A Day in the Life of a Writer
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A day in the life of a writer: trashing pages
I forgot to mention that I’ve been working on the same pages for several months. Not every day, just for my monthly assignments. I got them honed to bland acceptability, and realized yesterday that I will have to trash them all.
I was kinda proud of those pretty words and at least two of the characters. But as interesting as all that was, it went nowhere. Well, except to a tight, windowless, baffling corner. It just wasn’t working. I’ve been struggling to make my characters do something interesting, and one of them drove off, another went haring off after that one, and the last just sulked in her office.
There was some funny dialogue, but the story itself was like a face with no eyebrows or lashes. Or lips. No nose.
*sigh*
So I’m starting over from scratch with characters who have agendas, and already, before word one, I know the story will take off.
I’m sharing this because I know there may be other writers who are fighting a bland storyline. If that’s you, try working with Debra Dixon’s Goal, Motivation, and Conflict. You’ll be relieved to discover that the problem is fixable.
A day in the life of a writer: distraction
My 18-year-old son has a band. It is not folk music, nor does it have the meditative sound of Benedictine monks chanting, classical guitar, or the flute. It isn’t cacophonous, disharmonious, or bombastic. It is, however, loud, and my thin walls are not proof against it.
Sunday is his day, and I’m holed up in my office with earplugs in and earmuffs on, and the sound is [somewhat] muffled. But my characters refuse to cooperate in this atmosphere.
Other distractions: Facebook, Twitter, coffee-to-be-made, foot-tapping, email, Myspace.
The quiet is around the corner, and Diana will have to give it up.
A day in the life of a writer: Charting GMC
I went to Debra Dixon‘s talk at the monthly meeting of San Diego’s chapter of RWA. My novel has been stuck in chapter one because I haven’t properly charted out the GMC of the characters. Today I’m charting three characters:
hero: Mark
heroine: Diana
heroine’s mother: Betsy.
GMC stands for Goal, Motivation, and Conflict. Dixon says the ideas she presents are not new, but I think her book’s the only one of its kind. You can find it here: http://www.gryphonbooksforwriters.com/home/gmc.htm
Finally realized that the reason I’ve been struggling with Diana and Betsy is that their relationship is enmeshed. Funny how characters try to tell you things and you just don’t listen.
this story’s been wanting to come out its own way and I’ve been trying to force it into a tiny box.
Diana is not talking to me, but Mark has spilled his guts, and so has Betsy.
D5 Creation