Today's Earworm: The Damaged Ones by 9ELECTRIC
Today's Date: February 27, 2017
So I was reading Stephen King's The Bazaar of Bad Dreams story collection and before each story is a note about that story.
Well, in the note before the story, A Death, which is story 6, he talks about how sometimes stories come to him. He also talks about how a story comes to him in parts, a cup and a handle in the note before story 3, Batman and Robin Had an Alteration.
This...this sparked a thought in my head because he talked about how he often had visions of a kind of a character gathering. He talked about The Hair of Harold Roux by Thomas Williams which offered a metaphor, or a parable if you want to think about it, where there is a fire with a single character sitting there. And more characters would come with more fuel for the fire until they're all shown by the fire.
Well, apparently for A Death, he saw a man with a man trying to read a newspaper by a kerosene lantern.
And then of course, I'm going "How do I come up with my stories?"
Thus, this blog came to be. Because I have talked about my Plot Hike (which is how I build a story up instead of the Plot Moutain) and somewhat on how I get my stories, I wanted to actually talk with you guys on how I come up with stories.
Note: I am publishing this blog post on my livejournal fanfiction update page, so if you somehow found it there, no, I'm not stealing my own post from myself. Don't worry.
So...how do I come up with my stories?
Actually, any kind of way.
I've been known to just randomly think up an idea. Take Black Veiled Saviour for example. It's a murder mystery with undertones of homosexual romance, and it's one of my favorite stories in work. And the idea was sparked by Black Veil Brides song Saviour. It gave me Bo, who is one of my main characters as he thought about his future lover, Alexx.
It was a very interesting prospect, so I went back and relistened to the song. This time, I got an image of Alexx, in his original form since he's since changed a few times, of him sitting down and writing a letter to a fan of his musical group.
I wrote that story and if you go to my livejournal, here, you can read it.
For a few other stories, they actually started out as a role play that I was doing with friends. Take Follow Me Down. It's what I call a modern day dark fantasy kind of story. It started out as a role play with a few friends that kind of bombed because some things went down and I don't speak with one or two of the people any more.
It was based off a darker version of the Alice in Wonderland world, but has since changed to a point where it's not based off of anything but itself and history for a few of the character types. I'm still world building and figuring out characters, but I have a good base for the story itself, which is nice.
I also just...daydream them into existence. I'll be listening to music and playing solitaire or I'll be watching something mindless (or anime, one of the two), and suddenly I'll get a scene in my head that I'll play out. It gives me a jump point to create a story from since it's usually the first chapter and/or scene in the story.
From there, I build the world accordingly and figure out the characters by writing small bits and pieces here and there.
It's all about what I'm doing at the time. Stories do tend to just pop up in my head and then disappear if I don't write them down. But if I'm meant to write or I write it down, I'll poke at it and figure out what I want to do it.
After all, I'm not Stephen King. I can't wait for the cup to my handle when it comes to my stories and novels guys. It just doesn't work well for me to just wait.
To note: Next monday I'll be starting my Camp Nano prepping for April! Yay! Fun times to come. I hope you take a few minutes and check out that blog post and join me in the fun of writing.
My question for you guys is: how does your stories come to you?
Monday, February 27, 2017
Sunday, February 19, 2017
"Write ONLY What You Know!"...Err, no
Today's Earworm: Dream On (cover) by Blacktop Mojo
Today's Date: February 20, 2017
So, I'm sure most writers when they've started out has heard the whole "Write what you know" line right? Well, it's not inherently wrong. It's really not! I promise. It's actually good advice. You should write what you know.
What I'm not fond of is the fact that a lot of people, such as teachers, fellow writers, and just those who are in our lives, all seem to use this saying in the wrong way. You can usually hear it. They say "write what you know" but you can still hear that "ONLY" in there, can't you?
It's grating. Cause you may not know something but you still want to write it, don't you? Well then, write it.
