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Writing Notes: The Accelerator
7 years ago
So yeah, like I mentioned in the description on the post this one was pretty much for me to practice a couple things I need to work on for a longer piece I’m working on. Things:
1) I really dislike writing violence, I have a strong aversion to it. I think depicting violence for its own sake is super tawdry.
That said, it’s sometimes necessary. If I think it is, I think it’s best to ask “is this in service of the narrative?” That is to say, how does this scene move the story forward to a place you want it to go? A lot of times it’s just going to be a way to “raise the stakes” and I think that’s fine. You can usually add import to a scene when physical/mortal danger is introduced into the narrative, and actually allowing those things to happen to characters conveys to the audience that you’re willing to “play for keeps,” that really bad things can happen to major characters in this narrative, and that kind of heightens things for all characters even if nothing bad ever really happens to them. That’s my opinion anyway!
Also, personally, it seems like every time I end up putting violence in a narrative it ends up being allegorical, the person doing it ends up getting punished and the whole episode highlights how violence just ends up making everything worse for everyone. I’m a sucker for happy endings at the end of the day. Part of why I’m not the best at writing stories like this… which is why I need to work on it! Even in this one, I intentionally left ambiguous what happened to Linda and the unnamed German Shepard. In my mind neither of them actually died, but it’s really up to the reader.
But yeah, to the first point I am kind of at the stage of the initial incident in what I’m working on right now, and I need to get past some unpleasant stuff to get to the happier stuff, so I’m trying to figure out the best way to work through that.
2) Music is a major source of inspiration for me, always has been. I heard the song referenced at the beginning of this short while I was at work on Tuesday and kind of storyboarded it in my head, so I thought I’d knock it out in a couple days while it was fresh on my mind. I thought I’d include it since I use music to kind of get in the right mindset for something I’m working on, and if it’s specific I thought it might be worth sharing. That’s something I plan to do more in the future but I’m trying to get a feel for how it’ll be received, or if anyone even gives a shit, ha.
3) The longer piece I’m writing is set in the American South during the Civil War, so I am trying to get a feel for writing both grittier scenes and incorporating Southern Gothic motifs, since I think that’s a skillset that’ll be helpful.
More general things:
1) For whatever reason most of what I write relies to some degree on place and time. I feel like it’s a great way to add both detail and an interesting setting without even really having to try too hard. Plus it lets me do research and learn about stuff, which is something I enjoy for its own sake.
2) I have a really awful habit of trying to worm meaning into character names, but I like doing it even though it’s a bad practice. Jimmy’s last name is Bonhomme because he’s from Louisiana, that name being the French version of the name Goodman, which is the joke because he’s a bad dude with a rude ‘tude. Hurr.
3) I don’t have a lot of experience writing anthro characters so I’m still trying to get a feel for how detailed I should be with character descriptions, when I should reiterate or emphasize physical traits… whether I can call them “people,” lol. It’s all good, I’ll figure it out.
That’s it for now!
1) I really dislike writing violence, I have a strong aversion to it. I think depicting violence for its own sake is super tawdry.
That said, it’s sometimes necessary. If I think it is, I think it’s best to ask “is this in service of the narrative?” That is to say, how does this scene move the story forward to a place you want it to go? A lot of times it’s just going to be a way to “raise the stakes” and I think that’s fine. You can usually add import to a scene when physical/mortal danger is introduced into the narrative, and actually allowing those things to happen to characters conveys to the audience that you’re willing to “play for keeps,” that really bad things can happen to major characters in this narrative, and that kind of heightens things for all characters even if nothing bad ever really happens to them. That’s my opinion anyway!
Also, personally, it seems like every time I end up putting violence in a narrative it ends up being allegorical, the person doing it ends up getting punished and the whole episode highlights how violence just ends up making everything worse for everyone. I’m a sucker for happy endings at the end of the day. Part of why I’m not the best at writing stories like this… which is why I need to work on it! Even in this one, I intentionally left ambiguous what happened to Linda and the unnamed German Shepard. In my mind neither of them actually died, but it’s really up to the reader.
But yeah, to the first point I am kind of at the stage of the initial incident in what I’m working on right now, and I need to get past some unpleasant stuff to get to the happier stuff, so I’m trying to figure out the best way to work through that.
2) Music is a major source of inspiration for me, always has been. I heard the song referenced at the beginning of this short while I was at work on Tuesday and kind of storyboarded it in my head, so I thought I’d knock it out in a couple days while it was fresh on my mind. I thought I’d include it since I use music to kind of get in the right mindset for something I’m working on, and if it’s specific I thought it might be worth sharing. That’s something I plan to do more in the future but I’m trying to get a feel for how it’ll be received, or if anyone even gives a shit, ha.
3) The longer piece I’m writing is set in the American South during the Civil War, so I am trying to get a feel for writing both grittier scenes and incorporating Southern Gothic motifs, since I think that’s a skillset that’ll be helpful.
More general things:
1) For whatever reason most of what I write relies to some degree on place and time. I feel like it’s a great way to add both detail and an interesting setting without even really having to try too hard. Plus it lets me do research and learn about stuff, which is something I enjoy for its own sake.
2) I have a really awful habit of trying to worm meaning into character names, but I like doing it even though it’s a bad practice. Jimmy’s last name is Bonhomme because he’s from Louisiana, that name being the French version of the name Goodman, which is the joke because he’s a bad dude with a rude ‘tude. Hurr.
3) I don’t have a lot of experience writing anthro characters so I’m still trying to get a feel for how detailed I should be with character descriptions, when I should reiterate or emphasize physical traits… whether I can call them “people,” lol. It’s all good, I’ll figure it out.
That’s it for now!
