The Idea Worm

Something happened to me this weekend that I bet happens to every writer. It's both exciting and irritating. I'm not sure yet. I haven't decided.

It started on Friday with a simple thought. The possibility of a new scene, not in the outline. You know... "It'd be really cool to have a scene where X, Y or Z happened."

You tell yourself there isn't room for this scene in the story. It doesn't work with the greater storyarcs - heck, it doesn't work with the subplots either. Except... well, there is that one place, you know, where it'd fit?

Not quite, though. So you put this cool scene aside and stick to your earlier guns. Let's not derail the whole plot for one epic action scene, right?

The problem is that as time passes by, you can't help but think back of this scene. You list what needs to be changed for it to work. You mentally smoothen transitions from this scene to others, and all the build-up around it.

It'd be a lot of work, changing it. Too much for what it's worth? This is where it starts to get messy. This new scene has consequences on the entire outline. Changing it will require a good deal of rewrite, and replanning the end before you get there. You ask yourself if you should. If it really makes your book better.

You list all the ways in which it does. More tension. Bigger stakes and obstacles. A whole new world of dangers and complications added, both at the scene and for the climax.

The writer in you sees the potential. The human being recalls the hours of plotting and the pain of yet another rewriting.

Tough choice.

Except... we all know it's not really one, right? Once I find a way to make my story better, there's no way I can abandon it.

That's where I stand right now. I'll have to rework the ending and rewrite quite a number of scenes. Perhaps add a POV and cut another one. Right now I'm not sure if I have a handle on this story anymore. All I know is, my brain is fried from thinking through all the possibilities over and over...

At least I still have one scene to write where this whole new storyline branch doesn't change much. Gives me a bit more time.

Does this ever happen to you? How do you deal with it?

J. S. Bell and the Character Arc

I bought James Scott Bell's Plot and Structure over the holidays in the hopes of helping me unravel the criss-crossing threads of my plot in a timely, tension-building fashion. It's important to know the canvas that supports a story and how to use it to your novel's advantage.

I can't possibly make a comprehensive list of how much I learned. The techniques in there are simple but efficient and I feel a lot less likely to err when I jump into my second draft. There's the LOCK system, the two doorways, the explanations on what beginning, middles and endings need, the common plot structures, the frequent problems and how to fix them... everything.

Out of all this, however, two elements caught my attention: the character arc and tension in your scenes.

 The Character Arc

I like to think I have a strong sense of characters. I used to roleplay a lot and am used to centering stories around a smattering of characters and their evolution. A good story may take a character through a series of events until he vanquishes adversity. A great story will have this adversity change him irrevocably.

I was pleased when I noticed Bell devoted an entire chapter of Plot and Structure to this. The Character Arc can be a subplot, such as your MC learning something important just before the 'final battle', or it can be the point of the story.

Humans often resist change, however. This is good, because it creates tension. But how do you change them?

His basic idea was that every character has a core self-image, and that surrounding it are four layers of protection. These are, starting from the center: beliefs, values, attitudes and opinions.

I drew this, by the way. Super talented, eh?

 The idea is that a change on the outer layer, opinions, will have repercussions on the inner one. If you can change a few opinions, then you'll change an attitude. And with a few different attitude, you might change values. And onward like this, until your character is forced to change his self-image.

I loved this.  Starting with small changes before hitting the big ones is a great way to bring about a smooth character arc.

I'll be back with tension in the scenes on Wednesday!

Holiday Travel Time

This Monday marks the beginning of my holiday season. I'm aware it's only the 20th, and usually I have a few more days before the 'official' madness begins.

How can I tell it's official? Why do I call it that way?

Holidays for me involve a lot of travelling. My family is scattered around the province, and that never stopped us from meeting to celebrate. This year, I will be spending 15 hours in a car during the next week. Lots of wasted time, eh?

Not at all. Not for me, not since I became a writer. :)

I look forward to travel time now. I'm not the one driving, and so I'm allowed to get lost in my thoughts and to devote a lot of time to my stories. I'll refine my outline, work on my ideas, develop my characters... prepare for the New Year in writing!

Travel time is prime writing time, and in the maddening flurry that the holidays can be, I intend to cherish mine.

Winter Is Fixing My Plotholes

 Ever noticed how real-life experiences sometimes coincide with topics found on blogs around the internet? It just happened to me, with Nathan Bransford post on  The Importance of Exercise for Writer.

We received over a foot of snow in the last day, and as is the curse of those who live in houses rather than apartments during such weather, I had to pick up a shovel and go out. Now, most of my fellows will complain at such a task, but I've always found shoveling - while backbreaking after a while - to be good exercise. It's the winter's equivalent of mowing the lawn, but with less noise!

Plus, with all the studying I do these days, it's one of the rare moment (along with my 20-minutes walk to and from University) that I can think about my plot. Mindless tasks always help with planning. I am not the first to say it, and I doubt I'll be the last!

In the thirty minutes I spent outside, pushing snow around and shoveling it, I figured out how I would solve White Echoes' beginning plothole. This was one of my major concerns, because I could not properly justify why my character took the path of action that started everything.

And with the beginning of that answer came a whole new subplot, and a storyline that finally ties Henry Schmitt, one of the two main POVs, with the overarching plot on a personal level.

