It has been a while since I posted, mostly because I have been working for a job I just lost with no reason. So beyond that and playing The Sims 3, I have been training for another job, which was suppose to be my second job, at JC Pennies. I have done little writing, but that’s good gives me time to post some of what I have already posted. Before I start that, I decided I would post on my writing style. This will be the first of a series of a 5 posts, which I will go over my process of writing. I could do it in one post, but where is the fun in that. The five areas I am going to go are from the Idea, Developing, Computer, Writing, and I’ll end with Rethink/Merge. Most have subtopics that fill in the whole, but you will see those as each post appears, so lets get started with Idea.
Idea:
To start writing you need to have an idea, but everyone has ideas one of the most common phrases heard is you know I have a great idea for a novel, someday maybe I’ll write it. I have read this in many books on writing fiction, and always that follows from the authors mouth is someone who says this is not a writer and will most likely never write the story they have the idea for. Writer have to write, they don’t wait to write the will start. That is one way I know I am a writer I have to write, but again it all starts with the idea.
For me, an idea can come to me at any time from a dream from something someone said or I over heard. A great example of this is I was at a hockey game with my dad this year, the song: Down with the Sickness by Disturbed, was playing and a verse said this:
When suddenly it changes
Violently it changes
I have listen to this song several times years ago, as well heard it several times at earlier hockey games. However this time something clicked, I have been working on a idea for a TV series since last February, not to give much away I could not get much of the story mapped out. That line of the song clicked on something I already knew was going to happen but somehow it allowed all these other ideas to fit together. I ran back to my seat since I was walking around, quickly mapped out the beginning and ending of all six seasons.
Idea Doc:
So, my ideas come at the most random times, but just because I get an idea does not mean I will use it. I have a word document called idea doc, where all ideas for stories go so I will not forget them. You could say this is where ideas go to die, because I have yet to work on one of the ideas in this document, but it is not fully true I have an idea for a 12 book series that I would do after my Marks of Eilira series is done, that I am still gathering ideas in my head. I jot them all down in a special notebook for that series, so I have them all so when I do work on it I have them and can read through it and pick the ideas I will use, or not or rethink. However, most of the ideas in my idea doc will most likely never be used in a huge project.
With my start up of short stories again, some of these ideas might be used finally, but most of the ideas I do not see being used in a big project unless maybe I used them in short stories, as I write I like the story so much I decided to do something with it. Only time will tell.
Pondering:
Once I have an idea that I like it usually just stays in my head for a while or maybe I’ll start something with it and it will get rethought, see last post for this. I will do nothing with the idea, just that I like the idea so I let it be remembering it and keeping it there so I know exactly what it is. Over time more ideas will come up, maybe I know right off they work with that first idea, other times not. I group ideas together over time, usually when I am bored I do this. Usually during this time I will think of new idea that will link all the ideas together or allow other ideas I was think from another possible story fit in. I group them all together in my head, which is around the time I come up with some kind of title or name for it just to know what to call it.
Once the group has a name the story will never be confused with anything else, this does not stop it from getting rethought or merged. Just I will not confuse ideas from one story I am actually working on with this possible story.
Developing:
At this time, when enough ideas have been grouped together I start to think about the plot of the story. Most times, one of the first ideas I had is what the plot will be about. Other times when I merge two groups together, I get the story. It is just takes sometime, but it is not a rush to figure out the story that is why it is called developing. I am more then likely doing this in my head. I need to the basic beginning of the story and what will be the conflict. More then likely the story I start to form at this point will change greatly be the time I go to write it, or might be the same just happen different then I thought.
Beginning:
Like I said before, once the story start to form I start to think where will it begin, for the current Marks of Eilira I got this idea of a kid who woke up with a tattoo on the back of his neck and he did not know where he got it. The beginning was totally new, but the overall story is a merging of two different ideas one that got the main conflict from just happens way different, where I got part of the magic from another completely reworked.
With my beginning I had a starting place, I knew where the story would take begin, which I mean where we start, not where the story actually begins. I am very much into world building and will spend a good amount of time defining the universe that it takes place. Well I should say World then universe, but I lay the foundations of how things work more on that later.
