VELOCITY BLOG 02

If you like what you see here and want to buy me a coffee for my efforts donate here.

Current Word Count as of writing this blog post: 8205

Here I am thinking about the whole thing. The big picture. The “what does it all mean?” I have separated all the Kinetics books into very distinct beginning | middle | end segments from the very start of the project. I separate each part with a title. One beginning part in Forces was : Part One: A Journey of the Thousand miles… this mimicked and called back a chapter quote from book one. In a way these are not just to hint or give some sense of what the part might contain, but a guide for the theme or a feeling that I want to evoke.

This is one of the ways in which I start a project. Weirdly enough I’m going into Velocity without these already in place. Instead I’m starting with the draft. I already know most of the major things that will happen in the book but the basic framework that I usually start with is not there. In fact, I think I don’t know what the Beginning Middle End part names are. I started to try and come up with them this week but nothing is becoming clear. I worry that this might a symptom of a problem I’ll have later down the line, by not knowing the over-arcing thematic direction.

But at the same time, I’m really thinking a lot about the characters and the overall character directions. I feel like all three of our groups are headed in wildly different directions but they’ll end up re-converging later down the line.  In the meantime I’m still working on drafting/outlines/scene creation. I have about 8,000 words in my working draft right now, and the goal is to have it a little over 70k by the end of the year.

I’ve got the introductions of both Willow and Eugene into the story but not the trio (Harry/Jack/Roy). You’ll be interested to know that this is one of the areas of the story that I’m not happy with. I am a bit directionless with their story, I think because there are three of them that I’ve been juggling throughout the process. Harry started out as a means to an end in the beginning but has morphed into a fairly interesting character that deserves his own story. Jack and Roy at some point were supposed to have more vital roles but I can’t seem to figure out the angle. That’s something I’m going to have to tackle in this book if I want to have characters that make a difference.

So here’s the plan for this week:

Character end goals. Where do I want the character to end up, physically, psychologically, and emotionally. I know where they all start, and vaguely where I want them to end up prior to the final book but what I have to do is make those end goals more concrete. I’ve been studying Jungian archetypes off and on for a couple years now so I’d like to take those studies and apply them more succinctly into my books. Currently the characters are all in various stages of emotional growth and degradation, they are dealing with severe traumas, great losses, and seemingly unsurmountable challenges. These things will test them and I want them all to come out stronger in the long run.

Each character will have to overcome a set of challenges and pivots. I tend to like the number three when it comes to these things so each character has three hurdles. Each hurdle passed will get them closer or sometimes further away from their end goal. There have been instances where I’ve made most of the hurdles into setbacks. As I begin the outlining process I’ll be looking at how best to forge the path for each of these characters.

A year or so ago I read this book called Story Genius by Lisa Cron and it illuminated an idea that I hadn’t seen articulated yet. Each character believes something, or has a mis-belief in themselves, the world, etc and the most effective style of character storytelling is to have them confront this misbelief. Every challenge they face must push against this mis-belief and either confirm or more likely deny it. I’ll be concreting the ideas that make up my character misconceptions. And with that begin formulating the hurdles.

Also I have been trying to implement something that I learned from a video by HelloFutureMe on YouTube. In it, he (and his source Ellen Brock) makes the supposition that some of the best stories, regardless of plot, have well thought out introspection. In Victory or Hope I began in earnest to learn how to create thoughtful introspection for the characters and with Velocity I plan to take that lesson even further.

This will simultaneously be the most difficult book to write but also the most rewarding if I can learn how to write introspection in a way that works for me. Anyway until next time my lovelies!

——————————————————–

PROGRESS CHART

Skeleton Draft (IN PROGRESS)

-Scenes MOSTLY DONE

-Dialogue

-Outline

Character Arc

-Eugene (Outlining this)

-Willow

-Jack / Harry / Roy

-Jacob

-Krino

Part 1 Draft

Part 2 Draft

Part 3 Draft

Connective tissue