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Posts tagged ‘planning process’

24
Sep

The hidden story

Was reading an article about the narrative trinity – namely,

  1. the back story
  2. the present story
  3. the hidden story

of each character. And while I’ve been spending the whole of August and half of July pulling together the back story and the present story, I never got around to categorising part of the plot as the hidden story.

The hidden story has been defined in a couple of ways. Read moreRead more

22
Sep

How to write a eulogy you can live with

I just got back from two solid weeks of mass grieving. Seriously, we’re talking a week-long wake, a full-on funeral, and two memorials in two continents. And because it got to be such a protracted and elaborate affair, I ended up listening to a heap of eulogies and remembrance speeches. And there were good ones and bad ones.

I also ended up writing two of them – one for each memorial in each continent.

So here’s my cheat guide on how to write and deliver a eulogy

Read moreRead more

15
Aug

Novel writing software – my recommendations and reviews

Everyone has their own way unique way of pushing through the creative process. I’m no different. I know writers who will only work with Microsoft Word, and are quite happy to just sit and write – all linear, some semblance of plot in their head, maybe a few notes about character off on the side, scribbled in a rough notebook. And then voila – genius!

I, however, cannot work like that. I know this, because I tried twice and belly-flopped like a whale dropped from a helicopter, from a great height. It wasn’t pretty.

The first 2 failed drafts I had written were done in yWriter. Since then, I’ve identified a couple other programs to help me whip my frenzied thoughts into submission and order. I’ll talk about the programs I use here – but please note that this is unique to the way I work.

Read moreRead more

3
Aug

Character profiling – continued

I have a raging headache so I think I’m going to call it a night, even though it’s only 9.30pm.

But at least I’ve reached a natural rest point with all my characters.

  • Each character now has a summary in 50 words or less
  • Each character now has a “look” – an attached piccy of someone else so I have a rough idea how the character might look. It’s so important for me that I can “see” all my characters interacting, in my head.

Next anal-retentive thing – pairing off the pairs so I can see what everyone looks like side by side. I mean, if you’re going to make your characters sizzle, the least you can do is picture them… er… talking to each other.

Other things left:

  • fleshing out each character’s likes and dislikes, habits etc
  • their voices and what they might say, how they might say things, whether they have a lisp…
  • preparation of plots for card sorting.

Ooh. Card-sorting. More on that later.

1
Aug

Other things done this week…

Radio silence due to the following accomplishments (hurrah!)

  • Created sketch of majority of major and minor characters (w00t!)
  • Created chart to summarise where all plots are at the start of the book, and where all plots are to end up by the end of the book.
  • Started researching images to attach to each character.
  • Created two floor plans for two locations.

Huge disclaimer: If you happen to be into architecture and  you happen to be reading this blog,  please don’t think about suing me for gross incompetence. I DON’T DO THIS FOR A LIVING! Far from it. But I enjoy diagramming living spaces.

Days left for planning stage: 31

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