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Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Take One... Take Two... Take Three... cut, cut, CUT!
Happy tax day pirates. (And good day to you if you're across the pond.)
Influence this week: Quote- Evans Blue - The Melody and the Energetic Nature of Volume
Hellie's got me all wound up over the music and lyrics. The Melody and the Energetic Nature of Volume is one of the best CD's in my collection. Of course, "Eclipsed" is by far the best song on the CD; but "Quote" is a close runner up. "Eclipsed" is another day, another dollar short for today's blog.
I'm surrounded by papers. I'm drowning in them. It's a sea of white, black ink, red marks, and multi-colored Post It notes. My glasses have drifted down the bridge of my nose. The crick in my neck burned with the sting of a thousand needles, my fingers were numb. Yet, my fingers sought after the smooth texture of the keyboard. Each fingertip tapped, tapped, tapped, tapped. Backspace, backspace, backspace.
Damn the backspace. It single-handedly is the best and worst invention in technology.
I wrote at the speed of light and then suddenly it turned into a snail's pace. I'm one of those writers who edits while they write. I call it multitasking. Others call it distraction from the goal. The goal is to finish and then edit. It's not like I don't edit when I finish. It would imagine that would be the way for me. When you write fan fiction, you edit as you go because you post chapter by chapter (or if you're really dedicated you write it and finish it before posting the first chapter like Hal.) I've always edited. I find it's a good way for me to get back into the voice I ended with the night before. When I first started "writing" I didn't know there was a method to all the madness. I didn't know voice, and development- I just ran on pure cane adrenaline and what direction the wind blew me.
I mean, I've read for years and never knew "voice" was what drew me back to an author over and over again.
Like all things, in the beginning, I was naïve about writing. I hadn't any expectations of what I was going to do or how I was going to back it up. How I was going to weave plot lines together and mingle stories and all that jazz. I heard this voice in my head and it was showing me what was happening. I wrote this scene once about having a car chase down a busy street and didn't realize it was happening until the car blew up and the hot flames blistered my cheeks.
There's something to be said about being wrapped up in the writing and not about the finer details.
I'm not getting into major details today. I'm just curious about how your method of madness has changed as you've evolved as a writer. Can you remember the first time you finished a chapter and if you decided right then and there how you'd react to the end of a paragraph or page or chapter- I mean, eventually we all get to the end. Tell me some of your favorite things you do to get you through. Readers, even we evolve as we learn more about our reading likes and dislikes. What's changed for you?
And I'm going to try to check in some today. I'll be in and out of the office all day and with the madness of taxes, I'm not sure what will be going on. Hopefully the other pirate faithfuls will keep up the convo in my absense.- Sin
Influence this week: Quote- Evans Blue - The Melody and the Energetic Nature of Volume
"You're quiet you never make a sound. But here inside my mind you are the loudest one I know."
Quote- Evans Blue
Hellie's got me all wound up over the music and lyrics. The Melody and the Energetic Nature of Volume is one of the best CD's in my collection. Of course, "Eclipsed" is by far the best song on the CD; but "Quote" is a close runner up. "Eclipsed" is another day, another dollar short for today's blog.
I'm surrounded by papers. I'm drowning in them. It's a sea of white, black ink, red marks, and multi-colored Post It notes. My glasses have drifted down the bridge of my nose. The crick in my neck burned with the sting of a thousand needles, my fingers were numb. Yet, my fingers sought after the smooth texture of the keyboard. Each fingertip tapped, tapped, tapped, tapped. Backspace, backspace, backspace.
Damn the backspace. It single-handedly is the best and worst invention in technology.
I wrote at the speed of light and then suddenly it turned into a snail's pace. I'm one of those writers who edits while they write. I call it multitasking. Others call it distraction from the goal. The goal is to finish and then edit. It's not like I don't edit when I finish. It would imagine that would be the way for me. When you write fan fiction, you edit as you go because you post chapter by chapter (or if you're really dedicated you write it and finish it before posting the first chapter like Hal.) I've always edited. I find it's a good way for me to get back into the voice I ended with the night before. When I first started "writing" I didn't know there was a method to all the madness. I didn't know voice, and development- I just ran on pure cane adrenaline and what direction the wind blew me.
I mean, I've read for years and never knew "voice" was what drew me back to an author over and over again.
Like all things, in the beginning, I was naïve about writing. I hadn't any expectations of what I was going to do or how I was going to back it up. How I was going to weave plot lines together and mingle stories and all that jazz. I heard this voice in my head and it was showing me what was happening. I wrote this scene once about having a car chase down a busy street and didn't realize it was happening until the car blew up and the hot flames blistered my cheeks.
There's something to be said about being wrapped up in the writing and not about the finer details.
I'm not getting into major details today. I'm just curious about how your method of madness has changed as you've evolved as a writer. Can you remember the first time you finished a chapter and if you decided right then and there how you'd react to the end of a paragraph or page or chapter- I mean, eventually we all get to the end. Tell me some of your favorite things you do to get you through. Readers, even we evolve as we learn more about our reading likes and dislikes. What's changed for you?
