Inkabout L. Darby Gibbs

Science Fiction & Fantasy author

novel ideas

Why when my treadmill dies, I’m buying another one

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My treadmill: an oldie but a goodie
It has been interesting how my writing process has changed
over time. I’ve always approached every writing project with an idea of how the
story was going to end. Sometimes I have an outline but usually not. Looking
back, I can see some constants: a title tends to come to me first followed by
the main characters. Over the last two years, I have found that the book cover is my most
inspiring starting point. It follows on the heels of the other two constants. The
cover acts as a focal point I can return to as I progress through the story.
Book 1, Standing Stone Series
My second series, Standing Stone, had its covers before I
even started writing. The same has occurred with my third series of books
(Solstice Dragon World) that I’m working on now. Each Standing Stone cover provides
a key character and the stone that is the crux of the story. In the case of SDW
novels, it is the main character and the location where key events take place.
Each of these covers help ground my writing and are designed to give my reader
a sense of the story. I feel with the covers done, I am certain the novel has a
developed core. 
I have a contemporary story with about 18,000 words, no
cover yet. It’s been sitting for three years. I know the characters, the title
and the end point moment. I think I need that cover. I have a space opera: 30K words. No cover. I don’t want to admit how long its been sitting. It really needs a cover.
Knowing the ending is very important to me. I don’t need to know the
details, just a key moment that will test the main character and bring them out the other side of a conflict, and even that is mutable. It becomes my north star. I may tack numerous
directions on my way to it, but having that fixed point in the back of my mind
keeps the story rolling. I can ask myself, “How does this relate to that? How
does this decision ultimately lead the character there?” I find the answers on the treadmill.
Writing itself has changed for me as well. The treadmill has
become a source of inspiration and direction. While striding along, I can focus
on one question, one scene, one direction that needs development. Nothing else
will interfere. My husband isn’t going to show up to talk to me. He
respects exercise too much. My time on the treadmill is set, so there’s no
getting off which can sometimes create an urgency in me to write as soon as my time is up. 
Since I exercise every morning before I head to my job, that urgency
has is flaws, but that impetus to write with a fully-developed idea gives my
writing direction and flow even if I have to wait to write until that evening or after a mound of grading. It is an appointment I feel I must keep
because I know being on the treadmill will result in a better first draft. It is also my best opportunity to go over a scene numerous times and realize what I missed or how
I can incorporate more character or plot development. Of course, there is the
added positive of keeping me in shape since writing means I’m sitting in a
chair often for hours at a time.
I talked about change in my writing, and I have mainly
covered what I do now. So what was my approach in the past? 
The past:

  • An idea would come to me. I’d sit down and
    write. Then stop where my idea ended.
  • I’d lay down on the couch and think about a
    question, such as “How is he going to deal with his daughter’s unwillingness to talk to
    him?” Fifty percent of the time, this resulted in an unplanned nap.
  • I would have a title and a vague notion of how
    the character was dealing with a situation or causing a situation 
  •  I’d sit at the computer and hope more words were
    going to come soon
  • I would develop when I redrafted, slide in side
    stories and look for inconsistencies
  • Writing a novel was a yearlong process
  • No cover
  • A working title (very much subject to change)
  • Ill-defined characters, setting and plot that took a lot more work to develop and clean up
  • One novel at a time
  • One book a year and a full-time job

VS the present

  • An idea comes to me. I get on the treadmill and walk (fast and on
    an incline: don’t want you thinking this is a walk in the park 🙂 ) and
    hash out the idea, Socratic method.
  • I write through the developed scenes (after that
    visit to the treadmill)
  • Title, character with backstory and fully-fleshed
    appearance and behaviors. Distinct main conflict and side conflicts. 
  •  I’m at the computer to write, not sit
  • Development occurs in process, daily, a much
    more recursive process that results in a better first draft
  • Redrafting occurs daily and is more about layering in deeper
    description, searching out inconsistencies, clarifying, and copy editing in an
    ongoing approach (more about this in another post)
  • Writing a first draft of a novel takes a month
    and a half, average word count 90K (summer time writing – six months during the active school year)
  • A cover (changes subtly over time, but the main
    concept is set)
  • A title (still may change but rarely) 
  • Well-defined characters with greater depth,
    setting is full of sensory details, the plot is organized and part of a greater
    series
  • Three novels in development and linked together
    by plot, setting or characters
  • 3+ books a year and a full-time job

I’m pleased with the changes and enjoying how it makes my
writing better and though nothing makes writing a novel easier, this process
does make for better flow and direction to my writing, which, after all is said
and done, is what makes writing an enjoyable activity. This is why my husband
will say, “I know you want to write today and you enjoy that, but can we do
something fun together?” I can walk away from the computer not feeling like I’m
losing my “special time with my story” to my “special time with my husband.”
That’s why my treadmill isn’t going anywhere. It takes my writing where I want it to go. So what fosters your creative side? Tell me in the comment box below, and it doesn’t have to be about writing.
If you’re interested in checking out my books, click the menu tab My Published Books at the top. If you’d like to tweet or share this post click the icon below. Feel free to comment as well.
#writing
#treadmills
#plot

A Stab at a Self-interview: Question 12 ~ collaboration

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Mirror Image ~ writing. Modified from a 

Photo by Mitchel Lensink on Unsplash

Would you consider collaborating with another writer?

