I went light tonight, but I did get words. 292, to be exact, as I started exploring the aftermath of Kettan discovering Nate’s fate.
The Face In the Mirror Is Not Mine is already suprising me. Will is proving resourceful—my objective is to keep Kettan strong enough to keep up with him and be his equal, not turn her into a dependent wimp. That’s always a danger when one character turns out better than you anticipate.
I’ve had a rough few days personally. It was a pleasure to be able to sink into fiction for a while, even if not for long.
{ 52 comments… read them below or add one }
320 words.
The captain of the prison ship gets help saving the life of her pilot from a person in a Rating’s vacuum suit (psst, it’s The Princess). The person in a Rating’s vacuum suit then offers to get medical aid for the pilot… for a price.
I don’t know what happened. A couple of weeks ago (or maybe a bit longer now), I came down with a nasty flu. I just did not feel like writing. I felt like writing code, for some reason. So, for the past couple of weeks, I’ve been learning graphics programming in php, I’ve written a “nation generator” in php, started re-learning Java, and started transferring some of my php code into Java.
I’m starting to feel better and tonight, I figured… what the heck… I can get a couple hundred words, right? I really enjoyed getting back to writing. I’ve really missed The Princess. I don’t know why I wasn’t writing before this.
But I think I’m not going to keep trying to split my attention between my WIP and my RIP. I’m going to read the HTRYN lessons and think about them, but I’m putting the Revision on the back burner until I’ve either got more time to do both OR I finish this WIP. I’m the kind of guy that needs to concentrate on one thing at a time. I feel like I’m doing them both half-assed right now.
And it’s good to be back. I missed this WABWM stuff.
Welcome back, Pencil Neck!
I was kinda wondering how you (and your Princess) had been doing.
Maybe you just needed a little time off writing? Fact is, when something (like a flu, or other unforeseen obstacle) forces you to stop writing for a few days, it’s hard to start again – and the more time passes, the harder it is. It’s like your brain is “out of shape” for writing due to interrupted training. Still, it’s always good to be back
And I hear you on the need to concentrate on one thing at a time.
WABWM missed you too, Pencil Neck!
Glad you’re feeling better and writing again. Isn’t it funny when the story won’t leave you alone until you get back to it?
hey, glad you’re back.
…been really curious about the princess.
Yay! I’m glad you’re back and feeling better PN, I was wondering where you’d got off to.
In the words of Indiana Jones’s friend Sullah, “I’m so pleased you’re not dead!”
Welcome back.
: D
334 words.
With the ship falling apart around them and joined by some fellow ex-prisoners, The Princess convinces the captain to command her crew to give up.
Thanks, guys! It’s great to see y’all again.
Work is not going well. It is just hellish.
BTW, is anyone else having very vivid and wild dreams since the time change?
Not me, man. I’ve just started not being able to sleep. I’d swap that out for vivid dreams, or even nightmares, in a heartbeat.
And as I posted that, I remembered one where I did manage to get to sleep, only to see myself lying in bed and the ceiling above me start to bulge and pulse. Tiny hole opened, some white stuff started dripping out. Bulge got bigger, and suddenly the whole ceiling exploded down onto me, and zillions of enormous cockroach-like bugs poured out everywhere.
Woke me right on up, and I did not get back to sleep.
Maybe that’s why I’m not sleeping. When I do, I get crap like that.
So I guess the answer to your question was YES after all.
Welcome back, PN.
I got more of the back story done, but it threw up some more questions for present day that I need to get answered. I also wrote a bit more on part of the world which might be used in a sequel, and sketched in details on my world map.
The trouble with a story with a lot of interwoven plotlines and multiple characters with crisscrossing backstories is that sooner or later you’re going to say that X character took part in Y event that took place at a time…when he was about twelve.
Or that Z character’s mother died a year before she was born.
Hence today instead of writing while at work I decided to pre-empt the big continuity cleanup regarding the 30 lawless years between the old king’s death and the new one’s seizing of the throne. Since this is the period into which most of the (mortal) characters are born, this covers all of the major events in their lives as well.
I made a timeline in Excel for this purpose, and finally having what happened when before the story starts set in stone is a huge relief. Hopefully it’ll help me prevent any further continuity entanglements and untangle the old ones when I get to revising. I’m not doing it now, or I won’t write the book.
Also worked more on my first language and the culture that goes with it. If you’re wondering, classes are all but finished and that means I have to basically go in and sit at work all day doing nothing. Might as well do nothing constructively, eh?
