warped_pearl

So, does anyone else have problems with their muses speaking to them at inappropiate times, and not only that, but being hella funny while doing so? 'Cause Colleen is being especially naughty right now. I cannot keep a straight face. Dude, I'm at work!

So I have finally started writing again, whee! Today I dragged out queen_raina briefly, which was fun. This, of course, made me think of the ghost blog, which led to thoughts of the various WIPs I have that I would like to complete. Hence, a list:

• The post for etern_alley.


• The two other half-written posts about nocturne_alley.


• The ghost blog. Not to complete, really, but just to tinker with. A place to play, if you will. Mostly it's an exercise in voice with a little fiction thrown in, because it's really about my life, just in disguise. But it would be good to work on it again, because I do thing it's fun and promising.


• The Hatrack landmark. Got a little bit of time for this, but yeah, this needs doing.


• More posts about 20 Master Plots. I have two that are half-completed, so hopefully I will have those posted shortly.


• The fic that's been rattling in your head for the last few weeks.

And speaking of that last, during lunch I scribbled out a rough draft of a scene. Would you like to see it?

(note: this is the kind of stuff I write in my offline journal)

The trend these days in the romance genre is suspense. Now there's not only the sexual tension between the main characters, but an edginess caused by the mystery they must solve before all hell breaks loose.

Elizabeth Lowell is one such author writing the suspenseful romance. Her Donovan family series have added more suspense with each new book. It's especially evident in her latest novel, Midnight in Ruby Bayou.

I'm a big fan of Lowell, so I eagerly waited for this book to be published in paperback. Perhaps my anticipation was too great: although I enjoyed the book, I felt it wasn't as good as her previous novels. Lowell has become too fascinated suspense; the mystery she was unfolding took center stage, to the neglect of the budding romance. And unfortunately for Lowell, the mystery, though exciting at times, seemed patchy and sensational, leaving me not intrigued but impatient for the return to the more pleasurable portions of the book. Hopefully in further novels, Lowell will either return to the excellent balance of mystery and passion she's had in the past, or come up with a better mystery that's capable of holding its own.

Another writer of suspenseful romance is Kay Hooper. Her Shadows series has gotten good reviews, so when I saw Hiding in the Shadows at my local library, I decided to check it out.

Like Midnight in Ruby Bayou, Hooper's book has more suspense than romance. But here it works. The romance is subtle, barely arising except for small moments; it felt natural, given the characters' current situation.

The suspense is so good that at times I wondered why it was even a romance novel at all. The book is well paced; insights and revelations occur steadily, upping the intensity and keeping you turning the pages. There were only a few times when I figured things out beforehand, and they were small enough that I wasn't too bothered by it.

The climax of the romance and the suspense occurred nearly simultaneously: everything tied together neatly, and the reason why it was a romance and not just a suspense became obvious. It was necessary, as well; I don't believe the book would have worked as well without the romance.

I figured out the big revelation right before the main character did, which is how it should be. It was nearly perfectly executed; tears slowly rolled down my face as I realized what it all meant.

I've read better suspense novels and also better romances (previous Lowell novels, for example), but Hooper's storytelling is solid and captivating. I'm sure I'll look for her other books when I return to the library.

Happy Monday!

I'm pleased to hear that some of you are finding this journal useful. Yay! Glad you are enjoying it.

I'm taking a short break from 20 Master Plots to repost some stuff I had written elsewhere, so I have everything in one convenient place. I apologize in advance for spamming your friend's list, but I am sure you'll find at least one of the posts interesting and relevant. Which one depends on your particular interests.

I have the next two posts for 20 Master Plots written in my head, though, so I expect you'll see them soon. If not today, then definitely tomorrow.

On with the spam!

Continuing on with the discussion of 20 Master Plots by Ronald Tobias.

Part one proclaimed that without tension, there is no plot. Now we'll expand on that a bit, and discuss the eight Lowest Common Denominators of every plot.


LCD One: Make tension fuel your plot

As discussed in part one, a story just ain't right unless it has some tension. Without tension, it's just a retelling of events: dry, boring, factual. Add in a bit of tension ("I won't marry you because you are a drunk!"), and you've got the makings of plot.

