writing – Emilie Morscheck

Revisiting My Childhood Blog

Back in 2011, I started a blog on my Wattpad profile. As a baby writer, I was having a bit of fun. Now, I look back in horror and amusement. I was never great at keeping a diary, so this blog is a great capsule of a teen me. For this post, I thought it would fun to reflect on some of these old blog posts. I’m not going to link them here, because that would be too embarrassing, but I’m sure they are pretty easy to find. I started the blog in 2011 and continued to post until 2014. Here are some of the highlights from those posts and my reflections on those times.

I will try to make it amusing-let me know if i am failing epically. – 13 April 2011

My very first post. This isn’t promising.

My head is puonding with story ideas and forcing themselves out onto paper. It is annoying because it interrupts my writing of my actual projects. Sheesh. if you want some story inspiration I would be happy to lend some of mine. Just ask. – 13 April 2011

I obviously had not discovered spellcheck, or even bothered to even read over my writing. In terms of getting ideas, that hasn’t changed. However, I am no longer willing to share my excess ideas. I would also note, that just because you have lots of ideas, it doesn’t mean they’re any good.

I am gettibg lazy again with my writing, so someone please poke me! My desire to write goes in cycles; I write, get bored, I draw, I get bored, I make games, I get bored, and you guessed it I write again.- 14 April 2011

Please poke me! I don’t draw or paint as much as I used to which I miss.

I had started typing one a few days ago – I was even about to publish it – when my browser froze and my work was lost. I had being trying to work up motivation again because I felt such despair at having to start all-over again. – 28 April 2011

Thankfully autosaves exist now and I can crtl+S in my sleep. The actual post was about how terrified I am to walk down steep slopes. I still am, in case you care.

I write to escape this harsh reality which surrounds the essence of life… Writing is one of the few things I can gain pleasure from without stress afterwards. – 5 May 2011

If only this were still true! Writing is my reality and it certainly causes me stress! I wish I could go back to when it was just pure fun and enjoyment, and I was writing for myself and my friends. Of course I still enjoy writing now, but attempting to take the professional path has its costs.

~EDIT 5/08/2013 – Removed for reasons~ – 20 May 2011

I wonder what those reasons were?

Maybe tomorrow will be a better day. – 14 July 2011

Being a teenager is tough.

*Takes a very deep breath* – 1 October 2011

In a post arguing the merits of HP vs Twilight, I argue for the wrong brand, because honestly what did I really know ten years ago?

I was walking home and i got a bug in my eye – 25 October 2011

It is painful remembering this.

What I guess I’m trying to say is that don’t be stereotypical. Don’t use the term “girl gamer”, “gamer” works just as well. – 26 November 2011

Ah, young me. Wait until you can buy all the games you want and then realise how much time they suck away from you. Also, sexism still exists. Sorry.

I WON! Yay!!!!!!!!!!!! 🙂 – 1 December 2011

I won my first NaNoWriMo in 2011 and boy did it feel good. In November of this year (2021) I will have been writing novels for ten years. It’s crazy how time flies.

I am editing my novel still.. I aim to be somewhat more done by the end of the month so I can start sending out to publishers! So wish me luck! – 23 March 2012

This must be my perpetual state as a writer.

I’ll be having a shot at it again in August where I will be co-writing a novel with my sister- a post apocalyptic zombie novel – 17 June 2012

We never did write that novel. I wish we had because it would have been cool. We’re both too busy with our own stuff to collaborate now.

Lately I have just about every type of creative block you can think of, and it is killing me. – 4 September 2012

I’m only being a little bit dramatic. Current cure for the block – get over yourself and write.

My advice- never handwrite your NaNo novel, no matter how tempting it may seem.) – 4 January 2013

This holds up. It took me about three years to type that bugger up.

I just want to say thank you for helping Half-Faye to reach 9,000 reads... In other news, I’ve now writtten six complete novels (complete in the fact that they are mostly still drafts) across three years. – 10 March 2014

This was my last post on that blog and I can say I am proud of tiny me. That novel, Half-Faye, has 38,000 reads and still continues to reach readers on Wattpad. I churned out a novel every six months while keeping up with school work. This post signaled my desire to become a professional writer. I had outgrown the platform and was seeking something more solid to build a foundation on. While there is plenty of embarrassing stuff up there, I’m glad I didn’t just delete my profile. It has been fun taking a stroll through memory lane, and in particular reflecting on my growth as a writer, right from the beginning of me seeing myself as someone who dreamed to one day become a published author.

Writing Tips

Creating Compelling Character Arcs

I’ve been planning a new trilogy (Bleed For Me), and for the first time, I’ve really delved deep into character creation. A new area of interest for me is in planning character arcs.

