Project Report 2 Water/Stone/Light: The shape of their world

A talented writer with a gift for world building...
C J Cherryh

When she wrote that blurb for one of my short publications from Yard Dog Press (no longer in print, though the blurb also appears on Farstep Station), I felt both overjoyed and worried. I had been an ardent fan of Cherryh's work for decades. The mere thought that she would write the blurb had me dancing around the house for days. (Much to the consternation of the cats.) I still get that surge of joy when I read it.

However, with a line like that came the knowledge I could never again 'wing it' on the longer works. I'd always done some world building, but now I became even more interested in creating the worlds. And I found that I love it even more.

Characters are what draw me to a story. My first vision of a story is almost always a character in trouble. I then unravel the who and why, and along the way I start building the where.

In the case of Water/Stone/Light the characters came in a sort of odd way, but there they were, a group facing an as yet undefined problem. I'm starting to see the trouble more clearly. The truth is that while I am writing these out as separate things for the posts (characters, world building, plot), they all tend to happen at the same time, with a touch of this here and a little of that there. I always make certain I have paper to do notes.

I have barely started the world building part. My current reading material, Cambridge Ancient History, Volume 1 Part 2, influenced a great deal of my basic considerations. This volume covers a great deal of early middle-eastern history, and has a huge section on Egyptian history.

I do not intend for this to be Egypt, but there are some basics I can borrow from that land (and from nearly any other river-based civilization of ancient times). The first thing is that I want Tygen to be secluded but not cut off entirely (note some Egyptian letters in the name-- easy for me to remember the basics, though I may later change the name later).

Everything I create at this point is subject to change. Once I get farther into both world building and plotting, I may find that some aspects of my world need to change to better work in the story I want to tell. This is not a real world. I control it.

A very high mountain range lies to the north. There was a pass through it, but a thousand years ago, mages and gods pulled the mountains down to save Tygen from something dangerous on the other side. This also destroyed the source of a second river in Tygen and left a considerable part of the eastern lands in desert. (And this means there are cities buried beneath the sands with treasures -- some of them dangerous. Think about those mages and the mountains.)

The western lands are akin to the Badlands of South Dakota. Once ocean it is now areas of carved sandstone in a maze where a person can easily get lost . Lots of places to hide things there. If you can get through, you will find youself at a narrow, inland sea and straight into the ocean with more desert across the shore. Not a lot of reason to go there.

The south border is the sea proper, with scrublands and marginal areas for herds to the east near the shores (but given to violent weather). The river ends in a delta and marsh, which stretches for miles and hides the entrance to the river. This has purposely been kept wild, both for the abundant waterfowl and other creatures, but also to keep the aggressive islanders not far from the coast from invading.

The shoreline is dangerous. The destruction of the pass had repercussions all along the area, with parts of the land dropping into the sea leaving dangerous rocks and currents and no good harbors at all.

The ships of this time are not very sturdy and anyone who does sea voyages hugs the coast -- and avoids the marsh heading into Tygen where they can get mired and lost. The people of Tygen patrol the marsh and there are very few craft they let through to the river entrance, which is also guarded by magic. There is a rumor of a sea monster at their call living in the delta. The people of Tygen do not take to the sea, but they do import a few luxuries. Foreign trade is the prerogative of the royalty.

The river craft are either made of reeds (in the lowlands) or wood (the northern highlands).

The river itself is called Life. A newborn child, no matter what the gender or station, is cleaned in the river of Life. When you die, you go to the desert and death. (Being Exiled to the desert is a death sentence with only a slim chance of survival, though there are a few nomadic tribes, mostly along the edges of the scrublands and the coast.

The few people who leave Tygen always take a sealed and blessed vial of water with them.

And that's it for today. I have some things worked up on the basics of the pantheon and just a whisper of work on the magic systems.

Zette's Take: Problems with openings

Openings are not set in stone

This is the first thing people need to realize when they start a book: Openings can, and should, change if they need to. I have often heard people saying how they can't possibly go on until they have the beginning of the story perfect. And some of them, of course, never go on. Others go on, then find all the work they'd done is useless because something drastic changed in the story. They become disillusioned, seeing all the hard work done for nothing. So some of these people never finish, either.

