I was supposed to be back to work by now. My brother-in-law made it through his surgery with flying colors, my daughter has moved, I’ve moved, all the chaos is supposed to be done with.
Instead, I’m seeing specialists. I have no energy, the constant headaches and vertigo make it impossible to work for more than a few minutes (not even long enough to do a decent job at customer service), and I’m frustrated and furious with myself for not being able to just shake this off.
I have not forgotten TalysMana, or Write A Book With Me. At least I can think, and while I haven’t been working, I have been thinking. I’ve come up with some fun stuff for the TalysMana story, two new big courses I want to create (HTFYD and HTTWM…yes, I’m being enigmatic), and a really cool bonus thing to do with the Create A World Clinic.
And I wanted to set up a new post for you (the last one was getting pretty crowded), and to offer encouragement.
I haven’t answered–no energy. I have read.
Keep going. I’m cheering for you.
{ 92 comments… read them below or add one }
Thank you Holly for your words of wisdom and encouragement. 300 words today, rewrote the outline for CH10. Get better!
All the best, Holly
How To Follow Your Dreams?…still thinking for HTTWM!
Today was a bit distracted again, partly due to my folks having my nephew who was unwell and did a lot of bawling! Bless him. Figured out the primary calendar for my world and a few other bits and bobs, including a map or two. Will need to do some world-building bits and a handful of maps over the weekend to be ready for starting the re-write monday, so planning an early night tonight so I can make a good start tomorrow.
Funny, I was thinking How To Fight Your Demons…
Hawks, Tyranosaurs, Flying Young Dinosaurs…
A children’s book on the history of flight.
HOLLY!!
I’m sorry you’re still sick. I hope it turns out to be something minor and easily overlooked, not major and earth-shattering. Thanks for the new post. I wasn’t trying to be mean when I said you’d have to catch up with us, but it sort of sounds that way now when I re-read it. I’m sorry.
And thanks for believing that my MC doesn’t have to die.
@WandersNowhere: For a starting place for researching sea voyages, look up Mystic Seaport (in Connecticut) and the New Bedford (Massachusetts) Whaling Museum. For specific questions, drop me a line and I’ll let you know what I know. Even if it’s nothing. (schroe29 (at) uwosh (dot) edu)
@DasteRoad: Thanks for the cookies.
@Rebecca: The center “stone” in the viewer got tacky when it got humid here. I painted a coat of clear nail polish over it on one, which seemed to help. I’ve got them hanging up right now so they don’t stick to anything. Do you have any suggestions? (No rush.)
No words today; family’s home from the ends of the earth and having a party.
Sorry to hear you are feeling bad and with such odd seemingly disconnected symptoms. I sent you a possible cause in response to the email you recenty sent, but I was just a Reply. I will see if I can find the other address to send it to. I hope they find out what is going on, and better yet, how to fix it.
No words this week. EDJ is sucking the energy out of me. Relationship unraveling. Weird allergy/cold/whatever stuff going on. Working on setting up alternate income so I can leave EDJ. aarrgghh ….
I’m sorry to read that you’re still not well, Holly. Do you remember that old sailor in “Master And Commander” who had HOLD FAST tattoed on his knuckles? The image somehow stuck with me, and it has this way of coming back in glum moments. It may just be something my unruly muse does as a way of being helpful, but I always find it heartening. May I pass it on?
I’m afraid I’m not writing much, lately, and have even put on hold the revision, because theatre is keeping me very busy, and I have trouble with biographical detail of an all-important Ottoman admiral, but I’m planning to have a very active July, writing-wise. We’ll see.
Get well soon – as they say on cards, or at least get to the bottom of your bunch of symptoms, and *that* will be something, won’t it?
@ Greg: How To Fulfil Your Dreams? And maybe How To (T?) What Matters?
Sorry to see you’re still unwell Holly. We all miss you – your updates, your words, your experience, and Kettan’s adventures. Hope you get better soon, in the meanwhile, we’re keeping our fingers crossed for you!
Welcome back to the forums, Holly. We missed you! Best of fortune with the recovery, and please take your time to relax and rebuild things. Sometimes the mind and spirit are willing but the body just isn’t wanting to cooperate. Don’t worry about us! We’re soldiering on and sending you best wishes as we go
The new courses sound promising – oh my god – more things I have to buy! I’m already planning to take HTTS when I’m done cleaning up this novel.
@ Danzier – Thanks for the maritime info, I’ll look into it! I read Holly’s response re: killing your hero, and I take it back, she’s right. Maybe it’s best to find a way for him to outsmart the villain just when the villain thinks he’s won? if he really really absolutely unavoidably completely has to die, can he take the villain with him / save the world through doing so?
