Unearthing Conflict

On Mother’s Day weekend I got to take time off. Not jsut from work, but from the family as well. I took off all my hats, leaving only that of daughter and writer on, and whizzed away into the Poconos.

It was awesome.

Mountain Spreings Lake Resort, PA - cabin no. 24, already reserved for next year!

My mom and I stayed in a lovely Cabin, with a dock. Hiked about a forest on well maintained trails to view lots of waterfalls. Took a guided horseback ride on a wooded trail. And generally relaxed and bounced writing ideas off each other.

It’s funny how different we are. She’s writing children’s books, and collecting family stories. I’m working on a fantasy with elements of steam punk. Yet we helped each other out quite a bit. Like contemplating over what would happen if my crystal powered undead managed to infect a fish. The thought of flopping fish that desired human flesh and needed to get to the capitol city incited a plethora of giggles. On a more serious note, we discussed a way to tie in all her family stories, via one over arching thread, and just how that thread would lead to the breaking of the curse.

Importantly for me, I figured out just how I want Unearthing Magic to begin. Thanks to the cabin wall and sticky notes, I whittled down my opening scenes and played with character motivations and conflicts. 

Plotting on the Cabin Wall

Lori was my hardest character. She’s passive-aggressive and prefers to she avoids conflict.

Case in Point: After Ara died, Lori knew she ought to go home to her birth mother, but she doesn’t want to. So rather than asking her parents if she can stay, or asking Mart to do so for her, she just stays and says nothing.  – But then I realized, this is her conflict.  – Because she’s passive, if her birth parents call her to move back home, she’ll do so to try and avoid her mother’s volcanic temper, even though she wants to stay with Mart. And until Lori finds herself pulled into the troubles of the larger world, she’s always going to be fearful that she’ll be called back across the road to stay.

Goes to show that even passive people can have conflict, even when they’d rather avoid it – and the avoidance of conflict can also make that conflict bigger.



Final outline of Chapters 1-3

I’m quite happy with how this revision is turning out. So far I’ve got the first three Chapters plotted out, each with four viewpoints. as you can see in the diagram below. I didn’t want to wait too long introducing each character, but Travis and Angela got the whole first Chapter to themselves. After all the ball starts rolling downhill with Travis’s last assassination attempt, that leads to his kidnapping and it’s not until after that kidnapping that Herbert and Lori enter the picture.

Yes, I’m quite happy with where my first three chapters are going. And when I have them set, I’ll work on the next bunch – however many that may be.

 

Bushkill Falls - if your ever in PA near Wilks-Barre Scraton - check it out - a very well maintained private park with fourteen (yes 14) waterfalls, and a look out, we didn't make it too because we'd already walked around for thre hours. :}

:} Cathryn Leigh

Unearthing Chowder

Yum!

I originally wrote this blog back in the middle of March, trying to be proactive (ha ha right, I know *sigh*). Unfortunately, it’s in a notebook at home and I am here at the day job, with nothing to do. (I’ve written myself into a quandary in Unearthing Magic, perhaps more on that later.) So what better way to amuse myself than to recreate my blog post, since I have the pictures already taken and ready for uploading. So may I present to you:

Corn Chowder: From Simple to Fancy

I know some of my readers may be going off to university soon, which means living on your own and, heaven forbid, having to cook for yourself. Now a person can live on ramen or pasta and sauce. And  they work great for the University student’s budget, but let me add another dish to your repitour (how in the world do you spell that?); Corn Chowder. Easy to make, and easy to impress the boys (or girls) with (as I did).

my favorite brands



The simplest version is three cans:

• 1 can, Cream Style Corn (I tend to use white)
• 1 can, Whole Kernel Corn, drained (I like the Fiesta because it adds a dash of color)
• 1 can, Evaporated Milk (E-v-a-p-o-r-a-t-e-d... not to be confused with Condensed with will give you a very, very sweet chowder)

1. Open the three cans. Be sure to shake the Evaporated Milk and drain the whole kernel corn.
2. Dump all three cans into one smallish sized pot
3. Heat until it just starts to bubble.
4. Serve and Eat!

Now, say you’ve got a family to feed now, but still want to fall back on a simple meal (and you’re tired of spaghetti and sauce), you can still make this dish, but add a few extra things to make it go further and fill up rumbling bellies.
 

