Update – Novel Draft : BIG Edits

What’s your opinion of first drafts?

Back in October 2012 I hand-wrote my version of the Na No Wri novel.  Here’s the past posts if you are interested in knowing more.  (My Version of Na No Wri Mo; NaNoWri Week 1; NaNoWri Week 2; NaNoWri Week 3; NaNoWri Week 4;
NaNoWri Made Goal; NaNoWri Characters ).

As an update, the main protagonist is a seven-year old girl and the story centers on the adventures of a particular summer, and some life-changing events.  Not sure yet if this is a coming-of-age story, adventure story, family saga……………………..

Only recently did I finally finish typing the handwritten, can’t-exactly-call-it-a-manuscript, draft.  Let the editing begin!!  But where to start?

Evaluate the Typed Mess:  Part story, part notes,  some research, opening written on 24th day, character names kept changing…and…and…I’m thinking my way through this process.

Begin with Big Edits:
1.  First I went chapter by chapter and separated out what was story and what was not.  The NOT included notes, research, plot ideas for other places, thread ideas, background etc.  Whatever was not specifically “story”, I moved to another file.

2.  Moved chapters around.  Remember I said that I wrote the opening on the 24th day, well that chapter now moved to the beginning.  I began to see the manuscript as beginning, middle and end, or Set-up, Heat-up, and End-up.   I moved chapters around accordingly.

3.  To Do:  Still need to decide on characters’ names and then do Search & Replace.

4.  To Do:  I need to do another sweep of the chapter-flow, reading and looking more closely at the manuscript-flow, and tightening the story-flow up.  Move things around again.

5. To Do:  Some chapters are all narration, so another Big Edit would be to rewrite in scene.

6.  To Do:  Continue working on character profiles.

There may be more big edits before I move to small ones like word choice, correcting tenses, but that will be another post.

I will admit that the manuscript first draft is Crap, Shit, and all those other things I’ve read about first drafts.  I can’t remember who said it, but “all the writing is in the re-writing”.  I have a lot of work ahead of me before I can say this is a novel and an even longer time before I would consider sharing it.  More updates to follow.

Something Playful

From one of my sketchbooks, the one I call Sketch Play, these images were inspired by Marjorie Priceman.

“Keeping a sense of play in one’s life may keep me young.”  That’s my thought for today.  Enjoy!

Something Whimsical

Remember last year I started a watercolor series called Sketch Dance?   To date there are only two small paintings, but I did manage to make a small doll inspired by one of the dancers.  My muse likes to wander.

Monday, the beginning of a new week.  Wishing you a great one!  Enjoy!

Block to Creativity: Flatline

What comes to mind when you say the word ‘Flatline’?  I think of death first, but for the living it can be a state of comatose, not feeling much emotion, no highs and no lows, just a middle range of dullness.    I need to give this state of being more thought as it applies to life and writing and creative thoughts.  There is a numbness, an unfeeling, even as life continues on with its daily tasks.   Many its a survival skill, a retreat  from the world, a regrouping while some healing or growth takes place.  Maybe its like a caterpillar going into its cocoon.  I like the image of a butterfly emerging after what appears to be a dormant stage.

The journey continues.

 

Classics: Writing for Children

Do you have a favorite children’s book:  One that you read over and over or had your parent read over and over to you when you were a child?

I ran across an article in my “Save and Read” pile of papers published by Todd Leopold of CNN titled Children’s Books: Classic Reading for Fans.  The information is worth sharing.

First, some of the books that she references include:  Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar , Chris Van Allsburg’s The Polar Express, Margaret Wise Brown’s Goodnight Moon,  and Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are.  Children’s books feature characters such as hat-wearing cats, nice girls named Madeline, very hungry caterpillars, and naughty boys named Max.

All of these are children’s picture books, however, some of the ideas on Plot could be a reminder for all stories.  She quotes: “The making of a classic is a strange alchemy of skill – a good story, strong illustrations, and luck.  It’s not easy to appeal to three audiences:  publishers, parent and – oh, yes – children.”

“Every one of them…has the same reassuring pattern of ‘home, away, home,” she says.  ”The basic plot begins with a happy family situation.  Then one extremely curious or transgressive child goes out on his or her own.  And, no matter how ‘bad’ the child has been, he (or she) gets to come back home.”….”The child is welcomed back to the family and often gets something to eat,” she adds.

