writercises | Entries tagged with journey

Original Posting 8/23/2019

Part one of the book is about the positive change arc. As we noted in part one of this series, the positive change arc starts with a person who has some issues. The story challenges those beliefs, they learn some things, and conquer their problems and change for the better. So where does it all start?Chapter 1 is about the lie that your character believes. Characters don’t want to change. That resistance causes conflict, which becomes plot. “Whether the connection is immediately evident or not, the external plot is all about the character‘s internal journey.” Wow, let that sink in. The external plot is all about the internal journey?“Plot, in its simplest manifestation, is all about the protagonist‘s goal. He wants something, and he can’t have it, so he keeps right on trying.“Okay... Now, the positive change arc is about a change in priorities, in realizing that the character is not getting what they want because either (a) they want the wrong thing or (b) the morals and methods they are using to get it are wrong.So, we’re looking at change. But, what lie does the character believe that is causing this? They have something lacking, there is some reason for them to change. They are somehow incomplete on the inside. There is some misconception that is leading them astray. E.g., might makes right, you have to earn love through X, money is the most important thing in life.The Lie! Some specific belief, that you can state in one short sentence. Now, there may be qualifiers.Okay, how do you find the lie? Start by looking at your plot. Does the conflict show it? Then look at the character’s actions and reactions. Fear, hurt, guilt, secrets, shame… These are all symptoms of the lie. Often, the character wants to shed the symptoms, but the lie holds on to them. If you need some ideas, take a look at the listings of negative traits available in various places.Some questions to ask to help identify the Lie: 1. What misconception does the protagonist have about themselves or the world? 2. Because of this misconception, what is the protagonist lacking, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually? 3. How is the interior lie reflected in the exterior world? 4. When the story opens, is the lie making the character miserable? How? 5. If not, will the inciting event and/for the first plot point make them uncomfortable? 6. Does the lie require qualifiers to narrow the focus? 7. What are the symptoms of the lie?Whoo! So there is some belief, some way of looking at the world, something that the character holds onto, that is a misconception, a LIE! What is that mistaken idea, that wrong way of thinking, that twist that is keeping our character miserable?Exercise? Sure. Take some stories you are familiar with. Now, think about it. Does the story have a positive character arc? Does the character start out with some problem, learn some lessons, and become a better person? If so, what is the lie, the misconception, the false belief that they start with. Go ahead, write up a short statement of the lie for that story, that character. Do this for at least three positive change arcs.Then watch out for part 3 of this series, where we will look at what the character wants versus what the character needs.

mbarker.livejournal.com

Original posting 3 September 2008

. . . and call me when you have a fire?

"Dreaming permits each and every one of us to be quietly and safely insane every night of our lives." William Dement

"Nothing is so awesomely unfamiliar as the familiar that discloses itself at the end of a journey." Cynthia Ozick

Dreaming lets us be quietly insane at night, while writing allows us that same freedom in our daily life. Daydreams, imagination, role playing -- being more than we can be any other way. What's writing to you?

Now add in that notion of awesome unfamiliarity. At the end of a journey, when we look around, even the well-worn bits and pieces of our home often seem brand-new and surprising. And maybe sometimes in the morning, after we've been insane all night?

Go ahead. How does that license for freedom and the awesome unfamiliarity at journey's end go together?

Write?

Current Mood: burning

mbarker.livejournal.com

Once More, With Metaphorical Enhancements!

Tossing and turning in the nanowrimo bed, we may find ourselves contemplating just what kind of a metaphor best fits? Whether it is the setting, character, plot actions, or even just the conflicts and contradictions of every scene, we may want to at least spend a few moments contemplating various possible metaphorical suits to try on. So, allow me to point out a variety that are reasonably commonly used -- at least in business. Believe it or not, there are people who actually go out and study this stuff. (Kendall and Kendall, 1993).

Anyway, what they tell us is that there are six metaphors commonly used in the world of business, especially when talking about business. They add another three that are more often heard in technical circles, but I think you might enjoy them, too, so I'll include them below. Oh, and you might find them useful in your writing, too.

The first four are very goal oriented:

journey (where are we going? Are we there yet? A.k.a. The Quest)
game (sports, poker, roulette, and all the other fun and games)
war (the battle royale, combat, and all the fun of the military)
machine (factory, meatgrinder, automobile, the clock -- mechanical technology)

The organism is the fifth metaphor, and includes all kinds of animals and plants and cells -- living things! And the fun part is that the organism is both goal oriented but also what Kendall and Kendall call alternative oriented. It sort of links the first four, with their goal orientation, with the last four, which are more organic or generative?

