I wonder how other writers do their outlines. I have a feeling that each of them has a particular method in how they plan out their stories. Maybe they set up a formula and plot out the elements that belong to it. Maybe they do character charts or focus on settings.
I've written twenty short stories (all unpublished) and all of them without an outline. I'm fine with this. It's fun to bounce off a couple ideas, think of one or two cool characters and as soon as I hit the keyboard, see what happens. And when I mess up the first draft, it's easy enough to rewrite 8000 words and do it right the next time. That's what I'm doing with "Raven Eyes the Daymare" and I don't mind major revisions for the second draft. It just makes the story better.
Length makes a difference, though. I've tried to discovery write several novels in the past and they all ended horribly. This was especially evident in my last novel attempt Blood Top. I was only six chapters away from the end. So close... but I'd written myself into a hole. There were three major plot holes that started from chapter 4 and I realized that the ending I had written did not fit with the beginning or the ending that I wanted to write. I stared at the manuscipt and knew that I would have to rewrite not only the beginning but large swathes of scenes that all throughout the manuscript. It was over 78000 words (356 pages) worth of manuscript that I would have to shred. I asked myself if I cared enough to try and change that. I didn't.
I set it aside and began writing Ness Swan. Same thing. I tried discovery writing that one, nearly 200 pages in before realizing that it was too convoluted and long. Midway through was when I decided to try outlining and that is making the difference.
The frustrating thing about novel-writing is that there just isn't a class available to take for beginners. It's all trial-and-error. (I've taken creative writing classes. They don't help with this particular avenue.) Outlining is becoming much of the same thing. It's not enough to know that I need to plan out a novel. I have to figure out what the best way for me to outline a novel.
It's been less than a month but I've already learned something invaluable for me: I have to plan out my villains before my heroes. Heroes are easy for me. I've been discovery writing them forever and I know what I want them to do. What is not easy for me are the villains. Ness Swan is especially a challenge because I have two major forces: terrorists and the mafia. Now, I am never going to get around to telling their whole story in the manuscript because the story is not about them. But I'm finding it invaluable to plan out their story in the outline. I need to know what they're thinking behind-the-scenes, how things tie together for them and exactly how they are going to ruin the heroes' lives. Not something I expected that I would need to focus on. Am I ever glad that I am now.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Friday, February 24, 2012
Arrietty
I love Hiyao Miyazaki's films. I haven't seen all of them but the ones I have, I have always come away impressed. My favorite is Princess Mononoke, but there is nothing wrong with Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, and Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds (I like the manga for this last one better but that's no slight for what the movie accomplished.)
So when I saw that his name was attached to The Secret World of Arrietty I had to go see this in theaters. The artwork is way up to Studio Ghibli's standards of excellence and I expected no less; I am convinced that their work is the best offered today. The voice actors chosen for the American dub was brilliant; people with the talent to bring both personality and make you fall in love just when you listen to them are incredible to me. But it's the story itself that sold it as always for me.
You have to understand, too, that The Borrowers by Mary Norton holds a special place in my heart. They were the first chapter books I read by myself in the third grade, as per my grandma's recommendation. And now that I think on it, The Borrowers were my first introduction to fantasy as a living, breathing genre. I was awed by the stories of the little people trying to make it in this big world. And Arrietty Clock is the first girl I ever fell in love with, no lie (my future wife will just have to put up with that knowledge.)
Like all the movies I've just named, the pacing is slow. This will put off a few people but they should realize that Studio Ghibli's films are not built to be a NASCAR race where the draw is speed and action and "what happens next?" These films are more like nature walks. The pleasure is not really the journey and destination but taking in the sights and the natural beauty being offered.
Some parts of the movie are changed from the first book. I think they're improvements. I like that The Boy has a name in this feature. The ending has more closure than in the first book and if possible, is more bittersweet than the written version.
The core tale is the same, what drew me into the first novel: the relationship between Arrietty and The Boy. Despite the few times they actually speak, I totally buy their friendship and their final goodbye earned the tears I almost shed (I don't cry in movies much; that I was on the verge here speaks volumes.)
I think you should support this movie with your money. I have no regrets doing so.
***
In my own writing, I ended up bouncing ideas off of my mom the other night. She has read most of the stuff I've written (not all of it but enough) and over the next hour, I was finally able to solidify the backstory of all my major villains. This was the aspect that was killing the story before and made me have to redraft. I had a vague idea about their motives but why that made them do the horrible, terrible, nasty things they did was not making sense. Now that I'm into Chapter 5 of my second draft, with that in mind the rest should come smoothly. If it doesn't, I'm finishing the darn thing anyways. Just to say I did.
