Repost from The Log: Miscellany No. 8
Sep. 6th, 2010 07:45 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
scribblemynameThe Strike of the Eureka! in the Form of Cosmic Lightning
Or on the bestest best post in my blog reader this morning
Justine Musk of Tribal Writer just answered a dozen of my conundrums at once. Go here to read the original article: http://www.tribalwriter.com/2010/08/24/7-ways-to-navigate-the-middle-of-your-novel-and-maybe-your-life/.
Or on the bestest best post in my blog reader this morning
Justine Musk of Tribal Writer just answered a dozen of my conundrums at once. Go here to read the original article: http://www.tribalwriter.com/2010/08/24/7-ways-to-navigate-the-middle-of-your-novel-and-maybe-your-life/.
"...forces clash, wrestle with each other, throw off sparks, transform."
Like Day Follows Night has been giving me absolute havoc. In short, I've written three next drabbles and trashed all but one paragraph, which might not even belong to the next drabble.
But here she's just stated exactly what I want to do with Kitty and St. John's relationship. And there you have it. Next stop: forces clash.
:rubs hands together gleefully:
But here she's just stated exactly what I want to do with Kitty and St. John's relationship. And there you have it. Next stop: forces clash.
:rubs hands together gleefully:
"So it is with novels. Don’t pack in one hundred things and fail to carry through on all
but one or two of them. That only dilutes the power of your tale. Your novel has its own identity, and whatever doesn’t reflect and manifest that identity should get the hose."
but one or two of them. That only dilutes the power of your tale. Your novel has its own identity, and whatever doesn’t reflect and manifest that identity should get the hose."
Folks may or may not know that I'm considering a revision of the first sixteen chapters of Without a Trace (call it a Reader's Cut), but if you have a preference please vote in the poll for it on my profile.
But the real problem for me was how to do it. And here it is, don't pack in the threads without following through. Now I'm starting to figure out what to do with those threads, how to weave them and expand and figure out just where everything fits.
Very exciting.
But the real problem for me was how to do it. And here it is, don't pack in the threads without following through. Now I'm starting to figure out what to do with those threads, how to weave them and expand and figure out just where everything fits.
Very exciting.
"It’s easy to stuff your story with too many ideas (and I’m as guilty of this as
anyone), too much backstory, too many characters. There’s the feeling that, if we
throw enough stuff at the wall, something will stick – and even if it doesn’t, we’ll have
it if we need it. The impulse is to add when the true power is in subtraction."
anyone), too much backstory, too many characters. There’s the feeling that, if we
throw enough stuff at the wall, something will stick – and even if it doesn’t, we’ll have
it if we need it. The impulse is to add when the true power is in subtraction."
Ember being a classic case in point. I knew from the beginning that I was going to have my work cut out for me because it's EIGHTEEN chapters long—not a hundred. Streamlining this baby has been tough, but I'm giving four subplots the axe before I even sit down to write them. There are certain themes of sacrifice, loss, and choices that I want to address and the best parties to address these are:
- Maya Lopez/Logan
- St. John/Kitty
- Remy/Rogue
- Ororo/Forge/Callisto
- Erik/Wanda
- side dose of Jubilee
That is it! :hammers into the muse's head: Skipping all other subplots, 'kay?
"When you reduce your story to the essentials, you have the time and space to drill
deep. To explore your ideas and take them all the way through to their logical conclusion. The middle is about revelations, complications and reversals. This is the time to identify each conflict and build it out to the extreme, to move your characters toward the very
edge of whatever scares them, and reveal to us the fullness of who they truly are. "
deep. To explore your ideas and take them all the way through to their logical conclusion. The middle is about revelations, complications and reversals. This is the time to identify each conflict and build it out to the extreme, to move your characters toward the very
edge of whatever scares them, and reveal to us the fullness of who they truly are. "
And that has always been my strength. Good time to start remembering that, huh?
