Tag: Reading

Writing a book in 365 days – 34

Day 34

The importance of backstories for characters.

This is an interesting topic to pop up, especially after the writing of the previous blog post in this series.

I always create legends for my characters, and perhaps the only planning I do for any story, that notion I should know each of the characters inside out so that I have a good idea of where they’re going to go.

There’s no point suddenly deciding the main character has an allergic reaction to cats. All this stuff needs to be known before putting pen to paper.

Then there are locations. I’m a bit like a movie studio in that I have the script and then send out the scouts to find places to follow the story. In this case, I’m looking for locations and writing the story after I have found them.

All the background work starts to feed the story. I usually have an idea before I start, and rather than sketch it out on a running board, at this beginning stage, nothing is concrete.

Sometimes this creation process can evolve over a long time, or, in others, it could go from a spark of an idea to the first draft complete, in a month.

Like the novel I’m going to write over the course of the 365 days. Just yesterday I was working on the main character’s back story.

Writing a book in 365 days – 32/33

Days 32 and 33

A weekend to review the work so far, or if you haven’t had a chance to apply some basic questions to an existing project that you started…

I have a few of those.

So I picked a pile of pages out of the unfinished, run-aground, bin, stories I’d started and couldn’t go on after the initial wave of inspiration died off.

Does that mean I should have planned, with an outline, from start to finish, and that wouldn’t happen? No. Either way, plan or no plan, a story can run aground.

And the basic questions…

First – what sections do you like reading?

Well, most of it. When the spark is there, the story writes itself. Just re-reading some of the story reminds me that I am better at this and that I give myself credit. The spirit comes and goes, but when I’m in the grove, it doesn’t take long to write.

Second – what parts don’t you like, and should they be tossed or reworked?

There are no bad parts to be discarded, though sometimes when editing, a whole chapter can change in a rewrite, but the worst of those rewrites is when you write something later on that hasn’t been thought of or had been dealt with differently because the new stuff reflects where the story should go. Then you have to go back.

Third – is this the book you meant to write?

Yes. I find by some remarkable quirk that even if I plan an ending, sometimes it actually gets there, and if I don’t I find it was the ending and the story I was going to tell. It’s just it takes me a few rewrites to get it into shape.

That’s why sometimes I have to walk away from a story for months, sometimes a year, before I come back and the whole story has crystallised in my mind.

In the time I’ve looked at it for this exercise, I realised what was needed and made extensive notes for when I get back to it.

Searching for Locations: Venice, Italy

Venice is definitely a city to explore.  It has an incredible number of canals and walkways, and each time we would start our exploration at St Marks square when it’s not underwater

Everyone I have spoken to about exploring Venice has told me how easy it is to get lost.  It has not happened to me, but with the infinite number of ways you can go, I guess it is possible.

We started our exploration of Venice in St Marks square, where, on one side there was the Museo di Palazzo Ducale and, next door, the Basilica di San Marco.  Early morning and/or at high tide, water can be seen bubbling up from under the square, partially flooding it.  I have seen this happen several times.  Each morning as we walked from the hotel (the time we stayed in the Savoia and Jolanda) we passed the Bridge of Sighs.

Around the other three sides of the square are archways and shops.  We have bought both confectionary and souvenirs from some of these stores, albeit relatively expensive.  Prices are cheaper in stores that are away from the square and we found some of these when we walked from St Marks square to the Railway station, through many walkways, and crossing many bridges, and passing through a number of small piazzas.

That day, after the trek, we caught the waterbus back to San Marco, and then went on the tour of the Museo di Palazzo Du which included the dungeons and the Bridge of Sighs from the inside.  It took a few hours, longer than I’d anticipated because there was so much to see.

The next day, we caught the waterbus from San Marco to the Ponte di Rialto bridge.  Just upstream from the wharf there was a very large passenger ship, and I noticed there were a number of passengers from the ship on the waterbus, one of whom spoke to us about visiting Venice.  I didn’t realize we looked like professional tourists who knew where we were going.

After a pleasant conversation, and taking in the views up and down the Grand Canal, we disembarked and headed for the bridge, looking at the shops, mostly selling upmarket and expensive gifts, and eventually crossing to the other side where there was a lot of small market type stalls selling souvenirs as well as clothes, and most importantly, it being a hot day, cold Limonata.  This was my first taste of Limonata and I was hooked.

