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McAnally's (The Community Pub) => Author Craft => Topic started by: meg_evonne on June 20, 2010, 01:56:29 PM
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#amwriting for JB forum.
It's 9AM and I'm revising. Are you?
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#amwriting for JB forum.
It's 9AM and I'm revising. Are you?
I've been revising this last couple of months; which in some ways is much harder to measure than writing new, because the wordcount doesn't go up in a nice linear progression.
I have however finally got the whole nest of vipers untangle, lined up, and pointing in the same direction for the new project, so go consistent plot; will be going back to it soon as I am finished the revisions on the thing I am now revising.
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11 PM. Wrote about 1700 words today. Would've liked a little more production, but not bad. I was really happy to see one of my characters just come to life. I'd had her concept in mind but hadn't actually written any scenes with her in them till tonight. I was stoked because she just came to life on the page. I really hit one of those awesome moments where I felt like I wasn't writing or crafting, but just recording the events as they unfolded.
About to call it a night, as far as writing goes. But I've still got at least an hour of reading. Then once I'm done reading I've got to write down what I've learned in my work journal. Lately I'm trying to really dissect the works that I read by taking notes and writing down what I've learned in my work journal. It is a little taxing, and takes some of the relaxation out of reading. But hopefully it'll help with my development as a writer in the long run.
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Just started writing again last week after months away. Starting a new project, which is really just my old story post-facelift and I need a thread like this. Only have 1100 words so far because I've run into problem after problem with minor plot devices. Solved one tonight by replacing a few hundred words, but didn't get to write much new material before midnight rolled around.
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Arrrg! The web just ate my reply.
Short form,
One Serial done, last episode goes live July 1.
Two novels ready to pitch at Nasfic.
Two "power points" to get ready for panels at Nasfic.
A YA novel is blocked out about Teens in a NM Hs learning magic. Writing starts mid July.
A "Sorcery and Six guns" is blocked out and will be written at the same time.
Yeah I know it is weird, but two novels at a time, seems to work for us.
It is like popcorn, no one I know pops one kernel at a time, writing is the same, with as much as three years from start to finish, for any given project, you need to keep the pipeline full. (Grin)
Regards,
Kevin
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Going to lock myself away all weekend. Revisions going well but too slow.
Friday AM and I'm writing before work. You?
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Exhausted but just cranked out another 1000 words before work.
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Yesterday being a public holiday, I have done one draft of one of the two remaining major edits on Project I am Currently Supposed To Be Working On and a through pass on the subsequent seven chapters, which means all that remains to do is cut the subsidiary climax and restructure and tighten the denouement. (As well as reread what I just did and see whether it makes any sense at all.)
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Better than me, I only got 500, and yesterday it was all plot and character arc work with very little actual writing.
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I'm back to world building type stuff. Had read through and started revising some of what I have, and got stuck because I didn't know how something worked. And procrastinating meant I put it off for about a month. Now, working on it and procrastinating on wedding stuff. Yay procrastination.
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I haven't managed to put out more than 350 a day for the entire month of June...
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I haven't managed to put out more than 350 a day for the entire month of June...
Are you writing daily ?
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Saturday, 11:00 PM. (No, I don't have a life. Not really... ::))
Eh, well after almost giving up the day for a loss due to writer's block and a serious hangover, I managed to crank out over 1000 words. I'm not gonna break my arm patting myself on the back or anything, but something's better than nothing, I suppose.
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Are you writing daily ?
Yes, but I'm not able to get the juice flowing first thing when I wake up, and the morning is when I'm normally most productive.
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I have found that I write in bursts. For the last two projects, one took 25 and the other 42 days. That was to get the basic story on "Paper", the real time came in when we had to get the revisions done, the first took an additional three months of working over, and the second an additional two months. (Real time actual time spent was reduced by real Life tm)
When I am actually putting the story down the first time, slow writing days indicate that I am not "in to" the story, and can indicate that the story has fundamental problems.
But that is for me, every one is different, and what works for me mat not work for any one else.
Regards,
Kevin
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Are you writing daily ?
Not aimed at me I know but no, I haven't... I, um... I'll get off the internet now.
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Not aimed at me I know but no, I haven't... I, um... I'll get off the internet now.
Oh, I'm sorry; that was very much not meant as a critique. I do not write daily myself.
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Oh, I'm sorry; that was very much not meant as a critique. I do not write daily myself.
And I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply that it was. I understood it in the original context, it's just that it happened to highlight consistency, one of my major weak-points.
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Amen brother (or sister, as the case may be). I really have a consistency problem. Much of that is not because I don't have lots to write, but because I feel guilty doing so. If I'm writing than I am not: cutting the grass, doing dishes, washing laundry, fixing the stinking downspouts, etc., or even just organizing the office, so I can feel like the area is uncluttered. If life is cluttered and my surroundings are cluttered than I feel cluttered and don't get much done.
When the wife was studying for her personal training exam, we would work at the same time, so neither had to feel guilty. :)
On a related note, I was re-reading Good Omens recently and read through the afterword(s). One note was that when Terry Pratchett wrote "The Colour of Magic", he did it at 400 words per day. This tells me that 'any momentum is good momentum'. Unless perhaps it is associated with a large slug of <insert any object type here> going at relativistic velocities towards your home world. But anyway...
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On a related note, I was re-reading Good Omens recently and read through the afterword(s). One note was that when Terry Pratchett wrote "The Colour of Magic", he did it at 400 words per day.
I've seen Pterry at conventions. You leave him alone for thirty seconds and he's writing. Ability to be productive in so busy a context is a great gift, but it's definitely not one I have.
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About 2 1/2 handwritten pages, mostly revision, but a helluva lot better than I've been doing. I'll take it.
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I'm getting a bit better... done about 1500 words in the last couple of days. It's not for lack of material... just can't (read: won't) make time for it over other things that need to be done.
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My big problem is I'm still near the beginning of the writing process. I've got the basic plot, I've got the characters, and I've got an ending, but I still don't really think it's THE ending yet. The basic pieces are all there, but the details are fuzzy and I just feel like its missing that emotional gutpunch I look for in my favorite books. I'm working on drafts of my opening scene at the moment (just finished the second draft of version three) but I'm not sure on how to proceed from there. If I just continue writing progressively from there, I may end up at the climax and still find it lacking necessitating a complete rewrite. Also, experience has indicated I might not be one of those authors capable of writing scenes out of order and still manage to end up with a cohesive narrative whole.
It's frustrating, but right now I'm thinking the best thing to do is work on some short stories about these characters outside of my current story for character and worldbuilding purposes as well as a way to proactively procrastinate. Frustrating as hell since I'm really excited about a lot of aspects of this story.
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2300 words last night. On the wrong project, but we take what we can get.
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2300 words... man, that is beautiful. :)
Reil, many authors write scenes and short stories that interest them, then put them away. Later on you may find that that particular story or scene is just what you needed, or close enough. Or you just take it one block at a time and do the first part, then move to the next. You will learn more about the story as you write it, so maybe you will have more inspiration for the ending you are looking for.
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Reil, many authors write scenes and short stories that interest them, then put them away. Later on you may find that that particular story or scene is just what you needed, or close enough. Or you just take it one block at a time and do the first part, then move to the next. You will learn more about the story as you write it, so maybe you will have more inspiration for the ending you are looking for.
I completely agree, but let me clarify, I'm at the beginning of the writing process for this particular story, but I'm not a beginning writer. I have whole workbooks full of "interesting scenes," "did I really just hear that" dialogue from real life, reading notes and memorable turns of phrase as well as more notebooks filled with general story and character concepts. This is more about trying to implement many of these loose-leaf ideas in an actual story, and tweaking set story elements to raise the emotional stakes at the climax. The primary plot arc is fairly set, but my protagonist's character arc is lacking emotional payoff for her choice during that defining moment. Some of that will come with the fleshing-out process inherent in writing, but that's no excuse for ignoring a flaw in the skeleton.
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And the 2 1/2 pages typed up comes out to around 760 words. Huh. Looking at the earlier version, I've apparently cut out about 550ish words.
No, wait, those extra words just got moved to a different bit.
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Today was a 5000 word day.
Still on the Wrong Project, Gromit, but even allowing that I have cut off the original chapter 1 and start of chapter 2, and taken out the events of what was Chapter 5 and will on my shiny new all-the-nest-of-vipers-are-pointing-in-the-same-direction plot be chapter 9, I think that's closing on a quarter done at a mite over 20kwords.
(Mind you, forgetting until 9 pm that I'd not eaten since breakfast ? Not so good.)
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Not up to neurovore's awesome word count lately but I pulled off 2100 words today. I've been averaging over 1000 words a day for weeks now and I'm pretty happy with that.
Today was a 5000 word day.
Still on the Wrong Project, Gromit,
5000--way to go! If you don't mind me asking, why is this is the Wrong Project? Do you just have something else that you'd rather be working on?
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Got distracted last night, so I only wrote 3 sentences. But I'm at the point where I'm loving that instead of beating myself over the head because it's just good to be at it again. Plus I watched a movie for a bit of idea inspiration for one of the world building thingies.
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Reil, gotcha! That does clarify things a bit! :)
As for everyone else... wow, what output! Any secrets? Other than just sitting down and doing it? Do you find there is a certain good time of day or anything like that?
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As for everyone else... wow, what output! Any secrets?
I don't own a TV.
Also, I do my in-person social life in brief intense bursts.
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Holy crap! My head feels like it's about to fall off. After adding 1200 words to my opening scene, and tweaking the rest of the scene (probably about 300-500 words total) I saw an e-mail from a couple friends in my writing group. They'd sensed I was frustrated and suggested I just try explaining the story to them, that perhaps just writing an overview for another person might help things. 4000 words and several aneurism's later, I think they were right. My head literally feels tired, rubbery, like a muscle that's been heavily exercised. I haven't written that much since I was unemployed. Oh right... I do have a job... and I was supposed to be working today... not writing stories about wargs... yeaaaaah.
Still, I feel flippin fantastic.
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Holy crap! My head feels like it's about to fall off. After adding 1200 words to my opening scene, and tweaking the rest of the scene (probably about 300-500 words total) I saw an e-mail from a couple friends in my writing group. They'd sensed I was frustrated and suggested I just try explaining the story to them, that perhaps just writing an overview for another person might help things. 4000 words and several aneurism's later, I think they were right. My head literally feels tired, rubbery, like a muscle that's been heavily exercised. I haven't written that much since I was unemployed. Oh right... I do have a job... and I rwas supposed to be working today... not writing stories about wargs... yeaaaaah.
Still, I feel flippin fantastic.
way to go. Congrats.
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grabbed a friend for soundboarding, grabbed a new software for writing. both did wonders - my head's clear now, and I'm psyched to write.
One problem: it's 12 am already, and I have classes tomorrow, and an exam to boot. Urgh, college isn't helping right now.
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I just kicked three chapters into one at the end of the Thing I Am Actually Supposed To Be Working On.
Which is not right, yet; tbh it lumbers like Boris Karloff. But it's getting there.
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5 hours this AM and back rolling again. I love when it rocks well!
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Just got the historical accuracy comments from "The Historian".
Now I have to get the re-written draft done by Nasfic.
Regards,
Kevin
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That isn't "the historian" the book I take it? Yuck yuck. Yeah its late and I'm loonie. Keep us posted on nasfic. Best wishes to you and wife!
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Grin,
Not the book, just an incredibly competent expert on the culture. For ex, I had to change all the military unit designators, as the unit class I wanted to use was in degenerate rebellion. (Corruption was so wide spread that any military function had almost ceased to exist)
Anyway, the revision is done, except for, one “find and replace” spelling change....
Regards,
Kevin
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I have so far revised about 7-8 rough draft pages--printed at 14pt, so would actually be fewer pages if it had printed normally--which is around 10 handwritten pages. Planning on typing it up later tonight, probably after dinner, to see what word count ends up being.
*Edit* And the word count comes out to around 2300. Not bad for about 5 hours of actual writing.
