I was inspired to do this by my friend Bridget. Music is pretty important to both our writing processes. For me it helps give me an image of the character, and sometimes is able to jolt me into productivity, to get the gears moving. Here are a few of what are called "image songs" for several of the major characters.
Sullen Boy (Main Character) -- "Narcissistic Cannibal" by KoRn. My MC is a rather angry sort of person, but has begun to realize that all the anger in the world doesn't help him. He's still dancing to the tune of the object of his anger, letting it rule his life, and to a large extent the story is about him coming to terms with that and breaking free of it.
Angry Girl (Love Interest) -- "Love Is War" by Nico Nico Chorus. "Love Is War" is an amazing song. It has the feel of a rock anthem, a war song, and a ballad rolled together. The lyrics don't exactly correspond to the Angry Girl's relationship with the Sullen Boy, but they very accurately express her feelings, and the inherently warlike nature of her relationship with him.
The Commander (Mentor) -- "Rise" by Origa. I heard this song one night while developing the Commander. The line "I am a soldier" jumped out at me, and I immediately knew I had found her image song. The Commander is a soldier, from start to finish. She has dedicated her life to fighting a war, and the thing that has kept her alive is the thought that if she lives one more day, she'll be able to strike one more blow against her foe.
Ten days left until the writing starts. I'm into the back stretch now. I've got to keep a cool head, keep the last minute panic at bay, and work like a madman.
Saturday, June 9, 2012
Friday, June 1, 2012
June is upon me -- preparation 20%
So things are beginning to take shape, but at a much slower pace than I had wanted. Work items for the remainder of the PlotMo: big focus on self-discipline. There are no deadlines in this business but those I give myself, I do not have a professor breathing down my neck to finish the manuscript on time. It's just me, my Muse, my notebook, a box of pens, my story, and Scrivener. That's all I've got. Fortunately, motivation is kicking up. Part of it is renewed desire, part of it is the realization that I have less than a month left, and that June, as I said, is upon me. I begun on the Solstice, ready or not. I had much rather be as ready as I can be.
My characters are finally starting to talk to me. It helps that I have finally started asking them questions. So far I have focused on the female lead mostly; in the coming week I will expand to the rest of the cast. Focus for the week will be on characters and plot, with an eye towards really getting to know the characters, what kind of people they are, etc.
I think I know how I will work with my characters. I will start talking to them. Literally talking to them. I will think of them as actual people, with their own history, feelings, and opinions on everything from the great issues of the day to how silly I look with bed head. I will imagine that their world actually exists, and that I have merely stepped into it as an observer to chronicle their legend. I will speak with them so much that they begin to come to life. While this seems like an obvious sort of thing, to develop an empathy for your characters and a deep sense of who they are, I don't think that it is something I have really done before. Character creation in the past was more of a mechanistic sort of thing, a filling in of character sheets or questionnaires. Those sorts of things are useful, but only as an aide to getting a feel for the characters. They must first and foremost be real people; if they aren't, how can I expect them to take part in the plot and carry the story?
Time to do something awesome.
My characters are finally starting to talk to me. It helps that I have finally started asking them questions. So far I have focused on the female lead mostly; in the coming week I will expand to the rest of the cast. Focus for the week will be on characters and plot, with an eye towards really getting to know the characters, what kind of people they are, etc.
I think I know how I will work with my characters. I will start talking to them. Literally talking to them. I will think of them as actual people, with their own history, feelings, and opinions on everything from the great issues of the day to how silly I look with bed head. I will imagine that their world actually exists, and that I have merely stepped into it as an observer to chronicle their legend. I will speak with them so much that they begin to come to life. While this seems like an obvious sort of thing, to develop an empathy for your characters and a deep sense of who they are, I don't think that it is something I have really done before. Character creation in the past was more of a mechanistic sort of thing, a filling in of character sheets or questionnaires. Those sorts of things are useful, but only as an aide to getting a feel for the characters. They must first and foremost be real people; if they aren't, how can I expect them to take part in the plot and carry the story?
Time to do something awesome.
Sunday, May 20, 2012
31 Days to Manuscript Summer
I made a pact with my friend that we'd start writing our manuscripts on or before the Summer Solstice. That means there is now one month remaining until this deadline is reached.
This means I will have my work cut out for me.
It is not that the novel and its plot and associated preparations are not progressing. They are. But they are progressing at the leisurely, cautious pace associated with General George McClellan. I must adopt a pace more suited to the hard-driving, hammer-against-anvil style of "Unconditional Surrender" Grant. It was said of Grant that he had the look of a man about to smash his head through a brick wall. I have one month left to plan. After that, I will be introducing my head to the wall.
Things that need work over the next month: character names. Oh gods, do I need to do this. I am tired of using stand-in names without knowing what these characters are actually going to be called. In fact, I think that will be the first thing I work on; I suspect that I'm the kind of person who develops a character more easily once he knows his name. After all, our names are the first things we are given after we are born.
