Story Web?

I've got a looooong story that I love.

It's about 12K, and needs all those words (plus some). But since nobody wants to read a forty page short story, I can either cut it to below fifteen or expand it to about three hundred. I was thinking: this particular story isn't done yet. Maybe I could expand.

I was considering: I'd take each page, and expand it to 2K. That would give me an 80K story manuscript totally within the perimeters of the present story.

The big PRO is actually not about the final product though--I thought it might be a a fascinating experiment, a way to push myself deeper as opposed to longer.

The more I think about it, the more I think this might be really good for me as a writer. But *is* it possible to create a readable story like that?

Max Beta

A beta-reader got back to me about my story last night. There were certain things I was really nervous about--one plot issue, a political correctness problem, a slow pace at the beginning. He didn't talk to me about any of them.

Beta-Reader's List of Biggest Weaknesses:

MAIN CHARACTER IS UNLIKEABLE:
That weakness really crushed me, because I have a tendency to create unlikeable characters. I don't know why other people find them cold or nasty or self-interested--*I* love them! And it gets difficult hearing that other people hate "somebody" that you love.

The character's mother is dying, which I thought might garner some sympathy. Apparently not enough....so I also had her do something kind in the beginning. I also had her come to someone's aid at the climax. And for her to consider how her actions effected others, near the end.

HOW DOES THIS STORY CHANGE *HER*:
At the climax originally, Supporting Character X was in danger--but got lucky.
At the climax in the next rewrite, Supporting Character X was in danger--and had a horrible thing happen.
In the CURRENT draft, Supporting Character X is in danger--and when Main Character tries to save him, disaster strikes HER. I'm much happier with this version because:

1. it shows Main Character's agency--and agency is vital to creating a compelling character
2. the plot now makes more logical sense--there's now a reason for her particular injury and her next period of growth as a character. It clears up the story's theme.
3. This is *HER* story, goddamnit--why should Supporting Character X get all the glory?

THE AUTHOR FLINCHED:
Sometimes, such as during the above climax, I'd give the before and after, but hide my eyes during the middle. It's a tendency of mine--and I think pretty common--to shy away from showing the really horrible or gut-wrenching part of a scene, for the same reasons we'd avoid seeing or experiencing those things in real life. BUT space = importance to a reader. If something is meant to be the heart of the book, it should be given plenty of attention. Which means the author's flinching confuses the reader's understanding of the story. I went back and worked some more on that... though it's difficult for me to find the line between graphic, extraneous violence and necessary detail.

There were a couple areas where it seemed, on the other hand, that I was providing too much detail. Sadly, there weren't enough of those; this story is 12,500 words and still growing. At this point, I wonder if I should work to expand it to novel-length.

On the one hand, it feels like a complete story. On the other, there are tons of places I feel I could improve the story by expanding. Right now, I need to knock it down to under 12K (at the least), but after I send it out as a (short--ha!) story, I think I will expand those parts.

In the meantime, I'm going to send it to him again and see how he feels about the character's arc now. I also want to make sure all the supporting characters have arcs of their own, and that the whole thing is pretty (and about 500 words shorter). Otherwise, I think I'm done!!!!!

Draft 99

I've worked on this story for 10 days straight, and I think I've taken it to the end of the line.

There is still one major plot kink to work out, and I wish my Beta(s) would get back to me about the pacing...BUT I've only got three or four more hours, tops, worth of work left on it.

On the one hand, I'm gutted. This story is maybe the best thing I've ever written, as imperfect as it is, and I don't want to let it go. So I build castles in the air: what if I expanded it into a novel? And I'm becoming very snappish and obnoxious and stressed. In my innermost heart I know that's because I'm nearly ready to say goodbye and send my baby into the world.

On the other hand, I'm so RELIEVED. This story's deadline is Monday, and now it seems it will be done on time (PHEW). There were certainly times when I thought I'd never finish. (And maybe it's better not to count my chickens; I'm not done yet).

But this is the only real fear I've got left: Am I 100% confident that this story will be successful in the way that I need it to be? Any given piece usually receives the reaction I expect. There are certain pieces that I've sent out knowing full well what would happen to them--that they'd get published, get produced, win a prize, etc. A person usually knows when she's produced a winner. I'm not sure if I feel that certainty for this story.

