We’ve had a couple of weeks of sheer zoo here, in which ALL I’ve been able to do is squeeze in time most nights to write the lessons for HTRYN—leaving TalysMana languishing.
We’ve had (and have ongoing) a couple of family crises, both medical and economy-related, we’re fixing up our next place to live to save hundreds of dollars a month on the rent we’re currently paying, I’ve had to squeeze income tax stuff in there, and that has taken two or three hours a day for the past few weeks. There’s also been a stack of other stuff that has come blasting through the doors at almost-regular, suspiciously intentional intervals that would make a less optimistic person than me suspect…well…let’s not go there.
ALL of March and the first few days of April have been “when it rains, it pours, and when it pours, it floods, and when it floods, your house floats down the street.”
Okay. Not that bad. And not as bad for us as for the folks we love. But…
There has been no fiction writing. None.
I’m going to get the lesson done this week, and next week, start back with my regular life, I hope.
Hope things have been going well for you.
Talk about your writing. I need to hear the beauty of how it’s going.
{ 77 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Holly,
Deeply sorry to hear about the rough seas. We’ve got our fingers crossed for a cloudbreak coming for you soon. You’re mentor, friend and inspiration to everyone on this board, and I know every person here wishes you the best, and means it!
Been gallavanting around Europe so I haven’t done much more over the past day. You might think it’s funny, but every time I pass into a bookstore I look for your books, just so I can say “Ha! Look! Holly Lisle in German!” No luck so far, but then the selections I’ve seen are limited at best.
But I had some bad personal news that has cast a bit of a shadow over it all. The worst part of it is that it isn’t happening to me, but someone I love, and there’s nothing I can do about it except buy her presents in Paris like i promised and pretend nothing is wrong. Things you can’t plan for, eh?
I only have a tiny bit of writing left on my new book I / part I of Book I, but it requires a couple of poems in languages I haven’t written yet; the T. princess, who was raised in the royal courts of a spartan and precise society, and the A. princess (the third MC), who was raised in a non-human culture considered otherwordly and magical by everone else; but raised alone and imprisoned away from the eyes of her people, who would consider her deformed and abhorrent and the circumstances of her birth a revelation catastrophic to their entire worldview.
So though they’re both royalty of a sort, I’m dealing with two incredibly different women who have led incredibly different lives and are from incredibly different cultures, who are about to become friends, leading to a plot-shaking decision by A. princess that will drive the entirety of the next book.
So though this scene is short and quiet compared to the frenzied battle with the Gorgol in the last chapter, it is much, much more important. So are their words; the T. princess’s poem is half-written, and I’m writing the language as I’m writing the poem. And I like it a lot, because I can use her culture’s concepts of ownership and status to load a few tiny words with meanings that won’t fit in the English translation. A. princess is going to sing to her as she sleeps, and -her- song will foreshadow the decision, so I need to write it carefully. Especially as her language should be much more alien, and I need to write that carefully too.
All of this I owe to your language book. It really opened up a lot of possibilities I hadn’t thought of before. Actually, everything I’ve learned from you has been indispensible. So hang in there! We are patient, don’t worry about us.
Just do whatcha gotta.
Hi, Holly,
I also wish you all the best and hope that all your troubles will soon disappear, maybe leaving just a tiny litte bit of worry here and there, so that your life doesn’t turn completely boring.
My little medieval not-so-much-of-a-fantasy novel turned a little bit more fantasy just around the mark of 14000 words. I guess that’s what it takes, if I have God-given “magical” relics and not-so-realistic horse whisperers.
The writing is slow as a snail, but it’s still fun. I’ve never ever had such long chapters – I have 15000 words, but I’m just in the first half of chapter three. On the other hand, I do change the viewpoint several times throughout a chapter, so that may be the case.
I just got past my first action scene in this story, which was calming down a crazed horse. I thought I’ve done pretty well, although it’s far from perfect. I’m still very worried about the day, when I will have to write real medieval-kind of war scenes. I have little to no idea how to pull that off.
And yes, we’re all human, and we’re patient, so don’t worry – do what you have to do. We can wait
Hi Ingi!
There are a lot of writers who do medieval battle scenes well, but I recommend Robert E. Howard; for sword-splitting-skull brutality written with hedonistic joy, you can’t beat Conan.
The key seems to be to capture thrilling/disturbing details rather than give a blow by blow (the latter of which is where I fall down) which can end up reading more like an exercise routine (“Ok now parry! Thrust! Riposte!”) and in a big war scene you can choose between focusing on a character’s POV of what’s going on, or pulling back and describing troop movements, etc. I dunno. It’s hard work to write this stuff!
