Arthur Gibson's Blog: A Journey In Mind, page 12
January 4, 2011
Writing
Have added sample chapters from Gothic Prophet and well as from three other projects (one to be published shortly and two in progress). They have been added to my personal profile (Arthur Gibson http://www.goodreads.com/story/list/4...). Feel free to read them and comment on them either here or in postings there.
Added a Feature
Just started up a Facebook page for the novel using the Goodreads apps. Hopefully it worked and they will link back here from the Facebook page. While I do like the idea of using that service to gain more discussion/talk about the books, I much prefer Goodreads as a platform. It is an excellent site from what I can see so far.
Fattening It Up
As I begin to write the two book threads in earnest, I find that I am doing more than just editing as I go. I had expected to make changes as I wrote. You can hardly stop yourself from doing a little editing as you write something in a new form from an old one. But I did not realize that I was going to do quite so much adding. Suddenly having the ability to write the same scene twice from two different perspectives has been quite liberating. Where once I had to pick and choose what to reveal or explore about a character to keep a scene from being cumbersome, I can suddenly explore some of those things. The real trick is to keep this new ability under a tight rein. It wouldn't do to go into all the details that I now can. Pace has to be maintained. I think that will be the new challenge. Establishing and maintaining a pace.
January 3, 2011
A Good Idea
I was cruising the site and came across Renee Rearden's blog. She had a good idea about marking a calendar with "x" for every day in which you accomplish some writing. And to help push along this creative flow to blog every day. Even a short post. I will definately have to try this. Heck, it couldn't hurt and it might help get some of my lengthy editing/re-writing done that I need to do. Especially since my deadline is approaching and I feel behind of where I need to be. So I guess today gets an "x" for the blog post, but not the massive "X" yet. We will see if I can accomplish something once I get back home today.
December 29, 2010
Threads
One of the big questions for any author is how many threads to have. This isn’t necessarily plot threads. It could be character threads. You could have a very confusing plot, but the reader sees it through the eyes of only two or three people instead of ten or twenty. That limited viewpoint could be the very reason it is so confusing. On the other hand, too many characters experiencing the same things and the plot can become simplistic. It is a balancing act. So how many characters to follow and how much page time should they get?
I once read a very useful book about novel writing by Marshall. It was in fact the Marshall Novel Writing Plan. And while I do not follow the plan per se it does give a very good idea for the number of characters and the frequency of their appearances. It comes down to word count. I will not plagerize the details here. But I will say that for the adult book I should have about 6 viewpoints and for the young adult book 4.The frequency of appearance starts large (say 25) and goes down as low as 8 for the most minor of the main characters. If this sounds complex and formulaic to you, you are right. It is. But that is what the Plan is. A formula for producing a book. That might not be your cup of tea. That’s fine. It isn’t mine either. Formula will become a demon to battle all on its own and it doesn’t need any help from me. But I do use the Plan as a guide and reference to make sure that (a) I am giving a variety of viewpoints without giving too many. And (b) that I am not focusing on one character to the detriment of the others.
I once read a very useful book about novel writing by Marshall. It was in fact the Marshall Novel Writing Plan. And while I do not follow the plan per se it does give a very good idea for the number of characters and the frequency of their appearances. It comes down to word count. I will not plagerize the details here. But I will say that for the adult book I should have about 6 viewpoints and for the young adult book 4.The frequency of appearance starts large (say 25) and goes down as low as 8 for the most minor of the main characters. If this sounds complex and formulaic to you, you are right. It is. But that is what the Plan is. A formula for producing a book. That might not be your cup of tea. That’s fine. It isn’t mine either. Formula will become a demon to battle all on its own and it doesn’t need any help from me. But I do use the Plan as a guide and reference to make sure that (a) I am giving a variety of viewpoints without giving too many. And (b) that I am not focusing on one character to the detriment of the others.
December 22, 2010
Source Division
My first real step is to read over the material I have so far. Mostly, it is easy. There are large blocks that will essentially remain the same. A character may appear or disappear from the line-up here or there, but the main points and events will be the same.
The problem is what will change. One of the reasons this work is not already published or at least fully prepared to be in some form has to do with my uneasiness with pieces of it. I had a character making intuitive leaps at one point, but being a stumbling block in others. Either you are going to be one way or another, not both. For example, a painter is visually oriented. They will see patterns, shapes, and colors almost automatically. Whereas an accountant is not and will be viewing a different filter on the world automatically. The painter will not suddenly see only facts and the accountant will not suddenly see only the shapes on the page. Yes, there is blending of these things in most people. But these characters had a tendency to jump 100% one way or the other will little to no growth or organic flow to it.
