Round 13, Hour 40
Jan. 23rd, 2011 10:00 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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fic_rush_48Hour forty! It is the hour of strategically planning whumpage. It's amazing how much faster an hour went when I was actually writing. The penguins have retrieved the glowsticks from the pirates although We do not recommend stirring one's coffee with a glowstick. Check in if you're about!
This is my last post for the weekend... but I'll be hanging around tomake trouble comment like crazy at other hours!
This is my last post for the weekend... but I'll be hanging around to
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Date: 2011-01-23 03:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-23 03:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-23 03:10 pm (UTC)(What does prevent me writing is a combination of constant pain in my right/writing shoulder and utter exhaustion...)
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Date: 2011-01-23 03:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-23 04:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-23 04:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-23 09:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-23 06:52 pm (UTC)the Scrabble method
Date: 2011-01-23 09:23 pm (UTC)I don't know/remember if you've read any of my fic. I mostly write novel-length works with quite complex plots, lots of action, and sizable supporting casts. There's usually intrigue and layers of information that have to be found out in the right order by the right person at the right time, and it all has to look natural and organic. And there are the action sequences, which can get pretty complicated.
Partway into my first novel, I stumbled onto the Scrabble Tile Technique. I take one tile for each person -- M for Mac, P for Pete, S for Sam -- lay them out on the table, and start to move them around to help me visualise the flow of events. The first time, I had a dozen people in several different rooms of the same house, and had to figure out who was doing what over here while a different group was doing this over there, and they didn't run into each other until now, etc.
Sometimes I use it for simple blocking, sometimes for character relationships – J is involved with S, but L knows something about B and is hiding it from E. Or J, M, and S will go to the village while L and D ask T about J, since he’s out of earshot.
It helps me avoid forgetting about characters, or sometimes groups of characters: M and X are in the jungle, P and S are planning a rescue, G (the band of guerrillas) are over here waiting for an arms shipment, but where the hell is B, the Badass goon whom I haven’t named yet? Oh, right, they shot him, and X has to stumble over the body.
It can get a little silly. Sometimes I’ll have V, the Villain, with henchfolk A, B, and C, plus G for the Goon Squad. But it works!
Re: the Scrabble method
Date: 2011-01-24 03:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-23 04:54 pm (UTC)I need the user's manual for this Muse, she seems inclined to start but not finish of late.
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Date: 2011-01-23 04:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-23 05:08 pm (UTC)Come to think of it, I seem to remember blocks of dark chocolate were a definite help in priming the pump previously...
;-)
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Date: 2011-01-23 05:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-23 05:15 pm (UTC)Sorry... too much Jeeves and Wooster lately.