Makes me feel ready to write again. :grins:
Call It Like Is: I Build My House o' Cards
Or on why I love story structure and am itching to finish out Pedestal
I have found my story structure. :sappy, goofy, totally thrilled grin:
But first, why that's important. I live for challenges and they make me much able to write in a way that please me. Part of the whole equal brained, creative-logical-literal-mathematical-think every part all at once-way my brain operates. I literally have no preference between right and left sides and can't imagine what it's like to. But because of this, stories like Whispers that require exactly 100 words per chapter and like He is Fire, He is Pain that require strict adherence to the poem and quotes it's built around, motivate and delight my little musing self.
So here I've found my structure on Pedestal.
Six 100 word chapters: Bond, Attraction, Certainty, Touch, Training, Denial. In any order. 1 200 word chapter: Double __. Repeat until we reach the Final set.
Love, love, love. Ready to run.
Er... Write.
Color Me Cards, Put Black and White to the Artist's Touch
Or on combining art and words to create the fic I want.
Fifty-Two started out as a simple idea: take each card (52 in a standard deck) and write 52 words about some facet of Remyness based on the tarot meaning of that card. Well, went through a little trouble, but Heavenmetal has corrected the first half of my meanings and we're working on it.
The rough bit was deciding that I really don't want to expand them. That whole structure thing? Yeah. That. It applies.
The challenge is to turn out something meaningful in 52 words for each card. And now that I've been doing graphic design en masse again, the idea has expanded.
I want to put them on cards. Real cards. Or illustrations of them, to be more specific. I am on the hunt for illustrations of cards that I can use in graphic art. If anyone sees any, please let me know! Also, does anyone know whether the suits should go in a preferred order? I mostly played with Rook cards growing up, so don't know all the details here.
Black as Sin in the Big Easy
Or again! getting a break on "Body Heat"
I have never, ever written noir. Let me repeat: ever.
"Body Heat,"![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lithiumlaughter's birthday present has run me through the wringer. But coworker has blessed me with Neptune Noir: Unauthorized Investigations into Veronica Mars. It has saved me. I'm finally getting a feel for what I'm looking for and how to combine female PI with male suspect and make the romance work.
I think I'm getting somewhere. At least I'm feeling it.
Wish me luck.
Makes me feel ready to write again. :grins:
Call It Like Is: I Build My House o' Cards
Or on why I love story structure and am itching to finish out Pedestal
I have found my story structure. :sappy, goofy, totally thrilled grin:
But first, why that's important. I live for challenges and they make me much able to write in a way that please me. Part of the whole equal brained, creative-logical-literal-mathematical-think every part all at once-way my brain operates. I literally have no preference between right and left sides and can't imagine what it's like to. But because of this, stories like Whispers that require exactly 100 words per chapter and like He is Fire, He is Pain that require strict adherence to the poem and quotes it's built around, motivate and delight my little musing self.
So here I've found my structure on Pedestal.
Six 100 word chapters: Bond, Attraction, Certainty, Touch, Training, Denial. In any order. 1 200 word chapter: Double __. Repeat until we reach the Final set.
Love, love, love. Ready to run.
Er... Write.
Color Me Cards, Put Black and White to the Artist's Touch
Or on combining art and words to create the fic I want.
Fifty-Two started out as a simple idea: take each card (52 in a standard deck) and write 52 words about some facet of Remyness based on the tarot meaning of that card. Well, went through a little trouble, but Heavenmetal has corrected the first half of my meanings and we're working on it.
The rough bit was deciding that I really don't want to expand them. That whole structure thing? Yeah. That. It applies.
The challenge is to turn out something meaningful in 52 words for each card. And now that I've been doing graphic design en masse again, the idea has expanded.
I want to put them on cards. Real cards. Or illustrations of them, to be more specific. I am on the hunt for illustrations of cards that I can use in graphic art. If anyone sees any, please let me know! Also, does anyone know whether the suits should go in a preferred order? I mostly played with Rook cards growing up, so don't know all the details here.
Black as Sin in the Big Easy
Or again! getting a break on "Body Heat"
I have never, ever written noir. Let me repeat: ever.
"Body Heat,"
lithiumlaughter's birthday present has run me through the wringer. But coworker has blessed me with Neptune Noir: Unauthorized Investigations into Veronica Mars. It has saved me. I'm finally getting a feel for what I'm looking for and how to combine female PI with male suspect and make the romance work.I think I'm getting somewhere. At least I'm feeling it.
Wish me luck.