And here is where there's going to be a bit of well meaning sarcasm. You do know...that there is a service online called Google right? You can open a new tab and type in google.com, which will take you to a search page. From there, you can type in what you want to learn about and find hundreds of pages of sites that can tell you all about that subject.
Or you know those buildings with all those books? Where you can get a card and borrow those books for a couple of weeks? There are a lot of books about all sorts of subjects in that building. It's called a Library.
And you know, learning about something new? That's called...research.
Okay, I'm done being rather sarcastic. Something about people not remembering that we never stop learning. Even as adults. If you're not learning something, it can get really, really boring in life.
What I'm saying is that even if you don't know a subject, you have a wide variety of ways to learn about that subject.
You want to learn about the paranormal? Go to google, go to Bing, go to the library. Lookup 'paranormal', 'ghosts', 'supernatural'. I'll bet you ten to one that you'll find more than a few options.
You want to learn about fairies? Again, go to google, bing, library, where ever and look up 'fairies'. You'll find a lot of options again.
You have a lot of options at your finger tips guys. It's not that hard to find that information. Even before the internet, I was able to discover so much about my favorite subjects. Books were my best friends. Book stores, libraries, yard sales, what have you.
I researched.
And I learned.
What? Did you think Tolkien know everything about the beings that he wrote? No. He used his life to build the world that he created in his stories, and memories of the books that he enjoyed through his life to create the beings within.
He learned about that world as he built it.
Do you think your favorite author knows everything about their story when they first start building?
No. They to learned, researched, what they are writing. They build and grow. They don't say "Oh, I don't know this so I can't write this".
So when I hear "Write only what you know!", I have to say "No". I'm going to write what I want to write and I don't know anything about that, I'll research.
It's the 21st century, guys. Ignore the idiots who try to stunt you and learn what you want to know.
Today's Date: February 20, 2017
So, I'm sure most writers when they've started out has heard the whole "Write what you know" line right? Well, it's not inherently wrong. It's really not! I promise. It's actually good advice. You should write what you know.
What I'm not fond of is the fact that a lot of people, such as teachers, fellow writers, and just those who are in our lives, all seem to use this saying in the wrong way. You can usually hear it. They say "write what you know" but you can still hear that "ONLY" in there, can't you?
It's grating. Cause you may not know something but you still want to write it, don't you? Well then, write it.
And here is where there's going to be a bit of well meaning sarcasm. You do know...that there is a service online called Google right? You can open a new tab and type in google.com, which will take you to a search page. From there, you can type in what you want to learn about and find hundreds of pages of sites that can tell you all about that subject.
Or you know those buildings with all those books? Where you can get a card and borrow those books for a couple of weeks? There are a lot of books about all sorts of subjects in that building. It's called a Library.
And you know, learning about something new? That's called...research.
Okay, I'm done being rather sarcastic. Something about people not remembering that we never stop learning. Even as adults. If you're not learning something, it can get really, really boring in life.
What I'm saying is that even if you don't know a subject, you have a wide variety of ways to learn about that subject.
You want to learn about the paranormal? Go to google, go to Bing, go to the library. Lookup 'paranormal', 'ghosts', 'supernatural'. I'll bet you ten to one that you'll find more than a few options.
You want to learn about fairies? Again, go to google, bing, library, where ever and look up 'fairies'. You'll find a lot of options again.
You have a lot of options at your finger tips guys. It's not that hard to find that information. Even before the internet, I was able to discover so much about my favorite subjects. Books were my best friends. Book stores, libraries, yard sales, what have you.
I researched.
And I learned.
What? Did you think Tolkien know everything about the beings that he wrote? No. He used his life to build the world that he created in his stories, and memories of the books that he enjoyed through his life to create the beings within.
He learned about that world as he built it.
Do you think your favorite author knows everything about their story when they first start building?
No. They to learned, researched, what they are writing. They build and grow. They don't say "Oh, I don't know this so I can't write this".
