The Game

(Reposted from 03/29/08)

As you might expect, with all the action scenes, writing The Game was particularly fun for me. But, aside from the inherent excitement of writing scenes with ice orbs and magic swords, I realized that there are two things that make SFA particularly enjoyable for me to write.

The first is that whatever fight scenes or conflicts we include, they always move the plot forward--bring people closer, push them apart, set up the next event, etc. Of course, that also makes it a little tricky to write, since we have to pack as much into each scene as possible. But, it makes it worth it when we come out with a good scene or two.

The second great thing about writing SFA is that the characters aren't stagnant. They're only fifteen, and they're still trying to figure out who they are and who they want to be. This chapter perhaps showed this better than the previous chapters. The School for Adventurers kids have been there for a few months, they're beginning to change and adapt to life at Eastridge. They're starting to understand more about themselves. Overall, it's just fun to write, and hopefully... fun to read?

...And, well, of course there's a third factor that makes SFA enjoyable... and that's getting to write with JLY. One of the great things about these latest scenes (and the new upcoming scenes for the next couple of weeks) is that JLY and I have written them mostly together. Even though we're both pretty busy (what, with that not-quitting-our-day-jobs, and all), we've both been freer than, say, when we were still at our respective colleges, so we've managed to write most of these scenes collectively. And, as luck would have it, writing with JLY turns out to be incredibly amusing... well, at least, it seems incredibly amusing at the time.

A typical day in the collaborative writing of SFA:

JLY typing Wisteria's line: 'And, in what realm am I afraid of you?'

KL: "...All right, let's italicize the 'you'."

JLY types: 'And, in what realm am I afraid of you?'

KL: "...."

JLY: "Oops. Wait! that worked out so much better than I originally planned!"

Then again, what isn't funny when you've had five hours of sleep and spent the past three hours writing?

But, maybe that's what keeps us writing.

Ah, good times.

KL

The Winter Ball

(Reposted from 01/15/08)

So we're finally at the Winter Ball. Or at least, at the beginning of the Winter Ball story arch. JLY and I have been waiting a long time for this. We originally planned for the Winter Ball to take place a chapter sooner, but there were some loose ends to tie up, so we had to push it back.

One of the trickier things about writing for a world as large as SFA is that there are some things that JLY and I know (like Averi is popular, Annalise has a a lot of social influence, or, Torrent, if pushed, could kill someone with his bare hands) that we take as given facts that everyone intrinsically knows. And, sometimes we forget that unless there's a specific scene illustrating it, these little facts might not come across entirely clearly.

Which is how we ended up detouring for awhile in some of the scenes of Chapter 5: Nobility, and perhaps explains why I have so much hostility towards that chapter. So, at any rate, while we expected to get to the Winter Ball much sooner, it's good at least that we're there now.

For one thing, the Winter Ball requires a date, which puts each of the characters in the tricky situation of finding someone to go with. Even though the whole social side of SFA is really more JLY's thing than mine, I still find this fun. And hopefully, as the chapter goes on, I won't be the only one entertained by it...

--KL

Averi's Rune

(Reposted from 12/27/07)

I don't know if this is true for everyone, but I like to believe that there are certain scenes in writing that you can't help putting your heart into... The scenes that you see so clearly that it doesn't matter if you have to feel your way around in the dark before and after them. These are, I suppose, the scenes that make it worth the trouble to write.

I'll be the first to admit that SFA isn't entirely planned out from start to finish, and that JLY and I are often surprised by the twists and turns that develop. But there are other parts that seem so intrinsically true and real that I can't help believing in them.

For every chapter of SFA, there are a handful of scenes that feel this way. In particular, the plot twist of Averi's Undead Rune always one of those scenes for me... a scene that anchored me in the SFA world.

Or maybe that sounds silly.

What I mean is that I loved that scene, and I hope it shows through in some small way.

When JLY and I started writing SFA, the story began as a few random clips of various characters. Delighted with the idea of a princess with an Undead Rune, I rushed through about 5 pages of scrambled draft-quality writing to get to this scene. Well, and a scene after it, but that'll come much later.

For now, it's enough to see that we've finally reached that scene and connected all the dots leading up to it.

The Undead Rune

(Reposted from 12/04/07)

For anyone familiar with my fondness towards video games and action movies, it’s probably no surprise that my writing tends more towards action and less towards… everything else. And despite the fact that I’m well aware of how important “everything else” tends to be, I’ll confess that I usually grumble mutinously whenever JLY reminds me that we need more dialog or plot-related scenes and less senseless violence.

And I have to admit that Chapter 5: Nobility, was one that I grumbled particularly loudly about. Not that Nobility wasn't a nice chapter. I understand the importance of it, and I enjoyed writing it, but not as much as, say Chapter 6: The Undead Rune, for reasons that I imagine will quickly become apparent.

Each chapter of SFA is made up of scenes written in two different ways. Most of the time, one of us will write the scene and send it to the other person for writing. Usually, we talk beforehand so we both know what the scene is basically about and how it fits into the chapter and the story as a whole. Even though we've gotten to the point where we know each other's style (and the SFA style) well enough to blend the writing styles together, there's still a different energy to the scenes.

