A Fine Mess

No, I'm not talking about my office - although I sure could be. (Well, no, that's actually more of a disaster area.) It's my Western. Hoo-boy! Where to begin???

I did what I planned, which was to start looking it over and form a plan of attack for filling in the holes. But this is going to be a more gargantuan task than I anticipated. (Note to self: Go with linear writing for future WIPs!)

On just the first quick scan, without actually reading, we have a case here of The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly. I'll enumerate them in reverse order so I can end on a positive note and feel some optimism as I close out the blog entry. {g}

THE UGLY
#1: Since this is to be book one of three, I *really* need a Bible to keep track of all the details. The problem is, I have FOUR multi-page story Bibles, various parts of which contradict each other, and this is only including information from book one. ::rolling eyes at self:: As to why, don't ask 'cause I don't know how I managed that one. {g} Before I continue writing, these must be condensed into one coherent, non-contradictory Bible.

#2: My original chapter one and opening of chapter two are written from the POV of a character I've already decided to eliminate from book one except as a reference.

THE BAD
#3: I have to choose which ending I want to go with - the original or the longer one - which will impact the whole story arc. Either would be good, I think. One will make the book shorter and more typically a western romance and more like what I had in mind for the series when I first conceived it. The other ending will make it longer, more dramatic, and more of a saga, and perhaps more rewarding for the heroine and hero. I have to know my ending before I start plugging holes or that will be a futile exercise.

#4: I am having just a tinsy crisis of confidence: I wonder if I've bitten off more than I can chew with this story (though I am usually pretty good at telling that thought to beat it when it pops into my head). Since it's not strictly romance, or historical, or murder mystery, or paranormal, but has some of all of that, is it Just Too Much? (Or is it Just Too Much for a first novel?)

THE GOOD
#5: I still like the story. Whew!

#6: I really like my characters, except for the baddies, and I really *don't* like them (as it should be).

So. All in all, I think I can do this. As I said, a lot more work to be done than I had thought, but now I have a more realistic idea of where it stands.

Onward!

Trucking Along

Well, I broke my pattern for this novel and got about a thousand words written of a late-in-story section. And I was *so* going to do this in A-B-C order this time. Oh well, as they say, whatever works.

I was surprised to find out some things about a couple of characters today. One I thought was good is bad. And I finally got a picture of the personal nemesis of my heroine -- the whole dude, actually, as there was only sort of "the Dark Side" up to this point, with nobody but nameless henchmen. I think the bad-guys discussion on the forum birthed this one for me. [g] I also learned who is at the top of the food chain on the baddies' side.

All in all, a pretty productive day (night...morning...whatever, yeah, it's 4:26 in the morning; what an idiot I am!)

G'nite!

****
TRACKING...
Accomplished one end scene, whole. :)

Random Thoughts About Writing

My last thought before I sat down at the computer - fresh coffee in hand (no, in cup, actually) - arrived in sort of a bubble of giddiness: “Do you know how much I LOVE writing?” (Don't ask me whom I was thinking it to. [g])

It's one of a few select creative activities that I can totally immerse myself in: writing and painting (quasi-artistic, not house) foremost among them. I guess it's about making something from nothing. I bet God enjoys His work, likewise.

I can write and fiddle with my writing for hours on end, days on end, even, barely coming up for air or sustenance or human contact, though my family doesn't let me get away with it for long.

On one hand, this is a wondrous, transported state of being. I create; I am my creations – in the sense of experiencing all that they do, vicariously – and I love the work involved in trying to perfect the creation.

On the other hand, it works really well as a way to escape tending to the laundry, dishes, paperwork and other such less pleasant responsibilities demanded of someone running a household, which can create discontent within the family/community.

Why does there always have to be a price? Polarity? Consequences? Struggle?

Questions for the Ages, I suppose. But I'll continue to take it as it comes and deal with creating balance as I need to.

Because, seriously, do you know how much I LOVE writing? [S]


*****************
Tracking...
A little more fiddling with the current scene, prep for posting in exercises.

Just Tracking Today

TRACKING...

Yesterday's Big Accomplishment:
Continued writing the scene where Kailia sets off on her own again.

Today's Target:
Continue writing scene (above).
Update reverse-outline. (Didn't get to that yet.)

