29 July 2011

Yes, I have been negligent.  Between actually writing and keeping a private journal, I don't have much time--or much new--to write here.  But then, this week, something happened, and it it gave me an idea for a new direction to take the blog.

Just yesterday I finished watching a show called Mahou Sentai Magiranger.

It's a Japanese kids show that falls under a genre known as tokusatsu.  Which basically means:

Yup, it's Power Rangers.  (In actual fact, the Super Sentai franchise of which Magiranger is one installment serves as the source materials for the American version known as Power Rangers).  Now, those of you who are quick to judge have probably already stopped reading.  After all, anything involving grown people fighting monsters in spandex suits is probably unworthy of the attention of adults, right?  Well, I would argue that storytelling is storytelling, and that while things like tropes, pacing, and the details of story may vary between genres, a good story is a good story.

In my opinion, Magiranger qualifies as a good story.  The beginning is very slow, and the progression of episodes is quite predictable, but what makes the show really work, I think, is the incredible pay-off it delivers in the end.

The show centers around the Ozu family.

In the first episode, we--along with the 5 Ozu children--learn that the Ozu clan comes from a magical realm known as Magitopia.  (Bear with me here, I know it's hard).  When the evil, underground empire known as Infershia decides it's time for them to try to conquer the surface (the above-ground world), it's up to the Ozu family to stop them.  Miyuki, the mother awakens the children to their powers and, in the first episode, is defeated and supposedly killed by the Infershia.

The rest of the season follows the Ozu children (their father is deceased before the start of the show) as they take on the Infershia.  Simple, right?  It is, which works well for a kids' show.  However, from early on in the season we start to get hints that something deeper is going on.  One of the Infershia's strongest warriors--Wolzard--makes himself known to be something of a rogue agent, and Miyuki's spirit begins to manifest itself in strange ways.  Towards the end of the season, it hit me: not only has this show been leading to the inevitable defeat of the Infershia, it has also been building to the revelation that Miyuki is still alive, and Wolzard is really the brainwashed Ozu patriarch, Isamu.  When these moments come, they have such impact because we've waited for them for so long.  

I realized then that, not only has the show been working off of what the character's want to prevent--the rise of the Infershia and the rebirth of their Ultimate God N-Ma--but also towards what the main characters want to achieve--the reunion of their family.

It got me thinking in terms of my own work: What is your story building to?  What moment is the moment?  What do my characters want to achieve and what do they want to prevent?

So, as I said, I'm thinking of taking this blog in a new direction.  Instead of focusing solely on my writing, I want to focus on other stories.  What can I learn--good and bad--from them in terms of storytelling.  I watch and read a lot of different things across a lot of genres, so I may choose to write about soap operas One Life to Live and As the World Turns, tokusatsu series, Digimon Xros Wars, manga series One Piece and Fruits Basket and on and on.  Look forward to it!

That's all I wrote!

23 July 2011

I did write yesterday, I did!  Not a lot (at all), but I did make some progress.  Granted, I'm not sure if it's very good...

Anyway, I'm trying to motivate myself now.  Earlier today, I was reading One Piece--Water 7 specifically--and I was so pumped about plotting and character motivation.  (I was reading right before Franky's flashback.  I think it's Franky's arc is prett cool.  He's introduced as a who-the-fuck-is-this villain and winds up being incredibly significant. The writer has to consider not just the story, but the reader's experience.  Nobody pulls this off like Oda).  So, I was pumped to keep on plotting out Book 2, which is starting to take shape, by the way, though it needs more big moments, when I had to go grocery shopping.  :/ Of course, when I got back, I was too busy reading my new Soap Opera Digest to write.

Frankly, at the moment, I'd much rather plot than work on God-damned paragraph construction.  Plotting is so romantic.  That's what people talk about, after all.  No one ever mentions the subtle maneuvers, the careful shifts of tone or perspective, and I can see why.  They're not all that interesting.  Of course, without them, the material is unreadable and the plot indecipherable.

That's where I am now.  I've just finished reading about Rita Stapleton and Iva Snyder, and now I have to concern myself with whether the encounter with the Nakadimas reads well...

For the moment, that's all I wrote.

21 July 2011

OK, so I didn't blog yesterday, but I did write.  Honest!

I got to work about an hour ahead of time, so I whipped out my draft and started revising.  I actually got a lot done!

