Night before last, I was so focused on getting through my first battle scene (which I did!) that I neglected to do one very important thing:
I did not look at my outline to see what I would be writing next.
Thanks to this fun little mishap, when I sat down to write last night, I realized that as soon as I finished my current chapter, I would be launched into two entire chapters worth of battle scenes or battle-related scenes. Although the majority of these scenes are from an emotional standpoint of one of my main characters, I can already tell you that these are going to have to be rewritten-- likely more than once. But I have to have a starting point, right?
Tonight I return to the battle, and I really would like to be able to power through to the end, because once I do I'm really into the plotty part of the book. Let the fun begin.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Camp NaNoWriMo - Day 9, or: That Time I Had An Unproductive Weekend & Was Too Ashamed to Blog
Wednesday and Thursday were fairly productive writing days. Friday and Saturday were not. Sunday and Monday were slightly more so. I am beginning to get back on track, but I definitely have issues with focusing-- any advice? (Apart from getting off the internet.)
We'll see if I can't make the playlist and the headphones work for me a little better this afternoon.
Today's post is brought to you by the letter "B", for "battle scenes".
They are the bane of my existence. The very idea of the battle scene terrifies me, and I know that is the main reason I've not been as productive as I should have been the past couple of days (apart from, of course, being easily distracted and just plain lazy). I suppose it's just that everything I know about battles from the era that my novel is set in (sort of a mashup of Medieval and Renaissance type eras, with tweaks of my own making because I can) comes from novels that I've read and some side research that I've done.
In the first book of this series, I managed to avoid having to write any actual battle because the theme of Book 1 was intrigue (actually, the theme of the entire quartet is intrigue, but I digress). Book 2's theme is, without question, war, and avoiding battle scenes would not only be a cop-out but also wouldn't make sense in the slightest, nor be at all fair to my story. So I can't avoid these scenes-- in particular, there are two scenes that I like to call BIG BAD BATTLES (mostly because the capital letters make me smile), but there are also a couple of smaller skirmishes that happen "on camera", so to speak.
The skirmishes, oddly, are what terrify me the most. With the BIG BAD BATTLES, the main events/outcomes involve lots of emotional reaction and so I am counting on the character's viewpoints of the battle to carry me through. With the skirmishes, the point of the first one (the one I am avoiding) is for the characters to be able to learn the fighting style of their enemies.
I suppose that's my problem. I don't know the fighting style of their enemies.
Perhaps I should work on that little worldbuilding detail and then try to write the scene. It may just make my life that much simpler.
We'll see if I can't make the playlist and the headphones work for me a little better this afternoon.
Today's post is brought to you by the letter "B", for "battle scenes".
They are the bane of my existence. The very idea of the battle scene terrifies me, and I know that is the main reason I've not been as productive as I should have been the past couple of days (apart from, of course, being easily distracted and just plain lazy). I suppose it's just that everything I know about battles from the era that my novel is set in (sort of a mashup of Medieval and Renaissance type eras, with tweaks of my own making because I can) comes from novels that I've read and some side research that I've done.
In the first book of this series, I managed to avoid having to write any actual battle because the theme of Book 1 was intrigue (actually, the theme of the entire quartet is intrigue, but I digress). Book 2's theme is, without question, war, and avoiding battle scenes would not only be a cop-out but also wouldn't make sense in the slightest, nor be at all fair to my story. So I can't avoid these scenes-- in particular, there are two scenes that I like to call BIG BAD BATTLES (mostly because the capital letters make me smile), but there are also a couple of smaller skirmishes that happen "on camera", so to speak.
The skirmishes, oddly, are what terrify me the most. With the BIG BAD BATTLES, the main events/outcomes involve lots of emotional reaction and so I am counting on the character's viewpoints of the battle to carry me through. With the skirmishes, the point of the first one (the one I am avoiding) is for the characters to be able to learn the fighting style of their enemies.
I suppose that's my problem. I don't know the fighting style of their enemies.
Perhaps I should work on that little worldbuilding detail and then try to write the scene. It may just make my life that much simpler.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Camp NaNoWriMo - Day 3, or: That Time I Didn't Write Anything Last Night, So I Talk Off-Topic
But fear not, dear reader! I am not resorting to my old procrastinating ways.
Focus is one of my biggest problems when writing, and last night was sort of rough emotionally. I won't go into it because a) I don't want to, and b) you don't care, and I like that you don't care. The point is that it completely destroyed my ability to focus for the evening, because once the stressful event was over, it was close enough to bedtime that the creative side of my brain was shut down anyway.
