The Sunday Circle is the weekly check-in where I ask the creative-types who follow this blog to weigh in about their goals, inspirations, and challenges for the coming week. The logic behind it can be found here. Want to be involved? It’s easy – just answer three questions in the comments or on your own blog (with a link in the comments here, so that everyone can find them).
After that, throw some thoughts around about other people’s projects, ask questions if you’re so inclined. Be supportive above all.
Then show up again next Sunday when the circle updates next, letting us know how you did on your weekly project and what you’ve got coming down the pipe in the coming week (if you’d like to part of the circle, without subscribing to the rest of the blog, you can sign-up for reminders via email here).
MY CHECK-IN
What am I working on this week?
I’ve just come off a very quiet week – the replacement CPAP machine had some problems with its power cord, which meant every goal outside of the day-job was a write-off until I got the replacement cord on Friday (I swear, the universe is giving me these little glimpses of what my life used to be like just so I’ll never go back there).
So this week, CPAP and depression meds willing, I will actually finish the crocodile story and get the first act of Float started. I’m also firing up the pomodoro technique on the four days of the week when I’m not at the day-job, in order to give my writing days a little more structure and focus.
What’s inspiring me this week?
I mainlined the first two seasons of UnReal this week. I think someone recommended it in their Circle posts earlier in the year, which is what actually got me to sit down and watch it – whoever that was, THANK YOU.
If ever there was a show that really broke down the difference between empathy and sympathy in writing, UnReal is it. *Everyone* in this show is a reprehensible human being, particularly during the first season, and yet you care about everyone and get deeply invested in their drama. Constance Zimmer and Shiri Appleby are both brilliant, and I am deeply happy to see Craig Bierko teamed with Zimmer again after their fantastic run in Boston Legal a few years back.
What part of my project an I avoiding?
I’ve been working on the first sequence for Float and it keeps giving me an uneasy feeling. Partially it comes from playing with the genre I’m playing with – doing the John Wick-esque story means setting up stakes really efficiently, usually by setting up a character who is important to the protagonist and killing them off incredibly quickly. I’m trying to do this inside of five scenes, and it’s not going well.
And so I’ve fallen into the trap of worrying at it, trying to figure out how to do it better, rather than just getting the rhythm of those scenes down and moving on with the next sequence of the story.
Which, again, I’m avoiding because I haven’t put as much thought into it, and it involves a series of relatively daunting scenes that I should probably sit down and sketch out before I write them…
I’ve ended up taking a short, unscheduled break from writing newsletters over the last fourteen days. Regular GenrePunk Ninja transmissions will resume
Like many of you, I have good weeks and bad weeks on the writing front. This week has been rocky, and if
Welcome to GenrePunk Ninja supplemental, where I occasionally post foundational essays written before I launched the GenrePunk Ninja newsletter, especially if they’re
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Phew! Signing in early this week so I don’t space out again. 🙂 Hooray for the fixed CPAP machine! Nothing like a few proper night’s sleep to get things underway again. Maybe I’m being slow and this has been discussed before, but what is the “pomodoro technique”?
What I’m working on this week: Catching up again this week. Last week, I really struggled with trying to reinstate the Minimum Writing Time Per Day plan (even though it was only 20 minutes), and wound up drained and frustrated. Didn’t manage to get back on pace and re-energized until I once again went back to ignoring the Write Everyday principle. That used to work so well for me, but for whatever reason, currently it’s an energy and creativity sinkhole. After embracing the irregular schedule again, I did get the slash-edit done on “Circles,” and even liked it enough to submit it. It’s not bad short, but really talking about the heart of the story and the themes I like today, I realized what it was that bothered me about cutting out so much of the beginning.
So this week, I’m going back to the original version and trying a fairly intense trimming, but keeping the cut scenes intact. I’m hoping this will lighten the burden of the setup, while still keeping the character relationships and strengthened theme that made me love the story in the first place.
What’s inspiring me this week: Still going gangbusters on Authority by Jeff VanderMeer, and encountered an interesting proof-of-point while plunging into the last forty pages of Chiller by Sterling Blake. The first 80% of Chiller is a classic thriller story, with a good serving of medical thriller thrown in. It’s realistic (mostly) and concrete and set very comfortably in ’90s California. And then, just after PP2, it jumps into the future, but it’s a kitchy, pulpy “books are now projected from cylinders onto synthetic paper” and “funky new genetically engineered plants” sci-fi that feels way more like the SF of the ’60s and ’70s with these magical best-of futures (and apparently in only 38 years…). It’s like slapping the last third of Why Call Them Back From Heaven? to the end of a modern-ish thriller. It’s…well, it’s weird, to say the least, and really discordant. I was mostly surprised by how vehemently I hated that transition, and in part it’s because there was no hint anywhere in the leading text that such a genre jump was going to happen, even though it’s been dealing (in a very realistic-ish way) with cryonics. But the sudden loss of everyday realism felt like such a cheat, and a huge betrayal. I’d wanted to see how the story–which was getting pretty bleak by the PP2 marker–would be resolved in a realistic/medical thriller context, and instead, it kind of jumps-ship into the highly fanciful, pseudo-idealized future within such a tight timeframe that none of the world-building resonates with any of the proceeding realism (I mean, 38 years to completely irradiate the need for doctors and hospitals? I mean, the Moon Landing is one thing, and I understand the way tech can flood into a culture, but somehow the author completely failed to make that transition believable within the timeframe he presents.) Unfulfilled promises–I kind of get on a gut-level why that’s so important, and what happens when you fail to deliver what you’ve set up.