And I'm going to try to check in some today. I'll be in and out of the office all day and with the madness of taxes, I'm not sure what will be going on. Hopefully the other pirate faithfuls will keep up the convo in my absense.- Sin
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Quartermaster's Queries (Sin),
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21 comments:
I honestly think I did better when it was simply pure madness driving me. I was working Morning Pages, ala Julie Cameron's book The Artists Way, and I just found myself in the middle of a scene. I went back and wrote the beginning, then further back, then forward, than even further back, to the book before that...then the book before that...then I jumped forward again.
Sigh.
It was easier when I didn't know 'the rules'. When the drive was all there was.
Harder now, looking at what I'm writing as I write it and knowing it isn't perfect and I'll have to come back to it again, and again, and again.
It was much more fun when I was simply mad.
Good luck on the taxes...eek!
I did my taxes a while ago and I don't envy anyone who does this crap for other people. I think someone at the IRS is paid to make the codes as complicated as they possibly can. And if the code is impossible to understand, they get a bonus.
When I started, I knew NUZZING. And I was happier that way. The work was crap, but I was happier. Then I hit the phase where I was taking all kinds of e-courses and workshops and somethings cleared up, but the real result was total blockage. I couldn't write a single word for all the *rules* screaming in my head. Taunting really.
But somehow I managed to come out the other side. I figure there will always be more to learn, but I'm at least minimally armed and have managed to process the info I have to be more usable and obstacle.
My reading method has changed quite a bit. I'm more critical, since I know more. I notice things I wouldn't have noticed before and I hate that. I hate that my reading innocence is gone.
But at the same time, it's nice to be able to appreciate when an author does something really well. It's like watching Nascar for me. So many people say they are just driving in circles, but if you know what to watch for, you see the finesse and the threading the needled and the amazing saves. It's only fun to watch if you know what it is you're looking for.
I have no real method or rules. Most of the stories I've written I made up as I went along. When I write, the scenes play out like a movie in my head. I see my characters, hear their voices and I let them take over and do what they want.
What I will do though is when I finish a chapter I print it out and re-read it. Looking at it on a screen takes away the flow of the story for me.(Maybe that's because I'm a reading snob). I need the words on a piece of paper before I will commit to the story and post it. Weird, I know.
I think that it was easier when I didn't know the rules but my writing is a lot better now that I do. (Though I hate to admit that.)
Initially I just powered through and told myself I'd go back and fix it later. But that didn't work for me. Now I reread and revise a little at the end of each chapter. I can't seem to move forward without knowing what's behind me is at least "mostly" ok. Or that it'll at least suffice for the moment, not so much grammatically as in the GMC and plot elements.
Also, Hal and I send our work to each other every week to watch our progress. So, that helps me to catch any issues as I'm going too.
I'm about 1/3 through this book and it seems to be working better than the last one. :)
I never really had any methods. Mostly I get an idea in my head--and I try to write to that scene. I don't usually have scenes of OPENINGS. I usually have scenes of the BLACK MOMENTS.
Like in GOGU, being I "knew a guy" who had given his wife a gun for Christmas. And then the girlfriend he was dating at the time showed up at the house--and his wife answered the door. She went and got her gun--the one he bought her. And whenever I hear this story, I marvel at the sheer...balls it'd take lie, but apparently not lie well enough if your girlfriend would SHOW up at your door, unaware you were married. (I mean, give her a different address or something. A different name. Do it right.) And then I wonder: WHAT if he got shot? And then I got to wondering about the type of woman who'd fall in love with this guy. Say some woman came up and shot him--and you, as the wife, didn't know who the woman was or why she shot him. Would you assume the worst? Or would you give him the benefit of the doubt? So I had an idea about a man getting shot--but really it was a story about the woman who fell in love with him and why; and the secondary part was: is he as guilty as he looks?
The hardest part really was deciding if I'd let the character live or not. I waffle back and forth.
Apparently I like Nicholas Sparks like drama because the other scene I ever saw that vividly was the one where Elizabeth, my heroine, dies and Lucifer is cradling her body, weeping. And (in pure BAD B-dialogue) Gabriel says, "Go to hell" as he escorts Elizabeth to Heaven and Lucifer whispers, "I'm already there." (I should get my own Lifetime contract, I honestly should.)
I think that's why I'm struggling along with my current two stories so much. I can't picture the END, I have nothing to write to. I mean, I've done the Post-It note plotting and everything, but there is no BIG SCENE in my head that is so big, so dramatic, so DARK, that I absolutely have to write to it.
With A&E, the big scene I saw so vividly was the marriage counseling. I need to find my black moment. But being my black moments usually involve DEATH, clearly I'm not finding the DARK MOMENT for A&E to be dramatic enough for me.
So I don't know what to do. Fish around for a black moment, I guess.
My current WIP has a black moment that is provin' difficult ta figure out also. She gets 'er revenge and finds it's a relief, but also empty... How ta get the 'empty' across wit' some nicely crafted devastation...
