How to Write Action
Filed Under Tools of the Trade | 1 Comment
In honor of Memorial Day, I thought we could look at how to write the hallmark of fantasy: the fight scene.
I’m sure you’ve heard to use short sentences to keep up a fast pace. And to be specific (“uppercut” rather than “punch”). And to describe the action in gritty terms rather than wax poetic (“their fight resembled the dance of butterflies”). But the secret to writing a great fight scene?
Get inside the character’s head.
Fights themselves are pretty generic. Someone attacks, someone defends. The readers don’t need a blow-by-blow account of how this fight goes down. After all, you’re not choreographing it for a movie. Let the reader use their imagination a bit.
What we, as readers, are curious about is what the character is thinking. Do they have a plan, or are they just reacting? Are they scared? Confident? Worrying about whether they left the stove on?
Maybe not that last one, but you get the idea. Leave the fancy moves to the movies; after all, they can’t do much else. Show us the character’s thoughts, and you’ll have a much more interesting battle on your hands.
Timing
Filed Under Updates | Leave a Comment
Aaaand no more progress these last two weeks. Where has the time gone?
If it counts, I’ve been working out scenes in my head while driving to work and running errands. I just haven’t gotten anything down on “paper.”
Looking back on my goals for May, I find I only completed one:
- Finish my NaNo revision
- Send that sucker out to beta readers
- Send my script out to beta readers
- Get a good chunk (half?) of my next project done
A bit over-ambitious of me, huh? I only managed one thing. Didn’t even start my next project.
Oh well, there’s always next month!
Together We Write
Filed Under Writing Group | Leave a Comment
My friends and I are going to start a writing group!
Not sure yet on the details. We might have topics to write on, or we might just work on our WIPs. Might be weekly, might be monthly.
The point is to hold ourselves accountable and write.
Oh, but encouragement and critiques are good too!
Getting my work critiqued in fiction writing class was always so valuable to me, and really helped me improve. If you’ve never been part of a group, join one! It can be with your friends, people in your community, or online. Get your work out there so you can receive feedback. It’s the best way to grow.
Have you been part of a writing group? Any good stories (fiction or non-fiction) to share?
The End
Filed Under Tales from the Author's Desk | 5 Comments
Beginnings are important, but endings are crucial. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been disappointed in an ending of a book, movie, or television series.
Lost did not disappoint.
One of my fiction writing professors used to tell us: the ending should be surprising, but inevitable. That was Lost through and through. We always knew it would come down to Jack; but we couldn’t have guessed how he managed it, or what happened after.
Lost also managed to come full circle in their storytelling. There were many references to season one, especially to the pilot, emphasizing the inevitability of it all.
And we stop pretty much where we started six years ago. In the end, the final image brings us full circle, a neat and tidy ending with many questions left unanswered.
Just as we’d expect for a show as surprising and question-raising as Lost.
Bravo, Lost. Congrats on a great six-year run. See you in another life, Brotha.
Do Over
Filed Under Revising | 2 Comments
Make the revisions stop!
Hopefully this is the last time I have to re-plot The Narrator before I send it out to beta readers. I’m getting sick of re-plotting it, but I know the story is benefiting from it!
If you know anything about the protagonist’s inner and outer desires, excuse the quick explanation. The outer desire is what they want, and is usually selfish; the inner desire is what they need, usually unknown, and is usually unselfish. To create a great protagonist, these desires need to be in opposition.
I came up with the perfect set for Prince Calder. His outer desire is to go on adventures and be a hero; his inner desire is to control his own life. Normally those go hand in hand. But with an omniscient, powerful narrator as your antagonist? Holy crap, you’re screwed.
If you go on adventures and are a hero, you’re not really controlling your life because you’re falling into what the narrator wants. If you don’t, you are controlling your life but you’re very unhappy. And probably no longer qualify as the protagonist!
Unfortunately, this revelation also means that my progress bar reset to 0. The first quarter of the revision should go pretty fast, since the content is similar, but it’ll slow down as I expand or totally re-write the rest of the novel.
Procrastination Station
Filed Under Countdown | Leave a Comment
Here are the top five reasons authors use to stall working on their novel.
5. “I can’t think what to write next.”
The ever-present writer’s block, bane to every author’s existence. How many times have we delayed writing, or even given up on a story, because we weren’t “in the mood?”
4. “This is crappy writing, no one will ever read this.”
Of course it’s crappy, it’s a first draft. It’s only on the second draft that you’ll improve the writing. Don’t give up because you’re dejected and giving too much attention to your inner editor.
3. “The characters are flat and not likable.”
Probably. Figure out why, and fix the stupid problem. If they’re flat, give them faults. Nobody likes a Mary Sue. If they’re not likable, find a way to make us care about them. [insert puppies here]
2. “This plot isn’t going anywhere.”