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Tonight is the last work day (Mid shift) before we leave for Nasfic. Our first panel is Thurs at 3 pm, Steam in the 17th cent. Any one who is going, should come by the 1632 track room (Marriott State Ballroom C,D) and we can go kill a bier or something.
We are land cruising, taking the train from New Mexico to North Carolina. we leave from ABQ on Sunday....
Regards,
Kevin
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Reworked the ending to current thing I am supposed to be working on again. I think it now works, and will give it one more through pass.
Home internet is dead, though I am assured it will be fixed Any Day Now.
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I just finished up two weeks of classes at the Univ of Ia writer's festival and anxious to get back in revision, but I spent tonight reading some YA sci fi's to keep current. It feels like I'm revving the engine but can't get out of the starter's block. Yeah, I mixed metaphors, I'm sure... Shoot me.
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Reworked the ending to current thing I am supposed to be working on again. I think it now works, and will give it one more through pass.
...annnd I got this done in the past 25 hours. 133 kwords polished and continuity-checked and shiny. So I get to go back and work on Thing I Actually Want To Work On for a bit, I think.
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hmm, I don't keep a good word count....
Wrote about 2.5k yesterday for a $15 "write me a fanfiction about the Simpsons women being hungry" commission
Wrote some on my Bystander novel
Last project that I finished was Zodiacs, which came to two books at about 120k words over three months while working as a teacher.
And been writing a bit of fanfic but currently slowed down
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Revision, revision, revision. I'm now about 2/3s of the way through the revision from 3rd close to 1st POV. I hadn't touched it the entire time I was at a writer's camp. End result?
I need to finish the POV shift. It is far superior to the 3rd close POV. THEN as a result of my two weeks working on revision concepts--I now have to revise for two areas of concern to spiff up from what I learned. 1. A much harder revision on anything that is only slightly off cliche. I can do better. Then 2. I want to pinpoint areas where I can have my Main Character react with more emotion and interior dialog to warm her up even more...
Thank God, that offer by the editor to review my full manuscript did not have a time limit on it. I know that she would prefer the new effort that I'm going to put into it.
Finally, since I read aloud well, one suggestion was to have someone else read it for me on tape so I can hear where they are stumbling over the small glitches. My poor son. But he owes me! :-)
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Revision, revision, revision. I'm now about 2/3s of the way through the revision from 3rd close to 1st POV. I hadn't touched it the entire time I was at a writer's camp. End result?
I need to finish the POV shift. It is far superior to the 3rd close POV.
Oh, very glad to hear it.
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Printed out 400 pages today.
Ran out of ink and swore a lot. 275 to go.
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pages printed, manuscript sent out.
Two new chapters of 8,000 words in total written in the last 24 hours.
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Finished 2 chapters of vampire TF story for vampire site (no address since it's a NC-17 site), so around 6k words there
Finished Bystander novel draft about 5k words there (71k for the book)
started on the "Hungry" fic someone asked me to write for them, 1k words there
12k words all told
since...about 2pm yesterday
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4.5 hours work done. Heading to bed. Daylight hours went to my grand-daughter.
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Repass on those 8,000 words, fixed a bit of information-pacing that was not working, which added probably another couple of hundred words all told and 1500 more words done. Which puts this particular project over the 30k mark.
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2.5 hours this morning. More tonight. In the groove.
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Repass on those 8,000 words, fixed a bit of information-pacing that was not working, which added probably another couple of hundred words all told and 1500 more words done. Which puts this particular project over the 30k mark.
...make that "over the 35k mark"...
i have a convention weekend after next, so trying to get ahead here.
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3/4 of the way through the last revision. Night all. I figure I'll be through, if I'm lucky this weekend. At least that is the plan, then I've got to approach the whole thing again with some specific questions to be answered. I don't think I'll wait though, NO I will wait until I'm finished. Then I'll print and send off. If I don't chicken out and find another reason to procrastinate...
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Draft DONE. It's a 150,000 word monster that's ugly and messy in so many ways, but it's finally off my back. It's great to have some closure after all these months. I'll let it stew for awhile before I even think about looking at it for revisions. In the meantime it's onto brainstorming for the sequel.
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Draft DONE. It's a 150,000 word monster that's ugly and messy in so many ways, but it's finally off my back. It's great to have some closure after all these months. I'll let it stew for awhile before I even think about looking at it for revisions. In the meantime it's onto brainstorming for the sequel.
IT"S PARTY TIME. That is super. I know how good it feels to get it out and down. I know they are supposed to be 'shitty first drafts' but it's so exhilarating to get to that last period. I used to find myself writing until I mentally had the draft finished. So much more challenging when you actually get to type it!
Oops, and one good hour this am and probably three or four tonight. Writing now...
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IT"S PARTY TIME. That is super. I know how good it feels to get it out and down. I know they are supposed to be 'shitty first drafts' but it's so exhilarating to get to that last period. I used to find myself writing until I mentally had the draft finished. So much more challenging when you actually get to type it!
Oops, and one good hour this am and probably three or four tonight. Writing now...
And there was some partying last night. Everything's better with beer--laser tag included. ;D
But now it's back to work.
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beer and laser tag? That had to be a wild combo. Glad you celebrated!
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Went and returned to Nasfic. Attended the party at the Baen publishing offices, was shown the back room where the "extra" books are, handed bags and told to take what we wanted.... Sigh just one bag, we had limited luggage space. (Grin)
Met every one at the office, had extraordinary food, talked about our new novels.
At the con, I had the first panel in our room, at 1500 Thurs, the 5th. even so I had around 25 there. My wife’s panel "Chocolate in 1632" was better attended, but she was giving out samples.....
Road the train out and back, filled out our SFWA paperwork, met some truly fine people.
The two novels have been submitted, now is the waiting game. As little as six months and up to a year to wait, to see how they are received.
Picked up a number of projects at the con, and have two more novels blocked out....
Lots of fun,
Kevin
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A mere 2,500 words on Friday, and they were not what one might call good, as I had a vicious caffeine-withdrawal headache at the time (was off cafeine for 48 hours for various complex reasons.)
It's going to be about two weeks before I can get back to this project, so youse all had better post progress and stuff in this thread regularly in between times so it doesn't get locked; I have however figured out a couple of things that have got the longer-term direction of it on track.
Am I the only person who wakes up in the middle of the night convinced the thing can never be made work because I've realised that I don't know how to do a scene that happens five books down the line ?
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once off caffeine, stay off? That's what happened to me. I didn't realize I was so hooked on it until I had to go off it for a bit, years ago. Since then I haven't missed it at all. Diet Coke Caffeine Free was my best friend!
Okay, I started with something like 8500 words to revise on this last past. By this AM I was down to 7500 or so. Not bad for me. I'll have a different type of pass on it once I complete this round, but it will be specific concerns driven, much more doable time wise.
Am I the only person who wakes up in the middle of the night convinced the thing can never be made work because I've realized that I don't know how to do a scene that happens five books down the line ?
I admit that as I wind down on final revisions, my mind moves on to the next work. I've said that I feel like a guilty lover that steps out of bed into the arms of another... so trampy! I'm learning to fight the impulse, so I write down the idea, drop it into place in the outline or the text I've already written, and get back to the original. So you are NOT ALONE. It didn't use to matter, but I'm on a definite time line on this work, as are you with your "the work I should be working on"...
Best wishes and hugs. We'll keep the thread above water until you're back and posting again. It's important to share those quiet writing accomplishments, don't you think? Not so lonely that way?
We will PERSEVERE! We will CONQUER! And dare I say it, WE WILL GET PUBLISHED BY A MAJOR HOUSE!
eek, that's the first time I've laid down that gauntlet. Scary.
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once off caffeine, stay off? That's what happened to me. I didn't realize I was so hooked on it until I had to go off it for a bit, years ago. Since then I haven't missed it at all. Diet Coke Caffeine Free was my best friend!
I think I am comfortable with my addiction for the moment; or at least, going off it can wait until I sort out a couple of the other major stress issues in my life.
I admit that as I wind down on final revisions, my mind moves on to the next work. I've said that I feel like a guilty lover that steps out of bed into the arms of another... so trampy!
There are times when being a poly person is settling when one applies it to writing as well as to relationships...
It didn't use to matter, but I'm on a definite time line on this work, as are you with your "the work I should be working on"...
Not at the moment; it got done, it went where it was supposed to go (or at least it was posted to where it was supposed to go; I would really like to hear that it has arrived.)
It's important to share those quiet writing accomplishments, don't you think? Not so lonely that way?
Yes, and also it's a quick way to look back and see that one is making reasonably steady progress over time.
We will PERSEVERE! We will CONQUER! And dare I say it, WE WILL GET PUBLISHED BY A MAJOR HOUSE!
I'm certainly aiming for that.
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Writing, then recording several chapters for sound revision.
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After finishing my manuscript I realized there were so many things I didn't know about the world I'm writing in. Being primarily a "discovery writer" I "discovered" a lot about the world as I wrote the draft, I suppose, but I realized the backstory was still pretty thin.
I'm taking some time to do a little world building and buff up the backstory of the central characters before I start on book two. Don't want to spend too much time, since I've heard about lots of writers that get stuck in world building limbo. But I realized I need more than I had for the first book. Overall plan is to world build, apply to the next manuscript. Revise the world and backstory based on what I learned by writing the second manuscript. Rinse and repeat with the third book.
I figure that by the time I've done all that I'll hopefully have a really solid backstory and know the characters inside and out. Also, hoping that my overall writing skills have improved a lot by then. At that point I'll start revisions on the first manuscript. That's the plan...for now anyway.
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While I have not got anything writtien in the past few days, I have figured out some useful stuff concerning what will be going on later in the series which, while none of it will be known to the viewpoint character in the current story, is all known to one of the other characters and will help me understand where he is coming from. (Though I suspect one effect it might have in the long-term would be to make people rereading the first book in the light of the later books scream at me.)
These particular insights brought to me by reading an uneven and sometimes rather good biography of Cardinal Richelieu.
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I took a valuable side path as well.
1. I took some serious time to do 'writing craft' research on 'plot climax' from as many sources as I had on hand and available through the internet. As a result, I came to understand that my climax was actually a couple chapters prior to where I thought it was. Okay, you're scratching your head going, 'how the f****** hell can Meg not know where the blasted plot climax is after all that time!?!" Turns out, I have one climax that births another that follows immediately after that one. The first is a physical plot climax followed by a final massive mental/emotional climax puzzle to figure out. I'd erroneously figured that the mental section was the massive plot climax...
Decided after research that I had to make the physical climax even more satisfying for the reader and make it the top of my upside down plot chart. Then the mental section is an odd twist that extends that height, or might even be considered to slip down and then get pushed over the top again before resolving the book.
Might seem minor, but it put a whole new spin on how much I had to put into the physical plot climax scene...
Then 2. I've been listening to a "Great Sentence" MFA lecture. It's a complicated, but fascinating class on sentence structures from cumulative sentences, suspensive sentences, etc. From that reading, I ripped apart Carrie Vaughn's short story from Dark and Stormy Knights to critique when and where she used them in her work to heighten tension, build suspense, etc and also a Meg Rosoff book for the same detail. Both use cumulative sentences in different but fascinating ways.
Both research side roads have paid off in huge dividends when I look at the overall effectiveness of my WiP.
3. An assignment on 'order', not flashback, but conscious reveal of backstory in book real time woven into the work has made three beautiful counterpoints of jewelled nuggets that simply make the emotion zing off the pages. Thank you, BK Loren and the Univ of IA writer's festival!
Above meant more revision, a couple new scenes. I'm so pleased with how this is working out. I can't wait to get the final work out there.
And yes, I'm writing most mornings for an hour or more, and several evenings for an hour. This weekend I hope to resolve those issues, and begin a final zen-reading of the entire work, breath deep, print off for a visual/tactile read through, re-print and mail. Thank goodness I wasn't given a time table, but I can't wait to get it back, and then send out to the agent who requested to read the re-write. Also, I've got a few agents I've held in the hopper who might wish to read it too.
