Current Projects Part 4

Welcome back!

Today is going to be a special “Current Project” post, as it follows my first milestone on the journey to becoming a writer: my first 1000 views on my blog! I managed to reach this goal three months after my blog was established, which by my standards is pretty impressive! I can’t express how much everyone's support has meant to me on this endeavour.

So what have I been up to lately?

Moving on to what I have been doing lately, I am slowly putting together a routine in order to keep a steady pace with my blogging. Along with my (hopefully) bi-weekly posts on writing, I plan on making monthly updates, which will include more of my “By the Book” reviews, “BOOTCAMP” exercises and of course my “Current Projects” updates. Additionally, I have reached out to a few published authors, asking them if they would be willing to be interviewed for my blog. I will keep you guys posted once more information comes in.

This leads me to another goal I have just set for myself: to read more. I have to admit, reading was no longer a priority for me in the past decade. It has only been since I started volunteering for Missing Worlds Media that I picked up the habit again. Well now, I plan on reading more, at least one novel per month.

Next, I am glad to report I have completed the “How to Write a Great Novel” course from screenplayscripts.com. The course not only contained information on important elements of storytelling, but even went as far as explaining the various options available to writers regarding publishing, the importance of marketing and if you should consider getting an agent. This class was great in the sense that it opened my eyes to aspects of writing a book that I hadn’t even considered before (especially the business angle of it). I would recommend this class to anyone seriously thinking about becoming a writer.

Amidst the chaos of my real life responsibilities, my story has managed to see some progress.

Further research has revealed more narrative elements I had not taken into consideration before, so my story checklist (a.k.a. BackBone ™ ) has had more items added to it. The list is still incomplete, but the more I add to it, the more confident I become about this endeavour. I don’t know how to describe it; it feels like my story isn’t just a story anymore, it feels like it has a purpose now. It is gaining a life of it’s own.

As for the story itself, this past week as seen the conceptualization of the Main Villain and two of the supporting/background characters. I’m excited about the Villain, since his profile/details will mesh well with the other two Protagonists (a lesson I have learned through the class I took!). The supporting characters will mainly be puzzle pieces, their presence in the story serving to plug plot holes or hand out information.

On top of that, I have begun using Pinterest to collect various visual references that help me get a mental image of what the characters will look like. This helps me flesh out the characters by “seeing” how they would appear, dress, express themselves or even move. This habit comes from my artistic days of yore, when I gathered visual references from magazines, comic books or other sources to help me better visualize my ideas. For the opportunity to see my references, look for @ozmosis78 on Pinterest.

At this point, a fork in the road has presented itself. While adding details to my plot, I was faced with THE question every writer must come across at some point: What If ? This simple question may appear innocent, but it threw me for a loop. It came to me once my main character reached a turning point in the story, now I am faced with the option of:

A) keep the story as I originally intended, or

B) explore this alternate reality that seems just as interesting and plausible.

Now facing two possible paths, I find myself stuck, having to weigh the pros and cons of each in the hopes of finding the better option. Luckily this is still early enough in the process that it is not a big deal to backtrack and make changes.

Regarding my work with Missing Worlds Media, I am still working on the storyline project for villainous character that was assigned to me, as well as looking into other details of our gaming world. This past week has been a question of mapping out spawn points and character locations.

That is all I have to report for now. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all again for your continued support and attention. Feel free to ask questions, and I will answer what I can.

Until next time.

Cheers,

Patrick Osborne


(edited 2016-01-07)