There are often problems with the idea of trying to write the perfect first scene, some of which are especially difficult problems for pansters (those who don't do any pre planning for the story). They often don't know where the story is going and where it will end, so by the time they get there the opening may not fit with what they create along the way.

Stories begin with a question for the reader. It is not always an obviously stated one, but in general it can be summed up with 'How is what happening here going to affect the character by the end?' This is a question implicit in the opening setting and actions. What is going on? What do the characters hope to gain? Whatever is indicated in the opening has to be settled by the end of the novel, even if it is not the truly most important part of the tale.

By the end of the story, you will also have cleared up any obvious mystery from the opening. If the story starts with someone found murdered, by the end the murder is solved. If it starts with someone wondering if she's going insane, we'll know the answer at the end. The question can be subtle and widespread, a feeling of impending change. In fact, the question, can be anything. The opening scene is going to set up this question for the reader who is going to be asking 'why' from the moment he or she starts reading.

Seems straightforward. So why would it fail?

Because stories, even the ones which are carefully outlined, often morph during the writing. You should be ready for some changes and welcome them when they really do make a better story. And that means you have to be prepared to sacrifice your opening for something new, too.

Say you start the story with the tale of a woman holding on to a ranch. You set it up with loving and perfect detail, introducing her and her problems and then going on . . . but a ways into the story, you realize she really isn't the focus of the story. The true, interesting story is about her son who is torn between his love of the ranch and a longing to be a doctor. You start leaning more and more to the son's POV about life on the ranch, etc. He becomes the main character.

Your opening no longer fits the rest of your story. While the woman is still part of the tale, she is no longer the focus. You might be able to rework it so that the focus includes the son. You might scrap it for an entirely new opening, with the son in some sort of situation. Holding on to the ranch is now a secondary focus rather than the main one and his inner conflict has become what drives the story.

Your opening needs to reflect the core of the story. There is nothing more annoying to me (and quite a few others) than to read an opening about an interesting character only to learn this isn't the person the story is about. Too often I suspect a case where the author had worked so hard on the opening that he or she could not bear to part with it, even when it no longer truly worked.

Now it may be that the extra work you take with the opening is your way of setting the story in your head. That's good and if it works for you, then you need to stick with it. But measure the 'does it work' factor against two things:

1. Do you finish the story?

2. Does the opening still work as well for the finished story as the one you first imagined you were going to write?

You may find the story starts at the wrong place

This is a problem I often have. I start too early, before the real tale gets going. I try to include too much backstory before the true current story gets started. Early history of the character can more easily be doled out in bits and pieces during the story. For instance, in my novel Silky, I had originally begun with his capture by slavers. This meant covering a long ocean journey, sold on the market, years in captivity with a carelessly cruel master . . . but as the first publisher of the novel pointed out, the story truly began the moment Silky stepped forward to save someone's life. Silky even had to tell about his early life to new people, so the backstory was already in place.

Duh.

It was a moment of true writer-illumination. This didn't mean it immediately stopped me from starting too early, though. Quite often, with the story in your head, it's impossible to tell where to start until you can see it in place. I have discovered a good side to starting too early, though. By the time I do get to the true story, I have a real feel for the characters and situation, rather than that often painful first few pages where nothing feels quite right. I don't worry about starting too early, but I do take a close look and hope, by the final draft, I have chosen the right spot.

If you work too hard you can be unwilling to change later

As I mentioned earlier, a big problem with trying to get the opening perfect is that you may not be willing to rework it again later. And even if you are, think about all the time you've wasted which could have been spent working on the parts of the book that are going to matter.

This can be true at any stage of the story, though I see it more often in the openings.

Don't be afraid to leave things you are unsure about until the end of the first draft. And whatever you do, don't let yourself believe that the first draft is going to be perfect, no matter how much time you take with it. Don't fear or despise editing. It's part of the life of a real writer. Being pretentious and artsy about your work is not going to make it better -- you have to be prepared to work. Imagination is the most important part of being a writer, but it is not the only aspect a writer must cultivate. Without the willingness to work at making your prose the best it can be -- which means rewrites, editing and whatever else might be necessary -- imagination is useless.

If you need to learn how to better write POV, then apply yourself to that work. If you have to learn grammar, make the time to study it. No one is born knowing either and while some people might have a better aptitude for some aspects of writing and catch on faster, they aren't the only ones who have learned.