Yep, I'm really going to get off my procrastinating a** this time... Re-reading this it makes it sound like my head has imploded, but really I'm very, very proud of this work--from the standpoint of what I've learned and applied, as well as from quality writing standpoint.
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Through pass, some poking at latest couple of chapters which were joined up to make one chapter, now past 39,000 words.
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41,700 words and counting. A bit worried that that's 12 chapters and my plan only has 9 left; this would be a first for me in having a novel come up shorter rather than longer than the range of what's supposedly most marketable.
It is 1.30 am and I am Going To Bed, darn it.
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YA revision done. Perfect 61959 word count. Will print 5 copies and mail one off to editor who gracously offered to read. Anyone want to see it? Now my reward is to read mockingjay... sees ya later.
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45,000 words. 2400 of the new ones tonight are completely new scene and going some way to ameliorate my frets about the thing being too short. The other 1600 are run up to a really hard bit which I now need to figure out how to do. The non-human characters have to be alien enough.
I have also come up with a cunning plan to disguise how my books always need an epilogue; which is to do it from the same POV as the rest of the book, and label it "chapter 24" rather than "epilogue".
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1800 more words tonight, that being 400 to prop up the previous chapter and 400 to finish the current one. Which, i hope takes me through the really hard scene and into the nice rewarding one where I get two people I have just come through the difficult bit having a nice relieved semi-friendly but very loud argument about which of them was more of an idiot to get into the situation in the first place, they also figure out some cool stuff, and then they walk straight into one of the biggest twists in the plot.
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I'm trying for 2k words a day, mostly 'cause I really want this story wrapped up before November when I will again participate in NaNoWriMo. Only this year, I'm gonna try to use the Snowflake method to do a bit more outlining, hoping to produce something that won't require a massive re-write. I think out of 50k, I kept around 18k of the previous story. The rest has been chucked in the trash. I'm now back up to 66k. I'd like to get some inspiration and have a few of those 10k days so I can have the month of October to Snowflake the next novel.
The added big scene is now written, though it had to be done twice. I realized partway through that by adding a character I really loved, I was actually weakening the impact of the more active character in the scene. So, goodbye Kassidy. Some other time, you psycho. Then was the problem of how to get Rachel out of it without making her look weak but still having Ethan in on the rescue. Accomplished, but the means will require revisiting later when I've got some distance.
Today's 2k (or more) will shift focus to the rescue and possibly the plot twist therein.
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I'm always amazed when people manage to complete NaMo (am I right on the nickname for it?) and I know you've done it several times. Best wishes on finishing your current project and setting up the next!
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Last year was actually my first try. :) I'm hoping to do it this year too, but I decided today that it was more important to me to finish the current novel. It's such a learning experience about writing, plotting novel-length fiction, that I don't want to toss it away to start a new fast first draft. So if I finish by November, I'm in for this year. If not, not.
That said, 8600 words today on the Grace story. I only stopped because a) my fingers feel funky and b) I need to check something with the book and it's in the bedroom. If I lie on the bed to get the book, I'll fall asleep on my face. So I'll finish off the Grace story tomorrow, send it off for beta reading, and then have no excuse not to write the Rachel story.
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I'm always amazed when people manage to complete NaMo (am I right on the nickname for it?)
It's called NaNo, usually. People who participate on the forums call themselves Wrimos.
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4700 words, today, breaking the 50k barrier.
If I could do that for the next nine days in a row, I could finish this blessed thing before the new job starts.
(Technically it's after midnight, but I have recaffeinated and am giving serious thought to having a whack at the next chapter right away, as the last one, for the first time in the book so far, dropped a totally new plot element on me out of nowhere*, and in the paragraph before the big change-of-direction/twist/everything-suddenly-gets-much-worse which is nominally two-thirds of the way into the plot, too.)
*For values of "totally new" meaning "I knew this was a logical consequence of the shape of this universe but I was not expecting it to hit the story until after a pile of other stuff that is several novels further down the line." Then again, every thing that surprises me makes me less worried that the plot shape of the thing is totally derivative and will instantly appear to all the readers as a rip-off... this is why I avoid TV Tropes.
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...and a thousand more words last night before I fell asleep.
The notion of finishing this book in the next week is actually looking credible even though I have had some sleep and thought about it sensibly. I am going to get a walk in now, quickly, before anything hurricaney hits, so that my back is prepped and warmed up for another day of lying in bed typing like frenzy, and if today continues productive like yesterday did, I think 30,000-word-deathmarch is go.
(Which will mean I'll probably not be around much anywhere else on the forum.)
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..deathmarch day 1, add another eight thousand words, we have broken the 60kword barrier. With six chapters and a not-epilogue to go. I am less worried about total length here than I have been for a bit.
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Well the current project is a war game, miniatures, set in the 1632 universe.
I am calling it Pistols, Pikes, and Propellers? Primarily, research has been most important, with only as much writing as needed to lock down the rules set. Another day or two, and I can get the game on paper.
Nano can be great fun, the concept of blowing right through a story, and watching a visible progress chart, can be quite liberating. Last years novel(s) (we wrote two) have already been submitted, and this year’s novels have been plotted, and are waiting November. We attend LosCon so we have the additional motivation of being done before the con to drive us.
Regards,
Kevin
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Two more chapters. 68kwords.
Everything is under control. ("It's my heart. It's like an alligator." 4 points for the reference.)
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Just over 2k words tonight, for a total of just over 70k words in the story. A lot of complications mean a complex bit of character-juggling before they can advance to the next plot point, another rescue scene. This, I have the feeling, will indeed be the final battle sequence. Like neuro, I'm no longer nervous about the story's length. I wanted at least 80k, preferably somewhere between 90k and 100k. I'll make 80 without breaking a sweat, though 90 might be optimistic for this draft.
Of course, as soon as I finish, I have to start the top-to-bottom edits. I have a file with a list of things to sweep for. I have to make sure I'm acknowledging past injuries, for example. One character has a particularly bad hand injury, and I have to make sure I mention it when appropriate. I also want to change one character's speech patterns just a little to make sure he doesn't sound like everyone else. And then there's a lot of little things to write that will polish up the C-plot, bringing it to B-plot status. Some foreshadowing, some hints of something hinky going on. I'll have to find plot-appropriate points to insert those and then smooth the transitions down so it's seamless.
Maybe I'll make 90k after all. ;)
But first, finishing this draft.
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75kwords, and I realise I have one more chapter needing in than I thought I had. Maybe two. So we are looking at probably 85-90kwords in total. Low eighties I can live with in a first draft.
It's annoying when you realise, when you get to the bit where "oh, thing X turns out not to be that way after all" that thing X is so obvious and so taken for granted by everyone that you have not mentioned it since you first set it up, and you may actually have edited that bit of set-up out a couple of weeks ago while fixing for something else entirely.
It is extremely damned annoying when your writing laptop keels over suddenly with a memory problem, and all you can find online suggests that nobody has fixed this particular sort of problem in this particular sort of laptop for twelve years. Writing fiction on a desktop sucks, because it feels like work.
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Computer woes suck. I've got title woes....
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Found it. Found it. Thank God. Two years and it comes now. *grinning.g
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I either find titles early or not at all. The ones I find early are good ones. Otherwise... no. A year on this novel, and the best I can do is "Little Black Box". Since music figures prominently in this story, and in what might become a series of them, I thought I could title the novel the same thing as the most important song that plays, which would've made this one "Black Days". Or the title could be whatever item is causing the mayhem, which is "Little Black Box".
I figure with any luck, if an agent likes it, maybe their brain will come up with something better.
Today's goal, 72k words and getting into the damn basement like they've been trying to do for the last, oh, 10k words.
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Oh, titles.
The problem the current one has is that the closest thing to a decent sounding title I have is a massive spoiler for nearly the ending.
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This is the first time I've made wordcount early. Got my 2k count in, and they're in the basement. Yay! There was much rejoicing. Rachel's had her moment of character growth, the allies are allies again, there's nothing left to do but throw down. So I may go back to writing today and start in on the big battle scene tonight. We'll see! Time for a late lunch and a break, then we'll see what my brain feels like doing with this. 72k. If I can't get at least 8k out of two witches, four werewolves, a catholic priest, and a vampire then I don't deserve to finish this book.
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and three thousand more words today, followed by a break, as the new job wants me in signing contracts tomorrow morning therefore I need not to stay up writing to 3 am tonight.
The target was 30kwords in 9 days. I have done 32kwords in 4 days. I am also pleased to still have two chapters and a not-epilogue to go, so. Aiming for one more chapter tomorrow afternoon, and the rest... the day after (hey, I'm between jobs, I have no clue what day of the week it is.)
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I still have two chapters and an epilogue to go, because what I thought was the second-last chapter split. So 6kwords more today, ad still as many chapters to go as yesterday.
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I envy you your ability to consistently churn out wordcounts like that. I'm capable of bursts of large wordcounts, but generally only once in a long while. I've found 2k a day doable with a push of effort from time to time. More than that, and I burn out. My brain wants to do something else besides plot and type. When I hit a smooth patch where I know what's coming and I can see the scenes sharp in my head, I can sometimes blow past that but not by much.
That said 2k down today, the fights are taking shape, and I can see how this is going to end (badly). My only decision now is which sacrifice is better...
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The greater is more tragic, the lesser is happier.
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I envy you your ability to consistently churn out wordcounts like that. I'm capable of bursts of large wordcounts, but generally only once in a long while. I've found 2k a day doable with a push of effort from time to time.
Likewise. I can crank out 2-3K a day (more on weekends) once I've found my groove. During the summer I hit a stretch of a month or so where I was consistently hitting 2K M-F and around 3000 on Saturdays and Sundays.
I finished draft of book 1 and started right away on the next one. Unforunately for the last 3 weeks or so I've been at an impasse. I wouldn't call it "writer's block" because that implies a lack of ideas. I have droves and droves of ideas. Problem is I'm having a hard time developing these individual ideas and turning them into a workable plot. (Actually more of a discovery writer so I don't need a tight outline, just a couple of main points of conflict to use as a starting point.)
So, for the better part of a month I'm just writing down ideas. Actually I'm just thinking aloud on the page and have written somewhere in the area of 200 pages worth of ideas, plot hooks, and background information. This has lead to a lot of quality world-building that was lacking before.
I've also come up with a strange smattering of ideas that are tied together and manage to fit into my story concept. It's not writer's block. It's a matter of herding cats. So, I just hope I can find a nice big cattle prod and get them all moving in the right direction.
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I've had a mindsplosion lately. Still typing it all up, but I'm writing it faster than I'm typing it, so I don't know the entire word count, yet. Over the weekend, not quite so good, even with it being really long--was around 3300. But I spent most of Saturday watching Doctor Who and Torchwood with my b/f. Still have something like 4 or 5 scenes to type up, and 2 or 3 that are wanting out, right now.
I've only been paying attention to word count in the last couple years, so never noticed before, but if I have a long chunk of time, and I know what I'm writing, I can get out several thousand words. If I'm not certain of the scene, it's less. But most of my writing time has been half my lunch hour, and an hour or two between work and dinner, and I can manage around 500-1000 at lunch, and about that, or double, at home. Mainly cause half that time is spent looking at websites and stuff instead of writing.
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I envy you your ability to consistently churn out wordcounts like that.
This isn't something I would claim as "consistent"; this is "they didn't tell me until I signed the contract that they didn't want me to start the new job until ten days later than they had previously said, and I've spent all summer working on something else for good reasons when this story was bubbling under and now it's all getting released at once." When I know I am going to get ten days' holidays it tends to fill with a wider variety of things, usually involving Seeing My People, but that much time at once with nothing allotted to it has not happened to me since I was fifteen; the current deathmarch is very much in the way of an experiment, and while it is continuing productive, the numbers have definitely fallen off since Saturday.
Normally I'm good for a few thousand words in one weekly session, maybe two when things are going well.
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I choose to see you as an unstoppable force of wordcounts, neuro. Leave me with my illusions!
As of today, I'm officially at 76,278 words. Someone who might have died has been spared, which tells me who's going to get the axe in the upcoming scene. Now I just have to figure out what to do with Risa...
