The Hero's Journey From Muddles to Middles

You know those times when you've fiddled with your story so long that you've given up on it, several times, only to keep going back to it with the idea that there's still something there? You spend hours thinking about the problem, lying in bed chewing on the sheets while the story turns in your head like a kaleidoscope constantly changing shape. You look at it from every angle, always thinking the next turn will be perfect. You know what I'm talking about.

I've been doing that with one of my stories for ....well, let's just say a long time. I've gone over my notes, have written over 80K words in Scrivener, and have hashed it out with several friends who're very good at helping me unravel knotty problems. All to no avail. Dream Stealer... Simon Lancaster... MC extraordinaire, has been a pain in the neck from the beginning. He didn't shut up for a couple of years before going into stealth mode, where he remained quiet for another year before coming out once more, demanding attention. The only thing I can say in his defense is that when I've been really sick, he's kept his mouth shut. It would have been nice had he offered to do some cleaning but there you are.

After I retired earlier this month I promised myself I was going to do nothing that required a lot of mental calisthenics for several weeks. The first week I was away and sick most of that time. Since my return I've spent a lot of time trying to recover and relax, mostly reading and posting blogs and on Netflix watching Poirot, Numbers, and a couple of other mystery shows. My only thought was to let my body heal and to get my mental and emotional state to calm down after all the stress the last several years. Only over the last week have I begun to get my some of my brain back. It's a nice feeling, having your brain, even small portions. There are side effects.

Simon has shown up again. He was dressed nice, I must say. Spoke very prettily and said all the right things. Except what I needed him to say. We argued over this. Again. Several times. I'm very frustrated and ready to just toss this in the box with all the others. Never have I had such an insufferable character.

Last weekend we had our local writer's meeting at the Mall Cafe Court. One of my friends, Amanda Niehaus-Hard was listening to me discuss this story problem. She offered advice. "You've got a plot problem." I agreed. She told me about what she'd done when she has a similar problem. She suggested the book 21 Master Plots by Ronald B. Tobias and a couple of exercise I should try. I actually own that book so that's no problem. She wrote the exercise down. Then, with her lovely smile she said, "You're going to have to figure it out. The characters are not going to tell you." She's so nice, really. And our group is very proud of her because she just sold two short stories. So, with that thought in mind, I took her observation and advice seriously.

I decided it was time to do some review work. So, I pulled the Tobias' book from my bookshelf but I also remembered one that I wanted to read by James Scott Bell, that also dealt with plot. I've read a couple of Bell's books and liked them. The one I had my eye on was Plot and Structure. My local library has it so I checked it out.

Today, I started reading it and taking notes. Amanda had written Goal, Motivation, and Conflict. In the first two chapters of Bell's book he has something very similar. He calls it the LOCK method. The letters stand for Lead, Objective, Confrontation, and Knockout.  After reading it, I began to get a clearer idea of what Amanda told me on Saturday.

In the second chapter, Bell discusses the three act structure and the mythic structure. I've read about the mythic structure. There is a book called The Hero's Journey by Joseph Campbell that details this. I've never read that book but I've read numerous writing books that discuss it in various ways. Today, reading Bell's view of it, something clicked. I remembered some notes I ran across when I was straightening up a few weeks ago. It was in a small notebook I used to carry around. There were only a dozen or so pages used and some were notes about the back-story for  Dream Stealer. I sat down and read over them again.

Until now, the problem was that I had a beginning and an ending. The middle was, as Bell said, a muddle. I had a vague idea of what the objective was but it just wouldn't come together. We're often resistant to change where our stories are concerned and this story had blossomed in my brain long ago and had continued to grown in a far different direction than I had originally intended. At least, I thought so. Despite all my searching, racking my brain, moving the pieces around to get a new view of it, I couldn't find the central motivation for Simon doing what he was doing. I tried demanding Simon divulge his secrets and well, he can be difficult. As Amanda said, he wasn't going to tell me.

I took the mythic structure laid out by Bell and walked myself through Dream Stealer step by step. Then, in the middle of the muddle, something jumped out at me. It was a single line of notes in that little book. It was a note about part of the back story I'd written long, long ago. One sentence. And, mon ami, the little grey cells, they exploded.

My living room reverberated with my shout. "YES! YES! THAT'S IT! THAT'S IT!" I threw my hands up, clutched my head. I got up and paced around and started talking out loud. I live alone. Who will care? I went over and over it. And it fit. It fit perfectly. Well, as near as I can tell. I think it will work.

And wonder of wonders, Simon is sitting across the room, watching.

I glared. You know, you could have just told me.

"I did. A long time ago. It was in your notes."

I can't believe it was there all the time!

Oh, I can.

Some things are better left unsaid.

You do know that it means rewriting some bits."

Yes, yes, I know but not that many. I think I can make them work.

"You may have to eliminate some POVs."

"Yes, yes. I know but that's not a bad thing. Believe me, one voice, even if it is yours, is easier to deal with than four."

"Ah. So, you're going to kill someone?"

Don't tempt me.

Paving Stones

I retired from my job Friday and already I'm getting notices from my friends saying that now I have no excuse for not getting one of my stories finished. While it is true that my job is no longer an issue, I don't think I've had very good excuses before for not writing. I always feel I'm being cheated of something important when I can't work on the novels and short stories I've got in piles on my computer. You would think I'd do something about that. Pain is a great leveler.

