Web Log: A Morning's Sparks

My mind sparks in the oddest ways sometimes. The best times are when I've had some really good sleep, like last night. I even woke around 1 a.m. for a brief glimpse of the moon eclipse. And I still got good sleep. (Good Sleeping: topic for another post.)

I started with Camp NaNoWriMo because I'm supposed to be editing my 2009 novel draft. This is a task a lot more difficult than I supposed. I found a great page of links to the stages and parts of revision. After reading one of the posts on types of editing, I decided to follow Amanda On Writing.

I liked the design of her tumblr blog and decided to install the same theme on my tumblr. First, I had to log in. Which was complicated by having to use Chrome since the latest Flash update crippled Safari on my ancient iMac. Soooooo ... reset password adventure!

After updating the tumblr, I had to add a "Pin It" button to my website because resetting the tumblr password meant accessing email. Reading email is always a nexus of distraction. Curse you email links!

Which led to fiddling with the design of the website because suddenly the colors look all garish after changing to a muted tumblr design. Fiddling with the design means arranging colors, selecting web colors, and trying out textured backgrounds (none of which looked right).

Which brings me here. Time for a break. Then some novel revision. And then, perhaps, more color contemplation.

Novel Update

Happy Christmas!

The plan didn't work. So, okay. I'm at 63,340 which is not far from 70,000 but I won't reach that before 2014. Or at least I think I won't. I wasn't planning on writing today and yet I sat down and wrote 1,630 easy words. I just kept going and stuff got onto the page.  So, there it is. I doubt I'll write any more on this novel before year's end but I never know. I may find myself in a creative drive after Christmas.

The story continues to surprise and entertain me. Looking forward to finding out what happens.

Goals for finishing this year's novel

The official count is in: 56255. That's what I managed to write before the deadline and the word updater was turned off in my time zone. I continue to write with a final goal of 70,000 words because this seems a goodly amount of words to find the ending. Few NaNoWriMo participants arrive at the end of the story with 50,000 words. I wasn't one of them.

I believe I have found the ending. Sometimes it is like being in Wonderland as I start down the path to the end and the path wriggles and disappears into the forest. Characters become recalcitrant, things move from their intended location, and odd technical story stuff happens. However, I persist and am using this blog to publicly post my goal of 2000 per day (or around there averaged out) until reaching goal.

Red days are zero word
days. Yellow and orange are
low word days when I wrote
less than 1667 words.

This has worked before. I hope it works again. The holidays are crap writing times so I'll skip writing until after the new year, once I achieve 70K. Which means I need to arrive at the goal by around the 12th. After that life gets weird until the 1st of January.

Glad to see that each year I have fewer zero word days. This year there were only four. Having a stretch goal really helped. Also, it sometimes takes me 600 words or even 1000 to get into the groove.

I might return here periodically to update my word count. I will definitely post when I reach 70,000 or something close to it.

NaNoWriMo Summation Scene

I am a bit early on this as I have not yet achieved my ultimate goal of 70,000 words. However, I have reached the National Novel Writing Month mandate of 50,000 words. I'm at 50,491 actually.

The joy is there but not the irrational whoops of joy from previous years. I know so much more about novel writing, my creative process, the editing process, and what happens when I finish a book. It is true with novels as with art that you never finish a work. You just stop at an interesting place. It is also true about novel writing that the first draft is just a beginning. For sheer quantities of revisions, script writing for feature films wins out. Novel revisions make up for that in word quantity.

Yes, it's all about revisions folks. Once the glow of creation wears off, it's back to the salt mines of checking plot lines, character arcs, grammar, and other mundane technicalities such as deciding where the chapters begin and end. Unlike my fine art process in which I generally create an image in one sitting with little preparation or afterthought. I suspect my art could use a little kick in the development pants, too.

This year's novel pulled in characters from previous novels, as well as embellished plot lines, and added a third book to the Cosmic Control series. Sorta weird as I had no intention to do any of that when I started writing. I'm still grappling with a summation or log line for the plot. Here's a first try.

Cosmic Control: Defeat of the UnRegs

Working cover with
working title.

The story involves two soul twins who were separated before birth and came to life in separate universes with parallel time lines, which should have guaranteed they would never meet. And in a normal world they wouldn't have. However, the Prime Locus is tampering with the time lines again and the twins are needed to thwart his vicious and devious plans to destroy the power of gifteds. Enter the UnRegs—the UnRegistered Citizens—a huge confabulation of pirate-style, off-grid individuals who have been around for so long they are quite numerous and have fostered a wide variety of subcultures. Some UnRegs are lawful, some aren't, and some suffer from situational ethics. They have their own goals for changing history. Within all this, the two sisters must determine a course of action that will save time, prevent collapsing the time lines in favor of the evil Prime Locus, and yet still emerge with their identities and lives intact. (Your basic save the universe scenario.)

