Author: Joshua Roots

Categories
Snake-Up writing

Snake-Up

Normally when I write something*, I have the Main Character already fleshed out in my head. I can hear their voice and have a pretty decent idea of how they are going to react to a situation. I’m not yet in love with him or her, but I’m in serious like with them. I draw their name in little hearts on the inside of my Trapper Keeper and imagine all the fun interactions they are going to have with other pretend people yet to be created. 

**
“Of course I like Amy. Not just like, but like like!!” 

The problem is, I used to be a pantser, and while the character was pretty well developed, the plot wasn’t. I can’t count the number of times I wrote a scene and then stared at the computer going, “Well, poop.” There are literally dozens of sections in my WIPs where the words “SOMETHING NEEDS TO HAPPEN HERE” or “HOW THE HECK DOES THE MC FIND ANSWERS?!” appear.

And yes, they are in caps.

But hey, at least the MC is singing bright and clear with a unique voice, right?

Fast forward to a current WIP and the exact opposite is the case. Instead of pantsing this one, I actually sat down, drew a map, and gave the story clear, defined milestones. It was a first and, to be honest, has made the process of putting-words-to-digital-paper waaaaaaaaaaaay easier. But while the plot is clipping along, the MC feels a bit…bland. Like cold oatmeal eaten in a room with beige wall paper on a gray, Saturday afternoon.***

That said, I’m not too worried because that’s the miracle of edits and revisions. Sure, at the moment my MC might be more Barney Fife:

****
Fear the mighty deputy. FEAR HIM! 

and less Snake:

*****
So how’d he get his nickna…ooooohhhh…..

…but that’s okay. This go-around, my primary goal is to focus on the plot in order to build the foundation of the house. Once that’s complete, then I’ll go back and paint the walls, add some nice accent pieces, and generally tweak all the parts needed to make the story a lovely little home. I figure I can always “Snake-Up”****** the MC once he and I feel better about the world he’s operating in.

How about you all? Do you find that you start with a Main Character and then write the story around them or do you have the world/plot fleshed out and build the MC into it?

*and by this I mean a story, not a tweet, blog post, diary entry, prophecy, treaty, concerto, blood oath, etc.

**image courtesy of this site

***I know, I know. I’ve used this before. My Rolodex of similies is limited. 

****image courtesy of here

*****image courtesy of this place

******COINED!

Categories
Tweets of the Week

Tweets of the Week: 23 Mar 12

Howdy Fellow Bloggerators. It’s been a busy time around the Chirpersphere and, as always, I’ve tried to dig up the best and brightest nuggets of awesome so you don’t have to. So, without further delay, allow me to present the latest installment of CM’s

TWEETS OF THE WEE..edgads!…uh….LOOONG TIME*:

 @quarkon: 99 bugs in the legacy code, 99 bugs in the code. Take one down, pass it around. 102 bugs in the legacy code.

@geardrops: I like dreams because I ate a lot of donuts and didn’t gain weight. Also a bundt cake. #bundt

@dramacjc: I admire anybody who has the guts to write anything at all.–E. B. White

@Lord_Voldemort7: Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday. Time waster.

@Epic_Women: Don’t think outside the box. Think like there is no box.

@simsea: @geardrops I flirted with not using the Oxford comma for a bit once. It was a young experimental phase. It didn’t last.

@Kitiandra: When worry and doubt start to nag at your head…there’s always chocolate i suppose.

@JohnathanGunson: For my #Author friends. In case we all forget the number one reason for success: PERSISTENCE.

@whedonesque: Mal: “If anyone gets nosy, just…you know… shoot ’em. ” Zoe: “Shoot ’em?” Mal: “Politely.”

@licecomb: Swore I heard a faint “ahhhh yeahhh” after my grapefruit squirted me in the face.
           (blogger’s note: this one made me snort-laugh my coffee)

@KMWeiland: “Writers need to remember that once the book leaves their hands, it’s not theirs anymore. It belongs to its readers…”-Tobias Wolff #writer

@AdviceToWriters: If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. STEPHEN KING #writing #writetip

@AbielleRose: Hello surprise nap, I love you, too.

