Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

A Process Anology

I have a garage full of wrecked RC model airplanes. When I get an idea in mind I take the pieces lying about the shop and put one together. To watch me build you'd think I was Dr. Frankenstein.

To fly, an airframe must be well designed, straight, light and strong. Then, there's the aesthetic aspect. It needs to look as good as it flies.

Recently I purchased a drone from a friend. It's a styrofoam model and from the aesthetic stand point is big ominous and sinister looking. It looks like something they are flying in the Middle East. My friend crashed it on the first flight. He sold it to me for some cash and barter services.

Since you might not be aware "foamies" are very popular as flying models because they are light. The material is surprising rigid, but not as strong as balsa construction. The manufacturer designed this one to carry a heavy assortment of batteries, cameras and other electronic gear. Without all this weight in the front it's tail heavy with a tendency to nose up and stall. Once it stalls... it drops like a brick.

In my view, the manufacturer made the drone out of the wrong materials and the design was not well suited to the flying conditions of our hobby. It looks like the real thing but has to fly fast to stay in the air. What this means is that it doesn't glide and float in like a well behaved model airplane should, but rather has to be powered into a landing. Once the airspeed drops below 30 mph it quits flying.

So, here I have a model that looks good, is designed like a real one but not very airworthy. To fly better it needs a different design and construction materials, better suited to the model's flying conditions. This translates to a wing with more surface area, shorter booms and a lighter payload.

As a writing instructor at New Horizon's Academy I have a class called the Exploratory Writing Workshop. I'm struck at times with the similarity between writing a novel and building RC airplanes. The point worth noting is that the "conditions" are just as important in novel writing as they are in model building.

First, build on clean straight lines. This means a novel needs a streamlined structure that can happen only by design. At some point a "patzer" must organize that jumble of material into a coherent outline.

Second get rid of all those adjectives and adverbs and use light sharp imagery. By light I mean crisp and focused... free from those rambling digressions that lead away from the Dramatic Premise (DP). Everything needs to answer the question, is this contributing to the DP?

Third, from beginning to end, follow a tried and true form. Fort example, Story World, Character Introduction, Life Changing Event and a series of Crisis that build to an exciting Climax.

Finally, suit it to the genre and write each sentence to allow a smooth flow of thoughts and ideas. Make the words dance elegantly from your fingers into the mind of the reader.

These are some of the things the Workshop helps provide in doing the preparatory work for writing a novel.