Skye Lansing's Blog, page 6

The Dog Hoards

Despite my constant complaints about how much of a pain this move has been, it actually has worked out fairly well. The delays I thought might happen apparently will not, and everything just sort of settled in a way that fits—something that completely bewilders me as one major detail was that I would be watching my aunt’s house and her many dogs while she went on vacation.

This isn’t some huge chore. Most of the dogs are farm dogs, so you just make sure they have water and food then leave them to their own business. It has been a bit tiring (I’m not accustomed to getting up at 6am to let a puppy out), but I like dogs and get along well with them so it hasn’t been a terrible experience.

I’ll be driving to the new place on the 7th (a drive I expect to take 11 or 12 hours). Then come next weekend I’m probably headed back up to Indiana to grab a few things that were left before going back. It is only a 6 hour drive, thankfully, but I’ll be doing it twice in one day so it ought to be a “fun experience.”

Still Moving

I am still in the progress of moving (I actually left my previous residence last Thursday). Because of how things worked out I was actually traveling around the time I was supposed to move, helping watch my aunt’s farmhouse and dogs while she and her husband vacation. So that is where I am now.

This is something I actually enjoy doing, and I end up watching the place once or twice a year. Although dealing with so many dogs is a bit of a chore (it seems like she always has new ones since a lot of people come out this way to dump unwanted animals) my time out here tends to be fairly productive. I’m the only person out this way other than a worker that helps maintain the area, and the dogs mostly look after themselves, which leaves me free to write.

Currently my biggest challenge is dealing with their newest puppy. I’m not sure how old he is, but puppies tend to be both full of energy and very mouthy. He is no exception. Very playful and friendly, but at times he gets so riled up that he begins making messes. Anyway, my goal with him for this week is to teach him that biting/nibbling on people is not acceptable. He’s learning pretty quick, but when he gets excited sometimes he still forgets. Overall he is a very good boy though.

That’s really everything that is happening now. I would update with an estimate of when my move will be complete, but I’m unfortunately not very sure when that will be as a few problems cropped up. That said, I cannot imagine it will go on any longer than mid-September.

 

Move is Go

I am currently in the process of moving. Not quite out of the old place yet, but my desk has been taken apart and I am getting everything packed. Expect to hear more next week.

For now I am busy, busy, busy. 

100 Words: Ocean

Canvas billowed out once it caught the air, pulling the sleek vessel along. White spray kicked up as the bow cut through the ocean, and once the ship cleared the harbor it swung sharply to the east to avoid the coming storm while the crew gradually released more sail.

The captain watched his crew work from the forecastle while he sipped his morning coffee, one wary eye on the dark clouds looming in the distance. Even with the head start there was a chance the squall would overtake them. Hopefully, if that happened, they would already be in open waters.

More Character Motivations

Oops, got so involved with what is going on in my life that I missed a week. I’ll try to make it up sometime in the future, but for now I’m just going to continue on with my plan writing about Character Building.

Last Time I wrote about the primary motivation most characters should have: staying alive. I believe it is very important to be aware that most characters in a story will want to focus on keeping themselves alive, and what it means when that isn’t the case, however while that provides a solid base it isn’t terribly informative. Realistically, it won’t come up that often, and even if it did anything that is common to 99.9% of the population isn’t terribly interesting.

Secondary motivations are where things begin to get more interesting. Here it becomes possible to look at a character and start to infer things about who they are, and how they will behave in a given situation. Also, the importance a character gives to each of these goals tells the reader something about your character. Their character development is ultimately driven by things which cause them to reorder their priorities, or by how achieving or failing to meet their goals causes them to reevaluate themselves and what they are doing.

One thing to keep in mind is that characters may not be aware of all their secondary motivations, and they may also incorrectly define which ones are most important to them. For example, a businessman may tell you his goals involve moving up in the company hierarchy, but what he actually cares about most is providing for his family. Culturally, his caring for his family is simply assumed. Alternately, an athlete may say that winning the big championship game is the only thing he cares about, but when presented with the opportunity to win by cheating he may turn his nose up at it. He discovers that while he wants to win, he isn’t willing to do so unfairly.

