Would That I Might

Still working on the story.  It comes a bit at a time, but I feel good about what comes.  Some of the detail work is quite important at this moment in the story, and that can be a bit slow, but I cannot discount feeling positive about the story at this point.  I am rethinking some of the ideas from yesterday.  I like that notion, but I think it is likely to be a problem in this particular narrative.  The issue is that the story has a hidden knowledge element, a twist of a sort, and that wouldn't work inside the context of such a narrator, I don't think.  The narrator would have to be aware of the facts about the sister's death, and as such not telling the reader is withholding in a way that feels like cheating, if the narrator is so aware.  Perhaps that can be dealt with through a subversion, or even an acknowledgement of some sort.  It is possible that a statement early on could include a comment that this information is irrelevant to the story...

Plot is often seen within certain fairly standard structures.  The Freytag pyramid, mentioned yesterday, like the three act structure, and many other standard plot diagrams, builds tension towards the climax, then resolves that tension as the story ends.  Vandermeer shows this through a series of diagrams, and then follows with some additional plot diagrams that provide further options.  The first of these comes from a film school illustration, and consists of a series of overlapping circles.  The progress of the story is similar to that in the traditional plot diagrams, but the focus is upon the way that the circles overlap, a symbol of the transitions that move the story from one phase to the next.  The diagram implies that at each step, the new elements begin to mingle with the old, washing them out, before the next phase begins introducing the elements necessary for that transition. After this we get a diagram describing the picaresque novel, a story whe...

The story is continuing to unfold, perhaps more slowly than I had expected, but in a  way that keeps me optimistic.  I feel a strong connection to the work at this point, or perhaps it is more that  I am enjoying the way the story is unfolding.  It does not always go quite smoothly at certain moments, but I am finding that the answers come.  A lot of the time, it seems to be something that comes best when I am lying in bed or not working.  It is working behind the scenes, and will come out.  That is how this story is going, and I am accepting of that, because I know that the most significant thing at this moment is to keep writing. I also think that I might play with some of the ideas I was tossing about in my writing exercise entry.  I took that exercise rather seriously, and want to point out that I started early in the morning, but had some appointments and responsibilities that prevented me from finishing.  I hadn't expected to take qui...

The writing challenge presented early on in the chapter is to plot a story that can't be described in the Freytag Pyramid.  Essentially, this describes the movement of action from the start of the story through to the conclusion.  If you are not familiar with it, the idea is that a story starts with exposition and context, then an inciting incident occurs, triggering the rising action.  This leads to a climax, followed by the falling action, then the resolution and denouement. It is worth noting that the diagram shows the resolution as happening at a higher point than the opening.  The descent of the falling action is not as long as that of the rising action. Now to the exercise.  So, I have this idea for a sort of ghost story set in a particular location.  The story would involve a number of interconnected time periods.  The "ghosts" come from some type of slippage between time in that place.  So, essentially, the different characters from each...

I am still working on the story, and it seems to be going rather well at this point.  A lot of the things that I was not truly sure how to handle have begun to be sorted in the story.  I am not certain of details I am using, at this point, and I think I may want to make certain changes, but that may be wrong...  I think that certain props in the story could be stand ins, and I expect that I will add more to certain things as well.  I worry, still, about Carter's attributes, as he is a rather passive and quiet character at this point, and I need a better sense of his interior experience.  I don't know, at the moment, what is going to motivate him forwards in this context.  I think, perhaps, I have the solution, though.  In fact, now that I consider it more closely, I am fairly sure of how to handle it, and it will make the entire thing far more sensible, in a way.  I actually had most of it already in my mind, as it is central to why the diner work...

The discussion on plot begins by pointing out that a plot involves the relationship between events, so that these events interconnect and combine.  This idea is not fully explored at this point, except as a way of introducing some of the types of events that create a plot.  Specifically, these are: reversals, discoveries, complications, and resolution. Reversals are setbacks that keep the character from their desired goal.  In a romance, it might be that the object of desire is found out to be in a relationship at the start of the story, or reveals that they are leaving town in a few hours, or that family/a friend/society interferes because the object of desire is from the wrong class/race/family, etc.  I would point out that I tend to think it worth distinguishing the reversal, which is an event in the plot, versus the obstacle, which is the actual problem.  The reversal is the point when the obstacle is revealed, and usually at a point when the main characte...

The work is on the story is picking up.  I still have a bit more to go, but I am through much of the heavy lifting, I think.  Today, I came to a point where I am moving to the area of the story that is clearest in my mind at the moment.  I had been pushing through, as I did not have a clear sense of what the stories path was.  I had a general sense of the arch, but no real notion of the details beneath it. It may be just a hopefulness, but I have a lot more clarity about the things I want to put into the story at this point.  I know how some of the problems in the story will be resolved, and how to unveil certain parts of the narrative.  While I can talk about details I need to really get straight, I have the main beats now. The process of writing this story makes me aware that my discipline is not as strong as I want it to be.  I did keep going, and that is a positive thing, but honest assessment of my performance demands recognizing that I did no...

