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November 2nd, 2006
10:58 pm
(That includes my two character sketches. ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) homullus is convinced I'll plug 'em back in somewhere, and he's probably right.)
Need more conflict! More conflict! GRRRRARGH!
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03:09 pm
alibee suggested I go through the "throughlines" of my main characters and work on the plot that way. So far I still don't have the main plot points put together, but maybe this will help.
The main thing I feel I'm missing right now are compelling goals or collaborations that are worth risking for each other. In a book I was reading last night, a guy is posing as his friend as a favor while the guy is out of town and falls in love with the girl next door, but when he's really in love with her, how does he tell her he's been lying about who he is? Or (as in alibee's thingy) two people are working on and with a project, but it goes awry and their professional lives are threatened? I just don't have that extra thing they have to risk besides the same old problems they've struggled with on their own. Ideas welcomed.
( Introducing Maggie. )
( Introducing Daniel. )
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09:10 am - Yeah, it's only day 2...
I'm up to... um... well, I know I said it was 2354 last night, but after a little morning tweaking it's up to 2371. Big money, no whammies! (In truth, I was aiming for 2480, just to beat my good pal Feegle. Le sigh.)
I should be jumping for joy at this fact, which most likely eclipses my word count for the past two years combined. Today, of course, is the critical point.
So my original plan involved yet another guy from her past, and "gosh, it's hard to deal with these two guys at once!" but the other guy hasn't really shown up and I don't know if he will.
It's just that there's nothing going on.
They run into each other, she starts her new job, she tells her friend about running into him, and most likely the next thing I'll write is some sort of love scene that will have to go later in the book. But as for the emotional pivot points, the part where they do find that things have changed, and also the parts in the past which are the reasons the MC feels this way... ugh. I can't come up with them, at least not with enough gravity to be accurately reflected in how much wailing and teeth-gnashing is going on in the other scenes. So far everybody's just standing around and talking about how they feel. This is especially annoying for my MC, who should really be SO MUCH less of a wuss (though I'll allow her one freak-out).
Any ideas?
P.S. I don't like the main character's name. Originally I thought I'd call her Maggie because it would be a stupid joke: she works for Welcome and Guest services, so they would make fun of her and call it WAGS with Mags. It's not working with me. Too cutesy-Irish. I also have no last name for her, nor a nickname that she could be called by her paramour. I suppose he could just call her by her last name, whatever that is...
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November 1st, 2006
02:30 pm - Wheeeee!
(The first part of this was actually originally written on November 4, 2004. Apparently not much has changed.)
So here it is, my writing journal. Pretty pitiful if you axe me. I pooped out after my successful first day. But I will succeed! I will prevail in the end! Really!
Especially with your help, fair citizens!
(I wish it were as easy to write novel entries as it were to write journal entries. Perhaps in modifying my approach I can make my novel-writing more similar in flow.)
Anyways, any and all comments are appreciated. Because I like to read things and stuff.
Please comment here to be added so you can read my story-related posts. This is for publishing purposes (despite the fact that this thing is bound to be a bloated monstrosity, yes, I am that vain :P), not because I don't like you or something. I will leave the majority of my question or comment posts unlocked.
When you comment, remember that editing=bad news, especially for Editrix McGee over here who lives to trim, and thus I will most appreciate comments of any sort (not even al positive) that will help me add or in some way magnify or detail a situation. Examples: "I totally don't get how Harry got into Hermione's chamber withot his wand. Write something about that, or else it doesn't make sense." "You should really go into more detail about your main character's fetish for bowler hats." "I'm bored. Write a scene involving Eddie Izzard and a large vat of Jell-O."
Thanks!
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November 4th, 2004
03:32 pm - Current problems. Help, please.
Anything you pull out of your ass is welcome. (And I promise I'll stop posting now that I've started this journal on its way.)
--I need a better name for my small Wisconsin college town currently known as Bywater. It could be vaguely Native American. The town is located approximately on the shores of Devil's Lake, but the lake on which it is perched is currently known as Lake Titworth. (Don't ask.)
--My antagonist, the youngish gentleman who has returned to campus as a celebrated author or something, needs a book to write. Something of a sudden phenomenon, perhaps like the Lemony Snicket books or some sort of book that speaks, eloquently, to the hearts of women. Le sigh. The big secret or part of the reason he may be a guy the main character is mad at COULD BE that he is not necessarily the writer of his famous book(s). If this is indeed true, he may or may not have a reason for doing this (i.e. perhaps his sister wrote them and didn't necessarily want to be in the spotlight all the time).
--Come to think of it, I need a better name for my main character, who (of course, as in most first novels) is an ohsochewy surrogate. Let's just be honest about that. She is currently in third-person, but I might just make it first-person because I'm getting tired of explaining everything out for this person I'm not really feeling close enough to.
--Why is she grumpy with him? What is her big secret that he found out back when they were in college, or vice versa? Did they just have one really astoundingly bad first date after eyeing each other from afar?
--What are some ways they could interact with each other in the present, considering that she is doing her best to avoid him? How long does it take before she finally talks to him about ANYTHING that happened in the past?
EDIT: Okay, I am also realizing that the main character hates everything. What in god's name can keep her from going off the deep end? Is there ANYONE on this stupid campus who understands her or at least makes her giggle? Who does she unload to?
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02:50 pm - A description...
Just to give y'alls an idea of what this thing is about, here's a post that I put in the nanowrimo community a while back. (I was feeling very lonely as someone who was not completely enamored of fantasy and the like.) Hopefully this will give you an idea of the thing I'm working on. I wrote it back in October, though, before I had a) given myself more details and b) realized what a crackpot I sounded like when I wrote without editing.
*****
I’m a first time NaNoer. I excel at writing within prescribed limits, such as contests involving silly poetry in ridiculously structured forms, but mostly I’m a victim of my own too-critical eye and don’t write unless forced.
I want to write a Plain Old Novel. I love John Irving, and the book that really inspired me to get thinking about writing was Empire Falls by Richard Russo. It’s funny, it’s sarcastic, it’s kind of bitter around the edges, but mostly it just feels very real and reads the way I think and talk. I really dislike the sort of writerly women’s novels that are chock full of affairs and buried family secrets and that sort of thing.
I also don’t like fantasy or science fiction. (But I’m married to a guy who does!) I feel kind of lonely around here. Anyone else writing a “plain old novel”? I feel like I’m going to fall into the trap of feeling like I don’t have enough quirkiness or plot points that make things jump out from the page. I’m sure that things will come out just fine, but the idea of writing something in which I can’t just up and invent a new race of starchild half-elves if I get stuck is feeling kind of tough right now.
My idea is basically what happens when the protagonist, who is in a dead-end job at a college and trying to figure out what to do with her life (fancy that) is confronted with an old enemy from her school days (who has achieved some measure of success and is coming back to the college as a highly-touted mucky-muck) and they butt heads a lot while she finally starts growing up and making some changes in her life. I don’t think they’ll become best friends or date or anything, but it’s kind of about forgiveness and letting go of old grudges. It’ll get a lot of humor from scenes and dialogue, including a couple flashbacks to find out why they hate each other. I think a lot about the movie Rushmore in terms of tone and resolution.
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