Wednesday, April 3, 2019

April IWSG



Happy April! Were you fooled on Monday? My twelve-year-old got me good. She ran into the kitchen right before bedtime--or rather, an hour past--looking for her backpack and muttering about a homework assignment she forgot to do. Instantly livid, I was about to yell emphasize that I don't feel like doing homework at 10-freaking-o'-clock she should be more mindful of these things, when she stopped, smiled, and said, "April Fools'". 

Good one, kid. 

Of course, as writers, we fool people all the time, or at least, we try. So, it's time for another post for the IWSG,  led by Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh and his merry crew of co-hosts: J.H. Moncrieff, Natalie Aguirre, Patsy Collins, and Chemist Ken! 

First, the IWSG optional question:

If you could use a wish to help you write just ONE scene/chapter of your book, which one would it be?


Once Upon A Time





I'd pick the first five pages and have some magical super-fairy sprinkle writerly intoxication powder all over that sucker to make it irresistible to agents and publishers. Ooooo, they'd think, I've got to represent/publish this one, for sure! A 110K word count? No problem.



College of Charleston grounds
Image: denisbin


The first draft of my current work-in-slomo-progress is still clunking along. It's set at a college campus, and is it just me, or are there a lot more novels and movies about high school than ones set at college. Why is that, you think? 

Besides wanting help on those all-important first five pages, I'd also take some pointers on the parts of the novel between big scenes. Writing about specific things like fights, kisses, chases, or death are the fun parts. It's the lulls in between that can be tricky. You don't want to think of those parts as "filler" or else, chop-chop, they need to go. But you can't have things going full blast, 100 mph all the time, either. Or can you? 


speed 1
Image: Hsiung/d6487coke


Being able to write the lower intensity scenes so that they are just as interesting and as important story-drivers as the high intensity scenes is a skill. In fact, I often find myself enjoying those parts the most when rewatching/rereading things.

I mean, face it. Most of us went to our first viewing of Titanic to see the boat go down. But fess up. Who here kept going back to enjoy the evolution of Rose and Jack's love story, hmm? And whenever I reread Stephen King's IT, it's the characters and their backstories that I linger over much more than the final destruction of the monster. 

Can you name a book or movie that took place at college besides Animal House? Any book or movie you love for the development more than or as much as the climax?