Hihi, I like the mother who died a year before your character was born. That sounds awkward somehow. I wonder why…
I’m using excel a little too, to record what I do with my time each day, at the end of this month I’ll evaluate the 1,5 months I’ve been doing this and see what I come up with. Then I’ll have to make a plan – so I’ll put more time to writing, and school I guess, then maybe…ehmmm…Facebook. Around one hour a day on facebook is a little much, me thinks…
Anyway, my issues aside, I’m glad it’s going well for you!
Felicia, LOL! awkward indeed
Wanders, your job sounds great. I’ve been cheating at work. Sometimes it’s just quiet between calls and I just sit there and scribble notes to myself. and plot and ponder. i always wonder what i’ll say if someone asks me “what cha workin’ on?” … uh… still have no idea what to say.
The best part for me is feeling like they’re paying me to write [maybe one day...]
Sounds like you put your job to actual good use!!
LOL well, only when I don’t have A) Classes to plan B) Classes to DO or C) mountains of marking to do…
Ok. Sometimes I still write when I have marking to do >.>
Book is halted though when the teachers were out of the room I sketched a top-to-bottom series of pictures of my MC’s culture’s clothing. Still looks very Ye Olde Medieval but I tried to keep it simple and clean, kinda early Saxon or Celtic.
The knights’ helmets gave me grief, though. I couldn’t find a design I liked and still am not 100% on the current one (a closed-faced one with a swing visor that looks something like the Sutton Hoo crossed with a crouching dragon whose wings form the cheekguards) as the horsehair tassel makes it look a lot like the Theoden’s royal guard in the LOTR movies. Meh. Without the tassle it looks too Grecian.
Also, submitted my entry for Talysmana comp >.>
“…keep Kettan strong enough to keep up with him and be his equal, not turn her into a dependent wimp.”
I think that might be what happened to me in first draft! I’m getting to the character lesson soon, but I had already suspected that, when one of my characters started to take over the story. Seeing you’ve come upon that same issue is so helpful. Thanks for sharing that!
568 words on the short story, up to 2400 words so far. It will definitely be under 10k, and then I’ll go back and see what I can cut.
Glad to help.
I’ve wrecked stories in just about every way possible at this point. I’m glad that particular one proved useful.
Forgot to write down the wordcount on tuesday, will add another comment as soon as I come back home and figure it out. I think I went around 300 words though.
For some reason, part of me seems to want to cram half of my culture worldbuilding in this scene. It’s been… years, literally, from the last time it happened so blatantly: I remember clearly doing it a lot in Infinity (my now abandoned, overgrown and seriously wrecked epic-fantasy-with-a-touch-of-crossover project) in scenes where Violet, the earthling MC, faced her first few big culture shocks. It’s the dreaded “Protagonist enters new setting” ExpoSyndrome (which is now a word, because I say so). Groan.
This realization doesn’t change the fact that this has to stop, since I’ve come to know better. This scene has cool and important events in its own right and all this extraneous info is just diluting the impact. Of course, such is the way of first draft: moving this info in appropriate places where it will be properly shown instead of told is a task for revision. Onward!
Erthel notices as they’re about to sit at the table that they’re seven – and the table has been prepared for eight. The unneeded seat is for Faurel’s father. Yes, it is exactly what it looks like. The man has been quite dead from a few years, and the family always keeps for him an empty seat (with a plate, a glass, a napkin and so on), right next to the widow.
This bit of culture and the way it’s shown, says quite something about the high bloodlines’ concept of family, and especially about Faurel – who says “our matriarch” for his mother, but “my father” for his dad. This is why I’m pretty sure that this bit in going to stay here in revision.
That’s so interesting. I like that they call the mom ‘matriarch’ but they still respect the father enough to leave a place for him at the table. Plus it’s just really touching.
You know, I hadn’t really planned for this. I had a half idea that Faurel’s mother was a widow, maybe connected to the fact that she’s closer to 70 than to 60 (Faurel is the youngest of several siblings), but I hadn’t really thought about his father. It just kind of happened. I can still see Faurel’s face and his half smile as he says to Erthel in a low voice “that is my father’s place”. I love moments like this
I really like the idea that someone is honoured and remembered every day after death through the simple fact that *that* is his place, right next to his wife, and nobody but him can ever be there. You’re right that it’s really touching
I counted the actual words for tuesday, and I wasn’t too far off with my estimate: 329.
Beautiful bit of worldbuilding. Even as you’re pulling out infodump stuff, make sure you leave that in. It matters.
Still managing to average about 600 wpd.
I think I’m beginning to find my “voice” and the story is really starting to gel. That leads me to believe the revision process will include a lot of bringing the first half of the book in line with the second half.
