What came out tonight in the interlude was Nate and Blade, trouping across the Bleak. I don’t know where they’re going yet, but it can’t be good.
And I discovered details about Nate that I didn’t know.
And learned a term of his—one he shares with Blade. Arting.
I wrote it, having already discovered what it meant, and shuddered.
This part of the book may be too dark. It stays through the first revision, though. What’s going on here is critical to defining why Nate is one of the villains of the story, not one of the dark heroes (who will be coming), and I have to leave it in to come to a full understanding of who Nate and Blade are, and what they’re working towards.
As written, though, it just may be too much.
Anyway, 394 words.
How are your words coming along?
{ 37 comments… read them below or add one }
I worked on my contest entry. It’s 450 words, not counting the link at the top, but counting the title. Never made a web page before… and that’s all I’m going to say about that.
PH2: 224 words, hard won. I dumped my MC in a pit of agony. He’s realized that he isn’t who he was trying to be (an average good guy, member of race P), and he may yet become who he’s been trying not to be (an evil bad guy, member of race T). Because of how the world is built, he’s the only person in a thousand generations who can choose what race he wants to be, and therefore who he needs to be inside–so he’s got no help. He is now rethinking everything he knows about everything [while I avoid an info dump :S], and just when he thinks he’s figured out how to make things right, some soldiers are going to come along and make him live what he thinks. And I might have to kill his best friend, because he doesn’t want to learn anything from the death of his mentor, the mad doctor. He’s gonna hate me pretty soon. Snicker. : D
PS–
Holly, I just noticed the WABWM link on the left. Yay! Thanks much.
Getting things organized as I can. It takes time.
0 words.
I’ve been sick for several days and haven’t written. I’ve been thinking about my revision work but I haven’t really had the mental energy/focus to even want to sit down and get after it.
Hope you feel better soon!
You know, I was just thinking about what was up with you. I was starting to miss your Princess and her adventures
Get well soon!
Hang in, get better soon. I’m very sorry you’re sick. That’ll wreck any writing plan.
I sympathize. I’ve gotten sick too unfortunately, but not too horribly yet. Peppar, peppar, ta i trä (as we say in Swedish when we won’t to stop something we say from happening, superstition in other words).
I hope you get well soonest!
Agreed. And hopefully your wife gets better soon too; last I heard she was headed out for a procedure, so best wishes to you both. : D
415 words.
I feel like I’m writing the same thing over and over.
I need to find a way out of this rut. An on going argument with someone is probably to blame. Ever meet one of those people that are absolutely, completely miserable, and want nothing more than to share their lack of wealth? Well, I seem to be dealing with one of them. It’s killing me. And my inspiration, apparently.
No words this weekend, as I was focussing on the revision. I did get 1258 words on Friday when I had some time to write at work. I was real happy with those, everything is really flowing for now. All that pre-writing must have helped to get things straight in my head.
No writing for me either, hurt my wrists picking the twins up and down all weekend (cribs, gates, high chairs).
Not sure how long that’s going to take to recover, but hopefully only a day or two.
Thanks for the WABWM link Holly!
361 words on sunday, 477 on friday.
My muse is giving me weird moments. I don’t actually know what she was thinking when she showed me this room with baby blue walls and flowing curtains, a little round table with a marble top, supercomfy armchairs, a white wood dresser covered with extravagant trinkets and baubles – and above all, an almost wall-wide portrait of Mrs Wilversen’s mother-in-law in her youth, a plump woman in a garish lavender dress which Erthel can only describe, in her mind, as “a monument of laces and frills”.
I. Just. Don’t. Know.
I went along with it, of course, since such is the way of first draft, hoping that my muse had good reasons for showing me all those details. Even moreso given that I usually have trouble visualizing rooms and furniture: my characters in first draft often could be solving mysteries, taking decisions and fighting for their lives on a table floating in the fog, or in a flat clearing between trees floating in the fog, for all that I know.
Anyway, Mrs. Wilversen appears worried about Erthel’s state of health and offers her to take a few days off work in case she needs to recover from her mother’s disappearance. Since Mrs. Wilversen has always been a rather cold, stern woman, Erthel is surprised by her change of behaviour, but politely declines the offer.
Then the real fun (fun for me, not for poor Erthel of course: I’m just evil that way) of this scene begins. Mrs Wilversen starts evoking memories of the time when Erthel’s mother worked for them… and some things are a little different from what Erthel has always been told. Different, and yet more believable than what she’s always been told.
But frankly, I’m just getting started.
Today: 700 words after a frustrating weekend filled with ‘other’ problems.
As for writing problems, I still have questions/doubts that I just bulldoze my way through. I may address them on Forward Motion board, though, historically, I don’t (pick one) – mesh well with / fit in with / trust the answers of – online writing groups. In the meantime, I just keep writing, keeping the faith that I WILL finish and all WILL be well.