Things grow and come together.  Themes and images start to emerge, and they come together in ways that are not entirely clear to the conscious mind.  A number of cat's, both real and otherwise, are appearing in the story.  I'm considering the question of their role, but I am also aware that it will be there, no matter whether I do anything to make it happen. To explain, I had been doing research on toys and wanted to describe some antiques.  I came upon the Ithaka Kitty, which you may be familiar with.  It is basically a pillow the shape of a seated cat and with the image of said cat on the fabric.  As well, I was thinking about the owner of the Greek diner and decided he would be Odie, short for Odysseus, and that led me to thinking of him having a one eyed cat, and I decided that since he went by Odie, he would name the cat Arbuckle.  He is not unaware of these things, indeed it is his character that leads to those choices in my mind.  Or, it ...

I had a busy day, and so did not have the opportunity to spend as much time writing as I would have liked.  By the time I sat down to work, it was already getting late and I was rather tired, so I did not really do as much writing as I might have liked.  In that moment, I felt a bit stagnant, but it was a matter of being tired, and I took a bit of time to think before coming back to do this blog (which is late, and I apologize for that). In that time, I came to thinking about the story and how to keep moving it forward.  I came back to an idea that had been in my mind earlier, but had not entirely worked at the time, but now it seems to fit quite well.  As well, I am considering some other additions to the plot and the progress of the story,  some that could bring in additional characters and settings, and may provide opportunities for getting further into the mind of Carter in a way that could be revealing. There is something that is still coming out, and i...

I think I might be cutting through the block that I had with this story. though I am scared to admit that because writer's are, by nature, rather superstitious.  Never talk about a thing too much.  But, I feel it is worth discussing some of what I am figuring out, and to see if I can connect some thoughts that are triggering in the back of my mind a bit more explicitly. For one, I have gotten to a point where the character of Bimble seems to be figuring out what is going on for himself, and is going to confront that situation in a way that will reveal a lot of the story in a way that makes sense to me.  I sense that I have allowed the character of Carter to be a bit too insular.  The character does not want to share, and it is not easy to force that out as a writer, but another character can doe that job, and that seems to be what is happening. I also realize that I do not need to hold back information for the final moments, because the information that will matt...

I am still feeling rather drained and my emotions are turbulent, but I was able to get myself to work on the story.  It is coming slowly, and I am sensing out some of the problems that I have been having while writing it. In part, I think that their is information that will be coming out, and some of the groundwork for that is starting to build.  I also believe that I might have an idea of what is missing from the story, maybe, in some way.  I have a scene in my mind that might help me to set it all up more cohesively, and build some context that will help.  Anyhow, I am going to keep my writing here short again tonight.  I had a very long day, and it was emotionally rather trying, as I had to have a discussion with the person who caused much of my immediate distress, which took a lot from me considering how I still feel at this moment.  Today is not a particular great day, and I did not meet any of the ideal goals I have for this blog or my general w...

Instead of working on the story today, I wound up writing a poem.  I am still really upset after yesterday, and I feel very raw.  The poem was an effort to get through some of that feeling and attempt to express it in a productive way.  I feel good to have done that, and I may still get back to work on the story later, and there is also the possibility of my writing another poem. I have not been writing poetry much lately.   In years past, I was much more of a poet than a fiction writer, but I have swung in the other direction.  Now, however, at this moment, I feel that I need to do more work in poetry.  I don't want to stop writing fiction, but I recognize that I am not going to be limited in that sense.  I also have written some short plays recently, and expect that I will do more work in that direction as well. Poetry was my first real love as a writer, though, and I have to admit that I feel a bit bad about not writing more poetry,  T...

I am going to keep this unusually short, as it has been an awful day.  A piece of personal memorabilia that can't be replaced was damaged at some point and this was hidden from me.  The person who hid that fact did not actually take any responsibility and only apologized for not telling me sooner, without recognizing that they had deeply hurt me through the dishonesty of not informing me, let alone that I am certain that they are actually guilty (the story they offered for what happened seems implausible at best).  This individual then went on to act as if I should treat them like they had done nothing wrong, and does not seem to understand that the damaged item is very significant.  Indeed, the item is one of a small handful that remain from a large collection I had of figurines given to me throughout my childhood by family members and close friends.  A number of years ago, I lost most of that collection, so the few that remain are extremely important to me, an...