Because of this, today I am going to attempt to write double my daily wordcount goal! We shall see how this pans out when I actually attempt it, but I remain optimistic.
I am still going to talk about writing, though; in particular, one specific problem about writing that has been infuriating me of late. It doesn't directly relate to my novel, but it is something that I keep in mind at all times, because (have I already said this? I think I have) I despise being a hypocrite: i.e. hating something that someone else does in writing and then turning around and doing it myself.
My issue is something I have noticed of late on a soap opera that I used to watch quite regularly. Soap operas and novels are two entirely different beasts (having written both of them I know this well-- I created my own soap for my senior project in high school) but a few facets of character creation remain quite similar across the board.
To use the example that has been frustrating me the most lately, on a soap that I watch Girl A is in a relationship with Boy. When Girl A first came onto the show back in September of 2010, she was fiesty and stood up for herself without questioning any potential danger; she was a character women could be proud to see on television. She fought for what she believed in and who she cared about. Not everyone liked her, and I don't think that everyone had to; I know what it is like to despise characters other people love, so I'm certainly not going to force my character-love on other people.
But the point is that she had merit. She had strength of will, she had agency, and most of all her life did not revolve around a man. (Her storyline did, because Boy dragged her into lots of stuff-- well, more accurately, she dragged herself into it because she was trying to help Boy. But she made it clear that he was not the center of her universe.) She had ideals that she stood for, people that she cared about, and a solid personality.
In the past month or so, I have seen Girl A devolve into a clinging, whiny shrew who will do anything to hold on to her man, including throwing Girl B under the bus at any opportunity. She has been taken from a strong, argumentative woman who believed in herself to a lying, manipulative shell of her former character. That strength of will is only shown now when she is determined to do whatever it takes to keep Boy interested in her instead of going back to Girl B, his former lover, ex-wife, and mother of his children (a pairing that is wildly popular on this show and one that I confess to loving).
Let me be clear: I have no problem with Girl B and Boy getting back together. This is not a case of "Hannah isn't getting the ship that she wants, so she is going to whine". This is a case of Girl A's character being completely changed in order to serve the purposes of the writer, who wants to put Girl B and Boy back together at any cost.
I have absolutely no respect for a writer who feels the need to utterly destroy a character to get them out of the way for the romantic reunion of two other characters. If the romantic relationship between Girl B and Boy is strong enough, in my opinion the destruction of the other character is unnecessary. And guess what?
It is.
The storyline that I have heard Girl B and Boy have right now (because I have stopped watching lately) is one that could draw them back together and leave Girl A out in the cold even while keeping her character intact. Her destruction is, to me, a mark of laziness on the part of a writer who wants to make fans hate her and get her out of the way as quickly as possible.
The majority of my vehemence comes from frustration, yes. If I didn't like Girl A, I would still be annoyed by this but perhaps not as worked up about it. But there is a time for devolving a character to serve a storyline, and I simply don't think that a romantic reunion storyline that could have happened without said character destruction is that time. To me, consistency is key, and while character development is without question a good thing, when a particular development is self-serving, is it really necessary?
Feel free to disagree; I won't be offended, and in fact I'm interested to hear if others have a different opinion than myself on the subject. I like being able to look at things like this from various angles.
Focus is one of my biggest problems when writing, and last night was sort of rough emotionally. I won't go into it because a) I don't want to, and b) you don't care, and I like that you don't care. The point is that it completely destroyed my ability to focus for the evening, because once the stressful event was over, it was close enough to bedtime that the creative side of my brain was shut down anyway.
Because of this, today I am going to attempt to write double my daily wordcount goal! We shall see how this pans out when I actually attempt it, but I remain optimistic.
I am still going to talk about writing, though; in particular, one specific problem about writing that has been infuriating me of late. It doesn't directly relate to my novel, but it is something that I keep in mind at all times, because (have I already said this? I think I have) I despise being a hypocrite: i.e. hating something that someone else does in writing and then turning around and doing it myself.
My issue is something I have noticed of late on a soap opera that I used to watch quite regularly. Soap operas and novels are two entirely different beasts (having written both of them I know this well-- I created my own soap for my senior project in high school) but a few facets of character creation remain quite similar across the board.
- A character's history influences his or her personality.
- His or her personality influences their decision-making process.
- Fully-fleshed out characters are easier for the audience to connect with and care about than empty shells-- to be invested, we as either viewers or readers must have something in which to invest.
