Blog

30 Days to Publishing

30 Days to Publishing (10)

FanTC

‘Every adventure requires a first step. Trite, but true, even here.’ Alice in Wonderland

Writing

We have arrived, friends. This is it. Are you ready to finally sit down and write this beast? You are now the wanderer of the Labyrinth, at the end of which awaits the fierce Minotaur.

Good luck.

Many adventurers recall the fear of the Page. The Blank Page. Look at it. It’s laughing at you. It’s scoffing your ambitions. Stare at it. Become hypnotized by all that emptiness.

Really there is nothing for me to teach you at this point. You just need to write. If you haven’t learned how to write, I can’t help you. I’m not a kindergarten teacher. I’ve given you the basic tools for your first draft. Now write it. This should take you awhile. Weeks, months, maybe years. I’ll see you then. Stop back for more whimsical posts. But really, this is now officially procrastination, so you should go. Leave. Right now.

Still here? *Sigh* Stubborn.

Fine. Let me warn you about Writers Block. Oh, you know of which I speak. That Dark Lord of the Underverse. It lingers on the edges of your dreams, whispers to you when you’re alone and lonely.

Come find me when you run into it.

I’m so not helpful today.

But trust me, just write. Write away. Right away. Write 500 words a day. That is your challenge. No less than 500, but you can certainly write more. Try these helpful exercises.

Set a timer for twenty minutes. Do not stop writing until twenty minutes is up.

Write 500 words.

Turn off the TV and hide the remote.

Play music you enjoy.

Brew coffee/tea.

Write timed word sprints to get your adrenaline pumped.

If you’re using a computer, write blindfolded.

Lock your door.

Hide the key.

Release yourself to the magical world of words.

Welcome to a writer’s world. I’ll see you here once you’ve finished. Then we can talk about drafting.

30 Days to Publishing

30 Days to Publishing (9)

FanTC

All the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put Humpty together again.

Plot

We are almost there, friends. We have been arming ourselves with the tools to write amazing stories, now we will turn our sights on the crux of the matter–plot.

The plot is the reason your hero exists. It is the reason for the world. Websters Dictionary says,  “Plot is a literary term defined as the events that make up a story, particularly as they relate to one another in a sequence, through cause and effect, how the reader views the story.” Without plot, you have no story; without plot, you lose your readers. A plot can be as simple as:  Jane’s family is cursed, and a stranger takes it upon himself to help her break the curse. Concise, simple, and to the point.

Sum up your story in one sentence. If you’re having trouble pulling out the plot line, maybe consider your story and your plans for it. What do you want the ultimate goal to be?

E.g. Harry Potter:  a boy discovers he is a wizard and is the only one who can defeat the most dangerous wizard the world has known.

E.g. Clockwork Dreams:  a girl learns of her family’s history of witch hunting, and she must stop them from waking an ancient evil before it’s too late. 

The plot is the most basic explanation of a story. You may think you can’t condense such an awesome vision into one sentence, but doing so will help clear out all the dust building up in your mind which might distract you from the goal. The reason we outline and research and tweak our characters is so that we can uncover the diamond beneath the rough.

Know where you’re going even if you don’t know how to get there yet.

This is where the magic of writing takes place. Whether you’re an outliner or a pantser, knowing the plot will enrich your story. Once you have an idea of what you want, you can make steps toward that goal. This is what we call vision and can be utilized in all areas of your life. But what does this look like to writers?

In the case of Harry Potter, the author takes seven books to explore this world she created and grow the characters. She unravels a massive mystery surrounding Harry’s past and his connection to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Without giving away any spoilers (but really, you should have at least seen the movies by now), each book has a villain connected with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and a plot, a mystery which Harry and his friends must solve to save their school–Hogwarts Academy.

Plot looks like this:

image

Conflict is the “foreshadowing” of the climax. Throughout the seven books of Harry Potter, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is mentioned, hinted at, discussed in secret, then glimpsed, shadowed, and finally revealed. That is the climax, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named’s final reveal. The falling action then is the battle of good verses evil, and the resolution wraps up the battle with a winner rising from the ashes.

I freaking love JK Rowling.

To build your own plot more clearly, try this exercise. Describe your story in one sentence. Take that sentence and explain it in five sentences.