(ham, peppers and onions not shown, sorry)

Before heating add:

• 1 can, diced potatoes, drained
• 1 pkg, diced ham ~8 oz (found in the meat isle)
• 1 cup, frozen, chopped, peppers and onions

And now I’ve got the fanciest version, that I’ll feature here. Use the ingredients above but:

Substitute:

• 3 to 5 slices of cooked and crumbled bacon for the ham cubes
• Fresh chopped peppers and onions for the frozen

Add:

• Dash of dill and white pepper to taste added at anytime
• 1 cup of shredded cheese of your preference

1. Add these cheese at the end (when the soup bubbles), otherwise it will melt in clumps rather than adding a smooth cheesy flavor to the whole thing. The other key is to stir it well.
2. Serve the Chowder with rolls (Pillsbury buttermilk –American- biscuits are what I like to use).

Now if only Unearthing Magic would be as easy to edit. Instead it’s thinking about rearranging itself as I delve deeper into my Antagonist’s motivations. That and my added perspective, doesn’t seem to know what route it wants to take to get to the end. Hopefully my fellow writers aren’t having such issues. *grins*

 

:} Cathryn Leigh

P.S. Us New Englanders call this dish Cohn Chowdah. ;-}

Flying Phoenixes Flutter and Flounder

I’m late. I’m sorry. Moving on... *grins*

Last month I mentioned I was working on reading though my Videra Phoenixes. When I started, I was worried because reading and taking notes on Book 1 was arduous. But once I was past that relic, the reading speed up (as note taking slowed down). Yes, this once trilogy clearly shows that with practice, even sans reading craft books, my writing has improved.  

 

Now that I’ve gotten through all 890 or so pages, I’m transcribing my notes into word so I can put them all in their proper categories (I color coded them as I took them) to figure out how to turn this massive story into books, that maybe, people might like to read.

Yes, the characters started commenting after a certain point...

One of the first things I’ve figured out is that there are really about five books in what I originally wrote as a Trilogy:

• Book 1: Sarah’s Phoenix, needs the most work (written in 2005, edited in 2009, yup a relic)
• Book 2: Phoenix Rising, more a romantic interlude than anything and I find its plot puzzling
• Book 3: Phoenix Burning (was second half of Phoenix Rising), the plot definitely works
• Book 4: Phoenix Triumphant, again a good solid plot
• Book 5: Phoenix United (was third, third of Phoenix Triumphant), seems to be mostly romance with a euphoric ending (well it gave me a permasmile)

Now, I’m going through the joy of figuring out where Book 1 ends and Book 2 begins, because I’ve decided that I’m rewriting Book 1 for April’s Camp NaNoWriMo (my goal is at least 25,000 words to keep the stress and lack of sleep minimal). But how do I revamp the plot of Sarah’s Phoenix without having to rewrite everything?

It’s tough. When I was first reading it, I had a brilliant idea, which slowly got squished as I read the other books realizing just how important the set up in Book 1 and 2 were. So I’m trying my hand at plotting, but I’m not going to do it chapter by chapter. Unearthing Magic taught me that that method doesn’t quite work for me. Instead I’m trying a five point plot – Intro, Call to Action, Midpoint, Climax and Resolution.

Not working so well. At least it’s not feeling like it is. I could be over complicating the issue. I’m really good at that. But the plot is pretty complex, because you’ve got the political backdrop to the romance, acting as the main obstacle keeping Sarah and Hasón from their ‘Happily Ever After’. My little private Facebook group (spawned from NaNo, how I love thee) has recommended I diagram each plot so I can see where how they merge.

Do I tackle the whole Book 1 through 5 plot, or do I do it book by book? And how many plots do I have... I know my two main ones, but what about the characters? Are their character arcs another plot... Or am I, as I said, making this way more complex than it needs to be? *HELP*

I also just realized I’m turning... 36 (phew I thought it was 37, opps *grins*) in April, and I would like to have my first book published by 40. That means I only have four more years, and I figure at least the last two ought to be for the query process *gulp*

Better get to work, hadn’t I? I also better figure out what book I’d like to query first, because strangely, I’m wondering if it shouldn’t be Unearthing Magic as opposed to Sarah’s Phoenix. What do you think? How should I choose?

 

:} Cathryn Leigh

Tea and Granny Squares!

January was one of the craziest months I’ve very lived. Very stressful too. I mentioned in my last blog that my company was undergoing a transition. Basically they filed bankruptcy and then had the assets bought by another company. Then, the company that won the auction (that’s right our company went up for auction!) wasn’t who they’d thought it would be. So now the original intent to hires were null and we were all put in limbo hoping to either find another job (without knowing exactly when this one would end) or pick up an offer from the purchasing company.

Unfortunately my job leads haven’t been that great, so the stress was really high. Then at last, a week ago, I was given an offer. It may only be for three months, and it all around closing out this office for good. BUT, it’s something and it gives me more time to keep looking.


