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Frank DowneyNote:
The original versions of these posts can be found at http://groups.google.com/groups?ic=1 Sigerson wrote: How do you develop a story? From a character, usually. Sometimes from a character plus situation-- usually the situation is defined by the character, though. In The Perfect Six, I started with, "Michael, frustrated and demanding pairs skater." With Dance of a Lifetime, my novel, I started with, "Sophia, abused bad girl trying to make good." That was the "germ", so to speak. Sometimes I get a scene, but that scene usually is a "character defining" scene for my first character. With the novel, the first scene that I envisioned was the one where Sophia comes to work with a black eye. That started the whole process. There are two exceptions
to this, "Alexandra" and "Changeup." This is because
none of the main characters in these two stories are figments of my
imagination. "Changeup" *did* start with a scene--the whole
story is pretty much a scene piece--but that was also a scene based
on the personality and habits of my main female character, who happens
to be my wife However, everything else I have written--including (I think) everything in my extensive hopper, starts with a character. Usually it's a character with a story to tell, but the story is only a brief bit, and the writing is fleshing the bit and the character out. Since the vast majority of my stories are romances, I think this only stands to reason. I don't think *any* romance is interesting unless the writer makes you care about the characters, so *all* my romances are character-based. Even "Alexandra" is about a character, it just so happens that the character is a fictionalized version of a person I've known IRL for 28 years, so the story didn't *start* with the creation of a character. <g> Frank Katie McN wrote: 'The one that works' means a method that actually produces stories people want to read. We hear over and over again about the BHC and how this person or that has 50, 100, 150 or more stories in some state of not complete on their hard drive. The method they are using might not be a good one. I don't know if that's true, because I think the reasons for big hoppers are as varied as the number of people who have them. There are two reasons I have a big hopper: First, if I do not *start* a story, I forget it. Even if I'm not sure where I'm going from the beginning, I need to get the beginning written, so I have something to work on. I've never been able to work with written outlines--all editors may now flog me <g>-- but I can't do it, except for a very, *very* bare-bones sketch I made for the novel that keeps getting changed anyway <g>. The other reason I have a big hopper is that I'm very good at writing the beginning, and usually very good at knowing where I'm going to end up, but the middle comes slow. I've got one I'm working on right now--I knew the setup, and I knew how I wanted the two characters to come together, but getting from the setup to that point is now in it's fifth draft <g>. The novel is a particular piece of hell from this standpoint, because I've got "signposts" plotted, but getting from point A to point B is the bitch. For example, right now my characters are in March in a particular year, and I've got a Big Big Plot Development that is happening from September to November, and I'm furiously trying to get from March to September, and set the Big Plot Development up correctly, and I am having some trouble. My other problems are this--I get *lots* of ideas at once and, like I said, if I don't start it, I won't remember it. Also, I *prefer* having more than one cooking at the same time. If I only work on one thing at a time, I get overloaded. I'll often have three things open in Word at once, and switch back and forth in the middle of one writing session. Weird, I know, but I'm the type of person that can't concentrate on reading a book unless either the stereo or the TV is going at the same time <g>. And I *always* listen to music while I write, always, always, always. Once I have the idea I think about it for some period of time. This could be a day or a week and sometimes more than that. The main pieces fall together during this time and at a certain point I have to start writing. I call this point the place where the story is forcing itself out. I do that, too, but like I said, I have to write *something* at the initial point. I use the Word Outliner to develop my story outline. The title is the first line and then I use a single indent for the hook, 1 or more scenes and a conclusion. Each of these is further described with phrases covering the flow of action in the scene. If the scene is quite complicated the flow may be broken down further with additional phrases. God, I wish I could use outlines <G>. That, I know, *is* a defiency in my writing. I usually start from the top and try to write in sequence. Recently I've been writing stories in the 4000-6000 word range. It usually take me two or three sessions to create what U call the rough draft. I start each writing session by editing what I did in the prior sessions. This, I highly recommend, if you write in spurts like I do, or Katie does. If, when you come back to something, you edit what you've already done, IMHO it helps the flow considerably. Once I have a proposed rough draft, I read the story aloud in monotone. I've found my eyes will play tricks on me and read what's not there or skip over things that shouldn't be there. Another great idea that I use. I find it especially valuable for finding annoying little typos. I don't have an editor, so if I make a mistake--which I have--my readers usually catch it--which they do <G>. And it's embarrasing. I confused two of my character's names in the novel, and got a flood of embarrasing emails <wry grin>. When I've finished all that I send the story to Denny. Sometimes he sends it back and says it's done. He can change my stories and doesn't have to inform me that he does. In some cases he questions story concepts and I do a rewrite. Since I'm not in love with any of it, *That* I envy. I'm in love with all of it, even the crummy stuff <G>. Someone once said--about songs, which I also write--that they are like babies. Probably especially true for us men, especially those of us who suffer womb-envy <VBG>. Writing's the closest thing I'll get to birthing a baby. Emotionally attatched? Moi? <G> Like everyone else, I run into writers block. For me this usually is a fear of the story. There are several reasons why this happens. I may not really know what I want to do with the story and stall until something comes to me. Well, for me, that's not fear of the story. It's that my muse has gone off-line and is not responding to my entreating, desperate attempts at communication <G>. I've seen Katie write before about her writing style, and I've gotten the impression that she does not subscribe to the Divine Intervention theory of writing. I do. I channel the things, and if The Muse is on strike, there ain't nothin' there to work with. All of the above seem to be related to fear. There is the fear of not knowing how my story will end. There is the fear that the story isn't any good and so I'd rather do something else that might be better. This *does* happen. What I do, is I force myself to keep going back to the one that I'm afraid isn't very good, stare at it some more, and see what comes. If nothing comes, my fears are confirmed--it's not going anywhere--and I scrap it. I just did that with one of mine, although I am going to attempt to start it again and take it in a different direction from the beginning. I decided that my main female character did not work, so she's being revamped. I would very much like to here from other people who would be willing to share their methods. And, I hope Rui Jorge could start a web page for the methods. We talked about this before when we had the discussion on categories and lost the opportunity to save some valuable material. I think this thread could provide a lot of useful information which authors could benefit from over time. I agree. There's some great stuff in Katie's post, especially if you're writing style is at all like hers--and, even if it's not, since I got some good stuff out of it, too. Frank |
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