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I tell of my struggles as I learn and go through the process of writing a book from page 1 |
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Welcome to my first attempt at blogging…here it goes. But a few things first. First, I am forever fearful of judgment so I must make this disclaimer: I am not terrible at English. While I will do my best to put forth the best of my abilities, I consider a blog to be little more than a publicized journal, and therefore nothing to lose sleep over if it doesn’t sound perfect. I already have one of those headaches, and I don’t need another. That said, if there is something that you mention that just makes you cringe, I will do my best to fix it or apologize profusely for the mental damage I have caused you. Also: This is going to be a really long post. As in 1,889 words long. I realize I am only making it longer, but I feel the need to warn you. Once we get introductions and my past out of the way, they will be MUCH shorter. Why Blog: As a wannabe writer I am coming across many difficult and often discouraging problems. I feel the only reason why I am still fighting this battle is because I want the world to know of my imaginary world, with the friends that I have made there who really want people to know who they are. Perhaps I am crazy, but then half the world is. I also thought that perhaps if other wannabe authors were to follow me, perhaps they would not feel so alone. (Or perhaps I am? Well if that were the case, this blog should be really interesting, but I doubt it.) They could feed off my knowledge gained, and maybe give me a few pointers as well. Others might be interested in what “kids are doing these days” and tune in for an interesting read. I figure if the latter were to happen, it keeps my annoying butt off the FAQ board with a million-and-one questions that I feel are rather petty (sorry to those who are a part of Writer’s digest.) I’ll just annoy you!  What I have done so far: I cannot tell you everything that I have learned so far, mainly because I am sure a lot of it is now second nature to me and I wouldn’t think of mentioning it to you. To compensate for that, let’s annoy the senior author unlucky enough to find this post a bit more so that if I don’t have the answer you give me, they might, and if not…back to the FAQ board. The following things, however, are what stick out to me. The first was the Snowflake Method. As a project for high-school, I wrote the first few chapters of my novel (Those chapters can be seen as my “Through the portal” series). It required a research essay and a visual, where I discovered this handy tool for outlining and writing the first draft of your novel/book/whatever. If you have time, look it up. Just type in “Snowflake Method” into google and you will find it. It’s based on a mathematical principle, but basically it is just taking something very generic and small and building on top of it until you have a novel. I have found this TREMENDOUSLY helpful in realizing the purpose of my novel, my characters habits and personalities, where the holes in the plot are (an, trust me, there are always holes) and so forth. I seriously recommend it. The next was Writing.com. Though if you are reading this, I think it is safe to assume that you have found that particular jewel. I will say here that the upgraded, if you don’t have it already, is well worth the 50 bucks (take a little) for the year membership. The next is a wonderful instructional book by Josip Novakovich called Writing Fiction Step by Step. He also has another entitled Fiction Writer’s Work Shop that is just as good. I haven’t even finished these books, and they have helped my writing style and process. If you want a class, but don’t want to spend thousands of dollars, Open learn uses the former for their free online class. Next comes Advancedfictionwriting.com. This is hosted by Randy Ingermanson. Perhaps you’ve heard of him? If not, you should. He knows his stuff and his website will tell you better than I can, so check it out. I personally love his blog, because people like me ask him questions and he answers them thoroughly, and he invites you to do the same. You can also find the Snowflake Method here. The final breakthrough is Writersdigest.com. This is more a place for you to get fast responses (within a day at most) to questions, but from what I can see, it can have as much use as all the aforementioned resources, plus the added ability to market the eventually finished book. Perhaps I am wrong…this is a new discovery, and I’ve only read a few articles and annoyed the people on the FAQ board. But the writing! I need help WRITING! How do I get rid of amateuristic sounding chapters? How do I make a scene? How much of a backstory is allowed? How do I create dialogue? All of the thousand and one questions that we keep putting into google or youtube and coming up with more sites and books to look at. The truth that I have discovered is it is as hard for the teacher as it is for the student, largely because THERE ARE NO RULES. Once you get past writing 101, you’re good. The rest is literally take it or leave it advice for a more mainstream novel that will be appealing to the agents that published the books of the people you’re asking advice from. On top of that you are asking generic questions that may differ between the genres. I am writing an epic fantasy. If you are not, then this may not be the blog to follow. I may have some generic things I have discovered, but you would be banging your head on the desk more than thanking me. Now. For some of the things I HAVE learned: One is that the mark of an amateur is how often they use variations of “said” so no he/she “whispers” “shouts” “sighs” “laughs” “screams” and all of the