Writing Openings - Learning from The Hunger Games Model

Picture from hungergamesdwtc.net

Openings are tough. For me, they're one of the hardest things to get right. The balance of exposition and action, character introduction and identification, has always been something that takes me much longer than it probably should.

What everyone tells you to do in openings:

1. Show what the main character cares about.

2. Threaten what the main character cares about.

There are a billion and eleven ways to accomplish those two things, and however basic they may seem, they're still hard to do. It's the how, not the what, that's a little tricky to me.

At the most recent meeting of my writing club, Raven brought up a point our friend Ed (of IGMS and Magical Words) had made on a panel at ConCarolinas: The Hunger Games has an impressively succinct opening.

Think about it; within the first pages we learn how deeply Katniss cares about her sister, Prim. Not only does she break the law to feed her family, but she also tolerates her little sister's cat, which she hates. Despite the cat being another mouth to feed, Katniss lets it stay because Prim loves it, which shows how deeply Katniss cares about Prim. That's all within the first two or so pages. This caring perfectly sets up the story's inciting incident: Prim getting chosen to compete in the Hunger Games, and Katniss taking her place.

Openings don't come naturally to me, and I tend to take a while to ramp up into the story, action or not. In conjunction with this observation, two of my beta readers for HELLHOUND, Bryan Lincoln and Darci Cole, made a couple of points that had me rethinking that opening. I knew I needed to make it succinct and precise, like the Hunger Games, and to do that I had to think critically about the opening. I came up with the following method for accomplishing the two elements of the opening:

The Hunger Games Model

1. Demonstrate what the main character cares about by showing them overcoming some obstacle/hardship or another because he/she cares about it. (Motivation in evidence!)

2. Threaten the thing that character cares about in such a way that forces him/her to take the first step along the story's course.

I know, I know. Reading it written out like that makes me sort of go, "Duh. Of course that's how an opening should be done." But it has taken several failures and some strict, sit-down-and-analyze time for me to figure out not only what needed to happen, but how to do that.

I came up with exactly how to harvest these elements from HELLHOUND and weave them together in a scene that is similar to what I already had, but will likely work much better.

Does your story's opening follow the Hunger Games Model? How? What other ways have you seen or utilized to open a story?

Tabletop Magic for Your Novel

Picture courtesy mmorpg-info.com

This past week, I've been worldbuilding for Beggar's Twin. One thing I never really did with my other two books was sit down and hammer out details of how the Magic works before I wrote the story. I ended up regretting that during every stage of the process - I didn't know how to describe it while I wrote my rough drafts, and it affected the plots during revision and made them take longer. Sure, I eventually got all the pieces figured out, but it slowed me down.

Beggar's Twin has a very complicated magic system - more complicated than any I've written thus far. Not only are there a number of different branches of magic, the casting style is singing-based, which creates a whole new set of issues. I knew I was going to have to do a bit more planning here in order to keep everything straight, so I sat down with my friend Eric (an avid tabletop gamer who paid a lot more attention to the rulebooks than I ever did) and hammered out some rules for the magic system as if it were a tabletop RPG.

Here's how we got started:

Background

First, I described to him the basic construction of the magic system. I'd like to point out that I already had the basics in mind. The following diagram is the division of magic: what type of magic it is, what effects it has, how it's categorized, who can have it, how many branches can they have. This is all information you need to know before you begin.

A few points of pertinent background information (and the notes and ideas they spawned) are as follows:

1. Each branch of magic resonates with a particular key. There are six branches of magic, and there doesn't appear to be a rhyme or reason for the particular key it's associated with. (There are probably professors at the University who devote their lives to finding significance in these keys, but in terms of the story, nobody knows.)

2. Sound is vibration, but not just any sound can be used for spellcasting - it has to be voice. However, I decided that outside sounds would certainly disturb the spellcasting, because of interference. (You know what that means for historical warfare? WAR GONGS.)

3. Given the above, Professors at the University will have something akin to giant tuning forks in a dissonant key to their area of teaching, so they can disrupt any student spells likely to go awry. All Magicsingers carry small ones to act as a pitch-pipe before singing.


After establishing the background information, Eric and I decided to work with the D20 system, since it's what I'm most familiar with. 


