TECH: WHOOPS! Catching Up! Nano nails!

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Original Posting 25 Nov 2011

What? The last note was on the 13th? And today is the 25th? ARGH!

Hey, all. I've been sick. Believe it or not, I've had a cold, which for a while just meant arguing with the dictation software about whether sneezes really meant I wanted a line of "him" across the page (does a sneeze really sound like "him"? Oh, well...). Then I lost my voice!

Which may not sound like much of a problem, but if you quit typing to save your fingers, and have been using dictation software -- a whisper doesn't cut it. So I went back to the keyboard for a while. Even though it does hurt, some.

Anyway, I'm recovering, and still meeting and beating Nanowrimo into shape! So...

Let's see. Old bits and pieces...

ARCS! Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction. Or as I teach my students sometimes, surprise! WIIFM (What's in it for me?), Yes, you can!, and last but not least, rewards, smiles, and other treats. That's one theory of motivation, and you can pay attention to those in your writing, too. Twists and other surprises keep the reader on their toes. Getting them engaged makes it relevant. Being fair to the reader raises their confidence. And oh, do those climaxes satisfy us. Emotional rewards galore!

Bradbury's formula!  "Find a character, like yourself, who will want something or not want something, with all his heart. Give him running orders. Shoot him off. Then follow as fast as you can...." And don't forget the zest and gusto, too!

OCEAN? What's a character? Well, openness -- desire for change (or not!). Conscientiousness -- planner or not? Extravert or introvert? Agreeableness? How many friends do they have? And neuroticism, that emotional edge? Right! Make them personalties, with some warts, and see what happens.

Bradbury again? Yeah... "You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you."

Go with the flow! Writing as a burst, a torrent of words flooding out. That's nanowrimo all over!

One more Bradbury notion? Aha, yes, the lists, the lists. Bradbury adored his lists, and so can you! Stop now and then, make a list of colors, of senses afire, actions, clues or whatever... and then expand on those, tell us all about them, and watch your words roll!

Ah, the metaphoric dance of the words! Yes, your neurons and mine enjoy connecting things up, so pick a number from one to seven (what, your die doesn't go that high? Okay, roll once. Odd is zero, even is one. Now roll again, and add whatever you get to your first roll. One to seven, with a bit of weight for the middle. Okay... where were we before I got distracted. Right! Pick your number and...)

Here's what you have chosen (behind door number 1, we have . . . ):

    1. Taking a bath
    2. Frying potatoes
    3. Boiling an egg
    4. Sending a letter (you remember, those funny paper things that preceded email?)
    5. Untangling a ball of string
    6. Learning to swim
    7. Starting a car in cold weather

Now, let your mind slide. That problem, that process, the incident in your story? How would you explain it in terms of this metaphor? What relates? What doesn't relate? What if...

There you go, a metaphorical fling for the fancy!

Oh, my. Then I threw in the business metaphors? I really wanted you to scramble those metaphors, fry some words, and get cooking, didn't I? Let's see, journeys, games, war, machines, organisms, social groups, family, jungle, and the zoo. Pick a style, narrow it down a bit and pick an example, then let the correlations begin!

Filling out characters? Right! Onions have layers, ogres have layers, and even secondary characters deserve a layer or two. Goals, motivations, conflicts, some change... make those characters stand out for us!

And today's old Nanowrimo posting? All about filling in the actions. Instead of just doing a scene change to put your favorite character at the next place where they get their lumps, consider filling in all the steps of getting there. And of course, in the scene, instead of just gliding over the action with summaries, go through the actions. How does the hero fry a hamburger, anyway? With a twist of garlic? And a dash of vinegar? Huh...

These nanowrimo notes are available at length somewhere over here http://writercises.livejournal.com/?skip=30&tag=nanowrimo along with many more!

But the key right now is ... I hope you are enjoying your Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and whatever, and getting ready to slam through the finish line on Nanowrimo, coming up next week! Scribble, tap, yackity-yack!

TECH: Nano Nuts 27?

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original posting 27 Nov 2011

All right! Hopefully, you're burping lightly from all that wonderful Thanksgiving food, and scribbling away to finish up? Just a few more days, but you too can write some more!

