 Fantasy: November 06, 2013 Issue [#5979] |
  Fantasy
This week: Am I following the plot outline? Edited by: Prosperous Snow celebrating  
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"I always have a basic plot outline, but I like to leave some things to be decided while I write." - J. K. Rowling
"Once a novel gets going and I know it is viable, I don't then worry about plot or themes. These things will come in almost automatically because the characters are now pulling the story." - Chinua Achebe |
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You are two, three, or four days into National Novel Writing Month and typing away on your story. Perhaps you are participating in a sprint exercise of fifteen or thirty minutes, when your realize that one of the characters just said something or did something unexpected. You cannot stop typing because that would put you behind in your word count or it would slow the sprint exercise down, so you continue until the end of the chapter or the exercise.
After you save your work, you go back and read the paragraphs or dialogue you have just written. As you read, you realize that the story is going in a new direction or a new complication was added to the plot. What do you do about it? Since it is NaNoWriMo and rewriting could mean you would not reach the 50,000 word goal, you do the only thing you can do. You continue writing the story knowing that the scene you have just written was not in the plot outline or even in your mind when you started the novel a few days ago.
I have encountered this phenomenon in the last two chapters I have completed. I also encountered it in 2012, but not as much or as early in November. I will not consider rejecting these complications until I begin the rewrite in December. I like, at least, one of the complications enough that I may keep it depending on how this addition works out in later chapters. I am wondering how other NaNoWriMo authors deal with their characters or plots suddenly taking off in unexpected directions or saying things that cause more complications to the plot. Please let me know in your response to this newsletter.
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A piece of flash science fiction I wrote several years ago...
#1955792 by CJThomasson  |
Excerpt: Their wrinkled hands melted together as they strolled slowly down the golden beach. They smiled at one another, knowing that their hands were made for each other, just as their lives had been. Behind them, the twin suns cast a warm, yellow halo across the horizon. It would be the most spectacular sunset of their lives.
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#1955210 by Not Available. |
Excerpt: The Factory was vast. An empire of steel and concrete with a dynasty of shafts and valves, a quagmire of gears and pipes, a sprawling shadowed country of grey and black, it seemed alive. A gargantuan beast of iron and smoke that fed on innocence with an unending appetite: day and night, night and day, eternally, ceaselessly, world without end. Sparks rose with the smoke from the impossibly tall stacks. They flew upwards into the night sky as though they dreamed of becoming stars, only to drown in the thick grey smoke. It was the kind of storybook demon. And Rex stood before it like a pup.
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#1956629 by Not Available. |
Excerpt: The air in the chamber was hot and still, heavy with the smell of ozone, burning the back of Kieran Nightshade’s throat as she tried not to breathe too deeply. Despite the heat, she had trouble warding off a chill. Behind her, a low voice rumbled close to her ear.
Excerpt: Walking towards the outlying houses of the tahn the Shen thought of the full circle he’d made through these lands. “Humph, it’s taken me long enough to return to this place!” he thought. He saw that the village had grown, more of the trees had been cut down on the outskirts of the tahn, and he could see several foundations being put in towards the north of the tahn. The land had that hazy yellow look which always came at the end of summer, grasses turning to seed, leaves changing from a dark luscious green to light orange and then dark brown....
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ENB writes: I use an online name generator to find names for my characters. The generator just makes up random names depending on letters or sounds that you pick,and if you like any of the names you are free to use them for any purpose! It's such a nice thing to have if the names aren't rolling out. Especially if (like me) you need well over one hundred names for your book series. Thanks for highlighting my piece:)
Joshiahis writes: I've always tried to match names with an ethnicity I've crafted. This is a new lesson that I will promptly steal from you and incorporate into future writings. Thank you!
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BIG BAD WOLF is Howling  writes: Sometimes the name just sounds right.
alysia writes: Thought I'd slip this in.  I always have a list of names floating around in notebooks. I catch them on car rides, (road signs, street names, maps), and anywhere else where a creative name may come in handy. I have a journal just for names, so I can refernce them later... even if I never use them.
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pinkbarbie writes: Thank you for this newsletter. I too search the net for names and their meanings for some of my characters.
brom21  writes: I’m a fantasy writer and one resource I look to for names is in the Bible. You’d be surprised at all the titles that sound very fantasy like, particularly the Greek names. Meanings behind names can create depth to a character. For instance, I used the name Lazarus to a person to illustrate a city that fell and then miraculously came back to existence; anyway, food for thought. I hope someone will find this helpful. Thanks for writing this edition of the fantasy newsletter!
Danny Wayne Evans writes: Thank you SO much for writing about this prolific writer! My favorite story by him was "The Quest of Iranon". H.P. Lovecraft DEFINITELY has influenced the way I write, and I count him among the greats of literature history. Yours in writing-Danny
See: "Fantasy Newsletter (September 14, 2011)"
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