Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Story Bible & Trail Runs & Houses

Late last night, I finally got the email I've been waiting for (for 3 weeks)--we got the executed contract back on the house we're trying to buy, so we can finally move forward with the inspection/appraisal/etc. We're very happy about all this.

My birthday is Saturday. I'll be 25. Since hubby works for a college, and their graduation happens to be Saturday as well, he's going to be gone pretty much all day. I made a sad status thingie on Facebook, and my big brother casually mentions that he'll come over to keep me company. So then I (stupid, stupid!) say, "Are you really going to come over? We can go on a trail run or something."

My brother ran cross country all through college, and while I had my track & field days in high school, that was a long time ago, man. I started running against last summer, strictly on the treadmill, then had to stop around September. Started back up in January and have been running steadily (outside) an average of three days a week since then. However, my cardio endurance is still crap.

Big brother has been pestering me for us to run together for ages now. Might as well die of a heart attack on my birthday, right? I mean, I did just get CPR certified. Maybe I can give myself compressions.

But the upside is there are beautiful places to run here.


Anyway. We'll see how it goes. I always thought I'd die before I reached 25, so maybe this run will do me in.


(I was trying to find a good segue picture for "writing related," and when I Googled that phrase, four pictures of Twitter came up. Ha. And now this will serve as my segue.)


My hubby is still reading through the rough draft of FOUR, and I'm getting a bit antsy. So I thought maybe I should work on some sort of story bible? Like, a 3-ring binder with all the pertinent information that I love to forget.

Do any of you guys do that? Got any tips for me?

21 comments:

Hannah said...

I'm pro story bibles and have one for an old idea. I would love to do one for Every Ghost's Spectre. Hmmmm, I may do that in the interim. Now you got me on story bibles! Curse you!

Happy early birthday!! 25 was a shitty time in my life, here's hoping yours is much much better. :D

Linda G. said...

Yay for being able to move forward on the house purchase!

Trail run? Er, best of luck with that, and I sincerely hope you don't die.

Story Bible? Great idea! I really should start one for my series. Or at least gather together all those random notes about it I tend to leave all over the place.

Sarah Ahiers said...

yay on the house!
And i just use like a notebook. It has like character names, my first notes, my query draft, then a list of scenes. That's pretty much it

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Samantha Sotto said...

Yay on your house news! And that running trail - wow. That place would certainly get me motivate to hop off the treadmill and try running outdoors for a change. :)

A story bible sounds like a neat idea!

Shain Brown said...

Happy Birthday! Drag it out and enjoy it for as long as you can.
Congratulations on your house and send us a post run note letting everyone know your Ticker is still working. Bye the way, I think we need to work on your pessimism.

Jessica Ann Hill said...

That's so exciting about the house! Glad to hear it. :]

I do a project binder, which would probably be the same as a story bible. I don't know if I have any tips per se, but this is what I do with it: I keep all of my research and notes in it, as well as character profiles, a style sheet with a list of characters and places (and pronunciations if need be), and then notes on my world building so that I don't have any contradictions in my story (like for my current WIP, I have the "rules" of time traveling). Things like that.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Good news about the house! And maybe you'll outrun your brother and show him instead!

Carolina M. Valdez Schneider said...

First, congrats on being able to proceed with your house purchase! So exciting.

Second, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! 25 is awesome. I hope you have a beautiful day.

Third, I hope you don't have to give yourself chest compression running on your birthday. Ha. Take it easy. Though I bet you're stronger and better than you give yourself credit for. But if your marathon runner of a brother gives you flack, knock him into the creek ;)

Which, by the way, is gorgeous. What a beautiful location to run.

Matthew MacNish said...

I sort of have a bible, but really it's just a 400,000+ word first draft. Yeah.

Krispy said...

Happy early birthday! I'm turning 25 this year too, so uh, we'll see how it goes. I'd possibly be more outdoor-inclined if the scenery were as pretty as yours.

I'm thinking about putting together a series bible too, but for me, I wonder if it's just my procrastination bug winding me up since I should be writing.

TL Conway said...

Happy birthday and congrats on the house! What an exciting few days. Best of luck with the trail run!

As for a story bible, I have great dreams of making one, but I never seem to get around to doing it...

Old Kitty said...

Run, Summer, run!! Run like the wind!!!! Yay!!

Oh wow - what a great way to celebrate your birthday!! That's so nice of your brother too!!

Congratulations with this progress on your house buying!!! What a week you and hubby are having!! Brilliant.

Erm. Story bible?!!? As I don't even know what that is, I'll just say yay for your story bible!! Take care
x

Sommer Leigh said...

I've been putting off the making of a story bible, but I think they are great ideas. Especially if it will be more than one book.

Let us know how you decide to build it :-)

Kit Courteney said...

I've never heard of a "story bible" but from the sound of it it sounds like the sort of thing I do with each WIP.

I have sections for characters' details - anything relevant and a fair bit that's not, just so they appear 'real' to me. A timeline. And a misc. page where I note anything IN CAPS(!) that I'm unsure about, etc.

I do this up front and then add to/refer to it as I go through the dreaded edits... which is what I'm doing now. YAWN!

I'd advise a loose leaf system, even for hand written notes - I've always used notebooks but will change for the next one - being able to add information in any order is VERY important. Notebooks with arrows and squiggles in them may look terribly 'writerly' but they can be a pain to decipher!

Happy birthday for Saturday and good luck with the run! :)

Guinevere said...

Have fun running! I used to run track and cross country in college and am now out of shape, trying to get back into running... that's a weird feeling. It definitely helps having such beautiful places to run, though! Have a happy birthday!

No opinion on story bibles here - this is the first I've ever heard of them.

ali cross said...

Congrats on the house! YEAH!

And please don't die on your birthday run. Okay?
(happy birthday btw!)

AND you have ANOTHER new profile pic! Look at how beautiful you are!

I have kinda sorta somethings I sometimes do for my stories. I'm kind of on the fence about them. Sorry. :(

Stina said...

My brother would die if he went running with me. :D

That's great that your husband reads your ms. Mine doesn't read fiction, and a YA book from a female POV definitely isn't his thing. ;)

Stephanie said...

Hi. Just started following and I always like to leave a comment so I'm not just some random picture of a creepy pumpkin cat (watch that picture not show up by my comment and then everyone will think I'm crazy)

Your post struck a familiar chord because my boyfriend and I just had our offer on a house accepted, so we're heading in the same direction of inspections and all that.

I have a binder for all my story worlds. They're fun things to retreat to when I want relax and worldbuild. But they do start to take up room :)

The Words Crafter said...

I'm CPR certified, but you live too far away and I'd pass out before I got to you. Still, the thought counts, right?

Great about the house, too. Um, explain story bible...I'm still learning new things....

And happy birthday!!!

Sophia Chang said...

I don't story bible but I keep a color-coded hanging file with folders. I like to just write my notes/plot ideas/CP feedback etc. on white sheets of paper, preferably the backs of already used ones so I don't feel wasteful.

Happy birthday! You are so dang young. :D