If this were to be a real tabletop game, I would probably spend ages and ages coming up with a whole bunch of spells for each branch of magic, plus a couple of spells that could be done with particular combinations like esper/divintion telepathy. This, however, is not something I'm concerned with working out before I write, so I'm skipping that part (for now).


Next, we started coming up with what's know in tabletop gaming as "Feats".

In the d20 System, a feat is one type of ability a character may gain through level progression. Feats are different from skills in that characters can vary in competency with skills, while feats typically provide set bonuses to or new ways to use existing abilities.

Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/feat#ixzz1xb4Cx7SP

Feats are all those special little quirks that make your unique magic system even cooler. In terms of narrative, they're what will help you show off your magic system in plot and interaction. Flaws are similar to feats, but hinder the character. Here are a few of mine:

Perfect Pitch: (this feat can only be taken at character creation) Your character will never have problems with pitch. +5 on all casting checks.


Resonance: (this feat can only be taken at character creation) Resonance occurs when the spirit is in perfect resonance with one branch of magic, allowing that person the ability to become more proficient in that magic quickly. It also cancels dissonance penalties for the target branch.

Dissonance: (this feat can only be taken at character creation) Dissonance occurs when the spirit is in a dissonant key to a particular branch of magic. Non spellcasters may take this feat without penalty and receive a +20 to Armor Class against the target magic. Spellcasters may use this as a flaw.

Focus: (GM awards this feat at any time) When a character has devoted significant academic study to his or her singing, they may be awarded focus, which allows the caster to subtract five points off all casting checks.


Tone Deaf: When a character is tone-deaf, he or she will have significant difficulty casting spells. No one likes to sit next to this character in class. -5 on all casting checks. -10 if another character is singing a spell in a different key.

Beautiful Voice: Teachers always say it doesn't matter how good your voice is, as long as you can sing on key...but spells always seem more effective when cast in a lovely voice. Teachers are also more likely to favor students whose voices don't inspire dogs to howl. +1 on all "damage" rolls.


Obivously, there's a lot more that goes into creating a tabletop game than just background, spells, and feats. This is, however, a really good start.


Do you play tabletop games? If your magic system were a tabletop game, what feats and flaws would you have? How would you use them in your story?

I'm Not Dead Yet! (Shut up, yes you are.)

One excuse for being absent.

I've been AWOL for a few weeks. Mostly, that's because I've been out of town for various events including Rosemary's wedding in CO and Balticon in MD and ConCarolinas in Charlotte. Details to come.

The worst bit about being so busy recently is that it's given me very little time to write. I've been working on changing HELLHOUND over into first person during my lunch breaks, and as you can probably imagine, that's going slowly. I'm also working on the rough draft of BULLRUSHING THE GHOST, which is coming along nicely, but--shock of shocks--is a bit long. I'd like to keep it under 7.5k, but it's 6k now, and only about two thirds of the way finished.

Luckily, I have two workshops and several great beta readers to help me out.

THE MARK OF FLIGHT is still circulating, and I'm planning to hit revisions for A DIVIDED HEART this weekend, between watching my dad's band and stripping wallpaper with my mom.

Amid all that, I'm hoping to start writing the rough draft of BEGGAR'S TWIN soon. It's mostly outlined, and there's really nothing left to wait for. I need to make myself a magic bible for it, so I can keep all the intricacies straight. (Ooooh, scrapbook...Must resist the urge to buy stickers.)

I've been letting the podcasts slide a little, but i'm determined to put out a new episode of Pendragon Variety and a new episode of Fit-2-Write tonight! If you haven't heard them, I highly recommend them both. Pendragon is an audio literary magazine and round table discussion podcast I run with my best friends (Adryn, Raven, Skrybbi, Mica, and Rosemary), and Fit-2-Write is the new podcast I do with Tee Morris and Justin Macumber, which focuses on fitness and its impact on creativity.

The work outs are going well. I've taken a break this week to recover from all the crazy, but am going back to the gym before work tomorrow. I'm trying to start up a new "morning workout" habit, but in case you're a new reader, or you forgot...

Yeah. I'll let you know how that goes.

How are your projects going? What have you been up to the past few weeks? Are you a morning person?

Crossing the Fail Road

Last week was a bad week. Some good things happened--Raven and I went to see Wicked with tickets she won at the charity event we both attended earlier this year, and on Wednesday, we hung out with our friend Andrew, who was in town for a book signing (A.J. Hartley, Darwen Arkwright and the Peregrine Pact).

