Tag Archives: NaNo Prep

October 14, 2024 · 6:00 am

#NovemberWriter: Worldbuilding in advance #writing

We have two weeks to go to November 1st. If you are planning to participate in a writing quest with a specific goal, now is a good time to consider the world in which your prospective story might be set.

MyWritingLife2021BI like to sit somewhere quiet and let my mind wander, picturing the place where the opening scene takes place.

Is it indoors? Are we out in the wild? How can I write this? A few notes about my thoughts will help.

A good way to develop the skill of writing an environment is to visualize the world in your real life.  When you look out the window, what do you see? Close your eyes and picture the place where you are at this moment. With your eyes still closed, tell me what it’s like.

If you can describe the world around you with your eyes closed, you can create a world for your characters.

The plants and landscape of my fictional world are partly based on the scenery of Western Washington State because it’s wild and beautiful, and I’m familiar with it. The wild creatures are somewhat reality-based but are mostly imaginary.

Remember, we don’t have to immerse ourselves immediately. All we’re doing is laying the groundwork, ensuring plenty of ideas are handy when we start writing in earnest on November 1st.

Religion is a large part of my intended story, and some things are canon, as the first book in the series was published in 2012. The tagline for this series is “The Gods are at War, and Neveyah is the Battlefield.”  The war of the gods broke three worlds, drastically changing the landscape of Neveyah and offering endless opportunities for mayhem.

St_Helens_before_1980_eruption_horizon_fixedThe novel I intend to finish this year is set at the end of the first millennium, while last year’s effort was set in the second century after the cataclysm canonically known as the Sundering of the Worlds. This means the world is very different. The forests and wildlife have had a thousand years to rebound, and while some areas are still struggling to recover, most of the west is lush in comparison.

1200px-MSH82_st_helens_plume_from_harrys_ridge_05-19-82I live only sixty-five miles north of Mount St. Helens, so I have a good local example of how things look after a devastating event. I also can see how flora and fauna rebound in the years following it. Mount St. Helens – Wikipedia

Even if ecological disasters, technology, or religion aren’t the center of the plot, they can be a part of the background, lending color to the world. In Neveyah, my fictional world, the Temple of Aeos trains mages and healers who are then posted to local communities where they serve the people with their gifts.

Those communities are autonomous as the Temple doesn’t run them, but just as in real life, somebody is in charge of running things. In Neveyah, a council of elders governs most towns and cities, and the Temple is run the same way. We humans are tribal. We prefer an overarching power structure leading us because someone has to be the leader.

We call that power structure a government.

food and drinkWhen you create a fictional world, you create a culture. As a society, the habits we develop, the gods we worship, the things we create and find beautiful, and the foods we eat are products of our culture.

What does the outdoor world look and smell like? Mentioning sights, sounds, and scents can show the imaginary world in only a few words.

What about the weather? It can be shown in small, subtle ways, making our characters’ interactions and the events they go through feel real.

Once you have decided on your overall climate, consider your level of technology. Do some research now and bookmark the websites with the best information.

  • A note about fantasy and sci-fi food: climate and soil types limit the variety of food crops that can be grown. Wet and rainy areas will grow vastly different crops from those in arid climates, as will sandy soils and clays versus fertile loams. Look up what sort of food your people will have available to them if your story is set in an exotic environment.

I will be pantsing it (writing stream-of-consciousness) for the month of November, which means I will be writing new words every day, connecting the events I have plotted on my storyboard.  I never have time to think about logic once I begin the challenge, so the storyboard is crucial to me.

magicTo show a world plausibly and without contradictions, we must consider how things work, whether it takes place in a medieval world or on a space station. Don’t introduce skills and tech that can’t exist or don’t fit the era.

scienceFor instance, blacksmiths create and repair things made of metal. The equivalent of a medieval blacksmith on a space station will have high-tech tools and a different job title. Readers notice that sort of thing.

Society is always composed of many layers and classes. Rich merchant or poor laborer, priest or scientist—each occupation has a place in the hierarchy and has a chain of command. Take a moment to consider where your protagonist and their cohorts might fit in their society.

Maybe your novel’s setting is a low-tech civilization. If so, the weather will affect your characters differently than one set in a modern society. Also, the level of technology limits what tools and amenities are available to them.

What about transport? How do people and goods go from one place to another?

Many things about the world will emerge from your creative mind as you write those first pages and will continue to arise throughout the story’s arc.

Consider making a glossary as you go. If you are creating names for people or places, list them separately as they come to you. That way, their spelling won’t drift as the story progresses. It happened to me—the town of Mabry became Maury. I put it on the map as Maury, and it was only in the final proofing that I realized that the spelling of the town in chapter 11 was different from that of chapter 30.

protomapA hand-scribbled map and a calendar of events are absolutely indispensable if your characters do any traveling. The map will help you visualize the terrain, and the calendar will keep events in a plausible order.

Next week, we’ll take another look at plotting so that we have a starting point with a good hook and a bang-up ending to finish things off.

Calendar Capricas 3262 Neveyah

Credits and Attributions:

Wikimedia Commons contributors, “File:MSH82 st helens plume from harrys ridge 05-19-82.jpg,” Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:MSH82_st_helens_plume_from_harrys_ridge_05-19-82.jpg&oldid=912891712 (accessed October 13, 2024).

Wikimedia Commons contributors, “File:St Helens before 1980 eruption horizon fixed.jpg,” Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:St_Helens_before_1980_eruption_horizon_fixed.jpg&oldid=575896084 (accessed October 13, 2024).

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October 30, 2023 · 6:00 am

#NaNoPrep: write the novel first – worry about fine-tuning it later #amwriting

Over the next few months, authors embarking on their first NaNoWriMo will hear many rules about the craft of writing. Some will be good, and some will lead to later problems. I suggest you write the story as it falls out of your head during NaNoWriMo. Don’t worry too much about the rules until you get to the revision stage.

WritingCraft_NaNoPrep_101Getting those ideas out of your head now is what is important. The bloopers and grammar hiccups can all be ironed out in the second draft.