other things you can think of that are not “said.” The “professionals” denote the speaking character by having that character do an action. Look for it in one of your favorite books. More often than not, it’ll say something along the lines of “”What is that?” Cassie pointed to the top of the hill” rather than “What is that?” Cassie whispered worriedly. Another thing. Lay off the adverbs. Let the reader decide the mood. If you set the scene right, any adverbs you add on should be redundant. As for the backstory, I have learned there is no excuse for an info dump. (supposedly there is some leeway for fantasy so you can “world build” but it isn’t a well-liked concept). Work the backstory into the novel as it becomes relevant. If it’s not relevant, have one of the characters be curious, and figure it out somehow. But the backstory should be at most one short paragraph, and in dialogue, before continuing the story. (That’s not total…split it up so that at any one time there is only one paragraph). Or else in a flash back. And there’s a whole stigma about that, but I don’t like flashbacks, so if you want explanation, you’ll have to look somewhere else. I keep hearing “talk to yourself” or “record yourself having conversations” when it comes to dialogue. I talk to myself way too often to be considered sane, so dialogue has never been a problem for me short of making sure who’s talking is well known. Don’t worry about going crazy. We’re friendly and don’t bite hard. What about my book? I have been trying to write this book for the last decade. Keep in mind, a decade ago I was 11, so have that frame of reference. I was not a well-liked child at school for my own problems that really aren’t important, but the result of which is that I spent a lot of time alone. I spent most of my time in a fictional world, and – being 11 – I was in a place where people were perfect ( as in a literal sense) and had special abilities…I still have the “book”. Since then I my world has become – shall we say – more complex? The people are no longer perfect, but magic (as these “abilities” turned into) became as common as dirt and really didn’t raise much notice. My world began to have a past and filled with people with different cultures and sights full of wonder, and I began to have the common urge any writer gets: the need to share it. From the lore came the characters and I know them better than I know my friends. This however brings me to about my first year in high-school, so these characters – one of them in his forties – were dealing with problems in a very teenage-like way. This and an amateur voice throughout the chapters is one of the things that I have been trying to work out of my novel for the last couple of years, leading me to a lot of the resources mentioned above. I found it interesting, though, that even in my mind there is a sense of time. Initially I was writing about Olivia Smith, who was trapped in a society about ten times worse than the holocaust and her adventure was taking a plane over a giant wall that surrounded this society and escaping. However, as the years passed, I found myself moving more toward her daughter, who was born in a different reality – ours – and falls through a portal back into her own, of which she has no knowledge of. Now, if I were to go back to write about Olivia, I call the story stale. It’s like I am telling history. What’s more, it’s history that everyone knows. So, I write about Brina. And hope this story stays alive, because I SO want to share her life. The good thing about it is I have something to build on if I need to for another book. So where am I now? I am at the point where I write the beginning over and over again until I get discouraged after writing the first few words because they are the same, and the story has yet to be written. Not published…not even organized really. I just want it written. I sincerely believe that I need some form of class and have decided to read through Writing fiction Step by Step and do all of the exercises that it tells me to do. Should you so desire, I can post those as a different item, so you can see my progress a little more. I am also starting this blog so that *I* can see how far I’ve come, and perhaps get a few more pointers and herd a few more dreamers along the way. And that’s it. My first post. Feel free to comment or post anything you desire. This is open to all. |
| "Outide the Acid Lake burned, the inferno scorching the clouds above while men scramble to either tame its fury or escape to saftey, but Olivia didn't care." I have a new first line that I actually like again, and this gives me hope. But the ever-present question is "what next?" My reader should be intrigued with the existance of an Acid Lake, why there's a fire, and why Olivia doesn't care. They should want to read on and answer all of those questions. Of course I have all of those answeres, but how to put them in an entertaining way? I find myself having a bit of difficulty trying to connect the first line with what is actually happening in Olivia's tent. The tent is surprisingly quiet with the catastrophy outside, but why mention it if it really doesn't have much of an effect on Olivia? I could say that her universe has collapsed to just the contents of her tent, but the universe does not exist in a book unless the character experiences it. At least that is the case with third person limited. "The danger had been purposely set out of range of her cramped tent, and Olivia could only handle one bundle of stress at the moment." Mmm. Perhaps... or: "They were only echoes to her with little significance and easilly overwhelmed by Mattea's quiet counting." I like that a little bit better because it connects the scenes with sound -- echoes to quiet counting -- and provides a nice transition from chaos to stillness. Now, perhaps to provide a contrast between the visual aspects: "Olivia stared absently at her bare stomach framed by the closed entrance as though juxtaposing her joy in fear in one picture. The plan was working so far -- no one paid any attention to a prisoner when their lives were at stake -- but who was to say it wouldn't fail in the next second?" And so I continue, and may erase and rewrite again as the night continues, but I am working on it. You all can see that I am working on it. This new angle has gotten me further than anything else I've tried in a long while so I will stick with it. I also feel the need to reitterate the fact that anyone is welcome to comment at any time. This blog is a conversation to me, albeit largly with myself, but a conversation. If anyone has anything to say, feel free to join in. |