Protagonist Goals

Protagonist goals tend to be different from those of the characters around them. Most characters in a story will have primarily mundane goals, or if they have fantastic goals will give them a low priority (due to their impossibility). Obviously this doesn’t have to be true of all secondary characters and minor characters, a minor or secondary character that is trying to accomplish something seemingly impossible could be someone to help give the protagonist a boost when they need it most, but in general most people keep their main goals down to earth.

Protagonists, however, like to reach. They don’t want to get that next promotion, but rather intend to eventually become the company president. When that village child said that he wanted to become a knight, he really meant it. And that little boy wants a puppy more than anything else in the world.

One thing to remember is that the goal doesn’t have to necessarily seem that impressive. Where The Red Fern Grows is set in motion by a boy and his dream of owning two coon hunting dogs.This may sound like a minor thing, but the key here is that the goal was so vitally important to the character, and his situation called into question his ability to achieve it. This was something he needed to seriously work at to accomplish.

Antagonist Goals

Antagonist goals can be vastly more varied, often depending on the type of story you intend to tell and the type of antagonist that best suits your story. If you want an antagonist that mirrors the protagonist, it may be good to give them a lofty goal as well (often one that conflicts with that of the main characters). In this case, giving the goal twist to make the antagonist unlikable is a common too. For example, perhaps both characters want to win the championship, but the antagonist wants to do it to become rich and famous while the protagonist wants to do it because they love the game and feel this need to prove they are the best.

A conflict with the antagonist’s goals is almost always a given, but that doesn’t mean they have to be inherently malicious. Perhaps a kid has trouble getting support of his father because he wants to go to college, but his father believes that is a waste of time and money for someone who is destined to take over the family farm. Or, on the other side of the coin, perhaps there is a child whose mother is pushing them to enroll in an ivy league college despite their love for animals and desire to become a veterinarian.

The most important thing is to know why the conflict exists. Taking the example of the mother trying to push her kids to get an ivy league education as an example, it is entirely possible she sees how smart her children are and wants to make sure they get the best future possible. Maybe she got pregnant early in life and felt that she had to give up such opportunities for herself to take care of her children, and thus wants to make sure her kids get the life she never had. Ultimately what she wants is for her children to grow up to lead happy, fulfilling lives, however she defines that in a particular way which isn’t necessarily what everyone wants. Knowing this lets you better understand the clashes that happen, driving the story forward in a way that is consistent while suggesting potential outcomes.

 

 

Live from the Library

So, since the house sale fell through it’s back to trying to sell the house. But by now I figure everyone is sick of hearing about that, so time to move on to a new topic.

I’m going to talk about character building. In fact, that is what I’m going to be doing for the next few posts—all dealing with character motivation.

One thing I really like to think about when creating a character is “what motivates this person?” Most people in the world have something they want, and these wants will drive their actions through the story. Knowing these wants is important, because it allows the author to understand a character’s actions; more importantly it lets them figure out what actions a character is likely to take in a given situation.

Primary Motivation: Stay Alive

As my first writing teacher would say, it is best to start simple. I would say that, for the majority of characters, the #1 goal ought to be to keep breathing. There are, of course, exceptions. Someone who has been beaten down enough may see death as an escape to their suffering, and it isn’t uncommon for people to put their own lives at risk for the good of others when there is a threat, but as a general rule characters are pretty interested in staying alive.

An example I see of this going astray is when reading about battles in fiction, where the two sides meet and fight until one side is wiped out. Realistically, this almost never happens unless one side is unable to retreat and (for some reason) unable to surrender. It is part of the reason that when it does happen it is immortalized in history. Realistically, one side or the other tends to break long before then and 10% casualties is a devastating blow to a military unit which can take time to recover.

When going against this motivation it is vital to give the characters a solid reason for doing so. Protection of some other core value is a good one—for example parents defending their children from harm. Another way is to have the character be obsessed with achieving some goal, although generally this should be portrayed as a bad thing since such a preoccupation is likely to be so all-consuming it will be detrimental to their health, happiness, and possibly sanity.

