The writing diary is a good form of accountability as I record what I’m learning and what I’m actually doing as a writer.  I chose to go with my birth name for a number of reasons, and it doesn’t hurt that ‘Boyko’ is higher up the alphabet than ‘Friesen’.

Since I won Nanowrimo (got my 50 000 words), my project now is Holly Lisle’s “How To Revise Your Novel” course, so come and see what I’m learning and how it’s coming along!

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After world building, character developing and plotting the whole thing, enthusiasm left me to actually write it.  But it is a Godsend to take into Nanoland with me!  A review of the one-sentence summary of all 22 scenes last night sparked some excitement, and reminded me that I’d done a lot of other research that wasn’t included in the sentences.  I will have to get out my How To Think Sideways texts and review all the juicy details that I remember writing down, I just don’t remember what they are.

At the same time, I am working through Holly Lisle’s “Write Page Turning Scenes” and am deeply impressed with what the excercises have brought out of me.  With most of the assignments I’ve used scenarios or ideas from existing Works In Progress, and I can see these techniques really bringing my writing to the next level.  That’s exciting, because I’m painfully aware of how far I still have to go.  Hopefully what I’m learning this last week or so before Nano will come out as I write the Nanonovel as well.

So you can expect further updates as a writing diary as I prepare and embark on Nanowrimo 2009, with every intention of winning.

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This lady is so the real thing, and unbelievably generous in sharing what she has learned over the years as the writer of 32 published novels.  Wow!  Although it’s not a one-to-one thing, I feel very personally mentored.  And excited!

What’s the new novella you ask?  Well, some of you will remember back when I called down lightning (Lesson Three)  and got several story ideas generated.  One of them had to do with a belly dancer and some trans-dimensional slavers, and, oh yes, a social revolution.  That’s the one.  I thought about making it novel-sized, but there are some very specific things I want to write about with this one, without any distraction.  I was heartened to read the following at ONFICTION.ca

Whereas often a short story is about being on an edge, a novel usually allows us to become immersed in a world so that it becomes normal to us. The novella is distinct from these forms in that, although it allows the same kind of immersion as the novel, it is not about a variegated world, but a world in which a psychological issue is singled out, with other aspects pared away.

Often listed among famous novellas in chronological order are Aphra Behn’s (1688) Oroonoko, Charles Dickens’s (1843) A Christmas Carol, Robert Louis Stevenson’s (1886) Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Kate Chopin’s (1899) The Awakening, Anton Chekhov’s (1900) In the ravine, Joseph Conrad’s (1902) Heart of darkness, Thomas Mann’s (1913) Death in Venice, Franz Kafka’s (1915) Metamorphosis, Ernest Hemingway’s (1952) The old man and the sea, George Orwell’s (1945) Animal Farm, Muriel Spark’s (1962) The prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

…The theme in Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is: What would it be if we were each divided into a socially responsible part and a socially irresponsible part? In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of darkness, the theme is: Are civilized manners and behaviour merely a thin veneer?

So novellas are telling a story (the above include many styles) but they are each centered around a theme.  I’ve often said I like stories just to be stories, but the truth is, my favourites are ones that matter, that have touched on something significant.  This is the realm of theme.

Imagine my relief at reading this article and discovering that the length of story I want to tell is actually ‘supposed to’ be centered on a single theme!  I haven’t put my theme into a slick question form yet, but it could be: To what extent is personal freedom a chosen state of mind? I’ll work on it some more and keep you posted.

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Michael’s Question

“Can you hear the music?”

Matilla frowned at the baby she was jostling to peace on her hip and turned quickly to the kitchen window.  Her brows drew together.

It was Michael.  She knew he was behind her, standing in the doorway. But she didn’t turn.

His bright presence would fill the postage-stamp kitchen. Not with harsh light, exposing the grime and other shortcomings of her less-than-stellar housekeeping. The light that accompanied him was golden and alive, kissing her common possessions like the touch of Midas, revealing a beauty one would never guess.

But she didn’t turn.

The question hung in the air as she forced herself to stare out the window.

Could she hear the music?

She used to hear the music….

Never loudly. A subtle undercurrent below tumultuous, colliding brain-waves.  It coaxed and called, and sometimes she would answer it. A little.

