Plot

Plot

While you can consider the characters to be your "actors," you still need to know what to do with them. Just like with characters, there is no story without a plot. Otherwise, you have a boring, meaningless piece of writing.

In one of my earlier posts, I discussed on how to write a great beginning to a story. A plot structure commonly has a beginning, middle, and end. To narrow it down even further, a plot has a beginning event, some rising action, some conflicts, a climax, some falling action, a denouement, and a resolution. In layman's terms, start with a low amount of action, build up the action to make it more intense until you reach the climax, and then lower the intensity again. On a grand scale, the climax is the highest point of your story; it's where the final battle begins and progresses. Read any book or watch any movie. Find out where the climax is; the protagonist engaging the antagonist or an event intense enough that the action drops significantly after.

To construct a plot, you have to figure out what your scenes will be and what are they building up to. They need to be relevant to the climax so that the resolution at the end makes sense. With good descriptive language and a high level of interaction between the characters, your plot will do well.

I noticed in my last post that I forgot to mention what the next topic will be, so I won't forget this one. Next time, we'll discuss setting. Until then, see you.

Characters

So we are about a week away until the majority of us are done with classes. It has been such a busy semester that it feels like I've only been here for a month. I can't say I recall enough of my experiences here to write up a short memoir, but I still have my little projects to look up whenever I need to remember something.

One can say the same about characters. Recall their accomplishments enough and they are just as memorable. To remember them so fondly is what makes a good character to someone.

Characters

A character is a participant of the story, most commonly a person. If you don't know that already, I would like to personally bonk smack you on the head with a thick newspaper.

You can maybe write poetry without characters, but a whole story? Well, there has to be someone or something that needs to be the focus of the story. So without characters, there is no story.

Want an unorthodox example? Take the indie video game NightSky, where you play as an empyreal black ball. Yes, I know this is not a written story, so please bear with me. While NightSky isn't a story with engaging characters or even a structured plot, the main "character" is the ball. It has no personality or motives of its own. It just contains magical properties and rolls across fantastic dream-like landscapes. For what it lacks though, it is still the main focus of the game and is the closest thing to a character at the bare minimum.

As you decide who your characters are, there are a few things you must consider. For example, is one of you r characters narrating the story? If so, will it be the main character or someone else? You may think you can only write a story in first-person with the main character, but this is false. For example, F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby was written in first person from the point of view of Jay Gatsby's (the main character) neighbor. A different point of view makes up a very different story. In a crime novel, will you narrate from the point of view of the detective or the criminal?

Next,  you need to decide who your protagonist(s) and antagonist(s) are. The protagonist is not necessarily "good," but just the main character we're following, while the antagonist opposes the protagonist. As mentioned previously, you can have a ruthless criminal as your main character and he/she would still be the protagonist. What often drives a plot is the interaction between the protagonist and the antagonist; the protagonist has a "goal" or "desire" in the story and he/she spends the whole story trying to achieve it. But someone else, the antagonist, tries to keep him/her from that goal/desire. This creates the main conflict between characters, which drives the whole story forward. We'll go deeper into conflict later.

Every main and major character has a motivation driving them. Taking note as the character being the "who," what is the character's desire? How will the character achieve it? Why is he/she trying to achieve it? Again, motivation. This is what builds an interesting character.

And lastly, let's discuss minor characters. Minor characters interact with your major characters in the story, but play little to no role in the main plot. So why use them? Because to create a believable story, you need to bring your world to life with more people. You don't necessarily need to identify their motives or goals as your major characters, but they are still important for helping moving the story forward. Minor characters can be planned out to an extent or create right on the spot as you write. They are a nice little touch to bringing life to your story.

To wrap things up, remember these:

• Is one of your characters the narrator?

• Who are your protagonist(s) and antagonist(s)?

• What is the motivation of the protagonist(s) and antagonist(s)?

• Who will you use as minor characters? How will they move the plot forward?

There is so much I can speak of regarding characters, but we are just looking at the basics for now. Until then, keep a lookout for my next post!

