Operation Roadmapping: Success!
It probably sounds like the dullest and least creative thing ever, but outlining the story thus far and then making a little chart with the events for each major plotline actually helped a lot.
Yes, I made a chart. I get all analytical like that sometimes.
Anyways, by charting the plotlines in separate columns and then using a different row for each day of the week, I could visually see whether my plots were balanced enough and what needs to happen next - which was the whole point. Even if I eventually change things around (which, given the nature of rewriting, I probably will), for now at least I can get moving again.
... Which I'm going to go do now! :D
Friday, February 26, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Roadmapping
While I'm letting the stories and whatnot I've been working on for the past month stew and get a little distance on them, I've been going back over 2009's NaNo. I'm pleasantly surprised by it (this being the first time I've read the whole thing through from the beginning). Sure, there's plenty of work to be done, but it's not headdeskingly bad. There is hope!
Of course, before I can do anything serious editing-wise, I need to finish the sucker. Unfortunately, as I got to the end, I realized why I lost steam in the first place: I had no idea what the next scene should be. Not a good start.
Fortunately, I have a few things to try. Option one: outline. Yeah, I know, that's usually something you hear people doing before they start writing. Well, if that's what works for them, that's great. I've tried it before. Snowflaked my first NaNo novel back in 2006. Still need to finish that novel, actually, whenever I swing back to high fantasy mode and feel like trudging through one giant mess of prose. While I never had to think about what came next, I also wrote on autopilot... which meant I didn't realize things were getting horribly horribly tangled until the very last major plotpoint. There is going to be a lot of major restructuring in that one.
No, this time, I'm using the outline to track where I've been and hopefully see what needs to be the next scene. I'm mapping out POVs and the three main plotlines while I'm at it, and I won't be outlining any further than I've already written. I'm using it as a chance to keep all those little threads from getting hopelessly snarled and back into a nice, neat braid again. Really, all I'm looking for is a next step.
I'll let you know how it works out.
Of course, before I can do anything serious editing-wise, I need to finish the sucker. Unfortunately, as I got to the end, I realized why I lost steam in the first place: I had no idea what the next scene should be. Not a good start.
Fortunately, I have a few things to try. Option one: outline. Yeah, I know, that's usually something you hear people doing before they start writing. Well, if that's what works for them, that's great. I've tried it before. Snowflaked my first NaNo novel back in 2006. Still need to finish that novel, actually, whenever I swing back to high fantasy mode and feel like trudging through one giant mess of prose. While I never had to think about what came next, I also wrote on autopilot... which meant I didn't realize things were getting horribly horribly tangled until the very last major plotpoint. There is going to be a lot of major restructuring in that one.
No, this time, I'm using the outline to track where I've been and hopefully see what needs to be the next scene. I'm mapping out POVs and the three main plotlines while I'm at it, and I won't be outlining any further than I've already written. I'm using it as a chance to keep all those little threads from getting hopelessly snarled and back into a nice, neat braid again. Really, all I'm looking for is a next step.
I'll let you know how it works out.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
The Morganville Vampires
Back in January, I picked up a collection of YA vampire stories called Immortal: Love Stories With Bite. I admit it, I'm a sucker for vampire stories, and while not all the stories were fantastic, there were a lot of really good ones that make the anthology worthwhile.
Rachel Caine's short story "Dead Man Stalking" was one of my favorites out of the entire book, and while I wouldn't have called it a "love story" in the romantic sense, I think it explored a different kind of love, and I am so glad it was included. It was an introduction to Caine's series, The Morganville Vampires, which, I am sad to say, I may never have picked up otherwise. Here's another admission: the back blurb of a book matters to me. The title or cover might get me to pick up a book, but it's the back blurb that gets me to either buy it on the spot or look inside. The back of the first book, Glass Houses, never really grabbed my attention.
The short story? Grabbed me, hooked me, and dragged me back to Borders for more.
