EXERCISE: How do you kickstart your writing?

[mbarker]

 Original Posting 3/14/2020

Just a kind of brainstorming exercise. Many of you, I think, are writing, or have written, or maybe would like to be writing. Of course, one of the tricky parts of writing is facing that blank page, or more likely, blank screen, and getting yourself engaged and pouring words out. Now, I know, there's advice about sitting down at a typewriter and opening a vein. Other people swear by, or swear at, a particular framework, like the three-act structure, hero's journey, or some such. 20 minute freewriting sprints. Reddit prompts! Or what have you...

So, your challenge. Write down whatever you use to spark that writing frenzy. Tell us, in a few lines, or more extensively, just what you use to start yourself. Is there a checklist of questions that you like? A particular way of looking at things? Do you start with a character, a situation, a setting, or something? Whatever it is, tell us about it!

Go ahead, write it up, as if you were telling us how to get started. Then post that, right here on writers. Don't worry, rubbing that worry stone before starting is not ridiculous if it works for you!

Hey, your outlining method, or your pantsing approach, might be just what someone else needs to help them get started again!

Okay? Think about how you tackle it, write it up, and tell us!

EXERCISE: How do you kickstart your writing? (tink’s answer)

[mbarker]

 Original Posting 3/15/2020

I have to admit, most of the time, I do free writing. Oh, I have read the books and articles about various patterns, and tried using outlines and so forth, but... most often, I grab an idea (or more than one. I do like the brainstorming notion of starting with several ideas, often just a phrase or sentence each, and then picking out one of those). Then I often let it percolate for a while, a day or so if I can. Not particularly poking at it, just letting it float around in the back brain, kicking up connections and so forth. Nowadays, I will often open a google doc and write down the original idea or whatever, then add the little connections as they spring up. Maybe look up a song, and add a link to the YouTube or lyrics. Let the thing collect and simmer a bit.

Then, more often than not, I just sit down and do a rough draft. I may have a character in mind, and maybe a little conflict or something, but I kind of let the whole thing play out in my mind as I write things down. Yep, pantsing madly! Oh, if things seem to be stagnating, I’ll drag up my list of beats or maybe a random moral dilemma or something, remember try-fail cycles, or whatever, but most of the time, it’s just me watching the characters playing on the virtual stage in my head, and taking notes, writing down their dialogue, and so forth.

The other thing that sometimes happens is that I’ll write out a rough sketch, phrases and sentences, quickly laying out a scene or two. Then I’ll go back and fill that out, writing the details in.

Now, if I have a chance, I like to let it sit for a day or so, and then review it. I almost always find things to fill in, places where I need to straighten out the work or add some explanation of what’s going on. I rarely let something go without at least one, if not more, readthrough editing passes.

Of course, this kind of quick drafting works best in short forms. Recently, I’ve been having fun with OddPrompts, https://moreoddsthanends.home.blog/ which let’s me suggest some prompts, then gives me an assigned prompt to chew on, and a place to let them know what I have done with it, and to feed back some comments, too. Right now, for example, I’ve got a continuing story about a cook in a monster hunting outfit that I keep adding pieces to, along with the short odd bits that working on the prompts generate.

It’s kind of funny, while I keep studying the various forms and so forth, when I go to write, that’s not really what I use. Just some basic brainstorming, then free writing, aka pantsing, and some review and editing. I will admit, I keep journals, and files and files of ideas and sketches. But most of the time, I don’t even dig those out, I just run a fresh idea out when needed.

Sometime, I really should take... oh, the hero’s journey or Save the Cat! beats and try walking all the way through them. Not sure what I’d end up with, but it would be a good exercise for me.

So, there you go. I’m a pantser, who studies the outliners and wonders about it.

EXERCISE: What are the questions (not to say quests!) that keep you writing?

[mbarker]

 Original Posting 3/22/2020

Just contemplating. One of the things that almost every book on writing, whether it's about setting, character, plot, or whatever, seems to do is lay out a list of questions. They may suggest you answer them before writing (plotters! And outliners!) or sometimes they just say you'll want to think about these as you're writing (aha! Painting... no, pantsing, that's it!). But they have a list of questions.

