Moving toward the tipping point

[pegkerr]

From work:

At a recent trip to the bookstore, I picked up List Your Self: Listmaking as the Way to Self-Discovery, by Ilene Segalove and Paul Bob Velick.
I note that the authors have another one out, too, called List Your Creative Self: Listmaking As the Way to Unleash Your Creativity, which I might check out in the future.

I bought the first book because thought it might prove useful if I ever have trouble thinking of something to write in my journal or LiveJournal. But it occurs to me that this might also be a very useful tool for creating characters. Sample questions:

List the brand names you by and swear by
List the tools you can’t live without
List the most exhilarating experiences you’ve ever had
List the things you’ve done to get noticed
List the things you will not tolerate, no matter what the cost

and dozens and dozens of others.

How might Solveig answer these questions, or Agnes, or Rolf or Jack? I think this might be an excellent break-block tool whenever I need it. Certainly, my characters are beginning to feel like real people to me, so I can imagine answers to some of these questions, even if they aren’t necessarily germane to the plot. This is a promising sign that I’m getting ready to start writing.

What I’m feeling out right now is, how close am I to what I call the "tipping point," the point when I can start writing this book? (Aside from the fact that my computer isn’t available right now, which I hope will be remedied this weekend). I think I’m getting quite close, because, as I’ve said, I’m beginning to think about them more and more as people, rather than as two-dimensional abstractions.

Another question is, where, exactly does this book begin? I have some hazy ideas about that, but don’t have a confident feel for what the opening scene might be. On my last two books, I agonized about this particular problem and flailed around quite a lot before I was satisfied. (I remember the writing group meeting where I presented the first draft of my opening to Emerald House Rising, which certainly included too much description. Joel Rosenberg, bless him, said acidly, "She spends three pages watching a sunset. I dunno, could you possibly start any slower?") I think, using this new method of writing mini-scenes, means that I will making a few attempts to "sneak up" on the beginning of the book, before I pin it down exactly. It all means being willing to tolerate uncertainty, something I’m not usually very good at, but I’m beginning to realize that I need to be good at if I want to be more productive.

One other realization: I recognized another gravitational pull today: Agnes reminds me quite a bit of Martha Macnamara in R.A. Macavoy’s Tea with the Black Dragon. And Solveig, don’t you know, reminds me of Elizabeth, her daughter.

Peg

Comments

[skg.livejournal.com]

Hi Peg,

Just wanted to thank you for continuing to post this sort of thing on your LJ. It is greatly helpful for embryonic writers like myself!

I have been using your exercises to help further develop the characters in the book I have been writing. I finally got up the nerve to show part of it to someone, and the feedback was good! So thanks!!

Sarah

I'm so glad

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

that what I've written is helpful to you. I know I have always loved picking up tidbits from other writers about how-to-write.

Curious: which exercises, specifically, have you tried? Glad you got good feedback.

P.

Re: I'm so glad

[skg.livejournal.com]

Most recently I went through the free-writing exercise that you posted (What does Solveig want? fear? hope? etc) for all of my main characters and two minor characters. It was enlightening.

I tend to write for a bit and then stop and write separate documents for each of my characters about who they are and where they came from and why they are motivated by certain things or compulsive or what their little quirks are. Then I have something to refer back to when I get stuck. I'm going to add in some of the questions you mentioned in this post as well.

Thanks--this is great fun!!

[pinkfinity.livejournal.com]

Peg, would you mind bringing this concept over to the ProfMcG's Workshop (linked to from http://www.lumosdissendium.org) this week? We're having a discussion on a similar topic and I think that your take would be very stimulating to the discussion...

[skg.livejournal.com]

Ooh! Thanks for the pointer Heidi.

Also love the icon.

*schnoogles*

I will . . .

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

if my computer is up and running this weekend. I won't be able to if it isn't.

(Cross your fingers!)

P.

[aome.livejournal.com]

That List concept sounds marvelous. I'm a big list-maker. Pros and Cons, to-do lists, things to buy.... Must make a note of those books.

Do you generally prefer to write linearly? Would it be acceptable to just start writing, with whatever scene grabs you, and see if that helps dictate where the story actually begins?

Writing linearly

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Yes, both of my previous books were written in a pretty strictly linear fashion, and yes I'm trying to be open to experiment this time around, allowing myself to write little bits all over the book, without worrying where (or even if) they will fit in. It'll be an interesting experience.

P.

[innerslytherin]

I love List Yourself! I've had it for four or five years, and still haven't filled the entire book. The fun part is going back to read what you wrote six months or two years ago. The people lists are especially interesting--who is crossed out, who do you add--I think they change the most. I hadn't seen List Your Creative Self, though. I can tell I'll have to stop at Barnes & Noble on the way home.

I know what you mean about the novel, too. I finished Novel #1 (Final--haha--draft) in December, and after spending January and some of February working on a different writing project, have begun Novel #2 (Draft Three). I gave it a new title, started it at a different point, and used a different character's point of view for the prologue (it's a very personal third person omniscient) and the novel just started writing itself. So the mini-scenes sound like a great method.

[serendipoz.livejournal.com]

Because you have talked about how your plot revolved around the seasons, I have just visualized it begining with a seasonal beginning - the beginning of the year or spring, ...

[slightlights.livejournal.com]

Interesting. I can't help but be curious; when you write, "How might Solveig answer these questions, or Agnes, or Rolf or Jack?" and, say, "List the things you’ve done to get noticed"—how much does it turn out to be, 'What things has Solveig done to get noticed?' and how much, 'What things would Solveig admit [to a generic interviewer, to herself, to her mother, &c.] to having done to get noticed?'

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

You could start the book in the middle somewhere, and just work forwards and backwards from there.

B