First draft of the story is, as of 10:26 pm tonight, officially written up to and including the Climax!
Moon walk. Slam the football down in the end zone. Yeah, baby. Yeah, baby.
I have been thinking and planning this part of the story -- I almost am willing to call it a book, now -- since before I wrote the first words of the beginning.
It has morphed, changed locations, and changed characters, but always with the same outcome.
At one point, this evening, I was running around outside with the stopwatch on my phone, timing how many seconds it would take to get from point A, to point B, and then to point C. The raccoons, I'm confident, are convinced that the human living here is quite nuts.
That total time, you see, had to mesh with what was happening in the shack, with this person going to this corner, and that person going to that spot, and the like.
After I clicked the keys for the last word on the document, I called my husband, who is on a business trip and who got up early this morning and has been driving to meeting after meeting after meeting all day.
I read the length of the last scene. I put all the drama into every shout and whisper. I performed brilliantly.
And he fell asleep before I finished.
He assured me when I woke him up that it wasn't because of the quality of the prose. The climax was good for him, too. (tee-hee)
Friday, September 21, 2012
Friday, September 14, 2012
Home stretch to the Climax!
Alexa is back on Earth, and racing to the climax. And I am scrambling to find that perfect wave to carry her -- and the reader -- to the pinnacle.
Very exciting. Yes, it is just the "crummy" first draft. But this is the FIRST instance for me to approach completion of the "crummy" first draft.
Whereas on the space station the workings of the scene came down to physical placement (rock-outcropping post), in this scene or series of scenes the element of urgency comes down to timing of events. The situation that creates the pressure is an event that will happen in x days, then only x hours, then only x minutes: i.e., time.
The setting is in India, basically because India is timeless. One of the main characters is Indian. But the country also provides a fairly predictable societal location in the future, more so than, say, the ever-changing society of North America. If the India of now is very much like it was hundreds of years ago, it will probably have very similar recognizable elements even many years into the future.
I have been to India twice. My second visit included a race to get somewhere before a certain event, and I admit to borrowing elements from that visit (just like I may someday include memories of Paris, London, or Sao Paulo, or even Bartlesville, Oklahoma).
Anyway, I began this journey for Alexa about two years ago, and she and I are finding our way together to the ordained climax. I don't know how ordained is my own path, but whatever it is, I'm having a rollicking good time discovering it.
Very exciting. Yes, it is just the "crummy" first draft. But this is the FIRST instance for me to approach completion of the "crummy" first draft.
Whereas on the space station the workings of the scene came down to physical placement (rock-outcropping post), in this scene or series of scenes the element of urgency comes down to timing of events. The situation that creates the pressure is an event that will happen in x days, then only x hours, then only x minutes: i.e., time.
The setting is in India, basically because India is timeless. One of the main characters is Indian. But the country also provides a fairly predictable societal location in the future, more so than, say, the ever-changing society of North America. If the India of now is very much like it was hundreds of years ago, it will probably have very similar recognizable elements even many years into the future.
I have been to India twice. My second visit included a race to get somewhere before a certain event, and I admit to borrowing elements from that visit (just like I may someday include memories of Paris, London, or Sao Paulo, or even Bartlesville, Oklahoma).
Anyway, I began this journey for Alexa about two years ago, and she and I are finding our way together to the ordained climax. I don't know how ordained is my own path, but whatever it is, I'm having a rollicking good time discovering it.
Saturday, September 8, 2012
Fully Into the Chase; On Alexa's way back to Earth
Alexa Jane just took off from the space station, above Earth, barely in time to avoid the bad guys. And she's finally about to return to her home planet, though 950 years after she left it.
The story is now fully into the Chase Scene, rushing toward the climax, and finally finding out why the heck the tiny little crystal is so important.
As part of the process of writing for the first time a book-length story, getting to this point is truly exciting. (I still avoid defining this as a book, until it's at least through the second draft.) In addition to reading to my husband each new scene that rushes onto the page, I have also taken to getting certain friends on the cell phone and reading to them. Sometimes they are appreciative, sometimes not.