Ending:
With the beginning now I start to think of an end, and will not start without the ending, I have tried to many times to write without knowing where I am going and get after there and find out I have no clue where I am going with this. So, an ending is a must for me, an author I like to read, he is a best seller D. J. MacHale author of the Pendragon Series that just had the final book come out, book 10. He has put it this way:
“In a mystery you need to know how it is going to end so you can leave the clues that get you there.”
D. J. MacHale is a believer in mapping out the books before he writes, he mapped out all ten books of the Pendragon series in three page outlines in about two weeks before he started writing them. I am very much an outline, but again that will come later.
Name:
With the story, I need a name for the story not something that will just be kept it separate in my head, but something to call it. This name has to be what I will call it when I write it, and will more then likely it will be some how related to the name I used to keep the ideas grouped in my head. Sometimes not, the TV series I am still working on was once called Omen’s, but I knew it would never be the title. I could never think of a good title for a while. One day I called it Echoes and it has stuck; now I have a reason for that name.
Character Name:
With the name of the project, I need the main character’s name for it really to take root. Echoes I have named the main characters three times and will more then likely will rename them again because I cannot off hand tell you their names. Which usually means I don’t care enough about the character, the name is very important to me and if it does not fit the character I see in my head, I might call them the name I have on paper but will not keep it until I can remember the main character(s) name on command.
Once I know the main character’s name, as well remember it I will remember all the major characters names in the story for the most part. At least the heroes, some of the villains, like I said names are important so are the name of the villain. In Marks of Eilira, the main villains were seven different people, after a while I decided to make an actual main villain. Don’t get me wrong these seven are major characters, but not the one Zack has to beat at the end of book eight. A good strong villain name is needed, not one that sounds stupid. In Marks the villains name was like Nanagog, but I thought it was too cheese and eventually named him… Well I am not going to give that away that is part of the mystery of the series.
Project Folder:
After sometime not necessary when I have the main characters name I will make a folder under my projects fold on my Mac. Yes, I have a Mac and they kick ass. Back on topic, when I first get enough ideas grouped together I start to figure out what kind of media would be best for this story to be told on. I am not a writer, writers write, I am a storyteller, yes writing is part of it, but in today’s world, you can tell a story in many different ways. On the big screen of a movie theater, or video game, novel, card game, board game, comic/manga/anime, etc. My idea for the story must fit into one of those medias.
Now the story could easily fit into several, what I am looking for is the media I will first tell it through. Echoes I knew from day one when I first started gathering ideas it was going to be a TV series. I have never questioned if it should be a novel instead or a video game. It will be a TV series, and maybe a movie however I doubt it will ever be a video game or novel. However, you never know.
Once I know the media I will give the fold with its name under the media fold it fits into. This means the ideas are strong enough that I believe I want to spend the time to develop into all I can. Echoes have one of these folders, but the next two areas have yet to be done that comes with the folder.
Project Bible
This project bible is there to help me keep thing straight, it is extremely important to me that I do not contradict anything. So when I say you can only teleport this way, I cannot make a new way to teleport in the story lets say if it is novel of nine books, in book six. However, I can if I know a head of time I want more then one way for people to teleport, the person who thinks there is only one way will be established as only knowing one way, but the other way revealed in book six will be possible either in a similar way or a completely different way that might be far out of the area of the person who only knew one area.
My Marks of Eilira, the series takes place in two worlds Earth and Eilira. Eilira you can only travel through gate from Eilira to Earth and back. There are two ways, which I will not get into. In book Five, a way to travel across Eilira is introduced by two characters experimenting. It also works on earth by limited.
This however, is well established in the project bible. The new way to travel is discovered as the story comes to life. Same goes with how magic works, how armies of the past were structure. I put everything into this bible, currently the Project Bible for Marks of Eilira is 313 pages long, now you have to take in account that I also have detailed story outline that adds about a hundred and fifty pages to the bible or it would be in the middle two hundreds.
Story Mapping
As I mentioned before I am an outliner, I need to know how the story is going to begin as well end. Once I have that I can start to fill in the blanks, as I start to map out the story. In Marks of Eilira, I wanted seven at start, but that lasted a whole two days as I thought too many people are doing series with seven books to match Harry Potter. So, I decided on eight books and it has been that way ever since. It has changed to nine while mapping on book five; it quickly went back to eight.
