(no subject)
Well, my flist. The muse is upon me. I feel like writing again. I have been working on this story idea for about 4 years now. One day I hope to actually finish it.
It started out as a journal entry for an Amber game, then became a short story for a writing class, then a writing idea for a novel, then 50,000 words of outline and scribble for NaNoWri Mo.
The hardest part for me in writing is plot. Yeah, I know. I know. It's essential to all good stories and you have to have one. Here's the problem, I can describe. I can write good vignettes, but the overall plot of a large story eludes me. I can write the beginning, setting up the scene and the characters, that's the easy part. I can see the bad guys and imagine some general conflict. I can see what the larger picture is and what the fair hero needs to accomplish. I can even come up with some kick ass endings for arcs. But, I just can't seem to connect all the dots.
How to pull all of this out of my ass, which as someone pointed out to me, is called imagination.
So, I went to those parts of my brain where my imagination resides - gaming. I think of a lot of things in gaming terms. I was having trouble defining my characters in the story so I used BESM rules to create them. I used those same rules to define the different power structures and power interactions of my different races. I can't seem to pull imagination out my butt, but I can write it down in gaming terms. Go figure.
I could start to grasp the picture when I broke it down into smaller gaming story arcs, but the big compilation would still elude me. What I needed was folks to bounce ideas off of. What I needed was gamers to help me think and to generate ideas, and from whom I could shamelessly plunder said ideas.
But I also needed a world to write in, so I started creating one - harder then one would think. The connect-the-dots and the world kept stumping me. I needed a game. And there was born the PBeM Splintered Kingdoms game.
That actually did help, alot.
So, November 2007 aside (a solid month of writing at work) and 50,000 words for NaNoWriMo, I'm still not finished. I am daunted. By what you ask? Well, one, the story is not finished and the second is snow. Snow. I got stuck on snow because I don't know how to write about it. I don't know snow. I live in the deep south, Louisiana. I can write about heat and humidity that would melt your bones, but I don't know snow, all research aside.
I guess I could have skipped that part and gone on to another section, but this was supposed to be the re-write, the time to make it more of an actual novel, to try and connect some dots....so I just stopped. I told myself I was in idiot and that I couldn't really write anyway so why bother. I went back to reading. Its been 7 months and I feel like writing again. I started editing the legend at the beginning of the novel that sets up the story (yes, I'm at work). Amazing how much you change things when you let them sit for 7 months.
I am still sketchy on connect-the-dots, but I have a good general idea for this story arc and what I want to happen in it. I felt like I was just really starting to get going good when I finished NaNoWriMo, and I actually did go a little past the word requirement. By that time I was burnt out and I actually had to get some employment type work done.
I don't know how long this motivation will last, but I'm going to ride it for what its worth.
It started out as a journal entry for an Amber game, then became a short story for a writing class, then a writing idea for a novel, then 50,000 words of outline and scribble for NaNoWri Mo.
The hardest part for me in writing is plot. Yeah, I know. I know. It's essential to all good stories and you have to have one. Here's the problem, I can describe. I can write good vignettes, but the overall plot of a large story eludes me. I can write the beginning, setting up the scene and the characters, that's the easy part. I can see the bad guys and imagine some general conflict. I can see what the larger picture is and what the fair hero needs to accomplish. I can even come up with some kick ass endings for arcs. But, I just can't seem to connect all the dots.
How to pull all of this out of my ass, which as someone pointed out to me, is called imagination.
So, I went to those parts of my brain where my imagination resides - gaming. I think of a lot of things in gaming terms. I was having trouble defining my characters in the story so I used BESM rules to create them. I used those same rules to define the different power structures and power interactions of my different races. I can't seem to pull imagination out my butt, but I can write it down in gaming terms. Go figure.
I could start to grasp the picture when I broke it down into smaller gaming story arcs, but the big compilation would still elude me. What I needed was folks to bounce ideas off of. What I needed was gamers to help me think and to generate ideas, and from whom I could shamelessly plunder said ideas.
But I also needed a world to write in, so I started creating one - harder then one would think. The connect-the-dots and the world kept stumping me. I needed a game. And there was born the PBeM Splintered Kingdoms game.
That actually did help, alot.
So, November 2007 aside (a solid month of writing at work) and 50,000 words for NaNoWriMo, I'm still not finished. I am daunted. By what you ask? Well, one, the story is not finished and the second is snow. Snow. I got stuck on snow because I don't know how to write about it. I don't know snow. I live in the deep south, Louisiana. I can write about heat and humidity that would melt your bones, but I don't know snow, all research aside.
I guess I could have skipped that part and gone on to another section, but this was supposed to be the re-write, the time to make it more of an actual novel, to try and connect some dots....so I just stopped. I told myself I was in idiot and that I couldn't really write anyway so why bother. I went back to reading. Its been 7 months and I feel like writing again. I started editing the legend at the beginning of the novel that sets up the story (yes, I'm at work). Amazing how much you change things when you let them sit for 7 months.
I am still sketchy on connect-the-dots, but I have a good general idea for this story arc and what I want to happen in it. I felt like I was just really starting to get going good when I finished NaNoWriMo, and I actually did go a little past the word requirement. By that time I was burnt out and I actually had to get some employment type work done.
I don't know how long this motivation will last, but I'm going to ride it for what its worth.