@ DasteRoad – When are you gonna send me that email? ;D
No problem. I’ve been to both museums and think they’re great, but I don’t think the info they have on line is as good as what they have available when you’re there. Random example: sea songs/chanties are specific to whatever job is being done at the time. Many ships had a chanter, whose job was to sing the right song at the right time–on tempo and loud enough. Sailors often considered it bad luck to sing a song that didn’t belong with the task at hand. I learned that from a visiting chanter who seemed excited that people actually cared about why sailors sung.
Here’s my hero problem: I’m adding my characters to a well-crafted pre-established world. I have two heros, by the in-world definition of “hero,” which matters to the story. I have two characters arriving from another, erm, plane of existance. It takes 24 hours to fully incorporate into whatever plane they jump into, but in this plane, Hero 2 can’t technically exist–there is no magic, so when he acclimates, he dies. Unless he goes home first, but the transporting machine got run over by a truck. And having two heros on one plane is going to cause quantum physics problems. I need a bad guy who can nearly defeat two heros, plus their really smart friends.
Maybe your bad guy has a backup machine…?
Well…no, but I can work with that…If the bad guy is an evil scientist (which makes perfect sence) and WANTS the machine, and my heros can tell him how to build it, and then jump him and use it to get home…and maybe I can play with what happens when the time runs out, too.
Thanks!
I’m thinking the heroic sacrifice will be less problematic if that hero is one of two, as well, if you still feel you have to go with that.
No, I REALLY don’t want him dead. I just couldn’t figure out another way for the ending to work. I’ve pared it down a little, and if my bad guy is the Plausable Mad Scientist, then Hero 2 (his name’s Jer) should escape with his life. Maybe not all his limbs, but he’s at least still breathing. He can heroically sacrifice an arm. As for the two heros, well, “There once were two cats of Killkenny…”
Other stuff: I’m going to divide the characters into groups, since I can handle four groups of three but not twelve groups of one. I have to have a reason for the adults not to swoop in to the rescue, but that’s almost nailed down. I’m playing with ideas of time and how they might work–flashbacks, skewed memory, and the subtle differences between two realities.
To explain a little: This is the first character I ever came up with and wanted to write about. At some point, he’s going to die and stay dead; I just don’t want that to be today. (SPOILER) I was into vampires before they were cool; he’s a vampire who’s searching for a cure, and his “condition” is a major hindrance in this story. I have a grand finale in mind for him, heroic and poi–I can’t spell it; means heart-wrenching tear-jerker…but this isn’t it, and if he dies in this one he can’t die later.
Poignant, and if thats the case then for god’s sake don’t kill him XD sounds like you’ve got a classic case of what Holly’s create a character clinic referred to as the ‘Door, Two Guns, No Ammo’ scenario.
If you have that book, may want to refer to Page 124-127, she goes into fairly extensive detail on how to fix those.
Yeah, I do. I’d forgotten I have that one. …And yeah, that’s exactly what I have. Glad I ran into it in the planning stage, not the writing stage. I’m going to research interesiting places to take a bunch of kidnapping victims…The Parisian sewers come to mind. They have jail cells in them. Not that I’m going to move the story to Paris, but it’s a start.
I’m praying that you find out what is wrong with you soon. And that you will be able to write again. My little sister who is only 17 might have cancer. She’s been seeing doctors for a couple months now and they still haven’t found the problem. And all I can do is wait. So I guess I have a tiny idea what you are going through. I just wish I could skip the waiting and find out what needs to happen now.
I am looking forward to your new courses, whatever they are. And I am so excited you have not forgotten Talsmana. I miss seeing you here. Whenever you wrote it inspired me to do the same.
I’ve been following your blog for over two years now. You were the reason I started writing again. After I finish my first draft I’ll be taking HTRYN, and all of this is because I was researching one day how to start a novel and your name came up. Its like it was meant to be.
The house is quiet…well, getting there. I am about to put my son to bed. Maybe then I’ll get some more words. I’ve hit the 10k mark of my novel. And I have the feeling I’ll be in need of Lesson 13 of HTTS soon. I love my story, I really do. I just feel like something isn’t quite right.
Word count goal: 1000 words or better.
I’ll check in later to let you know how I did.
Today’s success: I got notebook paper, a binder, and two packs of white note cards at a tag sale–the happiest two dollars of the summer.
Grrr…keep thinking I’m one day away from the write-in, and keep finding I’m not! Tomorrow I’ll be working all the bits of relevant world-building into my scene outlines and finishing off the last couple of maps. Wednesday, I’ll start the write-in
Finally got my MCs into the throne room to chat with His Majesty about the sudden downturn in the kingdom’s fortunes: a nation they -thought- was their ally has just declared war and their large, ruthless army is inbound with revenge on their minds.
And A. princess, the heroes’ charge, has run away. The T. army has to pass through her people’s lands to get to the heroes’ homeland and her people, powerful sorcerers, could prevent them. But if she isn’t returned, they won’t.