The common axioms of writing exist because writing a story that others can enjoy involves learning grammar rules, developing a broader vocabulary, developing characters, building worlds, etc.

However—some commonly repeated mantras of writing advice have the potential to backfire. An author with too rigid a view of these sayings will write lifeless prose, narratives an algorithm could produce.

The worst rules, in my opinion, are these three:

  • Remove all adverbs and adjectives. This advice is complete crap. Use common sense, and don’t use unnecessary modifiers.
  • Don’t use speech tags. What? Who said that, and why are there no speech tags in this nonsense?
  • Show, Don’t Tell. Don’t Ever Don’t do it! Oh, dear. What an amazing gymnastic routine your face is experiencing.

Nothing is more disgusting than a scene where a person’s facial expressions are described in minute detail.

My Coffee Cup © cjjasp 2013Yes, we do need to show moods, and some physical description is necessary. Lips stretch into smiles, and eyebrows draw together. Still, they are not autonomous and don’t operate independently of the character’s emotional state. The musculature of the face is only part of the signals that reveal the character’s interior emotions.

Another extreme is when the author leans too heavily on the internal, describing the stomach-churning, gut-wrenching shock and wide-eyed trembling of hands in such detail the reader feels queasy and puts the book in the trash.

Which reminds me—don’t forget the weak-kneed nausea.

For me, the most challenging part of revising a manuscript is balancing the visual indicators of emotion with the more profound internal clues. This is something that really only takes shape to my satisfaction through multiple drafts.

  • Write what you know, and don’t dare to write something you don’t. In other words, what they’re saying is don’t use your imagination.

True, you should be careful when writing a real-world ethnicity you don’t have a personal experience of. If your heart is set on that story and only that story, you might want to consult someone from that culture. 5 Tips for Avoiding Cultural Appropriation in Fiction | Proofed’s Writing Tips

But in fantasy, while our life experiences shape our writing, our imagination is the story’s fuel and source. J.R.R. Tolkien understood senseless conflicts and total warfare—because he had experienced it. His books detail his view of the utter devastation of war but are set in a fantasy environment and feature elves and orcs. (Those are two races that don’t abound in England, at least not that I’ve heard.)

Another unreservedly silly mantra is this one:

  • If you’re bored with your story, your reader will be too.

That’s NOT true. You have spent months immersed in that story, years even. You know it inside and out, but your reader doesn’t. Set it aside and come back to it a month or more later. You’ll fall in love with it again.

Commonly discussed writing proverbs go on and on.

  • Kill your darlings.

Indeed, we shouldn’t be married to our favorite prose or characters. Sometimes, we must cut a sentence, a paragraph, a chapter, or even a character we love because it no longer fits the story. But have a care – people read for pleasure and because they love good prose. If it works, keep it.

  • Cut all exposition.

The timing of when we insert the exposition into the narrative is crucial. A story must be about the characters, the conflict, and the resolution. The reader wants to know what the characters know. But they only need that knowledge when it becomes necessary for the plot to move forward. They don’t want information dumped on them.

8ce052b8e7c8182a51dc4999859c1061Bad advice is good advice taken to an extreme. But all writing advice has roots in truth. So, when it comes to making revisions, consider these suggestions:

  • Overuse of adverbs fluffs up the prose and ruins the taste of an author’s work. Don’t get too artful.
  • Too many speech tags, especially odd and bizarre ones, can stop the eye. When the characters snort, hiss, and exclaim their dialogue, I will put the book down and never pick it up again. My favorite authors seem to stick to common tags like said and replied. Those tags blend into the background.
  • Too much telling takes the adventure out of the reading experience. Too much showing is tedious and can be disgusting. It takes effort to find that happy medium, but writing is work.
  • Know what you are writing about. Research your subject and, if necessary, interview people in that profession. Readers often know more than you do about certain things.

Education doesn’t happen overnight. I’ve been studying the craft for over twenty years and always learn something new. Unless an author is fortunate enough to have a formal education in the subject, we must rely on the internet and handy self-help guides to learn the many nuances of the writing craft.

I buy books about the craft of writing modern, 21st-century genre fiction and rely on the advice offered by the literary giants of the past. I seek a rounded view of crafting prose and look for other tools that I can use to improve my writing. I think this makes me a better, more informed reader. (My ego speaking.)

chicago guide to grammarI recommend investing in a grammar book, depending on whether you use American or UK English. These books will answer your questions, and you won’t be in doubt about how to use the standard punctuation readers expect to see.

The Chicago Guide to Grammar, Usage, and Punctuation (if you use American English)

OR

The Oxford A – Z of Grammar and Punctuation (if you use UK English)

Both American and UK writers should invest in:

The Oxford Dictionary of Synonyms and Antonyms (UK and American English). This will increase your vocabulary and help you avoid repetition and leaning on crutch words.

There are many other books on the craft of writing, but a grammar guide and a dictionary of synonyms will take you a long way.

oxford_synonym_antonymI recommend checking out the NaNoWriMo Store, which offers several books to help you get started. The books available there have good advice for beginners, whether you participate in November’s writing rumble or want to write at your own pace.

Other books on craft that I own and recommend:

  1. Damn Fine Story, by Chuck Wendig
  2. Dialogue, by Robert McKee
  3. Steering the Craft: A Twenty-First-Century Guide to Sailing the Sea of Story, by Ursula K. Le Guin
  4. Story, by Robert McKee
  5. The Emotion Thesaurusby Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi, and I also have all the companion books in that series.
  6. The Writer’s Journey, by Christopher Vogler
  7. VERBALIZE by Damon Suede and its companion book, Activate.

they're their there cupI study the craft of writing because I love it, and I apply the proverbs and rules of advice gently. Whether my work is good or bad—I don’t know. But I write the stories I want to read, so I am writing for a niche audience of one: me.

Be brave. Write your novel during NaNoWriMo and worry about fine-tuning it later. That’s what revisions are all about.

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October 11, 2023 · 6:00 am

#NaNoPrep: The Heart of the Story #amwriting.