So when I saw that his name was attached to The Secret World of Arrietty I had to go see this in theaters. The artwork is way up to Studio Ghibli's standards of excellence and I expected no less; I am convinced that their work is the best offered today. The voice actors chosen for the American dub was brilliant; people with the talent to bring both personality and make you fall in love just when you listen to them are incredible to me. But it's the story itself that sold it as always for me.
You have to understand, too, that The Borrowers by Mary Norton holds a special place in my heart. They were the first chapter books I read by myself in the third grade, as per my grandma's recommendation. And now that I think on it, The Borrowers were my first introduction to fantasy as a living, breathing genre. I was awed by the stories of the little people trying to make it in this big world. And Arrietty Clock is the first girl I ever fell in love with, no lie (my future wife will just have to put up with that knowledge.)
Like all the movies I've just named, the pacing is slow. This will put off a few people but they should realize that Studio Ghibli's films are not built to be a NASCAR race where the draw is speed and action and "what happens next?" These films are more like nature walks. The pleasure is not really the journey and destination but taking in the sights and the natural beauty being offered.
Some parts of the movie are changed from the first book. I think they're improvements. I like that The Boy has a name in this feature. The ending has more closure than in the first book and if possible, is more bittersweet than the written version.
The core tale is the same, what drew me into the first novel: the relationship between Arrietty and The Boy. Despite the few times they actually speak, I totally buy their friendship and their final goodbye earned the tears I almost shed (I don't cry in movies much; that I was on the verge here speaks volumes.)
I think you should support this movie with your money. I have no regrets doing so.
***
In my own writing, I ended up bouncing ideas off of my mom the other night. She has read most of the stuff I've written (not all of it but enough) and over the next hour, I was finally able to solidify the backstory of all my major villains. This was the aspect that was killing the story before and made me have to redraft. I had a vague idea about their motives but why that made them do the horrible, terrible, nasty things they did was not making sense. Now that I'm into Chapter 5 of my second draft, with that in mind the rest should come smoothly. If it doesn't, I'm finishing the darn thing anyways. Just to say I did.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Distractions
Everybody has to deal with them. In fact, the more focused you are on a particular subject, the more the distractions seem to crop up. Now, I'm not going to tell you how you should be dealing with distractions, this is just how I handle them.
It's a matter of priorities. In my case, writing is not my highest priority. There are other things that come first but it is in the top five so it's important to me that I set aside a couple hours a day to be writing stories. (In case you're wondering, while you have to write to blog, blogging is not part of those writing hours. This is something that I'm doing on the side.)
Many distractions come from other things that I want to do. I want to play video games but I haven't touched my Playstation in months because I know that the fun I'll have on those RPG's and shoot-em-ups just won't compare to the sense of accomplishment I get when I finish even one chapter in a novel.
TV shows and going out to the movies have gotten rarer for the same reasoning. I'd rather write than catch up on the latest episode of House (although those shows The Voice and Alcatraz have been sucking me in something terrible.)
So I need to recreate but it hits lower list. How about social life?
This one is tougher and it goes case by case. My friend who I hadn't seen in a month and a half came in out of the blue and I know that I wouldn't get a chance to see him for another six weeks, if even then. He occupied my entire day and I didn't get a chance to write. On this one, I wish I would have known that he was coming because I would have been sure to wake up earlier and write before he came by instead of waiting until my usual time on the keyboard. The next day, I deliberately left the house to be sure I had time on my book before coming back and spending the day with him. So with social life, this is why I have a planner.
Indeed, a lot of people hate planners and I'm not fond of them myself, but they work. As long as you're responsible enough to update them everyday and prioritize what's most important for you to accomplish, you never have to feel like crap when you go to bed. Even if I haven't accomplished everything on my to-do list, I know that without the list, I wouldn't have accomplished the stuff that I did.
Maybe I'll do another post on how I deal with things that are more important to me than writing and how I still manage to get my manuscript written. I figure that will take another post as long as this, though, so we'll save that for another day.
It's a matter of priorities. In my case, writing is not my highest priority. There are other things that come first but it is in the top five so it's important to me that I set aside a couple hours a day to be writing stories. (In case you're wondering, while you have to write to blog, blogging is not part of those writing hours. This is something that I'm doing on the side.)
Many distractions come from other things that I want to do. I want to play video games but I haven't touched my Playstation in months because I know that the fun I'll have on those RPG's and shoot-em-ups just won't compare to the sense of accomplishment I get when I finish even one chapter in a novel.
