 Drama: October 17, 2012 Issue [#5286] |
  Drama
This week: Getting Ready for 2012 NaNoWriMo Edited by: Joy  
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"Quotables is a big supporter of writers and writing, and what better time to stoke the fires of creativity than during NaNoWriMo?
NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month. Taking place across the world in all 24 time-zones, the goal is to write a 50,000 word novel by midnight on 30th November. That's 1,667 words per day!
From the Quotabl.es Blog
"If there's a book you really want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it."
Toni Morrison
"I do a first draft as passionately and as quickly as I can. I believe a story is valid only when it's immediate and passionate, when it dances out of your subconscious. If you interfere in any way, you destroy it. ... Let your characters have their way. Let your secret life be lived."
Ray Bradbury
"In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins - not by strength but by perseverance."
H. Jackson Brown Jr.
Hello, I am Joy . This week, our focus will be on finding and developing the premise and doing other preparations before November starts. There are many ways to write a novel, and whichever works for a writer is the right one. The suggestions in this NL refer to what has worked for me, so I decided to share them with you. 
 In the editorial, if I refer to third person singular as he, it will also mean the female gender, because I don't like to use they or he/she.
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Welcome to the Drama newsletter
Hello, Nanoers and all Writer Friends
I bet you are so excited. Now that NaNo is just around the corner and we are itching to start with either enthusiasm or trepidation, this is a good time to think about what we are going to write.
Some writers enjoy the drama of writing without doing prior groundwork. Being a fun-loving person, I used to be one of them, but in earlier Nano years by the time I passed the midpoint, I lost some of the threads in the plot and I loused up the ending. Since last year, however, I have been doing a little more preparation. With gratitude to Brandiwyn🎶  and her "October Novel Prep Challenge" , last year's novel is more to my liking than the earlier ones.
Finding the premise is the most important decision you'll make before you start writing the novel. If the premise does not interest you, the writing may fail. Here are a few ideas for finding the premise:
 Emotion: Do some self-exploration. Make a few lists about things you feel some emotion about, like what angers you, what saddens you, what interests you...etc. If you don't feel it, your readers won't either. Choose an emotion. To make it an example, let's choose grief as emotion.
Once, you have zeroed in on the emotion, make a list of a few possible ideas that may illustrate that emotion. Brainstorm and explore the options and the many different paths the idea can take. Choose the best idea on the list that may demonstrate that emotion. Continuing with the example, let us say, grief over loss. Loss of what? Make a list. Let us choose from the list, the loss of opportunity.
Explore by making a few lists of what is promised by the idea. Ask yourself the questions of "what if..." and "What will the reader expectation be with this idea?" Remember that no idea is stupid. If it doesn't work, it means the writer hasn't developed it well. If you feel, however, that an idea is stupid, discard it, because with it, you may fail to find creative paths and story threads.
Example: grief  grief over loss of opportunity grief over loss of opportunity in love.
Now develop the premise, in other words the idea's promise, by coming up with a several possible story starters. Choose one of them.
Example: grief grief over loss of opportunity grief over loss of opportunity in love grief over loss of opportunity in love Premise: A character neglects showing his/her true feelings, thus loses his/her soul-mate to the one person who is making his/her soulmate's life a living hell.
Now choose your genre, your setting, your characters, your basic plot (a simple outline or noting of the important events will do), and other preparations that you deem necessary. Above all, make sure you choose and develop the most fitting characters for the premise.
Now, concerning the plot, a few stumbling stones to watch out for:
 Is the plot original enough? That is, is it mimicking anything you have seen on TV, on stage, or in the movies, or read in a book? If it is too much like the original, change it or change several important twists in it.
Can the readers figure out what is going to happen? If the answer is yes, it is possible that you have chosen an overused plot that may give away the ending before you reach the midpoint in your novel. Add a red herring or change the ending with something shocking.
Can the plot become boring? If the answer is yes, this will mean going into each twist and scene and adding something exciting or outrageous to it.
