Sense of Scene

Why did she do that? What was the point of that? Who was that supposed to hurt?

These are the types of questions I've got going through my head today and for the next few days.  I don't know what sort of writer you tend to be (because no one is so one dimensional), but I tend to be a plotter. Big time. I want to know that I've got a handle on the story before I spend months working on it. For my newest war of wordage I have all the scenes laid out and divided into chapters. Each scene is described very briefly so I get the gist of it. But that is only the start.

My next task is to delve into each of those scenes and flesh them out. Give all the minor characters names and that sort of jazz that would normally stop me in my creative tracks. More importantly, I make sure I know what the POV character's conflict and motivation is. This story is easy in that I only have one POV character. The conflict is important so I know what is at stake in each scene. If nothing is at stake, I either need to ditch it or make it short and to the point. Side-tracks should be no more than a quick peek through the door then moving on. The motivation is important so I know how and why the character is going to approach the problem.

This may seem excessive to all you pantsers out there but it has proven to be extremely helpful to me when writing the scene. Sure, I sometimes have to make changes as I go as my characters often have a way of saying things I did not intend them to say, but that's where the fun is. I may have everything plotted, scripted, and charted, but I know the story is going right when I have to stop now and then to pull a monkey wrench out of the well-oiled gears I built. No one ever admits to throwing it, but I have a good idea... I'm looking at you, Muse.

So get back to writing. Hopefully you've got your own monkey wrench wielding Muse waiting for you.

Back From the Depths

It seems my last post was in May. Wow, where has the time gone? Well, at least I can say I've been working on my novel so there's that. The other news is I'm putting the second draft through the transmographying wringer so it will be nearly an entirely new thing when it comes back out. With NaNoWriMo starting in a few weeks, I thought now would be a good time to get my poor blog out of the cobwebs and breathe some life back into it.

From here on I'll be detailing what I'm doing and hopefully what I'm learning about my writing. Sounds like fun to me. Unfortunately, that's all this blog will be about. My focus is completely on my story and I do not have the time, patience, or I'll admit it, interest in making this anything more than that. If I find a link to something or someone great I'll try to add it in future posts, but there will be no giveaways or anything like that. My goal here is to appeal to fellow struggling writers looking for help or commiseration or maybe just a few laughs. Trust me, there will be plenty to laugh at.

In the coming days I'll be detailing what further preparations I'm making with my novel to make sure I start NaNoWriMo on fire and not have to stop my creativity with repeated note searching. Today for instance I finished coming up with all the names for my characters, their pets, schools, hang-outs, and whatever else I thought would need a name. If I find time later, I'm going to make a final list of crystals and their reputed paranormal properties. Well, that is what my story hinges on after all. I've got several sources to go through so I'm going to narrow them down to the most common and/or obvious.

Back to work for me (at my real job, gah!), I hope you will keep following and keep writing.

Getting Nowhere Fast

Wow, I haven't posted anything here since January.  I can't be surprised that no one is following this blog.  What's to follow?  I guess I picked the right title for my page, huh?  Anyway, I'll get this thing going again and do my damnedest to keep it in mind.

I'm still toiling away on my YA fantasy novel.  But the light at the end of the tunnel is there.  I have about five more scenes to do to finish the first draft.  Seems like I should be done in no time, right?  We'll see.  I want to get this done so I can go back and see just how much I screwed up my original idea.  But at least it will be done and I guess I'm in the minority with this but I love re-writing.  I like going along and finding parts of a story that don't work or sound like I stopped in mid-sentence and then picked it up again a whole week later (Seriously, I've done that and it always sounds like shit. Finish your thoughts, always, then move on).

I'm also doing a fanfiction for the upcoming game, No Man's Sky at fanfiction.net.  This particular piece is only for fun and do to on my down time.  It sucks that not many people have been reading it.  I know one reason is it's hard to find.  I did a Google search and couldn't get it to come up unless I typed in the whole freakin' title, A Burden of Stars.  Whatever.  I'm not going to go all SEO commando just for a few clicks more (wow, I just mixed a Schwarzenneger movie with an Eastwood movie, like The Good, The Bad, and The Kindergarten Cop).

That's where I'm at.  I refuse to start another project until I get this YA novel done.  And believe me, I've got a ton of ideas pounding on my muse's door, a screenplay in particular that I'm sure will rocket me to stardom, or at least to the top of the slushpile since I don't have an agent and live in upstate NY.  OK, back to writing.  You, too.

