Progress?

So the long couple of weeks at work culminated in a very short weekend and less fiction progress than I had hoped.

I didn't leave work on Friday until ten o'clock; consequently, I didn't get to sleep until after the witching hour and then started Saturday by oversleep (seven-thirty). By the time I finished social media, walked a bit, and met someone for an interview, it was nearly noon.

I did finish the three character questionnaires for the last section of Henry's chapter seven in Before the Blood, but that's all. Oh, and I did succumb to a thirty minute nap.

After Rebekah came home from work, and we walked, I headed into work for a couple more hours.

Sunday after Divine Liturgy was more work, which is how I generally spend Sunday afternoons. I did get walking in and yoga in.

Cornell Dyer and the Missing Tombstone still requires formatting adjustment, and I, possibly, could have done it last night, but I felt I needed a mental break. Instead, I watched an episode and a half of the Korean drama, Descendants of the Sun with Rebekah.

This weekend, I'm covering an event that begins Friday and finishes up Saturday (which I will have to write on Saturday, as it will run on Monday), so I'm planning on taking the middle part of Friday off, just to build some free (i.e. fiction writing) time off. Because the following week, I'm back on as weekend editor.

That said, I'm hoping to spend my thirty minute morning writing time structuring this last chapter section, which, in a regular novel, might be its own chapter (or two. or three). This way, I'm prepared for more sweeping and global writing.

And maybe, just maybe, I can correct Cornell's formatting errors come Saturday. Maybe.

At any rate, that's the sentiment this last Monday morning in January.

Stuck on Ideas? Writers: Try This Trick

Character Questionnaires.

Yes, I know I've blogged about this in the past.

http://bryonyseries.blogspot.com/2016/03/getting-to-know-my-characters-its.html

But as I'm developing yet another round of characters, I'm fully realizing how great they are  for generating scenes, dialogue, and plot twists.

As soon as I type another trait, I'm ht with ideas: "Oooh, she and he can discuss that," and "Ah, so this is what happened in the past that triggered this," and "I can make this be the cause for that...and won't so and so be surprised when he finds out!"

Skeptical? Try it the next time you're stuck.

Because maybe, just maybe, the reason why ideas freeze is because the characters are too flat to move the story.

A Really Quick Post

Last week was an intense work week that led into a intense working weekend that's leading into a less intense but still intense and packed work week.

You got that?

Now it was a good weekend for it to be so work-heavy because I'm creating characters for this current chapter, which means mostly filling out character questionnaires, a task I'd rather reserve for my thirty-minute morning writings than on a Saturday when I'm free to write more globally.

That said, I've haven't so much as peeked at them since last Thursday morning. And I'd rather not lose this small burst of time in the quiet dark room with a hot mug of dark coffee beside me to keep me inspired to blogging.

To the writers out there, I know you understand.

To my handful of readers out there, this time spent on fiction is for you, ultimately.

Happy Monday, vampire fans! :)

BryonySeries Throwback Thursday: What Do You Consider the Most Overrated Virtue?

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

What Do You Consider the Most Overrated Virtue?

For the first time in my newspaper delivery history, we carriers were told to stay home on account of Blizzard 2011. I suddenly went from cold dread at braving the brutal storm to giddy elation knowing I could spend the entire night working on Bryony's prequel. I've got this horrid cold, but my bed is but a few feet from the computer, very handy, in case I succomb.

Right now, I'm filling out character questionnaires. I originally intended to use them on the freshly introduced, minor players, but for warm-up practice, I decided to work up the familiar, main characters, too. I completed Bryony's then tackled John's.

Although the other books in the BryonySeries have already addressed some of the more obvious topics, such as, "Do you have a secret?" and "Have you ever been in love?" questions such as this blog's title made me pause and think.

So did, "Who is John Simons' favorite fictional character?" "What smells does John associate with his childhood kitchen?" and "Whom does he secretly admire?"

Certainly I could answer all of the above (Okay, I punted on John's favorite fictional character), yet typing out the responses solidified personality traits and moral worldviews, making me feel closer to the charcters and more confident to tell their story.

Of course, listening to the music James Onohan (http://www.jamesonohan.com/) composed for Bryony through headphones (so as not to wake the sleeping household) definitely set the mood, too.

All in all, not a bad way to spend a snowed-in night.

Getting To Know My Characters: It's Making All The Difference, Part Two

Write what you know. How many times we, as writers, have heard this maxim?

And yet, in our impatience to get our story down, we so often forget to do just that.

Now writing what you know doesn't mean limiting your prose to memoirs and personal experiences. But it does mean gaining an understanding of the subject you're attempting to convey.

The prequel of the BryonySeries, Before the Blood, is an experiement in writing for me, a series of unfinished novels that propel the story forward. I began outling the Before the Blood in 2011 and began writing it in earnest in 2014. Three novels are completed, two remain. The last is the longest.

Along the way, I've encountered dry spells and tackled them in different ways: finding a song that represented the mood of a particular scene; chapter; or character; writing randomly and following the trail; taking a walk and envisioning the action; finding photos online that look like my characters or scenes.

Then I hit Henry's Story and hit a wall, very puzzling. In Bryony, Henry, after Melissa, was the easiest character to write and, so, I wrote most of his scenes first. Since then, I've looked forward to depicting Henry once again.

So why is he remaining in the shadows?

The first chapter in Henry's section was easy to write. Well, okay, most of it was previously written. Chapter One was strenuous, and Chapter Two is eluding me altogether, despite the outline.

Finally two weekends ago, as I was out walking the track in the dark with my headphones, searching for a melody that would unblock the muse, I realized I was trying to write what I did not know. The other characters were like stand-up paper dolls in my mind, artfully arranged, but without depth and personality.

Who were these other people?

I wasn't quite sure.

So I began asking them questions, minute details that may or may not ever be used in the story. This goes beyond basic traits like hair color and hobbies. The questions read more like this:

• What makes your character laugh out loud?

• Your character is doing intense spring cleaning. What is easy for her to throw out? What is difficult for her to part with? Why?

• What does your character regard as the lowest depth of misery?

• If your character could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

• If your character were to die and come back as a person or thing, what do you think it would be?

• Who are your character’s friends and family? Who does she surround herself with? Who are the people your character is closest to? Who does he wish he were closest to?

• What is one strong memory that has stuck with your character from childhood? Why is it so powerful and lasting?

• Where does your character go when he’s angry?

I have a list of approximately thirty questions for each character. Like a time-elapsed video, they are plumping out and taking form. As they begin to move and breathe, so does the chapter.

Yes, this is time-consuming. But the result will be natural, layered, and rich.