There are a few kinds of arcs that a character can go through: transformation, growth, fall and static. In all of these arcs except for the static arc, the character will change in some way. The transformation and growth arcs are very similar, but the transformation arc requires the characters core beliefs to change. With a growth arc, the character can become stronger, more powerful or more skilled, but their beliefs don’t necessarily have to be challenged. The fall arc involves the character losing their way and is often associated with the antagonist.

To help me work out a balanced character arc. I’ve developed a method which involves choosing the kind of arc, and determining the narrative purpose for the character. After that, I work out what I want my character to look like at the end of the book (or series), and work backwards to the beginning of the book. Working backwards helps trick your brain into making sure each step is logical and will help reach the end goal.

It looks a bit like this (downloads at the end):

This worksheet assumes that the character will go through a transformation arc.

Filled out, it looks something like this:

Claudine is one of the main characters in my new series. I decided that I want to give her a transformation arc over the course of three books. The image above includes her arc from the first book in the trilogy.

My first step was to determine her narrative purpose – why I felt compelled to write her, and what I hoped to use her to illustrate. This could be expressed as a statement or question. In Bleed For Me, the question I want to use Claudine to answer is:

How do you become strong enough to face your past?

I used this question to inform the larger themes of the book as well as suggest the journey Claudine will go through. It also helps suggest the end state for Claudine. As you can see in the image, Claudine needs to learn to trust others so that she can become strong enough to face her past. I set the initial state as the opposite of the end state: Claudine is someone who believes she can only trust herself.

The next steps are easy to fill out. What transformation does she have to go through in order to learn to trust others? Well, Claudine will need to see that her old belief is harmful and change her ways. Keep asking these questions until you fill out all of the boxes. Each step should be logical.

In order to allow the change to occur, the character has to make a choice. This can be physical, mental or spiritual, but it should reflect the transition between each of the states. More complex arcs will have more points in between and possibly combinations of arc types.

From here, I will need to integrate these points into my outline. It will help me determine which chapters might be good to show from Claudine’s perspective. It can help me come up with scenes. It will also help me determine how I can continue to develop Claudine in books 2 and 3.

It can be fun to develop these for your other primary characters. How does the antagonist reflect the protagonist? Do other characters play a part in the main character’s arc?

How do you create compelling character arcs? What’s your favourite kind of arc? What tools do you find useful for plotting?

Download the worksheet here:

Creating-Compelling-Character-Arcs_EMorscheck Download

Musings

Finding the Motivation to Write

Last month I finished editing the novel that I’d been working on for the last three years. This month it was time to start a new project. In starting this new project, I was looking for a new approach to writing motivation. My main goals being:

Write more often
Get the story out quickly
Be happier with my writing

After doing NaNoWriMo many times, I know I can write quickly, but the speed I’m looking for in this new project also requires a baseline level of quality. What does that mean? I want to write quickly, but not too quickly. I want the first draft of this novel to be done by the end of October.

In order to achieve this, I’ve designed three strategies to help motivate myself. These are:

Rewards
Lowering the hurdle
Accountability

These next few months will be an experiment to see what I best respond to, and what makes me the happiest.

1. Chocolate

What do I like more than writing? Chocolate for sure! As can be seen in my tweet below, I’ve bought many mini blocks and have allocated half a block to completing a chapter. I decorated the blocks with some stickers for some extra encouragement. I’ve already found that having half a block waiting for me is very tempting, and motivation enough to get that next chapter done!

What do I like more than writing? Chocolate! Last time I used word counts as reward points. This time I've got chocolate for each chapter I finish. #amwriting pic.twitter.com/mTxm89AUle
— Emilie Morscheck (@EmilieMorscheck) May 30, 2020

2. Word Counts

In the past, completing a chapter meant achieving a set word target, usually 3,000 words. After years of being trained into doing this for university assignments, I’ve found that applying the same rules to my fiction doesn’t work. It stresses me out and I feel like I have to add unnecessary content to my chapters. My new completion level is 1,500 words per chapter and meeting the main plot goal for that chapter. Eventually, I hope to have all my chapters be 2,000 to 3,000 words long, but, that can come in later drafts. Right now, I want to focus on getting the story out.

3. Accountability

My last strategy is a tactic I know works because I’ve used it many times before. During this project, I will be keeping track of my progress using an indicator on this page of my website: https://emiliemorscheck.com.au/about/what-am-i-writing Everyone will be able to follow along and see how I’m going.

I’m hoping these three new strategies will help me reach my target of a first draft completed by the end of October.

How do you motivate yourself and keep yourself accountable? I’m always looking for new ideas!