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McAnally's (The Community Pub) => Author Craft => Topic started by: meg_evonne on June 16, 2011, 11:49:04 PM
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Restarting the locked out thread:
This is a home for lonely writers to post how much they've written, home for posting that you've finished a work, home for a 'kick-me-in-the-butt' cause I've been lazy.
Congrats Kevin on so many projects and for finishing your re-edit for a mag editor.
As to me, I think I'm in the 'kick-me-in-the-butt' category recently. Personal things... I'm good with it, no kicks needed honestly.
Hit the keys everyone!
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I have about 40,000 words at the moment, and things are going fairly well. I'm new to the writing game so one day I'll just type our whatever I can get onto paper and other days I decide to revise early. I recently polished my first chapter and I'm pleased with it.
It's getting more exciting now because all the big sequences I originally planned for the story are about to start happening. Sometimes I have trouble filling a chapter to the length I set for myself, but two days ago I wrote my 12th Chapter and not only did I exceed the number of pages, not only did I do it in less than 24 hours, but I never even got to the topic the chapter was suppose to be about, so that was pretty awesome.
Right now it's just a matter of staying consistent, because I might be writing a lot this week, but I didn't write at all last week. Definately needed that kick in the butt.
How's everyone else doing? ;D
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A new thread right in time for my new project. Auspicious? Guess we'll see.
Got 714 words of narrative written today, exceeding my goal by 214. Unfortunately, every word was almost immediately rendered useless since the brainstorming session that followed altered the plot sufficiently that the scene not only won't make it in the book, but also could never have even occurred in the new timeline. Two steps forward, three steps back, snafu.
The new continuity brought another scene to mind, so I'm gonna go get it out of my head and onto the page. We'll see how long this one lasts.
Edit: 273 words of pure crap. That'll have to do for the day. My brain is gonna be sore in the morning.
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My current fun project is based on a short story I wrote awhile ago. Which, come to think of it, springboarded off of a writing prompt posted here, I think! It's basically fairies in the modern day, the little bitty kind of fairies. It's an enjoyable write, plenty of opportunities for sly bits of goofiness without turning it into one big joke.
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With my first novel coming out next year I've been working on a follow-up, currently somewhere about 12,000 words in, I think. I'm also writing a YA modern fantasy as a sort of chill-out project, to give me a break from my primary series.
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Wordmaker I can't wait to read your book! Let us know when there's a definate release date!
Kali it's funny you say you're working on a Faery story. My friend is doing the same thing, with the small faeries.
Nic I had to do a rewrite as well. I had written 11 chapters, and when I went back to look over somethings, I decided chapter 1 somewhat sucked lol, so I rewrote the whole thing before continuing on. I'm past the halfway point of chapter 13 now, and the more I finish the more excited I get.
Keep on trucking guys! I have so many plans. A series based off the book I'm writing now. A hardcore fantasy tale, a science fiction trilogy. It's hard to stay focused on one piece of work but I gots to!
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Okay, just kinda wondering: If i'm writing on Microsoft Word 2010, how many pages should each chapter be?
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Whatever seems right. Terry Pratchett and some other author's have had as few as a half page as a chapter.
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@Dresdenus: Will do!
@ Sir Huron Stone: I usually aim for around 4,000 words per chapter, which usually brings me in around the 10-page mark before formatting properly. I prefer writing short chapters though, so that might not be your style.
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Okay, just kinda wondering: If i'm writing on Microsoft Word 2010, how many pages should each chapter be?
I'm glad you asked this. I had been wondering the same thing. I also like to make my chapters short. Right now in my first draft they average between 10-17 pages. As a reader I prefer short chapters. If I only have a short time to read or I am reading before bed I like knowing I can read through an entire chapter rather than having to stop midway.
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For me, it's about the rhythm. There's a certain... moment when I know I want that pause. I can tell in the re-read. I say this with the caveat that I do NOT put in chapter breaks until it's fully written. I put in a double-space to indicate I know there's a pause or a passage of time, like overnight, but I don't make it an official chapter break. After it's done, I read, figure out what scenes need adding or trimming, do that rewrite, and then I look for places where the chapter breaks seem natural.
Sometimes they're where I knew they would be, but after putting in scenes and taking out others, I can end up with very awkward chapters. Then I end up having to re-sort out where all the breaks are. It's annoying, so now I don't do it until I'm done with the major edit.
