Just a couple of weeks ago, I was struggling with the revisions of my YA historical novel "Girl From Gurian". I kept hitting Chapter Three only to feel stumped as to how to continue. I felt extremely lost.
I felt like I was banging my head against the wall. Very unproductive. I needed to do something different.
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Also just a couple of weeks ago,I took my kids to the State Fair. At one point, I felt extremely lost.
I am notorious with my family for getting lost. It is so bad that when we first moved into our house six years ago, I had to rely on my then 7 year old daughter for directions on which street to turn. And even now, I have to ask her if I turn right or left on Main Street to get to the stable where we board our horses.
So at the State Fair, I stood there lost, and asked Sierra to lead the way. She did, with little difficulty.
I realize now if I had just put in a little effort - determined where I wanted to go, studied the map and thought about it some - I don't think I'd have felt as lost as I did.
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I learned something from that experience that I can apply to fiction writing.
1. Use a map. A synopsis functions like a map. It is there to guide me, but not set in stone. I don't have to go down a certain storyline if I don't want to, but I certainly can explore different routes. When I wrote a synopsis, my manuscript took off once again. I don't have to wonder if I am actually going somewhere with my story.
2. Think before you go. Just the mere act of thinking, sifting through the story, gets me out of paralysis. When I pause before barrelling down on a story, it shows.
3. Learn from someone who does it better. My daughter is better than me at figuring out where places are. There are many other story-tellers out there that I can learn from.
4. Look for familiar landmarks. As I have written more and more fiction, I feel like I am recognizing familiar places to really pack the punch. For instance, I spend a little more time in the opening chapters, I focus on making great first-fifty pages. It sets the tone for the rest of the story.
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Have you ever felt stumped in your fiction? Felt lost? How did you break through it?
My name is Jewel. Welcome to my blog!
As a young girl growing up in the Philippines, I always hoped for storms so ferocious that school would have to be cancelled. And when it was cancelled, my siblings and I got to stay home. Usually there was no electricity, which we called "black out".
Who cared about the storm outside when we had wax from the candle, to mold into a human shape and stick pins in...just kidding, we weren't really into voodoo. Anyway, along with the wax sculpting, we exchanged suspenseful stories, of ghosts and aswang and the mananaggal.
This blog is dedicated to that spine-tingling story, of things imagined or real. Come on in, grab a blob of wax and join me around the table.
Who cared about the storm outside when we had wax from the candle, to mold into a human shape and stick pins in...just kidding, we weren't really into voodoo. Anyway, along with the wax sculpting, we exchanged suspenseful stories, of ghosts and aswang and the mananaggal.
This blog is dedicated to that spine-tingling story, of things imagined or real. Come on in, grab a blob of wax and join me around the table.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Getting Un-Lost
Posted by Jewel Allen at 7:55 AM
Labels: synopsis, writing tip
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3 comments:
Oh goodness yes. I reached a Chapter, a pretty far ways into my WIP, where I was just stumped. I was completely lost as to where my characters needed to go next. I ended up doing exactly what you did. I wrote out a synopsis of what needs to happen, and then filled in the holes with basics. From there on, I just had to get to the next dot on the map!!
*pretty far ways into my WIP* bummer when that happens, eh?
I've hit various points like that while writing my second novel. I've been taking one of my short stories and converting it into a novel.
Right now, the novel hasn't been touched in a couple of months because I've written up to where the short story begins at.
As for the short story, it has actually functioned as a 33 page mini-outline, which I'm re-writing as well. Re-writing the story is giving me enough new ideas so that when I do go back to the novel, I won't be staring at a blank screen trying to figure out where to go to next (which is one of the reasons I put away the novel in the first place).
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