plot – Tale Chasing

#WriteTip – Weather

kimiko — Tue, 19 Aug 2014 19:34:02 +0000

[powerpress]

Weather can often indicate mood or foreshadow plot – for example my main character, Raegan, goes into a nursing home. Having overcast and grey clouds kind of gives a hint to her mood.

How we got here

kimiko — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 13:47:07 +0000

I mentioned in my last post that I was going to talk the search for a good critique partner. This post is going to hit and run on that topic. We’re here because I did infact audition some people as critique partners. And I found a few who were very helpful. Everyone that offered to help had some good stuff to say. Anyone I didn’t pursue was only due to chemistry with a particular person and not because I didn’t find their crits helpful. So with that little disclaimer out of the way….(and a lead up to another post about this entire process)…

I am standing with 8k words in my hands, wondering if it’s good enough. This is no doubt, not an uncommon process or issue for writers. So let me tell you about how I got here.

I sent out my first chapter to about 5 people. I figured that since I’m happily on the 5th Chapter and I still wish to get earlier chapters podcast it was about time in the process to do a final edit and get it out to the voice actors. Hence the need for a few beta readers.

Each person I sent it to had some issues with my first chapter. One person in particular helped me see that I was showing the opposite of what I’d intended with my main character. This left a hearty but not impossible re-write. InkGypsy, who’s become a big supporter and very helpful, calmed some of the stress. No, I didn’t need to trash it and start all over. Yes, it could be fixed with a bit of change here and there. It was all going to be ok.

So for the last week or two I’ve been mulling over how to fix Chapter 1. Then upon talking with someone else, I realize….we might not be getting into the action soon enough. There might not be enough uf in my first chapter. Suddenly everything I have written looks extraneous and do I need to cut out large chunks of what I’ve written or do I keep it and some small change can keep it salvagable? *sounds of screams and much head holding*

My thought is…if I cut out a large amount of what I’ve written to make things happen faster….isn’t that just making a book into a short story? I want to avoid doing that. It’s a novel I’m writing not a 5k word short.

Sadly, there is no resolution to my questions yet. This post is about my process and I haven’t found the answer yet. But I felt it was good to get this out here as I’m sure there are a few others of you right now holding your heads and sighing. We aren’t lost. We’ll discover the way out.

I do however, want to leave you with a few good links I’ve found:
A Novel in Three Acts Pt 1 – Stacia Kane
A Novel in Three Acts Pt 2 – Stacia Kane
A Novel in Three Acts Pt 3 – Stacia Kane
The Fear of Writing
Holly Lisle’s Think Sideways Course

An update

kimiko — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:59:02 +0000

Over the last few days I’ve been working on my plot cards and deciding how I want to open my story. A part of me wants to sit in front of them until I have each and every card filled out but we all know what that is. That’s procrastination. And that’s bad. So I’ll be kicking into gear in the next day or two.

This week I’ll be recording two interviews for the site and working on getting the one I did with Chris Lester up.

Last night I recorded most of my part for Chris’s cast. I finished recording my part for our entry for JC Hutchin’s Obsidian project, my new lines in Astral Audio’s new script and sent did an audition for another cast.

I found out yesterday that not only am I on the following panels for DragonCon but I am on a really awesome panel about Casting your Writing with Tee Morris, Michael Stackpole, and Scott Sigler. I may even have an opportunity to read something while I’m there. So I have a lot to do before August. Get a good percentage of my story written and cast, make biz cards to hand out, make a t-shirt to wear (which means you may have the option to buy one representing the story), and of course the ever present tone up. LOL

These are the panels I’m on: Webcam Girls, Self Publication, Promoting your Podcast, and Podcasting your Writing

Speaking of T-shirts….I am looking for an artist for an image I have in my head of what I want to represent the story. If you are willing to contribute your time and work for credit on the site and cast and want to send me a sample of your work please email me. The media can definitely be digital, done in poser, or regular.

Here’s a few links worth taking a look at:

Btw..I’m also looking for a few good beta readers. What I’m seeking is someone who can critique my story not my grammar. I need feedback on my characters, my setting, what you get out of it, what you think you learned, etc. Feel free to write if you are interested. I should have something to crit in less then a week.