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For me, it's about the rhythm. There's a certain... moment when I know I want that pause. I can tell in the re-read. I say this with the caveat that I do NOT put in chapter breaks until it's fully written. I put in a double-space to indicate I know there's a pause or a passage of time, like overnight, but I don't make it an official chapter break. After it's done, I read, figure out what scenes need adding or trimming, do that rewrite, and then I look for places where the chapter breaks seem natural.
Sometimes they're where I knew they would be, but after putting in scenes and taking out others, I can end up with very awkward chapters. Then I end up having to re-sort out where all the breaks are. It's annoying, so now I don't do it until I'm done with the major edit.
^ This. I do almost the exact same thing. There are some places where I *know* I'll put a chapter break, and others where I'm not certain.
Easiest way to figure out chapters is to read other books and see how they're done there. The main thing to remember is that you want to end the chapter and make the reader want to turn the page.
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I do one chapter == one consistent scene almost always. That seems to work OK.
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I can tell I've let posting here slide when the author timecard thread times out.
Not that I've had much done recently. Two out of the past four weeks I got nothing done at all, from a combination of massive work overload, helping family move house, and an unpleasant infestation in the apartment; last weekend I got nothing done because it was Fringe and I needed a break for sheer sanity maintenance. (It got me oysters, and commedia del'arte, and Aeschylus. This helped.)
Two holiday weekends coming up, though, which means lots of writing time. And at the moment I am working on line edits on an older project, which have reached the difficult stage that the interested party wants to fix things that I knew were wrong with it when I put it down and would have fixed then if I could, while I am on fire with a newer project I am pretty sure is better but that's not a priority to anyone not me, so.
edit status: seven chapters have had initial pass, out of a total of thirty plus five plus epilogues. Some small things and one big thing fixed. task looks really daunting from here.
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Hey! It's Neuro!
Welcome back~ :D
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Hey! It's Neuro!
Welcome back~ :D
Thank you kindly.
I am still up to my eyes and not likely to be around much for the next bit, fwiw.
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Currently working on a long-awaited Cyberpunk screenplay: 4 years, 6 page one rewrites, 1 hard drive crash, 4 different pieces of screenwriting software, countless hours of research and 1 Oral Defense in the making.
Long time coming. It's my baby and she's almost finished.
Then I'm going to trade her for money. Or at least try....
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:-) Neuro!
I fear that I let it fall too. I've been enmeshed in my other hobby--horses. I have to get that short story off though, dang it.
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Started compiling a lot of loose documents and handwritten papers into a comprehensive story bible using wikidpad. Spent about 3 hours with it yesterday and made some good progress. I also got 554 words written on a scene that might just end up in the story. It's a ton of fun going over all my random-ass notes, especially when I find something I honestly can't remember having written. Most of the time they're the "I'm glad I found this before anyone else could read this crap" kind of discoveries, but every once in a while I find something and think "Wow! That came from me? I'm sortof impressed with myself."
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Currently working on a long-awaited Cyberpunk screenplay: 4 years, 6 page one rewrites, 1 hard drive crash, 4 different pieces of screenwriting software, countless hours of research and 1 Oral Defense in the making.
And a partridge in a pear tree? LOL I love it! You've gone through writer's hell, so welcome to the light of day once more! Hope all goes well with the defense.
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And a partridge in a pear tree? LOL I love it! You've gone through writer's hell, so welcome to the light of day once more! Hope all goes well with the defense.
Thanks Meg. :) That hard drive crash happened halfway through the quarter btw, causing one of the page one rewrites. Forcing me to write 118 pages in less than two weeks. *shutter*......
But, I already went through the Oral Defense.
Best summarized by the first reaction at the Oral Defense. One of my professors has never given me above a 3.0 on ANYTHING. He's not a hardass or an overly strict grader, I just didn't hit the mark high enough. Said professor was one of the Faculty Members that went over my Screenplay. His words were the first to be uttered, and I quote,
"I really like this screenplay. I want to make this movie..."
That was a year ago.... I haven't sold it yet because it needs another rewrite for a Female lead character(This must be done) and the more important reason that as much as I want to transition to full-time authorhood, working for Google pays a lot better and more consistently at the moment. Another reason being that selling it would mean moving....again....for the 4th time in 5 years.
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Seven more chapters first-passed Thursday. It would have been more but i got interrupted and put off my stride by urgent tax things which needed printing immediately that night.
