The Place For My Writers Notes

Original posting 4 August 2009

So how does Jim Butcher at http://jimbutcher.livejournal.com/ suggest that you put together all the bits and pieces? I think of his approach as the top down version. Here's what he lays out:

Page 1 has the basics. Three key parts. What is the story question? The protagonist -- in particular, the tags and traits that identify this person and their introduction. The antagonist, again with tags and traits and introduction. That's it. What is this story about, and who are the two key characters? Pretty simple, right?

Page 2 is where Jim Butcher lays out the story arc or plot. He apparently starts by actually drawing an arc. On the left side, he writes a brief phrase about the opening scene. On the right side, he writes a brief phrase describing the climax. On the top of the arc, he writes down the big middle -- an event or scene that starts the march to the climax -- what knocks down the first domino? In between those, you can mark in any scenes that you want or know that you are going to do. You may want to add phrases that describe scenes connecting it all, getting characters from one point to the next point.

This reminds me of the stepping stone approach, with the opening scene at the top of the page, the climax at the bottom, and other scenes in between. His arc provides a little more organization.

Page 3 on, Jim Butcher does subplots. He uses the same kind of story arc for each and every subplot, defining where they begin, where they end, and what event leads to the resolution.

Character profiles. He does short profiles for every significant character.

Next, he takes each of the scenes from the various arcs and outlines the scenes and sequels -- what is the action in the scenes and what is the reaction from the characters? For every mark and every phrase on each of the arcs, he outlines the scene and the sequel.

He does a rough sketch of the climax.

That's Jim Butcher's skeleton. Admittedly, he seems to mostly be doing novels, often in series, but he says he does this sort of skeleton even for a short story. He lays out all of this before he starts to write.

Clearly Jim Butcher is a plotter, laying out the outline in some detail before he starts writing. There are also pantsers or discovery writers who prefer to do their thinking by writing. I'm not sure that either way is automatically best, but it is worthwhile to explore what works for you. And reflect on it from time to time, deciding whether you need to add something or perhaps drop some pieces of your personal process.

Anyway, we have a contest. A quest, a quest.
Write!

Original posting 28 July 2009

A quest, a quest...

I was thinking about our challenge -- to write a quest story. And it struck me that quest sounds so serious and major. And I think there is a common quest that most of us engage in fairly regularly.

I call it a shopping trip. You know, where you set out to go to the grocery or a shopping center -- some store -- to get something. That's a quest.

Of course, most of the time, our shopping trips are rather boring. Especially people like me who tend to go directly to the appropriate store, pick up the items on the list, and come back. Not very exciting.

So what would make it more interesting? Clearly some complications along the way. Getting there can be more complicated -- the roads are out, there's a flood, the car breaks down, and so forth. Perhaps the store isn't where we thought it was, or we aren't quite sure which store is the right one?

Having arrived at the place, there are a number of possible problems. What happens when you're supposed to buy bananas, but yes, we have no bananas? Or the bananas we have are strange little green ones? Or perhaps the shopping list isn't so clear? Flower? Which one of the varieties? Or a bundle? Or could that be a bag of flour?

This is when cell phones are useful.

Other possible diversions? Well, there's all those other people, all kinds of advertising and things that aren't on the list, even the simplest store offers a number of sidetracks. And that's before the robbers break in, the roof caves in, the flooring gives way, the freezer unit fails, and all those other little bits and pieces.

But having battled our way to the store, found what we were supposed to get, what's next? Aha, the dreaded checkout. Plastic or paper? Do you have a club card? Cash, credit card, check, debit card, fingerprint and blood samples...

And through the might of cold cash, he won free of the final Guardian of the Gates, and carefully placed the golden eggs in a simple paper bag. He lifted the hard-won prize into his arms and bid the store farewell.

Of course, as we all know, between the store and home there are possible problems. That pedestrian deciding to cross the road without looking? The cat that decides to freeze in the middle of the road. The paper bag that slides off of the seat and onto the floor, with a hearty crunch of egg shells. Or perhaps it's simply the popsicles melting in the sunshine? Flat tires, a song on the radio that scrapes the heartstrings, who knows what could go wrong?

