A.M. Jenkins's Blog, page 11
June 28, 2011
I wonder if there can be a difference in the degree of pa...
I wonder if there can be a difference in the degree of pacing via chapter-ending hooks. Ex. if you have chapter hooks like "Who is this mysterious person?", does that read differently from something like "OMG, he's about to get shot in the face!"? And if you have a whole series of the former kind of chapter endings in one area of the book, would it feel slightly looser or less urgent than a series of the latter kind?
My guess from the gut is that it's best to use both kinds and intercut them to vary it up. Except maybe as the book approaches its ending; then I'm thinking it might generally be better to have the shot-in-the-face kind of chapter hooks, one after another, bam-bam-bam. Hmm. If that's true, that means that there is a difference in the degree of pacing.
And that would probably mean I need to keep an eye on the middle of my WIP and make sure I don't go on too long with the "Who is this mysterious person?" types of hooks. Which tells me something about how I need arrange some of these scenes.
My guess from the gut is that it's best to use both kinds and intercut them to vary it up. Except maybe as the book approaches its ending; then I'm thinking it might generally be better to have the shot-in-the-face kind of chapter hooks, one after another, bam-bam-bam. Hmm. If that's true, that means that there is a difference in the degree of pacing.
And that would probably mean I need to keep an eye on the middle of my WIP and make sure I don't go on too long with the "Who is this mysterious person?" types of hooks. Which tells me something about how I need arrange some of these scenes.
June 23, 2011
I have gradually shifted all the pieces of the ms around ...
I have gradually shifted all the pieces of the ms around so that like pieces are together, and the major sections are in order. Ex. all the stuff about beating up the guy is together now; all the backstory is in one area; the huge breakup scene and its aftermath; the night attack; the trip to the walled compound. Also, the not-plotty stuff like the hair-braiding scenelets (don't ask), and the stories the characters tell each other, and the secondary characters' backstories & freewritings, each now have their own little areas of the ms.
So what I've got now is the entire story laid out in a basic shape (a very patchy basic shape), and the non-plotty stuff will gradually be worked in around the action so as not to make the pacing sag too much. That's the ideal, anyway.
So what I've got now is the entire story laid out in a basic shape (a very patchy basic shape), and the non-plotty stuff will gradually be worked in around the action so as not to make the pacing sag too much. That's the ideal, anyway.
June 21, 2011
Current mood: fearful, discouraged, frustrated. I should ...
Current mood: fearful, discouraged, frustrated. I should have had this ms done by now. Am feeling like its moment has passed, so basically any work I do is just p*ssing into the wind.
However, I don't really care how I feel about it; I'm going to work on it anyway. I am worried about losing touch with what's important about the ms by getting caught up in the storyline; it's so easy to think in context of what everybody would do and feel in scene--and to lose sight of the fact that maybe the scene would never have happened in the first place. However, I don't care if I'm worried, either. Do. Not. Care. Worry, fear, discouragement, and frustration sap time and energy; they are luxuries I'm not going to afford.
However, I don't really care how I feel about it; I'm going to work on it anyway. I am worried about losing touch with what's important about the ms by getting caught up in the storyline; it's so easy to think in context of what everybody would do and feel in scene--and to lose sight of the fact that maybe the scene would never have happened in the first place. However, I don't care if I'm worried, either. Do. Not. Care. Worry, fear, discouragement, and frustration sap time and energy; they are luxuries I'm not going to afford.
June 16, 2011
Have been trying to make sure I at least open up the WIP ...
Have been trying to make sure I at least open up the WIP file and do something on it every day. Mostly it's just been a sentence, a couple of sentences, a paragraph--which is kind of depressing, but oh well, what can you do? Today I pulled some like sections together throughout the book and gave each one a heading coupled with a section break to help me see the overall structure. Looks like I've got about 200 pages worth of novel here, and I can make out a general shape for it, even just from the messy pieces I've got lying around.
I'd like to print out a copy and do some more compiling, because I sometimes have more than one version of the same scene or exchange in various places in the ms, and it'll help streamline everything if I save the parts I like but get rid of anything that's duplicated. And I can't do that effectively while scrolling through a document of this size.
I'd like to print out a copy and do some more compiling, because I sometimes have more than one version of the same scene or exchange in various places in the ms, and it'll help streamline everything if I save the parts I like but get rid of anything that's duplicated. And I can't do that effectively while scrolling through a document of this size.
June 11, 2011
Set work aside to write for an hour, with no plan, no ide...
Set work aside to write for an hour, with no plan, no idea what to start with. And now, after having lost track of time, I feel like I just wrote the best scene I've written in years. I know tomorrow it won't look that way, but right now everything is suddenly falling into place most swimmingly. The heavens have opened and the angels are singing. I'm going to wallow frankly in enjoyment whilst enjoyment's here to be had. Ahhhhh.