So when I hear "Write only what you know!", I have to say "No". I'm going to write what I want to write and I don't know anything about that, I'll research.
It's the 21st century, guys. Ignore the idiots who try to stunt you and learn what you want to know.
Monday, February 13, 2017
Let's Talk...Info Dumping
Today's Earworm:
Today's Date: February 13, 2017
Yes, I know, I'm doing quite a bit of the Let's Talk Series, right? Well, the reason why is because I'm rewriting the Settling Down to Write Series and I want to get most of them done before moving on to something else.
But why am I here to talk about information dumping and just what the hell is it?
Well, it's what it sounds like. It's when you dump a lot of information into a short space of time. Or in a piece of writing, when you put all of your information into only 2 to 10 paragraphs. When you write a story, you want to tell the story, but that includes building up the setting, the characters, the plot, and kick starting it all.
But you want to spread the information out. You don't want to just go "here, have all this information about the main character and the setting that you're going to forget because there is just to much".
Look, we retain information a lot better when it's introduced slowly and it's woven in around the story itself, which we're enjoying.
So when a sudden flood of information happens, it throws off a reader and makes it hard to remember those details. Which doesn't exactly make a reader want to read the book after that.
Which is a bad thing since as writers, we want them to read the book. And then, hopefully, tell their friends to buy and read the book so that we can make more money to continue to write amazing books that will have them coming back for more.
But how do you stop just dumping the information out?
It's actually very easy to dump the info so you might not notice it...until you go back to reread it. So, as to stopping it while writing it, you need to keep a note on what you've introduced during that chapter and what you need to yet introduce. And then keep an eye out just chunks of text filled with thoughts and ideas.
It's all about keeping introductory points down in each chapter. For me, as a rule of thumb, I tend to keep it to one to two interconnected introductory points.
What do I mean by that?
Well, in the prologue of Bad Dog, I introduce my Idiot Villain and what he is doing. Pretty much I have him sitting in his 'home' and going over a list of herbs and ritual items that he needs. That's an interconnected introductory point. It's introducing my character and introducing what he is doing at the moment.
Another chapter has him burying a body and meeting a werewolf after he has done so. Again, these are interconnected introductory points. Even if they don't look like it at first glance, they are.
Unfortunately, I have something like 10 introductory points that all branch off of one point in the first official chapter. I need to figure out what points I want to go over in that first chapter and go through the other points later on in the story, spread out.
Dialogue is your friend for a lot of things, but you also need to weave in the details that make up the world into the story itself.
It's kind of annoying trying to remember to weave instead of just going "here, have at it". As easy as it may be to just give a reader all of the details, again, it turns them off. So, remember to edit. Spread out your points. And keep an eye out for an information dump.
I'm still fixing my own dump. A week after I found it.
Today's Date: February 13, 2017
Yes, I know, I'm doing quite a bit of the Let's Talk Series, right? Well, the reason why is because I'm rewriting the Settling Down to Write Series and I want to get most of them done before moving on to something else.
But why am I here to talk about information dumping and just what the hell is it?
Well, it's what it sounds like. It's when you dump a lot of information into a short space of time. Or in a piece of writing, when you put all of your information into only 2 to 10 paragraphs. When you write a story, you want to tell the story, but that includes building up the setting, the characters, the plot, and kick starting it all.
But you want to spread the information out. You don't want to just go "here, have all this information about the main character and the setting that you're going to forget because there is just to much".
Look, we retain information a lot better when it's introduced slowly and it's woven in around the story itself, which we're enjoying.
So when a sudden flood of information happens, it throws off a reader and makes it hard to remember those details. Which doesn't exactly make a reader want to read the book after that.
Which is a bad thing since as writers, we want them to read the book. And then, hopefully, tell their friends to buy and read the book so that we can make more money to continue to write amazing books that will have them coming back for more.
But how do you stop just dumping the information out?