LCD Two: Create tension through opposition

I previously attended a screenwriting workshop in which the presenter defined Mainstream American films as "The story of a person in pursuit of an objective who overcomes opposition to reach the resolution".

This sentence is LCDs One and Two in a nutshell. First, your protagonist has to want something. His desire is the kindling of the tension in your story (LCD one). If your character didn't want anything, then what was the point of the story? Why would we be interested? Your character doesn't have to want anything grand (the workshop presenter used a pacakge of Twinkies as an example), but he has to want something.

Next, your character must face opposition. He wants Twinkies, but ack! the vending machine is all out of them. That's the ignition fluid of tension. Once we introduce opposition, the plot takes off and we're rolling right along in our story, and the readers are turning the pages as fast as they can.

You might be tempted to think that the opposition has to be in the form of an antagonistic character -- some evil person who is dead set against your protagonist getting what they want (they saw you going for the Twinkies, and stole them before you could get them!) -- but it doesn't have to be. It can be a situation (the vending machine is out of Twinkies) or an internal conflict (you really want the Twinkies, but you are trying to stick to a diet). Just make sure there is some kind of opposition, or your plot will go nowhere and your readers will fall asleep or throw your fic down in disgust.

LCD Three: Make tension grow as opposition increases

For a story to be effective and compelling, the opposition needs to grow as the story continues.

One way to do this is through local tension, which is basically the person, item, or situation that is affecting your protagonist at the present moment. Boy asks girl to marry him; girl says no. That's local tension.

Stories have strings of local tensions that carry the plot along, but they can't rely on local tension alone, as local tension hardly ever increases. It can also lead to boredom, or the absurd.

Let's go back to our Twinkies. If we only had local tension, the plot might go something like this: Character wants Twinkies. He searches his pockets for change, but finds none (local tension #1). He borrows change from a friend. He goes to the vending machine, but alas, the machine is out of twinkies! (local tension #2). He decides to go to the sundry shop next door. But the shop is closed because of a fire that occured there last night! (local tension #3). He decides to get in his car to go to the grocery store, but gets stuck in traffic because the circus is coming in town, and the elephants stampeded during the parade. (local tension #4).

Tension-filled plot? Heck yeah. And it might even make a successful action story. But notice how as the story goes on, we get more and more into the fantastical, which can increase disbelief in a story. This is the last thing we want to do. We want our readers to trust us, and to be so involved in the story they lose track of time. So instead of relying solely on local tensions, we introduce deep tension.

Think of deep tension as the story's purpose for being. It is the underlying drive for the story or character. In our Boy Meets Girl story, the deep tension is his struggle to overcome achoholism. It's personal, and tough, and cannot be resolved easily. In fact, your character might have to undergo a paradigm shift in order to resolve the deep tension, which leads me to LCD Four.

LCD Four: Make change the point of your plot

We could decide that our story is simply about a man's quest for a package of Twinkies. It might be possible to come up with a humorous story based on this scenerio.

But for a story that really packs the wow, make your plot about change. How do the events of the story change your character or world?

Change goes hand-in-hand with deep tension, as there's not a lot to be learned from local tension. Patience and strength in the face of adversity, maybe, but not much more. Back to the Twinkies. If we relied on local tension only, then at the end of the story we might have a character who has decided he really hates Twinkies because of all the obstacles he faced in getting those Twinkies. A change, yes, but not a very compelling one.

Now let's introduce some deep tension. Our story is now about a man who is struggling to lose weight, but finds himself one day really longing for some Twinkies. He struggles with himself over whether or not to give in and get the Twinkies. Maybe he decides he really doesn't need to be on a diet, or that it is okay to "be bad" sometimes, and gives in and gets the Twinkies. Or maybe he decides that his long-term goals (the weight loss) are more important than immediate desires (the Twinkies) and decides not to purchase any. Either way, he has gone through a change of his convictions, which is much more satisfying as a story than a character who has simply survived a frustrating day.

