Inkabout L. Darby Gibbs

Science Fiction & Fantasy author

scene

Advice: yWriter Details and Goals section for defining purpose

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Setting up a strong structure with yWriter

I mentioned yWriter way back in the beginnings of writing this blog.  I was explaining a feature in the program that makes it possible to keep track of various facts about characters, such as appearance, relationships, motivations, bio, even alternate names.  It helped me to learn more about a character I thought was not especially important.  I found she had much greater influence and dimension than I originally thought while filling out the character breakdown.

But that is not why I am posting about this program now.  yWriter offers numerous ways for a writer to develop his/her story, but the two features I want to focus on this time is in the Details and Goals sections of each scene. Once you have opened up a scene window, clicking on the Details tab opens up the plotting break down of that particular scene.  Here you note (or plan out) if the event is based on action or reaction, and if it is plot or subplot, and you can assign any tags and determine the time constraints of the scene (character experiences two minutes, four hours or thirty days, what have you).  When combined with the information in the Goals tab, the purpose or lack of it, of the scene become obvious.  And if the scene has no purpose, it is wasted writing.  I love these two features because they make sure that I am keeping the story moving: characters grow, tension mounts, connection exists, i.e., purpose.

The Goals tab is directly connected to the items in the Details tab.  If I selected reaction for the type of scene, then the Goals tab supplies three questions I must answer:  reaction, dilemma, choice.  And if I selected action, then I must respond to goal, conflict, outcome.  I find myself facing the purpose of the scene and the character’s (s’) reasoning.  If I find that my only reason for the scene is to get information out, then I am not making good use of my writing or my reader’s time. All writing should be moving the plot no matter what.  So that necessary information needs to be part of movement not sedentary info dumping.

It is easy to fall into writing about the character learning something or meeting someone because it is essential to events later in the story but not moving forward in the story.  Having to fill out the underlying bones of a scene helps avoid this.  What was my character’s reaction to what happened?  How did this create a problem and what choice did my character find he had to make?  That’s all based on reaction.  What my character’s goal is, what is stopping her from reaching it and what came of her efforts to reach that goal is action based.

yWriter doesn’t write the story, but it sure helps me tell the story better.  When I have to redraft, looking back at what I wanted the scene to accomplish and seeing what actually happened helps me realign the plot or take advantage of that unconscious working of the writing mind.  A scene that seemed to have no purpose gets one as the redraft rolls along and having these features in this program forces me to examine the scene and its relation to the rest of the story.

Some scenes support the main plot while others are subplot events and that is just as important as determining purpose.  Designating a scene as tying my main arc together or developing undercurrent through subplots helps me keep my writing moving in the right direction and makes it so I don’t have to keep it all in my head.  That’s yWriter for you.

Researching Boston streets adds credibility to a time travel scene

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The third book in my series Students of Jump is in
redraft.  The addition of scenes to complete several jumps back in time
required some research.  My current endeavors involve determining which
streets were in existence in 1851 in Boston, whether or not they were paved
with “cobs” (round stones commonly annoying the farmers in those
parts) or setts (rectangular cut-granite stones) considered to be the better
street paver for use by horses, carriage wheels and pedestrians, and where the
major newspaper publishers were located.

I had originally assumed the
roads would be dirt, but after looking at pictures, I saw the streets clearly
indicated pavers.  So I had to find out
what kind and when they were in use. 
This is what I have learned so far.