Ah well, plenty of time to write more later if I feel like it! For now, I haven't eaten since a bowl of cereal this morning, and it's dinnertime. Fooooooooood!
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I choose to see you as an unstoppable force of wordcounts, neuro. Leave me with my illusions!
I have a through draft. Total of 91,000 words; 45k of which were done in the last 8 days.
I think I may just take tomorrow off.
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For you, doing NaNo would be like going on vacation. ;D I did 50k in 2 weeks and was kinda smug about that.
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With a wordcount today of 4,802 words and a total wordcount of 81,120, the draft is done, the bad guy defeated, the victory bittersweet at best and downright Pyrrhic at worst.
Tomorrow, I begin the top-to-bottom edits I know I have to make. Then I'll let it sit before I do a finesse edit to make it smooth and pretty. I also realized tonight that I wrote it in "my" format: single spaced, double spaces between paragraphs. That means that when I do the final edit, I'll also have to double space it with indents at the beginning of paragraphs and single spaces between them. Oi! Bad enough to do that on a 20k short story. Why don't these things occur to me in the first couple of pages and not the last couple?
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With a wordcount today of 4,802 words and a total wordcount of 81,120, the draft is done
Go Kali! \o/
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With a wordcount today of 4,802 words and a total wordcount of 81,120, the draft is done, the bad guy defeated, the victory bittersweet at best and downright Pyrrhic at worst.
Tomorrow, I begin the top-to-bottom edits I know I have to make. Then I'll let it sit before I do a finesse edit to make it smooth and pretty. I also realized tonight that I wrote it in "my" format: single spaced, double spaces between paragraphs. That means that when I do the final edit, I'll also have to double space it with indents at the beginning of paragraphs and single spaces between them. Oi! Bad enough to do that on a 20k short story. Why don't these things occur to me in the first couple of pages and not the last couple?
awesome. The plus is that doublespacing is easy enough in most programs. Not so much the indenting paragraphs, though, far as I know. And that can become so extremely tedious with dialogue; I've had to do that when copying from one program to another.
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I forgot what you use Kali, but Word will indent the paragraphs for you quite easily.
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Really? How? 'Cause I can remove the double-spacing with a find/replace, and then I can set the paragraphs to double-space. How do I get the indents in automatically?
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At the top of the page there should be a ruler with two little arrow looking things, highlight all your text and drag the TOP arrow over however far you want the indent. That should do it.
If you're using 07 and don't see the ruler look at the top right hand side where there's a button just above the scroll bar that says "View ruler."
Hope that helps.
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At the top of the page there should be a ruler with two little arrow looking things, highlight all your text and drag the TOP arrow over however far you want the indent. That should do it.
If you're using 07 and don't see the ruler look at the top right hand side where there's a button just above the scroll bar that says "View ruler."
Hope that helps.
Oh yeah, I forgot about that one. Although I'm not sure if that'll work if the indent thingie is already set, or if you can slide it back and redo it. *goes to play with pages*
And mind still goin' essplodey all over the place...got something around 12 pages, front and back, to type up. And counting.
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The indent thing worked fine, once I worked out some problems with some stuff having manual line breaks and some stuff having paragraph marks (stupid cutting and pasting). It's all properly formatted now! Thanks!
Today's work was more on the editing front, one nice top-to-bottom sweep for things like Ethan's eye color, making sure Father Christopher's voice doesn't sound too colloquial, and minor rewrites of a couple of scenes I knew were awkward or just plain didn't fit with what I'd already established. I'm happy to have added to my word count, despite some deletions, and it's almost 82k now.
Still to do, add in the CU stuff and figure out a way to do so in a way that makes Ethan look even shadier. That's the only big edit remaining, honestly. Then I have to make sure that Risa's eyes stay the same color throughout, add in a bit of Savannah flavor text, make sure I'm acknowledging injuries when appropriate, explain why magic as I've described it lets Rachel lock and unlock doors at will, and... and that's it. It'll be ready for beta readers.
Hardly seems possible.
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Do you have Beta's already?
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I had asked for beta volunteers back in April, but given the time that's passed I'll probably ask again, perhaps by reviving that post.
Today, I have done no editing. Instead, I've had fun with beginning marketing something that, in all likelihood, will never find an agent (how many first novels do, after all?). I fished around and found a web hosting site, got my domain, and am in the process of building my author's website. There was some excellent advice posted about what an author's website should contain, so I plan to put up a) a pic of me when I get one that doesn't make me look like a drunken clown, b) a blog, c) a "novel info" page with behind-the-scenes tidbits, character notes, and possibly location pictures.
I will tackle most of this after I go enjoy a movie with no socially redeeming qualities, namely the latest Resident Evil movie.
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Kali, can you post the web host site with the author site suggestions? Thanks!
And let's see. Oh yeah, finally got through the paper revision, tackled some interesting delimnas, tonight I begin changing the e-copy to match the paper copy, then I'll print off the official copy for the editor who is simply being gracious to review it. Maybe five query requests out, unless I start agonizing over my synopsis. I hate those things. I simply, unreasonably hate them.
If anyone has a site where successful synopsis (okay what is the plural, too tired to look it up) have been posted, please please post it?!?
Crossing my fingers on your agent queries!
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Finally managed to get last week's writing typed up--just over 7700 words. Already have about 3 pages or so to type up from yesterday.
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The post was in the middle of a huge thread on the NaNo boards, but I copied it. I'll drop it here. The post was written by a woman who goes by KimberlyDawn on the NaNo forums, and her critiques of query letters have been spot-on. I've learned a lot just by reading what she has to tell other people about where they're messing up and why.
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You can combine the blog into your website with wordpress. I'd recommend doing something like that--I, myself, set up a shell for my website using just one line of php. It was very easy to set up wordpress and it's easy to update.
Bottom line:
Hosting should be: no more than 10 bucks per month. (I got more in allowance than that a month =P) I have unlimited hosting myself.
The domain should not cost more than 10 bucks a year.
The design should be KISS. (Keep it simple stupid.) At max maybe 3 images. One of you. And maybe some decoration.
You can integrate your blog easily.
Your website should feature a back end Analytics for you so you can figure out your hits per month.
Examples of good websites:
http://www.mercedeslackey.com/
DianaGabaldon.com
http://murverse.com/
http://www.terrypratchettbooks.com/
http://www.neilgaiman.com/ (Though the running in of the text at the top is unsightly. ^^;; Makes the designer in me cringe.)
http://www.brandonsanderson.com/ [main feature is the bar that tells the progress on his books. the rest can use a bit more polish.]
Good author sites feature:
- Behind the scenes of making a book, but without the bitch and whine. =D
- Secret Info about the books they can't find elsewhere. Dictionaries, Profiles of the characters, wikis, etc.
- User interaction, whether through blog, game, q&A. special features, contests, or forums.
- Info about the Author in a short biography and bibliography.
- Clear updates on the progress of the books (ala Brandon Sanderson.)
- KISS designs. Keep it simple stupid.
Avoid:
Strong colors that are not soft or neutral/Earth tones.
White text on black background.
Flashing text.
Heavy graphics.
A design that only works in one browser.
Complex linking systems: Keep your links organized into one area.
Wordpress is pretty easy to install into your website shell: I do that a lot.
Setting up a website shell with a little php to make a template isn't really that difficult.
.css will save your butt from heavy loading pages and cut down on load time.
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Super. Thank you!
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Something to add about wordpress and hosting--a lot of hosts will be set up so that they can automatically install it for you. Something like two clicks of a couple buttons, and done. Wordpress also lets you set up a blog on their site, but it's limited in what you can do compared to installing it on the host. And the pricing on webhosts-from what I've seen, a lot of em have unlimited bandwidth/storage for about $10/month. Cheaper if you do 6 or 12 month plans. I've been looking at domain registrars lately, and I've actually not seen too many that are under $10/year. At least none that look reputable. Another good idea is to listen to the Writing Excuses podcast on branding yourself. Basically says to put up a website that fits you. My example for that would be my own site--it's sorta amateurish looking, but if it were too polished and professional, it wouldn't fit me. And it has lots of stars. ;D
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Today, I finished the edits and even managed to write a synopsis that both a) tells the complete main plot and b) still has my 'voice'. I've been working on the synopsis for almost as long as I've been working on the novel. Man. What a pain. Did you know there are people who actually like them? We call these people "insane". No, actually, it's usually people who plot everything out beforehand who don't mind the synopsis. Why should they, they've already basically written one by the time they start writing the book.
I'm going to have to try that someday...
Next up, polishing the query letter and getting to work on a synopsis for book 2. One that will, I'm sure, bear almost no resemblance to what actually gets written. ... I wonder if that'll be a problem.
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Next up, polishing the query letter and getting to work on a synopsis for book 2. One that will, I'm sure, bear almost no resemblance to what actually gets written. ... I wonder if that'll be a problem.
The trick here is not to write the synopsis until after you finish the novel...
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The trick here is not to write the synopsis until after you finish the novel...
See, that was my thinking too. But a synopsis as an outline works for some people, and Josh, in his very cool "how I got an agent" post, said that his agent was asking for a synopsis for Book 2 to send around to editors along with Book 1's complete manuscript. So now I'm all, "I should write a synopsis."
Kali: Putting Carts Before Horses Since 1967
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See, that was my thinking too. But a synopsis as an outline works for some people, and Josh, in his very cool "how I got an agent" post, said that his agent was asking for a synopsis for Book 2 to send around to editors along with Book 1's complete manuscript. So now I'm all, "I should write a synopsis."
Fair point. My current project is probably the first thing I have done where there is going to be a genuine book 2 as opposed to "this is one story that happens to be too big to bind in one physical volume."
My understanding is, there are editors in the field who expect the next book to be what they got a synopsis of, and editors who do not mind in the slightest if it's a completely different book so long as its good, and both types will tell you clearly if you ask them.
Come to think of it, have I actually remembered to congratulate you on finishing? Congratulations.
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Through revision of chapters 1-10, fixing everything except one thing in 10 I need to think about a bit more. Overall length has gained about 500 words.
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A good feeling, when you edit, pare stuff down, fix other things, and find out you came out ahead in word count. Congrats to you, too, for finishing! It was nice to have that feeling that someone else was heading for the wire while I was, even if your wire was set farther away than mine was. :D
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Something to add about wordpress and hosting--a lot of hosts will be set up so that they can automatically install it for you. Something like two clicks of a couple buttons, and done. Wordpress also lets you set up a blog on their site, but it's limited in what you can do compared to installing it on the host. And the pricing on webhosts-from what I've seen, a lot of em have unlimited bandwidth/storage for about $10/month. Cheaper if you do 6 or 12 month plans. I've been looking at domain registrars lately, and I've actually not seen too many that are under $10/year. At least none that look reputable. Another good idea is to listen to the Writing Excuses podcast on branding yourself. Basically says to put up a website that fits you. My example for that would be my own site--it's sorta amateurish looking, but if it were too polished and professional, it wouldn't fit me. And it has lots of stars. ;D
Godaddy.com is about 10 dollars a year.
Sometimes there are specials for 8 dollars a year, etc on websites--registrars are not important. What's important is your hosting. Most registrars you can get the domain cheap and then transfer it around aat will and get cheap registration that way. It's quick and painless.
The worst thing that can happen is that a registrar locks your account, but then you can get ICANN to lodge a complaint, which came about after Pepsi sued a large registrar and won.
Wordpress, you can set into a shell pretty easily with one line of PHP and a little deleting.
http://www.racheludin.com/ <-- that is set up into a shell. It's a basic PHP insert line.
That means I can use the template for other subpages as well.
I pay 60 dollars a year. Shared hosting, but they have lots of servers. And unlimited bandwidth, database, storage and domains. They don't do multi-access subdomains automatically, but you can get it set up with a little hassle and no charge.
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A good feeling, when you edit, pare stuff down, fix other things, and find out you came out ahead in word count.