Hope this helps,
Wanders.
Oh, Holly…
I’m so sorry! In Italy we have this saying about things – both bad and good – coming all together, that goes “piove sul bagnato”. Meaning that it rains where it is wet already.
I second everything that Wanders Nowhere says: you and yours are in my thoughts.
As for my writing, I’ve had to postpone my HTRYN coursework for a couple of weeks while the house is chock-full of friends and relatives for Easter, but next week I’m starting with the surgery, and I can’t wait. Meanwhile, I’m getting everything as ready as I can, and it’s a work of itself: TRA is going to be a hugely different book (in fact, one of three hugely different books) by the time I’ve finished with it…
I hope all will turn out well for you and your family. Take care!
*hi-fives Ivye*
As in: I strive to get one day where you’ve arrived!
Hello there! Looks like I’m not the only Italian around here anymore
I won’t flood Holly’s blog with idle chatter, but I’ll just say I live in Cagliari. I looked over your website and discovered you’re a published author, and you even do creative writing seminars! That’s just wonderful!
I’m a bit jealous of you, but in a good way
Have good writing days!
Hi, Dasteroad!
Nice to meet a fellow Italian! I’m in Mantova, btw. Thanks for the nice words, although I don’t feel I’ve arrived anywhere, just yet: I’m very much striving myself, but then it’s all a constant striving, isn’t it? Otherwise, why on earth would we do it at all?
So, good writing days to you too, and hear you soon!
Hi Holly,
I’m writing from a different computer today.
FLOOD DAMAGE:The thing about floods is, everyone you know is riding their roof down the street right next to you. So…in my corner of the March Hates Me Flood, I lost seven people (if you count one fish, too) within two weeks, four of whom I cared very much about. Somewhere in there I decided that sanity has to trump grief, or they’ll be “coming to take me away ho ho”.
WRITING AND FUN: I started revising MRD, which is STRICTLY for practice–it’s a very blatent “fan-fic” which I didn’t get anyone’s permissions for writing…so I’m waffling about whether I should try and get the permissions, or just work with it and shred and burn the thing afterwords.
And then there’s PH2. The MC just got bashed in the back of the head while brainstorming–I still like that too much sitting and thinking isn’t good, even if it’s necessary–but I found a problem again. Again I’ve been wrestling with the story, and now my bad guy, who’s going crazy, says to me, “I don’t whack people in the head. I’m a soldier, a commander, trained to think clearly even under pressure, and I’m not about to knock this kid out when he’s surrounded by a bunch of other people AND a dangerous animal. Not happening. I’ll attack him when he’s alone, or I’ll get help and take out the whole camp. I’m not going to attack and leave a target alive, with witnesses. That’s stupid.” So he’s not going crazy after all, and I have to fix the scene… but I don’t want to kill the other people there, because it would be an easy way to get rid of unplanned characters who could possibly be much more useful later.
Last but not least, I went into my screenwriting class and was told “Take the story of Little Red Riding Hood and make it a horror.” So I wrote about 650 words of Woodsman goes on an Axe-murdering spree, and the wolf is a cop who saves the day, who tries to keep Grandma and Red in his car while he’s fighting. And then we had to read them in class. I got a huge shock: I’m approaching the writing class as though I’m a professional seeking more professional skills, not as though I’m a student seeking some professional (starting) skills. I never thought of myself as a professional writer before, but I think I know why I do now: I KNOW I can do this. Thanks, Holly.
Hi Holly & Everyone,
A thought struck me as I sat to compose this note. An odd parallel of sorts. My mind wanders in weirdly disjointed circles. First, I would send my condolences for your troubles, (I do), then, add a few comments about my writing so that you could share in the “beauty of how it’s going.” And I realized – yes, there is beauty in it. A deeply satisfying, addictive quality that brings us back day after day to put words on paper, (or on a computer screen), and fulfills our need to express ourselves in a way that we just can’t find elsewhere.
But it is a struggle.
I would be hard-pressed to write – “everything is going great, the words flow, I’m happy with what I’ve done and I know where I’m going.” There may be a writer out there that can say that, but it’s not me.
So, my next thought was, cataloguing my woes from my WIP isn’t what you want to hear – that wouldn’t help to cheer you. But wait. The battle to make something good out of our efforts is part of the beauty. Holly understands that, she’s been doing this successfully for a long time. It is an established fact that helping someone else with their problems is a sure-fire way to keep your own in perspective. Having said that, you’ve been such a help to me and, I’m sure, many many others, I wish there was something tangible I could do to help you.
