Tips, Tricks, Rants and Raves on the Secrets to Writing Erotic Fiction
Wednesday, February 09, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Friday, January 14, 2011
Memory Training
Photographic Memory.
Shortly after I published my very first story, I was introduced to the phrase: "Write What You Know."
I was horrified.
I was horrified because I was still in high school and living with my Mother in a very small New England town. Other than a few encounters with a couple of ghosts, and what I had looked up in my local library, (keep in mind this was 1980, the internet hadn't been invented yet,) I knew Nothing. Seriously, I had no personal experience doing Anything.
What the heck was I supposed to write if I only wrote what I knew?
I had yet to learn how to drive a car, but that was okay. I was damned good at riding the bus. However, I still hadn't had my first kiss yet so relationship stories of Any kind were right out. Forget stories that had guns or weapons, though I could use a sling-shot and swung a mean baseball bat. (Don't make me break out my pocketbook!) Forget stories with horses in it, though I did know how to feed and train a dog.
I had three younger brothers so I had some experience with childcare, but having learned my techniques from a sociopathic parent (Not a Joke,) writing from those experiences would have landed that character in the villain slot, pronto. (The scary part was that I was aware of this back then!) I sucked at sports and had no friends, so those kinds of stories were out too.
In short, the sum total of my knowledge was strictly from books. Which was to say, Not Useful toward making a story realistic in even the vaguest sense.
Even worse, I discovered that my memory Leaked. I could remember things long enough to pass a test, but that was as far as it got.
Since moving out of my mom's house wasn't looking too close to happening, experiencing new things had to be put on hold. Instead I started working on my memory.
I tried a number of techniques but what worked for me was a type of Image Association.
In short, staring hard at something and then later, Drawing it. Or rather, trying to. I was an okay artist, nothing terrific, believe me, but I noticed right away that if I drew a picture whatever I was trying to remember stayed in my head better. Even doodling in the bottom corner of my notebook worked. The really interesting thing was that the picture didn't have to be related at all to what I was trying to remember! Though it worked better if it was.
Strangely enough, cutting pictures out of magazines worked too, though not nearly as well. I had to really stare at the picture and recite out loud what it was I was trying to remember.
This led to the next step: Recitation.
This meant quite literally, staring hard at a scene I wanted to write about later, such as the park during the height of autumn, or a thunderstorm, and describing it out loud -- without writing it down. Just spitting out adjectives that described what I was looking at, or what I was Feeling, such as what the brass handrail in school felt like sliding under my hand while walking down the stairs. After only a couple of tries, it didn't even have to be out loud. Saying it in my head or under my breath worked too.
I never did recall exactly what I said, but I recalled the experience Perfectly. In other words, Sensory Association.
By the way, the Schoolhouse Rock multiplication jingles saved my math grade, seriously. If I sang along with the cartoon, I remembered it. ALL of it. In fact, I still remember them. Recitation + Images.
About a month or two after I started doing all that, the flip-side of those exercises suddenly kicked in. I started Picturing what I was reading while I read it. In other words, I was playing a movie in my head of whatever I was reading. Though it was a bit more than that. My memory added the experiences I'd worked to remember. If the writer mentioned 'forest', my memory automatically added the sound of the wind, bird-calls, the smell of moldering earth, the specific colors of the leaves in sunlight, and the chilly brush of a breeze.
That doesn't seem like such a big deal, but it had one hell of a side effect.
I could remember anything I'd read. That included Text Books. If the text books had pictures it was even easier. I was actually able to remember the names and stories of any historical figure simply by picturing that person's portrait.
However, I was not remembering the Words, only the images I'd seen and the Stories that went with it. This actually worked well when I needed to answer essay questions.
However, my ability to remember things in a list; dates, names, phone numbers, groceries I needed to buy...dropped off the face of the earth. If I didn't have a picture to connect with what I was trying to remember, it left my head almost the moment it went in.
My last two years of high school saw a major lift in my grades in every subject except One: Math. I still suck at math. Numbers simply don't bring up images. I could remember my times tables, (thank you Schoolhouse Rock,) but that was IT. Geometry was fine because the formulas were all associated with shapes, but Algebra was right out.