The Beginning

Sometime during school, you might have heard a common sense saying that a story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. Probably from your English class, your creative class, etc. Well, yes. There needs to be a beginning, a middle, and an end. In a way, it's similar to the Rule of Thirds in an art class. Usually about every third of the scenes, there is going to be a major point of interest. In other words, a "climax." Your plot all comes down to composition.

The Beginning

 This is going to be a short topic, so keep up.

A certain editor says to make your first six pages as interesting as possible. Some say in three or four pages. Nonetheless, the beginning is probably the most important element in story composition. Why? Well, if you don't pique the reader's interest in the first few pages, you are going to lose that reader. So you better make it as interesting as you can so that the reader will keep reading. In a range of 300-1000 words, you need to set up your world and characters immediately.

Most authors would recommend starting off with an action or a line of dialogue to bring in character involvement immediately. With proper pacing and description, you can create your initial setting in a short and get us to know about important characters right off the bat. And also, to begin your plot.

Do NOT start off with a huge wall of text spouting out blatant exposition. If you don't remember what exposition is, it's background information regarding what led to the events of the story. You heard of "Show, don't tell?" Well, put it this way: all exposition is is "telling." There is no action going on, no characters interacting, and it just tells what happened in the past. Think of whatever fantasy and sci-fi movie in your mind. Does it start off with a long backstory before we get to the story? In most cases, that is not a good storytelling practice. You might bore your audience before you even show them your main protagonist.

So, do the following for the beginning of your story:

• Introduce the reader to at least one character
• Set up your time period and location through the magic of description
• Give a plot point
• Complete one scene
• Avoid massive exposition (it's okay to insert small snippets of exposition to help develop the setting; however, don't just force them out. You want your story to sound natural.

 That's all I have to say about that for now, so I will go to another important next time: characters. Until then, let me know if you have any questions.

Planning Your Story

So close to the end of the semester and I have a lot of catching up to do. That's always comforting, isn't it? And to make matters worse, I'm currently participating in a NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) event called "Camp NaNoWriMo," which is more of a mini-event where you set your own word count to complete in a single month. I chose to go with the standard 50,000 words as in normal NaNoWriMo, but I find that I can pick up the pace after all. To reach that 50K goal, you would have to write a minimum of 1,667 words per day. When I told of this event to some UoH students, they were all, "Aw hell no!" I told them, "It's actually easier than you think. Remember, it's a story where everything applies, not a constructed college essay." In fact, the whole point of NaNoWriMo is to put in as many words as you can. They don't even have to be good words. Just like with any paper, you do some brainstorming, an outline, a roughdraft, and multiple final drafts (depends on much effort you're willing to put in though). If I can catch some sleep again and finally go back to the gym and feel more refreshed, I should put in more labor. How about TWICE as many words per day?

And so, I have a relevant topic for today.

Brainstorming and Planning your Story

 So you want to write a story, perhaps to entertain your friends or to entertain yourself. Hell, maybe even publish it! Well, good for you, but remember that you're setting a hefty goal for yourself. To write out a story by itself, you need to commit some time to actually write it out. To write out a GOOD story though, you need to invest even more time with the changes. We'll get to that later though.

So, what will you write? That's a good question, but remember that the possibilities are endless. It's like with writing a college paper. You pick a topic that you feel most comfortable with and then you go with it the whole way.

Think about your favorite book. Hmm, don't have one? Okay, try a movie or a TV series. Still not doing it for you? What about your favorite video games? Wow, you just hate fun, don't you? Okay, what about a memoir of an event that happened in your life?  Come on, take your pick already!

You do see where I am going with this, right? Look at some of the things around you. Just like thinking about what to draw, garner inspiration from what is available to you. An idea can be very straightforward, like looking at a nice full moon. Or it can be very surreal, playing out as part of a fantasy or even a horror element.