It's actually very easy to dump the info so you might not notice it...until you go back to reread it. So, as to stopping it while writing it, you need to keep a note on what you've introduced during that chapter and what you need to yet introduce. And then keep an eye out just chunks of text filled with thoughts and ideas.
It's all about keeping introductory points down in each chapter. For me, as a rule of thumb, I tend to keep it to one to two interconnected introductory points.
What do I mean by that?
Well, in the prologue of Bad Dog, I introduce my Idiot Villain and what he is doing. Pretty much I have him sitting in his 'home' and going over a list of herbs and ritual items that he needs. That's an interconnected introductory point. It's introducing my character and introducing what he is doing at the moment.
Another chapter has him burying a body and meeting a werewolf after he has done so. Again, these are interconnected introductory points. Even if they don't look like it at first glance, they are.
Unfortunately, I have something like 10 introductory points that all branch off of one point in the first official chapter. I need to figure out what points I want to go over in that first chapter and go through the other points later on in the story, spread out.
Dialogue is your friend for a lot of things, but you also need to weave in the details that make up the world into the story itself.
It's kind of annoying trying to remember to weave instead of just going "here, have at it". As easy as it may be to just give a reader all of the details, again, it turns them off. So, remember to edit. Spread out your points. And keep an eye out for an information dump.
I'm still fixing my own dump. A week after I found it.
Monday, February 6, 2017
Bouncy Brain and Writing
Today's EarWorm: We Have It All by Pim Stones
Today's Date: February 6, 2017
So the last couple of weeks I have a bad case of what I call "Bouncy Brain". It pretty much boils down to when you can't really focus on anything much less a single story that you're supposed to be writing.
Yeah. Doesn't always happen, but when it does happen, hooo boy does it hit and hit hard. As it has in the last week. I have actually cleaned my room (and mind you, I shifted rooms in December okay?) up some more. My shelves are now pretty much organized and covered in books, knick knacks, and clothes that I wear since I don't have a working dresser any more.
But that's fine.
What's not fine is the fact that I can't focus on anything. Seriously. It took me like an hour of going between files to find something to write on the 28th of January okay? It was that bad. It gets kind of ridiculous really. I currently have three different tabs open to various files and my fellow Writing Groove chatters are all highly amused by the fact that I'm complaining about my bouncy brain.
...Okay, it's closer to bitching, but I try to toe that line. I'm not that mean.
Hell, if I could focus, I would be reading something from Necia that she sent me to get my opinion on. As I told her, if I felt I could focus on her story for longer than ten seconds I would be all over that. I would have shut my computer down, I would have phone in hand and I would be buried under my blankets are I read.
Yeah, the Bouncy Brain is strong with me now.
But...where does my bouncy brain come from?
Well, it comes from the fact that I have, as I've spoken about before, Adult Attention Deficit Disorder, or AADD. Mind you, I'm used to ADD but I forget that I am an adult and that I do have AADD instead of just straight up ADD. It all comes out to the same thing but my version is less ruled by hormones and is, most of the time, controllable. And if I was on medication, I wouldn't be taking what most teens and pre-teens take.
Or at least their strengths and amounts.
For me though, as I've told a few people, when I get a bouncy brain, it's like my ADD (Yes, I'm pretty much dropping the Adult A from that because it's easier for me) and my OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) are duking it out in my head. On one side, I want to write. On the other I want to clean and write and read and plan...well, I'm sure you can see where I'm going with that.
It is also compounded by the fact that I have hypergraphia which is rooted in my OCD.
If you don't remember what hypergraphia is, it is the compulsive need to write. It can have its origins in Bi-polar, OCD (as is with my case) and other mental issues. It's pretty much an outlet for our brains.
For me it's connected to my OCD and it's something that I've had since I was a teen and starting high school. What started out as English assignments and badly written poetry turned into a real love of writing and an unfortunate need to do it.
Often.
Every day if possible and for hours on end.
