread on the local forums where we posted the line of the day. It forced me to sit back and pay attention to my voice. While each one may not be a gem, exactly, I really think it helped. I'm starting to feel like a lot of the intangible parts of writing art coming together for me. I may even post some of those lines on this blog.<br />
<br />
I did, however, decide to take a little detour in my writing. The piece I was working on, is NOT going to be ready by the June deadline for the free print copies. I decided, instead, to work up a novelette I had done some time back. I even decided to dust off my much neglected pencils and do some sketches for it. If you like the idea of zombies in space, this might be a good book for you.<br />
<br />
However, now I'm going to have to decide whether to save this story and do part 2 for next year's nano or go ahead with the military science fiction piece I was planning. Perhaps I'll have a better idea after I finish detailing the remaining scenes, but first, I got a more work to do getting ready for June.JAPartridgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14877362553462049242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060860785474320548.post-55897048536807885922011-11-19T18:00:00.001-06:002011-11-19T19:37:10.127-06:00Week Two....and most of Three<br />
Week two is when the new shiny wears off. It's also when a writer is most likely to abandon their work to try something else. By now the initial excitement has dulled somewhat and the writer begins to realize how much actual work lies ahead. Second guessing their decisions, they think that if they can write about something more exciting, they'll be able to quickly recapture lost word count and continue on. Never a good idea.<br />
<br />
Writers already have enough trouble dealing with the "am I crazy's" when they realize they are sacrificing an awful lot of time creating something that, at best, two or three friends and/or family members will ever read or appreciate, and then they're probably only being polite when they say they like it. This is ten times worse during NaNoWriMo because of the shear volume of time that must be sacrificed, including important family time during the holidays. Only a healthy dose of narcissism, combined with an anarchic disregard for social (and literary) conventions and shear bloody mindedness, can carry one through at this point. A writer has to write entirely for themselves and anyone who doesn't appreciate their greatness can go critique themselves.<br />
<br />
Week two, for me, was a constant dance on the edge of mental burnout. I suspect one danger of lots of pre nano preparation is increasing the risk of such. About half the time I thought I wasn't going to make goal for the day. Most of the time I pulled it out, but at least one day (when I was about half a day ahead) I only got halfway to the daily goal of 1667. That may not sound so bad, but I am not a sprinter. I know some writers can easily knock out thousands of words a day (A surprising number are actually published writers, so it just might not be all crap) I, however, cannot do that. My strategy is simple. Just hit goal every day and try to do a little more. Thanksgiving is a bad time to be writing so a little cushion, if possible, helps.<br />
<br />
Week Three was much the same. I did get a little game time in (after making goal of course) last weekend which may have helped reset my brain. I was hoping to do the same this weekend, but I've got packing to do. Strangely enough last Wednesday was both my worst and best day. I was facing total burnout. I'd just got to the part where I knew what I needed to write next, but I didn't care anymore. Instead I went back and wrote scenes that weren't on my outline, scenes that I had thought about, but had skipped over. It turned out to be some of the best writing I've done this nano. And despite the enormous weight of apathy I still manage to beat goal.<br />
<br />
Today, though I got a late start, was a pretty good day. I did over 3k (which is about my peak performance right now) and it wasn't too much of a struggle. I'm hoping I've gotten to the point in the story where things just sort of take off. That tends to happen as you near the climax. I'm also hoping I don't run out of outline before I run out of 50k words. And I'm also a little concerned about both pacing and uneven voice.<br />
<br />
Ok...I've got to go think about something else for awhile and calm down.JAPartridgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14877362553462049242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060860785474320548.post-51023357542276931692011-11-08T21:12:00.001-06:002011-11-08T21:13:22.548-06:00Week 1 - The Panic Is Normal<br />
Last night was day 7 of NaNoWriMo and so far I've been able to stay on
top of my writing quotas. There were a few days where I was forced to
stay up late to pull it out, but at this point I'm very slightly ahead
of the game.<br />
<br />
Last Thursday, I think I was fighting off a virus or something. I had a
very hard time focusing, but I managed to still make goal. So far my
detailed outline has kept things on track. It means I don't have to
worry about what happens next, though I still have to sometimes figure
out how I'm going to make it happen.<br />
<br />
Last weekend I was hoping to hit goal early and take a break, maybe play
a little DDO and do some favor grinding. Something mindless to turn
the brain off. Instead I was persuaded to pull the chainsaw out and
trim the trees since brush pickup is this week. I also finally got
around to mowing the thicket in the backyard where the faucet leaks. By
Sunday I had serious brain-fry and could barely focus enough to make
goal.<br />
<br />
To make matter worse I had an entire chapter that was all transitional
scenes. I did have some important ground to cover, I got to trickle out
a little more character/cultural/setting background, but it was mostly
about getting the characters from point A to point B to set up the next
situation. In fact I have often suspected I have a tendency to gloss
over such things, just hit the important conflicts and move
on--certainly last year's nano had much more action in it at this
point--so I made myself develop those scenes more fully. Hopefully I
didn't overdue it.<br />
<br />