Actually, before we skip past it too lightly, there is that wonderful feast that some of you have enjoyed to use as a possible aid in nanowrimo. Just let your characters enjoy a Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas feast, barbecue, dinner at a French restaurant, perhaps Chinese takeout -- and walk through all the courses, the smells, the tastes, the crunch of the pastry, the chewy taste of the Guinness, or whatever. In between courses, you might weave in a bit of dialogue, a little action, or even have the bad guys burst in with guns roaring... but enjoy the food, too!

Okay. From the historic files, let's see... aha! Yes, go back and look at the goals of your characters, and consider how they are going to meet them (beat them, change them, fail...). We're getting close to possibly hitting the third act, climax, or other tying up parts of your novel, right? So dealing with those dreams and schemes of your characters is getting important. Will they win the right to live their own way? Will the closing of the old factory destroy them, or will they manage to turn rural life into natural delight? Whatever goals your characters were working towards, now is the time to reconsider them and see how the action, the characters, and all that are going to make a satisfying climax.

Aha. And on the 27th, I was communing with Bradbury again. This time as he charged ahead, drunk on life, in charge of a bicycle. Writing, writing, the man just would not stop writing!

So take a wordy ride on your own bicycle, and see where you end up!

FILL: Nanowrimo? Endings, beginnings, turning wheels, and pep talks?

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original Posting 29 Nov 2011

Interesting. It's the end of the quarter, which means the end of some classes that I'm teaching. And of course, it's the end of nanowrimo. And I find myself depressed. There's a piece of me that doesn't want to let go, to finish the classes, to stop racing nanowrimo word count, to move on.

If I stop and think about it, of course, life does go on. I have another class starting soon. The nano tale is far from complete -- more like loose shards that need sorting and connection. And there's no reason not to run MyStoWriMo in December, and every month of the year. (MyStoWriMo? My Story Writing Month! Do-it-yourself word counts, challenges, goals -- and maybe even push some out to Smashwords or other venues? Why not?)

This morning, there's a plea on one of my lists for survey software -- and I know there's free stuff out there, that just needs a little how-to guidance. There are stacks and stacks of books and articles to summarize and turn into whatever. There's lots to do!

There's no reason for a slightly obsessive-compulsive overachiever who feels best when totally swamped to get hit with depression, just because the wheel turns. Finish off the things that are ending, make yourself a list of new goals and challenges, and charge ahead, Don Quixote!

After all, there's words untold, stories unwritten, plots that need boiling, and metaphors aplenty to mix and match.

Yeah! It's the end of a quarter, and the start of a new one. The wheel turns, which means some things hit the ground, but some other things are rising. Keep your eyes on what's coming up, and what's out there on the horizon that we're rolling towards.

Time to make a list of new goals and challenges to help shake the ending blues.

EXERCISE: One, two, three ethical dilemmas?

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original Posting 17 Dec 2011

All right! It's time for another fun, fast round of ethical dilemmas. Let's start right off by picking a number from 1 to 6 (yes, you may roll a die for this!)

Do you have your number? No, you may not read ahead until you have your number. Pick one. We are all waiting.

All right. Now, take a look at this list:

1. You own a restaurant. In the kitchen, you witness a cook drop a lamb chop on the floor, then wash, reheat and replace it on the plate. Do you reprimand him?
2. Your spouse is developing an intimate friendship with someone of the opposite sex. S/he says it is platonic. Do you oppose it?
3. The food at the restaurant is a total ripoff, but the harried waitress does her best to provide good service. Do you leave a tip?
4. Returning home from the supermarket, you discover your child has taken a $.50 chocolate bar. Do you return and see that it's paid for?
5. You've been looking for a small DVD player. Someone on the sidewalk is selling them for $10. Do you buy one?
6. You need work. An employer whose workers are on strike offers you a job. Do you take it?

Dirty food, platonic relationships, tipping, childish shoplifting, those cheap DVD players, and strikebreaking jobs... Lots of fun and fantasy.

Take this little conundrum, and build it into a scene. Wrap some characters around it, handsome backstory, build that conflict... And then show us what happens? Does the health inspector come to the restaurant? Do you finally meet that friend, and find out that they joined the religious dedication long ago. Does that tip help the harried waitress make ends meet? Did the store manager really give you a special rate because you paid for that candybar? Huh, who would have thought that DVD players were really that cheap? Did you get some respect from the strikers, even if they did have steel-toed boots?

Take it wherever you want to. But consider writing!