In Which I Fight Passivity

Let's talk about passive characters.

They stink.

I mean, they can have their place in a piece, but it's hopefully not in a main character role.

My previous WIP, the stalled one, has a passive MC, which is one of the main issues I have with it (well that and I've got too many main characters and little to no character motivation or conflict. Hence why I am no longer a pantser...)

When I'm outlining a piece (which is not so much an outline as it is a list of MCs their conflicts and motivations and then maybe a list of scenes) I try to think of the story arc as 3 disasters and an ending. It's OK if the first disaster comes around due to an environmental issue or something else, but the story and the characters will carry more strength if the following disasters are caused by the MC trying to fix things.

This is something I struggle with, the passive character bit. I like to have things happen to people and typically when I write a story arc, that's what I start with. And then I have to go back and think of ways the MCs can mess things up instead of just waiting around for things to happen.

Boring.

(On a side note, I was looking for a picture regarding passive characters, and at least 25% of the pictures that came up were of Bella Swan.)

Hopefully the passivity is something I can catch before I finish, or better yet even start, the first draft. But if it's not, as long as I'm aware that it's an issue of mine, I can search for passive character moments and scenes and even story arcs during revisions.

Tomorrow, more discussion about characters and ways to interrupt passivity.

So does anyone else struggle with passive characters?

In Which I'm In A Funk

I've been in a bit of a funk lately. I think it's directly related to finishing the WIP.

At first it's fun to have it done and getting some free time again. But then, the free time just sits there and I know I should fill it with things (like cleaning, finishing up a final revision on a short story, or better yet, starting a new WIP) but every time I think about doing one of those things, or something else, I just think, meh I don't want to do that.

Hence, a funk.

I don't really know the cure for a funk. I suspect its mostly just time. And actually yesterday I did a bunch of cleaning all before 9:30AM so I think that may have erased much of the funk.



On the plus side, I've only got to really sit through another week before I can break open Foxfire and get to work on revisions!

On the negative side, I actually have to read the manuscript before I can start editing. Boo.
Not because I don't want to read it, just because that will take up some more time before I can start on the edits.

Sigh.

Unless you think I could start reading the manuscript a few days before...so then I can start the edits exactly 4 weeks after I finished it...

Hmm.

Of course all of this is just based on a timeline I made up, so I suppose I can also make up my own rules.
Excellent.

So how does everyone else get themselves out of a funk?

Friday Fun Words

I'm back, babies! Me, the fantastic wunderhund (is that right? I don't know... well it's right now.) Yvie, to give you the definitions for word verification words so you may increase your vocabulary.

I've pretty much spent my week sleeping, which is what I do most days. However this week we got to do some training, because puppy Tula (who may or may not be a brat) is taking training classes and is being a dunce.

she thinks she's so great, but she's making Mom and Anne look dumb...

The good thing about that is that it means I get to do some training too. I LOVE TRAINING! Because I love to eat. As it should be for all dogs.

Anyhoo, onto the words!


Ireshe - a woman's anger.

Istic - the religion of those gummy octopi that you throw at a wall and who then "crawl down". Their deity is Nounstik - She who never loses her grip...

Immist - when a light fall of water is aimed at you but misses it's target

Imperor - clearly the king of the imps and gremlins

Lankles - also, clearly, the lower leg joints for people (or dogs - think great danes) who have long legs

Ticton - when the clock sounds weigh too much. Yes sounds have weight, didn't you know that? That's common dog knowledge. Just like how smells have looks

O'Tingle - (yes I added the apostrophe) - lord of the "funny feeling". Can be used for some guy who rubs you the wrong way. You know the guy... (IE: "Oh great, here comes Jerry O'Tingle")

Lunalli - prescription weight loss pill for our fat fat moon. Clearly only works sometimes because the moon always gets fat again.


And that's it for this week folks!

Have a good weekend and eat lots of treats!

In Which I Don't Wear Pants?

When I was younger and used to write, I could sit in front of a blank sheet of paper and write whatever struck my fancy and make it into a viable story.

I think for the most part I can still do this, a blank piece of paper - or in my case, a blank word document because I am not a hand-writer - isn't something that stresses me out or causes writers block.

I also used to start stories with just the barest understanding of what my plot held. I'm a great starter and love jumping into something new when the excitement and idea is fresh.

But over the years I learned that if I jump in too soon, the excitement that comes with a new piece will wane and I'll be left with a story that I still like, but typically have no idea where it's going. I'll keep plugging along until I get stuck, and then typically, I would stop.

After a while I told myself I wasn't allowed to just start things willy-nilly until I gave them some more thought. And then that morphed into not really starting anything until I have at least a bare bones outline (most recently I now know that I need to have character conflicts, motivations and goals at least internalized if not written out if I want the story to have any sort of chance).

So what I'm getting at is, I used to be a "pantser" (flying by the seat of your pants sort of writer) and now I no longer am.

I think most writers fall into one or the other category - the pantsers or the... what are we called? Non-pantsers? sure...

I wonder, are there any other writers who fall in between, or, like me, started out as one way but then discovered that the other way was much more suited to them (even though I still sometimes consider myself a pantser - short stories especially)

What about you? Pantser or Non Pantser?

In Which I Receive (More) Awards

I seem to get blog awards in groups, which of course makes it easier to write blog posts.

Thank you to Nicole at One Significant Moment at a Time for the Honest Scrap Award.

