I hate the ones like on the SAT where they’re not much more than busy work.
You know. Lots of irrelevant information thrown at you about what the weather was like when Mrs. So-n-So’s 3rd grade class went to this specific zoo and saw a group of monkeys, so many males and so many females all eating fruit with even more irrelevant details thrown in. Then you’re supposed to figure out which monkey’s name, their favorite fruit and where they liked to eat it by the set of clues about their likes and dislikes.
They always involve setting up a table and filling in the blanks given the information in the clues. I hate when the kids bring these types of problems home because they refuse to see the pattern and get stuck in the irrelevant details. It’s all about focus, pattern matching and sifting through the information given to find the useful nuggets.
I feel like I’ve been working on a giant one of these this week. I’ve got a list of 22 scenes (so far) with various columns regarding what should be happening in each one. I’m not sure I have it slimmed down to the relevant info yet, but it’s coming along and seems to flow from one to the next.
The trickiest part has been stepping back and looking at each scene as a collection of beats like in a screenplay and making sure the final action leads to the next scene while at the same time making sure the scenes also progress through a story arc and also allow the hero and heroine to make their romance work. I suspect this one might fall under “with romantic elements” but I think that can be shifted a bit more to the 75% romance instead of 67% that it’s currently at.
Did I mention that I have trouble thinking short and simple?
I have all but the last 5 scenes sketched out. I think I still need to go back and look through them for how the characters are feeling at these points in the story, but once the timeline and what needs to happen is set out, I can get down to the business of writing this thing down.
I’ve tried to stick with a plotline that would be similar to the type I’d done for the game, and it’s interesting to see the parallels as well as where the way I think about it has to diverge from tried and true patterns. I actually have to go through the process of “playing through the quest” and figuring out what makes it interesting to watch from the outside instead of just experience on a personal level. Screw-ups are only interesting if they teach the hero something useful about himself that will eventually affect his overall success.
I still have doubts about the saleability of this idea, but I’m not going to worry about that for now. First, I have to get the first draft down.
I did find an interesting article over on Michelle Willingham’s site about how someone can go from hate to love in 11 steps. Definitely something I’ve seen repeatedly in my reading, but never really thought about as outline points.
So, what do you compare your writing process to? What have you experienced “Aha!” moments over?
my aha moment came when I realized I sucked and it was up to me to get better. Studying for anything is hard. Maybe a little easier when you want to do it, but still–hard.
Then one day I found my “voice” (all those challenges on RD) and said, YES! It was like all that studying crystallized.
I think when you finally finish writing everything down and look at it as a whole, you’ll be amazed at how the logic holds together. When you focus like this, it’s not just front brain, but back brain stuff too.
For me, writing is like taking a road trip. I know where I’m starting from, know where I want to end up, and know some of the places I want to go in between. The rest of it is like a controlled free fall. I have options. I weigh them as I go along and choose what works the best. I try to stay open minded and flexible because sometimes a character just won’t do what I think they should. Sometimes along the way there are clear AHA moments that manifest themselves and point the way to the next major destination.
When writing for the Bar, I always have to realize that the journey isn’t something I’m undertaking alone. Plotting is a cooperative effort. However, how I plot with Jen is different than how I plot with Shiny, or Mary, or Darrien, or Avalon. Some writers are content to let me drive the bus. Others want to look at the map at every turn or drive the bus themselves. Jen and I have a lot of AHA moments plotting together. We feed off of each other in a way that infuses the Bar story with a lot very interesting storylines.
The nice thing about the Bar is that the story never ends. Just because Alaric and Alexandria have had their HEA doesn’t mean that their story is over. Instead, Al and Lex have a series of HEAs and their overall story becomes richer, more poignant, and more amusing. They draw the reader into their lives and when they fight, you find yourself taking sides. When they make up, you sigh and get that warm glow inside you. And the best part of it is that you know the journey will continue. The characters will always be there to warm and entertain you.
Writing something that never ends poses challenges daily, so that roadmap is something we’re constantly looking at. Going forward and looking back. But, I like those logic puzzles. I like figuring out what isn’t necessary and what is, and how to make two disparate characters end up together. The whole writing thing is not just the cherry on the top to me… it’s the whipped cream and the fudge and the ice cream too.
Wow, those 11 points ARE interesting. I can recognize that pattern in several things I’ve read. Good find.
Normally, I’m a very organized, planning, logical person, but I think I fall into the pantster category here. I outline, but it’s really just a sequence of events. All of the emotional elements get added in when I actually climb into the character’s heads. Sometimes I’m even surprised by something a character does or says – all of the sudden, it’s there on the page and. “Wow, hm – I wasn’t expecting that, but I guess she WOULD feel that way.”
It makes for more editing and re-writes, but if I get too hung up on planning, I never start writing.
What I really liked about your post was that you’re going to go for it, regardless of saleability. From what I can tell, those turn out to be some of the best stories, so I wish you all the luck with it.
~Gwen
_So, what do you compare your writing process to?_
A pop quiz.
Plotting is my worst strength. I go around in circles. It’s easiest for me if I just starting writing without thinking it over too much. Of course, I often STILL end up going in circles.
I’ve tried Holly Lisle’s Notecard Planning –> http://www.hollylisle.com/fm/Workshops/notecard_plotting.html and had more success with that than with anything else I’ve tried (the Snowflake Method, The Artist’s Way), but I ran in to logic problems. It’s like my eyes are bigger than my stomach.
_What have you experienced “Aha!” moments over?_
My latest aha moment was over a causation issue. My character woke up from an itchy nose, then forgot all about it because of a bright light. I guess you could say I misleading my reader. Forgot they weren’t in my head.
I was trained to outline, character sketch, then write but that never worked for me. My cast is always at the ready, just waiting for me to let them tell their story so I just write like a whirlwind and fix the holes in edit. Thank you for dropping by my blog, I hope you’ll come back.
Wow. I love how everyone sees their process differently but also puts it so uniquely.
Jodi – your comment about voice struck an odd chord in me, not about your or anything, but wondering if it’s possible to have a way of saying something and not really knowing what to say yet and how those two definitions matter.
Winter – the road map anaolgy is one I’ve used before, but I found I needed much more detailed directions than what I’d been trying to use. I can only imagine after having worked on the collaborative online game, how crazy the Bar can be with different people wanting the wheel at different times.
Gwen — I’m glad you found the 11 points interesting. Something else to add to the background processes, although I do find it annoying sometimes if the hatred at the beginning is so over the top that it’s just a silly misunderstanding and leads to TSTL actions. But yes, I do like it when characters surprise me with something so right, too. I’m not trying to plan myself or my story to death, just keep myself on track.
Unhinged – I love the pop quiz! I’ve read some of Holly Lisle’s stuff, but was disappointed to find much of it had been hidden behind a shopping cart these days. =( I’ll have to check that link out, Thanks! Causation – yeah, too easy to forget stuff that goes on in your head isn’t going on in the reader’s if you forget to put it down on the page. Causation and vagueness… two of my biggest problems lately.
Kat – It sounds like you’ve been having a heck of a whirlwind lately from your progress reports on your blog! Way to go!
Thanks for sharing guys, it’s interesting to see all the different approaches and some of the similarities too. Looks like I have two monsters home from school again today, so we’ll see how much I get done.