To use the example that has been frustrating me the most lately, on a soap that I watch Girl A is in a relationship with Boy. When Girl A first came onto the show back in September of 2010, she was fiesty and stood up for herself without questioning any potential danger; she was a character women could be proud to see on television. She fought for what she believed in and who she cared about. Not everyone liked her, and I don't think that everyone had to; I know what it is like to despise characters other people love, so I'm certainly not going to force my character-love on other people.
But the point is that she had merit. She had strength of will, she had agency, and most of all her life did not revolve around a man. (Her storyline did, because Boy dragged her into lots of stuff-- well, more accurately, she dragged herself into it because she was trying to help Boy. But she made it clear that he was not the center of her universe.) She had ideals that she stood for, people that she cared about, and a solid personality.
In the past month or so, I have seen Girl A devolve into a clinging, whiny shrew who will do anything to hold on to her man, including throwing Girl B under the bus at any opportunity. She has been taken from a strong, argumentative woman who believed in herself to a lying, manipulative shell of her former character. That strength of will is only shown now when she is determined to do whatever it takes to keep Boy interested in her instead of going back to Girl B, his former lover, ex-wife, and mother of his children (a pairing that is wildly popular on this show and one that I confess to loving).
Let me be clear: I have no problem with Girl B and Boy getting back together. This is not a case of "Hannah isn't getting the ship that she wants, so she is going to whine". This is a case of Girl A's character being completely changed in order to serve the purposes of the writer, who wants to put Girl B and Boy back together at any cost.
I have absolutely no respect for a writer who feels the need to utterly destroy a character to get them out of the way for the romantic reunion of two other characters. If the romantic relationship between Girl B and Boy is strong enough, in my opinion the destruction of the other character is unnecessary. And guess what?
It is.
The storyline that I have heard Girl B and Boy have right now (because I have stopped watching lately) is one that could draw them back together and leave Girl A out in the cold even while keeping her character intact. Her destruction is, to me, a mark of laziness on the part of a writer who wants to make fans hate her and get her out of the way as quickly as possible.
The majority of my vehemence comes from frustration, yes. If I didn't like Girl A, I would still be annoyed by this but perhaps not as worked up about it. But there is a time for devolving a character to serve a storyline, and I simply don't think that a romantic reunion storyline that could have happened without said character destruction is that time. To me, consistency is key, and while character development is without question a good thing, when a particular development is self-serving, is it really necessary?
Feel free to disagree; I won't be offended, and in fact I'm interested to hear if others have a different opinion than myself on the subject. I like being able to look at things like this from various angles.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Camp NaNoWriMo - Day 2, or: That Time I Realized I Had to Kill Characters
I'm going to make an effort to update daily during this month, in part to keep you updated if you care, but mostly to hold myself accountable both for blogging and for writing.
Autumn of Discord was coming along quite swimmingly last night. I did a couple of word wars with a friend (I love word wars, because they force me to focus instead of simply dicking around on the interwebs and not writing) and got to just past my word count goal for the day. Something that I do always keep in mind during NaNoWriMo is that yes-- when I word war, the majority of what I am writing is stream-of-consciousness and will very likely be edited to pieces. But I am getting words down on paper for the first time in a very long while; I am keeping my general sense of focus; and, most importantly, I have the information should I need it later. I am very much a member of the "better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it" school of thought (something evidenced by my closet, as well as my suitcase whenever I pack to go anywhere-- right Becca?). I can always cut something out that I don't need and save it in another document in case it comes up as necessary elsewhere, or is needed for backstory information.
I did, however, come to a rather startling realization last night.
I have to kill people in this book.
I'm generally not a killing-people sort of writer. I like fluffy happy endings and rainbows and sunshine and daisies. But this quartet is about, in short, what happens when a country and it's ruler are plunged into a war for which neither are prepared. (Oh my heavens, did I just sum up my entire quartet in one sentence?? There may be hope for me in the summary-slash-synopsis-writing department after all.) People are going to die. It is a fact when dealing with war. And it would be a cop-out for no one important to die, and I do my best to avoid cop-outs in my writing for the simple fact that it irritates me when I see them in other books, and I try not to be a hypocrite.
Operative word being "try", of course.
Thankfully, the killing does not happen for about ten more chapters or so-- at least, the killing of the important person or persons (I shan't tell which). Until then I can happily kill randoms because I don't know their names, faces, or families.
Back tomorrow.