But the music wasn’t for her. Not the her that she was. Maybe for the her that she might one day attain to in her mighty striving to Be.

Why was he asking now?

Why now when her days were dim and filled with dutiful love;  true love that had been eroded by responsibility and harangued by storms of resentment, but with a foundation strong enough to keep her?

She could not afford to hear the music. Not now.

The baby had quieted and she cradled him in front of her, still glaring out the window.

If she turned, she would weaken.

The glow would touch her, the music would well up and she’d have to respond. How dare he speak of that sweetness when she lived with so much that was bitter? How dare he remind her it was there?

How dare he suggest that she could hear the music, respond to it, and still meet every urgent task determined to swallow the hours of her life?

If she could do that, she’d already be doing it, wouldn’t she?

…wouldn’t she?

Michael waited.

She clenched her eyes and her arms tightened, molding her son’s sleeping form around her chest like a breastplate.  But the light behind her was warm, and patient in the stillness. It lingered, and her stiffened back, her grinding jaw involuntarily relaxed.

“If I hear -” she spoke to the window. She cleared her dry throat.

“If I hear the music,”  she whispered, “I’ll have to dance.”

An attempted wry smile twisted her face into a grimace.

“There is no… room… to dance here.”

The light seemed to grow, the air becoming thick with its golden haze.

“Grace makes room,” said the angel.

Matilla thought hard.

The silence deepened, the light hung suspended in time.

And then…

she turned.

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I’ve realised that the last four chapters of Gift of the Ancients have too much narrative summary, which will require a lot of re-writing on my part, and probably expand it by another chapter or two as well. I’ve made some lifestyle changes that are increasing my energy levels, so hopefully we’ll get this puppy done soon!

When it’s been through the wringer one more time (and my in-house editor has fixed my grammar and spelling), it’s going to Creative Byline to a first read. I’m doing it for the experience of going through the process of synopsis, outline, etc and getting a critique on it. If it’s deemed ready for submission, I may do that. Regardless, I plan to serielise the story and post it here. The enthusiasm of my Beta readers is a great encouragement to put it out there.

Course work is on hold until next week. I’m giving myself until next Sunday for a first draft of the new ending.

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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.

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Amazingly, I have two so far, and I have until Tuesday to get the third one.  I’m going to need more practice generating ideas, but it’s so empowering to no longer be at the mercy of random inspiration.  Did I mention how cool this course is?

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The next lesson is in training your Muse to provide you with complete story ideas, drawing on this map for inspiration. I’m looking calm on the outside, but I’m wildly excited that something as cool as that is lesson 3, and there are 23 more lessons to come!

So I’m totally enjoying this course for it’s fantastic content, and as a bonus, it’s a relief from contemplating all the things that are going wrong with my house. It’s just so handy when my escapism has a level of productivity!

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I’ll be contacting beta readers for Gift of the Ancients.  It still hasn’t been fully revised, but I’m interested to hear reactions.  If you want your name on the list, let me know!

Happy New Year!

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The question is, what?  My original plan was to submit the revisions I made during Nanowrimo to a ‘first reader’ willing to give feedback.   While I’m delighted with the improvements that were made (I like the opening SO much better now!), I’m also much more aware of the weak bits.  I fixed some of them, others resisted my efforts.  It seems silly to submit when I already know at least some of what is going to come back.  I don’t mean to be perfectionistic, just trying to avoid the premature launch of work I’m not satisfied with yet.

So what am I going to do instead?

Well, I took a closer look at the course outline for Holly Lisle’s How to Think Sideways.  It is very in depth, and may well be premature for my writing level, but it’s the sort of thing I’d be happy to drown in if I couldn’t manage to stay afloat.   See, as I was revising Gift of the Ancients, several times I could tell something was wrong but not exactly what.  And if you don’t know what the problem is, you can’t fix it.  It looks like the diagnostic tools I need (plus a whole lot more!) are in this course.

Honestly I’m a little at a loss right now for what Gift needs.  I may still send it to beta readers for their feedback, but I believe the course is the next step for me.  I will work on a new story in it, and at the end have a new array of weapons with which to defeat story deficiencies in my existing work.  Working smarter just seems like a good idea.

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