But it was a bad week. Like most bad weeks, it wasn't the product of One Big Thing, but a stew of disappointments, stress, and bad-timing. It left me feeling pretty low, and Friday I finally let it all simmer over as I sat in my car in the parking lot of my local coffee shop, crying, wondering why I was even bothering.

I'm writing this now not because I want encouragement. I'm actually feeling pretty good today. I'm writing this because I'm now on the other side of that feeling, and I wanted to address it.

I reached out for support that day--on Facebook, which is not always the best of forums, but served me well. I didn't want compliments or reassurances, since I have a hard time believing those when I'm in the best of moods, let alone the worst. But I got encouragement. I got support. I got sympathy from others who had been in my shoes. I got the love of my friends.

It's times like that, when the future is uncertain and we realize there's nothing we can do to keep the world from spinning on, that it's good to know we're not alone.

I composed myself, got out of my car, and walked into the coffee-shop. I sat down with my drink, opened my laptop, and pulled up a story.

I started writing.

If there's one thing I've learned about writing, it's this: when I feel bad about my writing, when I feel like I'm never going to get published, or I'm never going to be good enough, or this book that I bled my heart out for is never going to see print, there's  nothing that will make me feel better as quickly as getting back to writing.

When the tsunami hit Japan last March, I wished more than anything that I could be back there, in the country that had been my home for three years, doing something. I felt the need to take all the feelings boiling up inside me and turn them into energy, into action, to do something to get that healing-train moving. I couldn't go to Japan, obviously. I would just be a drain on its much-needed resources. There is no feeling quite so terrible as helplessness.

Back then, I turned to the local university and Japanese community to help in the fund-raising efforts. I performed at a benefit concert, and worked together with my friends to get Adryn home for a few weeks, and out of the upheaval of Japan's post-tsunami climate.

It's doing something, effecting a change in my situation, that makes me feel better when I'm down. So when I feel bad about writing, I write.

This weekend, it really helped. I got another whole scene written on BULLRUSHING THE GHOST, and the story is turning out much more touching than I'd anticipated. It was supposed to be a comedy, but it's now also somewhat romantic.

I'm also blessed with wonderful friends, who push me to be better, who support me without babying me, and who understand that I don't want to be told how great I am when only improving my weaknesses will make me feel better...but still find ways to encourage me despite myself.

Writer Wednesday - What I'm Working On

I got inspired by Darci Cole's post today, where she described the various projects she's working on.

I have a lot of different projects, all at different stages, and I guess it would do me some good to put into words exactly what they are, where I am with all of them, and where I hope to be in the next few months. I'd also like to hear what you guys are working on! Drop me a link to your own blog, or let me know in the comments.

Also, because I have some new followers...

PROJECTS

I have five projects I'm working on right now; this is what they are, and what I'm doing with them.

1. Title: THE MARK OF FLIGHT

When the slave-boy that rescued kidnapped Princess Arianna is once again abducted by slave-traders, Arianna faces a choice: forget the freedom she promised him and rush home to prepare her kingdom for war, or risk her life to free the young man who gave up everything to save her.

Length: Novel (first in THE MARKMASTERS TRILOGY)

Genre: High Fantasy

Status: Completed (on submission)

Description and excerpt HERE.

2. Title: HELLHOUND

Shapeshifting "Hellhound" Helena Martin has only one chance to keep her pack and her human friends safe: make peace with the sorcerers who killed her mother.

Length: Novel (stand-alone)

Genre: Contemporary Fantasy

Status: Draft 2.5

Description and excerpt HERE.

 I did a major plot overhaul during NaNoWriMo 2011, and got a good chunk of it rewritten, but still wasn't totally happy with it. I've finally given up and decided to shift the entire book into first-person. I've got about ten new scenes to write, which will be much easier in first person.

3. THE BEGGAR'S TWIN

In a world where Nobles live in a city above the streets and touching one means death, PROCNE, a street girl with a forbidden magical gift, poses as a male student at the Magicsinger University, vowing to use her chance at power to bring down the society that killed her brother and made her an outcast.

Length: Novel (first in a duology)

Genre: High Fantasy

Status: Detailed Outline

Description HERE.

