I've come to the realization that The Unnamed Companion is not going to be finished any time soon. When I was writing Thistleswitch, I hit a wall of writers' block a million miles high, and after several failed attempts at scaling it, and decided to leave the story totally alone and stop worrying about it.
You know what? It worked.
After a few months, I was feeling all thistleswitch-y again. I had more ideas, I knew how to get over that writers' block, and I actually managed to finish the story.
So the sequel is on the shelf for now. Not permanently (hopefully). It's just taking a little vacation, just like Thistleswitch did.
In the meantime, I might start seriously editing Thistleswitch and trying to get it up to snuff.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Monday, September 20, 2010
still no development...
Guess what? It's been more than a month since I started writing this sequel. And I'm still stuck on the same part I was having trouble with a week ago.
Of course, part of the reason for that might be that I just moved into the dorms and I'm about to start my college classes, so I've been rather occupied lately. But still, each time I have a free moment and try to write, I come up empty.
Other than the original two ideas I had (to flesh out distinct companion characters or to make them generic soldiers) I've also come up with what may be a happy medium. If I make sort of cool general characters, who don't have to have much personality but have just enough that they're better than plain old soldiers, it might work. Like, I could just have "the Minstrel" - no name, but just enough personality to make him fun for the three chapters that he's actually in. You know?
I suppose we'll see what actually comes out, whenever I do get around to writing again.
Of course, part of the reason for that might be that I just moved into the dorms and I'm about to start my college classes, so I've been rather occupied lately. But still, each time I have a free moment and try to write, I come up empty.
Other than the original two ideas I had (to flesh out distinct companion characters or to make them generic soldiers) I've also come up with what may be a happy medium. If I make sort of cool general characters, who don't have to have much personality but have just enough that they're better than plain old soldiers, it might work. Like, I could just have "the Minstrel" - no name, but just enough personality to make him fun for the three chapters that he's actually in. You know?
I suppose we'll see what actually comes out, whenever I do get around to writing again.
Monday, September 13, 2010
developmental issues
I haven't written much in the past few days, partially because I've been busy running hither and yon to get ready for college, and partially because I'm undecided about the bit I'm supposed to be writing. The problem, you see, is that I honestly don't know if Jovie and Terrence are supposed to have companions on their quest or not.
On the one hand, I really don't picture the two of them tromping off into the woods on their own. Not yet, at least - you see, I'm certain that, if other characters come along, there will come a time when the prince is required to become separated from them, since that always happens in fairy tales. You know, "a prince who had been hunting with his guards but had gotten lost stumbled upon the enchanted cottage", so on and so forth. And he'll convince Jovie to come with him, of course, and that's all fine and dandy. And in order to become separated from his companions, he needs to have companions in the first place.
But it really just isn't sitting well with me. If the story is going to pan out the way I think it will (and, okay, when has that ever happened, but still) Terrence and Jovie really won't be doing much before they ditch their companions. So is it worth it to introduce three totally new characters, have them around for maybe three or four chapters, and then send them off without anything important to do before the reader even gets a chance to grow attached to them? These are characters who have no purpose, as far as I know, other than to be left behind. That doesn't give me much to work with.
And then, to top it off, the characters themselves have absolutely no presense in my mind right now. I sit down to write about them and come up empty - I can't picture what they look like, how they talk, what mannerisms they use, what makes them unique and lifelike and fun. And, as I mentioned earlier, they shouldn't even be in the story long enough for them to even develop all of that. Unlike Thistleswitch, Jovie and Terrence aren't going to travel for years before they reach the object of their quest; they're heading for a girl in a tower, and they're going to find her pretty quickly, as far as I know. The main chunk of the story happens after they find the girl in the tower, which is after they've left behind these companions. And then I'll be introducing new characters, who are actually important to the story...so does that mean I'm throwing in characters just for the sake of having them?
The other option is to have some generic Henceforthian soldiers go along for the ride, I suppose. Just make up some guys, call them all soldiers, and send them on their way. Maybe there's even some thistleswitchy comedy hidden in that, in a unit of interchangeable soldiers who are sort of on the daft side. Then I don't have to develop a bunch of characters who are never going to be seen again. Of course, that also means that everything I've written this week is pointless - Jovie and Terrence have been interviewing applicants to go on their quest with them, and there are so many great ideas in that:
Maybe I can keep all of the bit about interviewing people, but then state that Jovie and Terrence realized that there was simply no good applicant in all of Afalanphra, and that they decided to bring along some run-of-the-mill soldiers just to make things simpler. It's anti-climactic, certainly, but I tend to do that a lot in these stories. I condensed a year-long journey into a paragraph of unexciting exposition in Thistleswitch.
