Plotting...

[fajrdrako]

This evening I went to a NaNoWriMo plotting workshop at the public library. And it was very useful.

In manageable groups, we discussed our general plot and and our plotting problems, and did some brainstorming on the subject. I don't know about the others, but for me it was extremely useful. I talked about my story - historical adventure - and the comments, questions and suggestions really helped me put a shape to my ideas.

At one point, though, diurnal_lee said, as we discussed my story ideas, "I keep thinking of Francis Crawford."

Headdesk.

Really. I'm trying to write original, fresh, creative stuff. moved by all sorts of influences. And the influence of Dorothy Dunnett is so strong it shows up in casual conversation about my story?

I'm not sure whether to wail or be proud.

Comments

[acampbell.livejournal.com]

headdesk

Hee! You're starting to talk like an LJ person!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

You're starting to talk like an LJ person!

I know. I've never used the word before. But I do love it - it's so expressive! And exactly what I felt at that moment.

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

Welcome to my world [g].

Although not Dunnett, specifically. I seem to have given up again. Although I did get farther into Game of Kings than I did the last three times I tried...

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Welcome to my world [g].

And, probably, that of half the people who ever wrote anything. The other half don't care and aren't worth reading anyway.

not Dunnett, specifically. I seem to have given up again.

So maybe you should start with another book. (Niccolo Rising?) Or just give up. By the time I'd read three or four pages into The Game of Kings I had great trouble in putting it down.... and the obsession has lasted forty years now.

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

And, probably, that of half the people who ever wrote anything. The other half don't care and aren't worth reading anyway.

Well, "they" do say that in order to become a better writer, you should read as much as possible. If that really is the case, then "they'd" better be prepared for the consequences [g].

As for Dunnett, I'll probably try again after a while. What I need to do is take the book on a trip with me. I can concentrate on reading better when I'm traveling, for some reason.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

"they'd" better be prepared for the consequences [g].

So very true!

Yes, Dunnett novels are good for a trip. I have often read them while travelling. I just had to occassionally remember to look up from reading so I could also see the place I was visiting. I was in Nova Scotia when I read Checkmate for the first time, and I remember Halifax through a hazy veil of 16th century France.

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

I have lived in western Washington for fourteen years. In that time span, I've been up to Mt. Rainier maybe fifty times?

I still am reminded of the biography of Queen Victoria that I was in the middle of the first time I visited the park -- when I was about sixteen [g]. Every time I go up there.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Yes, I can understand that.

In similar mode, when I think of Lindisfarne or the Northumbria area in England, I think of James Clavell's Shogun, because I was reading it the first time I travelled through there. It wasn't that it was such a great book, but it did have a powerful setting, and the powerful setting around me - some of the most beautiful country in the world - was in such contrast.

And I suppose A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin will always remind me of Malta, though not necessarily vice versa.

Sometimes a book just reminds me vividly of what I was doing (or supposed to be doing) at the time. Reading all the Asterix albums when I should have been studying for undergraduate exams. Reading Pawn in Frankincense when I was supposed to be reading A Farewell to Arms for grade 13 English. (When I finished PF and got to A Farewell to Arms, I loved it.)

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

On a similar note, I can look at any of my quilts and tell you what I was listening to when I quilted it (audiobooks and hand quilting go together like tea and lemon).

I, um, don't have any fond memories of Hemingway...

[rosiespark.livejournal.com]

And I suppose A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin will always remind me of Malta

And possibly of Gozo, though I seem to remember that you carried the book, doorstopper that it is, in your bag all day without reading a single word. So was it the lure of the Gozitan scenery or the charm of the company that kept you from reading? :)

[abrakadabrah.livejournal.com]

Are you surprised? I'm not.

DD's influences are visible in the LC as well.

You can always do what I have. Include the influence and then kill it off - which is Harold Bloom's theory of what authors do with their literary influences and forbears.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Are you surprised? I'm not.

No, not surprised. More like... amused by the inevitability of it.

DD's influences are visible in the LC as well.

Undeniable.

Include the influence and then kill it off - which is Harold Bloom's theory of what authors do with their literary influences and forbears.

Very true, and practicable.

[puritybrown.livejournal.com]

There are worse people to be influenced by.

And the thing about NaNo is to get it written -- it isn't about getting it perfect, or even (necessarily) getting it good -- just get the words out, and spend the next six months or the next year polishing and rewriting it. And ruthlessly pruning out the Dunnett influence, if that's what you want. ;)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

There are worse people to be influenced by.

That's for sure.

the thing about NaNo is to get it written

Yup. I'm really not even worrying about style. For one thing, I do believe that each person writes with their own voice, and if years of addiction to Dorothy Dunnett has influenced my style, so be it. With Guy Gavriel Kay and Mary Doria Russell, this is a good thing. With some other authors and their wannabe Lymond clones... maybe not.

I just don't want to be derivative, but I am writing in the Dorothy Dunnett genre.

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

This is one of the reasons I'm quite anti-Novel-Writing Month. To me, anything that privileges speed/quantity over quality is bad. I know how long it takes to research and write a non-fiction book (years), so I'm very dubious when popular historical biographers can claim to knock out one a year or even every 6 months. With fiction… Unless it's seriously pulpy and formulaic, I'd also expect a longer time-scale.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Seems to me it's worth trying: the idea is not to produce a finished novel, but a finished first draft. There's a world of difference. I'm hoping the challenge wil be enough to force me to produce rather than being simply too busy all the time to actually finish any draft at all.

The research is not included in the one-month period.

No one gets to see my first drafts but me, anyway.

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

I think even for first draft, it's pushing it.
One chapter, perhaps, if the book is to have any real depth.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Everybody works in a different way. I don't know what's possible yet. I do know I want to be writing, and I haven't been, and it's driving me nuts.

[lmondegreen.livejournal.com]

Well, she could have said Dan Brown...

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure whether I would have then opted for suicide or homicide.

[abrakadabrah.livejournal.com]

LOL!!!

[golden-hinde.livejournal.com]

Headdesk.
I can't believe you headdesked! *facepalm*

I'm not sure whether to wail or be proud.
Wail with pride, my friend, wail with pride.

Isn't the point of the whole NaNoWriMo exercise to produce something? Do it, get it out of yourself and into the world. What you do with it after that is another discussion - just get it birthed.

And for the record: I'm proud of you.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

can't believe you headdesked! *facepalm*

I don't believe it either, but there you are. How the mighty are fallen.

Wail with pride, my friend, wail with pride.

Yes indeedy.

Isn't the point of the whole NaNoWriMo exercise to produce something?

Yes. It's a just do it kind of exercise. With - which I seem to need - lots of moral support and mutual prodding or sympathy, as necessary.

I'm proud of you.

Thank you for saying so.

[rosiespark.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure whether to wail or be proud.

Well, I'll join golden_hinde in being proud of you!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Grin. Thank you.