SUPER AWESOME BIG TIME REWRITE: Stop! Think About It…

Or better yet, just stop thinking about it.

I’m not one to stick too tightly to outlines. I do like having a plan of action, and that plan will be pretty specific - though not always followed - for the first half the book. But by the second half, I’m freeee. Free faaalliiiing. I might have my outline, but I forget to look at it. Probably because at this point all I have jotted down for the last few chapters is something like:

· Awesome stuff happens

and

· Even more awesomer stuff happens

I’m only half kidding.

So there I was in the murkiest part of my outline, the climax of the story, with one and a half chapters left to write. Just one. And a half. Friggin.’ More. Chapters! I knew basically what should happen (even more awesomer stuff) and in my mind, I could kinda generate a little bit of a picture of what that should like. And it’s the climax so it has to be better than EVERYTHING that has come before (as Michael pointed out in the comments section of my last post). And I’d given myself one week to finish this draft OR ELSE (though I don’t think I bought my threat. I know I’m a softy).

But mostly, all I was doing was banging my head against the wall and given myself brain damage. The ending was dragging itself out worse than a vampire Pee-wee Herman death scene.

Thusly, I decided to stop thinking about it.

I thought about a different story for a little bit. I read a bunch of excellent graphic novels. I worked on the skirt I’m sewing as a Christmas gift for my niece. I watched way too many episodes of The Millionaire Matchmaker and Cheaters.

Then one morning as I was brushing my teeth, I got it. I understood exactly how to resolve my conflict.

And it was so simple. Instead of trying to push forward into a new chapter, I needed to go back a couple of chapters and follow through on the action already in place. So obvious! Additionally, because of this change in my projected order of events, it meant I had my last two chapters already (basically) written.

Triple super awesome!

I couldn’t get over the incredible simplicity of my solution. So freakin’ simple that I couldn’t see it, and maybe never would have seen it if I hadn’t taken a step back and let the story spring forward at its own time.

Sometimes you have you have to do that butt-in-chair thing. If you never make yourself write when things get difficult you’ll never learn how to push yourself past your own expectations.

But sometimes it’s just as important to get up and go watch some reality TV.

So…yeah. I finished my rewrite.

Woot-woot!

(On to the revision!)

Christopher Nolan Stole the Idea From Me (I Swear)

(Click to enlarge)

I know because I drew this years ago.

Anyway, no personal writing revelations or endless meanderings of random thoughts this post. I have a deadline to meet today (…or tomorrow? No! Today! TODAY!) Even though it’s self-imposed I must take it seriously because, when working with a partner, if you slack on your end you're holding up someone else’s progress...and I’m already behind where I’d prefer to be at this point. I’m almost done with this batch of writing/over-elaborate thumbnailing/character designing, but I’ve still got quite a bit left to do. Thus, short post.

But I would like to take a moment to thank Marjorie for giving me the Stylish Blogger Award.

Thanks, Marjorie!

(I’ll do the ten and ten before the week is up.)

Also, I was trying to tell my mom and my sister about how the other day when I was waiting in line at the crafts store, I saw a woman at the registers who was showing a good three to four inches of her butt crack. Not because she was bending over or because her pants were inadvertently slipping down, but because she was a grown woman wearing a pair of pants meant for a ten year old. Words wouldn’t do the spectacle justice:

I offer this illustration without exaggeration.

Please, don't be this person.

(Personally, I'd be afraid of something falling in.)

The End Has No End, or When It Doesn’t Come Easy

So this was where I was last week:

Le sigh.

I hate not knowing the ending to a story I’m actively working on! It’s like jumping from a plane without a parachute. Alas and alack, I’m freefalling right this very minute!

I’m in the midst of writing for a web comic my friend and I will be launching. There will be three series on the coming website: a set of more experimental or artistic comic stories; an action-oriented, supernatural venture; and a fun, fun good times end of the world romp.

The action-oriented series is my problem child. I’ve sketched out half the chapters, but the ending is still being either stubborn or shy and won’t come out of hiding. All I’m working with are vague shadows of what I’m maybe kinda of possibly halfway sure the ending should probably look something like. Arg! I can’t work under these conditions. If I could wring this story by its scrawny neck, I would have choked the hell out of it by now!

I’ve heard rumors and murmurings that there are writers out there who never know their ending until they get there. Purportedly, they “write to find out” how their story is going to end. That, my friends, sounds like a vital ingredient of insanity soup. It has to be! Because I am going crazy here!

And my brain hurts a little.

What is especially frustrating is that things have been going much more smoothly for the fun, fun good times end of the world romp. Ridiculously smooth…

Inspiration* (In Three Easy Steps!):

· Day One: Think of interesting phrase, realize interesting phrase would make as even more interesting title, come up with main character within minutes.

· Week One: Come up with supporting characters. Start settling on names. Steal time while at work to jot down the dialogue that keeps popping into your head. REALIZE THE ENDING TO EVERYTHING!! OMG!! IT’S PERFECT! IT’S BEAUTIFUL! I LOVE IT! OMG! I FEEL SO SAD FOR ALL THE PEOPLE WHO DON’T KNOW YET HOW AWESOME THE ENDING IS GOING TO BE AND HAVE TO WAIT MONTHS TO FIND OUT!!!!