And then, of course, if my original plan is going to be followed (though it very well may not be) I sort of need one of the characters that I decided would be traveling with them. The doctor and the chef with his dog assistant are expendable (though I really did like Sunflower, the canine chef with the killer apple cider recipe), but the assassin of assassins is kind of important to the story right now. Do I throw him in with the unimportant soldiers? Throw him in somewhere else? Ditch that whole idea altogether?
Bah.
This has been a brainstorming out loud rant by Jessica. This message will not self destruct, though the author certainly might.
On the one hand, I really don't picture the two of them tromping off into the woods on their own. Not yet, at least - you see, I'm certain that, if other characters come along, there will come a time when the prince is required to become separated from them, since that always happens in fairy tales. You know, "a prince who had been hunting with his guards but had gotten lost stumbled upon the enchanted cottage", so on and so forth. And he'll convince Jovie to come with him, of course, and that's all fine and dandy. And in order to become separated from his companions, he needs to have companions in the first place.
But it really just isn't sitting well with me. If the story is going to pan out the way I think it will (and, okay, when has that ever happened, but still) Terrence and Jovie really won't be doing much before they ditch their companions. So is it worth it to introduce three totally new characters, have them around for maybe three or four chapters, and then send them off without anything important to do before the reader even gets a chance to grow attached to them? These are characters who have no purpose, as far as I know, other than to be left behind. That doesn't give me much to work with.
And then, to top it off, the characters themselves have absolutely no presense in my mind right now. I sit down to write about them and come up empty - I can't picture what they look like, how they talk, what mannerisms they use, what makes them unique and lifelike and fun. And, as I mentioned earlier, they shouldn't even be in the story long enough for them to even develop all of that. Unlike Thistleswitch, Jovie and Terrence aren't going to travel for years before they reach the object of their quest; they're heading for a girl in a tower, and they're going to find her pretty quickly, as far as I know. The main chunk of the story happens after they find the girl in the tower, which is after they've left behind these companions. And then I'll be introducing new characters, who are actually important to the story...so does that mean I'm throwing in characters just for the sake of having them?
The other option is to have some generic Henceforthian soldiers go along for the ride, I suppose. Just make up some guys, call them all soldiers, and send them on their way. Maybe there's even some thistleswitchy comedy hidden in that, in a unit of interchangeable soldiers who are sort of on the daft side. Then I don't have to develop a bunch of characters who are never going to be seen again. Of course, that also means that everything I've written this week is pointless - Jovie and Terrence have been interviewing applicants to go on their quest with them, and there are so many great ideas in that:
There are certain sorts of individuals that one should never bring with them on an important quest. If a shady character on the side of the road offers his services while making veiled threats about stealing the golden horse you’ve rightfully acquired, it is advisable to let him hitchhike with someone on a less extravagant mount. Tone deaf people who insist on singing very loudly at odd hours of the morning are best left behind. Except for under very particular circumstances involving magical instruments and blackmail, thieves are a bad choice. And under no circumstances should any chatterboxes, germ factories, rumor mills, whippersnappers or whiners be admitted into the questing party. Even if a quest seems on the short side, there is no guarantee that you and your companions won’t be forced to wander the globe for years in search of whatever it was you were seeking, and being trapped with an annoying airhead or headcase for any lengthy amount of time is not good for your quest or your health. While it’s not necessarily necessary for you to like your companions, it is imperative that you can all tolerate one another.
Maybe I can keep all of the bit about interviewing people, but then state that Jovie and Terrence realized that there was simply no good applicant in all of Afalanphra, and that they decided to bring along some run-of-the-mill soldiers just to make things simpler. It's anti-climactic, certainly, but I tend to do that a lot in these stories. I condensed a year-long journey into a paragraph of unexciting exposition in Thistleswitch.
And then, of course, if my original plan is going to be followed (though it very well may not be) I sort of need one of the characters that I decided would be traveling with them. The doctor and the chef with his dog assistant are expendable (though I really did like Sunflower, the canine chef with the killer apple cider recipe), but the assassin of assassins is kind of important to the story right now. Do I throw him in with the unimportant soldiers? Throw him in somewhere else? Ditch that whole idea altogether?
Bah.
