On the other hand, they say that when a student is ready, a teacher will appear. That seems more in line with my experiences.

So I remember talking about needing to study structure. One of my friends linked Jennifer Crusie’s blog because of it. But I didn’t quite ‘get’ the four-act structure she was talking about. How come everyone else always went on about three? So I snagged her “map” and worked out a plot to Kolya, but I kept my eyes open for more information. Especially when my plan for Kolya started looking not-so-good.

When someone on my Twitter feed linked Alexandra Sokoloff talking about structure, I went, even though she’s a screenwriter. And she’s very good. But I got to thinking I needed a book. She mentioned one by Blake Snyder called Save the Cat! I remembered it because I wanted to know if the title came from that scene in Alien when I (it shames me to admit this) was yelling at Ripley to “leave the f*cking cat!”

Last week I took the kid to a used bookstore. They were having a presentation from the Desert Museum and she was hoping for snakes. I like snakes well enough, but they never let grown-ups near the cool stuff, so I wandered the store. Because I have tons of books at home, I stayed away from the fiction.

Apparently nonfiction is no longer a safe place for me either. ^__^

It’s not that I don’t like nonfiction. I love to learn cool stuff, I consider it a duty to know lots of things if I’m going to write, and it just makes it even better if no one I know already knows it. So yeah. Nonfiction is good stuff. But I get a lot of that on the internet, and when I need the in-depth knowledge only a book can give, I usually get it from the library. What we know changes so fast, it doesn’t really make sense to buy a book I’ll only read once before it’s outdated.

So yeah. Wandering with no intention of buying anything. Until I found myself in the writing section. Which I would have avoided, had I known it was there, but it had moved.

Yeah, go on and tell me this isn’t fate. Especially when the book that let me know I was in the writing section had a picture of a cat clinging to the end of a rope on the cover. The one book on the shelf that was turned cover out.

Yep. Now the proud owner of Save the Cat. And it is so good.

Fate likes me.

† No, the title is not about the cat in Alien.

I started free-form. Just…writing things down as they occurred to me. That was getting me nowhere fast, and someone wanted to war, so I grabbed one of the character packets from Holly Lisle’s Create a Character clinic and filled it out for Kolya. That worked better. It was funny, too, because you’re supposed to answer the questions as the character would–and Kolya didn’t understand the questions. Ethics? Morals? Hee…

Anyway. I wanted to start with a good structure to the story. I’ve done enough editing now to know that’s the hardest thing to fix–when your climaxes are in the wrong place, and your story meanders down to an ignominious end…

So I grabbed the drawing of four-act structure (oh hush, it’s three-act only drawn differently) from Jennifer Crusie’s blog and started shoving things at it.

And…I got it. Inciting incident, first goal, first complication, building action, midpoint (AKA the Point of No Return), the Darkest Moment, the climax… I got it. It’s not all nailed down tight, but I wouldn’t want it to be. I’ve got the shape. I’ve got a tenuous grasp on the edge of a theme.

I’ve got it. Need to get a couple more characters a little more clearly than they are now, and off I’ll go. Or maybe I’ll add some more to the “outline” first. Figure out a scene or three.

I guess we’ll see what happens?

Yeah, not too bad for vacation. Though if this week will back the hell off, I’d like to accomplish more.

Actually, I should make a list. Hmm…

Preliminary. As in, completely and utterly not binding, I’m just throwing out ideas.

Read China Mieville–this has been on the list a long time. The Scar was recommended to me. But I’ll have to acquire it first.

Read The Sandman–can’t believe I’ve never got my hands on this. Same problem as last one, actually.

Fix the last two hundred or so blog entries that have been messed up since I moved to this blog like…THREE YEARS AGO. *shifty look*

Send more queries. I have some targets in mind.

Edit Flame. Good lork, need to do this. But wait, this is vacation list, not Doomy Summer of Editing DOOM list.

Read some Discworld. I read one. It was fun but not absorbing. Now I think I should revisit. See “have to acquire first.”

Jasper Fforde. People say I should read.

Write more fanfic. At the least, I’d like to finish Hits. That will only leave four unfinished stories on mediaminer. >_> (that’s another shifty look.)

Hang. The. Curtains. ZOMG. I’ve only had them going on two years! Time to drill some damned holes in the damned walls! If I keep lazing about, someone will come do it for me, and I lose out on the fun of power tools used on ladders!

Assess kid clothing. She’s growing like crazy, and also summer’s about to pounce. Need to know what she has and what she needs.

Visit beloved peoples. This is an absolute must.

Read another of the Great Unread from my bookshelf.

Figure out the end of Barefoot Assassin. All right, you caught me. This is original stuff. It’s part of my plan to sneak back into writing. Either this, or that Rafe short. I do miss Rafe and Taro a heckuva lot lately.

That will do for now. Let’s see if a list coalesces, or if I have to, like, put effort in.

In lieu of an actual post, please accept this lolcat.

moar funny pictures

I’m lookin’ at you, life.

They’re in the same scene.

I’m not sure how this is going to work. XD

Two hours on EdMo today. I almost finished one whole scene!

Whee?