Blogging for the New Year

I'll say this up front to get it out of the way: I'm sorry.  For what?  For being a shitty blogger.  I guess it's working out the same as my attempts at keeping a journal, since journalling and blogging seem to be about the same thing.  I guess I'm just not much of a sharing type of person, especially when it comes to my thoughts and opinions.  I like to keep them to myself, much in the way I wish others would do the same.  Unless it's part of a stand-up routine, one of the most annoying sentences for me to hear is, "You know what I think?".  It just grinds on my nerves.

That's why I try to keep this blog focused on writing.  Unfortunately, I feel uneasy about giving advice since I have only had a book self-published so far.  I've put out a lot of short stories on here and other sites as part of challenges so I don't mind saying something about writing to anyone who needs help or motivation.  If you're following, I'll do my best to keep up on this blog.  It should get easier to have things to add since I'm nearly finished with the first draft of my YA novel, Facets, and I will have thoughts and revelations on the self-editing process.  So, please, bear with me.  Thank you.

Winning at NaNoWriMo

November 2015 has been torn off and tossed into recycling, leaving behind the rushed pages of a new novel, a yearning for even more coffee, and the satisfaction of having conquered my second NaNoWriMo challenge. It was a smooth ride up until the very last day.  I think I lulled myself into a false sense of complacency, leaving the final 3000 words for my last day. "I'll take the day off, finish up the challenge, and still have time for laundry and video games." Then I stood there with my hands on my hips and faced into the gusty wind like a triumphant hero should.

Then the migraine hit.  I wasn't worried at first.  I often wake up fuzzy-headed but like Quinn said of the sharks in Jaws, "Sometimes they go away, sometimes they don't go away." Well, this one turned out to be a predator and it was bent on biting the legs off my novel just before the finish line.  I scraped together a few hundred words during the day, took groggy, lurching breaks to throw in the damn laundry and let the roofers in the finish insulating a skylight they removed...a month ago. No video games.  Couldn't keep my head up for that.  But by evening the Migraine Shark got bored with my antics and I was able to finish and send it in for validation.  Only afterwards did I realize I had moved around two scenes twice meaning I had double scenes.  Got rid of those then banged out another 1000 words in an hour to FINALLY validate a correct chunk of novel.  Don't know if it mattered to anyone else, but getting it right mattered to me, even if I screwed something up.

My novel, however, is not finished.  I've got about10-15 more scenes, maybe another 100 pages to go before I rip into it with my editorial weed whacker.  I actually enjoy rewriting though.  I'm setting my next goal at finishing the first draft by Christmas then the re-write by my birthday on Jan 27.  The 28th will see me sending it out.  Here's hoping.  Write on.

NaNoWriMo WIP 1000 word snippet

Here goes the first scene from my work in progress over at NaNoWriMo tentatively called Facets. It's just about 1000 words so I thought I would use this for Chuck Wendig's latest sort of challenge.

"Well, Talia, let me start with what you've been worrying about the most.  You're not insane."

Talia Wiley released the breath she had been holding.  She smiled for the first time in days and tears fell down her cheeks as her mother put her arm around her from the chair beside her.  Her father, Jarrett, squeezed her arm on the other side.  The three of them sat in identical padded chairs in front of the doctor's oak desk.  Talia's little sister, Sara, was being watched by a neighbor.  They had decided to leave her at home in case the news was bad.  The office was warm with wood trim and stacked bookcases.  It was a far cry from the labs Talia had been in for the past two days.

"That's great news, Dr. Van Hoag," Jarrett said, still looking concerned, "It only confirms what we've been saying.  I mean if something was wrong with Talia, then there was something wrong with everyone that was with her that day, including me.  But it doesn't tell us what happened.  Hallucinations don't cause that kind of damage."

Talia left her mother's embrace and rubbed the wetness from her dark brown eyes.  Her mother, Aniya did the same.  People always remarked how much they looked alike, same dark eyes, same smooth skin and high cheekbones.  The only difference was their hair.  Talia's was straight and black like her father's while her mother's was brown.  Sometimes Talia wished her hair was brown just so she would not have such a Goth look in the morning.  It did not help that her mood tended towards dark and sarcastic.  No one considered her behavior abnormal, however, just the usual teenage angst.  That was until two days ago at the jewelry store.  Talia still had dreams of the chaos she had created.  Objects flying around the store, pockets of darkness, visions of ghosts and demons.  She jumped at the sound of the doctor's voice.

