Wonderfully misty this morning, so that all the spiderwebs glistened.
Sela stated that normally I blog about craft but have been blogging about my life. So this entry is more on craft.
Last night I pulled out my tattered copy of Writing the Breakout Novel workbook to see if it could offer any insight into where I have gone wrong. Note I am not sure if I have gone, it is just that at the moment, it can feel like pulling teeth and the way ahead at times seems shrouded in mist.
I know what I want to happen at the end. This is always a good place to start. I also know where certain things need to happen.
The thingsI have to remember is that things can always get worse. The rock I chuck at my characters haveto be boulders not mere pebbles.
There was two ways you can make things worse for your characters -- raise the barriers they have to hurdle or make what they are about to lose more valuable to them. Peaks and valleys rather than rounded hills and troughs.
One of the secondaries provides an antagonist role in a subplot. I know what needs to happen at the end, but needed to know why. Sitting and thinking about hte anatognist's outline and what plot developments are going to help his overall goal should help me be able to move the plot on.
There is a lot in the workbook that I need to think about because the wip is in its first draft stage, rather than its final draft stage.
Personally I like revisions (hence the reason I am looking forward to hearing my editor's thoughts) Generally speaking revisions are fun. You can play around with the story, decide what the essential elements are and how you can make the story stronger by incorperating the editor's suggestions but still retaining the essence of your story and characters.
TSD has the potential to be a very powerful story but without my editor's help, it will never achieve its potential. My fingers are firmly crossed that my editor sees the potential. Actually I know she does or she wouldn't have asked to see the full. She seemed fairly relaxed about the whole thing. As editors go through this all the time, they are relaxed. Authors how ever can get much more uptight.
Anyway, back to the word mines.
2 comments:
I hope that's word mines as in authorial equivalent of salt mines - and not word mines as in my favourite form of procrastination (vbg).
Keep going. Books always go through the pulling teeth stage. You'll do fine!
I don't worry about you, dear. You'll be fine. *gg* And I somehow missed the body language post earlier and the bit about Marilyn Monroe. It reminded me of one my favorite lines of all time from "Some Like It Hot" when Jack and Tony are watching Marilyn walk away and Jack says, "Look at that! It's like Jello on springs!"
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