Starting

a riff about starting

Happy May!

I found this in a recent issue of the NY Times Style magazine:

Make Yourself Start

Deciding what’s a good idea is an ongoing battle. But you can only think about something for so long before you just have to try it. . . . I like conceptual thinking, but I also like the physicality of painting. Usually that leads me to something and, even if it doesn’t — what am I going to do, sit around and watch movies all day? — Kim Gordon, 70, musician and visual artist

So, today, I’m riffing about the fantastic mix of trepidation and excitement that comes from starting a new project - and diving right in.

The inspiration to start a new story comes from many places. A what-if, a prompt, a social situation, political issue, even processing a crisis - whether yours or one of your friends. Or something you just want to see that you haven’t been able to find anywhere else.

So, writing a story can be a lot like Kim’s paintings. See an idea, assemble the physical elements - for me that’s my Frixion pens and my Rocketbook. Then take notes about the characters’ goals (what they want) and motivations (why they want it). Poke around in their history for the origins of that motivation - usually can be viewed as something they feel they lack - an ability, a trait, a familial connection - an intangible/emotional completion that they think they can get if they achieve or do this other, tangible thing.

Usually by then I have a sense of who they are and what they want. But I don’t yet have conflict. Something or someone standing in their way of achievement. Yes, it can be self-sabotage. But still, even self-saboteurs find scapegoats or other situations or people to blame for their failure to “launch.” If it’s a job, then maybe they blame their boss always asking for unpaid overtime for the reason they don’t go back to school, even remotely, to get education for a better job. It’s often more comforting to blame that boss - everyone has a difficult boss, right? - than to realize that your veg time in front of the TV, gaming, or scrolling the internet could be better spent on your education.

Once I know who or what they blame for their inertia, I have my inciting incident - either I set up a situation where the obstacle is removed, or the obstacle is introduced.

Brenna’s situation in Turning Point was exactly like that. I had a what-if… what if animosity and jealousy were just the defensive posture being taken because she didn’t know what to do with the quivering in her stomach every time she was around this one co-star? What if, shockingly, that quiver was attraction?

She felt the work was the antagonist. They were pitted as rivals and constantly at each other’s throats as part of the roles they played.

So… I decided to dive right in with a disruption to that belief. Brenna gets invited - just like the rest of the cast - to a kid’s birthday party. As Cassidy thinks… what could be less work-related than that?

Then, inexorably, more and more situations happen where they deal with each other outside of the parameters set by their work, and Brenna got to know Cassidy. Furthermore, in the more quiet moments, she begins to realize what her quivering nervous stomach has been telling her for close to a year:

You like her.

You might even love her.

Ho-oh-oly crap.

Did I know every scene I was going to have to put Brenna through the emotional wringer before I started? Absolutely not. Many of them were formed only because I dove in and followed some logical cause and effect, or something about acting or actors that I had researched. Then I’d literally just dump both of them into the scene - forced proximity trope - and made them deal with it.

For a few character revelations I had to hit the pause button and work in some revisions to the second draft. But the power of just writing and seeing what happens? Will it work or won’t it? The constant buzz?

Exhilarating.

Just like Kim, in the quote, I decided to write instead of watching TV or movies.

(Of course, once I finish a draft, I celebrate with wine and a binge of a favorite or buzzworthy show.)

Then, after a bit of rejuvenation, I start casting around for the next story idea, looking for the one that gives me tingles of trepidation and excitement. Then I do just a bit of planning before diving right in.

New Project

After the initial idea occurred to me, I used the program I’m involved in as a mentor to give myself permission/time to consider the story’s characters and the plot’s full shape. Then I dove in.

The draft is ~42k at the moment, and I just hit the midpoint crisis. This looks like it might be book 1 of 2 since the mystery of Jace and Car— oops, I didn’t want to give specifics yet.

OK. Fine. Some details. Here’s the (very rough) pitch:

Caron has been trying to live quietly with her son since her lover died. Then her son manifests magic and she casts a spell to cover their flight into anonymity.

They reach Portland, Maine, and try to piece together a new life. They are found by Luciana, who promises they will be safer among "their own kind." Caron has no idea if she should trust this woman or, as her boyfriend warned, "trust no one."

Luce has believed she is destined to be alone, no lover, no children, ever since she was diagnosed with infertility. She became a hunter to protect her community by assuring that the general population doesn’t learn about magic and persecute them for it.

But there is more at work here than the simple story of bringing in a mother and son. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. When Luce starts questioning policy and defying orders, the ensuing chain of events may destroy all three of their lives.

Anyway… I figure the draft will be ready for beta readers sometime this summer.

~ Lara