Outlining

I bought books to help me learn to outline.  I was so excited to have them.  And they sit by my bedside still.  I have perused them.  I even picked up some helpful and fun tips from one of them.  But I haven't delved into them.  Yet.  I keep thinking there is no rush to do it.  If I want to write for Nano, I have until the beginning of November to put together an outline.  And besides, I don't even have a basic plot yet. 

Well, now I have committed to do Camp Nano in April.  And that is less than 2 weeks away and I haven't learned to be a planner yet!  I have the outlining program that I wrote my last story in (Ywriter).  It's an outline builder.  But I think I want to put pen to paper first and see it all laid out before me.  So I'll do it the old fashioned way.  The way we learned in high school.  If I can remember that long ago!  I will add it to ywriter if I ever end up liking what I make.  It will work great for character development.  I'll write about that program some time. Check it out if you want to in the meantime. It's a free program.

Do I need a Title first?  Well, I don't have one so I'll just call it "Title"

Title

OK how about the 3 main ideas.  The first includes character introduction (I don't have characters yet, but most stories in my head have a main character, a main supporting character, and a villain, at least, so I'll call them MFC, MMC, and V.  It also includes a basic introduction to the setting, time, and the problem.  The second part is the rising action with events that build up to the climax  I remember a tip from somewhere that there should be 3 high tension scenes building up to the climax.  And the third is the resolution where the story ties up. I think I need a plot for all of that. 

A. Main idea 1
B. Main idea 2
C. Main idea 3

Ok, how about chapters.  I don't have a plot, so I don't have chapters.  So I'll just leave a place in the outline to fill those in. 

1.
2.
3.

I can add details as I learn them, right?

Title
A.  Main Idea 1: Introduction
     1. MFC:
        a. who she is
        b. time (what century?)
        c. place (where are we?)
     2. MMC:
         a. how does he know MFC?
         b.
         c.
     3. V
          a. what does he want (why is he a villain in the story?)
          b.
          c.
B Main Idea 2:  Body
    1. Tension scene 1
    2. Tension scene 2
    3. Tension scene 3
         a. ends in climax!
C. Main Idea 3: Resolution
    1. Tie it all together and say good bye. 
         a. cliff hanger?

Well, that isn't enough.  But isn't more than I had this morning.  I hope my High School English teacher doesn't read blogs.  I'm not sure he'd be impressed.

Camp Nano 2013

I participated in Nanowrimo in November 2012 as therapy.  It was greatly helpful to me, but not a creative experience.  I didn't want to write the story and the writing would have shown that (had it ever been read). 

A friend of mine has signed up for Camp Nanowrimo in April.  And I decided to join her.  I find myself excited to write again.  I have absolutely no idea what to write.  Camp starts in 10 days and I have only basic ideas on story line. 

There are two kinds of writers.  A "planner", who has a plot, makes an outline at the least and maybe even has some character development.  Then there is the "panster", who writes by the seat of their pants and sees where the story goes as it's written.

I tend to be a panster.  I get a basic idea of plot and main characters and then fill in the rest while the time and word count tick along.  I don't always finish the story this way.  In fact, looking back, the two years that I did "win" were years that I knew more of the outline and had an ending to shoot for.  So this year I would like to be a planner.  I'd like to have a basic outline before the clock starts ticking.  I had an idea for a story last summer.  I made some notes on it and had a few characters and their flaws figured out.  I'm going to look for those notes and maybe I'll make an outline.  It's a good place to start.  I don't have any other stories burning a hole in my mind at the moment. 

So Camp Nano is the writing challenge I craved when I last blogged.  Not sure I'm brave enough to show off the "creative" writing.  But I'm brave enough to write it again! 

Comfort Zone

I haven't blogged in a while.  I haven't written anything in a while.  I guess it's both a good thing and bad thing. 
Good in that life is steadily moving by.  There are a series of small changes that occurred in that last few months and all of those add up to big changes (or will eventually), but they seem to happen in such a way that I don't notice change until I sit back and reflect. 
Bad, because writing really does clear my head and helps me to sit back and reflect.

So perhaps it's time for a writing exercise.  I think I'll find a writing challenge on the Nano site.  I could use a little dusting!    I don't think anyone reads this blog, so I may write here.  It gives me a feeling of daring anyway, in case anyone actually does.  Letting people read a blog post is very different than letting them read a creative work. 