I have a detailed outline of the first book note-carded, with only a few gaps in the plot that I plan to fill in as I write. The world is very detailed and strong in my mind, but I'm working out a few more specifics with the magic system (since it's based around music). This is the book I took through my Plot Workshop for NaNoWriMo. :)

4. A DIVIDED HEART

A dragon rider pair must make the choice between murdering hatchling dragons, or letting the precious resource fall into enemy hands.

Length: Short Story

Genre: Steampunk (with dragons)

Status: Revision

This story has been through three beta readers, followed by a workshop. I know what needs fixing, and now just need to sit down and hack at the middle, tweaking motivation and intensity, making the characters' relationships clearer and more important

5. BULLRUSHING THE GHOST

"Big Girl" High School junior Georgia wants two things: closure on her one-sided romance with her best friend Hiroki, and an iced vanilla latte. So when their school's priest fails to exorcise the ghost of a tormented AV geek, Caroline agrees to go along with Hiroki's plan to solve the murder...but it wasn't the close encounter she was hoping for.

Length: Long Short Story

Genre: Paranormal...comedy?

Status: Working on first draft

I posted the first page of this short story a few weeks ago. The voice is strong and compelling, I know the subject matter, but my short-story chops are still a bit weak. The major problem I'm having with this story is that I know parts A, C, D, & E. I have no idea what B needs to, well, be. I don't want to lose the voice of this story, so I'm probably just going to power through it and let part B suck.

What are you working on? Where are you in your process with it?

5 Reasons Libraries May Not Buy "50 Shades of Grey"

image courtesy babble.com

Those who are curious about reading the Self Pub phenomenon 50 Shades of Grey may not want to shell out the $$$ for copies of their very own and turn instead to their local libraries. The haven of speed-readers, word gluts, and underfunded book-lovers, most people assume the library would jump on any opportunity to buy a book with so much buzz. Heloooooo, door-count!

They'd be 50 shades of WRONG.

Okay, well, maybe that's exaggerating. Libraries are run on a county-wide basis*, so the decisions are going to be different for every system. While some libraries may, in fact, purchase copies of 50 Shades of Grey, my librarian source provided me with the top five reasons many won't buy into the 50 Shades phenomenon, and they may not be for the reasons you think. Sure, most people are going to assume that librarians are the prudes who keep pasting diapers onto the naked butt and dangly bits of the little boy in the The Night Kitchen, but not so (seriously, that's certain members of the public stapling the pages together, y'all).

A patron walks purposefully up to the front desk, her eyes keen and sharp, her jaw set for a fight. "I want to read 50 Shades of Grey. I didn't realize the library was so prudish. Why aren't you buying it?"

The librarian smiles patiently, thinking of all the Zane novels she's had to read the titles of over the phone. ("You'd like Purple Panties 2? Yes, of course I can hold that for you, sir.") "No ma'am, I'm sorry. We won't be purchasing 50 Shades of Gray. We do have several other books filling that niche, which I'd be happy to direct you to..."

THE TOP FIVE REASONS YOUR LIBRARY MAY NOT BUY 50 SHADES OF GRAY

(And it's not because it's porn.)

1. FLASH IN THE PAN
For all its unexpected commercial success, 50 Shades is, in the words of Tee Morris, nearly "universally panned" online. But the library isn't in the business of buying books for their literary merit (or lack thereof). The library is there to provide the public with books.


Though it began as fanfiction for the Twilight series, there is no indication that, like Twilight, the book will have any staying power in the market. The prose is described as plodding, overly-detailed, and too long. Read React Review states "90% of the traditional romance arc has been completed, and then two more books drag out what, in a romance, would be the last two chapters". And that doesn't bode well for the continued success of books two and three.


 If the library system orders 50 copies of 50 Shades and the rage has died down by this time next year, they'll be stuck with a stack of books that society has lost interest in. Better to wait it out and establish its...endurance. (Yes. I went there.)


(See New York Times, Daily Beast, Read React Review for some reviews that are relatively balanced. More Troll-in-the-dungeon reviews can be found at Amazon, & B&N.)

2. LOWFUNDSA (it's not an STD)
SURPRISE! We're in a recession! Like most government organizations, libraries are suffering from a severe lack of funds. Many libraries can't afford to have more than two copies of established bestselling books by established bestselling authors like Stephen King. Committing to 50 Shades of Grey before it's proved to be more than a flash in the pan isn't something a library in such dire straits can afford to do.