It's a lot of fun. Well, it has been for me anyway. And I intend to continue having fun for a couple more weeks yet while ignoring the distant call to get down to serious editing work.

Who I write like today ...

I write like
Mario Puzo

I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software. Analyze your writing!

Because it's a different author every time I try this. Perhaps I am an emerging novelist.

Camp NaNoWriMo: Day One

Story Reaper
by Elaine Greywalker

The sun is falling down, shining into my eyes in a really inconvenient way. The dog is whining outside my bedroom door. What have I accomplished on this first day of April madness?

1. Caught up on all the "Now What?" posts and emails from NaNoWriMo. Mostly they're about revision and editing and getting all fired up for that.
2. Crafted a funky book cover for whatever it is I'm writing. Officially:  a film script. Unofficially: who knows.
3. Cleaned up from yesterday's Easter banquet. (This included myself and my two house mates. So, not the sort of banquet you might suppose.)
4. Reviewed two of my novels, a few plot scribblings, and assorted odd text files looking for ideas and inspiration. 

The idea for Story Reaper came to me as a mash up of the faded memories I have of a short story I read years ago and one of my novel drafts. I don't remember which novel. Anyway, that's as far as I've got. 

Tonight I need to make some notes and start writing. Anything. Anything at all that might be in any way related to what the heck a story reaper is and what he/she does. Even if it means I figure out what he has for breakfast and what color he likes. And his gender.

Laying Fallow

Much like the ground outside which (although warming) is still laying fallow, so, too am I. Creatively I plink and ponder. Not much gets done. I contemplate spring, watch the birds, and listen to the cats meow outside the door. Whenever I can I sit in the sun, soaking up heat and vitamin D while crocheting, knitting, reading, and pondering the universe.

Next month will be different. I've signed up for Camp NaNoWriMo, much like National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo: write 50K words of a novel in 30 days), except you can choose whatever wordy project comes to mind. Temporarily I've signed up for a screenplay. (Or is it script? I never know. I guess script covers them all from stageplay to TV spec.)

As usual, I am laying fallow as I do in October, resisting working, letting stories and dreams flit through my brain without trying to capture them. Come April 1 (no joke!) I'll start writing as action and characters jell on the page.

I like this adventure. I have yet to turn a profit (as I drone each time I begin) and I don't care. I do wish I was more disciplined about the actual seat-in-the-chair-fingers-to-the-keyboard thing. However, I'l settle for what I can get. I'm flexible that way.

I'm a Scribophile

NaNoWriMo recommended Scribophile for year-round writing empowerment. It looks like they have the same fun attitude and wild activity as NaNoWriMo. I have a profile there. Hoping it will be useful.

Working title with temporary cover art.

I continue to work on They Came From the Red Mist. I've made it to 52,905 words. The plan is to write 750 words per day until the 21st or thereabouts with the goal of reaching 70,000. I'll update my count on Scribophile as well as continue to do do my own tracking of words written each day. I made a little text file in Scrivener where I log the date and the total. Not real exciting or dynamic, yet it works.

My monthly newsletter went out yesterday. To subscribe, sign up here. It's an easy way to get a quick look at what I've been up to.

NaNoWriMo Win and Postpartum Blues

I did it again. I wrote another novel draft -- or 50,100 words of one, anyway. Which makes me a Winner in National Novel Writing Month terms. This is my seventh win.

As usual, I wrote a SciFi/fantasy story. This one includes time travel and people from the future. I love people from the future. And aliens. My aliens are simply people not-from-earth who look like people from earth. Generally, they are more advanced technologically or they practice magic.

I haven't been able to put this year's story into a log line yet. The through line is vaguely about love in that the hero gets involved in rescuing his wife. It's also about talent, a theme I love. Talent is generally under nurtured. I try to point out the advantages of talent and the waste of talent suppressed or undeveloped. In the books, talent refers to magic or magical powers or some combination of occult, magic, and intuition.

This year's main character, Lauren, is targeted by a society called the Pathbreakers as the crux of their plan to dominate the universe. She is chosen because she is gifted with a physiology that affects time lines. She is repeatedly abducted in her various parallel time lines to ensure the time lines collapse into one: the one that makes the Pathbreakers supreme.

Her husband, Ted, works with specialists from the Chronometry Department of the FBI, to rescue the "home" Lauren and return her to her native time, in an attempt to restore the parallels and defeat the Pathbreakers.

There's also an off-worlder (the PC term for alien) who is a master Chronometrist and a Philonaut (a philosophical astronaut) with his own agenda about how the Lauren time line should unfold. He's on his own side.

