I posted a few days ago on Facebook about how first drafts are like falling in love. They are. It's exciting and new. Every time you sit down, you get to discover your characters. The main character especially- I just discovered that the main character in my NaNo WriMo story is a badass with a knife.
So yes, first drafts are a lot of fun. Like falling in love, when you're obsessed with each other and spend way too much of your free time (and not-so-free time) thinking about the other person. (I'm just assuming this is a generalization. If not, I swear I'm not creepy.)
But then you finish that first draft and it's not new anymore. You know your characters. You know what happens. You know the parts that aren't so exciting.
In relationships, this tends to come out at the end of the so-called 'honeymoon' phase.
As a writer you have two choices. One, you can move on to a new story and go through the new exciting phase again. Two, you can buckle down and go into revision.
To be fair, it took me eight years of writing to actually manage option two. Before that, I was firmly in the moving on to another new thing category.
It might be a little depressing to liken staying in a relationship to revising a book. Especially if you are at all familiar with how much I bitch about revising.
Here's my big secret: I love revising. GASP!
Not because every part of it is fun and believe me, it has its moments, but I get to explore my characters even more, get to fix things that I was too lazy to worry about the first time around. I get to make it better.
This to me (in my admittedly limited experience) is a lot like being in a relationship that survives the honeymoon phase. You get to the point where you annoy each other and you've told all your stories. But now you're done falling. Now you're just in love.
Contrary to popular movies and books, it's not glamorous and full of rose petals and champagne. But when you think about it, wouldn't you rather eat a whole loaf of garlic bread together and watch really bad movies and laugh when one of you (me) magically falls off an ottoman?
I'd rather have a really good story, one that's been revised and cared for, than a hundred first drafts. Because it is fun to write that first draft but it is so much more rewarding to work on a story long enough it looks more like a book than a first draft.
Note to You Know Who You Are: Notice how I did not mention anything embarrassing about you? Yeah. Remember that.
Friday, November 13, 2015
Friday, November 6, 2015
JUST KISS! (Thoughts on Shipping)
How many of you are familiar with the term 'shipping'? It refers to wishing two characters (be they in movies, TV, or books) would get together. Frequently, they stubbornly refuse to do so.
*there will be spoilers beyond this point. Just so you know. I haven't decided what they are yet but you can't say I didn't warn you*
Also, too frequently, one or both of them end up dying right before they can get together or even worse, right after.
As an avid reader and movie/TV watcher, I am familiar with the pains of loving two characters and wanting them to get together. I am familiar with the irritating trope of 'Will they or won't they?' that I so despise but also enjoy so very, very much.
Maybe another topic will be how my story addiction has messed with my emotional stability.
Anyway, I know how much people love their 'shipping'. And I understood the hate and anger when writers killed one or both of the characters (as long as the characters are breathing, the ship will never die, even if they both end up married to other people. Sorry.)
Veronica Roth is particularly evil in this respect because she killed Tris. JK Rowling killed Tonks and Lupin. And don't even get me started on Snape. That's a whole other issue. Bones played with our emotions in horrible ways for years. Pick a fandom and you can be sure there is at least one couple that was horribly ripped apart by what many fans believe was a horrible act of God.
In reality, it was just a writer deciding one character really needed to die.
As much as I hate when writers pull shit like that, I am more a writer now than I am a reader or viewer.
And the idea of tearing a couple apart or refusing to let them get together makes me giddy. Let's not talk about how sick that might be.
My defense is this: plot runs on tension. Since I love to write character driven stories, the plot is dependent on tension within those characters and between them as well. If a couple gets together, there has to be some kind of tension to replace the uncertainty of how they feel. If they don't get together, that tension is still there.
Also, there is nothing I love more than writing dialogue that could lead to two characters confessing their feelings but then doesn't. MUAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
That was my evil laugh, in case you were wondering. Because I am a twisted, heartless, soulless person who loves to break the hearts of the few people who have read my stories.
Seriously. Ask my best friend Shelby. She'll tell you. In fact, I'm a little worried what she'll do if I kill one of her favorite characters (again).
But before you write me off as a hopeless writer who thrives on the pain of her readers, let me tell you something. I do enjoy the tension of all the 'will they or won't they' tropes. I do. But there nothing, nothing, that breaks my heart like having to kill one of my characters. Because once I do, they aren't in my head anymore. It doesn't matter that I have revision to do, they're just gone.
And if you think you miss your favorite book/movie/TV character when they die, just know that it is ten thousand times worse when you are the one who killed them and no matter how much you cry, you can't bring them back.
Okay, so this ending wasn't very funny, so here's a picture of some puppies.
http://alaskanmalamute.org/malamutes/finding-a-malamute
*there will be spoilers beyond this point. Just so you know. I haven't decided what they are yet but you can't say I didn't warn you*
Also, too frequently, one or both of them end up dying right before they can get together or even worse, right after.
As an avid reader and movie/TV watcher, I am familiar with the pains of loving two characters and wanting them to get together. I am familiar with the irritating trope of 'Will they or won't they?' that I so despise but also enjoy so very, very much.
Maybe another topic will be how my story addiction has messed with my emotional stability.
Anyway, I know how much people love their 'shipping'. And I understood the hate and anger when writers killed one or both of the characters (as long as the characters are breathing, the ship will never die, even if they both end up married to other people. Sorry.)
Veronica Roth is particularly evil in this respect because she killed Tris. JK Rowling killed Tonks and Lupin. And don't even get me started on Snape. That's a whole other issue. Bones played with our emotions in horrible ways for years. Pick a fandom and you can be sure there is at least one couple that was horribly ripped apart by what many fans believe was a horrible act of God.
In reality, it was just a writer deciding one character really needed to die.
As much as I hate when writers pull shit like that, I am more a writer now than I am a reader or viewer.
And the idea of tearing a couple apart or refusing to let them get together makes me giddy. Let's not talk about how sick that might be.
My defense is this: plot runs on tension. Since I love to write character driven stories, the plot is dependent on tension within those characters and between them as well. If a couple gets together, there has to be some kind of tension to replace the uncertainty of how they feel. If they don't get together, that tension is still there.
Also, there is nothing I love more than writing dialogue that could lead to two characters confessing their feelings but then doesn't. MUAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
That was my evil laugh, in case you were wondering. Because I am a twisted, heartless, soulless person who loves to break the hearts of the few people who have read my stories.
Seriously. Ask my best friend Shelby. She'll tell you. In fact, I'm a little worried what she'll do if I kill one of her favorite characters (again).
But before you write me off as a hopeless writer who thrives on the pain of her readers, let me tell you something. I do enjoy the tension of all the 'will they or won't they' tropes. I do. But there nothing, nothing, that breaks my heart like having to kill one of my characters. Because once I do, they aren't in my head anymore. It doesn't matter that I have revision to do, they're just gone.
And if you think you miss your favorite book/movie/TV character when they die, just know that it is ten thousand times worse when you are the one who killed them and no matter how much you cry, you can't bring them back.
Okay, so this ending wasn't very funny, so here's a picture of some puppies.
http://alaskanmalamute.org/malamutes/finding-a-malamute
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