...so it's been a month. And it has been such a month. The way this past month as gone is exactly why I am so happy it's finally Fall, which means that first hard frost is just around the corner, which means ragweed's days are numbered!
I have been writing, though. In fact, I now have two projects in the works - one of which is the original first draft that is now going through second draft rewrites - and the synopsis of another one completed. I'll be doing the third one for NANOWRIMO. Since I am working two projects at the same time, I am splitting my time up between them - 2 weeks on one, then 2 weeks on the other. Once NANOWRIMO is here, though, both of those will have to move aside so I can meet the daily word count for the third one.
In fact, I plan to completely outline the third one so that all I have to do in November is write the story. This a new approach for me and I really hope I can stick with it and not let it hamper my creativity.
Normally, I'm writing by the seat of my pants. No outline and sometimes, not even a clue about most of the plot. I just make it up as I go along or I let my characters tell me what they want to do. However, this method does have its issues. While the creativity is allowed to flow freely, it's also allowed to come to a screeching halt in the middle of the book with no hint as to what should be written next. That's usually when I end up starting something new and shelving the stalled project. By the time I get back to it, I've usually forgotten where I was headed with it.
Not this time.
This time, I hope to utilize the outline method while keeping the flow of creativity alive, well, and happy. The outline will only be to remind me the plot direction I had intended. At that point, I can either work my way back on track or outline a new track and go from there. Either way, I think some kind of an outline will really help and since I use Scrivener, that should be easy enough to do.
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Thursday, August 21, 2014
Goals and Sticking With a Plot Written in Stone
Sitting here at Panera right now, working on rewrites and realized that I had my hero doing something before he knew he could do it. Had to go a bit backwards again but as I've said before, that's what rewrites are all about.
I've done more reading recently than actual writing. Still trying to get the hang of active description. It's also ragweed season and it hasn't left me as untouched as I would prefer. Feeling bad like this makes it hard to concentrate on writing. To concentrate on pretty much everything, really. I'm so looking forward to that first hard frost.
This brings me to the idea that I have to feel perfectly good in order to write. It's probably a lie that I tell myself when I think I can't write when I'm tired. I'm tired right now but I've done a bit of writing tonight so I know I can power through that feeling when my brain is too fuzzy to cooperate.
My brain is kind of fuzzy at the moment. Once I got the addition done to a previous scene that introduces this new talent for my hero, my mind decided it had done enough.
I can remember when I first began writing how I would sit down in the evening and keep at it until the small hours of the morning and feel as if I'd only been writing for a few minutes. Lost a lot of sleep during those years. It can still happen now, just not as often as I would like. Now, I supposed it could be said that I write in chunks of time. I've read that in one of the books I have on how to be productive. Writing in smaller chunks of time instead of marathon writing sessions was a suggestion that really resonated with me.
If I know I only have a short amount of time in which to finish a particular scene, I do tend to write in stream of consciousness mode instead of allowing my inner editor to correct as I go along. That is kind of what I've been doing with this novella. I've told my inner critic that it's ok for me to just go at it without considering things like dialogue tags, perfect grammar or even descriptive text. All that can be changed or added later. I just want to get the basic story elements down so the thing is done. So far, my editor has been good at that but she will let me know now when I'm leaving a plot hole behind, like she did tonight.
Like most writers, I have so many projects started but not finished. One in particular is one I've been working on since 1995. It's current version bears very little resemblance to what I first wrote. Even the main characters are different from when they were first born. They're older and he's definitely much more likable than I originally created him.
The reason that one isn't what I would call finished is because I kept getting these great ideas for plot elements that usually completely changed how the story progressed. Still have a habit of trying to change things whenever I work on that one.
With this current project, I have had moments where an idea will come to me that this could happen or that could happen but happily, I have resisted those ideas. I have made the conscious decision that the plot of the first draft is written in stone. All that can change now are the minor elements that help the plot flow more smoothly and move forward.
So far, I've been able to stick to that conscious decision. Here's hoping I can keep doing that. If I can, I anticipate completing this second draft by the end of September. I am taking vacation time the week of Labor Day and I hope to get some good writing time in then. The end goal is to have this novella up on Amazon for Kindle sometime during the first quarter of 2015.
