Routine Patterns
For a week, I've managed to work consistently on Vitamin Femme. I've established a routine: I wake up, write for an hour or two, go to work, read and goof off, write some more, then go to sleep.
I've accumulated several pages doing things this way. While those pages may not always be the greatest, I know that some of those pages are very strong. I'm proudest of the sequence where Bridgett discovers the truth behind the vitamins she takes each day. While I knew most of what I wanted out of the sequence, the writing held enough control to move things in a stronger direction.
Initially, I thought Bridgett would run away from her grandfather, but I knew that if she did, she wouldn't get some of the most important information (the contents of the vitamins). Instead of running, she freaks out, slapping her grandfather furiously until she draws blood. Once that happens, she vomits and passes out.
I've found a lot of detail in the last week as well, fleshing out the structure of the story and the values of several characters. For instance, one character is designed to be a caring feminine presence and a door to finding some form of paganism (mostly female culture). Through writing, I've discovered that Selena is quite compassionate, but also can be quite stern. She's a loving, firm, warm woman, who embraces her daughter, Penelope, dating Bridgett. In short, I didn't know that Selena was prone to lectures before, but now it sems a vital part of her character.
I've accumulated several pages doing things this way. While those pages may not always be the greatest, I know that some of those pages are very strong. I'm proudest of the sequence where Bridgett discovers the truth behind the vitamins she takes each day. While I knew most of what I wanted out of the sequence, the writing held enough control to move things in a stronger direction.
Initially, I thought Bridgett would run away from her grandfather, but I knew that if she did, she wouldn't get some of the most important information (the contents of the vitamins). Instead of running, she freaks out, slapping her grandfather furiously until she draws blood. Once that happens, she vomits and passes out.
I've found a lot of detail in the last week as well, fleshing out the structure of the story and the values of several characters. For instance, one character is designed to be a caring feminine presence and a door to finding some form of paganism (mostly female culture). Through writing, I've discovered that Selena is quite compassionate, but also can be quite stern. She's a loving, firm, warm woman, who embraces her daughter, Penelope, dating Bridgett. In short, I didn't know that Selena was prone to lectures before, but now it sems a vital part of her character.
Labels: Bridgett, Writing Progress
posted by LEN! at 1:28 AM
2 Comments:
So at certain times, the sotry kind of writes itself, and it develops in ways you didn't expect?
That's interesting. I've never really done enough creative writing to experience that I suppose.
Yes, the development of a story, while it might start as something fully under the writer's control, can become something totally different. A good example of this is the complete ending of The Dark Tower; it wasn't something that Stephen King necessarily wanted, but it is where the story took him.
In the case of my story, I'll sometimes focus on what to do with a character and end up going in a direction I didn't want at all. Earlier in the week, I developed a sequence where Bridgett decided to take on more of Penelope's characteristics--flowing blonde wig, make it look like she had a larger bust, use lifts to look taller. It gave the wrong kind of note. It felt very Single White Female and creepy, which was all wrong. Since I'd already decided to have Bridgett dress more prep and add blonde highlights to her hair, I decided I'd done enough to her in this regard and killed the newer sequence.
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