I would have to know them very well and feel that we had similar writing styles and a united focus on the plot and characters. Of course, after saying that, I must admit I have been talking to two people about collaborating.

My husband and I have a couple of ideas we would like to turn into a series of books. Though we have never worked on a creative endeavor of this sort together before, lately I have been finding him very easy to brainstorm with. He has often over the years offered ideas that I have found intriguing and inspiring. Usually I write notes down about what he came up with and look forward to when I can work them into my writing schedule. Some have turned into short stories, but at this time none are published.

After I finish editing Standing Stone 3 and drafting Students of Jump 5, I hope to begin working on a novel he and I recently brainstormed together. And we have a second planned out as well. At this point, I will probably be the one writing while he contributes to the process in brainstorm sessions. But we may migrate into actually writing a novel in tandem or in pieces together in the future.

Another individual I am in discussion about collaborating is my daughter. We both are very busy, creative types so we are trying to figure out how we can make this work. Recently, we chatted via Skype so we could brainstorm the organization of an idea we have in mind. We have already determined which parts will be mine to write and which are hers. The unusual structure of the piece makes it possible for us to write separately, share and adjust what we’ve written. Also the idea we have is more non-fiction than fiction, most definitely not science fiction or fantasy. A contemporary work based on personal experience ~ fictionalized true to life, perhaps is a good description. LOL, without actually describing it.

As for writing with an author I am not related to, that has not come up yet. I’m not against the idea; I just have not had any reason to consider it.

#collaboration
#writing
#interview

Creativity: round robin brainstorming can lead to strong writing

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Talking the story into life

Partner and group brainstorming: I use this technique in my creative writing class. We gather around the table and discuss ideas. After we settle on one, I step back and write down each plot point or character decision as they work through them and build a consensus.

Now and then I read through what they have so far, and then the group is off again revamping, adding, changing.  Epiphanies fly about their heads, like those crazy fireworks you set on the ground and dodge as they zip off in random directions.  My students ram through half-baked thoughts as quickly as their mouths can speak them, making connections and changes to enhance emerging motifs.  And each student adds more flame and fires-up another idea.

Brainstorming

That’s brainstorming for strong writing.  That is the achievement of more than one mind reaching for development, precision, cohesion. I love those moments because they don’t just make for great writing, they make for the truly creative moment. If you have ever been a runner or done any kind of exercise that demands individual focus for more than half an hour, you may have felt the sensation that makes you feel as if you could go on running forever; the pace is perfect, the weather, the degree of breathing.

You float along without really feeling your feet hit ground or the sensation of running at all, almost an out of body experience. Time seems to stands still.  When two or more people are on the same run through an idea, it’s like that glorious running experience.  It feels as if you could create forever and you do not want to stop.

Very recently, just this past weekend, I felt like that.  I shared an idea I have been mulling over for a few months.  Soon my writer pal, Marcy Peska, and I were digging into the characters, their concerns, histories, families, questions, possibilities and my idea took on more life, seemed to breath a few halting breaths each time Marcy or I sent off another email between us.  The characters that had been slipping into my creative moments stopped being just skin deep. 

Sharing with Marcy and gleaning tidbits from her knowledge and experience made for development I would have taken much longer to come around to by myself.  What I love most about brainstorming with Marcy is that her questions are framed so that my characters are real people.  “Does Joan have Alzheimer’s in her family?”  Now I have to sit down with Joan and find out about her family history and for very good reason.  Colleen in a matter of seconds became even stronger because she is the type of person Marcy likes.  That alone added considerable depth to what was already a strong-minded woman.

Brainstorming with another writer or an interested friend is my kind of idea development. I am sure many of you use this same process. Is it a major factor in your process?  What others benefit idea development?

+Marcy Peska
#creativity
#brainstorming

Wrapping up Narrative Modes

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For the last thirteen weeks, I have been presenting the various modes one can design a story or novel around.

 

Using strong foundation stock.

Some are common traditional modes, such as the Heroic Journey, Faustian Legend, Cain & Abel, the Christ Figure, Coming of Age, the Dream Vision and the Frame Narrative.  There are others which are more directly related to authors’ well-known works: Hemingway’s Code Hero, Heinlein’s Three-stage Character and Shakespeare’s Hamlet.  Fairy tales had a few to offer, and several more than I mentioned:  Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast the most common.  The prose essay format is a new form, most notably first used by Virginia Wolf.

