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| Looks like my Big Work, the novel I have locked away, is doing much better than I thought. But then, I'm only looking at the start of it. The chapters that got the most attention. I just added what looks like a plot hole--how is his computer telling him the name of a man from a lost colony? There shouldn't be any data. I usually keep things according to what the reader thinks, but my hero is... well, there's the lies he tells himself (with advanced spy tech) and the data stream from the Empire. And that from his psychic girlfriend. I do wish I had a BOOK Author group to share the keys to my book. It's been ten years since I spoke to the last person who read any significant amount of it. Or individuals... |
| ***Advertisement*** In a public review for, "Never So Alone (c. 11,000 words)"  , The Phantom Reviewer  said: WHAT I LIKED: The theme, the power, the raw emotional assault carried on from start to finish. You have a voice that can make people feel, and I write this with moisture in my eyes from that finish. I also liked the profound concepts you toss around as casual dialogue, for example, "...the dreadful power of caring about the fragile lives of other people." Like I said, just wow! He went on to admit that he felt a little lost, not being familiar with my world building. So for those of your science fiction fans that are ready to boldly go into an unfamiliar setting, this could be a highly rewarding piece. This is an 18-plus piece with a troubling setting. Please consider clicking the Trigger Warning at the beginning of the piece before committing to join me on that expedition.
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| Here's another template for brainstorming: I wish [stupid, poorly formed wish] because then [actual reason, something relatable and good]. Toward that end, I really should [intelligent step toward the actual reason] but can't because [excuse that feels important] so I am tempted to [stupid action] when [trigger] and end up getting [trouble.] So I [median quality action] leading to [positive result] and [complication/consequence] The key with these is to do as many as you can, filling in decent answers as quickly as possible without getting inspiration. |
| "I am a writer..." But, are you? We all have doubts. Well, do you write? When you do, does that matter to you? What values does the act of writing present? (What experiences, both good and bad, are native to writing. And which ones do you expect?) What values does the product of your writing offer? What experiences or impacts--good and bad--do you want from writing? What do you actually get? As you begin to match your expectations to reality and tighten your grip on your memories and plans of writing you can expect to be ever more sure that you are a writer. If you have doubts, and you want to soften them, collect memories of when you write and how much that matters. Both in the past and in the future. The more easily these come to mind, the stronger your certainty. Now these are just the broadest strokes of the NLP behind Self Concept. I read a whole book about it. I don't know if filling in the ideas from your intuition will work for you, even though you're a creative. You could also look into the book Transforming Your Self by Steve Andreas. Personally I think most of us will get a boost from playing with these questions without all the specifics. The mind already knows how to organize this information, and you may just need a few more details from your reflections to tighten the idea down. |
| When you are writing and just dumping a narrative on the page first bear in mind what it will be if you write something good. What standard does your normal work achieve when you are dumping it in? And jhow will you recognize it when you find something worth salvaging? And at the end of each practice note how you did things a little differently and what caused the improvement. Experimentation makes improvement; and practice makes perfect. Discipline is the art of takingi note of what you want to do again and what you want to do less of. Just being aware of what youwant to do ore of and what that will do for you causes you to naturally and automatically reinforce your best practices and that means you are comfortably disciplined. |
| Does anybody know much about Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP)? I ask this because it is a mental discipline that--when its parts are properly understood--has a huge amount of applications. And many, many of them--most of which are beyond my ken--are useful to writers. One which I am thinking has as much power for self insight as for writers, is actually more commonly written about in writing. POV. Take a situation you participated in, and imagine it in first person--see what you saw, hear what you heard. Then move over and imagine it in third person--imagine what a stranger would see you and them do. Remember they don't know what you were thinking or what the other person was thinking only what they saw. Then slip into second person--see what they saw, from their POV. And finally slip back into third to see how different the situation seems. See what I'm thinking is when I'm plotting, I stick myself too much in just the Hero's POV. I rain down depression on them and then I can't figure any way out. The story is in them facing that pit, then slipping out of their own POV just enough to see that something they perceived was wrong. What seemed important might be worth sacrificing. The impossible might just be worth trying. You need the "first" person (or 3rd person limited close) to weave the story compellingly. To prove that the situation is worth caring about. And, you need the 3rd or second person to see where they've overestimated the challenge and it's defeatable. If you can empathize with them enough to create the story but dissociate enough to see them from the outside, that's when you can actively give people the experience of surmounting challenges. |
| This story isn't Haloween-themed. It is the story off halloween--the characters are living the myth we reenact. Stumbling about, reeling from her defeat at the hands of her personal temptress-devil, Sigrun wanders into town looking for help. Only to find a town under siege by an angry ghost from her past... one that shrugs off her precious blade. A man as vicious and pathetic as she herself. Do you dare to follow her into darkness and twilight, facing the foreign evil with no invisible means of support? But also with your own hostile power waiting in the wings. (Not for small children.)
