NaNoPants

October is here, which for me means that NaNoWriMo is looming on the horizon. Over the past seven years, I've approached my effort in a variety of ways - from complete seat-of-the-pants to moderately well-outlined. Two years ago, I went in with nothing more than a title (The Milkshake of Destiny) and a half-baked notion as to what it might be about...all chosen as I sat down on November 1 to start writing.

What I've found from these disparate approaches is that the story tends to be better when I have it outlined. Seat of the pants yields some interesting results and lets the characters own their stories, but also leaves me occasionally struggling to define and stick with a plot. It's even tougher when I don't know how the story will end.

On the flip side, I don't like rigorous outlines. I know some authors are well-known for having excruciatingly detailed character biographies, political histories, and outlines down below the scene level. Once I start writing, my characters inevitably gain a life of their own, and trying to force them to stick to the script can make scenes feel forced...which is a major pet peeve of mine as a reader. So I've had better luck with character sketches and vague outlines that hit on key plot points and the general flow/structure of the story. Nothing is so firm that I can't adjust on the fly if and when the characters begin to take over.

So, after a couple years of largely "pantsing" it with a story picked at the last minute, this year I've decided to get back to the roughed outline approach (no-pantsing). In terms of settling on a story idea (90% certain) and beginning an outline (first pass done), I'm well ahead of the game for a change. Just putting my surgery recovery downtime to good use.

Formative Inspiration

I was thinking the other day about what books had the greatest formative influence on my writing. These aren’t necessarily my favorite books (okay, most are still right up there), but more the ones that left a lasting impression during my most impressionable years. They established tastes in genre, characters, and scope. Here are a few of the heavy hitters and the reasoning behind each:

Dragonlance Chronicles (Margaret Weis and +Tracy Hickman) - First read in my late grade school years, this was my real introduction to fantasy after dabbling in D&D with my friends for a couple years (the red boxed set). It read like the most epic, coherent game imaginable, with the rules practically establishing the framework for the story. What I really stuck with me from the story, however, was how the death of major characters raised the stakes for everyone else. If the authors could kill Flint and Sturm, who else might die before the dust finally settled?

Hitchhiker’s “Trilogy” (Douglas Adams) - Don’t think much needs to be said about this one. In a sense, it influenced me away from ever trying to write anything humorous, as I would inevitably hold it up to this standard and immediately toss my drivel. Can’t overstate how much I loved these books, though, and how they allowed me to take everything in life a little less seriously...as it should be.

Riftwar Saga (Raymond Feist) - Read this series while in junior high and it immediately became my favorite series of books, necessitating a couple of re-reads. I loved the development of Pug, struggling between highs and lows as a magician’s apprentice. The series managed to balance some pretty epic power creep between Pug and Tomas by shifting focus to Arutha and Jimmy later in the series. The series instilled in me the importance of epic action set pieces and great ensemble character development.

Snow Crash (+Neal Stephenson) - I read this one in high school, after re-shelving it a few times while on the job at the public library. One paragraph in, I was thinking to myself “whoa.” By the end of the first chapter, I adored it, but feared the rest of the book couldn’t possibly live up to the beginning. As I finished the book, I flipped back to page one and started again - the first and only time I’ve ever done that. There are so many things about this book that are difficult to pull off, and yet Stephenson managed it brilliantly - satire, mythology, action, and cool. If there was one aspect of the book I would call out as a takeaway, it would be “internal consistency.” The book was unlike anything I’d previously read, but its own universe was so brilliantly realized that I never once felt like I was slipping out of the story.

While putting together this list, I tried to think of any little known work I could call out. Alas, there wasn’t much that came to mind, or at least to which I could recall the title. There was one book involving kids trapped in a three dimensional maze like lab rats who had to engage in arbitrary rituals to get food. Another I can distinctly recall the title, yet nothing of the plot - Surfing Samurai Robots. Maybe that is just a lesson in the importance of finding the right title?

Anyone else out there have some good formative reads to share?

Writing inspiration

Kicking off this little blog as a place to aggregate some ideas on writing.  One of my most effective sources of inspiration is simply to browse images, typically in Google Images.  Pictures seem to get my brain working more than other inspirational sources.

So, to kick things off, here's one...a werewolf chick.

(picture credit to LiLaiRa, deviantart)