TV shows and going out to the movies have gotten rarer for the same reasoning. I'd rather write than catch up on the latest episode of House (although those shows The Voice and Alcatraz have been sucking me in something terrible.)
So I need to recreate but it hits lower list. How about social life?
This one is tougher and it goes case by case. My friend who I hadn't seen in a month and a half came in out of the blue and I know that I wouldn't get a chance to see him for another six weeks, if even then. He occupied my entire day and I didn't get a chance to write. On this one, I wish I would have known that he was coming because I would have been sure to wake up earlier and write before he came by instead of waiting until my usual time on the keyboard. The next day, I deliberately left the house to be sure I had time on my book before coming back and spending the day with him. So with social life, this is why I have a planner.
Indeed, a lot of people hate planners and I'm not fond of them myself, but they work. As long as you're responsible enough to update them everyday and prioritize what's most important for you to accomplish, you never have to feel like crap when you go to bed. Even if I haven't accomplished everything on my to-do list, I know that without the list, I wouldn't have accomplished the stuff that I did.
Maybe I'll do another post on how I deal with things that are more important to me than writing and how I still manage to get my manuscript written. I figure that will take another post as long as this, though, so we'll save that for another day.
Saturday, February 18, 2012
The Chronists and Musings
The Prompt: "Develop a religion where people worship something that no one would ever worship in our world. And it can’t be silly."
The Chronists are a sect that believe that God lives and experiences time opposite of his creations. Or in other words, what we see as the past God sees as his future. All mortal creatures, be they human, bird, fish, cattle, insects, plant life, and even the universal creations such as stars, planets, etc., are constantly heading towards their death and destruction, God is a being that is moving in an opposite direction and is continually building all life towards its purest form. What we view as the beginning he sees as the end.
The Chronists naturally believe in an afterlife and their eternal rewards are determined by their actions in the here and now. Those who lived moral lives, passed fair judgment on their fellow creatures, and made charity their chief motivation may receive the knowledge of not only living with God but to experience time as he does. Those who disdain him will continue on to chaos and utter destruction, even in their incorporeal sense.
Symbols they respect would be the hourglass and the ruler, both measuring instruments that teach them respect for time and to keep their mortal lives organized; the uneven balances, as a reminder that if their lives are weighed down by one thing to make sure that it is the weight is their faith; and the infant, as they represent purity and innocence, where they all wish to be.
###
That's as far as I wanted to go with that prompt. This took about a day to work out in my head. Creating a completely new religion is tougher than I would have guessed and it's no wonder that fantasy authors generally don't bother planning one out, if they focus on religion at all. I tried not to make it silly (my criteria: don't make anybody worship a sponge especially since some people in this world actually might) but even I find the concept of the Chronists laughable.
There are elements I like about this, though. The idea stems from Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll, with the queen whose memories run backwards or rather, she remembers the future but not the past. Merlin has a similar thing in T.H. White's The Once and Future King. So I thought, what about somebody who doesn't just remember things backwards but actually lives backwards from us.
This is not a unique idea. "Counterclockwise" by Alethea Kontis has a similar theme in Intergalactic Medicine Show (online internet magazine for sci-fi/fantasy; check it out. The material is great and the price is very reasonable.) My spin on it was making this an object of worship and I do like what's in it.
Will I make a story out of it? I don't know yet. This is just a setting and not a very developed one; I was concerned with the core doctrine and some basic answers to the question of "What's life about?" I've spent no time at all considering a priesthood or church government, history of its creation, scriptures, mythology, the different sectarian beliefs or how they are treated by outsiders, what missionary work they do, or how much influence they have socially, politically, or economically. I didn't really want to, although if I do come up with some characters and a plot that uses this setting, I will delve into it a little.
And now you know a little bit how my crazy mind works. Thanks for reading.
The Chronists are a sect that believe that God lives and experiences time opposite of his creations. Or in other words, what we see as the past God sees as his future. All mortal creatures, be they human, bird, fish, cattle, insects, plant life, and even the universal creations such as stars, planets, etc., are constantly heading towards their death and destruction, God is a being that is moving in an opposite direction and is continually building all life towards its purest form. What we view as the beginning he sees as the end.
The Chronists naturally believe in an afterlife and their eternal rewards are determined by their actions in the here and now. Those who lived moral lives, passed fair judgment on their fellow creatures, and made charity their chief motivation may receive the knowledge of not only living with God but to experience time as he does. Those who disdain him will continue on to chaos and utter destruction, even in their incorporeal sense.
