Writer Sense

Driving the Plot

Thursday, July 30

PHOTO BY DAVID WATERS

"Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way." -- E.L. Doctorow

A big misconception is that every book has to have a main character. Believe it or not, it’s possible to write a book without having a main character (be forewarned, this could get a trifle long.)

There are two driving forces; CHARACTER DRIVEN and EVENT DRIVEN.

Character driven just means that the focus is on your main character. They make things worse through his/her actions, they struggle, they struggle, makes it worse again, until he/she finally triumphs at the end. (Example: HARRY POTTER)

Event Driven is a about a series of events that gets worse and worse though various characters’ actions until at the end good wins over evil, or whatever they’re trying to accomplish. (Example: LORD OF THE RINGS)

I started a book once about this boy. I had the hardest time writing about him. And then I realized; I really didn’t like him! I didn’t want to write about him. I tried changing his name and personality but to no avail. Yet, in order to do the book as a character-driven one it was vital to leave him in. So I did event driven and cut the blasted character out. True, that story is one of the many rough drafts I never completed. But at least I want to write it. And even if it never does get finished, I learned something… by failing.

CHARACTER DRIVEN
1. Who’s the main character?
2. What does he/she do?
3. How does his/her actions get them into trouble?
4. What do they plan to do about it?
5. What forces are working against them? (It can include several smaller problems.)
6. How do they overcome these forces?
7. What happens when they’ve overcome the forces and reached their goal?
8. The End

EVENT DRIVEN
1. What’s the big problem?
2. How does it affect the majority of the world?
3. Who does it affect in particular?
4. Who wants to help stop it?
5. What happens as they try to stop it?
6. What opposing forces do all of them face?
7. What struggles does each character go through?
8. How do they succeed?
9. Do they fix the big picture, or just protect a good group of people from the problem? (For example, they could help people escape a war.)
10. What happens?
11. The End

Realize that this is not a seamless set of directions but an outline to get you started.

Naming your Character

Wednesday, July 29

I'm a HUGE believer in names and the power of names. Yea, it sounds dumb. But what I mean that I think names help shape your personality.

Finding your character's name can be tough. Some writers say that they wait until the end of the book to name them, so that the names don't affect how they'd imagined him/her.

Me, I name them beforehand for the exact same reason.

I actually enjoy naming. I like finding fierce names for fierce characters and soft names for the meek ones. Unless you're trying to be funny or make a point, you're probably not going to name an evil tyrant CHARITY. But maybe your adding that for a reason.

I choose names mostly on intuition. I have to actually feel like it's the right name before I slap it on them.

YOU are the author. YOU choose the name. What do YOU want them to be named?

As a quick exercise; what would you name the above gargoyle? Is it a boy or a girl? A normal name? A fantasy name? A name that's too hard to pronounce in human speech so he/she just has a nickname? Are they lonely or evil? Daydreaming or plotting? I'm sure whatever name you pick will reflect their personality that YOU think they have.

To sum up, their names reflect they're personalities, unless you're trying to add humor, symbolism, or make a point.

Writing at Night

Tuesday, July 28

I LOVE to sleep.
So why oh why do my creative juices always begin to flow around 9:00pm?
I declare, writers must be the closest thing to vampires this world knows.
We go to bed late scrawling furiously in notebooks and then wake up early, determined to get something done. (Or we're blogging.)

Maybe you're one of the lucky few who have brilliant ideas follow you around and strike in the middle of the day.
But I stayed awake last night writing, ignoring how warm and comfy the bed looked and ignoring its sweet, beckoning whispers.
At least I got something done. And reading what I wrote last night (or rather this morning) makes sleep seem such a small price to pay.

Setting Part 2

Saturday, July 25

So I've explained how setting can create mood and how the setting can add to your story.

CREATING A SETTING

If you're creating a setting to form a nonexistent world, is it based on a certain time period? (The middle ages for example?)(Ancient Roman culture?)

Or, is the world itself unique? Is there quicksand (for lack of a better example) every five yards, making it almost impossible to live on?
Does the terrain vary from these sinkholes to more hospitable ground?

One of the most original worlds I've ever come a cross was in Atherton by Patrick Carman. Basically, it's compromised of three stories, one on top of the other. But each story is round, and smaller than the one under it.

When you're creating a world, you shape it to fit your needs.
Patrick carman's world wouldn't make a good setting for any of the books I'm writing.
You can be original, but don't force it. You've got to actually like the world you've created, feel satisfied about it. If you find yourself hating the world you've created, what's stopping you from revising?

PUTTING YOUR CHARACTERS IN AN ALREADY EXISTING WORLD

If you're writing a story about characters in this world it becomes a little harder. Mainly because *groan* you have to research.
You may like research. I don't.

I've never visited Brazil. I doubt if I wrote a story about a Brazil explorer, it wouldn't be that credible unless I reasearched.

If it's set in this day and age that might make things easier.
Or maybe you'll have to reaserch *shudder* the time period and events.
If you wrote a book about the french revoulution you'd have to look up names, dates, places, and culture.

I am currently writing a story in San Francisco. Never been there. In. My. life.
So I...procrastinate. I write what I think SanFrancisco would look like (and thank heavens for zoomable google maps) and when the second draft comes along, I check my facts and fix my somewhat romantic view of things.

I'll sum it up; research.