So, I was so excited this morning when I discovered that I am ranked #118 out of 8.5K stories under the hashtag #romcom on Wattpad, that I felt like I was being rewarded for yesterday's grueling session. Therefore, what better way to spend the day than to COMPLETELY AVOID any real writing work?
Technically, it began last night when I put the finishing touches on my "Campbell Clan Family Tree," and continued through today with my Family Matters "Character Map." Granted, these are necessary pieces to the writing process and will help me stay clear on who's who and what's what in my novel, but they didn't need to be done today, though I gave myself the excuse that I was keeping my social media presence up-to-date with scheduled posts. But really, I was just shirking more intense experiences, grappling with characters and plot.
I did manage to complete another section of the book on Wattpad--those of the detective's case notes--with a decent amount of humor attached, but honestly, that part feels like playing at writing because I enjoy it so much, and it does not even come close to the painful wrangling of logic into fully developed prose that flows from one scene to the next in a novel.
On an interesting note, I did revisit the concept of the "Hero's Journey" to see where my little tale fits into the grander scheme of story telling and am pleased to see that, while I may feel I've been mucking about at cross purposes with myself, I have actually managed to complete most of Act I. Lindsay Grant and Liam Harrison have been witnessed in their ordinary worlds. Lindsay has refused the call to adventure and has met with her mentor, though I will probably be providing her two mentors, since Liam will act as this both romantically and with regard to family matters. Liam still has to meet with his mentor, who I think I'm going to make Callum Campbell, in both love and illicit dealing with the law.
Crossing the threshold will, no doubt, be another excruciating scene, but I think I'm more prepared for it now that I've managed to drag Lindsay through the refusal of the call. Incidentally, I avoided explicitly following the "Hero's Journey" outline with this particular story, because it always feels like too much pressure, and I inevitably end up ditching the stories I'm working on because they're not as good as Star Wars, or the Greek playwrights' foundational offerings. However, the structure must have seeped in somewhere, because I haven't deviated from the basic guide in the least.
If you'd like to learn more about plot structure and The Hero's Journey, search up Joseph Campbell anywhere on the web, and you'll find a plethora of resources. Also, the Hero's Journey outline depicted below is from www.movieoutline.com. They do a nice job of summing up the major concepts relevant to screenwriting and filmmaking.
Comments