[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
a good wife. A good mother. Now she could do that. Look, I'm freezing.
Let's go inside. Why did the hospital call? Does the doctor need to talk to
me about more tests?
He was shaking his head no, no, no and his eyes were as bleak as the day.
We have to go to the hospital.
Her mother was being demanding again. Lisa couldn't face that right now. Not
after the scene with Kevin. That had been ugly. Ugly. Never again, she
promised herself.
I've had a terrible
He cut her off. We have to go to the hospital. Now. The rest of your
family is already there.
Everything shifted. He hadn't come home because he knew about the affair. He
hadn't come home because the hospital had been trying to reach her when her
mother started giving the nurses headaches again. Everything Lisa did to make
things right, she had done too late. Oh. Oh, God. Mom's all right, isn't
she? But the look on his face told her what she already knew. Oh, Christ,
she isn't. I'm being punished ...
she's dead.
Page 78
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
NOTES: You can see how filling in actions and thoughts add depth to the bare
dialogue. Again, though, keep the additions light. Not every sentence needs
a corresponding action. The reader s mind will fill in a lot.
In an additional edit of this, I think I might let Lisa tell her husband that
she was at he hospital visiting her mother before he has a chance to say
anything. Since he came home because the hospital couldn't reach her, that
would not only dump her mother's death on her head at a terrible time, but
would also let him know she was lying and maybe blow open the defunct affair.
But those are all changes for later drafts. This at least gives you a look at
a first draft and a second draft.
M
UGGING THE
M
USE
: W
RITING ICTION FOR OVE
F
L
AND
M
ONEY
88
H
OLLY ISLE
L
Maps Workshop
Most of the books I've written have started with a map. Not with an idea, or a
character, or a theme. With a hand-drawn map, doodled out first while I was
sitting and keeping someone else company, or while I was on break, or when I
couldn't think of what to write and had no ideas to speak of and knew that if
I drew a map something would come to me. Some of the maps were fairly artistic
from the start.
Some began on napkins or the backs of throw-away paper, and only became things
of any artistic merit after they'd served their initial purpose of handing me
an idea for a novel.
If you want specific titles of books that began as maps, I give you
Fire in the Mist
, Bones of the Past and
Mind of the Magic
(the Arhel novels), Sympathy for the Devil
, The Devil and Dan Cooley
, and
Hell on High
(the DEVIL'S POINT novels), The
Rose Sea Glenraven
, and
Glenraven: In the Shadow of the Rift Hunting the
, Corrigan's Blood Curse of the Black Heron
, , and finally the trilogy I'm currently writing, Diplomacy of Wolves
Vengeance of Dragons
, , and
Courage of Falcons
(the
SECRET TEXTS trilogy.) In other words, you'd have to look through your stacks
a bit to find a book I've written that didn't begin as a map.
Now I know this is a weird little quirk of mine, and I can't guarantee you
Page 79
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
that if you'll just draw a map, it will give you a novel that will sell. But
on the chance that what works for me will work for you, too, I'll go through
the steps I use in doing my maps, and maybe my process will spark something
for you.
I have favorite tools for mapping. I like graph paper, and I like the drafting
markers that you can get from Office Max or Office Depot for about six bucks a
set that come
M
UGGING THE
M
USE
: W
RITING ICTION FOR OVE
F
L
AND
M
ONEY
89
H
OLLY ISLE
L
in five thicknesses, from .1 mm up to .5 mm. (Tech-Liner Drawing Pen Set, from
Alvin) I don't use pencil, ever, and while you're doing this workshop, you
shouldn't either. If you like the technique but find the inability to erase a
detriment instead of a plus, feel free to modify it, but at least this first
time, do not give yourself waffling room. Use pen and grit your teeth.
This first map is going to be your continent. I frequently also draw city and
town maps, and in some instances street maps. I usually draw floorplans for
ships, houses, and other indoor places where my characters will spend a lot of
time. I've never written a book that didn't have mapping as one stage of its
production. It's just that occasionally mapping is the second stage, or even
the third say around about the time I get the first two chapters written and
realize there are important things about my characters' world that I do not
know.
Before we get started, I want to be VERY clear about one issue that I know
some of you are already sweating over. This doesn't have to be pretty. You do
not get extra points for artistry. I'm showing you a technique for generating
ideas and creating a story where you didn't have anything before, not trying
to turn you into an illustrator.
If you can't draw a straight line, no problem. You aren't going to need any
straight lines. Wobbles are part of the process. Nobody but you ever has to
see this map.
Nobody but you ever has to know it even exists. It doesn't have to go in front
of the book you're going to write, and if you decide you do want it in the
front of your book, your publisher is going to hire an artist to redraw it, no
matter how cool you made it look. So stop already with the complaining about
how you can't draw.
