...do I dare to eat a peach? - do not leave out the words

No Great Matter

"Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night."
~ Edgar Allan Poe

"Never stay up on the barren heights of cleverness, but come down into the green valleys of silliness."
~ Ludwig Wittgenstein

"I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else."
~ C.S. Lewis

And Make Our Visit

Previous | Memories | Tell Someone | Next

in_omnia

11 February 2014 @ 08:12 pm

do not leave out the words

For someone used to world-building for fantasy novels, I have proven completely unprepared for the amount of story-building required by any kind of contemporary novel. I don't know why, but I seem to have been of the opinion that with a contemporary novel, I could just jump in and start writing. Not so much....

In lieu of a fantasy world, I have to design a Smalltown, USA. Instead of societal structure, I have to decide on a workplace and its culture. Friendships and romantic entanglements are just as necessary as they are in fantasy, and while most of my fantasy protagonists have only the slimmest of familial ties, a contemporary character requires a much more carefully crafted set of family relationships.

Just as with fantasy, these things inform and shape a protagonist and her story, and though I could just jump into the writing, I suspect the tale-telling will be significantly easier if I take some time to sort out the small, familiar world it will inhabit.

Love Song: Pete Yorn - Strange Condition

Prepare a Face:

surprised

6 scenes | swell a progress

( Post a new comment )

falseastronomy on February 15th, 2014 12:45 am (UTC)

I find relationships exceedingly difficult to write.I tend to get caught up in the planning process, though, and never really proceed nearly as far as I'd like. What sort of story are you telling?

(Reply) (Thread) (Link)

in_omnia on February 16th, 2014 03:37 am (UTC)

It's a series of contemporary romances, but there's a central character whose story is continued and developed from book to book. I'm focusing on her relationships and world first, as those will require long-term development. The individual romances---I hope!---will be easier to work 'round.

I tend to get a little caught up in the planning, too, so the fact that I'm feeling so compelled to write...well, it's hard to resist the urge to strike while the iron is hot, so to speak. ;) Do you tend toward writing fiction or something else entirely?

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread) (Link)

falseastronomy on February 23rd, 2014 03:26 am (UTC)

Wow, what an interesting concept! Is it a story of a woman's search for the right partner, or is it more of an anthology series with a central character?

I'd love to say I mostly wrote fiction, but these days journal entries are as much as I actually end up producing, save maybe half a dozen pages of original fic here and there. My writing always feels to me like exceptionally absurd YA. I've wanted to try my hand at fanfic for a while but I never seem to have the time to work out the details.

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread) (Link)

in_omnia on March 12th, 2014 08:26 pm (UTC)

Journal entries aren't too shabby either, especially when you're of a literary bent and tend to write journal entries that are more memoir or personal essay than the standard. But fanfic might be fun if you're in the mood to dabble. I haven't had much luck with that, myself, though, so I understand what you mean about finding time. If I have time, I'm usually torn between *reading* fanfic (or books) and working on non-fandom writing. Which fandoms have you thought about writing in?

As for the series I'm slowly piecing together, the idea is that each book will focus on its own romantic couple whose story will be completed by the end of the book, but there's a matchmaker of sorts who helps them, and her story will be told over the course of the series. So lots of moving parts, and since I've never done anything quite like this before, it'll be an adventure!

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread) (Link)

falseastronomy on March 17th, 2014 04:07 pm (UTC)

I'm the same way. I have such limited time that I often find myself reading books or fic that I enjoy (the former I have a years-long backlog of) rather than working on my own writing. I've been toying with some Harry Potter fanfic with next gen characters. Also Gundam Wing, mortifying as that is, because my in-fandom OTP doesn't get nearly enough love.

That sounds like a fantastic series! I've always been enamored of stories that have a single narrative thread running through them. You get to explore so much that way.

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread) (Link)

in_omnia on March 20th, 2014 11:12 pm (UTC)

There's no such thing as mortifying in fandom. ;) You watch (or read or play) what you watch (or read or play), and you ship what you ship! No shame allowed.... And those neglected OTPs are so motivating, aren't they? I don't have too many of them---I tend to be more canon than not---but the tug I feel toward writing fanfic is always in fandoms with neglected or (as yet) unresolved OTPs.

And thank you! Here's hoping I can do the single-narrative-thread proper justice. I just keep telling myself I'm not allowed to fail, and so far that's been keeping the terror at bay.

(Reply) (Parent) (Link)