Once I have an idea of how long the story will be as in Marks of Eilira Eight books or in Echoes six seasons. Side note, I do not get to decide how many seasons there would be, it kind of impossible to get that many if no one watches is the show, or if it is a hit the network might want more then that. Anyway, if this show ever gets on TV and makes it to six the story will end at six, as well my involvement, I will not be involved in any project that exceeds what I know it should be.
Anyway, once I know the length I map out the story, I have full detailed outlines of all eight books of Marks of Eilira. Book eight the final book is 78 pages long, only because it is a very detailed outline. As I said before Echoes does not have this, they have documents read for me to start but they are blank except for the front page with the name of the series, my contact information. Echoes I have mapped out the beginning of each seasons and ending, but the middle still needs to be filled in.
This comes to the I need to know the end of each book or season so I can write because I need to know where I am heading. In Marks I knew up to book four the ending of each book and the title of each book, most changed except books 2,3 & 8. Books five through eight took a while for me to figure out where I was going, mainly because I did not know the ending when I started working on this series back in 2006. Outlining was still new to me then, when I got that ending it made a world of a difference, which really helped me get focus all eight books flowing together, which is so important.
Character Profiles:
Along with the Project Bible, I have separate bible called the Character Bible, just like J.K. Rowling I write out character profiles for all my characters. I know what there screen name would be write down to the day they were born. Mino characters get one, but not as extensive as major characters. If a character shows up once or twice like passing them on the street, I do not write a profile for them. They have to have a part in the story to get a profile.
I am working on draft two of book one of Marks of Eilira; I will say all the character profiles are not done. The ones that matted for this book are, as will happen as each book gets written.
Writing::
Once the project bible is completed and I have how things are going to work as well the story fully mapped out I will start working on the first draft. All the character profiles for all major and minor characters must be done before I can write the first draft of each part in case of a novel the first book. This is my least favorite part to do, because where I am not locked into the outline, most of the creative part is gone. Second draft you get to rework things, but first draft it is not so much fun. I stole a line from D.J. MacHale:
“I hate to write, it is no fun.”
f I were a writer, I would love to write, but since I am a storyteller, I do not. There is always part of a job that we do not like to do. Writing is the part I hate to do, I have always hated. In high school going into college, I wanted to be an idea guy who came up with the premise of a story and pitched it to networks if they bought it they continued it on, I had no part in it. Mainly because I was lazy, also I did not know much on structuring a story as I do now as well my writing style. I still hate the writing part, guess what it is part of telling a story.
If you have been reading along, you known the last few posts have been talking about how I go about writing, well at least in my long projects that I do. Today we will be wrapping up this series and moving on to something else. I might start posting some of my short stories, but we shall see. If you have not read the first four posts I suggest you start with 1 of 5 since this is that last post you kind of need to know everything else for what I talk about here. Let’s jump into it shall we?
Rethink/Merge:
This is the last section, what I call rethink/merge, mainly that is how I got two of my longest running projects. My Anime series Forbidden Realm I have been working on since summer of 2000, start off like a Dragon Ball Z rip off, but then started over in July of 2001. The story developed and two major characters from the old story are still there, but under new ideas. Part of the old show up, but in different ways, I rethought the ideas because it was not working for me.
As in Marks of Eilira, I did both rethought and merged two ideas into one. However, I just realized this about a year ago. I thought it was mostly a rethinking, but it is actually both. Sometimes the original ideas just no longer work for some reason, they still have the same power over me that makes me want to use them or tell the story. It just takes time to work it out.
Conclusion:
Well that is my way of writing; it can take a while before I even get to the writing part of the project that is why it is called a project. The idea document is for good ideas, not strong enough for me to turn into a project or to tell. Well with short stories coming, that might changed, but that writing style is completely different from this. Now that I think about it, I might have to post that writing style on here. I would be much easier to get that into one post then this.
I hoped this helped any writers looking for ideas on how to get started on writing. I can tell you this that my writing style is not going to work for everyone. My good friend Matt is one of those sit and write as he goes. I am sure he has an idea of where he is going, but he does not map it out before hand. I am would love to do that, but it just does not work. If you want to refer to these posts you can always find them here or you can just click the My Style link to the left and get the whole thing.
Tim