Continuing on from there was a wide street at the end and a number of restaurants where we had lunch.  We had a map of Venice and I was going to plot a course back to the hotel, taking what would be a large circular route that would come out at the Accademia Bridge, and further on to the Terminal Fusina Venezia where there was another church to explore, the Santa Maria del Rosario.

This is a photo of the Hilton Hotel from the other side of the canal.

It was useful knowledge for the second time we visited Venice because the waterbus from the Hilton hotel made its first stop, before San Marco, there.  We also discovered on that second visit a number of restaurants on the way from the terminal and church to the Accademia Bridge.

This is looking back towards San Marco from the Accademia Bridge:

And this, looking towards the docks:

Items to note:

Restaurants off the beaten track were much cheaper and the food a lot different to that in the middle of the tourist areas.

There are a lot of churches, big and small, tucked away in interesting spots where there are small piazza’s.  You can look in all of them, though some asked for a small fee.

Souvenirs, coffee, and confectionary are very expensive in St Marks square.

Writing a book in 365 days – 32/33

Days 32 and 33

A weekend to review the work so far, or if you haven’t had a chance to apply some basic questions to an existing project that you started…

I have a few of those.

So I picked a pile of pages out of the unfinished, run-aground, bin, stories I’d started and couldn’t go on after the initial wave of inspiration died off.

Does that mean I should have planned, with an outline, from start to finish, and that wouldn’t happen? No. Either way, plan or no plan, a story can run aground.

And the basic questions…

First – what sections do you like reading?

Well, most of it. When the spark is there, the story writes itself. Just re-reading some of the story reminds me that I am better at this and that I give myself credit. The spirit comes and goes, but when I’m in the grove, it doesn’t take long to write.

Second – what parts don’t you like, and should they be tossed or reworked?

There are no bad parts to be discarded, though sometimes when editing, a whole chapter can change in a rewrite, but the worst of those rewrites is when you write something later on that hasn’t been thought of or had been dealt with differently because the new stuff reflects where the story should go. Then you have to go back.

Third – is this the book you meant to write?

Yes. I find by some remarkable quirk that even if I plan an ending, sometimes it actually gets there, and if I don’t I find it was the ending and the story I was going to tell. It’s just it takes me a few rewrites to get it into shape.

That’s why sometimes I have to walk away from a story for months, sometimes a year, before I come back and the whole story has crystallised in my mind.

In the time I’ve looked at it for this exercise, I realised what was needed and made extensive notes for when I get back to it.

Writing a book in 365 days – my story – 3

Some more about my book

…

Ever woken up in another part of the world in a strange bed, in a hotel or guest house, and wondered where you are?  It seems that would happen a lot if you were a road warrior.

I’m not but I still have those moments even at home in my own bed.

Is it the dreams we have that disorient us?  Like mine because they take me to different places, and different situations, and above all, it takes me out of my mundane and boring existence.

It’s time to immerse myself in a more vicarious existence.

The world of a spy.

I think an action start might work better than just introducing the main character.

The last time we visited him in a hotel room, very hot, very hungover, and not very ready to work.

Why is he there?

Most espionage works during meetings with sources, informants, and important people who defect with a bag full of state secrets.

For wads of money, of course.

Where is he, right now?  Perhaps it could be said he was not in a good place.  A very tough few years, in the firing line, and the loss of colleagues begin to make him question everything and everyone.

There is going to be a last straw, you know, that one that breaks the camel’s back.

I’m working on his background story, a legend if you like, so I’m more acquainted with the character.  I want to be able to slip into his character and be him.  It makes it easier to write when you know everything about him or her.

And, yes, there will be a her.

And yes, jaded, world-weary or not, he’s not quite done with the bad guys yet.

It’s just he wishes the moments of self-doubt would get less rather than more.

Writing a book in 365 days – my story – 3

Some more about my book

…

Ever woken up in another part of the world in a strange bed, in a hotel or guest house, and wondered where you are?  It seems that would happen a lot if you were a road warrior.

I’m not but I still have those moments even at home in my own bed.

Is it the dreams we have that disorient us?  Like mine because they take me to different places, and different situations, and above all, it takes me out of my mundane and boring existence.

