So here we are at the halfway mark, the midpoint, if you will, of our November writerly effort.
Remember when we were told that writing is a marathon, not a sprint? Nothing was truer than when drafting Act Two. That’s not to say I’m in SlumpsVille. I think once I got the action going, it allowed me to explore each character’s motivations at that particular moment in the story and whether or not those motivations were worthy to be showcased. Subplots aplenty.
NaNoWriMo & SavvyAuthors: Entangled Smackdown stats:
Week One: 17,850 words
Week Two: 16,383 words
A slight dip, but I think we’re making good time.
Running Total: 34,233 words
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I’m a visual storyteller. This week on FRIDAY FORAGE, I’d like to share five of my favorites. It was difficult to narrow these down because there really are so many.
1) The Fionavar Tapestry by Guy Gavriel Kay
First off, I love that it starts off at the University of Toronto. Yay, Canada! I read this trilogy several years before Peter Jackson feasted our eyes with anything Shire-related. This story is like Dungeons & Dragons meets Narnia.
I’ve been waiting–and waiting–for this to be a movie. It’s visually stunning, there are great characters, and a terrific story. I highly recommend this book and suddenly want to read it again.
Speaking of awesome movies. 🙂 Admittedly, I’ve only watched the 1987 movie and not yet read the book, but some of the best scenes are forever ingrained in pop culture. “As you wish… inconceivable… my name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father–” Oh, if you don’t know these catch phrases, you must watch this movie!
It is a fun adventure and I only got mildly scared when Fezzik got all spooky atop the cart with the cloak and the flames, and the… *shudder*
3) Hamlet
I should probably help this guy out. Poor Bill. Needs help to get his work out there.
This story has everything: brother pitted against brother, ghosts, murder, revenge, crazy people, opportunists, and the Oedipal complexities of it all.
So much depth, action, tension, you name it.
I’ve seen many incarnations of the play onscreen and it’s amazing how a single story can be interpreted in new and creative ways.
A new instant classic, at least in my books–though not a book, but I digress–this series is a fresh twist on the tales we grew up with and takes some of our favorite literary characters and puts them in a blender of awesome.
And talk about visuals. The settings, the lush backstories. Every episode is a treat.
5) The Griffin & Sabine Trilogy by Nick Bantock
What I love about these books is the innovative way the story is told. An exchange between two people, Griffin and Sabine, these books can’t be enjoyed in any other way but by the true tactile method. Each page offers a unique way to present the correspondence written by each character.
I enjoyed opening an envelope–slight voyeurism aside–and reading about their respective POVs in the story. It’s as much art as it is imaginative literature. Lovely.
I left these and many other treasured books in Asia when I returned to this continent and nostalgia is twisting my arm to go and buy these again. #ChristmasWishList *ahem, ahem*
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There are many ways to tell a story. The audio/visual delights to all the senses make these all-time faves. They inspire me as a reader and as a writer. I take them as challenges to see how I can be more creative and innovative in my own work.
What are your favorite stories? What’s inspiring you during this writerly November?
Happy writing. As we reach the Third Act, things are bound to get interesting–in the story, too. 😉
Textploits of the Writerly Persuasion 