June 9, 2011
Put away work to give myself an hour of writing before be...
Put away work to give myself an hour of writing before bed. Got 400 new words, covering the MC's very lowest point in the story. It's unpleasant, gross, and not within my sphere of personal knowledge. I'll find out later if any of it actually works.
June 4, 2011
Woke up at five thinking about the ending sequence, which...
Woke up at five thinking about the ending sequence, which is maybe the last 1/3 to 1/4 of the book. I worked through it in my head and wrote it all down in a spiral, including the moment of choice and the moment of action that results from that choice.
On the surface this probably looks a lot like some of my other versions of the ending sequence. However, it's driven by a slightly deeper knowledge of the secondary characters as well as the thinking I've been doing re. what the MC wants vs. what he really needs (i.e. what the reader wants for him). Each event is driven not just by what's going on in its particular scene, or by what's going on in the general rush to the end, but by everything the characters have felt and done since page one. And now, for the first time, all three of the guys have appeared in the climactic scene without me forgetting one or trying to stick him in as a prop.
There's a lot of action here (compared to my usual endings). I'm thinking that my being forced to construct and revise plot-driven fight scenes for that w-f-h novel may be extremely helpful to me now. I think I may have this correctly sketched out enough that, when I get a chance for some solid writing time, I can power through a draft just going by technical set-up and craft. If so, then I can go back over it multiple times, viewing it through the lens of other story aspects* to gradually shape it in layers. This is what I ended up doing with the w-f-h fight scenes, albeit in a plottier way.
Will be interesting to see how this version of the ending looks when I have time to really dig into it. Hope it still seems workable then.
*"Other story aspects" include going back over the sequence from each character's POV, as well as:
checking the pacingfeeling out any moments of reader confusiondialing back places where I've overplayed the actioncatching any spots of falsenessmaking sure I haven't wandered too far from the ideas that drove the book in the beginning.
On the surface this probably looks a lot like some of my other versions of the ending sequence. However, it's driven by a slightly deeper knowledge of the secondary characters as well as the thinking I've been doing re. what the MC wants vs. what he really needs (i.e. what the reader wants for him). Each event is driven not just by what's going on in its particular scene, or by what's going on in the general rush to the end, but by everything the characters have felt and done since page one. And now, for the first time, all three of the guys have appeared in the climactic scene without me forgetting one or trying to stick him in as a prop.
There's a lot of action here (compared to my usual endings). I'm thinking that my being forced to construct and revise plot-driven fight scenes for that w-f-h novel may be extremely helpful to me now. I think I may have this correctly sketched out enough that, when I get a chance for some solid writing time, I can power through a draft just going by technical set-up and craft. If so, then I can go back over it multiple times, viewing it through the lens of other story aspects* to gradually shape it in layers. This is what I ended up doing with the w-f-h fight scenes, albeit in a plottier way.
Will be interesting to see how this version of the ending looks when I have time to really dig into it. Hope it still seems workable then.
*"Other story aspects" include going back over the sequence from each character's POV, as well as:
checking the pacingfeeling out any moments of reader confusiondialing back places where I've overplayed the actioncatching any spots of falsenessmaking sure I haven't wandered too far from the ideas that drove the book in the beginning.
June 3, 2011
Was thinking about getting the MC to the scene where he b...
Was thinking about getting the MC to the scene where he beats the h#ll out of another guy. Since this (the beating) is an important emotional point in the story, I can't just white-space the transition and have him show up at the other guy's home. We need to know how the MC's feeling as he heads there, so we know what to be worried about.
Next chance I get I'm going to pull together all the pieces I have about the antagonist and put them where that transition scene's going to be, so that I have them at hand to work with. This is a good place for most of it to go, because the MC's main worry as he heads over to beat up the guy is that he's got to get through the antagonist first, to do so.
This transition scene will involve moving through physical space, and arriving at the antagonist's home (also the home of the about-to-get-beaten-up guy). So I need to settle on what that home looks like and where it is. And I've got to work backwards to do it; for example, I know the antagonist is going to always make sure his home has a back way out, because he once killed a bunch of bandits by barring the door to trap them inside and setting the place on fire. Also, thinking about the MC's, er, bathroom habits has made me realize that the antagonist has always lived on the move, camping as best he can. This is his first permanent residence; he chose the site, fixed it up the way he thought it needed to be, and set the ground rules for everyone living there. But since he's more or less raised himself on the run in the wilderness, and since his focus has been strictly on shelter and defense, he'll have made mistakes about sanitation, daily upkeep, etc.--in other words, about what's needed to keep the inhabitants healthy and functioning.