Other things: the plot. Well, obviously the plot needs to be hammered out. I have a decent notion of how it begins, a much more vague notion of how it ends, but most of the middle third and third quarter of the plot remain so dim and foggy as to be nearly imperceptible.
I think it would be particularly beneficial, in my research for this month, to go back to the beginning. I must turn my eyes to my inspirations, and thence to their inspirations, and their inspirations, and so on and so forth all the way down the line, until I have left Milton and Shakespeare far behind me, and find myself in the company of Sophocles and Homer.
The world map also needs to get done. Strictly speaking it doesn't have to be done, but I'd like it to be done by the time I start writing. All I really absolutely have to have finished is a small part of the world map, since unlike The Lord of the Rings, The Belgariad, and A Song of Ice and Fire this is not a world-spanning epic. All the same, it would be nice to have the whole thing.
That about sums it all up for now. Look for updates. They may very well start coming daily.
This means I will have my work cut out for me.
It is not that the novel and its plot and associated preparations are not progressing. They are. But they are progressing at the leisurely, cautious pace associated with General George McClellan. I must adopt a pace more suited to the hard-driving, hammer-against-anvil style of "Unconditional Surrender" Grant. It was said of Grant that he had the look of a man about to smash his head through a brick wall. I have one month left to plan. After that, I will be introducing my head to the wall.
Things that need work over the next month: character names. Oh gods, do I need to do this. I am tired of using stand-in names without knowing what these characters are actually going to be called. In fact, I think that will be the first thing I work on; I suspect that I'm the kind of person who develops a character more easily once he knows his name. After all, our names are the first things we are given after we are born.
Other things: the plot. Well, obviously the plot needs to be hammered out. I have a decent notion of how it begins, a much more vague notion of how it ends, but most of the middle third and third quarter of the plot remain so dim and foggy as to be nearly imperceptible.
I think it would be particularly beneficial, in my research for this month, to go back to the beginning. I must turn my eyes to my inspirations, and thence to their inspirations, and their inspirations, and so on and so forth all the way down the line, until I have left Milton and Shakespeare far behind me, and find myself in the company of Sophocles and Homer.
The world map also needs to get done. Strictly speaking it doesn't have to be done, but I'd like it to be done by the time I start writing. All I really absolutely have to have finished is a small part of the world map, since unlike The Lord of the Rings, The Belgariad, and A Song of Ice and Fire this is not a world-spanning epic. All the same, it would be nice to have the whole thing.
That about sums it all up for now. Look for updates. They may very well start coming daily.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Set your sights, and aim for the top
It took a very long time of pretending to be a writer, and trying to be a writer, but now at long last I think I am actually ready to be a writer. Stephen King's prescription for aspiring writers is to read four hours a day and write four hours a day, and it's good advice. I'd take it a little bit further, and say that generally speaking, before one can really write a story worth telling, he has to have a certain "mileage" of stories he has read, and of stories he has written. My friend Ashlethas has a similar theory, that every writer has to get his junk stories out of the way before he can get to the quality. So it was for me. I don't know where precisely I am with all of that, but I do know that I have finally got an idea for a story that I want to see through to the end; and there are a few more of varying degrees of cool waiting in the wings. So between the one that I have high hopes for right now, and the others that are waiting, I should have more than enough quality material to keep me busy.
This will mostly be a blog of vague generalities and word counts, speaking of the planning, writing, and editing stages in the most general terms possible. I do this because I want to have the full pleasure of writing the story instead of just talking about it, and because I want to give you, dear reader, the pleasure of eventually reading it once I can persuade a publisher to print it, and because I do not want some unscrupulous villain snatching these stories as if they were the Sabine women. Posts unrelated to my works in progress will be rare, but they will probably happen once in a while anyway. However, I do want to keep this blog focused primarily on my works in progress -- on where I have been, on where I am, on where I am going, and on where I want to be.
My thanks to Ashlethas, who set this blog up for me, and without whom I probably would have dropped out of my creative pursuits and become an exceedingly boring individual. Read her blog if you aren't already.
This will mostly be a blog of vague generalities and word counts, speaking of the planning, writing, and editing stages in the most general terms possible. I do this because I want to have the full pleasure of writing the story instead of just talking about it, and because I want to give you, dear reader, the pleasure of eventually reading it once I can persuade a publisher to print it, and because I do not want some unscrupulous villain snatching these stories as if they were the Sabine women. Posts unrelated to my works in progress will be rare, but they will probably happen once in a while anyway. However, I do want to keep this blog focused primarily on my works in progress -- on where I have been, on where I am, on where I am going, and on where I want to be.
My thanks to Ashlethas, who set this blog up for me, and without whom I probably would have dropped out of my creative pursuits and become an exceedingly boring individual. Read her blog if you aren't already.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)