Now, one clue to your own writing might be what questions you try to answer before or while writing? What are the questions that start the words flowing? Is it just "What is this guy (or gal) going to do when the skeleton jumps out of the garbage can in front of them?" (Which is probably kind of specific, but I could see someone asking themselves that as they write happily along). Or maybe it's just something like "What is the event that kicks off the second act?"

Anyway, stop a moment and think about what the list of questions is that you use to kick your writing into gear. Do you use a checklist ahead of time, craft them as you go, maybe take a look at that old hero's journey during revision?

What are the questions that you use to guide your writing?

Go ahead, ask them!

TECH: Character Arcs (part 14) (700 words!)

[mbarker]

 Original Posting 3/27/2020

Here we go! In chapter 13, Weiland tackles the climax! This is where the whole story has been going, both in terms of the plot, and in terms of the character arc. Why did the character go through all that? Ha, now comes the payoff. And now the character shows that they have early changed.

Back at the beginning, the character got shaken up, then scrambled trying to figure it out, and got the revelation of midpoint, and then... moved away from the Lie towards the Truth. Now we have a confrontation between protagonist and antagonist, and the character must show they have learned their lesson.

“The Climax is a scene or series of scenes that forces the protagonist to face the main conflict in a decisive confrontation.”

You need to resolve the primary conflict here, fulfilling promises, and still giving readers some nice surprises.

You may have two climaxes, a faux climax and the real one.

Watch out. In the third act, there’s a renewed attack on the character’s new direction, that Truth they have claimed. That attack probably will continue into the climax.

Next, Weiland discusses the two choices of when to have your character do a final rejection of the Lie, either in the climax or before it. Look at whether your character’s internal conflict is closely related to the external conflict with the antagonist or not. If they’re closely related, the antagonist may very well hammer at this weak point. Putting this attack and the final rejection of the Lie (and embracing the Truth) in the climax let’s you put the two conflicts, internal and external, together, with high stakes and tension. But it’s dangerous, too, because a big external fight may not give you time to really explore the character’s internal struggle.

On the other hand, you can have your character do their final dance between the Lie and the Truth before the climax, and emerge transformed, ready for the final fight. Then in the climax, the character can act on that Truth. You probably still want it to be close to the climax, but...

The climactic moment? Weiland suggests that within the climax, there’s a single moment that resolves everything! Try to make a scene that your reader will know is the key. Where the hero finally destroys the antagonist. Now nothing lies between him and his goal. Not that this means he gets what he wanted, but rather, he gets what he needs. I.e., watch, the goal may have changed! Or perhaps the hero rejects what he thought he wanted, now preferring to get what he needs. Or his feelings about the whole thing have changed. Or, in some cases, maybe he gets both!

Weiland next walks through the climax in a number of examples. You should probably take a look at those if you are interested.

And, as usual, we have a set of questions to ask about the character arc in the climax.

1 How does your character prove they have changed in the climax?
2 Does the renewed attack on the new Truth happen before or during the climax? How does this affect your pacing?
3 How does embracing the Truth enable victory in the external conflict?
4 Does your character embrace what he Needs in the climax?
5 How can he use what he Needs to defeat the antagonist?
6 Does he get what he Wants?
7 Has his view of what he Wants changed? Does he still want it?

At the start of the story, there was a question. Will the character overcome the Lie to gain what he Needs? In the positive change arc, the Climax says YES! It proves that the character has changed.

So what’s left? Ah, the emotional cleaning up known as the resolution. Come back next episode for that!

Exercise? Probably the main one is to take a look at several climaxes and see how they work. Maybe make a list of five that you really like, then look closely at them. Consider the questions that Weiland suggested. Oh, you might also think about a climax you didn’t like, and try to pinpoint what went wrong, and how they could have fixed it. Of course, you can always try applying Weiland’s ideas to something you are working on, too!

Keep Writing!