I spent the weekend writing, which sounds quite virtuous until you realize that I should have spent the weekend unpacking boxes, cleaning up the chaos from the unpacking and getting the wedding stuff done. But I managed a thousand words a day, and 1700 yesterday. The word count is up and I can see the flaws but... I can also see a story.
As a motivating factor...background noise I can tune out helps and setting my screen saver to scream "GET BACK TO WRITING!!!!" in large red letters has also helped.
Tonight is my night for dance so I expect the word count will remain low but tomorrow 25K should be my next achievement. I can not wait.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Settling in
I moved into the house completely and I am trying to vary unpacking boxes with writing. There is some success thus far.
Today's odd writing tip is flashbacks. Flashbacks can be one of the most overused bits in writing. They can work, but they can also be a crutch. And I know why. They are easy to write. You aren't immediately in the scene and your hero of choice is retelling the choice bit of action. You know they made it out alive and the is more objectivity for the writer. They take you out of the "what happens next" head space and let you plot backwards.
For example our hero Mary has blown up a spaceship and by her reflecting back we can reason out how she did it and why with a lower pressure. It's already happened. Connecting the dots in reverse. When I get stuck with a piece of action that I can't figure out how to resolve I skip ahead and write a flashback. All of these flashbacks have ended up on the cutting room floor. Once I knew where the scene needed to go I wrote the ending and deleted the flashback.
Right now I am in middle of chapter 12 of a planned 23. Things are turning out a bit different then I planned and the outline is being modified on the fly to keep it on the track to the ending. Nothing major but things have come out in the writing that give a new spin to the ending. One of my favorite parts in writing is figuring out just how the story will end up going together.
If anyone is interested in the word counter I use it is located at Zokutou. Now back to boxes, wedding invitations, and word counts. The goal for today is to finish chapter 12.
Today's odd writing tip is flashbacks. Flashbacks can be one of the most overused bits in writing. They can work, but they can also be a crutch. And I know why. They are easy to write. You aren't immediately in the scene and your hero of choice is retelling the choice bit of action. You know they made it out alive and the is more objectivity for the writer. They take you out of the "what happens next" head space and let you plot backwards.
For example our hero Mary has blown up a spaceship and by her reflecting back we can reason out how she did it and why with a lower pressure. It's already happened. Connecting the dots in reverse. When I get stuck with a piece of action that I can't figure out how to resolve I skip ahead and write a flashback. All of these flashbacks have ended up on the cutting room floor. Once I knew where the scene needed to go I wrote the ending and deleted the flashback.
Right now I am in middle of chapter 12 of a planned 23. Things are turning out a bit different then I planned and the outline is being modified on the fly to keep it on the track to the ending. Nothing major but things have come out in the writing that give a new spin to the ending. One of my favorite parts in writing is figuring out just how the story will end up going together.
If anyone is interested in the word counter I use it is located at Zokutou. Now back to boxes, wedding invitations, and word counts. The goal for today is to finish chapter 12.
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