This is the fourth installment of our NaNoWriMo Prep series. (I’ve listed links to the previous posts down below.) We now have an idea of who our characters are. We also know a bit about the world in which our narrative will be set. We know the genre we’re writing in and what the story might be about. Now we’re going to take a closer look at the plot.

WritingCraft_NaNoPrep_101I am the queen of front-loading too much history in my first drafts. Fortunately, my writer’s group has an unerring eye for where the story really begins.

I have to remind myself that the first draft is the thinking draft. It’s where we build worlds and flesh out characters and relationships. It’s also where the story grows as we add to it.

Let’s write a medieval fantasy:

Act 1: the beginning:

Setting: London in the year 1430. The weather is unseasonably cold. A bard is concealed amongst the filth and shadows in a dark, narrow alley. Tam hides from the soldiers of a prince he has unwisely humiliated in a comic song.

Opening plot point: the soldiers surround and capture Tam, hauling him before the angry prince. The trial is brief and painful. Beaten and bloody, Tam is thrown into prison and sentenced to be beheaded at dawn.

That moment of despair is the end of chapter one.

lute-clip-artYou have done some prep work for character creation, so Tam is your friend. You know his backstory, who he is attracted to (men, women, none, or both), how handsome he is, and his personal history. But none of this matters to the reader in the opening pages. The reader only wants to know what will happen next.

You know who Tam will meet in prison, someone who will help him escape. Depending on Tam’s romantic preference, Dagger (an assassin’s professional name) will be male or female and will dislike the bard on sight. Still, Dagger needs Tam’s help to escape as they too are scheduled to die at dawn.

You have decided that the prince is a dark-path warlock. His close friend is a highly placed cardinal who uses his authority to conceal the prince’s nefarious deeds.

Now we will think about Tam and Dagger’s escape, the first pinch point. The information they learn from each other while quarrelling in prison fuels a quest: killing the Warlock Prince. Each will have different reasons for this, but despite their inability to get along, the enemy of my enemy is my friend and all that.

The escape is successful. Now they are on the run and have no idea how to accomplish their mutual goal. They don’t trust each other, but are forced to work together despite their clash of personalities.

And we all know how friction heats things up. Romance or no romance, this interpersonal tension is crucial.

We (the author) know the Warlock Prince must die if Tam and Dagger are to save London, but who will be willing to help them? What roadblocks stand in their way? The people you need to help them past these hurdles will emerge as you write the first draft.

You might have had an idea for the ending and may have written it down. If you did, you have a goal to write to. If not, perhaps the ending is beginning to show itself. Either way, at this point, the middle of the story is a work in progress.

crows-clip art clicker vector dot comTam and Dagger will tell you what events and roadblocks must happen to them between their arrests and the final victory. This knowledge will emerge from your imagination as you write your way through this first draft.

But the opening moment, the scene showing a lowly bard hiding behind a rubbish heap, is the moment in Tam’s life where the story the reader wants to hear starts.

That scene is where this story begins, regardless of how fascinating Tam’s backstory, London’s history, or the Warlock Prince’s backstory was before that day. It is the beginning because this is the point where all the essential characters are in one place and are introduced.

  • The reader meets the villain and sees him in all his power
  • Tam can sink no lower—he has hit bottom and can only go up from there.
  • Dagger is in the same low emotional place, but this mysterious character has an escape plan.

The story kicks into gear at this pinch point because the assassin is at risk on two fronts, which means Tam is, too. Dagger’s original task of killing the prince has failed, so now they must avoid both the prince’s soldiers and the mysterious employer’s goons.

For Dagger, the original commission must be fulfilled despite the fact there will be no payment.  It’s more than merely a matter of pride, but the secret that drives them will slowly emerge as we write the first draft.

Tam agrees to help ensure it happens because he has a conscience and wants to protect the people of London.

Attraction often grows in the most unlikely of places. Will it blossom into romance? It’s London, a city filled with romance and intrigue. But you’re the author, so only you know how their relationship grows as you write their adventure.

What will emerge in bits and pieces over the following 40,000 or more words?

  • We will learn who Dagger’s employer is.
  • We will learn who Dagger really is and how they became an assassin.

dump no infoTam will find this information out as the story progresses and we will learn it as he does. With that knowledge, he will realize his fate is sealed—he’s doomed no matter what. But it fires him with the determination that if he goes down, he will take the Warlock Prince and his corrupt Cardinal, with him.

The backstory behind the song that precipitated Tam’s arrest, the assassin’s employer, and the enraged prince who intends a lingering, painful death for him must come out gradually.

If we dump Tam and Dagger’s history at the beginning, the reader has no reason to go any further. We’ll have wasted words on something that doesn’t advance the plot.

The people who will help our hapless protagonist will enter the story as he needs them. Each person will add information the reader wants, but only when Tam requires it. Some characters who can offer the most help will be held back until the final half of the story.

By the end, the reader will know everything about the relationship between Dagger and the Warlock Prince. With that information, the final pieces of the puzzle will fall into place.

The reader will follow the breadcrumbs of information. That desire to know all the secrets will be the carrot that keeps the reader turning the pages.

And making that trail into a logical story arc is why I do a certain amount of prewriting and outlining.

storyArcLIRF10032021

PREVIOUS POSTS IN THIS SERIES:

#NaNoPrep: creating the characters #amwriting | Life in the Realm of Fantasy (conniejjasperson.com)

#NaNoPrep: The initial setting #amwriting | Life in the Realm of Fantasy (conniejjasperson.com)

#NaNoPrep: What we think the story might be about #amwriting | Life in the Realm of Fantasy (conniejjasperson.com)

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October 9, 2023 · 6:00 am

#NaNoPrep: What we think the story might be about #amwriting

This is the third installment of our NaNoWriMo Prep series. I’ve listed links to the previous posts at the end of this rant. We now have an idea of who our characters are. We also know a bit about the world in which our narrative will be set. We know the genre we’re writing in.

WritingCraft_NaNoPrep_101Now, we’re going to hear what our characters have to say about what their story might be.

Our characters step from our imagination and onto the first page. When we begin writing, we see them as people we are just getting to know. At first, our characters want us to think they’re unselfish. They desperately desire what they believe they deserve. They will evolve as we write because they will tell us their backstory. But we have an idea of their personality and how they might react.