It’s time to immerse myself in a more vicarious existence.

The world of a spy.

I think an action start might work better than just introducing the main character.

The last time we visited him in a hotel room, very hot, very hungover, and not very ready to work.

Why is he there?

Most espionage works during meetings with sources, informants, and important people who defect with a bag full of state secrets.

For wads of money, of course.

Where is he, right now?  Perhaps it could be said he was not in a good place.  A very tough few years, in the firing line, and the loss of colleagues begin to make him question everything and everyone.

There is going to be a last straw, you know, that one that breaks the camel’s back.

I’m working on his background story, a legend if you like, so I’m more acquainted with the character.  I want to be able to slip into his character and be him.  It makes it easier to write when you know everything about him or her.

And, yes, there will be a her.

And yes, jaded, world-weary or not, he’s not quite done with the bad guys yet.

It’s just he wishes the moments of self-doubt would get less rather than more.

Writing a book in 365 days – 31

Day 31

Minimalist writing.

I don’t think this is going to make me a better writer. I like to describe things, set the mood, set the place, set the characters, and then jump in.

Minimalism requires you to strip away all of that baggage and get to the heart of the matter.

Here’s the problem:

I spent the next seven days planning to remove my worst enemy.

Why?

There has to be motivation, though I guess it could be a series of short vignettes that explain the lead-up to this drastic situation.

I have a problem sometimes getting to the point. We get there, but perhaps we should have made a left at Alberquerqe and instead, went on the grand tour instead.

Just think, if I wanted to see London, Paris and Berlin, where would be the fun in that. I want to see everything possible in between, like the Eurostar, Disneyland, the Rhine and all those castles and vineyards.

Stories are like that, too. We need the details to make educated guesses and keep reading to see if we are right.

Writing a book in 365 days – 31

Day 31

Minimalist writing.

I don’t think this is going to make me a better writer. I like to describe things, set the mood, set the place, set the characters, and then jump in.

Minimalism requires you to strip away all of that baggage and get to the heart of the matter.

Here’s the problem:

I spent the next seven days planning to remove my worst enemy.

Why?

There has to be motivation, though I guess it could be a series of short vignettes that explain the lead-up to this drastic situation.

I have a problem sometimes getting to the point. We get there, but perhaps we should have made a left at Alberquerqe and instead, went on the grand tour instead.

Just think, if I wanted to see London, Paris and Berlin, where would be the fun in that. I want to see everything possible in between, like the Eurostar, Disneyland, the Rhine and all those castles and vineyards.

Stories are like that, too. We need the details to make educated guesses and keep reading to see if we are right.

Writing a book in 365 days – 30

Day 30

Today under the guise of words of wisdom, we have a concept of, if he wrote it, he could get rid of it.

OK, does that mean the writing goes from the pad straight into the bin? I’m sure all of has had a moment like that more than once.

Or is there something a lot deeper going on here?

I’m going with deep because there is another line, He had gotten rid of many things by writing them.

So does that mean if I write about the things that bug me, they’ll go away?

Sounds interesting.

My slant on this is. If you could write out all your problems and imagine a different happier ending to all of them. I mean I don’t really want to send my younger brother to the moon, but the thought is there.

I’m thinking that it might be a way to not pay expensive shrinks to analyse your problems, you could do it yourself, write the problems down like a quadratic equation, and solve them yourself.

Or work out how to send your brother to the moon yourself without having to plead with or pay millions of dollars to NASA.

Writing a book in 365 days – 30

Day 30

Today under the guise of words of wisdom, we have a concept of, if he wrote it, he could get rid of it.

OK, does that mean the writing goes from the pad straight into the bin? I’m sure all of has had a moment like that more than once.

Or is there something a lot deeper going on here?

I’m going with deep because there is another line, He had gotten rid of many things by writing them.

So does that mean if I write about the things that bug me, they’ll go away?

Sounds interesting.

My slant on this is. If you could write out all your problems and imagine a different happier ending to all of them. I mean I don’t really want to send my younger brother to the moon, but the thought is there.

I’m thinking that it might be a way to not pay expensive shrinks to analyse your problems, you could do it yourself, write the problems down like a quadratic equation, and solve them yourself.

Or work out how to send your brother to the moon yourself without having to plead with or pay millions of dollars to NASA.