The plan is to do more today, but I'm not going to be able to settle down until I have been out and about for a bit, and am currently waiting for the rain to stop. I would like to get to chapter 20 before the end of the day, which would be two-thirds of the way through.
[ The normal write-Fridays plan gets changed on long weekends when Friday is a holiday to write-Thu-and-Sat, and this year Jean-Baptiste and Canada Day are both Fridays. ]
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Eight more chapters this afternoon, which puts me at chapter 20. (For those playing along at home, the chapter numbers won't add up, because there's a separate thread with different numbering, which has seven chapters interspersed with the others.) Not sure I will do any more today, I am a mite headachey.
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And to think, I was proud of my 2k words =(
Not to mention that those 2k words aren't anything that I'll ever be able to publish =(
sigh.
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And to think, I was proud of my 2k words =(
Not to mention that those 2k words aren't anything that I'll ever be able to publish =(
sigh.
The project I am doing line edits on now is one I first started writing nearly ten years ago. Getting 2kwords done is no small thing, and it does add up over time.
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Uhm... New YA advanced writing class through Mediabistro with St Martin's editor Brendan Deneen that starts July 7th. In the last twelve months has completed 13 deals--most scifi/fantasy. Should I or shouldn't I, and money might be an issue for me. Anyone interested in taking the class with me? You can find details at mediabistro.com, click online classes, scroll until you find it. The staff assured me that every week my assignment (10 pages, plus you must crit everyone's 10 pages every week as well) will be read and critiqued by Brendan. I'd need a completed outline for my Hamlet YA...
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I'm currently at 8,697 words after three days of work. Is that good?
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I'm currently at 8,697 words after three days of work. Is that good?
Pace of writing varies from person to person. Daily wordcount for me can vary a lot on whether I have a clear idea of what I'm writing or not, and if I'm rewriting from an earlier draft.
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SHS - yes.
Congrats!
Lanodantheon - cool!
Nuero - as always that is great
Nic - yes to the 2K words. I am not able to keep track by words. I just write for one to two hours in the morning, generally finished one scene each time. The turtle works too. Hang in there and congrats!
And with that many blasted exclamation points, I'd better sign off...
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First round of this pass finished.
The last third of the thing is generally pretty smooth, other than one chapter where there's a conversation that slows down pacing; I want pacing slowed because it's the lull after they think the main issues are resolved and before they realise the way they will turn out not to be, but it may be too much. And I need to rethink one ship name that does not work, and I need to possibly slightly change the balance in the second-last chapter for thematic echo reasons. And I need to shuffle some meals around, because I am a person who really likes food and tend to write food I like pretty much intuitively, and while it is an objective fact that tempura lotus root is delicious and any of my characters would be happy to have some, it has occurred to me that when you are trying to evoke the Odyssey, who does the actual eating of lotus has a certain significance that fits some places much better than others.
Most of the work still needing done is going to go on the first few chapters, I think. But it's another long weekend, and this much done today means an earned pause tomorrow yay.
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I have approx. 42,000 words written of a story. I've found it really difficult to write during the summer because the kids are around during the day so I have to write at night. I'm just too tired by then to really get much done. I've set a goal of 500 words per day but I've already blown it a time or two. :P
As for chapters, I have no set rule. In fact, I'm just using chapters right now to sort out POVs. I plan to combine several chapters when I edit. But I've read books where a chapter would pop up and it would be a page and half followed by a thirty page chapter and it didn't really throw me. I agree with Kali -- the story itself presents the pauses organically so striving for uniformity in chapter length might not be the best thing overall.
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Having much fun with Camp NaNoWriMo this month. I'm trying not to make the fairies goofy or silly, and for the most part they're not. They take their lives quite seriously. But sometimes... They get into arguments and the insults are all on the level of "big dodohead" and "so's your old man". They make me laugh.
Keeping up with the word count has been pathetically easy so far. I stop every day when I'm over the goal for that day, regardless of how much more I could write. This is all about having fun writing and not about pushing myself to see how much I can do. I'm breaking every "rule" of writing so far, but one's Inner Editor must take a break during any NaNo so it's ok. Things like... Oh, I infodump like crazy and spend a page or more on backstory stuff; I'm making up the fairy-verse as I go, so when I mention that the King is checking on everyone after the winter, I spend close to a thousand words just talking about fairy hibernation patterns. Things that would *never* make it past my fingertips if I were Writing Seriously.
It's just too fun.
