You're itching to get back to writing, aren't you?
All you wordsmiths out there, patience. This analytical work is counter-intuitive for most creative types. But trust me. The more you stick with it now, the better your next draft. Plus, I want you eager for the word and sentence and paragraph level. That way, the odds of you sticking to the writing schedule in '10 you create for yourself at the end of this month improve.
Besides today is Winter Solstice. This is the time to release old beliefs and objects that do not fit you anymore. This includes scenes and chapters your story doesn't need either. Any scene -- energy -- that does not line up with the story's deeper meaning, release it to the universe and it will go to a better place (perhaps your next story).
The 1st draft often produces quality of a lower vibrational level than subsequent drafts. The more you purge now, the more space your story has to receive that which serves the work best.
As we release the unneeded words and phrases and sentences and paragraphs, our stories embrace a new identity. With that comes a new higher and more vibrant and dynamic meaning.
The more you line your story up with the correct material, the faster the story will create.
Think of what we're doing now as the anticipation stage. The main event is writing the next draft.
Remember, in an earlier post, when I talked about the three ways to create more emotion in your story:
- Anticipation
- The main event
- Reaction
Character anticipation creates reader anticipation and often represents the strongest emotional stage. I want you prepared and excited when the time comes for you to embark on your next draft.
The Middle (1/2)
I love the Middle of stories. By the Middle, I've committed to the story. I know nothing too terribly awful will happen for awhile -- at least not as awful as I know will come later -- and I can sink into the story world itself, hang out with the characters, and get to know them better.
Of course, all along and deep down, I know the story is building to a Crisis. I can taste it, sense it, feel it coming. I try to pretend the Crisis will not come. After a while, there is no denying the inevitable. Doom is about to hit, has to hit. There is no other way for the story to go.
What is the unusual, exotic world of the Middle in your story?
What character flaw continually sabotages the protagonist?
What antagonists get in her way? (Remember, the Middle is the territory of the antagonists.) (Use as many as you need to create tension, conflict and suspense...)
What character flaw continually sabotages the protagonist?
What antagonists get in her way? (Remember, the Middle is the territory of the antagonists.) (Use as many as you need to create tension, conflict and suspense...)
The Middle 1/2 often has a plot of its own -- with a Beginning (as the character enters the story world itself, she feels like a fish out of water), a Middle that rises in intensity (a major turning point often happens in the middle of the Middle = the protagonist commits to the journey), and an End that culminates at the Crisis. (Do NOT confuse this with the Climax -- the Climax comes at the End of the overall story itself and shows the character
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By: Martha Alderson, M.A.,
on 12/7/2009
Blog: Plot Whisperer for Writers and Readers (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: PLot Planner, Martha Alderson, plot and structure, winter solstice and writing, writers guide through the holidays, 2nd Annual International Plot Writing Month, holiday guide for writers, Add a tag
Today, your assignment, if you choose to say yes, is to carry your Plot Planner index cards and a pencil or pen with you everywhere.
I see you standing in line at the post office and the grocery store serenely grateful for the wait because it allows you more time to ponder your story. I see you waiting in the dentist's office or in thick traffic with your eyes up and to the left glazed over as inspiration fills you. I see you unplugging from negative thoughts about that nasty brother-in-law coming for dinner and plugging into your story instead.
- Story is all about character transformation. How has your protagonist been transformed by the Dramatic Action in the story?
- What is your story really saying? What do all those words you wrote add up to?
- Your story is a reflection of a truth. Not necessarily true for all time, but true for the story itself, and likely for yourself, too. What is the deeper meaning? The truth beyond the physical?
- How do the secondary plot lines support the major plot line thematically?
- How do the secondary character's journey mirror the protagonist's journey?
- Does the setting support the theme?
- What elements in the Beginning (1/4) echo back in the End (1/4)
To proclaim International Plot Writing Month in December and not mention the holidays is like standing mute in a room filled with angels and trolls. In our zeal to capture the holidays just right we run ourselves ragged. Part of this impulse is running from the darkness as the days turn shorter and shorter. It echoes back thousands of years to our fear that the failing light would never return without our intervention.
Fitting in writing time becomes more and more impossible as we await the rebirth of the sun and as the year winds down. Instead of fighting what is, I invite you to continue analyzing your stories instead. The work you do this month will make next month's rewrite a breeze.
Think of the work you do this month as your holiday present to yourself. Think of International Plot Writing Month as your writer's plot guide through the holidays....
Next week we start in on the End of your project (the final 1/4 of the total pages or word count. If you haven't already, write the Climax today. It doesn't matter how vague -- read: inspirational, or how awful -- read: creative, just get something on paper.)
Enjoy!!
Oh, and remember -- no reading your manuscript. Not yet.....
(If you are joining us for the first time, please go to Day One and work your way back. Welcome.)
1 Comments on International Plot Writing Month -- Day Seven, last added: 12/8/2009
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This is a very clever idea, Martha. Thanks for putting it out in the world.
Lynn
www.writeradvice.com
Author of You Want Me to Do WHAT? Journaling for Caregivers