Character Arc

I have finally discovered what is the main difficulty with Epic Novel Part One. Did I mention this is the messiest draft I have ever written? I was reading back through it this morning, trying to get the draft to a point where I can have someone critique it. I was tempted to start rearranging scenes again. Why can’t I get this right?

Suddenly, it hit me: I’m having problems because my character is underdeveloped. He is the one who is messy. I have a basic idea of how his growth manifests, but the details are fuzzy. Before I can get this draft to the point it needs to be, I have to get my MC to where he needs to be. I have a tendency to get my characters’ points of growth confused or mixed up.

If I had my lecture notes and writing books with me (I’m out of town), I would spend some time flipping through to refresh my memory on character arc. That will have to wait until I get home, so I don’t have much insight in how to fix this problem. One thing I do know: before I can write this draft the way it needs to be written, I must answer a few questions.

• What is my character’s desire line for this particular section of the story?
• What is point ‘A’, what is point ‘B’, and what does the journey between them look like?
• What are the details of this journey--does MC have different friends than I thought he did?
• How do I flesh out that journey in scenes?

I’ll let you know once I’ve made some progress.

Quickie

Still no Internet. I'm at a local cafe. I will have Internet access for about a week or so, so maybe I can get some posts scheduled. No promises as I'll be quite busy! I am making excellent progress on the NIP and have many things to say. But later. Right now, I have to go home and make supper.

Happy writing!

Outlines

This time I have a very good reason for being MIA: The week before Christmas, I moved into more permanent housing and have yet to set up any Internet. In addition, I have no way of getting around town, so my trips to cafes are few. I will attempt to get some blog posts written and scheduled, though, to slake your constant thirst for my witty words on writing. :-)

Today’s theme? Outlines.

I have never been much of an outliner, but I’m finding it somewhat necessary with this draft. This is positively the downright messiest draft I have ever written. I keep grabbing scenes and moving them. And then moving them again. I can’t decide in what sequence the scenes should take place.

The day before yesterday, I was really getting confused, so I copied all of my scenes to a new document and saved as “Outline.” I then proceeded to delete each scene, replacing it with a two to three sentence summary. I’m a visual person and need to be able to see everything. With the scenes shortened thus, I can view more of them at once and get a better idea of how to arrange them. If I have my printer set-up (still unpacking), I would print this list of scenes out, cut each scene onto its own strip of paper, and feel free to rearrange to my heart’s desire.

My second-semester English professor my freshman year of college had me do that with a research paper: cut out each paragraph and rearrange logically. I was amazed at the new clarity of my paper.

Hopefully, this little tidbit will help you in your writing, too!

A Field, Not a Swamp

Stagnant. That’s what a swamp is.
Cultivated, plowed, sown, tilled, harvested. That’s what a farmer’s field is.

I want my characters to be fields, not swamps, but in order for that to happen, I have to be a good farmer.

• Unturned soil: Character begins thinking he is pretty happy, but something nags at the back of his mind
• First plow: Character realizes not all is well in his internal workings. He wants to be something more.
• Seed is sewn: Finds purpose in working hard to obtain goal
• Drought comes: Goal is put out of reach. Despair sets in.
• Fertilizer: Perhaps can reach goal another way.
• Rain: Outside influences encourage growth.
• Growth: That one’s pretty obvious
• Ripening: Character realizes perhaps his goal should be different
• Harvest: Achieves goal

The important part is not to get things out of over. If the rain falls at the wrong time, the crop is ruined. I have a tendency, I’ve noticed, to start my character mid-development or to rehash problems the character has already worked through. Writing out a list helps me to have an idea of where my character is supposed to be at a given time and it keeps me on track (lists are the way I do things, but you could use an outline, a chart, a bubble graph, or even a picture like a visual life map).

The only problem then is that you have to know where your list is . . .

Rest in Peace, Jason

“Sorry, Jason. Tertiary characters are supplanting your position as an important secondary character. You’ve been a good friend, a good older brother, a good leader in the resistance, but you just make the story too convoluted. It’s your own fault, really. If you had just joined the military when they asked you to . . .

I’ll make it up to you, though. If demand is high, and I’m rich and famous, I’ll go ahead and write you your own book. Deal?

Sincerely,
The Author”

Sigh. Cutting characters is hard.

Cutting Characters, Left and Right

“Sooooo, did you catch last night’s episode of popular reality show? Yeah, no? You missed a good one, man. You missed a good one. They were kicking people off left and right. And like, some people got kicked on. And uh, I mean, you should a watched it, man. You definitely should a watched it. Should a watched it.”
~~Homestarrunner in Strong Bad e-mail 37, “Dullard.”

That quote keeps running through my head as I write, with minor variations. “She was cutting characters left and right, and like, some characters got kicked on.” When I started this story, I had five main characters and about four secondary characters. Over a period of about five years (author time, not story time), it grew to ten main characters with about fifty secondary characters (not at the same part of the story at least!). My protagonist started the story with a family of seven, a best friend and his little sister, and another friend and his family of nine (plus a sister-in-law and nephew). He then met up with a group of nineteen others, plus around five mentors. Add to that all the tertiary and absent characters as well as the villains and it was mind-boggling.

At my first writer’s workshop, I submitted the first (terrible!) three chapters of The Epic Novel. One of the questions my shopmates asked was why the fourth friend was there. Because you don’t leave one of your crew behind when you take a road trip, of course.

As I’m redrafting this first part of my novel, I painfully realized that the question they asked was quite legitimate. Cutting that fourth friend hurts because two of my favorite most poignant scenes deal with that character. Sigh.

Horrifically, I am realizing that the third friend, who at one point was my favorite character, may not have purpose either. Not to the MC’s motivation, not to this particular plot of the story. Sadly, I think he may have to go. The problem is, his sister is quite involved. How do I keep her involved without him? How does the MC even know her if not as the little sister of his best friend? Dilemmas, dilemmas!

Plot Exposition

Miss Piggy: “Why are you telling me all this?”
Lady Holiday: “It’s plot exposition. It has to go somewhere.”
(The Great Muppet Caper)

I have a tendency to tell dramatic parts of the story: And then there was this battle. The good guys were hard put, but they stuck it out and won.

And then I show all the mundane parts, like completely superfluous birthdays and meaningless events.

This gets me into trouble with plot exposition. I just finished writing a chapter where some important plot elements are included--a little back-story, some character introductions--but it’s so everyday (they’re registering for classes), and it’s right at the beginning of the story. At the end of the chapter, I know important things happened, but will the reader recognize them as important and be intrigued to read on? Is there some better way to do this? How do you write about the everyday things that are important to the plot without losing your reader’s attention? Oh, there they go! Off to eat a cheese sandwich . . .

As I write this, I’m realizing some things. If I make it important, the reader will catch it. If it’s everyday, maybe it doesn’t need to be included. What is out of the ordinary? What makes that day different? Focus on those elements. Everybody else can drop by the wayside. Sorry guys. You’re just not important to this scene.