Be open to change

Yes, I am repeating this from an earlier post. Don't be afraid of change. Don't look at having to rework something as a failure, and don't fear having to learn how to do things better.

Don't linger over your opening more than you need to. Don't let yourself be caught up in the 'perfection mode' when it stops you from finishing the work, whether off the start or later in the story.

Only you can tell the story in your head and you owe to yourself to do it in the best way you can. That means acknowledging that you might make mistakes and fixing them. Learn the joy of fixing things and making your story even better. You'll be happier for it, and your readers will appreciate the extra work.

Project Report 1 Water/Stone/Light: Genre and Characters

I thought I might make a few posts chronicling the passage from idea to novel for a new work I just started. With luck, I will have all the pre-work done before NaNo. It's hard to say if I will get there. The more I work on this one, the more I see that I need to do. If I don't get all the pre-work done in time, then this might hold over to be my first novel of 2012.

Let's start with 'Where do ideas come from?'

In many cases, they just grow out of an amalgamation of things that meld together over time and suddenly hit me over the head. This is not quite the case for the new fantasy novel, Water/Stone/Light (titles are apt to change). I can trace this one directly to C.J. Cherryh's blog (http://www.cherryh.com/WaveWithoutAShore/)and talk about their two new kitty friends along with the older, more sedate cat. The first new kitten needed a playmate so he would leave the older cat alone. They brought in a one year old from a cattery.

And this is what happened on my end:

July 25th, 2011 at 1:31 pm
I came awake this morning with an odd idea for a story. Something about an elderly queen saddled with an untamed, unruly young heir. In a fit of desperation, she orders that a noble house send him a companion. One house has a young man they’d just as soon be rid of — timid, scholarly, and useless (so they think) in a land where they’re guarding the dangerous borderland. So off he goes to live at the High Court.

Intimidated by the queen and worried that he might overstep the line with the heir, he finds he must call on the military training forced on him in previous years to take command and on his love of all things scholarly to draw the attention of the boy.

And then what? Does the young heir, tired of the life he never wanted, take off and the companion has to find him? Is the boy kidnapped? Is it all part of a plot and the prelude to an invasion? Are they the two who must go back to rescue the queen?

AAAAIIIIEEEE. I really don’t need a new plot bunny. But there it is, staring me in the face. I wonder if I could twist this around into an sf story, despite the fantasy feel. I am overrun with fantasy right now.

Hmmm. Or an Urban fantasy of some sort?

Still. AAAAIIIIEEEEE.

So, there is the basic core moment of inspiration. What has happened since then shows how stories grow, morph and change.

The first point was to settle on a genre. While I felt I had a lot of fantasy ideas lately, this one just called out for epic fantasy. I tried it out with a couple other genres, but every idea I got to add to this story went right back to fantasy, so I took that as a sign.

Next was to look closer at the main characters, the queen, the prince heir and the companion. It was with the companion where I started making drastic changes from my original idea. I kept the companion who came from 'seclusion' to take on the heir. But the Queen isn't stupid -- she can see the boy is going to need a firmer hand. So she sends for the Queen's Spy (oh? And who is this?) and tells him to get her sister's illegitimate son who is known for being able to take care of himself. I think she has word that something drastic is going wrong, and she wants the boy to have the sort of companions who can help him.

So now I had a triad . . . and I decided I really wanted a female character to offset them. I have some servants to deal with and a few are female, but they are going to have a special role. I wanted . . .

Ah. The Prince Heir needs to be betrothed. And the first ties of betrothal are done with magic so they can get a slight 'feel' for each other without being intrusive. This means the betrothed is aware when the three plan to escape the castle.

No, I'm not entirely certain why they are escaping yet. I have a vague idea of the trouble, but right now I'm looking at the very basic little steps of character creation.

Okay. So I have:

Queen Omi -- In her 40's, married the King when she was quite young and he was older. The King has been fighting a border war for a number of years, and she has her hands full with the running the kingdom. Their son died in battle and she had to call in her daughter's son as the new heir. (Does this mean no female can rule? No. I decided the boy's mother isn't suited to rule.)

Prince Zuki -- Spoiled, sixteen year old who has no respect for women (based on his bubble-headed mother and a domineering grandmother on his father's side). He has moments when he can be reasonable and even likeable before something else sets him off. He is untrained in anything resembling court etiquette and he does not want to be at court.