I think I have finally learned that it's helpful to have goals. Those goals have definitely helped me to stay on track this time around.
I've done more reading recently than actual writing. Still trying to get the hang of active description. It's also ragweed season and it hasn't left me as untouched as I would prefer. Feeling bad like this makes it hard to concentrate on writing. To concentrate on pretty much everything, really. I'm so looking forward to that first hard frost.
This brings me to the idea that I have to feel perfectly good in order to write. It's probably a lie that I tell myself when I think I can't write when I'm tired. I'm tired right now but I've done a bit of writing tonight so I know I can power through that feeling when my brain is too fuzzy to cooperate.
My brain is kind of fuzzy at the moment. Once I got the addition done to a previous scene that introduces this new talent for my hero, my mind decided it had done enough.
I can remember when I first began writing how I would sit down in the evening and keep at it until the small hours of the morning and feel as if I'd only been writing for a few minutes. Lost a lot of sleep during those years. It can still happen now, just not as often as I would like. Now, I supposed it could be said that I write in chunks of time. I've read that in one of the books I have on how to be productive. Writing in smaller chunks of time instead of marathon writing sessions was a suggestion that really resonated with me.
If I know I only have a short amount of time in which to finish a particular scene, I do tend to write in stream of consciousness mode instead of allowing my inner editor to correct as I go along. That is kind of what I've been doing with this novella. I've told my inner critic that it's ok for me to just go at it without considering things like dialogue tags, perfect grammar or even descriptive text. All that can be changed or added later. I just want to get the basic story elements down so the thing is done. So far, my editor has been good at that but she will let me know now when I'm leaving a plot hole behind, like she did tonight.
Like most writers, I have so many projects started but not finished. One in particular is one I've been working on since 1995. It's current version bears very little resemblance to what I first wrote. Even the main characters are different from when they were first born. They're older and he's definitely much more likable than I originally created him.
The reason that one isn't what I would call finished is because I kept getting these great ideas for plot elements that usually completely changed how the story progressed. Still have a habit of trying to change things whenever I work on that one.
With this current project, I have had moments where an idea will come to me that this could happen or that could happen but happily, I have resisted those ideas. I have made the conscious decision that the plot of the first draft is written in stone. All that can change now are the minor elements that help the plot flow more smoothly and move forward.
So far, I've been able to stick to that conscious decision. Here's hoping I can keep doing that. If I can, I anticipate completing this second draft by the end of September. I am taking vacation time the week of Labor Day and I hope to get some good writing time in then. The end goal is to have this novella up on Amazon for Kindle sometime during the first quarter of 2015.
I think I have finally learned that it's helpful to have goals. Those goals have definitely helped me to stay on track this time around.
Sunday, August 10, 2014
Quick Belated Update
Been busy writing additional scenes for the novella to fill the holes I found during edits. I finally have those done but there also needs to be some changes made to the next scenes as a result. Word count on the additional scenes is 4543.
I'm now calling the 1st draft my outline. I'm also thinking that the 2nd draft might go into next month as well, considering the extra scenes that need to be written and the changes that need to take place. I was hoping to keep this to around 50,000 words but might have to rethink that. I'll just see how it all comes out when I'm done with draft #2.
I'm also developing some ideas for my NANOWRIMO project. I may or may not write the next book in what may or may not be a series triggered by this one novella. Lots of idea swirling around in my head that I need to get into some kind of brief outline or premise statement. I've also seen some very good prompts in my Facebook news feed. All of which reminds me of one thing.
A writer's mind can be a very busy and at times, a rather frightful place to live.
I'm now calling the 1st draft my outline. I'm also thinking that the 2nd draft might go into next month as well, considering the extra scenes that need to be written and the changes that need to take place. I was hoping to keep this to around 50,000 words but might have to rethink that. I'll just see how it all comes out when I'm done with draft #2.
I'm also developing some ideas for my NANOWRIMO project. I may or may not write the next book in what may or may not be a series triggered by this one novella. Lots of idea swirling around in my head that I need to get into some kind of brief outline or premise statement. I've also seen some very good prompts in my Facebook news feed. All of which reminds me of one thing.
A writer's mind can be a very busy and at times, a rather frightful place to live.