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Well as of now I have around 52,000 words and I'm about halfway through my first draft. Things slowed down quite a bit with the Holiday but I did purchase the program WriteWay (www.writewaypro.com) and I'm loving every second of it. It's really helping to organize my thoughts and make me think about all the little questions that I sometimes forget.
I'm really excited about my story. There are a couple familiar elements to it but I think what's important is how fresh and entertaining I make them when compared with anything else that's similar.
I set an August Deadline for the finishing of my first draft but I'm not sure I'm going to hit that.(Insert crazy 23 month old son who likes to keep daddy from writing ;D)
I know this isn't an easy business, and I may send this manuscript out to 100 agents and get nothing back, but ever since I started writing, I love it. I have an entire series planned out for what I'm currently writing, and I have a gigantic fantasy story that I think will be amazing.
Well, back to the writing board! Future updates TBA! ;D
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Through pass completed Friday on the thing I want to be working at but am not supposed to be working on. it took seven hours and I kind of forgot to have dinner, but it was satisfying and I hope now I will be able to focus on the thing I am supposed to be working on.
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Just passed 30k on my main project and 5k on a supplemental project. Work is going slower than it was at the beginning of the summer, but I have one month to mad sprint to the end. I'm okay with that.
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This past Friday was mostly going through a set of edits of the form "we need to see more of X's emotional conflict" and breaking them down into "I can get that in naturally in chapter 7, chapter 11 and chapter 20", and then applying some of the simpler ones. Not generating a great deal in terms of measurable new words but a productive day's work for a'that.
I do like half-day Fridays on summer time, but next Friday is unfortunately the last of those I get, and my beloved who lives with me is off for a fortnight crack of dawn Saturday morning so I'll probably write Saturday next week instead.
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10,000 words typed, another 10-15k sitting in a notepad waiting to be typed.
What's an acceptable length anymore? Nanowrimo is like 40k, but that's not considered a full novel. Anyone care to weigh in?
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What's an acceptable length anymore? Nanowrimo is like 40k, but that's not considered a full novel. Anyone care to weigh in?
Sellable for an unknown is generally considered 90-140kwords. Established writers get more leeway.
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3000 words today, and 2000 yesterday. My brain is rather mushy right now. I hope that when I read over them tomorrow I hope they turn out to be good words.
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We got a story into the magazine submission pile. Received the rewrite suggestions, and are waiting a week to do them, as we are really burned out on the story. Back to the revision pass on 2011 novel #1...
Regards,
Kevin
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Finally started work on my dark fantasy novel but hit an a wall, as some of you may have seen, on what perspective to put it in (first or third person). I have written out the opening of the story in both perspectives and am looking for some feed back on which reads better.
Anyone interested in helping a poor frustrated writer out *big ol puppy-dog eyes*
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Word count for my Epic Swords & Sorcery Fantasy Western is still at zero. However, I decided to compile my notes(written up at breaktimes at work in e-mails from myself, to myself) into a couple of word documents.
I ended up with around....50+ pages of pre-writing notes including at least 10 outlines.
That half a year's worth of notes + the Genre Expectation Thread I posted a while ago dclearly illustrates I have the Western stuff down cold in my designs.
Also started listening to the podcast, Writing Excuses and what's one of the last things they mention on the episode I heard?
"Probably the biggest stigma you could attach to a book is to say it's also a 'Western'"......FFFFFFFFFFFFFF...................
So I'm listening to more of that show AND going back over my notes so I can make sure the Fantasy comes first. By the end of the week I will probably have another 10 pages of notes, all of which relating to putting Magic, Elves, Dwarves, Dragons and things that think Mortals look yummy onto the Frontier.
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Now would probably be the time for this story Lanodantheon - Cowboys vs Aliens will have joined the two genre's in peoples minds and made it more acceptable to the general public and the powers that be.
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Now would probably be the time for this story Lanodantheon - Cowboys vs Aliens will have joined the two genre's in peoples minds and made it more acceptable to the general public and the powers that be.
Unless the general tone of most Cowboys vs. Aliens reviews that I've seen being "nice idea, nice title, shame about the movie" convinces the powers that be not to play around in that direction right now.
I hit into the first of the awkward chewy line edits last night. A couple of hundred words new, something moved from chapter 4 to chapter 1 to ramp up the tension a bit earlier, and a note to tie this in a bit more to the first major climax when I get there. May try some more after dinner tonight.
