PLANS, PLANS, MORE PLANS

FIRST. Well. Several things first. Most important and recent is this:

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA HAS ADVANCED FROM GROUP STAGE. Not only did we advance, we beat the entire group. We beat  England and Slovenia and Algeria. I am sending HUGE AMOUNTS OF LOVE to the United States team, especially Donovan who managed that kick in the last TWO MINUTES OF THE GAME. We here in the states (especially the nation's capital) are very excited to see how you do in the round of 16 and are praying, most fervently, that you continue to advance. 


Secondly. I want to thank you guys for all the fabulous and supportive comments I got for my last blog post. I also got one very amazing email that nearly had me in tears and I just want to send out millions of hugs and kisses to you guys. I couldn't do any of this without you. In fact, I don't know how I did it so long with out you guys. 


So yes. That. Now. Onto the blog post. Just a heads up that another kind of op-ed-ish article is in the works, but like always, got to work the kinks out and make it intelligible before I post it. In the mean time. We have this. -points to rest of post-

I never really blogged about what the beginning processes of starting a novel are like for me. I think you guys know that it's very, very structured and there's a lot of outlining involved, but beyond that, maybe nothing? I'm posting this in the hopes that maybe my way will help you on your way somewhere down the road. 


My beginning is very scattered. I usually take a blank sheet of printer paper and just start writing random stuff.   Random ideas that have been percolating and swimming around my head, scenes that have birthed other scenes that have birthed movie trailers in my head. All of this goes on a few sheets of white paper. The end result is a bunch of incoherent, often unconnected sentences. 

From there, I pick out the stuff that not only stands out, but has a chance of being connected. If a character is screaming that's mine, I take it and match it with her/him. Eventually, I have a fully grown character, and a setting. Sometimes I get a whiff of plot. Once that happens, I make a list (I really love lists, guys. Lots of them are involved in the making of a novel a la Sumayyah) of ALL THE TERRIBLE/BAD/AWFUL THINGS THAT COULD HAPPEN.

Sometime one jumps off the page and attaches to my character. Sometimes I have to go back to the stage one and start scribbling again. Once I have an terrible/bad/awful thing, a character and a setting, things get much more organized. I make myself fit what I think I want to happen into a one sentence format, like this:

When ______ happens, X must _____ or _______ will happen.

or

X must ________ before ________ happens.

It's kind of Mad Libs-y, but it gets the character, conflict and stakes down in around twenty words. Which is important. While all this is happening, I'm scribbling down possible scenes, subplot points, character history. Sometimes the one sentence will show up immediately. Sometimes I've got to work to get it out. If I can't get the one sentence down, it means I don't have a plot because I don't have conflict or stakes. This is another place where I can go back to the drawing board.

Once the one-sentence is done to my liking and I don't feel like I'm trying to stretch just to get writing and this is something that I really want to run with, I get to the dreaded query. Really, it's just fleshing out the one sentence and adding set up, setting, and pertinent information that couldn't fit in the one sentence. For me, once the sentence is written and I have a real grasp of where I want to go with something, I write the query. 

Once I get the query done, I get to outlining. This is where I have to take all the randomness that I've been scribbling and try to  streamline it into a timeline that works. I have to pick out character arcs, story arcs, action arcs - anything that needs to move forward, backwards or sideways has to be pinned down and stuffed into this outline (or its margins). 

The last bit of this is the worst part. Synopsis writing. When I've got everything down I actually have to connect it with coherent sentences. This is the worst and best part. Characters come alive, subplots really start to shine, and I figure out - really figure out - how it ends, emotionally and physically. At the same time, this is when plot holes show up. This is when I have to pull out my outline and scratch things out, write things in, change things around. It painful, but at the end, I know pretty much everything. Or I hope I know. 

Yeah. So I know this post was really dry. But did it help? Even a little? Also - how do you start off a novel? Do you dive in or do you have a routine? Tell all! 

(that picture of mountains with the farming village is exactly what I've been seeing in my head for weeks now. how amazing is it that I found something that's nearly identical to what's in my head!?)

THE WORLD CUP & YOU

So if you've been in contact with me at all you know that I have been taken with FIFA Fever 2010. My Twitter has exploded with tweets about Brazil and England and Korea and Italy. I scream at the top of my lungs when I'm at home and pump my fists silently when I'm at work. Occasionally, the ICSB liaison will come in, see me watching, and ask for the score.  He has actual things to do.

