Writing Process: "The Clockwork Craven"

The short story "The Clockwork Craven" was written in the "Character" method, one of the 3 ways to develop an idea into a story. That is: taking a character through a transformation.

Of course, there are **spoilers**, so if you haven't read the story yet, do that first, using the link in the first sentence of this post.

CHALLENGE

Writing Prompt:

(Combine all 3 or use just 1 or 2 that speaks to you)

• A forbidden recipe
• Written in the stars
• Through the looking glass

Method: Character

CONCEPT

• Prompt 1 (A forbidden recipe) made me think of alchemy.
• Prompt 2 (Written in the stars): since I was thinking alchemy, I looked up archaic words, and one I came across was "claker" which is an archaic term for astrologist/magician. The phrase "What did the claker see in the charts?" came to me. 
• Prompt 3 (Through the looking glass): I thought of a man who sees a version of himself that turns away in the mirror, then there is a knock at the door ... (this eventually developed to the image of the knight in the painting coming closer).

Method: Character - I asked, who's the main character before, after, and what is the turning point?

At first, he is cowardly. Then — in the last lines — he becomes a bold, brave knight.

That's all I had to start with.

CHARACTERS

I used a random name generator to come up with the names of the characters.

Protagonist: Pomponious (Pomp) Peeters

Since I wanted this to be set in a steampunk Victorian world, and I already had the archaic term "claker", I decided to start by defining Pomp by his archaic occupation, and I found these words:

Claker, Phrenologist, Blentonist, Mesmerizer, Medium
purveyor of various potions and diambra, applicator of emplaisters, healer

(that is: astrologer/magician, head-bump-reader, water-diviner, hypnotist, medium)

Other key characters

At this point, I only had a list of names and vague ideas on roles for some of them:

• Fabiana Ariadna Elizondo - love Interest (also, at some point mentor)
• Gideon Hektor Mikaelson - antagonist
• Jordan Corona - antagonist 
• Edom Solveig 
• Haldor Bachvarov

Characters as expressed in their natal astrological charts:

Since one of the writing prompts was "Written in the stars" and I already had Pomp down as a "claker" (astrologer), I decided to define the characters in terms of their natal astrological charts.

• Pomp - Virgo -  Methodical, discerning. Ruling planet, Mercury - in the Second House: security-minded; stubborn; someone for whom material values are primary
  
  
• Fabiana - Sagittarius - Cosmopolitan, irrepressible. Ruling planet, Jupiter - in the Ninth House: an explorer and a thinker, adventurous and opinionated.
  
  
• Gideon - Aries - Impetuous, strong-willed. Ruling planet, Mars - in the First House: self-conscious, motivated, a personality, and a self-starter
  
  
• Jordan Corona - Scorpio - Controlled, reserved. Ruling planet, Mars - in the Sixth House: health-conscious, hardworking, someone who finds identity in vocation.

FIRST LINES

Next, I did some freewriting of the first lines in the story, just to see how it would feel. Here's the original version, which is not too far from the final 

"I think you may be right," Fabiana said, leaning closer to the painting. "The knight seems bigger."

"Closer," Pomp corrected. "The knight is closer."

"Ok, closer. But how can that be?"

At this point, Pomp had not yet developed his stutter, but I had the beginnings of his pedantic ways, in that he right off corrects her. The knight is "closer" not "bigger". 

CHARACTER METHOD (TRANSFORMATION)

I did some brainstorming on the three elements of the Character Method: "before", "after" and "turning point" for the main character, Pomp:

• Before: Pomp is a fraud, a coward, completely self-centered, focused on material values
• After: Pomp is a knight (inside the painting), heroic, empathic, facing down a monster (dragon, chuthuluh beast)
• Turning Point: (options):
  • Fabiana calls him out as a coward because ...
  • He needs to escape and he sees how to do it ... jumps into the painting -- he is escaping from Gideon's men, assassins/enforcers (Jordan, Edom, and Haldor) ... but what drives him to this turning point (need to back it up some)
  • Maybe at first he thinks to just hide inside the knight's suit of armor, and then perhaps the suit of armor takes over and moves him towards the painting

RESEARCH

 I went down some blind alleys related to phrenology and other ancient arts, which I've included at the bottom of this section, in case you're interested. 

Alchemy

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Alchemy was my main source.

In addition, these sources gave me good information on the topic: 

• Inside the Alchemist’s Workshop
• Alchemical Imagery
• The Imagery of Alchemical Art as a Method of Communication

 I found some specific nuggets at the following sources:

Alchemy Symbols

Alchemists had three main goals:

• Create the Philosopher’s Stone (a legendary substance said to be capable of transforming lead into gold and giving the user eternal life)
• Create an elixir of eternal youth and health
• Transmute metals (specifically into gold)

 

Alchemy Diagrams 

The Surreal Art of Alchemical Diagrams

Magnum Opus

The Great Work of Alchemy is often described as a series of four stages represented by colors.

nigredo, a blackening or melanosis
albedo, a whitening or leucosis
citrinitas, a yellowing or xanthosis
rubedo, a reddening, purpling, or iosis

 

 Philosopher's Stone

alchemical substance capable of turning base metals such as mercury into gold (chrysopoeia, from the Greek χρυσός khrusos, "gold", and ποιεῖν poiēin, "to make") or silver. It is also called the elixir of life, useful for rejuvenation and for achieving immortality; for many centuries, it was the most sought goal in alchemy. The philosopher's stone was the central symbol of the mystical terminology of alchemy, symbolizing perfection at its finest, enlightenment, and heavenly bliss. Efforts to discover the philosopher's stone were known as the Magnum Opus ("Great Work").