All I have is, to do what you ask and tell you how it’s going, keeping the whining and wailing to a minimum.
Well, I think, though I doubt I will meet my timeline and finish by the end of April. After three years of practice, my biggest problem is still “voice.” I know, intellectually, the elements needed. I know I can do this. And yet, I am easily swayed by all the other authors I read.
I want to submerge my readers into the story like Stephen King does for me. I want to describe a landscape like George R. R. Martin. I want to include inspiration like Paulo Cuelo. I want to create epic fantasy like Goodkind, McCaffrey, and Salvatore. I want thrills and action like Ringo and Card, or even Dan Brown.
So, I find myself pulling out their books and trying to capture their zeitgeist – by imitating their set-up, paragraphing, the “direction” they take.
In some ways, I think it has helped. I also think it has helped turn my draft into a mish-mash. How much of it is my own “style” and how much is that of the aforementioned writers? I don’t know and that could end up being a problem. Or maybe it will all come out in the wash.
Okay. After circling around through all that, I still love to write and that’s what I want to do with the latter half of my life. I have found more solid advice and real “how to” instruction here than anywhere else. I’m sure karma will bring good things to you, Holly, hopefully sooner rather than later. I don’t have any “folksy” sayings or a more witty way of putting it: we’ve never met and you don’t know me, but I (and I’m sure everyone else here) care for you deeply and wish only the best for you.
Evan G.
I love what you’ve written. You’ve captured something of what I am feeling: the struggle and yet how worthwhile it all is.
Thank you, I’m happy that someone was able to winnow out what I was saying. Unfortunately, I still get the great “yuk” factor when reading my own words.
It all made sense in my head while I was typing, but after I posted it and re-read it, I thought: I’ll be lucky if anyone can make heads-or-tails of what I’m trying to say.
Short version: all of life is a struggle, but there is beauty in it. Writing is such a struggle for me, and yet I find great satisfaction in it.
Thank you again.
I have been a bad girl and slacked a lot during the previous week. Didn’t write at all, for two main reasons:
1) my significant other came back from his work-related three-months abroad, so I moved in back with him and this involved some serious stuff-moving, car-driving, house-cleaning, house-decluttering and generally adjusting to the new routine.
2) Easter came like the Cholesterol-Dripping Beast of Doom (or something), and this involved some serious car-driving, but mainly much unhealthy eating. Phew.
I plan to get back to work on PoB tonight if I’m not too tired.
Also, I was away from the internet from friday on, so I have quite a few emails to answer to!
I hope all goes well for you Holly, as all the others have said. I couldn’t possibly put it in better words. So instead I bow to their expertize and tell you about my writing instead.
I haven’t gotten any writing done really. I’m itching to revise GvE, and can’t really concentrate on anything else, but I need to print it, and get a monthly income so I can buy HTRYN. The income thing I’m going to fix in a few days, then it’s just waiting for the first time to get money.
I’ve joined a role-playing forum, which will take up a lot of time, but it’s getting me writing. Practice, practice, practice. Without feeling like I’m wasting my time writing on something I maybe won’t use. Plus since it’s a forum it’s possible for me to ask for things I can do better. It’s even a very literate role-playing forum.
I did the same as you, spent years RPing online to hone my writing skills. It is useful, and it does really give you practice at being spontaneous. Just a fair warning; don’t let it take over too much. It can. And it can sometimes teach you bad writing habits – not everyone who RPs writes well. But in moderation it can be a fantastic tool. Best of luck with it
Well you should see this forum. Excellence in writing is their goal. So I don’t think I’ll learn bad writing there, plus I know bad writing when I see it.
I’m not only going to do it to write, I love RPing. It’s one of my favorite things to do, and I’ve wanted to join an English one for a while, but there are o many I didn’t know where to begin. I got the forum recommended to me by a writer on Holly’s Crash Revision course on Savvy Authors.
PS. I’m gonna let it take over my life for a few weeks.
DS.
Ganbatte kudasai!
I’ve been heading into a similar storm, so you have my sympathy Holly. I had big plans to get through several chapters of read-through this past weekend (it was a long one for me) but somehow I lost/accidentally deleted a big scene and the brain just decided to take a vacation. I haven’t even thought about writing since, except for feeling guilty about it.
I’ve been working on a cross-stitching project instead. I designed it myself: a small leaf of cherry blossoms with the words “Hope is a flower not yet bloomed”. It’s helping on a subliminel level.
… and little successes like a cross stitch or other small project can very well turn around the bad feelings.
