The Fountain Pen

Tomorrow, nay in only a few short hours, the writing will begin. Oh how I wish my outline was complete and my characters better defined. I will admit I am nervous and intimidated, and it is because of these two lacking areas. I do have quite a bit of work done on my outline, and I have a few characters defined, settings figured out, and even a few ideas for new races. It still greatly concerns me that one of the holes in my plot is near the beginning. I fear I will hit that wall all too soon, and be permanently derailed (though in truth, I will probably be able to continue the story with the “hole” and add it later).

I am not ready, but I have no choice. I do wish I would have remembered about NaNoWriMo sooner so I could have spent more time planning out my novel. I have no choice. I am too tired to worry about it tonight, and tomorrow the writing begins and I will have no time to worry at all. My goal for tomorrow is 2,000 words, but I hope for 4,000 - 5,000 words to give me a buffer. The sheer enthusiasm of actually writing out the story that has been bouncing about my head ought to be able to carry me that far, I hope.

I shall attempt to post regular updates and even a few excerpts as I develop my story. Leave comments, especially if I am stuck on some point.

“Ask not for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee.”

Posted by Seth Croston Barber at 8:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I must be slow, that can only explain it. I forgot about inspiration; I forgot inspiration happens spontaneously; I forgot inspiration can be found in all variety of places, if you think to look, observe, and take notes; I forgot inspiration can be a large boost to any plot development. I have been running into mental burnout faster than I had hopped, which in turn added more pressure, which created stress, which cut my creativity. Instead of fighting it, I gave my brain a break and watched some TV. I am glad I did, for not only did it help relax my mind but it provided me with a slew of plot points, so much so that one undefined leg of the journey is now nearly complete (I have to figure out one more, the “endgame” and a half-dozen more points for 2 other legs).

In all my stress to push for development of my plot (so I have less of that to do when the time comes to actually write) I forgot that watching TV or reading books can be a source of material to add to my own story. I can call it “research” (to an extent) while I am relaxing and being entertained. This last time, I thought of a race of “people” that would be cool to work with sometime, so I added it and expanded my book in a big way. The best part of this is, I get to enjoy watching TV as a break, and then I can get charged up about my story all over again and eager to write.

With that said, I think I will take another break and watch more TV. My brain is at that “fry point” and I want to make sure I have room on the PVR for a football game this afternoon. ;)

Posted by Seth Croston Barber at 2:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

“Defeat, thou vile creature. Dost though know my name? Dost thou pursueset me?” Okay, so that’s not really a quote, I just made it up, but that is my sentiment for the past two days.

I have not been able to get anything done on my story for two days straight now. I know I will need a slight break before the frenzied writing begins, but I was hoping to acquire said break after I had finished my preparations to my satisfaction, and I have not. Last night was excused, my folks got a new laptop and I helped them configure it (the happy news there is my mother now has a machine capable of keeping pace with projects, and her being a writer I am excited at this prospect). Tonight however, tonight has no excuse, none other than mental burn-out due to lack of sleep, brain puzzling tasks at work, and a desire to keep up with my other blogs (Promethean Logophile was updated tonight, and I actually like what I wrote!).

What scares me here is knowing my tendency to get tired and to look for refreshment. Tendency? Nay, it is a requirement. Tired minds need rest, and I work mine all the day. In fact I find it surprising I can even think when I get home, for some of my days are quite taxing (some nights I cannot put together a sentence proper order in the). Soon I will enter the time when I will be able to write and I want to let fly with as many words as I can muster, but along with that I would like to have a complete story.

Habits are hard to break, and hard to form. Thus far I am trying to break one (not writing) and form another (regular, daily writing). I have been defeated upon a few battles, but the war … is she over yet?

Posted by Seth Croston Barber at 10:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Progress

This was a very hard night, and I hope to have learned a few things (though I wonder … ). To start it all off, I was too tired to really concentrate, and I had to force myself to develop my story. Instead of surfing the ‘Net I shut everything down except my IM application and my writing software. This forced me into dealing with my plot and story. This proved valuable, for while I did not make staggering progress tonight I made progress, which is more than I thought I would do. So:

• Lesson One: Make time for writing, and use it only for writing, especially if I don’t feel like writing.

Instead of really tearing into my plot and adding lots of interesting points I found myself organizing my outline. I started grouping things together in movements and sections (I still need to work on actual scenes, but I think I got a fair start) and identifying the areas where I want more plot points. I even gave myself a section for “unsorted” plot points for things I know I want to happen, but I don’t know where. This all proved helpful for it allowed me to see my story in terms of larger strokes (previously I had it grouped under “Beginning, Middle, and End” just to start) that made sense, and adding the unsorted events already proved helpful as it allowed me to flesh out an idea and place it already! So:

• Lesson Two: Organizing my outline; it will allow me to get a better handle on my story and compartmentalize the movements and discrete units.

Stuck

The third thing which continues to be painfully clear to me (and is one of the sources of my “stuckness”) is my struggle to name things. I have to come up with names for people, names for places, names for kingdoms, names for legends, names for creatures, names for races … and I have a hard enough time picking a nickname for myself to use when chatting on the ‘Net! I’ve used name generators in the past, and those are okay, but there is still the struggle to pick a name that seems to fit the item (either by the sound or the meaning, or *gasp* both).

