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Now that I have tried and discarded seven or eight little boys from my trial sketches I finally decided upon a pose.
First I lightly sketched in a basic shape on the dragon. I decided the little boy wanted a ride.
The next step was to see the figures more clearly as they relate to one another, so I set the layers to
"Multiply" and started a new layer under that.
I am happy with the pose now, so I go ahead and refine the sketch of the child.
This makes me happy and I want to keep the sketch, but of course, it is too small for the large painting I am working on , so I measure the area on the painting and find out that the child needs to cover 8 inches across the back of the dragon. I take only the finished sketch of the little boy and transfer it to a clean canvas and enlarge as needed,
The final image is now 8 inches across and so I print this one and prepare to transfer the sketch to the canvas where the dragon is waiting.
I have a couple of choices. I can sketch this in freehand or I can use tracing paper and graphite and transfer that way.
More to come....
The Middle (cont.)
Consider the "middle" of the Middle of your story.
The scenes in the middle of the Middle of a story often line up looking like below. So long as the unusual and/or exotic world is intriguing and mysterious and fascinating enough, you're in good shape. By the time the reader is at the middle of the Middle she has surrendered to the dream you've created. The story and the characters have actually replaced parts of the reader's world and become real for her.
The early Middle and middle of the Middle are the honeymoon stage. The reader likes the character as revealed so far. The reader wants to hang out with the story and the characters. The middle of the Middle the protagonist is still on her best behavior -- relative to her and her alone.
Eventually, later, closer to the 3/4 mark and when the Crisis hits, the character opens up more and more to the reader as the stakes rise higher and higher. Under pressure, the protagonist reveals who she really is, flaws and all.
But, that's for later. For now, here, in the middle of the Middle, the character has settled a bit into the new world and no longer feels so much like a fish out of water. She begins to catch on to the rules of the new world.
In other words, the story can slow down a bit here (keep in mind, however, a sort of major shift or "hit" usually occurs at the exact 1/2 of the entire page count mark.)
Homework:
- Continue to plot out your scenes on the Middle of your Plot Planner
- Research the unusual world for authentic details. Take notes for your next draft.
- Consider how the Middle and the End work together. What in the Middle is contributing to the overall character transformation of your protagonist at the End?
- How many of the following antagonists** are you using to create conflict, tension, and suspense. The antagonists must arise out of the story itself and contribute to the overall meaning or thematic significance of your story overall. (If you do not know the thematic significance statement for your story, continue the exercises on: Day Four and Day Seven.)
**Antagonist List
Other people: friends, family, lover, co-workers, boss, children
Nature: flooding, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, freezing temperatures, drought
Machine: anything mechanical or electronic
Society: rules, laws, customs, traditions, expectations, religious institutions, dogma
God: spiritual beliefs
Self: flaw, hatred, prejudice, fears, past mistakes
Writing scenes for The End can be more uplifting than writing scenes in The Middle.
Think of the Middle as the tunnel of darkness, fraught with antagonists of all sorts. The Crisis, the high-point of the Middle, is the dark night of the soul, hitting bottom, when the protagonist becomes conscious of who she really is, or what she has been avoiding or denying. A light snaps on, and thus begins the process of transformation.
In the End, the protagonist still has foes to confront and overcome. Only now, she is armed with a new understanding of herself. For the first time, her goal comes into focus.
The Climax at the End (1/4) serves as the light at the end of the tunnel. The protagonist moves toward the light -- one step forward toward the ultimate transformation, three steps back, a fight for a couple of steps, being beat backwards.
The Climax spotlights the character in full transformation demonstrating the necessary new skill or personality, gift or action.
The Climax is the crowning glory of the entire project. The Climax is where protagonist "shows" in scene her acting in a transformed way -- in a way she could not have acted in any other part of the story because she first needed to experience everything she does in the book to get to the final stage.
Ask yourself what scene will most dramatically show her demonstrating her transformed self?
