Hello, Hello!
Camp Nanowrimo Update: 4592 words.
American Gothic Update: This series will be coming in May. April is tooooo hectic for me to be able to pen it out, but its coming next month :)
For my post today, I just wanted to share a couple of small things that have inspired me lately. I wouldn't say that I am in a slump, but words are flowing a little slower than usual. Maybe its because I'm a writer with 2 day jobs, or because I'm working 6-7 days a week. I dunno. It doesn't matter in the scheme of things.
As many of you know, I'm working on my first novel projects. One that I plan on publishing traditionally, and one that I plan on publishing serially. But as a short story writer, I feel very much out of my comfort zone. A friend of mine came last summer and helped me immensely with the outlining process (which is not the same for everyone, but I didn't even know where to start).
But outlining is something that is still new to me, and with my detailed outlines, sometimes I lose sight of the simpler picture. What is my main character trying to achieve? What is point A and what is point B? If you are a reader, or a writer, or a watcher of movies (if you're not any of those, why are you here?) then you have probably heard of Joseph Campbell's Hero's Quest. I won't go into it here, but it is a sort of story telling outline that 90% of stories follow, whether they are film, tv, or print. But, that can still be sort of daunting, and the language lends itself a little better to fantasy or sci-fi than it does a lot of traditional literature.
So, I follow the Dan Harmon Story Circle.
Dan Harmon is a screen writer, most known for his show: Rick and Morty (which I mentioned in a previous post.)
The Circle follows a lot of the same things as The Hero's Quest, but the language is simpler, the idea is simpler, and allows you to get to the basic premise of your story. I just did the story circle for one of my books, and the next day I wrote around 400 words with great ease. It isn't an in depth outlining tool, but if you're just starting a project, or in the beginning of one, and can't seem to keep things straight, I recommend it.
Here is a link to Dan Harmon's "writing class" featuring the story circle. Eventually he starts moving into talking about TV writing, which isn't applicable to me (yet), but there still might be some interesting points.
The last thing that I really took to heart was from a pep talk I received in my Camp NaNoWriMo inbox from one of the Camp Counselors. She was a soap opera writer, and she made the comment that:
This spoke to me, because as I am writing this serial project, I have to think of how I can give the reader a reason to want to read on, even if the next "chapter" won't be coming for a week or so.
Anyway, that's all for now. Happy Writing!
Memento Mori
&;
Camp Nanowrimo Update: 4592 words.
American Gothic Update: This series will be coming in May. April is tooooo hectic for me to be able to pen it out, but its coming next month :)
For my post today, I just wanted to share a couple of small things that have inspired me lately. I wouldn't say that I am in a slump, but words are flowing a little slower than usual. Maybe its because I'm a writer with 2 day jobs, or because I'm working 6-7 days a week. I dunno. It doesn't matter in the scheme of things.
As many of you know, I'm working on my first novel projects. One that I plan on publishing traditionally, and one that I plan on publishing serially. But as a short story writer, I feel very much out of my comfort zone. A friend of mine came last summer and helped me immensely with the outlining process (which is not the same for everyone, but I didn't even know where to start).
But outlining is something that is still new to me, and with my detailed outlines, sometimes I lose sight of the simpler picture. What is my main character trying to achieve? What is point A and what is point B? If you are a reader, or a writer, or a watcher of movies (if you're not any of those, why are you here?) then you have probably heard of Joseph Campbell's Hero's Quest. I won't go into it here, but it is a sort of story telling outline that 90% of stories follow, whether they are film, tv, or print. But, that can still be sort of daunting, and the language lends itself a little better to fantasy or sci-fi than it does a lot of traditional literature.
So, I follow the Dan Harmon Story Circle.
Dan Harmon is a screen writer, most known for his show: Rick and Morty (which I mentioned in a previous post.)
The Circle follows a lot of the same things as The Hero's Quest, but the language is simpler, the idea is simpler, and allows you to get to the basic premise of your story. I just did the story circle for one of my books, and the next day I wrote around 400 words with great ease. It isn't an in depth outlining tool, but if you're just starting a project, or in the beginning of one, and can't seem to keep things straight, I recommend it.
Here is a link to Dan Harmon's "writing class" featuring the story circle. Eventually he starts moving into talking about TV writing, which isn't applicable to me (yet), but there still might be some interesting points.
The last thing that I really took to heart was from a pep talk I received in my Camp NaNoWriMo inbox from one of the Camp Counselors. She was a soap opera writer, and she made the comment that:
"Every scene or chapter should end with a literal or metaphorical slap."
This spoke to me, because as I am writing this serial project, I have to think of how I can give the reader a reason to want to read on, even if the next "chapter" won't be coming for a week or so.
Anyway, that's all for now. Happy Writing!
Memento Mori
&;
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