RTW: Ultimately, Torture & Death

I interrupt my regularly scheduled Nano broadcast for Road Trip Wednesday, a blog carnival hosted by YA Highway! This week's topic:

"What are your writing and publishing superpowers (drafting? beta-reading? writing queries? plotting? character creation? etc.) -- and what's your kryptonite?"

SUPERPOWERS

• Story Ideas are easier for me to come by than dust in the desert. When civilians ask authors where they get their ideas, or authors complain that they "can't come up with anything to write," I am completely dumbfounded. I get ideas in passing from dreams, books, movies, television, the news, dialogue from passing strangers - just to name a few. Life bursts with ideas - how could you not stumble upon at least one idea a day?
• Characters are my bread and water (with butter on top ;). Almost all of my stories are exclusively character-driven, meaning I come up with the main characters and basic premise first and then work out the plot when I absolutely have to. (More on plot below...) Most characters are born their own unique person straight from the get-go, and as such flow from my fingertips with ease and pleasure. I always enjoy the new discoveries I make about them every time I sit down to write!
• Beginnings, i.e. the First/Third (for me), are my easiest words to write, where you introduce the main characters and set up the premise and world. And it is a rare day when I don't put down a rather brilliant First Sentence right off the bat.
• And speaking of which, Knowing Where to Start has become a specialty of mine, I'm happy to say. Now when published authors recommend to "cut your first chapter," I'm like, "Already done before it was written!" XD
• Lastly, Encouragement is a natural way of life for me. I love to encourage others in their writing (and in their lives), and love to send emails and tweets with lots of !!! and XD in them! :)

KRYPTONITE

• Plot is the first half of why I have yet to be published. If I had my druthers I would simply follow my characters around all day and not worry about them doing anything particularly exciting or adventurous, because they are just so fascinating all by themselves! But people insist on a plot for some reason, and when I can't come up with anything good enough my books tend to die a tragic death and I move on to something seemingly better. Started books? Probably over 100. Finished books? Under 10.
• Middles, i.e. the Second/Third of a story, are the endless death valley that spans between the beginning and the end for me. I'll get hopelessly confused by my fractured plot and lose focus and direction and the characters will take back over and start worrying about holidays instead of finding the climactic end and... *sigh* I am happy to say I am learning to work through the dreaded middle, but I don't foresee them becoming a superpower any time soon.
• Editing - the other reason I have yet to publish. A first draft is difficult to write, but I've done it. But go back and edit? *shiver* I have yet to do a successful novel edit. Heck I haven't even done a full second-draft edit! And it's mainly because my plot was so weak that it needs a complete re-do and I just don't want to go there. But I'm collecting my tips and tricks and reference books, and once I finish Project V (by December 31st or I die a painful death inflicted by my own hand), that will change (or, again, torture and ultimately self-inflicted death).

So those are mine! What parts of writing are you good and bad at?

Thank Goodness for Friends

I adore my friends, both those I've had for ages and all the new ones I've recently made (especially those now following my blog - thank you! =). But the friends my title refers to are not mine, but those of my MC. And thank goodness for them.

For the past few weeks I have been despairing over my Middle Blues, but I am here to tell you I have [hopefully] come up with a solution! Or two, actually.

First, after attending an amazing author talk by Aprilynne Pike at my writing group, I have decided to lower my word count bar from 100K to 80K (she said 70K was about the norm for YA). Immediately upon deciding this, sitting there in the front row listening to her outpouring of wisdom, I felt a bit of the weight lift from my shoulders. For days now I have been feeling that there is no way my story can stretch for 100K. When I originally set the count I thought it could (maybe even go over), but what with my current plot problems, definitely not. So now, although it means updating my progress bar will be a pain since it's in percentages and I'm horrible at math, I am halfway done with my story! Hallelujah! \(ToT)/

Second, since my MC has no interest in attending to the plot, I have decided that one of his friends will step up and get involved instead - and drag his lazy butt along to help. This way the MC stays true to character (because I couldn't change that part of him without throwing off his entire personality), but still has to deal with the plot. Brilliance! This is a true testament of why you create secondary characters for your MC to regularly interact with. You never know when you'll need someone to manipulate the MC to do what you need.

So now I'm halfway finished and the story is flowing again. For once, the Middle isn't looking so blue.

Discombobulated Me

Discombobulated: verb, to confuse or disconcert; upset; frustrate: "The author was discombobulated by her story."

(Word of Advice: never Google Images "discombobulated." It's very disconcerting.)

So I think I've found the main source of my Middle Block: I can't justify my MC having much to do with the plot.

(1) He's much too busy learning and training to waste energy solving a mystery that's really not his problem, (2) it's not in his nature to even want to, and (3) even if it was there is no reason the people in charge would allow him to go anywhere near it (never really an issue in books, but still a brick in the wall I find blocking my way).

I am tempted not to deal with it until the second draft, but if I leave it I know for a fact that there will be no second draft. When a first draft needs that much work I give up on it - one of my many flaws that has kept me from yet being published.

Needless to say: Ugh. Apparently a serious study of my story is required. Or at the very least a new plot angle. XP Now, where did I put that chisel...?

The Dreaded Middle

So here I am, standing at the mouth of the endless tunnel that is:

THE DREADED MIDDLE...MIDDLE...MIDDLE...

I know that it does end, of course, and when it does I should have smoother sailing to the finish line. But it's getting through the tunnel, blindly groping about in the dark for direction, that has me hyperventilating.

Middles are the hardest for me to write. Beginnings are a piece of cake, and I usually have a vague idea of what the ending will be at the start. But when it comes to the middle, I find myself lacking. This is where the story's plot must unfold and expand, the antagonist must wreck his well-planned (on my part) havoc, and the MC must struggle through his journey to reach the inevitable end where he will change and grow.

Plot. Villain. Hero's Journey. i.e. Not my best subjects.

The middle is where I find being a Discovery Writer snags the fabric. I begin a story with only a few general story points, so when I reach the middle and find myself forced to expand the lacking plot, my discovering ways come up short. Suddenly I have to have a battle plan. I'm horrible at battle plans! What stupid General put stupid me in charge of mapping out a stupid battle plan?!?

For Nanowrimo, I simply charged ahead without a plan. But while I did finish all five times, I am left with five horrific first drafts that I refuse to touch with a ten-foot red pencil. They would need complete re-writes, and they just aren't worth the effort.

So what to do? Hold a major brainstorm session - to figure out a few more story points at the very least. Right now I'm just taking it one scene at a time, but I really need to sit down and think this through. I refuse to let Project V become another dead-end manuscript.

Concerning a villain deficiency, I must admit that Project V's villain is more well-formed than most I have tried (and failed) to create over the years. I know that all I need is a good sit-down session to flesh him - and his dastardly plans - out, and then I shouldn't have too many problems after that. (But we'll see.)

As for the Hero's Journey angle, this usually just unfolds on its own (bless it!). If I were to try and plan it out myself? Death to Project V.

So the [temporary] solution to my problems: scheduling a few brainstorming sessions. Unfortunately, trying to get an appointment with the villain is going to prove difficult - he is currently up to no good and quite busy doing so, thank you very much. And as for the plot, I believe it is currently training somewhere in the middle of the desert...