The Twirl and Swirl of Letters

How I’m going about writing the WIP, or, how not to

The Twirl and Swirl of Letters

Well, at the request of Sputnitsa, I’m going to write about how I’m writing the WIP.

Procrastination. Sort of. Since my library has a very tiny selection of books that even pertain to Britain in general during WWII, I’m doing what research I can. If I find something interesting, I write it down in my handy-dandy notebook (I’m so thankful I took a few notes during my reading of the Time Life book on The Resistance).

But I’m being semi-productive and reading WWII history books, like Band of Brothers. I did find a couple of things that may be useful.

I’ve thrown myself into my research (ha, really just dipped a toe in to see how the water is). I’m hoping that with more background information, the story will get fleshed out. This’ll be a lot easier when I return to school; I’ll have JSTOR and other sites available to me.

My plot, alas, is bare bones. I know what I want to happen. I wrote the basic skeleton down, it’s literally a paragraph. I’m hoping that once my research really turns up some gems, I’ll have a better idea.

Characters are, at the moment, few and far between. There’s Jim, the MC, who is rather…bland. I know a few details about him, but he really hasn’t been given a chance to show his true colors.

And through it all, I’m writing little scenes to get in the swing of things. I’ve determined a few details that might help me research along the way, for example, Jim pilots a Spitfire. Now, I just need to find various squadrons that flew Spitfires, what their missions were, etc. From there, I’ll be able to determine more of the specifics, such as where he gets gunned down.

So there you go. A brief explanation of where I am, WIP wise. I’ll probably be mired in research for a few more months; I’m hoping to have enough basic information to get a first draft banged out during National Novel Writing Month. Except this time, I might take my time.

Of course, I love research very very much, so I may just get carried away. Which is always a problem.

Language problem: SOLVED. At least temporarily.

The Twirl and Swirl of Letters

As my library has minimal resources on the RAF (or the British part of WWII at all), I decided to do some reading about WWII from the American point of view.

What did I learn from Band of Brothers?

A lot of Dutch people spoke English. HAH. Problem solved!

I also learned that the British army had daily rum rations and horrible food.

And in the US Army, only paratroopers could blouse their trousers (stick ’em in the tops of boots). Ah, the minor details that add so much color.

Book recommendations, or, why I’m not terribly good at giving them to most girls

The Twirl and Swirl of Letters, What's On the Bookshelf?

If you hadn’t gathered by the name of the blog, my name, or the little cartoon, I’m a girl.

And I read constantly.

I’ve been asked on numerous occasions, “Gee, Beth, you like to read. What would you suggest that I/my daughter read?” by girls, usually a couple of years younger than I (or geared for girls younger than I).

“Well,” I ask, “what do[es] you/she like to read?”

Inevitably the answer is “Nothing” or “Twilight/Gossip Girl.”

“Urm,” says I, “I liked to read Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey/Maturin Series when I was a freshman in high school. Y’know, Napoleonic war stuff.”

“What else did you like?” they ask, hoping for something that does not feature small print, and a ship of the line on the cover.

“Ray Bradbury. Um, historical mysteries. Not really much girly stuff. I did read Meg Cabot in middle school, though. Maybe that?”

My biggest regret

The Twirl and Swirl of Letters

I am, by nature, a literary packrat. I don’t save “stuff” so much as I save whatever I’ve written. I have some of my early stories from elementary school squirreled away somewhere.

But I find myself regretting one thing.

When I was in seventh grade, I hand wrote a 50 page Lord of the Rings fan fiction. It’s not the fact that I wrote fan fiction that bothers me (shhh, I still do, on occasion). It’s the fact that I recycled it.

I wish I had that rich, terribly written mine of cliches. I really do. It’d be fun to go back and read. Not to mention cower at the sight of all that purple prose.

I worry librarians.

The Twirl and Swirl of Letters

I dashed to the library today, minutes before they announced that they were closing for the evening. But that’s okay. I was on a mission, questing for research  and a David Ogilvy bio. Alas, I didn’t find the latter.

I can tell the moment I step into a library. The librarians look up from their stocking the shelves, either to say hello (as at my favorite library), or figure out an escape route. Because without a doubt, within an hour I’ll be up at the check out desk with a stack of random books, or at least books on a subject that shouldn’t interest college-aged girls.

Band of Brothers, I could see today’s librarian thinking. Not Twilight? What is wrong with this girl? Oh good, she got a beading magazine and a U2 CD. Maybe these books are for her dad.

Wrong-o.

Libraries are to me as Wikipedia is to XKCD. The random books on the shelves prompt me to grab, open, skim, and either return or continue reading. Thankfully, I’ve stayed away from the foreign language section for the time being.

Do mane characters go to the hair dresser?

The Twirl and Swirl of Letters

Ah, spelling. The bane of every schoolkid’s existence (second to grammar).

The other day I was bored, and poked about Yahoo!Answers. I came across a question that was, essentially, “What should I name my mane (sic) character?”

That got me thinking (which is not difficult to do).

Main characters, as we all know, are stories’ focal characters. Jim is my current main character. I doubt I’ll determine his mane character.

Mane character is what our hair is like. Let’s use Harry Potter characters as examples.

Snape’s “mane character” is greasy.

Sirius’s (while in Azkaban) is matted.

Dumbledore’s mane character also includes his rather luxuriant, silver facial hair.

Voldemort has no “mane character.” He’s bald.

Ron’s is ginger.

Now, misspellings can bring about other unfortunate mismeanings. I would hate to spend time learning how to be a stylist and apply for a job as a “hare dresser.”