Pretentious Monologue About Fiction Follows

Videos games were my first love.  I was a kid who didn't make a lot of friends in public school.  Actually, until I got to High School, I had almost no friends.  Needless to say, I didn't do a lot of socializing.  What I did a lot of was sit in my room and click on my Super Nintendo while the sunshine beamed down outside.

Games were my first stories.  Sure, I tried to read some novels, I even actually read some good ones; A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Leguin was among my first.  But the thing was, I really valued that interactivity of video games.  I always wanted to make games, but oddly enough, I gave very little interest to graphics and coding.  What I really wanted to do, was write stories for video games.

I sat down with my SNES today and played one of my still favorite games of all time.  Mega Man X.  In the first stage, which does a great job of establishing the story and the world it takes place, you face a villain in a large robot suit called Vile.  A bad guy with a name that means, "icky".  You can't kill Vile--no matter how hard you try.  In this first encounter, he must win.  Because it sets up the game's theme for getting stronger.  But every time I sit down to play it, I still fight back against Vile.  Not because I don't know that I can't win, but because I don't think X would give up.  I don't think he knows that he can't win.  It's still a story, after all.

When I was a kid, I had very in-depth fantasy adventures.  I even put together a little montage opening and a theme song in my head.  I think I was a time traveler, or something.  The stories were always about me (I was eight-years old, don't judge).  I never really shared them with anyone because they weren't for other people--they were for me.

It's NaNoWriMo

November is National Novel Writer's Month.  You may be wondering, "Whasat mean, bra?" What it means is that novel writing procrastination must be stopped this month.  Seems like a lot of people have a novel idea or a fiction idea and they just never seem to find the time to do it.  During NaNoWriMo, we put an end to those excuses.  The goal is simple: to write a full novel in the space of a month.  Several people have succeeded in this challenge and still more have tried.

Why do we need a month to tell us to get off our collectives asses and do some writing?  Because we Rack a Disciprine.  So, if you're sitting at your computer or staring at a mobile device thinking, "I has good idear for story." Get off your butt and do it.

I considered starting a new project for this month, but I really feel like I'm getting to the home stretch in Lost Lamb.  I didn't get as much time to write during the week this week, but I'm going to write up a storm today.

Planning Redux

I've written before about planning novels as opposed to flying by the seat of one's pants.  Until recently, I've subscribed to the method that Parnell Hall calls "Taking an idea and going with it." And although that's how this novel (Lost Lamb) got started, it is certainly not how it's getting finished.

I'm officially further than half way done writing this piece, that's leaving out revising and editing and so forth, and its been a little scary.  But now I'm an organized writer.  I write full outlines for each chapter, just like I learned in a novel writing course (which I always thought was silly) and I write full length timelines that cover every important event in the book (which I've never been able to finish before) and I accept that some of my favorite scenes are the ones that I'll have to cut.

It's not finished yet, but I feel like I've done it.  I feel confident and capable to take on full-length novels in the future.  I'm already planning the next installment.

Computers are Really Judgmental

My computer thinks I'm an idiot.  Here's why.  As a writer, I use my PC a lot.  Most every day, actually.  So, when I reach under my desk to press the on button, and click on the monitor, and click on the speakers--I know what I want to use the machine for.  My computer doesn't seem to understand this.

This crap gets me.  Yes Windows, I really am sure that I want to run every single application that I click on.  That it why I moved the mouse and clicked the button.  I do not have the attention span of a mosquito or the memory of a goldfish.  Nor am I attracted to shiny things like a raccoon and am therefore clicking on icons because I think they look cool.  I know what I'm doing, computer.  Do not treat me like a droopy-eyed idiot slumped over my desk with Cheetos falling out of my slacked mouth.

I wish there was a button, or a setting, or a tab that I could find and click, set or adjust to tell the computer not to treat me like a moron.  Perhaps some test to prove that I'm capable of stringing more than two words together at a time.  Who does Windows think is using their software?  I work with kindergarteners at school and even they, who get unresolvably distracted by a dragonfly that flutters in the room, know that when they click a button they mean it.  Come on, Windows--be cool.