Note:  To give credit where credit is due:  Todd Leopold wrote the article for CNN but she quotes Alida Allison, a San Diego State University English professor and member of the California school’s National Center for the Study of Children’s Literature.

April: Blog Anniversary

               Wow!  Two year anniversary for Wings of Wonder: creative journey, artistic outlet, communal sharing.  I was accurate and right on by describing myself as “a creative”.  My drive and interests move around from painting, to writing, to doll-making, wherever my muse will lead me.

Some of my favorite Posts were during the first year, my JOY year.  Remember all those “Sketch Joy” and “Sketch Play” watercolors?  It was also my daughter’s wedding year.  Feeling the exhilaration and aliveness of Joy energy, every day, was new to me.    Blogging represented a leap of faith, something I saw others making, and I finally I was ready.    This contrasted with my usual serious-and-weighted life mode.  Anyway, I honor that joy came into my life.  I wanted JOY.

And I miss the Joy!  But, then came my year of needing to organize and get rid of, and unload some of the weight by trashing, re-purposing, and giving away.  This included books and ideas and papers.  Instead of rippling outward, my life and creative drive demanded that I begin to ripple inward.  Bringing ideas into clearer focus, making room for new ideas to blossom, these were the underlying purposes to my year(s) of reducing clutter.

And then came January of 2013 and the greatest challenge of my life and my husband’s life.  For privacy reasons I will not give details but I will say that the worse of it lasted 28 days plus another 15 days before he came home.      There is a quote by someone “whatever doesn’t kill you will make you stronger.”  We are both working on that.

   One creative interest, rekindled last year, involved doll-making.  You can read more at this post Muse, where are you taking me?      During a time of crisis all the little things one does to relieve stress become monumental.  My days were long with extra duties at work and home and extra drives to hospital.  One stress reliever involved this doll and it seems so silly but the action gave me a chuckle at the end of my day, so, HEY, give me a break.  The action: after making my bed in the a.m., I’d place this doll on my pillow and there she’d be in the p.m. waiting to give me a tiny moment of childlike joy before going to bed. Joy before bed?  In the midst of a crisis? Okay, my muse works in ways that are wondrous and strange.

Another life saver was this movie:  You’ve Got Mail with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks. A staff woman at the hospital lent me this movies and it turned out to be a major stress reliever with light-hearted energy.  Meg Ryan’s character is an independent children’s bookstore owner whose business is in trouble. I repeatedly put this movie on because I’d fall into an exhausted sleep on the couch and it took awhile before I saw the whole thing.

Somehow I’ve managed to get off the topic of my Blog Anniversary.  I’m at the beginning of a new year.    Maybe my muse is preparing me for more painting of a light-hearted kind.  And there will be more writing.  And health is top at the list.  And more small adventures to keep me inspired by life.

I’ve got fight left in me.  And I’ve got creative drive left in me.  And time is ticking, but each day I will find the time.

Find the time!

 

Art Lesson: Elements of Art

What makes for a good image, pleasing to the eye, appreciated by the viewer?  Some of the tools of the trade that an artist uses include:

1. Line
   
2. Shape
3. Color
4. Texture
5. Values/tones
6. Space
7. Depth
8. Form

Now for a deeper discussion of these Elements of Art:

1. Line.  Think of the expressive quality of a line:  thick or thin, straight or curved, and that line moves in some direction: horizontal, vertical, or diagonal.   It could be an outline or an implied line that moves the eye around the picture plane.
   
2. Shape.  Geometric (circle, square, rectangle, triangle) or organic (shape of a puddle, leaf, cloud, etc.)
3. Color.  There are many theories about color but the basics include the three primary colors of red, yellow and blue; the secondary colors of orange, green, and violet; and the many tertiary mixtures.  Then there are the tints (add white) and shades (add black).
   TO DO:  A very simple color palette could include a red, a yellow, a blue, white, and black and from these five colors experiment and see how many color mixtures you can make.
4. Texture.  Think sense of touch, tactile illusions, patterns.  Texture refers to the surface qualities of paint, or in a line drawing texture is the variations of shading to create patterns.
5. Tone or Value.  Shading is used to emphasize form;  shadow and highlights; use of lights (tints) and use of darks (shades).
6. Space.   Both the positive space (the object) and all the negative space (the space around and in between the object).  Space includes distances around, between or within.
7. Depth.  Perceived distance from the observer, separated into foreground, middle ground, and background.
8. Form.  This takes into consideration the dimensions of height, width and depth.  Usually one thinks of form with sculpture.  However, form exists within a two-dimensional picture plane also (think cube, pyramid, sphere, cylinder).  Form can also be enhanced by tone, texture and color.