One would think that Grammar would have been difficult to remember, but it wasn't. I was using it almost daily in my story notebooks. (When one is writing a story, one NEEDS punctuation to have it make sense to the reader.) Repetition saved me there.
Later on, I finally left home and gathered a great number of wildly varying experiences. I still can't recall all the names of the people I met, but their faces are all engraved on my mind along with everything I experienced down to the weather conditions on the day it happened.
Picture Association and Sensory Association
Those were the keys to how I trained my memory to recall anything I'd seen or done clearly enough to write it on paper. I'm still amazed by how much I haven't forgotten.
Enjoy!
I was horrified.
I was horrified because I was still in high school and living with my Mother in a very small New England town. Other than a few encounters with a couple of ghosts, and what I had looked up in my local library, (keep in mind this was 1980, the internet hadn't been invented yet,) I knew Nothing. Seriously, I had no personal experience doing Anything.
What the heck was I supposed to write if I only wrote what I knew?
I had yet to learn how to drive a car, but that was okay. I was damned good at riding the bus. However, I still hadn't had my first kiss yet so relationship stories of Any kind were right out. Forget stories that had guns or weapons, though I could use a sling-shot and swung a mean baseball bat. (Don't make me break out my pocketbook!) Forget stories with horses in it, though I did know how to feed and train a dog.
I had three younger brothers so I had some experience with childcare, but having learned my techniques from a sociopathic parent (Not a Joke,) writing from those experiences would have landed that character in the villain slot, pronto. (The scary part was that I was aware of this back then!) I sucked at sports and had no friends, so those kinds of stories were out too.
In short, the sum total of my knowledge was strictly from books. Which was to say, Not Useful toward making a story realistic in even the vaguest sense.
Even worse, I discovered that my memory Leaked. I could remember things long enough to pass a test, but that was as far as it got.
Since moving out of my mom's house wasn't looking too close to happening, experiencing new things had to be put on hold. Instead I started working on my memory.
I tried a number of techniques but what worked for me was a type of Image Association.
In short, staring hard at something and then later, Drawing it. Or rather, trying to. I was an okay artist, nothing terrific, believe me, but I noticed right away that if I drew a picture whatever I was trying to remember stayed in my head better. Even doodling in the bottom corner of my notebook worked. The really interesting thing was that the picture didn't have to be related at all to what I was trying to remember! Though it worked better if it was.
Strangely enough, cutting pictures out of magazines worked too, though not nearly as well. I had to really stare at the picture and recite out loud what it was I was trying to remember.
This led to the next step: Recitation.
This meant quite literally, staring hard at a scene I wanted to write about later, such as the park during the height of autumn, or a thunderstorm, and describing it out loud -- without writing it down. Just spitting out adjectives that described what I was looking at, or what I was Feeling, such as what the brass handrail in school felt like sliding under my hand while walking down the stairs. After only a couple of tries, it didn't even have to be out loud. Saying it in my head or under my breath worked too.
I never did recall exactly what I said, but I recalled the experience Perfectly. In other words, Sensory Association.
By the way, the Schoolhouse Rock multiplication jingles saved my math grade, seriously. If I sang along with the cartoon, I remembered it. ALL of it. In fact, I still remember them. Recitation + Images.
About a month or two after I started doing all that, the flip-side of those exercises suddenly kicked in. I started Picturing what I was reading while I read it. In other words, I was playing a movie in my head of whatever I was reading. Though it was a bit more than that. My memory added the experiences I'd worked to remember. If the writer mentioned 'forest', my memory automatically added the sound of the wind, bird-calls, the smell of moldering earth, the specific colors of the leaves in sunlight, and the chilly brush of a breeze.
That doesn't seem like such a big deal, but it had one hell of a side effect.
I could remember anything I'd read. That included Text Books. If the text books had pictures it was even easier. I was actually able to remember the names and stories of any historical figure simply by picturing that person's portrait.
However, I was not remembering the Words, only the images I'd seen and the Stories that went with it. This actually worked well when I needed to answer essay questions.