@DavidRoads: You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him. -James D. Miles

@LtCampollo: Warriors by day, lovers by night, professionals by choice & Marines by the grace of God! @USMarineCorps @USMC @usmcquotes hooraa!
           (blogger’s note: Semper Fi, Marines)

@anamariecox: Fav quote of 2012, besides those moon-related: “I think you can expect advisers to think that the work of advisers is very, very important.”

@jamesscottbell: In Seattle you haven’t had enough coffee until you can thread a sewing machine while it’s running. – Jeff Bezos

@KellyMeding: Confident choices are sometimes very easy to make. Other times they’re quite difficult and you never stop second-guessing yourself.

@AncientProverbs: Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. -Plato

@Saint_Upid: Only people w/ exoskeletons should be writers. Because they would hear the artillery of criticism land & casually remark, “What was that?”

@dribbleglass: If I hear one more person say, “It is what is is,” my new motto is going to be “I strangle who I strangle.”

@ZacharyLevi: Turmoil in life can often be the most fertile ground for positive change.

@Laughbook: What I hate most about Twitter: finishing a good tweet, having -1 characters left, and then having to decide which grammar crime to commit.
           (blogger’s note: the most accurate Twitter tweet, ever.)

@calamityjamie: Listening to my mom lecture my Aunt: “Gamers are good people, Candy! I went to the convention-thing, and they are so polite and fun.” #proud

@amergina: Some days, I want to shoot the person who said that the word “was” indicates passive tense.

@TaherehMafi: no one ever tells you that 86% of writing a book is staring at walls, spinning in your chair, & talking to yourself in a british accent.

@DavidRoads: You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could & should do for themselves. -Abraham Lincoln

@FreshFiction: So true “The only place you’ll find success before work is in the dictionary. -Vince Lombardi”

@Colin_Hanks: When you really get right down to it, being the man of the house really only means one thing: breaking down ALL the card board boxes.

@Inspired_Ones: Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence. -Vince Lombardi

@DavidRoads: Opportunity may knock only once, but temptation leans on the doorbell.

@vscotttheauthor: “Live as brave men and if fortune is adverse, front its blows with brave hearts.” Cicero

@4KidLit: Don’t annoy science fiction writers. These are people who destroy entire planets before lunch. Think of what they’ll do to you. ~John Scalzi

@AuthorMJFifield: I find it rather irritating when people are out for their Sunday drives on a Saturday.
           (blogger’s note: word!)

@Georg_Grey: Black holes are where God divided by zero.

@AuthorMJFifield: How come going to the mall is never as much fun as Robin Sparkles makes it out to be?

@geardrops: I am drinking a drink and it is a lot of Kraken.

@whedonesque: Zoe: “Captain will come up with a plan.” Kaylee: “That’s good. Right?” Zoe: “Possibly you’re not recalling some of his previous plans.”

@misterkristoff: Authors: Nobody cares about your book like you do. Not agents, not publishers, not your mum. YOU are always its greatest advocate.

@HillaryJacques: I hope that Heaven is like Firefly.
             (blogger’s note: *sigh* me too)

@Papa_Kosh: Raisin cookies that look like chocolate chip cookies are the main reason I hate raisins.

@GodFadr: Anything unrelated to elephants is irrelephant.

@scooterchicken: Dear Brownie, If you are not ooey, gooey, and fudgey you are not a brownie. You are short, unfrosted chocolate cake. Thank you, Me

@Sports_Greats: Pain is nothing compared to what it feels like to quit. -Unknown

@Colin_Hanks: Bad ass “olde tyme” medical quote of the day as said by a doctor: “I know of no other way than knife”

@geardrops: Me: I’m debating going. This WFC is in America, next one isn’t. – MrMike: I thought it was in Toronto. – Me: Fine, America Junior.

@SandyBoynton: Clarification of tenses: N. twitter V. to tweet Past tense: twert Colloquial past: done twut Rhetorical imperfect: lest he have twüt

@vscotttheauthor: RT @YaBoyBriggzyRT @usmcquotes: Freedom is not free, but the U.S. Marine Corps will pay most of your share. ~Dolan

@vscotttheauthor: RT @DeathStarPR: Happy birthday, John Williams. Thks 4 Imperial March; making even simple walk down corridor a procession of epic badassery.

