Cut and Paste

These days when the term "cut and paste" comes up, we think of computers. "Ctrl + C", "Ctrl + V", and if we want to be really daring, "Ctrl + X". However, last night I began to combine the 'old school' (yes literally cutting paper using scissors) and new school (computer) versions of the term 'cut and paste'. I needed a better visual than my computer could give me. I love computers and all technology, but sometimes I need to see the new way and the old way combined before it gets blurred together neatly on a computer screen. Think about it. You cut and paste in a word processing program, and poof where does the old meet the new? Did you get it in the right location? Better read over it to make sure. With scissors and paper, there is that non-straight edge and staple to show me where the change is. No need for crazy scrolling madness to figure it out.

(until I misplace the paper - yes unfortunately that did happen)

- something new every day

Today I have come to a conclusion that defies every desire I have. I have read (in several different books on writing ) that it would happen. I refused to believe it possible. One author said it was common to throw out the first hundred pages that are written. Another said after the first draft is written, the second draft was a complete overhaul. I don't know why I thought I would be above that. I am not. The first part I wrote needs to be totally rewritten. I have found some diamonds in the rough, but mostly it's coal. I also half-hazardly added flashbacks that need to be removed from where they are and reinserted in more pertinent locations.

Oh, and another layer of my novel (yes the third perspective) is in the works. It will be the missing link (I think). So while my first draft was in a sense complete, the second draft will include a whole new part that my subconscious is currently working out the details. Right now I have very little conscious idea how it will be written.

Craft studies

No, not like arts and crafts. Like: the craft of writing. After editing chapter 1, I got concerned about how I presented my setting, so I went back and studied how about eight different novels deal with setting. I came away with a few observations:

1. The "where" of the story allows the plot to happen.

2. Setting can be used to juxtapose mood/situation or another setting

3. Unfamiliar things are described in more detail than the everyday

4. By giving detail to setting, it increases it's importance

5. Setting can enhance mood

Now after getting through part 1 (aka the first 4 chapters) I have found a new dilemma: the passage of time. The way it is written now, two days pass in part one and years pass in part 2. The reason this happened is because part 2 and 4 were written before 1 and 3. Confused yet? Good. Me too. I've known for a while that this would need to be reconciled, now I just have to figure out how to do it.

I think I will go about it in the same way I did my setting quandary. I will look at how a variety of novels deal with time. Hopefully I can come up with a set of observations that lead me down a path of success.

Rewriting is an option, possibly the only option. I just need a better sense of how to do it before I jump in.

A bit embarrassed . . .

Yesterday, I discovered what quite possibly is the greatest Microsoft software ever made: Microsoft Office OneNote. I fully realize that it's been on my computer since I got it (which was in 2009) and without a doubt this isn't news to many people. It was, however, news to me. I stumbled upon it by complete accident while trying to figure out how to make a timeline in order to keep my character's straight.

No, this wasn't the first time I have looked for an adequate source of 'timelining'.

Yes, I did find it as a template in excel. Thank you.

I am well aware of my computer ignorance, and am honestly not sure how it got this bad. I swear, at one point in my life, I knew every program that my computer ran (at least enough to know if it belonged or was a virus). Sadly, those days died along with Windows 98'.

Anyway, OneNote allows me to do thing I have always, ALWAYS wanted to do on Word or Paint or somewhere, including, but surely not limited to, moving text around and easily going from one tabbed page to the next. I spent all the time of printing out my Editing checklist (in blue because I'm out of black ink) when I have a searchable, type-capable, (legible), tool right at my fingers. I can keep adding notebooks, sections, and pages until the whole thing is edited and re-edited. I can research questions that pop up and add a page for them. I wasted a whole lot of paper (that isn't searchable or legible or erasable (since it's in pen) in a three ring binder. I'm happy to say, that as I work at editing, I will transfer my paper notes to OneNote and maybe, just maybe, I will actually be organized.

Why?

I have been having a difficult time answering the question of "why?" that my novel asks. Thankfully it's not something that my current draft necessarily needs to answer. However, it needed to be answered eventually and neither of my characters could do it. While writing through their eyes, I wasn't able to look at the big picture, because I was focused on their perspectives (and they don't know the answer either). Since I have been done writing for over a week, last night my mind was finally able to see beyond their knowledge base. I have always known the cause was Science Fiction-esque in nature, and that meant it had to be plausible. While watching Ancient Aliens last night (a guilty pleasure of mine) my mind brought me back to something that I wrote about three years ago, and I realized that it answered "why" perfectly.

I have been reading How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card (my favorite author) to try and get a grip of writing SF. One thing that I've been reminded of both reading it and the Complete Handbook of Novel Writing is that in order to write, first one must have talent (which is innate), next one must know the craft (which thankfully can be studied and learned), lastly one must have perseverance. The past few days I have been working on my knowledge of craft: what works, what doesn't, hard and fast rules, and rules that can be broken. It's a balancing act. One that I hope with my editing checklist I can achieve.

Tomorrow, I start editing. Wish me luck.

I'm not crazy!

Sometimes when I tell friends or family about a particular story I'm working on or my writing process they give me strange looks. Sure sometimes my story may not be about something that interests them or maybe they just got bit by a mosquito, but more often than not I'm pretty sure they think I'm crazy. I have a good friend, who is obviously bewildered by how invested I am in my characters lives. When I tell her how my main character is taking on a life of his own, or won't do what I had intended him to, or how he does something unexpected, my friend makes a polite comment about how it is my book and my characters can do what I want them to do. Which I retort with: "No they can't. It's not in their nature. I can't make them do something they wouldn't do."

You can see where I'm going with this, sometimes I even begin to think I'm crazy. I have learned not to take these comments personally. Everyone has a different vocation. Just as I don't know the first thing about changing the oil in my car, how to clean a weapon, or what that thingy-ma-jig part that didn't fix in the whatz-it was for; I can't (and don't) expect my friends and family to 'get' how characters form inside a writer's head. However, it's always nice to know that I'm not alone. While reading through the Complete Handbook of Novel Writing, I was relieved to read someone else say that well developed characters will begin to make their own choices and surprise the writer. When I am writing, it seems like the pages write themselves and I am just along for the ride. Even when i go back and read it, I am still surprised. This is what I truly enjoy about writing, the mentality of creation.