And in complete contrast, the original Star Trek is on Netflix now, and I’m in love with it in all its cheesy, idealized future awesomeness. (I *like* fanciful futures, just not tacked at the end of my realistic(-ish) thrillers!)
What I’m avoiding: Not avoiding so much as reminding–I really need to let go of the Write Everyday adage for the time being. I’ve hammered it into my head for so many years, the klaxons are wailing that “You’re Doing It Wrong,” even though–as I’ve witnessed before–I often get almost as much if not more work done during the week (and often better, more thoughtful work) when I give myself time to percolate the ideas until I can’t resist putting them down. Maybe in the future I’ll have enough time back to do what I used to and take a chunk of quiet, uninterrupted time before a writing session to brainstorm and work up some excitement for the narrative task of the day, but until I can get enough headspace to do that, I’m going to have to change my practices and trust myself a little.
Hi Maggie- that book sounds really frustrating, but I love that you’ve figured out what bothered you about it! You’re doing such great work in finding what works for you!
Here’s the pomodoro website, hopefully it’s of use? http://pomodorotechnique.com/
Ah! I see! That’s a great idea. And I love the video explanation, too. XD Thanks for sharing!
That cool real tech/fun fake tech dividing line is a weird one, isn’t it? I like hands-on-repair-job stories, but if they’re fictional but too close to reality I just feel cheated, e.g. The Martian mostly made me want to watch Apollo 13 again.
All the best with the short, and going back to what you loved in it.
Totally! Either one can be so much fun, but start mixing them together, and it just gets weird so fast… And yeah! Apollo 13’s mundane real-world fixes are almost more shocking. Hadn’t thought about that before, but it’s a really interesting contrast.
I really struggle with the write every day thing myself, especially when the schedule isn’t consistent. I’ve noticed a marked difference between the weeks where I track specific daily writing stints versus those where I’m tracking specific things that need to be done (Ie scene X, scenes Y & Z) without any real particulars on when they need to happen.
And I’m totally with you on the third act shift. If you’re going to pull that, it really needs to happen towards the midpoint of the story in order for it to feel like a natural shift.
Yeah–if he’d done it at midpoint, it might have been jarring, but at least there’s a huge chunk of book left to kind of work through that (and it could actually have been leveraged for dramatic effect, given that the lurch of time and oddity would be essentially what the main characters are experiencing, too).
Do you track hours/words in a spreadsheet or some other way? I had some luck tracking time spent by hand in a notebook and recording generalities of the experience (“350 words, exhausted, had beer before writing, bad idea”). I’ve been playing with RescueTime Lite, too, but haven’t really spent much time figuring out how to best utilize it, though the weekly measuring seems really helpful.
I’ll usually sit down Sunday night or Monday morning and put together a to-do list, which then gets tracked on a white board with blocks next to it that get coloured in when it’s done. So, this week looks like this:
When there are mutliple boxes *after* an entry, it represents steps. So I need to write five sceenes on the Float draft, and a block gets coloured in after it’s written. Only when I’ve finished all five can I mark the task for the week done.
The left-hand side of the board tracks other commitments in the week, and I’ll sit down the night before and estimate the available time the following day in half-hour blocks. I colour them in as they get used, or left blank if I miss something, so I can get a pretty good idea of how I’m going predicting time for the week.
Yeah, that sudden shift, from how you’ve described it, sounds like a lazy, cheap way to hit an ending. Ugh.
And with regards to the Write Every Day principle, do you think it might be worth keeping some sort of week by week metric comparing total writing time to wordcount? Or might that trigger the same Don’ Wannas that are firing in opposition to the Write Every Day principle itself?
I think keeping some kind of metric is probably something I should do, more because the few times I’ve cross-referenced a “free-form” week verses a structured “this time/every day/no excuses” week has shown that I actually hit about the same words/hours committed. But it’d be nice to have a formal check of that regularly, if only to alleviate the fear of not getting enough work done! I’ll have to think about how to best do that moving forward.
UnReal is SO GOOD!
Peter, apart from John Wick, are there many other books which manage to effectively/sympathetically get rid of an important figure so early? I know lots try, and usually I don’t care unless it’s honestly a surprise, eg I thought they were going to be the main character or safe by the standards of the genre.
Not a lot of books do it, but then, it’s a more cinematic genre. When I work through my list of reference films:
– Sin City just skips past that point. The motivating character is basically on the page long enough to sleep with Marv, then dies to kickstart the plot.
