The Why

I was sitting in my car on an eight hour road trip with my brother in the passenger seat. We were headed back from a relaxing family vacation at the beach, but I was tormented mentally by this dream I had one night while there. I was in the middle of writing the rough draft for the third book of a trilogy I had been working on for two years, but I could not shake this new storyline that had landed in my lap so gracefully. I had managed to outline (essentially) the whole book, from where it would begin, to where it would end, as well as how I would format it!

.…the only problem?

I turned to my brother and exclaimed in complete frustration, “I just need to know the WHY!? You know?” *Needless to recount, his face was one of mild shock and confusion.*

(This is not what you would call an accurate depiction of my brother -->)

Herein lays one of the most foundational truths of any story. There must be something that happens, or that was said that makes someone, anyone within the universe have an emotional/physical/ directional change. Another word for it would be “catalyst.” Every story has a catalyst that takes characters that were always headed in one direction and makes them do a u-turn. Then what happens? The main character meets others who are then changed/ influenced by him/her, and it becomes this string of alteration that begins to perpetuate the universe (or simply the universe of the main character).

So, why am I harping on this? Because the heart of RE:medy is why our characters take their journey. Why many of them leave (willing or not) their homes and face all sorts of crazy misadventures. Why they find themselves thrown together with people they don’t particularly care for. It’s the Why’s of this universe that carry the story and characters on their journey, and don’t get me wrong, sometimes the why changes. *smirk*

However, next week I intend to introduce you to the most foundational- albeit manic and slightly unbalanced- why of the RE:medy universe. The primary catalyst that spurs an unanticipated journey…

Why Muse? Why?

Lyndsay

Next week: Meet RE:medy’s most idiosyncratic character.

A Unique Universe

Author’s note: Yes, I realize my blog post is late, and while I wish that I could claim it was because I had some unbelievable literary breakthrough…it was simply because I was in the studio all day and away from my computer. Anti-climactic I know. On the upside however, Carmanda is getting some legit work done and I wrote ten pages this week.

Once upon a time there was a planet. A non-descript unformed planet suspended indefinitely somewhere in space- but not necessarily a space that we’re familiar with. In fact, this space doesn’t even have to exist within the real world. So now we have our non-descript planet, suspended in an unexplained universe and where does that get us? No where…yet.

So what do we do? We lay out our maps and format the land. We create mountain ranges and valleys. Oceans, rivers, and lakes. For good measure, we sprinkle on some islands and throw in a desert. We set boundary lines between regions. Assemble continents and arrange our lines of latitude and longitude.

Once we’ve settled on our planet’s topography, we set up a time line and we sort through the logs of this unknown world’s history. We assemble people groups and give them names. Create conflicts and set up governments. We sort through endless hours of storyline and drama that readers will never know of or care about. But why?

Because at center of it all, the world matters. The history matters. The lore matters. Not because the reader needs to know it, but because the author needs to know it. The universe of a story is what GROUNDS us. Keeps us centered and helps us answer the questions and dilemmas our characters put us in. (And trust me, they are constantly creating situations of frustration.)

However, don’t make the mistake of spending too much time on your world. In fact, the creation of the universe (for me) is often a direct result of some situation or conflict I have encountered along with my characters. Those moments in the creation of the world is where a lot of the magic happens…and it makes the world come ALIVE.

The universe of RE:medy is one such universe. It has history, it has lore, and it has life. But at the center of it all what really makes a universe unique and worth visiting is the WHY. Don’t understand what I mean? Tune in next week….

Muse frequently,

Lyndsay

BONUS: Wanna make your own planet using Adobe Photoshop 7? Check out Greg Martin’s tutorial!

http://gallery.artofgregmartin.com/tuts_arts/making_a_planet.html

Next on cue: “The Why”

P.S. (The below image represents my state of mind this past week...)