Friday, August 1, 2014
The Editing Has Begun
And I've already found some sizable holes that need filling.
I did start writing the scenes tonight that will fill those holes. Amazing how an author can lose sight of something foreshadowed in the beginning but that is what editing is for. I also found a lot of inconsistencies. Like one minute my hero has blue eyes, the next they're green. What? His eyes change color? Nope. Just forgot what I'd already written.
My hero has green eyes, by the way. It's the heroine that has the blue eyes.
Anyway, I'm sure many who are reading this blog right now know exactly what I'm talking about. Unless you're the kind of writer who plots everything else out first so that all you have to do is write the scenes. That's what I'm hoping to do with the next book. I think if I've already got things plotted out, there might be less editing.
I might also find out otherwise but I'm still up to finding out.
So, that's where I stand at this point. I'm not going to keep a daily word count as I go into this 2nd draft since editing involves more reading and taking notes than actual writing. I think for this, I will go with a minimum time spent editing and rewriting. Let's say 2 hours a day. That's lunch and my hour early in the morning before work during the week. Weekends, I'll wing it - more, less or none.
I did start to read my scenes from the beginning for my writer's group tonight. They've not heard much of this one as it has been coming to life. Just bits and pieces. Now they'll get the whole thing with some scenes as they are now and some will be as they change.
In fact, I kind of feel like I'm hearing it for the first time. I've even found myself laughing at parts - parts that are intentionally funny, that is. I've always heard it said that if a writer can move themselves while writing the story, the story has a better chance of moving the reader. I believe that is true. At least, I hope it is. Guess I'll find out once this book is in the hands of my draft readers.
I did start writing the scenes tonight that will fill those holes. Amazing how an author can lose sight of something foreshadowed in the beginning but that is what editing is for. I also found a lot of inconsistencies. Like one minute my hero has blue eyes, the next they're green. What? His eyes change color? Nope. Just forgot what I'd already written.
My hero has green eyes, by the way. It's the heroine that has the blue eyes.
Anyway, I'm sure many who are reading this blog right now know exactly what I'm talking about. Unless you're the kind of writer who plots everything else out first so that all you have to do is write the scenes. That's what I'm hoping to do with the next book. I think if I've already got things plotted out, there might be less editing.
I might also find out otherwise but I'm still up to finding out.
So, that's where I stand at this point. I'm not going to keep a daily word count as I go into this 2nd draft since editing involves more reading and taking notes than actual writing. I think for this, I will go with a minimum time spent editing and rewriting. Let's say 2 hours a day. That's lunch and my hour early in the morning before work during the week. Weekends, I'll wing it - more, less or none.
I did start to read my scenes from the beginning for my writer's group tonight. They've not heard much of this one as it has been coming to life. Just bits and pieces. Now they'll get the whole thing with some scenes as they are now and some will be as they change.
In fact, I kind of feel like I'm hearing it for the first time. I've even found myself laughing at parts - parts that are intentionally funny, that is. I've always heard it said that if a writer can move themselves while writing the story, the story has a better chance of moving the reader. I believe that is true. At least, I hope it is. Guess I'll find out once this book is in the hands of my draft readers.
Thursday, July 31, 2014
It's Finished!
The first draft of the novella is finished as of tonight. Now the rewrites begin. OY!
The final word count is 47,824 according to Scrivener. Word has it at 47,785 and 237 pages. If I'm wanting this to stay at around 50,000, that does give me some words to play with, which is good because if I know me, I need to add some descriptives in here.
I'm just so excited to have it done. One step closer to getting it out into daylight. I'm also excited that the climax went exactly as I envisioned it and that rarely happens for me. Usually, some character or circumstance will just pop right in there without warning and then I'm stuck trying to figure out how to write around it. Not this time. Just went straight through with only a few steps back for dialogue issues. Even my inner editor kept her mouth shut for once. Now that I'm about to start draft #2, she can get to work.
How do I feel? Tired. Very tired. It's very tempting to sit back and just enjoy the accomplishment for a while but I don't dare. I know me. If I do that, I'll never get the 2nd draft done and then all this effort will be for nothing.
Nope. Not gonna do it. Gonna get a good night's sleep and begin plowing through the edits tomorrow so that the 2nd draft is done by the end of August and into the hands of my draft readers on September 1.
