Friday Wrap-Up

Hmmm.  Let’s see what happened this week.

• Worked a  bit more on the new story Witching Hour. Not much though.
• Pulse is starting to pick up some.
• Completely lost focus after dl that ebook from Lisle
• Tried to find something to read-was unsuccessful.

Yeah. Slow week….

The Fan-Girl In Me Squeed

I down-loaded Holly Lisle’s “Create A Plot” excerpt from her website this evening to see if I could use some of her ideas to fashion something of a plot out of these ideas I have floating in my head. I came across this little gem that simply made me squee with unabashed adoration.

You the writer can do some amazing things with time. Unlike mere mortals, you can stop it,
slow it down, run it in reverse, and leap forward or backward days, years, centuries, and
eons, all with the merest flick of your finger.

Like other powerful time-travelers, however, you can also forget where you are and where
you’ve been and accidentally put yourself in two different places at the same time, a situation
that can only lead to nightmares.

One of the most memorable Timeline-structured pieces I’ve ever come across is an episode
of Firefly, the short-lived but brilliant western-in-space television series by Joss Whedon.
The episode is titled “Out of Gas,” and it starts with the hero of the series lying on a grate in
his spaceship, bleeding and clearly dying, starting the episode with a mystery (who shot the
captain?) and a cliffhanger (will he live?). Then it flashes backward a few hours, and you see
a man offer to exchange a ship part for something the captain has that he wants. Only the
trader shoots the captain and starts to steal his ship, but flees when the captain threatens to
kill him, after which the captain collapses (where’s the crew? What happened to the ship?).
Back a few more hours. We see the crew abandoning the captain (another cliffhanger—what
happened to put them in this situation?). Then back a few hours further, and so on, until we
see the initial actions that caused such horrible consequences. All of these are projected as
the memories of the dying captain. The final sequence is the Now, the moment when we find
out how the captain manages to survive, and what happened to his crew.

It’s a stunning piece of writing beautifully presented, and it demonstrates the power of time in
giving a story depth and resonance.

pg. 42 of Create A Plot Clinic by Holly Lisle

Seriously? Firefly! I’m shaking…

Friday Wrap-Up

I realize that it’s been a whole week since my last post and I apologize. I’ve been busily learning how to knit on an Ultimate Sweater Machine. But as that is not related to writing I won’t go into details. Now as for the topic of me writing-let’s see what I did this week:

• I wandered over to the Elliquiy forum at the beginning of the week.
• Since wandering over there I picked up the Pulse thread again and added a total of 1,303 words to the story over the course of the week.
• I started a new story thread to help build out a world for a fellow writer on E! last night. The Story is titled The Witching Hour, and so far I have contributed a total of 359 words.
• Picked up two new reference books at B&N – the encyclopedia of secret societies and the encyclopedia of fantastical creatures.

Friday Wrap Up

Didn’t think these wrap-ups had completely disappeared did you? What happened this week:

• Rang in the New Year
• Wrote the first post of the new year
• Caught up on all the blogs that I have been neglecting to read
• Had a feeling that the Muse was returning while listening to a song and had a flash of a character I hadn’t thought about in several months

First Post Of 2009

Welcome to 2009. Some things that I am planning, and in part have already implemented for the new year include a new layout for Loose Ends as well as regularly posting again. And yes, I think my muse may be making its way back from the vast desert that was my creative writing in the last half of 2008.

When I do start writing again I plan on posting some of the work over at room7609 since I already have quite a few snippets over there already. I’m not going to push things as much as I did last year. I was so focused on the negative aspects of where I was that I sabotaged my work.  I am going to try and focus on the positive aspects of the things I do this year. I need to remind myself that I don’t know everything and that it’s alright. Every writer is different. Everyone has a different method of working. I just haven’t found mine yet. And above all – it’s alright not to be perfect. (Best if you don’t ask)

I also plan on keeping up with the book reviews…once I get back to reading fiction. If you can believe it I haven’t read anything in several months. I was given a gift card for Barnes & Noble for Christmas and still haven’t spent it. Every time I go into the bookstore I wander the isles listlessly looking for something to read. I can’t seem to make up my mind. I have a feeling that this is also linked to my not writing. I am simply afraid. Afraid that I may be disappointed by the story, or even start comparing my writing to what I am reading and start down that spiral of depression yet again. I know that this is irrational. But it’s how I feel. So it stops me from possibly picking up a really good author.

Seems that I have my work cut out for me this year. Building myself up once more as a writer. Let’s see what comes out the other side of 2009.

Happy New Year everyone!