Where to Begin?

I have an idea.

I started working out the details of the setting for my story. It’s important to know something about their world so the characters have a background to work in.

I have identified most of the major characters and given them a place in the world.

Now I need to take all of this and plan it out so that my idea, characters, and setting turn into a solid story. That’s not as easy as it sounds.

The first problem is that the setting for my story is a little overwhelming. My last post gave some of the details of that world, and if you read it all the way through you are probably as depressed as I am about the current political situation in the United States. I’m not sure how I am going to be able to make it through the next six weeks before the election on November 6. The only comfort I have is that, based on the polls, Romney really doesn’t stand a chance of winning. But then, elections have been bought before. Just look at the results of Scott Walker’s recall election for proof of that one. I’m also still convinced that George Bush rigged both of his election victories.

Another problem is that I am using characters from stories I have already written. This story is kind of a new spin on my first NaNoWriMo project, with the addition of the main characters from my two Valkyrie novels. The main character from my first book, however, will be a bit different from the way he was originally portrayed, and the story itself will be a lot different.

Since I am using the main characters of three of my previous novels, I want to give each of them a chance to shine in this one. So I will need to figure out how to switch between character viewpoints as I write. The book I just finished used multiple character viewpoints, but I don’t think I did it very well. I’m hoping that with a little more planning I’ll be able to do a better job of it this time. I’m thinking of switching viewpoints between chapters, and with a little preparation I’ll be able to plan each of my chapters in advance and decide which character will be the focus of each point of the story.

The last problem I have is figuring out how to present my idea as a solid story with a plot that people will be able to follow. Right now my idea is solely a civil war to reclaim the country from the dark forces that have taken over the Republican party and stolen the last election. That’s a pretty vague idea. What I really need to do is figure out how my characters fit into this idea. I need to figure out where they are when the story starts, what pulls them into the rebellion, how they manage to win in the end, and most importantly, what vital parts of their personality are revealed and change over the course of the story.

Because it’s really all about the characters, right?

Seriously, while I honestly think that the Republican party has recently become not just a bad idea, but an active evil that needs to be stopped, I don’t want this story to just be my own little political rant. I’m not here to get up on my soapbox and scream my beliefs to the world. I’m here to tell an entertaining story, and hope that my readers learn a little bit about both themselves and the world they live in by the time they reach the end. And hopefully what they learn will help to make this world a better place for all of us.

I don’t have a lot done yet. I think I may need to re-read my previous stories, if only to get some of the names and character details straight. I’m still mulling over how I’m going to start. I’m watching some dystopian movies for ideas. I just finished watching Soylent Green, which was eye-opening for me. It’s actually a fairly good representation of the world I think we are headed for if the Republicans take control. High unemployment, people living in the streets, crime is rampant even among the police, women are treated as “furniture”, and the big corporations can do anything they want because they are in charge of it all.

As always, I appreciate any comments you might have for me. What is your favorite dystopian movie? Leave a note about it and I’ll see if I can find a copy to add to my viewing list before November 1. And check in again on Wednesday for another update.

I’m Done. What’s Next?

As you can tell by the title of this post, I finished my story. It came in at just over 61,000 words, so I hit my goal for the story as well as my goal to finish by the end of September. And now it goes into a drawer for a few months or years until I can stand to look at it again enough to edit it.

So my next project is getting ready for NaNoWriMo. As you may recall, it’s going to be about the next civil war in America. I’m bringing back George from my first NaNoWriMo project, Dragons at Dawn, as well as Miranda and Nicole from my Valkyrie series. They will be teaming up to save America from the demonic forces that have taken over.

Part of my process is figuring out how bad things have to get before somebody has to step up and do something about it. So I have been taking a long, hard look at the Republican agenda and have posited some worst-case scenarios for what would happen if they win in November. As you might guess, I am fiercely opposed to practically all of their party platform, and I will proudly vote for Obama (again!) on November 6.

Here’s what I came up with. Forgive the rambling nature. These are just thoughts I jotted down as I perused a list of the goals of the GOP.

The United States is a democracy in name only. The corporations had taken over by buying all elections, and profit rules the country. People are treated like slaves, especially women. There is no longer any social safety net, and most Americans have lost any retirement savings they had. Elderly are either forced to work, or they live on the street. Children are forced to find jobs to help their families survive, and public schools have all been shut down, leaving education solely for the rich elite.

