What are you writing about now?

[Kiredor]

Sometimes it gets discouraging to realize the progress you made doesn't actually work...and now I have to redo my theme and plot-theme for my story. Well...all my work wasn't for nothing, so I've been told.

I have to find a theme difficult to answer, because this is part of what makes a memorable and intelligent story(according to the standards I'm working with). I have to find something I don't necessarily have the answer to myself, because then I can explore the issue with my characters and see where their answers take them. This means a lot of reading and...possibly days of thought, though I'm told days is considered quick work in these circumstances. Given I'm not sure where to start, the task looks big. But it's okay. I'll find a way into it and figure out something. Writing this little message helps, too. I'll figure something out.

I'm focusing on the theme because of the way I view stories. To me, each story, especially the good ones, is a thought experiment designed to answer some particular question. The memorable ones either answered difficult questions or produced answers people have been grappling with for years since. I want my story to be remembered. I want to make something last beyond my years. In the end, that is what I want for all my stories. I guess I have a lot of work ahead of me.

For me, a fantasy story doesn’t necessarily have to adhere to a specific theme, but incorporating a theme can deepen the narrative and may resonate with readers.
I find themes are difficult things to develop out of thin air. As I begin the process of writing, I try to strip away the story and the characters, then think to myself what am I trying to say with my story?
I consider inviting my readers to contemplate destiny, morality, the meaning of life, the strength of relationships, and/or the enduring struggle between light and darkness as a starting point. This is not always successful as the story sometimes deviates or becomes too dependent on the theme.

Insofar as reading your dilemma, it is certainly intriguing and leaves me wondering if making your theme 'difficult to answer', is the right determination; as readers may not find this enjoyable in their analysis as you enjoy writing it.
However, I certainly wish you well in your endeavour and best of luck with it.

 

[WatcherWraith]

Insofar as reading your dilemma, it is certainly intriguing and leaves me wondering if making your theme 'difficult to answer', is the right determination; as readers may not find this enjoyable in their analysis as you enjoy writing it.
However, I certainly wish you well in your endeavour and best of luck with it.

I plan on making it so each of my characters offers some solution to the theme's question, so my readers can see how each answer plays out. Hopefully that'll make things easier for them to analyze :]

 

[david_wendelken]

I got the asterism scale and clarity corrected. Now, when I want to signal a context shift in the text, I can use the three mallorn leaves instead of *** on a line by itself. (You may have to click on each image to see it in full.)

I also have one illustration almost laid out. The names are a bit off center, still have to fix that.

Next I need to start on designing a number of dinkuses (plural of dinkus). A dinkus is a small artwork used in a printed work, often horizontal in nature, and often used for much the same purpose as an asterism. I have a funny chapter about getting some honey, so the proper dinkus for ending that chapter might include a line of honey bees. Another is about "The Great Slap" which includes a negotiation between elves and dwarves that went terribly wrong (in a funny sort of way). I'm going to try to use an open hand and some axe heads (for the slap and the response). I'll need some battle-oriented ones and maybe just some based on organic vines. (Oh, and one that's a mix of both those!)

Then again, I'm new at drawing and I may end up with just one simple design.

I split my book into separate files, one per chapter or appendix, in preparation to load it into Adobe InDesign. I did a text of importing one chapter and got horrible results! I started with a file that had capital letters in red and every other letter in black. InDesign imported it and randomly changed that around. Sometimes it did the right thing, sometimes an entire paragraph would be turned red, and other times the paragraph would be turned black! Yikes!

 

[WatcherWraith]

I got the asterism scale and clarity corrected. Now, when I want to signal a context shift in the text, I can use the three mallorn leaves instead of *** on a line by itself. (You may have to click on each image to see it in full.)

I also have one illustration almost laid out. The names are a bit off center, still have to fix that.

