On Wednesday, when I started Chapter 3 of "The Originals," I had some idea of where to start, thanks to brainstorming, but I wasn't sure where I'd end up. But then, like dominos, one sentence followed the next, and I wrote with passion and intesity, discovering things I never knew about my characters. It felt like hitting gold, or maybe hitting the carmel ribbon in my vanilla ice cream. I wrote 15 pages in one morning and it felt good.
Then on Thursday I started thinking about my Coffin story, Chapter 20, an action scene. As I walked to the library for my weekly volunteering at the bookstore, I could feel the excitement from the events. It took a while to translate that passion into good writing, but once I hit that stride I didn't want to stop.
Sometimes I get discouraged with the life I've chosen for myself, the life of a penniless artist, and that makes it important to hold onto the exhuberent times and remember them.
* * *
On a different note, I found an interesting article on writing advice called "Pixar's 22 Rules of Storytelling," as told by Pixar storyboarder Emma Coats, written by Chris Robley. Now I have to admit, I don't usually like being told how to write, but the list really felt helpful to me. Here are some of the points that made me think:
#1: You admire a character for trying more than for their successes.
#4: Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___.
#6: What is your character good at, comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. How do they deal?
#7: Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get yours working up front.
#13: Give your characters opinions. Passive/malleable might seem likable to you as you write, but it’s poison to the audience.
No comments:
Post a Comment