Writing From Scratch #1

Making a Plan

So, editing is eating my soul.  And by that I mean I’m so deep in the revisions process that getting my brain back to writing for this blog is proving quite difficult. But I’m making a plan.  Two posts a week!  (This totes counts as a whole post.) Even if it’s just to say, “Hey I’m alive! Also, still editing.” (It’ll be longer than that, promise.) Regular updates are back, baby! PS. Puck and I…

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The Whole Potter-Dumbledore Relationship

Is Dumbledore actually evil or is he way more tragic than anyone realized? So I’ve been thinking recently about Harry Potter, and by recently I mean for the past decade and a half. But recently, as “since Thursday, February 11,” I’ve been thinking about a very specific thing in Harry Potter. Over at Tor.Com, Emily Asher-Perrin has a fabulous reread going on (that’s almost over *sob*), and in her…

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Review of The Dresden Files: Peace Talks (spoilers ahead)

This review is gonna be slightly different than my normal reviews as I am the only Paules Sibling of Awesome who reads The Dresden Files, so I have not talked through my thoughts with B beforehand. I also don’t see the necessity of providing a rating for a book that is the sixteenth in a series (not counting the short story collections) - clearly I enjoy the books. Spoilers ahead!

So, the peace talks in question went about as disastrously as expected knowing Harry Dresden was involved, but obviously I didn’t expect that. Years ago, Jim Butcher promised us an apocalyptic trilogy to end the series (titled Stars and Stones, Hell’s Bells, and Empty Night, in case you missed it), but I never figured we’d actually get to a point where that ending seems in sight.

My big fear going into this was that Karrin Murphy would not survive. I was pleased to see that a) she did and b) she was as badass as ever, despite her injuries from Skin Game. Of course, who knows what will happen in Battle Ground, but really my only hope is that Murphy makes it to the end of the series. Just Murphy and Harry at the end of things, just as they were at the beginning.

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#NotYourTeachersAntigone

Antigone, the play I’ve been working on since November, closed Sunday night. Every theatre experience I have is better than the last, but Antigone holds a special place in my heart. It’s the play that I have known I would produce and direct since the first inkling of starting my production company came into my brain. Antigone is, perhaps, more relevant than ever given our political and cultural…

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Spring Reading Reviews '16

This spring's list: NK Jemison, Rainbow Rowell, Stephen King, & Agatha Christie #amreading

Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve written anything here.  I’ve been hard at work at my new novel, so apologies for my absences but really Sorry, Not Sorry. I have been reading though, and here are my thoughts on what I read this spring (March-May).  Minor spoilers (nothing plot related) below for The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by NK Jemison, Carry On by Rainbow Rowell, The Future of Life by Edward…

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There is already considerable speculation about how Congress would react to a replay of the Saturday Night Massacre, when President Richard Nixon ordered his attorney general to fire the Watergate special prosecutor. Senators of both parties have warned the president against dismissing Mueller, some in very strong language (dismissal would cross a “red line” or be “explosive”). Members of Congress would no doubt demand an immediate, serious congressional inquiry into the matters the special counsel is investigating, if not impeachment proceedings based on the dismissal itself.

Trump Can Fire Mueller, But Not a Grand Jury 

One of the reasons Trump keeps getting away with his lawlessness and his lies, is that reporters and pundits keep acting like this craven, Vichy Congress will do ANYTHING of meaningful consequence when he steps up his obstruction of justice to firing Mueller.

We have been in a Constitutional Crisis since McConnell blocked President Obama’s Constitutional right and duty to nominate to SCOTUS, and nobody in Congress or the punditocracy seemed to give a fuck about THAT, so it’s laughable to think that Congress – especially a Congress that allows Trump Toady Devin Nunes to oversee an investigation into anything involving the administration he’s protecting – will do anything more meaningful than wring their hands and make some speeches.

The only way to do anything about any of this is to DESTROY the GOP in the election this year, in a wave election of historical proportions.

(via wilwheaton)

Writing from Scratch #4

The Milieu Plot

The problem of the milieu plot involves a problem of location or setting. The character is often either in a place they need/want to escape from or not in the specific place they need/want to be in. The try-fail cycles will involve traveling away from or to the location. Gulliver’s Travels, The Great Escape, and The Hobbit contain milieu plots.

The Lord of the Rings contains one very large milieu – the problem of getting the One Ring from the Shire where its been hidden for a number of years to Mordor where it can finally be destroyed. We can further break this down into smaller milieu plots. Let’s look at one: the problem of crossing the Misty Mountains. (And we’ll use the events as they occur in the movie, since more people have watched that than read the book)

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My 90yr old Irish Catholic grandpa doesn’t miss with my gender. He’s never gotten my name wrong, or my pronouns, never even faltered over it.

It’s all so natural too: son, big man, young man…

We’ve never talked about it. He’s the only one who hasn’t pushed for details. He just accepted it and carried on because it’s not a huge deal.

It’s so comforting.

Writing from Scratch #9: Complex Plots, Part 2

Writing from Scratch #9: Complex Plots, Part 2. Writing from Scratch is a weekly blog series that takes writing back to the basics. #writing #writingadvice

Writing from Scratch is a weekly blog series that takes writing back to the basics. Each week we’ll build on what we’ve learned before to craft our stories.

Go to index. Go to first post. Go to previous post.

Complex Plots, Part 2: Modifying Plots

The second way we’ll try complicating a plot is through plot modifiers. This happens when a try-fail cycle not only furthers the solution of…

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Writing from Scratch #2

What is a Plot?

Different people mean different things when they use the word “plot,” and they are all correct, if not as descriptive as they could be.

Some people mean a story structure, like the 3-Act Structure; some people mean a plot archetype, like an underdog sports plot or a heist plot; some people mean the negative to positive or positive to negative trajectory of the main character, like Rags to Riches; and some people mean “to plot” as in “to outline.”

Throughout Writing from Scratch, when I say “plot,” I’ll be referring to the definition I’ve already hinted at: a plot is a problem and its solution. Plots of this nature can be very long if the solution takes a while for the character to arrive at or very short if the solution is solved without much trouble. In a story with multiple plots of this type, the plot that has its problem first introduced and last solved is what I will call the Long Plot.

Plot-Problems

There are four umbrella types that plots of this kind fall under – all based on the type of problem the plot has. And these are called the MICE* plot-problems.

Milieu

Inquiry

Character

Event

Over the next few posts, I will be diving into each in turn.

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