In real life, people are a mix of good and bad at the same time. Some lean more to good, others to bad. Either way, most people have good, logical reasons for their decisions. How they deal with the hurdles you will present to them will show you who they are. By the end of November, you will know them well.

where-madness-lies-miguel-de-cervantesAn important point to remember is that no matter how decent they are, people lie to themselves about their motives. It’s human nature to obscure truths we don’t want to face behind other, more palatable truths. Those secrets will emerge as you write.

So, what is the story about at this early stage? Do you have an idea of the core conflict, the central problem that all the other events lead up to?

Sometimes, we have a banger of a plot, and the book writes itself. Other times, we have brilliant characters but only a vague idea of their conflict.

Consider the beginning: At the outset of any good story, we meet our protagonist and see them in their surroundings. An event occurs (the inciting incident), and the hero is thrown out of his comfort zone and into the situation, which is the core idea of your plot. 

This is the circumstance in which your protagonist finds himself at the story’s beginning. This is where I ask myself several questions.

  • How will the story start?
  • In the first paragraph on page one, what is the hero’s condition (strength, health, emotional state)?
  • What event could possibly entice her out of her comfort zone?
  • What is the core conflict?

If you know what the situation is, write it down:

  • Bleakbourne front Cover medallion and dragon copyIn my most recent book, Bleakbourne on Heath, Leryn the Bard hunts for strange folk tales and new songs (how it starts).
  • He wants to find a wife and have a normal life (what he wants).
  • But he has stopped in Bleakbourne on the river Heath and immediately becomes caught up in Merlin’s troubles (the conflict).
  • Leryn cares about the distinctly different people of Bleakbourne, who become his family. By the midpoint, he is driven to protect Bleakbourne and the people he loves no matter the cost (how far he will go to achieve his goal).

A few sentences detailing your flashes of inspiration will remind you of what you need when you begin writing. You don’t have to go into detail, just jot those ideas down and keep the list handy.

This kind of pre-writing serves an important purpose for novels I intend to begin in November.

I do it so I don’t become desperate and resort to off-the-wall events or killing off characters (ala G.R.R. Martin) just to stir things up.

route recalculatingI’m going off-topic here for a moment. While the death of a character stirs the emotions, it must be a crucial turning point in that story. It must be planned and be the impetus that changes everything. The death of a character must drive the remaining characters to achieve greatness.

Death for the shock value doesn’t help because you run out of characters. Readers don’t like it when you kill off someone they’ve become attached to, and you might wish you had that character later. Nothing says “oops!” more clearly than bringing a dead character back to life (Bobby Ewing).

Yeah, you can pretend the entire last year was all a dream as they did in the TV series Dallas. But I think keeping the characters I’ve invested so much time into creating alive is a lot easier than trying to bring them back from the dead.

But I'm not superstitious, LIRFUnless, of course, you are writing paranormal fantasy. Death and resurrection may be the whole point if that’s the case.

Once I begin work on my November novel, a more detailed outline of my story arc will evolve. As mentioned a gazillion times, I keep my notes in an Excel workbook. It contains maps, calendars, and everything about any novel set in that world, keeping it in one easy-to-find place.

As the writing progresses, the plot evolves and deviates from what I originally planned. It always does because nothing is engraved in stone. The characters themselves will drive the story in a different direction than was first imagined. I will note those changes on the outline and update my list of made-up words. Also, (if needed), I will edit my sketchy maps.

Many writers will fall by the way and never finish their novels, as they forget what they’re writing, don’t know how to go forward, and then lose momentum. I suggest you write those first ideas down when they occur to you, so when you begin writing the novel, you will have these keys to unlock the story.

800px-NotebooksIf your employment isn’t a work-from-home job, using the note-taking app on your cellphone to take notes during business hours will be frowned upon. I suggest keeping a pocket-sized notebook and pencil or pen to write those ideas down as they come to you.

That is an old-school solution but will enable you to discreetly make notes whenever you have an idea that would work well in your story. The best part is that you don’t appear distracted or off-task, and you will have those ideas in November when you need them.

Next up, we’ll look a little deeper into discovering what the core of the story might be.

Previous posts in this series:

#NaNoPrep: creating the characters #amwriting | Life in the Realm of Fantasy (conniejjasperson.com)

#NaNoPrep: The initial setting #amwriting | Life in the Realm of Fantasy (conniejjasperson.com)

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October 4, 2023 · 6:00 am

#NaNoPrep: The initial setting #amwriting

If you are new to NaNoWriMo (or to writing in general), this series of posts is for you. The goal of participating in NaNoWriMo is to write 50,000 words on your novel in the month of November. A successful NaNoWriMo is easier to achieve if we have a preflight checklist (which can be found at the bottom of this post).

WritingCraft_NaNoPrep_101We talked about getting a start on our characters in Monday’s post. Today, we’re going to visualize the place where our proposed novel is set, the place where the story opens.

Where do you see your story taking place? In the real world? A fantasy realm? Space? An alternate dimension? Alternate Earth? Today, we’re focusing on the opening setting.

I write fantasy, and much of my work is set in an invented world. I began creating this world as the storyline for a post-apocalyptic anime-style RPG game for PC (that never went into production).

Fifteen years on, most of what I need to know about this world is canon and can’t be changed. But at the outset in 2007, all I knew was the premise of the conflict: the gods had been at war, and it involved three worlds. I needed to see how that conflict had changed the landscape because a disaster on that scale would dramatically affect the people of three worlds.

In science fiction and other genres, in series that are set in one world/universe, the word canon refers to historic and previously established events and occurrences in that reality. When something is declared impossible in the early narratives, it cannot be possible in later novels without some logical explanation.

plot is the frame upon which the themes of a story are supportedAll worldbuilding must show a world that feels as natural to the reader as their native environment. I used the forests and lowlands of Western Washington State as my template. The entire series evolved out of three paragraphs that answered the following question:

  • The “War of the Gods” broke three worlds – how did that affect their civilizations?