Fatim (Companion 1) -- Son of border lord and not suited to the kind of warrior life that the lord and his sons face. He's been secluded in one of the temples. (Start of world building and magic began here, but I'll show that in another post.)

Kontor (Companion 2) -- Son of the Queen Oni's younger sister and an unknown man (Though the father is believed to be a foreign envoy. The rumor is wrong, of course.) He's a rogue, troublemaker and can take care of himself. And does he owe the queen some service? A favor?

Amira (Betrothed) -- One of the Queen's Ladies in Waiting. The Queen needs to get the Prince Betrothed immediately. He's already over the age where it should have happened, and she chooses Amira because she is headstrong and can, hopefully, handle him. She is also from the mountainous northlands and she's used to hiking, hunting, etc. She is not going to be a wilting court flower when they are out on their own.

There are a number of other characters I need to work up, just so I have an idea of who is around and how they influence things, even if they are not present. Oh yes, this means King Sefu, of course. My big question (and one I have not yet answered) is why the Queen feels she must have this done right now, with the heir in place and so many decisions made immediately (like the betrothed). That will come with the plot. I work with characters first then look around and ask 'why are you doing that? What's the problem?

The Queen's Spy, the Vizier, Fatim's father and brothers, a number of servants, court officials (and a battle there between her people and the Vizier's people, as they rival each other for power within the court structure) . . . There can be very many lesser characters here.

And I have not moved out of the court yet. However, in order to do that, I had to start world building, which I adore. I'll cover the basics of that in the next post on this project.

Zette's Take: Try New Things

The problem of being complacent

Writers can sometimes get into a kind of rut they don't even see. They are enthralled with one or two genres and a particular type of character. Titles and names change, but after a while they run the risk of retelling the same story in new clothing. This is especially true for those who have purposely tied themselves to a single series, reusing the same setting, characters, etc. Six books into the projected twenty volumes, and they're already reworking the same situations and getting vaguely worried about how to change things around.

You don't have to be writing several books in the same setting to find yourself faced with this problem. The problem can also be caused by a mindset which ties you too strongly to certain types of work.

Every writer should want to expand his or her storytelling arsenal. So what's the answer?

Read.

The first thing to read is fiction. Pick up new books or old favorites. Step away from your world for a while and look at what others are doing. No, you aren't going to steal from their plots, but you will be inspired by them. Movies and television shows can also be forms of inspiration at this point. However, I suggest reading first because you are working with words, and seeing how words work for others can help you refine your own abilities. Look at the material you like and study how the author creates the illusion of life.

I know many writers have trouble reading fiction after they begin to learn the tricks of writing good fiction and see how poorly written other books might be. This seems to be especially true of new and popular books. Instead of denigrating the author's writing ability and the intelligence of those who enjoy the books, make a real effort to find out what it is that drew people to the books. Study them in an attempt to learn to do better. Poor writing skills did not draw the reader, so what did?

Are there books you used to enjoy but don't now? What drew you to them? What did you see now that doesn't work as well for you? Almost always the last answer will be the writing style. As writers, we become more sophisticated in what we see and want from others. We start applying our style and knowledge to the work of others and judging it badly. Sometimes, though, you need to consider a shift in writing conventions. Jane Austen had different rules and expectations. So did Robert A. Heinlein. In both these cases, their books have lived past their respective ages because something strong still calls to people. This is the sort of thing you're looking for.

You might also look at reviews of books or set up questions for others to see what draws them to certain books.

And at the same time ask yourself what drew you to certain books, even if they no longer hold you the way they did when you were younger. Ask those questions especially of the books which drew you into writing the genres you now write in.

Read books on writing, try stuff

After authors have been working for a while and published a few things, they often stop bothering to look at any book, article or blog on how to write. I think this is a huge mistake. I think both new and old writers can benefit from reading about writing. This is for the same reason as I said above: we get complacent in what we do.

Reading books on writing can provide help in several ways. The first, of course, is to correct some problem. Newer writers might have specific needs, such as learning about POV (I would suggest Orson Scot Card's Character's and Viewpoint - http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Fiction-Writing-Characters-award-winning/dp/1599632128  as a very good starting point) or correcting grammar problems (for which I suggest Anne Stilman's Grammatically Correct - http://www.amazon.com/Grammatically-Correct-Essential-Spelling-Punctuation/dp/1582976163/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1312389515&sr=1-1 ).