My only other point of “stuckness” is finding things for my hero(s) to do. I don’t want it to be a boring book (obviously) and I don’t want things to go by too quickly, and I like books that have little side plots that eventually tie into the whole in a way that few could predict. I imagine such complexities are beyond a 30 day deadline, but I still hope to have a tribute to such delights, perhaps editing after the fact to make it more full.

(As an aside: daglo got to see my outline as it stood tonight and he is convinced I have something close to 300,000 words worth of movements, while I can only see 20,000 words worth of points. I hope he is more right than I am.)

Posted by Seth Croston Barber at 10:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I may have learned something these past two days, something that could spell disaster for me. If my weekend was any indication of the weekends to come I am doomed. Perhaps doomed is too strong of a term, it might be better to say I will be greatly inconvenienced and pressured. I was wholly unable to do any planning this weekend, and I had high hopes for it. Looking back on my weekend I am not sure what happened. Saturday I was in terrible pain (and I already know it is near impossible for me to do any quality thinking when my body is not cooperating), I had a football game to listen too (we won!), and a party to attend. Today I was again in [much] pain, and we hand out-of-town friends we entertained all afternoon (much longer than we anticipated) and then I had to run tech-support for my brother which took up the rest of the time. So maybe I won’t be so doomed afterall. It looks like all I have to do is arrange my schedule so I get my writing done before I do anything else, or suffer the burden of an extra 4,000 words due Monday night.

On a different note, I did take some time out tonight (while on the phone with my brother) to re-arrange my desk to better suit my current working habits. I used to use a workstation exclusively, but ever since I got my iBook I have not spent any time worth noting on my desktop machine. My desk was almost unusable for my laptop because the monitor was in the middle, and I want my laptop in the middle. Now I am in happy land, with my monitor off in a corner (running dual screen too) and room for my laptop, my Lava Lamp, a desk lamp, and plenty of open desk space to keep my mind from dwelling on clutter. In my mind, I am all set for writing … as far as my environment goes. :) I can only hope I have enough notes and points in my outline to keep me from getting writer’s block in November.

Posted by Seth Croston Barber at 9:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

It was only this morning that I realized why my plots have failed, up until this point that is. I usually start out with an idea, then I start adding to the idea, and I start answering some questions about the idea (so I can better fill it out). Somewhere along the way I don’t like what I see, and I scrap the entire plot and start all over again, meaning I lost time. This almost happened last night, but due to not having time to play around with a plot I ignored the part I did not like, and low-and-behold I made some additions and an adjustment and now I really like the plot!

Specifically, the hero of my tale would set forth to retrieve The Package for his master. On the return journey the hero will find out The Master will use The Package for evil ends. I had set the hero to take The Package and flee to another kingdom thereby securing peace for a time. Yuck. I was not liking it, and I could not figure out why The Package (who is human) would go along with this in the first place. Then it struck me. The Package, through circumstance, will have no choice but to flee, for his life. The hero will take The Package to another kingdom, and from there The Master will be defeated.

It took me until this morning to realize the import of this. I should not throw away my plots because I do not like them. There was a time that I was not happy with the end, nor with The Package, and those were two rather large pieces of my plot. Without The Package there is no quest, no quest means no story. Instead I was able to add a new ending (my original “ending” is there, but it no longer ends the tale) and give a better purpose for The Package. It is my hope that in the future, when I work on plots, I will remain calm when I do not like something and come back to it later. In this case it worked great!

Maybe a little pressure, a deadline, actually will help me.

Posted by Seth Croston Barber at 9:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Good News!

I could not be more thrilled than I am right now. For the first time in my life (shh!) I have a plot with a beginning, a middle, an end, and points in between. I still have quite a bit to develop, holes that need filling, and points of interest to bring up (I don’t want to bore myself or my two or three potential readers). Before tonight I only had vague ideas, and I did not have a clear ending; before this project I never really was able to sit down and arrange a plot, adding events and conflict, despite the number of times I have tried (I need to figure out why this is different, though one would suspect it is because of the lack of time to procrastinate under the guise of planning). Before I left work I told daglo that my goal for the evening was: “define 4 plot points, 1 more character, and pick some psychology for 2 of my characters.” I defined more plot points than I want to count (2 pages worth according to my outline software), I added 1 character, and determined the race of an existing one. So I didn’t add any psychology just yet, but that pales in comparison to developing my plot!

Revelation

I also rediscovered something about myself, something I need to pay better attention to in all my projects, not just writing. When my mind says it’s done, it is done. There comes a time when I can no longer think and develop the way I was, and all struggling to get something done will be empty struggles (usually I have to re-do any work done in that period). I was only able to work for an hour tonight before that point kicked in, and I hope that is due to my lack of sleep and some of the mind-bending data organization I am slugging through at work.

