Getting Started Again

Finish one, start another

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In this issue:

Getting Started Again
Writing Prompt
WWT Tool Kit Craft Card

Getting Started Again

Early feedback on the Secret Written-into-the-Dark Project is that it doesn’t suck. Beta Reader #1 isn’t done reading yet, but so far so good.

I have two betas. Neither are writers, and they’re vastly different in what they like to read² and what they beta for. One likes high fantasy and reads for errors and character stuff; the other reads romance and its subgenres and betas for typos and whether it’s “a good story” (her words).³ I have the error beta read first so I can fix any errors before the story goes to the typo reader. Efficiency. Woot.

So far no errors or gaps, which is pretty cool, and I think he just passed the 50% mark. Beta #1 isn’t exactly a reader; he’s a listener. He’s always listening to some book. He knows narrators by name more than he knows authors. He’s got some app reading my story to him, and he only listens to it on his walk, because that’s the only time when he really pays attention to what he’s listening to. Otherwise his books often just become background noise. We don’t want that. We want him to catch errors. It means it takes him a week or more to finish, but it’s worth it. He’s a good beta, especially since he’s very opinionated and has no designs to write himself. He also has no qualms about telling me I suck and he’s very stingy with praise. So if he comes home from his first read/walk session and says something like, “Did you read a How to Write a Page-Turner book?” (as if it were that easy—and of course I have), that’s high praise indeed.

Anyway, I was worried about whether I could keep all the story in my mind enough to catch errors and gaps as it unfolded and so far so good.

So I finished the project about two weeks ago, and this morning I finally wrote the opening of the next project. Two weeks. That’s kind of a long time, especially for this year-long challenge I want to start doing here soon, which asks for a novel every six weeks. So I’ll be seeing what I can do to shorten that interval next time around.

In those two weeks I read the story myself. I put it off for a bit, I told myself, because I was going camping. But I think I was just worried about it sucking. But once I finally got around to reading it, I actually read it in a day, which has never happened before. So I suppose that’s a good sign.

Not a sign that says this is a Great American Novel. It’s not. But it’s nice to know it’s not The Shittiest American Novel either.

So, starting again. Facing the blank page. Bleh, am I right? Especially when you’re starting with nothing. No inspiration. No ideas.

But I wasn’t exactly starting with nothing. I liked this character and I figured he could work as a series character. And he lived in a particular setting, so I had that, too. Character in a setting. All he needs is a problem and his story is good to go. And problems come along the way, once you start writing, so what was the problem.

Well… where exactly is he, what’s he doing as this story starts?

I had no idea.

So I did the same thing I did to start his last story, when I didn’t know it was him or his setting I’d be writing about: I selected a reference book, opened to a random page, pointed at the words, and took the first concrete detail I saw.

Yeah… I got the weirdest concrete detail. Not something I would’ve expected from the book I picked. Not even sure it’s a detail that can work in this story world. But I went with it anyway. I made my first sentence about that detail.

And this morning I wrote a little over a thousand words. Not bad. I’m in the game again.

Writing Prompt

• Character: WARRIOR
  Light Attribute: Strength, skill, discipline, and toughness of will. Heroism, stoicism, and self-sacrifice in conquering the ego.
  Shadow Attributes: Trading ethical principles for victory at any cost. Indifference to the suffering inflicted on others.

• Setting: A terrace.

• Object: A key, a journal, a birdcage.

• Emotion: AFRAID. Frightened, fearful, scared.

WWT Tool Kit Craft Card

As mentioned before, I’m making a deck of craft cards to quickly remind myself of techniques while also having a convenient place to keep track of elements like character, conflict, and theme specific to each story. This week’s card is a reminder about some of the extra senses.

Thank you for reading!

I hope this helped you, and I hope your writing goes well this week.

Keep at it,
Megan

WritesWithTools
site: writeswithtools.com
ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/writeswithtools
wishlist: http://tinyurl.com/WWTWishList

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2. Which, in either case, isn’t what I write, generally.

3. I write neither high fantasy nor romance.