Then, today, I finished chapter 1!  I was so excited that I sent it to a friend immediately.  I crave (positive) feedback!

I finished that around 5PM.  Since then I've been trying to draw...to no avail.  I really suck, probably because I haven't done it in years.  I actually was on quite a roll this past spring, but decided to focus solely on my writing, for better or for worse.  Anyway, I'd really like to become a decent artist.  They posses the creative powers that the writer can only dream about.  There's no telling in art, it's all showing.

I want to make Seffy and Uli come to life in ways they can't on the page.  So, I think I'm going to try and draw on a regular basis.

That's all I wrote!

19 July 2011

A bad day at work led to a bad day for writing.  It needn't have, but I let it.  I'm always finding myself searching for any reason not to write: I am too tired or it's not worth it or I deserve a break.  Can these really be the feelings of someone who claims to like writing?

Anyway, I did write, but hardly.  Still editing that first chapter.  I hope to have a serviceable draft by Sunday.

Mostly I moved some things around, improved (hopefully) Uli's entrance, tried to fit all of the things I want to in the introduction of the rest of the Kochians.  Maybe I should spread it out more?  We'll see.

That's all I wrote.

18 July 2011

I only wrote for about an hour today--I'm being generous in that estimate--from around 8:30PM.  I finished less than a page, I think, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Today I was fine-tuning Uli's entrance, and while for the most part I struggled over minor things--in what order to describe her features; how to make her sound tough without turning her into a bully cliche.  Ultimately I decided that she's not really purely tough.  I really liked this.  It gave her more depth and, I think, brought her closer to the Uli in my head.  Moreover, it allowed us to get a better look at why Seffy is so drawn to her.  And it allowed me to write the kind of long, esoteric passage I like, but I don't quite expect that to make the final version.

That's all I wrote.

Introductions and Intentions

I am not an expert blogger, so don't expect anything flashy.  Just text and maybe some pictures--doubtfully.

My name is Aaron.  As of my typing this, I am 21 years old and in Atlanta, Georgia.  In September I'll begin my senior year at the University of Rochester.  After this year, it's a whole new ballgame--not a blank slate, but a fresh and empty page of paper.  That's where the "Young" of "Young Soap" comes from.

The "Soap" is a little bit more of a stretch, but bear with me.  The one thing that I really like to do in my spare and solitary time--aside from wasting hours on the internet--is writing.  The thing is, I don't do it enough.  Writing, you see, is demanding in the same way that exercising or studying is.  As people, bound to inertia, we resist anything that requires effort and activity, especially in our free time.  That's why I'm starting this blog, to make myself write every day, and I don't mean write in this blog.  If I don't write, I'll have nothing to blog about.  I guess it doesn't make too much sense, but I have other reasons for starting this that I'll get to later.

I still haven't explained the "Soap," have I?  The first career that ever really, viscerally attracted me--that made me weep with longing--was television writer.  More specifically, soap opera writer.  Obviously, I couldn't start writing a TV show on my own.  (I could, and have, written TV shows before, but if they are not produced, of they are not seen, then they do not live, they are not complete).  So, I focused on something I could do on my own--something I could bring to completion: prose.  More specifically, a novel.  So there, to me "soap" and "writing" are synonymous.  This blog is meant to track my journey as a writer.

Now I feel obliged to answer the question: why make it public?  I'm not entirely sure.  I have a diary of my own that I have kept for many years and is meant for my eyes only.  Maybe I'm just another victim of this internet culture--I feel the need to share.  More, importantly, though, I think I intend this as a marketing venture.  If I am ever published, I hope this blog may draw people to my work, and my involve those already interested more deeply in.  So my motives are not entirely innocent.

Let me just catch you up on my latest venture and then we can all call it a night.  Since the winter of 2010, I have been working on a novel--the first in a series of 8.  I won't name it here, because I'm maybe a little superstitious.  Anyway, I have a decent manuscript right now.  I've just begun what I hope will be the final revision, but the work has been slow.  After three days of infrequent work, I'm still only half way through the first chapter.  So that's what you'll be hearing about on here, I expect.  Maybe I'll write about other things, as well, tying in some way back to writing.

So, there you have it.  Another blog by an amateur writer about writing.  Maybe it's the beginning of an amazing journey; maybe it's a detour on the way to something else.  Only time will tell.

-Aaron