Guest PostPlotting By Ear
You know that old saying “play it by ear”? It’s kind of a way of life for me and how I do most of my writing. When writing something, I’ll have a basic idea of what the story will be about and that’s pretty much it. Other times, I’ll know what I want to do with it, who the characters will be, and sometimes where I want them to end up. Mostly often than not, it starts with that one idea: “What if this happened? How would a character react?” I basically try not to plan too much because I like taking the spontaneous approach. I like the energy that gives the story.
Ideas are kind of hard for me to come by… my husband’s much better at that part of the writing process. He sometimes helps me with that. Ideas are so tough at times (and fleeting!) that I have to sit down almost right away and start working to get anything done. Once I do, it’s interesting how the idea takes over and gets a life of its own. Sometimes the idea ends up having only a small resemblance to the original once I’m done with it.
I remember one month we had to write a fantasy story for a writing group. I was stuck on what to do and my husband came up with a mini outline about a mermaid whose father is a kind and she ends up in a dungeon after the kingdom is taken over. By the time I got a story out, the King and Princess were humans and the father had been murdered by an evil wizard who then used magic to take his place. The daughter discovers this and the story ends with her running away before the wizard can harm her as well to plan how she’s going to expose what he did.
Taking the spontaneous approach is a fun method that seems to work for me so far and sometimes leads to fun surprises. We’ll see where that approach takes me in the future.
About the BookBeware the muse with a chip on her shoulder.
Muses are often called uncooperative, grumpy, lazy beings who abandon a writer when they're needed most. Now, one of them has decided to tell their side of the story. Meet Clarissa, a muse who has spent centuries trying to inspire artists who sometimes are too stubborn to listen to her.
What is your muse trying to say to you? Clarissa might just be able to answer that...
Price: $0.99
Number of Pages: 216
Genre: Paranormal Fiction/Satire/YA
Publisher: Create Space
Release Date: May 22, 2012
Buy Link: Kindle
About the AuthorJamie B. Musings (Jamie White) is a music addict, book lover, pet servant and NaNoWriMo survivor. When she's not busy writing posts for Culture Shock, she's taking pictures for her new obsession (That Photo Blog) and spending time with her husband and pets. Her first book, The Life and Times of No One in Particular, was released this month.
Connect with Jamie:
Web Site
Blog - Culture Shock
Blog - That Photo Blog
YouTube
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