| I wonder how many people struggle as I do with the inspiration to write. I often find myself wanting to begin again my work and getting about halfway through the first paragraph before I stop again. I begin to wonder if I an truly good enough to write a book. Who am I to think that I can inspire a large number of people to walk with me in a land which only exists in my head with characters that, while dear to me, are not known to them? Who am I to think that I can explain these aspects in such a way to make one forget one's location if only for a moment and stand with Brina on the edge of the cliffs of the Fingered Plains, or see beauty in the Acid Lake? But as I have said many a time, the story stays. Rather the world, and the characters stay. Perhaps that is the main issue I have. The story is secondary to me. It is the world I love. It's the woman Brina has grown into, and Olivia -- her mother -- who I remember. It is Eric that I am proud of, but his story -- all of their stories -- did not come to me first, and do not resonate with me as the world or their character does. I suppose the next logical step would be to rethink the story entirely, but now the story I have has become a part of my characters. Who would Brina be if she weren't manipulated into fighting a war she had no prior knowledge of? What makes Eric stand out if he didn't have to go through the personal struggle of getting over a true love that would forever be unrequited? The world itself would lose a lot of its beauty if it were not in constant contrast to the brutal war that has rampaged it for the last decade and more. And what better way to end any war than to make it irrelevant? And what better way to show the multitude of different cultures than to have a war that threatens their existence? Another thought is that perhaps I don't know my characters as much as I thought or need to. This is in part true; Brina before her adventures on the other side of the veil is a mystery to me. Eric for a long time may as well have been a perfect human being with his only fault being his misplaced love. No other character really stood out from the flat characters that make the various mental scenes. So I thought. I created character charts that all eventually went unfinished. I found I don't like character charts. They are too organized and unrealistic for me. I don't meet anyone by asking them a bunch of questions and writing down their answers and what they look like. Nor do I keep tabs on them as I learn of them. Brina, Eric, Ben, Chris....they are my friends. More so than a lot of the friends with breath and heartbeats. So it's unnatural to me to try and create a chart for each one. Perhaps. then, I need to create an outline. If the characters will reveal themselves to me as needed (and they have so far), then I need to create the need, and specify the story, but that ends as well as all other attempts. I must have fifty or so now, all saying similar things... all in different areas. I have many scenes in my head, and a lot of them now on paper, but nothing to connect them. For example, I know that Eric leaves the party for a while and does his own thing, leaving Brina to fend for herself. I know that he eventually comes back but by that time, Brina has overcome her awe of him and has learned to be independent. I don't know why Eric leaves, or what happens to anyone while he's gone, or why he comes back. I just have a conversation between the two where Brina reveals her true opinion of their task, of Eric, and just how much she's grown. Another scene has Brina crying in the rain, trying and failing to find the beauty in anything as she is mentally drowning in the dark new world she has found herself stuck in. And another scene where she is smiling as Eric shows her the spectacular parade that is making its way through a city, and the display of the simpler yet beautiful forms of magic. I can go on, but the point is there is no connection between any of them. There isn't even really an order in which they go. I have found that I need continuity in thoughts as well as story to be successful so here I am -- again -- at the beginning. Something has to change though, or this circle will continue, and another 8 months will pass before I update this blog again just to tell you nothing has moved forward. below is what has changed and what led to it. Since I seem to be doomed to repeat the first paragraph of the first chapter of my book indefinitely, I figured I might as well work at it to make it better. I happen to have a close and dear friend who shares in my aspirations of becoming an author, and I had the opportunity to read his first chapter as he has read mine. The difference is incredible. Whereas mine was contemplative, his was full of tension. Where mine had many lengthy descriptions of the scenery, his were short, but conveyed where his characters were, but even they added to the mood of the scene. The characters would talk