These are the basic elements but art usually begins with choosing a subject, deciding on a composition, picking a medium.   Or, art can be an act of playing  with colors or doodles.

I’ve experimented in all kinds of different directions with all kinds of subjects.  Some paintings were spontaneous but most were planned out with decision-making on the elements of art as the painting progressed.  My earliest passion was to draw and paint the human figure.    Here’s the last portrait I painted:

Today’s Inspiration

We all need inspiration, that little push, that reminder, to keep moving.  Here you go:

BEAUTY:

Beginning of Spring and a new growing season for Rosa Delight.  This rose bush has the smallest beginnings of new buds and brightest of tender, new leaves after a dormant winter.  Stating the obvious:  Growth takes time and patience.  Roses will come.  This goes for human growth too.

Quote for Writers and Artists:

“Don’t waste your life preparing:  Make your art now.  Perfecting your work and growing artistically happens as you go and grow.   Too much time spent planning or organizing or researching, only delays your creations.  Jump in now.  Make art now.  Write now.”

Just a friendly reminder from me to stop the inner critic that holds you back and to continue to believe.

Enjoy!

Art Lesson: Reflections on Water

Breaking the rules is one of the joys of art and it opens the door for the artist to explore and innovate.  That said, there are times when knowing the rules helps with problem solving.

Here’s a study I painted in watercolors on “Reflections” and how they operate in nature.    Time of day, breezes, size and distance all have an effect.

Activity:  Keeping a log of your  direct observations, record details of life and what you see.

And my handwritten notes typed below:
1.  In still water reflections appear as a mirror image.

2.  In moving water, reflections break up and appear longer than the objects they reflect.  Ripples become smaller, darker and closer together as they recede away from the object.  (Throw a pebble in the water and watch the ripples)

3.  An object in the water that leans away from you will appear to have a shorter reflection, but an object leaning toward you will have a longer reflection.
4.  Reflections of dark objects usually appear slightly lighter in value; reflections of light objects appear slightly darker.

“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.”  ~ Aesop

Enjoy!

 

Art Lesson: Shades of Gray

Think ratios:  80:10:10   =    80% gray:10% light: 10% dark
Think of a painting in terms of contrast:  light and dark and all the shades of gray in-between.

This is one of many formulas for making successful art.  The center of focus is where the lightest light contrasts with the darkest dark.  Usually there is a path of  less light and of less dark that moves one’s eyes around the picture plane all leading to the focal point.  The rest of the painting consists of shades of gray.  And since this is not a black and white photograph, how does this formula translate to color.

Exercise in color mixing: COLOR CHART

I used acrylic paint in making this chart, but it can also be used for oils.  I’m afraid watercolors would turn to muddy colors.

Row 1:  All of the colors listed below were painted in the small boxes at the top just as they come out of the tube or jar. (Pure Pigment).
Row 2:  The next row are all those colors mixed with white. (Pastels)  Theses are your lights (10%).

Row 3:  All those Pure Pigment colors mixed with light gray. (Shades)

Row 4:  Pure Pigment mixed with dark gray.  (Shades) Along with the third row, these are your Grays 80%)

Row 5: Taking the Pure Pigment and adding black. These are your Darks (10%).

I continued my chart with a few other exercises:  instead of adding black I used the color Burnt Umber as my dark.  And then at the very bottom, I wrote formulas for mixing DARKS without using black to make warm blacks and cool blacks.

The instructions below are more detailed. 

To help with my chart, I purchased a pre-mixed Neutral Gray acrylic color and when I needed a darker Gray I just added more black.  Also, I used a piece of thick Illustration Board cut to the size 11″ x 14″.

About the center of focus:  Above I said the center is where the lightest light and darkest dark meet.  With color, this could translate to the area of Pure Pigment.

Thanks go to Jack Proctor, a teacher who helped to clarify in my mind the importance of grayed colors.  I wish him well.
Hope this helps.  Happy painting!  Joy!