Day 15: Develop your characters and your plot together

I think I want to write the rich young man. I've put down things about him on the card. His name will be Daryl B. Walton. 29, a college graduate, born in LA, a bit chubby, can't say to be good-looking, but can pretend to be of good disposition.

Snub, drives his BMW around and talks to girls all the time, waits on a girl hand and foot but dumps her once she's hooked/they're engaged. Works under his father's big company. Protected by his father, he takes things he has for granted.

Likes sushi; not particularly likes music; good at swimming, tennis, and golf. Watches John Wayne and action movies.

85 more days to go.

Day 14: Most novels are written to a formula

...a formula to structure the story. The guide offers the example: there should be a hero and a villain, both are experts (thus the tension). The hero leads a team, and some members of the team must fall in love, and some must die. The most interesting one: "If you get bogged down, just kill somebody."

Today almost all day I thought and thought about what I'm going to write. I thought about many possibilities, but they all seemed...distant. I just don't really care about them.

But then I recall some interesting people I've known long ago:

A little girl I knew while I was a little kid, who always insisted me sitting right in front of her, watching her peeing on the street;

A nice girl who after being dumped twice, pursued a boy who was "under her league," successfully married him, and at the same time became a real bitch;

A boy who pursued a young girl w/ all his heart and mind--until the girl got lupus, went through treatments, and got swelling "moon-face"...

And I knew the girl w/ lupus had a feeling for me. But that was at the time the boy was pursuing her, and I really just saw her as my sister... very sadly, she suddenly died from complications at her early 20s.

A rich young man who changed girlfriends/fiancees faster than changing clothes--really, he intensely pursued every girl he thought was worthwhile: same strategy, same approach, same techniques; then after the girl was hooked/engaged, dumped her out of the blue w/out reasons, leaving that girl shocked to the core;

An over-protective older brother who bawled at every single man dared to come close to his younger sister, shielded away every possible "threat" (to whom?);

....

I might as well mingle those people together and see what will happen.

The formula? Some fall in love, some hearts broken, some betray the others, some affairs... if I got stuck, then more betrayals...

86 more days to go.

Day 13: Get a bunch of 5 by 7 cards and put each character’s name at the top...

"Next, think about the role each plays in your story, and what kind of person each is: age, education, place of birth, hot-headed, funny, fat, ugly. What are their quirks? Do they wash their hands 500 times a day? Do they hear voices? Are they kind to kids but love to torture cats? Put it down, put down so much that you finally come to know these characters intimately. Alfred Hitchcock would write down his scenes on index cards, one scene to a card. That way, as he said, by the time he was ready to shoot the film, he was already done.
Some characters will be major ones, around whom the story will pivot; others will play bit parts, but these will be critical too, as every player must have a reason for being in the story. If they don’t have a reason for being in your novel, they’ll slow down the story, and slowness bores readers."

Oh! This is the most important step! And I'm already suffering from writer's block!

I think I probably have to change a bit; about the plot. I have to create conflicts. By knowing the main conflicts I'll know what characters I need.

A good source:
http://www.divorcesource.com/MA/ARTICLES/neumann2.html

OK, the man wants to be recognized. To be understood. A good companionship. Acknowledge and attention. He feels his wife doesn't understand him. He feels stuck. He wants proof that he's still "young."

The woman wants to know she's still attractive, and get rid of her loneliness feelings....

Hmm, sounds the same. I have to think it over....

87 days to go...

Day 12: Pick your characters first...

"...as they are harder to pick than a story."

I’ll just keep working on the characters.

Characters are indeed hard to develop. One of my problems is everybody in the story is the same. Good stories develop strong characters: they love, hate, desire, angry, revenge, kill… they have very strong emotions and one single goal. Maybe I’m exaggerating a bit, but I think I really have to work on it.

The man is self-centered. He likes to talk about himself and is always unaware of it. He needs infinite support, respect, and most important of all, recognition and love.

It’s tougher to think about the woman character. The woman is also eager to be accepted. She feels lonely and her time is clicking. She has intense fear of being rejected or abandoned, and just can’t get enough emotional closeness. She's super sensitive and emotionally unstable, easily to get offended.

I have to come up some more.

88 more days to go.

Day 11: Begin by writing about what you know

"Begin by writing about what you know, if not the novel itself, then something about the place or people in your novel. It’s a lot easier to get started on your book if you are writing about people, places, and things with which you have already grown familiar."

I'm thinking about a man and a woman. The man is married and the woman is single. Maybe she is divorced. She got pregnant from the affair.

The man is in his early 50s. A successful career, quite plain looking, highly self-conscious, and eager to be recognized. He and his wife have 2 kids. The wife is a stay-home mom and a very traditional woman.

The woman is in her middle or late 30s. Got pregnant once at 19 but aborted. Married at 21 and divorced at 25. Lonely, impulsive, has experienced some failed relationships.

That's a start. 89 more days to go.

Day 10: Debunk another cliché - "Write only about something you know"

The guide says: "Write only about something you know" is nonsense. "Tom Clancy had never been a submarine commander before he wrote The Hunt For Red October. And it’s a safe bet that Richard Bach had never been a seagull before he wrote Jonathan Livingston Seagull."

Instead, it suggests "write about something you love."

I've checked out another Michael Crichton's novel, "Disclosure," we'll see how it goes. The beginning is a bit similar to "Prey:" a middle-class family and a hint of programing or computer problem.

I also read many online stories about affairs and getting pregnant from it. As I said, they are sad stories.

Two similar stories but from different perspectives attracted my attention. They were on a message board. A long-divorced mother, probably in her late 40s, went to live with her daughter's family for some reason. This mother felt an intense and uncontrollable attraction to her son-in-law and started to seduce him. Finally they ended up in bed--and got pregnant from the affair. She regretted and panicked: "What should I do? I'm a monster!" She called herself.

Many people offered different advice, many scolded her. This mother admitted she was a mess-up: she used to be a teen mother (16 and then 19) and later abused drugs until she found religion.

Later she updated: she lost the baby. The doctor said she was just too old to keep a baby.

A woman left a message telling about her own story: 28 years ago, her husband whom she loved dearly suddenly disappeared without a trace. She was devastated, got married 4 or 5 more times. She never understood why until she got hold of him days ago. It turns out her husband had an affair: with her mother. Amazingly, this woman didn't use her own story to blame and attack. She just presented it. She also said she wouldn't confront her own mother: "She already knows what she did. I don't have to remind her." I thought she probably should: that will be a closure. But maybe she got her closure already.

Imagine his woman's at least good 30 years have been ruined by her husband and her own mother. Terrible.

But these mothers have issues, and when we get into understanding of those issues, we might not blame them so much.

I think stories like these are something I like to explore. 90 more days to go.

Day 9: Don’t be afraid to write down scenes or sections that don’t lead anywhere

Damn, I tried to invite some people to follow this blog, and I ended up followed myself! How do I remove myself as a follower?

I have tons of scenes or sections that lead to nowhere. Guess they are all potentially useful in the future.

Now, I have to say I'm shocked by how many "affair and pregnant" stories you can find online--I googled these two words and the mere 1st page took me hours to read. There are many, many unbelievable things happen in those people, and every one of them can potentially become a hollywood movie.

From the stories, you can feel their pain, panic, hurt, betrayed, hatred, regret, and so many other emotions. Many of them have their own issues from the start. It probably wouldn't be hard to find someone to write.

Why do people have affairs? How does it feel to find out your partner has an affair and is pregnant (or make someone pregnant)?

My.

91 more days to go.