Archimage's Writing

NaNoWriMo 2012 Wrap Up

Yes!  Another year done with a total of 50194 words!  And all completely written in Auteureist on the iPad. 

NaNoWriMo Week Three

Wow the last week went fast. Which is not to say the writing did. I hit the main storyline and I took more time trying to get it correct from a content standpoint. I had a basic idea of what I wanted to happen before I hit it, but the details were a bit fuzzy. My main character is still unable to talk and having the plot progress depended on his realizing what the plot was. I'm through, as is he, and we are in the home stretch.

This is an interesting novel for me. Not only due to my protagonist being unable to speak, but this is the first time I have a plot with a single thread and point of view. I usually have a subplot or two, and I usually switch points of view as I weave the threads. In this novel, I took a straightforward approach. It's harder to write in this style than I imagined. The plot has to be more important and interesting if it is the lone one. I'm not satisfied with what I've written. It doesn't feel as organic as stories with multiple subplots somehow, but it's a worthwhile endeavor and really good first draft.
It's hard to make a chair with only one leg stand up. I think I'm learning the same applies to a novel.

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NaNoWriMo Is Evil

NaNoWriMo is evil. It's also insidious. This suddenly hit me while writing the latest chapter.

NaNoWriMo is trying to get you (me) to write. And in that sense it succeeds. There is a basic problem, however. The problem is the daily target word count. I've never liked working to a word or time quota. Both of these are useful if you are not motivated. They are evil if you have motivation and are writing.

What I have realized is that during NaNoWriMo I tend to focus more on the word count than the quality of what I write. NaNoWriMo is insidious because it makes you focus on the word count and without your knowledge you end up writing things you normally wouldn't in ways that lead to bad writing. What do I mean? I've discovered that when I write to a target word count I end up writing sentences that are longer and more "wordy".

For example, instead of writing "He relaxed in the green pasture", I end up writing, "He sat down in the pasture. He relaxed in the blades of green. " Now, some may argue, the latter is more descriptive or evocative. It's still bad writing. After all he's not relaxing in a field of green razor blades--blades of grass is redundant when dealing with fields or pastures. So the focus is on quantity rather than quality. I would never write this way if I didn't have a target word count.

Yes NaNoWriMo is about producing a first draft--get the ideas and story down first. If you haven't written a novel before its a wonderful vehicle to create one. If you have, it can be a slippery slope to a suicidal sentence.

Your mileage may vary.

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NaNoWriMo 2011 Week Two

Week two of NaNoWriMo just finished up for me so it's time for a status on writing.
Week two went well although a little slower. The main reason was that my main character ended up unable to speak. This made writing more an experiment in how do you progress the story and have conversations where everything is implied or interpreted by people who can speak. The good thing is I think I have a decent approach, the story is moving forward despite this limitation, and it's making the plot a bit more interesting. In other words, it was another good week for writing.
I'm not sure I have a great story, but it's an interesting one, I believe. If you're writing, keep writing. The good thing about NaNoWriMo to keep in mind is that the goal is to create a first draft, not a completed and polished novel. Write--even if it doesn't make sense or doesn't fall together the way you hoped or wanted. Polish and clean and fix problems after the first draft is complete. Write to write. Don't write to publish. Sent from Auteureist™ on iPad - http://auteureist.com/

NaNoWriMo 2011 Week One

As I said in the previous post, I'm doing NaNoWriMo 2011, I just don't have a lot of free time to blog about it on a daily basis. I am however going to blog on a weekly one. Week one is over.

This year I went in without an idea or any sort of approach in mind. I should know better--the hardest part is coming up with an idea to kick start the story. Luckily, I came up with a decent first line--teaser. I've found this is a good way for me to get going when I don't have a clue. It doesn't always guarantee a good story, much less a story, but it often works for me.

Once I have the first line or I have a writing block one thing I learned from short story writing classes I took at Temple University, is you ask yourself a couple of questions: what happens next and what would you least expect to happen? Answering those on paper will help get through blocks and move the story forward. Thats basically what I did until I knew what the story was about. Once I had the basic story the actual writing has actually gone faster than in any of the previous NaNoWriMos.

You may be wondering if I'm using Auteureist again or something else. I'm still using my app on the iPad. It's still my favorite writing app-I essentially designed to work the way I want a writing app to work. No its not perfect, but does what I need it to do and the process allows me to evaluate the app and how it works in the extreme conditions NaNoWriMo makes possible when compared to short writing sessions or short documents.

So where am I in the word count? After seven days I am at 11871.

Another update in a week. Sent from Auteureist™ on iPad - http://auteureist.com/

It's That Time Again

It's that time of year again. Time for the National Novel Writing Month.. In previous years I've updated this blog every day of the contest. This year, however, I am not going to blog as frequently. I'm still going to participate in this year's event butI'm going to focus on writing rather than investigating options for my app.

The schedule I have this year won't permit me to do both. Having said that, the latest version of my app has been submitted to the Apple App Store. This latest version fixes a lot of long-standing problems and stability issues. I am going to take advantage of this event to focus on improving the overall stability of my application. But primarily I am going to focus on my writing for a change.