amongst themselves in hushed tones, and through conversation and observation I was able to get an idea of who they where and what they looked like. Mine...well mine fell short. Mine had Brina walking home along a wooded trail with her schoolbook tucked underneath her jacket and rather uncomfortable with the sudden rain. At the first draft, there was no description of what she looked like, among other shortcomings I can't think of at the moment, but the biggest one was the lack of action. As I mentioned in my last post, you can start a book however you want, but there has to be at least an undercurrent of action. Action is what moves the story forward. A pretty scene is all well and good bit if it doesn't take the character anywhere it's pointless. I've noticed this in many books. Wizard's First Rule, the style of which I am trying to mimick, starts with a description of a plant, but the very description has action in it. The plant is slowly killing the tree, and Richard is there searching for that very plant. The mood is set with the words used. It's not, then, just a pretty description. Harry Potter started with a description of character, but that description had action in that there wasn't any if that makes sense. The very fact that nothing abnormal happens to the Dursley family initially, and what they thought about that set the scene for action to occur. So perhaps a revision of my first statement: Every story must either start with action, or set up the action - and do it quickly. Mine didn't. The only reason action occurred in my beginning was by Brina stumbling onto a discovery. This sounds decent, but without knowing anything about Brina, or what she found, I realized my readers would only be left with very little. "Okay," they would think. "So what?" Don't get me wrong, I'm sure it was decent for my first draft. But after having read my friends beginning and doing that further research I found it very bland. I therefore took my research a step further and start asking how one is to write a killer beginning to a fantasy novel. The internet is an amazing source and I found many things that helped me. The result is that I will change the beginning from when Brina finds the portal, to when Brina is born. After that scene I will return to the 17 year old Brina and continue the story there, but at that point, the reader will realize a bit more of her significance as well as a bit of what may lay in her future simply by the fact that Brina was born on the other side of the veil while her mother was held captive. I will leave you to read the chapter as soon as I have it finished. Another change I have is to this blog itself. I started this blog stating that this was going to be like a public journal for me, where I thought through my problems, asked questions, and in general worked on my book. It was meant to show the writing process for one such as me who has no training in such and really nothing but a good story and an aspiration to share it. All of this stays true, but you can expect more from now on. Initially I didn't want to share any of the actual storyline here, worried that it would ruin the story for all of you who want to see the finished product. But I find that too difficult. The questions I come up with are often hard to generalize, and there's not as much to write about without being able to share the small advancements or the drafts I have with you all. So I will start to share all of my secrets and we'll see how it goes! |
| So it has been another age since I have written last, and I am just going to have to stop apologizing about it because, though it is heartfelt, it is getting repetitive. And as bad as it sounds I will have to make the truce saying that I will write when I can. The spark lives on! …however dimly. I do feel a particular need to write today however because I have finally made a breakthrough in my book and it has finally gotten me back on the track of writing, and I discovered something that may be of use to my readers if any still remain. Story time! When I began solidifying the concept that would become the plot to my story, I had to create a plausible explanation for portals to exist, why they haven’t been discovered yet, and what the effects on either side would be if they did get discovered. I created a part of science that probably won’t stand in any scientific experiment saying that reality was made up of sets of dimensions. Length, width, height, time and so on to however many dimensions there are in this world were one set, and there would be other dimensions in other sets that we would not be able to describe because we would have nothing to compare it to. We would experience the portal and see, hear, smell, taste, touch things, but we would never be able to describe it, and the portals were of a different set of dimensions. This was all very grand until I started to share the thought with one of my more genius friends. She said essentially that if that were the case, we would not be able to perceive it at all. We could not enter the portal and certainly wouldn’t see it. According to certain scientific studies (forgive me I don’t remember which ones, though one included a caterpillar), our perception of reality is one of the dimensions. Well that trashed my whole idea, and I was left with an entity I didn’t know how to describe. I didn’t think this would be a problem, however, because I thought I would just skim over the part of the portals and continue with the plot. But a lot of my plot is still in the thought cloud and not concrete. The way I write is by essentially continuously asking “now what?” I place a character that I have gotten to know pretty well into a situation he or she is not used to, and figure out what his or her actions would be. And since every action