You do. You're the writer. You decide whether the shopping trip is going to be pretty straightforward, or whether it's going to be a fight for life through the hurricane, to bring back the baby food to keep the kittens alive?

A shopping trip. What are we going to get? Who's going to get it? Where do they need to go? What problems and conflicts block them from getting it and returning? What resolves the problems and helps them get the golden eggs?

Or a heroic quest.

However you want to think about it, write.
tink

And just in case you missed it -- here's

The Contest!

In a Nutshell: Write a Quest Story. Submit it to the list. YEAH!

At lengthy...

1. Write a story. Here is the topic:

From What If? By Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter?

Write a linear story, in which a strong main character is on a quest for something important and specific (e.g., a shelter for the baby, medicine for a sick mother, or the key to the storehouse where a tyrant has locked away all the grain from a starving populace). The object is a given -- don't explain its importance. The main character starts acting immediately. She then meets a (specific) obstacle; finally she triumphs over the obstacle by means of a magic or supernatural element that comes from the outside (like Dorothy's red shoes in the Wizard of Oz). You may introduce minor characters but the narrative should never abandon your main character. This story should be told through action and dialogue.

In Checklist Format:

1. main character is on a quest for something important and specific
2. Start with action
3. Have them meet at least one specific obstacle
4. Have them triumph over the obstacle by means of a magic or supernatural element that comes from outside
5. Focus on the main character
6. Action and dialogue

When? Write NOW. But the quota is -- first ten stories posted makes a contest! Or the end of August (when we will start preparing for the big Halloween Contest, right?)

How long? How many? As long as you need, and as many as...

Crits? Yes, please critique/comment on the stories.

And yes, when we have a pile of stories and crits, we shall vote and pick winners!

So, get on your keyboards, pencils, or other writing implements, and write!

Original posting 19 July 2009

Let's see.

We're writing a quest story. And I've rambled a little about the inciting incident, and suggested that perhaps Jim Butcher's story skeleton might be useful to put backbone in your tale. "When something happens, you are protagonist pursues a goal. But will he succeed when the antagonist provides opposition?"

Another part of Butcher's blogging over here http://jimbutcher.livejournal.com/ talks about interesting characters. After all, you got at least a protagonist and an antagonist, if not a few supporting characters. So how do you make characters interesting? Jim Butcher suggests five key points.

The first is exaggeration. It may seem melodramatic and certainly not egalitarian, but interesting characters are a little bit bigger than life. The easiest way to do this is simply exaggeration.

A second, related approach is exotic positions. Nothing to do with the Kama Sutra or Kinsey Reports, and Mrs. Grundy won't even get excited. This is simply unusual work or social positions. And as someone once told me, almost anybody else's work is more exciting than our own. So don't be too fast to decide that stocker in a grocery or wearing the golden arches aren't exotic positions -- just consider providing enough detail to make them interesting.

Butcher's third point is unusual. He focuses on the introduction -- how you bring your character into the story. He suggests that a characteristic entry action -- something that your character does whenever they come on stage -- can help to make them interesting.

The fourth part is verisimilitude. We like characters to seem real. We need to see their emotions, reactions, and decisions, and feel like this is the way people act. Butcher suggests that tags and traits -- two or three per character -- are a useful way to organize this.

Finally, there's that funny thing called empathy. If the reader feels for the character, they are invested in the character, they are going to be interested. There's a little bit of a chicken-and-egg thing here, because it's not always clear which comes first, being interesting or having empathy. But when the characters feel real, and the plot causes them real trouble, readers are likely to root for them. And vice versa -- when you're rooting for a character, they feel real, they're interesting.

Okay? Admittedly, we're dealing with short stories. And you may feel as if you don't have time for a lot of deep character development. At the same time, you want to have enough characterization to make the story exciting. And here's some clues about things you might want to use in building your characters. Exaggeration, exotic positions, the character introduction, verisimilitude, and empathy.

So write!

Original posting 15 July 2009

Just some quick thoughts about our contest challenge.