Next I need to start on designing a number of dinkuses (plural of dinkus). A dinkus is a small artwork used in a printed work, often horizontal in nature, and often used for much the same purpose as an asterism. I have a funny chapter about getting some honey, so the proper dinkus for ending that chapter might include a line of honey bees. Another is about "The Great Slap" which includes a negotiation between elves and dwarves that went terribly wrong (in a funny sort of way). I'm going to try to use an open hand and some axe heads (for the slap and the response). I'll need some battle-oriented ones and maybe just some based on organic vines. (Oh, and one that's a mix of both those!)

Then again, I'm new at drawing and I may end up with just one simple design.

I split my book into separate files, one per chapter or appendix, in preparation to load it into Adobe InDesign. I did a text of importing one chapter and got horrible results! I started with a file that had capital letters in red and every other letter in black. InDesign imported it and randomly changed that around. Sometimes it did the right thing, sometimes an entire paragraph would be turned red, and other times the paragraph would be turned black! Yikes!

This work is going to be a marvel of customization!

 

[david_wendelken]

Just finished another asterism. Looks good on the page on screen. I'm printing a copy of my book at the moment, so I'll have to wait 40 another 40 pages to print before I can test it in print.

Herulin, the Lord of Song, Carnemirie's harp.

 

[david_wendelken]

Just finished another asterism. Looks good on the page on screen. I'm printing a copy of my book at the moment, so I'll have to wait 40 another 40 pages to print before I can test it in print.

Herulin, the Lord of Song, Carnemirie's harp.

Had to increase its size once I placed it in the document, so I've got a few more tries to set the correct size. But it looks good.

 

[david_wendelken]

Added some color to the mallorn leaf asterism.

 

[david_wendelken]

I didn't have a lot of energy or writing inspiration yesterday, but I wanted to get something useful done to make progress.

So, I re-read the last chapter I finished and the start of the next one. Found a number of small word-smithing improvements and continuity mistakes and had a good time reading my story again.

And, as often happens, I got some inspiration out of that task and started another chapter before bedtime. I'm 2 1/2 pages in and have enough to take it to 4 to 6 pages before I have to go back to the well of inspiration again.

 

[david_wendelken]

Edited what I wrote last night and added a bit more to the chapter. I'm up to 4 pages and still have more I can add. It's good, too, because it's handling the backstory of an important supporting character, our main heroine's husband, and how they met. He was as gobsmacked when he met her as I was when I first saw the woman I married. As they say, write what you know!

I'm looking for an inventive, clever name for something. Two to three families form a partnership. They alternate who runs the company based upon which family members are most capable (and willing). These partnerships last for centuries, even millennia. I don't want to make it sound "corporate", I want it to be more like a binding together of families. Like hand-fasting, a term used for getting married in some cultures.

Got any ideas?

 

[WatcherWraith]

I'm about to sleep, so my brain is tired. But perhaps alliance, or coalition, or familial community could work?
I just typed "partnership" into the online thesaurus and chose what looked best according to what I understood you to be saying.

 

[david_wendelken]

I'm about to sleep, so my brain is tired. But perhaps alliance, or coalition, or familial community could work?
I just typed "partnership" into the online thesaurus and chose what looked best according to what I understood you to be saying.

Oh, I like familial community! The concept is for a human/elven family business or partnership. I've decided to use the human language term for family and the elven for community and slap them together as one word, which is sort of what the two families would be doing.

I'm using Amharic for the human tribe that has this arrangement and Sindarin for the elven side, so betesebcovas. Originally, of course, when the custom was founded, each group would have just used their word for the arrangement, but that would be confusing to the other group, so they just said them both, one after the other. And then they just said them all in one breath 'cause that's easier. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. (Unless someone else suggests an idea I like better!)

Thanks!

 

[Ent]

A "Banner Morning". After a couple tweaks in the Preface and Introduction, I put the first words into Chapter 1..!
Brain was flying, time was short.
On we go.

 

[david_wendelken]

Most recent chapter has been about how my heroine met her husband and their romance. I had never developed the husband's back story before so I'm breaking new ground.

While I was doing that, some ideas came to me.