I sadly cannot give the new ideas all the love and thinking they deserve for the moment, but rest assured, they have been jotted down for future considerations. 

The plot thickens, I'm on a roll again, and I am having a good day!

Inspiration - Building a Novel

Yesterday (it's still 11:59 pm as I start this, so it is still yesterday!) I talked about where or how I found my initial ideas for novels - about that first spark of inspiration that grips you and refuses to let go.

Unfortunately, that spark is not enough to get a novel. You have to develop the idea into a complex plot with three-dimensional characters in a believable setting. And that takes a lot of ideas, and a lot of thinking.

So where do you get those ideas?

It's a bit different now that I have something to work from. I described my plotting process in more details early on, in a post I called Unraveling the Plot. Basically, I keep asking questions (mostly why), answering them, and then asking questions about the answers I just gave.

Sometimes, though, the answers won't come easily. What do I do then? How do I get out of this inspiration block? In a way, I guess I just let it rest in the back of my mind until something comes up. With time I noticed there were moments where inspiration came more easily, though. Here's a list!

1. Chores. Whether I'm doing the dishes, cleaning up my bedroom or gathering all the leaves in my backyard (there's a lot of them), when I'm working a mindless task, novel ideas seem to assault me. This is good, because otherwise I'd never clean my room!

2. Walking. I have to walk 20 minutes every morning to get to the University, and 20 minutes back. Trust me, this is by far the most idea-inducing period of my days. When I'm stuck in corner, whether while plotting or writing, I often go out to take a walk. It's just a shame the weather won't allow it year-long.

3. Classes. Hum... yeah. I won't say more about that one. Just that sometimes, I am writing things down during classes, and they are not biochemistry notes.

4. Waking up. I'm a snooze person. I set my alarm an hour earlier than I need to, and snooze it every 10-20 minutes. This gets me in a semi-sleeping stage that does wonder for my novels. I think only walking works better than this!

So these are my little daily times where I get ideas and develop my plot. This is when I do my thinking. What about you guys? Any times of the day you seem more inclined to think about your novel?

Classical Music Concert

Friday evening I went to a classical music concert. It's not something I listen to at home, but when I get a chance to see an orchestra on a stage, I always jump on the occasion. I find there's something immensely relaxing to sitting down, closing my eyes (or watching the maestro) and just listening to the notes.

There's also something incredibly inspiring.

Friday's was my second concert and for the second time, I had a major breakthrough. Last time I was stuck on a scene and figured out how I wanted to edit it. This time, I found what bothered me with my plot.

I have a whole useless arc. 

Okay, it's not completely useless. I managed to tie it back to the others in the end. But I could easily remove it entirely by tweaking things here and there. Writing it and including it would be indulging myself. I might do it during NaNoWriMo, because it'd be the perfect occasion to do such a thing, but I have to accept that this arc won't be in the final version. It hurts, but it's necessary.

Besides, I have a new arc to replace it with.

Edingher has always been about a social revolution, and the big changes were meant to start with a shift from war to culture. I knew the wood-growing industry would be diverted from ships and war machines to art. I spent the concert staring at the violins. Wood. Music. Art.

I love the new possibilities. I have to replot a third of the novel, but I don't care. This is splendid, and it's far closer to what I want to achieve.

Now I just need to get to work!

Unraveling the plot

My fantasy ideas, when I first get them, are never very well-defined. I will have a scene or a character, but nothing else. There are obvious things about this character, but for every thing I am certain of, there will be a dozen I don't know yet.

It is, in many ways, like coming upon a big knot. You can see certain threads, and you know there's a splendid tapestry behind, but you first have to entangle them. You have to separate each thread from the others and see what it is made of before you can weave it back into a splendid work of art.

I don't think there's a single good way to do this. Each writer goes through his own process. This is only mine.

I start with the characters. It helps that most of the time, a character is the first thing I imagine, but even if I have a scene in mind, I start with the charaters. And I ask questions.

Who is this guy? What does he want? Why? Does he have family and friends? Where does he live? How does that shape his personality? Is there something peculiar about his appearance? If this is a scene, how and why did he get here?

Every answer to these questions should bring out more. Often, the setting will influence this character. No, wait, scratch that. Always, the setting will influence your character. If you know your world already, see where it connects with him. If you don't, see what could've shaped your character this way.

Always, ask questions. Pay close attention to the answers, especially the whys. Every time I do this, it's like pulling on a thread in the knot. Yes, some will tighten it and only make the big picture harder to see, but you will find the right thread, and the knot will fall apart.

There are knots along the way, though. Knots in the bigger knots. You'll find you have a beginning and an ending, and key scenes in-between... and yet, there is still that stretch in the story where you don't know what happens.

What do I do? I start with the characters.

How would he go from point A to point B? Isn't there someone that would be opposed to this? Who is that someone? What does he want, and why? Does he have family and friends? Where does he live? How does that shape his personality? Is there something peculiar about his appearance?

And thus a scene is born. I talked about ambitious characters before. This is why I love them.

Ask questions. Give answers. Explain the answers. Unravel the plot knot into threads, and then weave them back together to create your novel.