This particular topic is pretty straight forward. Holly Lisle has this to say about the voice of the story:
“For salable novels, you need to resign yourself to either first person or third person … second person, the voice so popular in those choose-your-own-story adventure juveniles turns off readers so quickly … It is easier to write a literary novel in third than in first.”
I agree with all she has to say about the writing voice (be sure to read her complete thoughts) especially her assessment of second person. I can’t stand it either. While I would love to try and write a story in first person, I think that might be biting off more then I can chew for this attempt.
So, third person it will be. Perhaps next time (Yes! There will be a next time. I so decree it!) I might try first person and see if one style or the other fits me better.
This time, I choose the “easier” voice.
You read this and agree. (Sorry, couldn’t resist.)
I am happy to say that I sat down, tonight, with a determined and focused mind – ready to hammer out more of my character descriptions – and I finished them! 
I mentioned before that I have 6 characters. One of them is a government official from the planet the two main alien characters are from. As I was proceeding with the description of this official, I realized that I needed to develop exactly the type of governmental system he was in.
I was a bit daunted by this revelation and mashed out a few sentences before I hit a wall. It was intimidating to try and create an alien system of government.
My first few lines of description were a hacked up version of the government here in the United States – what I was familiar with. It wasn’t really ringing true to me and I realized that I’d better break completely away from what I knew. So I came up with my idea of an idealized system of government and began to apply it to an alien world.
Honestly, it was a lot to consider and I had to nail it down before I continued with the character description of the official, so I stopped writing and just let it simmer.
Uh oh! It has been much longer between entries then I deem acceptable.
But life, sometimes, has it’s own ideas and delights in tossing you the random speed bump. Time to rectify that!
I am still in the process of developing my full character descriptions. I have two more to go and this particular process is taking me much longer then anticipated. However, I am realizing that it is a critical piece of development before beginning to write.
Knowing each character in detail, where they came from, where they want to go and – more importantly – where they actually will go not only creates complete characters but a more complete story before any actual writing has begun.
I am finding that I have to put some concerted and deliberate thought into each character. This part of the development is not letting me get away with anything trite, quick or shallow – and that is a very good thing.
In the end I know will make the actual writing much (I hesitate to say “easier”, so let’s go with) smoother.
So I will set myself a deadline of one more week (by 2/19) to complete this step. Not that I want to rush it, but I know that I need to stay focused and forcing my hand in this manner will do so.
Stay tuned!
The next step I thought I should move on to is “Know your characters.” In addition to the suggestions made by author Holly Lisle, author Michael Stackpole also offers very important advice on character development – which I will get to at the end.
Having the theater background that I do, I figured this would process would be a snap. After all, I’ve written many a character sketch for roles I’ve played in the past and my story only has 6 characters – so this will be easy.
Not so much.
The actual writing of the character bios is all well and good, but writing a character bio for a story (as opposed to a character in a play) has turned out to be much more involved then I realized – but in a good way.
So far, this story has existed in three places:
- In my head
- On this blog
- The initial writing I did last year
While numbers 2 and 3 are great, I figured it was time to move number 1 to something tangible.
So I created an outline of the story, fleshing out the major points and direction I wanted the story to take. (Saving specifics for the actual writing process.)
First off, it was great to have a solid path now out of my head and set down on paper.
Secondly, as I was creating this path, a few unexpected twists appeared on the paper that I wasn’t expecting.
This was very exciting to let the idea take over and guide my thoughts but, after I was done, it was also a bit scary as I realized that I now need to make these new ideas a reality! I admit, when the first twist appeared, I almost didn’t write it down because I wasn’t expecting it and didn’t want to be committed to it.
The next topic of development I will write about is the section called “Embrace a theme.”
In Holly Lisle’s summary of this topic, she starts by saying:
“Know whether the story you are writing is about good versus evil, or about the transcendence of love, or about anything that can go wrong going wrong.”
In an overall sense, I believe my theme will be a good versus evil story, but I think I should refine that down.
The stories I enjoy the most are ones where ordinary individuals are called upon to do extraordinary things. Even though they seem ill-equipped and unqualified to overcome the seeming insurmountable obstacle(s) placed in front of them, they find away to through deep courage, teamwork and/or faith.
