I'm having this trouble too--I've got the very last page written, but the chapters leading up to that are driving me bonkers. I even have a vague outline of what's going to happen, but it's a little scary to realize that 'hey, something I've written is approaching its end.'

What I really need is time to sit down and go over everything and just hit my ideas over an anvil until they're malleable enough to fit together. I know they do, I just haven't found that spark yet.

Thanks for the ideas, esp. the synopsis and cover letters bits. Hopefully I'll have time to implement them soon...

~Cal

My current story is about 61k. That includes stuff written during last year's NaNo...yes, it is a NaNo story, but I think it's pretty good, however deluded that may be. I've got sort of an amorphous goal of getting the whole thing finished this year.

I've only got one section to write, but it'll be huge. I'll probably add on another 10k without realizing it, once I finally sit my butt down and get it on paper.

~Cal

couple of questions to get a better understanding of what your are trying to do:
1) are you using military organizations similar to historic or modern military? or making up your own?
2) fantasy setting, using foot soldiers, calvary, archers (artillery)?
3) where do your characters fit into the organzations?
4) is this supposed to be an epic battle?

I tend to focus on the view and impressions of a few characters (so even large battles involve a lot of small unit or even single combat) And just give quick high-level descriptions of the overall battle.  Your reader will care about the overall battle, but should care a lot more about your characters and what happens to them.

-paul

1) Most likely I will use conventional organization, but with changed names. My story is a quasi-medieval fantasy.
2) The enemy is big on ambushes. So most likely infantry. But my character is a hotshot with the bow, so probably archers somewhere...it's the first stages of a war, so only small groups are at the front now, perhaps no calvary...yet.
3) My MC is a scout, and he comes across a group much larger than his unit can handle. For a reason that I haven't figured out yet, though, they *have* to take on the enemy. I've got a spiffy way for them to do so, but that can't be the *only* fight. The MC has to be in some actions before this, so the commanding officer can trust him to do the spiffy thing...
4) it's not the battle of Helm's Deep or anything, but it's got to be good enough to wipe out the enemy and give the victors a little breathing space.

Thanks for your advice, Paul. And Mickey, we can be stereotypical together

~Cal

I was going to post the link to Miss Snark, but it's been done already...

I would still write. There's just something about getting the words in your head down on paper (or onscreen, as the case may be) that makes me feel better. It makes me excited, calm, angry, exuberant, all sorts of things. It's an outlet for too much reality. And though one day I hope I can be a published author, just sharing my story with other people can be enough.

Writing is probably the thing I'm best at, right now, and I want to give it the chance.

~Cal

Coming up with names has usually been pretty easy for me. Of course, as people have mentioned, writing fantasy means I can use pretty much whatever I want I tend to use my one foreign language (french) and mash it up with words or sounds that I like. I've been looking at more word meanings (latin, usually) to really describe the character, if I can. Then there's always the alphabet game: write the letters of the alphabet and make up a new name for each letter by putting together interesting combinations of other letters...I had a long list of names to pick from for my latest NaNo novel using that method...

Someday I'm going to be just like Tolkien, making up lists of grammar and names, I swear.

I'm also fond of the good old baby names websites. When I was writing my modern-day king arthur story, I looked up the classical names of the knights and tried to find modern names that evoked those. that was interesting, let me tell you.

I like the idea of a fire-mage named Frost.

~Cal

Hello all...

I'm Jennifer, but everyone online calls me Cal.

I've participated in NaNoWriMo for the last three years, and while only one of those resulted in a story that I actually got to write "The End" on the last page, I think all three have promise. This last year's story is the most polished and I'm seriously thinking of trying to get it ready to run the gamut of rejection slips that is publishing. I write fantasy and there's quite a lot of Jim's influence in my books.

The three stories are, respectively, a modern-day King Arthur story (Artorius Rex Novare), a story about the missing archangel Gabriel (Artist of Heaven), and The Sixth Ring, set in a land where bells toll to bring the news, and the sixth ring foretells destruction...

I've also got a big piece I've been writing since I was in middle school, and a vampire-werewolf horror romance bit.

I'm really looking on advice on how to plan fight scenes. I'm not very good at it, possibly because I never had a chance to play any role-playing games T6R has a moderately complex battle in it, and I'm not quite sure how to write it.

Thanks for any help, and if you want to check out some excerpts, I have a livejournal.

Good luck to all! I hope to see you in print someday...

~Cal