More Accountability, and Sequels (+ sneaky links)

Yesterday I said I was going to blog my way back into writing, because I’d been distracted by life things and then fallen into procrastination. Yeah, I do see the irony in this…

Anyway, yesterday’s target was to go through my notebook and figure out what to start working on next. Well, I managed to get a bit of time in the early afternoon, and then some more time in the early evening while Mr D was at his first ever Drama Class (which he absolutely loved).

I think I’ve pinned down a story (possibly chapter book, possibly young middle grade) to do some work on, and so that’s what I’m going to be doing more of today. Just jotting down ideas, structures, maybe trying to get started on pinning down a voice.

One thing I really found useful yesterday was reading through Jim Butcher’s old blog where he talks about writing. In particular, there’s an entry where he talks about ‘Sequels’. By sequels, he doesn’t mean ‘book 2’ but instead:

Sequels are what happens as an aftermath to a scene.

I realised that I’d never really thought about sequels before. I write them, but I’ve never consciously thought about them. In fact, most books on writing focus exclusively on scenes, and sometimes I’ve found myself trying to force sequels into the structure of a scene, and that’s not been good for them, because they’re not scenes.

Here’s what Butcher says is the structure of a ‘sequel’, as opposed to a scene:

Here’s the basic structure to a sequel. It’s another little worksheet you can fill out when you’re thinking about it ahead of time:

1) EMOTIONAL REACTION:
2) REVIEW, LOGIC, & REASON:
3) ANTICIPATION:
4) CHOICE:

It’s an interesting blog post, and I’m not going to try to justice to it here, but take a look. It’s certainly making me more conscious of what may be a slightly neglected part of my own writing.

Anyway, I’ve been reading a lot of Butcher’s stuff (his books as well as blog), and although I was initially skeptical (don’t know why; maybe I just tend to react instinctively against popular stuff, often to my disadvantage and later regret), but I’ve come to admire how well he does his stuff.

A couple more links, while we’re at it:

If you have a website, you need to make sure it works just as well on phones and tablets as it does on a desktop or laptop. Plug your web address in here to get a quick look at how your website really looks on different devices.

India’s budget mission to Mars – quite inspiring

Right, off to do some of that writing now!