stillsostrange: (Default)
stillsostrange ([personal profile] stillsostrange) wrote2005-06-14 01:27 pm

Still alive

Still banging my head on this book.



This is the right book, I can tell, but I have serious structure problems. Namely, I have none.

I have an uneasy relationship with structuring books. When I started Dreams, I had the whole story sketched out. As it turned out, huge portions of that sketch were wrong, leading to much pain and suffering and trying to get characters to go places they had no desire to go. The structure of the finished draft is mostly right, but there are still a few places where the characters are doing things that are wrong in order to support the plot. When I finally get to the rewrite much carnage will ensue.

So when I started Prayers, I went in structureless. I had characters, some ideas from the short story that started it all, and a sense of tone, if not actual themes. This got me 10k words that don't suck at all.

But... The scenes are disjointed and I have no momentum. The character threads aren't yet woven together, and I'm not sure how to do it.

I took some advice from the Three In One, and tried separating out the characters strand by strand to fill in some gaps in my head. Now I find I have supporting characters (namely Moira) taking over, and people who were supposed to have starring roles (namely Cate) standing around with nothing to do. Arrgh, and also rarrr.

Cate needs to be more than a DLI. The original conception of this was as a love triangle, but uneven love triangles are one of my biggest pet peeves. Give me three well-drawn interesting characters who balance each other and I'm riveted and chewing my fingers. Show me boring people whose tension and angst are purely the contrivance of the author and I'm rolling my eyes and tossing the book. Cate is well-drawn and interesting to me, but so far there's nothing in the story to showcase this. (This is what she gets for being my token Normal Person, surrounded by ghouls and crazy prophets.)

Arrgh. We hates it, precious. It burns, it freezes. Nasty cruel structure.

This thing needs to grow a plot skeleton, fast.

[identity profile] jmeadows.livejournal.com 2005-06-14 07:51 pm (UTC)(link)
Amanda, I hope we didn't get you down. :( You really have a great story! I know it's there, and I know you're going to find it. *pets*

[identity profile] raecarson.livejournal.com 2005-06-14 09:24 pm (UTC)(link)
I resorted to the dreaded Note Card of Doom last night to find plot. It worked.

but...*shrug* You can get by purely on purdy prose, right? I mean, Steinbeck did it. We'll just call it "literary."

*lurffs Prayers*

[identity profile] stillsostrange.livejournal.com 2005-06-14 09:30 pm (UTC)(link)
Note cards usually just mock my plotlessness. I work best when I can talk it through with someone. It's just a matter of tying people up and making them listen. :P

[identity profile] raecarson.livejournal.com 2005-06-14 09:37 pm (UTC)(link)
If you want to talk at someone about plot specifics, let me know.

*big*
*unwelcome*

[identity profile] stillsostrange.livejournal.com 2005-06-14 09:45 pm (UTC)(link)
*ties Rae up*

I just feel bad blathering at people when I don't have specific questions. (Unless it's the Boy--I blather at him guilt-free.)

[identity profile] raecarson.livejournal.com 2005-06-14 09:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Meh. I get blathered at all the time. *eyes certain friends* It's cool to see how other writers' brains work. I promise to nod and hmm at all the appropriate intervals.