What Made This Year Unique
Storywise
1. Very few props or magical items.
2. No magical creatures.
3. Ordinary locations.

Writing Process
4. No zero word days.
5. Slow start.
6. Easy finish: 2500 words on the last day as opposed to 5000.
7. No coffee!
8. No write-ins!
9. No cafe writing!

It is, as usual, a big let down when I win. I'm off later today to the Thank God It's Over gathering. This helps a little to ease the pain.

I plan to go on writing. I was quite successful with this last year. I eventually finished and self-published that novel. This year I'm not so sure. I might dip into a past novel draft and work on that instead of working on this one. There are some thorny problems with the plot that should be easier to resolve if I take a break.

Anyway. It's over. I miss it. Writing alone is not the same. Still, it's a fun month and proved to me, once again, that having an ongoing active project is so good for me.

My Convoluted Novel Writing Process

"Dancing Black"

Time to write the obligatory annual "why is my novel-writing process so crazy" post. Let me tell you what that involves at this point (at 30,000 words) in the novel.

1. Spend time playing Facebook games, i.e. Solitaire Blitz, Fantasy Kingdoms, etc.
2. Resolve niggling technical problems that can remain unresolved with minimal discomfort. Today I investigated how to share my computer's wifi internet connection with my iPhone via Bluetooth PAN. Whoops! There goes 30 minutes.
3. Clean the kitchen.
4. Write a blog post.
5. Update my Goodreads lists.
6. Write 500 words.
7. Play more Facebook games.
8. Research random stuff from the book. This is how I discovered that Waffle House is used by FEMA as an indication of the severity of damage after natural disasters. It's called "The Waffle House Index."
9. Write 620 words.
10. Have lunch.
11. Watch a movie or series episode.
12. Write 120 words.
13. Create a character sketch using DAZ 3D.
14. Make holiday art.
15. Post holiday art to Zazzle.
16. Despair over ever reaching 50k. Think this might be the year I give up.
17. Visit the NaNoWriMo forums. 
18. Write 120 words.
19. Generate an iTunes Genius playlist.
20. Post the playlist to my NaNoWriMo profile.

As long as I keep writing I'll eventually get to the point where I can sit down and bang out 1500 or 2000 words again. Until then I do dumb stuff from the list. 

Each year I hope and believe that this year will be different. This will be the year I sit down every day, bang out the words, and then have a normal life. Even if I review blog posts from previous years i miss the whole my process sucks bit and only notice how I kept writing as the days went by. 

I guess that's not such a bad thing.

Resistance vs Aversion

I  have spent so much of my life doing the “right” thing, making myself do things and participate in activities (like certain jobs) or hang with people I didn’t like or even intensely hated. I got very good as submersing my feelings and just getting on with it.

The backlash began more than five years ago, while I was employed as a graphic designer for a bank. Or maybe even before that when I found “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron or maybe even further back when my children were young and I ended up on my own with them while my then husband worked in a distant land making tons of tax-free money.

In any case, or even in all cases, the impetus grew in me to yield to my true desires and feelings, growing stronger over time until I can no longer make myself do anything I don’t feel like doing. Some have treated me like a recalcitrant child informing me that “adults” get on with it.

That is as may be.

However, I have also had many so-called “peak” experiences discovering that wonderful feeling of well being when I am in flow, doing what I enjoy, which makes me happy and is congruent with my inner direction. This is most important! When I do these things my blood pressure lowers, I lose the desire for overeating, I am energized and optimistic, and, I am sure, improving the quality of my life as well as lengthening it.

Why would I ever do anything I didn’t like? Anything that didn’t concur with my inner adviser? Anything that was incongruent with my true nature?

There are a lot of reasons. Some of them involved surviving childhood, adolescence, and “making a living.”

Aversion
I am averse to participating in activities that cause my blood pressure to rise, that stress me out, make me unhappy, or put me to sleep. In other words, I don't like things that are bad for me or go against the grain.

Resistance
Resistance is a bit more difficult to recognize. Resistance may come across as dislike, fear, rebellion, zoning out, or temporary amnesia.

To qualify: resistance is not doing something I really enjoy and is good for me. As opposed to aversion which is not wanting to do something I don’t like. Are we clear? Good.

So, to get on with it. When I am in resistance I sometimes get the same feeling as when I dislike something. How to tell the difference? When I dislike an activity that I previously enjoy immensely. That is resistance.

When I am in resistance I have fears — irrational fears, nebulous, unexplained fears. And then I get angry because I know I am resisting.

Resistance can be rebellion. As in, “No! I’m not doing this thing I like to do just because!”

Zoning out happens when I think about or plan to do an activity that is really good for me and that I like a lot. And the amnesia thing can happen when I remember only the bad parts of a great activity or when I forget that I have a lot of resistance around a particular activity.