The War of the Gods is central to Neveyah’s religion, a trauma that shapes their lives as much as it does their world. One can never escape the visible scar, the immensity that divides the world in half: the Escarpment. It is the wound where the World of Cascadia was joined to the World of Neveyah.

Once I have a mental image of the visuals of the world I am writing, I ask myself, “Does the environment shape society?”

Since this example is set in a post-apocalyptic world, the characters live in a low-tech agricultural society. Resources are scarce.

  • How can the environment create tension in the narrative?

I want to see that raw, just-born environment when I begin writing. In the case of this world, one fundamental theme binding the narratives together is the balance of nature and how delicate it is.

Here is a quick, easy exercise in worldbuilding, one that will take less than five minutes:

  • Close your eyes and visualize your real-world environment.
  • Then, without looking around, write a word picture of it.

I am sitting on a balcony. My chair is a saucer chair, not easy to get out of but comfortable once I’m in it. Traffic on the street below is noisy, but the sun is shining, and rain is expected to move in over the next few days.

Once you have written a paragraph or two that describes your personal world, you understand how worldbuilding works. You can visualize your characters’ community and write a two-paragraph word picture of that imaginary place.

So—about the storyboard we discussed in Monday’s post. Now is a good time to start if you haven’t already done so. Here is a screenshot of the tabs on my storyboard/stylesheet that has been fifteen years in the making:

tabs of a stylesheet

Your storyboard/stylesheets will be much simpler, just one page to start out with.

If your work is set in an actual location, you should know where to find resources for appropriate slang, urban myths, and other local peculiarities. My co-municipal Liaison, Lee French, reminds us that we don’t have to immerse ourselves immediately. We just want to lay the groundwork for November, to have things handy when we start writing in earnest on November 1st.

Sci-fi writers should bookmark or list sites for any science you may need. If it takes place on a spaceship, you should have a good idea of what the ship looks, sounds, and smells like, a floorplan, and maybe consider what might power it.

Fantasy writers, if your novel is set in a made-up universe/world/town, what is the big-picture of your setting? Is the starting point near a river, forest, an ocean, or a desert? Again, you don’t have to know everything in precise detail, but you should put down some starter notes, because environment determines food and resources that may come into play later.

If you’re writing in the real world as we know it—make good use of Google Earth. Bookmark (or make a list of) the websites that offer accurate information about those places.

If you intend to add sci-fi or fantasy elements, such as zombies, magic, dragons, or future tech to our current world, you’ll want to think about the effect those elements will have on the environment. The presence of large flying predators would limit outdoor activities. Even if your dragons aren’t carnivorous, they are usually depicted as rather birdlike in appearance and habit.

dragonSeagulls are a good example of what could happen. They fly and do their business while on the wing, and sometime find enjoyment in “bombing” windshields.

That sort of package dropping from the sky could make for a startling end to the average family barbecue. Grandma’s potato salad would likely be served indoors so as to not encourage dragonly target practice.

My RPG-based world has creatures that cast certain magic as weapons or defensively. Their presence in the wild makes traveling without guards dangerous. Thus, the environment offers plot opportunities for employment.

sample-of-rough-sketched-mapSome of us (Me! Me!) will make pencil-sketched maps of our fantasy world or the sci-fi setting. I find that maps are excellent brainstorming tools for when I can’t quite jostle a plot loose. It’s a form of doodling, a kind of mind wandering, and helps me find creative solutions to minor obstacles.

But you don’t have to go to all that trouble at one sitting. Just briefly note your ideas for worldbuilding because we will come back to this and flesh out the details later. For now, all you need is the overview of the world on the day your story opens.

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#NaNoPrep: creating the characters #amwriting | Life in the Realm of Fantasy (conniejjasperson.com)

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October 2, 2023 · 6:00 am

#NaNoPrep: creating the characters #amwriting

If you are new to NaNoWriMo, or to writing in general, this post is for you. A successful NaNoWriMo is easier to achieve if we have a preflight checklist (which can be found at the bottom of this post). Today, we will take an hour or so to do some pre-writing, building our main character and their sidekicks.

nano prep namesNo matter how many characters you think are involved, one will stand out. That person will be the protagonist.

Character creation crosses all genres. Even if you are writing a memoir detailing your childhood, you must know who you were in those days. You want the reader to see the events that shaped you, but not through the lens of memory. They must see the events as they unfold.

I have mentioned (a gazillion times) that I use Excel, a spreadsheet program, to outline my projects. But you can use a notebook or anything that works for you. You can do this by drawing columns on paper by hand or using post-it notes on a whiteboard or the wall. Everyone thinks differently, so we all have to find the way that works best for us. I just happen to like working with Excel or Google Sheets.

Some people use a dedicated writer’s program like Scrivener—which I find mind-bogglingly incomprehensible. No matter your method, the characters aren’t fully formed when you begin writing the first chapters. They will evolve as a result of the experiences you write for them, but you want an idea of who they are now.

The storyboard is where I brainstorm characters and plot. When I find myself floundering in the writing process, I can see where I have gone off the rails and into the weeds.

First, we want to get to know who we’re writing about. I always have a reasonably good idea of how my characters look. However, that image can drift as the first draft evolves, and brown eyes are suddenly green (yes, this did happen, but my editor is amazing).

But don’t get too detailed. Readers have their own image of beauty, so don’t force your idea of loveliness on them. General descriptions and the reactions of other characters should convey how they look. Skin tones and hair color, curly or straight, are pretty much all you need.

a storyboard is your friendOnce I know the basic plot, I make a page in my workbook with a bio of each character, a short personnel file. Sometimes, I include images of RPG characters or actors who most physically resemble them and who could play them well—but this is only to cement them in my mind.

The personnel file is laid out this way:

Column A: Character Names. I list the important characters by name and the point where they enter the story.

Column B: About: Their role, a note about that person or place, a brief description of who and what they are.

Column C: The Problem: What is the core conflict?

Column D: What do they want? What does each character desire?

Column E: What will they do to get it? This column usually remains empty until I am well into the first draft, because at this point, I don’t know how far they will go to achieve their desire.

