Sunday evening from The Cottage of Blog
I've finally broke through my bout with the Block Flu. (a new strain of the flu. Certainly you've heard of it. Usually strikes writers during crucial spots in their writing lives. Symptoms include: Headaches when you look at your computer, heart palpatations when you hit the "press file" button, a nervous need to go find a TV program ANY TV program, A compulsive need to clean your house, even though you haven't cleaned it in 10 years. And boy, don't those books need cataloguing? Never mind there isn't any more books shelves in your house. Yes, the Block Flu hit me hard. The prognosis was poor. It didn't look like Legacy would ever be finished.
A workshop session got me out of it.
A mention of parallel scenes in the beginning and ending of the story did it. Scenes that indicated your characters had LEARNED SOMETHING. It would have been nice to have had the settings in the same place, but as my characters were in a different country at the end of the story--that didn't seem to work.
I wrote the epilogue with a marriage proposal. Then I wrote a middle scene with a marriage proposal, but different reaction. Suddenly, the block was gone. I'd already written my first marriage proposal. Let me explain.
My first proposal was at home in the US--after an attack on the heroine led the hero to decide to marry heroine to protect her from someone who wanted something from her--she was the only heir. She didn't particularly want to, but decided it would be the wise thing to do under the circumstances. Yeah, she knew the guy. She'd dated him in high school.
Then going toward the beginning of the end of the story, events and crisis having unfolded, the (first) bad guy killed, the hero proposes again, but this time laments the loss of his carefree days and the responsibility of a family. Said heroine nearly slaps him. (she also sees a ghost but that's part of a subplot so we won't go into it here)
The third time he proposes is in the epilogue (a fitting spot) She's recovering from a near-death experience, I tie it into a second block box that contained a wedding costume that unleashed said subplot ghost with a brand new box with a brand new Romanian wedding costume and a new attitude. So therefore new response. Three events that are essentially the same. Three different responses. and a new chapter and a half. Yes!
Point of view. I write in the limited third person which I think most authors write in these days. However, I love a third person POV interspersed with a first person narrative. Perhaps, for instance in the head of a killer. So, I decided to write one just for you. Aren't you lucky?
EXAMPLE: Shelly walked to the edge of the pier. She contemplated the loss of her married lover who'd gone back to his wife and the glorious nights of sex she'd be going without. Bummer, she thought. She wondered what her father would say if he knew.
* * *
I watched Shelly walked to the edge of the pier. This was going to be easy and fun. After having years of doom and gloom, fire and brimstone about hell and death shoved into me, to choke the living daylights out of the minister's daughter would be the ultimate irony. Yes, this would be fun. I wondered what her father would say if he knew.
Well, maybe it wasn't quite as polished as Koontz, but it was sure fun to write.
I'm going to try and tackle one more scene tonight. I'm feeling a bit queazy, but that could be because I'm relating to my heroine's morning sickness. (or, maybe I'm still having post-stress tremors of Block Flu.
Happy reading, writing and revising from The Cottage of Blog where the coffee's always fresh (except sometimes) and I just backed a white cake with chocolate frosting from scratch (Not!)
Pat
A workshop session got me out of it.
A mention of parallel scenes in the beginning and ending of the story did it. Scenes that indicated your characters had LEARNED SOMETHING. It would have been nice to have had the settings in the same place, but as my characters were in a different country at the end of the story--that didn't seem to work.
I wrote the epilogue with a marriage proposal. Then I wrote a middle scene with a marriage proposal, but different reaction. Suddenly, the block was gone. I'd already written my first marriage proposal. Let me explain.
My first proposal was at home in the US--after an attack on the heroine led the hero to decide to marry heroine to protect her from someone who wanted something from her--she was the only heir. She didn't particularly want to, but decided it would be the wise thing to do under the circumstances. Yeah, she knew the guy. She'd dated him in high school.
Then going toward the beginning of the end of the story, events and crisis having unfolded, the (first) bad guy killed, the hero proposes again, but this time laments the loss of his carefree days and the responsibility of a family. Said heroine nearly slaps him. (she also sees a ghost but that's part of a subplot so we won't go into it here)
The third time he proposes is in the epilogue (a fitting spot) She's recovering from a near-death experience, I tie it into a second block box that contained a wedding costume that unleashed said subplot ghost with a brand new box with a brand new Romanian wedding costume and a new attitude. So therefore new response. Three events that are essentially the same. Three different responses. and a new chapter and a half. Yes!
Point of view. I write in the limited third person which I think most authors write in these days. However, I love a third person POV interspersed with a first person narrative. Perhaps, for instance in the head of a killer. So, I decided to write one just for you. Aren't you lucky?
EXAMPLE: Shelly walked to the edge of the pier. She contemplated the loss of her married lover who'd gone back to his wife and the glorious nights of sex she'd be going without. Bummer, she thought. She wondered what her father would say if he knew.
* * *
I watched Shelly walked to the edge of the pier. This was going to be easy and fun. After having years of doom and gloom, fire and brimstone about hell and death shoved into me, to choke the living daylights out of the minister's daughter would be the ultimate irony. Yes, this would be fun. I wondered what her father would say if he knew.
Well, maybe it wasn't quite as polished as Koontz, but it was sure fun to write.
I'm going to try and tackle one more scene tonight. I'm feeling a bit queazy, but that could be because I'm relating to my heroine's morning sickness. (or, maybe I'm still having post-stress tremors of Block Flu.
Happy reading, writing and revising from The Cottage of Blog where the coffee's always fresh (except sometimes) and I just backed a white cake with chocolate frosting from scratch (Not!)
Pat
posted by Unknown at 7:33 PM
4 Comments:
Dearie, I'm suffering from a bout now. I've got a million ideas, but I can't figure out which one to wrestle with. I can go one step and then I draw a blank. I think I'm trying too hard. So I'm going to spend the week just reading.
Tanya
Sometimes taking the week off can clear your mind. Sometimes you need a jump start--a good book--a great movie.
The parallel scenes suggested in the workshop was enough to pull me off and running. You might try it. Find an action that shows the antagonism between the H/H. then write the same action (maybe different setting or circumstances) and give it a different outcome that shows their growth. See what happens.
Pat
The week off isn't really a week off. I'm going to be reading (and plotting) in between driving from store to store with my kids for back to school shopping. I'll be thinking about the book then, you know, trying to work the kinks out.
Tanya
Tanya,
That's what I do all year long when I'm driving back and forth from school. And sometimes, when I'm in school. lOL
I consider it part of the writing process. So, you're writing.
Pat
Post a Comment
<< Home