To Illustrate Resistance
During the last year I lived in Richmond VA I discovered Yogaville. Going there was a spiritual and aesthetic experience — a double whammy because aesthetic experiences are spiritual.

I decided to return the following month, showing up for meditation at noon at the Lotus, having lunch, and driving back. The month after that, on the day I had planned a visit, I felt angry and irritable. All I could think about was the long drive (1.5 hours one way) and all the other things I had to do. So I didn’t go.

It didn’t take long before I felt horrible. All month I noticed the sinking feeling and lack of spirituality that came from not visiting.

The next month on the planned day, I forgot about the resistance and was about to cancel the trip when I remembered that all the negative feelings were just a part of the process. I’m not sure where all this crap comes from. Some of it comes from the anxiety of being afraid that the thing I really like to do will not happen as planned.

Eventually I saw all the feelings I had: anger, frustration, fear, and zoning out as a self-defeating way to keep myself from having a wonderful and renewing spiritual experience — something I loved and which was good for me.

Novelling
All of this to tell you that I have resisted writing all day. I will now go and finally write because I have caught up on all the niggley things I’ve put off for weeks. There’s really nothing left on today’s list but to write.

And here’s another form of resistance: preferring to do things that are boring IN COMPARISON TO the thing I need, want, and plan to do that is good for me.

Oh! And here’s another dumb thing I do: put off actually doing the thing I want to do because the anticipation of doing the fun thing feels so good. I don’t know. I might be crazy.

Caveat: these “fun things” generally involve creativity like writing.

Gak! Why am I still here? Think of how many words I could have written if I had worked on the novel instead of blathering.

Something I worked on and finished today instead
of writing my novel.

Cover art piece for Uncle Tauber's Trunk

I have a proof copy of the novel on CreateSpace with a cover I made using their cover creator. I was going to put this on the cover but the book has been approved as "publishable" and if I change the cover it has to go through the review process again. 

Next time!

Interesting Beginnings: Coarse Corrections

I wrote a screenplay!

In honor of Script Frenzy, which ended April 30 at midnight local time, I'm posting the beginning of another screenplay I began last fall. I made up the idea based on some wild women friends and a day dream.

NOTICE: There's some strong language towards the end.

=========

INT. Deck of confabulated magical ship-like thing - Day

Behind the helm on the mostly wooden deck, stands a very large mature woman with hair flying. Her clothes fly too, being a confabulation of whatever was to hand. The weather is windy and rainy. The woman, MATHILDA, peers through the storm intent on her destination. On the deck in front of her, oblivious to the weather, is SATCHA, a mature, reasonable woman. She stands with her eyes closed, arms outstretched parallel in front of her, palms perpendicular to her arms.


The ship is an amalgam of fantasy and fairtale construction with wide sails and strange wings; a mixture of wood, metal, plastic and whatever other parts could be salvaged from wrecks. A skeleton is attached to the bow. Skulls line some of the railings. Various shades of pink and purple, faded and new, are prominent. There are a lot of long, narrow flags. Inexplicably, steam and smoke periodically arise.

MATHILDA

Can't you do that in your room?

SATCHA

(without opening her eyes or moving)

No!

The wind howls. Another woman emerges from below deck. This is SILVIA, a lovely blond mature woman, her long hair showing three inches of gray roots. She is pleasingly plump.

SILVIA

Are we there yet?

MATHILDA

Nearly.

SILVIA

Good. I'm fresh out of larkspur. (pause) I see she's at it again.

MATHILDA

Yes.

SILVIA

If it works, I'm next.

Silvia disappears below decks. Satcha lowers her arms and opens her eyes.

MATHILDA

Was he there?

SATCHA

(nods a bit sadly)

I miss him.

MATHILDA

You've never met him.

SATCHA

But I will.

MATHILDA

Secure that rope, will you? And bring me a glass of wine.

Satcha secures a rope and then disappears below deck. The wind quiets and the rain stops. Mathilda secures the wheel and adjusts her appearance. She pulls a cloth from the interior of her clothing and wipes her face.

MATHILDA

There. That's better. Satcha!

Satcha is behind her.

SATCHA

Here's your wine. You didn't say, so I brought you white. It was open.

Mathilda takes the wine and gulps it down. She wipes her mouth with the back of her hand.

MATHILDA

Excellent. So, how is he today?

SATCHA

Tolerably well. (sighs) It's taking such a long time.

MATHILDA

Try not to wait so hard. A lady keeps her man waiting.

SATCHA

(dryly)

Oh ha ha. What if it's a woman?

MATHILDA

Then you'd better get out of my way!

There is a pause while Mathilda finishes the dregs of her wine and peers into the distance.

MATHILDA

You see that glittering thing over there?