I do blog a lot, quite regularly in fact. Virtually every day I'm posting something on one of multiple blogs.  Each one has a different function but that wasn't always the case. Blogging, for me, is and has always been to relieve my stress and get all the stuff that is chaotic inside me outside. That's actually not blogging, it is journaling and although it is cathartic for me, I'm pretty certain that the public is not interested in my therapy.

I set this blog up to ensure I spent some time focusing on THE WRITING and to keep those posts from my therapy in the journal. One hopes, with the elimination of one source of stress, that there will be fewer depressing journal posts and more positive writing ones. It would be really nice if there were more actual writing on stories and about my processes and less about the the negative aspects of pain.

The first thing I have to do is start planning my days to include real writing rather than blogging. I have to organize what blogging I do so it has a bit more focus and is more pertinent. That's my intention. Most good intentions end up as paving stones on the path to a cook out where we're the main course.

Monday I'll be on the road to Arkansas to pick up my granddaughter and visit my son. I'll return on Friday. There is limited internet (think none) at his house. So, I should be able to sit down and do some real writing. Maybe by the time I get back, the routine will be set up and I'll have no problem sticking to it. Right?

Hand me the next paving stone, please.

Still Writing

I started with the best of intentions. Really. My goal was 30K and I knew I could do it. Then, the RA decided to kick my ... I went into a flare. Actually, I've been in a flare for nearly two years with a brief break last summer. At the moment, things are calming down a bit but I fear it is too little too late. 

I'm not going into all the deadly depressing, boring detail here. If you interested in suffering with me, dash over to Life on the Ledge. It is aptly named. Let me say that I am behind for a reason and move on.

Once I knew I would not make the 30K without a miracle, I reduced it to 25K. My hands were swollen and the joints hurt but I kept plugging away. I couldn't bend my fingers easily and the began having cramps in both hands the beginning of the second week, something I've never had before. I had to send a message to the doctor and keep going.

Finally, after hasty emails, we decided on a plan. My plan was to stop using the computer as much as possible. Work has forced me to do 7 hours a day in data entry for three weeks now and then with Camp that increased to nearly 10 hours typing. Her plan was to increase certain meds. I cut back as much as I could at home and work. And again reduce my word count, this time to 20K. 

I missed a day of work last week and again yesterday. But I had a four day weekend as a result. After four days of no computer work and limited writing, my hands have calmed down. The cramps have stopped. Most of the joints in my hand are now calmer, with the exception of one very painful finger, which is one that gets a lot of action on the keyboard.

At this point, I still want to work on the story and try and finish but I'm not liking the odds and I don't like feeling forced to reduce the word count. I had to do that last year and I hated it. 

The only good news is I'm still writing... but not as much as I'd like. So, I'm down but not out.

Camp NaNoWriMo 2014 - Day 2

Yesterday Camp NaNo started off with a fairly good bang. I hosted an online write-in on Mibbit and had a few of my local WriMos in attendance. I racked up just over 1400 words for the first night. Since my goal is only 25K, that is about two nights of writing. I'll do some more in a bit. I've spent the early part of the evening trying to decided whether I really wanted to go walk. I suppose I decided not to since it is now almost 8:30 and I'm still here.

The story I'm working on is one from my 2013 NaNo. I think I've already blogged this...somewhere... Anyway, The Long Summer Run is the title and I've got it posted around here somewhere.... {sigh} I have to clean the place up! Oh, well.

This story is about Marley Crawford and the events that transpired over the course of a summer in Riker's Mill. Marley is just 17 and is at the crossroads of life when one is neither a child anymore nor an adult and she gets no respect in either. So, what is her summer like?

Here's an exerpt from The Long Summer Run:

Since May life had been filled with a certain flavor, a bit like hot sauce laced with vinegar. The variety of events boggled even my mind. My brother was shot in the butt. My big sister had left home without a word. I'd gone skinny dipping with Taylor. The barn had burned to the ground. A body was found in the ashes. My brother had gone on the lam and was hiding out somewhere. I'd visited a bar to ask questions that went nowhere and was questioned by the police and nearly landed me in jail. I hid things from my family that probably should be told. I'd snooped around and irritated someone enough to make them run over me. Suffered a broken arm and severe concussion. Now, I was concealing the fact that Jim was somewhere nearby.

What a summer. It was surely better than some of those movies that came to town and ran for the whole summer.Whatever the movie happened to be, the locals always called it the Long Summer Run. This summer my life was the feature presentation in town.

A Month of Summer Camp

It is that time again... Summer Camp for Writers! Yes, I'm doing Camp NaNo again this year. This will be my second camp session. I did it last year and worked on the November NaNo novel from the previous year. This year, I'm hoping to finish that novel during this camp session.

I've been busy with other things of late and have not really cracked the file open to plan what I'll be writing. No surprises there. Life has been very hectic and stressful. It doesn't help that I'm a pantser for the most part. The more I write, the more I understand the value of planning.

This story is almost finished but whether it is any good is debatable. I've got a few folks who've read it and like it so, maybe this one will get a thorough clean-up once I finish the first draft.

If you've never done November National Novel Writing Month because you think it is too hard or too intense, Camp NaNo is a really good place to start your adventure in writing. You set your own word count. You start a new story or work on an existing work. Whatever you want. This year they opened private "cabins" so you can even get with people you know. There's more but you can visit the site and take a look for yourself. Click the photo and it should take you there.

If you join us, leave a comment. I'd love for you to keep me posted on your experience and progress.