This has been a brainstorming out loud rant by Jessica. This message will not self destruct, though the author certainly might.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
leading lady lookalikes
Now, I'm a big believer in letting readers envision characters and settings however they want to, which is part of the reason that movies based on books sometimes don't cut it for me. (Like the casting of Twilight, for example...coughEmily Browning is my Bellacough.) However, I've found people who look somewhat like a few of my leading ladies, and I figured that I would share just because.
Katie A. Keane is the closest I've ever seen to Merry Songchaser. You may have seen her as Audie in Ruby and the Rockits (which was cancelled, which I'm not particularly torn up about). She's got the red hair and the right smile, anyway. So, if you imagine her as a fourteen-through-seventeen year old girl, you're sort of getting the right idea.
Megan Dodds is completely Jovie, to a T, whatever that expression means. Other than the fact that she doesn't have brown eyes, I guess...but it's a black and white photo, so you can imagine the brown eyes. She's the evil stepsister in Ever After, the Cinderella movie with Drew Barrymore (one of my personal favorite movies). Now again, she's definitely older than eighteen years old, so she can't really play Jovie in the inevitable movie of The Unnamed Companion (HA), but you get the general idea.
And then there's this one...yeah. First of all, no one out there even knows who Surrey is, much less what her story is or what she's supposed to look like. Surrey, you see, is the female main character of, not the third, but the fourth sequel idea that I have. Yup. And, though I'm well aware that this picture is not of a, um, real person, persey, the Witch Princess from Harvest Moon DS is a Surrey lookalike. Whatcha gonna do?
Katie A. Keane is the closest I've ever seen to Merry Songchaser. You may have seen her as Audie in Ruby and the Rockits (which was cancelled, which I'm not particularly torn up about). She's got the red hair and the right smile, anyway. So, if you imagine her as a fourteen-through-seventeen year old girl, you're sort of getting the right idea.
Megan Dodds is completely Jovie, to a T, whatever that expression means. Other than the fact that she doesn't have brown eyes, I guess...but it's a black and white photo, so you can imagine the brown eyes. She's the evil stepsister in Ever After, the Cinderella movie with Drew Barrymore (one of my personal favorite movies). Now again, she's definitely older than eighteen years old, so she can't really play Jovie in the inevitable movie of The Unnamed Companion (HA), but you get the general idea.
And then there's this one...yeah. First of all, no one out there even knows who Surrey is, much less what her story is or what she's supposed to look like. Surrey, you see, is the female main character of, not the third, but the fourth sequel idea that I have. Yup. And, though I'm well aware that this picture is not of a, um, real person, persey, the Witch Princess from Harvest Moon DS is a Surrey lookalike. Whatcha gonna do?
Friday, September 3, 2010
quotes on writing
I just felt like sharing some of the fantastic quotes on writing that I've come across over the past few years. I've already shared a portion of my favorite quote of all time, from Diana Wynne Jones, but there are several others that have either made me laugh, nod my head in agreement, or gape in surprise at the idea that someone else in the world has been able to put my own feelings into far more eloquent words than I ever could.
“Don’t let the frustration get you down. We all go through the 'It’s a piece of shit' stage." Hallie Ephron
"What I had to face, the very bitter lesson that everyone who wants to write has got to learn, was that a thing may in itself be the finest piece of writing one has ever done, and yet have absolutely no place in the manuscript one hopes to publish." Thomas Wolfe
"My most important piece of advice to all you would-be writers: when you write, try to leave out all the parts readers skip." Elmore Leonard
"I put a piece of paper under my pillow, and when I could not sleep I wrote in the dark." Henry David Thoreau
(I definitely do this all the time...though my paper is next to my bed instead of under my pillow.)
"We don't write what we know. We write what we wonder about." Richard Peck
"Moving around is good for creativity: the next line of dialogue that you desperately need may well be waiting in the back of the refrigerator or half a mile along your favorite walk." Will Shetterly
(Also true for me, though my next line of dialogue is usually hiding in my shower.)
"Plot springs from character... I've always sort of believed that these people inside me- these characters- know who they are and what they're about and what happens, and they need me to help get it down on paper because they don't type." Anne Lamott
(Um, HELLO, I've also talked multiple times about the characters living in my head, and though I thought this was a somewhat strange notion, apparently Anne Lamott knows exactly what I'm talking about. Merry and Niko couldn't tell their own story, so I had to do it for them.)
