Pacing And Dialogue Make Me Insecure

It's the first Wednesday of the month so that means it's time for the Insecure Writer's Support Group. The purpose is to share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds! Together we are going to rock the neurotic writing world!

One thing I feel insecure about is the pacing of The Most Magical Place. I mean how long should one scene be? In my outline i had a scene taking up one slot, but as I started writing it grew. It is now extremely long and looks like it could be broken in 2 or even 3 places. What details are too trivial to include and which flesh out the characters or settings? I am also wary of an info dump because a character who has been dealing with the situation my hero has just been dropped into has come on stage. I'm sure some of it will get cut and I'm trying not to worry about it now, but man it's feeling a little out of control. What do you do when a scene seems packed with things you want to share with your readers, but is getting too long? How do you rearrange things to make room for a new scene you didn't anticipate?

Another thing that is giving me trouble is dialog. When I envision my characters talking to one another it always seems smooth and well put together, but somehow that doesn't translate onto the page. Often when I reread what I wrote the characters that aren't interacting. They are just standing or sitting there talking at each other. In my mind's eye they are moving and doing stuff or at least showing some sort of reaction to what they've just heard. Other than rolling their eyes. I don't want my beloved characters to become automatons. How do you remember to make your characters move around as well as speak? Do you have a guide to how much dialog you use?

The last thing on my neurotic writer list is my inner editor. Oh, this lady has some nerve! I am forever gagging (Which always ends up with garish red lipstick all over my hands.) and tying her up then shoving her in a closet. Unfortunately somehow she finds her way out again and back into my head. When I tell her to get the hell out she just laughs. I think I need to find a new strategy for dealing with her. Maybe I will take her pointy red glasses and poke the lenses out or maybe I could see if her beehive hair do has enough product in it to set on fire. What strategies do you use to get past your inner editor? What does your editor look like to you?

Please be sure you leave a comment to say hello. Don't forget to let me know where you are visiting from so I can follow you back and see what you're up to.

ROW80 August & September Goals Rundown

1. Write 2 Poms every day.
I wrote on Sunday and Monday, but skipped Tuesday. I had an MRI in the early evening and the sedative they gave me made me very distractable. Just in case you didn't know being shoved in a tube is not fun.

2. Post for every ROW80 check-in.
I'm here and I'm doing it. Keeping it moving and making sure I am keeping myself accountable is a big part of my plan, but ROW80 has taught me to be flexible and not beat myself up when I make a misstep.

3. Spend 1 Pom per day visiting ROW80 friends.
I did go and visit some of you. I only had time for 5 of my wonderful ROW80 friends, but I spent my pom which was my goal.

4. Post to Twitter on ROW80 days.
Still keeping up with this and not letting it stress me out anymore.

Photos by Pixabay.

D is for Discovery of Destiny

What do you even say when you discover your destiny? For many characters no thank you and your crazy you've got the wrong person are common knee jerk reactions. It's my goal as the writer to help  my hero at least understand their destiny even if they choose to ignore or walk away. Of course if they walked away from the destiny I've hoisted on them permanently it would never turn out to be a great story.

At least I wouldn't want to read a story where a mad woman was attacking and winning because no one was able to stand up to her and no matter how bad it gets no one ever does. This little story needs your hero. What do you do to convince him to don the power bequeathed to him at birth?

Larry Brooks says that you have to give them the chance to be human before they can ever become the hero you see in them. What does that entail? There are 3 phases. I am actually talking about 3 of his 4 story boxes he discusses in his 10-part tutorial on the fundamentals of story structure.

In the first phase your hero is anything but a hero. Everything he does is in response mode. He's scared and unsure of what to do. I mean who wouldn't be a little freaked out to discover the fate of the world resides on their shoulders. He is a wanderer and is doing any number of things to try and solve his new and unexpected problem. From Storyfix2.0:

The hero is running, analyzing, observing, recalculating, planning, recruiting or anything else required before she or he can move forward.

Alright now that he's finally done stumbling about and looking for answers. He has a plan and has entered the attack phase. Our hero takes his plan and his allies and off they go to kick some ass!  But what else has been going on while our hero was hard at work? Storyfix knows:

Meanwhile, the plot thickens – the antagonistic force is moving forward, too –  and what the hero thought would work isn’t quite enough.  They need more.  More courage.  More creativity.  A better plan. 

What the hell does our hero do now? The attacker must up his game and become the warrior. Just before you move along to the next phase something, known as the second plot point, will happen to rock your hero's  world all over again. Entering the last phase Storyfix says:

Part 4 shows how the hero summons the courage and growth to come forward with a solution to the problem, to reach the goal, to save the day or even the world, to attain the fame and riches associated with victory, and to generally beat down and conquer the story’s antagonistic force.

One very important thing to remember about the last phase is that no new information can enter the story. Our hero must draw on and use things and people that are already in play to solve the problem. Also, while he may need help the ultimate success should rely on what our hero has learned.

Update on me: I had more tests, yes it was shocking. Then I took a pretty bad fall and am now a fall risk. I also landed in a cardiac unit with Atrial Fibrilation. So it would seem that I am falling apart.

Good luck to those taking on the April challenges. Please leave me a note and say hello I will try to follow you back to see what you're up to.

Photos by Pixabay