A fair bit of my editing on this pass is going to be "thing X works in a way that is totally obvious to POV character so she would never think to explain it, but it needs more clues in there so the reader gets what's going on", which is probably why it's getting longer. This is really one of the downsides of a single first-person POV; the Scylla of leaving vital stuff out so the reader is puzzled, and the Charybdis of stopping to explain in ways that totally break the integrity of the viewpoint. As the first volume in a projected series, I really have gone to some lengths to construct situations and settings where she has to explain or at least think about the basics of where she's from, what she does and how she thinks; the later ones, in settings more alien to her, may make it even harder to get that in, on a "person from culture A writing memoir of culture B for assumed readers in culture A being read by readers in culture C" level. (I can't actually believe in a first-person narrative that is not explicitly written within the fictional world, and for a good reason.)
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I'm derelict in my duty, here. Let's see... Did my YA print copy read, waiting to change the word doc with errors that I missed. I just don't have that razor eye. I ALWAYS miss something. Scares the you-know-what out of me, since a know that an editor with a really fast, sharp mind would never miss--any of them. Still haven't mailed in to the publishing house editor, but I'm also not going to wait on sending out five queries on it. Researching agents is harder than researching for a historical piece... *sigh*
My short story from the U of IA (1650) or so, is off to my editor friend for my annual Zoetrope All Story contest. I never plan on winning, of course, however I consider it my year in writing craft statement of how far I've come and what I've learned this past year. It will then go to the U of IA Anthology for inclusion in their CD.
A wonderful new YA character (12-yr old) this time is taking shape, along with a nifty plot. Not fantasy, not sci-fi, just a wonderful dealing with life, the death of an adoptive father, a grieving mother. It will follow a pure and simple 'hero's journey' format. Not 100% sure that's my next project, but it is weighing in heavily against my other project ideas in my file. It is nice to sic my mind on fresh ideas though. I've been editing so long, that I thought my muse had taken a hike in protest and disgust.
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Good luck with the Zoetrope entry, Meg. :) And isn't it nice to exercise a whole different part of your writing brain? By the time I was done my rough draft, I couldn't wait to edit. Then I edited. And edited. And re-edited. And now I'm writing again... which is making my editor nervous. So I use my writerly brain on the new rough, and then give my inner editor something to do by reading a few pages in the MS.
After giving myself only a little break, I have indeed begun work on the next thing. I snowflaked some of it, but it's hard to convince myself that that's actual work. I do like that it helped me finalize some vague plot notions, but it was time for me to dive in. I'm not keeping up my 2k/day word count that I had been using to finish up the last story, but I am going at around 1.5k/day for now. 1.5 is a nice minimum for me, it's just enough to feel like I got something done, but not so much that I feel like I'll never make the end when the words aren't coming. And when I get the 'feel' for this story a little more, I'll bump my wordcount back up to 2k.
That's a minimum, of course. Anytime I feel like going over, I let myself. I just don't force it if it's not there.
Tomorrow, the plan is to try and rough out a synopsis, but it'll be short on details, even for a synopsis, because I don't know all the details. Still, I feel I should get down what I do have just so it feels a little more... I dunno, official.
During my break, I also got my website set up. Sort of. I'm not advertising it yet 'cause it's still rough and tumble and there's hardly anything on it. I'm also setting up Thursdays as "Blogging Day" during which I'll make a post about the week's past writing activities and the plan for the next week. So that'll be something to do tomorrow, too.
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through pass on the remaining fifteen chapters, fixing the small things; squeezed an extra 500 words out of it.
Five specific things left to do; a major rewrite of two chapters, a new ending, two medium-sized things to put in and one medium-sized thing to cut, because the detail in question is possibly a major point in a later story, so I want on reflection to leave it a much smaller detail now, that will work as part of the background rather than leaping out as Significant, because leaping out as Significant and not resolving is bad, and the extra novel's-worth-o-stuff it would take to resolve it also does not fit here.
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Kali, do you check in via twitter to #amwriting? It's a nice personal, but public, "Here, I am and I am writing." spot. Very helpful to know I'm writing along with so many other authors at the same time. Johanna also keeps a bio section as well.
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Ok, wow - 1.5k minimum, 2k average? Geez. If I get out 500 words a day I'm happy. I don't really have writer's block or anything, it is just a matter of time. Out of curiosity, how many hours does that 1.5-2k words take you?
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@meg - Y'know, I'm almost embarassed to admit it, but I don't get Twitter. I don't get how to sign up, I don't get where to go to get updates, or how to make them... That's largely because I'm very much an anti-social sort. I have negative interest in social networking, so I've never done more than glance at Facebook or Myspace and I've been actively avoiding them and Twitter as well. I just don't like the feeling of being connected to that many people all the frickin' time. It gives me the colliewobbles. I didn't even have a phone capable of getting texts for the longest time, until the phone died and I had to replace it, because I don't like being that in-touch.
However, it's becoming painfully clear to me that these days, it helps to break as an author if you're into the whole social networking thing. I'm still refusing to get a Facebook page, but I do have a website and a blog I'm going to be posting in, and I suppose at some point I ought to at least look at Twitter and figure out what the deal is.
@prophet - Depends on the day. ;) On a good day, it only takes me an hour or so. I type close to 100 wpm, though, so an hour is still mostly thinking and deciding, not so much actually pounding the keys. On a bad day... it can take every spare moment. I've been known to stay up until 2 or 3am to make my wordcount, but I do not go to bed until it's done. That was my promise to myself, the committment I made. The word count is the word count, rain or shine, day or night, no matter what else happens that day. I haven't always lived up to it, but I feel *very* guilty when I don't, and even when I don't manage the 1.5k, I do still at least do some writing.
I will say I don't do "makeup" days. If I only make 1k on Monday, I don't force myself to do an extra 500 words on Tuesday. That way lies disaster, I think. If I have a couple of bad days in a row, I'd end up facing a day where, no matter what, I had to do 4k or 5k. I *can* do those days, I have done them (my record is 12.5k), but that's only when the spirit really moves me. If I *had* to do that much, I'm sure I'd give up in disgust and drown my sorrows in Ben & Jerry's Boston Cream Pie ice cream.
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@meg - Y'know, I'm almost embarassed to admit it, but I don't get Twitter. I don't get how to sign up, I don't get where to go to get updates, or how to make them... That's largely because I'm very much an anti-social sort. I have negative interest in social networking, so I've never done more than glance at Facebook or Myspace and I've been actively avoiding them and Twitter as well. I just don't like the feeling of being connected to that many people all the frickin' time. It gives me the colliewobbles. I didn't even have a phone capable of getting texts for the longest time, until the phone died and I had to replace it, because I don't like being that in-touch.
However, it's becoming painfully clear to me that these days, it helps to break as an author if you're into the whole social networking thing. I'm still refusing to get a Facebook page, but I do have a website and a blog I'm going to be posting in, and I suppose at some point I ought to at least look at Twitter and figure out what the deal is.
@prophet - Depends on the day. ;) On a good day, it only takes me an hour or so. I type close to 100 wpm, though, so an hour is still mostly thinking and deciding, not so much actually pounding the keys. On a bad day... it can take every spare moment. I've been known to stay up until 2 or 3am to make my wordcount, but I do not go to bed until it's done. That was my promise to myself, the committment I made. The word count is the word count, rain or shine, day or night, no matter what else happens that day. I haven't always lived up to it, but I feel *very* guilty when I don't, and even when I don't manage the 1.5k, I do still at least do some writing.
I will say I don't do "makeup" days. If I only make 1k on Monday, I don't force myself to do an extra 500 words on Tuesday. That way lies disaster, I think. If I have a couple of bad days in a row, I'd end up facing a day where, no matter what, I had to do 4k or 5k. I *can* do those days, I have done them (my record is 12.5k), but that's only when the spirit really moves me. If I *had* to do that much, I'm sure I'd give up in disgust and drown my sorrows in Ben & Jerry's Boston Cream Pie ice cream.
On Twitter--the main reason I made an account was because I met Anne Sowards (Jim's editor), and there are other editors and agents on there. Although right now, I only follow Anne where those are concerned. I also found it really useful to follow the authors I read cause they tweet a lot about when the next books are coming out. It's also somewhat inspiring, too, in an odd way.
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I get about 3k or more when I write, but I don't write every day. :-X And it's not all prose I can just stick into a chapter.
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Interesting... ok, that makes me feel a bit better. You have set a pretty high goal for yourself - 1.5-2k words per day is, from everything I've read, considered ambitious. So good for you! :D
I usually run on 500/day, but have modified to 5k per week. Going well so far. I usually get stopped up by research, but I've been pretty good about just putting things like <rank insignia> in that I can follow up on later.
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I can manage around 500-2000 words a day, depending on when I write and if I'm having trouble with the scene or not. If I write just at lunch, I can get at least 500 during the last half hour, and then more, depending on how much time I have between work and dinner. I got just over 1k yesterday after work, although part of that was letting myself get a bit distracted by the chat room.
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For really impressive word counts, neuro is my personal deity. I look like a slacker! ;D
I like the idea of a weekly word count. That means if you have one really good day, you can give yourself a break on a bad day or even take a day off from writing. I myself wouldn't take a day off the story, but there's always stuff to be done that's not actually writing; synopsis, blurb, more character sheets, always stuff to do!
Today, I actually have managed 2300 because I knew the high points of the scene. This scene goes on, but I know what bits I want to hit in the rest of it, so tomorrow might also be a good day. I also got the blog post done, though not the synopsis. I might work on that tonight if I feel the urge, or I'll poke at it tomorrow. We'll see. Definitely this week!
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I heard that Brandon Sanderson can get 20,000 a day when he's finishing a novel. :-\ I'm really not sure I believe that.
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Good gravy. My fingers felt all noodly after 12k. I can't imagine doing another 8k on top of that. I'd have blisters!
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I heard that Brandon Sanderson can get 20,000 a day when he's finishing a novel. :-\ I'm really not sure I believe that.
Something to remember is that he also doesn't have a day job, and while he's got children, I believe his wife keeps them from bothering him. And going by the times on his tweets, he does a lot of it late at night. If I had a whole day to be able to write, I could probably get between 5 and 10k, depending on how well the scene goes. I could guess more toward the end because I usually have a pretty good idea of that when I start.
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Actually, Sanderson teaches Creative Writing at BYU, where he got his degree.
http://www.brandonsanderson.com/article/52/EUOLogy-On-Pullman-and-Censorship
I believe that was in early 2009, but another author mentioned it this year, talking about how few teachers are well-published.
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Actually, Sanderson teaches Creative Writing at BYU, where he got his degree.
http://www.brandonsanderson.com/article/52/EUOLogy-On-Pullman-and-Censorship
I believe that was in early 2009, but another author mentioned it this year, talking about how few teachers are well-published.
Yeah, but that's not quite the same as a 9-5 day job. Plus I'm not sure how long he's had that job.
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And I could have sworn he took the year off to write full time.
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And I could have sworn he took the year off to write full time.
uhm, possibly paid sabatical? Wouldn't that be nice?
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Another day, another 2100 words. This won't last. This just happened to be a particularly vivid scene and is about to come to an end. I'm not even sure what, exactly, I want to have happen in the next scene. I know in a large-scale sense what has to happen next, but the pondering of how to get there means that the word count is going to tank. I'm just enjoying this while it lasts.
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For really impressive word counts, neuro is my personal deity. I look like a slacker! ;D
I accept chocolate in lieu of worship. Anything more elaborate should be negotiated in person.
I like the idea of a weekly word count. That means if you have one really good day, you can give yourself a break on a bad day or even take a day off from writing. I myself wouldn't take a day off the story, but there's always stuff to be done that's not actually writing; synopsis, blurb, more character sheets, always stuff to do!
When I'm not in between-jobs deathmarch, I very much think weekly; I am the sort of person who can really only do anything well in large chunks, so my pattern is to come home Friday, have dinner, and write usually for six to eight hours.
Today, I actually have managed 2300 because I knew the high points of the scene. This scene goes on, but I know what bits I want to hit in the rest of it, so tomorrow might also be a good day. I also got the blog post done, though not the synopsis. I might work on that tonight if I feel the urge, or I'll poke at it tomorrow. We'll see. Definitely this week!
Go you.
