TECH: Nano Notes #1: Reflections

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Original posting Nov. 1, 2010

Okay! It's the first day of nanowrimo, and at least here, it's pouring rain. Apparently we had a typhoon pass by, and mostly we ended up with lots and lots of rain. Which suggests something that you might want to toss into your nanowrimo words and words -- weather! Yes, tell us about the weather. Just like you tell your friends, it's a nice day, it's a rotten day, sunny, rainy, snow, tornadoes, typhoon, blizzards, all that good stuff that tells us how the weather is. And, as usual, don't just toss it off with a little word, show it to us. Have your character struggling with their umbrella as they try to get out of the car, and ending up with their pants leg drenched! A little bit of dismay as they realize that the seat of the car has also gotten a good soaking. At least it's not leather or anything extravagant, so it will just dry out in time.

While you're at it, you can always go over here http://community.livejournal.com/writercises/140129.html and take a look. November 1, 2008? Anyway, words from previous nanowrimo session suggesting that you pay attention to five areas to help fill in those words. Setting (remember the weather), senses (ha! What does a rainstorm smell like? How about wet jeans? Or that wonderful tactile feeling of walking in jeans with one dry leg and one wet, the odd stickyness and release of the wet side, and the comfort of the dry side?), Or maybe showing us flashbacks instead of just referring to them, making sure that even bit players have an opportunity to shine, and of course, letting your characters really reflect on things. Setting, senses, flashbacks, bit players, and reactions. When you fill those in, your word count is likely to go up! And that's what we're after for nanowrimo, word count.

It's kind of interesting how many different places I'm seeing reference to nanowrimo. Over here http://madgeniusclub.blogspot.com/2010/10/life-nanowrimo-and-just-doing-it.html Amanda Green reminds us to keep doing it. Make the time, keep at it, watch those distractions (shiny? What? Hey, I really needed to check that out on wikipedia, and then there were all those links, and I needed to check my mail, and... what was I saying? :-)

But mostly, quite sincerely, sit down. Put your hands on your keyboard (pen to paper, headset on, or whatever) and let those words flow. Tell us about your characters. Show us where they are, what they're doing, the problems they're running into and how they're going to try to get past them. Let us into their lives. All of which really means...

WRITE!

And for your next scene... Nano Notes #2

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

original posting Nov. 2, 2010

Once upon a time in the land of nanowrimo, you got to the end of the scene (or will get to one, sooner or later, as the words run trippingly off your fingers. At least I don't think you can write one scene that is 50,000 words long. I'm not sure that the reader would have the slightest chance of being able to keep all of that in their head at one time! Not to mention this incredibly elaborated parenthetical remark about getting to the end of the scene :-) And, the odds are reasonably good that you should start another scene. But what should this next scene do for you? Well, most of the scenes between the beginning and the climax complicate things. Something gets in the way of your characters immediate gratification, they don't get what they want right away because frankly, having dessert right away is kind of boring. Delayed gratification, that's the trick.

So what goes in the middle? Well, over here at http://community.livejournal.com/writercises/140680.html I borrowed from the book Scene and Structure by Jack Bickham a list of seven different possibilities. Let's take a relatively short look at them (or you could just roll a die and pick that one, although where you're going to find seven sided die is a good question).

First, the scene could simply push the character away from quick attainment of goal. He was going to sign the check, but he insists on adding up the balance first. And the balance isn't right? And... one thing after another makes it harder and harder to quickly attain that goal.

Second, you can mix in some unexpected, unrelated problems. We almost had the check when the black turtle ninjas crashed through the window and forced everyone to the floor. Then the white foxes came rolling through. And did we mention the tornado?

Third is very like the second one -- somewhat unrelated problems that have to be solved before getting back to that check. The pen runs out of ink. Looking for ink, the desk drawer is locked, and the key is lost? And more and more things stack up, making it harder and harder to get that darn check signed.

Fourth, subplots. Your main character or other characters can certainly have other things going on. Jane insists on everyone having dinner before signing the check. Little Boy Blue wants to know about the sheep in the backyard, and who's going to clean up?

Fifth is simply adding tension. Put those deadlines, ticking clocks, threats and costs into scenes. Sure, our hero is about to get the check signed, but having eaten dinner, Little Boy Blue points out that the post office in town closes at 9, and we've only got 20 minutes to get there. Do you want to bet that we can have enough flat tires, bad directions, and other problems to turn 20 minutes into a race to the door, only to find that ...