Unemployment is at a record high, leaving at least a third of the country out of work, while millions of American jobs have been outsourced to other countries. Unemployment insurance has been eliminated, leaving people destitute within days if they lose their job. Anyone lucky enough to find employment is desperate to keep it, making themselves virtually slaves to their employers.

Health care is only available to the rich, while the majority of the country is forced to either purchase expensive medication or buy on the black market. People are dying of diseases that were thought to have been wiped out decades ago, and there are rumors of plague.

Taxes on the people who do have jobs take half their income, and most of that money goes to bailouts and handouts to the richest people. The country has a state religion, with mandatory attendance for everyone except the rich, who profess belief but don’t conform to the practice.

Women and homosexuals are targets wherever they are found alone, with beatings and rape common and never investigated. If women are lucky enough to find jobs, they are paid a small fraction of their male counterparts and are often required to perform sexual acts to keep their positions.

Clean energy research is a thing of the past, and companies ravage the countryside with no concern for the environment as they look for more fossil fuels, even though the demand in the United States has dropped drastically, since most people can no longer afford a car. Bicycles and walking is the most common mode of transportation, since even public transportation has gotten to be too expensive for most people to afford.

Guns are common, and most of the wealthy employ private armies labeled as security forces to protect themselves. These forces are staffed mainly by the poor who enlisted in the army in an attempt to better their lives. Once they are discharged the only employment they can find is in these security teams, with the best going to the police. The police forces have been privatized. Their staff has been drastically reduced, and only patrol the wealthiest parts of the country. Everywhere else crime runs rampant. Fire departments have also been privatized, and again, they are only called out to protect business property and wealthy homes, leaving the slums which cover most of the cities to burn if a fire breaks out.

The divorce rate is down since single parenthood is illegal. Many women are forced to marry if they get pregnant, even in the case of rape, since abortion is also illegal. And since contraceptives that used to be provided by organizations like Planned Parenthood are no longer available, and sex education is no longer taught in schools, unwanted pregnancies have increased.

In short, the superpower that used to be the United States of America is now a third world country, despised and ridiculed by most of the world. Canada and Mexico now guard their borders to keep Americans from crossing into their countries illegally, and most people can’t afford the bribes and fees that are charged in order to get a passport.

That’s it. That’s what I think might happen if the Republicans are in power. Pretty scary stuff. Then you throw in some demons and Valkyries and you get a downright horrific mess. Ready for more? Here’s an overview, showcasing some of the different groups involved in the story:

The country is ruled by the richest people, who have all formed an alliance with demonic forces. The demons used their powers to take over the country for the rich, but now they are getting bored and have been going out into the world more and more frequently to wreak havoc.

The rich people are losing control over the demons, and are starting to get worried, but they are trapped in the lives they created for themselves. Some of their children are starting to rebel against their parents and supporting the common people.

The Valkyries and other supernatural enforcers are having trouble keeping the increasing numbers of demons from revealing the magical world. The influx of demonic power has also increased the number of human wizards and priests who are discovering how to use magic on their own.

There are also increasing numbers of people joining gangs, and many gangs are fomenting revolution. They are heavily armed and pissed off, with nothing to lose.

In short, the country is about to break wide open in civil war.

Those are my preliminary ideas. Now I need to start figuring out how to tell this story. I’ll need to decide how each of my characters is involved in this mess and what they are going to do to get us all out of it. I’ll also need to come up with a good antagonist. They will need someone to fight with. Someone who has been behind the scenes, planning this whole thing for his own sadistic pleasure. I can’t use Mitt Romney, because despite how hard he tries, I just don’t think he is evil enough for the part.

That’s it for today. I’ll be back on Sunday with another update. See you then!

Short update

I’m not feeling up to a long post today, so I’ll just hit some highlights:

I hit 40,000 words yesterday, which was my goal for August. That means that any more writing I do this month will just be getting me that much farther ahead for September. I’m not sure if the story is going to make it to 60,000 words, but at least it will definitely be finished by the end of this ROW80 round.

I’m also starting to think of what to do for NaNoWriMo. I have a couple of co-workers that I discuss politics with each morning, and I have been telling them that if the Republicans get their way, either the country will fall apart, or we will have another civil war. I am firmly in the Obama camp for the upcoming election, because everything that I know about the Republican platform shows me that they are only out to serve their corporate masters and they will screw the rest of the country to get it done.