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All the big things and remaining medium-sized things from the first pass done except for the new denouement chapter. Also some photo stuff done, which is a helpful different bit of my brain to exercise. at this point.
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As I have barely been managing the struggle to keep my head above the waters of clinical depression, my dog's death has had a rather predictable effect on my productivity. The word count can, temporarily, kiss my plump white buttocks. I've given myself the weekend to be a basket case, then Monday it's back to work.
But I did dig up some information on manuscript formatting today on Nathan Bransford's blog, and adjusted my ms accordingly. Some of it I knew (12 pt font, double spacing, 0.5" indent of paragraphs) but some of it I didn't (page break at chapters) and some of it I knew and assumed I had long ago changed in the default page setup for Word but hadn't (1" left and right margins) so I had to go back to do that. Additionally, I didn't have a title page with my contact info on it, so I made one of those.
Did you know that if you use double-spacing, 12 pt. Times New Roman font, with 1" left and right margins, one MS Word page is approximately 1 book page? Apparently, that's one of the reasons this formatting is preferred (plus it's easy to read). So, while the "250 words per page" pagecount comes out to be around 332 pages, the formatting pagecount is at 289 pages. I find that interesting for no reason I can specify.
Some days, that's all I'm up to. My first full day in almost 16 years without Cheyenne at my side is one of those days.
Tomorrow, 1.5k words!
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Oh, no. Kali, I'm so sorry.
Productivity be damned. Take the time you need and be kind to yourself. Do some busy work, check out agent blogs. Minutia was made for times like these.
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Wow Kali - that is one of the hardest things to deal with. You'll get through, but it HURTS, and you need to let yourself feel that.
Unfortunately, clinical depression is bad enough on its own without anything to actually attach itself to. When it has something to take hold of - just be careful of yourself.
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Routine is how I deal with it. It's how I keep a handle on it.
For today, I did not make 1500, but I did make 1100 and I'm going to go with being happy with that. The day's technically not over and there's a chance I could squeeze another 400 words out of myself without, frankly, too much difficulty if I could figure out what the next step in the scene is, but I've also taken a sleeping pill to combat the onslaught of insomnia and I think I have about 15 minutes before that kicks in.
On the other hand, what I write while under the influence of generic "sleep aid" might be informative. It could even be good!
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1700 words today, which is good 'cause yesterday I didn't break 1k. Tsk. I really have to stay on task, here, and stop getting distracted by shiny new episodes of shows on Hulu.
Am I the only one writing? I know neuro's revising.
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I'm plotting and worldbuilding, with bits of scenes thrown in. I'm getting out around 2-3k a day, but none of it is straight prose. There are a few graphs, though!
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Been typing up the stuff I've written. Typed up about 2500 last night, still have about 3 or 4 more pages.
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I've realized recently that I've completely lost the drive to write...
I thought it was writers block until very recently.
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I just discovered I have almost 3k more words than I thought. I'll hit 50k tomorrow. ;D
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I have been having insomnia issues two of the last three nights, but one consequence is that I have got all of the plot of volume 2 sorted out and pointed in the same direction.
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I've realized recently that I've completely lost the drive to write...
I thought it was writers block until very recently.
It's not fun anymore?
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I'm still writing! I'm approaching 70k words, and I have mapped out the basics of both the major and minor story arcs of this, the first book, through the 5th. The sixth is the final, and I have a very basic skeleton for that too. :) Target is finish 100-120k by early December, edit, submit.
@Enjorous - Any idea why?
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50,002. Couple more scenes that I think will give me trouble, then I hit the buildup into the end.
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Nope, I noticed it this summer but I thought it was writers block. Now when I get time to write I just don't want to.
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@Gand - Well, you can burn yourself out on anything. Also, "life happens". Sometimes life drives writing, sometimes it doesn't. Here's hoping you enjoy writing again...
@Starbeam - You've made me think of something here. I'll post part in a separate question, but also, are you one that writes beginning -> end? I've been jumping around, and it is interesting that the end pieces are not nearly as difficult as some of the set-up pieces.
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@Gand - Well, you can burn yourself out on anything. Also, "life happens". Sometimes life drives writing, sometimes it doesn't. Here's hoping you enjoy writing again...
@Starbeam - You've made me think of something here. I'll post part in a separate question, but also, are you one that writes beginning -> end? I've been jumping around, and it is interesting that the end pieces are not nearly as difficult as some of the set-up pieces.
Yeah, beginning to end. If I try to skip around, things don't make so much sense, and there can be references to one thing where it shouldn't even be known, and all sorts of stuff. But I always know where the ending is; I always have that figured out in my head before I start writing. It might get tweaked and changed a bit, so I don't write it down for that reason, but I don't forget. I still have a story ending for one I set aside about 13 years ago.
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So it seems naming the problem actually helped it resolve itself. So far today I've gotten about 1300 words out and it's only just one o'the clock. These words have no bearing on any of my other former/current projects, but wordslinging hasn't been this fun in a while.
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Got me beat, Enj. I've only managed about 800 words so far today, so it's looking like a long night of pulling the words out of me. I'm having trouble getting back in the flow.
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I'm now up to 1500 even though I'm having to stop in class. And for a change world building is coming a bit easier this time. It's quite a lot more fun than it ever has been for me!! :D:D:D:D
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Yay for good news!
World building is often the most fun for a lot of folks - so much so that they can get caught up in that and never get writing.
But glad things are going better.
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Heh, I don't mind world building, but I hate having to WRITE the world building. To me it's one of the most boring things to actually read about when I'm going back and reading mine, even though I find it fascinating when it's someone else's
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BANG!
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I hate being right. This scene's been fighting me since I picked up my pen.
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BANG!
??
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The assassination game Neuro. WJM was shooting me because I was the target.
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The assassination game Neuro. WJM was shooting me because I was the target.
Ah, OK. I didn't realise that had spread into this bit of the forum.
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It's reach goes as far as the target goes.
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Sadly, yes it does reach even here. *sigh*
Oh well.
I have realized today that if I can write 2k/day, every day for the rest of this month, I can finish a first draft of Book 2 in October, thus freeing me to write something else for NaNo. I have the perfect project for it, something I've been tossing around in my head but haven't yet found the proper angle for. It's something that could benefit strongly from the pressure of NaNo, I think. But I want to have Book 2 as close to roughed out as possible before I turn my attention to another project.
I work better with deadlines. I keep telling myself that...
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Incredibly productive weekend. Some Nebraska SCWBI people got together at a friend's cabin. We laughed, gabbed, walked, ate, then ate some more, then more...but we all were under one roof and we wrote like crazy.
I completed my print corrections to e-copy, came home, printed the next one, reading through yet again to make some additional corrections. Then I'm printing off hard copies for beta's. Interested? ;-)
Before a conference Oct 15th I have to perfect that blasted synopsis and craft a pitch session. Yeah, not my favorite thing to do either. Although I am now sparking along with the new concept and my mind can't wait to be let loose on it!
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1,022 words today during lunch. Clearly I need to start stepping it up if I want to make good from NaNoWriMo.
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1,022 words today during lunch. Clearly I need to start stepping it up if I want to make good from NaNoWriMo.
whoo hook. Go for it!
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4453 words of vol 2. On a weekday because I have Stuff Happening on Friday and am not happy about it at all.
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All the comments are back from my first outside-my-own-eyes reader of Book 1.
The good news: Some really nice compliments, especially on some bits that were tricky for me in specific places where I wanted to convey things precisely, and an overall review of "marketable". The Q&A session was good for me, because I was able to direct attention where I really wanted it. "Did you find that [plot point] was too contrived?" "No, given the earlier explanation and what came after, it made sense. I did go "huh" at the time, but then I realized where it was coming from." That kinda thing.
The bad news: That's as good as it got. But hey, I'll take "I'd pay to read this" and not quibble.
Though this was someone I know, it's also someone who never has a problem with honesty. There was no gushing, but that's fair 'cause this book isn't going to change the face of publishing. It's a fun tale that I liked writing, and since it's outside his usual genre, that he liked it is a good sign.
There are some edits to make, some rough patches to smooth over, and an early scene that needs an overhaul (which I kinda knew), so I'll be polishing that today and then back to Book 2.
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It sounds like you found a good match for reading your manuscript Kali--a valuable asset. Treat them with kindness!
As to my work that I thought was more or less ready to go. Chapter 15 is 100% a show or tell monstrosity. Argh... Will fix and proceed with trepidation, hoping that it was a momentary glitch in my reading and in my author's ear.
Good news? At least I recognized the problem...
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The good news is that you can fix it. ;D I had a scene I knew was wrong but could not seem to fix. It was like the tar baby from that old Uncle Remus story. The more I punched it, the more I got tangled up in it until I was completely snared and then someone killed me or however that story ends. Anyway, the good news is you can fix it.
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Okay, so the really nasty and very much hated 10,000 word slump has hit me yet again. I don't know what it is but the first 10k come fairly quickly and then I suppose the newness of the project wears off and I'm nowhere near a climax or resolution. I feel between now and then is like the biggest uphill battle.
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That is a very common problem. Many people drown in it - 10-20k words here, another 10-20k words somewhere else. Then they have a bunch of half-written projects around.
So do you know where the climax is or how it will happen? Is that scene in your head anywhere? Or are there other scenes floating around in your head?
Write them. Write it out. Keep the fire burning by writing the parts you keep thinking about. If you don't have parts that you keep thinking about, maybe it really isn't the right project, at least for now.
Another thing that comes to mind is something Neil Gaiman said in one of the many forewards/afterwards of "Good Omens". He was talking about Terry Pratchett and said this:
Then again, Terry is that rarity, the kind of author who likes writing, not having written, or Being a Writer, but the actual sitting there and making things up in front of a screen.
http://www.neilgaiman.com/p/Cool_Stuff/Essays/Essays_By_Neil/Terry_Pratchett:_An_Appreciation (http://www.neilgaiman.com/p/Cool_Stuff/Essays/Essays_By_Neil/Terry_Pratchett:_An_Appreciation)
I guess all I'm saying is that we all (or at least most) feel like that at some point.
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My first few projects I didn't have that problem. I didn't have any problem really until I was over 80% done.
Now those blocks seem to be happening earlier and earlier. Ah well, there's always the second draft.
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Okay, so the really nasty and very much hated 10,000 word slump has hit me yet again. I don't know what it is but the first 10k come fairly quickly and then I suppose the newness of the project wears off and I'm nowhere near a climax or resolution. I feel between now and then is like the biggest uphill battle.
Profit is right. Hang in there, but listen to whatever is speaking to you. Remember the first draft is just the first of many, many, and yet many more. You really have to love this thing like a spouse. Okay, bad analogy, but you probably get my drift. That's why I will never put time into a project unless I've got a killer premise, a killer outline, a killer cast of characters first. I used to and I have plenty of projects that died on the vine. I've plenty that I crammed through to the end on the first draft, but know that I'll never touch it again.
Or, maybe you just need to do what Jim does...take the whip to your characters. The pleasure of torturing them might help get over the hump?
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Yeah I'd love to torture them, but sadly it isn't time yet :(
And I can't outline, when I do I'm glued to it, and can't break it.
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That's a tough spot to be in - hamstrung by an outline and stuck for motivation/fire.
If it helps, I outline on the fly. As I write those scenes that are in my head, if I think at all about order or get ideas for how to lay things out, I enter them into a basic outline. It isn't my limit, but my guide. I use that outline to know what to write about next. It is sort of just notes on the scenes I want to work on, and it becomes a very basic outline. Helps me to not get stuck. :D
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was away last weekend, have had lousy sleep for a while, so nothing but note-shuffling done this past fortnight. Shall be trying to get something written again today.
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Cut a bit of chapter 1 of vol 2, which still largely does not work; cut about 700 words from chapter 2 which does want to be in but not there, and wrote about 2000 words new, which I think pretty much ties up chapter 2 for the moment, though some I thought was there has now been moved to chapter 3. This thing is less settled than I had thought.