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Also, if my dream last night is to be trusted, there is no setting so peculiar or world so alien that you can't do a redaction of "Famous Blue Raincoat" in it. I am seriously wondering whether that's the direction I want to take the subplot in... volume 5 of the Thing I Want To Write, which as I am half way through Volume 2 now is not a decision I need to make any time soon.
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Stuck at 109,000 words (rounded) on the current novel due to Toddlerus Interuptus. I am dead serious and not exagerating when I say it was easier to write in a third-world warzone with weekly bouts of incoming, power outages, internet crashes, dust everywhere, and 12+ hour shifts 6 days a week than it has been as a stay-at-home dad with a toddler. There's something telling there, and it should give people significant respect for housewives and single mothers :)
That being said, I have the rest of the book fairly well mapped out, several scenes written ahead of time ready to insert, I just need to bridge the gaps between them. If I am not up to 150k words by September, though, I need my butt kicked.
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Hi everybody! I've been trying to write 2,000 words a day on my novel. Am just finishing up week 3, and have amassed 35,800 words or thereabouts. I am typing this and patting myself on the back instead of writing today's 2,000. Just FYI.
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Hi everybody! I've been trying to write 2,000 words a day on my novel. Am just finishing up week 3, and have amassed 35,800 words or thereabouts. I am typing this and patting myself on the back instead of writing today's 2,000. Just FYI.
Nice job, I've been setting my goal at 400 a day. My social life would tank at 2000 a day. That's like 5 pages /day.(Given 10.5 Arial font so that a given page is about the length of a page in a published novel.)
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Nice job, I've been setting my goal at 400 a day. My social life would tank at 2000 a day.
What is this "social life" of which you speak ?
Two more issues resolved in the current pass. I really need to stop flailing about and tackle the big ones head-on. I intend to do this either tomorrow or Saturday.
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What is this "social life" of which you speak ?
Two more issues resolved in the current pass. I really need to stop flailing about and tackle the big ones head-on. I intend to do this either tomorrow or Saturday.
Allright so it's as much my Minecraft habit as trying to get everyone I know to tell me what they think of my writing... You caught me.
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Two more issues resolved in the current pass. I really need to stop flailing about and tackle the big ones head-on. I intend to do this either tomorrow or Saturday.
Well, I've done the biggest.
It feels like it works but I have no idea how it will read to someone who's not me.
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Hit the 100th page of my manuscript and am almost at 40k words.(Note that from some quick testing a page in a published novel will match a double spaced 10.5 Arial font MS word page almost perfectly with the standard borders and the like so that's what I've been using.) I'd be at about 130 pages given college writings standard page.
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Have been doing well with my 2K a day! Have not missed a day yet. Will break 60,000 words today!
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I would say I haven't written anything since I last posted in thread, then I compiled my breaktime notes(I make notes at work on break time) from the past 2 weeks on other projects....another 20 pages.
At least I'm efficient at outlines.
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I've managed to add.... a whole paragraph >.<
*prepares for butt-kickings*
In my defense, I have a 15 hour classload, a toddler, and a pregnant wife, so its not ALL procrastination :)
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That sir, is a lot of work. I admire your fortitude and am glad that I have none of those children things as of yet or anytime soon. I work with enough of them.
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I haven't written much since classes started last week, but I hope I'm going to get into a routine soon enough that I can start filling my free time putting words onto a screen.
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I must say, given what I'm working on right now, that Jim's handling of characters who have been compelled and mind-wiped is excellent.
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Think I have another major edit issue fixed. And it's a long weekend so I get to take another whack at it tomorrow or Monday.
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Another goodly set of fixes done yesterday. Wahoo.
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3000 words over the weekend so that only averages 1000 a day. Not great but not terrible.
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Thing Which I Should Be Working On: Through pass on five more chapters, only one difficult bit remaining needing doing. Also, bought ink for printing out the next draft.
Thing Which I Really Want To Be Working On: Figured out a bunch more late plot-shape stuff. It's amazing how much of that my brain does when I am stuck on particularly annoying software configuration problems at work.
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I'm currently at 72,000 words. My first five chapters have been revised and I'm working on chapter 6 now. Chapter 1 has been sent to two beta readers plus someone who is my unofficial "editor" and all feedback has been very positive. I'm getting more excited with every day that passes!
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Someone with a size 12 boot wind up for the kick. 10 days into September, and I've only gotten to 111,294
>.<
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Sorry I've only got a size 8 and a half. But I could go get a sledge hammer if you want???
