Excuse #1....

....of many to follow I'm sure. Where does the time go?

I must confess I haven't been working on this since my last post. Therefore, I have no new information to share. I'm hoping to get back on track and have a post ready to go in the next couple of days.

Okay, I'll fess up. In all honesty I probably did have the time but just told myself I didn't. I'm having a hard time committing anything to paper. Ideas and storylines and sometimes entire scenes rattle around in my head. I just can't seem to get them on paper. The problem, I am pretty sure, is that I want it to be perfect. I have to realize the first draft is NOT going to be perfect. One of my instructors last quarter said, "The most important part of writing is re-writing." Ah...if only I could get that through my stubborn, scared, nervous head!

A Few Words On Structure

On Writing....

I've started working on the outline of the story. I have come across several "tools" that help in progressing through your story. There are probably dozen of versions of these "tools" but they all are basically the same thing. They are basically a guide as to what happens at what point in the story based on stories and folklore that have been around for thousands of years. This "theory" was actually first introduced by Aristotle in "Poetics", so it's been around a while. They can be found in numerous books on writing. The two that I have found most helpful are "How To Write A Movie In 21 Days" and "The Writer's Journey."

Some writing sites that I've looked at and other books that I've read have discounted these tools saying that they force you to turn out cookie cutter stories and don't allow you to be creative. I disagree. They are simply another tool for you to use. Personally I think that you have to know the rules first before you can break them. Once you understand how stories work then you can use your creativity and deviate from the pattern. The bottom line is this type of story structure has been around for thousands of years and most stories that we read or movies that we see follow this pattern. You have to let your story and characters dictate how closely you stick to this pattern and not force your story and characters into the pattern.

Next Post....

Some excerpts of the outline and a few plot points.

It Starts With An Idea

On Writing....

People arrive at ideas for stories in many different ways. Sometimes it starts with an event or maybe it's a great character, however you arrive at it the most important thing is a good idea or premise. I would have to say that my story idea started first with character and then once I thought through the character then I started working on situations I could put the character in and then how would the character I created react and behave in those situations.

The Story....

The story is a murder mystery set in a small town. What sets it apart are the characters. The story opens with one of the local deputies being dispatched to the scene of a murder. A murder in the small town in and of itself is a pretty big deal, but it's the connection between the victim and the cop that turns the town upside down.