"Often I'll find clues to where the story might go by figuring out where the characters would rather not go." Doug Lawson
“You have to write whichever book it is that wants to be written." Madeleine L'Engle
"I always stopped when I knew what was going to happen next. That way I could be sure of going on the next day." Ernest Hemingway
(I've started doing this is as well. That Hemingway really knew what he was talking about.)
"So this is always the key: you have to write the book you love, the book that's alive in your heart. That's the one you have to write." Lurleen McDaniel
“Don’t let the frustration get you down. We all go through the 'It’s a piece of shit' stage." Hallie Ephron
"What I had to face, the very bitter lesson that everyone who wants to write has got to learn, was that a thing may in itself be the finest piece of writing one has ever done, and yet have absolutely no place in the manuscript one hopes to publish." Thomas Wolfe
"My most important piece of advice to all you would-be writers: when you write, try to leave out all the parts readers skip." Elmore Leonard
"I put a piece of paper under my pillow, and when I could not sleep I wrote in the dark." Henry David Thoreau
(I definitely do this all the time...though my paper is next to my bed instead of under my pillow.)
"We don't write what we know. We write what we wonder about." Richard Peck
"Moving around is good for creativity: the next line of dialogue that you desperately need may well be waiting in the back of the refrigerator or half a mile along your favorite walk." Will Shetterly
(Also true for me, though my next line of dialogue is usually hiding in my shower.)
"Plot springs from character... I've always sort of believed that these people inside me- these characters- know who they are and what they're about and what happens, and they need me to help get it down on paper because they don't type." Anne Lamott
(Um, HELLO, I've also talked multiple times about the characters living in my head, and though I thought this was a somewhat strange notion, apparently Anne Lamott knows exactly what I'm talking about. Merry and Niko couldn't tell their own story, so I had to do it for them.)
"Often I'll find clues to where the story might go by figuring out where the characters would rather not go." Doug Lawson
“You have to write whichever book it is that wants to be written." Madeleine L'Engle
"I always stopped when I knew what was going to happen next. That way I could be sure of going on the next day." Ernest Hemingway
(I've started doing this is as well. That Hemingway really knew what he was talking about.)
"So this is always the key: you have to write the book you love, the book that's alive in your heart. That's the one you have to write." Lurleen McDaniel
Thursday, September 2, 2010
second soundtrack
The book soundtrack for Thistleswitch's sequel is coming along swimmingly. Unlike the music that inspired the first one, which was a lot of Vitamin String Quartet and kind of quirky, bouncy fiddle stuff, the music that makes me think of this second one is a lot more...not "dark", really, but certainly less happy. More dramatic. I don't know. That's not to say that the story itself is, but there you go.
Standing the Storm by William Joseph is definitely the theme for the overall thing. I've been listening to it on repeat for the past few days. The part that begins at 1:28 is Jovie and Terrence's relationship in music form. Beyond that, Requiem for a Tower by eScala is another overall theme song (a lot of eScala's songs are, actually), and For the Lambs by Michele McLaughlin is sort of Jovie's theme (and, to be honest, a lot of her songs make the playlist as well). The other songs are:
Adagio for Strings - eScala
The Swell Season – Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova
Palladio – eScala
Haunted Dancehall – The Sabres of Paradise
The Defeat - Wavorly
Christofori’s Dream – Best of David Lanz
Big Love Adagio – Bond
Hoppipolla – Vitamin String Quartet
The Reel – Secret Garden
Rain – Silvard
The Music Box Angel – Michele McLaughlin
The Eternal City – Michele McLaughlin
Whoosh.
Standing the Storm by William Joseph is definitely the theme for the overall thing. I've been listening to it on repeat for the past few days. The part that begins at 1:28 is Jovie and Terrence's relationship in music form. Beyond that, Requiem for a Tower by eScala is another overall theme song (a lot of eScala's songs are, actually), and For the Lambs by Michele McLaughlin is sort of Jovie's theme (and, to be honest, a lot of her songs make the playlist as well). The other songs are:
Adagio for Strings - eScala
The Swell Season – Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova
Palladio – eScala
Haunted Dancehall – The Sabres of Paradise
The Defeat - Wavorly
Christofori’s Dream – Best of David Lanz
Big Love Adagio – Bond
Hoppipolla – Vitamin String Quartet
The Reel – Secret Garden
Rain – Silvard
The Music Box Angel – Michele McLaughlin
The Eternal City – Michele McLaughlin
Whoosh.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)