Me I'm stuck currently on the story/novella? I'm working on. I know where I want to go but have gotten hung up in the middle. Drats.
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I have passed the 75% mark in my current novel (first draft). I can see the light at the end of the tunnel from here!
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Just got an e-mail back from Scott Lynch. He's coming to my convention again this November. SO excited. Him and Pat Rothfuss run some great how to be an author panels.
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No writing got done this weekend, due to an unfortunate combination of several different jangly sort of circumstances, though I did plot-building work for later parts of the Thing I Want To Be Working On. Nor will any this coming weekend because of convention, nor likely the one after because of exhaustion.
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I can see the light at the end of the tunnel from here!
watch out for train headlights.
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Didn't notice there were so many writers on this board hehe. I feel pretty lazy right now as I haven't been able to touch my WIP for weeks...
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watch out for train headlights.
I should have heeded your warning.
I was supposed to finish my novel yesterday. Instead, my 2-year-old got a stomach virus. I haven't slept in two nights. Now my parents are in town. AAAAAAAAAAAUGH.
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Thing Which I Should Be Working On; crunched down on chapter 20, and through pass to chapter 25. I may finish this pass tomorrow, yay.
Thing Which I Want To Be Working On; yet more notes. I am glowering at it and telling it to behave. I will get back to it Really Soon Now.
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Finally got my Apartment clean after I realized is was one of many distractions that was messing up my Chi/Ki or something.
Now that that's done I can outline the novel I have planned for NaNoWriMo next month. Hopefully a 50,000word book but it's already several dozen pages of notes and several dozen more to come including a Magic System i have no idea where to start with.
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...and it's a wrap.
Thing Which I Should Be Working On is a complete draft, now just needs transfer to a Windows computer, assembly (I work in one-chapter-at-a-time text files) printing, and mailing off.
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DNG has me slaved out to a laptop writing for the next expansion for the Dark Nova RPG, I haven't gotten squat done on the novel lately. Blargh! That being said, I have managed to write enough background material and filler for the setting of the universe that I am getting ideas for yet another book... oy vey...
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...and it's a wrap.
Thing Which I Should Be Working On is a complete draft, now just needs transfer to a Windows computer, assembly (I work in one-chapter-at-a-time text files) printing, and mailing off.
Good Luck and congrats.
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Good luck Neuro.
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Thank you both kindly.
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DNG has me slaved out to a laptop writing for the next expansion for the Dark Nova RPG, I haven't gotten squat done on the novel lately. Blargh! That being said, I have managed to write enough background material and filler for the setting of the universe that I am getting ideas for yet another book... oy vey...
I think RPG writing would help you focus on the inportant parts of the universe creating..... :D
As for me, my 14th story was recently published on Battlecorps.com, and hopefully will have two more e-published by the end of the year.
And I finally got by first paper writing credit! Catalyst Games Labs' TRO: Prototypes has two designs in it that I wrote! So happy! :D :D :D :D :D
On and upwards!
Craig
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Thing I Want To Be Working On; through pass on 23 of the 25 chapters. (24 needs a major expansion and it was well past midnight by then.)
Thing I Should Be Working On; going to get paper on the way home in order to print the damnd thing out.
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Thing I Should Be Working On; going to get paper on the way home in order to print the damnd thing out.
That qualifies for ragging brights, if not the other.
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That qualifies for ragging brights, if not the other.
Running out of ink 500 pages into a 700 page manuscript makes that less likely in the short term..
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Tonight I get my ducks in a row and start a trial run of 2000 words a day for the next month and a half. Just to see if I can do it.
Out these efforts should come a short story followed by a Novel.
Time to put those 50+ pages of notes to good use.
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Tonight I get my ducks in a row and start a trial run of 2000 words a day for the next month and a half. Just to see if I can do it.
Good hands, nimble fingers and clean shotguns to ya.
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I've been collecting my thoughts/making notes since about '98-'99. Right now I've got two major things stopping me from making headway on writing:
1) This is the BIG reason for my struggles. Try as I might, I cannot turn my notes/thoughts into STORIES. Things turn out sounding more like a bloody history book. At best it reads as a narrative. Boring, and uninteresting stuff. The good news is that this hasn't gotten me down, I know I'm capable of better work than this, for some reason I'm just stumbling.