Regardless of whatever your political leanings are, the reason I mention it is that I made a comment a week or so back to one of my co-workers that I thought maybe the next story I write should be about the next American civil war/revolution. So that thought has been percolating in the back of my head for a while and I had an idea of how I could take the idea from my first NaNoWriMo story along  with the characters from my Valkyrie series and use them to write something that puts all of it into one place. So here’s a short blurb about the plan:

The country is going to hell. Literally. The Republicans won the election through demonology, and now that they are in power, the demons are getting restless. They break free of their masters and start wreaking havoc. The Valkyries have to step in and try to stop them, but they find that they can’t do it alone. They find a man who has discovered an ancient race of dragons and managed to learn some of their magic and is now teaching it to others. Together, the dragon wizards and the Valkyries take back the country by destroying the demons and the evil men that initially summoned them.

There’s not a whole lot there right now, just a premise and an ending. Now I have to start plotting out all the fine points that go in between. I also want to do a lot of work on the character arcs before I start writing as well. Since I have already written these characters, I have a pretty good idea of what they are like, so there won’t be any discovery writing for this story.

The last thing I wanted to say was THANK YOU to everyone that commented on my last post regarding editing ideas for my superpower story. Feel free to comment on my new idea as well.

That’s about it for today. Not as short as it could have been, but shorter than normal for me. See you again on Wednesday!

October 20 – Character Arc

Today I promised to talk about Character Arc. This is one of the things that I struggle with in my writing. My problem is that I want my characters to be perfect from the start, just like me. 🙂

Goal 1: I will work on my writing every day.

Perfect characters don’t make for a very good story. I have to admit that even I have gotten bored with my characters when things are too easy for them. So this time I am trying to work out some character flaws for my Valkyrie. Then I can see about helping her overcome them.

My character, Nicole, is a state trooper. She joined the force as a tribute to her father, who disappeared during a “boating accident” on a fishing trip when she was sixteen. The only thing she remembers is that a storm came up suddenly. She hit her head and was knocked out. When she woke up her father was gone and they never found the body.

The truth is that a monster attacked the boat and her father sacrificed himself to protect her. She has blocked out the memory from her conscious mind, but the experience has made her very protective of everyone else. This is the real reason she joined the state police. Other effects of her experience are an obsession with the legends surrounding the “Great Lakes Triangle”, and the occasional nightmare about tentacles coming out of the water.

My question now is how to use these character traits to tell a better story. Her obsession and nightmares are relatively easy. They can be used to create tension between her and her superiors in the force, as well as her friends and loved ones. The tough one is her overprotective nature. On the one hand, it is good trait for a police officer to have. And when she gets her Valkyrie powers she will be much more effective in keeping people safe. On the other hand, giving her those powers will make the tension level of the story drop. It would be a little like having Superman show up to get a cat down from a tree. He would have no problem at all with the little kitty. So what kind of Kryptonite can we put on the little cat’s collar to make things more interesting?

My mind turns back to the legends of the Valkryie. They are said to be sent to collect the dead heroes from the battlefield, so they can join the ranks of the Einherjar in Valhalla. So if Nicole is too protective, the heroes won’t die. If she is too effective, they won’t even be heroes, because she will be the one doing all the work. Somehow, I need to make her realize this, and then she has to allow someone to sacrifice themselves as a hero, just like her father did for her. And of course the person that would cause the most conflict for her with this choice would be her boyfriend.

My plan is to introduce this backstory and her obsession before she becomes a Valkyrie at the first plot point. She will learn to use her new powers and struggle against some supernatural foes, while in the background she starts to remember more of what happened in the boat. At the second plot point she will be pointed in the direction of the monster that killed her father, and which is now threatening her boyfriend. She will then be forced to choose to let him sacrifice himself for her and be a hero.

That’s the plan.

Wish me luck. I’m going to need it.

Goal 2: I will participate in NaNoWriMo in November.