This is an image of a Storyboard Template, created in Google Sheets which is a FREE spreadsheet program. Google Docs is also free and is a perfectly fine word-processing tool if you don’t have the money for MS Office 360 or other programs.

Google Sheets Storyboard Template Screenshot 2017-10-15 07.13.09 cjjaspNames say a lot about characters. If you give a character a name that begins with a hard consonant, the reader will subconsciously see them as more intense than one whose name starts with a soft sound. It’s a little thing, but it is something to consider when conveying personalities.

Also, I’ve said this before, but with the growing popularity of audiobooks, I suggest writing names that are easy to pronounce. It will simplify the process of having your book narrated—but again, that is your choice.

A great story evolves when the antagonist and protagonist are powerful but not omnipotent. Both must have character arcs that show personal growth or an inability to grow. For the antagonist to be realistic, this must be clearly established, so once we know who they are, they should also get a personnel file.

So first, let’s create a main character. The story will grow from her experiences, so she must be someone you want to know.

Our protagonist is Lilly. For this exercise, I chose a flower name, suggesting someone who is kind, a good friend.

Who is this person? Start with the basics: race, ethnicity, age, gender, sexuality, appearance/coloration.

Race: This is a post-apocalyptic world. When the survivors prepared to leave the catacombs, they divided into 50 tribes. They blended the various races and ethnicities as evenly as possible to widen the gene pool. Everyone is of mixed-race heritage, regardless of outward coloring and appearance.

Appearance and coloration: Lilly is tall and physically fit and has straight black hair, brown eyes, and dark coloring.

Ethnicity: She was born into Asgrim’s tribe, which settled in the north.

Age: 27

Gender/sexuality: This is important, as gender and sexuality play a role in my novel. A broad view of gender/sexuality is a fact of life in their culture. Lilly and Kaye are life partners.

My co-municipal liaison, Lee French, suggests you write one sentence to describe them and move on. I’m not good at one-sentence descriptions, so a paragraph is more my style.

I suggest you write what comes to mind, and don’t worry if you can’t think of anything at this stage. Once you begin writing the narrative, the characters will tell you what you need to know.

It sounds hokey, but it’s true.

Characters don’t leap onto the page fully formed. They begin to reveal who they really are as we lay down the first draft, and this is why my narratives rarely keep to the original outline.

One thing that helps when creating a character is identifying the verbs embodied by each individual’s personality. Lilly’s verbs are: fight, defend, create, care. These words tell me how she will react in any given situation.

Also, I try to identify each character’s motivation, the metaphorical “hole” in their life. What pushes them to do the crazy stuff they do? Sometimes, that loss or lack doesn’t emerge until you’re well into writing the first draft.

What we are doing is pre-writing. It helps me to have the characters in place when I begin writing a novel on November 1st. Below is a PNG image of my pre-flight checklist. Feel free to right-click and save as a PNG or .jpeg for your own use!

We have looked at steps one and two. Next up is step three: the world as it is when the story opens.

Previous in this series:

#NaNoPrep: What do I want to write? #nanowrimo | Life in the Realm of Fantasy (conniejjasperson.com)

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September 27, 2023 · 6:00 am

#NaNoPrep: What do I want to write? #nanowrimo

Two weeks ago, we talked about discovering our writing style. Some people plot, some write by the seat of their pants, and others are somewhere in the middle. I plot for a while and then find myself winging it. The plot goes in a new direction until I hit a wall, and then I replot until I know what has to happen. And then I let the words fly as they will.

crows-clip art clicker vector dot comEvery year I participate in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). I sit down and write, and by doing that for two hours every day, I manage to crank out the high points of a story and get my wordcount and the “winners” certificate. A year or so later, I have connected the dots and end up with a coherent first draft that tops out at around 120,000 words.

Three years and six drafts later, it will be publishable at about 90,000 words.

For me, succeeding at getting the bare bones of a novel’s first draft written during the 30 days of November requires a bit of pre-writing—a pre-flight checklist.

I found Excel useful when I first began writing, and I use it to this day to keep my plots and background information organized. But any document or spreadsheet program will work. The aforementioned pre-flight checklist becomes my permanent stylesheet/outline for that novel.

The outline is a visual aid that keeps my stream-of-consciousness writing flowing.

Once I’m done winging it through the story and am in revisions, some scenes will make more sense when placed in a different order than originally planned. At that point, an outline allows me to view the story’s arc from a distance.

I can see where it might be flatlining. Perhaps an event should be cut entirely as it no longer works. (I always save my outtakes in a separate file for later use.)

Over the next few weeks, we’ll talk more about my process.

But first, what are we writing?

The basic premise of any story in any genre can be answered in eight questions.

  1. Author-thoughtsWho are the players?
  2. Who is the POV character?
  3. Where does the story open?
  4. What does the protagonist have to say about their story?
  5. How did they arrive at the point of no return?
  6. What do they want, and what will they do to get it?
  7. What hinders them?
  8. How does the story end? Is there more than one way this could go?

We’re starting with question number one: who are the players?

My stories always begin with the characters. They come to me, sharing some of their story the way strangers on a long bus ride might. They tell me some things about themselves. They give me the surface image they want the world to see. But as strangers always do, when I first meet them, they keep most of their secrets close and don’t reveal all the dirt. These are mysteries that will be pried from them over the course of writing the narrative’s first draft.

That little bit of sharing gives me the jumping-off point. I sit and write one or two paragraphs about them, as if meeting them for a job interview. That little word picture of the face they show the world is all I need to get my story off the ground when the real writing begins.

But before we go any further, I must ask, “What genre are we writing to?” This is important because tropes will guide the reader to see the world I envision.

Most of the time, I write a fantasy of some sort. I love alternate medieval, alternate Arthurian, and other subgenres.

Sometimes, I go nuts and write women’s fiction. I write whatever I’m in the mood to read. The story is the picture, and the genre is the frame. When selecting the frame for a picture, do I lean toward heavily carved and gilded frames, simple polished wood, or sleek polished steel?