I know what the antagonist *IS* like, and I've had hints of how he got the way he is, but had never been able to decide on the details. I think I'm not only a lot closer, but I may end up with a connection thru her husband's family. Such fun! I'll keep teasing out the ramifications of my idea and see if it holds together.

 

[david_wendelken]

Today was a mental slog due to a pollen-induced crud.

I started listening to chapters in volume I using MS Word's "Read Aloud" function while I did other things. I found it helpful! I caught a number of typos or mistakenly left out words. Now, the pronunciation of words based on Tolkien's worlds (and a few others) is pretty wonky, so one has to ignore that. It was also nice to hear the rhythm and flow of the words as spoken. I caught a few places that needed improvement.

 

[WatcherWraith]

Yesterday I gained a lesson in patience and small victories. I may not yet have found my theme, but I am close, and I have learned some things by my attempts and my times of thought. Also, I don't need to rush this. I don't need to be done and to move on to the next point. I can take my time and produce something to be proud of.

I am young and this is my first attempt to write something serious. I have much to learn and much to do. And now I know to celebrate the small victories.

 

[david_wendelken]

Yesterday I gained a lesson in patience and small victories. I may not yet have found my theme, but I am close, and I have learned some things by my attempts and my times of thought. Also, I don't need to rush this. I don't need to be done and to move on to the next point. I can take my time and produce something to be proud of.

I am young and this is my first attempt to write something serious. I have much to learn and much to do. And now I know to celebrate the small victories.

Kaizen, the Japanese concept of constant, incremental improvement, is very powerful. All those improvements (in this case, to plot, characterization, back story, setting, writing skill, and editing skill) really add up over time!

 

[Ent]

I don't need to rush this. I don't need to be done and to move on to the next point

Indeed. Celebrate the victories, and enjoy the process.
I have 'completed' Chapter 1. Yeah, right..!

I have what will ultiimately be the 'core' of Chapter 1 down...but am convinced as I proceed, it will be revisited any number of times.
Just as I continue to review and revise the Preface and Introduction as I progress, making sure things are 'covered off correctly' given what ends up needing to be written later.

I am young and this is my first attempt to write something serious. I have much to learn and much to do. And now I know to celebrate the small victories.

Glorious.

 

[Ent]

@1stvermont's book Middle-earth Lore is available digitally on Kindle today, Tolkien Reading Day. Not 'pre-order' any more.
So any of you wanting to know what my writing looks like in a little more depth can see Appendix A now too... along with the artwork done for it.

I almost started a Thread on my current book Middle-earth: Its Religious and Moral Elements, What J.R.R. Tolkien's Texts Unveil - to glean some thoughts and insight from you all, but refrained. It would be within the 'rules' as it all relates directly to Tolkien and his work... but it requires drawing some lines not all can manage to stay within.

I may yet do a PM for anyone interested...but we'll see. I still think it would be good to get some additional insight.

My intent is to use only SIL, Hobbit, LoTR and Letters, inductively, gleaning from them HOW Tolkien brought out the elements he chose to include... specific examples, syntax, etc. inductively building to the conclusion.

I won't take the book outside those 4 works, as it's in those works Tolkien intended to 'show the world' what he wanted them to see about his mythology/legend for England. The ancillary works are 'nice,' but do not pertain directly to his demonstration. (Plus those alone give more example than I'll ever be able to cover.)

Anyway, just a 'pondering note' here.

 

[david_wendelken]

Spent the day adjusting the usage of styles in my MS Word version of my book, to prep it for a less troublesome conversion to Adobe Indesign. It's important to understand the difference between paragraph and character styles. Had to adjust some styles and how I used them.

Developed another asterism that I like better than the others. Here it is. You'll have to click on it.

 

[WatcherWraith]

Spent the day adjusting the usage of styles in my MS Word version of my book, to prep it for a less troublesome conversion to Adobe Indesign. It's important to understand the difference between paragraph and character styles. Had to adjust some styles and how I used them.

Developed another asterism that I like better than the others. Here it is. You'll have to click on it.

It looks nice!