My library is undermining my prep work for NaNoWriMo. I now have three books to read in the next month, including REAMDE, by Neal Stephenson. The book is over 1000 pages long. The “good” news is that I only have two weeks to read it, so I have to finish it before NaNoWriMo starts. I took the afternoon off yesterday and managed to get through the first 200 pages, but there are still 800 to go. I’ll be spending most of my free time reading over the next two weeks, but I will still check in, and I will still be thinking about my story when I can, so I may be able to post some more information about how things are going. At the very least I will let you know when I finish this tome.

I may even post a review. So far the book is interesting, but my writing background is making me critique the story as I read it. For example, I am finding a lot of exposition in the book. Most of it reads OK, but some of it seems to fall into the “As you know, Bob” manner of explaining things. This is when the author does his exposition by having one character tell another the information as part of a dialogue. It can work if done right, and like I said, Neal does a good job of this most of the time. But due to my experience in the writing world, it caught my attention. It also makes me wonder how much of this manuscript is story and how much is Neal standing either behind his podium or on his soapbox.

Goal 3: Diet and exercise to lose at least 10 pounds by the end of this round.

I’m still dieting, but I haven’t been able to get back on the exercise bike yet. I don’t like reading while I ride. I have tried it before and it just doesn’t work well for me. I will try to get on again soon, but I’m not sure when.

Do you think my ideas on character arc will work? Or am I just being mean? Leave a comment to let me know what you think. I’ll be back on Monday to let you know at least how much I have read.

October 17 – Working on my Concept

As I mentioned on my last post, I have been reading Story Engineering, by Larry Brooks. It has been very helpful in making me think about my NaNoWriMo project plans. Today I will cover the first step: Concept.

Goal 1: I will work on my writing every day.

My original concept was a simple sequel to Finding Valhalla, but using a different main character as the Valkyrie. I was going to continue the plot to start Ragnarök, expanding it and raising the stakes for this second book. However, after thinking about it some more, I have decided that since I need to rewrite Finding Valhalla anyway, I think this book may be better suited to be the first in the series, instead of a sequel. I think that Miranda’s story may actually be better suited to be the last book instead of the first.

The writing book talked about defining the story concept as a What If question. It also said that the question should immediately raise other, similar questions. So I tried it out. Here are some of my concept questions:

• What if a state trooper was forced to become a Valkyrie to take the place of another one that was killed protecting her?
• What if she had to hide all this from normal people?
• What if her partners in the police force were suspicious about some of the things she had to do to keep the supernatural world out of the press?
• What if a federal agency got involved?
• What if some of the other Valkyries were threatened by the risk of her being discovered?
• What if the Valkyrie leaders or even the gods got involved?
• What if the supernatural world was revealed as a result of her failure to do her duty as a Valkyrie?
• What would the other supernatural races think about this?
• What if she joined the police to honor the memory of her father?
• What if whatever killed her father was supernatural and she saw it?
• What if that drove her to train to fight them, and that is why she was chosen to become a Valkyrie?
• What if the thing that killed her father is still out there and that is what drives her?
• What if she is obsessed with revenge for her father’s death?
• What if that obsession interferes with her duty as a Valkyrie and as a state trooper?
• What if she also had to try to stop a plot to start Ragnarök?
• What if the man she loved was killed as part of the plot?

As you can see, there are a lot of things that came to mind, and there are even more that I haven’t put into the list yet. I have a lot of things to think about in the next two weeks. I am also starting to think about working on an outline. I would like to at least plan out the major plot points and work out the character arc before I get started. To be honest, the character arc is the part that I am really struggling with. I think I have a good idea where I want to go with it, but I’m not sure how well it will work out when I start writing.

Goal 2: I will participate in NaNoWriMo in November.

I updated my author’s info on the NaNoWriMo website. I plan on starting my outline this week.

Goal 3: Diet and exercise to lose at least 10 pounds by the end of this round.

I got on the exercise bike twice yesterday, for 20 miles each time. I burned a little over 600 calories each time. Hopefully that will be enough to at least keep me from gaining anything over the last week. I’m going to have to continue to dedicate myself to do it again though. I should really do at least 20 miles at least three times a week, preferably more.

Please leave a comment with any thoughts you have about my concept. I’m interested in hearing whether or not you think I am heading in the right direction. I’ll be back on Thursday to talk about my character arc.

October 13 – Writing a Sequel

Goal 1: I will work on my writing every day.

I got a lot of information from my muse about her past that I think will be useful when writing my story. My concern now is that I don’t want to just write the first one all over again.