Symbols they respect would be the hourglass and the ruler, both measuring instruments that teach them respect for time and to keep their mortal lives organized; the uneven balances, as a reminder that if their lives are weighed down by one thing to make sure that it is the weight is their faith; and the infant, as they represent purity and innocence, where they all wish to be.
###
That's as far as I wanted to go with that prompt. This took about a day to work out in my head. Creating a completely new religion is tougher than I would have guessed and it's no wonder that fantasy authors generally don't bother planning one out, if they focus on religion at all. I tried not to make it silly (my criteria: don't make anybody worship a sponge especially since some people in this world actually might) but even I find the concept of the Chronists laughable.
There are elements I like about this, though. The idea stems from Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll, with the queen whose memories run backwards or rather, she remembers the future but not the past. Merlin has a similar thing in T.H. White's The Once and Future King. So I thought, what about somebody who doesn't just remember things backwards but actually lives backwards from us.
This is not a unique idea. "Counterclockwise" by Alethea Kontis has a similar theme in Intergalactic Medicine Show (online internet magazine for sci-fi/fantasy; check it out. The material is great and the price is very reasonable.) My spin on it was making this an object of worship and I do like what's in it.
Will I make a story out of it? I don't know yet. This is just a setting and not a very developed one; I was concerned with the core doctrine and some basic answers to the question of "What's life about?" I've spent no time at all considering a priesthood or church government, history of its creation, scriptures, mythology, the different sectarian beliefs or how they are treated by outsiders, what missionary work they do, or how much influence they have socially, politically, or economically. I didn't really want to, although if I do come up with some characters and a plot that uses this setting, I will delve into it a little.
And now you know a little bit how my crazy mind works. Thanks for reading.
Friday, February 17, 2012
Sister and Writing Excuses
Last night I felt prompted to ask my sister to set a deadline for me. She's wanted dibs on one of my finished stories for a while and I promised her that she would be the first family member to read this novel. When I asked her to give me a deadline, she said 30 August 2012. It's official. That is when Ness Swan will be completed.
I did this because I am so much more likely to keep a deadline that somebody else sets for me than when I do that myself. Maybe it's a carryover from school, the dedicated student turning his assignment to the teacher on time thing.
To be honest, I was a little disappointed that she didn't set an even earlier date for me to get it to her but she may end up being wiser than I. I have a lot of free time now but school is coming up in less than two months and I will need to get another job before then. Where now I can have entire afternoons to myself, by then, I may only be able to squeeze in a couple hours at night and have to sacrifice my Saturdays then. We'll see how the schedule works when I get to it.
Two days ago, I got myself up-to-date on all of the Writing Excuses podcasts. For any interested in the writing craft, I highly recommend that you check it out. The podcasts are run by Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, Mary Robinette Kowal, and Howard Tayler (Brandon's brother Jordan does the producing.)
They are successful authors. I've talked about Brandon and his amazing fantasy works before. Dan is a horror novelist and I can vouch for I Am Not A Serial Killer as being an excellent novel (it is the first of the John Cleaver trilogy and I am in search of the sequels.) I haven't read any of Mary's published works, however, I do remember her from the online Hatrack Writer's Forum several years ago and I found her comments insightful and intelligent (I am on the search for her books now.) Howard writes the webcomic Schlock Mercenary, which is a hilarious satire set in the 31st Century.
You can find them at http://www.writingexcuses.com/. Again, I highly recomment. They are smart and they are funny.
I didn't bring this up just to plug them (though I'm sure they won't mind.) I brought this up because of a challenge that I haven't taken them up on. Towards their second season, they began putting up writing prompts, or ideas to write something on an idea they give to their listeners, and stupid me, I haven't done anything about it.
Well, no more. I've decided to do a challenge myself and start from the beginning. Over the coming months, I will be follow each and every prompt that they give and see how I do. And so that you can see how I do, I will post the results of my efforts every Saturday unless I think that I can get somebody to buy it, in which case, I will still report on what I wrote.
Wish me luck.
I did this because I am so much more likely to keep a deadline that somebody else sets for me than when I do that myself. Maybe it's a carryover from school, the dedicated student turning his assignment to the teacher on time thing.
To be honest, I was a little disappointed that she didn't set an even earlier date for me to get it to her but she may end up being wiser than I. I have a lot of free time now but school is coming up in less than two months and I will need to get another job before then. Where now I can have entire afternoons to myself, by then, I may only be able to squeeze in a couple hours at night and have to sacrifice my Saturdays then. We'll see how the schedule works when I get to it.
Two days ago, I got myself up-to-date on all of the Writing Excuses podcasts. For any interested in the writing craft, I highly recommend that you check it out. The podcasts are run by Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, Mary Robinette Kowal, and Howard Tayler (Brandon's brother Jordan does the producing.)