Her party’s stolen a ship and seems to be headed for my setting’s ‘lost world’, a place of immense spiritual significance to her culture – an infamous and rightly feared forgotten land to everyone else.
And T.princess, who genuinely did want to ally with the King and has no idea this is happening, is riding home into the usurper’s trap…
The enemy army is marching and the clock is ticking. Who can help our heroes catch the runaway princess and save the day?
Avast, ye scurvy bilge rats!
Got most of the work I wanted done today. Some details remain, including a map and some general tidying up, but these can be done over the next three days while I’m writing in. I’m hoping to write-in one chapter a day, and I know chapter two is short, so I’ll pick these bits up then; I’m determined to start tomorrow!
Word Count For The Day: 1000
Wrote an unexpected scene today which means tomorrow will bring me to yet another unplanned scene and I am happy with I got too! Always like it when I write and don’t want to stop. That’s what happened today. Couldn’t have asked for more. It used to be that when I wrote I ended up staring at a blank page, hardly able to come up with a page. Now I can write five or six without stopping, ready for more. It’s a huge change. I’m sure that when it comes for revision I won’t be so happy, but for now I’m cheering. For a long time I suffered writer’s block and no amount of books helped me. Now I can easily brain storm ideas to get me writing again. I’ve come so far in such a short amount of time.
Have I mentioned today was really awesome?
Thank you Holly. This is one of the reasons you rock.
How is everyone else doing? Have you surprised yourself? Written things you love? Are things moving easily or do you find it hard to get words out? I’m very interested to know how you all are doing!
Tori, I only read now your previous comment about your sister’s situation, I’m really sorry to hear that. I hope you can soon discover the reason for her problem and how to fix it. In the meanwhile… just *hugs* to you, and your family.
Also, thanks for sharing your excitement with writing. This is the kind of motivation that keeps me coming back here and writing my book every night
Guess I’m late coming back but I’ve been following off and on. Holly, I hope they can figure out what it is. It sucks that it’s been going on so long already and keeping you from what you love. Don’t give up. We support you.
I’ve been stalled and distracted from my revision read-through of SL and I’m finally moving on to the replotting stage. There’s going to be a LOT of rewriting and new scenes, but I wouldn’t have made it this far without the motivation from WABWM for the first draft. Thank you! (to Holly and my fellow WABWMs)
Made a start on the write-in today, but didn’t quite finish the first chapter – should take less than half an hour to make that up tomorrow, though. Finalising the details of a couple of ships distracted me! Tomorrow’s chapter is short, though, so fingers crossed that by the end of tomorrow I’ll be back in track.
Yay!
Little distracted from writing my main story – by writing to finish up a Batman fic I started writing for an old friend ages ago.
Well, specifically, a Batman vs Dracula fic for said friend’s re-imagined Gotham setting. It’s an exercise in ‘Actually Freaking Finishing A Story’, to prove to myself that I -can- do that, while the end of my main story is still a twinkle in the distance.
Fanfic is very far from my usual field, but this one was fun, and I’m enjoying wrapping it up.
Awesome! That kind of makes me want to look at MRD again, since I’m currently arguing with my muse about where you put kidnapees, and I am not taking them to Paris. No matter how much I like Paris. MRD is my own excercise in finishing a story, and while it really stinks, it does have AN ending. It reads kind of like a fishnet, though–full of holes.
…iamthebatiamthebatiamthebatiamthebat…
…man?
Welcome to the Carpathians, my dear friend.
I sense a bat-tle…
At 13 chapters and counting, it’s almost as long as my REAL book.
…MRD is 32 pages, beginning to end.
Don’t feel bad. I waffle. A lot. XD
I’ve pretty much declared myself re-writing now. I caught up from yesterday, with the exception of not getting as much detail into my two remaining maps as I’d planned, but they can be added if the scenes I need them for demand it. Chapter 3 will be re-written tomorrow – I know it’s overly long, so it should be an exercise in cutting!
I’m in a wierd mood today. But I think I have the rough outline for my summer progect knocked together. I guess I’ll start typing it this weekend.
Hi guys! I’m still working on PoB, but I had to take a couple of days off to take care of some criptic plot bunnies – and to face some Evil Day Job-related awful, superbusy days.
I discovered one thing though: after an initial cool idea, the more I work on the plotting, the foggier my ideas get. Apparently, my plotting is at its best *while* writing scenes, even when I’m not sure where I’m going. This is kinda weird, but cool. I know I’ll change a lot of stuff in revision, but it’s amazing how much I’m learning with PoB.
In other news (and in case anybody cared
), I scored 8 out of a maximum of 9 on my IELTS English test! That score is equivalent to a Certificate of Proficiency in English and that’s why IM JUST TEH AWSUM!!! XD
Er. When I’m not speaking in lolenglish, that is ^^;
@Danzier: I hope you enjoyed the cookies! I just made brownies, by the way (no, really. I just took them out of the oven to cool on the rack!).
