Revisions are, well, work. But storytelling (i.e., writing the first draft) is pure play.
Although I have stayed up an hour and a half later than I planned this evening, I have finished the third chapter.
Earlier today I created the spreadsheet I use to plot storylines. There is no other way I could keep track of the tales, the characters, and their movements. Yes, I can tell you what the phase of the moon is on my hero's birthday each year. It is not a simple spreadsheet.
I have also printed of fresh copies of several maps and some genealogical charts. Gotta know where they are and how they're all related!
Much of the fun is that, although I have an overall story in my head (and have for at least a year), the details and detours keep surprising me. It is also fun to think about how something in this volume will have an effect in the next volume.
I might worry that one should not have this much fun in Lent but I am a "now quit your care" type and not a "forty days and forty nights" type. (Let the musicians and singers understand.)
Sweet dreams, my little meerkats.
--the BB
5 comments:
Oh my - I can truly feel your enthusiasm about this. I love it when someone is doing something about living their passion... which is clearly what you are doing here.
Many prayers for your efforts.
it would appear to me that by claiming this blessing, you're simply living out the blessedness of a child of God, accepting and acting with the intelligence, talent and imagination you've been given.
Cause for praise and rejoicing indeed!
And you enjoy ever blessed minute of it you blessed man!
David@Montreal
What the others said ;=)
(the word is repikelo...)
No anxiety here, I can tell! Good for you. Keep writing while the muse is with you. (But spreadsheets!? Really!? Does it include words or images they might be likely to say too? --just interested.)
The spreadsheets are basically timelines vertically with columns for geographic locations. I can put a very brief note of who is where and what is happening. This allows me to track multiple story lines and coordinated when the people and story lines intersect. I usually just have word images and topographical maps scattered here and there.
I also use a genealogy program in which a thousand fictional characters reside, the principal ones with physical descriptions to help me be consistent. I want the context of families to understand characters.
The one set of true graphics I have is heraldry from later periods - coats of arms I drew in the early 70s.
And for words there is a rudimentary dictionary in Filemaker so I can play with the language of that region.
Last night I used maps to trace a trade journey, then recorded the itinerary on a the master spreadsheet. I now have a sense of when the duke returns and what he was up to in the meantime. But we interrupted that story for a family reunion and some romance in territory further north. All of this flows from the previous adventures and also lays groundwork for events in future generations.
Yep, still excited.
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