@Regan_Summers: The best part of this synopsis? “And suddenly, hey, otter!” #AmWriting
          (blogger’s note: people, THIS is the reason to follow her and buy her books.)

@LGwenn: Had a great time at the shoot…but I think someone stole my pink latex skirt. #Damnit

@JensBookshelf: I think my neighbours are judging me for my overgrown lawn. Can’t wait to see their faces when the rusted car body is delivered tomorrow.

@DeathStarPR: Cool lightsabers are red / Lame ones are blue / Darth Maul has no Valentine / But needs reservations for two. #StarWars

@thinkgeek: Roses are #FF0000, violets are #0000FF, all my base are belong to you. Happy <3 Day! --'--,--{{@
        
@DeathStarPR: Roses are red / Millenium Falcons are white / You love me? I know. / That’s why I got encased in Carbonite. #StarWars

@JensBookshelf: I wish I had a twin so i could be the evil one. I mean I *could* be evil on my own but it seems less exciting.

@inVinceWil: I am the river / waiting to be collected / inside the raindrop #haiku

@vscotttheauthor: Sad but probably true RT @WhskyTngoFxtrot: “Peace is that brief glorious moment in history when everybody stands around reloading”
           
@kjhass: @AmaliaTd “Doozies” is a word. Origin: The nickname of the Duesenberg automobile, which was poshiest thing on wheels in its day. Duesy.

@WomenOfHistory: In life you are either a passenger or a pilot, it’s your choice. -Unknown

@RobDyerS4C: Never compare your journey with someone else’s. Your journey is your journey not a competition :).

@jaymgates: Via @leahbobet, for @geardrops and @TheMidnightOil RT @2house2fly: “The simplest explanation is usually Batman.” – Arkham’s Razor

@DeathStarPR: #YouKnowShesTheOne if you say, “I know” after she says she loves you, then she comes to rescue you from Jabba’s Palace anyway.

@AuthorMJFiField: Sarcasm may not become me but it does sustain me.
             (blogger’s note: ahahahaha!!!)

@SteveUmstead: My son’s parting shot as he walked out the door to school: “If 666 is considered evil, is 25.8069 the root of all evil?”

@GeorgeTakei: As a fan told me, “To err is human. To arr is pirate.”
              (blogger’s note: for those not following George, he makes Chirper worthwhile)

@AbielleRose: Only my family would find it funny to watch an aunt take off her prosthetic boob and smack her son with it.
               (blogger’s note: Winner of the February WTFLOL Award)

@scadam_skirata: Snooki is pregnant with a due date of December 21, 2012. Well played Mayans. Well played.

@senderblock23: NEWS: scientists discover that doves can’t cry. Prince stripped of high school diploma.

@SheviStories: BTW, it takes the average published writer 10 years to get a first book pubbed. That’s a lot of rejection along the way. #WritersRoad

@canadian_jane: A teacher, once said, that, I overused commas. What she didn’t understand, at all, was that I was writing, like Christopher Walken speaks.

@SuzBrockmann: “@TheRealNimoy: Had dinner with Mr. Quinto last night. Always a great pleasure. LLAP Young Spock.” Only thing better than Spock = 2 Spocks.

@DeathStarPR: There’s never a bad time to tell your kids you love them/chop off one of their hands and tell them you’re their father.

@ImTracyMorgan: iPhone > Android > Nokia > Land phone > Typewriter > 2 cans and a string > Message in a bottle > Pigeon with a note taped to it > Blackberry

@JuliaLizzBeth: Talent greases the wheel, but doesn’t turn it. A writer’s wheel turns on courage, self-confidence, perseverance, patience, humility, etc.

Note: As with all TotW, time is very fluid. Also, all tweets are occasionally as they appear in my feed to include RT credits (when able), trends, misspells, poor punctuation, lies, my preciouuuuss, come along Mr. Frodo, and one does not simply walk into Mordor.

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