SATCHA

(peers into the distance)

Yep. Barely. It's just a nuanced anomaly.

MATHILDA

I don't think so. This looks like something. A vehicle. Headed toward us.

Satcha peers again. She climbs up on the shrouds and leans out over the edge of the ship.

SATCHA

You may be right.

MATHILDA

Thank you.

SATCHA

Looks like another ship ... or maybe a plane.

MATHILDA

A plane. That's all we need.

WILLA, a plain-face, matter-of-fact mature woman appears on deck. She dresses traditionally in keeping with present cultural norms.

WILLA

Do we have time for a stop over? I've got a call from my daughter. The grandchildren need me.

MATHILDA

Time is what we're made of. What's the location?

WILLA

(peers at a small, rectangular electronic in the palm of her hand)

Uh, ... let me see ... I think ... oh, here it is. Richmond, 2011.

MATHILDA

(grabbing the helm and bringing the ship about)

That's it? You know I hate fuzzy logic.

WILLA

No. There's more. Give me a minute. Uh, June ... 13th ... about 6 p.m.

MATHILDA

Got it.

Willa taps her device and then puts it to her ear.

WILLA

Honey? Okay. I'll be there. Should I bring something? You want me to stop by the grocery store? (she listens) Alright. Love you!

MATHILDA

We've got a situation. Might not be able to pick you up right at the precise moment.

WILLA

That's fine. I can stay the night if I need to.

Mathilda grunts. She whirls the helm. The ship is consumed by cloudy steam or possibly clouds. Only the helm and Willa can be seen. Willa flips out a ladder and steps down into the cloud.

WILLA

I'll call you.

MATHILDA

Got it!

Willa descends into the cloud. Mathilda swings the helm. The clouds and steam clear and we are back to the previous view of the ship. Satcha is still in the shrouds.

SATCHA

I think it's a pirate ship. ... Plane. Whatever. It's turning back.

MATHILDA

Silvia!

Muffled from below comes a reply.

MATHILDA

Is your Ex after you again?

A couple of bumps are heard. Silvia appears on deck.

SILVIA

No. Why do you ask?

Mathilda indicates with a rough gesture. Silvia peers out toward the object.

SILVIA

That's not him.

MATHILDA

Great. Who is it then?

SILVIA

I don't know. Why don't you ask him?

MATHILDA

Him?

SILVIA

Well, yeah. It's some guy with a bunch of his buddies. Looks like racers or sky divers.

SATCHA

Bungee jumpers.

SILVIA

Yeah. That's it. Bungee jumpers.

The vehicle flies closer, appearing to be at first a black galleon and then transforming as we close in to a black catamaran and then a black glider. Hanging from the glider are six guys dressed in black, each one suspended from a different type and color of bungee cord. They wave raucously as they swoop past the ship and then disappear into the horizon.

SATCHA

Was that ...?

SILVIA

No. Never. Nuh ah. ... Anyway, I've got water boiling. Tea anyone?

SATCHA

(raises her hand)

MATHILDA

None for me, thanks.

Silvia goes below deck.

MATHILDA

What you got on for today?

SATCHA

Thought I'd make a few visits.

MATHILDA

Were you going to file a flight plan or did you want me to use my ESP?

SATCHA

Both. (pulls out a crumpled map) Here. And, uh, here.

MATHILDA

What's this in aid of?

SATCHA

My sanity? The order of the universe? Dying children in Cambodia?

MATHILDA

You think you're going to find him in one of those spots?

SATCHA

Uh, yeah. Why not?

MATHILDA

So, okay. Let's imagine that were possible ...

SATCHA

It isn't?

MATHILDA

Tell me about him.

SATCHA

He's a pilot, flies for a commercial airline, used to make long flights - now just does short hops. You know, there and back again. Gets to the airport, doesn't even leave the plane, and then back again.

MATHILDA

But you don't know which airport?

SATCHA

Right.

Mathilda peers at the map.

MATHILDA

Or the time.

SATCHA

Just a minor insignificant detail.

MATHILDA

I can't run around all day with you. I've got a schedule, you know.

SATCHA

Won't take ALL day.

MATHILDA

(sound of disgust)

Might as well.

SATCHA

Thanks.

INT. Passenger Airplane Cockpit - Afternoon

WRIGHT, a well matured male pilot, sits in the cockpit with a clipboard and a laptop checking over the equipment. The clipboard is his backup, having once lost his laptop to the cleaning crew. FUNK, the male co-pilot, enters and sits in the co-pilot seat.

FUNK

Gees. How do you do this everyday?

WRIGHT

(not looking up)

Practice.

FUNK

What's the weather look like.

WRIGHT

Good. Check the maps will you?

Funk turns to the displays and taps screens and shit. Might need someone in here who actually knows something about flight displays. On the other hand, you could just have the ubiquitous big red button.