The last four, then, are alternative oriented:

society (groups, organizations, that whole living together mess)
family (parents, children, brothers, sisters, and the extended relations)
jungle (the call of the wild, Tarzan, wild animals, strange noises)
zoo (the civilized jungle, who is watching who?, etc.)

Kendall and Kendall have some words to say about how these are organized in terms of participation -- between being responsible or active members or just being consultants, standing outside of the action. For example, most game and journey metaphors have the actors as active members, while machine and even war to some extent are more likely to have the actors standing outside the action (although war all too often splashes onto the actors, especially if they happen to be military). They also say the family and jungle are likely to have participants, while both society and the zoo apparently tend to have observers (ah, anthropologists and visitors to the zoo?).

The other dimension that they use for looking at these metaphors is order versus chaos. Both the game and machine tend to be on the orderly side (games have rules, and mechanisms have gears?), while the journey and war are more messy (no plan survives contact with the enemy?). Similarly, families and society tend to be orderly, with the jungle and the zoo more on the chaotic side of the ledger.

So how do you use these in writing? Well, I'd suggest making a list of nine items -- I'll give it to you here:

1. Journey
2. War
3. Game
4. Organism
5. Society
6. Machine
7. Family
8. Zoo
9. Jungle

Now alongside these, pick an example for each one. Not just the abstract journey, but a specific trip to a specific place with a particular method of transportation (car, boat, horse, helicopter, etc.). For each generic metaphorical area, pick a specific concrete example. One that you know at least a little about (Google and Wikipedia can be your friend).

Then when you want to add some spice to your writing, pick a number from 1 to 9 (you've played this game before haven't you?). Now look at the metaphorical area and the specific example that you picked. How does the character, plot action, complication, conflict, setting -- whatever problem you are trying to deal with, how does it play out in terms of this metaphor? What are the similarities (gimme 5!)? What are the differences (gimme 5!)? What are some interesting thoughts about connections of any kind between what you're doing and this metaphorical playground?

I know some people run down the list until they find a metaphorical area that interests them or excites them. That's okay, although I think sometimes we're likely to fall into ruts with this -- always putting it in terms of our family, or perhaps the game of croquet that we enjoy so much. Stretch a little, and try doing it with one of those metaphorical areas that you are not so comfortable with -- who knows what ideas lurk in that swamp? (yes, that's a variation on the jungle :-)

Anyway, bring those metaphors to bear on your writing, and watch the nanowrimo word count rise! Like a hot-air balloon, like fighting a war with the stars, like throwing javelins into the sky, like a bird flying, like Rome expanding across the world, like a missile climbing, like the family growing, like trained dolphins leaping in Marineland, like the vines in the jungle climbing up, up, up the trees to wave their leaves above everything -- just like that!

tink
(almost 900 words)

Kendall, J. E. & Kendall, K. E. (1993). Metaphors and methodologies: Living beyond the systems machine. MIS Quarterly, 17(2), 149- 171.

Now is dance a journey or a game? Or perhaps it's a living organism?

Current Mood: enhanced

mbarker.livejournal.com

original posting: Thu, 3 Feb 1994 01:30:03 JST

(being a rather abstract look at the same problem we've been kicking about anne frank, bosnia, area writers, and so forth...)

Start with the notion that people largely think in patterns - A happens, B happens, and people derive a pattern mostly by taking the common elements - most differences are tossed and lost. So the worm in the head builds ruts for itself...

Now, what does communication do? back to the old times - we get to send uncle joe around the other side of the mountain, then listen to him to figure out whether or not to go there. if he just says it's more of the same, skip it. If he says there's good eating around the corner, well, maybe we all take a hike. If he says they's monsters and they is coming this way, for sure we all take a walk the other way...

if he says there are golden temples and nymphs and fawns dancing in the mists, we clobber him on the head and have dinner (what a kidder that uncle joe was - there really were mists around there!)

anyway - the key is that we use communication to extend the territory covered by the ruts the little worm doth spin.

's aright? but suppose (just suppose) that there aren't so many virgin frontiers waiting to be crossed. still there are some interesting possibilities hidden behind or between the silky walls of the ordinary ruts. I.e., while the writer may find the easiest task is simply describing what's on the other side of the mountains, an interesting variation on this is helping the little worm break through and build some new ruts right here at home.

Notice that in any case, the job of the writer is never to simply repeat the well-known plodding ruts. even worms get bored, I guess.

This notion of writing as extending, building anew, breaking down, or reworking the perceptual grid through which we structure experience (virtual, fantasized, actual, whatever) is rather interesting to me. If this be true, then it seems as though humor (which generally involves a sharp change in perceptions) may be an integral tool in the process. For that matter, puns (rather than being a corruption of literary purity) are one of the tightest forms of writing, since they always involve two (or more) meanings (well-rutted patterns) being brought into conflict in a very compact form.