spawns a reaction, there is always something that happens next. Without the workings of a portal, I found myself stuck in a loop at the beginning. I would get to the part where Brina wakes up after having been knocked unconscious within the portal, get writer’s block, go back and read what I had, hate it, scrap it, and start again. It was a very vicious cycle. In the mean time I knew that I eventually needed to come up with another explanation for the portals and spent longer than the life of this blog trying to think of one. If any of you have ever had an idea you knew was bad but still had an issue of letting it go, you know how hard it was for me to come up with results. About two days ago I was watching a documentary about perception of reality. The whole thing rather fascinates me, to be honest. But I got to thinking. If our perception of reality defines it and locks it into place, then that is OUR reality. It doesn’t have to be the only one. That would – in my mind at least – explain why it is that if we observe electrons going through two slits, we get two bars, and if we don’t observe it we get a wave pattern. I would explain why sub-atomic particles don’t follow the same laws as macro-physics. It would explain why a lot of our universe is missing. Keep in mind, I am sure there is a scientist who could tell me why that doesn’t work in two minutes flat, but I’m not writing for them, and I don’t really think portals exist and so am not trying to prove it. I am only trying to create a plausible explanation that sounds complicated enough for an intelligent individual with no advanced knowledge of science to put reality aside. And so, I have my explanation and am back on track. Granted I’m back at writing “Chapter 1”, but I am confident that I will get much further this time. But the experience taught me something: I can’t skip something and come back to it. Now I may work differently than some of you. In fact I am sure of it, so take this advice with a grain of salt. If you come to a point where you have writer’s block, and distractions or mad libs, or whatever else the experts tell you to do just aren’t working, see if you can identify the reason for your block. If it’s because a certain part of your book doesn’t make sense, fix that part first. If it’s because you don’t spend enough time talking to yourself, stop fretting over those weird looks. And if it’s just because you’re lazy…picture an editor giving you a doughnut at the completion of your book? A quick note about beginnings From my very impressive education of a high-school diploma, I learned there were three ways to start a book: Action, description, or conversation. Recently, however, I have narrowed it down to one: action. Sure you could start the book of with the description of a plant as with Terry Goodkind’s Wizard’s First Rule, or with a conversation as with The Ruins of Gorlan by John Flanagan, but those beginnings have to be action related. They are experienced by a character who is there for a reason. Granted, there may be some differences with third person omniscient, but even so, the storyteller has a reason of relaying the story as well. Richard sees a vine in Wizards First Rule and runs his fingers through his hair, reflecting on the death of his father which in itself is packed with action. Will’s friends urge him to eat in The Ruins of Gorlan, but he responds with playing with his food and reflecting on the upcoming ceremony which WILL have action in it. My initial beginning of my book is still posted in my profile if you want to take a look at it. (Keep in mind that I am writing this on Valentine’s Day evening of 2015, so if it’s not there a year from now to the readers who come to me that much in the future, sorry; you’re out of luck) It starts with a description with no real action. It’s raining and a lot of time is taken to set the scene, and Brina’s reflection has very little action in it as well. I find this boring, and need to rework it. It doesn’t mean that I can’t have a description in the first scene, or even dedicate the first paragraph to it, but I need to keep in mind that the reason the readers are reading about that scene is because it’s important, and will lead to something else. So an amendment to the first rule: You can start a book with action disguised in three different ways. And with that I bid you all adieu so I may write my own story and hopefully not let you all down. Write on. |
| It has been a good while since I last posted, and to be honest, it's largely to do with the shame of failure. I keep making these deadlines for myself and posting them so others may see them. I thought I would feel as though I would let them down if I don't succeed...and I have therefore let you down. All this time when I should have been writing 500 words either about the book, or of the book, I have been moving, working, camping, visiting, hiking...all in all living. It's a great life to live, but it makes finding the time to write a short amount of words rather hard to do. That is NOT to say I am not a writer. I still feel the drive to share my stories with the world and let loose the people from my mind into their rightful places. I still have close friends who enjoy my work and look forward for more. But the book I have been trying to write is starting to fade, and is being slowly replaced with another idea that is filling out more and more. I know this pattern, though. I would decide that this new book idea would be a good place to go since the ideas are fresh - not the stale ones I have been thorough over and over with in my last idea, and I would set aside the first story and begin to work on the second. However as time would pass other ideas would present themselves and the circle would begin again. Eventually I would look at the first