I participated in Holly’s poll for HTTS, and endeavored to answer the questions as asked, but I’m not sure I managed to convey what would benefit me the most in trying to transition to a career as a writer: a writing forum/group/website in which I could discuss writing with other writers (much like Forward Motion or others), yet ask questions that would be answered by a panel of certified experts that have actual experience and real knowledge, not just other writers who are still struggling (like I am) to establish themselves (no offense intended to any other writer, regardless of their level of expertise).
I know Holly is much too busy to spend time answering my questions (whenever they pop into my head), and she’s already provided so much on her website that I wouldn’t think of pestering her more. And, I realize that, most probably, other published authors and experts are also too busy – but – it would be incredibly helpful. Does such a place exist? Have I not looked far enough into Forward Motion to find it?
Hope I haven’t offended anyone, or pushed too far beyond the intent of this forum, or seemed hypocritical by first saying I’d like the guidance of experts, and then saying – but any pointers would be helpful.
I don’t think there is such a place. Alot of times it’s just coming across writer’s blogs like this one where they actually take time to read the comments (like Holly). I think mostly they’re just too busy though. I always hear the recommendation of finding a critique group or writing partner that you trust to give you an honest opinion of what you’re writing. As far as writing advice, there is so much valuable stuff online (on Holly’s site and in her courses) and many other places too. And also writing books that I think the advice is already there. It’s more just a matter of figuring out what’s not working with your story. And that’s where the Beta Readers come in handy or writing partners or etc.
Thanks for the reply. You’re right – the answer is already there somewhere. It’s just a matter of finding it, or remembering it.
I’ve been part of several online critique groups – they don’t work well for me. What I’d really like is someplace I could get specific answers to specific questions. Often what happens, (as in the question I had in mind when I wrote that comment), is that I suddenly remember “Oh yeah, Holly answered that question already.” Her site really is the best thing going.
Weekend: a little more work on characters mainly. Job hunting still a distraction!
1138 words yesterday after a long dearth. yay!
I love that word “dearth.”
358 words for Tuesday.
They are good solid words, that don’t meander into a rant about the evils of certain people. So I’m happy, even though there’s relatively few of them. Tomorrow I’m on to a new chapter and I have some interesting things planned. . .
Mon:
Power cut 9am until 4pm, restricting me to doodling some maps and then wasting 2 hours trying to get the internet to reconnect from 4pm until 6pm. Frustrating.
Last couple of days, I’ve been off because the Air Force Kid just got back from his second trip to the desert (different desert this time) and I wanted to be able to hang out and have fun with him.
We have. This means I’m behind on everything, however, and my 70 hours of work is going to have to be crammed into Tuesday through Friday.
Keep posting here. I’ll be back as soon as I can.
445 words so far today.
I suddenly got this idea last night/today (it was after midnight). I always daydream myself to sleep.
These are purely personal fantasies and considering how I jump in time and so, they wouldn’t translate well into a story. But as I started to daydream last night I suddenly realised that there was nothing stopping me from using the same kind of “format” to write stories. What I mean is to just throw in whatever sounds fun and go from there.
I don’t think I could consistently work like this, but it’s a good way to start a writing habit. And that only means I have time to outline and define the two other stories I want to write.
So I guess I have 3 different works now:
- GvE (don’t even ask what that stands for…I’m so useless at coming up with titles (for curious it’s “Good vs Evil” and it doesn’t even fit at all anymore))
- Rinaya’s Story (well, I haven’t started thinking about a name yet since I’m just world-building)
- ET/TH (Extraordinary Teenagers/Teen Home) (this is the new one)
This maybe isn’t a revelation to you, or I’m just not communicating it well enough, but for me it was a revelation.
computer crashed and I lost my words from yesterday. ugh. they weren’t very good anyway. Today I’ve done lots of planning but still having trouble figuring stuff out. not sure what should happen next (that won’t bore me to pieces). I thought I was on the right track but it’s still so vague. Having trouble getting my MC “out of her seat and across the room” as it were. transitions kill me.
Yeah, transitions are a pain. I like to skip them, switch points of view, tell a different part of the story for a while–Danzier’s friend showed up unexpectedly with a present!–And then I go on to whatever happens after the transition.
That was an attempt at a demonstration. There’s a reason I don’t teach.
What you say makes perfect sense. I seem to be very linear and get hung up on what I missed. When I try to skip, it’s just ugh. And all I can think about is that I’m not sure how exactly they got into the room and whether anything interesting happened along the way that I should know about…(somebody said something to someone, or etc. (sort of, as best I can explain it). Do you have trouble when you skip ahead like that? Maybe I am just weird that way.
