Elephants and Expectations

 

The person you meet through the pages of this biog, my social media, or even the author as unconsciously revealed in my stories is not the real me. Not because I'm lying to you. but because it's impossible to fit a real person into a persona.

Again, when I say "persona", I don't mean a fake personality. What you see here is the truth and nothing but the truth – but it's not the whole truth. That would be impossible.

We are all in the same position as those blind sages who tried to describe an elephant, arguing back and forth about whether an elephant was most like a wall, a tree, a rope, a fan, a snake, or a spear. We want to have neat, familiar descriptions for people: Agatha Christie = murder mysteries, Jane Austen = witty romances, Terry Pratchett = absurdist fantasy, Malorie Blackman = dystopian YA, etc.

It's not that these descriptors are wrong exactly, but they are certainly incomplete. 

 Labels are useful, though. They help us to find what we're looking for, and to describe things to each other. If you're after a fast-paced action thriller, then Jane Austen probably isn't the best fit. But she's perfect if you want a subtle piece of social satire, or a contemporary view of that particular bit of history.

So, we can't completely do without labels, but labels are not enough. This is part of the trouble I'm having with creating my "author brand". Every time I try to fit my writing under a helpful label, I find myself thinking about all the ways that label doesn't quite fit. Even this portfolio-blog (blog-folio?) is hard to categorise, and this is a curated collection. 

 (Suggestions welcome, by the way.)

I know my stories won't appeal to everyone – that would be impossible, even if I wanted to do it – but I don't know how best to label myself so that the people who might like my work will be able to find me.

What am I: A poet? A novelist? A blogger? Songwriter? Game designer?

What's my genre: Fantasy? Historical? Superhero? Dystopian? Fairy tales? 

What kind of narrative voice do I use? Comedic? Serious? Literary? Accessible? 

Well... yes. All of the above. Some of those things haven't been uploaded here yet, but I've done them. And that's not even counting the projects I have in my queue, where many new and strange things are waiting to be explored. 

Lesson Five:

Labels are OK, but I shouldn't get too worked up about them. They're useful indicators, not hard limits.

Days and Dates

 

I've just spent half the morning on Universe Sandbox. Investigate at your own risk!

And all because I'm trying to establish some kind of calendar for my fantasy planet, and I wanted to know if my ideas about two moons would work. I started by thinking that I could just copy Mars' set-up, but those moons zip round mere hours. Blink and you'd miss it, not to mention that they're both really tiny.

I'm hoping more for an inner orbit that defines a "week" (of however many days) and slower, outer orbit of between 3-5 "weeks". I was even OK with a "weird" ratio, like 3:8 or something, so that a double full moon would be a notable affair. But it turns out that astrophysics is complicated. Who'da thunk?

 This all started because I've been thinking about special dates recently, and that I really need to come up with a calendar for my fantasy world. Book one got away with hand-waving it because Kerrig doesn't care about dates much, but other books in the Fragments series cover different time periods, and reflect a variety of cultures. I need to start syncing things up, and figuring out how these different cultures mark out their weeks, months, and seasons.

Tasty, tasty research! World building! Orbital periods, annual ceremonies, climate patterns and socio-geographic culture building! The sweet, sweet crossover between physics, humanities, and art. All fun stuff, but not actually writing. 

Oops. 

I think I need to re-read last Saturday's post, and then put all this world-building into the "not now" pile until the draft if done. And by then, I'll know where to find the most narratively satisfying place for the special days. Because physics is cool, but what really matters is telling a good story.

Lesson: Basically, this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1J8nul74BM

Clutter, Chaos, and Cardboard Boxes

 

Last September I moved from a small place to an even smaller place. It was for a good reason, and I'm happy about it, but there's nothing like moving house to make a person realise how much stuff has accumulated over the years. 

Even after getting rid of more than half of it, it's still a struggle to find room for the rest in the new place. But I haven't given up anything that I miss, so what was all that extra? It was “filler”. Excess baggage. Unnecessary detail. 

Yes, I'm editing my possessions like a draft of a novel. It's always interesting to me when writing advice has a wider application.The focus on editing in this entry, though, means that I've come to the end of what I wanted to say, so I'll stop.

Beginnings

 

Beginnings are a popular topic among writers. Take, for example:

“Begin at the beginning, ... and go on till you come to the end: then stop.” –  Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

"Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start." –  Rogers & Hammerstein, Do-Re-Mi

“The beginning is the most important part of the work.” ― Plato, The Republic

And, my personal favourite:

“Everything starts somewhere, though many physicists disagree.” ― Terry Pratchett, Hogfather

My stories usually begin as ideas, stewing quietly in my head for a while. But when I'm ready to put pen to paper, I begin with an outline.