FUNK

Looks accurate.

WRIGHT

Hmmmfff. Take a look. What's this look like to you?

Wright shows his laptop display to Funk. Do not zoom in on this. No one needs that level of detail.

FUNK

Like a storm.

WRIGHT

And doesn't the flight path take us squarely into it?

FUNK

Uh,.. yeah.

WRIGHT

What have you been smokin'?

FUNK

Nothing. Lately.

WRIGHT

Dammit! Do I gotta report you?

FUNK

Fuck, Wright. You know I fly better when I'm relaxed.

WRIGHT

Relaxed is one thing - damn out of it is another. Get the fuck off my plane!

Funk stands, picking up his cap from the dash.

FUNK

Happy Trails, mother fucker.

WRIGHT

Thanks.

Funk exits leaving the cockpit door open.

WRIGHT

(shouts after Funk)

And tell the duty manager to send in another navigator!

The Story Experience

Lots of books, articles, and story consultants get into the technical parts of story:
1. Beginning, Middle, End
2. Inciting incident, Crisis, Climax, Resolution
3. Act I, II, and III
4. Premise, Theme, Conclusion
etc.

That is what story looks like from an analytical view point. It's as if you wanted to know what an orange was and you put it under the microscope and analyzed the acidity and talked about the skin and rind. Nothing in there would tell you about the orange experience: how it tastes, the juiciness of it, the fresh smell from the broken skin.

I realized, after reading a lot of books and articles and listening to a lot of podcasts, that there's something else at work here. There's a flavor, a flow, an odor and a substance to story. It's not just about the bones or what you can see from the outside.

It's not even about some backwards process where you write the whole story and then decide what it's about. It's like having someone ask about your boyfriend and you say things like, "He wears a size 12 shoe, has  brown hair, likes to tango, and drives a 2002 Saturn." These little descriptors do not provide the experience of being with your boyfriend. It tells you what he's like on the outside.

Here are my four (so far) categories of the story experience.

1. The Decision Tree. This is a story that goes from incident to incident like an adventure game with the protagonist making a choice at each crucial juncture. Examples are "Star Wars: A New Hope", "Hitch", "The Mask", and "High Fidelity (the movie)." The protagonist may have more than one choice at each juncture. This is a linear story going from A to B with pauses along the way. There is something nearly predetermined about this story. No matter how many twists and turns there are, you know things will work out, because each decision narrows the options for the next decision.
2. Interwoven Arcs. In this story each person, animal, element, and item has an arc. Their arcs are independent of each other yet they interact. In "Notting Hill" the eyeglasses move around, get lost, get replaced by prescription goggles, and are found. Each character has it's own arc that interacts with each other characters. Even the seasons are involved as they move through their turns. The arcs show the passage of time, reveal the characters, move the plot along, all while interacting. You could remove each arc, like whole threads, and reweave them. The key in this is that the story is not linear. There are a lot of stories. Other examples are "Slaves of New York" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream."
3. Interacting Systems. Unlike arcs, systems have energy centers. Energy moving out from the center causes events. The centers move around pinging off each other, causing other events, making the characters react. Systems can be people, events, or things – even energy itself. Disaster movies are often like this. Something blows up and that unbalances characters who blow up and then perhaps lots of tiny explosions happen until the energy dissipates. "Die Hard", "Independence Day", and "The Fifth Element" are examples of this. Comedies also do this, as in "The Pink Panther" with Inspector Clouseau bumbling around, exploding, and causing other explosions which then move the story into other directions. You could probably think of this as the triangular or pent-angular story depending on how may energy systems you have.
4. Wormholes. If the decision tree is linear, then wormholes are fields. In this type of the story, the events and characters are avoiding. It's as if the story is walking on stepping stones across the field or moving through wormholes, dropping in one place and emerging in another. Much is unsaid and must be figured out as you watch the movie. A lot of mysteries are like this. Examples of this are "Amadeus", "Phantom of the Opera", "Premonition", and "Kate and Leopold."

Maybe I've just renamed categories already out there somewhere. Important for me is that these are descriptors of the experiential process of making the story, not the bare, dry bones of analysis.

I sure hope this helps. I hope, that when I'm doing my usual seat-of-the-pants writing, I can look at what's happening and say, "Hey! This is a Decision Tree or Interwoven Arcs (or whatever)" which will help me recognize what structure I've got so I can build a better story. Or at least get all the way to end of it, for a change.

Winter Break

Clean kitchen! A sure sign that
National Novel Writing Month
is long past.

