Hey everyone. I want to be honest. I’m not feeling very good about my writing at the moment.
So I’ve created a list of challenges. Read the rest of this entry »

After developing many more characters with the same thought process I showed you in the last post, I started thinking about villains. I started thinking, “Who in Lura is strong enough to actually be a threat?”

(ahead is a brainstorm’s worth of minor spoilers) Read the rest of this entry »

Conflict, conflict, conflict. Conflict on every page, they say. Is that even possible? Yep! And it’s easier than it sounds.

If you recall, I decided upon ‘trust’ to be my ‘deep theme’ based both on what I was freewriting and my past experiences.

(below there be mild spoilers, yarr!) Read the rest of this entry »

How does one create plots? I don’t think they come out of thin air.

Like all of you, I’ve spent my entire life figuring out just what it is I like and don’t like about … everything. And we’ve all come to different conclusions.

Now we’re left with experiences, very specific tastes, and loads of memories. I believe writing is an opportunity to share all those moments that stuck with us. Not just the moments in real life, but improvements on our favorite moments in stories, too.

Whether we’re spending time alone with our thoughts or experiencing life at its fullest, we’re cultivating our tastes which govern what kind of foods we like, what hobbies we enjoy, and even how we decide what we’d like to be when we grow up.

If that hobby or profession happens to be “writer” (yay!), that same thought process determines what genre we’d most like to write in. And that same thought process is at the very root of what happens and exists in our stories.

Most importantly, everything that makes you “you” is so unique, nobody else will ever write the stories in your head. So it’s up to YOU to save them from oblivion! :)
(Uh, you can either look at that statement as a heroic calling or a morbid race against death, lol.)

So I needed to create a plot. I have many memories, experiences, and tastes to draw upon. But if I try to cram everything I love into a single story, it’ll be a cluttered mess! Decisions have to be made somewhere.

While I’m sorting out all those files I mentioned in the last post, I’ll try to show you a little bit of my plot creation process in the next few days.

Prev: Oh, what a tangled plot I weave | Next: Plot creation -part 2-

I have all the scenes mapped out for Five Rings. But before I do the same for Web of Hearts, I think I’ll try writing from the ‘beginning of the book’ to the ‘beginning of the middle’. So basically, from the prologue to…

