On the process of story writing
Posted: Thu May 14, 2020 5:36 pm
When I didn't have my computer I was able to watch TV in the quarantine room. When I was moved back to Room 330B I still didn't have my computer (and have never had a TV).
What I did have at first was some blank paper I scrounged from the staff and Sharpies I already owned (I need thicker lines to see them than ordinary plain stick ink pens). I had to do something; reading was impossible (using a magnifying lens is a lot of work), my tablets and phone can't be recharged, and I can't just sleep 22 hours a day. I needed something to do so I didn't go crazy staring at the walls.
So I wrote. By hand, printed out longhand. And wrote. For hours at a time. And wrote. Later I found one of my yellow legal pads and wrote some more, but this time it wasn't new material. I copied 25 pages of notes on white unlined paper to 15 pages of lined legal pad paper. And wrote some more, this time on the pad.
As I have mentioned a few times, I am writing a story called "Marnie," about a 15-year-old who has become Empress, through the death of her father, the Emperor, of the Empire of Vicron, three years earlier (he died just 10 days after her 12th birthday.)
The main character, Jim Wilson, who becomes her tutor and has not met her yet, is currently in a relationship/dating one of the other teachers at his current school, whose name is Ann Waters.
I have already written parts of it on the computer going back to when I first got the idea for the story, which was back when I had the original floaters and blur in 2015.
So a piece I am currently transcribing is when Jim and Ann go out on a date.
This part of the story takes place in 2136, during the Centennial of Vicron's founding. Jim is taking Ann to the band concert in the park. One piece I needed to know, which, since I didn't have the computer, was the date of Vicron's founding, the equivalent to Independence Day in the U.S. I had to leave it blank, but I have since written it in, but if you read [url=
https://www.caltrops.com/pointy.php?act ... pid=201053]the chapter[/url] on Caltrops, it's April 8.
So here is a piece of the story as I wrote it in longhand:
"Anyway, here we are."
They had arrived at "Saturday in the Park," a free concert performed live every weekend. Despite the name, it was held Saturday and replayed on Sunday. It opened, of course, with a cover of the eponymous song by the group Chicago. The opening line, "Saturday, in the park, I think it was the Fourth of July" had to be changed as the date of the American Independence wouldn't resonate with the audience. Instead, the date of April 8, Vicron's "Founding Day," (as Ralph had mentioned in his class presentation) was used.
So the line has to be altered to fix this, like, "Saturday, in the park, I think it was the Eighth of April." Thls would need to be added to the story.
Continuing the original material:
This performance was "500 Years of Classics." music from the 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, and 22nd Centuries. The band played selections from classical, pop, rock, as well as well-known standards, including Beethoven's Fifth, The 1812 Overture (with real cannons!) The Washington Post March, Rhapsody in Blue, Bohemian Rhapsody, Also Sprach Zarathustra (forever known for the film that used it, the “Theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey") and among others, the song the last Governor General and first Empress, Mantissa, used to dedicate the new staircase to her building: Stairway to Heaven. Songs from the 21st Century including "I am at the Door," by The Spacers, and ending with a new song, the unofficial anthem, "Here in Vicron," by Chuck Mears, with the final lyrics:
I am here in Vicron
The country that I love
Here in Vicron
With the stars up above
Here in Vicron
I stand here today
Here I am
And here I'll stay.
And with it, thundering applause, as the concert ended.
A couple of things. I probably need to use a few actual well-known 21st Cenury songs, make up another presumably written in the 21st, and maybe two from the 22nd. I'm not sure. But I want to get the flavor of the concert in the description without it being too long.
Also I think putting some song names in quotes and others without them is ok, I'm not sure.
I wanted to show how a story starts, raw and unpolished, then I cut, add and delete to get the final formed story. Sometimes it actually starts out pretty good.
Suggestions / comments / criticism are welcomed.
What I did have at first was some blank paper I scrounged from the staff and Sharpies I already owned (I need thicker lines to see them than ordinary plain stick ink pens). I had to do something; reading was impossible (using a magnifying lens is a lot of work), my tablets and phone can't be recharged, and I can't just sleep 22 hours a day. I needed something to do so I didn't go crazy staring at the walls.
So I wrote. By hand, printed out longhand. And wrote. For hours at a time. And wrote. Later I found one of my yellow legal pads and wrote some more, but this time it wasn't new material. I copied 25 pages of notes on white unlined paper to 15 pages of lined legal pad paper. And wrote some more, this time on the pad.
As I have mentioned a few times, I am writing a story called "Marnie," about a 15-year-old who has become Empress, through the death of her father, the Emperor, of the Empire of Vicron, three years earlier (he died just 10 days after her 12th birthday.)
The main character, Jim Wilson, who becomes her tutor and has not met her yet, is currently in a relationship/dating one of the other teachers at his current school, whose name is Ann Waters.
I have already written parts of it on the computer going back to when I first got the idea for the story, which was back when I had the original floaters and blur in 2015.
So a piece I am currently transcribing is when Jim and Ann go out on a date.
This part of the story takes place in 2136, during the Centennial of Vicron's founding. Jim is taking Ann to the band concert in the park. One piece I needed to know, which, since I didn't have the computer, was the date of Vicron's founding, the equivalent to Independence Day in the U.S. I had to leave it blank, but I have since written it in, but if you read [url=
https://www.caltrops.com/pointy.php?act ... pid=201053]the chapter[/url] on Caltrops, it's April 8.
So here is a piece of the story as I wrote it in longhand:
"Anyway, here we are."
They had arrived at "Saturday in the Park," a free concert performed live every weekend. Despite the name, it was held Saturday and replayed on Sunday. It opened, of course, with a cover of the eponymous song by the group Chicago. The opening line, "Saturday, in the park, I think it was the Fourth of July" had to be changed as the date of the American Independence wouldn't resonate with the audience. Instead, the date of April 8, Vicron's "Founding Day," (as Ralph had mentioned in his class presentation) was used.
So the line has to be altered to fix this, like, "Saturday, in the park, I think it was the Eighth of April." Thls would need to be added to the story.
Continuing the original material:
This performance was "500 Years of Classics." music from the 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, and 22nd Centuries. The band played selections from classical, pop, rock, as well as well-known standards, including Beethoven's Fifth, The 1812 Overture (with real cannons!) The Washington Post March, Rhapsody in Blue, Bohemian Rhapsody, Also Sprach Zarathustra (forever known for the film that used it, the “Theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey") and among others, the song the last Governor General and first Empress, Mantissa, used to dedicate the new staircase to her building: Stairway to Heaven. Songs from the 21st Century including "I am at the Door," by The Spacers, and ending with a new song, the unofficial anthem, "Here in Vicron," by Chuck Mears, with the final lyrics:
I am here in Vicron
The country that I love
Here in Vicron
With the stars up above
Here in Vicron
I stand here today
Here I am
And here I'll stay.
And with it, thundering applause, as the concert ended.
A couple of things. I probably need to use a few actual well-known 21st Cenury songs, make up another presumably written in the 21st, and maybe two from the 22nd. I'm not sure. But I want to get the flavor of the concert in the description without it being too long.
Also I think putting some song names in quotes and others without them is ok, I'm not sure.
I wanted to show how a story starts, raw and unpolished, then I cut, add and delete to get the final formed story. Sometimes it actually starts out pretty good.
Suggestions / comments / criticism are welcomed.