![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Jan. 13th, 2007 07:11 pmWhat I've been doing for the Star Wars story (which is still, you know, untitled) is what I've been calling, for lack of a better phrase, "concept writing," like the concept art artists do for various movies and TV shows. It may not be a big deal for some people, but it is for me: writing just to write, trying to feel out what works and what doesn't. Most of the eleven thousand or so words I have for the Star Wars story won't make it into the draft itself, which I'm working on right now -- actually thinking, not just writing whatever sounds cool, which is basically what I did all through the Bardverse novellas. Some of the concepts will, though, in suitably altered form, and one scene may make it through almost unaltered.
Another thing I'm trying to do for the Star Wars story is really establish a sense of setting. My favorite authors all do that -- the setting is so strong it's practically a character in its own right. Rather than just having the story on Generic Planet #22,871, I want it to take place on Ixtapa: more specifically, on the eastern continent, Merapesh, in the capitol city, Per Macchu. And I want it to only be able to take place there: it's not going to be the same on any other planet, any other city. It's building up a certain kind of atmosphere and it's hard, because it's not just an infodump. It has to seem like just another part of the story, the same way you drop pieces of info about characters, pieces of dialogue, all that. It's also pretty fun, because I've never really done it before. I'm just getting to the point in my writing ability where I can do it: the New York City of Strange Angels, the arcana Americana of Dangerous Heroes (both my originals), and now this. I don't think that sense of setting as character really shows up in the Bardverse at all.
I've discovered something else: writing sci-fi can be fun. I don't do a lot of sci-fi: my main genre is urban fantasy, and that's something different. I've kind of given up on high fantasy too, and that's also different. But sci-fi combines the strange with the ordinary and in a different way than urban fantasy -- although I still suck at writing aliens, I'm getting the chance to do a lot of world-building and play with the dynamics of the Star Wars galaxy.
Something else I've been doing in this story is telling it from an outsider's POV. Until just about the point I'm handwriting now (there's another part that's on the computer), most of it is told from the POV of outsiders/original characters. Outside looking in isn't really something I do a lot, and it's interesting. This story is actually a really fun experiment in a different style of writing: not thematically, but in the act of writing itself. It's pretty refreshing.
And after I'm done, of course, I'll go back to working on Dangerous Heroes. I'd really like to have a first draft done by June, when I go to Brown.
Thank you for the birthday wishes! Being seventeen doesn't feel any different from being sixteen, but it's definitely cooler. And a little scarier. I can honestly say that I'll graduate high school and begin college next year, not to mention vote in the next election.
Another thing I'm trying to do for the Star Wars story is really establish a sense of setting. My favorite authors all do that -- the setting is so strong it's practically a character in its own right. Rather than just having the story on Generic Planet #22,871, I want it to take place on Ixtapa: more specifically, on the eastern continent, Merapesh, in the capitol city, Per Macchu. And I want it to only be able to take place there: it's not going to be the same on any other planet, any other city. It's building up a certain kind of atmosphere and it's hard, because it's not just an infodump. It has to seem like just another part of the story, the same way you drop pieces of info about characters, pieces of dialogue, all that. It's also pretty fun, because I've never really done it before. I'm just getting to the point in my writing ability where I can do it: the New York City of Strange Angels, the arcana Americana of Dangerous Heroes (both my originals), and now this. I don't think that sense of setting as character really shows up in the Bardverse at all.
I've discovered something else: writing sci-fi can be fun. I don't do a lot of sci-fi: my main genre is urban fantasy, and that's something different. I've kind of given up on high fantasy too, and that's also different. But sci-fi combines the strange with the ordinary and in a different way than urban fantasy -- although I still suck at writing aliens, I'm getting the chance to do a lot of world-building and play with the dynamics of the Star Wars galaxy.
Something else I've been doing in this story is telling it from an outsider's POV. Until just about the point I'm handwriting now (there's another part that's on the computer), most of it is told from the POV of outsiders/original characters. Outside looking in isn't really something I do a lot, and it's interesting. This story is actually a really fun experiment in a different style of writing: not thematically, but in the act of writing itself. It's pretty refreshing.
And after I'm done, of course, I'll go back to working on Dangerous Heroes. I'd really like to have a first draft done by June, when I go to Brown.
Thank you for the birthday wishes! Being seventeen doesn't feel any different from being sixteen, but it's definitely cooler. And a little scarier. I can honestly say that I'll graduate high school and begin college next year, not to mention vote in the next election.