Day 11 Of @the-wip-project ‘s Challenge!
Day 11 of @the-wip-project ‘s challenge!
I know the character fairly well before I begin writing. What helps me define them is writing their backstory including circumstances and events they know shaped them plus a few they are unaware were pivotal.
More Posts from Thequeerish and Others
Thank you
Thank you @alexispayton for Fleimkepa! Such a creative and imaginative piece that felt so true to Clarke and Lexa's characters, at least where their character arcs were going before ... he who shall not be named scuttled them. And the last line, so perfect!
Day sixty-five (65/100)
of @the-wip-project‘s #100daysofwriting challenge
Q65: What else counts as writing for you?
A65: Art, especially sketching story locations, research in particular maps and historical events during the period the story is set in. Or, in terms of my clexa wip, verifying canon events versus where my plots diverge from it.
However, I think it is important to mention that I have had to set boundaries for myself around how much time I spend on research, e.g., how much research do I actually need in order to write the story versus how much information am I taking in because I am curious.
How to stop researching (or worldbuilding) and start writing
This is actually advice my mentoring professor gave me when I was writing my first thesis.
He said: Accept that you are never done. There is always more to know, more to research, more questions raised than answered. At some point, you just got to start writing.
Now, “easier said than done, this accepting”, I thought.
I started writing because my thesis deadline was looming. But what if you’re writing a novel and you have no deadline? How do you know when it’s okay to stop researching? When is it okay to stop worldbuilding? (Which is just like doing research, but in your own head instead of in reality.)
My advice to you is: start writing, and you’ll run into the gaps you still need to fill. Then you know what to research before starting your second draft. Let your story tell you what it needs.
For example:
Just fill your margins with a to-research-list for your future self.
That way, it’s also managable: “I finished my first draft, and I have a list of 317 things I need to decide on.” Instead of: “I saw on tumblr that you can’t build a world without knowing everything about the sewage system! And gosh, I haven’t invented three languages yet!”
Advantages:
You get things done.
It’s not overwhelming.
You don’t spend your time inventing things you’ll like so much that you want to infodump them into your story.
You mainly research things that are relevant to your story.
Well, knowing you, you already researched enough irrelevant stuff too.
You get things done.
I hope this was helpful. Don’t hesitate to ask me any questions, and happy writing!
Follow me for more writing advice, or check out my other writing advice here. New topics to write advice about are also always welcome.
Tag list below the cut, a few people I like and admire and of course, you can be too. If you like to be added to or removed from the list, let me know.
Keep reading
I’m going to try this!
how to make a story file
As I am preparing for Camp NaNo*, I have been working on my story file. It occurred to me this might not be common or popular practice. “Story File” is a name I gave it and maybe some of y’all have a different name with the same contents.
*There’s still time to apply to join my Camp NaNo cabin!
My Story File contains everything about my story that doesn’t go in the outline.
It’s broken up into major categories and specific templates. So without further ado, here is how I structure my Story File.
Intro
Title
Logline
Synopsis
Genre
Estimated Total Length (word count)
Draft Length Goal (word count)
Character Bank
Main characters and brief, one-sentence descriptions with ages
Themes and Character Development
Central Question
The Yes/No question that is being asked through the whole story
Should have objective qualities, rather than subjective
i.e. “Will they fall in love?” (subjective) vs. “Will they leave their partners and become a couple?” (objective)
Thematic Questions
These are the internal conflict questions that reside in your character(s) and your story
ex. “Can there really be a successful government?”
ex. “Does grief excuse bad actions?”
Themes at a Glance
Words or phrases that relate to the themes of the story
ex. person vs. nature
ex. isolation
ex. grief
ex. first love
Motivation / Stasis State / Final State
for each main character, you should write a sentence or two pertaining to these three things
Motivation: What is the drive behind this character and their past, present, and future actions? What part of their background makes them the way that they are? What are they looking for? What do they want out of this/a situation?
Stasis State: What are they like before the inciting incident? What problems and questions do they have?
Final State: What has changed about them and their outlook? What questions have they resolved? What has happened to their internal conflict?
Relationships
I usually make a little web of the MCs and their relationship to one another. One for the stasis and one for final.
Stasis: How do these characters see each other? How do they act toward the other? (All before the inciting incident)
Final: How do these characters see each other now? How has their idea of one another shifted?
Even if a character dies before the end, include the most recent relationship status in the Final web.
ex. this is how I organize it, using the Draw feature of Google Docs
Character Bank
This is just a very preliminary character bank. If you prefer a more in-depth one, check out my 6 Box Method.
Per (relevant/important) character:
Name
Nickname/preferred name
Age
Field/Occupation
Physical Description
Personality
Personal History
Education/Occupation History
Extra Notes:
Worldbuilding Bank
(Check out my worldbuilding posts on Categories Pt. 1 and 2 for better context)
Seasons and Climate
Languages
Other Cultural Pockets
Folklore and Legends
Fine Arts
Dress and Modesty
Classes
Jobs
Currency and Economics
Shopping
Agriculture and Livestock
Imports and Exports
Literature, Pop Culture, and Entertainment
Food and Water
Holidays and Festivals
Family and Parenting
Relationships
Housing
Religion and Beliefs
Government
Health and Medicine
Technology and Communication
Death
Transportation
Plants, Animals, and Human-environment Interaction
Education
Beauty Standards
Gender and Sexuality
—————————
I hope this helps y’all and supplements what you’re probably already doing. I know it’s helped me tons to have everything in a central place.
Best of luck!
The main character in my current wip has two motivations, the one they know about and the other they really need to do: rescue their friends from bad things and not settle for a job they hate so much they numb themselves with booze and other vices.
Thank you clexa content creators
I will literally heart any clexa related content that I see on my dash. I love all you clexa fans who keep making gifs, writing fanfic, making art and videos. Thank you!
It’s 10 pm
Me: hmmm I guess I should watch last night’s SNL episode that I pvr’d and get to bed before midnight tonight ...
( the sound of AO3 notification emails hitting my inbox)
Recently Updated Clexa Fanfics: HA!
I will die on this hill that it was a sin against Lady Whistledown that we were not treated to a Classical interpretation of “Chaise Longue” by Wet Leg during the Mirror/ Chaise Longue Polin scene.
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