Angela VanWell

Author | Reader | Traveler | Tea and Coffee Drinker

outline

Camp NANO 2021: Let the Outlining Begin!

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I was writing a twisted retelling of a fairytale shared by W. B. Yeats when I realized today is Friday, March 19th. The date itself is not significant to me personally, but the fact there is only a week smack between two weekends left before Camp nano is. There are two nano camps, one is in April and the next in July. It is a personal writing adventure where each writer chooses their own project, the length of it, and share the experience with friends. So if you are feeling the need to get some words down on paper, electronically, or on papyrus, by all means, join us! You can find the website here.

I haven’t finished rereading the three manuscripts in the series that come before this outline. And, last year being 2020, I spent most of the year between houses since the house we rented was in one country, our household goods somewhere on the ocean, and my family in a third country. It was a challenging year. My paper drafts were somewhere over the ocean, my electronic copies with me, and my ability to concentrate stuck somewhere between them all. We moved out of the Netherlands in December 2019 and to Texas, in the United States of America. My family, including our two cats, arrived within weeks of leaving the Netherlands, while everything else took a leisurely cruise across the ocean.

I was editing the first manuscript. It is amazing how much I forgot and my notes were not with me. I spelt one name four different ways and I really couldn’t remember which way was my original plan. With no home (we were in a temporary apartment in Houston) and no office, I was relying on my memory. And it was not helpful at all. So writing and editing at the beginning of the year was slow. We went to Canada for spring break when the border closed. Once again, I was separated from my books. I only had a few sets of clothes, but it was my books I missed.

In June, I had been without my library for 6 months. It was painful. I have many ebooks, but all of my nonfiction and personal journals are all handwritten. I’d reach for a book, usually found on the shelf beside me, and there was nothing there. It was like losing my best friends. I couldn’t replace my personal journals but some of my resource books I would buy second hand guilt free. With the pandemic shut down occurring, I only had one trip to a Half Price Books and one trip to Barnes & Noble.

I must write my outlines down on paper. I have tried writing them electronically, and I was less creative. I can’t wait to bring that creativity back this week.

Finding books filled with folklore from different countries was much harder than I expected. Local ghost stories, no problem. Modern fairytales, you bet, original folklore and fairytales, sadly missing. I rebuilt parts of my collection with new editions and local flavour. I editing my first manuscript and had a friend read through the draft and offer feedback. It sat again. Mostly because I flew back to my new host country to finish unpacking the house and my wonderful journals and books. I then scooped them into my husband’s car and drove them up to Canada. Now I, my old journals and books, and new books were reunited. I had no more excuses and continued to edit. All was well until my daughter’s computer died and I gave her mine during the day for school. It was great for reading, terrible for editing.

Who in the world am I? Ah, that’s the great puzzle!

Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Life happens. There is never the right time for anything. Expect now. Now I must reread all the manuscripts, as once again I am in a different country than my outlines. So this time, I will read through, try only to take notes to create a new outline, not edit. I will carry my new outlines no matter where I go. I will be like Sheldon on the Big Band Theory carrying around his emergency kit, except mine will be filled with my prized pens and notebooks. Never shall we be separated again. I will see how it goes!

This means I must choose wisely my inspiring author of the week next week as I will spend most of my time reading my own books. It will interest to see who I choose.

Can you read new books when you are working on a project? Or do you reread books you know will get you in the right mood and frame of mind?

I found this quote when I was reading W.B. Yeats last week and it has stuck with me. Happy Reading!

It is only the spirits who are too bad for heaven, and too good for hell, who are thus plagued. They are compelled to obey some one they have wronged.

Lady Wilde, Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry

My Writing Journey: Pillar III Subplots

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Subplots are a way to expand character development while supporting the main plot. The main plot of this story is how Ally and Riley are going to recover the document they were trusted with and lost.

If you read the character development sheets, there is a lot of potential subplots for these characters.

Ally is hiding her desire to leave the family business to the extent that she has hid her applications to various secondary institutes and acceptance. She is not sure how she can sell it to them as a benefit for everyone. She does not want to disappoint them. They love her and support her but she is ashamed that she does not want the life they have built for her. How can she tell them she doesn’t want it? What if they find out without her telling them? The worse thing that could happen is hurting them. But it feels like Ally is held with golden handcuffs; a home, a business handed to her, but in a lifestyle that she cannot stand. Yet, they have no other children, no one else to leave the business they built up to. They were only able to have her, a sick child who took all of their love and care to bring to an adult.