I will be updating this blog on occasion during the month and hopefully I'll see you on the NaNoWriMo website as a writing buddy.
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Why Listening To Hear Is An Important Skill For Writers

Many years ago I wrote a Star Trek(tm) based game--the kind that used text instead of graphics. This was the thing programmers did back then and there were a few of these games around (before Paramount realized that it had forgotten to trademark the Star Trek(tm) and clamped down). What does this have to do with writing?

As a result of the game I was asked to write a magazine article around the dialogue in the game. For, you see, my game was different--it actually used character dialogue in addition to the ASCII grid that represented space and the ships. It accepted phrases as commands rather than just single characters. It was more immersive.

I'm not going to echo the article. The point of the article, however, was that the game worked well because the characters and dialogue in the game were true to the characters of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. That's a key takeaway for all writers. The voice of your characters needs to be true to the characters themselves. Most people find writing dialogue difficult--action comes easier. There are certain habits a writer can form that will aid in the task.

The first, and most obvious, is to listen. That sounds straightforward, but listen to what? Listen to what is said--the content. Listen to how it's said. Is there a dialect or accent? No? Everyone has a dialect. If you aren't hearing one it's probably yours. In addition to the accent, listen to the cadence--the rhythm. This is due in part to the dialect and in part to the individual. Listen to what is said--no I didn't write that twice. Listen to what is really being said behind the vocalizations--the true meaning of what is said. Listen for emotion--or lack thereof. Stress, pitch, rate, breathing interrupting the speech, and how all of these change while the person is speaking are just important as physical mannerisms.

The next habit to form is to listen to yourself. That is, be aware of how you sound so that you can avoid writing all of your characters as if they were you. A universe filled with people who sound just like you would be boring to your readers.

Next, make sure your character's speech and dialogue is true to the character. If your inner-city kid has a western twang there better be a reason and that reason needs to be revealed in what you're writing either explicitly or implicitly. Stay in character unless there is some good reason for the character to break speech.

Finally, don't overdo it. Don't paint your characters' speech in broad strokes. The speech isn't the character, it's just one aspect. Your writing needs a voice, but your character's voices shouldn't be yours.

Listen so you may hear.

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ScriptFrenzy 2011 - Wrap Up

Well I finished ScriptFrenzy 2011. It was tough this past week because I was attending various conferences and free time to write was tight. But, I finished!

The script I have is not going to win any awards much less ever see light of a camera, but it was a good learning exercise. I definitely need to improve my action scene writing. Most people have problems with dialog, I am good at dialog, it's the other stuff which is harder. Script wiring has pointed that out to me. When you don't have the ability to have a narrator, action and dialog is pretty much all you have. Writing scripts and screenplays is a good way to hone those skills.

As far as Auteureist is concerned, it did well, but I have some ideas on making it's script and screenplay writing functionality better.

The last benefit of finishing ScriotFrenzy is that I now have a lot more free time (until the next NaNoWriMo).

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ScriptFrenzy 2011 - Day 19

I've been busy with work and other stuff but I'm up to page 62. One thing budding new writers are always told is, write what you know. That is, write about what you have experienced or about which you are knowledgeable. The problem is, is that most people probably don't lead lives worth writing about (yes that's a preposition terminating the sentence). Also, if you only wrote what you knew, we would never have horror, or science fiction and fantasy. People read to escape what they know for the most part. And if all you wrote about was work, no one would want to read it. So why is the recommendation given?

It's not meant to be an absolute rule. It is meant as guidance to new writers. It is a way to force a person who is learning to write to focus on how he writes, grammar and style, and not about what he writes, the plot. Once you are comfortable with the mechanics, then you can improve on making it interesting. If you can't be understood when people read your writing, few will bother to read it regardless of how interesting you believe it to be.

I'm still learning. I write about stuff I know; the boring stuff. There is another benefit on writing about dull things.

If you focus on the mechanics you won't be blinded into thinking you have written the best plot ever. When you work on grammar, your ego is pushed aside. It keeps you from believing you deserve to be published, when in fact, you've actually written something so badly structured and scripted no one but you think it's worthwhile. Rejection letters are not ego-boosters. If you go in with a good product your ego can take a few hits.

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ScriptFrenzy 2011 - Day 14

Day 14 and 48 pages. I'm still creating and typing away. I always like what I write--I think all authors do when it comes down to the core. That doesn't mean I think what I write is good. On the contrary, I tend to be critical of my writing. Liking doesn't imply quality. First drafts are about quantity, not quality. It's a gamble. When you write you play percentages. The more you write the better the chances that you will create something of quality. On the other hand, people write all their lives and create only garbage and filler.

The point is you keep writing in hopes you create something worth the effort of editing., something worth the effort of reading again. You know if it is as you write it. If it isn't, you don't stop. Stopping is accepting failure. If you don't keep going you don't learn. You don't improve.

To quote a writing teacher who was quoting Woody Allen as metaphor, writing is like a shark; if you stop, you die.

I'm still writing.

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