<recap>
BEGINNING OF THE MIDDLE
~~~This is the point of the story where it stops being introduction and the MC is out in the world.~~~
</recap>

Now I’ve got a bunch of text files that look like this->

Read the rest of this entry »

(Yay! This is my 60th post. We’re also on the threshold of 5,000 hits. What a milestone on both counts. Thanks, all! ^_^)

Before I get too much further with writing scenes, I’d like to talk a little bit more about plot structure.

The plot is an unruly beast. There are many theories as to why a story works, or how to combine various elements to make the “ultimate plot combination”. The number of possible plot types is hotly debated, but it’s a growing list. We’re not talking about some sacred list that only adds a new plot once every 1000 years; Something like sixteen more have been added just within the last 100 years. So don’t listen to those old codgers that claim ‘everything under the sun has been done’, just like how inventors in the past always managed to invent new things, despite their stuffy compatriots claiming everything under the sun had already been invented. You CAN write something new.

Anyway, I feel lucky to have stumbled upon what I feel is a cool trick to writing good plots. (If it’s widely known info, forgive me. It’s definitely not widely known at my on-line stomping grounds, nor is it mentioned in any of my ‘how-to’ reading materials.)

But before I talk about that, I want to reiterate something->
I’m sure you’ve all seen Syd Field’s three-act plot structure. But just in case you haven’t, here they are (in my own words): Read the rest of this entry »

Once I had a beginning and ending worked out, it was time to decide upon length. According to many sources, a salable, entry-level high fantasy novel should aim for 80k to 120k words.

So how do you know how many words you are going to write? Unfortunately, there’s no (immediately apparent) hard and fast rules for hitting a target word-length. There’s no “average length for a chapter” either, because chapters end and begin for all sorts of different reasons. A 120,000 word novel can have 30 chapters, and an 80,000 word novel can just as easily have 50. I even read about an avant-garde writer that made one of his chapters a single sentence.

None-the-less, I tried bridging the beginning of the book to the end using chapter titles and brief descriptions of what happens in each of them. I failed miserably. I was only able to make it to chapter twelve before I got stuck.

There was still a massive gorge between the beginning and end of my book. I needed to build a better bridge to help get the reader (and myself) across. Read the rest of this entry »

As I created Lura, I kept the story in mind. I even wrote my own creation story and could more or less visualize its geologic history.

So then comes plot. They say writing a plot for a novel is easier than for a short story. Heh. I don’t think the person that said that had high fantasy in mind. They say selling a novel is easier than selling a short story, too. But I digress.

The first thing to do was to figure out the beginning and the ending. I tried to play off the characters, their histories, and the world itself. I thought about how I’d like the characters to develop. I tried to make every character ’round’. (Bad, but simple example: If your main character is the ‘ultimate badass’, what kind of experiences could lead to that? After all, s/he probably wasn’t born one.) Thinking about all of those things should reveal some kind of theme, too. That theme should be the focus of the story, which should hopefully reveal some idea for a story arc. Read the rest of this entry »

The (ver batim) rules for the short story contest:
-Entries must not exceed 2,000 words. (685 words, here!)
-Manuscripts must be double-spaced on 8 1/2 x 11″ white paper. (Double-spaced, check. Standard paper, check.)
-Each submission entered must include:

• A seperate cover page with name of contest, title of manuscript, number of words, writer’s name, address, telephone number, and e-mail address if available. (Done!)
• A title page with the manuscript title only. (Done!)
• On the manuscript itself, each page should be headed with a title key word and page number. Nowhere on the manuscript should the author’s name appear. (Done!)

• No staples, please. (They’re so picky, aren’t they?)

Read the rest of this entry »

So I went to the dreaded juggernaut Barnes and Nobles and looked through their magazines. I had to crawl on all fours to find the section on writing.  You know … they are underneath the prominately displayed muscle-building and car magazines—rubbing pages instead with the New Age, Wiccan, and Faerie magazines. I guess they have profiled us writers as one of the many varieties of freaks that hang out at Denny’s after midnight.

I found a simple but well-done magazine there called ‘Writers’ Journal’. Issues are usually about sixty-five pages long, all in black and white print, and feature writing, poetry, and photography.
Read the rest of this entry »

So I went to the dreaded juggernaut Barnes and Nobles and looked through their magazines. I had to crawl on all fours to find the section on writing.  You know … they are underneath the prominately displayed muscle-building and car magazines—rubbing pages instead with the New Age, Wiccan, and Faerie magazines. I guess they have profiled us writers as one of the many varieties of freaks that hang out at Denny’s after midnight.

I found a simple but well-done magazine there called ‘Writers’ Journal’. Issues are usually about sixty-five pages long, all in black and white print, and feature writing, poetry, and photography.
Read the rest of this entry »

So I went to the dreaded juggernaut Barnes and Nobles and looked through their magazines. I had to crawl on all fours to find the section on writing.  You know … they are underneath the prominately displayed muscle-building and car magazines—rubbing pages instead with the New Age, Wiccan, and Faerie magazines. I guess they have profiled us writers as one of the many varieties of freaks that hang out at Denny’s after midnight.

I found a simple but well-done magazine there called ‘Writers’ Journal’. Issues are usually about sixty-five pages long, all in black and white print, and feature writing, poetry, and photography.
Read the rest of this entry »

So I went to the dreaded juggernaut Barnes and Nobles and looked through their magazines. I had to crawl on all fours to find the section on writing.  You know … they are underneath the prominately displayed muscle-building and car magazines—rubbing pages instead with the New Age, Wiccan, and Faerie magazines. I guess they have profiled us writers as one of the many varieties of freaks that hang out at Denny’s after midnight.

I found a simple but well-done magazine there called ‘Writers’ Journal’. Issues are usually about sixty-five pages long, all in black and white print, and feature writing, poetry, and photography.
Read the rest of this entry »

So I went to the dreaded juggernaut Barnes and Nobles and looked through their magazines. I had to crawl on all fours to find the section on writing.  You know … they are underneath the prominately displayed muscle-building and car magazines—rubbing pages instead with the New Age, Wiccan, and Faerie magazines. I guess they have profiled us writers as one of the many varieties of freaks that hang out at Denny’s after midnight.

I found a simple but well-done magazine there called ‘Writers’ Journal’. Issues are usually about sixty-five pages long, all in black and white print, and feature writing, poetry, and photography.
Read the rest of this entry »

Yes, I’m aware of the bad grammar of the title ^_^;

“At the beginning of next month, I’ll see if I can’t get this sucker published in a real magazine.”

Well, it’s the beginning of next month, and indeed, we shall see.

As you may recall, I’ve tried to get a few things published in the past but they all were met with failure. My first attempt was entering my first short story, ‘An Escape from Reality’, in a contest at my college back in late March.

When submitting something, I guess you have to follow the directions exactly or your work’ll end up somewhere far worse than a slush-pile.

Rules were: Read the rest of this entry »

Yes, I’m aware of the bad grammar of the title ^_^;

“At the beginning of next month, I’ll see if I can’t get this sucker published in a real magazine.”

Well, it’s the beginning of next month, and indeed, we shall see.

As you may recall, I’ve tried to get a few things published in the past but they all were met with failure. My first attempt was entering my first short story, ‘An Escape from Reality’, in a contest at my college back in late March.

When submitting something, I guess you have to follow the directions exactly or your work’ll end up somewhere far worse than a slush-pile.

Rules were: Read the rest of this entry »

Yes, I’m aware of the bad grammar of the title ^_^;

“At the beginning of next month, I’ll see if I can’t get this sucker published in a real magazine.”

Well, it’s the beginning of next month, and indeed, we shall see.

As you may recall, I’ve tried to get a few things published in the past but they all were met with failure. My first attempt was entering my first short story, ‘An Escape from Reality’, in a contest at my college back in late March.

When submitting something, I guess you have to follow the directions exactly or your work’ll end up somewhere far worse than a slush-pile.

Rules were: Read the rest of this entry »

Yes, I’m aware of the bad grammar of the title ^_^;

“At the beginning of next month, I’ll see if I can’t get this sucker published in a real magazine.”

Well, it’s the beginning of next month, and indeed, we shall see.

As you may recall, I’ve tried to get a few things published in the past but they all were met with failure. My first attempt was entering my first short story, ‘An Escape from Reality’, in a contest at my college back in late March.

When submitting something, I guess you have to follow the directions exactly or your work’ll end up somewhere far worse than a slush-pile.

Rules were: Read the rest of this entry »

Yes, I’m aware of the bad grammar of the title ^_^;

“At the beginning of next month, I’ll see if I can’t get this sucker published in a real magazine.”

Well, it’s the beginning of next month, and indeed, we shall see.

As you may recall, I’ve tried to get a few things published in the past but they all were met with failure. My first attempt was entering my first short story, ‘An Escape from Reality’, in a contest at my college back in late March.

When submitting something, I guess you have to follow the directions exactly or your work’ll end up somewhere far worse than a slush-pile.

Rules were: Read the rest of this entry »