Sixth is more of an arrangement of scenes. At the beginning, there are often a large variety of possibilities open to the hero. Lots of people could sign that check, but one scene after another, we find out why those other people aren't right for the job. Sure, we could get a loan, but... the bank doesn't believe that itinerant cameramen living with their aging aunt who is about to lose her house are exactly the best risks? And then... work through the possibilities and cancel them out, one by one, until finally our hero is just going to have to face Dad once more.

Seventh, revelations. One of the great things about scenes is that they can be used to reveal complications and history, background, the reason that Sally kept her hand inside the purse as they walked into the house. And again, each revelation can make it more necessary to achieve the goal or less likely to get there, or even both! Sure, Sally had her hand on a gun the whole time, but Dad isn't going to sign with a gun to his head. And why does Sally feel this way about Dad, anyway?

Go ahead. Mix a few more scenes into the play, and see how they can complicate the path from here to there. Poor George. He just wanted to get a check signed, and now look what's happened. It's not enough that Dad gets obsessive compulsive about checking his balance, the ninjas destroy the house, the pen runs out of ink, Jane makes sure everyone eats before the signing, the Post Office is closing, and anyone and everyone else who might have loaned George the money turned him down flat. No, on top of all of that, Sally has to get revenge? Will George ever get that check signed?

Stay tuned for the great climax, coming in... oh, say 45,000 words or so?

Go, Nanowrimowers, go!

TECH: Don't kill your imagination!

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original posting Nov. 3, 2010

Sigh. Today has been kind of difficult for me -- it's a holiday here in Japan, and our church held a bazaar, which resulted in my standing behind a tableful of odds and ends for most of the day, laughing at people, telling them how cheap it was, and so on. It's also the height of the fall allergy season, and mine hit hard, so I took a pill. Dried up the old nose, but gave me a crushing headache along the way. And dry mouth and munchies, too.

Anyway, somewhere in the midst of all this, a young boy came by with his mother. Somewhere on my table, there was a set of small glass animals, one for each of the 12 traditional years -- rat, rooster, etc. (check dr. google, I'm sure he remembers the 12 years, or look at the paper placemat the next time you're in a Chinese restaurant, there's a good chance it will explain). Anyway, we were looking at that, and the boy was talking about how fast animals are. The man nearby said something about a leopard being the fastest, and the boy said, "I think a dragon is faster than a leopard."

What a delightful thought! And his eyes gleamed, and I think he was about to tell us why he thought that a dragon was faster than a leopard. I'm sure he had some perfectly wonderful reasons for thinking this?

But for some reason, the man nearby and his mother both jumped on the poor boy, telling him not to be ridiculous, that a dragon was imaginary! And he shrugged, and went on into the crowd.

I was left behind the table, wondering just why an imaginary dragon couldn't be faster than an almost equally legendary leopard? I mean, I have seen leopards in the zoo, but that's not really the same as a leopard in the wild. I've got relatively little real experience of leopards, and if someone turned up tomorrow having discovered dragons in central Australia or some such place, well? Anyway, why can't we compare the speed of an imaginary dragon and the speed of a non-imaginary leopard? After all, just toss the square root of minus one in, and we get imaginary numbers. Why not imaginary animals?

But before I go completely over the illusionary edge chasing the merits of imaginary animals, let's admit that our imagination deserves some support! This business of immediately blocking flights of fantasy and fun with labels like ridiculous and imaginary seems to me unnecessary.

And that seems like an excellent point for Nanowrimowers to keep in mind. Sure, your story just mixed a little fantasy into the drabness, or took a step along the edge of wildness? Let it go! Heck, so what if your race track happens to have a leopard, a dragon, a rocket-propelled dragster, and maybe some other strange participants alongside the run-of-the-mill horses, whippets (are those dogs actually real?), and so forth? Drop the startling flag (yeah, I know most race tracks have starting flags) and see who runs, let them whip around the track so fast that the bend stretches out and back like a cartoon rubber band, and see who crossed the finish line out in front!

Okay? Don't stop the flights of fantasy, the rainbow borders, the gilding of the lily of reality with a dose of imaginary glitter. Enjoy it. Let your mind daydream, and see what gold lurks at the base of the wild and woolly rainbows.

By the way, have you ever stopped to consider which is faster? A dragon, or a leopard? Now why do you think that? Come now, I'm sure you have an opinion, and I promise, I'm not going to let those strange people tell you how ridiculous it is to compare them. Just between you and me, I suspect that the dragon is faster, too. After all?

Just write, okay?