So our hero -- the protagonist -- is going to go on a quest for something. While we might start the story a bit later, we might want to start thinking about the story in terms of the initiating event or the inciting event. What got the protagonist started? Did a letter arrive describing the something? What about a treasure map, perhaps found in the odds and ends left in great grandpa's trunk? Or maybe the protagonist is in a junk shop -- excuse me, a recycle store -- and recognizes that the strange old hanging actually is a map? Or that the slip of paper in the book is directions? Or... does someone pay the protagonist to go and get the something for them? What about...

What is the protagonist going to get? What is the goal of the quest? Literal or figurative? Unique or one of several? Animal, mineral, vegetable?

How did they find out about it?

Are they going to get it for themselves, for someone else? What's motivating them to go?

What do they know about it? Even worse, what don't they know about it?

Do other people know about it? Do they care? Is the opposition going to try to get the something before or away from the protagonist? Or is the opposition simply blocking the protagonist, perhaps because they don't like him or her? What is the opposition's stake in this? Do they want the something, do they want to simply preserve the status quo, or is there something about the protagonist that makes them want to keep him or her from completing their quest?

What fun, and I haven't even gotten past the something that we're going to go searching for!

How about some possible things?

1. A piece of art (painting, sculpture, pottery -- your choice)
2. Portable wealth (bearer bonds, piles of money, jewels, gold -- guess who gets to decide)
3. Important information (birth certificate, marriage license, the will -- what else?)
4. The key to unlock... (password, key, the secret name, etc.) [the fun part here is get the real one!]
5. A hostage (person, animal, whatever -- which can add a ticking clock to reach them before...)
6. Christian V of Denmark (more here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_V_of_Denmark -- I have no idea why we are trying to reach the King of Denmark and Norway, but I thought I would give the random article at Wikipedia a chance.)

A quest, a quest... a writer in search of a story? No, that's very common. A quest...across the pages...

Original posting: Sun, 3 Aug 1997 00:04:02 EDT

The deadline is coming up day by day on the calendar, and you still haven't figured out how to shoehorn a story into just 200 words?

[Actually, this is generous. Robyn, our master of the miniature marvels, prefers the 100 word jewel--usually doing them in all one-syllable words, to make the jaw drop harder. But the contest is 200 words.]

So, let's consider blocking out a 200 word story. We probably want to go with something simple, such as:

Opening scene - 50 words. Establish main characters, show goal(s), and set the story question for the reader.

[ Once upon a time, there were three pigs and a wolf. The wolf loved nothing better than huffing and puffing and blowing houses down. The pigs, having left home because they had other fat to fry as they turned from cute little piglets into real boars, each built a home. 50 words]

One or two intermediate scenes - 100 words. Add some details, build up the tension and the stakes, and don't forget that the protagonist needs to be lose in these scenes! Things should get harder for the protagonist, not easier...

[ The first pig was way too eager to dive into the garbage that mom had always kept him out of, so he just grabbed a piece of cardboard and set up housekeeping in the street. The wolf laughed, puffed without trying, and then grabbed a tail sticking out of the pizza boxes. And that was the end of the first pig.

The second pig listened to a realtor and bought a real fixer-upper, cheap. Then he called the psychic hotline and asked when he should fix it. He was still listening when the wolf dropped by.

"I'd huff, and I'd puff, but you don't even have a door!"

That was the end of the second pig. 126 words...bit fat, there. trim later]

Then comes the ending scene, the climax of the story, where good and bad face off, where write meets rong and tells y, and all that jazz. Aim at 50 words, and you'll be pretty close.

[ The third pig founded a society.

When the wolf saw Porcine Aid Society stickers on every house, and all those eyes watching him when he walked near the home of the third pig, he gulped, swallowed, and decided to look for easier pickings.

And that's the end of this tale. 50 Words!]

Next, especially with these little beauties, go back and polish. Take out words that don't contribute. Turn the pages of your thesaurus and make sure you are using the exactly right word--show your reader Twain's lightning, not the lightning bug.

Tighten it up, make the words sing, and send it along

Tick, tick, tick...10 more days!