Where it begins to get tricky is in deciding what actions and events occur in which storyline. If character A does 1, 2, and 3 which leads to 4, 5, and 6; what happens when they are no longer doing 2 and 6? Not doing 2 automatically crosses 4 off the list. And if 6 is the result of 3, then they can’t do 3 either. Not character A is doing 1 leading to 4 and character B is doing 2 and 3 leading to 5 and 6. Character B is doing great. But character A is not twiddling his thumbs. It is easy to get lost fast. And if I get lost plot points will start getting lost in the shuffle. Things will not necessarily make sense and information and/or vital scenes may not even take place.
The best solution I know for keeping these kinds of things straight is storyline plotting software. I have found them under “novel writing software” and “plotting software” when doing online searches. Personally, I use Storyline 2.0. It gives me everything I need. It lets me create quick settings so that I don’t need to retype Pablo’s Bar and Grill a hundred times. It lets me create character profiles, which is excellent for keeping track of individual quirks or plot idiosyncrasies. But most of all it lets me create story threads. I can connect them to other threads, leave them as stand alone, and assign a color scheme to the different threads so that they are easy to spot when looking at a master map of the story. I know who is in each scene, where it is, the major event of the scene, and what other thread it might effect. It is a great piece of software.
Plotting software is a little ahead of where I am for the next couple of days. Right now I am just reading my source material and taking notes on where I will be dividing up events, needing other characters, or identifying weak spots that needed to be reworked, tweaked, or cut. I am just creating the basic roadmap of what I want to accomplish. As always, it seems easy but proves difficult. It is hard not to expand or start rewriting immediately. But if I want a plot that fits, I need to make sure I walk the path before I run on it.
The problem is what will change. One of the reasons this work is not already published or at least fully prepared to be in some form has to do with my uneasiness with pieces of it. I had a character making intuitive leaps at one point, but being a stumbling block in others. Either you are going to be one way or another, not both. For example, a painter is visually oriented. They will see patterns, shapes, and colors almost automatically. Whereas an accountant is not and will be viewing a different filter on the world automatically. The painter will not suddenly see only facts and the accountant will not suddenly see only the shapes on the page. Yes, there is blending of these things in most people. But these characters had a tendency to jump 100% one way or the other will little to no growth or organic flow to it.
Where it begins to get tricky is in deciding what actions and events occur in which storyline. If character A does 1, 2, and 3 which leads to 4, 5, and 6; what happens when they are no longer doing 2 and 6? Not doing 2 automatically crosses 4 off the list. And if 6 is the result of 3, then they can’t do 3 either. Not character A is doing 1 leading to 4 and character B is doing 2 and 3 leading to 5 and 6. Character B is doing great. But character A is not twiddling his thumbs. It is easy to get lost fast. And if I get lost plot points will start getting lost in the shuffle. Things will not necessarily make sense and information and/or vital scenes may not even take place.
The best solution I know for keeping these kinds of things straight is storyline plotting software. I have found them under “novel writing software” and “plotting software” when doing online searches. Personally, I use Storyline 2.0. It gives me everything I need. It lets me create quick settings so that I don’t need to retype Pablo’s Bar and Grill a hundred times. It lets me create character profiles, which is excellent for keeping track of individual quirks or plot idiosyncrasies. But most of all it lets me create story threads. I can connect them to other threads, leave them as stand alone, and assign a color scheme to the different threads so that they are easy to spot when looking at a master map of the story. I know who is in each scene, where it is, the major event of the scene, and what other thread it might effect. It is a great piece of software.
Plotting software is a little ahead of where I am for the next couple of days. Right now I am just reading my source material and taking notes on where I will be dividing up events, needing other characters, or identifying weak spots that needed to be reworked, tweaked, or cut. I am just creating the basic roadmap of what I want to accomplish. As always, it seems easy but proves difficult. It is hard not to expand or start rewriting immediately. But if I want a plot that fits, I need to make sure I walk the path before I run on it.
December 19, 2010
Slowed Down
Unfortunately I have made a slow start. I have been sick and unable to do much work. Sadly, this puts me a little behind schedule. But I will continue and have high hopes that I will be able to finish on time and on target.