And I now know what I'll be writing in November. Kind of alluded to it at the end of this one. I'm going to go about the second novella a bit differently, though. I'll be using the full ability of Scrivener to plot out the story before I start writing it. This will be a new way of writing for me but I look forward to a more structured writing experience. Not that I'll refuse an unexpected event like a new character showing up. Those are sometimes happy interferences that actually improve the story.
Gotta be flexible, right?
Another exciting thing happened tonight. My little writing group met a very nice lady who just had her first book published traditionally. She'd already self publish one then landed a contract with a small publisher. I got it on my Kindle and started reading it tonight.
She had overheard our conversation and came over and introduced herself then talked to us about her experience. Her advice? Be patient and keep on writing. She really encouraged us and I'm thankful she felt moved to come talk to us. I think it inspired all three of us. I know we didn't spend a lot of time chit-chatting and got right to work. We may even spend some time writing together tomorrow night as well. I'll be editing, of course.
Exciting day but I'm exhausted now. I feel as if I've run a long marathon and maybe I have. I've done more consistent writing over the last few weeks. Much more than I think I've ever done and I have to say it feels pretty good.
I think I can say with full confidence that I am finally taking this writing thing seriously.
The final word count is 47,824 according to Scrivener. Word has it at 47,785 and 237 pages. If I'm wanting this to stay at around 50,000, that does give me some words to play with, which is good because if I know me, I need to add some descriptives in here.
I'm just so excited to have it done. One step closer to getting it out into daylight. I'm also excited that the climax went exactly as I envisioned it and that rarely happens for me. Usually, some character or circumstance will just pop right in there without warning and then I'm stuck trying to figure out how to write around it. Not this time. Just went straight through with only a few steps back for dialogue issues. Even my inner editor kept her mouth shut for once. Now that I'm about to start draft #2, she can get to work.
How do I feel? Tired. Very tired. It's very tempting to sit back and just enjoy the accomplishment for a while but I don't dare. I know me. If I do that, I'll never get the 2nd draft done and then all this effort will be for nothing.
Nope. Not gonna do it. Gonna get a good night's sleep and begin plowing through the edits tomorrow so that the 2nd draft is done by the end of August and into the hands of my draft readers on September 1.
And I now know what I'll be writing in November. Kind of alluded to it at the end of this one. I'm going to go about the second novella a bit differently, though. I'll be using the full ability of Scrivener to plot out the story before I start writing it. This will be a new way of writing for me but I look forward to a more structured writing experience. Not that I'll refuse an unexpected event like a new character showing up. Those are sometimes happy interferences that actually improve the story.
Gotta be flexible, right?
Another exciting thing happened tonight. My little writing group met a very nice lady who just had her first book published traditionally. She'd already self publish one then landed a contract with a small publisher. I got it on my Kindle and started reading it tonight.
She had overheard our conversation and came over and introduced herself then talked to us about her experience. Her advice? Be patient and keep on writing. She really encouraged us and I'm thankful she felt moved to come talk to us. I think it inspired all three of us. I know we didn't spend a lot of time chit-chatting and got right to work. We may even spend some time writing together tomorrow night as well. I'll be editing, of course.
Exciting day but I'm exhausted now. I feel as if I've run a long marathon and maybe I have. I've done more consistent writing over the last few weeks. Much more than I think I've ever done and I have to say it feels pretty good.
I think I can say with full confidence that I am finally taking this writing thing seriously.
Thursday, July 24, 2014
Belated Update
Hello.
Sorry I didn't post yesterday. I had an awful migraine all day and didn't even feel well enough to get any writing done. I also haven't been keeping up with my 2000 word a day goal. It seems getting in that extra hour in the mornings works better for me than writing in the evenings. So, next week it's back to getting to the office an hour early for a writing session.
As a result of the failed evening experiment, I've only written 7,125 words since last Wednesday. On the other hand, I had to do some backtracking again because a scene I've been working on for the last two days was going to a place I couldn't allow it to go. I also forgot about a character that should have been in this scene but wasn't there. Once again, backing up a bit and restarting worked out better than the original writing.