@Wandersnowhere: I’m aware of the fact that I still owe you an email, but… I think I’ve already covered more or less all the points I had in mind in the WABWM comments in latest weeks! ^^’ Still… stay tuned
Awww, I know, but it’s still nice to get personal correspondence.
Congratulations on your test results! If only my students were looking so happy after theirs, the poor things.
erk, leetspeek. Congratulations on your test! And…brownies… You’re…mocking me, aren’t you?
Actually, I’m serious. I really made brownies yesterday. I can take pictures to prove it!
“Oh, no, no, no, no, no–Buzz! Look! An alien! Bwa-ha-ha!”
…From the original Toy Story.
I love cookies. I love brownies more. But… well, suffice to say they’re ok on message boards but not on my menu.
Today was chapter 3, only the scene was already long, and I had details to add before I could edit down, and I haven’t got it all done, which is frustrating! It’s still over 5000 words, so I’m going to come back to it over the weekend when I’m feeling suitably ruthless…
Sooooo… 705 actual, story type words today!
Holly sent out another tip, and it’s about WHERE.
Meanwhile, I either write action or location, and can get a couple pages into either. But I can’t seem to combine them convincingly. For the sake of Holly’s health I’ll ask you guys first: Any tips for writing better scenery while not losing the action?
I haven’t read Holly’s tip yet, but mine would be: Use your scenery. Dwrite an action scene like the characters are running through a grey void, use your scene in your action!
example; you’re writing a chase through an urban neighbourhood you described in a lump at the start of the chapter. Those clothes lines you described? Have the hero get tangled in them and almost lose the bad guy. The fruit-seller? Have the hero show his athletic skills by leaping over his cart in pursuit of the perp! Or in a slower scene, that weird smell you described coming from the back door of the slum house leads to a murder victim.
Mr Chekov, fire all guns! (double loser points for a simultaneous Trope & Trek reference lol)
If you do this well enough you can dispense with most of the ‘describing scenery’ and describe it through the action itself. Which is really cool when it works.
er, ‘Don’t write an action scene like…’ Odd typo.
No, no… it’s “fire all phasers!” And it’s not *loser* points. Just regular ones.
Wow. I’m a geek.
Yes, I got both references…
Erhm. (Throat-clearing noise.) I’ll see what I can do; I’ve seen a lot of theater where the director wanted a black stage with no props or drops. I’ve been thinking of characters firing the guns, not the guns “accidentally” going off to let you know they’re there.
XD yah, I know it’s phasers / photon torpedos, I only said ‘guns’ to make the reference to (Anton) Chekov’s Gun more obvious, lol.
As an example of using scenery as a lot more than backdrop, the creepiest part of my first book involves the characters being forced to camp overnight in an abandoned village connected to the main hero’s recurring nightmares.
And the place -reeks-. It’s been burned almost to the ground but the evidence suggests the fire was months ago, so what’s this horrible gut-wrenching stink hanging around?
And why are the few unburned trees twisted and contorted like that?
And what -are- those huge black lumps of slimy something-or-other scattered through the forest?
And why are the fallen trees not lying under their stumps, but rather strewn around like something has THROWN them?
Before they leave that town, the heroes discover the answers to -all- of those questions…
And they’re enough to tie it all together and make it make sense.
…but the full implications don’t come into play until Book II-III. And they only get more disturbing as they grow.
Sowing seeds like that about the environment can really mess with your readers and it can be really, really FUN. It’s a total missed opportunity if you don’t grab it
…You keep saying things like that and I keep being mad that I can’t buy that book yet.
Let’s see. I have a badly remodeled WWI trench hidey hole. I have pictures of the sewers of Paris and their creepy jail cells. I have heard stories about bootlegger tunnels under Vancouver. And I have bad guys intent on kidnapping most of my characters.
This could get fun! And the long lost tunnel system connects with the subway. And … Thanks for writing back on a holiday.
On that note, I’m off–I think my neighbor just burned his hand on a firework… He’s ok, the lucky bugger… Note: alchohol and explosives are a bad mix.
Well, it’s Independence Day here in the U.S., and I’ve been moping, which has lead into pondering the theme for my story, which has lead to the idea of theme, and suddenly I discovered why multiplication is better than addition.
Well, sort of. I’ve had an awful time pinning down theme. I’ve hunted for definitions. I’ve done Holly’s (multiple) workouts that involve it, many times, and usually run dry around the part where I’m coming up with questions I want answered. It’s been driving me bananas. I add all the ideas I find in my writing together, and slowly get a mess.