The Gory, Ugly Stuff

I am a proud iBook packing geek (cum author?), and I truly enjoy my computer. The software I get to play with is top notch and has me expecting even more out of software than I ever have. Sadly, I also have to be willing to part with some of my money in order to play with some of it. First, there is the free (yippie!) note database software Notational Velocity which is absolutely fantastic at allowing me to fire off notes (on any subject) and find them later. Then there is possibly the best authoring software I have ever had the pleasure of using, CopyWrite. This thing allows you to store all your development documents, chapters, and notes (per document (including URLs!) and per project) all in one application. On top of that it has revisioning technology so I can permanently save draft one, hack it apart for draft two, but still see both drafts (I have not tried this yet, so I don’t know if it will show me the changes or the full documents). I had to shell out some of my money for it, but it has been worth it. Just tonight I started playing with OmniOutliner to get my plot outline organized (CopyWrite does not have any built-in outline capabilities). OmniOutliner has been great, but they too want some money. Thus far it has been great to get things organized, show sub-plots (yes, I even have one of those), and collapse those subplots. I don’t think I can afford to get it just now (donations are always welcome, *hint* *hint*) so I will probably have to use the trial and export it (they have a really good HTML export, or I can just save it to PDF and/or print it).

Some of the fun of this project is working with some really cool writing tools, tools I have wanted for a long time and now have. I’m not writing to use the tools, but the tools are making the writing easier and much more enjoyable. (Did I mention CopyWrite will let you set a target and show you a meter so you get a good visual of your progress?) Here’s hoping I hit 50,000 words!

Posted by Seth Croston Barber at 10:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I was quite afraid I would end up echoing daglo tonight. After not getting enough sleep last night, working my tired brain to exhaustion at work, and entertaining a couple of missionaries this evening I was quite afraid I would not get any time to work on my novel (I still don’t have a title yet, but that will come in time); I was most especially afraid I would add stress and pressure to my situation and not only get nothing done, but feel bad about it too. I don’t work well under pressure, I don’t respond well to stress, and somehow my attitude was right and I felt free.

I managed to plan out a few more bits and pieces about the characters in my novel, and a few notes on the greater plot picture. Sadly I still need to define, in greater detail, the movements in my plot. I feel quite satisfied though, for I confirmed something: when I relax and seek to enjoy the process, jotting down things that seem exciting to me, I get more done than if I work under pressure. Hopefully the “pressure” of a deadline will only serve as motivation to actually right, and not a source of stress.

And now the quandary of my tale. I am writing fantasy fiction. I have decided I want multiple races (I think it’s fun!). I’m not yet sure if I should include some of the “standard”; races (i.e. Elves and Dwarves, Orcs and Trolls) or forge out on my own creating all new races. On the one hand, using familiar races will engage my audience quicker, yet it also means I will need to do more research into them in order to maintain a certain level on consistency, lest I frustrate a reader by presenting an elf that is not very “Elvish” (if you know what I mean). On the other hand, creating my own races offers me plenty of opportunity to be imaginative and inventive; I will not have to conform to any standards. However, I may not be able to engage my audience and I run the risk of boring them with details that may not be pertinent.

So what do I do, and what would you suggest? I’ve only got 30 days… .

Posted by Seth Croston Barber at 11:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

While sitting in bed trying to calm down and go to sleep I revisited what stress dœs to people. I have read of many people who say they work better under pressure. This made me think back to my personality profile. It gave some indication of what people would be like under stress. I recall that my tendencies changed, and it is likely this is true for others. Here’s the catch, for the people who work better under pressure they probably are the type of people who when under stress pull up some character traits that are useful for finishing the task (I’m not sure which ones these might be, and it might depend on the task at hand). I know that when I get stressed my dominance drops off the charts, my analytical skills fall and my servant “just tell me what to do and I’ll do it” attitude becomes dominant. I might want to keep that in mind for a mind-heavy task like writing a book. I need to keep stress away, and find (and employ) as many stress relieving techniques as I can.

Posted by Seth Croston Barber at 11:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I am having a hard time with my novel right now. I am only allow to plan it, and that’s a good thing because I would not even know where to begin writing it. I don’t really have a plot, but I have a few character ideas. I have a large plot goal, but no real plot line. I know some events in the life of my plot (leave home, travel through rough land, find & retrieve “the package”, change motives/goal while returning, … <<insert the end point here>>) oops, I guess I don’t know how my story will end (that’s probably a problem).
I am not sure how to proceed from here. Do I continue to develop some characters? Problem with that is I might get bogged down in character creation and not figure out the plot. Do I work on the plot and ignore the characters? The problem with that is I might make a plot that I really don’t have any characters to perform in. How do I balance the two? What is my next step?

I have a theme (sacrifice) and I have at least one side-plot/conflict (the main character will be torn between two love interests, but the loves will be drastically different, one exciting and unknown, the other comfortable and familiar). I need more. I need more interesting things to happen along the way. I have a whole world of imagination in front of me … why can I not find anything interesting?

(Note to self: I don’t think I want this to be a particularly dark story, but I really don’t care, as long as I get 50,000 words and some experience writing a complete story, beginning to end.)

Posted by Seth Croston Barber at 10:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)