Don’t get me wrong, I am using different characters, a different setting, and different antagonists. My problem is that the concept hasn’t changed. So if the basic premise is the same, how is the new story different from the first one? Even worse, since I am still in the editing process for the first one I don’t know how much I will be able to carry forward from that one to make the second one better.

The overall concept is that a modern-day Valkyrie falls in love while trying to stop Ragnarök. This is the same for both books, but I am writing about different Valkyries. I haven’t figured out yet who is behind the plot to start Ragnarök, so that is one of the problems with the sequel (and the original, for that matter).

I’m thinking about the concept because I have been reading Story Engineering, by Larry Brooks. I am counting reading books on writing as time spent toward Goal 1, for the simple reason that I really need to work on some of these basics in order to improve my writing. I have read several books already, but I guess the things they are trying to tell me haven’t registered in my brain, so I am going to continue to work on this. I am even thinking about doing some of the writing exercises.

So back to my thoughts about the sequel. The danger of writing sequels, as most of us know from the dreck that has come out of Hollywood, is that many sequels don’t live up to the promise of the original. The audience doesn’t want the sequel to be as good as the first one, they expect it to be better. That’s a tough thing to do.

The best way to do sequels is by having the entire series thought out ahead of time. That’s what I’m trying to do with my Immortalis Rex series. I am trying to develop an outline that covers the entire seven or eight book series before I start writing. I want to make sure that each of the major characters has consistent development and that there is a consistent plot that carries through the entire series. And since the series will cover the entire span of human existence, including some centuries (or even millenia) into the future, you can understand why I’m concerned about getting it right.

I have a lot of thinking to do about my Valkyrie story. I may need to reread the first book and figure out exactly what I want to do in the edits so I can work out how I want to write this sequel. I’ll let you know next week how I’m doing. If I can’t get this done in time, I may have to do something else for NaNoWriMo.

Goal 2: I will participate in NaNoWriMo in November.

As I said above, I am plotting, planning, and most of all, thinking. Wish me luck!

Goal 3: Diet and exercise to lose at least 10 pounds by the end of this round.

Dieting, but not nearly enough exercise. I need some more hours in the day!

My next check-in will be Monday, October 17. See you then!

October 3 – ROW80, Round 4

Welcome back!

Today marks the start of the fourth round of ROW80. I was in the first and second rounds, but skipped the third. That was probably a mistake. I missed all my friends, and my writing habits slipped. So now I’m back, and it’s just in time to get ready for NaNoWriMo.

So the first thing I suppose I need to do is lay out my goals for this round. I gave this a bit of thought over the last couple weeks, and I think I have some reasonable goals. The nice thing about ROW80 is that if the goals aren’t working out I can change them.

Goal 1: I will work on my writing every day. This will be either:

• write at least 500 words.
• spend at least one hour on planning or research for the story.

Goal 2: I will participate in NaNoWriMo in November. I finished early last year, and plan to finish this year too.

Goal 3: Lose at least 10 pounds by the end of this round. I will NOT using writing as an excuse to ignore my diet.

Right now I think these goals are attainable. Right now I am committed to following this plan. Right now I am dedicated to getting back to my writing so I can make progress toward getting a finished novel ready to publish. Next week I may feel differently, but I’ll deal with that when I get to it.

Last week I said I would try to have an idea ready for NaNoWriMo. I have an idea, but it is very vague and needs a lot of thought and work before I will be ready to start writing. My idea is that I will be working on a sequel to Finding Valhalla. Unfortunately, that is as far as my idea goes. I have no clues on the plot yet, but I do have a character. One of my co-workers is a 6’1″ blonde of Swedish descent, and she has volunteered to be my muse. I am trying to schedule an interview with her to get some more information on her background and personality before I start writing.

The only thoughts I have right now on the plot is that I should fashion it after one of the old Norse legends. My idea for Finding Valhalla was to tell a variation of the story of Sigurd and Brynhilde. I’m currently reading up on the old stories to see if I can find another ancient tale to use. I’m open to suggestions if any of you have some ideas.

As far as my diet goes, I haven’t lost any weight yet, but at least I didn’t go up. So while the scale didn’t give me good news, it wasn’t bad news either. I’m going to be concentrating this week on making sure that next week I’ll start a downward trend.