However, my ability to remember things in a list; dates, names, phone numbers, groceries I needed to buy...dropped off the face of the earth. If I didn't have a picture to connect with what I was trying to remember, it left my head almost the moment it went in.
My last two years of high school saw a major lift in my grades in every subject except One: Math. I still suck at math. Numbers simply don't bring up images. I could remember my times tables, (thank you Schoolhouse Rock,) but that was IT. Geometry was fine because the formulas were all associated with shapes, but Algebra was right out.
One would think that Grammar would have been difficult to remember, but it wasn't. I was using it almost daily in my story notebooks. (When one is writing a story, one NEEDS punctuation to have it make sense to the reader.) Repetition saved me there.
Later on, I finally left home and gathered a great number of wildly varying experiences. I still can't recall all the names of the people I met, but their faces are all engraved on my mind along with everything I experienced down to the weather conditions on the day it happened.
Picture Association and Sensory Association
Those were the keys to how I trained my memory to recall anything I'd seen or done clearly enough to write it on paper. I'm still amazed by how much I haven't forgotten.
Enjoy!
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Torrey & the Vampire
Hello my lovelies,
-- This is the very first Visual Novel that I made myself!
Torrey & the Vampire
-- An Erotic Kinetic Novella --
-- An Erotic Kinetic Novella --
Story & Graphics by Morgan Hawke
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Powered by Ren'Py
Saturday, August 28, 2010
WORLD-BUILDING: RESEARCH is your Best Friend
The Great Kanto Earthquake
September 1, 1923 -- Taisho Era
September 1, 1923 -- Taisho Era
WORLD BUILDING
RESEARCH is your Best Friend
----- Original Message -----
"...for bigger fictions (maybe 10-20 chapters, or more,) ... how much do you plan out? Since you are an actual Author I was just wondering how you would fair on this idea?"
-- Curious Kitty
How much do I plan out for one of my novels?
I detail everything. Seriously.
I detail everything. Seriously.
I start with a basic 4 Act plot formula
- Act One: The Hero rises to prominence.
- Act Two: The Hero has a major Flaw -- that he tries to hide.
- Act Three: Because of his Flaw, the Hero does something not-heroic, and falls.
- Act Four: The Hero overcomes his Flaw to Rise Again!
then Add Genre specific events.
- Romance needs romantic encounters and extra doses of pining.
- Adventures need lots of fight scenes.
- Gothics need angst and suffering.
- Horror needs room for monster attacks.
- Sci-Fi's and Fantasies need moments of wonder.
This gives me a rough plot outline to work from.
I then outline each of the
Three Main Characters:
Hero - Ally - Villain.
1: Who am I and what is my place in my society?
2. What do I Want most?
3. What's the Worst thing that could happen to me?
I need all three main characters to have these questions answered to make sure that they are psychologically in sync with the Plot and Each Other, so their actions/reactions will mesh in the way I intend. Ahem... That their personalities will clash nicely.
If I'm doing a Historical, I also look up the 4 years they were 15, 16, 17, and 18 -- the high school years, to check out what major News events were happening at the time, plus the books, songs, plays, movies, and TV shows that were popular.
If I'm doing a Historical, I also look up the 4 years they were 15, 16, 17, and 18 -- the high school years, to check out what major News events were happening at the time, plus the books, songs, plays, movies, and TV shows that were popular.
Believe it or not, the Music, News, and Stories which includes: books, plays, movies, and lately: video games, that were seen and heard during one's High School years tend to influence the foundational Characteristics and Values of most people's personalities.
Think I'm kidding?
Look up your own high school years and check out what News Events, Books, Music, TV shows, Games, and Movies were out during that time. How did they affect the way You think about People, Places, Relationships, Employment, War, Politics, etc?
Now consider how much they STILL influence your opinions today?
If you're still in school, check out the News Events, Books, Music, TV shows, and Movies came out during your Mom's or your Dad's high school years. The results will be shocking!
I sketch out the
major Support Characters.
I don't go into detail on them. Just names, jobs, physical descriptions, and what I've based their personality on; Scorpio and an INTJ? or who; Riddick under a new name...