And, if I think about who he is and how he feels, I know that he's sharp and observing, always in survival mode. So he'd notice how things are done at the MC's place, and though he probably wouldn't ask about any of it, he'd work out in his head the benefits of doing things that way, and enforce them in some form or fashion at his home.
And the MC might notice one of these changes in fixtures or routine, when he comes on the scene.
So two things I want to do when I get a chance are 1) get all the bits and pieces I have about the antagonist together in one area so they're ready for me to write that transition scene, and 2) get a place set in my mind where the antagonist lives, and where the beating-up takes place. Once I do that, I can figure out where everybody is when the MC arrives, and what they're doing.
Next chance I get I'm going to pull together all the pieces I have about the antagonist and put them where that transition scene's going to be, so that I have them at hand to work with. This is a good place for most of it to go, because the MC's main worry as he heads over to beat up the guy is that he's got to get through the antagonist first, to do so.
This transition scene will involve moving through physical space, and arriving at the antagonist's home (also the home of the about-to-get-beaten-up guy). So I need to settle on what that home looks like and where it is. And I've got to work backwards to do it; for example, I know the antagonist is going to always make sure his home has a back way out, because he once killed a bunch of bandits by barring the door to trap them inside and setting the place on fire. Also, thinking about the MC's, er, bathroom habits has made me realize that the antagonist has always lived on the move, camping as best he can. This is his first permanent residence; he chose the site, fixed it up the way he thought it needed to be, and set the ground rules for everyone living there. But since he's more or less raised himself on the run in the wilderness, and since his focus has been strictly on shelter and defense, he'll have made mistakes about sanitation, daily upkeep, etc.--in other words, about what's needed to keep the inhabitants healthy and functioning.
And, if I think about who he is and how he feels, I know that he's sharp and observing, always in survival mode. So he'd notice how things are done at the MC's place, and though he probably wouldn't ask about any of it, he'd work out in his head the benefits of doing things that way, and enforce them in some form or fashion at his home.
And the MC might notice one of these changes in fixtures or routine, when he comes on the scene.
So two things I want to do when I get a chance are 1) get all the bits and pieces I have about the antagonist together in one area so they're ready for me to write that transition scene, and 2) get a place set in my mind where the antagonist lives, and where the beating-up takes place. Once I do that, I can figure out where everybody is when the MC arrives, and what they're doing.
May 31, 2011
Yesterday I pulled together another set of random pieces,...
Yesterday I pulled together another set of random pieces, only this time starting where the actual story left off, with the characters heading to bed for the night.
My intention when I sat down was to mess around with the next fun and important (to me) scene, where my MC beats the h#ll out of a guy. To me, everything between the place where the storyline currently leaves off and my MC beating the h#ll out of this guy is just transition. However, I can't just say, "In the morning, the MC woke up and went to beat the h#ll out of a guy," because we need to see the inciting-incident-of-a-character, who's been unconscious for 50 pages and is lying in the middle of the living room. I'm pretty sure the reader's going to want to know if he's waking up yet.
Somehow, instead of messing around with the little piece I wanted to work on, I ended up proceeding chronologically into the story, pulling together more snippets and interactions that I already have sitting around but don't know what to do with. The MC gets up, eats breakfast, talks to the now-conscious inciting-incident-of-a-character, smacks a kid in the face, makes arrangements for the day, threatens the inciting-incident-of-a-character, then leaves. The only new thing I wrote was a couple short paragraphs of character development. But they were productive ones, so that was good.
Somehow I need to figure out where these people go to the bathroom. They don't have running water. I know they go away from their home to do the more serious aspects of their business, but I can't imagine some teenage guy's going to roll out of bed half-asleep, make his way through a maze of rooms and tumbled down walls, and head to a predesignated place in the woods to take an early morning leak. However, their water source is not far away; it's a spring/well, and these people know about contamination and germs. OTOH, I just kind of doubt that he'd do anything but step outside and maybe face a wall. If that much. OTOOH, eww.
Maybe I should quiz household punk #1. He might have some insight.
I also need to think back to the MC's childhood, the place he grew up, the rules and customs they had. That might affect the situation.
My intention when I sat down was to mess around with the next fun and important (to me) scene, where my MC beats the h#ll out of a guy. To me, everything between the place where the storyline currently leaves off and my MC beating the h#ll out of this guy is just transition. However, I can't just say, "In the morning, the MC woke up and went to beat the h#ll out of a guy," because we need to see the inciting-incident-of-a-character, who's been unconscious for 50 pages and is lying in the middle of the living room. I'm pretty sure the reader's going to want to know if he's waking up yet.