E.g. Jane’s family is cursed, and a stranger takes it upon himself to help her break the curse.

Jane’s family is cursed by an ancient dragon cult. When her curse results in a fire to a local middle school, one teacher is the only one to take notice. Instead of alerting the authorities, the teacher, John, coerces her to meet up. She tells him all about the curse, where it started, and how her family has been managing it. John convinces her to take up a quest to break the curse.

In only five sentences, you now have 1) Introduction, 2) Conflict, 3) Climax, 4) Falling Action, and 5) Resolution.

Now take the first sentence and write five sentences to explain it. Do that with each sentence so you have five paragraphs of plot. You can grow this exercise in compounding explanations until you’re satisfied with the information. If you get stuck halfway through the story, you can also use this exercise to help yourself out of a hole.

Practice this with the plotline  of your story until you’re satisfied. Has this helped you? Did it make your plot more clear? Write your experience in the comments.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Also typos.

Raw

Holidays Happen

FanTC

image

After battling all morning between writing and not writing, I had initially decided not to write today. Partially because it’s a holiday. Mostly because I temporarily lost my notes for today…

But I thought I would sit my butt down and write something for the sake of the challenge. Of course, now I have foggy food brain. Don’t you just love American holidays?

There is always drama when it comes to family holidays–and that drama is doubled when there is a divorce involved. Even if both members are cordial, the guilt is a hard reality to knock. Will I hurt someone’s feelings if I go with one and not the other? Why should I be one the coordinate events because they cannot decide? And I’m done mediating. I did that enough as a child, now I refuse to be the go between. They both have their own phones, they can call–or text. How easy is texting?

It is not that awful. My parents made the divorce as civil and quiet as a divorce can be. But they are both still bitter, and the issues written above still apply.

Now it is Easter and far more important events are unfolding. Resurrection Sunday. My Savior lives.

On that happy note, fare thee well.

Fanny T Crispin.

30 Days to Publishing

30 Days to Publishing (8)

FanTC

Participles

A participle is a form of verb that is used in a sentence to modify a noun and/or verb. You may or may not have given much thought to participles. In every day speech, participles let our listeners know the time frame in what we say.

“I went to the store.”
“She goes to the store.”
“They are going to the store.”

Just by the verb tense, you can assume what has been done, what is being done, and what will be done. This is what humans categorize, covet, and cope with–time.

I am not about to give you a lecture on English grammar, but the verb tense is very important to the structure of your story. Participles will determine what is transpiring and give a time frame for your readers.

Past Tense:  Past tense is just what it sounds like–everything in the story has happened in the past. It is history. Most stories, books, magazine columns, newspaper articles, and biographies are written in past tense for very good reason. The events being recorded have already happened and are finished.

E.g. John Doe was a curator at the Museum of Natural Art. He was in charge of bookkeeping and purchasing items for the collection. Often he traveled far distances to acquire items that could not be shipped by air mail. John Doe enjoyed the challenge of digging up old artifacts.

Present Tense: Present tense is a verb form of current action. For example, the critically acclaimed book series Hunger Games was written in first person, present tense.  Often times books in first person are written in present tense to give a feel for events happening now,  as in right now. First person can be written either in present tense or past tense, but do not feel restricted to present tense just because you want to write in first person.

E.g. 1. I am a curator at the Museum of Natural Art. I am in charge of bookkeeping and purchasing items for the collection. Often I travel far distances to acquire items that cannot be shipped by air mail. I enjoy the challenge of digging up old artifacts.

E.g. 2. I was a curator at the Museum of Natural Art. I was in charge of bookkeeping and purchasing items for the collection. Often I travelled far distances to acquire items that could not be shipped by air mail. I enjoyed the challenge of digging up old artifacts.

As you can see, both are acceptable forms of writing. Admittedly, present tense can be more difficult to write, because you might be more accustomed to thinking, speaking, and writing in past tense. If you choose to use present tense, keep in mind the verb changes, but don’t get frustrated with your writing if it proves difficult. You can always go back and edit those verbs later.

Future Tense:  Future tense is rarely used, except in rare instances of narration. It describes an event about to transpire that has not happened yet, and is looked forward to–in the future.

