Writing about writing
Jul. 20th, 2008 05:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
naomikritzerI posted back in May about my new writing project. I haven't posted about it since because I don't like posting word counts and I have all sorts of weird superstitions about talking about writing. First, if I say it's going really well, I'm afraid I'll jinx myself. If I say it's going poorly, I'm afraid I'll dig myself into my rut and stay there. If I talk about ideas I've had, I'm afraid they'll wither on the vine. (This last one is not a baseless superstition, FTR; if I talk too much about a project the creative energy just kind of leaks out. Excitement about the story helps to fuel the discipline to sit down and write, and if I can express my excitement by talking about something instead of sitting down and writing it, some of the excitement gets burned up. It makes talking just seems like a waste of drive.)
But, I've written 31,000 words on it so far, so obviously it's been going pretty well. My target word-count is in the neighborhood of 50,000 words; liike Castaways, this is intended as a middle-grade novel. (Middle-grade novel = traditional children's lit, not YA.)
Right before I went off on vacation, I hit the mid-point of the novel. The first part is set in Minneapolis; the protagonist, Cory (short for Coriander) realizes that there's a house on her block that only she can see. The house is a portal to another world -- an alternate world, not an alien planet, just to be clear. There was a bloody civil war on the other side of the portal, and the people on the losing side are slipping through and resettling in Minneapolis, secretly. Cory becomes close friends with Helena, a girl about her age who's come from the other side.
At the mid-point of the book, she and Helena go (separately) back through the portal, and the setting shifts from Minneapolis to this other world.
I was kind of stuck, right before the trip. I wanted the events on the other side to be exciting, but at the same time, they need to be understandable, and there's a lot Cory doesn't know or understand about this other world. I thought about giving Cory a convenient person to explain some things to her as she goes, but discarded this idea because I don't really want another trustworthy, likeable major character. I don't think it helps the story. And also, even beyond the opening step of integrating her (somewhat) into this other world, I didn't know what the hell was going to happen.
Just before we left on the trip, I figured out what Cory needed to find. (My solution isn't perfect, and I may change it, but it was something.) I thought about the details a bit while traveling, came home, and poked at the novel a bit. I'd made a very small amount of progress as of Thursday night. The next thing that was going to happen: Cory bears tangible physical evidence of her connection to Helena, who you'll recall was on the losing side. The evidence was going to be discovered, and Cory was going to suddenly be in danger of being killed.
I went to bed after writing the scene where the evidence is seen, and dreamed the next scene from Cory's viewpoint. This almost never happens. The dream was vivid and terrifying (even though, since I was still the author as well as being Cory, I knew that she would be okay) and extremely dramatic. I woke up fired up to write, but Kiera had no summer camp that day, so I had no time until evening. She wanted to go to the coffee shop, though, so I brought along my notebook, and brainstormed. And a TON of stuff fell into place. It was like I'd asked my subconscious to bake me some cookies, and instead it provided me with a five-course meal. (And the cookies.)
I even figured out how to deliver some explanations (it's going to involve a talking squirrel) (these people use a lot of animal-based magic, and they have squirrels that are bespelled to act as tasters for food, to see if it's poisoned). And I figured out what to do with Cory's mother; she's going to turn up at some point, but she's going to be seriously injured. This will serve a couple of purposes: it will let me play with the healing magic this world uses (which includes bespelled cats that keep you sedated when they sleep on your chest), it will keep Cory and Helena from getting back to Minneapolis right away (her mother will die if the healing magic is interrupted, so they have to wait for it to work), and it will keep Cory's mother from getting in the way (OMG parents in children's lit are such a pain in the ass. Depositing your juvenile protagonists on an alien planet that has no grownups except for a brain in a box that doesn't even give advice unless they ask for it? Totally the way to go. I don't want to kill her mother (her father is already dead, and yes, this matters in the story), but I definitely need to keep her sufficiently out of the way to let Cory protag.)
I've written about 3,000 words since figuring all this stuff out, 1,700 of them today. It's been a good writing weekend.
And thanks,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
papersky, for the fantasy name generator; on "our side," everyone uses a name they picked out to sound reasonably inconspicuous, but on the other side, they needed fantasy-world names, and I wanted the two ethnic groups needed to sound pretty distinct. I think the system is working pretty well, though if it turns out that one of my nifty fantasy-world names is actually the name of an obscure 1980s Heavy Metal band, I hope I find out sooner rather than later.
But, I've written 31,000 words on it so far, so obviously it's been going pretty well. My target word-count is in the neighborhood of 50,000 words; liike Castaways, this is intended as a middle-grade novel. (Middle-grade novel = traditional children's lit, not YA.)
Right before I went off on vacation, I hit the mid-point of the novel. The first part is set in Minneapolis; the protagonist, Cory (short for Coriander) realizes that there's a house on her block that only she can see. The house is a portal to another world -- an alternate world, not an alien planet, just to be clear. There was a bloody civil war on the other side of the portal, and the people on the losing side are slipping through and resettling in Minneapolis, secretly. Cory becomes close friends with Helena, a girl about her age who's come from the other side.
