Mary Catelli's Erraticly Updated and Exceedingly Ill-Organized Journal

I always keep a list of characters for my works, even short stories.

Some, especially novels, require other lists.  List of the types of -- ehem -- Fair Folk who appear.   And it's a nuisance because I only figure it out after I've plugged along for some time and have to go back and find them all.
( Read more... )

The fun thing about writing little vignettes is that they may call for a first-person point-of-view who gets to make comments and express attitudes in a way a third-person narrator can't, but. . .

( Read more... )

It is useful to take notes on future paths for the story, IF --

You remember to consult them later.

It is very annoying to do so after several weeks of trying to figure out how to get the heroine to do something risky to look back and realize that I had made a note of the perfect motive, which would not only get her acting, but tie back into the other plot thread, AND put a time limit on her decision. 

Ah, time for the faction sheet.

A useful sheet, like the character sheet, to help you keep track of what's going on.  There's nothing like multiplying the number of different things that characters want to make the story complex. (As long as you keep them clashing. It matters a lot less how strong the desires are than that they can't all get what they want. )
( Read more... )

Well, I'm going to NaNo this year.  The outline just came to an end.
( Read more... )

experiments, experimental pieces. . .

( Read more... )

So, I come to a dry spot, and the outline moves very sluggishly.
( Read more... )

I even know the answer this year:  if and only if I get the outline done!

( Read more... )

"Show don't tell" is one of those rules you hear early in the writing life.  And it has its points.  It's a very odd story that can be told well without any showing, and a scene shown is almost always more dramatic than a scene told.

Still, there are places.

( Read more... )

The characters are plugging along on the events of the plot, and there's the little question of how long does it all take?  In story time?

( Read more... )