Astrology

The role of astrology in the story ended up being just a brief mention, but I did spend some time researching the topic. In the end I only used what I learned to define characters (see the use of the natal charts to define the characters above).

• Traditional Astrology - The First Five Steps

The basic components of astrological symbolism are planets, zodiacal signs, and houses.

... the seven visible planetary bodies: Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. These were the only planets known to ancient peoples, since Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, and the asteroids weren’t discovered until after the invention of the telescope in the seventeenth century. Thus, the systems of traditional astrology, as practiced by Babylonian, Hellenistic, Arabic, Indian, Medieval, and Renaissance astrologers, were developed and refined over a 4000-year period based solely upon the seven visible planets.

So, if a traditional astrologer wanted to interpret how the planet Mars located in the second house might be expected to operate in terms of the person’s ability to generate financial resources to support their livelihood, Mars would first be subject to an exhaustive analysis based upon its sect, four kinds of sign rulership (domicile, exaltation, triplicity, bound), its phase relationship to the Sun (speed, visibility, direction, heliacal rise/set), and its aspects from benefic and malefic planets. If the condition of Mars was determined to be good, the astrologer could then indicate stable and fortunate money matters. However, if the condition was judged to be bad, the reading would signify challenges and conflict in generating resources, or financial instability.

• Astrology for Dummies - 6 Components of an astrological birth chart
• Tetrabiblos (by Ptolemy)
• A Treatise on the Astrolabe (by Chaucer)
• Horoscope (Wikipedia article)

To create a horoscope, an astrologer first has to ascertain the exact time and place of the subject's birth, or the initiation of an event. The local standard time (adjusting for any daylight saving time or war time) is then converted into Greenwich Mean Time or Universal Time at that same instant. The astrologer then has to convert this into the local sidereal time at birth in order to be able to calculate the ascendant and midheaven. The astrologer will next consult a set of tables called an ephemeris, which lists the location of the Sun, Moon and planets for a particular year, date and sidereal time, with respect to the northern hemisphere vernal equinox or the fixed stars (depending on which astrological system is being used). 

• Major Aspects 
• Natal Astrology

Research Blind Alleys

I spent some time on blind alleys such as researching phrenology, discovering (useless as it turns out for this story) facts such as "The phrenologist would often take measurements with a tape measure of the overall head size and more rarely employ a craniometer, a special version of a caliper," and that phrenomesmerism or phrenomagnatism was a combination of phrenology and mesmerism. 

Other useless (but perhaps useful in a future story) stuff I found:

• Diambra - Indigestion medicine made out of a compound of spices, ambergris and musk.
• Emplaisters - An external application of a consistency harder than ointment, prepared for use by spreading it on linen, leather, silk, or other material. It is adhesive at the ordinary temperature of the body, and is used, according to its composition, to produce a medicinal effect, to bind parts together, etc.; as, a porous plaster; sticking plaster.

 Oh, well, perhaps I can use this research in another story. 

WRITING THE STORY

And with that, I sat down, using the Drafts application because I wanted a very clean, uncluttered container.

This was one of those stories where steeping in research, specifically on alchemy, was the key. The details of alchemy drove a lot of the texture of the story. 

The story is set in a steampunk world I call "Memoriam" and there are subtle references to things like the Aery, automatons, telguns, and phlogiston rays that are (purposefully) not defined — just teasers.

Much more to come on "Memoriam". 

Resources

Here are some other resources that will be helpful as you write your stories.

MY FAVORITE ALL-PURPOSE RESOURCE

The Writer's Treasure Chest - everything in one place, curated, organized, this is a great reference for all things writing craft, with tons of prompts, plot/character generators and other tools to inspire you to write great stories.

RELATED ARTICLES

Here are some articles that will be helpful as you work on all the aspects of the writing craft and your writing process: 

• Write Fiction Faster! — How to Speed Up Your Story Writing 
  
  
• Need a Great Idea for Your Next Story? Try the Story IDEA Formula
  
  
• From Idea to Story: 3 Methods to Develop Your Story Idea 
  
  
• How to Write Characters Who Stick in the Reader's Mind 
  
  
• What Makes a Good Story? — Great Scenes! Here's How to Write Them
  
  
• Make Your Story Sing — Write Great Dialogue!
  
  
• Flash Fiction: How To Use It To Supercharge Your Writing 
  
  
• Blast Through Writer's Block: How to Get Unstuck 

FREE COURSE, GUIDE AND WORKBOOK

Do you want to write fiction faster, while practicing your craft and your writing process to consistently get better? Check out this link to the "Write Fiction Faster ... and better" guide and workbook, which comes with a companion course with 23 bite-sized video lessons and 4 worksheets.