And so it begins...

In my Junior year of college, I had to write a research paper on the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin. After spending a week reading four books and numerous articles on the subject, you would think I would be ready to write. But no... there was more research to do. There were more facts to gather, more evidence to uncover, more arguments to dispel. Just a whole lot of more.

Fortunately, I was dating someone at the time who was frustrated with how little time I'd given her that week. "Nate," she said, "you just need to start writing. You've got all the information you need to write this paper. You could get more, but it's just going to be excess at this point. You just need to get what's in your head out on paper." So we started writing. I say we because, on my own, I tend to edit as I go. My brain has time to catch up with what's on the page, see how it could be better, and stop to correct it. So instead of my usual process, I dictated. I spoke and she typed. Twenty minutes later, I had a clearly written, concise, 3-point, 5 page paper. A half hour of editing and footnoting, and it was ready to go.

Fast forward a decade and I wish that lesson had stuck better. On my trip from Seattle to Evansville, I hatched on idea for a story about a young girl who travels to a magical land. It was a short story based on my sister Rachael's marionette ostrich and her love for Curious George. It was supposed to be about five pages. Since then, the idea has grown into the outline for six novelettes, all with interconnected characters and networked plotlines worthy of the LOST writer's room. And I can hear that old advice again. "Nate, you just need to start writing. You've got all the story you need to write this book. You could get more, but it's just going to be excess at this point. You just need to get what's in your head out on paper."

My stepdad was in town a few weeks ago and gave me the same advice. "Write. Write a short story. Get something finished, so you can feel that accomplishment and run with it." I don't have a short story to write now, but I applied it to Kindarell instead. And while I still have to actively concentrate on the rule of "Write now. Edit later.", it's been working. I just finished the rough draft of the first chapter of the first novel of my life. And so it begins...

Works in Progress

As promised, here's a rundown of the novel ideas that are currently gestating in the chrysalis of my mind(and struggling somewhat impatiently to escape, butterfly-like, onto the printed page). While other ideas come and go, these are the three that have been around for awhile, have a little depth, and have some form of outline and/or characters stored on my computer. All three are intended to be series of somewhere between 3 and 7 books in length.



Kindarell

Kindarell is a fictional world visited by children from Earth, a la Narnia. Some children stay, some return, but all are changed by their visits as well as effecting change in the Kindarellian landscape. Book one, The Song of the Piper, focuses on Amanda McKenna (yes, Ivy, that one's for you), a young girl who finds that no matter how hard she tries, she can't buy friends; she has to make them. Targeted towards children, and therefore (at least in my novice opinion) the easiest to write, is the one I'm working towards finishing first.



Gallaris

This is the one that started it all. The idea for Gallaris is a pretty straight-forward fantasy-based Christ analogy. It's the one for which I moved to Evansville the first time. It's my baby. The Gallaris books are my attempt at a cross between The Lord of the Rings, The Wheel of Time, and Dune. My first writing attempt as an adult was an 8-page introduction to the first book in this series which has been lost to the ravages of time and disorganization. It practically dripped from my fingertips, had mystery, humor, and character development. I'd give my left pinky to have it back, but I'm probably going to have to rewrite it from scratch. The concepts and ideas will still be intact, but you can't pay for fresh inspiration like that.



The Pyramid Trilogy

Okay, this one's not actually called The Pyramid Trilogy and it has very little to do with pyramids. But the premise for it is the most original, inventive idea for a story I've ever had, and I'm playing this one pretty close to the chest. You've got to be a close personal friend of Nate to hear details on this masterpiece.

This is the series I'm the most excited about, and the most eager to see in print. Consequently, while I will continue to work out the story and characters, the actual writing of this will probably have to wait until I've developed my craft a little more. While I won't go into detail here, it's a modern-day action/adventure story that delves into the spiritual world that encompasses us all.



So those are the big three: Kindarell, Gallaris and Pyramid. There's also some non-fiction stuff I'll be working on, but that will mostly work it's way out in my other blog, Aspiring to Discipleship.

I'm New to This (Take 2)

My first blog was created on my other blog, Aspiring to Discipleship (kinda needs a different name, doesn't it), but it actually had more to do with writing, so I'm putting it here as well.

New to This

Room to Grow

I have an online writing mentor, Randy Ingermanson, who's taught me more about writing than all of my classroom and reading time combined.  Although we've never met, I've been both inspired and instructed by him.  He's most well known for developing and teaching the Snowflake Method of story structure, which, if you've never heard of it and you're interested in writing a breathtaking work of staggering genius, you really need to check out.  Although there are no magical formulas to writing, it is a skill that, like any, can be learned.  Randy's snowflake method provides an incredible tool for structuring your story, so that when you actually start putting the words together, you know where you're going, and more importantly, how you're going to get there.

I say all that, not just to plug the website of a man to whom I owe much, but also to mention that I was working on my snowflake for Kindarell last night (if you don't know what Kindarell is, you're not alone.  In fact, I'm just about the only person who does.  I hope to address that soon with a 'works in progress' blog), and I finished the introductory character sheets for two of my main characters.  One of them, The Piper, is a fairly static character, who doesn't change much.  That's okay for him; it's part of who he is.  The main character, however, a girl named Amanda, prior to last night was also a fairly static character.  While this wasn't necessarily bad, it did unfortunately make her a little bland.  One of the questions the character sheet asks is "What's the character's motivation?"  And I realized Amanda didn't have one.  She was simply a person caught up in a series of events that happened to her.  So we tweaked a little, she and I, and before long, we had not only a motivation, but a story arc that involved growth and change.

Amanda now transforms throughout the course of the story.  The glorious thing that resulted from this was that the story grew and changed as well.  Her character now drives the story which used to drive her.  Things I was heretofor unclear on are now crystal.  And the old addage proved true that character is story.

One other quick note on this.  That room to grow that Amanda now has makes her more interesting.  That's true for us as well.  We all have a little room for growth in this life.  We all have those areas we wish we were better in.  When we find them in ourselves, let's have the strength to work on them.  When we find those areas in others, let's have the grace to let them deal with it and cherish them anyway.