Luckily for me, the first two books were published in a 2-for-1 volume back in November, so I picked that up... and have flown through Book 1 in three days. Considering my normal method of reading is a chapter or two every morning, that's breakneck speed for me. I love the characters, I love the writing, I love the quirks and twists and turns and the way it keeps me on the edge of my seat. Caine isn't afraid to put her characters in danger and keep them there, and despite the main character being a 16-year-old brainiac in college, Claire hasn't struck me as a Mary Sue. Sure, she's super book-smart, but other than that, she's pretty much an ordinary girl who flounders in ordinary ways and finds herself in extraordinary circumstances.
I've just finished the first book, Glass Houses, and just started Book 2, The Dead Girls' Dance, about three hours ago... and am already six chapters in. It's not that I read that slow: it's that I have other things to do... or keep trying to do. And yet, I just keep picking the book back up, read another scene or two, try to put it down, and can't. I don't want to wait to know what happens next.
And that, I think, has to be the highest praise any book can ever hope to achieve.
I think there'll be another trip to Borders this week, and I will be grabbing as many of The Morganville Vampires series as they have.
Rachel Caine's short story "Dead Man Stalking" was one of my favorites out of the entire book, and while I wouldn't have called it a "love story" in the romantic sense, I think it explored a different kind of love, and I am so glad it was included. It was an introduction to Caine's series, The Morganville Vampires, which, I am sad to say, I may never have picked up otherwise. Here's another admission: the back blurb of a book matters to me. The title or cover might get me to pick up a book, but it's the back blurb that gets me to either buy it on the spot or look inside. The back of the first book, Glass Houses, never really grabbed my attention.
The short story? Grabbed me, hooked me, and dragged me back to Borders for more.
Luckily for me, the first two books were published in a 2-for-1 volume back in November, so I picked that up... and have flown through Book 1 in three days. Considering my normal method of reading is a chapter or two every morning, that's breakneck speed for me. I love the characters, I love the writing, I love the quirks and twists and turns and the way it keeps me on the edge of my seat. Caine isn't afraid to put her characters in danger and keep them there, and despite the main character being a 16-year-old brainiac in college, Claire hasn't struck me as a Mary Sue. Sure, she's super book-smart, but other than that, she's pretty much an ordinary girl who flounders in ordinary ways and finds herself in extraordinary circumstances.
I've just finished the first book, Glass Houses, and just started Book 2, The Dead Girls' Dance, about three hours ago... and am already six chapters in. It's not that I read that slow: it's that I have other things to do... or keep trying to do. And yet, I just keep picking the book back up, read another scene or two, try to put it down, and can't. I don't want to wait to know what happens next.
And that, I think, has to be the highest praise any book can ever hope to achieve.
I think there'll be another trip to Borders this week, and I will be grabbing as many of The Morganville Vampires series as they have.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
The Right to Write
One of my favorite writing exercises is pretty simple. I grab a book, flip to a page, and write down the first noun or verb I see. Repeat two more times. Then, write something using all three words. It's a good little exercise that can come up with some interesting results, especially if you do it shortly after getting up, before the Inner Critic and Editor have had their morning coffee.
Anyways, today the book I was using to find words was Novel Ideas: Fantasy, an anthology of short stories and novellas that eventually spurred the author on to full novels or series. I haven't read them all, having found it a fantastic source for my exercise and not wanting to know context for the words, but today, I flipped to the intro page of Orson Scott Card's story Lost Boys.* Well, the only Lost Boys I knew of involved Kiefer Sutherland in a pair fangs, so of course I had to read the intro... where Card described a night of storytelling at a university Halloween party where he decided to tell a ghost story that ended up with half the people present pissed off at him.
Long story short, Card decided to give personalizing a fictional story a try by telling it in first person as if it were fact and had happened to him, even to the point of using his own life and real names. He then added fictional characters and events, like his "eldest son" Scotty and the bodies in their crawlspace. When he later decided to write it as a short story and present it at a workshop, the other writers were furious. One even went as far as telling him he had no right to write a story about losing a son like that unless he actually had.
That got me thinking. Is there anything a writer doesn't have the right to write? It goes right back to that old stand-by of "Write what you know." But people tend to interpret that as, "you can only write your class, race, gender, and lifestyle." Which means people shouldn't write about different family set-ups, professions, or religions, either. Which, frankly, would make for a pretty bleak reading selection, particularly for a fantasy lover like me.
