Projects, New and Old

Well, I haven’t been writing on the blog as you may have noticed, but I have certainly been writing.

First, the How To Think Sideways Course.  I am making good progress.  Those of you familiar with Randy Ingermanson’s Snowflake method of novel design will be familiar with The One Sentence Summary.  It’s a fantastic tool that puts your story idea in a nutshell, and all the rest of the design unfolds from that one focused statement.   The OSS is also a marketing tool, your “elevator pitch” and the answer you give when people say “So what’s your book about?”  Randy is pretty adamant that your sentence doesn’t exceed 15 words so it’s short to say and easy to remember.

Holly Lisle has a similar tool,”The Sentence”, but allows for more words.  She is very specific about what should be included in it, and I think the difference I like best is that the setting is able to come out more, which to me is a hook as much as anything else.

After “calling down lightening” three times as required in lesson three, I proceeded to create a Sentence for each of the ideas that came.  I like them all.  The first, I will grant you, sounds at the outset like a really horrible idea that I shouldn’t even consider pursuing.  Really.  Horrible.  All the same, I am drawn to it, because it will address some pretty heavy themes, believe it or not.  It reminds me of a book I got (The Girls From Planet 5) that looked for all the world like it would be utter drivel, but was actually very sharp with some great political theory in it .  Anyway, I am considering writing it to please myself, likely at novella length, or short story.  It could work for a sci-fi mag.

Understanding that they are a work in progress, here are my Sentences:

#1 When interstellar slavers accidentally kidnap a moon-lighting belly-dancer, their rigid culture is thrown into upheaval.

#2   A young journalist searches out the secrets of a gypsy band untouched by time, and discovers a legacy involving the Holy Grail and a strange provision of God.

#3 In a forgotten garden, a voice in the water compels a free-spirited orphan to combat apostate Stone Wardens ravaging her world.

The first and last I like the best for what they will require of me.  The last one I’ve been told should have a more generic term than the story-specific Stone Wardens, but they aren’t generic beings so I’m kind of stuck.  They aren’t Stone Mages.  Stone Elementals gives a wrong impression too.  I’m hoping it will work as part of the hook.  “What the heck is a Stone Warden?”.

So, following the lessons I’ve done some very basic story work for these two ideas, and am now at the major pre-planning stage.

In the meantime, I’ve had some wonderful beta-testers (thanks, Heather and Bryan!) reading my somewhat revised Nano novel.  They’ve got to the part where I stopped revising now, and want more.  As they’ve been so gracious to read for me, I’m attempting to straighten things up for them the rest of the way.  This is actually very good for me to be doing, and with a little more grooming (and a few more scenes as it’s on the short side) I plan to have a pro take a look at it before summer hits, as far off as that seems right now.

A bit of a long post, but I had a month to make up for.