I am sure you know this, but some deletes are not as gone as we think. if you are not a computer guru – see if you can find one.
:3 Hi Holly!
My mum has just gone through two operations within five weeks of each other, and when I’m not looking after her, myself, eating and sleeping I’ve been slipping in writing. It’s the only thing that keeps me going, only joyous thing in the busy-crazy right now. I hope you get some time to write soon and have your own snippets of joy to lean upon and stand you up in the storm.
One day I hope to live off my writing, until then it’s kia kaha! (stand strong) and just keep doing what I can when I can. I hope things improve and slow down for you enough to catch your breath.
Kia kaha, e hoa ma.
(Stand strong, friend)
-Yana
so pretty! what language is that?
It’s Te Reo, the Maori language, (Maori are the native people’s of New Zealand).
That’s on my list of languages to learn!
Holly, I’m really sorry to hear that. It really sounds like everything has come at you at once! I hope that you can get back to regular life soon.
I wish I had better to report. I am happy with the brainstorming but it’s just slow going. and not sure right now how I will see myself to the other side. (Right now I am trying to come up with a game for my culture… sort of like quiditch… but it is tough [I am trying hard not to think impossible]…) It is a faint glimmer right now… the faintest, faintest glimmer… (glimmer may be too strong a word actually).
well, I have progress that I didn’t have a day or week ago. and somehow I usually find my way through once I bang my head against the wall for long enough. so I aim to just keep showing up for muse and throwing things against the wall (hopefully other than my head) until something sticks. somehow I’ll figure it out. which is, I think the magic of this whole thing. To struggle for so long and then one day, you’re on the other side, and looking back: it all just fits. I live for that happy feeling.
made a little bit of progress and then stuck again. stop-start-stop-start… seems to be my life in this stage of the story.
also facing that resistance to focus on it (i come across that alot when I’m stuck too). hopefully i can get myself to struggle with it today.
In an email to my writing buddy I wrote a 265 word summary about Bet1. I will take that summary and expand it so that I can work on the scenes. I will be traveling the next few weeks and hope to do some work on this.
I I don’t want to carry two computers, and my work computer, well, I don’t like putting personal stuff on there. I know this might sound crazy, but is there a writing program that I could run off of a memory stick? I thought I remember hearing someone say they could run LSB or Writers Cafe off of a stick drive? Or was I just dreaming will impossible things?
Hi Hanna!
I don’t know about Writer’s Cafè, but Liquid Story Binder is fully portable
I’ll reply to your email soon, I’ve been out of town lately and I’m still adjusting.
Hello Holly!
Sending good energy your way. I’ve not posted here before because I get quite overwhelmed with the amount of people, but I must say I love your sites and the work you do. I’ve just started the language clinic to build my new book on and I’m absolutely in love with it, so maybe I’ll be around more.
Hope you can get back to normal life soon.
Gosh all that sounds just terrible, Holly. I hope you get a break soon, and some blue skies overhead again.
) so that I can start back in on it, hopefully tonight…in between revision sessions.
Writing is going well. I finished my short story on Monday, and it came in at just under 10k words like I thought it would. Pretty exciting stuff for me, since so far I’ve only written two long meandering novels. And this gives me something else to look forward to revising when I finish the course.
I read over some of what I had on the WIP (and liked what I read, woo hoo!
Hope to see you writing with us again soon, both for your sake and for us, as fans. I’m getting curious about who is getting written into TalysMana from among the entries here, can’t wait to see!
Holly,
I love the sentence, “Talk about your writing. I need to hear the beauty of how it’s going.” It speaks volumes. I haven’t been writing much due to a huge transition in my life caused by medical problems. I am very fortunate that the medical issues are allowing me to medically retire from the military and in a few months receive a medical disability through my full-time job. For the moment, I am concentrating on my last weeks of work and trying to keep my family and home going. Soon I will be writing again, but it the mean time it is so nice to hear how others are doing.
I do miss writing fiction. Not wanting to stop completely but no energy for anything, I have set a goal of writing an article of sorts between 500 and 1000 words a week. This keeps my fingers dancing over the keyboard for a small amount of time. Soon, I will be writing again. Take care.
So I wrote two entire books this weekend, and self-published them! Ok wait don’t rant about the evils of self-publishing yet–I wrote them by hand and put the pages in a binder. My daughter wanted me to write her a story for her birthday. So I wrote some beginning reader stories and she’s going to color the pictures.
Oh, and the word count? 102. But every last one of them is worth its weight in gold, just for her grin.
That’s so wonderful!