Instead, I prefer to think of it as having a deeper meaning. Humans were granted an amazing imagination, and we "know" a lot more than we give ourselves credit for. We all know the basic emotions: love, joy, anger, sadness, grief, desperation, fear, embarrassment, etc. Writers can take those emotion and extrapolate them into what their characters are feeling, and through their words, they can inspire their readers to feel those things, too. Imagination is a powerful thing.
Am I saying screw the research and just write whatever the heck you want? Not if you want it read by other people. Do the research, listen to people who have lived through something similar, pay attention, and then put that wonderful imagination to work.
So did Orson Scott Card have a right to write that short story from the first person? In my opinion, absolutely. As he wrote in his afterward, he may not have lost a child to death, but he knew intimately what it was like to have a child who couldn't really live the way all parents want their children to. The emotions in his story came from a very real place, and it resulted in a powerful story. That people would get outraged over the fact that he hadn't had a child die seems ridiculous to me. It's fiction - the truth is in the lies.
* This is the story that he later turned into the full-length book, Lost Boys: A Novel. Obviously, a lot changed, but the key idea seems to have stayed the same.
Anyways, today the book I was using to find words was Novel Ideas: Fantasy, an anthology of short stories and novellas that eventually spurred the author on to full novels or series. I haven't read them all, having found it a fantastic source for my exercise and not wanting to know context for the words, but today, I flipped to the intro page of Orson Scott Card's story Lost Boys.* Well, the only Lost Boys I knew of involved Kiefer Sutherland in a pair fangs, so of course I had to read the intro... where Card described a night of storytelling at a university Halloween party where he decided to tell a ghost story that ended up with half the people present pissed off at him.
Long story short, Card decided to give personalizing a fictional story a try by telling it in first person as if it were fact and had happened to him, even to the point of using his own life and real names. He then added fictional characters and events, like his "eldest son" Scotty and the bodies in their crawlspace. When he later decided to write it as a short story and present it at a workshop, the other writers were furious. One even went as far as telling him he had no right to write a story about losing a son like that unless he actually had.
That got me thinking. Is there anything a writer doesn't have the right to write? It goes right back to that old stand-by of "Write what you know." But people tend to interpret that as, "you can only write your class, race, gender, and lifestyle." Which means people shouldn't write about different family set-ups, professions, or religions, either. Which, frankly, would make for a pretty bleak reading selection, particularly for a fantasy lover like me.
Instead, I prefer to think of it as having a deeper meaning. Humans were granted an amazing imagination, and we "know" a lot more than we give ourselves credit for. We all know the basic emotions: love, joy, anger, sadness, grief, desperation, fear, embarrassment, etc. Writers can take those emotion and extrapolate them into what their characters are feeling, and through their words, they can inspire their readers to feel those things, too. Imagination is a powerful thing.
Am I saying screw the research and just write whatever the heck you want? Not if you want it read by other people. Do the research, listen to people who have lived through something similar, pay attention, and then put that wonderful imagination to work.
So did Orson Scott Card have a right to write that short story from the first person? In my opinion, absolutely. As he wrote in his afterward, he may not have lost a child to death, but he knew intimately what it was like to have a child who couldn't really live the way all parents want their children to. The emotions in his story came from a very real place, and it resulted in a powerful story. That people would get outraged over the fact that he hadn't had a child die seems ridiculous to me. It's fiction - the truth is in the lies.
* This is the story that he later turned into the full-length book, Lost Boys: A Novel. Obviously, a lot changed, but the key idea seems to have stayed the same.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Snow, Snow, Snow...
Like many parts of the United States, we've gotten a lot of snow this month. In fact, it's snowing right now - the big, fluffy kind of snow that makes you want to run around outside with your tongue sticking out. And while we didn't get any snow on Valentine's Day, I did get this shot:
Yep. Two little sparrows, all puffed up on the back step out by the bird feeder. Rather fitting to have a male and a female on Valentine's Day.