And it's not just 50 Shades of Grey. The library system is unable to justify purchasing books that aren't either by bestselling authors or filling a niche. And that's just how it is right now.

Want to help resolve that issue? Donate to your local library. :)

3. NICHE IS FILLED
As readers of erotica already know, the niche for BDSM is by no means empty. The library system already has plenty of erotic fiction by authors with an established fan base, so buying 50 Shades would not fill a need in the library's collection, meaning that particular justification won't stand up long enough to perform. (Yes. I did.)


4. NOT REVIEWED BY A PROFESSIONAL REVIEW SOURCES (yet)
The library buys many of its books based on book reviews provided by Professional Review Sources such as Booklist, and due to 50 Shades of Grey's self-published nature, there are no reviews for the book as of yet. True, a publisher has picked up 50 Shades for release now, so there may eventually be a review available, but as of April 30th, 2012, Booklist has not posted a review.

In order to defend the purchase of a book, especially in times when the library is so strapped for cash (badum tsss), a review from such a professional (as in, the librarian profession) resource is extremely helpful. Without one, librarians may find they have to exercise restraints. I mean. Restraint. Singular.

5. IT'S A TRILOGY
Again, this rule may vary from library to library, but in many systems, if a library purchases the first book in a series, it is then obligated to purchase the rest. Committing to the whole ménage à trois when the series might be a flash in the pan, the library system is underfunded, the niche is already filled, and it's not reviewed by professional sources is an exercise in poor planning, especially given the relatively lukewarm reception of the second and third books in the series.

*Edited to provide some additional linkage:
Florida Today's Article: On Brevard Library pulling 50 Shades from the shelves.
Heroes and Hearbreakers' Article: A response to Florida's Brevard Library pulling the book from the shelves.


And if you haven't seen Ellen's comedy skit about "reading the audiobook for 50 Shades", you must watch it now.




Does your local library have 50 Shades of Grey? Do you think libraries should purchase the book or not? Why? Have you read 50 Shades of Grey? What do you think? 


*Edit: Sometimes. They're sometimes state-run, or privately-owned, or business-owned, or city owned, or...well, you get the idea. Libraries aren't going to be governed by a single, agreed-upon set of rules.

The First Ever Markmasters Trilogy Cosplay Ever (Ever)!

Sonja Carter and Dee G. are two lovely ladies I became acquainted with through cosplay. You may remember Sonja as the lovely lady who took the pictures of my friends and I in our Suckerpunch costumes at Dragon*Con 2011. She is SoulFire Photography, and she is amazing and generous.

Dee is not only absolutely gorgeous, but one of the most fabulous cosplayers I've ever met. (Seriously, go look at her Facebook fan page and you will be amazed.)

In early drafts, Arianna wore a white dress at her Ceremony of Womanhood, where her hair was revealed to everyone (including herself) for the first time. The white dress is a single line in the new opening, but you can get a sense of how I eternally picture Arianna from Alukale (a mysterious observer at her ceremony):

The crowd hushed, and the silvery keen of a bell hung across them like ice--the time had come. The four handmaidens reached for the headdress, and the princess's hands clenched in her heavy white skirts. It took all four women to lift the fan of silk and gems. 

A heavy rush of ebony tumbled down the girl's thin shoulders, catching on the beaded bodice of her dress. 

A flicker of pride tugged Alukale’s lips as his brother's descendant stared at her waist-length black hair, as though she were unable to comprehend it. In a few years she would be lovely as the Maiden Moon. Her foreign father had given her his obsidian hair, and if Alukale were to guess, all that makeup covered skin tinted with Danaian gold. That, at least, was lucky -- a princess needed to be unique.

In my head, Arianna is always wearing a white dress, and she always has her waist-length black hair down.

So when I saw Dee post a progress picture of her Princess Garnet (Final Fantasy IX) cosplay dress, I immediately typed a frantic, typo-ridden plea for her to take pictures in it before she painted on the ivy.

Within days, Dee and Sonja had sent me an entire picasa folder FILLED with pictures of PRINCESS ARIANNA OF RIZELLEN DEE.

I'mma have to make a new cover.

AND NOW, IT'S TIME FOR ARIANNA PICSPAM!

Dee, looking so very much like Princess Arianna.

Arianna heading out to the stables to ride Star, because royalty doesn't think about silly things like getting white dresses covered in horse hair. Also, this is such a gorgeously framed and lit picture. Sonja is awesome.