The Resolution ties everything up. If the story resonates with thematic significance the reader is left to ponder the deeper meaning.
By: Martha Alderson, M.A.,
on 1/7/2008
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I have purchased and read your book "Blockbuster plots pure and simple" and I still don't understand. I'm starting with a basic logline for a plot and don't know how you come up with scenes if you don't even know what the story is about. It would seem to me that in order to create scenes or follow the plot planner portion of the book you need to know more about how the story is going to unfold than you know when you just get the idea. It feels like there is a step missing between the initial idea and being able to come up with scenes.
What am I missing?? Please help!
Thanks,
Muriel
Dear Muriel,
Often, with a firm understanding of the Universal Story form and the natural trajectory of a story, writers can better come up with scenes needed to create a story.
If character most intriques you, start with the character emotional development profile (info can be found in BBP, on the website, and in entries below).
If dramatic action ideas bubble forth, start with the action.
Study the three biggest scenes in a story: The End of the Beginning, The Crisis, and the Climax (in the second half of BBP -- Plot Planner portion of the book -- also, the blog has info on these three critical scenes below).
See if you can visualize any of those scenes in your story.
How do you get your character from the beginning to the End of the Beginning?
What events are you interested in exploring, writing?
Do you plan to use any true historical events?
How can those events work into creating one of the three major plot lines (examples are in the book and below)
or....
Start with whatever you've got. Write that in scene. Then ask yourself: because that happens, what happens next.... Write that scene. Then ask yourself again -- if that happens, what happens next?
Hope this helps.
I'll put the word out for other writers to give their ideas as well.
Great good luck.
Sincerely,
Martha
By: Martha Alderson, M.A.,
on 8/14/2007
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We as writers may start out writing just for ourselves, but even for those who are the most resistant to admit it, we each long for a readership to enjoy our projects.
Once a writer embraces that truth, our relationship to our writing changes.
One way to consider your readers or audience is to get closer to yourself. What kinds of writing do you like? How does your favorite author begin their stories? In scene or in summary? How do your scenes compare to theirs in terms of complexity, interest, excitement, character development, and truth?
What constitutes the Beginning, the Middle and the End of their projects? Can you detect what launches the character(s) into the heart of the story world towards the end of the Beginning? Does the Crisis reveal anything about the character to the his or herself or does the highest point in the story so far function only on the Dramatic Action level alone? How does the Climax show the character doing something they could not have done at the beginning of the story? Is there Thematic Significance to their writing? Is there to yours?
One of the greatest personal benefits of writing is the opportunity to dig deep for our own individual truth. The first draft for many writers skims the surface as we look for meaning and conflict shown in scene and how the characters will show their transformatio over time. Often, what we write in these first drafts is what we've heard before or learned from our family and friends, in school, and through our own reading and the news.
But once we read what we have written, we immediately sense when something does not ring true. There is no better way to learn what is true for us and what is not, than to read our words ourselves first.
As I stated in my plot book for writers, Blockbuster Plots Pure & Simple, my hope for you and for me is that our search for the truth through our writing remains active and honored. We dig for the truth not only for ourselves, but for our future audience as well.
We each share the need to be heard.
We each have something vital to offer.
My apologies for the paucity of posts. We had a death in the family and have been sitting shiva all week long.
Which leads me to Things It’s Taken Me Too Long To Learn About My Daughter: When she says “My tummy hurts,” that means she’s going to throw up. Like, immediately. Do not pass Go, do not attempt reason, do not offer apple juice. This morning, she awoke, groaning, and proceeded to barf up what looked like a solid mass of undigested rugelach and dark chocolate nonpariels.
Adam has diagnosed Count Chocolutis, brought on by too many sweets at the shiva house. We are hoping for a speedy recovery.
Anyhow…a few weeks ago a friend asked if I’d read Carolyn Parkhurst’s second novel, LOST AND FOUND, which she’d just seen an ad for.
