So, I haven't seriously started the rewrites on Ichor yet—still got that GED workbook project looming over me that's due tomorrow and that, uh, I really ought to be working on right now instead of writing this blog post—but I've been thinking about it. And one of the things I've been thinking about is that I ought to make sure the protagonist had some sort of arc to his character. That he changed and grew over the course of the story. Some of the other characters had definite arcs, but I wasn't sure the protagonist had one, and I figured he definitely should.
I briefly considered, and quickly discarded, a few ideas. Maybe the protagonist starts out lazy and shirking his duties on the ship, but later comes to see the importance of hard work? But that would mean that at the beginning he'd be a fairly inactive character, and I didn't want that—he's already stuck in a cage for an entire chapter near the beginning of the book; I didn't want him to be doing even less than he already was. Maybe he starts out self-centered and then gradually comes to be more helpful and concerned with the rest of the crew? But that didn't really work well with the story; there was no particular reason for him to move in that direction if he wasn't already somewhat altruistic.
But then, as I thought about the last chapter, it occurred to me that he did already have an arc after all, even if it hadn't been one I'd consciously planned. He's definitely a very different person at the end of the story from what he was at the beginning. So I don't have to come up with an arc for him—what I have to do is take the arc that's already there and make it go a little more smoothly. As it is, most of his change takes place rather suddenly right at the end; I need to spread it out more and clarify the reasons for it. But yes, to my relief I don't have a static protagonist.
Anyway, looking forward to being done with this GED workbook so I can really buckle down and get started on the rewrites.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Sunday, November 27, 2011
It's Been A While
Okay... when I said in my last post that I was going to take "a bit of a break", I didn't actually expect it to be almost a year until I posted again.
Not that I haven't been doing anything that last year. Oh, no. But... I admit I haven't been doing much narrative fiction writing.
That's not to say I've been idle. I specify "narrative fiction" for a reason... I have been doing quite a bit of writing for a project that could be called non-narrative fiction. But that's a project that's not going to come to fruition for more than a year yet, and it's not something about which I want to reveal any details right now anyway.
But I've been busy with other things. See, I have a confession to make: writing is not the only thing I want to do. Oh, it definitely is something I want to do, yes. But it's not my only focus. I'm also an actor. (I should be joining the Screen Actors Guild within the next week... and yes, I do have a number of credits on the IMDb--though under a different name than "Zachary Gole", and I'd rather not tell what that name is right now; for the moment I'd rather keep my different pursuits separate.) I also compose music, and hope to release an album within the next few months. I've got a lot of different pursuits, and writing is just one of them.
Does that bode ill for my success as a writer? Well... I hope not. I do want to be a writer. It's not a matter of just throwing different pursuits against the wall and seeing what sticks. I want them all to stick. These are all things I very much want to do.
But yeah, I admit for the last year my writing has been taking something of a back seat to my other pursuits. And I want to change that, because, as I said, it is something I want to do. And I think the novel I wrote during NaNoWriMo last year has a lot of potential once I put it through a few rewrites.
So, that's what I'm going to do starting in December. (Why not now? Well, because I have a GED workbook I'm being paid to write that I have to have done by the end of November, so that'll have to be my priority till then. Writing GED workbooks isn't exactly what I dream of doing, but, hey, gotta make money somehow.) So, my goal is to do the rewrites Ichor in December. (December should be slow for me in terms of other work anyway; Hollywood, like the publishing industry, basically shuts down the last two weeks of December, and I also make some money tutoring, but that's not going to be happening during the holiday break.) I hope to finish by January and early February, and then... well, then it's time to send queries out to agents and see what happens.
And while I'm doing that, I'll work on some short stories and send them out, too.
It's time to get back in the ballgame.
There is probably a better metaphor I could have used, especially since I'm not at all a sports fan.
Not that I haven't been doing anything that last year. Oh, no. But... I admit I haven't been doing much narrative fiction writing.
That's not to say I've been idle. I specify "narrative fiction" for a reason... I have been doing quite a bit of writing for a project that could be called non-narrative fiction. But that's a project that's not going to come to fruition for more than a year yet, and it's not something about which I want to reveal any details right now anyway.
But I've been busy with other things. See, I have a confession to make: writing is not the only thing I want to do. Oh, it definitely is something I want to do, yes. But it's not my only focus. I'm also an actor. (I should be joining the Screen Actors Guild within the next week... and yes, I do have a number of credits on the IMDb--though under a different name than "Zachary Gole", and I'd rather not tell what that name is right now; for the moment I'd rather keep my different pursuits separate.) I also compose music, and hope to release an album within the next few months. I've got a lot of different pursuits, and writing is just one of them.
Does that bode ill for my success as a writer? Well... I hope not. I do want to be a writer. It's not a matter of just throwing different pursuits against the wall and seeing what sticks. I want them all to stick. These are all things I very much want to do.
But yeah, I admit for the last year my writing has been taking something of a back seat to my other pursuits. And I want to change that, because, as I said, it is something I want to do. And I think the novel I wrote during NaNoWriMo last year has a lot of potential once I put it through a few rewrites.
So, that's what I'm going to do starting in December. (Why not now? Well, because I have a GED workbook I'm being paid to write that I have to have done by the end of November, so that'll have to be my priority till then. Writing GED workbooks isn't exactly what I dream of doing, but, hey, gotta make money somehow.) So, my goal is to do the rewrites Ichor in December. (December should be slow for me in terms of other work anyway; Hollywood, like the publishing industry, basically shuts down the last two weeks of December, and I also make some money tutoring, but that's not going to be happening during the holiday break.) I hope to finish by January and early February, and then... well, then it's time to send queries out to agents and see what happens.
And while I'm doing that, I'll work on some short stories and send them out, too.
It's time to get back in the ballgame.
There is probably a better metaphor I could have used, especially since I'm not at all a sports fan.
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