So here I am, at 70,213 words and the end of the story remains elusive. I might I have missed it, as I discovered when rereading my 2009 NaNo novel. However, I feel like the ending will show up in the next 2000 words. More or less. I thought I had an ending and I do have some background that hasn't made it into the novel—not that it has to. Background is always good for more story, whether in the current novel or one yet to be written. It all goes around and comes around, sort of like karma, and in a good way.

I have decided to keep to my promise to stop at 70K and take a break until after January first. Then I will start at the beginning with the swooping process, clearing up as I go. When I get to the end, there should be one. heh heh

Happy Holidays, ya'll!
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"Uncle Tauber's Trunk" A retired writer and a CIA profiler riddle out the secrets of the contents of an old German trunk.
Statistics
Total Words Written: 70,213
Daily Word Count Goal: 2000
Words written today: 0 (have reached goal of 70K)

Wearing my Santa hat while floating in an earlier version
of Inspire Space Park in Shinda in Second Life.

Still Writing

Winding up and along toward the ending I thought I would get to. However, stuff I hadn't thought about is still happening and the characters continue to surprise and entertain me. This bodes well for the novel. Finishing up is a little holiday present for me. It's not all peaches and cream, but it is getting done. And I'm still getting the happy effects from working and writing.
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"Uncle Tauber's Trunk" A retired writer and a CIA profiler riddle out the secrets of the contents of an old German trunk.
Statistics
Total Words Written: 68,462
Daily Word Count Goal: 2000
Words written today: 2301

Along the Road to the End ... of the Novel

No pirates are involved.

Yet another stopper/road block along the way to completed noveldom. I know what happens next. Yes, I have arrived at that point in the plot where the twistings and turnings have led to a rough ending. I could, if I chose, make more than one end—anyone with an imagination could. However, I have a favorite ending and I'll be writing that one, more or less.

This knowing—that I have things wrapped up and it's all done except for the scribbling and bibbling—is a stopper. Because I actually enjoy writing the story. Which is a little shocking when I look at my process and see all the effort that goes in to getting started.

That's deceiving, that effort. It leads me to believe I don't like writing when, in fact, I do which I confirm each time I start typing. I keep hoping one day sitting down to write will be effortless. Probably an unrealistic expectation. I thought that once I knew what would happen I would be drawn along and have a full day (or at least four to six hours) of mad writing to the exciting conclusion.

The excitement is at the beginning and middle. Not at the end. I like writing without knowing what's going to happen next. That's the adventure. That's the fun of it all.

I know I will write again. It's not like this is the last story I'll ever write. I am, however, attached to this story and want it to go on forever. At the same time, I'm eager for the story to end so I can wrap it up and let my friends read it. And perhaps get it published. And then have, like, a job or something.

So, back to writing. The whole 2k per day thing didn't work out as planned, so I am going with Plan B: writing to 70K. Let you know how that works out.
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"Uncle Tauber's Trunk" A retired writer and a CIA profiler riddle out the secrets of the contents of an old German trunk.
Statistics
Total Words Written: 61,519
Daily Word Count Goal: 2000
Words written today: 288 (so far)

Post-NaNoWriMo Musings or Life Goes On

I wrote a bit this morning. I have a goal of writing 2,000 words per day until and including the 10th. This will either get me to the end of the story or pretty close to it. If only close to it, I hope close enough to encourage me to finish before Christmas.

It's not the same, of course, as writing during NaNoWriMo. It's more serious when I'm not enjoying the insane company of others, even if only virtually. However, I have (again) concluded that this is my work and I am happier when I write. All is right with the universe when I'm working on a story.

I've learned about

• ancient Celtic and Moroccan coins
• the blue town of Chefchaouen
• Numismatics (and how to spell it)
• the proper care of old coins (don't clean them)
• caves in the desert (even though I thought I made them up)
• the three ways to properly perform a hajj

My progress over the month showing

daily word count relative to

suggested minimum.

Green is Good. Red is bad.

So, that's good. I've also learned that researching is part of the process more than it is a way to avoid writing. I would like to reread and collate chronologically all my NaNoWriMo posts over the years, to see how my process works exactly with a view to doing this on my own whether it's National Novel Writing Month or not. 

I wish there was a National Art Making Month. I could use a boost in that area as well. I suspect there may be a National Poetry Writing Month. I think I saw something about it on twitter over the summer. 

Well, one thing at a time. This month it's finishing my novel and this one seems especially suited to publication. But that's another goal.

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"Uncle Tauber's Trunk" A retired writer and a CIA profiler riddle out the secrets of the contents of an old German trunk.
Statistics
Total Words Written: 52,415
Daily Word Count Goal: 2000
Words written today: 2546

The Push and Pull of Process

Push
Writer's block is unique for each writer. Some say it comes over you when you don't know what happens next. For me, knowing what happens next can be a block because why write it down when I know what happens next? I can wander around fantasizing about what happens next and be perfectly content that I have story without writing. Once I write, the options are minimized. I like options. The way through this block is to push myself to write. This is easier when I have written nothing or very little the previous day.