So I got a new notebook for my birthday (in May). It smells funny, not like new paper. But it’s blank. So I’ve been writing in it…and when writing in a new blank notebook runs into pondering imponderables, I get fireworks. (Bad pun, sorry.) So here it is: the little tidbits in my notebooks are tests. They’re tiny little scenes. But every one of them has one issue it works with in different ways. Not always the same issue and not always the same way of writing it–sometimes I have pages of dialogue, or of discripton, or poetry, or three lines that seemed really brilliant. I have notebooks full of tiny scenes just waiting for me. If I take an idea and work it through fifty different ways, it’s fifty scenes on one theme. That’s multiplication, and I can do that in any story. Why I never got that before is beyond me.
Sometimes, the idea that I’m a writer…is terrifying.
Since the beginning of July I’ve written about 5k words. Haven’t started on today’s word count yet. I’m going to try a little something different. Write two scenes a day instead of one, that way I can finish my book before the end of this month. If all goes well I’ll be working on HTRYN by the first.
Oh, and I’m really trying to hold back on working out this little idea I have into a working plot. I’m not like some of you other guys. I can’t really write two things at once. So I promised myself that if I finish my current WIP before the month is out I’ll give myself until the first to work on the new idea. I think that might work. Hopefully.
Total Word Count: 15k
Today’s Goal: 2 scenes written, or about 2k words.
Hi everybody! Daste here :3
Wrote a total of 897 words from the 25th June, 583 of which just today. I get highs and lows, like with everything I do, but sometimes I’m just amazed at how many things I’m learning with this novel.
New scene: it’s time for a… um, for a sad… social… thing. Ok, it’s time for a funeral. Won’t say anything more because it’s mucho spoilery. It’s actually the night before the funeral, and Erthel dreams… stuff. Nasty stuff, involving the creepy character I call Mr. Bad Guy since I don’t know his name yet: he was the strange man that attacked her and her mother before the latter disappeared. In her dream, Erthel acts out the emotions she feels in the situation (mainly rage and disgust, just to add some cheerful tones to the novel), weird stuff ensues… and then she wakes up.
And then she sees the strange man sitting on her mother’s bed. And then she realizes she’s bleeding the same way she was in the dream.
Only she’s not. After letting out a scream and bolting out of the bed to escape, she clears her mind and realizes there’s nobody in the room and she’s not wounded. But she clearly saw the man, and she clearly felt the blood and the wound. She had a waking dream, something that used to happen to her mother.
One… two… three… FREAKOUT TIME! *dance* XD
Oooooooooo….
I LIKE this. Nice stuff! I really want to read your book, damnit. Lol.
Thanks
It’s just too bad that I write in italian or I’d send you snippets! ^^;
This is actually close to the reason why this whole project was born: the idea of dreams bleeding into reality. A lot of things have changed now, and it’s odd to think that the original reason for PoB is now clearly shown for the first time after the middle point of the novel. Also, PoB was originally supposed to have more explicit sexual overtones and themes. It still does (keep in mind that Erthel’s nightmares are, um… kinda icky. Yeah I don’t think PoB would be a for-all-ages thing) but the whole thing has evolved a lot.
Eeep. Any thoughts of doing an English version?
An English version would take a ton of work! :O I’m not afraid to say I’m quite good with English, but translating creative writing is trickier than writing emails or posting on blogs. I could translate some key snippets to use as teasers though.
Actually, I was thinking it would be cool if we all shared little snippets of our drafts once in a while, maybe posting a link to our websites/blogs instead of posting the snippets here and making a mess on Holly’s blog. What do you think?
Great!
…but I don’t have a websit/blog…
well, there’s the one from the school, but that’s down for maintenance this month.
Hi Danzier! I’m glad you liked the idea
Regarding not having a website or blog, keep in mind that there’s plenty of free weblog services online. Tumblr, for instance, is free, super quick/easy and low maintenance (you’re not even expected to interact with people, which is awesome).
Did the write -in for Chapter 5 today as planned, but I’m starting to realise that it, along with all the other chapters, will need a final ‘polish’ once they’re all done. Too much to work in for me to get all my narrative and dialogue sparkling. It’s actually harder than I was expecting, but I’m hoping practice will help, and as there’s about fifty chapters to go, I’ll be getting plenty!
1552 today. bringing my word count to 71,493.
I’ve been dealing with the evils of my new day job.. yuck…
Also, I have plotted my way to the end and it’s solid [it has direction and an ending and woot/woot, all the other necessary bits.] Also I was stressing myself into being crippled over how much work revision is going to be. and how it’s all crap anyway… so I refocused on how this story is JUST for me and it was FUN writing tonight and I liked what happened with the scene. Yay!
Success rocks
Good work!
Nice to see you around here again, Gabby! Keep up the good work
713 words between classes so far today.
I was stumped on yet another elaborate throne-room-political-talky-talky-scene, so I thought of Holly’s advice – about not letting side characters take over the plot if you can have the MCs do the same thing – and since the hero is far too polite to interrupt the King, I let my heroine have the floor.