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| That moment as your {ahem, you're} editing where the supporting character is opening up and now your POV's line is out of line. I mean, would she drone on about her own problem? She asked, and now he's searching his soul. And yeah, she needs to get back to the matter at hand, but she's the paladin--with a weapon in her heart as well as her hand--so no. Just one little shift fracks up the foundation of paragraph after paragraph. No wonder editing is more than I thought. |
| Pulled from "The Empty Purses of Recompense" , edited. Unreleased edits. [Oliver] wiped his glasses. "Perhaps the hinn could… ah…?" I smothered my exasperated sigh. No elves lurked behind the trees here, or over the mountain. A hinn blademaster could translate Oliver's runes into something a simple, fallen paladin like myself might understand. But unless I could find one–when nobody even knew if the hinn existed anymore, or if they ever had…? Unable to put that into words, I kept quiet. "Yes, well." He glared and harrumphed. "In theory, they would have the answer.: "It…" I shrunk down on the bench beside him. Oliver knew well–better than I–how easily we might find the hinn. I reached out, wanting to touch his shoulder again. "It was a good idea." Oliver blushed and looked away. He looked every bit the boy that had fought beside me in the streets of Balthispeare, on the end of our eleventh summer. There I went, speaking as if friends were enemies and the slain could simply shrug off their wounds. I cleared my throat. "Have you any idea where we're going? I just liked the turn of phrase, as Sigrun faces the fact that knowing how to handle a blade isn't everything she needs to know. |
| Is it hard for everyone to not mention when your characters say something that's just out and out wrong? She wiped his tears away. "You have the difficult job." She kissed him, a warrior's kiss–a kiss of farewell. Emaril savored her for a time, then looked away. "Sigrun's name," he cursed. "Now?" She lifted her husband's chin and offered a playful chiding. "Not the time to put faith in the questioner's gods." He smiled for her, a sad, forced smile. Sigrun is as far from the questioners as possible, and would protect Emaril and Relemiah over them. And, she's not so much a god as a hero who is venerated. |
| Hear ye! Hear ye! Um, okay not that big. Some updates to "Fireberry Fever Dreams" This surreal novella has been upgraded with a Table Of Hyperlinked Contents so you can get back where you were, courtesy of the new xlink WritingmL Also addressed some sources of confusion. I changed the husband's name so he doesn't look like the antagonist. (I didn't know that people would confuse that pasty old aristocratic Milos with the young, swarthy, woodsy gentleman Maril, since they look so different in my head.) And I also tagged the start of each scene as to time and people as needed. Together these should provide a significant, albeit facile, improvement. It's a little heavy but ends on an up note. Check it out.
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| Proposed Heuristic for my list of writing lists: What is the most awkward thing your character could do? And, what would make her commit to that action so powerfully that nobody could look away? What is the most unexpected result that could bring? What could be revealed that has already (or could be already) been hinted at, that would make this preeminently sensible. **** If you find good answers to this, what would be the result? NOTES: Awkward can also include what is unexpected. So, this means anything that is either weird, daring, or out of character. If an action is awkward, risky, logical, and the character is all in, then she is well understood and passionate. If an action is both out of character yet understandable, and she is all in, then we want to know more. Now some of this came from Bin, who was my most vivid character. Scarlett takes her new boyfriend to get help from Bin, a man who tells her to go away BECAUSE he likes her very much. (she's dumped Bin because Bin don't need her anymoore.) He lets them in the chop shop where he is cutting up robots. When Bin sees Bran has her control ring, assuming that means Bran treats her like Bin used to, this fat sweaty, balding man pins Bran against the wall with his massive girth and gives him a sunburn with his cutting torch. Scarlett assures him that Bran is different (he has a totally DIFFERENT moral problem she's helping with, involving armies and his Admiral boyfriend) and Bran asks if Bin can get the control ring off. Bin said, "Sure, but it'll cost you your thumb." Anyhow if the whole project had a few more scenes like this one, I'd publish the book. |
| If you do one it might be bad. If you do ten thousand, one of them will be good. The same is true of plots. Don't like to outline? Because you prefer to fly by the seat of your plane? Sure, that's understood. However, why not do a few dry runs every day, just sketching out the main points. If something inspires you you can then fill it in. Or at least have ideas you can then redo. One plan for this is the Wannasoi Interrrogative Formula. It's a Madlib for plots. I want to... So I... Fearing that.. Hoping that... Instead... So I... Filling out plans like that, with or without that framework written out, opens up the mind. A lot of time the answers will be uninspired, but what happens is cause and effect. As you follow a character through their cause and effect, sooner or later you'll get a story. And if you do it enough, you will get one worth telling. Then retell it a hundred ways and you'll do it alright. |
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It will be a touch because it HAS been a while since I did in depth reviews though I am still with it. I am definitely interested and going to gear up for it either way.