Class Update

So, I hit the first lesson in the Think Sideways class that I think will be one that just won't work for me. It's about calculating how many scenes there are in your novel, and then writing up an index card for each (or only for some, depending on how detailed you want to get). Of the varying forms of outlining available, it appears I have been working for years with what she terms an editor's outline. Interesting. I guess I won't have any trouble writing one when the time comes! I've never found such a form restricting at all, and, as my novel shifts and changes, I've always simply changed the editor outline accordingly. I've never felt constrained to follow what I first put down. But I like the format of an editor's outline. It's the easiest method of simply telling myself the story I want to write.

Index card usage (as a story creation tool) leaves me absolutely lost, though I gave it a try anyway but it took me twice as long, and if the cards got out of order (which is supposed to be half the freedom here -- you can shuffle easily), I just got incredibly frustrated. I also have issues with needing to see as much material at one time as possible, so to me, the cards end up being the limiting method.

Interesting!

However, taking my own outline and using the Sentence treatment on each scene? Now that's useful! I'll just be doing that technique in a Word doc rather than on cards.

Think Sideways Writing Course - month 2 report

I wasn't entirely sure what I was going to get out of this course. I mean, I don't have trouble coming up with ideas, I don't have trouble finishing novels, I'm good with world building, etc. But none of it happens as fast and as smoothly as I'd like, and I don't quite have the discipline to treat my writing as a business, which is something I need to work on. I've had short stories published, but I still don't have my novels on the local bookstore shelves. I'm at a point where I'm ready to start sending DTD out, but the whole agent/editing/publishing/success side of it I have little experience with. I've enjoyed following Holly Lisle's journal of the past couple years, and have found her writing essays on her website very useful, so I figured, what the heck, why not take the class. I need a fresh outlook on what I do, new tools in the box, new techniques.

And I got them.

We're six weeks into the six month course, and I've really been surprised at how much cool stuff is here. I figured most of it would be like, "yeah yeah yeah, I know that," but that's not the case at all. Her techniques so far take me straight to the heart of a book. I love it! Some of it, like coming up with your single defining sentence, is something I've always tried to do, but I never had a good explanation for how to do it, and so I never could write an effective sentence for my own story. I always tried to do some variant of a TV Guide summary line. That might work for some people, but it never did for me. In one of the first few lessons, Holly provided a straight-forward explanation and examples of what the sentence does and how to create it, and darned if it her technique doesn't work like a charm. For the first time I can turn them out rather easily -- and for the first time, I've realized why some ideas fall flat -- because they're missing part of what forms the sentence. It may seem like such a little thing, but this technique alone is almost worth the price of admission.

I don't regret signing up for one moment. It's been eye-opening in the best ways, and I'm thoroughly enjoying it. I'm applying things to my completed novels, my novels in progress, and a new one I'm working on specifically as part of the course, and I'm watching things come together that have been giving me fits. That also, has been worth the price.

The class sold out when she originally offered it, but if anybody's interested in checking it out for themselves, she's opening the course up again to new students for this week only. Click on the link above or in the sidebar if you'd like more information.

Ask and ye shall receive

So, even if #2 is still AWOL, my other muses are still on the ball. I had asked them for three ideas per the latest writing assignment, one novel idea and two short story ideas. The novel came right away, the two shorts last night - all well within the allotted week. Honestly, I didn't expect the two short story ideas. I haven't written a short I could submit anywhere in well over a year now. I thought that part of my brain was gone, dead, turned off, never to be seen again.

Boy, how wrong can you get? Interestingly, all three ideas did fall squarely in with the things on my creative map. I'm not sure why that surprises me so much, but it does. Perhaps it's just finally having a visual to go with things I've always known that I hate/fear/love etc.?

This class so far is definitely well worth it.

Doing homework

I forgot to say that in the midst of novel workings, I did get a short fanfic piece done. Was happy with it initially, but reading it back just made me shake my head. Subtlety? Yeah, sure, what's that? Oh well. It was fun to write anyway.

I was just going to read the lessons in the Think Sideways course, but then I decided that was stupid, I might as well do the exercises too. I mean, what am I paying for? Current lesson is on creating good exciting ideas within a deadline, based on ideas from these cluster-type maps we created. I really didn't want to do that because I have too many ideas as it is and I want my focus on polishing up existing novels, not thinking up new ones. But darn it all, that's a lame excuse. That's simply that old nemesis lack-of-discipline trying to interfere.

So, last night, I treated myself to listening to a new score the real way -- not running around the house doing things, but lying on the couch, doing nothing but listening to the music for fifty minutes. And there was my first new idea for the exercise. Right in the middle. I was only supposed to jot down a few key words, but I ended up with a couple paragraphs of notes on the new novel as it took rapid shape. And oh, I loves it so!! I think I've gotten so locked into "finish what you've got open" that I forgot the sheer joy that comes with new cool ideas (little fanfic story notwithstanding). We have a week to come up with three idea, so I've got until next Saturday. Wonder what the next two ideas will be like?

Control, control, you must learn control

So, after a huge debate, I went ahead and enrolled in Holly Lisle's Think Sideways course. What decided me was the fact that I'm starting my second week of reduced hours at work. That means I've had a week with a dedicated 3-hour writing block of time each day behind me. And what were the results? Out of those five days, I only truly had one really solid day of work. The very first Monday. The rest were wishy. I slipped almost immediately into bad habits of opting to check journals, or email, or do my one game of free cell a day, or nap, or other things totally not germane to the job at hand. And this is a job. That's the point of reducing my paying hours. To add in a part-time writing gig, five days a week, that will pay me when I get my novel sold.

So, that brought me back to the course, being offered at time when really, I need a plan. I need a plan I can follow and stick with, and maybe spending good money on this will make me stop frittering around on the internet when I should be writing and writing hard. I can get a lot done in three hours when I'm concentrating. Sigh.

And this has taken me two hours of debating and considering and re-reading what's offered this morning (with a couple hundred words in there of fun throw-away writing), and here I am with my 3-hour block nearly gone.