Day Nine: evil plan guide

So much success thus far! It makes my heart happy. I shall hold on to this feeling, and when I get home and try to sew something and then fail miserably, I will not despair because I am doing so well right now.

Minor characters:
- the man Greta is in love with
- 2 old ladies
- Duncan
- ghosts (3?) (ARE THERE GOING TO BE GHOSTS?)
- Ben’s parents
- Greta’s boss

1) Johnny McNoNameYet
- personality not evident
- generally pleasant; never complains about slow service or lousy weather or long lines
- frequents the sock-and-shoe store, always buys the exact same pair of shoes
- undercover agent
- never talks about his personality, only about the weather
- motivation: anonymity
- goal: infiltrate sock-and-shoe store
- conflict: lack of cooperation of store owners
- “he always introduces himself by his last name, like he’s James Bond.”

Day Eight: evil plan guide

Today was chairlift day. When I’m not in Whistler, I forget that the chairlift is my favourite thing in the entire world, but as soon as we get here there is nothing else on my mind. Father wanted the Peak to Peak, but I don’t like gondolas because the whole reason I love the chairlift is because of the wind, and the motion, and how quiet it is. Only the motion exists in a gondola. So, as a compromise, we did chairlift-extravaganza! Up a chairlift, up another chairlift, up the Peak to Peak, HIKE (barf), up another chairlift, explore, hike again (double barf), down a chairlift, down the Peak to Peak, bus ride, up another chairlift, down that same chairlift, then down two more chairlifts. I wore sunscreen, but I think I got windburn. BEST DAY EVER.

Anyway. The whole time I was enjoying the wind on my face, I was thinking about Ben, the town mascot. I knew already that he hated the down, and that he refuses to talk about why he is the town mascot, but I didn’t know WHY he would be the town mascot. I wrestled with this for the entire day yesterday, and half the day today. I felt like if I knew why, then I could determine his personality. However, text-message consultation with my story-writing friend and discussion with my mother made it clear that I had to decide who he was, and then from there I could figure out why he would be the mascot for a town he hates.

Day Seven: evil plan guide

I’m up in Whistler presently, diligently maintaining my creativity whilst away. Since I am frustrated with all things crafty, I have dedicated this weekend to writing my novel. (Ha ha.) Although, mother and I perused the shops in town, as one is wont to do, and I got some ideas for things to try when I get home! More magnets, since magnets and I have a pretty tight relationship – I am going to try and copy some small ceramic tile ones I saw in a store; also the soap that’s in the house we’re staying in – it’s got exfoliating sponge or something built in to the soap! And really, how hard could it be to make soap.

Anyway. The next step on the “plot and write a novel” website I am following:

3. Write a one page summary for each character, including motivation, immediate goal, conflict, resolution, and a summary of the character’s story line. The time-saving factor for novelists here is that at this point, a writer knows whether or not the story has problems. If so, they can be finessed or changed completely to fix the story, without spending weeks and months writing a novel that won’t hold together.

I started with my main character, Greta.