I'm not an organized person. I'd like to be organized. I aspire to it even. But, sadly, something is always more interesting than organizing. I try sometimes, but organization seems to be a living thing, sort of like tree roots. It can't exist in isolated locations independent of each other. For example, my sewing. Originally, I set the sewing up in the laundry room. Then I discovered I can't make myself sew down there. So I kept carting things up to the kitchen table. Now...its a mess. But, in order to really organize it, I'd have to organize my bedroom and the laundry room and possibly the den and kitchen. Because, see, the sewing mess could influence each of those areas.
My current WIP is sorta like that. I know, I know...I wasn't going to go to heavy into the whole "writer" thing on this blog. I'm not. But really, I've been thinking how my personality both helps and hinders me in my efforts. Okay, I have a feeling the disorganized thing only hinders. I have jealous fits about writers with detailed outlines and flow charts. I sometimes dream of plot arcs and subplots (Its! the! Subplots!) that are defined and well-thought out before I start writing.
I realized the other day that my WIP is missing a villain. A Villain.
I know.
Lest you think I'm an utter moron, let me clarify. There is a villain. The ultimate, supreme bad guy who is pulling strings and putting pieces in place. But, he isn't on-camera very often. And, in the beginning, my main characters don't know who he is. What I need is a villain who can be a stand-in. One guy who is the henchman, who can be the face of the ultimate villain, at least until you meet him. Right now its a group of dressed-in-black, ninja-like bad guys. But really, I need One.
I'm hoping this sounds like a bigger revision than it is. But I'm probably wrong. Besides that, I have to go back and make my characters react differently, subtly tweak relationships. Change pacing. You know, REVISE. And I'm not even DONE yet.
Perhaps this could've been avoided. I did have an outline. It wasn't detailed. I'm just not a detail-oriented person.
And, I find myself ruminating over a thought, question, ponderable I've had a lot lately. How much can we change about ourselves? Is it ever really an excuse to say "I'm just not that kind of person" or is it just lazy?
1 comment:
Personally, I don't think it's something you can force and unless you have the real time to dedicate to changing, it's just too difficult. When there is family and kids and all that involved, it changes your priorities. Maybe when your kids are all grown and off to college and you need a distraction to stop you from sitting in the chair and weeping because your kids are gone (or maybe, BECAUSE THE KIDS ARE GONE!!!), you will find yourself changing your priorities. I don't know, that's my thoughts LOL. I mean seriously, we can go out (me and the girls) and they look immaculate, hair perfect, clothes adorable, sparkling clean, and me...I'm a friggin disaster borderline bag lady scruff. I've been trying to get better about this and take pride in myself as I once did, but it's not always a priority, kwim? Anyway, as for writing, well, I finally came to the conclusion that I'm not an outliner. It's not my style. I actually blogged about it a couple of days ago. And well, after mentally trying to force myself to go that route, I threw my hands in the air and said, "f&*K it. It's not me." So, I went back to my way, which may seem disorganized to others, but it's my own organized chaos and I get it. It works for me.
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