Can this plot lead itself to proper pacing, not too slow, not too fast? If you have already thought of adding a few hair-raising scenes or twists as suggested in the steps above, this shouldn't be a problem. If you think there may still be a problem, consider adding more conversation and frenzied action to a slow moving plot, and descriptions and character musings to a very fast moving plot.
Does this plot have too many or too few subplots? List the possible subplots. Remove those you cannot weave into the main storyline. (Generally speaking, for a 50,000 word novel, 3-5 subplots will do.)
How about the sequence? Is the plot chronological or are you going back and forth in story time? If the plot is not chronological and the sequence seems illogical or confusing to you, rearrange your presentation of the events.
In listing any of the above possibilities, remember ten is the number for good pickings.
I hope most or all of you will try writing a novel this November. The experience is a lot of fun, and what you can learn from it is priceless.
Wishing you the best with all your projects. |
 Enjoy!
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Your Drama Newsletter Editors: NickiD89  kittiara Joy
Thank you for reading our newsletters and for supplying the editors with feedback and encouragement.
 This Issue's Tip:
While writing your novel, get a notebook or a word or note-pad file and note all the Chekhov's guns you come up with, so you don't miss their follow-through. A Checkhov's gun is a detail the writer puts in somewhere, then forgets about it.
For more information on the subject, check out this NL by:
Arakun the twisted raccoon  "Chekhov's Gun"
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 Reading Recommendation: A book with drama
If you have a recommendation, a few words on a book or a product review, send it to me or to this newsletter. I'll highlight it here.
Ẃeβ࿚ẂỉԎḈĥmas 
So true, Joy. I often run across stories, where the male character's speech sounds too female.
Growing up with only brothers has given me a huge advantage in the "male voice" department.  Thus,I try to keep in mind the difference between a woman's response to that of a male's, while writing a story.
Great Newsletter!
WW
Thanks, WW.
I know how proficient you are with the voice.
Thus, I read your work, especially the NLs, when I am alone, so no one will think I lost it for laughing out loud by myself.
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Mara ♣ McBain 
Fascinating NL! I've been told a couple of times that I "write men well."  I have to admit that I never really understood the comment fully until now. I love to write men the way alot of them are when they're with other men, grunting, blunt, knuckle draggers LOL Thank you for a interesting look at the differences in gender writing.
Thank you for the input, Mara.
I know how well you write, having read and enjoyed greatly Club Justice: http://www.amazon.com/JUSTICE-Trinity-Falls-Series-ebook/dp/B007O0AYUA
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NickiD89
Fascinating look at how a writer's gender plays a role in word choice and diction. I'm reading Gillian Flynn's latest NYT bestseller, Gone Girl. Flynn is one of my favorite authors because she writes every character, male or female, with startling authenticity. You believe the men, the way they think and behave, as much as you believe the women. And Flynn really played to her strength in Gone Girl, where she has you believing in the characters even as you realize they are all liars. Brilliant book!
Thanks, Nicki.
I'll for sure put that book into my to-read list.
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BIG BAD WOLF is Merry 
Submitted item: "WarCraft versus StarCraft Interview"
You need to have fun.
Definitely. I so agree.
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platinumbwords
For me, this NL suggests there are "true" masculine and feminine ways of writing, even of being. While I'm sure some studies show this, I hesitate to associate this with nature. To a great extent, this is influenced by a society that tells women to be emotional, wordy creatures who favor romance and men to be stoic, emotionless robots obsessed with war. And I don't think that's necessarily a good thing, or the way men and women should feel they have to be. There is so much more to us, our personalities and our writing, than our gender.
Frankly, I enjoy genres and writing that can be blunt and action-driven, like hard-boiled detective novels aimed at male audiences, but I also enjoy genres and writing that are super-descriptive and appeal to the emotion, like romance. My being a woman doesn't dictate who I am, how I write, and what I like to read. I can appreciate both kinds of writing or a story that combines the two, and I have to ask: why shouldn't all readers?
Surely, each writer has a writing license that deserves to be respected.
One clarifying point, however. The NL didn't push a politically incorrect separation between male and female freedoms in society. With the idea of writers finding larger audiences, it gave a few pointers to close the gap, if a writer wrote with a slant toward either gender.
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