So, dearest Carolyn (link below) has created an assignment: Write TEN (yes, 10) scenes--not just any old scenes, but the heart of the story. Novels are comprised of master, major and minor scenes. The requirement here is to write ten master or major scenes. And, since I forgot to save chat, I hope somebody will send a copy to me.
I can't plan a novel overnight! It takes months for me to do that. So, while taking my bath--my best brainstorming technique--I cooked up a little bit more on my poisoning story. I'm not happy about the idea. In truth, I'd say I'm fairly luke warm. I can get some tension built with what is flopping through my brain right now, but I have no idea where to take the ending. It looks like a fish out of water.
Sudden doubt! Can I develop believable scenarios and emotion? *Will I ever trust myself?*
My old English Comp II teacher would scratch a big red F on this simple brainstorming list. I'l;l have to revise it to satisfy the internal critic that she recorded on my brain. Each item will have to be parallel, of course. Off the top of my head and briefing through it, with every scene subject to change:
ACT 1:
1. Sickness in autumn
2. Health over Christmas
3. Return of illness in January
ACT 2:
4. First discovery of poison
5. Near death
6. Paranoia and suspicion run rampant
7. Previous suspect in doubt
ACT 3:
8. Who dunnit?
9. Angela
10. Escape!
As a backup plan when this thing fizzles, I promise to continue to revise my first NaNo novel. It isn't much better but it does have a plot and it nearly has an excellent ending. The funny thing about writing suspense is that it isn't my genre. Both of these ideas are suspense.
I have a long and dear history with suspense. It comes from two sources. I'm naturally inclined to worry about ridiculously bad things that can happen. I imagine gunmen taking over the school while I'm waiting to pick up my son or I see a woman sitting in a car on a residential street while I'm taking an afternoon walk and I imagine that she's on a stakeout.
Realizing that this tendency to daydream wild scenarios might have a useful application occurred to me one day more than ten years ago while I was reading a novel by Mary Higgins Clark. I thought: 'I could do this!' Not only that, but she even uses simple names. I have a terrible block against naming characters. So, suspense and Mary Higgins Clark brought me back to writing for the first time in twenty years. If I actually write both of these stories, I'll end up equally split between historical fiction and suspense, not counting short stories.
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3 comments:
Beautiful start Annie! And I love the way you have the backup plans. It pays to be realistic--not necessarily pessimistic, just prepared for a worse-case scenario. I think you're going to have a great March!
My first complete middle grade draft was a mystery, much to my surprise. (Currently stuck in the dreaded revision stage.) I swore I'd never write one, though I love reading them. They always seemed complicated beyond what my lazy creative being wanted to tackle.
Isn't it interesting where the Muse takes us. :)
I can lose impetus so easily, though. I reviewed what I had written and I'm afraid I'm going to have to allow telling until I find a way to tell it like it is.
I had the thought that perhaps I default to suspense when I'm under pressure to spit out a story too quickly. It isn't a bad thing, I suppose. The muse is the most mystifying of all things in the universe.
A.
Yes, writing itself is a mystery. I still can't get over the way the entire process can vary from story to story. It's like having children who grow up in the same household but are polar opposites.
Telling is fine. Telling is GREAT as opposed to nothing at all. Keep in mind you can fix, change, add, subtract, etc. better when you have a whole draft to work with. That is what keeps me plugging when the enthusiasm wanes. While the last stages of editing are tedious, I love second- and third-draft work now.
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