Rack A Diciprine

This image from South Park appears because I wanted to talk about a new writing strategy I've started using.  You sit the fuck down and do it.  Why is this so challenging for us writer types?  We would rather think about the project or talk to others about it or write in our blog about it.  Just fucking write already.  I recently discovered a cool program that I wasn't willing to pay for called "Write or Die"  It's entirely focused on motivating writers to write instead of sitting on our collective metaphorical asses.

What the program does is periodically reward or punish you for writing or not writing.  It sets a timer and a word goal and you do it.  Or else.  Do we really need one of these to get shit done?

I realized a couple days ago that it doesn't take as long as I think it should to write a measly 1000 words of fiction.  If I only spend an hour doing that, I only have to write at 15 words a minute.  I think a kindergartener can probably type at that speed.

But it's not all typing, I fritter my time away Googling stuff to make sure I have the information or a picture of whatever.  It's not necessary.  My new practice is to set a one hour timer and type like the wind.  You can always revise later, right?

It's All in the Details

I was talking to a friend of mine at work about fiction and he mentioned a problem he'd had when trying to write a story as opposed to telling a story.  In his experience it was very easy to verbally tell someone a convincing enough story that they enjoyed, but when trying to write it down, he just didn't have enough to say.  There could be a lot at work here, for instance the adage of showing rather telling applies in this situation, and there's also something to be said about giving your characters difficulty as a means of creating a story.  But I think the devil is really in the details here.

For instance, someone asks me what I thought of the burger place downtown.  I say, "It was great.  Good food, good service." That's how we talk to each other--we largely exchange judgements.  It's what we do as humans.  It is for this reason that I don't consider writing conversational.  Let's consider the same experience written into narration.

"I stopped at the burger restaurant on the corner.  The burger was well-seasoned and juicy and the fries were cooked until they were crisp.  The waitress took my order quickly and returned with my food without making me wait."

As a reader we can create our own judgement here that the narrator enjoyed the restaurant even though it's not openly stated.  But you'll notice a sort of blandness about the scene.  Now it's not just that the scene has an utter lack of conflict, though that is a serious problem, but it would also be that there are no details.  The more specific the details the closer we get to the narrative and the more the elements of the scene become valuable.  Let's try throwing some concrete details into the scene but try to keep the content the same.

"I found the parking lot for Michelangelo's Gourmet Burgers on the corner of Condor and 3rd street.  The low firebrick building sagged in its place near the street, windows painted to show the name and a chalkboard to display the daily specials.  A redheaded waitress in her twenties smiled at me as she tied a maroon apron around her waist.  The name tag said her name was Cindy.  She asked what I would be having that afternoon and I ordered the Rodeo burger.  A short moment later, the burger arrived on a toasted cheddar and potato bun and the bacon was cooked crisp but not burnt.  The french fries had been tossed in a homemade garlic sauce with fresh parsley thrown in.  They were hot and still crispy."

Remarkably this is largely still the same content as "It was great." but now we see it through our character's eyes.  We see imagery and details that help tell the story and make it important to us as readers.

The Unfortunate Importance of Planning

Every author has their own technique for writing a full-length novel.  Some just get an idea and write it until the story's done.  Take Parnell Hall, he's said in an essay that this is exactly what he does.  Just grabs an idea and rolls with it.  Then you have Sue Grafton who does a little more with her books, she compiles a list of male and female names and plot points and other various details, and generates new characters and a new title for the new book.  Then she cuts herself loose and writes.  Then you have the end of the planning and plotting spectrum--those are the people who keep meticulous notes in a journal and fill out character sketches and outlines.  I don't really know any real-world authors who claim to do this, but every book about writing fiction says it's the way to go.

For some time I've been trying to find my method of constructing a full and satisfying novel.  I've tried each of these approaches at least once.  In my latest novel, I've tried combining them.  I created a short outline of the course I wanted the story to take in my head and then wrote the first chapter.  Then I outlined the next couple of chapters just before writing them.  When they were finished, I outlined the next couple.  So far, this method has been producing spectacular results.  I get to write the story and see where it's going but I also get to make sure scenes that I really like actually happen.

The problem that I'm encountering now is, now that I'm approaching the midpoint of the book, I have to see what chapters I have figured out and what holes need to be filled.  This is proving to be a pain in the ass.  I've started on an outline and a timeline and now I'm just putting together sketches of future scenes.  In the meantime, I'm heading into chapter ten with considerably high spirits.