Cobblestones were used but not throughout Boston and were
often replaced with the flat sett granite stone for ease of rolling carriage
wheels over, otherwise horses tripped and wheels broke more easily.
There were several papers in existence, the Boston Globe, the Boston Herald and the Daily Advertiser,
to name a few.  Fine, but when?  Well, the Globe
did not exist until the 1870’s, so that threw out that paper.  The Boston
Herald existed but had several names over the years and had the frequent
habit of purchasing other papers and incorporating their names into its
own.  But when and under what incarnation
was the name in 1851?  The Boston Herald
bought out the Daily Advertiser but not until the 1880s.  So that means I could use either the Herald
or the Advertiser for my purposes. 
But that hardly made things easy.  There was a section of town known as
newspaper row, but it was located in two different sites due to movement of
paper publishers over a period of years.  I finally
had to accept that there was no definitive address for either paper until the
latter part of the century.   So I settled
for Washington Street because it bisected both areas that went by the designation Newspaper Row.
I settled on the Daily Advertiser in the end (Sorry Boston Herald. I know you are still in
existence, but I needed to be sure there would be an advertisement of the
nature I wanted.  And the name sold me.)
I have been staring at maps of Boston from 1847 and 1950 using
magnifying glasses and my daughter to confirm my reading of the nearly
unreadable print to make decisions on how my characters are moving through the
streets to perform the task they must complete. 
The latter map made it possible to read the street names of the earlier
one.  (My mother loved books and had the
foresight to purchase an amazing Atlas printed in 1950, which was given to me
when I married.)  You would be surprised
how many times I have turned to it. 
(Save old atlases and dictionaries if you are a writer.  Words evolve and roads change names.  My classroom has two sets of dictionaries, a
brand new set and a 1980s set.  There are
times when my class is reading from an old text and that 1980s set comes in
handy even when the work is Middle English. The words are missing from the new set or have taken on new meanings
that don’t apply in the old texts.)
By the way, the most useful site turned out to be the South
Boston Historical pages.  The site had
several clear pictures labeled with useful information.  I even got a nice glance at the fashion of
the day for ladies and men as well as the building architecture, types of
wagons and carriages likely to be seen and some history.

Hours of research for a 1000 word scene.   I even spent my childhood in a suburb of Boston. The sound of the wind still stirs memories, so I have the feel of the place just not the details.  I was busy chasing a dachshund and riding my bike.

I wonder what the ratio of research is to writing.  Has anyone made a point of figuring this out.  Hmm, maybe I don’t want to know the answer to that question, or not until I finish the book.  But I am curious, so tell me if you have.

I’m off to research the trees in Boston Common in the 1850’s.  And I learned to write “Commons” with the “s” is incorrect.

Tuesday prompt: #13 2013

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What if these jasmine blooms were orange with white tips?

Take an ordinary outdoor scene and start describing it, but add a twist.  Alter shapes, colors and textures to the things you describe.

Rather than a tall oak, give it an awkward crouching trunk with filament-like leaves of puce.  Make the scene both alien and familiar.  Call a tree a tree, but what a tree it is!

Tuesday prompt: #5 2013

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line in the road of my personal space

I posted this prompt at least a year ago on Twitter as I was posting writing prompts there. But I decided that there were plenty of other groups and individuals doing the same so I quit.  However, I really liked this prompt, so I am posting it here.

He leaned in to me, past the line I draw that says, “You’re too close.”

Appearances are important to characterization

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Recently some of my students have been following the “scene” mode of styling their hair. I don’t fully understand the term, but it appears to be a kinder, gentler version of emo, not dark or requiring heavy makeup or dyed hair.  But it does create a look that tends to ride the edge of the norm.  So I was thinking how one day a student can look like the average girl next door, reliable, kind, quiet.  The next day she walks in and a statement is made that marks her as not one of the group, not the girl next door but the one across the street that people make up rumors about.  The girl that is not “bad” but is not greeted by everyone.

That is what characterization is.  Small shifts from the norm that make the character stand out with a certain image immediately created by a part in the hair made so far to the left that the bangs must lay low across the forehead. The long hair is all brought forward to the front, so a split occurs in the back at the neck line, as though the person only has a front she shows to everyone, the back similar to the facade of a building put up for a movie set.  The front looks real enough, but the back lacks all the depth of a real building.  This can be used to create character.  Certainly the real live girl, has depth, but in the novel or short story, such a “front” can act as a thin veneer hiding the reality within.  It builds mystery, which one might believe is the purpose of the “scene” image for these teenage girls I teach.