So here are some of the things I struggled with:
ADULT
All my work thus far has been YA or non-fiction. I like humourous women's fiction, with a bit of a moral behind it, so I leave myself open to some day writing adult fiction. Even so, I know that when I write an adult novel, it's not going to take itself very seriously. The MC is going to be a bit of a wildflier, Disney Princess, traveloholic. Ditto for the plot. Expect something not quite "realistic". Because that's what my adult life is life. As an adult I've worked on a submarine, lived in Japan, been in the military, etc.
MS4RIP was about the earthquake and my first foray into adult fiction. I made it an adult novel because it happened to me as an adult. But the subject matter was so serious, I felt like it was eating my soul. Even as I write this, there's another aftershock. A small one, maybe a 4.3 or so. And I'm ignoring it; I don't turn on the tv, I no longer look at the newspaper, I don't open the attachments from the Embassy anymore. Because dealing with the reality of the situation is hard. If I am eventually to tackle this topic, I'm going to need another angle to take a bit of the edge off.
PLOT
I've always been a pantser. With every draft I write, I get a little more organised. Still, when I start I have a fair knowledge of the characters and setting, where the story starts, often how it ends, and nothing more.
MS4RIP was based on my experiences with the earthquake. I didn't want to write a memoir because I don't read memoir, and because I'm not the best with details. So I made up a cast and inserted them into what happened.
So I knew the plot. I knew every ounce of what happened. There was going to be stuff that I injected for conflict's sake later on, but the beginning was all a historical fact. And it bored the life out of me to write it.
CHARACTERS
Characters are one of my strengths. I like psychology and I love theorising about people. According to critiquers, it comes out well on the page.
I made up the characters in MS4RIP on a whim. They weren't well defined, since they were essentially stand-ins for real ppl. I didn't want to give them the same personalities as the originals, and I didn't bother to make up new personalities for them, so they just didn't have ANY personalities at all. Characters with no personality? Bad, bad, bad idea.
VOICE
I think voice is the strongest facet of my writing. It's also the one I get the most compliments on. That's not to say I'm good. It's just better than the other parts. lol.
But with a plot that bored me, flat characters, and in a genre I'm not too fussy about, my voice choked up. Occasionally there'd be a sentence that sparkled like a merpire, but most of it just wasn't up to scratch.
LESSONS LEARNED
1. If I'm going to venture into adult novels, it can't be with a heavy topic.
2. I am still not a plotter. Knowing every detail SUX DUX!
3. I'm a character writer. I can't write a novel without characters that I'm bewitchedly in love with.
4. If I don't love the story (despite the soundness of the plot) and the characters, then the voice won't come.
Thanks for listening.
3 comments:
Glad you figured it out! And that Epic Fail picture is priceless.
with those last four points you put up, i think i can safely say we're like, writer twins, heh :D
It sounds as if you know exactly what went wrong, and that's good. It also sounds as if you wanted to write this story as a bit of catharsis, but as you said, it bored you to write about characters you weren't in love with and a plot that had no surprises for you.
I'm a pantster myself, and every manuscript is an adventure. As I said before, if this topic is meant for you, it will come back to you in a different form and you'll take it from there.
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