Once again, I wanted to share my most recent post from my travel blog. I'm first to say that probably my most favorite subject to write, read and talk about is hiking the Appalachian Trail. Perhaps it is because when I'm out there on the trail, I am moved by the entire experience...changed by each section I complete. I learn new things about myself. I sometimes am revisited by parts of me I hope to leave behind one day. I carry a lot of baggage with me on a daily basis, and when I head out for one of my A.T. hikes, I leave a little bit more if out there in the woods each time I return. My point is that when I write about my time there, I write from my heart. It might not be the most technical writing I've ever done and there's certainly no fiction involved in it...everything I write about is something I've actually experienced first hand. As hard as I try, I don't think I really do what I gain from the trail justice, but it is my hope that anyone who reads it walks away with something positive....even if it's only knowing that there's someone else out there pushing themselves to go far outside their comfort zone and take a chance...someone who is trying...someone who doesn't give up.
That all being said, here is the link to my travel blog post. Please enjoy...
http://journeysoffthebeatenpath.blogspot.com/
Sunday, June 29, 2014
Friday, June 13, 2014
PERTAINING TO PLOT...QUESTIONS YOU HAVE TO ASK YOURSELF PT1
Ask any writer this question: What is plot? You're answers will be varied but most will agree that plot is essentially what propels your story forward. It's what drives the major events of your stories through what the characters do, think, feel and so on. It's more than just a conglomeration of actions or scenes that lead to nowhere. Perhaps the easiest way to understand exactly what plot is is to always remember this: PLOT IS A VERB! ('Plot,' Ansen Dibell). Every writer has heard these famous words: "Show, don't tell," and when attempting to test your idea to see if there's a plot looming in there somewhere, there are some basic questions you need to ask yourself. I'll start with this particular one because it's one I've had personal experience with in my own writing.
1. Is it too personal for readers to become involved with?
"Some experience is too close to us. We feel deep emotion about it but haven't digested it yet and aren't able to put it into perspective for somebody else to view....You have to be able to distance it...You have to be, in some meaningful sense, free of it before you're ready to write about it. You have to be willing to look at it through a stranger's eyes." ('Plot,' Ansen Dibell, Chapter 1)
I've experienced being too close to something to be able to put it into words. It took time for me to deal with my emotions to be able to have my characters feel them. But I truly feel that in order to make such emotions believable in my characters, I had to feel them first. I had to know the joy, the pain, the sorrow, the loss, or the unconditional love if I expected a reader to feel any of those things as my characters experienced them. I had to be able to step back and put it all into some kind of perspective before I could write about it. Perhaps that's why it took me so long to complete the first draft of my manuscript. I kept starting over. It just didn't fit or feel right. Until one day, it did....the words flowed...the chapters unfolded before me...and my idea went in a completely different direction than what I'd first imagined it would go.
As I'm working on the second draft, editing as I go, I'm finding it much easier to expand on scenes where needed and cut back on those that are not but I still find that something has to hit me a certain way to get those feelings going again, forcing their way out onto the screen in front of me. I'm not very good at just sitting down and grinding out a certain number of words each day but when my muse stops by for a visit, it takes over my thoughts until I finally get the words out. My story is fictional but the feelings I've put into it are not in many ways...they're personal...almost sacred...and I write to do them justice by bringing them to life in the world of my characters.
If you're finding an experience too personal, give yourself a break. Step back from it. Put it away for a while and then go back to it when you think the time is right. Putting such experiences into the plot of your story should be what keeps it moving forward...what gives the reader something, or someone, to care about so they'll want to stick around to see what happens next. Think your idea fits the bill? Then go for it! Give it a try! Remember nothing's set in stone!
Suggested Reading: 'Elements of Fiction Writing; Plot,' Ansen Dibell.
1. Is it too personal for readers to become involved with?
"Some experience is too close to us. We feel deep emotion about it but haven't digested it yet and aren't able to put it into perspective for somebody else to view....You have to be able to distance it...You have to be, in some meaningful sense, free of it before you're ready to write about it. You have to be willing to look at it through a stranger's eyes." ('Plot,' Ansen Dibell, Chapter 1)
I've experienced being too close to something to be able to put it into words. It took time for me to deal with my emotions to be able to have my characters feel them. But I truly feel that in order to make such emotions believable in my characters, I had to feel them first. I had to know the joy, the pain, the sorrow, the loss, or the unconditional love if I expected a reader to feel any of those things as my characters experienced them. I had to be able to step back and put it all into some kind of perspective before I could write about it. Perhaps that's why it took me so long to complete the first draft of my manuscript. I kept starting over. It just didn't fit or feel right. Until one day, it did....the words flowed...the chapters unfolded before me...and my idea went in a completely different direction than what I'd first imagined it would go.
As I'm working on the second draft, editing as I go, I'm finding it much easier to expand on scenes where needed and cut back on those that are not but I still find that something has to hit me a certain way to get those feelings going again, forcing their way out onto the screen in front of me. I'm not very good at just sitting down and grinding out a certain number of words each day but when my muse stops by for a visit, it takes over my thoughts until I finally get the words out. My story is fictional but the feelings I've put into it are not in many ways...they're personal...almost sacred...and I write to do them justice by bringing them to life in the world of my characters.
If you're finding an experience too personal, give yourself a break. Step back from it. Put it away for a while and then go back to it when you think the time is right. Putting such experiences into the plot of your story should be what keeps it moving forward...what gives the reader something, or someone, to care about so they'll want to stick around to see what happens next. Think your idea fits the bill? Then go for it! Give it a try! Remember nothing's set in stone!
Suggested Reading: 'Elements of Fiction Writing; Plot,' Ansen Dibell.
WRITING ABOUT WHAT MOVES ME
http://journeysoffthebeatenpath.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-lesson-of-albert-mountain.html
Because I truly believe that your best writing comes from expressing thoughts on what moves you most, I wanted to share this link to my travel blog today. I recently completed a 40.2 mile section hike on the Appalachian Trail and there's little in my life that moves me more than that time I spend out in the woods. It regenerates my spirit and refreshes my sometimes hardened heart. Just remember to always seek out your passion and the rest will come! :)
Because I truly believe that your best writing comes from expressing thoughts on what moves you most, I wanted to share this link to my travel blog today. I recently completed a 40.2 mile section hike on the Appalachian Trail and there's little in my life that moves me more than that time I spend out in the woods. It regenerates my spirit and refreshes my sometimes hardened heart. Just remember to always seek out your passion and the rest will come! :)
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