Great realizations, Mandy. Using the UFO's to represent love & hope in the scene is powerful & very Chekhovian! From reading your share, they could also represent absence, uncertainty, intangibility, impossibility - shadow aspects of love & relationship. I also think writing the more literal / straightforward version of dialogue in early…
Great realizations, Mandy. Using the UFO's to represent love & hope in the scene is powerful & very Chekhovian! From reading your share, they could also represent absence, uncertainty, intangibility, impossibility - shadow aspects of love & relationship. I also think writing the more literal / straightforward version of dialogue in early drafts & then layering with more allusions / disguising etc is a valid approach. You're essentially "bookmarking" what needs to be covered per scene first. Hmm ... in a sense, the literal is gradually transformed into the subtextual with this approach!
Yes! Those shadow aspects were exactly what I was going for.
And that’s a good point about literal transformed into subtext. I think the Fleabag example form the lesson about the “bus” was really perfect, but it’s like… how do we craft our characters into situations/settings where that subtext can really pop?? For me it only happens accidentally right now—lol!! Because when there is so much to think about/connect/wrap together, it can feel a whole lot easier to let the story sit and rot than try to wrangle it all… but such is the labor of storytelling, right?? I hope it gets easier with practice.
Yes, when drafting, it's like you're trying to do so much at the same time - some conscious, some of it unconscious. But I think when you accept the idea that your WIP will undergo multiple drafts, you can relax about not getting it all right in one fevered, frenzied write! Right? ;) TBH, I haven't had a chance to even look at these lessons yet - but the idea of connecting more with other writers about their process appealed as a potential kickstarter to pulling out my WIP - which is a feminist fairytale reimagining at (I think) novella-length.
So I'm firing up the other laptop where my draft lives & seeing what I can apply to evaluate / improve / vary my approach, so I'll see if I feel like sharing a section here with thoughts!
Curious if you did the Forever novel workshop, Mandy from late last year?
Thanks for being a bit of a catalyst! :) Which lesson was the "floors" concept laid out (get it)? Maybe I should start there.
I would start with Lesson 1, but all of them have been great! I haven't done any of the full Forever workshops before, but I really liked the free lessons and went for the full deal this year. So I think I saw a few lessons of the novel one but not the whole thing! Perhaps I'll see if I can check it out.
Your novella sounds amazing. Wishing you all the best of luck!!
Yeah, I dipped in & out of a few of them last year - but was feeling pretty burnt out creatively by about September - so I completely missed the novel workshop. Also, the spec fic one, which sounds like it might have some gems for you if your MC is a stuffed toy!
Great realizations, Mandy. Using the UFO's to represent love & hope in the scene is powerful & very Chekhovian! From reading your share, they could also represent absence, uncertainty, intangibility, impossibility - shadow aspects of love & relationship. I also think writing the more literal / straightforward version of dialogue in early drafts & then layering with more allusions / disguising etc is a valid approach. You're essentially "bookmarking" what needs to be covered per scene first. Hmm ... in a sense, the literal is gradually transformed into the subtextual with this approach!
Yes! Those shadow aspects were exactly what I was going for.
And that’s a good point about literal transformed into subtext. I think the Fleabag example form the lesson about the “bus” was really perfect, but it’s like… how do we craft our characters into situations/settings where that subtext can really pop?? For me it only happens accidentally right now—lol!! Because when there is so much to think about/connect/wrap together, it can feel a whole lot easier to let the story sit and rot than try to wrangle it all… but such is the labor of storytelling, right?? I hope it gets easier with practice.
Yes, when drafting, it's like you're trying to do so much at the same time - some conscious, some of it unconscious. But I think when you accept the idea that your WIP will undergo multiple drafts, you can relax about not getting it all right in one fevered, frenzied write! Right? ;) TBH, I haven't had a chance to even look at these lessons yet - but the idea of connecting more with other writers about their process appealed as a potential kickstarter to pulling out my WIP - which is a feminist fairytale reimagining at (I think) novella-length.
So I'm firing up the other laptop where my draft lives & seeing what I can apply to evaluate / improve / vary my approach, so I'll see if I feel like sharing a section here with thoughts!
Curious if you did the Forever novel workshop, Mandy from late last year?
Thanks for being a bit of a catalyst! :) Which lesson was the "floors" concept laid out (get it)? Maybe I should start there.
I would start with Lesson 1, but all of them have been great! I haven't done any of the full Forever workshops before, but I really liked the free lessons and went for the full deal this year. So I think I saw a few lessons of the novel one but not the whole thing! Perhaps I'll see if I can check it out.
Your novella sounds amazing. Wishing you all the best of luck!!
Yeah, I dipped in & out of a few of them last year - but was feeling pretty burnt out creatively by about September - so I completely missed the novel workshop. Also, the spec fic one, which sounds like it might have some gems for you if your MC is a stuffed toy!
Thank you - & good luck to you, too! :)