And if you still didn't get ONE idea so far, look over the different story genres. There are adventure, horror, fantasy, suspense, science fiction, young adult fiction, classical literature and probably a lot more to find. So many genres to choose from, but I recommend starting with the one you like the most.

If you really like the topic you're going with, it will be much easier for you to write it out. If you're attempting to go into unknown territory, then expect to be demolished on sight.

You can always write a story for yourself. But if you want other people to read it and even sell your story as a paperback, then you need to identify your target audience. Since everyone who is going to read this post is most likely a digital media major or somewhere close, this should be obvious. In most cases, you're looking for a specific age group. And sometimes, you're going for a specific ethnicity or religion. Definitely be careful with those, because you wouldn't want to get national attention as that one author who hates Buddhists, do you? Nothing worse than infamy when trying to sell yourself, eh?

So now that you got a single idea, you want to start writing immediately, right? Hold your horses there. If you try that, you're most likely going to hit writer's block sooner than you think.

In fact, there are terms at NaNoWriMo for this. The writer who starts out with a single idea and just dives right in is a "pantser;" those who fly by the seat of their pants. In other words, they just wing it without a plan. And then there is the "planner," who comes with the characters, plot, and other important elements before they begin writing. If you plan out your novel, your chances of success will be much higher. Don't just "wing it" if you aren't totally sure you can do it. If you can't even reach 5,000 words, then stop and think about your story more.

As you brainstorm, WRITE DOWN YOUR NOTES! If you don't write them down, you will forget about them. Horrible beginner's mistake. Just don't do it. You can do it the old-fashioned way and keep a paper journal of your ideas. Or you can type it up on your computer and save it to a specialized folder for your story. Microsoft Word is okay, but you will most likely have to save many files into that folder. Isn't it annoying opening separate Word files just to find that one little note you need? Then I recommend Scrivener, which you can purchase and download off the net. Price is around $30-50 depending on if you're running Windows or Mac OSX. If you participate in NaNoWriMo for November, you get a promotional discount. If you WIN in NaNoWriMo, you get an even better discount! Up to 50% off, a really good deal for a word processor that works like a binder.

Pick your characters, setting, and plot. Write down EVERYTHING that comes into mind, even if you don't like it at first. You're not writing the story yet, so it's okay to put something you think is stupid in your notes. If there is one particular idea in your notes in which you can generate even more ideas off of, try coming up with an outline. If you think this story idea works and you like it, go for it. If not, move on and look for a better idea.

So, you finally have a selected idea. You have some characters in mind, a setting to place them in, and a plot to make stuff happen. For the time being, you're all set! You may start thinking about how you will start out your story. And don't forget, it's okay to get more ideas in the process of writing. You can write them down in your notes and you can always change them. Don't think that you're restricted to only what you have. Experiment a bit and see where your story turns up.

So now that we have an idea to go off of, we'll stop for today. For the next post, I'll get into writing out the beginning of your story. Until then, hear from you next time!

Change of Plans/The Fundamentals of Fictional Writing

First, I would like to say I'm sorry my previous topic "Let's Try Digital Art Tutorials" didn't really launch. I figure some people may be disappointed since they may want to improve their Photoshop/Illustrator skills throughout this semester. I do too, but I should have known that I need to invest my time better. Perhaps this isn't the correct semester for me to develop a relatively new skill (fresh from previous semester really...)

So at the very least, I'll compensate by providing some sources in which you can learn to construct graphic arts. I am sure most of you are familiar with lynda.com, which has many different art tutorials for Photoshop and Illustrator. If you don't like online tutorials that much, you can always buy some textbooks from Amazon. I find trying out some textbooks during your free time is very helpful when learning/developing a new skill. Here are some I found on Amazon:

• Beginner's Guide to Digital Painting in Photoshop: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0955153077/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
• Digital Painting Techniques: Practical Techniques of Digital Art Masters: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0240521749/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_7?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
• Design Graphics: Drawing Techniques for Design Professionals: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/013713696X/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Now that we got that out of the way, let me explain the title of this post. I got hammered down with all sorts of schoolwork and outside work, so spending a couple of hours or more on a single Photoshop tutorial didn't quite cut it for me. So, I'm changing the topic to "Creative Writing Tutorials." Yes yes, I'm sure I can keep up this time.