Somehow, instead of messing around with the little piece I wanted to work on, I ended up proceeding chronologically into the story, pulling together more snippets and interactions that I already have sitting around but don't know what to do with. The MC gets up, eats breakfast, talks to the now-conscious inciting-incident-of-a-character, smacks a kid in the face, makes arrangements for the day, threatens the inciting-incident-of-a-character, then leaves. The only new thing I wrote was a couple short paragraphs of character development. But they were productive ones, so that was good.
Somehow I need to figure out where these people go to the bathroom. They don't have running water. I know they go away from their home to do the more serious aspects of their business, but I can't imagine some teenage guy's going to roll out of bed half-asleep, make his way through a maze of rooms and tumbled down walls, and head to a predesignated place in the woods to take an early morning leak. However, their water source is not far away; it's a spring/well, and these people know about contamination and germs. OTOH, I just kind of doubt that he'd do anything but step outside and maybe face a wall. If that much. OTOOH, eww.
Maybe I should quiz household punk #1. He might have some insight.
I also need to think back to the MC's childhood, the place he grew up, the rules and customs they had. That might affect the situation.
May 30, 2011
Yesterday I sketched out a brief conversation I'd realize...
Yesterday I sketched out a brief conversation I'd realized might take place between two characters. I know it goes somewhere in the saggy middle*, which is currently a hodgepodge of unrelated junk, so I stuck it in randomly. Then I took some of the other pieces that have been floating around in the hodgepodge, and loosely strung them together to create a possible scene.**
This is how I strung them together:
1. paragraph describing MC doing a mundane world-building chore
changed: now another character is doing the mundane chore
2. paragraph describing my guy sharpening his knife (I really like this paragraph)
changed: now he's sharpening while watching the other character do the mundane chore
3. conversation where MC tries to find out what new guy might be good at, to no avail
unchanged
4. conversation where MC learns new guy's name
unchanged
5. #4 was already connected to a conversation where the MC realizes what new guy is good at
unchanged
6. conversation where MC calls a fourth character over to tell him what the new guy can do; fourth character is thrilled and excited.
new
This ended on a wrong note and needs to be redone. I wasn't thinking deeply enough. When I go back and put myself into this fourth character's daily life, I realize that he wouldn't be thrilled and excited; he'd be curious and interested. That changes everything that this scene might be able to mean.
What might the scene mean? I have no clue. Right now it's just a loose sketch. Later I'll try to get a sense of whether or not the MC's frame of mind is continuous from one piece to the next, whether the full scene goes on too long, whether it can be sculpted to make one strong point to the reader. It could work or it could be that one or two pieces are messing up the flow, or it could be the whole thing's a bust and I'll have to break it down to its component parts again.
*In my head I've got a partial list of plot points and reader hooks that will probably be the only way to keep this saggy middle moving. Some of the points and hooks have alternate versions. It's very confusing.
**Why those particular pieces? For no reason. I've got all this junk in the middle of the ms, and I need to figure out what to do with it. Sometimes a floaty piece that seems pointless suddenly makes sense if I attach it to another floaty piece. Sometimes I have to mix and match before I find the right fit. Other times a floaty piece never fits anywhere and has to be cut.
This is how I strung them together:
1. paragraph describing MC doing a mundane world-building chore
changed: now another character is doing the mundane chore
2. paragraph describing my guy sharpening his knife (I really like this paragraph)
changed: now he's sharpening while watching the other character do the mundane chore
3. conversation where MC tries to find out what new guy might be good at, to no avail
unchanged
4. conversation where MC learns new guy's name
unchanged
5. #4 was already connected to a conversation where the MC realizes what new guy is good at
unchanged
6. conversation where MC calls a fourth character over to tell him what the new guy can do; fourth character is thrilled and excited.
new
This ended on a wrong note and needs to be redone. I wasn't thinking deeply enough. When I go back and put myself into this fourth character's daily life, I realize that he wouldn't be thrilled and excited; he'd be curious and interested. That changes everything that this scene might be able to mean.
What might the scene mean? I have no clue. Right now it's just a loose sketch. Later I'll try to get a sense of whether or not the MC's frame of mind is continuous from one piece to the next, whether the full scene goes on too long, whether it can be sculpted to make one strong point to the reader. It could work or it could be that one or two pieces are messing up the flow, or it could be the whole thing's a bust and I'll have to break it down to its component parts again.
*In my head I've got a partial list of plot points and reader hooks that will probably be the only way to keep this saggy middle moving. Some of the points and hooks have alternate versions. It's very confusing.
**Why those particular pieces? For no reason. I've got all this junk in the middle of the ms, and I need to figure out what to do with it. Sometimes a floaty piece that seems pointless suddenly makes sense if I attach it to another floaty piece. Sometimes I have to mix and match before I find the right fit. Other times a floaty piece never fits anywhere and has to be cut.
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