This, on the other hand, reminds me of Arianna at the end of the first book, full of determination and a newfound understanding of her own power.

"She spun around, her silk mourning gown snapping at her ankles, ebony shards clicking in her loose hair as purpose drove the anger and sadness into the back of her heart. She would pull them back out later, probably, when she tried to sleep and sleep would not come, but the Princess of Rizellen could not revel in grief just yet. She had to act, and to act, she needed to have a clear goal. "

Reminds me of the cover for Ruins of Ambrai! Which means I love it.

This picture is perfect BECAUSE of the unfinished hem. It looks like Ari has been running around. :) Have I mentioned that Dee is gorgeous?

This is pretty much exactly how I envision Arianna at the beginning of book one, when she's still so naive, and has no idea of her own strengths.

There's no longer a scene with Arianna in the garden, though there used to be. Maybe I'll just stuff her in a white dress again in book two, just so I can have an excuse to say this picture is totally canon.

I couldn't not put this picture in. Dee's smile is so natural and so beautiful here, and there needs to be more Smiling!Ari

Book II. Thinking about a certain missing slave boy...

Just the right amount of mischief in that smile. Princess Arianna has quite a reputation for listening at doors, and her extremely accurate aim with tossed teacups.

The hills are alive~

Have you or your friends ever cosplayed original characters? Who? Pictures? Links? Have you ever cosplayed a character from a book?

Using the Online Cloud Word Processor: Yarny

Hope you had a great Easter, Passover, or Spring Celebration!

Remember last week when I blogged about making a schedule? Well, even though I haven't been writing every day, I've been getting a good amount done, all things considered. While not the long, unbroken stretches of writing time I usually like, I dedicated the following time last week to writing:

1. Three lunch breaks (ah-ah-ah...)
2. Two evenings during the week
3. A few hours on Saturday night, after coming home from Rosemary's bridal shower.

I'm not sure what the total word-count was, but it definitely feels like I've written more than I was managing before. Although I miss lunch with Raven, she doesn't get hungry as early as I do, and I do manage to get work done in that time frame.

Also, I find that writing at lunch gets me jazzed to go home and continue writing, so I'm more likely to ignore how tired I am when there's a scene I really want to continue working on. I tend to use three different programs when I write: Word, Scrivener, and Yarny.

When I'm not at home, or haven't brought my computer with me, I like to use Yarny. It's a cloud-based word processor with lots of great features like sharing, timeline writing (so you can revert to a previous version of the same document if you make a change you don't like), tags, and a really nice sorting method. It also saves automatically every few seconds, so you don't have to worry about losing your stuff. I started out with the free version, and ended up liking it so much, I shelled out ten bucks for the premium.

It's nice not to have to worry about transferring my writing between computers or from phone to email to word processor, so I highly recommend this website to folks who do a lot of writing at lunch or on the go. Below, I've provided a basic run-down of some of it's most useful features.

HOW YARNY WORKS

Organization

See that little box on the top center? I click on the title and it comes down, showing me which folder I'm in. On the left, you can see which "snippets" are in that folder. These snippets can be organized within their own folders, as you can see in the drop-down with all the colored files.

Colored files? Oh yes. That's another feature, though I can't quite remember if that's a premium feature or not. I used it to quickly identify which scene was which, though I imagine in the future I will use it to distinguish POVs (when I'm writing a multiple POV story again).

Tags and Timeline

Below the document, you can see a little tag icon that lets you, duh, add tags. Next to it is a little clock--when you click on the clock, it brings up a slider, which lets you scroll to previous versions of the document. This is useful when you swap back and forth between writing on the computer and writing on the iPhone app (premium only). I accidentally opened the iPhone app with a previous version of the document I was working on, and it auto-saved, overwriting about a thousand words of writing. I opened the computer version, scrolled back to the previous save, and didn't lose a thing. Genius.

iPhone App

I've purchased an upgraded account on Yarny, since you have to be a premium member to get the iPhone app, which I love, since I can write when I'm standing in line at the supermarket, or waiting in front of the microwave at lunch time, or stuck somewhere without a pen (my nightmare), and not have to compile from three different places or struggle to remember where I was.

Establishing a Schedule

Problem: I am not getting the amount of writing done I'd like.

Plan A: Over the next few weeks, I'm going to work on establishing a schedule for my writing.