Most of these stories, on a higher level, do deal with good versus evil and how good, on the surface, seems destined to be defeated by evil but always finds a way to overcome. In that theme, the larger concept of “good” is populated by the “ordinary” people who rise above their menial station and achieve something greater.
I find these stories compelling and inspiring, so this will be my focus on the main characters, characters who – on the outside – appear unable to meet the demanding circumstance they are in but find a way to succeed.
This quote was passed along, via twitter, and it was worth sharing here:
“No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.” – Robert Frost
I’m not planning on having any tears in this particular story, but I sure hope I can surprise myself and thus surprise my reader!
Continuing on with the “Know your world” section …
So, this is supposed to be a detailed description of the world in which the story takes place. While I’m anticipating that the majority of this story will take place on present day Earth, I think there might be an off-world location as well. Honestly, though, I’ll have to see how that progresses as the story goes.
All content below is ©2012 / David Morris
For now I will focus on, as I just said, present day Earth. Earth of the new millennium, the 2000′s, where the majority of the population is under the mistaken belief that they are alone in the universe.
On this Earth there is a large city, common to the United States of America and within that city is a small area carved out of it in a valiant attempt to create the illusion of the long lost main street. It measures only a couple of city blocks but it is tidy and the shop owners, who populate it, are quite proud of their little oasis. Each shop is identical in construction – red brick with a pink and white awning, two large windows on either side of the front door, but each owner has added their own personal touch for an overall unified but eclectic look.
Okay, so I know I said in post #3 that I would be continuing the “Know your world” development, but I had a discovery last night that was important to document. It dealt with the overall idea I had for my story.
First, the summary idea I had:
“Aliens in the Giftshop” is about two extra-terrestrial scientists who have arrived on earth, for their first reconnaissance mission, to study and gather information about human society and interaction. However, due a miscalculation in their environmental data, the mission is a complete disaster. In an attempt to salvage their opportunity, they discover that they have brought with them an object that is vital to the survival of their planet and unwittingly puts the earth into the interstellar cross-hairs of their enemies who will stop at nothing to acquire it. (© 2012 / David Morris)
That is the thumbnail sketch of where I wanted to go – the only problem being, I had no idea what this vital object would be and what it would do! I suppose that missing bit of information might have been what hindered me last year.
However, since I’ve began this concrete development, my brain has been quietly chewing on this idea in the background for the past few days – not an uncommon experience for me. In the past, I’ve had my brain process issues on a sub-conscious level then spit out an answer when I least expect it.
That is what happened to me last night, as I was brushing my teeth before bed. This issue of what the “big object” could be surfaced in my conscious thought and wham! – it popped right into my head and was perfect. It was exactly what I needed and wanted. Quickly I finished up my pre-sleep routine, grabbed a piece of paper and wrote it down.
What an exciting relief it was to have that piece of the puzzle in place. I now have a complete idea and can move forward with the development in earnest, now that the major roadblock has been removed from my mind.
Oh, what is it you ask? Well, in the words of River Song: “Spoilers!” :-)
Starting with the first item on Holly Lisle’s list: “Know your world.”
If you click on the title of this item, it will take you to a mapping workshop which – after reading – I felt this would be a great place to start. I’m a visual person, I like to sketch so putting this world down on paper should prove helpful to start.
As you may guess, from the title of the story, the main setting is a gift shop. I’m sure it will have to progress beyond that, but for now this is where it begins.
My initial idea for the location of this gift shop was one of those small shopping areas in a city that houses an eclectic array of small businesses. Mom & Pop shops that people can spend an afternoon walking through, window shopping, eating and picking up those small nick-knacks that aren’t usually available in the larger chain stores. So I sketched out an overhead, top view of the street layout to set the physical boundaries that action will take place in.
I then sketched a front view of the actual gift shop itself. I realized, as I began, that in my initial writing I had never named the gift shop. So that in itself was a valuable discovery.
Below are the sketches and in the next post I will visually describe the “world” as suggested in the main posting. (Click on the thumbnail for a larger view).
All artwork is ©2012 by David Morris