They are successful authors. I've talked about Brandon and his amazing fantasy works before. Dan is a horror novelist and I can vouch for I Am Not A Serial Killer as being an excellent novel (it is the first of the John Cleaver trilogy and I am in search of the sequels.) I haven't read any of Mary's published works, however, I do remember her from the online Hatrack Writer's Forum several years ago and I found her comments insightful and intelligent (I am on the search for her books now.) Howard writes the webcomic Schlock Mercenary, which is a hilarious satire set in the 31st Century.
You can find them at http://www.writingexcuses.com/. Again, I highly recomment. They are smart and they are funny.
I didn't bring this up just to plug them (though I'm sure they won't mind.) I brought this up because of a challenge that I haven't taken them up on. Towards their second season, they began putting up writing prompts, or ideas to write something on an idea they give to their listeners, and stupid me, I haven't done anything about it.
Well, no more. I've decided to do a challenge myself and start from the beginning. Over the coming months, I will be follow each and every prompt that they give and see how I do. And so that you can see how I do, I will post the results of my efforts every Saturday unless I think that I can get somebody to buy it, in which case, I will still report on what I wrote.
Wish me luck.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Update, Sanderson and Sacrifice
Ness Swan is moving along. After looking over my outline from last week and comparing it to the manuscript (186 pages long), I realized that the story had derailed and gone in a different direction than I'd first intended. Now, if the manuscript was better than what I planned I would have just run with it. Instead, it was worse. It was heinous. It would be at the nadir of all trial suckiness of any amateur writer ever.
So I started from the top and this manuscript will be at fifty pages by the end of today. I'm moving faster than I'd expected. I'm excited about how this is going. I managed to tell in four chapters what took me eight in the last manuscript, and with the ending I have in mind, I can foreshadow much more than what I was before. In short, I'm very pleased in what is happening.
But enough with the update. Over the weekend, I went over the Mistborn annotations at http://www.brandonsanderson.com/. And I'll give a plug for him here, I'm sure he won't mind. If you like fantasy and are looking for something good, buy his books. He's well-known for his amazing character developments, intriguing magic systems, and for me, his endings have always surprised and satisfied me. His novel Warbreaker kepting me guessing all the way to the last page. Do you know how rare it is to find a book where the last few paragraphs can throw you for a loop? Sanderson does this consistently.
Fanboy plug is over. So I was reading the Mistborn adaptations on his website, which was cool because it gave me a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff that I hadn't caught onto when I first read the trilogy and made the mythology and conflicts that much richer. But what also happened was that I remembered how it felt the first time I read the books and what touched me deeply was the level of sacrifice the heroes endured.
I've asked myself over and over for years: why is sacrifice so important? Why do we attach meaning to it? Why do we attach ourselves to people or causes at the expense of our own lives? What makes sacrifice worth it?
I won't give any answers here (that might take fifty pages) but I do want to point out that the greatest stories, the ones that last through time inevitably deal with sacrifice. Sacrifice defines the hero, cuts away their imperfections and lets us see their light.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain comes to my mind. This is the best book that my high school teachers made me read. It's a fairly comical and intense adventure and that's all it would have been if not for the chapter where Huck is deciding whether or not to turn in Jim as a runaway slave. Huck has a crisis of conscience at this point. On the one hand, Jim is his friend and he knows what Jim will suffer if he gets caught. But on the other, Huck has been trying in his way to be a good Christian, and part of that is being honest and obeying the law. The law says that runaway slaves must be reported and turned in and if Huck doesn't obey, he knows that his immortal soul is forfeit. (Whether or not that's true is another discussion; it's how Huck sees things so that's reality for him and the dilemma that he faces.)
His conscience is so wracked that he writes a letter to the police to tell them where Jim is at and as soon as he does, he feels light as a feather. His conscience is clear, he's happy that he's doing the right thing, and he gets to keep the type of life he desires. But then he remembers Jim and even though he knows that despite how this leads his mortal life and his eternal reward down a dark road, he burns the letter and says, "I'll go to hell."
This is the moment that turns the book from a fun adventure to great literature. Huck was willing to sacrifice it all and he stuck to his guns from then until the end of the book.
Look through your favorite stories and ask yourself what the heroes of that book gave up. What makes it meaningful to you? If the sacrifice wasn't made, would that story still mean so much to you? These questions may deepen your appreciation for those tales.
