Magic beyond the plan

I can plan a book as much as I like—write detailed outlines, scene lists, synopses; I can map and collage and color-code as much as I like, but the actual story happens when I sit down, open the window into that other world, and let the characters go, do their thing. It is only in sitting down, day after day, that I discover that one character, a taciturn ex-soldier, really loves cats, and shows another character a secret about barn cats that has some very strong metaphorical underpinnings for the girl’s journey. I couldn’t plan that, because I didn’t know it. It’s only in the writing, only when a character takes a sudden turn into a new action that surprises me, that I learn who she really is beneath her Paper Doll Place Holderness. -- Writer Unboxed: Day After Day After Day by Barbara O'Neal

And this why I don't understand when writers say they can't plan a story because that takes all the fun of discovery out. You still get this no matter how much you plan!

The Wins File - Something to Read When I Feel Anxiety Over Writing

After running across the advice on Mez's blog and at Writer Unboxed, and then followed by a bad episode of the inner rage monster spitting vile, I decided I needed to write these out and remind myself how far I have come. In rough chronological order:

• The first of the few teachers who encouraged my writing and I can't even remember her name. She took over the gifted program and I finally got to do what I was really good at, reading and writing and not the math that everyone else was good at. She could have just let me read and write book reports to my heart's content, but asked if I wanted to write my own story. Help! Something's Out to Get Me in 1988
• You got Ms. Ernst to read a story about incestuous sexual abuse and ghosts to a high school class when you asked for feedback. That wins some kink points.
• Jesse said he really liked the character, that they seemed real after he read the Sherlock Scam. That was the first time I didn't have to dig for something beyond "good story."
• My query letter to Star Wars Adventure Journal got me a submissions packet in my senior year of high school. Lucas is still an idiot for taking the liscense away from West End Games before I had a chance to submit the game. And he can't write dialogue to save his life.
• I was the go-to script girl for the skits put on my Math-Science Upward Bound in Oklahoma, and I collaborated well with others; our skits got the biggest laughs.
• Play writing class--that format I had never attempted before, the one I chose such personal material to write about--everyone loved the "Front Porch."
• ARGUS Northwestern State University's literary magazine:
  • "The Bloody Hand" won first place in the Fall 1995 contest
  • "The Rose" was published in 1998 edition
  • "Dreams of the Dead" won first place in the 1998 Fall contest and "Elizabeth's Oak" won second the same semester
  The rest of the staff was under no obligations to publish anything I submitted or give me my first prize money for writing.
• "Gargoyles: Regrets" won second place at the 2001 Gathering.
• "Gingerbread Girl" was published by someone I don't know, so in no way can it ever be called a personal favor.
• "Covenant of the Restless" gained attention and would have gone further if the whole venture hadn't gone belly up. Which was not my fault because I dared to submit something.

2012 Fiction Word Count Week 27 - 38

To list this quicker, I'm only going to put in the weeks that had change.

Week 27

Progress Bar from Writertopia

Week 31

Progress Bar from Writertopia

Week 32

Progress Bar from Writertopia

Week 33

Progress Bar from Writertopia

Week 37

Progress Bar from Writertopia

Week 38

Progress Bar from Writertopia

Bat/Cat Thoughts pertaining to my fanfics

The Dark Knight Rises hit the muse HARD. That's the only explanation for it. The following links are other people's thoughts that made me go "ooooh!"

Martha Wayne's Pearls in the Nolanverse -- I didn't even have this in mind when I wrote Partners, but damn, it fits perfectly with what I went with.

Christian Bale's quote about Catwoman in the movie and Bruce's attraction to her.

So what do you think Selina meant when she said come away with me? To add to The Bat and the Cat Tumblr's answer, Bane already hurt Bruce once to the point where she thought he was dead. She couldn't see that happen again, which tumbled into she couldn't let it happen again and she turned the Batpod around.

More on the symbolism of the pearls

Bruce and Selina are courting in TDKR Yes, and they will end up together because Talia is DEAD! *Triumphant laughter* Oops, that was my outside voice again.

Maybe Christian Bale should write Catwoman.

Talk about the costumes

Selina came back for Bruce Of course she did and then the bastard goes and blows himself up.

You could have gone anywhere scene, Batman stops to deal with Selina's vulnerability I don't like my Batman suicidal, but a person I was discussing the movie with had the thought that it was Selina and her kiss that made him turn on the autopilot and give life a chance. If that theory is true, this is where the boot met his bat cowl.

Bruce's half of the romantic journey My only quibble is Bruce's bit to Miranda in the dungeon. I didn't read the line as romantic, Bruce was there to rescue Fox and resurrect Batman. He owed Miranda an explanation and she deserved rescue too, so he was promising to get her out in the language all good guys in a cape use.

Alfred and the letter and eight long years My first thought back to the Dark Knight is Rachel should have NEVER put Alfred in the middle of it. Second thought, I had to write a reconciliation fic between Alfred and Bruce, in which Alfred confesses to Selina he should have told Bruce the truth before Bruce jumped back into Batman.

There's the end of the pile. I hope I don't make another one.