Check out her blog because it's great and I'm sure you'll like it.

For this award I'm supposed to tell you 10 honest facts about myself. I think what this really means is "embarrassing" facts about yourself. I'll try to do my best, but I don't have too many moments that I find embarrassing.

1. I once fell down the stairs at my parent's house, to my family's endless amusement

2. Myself, Twin, Brother and a friend placed 4th in a local radio's Rock Band competition.

We are Mange Bear. Twin's character, Rojo, My character, Falen (der), Brother's character, Mal Strum

3. I'm afraid, yet fascinated, by ghosts

4. I'm an amateur cryptozoologist

5. In highschool, I broke my foot in a lazy river

6. On that note, when I was 6 I was sent to my room when Twin broke my collarbone (to be fair, my parents didn't know it was broken...)

7. I own a Hanson CD. And yes, I kind of like it

8. I have two tattoos. One which I showed here. And here's the other one:

9. I don't like to hear about Pukwudgies (also the final story here and here)

10. I cheat frequently at Croquet, but only because I don't want to lose as badly as I would without the cheating (I still lose when I cheat, just not as badly. And I never cheat if I'm doing OK)

This award I will pass on to:

Your Friendly Neighborhood Palindrome
Anissa
Elana Johnson

The other award I received from Alex over at Alex J Cavanaugh is the Over the Top award.

I've received this award before, so I won't bore you with my single word answers (because try as I might, I won't be able to come up with different ones than I did before).

Check out Alex's blog for some fun!

In Which I (Thought I) Edited Too Much

So I submitted a piece for the Cosmic Coincidence Contest put on by the awesome Simon and Carol. The goal was to write a flash fiction piece (under 1k) using some prompts Simon came up with off some cool writing dice his wifey had made him.

Straight up the prompts killed me. I kept coming up with ideas and then realized I was mixing up the prompt sets.

Sigh.

Anyway, I made myself submit (Twin harped at me, too) because I certainly wouldn't gain anything by not submitting.

But I almost didn't submit anything. I had 2 pieces, and I felt neither of them were my best work. I passed the 2 pieces to my writing group and Brother and Twin, and even though I liked the shorter, more "literary" piece, they all came back preferring the one about vampires.

So I submitted it and got on with my life. I even wrote a blog post ahead of time to discuss the flaws inherent in my story I was sure they'd laugh at.
(to be fair, Carol and Simon are super duper nice and I'm sure they would have never laughed.)

And then, on Wednesday, there was my story on both their blogs for all their wonderful followers to read.

So I freaked out. In a good way of course.

I've never had a story posted where people just say nice and good things about it. Usually I'm sending things out to be critiqued, so while there are always good things said there are also places that need work.

Having complete strangers say wonderful things (like they loved my voice - can you believe that?!) is a complete mind trip and confidence booster. Especially when I thought the piece was a bit sub par.

Apparently I was a little hard on the story and it was, in fact, the little piece that could.

Anyway, here's the story for anyone who wants to read it. Below I'll discuss the few things that I thought were irreparable flaws (though clearly, much of it must have been in my head)


Pulled the story down for revision and submission


Word Count = 999
Writing Prompts = sunny day, martinis, a snake

The basic story idea that I came up for this was "what if someone fed stray vampires instead of stray cats?" Which I still think is an awesome idea. I don't remember how or why I came up with it.

There are a couple of reasons why I wasn't ecstatic with Strays

One is that I think flash fiction works best as one specific scene. This one (and to be fair, the other one too, which is why I wasn't happy with that one either) has two scenes, the first one in the bar and the second one at her home.
I just don't think it's as strong as a piece that is one scene, but perhaps that's just my preference.

Also I felt that I had edited it too much. It started over 1600 words, so I had to cut over 600. The first 300 or so were good cuts, they made the piece stronger.
Originally the story had another character. Marcia was at the bar with her friend discussing the vampires and then she meets Jacob. I actually like that version a bit more, the dialogue seemed more authentic and it flowed better. But I had to cut her friend out in order to get the words down. Then I needed about another 100 words gone. At that point, I just cut where I could.

I was worried that I had lost much of my voice with the cuts and also that the first scene was too much of a talking head syndrome ("blah blah, here's information that's important to the story, blah blah").

It was the first time I felt I had edited a piece too much. But clearly, I may have been overreacting a bit.

On the plus side though, all the beta readers and quite a few of the contest readers thought Jacob was going to be a vampire. Which is good because that was what I originally had planned for the story, a sort of "you think this guy is the bad guy but SURPRISE he's not". I thought I failed epically at this and therefore stopped trying to make it that way, but I guess that worked to my advantage because it ended up being more subtle. Who knew?

It's funny. I thought this piece didn't have a chance in hell with this contest and I was wrong. And I thought my piece for the Natalie Whipple contest was a sure thing and it wasn't even an honorable mention.

Clearly my confidence and doubt is all mixed up.

I want to once again thank everyone who said such kind things here on my blog and over on Simon and Carol's blogs as well. It's amazing how one little positive comment is enough to spur someone ever onwards.
Cheers!

Does anyone else have an experience about editing too much?

In Which I Share Contest News

Elana Johnson is having a contest on her blog.

You can win a query critique from real agents and other awesome prizes.

Go forth and participate


Also Shelli is having a contest as well.

You can win books, query crits and other wonderfulness.

Go participate here as well.