What can people who have mastered the basics learn? Perhaps they'll find a new idea on how to approach their old ideas. They might find the one little gem that sparks a whole new change, or they might find reinforcement for old habits that have gone lax.

Studying specific techniques on help change or improve in certain areas where you feel you might need more help. Description of actions, for instance, or creation of non-evil antagonists.

Don't just read these books, though. At the very least, do some practice writing based on things you discover. Create a character based on an archtype or make a list of four or five clues to a mystery and see how you could mislead readers away from the true answer.

Look at other genres

What? Other genres? I would never write (the genre of your choice)!

This may be true, but that doesn't mean you can't learn from some of the other genres. Let's look at the three most obvious: fantasy, mystery, and romance.

First, nearly every novel is a quest. The two main characters -- your protagonist and antagonist -- are after something which is going to put them into conflict. Just because it is the diary of a recently killed corporate executive does not make the essence of the quest any different than looking for the lost spell book of an ancient wizard.

This is made very clear in The Writer's Journey by Christopher Vogler (http://www.amazon.com/Writers-Journey-Mythic-Structure-2nd/dp/0941188701), who has adapted the work of Joseph Campbell into an outline of mythic storytelling for authors.

What about mystery? That's pretty obvious. Yes, there are often mysteries to be solved, even a book that isn't a mystery by genre. Learning how to plant clues and mislead readers may very well be the answer you need to strengthen a straightforward storyline. Who, why and how can be as critical to a thriller or even a horror novel as it is to a detective mystery.

And romance? There are many stories which had a romantic subplot but are not part of the romance genre as a whole. However, if you have trouble imagining romantic moments (which does not always mean sex), then look into how the genre devoted to those stories manages it.

Expand your storytelling ability

All of these suggestions are ways in which to expand your storytelling ability and create new ideas which will liven up the types of stories you want to tell. This isn't meant to set you on a career in a new genre, though if you find you have a story you want to tell, it doesn't hurt to try your hand at something entirely new. Be daring. And always remember that no one has to see it but you.

If you are not willing to explore and experiment with your work, then even you are likely to get tired of your own writing. Remember, there is no one right way to write -- there is only the right way which works for the story you're telling. Every story is different. Be willing to approach each one in a new way.

Get an attitude change; new is not bad

New is not evil. Change is good for the writer's soul. Try new techniques, read new material (even outside what you normally would) and be willing to open yourself to new writing experiences. You will be happier for it, and your readers will love you all the more.

Smashwords book sale - last week!

First, we have reached the last few days of the Smashwords sale. All my books are half price and the short stories are free. This means you can have five novels and five shorter works all for less than $5. Only a few days remain on the sale, though! Leap in and get them now!

http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/LazetteG

I am coming perilously close to putting out the first ACOA print book. This is a story for 9 to 12 year olds called Joey Mousekin's Tale. I've been working with Adobe InDesign CS5 to lay it out, and I have to say that even just learning a few minor pieces to the program has been great. I can't wait to do some of the other books as well. Next up is figuring out the Joomla section for selling online so I can do print books and such through it.

I am in the last quarter of Summer Storm and will have it done no later than this weekend, though I will give it at least one more read through. I think next up might be something from the science fiction stack. I'm not certain yet. I've considered doing a break from the rewrite/edit stuff, but it does seem to be going well, so I think I'll keep at it. I just need to make a decision on the next one.

What else? Lining up ideas for NaNo so I can get to work on outlines. Yay! I have an urban fantasy, and epic fantasy and a science fiction idea. Someone suggested romance in chat. I told her no and this is the reason. I wrote one book that I thought would be romance but I started out wrong with the guy as the POV. I introduced the female character and it was going well. Then I kind of took off in a different direction and forgot her. When I reread and found what I'd done, I decided there was only one thing I could do to save the story. I killed her and had him blamed. Kind of destroyed the romance feel there.

So no, I will not be doing romance again. I get the feeling I'm just not cut out for it.

I have way too much stuff to do. Really. I want to do the outlines, finish the books, learn more about programs and read several dozen books. Right now.

But it's after 2 in the morning, and I suspect I'm just about done for the day.

I've gotten quite a bit done, though, despite the 1001 things more I want to do!