Admittedly, many readers may feel more comfortable with slower alterations in the internal scenery. Walk them along the ruts with just enough new stimuli to let them wallow in their torpid placidity, and they will reward you well for it. But perhaps the writer has claustrophobia and wants to open the windows...

hum - this argues that the writer whose background or context differs from that of the readers may have an easier time constructing a message which provides that taste of strangeness that we learned to love in ancient times (exogamy - the love of the stranger - was a practical necessity to survival of the species, as inbreeding does some very bad things in small groups). At the same time, they may have more difficulty linking their message to the well-known ruts of the readers, and I think most readers need some help in getting up speed before they tear through the edges of their own webs... (remember poor uncle joe!)

writing, then, may be considered as one way to counteract the staleness of inbred thoughts, to avoid being trapped in the labyrinth of tiny little passages that all look just the same.

I like that.
tink

Current Mood: rutted

mbarker.livejournal.com

Original posting: Wed, 4 Jun 1997 22:55:23 EDT

I think I'd call this a ramble? or maybe it's a bramble, a thicket of meaninglessness?

Since it is possible that some of you don't read the weekly FAQ, (I know that it may be hard to believe, but I'm sure there are a few who don't peruse every puerile pucker of that oft-repeated post) allow me to pull this out and post it for your pleasure.

I'm not sure quite what to make of this, but I do like it, I think.

Comments?

tink

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The Springs of Writing

Sometimes, out tramping around on a mountainside, with the crack of a twig underfoot and all the other fine sensual awakening that seems to be part of celebrating the out-of-doors, you may come across a spring. A tiny ripple of water, perhaps not even that so much as a soaking, but a place where the earth lets go of the water again, and it begins.

I love to stop and think about where that little spring is going. The drops of water, seeping out, touching me, and then slowly passing on to...

Sometimes, of course, you'll find larger, clear springs, pushing up forcefully, and sweeping away obstructions.

But no matter where the springs start, after a while the tiny drips and great gushers join, form streams, laughing, chuckling along, feeding the bushes and trees, alive with insects and fish.

And rain falls, adding muddy roils and softer plink-plink-plink touches, criss-crossing, draining tastes of new growth and ancient mold into the mix, wandering here and there...

Sometimes snow melts, or ice CRACKS and shakes, spins, softens, and adds its weight to the rushing waters...

Here a pond collects the tastes of many streams, the runoff of the hills, the silt of fields growing, and provides a place for spirits to cool and calm, listening to the burp of frogs diving into the depths, the soft rustle of grass growing, the quiet of a summer evening...

Down centuries of time, across chasms of cultural division, from momentary leaves of today's crops, the waters roll. Fine streams, heavy flood waters, grinding, bursting, laving and washing the best and the worst...

When the shower touches you, you can put your head down and trudge through the mud, angry at the weather...

Or...

You can lift your face to the wonder, search for the promise of the rainbow, and laugh into the rain, into the thunder, into the lightning

as the waters mix again, meeting, parting, on their way to the ocean of life through the rivers and streams, the dams and meanders, the wandering and late-night tears...

all in the waters of writing.

Whether you want to just wash your hands, or maybe dip your head in and refresh yourself, or even dive in and be baptised into the depths of that life, feel free. And let your own springs gurgle forth, adding that fine clear flavor of yourself to the mix.

The waters will return, in time.

The gentle rains, the fierce riptides of the ocean, the hidden aquafers that wet the footing of all lands...the ebb and flow of waters, the ebb and flow of writing...

and the moon holding sway over all.

A muse of rain, perhaps...
+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=-+=

Current Mood: morning

mbarker.livejournal.com

Original posting: Sat, 2 Jul 1994 18:35:02 JST

FAQ: Pedal Down on the Infohighway

I was rolling along at an easy 40 or 50 Kb per second, thinking about just what the old infohighway had coming up out there in the high-speed lanes--fractal environments dripping down and around your visor, jumpspeed datadumping at 100 Mb or better when the cybercops aren't monitoring, and those huddling melts of mixed infospace where human and AI rarely dare venture--daydreaming about a fast game or two of RPG, maybe a little IRC chatter.. when I caught a datalink reflection and flashed the place I really needed to scramble.

So I backed down, hit the blinker, ignored the tired cursing of the serious infotruckers swerving and dodging down the lines, and took a write. Slid down the lines, slower, slower, and there it was.

The infocrossing known as WRITERS. Coming from BITNET, the roadsigns said WRITERS@NDSUVM1.BITNET. Coming from internet, I know they say WRITERS@vm1.nodak.edu. even if I don't get out that way much. [psst- addresses long out of date!]

