Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Master Plan: part II

Gen 1: 1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
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Well yesterday’s post got a lot of positive responses with the folk over at facebook who I share some of my work here with. :) So today I’m going to write about another master plan and that’s the one you’ll need to write a story.

Whether it is a short story or a novel, you will need a master plan. Not much unlike God’s plan for our lives and all He did to create the universe, our writing needs to shape up just as if we were the Creator himself. We are in essence a god to our characters because we are the creator of our intricate stories. They look to us to feed them and nourish them.

What will we need? We will need to breathe life into a character. Allow the person to shape a world. Make a mountain out of a molehill. Give your character a place to live and play. Give them a strong name. I think Mike and John are overdone. Choose something unique so that your reader will be walking around with the name on their tongue as if they just bit into an m&m or something. Like Odd Thomas, the name is quirky, but it clings to you like gumdrops to the roof of your mouth.

We’ll also need a help mate to carry the story along. Male or female, this character is necessary in creating scenes within this bubble. Allow them exploration of the world you’re creating. Give them full reign of the playground but withhold the ‘tree of life’ from them. As they explore and find the tree, perhaps the antagonist will lure them away with a good conflict that will bring your story to new heights.

An antagonist will surely add to the story to fill in all the juicy parts. Think satan running rampant and wreaking havoc on the earth. Surely your Adam and Eve will be finding new life, discovering new things but they’ll also be tempted to do the wrong thing in this right world that you’ve created.

Now that you’ve had the seed planted, don’t take seven days to create your world, take 30. An entire month of 2000 words a day. Don’t spell check and edit as you go, create! Do you think the Lord stopped on day one and said, “Now let me think, I gave Adam a backbone, but I don’t like it, delete?” No, he kept on creating, and when He had finished, Genesis 1: 31 “And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.”
 

Write the entire month, no edits, no looking back. Create a masterpiece that the human race will look back on and one day say, “This is very good!”

4 comments:

June said...

Hmmmm...is that a challenge I hear?

...and with NaNo around the coorner?

:)

joni said...

Nano who? What? lol

One never knows what comes in the whispers. ;)

Doreen McGettigan said...

Yes I will write for the entire month! I have spent my entire summer reading (trauma, hospital drama all summer..much reading while waiting for good news) Anyway I must write now..was that a challenge?

joni said...

Yes! Now I don't mind you reading me and all, but shouldn't you be writing? ;)

Hope you got the good news you were waiting for!