So jazz it up. The popular method is to kill someone, but there are way less drastic ways to spice up the action. Introduce a new character, force your MC to face their fears, etc. “Internal conflict” is the new “plot-driven” novel.
And the number one reason authors stall writing their novel?
1. “But this idea is so much better!”
Do NOT chase that plot bunny! Stick with the one you have, through better or worse, and enjoy the ride.
What reasons do you use to stall your writing?
Naming Roses
Filed Under Tools of the Trade | 2 Comments
We all know Juliet’s famous balcony line:
“What’s in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.”
Yeah, that’s nice, Juliet, but I think names do matter.
After all, ole Will didn’t say, “a chrysanthemum by any other name.” Mostly because “chrysanthemum” doesn’t go “trippingly on the tongue” (thanks Hamlet!). And nobody wants to be wooed by a Hank.
A good name for your characters is important. A long time ago, I came up with names for two characters. It fit them perfectly, so I wrote them down in a little notebook to remember them. Of course, I lost the notebook, and forgot the names. I had to come up with new ones. As I explained it, “The first names fit like a glove. These new ones are like mittens.”
But it’s hard to come up with decent names. I’ve heard one of the best friends an author can have is a baby-naming book.
I don’t have one. I use what the gods gave me: the internet!
The name of our Narrator hero, Prince Calder, came from the site 20,000 Names. I’d actually used the name for a previous character for a book I’m no longer writing, but I think it’s a better fit for my prince.
The great wizard Tayryn’s name was created with the help of a Fantasy Name Generator. This thing rarely comes up with good names on the spot, but if you refresh enough times, you’ll notice you’re leaning more toward certain sounds and spellings. That’s what puts you in the right direction.
Pennington, the narrator himself, and Saydie, a thief girl, got their names from plain old everyday ones. Saydie’s name and character are actually based on my old dog Sadie, complete with quirks.
When in doubt, add weird letters!
But don’t go overboard. The other day I was trying to read Rebecca Lickiss’ Never After. How on earth do you pronounce names like Zenpfennig and Urticacea without breaking a tooth?
Be smart. Name well.
The Zen of Solitaire
Filed Under Poetry | 2 Comments
Here’s a poem I wrote for a class third year. Whenever I was stuck writing, I’d open solitaire and play until I zoned out, and that’s when the ideas would flow.
I don’t have solitaire on this computer. 
The Zen of Solitaire
At first you’re
caught up in
the game itself:
red on black,
move the king,
six on seven.
but as the cards
begin to blur together
your mind unfolds itself and floats
high above the game, focusing on
bigger problems than “where’s the two
of hearts?” and small details click into place
just like the eight of spades on the nine of diamonds
but into configurations beyond red on black and black on red
until they become a new set of rules all in itself so that the hearts
are supposed to fall diagonally across the board and two and threes are
the true kings and queens of the deck parading up and down the lines in robes of
state with naught but clubs to follow them with bars of gold and diamond jewels for the
real diamonds have spent the lot on bribes to bring their suit to the top of the piles of cards while aces
sneak around like rogues to keep you from winning the game of hide-and-seek that you’ve started but can’t seem to
let go no matter how long it takes and now the cards are back to front and upside-down but it doesn’t matter because all the world’s
a card game and all the men and women merely jacks of spades and other trades and round and round the deck we go beyond the five of stars
and past the constellations with your mind racing at the speed of computer chips but the computer moving cards with a click slower than tectonic plates with columns
shifting like the continents from the Indian Ocean to the Plains of Hearts full of twisting tornadoes that tear up the clubs-houses by the diamond dozens but it’s time to fly and you
X
Desk Balancing
Filed Under Updates | Leave a Comment
Fortunately for my part-time desk jobs, things have been picking up! I get to fill my wallet, earn experience points, the whole shebang.
Unfortunately for my writing desk, that means less time to work on my novels, which means the progress bars haven’t moved at all this week.
Bummer.
Cliche Science
Filed Under Creativity | 5 Comments
If you want some nice brain benders, check out Fake Science. It’s a website that uses old textbook pictures and makes up science to explain them. It’s good for a few laughs, but it’s also a good exercise in thinking from a different perspective.
You’re going to need that different perspective when you start finding cliches in your work. And trust me – you will find them. Those darn things are embedded in our stream of conscious. But they’re tired and over-worked, like an old nag, and we want to put a new horse in the race.
You could just take the cliches out. There’s nothing wrong with that. But why not use the cliches to your advantage? Find a way to turn them on their heads with a new perspective. Astound your readers with insightful twists!
For an example off the top of my head, instead of saying “he had a warm heart,” (which by the way, is telling, not showing – but that’s a different matter entirely) you could say “he had a lukewarm heart.”
Or instead of “she was at death’s door,” you could say “she was at death’s door, but there was a sign reading ‘back in twenty minutes.’”
Actually, I kind of like that one…
So go out there and push some cliches on their heads!
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