She wiped said floor with the King and his advisors. It was a good call and a good slap-in-the-face reminder of why she IS the heroine. And I gave her all of the advisors’ best lines, which she owned better than they did; and she proved to be smart enough to figure out at a good chunk of Red Coat’s plan just by being observant.
This also proves her, and by extension, the hero’s group, once again to be competent and worthy of the King’s trust. Which they’re gonna need, because he’s about to give them a mission that could make or break the kingdom…
Chapter 6 didn’t get quite finished today, but I expect Ch7 to be shorter, so hoping to pick it up tomorrow.
Looking through HTRYN and those ‘all singing, all dancing’ characters who take over the story …I think I’ve identified mine.
Except in my case, it isn’t a character, it’s a COUNTRY.
I honestly hadn’t thought this deeply into the heroes’ homeland when I plotted out this story to begin with. I knew it would be important to them, I knew they would be fighting to defend it within the first book (now within the first trilogy) before realising just how enormous the stakes really were.
But I didn’t expect them to become a bunch of banner-waving Argorian patriots proudly serving the King, and I didn’t expect the King and his advisors (who had a few scant lines in the script) to eat entire scenes in the process of fleshing out the political mess that leads to the heroes’ employment and mission.
It’s okay, I will probably keep it and prune it down a bit rather than excising it because it adds a LOT of nice juicy tension and worldbuilding to the story.
But I do have to be careful that it doesn’t obscure the archplot TOO well.
432 words on tuesday 6th. The funeral has begun. O joy -.-
Having fun highlighting traditions and culture with this scene, that I’ve had in mind for quite some time. But unlike what would’ve happened sometime ago, when I would’ve written a non-scene just to show my worldbuilding and the characters’ feelings – now I have a decent, storywise reason for it. The funeral will help Erthel realize the real reason why she can’t let the dead person go and move on with her life – and she will have to make a choice.
1700 words, one scene. I’ll have to make sure to write more tomorrow.
Today I explored my MC’s feelings for her best friend, dealing with the antagonist who she thinks she loves and someone waiting in the shadows but she was unable to find. Got some pretty good conflict, but something tells me I’ll have to rework it a bit.
I’m happy with what I’m getting but every day it seems like instead of writing the scenes that need to be written to get through my first draft I keep coming up with new ones. It’s great but it worries me too. I need to finish this draft this month!
I’m working through the plot clinic, and I somehow managed to skip the mapping tool. So I started that last night, keeping in mind the “Scenery as a Plot Device” thing, and all of a sudden it hit me: I have to map out the tunnels under the city. So I spent most of last night looking at maps of WWI trenches and where they were, and maps of the catacombs in Paris and Rome and respective surrounding countrysides.
I also have the singing dancing tightrope walking paranoid technically insane but really all there sub-hero. I am thinking about switching her out for one of the characters I can’t ditch.
Not a lot of words, but plenty going on. Oh, and I got a decent target paragraph finally, 63 words.
Chapter 7 went much the same way as Chapter 6 did. Mostly done, but not quite. I’ve got a few details I’d like to work into each scene, but my brain is fried for the day, so I’ll get to them first thing tomorrow. Chapter 8 is more of an action scene, so again hopefully shorter, so I’m still hoping to make up the slight lag. However, I have an interview for a part-time job Friday lunchtime, which is sure to get in the way a bit.
1171 words on wednesday 7th, go me!
This was not only a cool wordcount but a really cool writing session. During the funeral, Erthel comes to terms with the real reason why she can’t let go of the dead person: she can’t because she knows that what happened just isn’t right. She makes an important choice: she will do everything she can to bring justice to them and their memory, and only then she will be able to let go.
Then, when confronting Maithel with her choice… she realizes that her temporarily lost “gift” has come back
This scene gives Erthel a whole new point of view on her situation and her relationship with the gift, as long as a whole new reason to live each day. I can feel that she’s really growing as a character, she’s almost ready to bloom and take her life fully in her hands. And I can’t wait
This sounds like the kind of scene I know I as a reader really enjoy – the ‘hero moment’.
For me that doesn’t mean the character gallops off on a white horse to save a princess, necessarily. It’s that moment where the hero(ine) looks into herself, sees what she’s been doing wrong, and makes a determination to do it right.
Bravo.
Thanks
It was really cool to write that, and I get what you mean by “the hero moment”. A hero is not a hero because of the white horse, or the uniform, or because he’s perfect and never fails. A hero is a hero because he’s a human being, with all his fears and flaws and a dark side, that when confronted with the choice between what’s easy and what’s right (quoting awesome JK Rowling here), has the courage to choose right
Heck, if you think about it, just the act of standing up for oneself and frikkin’ *doing something*, instead of just whining and playing the victim – is a test of courage in itself
Also, returning to Erthel, this is an important step of her growth both as a character and as a woman. Erthel is the kind of person who’s constantly, and often to the excess, in need of appreciation and approval. This is a reaction to having been raised by a stern and very independent mother, who tried to teach her that she didn’t need anybody, she didn’t need to be loved or accepted. During this scene, Erthel chooses to do something not for someone else (there’s not much you can do for a dead person, can’t you?), but *for herself*, because this is important for her. She has yet to fully realize the error of her ways and how her exaggerate need of approval is impacting her life – but this is a HUGE step forward
I just realized I wrote “as long as”, but what I really meant was “as well as”. So much for my English proficiency certificate
Proficiency = the ability to catch your mistakes before the teacher does.