Okay. Read all the following instructions BEFORE you start drawing, down to [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl fopke.keep.pl
a good wife. A good mother. Now she could do that. Look, I'm freezing.
Let's go inside. Why did the hospital call? Does the doctor need to talk to
me about more tests?
He was shaking his head no, no, no and his eyes were as bleak as the day.
We have to go to the hospital.
Her mother was being demanding again. Lisa couldn't face that right now. Not
after the scene with Kevin. That had been ugly. Ugly. Never again, she
promised herself.
I've had a terrible
He cut her off. We have to go to the hospital. Now. The rest of your
family is already there.
Everything shifted. He hadn't come home because he knew about the affair. He
hadn't come home because the hospital had been trying to reach her when her
mother started giving the nurses headaches again. Everything Lisa did to make
things right, she had done too late. Oh. Oh, God. Mom's all right, isn't
she? But the look on his face told her what she already knew. Oh, Christ,
she isn't. I'm being punished ...
she's dead.
Page 78
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
NOTES: You can see how filling in actions and thoughts add depth to the bare
dialogue. Again, though, keep the additions light. Not every sentence needs
a corresponding action. The reader s mind will fill in a lot.
In an additional edit of this, I think I might let Lisa tell her husband that
she was at he hospital visiting her mother before he has a chance to say
anything. Since he came home because the hospital couldn't reach her, that
would not only dump her mother's death on her head at a terrible time, but
would also let him know she was lying and maybe blow open the defunct affair.
But those are all changes for later drafts. This at least gives you a look at
a first draft and a second draft.
M
UGGING THE
M
USE
: W
RITING ICTION FOR OVE
F
L
AND
M
ONEY
88
H
OLLY ISLE
L
Maps Workshop
Most of the books I've written have started with a map. Not with an idea, or a
character, or a theme. With a hand-drawn map, doodled out first while I was
sitting and keeping someone else company, or while I was on break, or when I
couldn't think of what to write and had no ideas to speak of and knew that if
I drew a map something would come to me. Some of the maps were fairly artistic
from the start.
Some began on napkins or the backs of throw-away paper, and only became things
of any artistic merit after they'd served their initial purpose of handing me
an idea for a novel.
If you want specific titles of books that began as maps, I give you
Fire in the Mist
, Bones of the Past and
Mind of the Magic
(the Arhel novels), Sympathy for the Devil
, The Devil and Dan Cooley
, and
Hell on High
(the DEVIL'S POINT novels), The
Rose Sea Glenraven
, and
Glenraven: In the Shadow of the Rift Hunting the
, Corrigan's Blood Curse of the Black Heron
, , and finally the trilogy I'm currently writing, Diplomacy of Wolves
Vengeance of Dragons
, , and
Courage of Falcons
(the
SECRET TEXTS trilogy.) In other words, you'd have to look through your stacks
a bit to find a book I've written that didn't begin as a map.
Now I know this is a weird little quirk of mine, and I can't guarantee you
Page 79
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
that if you'll just draw a map, it will give you a novel that will sell. But
on the chance that what works for me will work for you, too, I'll go through
the steps I use in doing my maps, and maybe my process will spark something
for you.
I have favorite tools for mapping. I like graph paper, and I like the drafting
markers that you can get from Office Max or Office Depot for about six bucks a
set that come
M
UGGING THE
M
USE
: W
RITING ICTION FOR OVE
F
L
AND
M
ONEY
89
H
OLLY ISLE
L
in five thicknesses, from .1 mm up to .5 mm. (Tech-Liner Drawing Pen Set, from
Alvin) I don't use pencil, ever, and while you're doing this workshop, you
shouldn't either. If you like the technique but find the inability to erase a
detriment instead of a plus, feel free to modify it, but at least this first
time, do not give yourself waffling room. Use pen and grit your teeth.
This first map is going to be your continent. I frequently also draw city and
town maps, and in some instances street maps. I usually draw floorplans for
ships, houses, and other indoor places where my characters will spend a lot of
time. I've never written a book that didn't have mapping as one stage of its
production. It's just that occasionally mapping is the second stage, or even
the third say around about the time I get the first two chapters written and
realize there are important things about my characters' world that I do not
know.
Before we get started, I want to be VERY clear about one issue that I know
some of you are already sweating over. This doesn't have to be pretty. You do
not get extra points for artistry. I'm showing you a technique for generating
ideas and creating a story where you didn't have anything before, not trying
to turn you into an illustrator.
If you can't draw a straight line, no problem. You aren't going to need any
straight lines. Wobbles are part of the process. Nobody but you ever has to
see this map.
Nobody but you ever has to know it even exists. It doesn't have to go in front
of the book you're going to write, and if you decide you do want it in the
front of your book, your publisher is going to hire an artist to redraw it, no
matter how cool you made it look. So stop already with the complaining about
how you can't draw.
Okay. Read all the following instructions BEFORE you start drawing, down to [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]