On the Percolator:
Need to read MARU through from beginning so as not to lose the reins on the timetable before I go any further.
Also need to read through the western and start figuring out how to fill in the holes.

Tracking

I get to go into work late tomorrow so I'm up late writing tonight. But not for much longer.

Not much of a post today, except to say that I'm grateful that the words are flowing again. Maybe not great words, but since SFD is what I'm after, they'll do. :)

TTFN!

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TRACKING...

Yesterday's Big Accomplishment:
Re-established my accountability log (tracking).
Began writing the scene where Kailia sets off on her own again.

Today's Target:
Continue writing scene (above).
Update reverse-outline. (Didn't get to that yet.)

On the Percolator:
Need to read MARU through from beginning so as not to lose the reins on the timetable before I go any further.
Also need to read through the western and start figuring out how to fill in the holes.

Getting Real, Getting Faces, Getting Going

I haven't written much in the last four days due to a boatload of migraines (gone now, thank God!).

Today, I split off my "story bible" from the mondo story file. It was getting too unwieldy. So now my total word count for the story is more accurate. I have about 1300 words in the bible, so those are now subtracted from my progress meter. This fantasy novel really needs one (a bible, that is) - foreign words and places and all are going to require an appendix, too, so, lots of material for a bible.

I did, though, finish something that's fun and kind of important to my forward progress. I've found "faces" for all my MCs (and some needed child and adult faces; Kailia needed three: child, adult, old).

This may seem strange, but I am very visual, and need photos to help me "see" my characters. What I do, after creating the characters and getting to know them, is to do web searches for actors/models/regular-people headshots. When I find one that really strikes me as "Character X", I copy and paste it into my story bible.

Sometimes, having the face even helps me flesh out the characters. Brakkus, for example, even as a child, has a section of hair two-inches wide that's white as snow. And there's a story behind that that I didn't know before I found his picture. [g]

Question: Anybody else do this picture thing, or am I the only weirdo?

Question: Do you use a "bible"? If so, what goes in yours? Enquiring minds want to know. [s]

I'm having a good month, compared to last, with over 2,000 additional words so far, so I want to keep the momentum going and aim for at least 5,000 by the end of the month. (I have some time off next week). I can tell since I haven't been doing my little TRACKING thingo at the end of my posts, that I have let myself slack quite a bit more, so I'm going to re-institute that starting today.

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TRACKING...

Yesterday's Big Accomplishment:
Discovered how and why Kailia is going to leave Falcon's place alone.

Today's Target:
Write the scene (above).
Update reverse-outline. (Don't worry, I know what I mean, and that's what's important. [g])

On the Percolator:
Need to read MARU through from beginning so as not to lose the reins on the timetable before I go any further.
Also need to read through the western and start figuring out how to fill in the holes.

I Think I Can, I Think I Can...

So, October rather fell apart as far as writing goes. I don't think I topped 1000 words for the month. (OTOH, it's 1000 more than I wrote last October.)

So, on to November! I set a goal of 500 measly words a week. If I can't do *that* something is seriously wrong and I shall have to have a severe talk with myself, in addition to letting everyone call me a wannabee.

In the writing I did manage last month, one unexpected thing happened. Well, two things.

1) Jerlann became Jerlanna. Whoopdeedoo! But, the reason she got a mini-name change, is because 2) she is going to become more involved in the story and needs a nickname and I didn't want it to be Lann or Ann. Lanna seems nicer. If I am right, she's going to become one of the Maru. (And here I thought she was just going to be a bratty little sister we'd see the last of in chapter one.)

UNLESS...this is just one of those wild hares the Muse throws out across your path to see if you'll run after it...while she sits back and laughs and calls out, "Just kidding!"

We shall see...

Pocket Full O' Goodies

* Today was a good day. I consolidated all of my MARU (fantasy novel) files into one, did a bit of rewriting on Chapter One, and did an actual word count, rather than the guesstimate I had on my word-o-meter previously. I had almost twice as many words as I thought (including today's work). :)

* Check out Flogging The Quill for some useful tidbits, if you haven't already. One of the recent posts there will be a bit of deja vu for Books & Writers forumites - about what should be on the first page of your novel. But there are lots of other goodies, too. Among them a reminder about using the Bookmarks feature in word processing software. (I use MS Word and Open Office and both have the feature.) Very, very useful! Especially since I am condensing my "million files" method into one big file per MSS.