I'm definitely going to need beta readers on this one.<br />JAPartridgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14877362553462049242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060860785474320548.post-11803950941136097202011-10-10T15:22:00.004-05:002011-10-10T16:23:44.332-05:0021 Days and Counting...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJh0YWrZ_OS8iGPzISr-0DyCpeaDi7ny3VPLj486YIsosePG9GZLPGSzRqCFNqo4sKnfZSuRh8AxnuY7_0ae7IJfxGR0AzH8yVdNB5gbIRF39KfbbxeoCGf5NQqdcXNMtk-oPTcEdN4bFk/s1600/stone-king-banner.png"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 80px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJh0YWrZ_OS8iGPzISr-0DyCpeaDi7ny3VPLj486YIsosePG9GZLPGSzRqCFNqo4sKnfZSuRh8AxnuY7_0ae7IJfxGR0AzH8yVdNB5gbIRF39KfbbxeoCGf5NQqdcXNMtk-oPTcEdN4bFk/s400/stone-king-banner.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5661967239146257186" border="0"></a> So, I've decided to do the inadvisable and write a sequel to an unpublished novel. I am, optimistically, about half finished plotting the thing, though I still have some hard decisions to make that could slow things down. I am, however, already seeing some interesting connections developing between characters. The act of discovery is probably the most satisfying part of writing. I can understand how Tolkien would talk about his world as if he weren't creating it, but exploring it. I am both excited and a little intimated about the journey coming up next month. I hope I can finish planning my itinerary by then.JAPartridgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14877362553462049242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060860785474320548.post-57642243169866693032011-07-23T11:43:00.004-05:002011-07-23T12:23:11.663-05:00Preparing for NaNo 2011Every year I tell myself I'm going to do a better job preparing for NaNoWriMo. So far I've been able to do that, but each year I feel I should have done a better job. It is now the end of July and I've already started that agonizing search for this year's story.<br /><br />I started with a short-short story called Panacea about the accidental creation of a mutagenic plague. (I wrote the whole thing with my thumbs on my iPod as a lark. :) It was intended to be a bit of back story for a far future post-post-apocalyptic story involving mutants, primitive tribal culture and lost technology. (Were not talking X-men mutants here, but more like Beneath the Planet of the Apes type mutants.) Unfortunately I don't have a handle on the main character, so that story really needs to sit and gel awhile longer.<br /><br />I also wrote a potential first chapter for a YA zombie apocalypse told from the POV of a 15 year old girl who has to travel through a zombie infested metropolis to get her family back together. I think it has a lot of potential and the dramatic irony of the first chapter was a lot of fun yet, somehow--despite living with a 15 year old girl, the voice wasn't quite right. I may have to backburner that one as well.<br /><br />I have lots of other stories rattling around in the back of my head (not all of which are apocalyptic) including a lovecraftian horror romance story I was toying with last year. I may even violate one of the basic rules for writers and write a sequel to an unpublished story. <br /><br />I never really finished A Kingdom of Stone. I mean, I did--and it's a pretty solid ending, but there was a whole second part to that story that would have been included if I hadn't hit the 134k word mark. In Arthurian terms, part one deals with the rise of Merlin while part two deals with the rise of Arthur. <br /><br />(No, this is not an Arthurian tale! I'm actually somewhat tired of those. I'm using Arthur as a metaphor here so I don't have to explain the actual story--though I will be borrowing from the Fisher King and other parts of the Mabinogion so there will be a resonance there. :) <br /><br />The ending for part two is pretty well mapped out, but the rest of it is largely up in the air. That's because it's really the ending of the first book that's just been chopped off. That means I've got to craft a new beginning for part two and finish working out the middle bits. We'll see how close I come before October and the pre-nano panic kicks in.JAPartridgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14877362553462049242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060860785474320548.post-67079841205920319142011-04-25T11:04:00.007-05:002011-06-18T18:57:09.506-05:00Nanowrimo 2010 PostmortemI know nanowrimo ended for most people in Nov, but for me it doesn't really end until I'm holding my proof in my hot little hands. The actual writing ended about April--yes I know most people finish in November, but then most nanos are only 50k or so long. This year, mine came in just under 90k, a little shorter than last year's. Each year's attempt gets a little easier and this year's was no exception. I think this goes to show, if nothing else, that I picked the right story after all.<br /><br />Otherwise, nanowrimo was a bit of a bust. We didn't have the usual midnight kick-off write-in and I didn't go to any of the events which were almost all on the other side of town, so I didn't really feel like I was a part of things. In fact I barely even got on the forums. Though who knows maybe it actually helped me meet goal more quickly. :)<br /><br />If all goes well, the free print should be arriving in about a week. Sometime after that I'll be looking for beta readers. If anyone thinks they might be interested in reading the thing or even just willing to help me out, I could use some fresh eyes on it. I'll be posting more info then.JAPartridgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14877362553462049242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060860785474320548.post-38387719321990968482010-11-13T18:53:00.002-06:002010-11-13T19:11:03.062-06:00Halfway There and Two Days Early!It's been an odd week. Week Two is normally Hell Week for most nanoers. It's the point where the story's shiny newness has begun to wear off and the characters stop cooperating. It's also the point where people who didn't plan often find out that they don't really have a story in any meaningful sense.<br /><br />Tuesday I had my first short day. I came in 350 words short. Strangely enough, it was followed by a record word count day on Wednesday and even more on Thursday. Then Friday I had another short day. That however was something of an accident. I was only about 100 words short and I had forgotten that earlier in the day I had penned a snatch of dialog that takes place near the climax of the story and so wrote in the back of my notebook. Had I remembered to add it, I would have (just barely) made quota that day.<br /><br />My cast of character's is exploding! I have two and a half main characters and the two (full) main characters are each surrounded by more than a dozen supporting characters too many of which are developing personalities and expressing opinions unworthy of background characters. The character that I thought would be the main character's nemesis sort of redeemed himself. At least he's slight more sympathetic than he was. And a new character has arisen to make the MC's life miserable. Unfortunately my MC has just been yanked out of that situation into a better/worse one. Who knows if either of the earlier potential nemesis will reenter his life later.<br /><br />I have enjoyed discovering unexpected facets of my main characters though. That sort of things always makes writing fun and really helps with the word count.<br /><br />Having spent all day writing. I'm going to go stand up now (if my legs will still support me) and then go play some DDO to unstress my brain.JAPartridgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14877362553462049242noreply@blogger.com0