Now to the fun part, and explanation of the pictures. See I’ve been using my ‘down’ time at work for some personal project, just too keep myself form going insane (or bursting into tears). Can you guess which items below correspond to the pictures above and below?

• Using Visio to create floor plans for a variety of things (my own creative space, Mart’s house, Mom’s space arc, blanket design...)
• Working on completing Unearthing Magic (totally completed and partially 1/3 fist pass edited)
• Crocheting granny squares and using Visio to create a blanket design
• Reading through my Videra Phoenixes (aka Phoenixes of Vervell) with an eye for plot, character, setting and how to revise the darn thing so it all makes sense and flows well

If you guessed, the first and second to last one, you’re right! It was the knitting moms at the Dance Studio that reminded me I had a blanket to make for my daughter. SO after deciding I wasn’t going to knit it, but crochet neat granny Squares, I started making all sorts of cool symmetrical designs in Visio where no color ever touched itself. But my daughter wanted to make changes. Not having Visio at home I gave her a bunch of colored paper squares to play with. The picture is the design she came up with after looking at mine for ideas. Hey it’s her blanket, so I’ll go with it!

As for the tea mentioned in the title, well...

My mom came down with fabric (color coordination picked out by the daughter as well)  all cut out for our tea gowns. See my church has been having a Ladies Tea around Valentines Day for four years and we like to make it a point to dress up for it. This year we went with pseudo Regency dresses. Which my mom finished making at about 1 am the night before... Whew. Go Mom!


Now I need to keep working on the Granny Squares (I got about 20 more to go before I can start putting it together) and my Videra Phoenixes. Unearthing Magic will be put aside, as I’ve found one major writing project at a time is all I can do.

Hopefully, in three to four months time, things will settle out into something more normal and less stressful.

 :} Cathryn LeighP.S. sorry for the delay, given the work situation you’d think I’d have been able to keep up *facepalm*)

Aieeeeeeee! Says the Specter

At least that’s as close as I can get to her wailing. She does it a bit, especially in those situations where the systems she’d help set up 950 or so years ago have fallen into corruption and ruin. But before I say any more let me introduce her to you.

Tabitha S Era (S is her last name, Era is equivalent to saying Ms.) was born around 1,000 years before Unearthing Magic begins. Her history is a complicated one, and suffice it to say that she was the catalyst for the Separatist Revolution that broke the single Magi kingdom into four, and founding the country in which non-magi live without being enslaved by the magi. However during that revolution Tabitha was encased in crystal to ensure Trabia remained under its own rule. Set free by accident, she’s not really happy with what the Non-magi have done, but after 1,000 years of crystallization, she’s not really in the right mind to fix it.

Much like in her own life, she’ll be acting as a somewhat antagonistic catalyst for my main characters, specifically the farm girl, Lori, who is a direct descendant. Here are my answers for her to the 20 Beautiful People questions I picked out of the archive.

Easy Questions

1. Does his or her name have a special meaning? – Tabi was likely named for a tabby cat, given her hair is bright orange. Other than that, Tabitha was not chosen for its meaning, but apparently (according to the book I have) it means gazelle in Greek and Aramaic.
2. Right, or left handed? - left, well, once she was taught how to write
3. Favorite color? - Sky Blue, the kind you find on days when the sky is dotted with fluffy clouds
4. Do they like hugs? - Definitely, especially those rare ones from Sabareil... Who isn't even a character in this book *Glares and character who bubbles with laughter and sticks her tongue out at her author* - she's also very mature for a 1,000 year old *eyeroll*
5. Favorite season of the year? - Spring, she loves the colors that spring up everywhere
6. Favorite kind of weather? - warm and gentle summer rains
7. Does he/she have a good sense of humor? If so what kind? - Yes, probably more so than the cast she's supporting would like. She's a practical joker and a bit loopy; not that I blame her.
8. Is he/she naturally curious? - Yes, in fact it was her curiosity and desire to know how things worked that made her one of the greatest magi of her time, unfortunately she never managed to be in a position to truly be a magical scientist, magisist?
9. Does he/she see the big picture or live in the moment? - She used to live in the moment, but once freed from her crystal prison she's beginning to see the big picture (and she's not liking it one bit) *Tabitha wails in agreement*
10. What do others expect from them? - Not a lot as Lori is the only one who can see her. But when Tabitha appears Lori’s sure it’s because she needs Lori to do something for her or she's causing mischief.
11. What does their average day look like? - Tabitha spends her time flitting about Trabia, checking on this and that, sometimes she even goes back to her prison to ponder the crystaline structure she had made. Other times she studies the spells that flow around it, trying to figure out how to undo the damage that was done 1,000 years ago
12. What does he/she do with his/her spare time? - See above, all of Tabitha's time is spare now.

