A Note From The Well
I mentioned recently that I wanted to change the heading titles in my blog. This is primarily because I want to expand my “creative consumption” to include TV in addition to reading. Now everything is directed at the well, which I discussed in an earlier post. Let me know what you think!
Drawing from the Well
Scenes Arranged: 2
Total Scenes: 104
As usual, Meibor’s scenes are the most difficult to arrange. In my head, it’s always “and then he does a thing” but Meibor is obstinate and increasingly adept at finding situations that can’t just be waltzed into and that don’t directly follow a previous scene. He takes a lot more work. He’s a high maintenance diva and requires to be treated as such. I love him because of and in spite of this fact.
Filling the Well
Vengeful: 76%
Perelandra: 64%
Nothing here. Now that I have these headings, it’s easier to classify my days. Yesterday was more of a “polishing” day than a “refill” day. Somehow, polishing activities are way lower stress and more fulfilling. Who knew?
Polishing the Well
Last night our family FINALLY finished Friends. My wife had seen every episode repeatedly (and still cried), I had seen most of the episodes before…and still haven’t seen ALL of them (I also cried), but this was driven by our kids who discovered the show and fell in love with it just like everyone else, just 14 years after it ended. It was wonderful and moving and satisfying, everything I ask from a series finale. And then we caught up on Supergirl, which was fine but that show just makes choices I find odd sometimes. I’m not going to go on a rant right now, but I could tell you all what I think of that show if you were curious.
Well Chat
My Thoughts on Advice from Kurt Vonnegut that Every Writer Needs to Read
Advice Tip #7
Today is the last post in this series. We’ve covered motivation, action, and sadism. So, for me, there’s only one important tip left: #7 Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.
This is vitally important, even if the symbolism is a little silly. You have to write for SOMEONE, not everyone. The dichotomy here is writing something true to yourself or someone real or writing to a trend. If you’re writing to a prevailing trend, you’re already behind. Books take YEARS to write, edit, publish, and bring to market. ESPECIALLY for debuts like me. I’ve been working through this world and this story at different levels of intensity for over a decade. During that process, I was also learning the craft of writing and learning a lot from earlier failures and shortcomings (of which there were many; I’ll talk about that in a future blog).
Some authors come to writing with natural ability and hone that over their career. Some authors naturally draft very quickly. I am a plotter and, by extension, a plodder. With all I’ve learned, especially in the last 3-5 years, this is no surprise to me. I focus intently now on plot construction, these days with a hyperfocus on character motivation. To me, if the motivations make sense then I, and the reader, can be swept up in the story because the characters’ actions and reactions are believable (remember, Character = Plot [another future blog]).
None of that works if you’re writing to try to please everyone. I’m not saying that books shouldn’t be inclusive with a varied cast. Quite the opposite these days. But if you see a trend for vampire reverse harem stories and decide to write one to sell to that market, it won’t work. First off, your heart isn’t in it from the jump so your own personal motivation is manufactured; readers will sense that. Secondly, by the time you recognize the trend and write the book, the trend will have passed you by. Now, if you happen to be inspired by works in a trend and start putting ideas together because a fire lights in you for a subject within the trend, then go with Godspeed because there’s nothing better. Passion and inspiration are the core of this industry. But forcing yourself to write something for a trend is like making love to the world: it may seem like fun at first, but eventually you’re going to get sick with the results.
Kurt Vonnegut is a wildly successful author, revered in the writing and reading communities, and clearly a smart man. I’m glad I read this article and was able to take some time to dive deeper into some of his tips. With this series concluded, I’ve jotted down some ideas for one-off articles as well as another potential blog series, but I’ve got to do some research on that first. For now, I’ll throw more of my thoughts at you while I try to corral all these characters (now up to 32, an 18-character increase, doubling my cast) into a cohesive story. Catch y’all in the morning.
May the tide carry you to safer shores.
BSG