-2/6/10

Currently I am working on new chapters of Oyu no Ranma and Thyself Known, as well as some original work.

I'm @Zorknot on twitter, in case you're interested.

My current mantra which I repeat when I'm writing is "Be true to the characters, be true to the scene, and THEN worry about the story." This has helped me many times get through writer's block and other predicaments. When I get blocked, the reason for it is usually that I know where I want the story to go, but I can't figure out how to get the characters to go there. Or I know in a way how they'll get there, but I'm already bored with the idea. And of course the answer to this is simple. Just figure out what the situation is, and work out how the characters will react to it. That keeps things fresh and moving along appropriately. Not always so simple in practice of course. Ideally a writer will do this subconsciously. The characters will "take over the book." But if you are more concerned about moving the plot in a specific direction this can be harder to manage. You can begin to feel like a director yelling "CUT!" constantly at your unruly actors. But you have to be patient. Figure out what the characters want, how they react to different problems, what their history is. Then pay attention to what their environment is.

For instance, you have a fire in your story. Where is your main character? In the building? Fine. But this means that the fire can't be raging through every room in the building, or else your MC is dead. Unless your MC has super powers or something. Does your MC have superpowers? Fine. What is he or she doing in the fire? Fires typically aren't fun places to hang out. Unless maybe the MC gets energy from fire? Did the MC start the fire? Why start the fire in a house? Why not build a bonfire in a secluded location and stand in it? Why not move next to an active volcano for that matter? Perhaps it's a psychosis as well. The MCs basically an arsonist with superpowers. Fun.

See now all of a sudden I'm starting to get interested. Maybe I'm strange. Anyway, if you just pay attention to the details you can nudge things along in the direction you want with out making things seem forced, and you're actually more likely to come up with something original. Or you could just move to Hollywood and not give a crap about originality.

Of course, I am saying this on a fanfiction website, but still...

-Zorknot

-7/24/18

Still working on stuff. Unfortunately I'm afraid my earlier mantra has devolved to "Don't let perfect get in the way of good enough." I have to struggle just to get something down; so I'm afraid the quality suffers sometimes. If you see something wrong, please tell me and I'll try to fix it.