Welcome to Morning Pages — it’s time for a monthly roundup. I hope you’ve got your pencils sharpened and ready to write. Wanna join in on the fun? Read the prompt, set your timer* and get ready to let the words flow. Feel free to post the results of your work in the comments below where we chat about writing and (if the mood strikes us) get a craft discussion going.
If you want critique from other commenters, use #YESTHANKS in your comment. Otherwise, you can tell us about the flash fic and the process you went through to write it. And of course, I’m always open to hear what you think about my excerpts!
*you can write for as long as you want, but most folks choose 15-30 minutes.
What I learned this month: My subconscious mind is plotting against me.
After my first three months of Morning Pages, I assumed future work would shake out to have a similar ratio; about half of my pages were in known universes (prior or future works of mine), while the other half were completely new. This month not only disrupted that ratio *hard* (all but two fics were in known universes), it went after much rarer characters — all of them from stories I have yet to write.
I know I’m ready to write a story when I start daydreaming about it. Eventually, I get to a point where my mind can’t hold onto all the little scenes I’ve played out like movies in my head, and I start to write — jotted notes, at first, just so I don’t forget what I’ve been picturing. Those notes become the scaffold for what eventually becomes a novel (or an epic, in Oceana’s case). Imagine my surprise — and horror! — when not one, but three different universes clamored for attention throughout the month. All the power in the world to the multi-drafters among you, but I’m absolutely not one of them, so although I’ll never look the inspiration gift horse in the mouth, friends, I am nervous.
Why are all of them talking to me right now?
What do they want?
And at what point will they be ready for me to start writing?
(Fiction writers, I know you feel me on this one.)
The Prompts:
“Tattoo”
A priest has the legacy of conquest and oppression inked into his skin.
“There was a rumor that the driftwood on Blacksand Beach was once a man.”
“Driftwood“: Sometimes shapeshifters get desperate.
“For thirty pieces of silver, he sold out his handler.”
Neveshir from Dark Arm of the Maker didn’t have it easy in his military days. He fought back.
“Talisman + Symphony + Gold”
Val from the Oceana Series hates the symphony, but there’s one person who can persuade him to go.
“If they only knew…”
Max Battista isn’t so easy to intimidate.
Picture Prompts
↑ The last army to march through the gate had disappeared.
← That night, the string sextet played at the waterfront.
Get Involved!
Answer the prompts or dive straight in and respond to others’ comments — let’s share our knowledge, our experience, and have a discussion we can all learn from! Don’t want to miss a post? Subscribe to the blog in the sidebar to get notified about new posts.
Today’s questions:
- How long do you spend ‘marinating’ on story ideas before you write about them?
- Do you need your characters to live with you for a while before you can get them onto the page?
Planning the External Plot
Do Your Characters Have Stage Fright?
Worldbuilder’s Disease: Infodumps
How long do you spend ‘marinating’ on story ideas before you write about them?
HAHAHAHA years. Books that get added to my writing queue take anywhere from one to (an estimated) three years to cycle through it and reach my writing desk, and they spend that whole time marinating, accumulating snippets of plot, setting, and character that I note down as they appear. I love the whole system.
Do you need your characters to live with you for a while before you can get them onto the page?
Hmmm, depends. I can pull off a character insta-build and write a whole novella with a cast I only just met, but that’s rare. It’s also not my best work. In an ideal scenario, I’ll have known my characters for at least a few months before I start writing, and more likely the entirety of the 1-3 years their books have been in my writing queue. They still develop exponentially when they reach the page, but the longer I know them, the less flailing I have to do when I actually start their book.
I’m with you on this one! Part of the reason I like having a longer book queue right now is because I have a place where I can file my ideas, matching new ones to the projects they seem to fit best. (I actually use my patreon discord to do this — I have channels for each one of my books and throw ideas into there. I’m not sure why this works so well for me, but it does.)
And then, of course, as these ideas marinate, the characters themselves start to emerge and take shape, which for me is the real sign that a project is ready to go into the planning phase.
I might need to steal the Discord channel-filing system. I completely agree on matching new ideas to existing queue-books that can house them: I’ve got two upcoming works in particular that are veritable sponges for such things, and that keep shifting and developing under the influence of incoming ideas.
My characters, interestingly enough, tend to be quite chatty long before the world or premise are developed enough to actively plan the book. What do you do if yours jump the gun like that?
If mine start actually talking, I’ll usually jot down either scene ideas or snippets in a writing notebook or flash fic.
I never get more than that — usually I see a few pivotal scenes, but once I make notes on them, the characters pipe down a little. It’s way easier for me to daydream/imagine scenes than it is to hammer things onto paper.
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