Glad to see that everyone is well and writing.
I want to begin this comment by thanking all of you. Because you give me feed me inspiration to write with your comments, and that’s one of the things I need. This makes it so I actually write at least once a week, which is a huge improvement from like…once a month or less. Thank you all.
674 words, I just wrote after writing the first part of this comment.
I wrote ET.
Amanda sit with Tamora and her friends. Tamora talks a lot with Amanda, since she has no friends. Sandra, one of the friends, becomes jealous (although no one notices). While the group is getting food Sandra finally looses her temper. When she looses her temper she also looses control of her power. Her power is wind, and stormy winds pick Amanda up and drops her on the floor. Suddenly the secret about what “extraordinary teenagers” mean is out, and Amanda is hurt.
Drama, I love it. I also heart hurting my characters. Sadist, who? Me? Gasp.
Well it makes them grow.
Yay! I like it too. I wouldn’t write today (I’d just avoid it because I’m stuck) but you guys are here and I’m bound and determined to have something to post in a few hours.
And I love Sandra’s power. always wished I could fly.
WRITE! WRITE I SAY! WABWM pawah compels you XD
(Maybe, just maybe, I should go to sleep. It’s 01:30 am around here. Groan)
It worked! yay. WABWM is the coolest place ever.
Actually Sandra can’t fly, she can just control winds. But I have a girl that can fly! Amanda! MC ^^
And I’ve always wanted to fly too.
That’s really sweet, Felicia
*hugs the swede girl*
We all should thank you in return as well – it’s the whole WABWM magic at work, I think. It’s really motivating to keep coming back here to you guys and face our struggles and quirks together
Temper-driven power showoff, woo-hoo! I wonder how Amanda will take it now
And of course, we only ever hurt the little buggers for their own good. Mu-ahahahah! *maniacal laughter + crack of thunder in the background follows*
“Temper-driven power showoff” I heart it.
I’ve made a kind of scale for how well the teenagers can control their power and given the steps the easy names of: freshman, sophomore, junior and senior.
So while they can be senior in school (which Sandra for example are), her power “grade” is only junior, which basically means that under completely normal conditions you have control of your power, but as soon as you’re upset, they run amok.
I feel poorly for Amanda when that will happen. Upset – Oh noes, she’s flying again; gets control of her emotions – Oh noes, now she’s falling. Hmmm, I see a future of her visiting the infirmary a lot. Geee, I wonder why. ^^
Ha! Too funny. yah, that would suck a bit. ouch.
“And of course, we only ever hurt the little buggers for their own good. Mu-ahahahah! *maniacal laughter + crack of thunder in the background follows*”
Now there’s PR if I ever saw it! For their own good? They have not yet BEGUN to bleed! And when they do begin, where will it stop??
And just for the fun of sharing this, “We have met the enemy and they are ours–two ships, two brigs, one schooner and a sloop.”–Oliver Hazard Perry (What a name.) *visions of infinite fun playing who-is-the-bad-guy-and-who-is-the-bad-guy?*
710 words on wednesday.
Erthel and Maithel just had lunch with part of Faurel’s family, which was surprisingly tasty but relatively healthy – instead of horribly over-the-top like Erthel was NOT anticipating. Analyzing the retelling of today’s experiments, Faurel’s mother points out that one of the odd things that happened (which I’m not going to spoiler since it’s a pretty big point of the whole issue) could be used at their own advantage to understand where exactly Erthel’s mother comes from – in terms of family and ancestors. Thing is that Erthel’s not really sure if she likes this, since the most important thing for her is rescuing her mother, and many things about the whole issue make her not exactly eager to get to know her mother’s family.
Maybe she’s related to some high bloodline? Suspence! (or not. I dunno)
Incidentally, Holly, my subconscious loves mirrors and everything quirky-supernatural about them. In a “I love them because they freak the hell out of me” kind of way. Of course, in normal day-to-day life I use mirrors and have no kind of issues with them – but they fascinate me in all kinds of speculative fiction contexts. To the point that in a state of mental tension (I’ve watched a very suspenseful movie or whatever), I have to carefully avoid watching mirrors in my room or cover them up altogether – because my brain tends to mistake the virtual space inside the mirror for actual space, so any flash of colour or movement at the corner of an eye makes me jump (um, yes. I can be a bit emotional from time to time).
So, you’ll probably understand why I love the post’s title and I can’t wait to read the next Talysmana update ^_^
I have SERIOUS issues with mirrors. They keep coming back at me. They’ve had unnerving effects on my conscious and subconscious minds since I was a kid.
