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52 Card Project 2022: Week 25: Illumination
I took a vacation this week, but I didn't go anywhere in particular. Last week at this time, I also took a staycation and spent it through boxes from Rob. This year, I did not put much in the way of demands on myself. This was partly due to the fact that I am facing fewer boxes, and partly due to the heat. It hit 100° and I don't have central air.
(Jane Austen: "What dreadful hot weather we have been having! It keeps one in a constant state of inelegance").
I did knock off a few gardening tasks, cooked, puttered around, and read. And I met Patricia C. Wrede, one of my writing mentors, for a story conference on the new book, which was gratifyingly successful. I mentioned the mental breakthrough I'd had last week. This conference with Pat was another one. Pat and I had worked together in a novel writing group a couple of decades ago, and she's the midwife for my first book, the one who led me through a series of questions that helped me figure out the plot of Emerald House Rising.
I've often said that for the decade or so that I was writing short stories, the way that story creation worked for me was that I would get one idea, and it would be like dropping a seed crystal into a supersaturated solution: with that one idea, an entire story idea would bloom in my mind, and I would write it down. That was the reason I had such a difficult time switching from short stories to novels: I just had no experience at working the story idea out. Pat helped me/showed me how to do that, asking me leading questions that helped me grope my way to uncovering the plot. We did it again at the Good Earth restaurant this past Wednesday, and I'm sure the waitress was baffled by a series of excited exclamations coming from our table as pieces of the plot started falling into place:
"That's who wrote the letter!"
"Ooo! Ooo! The Aquamarine's consort--turns out, she's a dear friend of Lady Claudella!"
"But of course, THEY ALL WENT TO TERGOLIA!"
I've worked out critical details of one character's family tree, and what happened to the various members is a lot of the engine for the plot. The story, in part, is about inheritance, and about actions taken in the hopes that a certain consequence will happen--and then something else, entirely unexpected, takes people off in different directions.
I love these moments in the creative process of writing a book--call it synergy or illumination or inspiration or...I just wish they happened more often.
Thanks, Pat!
Image description: The background is a (very faint) image of a cave, illuminated by an opening through which sunlight pours. Overlaid over that image is a tree with fantastically shaped roots, with sunlight shining through its branches. Over the patch of sunlight a hand hovers, holding a golden puzzle piece. At the foot of the tree branches is a crystalline gemstone structure.
Illumination
Click here to see the 2022 52 Card Project gallery.
Click here to see the 2021 gallery.
(Jane Austen: "What dreadful hot weather we have been having! It keeps one in a constant state of inelegance").
I did knock off a few gardening tasks, cooked, puttered around, and read. And I met Patricia C. Wrede, one of my writing mentors, for a story conference on the new book, which was gratifyingly successful. I mentioned the mental breakthrough I'd had last week. This conference with Pat was another one. Pat and I had worked together in a novel writing group a couple of decades ago, and she's the midwife for my first book, the one who led me through a series of questions that helped me figure out the plot of Emerald House Rising.
I've often said that for the decade or so that I was writing short stories, the way that story creation worked for me was that I would get one idea, and it would be like dropping a seed crystal into a supersaturated solution: with that one idea, an entire story idea would bloom in my mind, and I would write it down. That was the reason I had such a difficult time switching from short stories to novels: I just had no experience at working the story idea out. Pat helped me/showed me how to do that, asking me leading questions that helped me grope my way to uncovering the plot. We did it again at the Good Earth restaurant this past Wednesday, and I'm sure the waitress was baffled by a series of excited exclamations coming from our table as pieces of the plot started falling into place:
"That's who wrote the letter!"
"Ooo! Ooo! The Aquamarine's consort--turns out, she's a dear friend of Lady Claudella!"
"But of course, THEY ALL WENT TO TERGOLIA!"
I've worked out critical details of one character's family tree, and what happened to the various members is a lot of the engine for the plot. The story, in part, is about inheritance, and about actions taken in the hopes that a certain consequence will happen--and then something else, entirely unexpected, takes people off in different directions.
I love these moments in the creative process of writing a book--call it synergy or illumination or inspiration or...I just wish they happened more often.
Thanks, Pat!
Image description: The background is a (very faint) image of a cave, illuminated by an opening through which sunlight pours. Overlaid over that image is a tree with fantastically shaped roots, with sunlight shining through its branches. Over the patch of sunlight a hand hovers, holding a golden puzzle piece. At the foot of the tree branches is a crystalline gemstone structure.
Click here to see the 2022 52 Card Project gallery.
Click here to see the 2021 gallery.