When your book is published, please find a way to ask your agent to get English versions published. I’m really not up to learning Italian yet.
Hey guys,
This is just a quick heads up to let you know that Holly has a new post on her regular writing diary. It’s this: http://hollylisle.com/writingdiary2/index.php/2010/07/07/rebel-tales-my-war-for-the-midlist/
I think you guys should go take a look at it if you haven’t yet. Holly’s going to war.
<— Signed up and ready to march!
I figured out the middle for the story last night. It’s going to be awesome!
Chapters 6 and 7 finished, 8 mostly done, a few details to add tomorrow. Prep for job interview did get in the way a bit today, and the interview itself will hamper progress tomorrow, but tomorrow’s scene/chapter is short, so hopefully will get everything done.
Hero ‘volunteers’ the party’s service to His Majesty -again-
In the original script this seemed a bit illogical – the question was raised ‘why would the King send these freelance adventurers he’s just met on essentially a suicide mission that could make or break the kingdom?’
That actually comes up this time. And it’s dealt with – the King’s man goes with them. I don’t mind this guy, he’s a new character and a bit of all-singing-all-dancing type because he does like to hog screen time…
…but he’s useful because he provides contrast to the hero. He’s the older, more world-weary character whose pragmatism contrasts with the hero’s exuberant morals.
And tests them, when the hero has to choose between his knighthood and his friends.
My total Word Count: 18,904 words. 20k right around the corner!
Word Count for the day: About 2k I think. Had to make up for the lower word count yesterday, which was only 800.
Participating in JulNoWriMo which is why I have been stressing myself out making my word counts so high when I do write. I’m in it because if I want to edit my book starting Augsust 1st I need to kick my butt in gear and just don’t think I’ll do that on my own.
I just need to remember to keep having fun. Don’t worry as much about word counts.
Doesn’t mean I’m giving up though!
Question:
about those tricksy minor characters.
Has anyone else had minor characters pop up out of nowhere and write themselves into important places?
In my first book alone I’ve had…
A) the King’s right hand man, who didn’t even exist in the script but was a roleplay character I had way back that I thought would slot easily into a minor plot-pushing-role I needed fill.
He decided to take a vested interest in the main hero, and has been dancing around, lecturing him on the nature of knighthood and duty, and generally acting as a serious, pragmatic foil to the hero’s gallant exuberance ever since.
As well as appearing to discuss things with the King in a lot of scenes.
B) The King himself, who has turned into a POV character in the aformentioned scenes, which are helpful in that they flesh out a great deal of what’s going on in the country and just what a mess the MCs have stumbled into….but unhelpful in that most of them don’t feature the MCs.
C) The heroes’ best friend, who was a kind of tag-along-lump character for a while, got himself a girlfriend, an old flame who chose another guy over the friend, and is now a widow wondering if she made the right choice. This was just a nice, sweet bit of character fluff until I realised it gives him a compelling conflict of interest (desire to adventure with best friends vs beautiful girl who wants to settle down with him) and made his role a lot more interesting. It’ll probably stay.
D) A royal assassin from a very interesting nonhuman culture that got very little page time, originally. She wasn’t going to show up until well into Book 2 when she becomes an unexpected ally of T-princess, but when I needed an opponent for the heroine to challenge in the knife throw contest in the Tournament chapter, the assassin wrote herself in.
And then wrote herself in as a friend of the heroine’s dead mentor. And then wrote herself in as having a mission pertaining to T. princess. And then wrote herself in as the jilted ex-lover of the head badguy sent after T.princess, fighting him to delay him from entering the castle…
Which was handy, because if he wasn’t delayed he’d have been trapped in the castle with his minions and killed two books early.
But in the process, I got ANOTHER page-hogging character mostly disconnected from the main story.
I know I’ll fix these when I get far enough in HTRYN, but I’m curious – has anyone else got any funny stories about tapdancing cast members? Share?
Yeah, I’ll share.