E.g. John Doe will be a curator at the Museum of Natural Art. He will be in charge of bookkeeping and purchasing items for the collection. He will travel far distances to acquire items that cannot be shipped by air mail. He will enjoy (we hope) the challenge of digging up old artifacts.

Future tense can be used when characters are planning a battle strategy or other event to be held in the near future. You can write your whole book in future tense, it is possible…If you like that sort of challenge. But you may find it too wordy with all the extra verbs, and confusing to boot. Your editor might not appreciate it, but then again, this is your story. And who knows, you might be the new JK Rowling. So push the boundaries and be who you want to be.

That’s all for today, friends. Have a pleasant Easter and Passover week.

~FanTC

Raw

In the Raw

FanTC
image
Writing in the Raw...not that raw.

I read a lot of blogs.
A lot of blogs.
Usually the fun, entertaining ones of people rambling about their fun, entertaining lives. Mostly educational blogs involving writing, mental health living, or the latest and greatest of those blogs that becoming huge and circulate the entire planet of the English speaking cultures. You know of which I speak. You’ve probably read them, too.
I read more blogs than I admittedly realize.
You see, when you’re working at a hair salon and the phones forget how to ring and there are no clients penciled on the books, the cyberworld of blogs becomes your best friend.
Sorry, I won’t give you free hair advice. Not because I’m stingy, or uppity,
But because I can’t see what your hair looks like.
No brainer.

As a fantasy fiction writer, I often wonder what people have to write about in their average day in life. I’ve seen such posts as work drama, family drama, life events drama, boss drama, craft drama, and religious drama. A lot of stuff happens during my days….but I honest to goodness do not have the ambition to write them out. Half of the time I can’t remember what happened to start the chain of events, or how it was resolved for that matter.
I’ve always had people telling me to write about my life, but I haven’t even lived my life to know enough about writing it. Besides, I’ve tried. I can’t do it.

Ever notice how some people ramble on in their blogs? And it’s the funniest stuff you’ve ever read in your life. How do they do that? Funny stuff happens to me all the time, but I don’t write about it.
Although at work today, I made a classic blunder. My coworker asked if a client was coming in this week, because she switched her rotation to every other week. So I replied with “I feel like she called and said she wasn’t coming…”
Turned out she did come.

There are even super cool people at the salon I could write about, but I don’t.

I don’t because I know I couldn’t do it justice. Or if I forget something and try to fill it with made up drama, I feel like a liar. Because people reading it who know me (and who were there) will know that’s not how it went down.  
It’s much better to create a world of my own making in which I can do anything I please. No one will be the wiser if I forget a line and recreate it.
No one at all.

But people these days want the real deal. They want quality. They want to know there is someone just as messed up as they are or who have just as crappy jobs too. I don’t. Have a crappy job, I mean. I love my job.

Except the retail one…… Retail. Kills. Everything. (If you could read that in the evil Joker’s voice that would be great).

I think this is where today’s Christians are failing in their witness. People want to see people in the raw. Christians want to be perfect.
And let’s face it–nobody can ever be perfect.
Except Jesus. He’s awesome.
Christians strut about like painted peacocks on pretty pedistals, expecting their peers to fawn over them and their ‘lessers’ to grovel at their feet.
It’s true. I see it every day.
Catholics.
Baptists.
Evangelical.
Non denomination. Like, is that even a thing? What is that?
Oh wait….that’s me. Hah.
If Christians washed feet, visited the lonely, ate dinner with outcasts, and did not turn anyone away, they would be living the example of Jesus. If they prayed in gardens, quoted scripture, and trained up disciples, they would model His ministry.
Instead they slander ‘the enemy’, act like bigots, riot, lynch people, cuss out their neighbors, sleep around, lie, and steal.
Self-proclaimed Christians do those things all the time. Then they go to church on Sunday and sing Hallelujah.
That leaves a bad taste in your mouth, doesn’t it?

Listen, if you could do one thing–one little thing for me…don’t…don’t listen to those Christians. They’re not Christians. They are leading you astray.
They are not good people to exemplify.

If anyone causes one of these little ones–those who believe in me–to stumble, it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung around their neck and they were thrown into the sea.