Queries and synopses

Those dreaded things. Getting everything you've written encapsulated in a thousand words, or two hundred words. Or eight. I've been thinking of ways to do this that might produce a workable piece of writing, and having fun but possibly not actually getting anywhere.

I wrote a few different versions of queries, trying things out, and had the bright idea of writing down all the versions on a piece of paper, cutting them up and laying them out on the floor so I can pick and choose and mix and match into a cohesive whole. I quite enjoyed this, and it makes a nice pattern on my floor, but I haven't been able to choose in a few places because either I like all the different options, or I like none of them. More thought is needed.

My synopsis is at the point where I'm ripping it to shreds. Not sure if I should be or not... I think I'll do a few versions and then get opinions on the best.

And an update on the weather: it spends to challenges! At least, it does in London. Today and yesterday had highs of twenty six degrees Celsius and blue skies. Strange to think I was wearing my winter coat on Monday, and that it hailed last week.

Chess piece characters

It's Wednesday! So I'm getting back into writing Wednesdays.

I've been thinking about character and plot, and how sometimes they can work at cross-purposes. You want your plot to move in a certain direction, but if you force your characters to conform to the plot the story isn't believable. It's like your story is a chess board, and you're picking up your pieces and plonking them where you want them to go. It suits the larger gameplay, but your characters should not act like chess pieces. At least, not like normal chess pieces.

Sometimes you just need to give a few nudges in the right direction. Figure out why they might act the way you want them to, and slip in some details to smooth the transitions. You don't want a reader questioning reactions or motivations, or being jarred out of the story.

Other times you need to do a bit more work. You've plonked your character in a square they'd never normally go near, so maybe you need to think a few moves ahead. Figure out what story beats you want to hit (what squares you absolutely have to get to) and let the character guide themselves to the square. You might not need the squares you were trying to force them into.

You want walking, talking chess pieces that move themselves across the board, rather than doing exactly what they're told.

Writing update

I have finished! Well, this particular revision, anyway. I am now waiting on people to tell me if my changes have been for the better or worse (bites fingernails, tries very hard not to stalk my readers. Fails).

So what am I doing in the meantime? On to the next book, of course! I have spent an hour or so transferring my scenes into Scrivener, and now I need to input my plot on the awesome card thingies and figure out which particular inconsistencies I want to smooth out. I have had multiple plans for this book, but when I write it I keep sliding off-track, which makes for horrific continuity problems (I’m writing several parts of the book at the same time). The book does what it wants, which at times isn’t what I have planned out for it. Maybe I should just give up on planning and resign myself to being a pantser.

But then again I like planning. And it makes it easier at the end when you've had a good structure from the start...

Plodding along....

I think it was a few weeks ago that I said I was nearing the end of my present revision, and had five more pieces of story left in my Scrivener sidebar until I finished.

So how far have I come in a few weeks? Well, I still have five more pieces of story left in my Scrivener sidebar. Actually, it’s six. I have done quite a bit of work on it, but it all seems to have been swallowed up. It’s difficult when you rewrite one bit and then have to go back and rewrite an earlier bit so it matches nicely.

I’m having fun, though, which is the main thing. There’s lots of action and adventure in the current bit, and one of my main aims is to make it exciting. Which I hope it is. I’ve also been trying to niggle out the tricky bits in plot during tube journeys, but I find I get too distracted and start reading the backs of other people’s newspapers and trying to see what books people are reading and subjecting the advertisements to in-depth critical analysis. Even if I don’t get distracted, I'm likely to almost miss my tube stop (I’m sure my train this morning made a jump through the time-space continuum and skipped three stops) and forget everything I’ve been thinking about in the rush to squeeze out the doors before they close.

So, I thought, maybe I should get a tablet so that I can brainstorm and write while on the tube! (I hear from others that it is quite useful to do this.) Let’s ignore the fact that I could do the same thing on a bit of paper.

Hmm. Maybe I should try the bit of paper idea first. It’d be a lot cheaper.

Writing and Bits of String

I have a few projects going at the moment, but I've been thinking that I should stick with one and get it all nice and send it out to beta readers (mwa ha ha. You should know who you are. And then I will stand over you with a big stick and ask sweetly when you will be finished). I am letting my perfectionist ways get the better of me, and it's always good to have a break and reboot, as well as hear things from a different angle from readers.

The first part of my current Work In Progress alternates chapters between two characters who do not meet (at least, not yet). One character has a nice, mostly flowing story arc that I'm quite proud of (though I know it can be improved. I have learnt anything can ALWAYS be improved), but the other's story arc is a bit like a rope with knots tied in it. She has a story, and it happens with scenes strung out along the story line, but things aren't quite as interlinked as they need to be. What I would like is a nice bit of finger knitting, where each bit connects to the next and pulls the story through, preferably with things getting ever worse for the character as you go along (it being the first part of the book). Now trying to figure out how to do this.

I always enjoy and admire stories where the story strands are like a friendship bracelet - strands appear and disappear, and weave together to create a cohesive tale. I see Harry Potter as a bit like this, with multiple strands from different books all coming together and being woven in at some point.

Then there are the stories where threads are left hanging on purpose. These are the ones that make you think, and wonder what might happen next, and whether possibly the author might write a sequel, and then check their author page every other week to see if they are planning one. Some of these books I have really enjoyed, and I like the idea of leaving the reader with something to think about. It also seems more real if things are left hanging and there are uncertainties, as if the world of the book is more tangible. In the real world there are always uncertainties. I've just finished Gemma Malley's Declaration trilogy, and it's one of these (don't let it put you off if you don't like these kinds of endings! The trilogy's really good!). Being by Kevin Brooks is another example, and I think in that case the open ending was meant as a jump-off point for online discussion. It certainly gave me something to think about.

What thread patterns have you noticed in books? What kinds do you like? Do you think of story structure in other ways?