"I can shed some light on Talia's incident but to be honest, she's given us more questions than answers.  You were referred to me because I am a neurologist who specializes in Talia's suspected condition."

"Condition?" Talia said.  "It's a tumor, isn't it?"

"No, dear, it's not a tumor."

Talia continued, "So some hormonal or electro-chemical imbalance affecting my perception of reality?"

Devlin VanHoag sighed from behind his desk, "Let me guess.  WebMD?"

"Wikipedia."

"Ah, the Borg brain of the twenty-first century.  Did it happen to say how your hormones knocked over display cases from across the showroom or allowed you to hear the other customers' thoughts as they ran out?  No?  I'm actually surprised but at least we can rule that out, right?"

Aniya leaned forward, "So then what caused those things to happen, doctor?  The security cameras prove she didn't make it up."

Jarrett scoffed, "Security cameras?  Hell, I was there, remember?"

Talia remembered hearing the voices.  The few other customers ran out thinking it was an earthquake.  But she had heard other voices, too, not from the room.  She clenched her fists tight until those  chilling memories went away.

Devlin left his leather chair and came around to sit on the front of his desk, legs stretched to the floor.  He was mature with thinning grey hair, hazel eyes surrounded by lines, and a slight stoop to his walk.  He was thin and his pristine lab coat draped on him like a robe.

"Talia definitely does not have a tumor," he said, "and she does not have any problem with her brain at all.  In fact, her brain works better than yours or mine at a certain level that we are only now beginning to understand."

"This isn't going to get too technical, is it doctor?" Jarrett asked.  "I mean I'm no slouch but my knowledge is in business and running a restaurant.  I'm going to need layman terms to understand this."

"Speak for yourself, Dad," Talia said, "I want to know everything."

Devlin chuckled, "Trust me, I prefer simple.  Life's complicated enough without pointless jargon.  Now, a lot of people don't know that the brain gives off different electrical waves from its own activity.  There are several different ranges of these waves from Alpha to Gamma.  Normally these waves are so weak they have no affect on their surroundings.  Talia is part of a new emerging group of people who can produce a brainwave known as Gamma-3."

"So my brain's radioactive?" Talia said.

"No, there's no radioactivity.  The name is based on the length of the wave."

"And these Gamma-3 waves can affect things like in the store?"

"Not things in general.  In fact, the only things they interact with are microscopic crystals in the brain.  When they are then in the presence of similar crystals outside of the body, such as in a ring, depending on the crystal, different things will happen."

"That's why so many things happened at once," Jarrett said, nodding.  "We were in a jewelry store.  We were surrounded by crystals."

"But why then?" Aniya asked.  "Talia's been around crystals before.  I know for a fact she has a few necklaces that I bought her that have crystals.  Oh, my.  Could that have done it?"

"No, no," Devlin said, "The brain is always developing and growing.  Different chemical changes are also going on in teen brains such as Talia.  It probably started producing the correct waves that day and she just happened to go into the store.  A perfect storm, if you will."

"Wait," Talia said, "You said I'm part of an emerging group.  So there are others like me?"

Devlin Van Hoag leaned forward so his hands were above his kneess and looked Talia in the eyes.  He smiled.  "Oh, no, dear.  There are no others like you."

NaNoWriMo fun

Here we are in the second week of NaNoWriMo and hopefully everyone is still on pace or ahead of schedule.  For once I've managed to stay on point and I'm passed the 16000 word mark.  Here's a quick excerpt from my WIP, "Facets":

"You don't belong here, freak," Sam said in a hushed tone.  "I'm going to get you kicked out of here.  Bet on it.  I don't care what you can do."

"Too bad it's not up to you, is it, Sammy?" Talia said.

"Don't call me Sammy, freak.  Your days here are numbered."

"Well, let me get you started," Talia held up her middle finger, "One."

"Talia."

Talia spun around at the voice, snapping her hand out of sight, too late.  Dr. VanHoag stood at his door.

"If you're through, come into my office."

Sam walked away laughing more than necessary.  Talia stifled a curse and went into the director's office, closing the door behind her.

As you can see, I'm having loads of fun with this character.  Keep it up, NaNoers!