If it doesn't challenge you it doesn't change you.  I've been repeating this to myself for more than half a year now.  And acting on it for far less time.  It applies to all parts of my life.  I need to apply it to writing as well.  

Off to find a challenge. 

New Years Resolution

I'm making resolutions this year.  I think I always do, but I don't always write them down and plan them out appropriately.  So I'm making a bigger effort on that front this year. 

I am excited about having y-writer now.  I used it to write in Nano2012.  But not to its full extent.  This year I would really like to use it as it's meant to be used and draft out my Nano2013 story in advance of the crazy month of November.  I have a story brewing in my mind that I had planned to write in 2012.  I went a different direction last year, so the story still needs telling.  I have a few notes scattered here and there.  Maybe more than a few.  There might be enough for a very basic outline.  Basic, but an outline for the entire story.  It needs rounding out.  It needs better characters.  It needs a lot, but it's a start. 

So, I plan to make time each month to do a step in story telling.  I'm adding it to my calendar/planner.

For Christmas, my father gave me a 24 lecture CD course on writing.  I'm both dreading and excited to start that course.  And it has become a resolution to finish it by my birthday. 

My calendar is filling up with all the plans I'm making....

New Song

 

This is my new can't get enough of it song.  I may have finally got enough of Fun. Some Nights.

 

 

 

I don't quite understand why the singer can shave her eyebrows and draw in new ones, but can't be bothered shaving her armpits at all.  But who am I to judge?

Learning lessons

November is over. Well, a few days are still coming, but the hard part is over. Nanowrimo. I finished this year. I am not sure if I should feel shocked that I made it or not. I'm not sure if I really believed I'd do it (I tend to avoid things that will be hard). I went in knowing it was going to be painful. And it was. And I could probably still write more to the story. But I won't. Can't.

I'm not sure if I learned what I was meant to but I did learn. I found out I am both stronger than I thought I was and not nearly strong enough. And I'm a fool.

Maybe now comes the healing and growing.

The story is uploaded. I've won Nano and now the story can be wiped out. No one need read it again.

I did learn to appreciate the outlining program I found. I didn't use it to it's full potential. This story didn't call for it. But now I might break up the Piper story from 2 years ago and put it into the program. I think it could help me edit it. And it still needs editing. I wonder if it works backwards like that...

Maybe even the sucky story from last year could be reworked if I break it up a bit and get it organized.

There is always Nano 2013.

Amazingly I found the time. I should have done that a long time ago... I'm learning the importance. To bad it's a lesson learned late.

It Will Leave a Scar

I’m doing Nano again this year. And I’m not excited about it. I’m going it alone this year I think. No word war challengers, no cheerleaders writing/suffering with me. I haven’t ever succeeded in Nano this way, but to be fair, I’ve failed with supporters as well.

I had a basic outline that was a fictionalized story of the past few years in my life. Kind of a write what you know thing. But I’ve been encouraged to really write what I know. So I’m not going to fictionalize it. I don’t know how far back to even go, but it will be further back than I was planning originally. It’s a long story, but I don’t know all the words. And believe it or not I’ll have to research it. Research my own life and my own feelings. That seems a little weird, but I’ve already looked back and found that there are feelings I’d forgotten and recent things that I’m not comfortable remembering. I’m not excited to bring up the bad emotions that I’ve tried to erase already. In fact I’m not sure I’m excited to bring up the good ones right now either.

I guess it’s like picking a scab. Sometimes it really hurts, but you have to do it to get the bad stuff out. It’s meant to be healing but it will leave a scar.

Maybe I’ll be a better person by the end of this. Maybe I’ll at least know me a little better again. I hope I like me in the end.

yWriter

I found a book about outlining. It was on Amazon and I bought it, along with a couple other noveling made easy books. Ha! I won’t get to read them before Nano this year, and I shouldn’t because the story I’m writing is different. But I did browse through the first one. And I thought there were some good tips in it. One recommendation is to use yWriter.  It’s free software from SpaceJock. http://www.spacejock.com/yWriter.html. It helps you sort your book into scenes and chapters that can be moved around and dropped where you need them later.

I did download it and I’ve started to build my outline on there. I think it will be a very useful tool. I’ve already had to move things around because I remembered them in the wrong order or I wanted a chapter in between when A and B happened.

I guess the one thing I am excited about Nano this year is the actual outline. By November 1, I should have at LEAST 30 bullet points to spew on about. I can write 1667 words if I have an idea about what to write about. And I have a feeling it will take more than 30 if I’m being true to myself and not glossing over points.