So I started from the top and this manuscript will be at fifty pages by the end of today. I'm moving faster than I'd expected. I'm excited about how this is going. I managed to tell in four chapters what took me eight in the last manuscript, and with the ending I have in mind, I can foreshadow much more than what I was before. In short, I'm very pleased in what is happening.
But enough with the update. Over the weekend, I went over the Mistborn annotations at http://www.brandonsanderson.com/. And I'll give a plug for him here, I'm sure he won't mind. If you like fantasy and are looking for something good, buy his books. He's well-known for his amazing character developments, intriguing magic systems, and for me, his endings have always surprised and satisfied me. His novel Warbreaker kepting me guessing all the way to the last page. Do you know how rare it is to find a book where the last few paragraphs can throw you for a loop? Sanderson does this consistently.
Fanboy plug is over. So I was reading the Mistborn adaptations on his website, which was cool because it gave me a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff that I hadn't caught onto when I first read the trilogy and made the mythology and conflicts that much richer. But what also happened was that I remembered how it felt the first time I read the books and what touched me deeply was the level of sacrifice the heroes endured.
I've asked myself over and over for years: why is sacrifice so important? Why do we attach meaning to it? Why do we attach ourselves to people or causes at the expense of our own lives? What makes sacrifice worth it?
I won't give any answers here (that might take fifty pages) but I do want to point out that the greatest stories, the ones that last through time inevitably deal with sacrifice. Sacrifice defines the hero, cuts away their imperfections and lets us see their light.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain comes to my mind. This is the best book that my high school teachers made me read. It's a fairly comical and intense adventure and that's all it would have been if not for the chapter where Huck is deciding whether or not to turn in Jim as a runaway slave. Huck has a crisis of conscience at this point. On the one hand, Jim is his friend and he knows what Jim will suffer if he gets caught. But on the other, Huck has been trying in his way to be a good Christian, and part of that is being honest and obeying the law. The law says that runaway slaves must be reported and turned in and if Huck doesn't obey, he knows that his immortal soul is forfeit. (Whether or not that's true is another discussion; it's how Huck sees things so that's reality for him and the dilemma that he faces.)
His conscience is so wracked that he writes a letter to the police to tell them where Jim is at and as soon as he does, he feels light as a feather. His conscience is clear, he's happy that he's doing the right thing, and he gets to keep the type of life he desires. But then he remembers Jim and even though he knows that despite how this leads his mortal life and his eternal reward down a dark road, he burns the letter and says, "I'll go to hell."
This is the moment that turns the book from a fun adventure to great literature. Huck was willing to sacrifice it all and he stuck to his guns from then until the end of the book.
Look through your favorite stories and ask yourself what the heroes of that book gave up. What makes it meaningful to you? If the sacrifice wasn't made, would that story still mean so much to you? These questions may deepen your appreciation for those tales.
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Profile Picture
I'm not particularly photogenic. It's so bad, in fact, that my recent driver's license photo is my best image from the last three years. I didn't want to waste time taking pictures of myself just for the blog.
But... it seemed a little empty the profile and I wanted to do something about it. It's been almost a dozen years since I did artwork seriously, but the past couple weeks, I decided I wanted to try it out again. I'm definitely more interested in cartooning and I figured, why not do a self-portrait?
The face you see is not accurate but it's close enough. I didn't try to add the glasses; maybe in the future when I'm more confident, I'll take another whack at my face and see if it can't be more accurate.
As perfect as it's not, I kind of like this picture. My real hair is shorter but it's just as much of a mess, especially when I first get out of bed. The jawline, neck and eyebrows are incredibly accurate all considered.
What I thought funny about drawing myself was that until I added the goatee, the face looked like it was in its fifties. This is ironic because the whole reason I started growing the beard is because I look too young without it. Seriously, when I was a senior in high school I had people come up to me and ask if I was a freshman. Having a beard is the check against the baby-face. I'm much like my cousin in that regard.
But... it seemed a little empty the profile and I wanted to do something about it. It's been almost a dozen years since I did artwork seriously, but the past couple weeks, I decided I wanted to try it out again. I'm definitely more interested in cartooning and I figured, why not do a self-portrait?
The face you see is not accurate but it's close enough. I didn't try to add the glasses; maybe in the future when I'm more confident, I'll take another whack at my face and see if it can't be more accurate.
As perfect as it's not, I kind of like this picture. My real hair is shorter but it's just as much of a mess, especially when I first get out of bed. The jawline, neck and eyebrows are incredibly accurate all considered.