LCD Five: When something happens, make sure it's important

Your job as a writer is to keep the reader engaged in your story. Far too often, beginning writers (and some published folks, too!) let their stories take unnecessary side trips. As Tobias put it: "Your intended for [your character] to be at a board meeting in New York and suddenly they're at a pig farm in Green Sleeve, Mississippi." The pig farm may be fun--the smells! the laughter when the pig chases your character!--but if it's not important to the plot, your readers are going to get bored. So, you have one thing to do: cut it out! Yes, it may be some of the best writing you've ever done, but if it doesn't advance the plot, it does not belong in your story. Cut it, and keep it in a clip file, and take it out to read every now and then, but don't keep it in your story.

Know who's important to your story. Just about every story has a main character; the majority of the scenes should involve that character somehow. Don't let your supporting characters become too big. The H/D fic I am musing over was originally going to open with a scene from Harry's childhood, that explains why Harry is the one who can answer Draco's questions. It's a lovely little scene, and very important to Harry's characterization. Yet I have decided not to include it in the story, because the story is really about Draco, and not Harry. I still might write the scene for reference, and I'm pretty sure Harry will end up mentioning this experience to Draco, but we will not see the scene as a whole, either as a prologue or a flashback, because this isn't Harry's story.

This LCD is actually one of my biggest complaints about Cassie Claire's Draco trilogy. Draco's name is in the title of each fic, but yet Harry seems to have just as many scenes as Draco, which leads me to confusion as to who this fic is really about. And Cassie has written some really lovely scenes with other characters as well (Tom, Ginny, etc), and yet I still question their inclusion in the story. The plot could use some definite tightening, as the third part of the trilogy is already obscenely long and shows no sign of ending soon. Still a great story, but yeah, it needs tightening.

LCD Six: Make the causal look casual

So we've trimmed our plot and gotten rid of any extraneous scenes. And we have this item the character needs to use in the climax, and we need to somehow introduce it earlier in the plot. This is the infamous "If you show a gun in scene one, make sure it goes off in scene three" LCD.

The question is, how to go about introducing the gun? We could make it really obvious ("LOOK! HERE IS A GUN!! OH MY MB ISN'T IT SCARY?"), but if we do so, we risk losing our readers as the plot would then be obvious as well. Why should the reader keep reading if they know what is going to happen?

Instead, we do this in a very sly manner. All casual-like. Mention the gun as being just one item of many items in a room: blend it into the scenery so that it does not jump out at the reader. Now, you may be worrying that your reader will not pick up on the mention, and totally forget about the gun and be all confused when it comes up later. Readers are often more intelligent than writers think, though--in most cases, they are going to remember the gun (there are a few clueless folks, alas, who cannot pick up on anything). Trust your readers to follow your clues, and you'll write a compelling, interesting story.

This is an area in which I feel nocturne_alley particularly excels: the character's posts are often packed with information or casual lines that appear to be throw-aways and unimportant, but turn out to be very important. Making the connections and remembering references when the climax finally occurs is a big part of the fun in following the RPG.

LCD Seven: Make sure you leave Lady Luck and chance to the lottery

This is the LCD that warns against Deus Ex Machina.


Your character is in dire straits. He is backed against a rock wall, facing a large dragon, with no chance of escape, when suddenly a rope ladder appears out of nowhere and he climbs to his escape!


How very lucky and convenient. Which is exactly the two things you don't want your readers to be thinking.

The resolution of the character's issues or obstacles should arise from the character, not from chance or "magic". We want to root for the character, and believe that she has the skills, talents, and strength to overcome her opposition. Using a plot device is, well, cheap, and much less satisfying than if she worked things out on her own.

Which explains my dissatisfaction with the climatic scene in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. Little Anakin Skywalker is told to go sit in the cockpit of a ship to stay safe during the battle with the droids, except the ship is set for autolaunch (convenient plot device #1) and he soon finds himself hurtling towards the space battle. While there, he appears to magically move through dense enemy fire, as his dialogue ("Let's try spinning! That's always good!") shows that he is not flying out of skill or natural ability, but implies that he's not sure what to do in this case (convenient plot device #2). He then ends on the droid control ship, where he accidentally presses a button or something, which fires a shot into the control ship's core, in turn blowing up the ship and causing the droids on the surface to go "dead" at the the most critical time of the battle (convenient plot device #3).

Yeah, I was disgusted.

