I haven't been working on my fiction writing as much as I would like to lately, but I do find an hour here and there to work on my story. I'm hoping that things will lighten up after New Year's and I can get back in a groove again.
I've run up against two new challenges. First, I can no longer bring the whole context of my story to mind in just a few minutes. I usually have to read through my notes to get back to the place I need to be in my head. This makes the logistics of working on the story much more difficult because I don't have access to my notes while walking the dog or driving around town. Right now, I have notes in a paper notebook and in a Word document, so I need to be at my desk. I'm considering trying to summarize what I need to know into a few sentences and putting that on my new Droid phone, which is always with me. That might be enough. That phone has already helped me a lot by allowing me to make voice recordings with the touch of a button. I use that feature all the time. Hurray for technology!
Another option is to try some outlining software for writers. I've read about such software but I'll have to go back and find out if it does what I'm looking for. Any suggestions on that, anyone?
Next, I'm in a research phase. I've already done research in the form of trolling for ideas, and that's how I found the key element of my story. But now I have to get more detailed. I usually don't like doing research but so far this has been kind of fun. I guess research isn't so bad when you're actually interested in the subject, as opposed to writing some paper for school on a topic you picked because you had to pick something. I'll have to keep this in mind for my future homeschooling days. Still, since I've never liked it, I'm not particularly good at research so I'm having to figure out what resources are out there and how to find things and all of that kind of stuff. That part can be a bit tedious.
That's where I'm at right now. The story is definitely becoming more defined. It used to change dramatically each time I worked on it, but now the basic ideas are in place. I have four characters who are pretty well defined and a few other optional ones. The main characters have clear motivations in regard to the plot, although I'm having trouble with a sticky issue with one lady. It's almost like solving a mystery, trying to find a way to weave all of these things together. Sometimes I think I have the answer but then I go back and realize that I didn't account for some other element.
Bottom line: I'm still loving it!
It's interesting how similar the process you describe for your fiction-writing (in particular the kinds of challenges you confront and how it feels like a mystery that you have to solve, to figure out a perfect way for everything to fit together) is to the process I'm constantly going through when working on a non-fiction paper or book/chapter. One of my big recent projects has been creating a physics textbook that presents material in a more historically-grounded way, and the idea all along has been to give the material the kind of coherence and drama that a good mystery story would have. So maybe that's part of the reason your descriptions resonate so much. Or maybe it's just that there really isn't such a big difference between the *writing* of fiction and non-fiction (though obviously there are other differences).
ReplyDeleteI'm a Mac guy and I could rattle off ten suitable apps for you on that platform. For Windows, I don't know so much so I went to the NaNoWriMo forums as a good start. I found StoryBox a virtual clone of Scrivener for the Mac, which I like. Someone else recommended WriteWay Pro also.
ReplyDeleteTravis, so far I've never written any non-fiction that was similar to this process, but I've never done anything as ambitious as your textbook. Interesting. Bill, thanks. I'll check those out right now, including whatever NaNoWriMo is.
ReplyDelete[...] think I might have to let go of the major plot element I had planned to use in my book. I did the research I mentioned in an earlier post, and learned some facts that would make it difficult to construct the plot I had intended. [...]
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