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What one agent last spring described, but I couldn't understand or find his technical term online, was clarified bright as day by 2nd agent this past weekend. :-) and another :-) Best yet, it's really an easy editing fix--a technique problem. So far I'm pushing through the new edits with speed that amazes me.
In case you're wondering. In the past, I've put on tags of narrative clarification at the end of paragraphs unconsciously. Things that I've already put into the action/behavior etc. I trained myself out of those. Yes, you can hear the pat on my back...
BUT this agent's line by line edit showed me that I was also doing it within the blasted paragraphs. A physical showing of what the first agent was trying to tell me. Bottom line? Trust my writing and cut the followup or over done parts.
Problem? I fear this is so ingrained that with every manuscript I work on in the future it will still need a special edit read to yank those g** d*** suckers out of there.
Now, I'm watching word count drop, but I'm also leaving room for new action, new tells that are different and more fun to read and to write.
Good writing all!
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My writing has unique self-imposed constraints; being a game designer, I do hen-picking throughout the week, usually 5-7000 words. Weekends are the bread and butter - we have our play test sessions on Saturday, and Sunday I take all the notes and make changes or additions as needed. The learning curve is what ends up hurting me more than anything. Whenever we switch gears and test a different game (I think we've got four separate games we're building right now), it always takes the testers a spell to switch gears, filtering through the rules they knew prior and adjusting on the fly to whatever's new. Having one universal rules set helps, but not as much as I thought it would....
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Uhm.... I think I've finished my rough draft.
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Uhm.... I think I've finished my rough draft.
Woo hoo! Grats!!
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Uhm.... I think I've finished my rough draft.
Three cheers for Star!
Hip hip Huzzah!
Hip hip Huzzah!
Hip hip Huzzah!
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Three cheers for Berry!
Hip hip Huzzah!
Hip hip Huzzah!
Hip hip Huzzah!
Uhm...Berry?
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Huh...I got no excuses.
Editing now.
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:D No worries.
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5000 words today (oh boy...)
And not an acid-spitting squid-headed deadspawn were-shark war troll in sight, which as my head has been full of the things, is pleasing.
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man, i see some of you doing an average of 5k words per day. I was quite happy that I did 10k in 2 weeks haha. Too many things do I suppose, novel writing not on the top, I'm just now starting to find time to scribble them down. Plenty of whole book ideas lodged in my brain tho.
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man, i see some of you doing an average of 5k words per day.
Oh, that;s not a per day average for me at all, except between dayjobs when I am deathmarching myself silly; 5kwords is a good week for me, I just structure my writing around doing it all in one or two lumps.
Too many things do I suppose, novel writing not on the top,
makes it harder to succeed at it if you don't put it there...
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just under 3kwords on chapter 4, for a running total of 13,820 words; that should make a nice 15 kwords when I fix chapter 1, so the books is roughly on title for 80-90kwords.
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One story submitted for review (4.5K), and started NaNo...
Regards,
Kevin
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1850 words today. Not a bad way to start NaNo.
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Did not fix chapter 1, realised instead that I needed to take a bit from chapter 2 and a goodly chunk from chapter 3 and make an all new chapter between existing chapters 2 and 3 and have done so. Lo! it is Philosophical and Ranty and will I hope bring into somewhat clearer focus which bits of this character are meant to be likable and which not. (It's a real pain when you write a first-person narrator with certain character flaws who uses charm to get around some of them in some cases and she charms readers into thinking they're not meant to be flaws at all, or that you the author don't think they are flaws and are yourself somewhat less wonderful a person than is in fact the case.)
Also wrote a snippet of the beginning of the next chapter, which is now 6, because on rereading 5 someone had to realise that was suspiciously easy really straight the heck away. Running total just over 16kwords. Go me.
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Sticking my head in. I've been mega-busy... see my thread if you're interested in reading my YA manuscript... chewing my nails.
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Still slogging through NaNo...
Bright spot, we both received our SFWA active memberships last week, it took six sales as we write as co writers (Grin))
Regards,
Kevin
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Finished my rough draft read through on Thursday night. Tried to get into rewrites then, but it was just not coming out right. Set it aside and started yesterday, and seems to be moving a bit better now.
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Such writing time as I have had the past fortnight has been amputating bits that do not work. Rather many of them.
I am now moving forward again, but I am still 500 words short of the last time I posted. There was a bit in there when I thought the whole damned thing was going to collapse into a haiku.
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3700 words tonight. It's that part of the plot where after finding out about the problem and travelling to the problem and strarting their inquiries, my protags have finally had a clash with some antags. That was fun.
4395 words in this chapter: 19,204 in the book as a whole to date.
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Only 1500 more words last night because I got distracted into rereading the previous volume in its entirety.
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1500 more words and a through pass on what I have of #2.
is anyone else even reading this thread any more ?
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Yes, but I've been too incredibly lazy to post in it.
13,000 words in to my new project. I'm liking the direction its taking, but am really looking forward to writing its sequel.
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2800 more words, we have broken 30k on this project. Which means that even though it has felt grindingly slow to apply my new work style, I am still averaging 10k a month, and should finish this by June of next year, and have plenty of space to think of it as one novel per year.
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added another 2,000 new words. And another five hundred in minor edits and tweaks that had to be made.
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Playing the head game away from the keys. Some great stuff perculating. Some excel sheets generated. Both on new and old... love the buzz.
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I joined here a while ago... didn't post much and lost track of the site. Recently found it again. I was happy lurking and catching up with the other posts, then I found this section.
I have a few stories published online and recently finished my first novel. It's 520 pages (over 100,000 words) long and desperately needs to be edited. I feel whelmed because it needs so much work. Does anyone know any tricks for motivating yourself? I've been procrastinating. :-(
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Cattle prod to the thigh?
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LOL
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If it works let me know and I'll try it :D
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Yeah I have been stalling too.
I have three rewrites from editors redline kickbacks, a story cycle-tie in figure game to finish (Thirty years war, with airships and rockets added in, Grin) two new short stories, an anthology submission proposal to write (the pitch is in two weeks), and two novels to nurse through the first edit.....
The primary drag on my time, is my day (well mid shift) job, where we are upgrading a large number of systems, ranging from power generation to new computer systems. All of which has to integrated on a national level. None the less my day job still provides over 88% of my income, I can't just dump it, and thus the writing takes second place.
On the positive side my wife and I have obtained our active SFWA memberships, and have a pair of novels in the submission merry go round.
Regards,
Kevin
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It sounds to me like you have your priorities in the right spot.
You are much further along the road than I am. I haven't had enough sales to make the SFWA , but I know the current secretary (Mary Robinette Kowal) I met her a friends writing workshop.
This is my first novel, and it's got enough flaws that it really needs a total rewrite. I'm just having a hard time getting motivated.
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Tonight I plan on the re write of the game rules. Some times it is like doing the laundry, just gotta do it. Sigh
Regards,
Kevin
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I keep my writing desk in the kitchen (next to the big sliding door so I have lots of light) and above my desk is a grease board where my family keeps track of messages, basic schedules (Who's home for dinner tonight?) and our yearly goals. My goal this year is to edit Echo. When I am super sick of rewriting, I will start a different story and put in as many words as I can into that project. In this way, when I am procrastinating on one thing, I can make progress on the other.
I think you are right though, it's like laundry or the dishes, ya just gotta do it. So no more whining. Thanks for the company.
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Hello all. I'm keeping to about an hour of writing a day, but i am also including some heavy outline work on a new piece. I can't decide if it will have legs or not. Best writing to all!
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Picked apart and totally redid chapter 1, through pass on the rest of it, and I need to redo chapter 8 though hopefully that will not be so gruelling as what I did to chapter 1. It's probably a good thing that I am seeing the need for this now rather than a year after finishing it, but it sure does make getting a first draft slower, I am about two-thirds of where I'd expect to be in wordcount for this span of time with this project.
Also, I think this bunch of people do actually have this culture's standard fusion reactors after all, so the cool liquid-salt deep-burn fission reactors wait until the next volume. Damn it. (Which are in context the equivalent of, say, not having got the internal combustion engine when we did and instead having immensely advanced, sleek, efficient steam engines running everything.)
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Picked apart and totally redid chapter 1, through pass on the rest of it, and I need to redo chapter 8 though hopefully that will not be so gruelling as what I did to chapter 1. It's probably a good thing that I am seeing the need for this now rather than a year after finishing it, but it sure does make getting a first draft slower, I am about two-thirds of where I'd expect to be in wordcount for this span of time with this project.
Also, I think this bunch of people do actually have this culture's standard fusion reactors after all, so the cool liquid-salt deep-burn fission reactors wait until the next volume. Damn it. (Which are in context the equivalent of, say, not having got the internal combustion engine when we did and instead having immensely advanced, sleek, efficient steam engines running everything.)
*stands and cheers* Good for you! Now I need to put my butt in the chair and spend time on my edits today! Thanks for sharing your progress, I'm shamed/inspired to work on mine after reading it.
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I've figured out one thing I did seriously wrong in book #1 now, at the point of a third of the way through writing #2.
I grow ever more amazed at how people manage to write long series where earlier volumes are in print and immutable while later ones are still to be written.
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*stands and cheers* Good for you! Now I need to put my butt in the chair and spend time on my edits today! Thanks for sharing your progress, I'm shamed/inspired to work on mine after reading it.
Glad to be of service.
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Amazing, isn't it, Neurovore?
Lifting a beer in honor of long series authors! You are amazing!
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4000 words today and yesterday; total through pass done, current length 35,000 words/10 chapters, we may be about to get forward momentum again at last.
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Holy crimminie! 4000? way to go! I'm delving into the new story line with a great deal of satisfaction. It's falling into place with amazing speed although the strands of subplots are quickly becoming quite complex. So much better to have too many, than not enough however.
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I'm at the halfway point chapters-wise, and only a couple of hundred short of 45,000 words which makes me more relaxed than I have been for some time about getting the whole thing to come out at a reasonable 90kwordsish length. Last night was another 4000-word night. (I had Friday off as my workplace was closed for unique-to-that-workplace reasons, so wrote Thu and Sat rather than my habitual Fri.) I am feeling really energised about this, not least because the next couple of chapters lead to meeting some cool new people including one who is going to be very important in the larger story arc.
Of course, I would have to get this kind of energised when I am about to go away for a work conference/workshop thing which means being away from Saturday to Sunday of the week following, so i will have minimal writing time between now and then, but still, it's progress.
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1700 words tonight, which makes me feel a bit better about aforementioned travel. Not least because I have now got to the start of the bit I have been really really wanting to write, which will make jumping back on in a fortnight easier.
Halfway through book 2 is less good a time to suddenly figure out some stuff about book 4 in work than my subconscious seems to realise. (if I move one specific thing from book 4 to book 7 all of book 4 comes together better, and book 7 gets a bit larger.)
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We found that we had nine concurrent projects under weigh. Seven of them on short turnaround time tables. In the last two weeks we have reduced the total to six on the list, but we may end up with two more added if our proposals are accepted... Sigh some times it seems like shoveling sand out of a hole.
Regards,
Kevin
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Kevin, I love your 'under weigh' rather than 'under way' So much more appropriate image in my head of the weight of pressing projects. Best wishes on them.
Way to go neurovore!
I'm like the muse butterfly at the moment, unable to settle and commit. Part of it is letting my last big project go. When something comes up to market it, I lose my concentration on the new work. I've three started projects--my first picture book, a middle grade book, and a dark apocalyptic YA. Still the old work calls me, distracts me, and generally is like a toddler that won't go play with the other kids. Keeping that business side of my mind and that work AWAY from my creative writing side is turning out to be a huge struggle that I never saw coming.
I admire you and your wife Kevin for being able to keep so many things in the fire at once.