To be honest, FIFA is the only time I really get into soccer. I love the game and if I'm invited or reminded that a team that I love is playing I'll watch if I have the time. But the FIFA World Cup is what I watch almost religiously. It's the one time I keep up with team stats, watch games repeatedly and blow up my Twitter. And yesterday, while watching the Brazil v Korea game, I was put in mind of how much the World Cup reminds  me of the young adult writing community.

If you didn't watch the game, Korea scored once in the last five minutes. They tried a bunch of other times, but the one was all they managed. After one of the missed shots, do you know what a Brazilian player did? He didn't laugh or jump up into the air. He patted the player's shoulder as if to say 'it's okay. Maybe next time.'

And this, I think, is what the game is all about. And, more relevantly, what I think our community is all about. Players in the World Cup come from every corner of the earth. They don't speak the same language or have the same customs, but they're brought together by this amazing game. They shake hands and promise to have a good game and when one team wins, they congratulate each other. They're civil and supportive and it's beautiful.

Just like us. I can't speak for other writing communities. But I know, for a fact, that the young adult writer's community is amazing. We don't tolerate hate or dis-ingenuity. We love each other. We want each other to succeed. We cheer each other on and congratulate each other and support each other. If we miss a goal, there are ten people to pat us on the shoulder and say 'it's okay. Maybe next time.' That's beautiful and wonderful and I don't ever want it to change. There are enough people out there waiting to knock us down. But there are so many more people right here, waiting to pick us up and push us forward.

Keep being great, guys. It makes my faith in the world and the future soar.

SECOND CONTEST EVAR

So. SO.

I have a shiny domain. If you've visited at all since Friday you've noticed that theravendesk.blogspot.com now redirects to www.theravendesk.org. WOOOO. I am very excited since I've wanted one forever. And now I have it. PLUS. I have 72 wonderful followers.

There is a lot of excited confetti throwing and sparkle exploding going on in my head. Really.

To celebrate, I've decided to have a mega contest. The last design contest that I held had two winners, two book covers and a blog banner as prizes. This one is kind of bigger. The prizes arrrreee:

• FIRST PLACE: One book cover for a manuscript (of their own) of their choosing, an original soundtrack cover (see here and here for examples), and a blog header (see above or the blog of the wonderful Kristin Otts here). 
• SECOND PLACE: Two choices of the above.
• THIRD PLACE: One choice of the above. 

To enter, fill out the form below. The contest is open internationally, so long as you have an email address where I can reach you. All prizes are digital. The contest ends JULY 4, 2010 12:00AM EST.

If you'd like more examples of my work, click on the my portfolio link at the top of the page. And good luck to everyone!

ON SHELLS & SKELETONS

So. SO. I have been scrounging and digging for something decent to post up because it seems that all my regularity in posting comes from the FRENZY OF MADNESS that ensues when I can't stop writing. And this FRENZY OF MADNESS happens when I have every single detail fleshed out. Which I don't. With Eidolon. I keep having epiphanies and scribbling like a mad woman, then I go write about dinosaurs (NO. TRUE STORY. THERE ARE DINOSAURS IN EIDOLON.) and I have brief flashes of the blog that could have been. But when the dinosaurs are gone, so are these flashes.

Clearly, madness breeds genius.

But sanity can breed it, too, yes? Maybe? PLEASE.

Probably not. BUT. Even if it's not genius, I did manage to think of something to write about today. I DID.

I'm a self confessed outliner. Before there is any writing that can count toward word count of a story, I write a one-liner pitch thingy, a query, a synopsis and a three act outline. YEAH. So when I sit down to write I know my stuff. I know exactly where this story is going. And I like that. Still. Even the best laid plans can rot (or something. I feel like Russell Crowe said this in Robin Hood but I'm probably wrong...). When I write my outlines, I think of them as shells. The scenes are objectives - this and this needs to be accomplished to get from point A to point B. How it's accomplished is completely up to my characters. By the second chapter, they're calling every. Single. Shot.

But having a shell, I've realized, is different than having a skeleton. All the gooey goodness that you need to make a story work falls out. And right now, half of my story is a shell, and the other half is a skeleton. I need it to be all shell to make it work. Umeko and I need to sit down and have a thorough heart to heart about WHAT SHE WANTS TO DO. And what Jackson wants to do. And who's gonna get busy. And who might die, be left behind, alter the course of the universe (their universe).

SO. Yes. Outliners (and non-outliners) what makes up your shell? Do you even NEED a shell? Please. Tell all.