Autumn of Discord was coming along quite swimmingly last night. I did a couple of word wars with a friend (I love word wars, because they force me to focus instead of simply dicking around on the interwebs and not writing) and got to just past my word count goal for the day. Something that I do always keep in mind during NaNoWriMo is that yes-- when I word war, the majority of what I am writing is stream-of-consciousness and will very likely be edited to pieces. But I am getting words down on paper for the first time in a very long while; I am keeping my general sense of focus; and, most importantly, I have the information should I need it later. I am very much a member of the "better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it" school of thought (something evidenced by my closet, as well as my suitcase whenever I pack to go anywhere-- right Becca?). I can always cut something out that I don't need and save it in another document in case it comes up as necessary elsewhere, or is needed for backstory information.
I did, however, come to a rather startling realization last night.
I have to kill people in this book.
I'm generally not a killing-people sort of writer. I like fluffy happy endings and rainbows and sunshine and daisies. But this quartet is about, in short, what happens when a country and it's ruler are plunged into a war for which neither are prepared. (Oh my heavens, did I just sum up my entire quartet in one sentence?? There may be hope for me in the summary-slash-synopsis-writing department after all.) People are going to die. It is a fact when dealing with war. And it would be a cop-out for no one important to die, and I do my best to avoid cop-outs in my writing for the simple fact that it irritates me when I see them in other books, and I try not to be a hypocrite.
Operative word being "try", of course.
Thankfully, the killing does not happen for about ten more chapters or so-- at least, the killing of the important person or persons (I shan't tell which). Until then I can happily kill randoms because I don't know their names, faces, or families.
Back tomorrow.
Monday, August 1, 2011
I've clearly lost my mind.
But then, this happens on a daily basis, so I'm not certain why this worries me.
The culprit of my insanity this time is none other than NaNoWriMo. But wait, Hannah-- NaNo is in November, you say! Except that this year, they decided to do something called Camp NaNoWriMo-- two month-long sessions in July and August wherein people do the exact same thing that they do in November. (For those of you who are not aware, that means 'write a 50,000 word novel in a month'.) As I am nothing more than a lemming, I decided to sign up for the August session.
What this means is that, starting this afternoon (though technically, I suppose 'starting last night just after midnight' is more accurate) I will be furiously writing on Autumn of Discord. Remember that novel I was supposed to work on on vacation? And before that-- the one that I was supposed to finish before vacation? Neither of those things happened. However, nothing spurs me on to finish a project like the pressure of NaNo.
There is an interesting sort of pressure to writing a sequel to an unpublished book. For one thing, there will likely be at least a draft or two more of the first book, because I know myself (and to paraphrase the great Maureen Johnson, whenever you ask if your book is done, the answer is always "NO!"), so even though the main things are set in stone, minor details may change. For another, keeping up with a world created entirely out of my own head is harder than one may think. This is why I have my handy-dandy WORLDBUILDING NOTEBOOK (not to be confused with the Handy Dandy Notebook(c) that allows you to play Blue's Clues), but alas, nothing is foolproof. Details may slip through the cracks; I may forget entirely that Ian has a 13-year-old sister named Emmeline (although now that I've said that here I can be sure that is one detail I will not forget).
But I shall carry on! I shall prevail! Etc.
I'm actually really excited.
Bring it on, August.
The culprit of my insanity this time is none other than NaNoWriMo. But wait, Hannah-- NaNo is in November, you say! Except that this year, they decided to do something called Camp NaNoWriMo-- two month-long sessions in July and August wherein people do the exact same thing that they do in November. (For those of you who are not aware, that means 'write a 50,000 word novel in a month'.) As I am nothing more than a lemming, I decided to sign up for the August session.
What this means is that, starting this afternoon (though technically, I suppose 'starting last night just after midnight' is more accurate) I will be furiously writing on Autumn of Discord. Remember that novel I was supposed to work on on vacation? And before that-- the one that I was supposed to finish before vacation? Neither of those things happened. However, nothing spurs me on to finish a project like the pressure of NaNo.
There is an interesting sort of pressure to writing a sequel to an unpublished book. For one thing, there will likely be at least a draft or two more of the first book, because I know myself (and to paraphrase the great Maureen Johnson, whenever you ask if your book is done, the answer is always "NO!"), so even though the main things are set in stone, minor details may change. For another, keeping up with a world created entirely out of my own head is harder than one may think. This is why I have my handy-dandy WORLDBUILDING NOTEBOOK (not to be confused with the Handy Dandy Notebook(c) that allows you to play Blue's Clues), but alas, nothing is foolproof. Details may slip through the cracks; I may forget entirely that Ian has a 13-year-old sister named Emmeline (although now that I've said that here I can be sure that is one detail I will not forget).
But I shall carry on! I shall prevail! Etc.
I'm actually really excited.
Bring it on, August.
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