A day of connections

kimiko — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 05:35:48 +0000

I was really fortunate today to be able to hook up with Scott Sigler for lunch while he’s here in NYC for a book reading/signing for Infected! Not only did I get to sit down and eat sushi but he was really sweet and helped me answer a few questions related to an audio project (read below) I’m going to possibly get involved with and answered some of my questions about writing, podcasting my writing, and my plot. It wasÂ an extremely useful converstation and well worth the time to trek into NYC for. I sadly wasn’t able to hit his reading because of some other obligations but I have no doubt the man was swamped with fans!

As I mentioned above, I may be getting involved in an audio project that I set in motion in February. I’m keeping the details close to my chest but it looks like I may have an opportunity to record some audio books and I’m really excited about it.

The last bit of really exciting news is that it looks like not only is a comment I made on an article in the SF Chronical online mentioned in an article for today but it’ll be printed in the SF Chronical’s paper tomorrow! The article is about how Seth Harwood and Scott Sigler have made such an impact on the publishing world via their free audio podcast of their work. The Tale Chasing site is actually mentioned and will get the exposure of all of their online and print readers! They asked me yesterday if they could repost my comment and it never occured to me that they’d be ‘printing’ the comment as well. So I’m extremely psyched about that!

As a side note, because people are starting to search for “tail chasing” to find the site, I back ordered the tailchasing.com domain in the hopes that anyone looking for this site can find it. Ok…now I’m off to work on my plot.

Create Your Plot Mini Course AudioBook Available!!

kimiko — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 18:50:34 +0000

I got together with Holly Lisle, the author of multiple books and several writing course series and created an audio book to help you begin the process of creating your Plot Outline. (Look at me, getting all big time and stuff!)Â Creating your Plot isn’t always easy and Holly’s Mini Course, is a great jump start to getting your book going fast!

You can get this audio book and her free pdf for $9.95! Click here for more information.

The Plot Synopsis Project

kimiko — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 03:32:55 +0000

While reading my writing feeds, I came across someone’s post about The Plot Synopsis Project. I followed the link and found a really great post by Joshua Palmatier who created the idea of the Project. The plan is to offer sample synopsis from authors who’s work was sold AND/or from authors on how they sold their story without a synopsis.

I skimmed the rest of the blog and there are other posts that look just as useful! Take a peek.

Getting ready to interview and an update!

kimiko — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:09:27 +0000

Well I’m getting ready to interview Stacia Kane and I’m very excited. A little nervous too, but I think I’m just being silly! I finished the ARC of Personal Demons last night and got to read the first few chapters of her follow up novel, Demon Inside. This is definately going to be one of my keeper series. I’m not just trying to brown-nose either! LOL

I should have the interview up within a few days as I seem to be getting faster at doing them. Podcasting and my side audio project seems to be my main focus right now. I know, I know…I need to be writing too. I’m getting there. It’s all perculating while I work. Don’t you fear.

Speaking of side project, I mentioned that I had something in the works. As a test model, I have spoken with Holly Lisle and she has given the extra go ahead (her ebook gives permission to begin with) to record her Mini Plot Workshop Ebook. I’ll be selling (yes I have permission) the audio file with the ebook very very soon. Here’s your chance to get your say in. This ebook gives you the starting point to get the basics of your plot down. What would you pay for an audio and ebook mini course? Leave a comment or send me email!

Episode 9 – Kimi and Site Updates

kimiko — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 06:05:38 +0000

I’m excited to present you with Episode 09 – Kimi and Site Updates!

The following were mentioned in the show:

Ep 1: Welcome to Tale Chasing

kimiko — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 05:11:40 +0000

Kimi welcomes you all to Tale Chasing and gives you a little info about what the site is all about!

Update and useful links

kimiko — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 22:49:39 +0000

Hi! Last night was really productive. I organized all of my podcasts. Completed 2 of them to make them sound a little better. Put details on all of them and figured out what was left to do. I have Ep 6 and Ep 7 to tighten up and then they’ll all be good to go. I’m kinda passing time until Jackie says Ep 8 is good to go and partly just trying to get it all in order so that I can put them up in one shot.

I set up an interview with Mur Lafferty and I have to send her the questions and arrange a date for the podcast interview.

I’ve also done a lot of re-thinking of my book. I think, sadly, a decent amount of the work already written may have to be “scrapped”/shelved but I think it’ll be a better book for what I’ve got planned. I wrote up a basic character summery of the major players minus one or two and I’ve been going over in my head in small pieces how I want the story to go. I’ll reveal more about it later.

Still working on the template design as well. Now here are is a link to a great article I found on writing at Lifehack.org. It’s about how to get your writing started.