– Shoot ‘Em Up plays with broad strokes – it sets up a mother and child in trouble, then embroils the protagonist through the simple expedient of being nearby and not a horrible monster. Mother dies, he’s left with a child.
– Commando basically just gives you six seconds of idyllic father and child, before bad guys charge in and steal the girl away.
The character who dies isn’t all that important, really. It’s just their relationship with the protagonist that matters. Which is why part of the challenge is getting them on-stage, give them some focus, and kill ’em off in a meaningful way.
I can’t think of a specific example right now, but I’d definitely be looking to neo-noir for other examples of something that’s pulled that off right.
What am I working on?
– Everything. I was sick for half of last week, so all is in disarray, although eventually I got sick of lying around doing nothing and managed to sit up long enough to get a few sketches done and sent away.
– Several book covers, episode covers, other commissions and assorted related illustration projects.
– Planning writing over the next two months: novella and shorts next month and novel for November.
What’s inspiring me?
– I’ve started setting a timer for an hour mid-morning and sitting down to read, which has helped with non-manuscript reading. This week I’ve nearly finished James Hamilton-Paterson’s Marked for Death: The First War in the Air which is fascinating, opinionated and scathing. Most of the early aviation memoirs I’ve read sort of skirt around WWI, so it’s this missing link between the early romance and the later more familiar WWII stuff. And it’s great. I think it’s worth reading for scientific history (manned gliders in 1804, ascents to the upper atmosphere in the 1860s, the development of modern aircraft and attitudes), culture, society, bureaucracy, logistics and all the unexpected ways those collide.
– UnReal. It’s fascinating.
– The promise of an aviation movie marathon.
What am I avoiding?
– I’m convalescing so at the moment everything seems possible. I even bought a new vacuum and sofa suite so the house is being rearranged in parts. Probably some choices about trips next year, and whether to go to Japan.
I hope you feel better soon! And Marked for Death sounds really, really good!
Glad to hear things are at least slowly on the mend! I’m definitely going to have to check out Marked for Death. I read Red Sky, Black Death a few years ago (that’s WWII, but it’s a memoir of one of the Russian female fighter pilots), and adored it. Aviation is such a fascinating subject, and WWI with it’s paper planes must provide some gripping areas of exploration. Adding it to my to-read list!
Best of luck with the trip choices! So many cool places to see. ^_^
Late to the party but reckon I’ll do this thing – need a bit of motivation!
What am I working on this week?
Commissioned novella which was proving tricksy – I went into it wanting to do a weird far-future all-women world, with the distant threat of MOON-MEN who descend from the skies to kidnap breeding stock. I’ve built this bizarre self-breeding ecology for the planet of the women, and threw in all the bells and whistles I usually do with world-building, when I realised I was simply retelling Beauty and the Beast with a fancy new coat. So I’ve decided to own this and just focus on the relationship between these two characters and less on the War of the Worlds narrative. So I’ve just hit act 2 and things are hitting their stride now that I kinda know where I’m going.
What’s inspiring me this week:
Playing Wolfenstein: The Old Blood. Really harks back to the original feeling of skulking around in an old Nazi castle doing escapey stuff. It’s doing some good stuff to my creative brain and inspiring the use of atmosphere in the above novella (where there is the equivalent of the creepy old castle full of secrets).
What I’m avoiding:
Revision on a collaborative screenplay – I don’t play well with others, and I’m having a sulk because my last draft didn’t go over as well with my partner as I’d hoped. Once I settle down I’ll have another crack at it when I’m less invested and have come to my senses re the conflict of ideas.
Welcome aboard. I’ve missed hearing about your projects 🙂
Great to have you here, Jason!
Do you find that constructive criticism works like drafting? Are you able to process it objectively once it’s had a chance to sit and cool?
Also, I’m not surprised that your sense of humour finds Old Blood more appealing that New Order, too – one is quite poe-faced and serious, one far more gonzo (at least from what I’ve seen of the trailer for Old Blood)
Really cool in-progress adaptation on the novella. Sounds like a fun story!
Very late checkin this week!
What am I working on this week?
Getting the queue of paid work out the door. Going well, getting under control. Expecting to have it cleared by the end of this weekend. *crosses fingers*
What’s inspiring me this week?
Routine. I’m finding when I cleave to the daily routine, there’s much less emotional fatigue.
Outside of that, I found this episode of the Big Ideas podcast fascinating – mentioned it a little last week – http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/bigideas/age-of-distraction/6535850 – talking about the ability to think clearly as an economic luxury, which is well, troubling.
What am I avoiding this week?
Everything that is not needing to get out the door, and is not the daily/weekly routine, is on hold by pure necessity.
Sounds like a busy week, but that you’ve got your head around it and what needs to be done to hit your markers. Best of luck with the crunch week!
Big Ideas sounds really interesting. I’ll have to check that out!
That episode is really densely packed (at least to my mind) I’m selling it short from lack of brain, but it takes a great book like No Logo, which is an interesting observation of some troubling trends, and moves steps beyond it by observing real, tangible impact on day to day lives.