The purpose in bringing them up and outlining them as I have, is to remind any writer that our readers often enjoy a tale as much for the author’s unique style and the genre as they do for the return to a format we love to read again and again in its traditional form or a modified version that surprises us with a new twist.  These narrative modes make great bones for our imagination to flesh out and clothe in fresh linen.

And mixing them up is not such a bad idea.  Throw together a Heroic Journey with Cinderella or write a Coming of Age novel in the form of a prose essay.  Those too are out there (take a close look at Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn), and those mixes add increased complexity to the story and still maintain familiarity for the reader.

Narrative Mode: #13 Beauty and the Beast

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I cannot say I saved the best for last, but I can say this is one of the most familiar of the narrative modes.  Everyone knows this story, but we love the ones we’re familiar with, so it is not one to ignore.  Beauty and the beast: a simple story of redemption, forgiveness and true love.  As familiar as it is, one cannot claim it is simple.  Look at the requirements.

  • A young beauty who gives without reserve and is appreciated by her parent but mistreated by others close to her.
  • A father who cannot fulfill the exterior needs of his children though he does supply that which none can live without: love
  • Difficulties which make the young beauty and her father falter and fear they may not survive economically, spiritually or physically if things go on.
  • Opportunity to gain what is needed either through outside pressure to agree to an unsatisfactory contract, one that involves the daughter as servant or companion to a person or creature recognized as dangerous, unrelenting, unforgiving and cruel or through being driven by need to apply for a position with those same characteristics.
  • Refusal and then acceptance when there is no other solution.  The young beauty must sacrifice her happiness to save her father.
  • She gets to know the monster who holds the power over her and her father’s chances for  survival.  And he gains understanding, even appreciation for her kindness, constant forgiveness and obvious personal strength.
  • He risks her denial of him as a worthwhile individual, while struggling for his own self-acceptance.  She guides him out of his imposed purgatory (self-projected or a judgement placed on him by another force).  He reveals the person he has been desiring to be: good, kind, worthy of love.
  • The other shoe drops: he is running out of time and she needs to return to a much greater obligation than being his companion.  
  • Another sacrifice: only this time it is his.  He must give up his chance for redemption to prove his love for her (unselfishly, and outside of her awareness) by releasing her from the agreement seemingly temporarily though he is aware that it is permanent if she leaves.
  • She leaves and realizes, perhaps too late, that he needs her for his own survival.
  • Acceptance, redemption, happiness.

 The Little Handbook of Narrative Frameworks available on Smashwords and Amazon.

Kenny Rogers, the First Edition and my writing

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I remember when I first starting thinking about writing my book In Times Passed.  I worked at a factory and was a product grader.  I would pull off the line anything that didn’t meet quality requirements.  Doesn’t take much thought or intelligence, just good automaton-like reflexes. I would listen to music, day dream, write letters in my head while my eyes registered flaws and my hands reached out and grabbed, flipped and dropped the item into the correct bin based on the type of flaw.

Then a song came on the radio by Kenny Rogers and the First Edition, “I just dropped in (to see what condition my condition was in).” As I listened, the story of a man who found a means to travel in time started playing out in my mind.  I liked the image of him “dropping in to see what condition [his] condition was in.”  And it was there that the idea for my book came from. I actually didn’t start writing it for several months. Each night at work, I would run the story through my mind again and again, working out the characters, problems he would run into, who his friends were, where and when it was all happening.  And every once in a while, that song would play on the radio again and refresh the images in my mind.  So finally I sat down and began writing out the story.

The book has evolved a lot since then, changing, repeatedly edited, redrafted, etc. I thought of it as the book I was learning to write on, though I had written two other books before I began it.  It seemed to be the one I most wanted to make work.  I went on to write a sequel for it and then a third and fourth, thinking all the time that one of them would be good enough to get published.  But I never really made the effort to publish.  Oh, I did some half-hearted efforts:  I sent the manuscript to a contest once and a synopsis of it to a publisher another time.  Nothing came of it.  I’ve redrafted it several times since then.

So here we are in the digital age.  I can self-publish via Smashwords.com and see if someone can enjoy the story as much as I enjoyed thinking of it, writing it and redrafting it.  When I think of that book, it reminds me of the days in the factory and how much it made the time go by for me.  And I still think of it as the book I learned to write on.  And I think each one since has been an improvement. a step forward in the skill of story telling.  So it isn’t the best book out there.  I hope one day, someone will call it an early Gibbs, the one to read to get a sense of where I started. Where one can “just drop in to see what condition my condition was in.”