Riley loves his family too and although he supports Ally and helps her to reach for her dreams, he does not forget he will be left behind as well. And it hurts. Especially since he knows there is more to their world, there is magic. But he does not want Ally to choose to stay because of him. He wants her to follow her dreams and he is going to start following some of his own. As the youngest son, he does not inherit the family business and is treated as the baby in the family. They love his support but do not trust him with the important parts of running a river cargo business. If only he and Ally could change places. But then he would have to give up his mom’s home cooking and there is no way he would hurt her. So he will find his way. find something for himself for when Ally leaves him and he is alone.

Hunter, at this point, does not have a large part in this story. (But I rarely follow an outline to the T, so who knows what part he will play when its written?) He is only there as a favour to Logan because he knows Logan cares about Ally and Riley. Not much older than the two friends, Hunter begrudges them their easy, safe lives. He owes Logan for saving him, so he will help the two out, though he would rather enjoy a beer at the pub and ignore them.

Ciarron and Darragh have a lot in common with Riley. Music, the need to escape from the family business, and to start making money on their own. They plan to make their family proud. It was at a concert they had met Riley as they dreamed about making their own music. They didn’t usually like humans, other than their music, but Riley was from the Riverboat Community which meant they did not need to hide who they were. Life was looking up for them. They have their own sound, though they get hired more for their cover tunes, and were starting to make a name for themselves. But then, the boss took an interest in their band, and now they are being used as spies. So, instead of taking gigs that will spread their musical sound, they have to take the gigs that will help the family business. If only they could get a big score, maybe then, they would be allowed to go back to playing the music they love and make their mom proud.

Ally, Riley, Hunter, Logan, Ciarron, and Darragh, all with wishes and dreams, all wanting and needing something different in their lives. But who will win and who will lose?

My Writing Journey: Pillar II The Journey

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Pillar 2 in Jesper Schmidt and Autumn M. Birt’s Plot Development Step by Step Book is all about the journey. They outline the section in a series of plot posts integral to fully developed story. I did follow the exercise completely, all 69 pages of it, but I will not be showing that outline here. Instead I will talk about the beginning, and how Ally and Riley ended up in their mess.

Why am I not sharing the Posts? For several reasons. First, even though I outlined it and have a general sense of where the story is going, I find that a strict outline does not work for me.

The first manuscript I completed, in 2017 my first NaNoWriMo I completed a middle grade novel, I did not have an outline. I had an idea of the story I wanted to tell and wrote enthusiastically. It was through the process I would realize, I needed more structure. At the beginning of the day if I started with a blank page, I would end up staring at it for a long time before I had an idea of what I wanted to write. By the end of the month I was jotting down notes the night before so I had something to start with. It was stressful, but a great way to learn what didn’t work for me.

I then started taking creative writing courses. They helped me find a writing style that works for me. What proved just as beneficial is I kept writing. I would brainstorm ideas and searched online for ideas of how to structure my stories. Then every NaNo event, whether the big NaNoWriMo in November, or camp in April or July, I would write. It is thanks to the combination of learning and experience that I have the beginning of a writing style that works for me. I say a beginning, because I am still at the beginning of my journey. If there is a workshop, webinar, a podcast, a book that looks interesting, I investigate it. I love to learn and happily embrace new strategies I can incorporate in my learning. Creating this blog is one of them! As an introverted person, I prefer small groups of people I can get to know and hang out with. I am not as good at large events. The blog provides a way for me to be both.

Back to Ally and Riley’s journey. Ally doesn’t want to live on a boat her entire life, but she doesn’t know how to tell her parents she doesn’t want to take over the family business. To see her backstory, here is a link to her introductory blog post. She has applied to colleges and universities where she had a chance at a swimming scholarship. And finally, she was accepted.

Riley, her best friends see his intro here, the only person she trusts where her secrets, is taking her out on the town to celebrate. They have one little errand to run for his parents and then they are free. Unfortunately, not everything goes as they plan and they end up chasing down the missing envelope before Riley’s parents lose out on a contract that will put their company in jeopardy, and they need to get back to the boat before it takes off and her parents meet it to find her missing and her acceptance letter on her bed.

Ally needs to create her own future, but hurting her family would break her heart.

Riley loves being apart of his families’ business, and wants they to see him as a responsible adult, not the baby of the family.

Riley’s family has been working on the river as long as Ally’s has. Such history also means they know the secrets of the river. Something Riley’s family shared with him, but Ally’s hasn’t. Some of those secrets are at risk as they two friends chase down the missing contract. Riley wants to share what he knows, but how can he tell his friend the secrets of the valley when all she wants is to escape? He was trusted with the knowledge of magic in the valley, a part of the community that may be responsible for the missing document. If they don’t find it, then there is more than his families’ boating company at stake.

As this book is a prequel to the River Run Series, it will be a full story in itself but will leave open plot points for entry into the trilogy. It, and the free short story, Lynx in Exile, which you can get by signing up below, provide background to the River Run Series that will be published in 2021.