So when I get bouncy brain it drives me insane. Well, more insane than what this world is doing to my white-knuckle hold on that thread.
Of course, I suddenly have a new dystopian novel running around in my head. Not like I don't already have a duology sitting around in my head.
Okay, to move on from my complaining, right now I'm in the "ooh! Shiny!" phase of my bouncy brain. Which means that it took me two hours to write this short little piece while watching one of SHN Horror Networks Resident Evil playthroughs (Resident Evil 6 pt 1 to be precise), rereading through "Bad Dog" and writing down the information on there, and moaning about bouncing brain.
So for now, I'm simply going to ask: Have you ever gotten bouncy brain? And if so, how did you deal with it? Tell me. I'm curious. :D
Today's Date: February 6, 2017
So the last couple of weeks I have a bad case of what I call "Bouncy Brain". It pretty much boils down to when you can't really focus on anything much less a single story that you're supposed to be writing.
Yeah. Doesn't always happen, but when it does happen, hooo boy does it hit and hit hard. As it has in the last week. I have actually cleaned my room (and mind you, I shifted rooms in December okay?) up some more. My shelves are now pretty much organized and covered in books, knick knacks, and clothes that I wear since I don't have a working dresser any more.
But that's fine.
What's not fine is the fact that I can't focus on anything. Seriously. It took me like an hour of going between files to find something to write on the 28th of January okay? It was that bad. It gets kind of ridiculous really. I currently have three different tabs open to various files and my fellow Writing Groove chatters are all highly amused by the fact that I'm complaining about my bouncy brain.
...Okay, it's closer to bitching, but I try to toe that line. I'm not that mean.
Hell, if I could focus, I would be reading something from Necia that she sent me to get my opinion on. As I told her, if I felt I could focus on her story for longer than ten seconds I would be all over that. I would have shut my computer down, I would have phone in hand and I would be buried under my blankets are I read.
Yeah, the Bouncy Brain is strong with me now.
But...where does my bouncy brain come from?
Well, it comes from the fact that I have, as I've spoken about before, Adult Attention Deficit Disorder, or AADD. Mind you, I'm used to ADD but I forget that I am an adult and that I do have AADD instead of just straight up ADD. It all comes out to the same thing but my version is less ruled by hormones and is, most of the time, controllable. And if I was on medication, I wouldn't be taking what most teens and pre-teens take.
Or at least their strengths and amounts.
For me though, as I've told a few people, when I get a bouncy brain, it's like my ADD (Yes, I'm pretty much dropping the Adult A from that because it's easier for me) and my OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) are duking it out in my head. On one side, I want to write. On the other I want to clean and write and read and plan...well, I'm sure you can see where I'm going with that.
It is also compounded by the fact that I have hypergraphia which is rooted in my OCD.
If you don't remember what hypergraphia is, it is the compulsive need to write. It can have its origins in Bi-polar, OCD (as is with my case) and other mental issues. It's pretty much an outlet for our brains.
For me it's connected to my OCD and it's something that I've had since I was a teen and starting high school. What started out as English assignments and badly written poetry turned into a real love of writing and an unfortunate need to do it.
Often.
Every day if possible and for hours on end.
So when I get bouncy brain it drives me insane. Well, more insane than what this world is doing to my white-knuckle hold on that thread.
Of course, I suddenly have a new dystopian novel running around in my head. Not like I don't already have a duology sitting around in my head.
Okay, to move on from my complaining, right now I'm in the "ooh! Shiny!" phase of my bouncy brain. Which means that it took me two hours to write this short little piece while watching one of SHN Horror Networks Resident Evil playthroughs (Resident Evil 6 pt 1 to be precise), rereading through "Bad Dog" and writing down the information on there, and moaning about bouncing brain.
So for now, I'm simply going to ask: Have you ever gotten bouncy brain? And if so, how did you deal with it? Tell me. I'm curious. :D
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