It's been a really long time since my last post, but life sometimes gets in the way of things. I have, in no way, stopped writing and have a few projects under my belt. Some are write-y, some are world-y. I'll be starting a new job at the end of the month (conducting middle school orchestra!) and will be spending way more time than any normal human should surrounded by scores to pick out the music for next year.
Ultimately, I am beyond ecstatic at this change of events. It will just be a lot of work.
Anyways - writing. How do you feel about dreams?
The other month I had a pretty intense dream about shadows and death (I know, morbid) but the dream wasn't entirely my fault. I traveled to Haiti on a service trip and was taking Mefloquine - an anti-malaria medication with side effects including "Vivid nightmares". Fun, right?
Well, this dream was so vivid that it left me daydreaming about it for weeks after having it. Almost like when you finish a really good book and you have that month waiting period before starting another because you're finding some way of immersing yourself into it in your head. You might think I'm crazy, but think about it really - I know I'm not alone in this. And if you're not getting that feeling, you need to read better books.
Anyway, this dream. I realized after a few weeks that this could really be a great baseline for a novel so I've started writing it. This doesn't follow my usual steps - writing a full outline and crossing off events as I write them - but the story was just so.....right.
Maybe some stories just need to be told.
I'll be updating my word count to reflect this new project :)
Along the same vein, I've realized that a lot of my old stories have dream sequences in them. As I've gotten older and read more I've come to hate them. Dream sequences are....boring. Unless, of course, they have a specific meaning behind them like...A Nightmare on Elm Street where your dream is actually a creepy-scar-faced guy murdering you and your friends. Obviously sleeping and dreaming are integral to that plot.
Regardless, dreams are pretty powerful and I think some could really work out well in the novel world. (Please don't take this post as liberty to start trying to publish stories about forgetting your homework or showing up to school in your underwear!)
Until next time!
Showing posts with label New Story. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Story. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Making a Come Back
One thing I should probably emphasize is my inability to stay on task. That, coupled with my desire to always be too busy to think, leads to a large bout of complete and utter absentmindedness.
Of course, I've always considered it a good thing for potential, and current, writers/authors to be quirky. I feel as if that makes them more accessible to the public. And isn't that really what we all want? To see ourselves in our role models?
Unfortunately, and possible fortunately, with my absentminded nature comes the ability to sit on a work-in-progress for a long time and then go back and read it. The fortunate part is getting a completely new perspective on it, the unfortunate is that it's not always a good one. In fact, the story that I was all excited about nearly a year ago...well....turns out I feel as if I was a smidgen too ambitious with it. At a whomping 55,000 words I realized that I hadn't even reached a half-way point and, often unless you're a) very luck b) a freaking genius, ridiculously long epic-fantasy novels don't get published.
And that's what I'm hoping for right?
So, alas, my 55,000 words have been placed into my ever-growing pile of "hopefuls" and "wishful thinkings" (this particular one falling into the latter category).
It's not all bad though! It actually got me to thinking.
Why does a novel need to be complex? And I mean complex as in main plot + sub plot + sub plot of the sub plot +sub sub sub SUB plot and....it all just becomes a jumbled mush and instead of being innovated and awesome it just sucks. No other words for it. So yes, I admit, my last attempt sucked. Maybe only to me, maybe someone out there really would enjoy it, but I didn't and thus couldn't really continue writing it.
I also realized that I kept trying to force myself into a writing style that was uncomfortable to me. I love reading young adult and juvenile literature. I love how the simplicity of the plot makes way for such complex and unforgettable characters and I thought, "Self, stop trying to write adult fantasy novels. It's not your thing!"
And thus was born my next "great idea."
This time, I approached things quite a bit differently. The entire novel is planned. I have a three page outline of all the events that are going to take place, a two page list of characters and places (which are ever changing. I'm a stickler for character names and tend to change them at least once every few weeks) and even a simple sketch of the world map. I have built societies, cities, keeps, wildernesses, castles and thrown my characters into this new world. "O brave new world that has such people in it!"
A simple plot that gives-way to a complex world.
I like this new idea. Let's roll with it.
Oh! And did I mention? Guild Wars. Yes. When I should be writing I'm usually blowing off steam from the day running around on Guild Wars. It keeps me sane, really! And probably keeps me securely in the "big dork" life category as well.
I've also decided to end each post from now on with a word count :)
Word Count: 4,047
Of course, I've always considered it a good thing for potential, and current, writers/authors to be quirky. I feel as if that makes them more accessible to the public. And isn't that really what we all want? To see ourselves in our role models?
Unfortunately, and possible fortunately, with my absentminded nature comes the ability to sit on a work-in-progress for a long time and then go back and read it. The fortunate part is getting a completely new perspective on it, the unfortunate is that it's not always a good one. In fact, the story that I was all excited about nearly a year ago...well....turns out I feel as if I was a smidgen too ambitious with it. At a whomping 55,000 words I realized that I hadn't even reached a half-way point and, often unless you're a) very luck b) a freaking genius, ridiculously long epic-fantasy novels don't get published.
And that's what I'm hoping for right?
So, alas, my 55,000 words have been placed into my ever-growing pile of "hopefuls" and "wishful thinkings" (this particular one falling into the latter category).
It's not all bad though! It actually got me to thinking.
Why does a novel need to be complex? And I mean complex as in main plot + sub plot + sub plot of the sub plot +sub sub sub SUB plot and....it all just becomes a jumbled mush and instead of being innovated and awesome it just sucks. No other words for it. So yes, I admit, my last attempt sucked. Maybe only to me, maybe someone out there really would enjoy it, but I didn't and thus couldn't really continue writing it.
I also realized that I kept trying to force myself into a writing style that was uncomfortable to me. I love reading young adult and juvenile literature. I love how the simplicity of the plot makes way for such complex and unforgettable characters and I thought, "Self, stop trying to write adult fantasy novels. It's not your thing!"
And thus was born my next "great idea."
This time, I approached things quite a bit differently. The entire novel is planned. I have a three page outline of all the events that are going to take place, a two page list of characters and places (which are ever changing. I'm a stickler for character names and tend to change them at least once every few weeks) and even a simple sketch of the world map. I have built societies, cities, keeps, wildernesses, castles and thrown my characters into this new world. "O brave new world that has such people in it!"
A simple plot that gives-way to a complex world.
I like this new idea. Let's roll with it.
Oh! And did I mention? Guild Wars. Yes. When I should be writing I'm usually blowing off steam from the day running around on Guild Wars. It keeps me sane, really! And probably keeps me securely in the "big dork" life category as well.
I've also decided to end each post from now on with a word count :)
Word Count: 4,047
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