The choice of frame depends on the picture and the room in which I intend to hang it. For my story, the frame (genre) will be determined by the reader I intend the book for. Mostly, I write for myself, so my genre is usually fantasy.

lute-clip-artCharacters usually arrive in my imagination as new acquaintances inhabiting a specific environment. That world determines the genre.

Julian Lackland, Billy Ninefingers, and Huw the Bard are alternate medieval novels because the characters live in a low-tech society with elements of feudalism. Waldeyn is an alternate world because I saw it as a mashup of 16th-century Wales, Venice, and Amsterdam with a touch of modern plumbing. I gave women the right to become mercenary knights as a way of escaping the bonds of society.

Also, I changed how religion works in that world. The church is an institution with hard and fast rules and exists to train men and women with the ability to wield magic. So, magic occurs in that world as a component of nature and spawns creatures like dragons, but they aren’t the point of those books.

Magic, dragons, and fairies are aspects of set dressing. They are the tropes readers of specific subgenres of fantasy expect, the backdrop against which the relationships and personal struggles play out.

Knowing your characters, having an idea of their story, and seeing them in their world is a good first step.

Write those thoughts down so you don’t lose them. Keep adding to that list as ideas about that world and those characters come to you.

This is how I start my pre-flight checklist for winging it through NaNoWriMo. Next week we’ll go a little deeper into the process.

Previous posts in this series:

#NaNoPrep: Discovering your writing style #amwriting | Life in the Realm of Fantasy (conniejjasperson.com)

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August 30, 2023 · 6:00 am

When life interferes with writing #amwriting

I have been prepping for NaNoWriMo 2023, trying to complete the outline so I can hit the ground running on November 1st. As always, I’m mentally committed to writing at least 1,667 (or more) new words every day during that writing rumble.

MyWritingLife2021By just doing that, I will have 50,000 (or more) words by midnight on November 30th.

Every year, I wonder how I’ll meet this goal. I don’t have a one-size-fits-all answer for that, as authors must be able to pay their bills, or no books will ever be written.

Sometimes, I feel guilty for taking the time to indulge in such a profoundly personal pleasure. It does take time. I tend to resent anything stopping me from having at least one hour of dedicated writing time each day.

But life tosses up roadblocks. We’re retired, and even so, keeping to a regular routine for writing is difficult. One would think we could do whatever we want and to heck with the world’s demands.

But life is not that way. Even people who are retired have obligations that take them away from home. Extra work and other activities that come along with living our lives take up space in our heads as well as the calendar. Finding the energy to be creative is a challenge.

When I was younger, I was a single parent. I had two jobs and children and sang in the choir at our church. I had many demands upon my time, but somehow, I always managed a little time for writing. Admittedly, it wasn’t much.

In those days, I wrote while my children were doing their homework. Sometimes I wrote for half an hour or so at night after they were asleep, pouring my angst into lyrics for songs. This is why my poetry has a more traditional rhyming rhythm. I’m a songwriter at heart, and there is always a melody in my head.

Everyone has a different creative process. What works in December might not work in April. When the tried-and-true fails, give yourself permission to change and find a way that works.

how-to-play-gin-rummy-1Be willing to be flexible. Do you work best in short bursts? Or, maybe you’re at your best when you have a long session of privacy and quiet time. Something in the middle, a melding of the two, works best for me.

But what if the way that worked last month no longer works? Varying my projects and writing in bursts broken up by daily activities works best for my schedule nowadays.

We must be open to finding the way that makes us feel productive, whether it works for someone else or not. We feel good when we’re productive.

I have my best ideas when I’m about to leave the house—no joke. If that is you too, do as I do and write those thoughts down. I keep a notebook around just for those moments.

You will be productive once you find your best style.

But first—you must give yourself permission to write.

I have plenty of downtime between my daily tasks. That is when I work on whatever revisions are needed. You would be amazed at what you can get done in ten-minute bursts.

We who wish to write must set aside time to do it. This allows us to be creative and still support our families, who all have activities and interests of their own.

As I have said many times before, being a writer is to be supremely selfish about every aspect of life, including family time.

ICountMyself-FriendsA good way to ensure you have that time is to encourage your family members to indulge in their own interests and artistic endeavors. That way, everyone can be creative in their own way during that hour, and they will understand why you value your writing time so much.

A balanced life is a happy one. Don’t become so obsessed with writing about fictional lives that you aren’t present in your own.

  • Some people manage to fit short bursts of writing into their daily schedule, writing at work during breaks or at lunch.
  • Others must schedule a dedicated block of time for writing, either rising two hours before they depart for work or skipping some TV in the evening.
  • Write in small increments—ten minutes here, half an hour there. These short bursts add up.

Perhaps your mind has gone blank. An idea is locked in your head, but you don’t have the words to free it. Step back and view your story from a distance:

  • Write several paragraphs detailing what must happen in your story, such as: Next morning, Stan arrives with the recruits. His drama ensues. Ends well, with Neela asking him to walk to the market with her.

Taking a break and doing something completely different is a good thing. When you return to writing, you may have nothing to add to the old project, but something new may be forming.

Write it.

I always have many manuscripts in the works because I come to a point where I begin flailing. I move between each project as I have inspiration for them. Right now, I have a short story, a novella, a novel in the final stage of editing, a novel at the halfway point, and this blog to keep me interested and writing something every day.

I am a slow keyboard jockey, and I can do about 1,100 wonky, misspelled words an hour during NaNoWriMo. Remember, misspelled or not, in NaNoWriMo every word counts and moves you closer to having a completed first draft. The important thing is to get the whole story down from the beginning to the end. Once that is done, you can fiddle with phrasing to your heart’s content.

My Coffee Cup © cjjasp 2013Writers and other artists do have to make some sacrifices for their craft. It’s just how things are. But don’t sacrifice your family for it.

If the urge to write is there, get up an hour early to have that quiet time. Or give up something ephemeral and unimportant, like one hour of TV.

I always encourage writers who are falling behind and unsure they can “do” NaNoWriMo to live their lives and write in short bursts during the moments between other things. We should write what we’re inspired to, and find the blessings in each day. If we do that, the words will come.

Happy writing!

