Another chapter down.
For the professionals out there, this may not seem like much, but for me, especially after the last two weeks I’ve had at the day-job, it’s very good progress.
More to the point, for my patient readers, I have completed a major group of “character” chapters (see post on Pacing), and those are always the hardest to write.
Now comes a group of “action” chapters, which tend to go much more quickly.
k
Posted in Fallen Cloud Saga, Writing | Tagged Beneath a Wounded Sky, blogging, creative writing, Fallen Cloud Saga, FC:V, Writing | 1 Comment »
A word about pacing.
In my books, chapters tend to fall into two categories: chapters that deal primarily with characters, and chapters that have a lot of action. When I outline my book (yes, way back at the beginning), I think about these two types. Do I have the mix of action/character chapters that I want? Are they interspersed the way I want them to be?
The answers to these questions dramatically change the result. The extremes explain it. Go all-action chapters and you get “The Bourne Ultimatum” where if you go with all-character chapters, you get “Little Women.” Of course, each of these (especially in novel form), you have some of the other type of chapter. You might not think of it as such, but a chapter with Jo and a meeting of the Pickwick Society is an action chapter; important things happen, and the characters do not resolve major internal conflicts. Character chapters in a “Bourne” novel are easier to spot, mostly because nothing blows up and speeding cars aren’t involved.
And, naturally, each chapter has a soupçon of its counterpart. Nothing in writing is Boolean.
Then, once I’ve determined the mix of chapters in my outline, I look at how they’re arranged and see the “rhythm” of the pacing. Consider these two examples:
Which of these seems like the more interesting? Which one looks like the pacing of the action “beats” will better drive the story? I vote for the second.
Of course, there’s no hard and fast rule, but most successful stories have a rising level of action as the plot unfolds. Tension rises, and partially relaxes, rises some more, and relaxes, rises more and more, to the climactic moments, and the story resolves. Action, in its various degrees, helps drive the tension. Action provides the pace of the conflict.
k
Posted in Fallen Cloud Saga, Writing | Tagged Beneath a Wounded Sky, blogging, creative writing, Fallen Cloud Saga, FC:V, novel writing, Writing, writing techniques, writing tips | 3 Comments »
As a follow-up-follow-up to my No-Knead Bread recipe, this addition.
I carried through on my threat to replace all the moisture in this recipe with a more robust beer. And, in my tradition of not doing anything by halves, I used some Ninkasi Total Domination IPA. This is one of the hoppier beers you’ll find in non-specialty groceries, and I thought it would be a good test to see if there was an acceptable outer limit to the hops flavoring that this recipe can take.
As usual, I went with 500g flour to 308-310g liquid. The long rise went well, and it baked up (in a covered pot) as well as any other variation I’ve tried. What we came up with was a very beery bread, with good texture and nice big artisanal bubbles inside. The crust was chewy without being tough or crackly. In short, another good bread.
Except for the hops. This experiment proved that there is, indeed, an acceptable outer limit to the hops flavor a bread can accept, and as much as I like this IPA as a beer, it is outside that limit for bread making.
The intense hops flavor imparted a delayed but lingering, top-of-the-palate bitterness that just didn’t work. I even wondered if, properly paired, it might be a good addition to a meal and decided, no, it isn’t. It was just too much.
So, lesson learned. Nice malty beers or clean, lightly-hopped pilsners/lagers all work fine, but the strong, knock-your-teeth-out IPAs are to be avoided.
k
Posted in Food, Recipes | Tagged artisanal bread, beer, bread, cooking, Food, IPA, Ninkasi, no knead bread recipe, no-knead bread, pilsners, recipes | 2 Comments »
Sarah over at Musings of a Steampunk asked me to do a guest blog; a very nice compliment. Check out her blog to follow her journey into the world of a first-time novelist.
Posted in Writing | Tagged creative writing, discipline, novel writing, Writing, writing schedule, writing techniques, writing tips | Leave a Comment »
Last week was trying. The day-job seriously got in the way of my life. A big project I have been building for six weeks went into production. I was up late, shepherding it through deployment, and then I was up early, converting six years of historical data. Pretty standard stuff, except that it all went in flawlessly, performed much better than expected, applied all the edits, and successfully moved everything to where it needed to be.
Then the users showed up and said, “Oh, that’s not what we wanted.” Typical example of a rookie mistake: I gave them what they asked for, not what they wanted.
So, today is a stress management day. It’s early, and the day has yet to grow warm. I’m out on the deck, sipping coffee, listening to the birds call through the trees. Moisture glistens on the leaves, and the slanting rays of morning sun give everything a pristine, contre-jour brilliance. The shadows are long, but welcoming, and even the street sounds are gentled, muffled, as if the modern world has yet to fully awaken.
Here, in my bower of leaves, I dream of distant days where this becomes my every-morning, where spiders spin their nighttime webs to catch the sunrise light, and flowers lift their sleepy, dew-spangled heads in preparation of the day.
In cool sunlight, I dream. And I am refreshed.
k
Posted in Gardening | Tagged gardening, nature, quiet living, simplification, stress management | Leave a Comment »
I’m wrapping up my second month on this blog (boy, do I wish there was another word for this thing; “blog” just sounds so…indiscreet), and I thought it proper to do a little retrospective on the process.
First, a big thank you to all those who have visited, read, and decided to follow this “scream of consciousness.” It’s always humbling (and not a little surprising) when complete strangers from around the world take an interest in what I write. Your attention is noted and greatly appreciated because, after all, writing is only half the process; readers are key. Continue Reading »
Posted in Writing | Tagged blogging, creative writing, Writing, writing techniques, writing tips | Leave a Comment »
Ages ago, when the crust was cooling and TV was funny, there was an episode of M*A*S*H where Hawkeye was looking through the files for the map to the minefield and Radar says it’s right here. Under “B”…for “Boom.”
An acquaintance over on another blog recently told us that she’d joined a writers’ workshop, and my immediate reaction was “Uh oh.” I’ve had some bad experiences with writers’ workshops. While I don’t want to discourage any writer from joining a workshop, they can a minefield. Luckily, I have a map. Continue Reading »
Posted in Writing | Tagged Clarion, creative writing, novel writing, writers workshops, Writing, writing techniques, writing tips | 1 Comment »