This year I've discovered that when the story gets too personal I shut down. Being emotionally involved is a block. This explains my fascination with spirituality and philosophy. The only way to get through this block is to take off the girdle of expectations and free associate.

Those are conscious blocks. I participate in creating those blocks, so they aren't really blocks, they're avoidance. Genuine writer's block is when I don't realize I'm avoiding. It happens when I'm happily sweeping the floor while planning out yard work. When I gladly scrub the toilet or mend clothing. Basically, whenever I enjoy mundane, normally boring tasks I know I'm blocked. Because I'd rather do that than write. And I don't know I'm blocked until I notice how happy I am performing a boring, stupid chore. Although this is (for me) a subtle block, it is the easiest one to fix. All I have to do is sit down and write, which I am happy to do once I notice I'm avoiding. This kind of block generally happens after I hit 30K.

Pull
There are also release landmarks along the way, places where the progress pulls me onward. The beginning is usually the time I'm wide open. Zero to about 4k is the zooming zone. Around 5K I have a tendency to rest on my laurels, talk about my budding novel, and feel the first fears of novel development. Once I get to 20K I'm truly committed, a kind of insanity that makes me one with the noveling sorority. I've settled into the process which pulls me forward. At 30K I begin to feel it's all downhill from here. Probably because by this point I have some well-developed characters, most of a plot, and some interest in finding out what happens next. At 42K I am the Swami! I have licked the game and I'm on my way. Nothing can stop me from reaching 50K.

Once I get to week four, or 35K, (which would be this time of the month) the thought of not reaching 50K pulls me forward. I'm so addicted to completing tasks that I can't not meet the goal. I'm well on the way, can easily write a couple thousand words at a sitting, and the impending doom of not reaching 50K by the 30th pulls me forward. That and not wanting to tell everyone I did not finish this year. Because that would be so embarrassing!

This can also be the time of the month, as it is this year, when writing a post about the writing process impels me to write. It's like, oh, I don't know, taking a big drink of water before a hike or having a good breakfast before a hard day of work. Something like that. Anyway, it helps me get on with it and that's the whole gozornenplat. Or raison d'être. Or Hauptsache. Or ... gotta go!

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"Uncle Tauber's Trunk" A retired writer and a CIA profiler riddle out the secrets of the contents of an old German trunk.

Word Count Statistics

Goal: 50,000 words by midnight Nov. 30

Today's Total: 35055

Written Today: 0 (haven't started yet - doing this first - but believe me, there will be words today!)

Sophomore Slump: Taking the Long Way

I'm now at the novel-writing point where I get hung up in the tenses. I see that I have written most of the novel in first person (which I have never done before) past. First person aside, I tend to struggle a lot with whether to write something in the past or the present or even the present past (is that present perfect?). I wish I'd paid more attention in grammar class.

It's only in novel writing I get this way. In short pieces I have no problem on deciding the tense. It's kinda obvious.

At this stage I also have a lot of difficulty getting going. Basking in the glow of having started a novel makes it a lot harder to be motivated to continue. I'm so thrilled to have characters, a setting, the intimations of a plot, and thousands of words. I feel like I've arrived before I've finished.

The only solution is discipline—making myself sit down and write no matter what. Whether I know what I'm going to write or not (as if that mattered), whether I feel like it or not, and no matter how lovely it is outside or what strange housekeeping task needs to be performed. (There are none really. I live alone. Most tasks are either quickly done or optional.)

This is also the stage of the novel when I write silly posts in the blog (like today). Wasting time feeling productive instead of actually writing.

I also spend a lot of time "researching." And not just discovering actual facts which sometimes spur me to writing. Last night, for example, instead of writing I watched a movie. The movie was "The Long Way Home" with Jack Lemmon and Sarah Paulson. I called it research because the two main characters are similar to mine: a man old enough to be the woman's grandfather. I'm not sure what the possibilities are between such a couple, so I watched the movie.

Right. As if other possibilities matter when I sit down to write. Possibilities develop, don't cha know. I write in a way that the thing pretty much writes itself. Which means I write intuitively. It's messy. Then I go back and clean up.

Anyway, this is mostly drivel. The pure purpose of which is to get it out my head so I can get on with writing, which I will do now—once I've fed the dog, reviewed and published this post, and wandered out to the write-in I'm hosting at TaZa.

Work. Gotta love it.
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"Uncle Tauber's Trunk" An old man and a woman young enough to be his granddaughter riddle out the secrets of an old German trunk.

Word Count Statistics

Goal: 50,000 words by midnight Nov. 30

Today's Total: 16,648

Written Today: 110