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In this issue:
Just Keep Going
Writing Prompt
WWT Tool Kit Craft Card
Just Keep Going
I don’t have much to say today. I’m still plugging away on my project. Having just a little bit of prewriting work done, just enough to have a sense of where I’m going, has kept the critical brain very quiet. Almost unnervingly so. I’ve had some things eat into my writing time the past couple weeks, but when I do sit down to write, I know exactly whose scene to write next and I have a vague idea of the thematic context. I also know what’s come before which helps get the scene started with some depth/details, and then we’re off and running. Critical mind seems to be happy with just that much information. And he doesn’t care if we go off script once we get started. It’s been pretty cool.
Writing ten characters is … not hard, but it seems to require that I do some amount of research for every scene. Either because I’m not familiar with the character’s personal world or I don’t readily understand how they think about things. Whatever the reason, having to frequently stop and do a little research slows me down. I’m still putting up a couple thousand words a day, but those 6000-word days are pretty satisfying, and I haven’t had one for this project (yet!).
I took a workshop a while back from Dean Wesley Smith, the Research Depth workshop I think, and in it, he talked about Five Minute Research. You just do enough research to keep going, to keep writing. You’re shooting for verisimilitude. Details that make it feel real. Keeping this in mind has been huge, because I have previously been someone who thinks I have to know all the things and do all the research. But you don’t. And thank goodness, or I wouldn’t be able to finish this project on time.
I feel a little behind. I was hoping to be at the halfway point by now, and I’m probably only going to finish sequence 3 hopefully today. I got a rocky start this morning (Tuesday) and haven’t started writing yet. Could be I don’t get back to it until Thursday.
Anyway, that’s about it. Just keep going. Keep coming back to it. Have fun when you do. Sleep and repeat.
Writing Prompt
Character: THE BAKER
Light attributes: Capacity to transform simple ingredients into nourishment and comfort. Willingness to share secret family recipes for the sake of community.
Shadow attributes: Watering down ingredients to increase margins. Selling stale or tainted goods to unsuspecting customers.
Setting: A small, warm bakery kitchen at 4:00 AM.
Object: Gemini says a rolling pin, a bag of coarse flour, and a jar of sourdough starter.
Emotion: Content. At peace, satisfied with a day of good, honest work.
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 on sequences. Sequences are pretty much what’s keeping critical brain happy with this project, so it seems like a good card to go with.
Thank you for reading!
I hope this helped you, and I hope your writing goes well this week.
Keep at it,
Megan
WritesWithTools
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