Well, not as you would think!
A friend and i were discussing her story that she has been working on for a while now. We both have kids the same age and have limited writing time.
We both seem to have the same writing style. Writing copious notes in the pre-writing stage, like a plotter. Character profiles, plot outlines, though i have gone away from the plot outlines as these don't work for me anymore, my brain seems to think i have written the story and it's time for a new one thank you!
She has written about ten thousand words of her story and was re-reading her notes and realised she had deviated from her original heroine profile. In a bad way. She realised she preferred how she sounded in the original and not how she was turning out in the story.
This was good as she had come across some complications in her story where her character just wasn't working and she couldn't figure out why, now she knew.
The other complication she came across was that her characters were wanting to go another direction that where she wanted them to go. Deviating from her planned plot.
This is where my lesson comes in.
Authorial intrusion can be bad. Planned notes can be bad. Sometimes you have to let your characters take the lead, let them take you on a different path and see where it takes you, it may be a surprising route! My friend was dubious but i think willing to give it a go, for now!
What do you think?
Also, i've been teaching my son to read. We've often come across that tricky thing in the English language with the e at the end of words and i've just been telling him to ignore it. "It's just silent, sweetheart." His reply, "ok mum!" so trusting!
Then we were watching cartoons while on holiday in taupo when we took them to the snow at Mt Ruapehu and i found out the actual rule! and can now explain it to him - an you if you have ever wondered how to explain it to your young ones :)
The e at the end of a word changed the sound of the vowel to it's name, not it's sound.
Example, in "pin" the i is the phonetic i, but with the e on the end, for the word "pine" you say the letter i.
Understand?
Hope that clears it up!
We call it the 'magic E' at our place. All 4 of my kids easily remembered the rule when they think it magically changes the vowel sound! As to the characters, I do extensive character profiles before I start a story. I rarely deviate from the core personality but quirks do work themselves in sometimes. I think it's OK. Sometimes they do have a mind of their own.
ReplyDeletemagic E sounds great - thanks for that Kaily!!
ReplyDeleteClever! Didn't know that :) Cute pic of the kids in the snow
ReplyDeleteI heard on public radio (kinda like BBC in the states) an author saying she never outlines b-4. She said the process of writing is where she discovers/researches what the book will be about. She said she never knows before starting to write what the story will be about. Personally, I found her concept to be a little extreme, but thought I would share.
ReplyDeleteWoo Hoo, I'm pubhished...!!!!!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=490983
congrats SH! well done.
ReplyDelete