Thought Provoking Questions

1. What would they do if they discovered they were dying? – Tabitha would try to do something to bring good into the world. Which is why she's a bit pissed at Trabia, since she already sacrificed herself to save them and they are NOT running the country nicely. *More agreement wails from Tabitha*
2. If they could change one thing in their world, what would it be? - Make the whole world see that neither separation, nor suppression is the answer and that magi and non-magi can live together in peace – Yes, folks she just went for the World Peace answer.
3. What do they think about when nothing else is going on? - When she's not worrying about how to fix what went wrong with the Trabian government, she's probably pondering how things work.
4. If they had to amputate one body part, which one would they choose? - Her source (of magical power), preferably before she discovered she had it, thus choosing the life of the non-magi, which she felt was simpler and less 'out to get you' than the magi life she ended up with.
5. If your character crashed on an island with a bunch of other people, how would your character help the group survive? - She'd help them keep their spirits up with humor, while guiding them on how to build a boat, without them realizing it.

Relationship Questions

1. Describe their relationship as a whole in 3 words or less.- With Lori:  Annoying Mentor
   - With Travis: Inspiring Historical Figure
   - With Andrew: Puzzling Presence

Questions out of their world

1. If they could drive any kind of car they wanted, what would it be? - Tabitha would totally have a red sports car, and she'd probably modify it to be faster than it was off the showroom floor.
2. What would their favorite be at the local coffee shop? - Iced Mocha Frappachino

So there you have it. Tabitha S Era, the forgotten protector of Trabia.

:} Cathryn Leigh

Let the Plotting Complete!

Yesterday, I did an unthinkable thing – I completed the plotting of Unearthing Magic.

But this didn’t happen without hiccups along the way.

The first thing I encountered was trying to think in terms of scenes. After all Save the Cat is about screenplays, so of course it’s looking at scenes. This meant, if I used Snyder’s method, that I would include on my post-its:

• Setting (interior, exterior, one per scene)
• What happens (short sentence)
• +/- (The emotional change)
• >< (the conflict, every scene has one)

My initial introduction of the characters, Snyder's way

I got about fifteen post-its in, laboring on each one for fifteen minutes or more over the course of two or three days. It wasn’t working for me, so I took a step back because one of my life’s lessons has been; people think in different ways, even if they are good at the same things.

~You see in college, I had a friend who was a Chemist, like me. We took the same classes, studied in the same group, and got the same grades, until we hit the mandatory programming class. The language doesn’t matter (Fortran77 is you must know), what does was the fact that I breezed though (creating programs on the side), while she struggled. Turns out my brain can think like a computer, but hers couldn’t.~

So instead of continually bashing my brain against Snyder’s method until I plotted the whole thing, I looked at the result that was desired – a series of steps that could be followed to be expanded into chapters of a book that moved through a plot progression – and tried to come up with my own method for getting there. Then *BAMN!* I remembered something I did during NaNo 2011:

-  To ensure I didn’t lose the flow of the story when I had to stop, I tries to always write a sentence or two, summing up my thoughts on where things were going. For Example:

"<In which Rachael and Michael deliver Transium to Terra Firma 2 and Rachael is waylaid by a couple of UCPA authorities, who quickly realize they are in over their heads.>"

Okay so it worked as a word count booster, but more importantly it helped with the flow because I ended with 82k words (compared to my 53K of NaNo2010). It was time to see if it’d work for pre-plotting.

The character introductions, my way

Clearing my board of plot (keeping title and log line), I started fresh, using sentences beginning with “In Which”. I had to do a little rewriting at one point because I picked the wrong colors to do Point of View in, but then it started to flow. I mean really flow – suddenly in two or three sittings I’d reached the mid-point. And then in two or three more I’d cascaded to the finish line.

Now, my work isn’t done. I’ve already spotted some potential weak points and are thinking about rearranging the view point order (Blue and Green are the two foreign Princes, and Purple is the farm girl). Plus who knows what the story will do once I actually start writing it. But maybe, this time, there might be more of a plot than Rachael and company in the Nueri gave me for NaNo2011.

The next step – to do a little more characterization on my main characters. So who would you like to see answer some Beautiful People questions first:

• Lori – the farm girl who finds out she a magi, from the country that suppresses magic use
• Travis – heir to the throne of the neighboring kingdom and an average magi
• Andrew – the older brother of Travis, who lives in Lori’s country and isn’t a Magi
• A random supporting character, protagonist or antagonist.

:} Cathryn Leigh