Zoomed in on Twitter this morning. Not a lot of time this morning, though I ran across a bizarre tweet that said characters shouldn’t be developed until the second draft. The writer thought you couldn’t develop the character until you knew what the plot was (I think he was using story and plot interchangeably).
This is why characterization is the foundation of story. Without characters, the story is a mechanical construct. That’s what Hollywood’s doing now with a lot of films and TV, putting together a story and adding characters. And it shows.
I’m starting on a fresh, blank screen for my climax, so I don’t get distracted by the other pages. Still, it’s a bit of a challenge to write, and I just have to do it, word by word. Much sitting back and thinking, trying something, researching. Sometimes I feel like I jumped into the deep end of the pool and I can’t see the bottom.
Image by Jennifer McCallum
Onto pantsing…
This one comes from Sheila Chandra’s book Organising Your Creative Career | Sheila Chandra | Author & Life Coach.
She says before you start a project, reread the guidelines. If you’re doing an anthology call, this will be an important step, especially for a pantser (more pants!). We can take an idea and run with it, coming up with all kinds of interesting directions.
The problem with writing for an anthology is that there’s often a theme. One time, I read the guidelines for an anthology call. I sat on it for a few weeks, thinking about it. I was about to write the story when I saw the book above.
So I went back to look at the guidelines. And it was a good thing. My creative side would have taken the story in a direction that didn’t fit the call. Sometimes now I paste in the requirements in the Word document while I’m starting the story, so I can keep it in mind.
Linda Maye Adams 