I have to confess: I miss Dr. Schaack. Five years (holy crap five years!!!) out of high school and he is still the only, albeit pompous, creative writing teacher that has ever really given me cause to strive for the stars. I should have gone to college, maybe that would give me a leg-up in the world of writing. Maybe I still will go to college. I just haven’t the time, the transportation, or most of all the money to do it. All in all, I need a mentor . . . or a creative writing group that I can physically go to and work in Round Table discussions with. I long for that. I need someone to be brutally honest and tear my writing apart. It’s OK, I can take it. I know I can. I want it. I need it. And I want to do it to other writers, too. Never maliciously, just in the way that a Sensei would kick a pupil’s ass in the same way over and over until the pupil woke up and realized what they need to do to improve---ok, maybe that doesn’t sound any better, but I hope I get the point across.
Now, if only I could convince my local fellow pens-at-arms to commit to a day every few weeks to gather and share our work with each other. Maybe feedback and *le gasp!* progress could be made with everyone.
In other writing related news . . .
I went to Border’s on Saturday to see if I could pick up the Dragon Age novels. Alas, they were not in stock. That was a blessing in disguise, however. Blasphemy, I know!! So I perused the Sci-fi/Fantasy section for about half an hour, searching for an awesome replacement. I picked up another copy of Stardust (my old copy has suspiciously gone missing) by Neil Gaiman . . . . and a Box set of The Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks:
Holy Fuck. That’s all I can say. I am only about half way through the first book and the man is a friggin’ god among writers.Vibrant characters, thick-yet-followable-plot and a crisp, tangible storytelling. Everything that makes a writer—and a book—great. If you love fantasy, then by the gods pick up this series!
Fresh originality is fleeting. I’ve given up on being “Original” because damn near every possible storyline that could ever be hold HAS been told. The trick is to tell YOURS in a way that no one has ever heard before.
What a Twist!!
Sorry, channeling Robot Chicken there for a second.
The more that I think about an avenue that I want to take Gestalt down, the more the little voice in the back of my head beats it down, says it’s cheesy, has been done, don’t make sense, isn’t interesting, et cetera. I loathe that voice to the very core of my being. It’s not that the voice stifles my creativity, it’s just that it weeds out all of the undesirable filth that floats through my head at any given moment. Epic characters are made to have epic story lines, so why can’t I find the correct boulevards and strings to knit that pathway through? Gestalt will be long, I know that, but I don’t want to end up like Anne Mccaffrey with a good idea and terrible execution. No offense to Dragon Riders of Pern fans, but there really is such a thing as too much explanation. She has such brilliant ideas and clogs her work with slow, coma-inducing description.
Once again a happy medium has to be attained. So I look up plot-generators and hook lines and tweak and twist and flesh it out . . . and delete. If it’s boring to me, it is bound to be boring to my readers. Twice now I have done this with a huge chunk of possible plot. That’s what gives me cause to fire my Muse. I WANT the characters to take on a mind of their own like they did in December. I wrote WELL in December. I loved December. But then January came and it was like someone pulled out the plug in the bathtub. Everything drained. My characters are still there, my goal: my bittersweet ending is still there, and they are all yelling at me to pave the way toward it. But someone stole my masonry kit, and, like the never-ending highway work in Austin, the construction on my Yellow Brick Road is suspended indefinitely.
Back to writing and deleting. I really have to stop caring about my first drafts so friggin’ much.
Alright, I took the advice of multiple people on this one. It fits rather well, so I decided to go ahead and bite the bullet and switch between the points of views of two main characters in my Gestalt novel. For about the first hundred pages or so it will be told from Aimee’s point of view, then switch to Kay’s, then back to Aimee and so on until I’ve finished. This way I can get all perspectives from the protagonists and the antagonists—and also hopefully make the reader struggle within themselves just like the characters about who’s side to take. It also helps me pull in the antagonist the way I want him to be pulled in.
Not to say this hasn’t proven to be a freaking massive undertaking. Writing in first person is something I've never done before, but now having to tackle two completely different mindsets may make me Schizophrenic!!
I’ve found in the first chapter or so that I’ve been writing from Kay’s viewpoint that it’s hard to find her voice while still maintaining the over-all tone of the story. Aimee is the smart ass and sardonic of the two, but Kay so far is beginning to take on the same traits as Aimee and I am not certain if I like it or not—or if it will make them seem too similar. Kay’s story is a little more on the dark side. She’s fucked up beyond all repair when she first arrives. Moving her story along without making her into a whiny emo bitch is going to be hard.
Somehow I have to find a happy medium between the stir of emotions in Kay and her usual bubbly nature.
Maybe I will take a short break in the next few days to do some character sketches and gather thoughts.
This seems to be becoming a habit for me. I have so many ideas to sort out that my brain kicks into overdrive and I wind up tossing and turning in bed (keeping my fiancé awake) for two hours before I get back up and come back to the computer to hash out another few lines. I guess it’s a good thing my other roommate, Chris, doesn’t sleep much either. Been able to rebound ideas off him a lot.
Since my previous post I have been ravaging the gray matter trapped inside my thick skull for every idea I have ever had concerning my novel-in-progress, Gestalt. Considering its genre is one of those “Girl gets thrust into another world and has to find her way home” novels, I have to find many ways to make mine stand out. Not just for the hopes of having my characters eventually published, but for myself as well.Mainly for myself . . . Ok, completely for myself. Forget the publishers.
