hobgoblinn (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
hobgoblinn) wrote2008-11-08 11:47 am
hobgoblinn) wrote2008-11-08 11:47 am
Nano Update and -- Help?
I’m working on an original novel this year, newly composed for the occasion. I’m finding it very instructive in a lot of ways. One thing I’m noticing is how it really helps to know who you’re writing about and to have something like a plot. Fanfic helps, but does not guarantee either one. I have neither for this tale.
I’m going to outline what I do have here and what I think is blocking me, and hope folks on the flist can suggest anything at all.
But first, proud mama hobgoblinn wishes to report Wee Hob’s wordcount: 1572 as of yesterday and 139 more today so far, with another write in scheduled for the afternoon after lunch and a hike in a local park. Knights, witches, King Arthur, the French Foreign Legion— what more could you want in a novel? I’ll post some excerpts if he gives me permission later in the month.
I got a flash of the central conflict in a discussion with my Beloved— he doesn’t believe in the supernatural. Not an atheist exactly, but his conception of God is very unlike mine even at my most cynical and doubting. But I want to believe even in things I don’t see.
We got into a discussion of ghosts when the paper shredder in the next room went off while we were talking the other night, and I teased him about having a ghost. I thought it would be an interesting scene to have a guy who doesn’t believe in ghosts actually have one in his house and deny its reality, while a woman gets exasperated with him because all her life she’s wanted to see things like this, to have proof for what she’d like to believe. Why is it coming to him instead of her?
Two things at least are blocking me. One is not wanting to base the characters on me and my Beloved. Makes me uncomfortable and I think I’m doing a lot of second guessing to keep them far apart. But you can really only write what you know.
And the other thing is, keeping the guy a skeptic is hard because people do tend to believe a bit in what they experience, however they might explain that experience. I am feeling blocked in my trying to find things to happen that really could have non-supernatural explanations. But then— why do these two characters meet? If it’s not uncomfortable for the guy, why would he do anything but go blithely on? And what do all these characters want? I also seem to be missing a villain or some antagonist standing in the way of the other characters’ getting what they want.
So, I want to write a ghost story. I want it not to be a cliched old thing, and I think I want to explore the nature of belief, of faith and doubt. At least this time I have a decent title: “Things Unseen.” Probably someone else has used it, of course. It’s a paraphrase of Paul's, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
Ideas, prompts, observations welcome.
I’m going to outline what I do have here and what I think is blocking me, and hope folks on the flist can suggest anything at all.
But first, proud mama hobgoblinn wishes to report Wee Hob’s wordcount: 1572 as of yesterday and 139 more today so far, with another write in scheduled for the afternoon after lunch and a hike in a local park. Knights, witches, King Arthur, the French Foreign Legion— what more could you want in a novel? I’ll post some excerpts if he gives me permission later in the month.
I got a flash of the central conflict in a discussion with my Beloved— he doesn’t believe in the supernatural. Not an atheist exactly, but his conception of God is very unlike mine even at my most cynical and doubting. But I want to believe even in things I don’t see.
We got into a discussion of ghosts when the paper shredder in the next room went off while we were talking the other night, and I teased him about having a ghost. I thought it would be an interesting scene to have a guy who doesn’t believe in ghosts actually have one in his house and deny its reality, while a woman gets exasperated with him because all her life she’s wanted to see things like this, to have proof for what she’d like to believe. Why is it coming to him instead of her?
Two things at least are blocking me. One is not wanting to base the characters on me and my Beloved. Makes me uncomfortable and I think I’m doing a lot of second guessing to keep them far apart. But you can really only write what you know.
And the other thing is, keeping the guy a skeptic is hard because people do tend to believe a bit in what they experience, however they might explain that experience. I am feeling blocked in my trying to find things to happen that really could have non-supernatural explanations. But then— why do these two characters meet? If it’s not uncomfortable for the guy, why would he do anything but go blithely on? And what do all these characters want? I also seem to be missing a villain or some antagonist standing in the way of the other characters’ getting what they want.
So, I want to write a ghost story. I want it not to be a cliched old thing, and I think I want to explore the nature of belief, of faith and doubt. At least this time I have a decent title: “Things Unseen.” Probably someone else has used it, of course. It’s a paraphrase of Paul's, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
Ideas, prompts, observations welcome.
no subject
And wee hob's ambitious project is wonderful. I'm so tickled that he's obviously planning to see it through.
no subject
The characters... I know that I really need a visual to focus on. If you're not comfortable turning yourself and your Beloved into the characters, can you pick a fannish character... a person you know in real life... anyone else? I picked a students I have in class. Now, the character is still mine because I truly doubt that what I have my guy going through ever has/ever will happen to my student, but by having a real person in mind, it's easier for me to built characterization onto the bones of someone who I know. If you use Riley as the bones of your character, by the time you give him a different past, different looks, and different characteristics, no one will recognize Riley's bones deep down inside.
no subject
Your plot outline sounds almost exactly like what she was talking about. Is it just going to be a ghost story or are you going to delve into religion? And speaking of beliefs and doubts, I highly recommend reading my friend's blog that I linked to. I'm not sure if it was the specific entry I linked to or a different one, but he does discuss, at length, faith and doubt. You might find some of it useful.
Are you going to keep your male protagonist a skeptic or is the point of the story that he'll eventually believe? It seems like that would be the natural progression of his character. Or will it be a different change that he'll go through?
no subject