Posts
Still cranking away on Seattle Pizza, and still enjoying it...I find myself getting stuck often and often stare at the wall on the other side of my monitor for long periods of time, but it's coming eaiser, and I'm starting to understand my two MCs enough to speak for them consistently. I realized this week that I was missing something: a protaganist. My concept was that it would be these two guys who, in a roundabout way due to their work in paranormal investigations (I know, I'm a fount of originality!), find themselves in legal trouble...so, my concept was that the bad guy was, in general, the law (and by proxy, the prosecutor). After watching Dark Knight again this week (awesome movie...media hype aside, I thought the Dark Knight/White Knight and Batman/Joker story arcs were brilliant, although they blew the movie when the Two Face story began), I realized how much more a complex, bona fide bad guy could add to the story. So, I'm going to do some rough outlining before I dig in again to see how it would work...it's still early enough in the story that re-writing (a first draft no-no, I know) would be minimal. I'd love to do a super-sinister character, a la Mssrs. Vandermar and Croup...maybe a female baddie.
So, on the list before we're off to visit relatives for the holidays: at least 5k more written, read and respond to Cate's MS, and maybe a year-end post.
Lastly: I played this game earlier this year...The semi-cheesy MIDI music is addictive, and the graphics (once you get past the first level) are pretty cool. I woke up this morning with the piano riff in my head, and thought I'd share. Some of the levels are difficult, but the music is so hyper-mellow that it's like audio ganja...
*Update*
Almost forgot to plug Barry Napier's web serial Blood Routes. I've read the first couple of posts, and it looks like an interesting story. I really like the concept of a web serial...I think it's a natural progression for literature. With the popularity of the Kindle picking up and it's blog-reading functionality (despite having to pay to register each blog...), it's really something for all short-story authors to consider.
4 comments:
Ooh, I love that picture, and I love Gaiman's Neverwhere. :)
If you haven't read Lessons from a Lifetime of Writing: A Novelist Looks at His Craft by David Morrell, I would suggest you do so. Out of many of the "how-to" books out there, I think it's one of the better ones.
Something Morrell talks about in the book is having a dialogue with yourself about your book. Like your protag problem -- sit there with a blank Word screen and type "I don't have a protag for my book." Then play the other side and ask "Why not?" And then go back and forth, always playing devil's advocate. This way you kind of rationalize out your thoughts on paper (so to speak) and get them out of your head ... just a thought.
Thanks Robert...I'll check it out. I've read King's On Writing, which was very good; my formal training, as far as writing, is more technical/business-oriented; I'm always open for suggestions and guidance on the creative-writing side.
King's books is quite good, of course, but Morrell's book ... well, it's more technical about the craft, if that makes sense. I unfortunately don't have my copy anymore, or else I'd send it to you, but I'm sure you could find it in a used bookstore somewhere ...
Post a Comment