Applied Physics

Despite my deep loathing of the subject, I've found that physics can, in fact, be useful. Even to writing. More specifically, I found the explanation of elasticity to be quite relatable to how I tend to develop my characters. Here's a lovely illustration for those unfamiliar with this concept:

[image from http://www.tutorvista.com/content/physics/physics-iii/solids-and-fluids/elasticity-modulus.php]

At the beginning, the stress (basically, force or pressure) gets added to the object, and the strain (stretching or compression) of the object increases proportionally. So, when the story just starts out and the character's troubles have only begun, he can adjust to the stress put on him and grow without being harmed too much.

Once the elastic limit is hit, things start to get weird. No longer is the relationship between stress and strain so simple. The object can still stretch and compress, but it doesn't take much more stress, and, once the stressor is removed, the object can't return to its original state; it is permanently deformed. So, once our main character reaches a certain amount of stress or trauma, it just isn't something he can adjust to. He can indeed rise above the circumstances, but he has to stretch himself too much to do so, and he'll just never be able to go back to the person he was.

Last but hardly least is the fracture or breaking point. What happens to the object there should be obvious. The character, likewise: whatever he used to be before, he is now but a broken shell of a man.

Exactly how much stress you want to put on a character, or how much he can handle before hitting one point or the other, can and ought to vary from author to author, story to story, and character to character. Want to break everybody? Go ahead. Just warp them? Sure. Break a few, warp a few, and just stretch the others a little? No problem. It just depends on what kind of story you want to tell and what kind of characters you want to deal with.



Wanderers (NFI#18) Revisited

You may recall that for the story Wanderers, I found my setting and haphazardly put together a few characters and a plot that weren't particularly inspired. Now I have a few alternatives to play with in this world. None are really complete, but at least they're there.

Alternative 1: The Original

Overall, everything is peaceful and there is little crime. Joey has finally separated from his parents and his main group of friends to marry Annette, who is now expecting. Then Peter swipes Annette's light jacket (containing some precious family heirloom) and runs. None of their group can quite catch up, and it's exceptionally difficult to track someone who doesn't want to be found.

Alternative 2: The Speed Demon

While anything other than walking is very much frowned upon, sometimes running just isn't fast enough to do the job. Meet Jonas Patriot, the emergency medicine expert whose motorbike puts him in more danger than most of his clients. Being of this world, his location at any one time is as unsure as a dog sniffing chocolate, but he spreads his telegraph address everywhere he walks, and there are plenty of stations along the bridges to holler a new job at him. If the injured or ill person is near, he might walk, but more often than not he has to break out the bike. Not that he minds terribly.

Alternative 3: The Tinkerer

It's a bit difficult to keep walking the bridges when one is carrying all manners of prototypes and tools. Nevertheless, Sterling does his best to keep his mountain of a backpack balanced as he waves his inventions at anyone who might use them. It's difficult for technology to catch on, however, and his uselessness in other ventures isn't good. After crossing the same bridges without being of service too anyone a few too many times, the grocers start to freeze him out, and the success of his next creation may be a matter of life and death.

Plot in General

I can't do real plots.

Possibly that's an exaggeration, but I have to wonder sometimes. I rely on fan fiction for worlds and characters, but that's not all. Brutal series? Hunger Games plot. The Rules? Ditto. I don't really plot. I just throw people together and make them kill each other. My possible +Anima fan fiction is just a retelling, and the only roleplays I can keep up are OC tournaments, which is a pretty rigid standard plot (though it can wander off on its own at times).

As far as making do with my own ideas, it's shaky. Break Out is incredibly difficult—it's now not so much a question of "Who dies this chapter?" any more as it is "What do I reveal about the cause of The Rules in this chapter?" The Long and Winding Road is definitely no easier. I have a few definite antagonists and know there's a lot of walking, but it doesn't feel like enough to sustain a real story. Trying to throw in a chain of romantic events on top of that is so out of my element I don't even know what I'm trying to do sometimes. My original fictions don't get enough attention right now for them to have any real semblances of plot.

Maybe I'm too caught up in trying to prove myself or something when I don't feel like there's much there to prove. My readers have a history of thinking of me differently, but they don't pay money to read my things, nor do they have to worry about getting to know characters (though there are some exceptions for the latter). I don't know whether to not worry about trying to sell anything at all, given I don't have a great tendency to finish original works anyway, or to push myself to get better, however I go about doing that. Apparently I haven't been doing it right the past few years, because I can't read Unsurvivable any more easily than I can read Brutal. Maybe the 2YN course will help. Maybe I should go with more outlines. Maybe I should just listen to the advice of everyone in the world and keep writing as a secret little hobby only to keep my head from exploding from life. Maybe I should sign up for psychiatric help. Who knows?

What is plot, anyway? Introduction, rising action, climax, falling action, denouement, right? But what is it like in the real world of novelling? I mean, people can't even settle on when the climax of Hamlet is, and that work tends to be considered decent. Is it all really just about keeping people's interest, or is it the pretty little literature class mountain diagram, or is it just whatever weird stuff you want to put on a page? Is there anything in particular that makes a plot good? Terrible? Just okay?

Eh, I'm just having one of those "why do I bother writing" days, I guess. I'll probably get over it, but advice would still help.