How Your Mind is Set

"Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone, you may still exist, but you have ceased to live." -Mark Twain


Wasn't Mark Twain a genius? I've spent a lot of time with people who "don't exist," and I think they're all fantastic. It's one of the more enjoyable schizophrenic forms of writing society. (See my "On the Roll Again" post to find the definition of schizophrenia)

I bet that none of you know that my grandpa used to teach at BYU. He taught that everybody has a certain predefined mindset from the time they were born. There are nine slots, ranging from highly logical to extremely creative. I got put in the "Creative Writer" slot- wow, fancy that!- which means that I have a little bit more logic than creativity. I can come up with great, creative, slightly ridiculous ideas, but I have enough logic to lay it all down and have it make sense.

With my characters, I have to sort them like this:

Evelyn Grace is extremely logical. She likes things to make sense. The betrayal is what really shakes her, since she has to accept something new.

Ambrr Cyrus Monstalki is orchestrated (balanced in creativy and logic). I actually do know why- they breed the guardians to be like that.

Stark Kavvenharbreis favors creativity, which is what makes him such a hopeless leader and is why he'll always be wondering "if I'd done this" and is why he always thinks that his stupid ideas will work.

I have other characters I could demonstrate- P'eter Eron Lionatus, Shretka Merimear-Detora, Zel Haiwal, Thodo of the Tenth Flame, Nae Voloni Reshancrea, Corsan Haiwal, and so on . . . Those of you that have read my previous versions of Realms may not recognize a few of the names, but it's okay, that's what this draft is for.

Camp Nanowrimo begins in August, so I'll have to try to pump up a few more words from Realms. Wish me luck!

Kirah

I've Decided

"Peacefulness follows any decision, even the wrong one." -Rita Mae Brown

Realms is going well- Evelyn Grace is actually turning out much better than Evan Andrews. I'm struggling a bit with the side characters in her story, but I think that they'll round out eventually. I just need to get it written down! I'm really excited to get into Ambrr and P'eter's POV. Stark, Thodo, and Acris (you knew her as Thorne, but I needed to change that for obvious reasons- Thodo and Thorne!) should be very interesting.

I've decided today that I'll write the whole trilogy- I will finish. I will! And I need to get it read by someone; I need to get it out there!

Kirah

Deus ex Machina

"When you're drowning, you don't say, 'I would be incredibly pleased if someone would have the foresight to come and help me,' you just scream." -John Lennon

Deus ex machina is Latin for "god from the machine". It means that an unbeatable problem- person, item, or event- is suddenly fixed by a new character, event, or ability.

Examine your writing- how do they solve their ultimate problem? Is it something they can already do, something that they have to find within themselves and sacrifice for? Or is it deus ex machina? Does another character come from nowhere and rescue them?

I'm sure I used deus ex machina somewhere in my early stories. But I can't even remember how on earth my first story ended. I remember a long climax, fighting dragons and using magic, and then . . . they somehow got home. Does that count if I can't even remember exactly what happened?

Saving your characters can take away from the meaning of the story. Let them struggle, let them fight, and leave them the tools that allows them to fix their own problems in the end. Don't make it easy though. We authors are far too cruel to allow that.

Kirah

On the Roll Again

"Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia. "~E.L. Doctorow


Schizophrenia: a mental disorder that makes it hard to tell what's real and what's not.

Today is my bragging rights day: I've written over twenty pages in the last week and a half. What I learned: Writing is easy as long as you start. Beginnings are hard. I will probably always hate my first chapter. Oh well, at least I got it done.

Kirah

Excuses, Excuses...

"I have this little litany of things they [writers] can do. And the first one, of course, is to write- every day, no excuses. It's so easy to make excuses. Even professional writers have days when they'd rather clean the toilet than do the writing." -Octavia Butler

Okay, I've hit rock bottom. I have to write, I need to write, I want to write. But I go upstairs to do so and I decide that I'll read some of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society first or listen to the Writing Excuses podcast or I'll try to beat my high score on Temple Run.

What can I say? I'm a professional procrastinator.

So instead of me talking about how to get back in the mode, why don't you guys comment and tell me how you get motivated? I want to get some ideas. It'll be fun. Please post!

Kirah