When I wrote it, it felt right. Something about it still seems right--"right" as in: it feels completely *mine.* It feels organic, but polished. It feels like the love-child of inspiration and hard work. Rather, it feels that way to *me.*

The stakes are so high this time, and as ever, my judgment doesn't truly matter. What if this story doesn't connect?

Matchmaker

My writing sample should be around 40 pages.

Those forty pages should include two stories.

Complete stories are better than excerpts because stories show the author can handle structure, and excerpts (by definition, seeing as you *should* need the rest of the novel to understand them) don't.

So, I wrote a story that felt right.

The structure and language were fairly good, but the characterization and plotting (since those two are enmeshed, I suppose) weren't.

I changed the characterization.
Tried, and failed to change the plot.
Thought about the theme.
Changed the plot.

Now I'm in a pretty good place with that story. It's dark but not overly graphic.

The other one is based on an excerpt. Though the characters/backstory/setting are different, the plot of this chapter has stayed the same since it was a manuscript section.

I rethought the characters and backstory, and changed bits of the plot.
The language is doing all right.
But it's not really coming together. And now that I've basically memorized it, I'm having trouble editing.

I'm not in a BAD place with the story, but not (yet?) in a good one. It's graphic but not quite as dark as Story 1.

The problem I'm having is with these stories as a pair. When trying to show my range, shouldn't I try to show two different tones? I'm worried that both of these stories are too dark, and that the groups of characters are too similar. The plots aren't even all that different.

That happens to me a lot when I work on two pieces at once--they feed off one another, which is a good thing, but they also echo one another, which isn't.

Anyway, the two pieces together are about ten pages too long. That's especially a problem for places with a *THIRTY* page limit, where I absolutely can't turn in fifty pages of material.

So I started thinking about ANOTHER excerpt that I think is fairly stand alone. It's got a MUCH lighter, almost screwball tone. The characters are much different from the ones I present in Story 1 (which is definitely going in the sample). So, it would make a better match/juxtapose better with Story 1 than Story 2 does, right?

Only I think that Story 2 is more complete than this excerpt, and is more character-centric. Since Story 1 is relatively heavy on plot, Story 2 being heavy on character is important to me.

Another thing to consider, however, is that what I'm seeing as "character heavy" is in actuality angsty-undergrad writing, which has been a struggle for me to leave behind.

As it is now, I think I'll be submitting Story 1 and the Excerpt. Together, they'll be 30-40 pages. I think their plot and tone contrasts make them a better pair. I think they're more mature stories than Story 2 is. For the places which allow longer samples, I may include Story 2, but probably not.

Still, it makes me sad to see Story 2 left behind, after so much work on it. And worried, because though I *think* replacing it with Excerpt is clear-sightedness, it may be a loss of nerve.

Bah. We'll see how my Beta(s) feel. It's so hard for me to see my own work clearly! Does that ever get easier?

Cut the Creatures and Cue the Social Conflict

So this story I’ve got with these weird vampire creatures?

I think the creatures were just stand-ins for the actual cultural problems I wanted to talk about, but which I was still too ignorant to discuss.

The creatures weren’t really around much, except at the climax. Otherwise it’s a pretty realistic story—or at least, non-supernatural.

When I gave the story to my critique partner, she said I needed to foreshadow the creatures more. I agreed, so I tried to bring them into other parts of the story. But then I stayed away from the thing for a week or so while I worked on something else…and when I came back, I realized the reason I couldn’t put the creatures anyplace new was because they were just place-holders.

So, I’ve been doing research into the region in which the story takes place (The Democratic Republic of Congo), as well as neighboring countries (namely, Rwanda). I’d started out wanting to write a story set in Africa because I love reading stories set there. Problem was/is, I don’t know much about the continent—just as much as any layman American does, I’d guess.

Thing is, even if I’m an ignoramus about the continent, many (most?) people aren’t. It’s important to get my information as correct as possible. And while I don’t think it’s necessarily the cheap and easy route for a story to go for magical (realism), it was in this case—instead of finding out more about the actual world my story was taking place in, I substituted fake stuff.

