- James Hearn: Fear not.
- Jo: I just finished
- Jo: Oh, gosh!
- Uppity: In other words,
- Jo: Nah. Men
Uppity Yours
Pages
Back Talk
Filed Under
Uppity Archives
We’re off to see the wizard
October 28th, 2008
In terms of my writing, NaNoWriMo and its aftermath have given new meaning to “Surrender Dorothy.”
In our last episode, we said a not-quite-tearful goodbye to my 2007 story. I wrote 50K words last year so technically I “won” NaNoWriMo, but I wouldn’t call it a novel. Now if there were a National Mess Writing Month…
I started out last November with a vague idea of a plot and characters that were deliberately silly. I figured one can’t possibly become paralyzed with fear and laugh their head off at the same time.
Which may indeed be true. Unfortunately, my muse doesn’t want to write a silly story and she’s damned stubborn about that. So my story started out one way and ended up veering wildly in a totally different direction, with me hanging on for dear life.
But I didn’t understand this at the time. I figured my story went all mavericky on me due to a lack of knowing what the hell I was doing.
So after NaNo, I enrolled in what I started to think of as “Ed’s Fill Dirt & Writing School.” In the past year I’ve read a ton of books on writing, everything from general essays and memoirs to specific topics such as plot and character. And besides learning a lot, I’ve really enjoyed it.
As I learned, I tried to rewrite. But I got caught up in plotting and creating the specifics of my fantasy world, which required changing my characters’ histories and personalities around (they’re connected in a complicated way). Eventually my characters, though essentially the same at the core, were covered in layers of contrivance. The plot had a premise I still couldn’t make work.
I decided to throw it out. Even though I still had some fondness for the baby, it and the bathwater seemed like a package deal.
But Rib Readers objected. What about that poor baby? It’s done nothin’ to nobody!
So I took another look. I remembered something I’d read recently in on of my course materials: “follow the heat.” Write those things that make your pulse speed up, grab your emotions, burn in your heart. I knew it was true the moment I read it. If you don’t follow the heat, your writing soon goes cold.
So I went back and felt around for the hot spots in the story. I took those, tossed the rest and started again.
To mix my metaphors yet again: now that the muse and I aren’t fighting over the wheel, the boat’s actually getting somewhere.
I still have a long way to go; in fact, I hear no one ever actually graduates from Ed’s Fill Dirt (writers check in but they don’t check out). And I have no idea how this year’s NaNo story will ultimately pan out. There’s truly no place like home, but my muse has only just gotten started down the road.
Coming next: Welcome to my paranormal romantic urban fantasy suspense horror mystery! AKA: Let’s Play “Musical Genres.”
Technorati Tags: writing, fiction, National Novel Writing Month
Filed under NaNoWriMo, Uppity Me, Writing |4 Responses to “We’re off to see the wizard”
Leave a Reply
*sigh*
We have to write a boat load of crap until we (whoa there, matey!) get keel-hauled over a possible motherload.
It’s fun, though. Right?
Or something.
Many good things have to be aged - in a barrel, a cask, a jar - before they are ripe and ready to enjoy. Stories are like that. They need to be allowed to develop their full, rich flavor. Some require occasional stirring, others want to be left strictly alone. But they need time to develop and come to their full potential.
Who wants young wine or yesterday’s cheese?
It’s going to be exciting to see where this goes now, after having a year to mature.
Ditto what Jo says. Good luck! I know it wrung you out last year, but you can do it.
I think writing is a lot like exercise, U. Sometimes it’s really fun, sometimes it’s meh, and sometimes it just plain sucks. You have to do it regularly to get any good at it, and that’s just hard - which is why so many people don’t do it. It’s also one of the reasons it is rewarding if you stick with it.
Yes, Jo, it will be interesting to say the least. I hope it turns out well, though, because even cheese goes bad after enough time! LOL
Lach, I think this year it will be easier simply because I’ve learned my lesson about dinking around the first two weeks - i.e. don’t do that! 1,667 words per day, every day, or bust!