Mining the calendar

n Any Color You Want I used the lead-up to and the outcome of a kids' soccer tournament to build tension (along with a historic Election Day, a mammoth financial meltdown and other goodies). In The Beer Flower Limited (The Girl Who Cried L-v-), I have a rivalry between two individuals (Pijiu and Houston), two countries (China and the U.S.), (at least) two media outlets (East and West) and other factors to build tension, but it never hurts to consult the calendar.

In this case, I'm consulting the Chinese calendar, in particular, their calendar and history of cultural festivals as described in Traditional Chinese Festivals (2007) from the Spring Festival to the Harvest Festival. Until I actually get to make the trip to China, this book and others have greatly enlightened me as to Chinese traditions, history, culture and language - all bits that can only make my story richer and more poignant.

Working with a particular festival can also help me time my story as a community/country prepares for a festival, celebrates a festival and then recovers from it essentially providing its own arc which the rest of the story can run parallel to, if I so choose.

Lastly, thanks to Jessica Hische for the capital "I" that lead off this post. She has made such caps available for free through her Daily Drop Cap site.

4 down...14 to go

Four chapters down, fourteen to go. What's even better is I'm seeing the story and all its various parts come together not only in the chapters I'm working on, but in chapter as yet written. I just have to do a better job of being more productive on days I work, not just the days I have off. Getting my ass out of bed in a timely fashion would be a good start...

The Importance of Tangible Nouns

I got a little excited the other day about beer truck murals, beer bottle labels and chapstick. Here's why. These tangible nouns give me flexibility. First, they can change over time. Murals change with ad campaigns, personal choice or simply the seasons. Labels start on bottles, but can be peeled off. Their designs also change. Chapstick is new one day and all used up later on. They also allow me to convey an idea without saying it directly.

Edgar Watson Howe once said, "A good scare is worth more to a man than good advice." I'd wager that most of us don't take advice unless we ask for it. In this case, no one has asked for my advice. No one has asked me to write this book (or any book) providing advice or counsel on anything. But I've got a story to tell and some would say it has a moral. How then do I give advice to those who haven't asked for it? Well, I could take Howe's advice and provide a good scare. To a certain extent, I see that happening in The Beer Flower Limited (The Girl Who Cried L-v-). But more traditionally, in fiction circles, writers use symbols. In this case, I've got my tangible nouns.

That being said, what I may wish to be a symbol for failure or l-v- may be understood for something completely different, if it's understood at all.

2 down...16 to go

I've put together two chapters so far and have the next two days off so I should be able to pick up some ground.

The more I think about this story, the more versions I think of, each with varying levels of detail or complexity. I could see writing two versions - the one I'm currently working on and one more akin to The Boy Who Cried Wolf. The second version could be done relatively quickly - a few sentences a page, more broadly defined characters and setting. Hmm...