I don't want to keep rehashing things here, but I am still working on the story, and I am still ambivalent about it.  That's really about all I can say without feeling like I am just repeating a lot of what I said already.  This should not be construed as my not doing more work, or not considering the story, but I am finding it slow going, and I want to actually finish it tomorrow, even if the result is not all that great. There are so many issues that are coming up for me at the moment in connection to making the changes I am working on for my writing life.  I am fighting the resistance, but I can't help but feel that I am still stuck.  That is probably a natural thing, but it is frustrating.  In truth, I am only feeling that way because I am stuck inside that story, and I know it, but I don't know if I am stuck in the story because it is a story that I don't yet understand, or because I am resisting the changes. Of course, I have said all of that already....

This is something I had intended to incorporate into yesterdays entry on Wonderbook , but that is not how things wound up, so I thought I would just make a new entry.  I could actually have named this as a direct entry on Wonderbook , but I am not referencing the content directly, and the next section becomes quite specific about plot.  So, consider this an addendum to that discussion, though it has been separated. Generally, the plot is thought of as a stories core element.  The events of the story are what makes it and drive it forwards.  This is true, but it is also possible to build a story from a premise, instead of a plot.  This can serve quite well for episodic work, which is clear in television, and in some film series, but also can be found in fiction.  The Harry Dresden novels come to mind, indeed one can think of most mystery series in general as falling within this category.  As well, character driven series are often premise based, with ...

I need to relax and accept that I am adjusting.  Even though I wrote more of the story today, as well as doing an entry about Wonderbook , and am now here writing this, I still feel like I am slacking.  That is probably a good thing, as it means that some part of me wants to be doing more, but it is manifesting in ways that are not productive.  I am feeling a bit conflicted about the story I am writing, and am not certain about it in some ways, and I know that the best thing I can do is keep working.  However, the resistance I am feeling means that it takes me a long while to get to work, and the results are often somewhat meager.  I have written far more on this blog than in the story itself. In part, this is due to my only requiring that I actually continue the work, and not setting more specific criteria.  I do not think that I should push past that right now, as I am aware that I am still struggling to keep myself on that path, even though I have acce...

The first point made in the chapter is that all stories are designed.  They must, in some sense, contain a pattern, even if that pattern is purposefully random.  Even the most dadaist story has some rubric behind it and thus is designed.  The point in Dada, one might argue, is not to avoid designing the story, but to divorce the story from a sense of having been designed.  In essence, by choosing to utilize randomness as an element within the work, a dadaist is creating a design that has no meaning in the work, but they are still choosing a process that will dictate how the piece is designed.  The human mind cannot help but design.  Look into Zipf's law, for example, and you will see that the patterning of language is far more complicated and is deep within us on a level that is not entirely understood. To a writer of fiction, however, the concept of narrative design is more essentially connected to two central aspects of a story, the plot and the structu...

I've not yet finished the story I am writing, though I am continuing to work on it.  I'm considering the resistance that I am currently feeling and recognize that it is not necessarily about the story itself.  At present, I am engaged in testing my own ability to self-direct my work.  As such, it seems natural to me that my mind would, in an effort to push back, create feelings of resistance around my efforts to create.  I, naturally, am prone to seeing those emotions as related to the story, but it is actually not connected to what I am writing at all.  Instead, it is just my unconscious testing my resolve to keep going. That, at least, is how I am choosing to interpret the resistance I  am feeling.  It may well be that I am wrong in one way or another and that it is actually connected to the story in some way.  Perhaps, I really am writing something that will be awful and from which I end up salvaging nothing, but I do not believe that.  ...

I am still working on the story, but I am feeling more in tune with it.  The beginning will still need work, I imagine, but I am focused on what I am doing at this point, and their are elements of the story that are coming to life in ways that I had not considered.  For instance, I had the first introduction of Bimble, and it occurred to me that he was not going to just answer the door, which led to a number of other ideas and I had a far more active scene.  It was not anything that I had planned out, but it came from my seeing the situation and letting the character's act. In essence, at this point, I am inside the story, so I should probably just write the rest and then report on that, but I feel a need to keep documenting the process.  First, I don't trust myself enough to not have the concept of a public commitment to make me remain consistent in my work.  Second, I want a deeper knowledge of my own process.  I am recognizing that I have been educated...

I began writing the story, so far it is only the first scene, but it is a beginning.  It is not clear to me why, but I still have certain hesitancy around the story right now.  It may well be that I need to find what it really is about still, in some way, but I am writing it and that is the best way to get those answers.  In truth, I still feel a bit off at the moment.  It may be that I just need to grow accustomed to this aspect of my process, as I needed to understand certain phases that I experienced earlier.  I think that the most significant thing for me to recognize is that what I can control is actually doing the writing.  First, I need to recognize that I am actually the one in control of that on a very simple and literal level.  It is up to me and me alone whether today is a productive day, and making it one by spending time writing, even if that writing may not lead to a significant result, is a major act in and of itself.  The results...