Wait! Don't comment yet! This is not going to be 500 words of "use my new and brilliant outlining method". Instead, I want to show you how I took inspiration from several methods, and how you can do something similar customise your own outline.

Avoiding outlines on principle? I've got an upcoming post for you on the eighteenth: Outlines: Love 'Em or Hate 'Em? 

My brain likes patterns, so outlining has always appealed to me. But even after many years of experimenting, I couldn’t seem to find “the one”, the perfect outlining method for me. Many writers at this point tend to do one of two things: Give up on outlining, or invent a brand new method of their own. I don’t have the right kind of brain for the first, or enough confidence for the second, so I had a problem – until I realised that I didn’t have to pick just one method, nor was I actually obliged to use every part of any given outline. No-one was looking over my shoulder to make sure I was using their method “correctly”.

After a lifetime of being constantly “put right”, this realisation was something of a bombshell. But after the shock wore off, and I’d done a bit more testing, I finally had my own, home-brewed outlining method. As promised, I’m not going to share it here, or anywhere else, because that’s not the point of this post. The point of this post is to encourage you to develop your own method. 

I like top-down outlining, so the Snowflake Method and the 3/9/27 method appealed to me most. The Hero’s Journey and the Heroine’s Journey were interesting, but too specific for my style. I found the Plot Embryo to be the best fit in the end, especially with the tragic and heroic patterns having so many parallels.But you might find that you prefer a more linear, discovery-type of outlining, such as the Pixar method. Or a method more focused on the world-building, asking what would happen given a particular set of circumstances. 

The array of outlining methods out there offers near-endless combinations to suit every taste. Spend a bit of time exploring, and refine your plan to fit your own story and style. But remember:

Lesson Two: A plan is only a plan

Plans that change are still worth having. It’s always a good idea to have a direction in mind when you set out, even if you change it later.

April Already? I'm Not Ready!

Hello, April. What are you doing here so early? 

*checks calendar*

O...kay. It's April. For real. Lots to do. Let's start with the A-Z Challenge...

Oh well, it's not as if I really have a theme yet anyway. Next step is to sign up to the Master List...

Hmm, turns out I do need a theme after all. Lets choose "Author/Writing (mixed bag)". And links, I need links. FB & IG will have to do for now. 

And another place to state the theme. A restatement of the theme, if you will. How about: "Tracking progress on too many writing goals, and the lessons learned along the way". 

This month I'm aiming to:

• Finish the first draft of The Avlem Burden for Camp NaNoWriMo 
  
• Create a comprehensive outline for the sequel: Marshlander's Betrayal
• Complete the A-Z Challenge 

And, over at my other blog: Eto ag Eto:

• Keep up with the ROW80 Challenge
• Build fluency with the CC1 

Meanwhile, in my offline life, I need to:

• Finish unpacking from the move (which was seven months ago!)
• Keep going with my language studies

 Too much? Almost certainly. Bring on the life-lessons; I am clearly in need of a few.

 

 * * *

Lesson One: Advance the Story

The scene I'm working on at the moment is a conversation between two very angry characters. There are many, many things they could say to each other, so I need to pare the scene down to the essentials. That or write ten pages of bickering. Every line needs to serve the narrative by:

1. Moving the plot forward,
2. Revealing important details,
3. Developing one or more characters' arcs, or
4. All of the above.

This being a first draft, I'm not going to worry too much about conservation of dialogue. But having the rule in mind while drafting will make the edit go more smoothly than it otherwise would. 

 

Which brings us neatly to the first lesson:

Everything I do this month needs to be either:

 1. Taking care of my health,
 2. Advancing one or more of my goals,
 3. Fulfilling pre-existing responsibilities, or
 4. All of the above.

This being a trial run, I'm not going to worry too much efficiency. But having this aim in mind will help with my long-term goal: Sustainable Adulting. 

 

Don't laugh! I can dream, can't I?

Spring

Come the Spring, come the rain, come the greening leaves,
Come the days getting longer, the evenings bright,
Hear the birds making homes in the shady eaves,
Hear the bees softly drone in the morning light,

See the coats coming off, showing shorter sleeves
See the snow clinging on to the mountain heights
As the year comes of age, so the heart of Spring,
As the youth of the year, is a fleeting thing.

 – Kell Willsen

Magnificent Difference

Magnificent panorama
Slow-motion natural drama
A million years in the telling
And barely begun, compelling
Each step of man's advance, mal- or beneficent
To factor in Earth's structural magnificence.

That difference in scale at once
Brings home our insignificance,
And shows the power we command
To treat the planet out-of-hand
Blind, blunt, relentless progress shows us, in a sense,
That nature and her children aren't that different.

– Kell Willsen