I'm back on course with my outline and about two or three scenes away from the finish line. I believe I'm still on track for completing this novella by next Thursday. I also have an idea for what I'll be writing in November. Once I've finished the second draft of my current work, I will do the preliminaries for it so that all I have to do in November is sit and write.
As well as writing, I've spent some time reading. I find that reading as I'm working on my own project really helps my writing. I also like to pick up debut books from new authors and I am excited to share the one I just finished, The Undays of Aralias Lyons by K. L. Horvath.
This book was kind of a departure from what I normally read but I'm glad I took a chance on it. I found it to be an engaging story, so much so that I had trouble putting it down. Her imaginative prose and fast paced, witty dialogue kept me reading, even late into the night.
Aralia Lyons is a proper English gentleman who can also travel backward through time thanks to his unusual physical characteristics. His son, Jack, can also travel through time but he also has the ability to, as Ms. Horvath puts it, "unravel time from the future." Little does Aralias know that an old enemy is intent upon stealing young Jack away in order to use this special ability and not for good. When Aralias and Jack discover an ancient pocket watch bequeathed to a woman named Clara Heartwell, they decide to deliver the watch to her. What happens next leads up to a climax that made me lose sleep because I could not stop reading until I got to the end.
The setting resembles regency England with time travel fantasy elements combined with a dash of steam punk. There are also magical creatures, iron dragons, and lots of good action with a delightful romance between Aralias and Clara. Clara brings a certain amount of stability into the chaotic world that is Aralias' life.
I loved this book and will most likely read it again, just to see what I might have missed from the first read through. If you like quirky heroes and magical creatures in fantastical worlds, this is the book for you. I highly recommend it.
Sorry I didn't post yesterday. I had an awful migraine all day and didn't even feel well enough to get any writing done. I also haven't been keeping up with my 2000 word a day goal. It seems getting in that extra hour in the mornings works better for me than writing in the evenings. So, next week it's back to getting to the office an hour early for a writing session.
As a result of the failed evening experiment, I've only written 7,125 words since last Wednesday. On the other hand, I had to do some backtracking again because a scene I've been working on for the last two days was going to a place I couldn't allow it to go. I also forgot about a character that should have been in this scene but wasn't there. Once again, backing up a bit and restarting worked out better than the original writing.
I'm back on course with my outline and about two or three scenes away from the finish line. I believe I'm still on track for completing this novella by next Thursday. I also have an idea for what I'll be writing in November. Once I've finished the second draft of my current work, I will do the preliminaries for it so that all I have to do in November is sit and write.
As well as writing, I've spent some time reading. I find that reading as I'm working on my own project really helps my writing. I also like to pick up debut books from new authors and I am excited to share the one I just finished, The Undays of Aralias Lyons by K. L. Horvath.
This book was kind of a departure from what I normally read but I'm glad I took a chance on it. I found it to be an engaging story, so much so that I had trouble putting it down. Her imaginative prose and fast paced, witty dialogue kept me reading, even late into the night.
Aralia Lyons is a proper English gentleman who can also travel backward through time thanks to his unusual physical characteristics. His son, Jack, can also travel through time but he also has the ability to, as Ms. Horvath puts it, "unravel time from the future." Little does Aralias know that an old enemy is intent upon stealing young Jack away in order to use this special ability and not for good. When Aralias and Jack discover an ancient pocket watch bequeathed to a woman named Clara Heartwell, they decide to deliver the watch to her. What happens next leads up to a climax that made me lose sleep because I could not stop reading until I got to the end.
The setting resembles regency England with time travel fantasy elements combined with a dash of steam punk. There are also magical creatures, iron dragons, and lots of good action with a delightful romance between Aralias and Clara. Clara brings a certain amount of stability into the chaotic world that is Aralias' life.
I loved this book and will most likely read it again, just to see what I might have missed from the first read through. If you like quirky heroes and magical creatures in fantastical worlds, this is the book for you. I highly recommend it.
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
Writing Update
Hello and checking in. Not doing as well this week as I was last week. Aside from blog writing, I did no writing over the weekend. I also haven't been able to go in early to write for an hour before work. I am still writing for an hour at lunch but not getting in quite 2000 words. Since there are two weekdays left and I am meeting my writer's group for writing time tomorrow night, I'm pretty confident I can make up the slack and be back up to speed by Friday.