I have a character who started as an interesting set of letters from a scrabble game–for real, not on the page. He popped up in the story as the guy who can explain all the wierd stuff going on and keeps the MC from committing suicide. Then he got a really interesting backstory to explain how he knew the hero. Then he got a race of not exactly humans. Then he got enslaved. Then the enslavers turned out to be the real bad guys of the story, and my lovely evil-for-its-own-sake bad guys turned out to be decent people getting played. Then the race from this little punk turned out to be key to the real bad guys’ stranglehold on the universe. And then, just to frost the cake, this guy turned out to be my hero’s apprentice’s brother, which makes the apprentice into the typical only-one-who-can-do-THIS. And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.
His name is Quilban. He’s a punk. I may hate him just a little.
Oh–and not to mention the plot device kid in PH2 who turned into the Voice of the Angry Author by way of only-friend-dom.
YIKES. Did this Quilban guy’s additions to the story have anything to do with your hero, or did it basically replace him?
It was almost all in the background. The MC (POV character) wants to find her twin brother. The Hero wants a lot of stuff but is currently on a quest to get some library books returned, which is MUCH more dangerous than it sounds. Picture the dead sea scrolls stolen by the Mafia on orders of Hitler, and you have a…bad analogy. But in that bad analogy, the kidnapped twin brother is the Mafia’s insurance. And Quilban is the almost silent dissenter in the SS who spends half the book unconscious. If the SS were Hitler’s slaves.
Mind you, this is in really rough not typed but at least a finished draft stage, and it’s the really big story I want to get right and am putting on the back burner till I know how to write better.
Yikes. Sounds messy, but entertaining
Is this set in our world?
For about 15 minutes. Then they go elsewhere. Several elsewheres, in fact. The part that bothers me is that I thought it was a perfectly good short story about finding a missing twin, and it turned into a huge adventure with more loose ends than a plate of spaghetti.
Mmmm. Spaghetti. Also messy and entertaining
It sounds like a blast. I’d love to read it someday.
I love the irony of fortune cookies. You get chinese food because you’ve been writing all day and forgot to cook again, and after the meal you break open your cookie and the little slip of paper inside gives you a gem of wisdom: “You will make many changes before settling satisfactorily.”
Ended up falling behind on Friday – job interview not so good, but I’ve also got 1000+ biology exam papers to mark which took up more time on Fri and will eat into my time right through to next weekend. I’m hoping that by next weekend I’ll be back on track though as I’ve pretty much cracked the mark scheme for the papers so am getting through them at a decent rate. So apart from the write-in on Ch9-13 for M-F, I’m hoping to pick up Ch8, and tidy up some points on a couple of earlier chapters this next week.
The $#”#!%Ing printer has some problem and will only print half of my manuscript. The end half. So I still haven’t started HTRYN properly. Who would have believed it would take six months of wrestling with technology just to print a god damn RTF?
But the more I think about the revision and some of Holly’s advice the more I think Mr Nothing needs to make contact with the heroes. I even have a perfect spot where the MC blacks out right after his powers are awakened.
This would be a good, good place for Mr N. to become aware of the heroes and make his first ‘Hello, there.’ psychic connection.
This is about more than introducing the series villain early. Since he is exactly what they are, only gone horribly wrong, and he’s the only character other than Snake Eyes who has full knowledge of what’s going on, he can provide some valuable clues to make the archplot less vague, tie the current story to the prologue, AND take some of the exposition weight off poor Snake Eyes.
But it does ruin a scene later in Book V or so, when Mr. N returns in full force and throttles the heroes’ location out of Red Coat. (In a way that would make Darth Vader pee himself) Since he already knows who, what, and where they are…
Hm.
My computer-savvy husband just came and read over my shoulder and had a couple words of advice: I’m not sure what kind of printer or system you have, but usually you can tell it to print pages 1-50, and then 51-100 next print job, and so on. Or you can highlight a bunch and tell it to “print selection.” Presuming those don’t work, check the website for the printer and see if it needs any driver updates.
What if Mr. N made contact with the hero, didn’t know he was the hero, and forgot about it? Or “lost” him? …Or was testing the other guy, who answered wrong?
Thank you!
The problem with the printer is this: I set it to print out my document, with the pages reversed (so it’d end up in the right order as a stack of papers), sat back, and waited.
It pumped out a few chapters and then printed a few streaked pages before finally printing blank. I checked the ink: still full and healthy. Checked the nozzle. Printed a test colour sheet….just fine.
Tried to print again. All blank pages. Tried to print something else. Blank pages.
So I have the end chapters of my manuscript printed but, annoyingly, nothing else.
I wrote the Mr N. scene and it came out very nicely.
How much of it I keep will depend on how much info I decide the characters (and readers) need to have at that point once the revision gets there. That brings the count up to -three- mysterious characters tailing the heroes and dropping them cryptic advice.
The suave, handsome red-coated stranger, the seven foot cloaked snakeman ninja with the crimson eyes, or the creepy blind child sitting on a hill in the middle of a blank black dreamscape, playing with string…
Who would YOU trust?
If the answer’s ‘NONE OF THEM’, you’re STILL screwed! Ha ha ha.