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26 April, 2009
So much for plans...
A funny thing happened while I was doing my character exercises this week. It occurred to me that I could be looking at the whole thing from the wrong perspective. I'd given the heroine a certain storyline, the hero another...and then I thought, "What if?".
What if I put my heroine in the hero's shoes, gave her his family, his motivation, his conflict? What if I gave my hero the heroine's past and obligations? What would that do to the overall plot?
22 April, 2009
Plotting and Planning
I'm happy to report that I finished the final sentence of the "plot in a paragraph" exercise, so I now have a slightly more detailed idea of where I'm heading. I'm currently working on the next part; an analysis of each of the main characters.
For the first time ever I have a better idea of my villain's goals, motivations, and conflict than those of either my hero or my heroine. Which is good. I hope. But my goal this week is to actually finish the analysis of all the characters.
I think the most helpful--and therefore the most difficult--part of the character exercise is "write a one-sentence summary of the character's storyline". I've never sat down and done that before. What do I put in? What do I leave out? What is the bottom line for this particular character?
All good questions. Now I need some good answers.
I'll keep you posted
12 April, 2009
Continuing Anew
OK. I have the entire plot overview encapsulated into one sentence. Randy at Advanced Fiction Writing said it would take about an hour. Well, I took a little longer...two hours maybe.
But honestly? I stared at this sentence and thought, "How will this grab a reader by the throat for 400 pages?" Luckily I remembered what else he said; to go and see how the New York Times list did it.
So I did. And you know what? Their one-liners were worse than mine! Woo Hoo!
Full of enthusiasm I started on the 'plot in a paragraph' exercise. In essence we're talking about five sentences which cover certain aspects (Randy calls them the Disasters) of the plot.
Wow, this took some time. As we speak I've done five and need a sixth to make sense of it. But again, it's helped clarify the large view, the logic of the structure.
Interestingly enough, that initial single sentence overview hasn't had to change to accommodate the enlarged plot either. Somehow I thought it would. Maybe I'm doing something right!
I'll keep you posted.
5 April, 2009
Starting Anew
There's nothing like the feeling you get when you begin plotting a new book. The excitement. The frustration. The thrill. The angst.
I began the process this time by visiting the Advanced Fiction Writing site and looking at Randy Ingermanson's Snowflake method of plotting.
So far, so good! And it's helped me clarify a lot of things before I start.
I guess we're all looking for that magic formula, that special 'something' people like Nora Roberts and Janet Evanovich seem to have in abundance--the ability to make it look effortless.
So here's hoping, folks! It would be nice to think that THIS time I'm going to sail through...instead of suddenly finding my nose squashed against a brick barrier about chapter 12 because I didn't take into account the XYZ.
I'll keep you posted.
Let me tell you what it has done. It's made it get up and dance! While the original idea was good and I could've run with it this is spectacular and I can't wait to get my teeth into the actual writing.
Again, strangely enough, the single sentence plot summary needed minimal change. The real gut-wrenching changes are in the emotional arcs of the characters.
It's so exciting!
I'll keep you posted.