18 again but 1 less to do than before... LOL
Finished the bonus NS scene. But because it was bonus. I still have 18 planned scenes to write. I'm so proud of myself right now. And a little Muse fried now. And this scene has spawned a mini bonus scene. so again tomorrow the countdown won't be doing much. But, progress progress progress.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Countdown: 18 to go (and a bonus scene created)
I finished my scene. To give myself a cushion, I need to write the next one tonight. I was able to expand the scene and it is much better now, makes more sense and is over a 1000 words. And bonusy good news: it has spun off a bonus scene. Yay.
And onward with the scene. Time to dive into the NS bonus scene.
UPDATE: and to be upfront about it: Above was just an expansion of a scene. Only 372 new words. Freaking awesome, moving-forward-the-plot words. but only 372. not many at all. No reason I can't write another scene, it's not like the muse can claim she's tired. LOL.
UPDATE: and I wanted to say it before, so I'll say it now to just get it off my chest and move on. This story is the exploration of my theory that stories with plot get published. Stories that actually do things rather than sit there choked with backstory and characters talking at each other about the 1 sentence of plot that's happened in the past 20 pages are the ones that sell. At least those are the ones that I like to read. So I'll see if my theory is correct. I'm going to polish it the best I can too, of course. I can't wait to find out whether I'm right.
And onward with the scene. Time to dive into the NS bonus scene.
UPDATE: and to be upfront about it: Above was just an expansion of a scene. Only 372 new words. Freaking awesome, moving-forward-the-plot words. but only 372. not many at all. No reason I can't write another scene, it's not like the muse can claim she's tired. LOL.
UPDATE: and I wanted to say it before, so I'll say it now to just get it off my chest and move on. This story is the exploration of my theory that stories with plot get published. Stories that actually do things rather than sit there choked with backstory and characters talking at each other about the 1 sentence of plot that's happened in the past 20 pages are the ones that sell. At least those are the ones that I like to read. So I'll see if my theory is correct. I'm going to polish it the best I can too, of course. I can't wait to find out whether I'm right.
Counting my chickens... can't help myself :)
so with my 19 scenes (that I think will balloon out to more... although can they become twice that??... I guess I'll see). Anyway, with those 19 scenes, I started to work on the first one yesterday. I only got about 250 words. I was having trouble diving into the scene. Hopefully it was just because I was tired and my Muse was tired (and unfocused due to being in brainstorm/plotting mode). So today I try again.
and to write it out, the deadline to finish the story is March 28th (when I go on vacation). That gives me a month to write 30 scenes/30,000 words. 1000 wds/day. Hopefully!!! hopefully, hopefully I can start writing 1500-2000 a day and give myself a cushion for the days when I can't write at all. It'll be like a mini-Nano.
And imagine it! An actual finished novel at the end of it. A novel that I actually like. That I don't have to say "what the heck am I going to do with this other then hide it in my locked desk drawer or use it is as a doorstop?" Because the story is completely fine. It is not written well but there is tons and tons of plot and things happening. How can that not be saved? How can I not sell that? Now, that's not to say when I write the end of the actual series that I will still be able to say that. But right now, I am totally jinxing myself and saying it where no one is going to see it anyway. And I am going to dance around... cause I have a very promising rough, rough draft in process. Woo-hoo to me.
I'm going to go make myself a mug of hot tea and get lost in story again. Because this scene needs to be saved instead of rushed through. I need to make it flow and picture the actual scene and make it a worthwhile scene. And I need to do it today. Maybe even get two in today.
I'm so excited, Can you tell???
and to write it out, the deadline to finish the story is March 28th (when I go on vacation). That gives me a month to write 30 scenes/30,000 words. 1000 wds/day. Hopefully!!! hopefully, hopefully I can start writing 1500-2000 a day and give myself a cushion for the days when I can't write at all. It'll be like a mini-Nano.
And imagine it! An actual finished novel at the end of it. A novel that I actually like. That I don't have to say "what the heck am I going to do with this other then hide it in my locked desk drawer or use it is as a doorstop?" Because the story is completely fine. It is not written well but there is tons and tons of plot and things happening. How can that not be saved? How can I not sell that? Now, that's not to say when I write the end of the actual series that I will still be able to say that. But right now, I am totally jinxing myself and saying it where no one is going to see it anyway. And I am going to dance around... cause I have a very promising rough, rough draft in process. Woo-hoo to me.