So far, I think I am succeeding with the assistance of my muse, Fannin (yes, I named him), some really fantastic new music I’ve found (including the new 30 seconds to mars album) and lots and lots of coffee. There are a few twists and turns that will happen that I am really rather proud of.
For me, the hardest part has been starting over completely. I had a good hundred pages written on it before I threw my hands up in the air and didn’t touch it for three years. Now all of the sudden I seem to be doing my own personal NaNoWriMo a month late. It used to take me months to write a hundred pages of ANYTHING before. I’ve done 100+ in about two and a half weeks. I realize now that I made the right choice for this specific novel when I decided to write it in first person. It’s something I have never done with a novel concept before and due to the massive nature of this specific one (and it’s equally massive cast) it may prove more useful to just throw it down the way the main character sees it all.
The only down side is that I can’t do a whole lot of build up outside of her point of view regarding what’s being plotted outside of her experiences. This is something that’s been keeping me up over the past couple days, anyway. I’m about 115 pages or so in and I still have no clue as to how I will be introducing the main Antagonist. It’s driving me INSANE! I know who he is, I know what his story is, I know why he is the Antagonist and what drives him to oppose my heroine and her posse . . . but I haven’t found his (or his cronies) curtain call yet . There’s only so much basic adversity I can throw at my main character without putting a face to the hardships.
Rant over. Maybe now I can stop beating myself up and actually get something more accomplished.
Oh, one last thing: To those of you wondering, Ethereal Heart is on the back burner . . . probably for a while. Looking around all of the book shops, online reviews, television, etc. has made me want to CTRL + Z the whole damned story. I am all vampired out, even looking at my own writing is pissing me off. I love Ari and Valantis and Oakley and Myra and everyone else, I just need to move the hell on for a while.
Those of you who follow me on Facebook (and talk to me daily) have noticed over the past week that I have been OBSESSED with Dragon Age: Origins. Normally, I would apologize for such a thing. This time: No. Way. In. HELL.
I don’t get obsessed with video games. It doesn’t happen. Ever. I enjoy most of Blizzard’s stuff, and love the lore in Warcraft as I have posted before, but no one has ever seen me head over heels in love with a game.
Dragon Age: Origins is the exception to this rule.
What does this have to do with anything? Well, as always, this is a writing Blog, so it must have something to do with the writing, right? Absolutely! If you are a gamer then you are always on the lookout for a game that has a good combination of graphics, action, comedy, drama, and above all: Plot. 90% of all games calling themselves RPGs I’ve found fall short of that mark. They are usually hack-and-slash first and story line will follow up a close second or possibly a close third depending on the engine used to create it. Such is true with Warcraft. The lore is amazing in Warcraft, but the games themselves are very much on the “Level up as fast as you can to get more gear and defeat the final boss—I don’t care about the story” level. These RPGs are fine for the casual gamer and such.
Dragon Age: Origins is NOTHING like this. This game is Roleplay first, hack-and-slash follows. Depending on the character you create in the beginning you can have five or six different ways of being conscripted into the main plot. So, while there are only three races that you can choose from, there are many different paths that you can have your character follow. No matter what you choose here, you will be approached by Duncan, the head of the Gray Wardens, who will whisk you away to fight the coming onslaught of Darkspawn and the Blight that follows. Along the way, Civil war erupts in the country so you have to fight battles on multiple fronts. There are side quests-galore, personal quests from NPCs if they like you enough and a million other things to choose from. Every choice you make in the game will aide (or retract) in deciding the outcome of the game for you. There are several possibilities here, and some are more heart breaking than others. Also, four of the NPCs that join you are capable of being romantic interests for you. Alistair, Morrigan, Zevran and Leliana. Alistair and Morrigan are both Straight while Zevran and Leliana can swing both ways. If you choose Alistair or Morrigan as a romance, things can get dicey, and you may have to make some pretty harsh choices at the end to get the ending that you want.
Every dungeon has a reason, every task has a point, and every friend or foe you encounter will pull you deeper into the realm of Ferelden, get you to care more about the characters and will move you to tears during some parts. Minor characters you find out later kick much more ass than you thought (i.e. Sandal, the . . . idiot savant) while major characters could have no say in their destiny in the end. There is no shortage of comedy in the game either. If you stand idle long enough or are even in between dungeons your party members will strike up conversations, insult each other or ask about each other’s pasts. Most of these conversations are quite humorous, especially if Alistair is on the receiving end of some of the more personal questions. For example:
"Prince Behelen attacks the assembly and is ignominiously killed. Epic fail!" - Dwarven Town Crier
"More crazy? I thought we were all full up." -Alistiar about Liliana
"Let's go find something squishy to throw off a cliff before it thinks I've gone soft." – Shale
“The Wardens were just leaving. And you will be joining them.” – Flemeth “Oh, such a pitty—What?!” - Morrigan
Did I mention the game has an All-Star cast? No? Well here goes: Tim Curry, Claudia Black, Kate Mulgrew and Steve Valentine among them. If you are a Science fiction fan then Claudia Black and Kate Mulgrew should sound familiar. Claudia Black played Vala in Stargate but is most noted for her role in Farscape. She was the perfect choice to voice Morrigan in Dragon Age. Mrs. Mulgrew played the part of the Captain in Star Trek Voyager. If you don’t know who Tim Curry is then walk yourself out to your back yard and impale yourself on a fencepost—you’re lost to all humanity.
If you own a PC, PS3 or Xbox 360: Buy this game. It is a writer’s bible. BioWare has done it again. I officially have inspiration for my fantasy novel again.