What I thought funny about drawing myself was that until I added the goatee, the face looked like it was in its fifties. This is ironic because the whole reason I started growing the beard is because I look too young without it. Seriously, when I was a senior in high school I had people come up to me and ask if I was a freshman. Having a beard is the check against the baby-face. I'm much like my cousin in that regard.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Research and Field Trips
I kept my goal from Tuesday. Twenty-five pages and by the end of today I'll have thirty-five done. The weekend is going to be interesting: I never write on Sundays unless it's a journal-thing but that leaves me with Saturday. Tomorrow just may be a good day to write my second draft of my short story, "Raven Eyes the Daymare." I plan to submit that to the online magazine Intergalactic Medicine Show this month to be rejected. I can't wait.
I realized I had to do research while outlining a couple of character arcs on Tuesday. Ursula, my teenage protagonist, is a runaway from her mafia boss Dad, and Maggie is an ex-journalist working on discovering the Dad's story. My plotting was nearly done when I was forced to admit that I know nothing about the mafia. I've seen plenty of movies and read a couple novels involving the mob (The Untouchables and Gungrave are my two favorites) but as for the organization and what it's like to live with them, I hadn't a clue.
Normally, I'd go to Wikipedia (I don't care what anybody says, that is a great resource to use; I wouldn't have passed a couple of my science exams without it). But the thing about encyclopedias is that they only give general outlines. I didn't want the skeleton, I wanted to dig into some meat. Not the whole cadaver; the mafia is only an added complication to the heroes--it's not supposed to be the story itself. I just need enough to make Ursula and Maggie more believable.
So I only picked four books. This is probably more than I should but I am a pretty quick reader and am already done with the first book: This Family of Mine by Victoria Gotti. Fascinating first person account from the daughter of the late mob boss John Gotti. She's a very good writer and I gained a lot of ideas for Ursula's family life (she's not going to be modeled after any of the Gotti's by any stretch of the imagination; it simply helped me think about Ursula's family dynamics like I'd never bothered to before.) That Victoria Gotti is also a good writer and told an exciting biography was an added bonus for me.
This is how research is helping with a specific story. I should point out that this is the first time that I've done research in this fashion and I'm wondering why I haven't done it before. It could have only helped.
That doesn't mean that this is the only time to do research, though. In fact, I do research for stories all the time. But it's more for the idea box than anything else. The idea box is that bottomless hole that all my story ideas go into and after they've sat in there for months collecting dust, I'll finally pull a couple of them out and see how they connect. Yesterday was one for the idea box.
I went on my little sister's field trip as adult support to keep the brats in line. I was kind of pissed that it took up my entire morning until I started having more fun than the kids did. Our town's fairgrounds were hosting logging companies and showing off their stuff. The kids were wowed by the big machinery and the demonstration of the tractors moving the big logs. I was fascinated by the tree planting and nurseries, "mining whips," and the steam donkey. We all enjoyed the ax show.
And suddenly, I have a couple ideas, one for a fantasy and one for a horror, both involving loggers as the heroes. I'll let them sit for a while but I'm glad I took advantage of that opportunity. Seriously, community events are amazing things. These events have stirred my interest that I never would have considered otherwise.
I realized I had to do research while outlining a couple of character arcs on Tuesday. Ursula, my teenage protagonist, is a runaway from her mafia boss Dad, and Maggie is an ex-journalist working on discovering the Dad's story. My plotting was nearly done when I was forced to admit that I know nothing about the mafia. I've seen plenty of movies and read a couple novels involving the mob (The Untouchables and Gungrave are my two favorites) but as for the organization and what it's like to live with them, I hadn't a clue.
Normally, I'd go to Wikipedia (I don't care what anybody says, that is a great resource to use; I wouldn't have passed a couple of my science exams without it). But the thing about encyclopedias is that they only give general outlines. I didn't want the skeleton, I wanted to dig into some meat. Not the whole cadaver; the mafia is only an added complication to the heroes--it's not supposed to be the story itself. I just need enough to make Ursula and Maggie more believable.
So I only picked four books. This is probably more than I should but I am a pretty quick reader and am already done with the first book: This Family of Mine by Victoria Gotti. Fascinating first person account from the daughter of the late mob boss John Gotti. She's a very good writer and I gained a lot of ideas for Ursula's family life (she's not going to be modeled after any of the Gotti's by any stretch of the imagination; it simply helped me think about Ursula's family dynamics like I'd never bothered to before.) That Victoria Gotti is also a good writer and told an exciting biography was an added bonus for me.
This is how research is helping with a specific story. I should point out that this is the first time that I've done research in this fashion and I'm wondering why I haven't done it before. It could have only helped.