I've never really had to do this; I've always found it easy to come to the page almost every day. Recently, however, with the obligations from work piling up, and several hours a week disappearing into the gym or writing club (which is usually critiquing or brainstorming rather than writing), I've been finding it difficult to balance my time between obligations, creativity, and rest.

I'm usually more of a binge-writer than a snacker. I might make notations in five or ten minutes, get a scrap of something going, but I don't generally crack my knuckles and get down to work unless I've got at least three unbroken hours in which to work on my WIP.

I think that's going to have to change. I mean, I'm cool being a weekend warrior, but as a single twenty-something, I also want to use that time to go out and do things--to fill the well. I want to get more writing done than I have been managing to accomplish recently, so I'm creating a tentative schedule for myself.

Instead of going home and sitting at my computer and watching YouTube, updating Facebook, or otherwise wasting my time, I'm going to see if setting a timer will work. That way, I can get it in my head that the time I'm using is writing time. It's possible a physical reminder like that will help.

If that doesn't work, I'm going to try getting up early.

We shall see.

Do you have a writing schedule? What does it look like? Do you sprint or marathon when you write?

Learning to Write Short: Part II

I finished a short story that was, like, actually short...and I started another one.

Say WHAT?

Okay, so, by "short" I mean "under 10k", which is damn short, when you consider most things I write turn out to be more like 130k.

In the six lessons I took with Cat Rambo in her short story class, I managed to isolate some of my problems with writing short:

1. I don't think in terms of immediate conflict.

2. My thoughts for a story's "scope" is usually too big.

3. I like background, especially character background, even if it's not necessary to the immediate conflict (see #1).

I was working on the dragon story during this class, so I'm using that as my example to illustrate these three issues.

Immediate Conflict

I used a world that Adryn and I developed for a novel and set it back about 15 years, exploring a pair of side characters "in their prime". My first mistake was trying to bring the world-level conflict between two cities (which is the conflict of the novel) into the main line of action immediately.

The conflict of the story is a dragon-rider pair deciding whether to destroy the nest their enemy is after, or endanger the city they’ve sworn to protect by refusing to become murderers. The heart of that conflict is not the question of "which side gets the eggs", but "what will they do?"

Well, I complicated things. I tried to start off the story with the two squadrons attacking each other, but it wasn't working. I couldn't get the main characters into that dragon's nest, and the conflict over what to do with the eggs seemed less important when the battle was being held back by the rest of their Wing.

So I chopped it out, deciding to save the aerial fight for the ending.

Story a little crowded? (artist unknown)

Scope

My two main characters, Howell and Giddeon, are the leaders of a Wing. I originally had them flying out on patrol with their Wing, randomly spotting the nest, and going in to get as many eggs as possible. But I was having trouble with my narrator, Howell, splitting his attention unnecessarily between getting the eggs, and directing his Wing through his dragon's telepathic bond.

Also, as soon as I took out that opening battle, getting the eggs out became less important. Suddenly, there were lots of dragons to carry the eggs back, lots of dragons to fight off the enemy as soon as they arrived.

Lots of dragons to get in the way of the real question of whether Giddeon's ruthless logic or Howell's compassion would win out.

So I axed them, deciding that patrols would be limited to single dragons to a certain area, for both cities.

And boy did that simplify EVERYTHING.

Backstory

Just the fact that I was able to go back 15 years with side characters and need no extra planning or character brainstorming should tell you something about how much I like background.

I'm not one of those people who writes out everything about my characters since they were five (okay, well, not ALL of them), but I do tend to know the events that shaped each character--both the circumstances that were out of their control, and the choices they made to get where they are.

In a novel, there's time to explore that. In a short-story, it doesn't matter nearly as much as the present conflict. That's something I have a hard time getting through my head.

See, to me, identifying with a character is part of what I love about stories, and part of that is about knowing where they came from. I'm strongly context-oriented, and part of the reason I read more novels than short stories is that desire to get really, really close with a character.

So excising backstory is hard.

After my first critique session with the story, I was able to cut out quite a bit of backstory, leaving only the crucial information to set up context for a character's actions. In fact, I probably don't even need that (but I'm clinging right now, so we'll see if I get over it).

What are your trouble points with writing short or writing long? How have you changed stories around to better suit the length? How does your "stride" as a writer change between these two forms?