Yep. Two little sparrows, all puffed up on the back step out by the bird feeder. Rather fitting to have a male and a female on Valentine's Day.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Give Your Warlord a Charm Bracelet Week
Today, I decided to take a break from writing and indulge in a little World of Warcraft. I've been playing for several years now, but it's been a bit since I last played - October, I think. In any case, I remembered that they should be having their Valentine-esque holiday, so I decided to hop on.
And for the first time in years, the quests are different.
Last year (and the year before, and the year before that...), you bought perfume or cologne, distributed valentines, collected goodies, and spent oodles of time traipsing around Orgrimmar, Thunder Bluff, and Undercity for the quests.
This year? You get to collect charms, make a "lovely charm bracelet," and hand it off to, say, Thrall, who literally says, "Oh, what a lovely charm bracelet." Then you get to turn in your quest while squealing in fangirl/fanboy-ish glee because the great and mighty Thrall loved your charm bracelet.
The great and mighty Thrall probably has a pile of charm bracelets behind his chair and is debating whether or not he can arrange the death of whoever came up with the bright idea of the lovely charm bracelets.
Of course, now I'm wondering what other changes Blizzard's going to make this year. I also need to find out where people are getting the pet pugs, because those are adorable.
And for the first time in years, the quests are different.
Last year (and the year before, and the year before that...), you bought perfume or cologne, distributed valentines, collected goodies, and spent oodles of time traipsing around Orgrimmar, Thunder Bluff, and Undercity for the quests.
This year? You get to collect charms, make a "lovely charm bracelet," and hand it off to, say, Thrall, who literally says, "Oh, what a lovely charm bracelet." Then you get to turn in your quest while squealing in fangirl/fanboy-ish glee because the great and mighty Thrall loved your charm bracelet.
The great and mighty Thrall probably has a pile of charm bracelets behind his chair and is debating whether or not he can arrange the death of whoever came up with the bright idea of the lovely charm bracelets.
Of course, now I'm wondering what other changes Blizzard's going to make this year. I also need to find out where people are getting the pet pugs, because those are adorable.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Discovering Kirtles
Well, my beta reader for my story got back to me last night, and overall, it was a pretty positive critique. One comment, though, suggested I hadn't really set my setting as well as I might have. Seeing as it's high fantasy, this was a serious concern.
On reading back through with fresh eyes, I realized that I really had left the environment somewhat sparse... along with character descriptions. I blame one of my old creative writing teachers for that - he preached the "never describe your characters" philosophy, and he was very convincing. It made sense that the readers would paint the picture in their head, and I see it working in some of my favorite books, but still - there are some details to sketch out their appearance.
So, I spent most of Wednesday working out what details I need to add and where. One of those details is clothing (kind of an important part of a high fantasy). Of course, "skirt" and "shirt" didn't seem to quite do it, so I grabbed a few references and hit the Google image search.
And that is how I found... the kirtle.
I am familiar with a lot of medieval clothing - chemises, shifts, petticoats, bodices, surcoats, tunics, all that fun stuff. I had never in my life heard of a kirtle. Turns out, it's a dress. Yeah, shocker, I know. This particular dress can be long-sleeved, short-sleeved, or no sleeved, worn over a chemise or shift and worn under an "overkirtle", outer gown, surcoat, or any number of other other gowns. Sources vary on whether it can be the top layer all by itself.
Basically, perfect for what I need, if not for the fact that it's probably going to leave readers going, "what the heck is a kirtle?"
For those of you who are curious, THESE are kirtles.
Yeah, they look kinda like something a first grade teacher would wear to me, too.
On reading back through with fresh eyes, I realized that I really had left the environment somewhat sparse... along with character descriptions. I blame one of my old creative writing teachers for that - he preached the "never describe your characters" philosophy, and he was very convincing. It made sense that the readers would paint the picture in their head, and I see it working in some of my favorite books, but still - there are some details to sketch out their appearance.
So, I spent most of Wednesday working out what details I need to add and where. One of those details is clothing (kind of an important part of a high fantasy). Of course, "skirt" and "shirt" didn't seem to quite do it, so I grabbed a few references and hit the Google image search.