“Read it?” I said. “I loved it!” I trotted off to my bookcase to get it. My friend looked at the book, frowning.
“No,” she said. “This isn’t the right book.”
Turns out, it was the right book…but the publisher had so radically changed the cover between the hardcover and the paperback that it was pretty much impossible to recognize the book in its new incarnation.
Publishers do this all the time, for obvious reasons. When a book – particularly a piece of literary fiction – comes out in hardcover, the image will scream, “SERIOUS WORK INSIDE THAT MUST BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY.”
Then, once the reviews have been secured and it’s time to get the attention of readers (who tend to be female) as opposed to big-shot critics and editors, the book will be repackaged with a cover that pleads. “PUT ME IN YOUR BEACH BAG AND I’LL SHOW YOU A GOOD TIME!”
My favorite example of this phenomenon is Francine Prose's A CHANGED MAN. Here is the hardcover:
It's great, isn't it? Riveting, original, impossible to miss. The book got amazing reviews. But between the naked tattooed torso and Prose's
farbissena author photo...
...you can see where readers could feel a little put off.
So here's what the publisher did with the paperback:
Flowers! Flowery script! Ladies, how can you go wrong?
Here's another example of the same thing: Allegra Goodman's very fine INTUITION, about love and betrayal in a post-doc research lab. In hardcover, it's all business:
Again, another compelling image that tells the story. Evidently, though, it didn't work well enough to keep it in paperback, 'cause the paperback looks like this:
It's pink! It's green! There may be shoes and shopping!
LOST AND FOUND was, I think, just a flat-out misfire. Here it is in hardcover...
...where the message is less SERIOUS FICTION than JIMMY BUFFETT CONCERT. (To be fair, the book's about a bunch of teams on an Amazing-Race style reality show, and one of the items they have to collect and travel with is a parrot).
So the publisher went back to the drawing board, and here's the paperback:
Much better, I think. You get the mother/daughter thing (one of the teams is a mother and daughter, hiding the obligatory Terrible Secret), you get the travel/adventure component, it's catchy, it's pretty, and I hope it gets the book the audience it deserves.
I hope to post the cover for CERTAIN GIRLS very soon. No parrots. I dig it. I hope everyone else will, too.
I'm back!
And I am thrilled to invite everyone in the Philadelphia area to attend the first annual Philadelphia Book Festival this weekend, rain or shine, on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, from 11 to 7 p.m..
The Free Library of Philadelphia has gathered an astonishing array of authors for the weekend.
You got your highbrow (Gary Shteyngart!) Your popular (Mary Higgins Clark!) Your locals (John Grogan! Mark Bowden! Karen Quinones Miller!) Your serious ladies of letters! (Francine Prose, who scares me!) Your groundbreaking African-American authors (Terry McMillan!) Your YA superstars! (Donna Jo Napoli, R.L. Stine!) Your hot young author everybody's talking about (Mohsin Hamid, who was in a creative writing class with me in college, although I'll bet he doesn't remember, and if he does, will probably totally deny it!)
You can find the entire lineup here, but trust me, there's something for everyone, including Curious George for the kids, at noon on Sunday.
I was lucky enough to be asked to moderate a panel on women and memoir featuring Elizabeth Gilbert (EAT, PRAY, LOVE), Darcy Steinke (EASTER EVERYWHERE) and Julie Powell (JULIE & JULIA: 365 DAYS, 524 RECIPES, 1 TINY APARTMENT KITCHEN). I've enjoyed all the books. They made me regretful, envious and hungry (sometimes, all three at once!), and it should be a great event. Check it out at 2 p.m. Sunday on the main stage.
Just an idea...what if you put the little boy in footed pajamas...like he is dreaming?
pjs would be really nice, and maybe in another version I could do that, but there is a need for this little boy to be in his daytime clothes *:)
Thanks so much for sharing your process!
wow. i thought you are using digital coloring for the dragon...turns out it's actually paint, isn't it? marvelous!