That doesn't mean that this is the only time to do research, though. In fact, I do research for stories all the time. But it's more for the idea box than anything else. The idea box is that bottomless hole that all my story ideas go into and after they've sat in there for months collecting dust, I'll finally pull a couple of them out and see how they connect. Yesterday was one for the idea box.
I went on my little sister's field trip as adult support to keep the brats in line. I was kind of pissed that it took up my entire morning until I started having more fun than the kids did. Our town's fairgrounds were hosting logging companies and showing off their stuff. The kids were wowed by the big machinery and the demonstration of the tractors moving the big logs. I was fascinated by the tree planting and nurseries, "mining whips," and the steam donkey. We all enjoyed the ax show.
And suddenly, I have a couple ideas, one for a fantasy and one for a horror, both involving loggers as the heroes. I'll let them sit for a while but I'm glad I took advantage of that opportunity. Seriously, community events are amazing things. These events have stirred my interest that I never would have considered otherwise.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Outline and Discovery
I have been hard at work on my second novel since last December, which I'm now titling Ness Swan. It's a science-fiction adventure, and the idea was to make it like Firefly, but with the antagonists being the mob and no horses whatsoever. It evolved beyond that synopsis but that was the seed.
I got 185 pages into it, though, and yesterday I realized that Act 2 was getting out of control. This has always been my issue in writing: Act 1 is fine and Act 3 is well-mapped in my head, but bridging those two together is a royal pain in the rear.
Most of my issues stem in that I keep acting like a discovery writer when I should be an outliner. For those who don't know the difference, a discovery writer is Stephen King, who sits down on the computer and starts typing away. He has no idea how the story will turn out when he begins, he simply trusts that the story will appear as he writers. He discovers his story as he goes.
I don't have that gift. I wish I did, but when I try to just pluck away, I can and have written dozens of pages of story, but the middle will end up being a huge mess.
Today, since I have the day off, I'll be going to the library with a notebook and pencil and plot out everything that needs to happen in Act 2. I expect to have to do a fair amount of rewrite in the middle of my manuscript, but I don't anticipate needing to do a major overhaul.
Despite that, I plan to write out five pages of manuscript today and ten pages daily till the end of the week. By my Friday post, I plan to have twenty-five pages completed (I'll check my blog before I get to my manuscript.)
I got 185 pages into it, though, and yesterday I realized that Act 2 was getting out of control. This has always been my issue in writing: Act 1 is fine and Act 3 is well-mapped in my head, but bridging those two together is a royal pain in the rear.
Most of my issues stem in that I keep acting like a discovery writer when I should be an outliner. For those who don't know the difference, a discovery writer is Stephen King, who sits down on the computer and starts typing away. He has no idea how the story will turn out when he begins, he simply trusts that the story will appear as he writers. He discovers his story as he goes.
I don't have that gift. I wish I did, but when I try to just pluck away, I can and have written dozens of pages of story, but the middle will end up being a huge mess.
Today, since I have the day off, I'll be going to the library with a notebook and pencil and plot out everything that needs to happen in Act 2. I expect to have to do a fair amount of rewrite in the middle of my manuscript, but I don't anticipate needing to do a major overhaul.
Despite that, I plan to write out five pages of manuscript today and ten pages daily till the end of the week. By my Friday post, I plan to have twenty-five pages completed (I'll check my blog before I get to my manuscript.)
Monday, February 6, 2012
What To Expect From Me
My intent with this blog is to make updates twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays, for the next year. I expect many of my posts to be focused on my writing activities, my thoughts on literature and other entertainment media, and all else that has caught my attention that week.
Why my writing activities? To hold me accountable. I don't know how many will care but I intend to share my goals with You, my readers, and if I fail to measure up, then You will be allowed to call me on it. The added pressure should help me work hard and steady.
As for the rest, I want to share what interests me and maybe what I like will interest You. The more who read a particular story I care for, I can fully expect to see more of the same thing published.
Oh, and as for that ridiculous title for my blog, Brent's Silver Linings, is indicative of what I want to achieve: no matter what I post there will always be at least one good thing to mention. If I fail in that, I trust that You will also call me on that.
Why my writing activities? To hold me accountable. I don't know how many will care but I intend to share my goals with You, my readers, and if I fail to measure up, then You will be allowed to call me on it. The added pressure should help me work hard and steady.
As for the rest, I want to share what interests me and maybe what I like will interest You. The more who read a particular story I care for, I can fully expect to see more of the same thing published.
Oh, and as for that ridiculous title for my blog, Brent's Silver Linings, is indicative of what I want to achieve: no matter what I post there will always be at least one good thing to mention. If I fail in that, I trust that You will also call me on that.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)