One sticking point that had to be solved; where on Earth should she go? I mean, as the writer I can give her any clue/indication I want. I just have to decide where to put her.
This involves:
Are some candidate cities under water, at this point, because of global warming?
What countries/cities would be important enough, 950 years from now, to harbor the people involved?
Where could a so-called space-port be located?
How far from the landing pad, to the action, do I settle this space-port?
It probably shouldn't be in the middle of a metropolitan area -- of now or the likely future.
But I've got to get her into action PDQ
I have some ideas, on each point. And if the rest of the story is any indication, more details will present themselves as they appear on the page.
The story is now fully into the Chase Scene, rushing toward the climax, and finally finding out why the heck the tiny little crystal is so important.
As part of the process of writing for the first time a book-length story, getting to this point is truly exciting. (I still avoid defining this as a book, until it's at least through the second draft.) In addition to reading to my husband each new scene that rushes onto the page, I have also taken to getting certain friends on the cell phone and reading to them. Sometimes they are appreciative, sometimes not.
One sticking point that had to be solved; where on Earth should she go? I mean, as the writer I can give her any clue/indication I want. I just have to decide where to put her.
This involves:
Are some candidate cities under water, at this point, because of global warming?
What countries/cities would be important enough, 950 years from now, to harbor the people involved?
Where could a so-called space-port be located?
How far from the landing pad, to the action, do I settle this space-port?
It probably shouldn't be in the middle of a metropolitan area -- of now or the likely future.
But I've got to get her into action PDQ
I have some ideas, on each point. And if the rest of the story is any indication, more details will present themselves as they appear on the page.
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Convenient Rock Outcropping on a Space Station?
I am crafting my first conflict scene that requires specific physical placements for people and things. In this situation, Alexa finds she must offer something of value (which also happens to be important to her emotionally) to convince the current bad guy to not carry out his threatened dastardly deed, i.e. truly and deeply damage her friend.
But, why doesn't the bad guy just shoot her, and take what he wants? If I was that bad guy, that's what I would do. It's the simplest, most straight-forward manner in which to accomplish the assigned goal.
Thus, for the first time I find the need to map out physical protection for Alexa, that also logically allows for the swapping of said item for said friend. A rock outcropping would do nicely, except they're on a space station where such an outcropping, at best, would be restricted to some very public garden.
I will default to convenient corners in a remote corridor.
Once I have the hallways mapped out for ingress and egress for all parties, the timing of the comings and goings becomes very important.
Plot line: Alexa and her friend blithely stumble along into some unprotected area of the station. Her friend is captured and held hostage for the item in Alexa's possession. Alexa convinces the bad guy to -- instead of really, really hurting her friend -- accept something much prettier and shinier.
But, why doesn't the bad guy just shoot her, after she's made the bauble available to him? That's what I would do as a bad guy, so I could further search for the item I have been instructed to collect, and probably would only get paid or avoid punishment if I deliver it back to the client.
Solving this is an area where I'm more conversant: Alexa is saved by some appropriate person, carrying their own hand weapon to ward off the logical shoot and run situation. Of course, logic becomes more and more important each time Alexa's tuckus is saved by the timely arrival of some savior.
I'm still working on this part of the plot.
I will probably end up with some big piece of paper (or my white board), drawing lines and arrows, and Xs and Ys, that would look like football strategies being planned in a half-time locker room meeting.
Do you think a football game will ever be played on a space station? Probably just about as likely as a rock outcropping showing up.
But, why doesn't the bad guy just shoot her, and take what he wants? If I was that bad guy, that's what I would do. It's the simplest, most straight-forward manner in which to accomplish the assigned goal.
Thus, for the first time I find the need to map out physical protection for Alexa, that also logically allows for the swapping of said item for said friend. A rock outcropping would do nicely, except they're on a space station where such an outcropping, at best, would be restricted to some very public garden.
I will default to convenient corners in a remote corridor.
