Wednesday, March 6, 2019

March IWSG



Wednesday, March 6. The dream: Spend a quiet day blogging and writing while the kids are at school and the husband is out of town. Enjoy the snow as it falls gently to the ground and the sound of sweet purring cats snoozing in their beds. 

The reality: Scratch cornea trying to pull out damaged contact. Locate granny glasses. Listen to child tell me they can't go to school because their ankle hurts. Call doctor. Realize basement toilet has a leak and carpet pad in room next door is soaked. Call plumber. Need to finish blog. Needs more humor. Need to save Dove from kitten. Noche's fangs are in her butt, again.

Why isn't husband here when chaos breaks loose? Why is it so freaking cold and snowy when I have to take my hobbling kid out? ARGGHH!

Welcome to another installment of the IWSG, led by Alex Cavannaugh and co-hosted by Fundy Blue, Beverly Stowe McClure, Erika Beebe, and Lisa Buie-Collard! 

This month's optional question: Whose perspective do you like to write from best, the hero (protagonist) or the villain (antagonist)? And why?

I started writing in first person many years ago and now I can't stop. So, I usually end up writing from the main character's point of view, and my main characters tend to be more heroic than villainous.

After a long hiatus, I've forced myself to get back into writing fiction. I've given the advice that if a writer is stuck, one way to get through is to write anything, no matter how horrid, just to get the creative juices flowing. Spew forth and clean up the mess in later edits. Looks like this:




via GIPHY



So far, that process has been working and I've got about 90 pages of new stuff. Absolute raw sewage. I'll fix it later. I'm not going to even think about the word count and I know this thing is going to bloat like nobody's business.



fat_cat

I should have stopped at 90K!  Image: Gerard Van Der Leun


Before leaving the writing chair, having an idea of what the next scene should be about is key. First, it gives me something to brainstorm about while washing dishes or taking a shower. Second, it stops me from sitting in front of a blank screen thinking, "Hmmmmmm. I have no idea what to do now." For me, getting started is more than half the battle.




via GIPHY



I also took the unprecedented step of writing while my children were in the house! Once I even kept typing with one of them sitting right next to me, doing the "Mom...Mom...Mom" chant.

But back to perspective. This MC doesn't see himself as a hero. In fact, he's made some awful choices, which derailed his life. He feels like of villain of circumstances and is striving for redemption.

To get back into the habit of writing daily (or close to it), I've been slapping down things that happen and dialogue, following a loose outline and making almost as many notes as prose. In later drafts, I'll focus on inner dialogue, feelings, and something which is going to be a challenge: writing a character suffering from bipolar disorder. Should be interesting.




Have you written a character with a mental disorder? How's your Wednesday going?



18 comments:

  1. Good for you for getting back into the writing groove - keep at it! :)

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  2. You make the chaos sound so humorous! :D Good for you for getting back in the groove. Love the gifs.

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  3. You've heard the old saying "It's darkest before the dawn." Sounds like it's your dawn. Have a great day.

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  4. Sorry all hell broke out today! If you can write with a child chanting next to you, then you're good.

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  5. When I couldn't write, I couldn't write fiction at all, but I did try writing anything to get the juices flowing and to just BE writing. I wrote non-fiction memoir-style stuff. It did feel good to be writing, although, at the time, it didn't help me to write anything else. But the simple fact that I was writing something was HUGE.

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  6. What a mess.

    Spewing out anything at least gets you in the groove.

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  7. Ooof, sounds like all hell broke loose. When it rains, it pours, eh? ><

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  8. Oh man, I've been there. You have this great plan to write and then everything falls apart. Seems like you kept your sense of humour though, which is good. Usually I just blame myself, which is both crushingly depressing and not at all helpful.

    I also tried to write with the kids in the house a few days ago. I got about five minutes in before the kids came looking for me, and once they set their mind to something they're impossible to ignore. The 4yo will literally climb onto my head if she wants my attention.

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  9. Sorry you're having such a hectic day. But glad you're writing regularly.

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  10. Yikes! That sounds like one hell of a day. Hopefully things are looking up by now.
    I always write in first person, too, so I'm always writing from the POV of the protagonist. I wouldn't really call my main MC a "hero," though. My characters aren't evil, but they're definitely flawed.

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  11. Hope things get less hectic soon!

    I like writing MCs who don't view themselves as heroes. They're really interesting to explore. Lots of great inner monologue potential. :)

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  12. Reality creeps in and causes all kinds of delays in creativity. I like first person sometimes, but not all of my stories lend themselves to it, so I switch as I feel necessary.

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  13. You should write humor or/and sarcastic humor. I had to chuckle, sorry. I like writing in first person also.

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  14. I write slowly, but my first draft is more polished than most. Lately I've been giving myself permission to bracket notes when I'm stuck (ex: [show Harrison's outrage]). It has really sped up my drafting without harming the finished product.

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  15. I had to laugh at your plans vs reality. Sorry. I have a friend who when her kids were young and she wanted quiet time to read, kept a bowl of cold water and a washcloth next to her. When the kids came screaming Mom, Mom, Mom, she soaked the washcloth then cleaned their faces. Amazing after a few times, they quit that. My daughter says if you aren't bleeding or have a bone sticking out, don't interrupt her work. Hey, whatever works. Good luck on writing more.

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  16. I write crap the first time too. Maybe even the second time. I also like to daydream the next part before writing it out. the more it congeals in the brain, the easier it is to write.

    I used to write when my boys were little fellas. I'd bribe them. Give me X number of quiet minutes and I'd play a game with them when I was done. If they interrupted, I'd tack on five more minutes of writing time. They'd stand at the door and wait like little stalkers. Good times. They go by fast!

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  17. My favorite back-burner books have two characters with varying degrees of bi-polar. So. Much. Fun. I like writing womens fiction because you get to write slightly mentally ill persons (this includes abusive and addicts) as pseudo-hero's. OF course, I like fantasy for this same reason - you can write a vampire or werewolf as hero, and NOT make him ashamed of who/what he is.

    Sometimes I have to write lots of crap to get down to the real writing. Free writing is always a fun challenge. Usually, by the time I start feeling like I am starting to get somewhere in the true writing, something goes wrong in the house, the cats walk across the computer, or someone calls with a not-real crisis that needs immediate attention.

    Good for you writing through the "mom . . mom . ." chant. Gets easier each time you do it.

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  18. My detective is usually an anti-hero. They typically have drinking or other substance abuse problems, so I guess that's a mental disorder. Great post. Happy IWSG!

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