And that is how I found... the kirtle.
I am familiar with a lot of medieval clothing - chemises, shifts, petticoats, bodices, surcoats, tunics, all that fun stuff. I had never in my life heard of a kirtle. Turns out, it's a dress. Yeah, shocker, I know. This particular dress can be long-sleeved, short-sleeved, or no sleeved, worn over a chemise or shift and worn under an "overkirtle", outer gown, surcoat, or any number of other other gowns. Sources vary on whether it can be the top layer all by itself.
Basically, perfect for what I need, if not for the fact that it's probably going to leave readers going, "what the heck is a kirtle?"
For those of you who are curious, THESE are kirtles.
Yeah, they look kinda like something a first grade teacher would wear to me, too.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Leaping Right Back In
Years ago (and we're talking years, back when the CW was the WB... God, I feel old), I used to watch Smallville. I made it through the meteor metahumans, the Wall of Weird villains of the week, Lex's royal mindscrew at the hands of his father, the appearance of Lois Lane and Oliver Queen, all that fun stuff. Somewhere around Lana's dip into bipolarhood, something shiny playing in the same time slot attracted my attention and I stopped watching regularly.
Oh, sure, I dropped back in every now and then... Lex and Lana's wedding kept my attention for awhile, and then I watched an episode here and there when Chloe's powers were awakening and whatnot. Oddly enough, I never really felt lost - which is probably a good sign for a long-running series. That, or a very bad one.
In any case, tonight is the special premiere of Absolute Justice, a two hour Friday night event. And I figured, heck, there's nothing else on, unless I want to torture myself with Caprica or What Not To Wear, so let's see if I can leap right back in.
So far, all the important parts are intact. Clark still has his overinflated sense of righteousness, Chloe's still using her brain to play loyal maybe-a-step-above-sidekick, and Oliver Queen is still hot. And for someone whose knowledge of the DC universe comes from around ten years of Batman: The Animated Series, the following Superman series, and Justice League, this was probably the best episode to possibly come in on. I mean, Michael Shanks as Hawkman (yeah, I was a Stargate fan, too - right until Stargate Universe, may it die a quick and sudden death). Sure, he looks ridiculous in the outfit (who wouldn't as a live-action Hawkman?) and he's doing this weird wheezy gruff voice, but it's Michael Shanks. This episode also has Fate and allusions to the Flash (or at least, his winged Hermes helmet), Hawkgirl, Green Lantern, Wildcat, and a whole slew of others.
Yeah, I'm totally geeking out over it.
If they keep it on Friday nights, I might just keep watching...
Oh, sure, I dropped back in every now and then... Lex and Lana's wedding kept my attention for awhile, and then I watched an episode here and there when Chloe's powers were awakening and whatnot. Oddly enough, I never really felt lost - which is probably a good sign for a long-running series. That, or a very bad one.
In any case, tonight is the special premiere of Absolute Justice, a two hour Friday night event. And I figured, heck, there's nothing else on, unless I want to torture myself with Caprica or What Not To Wear, so let's see if I can leap right back in.
So far, all the important parts are intact. Clark still has his overinflated sense of righteousness, Chloe's still using her brain to play loyal maybe-a-step-above-sidekick, and Oliver Queen is still hot. And for someone whose knowledge of the DC universe comes from around ten years of Batman: The Animated Series, the following Superman series, and Justice League, this was probably the best episode to possibly come in on. I mean, Michael Shanks as Hawkman (yeah, I was a Stargate fan, too - right until Stargate Universe, may it die a quick and sudden death). Sure, he looks ridiculous in the outfit (who wouldn't as a live-action Hawkman?) and he's doing this weird wheezy gruff voice, but it's Michael Shanks. This episode also has Fate and allusions to the Flash (or at least, his winged Hermes helmet), Hawkgirl, Green Lantern, Wildcat, and a whole slew of others.
Yeah, I'm totally geeking out over it.
If they keep it on Friday nights, I might just keep watching...