Which was doubly stupid both because the real world is more interesting and more complex than my fake one AND because that complexity and richness was the specific reason I was drawn to stories set there. If I wanted to write a fantasy story about vampire creatures, why not put them in a familiar (to me) locale? Why set a story in the Congo and then not make it AT ALL CONGOLESE? It seemed like a waste. Of course, it was only in draft three that I realized how I was setting up something very interesting (a story about wildlife exploitation and ownership in the Congo) and then transforming it into something quite boring (a story about fake-ass vampires).

So, on to the research—which has already been helpful in my re-imagining the climax, and the theme of the story. I like how both my current stories are turning out, but JESUS CHRIST, I’m on draft one million of both of them. Or rather, draft three.

I always thought I did a lot of drafts, but looking at it now, it seems that I just did an awful but very labor-intensive second draft of all my work, then stopped in disgust. Re-writing really is reimagining, and it really is where the story takes shape. I'll never stop before Draft 5 again!

Note to Self: CLIMAX

Today is a big improvement over yesterday, because today, both my stories have (some) middle.

Today is terrible when compared to tomorrow, however, because today neither of my stories have climaxes.

STORY B NEEDS:

--A hook (or at least a stronger one. Draft 3 is a VAST improvement over Draft 2, but this story's sense of self--my sense of why it's special--isn't really there yet...it doesn't have a thesis statement).

--Better Characters (they still feel half drawn).

--More punch in the moments leading up to the climax (as is, the climactic image itself is pretty cool, and I know where I'm going after, but that final moment that zooms the tension up to where it needs to be? Not great).

STORY B NEEDS:

--A middle (I love the beginning, which is actually the first half. But now I have that midpoint reversal, and don't know what it reverses. Or rather, I know what happens to the "story" (the characters) but not the "plot" (their obstacles).

I still think Story B is much stronger than Story A, because I have more of a sense what it's about. So today, I want to do some research on the part of Africa where Story B takes place, so I'll (!) hit on a more interesting and meaningful complication than I have currently. And today, I'm going to re-print the first two-thirds of Story A's third draft and try to figure these people and their situation out.

Both stories, right now, are taking me deeper into their souls.

My main question now: can I go into two at once? I've always been a natural monogomist.

The Gastault of SHUT UP

I haven't looked at my one finished and semi-polished manuscript in months.

It's not that I haven't been writing; in the meantime, I've "finished" a T.V. script, am going through the first draft of a feature script, "finished" a number of short stories (I was going for fifteen of them, but didn't quite make it), started shooting my clay-mation, and am a third through another manuscript's rough draft.

But this summer, sometime between falling in love (with a person, not book) and taking a beat-down at workshop, I've stopped toying with it, and started avoiding it. Not because I've lost faith in the manuscript, but because it suddenly feels too daunting. The notes for "fixing it" (Draft 1,000,000) are sitting on my desk, and the actual work is buried someplace on my hard-drive.

Yesterday, though, while I was at jury selection (sadly for my research, I didn't actually hear a case) I picked up a short story I'd written a couple months ago. It'd gotten on the page without plotting and without me stopping. When I'd finished the draft, something about it had felt right...

But I decided to put the story away for a bit and forget about it. I've been re-considering my editorial process, and I didn't want this potentially good story to get ripped apart. Yesterday I finally read it, for the first time. Though there were major problems (mostly, the plot is herky jerky), it was a great read! I loved the first half especially. And it had been long enough that I actually didn't remember the story at all, which was fantastic.

I think in editing my manuscript, I cut all the life. I tried so hard to follow the "rules" and only show the "interesting bits" and strengthen the plot, that I edited out the *story.* So with this piece ("Cherub") I'm going to be much gentler.

My process with it now is:
1. Figure out all the characters' arcs.
2. Edit the plot using five-act structure (make sure, mostly, that all the pieces are there, so that the ending is comprehensible).
3. Clarify the most awkward/confusing bits of writing
4. Show it (off?) to a trusted professor
5. Done!

I'm an analytical person, so I like to know why everything works the way it does. But the conscious mind only understands so much--a person can know much more than they can articulate. I've got to start trusting my experience, training, and taste, and forget about justifying everything in the courthouse of my frontal lobe. This story doesn't need to prove itself to anyone--it doesn't have a chance at "perfection," but it does have a chance at being itself.