Wow! what a great idea. I should think about doing that for my neice someday… make her the heroine of a little story
I did this for two of my cousins. They loved it. Couldn’t wait to hear the next story. LOL. The result being that I now have an underwater world of talking sea creatures in my head.
These two were about unicorns. She wants one about sharks next, so I’ll have to look up a bunch of shark facts. : )
From unicorns to sharks? That’s a cool kid
it’s wonderful of you to do that for her!
Well. I haven’t been writing really. To be honest, I haven’t written much of anything in the last couple of years, at least nothing significant. And it kind of bothers me, because even when I didn’t specifically have the time, I used to make the time. But these days I am so caught up with work and teaching that none of the ideas swimming around in my head are coming to fruition. But those are just excuses.
I know that when I am ready to write, the initial ideas will simply flow, like water over a waterfall, and then be at peace again. That’s how it works when I get stressed out with other things. When I finally get back into my writing I feel so free. I have an idea that the same can be said of you. You need to write something to get rid of some of the stress. So here is my suggestion. Forget about all the stuff that’s going on for half an hour. Forget the medical issues, the finances, the story. Take half an hour, sit in a quiet place, and write. Write something about nothing. Write about the most nonsensical thing you can think about. Write it as a story, an essay, a poem, a song, a benediction, a letter, a eulogy. Haha. Write a eulogy for the death of satire. Write a song about music. A poem about pomeranians. Create an essay discussing the pros and cons of wearing the colour blue. 
Take your half hour and write something completely fun and meaningless. Trust me. You will be the better for it.
I hope the rest of your week turned out much better for you. I make a game of silver linings so lets see if you can find some for yourself. Think of me as your personal Pollyanna, someone I’ve definitely tried to emulate in the last 10 years or so.
Back in Merry Ol’ Japan, jetlagged, and starting the school year again. Mother and grandmother just went home to Australia after our two-week trip together. I haven’t really had the chance to sit down and write, though during a class-less first day at work (the company apparently didn’t tell them I was coming o.o) yesterday, I snuck in a re-read of what I’ve written so far, and I was surprised at how well it had come together.
I’ve decided to tentatively break each of my trilogy into a Book I, Book II, and Book III section, leaving me with either 9 short books or 3 huge doorstoppers depending on how the editors and publishers feel later on. I may also mark out the midpoint of each so a 6 book split is possible. None of these breaks are set in stone, I want to be flexible.
And I’m just going to keep writing, maybe take HTRYN if I can budget out the time to take it seriously and clean up this first book while writing the second. In the next scene, we find out that the clean wrap up (Assassination plot thwarted, princesses saved, heroes hired by the grateful King) was not as clean as we thought.
A. Princess is gone. She and her guardians have disappeared and stolen a ship. MC hero goes pale, remembering that she whispered ‘take me to Sauria’ in his ear and he refused, thinking she was joking.
She wasn’t. Three unarmed pacifist fae-people are now on a ship headed toward the most dangerous lost-world locale on my world, T-princess has been sent home to the evil usurper who secretly sent the killers, and usurper’s henchmen have decided to use the assassination attempt as an excuse to declare war on the MCs’ homeland anyway.
The only thing standing between T-kingdom’s avenging legion of 10,000 angry men and our heroes’ homeland is …the forest of A-princess’s people. And if she isn’t returned, says their ambassador, they’re going to open their borders and let the T-army march right on through…
This looks like a job for the MCs. May the Twelve Gods help them.
^ is drooling in anticipation… and sort of evilly hoping that they need all the help they can get! : D
Mwehehehe. This is going to get extremely messy.
And I get new heroes and villains to play with, too. One of the MCs is going to bring her mentor into the mix, as he’s the only person who went to said lost world and came back not in the form of nasty toothy beasty poo.
Also, the MV is going to stop playing nice and bring out his A-team, and start showing just how deep his rabbit hole of eevil goes.
And commit his first (of several) acts of genocide.
I’ve said it before. Every time I read a little about your plot I get more intrigued!
thank you!! I am really pleased with how it’s come out.
but I’m taking HTRYN anyway, because I may not always feel it’s as good as I feel it is now. I looked back at some of my past drafts and attempts – ughhhhhhhhh embarassing…read like a high school Shakespeare comp.
Hehe, I think all we write need to be revised if we want it to be the best it can ever be. Some things we don’t bother to edit much, like most blog comments (a fast read-through, if that!, is the usual practice), while we edit everything from poems to novels a lot.
So if you feel the need to edit, it’s normal.