Maybe George Lucas was trying to imply that Anakin had the Force flowing through him during the battle, and that's why he was able to do these things. But really, it felt like magic and convenience, whereas Luke's trench run on the first Death Star in the original Star Wars did not. Then, it was about faith, courage, and natural talent and ability; here, it's just about luck.

Do not rely on luck to save your characters. You will lose your audience.

LCD Eight: Make sure your central character performs the central action of the climax

Imagine if Wedge Antilles had blown up the Death Star instead of Luke Skywalker. Would the audience have been as satisfied? Probably not. The victory is hollow if the character we have been emotionally connected to (Luke) is not involved. Your main character must be present at the climax of the story, and must be an active part in it.

This one also ties back to my comments in LCD Five about knowing who's important in your story. If you do not properly identify a main character, your readers will be confused or feel like something is "off".

I felt this way about the movie "Jerry Maguire". The movie attempts to focus on Jerry, but I found myself being much more drawn to Renee Zwelleger's character. To me, she appeared to be the one who was undergoing the most change, and who was driving the plot. This makes me feel like the movie did not properly identify its main character. Either she should have been the main character, or the plot should have been more advanced by Jerry's actions than hers.


Next up: The strong force, and the two major types of plot.

Writer's Digest prompt for 4/12/04: "My favorite toy from childhood was..."

Our bare feet danced down the steps, from the summery heat of the living room to the coolness of the basement. This was our playground: a place where the ordinary objects around us were transformed into a habitat for our Barbies. The end-table become a two-story townhome. Band-aid canisters were traveling trunks. A scrap of fabric became a beautiful dress.

My friends didn't know how to play Barbies right. They would dress their dolls in fashions, and do their hair, and their dolls' voices would be childish. With them, there was no play. There was no magic.

Now Lori, she understood. Barbies were not about clothes or hair, though we certainly spent our fair share of time on both. Barbies were about imagination. So much of our play existed in our heads.

Down the steps we crept, into the coolness of the basement. Today Lisa and Elizabeth, the older sets of twins, were having a party, complete with imaginary boyfriends. Cyndi Lauper blared on the record player while friends danced and talked.

Suddenly, the lights flickered! There was a crash, followed by a scream! Oh, no--the ghosts were back again!

Through the imaginary secret passage we ran, fleeing the terror, but safety eluded us. We crashed out into the living room, only to find the poltergeists had already made their way there. Furniture was overturned and paintings destroyed. And we were next on the agenda.

It was a terrible, terrible night.

But we survived. Morning came, and we were bloodied with blush from the Barbie Make-up kit, but we were alive. And good thing, too, because today Terese and Theresa, the younger set of twins, had a gymnastics meet to qualify for the Olympics. Our lives were rich and full.

And that is how Barbies are played.

Prompt for Thursday, 04/15/04
Write another person's epitaph, but make it rhyme.

Here's a silly one:

There once was a guy from Chicago
Who was quite fond of escargot
He ate a bad snail
That ended his tale
His service will be in rondeau

May add more later. Kinda want to write some sad and heartbreaking, but I have no poem bunnies yet.

Prompt for Friday, April 16th
Make a list of the works you've written of which you are most proud. Collect a copy of as many as possible. Put them in a binder and title the compilation.

The works I'm most proud of are all creative non-fiction pieces. I started working on a memoir a few years back, and my best piece is a vignette from it. I like it because of the humor, and the voice. The voice is so uniquely mine, and felt so concrete when I was writing the thing. It was also a great writing experience, because I was able to see how editing can make a piece better.

I don't think I've come up with a title for the memoir as a whole. I should do that. I should also keep working on the thing. It's easier than fiction is for me, and it would let me ease back into writing.

Other things I'm proud of: the ghost blog(*). I had so much fun writing that. I do intend to update it someday, hopefully soon. I'm also quite fond of the regular blog(**), especially posts such as this, this, this. Not so much anything from althea_valara, though, as it's mostly a place to wibble.

(*) The ghost blog was a creative writing exercise I did after I died in a Mafia game. I believe I kept on commenting about the game, but as a ghost watching the living players. It was hosted on my ISP's website, which I no longer have access to. -- althea_valara posting on March 13th, 2022

(**) The regular blog was also hosted on my ISP's website and has gone poof, alas. -- althea_valara posting on March 13th, 2022