Playing with this goal can be a great way to show characterization, and shifts in character priorities. For example, a corrupt guard who normally accepts bribes isn’t likely to do so when his employer might see the transaction. This could allow for a plan to go awry, forcing the hero to improvise on the fly. Alternatively a revolutionary who was always waiting for when “the time was right” to raise the flag of rebellion might be convinced to take immediate action following an atrocity.

 

Updates: One step forward, one step back

So, last update I was talking about how my move was finally happening. That…is no longer the case. Not going to go into details, because there really isn’t much for me to say other than things didn’t work out. As far as my writing goes, it doesn’t really mean much. I can (and do) write pretty much anywhere I can find some privacy which gives me a lot of options.

Been outlining some on my novel, getting my story back on track in my mind. It’s been interesting, not because I’m making huge changes so much as I’m just sort of reassuring myself that I was on the right path to begin with. Maybe that seems like a small detail, but sometimes it is just nice to make sure that the result isn’t going to be some gigantic mess.

I’ve also been noticing some funny quirks of storytelling. Usually it is a good idea to cut scenes that don’t further the story in some way, they end up just being dead wood. Because of this a lot of stories end up feeling like they’re full of coincidences. A bunch of different things happen, they turn out to all be related, and because the heroes are the heroes they are involved in everything. Obviously there are ways around this, but it was amusing to notice just the same.

4th of July!

Happy 4th of July.

Know I missed last weeks post, but things have been in flux with me and it looks like I’ll be moving sometime around the 27th of this month. The problem is that a lot of the details haven’t been worked out, so I’m not sure where I’m going to end up exactly or when I can move in. Annoying, but there are some contingency plans that we can work with if necessary.

I haven’t done any writing on my book, which I know is a huge letdown for my goals, but the work I’ve done has been fulfilling. Just writing to enjoy writing, honestly. And I think it has paid off. Also something I really needed considering how down I was getting, and how I was feeling like I was a bit stuck on the book.

Still here, more to come once I know what is going on. Until then!

Been Writing A Bunch

So I’ve finally gotten my grove back with writing. None of it has been on my book unfortunately, but I feel like the writing I am doing is ultimately doing a lot of good for my skill growth. It is also quite enjoyable for me, which I’m finding is important with everything that is going on in my life and the recent spat of bad news going around.

Figured I’d talk a bit about writing, not as an art form or anything but instead as something done regularly as a job. There is a sort of coffee house chat I take part in with other writers when time allows, and one of the things we do is share progress. I often find that I write far more words in a week than others seem to report doing (often by a wide margin). This isn’t something I’m bringing up to brag about, although I do consider it a mark of pride, but it is something I’ve found myself wondering about.

I am sure some of it is that I am able to find large swaths of time for writing. That certainly helps a lot. There is more I think, though. Basically, I write every day if possible. It may not be on a project I’m working on, or anything that I keep, but I always try to sit down and write something. There is a sort of momentum to it, and each day I do it the easier it seems to get. About the worst thing that can happen is anything that steps in to STOP me from writing for any extended period (such as the past couple of months).

One thing I am very careful to avoid, however, is allowing my mood to dictate if I write or not. It may dictate what I end up working on, but never if I work. So if I’m feeling sad I may write a scene that is supposed to be sad in an attempt to capture that emotion, or I may choose to work on something light-hearted and fun to cheer myself up. Depends on what I think I need at the moment. Whatever the case, I don’t allow myself to use my emotional state as an excuse to avoid sitting down to put in the time.

There is also one more thing: I give myself permission to suck. That doesn’t mean I don’t make an effort to write well, I just don’t fret over if what I’m writing is good until after it is out. All of it, the entire short story or book or whatever. There is always a chance to go back and fix a broken scene later, but you can’t edit something that hasn’t been written yet.

These Woods

Had a post ready to go up yesterday, but current events made me reconsider. Not going to discuss what happened because I always feel like those conversations end up going wrong. After something bad happens the urge to act immediately is so strong, but I’m not sure that is the right impulse most of the time. Instead I’m going to just sit and think.

These woods are lovely, dark and deep

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

-Robert Frost