I know I’m in trouble when I have a picture of a writer’s block as my computer background, and I have to fight it or die. So in the interests of fighting it, I plugged PH2 into the Three-Act Structure checklist. I found a couple of rough spots and now I have a question…
…How many point of view characters are too many? I was trying to keep it down in this one, but now it really looks like I need to add one for the story’s resolution to work right. But that will bring my POV count up to seven. I know this has been covered elsewhere, but I can’t remember, and some of the POVs are for a single scene. The resolution one would be a single scene, maybe two at most. Is that going to drive readers away?
Thanks in advance. : D
I can’t speak much on the viewpoint characters rule, if there is one. I usually play it by ear, even if the POV ends up being a nobody. I have one scene from the POV of an innkeeper who never appears again and another from a guy who is about to die horribly. But neither scene would work if they were from anyone else’s POV because the MCs are nowhere near this stuff and I needed to build up the villain’s approach or they’d burst in out of absolutely nowhere later on if you didn’t see this happening. Y’know?
I think you should use your MC’s POV wherever you can, but if you’re in the kind of story where there’s a lot going on that your readers need to know about but your MC isn’t present for, I think the content of the scene is more important than the number of POVs. Just as long as the scene is either A) focused on your MC, using the new POV to give a fresh perspective on your MC’s personality or actions, or B) something hugely plot-momentous that the reader MUST see but the MC can’t be present for.
I dunno. Holly might have a better system for this, I’m only throwing my two rusty cents in
Wrting at work may soon be coming to an end. I have not been writing much anyways, pretty much stalled on chapter 9 and there is a lot of work to be done on the previous chapters. With 3 shuttle missions left I will miss the launch window. I have been waiting for Obama’s decision on the space program and needed the shuttle program extended for me to finish at the same time. Now to add insult to injury I feel like a jilted American to have no space program at all. My only hope is to have people like the first man on the moon fighting for space exploration. Without an aggresive space program we will loose our edge on technology and then our country will continue to degrade.
I am so sorry you have not been able to write any fiction Holly. Just know we will be here when you can start again. And all that stuff about your family…well, just know I am praying for you. You inspire me every day.
Well, after a month off of writing because I had my son I am back! About two weeks ago I started planning my next project, and now I am writing it. I have 1408 words so far. Today will be day number three. I am hoping for another 700 words…which would bring me to around 2100. This is going to be either a rather long short story or a novella. I’m not sure yet. Anyway…anything over 700 would be gravy.
I am also playing with ideas for the YA novel that will be my next project. I orginally came up with it for the HTTS course last year…but the idea crashed and burned. I guess I was not ready for it. Maybe this time I can bring it through to the end. But that means taking the story in a completely different direction then I had planned.
Then I did something else for NanoWrimo, but after winning I lost all my work and notes on it.
Yeah, writing has been a little tough lately.
So that is what led me to write this short story/novella thing. It’s a bit different from other things I have done. So I hope I don’t screw it up.
Well, I’m off to work on HTTS and then write hopefully at least 700 new words! I’ll let you know how it goes.
Well, I got words again tonight, bringing my new total to 2189…which means I wrote almost 800 words…I think. Anyway, just wanted to let you all know I’m progressing slowly but surely.
dabbling with inserting one last short scene into the end of my book. It is ‘finished’, but somehow I want to round out with a small intimate scene with the MCs, since I started with them.
My heroine is tugging at my sleeve and telling me she is going to come clean with the hero about something very important to her that she hasn’t been telling him about.
This may jump-start their romance or kill it preemptively. probably the latter. I’ve been concerned that it is progressing too fast, because in my original scripts the hero is painfully oblivious to her feelings (and his own) but in this version they are both already aware of the attraction.
There are some obstacles (each is obsessed with a separate quest, he lacks self-confidence and suspects she has another lover, she is bitterly aware of the class divide between them) but no conflict that they couldn’t honestly work out pretty easily, unless the third MC putting the moves on our hero distracts him and hurts the heroine. I need to delay their relationship SOMEHOW.
correction. wrote the scene, liked it a lot. I should have had more faith in my MCs: they came through for me.
The next book is itching to be written, as soon as I sleep off this jetlag-insomnia-thingajiggimy…mm…weeekeend…
Congratulations on finishing!!
thanks a million!
Started Book II. Not sure if I like the first chapter; I wrote in a bit of history that is good, but may not belong in that spot. May cut it out and shuffle it to later in the chapter.
Seems to me that March and April have been conspiring to make us all miserable. I propose a 48-hour (or so) holiday, in which we all work on our other talents and let the writing simmer, then come back refreshed, and see if that breaks this Winter’s End jinx.