· Onward: Everything flows naturally and easily from there. The characters never stop talking to each other in your head and every time you sit down to your computer liquid gold springs forth from your fingertips.

See! That’s how it’s supposed to go! Like Jay-Z laying down a track! (I hear he does it all in one go.)

Usually if a story isn’t agreeing with me, I’d switch over from Project A to Project B. Until I hit a wall on Project B. At which point I return to Project A with a fresh pair of eyes. But when I have a deadline (even if it is self-imposed) and am accountable to a creative partner, jumping ship just won’t do.

Where I’ve landed this week:

I’ve been forced to remember that even when the ideas aren’t flowing trippingly from the brain, stories still manage to get themselves written. They still want to be born into the world.

Ew. I just sounded all touchy-feely new age-y in that last paragraph. So let me say it this way instead: Just because the ideas aren’t leaping from the cliffs of your imagination and onto your paper like a herd of lemmings, doesn’t mean they aren’t there. What it means is you might have to reach up there and coax them down (or knock them loose with a broomstick. Whatevs). It’s important not to get trapped into one way of doing things. We can use what works while it’s working, but when the modus operandi stops operandi-ing, then what? We wait patiently for the muses to be so kind as to reappear?

Sure, if you have the luxury. But if not, it might be worth your time to know how to break on through to the other side of that stone wall you’ve hit. For me that means talking it out. This works best when I force– I mean, ask someone to be my sounding board. A family member, a friend, an innocent, bystanding co-worker who was unfortunate– I mean, privileged to take their lunch break at the same time as me.

This person doesn’t have to be another writer. Despite my threats, I’m not really demanding that they come up with the solution to my story troubles, though their questions are welcomed and helpful. The act of trying to explain what I want to happen in a story helps me untangle jumbled elements, calls attention to holes that need filling so’s I stop falling into them, or just forces me to actively think about what I’m doing for a concentrated chunk of time.

I’m excited to report that after cornering a co-worker in the break room and trapping my sister on the phone, I’ve realized my ending and the middle parts are now falling into place.

I guess I can’t be too mad at my ending for being all coy and elusive. It’s good and necessary to be reminded that sometimes the “being inspired” part of writing is hard work. It can’t all come from that magical land of “it just came to me.”

(sniff. sniff.) The video I wanted to share with you isn't working because it's mean and it hates me, but if you want to see an educational and relevant piece about where jokes come from click the pic or here. Or even here if you want to be different.

*Material derived from process subject to rewrites and revisions.

The Future’s So Bright I Wear My Sunglass At Night

It’s a bright and shiny new year! And in case you can’t tell, I’ve got my optimistic-(delusional?)-colored glasses on! Woo! (You have to imagine the little kick and fist in the air that accompanies that “woo!” because there is definitely a little kick and fist in the air that accompanies it.)

The plan for this year? Get an agent! And of course, everything is going to go according to plan… (Here’s where you might want to mental insert a manic smile.)

I’ve waited out the holidays and shall soon be querying. (Beware select agents: EXTREME AWESOMENESSS will be coming to an inbox near you!!) First though, I must finish cutting down my word count. I know, I know. I started this a million years ago. Shouldn’t I be finished already? How long does it take to cut 3,000 words? Well, it takes a while when one is carefully considering every word of their manuscript backwards page by page. And also when you have Christmas, Second Christmas and anime binges to see to.

At the start of the year, it’s hard not to look back at where I was this time last year or the year before. Writing, re-writing, waiting for rejections from agents… everything takes time! What is up with that? It’s seems like it takes forever to make progress. That why I like to look back. I’m able to say, “Hey, take a gander at that. I did reach milestone or two.”

January 2010: I’d been at the bookstore a few months and other then the part where I had to recommend certain books whether I liked them or not (Thank God they put an end to that program!), I quite liked it there!

As far as writing, I’d started querying (prematurely) in the fall, having finished two manuscripts after eighteen months of dedicated and (let’s call it) focused writing. Little did I realize I’d be spending the next year working on re-write after re-write, after re-write. (Alas and alack, I was so young and naive then.) In fact, as I write this I’m looking at date that I’d sent out my first query and I’m thinking to myself, “Really? Just a year ago?”

January 2009: I was at a job that was so wrong for me that every morning I secretly wished I’d get hit by at car so I’d have an excuse not to go into the office. Not a bad accident that required broken limbs or, you know, death. I just wanted to get hit enough. I wanted to be able to call in and say, “I got hit by a car. I’m not coming in.” without it being a lie.

As far as the bestselling novels I was working on (my strategy from the beginning has been that if I call them bestselling then by way of self-fulfilling prophesy, one day they’d have to become just that), I was writing regularly, if not everyday. I’d set a daily writing goal in relation to how many words/pages I thought I had left to write. Some days I was under, but other days I was way over so I figured it averaged out. Even if it didn’t, the point was I was always writing.

January 2008: I had just finished college the month before. I had a job lined up (see 2009) and I told myself that I was going to pick one of my novel ideas and see it through to a complete manuscript. After a few months, that turned into: I’m going to pick two story ideas and see them through to complete manuscripts.

And so here we are in 2011. I don’t know about you, but I’ve got my stunna shades on.