* Another happy little find today was iFinger 2.1 with a very handy dictionary that parks on your browser and WP title bar. (You can get the Mirriam-Webster free, or a limited-time trial version of one of the OEDs. I got both and they work together.) I got it from Download.com.

Okay, that's it for me today. Happy writing, writers!

Brain Drain

I think the heading about says it all.

I've spent the last three evenings printing out what seems like thousands but is actually only a few dozen files that comprise my western/romantic-suspense story. The files are in varying sizes, ranging from 1/3 to 73 pages.

I can definitely say I have the major bones of a first draft here (SFD for sure, but still...) I have a few blank spots in the storyline that need to be filled before the official pasting-together phase begins though. What I did tonight was to sort the chunks into where (Act I, Act II, or Act III) they will fall in the story, and where within the Acts. And then I listed them in a spreadsheet in that order. Finally, some organization on paper! {g}

Also, I sorted all my non-story material, separating "research" from "craft" from "characterization" from "story bible" from "outline" (of which, somehow, I wound up with four). I do outline entries after I write the scene, not before. Little backward, yep, that's me. {g}

Anyway, my brain is in sleep mode now, so I'm to bed.

Inciting Incidents

I love those words: Inciting Incident.

They even sound important and suspense-filled and exciting, don't they? I almost hear the dum-de-dum-dum of the Dragnet theme when I read those words... (Okay, so I'm weird; what's new?) {g}

What is it that starts the conflagration that your story is about to become?

In my 1860s western/romantic-suspense, the Inciting Incident is when two strange men, individually, arrive in a small town right around the time that one of the townswomen disappears. (Unbeknownst to the townsfolk, one is a serial killer, the other, the undercover agent on his trail.)

In my fantasy, the Inciting Incident is the finding of an ancient scroll by a teenage boy who is destined for Big Things, though he doesn't know it.

What are your inciting incidents?

* * *
TRACKING...

Yesterday's Big Accomplishment:
Bought a laser printer so I can print out the files for the western. Yay!
(Wound up with an energy-sipping HP 1022n xi).

Today's Target:
Get the western printed out & start finding holes and patching.
Continue work on recasting conversation with Brakkus and Sareen.
Update Blogs.

On the Percolator:
Nothing much percolating today.

As the saying goes...

Don't like the weather? Wait five minutes.

That's what they say about Michigan, and in this case, "they" are right. After the beautiful day yesterday, the thunderstorms started last night.

Then quit. Then started again. Then quit again. Then started again and again, and again! I've lost track of how many times. The kids at school were somewhere on the spectrum between giddy and hysterical when the big booms and flashes hit. {g} It's been quite a day and we even had a lovely sunset between downpours.

I made a movie today at work. A very *small* movie - about three minutes. I shot the video, did a few edits, added a few stills, effects and some music, and voila! It was of our principal doing a Mr. Rogers-style promo for an upcoming band concert. I think that was the most fun I've had at work in...ever. We now have a fairly good set of bloopers for the next staff social event, too. I was almost in tears laughing over some of the first few takes, and I blew the next one by not being able to stop laughing at the previous attempt. Thank goodness my boss is a good sport! {g}

Writing has been interesting for me as I get back at it this time. I am being much more demanding of myself as to *how* I go about writing this fantasy novel. I think the reason is that it's going to be a complex production with threads and timelines that will require a lot of weaving.

Also, one of the MCs will be in third person, and one in first. (I didn't decide that part; they did.) I don't want the story to get hopelessly tangled before it even gets well underway, so I'm going slow and steady and (mostly) linearly. And crossing my fingers.

I want to live up to the good story idea and not screw it up. {g}

If you are a writer, too, do you ever get this sense of intimidation from your work?


* * *
TRACKING...

Yesterday's Big Accomplishment:
Decided how to approach the rest of the conversation between Brakkus & Sareen (since I was stumbling over it) - made a list of 'talking points' to work from.

Today's Target:
Continue work on recasting conversation (above).
Update Blogs.
Make a decision about a laser printer.

On the Percolator:
What happens at Falcon's place in Maru?