December 12, 2010
Why Be Bored?
I have always enjoyed a challenge. I cannot say that I always produce my best work under pressure. But I can say that I have frequently produced under pressure and sometimes quite a volume when needed *cough* high school oral reports *cough*. And since this is pretty much one of the busiest times of year I thought to myself: what could be better than deciding to polish a work in order to enter it in a contest? Obviously nothing. So I have committed to doing just that.
Unfortunately, this does present some minor teeny little issues. First of all, it is a work that has been in progress for some time. It has seen various formats but the two best are a screenplay and a graphic novel manuscript. It would probably have been done as the graphic novel had I been able to (a) find an artist I liked and (b) had enough capital to pay said artist. Since I lacked Column B I felt it unnecessary to work hard at Column A. So this leaves me with needing to translate stage directions into prose, insert the already written dialogue, and then tidy it up. Not too hard, but a fair piece of work nonetheless.
The second factor is my brain. You see, it hates me. It must. Because it keeps coming up with these great ideas that I am sure will be the death of me. I felt the story needed something extra. Something interesting. So naturally I decided to split it. There are in essence two groups of characters. Adults and their offspring. Neither is really given their justice or due and some of the scenes I found downright awkward. It is hard to interject everything you need both groups to feel/discover/say when they are operating at two different levels. The problem is that I found if I did them both justice the work was just too long. It seemed to lumber as it lacked some of its immediacy.
So I have decided to separate them into two books. One a fiction for Adults. One a fiction for Young Adults. The storylines will run in parallel but stand on their own. When the characters are in the same room or interacting, the scenes will appear in both books. The scenes will just focus on a different viewpoint and avoid repetition. If you are having trouble seeing this just imagine seeing a scene in a film from two completely different camera angles. It will be similar (I hope) to that. Each tale will have its own information and adventure. But neither will be dependent on the other for completion. You could read one, have a good story, and walk away from the world. Or you could read both and enjoy the complete picture of what happened.
Whether I can succeed in the endeavor at all is a matter of debate. But I am hoping to succeed. I am also hoping to succeed on time. I will update this blog regularly with tales of progress, defeat, calls for suggestions, or maybe just reserve it as a place to curl up like a fetus and cry. In any case I hope you join me for the journey and that in the end we will have more to look at than just drool on an empty page.
Unfortunately, this does present some minor teeny little issues. First of all, it is a work that has been in progress for some time. It has seen various formats but the two best are a screenplay and a graphic novel manuscript. It would probably have been done as the graphic novel had I been able to (a) find an artist I liked and (b) had enough capital to pay said artist. Since I lacked Column B I felt it unnecessary to work hard at Column A. So this leaves me with needing to translate stage directions into prose, insert the already written dialogue, and then tidy it up. Not too hard, but a fair piece of work nonetheless.
The second factor is my brain. You see, it hates me. It must. Because it keeps coming up with these great ideas that I am sure will be the death of me. I felt the story needed something extra. Something interesting. So naturally I decided to split it. There are in essence two groups of characters. Adults and their offspring. Neither is really given their justice or due and some of the scenes I found downright awkward. It is hard to interject everything you need both groups to feel/discover/say when they are operating at two different levels. The problem is that I found if I did them both justice the work was just too long. It seemed to lumber as it lacked some of its immediacy.
So I have decided to separate them into two books. One a fiction for Adults. One a fiction for Young Adults. The storylines will run in parallel but stand on their own. When the characters are in the same room or interacting, the scenes will appear in both books. The scenes will just focus on a different viewpoint and avoid repetition. If you are having trouble seeing this just imagine seeing a scene in a film from two completely different camera angles. It will be similar (I hope) to that. Each tale will have its own information and adventure. But neither will be dependent on the other for completion. You could read one, have a good story, and walk away from the world. Or you could read both and enjoy the complete picture of what happened.
Whether I can succeed in the endeavor at all is a matter of debate. But I am hoping to succeed. I am also hoping to succeed on time. I will update this blog regularly with tales of progress, defeat, calls for suggestions, or maybe just reserve it as a place to curl up like a fetus and cry. In any case I hope you join me for the journey and that in the end we will have more to look at than just drool on an empty page.
A Journey In Mind
Thoughts, feelings, and discussions on writing, publishing, creative solutions to issues, and generally anything else that might come up along the way.
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