At the mid-point of the book, she and Helena go (separately) back through the portal, and the setting shifts from Minneapolis to this other world.
I was kind of stuck, right before the trip. I wanted the events on the other side to be exciting, but at the same time, they need to be understandable, and there's a lot Cory doesn't know or understand about this other world. I thought about giving Cory a convenient person to explain some things to her as she goes, but discarded this idea because I don't really want another trustworthy, likeable major character. I don't think it helps the story. And also, even beyond the opening step of integrating her (somewhat) into this other world, I didn't know what the hell was going to happen.
Just before we left on the trip, I figured out what Cory needed to find. (My solution isn't perfect, and I may change it, but it was something.) I thought about the details a bit while traveling, came home, and poked at the novel a bit. I'd made a very small amount of progress as of Thursday night. The next thing that was going to happen: Cory bears tangible physical evidence of her connection to Helena, who you'll recall was on the losing side. The evidence was going to be discovered, and Cory was going to suddenly be in danger of being killed.
I went to bed after writing the scene where the evidence is seen, and dreamed the next scene from Cory's viewpoint. This almost never happens. The dream was vivid and terrifying (even though, since I was still the author as well as being Cory, I knew that she would be okay) and extremely dramatic. I woke up fired up to write, but Kiera had no summer camp that day, so I had no time until evening. She wanted to go to the coffee shop, though, so I brought along my notebook, and brainstormed. And a TON of stuff fell into place. It was like I'd asked my subconscious to bake me some cookies, and instead it provided me with a five-course meal. (And the cookies.)
I even figured out how to deliver some explanations (it's going to involve a talking squirrel) (these people use a lot of animal-based magic, and they have squirrels that are bespelled to act as tasters for food, to see if it's poisoned). And I figured out what to do with Cory's mother; she's going to turn up at some point, but she's going to be seriously injured. This will serve a couple of purposes: it will let me play with the healing magic this world uses (which includes bespelled cats that keep you sedated when they sleep on your chest), it will keep Cory and Helena from getting back to Minneapolis right away (her mother will die if the healing magic is interrupted, so they have to wait for it to work), and it will keep Cory's mother from getting in the way (OMG parents in children's lit are such a pain in the ass. Depositing your juvenile protagonists on an alien planet that has no grownups except for a brain in a box that doesn't even give advice unless they ask for it? Totally the way to go. I don't want to kill her mother (her father is already dead, and yes, this matters in the story), but I definitely need to keep her sufficiently out of the way to let Cory protag.)
I've written about 3,000 words since figuring all this stuff out, 1,700 of them today. It's been a good writing weekend.
And thanks,
papersky, for the fantasy name generator; on "our side," everyone uses a name they picked out to sound reasonably inconspicuous, but on the other side, they needed fantasy-world names, and I wanted the two ethnic groups needed to sound pretty distinct. I think the system is working pretty well, though if it turns out that one of my nifty fantasy-world names is actually the name of an obscure 1980s Heavy Metal band, I hope I find out sooner rather than later.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-07-20 11:03 pm (UTC)I got up after 4 hours' sleep today and wrote myself a note: "The dead are very emotional". But I don't think it was because of a dream. I'm slightly envious, even if it was a creepy dream!
But I'm also looking forward to the book.
I think the talking-about-writing thing is really interesting -- personally, if I *don't* talk about a long piece at least a bit, I lose steam. Talking to other people reminds me why I'm excited.
But for very short stories or poems I have to just write and not let the excitement leak out by discussion.
no subject
Date: 2008-07-21 04:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-21 08:32 am (UTC)Finding out if a name's been used
Date: 2008-07-20 11:28 pm (UTC)That's how I learned various band names such as The Undead Kennedys had already been taken by real bands.
Re: Finding out if a name's been used
Date: 2008-07-21 04:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-20 11:59 pm (UTC)For what it's worth, this books sounds very interesting!
no subject
Date: 2008-07-21 12:58 am (UTC)Don't you love it when that happens?
OMG parents in children's lit are such a pain in the ass
Tell me about it. When I'm writing, I'm always like, "wouldn't they just go to their parents for help outta this jam?" But no. They must persevere!
And yay for good writing weekends!
no subject
Date: 2008-07-21 04:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-21 02:24 am (UTC)It would be nice if my subconscious would decide to act like yours. I am very seriously stuck right now (and not just because I've been pouring all my writing energy into developing a plot synopsis that doesn't suck).
no subject
Date: 2008-07-21 04:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-21 04:40 am (UTC)Cory's humorless (and geographically distant) grandmother sends mail addressed to Corinne because Coriander isn't a proper name.
no subject
Date: 2008-07-21 11:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-21 10:49 pm (UTC)Also, the name Coriander. Great name.
I hope someone will publish it because it sounds like something I love to pieces even now, and when I was younger I probably would have exploded with glee.
no subject
Date: 2008-07-23 09:54 pm (UTC)Ian just read an Andrew Clements book in which the hero's parents are so distracted by his sudden invisibility that they get in a car accident and are in the hospital for several days, which allows the invisible hero the freedom to do what he needs to do to advance the plot. You're not the only one with the problem of parents, that's so true!
--Pseudo