Backed it way down, and started looking for an empty slot to fill.

Can't go too fast here, the place is always jammed with words and strings and themes and conceptual gridlocks and dilemmas and all the rest of that runaway vegetation that springs up in the corners and gratings where writers hang out. Keeps your reflexes toned up just watching, and when you're trying to drive, it can be wild.

No matter what you think of the clutter, it's a good place to stop and check your map. I know some people always think their map is tuned into reality, but this is one of the finest places for finding out how far out of touch you've gotten. And it only stings for a while...

It's pretty scenic along this part of the road less taken. Whether you just sit by the side and watch for bumperstickers and traffic jams or go speeding down the passing lane honking your own horn, you'll find plenty to read. Watch for the inforunners breezing along, maybe a Sunday writer wobbling in and out of the traffic, and those serious truckers working their loads. Check out the talegating around here, too.

Say, why do all the infotruckers have MAC written across their foreheads?

This place has some of the best diners with gas to go and all the amenities around, too. 'Course they're all self-serve, so don't go abusing the help or you'll find yourself in a vicious circle. Just help yourself--and give other people a hand when you can, too.

And every bit of it is home-made originals--none of that prepackaged slop from the factory around here. Gives me a shiver sometimes, meeting all those real authors in the virtual like this. And when you serve up your goulash of words, they'll help you spice it to the taste of editors everywhere. Without complaining--too much.

If you're lost, there are backseat drivers who will happily tell you where to go, griping about the way you hold the handle or telling you to brake or speed up. There's a few old coots who hang around and try to show you how to tune up and burn words, though. Sometimes they make sense, sometimes nonsense, so just listen to what helps you, and ignore the rest.

Plenty of hitchhikers around looking for a short ride with you, or even a long one if you'll put up with them. It's all part of the traffic here on the strip, and after watching a while, you'll probably want to do a wheelie or two. Go ahead, just watch for the curves and don't crack up. If you end up in the gutter--you aren't the first.

If you happen to get lost in the interchanges, slow down and pull off for a while. Don't get overheated or take a chance on boiling over, it just isn't worth it. Then when you're ready to go again, signal and move on with the traffic.

There's a lot of construction along this way, and sometimes the road gets awful bumpy. Don't be afraid to point out some of the dips, but watch out for falling stones, wild lightning, and other infotrail hazards.

I always watch for oil slicks and heat mirages here after rain storms. The oil slicks make some of the most beautiful rainbows and sliding colors, and those dancing heat waves hide some of the best illusions of our times.

Watch for your own visions, the little reflections of your headlights or the major lights of our times, and let us know what kind of roadkills you find along the information highway. Heck, we'll even let you spin us a road never taken and guide the whole bunch write off the beaten track over the ruts and byways of your mind.

Fasten your seatbelt! Green light!

*rrrRRRRRRRRRRRRRR*
WRITERS CROSSING AHEAD!

Hey, let's do it in the road!
Come on, come on, just one for the road?
A little intro, a little poem, maybe a short story...
pretty soon you'll get your kicks on WRITERS 66 ...
lots of good intentions around, so this must be the road to...
well, I thought so.
Speed limit 9600 baud, eh?
Roll on little bits... read all about it on the infohighway!
Be reading you on the flipside--we goin' write-write!
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Current Mood: pedal to the metal
Current Music: She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy, Kenny Chesney

mbarker.livejournal.com

. . . and call me when you have a fire?

"Dreaming permits each and every one of us to be quietly and safely insane every night of our lives." William Dement

"Nothing is so awesomely unfamiliar as the familiar that discloses itself at the end of a journey." Cynthia Ozick

Dreaming lets us be quietly insane at night, while writing allows us that same freedom in our daily life. Daydreams, imagination, role playing -- being more than we can be any other way. What's writing to you?

Now add in that notion of awesome unfamiliarity. At the end of a journey, when we look around, even the well-worn bits and pieces of our home often seem brand-new and surprising. And maybe sometimes in the morning, after we've been insane all night?

Go ahead. How does that license for freedom and the awesome unfamiliarity at journey's end go together?

Write?

Current Mood: Dreaming
Current Music: In Color, Jamey Johnson

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The Place For My Writers Notes

Entries tagged with journey

TECH: Character Arcs (Part 2) (560 words)

EXERCISE: Rub Two Quotations Together

TECH: Nanowrimo Notes #22: Nine Little Metaphors?

TECH: Meditating on Writers and their Context

FILLER: The Springs of Writing

FAQ: Pedal Down on the Infohighway

EXERCISE: Rub Two Quotations Together

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