: )
yes, yes, exactly. i would love to blame it on winter’s end and get a fresh start.
Inspiration break.
Lesson 1 of HTRYN had unexpected fruit: not for the first book, but the next one. Since it made me go back to what I was in my brain way back in the 90s when the seeds of this story were sown.
The answer to that is; the Dragonlance novels, Conan the Barbarian, various King Arthur and Atlantis stories, Saturday morning cartoons, SNES and Sega Genesis games, and dinosaurs. Lots and lots of dinosaurs.
And say what you like about those old console games, they had some amazing artwork and music within the constraints of the technology. And they were a constant flood of audiovisual STUFF. Anyone remember Shadow of the Beast? The title music still gives me the chills, and my childbrain is still trying to think of a name and backstory for each and every random-Gigeresque-monster that jumped at me from the corners of the screen…
And a couple of those old games really smacked of that classic Frazetta sword and sorcery / Roger Dean alien-world fantasy feel that you don’t get so much anymore.
What this will gestate is currently anyone’s guess. But I’m betting my MCs are not going to like it half as much as I will
Well, my plan for a break broke. I had to write a ten-page script for a class, and somehow I managed to take some lovely upbeat characters and reveal an accidental homicide in one of their pasts when the person he has dinner with commits sucide right after dessert. Plus, I managed to throw in a kid letting go of great-aunty’s wheelchair at the top of a hill…which, um, sort of maybe once happened to me…with very different results, but I probably got in worse trouble.
Stuck on this scene. T. ambassador busts in on Kingy and declares war. I’m realising it’s way too blunt and obvious. Especially as I built up T-culture to be masters of political maneuvering and polite verbal flayings.
Needs work.
Yeah, there’s no war if the king’s bodyguards kill the messanger and fling him in the swamp, and if they do that and the country attacks thinking the message got through, there’s a huge opportunity to make the messanger’s country look like the world’s biggest evil…which may be handy, but it’s not polite politics.
Of course, there’s always the option of the leader saying, “T. people, we have been polite; we have maneuvered; and now we will be silent no longer! The order is, engage the silent drive!” No wait, that’s the Hunt for Red October. Well, anyway, you get the point…
: D
Nah, killing the messenger would run counter to the king’s ethics (and goals), I think the answer is to have the messenger insinuate rather than declaring. And while the king is scratching his head trying to figure out what all that verbal dancing was about, one of his older and more experienced advisors goes pale, realising the guy has just dropped the breadcrumbs pointing to imminent invasion.
The usurper of T-kingdom gives the silent-no-longer speech, but much later on, after another pep talk from Redcoat around the middle of book II. >.>
Back to the writing!
I just – just- just have to share this: a short story of mine got the Jury’s Special Prize in an Italian literary contest called Stagionalia!
Rather surreal phone call (“Would you mind letting us know whether you will come to the prize-giving?” “Uh… prize? what prize? Did I get a prize?” “Why, didn’t you receive the LETTER??”), and further proof that you can’t trust the Italian Mail, but there it is! Picture me blissful.
Congratulations!! That’s amazing, it’s really good to see someone’s hard work bear fruit. Good job!!
Wow, way to go, Ivye!
Yay! Congratulation!
Thank you, thank you everyone! I’m off to read the story to the company rehearsing my play… : )
Yay! Congratulations!!! That’s awesome
Wow, I feel like I’ve been away forever. Congrats WandersNowhere for finishing book 1, and to Ivye for the contest win! It’s always encouraging to hear other people’s happy stories.
As for me, I’ve been trekking through revision slog on SL but the muse continues to shut down on me, preferring instead to read other novels and then inspired me to write a wicked romance. I’m pantsing it and it’s flying by. It’s a nice distraction. Of course the downside is that I’m back into the bad habbit of sabotaging myself with new projects instead of focussing on the revision of the old one. Anyone else have that — ***ooh, shinny new, sparkly thingy!!!***
What’s the verdict: stick with the old or play with the new? How to decide?
…from a teacher’s observation… set a timer, work on the old. set a timer for the same amount, play with the new. Trade off between them. The new is the treat for working on the old… Yeah, I am very distractable, and I tend to prefer the new stuff to the old stuff. : D
I have a different problem; Kitchensinkitis. When I get a new idea, I inevitibly find a way of working it into ARC (my main project) often unconsciously. Leading to a lot of ‘How the hell did THAT get there??’ moments. XD
I’d go with Danzier’s idea, keep them separate and allocate time to work on each. Just be careful not to pile up the new ideas too quickly – working on two stories simultaneously can be refreshing, working on fifteen is a Very Bad Idea. >.>
If I were to write more than one story at once I would divide my time equally between the two. That is the only advice I can give. And I see others have said the same thing. Oh, and I don’t think you should abandon your old project unless you completely loathe it, otherwise keep writing!