story, and find it too immature, or too undeveloped and I would eventually throw the idea away. I will not do that now. I do need, however, a new beginning I think. I need some fresh new way to present my idea - my world in this case - so that I don't get bored or exasperated after the first paragraph. With this in mind, I talked to an old friend of mine, and asked him to give me something to describe. At first, he didn't understand me, and tried getting me to give him a description of my characters or the place they are in and so forth. He thought I was trying to come up with a good new beginning. "I am" I told him, "but I am going about it in a roundabout sort of way." I told him to give me the most boring thing he could think of and I would try to make it vital and interesting and to draw the reader in with it. I am not likely to use it in the story itself, but the point is to get my mind working in a different direction. It aims to expand on ideas that seem unimportant, and make them into stories that will keep readers entertained at least for a little while. And since most of the ideas I think about seem rather dull, this is an excellent exercise for me. For those of you who struggle with the same setback, or just want something fun to do, I challenge you to do the same. My friend gave me a "dirt clod" to describe. Make it vital. Make it interesting. And if you can do that using ONLY descriptions, you will have my respect for life. |
| I have to admit that I do NOT have the first chapter of my book done as I said I was going to about two weeks ago. Nor have I been adhering to the 500 club rules. It's amazing how mundane life gets in the way. The meeting new people, the going home for weekends, the discovering other hobbies.... I have slapped myself in the face though (figuratively...I think if I were to start hurting myself it would be the final straw before going to sleep in the padded rooms, and there are no computers there!). I've also given myself an ultimatum: I will EITHER write the first chapter, OR write the outline for the book. The thought that I am writing like a train with unfinished tracks ahead frightens me, so I figure as long as I am making progress in writing or planning, things will work out. No more character charts. No more classes. Just get done with this part and THEN I can get to those. Unfortunately, I also have to consider the fact that I have a test in Public Speaking on the 9th, and I need to study for that. So my time is still going to be divided. However, I will have no excuse if the chapter or the outline is not completed by the end of the month of May…or is that too easy? I have, however, made good on the promise to rewrite Power of Inspiration. I appreciate the many kind words on the matter, but I was still really unhappy with the way it sounded in certain parts…along with the amateuristic sound emanating throughout the piece. I like to think it is a lot better now. Feel free to tell me your thoughts. The Item # is 1967823, and I will be more than happy to review works you wish me to see. Not sure I will be any help, but I love exploring other voices, styles and content. A big thank you to wordsmitty (I'd tag him, but I don't know how), who tagged me in her “Blogging Bliss” Newsletter. It came as rather a surprise to me, but I appreciate the advertisement. If you are not signed up for that newsletter, you are missing out. There are some true jewels in there. Having said that, please please please please PLEASE do not hesitate to post, comment, or whatever in this blog. I not only do not mind, but LOVE it. It shows me that I am not just rambling into the computer and gives me even more incentive to continue writing. Anything you can think of is welcome; from advice, to random thoughts…even links to your work to see what others think. I will always answer any question, even if that question is ‘I don’t know’, and will always have time to read anything you can give me. So, have fun and, of course, write on. |
| It’s interesting to feel like you know a person. You think you know them better than anyone else, but that doesn’t mean you know everything about them. There’s always secrets. It’s not even the secrets they intend to keep, but the parts of the personality that are not revealed easily. The only way to learn them is to spend time with that person, and talk. The funny thing is, often times you don’t really like that part of their personality. This is the part they keep hidden, whether consciously or not, and it is for a reason. But you still feel a need to be with them after learning this part of them. You still feel a strong desire to know more…to get the whole picture. Or the relationship wasn’t as strong as you imagine it, and it ends there. There’s an awkward stage where you have learned this part of your friend’s personality, and both feel rather upset. You would feel uncomfortable that your friend isn’t as good as you once thought, but at the same time a strange sense of gladness that you know of it. Your friend is now raw. Stripped bare of the facade they have made, whether or not they know of it. He or she is now seeing you as a potential enemy, ready to strike at one of his or her more vulnerable parts. This is true intimacy. You can talk all you want of sex and passion and the world exploding in fireworks on exciting dates. But it’s the moments when you are aimed for a good shot to the heart…and you don’t take it. Often times it’s quiet. Often times it is subtle. But it is always powerful. And whether I am writing a romance, or simply giving my characters a true best friend, these are the moments I try to get across. Because these are the moments that I want in my own life. |