I'm facin' the realization that me massive pirate MS may end up...dare I saw it? Under the bunk for a few years. I'm not givin' up on it entirely...we'll see how the pitch is recieved at RT.
I be a better writer fer knowin' the rules...but I don't write as much!
You know Hellie - I think that's the problem I'm at with my WIP too. I know there has to be a happy ending, but I can't see the black moment yet to get me there. Hopefully I can figure that out soon and the rest of the plotting will fall into place, because I'm tired of staring at post-it notes *g*
Sin - great blog! You know, my first fanfic novel I didn't write ahead of time and post all at once *g*. I didn't even mean for it to be a novel. I just wrote a chapter. Then someone said "what happens next?" and I thought, "Oh crap. I have to write more." About halfway through that story, I googled "how to write", found out there were a plethora of books, articles, and courses on the subject, and haven't looked back sense.
And it looks like I'm in the minority here, but I like writing better now that I know what I'm doing. I'm a big time perfectionist, and it drove me nuts when I first started that it wasn't good, and I didn't know how to fix it. And I love reading how-to books. I love that spark that says "Oh, THAT'S how you do that. I have to try that!"
But I'm also a *much* more critical reader now, and I hate that. Ter - I'm with you on missing that innocence in reading. When I could just get lost in a story, no matter how well or poorly written. But I do have a whole new appreciation for authors who can pull me in now.
Hellion, a dark moment could be that either A or E gets back into Paradise for whatever reason and the other doesn't.
I really don't know the big, dark moment until I get there, so I don't think you always have to know. All you have to do is just write and continue writing through the mire.
I hadn't thought of it before but I did know my black moment pretty early. So early I can't remember ever not knowing it. Now I need to find a little one for the short story I'm concocting.
Hal - I should have been more clear. In the beginning, I didn't know how much it sucked. LOL! I only figured that out AFTER learning some of the rules. And I do like writing better now as I feel more confident about it. But that in-between phase when I felt I had so much to learn was not fun. I just couldn't see writing when I didn't know what I was doing. Like going to a shoot out unarmed!
Not to say that we're not good writers....or dancers.....geez. I'm going to go find some food and more coffee before I put my foot in my mouth again *g*
Ter - that makes total sense. It's never fun to do something you know isn't great. Except dancing. I know I suck at dancing big-time, but it's just so much fun (once I've drank enough to forget that I suck at it - maybe that's the difference. LOL!) Maybe if we all get drunk before we start writing, we'll be able to re-capture that drive we had before we realized we weren't all that good!
Hal - I thought you were going to say, "Not that we don't already drink a lot." LOL! Yep, that phrase "ignorance is bliss" might be the truest of all sentiments. And we all no getting good and drunk can make you very ignorant.
well, yes, that too! LOL!
Ignorance IS bliss, Hal, and don't worry, you ask any one of us on a given day what we think of our writing and we'd tell you "we suck."
Then Pirate Dee would slap us and say, "Stop saying that" because she's awesome and that's how she rolls.
Hal - I totally agree with you. I'm a bit of a perfectionist too. Though I think I was worse than everyone else; I didn't even know there were rules when I got started. LOL!! Ignorance was totally bliss for me. Now though, I'm much happier coloring in the lines, per se.
And Dee would slap us and tell us to stop saying that. Her "snap out of it" beat downs are some of my favorite things about her. :)
"coloring in the lines" - I love it
I haven't had a "snap out of it" beat down from Dee yet. I'm excited! LOL!
I didn't know there were rules at the beginning either. I just remember writing and not being able to figure out why my writing didn't sound like actual writing. And I found this random online article about shortening sentences for action and using complex sentences for slower scenes. I was totally blown away. It had never occurred to me that authors made conscious decisions like that, and could manipulate readers emotions (in a good way). I think that's why I love how-to books so much. There's so many possible things you can do with words :)
This explains a lot. I never could color in the lines so I just refused to color. My sister was the artist and she could color masterpieces. Me, I avoided crayons like the plague. LOL!
Hal - That's a great way to describe it, manipulating readers in a good way. That's what we have to learn to do.
yeah, I realized after I started to say "I love to manipulate people's emotions" that only other writers would realize I actually meant that in a good way :)
Great blog Sin.
I miss the days of writing by the seat of my pants. Now when I write I feel as if I have to follow the rules. I too edit as I go, it just makes more sense to me.
I've had those moments when I was so involved in the scene I felt tears sting my eyes because I was feeling the angst of each word as I tore out the heroine's heart:) I always say if you can't feel the emotion, the vibration from the explosion, or hear the gunshots, then it's not good enough.
I love that I am a better writer fer knowin' the rules. And I be gettin' better all the time. But I miss the mad drive...
And I still be blind ta what specificly bugs me 'bout some books I read. But when 'tis pointed out ta me, I see it! But I always been a skip-ahead sort a pirate if things be movin' too slow...
Hey guys!
Sorry, I tried to make it to the computer today but it was impossible.
I must say that I've never been able to color between the lines. I've never been much of a planner. But I'm very much a write from the beginning to the end. I can know my ending first and write it out, but the journey to that ending is a crap shoot.
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