Current Wordcount: 4,800
Not sure about how long this will be, but my guess at the moment is 10,000 words. So yay! I’m probably about halfway through this short story. Of course, when I finish I’ll realize I need to totally rewrite half of it…but that is another matter. And best not to think about it until I want to revise it.
And I have decided I really want to start planning my YA, so that is next on my list when I finish the first draft of this short story.
Ideally I only want to spend a couple weeks on planning and be writing the WIP by next month and have the first draft finished by August 1. Not sure that will happen since I have a newborn to take care of, but we’ll see. My husband is pretty supportive of my writing.
If all goes according to what I have planned I will then take HTRYN. I am crossing my fingers I finish in time for Nano. I hope I do.
Is anyone else wanting to do Nano? I’ve decided as long as I am done editing sometime in October I will try to participate. But if I don’t have time to plan the Nano Novel I probably won’t bother doing it.
I wish Nano was not in November. With holidays, it is always a bad time for me to even try.
I have been offline for over two weeks, work, travel and illness that included a drama … and I am still not feeling 80% yet.
No new words or writing … and kicking myself for letting other things get in the way. But they were necessary to take care of.
Holly, I hope you and the family mend soon. We look forward to more Talys Mana when you return.
On the subject of NaNo, they’re about 10 days from the end of ScriptFrenzy, which has been fun. I’ve got 10 pages… Anyway, you could do your own NaNo Impersonation in any month that works for you. (September, April, June…) Just a thought.
: D
Sure one can do personal Nano at any time, but it was the participation and comraderie that makes a difference for me.
I’m sorry if I came off as insensitive. I tend to forget the group part of NaNo, mostly because 283 people in my state doing the Frenzy, and they’re all over 40 miles from me, so I haven’t been able to get into the group spirit of it. That’s more of what I get from here.
And I do hope you’re feeling better soon. Life’s been a royal pita lately and I’m sorry to hear that it bit you too.
No insensitivity felt, so no problem.
Starting to feel better but still cratering as soon as I get home from work. Thanks for asking.
Yes, life can hit hard sometimes. I am looking forward to a quiet weekend to catch up and relax.
Danzier- That’s a good idea. I guess I just felt bad because I want to be able to participate with everyone else. But I guess in a way writing this YA novel will be like doing my own Nano because I want to finish it before Holly closes HTRYN this year…
Holy crap Holly! I’m so sorry to hear about your troubles. We writers know…trouble is what writing is all about! After all, without trouble, what would a good story line have??
You obviously have a good life’s story line going, so I’m going to wait to hear the satisfying conclusion to this chapter.
Seriously though, Holly you are an inspiration to me. Your website makes me remember who I am…and inspires me to do better. I can’t explain it any better than this, as dopey as it sounds…your website makes my heart sing.
One last thought for the day…a thought that has helped me through many a crisis…maybe it will help you too.
Think back on your worst past crisis. (Not the current one.) Got it? Ok then, remember how it resolved. Think about how that crisis got resolved and shaped your life for the better in some way or another. Now trust that the universe … God or whatever force of good in this world… will see you through this one too…for the better.
You said you wanted to hear about our writing, Holly? =)
On that front…
I’ve been off my writing for months now, despite an aim to revise a novel between January and April. Last semester of nursing school proved too rough to get much else done, between that, wife, and three kids at home. But I graduated! (yay!)
Since then, I have purchased HTRYN for myself as a graduation gift (with some pitching in by various family members. I’m only working on lesson one, but it’s a nice start, and I think I’ll have some great new tools for the toolbox when I’m done.
I’ve also started writing again. About 500 words a day, but it’s something. I’ve written two complete novels, both for NaNoWriMo, the last two Novembers. Only novels I’ve ever gotten more than three chapters done. I’ve never finished one *outside* of November. So I’ve challenged myself to finish this one. Without the NaNo-imposed deadline. It’ll be very interesting to see how it goes – I’m almost four thousand words in so far.
Hope your own writing gets back on track for you soon; I know how those rough patches can be though!
Kevin
200 words yesterday and about 30 notes/scenes/things to write about. These are for Bet1. My list is not as orderly as Holly has taught us, but its at least a list start.
I put Writers Cafe on a USB flash drive yesterday. I plan to transfer my list to the software during a break today.