The Grand Dare

By Irish87 · Feb 18, 2010 · ·
  1. I am far too competitive for my own good. Unfortunately this personal fault, if you deem such a thing a fault, has led me to do things I would otherwise avoid, from writing an entire one hundred and ten thousand word novel to singing "Dirty Old Town" in front of an audience of about two hundred people... half naked. And do you know what the sad thing about all of this is? I don't even do it for money, the dare alone forces me to do it. I cannot accept under any circumstance failing when I know that if I suck it up or put enough effort into it I can easily accomplish it.

    My friend and I often find ourselves trying to out due one another. On the other hand, we're also incredibly cruel to one another. He still has a scar on his neck from that one incident with a rubber band and the cap of some home brew. Well, he finally went and did it... he dared me to write another novel.

    He knows I'm able to, but there is one difference with this one... I can't do it the way that I like. You see, I have a theory when it comes to creating character. Basically, forcing out a premade, already assembled character whose beliefs, morals, functions, activities, favorite foods, etc is all decided is perhaps the WORST way to create a character. I favor developing a character over time and molding him through his actions, knowing full well we all evolve over time as our experience begins to grow.

    Well, my friend thinks that idea is fine and dandy, but his method of writing is far better. He can churn out a novel in a week if he wanted, though he does take the prior week off to write an outline for each chapter. To me this is heresy. However, I was dared to use his little tactic...

    So then, what will the novel be about? Well, I don't honestly know yet, though I figure I'll try to make it fairly topical since I can probably get away with exposition for a good part of it. While science fiction and fantasy eat up a good chunk of words, and my goal is only sixty thousand, I think a nice Fascistic dystopian novel would be a good deal easier. It will allow me to toss in a few references to things that I care about, most notably the sickeningly rampant Antisemitism spreading throughout most of the world.

    -Irish

    P.S.: How the hell does Shane MacGowan eat?! Each time he opens his mouth to sing I keep thinking he's Smeagol from The Lord of the Rings. Poor, poor Mr. MacGowan.

    UPDATE: ARGH! It is soooo annoying to write like this! I've been itching all day to sit down and write the first chapter - I know everything about it. Unfortunately, the agreement says that I will not begin writing until I have down every character, every detail about said character, every chapter, and everything in between. I've only thought about the first three chapters, though I know the ending, and the main character.

    This is horrible. How do people work like this?! I demand to know how a writer can honestly sit down and write an index of characteristics and chapter detail and NOT immediately start writing and forgetting all of that crap. All I want to do is write, but instead I'm designing the layout of my characters life. I really don't care about my characters heritage. He's white! That's it! But nooo, according to my friend I have to pick a region where his family originates. You know what I chose? Europe.

    Alright, I think I'm going to go hang out with some other friends for the time being. My head hurts and I'm slowly going insane. Oh yeah, I've been reading a LOT of Ayn Rand lately, so this novel will be 100% biased. To hell with being impartial.

Comments

  1. Lavarian
    I also favor developing a character over time through actions and thoughts.
    To be honest, I prefer to 'just write' and don't worry about organization till later. Most likely, I'll write a load of garbage, sift through it to find some gems, then toss the rest.
    If you make a static character with X thoughts and beliefs beforehand, you have to very careful about writing from their point of view.
    After all, you don't want to seem like a pretentious liar. Unless, of course, you're writing some sort of documentary. In these days with those, it seems like all gloves are off and you can throw in whatever tripe, whether it be true or not, and get away with it.
    "Well no, it isn't exactly true, but if it generates negative feelings about X, then it's ok, right? Not even for the cause?"

    'End justifies the means' bull**** that I hate.
    Anyway, sorry about ranting on your blog, I have no idea where that came from. I think that your method of character development is the most honest and I would stick with it.
  2. Irish87
    I appreciate it, and I will certainly stay with my own form of character development. Nevertheless, a dare is a dare and if I go back on it then I am a coward... sometimes I really hate being competitive. And for what its worth, I agree with what you were saying. I can't stand the whole idea that the end justifies the means. It gives people the right to act like fools.
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