I'm going to go make myself a mug of hot tea and get lost in story again. Because this scene needs to be saved instead of rushed through. I need to make it flow and picture the actual scene and make it a worthwhile scene. And I need to do it today. Maybe even get two in today.
I'm so excited, Can you tell???
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Outlining (status)
Figured out I have about 30-35 scenes left to write in Book 1. So far I plotted out 15 scenes (some may take more than 1 scene to write). I'd like to figure out 15 more events so that I have a nice cushion anyway. Yay, so happy I decided to do this. Now what 15 other things can I do to my MC...?
and my END is figured out--how absolutely cool is that? so far, I only had series end and vague idea of how I would leave it off. now I actually have an event. YAY.
UPDATE: Still struggling. No new scenes yet. I figured out what I was missing. I need 15 scenes where things go from bad to worse until she is the cheese [...cheese stands alone...]. time to ponder on what she can mess up.
UPDATE: plotting is freakin' hard. I can not think of what evil things to do with my character. So far, they're all stuff that should happen later.
UPDATE: WELL, on the BRIGHT side, I have come up with all kinds of neaty scenes for Book 2 that I cannot wait to write. Starting to think I need to start writing my existing scenes (remaining scenes for bk 1). because they are bound to grow and suggest more.
UPDATE: And I now have about 19 (give or take, some may be too short, some may grow to 2-3 scenes once the events and consequences are written). Still need another 5 -8 at least.
and my END is figured out--how absolutely cool is that? so far, I only had series end and vague idea of how I would leave it off. now I actually have an event. YAY.
UPDATE: Still struggling. No new scenes yet. I figured out what I was missing. I need 15 scenes where things go from bad to worse until she is the cheese [...cheese stands alone...]. time to ponder on what she can mess up.
UPDATE: plotting is freakin' hard. I can not think of what evil things to do with my character. So far, they're all stuff that should happen later.
UPDATE: WELL, on the BRIGHT side, I have come up with all kinds of neaty scenes for Book 2 that I cannot wait to write. Starting to think I need to start writing my existing scenes (remaining scenes for bk 1). because they are bound to grow and suggest more.
UPDATE: And I now have about 19 (give or take, some may be too short, some may grow to 2-3 scenes once the events and consequences are written). Still need another 5 -8 at least.
Updated count: 63K or so
now I'm at 63K (or slightly more). It's taken me a long time to get here. I've been doing a lot of Facebook and reading other people's blogs. Instead of struggling with story.
But anyway it's neat (and boring) to look back at the old posts. I'm struggling a lot in the middle of the story. Every sentence is a struggle [every single one]. It's partly hating that it's an ugly sentence and partly that I don't know if it's the right direction. Or that the direction is boring. Still need to find a place where I can age my characters about 10 years. It might be the end of this book. I think that's the problem. I need to outline and figure out where this book is going for the next 30-40K so that it will accomplish something and give a pause to the reader and leave open all the stuff that's yet to come. Then I will know I am writing toward something and stop worrying about how young my characters are and when am I going to be able to age them. Will a reader hate that they missed the intervening years? [me asking self]. I think it will be a good thing. And can I manage to end the book as stand alone with all those things that were hinted at? I have to.
This might be just what I needed. Thank you blog. As usual you gave me the space to figure out exactly what was blocking me. So today is outline time.
But anyway it's neat (and boring) to look back at the old posts. I'm struggling a lot in the middle of the story. Every sentence is a struggle [every single one]. It's partly hating that it's an ugly sentence and partly that I don't know if it's the right direction. Or that the direction is boring. Still need to find a place where I can age my characters about 10 years. It might be the end of this book. I think that's the problem. I need to outline and figure out where this book is going for the next 30-40K so that it will accomplish something and give a pause to the reader and leave open all the stuff that's yet to come. Then I will know I am writing toward something and stop worrying about how young my characters are and when am I going to be able to age them. Will a reader hate that they missed the intervening years? [me asking self]. I think it will be a good thing. And can I manage to end the book as stand alone with all those things that were hinted at? I have to.
This might be just what I needed. Thank you blog. As usual you gave me the space to figure out exactly what was blocking me. So today is outline time.
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