Since my last check in, I have written 9518 words and have about 20,000 words to go before the novella is finished. I might even finish it before I get to that mark. I'm close to the final quarter, ready for the big climax.
A few more characters showed up to the party, though. There are a couple of them that even I'm not sure whose side they're actually on but I suspect they are good guys in disguise. I can see them going that way and I think that's what will happen.
This is why I hesitate to do any outlining before I get started. It always seems to happen this way - I'm headed in a certain direction then a character shows up out of nowhere or my main characters do something completely unexpected and suddenly everything changes. Not quite that bad this time, however. I did manage to get them all back on track for the ending I had in mind. We'll see if that lasts.
I have noticed that since I am writing nearly everyday, I have very little trouble picking up where I left off the day before, even if it's in the middle of a conversation. I do finish sentences, however. I've also not gotten stuck in a scene until today. I know we all have times when we feel as if all that's hitting the page or computer screen is garbage. That's kind of what happened to me today. I say kinda because once I finished the scene I had been working on, I wasn't sure where to go from there. Or more correctly, I knew where I wanted to go, I just couldn't see how to transition the completed scene into the next major scene. There is a lull in the action while they travel from the planet to a ship in orbit so there's really not much going on. I could just jump right into the next scene but there's a few things I need to get straight before I do and I suppose this transition scene is a way of helping me do that. It could probably be eliminated but if it doesn't go on too long, I may just leave it.
But that's an editing issue. Editing is forbidden while free writing. Well, I did do some backtracking on that one scene but I believe that was necessary to keep the rest of the story from going to a place I really didn't want it to go. I like the change much better and it's more fun to write, actually. My hero can shift into a wolf and some scenes require me to write from that point of view. It's a nice change.
That's all I have for this update. I think I will continue to keep Wednesdays as my update day. I think it's good to take stock in the middle of the week so I can plan what I need to do with the remaining days to meet my goals as well as stay on track for the main goal of finishing this first draft by the end of this month.
Then I can begin the second draft August 1.
After that, I get to brainstorm what I'm going write for NANOWRIMO. Oy!
Since my last check in, I have written 9518 words and have about 20,000 words to go before the novella is finished. I might even finish it before I get to that mark. I'm close to the final quarter, ready for the big climax.
A few more characters showed up to the party, though. There are a couple of them that even I'm not sure whose side they're actually on but I suspect they are good guys in disguise. I can see them going that way and I think that's what will happen.
This is why I hesitate to do any outlining before I get started. It always seems to happen this way - I'm headed in a certain direction then a character shows up out of nowhere or my main characters do something completely unexpected and suddenly everything changes. Not quite that bad this time, however. I did manage to get them all back on track for the ending I had in mind. We'll see if that lasts.
I have noticed that since I am writing nearly everyday, I have very little trouble picking up where I left off the day before, even if it's in the middle of a conversation. I do finish sentences, however. I've also not gotten stuck in a scene until today. I know we all have times when we feel as if all that's hitting the page or computer screen is garbage. That's kind of what happened to me today. I say kinda because once I finished the scene I had been working on, I wasn't sure where to go from there. Or more correctly, I knew where I wanted to go, I just couldn't see how to transition the completed scene into the next major scene. There is a lull in the action while they travel from the planet to a ship in orbit so there's really not much going on. I could just jump right into the next scene but there's a few things I need to get straight before I do and I suppose this transition scene is a way of helping me do that. It could probably be eliminated but if it doesn't go on too long, I may just leave it.
But that's an editing issue. Editing is forbidden while free writing. Well, I did do some backtracking on that one scene but I believe that was necessary to keep the rest of the story from going to a place I really didn't want it to go. I like the change much better and it's more fun to write, actually. My hero can shift into a wolf and some scenes require me to write from that point of view. It's a nice change.
That's all I have for this update. I think I will continue to keep Wednesdays as my update day. I think it's good to take stock in the middle of the week so I can plan what I need to do with the remaining days to meet my goals as well as stay on track for the main goal of finishing this first draft by the end of this month.
Then I can begin the second draft August 1.
After that, I get to brainstorm what I'm going write for NANOWRIMO. Oy!
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