That’s it for today. I’ll check in again on Thursday. See you then!

July 14 – Work, Work, Work

I’m still on vacation, but the house cleaning that I have been doing has taken up so much of my time that I haven’t been able to get much writing done. On the plus side, I am getting rid of a lot of junk that I don’t really need. So far we have thrown out three chairs, a portable baby playpen, and a lot of old mail. We donated a load of clothes and curtains to St Vincent de Paul, and will probably be making another trip today or tomorrow with some old toys and more clothes. I’m also planning to take a bunch of programming books to Half-Price Books to see what I can get for them. We probably won’t finish the cleaning project this week, but we have made a lot of progress.

I’m still working on Finding Valhalla, usually before bed every night. I’ve been pretty tired, so not much writing gets done, but at least I am still working on it. I’m also looking for a new short story project. I’m registered for Duotrope, so what I was thinking was that I would sift through their lists and see if anything of the calls for submission spark any interest with me. I’m always up for a challenge, and I don’t have anything else poking at my brain right now, so having a goal to write to would make things a little easier for me. If you know of any good submission calls, let me know. Ideally I would like a paying market, with a word count between 3000 to 5000 words. I don’t really care about the genre. Even though I have been focusing on urban fantasy and paranormal, I’ll write anything. A couple of days ago I had an idea for a modern-day romance involving a man and a woman falling in love while trying to help a disturbed child. A little too detailed for a short story, but I may write it for NaNoWriMo this year.

I’ve got to get back to cleaning now, so I’ll see you back here on Monday!

July 11 – Working Vacation

Today marks the start of a long-anticipated vacation from the day job. I take a week off every July to celebrate my wedding anniversary. So of course I am spending my time with my wife, doing all the little things that have been piling up for the last few months. It’s amazing how much there is to do when you don’t have to go to work.

Yesterday my wife and I started cleaning. Our house was starting to look like an episode of “Hoarders”, with piles of junk getting higher and higher on all available surfaces. We haven’t been able to use our kitchen table for months, and the love seat in our living room had all but vanished under piles of clothes and boxes. I have been using my laptop at a card table set up in the corner because my desk was overflowing with books and papers. Even our coffee table was a lost cause. Every time we cleaned it off more stuff appeared to fill it up practically overnight. I’m too ashamed to tell you what our bedrooms look like.

We managed to clean off the love seat and coffee table yesterday, and today I managed to clean off my desk while my wife started tackling a small pile in our bedroom. I expect that we will need to pile stuff temporarily on the love seat and coffee table in order to organize our bedrooms. I cleaned off the desk because I really want to be able to do my writing there instead of in the corner.

I plan on continuing to write during this vacation as well. I started rewriting the first chapter of Finding Valhalla over the weekend, and I think it is a bit better. My Valkyrie has gotten younger, and there are some new characters to work in, but I think the story will be better in the long run. I still have more research and planning to do, but I was inspired by the story of Brynhild and Sigurd in the book Nordic Gods and Heroes by Padraic Colum. I think it will serve very well as an example of a doomed romance, with sacrifice and betrayal, ending in death. I’ll have to play around a bit with the mythology in order to make my Valkyries descendants of Brynhild when the original myth doesn’t mention any children, but that’s called poetic license, right?

So that’s my update for today. I’ve got to get back to work now. There’s still a lot of piles left to sort through. Wish me luck!

ROW80 Update – April 27

Goals:

1. Spend at least half an hour every day on writing or editing, an hour on weekends
2. Finish rewrite of Dragons at Dawn
3. Post to my blog on the ROW80 update days (Sunday and Wednesday)
4. Read at least one of my books on writing every week

I have been working on editing every day, but mostly all I am doing is dissecting my stories and characters. I may end up just rewriting everything after I get it all plotted out. Because I have been working so hard on editing I haven’t made much progress reading Writing the Short Story, by Jack M Bickham. However, I decided to write a short story about the early days of my Valkyrie heroine from Finding Valhalla. I consider it a writing exercise, giving me a better understanding of her character and backstory. If it works out I will probably publish it online, either as a free download or for 99¢.

I would also like to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers for my nephew and his family. It is really appreciated in this dark hour.

That’s it for today. I’ve got to get back to work now. See you on Sunday!