However, SFA is also made up of a second type of writing. There are some scenes that JLY and I write together -- sitting next to each other, taking turns typing and talking-- and these always end up being my favorite. We have this remarkable tendency to keep each other in line... and not always, as you might expect, with myself as the advocate of action and JLY proposing more dialog.

Instead, it's more a process of writing and refining. We both throw out rough ideas and then refine them. A typical writing session would hear something along the lines of:

"Something about how today is different than other days because... there's a messenger. But make that pretty."

Yes, we can come up with any string of incoherent half-thoughts and assume it makes complete sense as long as we conclude with make that pretty.

And now you know the secret of writing.

Well, at least the secret of writing SFA.

Take care,

KL

Beginning to Write

(Reposted from 11/26/07)

KL and I have different approaches to writing a scene, a fact which becomes most apparent when we write together. KL likes to dive in head-first and plunge into her writing. I generally have to mull over all my ideas before getting anything down on the page. Our writing sessions usually consist of KL saying, “That sounds good to me”, and me saying, “Perhaps we should think about it some more before we move on.”

Personally, I think KL’s got it right. (Though, I will say some forethought is required.)

One of the most important things about being a writer is to remember that you actually have to write. I used to scoff in disbelief when I read in books on writing by famous authors that a true writer should set aside a small portion of every day and simply practice writing. I laugh now because it’s true. Writing is not just some magical skill that’s borne from a good imagination and a spark of inspiration (though those usually help). As with everything, learning how to write well requires mostly hard work.

Having said that, where does one start?

A blank page can be really intimidating.

I’m both a perfectionist and a writer, and while it may seem like the former should help the latter, being too much of a perfectionist is just debilitating to the writing process. I think too much, which isn’t always helpful. And, in those cases, I always find myself returning to my 2007 New Years’ resolution of “Write first, revise later.”

You can’t really make a scene better if it doesn’t exist in the first place.

I think some of the hardest scenes I’ve had to deal with when writing SFA were scenes involving Rai Ravin. My conception of Rai Ravin was of this really charming guy character—the kind of boy in high school that all the girls swooned over and that all the guys were friends with. My problem when writing Rai Ravin was trying to figure out how to channel his character because I found him a little intimidating to write for. I used to complain to KL that Charming Male Rai Ravin would be really difficult to capture, seeing as how I was neither charming nor male.

But, really, it’s not good to be intimidated by characters that exist only in your head, and writing Rai Ravin really just boiled down to hammering the scenes out, no matter how badly the first time around, to see how things would play out.

Rough drafts are supposed to be just that—rough. And, hopefully, drafts get better.

So, eventually, Rai Ravin became a much more tangible and real character to me, someone that was much easier to write about. But, it really did take getting over the initial worry and distress of getting it perfectly the first time to get to that point.

Of course knowing this doesn’t necessarily mean I’m cured of my perfectionist streak, but I do try my best to follow my own good advice every now and then.

Thanks for reading,

J.L.Y.

Writing and 'Declaration'

(Reposted from 11/27/07)

JLY and I somehow ended up talking today about how we write -- a topic that comes up every now and then. JLY is a perfectionist at heart. By the time she sends me a scene for SFA, it’s polished and consistent and ready to post.

I work in the almost exact opposite way. I can dash off a scene relatively quickly and send it to JLY with little hesitation. Of course, it’s only after I send it that I see the grammar mistakes, inconsistencies, and, in some fun cases, blatant disregard for the names of our secondary characters—if Sariil is ever called Sarill, you can blame that squarely on me.

Overall, my writing is usually focused on action and plot, and my first drafts usually have little else. My second pass at a scene is just to fix all the obvious errors… hopefully before JLY finds them, so I can salvage some portion of my dignity.

The third pass is where I actually make the deeper changes. Usually, I only change a handful of sentences, and leave the rest alone, though there are some troublesome cases where I have to do major rewriting.

Writing Declaration, for instance, was surprisingly difficult. After Rai's warning to Averi, and all that build up, I felt that this scene had more pressure on it than most. The point of this scene is that Averi is usually holding back--and this is what happens when she really uses her position and social skills to benefit herself. So it had to really show that Averi is capable of one-upping Annalise and playing the social game.

Unfortunately, my usual way of showing conflict-- a fist-fight--didn't seem too appropriate for Annalise and Averi. Instead, they play a more delicate game of undermining each other, and in this case, Averi wins, although perhaps the importance of her win isn't as immediately apparent as, say, trying to take Annalise on in a sparring ring. However, having a rebellion questioning her supremacy of the group is probably the worst retribution anyone could inflict on Annalise Emberlynn.

Thanks for reading,

KL

The Forum for Adventurers

(Reposted from 11/24/07)

KL and I set up the new School for Adventurers' forum: Forum for Adventurers! Join it. Share your thoughts on our plot, our characters, or anything else related to SFA. =)

Happy Thanksgiving Weekend,

JLY