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Fine Tuning
Last week, I said my little revision project should be just about done by today. Well... it is. It has been tweaked and poked and prodded down to 25 pages, the plot kinks have been worked out, the characters have all been given important roles, and I'm fairly certain each and every scene is necessary (very important in a short story, I'm told). Which means it's time to break out the polish and make this sucker shine.
So what does that mean? Well, mostly it's playing around with word choice - making the characters pop and the language flow while keeping it interesting and enjoyable to read. On the list of things to do with the story today: figure out my most common words, hunt them down, and add a little variation.
Sometimes, you have to use the same word. There are only so many ways you can refer to a door without whacking your reader over the head with a thesaurus or straying into purple prose territory. But for, say, verbs, you want to take a hard look at some of your favorites, the old stand-bys you toss in while writing that first draft when you don't think too hard right then.
There's usually nothing wrong with the word itself, but it doesn't hurt to take a second look and see if there isn't a verb that would work better, one that paints a more precise picture in your reader's mind.
For example, "He headed across the street."
It works, but that is about the least precise way of saying that. How did he cross the street? Did he walk? Run? Sprint, slink, sneak, saunter, stroll, jog, waltz? Pick the one that best fits the image in your mind.
The word I'm currently reworking is "peek." Yeah, of all the words to toss in, I had to use "peek." The MC "peeks" several times - out from under the covers and around a few corners. Light and the sun "peek" out from behind the clouds. Everything's "peeking." It's a wee bit repetitive, so time to search out better words and cut the use of "peek" down to maybe two. Three, if it's absolutely necessary.
Also on chopping board: "peer," "bolt," and "glance." Yeah, your time is coming. Let the hunt begin!
So what does that mean? Well, mostly it's playing around with word choice - making the characters pop and the language flow while keeping it interesting and enjoyable to read. On the list of things to do with the story today: figure out my most common words, hunt them down, and add a little variation.
Sometimes, you have to use the same word. There are only so many ways you can refer to a door without whacking your reader over the head with a thesaurus or straying into purple prose territory. But for, say, verbs, you want to take a hard look at some of your favorites, the old stand-bys you toss in while writing that first draft when you don't think too hard right then.
There's usually nothing wrong with the word itself, but it doesn't hurt to take a second look and see if there isn't a verb that would work better, one that paints a more precise picture in your reader's mind.
For example, "He headed across the street."
It works, but that is about the least precise way of saying that. How did he cross the street? Did he walk? Run? Sprint, slink, sneak, saunter, stroll, jog, waltz? Pick the one that best fits the image in your mind.
The word I'm currently reworking is "peek." Yeah, of all the words to toss in, I had to use "peek." The MC "peeks" several times - out from under the covers and around a few corners. Light and the sun "peek" out from behind the clouds. Everything's "peeking." It's a wee bit repetitive, so time to search out better words and cut the use of "peek" down to maybe two. Three, if it's absolutely necessary.
Also on chopping board: "peer," "bolt," and "glance." Yeah, your time is coming. Let the hunt begin!
Monday, February 1, 2010
In Need of a New Laptop
Let me start by saying this: I love my Toshiba Satellite. It has served me very well since 2003 or 2004.
Unfortunately... it has been serving me since 2003 or 2004, and it is starting to have problems. It's starting to go slow, windows don't show up on the task bar, it's been overheating and randomly shutting off, and on occasion, it has trouble finding the power to run both the cooling fan and my tablet. It's been a good laptop... but it's time to put it out to pasture.
I'm thinking about another Toshiba. I will not be getting a Mac - lovely and fantastic as they are for digital art, they are oh so hard on the pocket book - and I'm not too fond of Gateways, but any other than that, I'm open-minded. Any suggestions?
Unfortunately... it has been serving me since 2003 or 2004, and it is starting to have problems. It's starting to go slow, windows don't show up on the task bar, it's been overheating and randomly shutting off, and on occasion, it has trouble finding the power to run both the cooling fan and my tablet. It's been a good laptop... but it's time to put it out to pasture.
I'm thinking about another Toshiba. I will not be getting a Mac - lovely and fantastic as they are for digital art, they are oh so hard on the pocket book - and I'm not too fond of Gateways, but any other than that, I'm open-minded. Any suggestions?
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