Once I have the hallways mapped out for ingress and egress for all parties, the timing of the comings and goings becomes very important.
Plot line: Alexa and her friend blithely stumble along into some unprotected area of the station. Her friend is captured and held hostage for the item in Alexa's possession. Alexa convinces the bad guy to -- instead of really, really hurting her friend -- accept something much prettier and shinier.
But, why doesn't the bad guy just shoot her, after she's made the bauble available to him? That's what I would do as a bad guy, so I could further search for the item I have been instructed to collect, and probably would only get paid or avoid punishment if I deliver it back to the client.
Solving this is an area where I'm more conversant: Alexa is saved by some appropriate person, carrying their own hand weapon to ward off the logical shoot and run situation. Of course, logic becomes more and more important each time Alexa's tuckus is saved by the timely arrival of some savior.
I'm still working on this part of the plot.
I will probably end up with some big piece of paper (or my white board), drawing lines and arrows, and Xs and Ys, that would look like football strategies being planned in a half-time locker room meeting.
Do you think a football game will ever be played on a space station? Probably just about as likely as a rock outcropping showing up.
Monday, August 20, 2012
Avoiding an Idiot Protagonist
So. I'm clicking along on the computer keys, feeling like I've got a pretty good wind at my back (to mix metaphors), and the sound track in my head screeches like a needle across a vinyl record (even more metaphors, and ancient, at that).
Argh! The fabulous interchange I just honed results in Alexa, my main protagonist, figuring out more about what's happening than is appropriate for her at this point. Way more.
I could just have her slide over this little nugget of logic in the conversation. But then, she'd have to be an idiot. An idiot protagonist is not a terrible thing. It's just not this story.
Therefore, I'm faced with:
1. radically modifying this interchange between Alexa and Newcastle, to avoid her getting to this point; or
2. allowing her the bit of knowledge, and gamely writing on to just see where this takes me
Don't know what I will do. This will probably take a day or two of working through the ramifications. Maybe I should find some mindless busy work-type of project for my hands, which often produces a few nice insights and vignettes for the story in my head.
Actually, this may take a more than one mindless project. Oy.
Argh! The fabulous interchange I just honed results in Alexa, my main protagonist, figuring out more about what's happening than is appropriate for her at this point. Way more.
I could just have her slide over this little nugget of logic in the conversation. But then, she'd have to be an idiot. An idiot protagonist is not a terrible thing. It's just not this story.
Therefore, I'm faced with:
1. radically modifying this interchange between Alexa and Newcastle, to avoid her getting to this point; or
2. allowing her the bit of knowledge, and gamely writing on to just see where this takes me
Don't know what I will do. This will probably take a day or two of working through the ramifications. Maybe I should find some mindless busy work-type of project for my hands, which often produces a few nice insights and vignettes for the story in my head.
Actually, this may take a more than one mindless project. Oy.
Thursday, August 9, 2012
How the heck to make "Enlightenment" engaging?
The title of this blog starts with the word "Enlightenment."
But I, as of yet, have not really referred to that concept, or even something related to that concept. I have, instead, been concentrating on the more traditional aspects of adventure fiction.
In the story, Alexa was brought up in a family that understood and valued the concept and the experience of growing in that direction. But at age 16, she lost her mother to a fast-acting cancer and just six months later she lost her father to a freak storm that capsized his boat in the Caribbean. The daily activities within this lifestyle continued for her, as much as they could considering she was no longer living within a supportive cocoon. But even for children whose lives have not been so catastrophically altered, it is not uncommon for them to develop a certain amount of rejection of all that goes with a concious growth toward Enlightenment.
Thus, in this first part of the trilogy, Alexa meditates, because it generally feels good -- or at least, not bad. And it certainly helps with handling the stress of her life.
But the bliss she remembers from her years before losing her parents hasn't been available since that loss. So, an unconscious yearning for that bliss is the basis for the Numero Uno story line.
Searching for a story about the growth of consciousness is, actually, the very reason I decided to try my hand at fiction. I just can't find what I'd like to read.