Why not detail the Support characters?
I don't want to get attached to a character that ISN'T who the story is about. If I get too attached to a support character, that character could very easily take over the whole damned story.
I Research the LOCATIONS I intend to use.
Location Research is especially important if I'm writing a Historical piece.
I begin by researching the NEWS local to that area.
- Did riots break out the summer my story happens?
- Was there a killing snowstorm that winter?
- Droughts?
- Floods?
- Fires?
- Quakes...?
- A major WAR?
Weather and social conditions are vitally important because these conditions will make or break all the plot points caused by Setting.
In other words, if one location won't work; "Oops, on that day, there's a riot on that street." I'll have to thrash out either a way around it, or find a whole new location -- or a whole new Time Period.
In other words, if one location won't work; "Oops, on that day, there's a riot on that street." I'll have to thrash out either a way around it, or find a whole new location -- or a whole new Time Period.
Case in point:
I seriously considered writing a story set in
the Taisho Era (1912-1926).
During this era in Japan, Period Drama movies were all the rage. However, Taisho era cinema predates the use of sound in Japanese films. These films were presented with live music, and live narrators called benshi, who explained the on-screen action, and were often influenced by traditional Japanese theater like Kabuki and Bunraku.
In-home radios were becoming commonplace which played local and
national news, traditional Japanese music, and western classical music. Classical music gained so much popularity among
the newly rich industrialists, that it became common to bring in tutors to teach their school age children to play classical instruments such as piano and violin.
Then I discovered that Japan was in and out of War with Russia and China that whole period because of World War One, known as The Great War at the time, plus a few other less than savory--and still hotly debated--invasions of Korea.
Then there was the 1923 Kanto Earthquake that came with hundreds of massive city-wide fires.
Add to all that, the violently contested Political environment of the slowly dying traditional noble families verses the quickly multiplying newly rich Industrialists, plus a Justice system that was NOT Just. If you had money you were innocent. If you didn't...you weren't.
Don't even get me started on all the weird religious shit that was going down with the tearing down of all the torii gates and shutting down the shrines because of the enforced national worship of the Emperor and his family.
This gets really weird in school settings because the Imperial Rescript on Education, and the emperor's portrait had to be locked in a special vault called the Ho-an-den (奉安殿) after school hours.
In short, it was waaaaaaaaay, too much work to thread my little story in the middle of that hot mess.
Now then, back to Locations!
If I'm using
a completely fabricated world or country:
I suss out the political system and history for that country or set of countries for that last 200 years--or more.
Then there's the time system: how many hours in a day, days in a week, a month... (Is there a moon on this planet--or two?) How long is a year?
Education system, medical system, money system, invention or magic system, what occupations are available...etc.
If I'm doing a
Sci-Fi or Steam Punk:
Invention and Science research is paramount in writing a Steampunk or Sci-Fi, but it never hurts to know what inventions actually existed during any time period you're writing in, no matter the genre.
Current experimental sciences, such as Robotics, and what current science says is possible can give you fantastic jumping off points. I normally find major inspiration during these research sessions.
If I'm doing a
Paranormal or Fantasy story:
Since I've got quite a home library on Mythology, Magic, and the Paranormal, this is just a matter of pulling a book from a shelf.
After all that is done, I take one last look at my plot outline then set it aside and begin to write.
I believe in a Total Immersion style of writing. In other words, I want to know the world so well I can simply step into the mind and skin of my main character and LIVE the story.
In the course of writing,
most things work with my plan,
but some things won't.
Some locations won't offer quite the right atmosphere I intended for a scene. Sometimes a whole new character will step onstage and become the Ally to the main character or the Villain INSTEAD of the one I mapped out.
Nothing is ever perfect.
When things don't go the way I planned for, I take a few moments to extrapolate how such changes will affect the story. If the ending doesn't change--or a better one suddenly crops up, I go with it.
I DON'T stick that hard to the plot outline. I change as needed to make the STORY better--not my ego, or worse, my Character's ego.
Morgan Hawke
The Pecular Popularity of sparkly vampires, Pokemon, and other fairy-tale Lovers.
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