averygoodun42 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
averygoodun42) wrote2007-02-22 11:33 am
averygoodun42) wrote2007-02-22 11:33 am
writing
Well, it seems that posting "Traitor" is slowly exorcising it from my system. That and getting some feedback to soothe my worried nerves. At this point I'm kind of wishing I had just decided to post it as three parts (probably 4 or 5 chapters), although, I must say it's fun to see how people react, chapter by chapter. I am really, really glad that no one is liking Snape. I would seriously worry if they did. I'm kind of looking forward to seeing how people react to the penultimate chapter. I'm hoping for some swear words, actually. Maybe a flame or two? (Nah... those who get through the first part probably aren't the type to flame.)
I've written an add-on to the story, and am waffling as to whether I should post it as the epilogue, or as its own story. The style's the same, the view points are different, and the tone is quite different. Either way, its title will be "Closure." That sounds hopeful, doesn't it? (Summary: If you're willing to sell your soul for freedom, what would you give for redemption?)
As that horrible story slowly gets excised, I'm finding myself able to start writing other things. Namely, I've managed to write the first "love letter" for SMHC!!! I think it works. I've also plotted out the next chapter and have written about a page. Well, maybe two pages counting the conversation I came up with for later on in the chapter. This is going to be a difficult chapter to write though, I can already tell. It's a major transition chapter. Not only does it transition the movement of time from plodding to something more fluid, but it also is that awkward inbetween period after the first date and before the trial. But, the love letter (and its delivery) is (more or less) written, so that's good.
I've also got the very beginnings of chapter 17 written. It's basically a paragraph saying how the rest of the week passes. Can you imagine that? An entire week in a paragraph! For this story, that's... positively dynamic.
I'm starting to think that I might possibly be ready to start writing original stuff after I've finished SMHC. It's not that I think I'm lacking the talent now, it's just that... Traitor has really pushed me. Not only did I have to write stuff that made me very, very uncomfortable and that was well beyond my scope of knowledge, but I also actually researched things (a very tiny, tiny bit) for it, and the revision process... I was able to sit down and think it through. I wrote a first draft, it really was crap, although it was a good basis. I reread it, edited the worst of it, shelved it, reread it, edited some more stuff, threw out great chunks of it here and there, revised again, rewrote and generally worked hard on it. This is the most effort I have ever put into a story. I'm still tweaking it (and have one segue that I still have to rewrite), and I'm still obsessing over it (just ask Geoff) and probably will till it's completely posted (which is one reason I've been trying to post a chapter a day, although I've run out of betaed chapters, so I guess I'll have to practice that foreign thing called patience now.)
It's also taught me how I work. What I need to work. What I've found is that I need to know how a story ends. If I don't have a definite, very clear ending in mind, I can't write more than 10K words or so before bogging myself down to the point of drowning. I've tried. Once I have the very clear ending and a modicum of an idea of where to start, I can usually come up with a plot for inbetween, if that didn't automatically come with the ending. And, of course, as I write, more stuff comes up and the story becomes clearer as I make my way through it. (And good god, aren't I verbose? Really truly, SMHC was supposed to be about 20K words in only a few chapters. HA!!!)
The reason I think I might be able to switch to original stuff after this is because I'm starting to get ideas. There are some ideas I've had for years that I'm still interested in, but I know I'm not ready to write. The story based on my Grandma's life, for example. And my mum's family (a series of short stories, I think). I know those will be interesting stories (life on the far West frontier, even if there is electricity), but I don't have the people skills yet to do those yet. Those are going to require interviews, travelling and a lot of research. I'm just not at a point where I can do that yet. But, with that, I do have a time limit. My family isn't getting any younger. I've already missed the opportunity to talk to my Grampa about it. His memory just isn't what it used to be. Also, the older he gets, the less he wants to talk about my Grandma.
Also, I still haven't decided what tone I want it to take. There are some seriously dramatic, thrilling and tragic happenings, but it's also quite the love story. Yes, I know it's possible to combine all of those aspects, and the better books do. I plan on doing that, it's just... where do I start? And, mostly, where do I end? That, more than anything, sets what kind of book it is.
The endings are what are truly important, I'm finding. Good endings are essential. I keep thinking of a Larry McMurtry book I read as a teenager. It was the first of his I read, and I was enthralled. It was one of his later books that isn't quite so damned depressing, and it was full of vibrant, albeit flawed characters, and how they came together and learned to forgive each other for the past (it was a sequel of sorts to one of those damned depressing books). It was so bloody hopeful until the end when one of the main characters gets murdered. I was heartbroken, it was so incredibly powerful. I want to write that way.