I realize there is probably a very good reason for this. It ain't easy to write engagingly about such a quiet and intimate experience and process -- particularly within an Adventure.
But I persevere: inserting small references along the way, moving that story line along with the adventure part and trying to keep them relevant to each other. All the while trying to avoid off-putting jargon.
For Alexa, at first the silence that once was so available, and has been so NOT available for so long, is missed. Incrementally, as she draws closer and closer to the climax, she begins to find herself and her depths more easily, step by step.
Which, is pretty much how I experience life. No surprise I'm writing about it, eh?
But I, as of yet, have not really referred to that concept, or even something related to that concept. I have, instead, been concentrating on the more traditional aspects of adventure fiction.
In the story, Alexa was brought up in a family that understood and valued the concept and the experience of growing in that direction. But at age 16, she lost her mother to a fast-acting cancer and just six months later she lost her father to a freak storm that capsized his boat in the Caribbean. The daily activities within this lifestyle continued for her, as much as they could considering she was no longer living within a supportive cocoon. But even for children whose lives have not been so catastrophically altered, it is not uncommon for them to develop a certain amount of rejection of all that goes with a concious growth toward Enlightenment.
Thus, in this first part of the trilogy, Alexa meditates, because it generally feels good -- or at least, not bad. And it certainly helps with handling the stress of her life.
But the bliss she remembers from her years before losing her parents hasn't been available since that loss. So, an unconscious yearning for that bliss is the basis for the Numero Uno story line.
Searching for a story about the growth of consciousness is, actually, the very reason I decided to try my hand at fiction. I just can't find what I'd like to read.
I realize there is probably a very good reason for this. It ain't easy to write engagingly about such a quiet and intimate experience and process -- particularly within an Adventure.
But I persevere: inserting small references along the way, moving that story line along with the adventure part and trying to keep them relevant to each other. All the while trying to avoid off-putting jargon.
For Alexa, at first the silence that once was so available, and has been so NOT available for so long, is missed. Incrementally, as she draws closer and closer to the climax, she begins to find herself and her depths more easily, step by step.
Which, is pretty much how I experience life. No surprise I'm writing about it, eh?
Monday, August 6, 2012
Into the Fire
Alexa, the heroine of my story, may have thought life on the space cruiser was like a frying pan. But that was nothing compared with how things are shaping up for her on the space station above Earth.
To keep the reader's interest, it makes sense to me to ramp up the action -- or suspense, in that kind of story -- as you near the climax, which will take place on Earth in this instance.
Before Alexa gets off this station, she will be running -- maybe while floating -- for her life.
She has pinballed from one suitor, to a bad guy, to a bad guy masquerading as a suitor, to yet another suitor. Or is he also a bad guy? That's not clear to her yet. (I know who/what he is, but she will still be wondering at moments even in the third part of this trilogy.)
I have a general plan for her on the station, with some details I'd like to include. It is delightful to see how including a detail at one point sometimes sets up another detail -- previously thought to be unrelated -- at a later time in the story.
It really does feel like the story seems to be writing itself, almost. So different from reporting on the movement of equities or the fine points of the latest corporate tax law.
More like in the Flow, than into the Fire.
To keep the reader's interest, it makes sense to me to ramp up the action -- or suspense, in that kind of story -- as you near the climax, which will take place on Earth in this instance.
Before Alexa gets off this station, she will be running -- maybe while floating -- for her life.
She has pinballed from one suitor, to a bad guy, to a bad guy masquerading as a suitor, to yet another suitor. Or is he also a bad guy? That's not clear to her yet. (I know who/what he is, but she will still be wondering at moments even in the third part of this trilogy.)
I have a general plan for her on the station, with some details I'd like to include. It is delightful to see how including a detail at one point sometimes sets up another detail -- previously thought to be unrelated -- at a later time in the story.
It really does feel like the story seems to be writing itself, almost. So different from reporting on the movement of equities or the fine points of the latest corporate tax law.
More like in the Flow, than into the Fire.
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