| I am reading Novakovich's book Writing Fiction Step by Step, and he mentions that simply saying that a man is tall dark and handsome is not enough and does not paint a picture in his head. He says to focus on the things that make a person unique, such as scars or deformities. I've looked into my favorite books and it is true that these characters leap out to me the most, but the main characters seem to lack these particular descriptions. So is it necessary for the characters you want remembered to be somehow abnormal in appearance? This would be kind of a problem for me, because I like to stress the character's normalcy before showing the reader the layers that make that person. To say that they have a scar immediately marks them as separate. Even a tattoo says the same. That person is a rebel, has a high tolerance for pain, has a strong connection with his inner self...or is susceptible to peer pressure. I want to show my character as a normal school girl, dealing with normal problems that come from being a little on the poor side, but otherwise having an uneventful life. I want to show her even a little weak so that she may grow a bit and become her own individual self. Actually this is one of the things that she has to fight for, being the spitting image of her mother. If I have to brand her somehow, it lessens the lesson and the impact it would have. So how do I do that? how do I portray a memorable character, at least physically, who looks the same as just about anybody else? |
| A while ago, I wrote a piece titled “The power of inspiration.” It started off talking about a man with Alzheimer’s who wrote a poem asking people to remember him for who he was, rather than the man who kept forgetting where he put his left sock and so forth. It moved on to talk about how we tend to live our lives being inspired by the people around us – real or fictional – making goals and wishing for adventure, forgetting that the power of inspiration lies with us as well. I put it up on the “please review” board as I do with all my work and I received a few mixed responses. There were a few people who thought the piece was really good. They liked the reminder to live one’s life recognizing the amazing things one does. One person in particular felt she wasn’t remembering enough of her life without the help of others, and was starting to get scared about it, and so felt a larger connection to what I was saying than most. There was one particular review, however, that stuck out to me. The person here told me she had been a nurse working with dementia for the last 25+ years, and she didn’t appreciate how I had belittled them in so many words. They were not, as I had callously put, a “living mass to be pitied,” but living souls that shared emotions just as much as you or I. They were stripped bare, as she said, of their memories that had acted as a safe-house for them in earlier life, and what was left was a more “elemental” part of human living. You could still watch their face light up as you held their hand and sung to them, or offered them a hug. They still enjoyed doing things and having interaction with others. I had said in this piece that we as humans are “the actions and reactions of his or her life.” I made no mention of what I truly think we are at the end of that, focusing instead on the memories lost. In doing so I had offended this woman and those she looked after. Needless to say, I wrote back to her, apologizing for my callousness, and told her I would rework the piece as soon as I have the time, and it is something I plan on doing within the month. I take from this experience, though, that I need to be cautious of what I say and how I present it, keeping in mind, of course, the intended audience, but also remembering that those not in that intended audience may see it as well. The key to a good piece is how well you make your point, AND how you present the parts that are associated with it, regardless of whether it is part of the specific point you are trying to make. In this sense, I needed to make sure I made the point that we are powerful in our memories and experiences and need to remember that, but also that the lack of these memories do not leave us entirely without substance; that we are NOT the sum of our memories, but so much more. To the nurse with more class than me, if you should be following, I again apologize for that, and you consider me permanently red with embarrassment. To the woman scared of losing her memories, know that it doesn’t mean you will never be happy or know the companionship of friends and family. It is only another adventure, and one I have not had the privilege to experience yet. |
| Reading: Even when I am writing, I never stop reading. The funny thing is, it never occurred to me that when I kept hearing “Writers are avid readers” and “Read, read, read, and you will get better.” They were also talking about the instructional books and sites that would specifically teach you your abc’s so to speak. And here I thought I was being clever. Ha. Just goes to show arrogance is a joker’s costume. (Hey, that’s pretty good! I’ll write that down) I have been steadily dissecting Advancedfictionwriting.com, and have found yet another book that I should buy: Stein On Writing by Sol Stein, who is evidently a legend to the writing community (Don’t feel bad if you haven’t heard of him. I have no idea who he is, beyond what this site tells me.) He is a writer, editor, and teacher, and the book includes “using dialogue to advance conflict while revealing your character” (Ingermanson: “Getting Started”). Sold. At this rate I am going to have to go to Barnes and Nobles and spend hundreds of dollars buying books, just so my library doesn’t consist of instructional manuals. Libraries are wonderful, ingenious things, but I like the ability to reach behind me and grab the book I want when I think of/need it, without