Beyond this particular story, the hope is: once I've got new editorial confidence and method in place, maybe I won't feel so daunted by the task of infusing life back into my complicated plot-piece of a manuscript. Maybe, in fact, it'll feel natural. And this manuscript will still be something that can connect.

Bluestocking Bluebook

I take back most, if not all, of what I said about the class I'm taking. Since the first session, the instructor *has* seemed engaged, and though we mostly use texts I've already read, she's putting their ideas into a revision system that 1. makes revision seem digestible 2. will probably work.

Part of my problem was that I've been revising my current manuscript for so long that I've stumbled into each of her revision steps, albeit not in her order.

But during a panic attack over this story I realized: this is a good roadmap! *This* is why I took that class.

So here are the steps:

1. Re-read the piece, hardcopy, with no pen and no criticism.
2. Write a logline
3. Write a one paragraph (catchy) summary
4. Write a step-sheet
5. Go through each chapter (in the story's case, each act/section), and create a have/need map.
6. Section by section, turn all the "needs" into "haves."
7. Repeat steps 5-6 as necessary
8. Line edits-- make it pretty!

Analytical little me is going to have a field day with this one!

The Control Continuum

How important is being true to one's own vision? How faithful can one even be?

Being true to oneself is the only way to create truthful work
V.
The writer understands the subtexts and themes and intricacies the *least*, because she is too close to the work to see it clearly.

I've worked over the past six months or so to be totally myself in my writing, readers be damned. Not that I threw all structure, grammar, or pragmatism to the wind... I've just tried to become more comfortable with the unknowable, even when the unknowable is my own mind. I've tried to stop trying to control *everything*, and let myself (as a writer, and my work as art) loosen up, be free, shelter from judgment-- relish instinct.

But now that I've found a novel writing groove, and a short story writing groove (finally!), I've got to make this claymation.

The claymation's been sitting in my head for months and months, and now that I've got people who want to see it, I've finally got to finish the damn thing. And it's bizarre to have full control over an entire production like this.

1. Find the idea
2. Write the script
3. Create the clay creatures
4. Build the set
5. Film
6. Edit
7. Soundtrack
8. Get it out there

I'm on the tail-end of #4 right now, and it's suddenly hitting me that even if I *don't* like it, I'm in total control of this project-- even down to the production values. The (lazy) demon on my shoulder says, "cut a few corners-- who cares?" The (masochistic) angel on my shoulder says, "You'll care, if you're going to show this to anybody, knowing it's not your best possible work."

The control issue is bizarre in writing, I think, because each media needs such different levels of it. On the one hand, there are short stories that are limited enough in scope that they can flourish on an absolute minimum of plot, and a maximum of whimsy. Novels require a bit more in terms of logistics, simply because they're so big-- but their logistics are all writerly. No extra lay-out of money required to help those logistics along. I think the medium that requires the MOST writing control is television.

Television writing is *incredibly* constrained; you've got a certain set of characters, a certain location, a certain basic set-up, thematic limitations, and everything's got to be done to a strict time/page/action formula (approx. 8-pg pulses), and all in about 55 script format pages.

And yes, with television writing there are certain physical concerns-- please don't expect the sets or the CGI to be fancy. Please don't require athletic feats that will take weeks to prepare. But no way you've got to stage the thing.

That's where the play/movie continuum takes over; not only have you got to write the thing with at least a novelistic level of writerly control, you've (at least as an unknown) got to actually make it *happen* in a physical way.

So on the one hand, I've taken great pains to give up control and give more say to instinct for my short story writing-- which has taken a turn for the much better. And on the other, I'm making a movie-- in which I've got to build the "actors" no less.

Why am I making myself schizophrenic? Well, because it's fun. And fascinating, to stretch those control/instinct muscles in all kinds of new ways.

I knoooooooow (she whined)

The story I'm working on has no plot. It's great otherwise.

How do I get it a plot, and STAT?

All the storylines I come up with fit all right but.... nothing's clicking.

What happens next? How do you get a piece onto its "skeleton"?