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Let's see...the big mystery novel comes in at 119,000 words, give or take a few, and I'm ready to start querying agents--quite a bit more research still to do in that department. Meanwhile, the sequel to same is struggling along at the 77,000 word mark, about 1/2 written and needing major revision. Oh, yeah, and real life keeps intruding, so I've done very little writing lately, except for the nineteenth century diary of a distant ancestress I've been transcribing for eventual (self) publication. Her prose style is...dry, to say the least. ;)
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I don't even know how many words I'm typing out a day. I'm not even typing every day. I know a lot of people say when you have problems consistantly writing your story then maybe it's not the best you can come up with. For me this isn't true. I actually just find it hard to sit down and write. Ideas and my imagination aren't a problem I have pretty much 6 different genre's of novels lined up to work on. It's just doing the actual work. Being a guy who grew up watching tv and playing video games it gets tough sitting in front of a blank screen and trying to type out a literary story. So far I think I'm doing pretty well though. I've chosen the story to focus on and I've written five chapters so far! Gotta keep chugging!
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Oh man. I can't believe the amount of head time this new work is taking. I haven't touched the actual key board except for scene descriptions, sound bites, character ideas, etc. It hasn't helped that my laptop was taken over by a two year old so she could watch something called "Super Why". Nah, I'm not complaining, but my hand is cramping up as a result. They left today. Tomorrow, I actually stack more words on page. I've stored up close to a third of the book. Now it's race to get it down before it slips out of my blasted mind.
Wish me well. AND best wishes to all of you on your writing!
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Back from trip and recovered (mostly) from illness acquired on trip. 4000 words last night. We have broken 50k. About this, we are cheering.
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3,000 more words last night, counting some I had cut earlier that now came back into play.
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Another chapter done, 56 kwords and counting.
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Reworked two short stories after having them beta'd not productive as far as my novel goes but infinitely useful in correcting a few mistakes that I seem to constantly make.
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Let's see, recapping:
- New YA chosen - check
- General Plot Line set up - check
- Main Characters roughly defined
- Sub Characters roughly defined
- Location - set
- Over 20 hours of hard research (for starters) - check
- Sub plots tentatively set up, not yet correlated into the storyline
- Main conflict points scenes defined at Intro & 1/4 & 1/2 & 3/4s & 9/10ths for main plot only
- 8 hours of research finding 3/4s of the character names
- at least 20 hours on world building and establishing the rules and pressure points apply to main characters
- main character excel sheets on their development and conflicts, where they are at the key points, how they grow (generally)
- 5000 words written during the above time to make sure I like the characters and that I'm willing to begin a relationship
- another three scenes written in my head, awaiting for me to intertwine the subplots into them before I write them.
- yet more research hours & videos of locations, costume research, science background research... (still tons to do)
And I'm 99% committed to my story, the characters, and we have lift off. I'm moving on to the big board with colored post it notes with that giant plot arc...
Then it is time to start writing pages with a drive to complete the first draft. All that pre-work is exhausting, but I definitely know that I have something not only that I'll love, but that might be marketable (maybe) and worthy of my time--and worthy of a reader's time. I think I discarded about 20 plus story ideas to settle on this, but that doesn't count those in the hopper that I culled through...
As my craft skills grow, my tolerance for side paths that lead in circles or in wrong directions shrinks to miniscule limits.
Not that, that is necessarily good. But for now, this is working for me...
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2500 more words. Which is either half of a long chapter, or a whole chapter and there will be one more than I think. Probably the latter, I like the way it ends.
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Great news Neuro. Keep up the key pounding. :-)
I'm going to send some short stories to some sites listed on duotrope.com Give it a try with me Enjoyous?
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OMG... I'm going off track. A middle grade concept sparked. I love it. I love the other work. No time to do both. I hate that kind of dilemma...
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Get it written down in bullit points and come back to it Grin.
Regards,
Kevin
OMG... I'm going off track. A middle grade concept sparked. I love it. I love the other work. No time to do both. I hate that kind of dilemma...
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Just submittted another story to the Battlecorps.com site (Official Battletech fiction website) and done a few short items for the website.
Found a Urban Fantasy story I'd written a while back, now going over it and will send it to Buzzy...
Craig
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eek, before it dies away on us.
yeah, this AM was about 250 words plus nice revision.
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In the interest of not letting die out on us, I'll update too! I haven't been writing much since December. Life events came, very serious ones. But things are on the upswing and I've found my passion for writing again. I'm fiddling with fanfics right now, largely Star Wars: Old Republic (I used to do some renders for the same, hence the new avatar on here. I made that!), and I'm putting a "What If..." spin on an old Star Wars fic by request of a reader. An NC-17 spin, if ya know what I mean. *eyebrow waggle*
I've removed all pressures of word count or subject matter off myself. If I feel like writing Dresden fic, I do. If I feel like working on my novel, I do. If I feel like writing a series of unconnected Spider-Man combat scenes complete with witty repartee, I do. It's all fun!
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In the interest of not letting die out on us, I'll update too! I haven't been writing much since December. Life events came, very serious ones. But things are on the upswing and I've found my passion for writing again. I'm fiddling with fanfics right now, largely Star Wars: Old Republic (I used to do some renders for the same, hence the new avatar on here. I made that!), and I'm putting a "What If..." spin on an old Star Wars fic by request of a reader. An NC-17 spin, if ya know what I mean. *eyebrow waggle*
I've removed all pressures of word count or subject matter off myself. If I feel like writing Dresden fic, I do. If I feel like working on my novel, I do. If I feel like writing a series of unconnected Spider-Man combat scenes complete with witty repartee, I do. It's all fun!
good for you Kali and I'm sorry you went through a difficult patch. Writing does seem to be tied to our moods, doesn't it?
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Y'know what's weird? I'm assuming many, if not most, of us have read Stephen King's "On Writing." I thought it was fascinating, not only the actual writerly stuff but also the look into the life of a full-time writer. I remember him talking about his alcoholism and how he doesn't remember even writing... What was it, Cujo? He talked later about how when he stopped drinking, he was terrified that he wouldn't be able to write. That he'd become so accustomed to writing while drunk, he had to re-find his faith in his talent, had to re-learn the actual act of accessing his subconscious while sober.
I kinda get that now.
At the risk of over-sharing or becoming one of those whiny people, I had a serious rock-bottom time with my depression. I actively tried to commit suicide. So that, needless to say, took me out at the knees as far as writing. But now I'm better, I'm recovering. I'm in therapy, I'm on anti-depressants (and not the ones that led to the suicidal ideation either), and for so long, for months, I've been afraid to write.
I got so used to writing as a way of disconnecting from the world. I got used to it being part of my isolation, my own little safe bubble, that now that I'm leading a more-or-less normal life, I'm not sure I know how to write. I know I used to "feel like" writing because it was what I did to escape life. Now that I don't need to escape life, I'm having to redefine what writing is to me, why I do it. And I'm having to learn how to write while not depressed.
So that's what's really behind suspending all demands on myself. I'm learning to write for fun, as *part* of my life not *as* my life. And I'm learning that I still have talent, that I don't need to be depressed and alone in order to write. I'm learning how to write with a new mindset. Heck, a new mind.
Anyway, thread de-rail over.
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Y'know what's weird? I'm assuming many, if not most, of us have read Stephen King's "On Writing." I thought it was fascinating, not only the actual writerly stuff but also the look into the life of a full-time writer. I remember him talking about his alcoholism and how he doesn't remember even writing... What was it, Cujo? He talked later about how when he stopped drinking, he was terrified that he wouldn't be able to write. That he'd become so accustomed to writing while drunk, he had to re-find his faith in his talent, had to re-learn the actual act of accessing his subconscious while sober.
I kinda get that now.
At the risk of over-sharing or becoming one of those whiny people, I had a serious rock-bottom time with my depression. I actively tried to commit suicide. So that, needless to say, took me out at the knees as far as writing. But now I'm better, I'm recovering. I'm in therapy, I'm on anti-depressants (and not the ones that led to the suicidal ideation either), and for so long, for months, I've been afraid to write.
I got so used to writing as a way of disconnecting from the world. I got used to it being part of my isolation, my own little safe bubble, that now that I'm leading a more-or-less normal life, I'm not sure I know how to write. I know I used to "feel like" writing because it was what I did to escape life. Now that I don't need to escape life, I'm having to redefine what writing is to me, why I do it. And I'm having to learn how to write while not depressed.
So that's what's really behind suspending all demands on myself. I'm learning to write for fun, as *part* of my life not *as* my life. And I'm learning that I still have talent, that I don't need to be depressed and alone in order to write. I'm learning how to write with a new mindset. Heck, a new mind.
Anyway, thread de-rail over.
**hugs** Yeah, it was Cujo that King couldn't remember, though it was coke and alcohol, I think. I'm glad you're doing good.
I think it might be something of a common thing for people to have to relearn writing, though not necessarily for the same reasons. Hell, we could probably have an entire thread for this kinda thing. It can be a daunting prospect--to stop writing for months at a time and then figure out how to get back into it. Especially when you're used to writing to escape everything that depresses you and makes you unhappy, and the only thing that makes you happy is to get into the world in your head--until you actually are happy and wonder how you can write like that. I think that's the kinda thing I went through when I'd moved in with my b/f. I still sometimes have trouble getting into the writing instead of going out with him or playing games or whatnot. Though he constantly tells me to "Write the book" and helps me when I get stuck and can't quite figure out what needs to be done.
But oohhh....Think I might've gotten over one of my stumbling blocks, although it's gonna require lots of rewrites. Must write down before my mind wanders anymore, and I lose it.
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It's wonderful that after such a trying and emotional time you are finding your writing again, Kali. And Starbeam, I've said it before, how great that you have someone who encourages your writing! You've been blessed.
I agree about writing becoming a crutch for real life, and it can be a worry. That's one reason for this thread. It's a place to connect, post your progress, discuss your work. Writers usually write in isolation and it is frightfully easy to let our characters become, I think, alternate realities. Well, it would be natural and maybe unavoidable for many writers?
This thread is based on twitter's #amwriting, if you are looking for another avenue to get support. We may chose a hobby or a career that is isolationist by nature, but it is only through real life that we gain the life experience to fill the pages.
As to writing? I've spent two AM sessions working on a complicated emotional scene between two characters, written in 1st POV. I'm having trouble getting the action/dialog to reveal what needs to be shown from both characters for the reader. I've not written a word, but my progress has been more than acceptable. I hope to have it all mentally written before the weekend, so I can start writing it down during breaks at a SCA event. More of that real life that enriches my writing life!
Hugs to both of you. If you ever need an ear, you know where to find me.
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Been actually working away at the keyboard, last week wrote about 5k and did a whole bunch of world building shenanigans. This week I'm back at it, although it's been terribly emotional for me so writing has taken a back seat.
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Wow, it's not even a full moon yet. I think the tornadoes have us all on edge? good luck with getting life back to normal!
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I might try to get some writing done today, or at least a bit more figured out with the changes I'm gonna need to make. Although there's still wedding announcement crap to get done. Crap. That counts as writing, doesn't it?
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Close enough for my tastes ;) :P
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I managed to almost hit my 2,000 words per day goal yesterday, at 1,700. Of course, today after not sleeping properly last night I can hardly muster the energy to write. I might make 1,000 if I'm lucky.
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Not as productive as I would have liked this week, but I'm averaging about 1200 words a day.
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Just saw this thread, think it's a fantastic idea. I'm only just getting started, so a lot of my "writing time" is gonna have to go toward structuring and research, but I'm gonna set my goal at 500 to start with.
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500's a good target to start off on.
I had the house to myself yesterday and got cracking on Chapter 4 of my current WIP. Got over 2,000 words written, so I'm happy.
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You guys are amazing! Great work. No electric sites at campground! Loaded with ideas and no charged computer to get them down. Probably going to give up last day here, just so I can be home on monday to write. :-(
I never rack up numbers like you guys. Im the turtle--one to two hours every morning before work.
Keep charging all!
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Just hit the ten thousand word mark on my current story. And no sign of my arch nemesisisisis the Ten Thousand Word Slump! *cues appropriate dramatic music*
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That's awesome! I love hitting that 10k for the first time.
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I'm just glad that it wasn't a battle to this point.
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Am I weird for loving that time when a word document breaks 100kb?
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The wife and I counted, seventeen projects underway. Two done today, only fifteen to go..... At least one was a rewrite for the editor to fit it in to the magazine...
Regards,
Kevin