Category Archives: writing process

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More hobbit movie

Last weekend I was talking to a friend about what he thought of the most recent hobbit movie. Without going into too much detail the short story is that he hated it. He thought the fight scenes were far too long and took up too much of the movie, he also felt that there was little connection to the characters. I’ve got to admit, I fully disagree with the perspective, but it’s totally valid. So, from the stand-point of story telling, I thought about it. Why should he come away with an opinion so totally opposite of mine? I think it boils down to expectations. I went in half-expecting the movie to suck, but hoping like hell to be entertained – I wanted my fifty-bucks worth of entertainment. I felt like it was delivered. My friend however, and this is a bit of speculation, was expecting to be absolutely blown away. Impressed by the movie in a way the book had.

With that in mind, I can see how folks, especially critics, felt let-down. A lot of people were going in expecting to see the movie with the same eyes they saw the Lord of The Rings. Well, that wasn’t going to happen, it rarely does with books turned into movies. What this highlights to me is the importance of properly setting expectations in your story. Over-promise, and don’t deliver, it doesn’t matter how well done the story is, people will say it sucks. Set expectations properly, and you’re likely to succeed in entertaining your reader without making them feeling like they’ve been the subject of a bait-and-switch scheme. I think my point here is to consider how much any given plot element or character or conflict is built up before you get to the end.

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Taking compliments

In some ways this is an end of the year sort of post, and in some ways not so much. I’ve been working on my story idea for years. Though, it’s only been the past couple of years where I’ve gotten really serous and only the past year or so where I’ve gotten nearly manic over it. This spring or summer, I can’t recall which, I finally made the decision to confide in a friend and co-worker. The only other person really aware of this project had been my wife. In retrospect, I think telling someone else about what I’ve been working on was a good idea. A few months after I had done that, I arranged to take a couple of weeks off work to spend with the kids and also write. My employer does, after all, have exceptionally generous leave policies, and so it makes sense to take advantage of those where reasonable. Anyhow, after having confided in someone other than my wife and not feeling stupid or ashamed, I felt emboldened to mention my endeavors to some other co-workers. Again, I think a good idea. Of course, starting this blog has helped to in a rather unexpected way, it’s helping me to keep my confidence and motivation up.

One of the reasons it has been a good idea to tell others about the story, is the possibilities for review. I am always interested in hearing fresh perspectives. Yes, those can sometimes sour my mood to the point that I just want to set the story down for a while (I’m convinced this comes with the territory. If you’re an aspiring writer you’ve probably had this experience), but I also recognize these opinions are essential to the revision process.

So, from one of those reviewers today I got some feedback. I’m not going to lie. It was of the ego-inflating variety of  feedback that put a smile on my face. Something to the effect of: “I’m enjoying the story for what it is, and I’ve got a few nit-picky comments you ought to work out, but I need to read more before I can think about those.”

Holy crap! Maybe my stuff doesn’t suck! Then evil Dave says ‘Well, perhaps I’ll concede it doesn’t suck, but that doesn’t really mean it’s any good.”

This sort of internal dialog makes it super-hard to take compliments graciously, or even take them at face value. That said, I think what I need to do is simply say thank you, and leverage those compliments as motivation to continue writing, and continue listening to what others might have to offer by way of suggestions or criticisms.

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Just another domestic sunday

Today was a woefully unproductive writing day. I think I managed to get down two lines of poem before once again becoming distracted by the celestial scope of housework that needed my attention. If all goes well, the kids will go down in half an hour, and I’ll be able to focus. It’s not that I’m not thinking about my story, I’m just not able to put in the concentration necessary to work through my current issue.

Last night, after I got back from what can only be described as an epic alpine adventure, I opened my laptop and stared blankly at the chapter I have been working on in my story. The three main characters of this plot-line (I do have a single sub-plot for this book that follows different characters) were essentially sitting around a fire, staring at one another and asking what next? Unfortunately, I was right there with them, blank stare and all. Part of the reason for this is that the explanation of events and character motivation leading to the end of the story, as it stands, is flimsy. If my characters launched off in the planned direction, some pretty important pieces of the story wouldn’t make sense (I could make it work, probably, but I’d hate it). My solution? Well, this is one of the reasons concentration is essential to fixing things. I am going to change the timeline a bit by going back in time a couple of chapters, where I will add in one long or two shortish chapters. If done properly, it will give my main character the motivation he needs in order to head off in the direction he was already going, and also beyond. If I remain focused, I’ll also be able to write those new chapters in such a way that following chapters should only require moderate revision. Not only that, the more I consider this solution, I realize it’s not just a good idea for plotting, it’s going to be an essential element to the development of the character. So, here I go…