That said, I had to shift the mirror bit back one chapter to fit in the stuff that had to go there to set it up. So the current chapter is GHOST, and the next chapter will be THE FACE IN THE MIRROR IS NOT MINE.
Goal accomplished for today. Lovely little twisty scene. [muh to muse 'cause i have NO idea where the idea came from. It just evolved out of somewhere]. Raised some new questions that I have to figure out. On the + side, it gives me something to secretly scribble/contemplate at work between calls (love it when EDJ pays me to write).
(about 650 words). and that lovely happy feeling that things are moving in a good direction again. (I’ll probably get NO sleep tonight cause I’m so excited. Does anyone else do that when they have a good writing day?)
Pretty much figured out my backstory and broke it down into scenes. Just need to go through all the creative incoherent jibberish I put down to make sure I haven’t forgotten something good!
ahah! so I’m not the only one who does that?
My life is full of unaccountable strangeness this week and it’s not a good thing yet. I’ve been having nightmares- (Pencil Neck: manually de-iceing radio towers and falling off; trying to get a friend out of an airtight box; and attacking a castle with only one arrow)-but I’d rather have them than be awake for the next week or so. Radio final exam today, scriptwriting class tomorrow, then break for a week and boy do I need it. I may spend every waking moment writing–or staring at the patterns on the back of my couch, depending on how things go. I’ll catch up with you when I write but for now I’ll be away in studentville.
Good luck with school!
Good luck!
I’m starting school next week. Urgh, the lazy days of nothingness is soon at an end.
But maybe, just maybe this will force me to be more disciplined. One can only hope. ^^
Good luck with school.
And make that arrow count.
Between a benedryl haze, company for dinner, and mass allergy attack, I still wound up with 253 last night. They were really lousy and probably will be cut, but I wrote something.
I really need to get back on track with writing daily no matter what even if just a little bit. I’ve gotten out of that habit lately. This might be just the kick I need to get me going again even while I’m doing the HtTS course.
Distracted by a problematic car yesterday.
And expecting paid work to distract me next week, too.
Didn’t write on thursday. Spent all day at the electron microscope and believe me when I say that 8 straight hours investigating blobs of colour on a screen can be quite wearing. I wasn’t feeling too well as I came back home so I just took some rest.
Actually, I don’t feel quite well today either and if it gets worse I might get home from work early.
655 words on Thursday. One of those times where it feels like I’m writing incoherent garbage, and read it over to find that it will work just fine for first draft.
But I stayed up too late writing, and will have to pay for it today. Coffee should help
Real life interfered for me too. Didn’t even have a chance to think about it Thursday And work was stressful so couldn’t even brainstorm. Hopefully I’ll at least get to do that today. (Got my paper all ready for notes)
200 words, mostly outline and scene planning. I am finally back to WABWM.
I need to do a lot more research for Bx2, including some travel, so I am letting that story simmer. I never quite got the sentence right and had to admit I was not ready, though I do love the story immensely.
However, I decided to work on another story for which I have a solid sentence and I knwo the characters. It might not be a novel for a long short story, but that’s okay.
So, its on to Bet1 (yes, that is Bet and the number one.) Working title for now.
Yay!!
Welcome back! And good luck on Bet1.
445 Words, after nothing all week.
I started reading. . .and couldn’t stop. And when I’m reading, I can’t write, I’m just too focused on the other story. . .
So. I feel like I wasted a Week, even though it was nice to fall into a world I wasn’t trying to build on the way down. . . .
About 950 words on two short scenes to start Chapter 12 in a different way. The T. princess arrives in town and her intended assassins show up at around the same time. Then we cut to the MCs arriving at the castle, to show all the plot threads (finally) converging.
What happens from there may still be a pain, b/c I have a lot of information to convey…
…though in the script, there was No Exposition Whatsoever in this scene until the abrupt Meeting of the Shadowy Snakeman.
Hm.
We’ll see. The crazy stalker A. princess may still save my bacon.
Ugh, utter fail for the past week or so.
Complete loss of the urge to write. I’m doing a round-robin story kind of thing with a colleague of mine, and I recently updated that. However, on my own story, nothing. Bupkis. Big ole roadblock. Hence why I haven’t updated anything here in a while. I haven’t done anything. Hoping to alleviate it soon.
To get it going again, ask one of your characters a difficult question. Something like, “What are you doing that you haven’t been telling me about?” “What are you hiding?” “I know you just did something you shouldn’t have done. What was it?”
Questions like those usually get me going again.