having to get up, dressed, and make the long, arduous journey down the road. In short, I am incredibly lazy and will be fat one day, but you need not be. In my reading of the first chapter of Wizard’s First Rule, I have seen the development of Richard at an alarming rate. I have learned his father, who he was very close to, recently died, and his mother at a young age. He is an intelligent man with a thirst for knowledge and a courageous streak. He and his brother are not particularly close, but there no hatred between them. And he has thick hair. Sure the physical description of him is lacking, but the sheer amount of knowledge gained in seven pages WITH a plot is staggering. I need to look at mine and see if there is any way I can raise that level of information. Writing: I have found myself spinning my wheels as I desperately work through my self-doubts and bad writing trying to wring out an acceptable beginning to my story. I have even started worrying that I have forgotten how to make a paragraph now… is that normal? They’re brief feelings, and I shake the thought from my mind and continue slaving, but I often wonder if the level of these worries of inadequacy is common and will be laughed at later. I have managed to get a little farther in the story though. I have set the end of this week as the deadline for chapter 1. Advice: Here’s a rhetorical question: Have you mapped out your world? I would suggest it. Nothing too extreme, just get the major places down in a picture, so you can see if the character is going in circles, or the directions you give them are against physics. I have seen this a couple of times, where there is no map, but if you pay well enough attention, you find that the characters travel north to a country that was originally south of where they are at the moment. I doubt it would make a huge difference simply because I have seen a lot of map-less fiction books out there, but I feel it’s always good to keep as much consistency as possible. |
| I feel a little weird doing this kind of thing. I worry that people will write this off as another “student be teacher” thing, and it’s really not. I want this to be basically a public journal in which questions can be asked, the process can be watched, and I personally have an external motivation to get somewhere. At the very least, I can document what I have done and see where I’m spinning my wheels. I had a dream last night I wrote in my journal: I was a patient in a mental facility because I kept talking about foreign molecules. I was actually a genius, studying hummingbirds at a molecular level to monitor specific molecules unknown in the science community and was convinced that it meant they had been exposed to otherworldly aliens. My friend in the dream was also a patient, but was more misunderstood than crazy. He was autistic, but could tell everything about a person at a specific moment by reading the messages written in their muscles. However, he had to touch the person to do so, and was therefore considered a pervert. Somehow he and I managed to make contact with another scientist and help her, though I have no memory of what she needed help on. It’s an interesting concept though: imagine being able to communicate more effectively by touch. I have been trying to do a character chart for Eric, Chris, and Brina. (Yes I took her name. Laugh as you will) I can’t help but feel that I am doing this wrong though. It’s as though the characters on the paper are so superficial, and in my mind they are much more complex. I therefore have given myself a schoolwork assignment: I am going to read Wizard’s First Rule by Terry Goodkind once again, and write a character chart for Richard. Being a character that I know and love I hope that it will allow me to see how he grows and how Goodkind shows Richard’s complexity. It might be better with any of Stephen King’s characters (I have heard that it is his characters that he is the most well-known for), but – sadly – I have yet to experience his master works, and I really think I should work with the characters that I know. It’ll be a fun little project. Never thought I would give myself schoolwork though. Back to rewriting the beginning again. I won’t post it until I have the first full chapter completed, so as to avoid the confusion I had with my initial reviews. About half of them said that the chapter was too short, when in reality it was only the first part. This time I want to get done with the chapter, post it, and immediately start on the next, and keep that trend going. No time to elapse where I can come back and look at what I’ve done and hate it. No time to review. Just get the story down. The only problem with that is I don’t have it mapped out. But to map it out is to let the time elapse. I guess I’ll have to resign myself to writing complete shit until I get it down. I have also joined a 500 club. This means that I have to write 500 words every day, at least, with no exceptions. It’s meant – according to Randy Ingermanson – to just get in the habit of writing every day. It hasn’t been particularly hard…I could easily be in the 2000 club, but I think that if I set the bar low, I can achieve it, and since the point is to create the habit of doing something, and not doing an amount of something, I figure the lesson gets learned either way. I was reading one of his articles on how to write the perfect scene, and he mentioned a book that is pure gold, evidently. It is Techniques for the Selling Author by Dwight Swain. I have ordered it along with some of Ingermanson’s fictional books for my ever increasing library. I’m rather excited about this; I want to see how Ingermanson’s voice and style relate to mine, and am excited for another adventure or two. |
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