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October 10, 2022 · 6:00 am

#NaNoWriMo prep part 2: Character Creation #amwriting

Today is part two of my October NaNo Prep series. This post explores character creation. Often, we have ideas for great characters but no story for them. For those who don’t write daily, it’s a way to help get you into the habit.

nano prep namesThese exercises will only take a few minutes unless you want to spend more time on them. They’re just a warmup, getting you thinking about your writing project. Each post will tackle a different aspect of preparation and won’t take more than ten or fifteen minutes to complete. By the end of this series, my goal is for you to have a framework that will get your project started.

SO—let’s begin with characters. Some will be heroes, others will be sidekicks, and still others will be villains to one degree or another.

rudimentary stylesheetI recommend you create a file that contains all the ideas you have in regard to your fictional world, including the personnel files you are creating. I list all my information in an Excel workbook for each book or series, but you can use any kind of document, even handwritten. You just need to write your ideas down. See my post, Ensuring Consistency: the Stylesheet.

Perhaps you already have an idea for the characters you intend to people your story with. Even if you don’t, take a moment to sit back and think about who they might be.

No matter the genre or the setting, humans will be humans and have certain recognizable personality traits.

names keep them simpleSo, who is the protagonist of my intended story? Truthfully, in some aspect or another, they will be the person I wish I were. That is how it always is for me—living a fantasy in the safe environment of the novel. Bilbo was J.R.R. Tolkien’s younger self, an inexperienced man discovering the broader world through his wartime experiences. Luke Skywalker was the hero George Lucas always wanted to be.

For me, a story is the people—the characters, their interactions, their thoughts, and how the arc of the plot changes them. In return, writing the events they experience enables me to see my values and beliefs more clearly. I begin to understand myself.

I feel an author should introduce however many characters it takes to tell the story. But we must also use common sense. Too many named characters is too many.

So, let’s start with one character, our protagonist. First, we need a name, even if it’s just a placeholder. I have learned to keep in mind simplicity of spelling and ease of pronunciation when I name my characters. My advice is to keep it simple and be vigilant—don’t give two characters names that are nearly identical and that begin and end with the same letter.

Have you ever read a book where you couldn’t figure out how to pronounce a name? Speaking as a reader, it aggravates me no end: Brvgailys tossed her lush hair over her shoulder. (BTW—I won’t be recommending that book to anyone.) (Ever.)

You might think of the unusual spellings as part of your world-building. I get that, but there is another reason to consider making names easily pronounceable, no matter how fancy and other-worldly they look if spelled oddly. You may decide to have your book made into an audiobook, and the process will go more smoothly if your names are uncomplicated. I only have one audiobook, and the experience of making that book taught me to spell names simply.

Now that we have a name, even if it’s just a placeholder, we can move on to the next step. Then we write a brief description. One thing that helps when creating a character is identifying the verbs embodied by each individual’s personality. What pushes them to do the crazy stuff they do?

The person our protagonist appears to be on page one, and the motivations they start out with must be clearly defined. Identifying these two aspects is central to who your character is:

  • VOID: Each person lacks something, a void in their life. What need drives them?
  • VERBS: What is their action word, the verb that defines their personality? How does each character act and react on a gut level?

the hobbitIf we know their void, we should write it down now, along with any quirky traits they may have. Next, we decide on verbs that will be the driving force of their personality at the story’s opening. Add some adjectives to describe how they interact with the world and assign nouns to show their characteristics.

Example:

Maia (healer, 25 yrs. old, black ringlets, dark skin, brown eyes with golden flecks.) Parents were mages, father an earth-mage who builds and repairs levees in the cities along the River Fleet. VOID: Mother murdered by a priest of the Bull God. Father never got over it. Maia is not good with tools and unintentionally breaks or loses things. VERBS: Nurture. Protect. ADJECTIVES: awkward, impulsive, focused, motivated, loyal, caring. NOUNS: empathy, purpose, wit.

Once I do this for the protagonist and her sidekicks, I will ask myself, “Who is the antagonist? What do they want?”

Nord, a tribeless mage, turned rogue. Warlord desiring control of Kyrano Citadel. Intent on making a better life for his children and will achieve it at any cost. VOID: Born into a poor woodcutter’s family. Father abusive drunk, mother weak, didn’t protect him. VERBS: Fight, Desire, Acquire. ADJECTIVES: arrogant, organized, decisive, direct, focused, loyal. NOUNS: purpose, leadership, authority.

Our characters will meet and interact with other characters. Some are sidekicks, and some are enemies. Don’t bother giving pass-through characters’ names, as a name shouts that a character is an integral part of the story and must be remembered.

Your project could be anything from a memoir to an action-adventure. No matter the genre, the characters must be individuals with secrets only they know about themselves. This is especially true if you are writing a memoir. Over the next few days, list these traits as they come to mind.

Name your characters as they occur to you. Assign genders and preferences and give a loose description of their physical traits. If you like, use your favorite movie stars or television stars as your prompts.

We are changed in real life by what we experience as human beings. Each person grows and develops in a way that is distinctively them. Some people become jaded and cynical. Others become more compassionate and forgiving.

Everyone perceives things in a unique way and is affected differently than their companions. In a given situation, other people’s gut reactions vary in intensity from mine or yours. Whether we are writing a romance, a sci-fi novel, a literary novel, or even a memoir, we must know who the protagonist is on page one.

That means we need to create their backstory, just a paragraph or two. This will grow in length over time as the story takes shape. As we write each personnel file, we will begin to see their past, present, and possible future.

name quote, richard II shakespeareMaking lists of names is essential. You want their spellings to remain consistent and being able to return to what you initially planned is a big help later on. When we commence writing the actual narrative, each character will have an arc of growth, and sometimes names will change as the story progresses. Do remember to make notes of those changes.

Heroes who arrive perfect in every way on page one are uninteresting. For me, the characters and all their strengths and flaws are the core of any story. The events of the piece exist only to force growth upon them.

Posts in this series to date:

#NaNoWriMo prep part 1: Deciding on the Project #amwriting

Credits and Attributions:

Dustcover of the first edition of The Hobbit, taken from a design by the author, J.R.R. Tolkien.

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