Sit in the Character

Write the next sentence

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In this issue:

Sit in the Character
Writing Prompt
WWT Tool Kit Craft Card

Sit in the Character

My revision project is coming along. What’s weird is that it’s coming along steadily, just fine, and yet it still feels like it’s taking me FOREVER.

For this reason, and maybe this reason alone, I am determined to write a clean pantsed draft of the story I’m working on first thing in the morning, before I work on the revision. So far so good. If I can make it to the end, I think it’ll be a quick finish from there.

But can I make it to the end?

I’m still facing down the 3/4 mark. I’m about 3000 words away from it. I wake up every morning and grab my computer, and for the past couple days I’ve gotten . . . 600 words . . . 300 words. Many of those words are just depth adds to previous words, not new words that are forwarding the story. And a lot of the new words, when I go back to read them, are boring. I can tell I’m delaying the story, not telling it.

But I am getting some new words that are forwarding the story. A few. A very few. Even though I have no idea where we’re going or even what needs to happen immediately.

How? How am I getting these words?

I ask myself, Where is he? What’s he hearing? What’s he smelling? What’s he looking at? Are any of those things posing an immediate problem, no matter how slight?

This morning I realized that the air is sooty, so there should be grime on the window he and his friend are peering into. I added that he rubs the grime away.

Now I’m even deeper into the character, and thus deeper into the scene, both in terms of adding new words and having more understanding about what’s going on: What’s beyond that window?

Uh… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Well, I ask myself, what else is already in play in the story that needs to come to the forefront now if it’s going to be blow up and/or be resolved by the end?

Ah-ha! I actually have an answer to that question.

Oh, but how do I get my MC from here, where he’s looking into the window, to there?

I go for a walk, I noodle my options, I get to working on my revision, because it’s about that time.

But tomorrow, maybe I’ll get another 500 words. I might not finish in the two more weeks I have left of the arbitrary deadline I set for myself. But at this rate, I will still eventually finish. Maybe in three or four weeks, instead of two.

And you know what? For my first book written entirely into the dark, no outline, absolutely no outline, I will do this with NO outline—and clean! Which means it won’t need any time-sucking revision!—that’s pretty darn good.

Sit in the character. What’s he looking at? What’s he smelling? What’s he hearing? Tasting? Feeling? Are any of those things giving him a problem, no matter how small? How does he deal with it?

And you’re in.

Writing Prompt

• Character: SHAPE-SHIFTER
  Light Attribute: Skill at navigating through different levels of consciousness. Ability to see the potential in everything.
  Shadow Attributes: Projecting any image that serves your personal agenda in the moment.

• Setting: Vet Clinic

• Object: A child’s drawing, a piece of fabric, a wood carving.

• Emotion: RESENTFUL. Indignant, offended, bitter.

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 refresher.

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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