So, there are ideas that are starting to emerge. Unfortunately, I haven't figured out how to visualize the ends yet, when they don't appear before me fully formed. Or, if I have the ends, I don't have any idea of how I want to get there.
Ah well. I shall learn. Eventually. I expect. If I have to.
I've written an add-on to the story, and am waffling as to whether I should post it as the epilogue, or as its own story. The style's the same, the view points are different, and the tone is quite different. Either way, its title will be "Closure." That sounds hopeful, doesn't it? (Summary: If you're willing to sell your soul for freedom, what would you give for redemption?)
As that horrible story slowly gets excised, I'm finding myself able to start writing other things. Namely, I've managed to write the first "love letter" for SMHC!!! I think it works. I've also plotted out the next chapter and have written about a page. Well, maybe two pages counting the conversation I came up with for later on in the chapter. This is going to be a difficult chapter to write though, I can already tell. It's a major transition chapter. Not only does it transition the movement of time from plodding to something more fluid, but it also is that awkward inbetween period after the first date and before the trial. But, the love letter (and its delivery) is (more or less) written, so that's good.
I've also got the very beginnings of chapter 17 written. It's basically a paragraph saying how the rest of the week passes. Can you imagine that? An entire week in a paragraph! For this story, that's... positively dynamic.
I'm starting to think that I might possibly be ready to start writing original stuff after I've finished SMHC. It's not that I think I'm lacking the talent now, it's just that... Traitor has really pushed me. Not only did I have to write stuff that made me very, very uncomfortable and that was well beyond my scope of knowledge, but I also actually researched things (a very tiny, tiny bit) for it, and the revision process... I was able to sit down and think it through. I wrote a first draft, it really was crap, although it was a good basis. I reread it, edited the worst of it, shelved it, reread it, edited some more stuff, threw out great chunks of it here and there, revised again, rewrote and generally worked hard on it. This is the most effort I have ever put into a story. I'm still tweaking it (and have one segue that I still have to rewrite), and I'm still obsessing over it (just ask Geoff) and probably will till it's completely posted (which is one reason I've been trying to post a chapter a day, although I've run out of betaed chapters, so I guess I'll have to practice that foreign thing called patience now.)
It's also taught me how I work. What I need to work. What I've found is that I need to know how a story ends. If I don't have a definite, very clear ending in mind, I can't write more than 10K words or so before bogging myself down to the point of drowning. I've tried. Once I have the very clear ending and a modicum of an idea of where to start, I can usually come up with a plot for inbetween, if that didn't automatically come with the ending. And, of course, as I write, more stuff comes up and the story becomes clearer as I make my way through it. (And good god, aren't I verbose? Really truly, SMHC was supposed to be about 20K words in only a few chapters. HA!!!)
The reason I think I might be able to switch to original stuff after this is because I'm starting to get ideas. There are some ideas I've had for years that I'm still interested in, but I know I'm not ready to write. The story based on my Grandma's life, for example. And my mum's family (a series of short stories, I think). I know those will be interesting stories (life on the far West frontier, even if there is electricity), but I don't have the people skills yet to do those yet. Those are going to require interviews, travelling and a lot of research. I'm just not at a point where I can do that yet. But, with that, I do have a time limit. My family isn't getting any younger. I've already missed the opportunity to talk to my Grampa about it. His memory just isn't what it used to be. Also, the older he gets, the less he wants to talk about my Grandma.
Also, I still haven't decided what tone I want it to take. There are some seriously dramatic, thrilling and tragic happenings, but it's also quite the love story. Yes, I know it's possible to combine all of those aspects, and the better books do. I plan on doing that, it's just... where do I start? And, mostly, where do I end? That, more than anything, sets what kind of book it is.
The endings are what are truly important, I'm finding. Good endings are essential. I keep thinking of a Larry McMurtry book I read as a teenager. It was the first of his I read, and I was enthralled. It was one of his later books that isn't quite so damned depressing, and it was full of vibrant, albeit flawed characters, and how they came together and learned to forgive each other for the past (it was a sequel of sorts to one of those damned depressing books). It was so bloody hopeful until the end when one of the main characters gets murdered. I was heartbroken, it was so incredibly powerful. I want to write that way.
So, there are ideas that are starting to emerge. Unfortunately, I haven't figured out how to visualize the ends yet, when they don't appear before me fully formed. Or, if I have the ends, I don't have any idea of how I want to get there.
Ah well. I shall learn. Eventually. I expect. If I have to.