Okay, anyone who knows me knows how obsessed I am with Rhemalda publishing. I do apologize for my over-enthusiasm (and extreme verbal optimism and/or wishful thinking). It can be a little much. But then I have always been obsessive :p At any rate, this post is to share my articles which they have graciously allowed into their quarterly e-magazine called "Opus". All editions have had helpful and interesting articles for writers that invite you into the minds of their editors, owners and authors, so I will post a link to Rhemalda's "Opus" page, which displays all their issues to date.
But first I want to share my two. Not that you can't see them in all their 'published' glory, but I just want to give mine a little easy access ;) The first is short, and the other is what I'd call decent-sized (oh, I don't think Cas Peace would like that description! At least I didn't say it 'seemed' to be decent-sized :p) But without further ado.....
"The Stories in my Life"
By Rachel (R.M.) Summerhill
(published in the Winter 2011 Opus)
A good story has always meant more than the world to me. When I was a little girl spending the night at my grandmother’s, she would sometimes tell me stories. My goal of being a professional novelist started all the way back then, even though reading and writing didn’t come easily yet. About the time I hit junior high, my aspirations had turned me into a true writer. I wasn’t published, but I think if you write (and especially if you have the talent and passion) then you are a writer, whether you have credits or not.
Speculative fiction has always been a draw. To me, most of the best stories lie there. I love reading foremost, but any world of the imagination in any format can serve as a wonderful platform for my own creativity. Where would my writing be if I hadn’t caught the last three episodes of the Dark Shadows revival series in ’91? The supernatural and time-bending mystery hooked me. And where would my writing (and most of all, my longtime project Into the Blind Darkness) be if I hadn’t played the epic Final Fantasy games?
In a recent issue of Writer’s Digest R.L. Stine, the author of many youth thrillers, said the worst advice for young writers was to write from their hearts because he’d only ever written for an audience. I can’t agree. I believe the best stories (the truest, loveliest, most inspiring ones) come from the heart. The audience will follow.
And the most recent article:
"The Visionary and the Story Bible"
By R.M. Summerhill
(Published in Spring 2012 Opus)
Originally this piece was just going to be called “The Visionary”. Sort of sounded like an episode of The Waltons, fitting considering I could always relate to John-Boy (what young writer can’t?) Of course, now with the title change it sounds a bit Harry Potter-esque, which is cool too because I love that series. Still, what does the visionary part have to do with the plotting aspect of writing? I would say this is basically how my works are plotted. No fancy, methodic techniques for me (Admittedly, though, I’ve started mind-mapping something I’m almost done with just for fun). In On Writing, Stephen King’s memoir on the writing craft, Mr. King likened his creative experience to carefully digging through the dirt to find the bones of his stories. I always loved that, probably because it is the closest description to what I go through.
I veer off a bit onto another pathway though. As far as my creativity goes, I consider myself a visionary. This strikes me as sounding totally arrogant, but anyone who knows me can tell you that I’m far from having a very high opinion of myself. Of course, thinking it through as I first did so many years ago, calling yourself creator sounds a lot more like arrogance. At least in my case, because quite a long time ago I realized I don’t create things. I see things and then use words to weave them into tapestry.
Anne Rice, most commonly known for her Vampire Chronicles, is extremely active with her Facebook page, and about a year ago I mentioned my experience of being a visionary, describing it a little. She responded (too cool, regardless of anything she might have said). She commented that it was interesting but seemed rather platonic. After a while of considering what that meant, I could understand how she might come to that conclusion, but there’s really more to it than that.
A visionary is not some detached person that merely sees events and people. That’s definitely not my experience. Even picturing this, excitement takes hold of me (For the record, this is what I come up with: a lithe young woman with waist-length hair – yes, this is supposed to be me, but imagination has more elbow room than reality. She’s clad in white robes – make it black, I look better in black and it’s cooler – that rustle in the air of the mountains that surround her, and something similar to a full length oval mirror looms before her, but instead of glass, there’s a swirling pool, somehow contained so it doesn’t spill out. And instead of her reflection, images of other places and people from some far off plain move before her, a stunning thing which fully enraptures her mind, body and spirit). So okay, now that I’ve rambled on, I can get to delving into the less platonic side of the visionary aspect.
I think all writers are born to write certain stories, novels, poems, plays and whatever else one can devise. At the very least the foundations of all these worlds exist within a person. That is what makes all these levels and existences so real to the writer and then eventually to their readers. Each writer, or any type of artist for that matter, is tethered to what they will come to produce in life. Of course, as one lives, things happened, people are met, incidents are seen and endured, and as you love, lose, feel inescapable pain and unfathomable joy, keys are thrust into the locks of your soul and are twisted. Doors, chests and windows open and the things that come out build themselves onto the foundations that have existed, yet been hidden for so long. I think perhaps all these places we are connected to might really exist out there somewhere. Yes, that’s really psychotic, but I say why not? It’s our job to reach through those portals and reveal what we witness, and if that is indeed so, perhaps those people elsewhere are writing stories about us. A scary thought? Maybe, but that would be the job of the writers and artists over there.
So, okay, if you still remember what my title is and are curious as to what the story bible part of it meant, I hope you’ll continue on with me. I think we’re trudging back into slightly saner territory.
Yesterday I was looking into plotting techniques that I could talk about in this article. I also wanted to see if I did more than my strange visionary thing. I found some interesting things online, but there was one area that fit Into the Blind Darkness my current project (which I will probably keep bringing up until long after it’s published because it’s so important to me) something I didn’t even realize I’d done. A story bible. It’s a bit on the short-side maybe, only twenty some pages, but as I’ve never done it before and didn’t know I was doing it, it’s still pretty cool.
The early ideas for the novel started sometime in 2005. I can’t say when, but probably before summer. I jotted down character names, magical terms and possible chapter titles. I drew the initial map for the world of Omnayeth (and I will admit that after all this time I only came up with the world’s name less than a week ago. It’s amazing how this process has worked), and I even had a dream that gave me some of the characters and a particular battle, amongst other things. I might have written a few random paragraphs which have likely packed up and moved to oblivion by now, but mainly I stockpiled visions and ideas.
The story bible however did not come into being until late August/early September of 2006, when I suddenly remembered something said much earlier that year at my stepfather’s sister and brother-in-law’s house. Something had briefly come up about Dave (the brother-in-law) having this friend whose son worked in video games. Talk about delayed reaction. Six months later the gamer in me says, “Hey, wait a minute!” So I emailed Dave and it was sort of set up that I would mention my bright ideas to this guy’s son. Well, that never happened, but as I initially waited to hear from ‘the game guy’, I worked rather relentlessly on what I then called ‘the game idea’. All very ingenious, right? This story still would make an awesome game, but I know nothing about working in that industry. I do know about novel writing and the publishing process, so these became my notes and I still use them. And now I’m very surprised to learn I have a story bible! Couldn’t have done that if I tried. I might have considered it too daunting. And yet I have the backdrop, followed by ten complete character profiles (which begin with an old school Final Fantasy setup – well, PS1 titles, so mid-school? — describing things like hair and eye color, occupations, and weapons, and then each is followed by a detailed write up), I have my whole magic system mapped out, plus I have a relatively brief synopsis. This bible ends with facts about the world, certain symbols that are used, and so on. The more I write and edit Into the Blind Darkness, the more the visionary awakes to expand what I’ve seen so far.
Some of this might be strange, buts it’s how I work. I absolutely love it!
If you liked my Opus articles, I'm sure you'll love the ones done by the professionals @ http://opus.rhemalda.com/