2) Most of my word processing time is spent on college right now. I'm finishing up a masters, one that blends business and chemistry, so in addition to having to switch my brain back and forth, I also have to write a helluva lot. I wrote 4-5k words this weekend, from friday-monday. In addition to that, I spent many many hours doing research and reading textbooks :( All of this was school related, not a lick was for fun, or in pursuit of my own writing.
By the time I sit down to type I am severely burned out. I don't even have the energy to play video games, let alone type something coherent and meaningful. Despite all that, I still lay up at night with my ideas bouncing around inside my head. A lot of you have more on your plates than I do, how do you do it?
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Madd, getting your Masters has to take center stage but you can also do stuff to prepare for your own writing.
Take notes, do research (you already are doing that for the Masters). Read - read lots of stuff in the manner that you'd like to write like. Read good stuff and bad - see what you like and don't like.
As for sounding like a history book or a narrative. Try writing from the point of view of a journalist taking notes or recording an incident. The history book/narrative style shouldl work within that framework.
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Madd, getting your Masters has to take center stage but you can also do stuff to prepare for your own writing.
Take notes, do research (you already are doing that for the Masters). Read - read lots of stuff in the manner that you'd like to write like. Read good stuff and bad - see what you like and don't like.
As for sounding like a history book or a narrative. Try writing from the point of view of a journalist taking notes or recording an incident. The history book/narrative style shouldl work within that framework.
Hey thanks! ;D Thats a pretty cool idea I hadn't considered yet. My intention wasn't to sound like a history book, however my writing has been purely technical since 2004 (the last time I had a creative writing class) and its obviously bleeding into my attempts at writing for fun. The journalist thing...yeah, very fun. I'll get back to you guys with what I turn up! (page wise, not story wise. The last thing I want is one of my half-assed ideas stopping JB from producing quality Dresden escapades.)
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Hey thanks! ;D Thats a pretty cool idea I hadn't considered yet. My intention wasn't to sound like a history book, however my writing has been purely technical since 2004 (the last time I had a creative writing class) and its obviously bleeding into my attempts at writing for fun. The journalist thing...yeah, very fun. I'll get back to you guys with what I turn up! (page wise, not story wise. The last thing I want is one of my half-assed ideas stopping JB from producing quality Dresden escapades.)
You're welcome. I have a story somewhere in my universe done from that point of view. If I didn't throw it out when I moved. (Got kinda crazed there at some points - and this was only handwritten. Oh well, can always redo it. ::) ::))
Thanks for being considerate and good luck. With the writing and the Masters.
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Seriously behind on word count as in page-by-page, as in none. :( I blame my addictive personality combined with Breaking Bad.
Hopefully a burst of energy & madness via meditation tonight will fix that.
However, I have been writing new material everyday. Designed the novel's 4 Magic systems(Well, 4 sets of 3 rules w/upsides & downsides to them) and outlined most the short story.
Going to outline write the entire Short story which is something I've never done before. Exciting and scary at the same time.
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After a week and a half of not being able to get much done I finally hit 200 pages done, and got a good chunk of writing done. I just have to work out how to pace the storylines so they match up at the end. So far It's not looking good.
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Quick through pass on volume 1 of Thing I want to be Working On complete; pass on first five chapters of #2 including rework of chapter 4 also done. Stopped there because chapter 6 needs a lot of work.
Gosh, having to sleep is a pain.
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"Sleep...we don't need no filthy stinkn sleep!!"
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3400 words this weekend so far. I'm really hoping for 5k by tonight :D
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...and the blasted thing is posted. Out of my hands, so I can now focus on something else.
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5000 by weekend's end, I'm happy :D
Congrats Neuro!
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Way to go, Enj.
Congrats Neuro.
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Got slapped with a headful of ideas all falling into place a couple weeks ago on an existing project I'd been writing. The original Untitled work weighs in at roughly 130,000 words. I'm two weeks and a little under 30,000 words into the rewrite, (very) tentatively titled "The Shores of Dreamland."
I've been wanting to get back to this particular story for quite some time, but the muses had been silent for a very long stretch. Figures, they'd open the floodgates all at once on me....
It feels very good to be writing again. ;D
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NaNoWriMo is here tonight at midnight. Last year I went in with a few notes.
This year: ~30 Pages of outline, 42 chapter divisions, Full character writeups, arc plotting AND supportive local writers who want to read my work.
Hazzah.....
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Wow! That's an impressive set of numbers and accomplishments.
I've digressed away from WiP, but I'm ramping up for some marathan writing for several days away from work. Yes, a writing retreat and I, oh so much, need this.