I was going to try starting in the middle of scene tonight but I had trouble applying butt to chair… I wish there was a site like that. Like facebook where we could all sign on and update our status… “writing”… “1000 words today” … “stuck in transition” and no one would yell at us for being boring. LOL
Yeah I do have trouble with those sorts of things. At one point I decided the only way to move the plot forward was to write stage directions in the margins! “Enter MC stage left, cross to center stage, don’t trip over dead guy.” LOL at me–if my characters were actors I hired, they’d have quit.
In my main project I had to write a scene where MC’s mentor dies. The following scene is MC, out in the woods, grieving, and being interrupted. It’s a horrid scene. By the end of that scene I wanted to amputate my hands! Metaphorically of course.
After much ado, attempted rewrites, and sulking, I said, “this isn’t helping” and started a new scene from the bad guy’s pov, completely didn’t mess with the old scene for a while. [The bad guy was stuck under six feet of mud at the captured town, nowhere near MC.] Moved on again to the slave scene. Then I discovered I needed to know how the skipped scene ended. I sat with a plain old notebook and pen and wrote little points for what the scene needed to cover, and how to break it into a couple different scenes to work better. I put the list of bullets on my computer, where the scene should be.
But I still haven’t actually written the scene. I’m dancing around it. I figure if something happened along the road between there and here, and it was important, I can put another bullet point or a couple of sentences to make sure I don’t forget about it, but I’ll skip writing it until I just have to. (Granted I’ve done that so many times that what started as a story about a monk is now a series about saving the universe, and the monk doesn’t show up till book 3…) Oh, and that way, I can move the important thing to some other place where it fits better, because it’s not knitted into the story yet, just pinned there.
I’m glad this site is set up this way. It remembers me, I don’t have to remember it; we basically use it to log counts and be encouraging, and it doesn’t suck me so far in that I can’t get back out to write stuff. I avoid Facebook and most forums like the plague, because they act like black holes that I can’t get out of. “4000+ words today, all this post…”
Yes- I was thinking that almost as soon as I posted. Facebook is giving me enough trouble already. I can’t imagine if I was pretending it was actually related to writing!! Black hole is very apt.
I need to do the bullet points and apply butt to seat and see what happens today. thank you so much for posting. I might actually try getting into bad guy’s head for a scene or two. Even if it doesn’t make it into WIP, it’d probably be useful info to know what he’s up to.
And maybe someone “should” yell at me for being boring… if brevity is the soul of wit then I’ll never make it on comedy central.
943 Words and lots of fun!!
My MC has a lot on her plate: she’s trying to learn the craft and trade of demon hunting, she’s being stalked by a bunch of unsavory individuals. . .and there’s some indication that her boyfriend might be the one who sicked a very annoying minor demon on her.
Having devoted the weekend to Item A, she plans to devote the week to Item B, and Item C is getting filed away where it can bite her on the butt later. . .
Another power cut! This one unannounced, forcing me to work late, but I finally got what I wanted done. Two more character profile, and the end of my high-level world-building, as well as three more scenes assessed.
ET – 528 words so far today. Don’t think I’ll have time for more since I’m going to begin the steps of setting up my blog today. Although that will have me writing, but not fiction.
2 pages of free-writing because somewhere in WIP it’s not clicking again and I think I just needed to let some unrelated plot bunnies loose. So today’s mantra is butt in chair.
Gabby/Danzier, I’m the same with transition scenes. I also switch POV and leave comments for myself about what to cover when I go back. Sometimes you just don’t know what the missing piece looks like until you’ve built the rest of the puzzle around it.
Made some progress today. Yay. Moved my next scene to a different location/different tone and ramped up the conflict in the previous scene. I think it puts me back on track for a few more scenes [crosses fingers]. I’ll have to see what happens tomorrow. About 500 words.
And I totally failed on the bad guy investigation part. I seem to be putting it off until he actually shows up. It appears to be an ongoing pattern with me (wait to brainstorm ’til I absolutely have to). Hey, I just realized it’s maybe cliche to have head honcho be a guy. Hmmm… muse goes off to ponder the possibilities.
Jessica, I left a note for myself [need to make this scene darker] and that’s how I “ramped up my conflict.” LOL. Maybe it’s progress.
Yay!
Ok that was Yay! to the scene and words. The bad guys are always hard; haven’t exactly figured them out yet. They usually end up being a second main character, but a disturbing one. Not sure how that’s gonna work.
Jess, I love the puzzle analogy; you’re so right. I do a full story in a single word document, so all my notes are at the bottom along with whatever didn’t work well. That way my most recent note and the part of the story it refers to are always pretty close together.
I’m off my story for a week or so due to school: I have two 3-page papers and a PSA (public service announcement, 2-5 pages) all due mid-next week. If I get a fiction word in edgewise I’ll let you all know. :O