I learned about writing fiction on my own free time, even before I came to UoH. I learned mainly from reading books about writing and looking at examples (actual novels, of course) to see what entails good writing and bad writing. I actually plan to launch a website for writing fan fiction (yes, fan fiction, problem?) sometime during the summer, so this will certainly help me. And as such, writing fan fiction still follows general creative writing guidelines, just like with original fiction.

So, let's get started.

The Fundamentals of Fictional Writing

If you want to become better at storytelling, then it's important that you are at least familiar with these concepts:

• character - "who"; the people in your story
• plot - "what"; what if {this character} does {this}?
• setting - "where/when"; where and what time period does the story take place?
• theme - "why"; the topic of the story itself, including the morals, beliefs, lessons, inner message, etc.
• style - "how"; are you writing from first-person or third-person narrative? Will you use present tense or past tense as your dominant tense? How is the narration's "voice" defined?

Some stories can go without a theme (which basically narrows down to having no particular point), but all of these are necessary for a fully composed story.

The character is the central focus of your story, for he/she helps drive the plot forward. Without characters to breathe life into your prose, there is no story. You can write about mountains and the climate in detail, but it doesn't necessarily mean the writing is a story. You. Need. Characters.

The plot is the premise, or "goal," of your story; what are your characters trying to accomplish in the end? Take for instance the Harry Potter series, which is about a wizard boy confronting a powerful dark wizard who wants him dead. That's the condensed version of the plot, but let's not focus on that for now.

The setting is the world, or the "stage," of your story; does it take place in Rome or at planet Mars? Is it during the middle ages or is it set deep into the future? The setting is important for shaping the backstories and various traits of your characters.

The theme is the central idea, or "moral," of your story; think about Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. The story is about a grouchy, old miser undergoing a series of life-changing dreams depicting his past, present, and future in the middle of Christmas Eve/Christmas morning. At the end of the story, after realizing how his bitter demeanor and bitter affects the people around him negatively (including himself), Scrooge realizes the best treasure in life is to share his joy and appreciation of life with the other people.

The style is how your prose is written. Every writer has a different writing style, whether it's through personal preference through all of their novels or whether they are experimenting with different styles for each novel. The narrative is part of the style, which most people recognize as who is telling the story. "First person" narrative uses the pronouns "I" and "me," directly viewing the story through another person's eyes. "Third person" narrative is more distant, referring to characters as "he," "she," "it," etc; never "you" or "I." Another form of writing style is diction (the vocabulary). It's a given that simple diction is often used in fiction to clearly convey the story to the general reader, while more complicated diction is aimed towards intellectuals. Depending on who your target audience is, select your diction with care.

There is a LOT more to discuss for each sub-topic, but I'll save those for other days. So for the next post, I'll dive into brainstorming and how to get started on your story. Until then, au revoir.

Introduction

I can't really think of much on what will entice others to read my cruddy posts, so I am going to develop my skills in Photoshop and Illustrator. If I am going to be a professional web designer, then by my every molecule I will force myself into it!

So this is what I will do: I will search for a random art tutorial on the web and I will try to follow the steps. Some tutorials may be straightforward, some will just make me rage quit due to tools or the software not wanting me to finish. The idea is that this is the digital art equivalent of a "Let' Play" Youtube video for video games. So you can either see the results of my success... or my FAIL! Doesn't that just sound fun?

So after I finish, I will post the results of my final image and link you to the tutorial in case any of you want to try it out yourselves.

Just remember that I still consider myself a novice in the "design" portion of digital art, so none of that "lol. u fail n00b" crap. If you want to review on how I did, then at least make it constructive criticism. I won't learn anything after all if you don't point out my strengths or my flaws.

P.S. I may start doing this on Saturday since it's my only "free day."